Our closest and most important relationships don't always get the same care, time, and training as our business relationships. Here are two business tips that you can use in your personal relationships.
- Get to know your client
To grow a business, it's important to know your customers and potential customers.
People talk to each other in many different ways. Some people are very visual, and that's how they take in information and show how they feel. For example, a person who sees things would use words like "6 feet tall, brown hair, blue eyes, handsome, etc." to describe their partner.
People who take in the world through their ears evaluate what they hear. They would say things like, "She always tells me nice things and compliments me," or "He has a deep voice and sings loudly."
Most of the time, kinesthetic people go by how they feel and learn by doing. They would say things like, "When she's around, I get butterflies," "She holds my hand," "He's soft and warm," and "I feel safe and secure in his arms."
We all have all three of these traits, but one tends to stand out more. Listen to the words your partner uses to figure out which one they are. Then you can "speak" their language.
Before my husband found out I was visual, he would get mad at me because he would explain things over and over and I still didn't get it. I kept saying, "I just can't see it. I just can't SEE it." Now, when he wants me to understand something, like our finances, he takes out a piece of paper and draws a graph. Ahhh...
Your partner is your most important client. Don't take communication for granted or you could lose your most important client. Pay attention to how your partner talks to you and try to talk to them in the way that feels most natural to them. This will save you time and heartache.
- Ask for the order. Ask the hard things.
In business, it's time to ask for the order once you've decided that your prospect is qualified to buy from you and that your solution will solve their problem.
When we're with someone, we don't always tell them what to do. We don't always ask the questions that would make the biggest difference. We ask her if she wants Italian or Chinese food for dinner. We ask him if it's better for us to stay home or go out. But do we ask our partners how they would know they are loved?
Remember the song "You don't bring me flowers, and you don't sing me love songs" by Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand? They sang about how two people who loved each other had different ways of showing it. Someone would bring flowers, and someone else would sing love songs. They both stopped when they had more important things to do. Now, they notice that their partner isn't doing the things they used to do to show love.
When my husband and I were dating, I would put love notes in his luggage when he went on trips. After a few years, there were no more travel notes. I stopped writing them not because I didn't love him anymore, but because I didn't know how important it was to him.
I asked him how he knew I loved him one day. "When you write me little love notes," he said. So, I wrote in my planner every few days, "Write love notes to Dave." I set up a structure to back up my overall plan to make sure my husband knows every day that I love him.
How could you tell if someone loves you? How would they find out? When you know what they're going to do, do it! Ask the hard questions and tell them what you want.
There are many business rules that also apply to the way we treat each other as people. If you want your business to be successful, you need to know your customer and ask for the order. If your relationship were a business and your partner was your biggest client, how confident would you be that you could talk to them in their language to get the order?
