The secret to winning and retaining customers – Part 3 of 3
Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and it is important to embrace what comes naturally. Ian Lowe from Go-Givers Australia concludes his series on retaining customers by highlighting the importance of authenticity.
In last couple of posts we’ve touched on the first three principle of winning and retaining customers, specifically:
- The Law of Value: “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.”
- The Law of Compensation: “Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”
- The Law of Influence: “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”
In this third and final post in the series we look at the final two laws – Authenticity and Receptivity.
The Fourth Principle: Authenticity
The fourth law, The Law of Authenticity, says: “The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.”
The best thing about this law is that it isn’t something you have to learn; it is something you simply need to embrace, because it comes to us all naturally, if we only let it.
In The Go-Giver, there is a character named Debra Davenport who discovers that all the sales skills, technical skills and even people skills she has laboured to learn are for naught unless she is genuinely herself with her clients. When she gives up on all the techniques and lets herself simply be herself, the sales process miraculously works. This is not to say that knowledge and the development of solid skill sets are not important; indeed they are. They are very important. But they are worthless in the absence of authenticity, while the presence of authenticity multiplies their effectiveness geometrically.
George Burns once jokingly remarked, “In Hollywood, sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” But authenticity is something you can’t really fake, at least not for the long term. People have an uncanny radar for inauthenticity and, whether consciously or not, can smell it a mile away. Because we don’t always listen to our own intuition, people who fake it can often get away with it for a time, but not forever.
Q: Have you embraced who you are?
The Fifth Principle: Receptivity
The last principle, the Law of Receptivity, says: “The key to effective giving is to say open to receiving.” In the story Pindar, the main mentor, asks Joe to breathe out and hold that breath for 30 seconds. Joe tries, but in a very quick period of time he’s running out of breath. It’s obvious that he’s struggling and Pindar says, “What’s the matter? You can’t do it?” Joe says, “No, I can’t just breathe out, I’ve got to breathe in as well.”
And Pindar said, “Joe, what if I was to tell you that it’s been medically proven that it’s actually healthier to breathe out than it is to breathe in?” Joe just laughs. He says, “That’s silly. You’ve got to do both. You’ve got to breathe out and breathe in.”
Exactly. You breathe out, you breathe in. You breathe out carbon dioxide, you breathe in oxygen. You breathe out, which is giving; you breathe in, which is receiving. Giving and receiving are simply two sides of the very same coin and they work best in tandem. In fact, to minimize, to focus on just one while trying to minimize the other is really an exercise in futility because every giving is made possible only because it’s also a receiving. And every receiving is made possible only because it’s also a giving.
What we need to do is to allow ourselves to receive. Surprisingly, many people have a problem with this. There are people who are habitual takers, who take and only take, yet there are also people who give and refuse to allow themselves to receive. All the giving in the world won’t bring success or create the results you want unless you are willing and able to receive in like measure. Why? Because if you don’t let yourself receive, you’re refusing the gifts of others and you shut down the flow.
Q: Are you staying open or shutting down the flow?
I hope you have enjoyed reading about The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success and the critical roles they play in winning and retaining customers. Of course these pages allow for only a light touch so if you would like to dig a little deeper we are pleased to offer First 5000 members access to The Go-Giver book at a special pre-launch price of $19:95 (RRP $24:95) plus postage.
Read the other blogs in this series:
The secret to winning and retaining customers – Part 1
The secret to winning and retaining customers – Part 2
To get your copy please email us at bookorders@thegogiverway.com.au quoting Ref: First5000.
Ian Lowe is the CEO of Go-Givers Australia, a consulting organisation offering a unique culture-defining philosophy and framework that makes giving value the cornerstone of a refreshingly open and authentic approach to business and selling.
