"Mile Wide...Inch Deep"

This phrase has been used to describe a characteristic of people who may be impressive at first, but after you get to know them, they are found to be shallow and unimaginative. In another instance, it could describe a person’s knowledge or intelligence. They may know a little about everything but nothing substantial about a given topic.

I heard Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, use this phrase to describe the malady of basing your relationships totally on the success of your social media network. Mr. Hardy concluded that the number of Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and emails processed showed how well he was communicating, not connecting.

Both communicating and connecting are essential to growing your business and sales in today’s economy. However, it is difficult to “strike oil”, in Darren’s words, without a true connection. To truly connect we have to surround ourselves with a group of people who can nurture our success.

A true connection personally or professionally happens when you take the time to get to know and understand someone. It usually happens when you spend time face to face, sharing the same space, and breathing the same air. I advise my clients that anytime you can have a meeting face to face, it will be more productive and your chance of success will increase dramatically.

I recently spoke to a friend of mine from High School who lives in Houston, TX who has built a very successful financial advising practice. So successful, in fact, that he was able to take off one-hundred-sixty-nine days in 2011, and he is only in his late forties.

I asked Glenn how he built a nine figure portfolio with a few hundred clients. He described his intensive screening process of getting to know each client intimately and making sure they are in a financial position to invest. Many times he would refuse to work with a client at the expense of his personal income to keep from compromising his screening criteria. He also considered liking the person a large part of his screening process.

Please consider one more very important point. Glenn has built his business with a group of people that mutually like and trust him. Because he took the time to get to know each client, he has never made a cold call. He has hundreds of satisfied clients based entirely on customer referrals. Those referrals are the product of being truly connected with his clients.

Does this make Glenn a mile wide and a mile deep?

Have a great week!

Pierce

wwwMarrsCoaching.com