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First, let me tell you about the assumptions that go into what I do.
1) You want a successful life as well as success in your business/career.
2) PEOPLE are important and technology is only important BECAUSE IT ALLOWS YOU AND ME TO HELP PEOPLE.
3) Real communication is hugely important in creating and maintaining real relationships with PEOPLE.
4) The internet enhances how we communicate with PEOPLE and companies. It doesn't replace every communication method that came before it.
5) Having a business system is great because it means you don't have to create everything from scratch, but systems of doing business that incorporate the first four ideas will allow you to add great, committed PEOPLE to your team and retain PEOPLE more effectively than those that don't implement the first four ideas well or not at all. So, that means
A) less time wasted teaching PEOPLE who won't be there in a couple months and
B) less time and money wasted by PEOPLE who would be better off seeing a counselor or bankruptcy attorney and
C) a lot fewer PEOPLE running around telling their story later of how it didn't work for them.
6) Some PEOPLE don't realize or believe how great their life and business/career could be by joining a team that really cares about both or they haven't found a team that works that way.
Let me flesh it out now.
1) The very real #1 assumption for me is that you want to have a life beyond business. In fact, I want you to have a great life and I hope you want that for yourself, too.
I have found that I can integrate business into my life by actually caring about the goals of the people with whom I'm doing business. Zig Ziglar says, "If you help enough people get what they want, you'll get what you want."
I urge you to do what I do. I keep people and their goals on my mental radar screen and I also use tools to help me do that like LinkedIn.com. You really should connect with me and my network on LinkedIn. An example of keeping someone on my mental radar screen is Deb Ivie. I met her through InstantBuzz and she joined me on LinkedIn and over two dozen of her contacts joined her there in a few weeks because she sent them official invitations through the LinkedIn site. Deb is successful in Herbalife and people that I run across who express interest in Herbalife I will send Deb's way. I don't want to have this page full of links, but I will create a links page where you'll find Deb's blog.
I do care about the goals of people I know and meet even if we're not doing business. The challenge that I have found is many people who are not business-oriented or goal-oriented can get "backed up" when you ask them how you can help them. Or they might assume that you personally must do whatever it is that they feel they need as opposed to you connecting them with someone who can help.
Please keep in mind that you may not be the best person qualified to help them, but you might know someone like a therapist or other professional who is much better equipped to give them guidance for their situation. There are less dramatic examples. I have a friend named Jim Thomson in Washington with whom I also do business. I refer people to him when they have computer questions because he has so much more experience than I do, especially with something like Microsoft Outlook. So, I don't push the conversation about helping them if they offer any resistance. You can always send good thoughts their way or say a prayer for them.
And, if they let you know that they're not interested in the two of you helping each other, you can use your time wisely by moving on to someone who sees the value in a mutually beneficial relationship. No need to get upset or try and sell them on the idea of networking when they're resistant, just move on and find someone more receptive and maybe they'll come around when you don't hound them. Some people take a while to figure out that we don't do business [or life] alone. You might not be the best teacher to teach them that lesson.
2) You realize as I do that people are important, not just technology.
Because human beings are important, we want to have technology serve people as much as possible.
Because people are important, I find that becoming more and more organized enables me to better help people and enhance my relationships. LinkedIn and other technology becomes more important BECAUSE IT ALLOWS ME TO HELP PEOPLE
more quickly, in a more organized fashion. Putting my words down on this website will allow me to communicate with more people because we all have the same 24 hour day and I can communicate with more people in those 24 hours using this website versus one-on-one conversations.
It's really important to keep in mind that people come first, not technology. Even as I write this, my son keeps coming into the room reminding me that I said we would go to Barnes and Noble soon. Deb Ivie might notice my pause in getting this website done because I ask her to check on my progress once in a while, but most of you will only see the finished product. This technology allows me to take a break and spend time with my son.
Now that I'm back from my break, I'm actually working on this portion my local library. Technology allows you to work from different locations.
Since people are more important than technology, there are some ideas that flow logically from that and I will only be discussing one of them here - Networking Your Relationships.
Networking is supposed to help everyone. Networking can help everyone who chooses to participate. When you choose to network, you get more powerful results faster. I know a couple in real estate who I asked for a recommendation to a great plumber. About seven years ago I simply looked up plumber in the phone book and I was definitely not pleased with the results, so I asked Jerry the real estate broker.
When I can ask a friend who understands that I want someone who does a quality job, they're not just going to send me their Uncle Earl unless Uncle Earl does a great job. If they send me someone who does a so-so job, then I'm not going to ask them about a plumber again. If they send me three or four bozos, I'm probably not going to pay attention to their recommendations anymore.
Magnificently, the opposite is also true. If I ask you for a referral to someone with a certain skill or interest in a certain area and you send me a great match time after time, I'm really going to trust your judgement even more than I did originally.
3) Real communication is hugely important in creating and maintaining real relationships.
Human beings don't see relationship in email that is sent out to 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000[!] people. Phone calls or face to face or using microphones with your computer are necessary if you don't want to spend time with people only to have them disappear on you. You want to spend business time with people who are likely to be a networking contact or resource or a client or business partner. You might ask, "What if I'm mentoring someone?" If you are mentoring someone, they must be willing to network with you. If they don't respect you enough to recommend you to someone, it doesn't make sense that they would have you mentor them, does it?
[This reminds me to mention as an aside - Be careful who you choose as a mentor!]
I have found that speaking on the phone will allow you to more accurately understand who is serious and sincere. Sincere is ok because you can plug them into LinkedIn and see if they become serious.
And not just e-cards, too. Real cards or postcards or letters sent through the mail. Real communication also includes a website or blog that lets people get more than a hint of who you really are.
Some people teach that you can do your business completely automated and I disagree. In my experience, when people sign up for something that seems to be completely automated, first, there's more work that they haven't told you about.
Second, and more importantly, what you tend to end up with is people joining your team who aren't really interested in being part of your team. Many thought they could sign up and do nothing. If you can't convince them otherwise, you can waste time. And if you are in a business where you are teaching others to duplicate your system, you are teaching them to waste time with disinterested people, too. That can add up to huge amounts of wasted time.
They're not always interested in talking on the phone or through the computer and because you don't get the opportunity to solidify that relationship through good conversation, they are usually gone in 3-6 months or less.
If I am building a team and communication is necessary to build relationship among the team, does it really make sense to make any effort at all to attract people to the team who don't want to communicate and have relationship? It amazes me that some of the mentors who say that you should begin with the end in mind will not care that their system is designed to bring in a lot of people who aren't really interested in developing the necessary relationship with you and your team.
4) The internet enhances how we communicate in our relationships. It doesn't replace every communication method that came before it.
There really is something about the sound of the human voice for those with the capacity to hear it. When you can have the natural give and take of conversation and actually hear the tone and inflection of the person, this is a huge help in communicating.
One of the big mistakes that I believe a lot of people and companies make is that they expect human beings to conform to technology and not the other way around. There are some things that we have to do, like take the time and possess the ability to read the language that the website is written in or be able to connect to the internet in the first place. But some companies impose things on people that are not as necessary, like customer service only via email.
I have had great success purchasing domain names through GoDaddy.com and haven't had to contact customer service in years, so whether I can speak to GoDaddy customer service over the phone or through email is not an issue for me. I have also experienced frustration with companies who actually have people available to speak to me and who say, "We don't do that function over the phone. You'll have to fax us to cancel." I know it's possible to say, cancel an autoship over the phone, but some companies won't do it because it's against their rules. Well, change the rules! Serve the customer! My credit union does stuff over the phone with me by having me give them information to identify me as me. And they deal with my MONEY! So I'm thankful for the way they do business. They don't give simply customer service, but customer satisfaction.
As far as I'm concerned, the companies that won't give us what we want over the phone are clueless. In order to put it in more constructive language, I'll say that those companies will lose customers who will go with a company which, frankly, treats them better by giving them more customer service options. Let's say that someone says, "But Charlie, that's only your opinion." OK. It is my opinion. But doesn't it make sense that people will do business more and more with people and companies that make it easier as opposed to harder to do business with them?
5) Having a business system is great because it means you don't have to learn everthing yourself, but systems of doing business that incorporate the first four ideas are better than those that don't.
Toby at SpiralJungle
