#131: Win-Win: Building a Bank of Goodwill
“I am so frustrated with social media.”
“No one sees my content anymore after the last algorithm change.”
“I'm at a loss as to how to generate more customers for our company.”
“Paid advertising suddenly stopped working for us.”
These are the types of comments I hear daily from the brilliant experts and organizations that I'm honored to serve as a growth consultant and business strategist
Trying to grow your business by leveraging digital channels and social media is creating a whole heck of a lot of frustration across all industries.
So how do you grow your business? The answer is networking.
But for many people, networking is a massive barrier to creating relationships that make a positive impact on our businesses.
So tune into this episode to hear more about building a bank of goodwill.
For a limited time, if you preorder the book, you will receive a relationship marketing toolkit free of cost (valued at $1,200). Head to createyourwinwin.com and click on the preorder button. Then, go back to the website, put in your order number and look for your free training in your inbox.
Listen to the Show:
Laura 00:00
Have you heard I wrote a book, it's coming out on December 6. And this podcast is part of a series that I have recorded in anticipation of the book release. The book is called Win Win. And it's all about how to grow your business leveraging the power of relationships. And if you would like to preorder the book, I have a special gift for you. And it is a relationship marketing toolkit that is completely free when you preorder Win Win. In order to be able to enjoy this free gift go to create your winwin.com that's create your winwin.com go ahead and click on the preorder button. And then go back to the website put in your order number and we will be providing you this training. And we will provide you with immediate access a $1,200 value just for pre ordering the book.
Laura 00:52
Welcome to the Next Level Leap podcast. I'm your host, Laura Meyer top growth strategist to some of the country's fastest growing brands, and mentor to consultants. My signature leap methodology has changed the way 1000s of companies look at growth strategy, and this podcast shares best practices and inspirational interviews to help you make that next level leap in your business. Stick around and join me as I share the journey of how we as founders can multiply our income impact and influence by landing on the other side of our next big leap. Let's go!
Laura 01:34
I am so frustrated with social media. No one sees my content anymore after the last algorithm change. I'm at a loss as to how to generate more customers for our company. Paid advertising suddenly stopped working for us. These are the types of comments I hear daily from the brilliant experts and organizations that I'm honored to serve as a growth consultant and business strategist. And trying to grow your business by leveraging digital channels and social media is creating a whole heck of a lot of frustration across all industries. Because there was a time I don't know if you'll remember it more we could create content, and the people that we were connected to and like just magically see it. Doing the simple task of developing good quality thought leadership and developing it and distributing it across the internet really made our lives easier. It actually was effective. And that streamlined communication giving us a way to become more productive within the ever evolving, fast paced world that we live in. And so what happened, when did all of a sudden, this become so much more difficult than it was? So we think, okay, we're going to invest in relationship marketing, I'm gonna find some affiliates, I'm going to make some connections, I'm going to get started networking. But here's the truth is that networking as just about as ineffective as posting something to social media and hoping that the algorithm likes you that day. And it's because when we're networking, we feel like we have to often pretend that we're like, we're someone we're not, we feel like we have to show up a very particular way. And for those of us who have advanced businesses, a lot of times when we show up to networking organizations, or we show up to the rooms where the high
level business conversations are happening, we have to be very masculine, because that's the energy of the room. And that's what we need to do to fit in. I remember when I was part of these male dominated CEO groups, which don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with men. I enjoy the company of my male colleagues just as much as I enjoy the company of my female colleagues. But when it comes to networking, this can be a particularly treacherous place for female entrepreneurs to be hanging out. In these multimillion dollar CEO groups that are often local that you might be familiar with. There is often not a woman to be found. I recall one time that I walked in with a male colleague both of us seven figure business owners at the time.
Laura 04:14
And if we have not met yet in person, I'll just tell you right now I am what you might call vertically challenged. Petite, short, fun sized even. Many times when I meet people, they say, oh my gosh, I thought you were gonna be much taller than you are. And if you are vertically challenged yourself, you've probably heard comments like this. Well, in a scenario like the one I'm about to tell you, being vertically challenged doesn't exactly help the matter. Not only am I very petite, but I'm standing next to this very large guy who's dressed professionally. And more than once I was asked if I was the assistant of the person I was standing next to. At first I got kind offended, I would be like I'm, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm just as successful as he is. And one time I was patted on the head and told I was cute. It got to a such a point of hilarity that I would often just play along and say, Oh, yes, Brian next to me. I'm his hydration assistant, I follow him along with the entire conference with water. And I just make sure that he's properly hydrated so that he doesn't go dry. People would look at me kind of confused, like they're trying to figure out whether or not I was serious, Brian being in health and fitness kind of made sense. But they weren't 100% sure it was to whether or not they could believe me. Well, for many of us, this is just one of the several negative experiences that we've had with networking. So if networking is a hot mess, how do we get into relationship marketing the right way. For many people networking is a massive barrier to creating relationships that make a positive impact on our businesses. So in this second episode in a series, where I'm sharing with you some of the concepts of my book coming out on December 6 of this year, and by the way, if you want to preorder the book, I would be so appreciative, you can go to createyourwinwin.com, you can preorder the book and get my free relationship marketing toolkit. And that way, you can read along with some of the concepts that I'll be sharing in this episode of the Next Level Leap podcast.
Laura 06:38
A lot of times people think that relationship marketing is all about the ask. It's all about getting in the right room at the right people in front of the right crowd and posting about the right thing at the right time and the right social media platform. It's enough to make a person crazy. And we're so worried about doing this right and what could go wrong, we often forget about the big picture of what's possible. And the truth is in that in business, long term growth doesn't start
with actions today, that gives you an immediate return with anything in business. With anything worth doing, it's always about the long game. Whether we're running an ad, or producing a podcast like this one, or building a sales funnel, there's always going to be a lot of work involved. So what I hope to help you do with this podcast episode and in my book is to create the right relationships and the right way. So you can grow your business well, so that your hard work yields years of results for the effort, and that it contributes to the future growth of your business. Because the thing is, is that when we think about relationship marketing, the way in which we fuel our businesses through the connections that we're making has three main components. The first is credibility, and that we'll be sharing a little bit more about that today. The second is visibility. And the third is community. The reason why credibility is so important, and why it's rarely seen in this fast paced online world that we're so grown to becoming accustomed to, is that credibility takes away people's fear of referring you, of connecting with you or collaborating with you or creating a partnership with you. And that's why credibility is the first place we always want to start when it comes to relationship marketing.
Laura 08:30
The truth is trust has never been more important in marketing. And at the same time, it's never been in shorter supply. And an article titled Three Ways Marketers Can Earn and Keep Customers Trust, Harvard Business Review reported in a 2021 survey of 1000 customers that more than 80% consider trust as a deciding factor in their buying decisions, despite the fact that they only trust 34% of the brands that they do business with. So why is it that we can't just walk into a room and assume that we're going to be trusted right away? The trust that we build with our audience and with the people around us builds credibility with potential partners and referral partners and collaborators and customers. So many entrepreneurs struggle with creating that trust? Because they wonder, well, first and foremost, how do I even establish credibility? How is it that I'm showing up in a way that creates a credible connection? How am I creating a connection with my values, my unique perspective, something that is particularly important in relationship marketing more than anything else. People want to know what is it that you stand for? What are you against, and what is it that you believe? What makes your point of view interesting, compelling and magnetic?
Laura 09:57
This is something that I think a lot of entrepreneurs underestimate, for example, I recently made a connection between two people, one of which was somebody I have an acquaintance ship with. And the other is a influencer. The person I'm an acquaintance with, really wanted to meet this influencer, who I have a close relationship with. And I asked the influencer for permission first, and then introduced the two of them. Immediately, the individual that I have an acquaintanceship with asked way too much, without establishing any credibility. She asked, would you like to meet you want to get together in person? Would you like to have coffee, and the influencer was like, Oh, my gosh, I was just having a nice little introduction as a favor to
Laura. And I felt bad, because I'm the one that had to go back to her and tell her that feedback, I had to tell her that that ask was really inappropriate, and out of context. And she didn't mean any harm a bit by at all. In fact, she's an incredible person with a huge heart. But what happens is, in this fast paced online world, we assume everybody's available for anything at any time. And the truth is, is that when we're first interacting with somebody, the biggest goal you should have is not trying to get what you want out of the situation, but to establish trust.
Laura 11:24
So how do we do that? How do we create trust with the people around us with our communities in which we serve the networks and where we're showing up without networking the old way, but by developing credibility in a new and refreshing way? Well, first, we want to continually look for ways that we can add value to the other person that we're in communication with, and doesn't matter what it is that we think they can do for us or what we can do for them. Our primary goal with any interaction, first and foremost, should always be to create value. We want to consistently look for opportunities to be helpful. Look for conversations where you can provide experience or expertise or offer a suggestion or connection, and always have something to offer in any exchange. If you go into a room where you're looking for a podcast, you can be interviewed on, make sure that you have something to offer an exchange, maybe a podcast on your own, or a LinkedIn live or anything that you can create. This does not take a lot of time, money or resources. It's just going through the effort of making sure that you don't show up to a dinner party empty handed, make sure that you have something to offer in exchange, and develop a reciprocity versus an extraction mindset. This is something I've seen so often, particularly in the online entrepreneurship space.
Laura 12:47
People are constantly in this frantic mode of trying to get that next client or that next sale, or they're unintentionally walking around with like dollar signs in their eyes. And people can sense it, and it's a turnoff. So think what you can do to create reciprocity with the person in front of you. Also consider who has complementary offers to yours, where their offer might start where yours ends, or theirs picks up where yours leaves off. Some of the examples that I provide in my book, Win Win, for example, might be a CPA who partners with a bookkeeping firm. That's a pretty an easy and straightforward example. But think creatively about your own business. What do people need in addition to your services, so maybe you're a fitness professional, and you end up partnering with a grocery store delivery boutique operation that specializes in healthy foods, and delivers them right on time, or some kind of juice delivery operation. I'm just brainstorming here as I'm recording this podcast, but hopefully, it will get your ideas flowing in terms of who might have a complementary offer to yours. But before even asking them to partner, your goal should always be to establish credibility, so you can eliminate any fear of collaborating or referring you. That is your number one goal when you're first making
connection. People are going to be naturally skeptical or concerned about partnering with anybody or everybody because many people have been burned.
Laura 14:14
Maybe they've hired somebody or partnered with them and things went sideways, or they're referred people before and it hasn't worked out, which always reflects poorly on the individual who made the original connection. So make sure that you're doing everything you can to build up credibility to eliminate that fear. To let people know that you're different. You're actually somebody who does what it is that you say you're going to do. You know your stuff, you have expertise in your field and you're really good at getting your clients results. You don't need to be the biggest personality the room you don't be the most expert extroverted, you don't need to take up the most space unless you want to. You don't even need to be the tallest and if that is something that you enjoy doing. You enjoy taking up a lot of space you enjoy being I'm very extroverted think go for it. But what you do need to do is make sure that you ask anybody for anything. Before you even do that. You're creating this bank of goodwill around you, where you're constantly filling other people's buckets with your knowledge, your expertise, your encouragement, and your inspiration. And then when it comes to ask for things in return, it's an easy yes, rather than an awkward silence.
Laura 15:28
So many of us know that we need to build these Win Win relationships. And I recommend getting started by deliberately entering into new relationships with the intention of being extremely helpful, creating value for the other party. And from there, we form connections with people in a variety of different ways. Maybe they're behind us in terms of their own business growth or development, or maybe they're a few steps ahead of us. Maybe there are people that we aspire to be like, or they're very much our peers. But either way, no matter where we are with the person that's in front of us, we develop these relationships by first building trust, and communicating clearly about the specific problems of the people that we help, and what we stand for what we believe in, and what we care about both personally and professionally. In the next episode of the Next Level Leap Podcast, I'll be talking about the second stage of relationship building, which is getting visible. A lot of times you'll hear people say you just have to get visible and I think you just need to get visible. But credibility brings visibility, wouldn't difficult to grow your business without that credibility established first. When you try to grow your business or try to increase visibility without an established credibility. You're honestly just another person yakking on the internet, just another person creating noise. That's why it's so important to start with credibility. And if this is something you want to learn more about, I encourage you to go to create your winwin.com it's create your winwin.com where you can preorder book and get on my email list. When you preorder the book, you can exchange that pre order book number for my Relationship Marketing Toolkit. I'll also be offering some really fun prizes encouragement for you to spread the news on this fantastic book that I've been
working so hard on and I can't wait to share with you. Thanks so much for being here. And I'll see you at the next episode of the next level leap podcast. We'll be sharing the second piece of relationship marketing, which is visibility.
Laura 17:32
Make sure to visit our website yournextlevelleap.com where you can subscribe to the show and Apple podcasts stitcher or RSS, so you never miss a show. And while you're at it, if you found value in what you heard today, we would love a rating on Apple podcast. Or if you simply tell a friend about the show that would help us out too. Thank you so much for listening!
The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.