Dr. Seuss was a favorite at our house and as my family gets a little bit older, we find we all need a break from the commercialism of the holiday season.
In moving some boxes recently I came across a copy of the now famous Dr Seuss tale and in reading the book it brought back great memories of watching the original show on TV with my daughters.
There is a part near the end that has always moved me and I trust this holiday season it will help you with what’s really important!!!
From Dr. Seuss:
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
As the holiday season approaches, we at Floodlight would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support.
It is business associates and customers like you who make our jobs a pleasure and keep our company successful.
We value our relationship with you and look forward to sharing our business thoughts with you in the year to come.
From all of us at Floodlight we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with peace and prosperity.
Donald Robichaud - President FloodLight - Build Your Business 1-888-768-9415
In today’s business world, unless you go into the sales arena with a strategy in mind, you will fail more times than you win with prospective clients, as they are busy with their own businesses.
When selling in these times, you must learn to ask the proper questions in order to gain the appropriate information that then leads to increased knowledge.
What are your best questions?
Knowledge is power, and as you ask great questions, listen to your client’s answers, you will discover a tremendous amount of information that will be pivotal in the sales process.
What are the top 10 questions that you will ask every client?
Once you fully understand the client’s situation, you will be able to make effective presentations which will enhance your personal credibility.
The fact is when you meet your client that you are prepared will impress your client because having prepared questions is a strong indication that you have spent time thinking about helping them with the issues that your questions uncover.
Asking great questions helps you and our client to define their needs, to define their desired outcomes, and to consider how to move from where they are now to an attainable goal.
These questions will give you the confidence to express your own ideas clearly, specific to the situation, and visually when necessary.
All of these factors will significantly increase the probability of making the sale.
Please contact us for more information on how we can help you "Build Your Business"!
Floodlight – Build Your Business
Kelowna – Ottawa – Kingston – Toronto
1-888-768-9415 http://www.floodlight.ca/
Why can't you get more referrals? The definition of "referral" will surprise you, and at the same time make you understand why you don't get as many as you expect or ask for. The definition of "referral" is: Risk.
Do you ask for referrals?
Do you get as many as you think you should?
Why do people hesitate when you ask?
Why do people not give them to you, or put you off?
Why do YOU hesitate to ask?
Maybe you feel awkward asking because you really don't feel that you've earned the referral yet.
Here are a few questions to ponder if you didn't get what you asked for:
Did they like you enough?
Did they trust you enough?
What did you do to deserve it?
Did you deliver more than promised?
Did you serve them at the highest level possible?
What did you do that was memorable?
What did they risk by giving a referral to you?
Giving a referral is a risk. Is your customer willing to take that risk by referring you? Are they willing to risk a friendship or relationship they have by referring someone to you? Or more powerfully stated, WHEN are they willing - at what point in your relationship with them would they be willing to risk a friendship or relationship they have with someone else, by referring them to you? Here are a few deeper questions to ponder if you didn't get what you asked for:
What have you done to both earn the trust of AND reduce the risk of your customer? If "not enough" is the answer - then it's probably the amount of referrals you get.
REALITY: You are NOT going to get great (real) referrals without a high level of comfort, a history of performance, and deep level of trust.
Referrals are the highest percentage sales call in the universe. Would you rather have 100 cold call leads or one referral? Just checking. Referrals are not magic, but they sure make selling seem like it - you make more sales when you have more referrals. Everyone wants referrals, BUT few are willing to do more than ask to get them - and some salespeople don't even do that. There's a way to get more referrals than you thought possible - but there are some hitches, one of which is hard work on your part.
What's the best way to get a referral?
Don't ask for them; earn them!
PICTURE THIS: You walk into your best friend's house and say, "Mary could you do me a favor? I'm looking for some new friends and I was wondering if you knew anybody like yourself that you could refer me to, and oh by the way I'm going to be selling them something. And if you wouldn't mind doing an introduction for me, I'd really be a happy about that. And oh by the way, thanks."
Doesn't that sound ludicrous? Doesn't it seem imposing? Doesn't it even border on rude? And your friend may even agree to do this for you, but in the end when it comes time to put up or shut-up, their list will be very short. Maybe even empty. Yeah, yeah that's it. Empty. And you can be an even bigger jerk by calling them up pretending to like them, by saying "And speaking of referrals, how about those friends I asked you about the other day?" What I have just described for you is what 99.9% of all salespeople do when they ask for a referral. And it is obvious from the above example that they are 100% wrong! Anyone who asks for a referral doesn't get it. A referral isn't something that you ask for. A referral is something that you earn. Oh sure you can ask for them, but it makes everyone feel awkward and will oftentimes destroy a budding relationship.
Which brings me to my point.
When is the best time to ASK for a referral?
After the risk has been eliminated.
Sales managers tell salespeople to ask for referrals as soon as you make a sale. And sales managers are wrong. Real wrong. After the sale has just been completed is the WORST time to get a referral. You haven't delivered. There's no relationship yet. There's no proof of service yet. And trust is tentative. Start them thinking by asking, "Mr. Jones, if we deliver and exceed your expectations, who else would you insist get this?" Let him answer. Then ask, "If we are phenomenal, would you be willing to call a few associates and set up a three-way lunch?" Now the referral outcome is in your court. All you have to do is perform the way you promised. All you have to do is deliver.
Asking for the referral too early is playing the "greed' card.
Asking when you have eliminated risk and built trust is the "money" card.
My measure of success as a salesperson has always been by the number of unsolicited referrals I get. That's the report card of selling. People referring you behind your back. People referring you without asking. People calling you and wanting to buy.
We all know that we need to do it, we usually have a good idea of how to do it, and we can be pretty certain of what the long-term results will be... and yet, that doesn't make it any easier.
The issue, of course, comes down to discipline. To enjoy that pipeline full of fresh, qualified sales leads later, we have to do some things that might be inconvenient or uncomfortable today.
The good news, however, is that the discipline you need to prospect isn't as hard as you might think. Here's how you can fix your prospecting problems virtually overnight.
First, set aside one day per week for prospecting. This might be the hardest part of the process, since it's going to feel unnatural at first, and there’ll be lots of other issues clamoring for your attention. But, unless the office is burning down behind you, put them aside for the day.
What you’ll get in return is eight or nine uninterrupted hours devoted to generating new leads and sales opportunities.
Honor the time you’ve set. Don’t give in to the temptation to schedule over it when business feels too busy. Seclude yourself from interruption and focus on prospecting.
Spend some of this time cold calling, networking and email prospecting. Sellers love networking events because they get face-to-face with potential prospects. While networking might give you good leads, it often doesn't produce the volume you need to hit your sales goals.
Once a month use a portion of your prospecting time for networking, then reserve the rest for phone calls and email prospecting.
Always have a list of prospects you want to call or follow up with. You may have met them at a networking event, gotten their names from a trade show, or simply have a list pulled from Netprospex.
On your prospecting day, call and email prospects from your list. Over time you’ll find that these contacts add a steady flow of fresh, new opportunities to your pipeline and expand your client base.
Contact lost prospects! I often wish there was a way to calculate the value of the missed opportunities that got away, only to never be followed up on again. Sellers are sometimes hesitant to reconnect with potential clients who didn't bite, but they can be a massive source of future income.
Think about it this way. How long did you spend deliberating on your last major purchase? And would you necessarily make the same decision next time?
Your lost prospects are the same way. Things change. Sometimes projects don’t go as expected. Their businesses evolve and grow.
Unless you burned the bridge by being rude or unprofessional with a lost prospect, this could be a hidden goldmine for you. Follow up with these contacts at least every six months.
Take advantage of your Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) software. That means both learning it and using it.
Just as it's incredibly important that you follow up on prospects that got away, you'll want to remember the details of what you talked with them about in the past, not to mention how long ago it was that you touched base.
It builds confidence when you can tell a prospect that you last spoke in March right before their cruise, and then ask about the trip. You have solid information you can use to restart the conversation.
It isn’t a cold call.
It’s a follow-up and your CRM allows you to differentiate yourself from other sellers because you took a moment to note that tidbit about your prospect.
Note bits of information like the cruise and their business situation. Schedule your next follow-up. Then monitor your CRM to see what calls you need to make.
Make your prospecting follow-up calls on your scheduled prospecting day. After all, these are your prospects. When your scheduled prospecting day rolls around, you have a list of people you’ve spoken to in the past combined with new contacts to call.
It does take some discipline to get your prospecting effort moving. But if you can get started and stick with it, you'll begin to see new accounts flowing in faster than you'd imagine – and that's bound to make your sales life a lot easier.
Dr. Seuss was a favorite at our house and as my family gets a little bit older, we find we all need a break from the commercialism of the holiday season.
