How to Build Profitable Relationships

Imagine you're going into the office of a senior decision-maker at a huge Fortune 100 company. He's had nothing but problems with your company. He bought 200 units of electric timestamps. Every time a trader makes a stamp, it's the same time for all trades, and they don't get fined by the SEC.

He had nothing but problems with these 200 units. My company took them all back, changed the motors, and then replaced them, but he was still having the same problem. Then, the company decided to give me that account to go fix it.

So I walk into John Delaney’s office, a former Green Beret. He goes, “Don't even open your mouth. I have nothing but problems with the SEC and getting fined. You fix this in two weeks, or I'm gonna have my assistant David throw you out of this 102nd-floor window.”

I walked out and immediately went to the service manager. I said, “Carl, do we know which machines are breaking?” He said, “No, we can't get the serial numbers from them.”

So I went back to John and said, “Let me do some research. Over two weeks, I'll create a log. Will David, your assistant, please put down the serial numbers of the units that keep breaking?” He did.

What we found out was that only 10% of the units were bad. So then I went back to John and said, “Listen, here's the result. The solution is simple: buy 10 spares. Anytime something's mechanically produced, it can always go wrong. Have 10 spares. If one goes down, you trade it out immediately. Our repair people can come in daily and make all the repairs. It's only 10%.”?

He did that, and his problem was solved.

Two years later, he took over the American Stock Exchange. He called me up and said, “Let's try it again. I need 2000 units.”

So, how did I build this profitable relationship? Three elements.

1. Trust. Every time I made a promise to him, I kept it. If I couldn't keep it, I alerted him in advance, so he was never surprised. I was building integrity. Then he realized that I was there for him.
2. Communication. You cannot overcommunicate. Keep communicating how your promises are going. If you can't make them, what are you going to do instead?
3. Mutual benefit. The mutual benefit in this situation was that this problem would go away, so John wouldn't get sued, and I wouldn't have him making threats to me anymore.

That's how you build profitable relationships.

What strategies have you used to build trust and turn challenging situations into long-lasting, profitable relationships?

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