EP503: Spotlight - Melanie Spillman - Building Trust & Human Connection In A Digital World

Ad Read: Bookkeeping is a commodity. My software, accounting software can be a commodity, right? So how do we strike that emotional chord and how do we give the confidence that we're the right choice going forward? We're not a commodity, right? Like it is, we are differentiating, we're building that difference. You're listening to the Spotlight Edition of The Successful Bookkeeper with your host, Louie Prosperi. Listen each week as inspiring guests share their secrets of success to help you increase your confidence, work smarter, and build a business you love. This episode of The Successful Bookkeeper is brought to you by PureBookkeeping.com, the proven system to grow your bookkeeping business. Welcome back. Welcome back to the Successful Bookkeeper Podcast. I'm Louie Prosperi. Our guest is Sage Vice President of Sales, US medium businesses, Melanie Spillman. Welcome to the show. Thanks, Louie. Happy to be here. It's great to have you on the show, and we're looking forward to getting some knowledge and wisdom from you with regards to a lot of different things. For example, one of the things we talked about was relationship building. But before we start, What, what do you think are the key ingredients in building a long-lasting trust with clients?

Yeah, so I, trust is so important and it's something that it, you know, you hear all the time. It's, it's earned, right? It's built over time. Right. We don't always have the luxury of time. I think like making an instant connection is important. So there's a couple of little tricks that, that I use to build that trust over time. And the first thing is just listen. It's stop and listen. Don't talk more than you listen. You hear that a lot too. And the second one is so simple. I use this with my family. I use this with my friends. I use this with my team that reports to me as well as my clients. And it's just do what you say you're gonna do, right? You show up. If you're gonna follow up, you follow up. Those are some quick ways to build that. Immediate trust. And then, you know, just that continuously, if you do what you say you're gonna do, um, that's the mantra that I, I try to use. I, I show up on time, I make that call, I follow up, I send the information, I do the things I say I'm gonna do. You know, it sounds like a very basic concept, but I have to tell you, in our industry, because of how busy and interactive, it's probably one of the toughest things, which is the, the follow-up, right? The, the— when you