by Bill Collier
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” - Ernest Hemingway
Do your customers trust you?
Do they value the products and services you sell them?
“Of course my customers trust me and value what I do for them!” is your likely answer.
A long-time construction industry client of mine recently shared a story involving his largest customer.
My client – let’s call him Larry – called me. I could tell right away something was wrong. “My main contact at Bigco, Mr. Balderdash, is questioning the hours we billed him on a recent job. No matter what we do, we’re never able to get closer than arm’s length with Bigco.”
He went on to tell me that not only does Balderdash challenge every invoice but he also routinely pays late. And he frequently admonishes Larry to cut his prices to continue to win Larry’s business.
It doesn’t sound like much of a “win,” does it?
Larry’s company derives a significant portion of its revenue from Bigco and doesn’t want to lose the business. He understandably has a strong desire to change the nature of the relationship.
Here are some of Larry’s issues:
-Bigco doesn’t trust Larry and his company despite the trustworthiness they’ve consistently displayed.
-Bigco doesn’t value Larry’s experience, expertise, advice and outstanding quality record.
-Balderdash has made it impossible to navigate around him or develop other Bigco relationships.
My advice to Larry: “Set up a meeting with Balderdash. Lunch or dinner – away from the office, free of distractions. Somewhere he can’t escape.
“Remind him of your stellar record of honesty and looking out for Bigco’s best interests. Bring examples. Look him right in the eye and tell him you’ve never betrayed his trust and never will.
“Larry, use these words: ‘Mr. Balderdash, I ask you for your trust.’ Then don’t say another word. Let Balderdash speak next.”
Assuming Balderdash responds as expected, Larry can then turn his attention to his value by reminding Balderdash of his many fine projects that came in on time and on budget.
Perhaps you’re in a similar situation, essentially held hostage to an overbearing customer who holds most of the cards.
The draw of a big customer with large purchase orders is powerful. If you get dependent on the revenue, it’s even more so.
Trust and value – perhaps the two most fundamental and critical building blocks to a business relationship. Make sure these two cornerstones are in place before you go any further.
Larry’s meeting with his customer hasn’t happened as of this writing. I look forward to writing a follow-up to this saga soon.
Submitted 9 years 29 days ago