How To Make People Like You And Build Win-Win Relationships

If you don’t know how to make something happen, most probably you know somebody who does. If not, you know somebody who knows somebody who does… 

In fact, the “six handshakes” rule claims that each of us is six social connections away from any other person in the world!

So you surely know someone who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows Elon Musk.

Wow!

That’s powerful, indeed.

And people have it all: needs, solutions, expertise. Basically, all your business needs to thrive.

That’s why business and marketing are ALL about building relationships.

There is only so much you can do on your own, and that’s ok. What’s important, though, is making friends with people who can help you become better, do more, and bring more value.

In today’s article, I’ll go over how you can make meaningful connections with people and why you should learn this for the sake of your business’ growth.

The foundation of today’s article is a remarkable book about building & maintaining relationships, How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

But let’s get right into it.

Why Do Relationships Matter in Business?

Relationships are your business’ runaway. You can’t make it big without them.

Do you need the know-how? Employees have got it.

Do you need the idea? Partners have got it.

The audience? That’s your consumers.

Networking allows you to understand people and their pain points better, as well as how you can provide more value to them.

And the more knowledge of this kind you get, the more successful as an entrepreneur you are.

Just as you do, people have a lot of needs and a lot of solutions. When your needs and solutions encounter others’, opportunities for wealth are born. 

And there is no roundabout way of getting them.

For that reason, people are literally walking opportunities for you – opportunities to strike win-win deals that make both of you richer. 

3 Keys To Winning Friends

To make friends with whoever you want, you must start by understanding people’s needs. What’s in their mind? What do they love? And people naturally love what they value. 

It inspires and opens them up. 

To build meaningful connections, you should always start from what makes people tick. It’s the key to winning their trust, and it has several rules of thumb that never run aground.

No. 1: Mindset. Start with yourself

Become the person you would like to meet. 

Make yourself a likable presence and an interesting interlocutor. For that, read a lot and form compelling ideas to discuss. Have amazing experiences to tell and expertise to share. 

Do things you’re passionate about, challenge yourself, and uncover new, better ways of doing fun stuff.

When meeting someone in person, smile and comfort people with sincere compliments and good jokes.  

Be open and enjoy the process of learning about others. Become somebody people want to talk & listen to. That’s how you attract like-minded people into your life.

No. 2: Empathy. Be genuinely interested in others

As Carnegie states in his book, “You make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

This is because nothing is so important for people than their own desires, pains, and interests.

People love to talk about themselves, their pains, and their frustrations. If you listen close enough, you might hear what truly bothers them and how you could help them. 

So you end up making them feel important while gathering intelligence about them as prospects. It’s a win-win. And eventually, it will help you to turn them into effective buyers. 

For instance, let’s say you’re a copywriter. You came across somebody’s poor copy, and you know you can give it a boost. When reaching out to them, you should start from their need (poor conversions) and how you can solve it rather than just claiming how great you are at copywriting.

It’s people’s needs that get their attention. 

That’s how you make space for selling your solutions and creating value for them.

No. 3: Enthusiasm. Bring value to people’s lives.

People love learning that their work has brought value to others. Just as much, they like to receive value from others. Either way, it’s a powerful method to connect with people. 

One way of doing this is buying people’s products and giving them meaningful feedback along with your appreciation. It proves your interest in their work. In return, it raises their interest in yours. 

Besides, feedback is a form of value itself. It can help people acknowledge the shortcomings of their product or service and level it up. 

Another way of bringing value to people is by complimenting them. 

You see, people want to be liked. 

They want their efforts to be appreciated by others. 

And complimenting others taps into reciprocity. By telling people about the benefits their product or service brought to your life, you get them to value their interaction with you more. 

Consequently, it’s a powerful way to connect with people. And it makes space for a friendship.

One more thing to be said here: offer help of any kind. People want their problems solved, and if you can do this via your service, advice, or just by introducing them to somebody who does, they’ll appreciate that. 

You see, it’s a win-win: they get a problem solved, you get both a friend and a potential client.

Key takeaways

Building relationships is essential for expanding your business. Think of it as the fuel that puts your business in a high-growth mode or as an opportunity driver.

So my best advice is never to underrate the power of meaningful connections made with the right people. 

To succeed in these endeavors, remember to:

-> Make others enjoy spending time with you,

-> Be genuinely interested in others, their needs and achievements,

-> Bring value of any kind to people’s lives.

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