Let’s get real.  Every sales person really wants to be an order taker.  Even the sales people who take great pride in being able to manipulate, pressure, or talk people into buying would rather be order takers… if for no other reason than the fact that it’s far more productive.  When you spend your time in front of people who aren’t ready to buy your sales are probably 1/10th of what they could be if you spent the bulk of your time in front of ready buyers.

If you’re the business owner you should want your sales people to be nothing more than order takers too, and here’s why.  If your sales people are order takers that means your marketing efforts are WORKING… that means your sales are up… that means your profits are up.  Plus it also means you don’t need a stable of big headed monster ego sales super stars.  You just need a group of likable… polite… regular Joe sales people.

The Housing Disaster Didn’t Just Happen

There was a time when mortgage loan officers could make a King’s ransom with almost no sales skills.  Yes, not all that many years ago the housing market was so hot clients were beating down the doors at the bank.  All the loan officers had to do was behave like nice polite people and write a ton of loans in a timely manner… and take home 6 figure incomes for doing so.  Well, that’s all changed now…

Car Sales the Ultimate Order Takers…

The car industry is another example of order takers.  Yet, the dealers and their sales people still blow it and here’s why.

It’s no secret… people aren’t nearly as free with their dollars as they once were.  Buying decisions that came easy just a few short years ago are now major decisions.  So people aren’t nearly as likely to run out and buy a new car just because the old one is 2-4 years old.

Plus most people when asked, “Do you want to buy a car?” would respond “No”.  Cars are simply a means to get from point A to point B.  Yet, that’s not why most people buy cars.  Most people buy cars because…

• they want to feel good about saving the planet
• that want to feel power and control
• they want to show off their wealth or give the appearance of wealth
• they want to live like the famous
• they want to own a piece of history
• they want something that says, “I’m steamy, hot, sexy”

You could add many other highly emotional reasons people buy cars.  The automobile industry knows this and that’s why most commercials feed into those emotional motivators.  The car manufacturers know that it’s your emotional motivators that get you into the dealership to buy a car.  Even though most of us absolutely HATE buying a car.

Sometimes dealers and car sales people will do anything to get people into the dealership… including offering free gifts just for showing up… because they think if they can get you into the dealership then they can talk you into buying a car… even though buying a car isn’t even on your radar of things you need to do.

Now, if you are on the front lines selling you understand there is a huge difference between trying to have a conversation with someone you need to “convince” they need to buy a car… and someone who…

• is already looking for a car
• already believes they have the money to buy a car
• has already decided they want to buy a car

… in other words, someone who is a highly qualified buyer.  Yet, the dealer who came up with the “get’em in the door scheme” often expects the sales people to sell cars as though every warm body whose feet touch the lot is a ready buyer… when that was never the case.  Plus, because of the way the dealer set the stage to get people at the dealership many sales were not realized from the people who were ready buyers.

Don’t Send the Wrong Message & Expect the Right Results

The dealer sent the message… “Stop in and get free stuff”.  So lots of people who want nothing more than free stuff show up.  So many, in fact, that the real buyers find it hard to get to a sales person.  Plus the sales person has to start from ground zero with each and every person.

All too often sales people blow the sale with ready buyers because rather than getting to the real reason the buyer is there… all they want to talk about is features.  Now if  you’ve been reading this blog for awhile you know talking about features is an INVITATION to get objections.  Talking about features without being specifically asked about a particular feature… or directly pointing out how a particular feature fulfills a desire the buyer has already stated… sets up an adversarial relationship from the get go.

For example, the ready buyer will let you know they are looking for a Mustang.  The typical sales person will easily uncover that the buyer wants a red convertible with a manual transmission.  However, what they almost never uncover is the reason each element of these criteria is a deal breaker for the buyer.  In the buyers mind it has to be…

• red because that’s what makes it hot
• it has to be a convertible because that’s what makes it sexy
• it has to be a manual because that’s what makes it steamy and an automatic says “pony car” no matter what size the engine

Because the sales person doesn’t understand any of these highly emotional motivators the wheels fall off the cart and the sale person quite often loses the sale because they get caught up in the minutia of the deal rather than what the buyer must hear to buy.

It doesn’t have to happen like that though…

The Right Message Leads to the Right Buyers

Rather than using a message that sets the sales people up for a sales “numbers game”… the dealer would have been better served setting the sales people up with ready buyers.   Sure the dealership would have gotten far less people on the lot.  But the dealership would have sold more cars… at greater profits.

The manufacturer already has commercials that speak to our Mustang buyer.  All the dealer needed to do was send out a message that picked up on that message.  Better yet, the dealer could make certain those ready buyers communicated what marketing message they were responding to so the sales person wasn’t left playing a guessing game.  And that’s so easy to do.  For example, the dealer or the individual sales person could send out post cards and encourage readers to bring those post cards to the dealership because when they do they get something they want… like something that compliments their Mustang purchase.

Anyone Can Get Steamy Hot Sexy Sales…

It’s just a matter of developing your communication… getting it in front of people… preparing your sales force to expect the people that communication speaks to.  No matter what product or service you are selling.

Coach Cheryl

P.S.  Are you getting the right message out there?  Do you need help developing that message and a plan for putting it in action…

One of the things that was so frustrating for me was figuring out what business I was really in.  If asked, most people would respond they are in the coaching business, the insurance business, the healing business, etc.  All really bad answers.

Dead Pan Flat

If you speak to the people you want to work with in that way you can expect a dead pan flat response.  In fact, your response is a real conversation stopper.  There are several reasons.  One being the other person already has a preconceived perception of what that means that rarely works to your advantage.  Plus they already work with or know someone in that business.  Yada Yada Yada.

Passion Evoking Position

No matter what business you’re “in” if you want extreme success you must be in a passion evoking business.  You must set yourself, your business apart from the rest, and position your business as the business your best ideal clients are really excited about.  You have to be passionate about what you do to get to that point.

And that’s where the real problem is.  Most business owners, just like I was in the beginning, are totally confused about not only what business they’re in but what they are passionate about.

Michel Fortin says, “To me, the most effec­tive way to com­mu­ni­cate added value is through the gen­uine, sin­cere, and pas­sion­ate zest you have for what you do and the clients you serve.”

Here’s why it’s so hard for most of us to get to this point.

If you’re familiar with Earl Nightingales Acres of Diamonds talk you know “The thing about this story that has so profoundly affected millions of people is the idea that each of us is, at this very moment, standing in the middle of our own acres of diamonds. If we had only had the wisdom and patience to intelligently and effectively explore the work in which we’re now engaged, to explore ourselves, we would most likely find the riches we seek, whether they be financial or intangible or both.”  

What Gets You JAZZED Up?

There is one thing I know is true for every person in any business selling a service.  You LIVE to help people.  However, there are certain people with specific problems you can solve, or goals you can help them get that you enjoy doing so much you’d do it for free.  Yes, that’s right you’d do it for free if it weren’t for the fact you have bills to pay just like everyone else.

Gosh, if your entire business were filled with people like that so you could do that work, and that work only each and every day… why you would literally dance a jig in the streets.

Now you think you can’t do that because you think there aren’t enough people like that to pay your bills.  You worry you’ll exclude yourself from the work you need to pay your bills.  You think if you’re already struggling to get enough clients the last thing you want to do is limit your pool of potential clients.

YOU are Dead WRONG

Unless you are working with some obscure problem that only a few people on the entire planet ever have I’d be willing to take the stance you are dead wrong.  Even if what you do really is that obscure I’d still say you are dead wrong because those people with that problem or unmet goal are probably willing to pay dearly for your help.

Here’s why you aren’t finding your diamonds.

1. You aren’t open to the opportunities already available
2. You aren’t willing to man up and take a risk
3. You are focusing on what you want rather than how you can better serve

Did I Make You Mad?

GOOD.  I hope you are madder than a hornet.  You know why?

Because I’ve come to realize that when something makes me see red there’s probably a GINORMOUS opportunity to really learn something right under my nose.  And when I act like a big girl and admit my faults, get my ego out of the way, and look for the lesson I find a diamond in the rough.

Another way to think about it is acting like you want to capture the heart of your perfect mate, the love of your life, your soul mate.  In your mind this person you envision meets certain criteria.  The better job you do identifying your must have criteria the easier it is to figure out where a person like that would hang out.

Or, if you prefer, think about buying a home.  You need a set of criteria before you start looking for a home or you can plan on a very long unproductive search.  Kind of like your elusive search for clients.

Once you’ve got your must have criteria you then have to put all your efforts into attracting the people who fulfill your criteria.  Does that mean you can’t work with people who aren’t a perfect match?  No.

Does it mean you are going to attract more highly qualified potential clients who are interested in doing business with you? Duh!

The choice is yours.  Your diamonds are right there under your feet just waiting for you to look down and pick them up.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: xlt.lv

Do you regularly send invoices etc. to your existing client base?  If you answered “Yes” then this sales tip will be of interest to you.

Postal rates continue to increase.  Those postal fees come directly off your profit line.  So how about removing, or at least lowering those costs while doing your clients a favor at the same time?

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy traveling.  I’ve set my business up so I can work from anywhere in the world, and often do.  The one thing that used to be a little bit of a problem was how to take care of those bills sent to my home while I’m away without having to inconvenience others or using a mail box service.  Paying them was easy with online bill pay etc. but you have to know who you owe what to make use of those tools.

I just discovered a free service at Zumbox that can make life a little more worry free for those who either need, or want to be away from home for extended periods of time.   This is a mutually opt-in service so your clients will need to sign-up to use the service too.

However, I don’t think it will be all that hard to help your clients to like the idea.  Just present it as a way to:

• Reduce paper and a cluttered mail box
• Make sure you never get another late fee
• Travel the world and never worry you’ll miss an important bill

Of course, the benefits are much more.  Not only do you get to mail your clients without those pesky postage fees you now never have to worry about how much your mail weighs.  You can send a pdf, a video, an audio, documents with links to more information etc. along with your invoice, report, etc. at no extra cost for you or your client.

Now here’s an even better benefit.  Some of you have clients yet you don’t know their email address, or they are reluctant to give you their email address.  Your clients never have to give you their email address to use Zumbox.  Once they have an account they get a message from Zumbox telling them they have mail.  Once they log in they can actually view their mail and choose what to open and read, and what to delete unopened.

Imagine sitting on the beach in Clear Water or atop Mount Olympus checking your email and seeing you have mail from your electric company.  At a convenient moment you open your mail, pay your bill, and continue to enjoy your vacation without missing a beat.

Or what if a family member were ill and you wanted to be with them.  Now an upcoming bill won’t keep you from being with your family member when they need you because you can handle your life no matter where you are or what you need to do.

Just think… you help your clients, you get to send the business communications you are already mailing for free, AND you can now send marketing information and updates along at no extra cost to the people who already want to get mail from YOU.  Now that’s cool.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: karen horton

Have you seen one of those odd little “Droid Does” commercials lately?  If you haven’t, or don’t remember let me bring you up to speed on the concept.

Apples iPhone has been the 800 pound gorilla among cell phones.  There’s almost a cult-like following among buyers.  In other words, Apple has achieved retail sales heaven with the iPhone.  Plus they have a locked in agreement with AT&T so it’s the gift that keeps on giving long after buyers purchase the phone.

So far the competition hasn’t been able to serve up anything that doesn’t come off looking like a cheap knock-off.  And that’s where Droid comes in.

Mac v. PC War

If you ever watch TV I’m pretty confident you’ve seen the Mac v. PC ads where poor PC always falls short when held up against Mac.  Why Apple has never really adapted for the business buyers desperate for a “it isn’t powered by Microsoft” alternate is beyond me… BUT that’s an entirely different discussion.

Droid v. iPhone

 
photo credit: Ed Yourdon

Now here comes the Droid takes on iPhone challenge.  The smart marketers behind this campaign took on the things that iPhone lacks, does poorly, or simply annoys iPhone users and came up with a better alternative.  Is it a better alternative?  I have no idea nor do I really care.

What I care about is the fantastic example and reminder of how anyone of any size can take on Goliath by simply doing it better, faster, easier, etc.

You can use this approach with a service just as easily.  This proven time tested concept isn’t knew by any means.  It plays off a concept known as SCAMPER attributed to Frank Daniels.

All that’s required to use this to help you increase your sales is your thinking cap and a willingness to make some changes that better serve your buyers.

SCAMPER stands for:

• substitute
• combine
• adapt
• modify
• put to other uses
• eliminate
• reduce

Compare the way you offer your services to the way those around you offer there’s.  Then apply SCAMPER to each thing you do from the perspective of your buyer.  You might ask yourself, “What could I substitute for this particular way I work with people because it would work better for my clients?

Research the way other businesses promote and deliver their services.  Find out what their clients like about the way they do things.  Find out if they could change one thing about the way they work with the other service provider what that one thing is and how they would change it.  Ask your existing clients too.

Don’t get locked into one way of working with people, and don’t think just because the competition is bigger than you that you can’t gain a significant share of that market demonstrating how you do it better.

In “How to Get More New Clients in 9 Days” you’ll discover ways to pinpoint what you could do and how you could set yourself apart.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

You know one of the nice things about owning your on business?  You can do things when you darned well please.  So the other morning I decide to go to the grocery store while all the working stiffs are chained to there desks.  It’s so much more pleasant to shop when you nearly have the joint to yourself.  So much less stress.

I Overheard Something Very Interesting

As the checker was ringing up my groceries I overheard a conversation in the next check-out line.  This Wal-Mart employee was confirming Wal-Mart was indeed cutting everyone’s hours back and making them do some funky shift rotations.  Hmmm… interesting.

This was especially interesting because here in Iowa we often never feel the extremes one way or the other that people who live on the coasts do, so I immediately wondered if that meant things were getting tough here too.  Yet, at least in western Iowa, people tend to hold very conservative values when it comes to money so perhaps they are simply reacting to what they are hearing, reading, and seeing.

I also knew if sales were falling for Wal-Mart it would strike terror on the hearts of other businesses because everyone things if Wal-Marts sales are down you are doomed.  Even though that thinking is untrue “stinking thinking” as Zig Ziglar would put it.

So I did a Little Checking

Daily Markets had an interesting article about how Wal-Marts sales are falling amid tight consumer spending and confidence.  And an interesting quote…

“Our customers are more disciplined in their spending,” Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke said in a conference call with investors, adding that consumers are saving more and spending less.

When I read that quote it was like someone hit me over the head with a baseball bat.  It never ceases to amaze me how people get so caught up in their own mindset they can’t see a GINORMOUS opportunity that’s right under their very nose.  Please realize I can be every bit as guilty of this as anyone else.   Just one more reason a good coach is worth their weight in solid gold.

The GINORMOUS Opportunity to Get More Business Wal-Mart is Missing

Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke, bless is ever loving little heart is stuck in Wal-Mart’s low price model mindset.  That mind set is one that feeds a scarcity mentality, a frugal mentality, a mentality that says you better not buy today because you may not have a job tomorrow.  It encourages “average Joe Wal-Mart shopper” to feed his fears.

Do I even need to mention the fact that’s NOT a good idea?  Mr. Dukes statement indicates he and Wal-Mart are COMPLETELY missing the boat on this one.  They aren’t helping “average Joe Wal-Mart shopper” perceive things differently.

The Opportunity is in the Perception

Geez, everyone understands perception is EVERYTHING in business.  Here’s how Wal-Mart can change “average Joe Wal-Mart shoppers” perception so they get more business and really help Joe in the process.

You don’t have to look hard or far to find numerous economists and economic pundits who are predicting the fall of the U.S. dollar as a result of predicted hyper-inflation.  They say this hyper-inflation will occur when the government turns the billions of dollars the fed’s have printed and stock piled lose.  What that means to “average Joe Wal-Mart shopper” is the $10 he’s saving today could have a value of $0.10 once hyper-inflation hits and he is forced to spend his savings.

So what do those same economists and economic pundits recommend for poor “average Joe Wal-Mart shopper”?  Well, they would recommend instead of hoarding his dollars that Joe use his extra cash to purchase durable goods and hard assets now before the value of those dollars evaporates.  So when Joe visits Wal-Mart instead of buying one package of razor blades he buys two, instead of buying two cans of green beans he buys four, etc.

Why does this make sense for Joe?  It makes sense for Joe because when hyper-inflation hits Joe will need food, personal hygiene products, clothing, car care products, cleaning products, etc. just like he does now.  Because Joe has a stash of these durable goods he won’t be forced to trade his $10 for $0.10 worth of goods.  He can hold on to his cash a little longer and use his stash when everyone else is burning through money like water.  Hopefully, he can hold onto his cash long enough to ride out the hyper inflation.

So…  What’s Wal-Marts angle?  Wal-Marts angle is helping Joe maintain his wealth.  Wal-Mart is Joe’s wealth building partner.  Wal-Mart should have two-fer deals up the wazoo and use their advertising power to help Joe see what they see…  durable goods and hard assets are how Joe protects himself and his family from potential economic changes beyond his control.

And if I see Wal-Mart doing this I think a 6% share in their increased profits would be more than fair:-)

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

  photo credit: gesses

Getting a qualified sales referral is like finding money on the sidewalk.  It just makes your day.  Plus it makes life a whole lot easier.

Who in their Right Mind Doesn’t Want a Pack of Sales Referrals?

Not anyone I can think of.  Even though everyone likes to get highly qualified sales referrals few small business owners, entrepreneurs, and SOHO’s actual know how to set themselves up to get those coveted referrals.  Why would you?

You’ve been told the only way to get qualified referrals is to ask your existing clients to refer you.  There are a couple problems with that model.  For one thing most people don’t know how to ask.  They end up damaging their new relationships and that costs them in client retention down the road.  Plus this model by design produces a low return on your time investment.

3 Steps to Get More Qualified Sales Referrals

When it comes to qualified sales referrals start thinking about:

1. How to develop a one-to-many approach to referrals rather than the one-to-one approach you use now
2. Developing a clear message that communicates that you solve a problem people are desperate to solve
3. Making referring you a win-win-win

Rather than pressuring your clients to refer you explore opportunities to partner with other businesses who sell to the same clients you sell to.  These opportunities make a one-to-many approach easy.

Part of the reason your clients, peers, friends, or other businesses don’t refer you is because they don’t really understand what you do, or how to tell someone else about you.  If you’re an accountant it just isn’t really motivating for someone who actually wants to refer you to tell the person they want to contact you to call you because you’re a good accountant.  So what?

However, if your ideal clients are small business owners and you have a unique approach to help them avoid laying off employees you become referable.  Why?

• Because… it’s easy to understand the big problem you solve
• Because… it’s easy to remember and tell someone else the big problem you solve
• Because… even if they aren’t someone with that problem they probably know someone losing sleep trying to figure out how they are going to keep going without laying off employees

You have a win-win-win built right in:

1. Obviously you win because people know who to tell about you, and what to tell them
2. The person referring you wins because they get to do something nice for someone else and look smart doing it
3. The person referred wins because they get help with a major problem they are desperate to solve

I go into much more detail about getting referrals in my sales and marketing coaching program.  If you are struggling to figure out how to do this in your business the sales and marketing coaching program can help you overcome that challenge.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: MaskedPhotography DM

This is an interesting time we live in beyond a doubt.  It seems like there’s just one crisis followed by yet another.  The banking crisis, the housing crisis, H1N1, the health reform crisis…

Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff for the Obama administration, has even been quoted as saying you can’t let a good crisis to go waste.  Turning away from politics and things beyond your control what, if anything, can you do to get more business when the business you had seems to be running the other way?

And the business you might of had seems to have dried up and blown away.  One thing for certain.  You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.  Seems like there’s nothing like a good crisis to change everything almost overnight.

Hmmm…

Seems like there’s nothing like a good crisis to change everything almost overnight! 

AND that means you could change your future almost overnight too.  It means you could get more business almost overnight if you just use the current circumstances to YOUR advantage.

Here are two ways for you to do that.

1. Change what you are selling
2. Find desperate buyers

Change what You are Selling

When I say, “Change what you are selling”.  I am not suggesting you go out and find a new product or service to sell.  I’m suggesting you change the way you position what you are already selling.

Focus on Desperate Buyers

Compare your past clients needs to the needs of your clients now:

• What are they moving toward that they weren’t before?
• What are they moving away from that wasn’t important before?
• What have they lost that’s extremely important?
• What do they need to get or get back?
• What have they lost control over?
• What difficult problem do they need solved that is causing heartache, time, money, or energy?
• What’s negatively impacting their lifestyle or business?

The list of questions could go on, you get the idea.  Now think about how your service could help with these new challenges that your ideal new clients are struggling with waiting for someone to show up and solve for them.

Then repackage how you present your service focused on what you already know the people who need your services are already looking to buy to help them with that.

Putting it Together to Get More Business

Let’s just take one of the above questions.  What have people lost?

• Confidence
• Their job or business
• Their home or other possessions
•  A sense of security
• Their retirement plans and income

To mention just a few of the things people have recently lost.  What do you do as a service provider to get more business and help your new clients at the same time?  Here are some things you might think about…

An employment agency might focus temporary placements so more small businesses could get the help they need without committing to a payroll and all the expenses associated with a payroll.  They might also help those unemployed workers they haven’t placed discover how they could start their own business.  That way they would get those new business owners coming back to them for their employment needs.

A real estate agent might focus on real estate as a safe long-term investment for those investors who got burned in the recent stock market plunge.  Now that the housing market is near an all time low and interest rates are also low investors can invest in a hard tangible asset that Wall Street can’t take away from them.

The life insurance business owner can similarly focus on selling an investment alternative that isn’t subject to the ups and downs of the stock market.

Not sure how what the people most likely to become your clients are desperate to buy?  Start asking.  Ask what they see as the biggest challenge facing people in their industry, age group, community, etc.  Focus on the group they would put themselves in.  Find out how difficult it is to overcome that challenge.  Find out what happens if that challenge isn’t taken care of.

You are looking for difficult to solve challenges that have very negative consequences when they go unresolved.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

There’s no question when you are just starting your business if you don’t invest heavily in prospecting your business dream will never become a reality.  No matter what service you sell you are in the business of marketing and selling that service first, or there’s no need for your services.

As you improve your prospecting efforts and follow even a basic sales process like the one described on SmallBizPod you start getting clients.  The more clients you get the less time you have to prospect.  Unfortunately, if you decrease the time you spend prospecting you set yourself up for the…

Feast and Famine Revenue Roller Coaster

When you run your business on the feast and famine roller coaster model you go out and prospect like crazy, get a lot of new clients, and then watch your income dry up because you don’t have any new clients coming in.  You don’t have any new clients coming in because you haven’t done any sales prospecting.  Is this just a fact of life that you need to accept?

Heck NO!

As you look at the professional service providers around you, you may notice they don’t seem to prospect.  You might wonder how they get away with that.  You might think they just have such a huge client base and get so many referrals they don’t need to prospect anymore.  Not true sprout.

You Can Get More Business and Spend Less Time Prospecting

It isn’t that those professional service providers don’t prospect for new clients.  It IS that they go about it differently than you.  There are 3 key components to getting more business in less time:

1. A system to attract highly qualified potential clients to you
2. A process to develop relationships with those potential clients because relationships are the key to MORE sales, MORE often, at HIGHER prices
3. Automate your processes so you can put your sales prospecting on autopilot

This creates a 24/7/365 machine for getting new clients.  As your business grows you have to accept that the one-on-one method you used to get that business is not sustainable long-term because there’s only so much of YOU to go around.

These 3 components:

• continually make new connections for you
• help you transform skeptical strangers into believers
• transition those believers into buyers

The other big advantage of these components is the ability to dramatically increase your ability to connect with larger numbers of potential clients.  You could double, triple, even quadruple your sales funnel with zero additional work.  You get more business with no time increase and a tremendous return on the initial time investment required to develop those 3 components.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

How many times should you follow up with a prospect?  Some say you have to contact a prospect 7 times.  So if you aren’t contacting your sales prospects at least 7 times does that mean you are a…

QUITTER

Sometimes as Vera Raposo talks about you just get burned out.   Perhaps your self-esteem goes south.  Maybe you get side tracked and just forget about a sales prospect here and there.

Do you give up too easily when it comes to following up with a sales prospect?  I say yes and no.

Here’s Why I Say, “YES”

Sometimes you try something once.  It doesn’t work so you decided it won’t ever work and quit without giving it a fair trial.  When something doesn’t work figure out why it didn’t work.  Then figure out how to adapt what isn’t working so it will work.

I understand exactly how hard this can be because in most instances you can’t see what you are doing wrong.  It’s the little subtle things that make things work or fail.  Speaking of failing…

Cold Calling Doesn’t Work?

Some people say cold calling doesn’t work.  The people who say that are right because it doesn’t work the way they are doing it.  However, when you know how to do it cold calling works better now than it ever has.

The funny thing is cold calling is a catch 22 challenge.  Typically people cold call because they don’t have a clue how to market what they have to sell.  Because they don’t know how to market what they sell their cold calling efforts are a disaster.

Once you understand how to market what you sell you never have to cold call again because you get business coming to you.  Plus you can get that business coming to you on autopilot so cold calling becomes a very time inefficient method for getting clients.

Here’s Why I Say, “NO”

I say you don’t give up too easily when it comes to following up with sales prospects because it doesn’t do you or your sales prospects any good to annoy them.  If you don’t get the desired result there IS a problem.  You must identify and correct that problem or… you can expect repeated failures.

Here’s what you should evaluate:

• Make sure you only personally following up with the people who are most likely to buy your stuff
• Make sure you have something valuable to say when you follow up.  Never just touch base
• Make sure you ask for the right things at the right time

Then test and track to determine the best combination of people, message, and offer that produce the desired results.

I talked about this in The Blueprint for Increased Sales if you’d like more information on this.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: clickclickclickclick

STOP asking for referrals! Yes, you read that right.  If you want to get referrals.  If you want to get really good referrals then STOP asking for them right now.

Before You Call Me Crazy Hear Me Out!

I know this completely contradicts what every “sales trainer”, sales manager, or sales mentor has probably EVER told you.  I know sales reps you get verbally flogged on a regular basis because they don’t ask, or ask for enough referrals.  So why on earth would I suggest you stop asking for referrals?

Before I get into that there’s something I want you to understand about asking for referrals.  There are two types of sales referrals:

1. Referrals to people who could potentially buy your stuff aka prospects
2. Referrals to people who are already interested in buying your stuff aka highly qualified sales leads

When you ask for referrals the way you do now you think you are asking for highly qualified sales leads, BUT the reality is you aren’t even asking for prospects because of the way you are told to approach it.

When you ask for referrals the way an ordinary sales person asks for referrals you manage to accomplish 3 very negative things in one fell swoop.

1. You trigger the defenses of the people you ask to refer you
2. You damage your relationship with that person because they feel like you are imposing upon the relationship
3. You meet with people who are defensive about meeting with you rather than real prospects or leads

It’s funny how contradictory statements get your attention and often prove to be more true than commonly held beliefs.  Copywriter Ray Edwards reminded me of this fact when he told a story about how a 78 year old lady stopped a bank robber in his tracks.  You wouldn’t think that could happen yet it did.

Just like you wouldn’t think you would get referrals if you just stopped asking for them.  Yet you will.

One of my clients is a Financial Advisor.  He exemplifies the power of getting referrals without asking for them.  Or… at least not asking for them in the conventional manner.  And that’s what I’m really talking about… getting what you want in a way that works for everyone involved so no one has to feel awkward or offended.

So, rather than asking for referrals, my client the Financial Advisor asks for something a little unexpected.  It doesn’t matter if he asks a client or someone he just met… people comply because he isn’t asking them to do something they don’t want to do.  Before he asks he gets to know the other person through just plain old ordinary conversation.

People Reveal Their Connections to People in Ordinary Conversation

As you’ve probably noticed when you talk to people they naturally talk about what they do and who they know.  At some point in the conversation when they mention someone they know that the Financial Advisor doesn’t he simply asks his big referral generating question…

“Could you introduce me to….”

In the conversation the other person might mention another business owner they know.  He would then say something like, “I’ve heard Bob Smiths name a couple times now, but I’ve never met him.  Could you introduce me to Bob?”

Why is this smart?  Well, it sets him up for 3 positive things:

1. It doesn’t trigger the defenses of the other person, in fact, they feel good about helping you meet someone they know.  An introduction isn’t threatening.
2. Rather than damaging the relationship it strengthens your relationship with the person making the introduction.  He will then arrange for himself, the person making the introduction, and the person getting introduced to meet in a relaxed environment where they can simply get to know each other.
3. The introduction presents an opportunity to make a connection.  That connection triggers the opportunity to develop a relationship with the person introduced.  Plus relationships make it so much easier for you to transform strangers into buyers.

He’s not asking for a sales lead, something NO ONE wants to give you.  He’s not explicitly asking for a prospect, yet, that’s exactly what he’s getting.  He’s just asking you to help him meet someone he doesn’t know.

To give you an idea how this escalates let me explain what he does after the introduction.  Through a normal conversation he learns about the person he’s meeting and finds out who they would like to meet.  He does this as he also finds out who else they know.  Then, he first offers to introduce the person he’s just met to someone they would like to meet.  Finally, he asks for an introduction to someone they know that he doesn’t.  They’ve just had a positive experience with him demonstrating there’s nothing to risk in introducing him to someone they know.  Plus he’s just offered to do something nice for them and most people will want to reciprocate.  Many offer to introduce him to someone before he even has to ask.

Once he makes a connection he diligently works to extend those relationships expanding his network and moving his new connections one step at a time to clients.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: Aidan Jones