I recently read that persistence and trust are interchangeable. I found that interesting. My son and daughter are in leadership roles with software companies. My daughter’s company is an early stage start up. My son’s company is an older company that has deeply set processes. Both situations have pros and cons. I share with both to trust their processes for selling and for hiring and development of their teams. If they are persistent and trusting, success will come. It makes sense to me that trust and persistence are interchangeable.
In the same article the author said interest and curiosity are interchangeable. That one is more difficult for me to relate with. Yes, you must be interested to be curious, but I see interest to be less committed than curious. I find myself interested in manufacturing companies, and I’m curious to see the differences in how they build. The curiosity helps me dig deeper and ask questions to learn more.
When you think of your customer interactions, are you interested or are you curious? Do you dig deep to understand or are you more interested in selling them your product or service? Curiosity, I believe, helps you discover the root of the problem you are solving, and it helps you create new, innovative solutions.
If you trust your process and you are persistent enough to ask questions to truly understand the root causes, you can have a significant impact for your customer. You can create value for them, and for you.