By Mike Schultz, Publisher
Ma Kelly needed to clear her son's name. Johnny didn't do it, but the cops thought he did, so it didn't matter. Ma put on her detective shoes and went to work.
Turns out that the guy that did it wasn't careful. Mary Margaret Katherine Dineen was cleaning up in the building when she saw what really happened. But she wasn't sayin' nothin'. If you want to stay safe on the streets of the Lower East Side, you don't say nothin'.
Ma went to go visit her.
Ma Kelly: Look, I need your help. I need to know who did it.
Mary Margaret Katherine Dineen: Why should I help you. We ain't got nothin' in common.
Ma: We got a lot in common, you and I.
Mary: Like what?
Ma: Well, we both scrub floors for a living, we're both swell lookers, and neither one of us is Chinese.
Mary: Oh, well in that case, come on in...
Some time ago I observed an initial sales call between a professional services provider and new prospect . The conversation went from handshake to brass tacks, with no pleasantries, no catching up, no connection making. It didn't go particularly well.
A certain subset of people (who often choose to work in professional services) simply feel uncomfortable having conversations like normal people. Yet, when make connections with people, you can make a lot more progress getting done whatever you are trying to get done than if you work and talk like a robot. To paraphrase, "All work and no normal conversation makes Jack a dull boy."
Much as you might like to get straight to brass tacks, rapport is important in selling professional services, and in delivering professional services.
Why do you think so many professional service providers skip the important rapport-generation part of building relationships and selling? If they didn't, they'd probably make more progress. It worked for Ma Kelly... it'll work for you.
P.S. In case you missed Johnny Dangerously, Johnny's nemesis Danny Vermin did it in an attempt to usurp Johnny's claim to the leadership of the Jocko Dundee gang.
Mike Schultz is the Publisher of RainToday.com and an advisor to service businesses worldwide. He can be reached at /664_mschultz@raintoday.com.
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