Bob Burg is the Founder of Burg Communications and The Go-Giver Community Network, which specializes in business networking, communications, and strategy. As a renowned keynote speaker and international bestselling author, he is celebrated for his influential books Endless Referrals and the widely acclaimed The Go-Giver, co-authored with John David Mann. Outlining the five laws of stratospheric success, The Go-Giver has been translated into 30 languages, with over one million copies sold.

As a member of the National Speakers Association and an inductee into their Speaker Hall of Fame, Bob has captivated audiences of up to 15,000, sharing stages with top thought leaders and a former US president. He is a staunch advocate of the free enterprise system, promoting the philosophy that financial success is closely linked to serving others.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [02:35] Bob Burg addresses common misconceptions about sales
•  [05:52] How “The Go-Giver” principles can transform business attitudes
• [08:20] Bob Burg’s upbringing and how family values shaped his business principles
• [10:00] A real-life example of applying “The Go-Giver” philosophy in a job search network
• [15:15] Why Bob wrote The Go-Giver and how it became a pivotal part of his life mission
• [20:54] Overcoming challenges and staying true to “The Go-Giver” approach
• [28:09] Bob’s daily routine and the habits that fuels his productivity and success
• [31:47] The importance of continuous learning and having a purpose-driven mission

In this episode…

Have you ever questioned the true essence of sales and success? What if you could learn the strategies that could fundamentally shift your mindset and lead to a more fulfilling business experience? Could the key to financial breakthrough be found in the act of giving?

Bob Burg, a celebrated author and speaker, illuminates the transformative power of the “Go-Giver” philosophy in this engaging discussion. He delves into how his best-selling book, The Go-Giver, came to life, alongside renowned co-author John David Mann. Bob also reflects on growing up with role models who lived by the principles of giving, shaping his understanding of value and success. He underscores the importance of providing genuine value, the misconceptions around sales, and the profound impact of refocusing on the customer’s needs.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz hosts Bob Burg, Founder of Burg Communications and The Go-Giver Community Network, to talk about transforming business through giving. Bob shares insights from his personal life that imbue his teachings with authenticity. He discusses the balanced blend of other-mindedness and self-interest required for prosperity. He also recounts his persistent journey with publication rejections before the triumph of The Go-Giver, reminding us all of the power of perseverance.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Bob Burg LinkedIn | Website | Facebook | X |
  YouTube
• Bob’s Daily Impact Emails
• Bob’s Blog
• The Go-Giver Podcast
• Endless Referrals by Bob Burg
• The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg and John David Mann
• Go-Givers Sell More by Bob Burg and John David Mann
• Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant
•  A Quick and Really Fun Overview of The Go-Giver
• Peace Power & Plenty by Orison Swett Marden
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin 
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and Arthur R. Pell
• Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz
• Go for No!

Special Mentions:

• John David Mann on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments:

• “Selling, at its core, at its highest, at its most profitable, is all about giving.”
• “The amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve.”
• “It’s not about being self-less or self-ish; it’s about being other-ish.”
• “Yes is the destination; no is how you get there.”
• “Creating an environment for success is about being accountable and persistent.”

Action Steps:

1. Embrace and embody the “Go-Giver” principles daily: By consistently focusing on providing value to others, you foster better business relationships and personal growth.
2. Expose yourself regularly to new knowledge and wisdom: Continuous learning opens doors to new opportunities and fuels innovation in your personal and professional life.
3. Develop a clear mission and purpose: Knowing your ‘why’ serves as a compass for making decisions aligned with your core values and goals.
4. Implement systems based on proven success: Utilizing established methods saves time and increases the likelihood of achieving desired outcomes.
5. Cultivate resilience and embrace rejection as a stepping stone: Understanding that ‘no’ is part of the journey toward success keeps you motivated and focused on your mission.

Insider Stories from Top Leaders & Entrepreneurs…

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Episode Transcript

Jeremy Weisz  0:20

Hi, Jeremy Weisz, here, we’re here with Bob Burg. Just to tell you a little bit about Bob, Bob is a sought after speaker at corporate conventions and for entrepreneurial events. He addressed audiences ranging in size from 50 to 16,000, shared the platform with notables, including today’s top thought leaders, broadcast personalities, Olympic athletes, political leaders, including a former United States president. Although for years, he is best known for his book, Endless Referrals over the past few years, it’s his book, The Go-Giver, which was co-authored with John David Mann that’s captured the imagination of his readers. I have to say, I listen to it once a year. It shot the number six on the Wall Street Journal business bestsellers list just three weeks after its release, reached number nine on Business Week. It’s been translated into 21 languages. It’s his fourth book to sell over 250,000 copies. That’s amazing. Bob’s 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. Bob, thanks so much for joining us.

Bob Burg  1:34

My pleasure. Jeremy, great to be here with you.

Jeremy Weisz  1:36

I’d like to include one fun fact so people get to know you a little bit better, and from what you said, which I would not have guessed, is Bob’s an introvert when he’s not speaking on the road, right? Bob, so we’ll talk about how do we start with a big idea, like being a go-giver, going to spreading the word to millions of people through books and speaking like you do. I’m really looking forward to hearing more about it.

Bob Burg  2:00

Very much so, and I always was —

Jeremy Weisz  2:04

Go ahead. I think we have a little bit of a delay, so go ahead.

Bob Burg  2:11

Okay, Jeremy, and I apologize. I think when I was speaking before, I don’t think you heard me, and then I didn’t hear you when you were speaking.

Jeremy Weisz  2:20

Go ahead. I think there was a delay for a second, but it looks like it caught up.

Bob Burg  2:24

Okay. So, where are we?

Jeremy Weisz  2:27

Basically, in your teachings, you really break some paradigms about sales. So I wanted to hear about some of those.

Bob Burg  2:35

Well, yeah, one of the things John David Mann, my excellent co author of the Go-Giver series that we wanted to do was, was sort of set a more accurate premise, I guess you could say regarding what sales is and what it isn’t, because so many people, Jeremy, have a misconception and misperceptions about what selling is. So we thought we’d go with kind of what it isn’t as well as what it is. And a lot of people think that selling is about trying to convince someone to buy something they don’t want or need, when in actuality, selling is just the opposite. It’s finding out what someone does want or need and helping them to get it. People think selling is about taking advantage of others, it’s just the opposite. It’s about bringing people more advantage through your product or service should they have the need, want and desire for it.

But probably the biggest misperception of all is it at its heart, selling is about taking. And it’s not again, just the opposite, selling, at its core, at its highest, at its most profitable, is all about giving. And I mean that literally. Now someone say, Well, what do you mean that literally? You mean, you mean that figuratively? No, I mean it literally, because the old English root of the word sell is salan, which meant to to give. So when you’re selling, literally, you’re giving. Now someone might say, Well, okay, I get that, but that’s kind of a trick. I mean, really, when you’re selling, what are you really giving? Well, I would ask that question. Let’s say you’re in a sales presentation. You have a prospect in front of you, you are in the selling context, what are you giving? I suggest you’re giving time, attention, counsel, education, empathy, and most of all, value. So if you are a professional sales person and that’s what you’re doing, you should be very proud of what you’re doing and to call yourself a salesperson. Unfortunately, you’ve got so many sales people who just, they have that same misperception about selling and that’s why you hear them say things like, Well yeah I’m selling but I don’t really sell, I just help people. Well the basic premise is that by selling, you’re not helping people.

Now here’s the main problem with that, Jeremy. If you’re in sales, and if you’re in business, you’re in sales. And yet you don’t really believe in selling as a legitimate profession, to the point that you try to deny that you’re a salesperson. There’s a disconnect there that’s going to hurt your production, and it’s going to keep people who could benefit from your product or service from utilizing your product or service, because you’re not going to allow yourself to succeed at something you don’t believe is right.

So I want people and I wrote a blog post in this I called it, embrace your inner salesperson. Don’t say things like sell without selling, or things like that. No selling if you believe it is a righteous thing. Is what you want to do. What people mean is don’t be a pushy person, or don’t be a con artist, but that’s a whole lot different from selling, which is a wonderful profession, and which is the engine with entrepreneurship that drives a free market based economy.

Jeremy Weisz  5:52

Yeah, and I want people to know what’s possible for them, because I definitely, after listening to the Go-Giver every year I incorporate it in my life. I want to see what example you have of someone that you know of before using the Go-Giver way, and then how they transformed after applying that go-giver mentality.

Bob Burg  6:15

Well, there are many examples that we hear from people, but the examples came later than we thought, and here’s what I mean. When the book first came out and it really got off, excuse me, to a good start. And of course, John, my co author, and I were very happy about that. What we found out was that the people who were the early adopters, if you will, to take a Malcolm Gladwell quote, the early adopters weren’t the people who needed the information in the Go-Giver. These were the people who were already, uh, living their lives and conducting their business that way. These were the leaders that were very successful, the sales people that were hugely successful, and they would get the book, and it sort of just said to them, wow, yeah, this is what I do. This is what I’ve been telling people. So they were getting the book and sharing it with others and telling others about it, and that’s how it began to spread. We had companies that, before they had me come into to speak, they buy 100 copies, or they buy 1000 copies. One company bought 15,000 copies. But it was what they were already doing. They didn’t learn anything from the book. It just told them what they were already doing.

Then what happened was the people who started getting the book based on, on, you know, being having it, referred to them, or however they found out about it. They started making those chips. They started writing us, and we used some of those stories, by the way, in Go-Givers Sell More, the follow up to The Go-Giver. And it was just such a great thing to see that someone would say, Well, yeah, well, I was so focused on myself, business was always a struggle and, you know, sometimes it was profitable and other times it wasn’t, and it was always a fight. Well, once they started shifting their focus onto the most important part of the process, the prospect, the customer, the client, began utilizing the five laws, now all of a sudden, their business was a lot more fun, a lot less stressful, and absolutely a lot more profitable. So we just so appreciated the people who are already doing that long before they heard of the book, passing that book along to others

Jeremy Weisz  8:20

I see, yeah, and I wanted to hear what was the time when you were growing up that influenced you to think this way? Because I’m sure it’s, you know, up until now, it’s ingrained in you. I wanted to see what influenced you early on, when you were younger.

Bob Burg  8:37

Well, I was very lucky to have parents who embodied this. I mean, they both grew up very poor, especially my dad, but very entrepreneurial. And they were, they lived their lives by providing value to others, both personally and in business. So it was an example I always saw, though I wouldn’t have put it together with a term like the Go-Giver, or understood that it was a good business practice and life practice. You just as a kid, you don’t think of it, but you learn and live by example. At the same time, I certainly had my rebellious phase in the in also in terms of how, you know, how business was really done, and so forth and so. But I came back to what my basic values were, what I had been taught. So for me, it became very natural that once I understood and started to study sales, and began to learn the skills of sales, and once I began to to read books like Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends & Influence People and Psycho-Cybernetics and all these great books, and I could take all that great information and then put it back to my upbringing and having parents who embodied exactly what we’re talking then I could put it together. And that’s really what happened.

Jeremy Weisz  9:43

Yeah. I mean, sometimes, in hard times, it feels almost counterintuitive, you know, to be a go giver. And I love that example from your book about the lady who was unemployed. Can you tell us about that lady and what she did?

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