Overdrawn?
There are many aspects of followup and experience has taught me that all of them are based on good old fashion common sense. You know … the stuff that’s actually not so common? This includes ‘follow through’ and how it relates to the health of relationships, and sales, and repeat sales, and referrals, and…
And what is follow through? Follow through is simply ensuring that what we said or implied would happen, happens. This applies equally to promises made to prospects, customers, associates, and even friends and family.
And how does this impact relationships?
To help explain I’ll defer to Stephen Covey, author of ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. He suggests that with each of our relationships, whether professional or personal, we establish “Emotional Bank Accounts”.
To quote Stephen, “We all know what a financial bank account is. We make deposits into it and build up a reserve from which we can make withdrawals when we need to. An Emotional Bank Account is a metaphor that describes the amount of trust that’s been built up in a relationship. Its the feeling of safeness you have with another human being.”
Stephen states that deposits made into an Emotional Bank Account through courtesy, kindness, honesty, consideration and keeping commitments build up a reserve. Trust then becomes higher and then even with mistakes, that trust level, that emotional reserve, will compensate.
The other side of the coin is that a shortage of deposits and too many withdrawals results in the account being overdrawn and eventually closed out.
So what does this really mean in practical terms? It means that every time we enter into a relationship there are in effect two accounts being opened … we with them and they with us. And from that moment on both parties are making either deposits to or withdrawals from these accounts.
Not surprisingly, accounts in long standing relationships with a history of a surplus of deposits will take much longer to become overdrawn than a relatively new relationship.
So what does this have to do with follow through? Everything.
For example, if you and I have a business relationship of any kind then by default we have emotional bank accounts with each other and from that point on whenever I say, or even imply, that I will do a certain thing then whether or not I do it, and even how I do it, will result in either a deposit or withdrawal from that account.
In other words, the more deposits I make the stronger the degree of trust you will feel for me and the more likely it is that you will want to continue doing business with me and the more likely that you will feel comfortable in referring others to me. Should my deposits become smaller or less frequent however and my withdrawals greater, my account will be at risk and I may begin losing the above benefits.
And what of new accounts? Well, if you and I were in the early stages of our relationship, as in not even actually doing business yet, then all it might take would be a single withdrawal instead of a deposit and it could be game over … I may not even have a chance of getting to second base. Important stuff, yes?
So, how would you describe the health of your accounts? Have you checked lately? Perhaps it would be wise to objectively evaluate each one to determine its status and, if in doubt, to ask the opinion of the account holder. That way you’d have an opportunity to refocus on replenishing any deficiencies that might exist.
After all, as long as the account is still open it’s probably not too late to make new deposits.
Happy depositing. 