If You Want People's Business, I Mean REALLY WANT People's Business, Do This

I've been planning to move for some time, but first I had to repair the foundation on my house (a common problem in south Texas) and also get a new roof because of hail damage (another common problem in south Texas.I finished getting those major projects done, and turned to the tweaking of the inside that needed doing - taping, floating and painting the cracks in the walls from the foundation, re-wallpapering one bathroom, a cracked window, a cabinet off the hinges, new flooring in two bedrooms, on electrical outlet that doesn't work ... Are you screaming? I don't like those nitty gritty little details do you?So I got out my Gooding Accountability System (mailto:sandyg@swbell.net), made the to-do list, and prepared to assemble the casts of thousands. I'm spoiled because I used to have a repairman who did everything, but he died. He was about 80 years old last time he came out. There aren't a lot of young people with his range of skills or his honesty and also he was an independent. He didn't arrive in a truck with all new appliances in it when he came to *repair* the dryer. He would tell me to keep repairing my 15 year old dryer because "they don't make them like they used to." An honest repairman. I haven't been able to replace Herman, God rest his soul in peace.So I called some friends to find out whom they were using. No one returned my calls. I get particularly frustrated once I get ready to take action and my first-line asssaults don't work. I got busy with other things and what's happened?Nothing. And two more months have gone by.Thursday the phone rang and it was Ken Brodeen. He's the realtor I'd spoken with 6 months ago about selling my house. He'd come out to look the house over and tell me what to do to make it sell fast.I was delighted. "Ken," I said, "I've completed the big projects. It's all these nasty little things..." I said I was having trouble finding the repair people.Ken proceeded to go down the list with me about what needed doing. He said he had a painter, a carpenter, a carpeting person he worked with. He also told me if I replaced the carpeting I'd get 1/2 of it back, but the house would sell much faster -- expert advice I needed. He said he worked with a carpeting person who would defer payment until after the house closed. He said he would email me a list.An hour later the email appeared, but more miraculously that afternoon the painter called ME and is coming over Monday. The carpeting woman called ME and is coming over Monday. The repairman called ME and is coming over Monday.And when each one called me, they knew all about me and what I needed done because Ken had called each one of them.Ken wants my business and he's built up a referring network of professionals who also want to do business and can solve all his client's needs. In four hours he'd solved the problems that had been dragging at me for months. Ken isn't a realtor, he's a resource person, a problem-solver, and a one-stop-shopping center.He works with a network of people who actively help the client whose business they want. They don't just passively return phone calls, they MAKE the phone calls.And how did I find Ken? I work with a coach here in town -- Gordon -- who supplied Ken's name to me. I was telling Gordon I just couldn't cope with all the logistics of moving, and kept getting conflicting expert advice and this and that, and he called Ken for me and then Ken called me and came right over. It's a wide loop, a quality loop that I'm absolutely thrilled to be hooked into. Everyone in it is outstanding.Let's go over the points once again: Ken wants to sell my house. He knew exactly when to call me, with the intuition of an experienced professional, not *bothering* me with lots of calls, but sensing when the timing was right. He then provided solutions to all my obstacles, and all I had to do was pick up the phone when it rang.Do YOU provide this sort of services to your clients?Do YOU have this sort of trustworthy, quality network of problem-solvers you can roll into the lap of your lucky client?If you're a coach, do you have strong alliances with other coaches and professionals who can provide services for your clients you don't? People you know and trust who will treat your clients right?Do YOU solve problems for clients they don't even know they have?If you're a web designer, do you know marketing coaches, Internet copy-writers, search engine placement specialists and other problem-solvers you can hand your clients over to and know they'll be treated right? People whose work and client-skills you know firsthand and trust?How wide is YOUR loop? How good are YOU at supplying the answers and resources to your client for as many problems as they have?I'll be calling Ken to tell him how pleased I am, and then I'll be calling Gordon, who initiated the Ken-alliance.Do YOU have a QUALITY loop like this?Now understand I hadn't talked with Ken in 6 months, there are tons of realtors here in town who call me all the time, and I have choices. I have one woman realtor who calls me a lot and almost acts disgusted I haven't done anything yet and not once did she suggest a solution to speed things along. Unbelievable, isn't it?Now whom do you think I'll call when it's time to sell my house? And when I do call Ken, I know he'll have the name of a moving service in his pocket, the name of a cleaning service, the name of a realtor in Dallas, and the answer to all the problems I'll have at that stage of the game that I can't anticipate but he will, because it's his business to know.In the chaos of my life, something is going right! This is of inestimable value to me. Run your professional practice this way, and you'll have people beating down the walls to get to you. When you participate in a quality networking loop, everyone benefits.