Have you ever had an instant connection with someone?

• Something that person says or does has you nodding your head in agreement.
• Uh-huh, been there – done that.

Take that connection even higher and you become kindred spirits in the drama we call life.

Imagine the possibilities if your business communication had a similar effect. You become kindred spirits with your audience.

Kindred Business Communication Starts with You

Humans share a characteristic of self-protection. Some more than others.

When encountering a new situation, each of us want to know how the experience affects us.

• Will it hurt us?
• Can it help?
• Why should we care?

The same is true in business relationships. You can manufacture the next-best thing but if your customers fail to make a connection, the response is self-protective silence. Your customer will not invest (personally or financially) in your product.

For the first time at this site, I am going to suggest something I have never said before.

Start with your own need.

Wait. What? What about focusing on the needs of your customers? We’ll get to that. Promise.

Start by asking the following question.

What drives you nuts?

Think about your business specialty. For example, let’s say it is helping employers enroll their employees in health insurance.

Now, look at your own health insurance enrollment process – whether that’s through your own employer or your purchase of personal health insurance.

What drives you nuts about the enrollment process? Or what did in the past?

1. The volume of information
2. The difficult-to-understand material
3. The lack of choices
4. A website that was always down
5. Non-intuitive online navigation

Now fix it.

You have the power. It’s your business that helps with health insurance enrollment.

So, even though you started with your own need, you are also fixing your customer’s problem. You share the same problem. You become kindred spirits in health insurance.

Tap Into the Entrepreneurial Gene

Have you wondered how entrepreneurs come up with their ventures? Many ideas start with a problem they experienced. Then the entrepreneur looks for a way to fix it.

One of America’s earliest and best example of this entrepreneurial trait was Benjamin Franklin.

• His love of swimming and desire to swim faster resulted in swim fins (which he wore on his hands).
• Franklin’s experience of seeing a local church hit by lightning inspired his creation of the lightning rod.
• As he grew older, his frustration of switching from reading glasses to distance glasses sparked his idea for bifocals.

Ben Franklin tapped into his entrepreneurial gene by identifying a problem he experienced and then fixing it.

Successful entrepreneurs fix what drives them nuts so customers don't have to. Share on X

Share the Kindred Spirit Experience

Think about what drives you nuts or an experience you wished had a different outcome. Then, fix it.

You now own one of the most powerful communication tools – a shared experience.

1. Share your frustrations.
2. Reveal how you fixed the problem.
3. Ask customers to share their experience.

See? I promised I’d get to the needs of your customers. Asking your customers what they think completes the connection.

Customer feedback helps make a good product great. It opens your eyes to other possibilities. Maybe even a new product or two. All because you shared – and asked.

Customer service is a two-way connection. Plug in to what customers think. Share on X

Becoming kindred spirits in business communication embraces that two-way connection.

• You validate the customers’ experience.
• Share their frustrations.
• You discover a solution.

I hope this post has you nodding your head in agreement. Let’s connect. Share your thoughts in Comments.

What business communication tips do you have for nurturing a kindred spirit with your customers?

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Note: In 2015, SSB took a year-long alphabetic journey for better business communication. Each post contained an A-to-Z topic for creating better business communication. This ‘K’ post originally published on June 8, 2015, and this May 1, 2022 version updates it. The plan is to update each alphabetic post. Hopefully, it will not take a year to complete. 😊

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