IBA, as the premier business brokerage firm in the Pacific Northwest, is firmly established as a respected professional service firm in the legal, accounting, banking, mergers & acquisitions, real estate, and financial planning communities. Periodically, we will post guest blogs from professionals with knowledge to share for the good of owners of privately held companies & family businesses. The following blog article has been provided by Steve Ramona, Partner at Ramax Development (https://www.ramaxdevelopment.com/):
ASLA Principle (Ask, Shut Up, Listen, Ask)
If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur, you need to expand your network. The larger your network is, the more opportunities will flow your way. How do you build that network? You ask, shut up, listen, and ask again. The power of this is that when you ask that question to get to know the client, you’ll shut up. After you ask, have you ever walked away from a conversation thinking, “Who was this person?” What was your next thought? It was probably, “Why did I meet this person, or why did we connect? What did I do wrong?” To build a relationship, you need to ask, “Shut up and listen,” and ask again to learn more and more about that person. You just don’t build a relationship by meeting somebody for 10 seconds and talking to him. You don’t get to know someone or build a relationship without asking questions. Questions are the biggest key here. That’s why it comes up twice: the ask at the beginning and the ask at the end. These are powerful tools to use throughout your day as a business owner, or even in life. It’s amazing how this principle will work when you’re trying to go on a date, meet new friends, meet new family members, etc. Life can be hard, but just asking questions of any kind will make a difference. Plus, this edifies the person you’re talking to, or it’s active listening. Once you’ve learned more about the person you’re talking to, you can ask another question and continue this principle over and over again.
The result: I’ve been using this principle for the last 3 years. The benefits to me have been that I’ve added hundreds of people to my network, including successful business owners who’ve made $1 billion in their careers.
Would I be able to get to know them by not asking a question? Absolutely not. Was I able to help them and support them without asking a question? Absolutely not.
The key here is that whether somebody is extremely successful or coming up, just building their business, you want to get to know them. Using this principle is a game changer, but it’s a skill. What do you do with skill? You need to practice it repeatedly. That’s what I’ve done over the last 3 years: I’ve probably used this principle over 500 times.
This has allowed me to grow my network, referrals, and business. Is that something you’re looking for? If it is, the ASLA principle is your ticket to a bigger and better business. It also allows you to meet some very interesting people, build your opportunities, and build your net worth. I’ve changed that phrase to: “Your quality network is your net worth.”
How do you build a quality network? By using this principle: asking, shutting up, listening, and asking again. Once you’ve asked multiple questions, you’ll know so much about the person in front of you, whether it’s virtually or in person, that you’ll be able to help them in so many ways.
Relationships are important in every aspect of life, but even more important in business. We are in the people asset business. The more people you meet, the more opportunities you have to scale your business. Try it now and see your network grow every week. Take solace in the fact that this principle will work in many different situations. Think of the times you can ask questions, listen, and shut up to learn more about people. Please allow people the grace to learn more about you as well, so they do the ASLA principle with you.
Business can be hard, but using this principle can make business so much easier. Share this with your teams. If you have employees, board members, partners, or relationships in business, this is a great way for them to grow as well. The most important thing is the quality of the person you want to work with, and this will help you with that.
If you have questions relating to the content of this article, Steve Ramona, Partner at Ramax Development, would welcome the opportunity to connect. Steve can be reached at (408) 642-6288 and [email protected].
IBA, the Pacific Northwest’s premier business brokerage firm since 1975, is available as an information resource to the media, business brokerage, mergers & acquisitions, and real estate communities on subjects relevant to the purchase & sale of privately held companies and family businesses. IBA is recognized as one of the best business brokerage firms in the nation based on its long track record of successfully negotiating “win-win” business sale transactions in environments of full disclosure employing “best practices”.