The Words Everyone Dreads

OK, brace yourselves – it’s time for a painful truth.

We’ve all been there.

Sitting with that special someone and hearing those words.

“It’s not you, it’s me.”

Easy words to say.

And an even easier way of trying to make the other person feel a little bit better about the pain they’re about to endure.

But here’s the difficult bit.

Sometimes it will be you.

You may have said, done or felt the wrong thing, and things just aren’t going to work out.

It’s no different in business than it is in any other kind of relationship.

So face up to the facts and accept that, according to the law of averages, sometimes it IS you.

And then do something about it.

People, Who Need People...

One of my colleagues here at Jack Morton, Gareth, attended a retirement party recently for a client of his former agency, and was happy to see all his “old” clients.
During the course of the evening Gareth was surprised to learn that he was still the subject of many a conversation, despite two and a half years having elapsed since they last spoke.
This is a real demonstration of one of perhaps the best known of all sales truisms.
People buy people first.
Yes clients buy our work, our creativity or our bespoke costing and control systems.
But they buy us.
The people in the room, the chats over coffee and reassuring voice at the end of the phone line.
It’s great when a client connects with you through Linked-In, and Facebook , but it’s a hundred times more valuable to know them in the real world..

Everybody’s Equal

The equals sign was invented by Welsh physician and mathematician Robert Recorde.
He created it because he found writing ‘is equal to ’ somewhat tedious, and chose two parallel lines because “noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle”
(he may have been a great mathematician, but not a great speller).
The notion of parallel lines and equality can be applied to business partnerships – like attracts like. So a brave client will get the brave agency it deserves, and vice versa.
I’ve talked a lot about the similarities between clients and agencies, and the need to reflect shared traits and characteristics.
But like any relationship, it takes effort on both sides to make it work.
Find the qualities you have in common, and work on the ones you don’t.
Oh, and unlike parallel lines, make sure you meet often