Set reminders

- An easy win for building relationships is to make the most of the technology and software available to you designed for this exact task. And my favorite one is one of the most basic, using a calendar. We are as humans naturally like people who remember things about us. It means they're paying attention, they care about us in particular, and we stay in their mind even when we're not directly speaking. It's a huge compliment. So, an easy way to score big relationship points with your client is to simply recall those important dates and then put them in your calendar with an automatic reminder on the day it happens. Write down their birthdays, write down religious festivals and holidays that you know they celebrate. Write down when they start their new job if they've just got a promotion. Write down any date that you think might be significant to them, and then add it to your calendar. It could be work, it could be personal, as long as you think they'll appreciate it. But this is easy. You do nothing after you've set that calendar. And then one day your calendar will ping, and it will be a free conversation starter with your prospect, a gift from your past self. Then go one step further if you really want to go the extra mile. Don't wait for them to mention it. Consider the homework we've already done on them. Are they into any particular sports team? If so, put that into a search engine and find the significant dates like big matches or cup finals. Do they have any hobbies, like skiing? If so, know when the ski season begins, and then drop them a message to ask what their plans are. This can all be found with a quick social media search or by noting anything they've mentioned in passing. Now, what do we do when that reminder goes off? We don't only sell. This is for relationship building purposes only. This is just to get in touch by phone, email, whatever, and let them know we thought of them. And to maybe find out another piece of information about them that could help solidify our relationship further. Let's say you have a customer you know celebrates Ramadan. Don't call them saying, "Ramadan Mubarak. "Can I talk to you about our new service?" Call them and say, "Ramadan Mubarak," and any normal conversation around that holiday that you'd have with a friend. If they ask about new products, tell them. If they present a problem, help them with it. If there's a time pressure to tell them about it, like an active promotion, then maybe tell them. But we want in future for that phone to ring, and they see your name and think, "Oh great, "Miles is calling to chat again." Not, "Oh great, Miles is calling to sell again."