It's So Easy To Connect But How Many Are Truly Connecting?

“Communication is merely an exchange of information, but connection is an exchange of our humanity.”

Sean Stephenson, Get Off Your “But”

Are we living in an anti-depth world?

Throughout the last couple of decades, our ability to connect with people around the world has exploded. It's never been as easy as it is right now to connect with people. What's become more prevalent is how difficult it is to truly connect with meaning, substance and sincerity.

Technology has threatened and supplanted face-to-face intimacy. With devices in hand or fingers on a keyboard, we can avoid human exchange and any potential awkwardness, fear or anxiety.

According to MIT professor and researcher Sherry Turkle, author of the book Reclaiming Conversation, devices interfere with conversations, empathy, imagination, patience, resilience, inner life and mental health. Studies show that empathy is decreasing rapidly in rising generations.

Device dependency is stunting one's opportunity to build a human connection

Why are we feeling less connected than ever during the digital age?

We are more digitally connected but why are we so alone?

If you're in sales, how many of your clients are feeling alone? How many of you are connecting the human dots? How many of your clients are feeling lonely and neglected by you.

Would you even know?

SUPERFICIAL RELATIONSHIPS

According to The Oxford Dictionary, superficial is defined as “existing or occurring at or on the surface; not thorough, deep, or complete; lacking depth of character or understanding.” Let's pause on the last word, understanding is the key in talking about what a superficial relationship is lacking.

You can't build upon and nurture a meaningful relationship with someone unless you talk about real issues and share real problems. 

How many of you right now are real, raw, relevant or even relatable within your client relationships?

Attention to everyone in sales... building meaningful relationships and connecting with your clients is mission critical to your sales success. We as humans crave and value relationships.

Relationships are a part of human nature. We crave and value relationships. It's wired in our DNA.

"The more you give, ultimately the more you receive."

• Are you personally engaging with your clients?
• Are you authentically investing in building meaningful relationships?

How much do you know about your clients?

• Do you know what their career aspirations are?
• Do you know or have a sense of what's important to them?
• What are their values?
• What pisses them off?

The time is now to pull back the covers and dig below the relationship surface

VULNERABILITY BUILDS CONNECTION

Deep and genuine connection with humans is what we crave in our personal lives but why does this become so difficult in our professional lives?

"Connection and vulnerability are our constant reminders that we are all here for a reason. Our time here is short but our impacts are great."

Melissa Joyce

In a sales world where trust is at an all-time low, where many believe those in sales are full of B.S., it's those who are willing to love, cherish, care and show compassion for their clients that will reap the relationship benefits.

We all can build true meaningful connections. We must be willing to overcome fear, uncertainty and insecurities. We must be willing to accept the gift of vulnerability.

How well are you connected to your authentic self?

It's hard to become vulnerable with your client relationships if you fail to become vulnerable with yourself!

Bravado, brash and braggadocious mentalities set up the perception of how we should act, what we should say and ultimately how we should feel, it is seemingly risky to throw caution to the wind and to share our authentic self.

"We must be willing to completely reveal layers of ourselves in order to reach an authentic, tangible connection with another soul. Vulnerability is in actuality connection in its invisible form."

Melissa Joyce

THE HUMAN FORMULA

You must find a way to connect with your clients and show them why you’re unique. In a sea of empty suits and ho-hum experiences why should they continue to work with you, your products or service?

Integrating compassion, caring and connectivity is jet fuel for building meaningful client relationships.

If you hunger to achieve true sales excellence, it can't just be about you. It must be bigger than you. You must be driven by a personal mission to make your clients business world better.

• You must care intensely about your clients.
• You must have compassion for your clients.
• You must connect with meaning with your clients.

Your success in sales is not just about closing more deals, where you sit on the sales totem pole, or the size of your last commission check; it's about how well you connect, care and have sincere compassion for clients. Watch what happens to your relationships.

Meaningful and credible relationships do matter! Discover the power of relational selling at Selling From the Heart.

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.

Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.

You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.

In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market. 

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.