Growing your Reach, Start with Why
If you are familiar with Simon Sinek, you have heard “Start with Why”. He authored a book, “Start with Why” where he dives into how smart businesses and great businesses start with the why. He suggests that as we start with the ending goal in mind, we will become more successful and give clients a reason behind “why” they need our product. As an NTC Project GLAD ® field consultant we are constantly looking for ways to grow our reach and find new clients.
We here at Project GLAD ® have had the privilege of beginning with the target in mind (our why) for many years. We have taught backwards planning and have seen great success. Let’s begin to unpack and understand what starting with the why might look like as we grow our reach with three simple questions:
1.Why do you do what you do? Is it just a job or do you believe in the power of the model? If you know this model is effective share that! Remember the first time you heard about Project GLAD, where were you? Did you see or hear someone mention it? Did you sit through a training? What time of year was it? What got your attention? Do you remember walking into a room full of charts? When was that moment you realized this really works? Recently I was reflecting on what caused me to believe in the model, I remembered the joy and excitement I had for seeing the love of learning and joy of success taking place in the classroom. I remember thinking these were trainings in real classrooms with (as we joke) “real” students, not a stacked deck of students. I remember watching students of different cultural backgrounds sharing and celebrating together a job well done. I also remember feeling overwhelmed and knew this was a lot to take on. I walked away thinking this is something I can get behind and one of the best PD I had ever been a part of. When you present to a future client, remember these things and it might help ease their own wonderings. My goal is to always remember my lens of perspective as I began my journey and meet those around me right where they are at.
2. Why do you want to grow your reach? Look at how many clients you currently service and how many your team can handle at full capacity. Often, I think of it as a place of service (think restaurant, hotel any place you might need to wait); you have one on the phone, one in the lobby and one currently being served. Who is on the phone? The one you are still working the deal with. What might they need to hear to help them decide if this is the training for their team? Are you a good fit for their team? Are they ready for the training you are offering? All these need to be considered when talking with a future client. Next, who is in the lobby? Who has scheduled a training, but you have not actually started yet. What are their needs? What do you need to do in order to be ready for their upcoming training? What excites you about this upcoming training and how might you prepare for this? Finally, who is currently being served? This might be multiple clients but, be sure you are doing those who are current clients a job worthy of their time and efforts. What have you been asked to do in terms of follow-up? Do you have emails, phone calls or other communication needs that you must respond to? Have you debriefed with this team do find your celebrations as well as areas of growth?
3. Why should others care about the training and want to hire your team? You and your team have gifts, talents and abilities that others need to know about when presenting the pitch. Many times, we are told to not brag about ourselves or stay humble, I’m here to say you can stay humble and still “sell yourself/your team” well. We need the administrators, the community leaders and decision makers to see we are qualified as well as passionate about our job. Tell them why they should hire you! Give them reason why the model works, and you are the team for the job. Once we deiced a client is a good fit for the model, then show them why they need what you have. We as trainers know it’s an effective model that works and we know it works for all students, so give them the why. Guide them through your why, you have many skills to offer.
Starting with the why causes us to backwards plan our own path to growing our reach. Be bold, be brave and be authentic; start with why!
