My 10 Principles Of Networking

In sales and in life for that matter you are only as good as the people you know, work with and are friends with. You are only as strong as your affiliations. You have to know and be willing to work with everyone if you are going to be successful life. So with that in mind embrace every bridge you have and never ever burn them.

“Allow me to be generous “is my philosophy and it has done me well. I believe that if you go out of your way to help people in general and your business associates specifically you will never go hungry. That if you “pay it forward” as the popular phrase goes good things will always come back to you.

Harry Truman once said. “It is amazing how much gets done when you don’t care who gets the credit”, and nothing could be truer. If we all look out for one another, remember one another and try to help one another, good things happen, they always have, they always will. It’s simply a matter as I said earlier

It’s interesting to me that although I have been living by this credo for more years than I care to remember, with the onset of social media, networking has become big business. What I always considered a nice, natural and normal thing to do has now become an art. Networking has become a formal subject that is being taught in business classes! There are all kinds of books and seminars covering the right way to network, whom to network with, how to participate in a network how to create a network and how to grow your network and how to get the most out of your network.

Now while I think this is all well and good and I encourage everyone to learn everything they can about being a great networker. I’m somewhat bemused at how what I always took for granted as the right thing to do has become a business strategy, nay more of a business tactic to get what you want out of people. To me this should only be common sense (sorry it just fit so well here). It should be something that we learned from our parents, something that has just always been the right thing to do.

I have to refer back to my old favorite book Reverend Robert Fulghum’s famous, In which he talks about all of the things we learned when we were five years old still apply today. In fact in terms of social behavior by the time we were six years old we had been taught everything we would need to know to successfully get by in life.

Look the new books are great, there is nothing wrong with picking up some new tools and tips. Social media is great, a wonderful way to put people together but really now is there really anything new? Is there anything that will change the way we interact or interact with people?

So just as a review I will list my simple rules for connecting and working with people or what we now call networking:

1. Treat others as you want to be treated.
2. Allow me to be generous. Let me help you in any way that I can.
3. Let’s not keep score. I am happy to help you without limitations.
4. Feel free to share especially ideas, people and opportunities.
5. Trust people until they prove you wrong and then re-trust them if they express remorse for having been untrustworthy.
6. Every time you meet a new person think about what you could do for them.
7. Every time you meet a new person think about what they could do for someone you know.
8. Never expect anything in return…except maybe the warm comfort of knowing that you did the right thing.
9. Always be connecting people you know if they can help one another.
10. Never look at life as a zero sum game instead look at it in this way. If someone you know wins, you all win.

And oh yes, one more in the spirit of under promising and over delivering.

11. And finally avoid having “enemies” and if you do for some reason find yourself with an “enemy” turn that “enemy” into a friend. Having enemies is counter-productive. A friend of mine gave me this quote the other day. If you find yourself with an enemy one day do something nice for that person, it will confuse the hell out of them and put a smile on your face.

So there you have them my rules to live by. What are your rules? What do you live by? You need to think about this…a lot.

It’s only common sense.

Great Vendors Ask Questions

Many of my exceptional clients, and they are all exceptional of course, are getting negative feedback from their customers because they ask too many questions. Questions, mind you, that are focused on making a better product for those customers in the end. Questions, that are meant to clarify some of the questionable data that the PCB vendors need to clarify, in order, to build those customers functional circuit boards.

Instead of getting impatient with PCB vendors who ask too many questions, our customers should be thanking them. They should be pleased that these vendors are making a conscientious effort to do things right, and build them good functional circuit boards

At an IPC meeting recently, one of our industry gurus stated that less than ten percent of the data packages received by PCB shops from their customers today are complete and many of those packages contain errors that are serious enough to lead to unusable PCBs. This means that ninety percent of the time, the customers should be receiving some clarification questions for their vendors. Ninety percent of the time!

And yet, board shops are continually criticized for asking too many questions. They are chastised for taking much too much time to submit their quotes. And yes, most of the time they lose the order for asking too many questions, and taking too much time. Now, it’s time for that adage, “Not enough time to do it right, but plenty of time to do it over.

What really is disconcerting being that some PCB shops don’t ask questions, they just make assumptions, hoping they are correct, whether they are or not, and then build the boards per the package, a package, I may add, that in their hearts they know has incorrect data. But heck, they are getting the quote to the customer within and couple of hours….and they did not bother the customer with any of those annoying questions!

This problem exists today and is only going to get worse. Many of today’s PCB designers have no idea as to how a board is built, because they have never set foot in a board shop. In many cases, they have not even spoken with anyone who works in a shop. They have simply designed the board with their limited knowledge of how that board is built, what processes it goes through and what kind of testing it sees. Instead, they complete the design as quickly as they possibly can and send it to the buyer, so he can place the order with the very lowest PCB supplier, especially the one who gets the quote to him as fast as possible. And the PCB vendor who does not slow down the process by asking annoying time-consuming questions will get the business.

Think about that for a minute, or think about it for more than a minute, scary isn’t it? Think about it the next time you are on a plane, or in an operating room, or have a pacemaker inserted. Think about who built the boards that are in those pieces of equipment. And then pray hard that by sheer luck the lowest bidder with the fastest quote, was just lucky enough to build the boards the way they should be built to function properly. Because, in the end how will we know they did in fact build them right, or wrong, until it’s too late…and who wants to see that happen?

Look, there is a way to solve this dilemma and its very simple. Ready for this? Talk to each other for heaven’s sake. Designers, learn everything you can about how a board is built. Call up one of your PCB vendors or all of them for that matter and take a ride over to their shop. Take a tour, talk to people, find out how boards are built.

Then, visit with the inside sales people or whoever is quoting your boards, talk to the people in CAM and learn from them what a perfect data package looks like and then work on providing that perfect package to all your PCB vendors.

Years ago, when OEMs had their own in-house board shops, designers knew how a board was built. They knew what kind of perfect data packages the CAM department needed, and they provided those perfect packages… or else right? Now, things have changed. It’s pretty common for an engineer or a PCB designer to come straight from university to a company and start designing boards without ever having seen a plating line, or a drill room, or a photo department, or an etcher. They have no clear understanding of how a board is built, and thus, how a board should be designed for maximum efficiency and producibility. It’s time that changes for the better.

So now, I’ll say it once again; if you’re a PCB designer or an engineer or anyone in a company that buys boards, the board shops would love to have you come visit their facility, and they would love to show you how a board is built more importantly they would love to talk to you and yes maybe even ask you a few questions. It’s only common sense.

Demanding Customers Driving You Crazy? Good Problem To Have

There is nothing dumber you can do than getting mad at a customer. What is the point? These days when it is harder than ever to get a new customer and even harder to keep that customer amidst the barrage of competition coming for all sides there is nothing more counter-productive than getting mad at one of your customers.

Look, I know customers can be demanding, they can be hard to deal with and yes sometimes even totally unreasonable but it doesn’t matter because part of being in business is to service your customers, providing them with whatever they want…note I said what they want which is not always what they need. Or what you think they need, no you have to give them what they want.

In today’s market customers have – as the airlines are fond of telling us – many choices. In our case, in our industry, there are many choices our customer can make, if you don’t believe that just ask them. But it is true, our customers have many options of where they can go to buy their circuit boards. From the cheaper guy down the street to the really cheap guy across the big pond they have all the choices in the world and they exercise them freely all the time, vendor loyalty is at an all-time low.

So, ladies and gentlemen that is why you can never get mad at your customers. You have to treat them like gold and make sure you are so valuable to them that they will never want to leave you. The trick is how to do that. How will you make sure that you keep your customers happy both today and in the future?

Here are five ways to make sure you are so valuable, so loved by your customers, that they will never want to leave you.

1. Anticipate your customers’ needs. Too many of us are sitting around waiting for the next demand to come down from our customers. This is wrong and it is also making us the victims. The better way is to learn everything about them, their end products, their market, how they handle our boards, what they do with them when they come into their company and everything else they really need from you and then give it to them.
2. Realize that you’re not just selling boards, but rather an integral part of their system, a key component and a critical ingredient to their success. Our job is to figure out how we can help them be successful. Is there a better way to package our boards that will make I easier for our customers? Or can we be helping them with their designs? Maybe it’s meeting with them and their end customers and listening to them intently enough to come up with ways to make both of them, and your company in the end as well, more successful.
3. Have regular check-ups. Yes, ask your customers if you can meet with them on a regular basis to make sure you are on the right track. Ask to visit with them face to face and ask them who you are doing? Have a set of questions prepared so that you can develop a customer file on each of your customers that includes those special preferences that you can do for them to be outstanding and valuable.
4. This is a team effort. Don’t just leave it up to the sales people to talk to customers. Your customers belong to everyone in your shop so make sure that all your key people are on a first name basis with your customers’ appropriate counterparts. This could be the most important thing you have ever done. Customer service is a whole company effort. Every single person in your company is a customer service person as well as a sales person. And it’s your job as a leader to make sure that everyone in your company from the guy in plating to the lady in drill to the maintenance people know everything they can about their customers.
5. Create a customer satisfaction team that does nothing but focus on the customers and the way your company can please them. This team should have representatives from every department in your company. They should meet at least once a week to work on ways to delight their customers. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine spending one hour a week focused on your customers and how you can make them love you? So, simple, yet so rare. I don’t know of a single company in our industry that is doing this today. So, get this…you can be the first. Give it a try and you’ll quickly be the most outstanding company in what is a virtual wasteland of customer delight.
6. If you own the company or are the company president, then pick up that phone and call your customers. Yes, they will take your call, you are the president after all, and they will be anxious to talk to you. You will not only gain great insight into your customer and his needs. You will also impress her with your dedication to making sure she is delighted. The very action of picking up the phone and calling your customer will go a very long way to letting that customer know how much you care. And once again, almost no one in our industry is doing this you will be outstanding in the truest sense of the word.

Please give these ideas a try. We are losing so many PCB companies in this country that it is time we really stepped up to make sure our customers want no part of taking their business elsewhere. It’s only common sense,

The Cost Of Keeping A Customer

Experts estimate that we spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars acquiring new customers. When you think of all the money we spend on marketing, advertising, trade shows, websites, sales people, and their travel and other expenses you know these experts are right. I’ve read that one single sales visit will cost over five hundred dollars! I have also calculated that in our business, the cost for adding a single customer to our customer list can cost well over five thousand dollars! Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

I’ll tell you something else that’s even more amazing. After we spend all that money, all that time and effort and sweat, and tears we lose customers by the bucketful, and we are casual about it, saying things like, “oh well, that’s the board business.” Many companies in our industry are literally losing customers as quickly if not more quickly as they are bringing them. Why is that?  I know of one shop owner who has told me that his customer list is a mile long and an inch-thick meaning that they have no real relationship with any of their customers. Certainly, the cost of keeping customer is far less than acquiring one in the first place. Think about it. What do you have to do to keep a customer? How much money do you have to spend to retain your customers? Do you really need to spend much or any money at all to keep a customer? Not really, all you have to do once you have acquired a customer is service him properly. So why are we losing them so easily? The answer to that question lies in the fact that we do not as an industry perform very well.

Think about what it takes to keep a customer. It’s not that complicated, because all it really takes to keep a customer is doing what we are supposed to be doing anyway. To keep our customers happy, we have to do give them a fair quote, make it easy for them to place their orders, build, and deliver, Quality boards on time. All the while being courteous, helpful, and valuable. As I said, doing what we are supposed to be doing in the first place. That’s all we have to do. No company ever lost a customer by providing them with excellent service. An argument can even be made that there really is no cost to keeping a customer. In fact, the formula for keeping a customer is the very same formula for making money. Just deliver good product on time you make money right, and the bonus is you get to keep your customers as well. So, here is the one big dark secret to customer retention. Do what you’re supposed to do and will keep your customers.

And, here’s another idea, treat your customers like the gold that they really are. Bring great service into the picture Take your service to the highest levels possible. Deliver product early if it’s a quick turn order. Always give your customers more than they asked for or expect. Constantly shoe them how important they are to you and your company.  Show them the respect, admiration, and yes, if it need be, the adoration they need to be happy.

Make sure your people are trained in customer service. Give them some leeway when dealing with their customers. Some smart thinking companies give their customer service people a certain monetary allowance for giving customers refunds at their discretion when they feel that the situation warrants it. And more thing you customer service team should be trained to do and that is o always err on the side of the customer.

And finally, her is a great way to keep customers; and that is to have a problem, that’s right there is no better time to demonstrate great customer service than when you have a problem. Certainly, no customer is going to be happy that there is a problem with your product. But, the way you handle that problem, the way you treat your customer while having that problem and the way you solve that problem, can make you legendary in the end. People love telling great customer service stories. Like the true story of the Nordstrom’s store that took back a set of snow tires, even though they did not sell snow tires. Or, the one about the Saturn dealer who personally delivered a new front seat to a customer…in Alaska, and he came from Tennessee! See what I mean? These stories took place over twenty years and ago and we are still talking about them!

I have worked with many companies and the best customer relationships I’ve seen were forged in the adversity of having a problem in the initial stages of their relationship with those customers, and here’s why, when people have to call to complain about something, they brace themselves for the worst. They expect at least rude behavior in not an out and our fight. They just know that it will a terrible experience. So, when the person designated to handle that problem, is polite and helpful and most importantly will go to any lengths to solve the problem the customer is not only pleasantly surprised. she is over the moon with delight. In fact, she is so pleased that she will run out and tell everyone she knows about the great customer experience she received from your company. And you can bet your bottom dollar she will remain your customer for life. It’s only common sense.

The “We’re Behind Quota Already!” Emergency Crash PCB Sales Plan

So the year has started badly. You thought all that start of year pent up demand would have you rocking.

But sales are thin and the funnel is pretty darn dry.

You’re beating on your outside sales team and they are doing everything they can with their customer base. Or worse yet you don’t even have an outside sales team…don’t laugh many companies don’t. They rely only on word of mouth. They feel that good enough has been good enough so far and that things will come around, just like every other time in the past they have come around. But alas, this time it’s different; this slump has been going on for months and now you are entering the panic mode and you have to do something!

The problem is you have to do it now. If something doesn’t change soon you are going to have to close up shop and that is something you just don’t want to face.

You are really behind the eight ball because most well-organized sales initiatives take about 90 days to get going and at least 120 days before you start seeing results. You should have started this months ago, hell you should have been doing it all along, But that’s another story…I’ll save that lecture for another day.

So now you have to do something, to make something happen…not rocket science that. But it is a fact. Do something and do it now!

If you’re going to do something at least have some sort of plan that will stand a chance of getting some sales in the house before it closes.

Here is that plan

Here is an emergency plan for increasing sales right away.

The most important thing you can do at this time is to try to get sales as quickly as possible. Create a sense of urgency…not panic but urgency. Let your team know that their jobs depend in getting sales into the house now!

For this you will need to get all hands on deck. You will have to push the inside sales people you do have and then recruit from other departments. Put anyone who can handle a phone on the phone and do it now!

Part One: Using the current database/ how good is our data base at this time?

1. Try to contact as many customers and potential customers as possible.
2. Current customers
3. You need to go through and evaluate this list immediately.
4. If they are nearby they need to be visited to see what they have going and to see if we can do anything for them.
5. If they have not ordered in a while ask them why not? Ask them if there is something you can do to get going with some orders again
6. You need to discuss with them how they are doing
7. Go over the orders you have in house and ask them if they have anything else you can work on
8. Review your finished goods list with you and try to sell their boards which you have in stock.
9. Work with them to help you help them.
10. And sell them on buying from you right now. Tell them you are willing to make a deal they cannot refuse,

Part Two: Orphans: Customers we used to do business with.

1. They are the next group to contact.
2. Why did they leave?
3. Do they have business now?
4. Make a priority list of these and start contacting them immediately.
5. This group is very important. They know you and they once did business with you. They need to be contacted. This is what we call the “low hanging fruit”

Part Three: New potential customers:

These have to be customers where you feel you are close to getting something from them. Of course you also have to work on the long term, but for the sake of this plan you need to go after customers who may want to send you business in the near, very near future.

Part Four: Measure your way to success: This is important: you need to keep track of all the sales calls you make. You need to put together some sort of plan with goals like how many customers do you want to talk to in a day? You should be measuring the following:

• number of calls a day
• What they said
• Any actions required
• What is the next step?

This is best done using an excel spread sheet. Review it every o day to make sure that things are happening and progress is being made. This is hard work, but it works. You have to make something happen.

Part Five: Do some guerilla marketing:

1. Create a pitch: A reason why customers would want to come to you. Free tooling, great price whatever, and just some kind of promotion.
2. Permission marketing: Take a good look at your data base, sort it out and then from there you can develop a permission marketing plan. You can choose from one or some or all of these methods of reaching out to customers:

• Postcards (yes believe it or not that are back and they work in this e-mail world)
• Email
• Fax (when is the last time you tried this? Imagine getting a fax sales offer today!)
• Direct letters (who can resist opening a letter. Especially if the address is hand written. No labels please0
• Literature

You need to be sending these out every two weeks, like clockwork. The most important thing is to get in touch with as many possible in the shortest amount of time.

Now come closer….here is the real secret about increasing you sales…if you do something, something will happen. Like I said this is not rocket science but it is only common sens

The “We’re Behind Quota Already!” Emergency Crash PCB Sales Plan

So the year has started badly. You thought all that start of year pent up demand would have you rocking.

But sales are thin and the funnel is pretty darn dry.

You’re beating on your outside sales team and they are doing everything they can with their customer base. Or worse yet you don’t even have an outside sales team…don’t laugh many companies don’t. They rely only on word of mouth. They feel that good enough has been good enough so far and that things will come around, just like every other time in the past they have come around. But alas, this time it’s different; this slump has been going on for months and now you are entering the panic mode and you have to do something!

The problem is you have to do it now. If something doesn’t change soon you are going to have to close up shop and that is something you just don’t want to face.

You are really behind the eight ball because most well-organized sales initiatives take about 90 days to get going and at least 120 days before you start seeing results. You should have started this months ago, hell you should have been doing it all along, But that’s another story…I’ll save that lecture for another day.

So now you have to do something, to make something happen…not rocket science that. But it is a fact. Do something and do it now!

If you’re going to do something at least have some sort of plan that will stand a chance of getting some sales in the house before it closes.

Here is that plan

Here is an emergency plan for increasing sales right away.

The most important thing you can do at this time is to try to get sales as quickly as possible. Create a sense of urgency…not panic but urgency. Let your team know that their jobs depend in getting sales into the house now!

For this you will need to get all hands on deck. You will have to push the inside sales people you do have and then recruit from other departments. Put anyone who can handle a phone on the phone and do it now!

Part One: Using the current database/ how good is our data base at this time?

1. Try to contact as many customers and potential customers as possible.
2. Current customers
3. You need to go through and evaluate this list immediately.
4. If they are nearby they need to be visited to see what they have going and to see if we can do anything for them.
5. If they have not ordered in a while ask them why not? Ask them if there is something you can do to get going with some orders again
6. You need to discuss with them how they are doing
7. Go over the orders you have in house and ask them if they have anything else you can work on
8. Review your finished goods list with you and try to sell their boards which you have in stock.
9. Work with them to help you help them.
10. And sell them on buying from you right now. Tell them you are willing to make a deal they cannot refuse,

Part Two: Orphans: Customers we used to do business with.

1. They are the next group to contact.
2. Why did they leave?
3. Do they have business now?
4. Make a priority list of these and start contacting them immediately.
5. This group is very important. They know you and they once did business with you. They need to be contacted. This is what we call the “low hanging fruit”

Part Three: New potential customers:

These have to be customers where you feel you are close to getting something from them. Of course you also have to work on the long term, but for the sake of this plan you need to go after customers who may want to send you business in the near, very near future.

Part Four: Measure your way to success: This is important: you need to keep track of all the sales calls you make. You need to put together some sort of plan with goals like how many customers do you want to talk to in a day? You should be measuring the following:

• number of calls a day
• What they said
• Any actions required
• What is the next step?

This is best done using an excel spread sheet. Review it every o day to make sure that things are happening and progress is being made. This is hard work, but it works. You have to make something happen.

Part Five: Do some guerilla marketing:

1. Create a pitch: A reason why customers would want to come to you. Free tooling, great price whatever, and just some kind of promotion.
2. Permission marketing: Take a good look at your data base, sort it out and then from there you can develop a permission marketing plan. You can choose from one or some or all of these methods of reaching out to customers:

• Postcards (yes believe it or not that are back and they work in this e-mail world)
• Email
• Fax (when is the last time you tried this? Imagine getting a fax sales offer today!)
• Direct letters (who can resist opening a letter. Especially if the address is hand written. No labels please.
• Literature

You need to be sending these out every two weeks, like clockwork. The most important thing is to get in touch with as many possible in the shortest amount of time.

Now come closer….here is the real secret about increasing you sales…if you do something, something will happen. Like I said this is not rocket science but it is only common sense

Taming The Extraordinary Sales Person

We spend a great deal of time talking about how to handle poor performing sales people, those who are not making their numbers. Those who just can’t seem to get out there and visit customers, those who just cannot seem to be able to get an appointment or close a sale.

There are been hundreds of books and columns written on this subject. But how many books have been written about the extraordinary sales person? The one who is far above the rest of the team. The one who always seems to be able to not only get appointments, but land those big orders as well.

In sales meetings, you will be able to recognize this super salesperson by his or her silence. While everyone else is complaining and whining about not being to do whatever it is they need to do, blaming everything from unfair offshore competition, to price gouging on the part of their competitors, to lousy leads, to poor products, to the weather, to the fact that’s Tuesday, or Friday. Whatever you’ve got, these poor performers will use it as an excuse for why they are not making their numbers.

The great sales person sits there never saying a word. Just listening to the rest of the team whine. Sometimes this person will have a look on her face, this tight little smile, like she knows something the rest of the team does not know. And of course, she does. She knows how to get out there and get business without breaking a sweat. He knows how to get those sales appointments and make them meaningful to the point of booking orders. These are the people who have learned to just get out there and do it. The ones who have grace under pressure. Remember the definition of grace is keeping your head about you while everyone else is losing theirs.

So, one would think that this person would be easy to manage. That this winner would be a great asset to the team, to the point of raising everyone else’s level of success. But alas, this is not always true. There can be some problems with managing this kind of person some special problems. Here are some of the most prevalent issues with managing extraordinary salespeople and what you can do about them.

The first problem is that these winners are not always team players. They look out for themselves and anyone in their way to success, better watch out. Often, you will find some who are nice people, but more often, their philosophy is every man for himself. You’ll discover this when you try to develop some team-oriented projects. They will be the ones who will hold back, not really contribute to the good of the team.

I have found that the best way to treat these people, is to use their “greatness” to your advantage. Show them how good they are, and how much they can contribute to the good of the team. Encourage them to show their stuff to the rest of the team. They love being important and they love being acknowledged as the best and so they will go along with you and everyone will win. In short, make them the teacher or mentor for the rest of the team, and you will get the best you possibly can out of them.

The second problem is their lack of loyalty. These special people are out for themselves and they will do anything for the good of, yes, themselves. This means that you must keep them interested, motivated, and challenged or they will jump ship. The most difficult challenge you will have when managing great sales people is holding on to them. Let them know that they are the best. Give them rewards for being the best. Get to know them and find out what makes them tick, what turns them on. Is it fame, recognition or is it money? Obviously, you want to keep these great producers, so find out what turns them on and them make sure you keep giving it to them.

And the final problem is that they will get bored. Ironic, isn’t it that while the rest of the team is struggling to keep their numbers up and their heads above water these “pros from Dover” have developed such a streamlined sales process that they are bored with their everyday professional life and bored with their own success. It’s as though, it has all become too easy. So, your job as their manager is to keep them challenged. Give them tough assignments. Send them out to book some almost “impossible to win” accounts, do whatever you can to challenge them. And the bonus is that you will win business that you never thought you would win, and you will keep your sales person around looking at you for the next big impossible dream challenge.

If you are lucky enough to have one of these sales superstars on your team. Make them team leaders, offer them great incentives for staying around, and give them big enough challenges so that they will never want to leave. If you do these things, you will reap the rewards of having one of these talented prodigies on your team for many years to come. It’s only common sense.

No Trust? No Customers!

Building trust with your customers will make them customers for life.

No matter what else you do for your customers, you have to build trust. If you can get your customers to trust you they will stay with you for life…yes, even if you change companies.

Over the years and in many columns, we have talked about what it takes to win customers. We have talked about lead generation and prospecting and cold calling and the sales meeting and that first quote and winning the order but truth be known there is one thing that surpasses everything else. There is only one secret weapon that will guarantee you success with your customers and that thing is building trust; getting your customers to trust you with their needs, their products, their requirements, and their business. Customers need to know they can rely on you as an individual, someone who will always have their best interest at heart.

The question is how to build that trust? How to get your customers to trust you unconditionally. You can talk all you want about how trustworthy you are, you can try to show examples of how trustworthy you have been in the past but there is only one true way to convince your customers that they can trust you and that is to show them with real-life actions, to demonstrate to them through your performance that you are trustworthy. In shor,t to gain your customers’ trust you have to do it the old fashion way, you have to earn it.

Here are seven critical characteristics of a truly trustworthy person:

1. Honesty: always tell to truth even when it hurts, even when you have made a mistake and you are going to look bad by admitting it. It doesn’t matter tell the truth and you will earn their respect you in the end.
2. Caring: show your customers that you care. Do things for them that are thoughtful and always in their best interest. If they have a problem bring them a solution, even if that solution is not you’re your product or service and goes against what you are selling. Bringing them the right solution at the right time will always create trust.
3. Credibility: Let them know that they can always rely and one what you tell them. No matter what. You want them to be able to take anything you say to the bank or in their case their upper management.
4. Reliability: Always be there for your customers. Rain or shine, snow or sleet, hurricane or tornado always show up when you say you are going to. Be the most reliable vendor they have, hell, be the most reliable person they know.
5. Capability: Educate yourself about their company and its’ needs. Have a great understanding of your customers so that you will be capable of meeting all of their needs. You want to be in complete control at all times. You want to make sure there is nothing left to the imagination when it comes to what your customers’ needs are and what your own company can provide to meet those needs.
6. Integrity: This it could be argued is the most important characteristic of all. Conduct yourself with honesty, decency, respect, and integrity, not many people have true integrity and fewer people really know what it is. It is the ability to do the right thing at all times. It is the ability to resist the temptation to do the wrong thing. It is always doing things properly and avoiding short cuts. It means doing the one right thing that every situation demands. Once you have shown your customer that you have integrity you will have her trust for life
7. Respect: Yes respect, have respect for everyone you meet. Whether it be the person on the loading dock or the president of the company always show the utmost respect for everyone, especially you meet and that goes for your customer most of all. Do not ever allow anyone in your company to ever speak badly about your customers. Whether it be verbally or in an email, stop any disrespect of your customers dead in its track. Do not tolerate anyone in your company bad-mouthing a customer. It should never be allowed. And by the way, the higher position you hold in a company that more critical it is to show your customers the respect they deserve because if you publicly disrespect a customer you are tacitly giving permission to everyone below you in the company to do the same. Always remember that without customers you do not have a business…not rocket science that.

And one more characteristic, always under-promise and over deliver so there is always one more and that one is Courage. Have the courage to be there during the hard times as well as the good times. If something goes wrong and say your company does not deliver product when it’s need thus messing up your customer’s schedule or worse yet your product gets to your customer on time but is unacceptable, then is the time to show up, it’s the time to stop whatever you are doing and get to that customer’s as quickly as you can to try to help as much as you can. Look, at that point even if all they need is a fresh live butt to kick then you be that butt. There was trouble and you came in like the stand- up person that you are and took whatever they had to dish out in their frustration at that time. Always make sure you show up in the bad times, because in the end they will always remember that you were there. And in the end, they will respect you for showing up and they will trust you like they have never trusted anyone before. It’s all about trust. It’s only common sense.

Leaders Never Lie!

Must have Leadership Qualifications

Are you the kind of leader who can inspire his troops to follow him through hell? Or the kind of leader that couldn’t get his people to follow him across the street to a free buffet? I have had both in my life and believe me the former is always better then the latter. Unfortunately, I have had more of the latter. I one had a leader who was famous for saying, “we’re not worse than anyone else!” Needles to say that leader and the company went down in flames shortly after he said that.

But think about this for a minute. Take some time to think about the leaders you’ve had in your career. Think about how the good ones inspired you to be much better than you ever though you were; to do things that you never imagined you could do. What made those leaders great. What made your group want to come together as a team and do things that none of you could have done as individuals. Think back to those times and how you felt. It was fun wasn’t’ it. It almost seemed like you weren’t even working even though you were working harder than you’d ever worked before. Right?

Well just to try to capture lightning in a bottle let’s talk about what it takes to be a great leader. Let’s list what it takes to be a great leader:

A great leader must be:

• A good person. This is the most important quality in a good leader. She must be honest, trustworthy, ethical, and moral. There are no two ways about this. If a person does not have these qualities nothing else will work.
• Visionary: A great leader must be able to see the future better then anyone else in the company. He must be able to completely understand not only the future but his company’s role in that future as well.
• Flexible: he must be able to adapt to whatever situation comes up and then successfully steer his company through that situation.
• Courageous: That great leader must be able to make those tough decisions. Let someone go when it is time or keep someone who is unpopular with the rest of the team if he sees that person’s importance. A true leader will as we said earlier be able to lead his troops through hell without flinching.
• Customer focused: She must be the company’s number one customer advocate. A great leader never speaks poorly of a customer not matter how aggravating that customer is. He is always at the forefront of customer advocacy explaining to the rest of the team that without customers there is not business. And then constantly reminding them of that fact.
• A great example: She must lead by example. Always planning to get caught doing the right thing, whether it is picking up a piece of paper in the parking lot of treating everyone on the company with proper respect no matter what their position is.
• Curious: She has to always be curious about what is going in in her company as well as in the market, as well as with her customers. She has to always be asking questions always trying to learn more. Showing that she like everyone else around can always be learning, can always be looking for new information that will help her be a better leader and her company a better company.
• Ferocious: yes, he has to be ferocious when it comes to protecting his own, whether that he his company’s image in the market place or one of is team members, he has to always be looking out for the good of the company and his people and protecting them from any attacks towards them.

And finally, a great leader has to have compassion he must have compassion for his people. Always trying to understand them. To see things through their eyes so that he can create a better work quality of life for them. He also has to have the same compassion for everyone he works with including his customers and his vendors.

So, think about your own leaders, do they have these qualifications? Or if you yourself are a leader, do you have these qualifications? If not, then get to work because you will never be a great leader without them. It’s only common sense.