Business Philosophies

As the CEO of Dando Advisors, I would like to present or acquaint you with the business philosophies of Dando Advisors. I think you will find that this way of thinking is very contrary, with one exception, to the typical attitudes in business today. The one exception is the companies and individuals whom I have had the privilege of being associated with and learned the following successful philosophies. Because Dando Advisors is designed to be a business building system that will eventually expand into other markets, I think it is important to take the time to think through our philosophies and decisions to implement our system. Here are Dando Advisors basic principals and philosophies:

People do business with people they know, like and remember.

Based on massive research where business “really” comes from, advertising, cold calling, mailings or any of probably a hundred traditionally touted business-building concepts are not as effective as the following concept. Statistics show that 88% of all the business generated by successful professionals today comes from only 5 sources: family, friends, close acquaintances, clients and referrals generated by the first four groups. It is crucial to build our professional business both in the short and long term by becoming more “visible” and “likable” so people will “remember” us.

People are fed up with high pressure selling

I believe that consumers are tired of manipulative, combative sales techniques designed to “corner” them into acting unnecessarily. I believe it is time the business world understands using these kinds of approaches to developing business actually accelerates the failure of a business through poor customer relations. I believe we need to control our careers and not control other people.

Personal means personal. Period.

I believe that executives hate computer generated impersonal mail, talking to computers, receiving call from strangers, being called on in their offices by people who do not have appointments, being the target of any campaign, being on the receiving end of a “marketing weapon,” being manipulated by canned presentations, memorized pitches, and stock answers. I believe executives want to be liked, appreciated and that means dealing with people on a very personal basis, being treated like a friend and not a prospect.

Make a friend first . . .

Many professionals today complain that they do not like the rejection they experience in building a business. I believe people get rejected because people put themselves in a position to be rejected. I believe you will never be rejected by anyone if you decide to make a friend first and let sales take care of themselves.

Today executives care more about what kind of person you are than what kind of businessperson you are. People want to do business with solid people, people who contribute, people who are stable, reliable and people who will do what they say they will do. Quick sale artists and slick-types that are in business just for the buck are finding it harder and harder to do business.

“Send – Call – See” builds relationships

Staying in touch with people is the number one priority any professional who is interested in real success can have. I believe the best way to build and keep relationships is “send – call – see.” I believe that in the course of a year we need to be in contact with the people in our sphere of influence anywhere from 9 to 12 times if we expect to get their business or receive their word-of-mouth referrals. I believe that by occasionally sending something PERSONAL we will be appreciated. I believe that by occasionally calling with a PERSONAL conversation we will get remembered. I believe that by occasionally seeing someone on a PERSONAL basis we will get their trust.

Take care of the people who pay our bills

More business will come from the people we do business with rather than all the business we could get from beating the bushes, IF we treat them right. I believe the right customers are the keys to our success and we would be naive not to take special care of them.

Bad news travels fast, good news travels faster

Anyone who has been in business more than a week can tell you that word-of-mouth is the most effective advertising. It is not for sale and you can not buy it. But if we plan on being a success, we better get it and it better be positive.

Building our business should be fun

Most marketing plans in business today are not fun. In fact, they are down right painful. Building our business through a sphere-of-influence is fun because there is never any pressure on us or the people in our sphere. When the pressures are gone, the possibility of failure goes with it. If I am not having fun in my career, regardless of how much money I am making I can not call myself successful.

Make at least 1 new friend a day

Everyday we have the opportunity to make one new friend. Maybe we will have to slow down and look around, but they are there, we just have to see them.

Be your own guru

One of the most important aspects of building our business requires that we be ourselves. Put ourselves into our system, use our own talents, ideas, gifts and personality traits to build closer relationships with the people we meet. We do not need a self-help guru to teach us how to be our best selves. Take our basic ideas, rewrite them to fit us, sprinkle our personality on top and serve them to our sphere of influence.

A clean sphere is a successful business

We will only have people in our sphere we enjoy, who represent the standards we have set for ourselves. Since word-of-mouth is a large part of this business, I want to make sure “advertising” is coming from the right media.

Unwavering dedication to our mission,

Kirk A. Dando
CEO

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