Most companies arrange their customer or client service questionaires around the phrase 'satisfaction'. In my work on advocacy, I show my clients how worthless this word actually is. A satisfied client or customer is one for whom you've not messed up yet! One for whom you've done what was expected and little more.

In the language of advocacy where I work, there are different words and phrases to turn customers into clients into fans into advocates. Remember a fan is merely a happy client who is happy to 'big you up' if given the opportunity to do so. An advocate is one who actively looks for and creates opportunities to position and recommend you to others.

• Customers take home products. Clients take home stories.
• Tourists bring back souvenirs. Explorers bring back memories.
• Clients get a good service. Advocates get a great experience.
• Sales people win accounts. Leaders win hearts and minds.
  

Are you getting this? So how do you turn people into advocates? Well aside from spending some time with me where I coach you through it, one thing you can do is look to create delight. Solutions to problems. Stories. Experiences. Adventures.

When you begin to think of BD as BETTER DIFFERENT instead of BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, you'll be on the road to developing advocates for you and your business! 

For a few smart ways to do this today, click here>>  

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Did you know the game of Monopoly was created by a unemployed heating engineer named Charles Darrow ... and that his first version of the game was developed in 1935?

I didn't until Alex Mandossian told me. The toy company rejected Darrow's idea because they said it had 52 fundamental flaws and would never become a big seller.

Today, Monopoly is so successful that Parker Brothers (the toy company that did like Darrow's idea), prints more than $40 billion of Monopoly money each year... which twice the amount of real money printed by the U.S. mint!

What can we learn from this in building your business your relationships and your reputations? Four things:

1. No matter what  you do, people will hate you, rubbish you and ignore you. Doesn't make them right or wrong. It just is. Don't take it personally. It's usually not you.

2. Not everyone has the insight and empathy to see your good ideas. Whatever you're selling (your products, your servies, your opinions, your vision or your company), you may not ignite the interest of the first person you run it past. Knock on another door.

3.  Persistence pays. History is littered with stories of inventors, authors, performers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who were ridiculed and derided as they came out of the gate. You need the resilience to get up off the floor and the persistence to get back in the game. 

4. Think 'Monopoly' in your business. For you, that means coming up with great BD! Not business development, but BETTER and DIFFERENT! Instead of fighting with everyone else, can you create a category or nishe for yourself? One that you can dominate?

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What many people don't realise about building relationships is that you've got to go out there and find them in the first place. New friends, customers and suppliers are not just going to land on your doorstep, unless your advertising and marketing is incredible. You need to be a little more proactive. Here are four of my best ideas to help you source and build the relationships you need for profit and success!

1. Take More Risks. Be brave. Take a chance! Approach a stranger. Who know what conversations lie on the other side of a courageous question? Who know what sales lie on the other side of a courageous close? Who knows what romance lies on the other side of a courageous approach? 

"Nothing in life is worth having that doesn't lie on the other side of a risk"

Columbian proverb

2. Raise Your Profile. Get your name out there more. Let people know you're there. It doesn't serve your purpose to think small, and it doesn't help your cause to be the best kept secret in the world. Your strategy for survival is visibility, as on old mentor once taught me. Profile yourself with my three Ps - publish (books and articles), present (speaking, seminars) and party (networking).

3.  Keep In Touch. Stay connected after the initial connection. Many relationships are like the seed that falls on stony ground. They never take root, and never get the love, attention, water and nourishment they need to grow. Anyone can say hello once. It's finding reasons to stay in touch, finding ways to help and offer value, finding things in common that is the mark of a great relationship builder.

4.  Be A Connector. Be a conduit that people go through to get to others. Good mavens (as they are called) are good at joining the dots of people's careers, interests and desires. They make great introductions. If you can be a networking hub, people will come to you for advice on who to talk to for all kinds of things.

Get these right, and before too long, you'll be the talk of the town. Your business relationships will blossom and both your personal and company reputation will go sky high!

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