New Straits Times

TO WANT TO KNOW YOU

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Question: These days it’s about “who you know” if you want people to buy from you in order to grow your business well. Without this kind of connection, it will be a very slow process and you might not even survive for long.

It’s therefore not surprising that junior people like me, face a lot of challenges to get wealthy and powerful people to buy our products. How can I rescue myself from this disadvanta­ged position? - Underdog

Answer: While it seems true that those with connection­s do better than those who have few, there’s still no guarantee that they are always better than those who don’t enjoy this privilege. I personally know of many friends from lower income groups who have succeeded well even though they started with virtually little on their backs. From their success stories, I realise that success comes more to people “whom people want to know” than “who they know”.

Bottom Line: We can achieve this position when we become a “magnet” to many people. This can be done through increasing our contact base by joining community-based organisati­ons, which helps us to connect with potential people who may find us interestin­g and valuable.

We can be liked by people when we are generous to offer our services as a form of community support. This will inevitably put you in some limelight. Taking it one step higher, we can offer them not just ordinary services but exceptiona­l ones. Highlight the special benefits of your offering and show them how they can apply it to their lives for better results. This will inevitably raise your prominence by a few notches.

At a personal level, we can make ourselves friendly and approachab­le that makes people want to know us more. When we can gain their trust and respect at the same time, we add even more lustre in our personalit­ies. People will surely like to make such people their good friends.

Powerful Questions:

• Which non-commercial organisati­ons will provide an opportunit­y for you to offer your products as a community service?

• How can you use this to raise your profile and prominence?

• When interactin­g with members, how can you make them like and trust you?

• What beliefs and values will support such behaviours?

Find out about our Certified Master Coach Programme and our other world-class Coach Leadership Learning series. Log into www.corporatec­oachacadem­y.com or call 03-6205 4488 for informatio­n.

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