“Love Is The Killer App” By Tim Sanders
In this book Tim Sanders talks about doing business the lovecat way. It starts out with his amazing definition of what love business even means: “the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles with your bizpartners.”
Then he goes into what intangibles are: knowledge, network and compassion.
My favorite part was when he mentioned “the value with you inside a situation is greater than the value without you.” Basically, try to gain enough knowledge to where you can share it within your network using compassion, the lovecat way.
In the beginning, Tim goes over what a lovecat is, and how they stand out amongst others in the business they do. When it comes to consulting, Tim recommends you start from the lowest end and work your way up. For example, if I were trying to get Kellogg® as my next marketing client, I would start networking with a person at the junior level and impress them enough where they introduce me to the person higher up in the hierarchy.
Eventually you will meet the CEO of the business who will totally be impressed at the knowledge you are bringing to the table. Then, Tim goes into branding and the five qualities of a great brand for yourself: Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem, Awareness, and Mind’s Eye.
- Differentiation is when you stand out from the rest, what makes you different?
- The Relevance is like your pocket book of contacts, you it is good to have contacts because you never know when you will need them.
- Esteem is basically how trustable you are when it comes to doing business with others.
- Awareness is when a love cat works in the opposite direction like I mentioned before. They start from the ground up getting to know people of a company.
- As for Mind’s Eye, one quote said it all for me: “In order to be a brand, a product or service must be characterized by a distinctive attribute in the consumer’s mind.”
Tim then goes over the different benefits of being a lovecat in business. I learned how to create an experience that will grab their attention so people have a positive experience working with me. As Tim mentions, when you gain the respect and trust of your customers you feel a sense of satisfaction for the work you have completed. But, how can you do this without the proper knowledge?
Tim talks about knowledge and how reading books is a vital part of owning your job. He says, “Read books so you own your own job, just as Deion Sanders owned his.” I love his tips about reading books that have certain titles and with categories such as: brand marketing, globalism, and the new economy. He basically says try to find books that have words in them that relate to your expertise. Search for certain keywords and try to read as much as you can. I loved his note-taking technique as well. You will have to read the book to capture that one.
Tim talks about encoding and really digesting the “knowledge meal,” and processing the information you have read. I have personally started using every single one of them, and I am able to get more from my books than ever before! Just when your brain is going to burst from the knowledge you have gained, Tim goes into networking.
From this section, I learned about collecting, connecting and disappearing. You have to collect people’s information in a creative way. Remember, it doesn’t matter if they are directly related to your niche or not. The way you connect people is by having them in your network and being able to make an introduction to someone else in your network. Once you introduce the two people it would be a good idea to go to the first meeting with them both being there. After the initial process, and the first meeting or so, then you can “disappear.” In most cases I would collect a fee for the introduction, but if I were feeling compassionate then I would most likely just give them the introduction at no cost.
“Compassion buys forgiveness.” The world is not exactly a pretty place and everyone is going through a little something. Tim recommend’s giving hugs and smiles, but make sure you have their permission first. Compassion can open many doors for you when it comes to your relationship with your business mates and your clients. When you are compassionate towards others, they will remember you and the experience.
Overall, I loved this book because it was practical and inspirational at the same time. I learned new strategies and tactics to gain long-lasting business. I have always been the “shy to talk” type of person so it was very difficult for me to show my compassion especially when it came to business. Then I saw how my compassion was actually winning me new business. I recommend any entrepreneur or to be entrepreneur to read this book. You are going to gain so many new tips and tricks from it!
