I was doing a half-day revenue growth workshop on Saturday for a client, and there was a fascinating comment from a new employee. 

 He used to work for a customer of my client’s, before taking a job with my client’s firm. We were talking about calling customers on the phone, and visiting them face-to-face. 

 He said, “Out of all of my suppliers, only you and another one ever came to see me. And the other took a week to get me a price, while you had it to me in two hours.” 

 Think about that! Only two people came to visit, and one was slow and terrible. 

 It’s not hard to stand out from the competition.

 Because the competition isn’t very good at the things that you excel at: relationships; service; reliability; dependability; quality; effort; friendship. 

 Recently, a good friend shared what his father always told him: “For most jobs, if you show up on time and sober, you’ll do just fine.”

 The key, I believe, is the showing up. Because the competition doesn’t do much of this. 

 Ready? Here’s how hard it is to stand out from the crowd in your industry: 

 Be there. Show your customers you care about them.

 You do this by calling them on the phone, not tweeting at them. 

 You show people you care by seeing them face-to-face, asking about their family, and when you make a mistake, you fix it. 

 You do this anyway, but you do it reactively, when the problems are phoned in. 

 I’m telling you to do it proactively. Demonstrate to customers that you carebefore they call you with a complaint. 

 Follow up on quotes and proposals.

 Ask them what else they are buying elsewhere that you can help them with.

Tell them about what else you provide to customers like them.

Use the phone, for goodness sake. People like hearing from you. “Tom, I was just thinking about you. What are you working on these days I that I can help with?”

If you haven’t talked to somebody in six months of more, call them. If somebody hasn’t bought in six months or more, and they used to buy regularly, call them. 

 Show people that you care.

 Show up.

 To install this kind of proactive communication — with careful measurement, accountability, and recognition of high performers — at your firm, call me directly at 847-459-6322, or simply reply to this email. It’s not an accident that my clients grow 10-20% per year while working with me.