I just finished Go-Givers Sell More — I loved it! What a breath of fresh air.

Working in the alternative health care industry in a culture where “you don’t pay for health care,” selling my MacGuffin can oftentimes feel very “schmarmy.”

Reading the book has reframed sales for me into a context that I can do. The nature of what I do every day is to focus on the patient, listen to them and add value to their life. Every time I would think about sales — developing my “pitch,” contacting prospects, dealing with objections, closing the sale — it would make me cringe. Now I know why: it takes the focus away from the other person, which goes against the very grain of my training as a naturopathic doctor.

Go-Givers Sell More has given me permission to stay in my core genius as a naturopath when thinking about growing my business — focus on the other person, listen and add value. I will definitely be recommending it to my colleagues who are struggling with this part of their business and careers.

If ever an endorsement by an ND is of value to you I’d be happy to oblige.

Keep up the good work!!

Heather thought she would have no trouble finding a new job. She had strong academic credentials and an impressive résumé of corporate experience. But as she began going through her connections, cold calling and doing whatever else she could think of to find her new position, no job materialized. A month went by, then two, then three. Here is how Heather tells it:

I had never been unemployed before; recruiters were always finding me. Now nothing was working.

Eventually I got together with seven other laid-off executives who all belonged to a networking group and created an event for executives who were looking for work.

A couple of people in the group had your book, and they said, “Whatever we do for our event, we need to make sure we are helping others and giving first.” Here we were, all out of work — and our conversation revolved around how we could help others find jobs!”

The newly formed ExecNet of St. Louis adopted a mission statement and a vetting process for new members that included the question, “Are you committed to helping other executives first?”

By the spring of 2009, we had over 150 members in our group — and we were all focused on helping each other first. Many of our group had landed new jobs, others were in final stages of interviews, and others were just getting started. Our group was only three months old and already moving mountains!

Heather and her colleagues were in dire straights — but instead of giving in to recessionary anxiety, they took control of their own state of mind. In focusing their efforts on providing value to others, they created their own booming economy — and it paid off handsomely.

We reprinted this entire exchange in Go-Givers Sell More. A few weeks after the book appeared in the spring of 2010, Heather gave us this update:

We are changing our name to ExecLink, and now have standing-room-only monthly meetings with 500 members, and a regular 130+ executives attend the meeting. Can you believe it has only been a year?!

And here’s the best news: all the original seven founders have landed new jobs and continue to participate in the events.

Thanks, Heather, for the fantastic story for our book — and for the inspiring example!

Here are a few pictures from Arlin’s 2008 Go-Giver Business Retreat, followed by his report on what happened next:

I wanted to share a great example of how your book and the culture it expresses is taking root in our peer groups.

This weekend, two of our members headed to another state to help a fellow member who had called out for help. The economy and some other circumstances were overwhelming to the point where this member’s company was considering massive layoffs or even closure.

These two volunteered to give up their own precious time (they both lead and manage their own companies) to fly to this member’s office and perform a SWOT (assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), from which they could provide guidance on immediate action steps that could be taken to deal with the issues at hand. This included part of their weekend, a level of commitment that makes this even more amazing.

I just received their findings and feedback report this morning after returning from church — and they are exploding with great ideas and suggestions that will make a significant impact on the company they went to help. Because of the go-giving actions taken by these two men, things for that owner have gone from “futile and overwhelming” to “manageable and possible.”

I now require all members of HTG to read The Go-Giver and do a book report on it, which is shared within their group meetings. When they join our program, the first thing I give them is a copy of the book (now over 125 copies handed out) and talk about the culture of go-giving that makes HTG what it is today.

[Nine months later, Arlin wrote us this follow-up:]

During the fourth quarter, the struggling member was able to regain control of the business, paid off most of their debt and had enough cash in hand to pay the rest. First quarter ’09 was a banner season for sales and profits.

But here is the really interesting thing: the two people who flew out to help the other member’s business say they have discovered that they have been forever changed by the investment of time, effort and dollars they made. Not only did they feel personally enriched by the experience, but they also learned much in terms of business acumen, critical thinking skills and leadership—ideas and processes they were then able to bring back and incorporate into growing their own companies.

We hold monthly team-building conference calls with our Executive Directors based on a “dream it” challenge; it has been very successful and motivational for all involved. We also have conference calls with our other community department heads (e.g. marketing, activities), and Program Directors (our equivalent to a Director of Nursing position) and wanted to include a team-building portion in those calls as well.

My direct supervisor, who is the VP of Programs, read your book, which had been recommended to her by an ED at one of our Florida properties over a year ago and wanted to use it in some way for motivational team building. As we discussed what we would do for our Program Directors, we decided to use The Go-Giver.

We sent copies of the book to each of our ED’s with instructions to only read chapters as assigned. We asked that they keep a journal to document how they meet the challenge presented by each Law. We meet on a monthly conference call and discuss the Law assigned for that call and how they have practiced the law in their own lives — both personally and professionally.

We also started a newsletter in which one of us writes an article related to the particular law for that meeting and we spotlight two of our PD’s and their Go-Giver spirit.

We’ve also decided that upon completion of the book, we’ll have the PD’s take turns leading the calls by sharing Go-Giver moments they’ve experienced, either as the “giver” or the “receiver.” We’re still working out the details of how we’re going to do it, but we know we want to carry on with the Go-Giver theme.

Peter Muhlbach, the CEO of our company, recently read your book, and at the opening of a meeting briefly shared the concept he had read about and then proceeded to give an example of an unexpected reward he had received when given an opportunity to “place other people’s interests first.”

It is a great book and we are looking for other ways we can use it to motivate and change our team attitude.

Every business expert who joins BizEnrich receives a copy of The Go-Giver to help clarify the values of the organization and inspire them to serve their clients in a way only a true Go-Giver can understand.

Last Friday [Nov. 20, 2009], BizEnrich held our first annual “Thanks-Go-Giving Celebration.”

[Note: That’s Berry on the far R.]

The purpose of the event was to gather as a community to express our gratitude for the generosity of our members and share our blessings with each other. Our members were treated to a complimentary gourmet luncheon by our sponsoring organizations.

Prior to eating lunch, we hand-wrote personal Thanksgiving cards to 70 foster parents in the greater Seattle area. Foster parents make some tremendous sacrifices to care for their foster kids and it was a great joy for us to thank them for their generous spirits. We have “adopted” Olive Crest, a regional charity who does great things with foster kids (and parents) to reduce abuse.

Throughout the three-hour event, everyone was given an opportunity to share something personal with the group. They were given guidelines ahead of the event, and were given a tremendous amount of freedom to share a story, a poem, a physical gift, or whatever they wanted to do. Each person was also given a copy of one of the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success and asked to make it relevant to something in their own life.

The sharing was incredibly touching and personal. We learned things about our business colleagues that only best friends share with each other. We heard poems from authors like Maya Angelou and Mary Oliver. We heard stories of heartache and triumph. We heard heartfelt statements of appreciation for each person in the room. We received gifts of recipes and song lyrics and memorabilia from local charities.

We all left the event with full bellies and hearts.

In the 24 hours since the event, I have received several personal emails of appreciation and gratitude. One member was so moved by the event that he claimed, “Today’s meeting did more to build relationships between the members than all the meetings this year combined.”

Happy Thanks-Go-Giving — Berry

P.S. Everyone I know who reads The Go-Giver is moved by the story and finds some way to engage the spirit of the book in their lives. One of my members carries a copy of The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success in his planner. Another member tried to get her 14-year-old daughter to read the book. (Sorry, but The Go-Giver is not quite “Twilight” to her.)