Real Relationships Real Revenue - Audio Edition | Invest in Relationships to Build Your Business and Your Career

This week on Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are talking about effective and strategic client planning. Many people make mistakes when it comes to this so we will be covering how you can do this really well, where you can get the most ROI on your time invested, and how to do it in a way that your clients will love.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The biggest mistakes we see with client planning Anchoring and the status quo bias Earned dogmatism Self-enhancement bias Why you need to be looking toward the future Questions to ask yourself about your clients Future vision Why you should focus on the top three things  Using mnemonic devices, alliteration, or rhyming Creating your to-do list Creating your to-don’t list The say no nicely model Thinking about business development meetings as agile sprints Spending time in the meeting looking forward Tying everything back to the strategy Celebrating incremental progress   The most important thing for you to remember when it comes to client planning is to look forward. Don’t spend all of your time looking into the past and examining what did or didn’t work. Give it ten minutes and then switch to your future vision. It’s the only thing you can control.    These tips and strategies will help you look at the current situation, plan for the future, come up with effective strategies, take the necessary tactical steps, and manage everything ongoing. If you implement these tips, you are sure to find more success.      Resources Mentioned: Learn more about the status quo bias Check out my conversation with Michael Hyatt Check out my conversation with Jane Allen Watch the video on saying no nicely Check out the Winning More PDF

This is the final episode around proper, groundbreaking, and efficient client planning. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I’m getting into how you can manage things ongoing. I’m sharing my top three tips to help you succeed.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Thinking about business development meetings as agile sprints Spending time in the meeting looking forward Tying everything back to the strategy Celebrating incremental progress   Don’t get caught up in focusing on the tactical aspects, you want to relate everything in your meetings back to the overall strategy and ongoing agile sprints to reach your goals. It’s so important that you don’t forget to celebrate those wins as well because the happiest and most productive people are the ones that celebrate incremental progress.    To dive into this topic more and learn about measuring success, check out this Winning More PDF we wrote about how to roll out your training and have more success in major organizations. If you run big client teams or are a big part of an organization, you’re going to want to check it out.      Resources Mentioned: Check out the Winning More PDF

In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I’m getting really tactical. Our first three episodes covered the current state, future state, and strategic themes, and to follow that up  I’m covering your to-do list, your to-don’t list, and how to say no nicely.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Creating your to-do list Creating your to-don’t list The say no nicely model   These tactical steps covered in this episode are so important. This idea of being able to say no in a nice way that retains the relationship shows empathy, but also is very crystal clear on what you can and can't do with math, numbers, and logic. If you want to learn more about how to say no nicely, check out this video. It’s incredibly powerful and important when it comes to client planning.  Resources Mentioned: Watch the video on saying no nicely

In our last episode, we talked about really pinning down your current state and future vision during client planning. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are talking about strategies. To get your clients from where they are today to where you want them to be, you need to get it down to three strategies.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why you should focus on the top three things  Using mnemonic devices, alliteration, or rhyming   The trap you need to avoid is having too many or too few strategies for your team. Three is the optimal amount to have. Do them in a way that people will remember using literary techniques. Remember, people buy into what they help create, so your client team is buying into these strategies when they help create them, themselves.    If you are interested in learning more about thinking about a vision, I recommend you check out my conversation with Jane Allen. It’s really inspirational and I think you’ll enjoy it.    Resources Mentioned: Check out my conversation with Jane Allen

In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I’m giving you a rock-solid first step to start your client planning. These are the most important things to getting your team grounded. We’re going to be covering your current state and future state. This first step will get your team unstuck and looking toward the future instead of the past.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why you need to be looking toward the future Questions to ask yourself about your clients Future vision   This will help you avoid the trap of being way too focused on the past. We’ll blitz through all of the science that we talked about in the last episode and get you clear on where you’re at today and where you want to be in the future. The future vision conversation is the most important part.    If you are interested in crafting a vision for anything, make sure to check out my conversation with Michael Hyatt. We talked about some really interesting ways to craft a vision for yourself or your organization.    Resources Mentioned: Check out my conversation with Michael Hyatt

  This week on Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are talking about effective and strategic client planning. Many people make mistakes when it comes to this so we will be covering how you can do this really well, where you can get the most ROI on your time invested, and how to do it in a way that your clients will love. These are the three scientific headwinds that are against you when it comes to retention and growth.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The biggest mistakes we see with client planning Anchoring and the status quo bias Earned dogmatism Self-enhancement bias   We’re probably biased toward staying where we are at or even shrinking, but we need to be thinking about how we can be bringing new experts, new activities, and new solutions to our clients in a way that is helpful and proactive.    To learn more about the status quo bias, make sure to check out the Wikipedia page on it. It is very interesting and it might be a great thing to share with your team.    Resources Mentioned: Learn more about the status quo bias

This week on Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are talking about preparing for business development meetings using a technique or method that we call Dynamic Meeting Prep, or DMP. I’m covering how to get in the right mindset, create goals, frame your meetings, prepare for anything, and use cliffhangers.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    How to think about client meetings Preparing for different scenarios Why you shouldn’t have multiple goals The reason why only one goal benefits you more  Why framing your meetings is so important How to frame your meeting How the framing engages the other side Why you should be ready for anything Negative visualization and planning for things that go wrong Why curiosity is an intrinsic motivator How to use cliffhangers between meetings   It’s so important to prepare for these meetings ahead of time. Don’t fall into the trap of not preparing in advance for anything that might come up. You don’t want to practice what to say, you want to prepare for flexibility.    There are so many things that could happen in your meeting so you want to think about those different scenarios and segments of the meetings and what you do in each one. Make sure you have one goal only and use a cliffhanger to create excitement for your next meeting. These simple steps will drastically increase your chances of success.      Resources Mentioned: Listen to my conversation with Linda Klein Check out the study by Dr. Edwin Locke Listen to my conversation with Tyler Sweatt Learn more about negative visualization from Ryan Holiday Check out the study on uncertainty

In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I’m tying this episode back to Episode 22 where we talked about cliffhangers. This is the final episode about business development meetings and I’m sharing how you can develop a cliffhanger between this meeting and the next one to increase your chances of success.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why curiosity is an intrinsic motivator How to use cliffhangers between meetings     Don’t assume that just because you got the meeting then you’re all set. You want to add that cliffhanger because that’s going to give you the opportunity to get the person excited for their next meeting with you. Without that cliffhanger or intrinsic curiosity, there’s a higher chance that the meeting won’t occur.    If you want to learn more about this, I recommend you check out this study. It says that when you show uncertainty about what will happen, you build more trust with the person you’re communicating with while also building curiosity.    Resources Mentioned: Check out the study on uncertainty

In the last few episodes, we have been covering dynamic meeting prep and helping people get out of the habit of not preparing for meetings by showing them how to prepare very efficiently for the big day. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue,  I’m sharing how you can be ready for anything.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why you should be ready for anything Negative visualization and planning for things that go wrong     Business development meetings rarely go the way you expect them to. They may want to talk about something different than you do, the meeting could go long, they could want to introduce you to people, etc. There are so many things that could come up and you want to be prepared. Really think it through so that you can have more successful meetings.    If you want to learn more about negative visualization and how it can help you succeed, make sure to check out what Ryan Holiday has to say about it all. It is really interesting and I think you’ll enjoy it.    Resources Mentioned: Learn more about negative visualization from Ryan Holiday

We’ve covered how you should prepare for your business meetings and why you should only have one goal. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I want to talk about those first few minutes of the client meeting. It’s what I like to call, “framing the meeting.” It’s very simple but very important.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why framing your meetings is so important How to frame your meeting How the framing engages the other side   Avoid not framing your meeting. Many people feel intimidated or hesitant about doing this, but if you don’t state your intent, the other side is probably wondering why they are there. By framing your meeting, you’re sharing the goal of your interaction in a way that shows a clear benefit to the person you’re meeting with.    If you want to learn more about the concept of dynamic meeting prep and framing your meetings, make sure to tune in to my conversation with Tyler Sweatt. He has a really unique way of framing things and he is excellent at beginning his meetings.    Resources Mentioned: Listen to my conversation with Tyler Sweatt