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!