A Card

She looked at the envelope and didn’t know quite what to think. She didn’t expect anything from him and hadn’t for a long time. He had drifted away it seemed, they hardly ever talked yet she still felt loyal to him.

So she opened the card.

Dear Erin,

I wasn’t sure given all that was going on that you’d stay with me. But I am so happy that you did.

We have shared much over the years but I know I’ve taken you for granted. I know I just expected you to always be there. I know I just assumed you would never leave me.

And you didn’t. For that I am so grateful.

When we hit that rough patch last year I got scared. I’m still a little scared. I realize I had gotten careless around you and around others in my family. You Erin, were there for me in the beginning when I was young and just starting out and I think I forgot that.

This note is very important to me because you are important to me.

This note says “thank you” for being there then and being there now. This note embodies that adage “Make new friends but keep the old, for one is silver, the other gold”.

Erin, thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for keeping me close. This note says I won’t forget that ever again.

Thank you for your business,

Steve

Surprised? Unfortunately, most of us reading this probably are.

But Erin is not a lot different from many customers who have been with you for a few years. She’s likely similar to customers you have or maybe your business has, that despite the fiscal challenges, the new competitors she could choose from, and maybe even absorbing your price increases, has chosen to quietly stick with you.

Would a business owner write a note or have a card ultra personalized like in the above example for Erin? Sure, why not? Maybe not as much as written above (but I wouldn’t besmirch anyone who wanted to write a card for their top 10- 100 customers like above- well worth it!) The point is that a card done right can be a very special message to a customer, one that can make them feel cherished.

A well done card maybe for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or for any Holiday can mean so much more than a mere ”thanks”. Heck, a simple “thank you” note done right can mean something quite wonderful.

And it should.

It’s time to start planning about how you’ll acknowledge your clients.

Do it better this year.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

You Need A Fan Club

You do. I kid you not.

You need a real fan club with people who sing your praises, who will talk about you behind your back and in front of your face. You need a fan club of people who will write gloriously about you, who will make audio recordings of how much they love you and even on occasion, a video exclaiming how much you mean to them.

Yep. You gotta have a fan club. You my friend, need “Groupies”.

Here’s why.

If you sell stuff like custom printing, financial tools, marketing products or most anything else where your opinion matters, then you need fans. Why? Because credibility matters more than ever.

In this over whelmed, data spewing, low trust environment clients and prospects live in today, your influence, opinion, intelligence and skill will have more to say about a customer buying products in this space than ever before. You need your personal fan club at your fingertips to help you sell yourself.

You need credibility because when you sell this stuff, you are more important. Credibility keeps the sale alive and moving. What you do, what you say, what you know and how you sell is a bigger influencer to the client’s buying decision process here than when you are selling for example, ink cartridges or packing tape.

Imagine a DVD you leave with a prospect that is just testimonials about you and your work
Imagine the link to YouTube you send that has one of your happy customers praising you and your skills.
Imagine a customer testimonial reference list complete with phone numbers printed on the back of your business card.

Imagine.

Get started today building your fan club. Ask for and collect testimonials. Collect great examples of the work you have done and package them up. Get started and build the tools online and offline to advertise you to prospective fans.

Do it well and you’ll get more customers. Heck, if you’re not careful you might get a van full of Groupies following you around where ever you go!

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

My Great Pumpkin Lesson

I carved a pumpkin for the first time in my life Sunday. Truly, I never had before.

My young son was feeling sad that he had not yet carved a pumpkin this year with Halloween being right around the corner and all. He’d carved pumpkins with his mother before, but he wanted to carve one with me.

I was a little nervous about it. I know that sounds silly. My son said, “Daddy, it’s easy, you can do it.”

It is something many or perhaps most other people have done. I never have. No real reason I guess; I grew up in the city and maybe that has played a part but I’m also not an artist and it sure looks like it would take one to make a pumpkin look any good.

“I’ll draw the face on the pumpkin for you, Daddy.” He said.

I worried about the knives but he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take the little one and you can use the big one.”

I honestly (and please don’t laugh too loud) never thought to think what was in a pumpkin and how making it hollow or carving it out must be something that is hard to do. “It’s full of squishy seeds and stuff and we need a bowl to put it in…” he said. He was right; it wasn’t as solid I thought it would be.

We cut and scooped out the pumpkin. “You do this section Daddy, you are stronger, scrape it all out.”

And then… Oh…what a face he drew!

I carved and sculpted and shaped the face. “Careful not to push on the holes while you carve the other holes” he said. Great advice.

I had so much fun. I loved it. It looks really cool and very scary. “You did a great job Daddy.” He said. I was all smiles.

Something about carving this pumpkin meant more to me than I expected.

I thought what a great teacher my son is. He eased my fears and took control when he needed to. He helped me through all the tough parts and even praised me. But in the end gave me something so much more wonderful that I did not readily see it.

He was, in the carving of this pumpkin, being the teacher to me that I want to be, for him.

Later that day on the long ride back to his mother’s house, he put his hand in mine and said “Thanks for carving my pumpkin with me Daddy.”

No son, thank you.

Till next time,

Grow the Business.

Mark

Why Your Network Stinks

Have a lot of followers on Twitter? Nice. A gazillion friends on Facebook? Cool. 500+ LinkedIn connections? I’m happy for you.

Sometimes that don’t mean nothin’ though.

Marlene, one very talented trainer on the West Coast, reminded those of us gathered for workshops last week about the real value of a good network.

A real network, Marlene taught us, is about how you compliment each other and how you leverage what is different about you. A real network isn’t about how many of you there are or worse, about how many of you there are that are just like you all connected.

Marlene made us publicly identify the unique skills of our in-room “network” and record them in a literal (and of course, metaphorical) little black book allowing each of us to walk out with a networking gem.

“Use this book” she said “to tap into the help you need when you need it from your network.”

Thanks Marlene. I think we sometimes forget that

A real network aligns you the sales expert with Jimmy the time management guru because one day you’ll both need each other when you finally decide to go chase that dream together.

A real network aligns you the online marketing savant with Sandy the offline marketing pro when that prospect you share just wants to grow the heck out of her business and yes she’s still got brick and mortar on Main Street.

A real network aligns you the call center supervisor with Art the field sales manager when Art needs to beef up his team’s phone skills and you need to start dabbling in feet on the street.

Networks need to work. And while amassing lots of fans who like you (and too often are like you), seems to be the focus for so many of us today, the better approach should be asking how does this connection fill the gaps that each of us have.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

3 Crazy Causation Theories

There is that “correlation not causation” perspective that people talk about. I ran across it most recently last week reading something, somewhere, about Diet Coke.

Some article talked about a reputable study a couple of years ago suggesting that you, the Diet Coke drinker, were by some large and scary percentage, more likely to become obese if you drank Diet Coke vs. someone who did not drink Diet Coke.

Good Times. I love Diet Coke.

Thankfully the article reminded us that the study was flawed because what you really had a hard time discerning was if those people who were becoming or were already obese, had decided to start drinking Diet Coke while “obesing” vs. the other way around so to speak. Hence though there may be a “correlation” between Diet Coke and obesity, there is not necessarily, “causation” from Diet Coke to obesity.

There is a lot of that crazy “causation” stuff out there in the sales world too.

Crazy Causation Theory # 1: Successful salespeople have the best accounts; they don’t make half the calls or presentations you do, but are still raking in the most dough.

Ah….yes…I had the worst sales territory in the world back in my day. I was insanely jealous of my fellow sales reps that had the best accounts or territory.

So yes dear colleague of today, you are right; the successful reps often don’t make nearly as many calls as you do and they do have the best accounts. Truth is though; their phone rings more often and their inboxes fill up faster than yours does. When they do call out, they are more effective than you. More often than not, these successful reps artfully cultivate customers, drive referrals through them and in essence, have and continue to deliver greater experiences to their clients thereby creating a misperception to the rest of us about what exactly causes what.

Hats off to you Jack Barry in 1994, you’re territory was the best, but now I know you weren’t lucky; rather, you made it so.

Crazy Causation Theory #2; The more calls or offers you make, the more sales you’ll get.

Nope, not in this business. That adage in sales that “It’s all a numbers game” is a horrible lie. Never believe it. Many of you reading this are you are working with a finite list of existing customers or prospects, or of calls coming into you; which you usually cannot control.

Pounding out calls or making 5 offers/closes on every incoming/outgoing call to a finite universe doesn’t make the sales; quality contacts do. In Outbound calling, it’s even more dangerous. Pound out some self serving, rapid fire voicemails or live monologues to your assigned clients hoping to the sales gods above that you caught the customer exactly when they have a need and you’ll put yourself in a worse position 6 weeks later or 6 months later when you try and sell them something else. Customers want help, not pitches and power dialing.

If you have the world as your territory and the yellow pages as your lead source; yes indeed, it is all a numbers game then. For a while. Make as many calls and offers as you want. And have fun with that as you’ll last about 6 months before you can’t wait to quit. No worries, your boss already a replacement ready to backfill you who has the same false belief.

Crazy Causation Theory #3: The harder you work, the more successful you will be.

That ain’t true in sales. It may be true for cemetery workers (been there, worked hard despite my co-workers’ slacker cries to “slow down!”). It may be true for grocery baggers (worked hard there too and loved the job) and forklift operators (worked hard and proudly with no incidents thank you), but it is not true in sales. Working hard just is not enough.

Working hard will only get you so far; here is what else you need:

Acting skills: ( Be a story teller & have the ability to make your 41^st performance today look and sound like your first)
Thirst for knowledge and self learning. (Pssst… the webpage functionality just changed 5 minutes ago and your product offer is now outdated. Do you really want to wait for the memo or the training on that? )
Mental Positivity. If you close 15 % of your leads /opportunities then you are a ROCK STAR though that means the other 85% reject you. Working harder doesn’t help you here.
Sales Skills; Have no idea where you are in the sales process or what a good question is vs. a bad one? Good luck working hard here while you are in the dark.
Help: Few sales stars work in a vacuum. They are not afraid to ask for help, seek guidance and even demand coaching.

There. Now go chill and have a Diet Coke. No causation there to worry about.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

The Best Question For B2B Sales

It’s not so much figuring out the best question that’s hard. It’s figuring out what to do with the answer.

I get asked a lot about what are good questions for prospects or customers. I can give you a bunch and in just a couple of clicks you can find thousands of reputable authors, sales gurus and websites that’ll give you a whole bunch more questions to ponder for your customer contacts.

But what is the best question? I’ve finally settled on one now. This one question makes so much darn sense on many levels. And as good as it is, remember it’s what you do with the answer that really counts.

Before I share it though, let’s think first about the audience you want to ask this question of. The audience here is small business; a group loaded with owners, type A’s, entrepreneurs, competitive personalities or all of the above. The audience is full of people who are proud, smart, have healthy egos and who live and breathe their businesses.

So the best question should be one that is grooved right down the center of the proverbial small business plate, look very appealing and inspire a big ol’ swing.

“What sets your business apart from the competition?”

Yep. That’s it.

Simple but powerful for two reasons:

First, it gives your fiercely proud small business person the chance to take a swing and share what they believe is perhaps the single thing that makes them different, or superior than anyone they compete against. It allows for passionate rant or a perfunctory punch of an attribute, positioning, feature, service, history or benefit that they think is killer or outstanding about their business. That’s cool.

Second it gives you a chance to do the hard part, which is to listen and analyze the answer. It’s a beautiful window to the entrepreneurial soul. You must use that learning to position you or your products in an appropriate way as you continue that conversation then, or at a later time, with the small business person.

You see the answer to the question is vital. It is what the small business person thinks is importantly different about their business and is likely what they value in partners and suppliers as well. When you know what is important to them about them, you can position you, your company or your products in a similar light that will at the very least, get further attention and most likely move the sales process forward at lightning speed. And if by chance your product or solution helps that business maintain or attain that thing that sets them apart, you’re in.

If the small business person thinks their “50 years in business” is the competitive differentiator then you have to consider that perhaps sharing your long personal tenure in the industry or the healthy company track record you have is a big deal for them when they consider working more with someone like you. For them; being credible is important.

If the small business person thinks that having a “one stop shop” is a big deal setting them apart from the competition then you know that you have to consider positioning your services as being “easy to use” or “comprehensive and easy to access” because it’s very likely that that is something the small business owner wants out of a supplier or partner.

If the answer to “ What sets you apart from the competition?” is about “our low pricing”, or “the highest quality”, or “the most customers”, or “ our product breadth” or a dozen others then you have a colossal hint at what the buying motives just might be when they consider doing more business with you.

Pitch the question. I believe it’s the best one out there and small business will hit it hard; just don’t drop the ball; do something with it.

P.S. If some of you are thinking this is a great question for the C-Suite. You’re right; similar personalities sit there too. Have at it.

P.S.S If some of you are thinking Hey Mark, asking that question you need a little trust first don’t you? You’re right about that too. Read up.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

From The Red Book

I carry a little red book around with me. I write things in there that I like, I hate, I worry about or get excited about. I bet you all have a little book or notepad too.

I looked through it over the weekend. These strike me as things I want to write more about, support or rail against, or just plain share and do something more with.

How about you?

I hate that human condition that drives online business reviews. Have a problem and you rant online no matter how little the issue. Skews everything. Totally unfair.

I doesn’t matter much if you have the newest tools or software on your desk (like a new CRM for example) if you have no desire to change your routine or results to begin with.

Listening is cool. But If you can’t get your client to talk to you, what the heck is there to listen to?

Coaching is hard. Coaching to stats, processes and order entry is easy vs. coaching to communication, selling and service skills. That latter will grow the business and former will give you the chance to do it.

It’s only a matter of time before what’s credible on the internet matters more than that something is in fact, on the internet. And that time is very soon.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and all the rest haven’t changed us. We have always loved, and needed a network of engaged, trusted friends and colleagues. That need has always been there; it’s the tools that keep changing.

Glen Garry Glen Ross is simply the greatest sales movie ever and is Jack Lemmon’s best performance. The language is rough but the Mamet writing is priceless.

Ever notice on Mad Men how they have to sit the prospects down in the 60’s and explain in detail what marketing and advertising is in order to sell it? Well we gotta do the same thing somehow these days when we sell online marketing. It’s still kinda foreign to people.

Service Reps have the most satisfying job in the world. You pros here know what I am talking about.

Open ended questions are so overrated unless you have some trust established; otherwise it’s just offensive.

Adult learning theory continues to be disproved over and over again as weak. It’s about “what” is being trained that matters, not the learning “style” of folks. ( Just as I suspected :))

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

10 Things I Haven’t Mentioned….

Nice picture. Screams charasmatic doesn’t it?

Yeah I have to work on that. But I’ll start with a little more behind the picture today.

I write about what could or should be done in the worlds of sales, marketing and training. I’m not shy either about having a stand on a few life lessons too. I’m OK with that.

So, today here are a few things you won’t read about me in my About pages and that might offer an element of

Well, I have no idea really.

All I do know is that when I read a couple of posts like this one here by blogger Lisa Sonara Beam, who got the idea from Corbett Barr, it helped me.

Not sure how it helped but it did. When I read their posts or their tweets now I guess I feel a little more something. Maybe it was because a little more was laid out there on a limb with the content of the blog. It was a little more transparent maybe.

I think too that they feel a little more something when they write having shared stuff that may not have been that easy to share. Seems like a win- win.

So I’m stealing shamelessly.

1. My father was a police officer and my mother was a nurse. He worked days and she worked nights and then she worked days and he worked nights… You get the idea. Though 4 sons and a daughter, none of us chose either profession as a career. I feel kind of bad about that.

2. Toby W. doesn’t know I love him. 8 years ago he was kind enough to stop me in the hallway and say he knew I was desperately looking for an apartment and that there was one available in the next town over. 7 days and 75 miles later, I moved in, then went to the local church one hot day that summer, saw the love of my new life cantering, married her 7 years later and am still the Luckiest Man in The World. Toby visits the office every once in a while (he’s a field sales guy), but he has no idea why I stare at him so long, often saying nothing. He knows now. I love you man.

3. I was always afraid of dogs. Till I got one. Now I am just a little afraid.

4. I went to college as an Engineering Major. Oh yeah, a 5 year program with the last 2 years supposed to be at Notre Dame. But in my sophomore year at Stonehill College when I started digging into the trash bins in the computer lab looking for hints of how to just start my computer programming assignments, I realized this ain’t for me and changed majors right quick.

5. For nearly 5 years I drove 4 hours a day commuting to and from work. 75 miles each way in some of the worst traffic imaginable. Longest round trip? 9 hours. You do what you need to do for your family, you discover books on tape and learn first hand that you never travel in the far left lane; ever, it’s always the slowest. Stay in the middle lane my friend. Always.

6. Writing is the Great Clarifier. Writing adds more depth to my thinking, strategizing and execution without a doubt. It’s not something I do in addition to my job. It is something I do to get the job done. Hard to explain, but true.

7. It’s the little things that drive me crazy. I’ll use cuss words that would make Capt. Quint wince (he’s from the movie Jaws for you youngin’s) when that razor falls out of the cabinet again or I am stuck having to open up a cereal package (impossible). If I lost an arm in a power saw accident however, I assure you that you wouldn’t hear a peep out of me. Seen it before; big stuff happens and I’m cool as a cucumber, little stuff happens and the good Sisters at St. Catherine’s would ditch the ruler and grab a 2 by 4.

8. A 30 pack of Bud Light saved my life. Between his second and third murder over the span of 5 days, this guy walked up to my car window while I tried to pull out into traffic in Meredith, NH in 2001. He leaned into my car window and asked “can I get a lift to the print shop just down the road?”. His hand heavily resting on the door frame and his head now nearly touching mine, I just glanced at the 30 pack of Bud Light on the passenger seat, shrugged and said “Hey man, no room”. I then hit the accelerator harder than I planned and drove off; something just wasn’t right about him. 2 of the 3 guys he killed I found out later, had given him a lift just like I almost did. Maybe this is why I still love beer so much.

9. I love my Mom’s music . On my IPod, I’ve got everything from Jock Jams to Broadway musicals to Mozart’s Requiem to Police (Live!) to John Denver to a dozen full length Biz books. So what. Everybody has a wild mix of music. My favorite Playlist is the one I made for my Mom 2 years ago. She’s 77. I burned 2 CD’s for her of her favorite stuff ranging from Church hymns to Paul Simon to Les Miserables and I know I listen to it more than she does.

10. I know nothing about cars, babies, electronics, weapons, meat that is anything but well done, astrology, soccer, tennis and fishing. Conversely, I know way too much about backyard sports (including dozens of made up games), football, books of lists, scrabble and cemeteries. So there you go; that about evens it up.

Till next time,

Grow the business.

Mark

A New Sales Model

Have a new sales model for you. Don’t fall asleep just yet, you should care about this. It’s simple but different. Different is good.

A sales model for our purposes here is the process or the steps you take to make a sale. The process you trust, the process you live by. Sales models are important; they are a roadmap so to speak, of how to do what you want to do, which is of course, to grow the business.

You use sales models all the time. Want to go out on a date with someone? Here is an age old popular model to get that done.

Prepare / Search / Impress / Close

First you go and Prepare (look sharp, take a shower that day (you can do it!) then go Search ( scope out the lounge, the beach, the bake sale – whatever) then Impress ( sound wicked funny/ smart/ nice and get your favorite pick up lines ready like “Excuse me do you have a tissue? I was just listening to Susan Boyle on my IPod“) and finally the Close (“I have a hankering to watch The Notebook again, would you like to join me?”)

Traditional Sales models have been around forever too. A typical sales model is something like:

Rapport /Discovery / Present / Close.

That is to develop a connection, ask good questions, make a product offer and then close the sale. You get it.

I don’t much like the traditional sales models. Not for us. Not for anyone really, but especially not for us.

Here is a new sales model

Time / Trust / Create Need / Discover / Advocate / Close / Support

Looks complicated? It’s not. Don’t worry about the last 4 here (discovery, advocate, close, support), those are traditional and something to detail another day. Just think about the first 3; Time, Trust & Create Need, those are the “New” in this sales model versus traditional ones.

The New Sales Model is front loaded like never before. It needs to be.

The very beginning of any sales process has been underwritten and underplayed for 50 years. Getting attention, earning the right to talk with or market to folks wasn’t like then what it is today. It’s different now; how you really start or really begin is the most important part of the sales process. Do that well, superbly well and the rest of the sales process is easy. That’s why we need to change the traditional model.

Dig up any sales training or sales models from today or yesteryear and you’ll find almost nothing on getting salespeople to see TIME as a critical commodity that must be purchased from the prospect before anything happens.

Search Google and look for all the TRUST training and theory out there for sales forces of the world; you’ll find some for sure, but mostly you’ll find a lot of superficial blather about “building rapport” or “forming relationships”. Used to be a hearty handshake or some smart product knowledge or “my office is down the street” was trust enough to get the sales process started. No more. Nobody’s company has that kind of infallibility anymore. It’s take a lot more and a lot different now to earn the Trust you need today.

Instead of CREATE NEED help, you’ll find a gazillion sales theories and courseware around “finding needs” or “finding pain points”. It’s as if the prospects and customers of the world are walking about “injured”, “lost” or “clueless” about themselves anxiously waiting for a company or sales rep to come in diagnose and prescribe medication to fix the pain. I don’t think so.

Sales Theory in large part is not keeping up with the times. Much else is different in the marketplace than when some of the biggies rolled out their iconic sales models (companies like Wilson Learning, Dale Carnegie, Huthwaite and the like). What’s changed?

 Everybody has gotten smarter; your customers in a couple of clicks can get a lot more info and now need a sales rep to be smarter than them in different places, in more Trusted places.

 It’s harder to be unique. Companies are changing and entering new spaces but consumers still have lots of choices (more than ever) for a provider. It’s like Malcolm Gladwell in his book Blink who said essentially that “if given too many choices, then nothing happens”. Create Need my friends.

 Used to be you could be assured your customer “listened” to you, now they are in control. Their Time and attention is precious and they know it- YOU know it. Marketing is changing radically to respect this; Salespeople need to too.

This model is your map to better success. This model needs our attention, our rallying around, our design and planning around.

Old sales models are for old companies and old sales reps in old marketplaces. Don’t believe for a minute we are old. Nope, we’re new, brand new. We have to be.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Want more fodder for thinking about the new model? Take note..

Seth Godin gets totally the “time” piece of the model; so read his book Permission Marketing.
Gitomer and Steven Covey Jr. (the son, not that father) get the “trust” piece fairly well so have a gander at Trust by Gitomer and Speed of Trust by Covey Jr.
Lastly go here http://www.icrinc.com/web/videoportfolio.php Scroll down to Easton Bell Sports who essentially base their sales philosophy on “creating need”. Love it

Mullet Over

Sales and Dating just don’t mix. But when they do, there are lessons to be learned.

Tonight you are super sales guy Rock Ledger. You are single and in a bar. Good Times.

And lucky you, it’s also 80’s night. This feels good. This was your time. This was where the Rock Ledger legend began. So even though you are not much of a dancer, it’s flashback (and Flashdance) fever tonight so you have got it going on!

You Rock Ledger, you super sales man, you did your pre – party research, and prepared well for this 80’s night. And holy leg warmers, you spy someone you think you’d like to talk to. You remember her name is Tiffany.

Excellent. Time to make your move.

A bit sweaty now because you just had to break out some moves to the blaring tune Safety Dance, you are comforted knowing that the rusty Aquanet hairspray you found buried in your dresser drawer (literally from the 80’s you suspect), had enough juice to keep hair securely shaped into that “oh so cool” Mullet. You amble over to Tiffany in your now ill – fitting Members Only jacket and say:

“Well Hello there.”

“Well Hello to you.” She says. She looks at you coyly. She’s curious. You look back. An awkward pause ensues, but you are ready. Conversation is your game.

“I was wondering” you say, (knowing full well how good your John Stamos Full House Mullet looks)…. “Are you happy with growth of your family or are you just looking to keep the family you have?”

“Whaaaat?” She cries.

“No, I ‘m sorry. What I meant was, how happy are you recently with things? Is life going well for you? Are you really happy with your current boyfriend or do you want to be happier?”

“Listen Skippy, I barely know you..”, she says. (And of course you’re thinking that “Skippy” was Michael J Fox’s dorky friend on Family Ties and you definitely do not, look like Skippy)

“Ok I’m really sorry this is not starting off well. All I want to know is why can’t I have a serious conversation with you?”

WHAP!! Your face, ego and hair sprayed Mullet all get whacked at once. Face and ego bruised, the Mullet surrenders too and snaps back from whence it came. Your 80’s night is now over.

Mildly entertaining? Sure. But Rock Ledger’s conversation with Tiffany is not that much different than some of the early conversations we have with our business customers and prospects. Though we are well intentioned, many of us launch into some very deep questions right off the get go.

We are quick to ask these deep and frankly quite “personal” (especially when speaking with small to med size businesses) questions that while your customer won’t likely literally “slap” you like Tiffany did, they sure as hell might want to.

Think about what many of us ask after a few moments of introduction or in our first meeting.

“Are you focused on growth or maintaining your customer base?
“How is the economy treating you, are you guys doing OK?”
“Are you happy with your current supplier?
“What’s the biggest challenge you are facing this year?
“I want to understand your needs better, so I have some questions..”

Should we be asking these questions of our customers? Yes we should. But should we take some time to buy the prospect a metaphorical drink or two and build a little trust and value about ourselves or our company first? Prove we care about really helping the prospect first? You bet. Tiffany would have appreciated it.

This doesn’t have to take too long. It can take as little as a first date but more often than not (especially today in this low trust competitive environment), you shouldn’t ask these types of “personal questions” till you’ve had a few dates or you might get whapped. It’s tough, the pressure is on. You need to perform. Rock Ledger wants to close the deals right quick too, but you saw what happened to him.

You can dance if you want to. And I suggest you do. But dance the long dance version please first.

Till next time,

Grow the Business.

Mark

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: