Marrying a stranger

I was yet again blessed with the teachings of Ferny C, this time, a lesson on "marrying" your clients. What an eye opener! I am sheepishly submitting that I am guilty as charged on the count of expecting your potential clients to "marry" you before you know them. I ran my business merrily along, expecting them to trust me with their credit card info and needs without knowing them for more than 2 hours. In my direct sales company, I was taught to conduct business in that certain fashion and did not question what I was taught to do! I was a good soldier, not giving a thought to my practices....wondering why I was not successfully "marrying" my client as my retention numbers were poor in my eyes. Ferny pointed out that the reason this was so was because I did not take enough time to cultivate a relationship with them and create a more loyal client base. I must say that my company did suggest that we consistently call our clients and follow up, but after a while, it got tedious since many times it seemed like my poorly cultivated clients did not seem interested in hearing from me. Of course I did have many clients who were more than happy to hear from me, but it did not dawn on me that it was primarily because they felt a strong sense of relationship with me ....I knew they liked me, but I thought it was mostly because of the product! (I have some clients in other states and they would not think of buying from anyone else!) I don't know about you, but I am the type of person who is way more compliant to doing things when I am told what the psychology behind the action was. I know one thing...if I were taught by Ferny a LONG time ago, I would be ahead of the game today....but you know what they say...when the student is ready, the teacher appears!

Thanks Ferny!

Alicia , Bizzy Mom7