Today is my birthday and I’ll talk about tips on how to “really” connect with people celebrating their birthdays.
What types of tips would be most valuable to you?
Join the discussion below and tell me your thoughts! That would be a great gift to me and will help me serve you better in the future.
Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the daily sales tips podcast and I’m your host Scott Ingram. Since today is both Superbowl Sunday and my birthday. I want to try something a little bit different and we’ll actually continue this tomorrow. First, though, I still want to give you something of value from a tip perspective and since it’s my birthday, let’s start there. Birthdays represent a powerful way to reinforce or re-establish a relationship with somebody with no ulterior motive. Too often when we reach out to people in our network, it’s because we want something. Typically, we’re not as good about reaching out to them to make a deposit in that relationship and unlike any other holiday, birthdays are typically really special and meaningful to that person uniquely. That is your opportunity, but you have to put in more than a baseline level of effort. Actually, I disabled my Facebook account a number of years ago, but I grew to really dislike what I think of as the social media birthday.
You know what this is like, right? You get all of these one-line generic comments from people, some of whom you might only hear from that one time each year, and maybe even worse is you get the same sort of, you know, one word, three word birthday, wish from people that you’re actually close to and nothing else from them. That’s what everybody does. If you want to be average then do that, but if you want to stand out and be above average, the level of additional effort required is so minimal. It’s insane. So first I’d recommend getting out of the noisy social channel and reaching out more directly. So, pick up the phone, make a call, wish them a happy birthday and leave a voicemail if you missed them or spend a whole two minutes and write them an email. Maybe you just briefly tell them why they matter to you or you recount a shared experience that you always associate with them.
It doesn’t really matter what it is, just do that little bit more and you’ll be remembered. Now if you really want to go above and beyond, get ahead of their birthday and drop a card in the mail. It takes some foresight and planning, but again, not a ton of effort. Now, if you want to do something for me on my birthday, leave a comment on any of these tips at DailySales.Tips. I love reading your thoughts and comments and they don’t help just me, they help your other peers in sales as well. Now, if you need a prompt for today’s tip, just answer the question, “what types of tips would be most valuable to you?” That would be a great gift to me and will help me serve you better in the future. And don’t worry at all if you’re listening to this after February 3rd, belated birthday wishes are always welcome and I appreciate you listening to the show, so don’t worry about that.
There’s another pretty significant event happening today and that is the Superbowl. I love watching the Superbowl, but I really struggle with one aspect and that is “when the heck are you supposed to go to the bathroom”? I don’t want to miss any of the game but I definitely don’t want to miss any of the commercials either, so it’s a real struggle. I just have to hope that there is some type of lengthy review or a coach’s challenge at a couple of really key points throughout the game. Anyway, as you watch the game and the commercials today, I want you to find one specific sales lesson or even just a life lesson. Then just keep that in mind and come back tomorrow for a Superbowl and Superbowl commercial debrief. Thanks for listening. Now go leave some comments at DailySales.Tips/15 Thanks!