“Who’s In Your Room?” Second Editionstring(42) "“Who’s In Your Room?” Second Edition"

January 26, 2023
, BNI, Book, Integrated

The revised and updated Second Edition of my book Who’s In Your Room? is released! I’m excited about this version because we’ve tripled the content in the book and included many stories about how people have integrated the concepts from the book into their lives.

I joined my good friend and co-author, Stewart Emery, to make the announcement in this short video.

The Second Edition of “Who’s In Your Room?” also has practical exercises that you can implement to create the room of your dreams… the LIFE of your dreams.

 

The book is available in three formats, paperback, e-book download, and audiobook, all at this link: https://amzn.to/3kIGZFy 
I invite you to get your copy and share your thoughts.

Work Your Network With the 4Cs – Credibilitystring(46) "Work Your Network With the 4Cs – Credibility"

December 26, 2022
, , BNI, Book, Competence, Credibility 1

In the book I co-authored with Dr. Oudi Abouchacra, “Work Your Network With the 4Cs,” we share that The Four Cs are the foundation for all relationships.
Competence
Credibility
Clarity
Connectivity

For successful business networking, I believe it is critical to understand each of them. As I shared in BNI Podcast episode 772, the first “C” – Competence, is the primary driver of referrals in a business practice. However, competence alone will not unlock referrals.

The Second “C” is Credibility

People do not refer business to another person unless they feel confident that they are trustworthy. The importance of trustworthiness is closely aligned with our second “C” – Credibility. It is the quality of being believable or worthy of trust. Trust and credibility are so closely related that some people use them synonymously.

Credibility, when combined with Competence, will decrease the time it takes for you to reach the confidence point in the Referral Confidence Curve. The work of social psychologists helps illustrate the interrelated nature of credibility and competence. In studies, they have found that people evaluate each other by asking themselves two questions when they meet someone new, “Can I trust this person?” and “Can I respect this person?” Ideally, you want to be perceived as having both qualities.

For years I’ve said, when you give a referral away, you give away a little bit of your reputation. When you give a good referral, it enhances your reputation. When you give a bad referral, it hurts your reputation. I think trust is incredibly important – you must be able to trust your referral partners and be trusted in return.

Sometimes businesspeople assume they must prove that they’re smart enough to handle new business before potential customers will be willing to part with their hard-earned cash. And while this is true, people are misguided if they don’t also focus on making sure that they demonstrate they are worthy of trust.

In the 4Cs book, we speak about gaining the confidence of members within your network, and we believe that means they trust you as a person and that they know you’re good at your job. The faster you can showcase your competence and establish credibility with a fellow member, the faster they will have confidence in you and the quicker they’ll give you referrals. Building strong business relationships with potential referral partners means that you need to take time to really get to know one another at an individual level.

Confidence Leads to Credibility

Remember that it’s not your confidence that counts. It is their confidence in your ability to provide a quality product or service. When someone has confidence in you, then you become credible. Your credibility is based on their confidence in you. When your networking partners have high confidence in your ability to provide a quality service and products, then you have high credibility with them. Their confidence determines your credibility.

If you feel that you aren’t getting referrals from somebody that you have a really strong relationship with, I suggest that you sit down and talk to them. Find out if they have any concerns about your ability to do a particular job with their clients or patients or customers. If they do have concerns, then you need to work on those items to be able to develop the necessary credibility.

A final thought: When you are networking, speaking from the stage, on a webinar, or during a one-to-one business meeting, make sure that you are showing both your Competence and your Credibility.

 

 

 

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Go from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Go from Where You Are to Where You Want to Bestring(45) "Go from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be"

July 4, 2022
, , , , Author, BNI, Book, Business, Goals, Jack Canfield, Success

My friend Jack Canfield is a best-selling author with hundreds of books, including The Success Principles and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. He has also been my guest on The Official BNI Podcast. This blog is from my podcast conversation with Jack about how to get from where you currently are to where you want to be. We discuss his book, The Success Principles, and the companion book, The Success Principles Workbook, which helps people integrate the principles into their personal and professional success stories.

Many people read helpful books like The Success Principles and are excited about the ideas they get. However, many don’t do the things that they learned about – sometimes they need more support. Jack shares some ideas, exercises, and activities from The Success Principles Workbook which provide a way to integrate and apply the principles.

Recognizing OUR Part in Creating Our Experiences

It’s easy to talk about taking 100% responsibility and giving up blaming and complaining. But to actually do that requires some interaction with you and your thinking process. There is an exercise called ‘The Difficult and Troubling Experience Exercise’ where you answer a series of questions such as “What’s a difficult or troubling experience in your life – at work or at home?” And then “How are you creating it?” Because we’re always doing something to create the current situation.

Jack shares the story of a person he met who was getting robbed all the time, and Jack asked him, “Where do you live?” He said, “New York.” Jack said, “In an apartment?” He said, “Yeah.” Jack: “What floor is it?” He replied, “The first floor.” Jack asked him if he had bars on the apartment windows to which the man answered, “No.” “Do you have triple locks on the door?” “No.”  “Do you have a alarm system to alert the police if someone breaks in?” “No.”
Jack then asked him, “What are you pretending not to know? You live on the first-floor apartment in New York City. So, one of the next questions is what are you pretending not to know? And then the question is – What’s the payoff for keeping it like it is?”

What’s the cost of keeping the situation like it is?
What would you rather be experiencing?
What actions would you need to take to create what you really want?
On a scale of one to 10, are you likely to do that?
And when will you do that?  

These types of questions take you through a process of looking at what’s not working in your life and how you’re creating it. You’re not a victim but there’s something you’re doing to either create, promote, or allow it to happen.

Life Purpose

Jack recommends three exercises to help us get clarity about our life purpose.

  1. It’s important to have a vision. He suggests creating a vision for seven different areas of your life.
  2. Goal Setting. Turn your vision into goals and create an affirmation for each of your goals.
  3. Create a mastermind group. Determine the five or six people you would like in your group and decide the date by which you’re going to call them. Meet with your mastermind group virtually or in person every two weeks.

 

Accountability Partner Culture

For business success, find an accountability partner to talk to every morning. Tell them five things that you plan to do that day to achieve your breakthrough goal, and then they tell you five things they are going to do to achieve their breakthrough goal. The next day, you hold each other accountable for the five things you each said you would do.
Do this for five days each week.

I find that many people like this concept, however they say, “I don’t have time to do that.” What I think is crazy, is they’re stuck in their life and they’re having challenges. They’re not making things work, but they don’t have a few minutes a day to do one thing to help themselves.

Create an accountability partner culture. Take five minutes, once a day. The reality is you can’t afford NOT to do it. As humans, we avoid doing the things that are uncomfortable or difficult, even if they have the greatest long-term benefits.

Often, we never do the big goals or make the big breakthroughs that you do when you have an accountability partner and a mastermind group. Those five minutes every morning are so valuable. Jack told me, “It’s literally been one of the greatest secrets of my success and the people in my company.”

One Thing at a Time

Many people spend way too much time doing things that are ineffective and then they don’t have the time they want for their family, for self-care, for exercise, meditation, or even healthy eating. It can be overwhelming when you try to do everything at once. When we are overwhelmed, we usually don’t do anything.
Do one thing at a time, space it out, and then integrate it, so that it becomes part of your natural experience – it becomes a habit.

Jack recommends that people create FOUR new habits a year. Resist the urge to do more than that. If you create four new habits a year – for your health, business, home – AND you stick with them, in five years you’ll have 20 new habits! The habits that you have are what get you where you want to go. OR, if they are bad habits, they’re keeping you stuck. Implementing positive changes, over time and consistently, can change your life and help you get to where you want to be.

I love Jack and appreciate how much he shares to help others be successful. Check out his website, his blog, and the many free resources he offers. I can tell you firsthand that he is somebody who walks the talk. He doesn’t just talk about success. He lives the principles that he talks about.

3 Ways to Attract the Customers You Deserve

3 Ways to Attract the Customers You Deservestring(43) "3 Ways to Attract the Customers You Deserve"

June 30, 2022
, , , BNI, Book, Business, Networking 6

Businesspeople know that they need to get more customers to grow their business and reach their company goals. One of the best ways to gain new clients is through referrals from the people in your networks. I have found that an effective way to receive referrals is to be the go-to problem-solver for your desired target market.

I’m going to share a mini course on how to attract your ideal customer from the book, The Connector Effect, which I co-authored with Graham Weihmiller and Robert Skrob.

Let’s get started. There are three parts to this exercise and all three need to be completed for best results. Within two minutes or less, write a response to each of these questions or requests. Don’t overthink your answers and know that the more you treat this as a lightning-round type of exercise, the more you’ll get out of it.

  1. Describe Your Ideal Customer

Many would-be marketers fail because they never define a target client. Instead, they use words like “everybody” or “anybody.” Defining a target market gives your referral partners a mental picture of the best customer to refer to you.

Answer the following if your clients are consumers:

  1. Think of a person who is already a great customer for you: what area do they live in?
  2. What is their family status and profession?
  3. How does their household income compare with the average?
  4. What are they planning, bragging or complaining about?

If your clients are other businesses, answer these questions:

  1. Think of a company that is already a great customer for you: What line of business is that customer in?
  2. What’s the approximate size?
  3. Who makes the buying decisions for your product or service?
  4. What’s the problem they are trying to solve when buying your product?

When you are specific, you are serving your fellow members in your networking group by giving them a clear idea of your ideal patron. The more detailed you are, the more effective they will be in finding those referrals for you.

  1. What problems are you solving for them?

Too many businesspeople talk about their products and services. This sounds self-serving, however, talking about the problems you solve makes you into a giver who attracts customers.

  1. List at least three problems your good customer has that makes them ideal for your business.
  2. What is the worst thing that could possibly happen to your clients if their problems aren’t solved?
  3. What is the best thing that can happen once their problems are solved?
  4. Do you have success stories to illustrate how you help your customers? (Client testimonials are a great way to give your network a clearer idea of what exactly you deliver, and they demonstrate that your group members can trust you to deliver what you promise.)

  1. Perfect Your Presentation

Now that you’ve identified examples of your experience as a problem-solver, let’s pull the above information into a brief presentation that you can share during business networking meetings, industry events, and business mixers.

Here are the three elements of the perfect business introduction:

  1. State your professional classification.
  2. Tell a brief story about a problem you solved for a customer.
  3. Request a referral – “who do you know who is [insert target customer] who suffers [from the issue you corrected in the brief story].” Be specific!

It’s important to remember that each presentation is only about ONE particular problem that you solved for your client. Avoid the laundry list – if you overshare by telling everything you do, it will dilute the effectiveness of your presentation, resulting in few, if any, referral opportunities.

These three steps will help you develop presentations that attract the customers you want from your referral partners.
Once you learn how to create these presentations for your business, you can also use this skill for any club, charity, or campaign that you lead to develop an easy and memorable way to talk about those activities, too.  

I’d like to hear your feedback and results from doing this exercise. Share your story in the comments section.

They’ll Interview Anyone With a Bookstring(38) "They’ll Interview Anyone With a Book"

May 26, 2022
, , , Advertising, Author, BNI, Book, Interview, Networking 4

My assistant recently asked me about something I said during a presentation. She thought it seemed to contradict what I have previously shared about self-talk and the power of our words.

In that presentation I was talking about the early days of BNI®, the international networking organization I founded, and how I tried to get some publicity by contacting the local media. They asked what I was promoting and when I said, “My company,” they suggested that I take out an advertisement.

I continued telling the story by saying, “However, I discovered that the media would interview any idiot with a book, and I have 26.”

My assistant questioned the word ‘idiot’ because it seemed incongruent with my typical positive words. I realized that I hadn’t shared the context behind that line. So now I am going to share the rest of the story.

Going back to those early days of wanting publicity for my business…

Yes, the media LOVES to interview people who have written a book. And as a new author, I sure was excited when I was invited to be on a television morning show to talk about my book!

It was an early interview and I arrived on time that morning. They took me to the guest waiting room until it was my turn to join the hosts on the set. At this point, I’m feeling great; I’m feeling really good about myself and my accomplishments thus far. I am anticipating the increased interest in my organization that would result from the publicity boost of being on TV.

And then a man walked into the room. He was completely dressed as a vampire, a full-on, unmistakable vampire with the black cape, the dark eyes, and the vampire teeth. Keep in mind, that this was not October, and it was not the season for Halloween costumes.

Well, I just had to ask. I asked him what he was doing dressed like that. He reached into his cape, took out a book, and proudly said, “I wrote a book on vampirism!”

To which I thought to myself, “They’ll interview anyone with a book.”

That is the reason I said what I said in my presentation. Every time I tell the story about getting publicity for my company through interviews about my books, I always visualize that guy. Those words that I thought back then in that waiting room are fresh in my mind and I share them when I’m telling the story.

We laughed as I told my assistant all of this and she said, “Oh, I get it now. I love it!”

It’s all about the context. Sometimes you have to share a bit more information for people to fully understand your message. 

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them.

The New World of Work

The New World of Workstring(21) "The New World of Work"

May 2, 2022
, , BNI, Book, Leadership 1

I recently talked with my friend Kian Gohar about how daily life has changed over the past few years and, for many of us, we are now working and meeting virtually as much, or more, as we are in-person.

Kian is co-author of the bestselling Harvard Business Review book, “Competing in the New World of Work,” with Keith Ferrazzi, who is also a friend of mine. Our conversation resonated with me because of BNI®. For 35 years, BNI Members around the world met weekly during in-person meetings. In early 2020, all 10,000+ chapters of BNI changed to online weekly meetings and the organization has continued to grow every year. BNI Members have generated over $18.9 Billion USD in closed business for each other in the rolling last 12 months. We now have chapters meeting virtually, in-person, and hybrid, which is a combination of online and in-person.

Create Emotional Connectivity

Kian and I talked about the importance of creating emotional connectivity with colleagues when working in a hybrid environment. He recommends using breakout sessions during a virtual meeting. By having smaller groups of three to four people, you create a place of psychological safety to share opinions and reduce self-censoring that may happen in larger meetings.

As soon as people are in the small groups during the virtual meeting, ask them to each answer a very simple question: “What is sweet and sour in your life?” Sweet is something that’s going really well in life, whether personally or professionally. Sour is something that isn’t going as hoped. The point of this is to allow people to get to know each other so that they understand the context of what’s going on in their lives.

Maximize Collaboration

Over the past two years, most people have reassessed their assumptions about how we live and socialize and work. However, our assumptions about how we collaborate may not have been reassessed. There is a myth that we collaborate by first calling a meeting to get everybody into a room and then decide how to innovate and collaborate.

Consider this idea to maximize collaboration – don’t start with a meeting first. Create an asynchronous meeting instead. Begin with a document on the cloud. The team leader, or the problem owner, writes down what the problem is, some potential solutions, and who should be involved in the conversation to bring more ideas to the table. The cloud document is then shared with the team. They have a week to ideate individually on this document and add all their thoughts to it. This allows the team leader to see the whole universe of what the various problem sets are that they’re trying to solve. They can identify one and say, “Okay, let’s call a meeting around this particular problem that I hadn’t thought of.”

To maximize innovation and collaboration, start first with an asynchronous meeting, identify all the various problems sets with your team, and then go beyond your team, perhaps include potential partners and vendors, to get more ideas into this particular concept. And then call a meeting, whether virtual or hybrid or in-person, to continue working together toward a solution.

Maximize Resilience

How can we make sure our team is fully resilient to adapting to the future? First, recognize that everyone comes to work with different energy levels. And as a team leader or a business owner, it’s your responsibility to identify the team’s overall energy level.

To establish a baseline of your team’s resilience level, you can do a simple survey every two or three weeks through whatever format is most convenient. Ask your team to rate from 1 to 10, (1 being low, 10 being high), what their level of personal resilience is. And you’ll see a baseline over the course of the next few months. Let’s say everybody’s a five or six. And then one person says, “Hey, I’m a two.” Now you know there’s something going on in that person’s life so you can try to figure out how you can help them.

Additionally, in a leadership role, you want to model the behaviors that are important for the well-being of the team and the organization. Sometimes that means enforcing breaks and creating a space for individual resilience to recharge energy levels. Then, when you are trying to solve the problem as a team, you’re able to support each other and cross the finish line together, even though everyone has different levels of energy on an individual basis.

We are fortunate to have an opportunity to take all the lessons from the past few years and look at how we can make the future better. The status quo is gone, we are not going back to the way things were. We can create a new world of possibilities by reconsidering the assumptions that helped us succeed in the past, and continue to reassess them to help us navigate the constant change the future will bring.

The View From Your Windshield Represents Life Itselfstring(52) "The View From Your Windshield Represents Life Itself"

April 21, 2022
, , BNI, Book, Motivation 1

Everyone who has driven a car or truck is well aware that the windshield is much larger than the rearview mirror. Why is it larger? Because it is important that we look ahead to have the clearest view possible of where we are going and where we want to go in life.
I share more in this video.

 

 

Connected to the Past While Looking to the Future

The windshield is a very good metaphor for our lives, both personal and professional.
I believe that it is important for us to know what is behind us and to learn from where we have been. However, if someone is ONLY looking at their rearview mirror, it is because they are going backward. When we do that in our lives, we are not living in the present and we will probably miss out on many opportunities that are happening in front of us.

As my co-authors and I talk about in the book Who’s In Your Room? remember to Be Here Now. Wherever you are, be there. If you are at work, don’t be thinking about the time you didn’t spend with your family last night. If you are at home, don’t be thinking about yesterday’s due dates and customer calls. They are all in the past. Wherever you are, be there fully and completely. That includes being in the driver’s seat of your car.

Successful businesspeople will continue to focus on the view ahead. They know that even the best laid plans along established routes may encounter detours. They know that change is inevitable and that they will need to pivot in order to keep up with, and adapt to, the changes so they can keep their forward momentum.

I believe in being connected to the past while looking to the future. Remember, your rearview mirror is smaller than your windshield for a very good reason.

What are your thoughts on this? You are welcome to leave your comments below.

Success Disconnect

Success Disconnectstring(18) "Success Disconnect"

March 10, 2022
, , BNI, Book, Business, Networking 2

I love what I do. I am passionate about helping people improve their business and their networking efforts to achieve the success they desire. Sometimes I meet people who would like to be more successful, however, they are not very committed to making a change in their circumstances.

They have what I call a Success Disconnect. They want to be more successful and yet they do not recognize the connection between their desire for success and the behavior they are choosing. They may say that they would like to make more money, and minutes later say things which indicate they are uncomfortable making the necessary changes to get what they just said they want. 

A common Success Disconnect statement that I hear is: “Ivan, you don’t understand. That won’t work because…” followed by the latest excuse. 

Complacency in Networking Groups

Over the years, I have found that this can also happen with business networking groups.

In his book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t,”  author Jim Collins said, “The enemy of great is not bad, the enemy is good.” 

In a business organization where strong relationships are critical for effective networking, members find that it is sometimes difficult to hold friends accountable for their performance in the group. Occasionally, successful groups will go through a slow phase and struggle with growth.

When I ask these groups why they believe they are struggling, they tend to answer with a variation of one of these themes:
~ “The group is becoming too lax; we’re not following the system very well.”
~ “We’re letting people get away with things we shouldn’t accept.”
~ “Our group is okay; we’re doing good enough.”

I have found that “good enough” eventually leads to “metastatic mediocrity.”
Accepting mediocrity is often at the core of a group that is facing challenges. When a  networking group, a person, or any organization accepts mediocrity, growth and performance stagnates. Complacency is the enemy of being great.

We Can Choose Excellence

People, similar to water, tend to seek the path of least resistance. The problem is that the path of least resistance may not be the best path to take for the results we want to achieve. When we expect the best from our fellow networking members, we will get it. If we expect, and accept, less than the best, that is exactly what we will get.
Why accept mediocrity when excellence is an option?

To overcome Success Disconnect, remember that we can choose excellence. Choose it for yourself and talk about it with your referral marketing group. Be willing to look for behaviors that are out of alignment with the desired outcome. Realize that overcoming the discomfort of change may be exactly what is needed to make the most of our networking opportunities.

As Jim Collins says, “Greatness is not a function of circumstance.
Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”

Subscription Revenue for Your Business

Subscription Revenue for Your Businessstring(38) "Subscription Revenue for Your Business"

January 24, 2022
, , , Book, Business, Robert Skrob 1

I have known Robert Skrob for several years; he is one of my co-authors of the book, The Connector Effect: The Proven Way to Grow Your Business Right Now.

Robert is the #1 authority in subscription revenue growth, and I talked with him about how small businesses can expand their revenue exponentially through subscriptions. He shared information from his recent book, The 9 Proven Models for Exponential Subscription Growth.

Today’s customers are increasingly looking for subscription offers and are more amenable to buying a subscription to a restaurant, to a professional service, or other companies that they use and frequent.

Robert says that this can be a lucrative opportunity for small businesses. Rather than getting a customer one time with a single transaction, they can get a customer that purchases a preapproved series of transactions.

Many businesses don’t think of themselves as having the opportunity to do a subscription model. However, most businesses DO have that ability. Yes, there are a lot of large companies offering subscriptions – think of Costco and Netflix. If we look a little closer, we find that small businesses everywhere also offer them.

Examples of Successful Subscriptions

Many businesses use a VIP model. A restaurant can offer a benefit for VIP members or subscribers to go to the restaurant during certain hours available only to them or to have exclusive VIP access to certain tables while other customers have to wait in line.

A pre-approved supplier business that provides goods or services can invite clients to have a subscription. You may have heard of Dollar Shave Club; they were able to completely disrupt the razor business by providing razors for significantly less cost to consumers. This worked without a distribution system as they were going direct to their customer. Additionally, because they used a subscription model where their customer had pre-approved several orders and thus had a higher lifetime value, Dollar Shave Club was able to disrupt an entire industry.

I realize that there are some businesses that might say, “Well, I don’t see how I could have a subscription.” I asked Robert about the types of businesses that could have the opportunity to do a subscription model.

He said that quite a few businesses already do – from landscaping to pest control, they are already a regular service that people subscribe to. There are some Certified Public Accountants (CPA) that have an audit defense subscription. The client pays an annual fee and if they are ever audited, the CPA firm will come to their defense.

A home roofing company can have an annual gutter cleaning service, sold together with a new roof purchase, or as a stand-alone item. Heating/air conditioning businesses and plumbing businesses offer a type of subscription program. When they go to a home and give an estimate, they say, “It’s this price to do the repair. Or if you would like to become one of our members? You can enjoy the member discount on this repair, and it also entitles you to these additional benefits.”

I personally enjoy membership for this type of service. I have a subscription with an AC and plumbing company that comes to my home every three months and checks my air conditioning units and my plumbing to make sure everything is working well. I appreciate that the company automatically schedules the appointments, and I don’t have to keep track of when it next needs to be done. It also builds customer loyalty. I am not going to call anyone else if something happens between the quarterly visits.

Going Beyond Products and Services

In many businesses, the customer is buying services, or they are buying an item. Whereas with membership, clients are buying a type of promise that they’re going to be connected. For many companies, subscriptions add another revenue stream that doesn’t cost them money to fulfill. It can be a very high margin revenue stream with a large impact on customer value.

Robert says the biggest difference between successful subscription businesses and unsuccessful ones is that their 4 Subscription Growth Drivers work together and are appropriate for their specific subscription model. Each of the nine models is unique and has its own way of attracting subscribers by demonstrating value. Subsequently, the 4 growth drivers, which include pricing and retention, are customized for each model, as he clearly explains in his book, which I recommend.

Many businesses don’t think of themselves as having the opportunity to do a subscription model. However, most businesses DO have that ability. Yes, there are a lot of large companies offering subscriptions – think of Costco and Netflix. If we look a little closer, we find that small businesses everywhere also offer them.

Consider your business – is there a way to reward your most reliable clients with an opportunity to upgrade to VIP status, or to invite your customers to pre-order and receive a regular delivery of pre-approved goods? There is ample consumer convenience in a subscription model and if you are the company that makes people’s lives easier, you can increase their loyalty and longevity.

Favorite Booksstring(14) "Favorite Books"

December 2, 2021
, , BNI, Book 2

I recently shared this informal poll on my social media platforms:
“I would love to know which of my books is your favorite, and WHY it is special to you.”

I appreciate everyone who responded with their favorites, and I’d like to share some of the answers I received.

The book, Who’s In Your Room? The Secret to Creating Your Best Life, was identified as the favorite for most of the people who replied. Some of the comments were:
“As a therapist, I refer to it in sessions all the time.”
“It rocked my brain for days.”
“…it gives me perspective to regulate my immediate circle and surroundings.”

This is the premise of Who’s In Your Room? :

Imagine you live your life in one room, and that room has only ONE door, and that door is “Enter Only – No Exit”. Whoever comes through this door will be in your room, and in your life, forever!

This is a metaphor, however, what if it were true? Would you be more selective about the people that you let into your life? This book helps people identify their personal values and learn to set boundaries to live the life they want to live.

These three books were tied for second as the favorites among the others who replied:
Infinite Giving: The 7 Principles of Givers Gain®
Networking Like a Pro 2nd Edition
Room Full of Referrals

Comments included:
“Infinite Giving helps me check myself so I do not get overwhelmed.”
“I love Room Full of Referrals!”

What do you think – do you agree with the top choices?
Which of my books is YOUR favorite?

You can find my books on the ‘BOOKS’ tab on the upper right side of this page, and on Amazon.com.

The Book that Influenced My Focus on SOLUTIONSstring(46) "The Book that Influenced My Focus on SOLUTIONS"

November 22, 2021
, Book, solutions

What is it about human nature that causes many of us to focus so much about problems that we don’t spend enough time focusing on solutions?

I feel like I’ve spent my entire career nudging people to focus on solutions.
Why? What started my journey down the solutions path versus the problems path?

It was 1972. I was a high school Junior on the varsity football team. The head football coach gave us all a “bootlegged” cassette tape audio recording called Psycho-Cybernetics. He copied it for every football player on the team.

I listened to that tape over and over and over again. When I realized that the recording was just a summary of the book, Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, I went out and bought the book because I wanted to know more. 

It’s amazing to me how it influenced the person that I was to become. The book that I bought in 1972 influenced my focus on solutions.

Words in the Book

Do any of these themes sound like a variation of something I might say?

“Decide what you want, not what you don’t want.”
“He visualized success.”
“Happiness does not lie in the future; it lies in the present.”
“His self-fulfilling prophecy made failure certain.”
“You make mistakes, mistakes don’t make you.”
“Think in terms of possibilities.”
“The choice is always up to you.”
“Old recordings can be changed.”
“Put more years of life and more life in your years.”

These are all words that are in the book. Words that became part of the foundation for BNI®, the organization I founded in 1985, and words that are woven into the messages that I have shared for many years through interviews, books, and presentations.

The Power of Positive Thinking

This book influenced me a good deal. Psycho-Cybernetics helped me think about the power of positive thinking and it is a concept that I have embraced for decades.

There are certainly other books out there, and there may be better books since this one came out in 1960. But it influenced me, and there are books out there that can influence YOU to focus on solutions, and not just problems.

We all have opportunities to make a difference in many people’s lives. Not by the problems we identify, but by the solutions we create when we keep the FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS.

Networking Quotient

Build Your Referability Degree and Networking Quotientstring(54) "Build Your Referability Degree and Networking Quotient"

April 1, 2021
, , , , Author, BNI, Book, Guest Blog, Guest Blog, Networking

Today’s guest blog is an extract from the book, “Networking Quotient” by my good friends and BNI® Leaders, Paulo Corsi and YP Lai, about two immensely powerful measurements that determine the ability of your network to generate business for you, your Networking Quotient and your Referability Degree.

As a networker, have you ever asked yourself how effective your network is in bringing business referrals? And have you ever pondered which strategy will bring you better results? Should you expand your network and get to know more people? Should you build a deeper relationship with the people who are already in your network? Well, the secret to getting the answers is being able to measure your network. That sounds simple, right? However, what is the right measurement to use? The size of your network? The depth of your network? Or perhaps something else?

Let me introduce you to two powerful measurements that determine the ability of your network to generate business for you.

Your Referability Degree

The Referability Degree points out how much of your network is working for you. However, it does not tell you if your network has the right size to generate more business opportunities for you.

The Referability Degree is calculated by dividing the number of contacts in your network who have given you a referral in the last six months and dividing this number by the total number of contacts you have. (e.g., 30 people that gave you referrals / 100 people in your network gives you a Referability Degree of 30%).

  • If you have a Referability Degree of 50% or less:

Your focus should be on developing better relationships with the people who do not regularly give you business referrals. Through nurturing the relationship, you will teach them how to generate referrals for you. At the same time, you will be learning ways on how to create value and bring referrals for the other person and develop a long-term mutually beneficial relationship.

  • When your Referability Degree is above 50%:

You are ready to expand your network. As you expand your network, you should simultaneously strengthen the relationship so that both parties can bring good quality business referrals for each other.

Imagine a person that has a Referability Degree of 90% – which is exceedingly high. However, the size of the network is only 10 people. This indicates that he has deep relationships with his existing contacts but has only an extremely limited network. In this scenario, he must expand his network to more people. A network of 10 people will not be sufficient to create a constant flow of opportunities for him.

Your Networking Quotient

The Networking Quotient is simply the number of people that have given business referrals to you in the past 6 months.

For a continual flow of business by referrals, it is recommended to have a Networking Quotient of at least 100. This means having an active community of at least 100 people that you are constantly in contact with, build rapport with and know how to bring you good quality referrals. Building up your Networking Quotient takes time, and with constant practice, it will become your daily habit.

“Networking Quotient”

Networking Quotient  Paulo Corsi and YP Lai in their book, “Networking Quotient”, share in detail how to calculate the Referability Degree and the Networking Quotient. And more importantly, they share proven strategies to build your Referability Degree and your Networking Quotient.

The eBook / Kindle version of “Networking Quotient” is on sale for $1.99 until 11 pm (PDT) TONIGHT – April 1st, 2021.

 Download the eBook version of “Networking Quotient” today.

 

“Work Less Earn More”

Work Less Earn More

Accompanying the Networking Quotient book, YP Lai has written another book, “Work Less Earn More” about the 10 proven strategies to be wealthier, healthier & happier.

This book acts as a guide for busy entrepreneurs to get their lives into harmony, ensuring that while they are in pursuit of material wealth to provide for the family, they also focus on other important things in life like health, fitness, and happiness.

The eBook / Kindle version of “Work Less, Earn More” is on sale for 99¢ on Amazon until 11 pm (PDT) on April 2nd, 2021.

Download the eBook version of “Work Less Earn More” today.

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