Get the relationship edge The Relationship Edge shows you exactly how to build valuable business relationships with people you don't naturally connect with. It presents a straightforward, three-step process that is easy to apply to your work and business. Jerry Acuff provides real-world principles for developing strong and lasting personal relationships with the key people in your business life, helping you become more effective and persuasive while maintaining meaningful, truthful dialogues with those around you. Acuff shows how the more truthful and direct you are with customers and colleagues, the more truthful they'll be with you-and the more likely you are to find meaningful solutions to the business challenges you share. This revised edition includes new information on building and leveraging healthy business relationships, especially how to maintain them over the long term. With real case studies and step-by-step guidance, The Relationship Edge offers the tools and advice you need to develop strong, rewarding relationships with customers, coworkers, and managers. With practical, concrete information on the mechanics of interpersonal relationships in the business world, you'll be well on your way to doing business better and more productively. "A great coaching tool for every sales manager-finally, a book that outlines step by step how to build both strong customer and personal relationships." —John M. Woychick, Senior Vice President, Training, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals "Time and time again, Jerry Acuff's approach to selling has been proven to work. A must-read for those who believe that successful selling is a part of their everyday life." —Georges Gemayel, Executive Vice President, Genzyme Corporation

Table of Contents:
Foreword. Acknowledgments. Chapter 1: Climbing the Relationship Pyramid. Building Relationships Is a Skill. Payback Time in Memphis. Relationships Can Trump Price. Four Fundamental Selling Truths. Meaningful Dialogue Comes with Trust. Climbing the Relationship Pyramid. You Need Knowledge, Integrity, Actions. Key Points about the Pyramid. Chapter 2: What Strong Relationships Require. Three Steps to Building a Positive Relationship. Make Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Positive. Think Well of Others (Even the Jerks). Implement the Process Completely. Learn Strategies, Not Tactics. Set Yourself Apart. Do Unexpected, Unselfish Actions. Building a Relationship Takes Time. Decide Who’s Key, Then Do Something. Chapter 3: Twenty Questions. Start with a Self-Check. Sharing Creates the Relationship. Learn What Someone Treasures. Thirteen Facts about Human Beings. Let the Other Person Talk. Sell by Not Selling. Start with These 20 Questions. Memorize the Questions, but Think FORM. Tell Me Something That Will Surprise Me. Respect Their Time and Opinions. Plan What You Will Ask. Chapter 4: Good Questions Promote Meaningful Dialogue. Motives Matter. Setting up a Good Question. Analyze the Bridge to the Question. Preface Your Question. Ask Personal Questions First. Hold up a Book. Don’t Suggest an Answer. Learn What Someone Treasures. Make Them Think. Stimulate Real Thinking. Ways to Gain Respect. Chapter 5: It's a Small World After All. Connect for Yourself. Use the Small World Phenomenon. Connect for the Other Person. Connect with Difficult People. Probe for Connections. Chapter 6: It's Not What You Know; It's What You Do. Show You Genuinely Care about Other People. Business Gifts Are Not Unselfish Acts. Be Alert to Opportunities. Do the Right Thing. Chapter 7: Why You Ought to Map Your Relationships. Map Relationships with Four Groups. People Inside the Organization. People Outside the Organization. People Important to Your Career. People Who Are Upset with You. Build Relationships Strategically. Chapter 8: Pyramid Hopping for Fun and Profit. Pyramid Hopping Is Not Networking. Friendly Is Not the Same as Friendship. Pyramid Hopping in Practice. Pyramid Hopping Requires Questions. Pyramid Hopping Usually Requires Specifics. Chapter 9: Build Respect, Set Goals, and Maintain Relationships. Identify Qualities You Respect. Thirteen Ways to Gain Respect. Examples of Building Respect. Set Clear, Written Goals. Visualize What You Want. Set Difficult Goals—But Not Too Many. Be Willing to Pay the Price. You Don’t Have to Be Where You Are. Maintain Your Meaningful Relationships. Create Time for Relationships. Help Others to Succeed. Keep the Dialogue Continual. Make Contact When You Don’t Need Help. Chapter 10: And What If You're The Boss? The Six Drivers of Business Success. Problems with Command and Control. Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction. Problems with Sales Training. Selling Is Learning and Teaching. What Managers Should Be Doing. A Coaching Process for Relationship Development. Build Relationships Routinely, Consciously, Deliberately. Notes. Index.