Business Bed Side Manner
If you haven’t thought about your Business Bed Side Manner, do it. It’s time. If you think you have a decent Business Bed Side Manner, it’s probably time to refine it.
For me, fine tuning and honing Business Bed Side Manners is one of the greatest things to come out of Covid 19.
the manner that a physician assumes toward patients, example: a doctor with a soothing Bed Side Manner — Defined. According to Merriam-Webster a bed side manner is “ bedside manner
: a person’s manner in dealing with others, example: The good news for Coelho is that his problem is largely a matter of style, not substance. With a smoother bedside manner , friends and opponents agree, he could probably get the job done. “
Have you thought about your Business Bed Side Manner in dealing with others during and after Covid 19? Here are some questions to ask yourself that will help you determine your approach to your Business Bed Side Manner. Are you positive or negative? Is your head still in the sand or have you come up to understand what’s happening in the world since March 2020? Are you a complainer or a problem solver? Did you survive Covid 19 or did you Thrive during Covid 19? Do you make people feel good or do they run for the hills when you call? Have you modified your approach to adjust to the changing swirling times around you?
Having a Business Bed Side Manner is more important now, than ever before.
There’s more at stake for your customers personally and professionally: For the last year people have been at home adapting to a myriad of elements. Some have been home schooling kids and learning how to divide time between work and personal life. Their creature comforts have been ripped away from them and they’ve adapted to new habits. Do you know what your customers have been through and/or their new habits? They’ve gained weight. They’ve lost weight and perhaps have a whole new lot on life. Family members and friends have passed away or been hospitalized alone. They’re the sole care giver for an elderly parent, aunt, or spouse. They may have lost their job OR may have taken on a slew of new responsibilities just to keep their job. It’s important to take the time to understand exactly where the customer is, right now, and meet them there.
It’s up to the sales person, entrepreneur or business owner to ask the deeper questions, engage in more conscience listening and solve bigger problems for your customers with kindness and patience. For example, in my conference consulting business many people have not had conferences in a full year. My questions used to revolve around dates, rates and space. Where do they want to go, how much do they want to pay, can the hotel fit their large conference or convention? Now, before we ever get to that topic, we have to address the deeper issues on the client mind. More is at stake for them. Liability is a bigger issue than ever before. Health and Wellness is making a surge. My clients want to know when they gather people, what can they do to make it safe? What is their company’s liability if Covid breaks out at their meeting? What does it look like to leave the house for 1000 people coming from all parts of the world? Is the airport safe? Is the airplane safe? Do they provide masks or does the hotel? Is it their job to keep people physically distanced or the hotel? How do they have a networking event with social distancing and people getting loose after a couple glasses of wine? These are just some questions on the mind of the client when considering gathering for a meeting. None of these questions and answers produce revenue for my business. However, understanding these questions swirling around my client’s head and providing expert answers is now my job. Being patient with their questions, having the persistence to pursue expert vendors and being vigilant with getting the answers will help guide the client to a decision. When the client makes a decision, that’s when I get paid. It’s not enough for me to be a conference and hotel expert anymore. I now have to be an expert in the process of getting people to a conference and gathering people in a healthy low risk way. My Business Bed Side Manner for my conference consulting business has been to become an expert about leaving the house, gathering and travel. This way, when my clients want to have meetings again, they know they can rely on me for relevant up-to-date reliable data that will help alleviate their concerns. Once we do that, then, we can look for a hotel to book for a meeting. Take a minute to think about your business. What is at stake for your customer, right now? Where are they at in their journey? Aside from their “buying needs”, what do they need from you? Solving these problems in a patient and persistent way will produce big results for you.
Your customers and their businesses have changed. It’s a bit naïve to think that when business starts coming back that it will come back exactly the same way as it did before. It won’t. The volume might return to normal levels eventually but the path to that high volume will look much different. It’s important to ask customers, “What has changed for you and your business over the last year?” “What can I do to make the change easier for you?” Things that were important to your customers 13 months ago are no longer important. Things that were never a glimmer in you or your customer’s eye 13 months ago are now front and cente r. I’ll give you an example. In I have a client who wanted to develop her skills so she could one day be a C-level executive at her company. She is a dynamo and there was no reason to think she wouldn’t be on this path. There were a couple tweaks we needed to make and we set a good plan in motion. As time went on, her views changed and her business changed. Being in that C-level suite wasn’t as important as being the change maker for inclusion. She realized her business was evolving towards an inclusion based model. She was and always has been the leader in the business in that area. She realized, it wasn’t as important to be the C-level exec as it was to steer the company in the direction that her customers wanted to go. Before her very eyes in a matter of months, her customers changed, they evolved. Her business changed. She changed. It was an easy tweak for me to make as we simply redeveloped her leadership strategy and away she went. However, I think it was very astute of her to realize the business changes that were happening and instead of hopping on the train, she was planning the routes and leading all the trains on the journey. In what ways have YOU changed since Covid? In what ways has your business changed during Covid? Have you kept up? Have you made any changes that are for the better since Covid? How have your customers changed? Have you asked them lately how the changes have impacted their business for the better or worse? This line of questioning and conscienceless in your business will enhance your Business Bedside Manner and make your business more productive and thrive.
I am not saying be a softy or be a pushover. I believe in being a shark and going after everything you want as a business person. I am saying be more thoughtful and strategic in your approach. Be more human in your approach. Be interested, truly, not because you have too, but because you want too. Ask the questions, listen deeply for the answers and solve larger more important problems for your customer. This slight tweak to your Business Bedside Manner will make your more valuable to your customers, establish deeper long term loyalty and pay off large dividends for you in the end.
For more information about Sensitivity Selling, Business Bedside Manners or Empathetic Leadership, visit Mandi’s blog To hire Mandi Graziano to speak at your next event or workshop, visit https://www.mandigraziano.com/meet-mandi and scroll down to Let’s Chat box.
Originally published at https://www.mandigraziano.com on March 1, 2021.
