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Use Small Actions to Get Big Results

Use Small Actions to Get Big Results

I was recently speaking to a friend of mine who's a partner in an international consulting and training company when we discovered we had a mutual acquaintance--a bestselling author and fairly well-known speaker.

In our discussion, we found out he'd contacted each of us individually to see if there were any possibilities for some type of strategic alliance with his company and each of our own, individually. We were both open to the possibility but couldn't see an immediate and dramatic way our companies could link with his and undertake any specific projects at that time. We were both a bit amused to then discover that we were summarily "dropped" from his radar after that.

We sensed he was looking for that one big alliance that would help his company soar to the next level. Ironically, we'd had the same type of phone call with each other just 18 months earlier. We had come basically to the same conclusion: There was nothing on a grand scale that we could do together at that moment. The difference, however, was the rest of the story.

You see, we agreed to stay in touch, and we did. We connected several times over the year and met in person as well. During that time, we gradually found some simple ways to help each other and slowly enhanced the relationship. This was a sharp contrast from the third party we'd talked to individually. We both felt that when this person didn't see any big payoff, we became persona non grata with him. On the other hand, the two of us found ways to help each other gradually and still continue to build our relationship.

We came to the conclusion that most people who are successful at networking and creating strong strategic alliances view the process as a series of small actions taken with many people to create a long-term positive growth for their companies. The process is more of a marathon than a sprint. Throughout the race, you form alliances and help each other in what may seem like little ways over the long haul, but small actions over time can create big results.

Here's another real-life example of a scenario in which two companies reached out to me and my company to try to achieve a strategic alliance:

The first company, which shall remain nameless on the grounds that it likes to slam folks it doesn't approve of in the media, contacted me. Its introduction was akin to "Glad to meet you--let's get married!" I really got the sense from this company that it wanted to give me the privilege of sharing my entire database of contacts with it based on who it was and how amazing it would be for me to even say I had stood in its shadow. Get the picture?

When I explained our corporate philosophy and my own personal belief system that deepening a business alliance and building a relationship with a business partner took time and effort before getting to the "let's get married" stage, this company abruptly ended the call and--I imagine--moved on down its computer-generated list of businesses to call.

By contrast, here's how a second organization in the same business approached the same issue: The owner himself contacted me and started the conversation by asking what our corporate plans were. I shared with him what our overall goal for growth was over the next five years. The next statement from him was, "We want to help you achieve that!"

From there it went from "Glad to meet you" to "Let's get to know each other better." He then shared with me that he had ideas that could help us achieve our corporate goal and help our members perform better in business at the same time.

When I explained, as I had with Company X, that our philosophy as a networking organization was one of mutual cooperation and that our belief was that anything really of value to either of us would take time, he completely got it.

Our relationship has developed organically, and we now have a strong strategic alliance with the organization based on getting to know each other and working with each other gradually.

I'm not sure how Company X is faring; I don't hear so much about their program anymore. I wonder why.

Looking back over two decades of building an international company, I can clearly see that no one person or company brought something to the table that launched my company to the next level. Instead, it was the cumulative effect of many people, many strategic alliances and many well-nurtured relationships that over time catapulted my business higher than ever imagined in the early days. Each contact, each opportunity to reach out to each other and each mutually-beneficial activity served as just one more spoke in the wheel as we rolled up the hill toward success.





Use Small Actions to Get Big Results - To learn more about this author, visit Ivan R. Misner's Website.

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John Brennan
John Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website

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Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website

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With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website

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John has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center.
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Cheryl Matthynssens

Cheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur.  Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well.  A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles.  She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide-  to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being.  Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com

- Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website


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Ivan R. Misner
(Visit Ivan's Website) Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder & Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization. BNI was founded in 1985 and has thousands of chapters throughout every populated continent of the world. Each year, BNI generates millions of referrals resulting in billions of U.S. dollars’ worth of business for its members. Dr. Misner’s Ph.D. is from the University of Southern California. He has written ten books, including his latest bestsellers; The 29% Solution, Masters of Sales, and Truth or Delusion? Busting Networking’s Biggest Myths. He is a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur.com and is the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute – a referral training company with trainers around the world. In addition, he is an esteemed member of the iLearningGlobal.tv faculty and has taught business management and social capital courses at several universities throughout the United States. Called the “Father of Modern Networking” by CNN and the “Networking Guru” by Entrepreneur magazine, Dr. Misner is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on business networking and has been a keynote speaker for major corporations and associations worldwide.

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