Grow Your Business

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[Text on-screen] Jodi Bailey Gill is the Founder and President of The Experts Bench Inc. (TEB), an international provider of expert marketing resources to corporations of all sizes. Gill—who has a diverse business background ranging from management training with a Fortune 50 company to helping take a start-up public—has partnered with SunTrust as a consultant and a client for more than 10 years.

[Jodi Bailey Gill] A successful business is built upon understanding your customer. Customers have to be the center, and you have to understand all of the aspects because you need to know why they have turned to you, why they’ve chosen you over another opportunity, and what are those compelling reasons, and continue to nurture that. If you have served a customer or a client well, you can ask them for support in another endeavor.

[Text on-screen] The Success of Referrals

I do believe that if there’s anything that a consumer or a customer loves, they will share it with others. And that can be the momentum to get behind in that relationship. That comes full circle with the concept of referrals. If there’s one test that you have in business that will set your business into a success mode right from the beginning, it is measuring the success of referrals.

Customer relationships are key, whether it is in a transaction business or whether you have a long-term service model. And sometimes we think that the long-term service model is the relationship business and the transaction business is just that, transactions. But actually, the value of each transaction builds over time, so what you’re going for is sustenance in that customer.

[Text on-screen] “That’s Where You Get Loyalty”

We want more than just one customer transaction. We want that transaction to evolve into a continuous lifetime customer, and that’s where you get loyalty. And that’s where you can depend upon a revenue stream, and that becomes a relationship. The number one way to build a relationship is by giving. Giving doesn’t require introversion, extroversion. It just requires giving up a little bit of yourself.

Sometimes it’s difficult for us to sell. So, we actually make our life easier if we quit selling and we start giving. So, I like the motto, instead of “always be selling,” “always be giving.” How can I get to know you so I can know how I can help you in some way? That’s the kernel of the relationship that always comes back in business.

[Text on-screen] Contact your local SunTrust banker for more information on business solutions, or visit the SunTrust Resource Center for additional guidance.

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