Recently, my family attended a western-themed fundraiser to benefit our children’s elementary school. It was a fun-filled afternoon with various booths for the children and adults to participate in. Each booth had a different activity where you could try your skills. Walking around the event, I noticed that some booths had more activity than others. After awhile, I realized that the people running the booths with the highest energy and excitement levels drew the most people. This got me thinking about how Smart Women know that it’s not the service or the product that will make you successful in life. The key is You, the person behind the product or service.
Every day we are met with lots of choices about different products or services that we can use to benefit us in some way. I’m always curious to learn why people choose one product or service over another. Time and again, I learn that people choose to purchase products and services from people that they Believe, Like, and Trust—the BLT Factor. We want to choose situations in life where we can be with people we Believe have our best interests at heart. We believe that they have the expert knowledge on this product or service. We want to Like the person we do business with. I have been in business for over 20 years and there have been many times that I did not purchase based on price. I base almost all of my purchasing decisions on my relationship with someone. If I Like you, I want to purchase your product or service. Better yet, if I Like you, I want to refer you to as many people as I can. Lastly, but certainly not least, people want to Trust the person they do business with. Trust is essential in any relationship. People want to Trust that you will take care of them, that you will stand by them and advise them in a trusting way. If the Trust factor is not there, it’s likely that you will not create the kind of success you might otherwise have. The BLT Factor holds true both in our personal and professional lives.
