American entreprenuers who live under time pressures tend to want to jump right into closing the sale before it's too late (whatever "too late" means -- with an infinite future in front of you, how can anything be too late?)
We spend almost every moment thinking about what we're going to do in the next moment. Our mind is on our business when we are with our family. When we're in the office with a client, our mind is daydreaming about our vacation. When we're supposedly listening to our spouse during a romantic dinner, we're thinking about what witty thing we are going to say next. We're always thinking about the next thing, the next event, the next task, or the next person we have to talk to at a networking event.
Our American business culture is so obsessed with managing time that we've forgotten what's important about time. When we think that in order to have a successful client meeting we need to accomplish something--such as negotiating a firm agreement--we make things worse instead of becomeing more client attractive. That's because the person we're with immediately SENSES that our attention is on something other than them. When we don't focus our attention on hearing about a prospect's struggles, or successes, why should they focus on anything we say? When we don't value them, why should they value us?
Only you can stop yourself from obsessing about how little time you have. It is just part of our human nature to ALWAYS have far more to do than we have time available. Focus instead on making every prospect and client moment count. When you are in a room full of over a hundred small business owners, treat every moment together as though no one else in the room is more important - even if that moment is for just the blink of an eye. You may not even need to say many words, and yet you'll communicate to clients how special they are. In many Asian cultures, for example, people recognize and practice the concepts of "face" and harmony in ways Westerners do not. Beign direct and "getting all the issues out on the table" can be a good thing (according to the Western view), but the Asian approach of setting some conflicts and business agendas aside for the sake of maintaining a harmonious client meeting or respectful communication is equally legitimate. You'll become far more effective with everything you do in your business.
Now, here is one simple tip that is so profound, that it will immediately connect you at a DEEPER level with your clients. Whenever you are with another person, whether for a second or for several minutes, look into their eyes and focus on remembering everything about their eyes - the color, the shape, the length of their eyelashes. Look at every little red line in the whites of their eyes, see their shape and size. Stay focused on their eyes until you're sure you can recount every detail.
Now here's the amazing truth. Want to know what will happen when you do this? Individuals will sense that your attention is nowhere else but on them. This will make them feel special, and they will desire to build a proper business relationship with you. They will feel drawn to you, and soak up the undivided attention. You will see that the other person is actually listening to everything you're saying. Eliciting a desired win-win response will become easier and easier. And, once you experience that, you won't want to go back to looking at another person in the old way again. Each time you encounter another person, you will see their WORTH, and they will see yours. I guarantee that this will attract more paying clients, just the same way it has attracted all the local and global clients I need, so that I work less and make more money.
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Kim Schott, your Global Client Communication Expert, is the author of the Keys to Client Communication System™, the step-by-step, paint by numbers client attraction program to attract more clients in less time. To receive your weekly how-to articles on consistantly attracting more local and global clients in less time, visit
http://www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com
