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Bob Burg is the author of Endless Referrals, and co-author of The-Go Giver series of management parables. He is a popular speaker who has shared the stage with business leaders, broadcast personalities and even a former U.S. President. Bob has spent 30 years working with sales leaders and companies to more effectively communicate their value and grow their businesses via referrals.
Takeaway Quote:
“When you operate from a sense of gratitude you are more attractive to others.”
Show Timeline:
2:01 An introduction to the premise of Bob’s Go-Giver series of books
5:16 How to re-frame the idea of selling to make it much more comfortable
10:42 The five basic laws of success from the original Go-Giver book
17:41 Bob expands on the art of (truly) listening
22:19 How to incorporate all five elements of value in your relationships with clients and prospects
24:00 The concept of Walking Ambassadors
27:55 How to demonstrate your fiduciary commitment beyond the products and strategies you recommend
34:55 The importance of leading authentically
38:48 Planting the seeds of referrals
Links:
Websites: www.thegogiver.com, https://burg.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burgbob
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobburg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobburg/
Want more?
Stephen Wershing: www.TheClientDrivenPractice.com/checklistblog
Julie Littlechild: www.absoluteengagement.com/blog
Episode Transcript:
Steve Wershing:
Welcome to Becoming Referable, the podcast that shows you how to become the kind of advisor people can’t stop talking about. I’m Steve Wershing. On this episode, we talk with Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals, and with John David Mann, The Go-Giver Series of Management Parables. Bob is a popular speaker who has shared the stage with business leaders, broadcast personalities and even a former U.S. President. In this conversation, we dig into the philosophy of the go-giver, and that if you want more success and referrals it’s all about how much you give. We talk about how a go-getter is not the opposite of a go-giver and what is. We cover some of the five laws of stratospheric success. We address how one of the secrets of influence is listening, but maybe in a different way than you and other advisors do with clients currently.
We talk about how putting your clients’ interests first is critically important and is also a broader idea than just the fiduciary standard. And listen through to the end where we talk about how to plant seeds of referrals in all of your conversations. This is truly one of those interviews I wish could have gone on a lot longer, but what we cover is really interesting, valuable and it gives us an opportunity to cover more than just the practical tips but to dig down into the philosophy and understand a little bit more about why it works. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as Julie and I did. So with that, let’s get right onto our conversation with Bob Burg.
Bob Burg, welcome to the Becoming Referable podcast. Thanks for joining us.
Bob Burg:
Thank you. Great to be with you both, Steve and Julie. It’s just a real honor and a pleasure.
Julie Littlechild:
Great.
Steve Wershing:
We’re very excited to talk with you today because I have been going through your books and there is a lot of really good stuff in there. We’re never going to be able to fit it in a half an hour, but can you give us a little background? You started with Endless Referrals and then you went on to the whole Go Giver series of books, which has taken off like crazy. Can you tell us a little bit about the premise and where that idea came from?
Bob Burg:
Yeah, well the book Endless Referrals was really … it was a how to book for entrepreneurs and sales professionals who, they knew they had a great product or service. They knew it brought wonderful value to those they served, but they didn’t feel comfortable necessarily in the business development process, going out and meeting people, doing so in a way in which they felt comfortable and in which the other person would feel comfortable.
Steve Wershing:
Sure.
Bob Burg:
So it was really a how to book on how to develop relationships that would cause people to want to do business with them and refer them to others. The underlying premise of that book was simply all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust. That’s what it was about. Now while … and this was the first edition of that book came out back in the 90’s, and I’d always enjoyed reading parables. Because they’re stories; stories connect with people on a heart level, and we take in the information and we can … and I thought how can we take … and this is over the course of 10 years, 15 years … I thought how could we take the basic premise of Endless Referrals and put it into a parable? And I thought well, so what then is the major characteristic of a person who is able to develop these know, like and trust relationships quickly and sustainably?
And the answer is, they’re always giving. They’re giving value to others. They’re always looking for ways to bring value to others. We kind of came up with that title, The Go-Giver, which is not, by the way, the opposite of a go-getter. We love go-getters because go-getters take action, right?
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