Why Do Business Relationships Lose Power?
When relationships lose their spark, it’s because we stop exploring. What steps will protect your future business?
My insight on relationships comes from two sources, like most, failure and success in my personal life, secondly, decades working in management and sales. In business you can encounter various co-workers and customers from every walk of life and personality type, you must learn to manage relationships to survive.
Many of us get advice from friends and family on relationships that have veered off course. Ironically, many of us want to help manage other people’s relationships while some of our own are in trouble.
What puts a relationship on a path to losing power?
We run out of questions.
The power of curiosity and asking questions is our jumping-off point to building a new relationship. Discovery has energy and fuels the early stages of getting to know someone better.
More information creates understanding, helps us find common bonds, and teaches new things to broaden our views — all valuable parts of a beneficial relationship.
What happens with existing relationships?
We, unfortunately, sometimes settle in, and the magic of discovery as energy between us wanes. The topics can become mundane and even repetitive. When you reach this stage in a relationship, the endpoint could be on the horizon.
What to do?
You reengage by getting back inside their world as they live it (not how they promote it) and leaving room for different points of view. When did you take the last “deep dive” with that fading relationship to uncover more than you think you know about this person? Asking new and further questions can regain a spark, and if you open up as well, the results can be even better.
We All Have Style.
In business relationships, numerous training programs help to better relate to new prospects and find a beneficial starting point for mutual success.
There are ways to use specific insights and observation techniques to manage the meeting more effectively. This approach is not covert selling; it’s intelligent, empathetic, and improves the odds of success.
In my first year of sales, the four quadrants of social styles from Wilson Learning were part of my training. Our peers and managers evaluated each other using a written process that built a personality profile for us to consider.
The introspection combined with the training supercharged my early success. Not only did I learn more about myself and how to adapt to each prospect, but the ability to read and recognize who was across from me was a game-changer.
Wilson’s four social style labels are Driver, Amiable, Analytical, and Expressive.
For example, with Drivers, you might encounter a person who wants control and makes a statement more than asks a question.
The Driver is a type “A” personality who is goal-oriented, risk-taking, and stable under stress. Does this sound like any of your prospects or customers? How would you plan to close a sale with this prospect?
The naming convention varies across various training platforms and does not matter; what’s important is the structure underneath to recognize a person’s unique characteristics as you move forward in the sale.
Everyone needs help closing sales, and being more observant with a perspective on personality styles will strengthen results, as it did for me.
Summary:
Curiosity and asking questions are key to building and maintaining relationships. When relationships lose their spark, it’s often because we stop exploring and discovering new things about the other person.
To reignite a fading relationship, I recommend deep diving into their world, asking fresh questions, and being open to different perspectives.
Understanding social styles, such as the Driver, Amiable, Analytical, and Expressive, can significantly improve communication and sales success.
Being observant and adaptable to unique personality characteristics is essential in closing sales effectively.
Thank you for your time reading this article. Visit my “Sales Improvement Reading List” to browse additional articles by topic, and you will find more helpful content for your growth journey.
