Recently I spoke with Phil Gerbyshak, he really knows SALES. He’s a sales speaker, a sales expert, a sales trainer, a sales leader mentor, a sales podcaster and a sales coach. We spoke about how to successfully build relationships ONLINE that turn into business OFFLINE.

We started our discussion talking about the fact that relationships are what we all want when it comes to growing your business or advancing your career. Nobody buys unless they know, like and trust you. So how can you get people to know, like and trust you faster? By adding VALUE to their life.

If you are initiating a relationship it is not about you, it’s about the other person. Getting to know them as a person, what they are working on right now and what they need help with right now helps you kick start any relationship. There are two key factors for creating and fostering relationships in the business world. They are relevancy and recency.

Relevancy is important. There are three ways to become relevant faster.

Discover what you have in common. Focus on what and who you have in common with them.
Insight into the other person. Research the other person online so you know what they’re talking about so you can join the discussion.
Interesting or Interested. Become interesting by being interested in the other person and what they are working on.

Recency is also important. You need to keep in touch with people and foster your important relationships. If you haven’t spoken with someone for years you need to re-build that relationship and become relevant again. Remember: The goal isn’t just to have more conversations, it’s to get more business or advance your career. This is why what you talk about is so important. To have more successful conversations use the three H’s:

There are three H’s to building successful business relationships:

Be human. Be authentic with the other person, get to know them and let them get to know you.
Be helpful. Come from a place of service and be willing to help the other person in some way.
Be humble. Instead of saying that you’re the greatest in your field you need a third party to say it.

Go Offline

When you make an online connection, you need to make it more than just another online connection. You need to take things offline. Set up a phone call or if you have the time a coffee meeting. A great way to start a conversation is reaching out to say happy birthday.  Everyone has a birthday and social media channels remind us when their birthday is.

That creates an opportunity to reach out to them, make that phone call. After happy birthday ask them what they’re working on and who they need to know. Chances are they will reciprocate by asking you the same thing. Maybe they need your services quickly or maybe time will go by. It’s just a matter of keeping the conversation going so they think of you when they have a problem that your services can solve.

Phil goes on to talk about:

How to turn online relationships into clients
How to earn a conversation with new connections
How to add value to every conversation
More about leveraging the three components of relevancy
And more great nuggets of advice!

If you like what you hear please subscribe and rate The Idea Climbing™ Podcast on iTunes.

 

 

Phil Gerbyshak knows SALES. He’s a sales speaker, a sales expert, a sales trainer, a sales leader mentor, a sales podcaster and a sales coach. He's written 5 books, more than 3000 articles, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Daily Globe and Mail, Financial Times, Investor's Business Daily, Inc. and many other publications, including earning 3 covers: Speaker Magazine, Marketing Media and Money, and Social Selling Made Easy. Phil is known as a Sales, Leadership and Technology Authority with a particular expertise in inside sales, LinkedIn and social selling.