How to Make Your Time More Effective

How to use Promotional Products to get Referrals

Networking Groups

From time to time I get asked about what type of networking group someone should join?  At any given moment there is probably a networking group going on within a 2 mile radius of you.  So with so many opportunities what should someone look for within a networking group?

One of the main points I look at personally is if the participants of the group are in my “target market”.  This can be a challenge to find if your business deals directly with other business as customers as most networking groups are designed as business to consumers instead of business to business.  Another key element is can I bring quality leads and referrals to the other members of this group.

The second aspect is location.  You want to make sure that if you are going to commit to a weekly appointment that it is in a location that works for you.  You do not want to commit to an hour drive in, and hour at the meeting, and an hour back week in and week out.

Would you feel comfortable giving referrals and receiving referrals from the other members of the group?  You want to make sure that you are with a group that you feel comfortable referring business to.  Very rarely will someone get a lead the first time that you meet with a group.  Leaders want to make sure that you will take care of any referral that they send to you – so set up a time to meet with one to two people a week to get to know their business better.  By building these connections you will know where to send you referrals too, and people will discover what makes a good lead to send to you.

The Entrepreneur Spirit I Take The lead part 2 3-9-11

Giving Back

Recently I was asked to be interviewed by a group of college students that were in the process of doing their final project for a business class.  Their final project consisted of writing a “Sales Training Manuel”.

We spent about an hour and a half discussing what was in their project.  The note taker took several pages of notes as we all had a very open dialog.  Everyone that came out was very grateful of the experience.  The ironic thing was is that I feel that I probably got at least the same amount of excitement, if not more then the college students did. 

Think for a moment what it was like when you first opened your business, or when you first started your career?  The energy, the excitement, the anticipation for the day – was these factors mediocre or were you jumping out of bed and could not wait for the day to start?  It is very important that we keep this entrepreneur spirit alive in us – just as it was the first day we started.

What is a great way to keep this spark alive?  Surround yourself with it.  Is their a local college that you could hire a student, or get an intern from.  Is their a local mastermind group that you can attend?  Do you have someone in your life that you can bounce ideas off of and brainstorm with? 

Surround yourself with excited business and sales professionals and you will be amazed at the results that will happen in your organization!

The Entrepreneur Spirt Part 1 I Take the Lead B2C 3-9-11

The Art of the 30 Second Commercial

What Negative Energy Are You Holding On To?

I recently got the 24 hour bug and spent one night in the bathroom – one day in the bed – and the last night also in bed.  The night that I was in the bathroom I was shall we say loosing liquids from every point in my body.  At one point in time I was resisting the urge to get bad out of my body and into the toilet per say and on my bodies fourth attempt my body won out over my mind.

The ironic thing is that after I had gotten everything out of my system I actually started to feel some what better.  I remember lying in bed and the personal development side of me kicked in.  The thought “where else does this show up in my life?” crossed my mind. 

As sales professionals and as business leaders we operate with an energy level that most people do not have to have.  So I ask you what energy drains are you holding onto?  Is it the memory of a bad relationship?  Is it the feeling of hearing your prospect say no every time you call on them?  Is it a form of self medication?  All these items drain our energy. 

Once you have identified what energy drains you have it is important to discover what you are getting from these drains.  I know that it sounds ironic that you would hold onto these drains, but people hold on to them for a reason.  So what are you getting from holding onto these drains?

The last question that you have to consider is by holding onto these energy drains what is it costing you in your life?  Once you have these questions answered you are able to make an informed decision if you want to continue holding onto the energy drain, or if something needs to change.

Cold Calling Tips

Never Give Up

Recently I was at the office of a friend of mine and we were discussing sales techniques.  Ironically a sign company sales rep stopped in and was prospecting. 

At first she handed my friend a business card and said something to the effect if you need anything call me.  My friend pulled out not one but two stacks of business cards and told her since he opened this office these are all the people that stopped by his office.  I almost thought that she was going to throw in the towel and allow her card to be added to the stack.  What she did next I doubt that anyone before her has done before.

She asked if he thought about putting an “A Board” sign on the street to attract more walk in clients.  Now this was great – she had identified a potential need that the prospect needed and asked it in a non threatening way to see if he was looking for a solution on that need.  He told her that he would be interested in getting a quote for the sign.  Granted not a huge order, but it is a chance for this company to build a relationship with a new customer.

How often do you hear “No”, “Not Interested”, “Just Looking” or something to that effect?  Before walking into a prospects business, or having them come into your business think what questions you can ask that will help identify or solve a prospects need.

Business by Referral I Take The Lead B2B 3-4-11 part 2

You Never Know Where Your Next Customer is at

The other day I was having coffee with a friend of mine and she told me about a story or someone that we both know.

This person owns a restaurant and is fairly well known with in the community.  This person was at a competing restaurant and was being fairly rude to the server.  How often have we been rude to the sales person calling on our office, the server at a lunch spot, or the person in the parking lot?  Have you ever considered that this person can be, could be, or will be a customer of yours one day?

Remember as business and sales professional and leaders that we are observed all the time.  The next person that you are rude to may be a current or a future customer of yours.

Business by Referral I Take The Lead B2B 3-4-11 part 1

How secure is your technology?

Yesterday a friend of mine had his laptop stolen from his car while he was having lunch.  The scary thing is on this laptop was not only his personal and financial records, but his company’s financial records too.  Fortunately he has everything backed up, encryption software, along with a tracing software to help protect the information along with help with the recovery.

This got me to thinking what would happen if I was to loose my laptop, or if it was to suffer a loss of data?  Some quick research shows that 1 in 10 laptops are stolen every year.  With Identity Theft on the rise the value is not in the laptop, it is in the information in the laptop.

Do you have any resources in place to protect your information on your laptop?  If not now would be a great time to get some resources to help protect the information that is on your laptop.

Keep your head in the game!

The other day as I was about to leave my office to go to a networking meeting I received some less then fortunate news.  Now it was not a family emergency, or someone that got injured it was something had not worked out between me and another person that I was hoping that we would have worked out.

Fortunately along the drive to where I was going to I was able to get myself back into “Game Mode”.  Things are bound to come up that takes the wind out of our sails, this is a part of life.  If there are no ups then there are no downs.  It is what you do when this happens that determine if you are going to have a great meeting, day, or sale or not.

Now don’t take this as when challenges come up that we just ignore them, we address them and understand the importance when it is time for a meeting, sale, or prospecting that we have our game face on!

How to use Promotional Products to get Referrals

Developing Referral Partners

There is a huge advantage with taking time out in the week to meet with other sales and business leaders in your area.  So often I see where people will only meet with individuals that compliment their business and never think about building relationships with people outside their industry.

Can a financial planner recommend a Realtor?  Can a CPA recommend an Insurance person?  Absolutely!  So not only should you focus on building strategic partnerships with those that compliment your product or service, you should also build partnerships with those outside your industry.

Commit for the next 4 weeks to meet with two people per week for coffee to learn about their business and you will be surprised at your business will grow.

The Entrepreneur Spirit I Take The lead part 2 3-9-11

1st quarter is almost done - how are you doing?

As we are getting to the last week of the first quarter it is important to look at how are you doing?  Have you accomplished the goals that you have set fourth?  Do you need to adjust or tweak any of your goals?  How has your activity been?  Do you need to make adjustments to your activity to make sure that you hit your goals? 

As you look forward to 2^nd quarter what are your goals and what are your activity habits that will help you accomplish these goals.  Having a clear goal in mind will help you accomplish your goal!

Set aside some time this week to plan out your next quarter.  Once you have some goals in mind, and then look at the activity that is needed to make those goals into reality!   Here is to a great 2^nd quarter!

The Entrepreneur Spirt Part 1 I Take the Lead B2C 3-9-11

Keep your customers connected

Recently I had to have some work done on my truck.  As I was setting up the appointment one of the factors of scheduling was would I still be able to stay productive in the day.

As it turns out at the Courtesy Goodyear in Tacoma offers its customers Wi-Fi access.  Now this is a great value added service for their customers that while their vehicles are getting worked on that they can still stay productive.

What are some of the items that you can do to help keep your customers productive in their day while at your business?  You may be amazed at how a customer will choose you over your competition if you allow them to stay productive.

Business by Referral I Take The Lead B2B 3-4-11 part 2

Business by Referral I Take The Lead B2B 3-4-11 part 1

Parking for your customer

I recently went for a massage in an area of town that I do not get to very often.  When I found the building that the massage therapist is located in all that I saw for parking was “permit only”.  Because I did not know about this I was a little late and had to park 3 blocks away (not the relaxing experience I was looking for).

When your customer comes to you it is important to make getting to you easy.  This is especially true in the service related businesses as the customer has several options of who they will see.  I have seen some companies specify a specific parking spot for their customers.  Maybe even a “parking permit” just for your customer.  Something to keep in mind is that you not only want to do a great job for your customer, you also want to create a great experience for your customer.  This is how you not only build customer loyalty; you will also have customers going out of their way to send you referrals.

The Right State of Mind

Recently I was in a local real estate office.  The agent that would be taking in all phone inquirers was in a foul mode and pretty much was expressing that this was “a waste of his time”.  Now keep in mind at the writing of this article (January 2011) most real estate agents will say that the market is still soft. 

I couldn’t resist and decided to turn this into a coaching moment.  Take a moment and think in your business how you felt when things in your business were absolutely spot on.  How are your feeling in this moment?  If you are in the business of sales and just about all of us are, you have to keep your mental state of mind upbeat!

Now I am not saying that we all sit around and sing happy happy joy joy – if that is the case then we are not in control of our state of mind we are delusional.  Think about the prospect that is calling to inquire on your product or service.  If you are in a great state of mind and cheerful the prospect is more likely to purchase from you.  If you are gruff and snappy the prospect will probably find someone else to do business with.

When you feel yourself in a bad mood, especially if you are in a position to attract new clients (as this agent was) take a moment to put yourself in the right state of mind.  Weather it is to take a quick walk around the building, play a quick game (my favorite is angry birds) or something that will put you back into a relaxed enjoyable mood.  Remember in sales happy = profitable.

Keeping the Customer

There is a service in my area that will pick up my clothes that need to be dry cleaned and deliver them to my office.  As a professional that values my time I love this service, especially when they charge me the same that I would pay at the local dry cleaners and I do not have to worry about dropping off my cloths or worry about picking them up. 

I recently moved my office and ended up right outside of their “delivery” area.  When I talked with the owner of the company to let him know where we moved to he let me know that he would still make sure that I was taken care of.   Now keep in mind I do not go through a huge amount of dry cleaning in the month and normally only have one order a month.  It really meant a lot to me that he is willing to make an exception to keep me as a customer.

Think for a moment what you can do to keep your customers.  It could be expanding a delivery zone, or maybe even finding a strategic partner (if the customer moves to far out) to help service that customer.  One thing I have discovered is if you treat your customer’s right – you will have customers for life!

Be Your Customers Valentine

There are many businesses offering promotions for their customers and tying in Valentines Day.  This day also offers many opportunities to create a joint venture with a partner business to offer Valentines Day offers.

What can you do to show your customers that you love their business?  It can be a simple phone call, a personal note, or maybe an exclusive offer to the customers that are on your contact list.  Think now about what offers you can create to let your customers know that you love their business!

Several restraunts and hotels have created partnerships to offer their customers a chance to save money when they purchase both a romantic dinner and a one night to weekend getaway.  The great thing about this is that it gets a sale in for both businesses.  What partnership can you create for your product or service that will tie into a product or service that compliments yours?  If you sell candy can you tie in with a local florist, if you have a day spa can you tie into a restaurant or hotel?  The great thing is that you can market your partnership to both companies contact list!

Plan now for the next big day or time of year for your product or service and how you can incorporate a business partner to not only bring more value to your customer, someone else customer and together you can build more customers.

Make it memorable

As many of us watched the Superbowl yesterday we were remindide that the advertising that we saw was the “most valuable real estate commercial spots”.  I heard one report that stated that the average commercial spot was three million dollars.  So with that much on the line it is safe to say that the advertisers were concern on making as much value as possible.

Out of all the commercials, two I truly loved on a sales and marketing aspect.  That was godaddy.com and the TV show glee.  Both of these advertisers told a story in their ads which helps make it more memorable, and they had a call of action.  Godaddy.com wanted you to go to their website and Glee wanted you to watch their show following the Superbowl. 

What avenues can you use with your advertising to help make it more memorable and include a call to action?  How do you make your product or service stand out in your customers mind?  When considering how to market or promote your product or service these are some great questions to ask yourself!

Customer Service is Everyone’s Job

A very good friend of mine has recently started working for the 7-11 corporations as a district manager.  One of the things that she told me is that as a corporation their focus for this year is to promote customer service from every employee.  There is a high expectation that as the customer walks into any store weather it is franchised or corporate that they feel welcome.

Ironically this morning as I was heading into the office I stopped off at a gas station that is not 7-11.  As I was filling up my truck I thought that it may not be too bad of an idea to grab a cup of coffee.  When I walked in the person working was in the back and I did not see her until I was ready to pay.  When I went up to pay for my coffee I only had a $20 bill.  When I handed her my money she immediately complained about how she has no change and they did not do a change run for her.  I did quickly scan the cash till and saw $10 and $5 bills in her change drawer.  She actually made me feel that I was unconvincing her with my purchase. 

Now keep in mind if you have a retail shop that is open on the weekends it is important to make sure that the cashier can easily make change.  It is also important that every person that works for you understand that just about every retail store front out has a lot of competition.  As a matter of fact the spot that I stopped at has a 7-11 across the street and ARCO on the other corner, and a drive through coffee stand down the road.  So make sure that everyone on your team knows the importance of giving great customer service!