Why Do Nice Guys Win In This Economy?
Because Nice Guys Win In Any Economy.
This is NOT a post about some gimmick or sexy tactic for successfully navigating the economic turmoil that “they” have inflicted upon us. I refuse to give this “Woe Is Me, When are ‘they’ gonna fix the economy?” movement any more steam than it already has.
Top Performers don’t engage in this kind of thinking, and don’t waste their time with this kind of conversation.
I’ve been observing and cataloging Top Performer behavior for over 22 years now.
Top Performers Do Things Differently. They think differently. They act differently . . . and they get different results.
One of the things they do differently is accept Personal Accountability for their results. They don’t blame you, me, their nagging spouse, demanding boss, crazy clients, the government, or this elusive creature called “the economy.”
They create, inspire, make decisions (some good, some bad), do the work, succeeed, fail, course correct, and succeed again . . . in any economy.
And they LEARN. In fact, they try to learn almost 24/7.
One Of The Most Valuable Lessons They Learn — and will teach us if we’ll listen:
“NICE” Is Fun, Easy, And Profitable.
Top Performers invest a great deal more time and energy than the “also rans” in being nice and helping other people — a lot of people, not just their hot prospects and current clients. They find ways to serve past clients, prospective clients, people who are never going to be clients, vendors — And are you ready for this? . . . Yes, they even go out of their way to be nice to “the competition.”
Actually, Top Performers have very few true competitors . . .
We’ll dive into the whole “Serve Your Competitors, And You Won’t Have Any” thing in another post sometime (not an easy pill for some to swallow – and the more one is struggling, the more difficulty they have with this concept. Of course, that little bit of insight right there should tell you something — but again, we’ll tackle this one another day.)
What even the nicest people sometimes have trouble with is:
Exactly HOW do I go about being nice in the marketplace? — nice enough, consistently enough for my efforts to actually help others in some meaningful way . . . and ultimately, help myself?
Simply committing yourself to the idea (if you haven’t already) will help a great deal more than you might expect. We were born to be nice — hard-wired that way from Day One. And the universe seems to be specifically set up to reward “nice.”
“Nice” is a lot more fun. “Nice” is easy. “Nice” is profitable. And the nicer you are, the easier and more fun “Nice” becomes. So as trite as it may seem, doing nothing more than commiting to a specific goal like “I’m going to do something nice for 5 people in my marketplace this week.” really will jumpstart your effort, stimulate your thinking, and be a strong catalyst for a steady flow of “Nice” ideas.
In the meantime . . .
6 “Nice” Actions That Work Really Well In My Experience:
1. In addition to re-tweeting a good post on a meaningful topic to the general tweeter population — Identify 2 or 3 specific individuals whom you know will really benefit from and appreciate this post you’ve discovered, and reach out to them directly to share the URL.
2. Make an effort to learn something about them outside the business arena — something they’re into. Then, acknowledge and support it. I have a business colleague who loves clowns. I’m always on the look-out for something clown related — a story, a card, a book. And from time to time, I’ll send her a little something “clownsh.” Of course, the real gift isn’t the silly little $2 item. The gift I’m giving is worth so much more. The gift of having that person on my mind, the gift of learning (and remembering) a little something extra about her, and sincerely supporting that interest . . . That gift is priceless.
3. Comment on their blog – And don’t just tell them WHAT you like about it, tell them WHY.
4. Ask for an opinion or a favor. One of the nicest things you can do for someone is demonstrate that you value their input and need their help. Top Performers do this a lot. As a result — they multiply their intellect, enjoy a steady flow of new ideas — and all the while, establish themselves as nice people who others will do virtually anything within their power to help.
5. Broker an introduction. E-mail introductions endorsing each to the other and suggesting they connect is fine (and sometimes the only practical choice). 3 Way calls are better. A 3 Way coffee or meal is by far the most powerful.
6. Forward a HARO query. HARO (Helpareporterout.com) ROCKS. If you’re not getting these queries, sign up right now and start. Scan HARO for interview opportunities that might be a good fit for someone you know. When you find one, send it over.
Do this even if you know they use HARO too. HARO puts out 3 sets of queries every day. It’s easy for someone to get busy and miss something that might be a perfect match for them. Wanna solidify your “Nice” reputation? . . . Help someone get good press. This is Golden. Even if they saw the query too, you were still thinking about how you could help them, you took the time to make them aware of the opportunity, and have demonstrated yet again that you genuinely understand them and what they’re trying to accomplish.
OK, Time To “Eat My Own Cooking” And Ask For Your Input . . .
What could we add to this “HOW TO BE NICE” list? — other ways to be nice to your marketplace?
WHO in your marketplace is particularly nice?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Stone,
Great post. You are spot on with this one. Here’s another nicety:
#7 Pick up the tab. And AVOID acting like a big shot about it. Try to get it all done invisibly before anybody notices. Be gracious, humble and sincere (…nice!) with your “you’re welcome.” Doing so is easy if you go into it thinking, “Since I’m going to invest the time to have lunch, drinks, whatever with whomever, I’m going to learn something.” That approach helps me focus on actually learning something, and 9 times out of 10, the ROI on what goes into my brain far exceeds the expense of what goes into my (far too ample) belly.
TY
#8 Share Your Expertise, Share Your Platform and access to your community . . . Write a solid, meanngful Guest blog post for another, invite others to provide a Guest posts on your blog.
#9 Interview an expert in your field, and share that thought leadership with your community(yes, even if — especially if — that person is a competitor). As most of you know, Todd and I have taken this idea to the extreme — with our own (real, live, in studio) Radio Show and the Video Dust Jacket Tour, but you don’t have to go nuts with it like we have. Anyone with a blog or newsletter can do this . . .
Record a phone interview, e-mail questions and publish the answers , , , lots of ways to pull this off.
All good advice! Not surprised at all, because I know many ‘nice guys’, and you are one of them! Yes, karma says it will come back to you, but it is even more scientific than that. Good customer service, honesty, respect, listening intently, and paying it forward are all great values to have.
I wish you the best in 2010!
Use their influence and expertise to help a non-profit or service type organization by not just giving of their money but themselves and their time.