Build Alignment With Win-Win Solutions – This Must Be at the Center of Your Approach

A simple definition for alignment is making sure you and your customer share the same ultimate goal. How do you achieve this? Through engaged communication and active listening.

At Rothschild Marketing, we always seek win-win scenarios. Many companies think that for them to win, the other must lose. When negotiating, it is possible for both teams to win. We prove that everyday. It starts with the right mindset. When looking for solutions, it takes different lenses to see alternative options.

Engagement is sometimes equated with communication. But they’re not the same. Hosting a website, sending out knowledgeable emails, and reaching out at industry events are all forms of communication. But this type of one-way messaging is hardly engaging. The truth is, if we’re not inviting a back and forth discussion and welcoming feedback across all of our customer touch points, we’re falling short of true engaged communication.

When your customer does respond, you must practice active listening, which means being present, paying attention, and hearing – not just what you want to hear – but what your client is actually telling you (and maybe even what they’re not). Many times, during conversations, we’re not really listening at all. We may be multi-tasking – or maybe we look like we’re being attentive, but while the other person is talking, we’re actually so busy inside our own heads formulating a response that we don’t even hear what’s being said.

To know your customer’s true goals, you have to practice slowing yourself down and focusing. Then you can initiate a conversation and really listen. Remember to leave your ego at the door. When you’ve really understood your customer’s world, that’s when you can begin to offer your expertise.

Just remember that every solution should be truly client centric. Next, we will talk about how to personalize the experience.