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So even though times have changed and new terminology has been adopted, you may still here someone say “wow that was a RAD company”. When you hear the word RAD it makes you think of something cool or awesome, but sometimes you need to take a deeper look to determine whether they we indeed RAD. When you call this company do they know you by name, or do they ask you about you personal life, do they ask how are the wife and kids? When you speaking with them do the seem happy to speak with you, engaged in the conversation or are they mono toned and trying to move you along? When you need assistance on something or just need quick answers, will they pick up the phone and try the best to get you what you need? These are all thing that make a company R.A.D. I guarantee that if you do all these things you can indeed make your company a R.A.D. company.
Relationship:
This is the first step you need to take in order to become a R.A.D. company. Relationships start very small could be an introductory phone call with few words spoken between two parties to achieve a common goal. Through the process of doing more work together, big or small, you should start developing a better relationship with the client. Becoming more human is a great way to open the doors for more and continued business, instead of just being their work horse. This can be as easy as asking what their hobbies are during a brief moment of silence, who knows maybe you are both have a shared love for sports, art, or anything that can bring you closer to your clients. It can be very comforting to a client to talk about their personal life, they feel like they have more of a friend in your not just a partner. Relationships can go either way though sometimes you can have a bad relationship with a client simply due to a poor attitude toward dealing with a particular client. This is always something you want to avoid, don’t let a bad day or pesky client diminish a potentially good relationship because things are not eye to eye at the moment.
Attitude:
This is probably the most important part of starting any relationship. The correct attitude can sky rocket a standard call into something that becomes so much more, or even sink a ship before it sets sail. Attitude is the key to winning, retaining, or bringing old business back. When a client calls in and they are greeted with a friendly smiling voice that is willing to assist anyway possible it makes them feel like they are important or at least a friend more then a number. The same call if answered with a low don’t bother me tone, I don’t want to be here attitude, then neither will the client they will go looking for someone that seems to have more interest in their progression as a business. They might feel as if they are bothering you and that they are not worth your time for the call. This could lead to a dissatisfied client who might never sign up, or potentially leave later down the road looking for the warm fuzzy company. This isn’t always easy everybody has good and bad days, people are people after all, but try to not let these thing effect you during your call. If you need to get up between meetings take a walk or catch a quick breath before diving back in, do it. You are not always granted the luxury of getting up from your desk to move, but there are a few things you can do to help keep your attitude in check. Breathing techniques can be used to calm ones mind and body when they begin to fluster, or take a moment to read up something you like, possibly even snack it out a little if you have a comfort food you enjoy near by (be careful of this last one it can have side effects). The happier you are on the call can really transfer over to the client side to make for a great meeting.
Dependability:
Being there when you are needed most, this might be the simplest definition of dependability. This is a word that goes very deep because your clients may depend on you for very different reasons but you have to remain dependable if you wish to continue to grow your business. A start up company may call you and they are depending on you to be the experts to point them in the right direction for their model. Your longest term client could depend on you for monthly, weekly, or even daily reports. They need to know that they are well taken care of and always will be, if they can’t depend on you they will find someone that they can depend on. This can be looked at as I’m just doing my job, following the orders I was given, but to the guy on the other side of your work you are everything to the growth of the business. If you look at it in a different perspective, what if I needed this done for my company? How would you feel not knowing if all your information might not be there for you, a little uncomfortable? This is why people pick dependable companies because you are a vital part to their model. People have even been known to stick with a company who doesnt produce the best results for a dependability factor. “Yeah maybe we could find more leads in a new company, but will they take care of us?” Is a question every business owner should face before obtaining a partner, vender, or moving partners. If a company isn’t dependable, what are they really worth?
If you do all these thing well you will be building yourself a very R.A.D. company. R.A.D. companies are they companies that will go to the next level and bring their clients and partners with them. This may seem like a simple task to keep everything in line and make all lives easy, but again people are people. You will have bad days but you cant let them effect your business. Being R.A.D. isn’t always about being cool, but if you do all these thing you will be a pretty cool company to everyone you do business with. Who knows maybe your R.A.D. business could inspire others to follow your lead and make the business world more R.A.D!
By: Edward Bergeron, Marketing Coordinator
