First let’s revisit Bill the Barber. It was time for a hair cut today. Checking in with Bill and his business, things are picking up. He has filled another chair. I know why – He shared this story about another customer.
The customer told him, “Bill I’ll bet you have had customers disappear and you wonder what happened to them. I have to disappear. My company downsized and I can’t afford the cut here anymore. When things I’ll come back.”
Here is where it gets interesting. Did Bill say OK see you later? No! He said, “would you continue to come here if your cost was half the price”. The answer was yes. This man has been a client for over 20 years. Can you guess why?
Then I got an email from a new contact in my LinkedIn Directory Paul Castain a self-proclaimed Jedi Master and Sales Trainer. He sent out a list of resources for all the people in his network. In other words he provided value to everyone in his network, Free! When thinking of sales training who do you think is going to be at the table in his network?
Then there was the Trust Reader Vol. 9 from Trusted Advisor Associates. Specifically the article on Reciprocity is relevant. In the article Charles Green (who wrote the book on becoming a trusted advisor) shares the research on how reciprocity (a benefit of generosity) works. This is not to say that we give on a quid pro quo basis. But when we give from our hearts and we share value with our colleagues we can only reap the rewards. It’s the way the Universe works.
