How to be a Go-Giver
Bob Burg couldn’t get his foot in the door.
“There was a company I was trying to get to, a big organization,” says Bob, speaker and author of The Go-Giver. “Not only was I not able to get my foot in the door, I couldn’t find the door to get my foot in. It was that difficult.”
But Bob did get to them eventually. In fact, he got a call from a top exec.
So how did he do it?
A competitor helped him.
“A gentlemen that I had met at an association that I belonged to…we really developed a friendship,” says Bob.
Even though the guy was already a well-known speaker, Bob helped him in little ways, like giving his name to magazine editors.
“He always appreciated it, but it wasn’t that anybody was looking for anything,” says Bob.
One day he asked Bob how business was going.
“Great,” said Bob. “But boy, there’s one group…” and he explained how he couldn’t get in the door.
“Oh, they’ve been my client for years,” said his friend. “I’ll have my contact call you.”
The next day, Bob got the call. “It became an account…worth several million dollars.”
In his Mixergy session, Bob shows you how to sell more by being a “go-giver”. Here are three highlights from the session.
1. Don’t Sell the MacGuffin
“But when you get to the end of the story, what you find is that [the MacGuffin] isn’t really what the story was about,” says Bob.
For instance, in The Wizard of Oz, the MacGuffin is Dorothy’s quest to get back to Kansas, but it’s really a story about four friends who come to realize that they already have the qualities that they desire.
Likewise, in sales, your product or service is the MacGuffin, or the object of the sale. But it isn’t what the sale is really about.
“So often we’re so wrapped up in our MacGuffin. We love our MacGuffin, and we know that if people would just embrace and own our MacGuffin, their life would be so much better! But, see, that’s coming at it from our benefit. That’s coming at it from its being about us and about our MacGuffin.”
So what’s the sale really about?
Give them what they really want
Effective sales are all about the customer.
“The greatest salespeople…have learned a basic truth about selling,” says Bob. “And that is, when it comes right down to it, it isn’t about …your MacGuffin…It’s about the other person and how it affects them and their life.”
Take the old drill-and-hole analogy. No one really wants to buy a drill bit. “The drill bit is simply the medium,” says Bob. “It’s the MacGuffin. The sale is about that quarter-inch hole, which is what the person really wants.”
2. You Look Like All the Others
But Bob could use any travel agent. There are plenty of agents out there who’d love to compete for his business. Or he could just hop on the Internet and book his own flights and hotels.
“There’s not anything Jim can’t do for me that his competitors couldn’t do for me, there’s nothing Jim can do for me that I can’t do for myself in terms of just going on the computer,” says Bob.
So why is Bob such a loyal customer?
Create exceptional value
Jim knows the first law of The Go-Giver, the Law of Value.
For instance, Jim knows Bob’s travel preferences. “I need to be comfortable, I need to know that I’m going in and out at the right times,” says Bob. “So Jim takes that all to heart and he knows, he’s made a study of me.”
Jim also keeps Bob’s clients happy. “My clients basically pay for the flight, but I still owe it to them to get the best flights I can for them while still at the right times,” says Bob.
And Jim even sends Bob an email before each trip to wish him a good flight and give him an emergency contact number. “I’ve only needed [that number] twice in all these years, but both times, he was there,” says Bob.
3. Find the Balance
But some people reject the good things coming their way. A true Go-Giver would not fall victim to that kind of “lack” mentality.
“There are these messages of lack…of bad people having money and the good people being poor-but-happy,” says Bob. “It’s something that much of society has bought into and it’s unhealthy.”
So how do you find a balance?
Give, then receive
Be open to receiving. Focus on the giving and then allow the receiving.
“The giving comes first, but then allow the receiving,” says Bob. “If you’re providing great value to the lives of many people, you should be earning a really great income. That’s a good thing.”
And you’ve earned the right to it.
“You’ve provided value to others…[allow] yourself to receive the abundance that you’ve earned the right, not the entitlement, but the right to through the value you’ve provided,” says Bob.
Written by April Dykman. Production notes by Alex Champagne.