People don’t like admitting they need help, especially men, and especially when it comes to business improvement help!

We won’t visit the doctor, we won’t ask for directions. We see it as a sign of weakness. I think we’re missing a trick. My dad’s great at asking for help, he doesn’t do it in any conniving sort of way, it just comes naturally to him. As a result there are always loads of people who want to help him.

Most of us live in our own little business bubble, with little or no outside help, so we’d all benefit from a second opinion, steer in the right direction, or sanity-check. Knowing how to ask others for help can help you to keep you healthy, and it can also be a really good way of winning business and maintaining good customer relationships.

You may think that by asking for help you are being a pain, but think how the other person feels. When I get asked for help, if it’s done in the right way, it makes ME feel valued – it feels good that someone has a problem and they thought that of all the people they know they’d ask me first.

And don’t wait till you’re in trouble before asking for help, it should be a natural part of what you do. Try it today – think of something you need to do better,  phone someone whose opinion you trust, and ask them for their help. See what happens.

Learn how to ask for help and put it in your business development  tool-kit.