Twitter wins again. Last week I responded to a post by @BobBurg to bloggers offering a pre-release copy of his new book, Go Givers Sell More by Bob Burg and John David Mann. Within an hour, I had a copy in my Inbox.
I don’t usually read business books on the weekend, but this one was so good, I read most of it on Sunday while waiting for my son to try on jeans in the mall. (Who knew a teenage boy could spend so much time trying on clothes!)
I’m glad I’d had the courage to respond to the tweet. I almost didn’t, figuring I wasn’t a big enough blogger for him to be interested in. But obviously, he follows the principles of his book because he sent it to me. And I want to give back by giving the book an excellent review and recommending it to all my clients and friends. And of course, I plan to buy a copy.
Why? Nothing in it is rocket science. In fact, the whole book is good common sense. But it’s common sense we need to be reminded of.
The basic principle is simple enough. Give freely of yourself. Period. End of sentence. Not “give freely of yourself in the expectation that you will get back.” Just give freely. And give some more. And, oh by the way, give to enough people and it will come back to you.
Readers of my blog and newsletter know that I preach and teach this message. Bob and John just managed to come up with some very good examples and stories to back it up. In just the last two days, I’ve found myself making some small changes. And I’m already seeing results. Yes, in just two days.
I followed the principles from the book this morning, and I think I’ve attracted a new client. A client I will be working for pro bono or nearly so. But I can use her as a case study to show how social media can help a non-profit. Which will open up a new market for me. And she’s already talking about other people she can introduce me to.
A tiny bit of back story. We have known each other for a number of years, and we had decided to meet over coffee and catch up. I had no thought of making her a client. We were just meeting to reconnect. (By the way, not thinking about people as prospects is one of the most important messages from the book.)
I followed the principles laid out in the book. Here they are and how I followed them.
1. Create value
She asked what was new with me, and I told her about my decision to add social media coaching to my list of services. I talked about how my services could provide value to various industries. She knows people in some of those industries, and she offered to make some introductions. Score for showing value!
2. Touch People’s Lives
We talked about a lot of ways we could touch lives, both ours and others we know. Most of our conversation was focused on whose lives we could touch and in what ways. Again, great conversation and just being two people together. No hint of “prospect” or “salesperson.”
3. Build networks
We spent a lot of our conversation talking about networks. We are both members of a local Chamber of Commerce, and we talked about how we could build our Chamber and increase both of our networks.
4. Be real
We laughed and shared stories. I listened to her stories, and she listened to mine. We shared similar experiences, but we weren’t trying to “one-up” each other. By the way, as we talked, we may have come up with the topic for a book, focused on coaching stories. Score for being real!
5. Stay Open
I had no idea that meeting was going to be so productive. Both of us are going to get great contacts and business out of it. And by listening and being present, I got a great idea for finally getting time to finish my book. Not what I was expecting at all, but I was delighted!
And as we ended the meeting, she said she wanted to work with me, when she had the money. But I knew I could make a real impact on her business right now, so I offered to work with her pro bono or at a significant discount. I was willing to just give that and be grateful for the case study of working with a non profit. But she mentioned a few ways she could turn that work into benefit for me. Benefit that will bring me many times the value of one client.
The five items above are directly from the book. They propose those five steps as an ideal sales process. I think you’ll agree they are more comfortable, real and potentially more profitable than the “traditional” sales process.
I tell people all the time that “sales” is not a four letter word. Bob and John vividly show how we can all transform sales from a vaguely dirty thing into what it should be. A way to give value to other people and build solid relationships with anyone we meet.
The book releases on February 18. Go get it. And learn to be a Go Giver.
