I've got an idea that I want to share with you, which I know will really resonate with some of my clients. I know some people don't think they need this idea as much as others, but I really think the concept, in its purest and simplest application, is valuable to all of us, not just in our professional performance, but in our personal relationships as well.
Back in 2000 or 2001, I was a client of the Strategic Coach program, a very powerful program created by a guy named Dan Sullivan who was working hard in the financial services business. He found himself working so hard that he started not to like the success he was seeing. As a true genius, Dan started thinking, "What can I change that will make this work out the way I wanted?" And so he took a whole lot of basic business development approaches, threw them away, and came up with a handful of powerful tactics and mindset applications that I find valuable from 25 years ago. This is one that deals with anybody that wants to renew a piece of business or build a long-lasting relationship. If you're in the insurance business and you've got annual renewals where policies expire, please pay attention. This could help you a lot.
Dan Sullivan said that renewing a piece of business started on the day that they originally signed up with you, and you needed to have the courage and the commitment to ask them this very powerful question. He called this question the "R factor," or "relationship factor" question, and I find it to be almost bulletproof as far as not having to guess what will make next year's renewal much easier. He wants people to ask this basic, fundamental question: "If we're talking a year from now, and you tell me one of the best decisions you made all year was your decision to do business with me, what has to happen over the next 12 months for you to say that?" Frankly, I don't know if there's any way it sets up any better than to have someone tell you, "If you do this, this, and this, I'm pretty much going to stay with you." Look, we can't stop competitors from throwing cheap numbers at them, but when you have a great relationship, you don't have to be the low price.
So I'm asking all of you, track down Dan Sullivan's "R factor" question and learn how to apply it in your business as quickly as you can do it. And if you really feel gutsy and brave, learn how to apply that concept in your personal relationships too. It will blow the people that you're most caring about away when they hear that you really do care, that you give them and understand what matters most to them.
So there it is again, the "R factor" question. Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach, stop guessing how to renew business and get the answer right from the horse's mouth.
That's our fast tip for Friday. Have a great weekend. Have a great career. Keep it launch. Relaunch it every Monday. Go be your best.
