Let's play the Connection Offense to start getting you more referrals. But first, let me ask you this: If you go to an event... If you're on the phone with somebody... If you go to a one-on-one meeting... ...What's the common denominator in all these interactions? Conversations. There are conversations happening. And today we're going to talk about the different types of conversations you can have. It's so important to understand what type of conversations you're having, so you can understand...
13 days ago • 2 min read
If you've been with me for a bit (and even if you haven't), you've probably heard about a little best-selling book by my friend and colleague John Ruhlin. It's Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention. Well, now his newest book is being released posthumously, and I wanted to be sure you got a sneak peek. John and I spent a lot of time talking about the concepts in this book (and I'm incredibly honored to even get...
20 days ago • 2 min read
So. About that USEABLE database of yours. (Don't have one? Check out last week's email.) Once you've gotten all your connections in one spot, you've gotta prioritize them. Why? I want to be careful but also blunt here. Because my belief system says all people are created equal, and we're called to love on all of them as individuals. So, with all the love in my heart, I say this: Not everyone is equal when it comes to creating referrals for our businesses. I'm not saying to hate on people....
27 days ago • 1 min read
As I promised last week, over the next few emails I'm going to give you a system for connecting with people. The goal at the end of this is to help you get clarity on who you should be talking to. (And at the core of it, how you should talking to them.) But before getting into all that, we need to talk foundations. Because before you gather all your people, and connect with all your people, (and connect them to other people), you need a place to PUT all your people. To put it simply? A...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
We tend to overcomplicate business. But at the heart of it, there are three "simple" things every business has to do: ➡️ You have to Create opportunities (Which is Marketing) ➡️ You have to Convert those opportunities (Which is Sales) ➡️ You have to Complete those opportunities (Which is Operations) When you think about creating opportunities, one of the things your mind probably jumps to is advertising. Now, it's going to sound like I'm anti-advertising, but I'm not really anti-advertising....
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Does accountability conjure up a good feeling, Reader? Or is it a bad feeling? I'm going to hit you with a hard truth AND a hot tip here. If you conjure up a negative feeling when it comes to accountability... ...that might actually be the biggest growth area for you. (Because isolation is the enemy of excellence.) Now, I don't deny it...there are definitely some negative connotations to accountability. I had a form of accountability as a child, and you probably did too. It wasn't all that...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
You can't just close your eyes and cross your fingers and hit a goal with pure hope, Reader. That's an extreme picture I'm painting, but it's what so many of us do. Set a goal and then just blindly move forward on pure hopium (a powerful drug) and see if we stick the landing. The thing is, if you set a goal and then aren't measuring the things you're doing to try to hit the goal...it's gonna be hard to hit. After all, "What gets measured gets managed." So now the important question is, what...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, have you heard of S.M.A.R.T.? That's... Specific Measurable Actionable Relevant Time Bound Last week I talked about B.A.M. goals. That is, instead of having just one goal, having THREE levels of goals - Baseline, Amazing, Miraculous. But that’s not enough. Because you can’t just have some vague goals hanging out there and then do nothing about them. You have to be able to implement. That’s where S.M.A.R.T. comes in. It makes sure you’re setting goals that you can actually take...
2 months ago • 1 min read
I don’t know about you Reader, but once upon a time, not hitting goals made me feel like a failure. So what would I do? Mental gymnastics. I’d either: Not set them. Set them low, so I could be sure of hitting them. Winning. (Not really.) That was until a mentor gave the concept of B.A.M. Baseline. Amazing. Miraculous. This changed everything. I sat down with my team and said “Hey, what’s our baseline?” (We already knew what that number was…the low one we were pretty sure we could hit. For...
2 months ago • 1 min read