Hammer Looking for a Nail
Most of you have heard this proverb in your past and most likely it applied to our behavior. It is unclear who first said it, but it has been attributed to Abraham Maslow and Mark Twain to name a few. After today, someone might claim that I said it first. That would be fake news at its best.
But for today, let’s look at this from the point of view of the nail. The nail would be your prospect.
If all you have is a “buyer” to chase, everyone will look like a “transaction.”
This applies to the for-profit as well as the nonprofit world as well.
How does the nail feel when it sees the hammer coming?
If your focus is only on “making the transaction happen,” your prospect might reluctantly listen to you for a while, but they will most likely not feel any connection to you except that you have a transaction to complete.
You know that as a “buyer” you don’t want to feel like a nail.
Does your prospect/client only see you when you want a transaction? Another order, another sponsorship, another donation?
One of my past blogs gives some real applicable tips on creating more than a hammer-nail image for your new prospects or clients. Click here for an example of transforming rather than transacting.
How do you feel as the nail, when you see someone only wanting to close a transaction?
Written by:
John Corcoran
President and CEO
