I’m going to ask for your indulgence.  You see, I have not used a sports analogy for an article in quite some time but on this particular topic I just could not help it… so here goes. 

We have devoted just about everything we do to providing insight and proven concepts to help build and maintain great business relationships. I want to speak for a moment on the maintain portion of business relationships.  I believe now more than ever is our greatest opportunity to reassure confidence in our clients and customers on their choice of working with us.

 We have all been exposed to expert views and opinions about the state of the economy.  Over the last few weeks through our travels we have had the opportunity to see first hand views of peoples’ “state of their confidence” regarding the economy.  From big cities to small community towns, there is a growing concern of fear and uncertainty.  For example, about two weeks ago I was sitting in a small town café having breakfast.  You know the kind of place I’m talking about.  Everyone knows everyone and every breakfast platter is covered in cream gravy!

Sitting about three tables from us were three elderly gentlemen having a stirring conversation. One gentleman was inquiring about who was tracking where all the “bailout” money went.  Another gentleman replied that there was no way to track that AND it did not matter because you don’t know who to trust anyway.  The final gentleman summed it all up when he said “I guess the only thing for sure is we’ll never be sure”  OUCH!

Hearing that, you may be asking yourself, How can I make a difference? A very good question indeed!  The answer can be found in a very integral part of a baseball game…Hitting, PLEASE read on.

Every player is given an opportunity to contribute to the team’s success when his number is called and he steps into the batter’s box.  Each batter has been well trained in how to position himself, seize the opportunity and make contact with the most important element of the game, the ball (Its called baseball for a reason you know).  By successfully executing this task he provides the opportunity to move along the proven course and eventually reach his destination.  

For us, the batter’s box is our business.  It’s our office, our staff, our approach to how we do things.  We have been given the tools and we understand the significance of how we position ourselves in the community and also how we measure up against our competitors. We seize the moment when we proactively make contact with our customers and clients.  As you know, customers and clients are the greatest elements of our game. They are the ones who have given their trust, their business to us.

You see the greatest thing we can do in this time of uncertainty is realize that maintaining great business relationships is a contact sport!  We need to make it a personal priority to contact those we serve to put any fears or uncertainty to rest.  When we contact our customers, we acknowledge them and demonstrate their worth to us.

My challenge to you is to develop ways to contact your customers.  It can be a phone call or just a simple, “thank you for your confidence in us” when they leave your place of business. The method of the contact is not as important as the contact itself!  Regardless of what you choose, your proactive approach to contacting customers will not go unappreciated.