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

Mo asks Linda Klein: If you could record a video around business development and send it back to your younger self, what would it say? Business development is about passion. Life is about passion. Don’t lose your passion for getting involved. Helping others is the most satisfying thing you can do. In so many ways it’s easier to make a dollar than it is to make a difference, but you can do both at the same time. Take the time to get good at what you do first, and then you’ll have something valuable to sell. If you’re going to say no, say it with kindness. “People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou Treat people right. People you interact with today may be future clients and you should treat them with respect and kindness. If you’re passionate about what you do, it will come through in your authenticity. Some of your best experiences will come from wasting time. If you rigidly plan, you might say no to something that is an incredible opportunity.   Mo asks Henning Streubel: If you could record a video around relationship development and send it back to your younger self, what would it say? Henning would send three points back. The first is that you have to care about the people. You can only develop relationships when you care about the other person and their issues. When you are engaging with them, it’s not about just showcasing your expertise and what you know. It’s about listening to them and what they want. If you come with a cookie-cutter approach, you won’t establish trust. Understanding what the other person needs and bringing a customized approach is the key to trust. This kind of work is a team sport. Think about how you can compliment your own skills and strengths with your team so you can offer a holistic value to your clients. The basis for all those lessons is that you aren’t born with these skills and consistently learning them over time is okay. It is vital to respect the individual clients and companies that you work with. Not everything goes to plan. For Henning, he overcomes setbacks very quickly by looking forward rather than backwards. Feel the pain and then move on. Everybody needs to find their own way of processing pain, leverage the learning, and move forward again. It doesn’t help us as a society or as leaders to dwell on setbacks for too long. For Henning, that means going for a run or a bike ride. For others, that could be having a conversation with someone they trust.   Mo asks Brian Caffarelli: If you could record a video around business development and send it back to your younger self, what would it say? If you think selling is hard, buying is harder. Brian would want to tell his younger self that if he was more in tune and empathetic to the struggles of the buyer, sales wouldn’t be as hard. When you feel stuck with sales, realize that the buyer is even more stuck. To create a great buying experience, deconstruct as many of the little decisions that need to be made before the purchase decision. Get a sense of where you are in the process and the personal motivations of the other person for the stage they are at. As the guide, it’s your job to help the buyer understand what the next step is and move them forward when they are ready. Look into the past and see if your organization or you personally did something similar before. You might find challenges that were overcome and lessons that can be applied right now. In the early stages of the buying journey, the buyer doesn’t necessarily realize the enormity or the complexity of the problem they are trying to solve. When trying to create demand, it’s problem knowledge and not product knowledge that moves the needle. Empathy is the keyword. Buyers are trying to make a really hard decision and the better you understand the buying challenges the more likely you are to being able to solve their problem.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com lklein@bakerdonelson.com linkedin.com/in/lindakleinlaw linkedin.com/in/henning-streubel-phd on.bcg.com/henning - Use the envelope icon on this page to get in touch with Henning directly brian.caffarelli@stsconsulting.com linkedin.com/in/briancaffarelli

Mo asks Andrew Cogar: Tell us a business development story that you are particularly proud of. There was one project that stands out for Andrew, where he and the founder of his firm, Jim Strickland, had the chance to not only create an awesome property but also restore and support the local ecology as well. During the meeting, Jim and the client discovered they shared a mutual friendship and instead of talking about the project they started geeking out on chicken coops. That kind of interest was exactly what the client was looking for, a firm that was completely authentic to themselves. Andrew set the table for that approach that allowed Jim to be Jim to the fullest. It’s all about being true to yourself, listening, and then connecting. The way that you win work is to actually start doing the work. The right thing to do is to start adding value. When you do those things, you aren’t competing anymore. This gets the client excited about the person who is facilitating their vision. It takes them from a leap of faith to “When can we start?”   Mo asks Bonneau Ansley: Tell me of a business development story that you are deeply proud of. When Bonneau started the business, he made sure that he was selling for a reason. Even when they weren’t making any money, he made sure that every sale gave back to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Hospital and it’s become the most rewarding business activity he’s ever done. Having clients is not about a single transaction. Bonneau wants to grow with his clients and for the company to have a footprint beyond real estate. By pairing sales with a noble endeavor, he makes the mission of the organization more than just profit. Visiting the hospital in addition to donating money is part of the company culture. When things get hard, the charitable aspect of the business helps but he has a deep desire to win that keeps him going. Overcoming his natural weaknesses and leveraging his strengths also allows him to stay motivated.   Mo asks John Tigh: Tell me of a business development that you are particularly proud of. During John’s time working as a consultant while working for a top-10 pharmaceutical company. He had a chance to meet another top-10 pharmaceutical company and help them implement a new technology. John had a productive initial meeting but hadn’t really heard from them for two years. Eventually, John was contacted to pick up the project after another consulting company dropped the ball. Disaster struck and the leader that was meant to guide the project left the company. John put his hand up to help them move the project forward as long as they were willing to trust the team to get things done. Over time, the team grew and John ran that project from the outside for three years and grew the business to the tune of multiple millions of dollars. All of that came from one initial meeting and building trust by offering some expertise and help with no strings attached. He was the one who wrote the strategy that transformed the business as well as the leader and operations person who helped make that happen. John’s biggest achievement during that time was in overcoming his own inner critic. By learning about and practicing meditation each day, he learned how to get out of his own way. Having a moment at the start of each day to throw off the doubts and the worries and focus on doing what he can do has changed the rest of John’s life. One of the biggest blessings of a high performing team that has your back and believes in you is that they can help you manage your own inner critic.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com historicalconcepts.com Visions of Home bonneauansley.com john@clevercognitive.com linkedin.com/in/johntigh clevercognitive.com

Mo asks Jane Allen: Tell us a business development story that you are really proud of. Jane tells the story from the early 2000’s during a time when the people they were serving in corporate America were being overwhelmed by the explosion of data. One fateful dinner and “what if” scenario later, Jane started collaborating with a firm to solve real world problems with a solution that was unheard of at the time. As an entrepreneur, Jane didn’t take time to reflect on the success since she was so focused on the execution. Looking back now, finding a partner that was willing to take a risk and then deliver something that enabled her clients to practice law in a completely different way is something she’s very proud of. In terms of her career, Jane is most proud of the incredible people she worked with and learned from, as well as being willing to take the chance on herself and her vision for her business. Reach for your goals and take the chance. Rejection is a part of life, but you will never achieve anything if you don’t try.   Mo asks Read Davis: Tell me about a business development story that you are really proud of. Read formerly worked for one of the largest brokerage firms in the world, and when he first came to work with McGriff they were often David going up against Goliath. Read recalls several different stories where the relationships they built helped their clients take care of their people. Each experience gave Read additional skills and confidence to take into the next. One, in particular, stands out where Read was handling a casino in Las Vegas. As the real estate guy on the team, Read was meeting with banks and people on the team to help them through the financial crisis. They broke the paradigm by bringing people in from all over to show the client what they could do. The best part of the sales story is that four years later the casino was sold to Blackstone and the client referred Read and his team as the broker of choice to the new buyer. It’s all about the connectivity of the relationships and adding value while playing the long game. The team was what made the difference. By listening intently to what the prospect needed, that got the team motivated to deliver. They recognized that the deal was a major opportunity for the firm and they rose to the challenge.   Mo asks Katrina Johnson: What is a business development story that you are particularly proud of? Katrina’s story occurred five years ago when she went on a trip to meet a candidate for a President role at a textile manufacturer. Katrina knew she was skeptical, but didn’t realize how skeptical. After the candidate was hired, Katrina ended up working with her for the first six months and through her unique knowledge of how that particular organization functioned was able to help considerably. Her relationship with this one skeptical person led to additional relationships and business. To win her over Katrina did three things. She didn’t make it about her and take the skepticism personally, she got curious about why she was skeptical and what it could teach her, and she waited for holes to open for her to go deeper. It’s easy to take offense from skepticism, but Katrina had to learn early on as a physician that you have to earn respect. You can’t look at things from a scientific perspective when you’re stuck in your own head. Being curious about the root of the person’s skepticism makes it objective and less about you. Being candid with the client and honest about her perspectives was key to building trust and winning the skeptic over. Divorce yourself from the outcome and focus on doing the right thing. Quieting the anxious and emotional part of us can lead to more creativity and effectiveness. Focusing on process instead of outcomes is how you can control that.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com ec.co jane.allen@ec.co linkedin.com/in/readdavis rdavis@mcgriff.com katrina@kcjconsult.com

Mo asks Sandy Lutton: What is a business development story that you are really proud of? One moment in particular stands out from Sandy’s career in regards to business development. Part of her role at the Speaker’s Bureau was to secure talent, and Sandy was working on securing a famous world leader. The twist in the story was that the first in-person meeting with the CEO didn’t go well which made landing this client much harder than they expected. They spent too much time talking about who they represent. The big influencer in the decision was the Chief of Staff, and by uncovering their goals it changed the dynamic of the relationship. In listening to them and finding out what they needed, Sandy was able to put the right team in place to support them. Understanding what they ultimately wanted to achieve was critical in the decision-making Just like the Snowball System teaches, keeping them involved in the process was crucial, and in the end they won the business without giving everything away for free. Many people fold too quickly when it comes to high pressure proposals. Challenge yourself when you feel like you have to go in at your lowest price in order to win the business, because it might not be true. Sandy is most proud of the fact that they landed the client by identifying the right team and making it clear that going to the lowest price wasn’t the right move. Resist the urge to discount your service by negotiating too soon.   Mo asks Chris Graham: What growth story are you most personally proud of? Making the pivot from law to private equity is the thing that Chris is the most proud of. The pivot was hard and took a long time but it has allowed him to make more impact than ever before. One of the examples that Chris talks about is a company where Chris implemented his methodology of growth and after 19 months they grew from $2.3 million to $4.9 million in profit. Rather than just generate more sales, Chris helped them become more process efficient. Chris grew up in a trailer park back in the 70’s where there was still a sense of community. That experience is why Chris is so dedicated to the mission of rehabilitating those kinds of communities now. It was a long process of learning and growing before Chris was able to connect all the dots. Being raised in a poor community, Chris wasn’t exposed to the idea of entrepreneurship and the impact you can have at that level until after he began his career in law. Chris is insatiably curious, which is a trait that has propelled him throughout his career. That curiosity is what allowed Chris to make the jump from each level to the next. After working with families that owned businesses for 17 years, Chris could see things that they couldn’t. This was a big motivation for buying the first business. Chris realized that, over the period of growing the law firm from eight lawyers to 22 lawyers over 24 months, he got himself into a position where he couldn’t use his strengths. Instead of floundering, Chris made the hard decision to cut back to what was working before, which allowed him to eventually make the transition to bigger and better things.   Mo asks Debby Moorman: What is one moment around business development that you are really proud of? The current climate has been challenging, and there is one client in particular that she’s working with right now that she’s proud of. She had the opportunity to reconnect with someone she worked with 15 years ago that recently moved into a more senior role. She reached out to them, but with the way things are right now, she couldn’t meet them in person and have a face-to-face conversation with them. What Debby was able to do was have a conversation with this person and simply learn about their new role. She started to hear things that indicated the company was going through a number of changes and was able to offer herself as a resource to be more successful in their new job. This led to more conversations and helping them with relevant research, and eventually getting connected with the CHRO. This relationship from Debby’s past has developed into a conversation about how they can all work together. By cultivating a relationship with this person, Debby has opened the door to working with the organization in a deeper scope that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, simply by being helpful. For Debby, the commercial transaction is not a focus when connecting with someone. She brings a curiosity to the table that helps her uncover genuine ways that she can help and by following through, she adds value, builds trust, and creates a real relationship. Be helpful and honest, and the solution will happen.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com sandy@designinginfluencers.com Her Journey Told Podcast linkedin.com/company/crowncapitalinvestments linkedin.com/in/christophertgraham25 cgraham@ccfos.com crown-inv.com Crown Capital Investments on YouTube - youtube.com/channel/UCLstgUIyDH9bRFTHH0vWAbg debby.moorman@willistowerswatson.com Debby Moorman on LinkedIn

Mo asks Linda Klein: Tell us a business development story that you are particularly proud of. Many years ago Linda did a favor for an accountant without sending him a bill. Five years later, the accountant called mainly to thank her and ask if she could help a friend of his. The new client was entering a mature market with lots of competition, but after Linda helped him start and grow his business, within nine months his company was the largest client for Linda’s firm. Linda was able to make a difference in two people’s lives. For the client, she helped him start a business that changed him and his family’s lives, and for the accountant, she impacted him deeply enough for it to come back to her five years later. Linda has developed a business development program by volunteering. Linda doesn’t have a lot of free time, but for her, volunteering and being helpful is fun and enjoyable so the business development benefits come naturally. If you’re curious and read the news about your clients, you will find opportunities to reach out and be helpful. Being involved in your community gives you scale in meeting new people. Find what you like and get involved in that community. There are an infinite number of opportunities to get involved and meet like-minded people.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: Tell us a development or growth story that you're really particularly proud of. Jonathan tells the story of a complex corporate partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Hilty, and how they’ve worked together closely after building a relationship over the years. Each year, the two organizations began to work more closely together and started developing new innovative approaches to achieving their mutual goals. There's not only funding, but it's making both parties better. They are achieving their goals as well inside a full strategic partnership which is much more exciting than just a transactional donor relationship. Jonathan’s role was in building trust with the head of the foundation. Without that relationship, the partnership probably wouldn’t exist. It also taught Jonathan a lot about building trust and being direct.   Mo asks Henning Streubel: Tell us a business development story that you are particularly proud of. Henning’s story begins with a rough start where a client CEO read an unflattering internal email about himself that he was never meant to see. Henning went to apologize in person and ended up having a great conversation that turned into an offer to have a second lunch in the future. During the second conversation the client began to open up about the challenges he had been experiencing, and Henning realized that he had gained this CEOs trust. Henning engaged some of his colleagues to help with the challenges the CEO was facing and this created the basis for a larger transformative project with the company. Today, Henning and the CEO are good friends. Henning is most proud about being able to overcome his discomfort with the initial situation and doing the right thing. Growth and comfort can’t coexist. The skills needed to develop a relationship aren’t innate. You can start right away to develop your skills, and it is possible to add value to someone else’s career even when they have more years of experience than you. Henning is always thinking about how to take his professional relationships into a more personal realm because that’s where he can deliver the most value. The challenge is in connecting with people with different personalities and experiences and then helping his team do the same thing.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com lklein@bakerdonelson.com linkedin.com/in/lindakleinlaw habitat.org linkedin.com/in/jonathanreckford Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World by Jonathan Reckford linkedin.com/in/henning-streubel-phd on.bcg.com/henning - Use the envelope icon on this page to get in touch with Henning directly

Mo asks Andrew Robertson: Tell me a business development story that you're particularly proud of. Andrew tells the story of a client in London that BBDO had been working with for 20 years and how they lost most of that client’s work after delivering a terrible piece starring John Cleese. Instead of bailing on the client completely, Andrew and the team decided to stick with the unglamorous work that remained and deliver excellent results for the client, knowing that eventually, the rival company that won their former work would stumble. By sticking with the client, they had the opportunity three years later to offer a new brand campaign, which was informed by the fact that they were still involved in the business and understood their needs. Andrew signed Jamie Oliver, who wasn’t quite famous yet, after scouring London on Easter weekend physically to find him, and landed the business again. Andrew learned three key lessons from the experience: be gracious on the way out, treat a rejection as a “not for now,” not a never, and the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. Even when you get fired, those relationships are still valuable and worth keeping alive. We show our true selves much more in defeat than in easy victories. How you behave during the bad times says much more about your character than when things are good. People are human, and it’s always hard to fire someone you’ve built a relationship with. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be, and keep adding value to the relationship after the fact. How you behave afterward will be remembered. Even if you don’t win a project, that’s an opportunity to ask for feedback and give the prospect the opportunity to stay in touch. One loss is not the end, it’s the beginning of the next potential project.   Mo asks Kim Davenport: What is one moment around business development that you are really proud of? Kim’s most proud moment was the first real significant opportunity she brought into her firm – the friend, who’s a vice president at an energy company, who she had a conversation with and who realized Kim and the firm she’s part of could help her business. Kim is proud of what she did, of having the courage to go outside of her comfort zone a little bit to bring business into a conversation among friends. This was her first success story, and it happened before Kim was a partner at her firm. That’s one of the moments that made her realize that BD isn’t about going around knocking on doors trying to sell something, but it’s about helping people, about leveraging and building relationships… and, yes, it’s fun! Even though she’s process-driven, Kim recommends not to overthink things too much. Her advice is to just be a little courageous, and give it a try. Just ask the first question, make it natural. Don’t worry about what comes after that, just take the first step and see where it takes you.   Mo asks Bill Ruprecht: What is a story of business development that you are particularly proud of? A business like Sotheby’s is a transaction business so Bill had been involved in thousands of transactions over the course of his career but one tale in particular stood out to him. Bill traveled down to Florida to help an older lawyer sell $20 million in vintage cars and that began a 9-month process of negotiating. After months of back and forth, they finally signed the deal, and the auction itself was widely successful. In extended negotiations, as the professional, you know what it will take to make the deal successful. It’s common for the other party to not fully know what they want and the key is to just keep the conversations going. When the other party doesn’t know what they want, negotiating becomes a marathon or experimenting and exploring until they land on what was missing from the conversation.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com andrew.robertson@bbdo.com linkedin.com/in/kim-davenport-7732751 kimberlydavenport@scottmadden.com

Mo asks Bill Ruprecht: What is your favorite science, step, or strategy from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Bill began working with Mo because he believed a more disciplined approach to building relationships was critical to the continued growth of his organization. When you have 90 offices over 40 countries is an enormous task. Bill recalls a meeting with a number of executives at Sotheby's along with Mo where it became very clear how some people struggled with the process of articulating value, even those who had been in the business for 30 years. Every business believes they are unique so they often believe a system of business development couldn’t possibly apply to them. But once they realize that almost everybody runs into the same problems and barriers, they see the value of a disciplined approach to relationships. The default assumption that most people make is that business development is not a learnable skill. That some people are just born with it and that assumption prevents them from seeing the possibilities. Bill is a born introvert and a learned extrovert. Giving speeches and connecting with people didn’t come naturally to him. Being a salesman is something to be proud of because it means you’re being an advocate for whatever you’re walking into the room and trying to do.   Mo asks Cyril Peupion: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? The overall mindset of the Snowball Training is what stands out for Cyril. Going from selling to serving and being proud of the value that you are bringing to your clients is pivotal. Cyril also appreciates the concept of nurturing raving fans and uses the strategy to make sure he’s always working on the most important relationships associated with his business. There is a strong link between performance and joy. People value what they help to create. Cyril noticed that the clients that contribute to the work in more of a partnership style relationship usually value the work more. Without the mindset shift of going from selling to helping, you will never achieve your true potential in your career. “The secret of living is giving.” -Winston Churchill When you understand the giving mindset, it will change the way you look at business and life. When planning your ideal work for business development, relationship building with your raving fans and developing yourself and your team, are the things that will have the most significant long-term impact. How much time each day do you need to protect to get those done each day? The rule is that you can move this meeting time with yourself around, but you can’t delete it. Business development is often composed of a lot of little tasks. Cyril uses the Outlook Task tool to categorize emails and tasks he needs to address during the time he’s set aside each day to focus on business development. Your calendar should be filled with Meetings With Yourself and you should respect them as much as you do meetings with other people. You say no all the time. When you say yes to something, you are saying no to everything else, whether you are conscious of that or not. When someone asks you to do something, pause and run through the “Hell Ya/No” framework.   Mo asks Katrina Johnson: What is your favorite business development strategy from the Snowball System or GrowBIG training? Instead of a favorite, Katrina wants to emphasize one strategy that often goes unrecognized for how important it is, which is targeting. Targeting is critical to business development and as a student of minimalism, Katrina is always thinking about trade-offs. Minimalists understand trade-offs as an inherent part of life, but instead of thinking about what needs to be sacrificed, it’s more about what to double down on. The subconscious emotional layer is what makes targeting tricky. We are evolutionarily primed to avoid loss and are naturally averse to subtraction. We only have so much time in our life. We can’t just take on more, we have to target and figure out what are the things to go big on and what to let go of. Mo had a similar experience with the training GrowBIG. Every time he refined his method and message and who he wanted to serve by letting go of certain markets, it was a terrifying change but resulted in incredible growth over time. Working with a small niche can be scary, but it often leads to greater success as your effort is more refined and focused within your skillsett. When Katrina is doing her job well, she’s often not operating at the forefront. In an ideal world, her clients are getting better and she eventually works herself out of a job. When someone comes to Katrina with a referral that isn’t within her core focus, she always sets up a call with the person and leverages her own referral network to help that person. She always circles back to the person that refers them to let them know they’ve been taken care of.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com wslb.com katrina@kcjconsult.com

Mo asks Angela Meyer: What is your favorite science, step, or story that you learned from GrowBIG Training or The Snowball System? Angela’s favorite strategy is the Give to Get. Giving somebody value or knowledge they didn’t have before is a great way to start off a relationship. If you continue to show interest in someone personally, and not just professionally, and provide them value that can help them grow their career, they are going to care about you. You have to break someone out of the rut of working with someone else if it’s not you. Building trust and deepening the relationship in the beginning is crucial to starting things out. Angela has seen a number of her former colleagues help clients and prospects by summarizing the science on particular issues like climate change, sustainability, and environmental compliance. There is a big difference between forwarding an article to a client and talking the person through the content. The hardest thing is asking for the business, which is why you should simply ask for the next step. No is just another answer. You have to be able to explain more and give more so that eventually the answer is going to be yes. You can’t assume your client is going to read and consume the content you send them. You have to ask them for the opportunity to explain how it’s helpful and why you sent it to them.   Mo asks Henning Streubel: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Henning’s favorite idea is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. It’s vital to understand how you, your team, and your prospects think. Henning is an analytical thinker, and understanding this gives him greater insight into how he can communicate with another person who can compliment that with their own thought preferences. Henning took his team through the HBDI process to get a good idea of how his team thinks and where there might be any gaps. This allows the team to cover all the quadrants. Externally, Henning has a few questions that he asks to get an idea of how a person thinks. Within 30 minutes he usually has an idea on the other person’s thinking style and can start tailoring his communication to cover the aspects that are most important to them. When it comes to an analytical thinker, Henning would lay out the numbers and the facts. For a procedural thinker, he would lay out the next steps in the process of working together to give them execution certainty and confidence in Henning’s ability to get the job done. For an empathic thinker, he would focus on the tools and skills that the client team can learn by working with them and the change management that will help people be successful. For a strategic thinker, Henning starts with the purpose of the work. He creates a future perspective and vision around how the work will change the company with a transformative impact. The work is done between the first meeting and the last meeting. This is why building it together is so important. Bringing your client into the development of the solution and building their thoughts and concerns into it makes it far more sustainable.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: What’s your favorite science, step, or story from GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Jonathan’s first favorite is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. He uses it all the time in talking with potential partners and tailoring the conversation to how they process information and think. Wrapping your data into a story is a great way to hit on more of the four ways people think, but also make your data more memorable at the same time. Jonathan’s second favorite is simply discipline with the Protomoi List. Every month, Jonathan and his team review his list and look at how they are adding value to those relationships. The takeaway was the discipline and rigor of being very intentional about your most important relationships. Jonathan makes sure that there is time booked into his calendar to make connections, either physical or digital, with the most important relationships in his life. Sending a note to someone has more weight to it when they know you’re busy.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com MeyerVorst.com Angela Meyer, PhD, PE on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/henning-streubel-phd on.bcg.com/henning - Use the envelope icon on this page to get in touch with Henning directly habitat.org linkedin.com/in/jonathanreckford Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World by Jonathan Reckford

Mo asks John Tigh: What is your favorite science, step, or strategy from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? John has been involved in the Snowball System for a long time and the Gravitas Model is a strategy that he uses every single day. It’s the perfect framework for taking any conversation where you want to go. It has an incredible level of flexibility and imparts a character to your conversation that people can’t help but enjoy. It also gives you the ability to keep the conversation going. When you ask great questions, you get a triple win. With the way the Gravitas Model is designed, they light up the pleasure center of the other person’s mind when they are sharing their personal perspective, you learn their priorities in their words, and the questions highly correlate to likability. The more they talk and the less you talk, the more the other person will like you. John’s perfect buyer is in the C-Suite or someone dealing with content creation. During a conversation with his perfect buyer, John would talk about what they have in common, the challenges they experienced in the past, and their current role and their current projects. Typically, the goal for each meeting is to secure the next meeting. By addressing the base level mechanical questions, John can take a conversation up to higher level vision-based goals. He often asks people how calm the seas are and what they think the future holds, with a hook at the end about any questions that John didn’t ask but should have. John is always looking for an opportunity to offer value in some way or to make a connection or introduction for the other person in an effort to secure the next meeting. The framework is simply built around looking for ways to make the other person look good. Once you get the Gravitas Model in your bones, it really does help every kind of conversation, whether that’s spoken or written.   Mo asks Linda Klein: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Linda never wants to be unprepared in her work, and the same is true in meeting with a client, which is why Dynamic Meeting Prep is Linda’s favorite strategy. A potential client’s business always has important area-specific language that they use that you should know. It’s amazing how much companies have on their website and what you can learn by doing some research. Those insights are invaluable during a meeting, and preparing for a meeting pays dividends when you land the business because then you have a huge head start. Everybody prepares for delivery meetings but rarely do people prepare for the initial meeting. You can’t prepare for the first meeting at a dinner before the meeting day. Research is crucial. Make preparation a priority and get the team strategy outlined ahead of time. Your team needs to show the client that they are seamless, working together and solving the client’s problems. Figure out what your goal for the meeting is, what the frame for the meeting is and how to kick it off, what the big questions that might be asked, natural next steps, and potential cliffhangers you can use to get the next meeting. Being direct can be a challenge but being authentic about the fact that you want to simply be helpful is the best approach. Be ready to discuss what the client wants to discuss. The more prepared you are in advance, the easier it will be to switch gears and the more comfortable you will be.   Mo asks Andrew Robertson: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Writing down the seven relationships that are the most important to growing the business was a technique that changed the way Andrew thought about business development. Andrew has a lot of great relationships with CEOs in various other businesses, but a lot of them didn’t start out at the top. Those relationships were nurtured over time with people that moved up in their organizations or moved around in their industry. Think about how you got into your position and where people are right now that you can connect with. When asked to list our most important relationships, we tend to think of our best current relationships by default, but that’s the wrong approach. We should think about the relationships that will have the most impact on our business first. The number seven forces you to make choices and really identify those relationships that will move the needle. Your list should contain people you have a relationship with, people you don’t know but would like to have a relationship with, and the people you need to have a relationship with who won’t necessarily send you business directly but can help you find it elsewhere. You only have a limited amount of time, so you need to be clear on your priorities, not just around what you do but who the most important people are. Create a shortlist and give yourself a short timeframe to connect and advance the relationship with those people. If someone is not going to make an impact, it’s better to figure that out in three months rather than three years. Be thoughtful. Sit on the other side of the desk and empathize with the person you’re trying to build a relationship with.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com john@clevercognitive.com linkedin.com/in/johntigh clevercognitive.com lklein@bakerdonelson.com linkedin.com/in/lindakleinlaw andrew.robertson@bbdo.com

Mo asks James Barclay: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? For James, the number one strategy is the Protemoi List. These are the people in your circle that are your partners, prospects, and the key people that could be your raving fans. Having a focused relationship list is an unbeatable edge. When you invest in a relationship, people will move with you. James has had people buy from his company multiple times over multiple jobs. Your Protemoi List is a list of five to ten people that have outsized returns on the amount of time and energy you invest in the relationship. The first strategy is to simply be useful to them. Offer to take them to events with you that you believe would be helpful to them. Find content and then pass it on to people you think would find it useful. Celebrate them at every opportunity. Accelerate them and give them a platform where you highlight them and what they are doing. A personal newsletter can be incredibly powerful. You don’t need thousands of people on your list for it to be worth it. Build something that is extremely accessible to them, extremely useful to them, and don’t waste their time. It can take some time to build momentum, but you have to start somewhere. If you can write something useful for one person you can build it over time and create something really valuable. Consistency matters. Find a cadence that works for you and your schedule and stick with it.   Mo asks Kevin Clem: What’s your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Kevin discovered the Snowball System from the podcast after being referred to it by the CEO of HBR Consulting. The Most Important Things is one of the key principles that Kevin has embraced. He and his team have made the idea of the top three things as a guiding framework for how they operate. Raving fans and assessing the level of the relationship with each client is another big strategy. There is power in language. Just by entering the GrowBIG world and embracing the terminology, Kevin and his team have changed the way they think about business development and growth. Take a page out of your creative marketing playbook and come out with a theme for your internal program to get your team to buy in. Kevin’s team has tried a number of different incentives to get the team excited. They found that recognition and reward among high achievers is a good base to start with, combined with accountability. Create and celebrate short-term wins to spotlight things that are going well and to build momentum. Celebrating the small wins is an important piece of creating progress. Doing what you can do today is what leads to the championship.   Mo asks Dennis Baltz: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Dennis loved so much of the GrowBIG Training, but the one that stands out the most is the idea of the Most Important Thing. When working with clients, Dennis uses an MIT one-sheet to communicate all the work streams that they can work on during the engagement as well as including some potentially new approaches they can take advantage of. They are using that very effectively to land new clients because it allows them to understand the exact value WTW brings to the table. This approach creates strategic conversations and helps build the trust that client’s have in Dennis and his team’s ability to think around corners. Structurally, the slide includes important dates for upcoming content or events, the essential work streams for the client, and disruptive ideas. Pre-MIT, the client updates were boring and uninspiring. Refining it down to the Most Important Things and communicating them in a single place that’s easy to understand has made it very valuable.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com linkedin.com/in/jamesbarclay1 james@passle.net passle.net linkedin.com/in/kevinclem kclem@hbrconsulting.com hbrconsulting.com linkedin.com/in/dennisbaltz dennis.baltz@willistowerswatson.com Nathan Barry on ConvertKit, Automation and Engaging Your Audience – What You Need To Succeed (season 2 episode 43) How to Use ConvertKit to Create and Close More Opportunities, with Nathan Barry (season 2 episode 44) How to Use ConvertKit to Deepen Relationships, with Nathan Barry (season 2 episode 45) How to Hack Our Own Habits to Accomplish More, with Nathan Barry (season 2 episode 46) The Top 3 Things You Need to Implement from Nathan Barry, Founder of ConvertKit (season 2 episode 47)