We all know them, the so-called “tile wisdom”. ‘A day without laughter is a day not lived’. Or “Success is 20 per cent inspiration and 80 per cent perspiration” and so on. Even in the field of work I have set my heart on, sales, we are good at it. Sometimes these sayings sound a bit too predictable, but there is often a grain of truth in them. Take “No exists” for instance. Secretly, I like that one. In fact, I use it with great regularity.
A recent event made me think about this “wisdom” again. I received an e-mail from a client who told me that he was not in favour of renewing the partnership because he was dissatisfied with an experience with Van Duuren. I immediately replied to him: ‘Thanks for your quick and honest response! I really appreciate your openness’ and suggested he visit me to learn together from this experience and – possibly – look ahead.
Personally, I don’t think my response to that email has any great merit. Rather, I take it for granted. We are all professionals among ourselves. We strive for the best results and sometimes things go wrong. In that case, openness and honesty is always the shortest and best route to a solution. If you think in such a “simple” and solution-oriented way, you never have to communicate in complicated ways or beat around the bush. In good times, you compliment each other and pat each other on the back; when things are not going well, you talk about them. A condition for this is that your words and your actions are completely in line. If the comment “I’ll be happy to look for a solution with you” is mainly a marketing talk to keep a customer happy, you will definitely come up cold at some point. But if the customer notices that you are genuinely looking to improve and are happy to go the extra mile to do so, you often turn that negative experience into an improved relationship.
Of course, all of us in business have both long-term relationships and relationships that come to an end. Sometimes it is also good for both parties to look for a new partner. But in general, I very much believe in this wisdom, that “No” cannot be the end, but rather the beginning of a good (sales) conversation.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle already said that a true friend is not someone who talks down to you, but someone who is honest with you and tells you the truth, even if that truth is difficult. In our private lives too, I think this is a very nice principle. And if you translate “a true friend” into “a good (business) relationship”, then we have some nice (tile) wisdom to add. Because we all make mistakes. The way we react to those mistakes shows the wood we are cut from.
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