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Managment Matters

Welcome to the January 2007 issue of BOSSMENTOR® Business.

This month we have the third feature article in our series on Client Growth. We focus on how to use the power of connectors to multiply your business growth opportunities.

Don’t forget to download our e-book if you haven’t already – ‘How to Accelerate Client Growth’.

In this issues:

Enjoy, and have a great month!

Jenny Stilwell .

BOSS MENTOR®
get a grip on your business.....

In this issue

 

Latest News – The Mastermind Challenge

What is the Challenge? Who is part of the Mastermind? The Mastermind group will have one objective only, and 6 months in which to do it.

If we achieve our objective, this could create a brand new business growth model for companies of any size.

The members of this group have been selected to join, and all have embraced the excitement around the Challenge, because each member understands the potential power that can be created from within a Mastermind.

When you know what we’re doing, and how we go about it, you’ll want to be part of your own Mastermind Challenge too.

This Challenge has instantly engaged the few people who know about it. It will engage you too...

If you’re curious about what will be created behind closed doors…..wait for the next issue and the next insight!

Feature Article – Use the power of ‘connectors’ to multiply your business growth!

First of all, do you have connectors working ‘for’ your business?

Read each of these statements below, and say whether you agree or disagree with them:

  • So many people, especially those with service-based companies, say they have grown their business mostly through referrals. Maybe you have too.
  • Mostly, they/you do little to generate these referrals, and they just flow into your business.
  • Sometimes, we have to ask our contacts for introductions to specific people they know, or ask them if they know anyone they could refer us to in a particular organisation or industry.
  • Some of our contacts and clients are far better at referring new prospective clients and contacts to us than others.
  • The good referrers often will refer many new business opportunities to us.
  • These people often have great networks, have a lot of contact with different people during the course of their business and personal life. They’re connected to a lot of contacts, and they connect people together. That’s how they refer new client opportunities to you.
  • When we receive our new clients, through the ‘connector’ referrals, we look after our new clients.

So far, so good? I’m assuming (and hoping) you agreed with most of those statements. I’m hoping that you know, and have this kind of referral relationship, with at least one connector.

‘6 degrees of separation’ can build your client base exponentially

Let’s look into this a bit further. Keep asking yourself if you agree with these statements:

  • We spend as much time and focus looking after our connectors, as we do with our clients.
  • We thank and reward our connectors for helping us grow our business.
  • We proactively build our network of connectors and potential sources of new introductions and referrals.

If you agreed with most of these statements, you’re doing a great job at growing your new business growth opportunities. If not, you probably need to start building your own network and thinking more strategically about who you know, and who they know.

I use this simple matrix with my clients, to help them leverage off the relationships they have with their connectors, contacts, and clients. It will help you to:

  • Build your network
  • Connect you to more people who you could potentially do business with
  • Focus you on strengthening relationships with key people
  • Be clear about who you have the most positive business relationships with (in both a business and personal sense)
  • Focus on the best-fit relationship building activities for your business
  • Build business growth from new connections and contacts

Follow this 3-step process to help you build your own connector network:

Step 1: Use the table below to help you map out:

  • Your direct network - connectors, contacts, your clients, people you know of or may have met once or twice. There are 4 levels.
  • Your ‘indirect’ network - The contacts, colleagues, client base etc of your direct network.

Connectors – Your Direct Network

Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

These people seem to know a lot of people.

You are likely to not know them very well, or at all. They could be a friend of a friend.

If you target them successfully, you could be connected to a large network of their contacts.

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These people may be connectors, but you have to qualify.

They appear to have access to a large network of people.

You know them well enough; they could connect you if asked.

They may not feel comfortable connecting people.

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These people may have an extensive client network which is complementary to your business.

They may not necessarily connect you if you don't prompt them.

If you drew a line from these people to others, the end network would be very large.

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Centres of influence are not only well connected, but well respected. Others listen to them. They may have high profiles.

They will refer you to others proactively.

They support and promote you.

They connect people.

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Connectors’ Contacts - Your Indirect Network

Who moves in the same circles as Level 4?

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Who is in the same circles as Level 3?

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Who is known by/works with Level 2?

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Who is closely connected to Level 1 (eg: via Boards)

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Step 2: Identify which companies, specific clients, or people you would like to be introduced to or referred to.

For example, let’s say you’d like to contact the head of Sales at a particular company, and you know that one of your clients does business with this company; ask them if they know who heads up Sales. Alternatively, ask if they could put you in touch with the contact they do have, so you can find the head of Sales via this other person.

Step 3: Ask for an introduction. Make the call/send an email/letter.

This can be a very powerful tool, but DON’T abuse it, and ALWAYS deliver value back to the person who connected you. You have to give something too, that is of value to the connector, and which will continue to grow the relationship you have with that person.

Draw up the Connector Matrix, and give it a try over the next month. See where the Power of Connectors and 6 degrees of separation can take you! Good luck in building your business growth opportunities.

Travel Corner

A friend of mine has just returned from an amazing month travelling in the Antarctic. Andrew and his wife Tracey, two other couples, the Skipper, the ‘expedition’ leader and a few others in the support team, set off in early January for what many would call the trip of a lifetime.

Have a look at the photos below to see just how incredible the scenery is.

Andrew said that he’s never been anywhere in the world where you could easily get killed at any turn. The temperatures of course are freezing, although the sun in these shots could be misleading. While out hiking one day, Andrew slipped on the ice, fell straight down a crevasse, but was hooked up and hauled up.

The wildlife is apparently amazing, with so many different species of birds in particular, and from Andrew’s photos, it appears that some of the seals are the length of a small room. Really! Penguins everywhere, and in one photo, I asked Andrew what the ‘white planks’ were on the rocks. “Whale bones.” And there appeared to be quite a lot of them.

As you can see from these fantastic photos, it would be a truly amazing trip. Looking at these photos, the apparent scale of the mountains reminds me of driving through Austria and Switzerland.

I asked Andrew what the most memorable moment was during this journey, and his response was that there were many. No wonder!

This is holiday travel at a whole new level. Andrew has the bug, and needless to say, the next trip will be more of an ‘expedition’ and less of a ‘trip’.

If you’re interested in taking this trip through the Antarctic, visit www.uniquefrontiers.com for more information.

Thanks Andrew!

Best Info

This is a little off-centre from the usual sorts of information we profile, and recommend. I’ve had the DVD for many months now, but suddenly it’s gaining momentum both here and in the US (Larry King, Oprah). If you can, get a copy of ‘The Secret’. It was made by Rhonda Byrne, who was based in Melbourne and is now in the US.

The philosophy of The Secret is based on believing and visualising what you want, to make those things happen. All great artists, businesspeople, philosophers and achievers throughout time have lived according to this belief. And for those who understand this, that is ‘The Secret’.

If you have a look at the quotes below, and when they were made, you will realise that this ‘secret’ has been known by many, for a very, very long time!

Visit www.thesecret.tv to find out for yourself.

Top Tips

For those of you who run your own business, or others who are planning careers working for someone else, try your planning a different way. As Michael Gerber advocates, use your heart and not your head when working out your vision.

Watch The Secret, think about the quotes below, and start to dream about what you really want and how you want to be living, and then focus on that vision. As you focus on what you really want, your actions and your reality will start to match your vision.

Don’t do your business planning based on what’s possible for the business, or achievable for the business, but base it on what you want the business to enable you to do in your life.

It’s a different approach, but it’s also more fun this way!!

Quote Them

“They are able who think they are able.” Virgil, 70-19BC (Roman poet)

“The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.” Frank Lloyd Wright, 1869-1959 (American architect)

‘Whether you believe you can do a thing or believe you can’t, you are right.” Henry Ford, 1863-1947(American car manufacturer)

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” Anatole France, 1844-1924 (French writer)