I first heard about the concept of being a “go-giver” from Bob Burg in a book he wrote called Winning Without Intimidation; he later made the phrase more popular by writing Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea.
I used the Go-Giver phrase, which is corny but good, in a speech I made to entrepreneurs a few years back.
From that speech, and others, here are seven tips to being a better networker or go-giver:
1) Giving is Attractive — “No matter what your profession, if you can give increase of life to others and make them sensible [i.e., “aware”] of this gift, they will be attracted to you, and you will get rich.” Wallace D. Wattles from The Science of Getting Rich
2) Be a Connector — If you connect someone, both parties will remember you as the connector (see The Connector Exercise article I wrote.
3) The Helpers Get Helped — “The core of being a really good networker, you need to want to help people, “says close friend Dave Bear of BBDO Atmoshphere. He had an interesting way to put it: “People want to help people who want to help people. That’s the multiplier.”
4) When Calling a Customer/Partner — “Never call a client without bringing a new idea or some value into it.” (Direct Marketer Les Wunderman).
5) Pareto’s Principle — “Spend 80% of your time asking about THEM, not talking about yourself and you’ll get a positive response. Most people love talking about themselves. I’m always thinking when I meet people about who they might be interested in meeting.” (a talented entrepreneur and friend Drew Kossoff).
6) The Value Proposition — Give someone more in value than what you take from the (Go-Giver book by Bob Burge (he also wrote Endelss Referalls).
7) Clip It – My dad always clipped out articles and mailed them to people…and we loved it! With the Web, this takes very little time to do and can be quite meaningful. If you send a print clipping through snail-mail, that is so unheard of these days that it all the more unique. When’s the last time you sent some quality content to someone!?
Remember, if you’re just asking for help and trying to “get” all the time, then you’re more of a “go-getter” than a go-giver.
I’m looking forward to more go-givers out there!
Sidenote: You’ve probably noticed that I’m beginning to link the people I mention in articles (such as this one) directly to their LinkedIn profile so that you can learn more about these resources. If you are not yet on LinkedIn, or want some LinkedIn tips want some LinkedIn tips, check out: You Must Be LinkedIn.
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