Caring and the Unique Business Relationship
Inherent in the concept of Unique Business Relationships (UBRs) is the idea of truly caring about the other person. Sincerely caring about the needs, desires, and goals of a prospect, existing client, or referral source will establish a genuine and honest foundation upon which a UBR can be built.
My good friend, Mark Peysakhovich, Senior Director of Government Relations for the American Heart Association (AHA) in Chicago reminded me recently about the old saying:
“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Mark truly cares about the cause of the AHA. He and the other great people who champion the search for a cure to heart disease and stroke care deep down about what they are doing. And that sincerity translates into a powerful ability to communicate to donors nationwide the profound need for financial support to combat the number one killer in the United States.
We, too, must genuinely care about our cause, our clients, and our customers. We need to care about the people with whom we are doing business, and from whom we would like business. We need to honestly care about their business, the people who are important in their lives, their vision for the future, their concerns, their need for our service or product, etc.
Assuming we do care about these things, how do we manifest that caring with others? Simple. We empathize with them, we listen to them, we acknowledge them, we ask questions to get to the heart of the matter, we work to get into rapport with them, and we follow through with what we promise.
When others trust that we care about them, they will start to care about us. They will reward us with their business and friendship.
J.B.
Read MoreSharing a Unique Business Relationship
Unique Business Relationships (UBRs) can be a powerful distinguishing characteristic between us and our competition. If we work to build the type of relationship with someone that would be difficult, if not impossible, for that person to replace, then we will have substantially increased the likelihood that we will grow our business with that person.
But here’s an extension of the overall UBR concept: share opportunities involving UBRs with other strategic people in your network. By doing so, you continue to foster the UBR with an individual, but also provide a critical benefit to another person in your network that will not be forgotten.
How UBR Sharing Works
Essentially, when you are building a UBR with a prospect (or other person in your network), look for ways to introduce yet another person in your network into that UBR-building process. This exposes such other person to your prospect and the uniqueness of your relationship with that individual, and at the same time, you allow your other contact to also start to build a UBR with the original prospect.
An Example of Sharing a UBR
Here’s a quick example of how you can share a UBR with someone else. Recently, a referral source of mine was invited to spend the afternoon with one of his prospects, learning about and participating in an activity that is a favorite hobby of the prospect. The hobby is one that is unique and rare. My referral source invited me to also attend, of course getting the permission of his prospect before inviting me. The prospect was more than happy to meet me, as we are in the same industry, and could be great contacts for each other (and he, a great client of mine). I attended the get-together and was enthralled by the hobby so much that I may get into it as well. We all bonded over the hobby, which bond is sure to last a long time. As both my referral source and I get into the hobby, we can both then continue to build a UBR with the prospect (who now is also a prospect of mine as well!).
It’s Simple
Inviting a business contact into a UBR is easy and fun to do. The more unique and rare the activity, hobby, interest, etc., the better. Take advantage of opportunities to get your important contacts involved with some of your UBR activity, and they will, in turn, do the same for you. Everyone benefits by having more UBRs to help them grow their respective businesses.
J.B.
Read MoreFluidity and the Unique Business Relationship
In order to maximize our potential to build and maintain Unique Business Relationships (UBRs), we must possess the social skill of fluidity.
In the context of Crux Rainmaking, fluidity is the ability to move seamlessly between three distinct personas during interactions with people within your network, including prospects, existing clients, and referral sources. The three personas are: (a) serious professional, (b) friend, and (c) leader.
Most professionals have no trouble whatsoever with the persona of “serious professional,” because they are, in fact, serious professionals, competent in their field of expertise. But the major problem for many professionals is moving out of that comfort zone into the personas of friend and leader.
UBRs are based on the concept of truly getting to know what makes a person tick and what moves that individual. This discovery is done best and most efficiently in the context of friendship. It is quite difficult to elicit more personal information about a person without “befriending” that person in some way. We need people to open up to us, and share information that can then be used as a basis for building a UBR.
We must also be sensitive to the fact that nothing happens in a relationship without leadership. Words are cheap and promises are merely words until someone acts and follows through. We must be prepared in our interactions with people to lead the conversation and direct future action in a way that is mutually beneficial. This could be as simple as recommending and insuring a follow-up meeting, or scheduling a dinner, or making a valuable introduction. Without a leader present in the relationship to direct it the way YOU want is directed, then very little may result from your relationship building efforts.
So the idea is to first recognize these three distinct personas and then to practice weaving them into your interactions with others. Be cognizant during conversations with prospects of the presence of yourself as not only serious professional, but also as friend and leader.
In subsequent posts, I will endeavor to dig deeper into this overall idea with more particulars and tips for practicing fluidity.
J.B.
Read MoreFamiliarity and Unique Business Relationships
A Unique Business Relationship (UBR)–a relationship that is difficult, if not impossible, to replace–is the goal of rainmakers. Good relationships aren’t as good as they used to be and great relationships are not as reliable as they used to be. So, we need something more. We need the type of relationship with our clients, customers, and donors, and other contacts and referral sources, which will maximize the potential getting and keeping the business. At the heart of UBRs is the concept of familiarity.
Familiarity is based on a close relationship with a person or thing. When we are familiar with something, it is well known to us. In most cases, we need to take the initiative to gain the knowledge that will make something well known to us. In the context of business development, this means that we must recognize the importance of truly getting to know our prospects, existing clients, customers, and donors, and other important people within our network.
How much do you really know the people you are pursuing for business? How well do you know your existing clients? In that vein, what information have you learned about their families, backgrounds, hobbies, interests, dreams for the future, business vision, etc? These are the sorts of things that, if learned, can create the level of familiarity that is necessary to start building a UBR.
For example, very recently I was invited to a college football game by a proud alumnus of the home team’s school, who is an important referral source of mine. We traveled to the game together and spent the good part of the day further getting to know each other. During our time together, I learned that he was a big fan of a certain music artist. In fact, he is as much a fan of the band as I am. I learned about his interest in this particular band because throughout the game they played the introduction to this song over and over. And at one point, I simply asked him if he liked the band. As it turns out, his answer uncovered a shared interest in rock music, which, had I not asked, I would not have discovered. He had not struck me as someone who would even be interested in this style of music. And as luck would have it, I happened to have had tickets to the band’s upcoming concert in Chicago, and asked him to go. Now, this referral source and I share a common interest in this band and style of music, opening up a unique bridge between us to further enjoy, which will continue to nurture the business relationship.
As the above example illustrates, you never know what someone’s interests might be. You may find upon respectful inquiry that you share an area of interest that can be used as a means to foster the relationship. But you need to take the initiative, and always be cognizant of the fact that there are many opportunities to become familiar with people. Just as I simply asked my business friend whether he liked a band because it was playing, take advantage of different opportunities to learn about people. Then use those areas of common interest to build UBRs, and watch your relationships mature into real business!
J.B.
Read MoreHow To Infuse Your Personality into a Relationship
Your chances of closing the deal in business development are greatly increased by developing a unique relationship with your prospect. Your Crux Personality is who you are, what makes you tick, or what moves you. You can infuse that personality into your relationships with prospects to create Unique Business Relationships (UBRs) that markedly increase your chances of getting the business.
Identify an interest that you are passionate about
These are interests and hobbies that motivate you and can be shared in some way to help build relationships with your prospects. For example, assume you are a wine enthusiast. You love trying new wines from various parts of the world, and perhaps you have several favorites that you keep handy at your home at all times.
Share your interests with others in a unique way
Some people treat prospects like commodities. While a lot of decision makers may like or even love wine, do something special for your prospect. Winning business today is about differentiating yourself, both in your relationship with a prospect as well as your product/service. Taking the wine example further, rather than settling for a fine bottle of wine at dinner out with a potential client, customer or donor, sign that person up for a wine of the month club. Having a bottle of some great wine delivered to his or her office (or home, preferably) every month with a personal message from you will definitely make you stand out.
The Payoff
This wine example highlights how easy it could be to start developing a Unique Business Relationship with just about anyone. While it might be hard to believe, very few people go that extra mile. In doing so, you will be well on your way to developing and maintaining Unique Business Relationships with those people who are critical to the growth of your business.
J.B.
Read MoreThe Power (and Limitations) of Relationships
Relationships provide an opportunity to establish two things that will be critical to the prospect’s decision, namely trust and competence/quality. In fact, the more unique a relationship is with a prospect, the easier it is to do so. Salespeople who do not focus on building the best sort of relationship possible with their prospects–in truly unique ways–immediately put themselves at a distinct disadvantage to those who do.
There is a great post by Anthony Iannarino who provides an insightful perspective on the power (and limitations) of relationships. Check out this article on relationship development:
J.B.
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