The New Normal: Intimacy in Isolation
COVID-19 has become the great equalizer. We are all in this together, despite our political affiliation. COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate. Chinese, English, American, Italian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, elderly, young. We’re all susceptible. And we are alone.
In order to survive in what is daily becoming a more brutal economic climate, we need to figure out how to navigate this new normal, especially in how we understand business prospects and anyone we communicate with professionally. We need to drill down more deeply into what makes others tick—which, ironically, is easier to do now than ever before. But I’ll come back to that.
Rick Reilly, an award-winning sportswriter for Sports Illustrated, wrote a book called Commander in Cheat, which is the story of Donald Trump and golf. Why is this book important? It’s not a political commentary of our president. More like a deep dive into what makes Trump tick. We all know winning at all costs is something his father, Fred, imbued in him, and it informs everything he does.
A prime example of this questionable, “winning,” decision-making was when Trump decided to impose a ban on immigration. Seven different Muslin countries were affected: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Why not UAE or Audi Arabia? As Mr. Reilly reminds us, “After all, the UAE helped fund the Taliban and Saudi Arabia has been the breeding ground for terrorists.” Why would he exclude those countries from the ban?
Reilly explains that it’s golf. These are places where Trump has business interests. Even now, Trump is up to his eyeballs in golf deals with UAE. Unlike his modern-day predecessors, Trump didn’t divest his holdings in Trump Organization. He’s actually expanded his holdings while in office. The key takeaway in this is in how other leaders are able to manipulate him. They know how to connect to him, and they use that information strategically.
In a less diabolical light, in business, we need to understand what makes our customer (potential client, business prospect, buyer of product or services) tick so we can connect to them beyond the business on the table. Find out what your customers like to do when not running the marketing department or manufacturing widgets. Understand them and connect to them on that other, more personal level.
This tactic has always been in play when people had actual offices and we could check out the pictures of them sailing, skiing, mountain climbing. . . So much ammo in that client visit. That was then, when we could actually leave our homes and go places. This is now. What about now?
These days, now that we’re all jumping on virtual meeting platforms, you can possibly get a sense of how that prospect lives. Now we can see whole rooms in people’s homes. Think about news programs and talk shows and how they’re produced in these strange times.
Stephen Colbert is currently broadcasting The Late Show from what looks like his home den. You can see the titles in his bookcase as he chats with us. If Mr. Colbert was a prospect for you (perhaps, you want to appear on his show as a guest), you might just pause the screen and jot down some of the books he reads. You could take in other elements of his décor and draw conclusions about his lifestyle.
Being in isolation actually makes us all more transparent. This is a great time to understand our prospects in a more intimate way. Of course, we want to go back to business as usual. But let’s go back better informed and ready for business success.
Get more exciting communication tips in Loud and Clear by Karen Berg. Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/wm2tod4