Hey everybody! Welcome back. It’s another Fast Tip Friday.
Charlie Hauck, President, Lead Trainer, Founder at Growth Dynamics. I want to bring a little sports analogy to the mix this week and get you to think about playing both offense and defense in your business development practice.
Most people like to play offense because that’s when the points are scored. That’s when you get the big cheers. That’s when you feel like, wow, look at me! I scored a touchdown, scored a goal, put the ball in the basket. Everybody loves that part of the game. That seems to be the part of the game we get paid for.
I want you to think about defense as you consider your business development practice. To me, defense is keeping the competition out of your accounts. Nothing’s as painful. I would rather lose an opportunity right at the start than start an opportunity and then have someone come and take it away from me. And why does that happen? Well, I’m going to tell you what the biggest problem is: overpromising and underdelivering.
When you’re guilty of overpromising and underdelivering, you’ve essentially broken the belief and trust that the prospect put in you when they decided to do business with you. If you promised great service, great variety, great response, and great commitment to their success as well as your own, and you don’t deliver on those, you’re just another lying, thieving salesperson. It’s tough to get rid of that reputation once somebody sticks it on you.
So what I want you to think about is that playing defense is simply doing the best you can in your customer service role. When there is a problem, and there will always be a problem sooner or later, you are there to immediately respond, take responsibility for it, and put your best effort into proving that you are as good as the claims you made when you made the sale.
Don’t be so offense-minded that it’s new opportunity, new opportunity, new opportunity, and you forget about playing defense and protecting the success you’ve already created. You must know how to play both to survive in the new world of business development, where technology, immediate communication, and access from everywhere are the norm. Don’t let those things cripple your ability to play both sides of the line of scrimmage. You can win, and win profitably, playing both offense and defense.
So make sure you know which side of the ball you’re on and what you’re supposed to do to succeed. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Have another great weekend. Get out of the gate early Monday. Make it the best week of the year yet. Take care.
