Boats, Tides and…Greener pastures and…
Boats, Tides and …shared interests
It’s easy to imagine we’re on the same side as our customers. But it’s harder to accomplish than it is to say. First there’s the buyer/seller relationship that at its heart tends to be at least a little adversarial.
Truth is you’d love to be paid better for your services and they’d like it to cost less. You’d like it if they did a better job of paying your invoices faster and they’re busy marshalling their cash and trying to hang to it as long as possible.
But those built in conflicts aside, we are truly in the same boat. And as the saying goes, a rising tide floats all boats in the harbor. So whatever we can do to help that customer either grow or be more efficient, tends to benefit us both.
That leaves us with the possibility of going one of two ways: We can succumb to the temptation to look out only for our interests, or we can exploit our common goals.
The best way to approach that second option is to first just say it. We really don’t need to be terribly clever. We just need to bring it up in our ordinary conversations and, of course, in our initial sales presentations. That seed of an idea can set you apart from all the others who’re only pitching the benefits of their features, versus those that arise from a shared goal.
Greener pastures and…Realistic gardening
When we see that new opportunity – whether it’s in our personal lives or professionally, being realistic about assessing it’s true value is tougher than admiring its’ “shiny” appearance.
Take a new home that checks all the boxes your current digs doesn’t have. The price looks fair, you think your home will sell, so why not? Well, for starters, the mortgage rate is probably twice what yours is now And maybe the schools are less great, or perhaps the neighbor on the left is inconsiderate, and maybe an unbearable “Karen” lives on the right!
Or it’s a lucrative job offer. Sure the money looks enticing, but how stable is the company, or how loyal are they to their employees? Will they terminate as fast as they hire? Do they stand by their team when business gets tough, or if a big account in the territory goes by-by do they immediately trim sails?
No matter the situation, we need to assess those greener grass opportunities carefully and perhaps even with a bit of skepticism. When we do that, we might just decide it’s really not quite as good as it looked. Once we do, maybe we find that where we live now, or work today, is the best place for us.