What a novel idea. Let’s talk about developing business relationships without using the new-fangled tools available to everyone today. Most professional development and training programs promote a “name-a-brand” software tool or analytics base to assist suppliers find and attract clients. Chat GPT and similar products are used routinely for marketing. There is nothing wrong with this. Like the latest Generative AI buzz, it is not an all-encompassing method to be employed universally to locate prospects or improve things with existing customers. Unlike existing software with predictive output, “AI” learns and adjusts to the changing world. Yet, it cannot do passion or focus, or empathy. It cannot laugh or cry in real-time. The decision to pay for products or services is emotional. The best decisions for a situation are not available without an emotional attachment.
The only universal tactic for engaging people is human interaction. Written words, whether a well-crafted e-mail or an emoji-laden text message do not have an inflection, a facial expression, or heartfelt words. The tone of these routine forms of communication is open to interpretation by the recipient, which may be the opposite of what was intended.
This is why every Sales Manager, worth their salt, will preach personal meetings over any other form of communication. This has become more difficult as Clients adopt/prefer metrics of process. It is easy to train people to follow a list and checkboxes as they go about their assigned tasks. It is a rare organization that encourages the decision-making process to engage in possible solution providers with human interaction. A copy of a proposal or video of your products is good enough. It can be, except it can lead to less-than-optimal decisions, certainly dispassionate ones.
When a solution provider does have an opportunity to engage face-to-face, it is incumbent upon them to be ready and find out all the background on the client including their personalities and pain points. Be ready to engage on a personal level. Most importantly, learn what they want and why and play on those emotions.
There is no better example of a “pitch” that I have witnessed, real or fictional, than the scene from the recent movie “Air” starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Ben is Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike and Matt is Sonny Vaccaro, hired to woo big-name Basketball players to the Nike brand. Their target in the scene is Michael Jordan who had no intention of signing with Nike. With the CEO kicking off the pitch, the meeting did not begin well, until Sonny executed the perfect pivot:
The lesson here is that personal interaction in any business relationship is better for all parties. The tools of the trade will continue to advance and be helpful with efficiency in performing a job. Best outcomes stem from personal interaction. Just ask Mrs. Jordan, who initially refused the meeting with Nike. After the visit, she finalized the negotiation to the tune of $300 million a year in proceeds for every shoe Nike sells with the Jordan name on it and continues to this day.
