13 Feb First 2 Steps to Making Powerful Connections
{3:05 minutes to read} Of all the tools for unlocking referrals and yielding a greater return from our garden of relationships, one of the most effective is making powerful connections. With my Power Partners Initiative™ clients, we develop this mastery by focusing on the gardening (cultivating) model.
Being a masterful connector can be whittled down to 5 simple steps:
- Identify
- Questions
- Save and Store
- Wishlist
- Catalyst.
You can remember this acronym – I.Q.S.W.C. – with this phrase, “Networking IQ Supports Wild Connecting.” In this article, we’ll focus on the I and Q portion of the acronym.
Identify:
The first step to making powerful connections is to Identify your VIPs – those who could serve as valuable connectors for you (i.e., have the potential of being high fruit-bearing trees). When you go to an event, look for those people who wow you with how passionate they are about their profession. The passion with which they speak tells you they have the potential to be effective connectors. Once you win them over, they can speak with this same passion about you with others in their network.
As you meet these types of people, determine if their foot is in the very door you want to enter. In other words, does their client community match your client profile? Knowing these things is an ideal way to determine where to focus your cultivating efforts.
Questions:
The second step in making a powerful connection is asking powerful Questions. As Tony Robbins would say, “The quality of the question determines the quality of information you receive.” I always advise my clients to ask “million dollar questions.” Here are 2.
Question #1: I learned from Bob Burg, who wrote Endless Referrals and The Go Giver, “How would I know if someone I’m talking to is an ideal referral for you?” In other words, “What would be coming out of someone’s mouth to trigger me to think this person needs your company’s products or services?” The answers can help identify someone’s ideal client. Their response can help you become educated on what is important to your VIPs, potentially leading you to help them find their dream client.
Million Dollar Question #2: In Power Partners, I coach my clients to embrace the practice of asking this question: “Which profession serves as a great source of referrals for you?” When you ask this question, be prepared to help them brainstorm on these “gateway professions” in the event they hem and haw. By having asked Question #1, you now know who their ideal client is. You look like a superstar by suggesting synergistic professions who also serve and cater to that very same client profile.
Identifying your VIPs and asking million dollar questions are the first two steps in this powerful process for accelerating the development of fruit-bearing relationships. In our next blog, we will explore the final three steps in making a powerful connection: Save and Store, Wishlist, and Catalyst.
Cynthia Greenawalt
954-214-2511
cynthia@seachangenetworking.com
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