The Connectors E-Book

Maribeth Kuzmeski

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 361

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

Learn the relationship-building secrets that lead to lifelong clients, repeat customers, and endless referrals In today's commoditized marketplace, no matter what product or service you sell, there's probably someone somewhere able to offer it cheaper, faster, and maybe even better. So how do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? The Connectors shows that the only thing that truly sets you apart is the quality of your relationships with your clients and customers. Everyone knows that relationships are important in business. Yet most people would admit that their relationships could be better--but don't spend time working on the underlying skills. This book explains how to develop better, more profitable connections--as illustrated proven by some of the world's most successful professionals. Even if you're not a "people person," you can dramatically grow your business or your career through a few simple approaches to relationship-building. The Connectors presents a five-step methodology that lead to lifelong clients, repeat customers, and endless referrals. Inside, you'll learn how to: * Stop networking and start truly connecting * Create an avalanche of referrals and an army of happy customers * Become a "connector," even if you've never been a "people person" * Find your social IQ--and improve it * Put relationship-building principles to work daily * Focus on others and reap the rewards yourself * Ask the right questions--and sell without selling * Differentiate yourself through the impact you have on others In The Connectors, Maribeth Kuzmeski, founder of Red Zone Marketing, LLC, and consultant to Fortune 500 firms, shows you how to build profitable, long-lasting business relationships.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Introduction

PART I - Winning Business with Relationships

CHAPTER 1 - The Common Denominator of Greatness and Success

Secrets of Greatness

A Different View

An Underlying Thread

Where Greatness Lies

The Preacher and the Pitcher

A Business Philosophy Called PSP

Champion of the “Little People”

A Tale of Two Airlines

Our Brother’s—and Sister’s—Keeper!

The Other Side of the Coin

The Fine Print

CHAPTER 2 - You Can Be a Connector Even If You’re Not a Natural People Person

The Connector Plan: Where Do I Start?

Your Intelligence Is Important

Breaking the Myth of the IQ Test as a Success Measure

We Are Sophisticated Beings and We Were Born to Connect

Social Intelligence and the Impact in Politics

What Is It about Being Socially Intelligent That Gets People to Act, Buy, and Follow?

CHAPTER 3 - The Connector IQ Assessment

The Connector IQ (C-IQ) Assessment

Connector IQ Types

Improving Your Connector IQ: Awareness Is the First Step

Other Helpful Assessments Available

Understanding the Personality and Style of Others

CHAPTER 4 - The Red Zone Connectors Formula

Connecting More Effectively Using The 5 Red Zone Connector Traits

What Skills Do I Need to Work on?

Playing in the Red Zone

PART II - How Do They Do It? The 5 Traits of Connectors

CHAPTER 5 - Develop a True “What’s in It for Them” Mentality

Bringing People with You by Making It about Them

How Do You Make Something That’s about You about Others?

Our Love of the Underdog

Connecting Is Not for Lone Rangers

What Really Counts

Seriously, Do I Matter to YOU?

Strategies for Making It All about Others—and Becoming Likeable at the Same Time

Everyday Greatness

Business Alliances—It is All about the Other Person

Downloadable Form 5.1: “The What’s in It for Them FACTOR”

CHAPTER 6 - Listen! Curiously Listen

Curiously Listening

Good Listening Skills Bring Success in Business

Can Listening Save You from Getting Sued?

The Effects of Curious Listening Can Be Dramatic!

The Lost Art

What Does It Mean to Really Listen?

There’s Something about the Way That a Curious Listener Makes Us Feel

Listening for the Remarkable

Lee Iacocca Says Listening Curiously is #1 Trait of Leaders

Thinking Fast—But Not Talking Too Quickly

Good Listeners Listen with Their Faces

Can You Top This?

I’m Listening to You

Seven Simple Yet Powerful Listening Tips

Time Spent Listening

A Nation of Non-Listeners

An Acquired Skill

The Listening Stick

Final Reminders to Improve Listening

Downloadable Form 6.1: “The Listening Assessment”

CHAPTER 7 - Important Questions to Ask that Attract Connections

Did You Ask Any Good Questions Today?

Asking Questions Effectively

All the Right Questions

Heart Questions

Speed Up the Relationship

Fulfilling a Dream

Questioning Your Employees

Questioning Your Clients

The How-Tos of Effective Questioning

Choosing Questions

Open and Closed Questions

Some Sample Questions

Funnel Questions

Don’t Act as Smart as You May Be

Downloadable Form 7.1: Self Assessment of “The Questions You Ask”

CHAPTER 8 - Getting the Sale to Close Itself

Give ’em What They Want!

Three Strategies for Connecting and Closing Sales

The More Questions I Ask . . .

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

The Passionate Businessperson Is Always “Selling”

Downloadable Form 8.1: “Getting the Sale To Close Itself” Self Assessment

CHAPTER 9 - Create a Memorable Experience

A Hard Rock Experience

Give ’em Something to Talk about

It’s All about the “Gift” You Give

The Unexpected Attributes of Your Business That People Could Talk About:

Energy Exchange Creates the Experience

Customercentric

But Do People Want Your Experience?

The Cheesehead Phenomenon

Individuals Create a Brand Experience

The Age of Experience

How Are You Creating the Experience?

It’s More Than the Product You Sell

Being Authentic

Still Creating the Experience Today

What “Gifts” Are You Giving to Others?

Downloadable Form 9.1: “Unique Elements of the Business”

The True Litmus Test—Ask Others!

PART III - Applying the 5 Connector Traits

CHAPTER 10 - Gain a Stream of Profitable Referrals

The Worst-Case Scenario

The Reasons We May Not Get the Referrals We Deserve

A. Have You Taken the Time to Develop a Relationship?

Take Action to Build Client Relationships

B. Do People Have Something Unique to Talk About?

Communicating with Your Clients

Delighted Clients Become Evangelists for You!

Dropping the Ball on Business and Referrals

The Lifetime Value of a Client

C. Are You Truly Referable—or Could You Be More Referable?

CHAPTER 11 - The Employee Connection

Building a Client Connection Begins with the Employee Connection

What is Different Today?

HCL’s “Employee First, Customer Second” Initiative

Command and Control versus Collaboration and Teamwork

Two-Way Communication

Open Lines of Communication

CHAPTER 12 - I Don’t Have Time to Connect!

Simple but Sound Advice

“All We Have”

Big Rocks First

Resource

CHAPTER 13 - Find a Mentor

So, Do You Have a Mentor?

Downloadable Form 13.1: Choosing a Mentor

The Mentee: What to Expect

A Mentoring Event

The Xerox Approach

Approaching Potential Mentors

An Unlikely Mentoring Champion

Downloadable Form 13.2: Mentor Meeting Checklist

CHAPTER 14 - Women’s Organizations

NAWBO

Women’s Leadership Exchange® (WLE)

eWomenNetwork

The Common Theme

PART IV - Power Tools for Relationship Building

CHAPTER 15 - How to Get the Most from Outlook, ACT, and Other CRM Software

Strategies for Organizing Emails

Strategies for Organizing Connections/Contacts

Description of Customer Relationship Management Software Programs

CHAPTER 16 - Christmas Cards Don’t Work

Client Communication

Consider Personally Delivered Communications - Such as the following methods:

Keeping in Touch with Prospects

Keeping in Touch with an Entire Group/Bringing It All Together

Three Types of Contact Strategies

CHAPTER 17 - Using Speaking Skills to Develop Relationships

Those Who Speak Well Win in Business!

The Red Zone Connectors Formula for Speaking

Design Your Presentation around Their Concerns, Not Your Solutions

Ask Questions to Get to Know Your Audience and Their Concerns (Before You Ever ...

Organizing a Presentation

“The Heckler Techniques” for Authentic, Conversational Speaking

A Formula that Connects

CHAPTER 18 - Connecting through Social Media Technology

It’s Not Traditional, but Everybody’s Doing It

The Business Happy Hour

Trust is Critical, Really Critical!

Your Consumers Will Be Co-Owners

The Top 10 Social Media Sites

CHAPTER 19 - The Contrarian Networking Strategy

“Stop Networking!”

Collaborations and Partnerships

Networks versus Networking Organizations

What to Say When Someone Asks about You

The 15SecondPitch Formula

New and Better Ways

CHAPTER 20 - Coaching Your Way through to Better Relationships

Creating Sustainable, Profitable Business Relationships

CHAPTER 21 - Financial Advisor Relationship Strategies

Are Financial Advisors a Commodity?

The Relationship Quotient

So, What’s Working?

Evaluate Your Site Using Analytics

NOTES

INDEX

Copyright © 2009 by Maribeth Kuzmeski. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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eISBN : 978-0-470-53013-9

To my family, my clients, and my friends who havetaught me to be a better connector.Aclyio!

INTRODUCTION

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

—Carl W. Buehner (1898-1974), Mormon leader, businessman, and author

I have the great fortune of being able to personally meet some of the most successful sales professionals in the world—some of whom we work with at my marketing consulting firm. I have been long captivated with the “how do they do it” aspect of success in business, as many of us of course are. How do they think? What are their characteristics? What are the similarities among the most successful businesspeople? What consistent actions do they take? What drives them? What has combusted to make them who they are and to produce such exceptional accomplishments?

Interestingly, this same curiosity about what makes others successful is also present in those enjoying current success. The individuals and firms with whom we consult know that we have other profitable businesses with whom we work with on strategy and business development. That is the reason, I believe, that the most frequently asked questions I hear are “What are other firms doing that’s working?” or “What exactly is she doing to bring on so many sales?”

As businesspeople, many of us have a great desire to continue to get better and better, and not get caught being stagnant or too comfortable in our current situation. And, if we can find out what someone else has taken the time to discover and use with success, perhaps we can learn from that and not make mistakes which others have already made and corrected. But if simply knowing and implementing successful tactics in practice by others is the secret to success, then you would think that each proven idea, sales tactic, marketing strategy, or business system would be taken by the masses and turned into extraordinary sales. However, we know that’s not how it works.

Therefore, the most profitable businesses and individuals in the world must possess something unique. I have spent a lot of time considering their intellectual power, their competitiveness, their determination, their implementation strategies, their staff, their funding options, and just about anything else you can think of that may distinctively contribute to such positive results. When we break down the characteristics that extraordinary businesspeople do possess, much of them are what we may consider to be some of the obvious enviable traits: persistence, drive, hard work, intelligence, ability to generate new ideas, ability to change, a “Never take no for an answer” mindset, and so on.

However, there is one more key characteristic, and it is these individuals’ particular ability to connect with others and form meaningful relationships.

This is not as simple as academic intelligence or an entrepreneurial spirit. The ability to connect is a different kind of intelligence, one that is the proverbial icing on the cake for most of the people who have reached to high levels of greatness. And without the icing, the cake probably can’t be an incredibly delectable cake; it would be missing a key ingredient. The cake alone may be delicious, but it really only becomes an extraordinary cake with the icing to top it off—assuming it is the right amount and taste of the perfect icing.

This ability to connect with others is indeed the icing on the cake. Relating in an impactful way brings sales, leadership power, and personal success. It is an innate skill in some, but something that everyone can learn and improve upon. Yet it is truly a secret to success because it is often dismissed. We have a tendency to brush off the importance our ability to connect and create relationships is as a key contributor and explanation for business success.

True connections need to be made with feeling and purpose and honesty. I know because I watch my clients do it every day. I have also spent a great deal of time, research, and energy on working through this very concept myself, applying it in my life, and continuing to work and learn at this most critical element in success. It is something I will always work at and, hopefully, continue to get better at. It is a constant process.

Unfortunately, our ability to connect can be lost in a fraction of the amount of time that it took us to develop it. It seems sometimes that just one setback in our career or plan and—whomp!—we are back to the old “me, me, me” attitude that leaves little room for concern for others. But staying true to others and making a real effort to connect with them will no doubt make their lives better—and ours too. Cultivating relationships undoubtedly leads to success in just about anything that we do. And it is a skill that must be practiced and trained.

The first experience that I had that really differentiated these characteristics of success took place while I was working with a financial advisor and his firm. We were hired to help them improve their marketing strategies and bring on new clients. The principle in the firm, Roch Tranel, measured progress by the amount of client assets they brought under their management at the firm. His goal was to grow into a large financial services firm with hundreds of millions in money under management.

Since I had not worked with a financial services firm prior to this (and thanks to this client, we now we work with hundreds of financial firms each year!), I started by looking at the opportunities that existed and the type of prospecting that may work for attracting clients who would invest their savings with this firm. I asked Tranel how he had acquired clients in the past. Much of his success, interestingly, was rooted in his fear of prospecting. He didn’t want to cold call or employ similar strategies. So, he just kept calling and talking with those who had already done business with his firm. He kept himself busy by avoiding the typical prospecting strategies of reaching people who didn’t know him.

The result was unintentional but amazing: His handful of clients truly loved him. They cared about his success; they brought him food; they sent birthday cards to his wife and his growing family of kids. And a valuable by-product of this was a stream of referrals. Tranel was only in his 20s, and he had little experience. But because of his drive and determination to stay in business and communicate properly with his few clients, they began to genuinely like and trust him. As a result, his few clients began recommending him to others who worked at the same company.

When I began working for his firm, I knew that prospecting for people that had no connection to Roch Tranel was going to be a long shot based on his propensity for prospecting. So, we simply took his model of communicating and acquiring referrals and made a system out of it. His strength was connecting with others; he just needed to do it more systematically and to more people. And, his staff needed to do the same thing.

Today, The Tranel Financial Group is one of the top financial firms in the United States. They do manage hundreds of millions in client assets. Roch Tranel has given my firm much credit for his quick ascent to success. But in reality, his ability to connect was the one great strength. We built an entire marketing system around that ability and then transferred that ability and connection techniques to his staff, and it multiplied and multiplied.

Is it possible to build an entire, multimillion-dollar business around your ability to connect? It seems so. And it is the best way to build a business effectively, efficiently, profitably, and quickly.

Others firms have seen the kind of success that Roch Tranel and his firm have enjoyed. They have asked me to do just what Roch did in his firm—build a model around the acquisition of referrals. And the model that I have developed is as follows:

1. Delight Clients

2. Acquire Referrals

3. Invite Referrals to Educational Workshops

4. Acquire Clients

5. Repeat Process from #1.

It is actually a very uncomplicated strategy. Systematize your operation around your clients, build niches of clients, put on educational workshops, convert clients, and repeat. We’ve employed this system with great success in many firms. However, it is not as easily executed as it may appear to be. The key is the very first step: delighted clients. How you get to having a delighted client is much more complex than just sending them a few letters and visiting with them once a year to go over their accounts. It is a process that begins with the learned and cultivated ability to connect.

Connecting with others is not incredibly difficult. But if it were easy, then wouldn’t you think that more people would take the time to work harder at connecting with others and developing deeper relationships? It may be that our trust issues or a habit of focus does not necessarily include others. Many businesspeople have established a survival-of-the-fittest-type attitude.

My purpose in writing this book is to share with you what some of the most successful people have done to create better relationships and to show you how this has been the missing link in attempts to be more successful, bring on more new business, and create the kind of client loyalty that will win clients for life. Connecting at a deeper level can be achieved without spending money on consultants, courses, marketing strategies, psychologists, or spiritual consultants. It simply requires that you focus on others and have a plan to serve them, pay attention to them, listen to them, and care about them.

Our research and findings describe what has given successful businesspeople—some you will recognize and others you probably won’t—the ability to reach higher levels of achievement than most. Their stories and the principles they use to connect with others—resulting in unique business accomplishments—fill the pages of this book. It is not their business acumen alone that has brought them to positions of such prominence. The key determinant at the top of all business strategies, talents, and expertise is the ability to connect with people on a meaningful level—one that produces quality associations and profitable business relationships.

In essence, it is how we make others feel within the connections that we have that brings the success we desire.

PART I

Winning Business with Relationships