How to Navigate Difficult Business Relationships with Honesty, Negotiation, and Values - Zoe Share
39m | Dec 15, 2020Business relationships can be hard. No one is perfect, and we all have to deal with people that don’t respect us. Zoe Share teaches us how to navigate these difficult relationships with honest communication, clear brand values, and negotiation.
Meet Zoe
- Zoe Share was a kindergarten teacher turned marketer.
- She has a Batchelor’s degree in English literature and education, and decided to become a teacher. She ended up not enjoying teaching and decided to go back to school for business marketing.
- Marketing is at the intersection of education, literature, and business.
The value of simplicity
- You can tell if someone really understands a concept by whether or not they can explain it to a five year old.
- “Keep it simple stupid”
Communication and Honesty
- Children are incredibly honest and direct.
- Communication and expectations go hand-in-hand.
- Are your expectations clear?
- Demonstrate how you want to be spoken to.
- Be willing to admit when you don’t know.
- Trust other people.
Brand values and purpose
- Understand what drives you. What is your mission and values?
- Your mission and values act as a guidepost.
- Do business with people that resonate with your purpose and value.
- Even a sock company (a commodity) can have a purpose and values.
- Bombas Socks - a sock company that donates a pair of socks to homeless shelters for every pair purchased.
Being “Good”
- Marketers are often seen in a bad light.
- We should try our best to be the best people we can be and to create the best brands we can, but at the end of the day, no body is perfect.
- What are your intentions for doing good? Are you doing it to get followers, or because you truly believe in it?
- Consumers act as a vigilante deciding who deserves brand loyalty and who doesn’t… at the end of the day though, how do you know?
Navigating hard client relationships
- Do everything you can to vet your clients before you work with them.
- How much would a client need to be bringing into your company for you to tolerate them disrespecting you?
- No relationship is perfect. It’s important to learn to navigate the hard times.
- Be willing to have difficult conversations when they’re needed.
- Bring integrity to the way you resolve conflict.
Negotiation
- Say what you need.
- Negotiate toward success.
- The end result should be a win-win. You are working together toward a mutually beneficial relationship.
- Business is a two-way street. Both sides of the relationship provide value.
Learn to be a good consumer
- Don’t trust all of the ads that you see.
- Be careful where you put your money.
- The more we care about how trustworthy a brand is, the more companies will have to prove to us that they are trustworthy.
- Support brands and causes that align with your values.
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