When you are sincerely interested in helping other people to achieve their goals and make their dreams come true, you will ask them a lot of sincere, open-ended questions about their lives, their hopes and dreams, their families and their problems and challenges. You will not talk about yourself and your products and services until and unless they can be used to alleviate, solve or remove the problems, challenges and goals of the person to whom you are talking.
For example, if you’re a real estate investor and the person you’re talking with has absolutely no interest in real estate investment but is desperately trying to find a set of good, second-hand drums for his teenage son, you would do well to help him get the drums instead of trying to convince him that he should invest in real estate. By helping him find the drums, you could earn a commission from the seller of the drums, but, far more importantly, you will create a friend and reciprocity. This same person might introduce you to five others who all end up doing business with you.
When we get our egos and self interests out of the way we realize that we earn money by solving problems instead of pushing our products and services and trying to force square pegs into round holes. I recently talked with a salesperson and I asked her, “Will you make more money by selling me something I don’t really need or want, or by getting me to enthusiastically promote you to the five thousand people in my database?”
At our recent Joint Venture Forum Members Convention in Edmonton, Richard Banister of Snapdragon Gallery (
http://www.snapdragongallery.com/) sponsored 18 beautiful, engraved, hand blown crystal awards. He never asked for anything – he just generously contributed. And now his website is being advertised to thousands of people who read this article.
Here’s a good example. You ask someone, “If a Genie leapt out of the ketchup bottle and offered you three wishes for your life, Tom, what would they be?” When Tom answers, “Health, Money and Happiness”, you have learnt nothing. How much money? By when? Why? What will he do with that money? Why? What does he mean by “Health”? What, specifically, has to happen in order for Tom to feel “Happy”? What has to change in Tom’s life in order for him to be happy? When you take the time to find the answers to these questions, you know more about Tom than his mother, his dog and his parole officer. At that point, you can find solutions to apply to his life and help him achieve his goals – and, as a JV Broker, get well paid for doing so. Information is power.
Robin J. Elliott is an Honored Member of America's Who's Who of Outstanding Professionals 2006. He is officially included in the International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs of 2002 and was nominated as a candidate for inclusion in the 2004-2005 edition of the International Who's Who of Professionals.
