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R.O.I.R.

I call it "Return On Investment in Relationships." It outstrips standard "ROI" by a mile in the long term—and, for that matter, the short term.

Here's a take on R.O.I.R. from Harry Markopolos, author of No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller:

"The financial industry is a business of contacts and relationships. No one ever buys a product and says, 'That product is the sexiest thing I've ever seen. I don't care who's selling it.' Generally people do business with people they trust and like, or people who are recommended by someone they trust."

This is not news.
But it always bears repeating.

So: Over the weekend, consider in detail your R.O.I.R. strategy for next week, the next month, maybe the rest of the year. This is an idea that deserves careful and continuous thought, not a catch-as-catch-can attitude. You'd work for months or years on a plan for a new bridge. Well, R.O.I.R. is your "bridge to success."

NB: Markopolos is the quintessential "quant"; i.e., this is a geek pushing relationship power, not a used car salesman.

(Above: Ice-tea season. Fresh mint.)

Tom Peters posted this on 05/21/10.

Comments

No one ever buys a product and says, 'That product is the sexiest thing I've ever seen. I don't care who's selling it.'

Yes they: Apple.

Posted by Mark JF at May 21, 2010 2:17 PM

Unfortunately, Mark is right. And more so for the unsexy products, by evidence of the cars which continue to stream into BP's gas stations.

Posted by Tom Asacker at May 21, 2010 2:51 PM

Mark, don't disagree in the least re Apple. But for the 99.99% of us (more like 99.9999%) who are mortal, the ROIR bit, I believe, is the best/most likely path forward.

(In the world of public speakers that I know well, star power works for a while; but if you wish to hang in, it's the relationships that matter. "Great, but he's a pain in the ass to work with" will, to keep with the crude language, come back and bite you in the ass.)

Posted by tom peters at May 21, 2010 7:26 PM

ROIR...much easier said than done. We all know it is important, but learning how to authentically develop, tend and grow purposeful relationships is a mastery.

Posted by Sally Petersen at May 22, 2010 8:57 AM

Sally, Amen! It is a genuine "discipline" to be worked at systematically.

Posted by tom peters at May 22, 2010 3:38 PM

Here is an article about Craig Venter.
He is not a guy who wins people over with his personality.
He was well on his way to putting together the first database of the Human Genome and was planning to charge people money to get access to it.
President Clinton talked him out of doing that.
This could well turn out to be one of Clinton's biggest contributions to history.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/may/23/observer-profile-craig-venter

Posted by zorro at May 22, 2010 9:37 PM

Many really amazing people are "difficult" - perhaps it's a byproduct of a brain wired a little differently.

Unfortunately the reverse is not true so the rest of us have to be nice to one another!

And even those who are amazing still could get it wrong - It's one of those areas where we see the success stories of maverick types and ignore the failures - history is littered with unsung amazing heroes who revolutionised something but died embittered and often poor.

Backroom geniuses should always have a PR expert, business manager, accountant and sales person assigned to them for the benefit of mankind!

Posted by PaulH at May 24, 2010 6:56 AM

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"

A couple of, hopefully apropos, quotes from George Bernard Shaw

Posted by Andrew Baines at May 24, 2010 7:50 AM

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Yes, I think building relationships & trust is what ultimately counts. We have to respect the company that sells integrity & pursues quality above the $$. price viagra

Posted by Karen at May 24, 2010 6:05 PM

You are so right - trust is the key. I've given this post a shout on The Radical Ear. A lot of people are trying to get referrals from customers, when they should be building a relationship first.

Posted by Thompson Morrison at May 26, 2010 11:27 AM