Another great networking relationship, this one with Chris Widener (www.chriswidener.com), author of The Angel Inside and founder of “The Ultimate Success Series,” began on the telephone after we were introduced through a mutual joint-venture partner, Kyle Wilson. Kyle is President of Jim Rohn International (www.jimrohn.com), and had suggested that Chris might interview me for a coaching program he was running with that organization.
After the interview, while Chris and I were discussing some business goals we each had, a name came to his mind he thought would be a terrific connection for me. Immediately, not only did he give me the person’s name and contact information, but he went out of his way to call the other person to pave the way for my call. Although this particular contact didn’t end up paying off as Chris and I had hoped, it sure told me a lot about Chris and his giving spirit. He and I continued to brainstorm, have each referred the other to several profitable contacts, and continue to collaborate and refer each other as opportunities arise.
As my friend, Ivan Misner, Founder of BNI (Business Network International, a referral-exchange organization we’ll refer to later in the book) and author of the bestseller, Masters of Networking says, “Givers gain.” Yes, it’s that simple.
I mentioned that “successful givers” look for and seem to attract other successful givers. This reminds me of something Jim Collins points out in his amazing book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t.
Are The Right People on Your Bus?
While Collins’s book focuses on major corporations (looking at why some who took a giant step into a whole other category of success while others remained where they were or faltered), the lessons—each and every one of them—are just as applicable for today’s smaller business person.
In Chapter 3, Jim discusses the concept of “getting the right people onto the bus” (and the wrong people off the bus). In other words, more important than the direction you want to go or the products or services that will get you there, what is imperative is that you align yourself with the right people.
In the research that led to the book’s publication, Jim found that as long as the right people “were on the bus,” that company always prospered. When they weren’t, then nothing else mattered: the company stagnated or faltered. This surprised the author and his research team, at first. But it makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?
After all, if there’s one thing we’re learning in this book, it is that people do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust. And, the key word is “people.” Not products, not services, not directions, and not ideas. Of course, all of these must be good and worthwhile, as well. But it’s the people and the relationships that are key and that make the difference in your success.
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Bob Burg (www.burg.com) a popular speaker at company sales conventions, is author of the newly revised and expanded Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts into Sales. He offers free weekly Video Briefs at www.BobsOffer.com.
