Archive for the ‘100 Tips on Business Growth’ Category

Sell to those who already love you! Why waste your time trying to sell a Ford to a Chevy driver. Why spend your time trying to convince a Democrat that you are right if you are Republican.  If all the current Ford drivers went out and bought a new Ford or all the Republicans would just go vote, Ford would be super successful and one party would have it made in a coming election. Simply reach out and touch those that already love you.  Constantly be reaching out and touching those who already love you and what you do. Regularly search through your database and figure out who needs a call, an email or a greeting card. And do it often.

I recently read an article that quoted a study that said for every month that goes by, a customer becomes 10% less loyal. That means if you haven’t touched your customer in some way for 4 months, they are only 60% loyal. (Easily stolen by a competitor.) I can’t find the article now as I would love to research the topic more, but the stats aren’t what is important. Common sense says it is true.

As the old saying says,  “stick with who brung you to the dance.” Just make sure you tell them how important they are to you and DO IT OFTEN in every way you can.   Not bad marriage advice as well. 100 Tips in 100 days.

Remember as a kid, you had to learn information and you used flash cards to get the information into your brain. You hoped the information would stay there until the final exam. In his book, Little Voice Mastery, Blair Singer talks about using flash cards as a way to overcome objections that you hear from your prospects. I’ve used this tecnique in the past with great success.

My daughter who was studying for a college exam used this system to learn all the bones of the head.  She had my granddaughter who was in Kindergarten help her with the flash cards. One day my granddaughter annouced to her kindergarden teacher that she knew all the bones in the head and proceeded to tell her all the complicated names of the bones. It’s a powerful learning tool. Needless to say she shocked the teacher.

List every objection that your sales staff or you receive from prospects on the flash cards and then work with someone on how to answer those objections. Practice makes perfect! As you practice, you’ll notice the hesitancy goes away and handling those objections will be no big deal.  100 Tips in 100 Days

Question – Should I have a niche or target market?
Answer – Only if you want to succeed!

If you can find a niche, determine their most important problem (point of pain), become an expert at helping them solve that problem, and then creatively let them know about that expertise, you WILL be successful and they’ll be calling you instead of the other way around. 100 Tips in 100 Days.

I recently had a network marketer tell me that their company’s slogan is “The Fortune’s in the Follow-Up.” How true this is for anyone involved in sales or marketing. There are so many contact manager programs with a tickler reminder to make the call or send the card or note. I’ve read statistics that most leads obtained from shows and referrals go un-contacted due to poor follow-up. If you are poor at follow-up, get a coach or a mentor who can help you be the exception. 100 Business Growth Tips in 100 Days

This is a simple tip but so effective. Do NOT be skimpy on your business cards! I get at least a hundred cards a week from networking events. You can pretty well determine who is successful (or at least looks that way) just by seeing their card. Pictures are worth a lot and makes it so much easier to remember the person.

A well designed card says volumes without being cluttered. You may as well put something on the back unless you use that space a lot to write notes.

Forget the freebies that have a tagline on the back from the company that printed the cards. It says cheap, cheap!

Large articles on this topic have been written, so I won’t go into a lot of details in this short post. Just collect a bunch of cards, pick the ones you like and visit a print shop or a graphic designer and suddenly those cards become like thousands of little 2 by 3 1/2″ ads promoting what you do.
100 Tips in 100 Days!

Learn the art of communicating with strangers. Forget what you learned as a child, don’t talk to strangers, doesn’t work as an adult. Strangers become friends and customers.

Recently I was waiting my turn at the deli counter at our supermarket. The woman waiting on customers was in a foul mood. She slammed down the packages on the counter and never said thanks. Her “next” could be translated into “What the hell do you want?” Then came my turn.

I commented that she looked like she was having a really bad day. That’s all it took, one comment. She unloaded on me with information about her toothache and her babysitter not showing up. Her husband was late on support payments so she couldn’t afford to take a day off work. When my turkey was ready, she actually said thanks.

Now when I see her at the grocery, she waives from clear across the store and will go out of her way to give me great service. It was just because I cared enough to be concerned and took the time to talk to a stranger. Practice making comments to those you meet in service stations, clerks and strangers at networking events. It will pay huge dividends. 100 Tips in 100 Days!

It seems the businesses that grow the fastest have developed systems that help them grow on autopilot. I have a friend who retired from Miller Brewing Company. He loved the job but always hated the paperwork. Yet he knew that the paperwork was to keep track of the selling systems that were in place to insure success. Systems will help develop discipline.

It doesn’t matter if you make 2 or 10 sales calls a day. The important thing is to decide on the number and then develop the discipline EVERY day to make that number of calls. I send 5 greeting cards every day to say “thank you” or “congratulations” or “nice to meet you” cards and I refuse to go to bed at night if those cards haven’t been sent. And it works. Take time to list some disciplines and systems that can help your business grow on autopilot!
100 Tips in 100 days.

Gone are the days of the high pressure sales person. Today it has been replaced with relationship selling. We tend to buy from those we trust. One way to build that trust is through networking.  Every day in every town in America there are many chances to network with others. It’s a way to meet strangers and develop a business relationship with those you meet. Hone your networking skills and start attending networking events or business and social meetings to add to your list of relationships. 100 Business Growth Tips in 100 Days!

I received an email from a friend asking if I know anyone who is good in the sign business. After owning a printing company for 23 years, I knew over 25 companies who made signs yet not one came to mind in trying to answer the question. Previously, I was good friends with the sign shop owners. Tip #8 is do whatever it takes to brand yourself and create TOP OF MIND awareness in your field.

Had one of those companies taken the time to send me a birthday card or called to see how I was doing once a year, their name would have immediately come to mind. Once you pick your target market make sure that you become a big fish in a small pond rather than a guppy swimming in the ocean. Get noticed and remembered. Reach out and touch your customers often. I recently read that for every month that goes by, a customer’s loyalty drops 10%. (Sorry, I don’t remember the source, but it does make sense.) The statistics aren’t important. What is important is that you figure out how to make yourself stand out from the crowd, be remembered and get those referrals.  100 Business Growth Tips in 100 Days!

Zig Ziglar calls it Dashboard University. Today’s tip is all about personal development. Just about every successful person that I’ve met uses down-time  to listen to motivational Cd’s, books on tape or some form of mind stimulating materials while they travel.

There’s times when you just want to cruise with music blasting from the car stereo, but it’s a great idea to have some motivational and educational CD’s ready. Imagine all the time that you spend driving and if you listened to personal development programs during that time, you would probably have the equivalent of a university degre thus… dashboard university. 100 Business Growth Tips in 100 Days!