Podcasts about snowball system

Send us a textAbout This EpisodeWhat if the biggest roadblocks to your success are the lies you tell yourself? Tune into this transformative discussion with Mo Bunnell, a visionary in business development, author of Give to Grow, and founder of Bunnell Idea Group. His insights urge us to recognize and challenge the false beliefs that constrain us, including the fears and uncertainties that can hold us back. He shares practical strategies for prioritizing long-term goals and embracing strategic generosity in business. Mo also offers guidance on how to offer value without underselling yourself, sharing advice to navigate the balance between giving and maintaining self-worth. He describes how a thoughtful approach to generosity can foster genuine connections and propel professional relationships forward. Listen in to uncover how cultivating a bold mindset, fueled by generosity and persistence, can lead to remarkable outcomes both personally and professionally. About Mo BunnellMo Bunnell helps complex organizations grow by scaling business development skills across their organizations and creating a growth-oriented culture. He's the author of Give to Grow, The Snowball System, the host of the podcast Real Relationships Real Revenue and the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), who has trained tens of thousands of professionals. BIG's clients have used Mo and his team's GrowBIG® training to give their experts a system for growth that creates deep relationships, gives a comprehensive business development framework and dare we say, is fun to use. Mo started out his career as an expert himself, passing all the actuarial exams to earn their highest designation: Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Today, Mo enjoys working with hundreds of clients including some the largest, most prestigous service-based organizations. Mo and his wife of over 30 years, Becky, enjoy spending time with their friends and two adult daughters. Outside of work he enjoys working out, backpacking, and playing ultimate frisbee at the national and world levels. Becky and Mo live in Atlanta, Georgia with their four horses, two cats, dog, bird and miniature donkey, Louie Hamilton. Additional ResourcesWebsite: bunnellideagroup.comLinkedIn: @MoBunnellSupport the show-------- Stay Connected www.leighburgess.com Watch the episodes on YouTube Follow Leigh on Instagram: @theleighaburgess Follow Leigh on LinkedIn: @LeighBurgess Sign up for Leigh's bold newsletter

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Notes: Mo Bunnell is the author of Give to Grow, The Snowball System, and the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), who has trained tens of thousands of seller experts at over 400 clients all over the world. I wake up every morning looking to help my friends succeed, and some just happen to be clients.  — Proactively thinking of ways to add value to others is a great way to build a meaningful life. Our brains think literally. Relationships grow exponentially. Give consistently to grow relationships. Celebrate incremental progress. Mo writes in a journal the growth of himself, his business, and his customers. We all should be better at celebrating incremental progress. Teresa Amabile's research shows that this leads to a more enjoyable life. August 4, 1984, was a meaningful day for his family. (Dad's alcoholism. That was the day of his last drink) The difference between doing the work versus winning the work Example: You win the work by asking lots of questions. You do the work giving answers. Every successful career hinges on two things: Doing The Work and Winning The Work. Both delivering value on the current work and developing the relationships that create future opportunities are vital for long-term success. Whether you're in a new role or want new outcomes, the most powerful results come from prioritizing both Doing The Work and Winning The Work. Ask questions – Mo shares 50+ questions to ask. Ask self-disclosure questions. Those are questions that only that person can answer. Fall in love with the problem. Pronoia – The world is out to help you succeed. People can live in 1 of 3 ways. Drift - Stay busy. Answer emails.  Driven - Hyper emphasis on one thing at the detriment of others (triathlon guy) By Design - Write down where you want to be and make a plan to do it. On purpose. Delayed gratification: Weekly planning process Offer 3 proactive change agent ideas Mo is in 5 masterminds Shawn Blanc in Breckenridge. Net givers. MASHUP - His house. Help others. Ask for help. Elite Adventure athletes GivetoGrow.Info MASHUP! Mastermind of Awesome Super Human Unreal People

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova.    I have the pleasure of welcoming Mo Bunnell to the show today. He helps complex organizations grow by scaling business development skills and creating a growth-oriented culture. He's the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), which has trained tens of thousands of professionals at hundreds of organizations. He is the author of The Snowball System and has a new book out called Give to Grow: Invest in Relationships to Build Your Business and Your Career.   THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone looking to grow their business and deepen client relationships in a more meaningful, human-centered way.   TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE… in this day and age, business development isn't about deals but relationships. Mo dives into this approach and explores how to build authentic, lasting relationships that add real value and, ultimately, drive growth.   Key Takeaways: Mo's 3-step process to collaborate better and drive more revenue: fall in love with their problem, give them the experience of working with them, and make a recommendation.  The skills you need to do the work after you get the “yes” are the opposite of the skills you need to get the “yes.” Those who identify where the decision makers see value and attach to it will find the magic. Relationship building takes time and effort. Mo recommends quarterly audits to strategically delegate or automate tasks to create more space for relationships.    WHAT I LOVE MOST… take a few minutes to make a list of the 10-15 relationships that are the most important to your future success. Mo says these are the relationships you should be focused on developing now.    Running Time: 29:34   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani Online: LinkedIn Facebook X   Find Mo Online: Website  LinkedIn    Mo's Book:  Give to Grow  

Topics We Explored:* Mo Bunnell's new book Give to Grow and why it makes sense to focus on relationships and a giving mindset as the foundation for long-term business success.* How to define business development and distinguish it from pure sales, as well as the importance of strategic helpfulness in developing a business or career. * The logic behind providing value upfront through small projects or advice to build trust and increase the likelihood of future business and engagement.* Strategies for making effective recommendations and managing client expectations, including the use of social proof and escalating commitments.Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:* Mo Bunnell: Website | Podcast* Give to Grow Supplemental Materials: Downloadable resources, including the Give to Grow Team Launch Guide, top lead generation methods worksheet, meeting prep questions, research citations, and an exclusive secret chapter.* Find Your Business Flow: PF's new cohort program to help entrepreneurs focus on (among other things) growth — building relationships, scaling your business, and winning the work that matters.Perspectives like those in this episode can help you grow your business. By upgrading to a paid subscription, you gain access to exclusive content, monthly coaching calls & e-courses.About Mo Bunnell:Mo Bunnell helps complex organizations grow by scaling business development skills and creating a growth-oriented culture. He's the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG) and the author of The Snowball System. BIG has trained tens of thousands of professionals at hundreds of organizations. Mo lives in Atlanta, Georgia.Thanks for Listening!Subscribe to Productive Flourishing on Apple Podcasts to get all the latest episodes delivered straight to your preferred mobile device. This is the perfect option for listening to the show in the car, on the subway, or while you're working out. Plus, you won't have to fuss with figuring out how you're going to listen.Episode Timestamps[0:01:46] Charlie Gilkey introduces Mo Bunnell and discusses why he's excited about the Give to Grow book.[0:05:02] Discussion of the broader definition of business development and how it differs from sales.[0:07:34] Mo Bunnell explains the importance of balancing altruistic and economic success in business.[0:11:41] Importance of selling the problem and the solution, not just the expertise.[0:13:26] Discussion of the differences between the skills needed for "doing the work" versus "winning the work".[0:18:30] Explanation of the concept of "certainty" versus "possibility" in business development.[0:22:05] Explanation of the "give to grow" strategy and providing value upfront to build trust.[0:26:52] Discussion of how to make effective recommendations and manage client expectations.[0:31:14] Advice on naming programs and offerings to focus on outcomes, not just processes.[0:35:47] Importance of providing options and allowing clients to choose.[0:41:44] Addressing the challenge of transitioning from free to paid content. [0:47:59] Practical tips for committing to and testing new business development strategies.[0:52:54] Discussion of the importance of casting possibility and helping clients see their best version.[1:06:51] Final thoughts on the emotion and inspiration of winning the work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe

Mo Bunnell helps complex organizations grow by scaling business development skills across their organizations and creating agrowth-oriented culture. He's the author of The Snowball System, the host of the video podcast Real Relationships Real Revenue andthe founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), who has trained over tens of thousands of seller-experts at over 400 clients, all over theworld.BIG's clients have used Mo and his team's GrowBIG® training to give their experts a system for growth that creates ravings fans,gives a comprehensive business development framework and is, dare we say, is fun to use.Mo started out his career as an expert himself, passing all the actuarial exams to earn their highest designation: Fellow of the Societyof Actuaries. Today, Mo gets most excited working with BIG's clients that usually fall into two camps: professional service firms likeKing & Spalding and Sotheby's and service-based companies like Aetna, Constellation Energy and TransUnion.Mo lives in Atlanta with his wife of nearly 30 years, his two daughters (when they're home from college) and their miniature donkey,Louie Hamilton.Key Takeaways-Success in business requires not only technical skills but also strong relational skills. -The concept of "the shift" emphasizes the need for individuals to transition from focusing solely on technical expertise to also mastering communication and relationship-building skills.-There is a distinction between "doing the work" (execution) and "winning the work" (relationship building and securing opportunities). Effective communication varies between these two contexts.-There are four steps for success:1 Focus on engagement2 Provide an experience of working with you3 Make clear recommendations for next steps4 Scale efforts based on expected long-term benefits-A shift in mindset from fear of failure to a focus on helping others can drive motivation and success.Join The “Now” Newsletter: https://now.katierichardson.com/newsletterAbout Katie Richardson:Katie, once a girl who just liked to have fun, transformed into a globally recognized designer and entrepreneur. With expertise in woodworking, welding, drawing, and sewing, she crafted her own path. Despite initial doubts and imposter syndrome, Katie defied expectations by establishing Puj, a business that now boasts its products in 2,000 US stores and 26 countries, delighting over 1 million customers worldwide. Her greatest aspiration is to inspire women across the globe. Renowned shows like the Ellen Degeneres Show, Rachael Ray Show, Today Show, and Entrepreneur Magazine have featured her, while influential figures like Martha Stewart, Matt Damon, Camilla Alves, Mario Lopez, Robert Downey Jr., Kourtney Kardashian, Bill & Giuliana Rancic, and Pam Beesley have embraced her products. Today, Katie is a coach, mother of four, wife, author, and powerful speaker.Connect with Katie:Website: https://katierichardson.com/CASE STUDIES: https://now.katierichardson.com/casestudyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-richardson-creatorApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-working-now/id1515291698BuzzSprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1847280Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kV8cL7eTZ70UAXMOtcBbrNewsletter: https://now.katierichardson.com/newsletter

We've been thinking about networking wrong this entire time. Let's flip the script and focus instead on adding value, deepening connection and staying in touch. These strategies can then help you change careers, improve your “business development” and increasing your surface of luck. Mo Bunnell is the founder and CEO of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), a consulting and training company that specializes in helping professionals improve their business development and client relationship skills. He's the author of Give to Grow and The Snowball System. [Episode 66] Links: Real Relationships, Real Revenue Podcast: https://bunnellideagroup.com/podcast/ Give to Grow Book: https://bunnellideagroup.com/givetogrow/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/MoBunnell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mobunnell —-JOIN OUR GROUP COACHING COHORTS:Are you looking to ask deep, introspective and provocative questions about your own life (with Khe and likeminded peers)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apply today⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠—-BECOME A RADREADER: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join 50,000+ ambitious professionals⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our weekly essays on productivity, money and career.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Mo Bunnell helps complex organizations grow by scaling business development skills across their organizations and creating a growth-oriented culture. He is the author of Give to Grow, The Snowball System, the host of the podcast Real Relationships Real Revenue, and the founder of Bunnell Idea Group (BIG), who has trained tens of thousands of professionals. BIG's clients have used Mo and his team's GrowBIG® training to give their experts a system for growth that creates deep relationships, gives a comprehensive business development framework, and dare we say, is fun to use. Mo started his career as an expert himself, passing all the actuarial exams to earn their highest designation: Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Today, Mo enjoys working with hundreds of clients including some of the largest, most prestigious service-based organizations. Mo and his wife of over 30 years, Becky, enjoy spending time with their friends and two adult daughters. Outside of work he enjoys working out, backpacking, and playing ultimate frisbee at the national and world levels. Becky and Mo live in Atlanta Georgia with their four horses, two cats, dog, bird and miniature donkey, Louie Hamilton. ---------------------------------------- This show is sponsored by Leopard Solutions Legal Intelligence Suite of products, Firmscape, and Leopard BI. Push ahead of the pack with the power of Leopard. For a free demo, visit this link: https://www.leopardsolutions.com/index.php/request-a-demo/ www.theplacementclub.com Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mobunnell/ https://bunnellideagroup.com https://bunnellideagroup.com/givetogrow/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!   In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are continuing our series on how you can use your book to grow your business. I sat down with Chad Cannon. He is a return guest and he's here to give us some real-life case studies of how people have used their books to grow their business.  Chad has more insight than anyone I know on how to take a book and actually build your book of business with it so I am excited to share this conversation with you.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why a book is the best business card you could have  The number one word-of-mouth marketing tool you can use The one thing you need to remember when deciding what book to write What to remember if you want to write a great book Some authors who utilized their books to massively grow their business The truth about how long your book should be in order to be successful The difference between how I used The Snowball System and Give to Grow The number one way to get someone who wants to work with you from your book  How to make it really easy for your reader to reach out to you   A book is the number one word-of-mouth marketing tool in the world, and I hope this episode gave you some inspiration!    If you want to learn more, check out StoryBrand, Building a Story Brand, and Marketing Made Simple for a directory of certified coaches who can help you.    Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Give to Grow Get the Supplemental materials for Give to Grow Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!   Check out the 5 Minute Marketing Makeover  Check out Marketing Made Simple  Check out Building a StoryBrand  Learn more about StoryBrand  

Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!   In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are continuing our series on how you can use your book to grow your business. I sat down with Chad Cannon. He is a return guest and he's here to give us some real-life case studies of how people have used their books to grow their business.  Chad has more insight than anyone I know on how to take a book and actually build your book of business with it so I am excited to share this conversation with you.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why a book is the best business card you could have  The number one word-of-mouth marketing tool you can use The one thing you need to remember when deciding what book to write What to remember if you want to write a great book Some authors who utilized their books to massively grow their business The truth about how long your book should be in order to be successful The difference between how I used The Snowball System and Give to Grow The number one way to get someone who wants to work with you from your book  How to make it really easy for your reader to reach out to you   A book is the number one word-of-mouth marketing tool in the world, and I hope this episode gave you some inspiration!    If you want to learn more, check out StoryBrand, Building a Story Brand, and Marketing Made Simple for a directory of certified coaches who can help you.    Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Give to Grow Get the Supplemental materials for Give to Grow Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!   Check out the 5 Minute Marketing Makeover  Check out Marketing Made Simple  Check out Building a StoryBrand  Learn more about StoryBrand  

Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!   In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are continuing our series on how you can use your book to grow your business. I sat down with Chad Cannon. He is a return guest and he's here to give us some real-life case studies of how people have used their books to grow their business.  Chad has more insight than anyone I know on how to take a book and actually build your book of business with it so I am excited to share this conversation with you.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why a book is the best business card you could have  The number one word-of-mouth marketing tool you can use The one thing you need to remember when deciding what book to write What to remember if you want to write a great book Some authors who utilized their books to massively grow their business The truth about how long your book should be in order to be successful The difference between how I used The Snowball System and Give to Grow The number one way to get someone who wants to work with you from your book  How to make it really easy for your reader to reach out to you   A book is the number one word-of-mouth marketing tool in the world, and I hope this episode gave you some inspiration!    If you want to learn more, check out StoryBrand, Building a Story Brand, and Marketing Made Simple for a directory of certified coaches who can help you.    Resources Mentioned: Order your copy of Give to Grow Get the Supplemental materials for Give to Grow Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!   Check out the 5 Minute Marketing Makeover  Check out Marketing Made Simple  Check out Building a StoryBrand  Learn more about StoryBrand  

Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!    Performing is not learning. And if you're just doing the work from day to day, that doesn't mean you're improving. What we're going to do in this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue is mashup Eduardo Briceno's amazing book called The Performance Paradox with The Snowball System and share some simple, practical activities, mindsets, and tools that you can put in place right away that can help you improve in your life, relationships, and business development. Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The difference between learning and performing  How business development skills are learned  How to flip your feelings towards sales and make it enjoyable The power of deliberate practice in becoming skilled at what you do How we can utilize knowledge to grow in our skills Dialing on one thing at a time What Blitzscaling is and how it applies to business development The best way to ask for feedback Tips on reviewing data and having your own “off-season”  How to reconnect with your “why” in a really deep way The Mistakes Matrix and the four different types of mistakes    I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Eduardo! The Performance Paradox is one of the best books I've ever read about doing the work and doing it really, really well. The work Eduardo is doing is really important.    If you are interested in learning more from Eduardo, make sure to get a copy of his book. You can also visit his website and follow him on LinkedIn.    Resources Mentioned: Follow Eduardo on LinkedIn Get a copy of his book Visit Eduardo's website Listen to the Kelley O'Hara podcast episode Listen to the Mohamed Massaquoi episode  

Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!    Performing is not learning. And if you're just doing the work from day to day, that doesn't mean you're improving. What we're going to do in this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue is mashup Eduardo Briceno's amazing book called The Performance Paradox with The Snowball System and share some simple, practical activities, mindsets, and tools that you can put in place right away that can help you improve in your life, relationships, and business development. Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The difference between learning and performing  How business development skills are learned  How to flip your feelings towards sales and make it enjoyable The power of deliberate practice in becoming skilled at what you do How we can utilize knowledge to grow in our skills Dialing on one thing at a time What Blitzscaling is and how it applies to business development The best way to ask for feedback Tips on reviewing data and having your own “off-season”  How to reconnect with your “why” in a really deep way The Mistakes Matrix and the four different types of mistakes    I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Eduardo! The Performance Paradox is one of the best books I've ever read about doing the work and doing it really, really well. The work Eduardo is doing is really important.    If you are interested in learning more from Eduardo, make sure to get a copy of his book. You can also visit his website and follow him on LinkedIn.    Resources Mentioned: Follow Eduardo on LinkedIn Get a copy of his book Visit Eduardo's website Listen to the Kelley O'Hara podcast episode Listen to the Mohamed Massaquoi episode  

Get a copy of your GrowBIG Playbook today!    Performing is not learning. And if you're just doing the work from day to day, that doesn't mean you're improving. What we're going to do in this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue is mashup Eduardo Briceno's amazing book called The Performance Paradox with The Snowball System and share some simple, practical activities, mindsets, and tools that you can put in place right away that can help you improve in your life, relationships, and business development. Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The difference between learning and performing  How business development skills are learned  How to flip your feelings towards sales and make it enjoyable The power of deliberate practice in becoming skilled at what you do How we can utilize knowledge to grow in our skills Dialing on one thing at a time What Blitzscaling is and how it applies to business development The best way to ask for feedback Tips on reviewing data and having your own “off-season”  How to reconnect with your “why” in a really deep way The Mistakes Matrix and the four different types of mistakes    I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Eduardo! The Performance Paradox is one of the best books I've ever read about doing the work and doing it really, really well. The work Eduardo is doing is really important.    If you are interested in learning more from Eduardo, make sure to get a copy of his book. You can also visit his website and follow him on LinkedIn.    Resources Mentioned: Follow Eduardo on LinkedIn Get a copy of his book Visit Eduardo's website Listen to the Kelley O'Hara podcast episode Listen to the Mohamed Massaquoi episode  

Olivia Fuller: Hi and welcome to Book Club, a Sales Enablement PRO podcast. I'm Olivia Fuller. Sales enablement is a constantly evolving space and we're here to help professionals stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices so they can be more effective in their jobs. Sales can be a tough job and it’s not one that everyone is naturally inclined to do. With uncertain economic conditions like we’re experiencing today, this job can be even more difficult. The Snowball System is designed to help people sell effectively in a way that they’re comfortable with without feeling like a sleazy salesperson. I’m so excited to have the author of “The Snowball System”, Mo Bunnell, here to tell us a little bit more about this concept and his book. With that, Mo, I'd love it if you could tell our audience a little bit about yourself, your background, and your book. Mo Bunnell: Yes, let me say this out of the gate. All of you listeners and watchers out there, I am so much a fan of sales enablement professionals and Olivia and her team at Sales Enablement PRO have great resources on the website, certifications, classes, courses, assets, and resources. It’s better than I’ve ever seen anywhere, so when Olivia reached out and thought we should do this podcast, I was excited because the work you do matters, and the things that we’re doing to evolve the profession are important. So, Olivia, I just had to say that out of the gate then I can talk about me. OF: I love that. Thank you so much. MB: It’s such an emerging profession and it’s going to continue to grow in importance over time, so you’re all in the right place. A little bit about me, I think a lot of times entrepreneurs start a business without trying to start business. I've been at it for about 20 years, and my moment of starting Bunnell Idea Group was a moment of complete panic, almost an anxiety attack. I had gone from a deep technical expert. I had taken all the exams to become an actuary, which if you don’t know what an actuary is, are long-term financial forecaster. We make the accountants look like party animals. I had taken all these years to pass these exams to be an actuary and in one weekend I turned into a salesperson. Now, we didn’t call it that, I was at a high-end professional consulting firm, so we called it a managing consultant. The fact is in one weekend I went from being rewarded on service delivery, billable hours, client satisfaction, and things like that to retention and growth activities. The moment of panic occurred when I went to my new boss that Monday morning with all of the new floors, business card titles, and all that stuff and I asked him for the manual on business development, sales retention, and growth. I wasn’t expecting him to respond by laughing at me, but he did and it was probably a chuckle, but I heard it like the villain in Scooby Doo. It was not a good thing. That was the beginning. I thought I would get a playbook, but I didn’t get a playbook and I had to build the playbook I can tell you much more about the story if you want, but after years later it turned into an experience, a training class, and now we’ve trained 30,000 people at over 500 organizations all around the globe. OF: I love that. I have a friend who’s becoming an actuary right now and I have a lot of respect for that journey. It is definitely a tough one. As you mentioned, sales is a very tough job and it’s not one that everyone can be naturally inclined to do, especially with the turbulent economy that we’re all experiencing right now, it can be even harder. You talked about how The Snowball System is really designed to help people sell effectively, but the part that I loved is that it’s in a way that they’re comfortable with. I’d love it if you could tell us just a little bit more about that approach and how it can really help sellers be more comfortable, and confident, and ultimately how that translates into effectiveness. MB: This is such an interesting topic. When we first started Bunnell Idea Group or BIG for short, I really tried to redefine what sales meant in people’s minds and I thought for some reason I could do that with the billions of people on the planet. You can’t. Unfortunately, sales have a bad name to a lot of people and we’ve got to reframe that. One of the things that we talked about a lot in our workshops, you see it in the book, is people hate to be sold to, but they love to buy. In our live workshops, we actually list it out, we have people ask buyers they were purchasing something and it did not go well and you’ll hear the buyer say things like the person was pushy, they talk too much, they didn’t listen to my needs, they suggested something that didn’t make sense, they didn’t want to talk about the pricing or the money of the investment easy, they didn’t make it easy to buy and things like that. Then, we say, hey, tell us the time when you purchased something and it went great. They say it was easy, it was frictionless, I liked the person, I was learning, they gave me options, they suggested something less expensive that was better for me, they built trust, and it was fun. The whole mantra of, we hate to be sold to, but we’ll have to buy, if we can start with the frame of salespeople saying I’m not going to fall in love with my solution, I’m going to fall in love with their problem and build trust and have fun with this over time if we can just have a campaign of helpfulness to the other person that changes the whole frame from selling to helping and that’s where we see if people have that right mindset, they are off to the races. OF: I love that approach. The system that you cover in the book really walks through a series of steps. I want to cover each of those just to dig a little bit deeper and the first one that you talk about is targeting your ideal clients. I’d love to hear, from your perspective, what are some of the common challenges that can arise from effectively targeting prospective clients, and then how do you recommend overcoming those challenges? MB: Oh, I could go on for hours, we don’t have enough time. Let’s dive in. I was just training some high-end consultants in Malaysia last night. I’m in Atlanta, Georgia in the US, so it went to like midnight my time and we had a really big unlock. I mean these are some of the smartest business people in the world, tier-one consultants. One of the things that we did that’s different is we broke through a mental heuristic called status quo bias. Now, the audience may not know what that means, but if you can google it if you just go to Wikipedia, it’s not the end all and be off research, but it can give you a good head start. Just google status quo bias and you will get this litany of research that basically says, we tend to do the same things over and over again. When it comes to little things like what app you open on your screen when you open up your phone in the morning, we tend to do the same things over and over. That’s easy. We understand that, but it’s particularly dangerous. I’m being provocative here with the word dangerous. It is particularly dangerous in sales because what status quo bias will make us do if we don’t get out of the trap is keep hanging out and reaching out to the people we already know and like. The reason for that is that we tend to do what we’ve already done, status quo bias, but our egos are at stake to reach out to somebody that we don’t know. We fear rejection, we fear they won’t reach back, and we fear we only have one shot so we have to be perfect with this first outreach. We will make the bar so high that we won’t act and will delay and that’s harmful to the sales rep. What you can do to get over this, and what we did with the group in Malaysia last night, as we said, hey, let’s start with the people we want to work with and the things that we think we could be most helpful to them. What are the game-changing programs that we can take to the people that should purchase from us? By flipping things in their minds from here’s who we usually stay in contact with. They had a contact list of 100 people in a small team. We flipped that from, put that aside for a second, let’s focus on who should buy what from us and where we can have the biggest meaningful impact. We started with that, and then we said, who are the decision makers for those things? It was a completely different list and they left that session so energized to go out and build relationships with those people. It was awesome. We finished the session at midnight, Olivia, I don’t think I went to bed until 3 AM because I was so excited for their future success. I couldn’t sleep. OF: Oh my gosh, I love that story. That goes to show just how when you flip the way that you think about something, you can completely change your approach and ultimately increase the value that you bring. You mentioned that thinking starts with where we could have the biggest impact, and that goes into the next step in the book, which is around positioning your unique value. I’d love to hear some of your best practices around how sellers can actually identify what makes them unique and what that unique value is. MB: I love this and to speak to all the sales enablement people out there, this is frequently done incorrectly, so I want to give you the right way. A lot of times it’s frequently done to come up with some kind of value story or positioning elements like it goes on the website and we definitely need to do that. That’s a universal version of positioning that may or may not be true for one individual or for a certain client prospect to the customer. We definitely have to do that, keep doing that sales enablement folks to get that message tight, get it short, get it sharp. Do all the stuff that you’re used to doing. At the same time, I want you to work with your sales reps, your account managers, and your account execs to also be able to tweak that and shape it for a specific pursuit. We talk about a value pyramid that you saw in the book, Olivia, which is the lowest level or the least that your clients or prospects care about is your universal positioning for your organization. They are a little bit more about the specific offering in the middle of the pyramid. The apex of the pyramid is ‘I am thinking of hiring somebody for X, how are you positioned for me exactly for that?' That makes it real. We need to blend the universal positioning, the kind of stuff that goes on the website that anybody could log into, we need that, but we need to also focus deal by deal, especially for the important ones. That’s thing one. Thing two is, there’s a bunch of research by Dr. Suzanne Shu, and she tested value props from saying you’re good at one thing to 2 to 3 to 4, all the way to 10. And you saw this in the book, Dr. Shu found that people that say they’re good at three things are magical. It’s the most believable. It’s a thing saying you’re good at three things is more believable than 1,2,4,5, or 6, all the way to the 10. There’s a peak and a curve that says that two is better than 1, 3 is better than 2, 4 is worse than 3, 5 is worse than 4, and so on. What we see a lot of sales reps do is because they have fear of being focused, they sort of have this David Letterman top 10 list. These are the top 10 reasons you should hire us for this deal. What happens in Dr. Shu's research is that having more than three creates so much cognitive load for somebody trying to figure out what are you really for. You've got these 10 things here, is there a theme? I don’t know, I can’t understand this. It becomes negative and they give up and having 10 reasons to hire you is basically worse than zero. We want to get really crisp on a specific opportunity. What are the three reasons that we are totally unique to serve this organization? Make it really short, really sharp, and communicate that over and over in our RFP response in the formal finalist meeting and everything else, and that’s what can win the day, Olivia. OF: Absolutely and something that we haven’t talked about a ton quite yet, but I think it’s really important to understand from the book and how the approach is all laid out is that it’s really rooted in science. You mentioned some of those research pieces that fueled how you’re approaching each of these steps. Another one that really resonated with me that I liked in the book was around the step of building connection and the concept was around the science behind likability. I'd love to learn from you, what are some of the ways that sellers can really build impactful connections with their prospects and turn those into long-term client relationships really by being rooted in that science of likability? MB: Thank you for bringing this up because there’s a mantra that some people are sharing in the marketplace that relationships don’t matter, they’re dead. That’s completely untrue. All the research shows that we say yes to people we like, we spend more time with those that we like, doctors spend more time with patients they like, and have better outcomes with those that they like. Likability matters in so many aspects of human nature. You can’t even count the studies that back this up. I will give the audience 3 levers of likability. One I really like is Dr. Jerry Burgers out of Santa Clara University. He was the first person to scientifically prove that we hire people we like more often than those we don’t. In a follow-up study was like, hey what correlates the likability, and the number one level he found is commonality. It's up to us as sales reps, account managers, and account executives to find ways that we have things in common with other people. In general, uncommon commonalities are more powerful than common commonalities. Olivia, when we were chatting right before we started recording, we were talking about how we both have dogs, they love snow, and they do silly things. You and I were bonding on that, so it’s up to us as salespeople to find out what we have in common. The science shows it can be things like we both like Dan Pink's business books. It can be that we both have dogs that are rescue dogs that are huskies or shepherds. It can be that we both like ultimate frisbee or the Kansas City Chiefs or Big Red Bordeaux’s. It can be things in business and in non-business, but we’ve got to find those things that we have in common and then reinforce them over time. That’s lever one. Lever two that we love to talk about is the mere exposure effect. It’s all about frequency. It was first studied in Germany in 1876. Science has seen three centuries and what it says irrefutably the more often we see a person or a thing, the higher the chance it is that we like them. As reps, we’ve got to have a system for reaching out, being helpful, and staying top of mind. It’s why the flip of the mere exposure effect is why we say ‘out of sight out of mind.' We’ve got to have a mechanism to add value routinely. Then, the last one we talked a lot about is mutual benefit. This is our third big lever. Those deepest relationships are not one-sided. They’re not, ‘I serve you because I’m a sales rep or an account manager,' it’s that we are working together to build a better future. Science shows not only do we help people we like, but emerging science is saying we like people who help. Simple things like having a relationship with somebody and saying, hey, we’re doing work in this part of the organization, we think we can have an impact in this other business unit that is in your organization, what would you do if you were me. Making a statement of something that would be helpful and saying ‘what would you do if you’re me’ is a wonderful way to ask for help and what people find is the enrollment they get from the other side gives them greater ideas, the person co-creates the next step, they enroll in their success and likability follows. There’s more in the book, but those three big things, finding and reinforcing commonality, having the mere exposure effect, frequency and staying top of mind, and having a mutually beneficial enjoyable relationship. Those are three big ones. OF: Fantastic. Thank you so much for walking us through that. It is very interesting. To take that a step further, the final step in the process that you talk about is really nurturing to turn your clients into what you call ‘raving fans.' I love that phrase, and especially in the economic climate that we’re in, this is really becoming more and more essential for businesses to focus on so that they’re maintaining and ultimately setting themselves up to grow their business. Given this current economic environment, I’d love to hear from you. What are some of the key considerations that sellers should really be keeping in mind to nurture those long-term relationships with their clients? MB: I’ll actually share some things that aren’t in the book. The core research says that soft skills do turn into hard results. That’s some of that science of likability and things that we talked about. One thing that’s not in the book that I think is really compelling is McGraw Hill, the publishing arm also has a research arm. They did some research in the 1980s, and there was this big economic collapse and economic headwinds in the early 1980s. What they found is that B2B companies that advertised in the economic downturn that happened in the early 1980s not only outperformed during that recession but outperformed to a huge extent for three years afterward. What we can learn from that is that when we think about human relationships, I think that’s even more important than even B2B advertising. With human relationships, we’re advertising when we’re out there talking to clients, talking to prospects, and adding value. That is sort of an advertisement for us humans and the nut of all is that when there’s an economic downturn, we shouldn’t judge ourselves on what we did the year before. That’s an unfair metric because we’ve got economic headwinds against us. What we should judge ourselves on is whether are we beating the competition because they’re on the same playing field we are. What the McGraw Hill research shows is that if you’re out there adding value, being helpful even before it’s time for somebody to buy from you, deepening those relationships with likability as we talked about before, economic downturns are when you go out and win market share because you’re out there doing it more in your competition, hopefully, is dying it in and not working as hard because they’re like, oh, I can’t do as good as I did last year, so I’m not gonna work as hard. No, I want you to double down when there are economic headwinds and help people before they can even hire you and they will remember that forever. OF: Absolutely. Those are fantastic insights, so critical to the environment that we have right now, and very relevant to our audience of enablement practitioners and I want to dig into that a little bit more. You mentioned this right at the start of the conversation. Enablement leaders today are not only responsible for equipping their sellers with the tools and the resources that they need to be successful, but they also have a job to do today that’s really about gaining buy-in and support for their initiatives. Working with executive leaders and cross-functional partners to get that support can be a hard job to do, especially in these times we’re in. I’d really love to hear from you. How can the principles of The Snowball System be applied to that concept of selling internally to your stakeholders the value of the programs that you have, especially for sales enablement practitioners? MB: Olivia, it’s such a great question. We have helped so many functional leaders help them grow their influence within the organization. CHROs, CIOs, CTOs, CFOs, and sales enablement leaders and I’ll give you our steps to gain approval. This is all in The Snowball System, so I highly recommend folks to read the book and then apply it to their influence because if you’re a sales enablement leader, the regional head of sales, the global head of sales, whoever you’re helping, they don’t pay you in money necessarily, but they’re paying you in their budgets. They’re paying you with their time. They’re paying you with their attention. Really you’re just a consultant inside the company, so here are the four steps. One of the fastest ways to get a yes is to slow down to speed up. A lot of times people will go in sort of machine gun nelly and suggest what they want the decision maker to approve. That’s almost like skipping straight to step four. Here’s a faster way: when you do that, you’re using your words, and your priorities and it can come across this jargon to the other side, especially in a deeply technical world, like sales enablement. Instead of jumping to the end, here’s another way to do it. Step one, listen and learn. Schedule a call with the people you support and just say, hey, I just want to make sure we’re lined up for our work this year together. I’d love to hear from you, what do you think are the top priorities this year as we think about enabling the Salesforce and account management teams? You want to go to that with some ideas for sure and you want to help shape the agenda, but you’re also listening to their priorities and their words. Research shows it’s easier to get a yes when you use somebody’s own words with them than if you use your words, so we want to listen and learn first. Step two is to create curiosity. It turns out that their curiosity is an intrinsic motivator. We love experiencing curiosity. It’s why we hear a cliffhanger at the end of a Ted Lasso episode, and we can’t wait to watch the next one. Cliffhangers are a curiosity that gets us to do the next step. What you can do to create curiosity is say, ‘hey Mr or Ms sales leader, would it be helpful if I shared some stories about how I’ve heard other organizations have tackled that problem? I can help you with that.' In this step, we’re conceptually getting buy-in to how we might be able to help them solve the issues that they shared in step one, so listen and learn when we hear their issues. In step two, we are conceptually talking about storytelling, mostly about how we can solve those. Step three is mind blowing-ly effective. We call this, build everything together. The science here is called the IKEA effect named after the Swedish retailer. Dr. Michael Lord at Harvard's All-Star Team of researchers proved this. They found two things. Once we buy into what we helped create, and two, we view our own work product as on par with worldwide experts, even if we’re not an expert. We love our stuff and we think our stuff is awesome. The best way to get approval is if you’ve already heard their priorities and their words. They felt some curiosity about how you might be able to solve the issues that they’ve got on their agenda. So, step three: come up with a 60% rough draft that you can float in from in front of them and you say these exact words, ‘hey sales leader, I’ve thought a lot about what we talked about and I’ve got some solutions that I think we could deploy.' Here’s what you say. ‘I really think it’s only about 60% right because you see some things I don’t see, I see some things you don’t see given our roles, so I need your help to make it great.' The reason you say 60% instead of a lot of it’s mostly right is you want them to see what the gap is. You want them to think that at 40% they can roll up their sleeves and help this out as they co-created from that point. That’s when the IKEA effect kicks in and you get buy-in. If they change something great, that’s buy-in. If they like it great, that’s buy-in. As you move closer to 100%, you’ll see them get so excited about their ideas because they become their ideas. The fourth step is to gain approval. If you’ve done the first 3, the 4th is usually easy peasy because they already love it before they get all the formalities of it. Listen and learn, create curiosity, build everything together, and gain approval. Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 work like a charm. OF: I love that approach and you’re so right, so often we skip just to that last step and then wonder why we haven’t gotten the support that we think we have. I love that approach, that’s fantastic. Well, Mo you’ve shared some really awesome insights with our audience today, and again, to our audience, we absolutely recommend that you pick up The Snowball System and read through that book. Mo, you have some other resources that I want to make sure that our listeners know about. Can you tell us a little bit about some of those where our listeners can go to learn more about some of what we’ve discussed today? MB: I would love to. Probably the number one thing I’d recommend that takes 30 seconds is I spent about three hours a week writing an article on a very specific topic, much like we talked about today, but we just scratched the surface. We did five things out of 1000. I write these articles that take several hours and my goal is that somebody can read them in three minutes. It’s sort of sad that it takes three hours to write something that someone can read in three minutes, but it’s hard to write short and that’s what we try to do. We try to pick a very specific topic that’s really sharp so that somebody can read that in a couple of minutes and think this is amazing and the reader wants to forward this to a ton of people because they got so much value out of it. If people want that little weekly newsletter that just drops in their inbox every week, they can go to growbigplaybook.com, and they can sign up right there. It has tons of value. This Saturday's newsletter is about how to have really great pipeline meetings. That’s something for whatever reason a lot of people are struggling with. We’ve had other articles on likeability, and others on how you scale specific learning across the team. It keeps the learning alive and there’s no charge to it. So growbigplaybook.com is where people get that. OF: Awesome, thank you so much. To our listeners, we will include a link to that in the transcript and episode description. Thanks again Mo for sharing all of your insights with our audience. I certainly learned a ton from this conversation and I can’t wait for our listeners to hear what we talked about. MB: It’s been a blast. I just can’t say it enough, what you are doing is so powerful and so important. We are in the early days. It is going to grow in importance over time. Folks, keep going back to the Sales Enablement PRO's website, keep getting more learning certifications, and do everything you can to build your skills because I’m convinced this is one of the areas that is going to just 10x over the next couple of years. If you’re at the forefront of learning and leading you’re going to be in a really great spot. Thanks, Olivia. OF: To our audience, thanks for listening. For more insights, tips, and expertise from sales enablement leaders visit salesenablement.pro, and if there's something you'd like to share or a topic that you'd like to learn more about, please let us know. We'd love to hear from you.

In the last five episodes of this series, I'm giving you five macro lessons. I'm going meta with these lessons and these are some things I want you to keep in mind as we close out this series. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm tying it back to the beginning and discussing how business development is a learnable skill, why you should approach BD like a pro athlete approaches training, why habits matter, the most important habit you need to develop, and why getting good at growth gives you control.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why business development is a learnable skill How we never stop learning How you should be thinking about business development Why you should find a way to measure your BD activities Why habits are so important The types of habits you should develop What you should be doing weekly Why you should pick three things to advance opportunities the next week How to pick what three things to focus on Why getting great at growth gives you more control, not less control The 4 big ways it gives you control   I hope you enjoyed these meta lessons. These are the top things that I want you to take away from this series. Getting good at these things and taking business development seriously will get you good at growth. And getting good at growth gives you control over creating the life and business that you want.    Resources Mentioned: Listen to my conversation with Dan Pink Listen to my conversation with Kelley O'Hara Listen to my conversation with James Clear Check out BD Habits Check out The Snowball System

In the last five episodes of this series, I'm giving you five macro lessons. I'm going meta with these lessons and these are some things I want you to keep in mind as we close out this series. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm tying it back to the beginning and discussing how business development is a learnable skill, why you should approach BD like a pro athlete approaches training, why habits matter, the most important habit you need to develop, and why getting good at growth gives you control.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why business development is a learnable skill How we never stop learning How you should be thinking about business development Why you should find a way to measure your BD activities Why habits are so important The types of habits you should develop What you should be doing weekly Why you should pick three things to advance opportunities the next week How to pick what three things to focus on Why getting great at growth gives you more control, not less control The 4 big ways it gives you control   I hope you enjoyed these meta lessons. These are the top things that I want you to take away from this series. Getting good at these things and taking business development seriously will get you good at growth. And getting good at growth gives you control over creating the life and business that you want.    Resources Mentioned: Listen to my conversation with Dan Pink Listen to my conversation with Kelley O'Hara Listen to my conversation with James Clear Check out BD Habits Check out The Snowball System

This is the last of the 100 micro power-packed episodes series, and I have saved the best for last. There has been one meta lesson that has been underneath all of the other 99 episodes in this series, and that's what I'm sharing now. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm sharing the number one reason why you should be focusing on getting great at growth. And the reason is that getting great at growth gives you control.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why getting great at growth gives you more control, not less control The 4 big ways it gives you control   The idea I want you to leave with in this episode is that if you become great at growth, you're going to get control. Not only to live the professional life you want, but those four big wins also impact your personal life as well. It'll give you control to live the life you want in the way that you want.    If you want to go deeper into this topic, make sure to check out The Snowball System. It covers everything we talk about here in greater detail and I know you'll love it.      Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

This is the last of the 100 micro power-packed episodes series, and I have saved the best for last. There has been one meta lesson that has been underneath all of the other 99 episodes in this series, and that's what I'm sharing now. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm sharing the number one reason why you should be focusing on getting great at growth. And the reason is that getting great at growth gives you control.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Why getting great at growth gives you more control, not less control The 4 big ways it gives you control   The idea I want you to leave with in this episode is that if you become great at growth, you're going to get control. Not only to live the professional life you want, but those four big wins also impact your personal life as well. It'll give you control to live the life you want in the way that you want.    If you want to go deeper into this topic, make sure to check out The Snowball System. It covers everything we talk about here in greater detail and I know you'll love it.      Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

The last couple of weeks we have been talking about forming new relationships, getting introduced to whoever you want, and how to do all of this in a scalable way. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm sharing the last method in scalable ways to meet new people. It's called Episodic Writing. This is when you write about a topic when something relevant happens as a way to meet certain people.   Topics We Cover in This Episode:    What Episodic Writing is Where to publish your content How to use this method to meet people   Avoid thinking that you are done as soon as the piece you wrote posts. You need to think of this as the starting line, not the finish line. Many people try to use this method but they don't do it right. You want to be strategic with your time and efforts so that it gets in front of the right people.     There's so much more on this topic in The Snowball System in chapter 6. Make sure to check it out for some really useful information that will help you find success with this method.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

The last couple of weeks we have been talking about forming new relationships, getting introduced to whoever you want, and how to do all of this in a scalable way. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm sharing the last method in scalable ways to meet new people. It's called Episodic Writing. This is when you write about a topic when something relevant happens as a way to meet certain people.   Topics We Cover in This Episode:    What Episodic Writing is Where to publish your content How to use this method to meet people   Avoid thinking that you are done as soon as the piece you wrote posts. You need to think of this as the starting line, not the finish line. Many people try to use this method but they don't do it right. You want to be strategic with your time and efforts so that it gets in front of the right people.     There's so much more on this topic in The Snowball System in chapter 6. Make sure to check it out for some really useful information that will help you find success with this method.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm talking about how you can use social media as a lead generation tool. This one is tricky because few people do this well. There is a method that you'll want to stick to when going this route. Essentially, you want to post content and use social media to amplify it. Then, you get targeted about who you want to meet and get that content in front of them.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Who should use social media How to do it properly How to be successful with this method   The goal with this method is that you want to go from social media to actually talking in person. Avoid using a spray-and-pray approach. You want to orchestrate this correctly so that you can get into a conversation with the person you're hoping to so that you can create new relationships and potentially get hired.    If you want to learn more about social media for lead generation, make sure to check out The Snowball System. It has some really great information on the topic in chapter six.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm talking about how you can use social media as a lead generation tool. This one is tricky because few people do this well. There is a method that you'll want to stick to when going this route. Essentially, you want to post content and use social media to amplify it. Then, you get targeted about who you want to meet and get that content in front of them.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    Who should use social media How to do it properly How to be successful with this method   The goal with this method is that you want to go from social media to actually talking in person. Avoid using a spray-and-pray approach. You want to orchestrate this correctly so that you can get into a conversation with the person you're hoping to so that you can create new relationships and potentially get hired.    If you want to learn more about social media for lead generation, make sure to check out The Snowball System. It has some really great information on the topic in chapter six.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

In this set of episodes, we are continuing our conversation about how to get introduced to anyone you want. In the last couple of sets, we talked about how to use targeted methods that you can use to create new relationships. In this set, we are talking about really scalable ways to get introduced to many people. Scalable methods are incredibly important. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm sharing why these are so important and what's coming up.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The types of scalable methods How to get started with these methods   To make the most of this information, be thinking about the groups of people that you want to get introduced to. Think of buckets of people and the places that they go to. In these episodes, I'll show you ways that you can get in front of them, offer value, and create relationships with them.    If you want to learn more, make sure to check out The Snowball System and read chapter 6. We go really deep into this topic and I think you'll find it really helpful.    Resources Mentioned: Read The Snowball System

In this set of episodes, we are continuing our conversation about how to get introduced to anyone you want. In the last couple of sets, we talked about how to use targeted methods that you can use to create new relationships. In this set, we are talking about really scalable ways to get introduced to many people. Scalable methods are incredibly important. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm sharing why these are so important and what's coming up.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The types of scalable methods How to get started with these methods   To make the most of this information, be thinking about the groups of people that you want to get introduced to. Think of buckets of people and the places that they go to. In these episodes, I'll show you ways that you can get in front of them, offer value, and create relationships with them.    If you want to learn more, make sure to check out The Snowball System and read chapter 6. We go really deep into this topic and I think you'll find it really helpful.    Resources Mentioned: Read The Snowball System

In the last set of episodes, we talked about growing your relationships in a targeted way. In this set, we are talking about how you can do it in a way that we call Targeted with Scale. That's because this blends scaled methods. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm covering the mindset around developing new relationships or rekindling ones that have gone dormant.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    What targeted with scale means What I love about this method   In the coming episodes, I will cover the different ways you can use this method. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can't meet new people or that you can't do it in a targeted and scalable way. I'm going to show you exactly how to do it in these next few episodes.    If you want a resource that goes into a lot more detail about how to meet people that you haven't met yet, make sure to check out chapter six of The Snowball System.      Resources Mentioned: Read chapter 6 of The Snowball System

In the last set of episodes, we talked about growing your relationships in a targeted way. In this set, we are talking about how you can do it in a way that we call Targeted with Scale. That's because this blends scaled methods. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm covering the mindset around developing new relationships or rekindling ones that have gone dormant.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    What targeted with scale means What I love about this method   In the coming episodes, I will cover the different ways you can use this method. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can't meet new people or that you can't do it in a targeted and scalable way. I'm going to show you exactly how to do it in these next few episodes.    If you want a resource that goes into a lot more detail about how to meet people that you haven't met yet, make sure to check out chapter six of The Snowball System.      Resources Mentioned: Read chapter 6 of The Snowball System

How do you meet new people in a very targeted way? This week on Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are going to be diving deep into this topic. Making new relationships is really important for anybody, regardless of who you are. You can get introduced to anyone you want to meet if you offer enough personalized value and if that value is communicated in an individualized and trustworthy way.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The importance of establishing new relationships How to meet anyone you want to   There's a million creative ways you can offer value based on the person you're wanting to meet. In the next episode, I'm covering what to do if you know the person personally but you don't know them commercially. That way, you can get on those terms with them and potentially work with them in the future.    In The Snowball System, we go over topics similar to this and it really focuses on meeting new people, sales, and marketing. Particularly, we go deep into this topic in chapter six so be sure to check it out.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

How do you meet new people in a very targeted way? This week on Real Relationships Real Revenue, we are going to be diving deep into this topic. Making new relationships is really important for anybody, regardless of who you are. You can get introduced to anyone you want to meet if you offer enough personalized value and if that value is communicated in an individualized and trustworthy way.    Topics We Cover in This Episode:    The importance of establishing new relationships How to meet anyone you want to   There's a million creative ways you can offer value based on the person you're wanting to meet. In the next episode, I'm covering what to do if you know the person personally but you don't know them commercially. That way, you can get on those terms with them and potentially work with them in the future.    In The Snowball System, we go over topics similar to this and it really focuses on meeting new people, sales, and marketing. Particularly, we go deep into this topic in chapter six so be sure to check it out.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

Welcome back to Million Dollar Relationships with Kevin Thompson! Today we are joined by Jason Nyback! being an online entrepreneur for 17 years. Jason Nyback got his start using Google Adwords to bring in clients, driving over 1,200,000 visitors to his sites by 2007.  That year, Nyback also expanded his offerings to include the newly created Facebook ads.  Since then, he has managed to make millions of dollars in revenue for his coaching business, helped over 600 clients, and invested well over a million dollars in ads to develop his original “300 Word Ad” and “Snowball System” methods.     [00:00 - 09:08] Opening Segment Jason Nyback is a successful entrepreneur who has been in the internet marketing and coaching industries for over 15 years. Jason started out as a pastor and learned how to drive traffic and create high-value customer relationships through informational marketing. Jason transitioned into the coaching consulting industry and began teaching his methods to other coaches. Today, Jason's business focuses on helping coaches and consultants scale their businesses by converting traffic into clients.   [09:08 - 17:02] Sticking to Your Own Strategy  Jason shares his story of how Paul J. Meyer changed the course of his life and business, and how his approach to marketing has remained unchanged over the years. Jason recommends taking the long view and sticking to a strategy that will continue to produce results over time. Few people in the industry are able to maintain their relationships and credibility for 10 years or more, which is why Jason's approach to marketing is so successful.   [17:03 - 24:25] How to Get More Clients with Facebook Ads Jason is a coach who believes in simple fundamentals and executing them to achieve success. Jason's strategy for getting clients is to use Facebook ads. Jason considers Facebook ads the best way to scale a coaching business.   [20:13 - 20:58] Closing Segment Final Words Follow Jason Nyback on Facebook, and LinkedIn  You may also visit his website at www.jasonnyback.com     Thanks for tuning in!     If you liked my show, please LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW, like, and subscribe!     Find me on the following streaming platforms: Apple Spotify Google Podcasts IHeart Radio Stitcher    Tweetable Quotes   “The amount of relationships, credibility, and currency you have will last you forever”  - Jason Nyback  

This week, we are talking about creating demand with your expertise and the way you can add value professionally. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm diving into the idea of giving first. You have to give to get. Instead of talking about what you do to your clients or prospects, you just do what you do.   Topics We Cover in This Episode:  Why we hate to be sold to but we love to buy What a great Give to Get is Why this method will convert to more sales   When you get your Give to Gets down to a science so they work efficiently, you can start seeing a 50-90% conversion rate to paid work. Your clients will love it because you're solving a problem for them.    The trick is to go into each meeting with some idea of how you can be helpful to your client. You want to roll up your sleeves and start showing them what you can do - you'll be amazed at the results.    Make sure to check out my book The Snowball System. Chapter 5 is all about the idea of Give to Get and I think you'll really enjoy it.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

    This week, we are talking about creating demand with your expertise and the way you can add value professionally. In this episode of Real Relationships Real Revenue, I'm diving into the idea of giving first. You have to give to get. Instead of talking about what you do to your clients or prospects, you just do what you do.   Topics We Cover in This Episode:  Why we hate to be sold to but we love to buy What a great Give to Get is Why this method will convert to more sales   When you get your Give to Gets down to a science so they work efficiently, you can start seeing a 50-90% conversion rate to paid work. Your clients will love it because you're solving a problem for them.    The trick is to go into each meeting with some idea of how you can be helpful to your client. You want to roll up your sleeves and start showing them what you can do - you'll be amazed at the results.    Make sure to check out my book The Snowball System. Chapter 5 is all about the idea of Give to Get and I think you'll really enjoy it.    Resources Mentioned: Check out The Snowball System

Shawnna Sumaoang: Hi, and welcome to the Sales Enablement PRO podcast. I am Shawnna Sumaoang. Sales enablement is a constantly evolving space and we're here to help professionals stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices so that they can be more effective in their jobs. Today I’m excited to have Jeromy Proulx from Humana join us. Jeromy, I would love for you to introduce yourself, your role, and your organization to our audience. Jeromy Proulx: Hi Shawnna, thank you for having me. I’m Jeromy Proulx and I currently serve as the head of sales technology and transformation at Humana. We’re a leading Fortune 50 healthcare organization that provides a number of different products and services to help people achieve lifelong well-being. In addition to my responsibilities at Humana, I also serve as an adjunct faculty at Northeastern University, a top 50 research institution in Boston Massachusetts. My career started in sales and marketing across several different industries including consumer packaged goods, investments, and insurance products, before stepping into sales management, execution and enablement roles over the last several years. SS: Fantastic. Well, we’re excited to have you here Jeromy. I noticed that you also actually teach as a professor at Northeastern University and one of your areas of expertise is around project management. From your perspective, why are project management skills so critical for enablement professionals? JP: Thank you for the question, Shawnna. I believe project management skills are imperative regardless of what role you serve to an organization, but more particularly within the sales enablement space. My focus in the classroom has been on the intersection of common waterfall project management skills and agile project management skills that have become more prevalent in the workplace today. These are skills that absolutely transcend both disciplines, such as being an effective communicator, the art of negotiation and influence, general time management, and risk management skills, just to name a few. If you think about it, these are also critical skills to being a great enablement leader. Whether you’re focused on training and development activities or enablement tools and technology, you will undoubtedly have to use project management skills to deliver value to the organization. Over the last decade, the emergence of agile project management has created greater alignment in my opinion with the enablement space as you think about some of the core principles and agile methodologies. SS: I think that’s fantastic. You talk about this a little bit, but what are some of the key principles of project management that you found most essential to your role, particularly leading sales technology and transformation efforts? JP: One of the first agile principles centers around the rapid and continuous delivery of value. Whereas traditional project management methods would focus more on a big bang that could take several months to get to. In the sales enablement space, it’s all about the value of delivering to field-facing roles. If you have the ability to deploy practices, test, learn, and iterate, that is way more effective than doing a significant amount of work only to find out you missed the mark in the end. Agile inherently promotes this fail-forward mentality and teams which ensures that you achieve the desired impact as efficiently as possible in your work. By taking this test, learn and iterate mindset, you hit three other agile principles, simplicity is essential, regular reflection, and continuous excellence promotes agility. As an example in action, if you are tasked with building a 90-day sales onboarding program, rather than go build out all 90 days in detail, you would break down the work into minimum viable program elements that would allow you to get some feedback, incorporate that feedback and enhance the design. That might mean focusing on the first 30 days, or even smaller increments to understand what are the right things for a rep to know to improve ramp or time to market. SS: I love that approach. Now when it comes to implementing new tools in your tech stack, what are some of your best practices for managing that process? JP: This is a great question and I think there are two parts to this answer. First, is the project management side of implementation, and the second is the change management components. When implementing new tools, there was some advice I received from a leader a few years back as we worked through a pretty tough transformation and merger of two companies. She always used to say for every project it is imperative that there’s clarity on scope and that everyone operates with a sense of urgency. That’s not really earth-shattering advice but it’s a good grounding factor whenever you’re working towards bringing new capabilities to your sales partners. Having clarity on the scope means you’re crisp on what the new tools are intended to do, who your impacted audience is, and ultimately your path that gets you to that objective. Without a clearly defined and documented scope, you’ll end up moving the goalpost for the project and driving an increased risk of going behind schedule or more adversely, over budget. When it comes to a sense of urgency. I trace this back to the aforementioned points on value. The quintessential saying in sales time is money, the more time you take to implement a tool ultimately means time lost when the value could have been delivered to your end user. The second part of this answer is the change management components that support the delivery. We often get sucked into the project plan for the development of these capabilities and overlook the most important part, which is how we generate excitement and desire with the end users. Don’t discount how important this is having great change management, go-to-market or operational readiness plan can make an incredible difference in driving a successful tool or technology implementation. People often think of change management plans as being a communication plan, and while communication is absolutely a major component of the change management plan, it’s not the only thing, it’s about managing everything from the why we’re giving this awesome tool to you, to how you manage resistance and provide reinforcement as individuals move through the change curve. There’s a ton of research that points to, you know, nearly two-thirds of implementations failing due to the inability to manage behaviors and drive adoption. Two-thirds is a lot. SS: Absolutely, it is. As you mentioned, one challenge that can arise is driving that adoption, especially amongst reps who may be resistant to change. How can enablement practitioners overcome this challenge to help sales reps navigate digital transformation? JP: I’m a big believer in the adkar model for change management and every go-to-market or operational readiness plan should address each element within that model. Adkar stands for awareness, desire, knowledge, assessment, and reinforcement. While there is no one component of the adkar model that’s more important than the other, I want to focus our conversation on desire as executing well in that stage is the best way to manage rep resistance right out of the gate. Think of desire as either the carrot or the stick to quoting that often used idiom. In the enablement space nearly everything a team will deliver is an effort of making reps more efficient and effective in their job with the carrots being more time, more sales, and ultimately more commission in their pocket. To take that a bit further an approach I’ve used several times is to designate a pilot or change champion group. They get to be a part of the sausage making if you will and ultimately lead the change in their respective roles as you start to inch closer to deployment. A dear friend of mine and author of The Snowball System, Mo Bunnell, described this approach well. It’s called the red velvet rope approach. When you bring a certain group of people inside the red velvet rope, they feel that exclusivity, that special treatment that not everyone is getting, and in nearly all situations, they become your biggest supporters. Inversely, those that are outside of the velvet rope start to hear that positivity from your change champions and inherently develop a sense of excitement and desire for the change. If you do this well, you’ve likely captured the hearts and minds of 90% of the group. Now for the remaining 10%, this is where the preparation for your front-line managers with a plan to handle objections and resistance becomes important. Research shows that when it comes to talking about the impacts and importance of changes, they don’t want to hear from the enablement team or even the executive leaders. Over 70% of the recipients of change want that detail to come directly from their front-line leader. So ensuring that you equip sales leaders to handle those conversations and potential objections is very important. SS: Absolutely, I like that adkar model. Now, beyond adding new tools, what are some of your best practices for ensuring the long-term efficiency and effectiveness of your existing text stack to help drive up productivity? JP: In today’s world of sales enablement there are so many tools and technologies that can drive productivity and I think a lot of people inherently go to we need another application or vendor to solve X problem when really that problem could be the result of poor adoption in another capability. From my perspective, there are three core components in ensuring that you get efficiency and effectiveness out of your technology. Knowing your platform KPIs, creating a regular cadence of communication, and an approach to ongoing reinforcement are those 3 components. If you know what outcomes you want to see, maybe that’s time spent in a particular application or tool, you communicate regularly on how things are going, top to bottom of the organization, and use that data to build that reinforcement plan, maybe that’s more training, maybe that’s some sort of compensation penalty. By doing those three things consistently you’ll ensure you’re getting the most out of your text stack. The other piece of guidance I would give here is to look for opportunities for integration and rationalization for the organizations. I’ve led we don’t even consider a tool if there isn’t a CRM integration since that’s the primary technology we want our sales teams to utilize. There are so many things that a rep could use to execute their job effectively and going back to the agile principle of simplicity is essential, either rationalizing these tools into one vendor or having integrations that make them feel like it’s one vendor is a straightforward way to avoid barriers to utilization. SS: I do like that approach. Now, the last question for you, Jeromy. Looking ahead to the next year, how do you think the digital landscape will continue to evolve and how can enablement practitioners effectively prepare reps for those transformations on the horizon? JP: There’s a ton of research pointing to digital or omnichannel sales interactions being the way of the future coming out of the pandemic. B2B buyers have shifted their preferences to digital and when you think about the purchasing process, less than 20% of that time in the process will the buyer actually spend with a sales rep. That means as a sales rep, you need to find ways for you or your brand to show up in a digital mode. As a sales manager, you need to ensure that reps lean into those capabilities that promote that digital engagement. So much revenue intelligence can be gathered through digital channels and this can be incredibly insightful to how that buyer’s journey progresses. As a practitioner, preparation starts with the organization’s culture. The saying of change is the only constant is so true. We continue to be in this time of unprecedented technological advancement and that means the way in which we sell will also evolve. I believe if you create a culture of empowerment, and transparency and remain highly communicative, your organization will be less change adverse and will decrease the amplitude between the peaks and valleys of your transformation. The last piece of advice here is to watch for leaky sponges. When you think about the pace of transformation, like a sponge, an organization can only absorb so much. When you start to see people’s sponges leak, you know it’s time to take pause, let them dry out, and give them the ability to absorb more. SS: I like that analogy. Jeromy, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. I appreciate your insights on digital transformation within sales enablement. JP: Thank you Shawnna. It was great speaking with you. SS: To our audience, thanks for listening. For more insights, tips, and expertise from sales enablement leaders, visit salesenablement.pro. If there is something you'd like to share or a topic you'd like to learn more about, please let us know we'd love to hear from you.

Mo explores the key business development mindset shifts that you need to make to become great at business development. Find out why business development skills are both learned and earned, how anyone can become great at business development, and how to stay motivated and driven to keep doing the work of building relationships the right way.   Business Development Mindset Is A Learnable Skill Dr. Kay Anders Ericsson spent over 30 years studying high-end expertise and discovered that every complex skill is both learned and earned. You can look at any expert and you would find decades of deliberate practice that got them to that level. No one is born with all the skills they need to be great at business development. Business development is a learnable skill that anyone can build on. If you take each individual lesson and apply them to your life, you will be successful. If someone tries to tell you that business development skills are not learnable or only for natural born conversationalists, they're wrong. They just haven't seen the research. If you want to be great at business development, break things down into bite- sized pieces. Break complex tasks down into individual pieces and practice each one as it comes.   Business Development Mindset Rule - You Don't Have To Be An Extrovert To Succeed Adam Grant did a study on salespeople and put them on a spectrum of introversion to extroversion. For most people they land right in the middle and end up being a mix of both introvert and extrovert, and most successful salespeople were exactly the same way. Ambiverts were the most successful at making sales, not extroverts like people assumed was the case. Full-on extroverts might actually have some disadvantages when it comes to making a sale. Their desire to be around people all the time may prevent them from following up effectively or being direct with someone when they need to challenge them. Extreme introverts likely just aren't putting themselves around other people most of the time, but that doesn't mean they don't get energy from interacting with them or can't be effective salespeople. The magic in sales and business development happens at the middle of the curve, where you can connect with people in the moment and follow up thoughtfully later. Luckily for most people, that's where they fall. You don't have to be extroverted to be successful at sales. Great business developers have a wonderful mix of being around people, getting energy from the interactions, asking great questions, and giving great ideas. They can also go back to their quiet surroundings and find ways to follow up thoughtfully.   Becoming Great At Anything By Creating a Business Development Mindset Every expertise, no matter the field, is both learned and earned. You can become great at anything if you break it down into little pieces and practice each piece. You may not become world-class or be able to play in the NBA, but you can certainly become very good at that particular skill, and the key is deliberate practice. By breaking down the big skill into smaller micro-skills and deliberately practicing those individually, you build your overall skill set. The second component of deliberate practice is having a mentor guide you along the path towards expertise. When it comes to business development, what kinds of attractive content can you create to get your name out there? What valuable thing do you have to offer the world that you can get out there and expose others to your way of thinking? Once you've got a system for generating content and attracting leads, it becomes a matter of turning those connections into one-to-one conversations. This is where the Give to Get comes in. Start solving client problems in a small, bite-sized way, and it can open the door to bigger opportunities. If you think you can't do what someone else is doing, toss that out of your mind. Narrow what they do down to a specific skill that you can improve on and get to work. Don't worry about how you stack up with others. It doesn't matter. Focus on your own skills, always getting a little bit better all the time.   Having a Business Development Mindset Means Knowing What Motivates a Buyer When you're being sold to, you almost want to run away. You can tell the salesperson has only their best interests in mind, not yours. We are happy to buy when the reverse is true. When we're learning and we feel like the other person is helping us discover the option that's right for us, the experience is wonderful. When we buy something, we're important. We are being catered to and we're learning in the process. It's like having a birthday experience where you feel like the people you're interacting with really care. If you don't like selling, you need to reframe your perspective. Instead of selling, think that you're someone that creates wonderful buying experiences that make people feel good. Flush the idea of selling and focus on the idea of creating a wonderful buying experience. That one mindset shift will change everything. You are 100% in control of the buying experience. You're helping people succeed, remember that. The more you do that, the more you will win and the more that people will talk about how great you are to their colleagues.   Start Crafting Your Business Development Mindset By Understanding Your Why Business development can be hard. You've got to figure out a reason to persevere and keep adding value to your relationships, even when it feels like you're not making much progress. To discover your why, ask yourself the Five Whys? Go deeper into the core reasons you do what you do until you discover the truth. Start with the question: “Why is getting great at Business Development important to me?” When you've got your answer, add a why to the beginning and ask why that thing is important. Your fifth answer is where the rubber meets the road, and you discover what's really driving you. Once you have it, write it down and put it somewhere that will remind you daily why you put in the work. Avoid staying too superficial with your motivation and realize that your why might change over time, so it's a good practice to repeat the exercise every few years or when you feel like you're not as motivated as you used to be.     Mentioned in this Episode: freakonomics.com/podcast/peak faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Grant_PsychScience2013.pdf bdhabits.com The Snowball System by Mo Bunnell - amazon.com/Snowball-System-Business-Clients-Raving/dp/1610399609

Mo explores the key business development mindset shifts that you need to make to become great at business development. Find out why business development skills are both learned and earned, how anyone can become great at business development, and how to stay motivated and driven to keep doing the work of building relationships the right way.   Business Development Mindset Is A Learnable Skill Dr. Kay Anders Ericsson spent over 30 years studying high-end expertise and discovered that every complex skill is both learned and earned. You can look at any expert and you would find decades of deliberate practice that got them to that level. No one is born with all the skills they need to be great at business development. Business development is a learnable skill that anyone can build on. If you take each individual lesson and apply them to your life, you will be successful. If someone tries to tell you that business development skills are not learnable or only for natural born conversationalists, they're wrong. They just haven't seen the research. If you want to be great at business development, break things down into bite- sized pieces. Break complex tasks down into individual pieces and practice each one as it comes.   Business Development Mindset Rule - You Don't Have To Be An Extrovert To Succeed Adam Grant did a study on salespeople and put them on a spectrum of introversion to extroversion. For most people they land right in the middle and end up being a mix of both introvert and extrovert, and most successful salespeople were exactly the same way. Ambiverts were the most successful at making sales, not extroverts like people assumed was the case. Full-on extroverts might actually have some disadvantages when it comes to making a sale. Their desire to be around people all the time may prevent them from following up effectively or being direct with someone when they need to challenge them. Extreme introverts likely just aren't putting themselves around other people most of the time, but that doesn't mean they don't get energy from interacting with them or can't be effective salespeople. The magic in sales and business development happens at the middle of the curve, where you can connect with people in the moment and follow up thoughtfully later. Luckily for most people, that's where they fall. You don't have to be extroverted to be successful at sales. Great business developers have a wonderful mix of being around people, getting energy from the interactions, asking great questions, and giving great ideas. They can also go back to their quiet surroundings and find ways to follow up thoughtfully.   Becoming Great At Anything By Creating a Business Development Mindset Every expertise, no matter the field, is both learned and earned. You can become great at anything if you break it down into little pieces and practice each piece. You may not become world-class or be able to play in the NBA, but you can certainly become very good at that particular skill, and the key is deliberate practice. By breaking down the big skill into smaller micro-skills and deliberately practicing those individually, you build your overall skill set. The second component of deliberate practice is having a mentor guide you along the path towards expertise. When it comes to business development, what kinds of attractive content can you create to get your name out there? What valuable thing do you have to offer the world that you can get out there and expose others to your way of thinking? Once you've got a system for generating content and attracting leads, it becomes a matter of turning those connections into one-to-one conversations. This is where the Give to Get comes in. Start solving client problems in a small, bite-sized way, and it can open the door to bigger opportunities. If you think you can't do what someone else is doing, toss that out of your mind. Narrow what they do down to a specific skill that you can improve on and get to work. Don't worry about how you stack up with others. It doesn't matter. Focus on your own skills, always getting a little bit better all the time.   Having a Business Development Mindset Means Knowing What Motivates a Buyer When you're being sold to, you almost want to run away. You can tell the salesperson has only their best interests in mind, not yours. We are happy to buy when the reverse is true. When we're learning and we feel like the other person is helping us discover the option that's right for us, the experience is wonderful. When we buy something, we're important. We are being catered to and we're learning in the process. It's like having a birthday experience where you feel like the people you're interacting with really care. If you don't like selling, you need to reframe your perspective. Instead of selling, think that you're someone that creates wonderful buying experiences that make people feel good. Flush the idea of selling and focus on the idea of creating a wonderful buying experience. That one mindset shift will change everything. You are 100% in control of the buying experience. You're helping people succeed, remember that. The more you do that, the more you will win and the more that people will talk about how great you are to their colleagues.   Start Crafting Your Business Development Mindset By Understanding Your Why Business development can be hard. You've got to figure out a reason to persevere and keep adding value to your relationships, even when it feels like you're not making much progress. To discover your why, ask yourself the Five Whys? Go deeper into the core reasons you do what you do until you discover the truth. Start with the question: “Why is getting great at Business Development important to me?” When you've got your answer, add a why to the beginning and ask why that thing is important. Your fifth answer is where the rubber meets the road, and you discover what's really driving you. Once you have it, write it down and put it somewhere that will remind you daily why you put in the work. Avoid staying too superficial with your motivation and realize that your why might change over time, so it's a good practice to repeat the exercise every few years or when you feel like you're not as motivated as you used to be.     Mentioned in this Episode: freakonomics.com/podcast/peak faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Grant_PsychScience2013.pdf bdhabits.com The Snowball System by Mo Bunnell - amazon.com/Snowball-System-Business-Clients-Raving/dp/1610399609

Mo asks Bill Ruprecht: If you could record a video around business development for your younger self, what would it say? You learn a lot more from failure than you do from success. Early on in Bill's career, he had developed a relationship with an art collector, but after the collector passed away the business went to other people because Bill didn't consider what would happen after that point or lay the foundation to make sure the family would work with him. It's important to not rely on a single individual for your relationship with an organization. You need to create a team of advocates to work with a team of counterparts within the organization. Remove your ego from the equation and focus on building a team to team relationship. We tend to focus on our expertise and believe that's how decisions get made, but that's not the way it works. What should drive those decisions is that your company has a collection of skills to help clients solve their problems.   Mo asks Mike Duffy: If you could record a message to your younger self about how they should think about business development, what would it be? Mike's message would be to essentially to cold call for a couple months right at the beginning to get used to hearing no. He would also tell himself to feed his brain. Read books and consume information that keeps you moving. Treat your profession like a profession. If you treat your profession the same way that a doctor does and invest in continuing education every year to be a better leader and sales person, you will be successful. Mike invests in programs that he's heard about on podcasts and consumes books referenced in other books that have made an impact on him. You have to invest in yourself if you want to get better. Mike also builds relationships with people that are learning themselves and is curious enough to find out more about them. He's always thinking about how he can add value to a conversation or relationship, and thinking about the questions that allow him to dig deeper. When you ask questions, you learn. When you learn, you connect dots, and when you do that, everyone gets better and the effect can snowball. Asking the right questions is instrumental to Mike's ability to grow.   Mo asks Debby Moorman: If you could record a business development tip and send it to your younger self, what would it be? The bottomline is the idea of sales can be scary because we usually think of our worst sales experience and extrapolate that to everything. Debby's advice to her younger self would be to take a breath, and realize that it's all about meeting people and getting to know them, then helping them solve their problems. Changing the label from “sales” to “helping people and solving their needs” is a powerful mindset shift. People usually don't realize that they are selling everyday, they just don't label it that way. If you substitute “solve problems” for “sales”, you're probably doing it all the time. Debby tells the story of an earlier experience where her job was traditional sales, literally going door to door, and how by simply asking questions and identifying the needs of the company, she turned a no into one of the biggest sales of the hotel she was working for. Everybody already sells, they just don't call it that. When you substitute solving problems, you realize that you're already great at what you do, and if you plug in a process like the Snowball System, you can keep getting better at it.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com Mike Duffy on LinkedIn debby.moorman@willistowerswatson.com Debby Moorman on LinkedIn

Mo asks Bill Ruprecht: If you could record a video around business development for your younger self, what would it say? You learn a lot more from failure than you do from success. Early on in Bill's career, he had developed a relationship with an art collector, but after the collector passed away the business went to other people because Bill didn't consider what would happen after that point or lay the foundation to make sure the family would work with him. It's important to not rely on a single individual for your relationship with an organization. You need to create a team of advocates to work with a team of counterparts within the organization. Remove your ego from the equation and focus on building a team to team relationship. We tend to focus on our expertise and believe that's how decisions get made, but that's not the way it works. What should drive those decisions is that your company has a collection of skills to help clients solve their problems.   Mo asks Mike Duffy: If you could record a message to your younger self about how they should think about business development, what would it be? Mike's message would be to essentially to cold call for a couple months right at the beginning to get used to hearing no. He would also tell himself to feed his brain. Read books and consume information that keeps you moving. Treat your profession like a profession. If you treat your profession the same way that a doctor does and invest in continuing education every year to be a better leader and sales person, you will be successful. Mike invests in programs that he's heard about on podcasts and consumes books referenced in other books that have made an impact on him. You have to invest in yourself if you want to get better. Mike also builds relationships with people that are learning themselves and is curious enough to find out more about them. He's always thinking about how he can add value to a conversation or relationship, and thinking about the questions that allow him to dig deeper. When you ask questions, you learn. When you learn, you connect dots, and when you do that, everyone gets better and the effect can snowball. Asking the right questions is instrumental to Mike's ability to grow.   Mo asks Debby Moorman: If you could record a business development tip and send it to your younger self, what would it be? The bottomline is the idea of sales can be scary because we usually think of our worst sales experience and extrapolate that to everything. Debby's advice to her younger self would be to take a breath, and realize that it's all about meeting people and getting to know them, then helping them solve their problems. Changing the label from “sales” to “helping people and solving their needs” is a powerful mindset shift. People usually don't realize that they are selling everyday, they just don't label it that way. If you substitute “solve problems” for “sales”, you're probably doing it all the time. Debby tells the story of an earlier experience where her job was traditional sales, literally going door to door, and how by simply asking questions and identifying the needs of the company, she turned a no into one of the biggest sales of the hotel she was working for. Everybody already sells, they just don't call it that. When you substitute solving problems, you realize that you're already great at what you do, and if you plug in a process like the Snowball System, you can keep getting better at it.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com Mike Duffy on LinkedIn debby.moorman@willistowerswatson.com Debby Moorman on LinkedIn

Mo asks Sandy Lutton: What is a business development story that you are really proud of? One moment in particular stands out from Sandy's career in regards to business development. Part of her role at the Speaker's Bureau was to secure talent, and Sandy was working on securing a famous world leader. The twist in the story was that the first in-person meeting with the CEO didn't go well which made landing this client much harder than they expected. They spent too much time talking about who they represent. The big influencer in the decision was the Chief of Staff, and by uncovering their goals it changed the dynamic of the relationship. In listening to them and finding out what they needed, Sandy was able to put the right team in place to support them. Understanding what they ultimately wanted to achieve was critical in the decision-making Just like the Snowball System teaches, keeping them involved in the process was crucial, and in the end they won the business without giving everything away for free. Many people fold too quickly when it comes to high pressure proposals. Challenge yourself when you feel like you have to go in at your lowest price in order to win the business, because it might not be true. Sandy is most proud of the fact that they landed the client by identifying the right team and making it clear that going to the lowest price wasn't the right move. Resist the urge to discount your service by negotiating too soon.   Mo asks Chris Graham: What growth story are you most personally proud of? Making the pivot from law to private equity is the thing that Chris is the most proud of. The pivot was hard and took a long time but it has allowed him to make more impact than ever before. One of the examples that Chris talks about is a company where Chris implemented his methodology of growth and after 19 months they grew from $2.3 million to $4.9 million in profit. Rather than just generate more sales, Chris helped them become more process efficient. Chris grew up in a trailer park back in the 70's where there was still a sense of community. That experience is why Chris is so dedicated to the mission of rehabilitating those kinds of communities now. It was a long process of learning and growing before Chris was able to connect all the dots. Being raised in a poor community, Chris wasn't exposed to the idea of entrepreneurship and the impact you can have at that level until after he began his career in law. Chris is insatiably curious, which is a trait that has propelled him throughout his career. That curiosity is what allowed Chris to make the jump from each level to the next. After working with families that owned businesses for 17 years, Chris could see things that they couldn't. This was a big motivation for buying the first business. Chris realized that, over the period of growing the law firm from eight lawyers to 22 lawyers over 24 months, he got himself into a position where he couldn't use his strengths. Instead of floundering, Chris made the hard decision to cut back to what was working before, which allowed him to eventually make the transition to bigger and better things.   Mo asks Debby Moorman: What is one moment around business development that you are really proud of? The current climate has been challenging, and there is one client in particular that she's working with right now that she's proud of. She had the opportunity to reconnect with someone she worked with 15 years ago that recently moved into a more senior role. She reached out to them, but with the way things are right now, she couldn't meet them in person and have a face-to-face conversation with them. What Debby was able to do was have a conversation with this person and simply learn about their new role. She started to hear things that indicated the company was going through a number of changes and was able to offer herself as a resource to be more successful in their new job. This led to more conversations and helping them with relevant research, and eventually getting connected with the CHRO. This relationship from Debby's past has developed into a conversation about how they can all work together. By cultivating a relationship with this person, Debby has opened the door to working with the organization in a deeper scope that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, simply by being helpful. For Debby, the commercial transaction is not a focus when connecting with someone. She brings a curiosity to the table that helps her uncover genuine ways that she can help and by following through, she adds value, builds trust, and creates a real relationship. Be helpful and honest, and the solution will happen.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com sandy@designinginfluencers.com Her Journey Told Podcast linkedin.com/company/crowncapitalinvestments linkedin.com/in/christophertgraham25 cgraham@ccfos.com crown-inv.com Crown Capital Investments on YouTube - youtube.com/channel/UCLstgUIyDH9bRFTHH0vWAbg debby.moorman@willistowerswatson.com Debby Moorman on LinkedIn

Mo asks Sandy Lutton: What is a business development story that you are really proud of? One moment in particular stands out from Sandy's career in regards to business development. Part of her role at the Speaker's Bureau was to secure talent, and Sandy was working on securing a famous world leader. The twist in the story was that the first in-person meeting with the CEO didn't go well which made landing this client much harder than they expected. They spent too much time talking about who they represent. The big influencer in the decision was the Chief of Staff, and by uncovering their goals it changed the dynamic of the relationship. In listening to them and finding out what they needed, Sandy was able to put the right team in place to support them. Understanding what they ultimately wanted to achieve was critical in the decision-making Just like the Snowball System teaches, keeping them involved in the process was crucial, and in the end they won the business without giving everything away for free. Many people fold too quickly when it comes to high pressure proposals. Challenge yourself when you feel like you have to go in at your lowest price in order to win the business, because it might not be true. Sandy is most proud of the fact that they landed the client by identifying the right team and making it clear that going to the lowest price wasn't the right move. Resist the urge to discount your service by negotiating too soon.   Mo asks Chris Graham: What growth story are you most personally proud of? Making the pivot from law to private equity is the thing that Chris is the most proud of. The pivot was hard and took a long time but it has allowed him to make more impact than ever before. One of the examples that Chris talks about is a company where Chris implemented his methodology of growth and after 19 months they grew from $2.3 million to $4.9 million in profit. Rather than just generate more sales, Chris helped them become more process efficient. Chris grew up in a trailer park back in the 70's where there was still a sense of community. That experience is why Chris is so dedicated to the mission of rehabilitating those kinds of communities now. It was a long process of learning and growing before Chris was able to connect all the dots. Being raised in a poor community, Chris wasn't exposed to the idea of entrepreneurship and the impact you can have at that level until after he began his career in law. Chris is insatiably curious, which is a trait that has propelled him throughout his career. That curiosity is what allowed Chris to make the jump from each level to the next. After working with families that owned businesses for 17 years, Chris could see things that they couldn't. This was a big motivation for buying the first business. Chris realized that, over the period of growing the law firm from eight lawyers to 22 lawyers over 24 months, he got himself into a position where he couldn't use his strengths. Instead of floundering, Chris made the hard decision to cut back to what was working before, which allowed him to eventually make the transition to bigger and better things.   Mo asks Debby Moorman: What is one moment around business development that you are really proud of? The current climate has been challenging, and there is one client in particular that she's working with right now that she's proud of. She had the opportunity to reconnect with someone she worked with 15 years ago that recently moved into a more senior role. She reached out to them, but with the way things are right now, she couldn't meet them in person and have a face-to-face conversation with them. What Debby was able to do was have a conversation with this person and simply learn about their new role. She started to hear things that indicated the company was going through a number of changes and was able to offer herself as a resource to be more successful in their new job. This led to more conversations and helping them with relevant research, and eventually getting connected with the CHRO. This relationship from Debby's past has developed into a conversation about how they can all work together. By cultivating a relationship with this person, Debby has opened the door to working with the organization in a deeper scope that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, simply by being helpful. For Debby, the commercial transaction is not a focus when connecting with someone. She brings a curiosity to the table that helps her uncover genuine ways that she can help and by following through, she adds value, builds trust, and creates a real relationship. Be helpful and honest, and the solution will happen.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com sandy@designinginfluencers.com Her Journey Told Podcast linkedin.com/company/crowncapitalinvestments linkedin.com/in/christophertgraham25 cgraham@ccfos.com crown-inv.com Crown Capital Investments on YouTube - youtube.com/channel/UCLstgUIyDH9bRFTHH0vWAbg debby.moorman@willistowerswatson.com Debby Moorman on LinkedIn

Mo asks Bill Ruprecht: What is your favorite science, step, or strategy from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Bill began working with Mo because he believed a more disciplined approach to building relationships was critical to the continued growth of his organization. When you have 90 offices over 40 countries is an enormous task. Bill recalls a meeting with a number of executives at Sotheby's along with Mo where it became very clear how some people struggled with the process of articulating value, even those who had been in the business for 30 years. Every business believes they are unique so they often believe a system of business development couldn't possibly apply to them. But once they realize that almost everybody runs into the same problems and barriers, they see the value of a disciplined approach to relationships. The default assumption that most people make is that business development is not a learnable skill. That some people are just born with it and that assumption prevents them from seeing the possibilities. Bill is a born introvert and a learned extrovert. Giving speeches and connecting with people didn't come naturally to him. Being a salesman is something to be proud of because it means you're being an advocate for whatever you're walking into the room and trying to do.   Mo asks Cyril Peupion: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? The overall mindset of the Snowball Training is what stands out for Cyril. Going from selling to serving and being proud of the value that you are bringing to your clients is pivotal. Cyril also appreciates the concept of nurturing raving fans and uses the strategy to make sure he's always working on the most important relationships associated with his business. There is a strong link between performance and joy. People value what they help to create. Cyril noticed that the clients that contribute to the work in more of a partnership style relationship usually value the work more. Without the mindset shift of going from selling to helping, you will never achieve your true potential in your career. “The secret of living is giving.” -Winston Churchill When you understand the giving mindset, it will change the way you look at business and life. When planning your ideal work for business development, relationship building with your raving fans and developing yourself and your team, are the things that will have the most significant long-term impact. How much time each day do you need to protect to get those done each day? The rule is that you can move this meeting time with yourself around, but you can't delete it. Business development is often composed of a lot of little tasks. Cyril uses the Outlook Task tool to categorize emails and tasks he needs to address during the time he's set aside each day to focus on business development. Your calendar should be filled with Meetings With Yourself and you should respect them as much as you do meetings with other people. You say no all the time. When you say yes to something, you are saying no to everything else, whether you are conscious of that or not. When someone asks you to do something, pause and run through the “Hell Ya/No” framework.   Mo asks Katrina Johnson: What is your favorite business development strategy from the Snowball System or GrowBIG training? Instead of a favorite, Katrina wants to emphasize one strategy that often goes unrecognized for how important it is, which is targeting. Targeting is critical to business development and as a student of minimalism, Katrina is always thinking about trade-offs. Minimalists understand trade-offs as an inherent part of life, but instead of thinking about what needs to be sacrificed, it's more about what to double down on. The subconscious emotional layer is what makes targeting tricky. We are evolutionarily primed to avoid loss and are naturally averse to subtraction. We only have so much time in our life. We can't just take on more, we have to target and figure out what are the things to go big on and what to let go of. Mo had a similar experience with the training GrowBIG. Every time he refined his method and message and who he wanted to serve by letting go of certain markets, it was a terrifying change but resulted in incredible growth over time. Working with a small niche can be scary, but it often leads to greater success as your effort is more refined and focused within your skillsett. When Katrina is doing her job well, she's often not operating at the forefront. In an ideal world, her clients are getting better and she eventually works herself out of a job. When someone comes to Katrina with a referral that isn't within her core focus, she always sets up a call with the person and leverages her own referral network to help that person. She always circles back to the person that refers them to let them know they've been taken care of.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com wslb.com katrina@kcjconsult.com

Mo asks Bill Ruprecht: What is your favorite science, step, or strategy from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Bill began working with Mo because he believed a more disciplined approach to building relationships was critical to the continued growth of his organization. When you have 90 offices over 40 countries is an enormous task. Bill recalls a meeting with a number of executives at Sotheby's along with Mo where it became very clear how some people struggled with the process of articulating value, even those who had been in the business for 30 years. Every business believes they are unique so they often believe a system of business development couldn't possibly apply to them. But once they realize that almost everybody runs into the same problems and barriers, they see the value of a disciplined approach to relationships. The default assumption that most people make is that business development is not a learnable skill. That some people are just born with it and that assumption prevents them from seeing the possibilities. Bill is a born introvert and a learned extrovert. Giving speeches and connecting with people didn't come naturally to him. Being a salesman is something to be proud of because it means you're being an advocate for whatever you're walking into the room and trying to do.   Mo asks Cyril Peupion: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? The overall mindset of the Snowball Training is what stands out for Cyril. Going from selling to serving and being proud of the value that you are bringing to your clients is pivotal. Cyril also appreciates the concept of nurturing raving fans and uses the strategy to make sure he's always working on the most important relationships associated with his business. There is a strong link between performance and joy. People value what they help to create. Cyril noticed that the clients that contribute to the work in more of a partnership style relationship usually value the work more. Without the mindset shift of going from selling to helping, you will never achieve your true potential in your career. “The secret of living is giving.” -Winston Churchill When you understand the giving mindset, it will change the way you look at business and life. When planning your ideal work for business development, relationship building with your raving fans and developing yourself and your team, are the things that will have the most significant long-term impact. How much time each day do you need to protect to get those done each day? The rule is that you can move this meeting time with yourself around, but you can't delete it. Business development is often composed of a lot of little tasks. Cyril uses the Outlook Task tool to categorize emails and tasks he needs to address during the time he's set aside each day to focus on business development. Your calendar should be filled with Meetings With Yourself and you should respect them as much as you do meetings with other people. You say no all the time. When you say yes to something, you are saying no to everything else, whether you are conscious of that or not. When someone asks you to do something, pause and run through the “Hell Ya/No” framework.   Mo asks Katrina Johnson: What is your favorite business development strategy from the Snowball System or GrowBIG training? Instead of a favorite, Katrina wants to emphasize one strategy that often goes unrecognized for how important it is, which is targeting. Targeting is critical to business development and as a student of minimalism, Katrina is always thinking about trade-offs. Minimalists understand trade-offs as an inherent part of life, but instead of thinking about what needs to be sacrificed, it's more about what to double down on. The subconscious emotional layer is what makes targeting tricky. We are evolutionarily primed to avoid loss and are naturally averse to subtraction. We only have so much time in our life. We can't just take on more, we have to target and figure out what are the things to go big on and what to let go of. Mo had a similar experience with the training GrowBIG. Every time he refined his method and message and who he wanted to serve by letting go of certain markets, it was a terrifying change but resulted in incredible growth over time. Working with a small niche can be scary, but it often leads to greater success as your effort is more refined and focused within your skillsett. When Katrina is doing her job well, she's often not operating at the forefront. In an ideal world, her clients are getting better and she eventually works herself out of a job. When someone comes to Katrina with a referral that isn't within her core focus, she always sets up a call with the person and leverages her own referral network to help that person. She always circles back to the person that refers them to let them know they've been taken care of.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com wslb.com katrina@kcjconsult.com

Mo asks Angela Meyer: What is your favorite science, step, or story that you learned from GrowBIG Training or The Snowball System? Angela's favorite strategy is the Give to Get. Giving somebody value or knowledge they didn't have before is a great way to start off a relationship. If you continue to show interest in someone personally, and not just professionally, and provide them value that can help them grow their career, they are going to care about you. You have to break someone out of the rut of working with someone else if it's not you. Building trust and deepening the relationship in the beginning is crucial to starting things out. Angela has seen a number of her former colleagues help clients and prospects by summarizing the science on particular issues like climate change, sustainability, and environmental compliance. There is a big difference between forwarding an article to a client and talking the person through the content. The hardest thing is asking for the business, which is why you should simply ask for the next step. No is just another answer. You have to be able to explain more and give more so that eventually the answer is going to be yes. You can't assume your client is going to read and consume the content you send them. You have to ask them for the opportunity to explain how it's helpful and why you sent it to them.   Mo asks Henning Streubel: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Henning's favorite idea is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. It's vital to understand how you, your team, and your prospects think. Henning is an analytical thinker, and understanding this gives him greater insight into how he can communicate with another person who can compliment that with their own thought preferences. Henning took his team through the HBDI process to get a good idea of how his team thinks and where there might be any gaps. This allows the team to cover all the quadrants. Externally, Henning has a few questions that he asks to get an idea of how a person thinks. Within 30 minutes he usually has an idea on the other person's thinking style and can start tailoring his communication to cover the aspects that are most important to them. When it comes to an analytical thinker, Henning would lay out the numbers and the facts. For a procedural thinker, he would lay out the next steps in the process of working together to give them execution certainty and confidence in Henning's ability to get the job done. For an empathic thinker, he would focus on the tools and skills that the client team can learn by working with them and the change management that will help people be successful. For a strategic thinker, Henning starts with the purpose of the work. He creates a future perspective and vision around how the work will change the company with a transformative impact. The work is done between the first meeting and the last meeting. This is why building it together is so important. Bringing your client into the development of the solution and building their thoughts and concerns into it makes it far more sustainable.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: What's your favorite science, step, or story from GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Jonathan's first favorite is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. He uses it all the time in talking with potential partners and tailoring the conversation to how they process information and think. Wrapping your data into a story is a great way to hit on more of the four ways people think, but also make your data more memorable at the same time. Jonathan's second favorite is simply discipline with the Protomoi List. Every month, Jonathan and his team review his list and look at how they are adding value to those relationships. The takeaway was the discipline and rigor of being very intentional about your most important relationships. Jonathan makes sure that there is time booked into his calendar to make connections, either physical or digital, with the most important relationships in his life. Sending a note to someone has more weight to it when they know you're busy.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com MeyerVorst.com Angela Meyer, PhD, PE on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/henning-streubel-phd on.bcg.com/henning - Use the envelope icon on this page to get in touch with Henning directly habitat.org linkedin.com/in/jonathanreckford Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World by Jonathan Reckford

Mo asks John Tigh: What is your favorite science, step, or strategy from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? John has been involved in the Snowball System for a long time and the Gravitas Model is a strategy that he uses every single day. It's the perfect framework for taking any conversation where you want to go. It has an incredible level of flexibility and imparts a character to your conversation that people can't help but enjoy. It also gives you the ability to keep the conversation going. When you ask great questions, you get a triple win. With the way the Gravitas Model is designed, they light up the pleasure center of the other person's mind when they are sharing their personal perspective, you learn their priorities in their words, and the questions highly correlate to likability. The more they talk and the less you talk, the more the other person will like you. John's perfect buyer is in the C-Suite or someone dealing with content creation. During a conversation with his perfect buyer, John would talk about what they have in common, the challenges they experienced in the past, and their current role and their current projects. Typically, the goal for each meeting is to secure the next meeting. By addressing the base level mechanical questions, John can take a conversation up to higher level vision-based goals. He often asks people how calm the seas are and what they think the future holds, with a hook at the end about any questions that John didn't ask but should have. John is always looking for an opportunity to offer value in some way or to make a connection or introduction for the other person in an effort to secure the next meeting. The framework is simply built around looking for ways to make the other person look good. Once you get the Gravitas Model in your bones, it really does help every kind of conversation, whether that's spoken or written.   Mo asks Linda Klein: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Linda never wants to be unprepared in her work, and the same is true in meeting with a client, which is why Dynamic Meeting Prep is Linda's favorite strategy. A potential client's business always has important area-specific language that they use that you should know. It's amazing how much companies have on their website and what you can learn by doing some research. Those insights are invaluable during a meeting, and preparing for a meeting pays dividends when you land the business because then you have a huge head start. Everybody prepares for delivery meetings but rarely do people prepare for the initial meeting. You can't prepare for the first meeting at a dinner before the meeting day. Research is crucial. Make preparation a priority and get the team strategy outlined ahead of time. Your team needs to show the client that they are seamless, working together and solving the client's problems. Figure out what your goal for the meeting is, what the frame for the meeting is and how to kick it off, what the big questions that might be asked, natural next steps, and potential cliffhangers you can use to get the next meeting. Being direct can be a challenge but being authentic about the fact that you want to simply be helpful is the best approach. Be ready to discuss what the client wants to discuss. The more prepared you are in advance, the easier it will be to switch gears and the more comfortable you will be.   Mo asks Andrew Robertson: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Writing down the seven relationships that are the most important to growing the business was a technique that changed the way Andrew thought about business development. Andrew has a lot of great relationships with CEOs in various other businesses, but a lot of them didn't start out at the top. Those relationships were nurtured over time with people that moved up in their organizations or moved around in their industry. Think about how you got into your position and where people are right now that you can connect with. When asked to list our most important relationships, we tend to think of our best current relationships by default, but that's the wrong approach. We should think about the relationships that will have the most impact on our business first. The number seven forces you to make choices and really identify those relationships that will move the needle. Your list should contain people you have a relationship with, people you don't know but would like to have a relationship with, and the people you need to have a relationship with who won't necessarily send you business directly but can help you find it elsewhere. You only have a limited amount of time, so you need to be clear on your priorities, not just around what you do but who the most important people are. Create a shortlist and give yourself a short timeframe to connect and advance the relationship with those people. If someone is not going to make an impact, it's better to figure that out in three months rather than three years. Be thoughtful. Sit on the other side of the desk and empathize with the person you're trying to build a relationship with.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com john@clevercognitive.com linkedin.com/in/johntigh clevercognitive.com lklein@bakerdonelson.com linkedin.com/in/lindakleinlaw andrew.robertson@bbdo.com

Mo asks James Barclay: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? For James, the number one strategy is the Protemoi List. These are the people in your circle that are your partners, prospects, and the key people that could be your raving fans. Having a focused relationship list is an unbeatable edge. When you invest in a relationship, people will move with you. James has had people buy from his company multiple times over multiple jobs. Your Protemoi List is a list of five to ten people that have outsized returns on the amount of time and energy you invest in the relationship. The first strategy is to simply be useful to them. Offer to take them to events with you that you believe would be helpful to them. Find content and then pass it on to people you think would find it useful. Celebrate them at every opportunity. Accelerate them and give them a platform where you highlight them and what they are doing. A personal newsletter can be incredibly powerful. You don't need thousands of people on your list for it to be worth it. Build something that is extremely accessible to them, extremely useful to them, and don't waste their time. It can take some time to build momentum, but you have to start somewhere. If you can write something useful for one person you can build it over time and create something really valuable. Consistency matters. Find a cadence that works for you and your schedule and stick with it.   Mo asks Kevin Clem: What's your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Kevin discovered the Snowball System from the podcast after being referred to it by the CEO of HBR Consulting. The Most Important Things is one of the key principles that Kevin has embraced. He and his team have made the idea of the top three things as a guiding framework for how they operate. Raving fans and assessing the level of the relationship with each client is another big strategy. There is power in language. Just by entering the GrowBIG world and embracing the terminology, Kevin and his team have changed the way they think about business development and growth. Take a page out of your creative marketing playbook and come out with a theme for your internal program to get your team to buy in. Kevin's team has tried a number of different incentives to get the team excited. They found that recognition and reward among high achievers is a good base to start with, combined with accountability. Create and celebrate short-term wins to spotlight things that are going well and to build momentum. Celebrating the small wins is an important piece of creating progress. Doing what you can do today is what leads to the championship.   Mo asks Dennis Baltz: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? Dennis loved so much of the GrowBIG Training, but the one that stands out the most is the idea of the Most Important Thing. When working with clients, Dennis uses an MIT one-sheet to communicate all the work streams that they can work on during the engagement as well as including some potentially new approaches they can take advantage of. They are using that very effectively to land new clients because it allows them to understand the exact value WTW brings to the table. This approach creates strategic conversations and helps build the trust that client's have in Dennis and his team's ability to think around corners. Structurally, the slide includes important dates for upcoming content or events, the essential work streams for the client, and disruptive ideas. Pre-MIT, the client updates were boring and uninspiring. Refining it down to the Most Important Things and communicating them in a single place that's easy to understand has made it very valuable.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com linkedin.com/in/jamesbarclay1 james@passle.net passle.net linkedin.com/in/kevinclem kclem@hbrconsulting.com hbrconsulting.com linkedin.com/in/dennisbaltz dennis.baltz@willistowerswatson.com Nathan Barry on ConvertKit, Automation and Engaging Your Audience – What You Need To Succeed (season 2 episode 43) How to Use ConvertKit to Create and Close More Opportunities, with Nathan Barry (season 2 episode 44) How to Use ConvertKit to Deepen Relationships, with Nathan Barry (season 2 episode 45) How to Hack Our Own Habits to Accomplish More, with Nathan Barry (season 2 episode 46) The Top 3 Things You Need to Implement from Nathan Barry, Founder of ConvertKit (season 2 episode 47)

Mo asks Maria Kelly: What is your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG training or Snowball System? One of the most useful things Maria learned from the GrowBIG training was the seven pricing principles. Living in Switzerland, she grew up in a culture that didn't talk about money and she learned early on in her career that if she didn't talk about money, she didn't get the money. Many business owners and professionals struggle with asking for what they are worth. When clients push back on the fees, those people don't know how to respond because they don't know how to articulate their value and justify their price. There are seven common heuristic programs that people use when thinking about money. One of the most common is that your price is directly linked to the quality of your service. In other words, expensive equals good, and cheap equals bad. If you're upfront with the value you are bringing to the table and anchoring to that, no one is going to second guess what you charge. With the idea of anchoring on value, you can talk about the result and the magnitude of the value of it and use that as a frame for whatever your fees are. Introduce early on what value you are bringing to the relationship, and your fees will seem small in comparison. Most people expect to pay for a service, but when it comes to ourselves we often make assumptions about what other people will think about our own services to others. If someone is hiring you, they want the best. You have to lean into and be confident with your fees. At the point you talk about the fees, if you have built up enough value and trust with the person, you will be more confident in your delivery. It's not about sticking with the number no matter what, it's about working together to find a solution and a price that fits all parties. Even if you can't find an alternative, do your best to part on good terms. If you can talk about the money with the same excitement and tone that you discuss the team, the scope of the project, and the details, you will feel consistent and confident and get better results.   Mo asks Monty Hamilton: What's your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? The blueprint of Monty's business is think big, start small, scale up. Rural Sourcing started out as a 10 person organization and has since scaled up to 1,000 employees, with the future goal of 3,000 employees and 30 centers all over America. It's a growth mindset that can be applied across a 10,000 person organization, but it can also be applied to your personal life. Great intentions can be sabotaged if you try to do too much, too fast. Recognize that, as an individual, you will never be able to do it all. You have personal limitations and must be able to recognize those limitations to unlock your business' potential. You're not going to be perfect on day 1 or day 10,001. The goal is continuous improvement. With that mindset, you can do better, you can get bigger, you can do more. Being willing to reinvest is critical to knowing where you can add value and where someone else can add the value that's missing. To scale up to the next level, you need to understand your strengths and your weaknesses, and to know that you need to ask your peers, colleagues, bosses, and people you can trust to give their honest opinion. People are usually happy to give you feedback, and when you find someone willing to give it to you because they want you to be successful, you may have found a great mentor.   Mo asks Warren Shiver: What's your favorite science, step, or story from the Snowball System or GrowBIG training? Warren has been working with Mo during the early days of the GrowBIG training and has been a big fan of the Protemoi list and the step-by-step opportunity process. The first part of the opportunity process is listening and learning. Being able to repeat it back to the prospect and proving that they've been heard is how you earn the right to go to the next step. Weekly, monthly, or quarterly sales targets influence behaviors that always align with the listen-and-learn process. The opportunity process doesn't require more time, but it does require an emphasis on patience, understanding, and a collaborative approach. Many companies are still struggling with the more rigid, linear mindset of selling. Clients don't want to hear your language or why your company is awesome. You should approach the sales cycle with a fresh-eyes mindset and assume the position of someone just getting started solution-wise. Earned Dogmatism is a proven mental heuristic that states the more we believe we have an expertise in some area, the more close-minded we become. The Protemoi list is a mental framework that can pay off at any time. Think about the relationships that might be important to you tomorrow, and the frequency of staying in touch that keeps those relationships alive. The first step of the Protemoi list is to write it down. Warren uses a spreadsheet to keep track of his list, and one of his weekly MIT's is to always check in with the people on his list. It's okay for people to drop off. Depending on the situation, Warren reaches out weekly or monthly to stay in touch in any way he can that adds value. Warren looks for interesting articles that he can send people or whatever way he can connect with someone on the list that makes sense. The Protemoi list also scales to a team or organizational level. You should be having all your people working to build trust and the relationship along the way.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com bdhabits.com askmariakelly.com Maria Kelly on LinkedIn #MinuteWithMonty on YouTube linkedin.com/in/montyhamilton thebrevetgroup.com

In this episode of On Record PR, Gina Rubel goes on record with Mo Bunnell, CEO of Bunnell Idea Group, to discuss how professionals can develop their business development skills. Learn how complex skills and learned and earned, why people hate to be sold to, but they love to buy, and how to develop a system to bring in the work you want, deepen the relationships you want the most, and create systems that fit within your demanding schedule.

Jonathan Reckford shares his incredible experiences at the helm of Habitat for Humanity and how he's helping to change the world by creating strategic partnerships with other organizations, and how it all starts with building relationships first. Find out how the CEO of Habitat for Humanity, one of the biggest non-profit organizations in the world, can still make time each month to work on his Protomoi List and why aligning a potential partner's desire for impact with your goals is a great foundation to build a valuable long-term relationship on.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: When did you realize you wanted to grow something big and make an impact? Jonathan had a lot of great role models growing up, with his grandmother being one of the first women in Congress. She would always ask Jonathan what he was going to do to be useful, a mindset that he eventually adopted and grew into. Jonathan assumed he would follow her footsteps into politics and law, but quickly realized after college that law wasn't what he wanted to do. He later talked his way into a job at Goldman Sachs, received a grant and moved to South Korea to work for the Seoul Olympic committee, and ended up working with the rowing team as their coach for a few years. That experience allowed him to reorient his perspective and after returning home, Jonathan came back with a mission. He went into business school and spent the next 15 years helping large organizations grow. After that time in the private sector, Jonathan went to India on short-term mission trips. Seeing the challenges and suffering in rural India touched his heart and he realized the power of small interventions in dire situations. Jonathan began focusing on helping churches grow and contributing to the mission of alleviating international poverty, ultimately culminating in working for Habitat for Humanity nearly 17 years ago. You can't always connect the dots going forward, but when you look back you see how everything got you to where you are now. Jonathan's experiences in his career lend themselves perfectly to his current role as the leader of Habitat for Humanity. Work on the ‘who' before the ‘what'. Build your character and skills instead of looking for some grand career plan. No matter what you do in your 20s, consider it continuing your education. As long as you're learning and aligned, you will eventually find your vocation where you have an impact that lines up with your passion and skills. Habitat for Humanity is thinking big for the future and is focused on making markets work more effectively to create just societies where really everyone can access safe, decent, affordable housing. Really bold leaders are ones that reframe everything. If you have the right mission for the problem you're trying to solve, you'll gain the power you need to get there. If you're focused on gaining power, that's ultimately going to be self-defeating. Start with crafting a story around why what you're doing is making the world a better place and get clarity on your true purpose.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: What's your personal definition of growth? Ultimately, it's all about impact, but in order to make an impact you need fuel. Creating complex partnerships is very aligned with good development practices, which is valuable for Jonathan because growth at Habitat for Humanity means having conversations around fundraising. When he made the mindset switch to solving someone's problem, raising money became much easier and simpler. It's not about pressuring, or trying to get somebody to do something they don't want to do. It's about really trying to understand what people are trying to accomplish or the impact they want to have, and then looking for a fit and where there is one, finding ways you can help them have that impact in a really joyful way. Before a big meeting, you have to do the research. Jonathan will have a brief on the person's biographical information, passion, and overall strategic goals so that he can create alignment in the potential partnership. Creating win/wins is the goal and when you can do that, growth becomes easy. Negotiation is usually won or lost based on preparation and framing, not on the actual tactics of the conversation. After the research, the first step of the meeting is creating a point of connection and establishing the relationship. The goal of the first meeting is to come away with clear next steps, not to close the deal.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: What's your favorite science, step, or story from GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Jonathan's first favorite is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. He uses it all the time in talking with potential partners and tailoring the conversation to how they process information and think. Wrapping your data into a story is a great way to hit on more of the four ways people think, but also make your data more memorable at the same time. Jonathan's second favorite is simply discipline with the Protomoi List. Every month, Jonathan and his team review his list and look at how they are adding value to those relationships. The takeaway was the discipline and rigor of being very intentional about your most important relationships. Jonathan makes sure that there is time booked into his calendar to make connections, either physical or digital, with the most important relationships in his life. Sending a note to someone has more weight to it when they know you're busy.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: Tell us a development or growth story that you're really particularly proud of. Jonathan tells the story of a complex corporate partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Hilty, and how they've worked together closely after building a relationship over the years. Each year, the two organizations began to work more closely together and started developing new innovative approaches to achieving their mutual goals. There's not only funding, but it's making both parties better. They are achieving their goals as well inside a full strategic partnership which is much more exciting than just a transactional donor relationship. Jonathan's role was in building trust with the head of the foundation. Without that relationship, the partnership probably wouldn't exist. It also taught Jonathan a lot about building trust and being direct.   Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: You get to magically record a video and send it back to your younger self with some advice. What do you say? Jonathan spent most of his youth thinking about what he wanted to do instead of who he wanted to be. He would tell his younger self to focus on the ‘who' before the ‘what' first. If you never fail, it's likely you're not going big enough. Hope is built in the community. Volunteering gives you a sense of the community and how you can bring the virtues of kindness and love into the world. Following your passion is incomplete. You need to search for the intersection between what you're passionate about and where your skills, ability, and talent lie. Jonathan tells the story of Doris, and how he grew up in a poor neighborhood in North Carolina and how his life completely changed after his mom qualified to buy a Habitat house in Optimist Park. Doris is the first person to grow up in a Habitat for Humanity house and to serve on the board as well. The story perfectly encapsulates the mission and purpose of Habitat for Humanity and how giving people a platform and foundation for a stable, healthy life can impact their community and society as a whole.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com habitat.org linkedin.com/in/jonathanreckford Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World by Jonathan Reckford

Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: What's your favorite science, step, or story from GrowBIG Training or the Snowball System? Jonathan's first favorite is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. He uses it all the time in talking with potential partners and tailoring the conversation to how they process information and think. Wrapping your data into a story is a great way to hit on more of the four ways people think, but also make your data more memorable at the same time. Jonathan's second favorite is simply discipline with the Protomoi List. Every month, Jonathan and his team review his list and look at how they are adding value to those relationships. The takeaway was the discipline and rigor of being very intentional about your most important relationships. Jonathan makes sure that there is time booked into his calendar to make connections, either physical or digital, with the most important relationships in his life. Sending a note to someone has more weight to it when they know you're busy.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com habitat.org linkedin.com/in/jonathanreckford Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World by Jonathan Reckford

Marty Fagan shares his strategy for entering new markets at TransUnion and why the Three Legged Stool approach to business development is the most effective way to build relationships with complete strangers. Find out why business development is sales plus thought leadership, why valuable relationships, both  in life and in business, begin with authenticity and passion, and why persistence is one of the most powerful success habits you can cultivate in your career.   Mo asks Marty Fagan: Go back in time and tell me of the moment when you realized growth or business development was something you wanted to dive into. In his role at TransUnion, Marty is helping the organization explore new areas of the market that the business has never participated in before, and that's where business development has been a critical component. As an unknown entity, it requires an entirely different mindset in how you approach new business. If your brand isn't really well known yet, that can actually be an advantage, as it gives you the opportunity to decide and shape the brand that people will perceive. To break into a market, you need to have the mindset of a marketer and sales executive. You have to bring together the tactical and the strategic to win. When meeting someone for the first time, Marty tries to glean as much information about them as possible ahead of time using resources like LinkedIn to find people with connections to the person he's going to talk to. Next, he looks at the company's strategic objectives, vision, and priorities, then moves up to researching the industry as a whole. All this research allows Marty to create really customized questions that are highly relevant to the potential client, all within the context of solving a need for the customer.   Mo asks Marty Fagan: What is your personal definition of business development? Business development is sales but in a different way. You have to think strategically from a thought leadership perspective instead of tactically. Sales and marketing should be integrated, and that's what happens within the context of business development. This is the approach TransUnion uses to enter new markets. They combine the sales, solutions, and marketing into one coordinated effort. Marty uses the analogy of the three legged stool. Without the legs of a sales process, a solution to offer the market, and the marketing/outreach of having conversations with people that need your solution, the stool falls over and nothing happens. If one of those elements aren't in place for you, seek out as many subject matter experts on that area as you can to help you develop it. If you don't have it internally, find it externally. When looking at a new market, Marty starts by looking at the solutions his organization already has and how they can apply to that industry to make a customer more effective. It's an outside-in approach that is very powerful.   Mo asks Marty Fagan: When you think of GrowBig Training or the Snowball System, what's your favorite science, step, or story? The Give to Get is the easy answer for Marty. By utilizing the Give to Get, Marty's team establishes a much stronger relationship with their customer and gets them bought in, drastically increasing the odds of landing the business. You're becoming a partner with your customer through the process by investing in them, and in return they often begin investing in you. A Give to Get is essentially offering something of value to a prospect that you think they need before you are hired. This can take the form of thought leadership, connections, and more. It has three criteria: it adds value for them, it's relatively worth it, and it's easy for you to do. The key to a successful Give to Get is that it leads to a next step and the prospect realizing that they can benefit from your expertise. Get to a place where you agree on what success looks like, that mutual agreement is what leads to the next step and eventually the close. With a Give to Get, you're both agreeing to something, and you're working on this in collaboration with each other. You're both investing time and effort into it and that's what ties it all together. Without both sides escalating the commitment level over time, there won't be a future together. Compared to a blind RFP, the Give to Get approach is almost ten times more effective at landing business.   Mo asks Marty Fagan: I want you to tell me of a business development story that you're particularly proud of. Marty tells the story of an opportunity he had been pursuing for three years where his persistence really paid off. Despite the lack of traction for multiple years, Marty kept persisting and keeping the lines of communication open because he knew that the area the client needed help in was something they could provide and the importance level was very high for them. Having the grit to work through the tough times and the seeming lack of progress has resulted in a great business relationship that Marty is really proud of. A lot of business professionals struggle with the front end persistence, where they get little to no response from someone they are trying to build a relationship with. Seeing that as a challenge, instead of an insurmountable obstacle, helps. Marty never lost the belief that he could actually add value to the client, and that gave him the confidence to keep going. Early stage relationships are less like a tennis match, where you need the other person to respond in order to continue playing, and more like practicing your serve. Keep giving. Persistence shows you are serious about adding value, and that takes time.   Mo asks Marty Fagan: If you could record a video about growth or Business Development, and send it back to your younger self, what would you say? First thing is to be authentic. If you truly are authentic, people can pick up on that. And if you're not authentic, they can pick up on that as well. If you're talking to someone and you don't think your solution is a good fit, don't sell it to them. Closing the sale no matter what may work in the short-term, but it's a terrible strategy in the long-term. The second thing is to have a passion for the solution you are offering to your customers. People pick up on your passion, which contributes to that feeling of authenticity. Having passion and authenticity establishes trust, and that trust needs to be in place to have a conversation result in a closed deal. If you've developed a deep expertise, it's okay to be excited about it and convey that energy to people.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com linkedin.com/in/martyfagan

Mo asks Marty Fagan: When you think of GrowBig Training or the Snowball System, what's your favorite science, step, or story? The Give to Get is the easy answer for Marty. By utilizing the Give to Get, Marty's team establishes a much stronger relationship with their customer and gets them bought in, drastically increasing the odds of landing the business. You're becoming a partner with your customer through the process by investing in them, and in return they often begin investing in you. A Give to Get is essentially offering something of value to a prospect that you think they need before you are hired. This can take the form of thought leadership, connections, and more. It has three criteria: it adds value for them, it's relatively worth it, and it's easy for you to do. The key to a successful Give to Get is that it leads to a next step and the prospect realizing that they can benefit from your expertise. Get to a place where you agree on what success looks like, that mutual agreement is what leads to the next step and eventually the close. With a Give to Get, you're both agreeing to something, and you're working on this in collaboration with each other. You're both investing time and effort into it and that's what ties it all together. Without both sides escalating the commitment level over time, there won't be a future together. Compared to a blind RFP, the Give to Get approach is almost ten times more effective at landing business.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com linkedin.com/in/martyfagan

Monty Hamilton shares the principles and strategies he used to start his career, launch Rural Sourcing, and grow the company up to 1,000 employees. Find out why business always boils down to relationships, why the key to solving client problems is to appreciate those problems, and discover the framework for growing both a business and your personal skills.   Mo asks Monty Hamilton: Take us back to the moment when you realized that growth was great and it was something you wanted to focus on. Monty landed a job at Arthur Anderson Consulting out of business school, where he got his start learning how to program in COBOL. Business process reengineering and strategy became part of his day to day eventually. It was there that Monty met the group of guys that would start Clarkson Consulting with him in North Carolina. Business development came into the picture after Monty realized that if he could sell work where he lived, he wouldn't have to travel far from his new family. His success became a matter of landing new work, so he decided to become good at it. Business all boils down to relationships and solving problems. Monty realized that going into a relationship with the goal of making a sale was counterproductive and so committed to a mindset of helping instead. You've got to spend an adequate amount of time appreciating the problem. If you can help a person identify and paint the picture of how gnarly their problem is, then you're in the right room. Appreciating the problem starts with listening and asking good questions, and then discovering whether the issue is a symptom of the problem or if there's something deeper. What are the upstream and downstream effects of the problem? Who else is impacted by it? What's in it for the person you're talking to if you can help them solve the problem? How will it help their career?   Mo asks Monty Hamilton: What is your personal definition of business development? Growth is simply about relationships. Being valuable to someone is intrinsically rewarding. Over the course of Monty's career, the Give To Get mentality became a core part of how he built the business. Fundamentally, it's about whether or not you can create a truly authentic and transparent relationship with someone while helping them. Don't focus on what you're going to get out of a relationship. Instead, focus on being around interesting people that you can also learn from. When you're networking, throw away the title and industry and try to get to know a person's story. In addition to being more effective at developing business, getting to know someone on a personal level is what makes life more enjoyable. Once you land the first meeting, do your research and invest some of your personal time and energy into making their business better, regardless of the end result. If you've got something valuable and you deliver that in a highly personalized and warm way, you've got a chance to meet anyone. Come in with some interesting, customized, tailored questions that show your ability to help and bring perspectives that the client could benefit from. The goal of the first meeting should be to secure the second meeting.   Mo asks Monty Hamilton: What's your favorite science, step, or story from the GrowBIG Training or Snowball System? The blueprint of Monty's business is think big, start small, scale up. Rural Sourcing started out as a 10 person organization and has since scaled up to 1,000 employees, with the future goal of 3,000 employees and 30 centers all over America. It's a growth mindset that can be applied across a 10,000 person organization, but it can also be applied to your personal life. Great intentions can be sabotaged if you try to do too much, too fast. Recognize that, as an individual, you will never be able to do it all. You have personal limitations and must be able to recognize those limitations to unlock your business' potential. You're not going to be perfect on day 1 or day 10,001. The goal is continuous improvement. With that mindset, you can do better, you can get bigger, you can do more. Being willing to reinvest is critical to knowing where you can add value and where someone else can add the value that's missing. To scale up to the next level, you need to understand your strengths and your weaknesses, and to know that you need to ask your peers, colleagues, bosses, and people you can trust to give their honest opinion. People are usually happy to give you feedback, and when you find someone willing to give it to you because they want you to be successful, you may have found a great mentor.   Mo asks Monty Hamilton: Tell us a business development story that you are really proud of. Monty's proudest moment occurred three years ago, when they sold a stake in Rural Sourcing to Bain Capital. It took building the right relationships and getting people to believe in the mission, vision, and story of the organization. Monty brought them into the center in Alabama to give them a feel for the culture and the organization beyond the numbers. After visiting the center, Monty and the crew from Bain Capital had their flights delayed, so he had the opportunity of spending five hours in a rental car with them. No matter how well you practice and prepare, there are always going to be curveballs thrown your way. If you can take them in stride and play your hand well, you can come out the other side and you will win more than you lose. The part of the story that Monty was most proud of was his confidence in himself and his ability to be authentic with people that could have been intimidating. Being confident and authentic is what allows you to perform in business development situations, whether that's selling your business or selling the next deal. When you're authentic, the other person knows exactly what they're buying. It's much worse to pretend and end up delivering subpar results.   Mo asks Monty Hamilton: If you could record a video and send it back to your former self, something around business development or growth mindset, what would it say? Monty would tell himself to not settle. Looking back, he can see that he didn't always have the abundance mindset he needed to grow past barriers. He would also say to take more risks and that it's okay to fail. The third thing would be to enjoy the journey more and be less fixated on the end destination. The pandemic has made celebrating the journey more difficult, but also more precious at the same time. You have to be more intentional in creating those moments.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com #MinuteWithMonty on YouTube linkedin.com/in/montyhamilton