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

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)

Mo asks Maria Kelly: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG training or Snowball System? One of the most useful things Maria learned from the GrowBIG training was the seven pricing principles. Living in Switzerland, she grew up in a culture that didn’t talk about money and she learned early on in her career that if she didn’t talk about money, she didn’t get the money. Many business owners and professionals struggle with asking for what they are worth. When clients push back on the fees, those people don’t know how to respond because they don’t know how to articulate their value and justify their price. There are seven common heuristic programs that people use when thinking about money. One of the most common is that your price is directly linked to the quality of your service. In other words, expensive equals good, and cheap equals bad. If you’re upfront with the value you are bringing to the table and anchoring to that, no one is going to second guess what you charge. With the idea of anchoring on value, you can talk about the result and the magnitude of the value of it and use that as a frame for whatever your fees are. Introduce early on what value you are bringing to the relationship, and your fees will seem small in comparison. Most people expect to pay for a service, but when it comes to ourselves we often make assumptions about what other people will think about our own services to others. If someone is hiring you, they want the best. You have to lean into and be confident with your fees. At the point you talk about the fees, if you have built up enough value and trust with the person, you will be more confident in your delivery. It’s not about sticking with the number no matter what, it’s about working together to find a solution and a price that fits all parties. Even if you can’t find an alternative, do your best to part on good terms. If you can talk about the money with the same excitement and tone that you discuss the team, the scope of the project, and the details, you will feel consistent and confident and get better results.   Mo asks Monty Hamilton: What’s your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? The blueprint of Monty’s business is think big, start small, scale up. Rural Sourcing started out as a 10 person organization and has since scaled up to 1,000 employees, with the future goal of 3,000 employees and 30 centers all over America. It’s a growth mindset that can be applied across a 10,000 person organization, but it can also be applied to your personal life. Great intentions can be sabotaged if you try to do too much, too fast. Recognize that, as an individual, you will never be able to do it all. You have personal limitations and must be able to recognize those limitations to unlock your business’ potential. You’re not going to be perfect on day 1 or day 10,001. The goal is continuous improvement. With that mindset, you can do better, you can get bigger, you can do more. Being willing to reinvest is critical to knowing where you can add value and where someone else can add the value that’s missing. To scale up to the next level, you need to understand your strengths and your weaknesses, and to know that you need to ask your peers, colleagues, bosses, and people you can trust to give their honest opinion. People are usually happy to give you feedback, and when you find someone willing to give it to you because they want you to be successful, you may have found a great mentor.   Mo asks Warren Shiver: What’s your favorite science, step, or story from the Snowball System or GrowBIG training? Warren has been working with Mo during the early days of the GrowBIG training and has been a big fan of the Protemoi list and the step-by-step opportunity process. The first part of the opportunity process is listening and learning. Being able to repeat it back to the prospect and proving that they’ve been heard is how you earn the right to go to the next step. Weekly, monthly, or quarterly sales targets influence behaviors that always align with the listen-and-learn process. The opportunity process doesn’t require more time, but it does require an emphasis on patience, understanding, and a collaborative approach. Many companies are still struggling with the more rigid, linear mindset of selling. Clients don’t want to hear your language or why your company is awesome. You should approach the sales cycle with a fresh-eyes mindset and assume the position of someone just getting started solution-wise. Earned Dogmatism is a proven mental heuristic that states the more we believe we have an expertise in some area, the more close-minded we become. The Protemoi list is a mental framework that can pay off at any time. Think about the relationships that might be important to you tomorrow, and the frequency of staying in touch that keeps those relationships alive. The first step of the Protemoi list is to write it down. Warren uses a spreadsheet to keep track of his list, and one of his weekly MIT’s is to always check in with the people on his list. It’s okay for people to drop off. Depending on the situation, Warren reaches out weekly or monthly to stay in touch in any way he can that adds value. Warren looks for interesting articles that he can send people or whatever way he can connect with someone on the list that makes sense. The Protemoi list also scales to a team or organizational level. You should be having all your people working to build trust and the relationship along the way.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com bdhabits.com askmariakelly.com Maria Kelly on LinkedIn #MinuteWithMonty on YouTube linkedin.com/in/montyhamilton thebrevetgroup.com

Mo asks Cannon Carr: What is your personal definition of business development? If you have a craft that you know and love and want to grow, you are naturally going to step into business development so you might as well do it right. For Cannon, business development is about connecting people and ideas. He thinks of it as purposeful engagement that connects those two things. Connecting people with ideas often becomes deeply personal. During the pandemic, Cannon noticed a number of clients struggling with aging parents so they put a lot of effort into coming up with and connecting clients with ideas to help manage the issue. Taxes and the rapidly changing legislative landscape has been another area where Cannon and his team have been working with clients to stay ahead of the curve. The foundation is always being helpful rather than looking directly for business. It’s not about the revenue, it’s about enriching lives. Sometimes the solution falls outside of the firm’s specialty and that’s okay as long as the end result is helping a person out. You have to think of your relationships as a portfolio with investements in people all the time. Being proactive and helpful will eventually pay off. Not everything will connect. You have to look for additional opportunities to be helpful and keep reaching out. Think about business development as solving problems through connecting people and ideas together. If you are doing a good job, you will naturally get your share of the business. Proactive engagement is vital for service businesses.   Mo asks Debby Moorman: What is your personal definition of business development? Business development is identifying high-value relationships, investing in them, and finding ways to bring value to those relationships. It’s about matching what you have to offer with the needs of your market and customizing it for each person. Figuring what the client needs is fundamentally about asking the right questions and listening closely to the answer. The key in any conversation is that if you’re talking more about yourself than you are about them it’s not been a successful conversation. Debby’s personal philosophy is if she can help the other person solve their problem, either with something she can offer or by pointing them in the direction of someone else who can help, then the day will come when she does have something that she can offer them. For an hour-long meeting, Debby prepares for at least double that time to make sure she deeply understands the person and the company she is meeting with. The more she can become a student of their business, the more she can make that initial conversation helpful. She will write out a handful of open-ended questions to get them talking and sharing about the challenges in their business. One of the biggest gaps in a good conversation that leads nowhere is that there needs to be a next step. The questions and preparation get the conversation going, but coming up with two or three paths that could lead to a give-to-get or a second conversation is the goal. The goal of the first meeting is to get the second meeting. You need a reason to get back together again. A good rule of thumb for a meeting is that the other person should be talking ⅔ of the time. One of the skills that Debby has had to work on over the years is the power of silence. We have a natural inclination to fill the space, but it’s okay to wait. It takes practice to learn these skills but it’s more than worth the effort.   Mo asks Brian Caffarelli: What is your personal definition of business development? Brian likes to think of business development as the art and science of guiding the buyer through their journey to an informed and confident decision. Just because you know the science, that doesn’t mean you’ll be great at business development. It’s equal parts the art of empathy and flexibility, and science of habits and communication. Mountain climbing guides are great metaphors for business development. Really good salespeople are helping people reach their own personal summit and get what they need to experience from the mountain. The defining characteristic of a guide is the ability to inspire trust. Trust comes before the sale. You need to be able to see ahead of corners for your buyers, and to challenge their thinking where appropriate. The challenge for the guide is in focusing on what the buyer needs over their own needs. Work on the skills and behaviors that inspire trust in you and live your life with integrity so you are worthy of that trust. Study why people buy, because that is going to be your biggest point of leverage for creating a great buying experience.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com ccarr@cornercap.com cornercap.com debby.moorman@willistowerswatson.com Debby Moorman on LinkedIn brian.caffarelli@stsconsulting.com linkedin.com/in/briancaffarelli

Mo asks Andrew Robertson: What is your personal definition of business development? Business development at its best is win/win/win. Your business wins, the client wins, and thirdly, the client is winning so much that they become your best business development ambassador. Raving fans turn into your own personal sales force. Focusing on the win for the client secures the win for the business. If your client wins enough, they become predisposed to become a raving fan, but you still have to ask for it. Do something for them that gets them something of value and gets you even more. Don’t assume it will happen automatically. First, recognize that the person you are working with is a person and not just a job title. They have interests and frustrations, and when you understand that there is something you can engage with together. Dinner is a great opportunity to connect with someone outside of the confines and constraints of the work. You can also find a time to accompany them on another aspect of their work and learn more about what they do and what they care about in a way that’s not structured like a meeting. The best conversations you can have with a client are the ones where you do 20% of the talking. Figure out questions to act as a stimulus and get them talking. There is value and benefit for people in just having the opportunity to talk.   Mo asks Mark Harris: What is your personal definition of business development? Business development means something different to everybody. For Mark, it’s all about helping people understand what their needs are (teaching) and then once you find that out it’s helping them find the solution they need. Mark focuses on one phrase when going into the first meeting with someone, specifically being “humbly curious”. He’s simply looking to understand what motivates someone and where they are coming from, and what’s going to help them. Nobody wants to be sold, but everybody likes to buy, especially from people they like. Focusing on the sale is a short-term strategy. Sometimes the right thing is to not sell something. If things aren’t a good fit now but might be later, being upfront and telling the prospect the truth is how you can build trust and empathy and secure a valuable long-term relationship. Ask as many questions as you can. When you can train your mind to ask questions and be humbly curious, the world is your oyster and you can bring value to that organization at all times.   Mo asks Linda Klein: What is your personal definition of business development? Adding value to a client’s business by solving the problem. Service professionals often only look at a client’s issue through the lens of their own expertise, but that’s not the way to grow a business. Asking for the sale before solving the problem (or diagnosing the problem) isn’t going to work. Linda looks for ways to solve client problems that keep them from growing their own business. Sometimes that means referring the client to someone else when the issue is outside her area of expertise. Linda starts solving the problem before a transaction has occurred. We can sense when someone is trying to sell us before any value has really been added to the relationship and it usually makes us want to run away. Go into the first meeting simply to get to know somebody instead of trying to close the sale. When you help someone achieve their goals, you feel great and you increase the odds of them turning into a paying client. When following up, think about who you could connect the person with and what the person said in the initial meeting that you continue the conversation with. If you have taken your time to get to know the industry your prospect is in, you will know where the pain points are and have opportunities to help. The number one thing you can do to be proactive in building relationships is writing down your top five to ten people that are important to your career and using that to make sure you're constantly being helpful.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com andrew.robertson@bbdo.com Mark_C_Harris@glic.com linkedin.com/in/mark-harris-9ba1b53 lklein@bakerdonelson.com linkedin.com/in/lindakleinlaw

Mo asks Mike Duffy: What is your personal definition of business development? Simply put, business development is helping others, connecting dots, and developing healthy and long lasting relationships. When you understand who your client is, whoever that happens to be in the moment, and add value for them, that's how you get stuff done. Where is the value chain and how are you adding value? It doesn’t end with the person you are talking to right now. Servant leadership is the foundation for Mike’s relationship philosophy. He’s always asking himself internally about how he can be helpful to not only his client, but also his client’s clients. When you ask the right questions, you get some interesting answers. Questions allow you to understand what motivates and drives someone, what concerns them, and what brings them joy. When you’re in a dot-connecting mode, all of that info helps you know who to link up. Helping people when there is no chance of commercial gain is your moment of truth. Connecting dots for people is how you leave a legacy. It’s worth the fight. Choose your attitude every day and build your resilience over time so you can keep pushing forward. If your definition of business development is helping people, getting a no every once in a while is not an issue.   Mo asks Bill Ruprecht: What story did your parents tell you that shaped how you thought about business development? Bill’s mother was always extremely bright and driven, but she wasn’t terribly happy in her life. His father had the knack of being able to find commonality with almost anyone. It was at the dinner table where Bill was constantly challenged with questions on how he would deal with a variety of hypothetical situations. When Bill started in the antique business he was working with Persian rug dealers and in the process he learned what was relevant to them and how to build rapport, despite the considerable difference in their culture. Bill understood that those conversations with his parents around the dinner table were like batting practice, and those skills served him well in his work later on in life. When you do something for a long time, you give yourself the opportunity to get lucky. If you position yourself in the right way and do the work, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful, but it does mean you can get lucky. There wasn’t one single pivot moment where Bill got lucky and his career took off. It was a gradual process of taking on more risks and responsibilities over time and pushing past the fear to take the leap each time.   Mo asks Cyril Peupion: What is your personal definition of business development? Cyril’s definition has evolved over the years. What began as selling became serving. Cyril is very clear on who he helps and how he can do it, as well as the people that he’s not right for. Cyril’s passion for what he does is derived from clarity on who can help. When it comes to first meetings, the goal is not to sell his services but to simply find out if they are a good match and to find the right solution for the prospect, even if that means referring them to someone else. It’s vital to surround yourself with the right people and have an environment of accountability while keeping a mentality of continuous learning. Masterminds and accountability partners are crucial for your personal and business growth. Find people who are playing at the same level as you and with the same giving mindset. People typically allow their day to be filled up but all the little things that inevitably come up. One of the first exercises Cyril has leadership teams walk through is creating their ideal week, and then creating a calendar by working backward from the most important things you can do with your time.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com Mike Duffy on LinkedIn wslb.com

Mo asks Jane Allen: What is your personal definition of business development? Jane’s definition is simply proactive problem solving. If you are trying to sell something, it should be something they need and may not know they need it. It’s about showing them a problem they have as well as the solution. People don’t like to be sold to, but they do like to buy. If you’re struggling with being proactive, realize that it’s not the job of the prospect to call you or respond to your email. It’s your job to get the meeting. One of the best kinds of meetings is when someone says that they are not going to work with you, then at least you’re not going to waste your time. Don’t waste their time. Even if you think you have all the answers, you don’t. The goal of the first meeting is to ask thought provoking questions and to determine whether you have a solution to their problem. If you can’t resolve everything in one meeting, the goal is to secure the next. The prospect should understand the importance of the next meeting and you should give them enough of a cliffhanger that they anticipate it.   Mo asks Jeff Berardi: What is your personal definition of business development? Business development is creating a pipeline of future growth opportunities. You won’t know when they come to fruition or how, but it’s a steady process of cultivating and building relationships. There is never enough when it comes to business development because you never know when the well is going to go dry. By having a large pipeline, you have the ability to choose who you work with rather than having to take whatever comes your way. The lack of control is a major source of stress for people. Business development activities give you back the control over who you work with and how. You may be busy, but you must set aside time for business development opportunities or you might end up resentful of how much you are working. By having more opportunities than you need, you can say no to stuff you don’t want and the more you’re going to get paid. You also regain control on who you work with and which big ideas you get to work on. The commonality in cases where people are struggling with business development and people who thrive is fear. For those who are already successful, it’s a fear of losing what they’ve achieved. For those who are struggling, it’s a fear that they can’t be successful or that business development is beyond them. When you change the mindset from a fear of not being capable, to being afraid of too much success, you open the door of opportunity. The rainmakers have learned the tools they need to succeed and they have confidence in the process. Knowing that business development is a learnable skill is what flips someone from fear to confidence.   Mo asks Henning Streubel: What is your personal definition of business development? Henning prefers the term relationship development, which he considers the foundation of every successful service provider. Henning learned early in his career not to take things personally. If someone doesn’t respond to him, he assumes they must be busy and it’s not about the other person not liking him. Many experts hesitate to reach out when they don’t get a response right away. It’s important to understand what matters to people and to offer them something they are interested in. Understand how their mind works on the professional side and send them information that would appeal to that, but don’t be afraid to also reach out on the personal side. The biggest barrier to relationship success is us. Henning has a process for understanding where his relationships are in three categories: professional, personal, and friendship. He is always trying to think about how to develop a relationship to take it to the next level. Simply writing down the top five to ten relationships that are most important for your future self is a powerful tool. Knowing where you want a relationship to go helps you understand how you can be the most helpful. One of Henning’s mentors told him early in his career to keep doing the right thing and success will come. Investing in the right relationships will eventually have a commercial benefit. You don’t need to have all the answers if you can refer a prospect to someone else who can help. Role model the behavior for your team if you want that behavior to permeate. Make the time to show that you put the mindset into practice and celebrate the effort that people are putting into the work. Celebrating the little things where you went above and beyond what a normal professional relationship would be. That creates momentum and the right spirit to invest in relationships.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com ec.co jane.allen@ec.co jberardi@baretzbrunelle.com Jeff Berardi on LinkedIn Jeff Berardi's Bio linkedin.com/in/henning-streubel-phd on.bcg.com/henning - Use the envelope icon on this page to get in touch with Henning directly