Welcome to the Bottom Line Top Line Podcast with Carol Bartlett, Jol Hunter, and Chris Spurvey.
In the first five episodes of this show, we take a deep dive into a manifesto that Jol Hunter wrote a number of years ago about his 500 or so visits with leaders of organizations throughout Atlantic Canada, the rest of Canada, and parts of the United States.
In that manifesto, Jol Hunter describes the four factors that cause that gap between businesses’ current performance and potential performance: CEO time, process discipline, relationships as the source of all revenue, and members of the senior leadership team being on the same page.
To download the document, scroll to the bottom of these show notes and fill in the form.
In the previous episodes of this podcast, we discussed the four underlying reasons that we don’t fulfill our potential and our businesses’ potential. So far, we’ve focused on being on the same page with our teams.
This week, we take a deep dive into building relationships with clientele as a way of growing revenue. We talk about having diagnostic conversations that build strong relationships, and we explore the six types of questions you should ask during these conversations.
You’ll gain a lot of value from listening closely to the episode while following along with these notes.
If you have feedback on the show, by all means reach out to any of us. Enjoy!
What Makes a Successful CEO
A diagnostic conversation is built on the premise that, if you go to a doctor’s office, the doctor doesn’t open his or her big book of pills and ask, “Which one would you like?”
Instead, the doctor asks a series of questions in order to better understand the circumstances—what is going well and what isn’t—so that together you can decide how to deal with the situation. That’s a diagnostic conversation.
Trust
Trust is critical. All three of us (Carol, Jol, and Chris) are in businesses in which people open up to us in very personal ways. And it’s not a matter of us meeting a potential client and learning that everything is roses. It’s not usually like that.
But if we ask the six types of questions, people open up. They say, “Hey, this is what I’m doing wrong” or “This is what’s not going right.” They open up about their sales processes or their competition or whatever else. Confidentiality is vital to these diagnostic conversations and to the relationships that you’re building with these people, because they’re relaying things that are deeply personal to their organizations. It’s vital for us to maintain confidentiality and never ever mention anything out of context. That’s how we earn respect.
Be upfront about your integrity, that you’d never say anything that would jeopardize them or their businesses. And, if you can establish that very early on, every time you have a conversation it will be open and honest.
Best Practices for Tracking and Maintaining Relationships
There are oodles of CRM products that can help you track and maintain your relationships.
The key is to be deliberate and forward-thinking and set aside time to work at whatever system you choose. That way you’ll know when you’ve lost touch and can more easily decide on your next move.
To learn more about these topics, listen to the episode.
Mentions
Connect with Carol, Jol and Chris on LinkedIn.