Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Ed Wallace, Founder and CEO of The Relational Capital Group, and author of a couple of great books: Business Relationships That Last: 5 Steps to Transform Contacts Into High Performing Relationships and The Relationship Engine: Connecting with the People Who Power Your Business. Among the many topics that Ed and I discuss are the steps to you can take to convert sales contacts into relationships, the engine that turns leadership connections into relationships and how you should assess and strengthen your business relationships.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:54] A CPA ‘in recovery,’ Ed was a senior executive at Vertex for 20 years. He was their 9th employee and they sold $1M; when he left, they had 1,000 employees with $120M in sales.

[7:43] There is great potential to improve the existing business relationships you have. It takes time, and it’s difficult, but 90% of executives say relationships are the secret to their success.

[9:47] Ed describes the concepts of the relational ladder and the relationship engine. Each type is appropriate for specific circumstances, with different goals.

[13:52] Ed shares questions to assess the strength of your relationships and shares a process for building strong relationships.

[16:05] Given that you have good intentions toward your colleagues and customers, what is the central challenge of relational leadership?

[16:53] Ed offers to you, Andy’s listeners, to take the Relational Quotient test, an objective measure of 35 human business behaviors, such as email response, call-back time, etc.
[18:35] If you are not getting validation from the people with whom you are trying to build relationships, look at your credibility, integrity, and authenticity. Something is missing. There are no neutral interactions. Trust either rises or falls.

[24:30] Worthy intent is a promise to put the other person’s best interests at the forefront of the relationship. Trust is the inevitable consequence of worthy intent. Asking relevant, topical questions shows your worthy intent.

[26:29] Relational GPS means Goals, Passions, and Struggles. Learning and sharing relational GPS is the universal framework for every business relationship. Let it flow naturally; don’t ask. Ed shares a $10M GPS anecdote of a deal saved by credibility.

 

MORE ABOUT ED WALLACE

What’s your most powerful sales attribute?
Listening.

Who is your sales role model?
Max the Taxicab driver, in my previous book.

What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things, by Robert Fulghum.

What music is on your playlist right now?

Vintage Rolling Stones. Also The Beatles.

 

CONTACT ED WALLACE

Contact Ed: [email protected]

Website: RelationalCapitalGroup.com

For your free RQ Assessment go to the website and click to receive an access code by email. A salesperson will not call.