If you’ve ever watched an awards show, you may have thought about who you would thank if you were up at the podium accepting an award for your work. The average successful person will say they’ve had around twelve to fifteen vital relationships in their careers. We can call these power relationships.
So how do you form them? Well, you can start by making sure you have great conversations.
Bill Jenkins has come to learn the power of great conversation. In his career as a financial advisor, he was used to giving clients PowerPoint presentations. But then one day, Jenkins was approached by an assistant to one of his clients, and she told him that her boss actually enjoyed his informal talks with Jenkins more than anything else. She also told Jenkins that his competitors were getting pretty aggressive in trying to woo his client away, and it would probably be in Jenkins’s best interests to have fewer slides and more meaningful conversations.
He took the advice and started having more conversations over lunch and coffee and, sure enough, he began to form a better idea of this client’s hopes and dreams than ever before. It
not only led to him being in a better position to help his client – two years later, this client is one of the biggest revenue producers for Jenkins’s firm.
This brings us to another important aspect of forming power relationships: never be afraid to ask a question.
Years ago, one of the authors was helping to organize the annual Chamber of Commerce meeting in Alliance, Ohio. In an effort to raise the event’s profile, he came up with the idea of trying to book a legend of commerce, J.C. Penney, to be a guest speaker.
At first, he asked the manager of the local JC Penney store to help connect him, but he refused. Determined, the author decided to call Mr. Penney directly, and just like that he was soon talking to the man, telling him how much he enjoyed reading his autobiography. He then explained how honored the town would be if he would speak at their meeting.
Thanks to that initial heartfelt conversation, Mr. Penney not only accepted the offer but became his mentor and a lifelong friend.