The meeting was with Laura. She was a Facilities/Asset Manager. She was smart, kind and caring. She had a client that was unhappy. “Would you go with me to talk to this client? She represents 25% of a building that is 65% occupied.” In the Class A Commercial building market, if a building is 70% occupied, it breaks even. This one was losing money.
“Certainly,” I said with confidence. “I am in the tenant retention business. My real job is to keep your tenants in their place!” “Pardon me?” Laura exclaimed as if I had just insulted her father. “Staying and paying…in YOUR building. That’s my real job. Let’s go see her and find out why she is unhappy.” Laura smiled that ‘I like your style’ smile. “Let’s go, I’ll drive,” she said, shaking her head. She had an ally.
As we sat in the lobby, Laura was visibly nervous. She was in her late twenties. The woman we were about to meet was in her mid-forties and from what I had gathered, had been less than kind to Laura. She was playing hardball with the lease negotiation. As the unhappy tenant sauntered into the room, the temperature dropped 15 degrees. She was the “Ice Maiden.” Laura introduced us and she declined my outstretched hand. “We have come to try to understand your concerns and challenges and come up with a Win-Win Solution,” I said with a smile. She glared at me, like a cat about to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse. I explained to her I represented the finest HVAC service company in the city.
“Better men than you have tried and failed to solve our comfort and noise problems!” Ouch! Keeping Dale Carnegie’s principles in mind, I said, “You have a right to feel the way you feel. I would feel the exact same way. If I had gone through all you have, I wouldn’t be as kind as you are now.”
I paused for effect and continued, “We intend to put the Michael Jordan of Air-Conditioning on your facility. I am going ask a favor of you. Please suspend any judgment of Laura or us. Please give us 30 days to sort out your challenges before you throw us out. Fair enough?”
You couldn’t cut the frozen air with a Ginzu knife. Her pause felt like an hour. “Okay, a month. If it isn’t any better in here, I’m moving out. We have another building we really like.” (Ahh yes, the old “Takeaway Close”)
Laura breathed a deep sigh of relief. As she and I walked out to the car, she said, “I hope your tech is good, or both of us are out of luck.” I smiled. “He’s the best. He lives for problems like this.” Carlton was the best. In the first two days, he found the control wiring had been incorrectly installed, a bad bypass damper, a disconnected economizer, a failed compressor and a bunch of bad karma.
We went back in two weeks. She was a different person. She had been transformed. She reminded me of the “Good” Witch from the Wizard of Oz. I am certain I saw a halo. “Carlton is amazing. It’s so quiet and comfortable in here. I am sorry I was so rude to you before.” “I understand,” Laura said. “Here are the lease papers. Five years.” The Good Witch signed them.
What business are you really in? For the longest time, I was in “Tenant Retention.” Now I “Raise the Bar” in Organizations (to inspire people to change and grow to positively impact morale, productivity and profit).
What if you put yourself in your customer’s shoes for a while? What if you asked yourself:
- What do they really need from me/us?
- How can I better understand their issues, concerns and challenges?
- How do they make money?
- How does what I do or offer impact their bottom line?
- What keeps them up at night, tossing and turning?
The more time I invest in the “Discovery Process” the better position I will be in to significantly impact performance, people, process and performance.
Just tap your heals together three times and say, “There is no place like home!”
"We sell ease. We sell comfort. We sell satisfaction. What do your clients really buy?"
Harry Beckwith
Mark Matteson is an inspiring speaker and the author of the international bestseller, Freedom from Fear. For over 20 years, Mark’s positive humor and peak-performance tools have impacted organizations around the globe, igniting personal and professional success for tens of thousands of people.
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