John Ruhlin – Giftology – SIV #061 Shownotes
What is "strategic gifting?" How do I do it?
As you may know, I read about a book a week and many of them are in the sales or sales leadership arena. Often these authors take ideas from previous books and authors, aggregate them and put their own spin on them. There is nothing wrong with that and they are definitely worth reading.
Giftology, on the other hand, was completely different. I have been leading sales teams for almost 22 years and I have never even thought about some of the ideas that John lays out in his book.
I knew immediately I had to get him on the Success Is Voluntary podcast to teach us about strategic gifting and making radical generosity a key competitive advantage.
Don’t worry if those two concepts are foreign to you. They were to me too. I’ll let John explain in just a minute. Just know this, I have listened to this podcast 3 times already as I was getting it ready to publish and I’m still learning things each time.
Things John And I Talked About
- Gifting as a competitive advantage.
- Radical generosity/giftology
- If you take care of the family in business, everything else takes care of itself.
- Gifting as a repeatable system instead of being haphazard.
- If you are liked, trusted, and top of mind, you will beat out people that might be better than you.
- Most people ask, “What’s the least I can do?” Instead, focus on what’s the most you can do?
- Why food/wine is the absolute worst gift you can give.
- Why gift cards are just as bad.
- How many impressions are you making with your gifts?
- What the difference is between a gift and a promotional item and why John never sends promotional items.
- Don’t deface something by putting your logo on it.
- Don’t gift on the ABCs (Anniversaries, Birthdays, Christmas)
- Never gift for a referral or when a deal closes.
- The two reasons to gift:
- Thanking someone for their time.
- Just because.
- Why you should never send gifts in November or December.
- The importance of gifting in a series.
- How to surprise and delight.
- How to set a budget for gifting. (5-15% of profits from that client.)
- Sending gifts to the Decision Maker’s inner circle and why that is often more effective than sending it to the Decision Maker themselves.
- Why a $600 coffee mug makes sense.
- The art of creating artifacts.
- How to gift a prospect. (But first take care of your warm market, centers of influence and current clients.)
The Books John and i Talked About
As always: Click on the cover below to learn more or purchase through Amazon.
Raving Fans – Ken Blanchard
The 21 Laws Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership – Dr. John C. Maxwell
Where To Connect With John
Your turn
What gift have you received that surprised and delighted you? Leave a comment below or shoot me an email: Tim@SuccessIsVoluntary.com.
Until then, I wish you great SUCCESS! I’ve heard it’s VOLUNTARY…
