Have you ever wondered how some people just seem to build influence with others so quickly? That they just seem to gain engagement without much effort?
Today let’s talk about one of the concepts that I teach in my Unmatched Influence training, and is also part of my online Trustworthy training below. It’s called being the bridge.
This concept was something I stumbled onto when I was new to a particular sales territory that I moved into for one of the organizations that I worked for in my career. I was not the only part of the organization that was new to this territory. The entire organization was new.
We had no previous relationships in this territory so we were starting from scratch. We were hustling to get the business growing and fast. This part of the United States was also considered a good ole boy network. If you were an outsider, good luck…
I started building relationships with customers and prospects as fast as I could. I was working extra hours and getting to know the territory and who were the top prospects. While doing so I was building my CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database as I went. I was asking all sorts of questions.
There was a lot of caffeine and memorization as well. Back when my memory was great…
One day I was calling on a customer that was asking me about a software they were looking at using for their business. I knew nothing of the software and was curious as to why I was being asked. It was because I was an electrical engineer by training. Like just being an electrical engineer made me understand all types of software.
Granted I could probably debug some software issues and fix windows issues, but know all software was not something that I could sign up for. What I did know is that another customer about three hours north of this customer actually used this software.
I reached out to this other customer and asked if they wouldn’t mind answering some questions for another customer not in their territory. The answer was yes and they had a call which resulted in the customer asking the question to avoid some pitfalls that the other customer had. They switch over to the new software was a success.
What I didn’t expect is that the customer that I helped get in touch with this other customer was grateful and started confiding in me more and more. Asking me questions about more business solutions and ideas and telling others that I was the go to person for help.
This began a snowball effect which resulted in me getting more phone calls from potential customers than me having to chase them down. I was building influence faster and faster. Now the initial help that I offered by connecting the two customers did not result in sales that day, but it did build a relationship and influence in the entire territory fast.
I call this “Being the Bridge.” By connecting others that are able to help each other I am also granted influence and credibility as well. By being the bridge, I was able to gain much faster influence in my territory that I actually was being asked to stop in to help. It also netted me a great deal of business. I was growing my territory at a fast pace, I won the award for top sales person for the United States, and grossed more income all by serving the customers by bridging them together.
To build influence, we need to serve those around us whether they be customers, or team members. We need to use the open hand and not the closed fist when interacting with them. If we do so, we will be successful in building unmatched influence that will allow us to go further faster with others.
I hope this helps you on your journey to building influence.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training