The foundation of my whole business is:
BUILDING ORGANIC RELATIONSHIPS.
This is how I’ve been able to serve 300+ clients in 24 different countries with NO Facebook Ads.
Creating, building and maintaining relationships is the core of my business. It has led me to speak at a Fortune 500 company like Universal Music Group, and has led to clients to continue REFERRING me business so I don’t have to rely on some difficult funnel.
More importantly, my clients have gotten the best results despite the craziness we’ve called “2020”.
I DISCOVERED ORGANIC RELATIONSHIPS ARE EVERYTHING BEFORE I STARTED MY CAREER COACHING BUSINESS.
I was a former grassroots organizer and nonprofit fundraiser for over a decade.
As a grassroots organizer, I averaged 400 phone calls per day, and knocked on 15 doors per hour reminding voters to Get Out To Vote.
I drove across country with my truck and worked on campaigns across the country in Iowa, New Mexico, Montana, and Massachusetts.
(Yes, real girls drive trucks heyyy)
I was so good at what I did that I recruited 557 volunteers in Iowa
within 6 months. I’m not even from Iowa. I’ve helped Congressional leaders
make it to Capitol Hill.
Here’s a pic of me in 2011 after I helped a Congresswoman win a special election.
My proudest accomplishments was raising $1.1 million in student scholarships in 6 months, providing 200+ scholarships.
Here is a picture of my student scholarship winners making calls to raise more money for scholarships.
It doesn’t matter if it’s door knocking, phone calls, in-person meetings, Zoom meetings or social media. These are all different tools used to connect with people. Remember to relationship build.
When it comes to sales and having difficult conversations, it’s about listening and connecting.
Remember, your reputation isn’t based off of what’s on the gram. Your relationship is based off of the relationships you create and maintain.
Why do a lot of people not do this? Reach out and build relationships?
Because people get scared of rejection and get caught up in perfection and the gold shiny object syndrome.
Whether you are selling a product or a service, it is a human being who is deciding to buy from you or not.
Remember selling is serving.
Here are three things you can do to build organic relationships, and please remember relationship building means spending time.
- Create a top 100 list.
You’re probably thinking, “But Elaine, I don’t know anyone!” I would argue you probably know a couple of hundred or thousands.
First, where are your contacts? Are they on your phone? Gmail? LinkedIn? Facebook? Instagram?
Put the people you would like to connect with that might be interested in your service/product AND have a great network where you can support them and they can support you.
Unfortunately people so often think about how they can get sales but you also have to think how can you support others? When you focus on supporting others I promise you that karma works and abundance will come your way.
Schedule a time to connect with them and ask these questions:
- How are you doing? And how’s your wife/dog/kids? (ask a personal question)
- What are you up to?
Make sure to have an interesting conversation.
- The golden question to ask is, “How can I support you?”
And with this question, be unattached with YOU being the answer. Perhaps they need support with finding a local mechanic, yes this might not have anything to do with business but you are building trust here.
- When you connect with someone, see if you can connect them with someone in your network.
Every single time I connect with someone, I try to think of someone I can connect them with whether it is a potential business opportunity or someone who shares similar values.
This has led people I’ve met to be close friends with people in my network and it has allowed me to not only be the go to person but to also be the person who people go to for community and networking.
If you would like further support in your career, business, or leadership, my team and I would love to support you in creating a sustainable life! You can schedule a 30-minute legacy business or career review call with me to see if it’s a good fit to work together, and you’ll receive 3 action-items from me.
