The Words Slow Down Don’t Have To Be Scary In Business

Written by Sarah Fields, CEO

There’s a famous scene in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross during which Alec Baldwin’s character lectures a roomful of weary real estate salesmen about his “ABC” mantra: Always. Be. Closing. It’s a belittling rant in which he reminds the team if they’re not closing a sale at every moment, they’re failures.

Admittedly, earlier in my career, this might have resonated a little more with me than it should have. In an effort to prove my worth to my employers, my motivation was centered squarely on the need to consistently produce fast results. Consequently, I often failed to see the value in spending the time it took to build relationships. Rarely did I slow down enough to ask the questions that would have helped me truly understand how I could be of value. Over time, I learned the hard way (the slow way!) that there is no shortcut to earning trust and building the kind of relationships that lead to sustainable success and growth.

When I took the helm at Jetta, I made it my intention to lean on past experiences and lead with a mantra that we are in the business of building relationships, earning trust, and learning from our customers how we build value.

From day one, I wanted to instill a culture in which all of us – from management to sales to manufacturing – are intentional about how we build trust. Beyond it being one of our company’s core values, we’ve created specific trust-earning behaviors that give each of us real and practical ways we can put it into practice every day:

1. Listen and ask questions to seek a deep understanding or our customers’ business. Only once we understand your business and pain points can we determine how we can provide value to you.

2. Take ownership of what you need from us and seek to actively bring a solution to the table that is a win for your business.

3. Understand that each customer’s business is unique and build flexibility into our processes so that we can adapt our solutions to you specifically.

4. Keep communication honest and straightforward about what we can and – just as importantly – cannot do.

5. When we commit to getting something done for you, lean in hard and follow through with conviction.

6. If there is an issue or hiccup that could impact your business, take the initiative to inform you as quickly as possible. The last thing we want is for you to discover there is a problem of which we have not already made you aware.

Trust is where the magic happens in relationships. That’s when we can truly build success together, communicate openly and honestly, and end the day knowing we are both sincerely invested in one another’s success.

Over the last few weeks, the news has been filled with reports of headwinds in the housing sector and new uncertainty in the home building market. I have been asked what we will do differently if a recession hits and business drops off. My answer? Not much. Sorry, Alec Baldwin, but it’s not about always closing. It’s about always being open. Recession or not, we will continue to focus on building trusting relationships with our customers.

Aside from the fact that we enjoy getting to know you as people … quite frankly, you make us better. So thank you.

If you have feedback on how our relationship with you is working for your business, I would love to hear from you. Drop me a note here.