Whoever coined the phrase “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business” probably didn’t get invited to their clients' Holiday parties. How could they if they felt a business professional could be effective without developing personal relationships?

I’ve always believed and tried to do my very best to make customer interactions personal and memorable for both the client and for me. Early in my sales career,  I had a very successful manager tell me that “People don’t want to simply buy something, they want to be inspired to do something…and, if you do it well, they will do it over and over.” That was an interesting insight that has proven true over the course of my 25+ years in sales.

Today I continue to strive for that personal connection with all my clients because that’s just how I’m wired. I enjoy fostering strong relationships with people so they know they can count on me. I’m fortunate to be in a professional role that allows me to reach out, connect, provide solutions, and make a difference in the businesses and organizations that I work with. And, if given the chance, I will always leave things “better than I found it” by challenging myself to come up with out-of-the-box solutions — solutions that exceed expectations.

What’s even better is I’m surrounded by a team of people with that same “go the distance” client-service mindset — the team of professionals at Omni Strategic Technologies. But no matter what you’re selling, whether it’s managed IT Services or web design in my case, or something entirely different,you have to paint the personal picture for your client about how the service or product will improve their life and how you will make that happen. The lesson I have learned is simple: If you don’t make things personal there’s no skin in the game, no real purpose to the work you do.

The customer or buyer’s journey is no different. Think of any time you chose to buy something and how you ultimately determined what to purchase. Your decision-making was likely influenced not only by emotional triggers like color, style, and cost, but also by “social” factors like how well you connected with the store’s salesperson or your website experience if buying a product online.

The glue, of course, to any strong customer relationship is trust. The more a company delivers on its service promises, the more trust that is built. And for me, personally, trust comes from being genuine and honest with a customer, as well as from good two-way communication. I always tell our partners to feel free to fire us if we don’t meet expectations and don’t provide the level of service they expect. Fortunately, no one has taken me up on that offer. We maintain a clear focus on providing solutions that add value and improving our customers’ results.

In summary, while it’s always important to believe in what you do, it’s just as important to believe in why you do it and for whom. For me, customers are truly “king” and I tell them that. I will always paint them the picture of what life will be like if they work with me and the Omni team. I will always make my customer relationships personal and memorable.