Trust doesn’t come with your title. It is the glue that binds a leader to her/his followers and provides the capacity for organizational and leadership success. As a leader of your organization, it’s essential that you establish trust with your team and continue to nurture that trust, for an increase in productivity, engagement, and accountability.
I have shared a few strategies that could help nurture that trust and develop a stronger connection amongst team members which is a win for everyone.
Trust by default
Human beings have a tendency to reciprocate. We do favors, give gifts to those who have done these things to us in the past.
In the same way, trust is a two-way street. You must extend trust in order to gain trust. You need to have faith in your employees if you want them to trust you. This feeling of trust from leadership empowers the employees to leverage their strength and expertise, nurtures loyalty, and improves retention. So, assign projects and tasks that reflect this trust.
Demonstrate a clear vision
Employees want to feel that they’re a part of something bigger than themselves. They look up to the leaders for vision and mission. And, a true leader will have a compelling vision that entices people to follow.
Share a vision that will energize employees by providing them with an exciting picture of the future. Get them on board with new initiatives and produce meaningful work.
As a leader make sure they’re well equipped with not just a mission statement, but a breakdown of how that translates to their team goals and objectives.
Pay Attention
Simone Weil the philosopher said ” attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. “
It is the simplest and easiest form of leadership. Moreover, it is the foundation of trust. Yet it is underestimated, overlooked, and discounted as a true leadership skill.
The team approaches you because they believe you. Don’t turn them away. Make eye contact, smile, and listen to what they say. You may not solve their problem, but you have already given them your understanding.
Be transparent
Transparency is about communicating information at the right time and making information easily accessible across your teams.
Your employees don’t want to feel like they’re the last to know about big changes. So, keep them up-to-date with developments in real-time—even better, solicit their feedback as you go.
Own Mistakes
Mistakes are inevitable. Leaders are not immune to failure. However, they have the power to face the failures head-on. They neither avoid nor blame it on the employees.
Acknowledge the problem and work along with the team to find the best way to sort it out, how not to repeat it in the future. Taking responsibility shows that you are just as human as the rest of the team and that there is always room for improvement.
Give Credit
Just as important as owning mistakes is giving credit to the talented and hard-working employees who contribute to each and every win. Your teams come together to turn your vision into a reality, and they deserve to be recognized for their efforts.
Foster a culture of recognition. Make time to shine a light on achievements and encourage your teams to celebrate their wins.
Share Knowledge
As a leader, you would have accumulated a wealth of knowledge. Knowledge is power in any world, so share some knowledge with others. When you share knowledge, it instills confidence among your team members that they are led by the right person. They know you have worked hard to reach this position.
Teach people what you have learned over the years, so they can develop into leaders themselves. You want to surround yourself with the best people, and that’s easier to do when you share your training and knowledge.
Keep Promises
Leaders who keep their promises boost performance, enhance their credibility, inspire and engage stakeholders, and build trust; those who break promises lose credibility and trust.
When you make a promise or commit to do something, stick to it. You’ll be creating a more positive work environment for everyone.
Trust is at the heart of every relationship, and it’s especially crucial in the workplace. In fact, the primary factor affecting employee productivity is based on the trust built between the employee and the leader. Organizations that have high levels of trust have high levels of employee commitment, advocacy, and retention.
With over a decade of sales and presales experience, I strongly believe that the secret of success for a Salesperson is “Never to sell anything to customers”. People do not buy products or services, instead they buy you.
What do I mean by this statement?
A successful salesperson instills confidence and can charm everyone to sell any stuff. They usually are charismatic and passionate about their work.
“The #1 reason customers buy from you isn’t service, selection, quality or price — it’s your confidence! (Guerilla Selling)”
Most importantly, they focus to make their clients succeed by understanding their company’s mission, values, and vision. Clients want to know that you have understood their goals and business. They should feel assured that you care about them than your own sales numbers.
When the customer feels connected to the Sales opportunity, a close bonding is established. You cannot manipulate this bond. It comes out of legitimate interest and involvement and eases the gap to build a bridge between you and the client.
At this level of interest, you can sell anything to anyone. But paradoxically, it doesn’t come across as “selling” because there is no product or service at the forefront. Instead, there is a personality, an intelligent and compelling human being, developing a bond with one another.
So, how do you know when you have achieved this special bonding with your customers and clients?
Such customers with whom you have established this special bond, often approach you for advice on issues related to the service or product or business. This happens over a period of time and they will truly enjoy your company. They will be more than willing to refer you to their business associates for more business. Your relationship evolves into a form that cannot be defined by an order or a transaction.
Keep your customers close: Why customer success is important for business
The year 2020 – where normalcy is getting redefined.
No one could have imagined that the world would change drastically within a fortnight. COVID-19 Pandemic is something that the world was unprepared for. The outbreak has forced individuals and companies alike to rapidly the change the way they live and work. Many aspects of business and life are being challenged and the next new normal may look way different from what it was a year ago. Companies are doing their best to sail through the economic crisis thus generated by pandemic.
Customer success takes a new definition against the backdrop of this pandemic. Amidst the crisis, customer acquisition will be more challenging than ever before. For the near future, it is time for your business to focus on customer success. “Keeping your customers close” is the only mantra that keeps your business steady and the focus now shifts to strengthening the relationship with your customers. It is essential for your customers to know that you are there for them in the time of economic downturn and the relationship that you build during these times is going to be crucial for the long run. This is where the Customer Success Manager plays a major role.
Understand your customers
If you want to keep your customers close, you need to know them better.
Who are your customers? What is their line of business? Who do they interact with? What issues are they experiencing right now, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic?
Businesses ought to face serious economic crisis during pandemic situations such as the COVID-19 or the economic slowdown that engulfs the world aftermath. During such times, businesses may be forced to shutdown due to rapid decline in sales, which will lead to chain of other unwarranted consequences like layoffs, discontinuation of service or product and so on. As a result, your customers will no longer need the product or service from you, thereby impacting your business as well. It is imperative that you and your team evaluate the customer impact during such crisis.
Segment your customers by industry, check their revenue pattern, sort them by priority, see who needs your help at first, address them (if not all, but a handful) with increasing business measures
Analyze the situation
The time is ideal for you to come up with the best solutions for your customer’s problem. But you should know where to begin. Start by performing an analysis. Brainstorm with managers and customer success representatives in your organization and evaluate the following.
Will your customers be able to continue normal operations, like before?
If not, how will that impact their business and their collaboration with you?
How long can you sustain with added benefits for your customers?
What is the likelihood your customer will go out of business as a result of this slowdown?
How has the slowdown impacted their cashflow?
The path becomes clearer once you have answers to these questions. As a customer success manager, use this opportunity to show that you care for your customers. Deliver amazing value and build strong relationships that will last long.
The Solution – Retention is the key
Customers will be willing to ward off all those unnecessary expenditures, may let go of temporary or extra staff, stop services and software purchases, and so on. This is where you can lend an extra arm to offer them assistance by extending your services. Your customers will appreciate the support and work that you did to help them when they needed the most. You will be remembered for a longer period.
Be proactive. Reach out to your customers in need, and let them know that you are together with them to overcome this crisis.
Offer discounts, if you can, to customers who are in deep financial crisis, until the situation improves.
Add more features free of charge, which you think is essential to run or retain the service.
Offer them a sustainable upgrade plan that will give them added financial advantages
Provide extra support through various communication channels.
A 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25-100% increase in profiles for your company (through referrals, upsell, upgrade or new purchase) – Source – Fred Reichheld, author of Loyalty Effect.
Retaining existing customers is the only way to keep your business afloat during crisis such as these.
Give your customers short-term free access to key modules or services to help them overcome the crisis. By doing so, they get a preview of these features and will see first-hand how it benefits them. There is a long-term benefit for you in terms of loyalty – they will be more inclined towards your business once the crisis is over.
Let your customers know that You are there for them, be it any time – either during the global financial crisis or the new normal world, that is getting redefined in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Having decided to become an Entrepreneur, everyone, including myself, is committed to an idea whole-heartedly for life. What carries you forward through this interesting journey to success is the determination and persistence to bring your idea to life.
A few weeks back, when I am still laying the foundation to be an entrepreneur, a boy, who should be in his teens, at my locality taught me an interesting lesson in entrepreneurship – “Don’t give up and keep going no matter what, you would be much closer to your goal very soon, despite the failures and hardships”
The Court
The Covid-19 Pandemic has locked down people all over the world. But, the spirit of life and its challenges have never changed since the pandemic hit us.
The boys were practicing badminton across a tiny lane during these lock-down days. My brother, being a good player, started to coach them. Quite sooner than expected, the boys entered the game mode and formed 2 teams, namely Ruby and Diamond, who were pitched against each other. Ruby Team was dominant over Diamond and kept on winning the game every day. The Diamond team was determined to win a game any day and refused to change pair, even when offered a chance.
The Game
One fine day, I pulled the Diamond team players for a conversation and asked them if they had a strategy to win the game over Team Ruby. I have seen them practicing a lot more than Ruby, deploying different tactics to win the game but in vain. They neither wanted to give up nor change the pair.
I was curious to know what kept the Diamond players going without tasting success for long and how it really feels to be on a long losing streak. That is when one of the boys opened up, saying – “We know Ruby is stronger than us, but that doesn’t make us weak. It is just that we haven’t mastered the play. If either of us changes the pair, that will end up demotivating the other partner. However, we are sure that we will taste success one day. All along, we have been maturing ourselves with such failures and we have been rectifying the mistakes. The moment we taste success would mean our game is flawless. We will fight hard until one day we win over Team Ruby”.
The Winner
I was dumbstruck by the response and was in awe of the boy who gave me this reply. I couldn’t respond or react any more other than wishing them success and left the place without any doubt on their capabilities and determination to win the game one day.
Isn’t that too much of a matured thinking from a boy in his early teens, to have taught me such a hard lesson so easy? How I wish I had learned this lesson earlier at the beginning of my career! This episode created a great impact on me and has taught me one of the greatest lessons in entrepreneurship. For days together, I couldn’t get over this episode and my thoughts were completely wound around how to implement such a lesson in my career.
Perseverance and grit are key ingredients to success not only on the entrepreneurial journey. It is the key to achieving your goals in life. Most entrepreneurs would agree that there is no safety net during the initial days of business. Challenges are aplenty, but, these are tests to your commitment and success. The test of our commitment, risk-taking skills, ability to overcome difficulties and confidence, to stretch our comfort zones, and so on.
We all are capable of achieving success: it falls in place when you have the right commitment, your ability to overcome difficulties with zeal and confidence, the flexibility to expand your comfort zone, perseverance, grit, and determination.
Stories that have morals and messages behind them are always powerful. If that story was related to business, the impact it creates is long-lasting. It helps you connect with your audience quickly and you are one step closer to the business opportunity.
In a world where information is bountiful, it becomes essential to get the right message to the audience. Stories are a good way to keep your audience hooked onto your core message.
In my two decades of experience, I have seen how relevant stories have helped me to easily mentor aspiring students, young entrepreneurs, active job seekers, acquaintances, and much more.
Well, pat yourself on the back, if you guessed that I am going to tell a short story now. Read on.
Two Frogs in a bowl of milk
To convey the message of never give up and persevere, let me share the story of two frogs which fell in a bowl of milk.
Two frogs, let me name them Bru and Tru, accidentally fell into a bowl of milk. Having swum all around the bowl, Bru and Tru realized that the edge of the bowl was too high and steep for them to get out unaided. Bru realized that it was useless to waste his energy by continuing to jump and swim since that would not get him out of the bowl, he gave up swimming and drowned. Tru persevered, refused to give in, and gradually the milk turned into solid butter, by constant churning, until he was able to use it as a foothold to jump out of the bowl.
Does that pass on a message to you?
I strongly believe stories, such as these, motivate the reader and experience the message/information/data thus shared, as opposed to just consuming it.
What can storytelling do?
Stories grab the attention of the audience quickly and maintain a connection; they help to understand the situation or topic of discussion better. Stories, quite often, may touch emotions and help connect with your audience at a personal level. In my opinion, stories turn you into an efficient presenter/communicator.
Let us talk business now. Why is storytelling important in business?
In a business setting, when you tell a story, you are personalizing the facts and putting a human face to the details presented. Suddenly, your data is applicable to people in the real world. Your audience gets a glimpse of how you overcame the challenges.
Do not underestimate the power of storytelling
If done well, the power of a great story can have a massive impact on the audience and define you as an influencer. They remember the story and the storyteller for life. It can inspire, enliven, and create instant rapport. It can move the audience to take a quick decision and it may even change lives, who knows. Never underestimate the power of storytelling. Isn’t it creative to identify the right story for every business opportunity?
Why don’t you share a story or two which, in your opinion, has influenced people/customers to take a business decision quickly? Let us keep the discussion active. Share your stories and help others to influence the decision-making process.
