The More You Treat People Like a Transaction

The more you treat people like they’re a transaction, the more they will treat you the same way.

There are a lot of things that you might buy or sell that require nothing more than a transaction. You can buy a lot of things for your household where no additional value is necessary. Because what you are buying isn’t risky, complicated, or particularly important, you don’t need anything other than a transaction. That is exactly the level of value you need, and when that is delivered, it’s perfect.

But there are other things you buy where the transaction itself is not going to be enough. When you eat at a restaurant, even if the food is good, if the experience is terrible the meal may be ruined. The experience is another level of value that may be necessary, and you notice it when it is missing, when you are treated like a transaction.

When you treat human beings, like your clients, as if they are a means to an end and not the end in and of themselves, that lack of caring is felt. So is your self-orientation. When you treat people as if they aren’t important, the fact that you are transactional is the standard you set for the relationship, and it is what you should expect to receive in return. If you don’t care, why should they care?

Of all the things that you can do to eliminate a preference to work with you, your company, and to buy your solution in a B2B sale, behaving in a way that is low caring and taking a transactional approach to the relationship may be the most damaging. More still, when a decision comes with a fair bit of risk, is complicated, is relatively expensive, and rises to a level of importance that would benefit from the advice of trusted counsel, a more consultative relationship is what is required—and it is what creates a preference to work with you.

If you don’t want people treat you like a commodity, don’t treat them like a transaction.