Glen Jackson shares his extensive expertise and experience in relationship building and business development. Learn why doing the unexpected can create outsized results when it comes to your relationships with other people, how to sustainably and genuinely build trust with key clients and prospects, and why relationship building is the exact opposite of networking.

Mo asks Glen Jackson: What is your big idea on how we can grow our book of business and enhance our career?

• Glen’s big idea is the acronym DTU (Do The Unexpected) which is the exact opposite of an IOU. DTU’s are about motivation instead of obligation and when done sincerely and genuinely can be incredibly powerful in creating relationships.
• They come in all shapes and sizes. A smaller DTU could be writing a handwritten note to someone you interacted with recently. Everyone wants to feel noteworthy, and writing a note is a great example of how to make that happen.
• When you refresh others, you refresh yourself. Glen tells the story of how he got caught in the rain and was rescued by a cab driver that went out of his way to help Glen, and how Glen paid the cab driver back.
• One of the easiest ways to show that you care is listening well. In a conversation with someone, you may discover a topic that you can help them learn more about, and pointing them in the right direction is a simple way to do that.
• The best way to create influence with individuals is through empathy and showing that you care. Always tie the DTU to something meaningful to the other person because personalization is where the meaning is going to be.
• Everything you do is a brand ambassador. Everything you do is seen and everything you say is heard by someone.

Mo asks Glen Jackson: What is your best advice for an expert that wants to create and close more opportunities?

• The most important five-letter word in business is trust. Trust is the glue of life. Trust resides on the inside and that makes it extremely powerful.
• Trust is a mix of character and competency. Your character is your credibility as a human being and your competency is your reliability as a professional. When you combine both the end result is trust.
• You can’t force trust. Influence is freely accepted, it’s never forcefully delivered.
• Trust is a peculiar resource. The more you have it and use it, the more you get. It reduces the time and cost of making decisions. When you use the trust you have and don’t abuse it, it snowballs and accumulates over time.
• Most experts want to start off by doing all the talking, but knowing when to actually say something is key to building trust in a relationship. You should be listening more than speaking and asking thoughtful questions. Look for points of connection between you and the other person.
• Glen looks for the moment when he can encapsulate the problem they’ve been talking about during the meeting and then relay it back to them to show that he’s understood what they are trying to solve. From there he offers a possible solution to their problem.
• As a trusted advisor, a lot of people want to know you understand the problem. Don’t rush into trying to offer a solution before that first step. You should be able to recap the problem with clarity, and then provide ideas for moving forward.

Mo asks Glen Jackson: What is your best advice for experts to deepen their relationships?

• Relationship building is a commitment to establishing and investing in relationships that genuinely matter to you. Many businesses are great at establishing the relationship but fall short on the investing part.
• Relationship building is the exact opposite of networking. Networking is a task and relationship building is a commitment. Building relationships is more about transformation than a transaction.
• We live and work in a relational economy. Be more interested than interesting. Cultivate curiosity in what other people are doing and that will help you invest more deeply in that relationship.
• Great leaders that are preeminent impress at a distance and impact up close.
• To show your interest in someone, you have to be intentional and disciplined about it. There are four types of relationship builders and each type has a different mindset. You can be an Investor, Connector, Personalizer, or Observer. Play to your strengths and invest in the way the other person would also appreciate it.

Mo asks Glen Jackson: How can we stay on top of relationship building when so much is vying for our attention every day?

• Have a fresh ice mindset. Glen tells the story of the owner of Home Depot who wanted to discover the secret behind the success of his best performing store. Treating every day as if you had just opened your doors is the mindset you need to succeed in business and relationships.
• Remind yourself what your values are as an organization and live them out every day. You can’t be perfect but you can aim high. Just like external client-facing relationships, you have to invest in the relationships within the team as well.
• Just calling someone who would be delighted in hearing from you can make a massive cumulative impact over time. Your voice is something that can’t be replicated by a text or an email.

Mo shares his insights from the habits of Glen Jackson.

• Do the unexpected. Many business developers find themselves in a sea of sameness. From a positioning and marketing standpoint, everything tends to blend in and look the same. If you’re in that situation the more power you have as an individual human and the more important you are in the decision-making process.
• The good news about being in an industry that is commoditized is that you are the brand and the differentiator. You are the number one thing that separates you from the competition.
• You can interact with clients and prospects differently in ways that they aren’t expecting. There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. The more commoditized the industry is, the more that human interaction matters.
• Trust is vital to relationships and it’s one of the few resources in the world where the more you have and use it, the more you gain. If you’re in a meeting and all you are doing is focusing on building trust it takes the pressure off, speeds up the decision making process, and you are more likely to be chosen the next time.
• When we focus on building trust first and foremost, the right thing happens for the client and the right thing happens for you. Trust results in more purchases, more referrals, and more word of mouth.
• Be more interested than interesting. It’s very rare that people are interested more in other people than in speaking about themselves, but tons of research backs up this approach.
• If you can keep the spotlight on the other person, likeability is formed while you’re asking them questions. If you keep sending it back to them, once the conversation does swing back to you they will be much more curious and interested in you. 80% of the focus should be on the other person.

Mentioned in this Episode:

GrowBIGPlaybook.com

pathtopreeminence.com