Your Relationship Mind Map

Hi there, I’m back today with my business development hat on. Thank you for allowing the bit of pace-change over the past few weeks. I understand that how on one hand, the topics of business development and inclusion may feel disparate. Yet, it really all does come down to: what are our values? How do we show up in the world? And therefore, what types of clients do we want to attract?

Birds of a feather flock together, so the clearer we are, the more likely those people will come our way. And the way to discover those birds is with a Relationship Mind Map.

We’re getting back to our business development playbook; and today, we’re talking about pipeline. And just a gentle reminder: because we’re setting out on this work with intentionality and effectiveness, it’s not just a numbers game. However, the numbers matter. In order to do this work most effectively, we need to know our target numbers and measure.

We’ve found this step to be a bit of a leap that can trip up even the smartest among us. Actually, I’d venture to say that it’s more likely to trip up the smartest people, who are used to using their brain to engineer linear answers <sheepishly raises hand>.

So here’s the leap: in this step we move from idea to action. And particularly for cerebral thinkers, the action can be paralyzing. How then, do we fill up our relationship pipeline?

We get out of our heads and into our stream of consciousness.

Before beginning this exercise, you’ll need to have completed some pre-work: articulate, in language and pictures, who your ideal client is. Without a clear depiction of this, the exercise is possible, but it’s less efficient. Then, take it a step further, as Sarah prompted us to do, and describe who your ideal client is not.

Once you have who is and is not your ideal client documented, we’re ready to create our Relationship Mind Map. You may remember that we’ve used mind maps before, to usher in 2019 (is that what went wrong in 2020? Did we not do our mind maps!?). The idea behind a mind map is to use stream of consciousness to put on paper what we want more and less of. So you can see with this creative spin, how we can use it to attract new business!

Okay, before I go further, I know that sounds a little woo. So let me rein it in and make it a little more 1, 2, 3 and business-y…

1. Draw a circle on a blank sheet of paper.

Inside it, write a target industry of (one of) your ideal client(s). When we did this with the Ellevated Outcomes team, we had a circle for each of our five target industries, informed by our ideal clients and team members’ individual interests. Ours are: design, health and wellness, professional services, eco/agri (that one is not mine – ha!), and events.

2. Start writing.

Don’t analyze. Don’t think. Just put pen to paper and go. Around each circle, use stream of consciousness to jot down friends, colleagues, dream clients, centers of influence, and groups that are related to that industry. Although we’re not thinking too hard about it, if you need a jumpstart to get your brain moving, I use my calendar and contact list to warm things up. Don’t stop writing until you’re empty. You may start with ideas for types of people and groups; but the goal is to get as specific as possible. Meaning: your completed mind map should include people’s, businesses’, and groups’ names. Your page should be full of proper nouns, for you grammar nuts 😉

3. Review with a colleague, business partner, or friend.

This is where things really get powerful. For steps #1 and 2 I assumed that your subconscious took over, and you did this on your own. Now, ask a colleague, trusted business partner, or friend to have a mini-workshop with you to review (it’s great if you’re both doing the exercise). Don’t just send them your mind map, but talk it through together, outloud. Three things will happen:

1. By talking it through out loud, you’ll remind yourself of more people to add.
2. You have the chance to ask for your partner’s brainpower and who is missing.
3. You create an opportunity to help each other. If you know each other and trust each other, it’s the perfect excuse to say, “Could you introduce me to _________?” Or better yet, the other person is proactively scanning their network and thinking about who they know, who fits into one of your circles. And of course, being the generous person you are, you’re thinking about the same for them.
   
   

Aside from industry, another way that you can organize your circles is by geography. Nancy, Sarah, and I each travel a lot (even these days, we’re each coming up with creative, safe ways to move around!), so this is a fun way for us to think of people to meet and make introductions for each other. Speaking of which, I’m road-tripping from Nashville to Denver over the next couple weeks, so if you have anyone I should meet in the mid-west…

If this way of working has you curious and you’d like our worksheet to get your own mind map rolling, get in touch, here. We’ll be delighted to share an hour of our time, getting to know you and giving you a jump start on your relationship pipeline.

Otherwise, we’re happy to share and answer any questions you have about our process on this platform. Please leave questions and comments below!