“If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. ‘Green fingers’ are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpracticed. But green fingers are the extensions of a verdant heart.”

Russell Page

This quote captures the profound truth about gardening and, by extension, about nurturing any living thing or creative endeavor. Now, I would like for you to think about your client relationships.

"If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it"

This line from the quote emphasizes the importance of deep, practical knowledge. Again, think about your clients and what do you really know about them?

This suggests that true success in gardening (or any nurturing activity, think relationship building) comes not just from conceptual understanding, but from an intimate, hands-on understanding of the subject.

Allow this quote to remind you that to truly excel in nurturing growth, you need a combination of deep understanding, practiced skill, and genuine passion or love for what you're cultivating. And in sales, this is your client relationships.

Therefore, if you wish to grow your client relationships, you must understand them, and understand them in a very real sense.

Your clients are undeniably one of your most precious assets. Without them would you exist in sales?

The more you understand that meaningful and credible relationships matter, the more successful you will become, end of story, plain and simple.

Building authentic relationships and connecting with your clients is mission critical to your long-term sales sustainability.

We as humans crave and value relationships.

They are a part of human nature. We long for and value relationships. It's hard-wired into our DNA.

The more you give, ultimately the more you receive.

Your first mirror moment:

On a scale of 1-10...

• How well are you personally and intentionally engaging with your clients?

• Are you authentically investing in building authentic relationships?

• Are you doing what they believe is necessary?

Your clients smell what you're cooking and not cooking fast.

CULTIVATE AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Trust is the foundation of a credible and healthy relationship.

Trust fosters open communication, emotional safety, and mutual respect.

Building and maintaining trust requires effort and intention.

Here are some actionable steps to cultivate trust in your relationships:

Follow through on your promises - If you commit to doing something, make sure to follow through. This consistency shows that you can be counted on.

Be honest and transparent - Openness lays the groundwork for trust.

Respect boundaries - This shows that you value the other person’s comfort and autonomy.

Actively listen - This means giving your full attention, acknowledging their feelings, and responding thoughtfully.

Be vulnerable - This mutual openness can deepen trust and strengthen the bond between you.

Trust enriches the soil of your relationships.

Your ability to build trust is crucial to maintaining healthy client relationships. Lack of credibility and believability, causes your clients to not trust you.

Lack of trust will cost you your clients and will diminish your ability to consistently drive sales sustainability.

This is why the subtitle in my latest book, Selling In A Post-Trust World, reigns true... Soft skills will yield you hard dollars.

Building and maintaining authentic relationships requires work. You must authentically invest to collect on the relationship.

This requires careful planning, consistency, discipline and heart to nurture relationships to become an integral part of your clients' lives.

You just can't do this with a monthly call, a quarterly visit, a semi-annual visit or the classics... "I'm checking in with you" or "Just touching base to make sure everything is OK."

“Whether they stem from business or personal situations, our relationships are what support us, connect us, and allow us to progress in all aspects of our lives.”

Michelle Tillis Lederman

Click here to grab the books that are changing the sales profession

CULTIVATION AND RELATIONAL GARDENING

"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds."

Gordon B. Hinckley

Are you cultivating or neglecting your client relationships?

Just as a garden requires consistent care to flourish, so does your client relationships.

Without hard work, potential remains untapped (increased sales and profits), and negative influences (like weeds) can take over.

Remember, while weeds may grow effortlessly, true growth with your clients requires intentionality and effort.

Without hard work, discipline and some tender loving care, nothing will grow in your clients' accounts.

All you will attract are shiny sales professionals who understand what it means to build authentic relationships and meaningful business value.

With water, fertilizer, and light, a healthy client relationship can turn into an exquisite garden of sales nourishment.

Jim Rohn once said,

"If you rest too long the weeds take the garden."

This quote should serve as a constant reminder around the dangers of complacency and inactivity with your client relationships.

When you become too comfortable or take extended breaks from learning to become better, you risk stagnating your growth. Just as a garden left unattended can become overrun with weeds, your client relationships can soon fade without consistent effort, care and attention.

Fail to water your garden and we know what happens. A relationship which is started, but not watered will wither and die, it is the natural order of things.

Gardening is a process. Planting is a task.

A garden which is planted, then not tended, cultivated or cared for, ultimately will grow weeds, wither and die. Can the same be applied to your clients, heck yeah!

REMOVE THE WEEDS TO GROW YOUR RELATIONAL GARDEN

If you want healthy, harmonious and heartfelt client relationships, then you must pay attention to the weeds.

Weeds have a way of creeping into your garden of client relationships. They choke the life out of fruitful growth, as they spread like crabgrass in your sales lawn.

Weeds thrive and flourish when you do not pay attention to them. Unfortunately, the same applies to your client relationships.

You might be growing weeds when:

• You only come around when you want something, like a sale.

• You take more than you give.

• You leave people hanging by not following through with your commitments.

• You make promises you don’t keep.

• You communicate inconsistently and sparingly.

• You are nowhere to be found when your clients need you.

• You become reactive instead or proactive with your communication.

Your second mirror moment:

How many of you have walked into your relationship garden only to find that it has been decimated from neglect (no deposits of relational trust) and overrun with weeds (competitors)?

Sales professionals fertilize their relationship garden while sales reps struggle to water their garden.

Here's a little gardening 101.

The consummate gardener never skips a day of weeding or watering. The garden may not look much different, but they know over time the results reflect their effort.

Let's apply this to your world, as a sales professional never skips a day cultivating their relationship garden. They realize the more they tend to their garden the more relationships soon blossom.

Unfortunately, many sales reps are like below average gardeners. They blame nature for burning their plants (clients), not raining enough, bugs, weeds, poor soil and crappy results.

On the flip side, sales professionals are liken to expert gardeners. They shield their plants (clients) from getting burned, provide water during droughts, protect against bugs (competitors), pull weeds, enrich the soil and enjoy spectacular results.

CULTIVATE YOUR TRUST GARDEN

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president of the United States once said,

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden."

I believe gardening is a powerful example for the lifecycle of a process. I believe there is a direct correlation between what it takes to grow a beautiful garden and what it takes to build trust with your clients.

Growing a relationship garden with your clients involves the commitment of a shared vision, deep respect, ongoing mutual effort, and patience.

If you don't sow it, you can't build trust.

Whether you are a senior level executive, sales leader or a salesperson, it doesn’t matter how rich the soil is in your clients' garden, how much sunlight it receives, or how often you water, if you don’t sow the seeds, you won’t have any plants (sales).

At this point, you might be saying to yourself that this sounds a bit elementary or too basic, well, that’s because it is.

Trust in client relationships begins by demonstrating your trustworthiness.

You reap what you sow.

Let's refer to Galatians 6:7–9 that reads,

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”

Translated to sales:

• You will harvest what you plant.

• You will get out what you put in.

• Your outcomes (sales) will be determined by your inputs.

• The sales results you achieve will be based on the decisions you make, the habits you stake, and the habits you break.

Without fail, you reap what you sow. This is true in gardening. This is true in life, and this is true in sales. If you plant good habits, you’ll get good outcomes. If you plant bad habits, don’t be deceived and expect good outcomes.

Your third mirror moment:

What present actions are you taking as you tend to your relational garden?

I encourage you to sow these seeds of trust and watch what starts to bloom.

• Constantly learn, grow, and get better at what you do.

• Generously share your expertise with others.

• Focus on doing the right thing and doing things right.

• Make ethical and moral choices.

• Tell the truth.

• Be authentic and genuine.

• Never waiver from your promises or commitments.

• Just give a rip!

When you cultivate the seeds of trust, you're inviting people in not pushing them away.

You're creating common grounds, common good, and community. Isn't this what you want?

The loyalty and trust you build with your clients will continue to reward you in unexpected ways, if you fertilize your relationship garden.

I will leave you with this to reflect upon... Cultivating your relational client garden will add years to your sales life.

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.