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

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

In the last episode, we talked about mindset and how you should think about and prepare for your business development meetings. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I just have one message to share, and it’s that for each client development meeting, you should have only one goal.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why you shouldn’t have multiple goals The reason why only one goal benefits you more      Try to avoid having too many goals in your meetings. The idea of only having one goal is so important because it centers your mind on the most important thing. By creating that one goal and writing it down, you’re in a really great place.    If you want to learn more about the research behind goal setting, check out this study by Dr. Edwin Locke. It’s really interesting and I think you’ll enjoy it.      Resources Mentioned: Check out the study by Dr. Edwin Locke

This week on Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are going to be talking about preparing for business development meetings using a technique or method that we call Dynamic Meeting Prep, or DMP. There’s a lot of research that shows that you play how you practice, so how you mentally prepare for these meetings is how you play.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    How to think about client meetings Preparing for different scenarios   It’s so important to prepare for these meetings ahead of time. Don’t fall into the trap of not preparing in advance. 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.    If you want to learn more about dynamic meeting preparation, make sure to check out my interview with Linda Klein. The way she prepares and communicates is fantastic so I think you’re really going to enjoy this interview.        Resources Mentioned: Listen to my conversation with Linda Klein

This week on Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are talking about creating demand with your expertise and the way you can add value professionally. I’m diving into the idea of giving first and the Give to Get technique. You’ll learn how to scale it up or down, the six levers of influence, the science of commitment, and what to do when things go wrong.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:  Why we hate to be sold to but we love to buy What a great Give to Get is Why this method will convert to more sales Determining the size of your Give to Get Why you should scale it up or down Types of Give to Gets you can offer Likeability Reciprocity Scarcity Authority Social Proof Commitment The way to get commitment Why you need to talk face to face How to create a simple and obvious next step What to do if you don’t get a “yes”  Why you shouldn’t make your Give to Get too small or too big Making the end of the meeting clear Having the right people in the room     The trick is to go into each meeting with some idea of how you can be helpful to your client. You want to roll up your sleeves and start showing them what you can do, and you’ll be amazed at the results.    These episodes are designed to tell you how to make the right investments, who to make them with, how to frame them, and how to actually design and execute the meeting so that you have the highest chance of success. If you start using these tips, I know you’ll be happy with the outcome.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System Listen to my interview with Andrew Cogar Learn more about the levers of influence Get Dr. Cialdini’s book Check out Freedman’s research Listen to my conversation with Mike Deimler

If nothing else, the Give to Get technique deepens relationships which is always a winning strategy. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I want to dive into the science of commitment. Of the six levers we covered in the previous episode on Give to Gets, this one is the most important.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The way to get commitment Why you need to talk face to face How to create a simple and obvious next step What to do if you don’t get a “yes”      You want to be ridiculously simple on what the next step is in working with you. If you get a no, make sure you have a fallback position because this is the perfect time to ask for it. It’s a smaller and easier option to say yes to and it gets you started contractually.    Make sure you’re thinking about the end of the conversation with a lot of precision. Approach it with this stuff in mind and you have a much higher chance of success.    If you want to learn more about Freedman’s research on commitment and consistency, you can check out the article.      Resources Mentioned: Check out Freedman’s research

If nothing else, the Give to Get technique deepens relationships which is always a winning strategy. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I want to dive into the science of commitment. Of the six levers we covered in the previous episode on Give to Gets, this one is the most important.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The way to get commitment Why you need to talk face to face How to create a simple and obvious next step What to do if you don’t get a “yes”      You want to be ridiculously simple on what the next step is in working with you. If you get a no, make sure you have a fallback position because this is the perfect time to ask for it. It’s a smaller and easier option to say yes to and it gets you started contractually.    Make sure you’re thinking about the end of the conversation with a lot of precision. Approach it with this stuff in mind and you have a much higher chance of success.    If you want to learn more about Freedman’s research on commitment and consistency, you can check out the article.    Resources Mentioned: Check out Freedman’s research

This episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue is an important one. It’s all about the six key things you need to audit when it comes to your Give to Gets that will tell you if they will succeed or fail. You’re probably already doing the first few, but it’s the latter ones that are often missed. They are all extremely important.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:  Likeability Reciprocity Scarcity Authority Social Proof Commitment   A great Give to Get is like a sidewalk; it leads to one destination. Don’t assume that every investment is the same because they are not. As you think about your investments and your Give to Gets and the way you design them, consider these levers of influence. That will determine your flow-through rates and your success.    If you want to learn more about the six levers of influence, check out this link. You can also check out Dr. Cialdini’s book.    Resources Mentioned: Learn more about the levers of influence Get Dr. Cialdini’s book

In the last episode, I talked about the concept of Give to Gets. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I’m sharing why you want to scale your Give to Gets up or down relative to the size of the commercial opportunity. Based on the size of the project you may be selling, you want to do more or less on your own dime in order to start the conversation and start helping them solve their problem.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:  Determining the size of your Give to Get Why you should scale it up or down Types of Give to Gets you can offer   Try not to give away too much or not give away enough. You want to think of the level of investment first. Then, come up with something that is low-cost for you, adds value to your client, cuts them off, and leads them to the next step of working with you. Everyone wins with this approach.    If you want to go deeper into this topic, make sure to check out my conversation with Andrew Cogar. He uses Give to Gets across his entire organization and they are growing like crazy.    Resources Mentioned: Listen to my interview with Andrew Cogar

    This week, we are talking about creating demand with your expertise and the way you can add value professionally. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I’m diving into the idea of giving first. You have to give to get. Instead of talking about what you do to your clients or prospects, you just do what you do.   Topics We Cover in This Episode:  Why we hate to be sold to but we love to buy What a great Give to Get is Why this method will convert to more sales   When you get your Give to Gets down to a science so they work efficiently, you can start seeing a 50-90% conversion rate to paid work. Your clients will love it because you’re solving a problem for them.    The trick is to go into each meeting with some idea of how you can be helpful to your client. You want to roll up your sleeves and start showing them what you can do - you’ll be amazed at the results.    Make sure to check out my book The Snowball System. Chapter 5 is all about the idea of Give to Get and I think you’ll really enjoy it.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System