Making friends

Leveraging soft skills both in our personal and professional lives has been a fascinating topic to explore.  Do these skills have the same impact when engaging stakeholders and friends?

I recently read an insightful article discussing how to "𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩”  (you should read it even if you already have many close friends 😊). 

This article “threw” me years back when I first heard the statement “𝑪𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔”.

The person who shared this insight with me was adamant that customers expect their vendors to be someone they trust, which will help them succeed in their jobs. They are not looking for new friends. His advice was to “𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥”. 

The article made A few suggestions for getting closer to people you have just met. See below:

• Be intentional and follow up

• Be flexible, be available

• Listen, Listen, Listen

It sounds like the basic human skills we expect CSMs and customer success professionals to master, even if they eventually don’t turn customers into close friends.

The article also prompted another question.  

Could CS professionals, being proficient in professional engagements, find it easy to make friends?

In other words, Is an Outstanding CSM equal to a personal relationship master?