When Bob Burg joined Phil as the latest Inner Circle Book Club guest to discuss his book The Go-Giver, he shared some thoughts that, if applied, would make a world of difference to hearing care professionals’ outlook on the important work they do and how it is perceived by the people whom they help.
You’ve heard of a Go-Getter: Someone who goes out and gets what they want, right? But, have you heard of a Go-Giver?
The Go-Giver is a business book personified and immortalized as the story of Joe, a go-getting businessman and Pindar, his profound mentor.
Pindar smiled. “Please don’t misunderstand me. There’s nothing wrong with making money. Lots of it, in fact. It’s just not a goal that will make you successful.”
Reading the bewilderment on Joe’s face, he nodded and put his hand up to signal that he would explain, “You want to understand success, yes?”
Joe nodded.
“All right. I’m going to share my Trade Secret with you now.”
Pindar leaned forward a bit and softly spoke one word.
“Giving.”
To be a Go-Giver, you have to give exceptional value to those you serve, and thus through the power of giving, you will receive.
In this article, Bob Burg explains his five Go-Giving laws for “stratospheric success” and puts them into context for the good-willed, ambitious hearing care professional.
But first, let’s delve into the context with some practical examples.
The Truth behind Why We Buy
In order to grasp the concept of the Go-Giver, it’s important to first understand this universal truth:
People buy when they believe they’ll be better off working with you than not. Fact.
But in order for people to believe you’re the right choice for them, they must be given good reason, hence the philosophy of the Go-Giver.
As a Go-Giver, you make it your purpose to give value wherever you can in order to better educate your patients so they feel completely comfortable and informed to make the right choice for them.
There’s no manipulation or sleight of hand, just the sincere intention to empathize and empower.
It’s also good to note that by being a Go-Giver, you’re removed from sparring in a price war. Bob believes that “if you sell on low price, you’re a commodity, but if you sell on high value, you’re a resource,” which means that by putting value as your USP opposed to price, it will make you indispensable.
Bob Burg’s 5 Laws for Stratospheric Success
#1 – The Law Of Value
“Your true worth is how much you give in value opposed to how much you take in payment.”
As a business owner, this may feel counterintuitive at first. However, let’s consider it from an angle completely removed from hearing care.
Chances are you have a Netflix account and pay $19.99 a month for the privilege.
Now, when you consider how much time you spend entertaining yourself by bingeing shows and devouring movies and weigh that up against how much you’d spend on entertainment elsewhere, $19.99 a month is a really reasonable price, if not a bargain.
In other words, the value of your Netflix account far outweighs the monthly cost.
If we bring this back to the hearing care realm, it’s a pretty obvious observation that the value of giving one’s hearing back far outweighs the cost, but how well are you communicating that with your audience?
#2 – The Law Of Compensation
“Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”
Nice and simple, right? How can you amend your business model to serve more people?
Always easier said than done.
To be a true Go-Giver, you must never sacrifice quality for quantity, which, as a hearing care professional, you know all too well to be true.
Therefore, the lesson here isn’t in getting more bums on seats (as that is usually a by-product of putting giving before receiving) but in how you can communicate your valuable message to more people, e.g., sharing your hearing health knowledge via online content, seminars, or free taster days without expecting anything in return.
#3 – The Law Of Influence
“Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”
As a hearing care professional, this can be directly related to how well you communicate your patient’s options to them, even if it means they leave with the lower package, as ultimately it was the best choice for them.
Irrespective of your desire to make money, the law of influence is about always putting their needs before your own.
#4 – The Law Of Authenticity
“The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.”
Never underestimate people’s ability to sniff out a fake.
As a business owner, you have many hats to wear. However, if for a second you put all the other hats on the rack and proudly placed the one with your full name and title on it and then imagined what people would say about the person under the name, what do you think they’d say?
Acting authentically is a superpower in itself, as it’s completely inimitable, but in order to be authentic, you must first consider how you are currently perceived by the people around you.
Taking an outside look in is a powerful exercise, as it forces you to consider if your outward actions truly reflect and are in congruence with your inner values.
Only by acting in genuine congruence with your values will you be authentic in your endeavors, which in turn allows people to know, like, and trust the real you.
#5 – The Law Of Receptivity
“The key to effective giving is to be open to receiving.”
You may have noticed that up until this point, all of the laws are about giving. Well, as you’ve probably guessed, the law of receptivity is about being ready and open to receive.
Taking from the notion that “all actions have an equal and opposite reaction,” this law is simply the by-product of all your hard work implementing the previous four.
When you give, give, give, you shall receive.
Take a moment to ponder these five laws – do any ring true? Do any feel slightly amiss, and if so, why so?
The notion of the Go-Giver is both altruistic and optimistic and a brilliant way to handle yourself as a business person.
So, let’s now put these laws into a practical sense for private practice…
Practical Ways a Hearing Care Professional Can Be a Go-Giver
Practically speaking, being a Go-Giver as a hearing care professional could involve a number of things in all areas of the business, such as:
Community:
- Working with schools to educate children on the importance of healthy hearing
- Offering monthly drop-in clinics where you offer complimentary hearing tests for immobile or house-bound people
Online:
- Creating useful downloads on your website that help people understand the different types of hearing loss and how to treat it
- Creating content that truthfully compares your service to others and in doing so isn’t afraid to tell a prospective patient they might be better suited elsewhere
- Sharing regular hearing health advice in a monthly online Q&A feature
In Your Practice:
- Really consider your patient’s experience and make their visit as comfortable as possible.
- Ensure all staff know the patient’s name so they feel valued and not just a number.
- Always have someone on hand to talk to your patient after their consultation time ends in case they’re not ready to leave and want to discuss things in more depth.
By no means is this an exhaustive list, and no doubt you’ll have some ideas of your own, but considering just one of these ways to give value and make people feel more empowered is a huge leap into stepping into being a Go-Giver.
