Building Relationships and Networking
One of the easiest ways to build relationships and build your network is to do favors for others. Psychologists have even done studies that show when you do a favor for someone or let them do a favor for you, it builds a stronger bond between the two parties. And anyone in Sales 101 knows that people do business with people they know, like, and trust. Doing favors or even asking for favors is a great path to get to better relationships. It also builds a bigger network, and more business, which means selling more books for us self-publishing indie authors.
The key to doing favors is to do them with no expectations at all from the person you’re doing a favor for. Don’t worry about it. It all somehow evens out at the end anyway. Maybe a couple years later, this person will help you out with something when you least expect it. Maybe that person won’t help you out, but someone else who you have never helped out will all of a sudden help you out for no reason at all. What I’m trying to say here is to help people out anyway. Do favors and don’t do it with an agenda because then you’re not being authentic, and you’re also setting yourself up for disappointment when they don’t return the favor. But usually, they do return the favor.
For example, a few years ago, I helped Jeff Davis out with a few of his books. I wasn’t expecting anything in return. Now Jeff, who is a TED Talk Speaker and Bestselling author, has introduced me to many people over the last several years. And that has opened up a lot of doors for me. And to this day, Jeff and I are still friends, even though he lives on the other side of the world now.
Let me tell you about another person that has become a really good friend of mine, Connie Bombaci. Connie, out of the goodness of her heart, edited a book that I was writing on how to become more successful with difficult students. She didn’t ask for anything in return. It was just a favor. She also helps me by commenting on a lot of my social media posts. Again, she isn’t looking for anything in return. She’s just a kind person who is interested in others and likes helping them. Well, a couple of years go by, and I’m looking for someone in the education world to be a guest on my Mindalia TV Show, who do you think I called? Yup. Connie Bombaci. And she was a wonderful guest.
So, here’s the deal. Favors are a great way to build relationships and build your network. It gets you introduced to other people. It supplies you with people you can reach out to when you’re looking to include someone in something cool that you’re doing. And favors works in both directions of giving and getting.
Guess what? This favor-giving thing even works with big-time influencers, too. One of the best ways to get on their radar is to buy their product off of Amazon, leave a book review, comment on their social media posts, and even create a video testimony for them. Heck, you can even leave that video testimony on their Amazon page. And since it’s a video, it will zip itself right up to the top of their book reviews. Do you think that will get their attention and put you on their radar?
Oaky… just shake your head yes right now… These influencers are going to see your face and hear your voice. They’re going to like you. And you’re going to be memorable because you’re adding value through doing them a favor, even if they didn’t ask for it yet. Next, see if you can get to one of their live in-person events, or even pay for their coaching if you can afford it. This is a great way to have their ear for life and be introduced to their network.
*Watch this FREE video lesson on this chapter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ObgPxtiNk&t=8s
https://tinyurl.com/y6neuegu https://tinyurl.com/tx5wphz http://tinyurl.com/y8opavl8