Water into rock

When I was about 10, I went on a school trip to see some caves.

Wet and damp, they were. But I found them fascinating.

(Except the time when the guide turned off all the lights – I was plunged into a darkness so dark that it smothered me.)

The best bit was learning about the stalactites and stalagmites.

You already know how they form: over thousands of years, the minerals carried in water slowly – very slowly – get deposited to create structures.

Eventually, if you were to wait long enough, you would see a stalactite grow so long it would touch the ground; or a stalagmite reach high enough to join the cave ceiling.

Indeed sometimes, a stalactite would grow down to meet a stalagmite that was growing up, connecting in a stony kiss.

Drip after drip, day after day, year after year, the stalactite would slowly get bigger.

Molecule on molecule.

Your customer relationships are like that too.

You don’t build them all at once.

Instead they grow, little by little.

Every time your customer has a good experience you deposit a few more minerals on that relationship.

Every time you send that customer a newsletter you grow that bond.

Bit by bit.

Drip by drip.

Until water forms rock.