Over the weekend, with drinks, a friend asked me if I had to pick the topic of my next (fifth) book right now, what would it be about?

It was an interesting exercise, more about the first thing that comes to your mind, rather than a careful consideration of options.

I think I’d write about caring and effort. And trying.

Over the last few weeks, for my clients, I’ve interviewed a lot of sales and customer service staff. It’s a part of every project I do, and then the top executives listen to these interviews and we debrief them.

These staff members and I talk about the lowest-hanging fruit for growth, and I listen to the content of their answer, but also their approach to sales, and where is the locus of control — is the person talking about things they can do to grow business or things that need to be done for them (lower prices, additional products, etc.)?

Here’s what strikes me:

Caring — about customers and the company people work for and its initiatives — is something of a rare commodity.

Do it, and you’ll be doing better than 90% of your competition. Instantly.

We assume that everybody tries, and gives maximum effort all the time, but this is not true.

Funny thing is, great success doesn’t require constant maximum effort. Only consistent effort.

Be interested in helping the customer consistently.

Try to help them more. Tell them about additional products and services you can offer them. Ask what other products and services they are having trouble sourcing. Follow up.

Be present. Be interested. Try. Care.

Give a damn consistently, and you will outsell the competition — quickly, and by a lot.

My clients add 10-20% revenue growth annually by implementing my Selling Boldly system of consistently being present and communicating with more customers more. To discuss this kind of proven and positive growth for your organization, call me directly at 847-459-6322.