What Makes Charm Your Most Powerful Business Tool?

Mary Aguirre shares her insights on building meaningful client relationships through empathy, deep listening, and authentic interactions. We explore how understanding clients' deeper needs creates strong connections that transform hesitant prospects into loyal customers.

• Working with meaningful projects including charities and women's safety organizations
• Building quick relationships through empathy, timing, and asking the right questions
• Creating charm through energy, authenticity, and adapting to clients' emotional states
• The importance of listening without mentally preparing your next response
• Handling strange requests like potato-shaped stress balls with creativity
• Approaching skeptical clients with curiosity rather than pressure
• Using personal energy boosters like almonds, dark chocolate and coffee

Remember to check out our next episode of the Promo Playbook for more insights on customer service excellence.

Host: Charles Liu owner https://www.cubicpromote.com.au/
Linkedin: (99) Charles Liu | LinkedIn

Guest: Mary Agguire
Linkedin: (99) Mary Aguirre | LinkedIn

Find out more and visit our website: https://www.cubicpromote.com.au/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Promo Playbook by Cubic Promote.
Today we have a lovely guest,one of our team members, Mary
Aguirre.
Mary hello, Thank you forjoining me today.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, I'm doing good.
It's my pleasure being here,thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Mary has been an incredible superstar for our
team.
She's worked with manyAustralian customers in delivery
, merchandising uniforms exactlyto specification.
Mary, could you share with theaudience out there what's the
one customer that you've workedwith that really stood out for
you, where you thought, wow,this is a really interesting
customer or perhaps somethingthat they do was quite
meaningful?

(00:34):
One of mine was when I workedwith a charity for the small
local community where a youngboy recently passed away and the
parents created this charityleading merchandise to sell to
the public, to raise funds forawareness for road safety.
How about yours, larry?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Mine, I think it was.
There was this one client whoinitially said no due to budget
and I didn't push, I just askedwhat would make it a yes, and
that opened up really honestconversation.
Like we found a fasterturnaround was more valuable
than a price cut, so I've sealedthat deal and they left a

(01:12):
glowing Google review, so thatfelt great, amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
So it's all in the power of the launch.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
As opposed to the shooting out answers.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Was there any other interesting projects that you've
worked with over the pastcouple years where you thought
that's a really interestingproject?
Was there anything that mayhave stood out?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, it was from 2Connect, because they're
getting promotional items fromus and the purpose of it is so
amazing because this is for, youknow, for women, for women's
safety, like that and so it wasamazing working with her.
It's just like a non-profit,but we really get along together
, so she's always purchasingwith us for a month amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Obviously you got along very well in a very short
space of time.
Which leads me to the nextquestion.
When people first initiatecontact with someone whether it
be real life, maybe it's afriend that you meet that
becomes a really good frienddown the track how do you go
about creating a very, veryquick relationship Whether it be
a working relationship or anyother couple of relationships
very quickly, in the shortestplace?

(02:12):
It's hard.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
And it's honestly, it's the empathy and timing.
I listen deeply, I ask theright questions, so I try to
feel what the client needs, evenif they haven't articulated it
yet Speed and clarity and a bitof charm.
It's never just about selling,it's about solving.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
I love that, yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I have this client.
I know what their mother age.
I know their birthday.
That's how we always get along.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Share with me.
You use the word quite casually, the word charm.
It really stuck out to me.
Tell me a bit more about charm.
What does it mean to you?
What makes it charming?
What's amazing Not charming?
How do you create charm?
Because that seems to be very,very seems to be a bit of a
secret sauce.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Okay.
So I could say what makes mecharm during call is my energy
and authenticity.
I don't sound like a creep, Isound like me.
Clients can feel me whensomeone's interested in helping,
not just selling.
So I bring warm, I listenwithout interrupting and I know

(03:14):
when to sprinkle in a complimentto make someone smile do this
in your head.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Sometimes I'm guilty of it, where I'm talking to
someone, but then, instead ofreally listening, I'm thinking
what I'm about to say next.
Does that happen to you, or isit mainly something that I do
which is a very bad habit, bythe way because you really want
to be in the conversation?

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Sometimes it happens, but not often.
It's like really differentactually on the conversation.
But just believe, before I callthem I want to do a background
check on them.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Knowing a bit about the customer, even just on a
brief level, really helps bringout a stronger, more powerful
conversation.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yes, exactly, if they're in a good mood, you
laugh.
If they're stressed, I becomethe calm and I always make sure
they walk away feeling betterthan when they pick up.
That's also a charm as well.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
So we do a lot of weird things.
I must have given weird butstrange requests.
What are some of the strangerrequests that you can see from a
customer?

Speaker 2 (04:11):
So far I've encountered this client looking
for I believe it was a potatolike a potato.
She's looking for custom stressballs shaped like potatoes with
the text don't be a couchpotato.
That's a brilliant.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
That's a great idea.
I've also done one myself whereI had a tomato sauce bottle and
the customer wanted to brandthe words along the lines of we
have the secret sauce.
Obviously, we are a consultingcompany and they want people to
know that they have the secretsauce to success.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's also awesome.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
On my physical point of view, when you're with a
customer, working with acustomer, do you have a power
snack that you go to?
What's one of the things thatwill give you energy Of?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
course there is almonds and dark chocolate and
coffee.
Obviously coffee, always coffee.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I do eat a lot of
junk food.
My junk food choices are alwayschips.
I'm not a promoter.
Imagine this scenario we have apotential customer that we're
talking to and they're quitehesitant, they're skeptical.
Can we deliver what we promised?
When you talk to someone likethat, how do you go about
speaking to them in a way thatwould resonate?

Speaker 2 (05:17):
I try not to bulldoze .
I get curious.
I say something like what'sholding you back or what will
give you peace of mind here.
When people hear it, instead ofsolitude, the resistance drops.
I bring in fruit.
I share real reviews, samplesand past results with clients
that really did work.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
I think I hear a common theme there, pound the
question and listening.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
I think I've learned something new myself.
I appreciate you taking thistime out this morning to connect
with myself and for theaudience tuning out there.
Please stay tuned for the nextepisode of the Promo Playbook.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Thank you.