Relationships trump chaos.

Imagine a busy power company office. Twenty five plus people chugging around in all directions with mountains of things to do. It is the week before Christmas and the last thing anyone is thinking about is fielding a walk up salesman. This power company is hurting due to some shortsighted decisions that year. They are dealing with a PR nightmare as well as blowback from the city.  Everyone is just trying to get in and get out. Upset customers, vendors and city officials are a daily occurrence. No salesman in their right mind would pick this company. It is a sure fire way to get your eyebrows taken off. However, my team and I saw it as a prime time to get in and make some connections. We were running two locations of a community bank in the area. The bank was based out of the state so it was hard for us to get traction with local businesses sometimes. We kept up with the news and despite our head office staying what a waste of time chasing them would be we saw it as a challenge. 

We went in first with some bagels and cream cheese. A box from panera bread and a gallon of sweet tea. We walked up to the front desk, which was massive (the building was an old Sears and they never replaced the lobby area, just retiled the floor, everything you said echoed to all the surrounding offices) and said hello. We said “we want to drop these off for you, we know things might be rough right now but it will get better.” and left. We left no business cards, no flyers, no call back number, nothing other than the bagels. I waited a week and went back. As I was walking in, a customer was screaming “I can't afford that! It’s outrageous I won’t pay that!”. This was laced with a lot more colorful words and phrases than I felt comfortable putting in this book. I walked up to the cashier next to this guy, leaned in and introduced myself. No title, just my name. I said, “Hi, Sarah, noticing the name tag, what is your favorite item from kirchhoff's?” Kirchoff’s is a small bakery in the town we were in. It was really well known for their pastries. She looked at me like I was crazy, smiled slightly and said “Well I like the donuts, the ones with cinnamon”. I said “Awesome! I love that one too. Can you tell me 11 other favorites? (This was the total number of people I counted on the floor at that time) I will be back with them in 15 minutes.” She just stared at me for a few seconds and then pulled a section of receipt paper off and jotted down eleven different pastry items. I smiled, said thanks and left. 

I made it to Kirchoff’s and enjoyed an Americano while I waited. It took about five minutes for them to get it all put together. The total was just under thirty dollars. I took these back to the power company, brought them straight up to Sarah and placed them on her desk. She had a huge smile on her face, I smiled back and we talked for a few minutes about her job, her kiddos and how long she had been there. I told her I was grateful for the conversation and said I would be back in a few weeks. Two weeks later I came back with the same pastries and a business card. I explained that I worked for the local bank and that I wanted to see how I could help. I let them know I knew what was going on, the stress they must be under and that I had some ideas that could alleviate the stress. I talked with Sarah, her two co-workers and her immediate manager that day. I made no sales pitches, just asked questions. A week later I came back with one of my team members and nothing but some information on our ideas to help. We talked with the floor manager and after about ten minutes she said “Ya know, our marketing manager and CEO are in a meeting right now, would you want to just talk with them?” We smiled and that would be great. Two weeks later my team and I were in a meeting with their board VP and president, head of accounting and head of marketing discussing finalized deals to move their accounts over to us. This was a 48 million dollar deposit account. 48 million dollars was won by five weeks of intentional conversation, about $50 in pastries and no sales pitches. We won that account because they trusted us from the ground floor up. 

The most important takeaway from this was that it was accomplished with little to no stress. There were absolutely no hardsales. We didn't have to convince anyone of anything. They were ready for some help, they were being blasted by the media and the local populus. We knew we could cut down on some of their banking expenses so we went for it. We could help them. Not sell them, not dominate them, not trick them, help them. The most beneficial part of a BD officer is the relationships they build and cultivate. Yes we are looking for bottom line growth but there is no way we would have even had a shot at talking to that CEO. We would have been just another person to deal with if we wouldn't have taken the long play. My team and I had no idea how long it would take to get in the doors. We assumed it would take six months for us to make an ask. Five weeks later we were rock stars. People buy from people they like, people invest in people they trust. You want your customers invested.