Taking the B’s out of B.D.
Banish the Blackberry from Business Development
If you want to be successful in building your business, the other ‘B’ that you need to banish – at least from Client meetings – is your Blackberry.
Picture this: you and another partner finally manage to get out from behind your desks to go meet some prospective Clients. Things seem to be progressing nicely. Then, while you are talking, your partner whips out his Blackberry and starts reviewing and responding to emails.
Your partner is definitely sending a message – and not just on the BlackBerry. Regardless of what may have been a harmless intent to multi-task, the real message sent was, “I am done talking with you. I am talking with someone more important now.”
Remember, the Blackberry is a communication device. When you use it, you are involved in a conversation. If you are meeting with a Client and you suddenly begin tapping away on your Blackberry, you might as well have turned your back and begun a completely unrelated conversation with a completely unknown third party who isn’t even in the room.
Rude? Well, just think how you feel when conversing with colleagues or Clients and midway through the conversation they pull out their Blackberries. You may wonder if you are boring them? Or whether you should just stop talking, because obviously what you were saying wasn’t that important to them. Or maybe you should just get out your Blackberry too?
Remember, anytime you are engaged in another conversation, even only using your thumbs, you are not fully engaged with the current conversation – and the other person knows it. If you want to be a trusted advisor to your Client, you need listen to them – and only to them. That’s the only message you want to send.
