Give First: Pay it Foward

NOTE: Across America, corporations are laying off tens of thousands of people. To those people, this is terrifying. To you, it's an opportunity to extend your hand and help them, to build good will and salvage the industry's image. This issue tells you how to do it.

Look beyond. You probably know the idea of “pay it forward” from the movie. Many years before that movie came out, I was writing my first book on Credibility. During my research, I learned the concept of Give First. In selling and consulting, it means (even if the prospect does not buy from you) to give him something he can use. Like an idea or contact. In marketing, it means giving something away before you ask for anything in return.

If you've learned anything about me from reading my work, it is that I live and work based on the Give First concept. If you read my newsletters and articles, you remember that at the end of everything I publish, I give a reward. It’s typically something free, but also something that took me a long time to create, like a book or a report. In my coaching, I typically give a coaching session with no expectation of a pay back.

FREE #1. This morning I saw that Fidelity is about to lay off 4,000 people. To those people, this is terrifying To you it is an opportunity to extend your hand and help them. A quick search turned up these:

o JPMorgan Chase lays off 71 in Cicero, NY
o Country Coach lays off 100 in Junction City Oregon
o Macy’s lays off 950 in Minneapolis
o City of Chicago lays off 929
o City of New Orleans lays off 3000
o Starbucks lays off 180 in Seattle
o Sirius XM Radio lays off 50
o GM lays off thousands
o American Express axes 7,000 jobs

In addition, I know from the many phone calls I'm getting that many of you are scared. Your incomes are down and your careers appear to be in dangerous waters. I hate that. I've been laid off, and it hurts like crazy. I've also spent half my life helping financial advisors improve their businesses by improving their ability to build relationships. I do that mainly because I love people and you control the financial security (thus dreams) of your clients. Long ago, I realized that financial advisors (as a group) were the most powerful people on the planet, but they didn't know it.

So, I am offering to help you - no cost and no strings. Obviously, I can't do one-on-one sessions with hundreds of people, so these will have to be group calls. If you want my help to protect your livelihood, please let me know. Just copy this paragraph into an email and send it to me with ALL your contact information. I will add you to the roster and let you know when the first conference call is.

FREE #2. If you are a military veteran, I have a new program to train/coach vets in how to improve their businesses. It's called "2nd-Shot." No cost to you for this training. If you're a vet, let your other vet friends know about this opportunity. And, if you want to participate in this program, let me know! This is the biggest passion of my professional life.

FREE #3. I want to help you understand how to implement the Give First idea today. See, when you give first, it shows/demonstrates that you are thinking of the other person first, and not yourself. It shows that you are not self-serving, but magnanimous. Why should you do it? Because the American investor has stopped loving you. Rather, he sees financial advisors as self-serving. (That's what the research from the Rand Corporation shows and the numbers are huge!)

But HOW? You would put this business philosophy into effect like this. 1) Ascertain what value you provide (NOT products). What professional expertise do you possess that someone else might be thankful for. 2) Identify groups of people who need your help (not your money.) For you to use this approach today, you might consider doing these things:

Make outbound calls to your clients and offer to help them make sense of the global economic meltdown and also help them deal with it. This is a great opening for having friendly coffee conversations with clients and their friends. Most investors are looking to move their money. Why not give them a reason to move it to you?
Identify clusters of people who are having trouble in this economy, then volunteer to help them. As you can see from the lay offs listed above, firms everywhere are laying off employees. Those people are perfect for you. Most of them will find other employment, and when they do you can be the most logical choice as their advisors. Many of them are managers who will become your advocates to their next employer.
Find people who are day traders of do-it-yourselfers, and offer to mentor them. My best friend works with a small cap investment firm. He mentioned that investing right now is like trying to surf in a category five hurricane! It's extremely hard, even for professional, and impossible for most part-timers.
Contact the local college or university and offer to mentor a group of students who are studying business or finance. You want people talking about you.
Contact the Boy Scouts and offer to teach them how to spend money. Scouts have parents who love people who love their kids.

What It’s Not. Not products. Not a sales pitch.

The Rubber Meets the Road Here. Giving first has become the natural way of life for me over the years. I love giving gifts of my know-how, specifically the know-how that will help other people make more money or improve their lives. I give away the e-versions of our books. I often provide coaching for free to anyone who really wants it. I speak for free at conferences.

YOUR REWARD. If you can see the value in giving first, then I invite you to let me know. I will gladly send you the e-version of our book The 5 Levels of Rapport – with the expectation that you will then use the skills to help someone else. I wrote this book because I could see that very few professionals knew how to build rapport. So, I put all the skills for doing that into a simple process. If you want to improve your success, read this book. Just copy this paragraph and send it to me with ALL your contact information, and I’ll send you the book. Free!

-- Michael Lovas

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