Articles - Page 22 of 47

When it Pays to Be Audacious and Just Ask

Many years ago my coauthor, Jerry Panas, was asked to organize the annual meeting for the chamber of commerce in Alliance, Ohio, where he once lived. He decided—rather ambitiously—to ask J.C. Penney to be the annual speaker. At the time, Penney—know as “Mr. Penney” to everyone—was one of the greatest merchants of the 20th century. […]

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Why you must improve your conversational skills

I’ve heard a common complaint from the senior corporate executives I work with and also from some of our young, single female friends in New York City: Why can’t people have a good conversation anymore? In the executives’ case, they are complaining about the external service providers and advisors they work with, who can’t stop […]

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14 Common Mistakes in Building C-Suite Relationships

Build Better C-Suite Relationships By Andrew Sobel It’s hard to get the first meeting with a top executive. It’s even harder to get the second meeting. If you don’t make a connection and add value in your conversation—if you don’t light some kind of spark—you’re unlikely to create interest in a relationship with you. Here […]

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The WhatsApp acquisition by Facebook and the Twenty-Third Law of Relationships

Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp underscores something I’ve believed for a long time: that notwithstanding social media’s ability to connect us with thousands of contacts, we ultimately gravitate towards a small handful of deep, meaningful relationships at work and at home. About Facebook’s latest move, The New York Times wrote, “Weary of noisy social […]

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Becoming a Person of Interest

By Andrew Sobel Your clients are pressed for time. Everyone wants to get on their agenda. There is competition, in a sense, to build a relationship with them. In response, you need an attraction strategy. You need to become a person of interest, someone that senior executives are drawn to spend time with. This is […]

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From Vendor to Trusted Advisor: Use Power Questions to Deepen Your Client Relationships

By Andrew Sobel Once you have acquired a new client or customer, the next challenge is to create a personal connection and deepen the relationship. Again, the right power questions will help you do this. To help deepen a client relationship, I like to ask what I call Passion questions and Depth questions. Passion questions help you understand what the […]

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How to Build Peer Relationships with Your Clients

By Andrew Sobel To become a client’s trusted advisor, you must be viewed as a peer. This doesn’t mean you must become a literal peer. If you work with a CEO, for example, you will never be their strict peer in an organizational or hierarchical sense. But if you want a seat at the table […]

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How to Get More Leads Out of Your Network

By Andrew Sobel “How do I get more leads out of my network?” That’s a question I get asked a lot these days. Everyone has lists of contacts. Everyone has past clients. Some of them may need what you offer—right now! But how do you make the connection in a way doesn’t feel like you’re […]

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