Think Long Term, Not This Month
Forty practical ways to think long term instead of this month, so every choice protects your reputation and relationships.
Customers for years beat sales for a month. Play the long game.
40 tips that really help
These ideas come from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey), Never Eat Alone (Keith Ferrazzi), The Loyalty Effect (Frederick Reichheld), and Built to Last (Jim Collins), and everyday practice. The first six help the most. Pick one and try it today.
The month-end trap that kills trust
The last week of the month brings pressure, and a small voice says, ‘Push a little harder.’ That is where many sellers break their own rules. The month looks better, but the relationship is damaged.
Next month-end, write down the three things you will not do under pressure: no rushed discounts, no false promises, no pushing a customer who is not ready.
What one customer is worth in ten years
A good customer is a stream of sales over many years, plus the new customers they bring. A customer who spends two hundred a month for ten years is worth twenty-four thousand. Add referrals, and it is far more.
Work out what your average customer is worth over ten years, with repeat sales and referrals. Write the number on a card and keep it in view.
Ask "Will I be proud of this in five years?"
A simple question for any big choice: ‘Will I be proud of this in five years?’ It lifts you out of the heat of the moment into the calm of the long view.
Before your next important decision, ask ‘Will I be proud of this in five years?’ Write your answer, and let it guide you.
Choose the right fit over the fast sale
A fast sale to the wrong customer is a slow problem. It returns as complaints, refunds and lost time. The right fit may take longer, but it stays, grows and recommends you.
Before closing your next deal, ask three fit questions: does it meet their goal, can they use it well and will they still be glad in a year?
Turn down the quick win that costs trust
Sometimes a quick win appears that you know will cost you trust. It is a loan from your future, with heavy interest. A person of long-term mind turns it down, and sleeps well.
Write down the kinds of quick wins you will always turn down, such as deals that need a false promise. Keep the list with your rules.
Invest in relationships like savings
Relationships work like savings. Each small deposit, a call, a note, a favour, grows over time. Years later the balance is large and carries you through hard seasons.
Set aside one hour each week purely for relationship deposits: a call, a note or a favour for someone, with no sales aim.
Your name is your best asset
Firms, jobs and products come and go. Your name stays with you. It takes years to build and a moment to break. Protect it in every choice, large or small.
Ask three people you trust, ‘What would you say my name stands for?’ Note the answers, and decide what you want it to stand for.
Be patient with slow decisions
Some customers take months to decide. For a seller with a target, this is painful, but patience is often the most profitable choice. A customer who is not pushed often decides well and stays long.
For one slow-moving customer, plan a helpful touch every two weeks, such as an article, a checklist or a question. Never press for a date.
One referral beats a hundred cold calls
A cold call asks a stranger for their time. A referral comes with a friend’s recommendation attached. One referral can be worth a hundred cold calls, and it comes from customers who were treated well.
Thank your last three referrers with a personal note. Then ask one happy customer, ‘Who else would benefit from what we do?’
Make decisions you would be proud of
At the end of a career, you will not remember the sales figures. You will remember the decisions you were proud of: the honest word that cost a sale, the kindness no one saw. You can choose them every day.
At the end of each day this week, write down one decision you were proud of. Look for what they have in common.
Reinvest in service
When a sale is made, a wise firm sends a part of it back into service: better support, faster replies, training. It is an investment in the next ten years, and customers feel the difference.
Choose one improvement in service that you can fund this quarter, such as faster replies or a better guide. Tell customers when it is done.
Plan beyond targets
Targets look at the month, the quarter, the year. A long-term thinker also plans beyond the target: where they want to be in five years, and with whom. Each target becomes a step on a road you chose.
Write a one-page five-year picture: the customers you serve, the name you have and the work you do. Check your targets against it.
Keep learning from long-term clients
Long-term clients have seen your firm at its best and worst. They know what you do well and where you could improve, and they are usually glad to tell you, if you ask.
Invite one client of five years or more for a coffee or call. Ask, ‘What have we done best, and what should we change?’ Listen well.
Celebrate lasting partnerships
When a customer has been with you for five or ten years, something special has happened. A thank-you or a small celebration shows that you notice. It tells them they are not just a number.
List your customers who have been with you three years or more. Send a handwritten thank-you to the longest three this week.
Count the cost of a lost customer
When a customer leaves, you lose their future orders and referrals, and bear the cost of winning a replacement. Counting the cost shows why a small act of care is worth so much.
Pick one customer who left in the last year. Work out what you lost in sales, referrals and effort to replace them.
Say no to money that stains your name
Some money leaves a stain: money that arrives by misleading, by pressure or by harm. It may be tempting, but it costs your name. Money you would be happy to explain to anyone is clean.
Ask of each opportunity this week: ‘Would I be happy to explain how I earned this to anyone?’ Decline those that fail the test.
Plan your year around relationships
Most yearly plans start with numbers. A long-term plan starts with people: which relationships to deepen, whom to meet, whom I have neglected. When you plan around people, the numbers tend to follow.
List ten relationships to deepen this year. For each, plan one meaningful touch per quarter. Put the dates in your diary.
Take the long road when it is right
There is a short road and a long road to many goals. The short road is quick but may hide costs. In trust, the long road is usually right: slow, honest steps, patient help, proof over time.
Name one goal where you are tempted by a shortcut. List the hidden costs of the short road, and the lasting gains of the long one.
Know which customers cost more than they pay
Not every customer is a good one for your business. Some demand endless extras, pay late and drain your team. They look profitable on paper, but they cost more than they pay.
List your ten most demanding customers. For each, estimate the true cost in time, stress and delays, against what they pay.
End a customer relationship kindly when needed
Sometimes a relationship must end: poor fit, broken trust or too high a cost. A kind, clear ending protects your name and often keeps a door open. Leave with grace.
Prepare a short, kind script for ending a relationship: thanks, honest reason and an offer to help them move. Keep it for the day you need it.
Invest in your skills
Your skills are the engine of your career, and they fade if you do not tend them. A long-term thinker sets aside time and money each year to learn. Small steady investments build a gap no one can close quickly.
Choose one skill to build this year. Set a weekly hour for it, and name one book, course or mentor to help.
Invest in tools for better service
Good tools help good people do better work. A simple system to track promises, a shared notes file or a faster way to reply can transform your service. They cost a little now and save a great deal later.
List the three tasks that cost you the most time in serving customers. Find one tool or system that could ease the biggest one.
Invest in training your team
A team that learns together grows together. Training raises the standard of service for every customer, and shows people you value them, which keeps good people longer.
Start a thirty-minute team learning session each month. Pick one topic from real cases, and let a team member lead it.
Reward long-term thinking in your team
People do what is rewarded. If you only praise this month’s sales, you get short-term thinking. Also praise the loyal customer, the honest no and the kept promise, and you get long-term thinking.
This week, publicly praise one colleague for a long-term choice: an honest no, a kept promise or a customer who stayed.
Do not discount in panic
When sales are slow, the temptation is to cut the price. A panic discount teaches customers that your price is soft and waiting pays. It also eats the margin that funds your service.
Write a rule for yourself: when and why you will discount, and when you will not. Check it before the next slow month.
Set prices that protect your service
A price must pay for good service. If it is too low, you cannot keep your promises. A fair price is a promise to the customer that you will be there and do it well. It is not greedy. It is responsible.
Work out the true cost of delivering your service well, including support and time to learn. Check that your price covers it with a fair margin.
Avoid end-of-month pressure tactics
‘This offer expires tonight.’ ‘Only three left.’ Pressure tactics at month end are tempting and easy to spot. Even if they work once, they cost in the long run. People remember being pressed.
Write a list of the pressure phrases you or your team use near month end. Replace each with an honest, calm alternative.
Plan ahead so the quarter-end is calm
A calm quarter-end is the result of work done weeks before. Build your pipeline early, keep in touch, and set realistic targets. Panic at the end is a sign of gaps earlier.
Look at your next quarter. Set a mid-quarter check: how many conversations, how many proposals. Fix any gap in week six, not week twelve.
Build a pipeline of relationships
A pipeline is usually a list of deals. A pipeline of relationships is a list of people you are helping and getting to know. It is a longer, kinder way to grow, and it fills itself over time.
Create a list of twenty people you are building trust with, who are not yet customers. Note one helpful thing you can do for each.
Stay in touch between deals
Many sellers vanish between deals. A long-term thinker stays in touch in the quiet times with no ask: a short note, an article or a congratulation. When a new deal comes, the customer already feels close.
Set a reminder to contact each key customer every two months with something useful or kind, and no sales message.
Remember anniversaries and milestones
People remember who remembered them. A note on the day a customer opens a new office or celebrates a company anniversary shows that you see them as people, not accounts. Few do it.
Add three dates for each of your top ten customers to your diary: their start date with you, a company milestone and a personal one they shared.
Send messages with no ask
A message with no ask is rare, and it feels like a gift. It says, ‘I am thinking of you, and I want nothing.’ These messages build trust that no pitch can.
Send three messages this week with no ask: a thank-you, a useful link and a congratulation. End each with ‘No need to reply.’
Think about their next five years
A long-term thinker considers not only what a customer needs now, but what they will need in five years. How will their business change? This makes your advice richer, and shows you care about their future.
For one key client, write three changes you expect in their next five years. Think of one way to help them prepare for each.
Create a plan for each key client
Your key clients deserve more than good intentions. A short written plan for each: what they need, how you will help this year and what touches you will make. Without a plan, even loyal clients drift.
For your top five clients, write a one-page plan: their goals, your help this year, four planned touches and one delight.
Review your best clients each year
Once a year, review your best clients one by one: how is the relationship, what has changed, what can you do better? It is a health check for your most valuable assets, and it ensures no good client drifts away unnoticed.
Block two hours this month to review your top ten clients. For each, note the relationship’s health, one risk and one new idea.
Learn from clients who stayed for ten years
Clients who stayed ten years are your best teachers. They saw you at your best and worst, and stayed anyway. Ask them what it was. Their answer will show you what to do more of.
Choose one client of ten years or more. Ask them, ‘What is the main reason you have stayed with us?’ Write the answer, and act on it.
Make a ten-year vision for your name
In ten years, what do you want people to say about you? That is your ten-year vision for your name. It gives direction to a thousand small choices, and makes each decision simpler.
Write three sentences that you would like people to say about you in ten years. Choose one action today that moves you towards them.
Measure trust, not only sales
What gets measured gets managed. If you only measure sales, you manage sales. Measure trust too, with repeat business, referrals, comments or a short survey, and you manage what lasts.
Choose three trust measures to track each quarter: repeat business rate, number of referrals and one question to customers about trust.
Teach juniors to think long term
New sellers feel the pressure of targets most. If no one shows them the long view, they may learn habits that harm customers. A good senior teaches them to count customer value, put fit first and keep their word.
Meet one junior colleague this month. Share one story of a long-term choice that paid off, and one lesson you wish you had known earlier.
Balance the long term with today's bills
Thinking long term does not mean ignoring today’s bills. A wise person keeps one eye on the long road and one on the ground at their feet. Never sacrifice trust for this month, but do not neglect the numbers.
Look at your week. Mark which actions pay today’s bills, and which build the long term. Aim for a healthy mix, and protect a fixed share for the long term.
Easy things to say
When you are stuck, pick one of these. They work in many sales conversations.
“I would rather have you as a customer for ten years.”
“That is not the right time to buy.”
“Let us plan the next two years together.”
“How are you finding it after six months?”
“We will be here when you need us.”
“Thank you for your trust.”
Your first week
One small action a day. Each day is only a little bigger than the last.
Calculate a customer’s lifetime value
Decline one poor-fit sale
Plan one check-in per customer per quarter
Write your five-year picture
Reward retention
Track referrals
Review your habits
Further reading
- How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
- The Go-Giver (Bob Burg and John David Mann)
- The Trusted Advisor (David Maister and others)
The tips above are written in our own words and are general guidance. The books are suggestions for further reading.
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Start freeThese lessons share general learning and everyday ideas. They are not medical or mental health advice. If you feel very anxious, low or unwell, please talk to a doctor or a qualified professional.
More lessons in “Build Trust That Lasts”
Keep going. Small steps every day make a big change.
← Previous: Be Independent and HonestNext: Make Customers Smarter →
- Smile Like You Mean It
- Use Their Name the Right Way
- Find Common Ground Fast
- Match Their Pace and Energy
- Small Talk That Opens Doors
- Be Interested, Not Just Interesting
- The First Five Minutes Checklist
- Do What You Say You Will Do
- Be Honest About What You Cannot Do
- Share Bad News Early
- Admit a Mistake and Fix It Fast
- Give Before You Ask
- Show Proof Instead of Making Claims
- Keep Promises Small and Real
- Be an Expert Who Teaches
- Give Free Value That Matters
- Recommend What Is Right, Even If It Is Smaller
- Tell Customers What You Would Do
- Be Independent and Honest
- Think Long Term, Not This Month
- Make Customers Smarter
- Open Posture, Open Mind
- The Right Amount of Eye Contact
- A Voice That Feels Safe
- Mirror Without Mimicking
- Dress for the Customer You Serve
- Make Video Calls Feel Personal
- Read Signs of Discomfort
- Remember the Small Details
- Send the Unexpected Thank-You
- Check In Without Selling
- Celebrate Their Wins
- Introduce People to Each Other
- Build a Simple Relationship System
- What to Do When You Make a Mistake
- A Sincere Apology That Works
- Turn an Angry Customer Into a Fan
- Rebuild Trust After a Missed Deadline
- When a Customer Doubts You
- Rise Above Gossip and Reviews
