They will come when you need them

“Doing business is easy.” Says one speaker. “All you need to do is to make sure that your sales exceed your expenses. Now how you do it is your issue not mine!” If you have ever come across speakers or trainers like this one then I am sure you will never give him or her any repeat business.

There is however a grain of truth in what the speaker said.

Doing business is never simple.

One time, the president of International Harvester said, “Business is simple. Make some stuff and sell it for more than it cost you. There’s nothing more to it than that except for a few million details.” But you and I need to remember that those few million details involve one crucial detail that would determine the success or failure of your businesses. And here is this piece of detail: we need to make our clients successful? Unless your clients are successful, you have failed in your job. This is why I need to make sure that my clients are not only happy with what I deliver but what I delivered should make them successfully achieve their objectives. 

I got a wonderful email from our company CEO Alex Araneta one evening. We’ve been busy communicating; intensively preparing for the one-day mega-seminar we will be presenting on Sept. 4 at the SMX Convention Center entitled “Culture of Personal Excellence.”

Alex says, “It’s amazing to see the overwhelming show of support your friends and clients are providing because of the many years of your relationship with them.”

The reason why Alex says this is because sponsors are coming in, friends are booking tickets and clients are getting bulk orders for their people to attend the seminar at a time when sponsorships are hard to get, budget tight and people would rather watch Dr. Spock, witches and wizards and some mechanized robots transforming themselves than attend a one day learning event.

What Alex said got me thinking. There are two reasons why there is an overwhelming show of support. One is that people see the nobility behind the project. Targeting 2,000 participants, the tickets are priced inexpensively. The topic will be engaging, inspiring and purposefully designed to provide a life-changing learning experience while at the same time we will be allocating 400 seats to subsidize and sponsor 4th year high school and college students from all levels. This way we start them young and start them right. Every time I attend expensive seminars in Singapore I always marveled at the fact that there are high school students attending because the Singaporean government subsidizes their fees. I hardly see the same thing happening in our country. Still wonder why Singapore is first world? What fascinates me is that schools bring their students to TV studios as field trips, attend game shows that feature toilet jokes and green humor while pretty girls with their pretty smiles gyrate their hips intelligently to the sound of fast beat music. I am sure the educators think that this is a great learning experience for the youth. (Duh?!)

The second reason why sponsorships and support are pouring is because many of my clients have become my friends over the years. Where will I be today without them anyway? Business is all about relationships. What else could it be? 

Empty platitudes about developing relationships and friendships with clients abound maybe because people fail to understand the deeper requirement to make such demand. Now here is the important requirement in making your customers successful.

SELL YOUR CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT BUT MAKE SURE YOU DELIVER WHAT THEY NEED! This is how you make them successful.

Getting the customer to sign on the purchase order is never the end objective. Making sure that the customer finds success because we have delivered faithfully is.

Most of my clients are repeat customers. Most of my customers have become my friends. They ask favors I deliver, I ask for support they respond. This is why of all people I am a man blessed with so much I do not deserve them but for the grace of God.

So who is the wag who says, “It is so hard to get sponsors these days?”

Just give and serve for a couple of years and they will come just when you need them. You can only achieve this when you know that God’s hand is upon you. This is the stage when your profession stops and your calling begins. Respond to God’s call and do your best to serve. 

(For more information regarding the mega-training event Culture of Personal Excellence on September 4, 2009 at the SMX Convention Center, call Inspire Leadership Consultancy Inc. 632-6872614 or 0917851115)