One day in mid-2010, three different people suggested I read by Bob Burg and John David Mann. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that, but on this particular day, I heard it three times.
I took it as a sign, fired up the Kindle and forked over the $18.99 for immediate upload to my digital reader. Since I was traveling, I was able to dive right in to find out what all the fuss was about. And my response was “wow.”
If you haven’t read , or the sequel, , then it’s time you did. The basic premise of the Go-Giver philosophy is that, in order to be successful in a sales career, you’ll be far better off putting other people’s needs, wants and desires ahead of your own. It’s not just the polite thing to do (that good ol’ Golden Rule and all), but it’s simply a smart way to live, love, and succeed.
The authors focus primarily on salespeople, perhaps because traditional sales training and wisdom teaches its practitioners just the opposite, and what one might call a Go-TAKER philosophy. It is all about the salesperson—her wants, needs and desires—and how she can best convince her target that he wants what she, the salesperson, wants him to want!
But the authors turn that paradigm on its head. They insist both brilliantly and persuasively that when you make your approach all about the other person and sincerely put their wants and needs ahead of your own, then you’re pretty darned likely to come out ahead.
Here’s the thing. When you are self-employed, you are dependent on the good will, trust and support of other people who inhabit the planet with you. You can’t be a successful entrepreneur all by yourself; you need customers, who are in all likelihood going to be human beings.
Therefore, it only makes sense that you’d want to behave in a way that will make those other human beings like and trust you. This is best accomplished by treating them the way they want to be treated, not by utitlizing aggressive sales pitches.
In other words, “It’s not about you, it’s about them.”
So, how can we apply Go-Giver principles to a real estate business?
We can create a message and delivery of that message that will be welcomed by others, instead of assaulting others with sales pitches.
We can take the time to prove ourselves deserving of a new buyer’s commitment, instead of pressuring them to agree to an exclusive arrangement before they’re ready.
We can provide a clear, coherent and persuasive explanation of our commission structure to sellers, instead of defensively rebuffing their reasonable requests to justify our fees.
We can approach For Sale By Owners with a sincere desire to help, instead of insulting their intelligence with an arsenal of intimidating material intended to make them feel stupid.
We can inspire our friends to refer to us because we’re the best real estate agents they know, instead of repeatedly pestering them for business and referrals.
We can inspire open house visitors to want us to have their contact information, instead of tricking them into providing it.
We can help our buyers decide if now is the right time, for them, to buy a home, instead of looking for ways to push them off the fence…
Treating others the way you’d like to be treated is a viable business strategy, and the Go-Giver books demonstrate that philosophy beautifully. Seriously, it’s good stuff.
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