Episode 802: A Chat With Go-Giver Author Bob Burg

 Kiera is joined by Bob Burg, co-author of The Go-Giver! In this conversational episode, Kiera and Bob discuss how people can have effective sales conversations with others — even if they don’t feel like a sales-driven person.

Bob touches on how The Go-Giver came to be, how to utilize sales with patients, how to really believe in what you’re selling, and more.

About Bob Burg: For 30 years Bob has helped companies, sales leaders, and their teams to more effectively communicate their value, sell at higher prices with less resistance, and grow their businesses based on Endless Referrals.

Bob has regularly addressed audiences ranging in size from 50 to 16,000 — sharing the platform with notables including today’s top thought leaders, broadcast personalities, Olympic athletes and political leaders including a former United States president.

Although for years he was best known for his book Endless Referrals, it’s his business parable, The Go-Giver (coauthored with John David Mann) that captured the imagination of his readers.

The Go-Giver, a Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek Bestseller, has sold over a million copies. Since its release it has consistently stayed in the Top 25 on Porchlight’s (formerly 800-CEO-READ) Business Book Bestsellers List. The book has been translated into 30 languages. It was rated #10 on Inc. Magazine’s list of the Most Motivational Books Ever Written, and was on HubSpot’s 20 Most Highly Rated Sales Books of All Time.

Bob is the author of a number of books on sales, marketing and influence, with total book sales approaching two million copies.

The American Management Association named Bob one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders and he was named one of the Top 200 Most Influential Authors in the World by Richtopia.

Bob is an advocate, supporter and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve.

He is also an unapologetic animal fanatic and served on the board of directors of Furry Friends Adoption and Clinic in his town of Jupiter, Florida.

Episode resources:

Read The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann

Reach out to Kiera: [email protected] 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.694)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kira and oh my gosh, am I fangirling with our guest today, Bob Berg, the author, the co-author of The Go Giver. You guys, this man has changed my entire life and he literally, I'm geeking out, is on our podcast today. Bob, like truly fangirling Kira over here. How are you today? Welcome to The Dental A Team Show.

 

Bob Burg (00:20.887)

Well, I'm great. You have a way of making an old man feel very special, so thank you so much.

 

Kiera Dent (00:26.446)

So Bob, it was just over a week ago, my husband and I were sitting at dinner and we saw you comment on the GoGiver podcast that we put out and I literally texted my whole family. I said, you guys, this is top career highlights. I said, Bob Berg is commenting on this. Then you and I Instagram messaged and I was just totally inspired by you. I'll share a little bit of my story, but you guys, honest to goodness, Bob, you've changed my life and Dental A Team is here because of your guys' book and so.

 

Before I get into my whole story, I feel like the listener should know a little bit about you and you're the co-author of The Go Giver. I'm gonna share guys why The Go Giver is such like, like today I couldn't even sleep. Like this is better than Christmas for me because it's truly just been a life-changing book for me and my whole life. But Bob, tell us a little bit about yourself. You are this incredible author. You've written so many things. You're a keynote speaker across the globe. So tell us just a little bit about who is Bob Berg? How did you even get to where you are today?

 

Bob Burg (01:23.603)

Yeah, I actually began as a broadcaster, first in radio, doing sports and then television news. I wasn't particularly good at it, at the news thing, better at sports than news. And it really wasn't long before I was not doing news anymore and I needed a job. So I kinda like to say I graduated into sales. I knew nothing about sales when I started. So I floundered for the first few months.

 

Kiera Dent (01:36.631)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:41.134)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (01:52.643)

then I was in a bookstore just looking for some books on something. I remember this is 40 years ago. So I, it's not like people knew about sales books and all the personal development things, unless you knew you didn't know. So I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I happened to stumble upon two books on selling. One was by Zig Ziglar and the other by Tom Hopkins, two of the real, um, icons right in the, in the sales space.

 

Kiera Dent (01:58.921)

Uh-huh.

 

Kiera Dent (02:04.946)

Right.

 

Kiera Dent (02:10.698)

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (02:14.464)

Yes, they are.

 

Bob Burg (02:16.367)

And I got there, first of all, it was just encouraging to me to know there were books about sales because I had no idea, right? That what, there's a methodology to this? And so I got the books. I always like to say I didn't read them. I devoured them. And I would just study every night into the wee hours of the morning and I would practice and I would drill and I'd rehearse and I would, you know, within a few weeks, my sales began to actually go pretty well. I mean, really well. And I was hooked.

 

Kiera Dent (02:24.328)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (02:44.086)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (02:46.123)

And I just started getting my hands on whatever books and, and again, not to show my age, but cassette tapes, you would not even remember those you're long before. Oh, okay. Okay, well, and so that's, you know, so I get all the books and the tapes and the this, and I go to the seminars and the whole thing. But you know what the best thing was, was understood, was recognizing or I guess learning.

 

Kiera Dent (02:53.746)

Oh, I do. I made mixed cassette tapes, Bob. Like I might look young, but I definitely had my mixed cassette tapes. You better believe I'm right there with you.

 

Bob Burg (03:15.255)

that it wasn't just the how-to aspect, as important as that is, it's the personal development aspect. So I was told to start getting all these books, how to win friends and influence people and think and grow rich, and the magic of thinking big and psycho-cybernetics and all these great books because I was a lousy student in school and even in college, I think I got into college on academic probation and I'm.

 

pretty sure I graduated on academic probation. And then I just had no use for it. My education really began after I got in sales. And so it was really, you know, and so I did that. And eventually I became sales manager of another company years later and began then being asked by others to sort of teach, you know, what is it that worked for? And it eventually morphed into a career on speaking. And that's what I've been doing really for the last almost 35 years now.

 

Kiera Dent (03:47.861)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (04:09.878)

That's incredible and so fun. I got to know what sports were you in? Because I'm a diehard sports fan. My family, I'm the second of seven kids and all my brothers are like over six foot. So you better believe it. My dad's a basketball coach and all the things. So what was your favorite sport of choice? I mean, you were in it, so.

 

Bob Burg (04:21.16)

Hahaha

 

Yeah, I mean, when I was a kid, I just played the regular, you know, baseball, basketball, football. As I got into high school, I you know, my lack of ability in those areas kind of weeded me out of the you know, the bigger ones, I was an amateur boxer for a few years, that was mostly out of out of school from the time I was I think 17 to about 20. And after that, just you know, basically, you know, pickup games, but

 

Kiera Dent (04:39.266)

Wow.

 

Kiera Dent (04:44.842)

Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (04:50.523)

So, you know, I was always playing softball, always playing, you know, but, and just always loved it. And I loved the broadcasting aspect of it. And, you know, I grew up in the Boston area, so everything was Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, and, you know, Celtics and so forth. So, yeah, that was fun.

 

Kiera Dent (04:53.04)

Mm.

 

Kiera Dent (05:02.419)

Yep, yep.

 

Kiera Dent (05:06.55)

That's so fun. Well, I'm so grateful you shared your story and I'll share a little bit about mine of how I even got introduced to you guys. So I, my brother, I make the joke that my name is Kira Dent, I work in dental and it took me three fiancees to get this last name, which is all true. And so I had actually just broken off my second engagement and I was beyond depressed and my brother worked for this geology firm. And...

 

Bob Burg (05:22.118)

Hehehehehe

 

Bob Burg (05:27.737)

Go for it.

 

Kiera Dent (05:31.538)

He's a geophysicist now and he said, Kira, you just need to come and work for us. And I'm like, Evan, I literally have no idea what I'm doing with geology. There's absolutely no way that I could ever do this. And so I went there and now they have these log printers. And I told them, I was like, oh my gosh, this job is awful. Like I would have to cut these pieces of paper perfectly and then taped them together for eight hours a day.

 

And I just felt like, I mean, here I am second failed engagement is how I felt that I called it disengaged is what I called myself. Like I was no longer engaged. I was disengaged now. And I, my brother told me that his boss had recommended a book called The Go Giver. And he said, Keira, I really think you should just read it. So I actually went and found my original copy that my brother gave me. It's all marked up. And I remember reading this. And at the time I just, I.

 

was a dental assistant, I had just graduated college, I had just gotten out of an engagement, and I just felt like this book was so inspiring to me of like your true worth is determined by how much you give in value rather than what you take in payment, and like being authentic you, and here I am thinking that no one wants me, and all these different pieces, but I read it and I thought, I'm not gonna give up.

 

Bob Burg (06:25.466)

Thank you.

 

Kiera Dent (06:37.878)

For some reason in my heart of hearts, I think we always know when we want to run a business. And I always have said, if I run a business, I'm going to have it built upon the GoGiver principles. And so fast forward to Dental A team. And once I started Dental A team, 100%, every one of my team members has always listened to this. Part of the core values, our core values now are based on the GoGiver. I have our team read it every single year. During COVID, when things were just hard,

 

Bob Burg (06:58.52)

Wow.

 

Kiera Dent (07:03.646)

I thought, how can I help all of our dental clients? And I literally shipped the GoGiver book out to every one of our clients and said, hey, this is a book that I think can inspire you, that can change your life. And so when you wrote on my LinkedIn posts, I was like, oh my gosh, this guy that I have like loved and listened to and read your work for so, like I reread the GoGiver at least once a year, just to remind myself of how to just always be giving more value than we take and to be loving more and to serve more. And so, Bob, I just one want to say thank you.

 

Bob Burg (07:24.077)

Thank you.

 

Kiera Dent (07:32.93)

for writing incredible work and for changing my life personally and now the lives of so many. So then when I was like, hey, let's do a followup to the podcast where I just talk about how much I love this book. I really just wanna hear the flip side of it. Like, of course everyone always says, you know, like why did you write The Go Giver? So I do wanna know that, but I also want a secondary question of why you wrote The Go Giver book.

 

Bob Burg (07:39.824)

It's very kind.

 

Bob Burg (07:44.483)

Ha ha ha.

 

Kiera Dent (07:54.658)

did it actually result in what you wanted or was it a different result than what you guys even thought it would be after you wrote the book? So one, why did you write The Go Giver? But then I definitely want to know the follow-up.

 

Bob Burg (08:04.783)

Sure, and first I want to make sure to credit my co-author, John David Mann, because he was really the lead writer, the storyteller. I'm a how-to guy. I'm step one, step two, step three. So I'm actually relatively boring. I'm sure you're not boring though, I am. But he's just a brilliant writer, and this never could have happened without John. So in terms of writing it, years and years ago, back in the, I think, mid-90s,

 

Kiera Dent (08:14.942)

You and me both.

 

Kiera Dent (08:24.64)

Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (08:32.555)

maybe even a little earlier, no, I guess mid 90s. I had a book out called Endless Referrals and the subtitle was Network Your Everyday Contacts into Sales. It was basically a book about business networking. Back then it was one of like three books on the market on business networking. Now there are hundreds of them on business networking and I've read many of them and they're all wonderful. I learned from each and every one of them. But back then it was just one of few. So that was kind of good as far as that goes. But it was really a how-to for

 

Kiera Dent (08:44.171)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (08:49.415)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (09:02.287)

People who were entrepreneurs and salespeople who knew they had a great product or service, but they didn't necessarily feel comfortable building the kinds of relationships in their area, right? Where people would feel good about them, where people would know them, like them, trust them, where people would wanna do business with them directly.

 

Kiera Dent (09:20.268)

Right.

 

Bob Burg (09:29.127)

and refer them to others. So it was basically a how to manual on such. It was the basic premise was that all things and you'll recognize this from law number three in the go-giver and the law of influence, but the basic premise was that all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust. What was interesting is not only was it salespeople and entrepreneur, but a lot of people who were in, well, I remember in the mid 90s or

 

Kiera Dent (09:47.278)

Totally.

 

Bob Burg (09:58.551)

Hinman Dental Meeting and the Yankee Dental Conference, or Congress, excuse me. And why? Because dentists who are experts at what they do, they're wonderful practitioners, but typically do not like to think of themselves as being in sales. So how do they go out there and without feeling as though they're being salesy, how do they go out there when they meet people and really...

 

Kiera Dent (10:00.35)

Yep, yep, those are big ones, uh-huh.

 

Kiera Dent (10:14.694)

Amen.

 

Bob Burg (10:25.967)

kind of create those relationships. And the thing about the endless referral system is you take your focus totally off yourself and you place it on the other person, right? And so people get to know you, they get to like you, they get to trust you in a way that you feel very, you know, so someone who doesn't consider themselves salesy can feel very comfortable with it. So, you know, that was it. And it was a how-to book, but I'd always thought I always loved reading.

 

Kiera Dent (10:33.013)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (10:36.49)

Right.

 

Bob Burg (10:51.351)

parables since I'd been in sales. I loved reading business parables. Parables are stories, stories connect on a kind of a heart to heart level. It wouldn't be great if we could take that basic idea, turn it into a business parable. But again, I can tell a story from stage when something has actually happened, but that's different from writing a book of a work of fiction, which is what a parable basically is. So fortunately in the early 2000s, I was fortunate enough to meet John David Mann because he was the...

 

Kiera Dent (10:52.354)

same.

 

Kiera Dent (11:11.022)

Sure.

 

Bob Burg (11:18.431)

editor in chief of a magazine I was writing for. And so every month, you know, we go back and forth on email. He would, you know, correct and edit my articles and he'd send them back with corrections, but he was always so kind and so humble. And so, you know, and it was, it was always, you know, I did this here, I fixed this here, I took this out here, is that okay? And...

 

And I would, you know, which isn't usually what happens with editors, right? And the running joke became, I would always write them back and say, John, not only is it okay, you write my stuff better than I write my stuff. And so eventually I asked him, you know, I brought this idea to him about the, you know, about the GoGiver, this idea I had. I mean, it was just a basic idea. I did not have any kind of story written about it. And he and his, at the time fiance, now his wife, Ana.

 

Kiera Dent (11:42.344)

Right?

 

Bob Burg (12:09.151)

They were visiting her mom who lived in Tampa on the other side of the state. They drove over four hours. One afternoon we had a three hour dinner and we discussed the idea of the book and what it would be. And as they said on Seinfeld, yada, right. And eventually, and here we are. And, and, you know, he, he agreed to, you know, be the lead writer, storyteller for the book. And now we, you know, it didn't take us a long time to write the book. Once we started.

 

Kiera Dent (12:23.783)

Hehehehe

 

Bob Burg (12:36.887)

The tough part was finding a publisher who wanted to publish it. Our agent got turned, you know, we got turned down by 24 publishing houses before the 25th one picked us up and a portfolio, a division of Penguin Random House, and they turned out to be such a great, great publishing partner. So it was the right, right people at the right time.

 

Kiera Dent (12:39.738)

Mmm.

 

Kiera Dent (12:43.682)

Wow.

 

Kiera Dent (12:54.45)

Mm-hmm. That's incredible. And I am so glad you did bring up John David Mann, because of course we don't want to leave him out as well. There was so much to it, but I'm curious, Bob, from what you guys had talked about at that three hour dinner is now like there's such a community of the go giver. There's you guys have your daily emails. You've got the community of people. You guys have taught this into so many different organizations.

 

Bob Burg (13:07.245)

Hehehehe

 

Bob Burg (13:14.432)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (13:17.394)

is what you thought of, what it created. Is it more than what you thought? Is it, did it just evolve over time? Because I'm also curious, because I think so many like dentists, right? They have a vision of what they want their practice to be. And then it evolves into something. There's so many self-help books out there. But to me, the go-giver is, I agree, it's sales. But, and truth be told, dentistry really struggles with sales. And I tell them all the time, like bottom line is you're selling an amazing service. You get to give people the confidence of their smiles. Like you have a moral and ethical obligation that,

 

Bob Burg (13:43.06)

Mm-hmm, that's right.

 

Kiera Dent (13:47.262)

Are you helping their smiles and their health? But like you're giving them the confidence in the world and like the part of our body that literally feeds us, speaks for us, like expresses ourselves. You get to give people that gift. And so like you've got to learn to be able to serve through sales all these different patients. So I'm just curious, did what you wise hoped would be, how is that now looking like, now you get to look back and you get to reflect on your legacy of the go-giver. How did that turn out from what you were expecting it to be at the time?

 

Bob Burg (14:02.382)

Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (14:15.879)

Yeah, you know, I thought and we both believed that the marketplace was ready for it. That we thought it would be well received. Um, I don't think you can ever know when something's going to hit that big. And now it's sold, you know, just the first book itself in the series has sold like a million, 250,000 copies and so forth. I don't know if you ever really know that it's going to do that. Cause there's a lot that goes into that happening. You have to have a really great base of people who are your.

 

Kiera Dent (14:34.752)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (14:45.119)

what we call in the book, personal walking ambassadors. And you never know if that's gonna happen, but it did. So yeah, we expected it would be successful, but I'm not sure we knew that this was gonna really happen. But yeah, so, you know, but getting back to a great point you made when you're talking to the dentist about sales, because when you think about it, what is selling, right? And by definition,

 

Kiera Dent (14:47.951)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (14:56.551)

Sure.

 

Kiera Dent (15:09.602)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (15:11.663)

Selling is simply discovering what the other person needs, wants or desires and helping them to get it. That's selling. The old English root of the word sell was salan, which literally meant to give, okay? So when you're selling, you're literally giving. Now someone might say, well, wait a second, Berg, that's clever and all, but isn't that just semantics, right? I don't think so, because when you think about it, what are you really giving?

 

Kiera Dent (15:19.982)

Brilliant.

 

Kiera Dent (15:29.73)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (15:37.995)

I don't.

 

Bob Burg (15:40.587)

when you're selling. If you're in a sales conversation with a patient or a prospective patient, what are you giving when you're selling? You're giving them time, attention, counsel, education, empathy, and ultimately immense value. So understand that yes, as a dental professional, you and those on your team, right, are selling.

 

Kiera Dent (16:05.506)

Yes.

 

Bob Burg (16:06.131)

And when you look at selling from that foundational premise, you see it's really, as you said, and I thought you made a wonderful point about it, it's a very positive aspect of your business. It's not a necessary evil, it's a wonderful part of it.

 

Kiera Dent (16:19.986)

Yeah. And I'm so glad you brought that up because I mean, I can speak authentically. I didn't share this part of the story, but also I had just had my, that fiance I left, he had kind of smashed my face into a wall and I now had a lot of dental visits. And so not only am I reading The Go Giver, but I'm also back into dentistry and realizing that like they're giving me my confidence back. They're giving me my life back. They're giving me the ability to smile again and to feel confident with that.

 

Bob Burg (16:33.109)

Oh, gosh.

 

Oh, I'm so sorry.

 

Bob Burg (16:44.591)

Absolutely.

 

Kiera Dent (16:49.206)

And those are things that I don't think dentists, so I'm like, when you think of sales, yeah, you better learn to do this because people like Kira, people like you, every single person needs dentistry and we need to have that. And so that's why I was so excited because I think like as a leader, it's such a brilliant book on it because I think as leaders, we need to sell our vision to our teams. We need to be able to inspire them and how are they gonna treat our clients and our patients and whoever's coming in our way and how are we always going to be?

 

referring to other people and giving more value than any person ever expects from us. I say that constantly and it literally has come from the GoGiver. But I'm curious if you could go back, is there anything you would have changed in the GoGiver or are there anything you would like? I mean you guys have written a whole series so I would imagine there's a few things but learning what you know now, would you add any changes to those five laws or would you expand upon any of them more? Would you reorder them? I'm just curious or you're like nope, we think that it still is exactly how we wish like how we'd want it today.

 

Bob Burg (17:19.247)

Hmm.

 

Bob Burg (17:39.779)

Well.

 

Bob Burg (17:43.999)

Well, basically it is, but there are a couple of things that I think we change. One is, you know, we like people to know that the opposite of a go-giver is not a go-getter. We love go-getters because go-getters take action, right? And that's so important. And as business people, as practitioners, you know, we all know that you can have the nicest ideas, the greatest...

 

of thoughts and the best of intent, but without action put into the mix, nothing's gonna happen, it simply cannot happen. So, you know, we like, we say to people, you know, be a go-getter, person of action, and a go-giver, someone who is absolutely laser focused on providing immense value to others. Be a go-getter and a go-giver, just don't be a go-taker. That's the person, that would be the opposite of a go-giver. That's the person who feels entitled almost to take, take.

 

Kiera Dent (18:23.516)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (18:31.491)

Mmm.

 

Bob Burg (18:36.599)

without having added value to the person, to the process, to the situation. In the story when Gus says to Joe, I'll say this for you, Joe, you're a real go-getter, and Joe says thanks, and Gus says, well, don't thank me yet. I think people got the idea that being a go-getter wasn't a good thing, and that's not what we were saying. What we were saying is Joe was a go-getter, which was great, but he was also a go-taker at that point. What we wanted was for Joe through.

 

Kiera Dent (18:52.502)

Sure.

 

Kiera Dent (18:58.153)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (19:00.803)

the mentorship he received was to be a go-getter and a go-giver. So I think we would have made that point. And when we redid the book, the next edition of it, in which we put question and answers in the back, a discussion guide, we did answer that. But that's sort of like a headline in the newspaper on the front page, and then you correct it on the last column on the 28th page. You know?

 

Kiera Dent (19:11.558)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (19:18.478)

Sure.

 

Bob Burg (19:21.599)

So, you know, there was that. And so there were, you know, a couple of things in there that we may have explained a little bit more. The tough thing is in a parable, you can't really get into the nitty gritty of explanations. It is by definition almost more of a 30,000 foot view.

 

Kiera Dent (19:33.582)

Sure.

 

Kiera Dent (19:40.65)

which I love and I love that because I feel like it helps get you out of the like head and into the heart of listening to a story. And I also like that it's fuzzy because as I reread this book many times, the different phases of my life, different phases of business, you pick up different pieces and you see the characters in different ways, which is why I love the beauty of it.

 

Bob Burg (19:46.388)

Right, exactly.

 

Bob Burg (19:56.247)

Right.

 

Kiera Dent (19:59.73)

I'm curious from your angle and from looking at this, which one of the five is your favorite and why? Because of course, they all stack, but I'm curious, if you could only have one of them, which one would you take for you personally?

 

Bob Burg (20:09.472)

Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (20:13.219)

So yeah, and I think it is an individual thing that we all relate more maybe to one of the laws. They're all just as important because without any one of them, you can never get to that complete area of stratospheric success as we talk about. But mine, I think the one I relate to is more the law of influence. And I believe that's such an important element, such an important aspect of success. I believe the...

 

Kiera Dent (20:32.184)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (20:40.807)

ability to influence, which really when you think about it is about people skills. Uh, is that's really the difference maker between that person who's reasonably successful and that one who's absolutely stratospherically successful. They're able to work with people in such a way that they attain the results they want while helping other people feel genuinely good about themselves.

 

Kiera Dent (21:02.174)

Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna ask, this is where I'm geeking out because I've been dying to ask you all these questions. Like I've thought about them. I've been so excited. My husband and I was like, oh my gosh, I feel almost like stage fright. I want to ask him all these things and because what I was curious on here, we did an internal book club in our team and then I create the podcast for the external podcast family.

 

But I asked the questions of, do you guys really believe this? And I mean, I have been on this journey for the last 15 years. I've been a huge proponent of it. And I asked the question because I got jaded the other day and we did this like service and we were helping this woman out. And I was so annoyed because it felt like she.

 

Like I was so excited and my husband and I would like sacrifice a ton of time and money and she had no idea. And then she didn't even need it. And there was no, it felt like no appreciation. And so I've been so excited to ask you these questions of like my deep inner soul is like, how do people go from, because I think like the world can feel jaded. I call the COVID, like during COVID, I called it the COVID crank. And I feel like as a society, people kind of got a little crankier.

 

potentially. But then I'm like, is it just about like what we focus on? I believe that like what we focus on we receive in this world. So I've just been thinking like people might hear the go giver ideas. They might be jaded by certain people. But like how do you have this as your baseline? What are some of those tactical tools? Like, yes, there's a story, but what have you done to again, like you always put other people's interests first, you always are serving and you're giving more value. But I think sometimes the human being often takes over and you're like, you go back into this.

 

Bob Burg (22:22.658)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (22:35.426)

fight or flight and I've got to take care of myself and it's a survivalist mode. How do you overcome, I would say, the natural human being to keep this baseline? Because we know that it works, but I feel like it's oftentimes a taffy war sometimes with your internal self as you're building these muscles.

 

Bob Burg (22:43.286)

Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (22:52.959)

Yeah, well, it is counterintuitive, you know, when you think about it. So, so like, for instance, law number three is the law of influence, which says your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first, but it's very important to understand something that when we say place other people's interests first, that doesn't mean you should be anybody's doormat, uh, or a martyr or self-sacrificial in any way.

 

Kiera Dent (22:55.161)

It is.

 

Bob Burg (23:17.907)

Okay, absolutely not. It's simply as Joe, the protege, learned from several of the mentors, and you and I were discussing this earlier, that the golden rule of business, the golden rule of sales, golden rule of business development is that all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those, we can say, dental professionals they know, like, and trust. Well, here's the thing. There's no faster, more powerful, or more effective way to elicit those feelings toward you from others.

 

then by genuinely and authentically moving from that I focus or me focus to that other focus looking to as Sam one of the mentors in the story advised Joe make your win all about the other person's win now why does why is that so well you know Dale Carnegie and his classic 1936 uh how to win friends influence people

 

which was such a wonderful book. But I think he summarized everything in one sentence. I believe it was the foundational premise for everything he wrote. And that's where he said, ultimately, people do things for their reasons, not our reasons. Okay, that is human nature. And it's a truth. Okay. And as I think it was Byron Katie, you said, when you argue with the truth, you'll lose but only 100% of the time.

 

Kiera Dent (24:23.542)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (24:38.431)

So we need to understand that is how people operate. Okay, and you know, when I used to speak at sales conferences, you know, now I do them virtually, but I used to be on the road for years and years and years and in doing those, and I could be standing in front of a whole room of salespeople. And the first thing I'd say is, nobody's gonna buy from you because you have a quota to meet, right? They're not gonna buy from you because you need the money or would like to make the sale. They're not even gonna buy from you just because you're a really nice person.

 

Kiera Dent (24:49.761)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (25:00.802)

True.

 

Bob Burg (25:08.623)

They're gonna buy from you because they believe they will be better off by doing so than by not doing so. Okay, and it's the same as a dental professional and the patients that you're dealing with, okay? So it behooves you, it's actually, there's no faith that comes into play where you have to say, oh, but if I just do this, will it really work? Yeah, it takes more faith to believe that people will do business with you if you're nasty and self-centered.

 

Kiera Dent (25:36.677)

True. Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (25:37.599)

Right. Because why would they want to do business with you? Right. It takes a lot less faith to think, well, people will do business with me. If I'm a really good person, I take care of them. They know that I have their best interest and wellbeing at heart, and I place their interest first, right? So, you know, so, uh, but you know, we're dealing with human beings and not everybody is going to be appreciative of what we do. Not everybody is going to express themselves in a way that we would like them to.

 

Kiera Dent (25:45.55)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (25:50.926)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

 

Bob Burg (26:04.527)

One thing that we need to understand is that when we're providing what we believe is a value to another person, value is always in the eyes of the beholder. Value by definition, where price is a dollar figure, a dollar amount, value is the relative worth or desirability of a thing, of some thing.

 

Kiera Dent (26:14.74)

Amen.

 

Bob Burg (26:28.867)

to the end user or beholder. In other words, what is it about this thing, this product, service, concept, idea, procedure, what have you, that brings so much worth or value to another person that they will willingly exchange their money, let's say for it in this case, and be glad they did while you make a very healthy profit. Okay, so the key is that it's not what we believe is of value to them, or what we believe they should believe is of value to them, it's what they believe.

 

Kiera Dent (26:48.022)

Mm-hmm.

 

Bob Burg (26:58.859)

So that's why it's incumbent upon us to ask the right questions, do the discovery, and find out what is it that person's gonna value and appreciate.

 

Kiera Dent (27:09.078)

brilliant. Like I'm just sitting here and I can't wait for my team to listen to this podcast back. I can't wait for the dentist to hear this because there's so many truth pieces that you're putting out there and I love because I feel like it does become a way of life. And I love the story of Joe because Joe is not this person. And he's expected to do every one of the laws that day and put it into place and really just seeing him transform on things that are like you said, counterintuitive. And I feel like so many things in business are counterintuitive. And I think that that's

 

Bob Burg (27:14.648)

Thank you.

 

Bob Burg (27:28.556)

Right.

 

Bob Burg (27:35.651)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (27:39.072)

I love the game of business. I call it the game of business because I feel like business, we think we go into business to better ourselves. And I feel like business is the refiner's fire that changes and morphs us into ultimately who we want to become. And so learning that and seeing that in the go giver, seeing that through sales, seeing that through dental offices change and evolve. It's always crazy to me when I'm like, no, no. Like you offer such an incredible service. People will happily.

 

Bob Burg (27:41.736)

Yes, yeah. Love it.

 

Bob Burg (27:52.867)

Hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (28:05.41)

happily write you a check. I remember I had one client, he wrote me this thing and he said, Keira, I just referred you to someone else and I told him, if Keira's the right fit for you, you write a check to her every single month with a smile because she has completely changed your life. And I thought, those are the things that make you just wanna keep doing this. And so it's such a crazy thing. And I love how to influence people and just what I've learned through all this is we all go into this thinking. I know I went into this too,

 

Bob Burg (28:19.331)

that.

 

Kiera Dent (28:34.594)

Like I wanted to have a business, I wanted to influence and serve more people. Yes, there's a monetary piece to it, of course. Like I've always been intrigued by it. It's fun for me to figure out the numbers in business, but it's crazy to watch who I've become through business, who I've become through serving more people and loving more people. And like you said, people can feel that authenticity. You can't say it and not truly believe it internally.

 

Bob Burg (28:43.747)

Absolutely.

 

Bob Burg (28:47.889)

Ah, ah, ah.

 

Bob Burg (28:54.071)

Mm-hmm. Right.

 

Kiera Dent (28:57.91)

but the internal is through the external output of how you really do. So it's just been a beautiful thing. I would ask my last question as we wrap up. I'm so just beyond grateful for you. So I hope you just know like how much you've blessed and influenced my life and just truly grateful. And I would ask if you could, like you mentioned with Del Carnegie, if you could summarize the GoGiver into one pinnacle statement, what would you say? Like if we just took only one line from, I know that might be a feat, hopefully. I'll give you a second to kind of think cause I'll keep chatting.

 

But if you could have that wrapped into one, and it's not gonna be perfect, it will change, it's who you are today, the experiences you've had, what would you say would be the one sentence, or I'll give you a paragraph, whatever you choose to do, to take away from the go-giver and how you've, like how it's changed your life, or what you'd want people to take from that one statement.

 

Bob Burg (29:44.903)

Well, I would say this, I'd say it's understanding that being a go-giver is recognizing that shifting your focus, and this is the key, shifting your focus from getting to giving. Now when we say giving in this context, we simply mean constantly and consistently providing immense value to others. Understanding that doing so is not only a more fulfilling way of conducting business, it's also the most financially profitable way as well.

 

Kiera Dent (30:15.014)

Oh, amazing. Bob, it was such a true honor. I am so appreciative of you. I'm so grateful that you were able to come on. It was a whim. I just put it out there and asked like, would you be willing to do a podcast? And I'm just so grateful you said yes, I'm thankful for the GoGiver. And I would say for everyone listening one like go snag the GoGiver book for sure.

 

Bob Burg (30:19.831)

The honor is mine, my friend.

 

Kiera Dent (30:35.466)

But Bob, I know you have other ways that people can connect. I know there's daily pieces. How can other people get more of the GoGiver in their life or just like dip their toes into how, how can they connect and get more of you?

 

Bob Burg (30:46.043)

Yeah, I think if they go to burg.com, they'll find everything there. There'll be one of those annoying little pop ups that gives them the, uh, the directions to subscribe to my daily impact email, which I put out five mornings a week, uh, which hopefully will, they'll find valuable. And if they'd like to look into joining the go giver success Alliance, uh, online mentorship group, I welcome them to do that.

 

Kiera Dent (31:04.855)

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (31:13.09)

Amazing. You guys, I would strongly recommend read the book, be a part of it. The daily is so helpful and it just fuels your soul. And even if you don't read it every day, you always will get the one. I found I just grabbed the one that, and for some reason it's always what I need to hear that day. And I just believe that this world needs more positivity. I believe that there's so much goodness to be had. And I, like you said, I believe when we switch our focuses, we find everything that we're looking for. And so thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing with the podcast. I'm just truly, truly honored. So thank you.

 

Bob Burg (31:19.695)

Thank you.

 

Bob Burg (31:27.533)

Thank you.

 

Bob Burg (31:42.308)

Thank you for being so delightful. I appreciate you very much.

 

Kiera Dent (31:45.37)

Of course. And for all of you listening, I truly, truly just encourage you take action, read the Go Giver. Remember, like change that focus to authentically loving other people. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Denali Team Podcast.