Being a Go-Giver by Serving Others with Bob Burg

Bob Burg is here today to talk about being a Go-Giver. Bob is a top-producing salesperson and former television personality. He speaks at conferences to huge crowds of 15,000 plus people. Many of his audience members have been influential people including a former president. He is the author of sales and leadership books including Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales and Adversaries into Allies. He is also an author of the popular Go-Giver books which have sold over 800,000 copies. He was also named one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders by The American Management Association. Listen in, so you can learn how to up your sales by being a Go-Giver. Show Notes [04:21] Bob began in broadcasting and then moved to late night news. [05:38] He then graduated into sales. He floundered for a while until he found books by Tom Hawkins and Zig Ziglar. [06:25] He became interested in selling and having a system that would get him from point A to B. He also became involved in personal development. [07:06] As he learned more about sales and became involved with personal development it eventually morphed into a speaking career. [07:52] The premise of the Go-Giver is shifting your focus from getting to giving or constantly and consistently providing value to others. [09:00] Bob's first book was about building relationships because people do business with people who they know, like, and trust. [09:30] He has always enjoyed business parables because stories connect with people. [10:04] Writing a parable is a work of fiction, so he reached out to John David Mann. [11:46] This book has five laws. [12:23] The laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity, receptivity. [13:28] Value means that both parties profit. [14:37] The five elements of value are excellence, consistency, attention, empathy, and appreciation. [15:13] Your focus should be on the value not the money. [15:56] The law of receptivity is difficult for many people. [18:24] Once you earn the right to receive, you have to allow yourself to do so. [19:07] Bob's latest book is the Go-Giver Influencer. This is the third parable. It's about two people who have a great business collaboration but keep getting in their own way. [20:20] It's really about how to get the results you want when dealing with others. [24:23] One of the characters was loosely modeled after Bob Proctor. Other characters were loosely based on people they knew or knew of. [26:56] Bob's biggest accomplishment are the sales of the Go-Giver. [27:59] Bob's biggest obstacle in life has been being an OCD sufferer. His toughest business obstacle was getting up-to-date with technology. [32:24] There is nothing about being a Go-Giver that is congruent with being a doormat. [34:55] When you're looking to bring value to others you establish that reputation. You create a benevolent context for success. [36:08] You can leave from anywhere but a culture comes from the top. You have to decide if you can thrive within the culture that you are in or if you need to find some other place to be. [38:40] 10% is the magic number to get people on board then your ideas will really spread. [41:49] Set a target in sales. Money is the reward for hitting that target. Your target is serving others. Links and Resources: Bob Burg The Go-Giver @BobBurg on Twitter Bob Burg on Instagram Bob Burg on Facebook Tom Hopkins Zig Ziglar How to Win Friends and Influence People The Magic of Thinking Big Think and Grow Rich As a Man Thinketh International OCD Foundation Turn the Ship Around Thinking in Bets