Love and Respect

Published on
January 13, 2012
Author
Chris Taylor
"Ideas are only valuable when applied."
Subscribe to digest
Read about our privacy policy.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

I love our clients.

I was reflecting on that, as I drove home from a new client meeting the other day, and got to thinking of how pure the feeling was. I want them to succeed. I want desperately to help them achieve their goals of being a strong leader and giving their teams the training they need to succeed. And I got to thinking about how those feelings really have little to do with me.

I’m human. I’m in sales, and there have been times throughout my career when the sale was more important than the end result. I’ve had jobs where the excitement was in the hunt. I’ve had jobs where the excitement was in the paycheque. But this time, with Actionable, and the people we have the privilege of serving, I can truly say that the excitement is in seeing the customer succeed.

It has to do with alignment, I believe. When someone signs on for an Actionable Workshops subscription, I automatically gain respect for them. Not because they’re buying from us, but because they’re indicating through their actions that they genuinely care about their teams and want to be a stronger leader. And I love that.

My natural instinct is to help people who want to help themselves. Aligning myself with a product/service that attracts those type of people makes it so much easier for me to do my job with passion and excellence.

If you’re in sales, I encourage you to ask yourself the question: “When someone buys from you, do you respect that decision? Do you genuinely care about the type of people who would use your service?”

Another way of looking at it is to think, “If I didn’t work in this industry, and someone told me about their recent purchase at a cocktail party, what would my reaction be?” If your reaction would naturally be one of interest and/or excitement, then I think you’re on the right track. If your reaction would be one of boredom or feigned interest, however…

Something to think about.