Let's Have Lunch Together is NOT like a Stereo Manual

Thank you to Samantha Bellows who wrote a fan letter about my book.  She said "It's always hard to read a book about building relationships that reads like a stero manual."

"So much information about how to approach people." Samantha also liked the tips on how to create the relationships. "It was long my opinion that you should form "friendships" almost with people that are important to you professionally to keep a good bond.

She's correct - these "friendships almost" are friendships in the professional realm.  It does not mean making a new friends but rather instilling trust in you by the other person.

Thanks  Samantha.  You know we authors love feedback!

Creating trust, not sales

Recently, I read some advice to salespeople that sounds a lot like the advice I give fundraisers.  So to all my for-profit colleagues here it is:

In nonprofit fund raising, I say chase the relationship not the money.  For salespeople, it's the same. Have an authentic approach and try to solve your customer's problems. 

Take the pressure off the sale (ask for money).

Shift to how you are selling (fund raising) versus what you are selling (the ask).

Now you are on the path to creating a long-lasting relationship and success in sales or fund raising!

Witty book review from Derek Emerson

I'm a little late on social networking but I just discovered a whole bunch of reviews of "Let's Have Lunch Together" on LinkedIn.  

Here's one from a very ambitious project to read a book every week for a year.  Derek Emerson, who says he is another middle aged guy with a great family, old house (in need of repairs I cannot do) and  college administrator with long ago majors in English, Philosophy, and Religion including a Masters in Professional Writing, which is like an English degree with a lot of writing, wrote this last year.

Okay, I fully admit that last week I figured this book would fall into the worst category of my incredibly insightful breakdown of all business books into three categories (see last weeks blog to be reminded of my insight -- in case you forgot). Wrong! Despite the weak title, lousy layout, and large font, this is a book packed with great ideas.

Howard puts it in the context of a novel, but this is no literary masterpiece (nor was this his intent). Instead he puts his ideas in a large case study format and we can see how things would work out. The book is written to help with fund raising, but the focus is on relationships. Howard's refrain is "chase the relationship, not the money."  While this may not seem incredibly insightful, Howard does well to remind us that success comes from our relationships. People truly need to trust us and we need to trust them if we want to move forward.

I went through a day long workshop with Howard last week and it was noted that this methods could also be used by a good con artist. Which of course is true -- con artists know that relationships are essential. But because evil may use it does not make it wrong. We can fall into our cynical selves and give up on treating people as they should be. The difference is motivation and the idea is that strong relationships will bring about good things. But if you build the relationships for monetary or power reasons, the relationship will never be strong because it is built on a weak base (all biblically minded can think stone vs sand here).

Howard's emphasis on relationships makes this work for people in all areas of business. While not a fundraiser myself, it did remind me of how I take for granted some people's support when I should be seeking to find out why support my endeavors to begin with. I have nothing more "to gain" from them, but certainly strengthening those relationships will not only make the business side of things stronger, they may also impact my life. What a concept