There Is Only One Thing, Which Has Never Changed In Business, But We Often Forget It
Updated: Dec 10, 2021
Written by: Michael Griffiths, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
It is so powerful that it grows your business time, after time, after time.
As much as business has changed over the past 20+ years, growing your business really hasn’t, there is a tried and tested way.
Back in 1997 before Google was a powerhouse, social media had thousands of platforms, getting exposure to anywhere in the world could be done from your smartphone or sharing your expertise was as simple as creating some videos, you had to be great at ‘human marketing.’
Whether it was networking, or asking for referrals or creating partnerships, you needed to be great at building relationships with other people who could open doors for you, share you and help create new business for you.
If I look back over the past two decades a lot has changed and unfortunately humans have become lazy, inpatient and believe that they are entitled to success yesterday.
They’ve lost the art of relationships and they have become hard wired to be a Hunter rather than a Farmer.
In 2009 I went full time into my business, I removed the safety net of being a teacher and decided it was now or never. Hey what’s the worst that could happen. Go back with my tail between my legs.
Over the next 4 years I would go on and create 7 businesses, selling 6 along the way and EVERY business was built the same way.
No ad spend, no fancy SEO, Pay Per Click budgets or FB ads. I have no problem with paying for exposure, but if you don’t have to spend money on ads, why would you.
These lessons that I learnt and I’m about to share, are still so applicable today if you are going to be successful.
I grew the tutoring company by leveraging into partnerships. Finding sporting associations where the families I needed, also went to.
I grew the health supplement business through our extensive networks of personal trainers and their networks. 110,000 customers in 5 months.
The other 4 businesses were all very similar stories, the simple fact… With the right relationships you can get anyone to help you achieve your vision and goals.
The problem is… we’ve lost the art of human marketing… creating those powerful relationships that allow us to transform our business.
When I hear people talk about referrals, they talk about what’s the best script, what are the three steps that I need to do, how do I ask them.
When I see people doing social media marketing, it’s about getting likes, getting people to comment and sending direct messages, hoping that someone might want to use the stuff that they’re selling.
When I see people doing paid ads, the focus is all about the outcomes and results rather than getting your buyers to resonate with you, respect you and be inspired by you.
When I see people going to networking events, or joining referral groups, it’s all about the ‘what are you going to do for me’ mentality. Here’s my business card, buy from me… It’s all transaction focused.
We talk all the time about being a farmer, about planting seeds, nurturing the seeds, removing the weeds and allowing the seeds to grow into a crop.
Sure, there are a bunch of people who are good at building relationships face-to-face, but all of a sudden forget how to use the exact same communication skills when they go behind a keyboard.
The simple fact is if you’re doing business and selling to humans, the way you create relationships, build relationships, maintain relationships, evolve the relationships all matter and always will until the robots take over.
We need to understand how to evoke positive emotions, we need to understand how to get people into our team, we need to become great at being patient and knowing that business has never failed those who took the time to care about others and ensuring that other people won at the same time you did.
Human marketing is an art form.
Human marketing doesn’t rely on a widget, platform, algorithm or various marketing channels. Human marketing will never die as long as you are selling to humans.
And whether it’s in client retention, client acquisition or turning everyone around you into walking, talking, ranting, raving billboards, there is an art form and when you get this right, your business grows like the crops grow for the farmer.
Michael Griffiths is the leading expert around the globe on Human Marketing. The combination of marketing and neuroscience that is guaranteed to help businesses grow. Michael has a simple mission - to inspire one million consultants a year to play a bigger game in their business, win every day and be more profitable than ever before so they can contribute and help make society a better place.
Michael Griffiths, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Impact driven coaches, consultants & professional service providers hire us to get a flood of referrals, keep their clients for longer and better engaged, while creating more word of mouth opportunities than ever before, so they can fast track their business growth and make more money.
We show them how to tap into the Limbic part of the brain, which controls all human behaviour by evoking brain chemicals that will accelerate someone’s profound loyalty, overwhelming trust and deep emotional bonds towards you.
The bottom line is… it’s the moments that people remember when you made them feel a particular way, that truly quadruples your referrals guaranteed!
