Relationship Marketing Grand Summit Recap - Part 1

The two day Relationship Marketing Grand Summit kicked off on Thursday, August 8th, in Salt Lake City, UT.

The co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of SendOutCards, Kody Bateman, gave an introduction to the event. The event was based on Kody's newest book, The Power of Human Connection.

The Thursday morning session was based on section 1 of the book...What Relationship Marketing Really Is. There were several speakers that talked about that and the first speaker on the first morning was my friend, Darla DiGrandi-Aguilera.

Darla talked about her beginnings as a hairdresser who soon became a salon owner. Darla's entire presentation is on my Relationship Marketing Tips and Techniques Facebook group. If you'd like to see her presentation. just ask to join the group. But here are some highlights:

• We're all in the people business
• Being a high school dropout
• "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"
• Avoiding the Terrible Twos & Rebellious Teens
• Thank you cards to her clients was the only marketing she could afford
• Nothing matters more than relationships
• Appreciation after a job interview
• Adventures at the DMV
• Getting Above the Line

Here's the video from Darla's interview with Kody.

Next up was Larry Levine, author of Selling from the Heart. 

Here is some of what Larry talked about:

• Relationships do matter
• Find the learning moment in every situation
• Stop being a salesperson and start being a human being
• Humanize the Sales Process
• Care
• Someone might outsell me, out smart me, out strategize me but no one will out care me
• Write down 3 ways you could show your clients and prospects that you care
• Connection
• What do you do when you connect with someone? You move on
• Get to the heart as quickly as possible
• What are 3 ways you could connect with meaning.
• Compassion
• Vulnerability + Humility + Personality = Human 

Yon can listen to more from Larry with his interview by Kody here.

Here's a role reversal with Larry interviewing Kody on Larry's podcast.

Larry was followed by a panel of 5 SendOutCards affiliates discussing relationship marketing.

Immediately following the panel was lunch. I won’t make you wait an hour and a half for the afternoon session, all you have to do is go to the next paragraph.

The afternoon session consisted of the first half of section 2 of the book: How Relationship Marketing works within the traditional sales and marketing process.

The first speaker after lunch was James Muir, author of The Perfect Close.

James talked about the best practice in closing sales:

• Two Questions

1. Does it make sense for us to X?
2. If no, what do you think is a good next step?

• Zero Pressure 
• 95% Effective 

There were other things you could add to the two questions to make them more effective, but you can check out the book for more details. 

Here’s James’ interview with Kody.

The next speaker was Tommy Mello, author of Home Service Millionaire.

Some highlights from Tommy:

• Owner of A1 Garage Door Company
• What's in it for them?
• Be genuinely interested in the other person
• Use their first and last names
• Garage door is the smile on your home
• Managing vs building leaders
• Stop managing and start building leaders
• Keep calm and just ask
• $3200 door with all the bells and whistles
• It took 3 months to sell the first door
• How did the salesman sell the first door? He asked for the sale
• It's hard for people to say no twice
• Ask for more than you want, then come down to what you really want
• Want your kid to make their bed and clean their room? Ask them to clean the whole house, then say how about just cleaning your room and making your bed

Here's Tommy's interview with Kody.

The next speaker was Jay McHugh. Jay has been out to California a couple of times putting on marketing seminars for realtors.

Some highlights:

• Jay is a real estate broker with 500 agents and does one BILLION dollars in sales a year
• He's the master of selling through the process
• Reach higher by building relationships
• The difference between contacts and contracts is the letter "r" for relationships
• SendOutCards is a great retention tool for employees
• "People count; numbers don't"
• An Irish toast
• There are good ships
• And there are wood ships,
• The ships that sail the sea
• But the best ships are friendships,
• And may they always be.

Here's Jay's interview with Kody.

Next Kody did a Relationship Marketing podcast live on stage with Melissa Barlock. 

Melissa's episode isn't posted yet, but I'll share it when its's available.

Some highlights from Melissa's interview:

• Melissa started a dental office recruiting company using relationship marketing techniques to grow into a large company in just 9 months
• She learned about relationships from being a bartender
• She doesn't do transactional sales, she does long term relationships
• Even if someone doesn't join your business, they'll often be an advocate for you because of the relationships that you build
• Consistency 
• You have to network to meet people
• Time blocking
• Following up

Melissa's interview wrapped up the first day of the Relationship Marketing Grand Summit.

Interesting days

Today - Photography Day, Aviation Day, Potato Day, International Orangutan Day and International Bow Day

Tomorrow - World Mosquito Day, Chocolate Pecan Pie Day and International Day of Medical Transporters

Next Monday - Dog Day, Women’s Equality Day, WebMistress Day and Cherry Popsicle Day

September 19 - Talk Like A Pirate Day, Get Ready Day and Butterscotch Pudding Day

Month long celebrations:

September 15 - October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month