By Max Eames

You’ve heard the expression ‘pay yourself first’, but what does it mean?  Well, in the first few years of a growing business, it usually means ‘when pigs fly’.   From one perspective, it means that you ought to cover your needs before you start paying your suppliers. But is that right and ethical when suppliers have trusted you with their wares and trust that you will pay for what you have bought? Also, what if you, as the proprietor, have never really cashed a proper pay cheque?

Many entrepreneurs pay suppliers on time which is the right thing to do, but they don’t pay themselves.  As far as things look from a certain vantage-point, they simply can’t!  There’s little or nothing left in the bank.  That might be fine for a short while (very short!), but it is dangerous if things take the slightest turn to the left – which businesses often do. 

As a business coach, I’m being given the task of asking the questions nobody else will ask.  Questions like, “Do you pay your employees on time?  Do you pay your suppliers on time, or do you use them like an informal bank? 

Once in a while, there are some sharp discoveries there, but I’m never surprised to hear that a sizeable concern isn’t actually in the habit of paying the proprietors.

I’m presently working with a client who was a bit bashful about this revelation, and yet there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.  It’s quite common, particularly in the first throes of a business venture that has yet to fully get off the runway.  I’ve done it myself, so I understand the thinking behind such a decision.

In this particular venture, it went something like this:  we pay our facilitators, our chefs, our cleaning staff, our gardeners, our maintenance men, our administrators, and the odd-job man.   But after that, there’s not much wiggle room.

And that’s so often the case, whatever the nature of the enterprise.  Maybe some business owners can sustain a period of self-payment forfeiture, but here are but a few of the unforeseen pitfalls of such well-intentioned parsimony:

PARSIMONY PITFALL NUMBER 1:  You will start to resent the fact that ‘everybody is benefiting from this business but me.’ 

The psychology bit, which I believe underpins every flawed (and also every brilliant) business decision, is that the proprietor ought to somehow sustain his or her interest out of pure passion, or out of the hope of future windfalls, or out of regard for the people who are actually ‘working’ for the business – either directly as employees or indirectly as service-providers.   Oh, puh-leese!

A business should not be only a ‘crusade’; it needs to be a machine as well.  And all the gears have to whirr around in harmony.  You owe it to your staff to be a highly-motivated leader, and people are smarter than you think:  they can pick up unconsciously the times where you harbour even a whiff of resentment, apathy, or downright anger that you aim, no matter HOW hard you try not to, toward your business machine.  

PARSIMONY PITFALL NUMBER 2:  You shouldn’t expect to earn less than you would in a salaried position, but on the other hand, you shouldn’t necessarily expect – in a fledgling concern – to earn anywhere near what you would if you were salaried in the corporate world. 

And you’re giving up on a lot of other stuff too:  holiday pay, sick pay, all those other perks and safety nets.  So why do it?  Sure, it’s exciting, swashbuckling, and empowering to hang on in there until things get off the ground… but for goodness sake why should you suffer unduly?  Heck, I know what it’s like:  I used to ‘steal’ food from the restaurant I owned – even the odd bottle of Chianti went home in a discreet paper bag.  You think I’m kidding? Unfortunately not! 

In the first few months of trading, it was even more desperate than that:  for months on a stretch the only square meal I got was when I showed up for the staff meal intended for the kitchen porters!   Heck, if I managed to peel a few potatoes at the right time – or dry a few wine glasses – a plate was placed under my grateful nose without a word of comment.  It would have been impolite to refuse it! 

But with the benefit of hindsight, had I decided that the proprietors should get paid; had I operated from within the ‘pay yourself first’ philosophy; we’d have made it work.  Something else would’ve had to give, but we’d have made it work… and so would every other proprietor out there. 

PARSIMONY PITFALL NUMBER 3:   If you are ever in the situation of wanting to sell your business, any audit of your books is going to call into question the actual viability of the business to a prospective buyer.  And if you’ve ever been through the process, you’ll know that not a stone is left unturned.

If the only way to balance the books has been to forfeit what ought to be the most generous ‘pay packet’ of all, then there’s going to be a lot of further investigation into why that has been the case. 

Never EVER run your business without a weather eye on the notion, however unlikely, of selling it as a going concern.    You never know:  boredom might hit, illness might hit, and goodness knows what else might kill your passion for the business that you couldn’t at the moment imagine life without.  Life has its unexpected turns, too:  people have been known to run off with somebody next door and move to the Costa del Sol with 48 hours notice; love is blind, right?  Don’t ever think it can’t happen to you! 

And never EVER run your business without meeting the needs of ALL the people who are making it happen, including YOURSELF.  It’s not a real business if the proprietors aren’t getting paid.

PAUL GORMAN’S ADVICE IS THIS: Keep your business structure simple and lean. Keep overheads to a minimum - it is rare that a pure overhead produces profit; rather, excellent products and services together with powerful direct-response marketing and a “you, the customer, are my main concern” attitude produces profit, and plenty of it.

By keeping your structure simple and lean you maximize the amount of profit available in your enterprise, and therefore enable you to be paid properly each month along with everyone else, and for your ebterprise to build cash reserves that make it strong, vibrant, more fulfilling, and faster-growing.

Max Eames works with entrepreneurs who are committed to ‘firing on all cylinders’ through strengthening company performance as well as increasing cashflow.   A psychotherapist and coach, he is author and creator of the WEALTH MECHANIC book and private coaching programme.

Identifying and Understanding The Top 7 Motivation Destroyers

By STEVEN BREWER

97% of all motivational failure will fall into 7 key categories. If you can identify and master these pitfalls, you are well on the way to a new lifestyle. New successes and new found riches.

Motivation Destroyer 1: Belief

You are who you think you are and if you do not believe you are capable of achieving what you are setting out to do then, there is an enormous chance you will prove yourself right. On your journey to success there will be moments of self doubt, that’s natural, but recognise that they are only moments and quickly get yourself back on track. Also look out for the “do-gooders” who also will try to sow an element of doubt in your mind that you perhaps have “unrealistic expectations”, are acting “way above your station” and perhaps they kindly suggest that it’s time for you to “get real”. Their opinions and limiting beliefs are based on their own experiences and beliefs. Remember, if we all stuck to what we know and nobody took risks we would still be riding round on Penny Farthings.

Motivation Destroyer 2: Focus

When you embark on your new journey that requires you to make some changes your motivation to make the changes is at its peak. There will be reasons you decide to make the changes and these reasons are your focus. Most of us make the mistake of making a note of the actual changes we are going to make and not the reasons behind those changes. It is vital that you write down you reasons why in order to refer back to them when your focus changes.

Imagine you are a smoker and you really want to give up. Your focus on the day you stop smoking is achieve a personal ambition. Three weeks in and you are out socialising, your focus may switch to enjoying yourself and your resolve may be weak. You refer to your original reasons why you made the change. Which of these two comments would have a greater effect?

• Stop Smoking
• Prolong and preserve my life because I will not get another one.

I am sure you get the point.

Motivation Destroyer 3: Habits.

Habit is the dark horse that shows up too often, and it’s the sneakiest Motivation Destroyer. We don’t even see it coming. We think things are natural. We think they’re just happening by default, when actually they are habits. We don’t realise

that we’ve made choices unless we pay attention to, identify, and work to change our negative habits.

We have great intentions set in our minds that something’s going to happen. We may join a weight-loss support group or a fitness club. Many of us attend success seminars. We set our goals, we make our plans and we leave fired up and completely convinced that, without a shadow of any doubt, this time we’re going to achieve the goal, this time we’re going to plug in this great stuff we just learned.

A few days pass, three, seven, ten, whatever the case might be, and all of a sudden something happens and we go, “Wait a minute, I’m not doing what I said I was going to do.” That’s where the Motivation Destroyer has jumped on me, and I didn’t even see it coming.

Two of the Motivation Destroyers that directly relate to habits are focus and belief.

Motivation Destroyer 4: Emotional Responses

Throughout our life we unconsciously train our mind to react to certain situations in certain ways. When we encounter sadness we cry, when we encounter rudeness we get angry, when we are alone we get bored. These situations are personal to us and are based on our experiences in life to date.

These emotional responses are closely linked to our habits and sometimes we need to re-train ourselves and recondition our emotional responses. An example of this maybe termed as stepping outside of your comfort zone in order to make changes. If you are aiming for weight loss you may have to change your eating habits. This may lead to bouts of hunger. You may associate hunger with frustration and anxiety and this make you irritable and short tempered which is potentially the route to failure.

You need to retrain yourself that hunger pangs in the first instance are inevitable and this is a positive sign that your body and mind are making changes. Fill that time with something worthwhile such as exercise or a phone call to a friend, this will help to recondition your emotional response.

Motivation Destroyer 5: Energy

Energy or lack of energy is a huge component of staying motivated. When we lack the energy to perform the tasks of every day life, we often find additional challenges overwhelming.

Energy, according to Webster, is “vitality and expression”. Another definition for energy is “the capacity for action or accomplishment”. That’s the one I gravitate towards. How well do we think or feel we can do? What do we have the energy to do?

What are we physically capable of doing or mentally capable of doing? If our energy is drained - no matter how exciting the goal is - it’s next to impossible to get moving toward that goal.

As I was discussing this with several people and doing research, one of the things reported to me most often was this: when your energy levels are deplted, it’s as if you’ve lost your spirit, and you have no zest. The symptoms of energy depletion are similar to those of depression. You want to sit, you want to sleep, you certainly don’t want to exercise, and you don’t want to follow any type of a goal plan. You just don’t have it in you. Your mind isn’t working right. You’re physically not feeling good.

Motivation Destroyer 6: Surroundings

Not only is important to think like the person you want to change into but it is also important to act like the person you want to become.

Let me clarify that by saying when you are changing into a different person I do not mean you are changing into Superwoman or Spiderman. What I mean you will still be you, you will just have a developed a different persona.

Surround yourself, as far as possible with people who already think like this new person that you are evolving into. If you want to be fit and healthy, surround yourself with people who are already there. If you want to be successful in business, again surround yourself with people who are already there.

Also change your surroundings, if you are striving for business success, invest a little money into improving your working environment; a new and bigger chair, a new desk, a new suit anything to help break the mould of the old working environment.

Motivation Destroyer 7: Time Management

Time Management is the biggest culprit in the 21^st century, and it simply means being too busy.

When you’re talking about the myth of time management, you’re really saying that the job is self-management, and the way we manage ourselves is by building our character, letting our character grow, being purposeful about it and mastering skills that allow us to be successful in whatever our personal endeavours are. It comes down to hard work and discipline to manage ourselves, as time passes by.

Time is a resource just like money is a resource. Most of the people at one point or another have done some sort of financial analysis of their income.

One of the first things that a financial planner will have you do is sit down and find out where all your money goes. In today’s world, people will find out, “Oh! I’m spending £2 a day on Starbuck’s lattes. If I do that five days a week, that’s £10, then you multiply that by 50 weeks. Then the realisation comes that you are spending £500 a year on coffee!”

The same thing should be done with our time because it’s also a resource. Where is our time going? A long time ago somebody encouraged me to do a time inventory and to track where I spent my time over the course of a week. I wrote down everything I did. If I spent 10 minutes on a phone call, I wrote it down. If I went to lunch for 30 minutes, I wrote it down. I wrote down whatever I did for one week, and I realised that I worked 111 hours in a week. A number of different things were interesting to me.

Number one, it made me realise that I worked way too much. Number two, it made me realize where all of my time went. I added it all up, X amount of time on the phone, X amount of time in commute, X amount of time in lunch, X amount of time in meetings, etc. The last thing it did was give me permission to re-adjust my time schedule, because I had a firm grasp on where my time was being spent.

When we take a time inventory, it’s really just sitting down, going, “Where am I spending my time?” I would encourage people to do it for at least a week, and if they can do it for two weeks, that would be great. Write down everything you do, and then at the end of the week or the end of two weeks, go back and add it up. You’re going to be amazed at what you find.

You’re going to find a lot of time on the telephone, a lot of time answering emails, a lot of time in meetings. You’ll probably be amazed at how much time you’re spending in the car.

Once you get all that, you’re going to be able to do a couple of things. You’re going to be able to shrink some of those times, find yourself some extra time. But then you’re also going to be able to re-utilise some of that time. For example, driving around. You might think, “I spend eight hours a week in the car,” and then you think, “Maybe I should start doing what Zig Ziglar says, and that is go to Automobile University, so I can spend four hours a week listening to some audio programs and improving my life.”

A time inventory is the very first thing we need to do. It gives us a 30,000-foot-view of where we’re at currently. The only way to start going in a different direction is to know exactly where you are headed now.

"Wisdoms From A Master Salesman" - Get Steven Brewer’s free Sales Wisdom Weekly ezine here: www.stevebrewer.co.uk

By Max Eames

“I need you to help me.  I need a MAN.”  Intrigued by this, I asked my friend Jennifer what she had in mind.  Mouse in the kitchen?  Honking-great spider in the basement?

Jennifer wanted to buy a 4×4 because of the nature of her work, and she wanted me to go with her to car dealers as a ‘human shield’:  “I don’t want them to patronise me or make jokes about whether I can handle a 4×4,” she explained.   So off we went. 

And don’t these car salesmen have their patter down to a fine art?  I’m a coach and have studied NLP; they were using every trick in the book.  I found myself resorting to advanced ‘Jedi mind techniques’, poised and ready for appropriate counter-attacks at every turn.

Right on cue in the paint-by-numbers spiel, a deal was struck, but Jennifer laid out a set of upgrades she wished to see:  metallic blue paint, cruise control, rear parking sensors… and the list went on. 

She gave our honorary NLP Master Practitioner a hint of why she chose this machine over the many others:  no clemency for the air-conditioned glove-box and the tinted rear windows; by now she’d become insistent on automatic transmission, the fact that the rear tailgate HAD to open sideways, and the need for the spare wheel to have a PROPER tyre in a hard case, mounted to the tailgate – because the soft cases get vandalised in Central London.    

Jennifer conceded defeat on the fact that the car would not have an alarm and that it might be taxed to within an inch of its life by the Mayor of London.  She accepted the argument that diesel isn’t as cheap as it used to be, and resigned herself to the petrol engine.  With the sweetener of ‘interest-free credit’, I beheld the biro in her hand, sealing her fate in triplicate. 

Some weeks later, the showmanship of it all was impressive.  When we arrived to collect the vehicle, they’d parked it front and centre, with the grille facing outward.  It was love at first site.  But as we were fussing around collecting this and that, she kept whispering to me, “What’s wrong with it?”  And I have to admit I was wondering the same thing. 

It didn’t take long for the penny to drop:  “Excuse me; there’s a mistake.  I wanted the model with the spare wheel mounted on the tailgate, like the one I drove in the test-drive.  You’ll have to mount it afterward because I did go on about it being the whole point of driving a 4×4; remember?” 

For once the salesman lost his aplomb.  “Erm…. You see, the model you test drove was a few months old.  We no longer do them with the tyre on the back.  You see, since the tailgate opens sideways, people found that it was just too cumbersome.  In the last couple of months, we’ve gone for a spacesaver tyre in the boot.  Statistically, hardly anybody gets a flat nowadays. “   If she had been told beforehand, no doubt, she’d have resigned herself to it, just like the rear-tinted windows. 

“But I like the look of it and this isn’t about practicality.  I JUST like the look of it.  The whole back of the car looks as if it’s missing something.  I’m seeing this car all over London, and the whole thing that makes it look like a 4×4 is that it has the tyre on the back!  Plus, I HATE spacesaver tyres.  The RAC won’t touch them if you do have a flat.”  But she’d signed on the line… in triplicate. 

Literally, the next day she rang me, livid:   Guess what?  My car has a flat.  And the bloody RAC won’t touch it.  I have to try to drive it to a garage whilst there’s still some air in it. “  

I went with her; after all, it was a spot of unbelievable bad luck.  I didn’t score any points when I opened the glove box and put in my can of drink:  “At least the glove box is air conditioned.  My car has that too.  I’ve never understood the point of it until today.”

The quality of YOUR communication will affect your business success – especially in tough times.  Jennifer would have excitedly told a handful of friends about her purchase – but now she will tell dozens of friends how misled, cheated, and disappointed she felt.  And she will relive the moment every time she opens the tailgate on a supermarket shop.    Be sure to heighten YOUR communication at every opportunity, with every sector of your business. 

In the end, talk is cheap; silence can be very expensive. 

TALK-IS-CHEAP TIP NUMBER 1:  Let people know what’s going on.  That goes for your team members who are your agents, and your customers who are potentially your most ardent sales force.

TALK-IS-CHEAP TIP NUMBER 2:  Tell your suppliers if there are going to be delays, and tell them why.  You inspire trust and fellowship when “we’re all in it together.”

TALK-IS-CHEAP TIP NUMBER 3:  Keep your bank manager informed if you are heading to the upper limits of your business overdraft.  Don’t let there be an inference drawn from unusual activity.  Come clean.  You will be respected for it.

TALK-IS-CHEAP TIP NUMBER 4:  When you get wind of a rumour at the water cooler, hold a meeting and quash it.  Don’t have your sales force polishing up their CVs during lunch hour. 

It’s amazing how resilient we all are when we are kept in the loop.  Good communication heightens your chance of staying in relationship with others, and it is the best way to build rapport in increasingly uncertain times. 

Max Eames works with entrepreneurs who are committed to ‘firing on all cylinders’ through strengthening company performance as well as increasing cashflow.   A psychotherapist and coach, he is author and creator of the breakthrough WEALTH MECHANIC programme.

You can get a copy of Max’s book Wealth Mechanic plus valuable free bonuses here!

By STEVEN BREWER

An objection, or unresolved issue, is either a request for more information or a point that has not been explained in the right way yet. A price objection, for example, merely means that the client has not yet understood how much more benefit they will receive than the money they will be spending with you.

Inoculation

Most objections or potentially problematic issues are predictable.

If you pitch to 500 clients and 450 raise delivery times and price, it seems reasonable to expect that a large percentage of your next 500 clients might have some issues about delivery and price as well.

So surely it makes sense to deal with these issues in your own time, in the most effective way for yourself, instead of waiting for them to be become more significant, certainly instead of waiting for the client to raise them as a significant issue.

As part of targeted sales training programmes we include inoculation techniques so they sound natural and effective That is what inoculation is about. It is designed as a tool that gives you the ability to remove the power of an issue before it is even voiced by the client.

Better still, if the client does raise the issue later it has lost its power and can be dealt with more easily.

Not every point needs inoculation

Only inoculate against issues which come up every time.

1. “Some people say……”
2. Voice the issue in a relaxed fashion.
3. “But you know…” or “But I tend to think…” or “Then they find out ….”
4. Confirm agreement.

We start by distancing the client from the objection, by talking about someone else. You can deal with ‘the other people’s views’ without risking any offence to the client. We are simply using quotations.

Remember, the way we represent something internally is what gives it meaning to us. If something sounds relatively unimportant then we will treat it as such. If something sounds serious again, we will treat it as such.

Lastly, we get their commitment and agreement that the objection has been answered convincingly.

For example, imagine the issue is price. Our company is 30% more expensive than the competition. However, we save all of that and more on the durability of our product. An inoculation might go:

Some people say “Steve you can’t possibly expect me to pay 30% more for something that’s just the same as everyone else’s”. “That’s a fair point, though not really true, because our products actually last 40% longer and so save money. Whilst they are a little more expensive

in the first place, they actually save a lot of money in the medium term. That’s what’s really important, isn’t it?”

The Shortcut

There is a fabulous tool for shortcutting the entire objection process and getting the client to where you want them to be. Delegates attending our sales training programmes rate this very highly. Simply follow the structure:

1. Empathise.
2. And
3. “What would have to happen for you to….?”

The last question immediately takes you in a more productive direction. It might be “What would have to happen for you to go ahead right now?”

The precise slant you put on it depends on where you want the client to head.

“I understand you have an existing supplier in place, what would have to happen for you to change/take on an additional supplier?”

“I appreciate that the price is above your budget. What would have to happen to make it worth the investment?”

Feel, Felt, Found, Find, Because

This is an extremely powerful technique.

 Feel, Felt, Found, Find, Because is a structure based on using a story about a customer or customers just like them. Put the problem into the past and focus them on getting something positive in the future. You then justify the case you are making very credibly, wherever possible bolting tangible results onto the back of the process.

So, if the client’s issue is that you are too expensive, the reframe with this technique might be:

“I understand how you feel. A lot of our customers felt the same way initially. What they actually found was the value of working with us really outweighed the up-front costs. I am sure you will find the same as we have really focused on the quality of our delivery which will reduce your stock holding by 30%.”

In stages the process consists of:

1. Say you understand/appreciate how they feel.
2. Tell them about customers/a customer who felt that way at one time.
3. Tell them what your other customer/s found after working with you.
4. Reassure them they will too.
5. Give them a reason.

It is a good idea to have a number of effective ways to overcome objections as you may have a number of different objections to tackle in order to secure the deal. The techniques described in this article are very effective. However, they cannot be used effectively time and time again. Try to use them sparingly and effectively.

NOTE: As part of Steve Brewer’s in depth sales training programmes he introduces delegates to a number of different techniques and they choose which suit their own personality and selling style.

Get Steve Brewer’s free Sales Wisdom Weekly here

By Max Eames

Who doesn’t like going out for a meal? Who thinks they can do it better than the local gastro pub down the road?

Lots of us like making meals for our friends. A fair few of us are a dab hand in the kitchen, and we know how to create a bit of theatre in the dining room as the plates arrive. And yes, pretty much everybody has fleetingly dreamt of opening his or her own restaurant.

But there’s more to a restaurant than serving good food and knowing how to give it a bit of style on the plate.  If you get it wrong, the ‘dream’ can easily turn into a nightmare.  I should know.

Not one to boast, but I’m a half-decent cook.  I know how to create atmosphere. And I’ve got a bit of flair in terms of what goes out the kitchen door.  As an architect, I’ve even designed restaurants and commercial kitchens for a living. But it turns out, I didn’t know my backside from my beef brisket when it came to starting my own business. Nonetheless, the School of Hard Knocks ran me through its curriculum at breakneck speed, and I was able to beat the odds by “graduating” with a full set of gnashers.

In every business sector, very few hopefuls escape without losing a few front teeth along the way. Maybe that’s why I’ve recently been asked to share my experience by preparing a workshop series for entrepreneurs who are part of London’s vast hospitality and foodservice industry. In essence, if you’re in business, what you’re selling is pretty straightforward:  it’s either a product, an experience… or hopefully both. What’s tough about the foodservice industry in particular is that the product and the experience are inextricably entwined.   There’s no other way of seeing it: you’re only as good as your last meal.

And let’s not pretend that the cards aren’t stacked against us, no matter what we offer our customers. Making it in business is like playing a mean game of poker. You’ve got to know the true strength of your hand, you’ve got to make mistakes in order to grow… but you’ve got to remember that too many mistakes will cause you to fold your hand and be forced to walk away from the table.

My three top tips for successful entrepreneurship – in these difficult times – are these: 

TOP TIP NUMBER 1:  It doesn’t matter WHAT kind of business you’re in, you’ve got to “sweat the small stuff”. The newspapers are saying that a recession is on the horizon; whether you agree with that or not, this is a great time to draw up a blueprint for optimum customer service. In these times, the canny entrepreneur pulls over, has a look under the hood, fiddles with the machinery, and adjusts a few things before hitting the road again.

TOP TIP NUMBER 2:  Know where the best money tends to come from in your particular enterprise. If the 80/20 rule applies to much of life, it probably applies to your business as well. Ask yourself a series of questions about what’s happening in your marketplace right now, and anticipate what might happen if the economy continues to decline. Knowledge is power; make sure you have it at your fingertips. 

TOP TIP NUMBER 3:  Be willing to helicopter above your business and make tough decisions on cash flow, revenue and profit. Know where your revenue and profit will come from over the next twelve to eighteen months. Get your calculator out, and ask yourself if the money coming in is PROFITABLE money.   This isn’t a time to focus on revenue so much as it is to turn a steely eye on profit – and on the cash flow situation that could bring things to a halt in short order.   It’s not uncommon to see turnovers of a quarter of a million pounds with so little profit that the business-owners aren’t even paying themselves a wage!  That’s not a healthy situation, and not a situation with a lot of “wiggle room” if things get tough for a while. 

Over the years I’ve helped families, individuals and businesses arrive at a ‘Financial Fix-it Formula’ that WORKS.  And there’s one thing I know: businesses are all about people, and people have to make mistakes in order to experiment and grow.  But it’s worth remembering that tough times are all about opportunity.  So if you think there might be tough times on the horizon, it’s probably time to roll up your shirt sleeves and get to work.

Max Eames is a psychotherapist and coach, and author and creator of the WEALTH MECHANIC programme. Get Max’s breakthrough Wealth Mechanic book here: http://www.wealthmechanic.com/

Here are 11 approaches that will boost your sales and fill your business with rapid new cash and profits.

1. Communicate regularly with your existing customers.

Developing a successful business is no different from developing a successful romantic relationship, or close family relationship, or intimatacy within a circle of friends. A successful relationship relies on - actully, depends on - regular, quality communication and result.

You would not expect to develop a close family relationship if you hardly spoke to one another, or spoke without meaning and worth. You would ott expect a personal relationship to be more than a fleeting association without regular, meaningful, interesting and interested communication. Your closest friends are the friends you talk to most often, with most meaning and most understanding.

Regular, meaningful, quality communication builds meaningful and lasting relationships—no matter in what arena.

Customers or clients are people! Develop quality buyer/seller relationships with those people. Communicate often. Recognize customers’ special occasions and other important dates. Make them feel special. Let them know they are a member of your extended business family. Look after them. Understand and address their wants and needs. Help them through their fears and provide solutions and results they benefit tangibly from. When you do, they will respond by buying more of whatever it is you sell. And they will enthusiastically recommend you to their family, friends and colleagues.

TIP: I was fairly useless at crafting effective communication - providing advice, reports, information, education, sales letters, etc that brought in thousands of customers - in the early days. Today - 27 years later - I am fairly good at it. Without boasting, by "good" I mean that my sales messages bring in millions of pounds of product and service sales. They attract tens of thousands of prospective customers into niche markets. They convert thousands from inquiry or interest to the status of buyer. Milliond of pounds are generated. Private clients pay £80,000 plus 10% of all ‘Gorman’ produced revenues for me to create a single sales campaign. Or an initial £100,000 plus 10% of all new revenue to work privately with me ongoing. Why? Because my fees are a pittance compared with the revenues and profits my writing produces for them.

But I never want you to pay me to do this for you - I have created an entire audio program revealing, explaining and illustrating (in finite detail and instruction, with case histories) exactly how I create and write million pound sales letters, web pages, brochures, order forms, fliers, inserts and advertisements that is yours 100% free. Simply click here, enter your name and email in the fields that come up on the page, then you receive the full 16-part audio course online - one session every week for the next 16 weeks. Do it now: click here (there is NO catch, NO small print, NO obligation - it is 100% free for you, with my compliments). 

2. Target your sales message.

Every customer or client has personal preferences when they buy any product or service. Tom next door might only buy low-cost shoes. You only buy the finest Italian soft leather shoes. That’s your personal preference. It has nothing to do with Tom’s preference.

If you come into my shoe store and buy a pair of the finest Italian loafers I have available, and I then mail you details about my latest, lowest-cost range, I’m wasting your time—and mine. Tom will be interested in my mailing and may well buy some shoes from me. But you won’t.

Whatever it is you sell, record what your customers or clients buy and then tailor your communication to their individual interests and desires.

A good database programme makes an easy job of capturing your customer’s buying histories and mail merging personalized buying opportunities. No business should operate without a computerized database these days. A database is the keystone of your business success because it makes relationship marketing a reality—for even the tiniest business.

Regularly target your customers or clients with new offers and opportunities and you will rapidly optimize your sales revenue and bottom line profits.

3. Attract new customers or clients by increasing your marketing POWER.

Are there additional ways you can reach target prospective customers? There probably are. Finding them will instantly increase your marketing power.

A client asked me how to increase sales without increasing his financial risk. He did not—rightly—want to splash out on larger advertising, a larger brochure, or a telesales operation. At least, not until he had tested each approach. But testing takes time and he wanted to increase his customer acquisition programme now.

He was running small ads in two newspapers and receiving a reasonably profitable stream of new customers each week. His ads were making money! So I advised him to simply do more of what he was doing already—place more small ads in more publications. It sounds simple. But he wasn’t doing it.

He assumed that because other publications didn’t have as high a circulation they wouldn’t be worth advertising in. But circulation alone doesn’t matter. The only two things that matter—in this case—are: One, does your advertising reach your targeted audience? Two, does it make money?

If a targeted ad which costs £1,000, and brings in £3,000 profit, is run in a smaller circulation paper, costs £500, and makes only £1,500 in new profits instead of £3,000, is it worth running?

Of course! It generates a 200% growth on your investment! (£1,500 gross profit, minus £500 ad cost = £1,000 = 200% growth on your £500 investment).

It doesn’t matter that you normally make £2,000 profit on the same ad in a larger circulation paper. One thousand pounds profit from a different paper is additional profit and additional new customers gained.

My client followed this advice, repeated his tested ads in seven additional papers and magazines, and has now more than doubled his sales within just a few weeks.

How can you increase your marketing power without increasing your risk? Here are five suggestions:

* Advertise in more papers that reach your target prospective customers—with tested ads.
* Advertise in more magazines that reach your target prospective customers—with tested ads.
* Increase your cold mailings—with tested mailers.
* Increase your field sales calls—with tested approaches.
* Increase your telemarketing calls—with tested scripts (or approaches).

4. Apply lifetime value marketing.

Read, reread, and read again—and then immediately apply—my advice on Lifetime Value marketing. It is the secret of creating unbounded success and riches in virtually any business or professional practice you can name.

5. Arrange high-profit host/recipient alliances with non-competing businesses.

Host/recipient marketing provides you with massive growth leverage. How? It gives you access to other company’s customers or clients as if they were your own.

I have revealed how to generate large new profits through host/recipient marketing. Read it here.

But I’ve discovered an interesting challenge. Many business owners who consult with me after reading the book have never tried to arrange host/recipient alliances. This is strange because I explain it is one of the most powerful marketing strategies you can use in business. Imagine! You are able to accelerate sales by up to tenfold or more for a fraction of the cost you’d normally have to outlay to acquire the same increase in revenue.

Why don’t more business owners pursue this strategy? The answer is that host/recipient alliances take a little effort to arrange. But that effort pays BIG dividends!

Develop the millionaire mind-set of constantly identifying and marketing to the most probable area of highest response. If one strategy provides you with considerably greater response for the same or less effort, time and cost, pursue it like a bloodhound.

I have made more money—more rapidly—through arranging host/recipient alliances than through any other strategy. I urge you to do the same!

6. Ask for referrals.

Referrals generate easy sales! Write to all your existing customers or clients and offer a worthwhile discount, gift or reward when they introduce a friend, associate or peer.

Offer the referred person an irresistible first time buying or take-up opportunity to maximize response.

If you are a professional and you feel giving a direct reward or gift is professionally sensitive or unethical, just ask for referrals. As long as your clients or patients receive tangible benefit from the service or treatment you provide, they will usually be more than happy to refer people. But you have to ask.

How do you ask? Simply write a personal letter explaining that you are expanding your practice and have room to take on (x-number) of new clients. Before you approach the outside market you thought it would be a nice gesture to first offer your best clients the opportunity of introducing people they know to the same level of service and results they are receiving from your practice. If they know of a friend, associate or peer who might like to benefit, you will be pleased to provide an introductory, no-obligation initial consultation or review to discover if you can help. “Please ask the person you refer to call (telephone number) by (date).”

This approach works effectively to bring you a constant stream of targeted new customers or clients.

Another approach is to ask for referrals on the back of business reply envelopes (BRE’s). I suggested my publisher try this with BRE’s included with the sales letter for my book. They produce a steady five percent response—5 percent referrals we would never have if we didn’t ask, and which cost us nothing to generate!

More on generating referrals is here (see "Method 8" at this link)

7. Arrange a special event.

You have almost limitless opportunities to draw new customers or clients with special events. What works? Almost anything out of the ordinary—with one proviso: it must be fun and interesting, or it must have value.

Here are 11 special events clients have used with great success:

* Open evenings to preview new stock or a new service.

* Preferential invitations to privately view a new range or opportunity.

* Test drives or other “live” test or trial experiences.

* A live in-store or in-factory demonstration.

* Personal appearances by designers, supplier chairmen or managing directors.

* Celebrity launches.

* Celebration buffets.

* Games of chance.

* Skills contests.

* Special occasion promotions.      

* Visits to manufacturers.

You can use virtually any reason to stage an event. Put a pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and let ideas flow. The more events you hold—and the more informative, inventive, fun or valuable they are—the greater number of customers or clients you’ll draw.

8. Acquire mailing lists of qualified prospects.

Buying mailing lists of targeted prospective buyers is a powerful customer acquisition and sales-growth device. You can pinpoint with laser accuracy those customers or clients who actively buy your category of product or service—and present your most persuasive sales proposition to them via direct mail.

The key to mailing list success is to spend the time targeting accurately, test systematically, then roll-out your marketing on the results of your most responsive test.

If you sold investment opportunities, for instance, you would obtain lists of people who have already invested, have done so recently—during the last six to twelve months ideally—have done so frequently, and have invested most money. These people are active investors and are the most likely to be interested in more investment opportunities.

This time-honoured recency/frequency/monetary formula is the best model to follow. (It says that the category of product or service people have recently bought, they will likely buy more of quite quickly. It is a reliable protocol.)

People you would avoid are those who have only shown interest in investing but have not actually invested. These people are a far more difficult sell.

I would explore and adopt a vigorous direct mailing strategy for your business right away integrated with the web, email, telephone, audio, visual, and sales people: any or all of these, combined, that are appropriate for your type of enterprise (think hard before you dismiss any of these!).

9. Give payment options.

You will increase your sales by up to 30 percent or more by accepting credit card payments.

You will increase your sales by 90 percent or more by offering payments by installment—spread over a number of weeks or months. The higher the ticket price the more sales increase with installment options.

10. Offer a “buy-back” guarantee on high ticket products.

Business owners often ask me what they can do to maintain sales during a recession. One powerful strategy I advise them to adopt is a buy-back guarantee.

People worry about being short of money—or losing their jobs—during a recession. So they cut back their buying. A buy-back guarantee helps alleviate their fear.

How does it work? You guarantee to buy-back the product within one, two or three years at an attractive market price.

Will you lose out? Or worse, put yourself at risk?

Let’s see. Let’s say you are a car dealer. You find many prospective car buyers are delaying purchasing because they are worried about their future finances. So you guarantee to buy-back their car within one to three years at a good price.

Let’s say your average car sale is £12,000 and your gross margin 17 percent—£2,040.

Let’s also say that, conservatively, your sales increase by 30 percent on the strength of your guarantee, the media coverage it attracts, and the competitive advantage you gain. (Your sales could increase substantially more then 30 percent with a buy-back guarantee.)

Your dealership used to sell 50 cars a month, so now you sell 65 (30% increase). The additional 15 car sales make you an extra £30,600 profit a month—£367,200 a year. Not bad.

But then, as recession hits harder, 20 percent of customers decide to take up your buy-back guarantee. Every month 13 cars are returned (65 cars sold x 20% = 13). Let’s say, on average, a generous market value for the returned cars is 70% of the original purchase price. That is £8,400 (£12,000 x 70% = £8,400).

So you buy back 13 cars each month at a cost of £109,200 (13 x £8,400 = £109,200). What do you do with them?

You resell them on the used market—at a price more people feel comfortable risking. You settle for making 5 - 10 percent margin to move the cars quickly. With a good, direct-response marketing campaign you should find buyers rapidly.

Let’s say you add 5 percent. On an average £8,400 buy-back cost, that’s £420 profit on a sale price of £8,820 (£8,400 + 5% = £8,820). 13 cars x 12 months x £420 profit is £65,520 additional profit per year.

Adding it all up. Your sales increased by 30% when you offered the buy-back guarantee, making you an extra £367,200 profit a year. You resell the 13 returned cars every month for an additional £65,520 profit a year.

A total extra profit per year of £432,720.

That’s good. But what happens if you can’t make a margin on the resold cars? Will you lose out? No—you just won’t make as much total extra profit. Does it matter? You have already increased your profits by £367,200 a year. Do you care if you simply recoup the £8,400 you pay for each buy-back car? I wouldn’t. The word-of-mouth advertising you’d receive would generate more profits than you would ever ’lose’ because you are generous with your customers.

Do you see the possibilities? It is difficult to lose when you offer customer-friendly buying opportunities and extraordinary value.

How can you apply the buy-back strategy to your product? Get a pen and calculate a few alternatives. You’ll be surprised what possibilities you discover.

One caveat: as with any marketing strategy, test and fine-tune the buy-back strategy before you launch it full swing. And, of course, to make it work you need good cash flow. Don’t overstretch your cash resources. (If you are applying the strategies in this book you will quickly be in a cash-rich position.)

11. Test, test, test!

If you ask me if any of my clients ever fail to grow their business by large degrees, the answer is Yes!

If you ask me if any of my clients who consistently apply the strategies I teach ever fail to grow by large degrees, the answer is No!

You can become a virtual marketing genius—achieving quantum growth, while your competitors are left looking on in awe—when you understand and apply—to everything you do—the preeminent strategy of testing.

Test alternative headlines, opening gambits, offers, ads, letters, guarantees, prices, payment terms, premiums, bonuses, mailing lists, telesales and field-sales approaches—one versus another. You will invariably discover that one approach or method outpulls another by margins of 50 - 1000 percent, or more. Most businesses never test. So they fail to learn which approach their market responds to most.

I showed a client how to test two different approaches on a split-run mailing (half = approach #1, half = approach #2). One produced 29 percent higher response than the other. If he hadn’t tested he would never have discovered that more effective approach. And never generated the 29 percent higher sales for no additional cost of marketing.

Always test everything you do. Then roll-out your winning approaches to grow your business rapidly.

See "The Art Of Testing" here.

By Steve Brewer

Is closing the sales critical? Of course it is. As salespeople it is why we are employed. Is the actual closing of the sale the thing we should therefore put all our focus into? Absolutely not. If we were to examine the whole sales cycle from the initial contact with a prospect, to converting them into a client with their first order and call the whole cycle 100% of the process, then closing should only realistically represent 3% of that process.

Why is it so small?

Let’s think about it.

If we have correctly identified this prospect as someone who will clearly benefit from the use of our product. We have sat down with them and through effective questioning identified a need for what we are offering. We have then uncovered a problem or problems they are currently experiencing. As a result of this we have led them to realise the actual effect of the problem or problems on their business. Next we have got their agreement that a solution that would completely eradicate that problem would be critical to the future of the business. We have then clearly demonstrated our capability to provide that solution within their specified criteria, then the actual closing of the sale should be a formality.

The problems come when salespeople present solutions too early based on what they think is an explicit need but is in fact only an implied need. From there on in they are heading down the wrong street and therefore when they come to close they end up with:

“The timing is not right”
“We need to think about it”
“I’ll get back to you on this one”

Or a similar retort. So what we are saying is that 97% of “closing the sale” is actually contained in the run up to the actual question: “Can I have a purchase order number?” That said, we do need to actually ask a closed question in order to gain their final commitment. As a rule of thumb there is a checklist that you can subconsciously run through before asking that final question:

Pre-closing checklist

1. Does the size of the problems you have uncovered justify the ‘cost of the solution you plan to offer the client’? (cost in terms of money, hassle, risk, etc). YES  NO
2. Have you demonstrated sufficient value to the customer to justify the cost of the solution? YES NO
3. Is your solution likely to be more expensive than that offered by any competitors who are also bidding for this business? YES NO
4.Have you developed customer needs in areas where we have real strengths against the competition? YES NO

If you have answered NO to questions 1, 2 and 4 and YES to question 3, it indicates that there is a need to develop stronger customer needs if you are to strengthen your chances of getting the business.

If you answer YES to 1, 2 and 4 and you are confident that your pricing policy will fall within the buyer’s remit, then close.

A wise sales trainer once said to me, some salespeople know hundreds of closes, but, good salespeople know a few closes well. Some examples you might encounter:

•The Puppy Dog Tail Close
•The Half Nelson Close
•The Balance Sheet Close
•The Loaded Yes Close
•The Prescription Close
•The Sharp Angle Close
•The Change Places Close

The list goes on and on. Here are few ethical closes that you might want to commit to memory.

The Direct Question Close

Simply ask the customer a direct closed question:

“Are you happy to get the order signed off now?”
“Shall we complete the paperwork?”
“Do I need a PO number for this order?”

The Alternative Close

This close gives the option of two choices both have been chosen by the buyer:

“Would you like to take the delivery all at once or in stages?”
“Would you like the stock in green or blue?”

Closing on a small issue. Buyers tend to find it easy to make small decisions rather than bigger ones:

“Delivery can be arranged on a weekly basis, does that meet your requirements?”
“If storage is a problem we can arrange a split delivery at no extra cost, would you like to take advantage of that option?”

Don’t forget you can break the rules. Traditionally closing comes at the end of the sales cycle, but all throughout the conversation with the buyer you must be aware of any buying signals that are thrown to you.

If you get a big enough buying signal: “That’s the exact one that I want,” it is not compulsory to carry on to the end of the sales cycle to close. If a buyer makes a statement like that close the sale there and then.

Recap

Remember the three golden rules when closing:

1. A close must always be in the form of a question.
2. If you don’t ask you don’t get.
3. When you’ve asked a closing question, wait for the answer. 

Get Steven Brewer’s free Sales Wisdom Weekly ezine here: www.stevebrewer.co.uk

By Max Eames 

Until a number of months ago, I’ve been going to the same high-street dry cleaners for some twenty years. Decades before local estate agents got clever and started referring to my neighbourhood as ‘bohemian’, this family-owned business had the foresight to purchase the freehold.  It had all the makings of a good little business; so much so that it was eventually handed down to the next generation.

In fact, for some years now the founder would simply wave from the back of the shop and leave his son to it. But just around Christmas, Faisal, the son and man-in-charge, surprised me with, “Max, we can do this for you, but you’ll have to pick it up by Saturday. And I mean you HAVE to.”

I figured the family was going back to India for a long holiday, so I said, “Lucky you; this is the time of year when I’d kill to go back to California for a few weeks. I could do with a bit of sun myself.

But the family weren’t off for a sunny holiday:  “No, we’re shutting shop – you see… there’s a recession coming this year. And it’s not going to be fun. But my father says all the signs are there, and it’s time to call it a day.”

Faisal’s dad walked with great effort toward the counter to soften the blow. “It’s like this… The customers who get their business suits dry-cleaned twice a week are letting it slide a bit.  And instead of seeing the same faces week on week, it might be once a fortnight – or worse.”

Faisal lowered his voice to elaborate:  “By then, let me tell you, some of what these guys bring in is RIPE; it stinks. It’s the classic ‘nobody-will-notice-if-I-wear-it-again-if-it’s-navy’ business suit the City types think they can get away with… and that’s why we KNOW rough times are heading our way.”

Well, nearly six months down the line, it turns out this family’s rather unscientific methods might be as good a barometer as any.  One of my most reliable barometers is this:  “When America sneezes, Britain catches a cold.”

So what does a recession look like to the ordinary businessman?  Well, the last time I saw it get REALLY ugly was in the late 80’s.  And it went something like this:

The housing market stopped delivering the previously spectacular returns on investment… Seeing this happen, many people lost their nerve in terms of carrying massive overdrafts, loans and credit card balances… Anybody who wanted to sell their house saw the price of their asset fall, and so a lot of people decided to stay put…

Everybody started to batten down the hatches and put off big-ticket purchases of all descriptions… Retailers began to feel the pinch, and then their suppliers felt the pinch on the back of everybody’s retrenchment…

Businesses that might have been full of beans a few months before started to shelve plans, freeze jobs, and even say goodbye to staff because there wasn’t as much to do in the office… Banks lost confidence and became rather choosy about the money they lent – to families, other banks, and businesspeople… And then the circle closed, with further stalls in the housing market for some years. 

If, like me, you’re middle-aged or thereabouts, there’s more than a faint whiff of déjà vu in the air, isn’t there? 

But what exactly IS a recession?  Is there actually much to be afraid of?  The canny entrepreneur would consider it to be the backdrop to an amazing set of opportunities, and you should too. It’s a chance to roll up the shirtsleeves and really go to work. After all, what business would not benefit from efforts to manage costs, get a handle on wastage, and review internal practices?  In the good times, most of us just trundle along.  Now there’s a valid reason to take action.

You don’t need a recession-ometer to start taking action.  In these times, the canny entrepreneur pulls over, has a look under the hood, fiddles with the machinery, and adjusts a few things before hitting the road again. Recession or not, there’s no time like the present.

—

Max Eames works with entrepreneurs who are committed to ‘firing on all cylinders’ through strengthening company performance as well as increasing cash flow.  A psychotherapist and coach, he is author and creator of the WEALTH MECHANIC programme.

Click here: http://www.wealthmechanic.com/ to get a copy of Max’s breakthrough new book Wealth Mechanic on 107 days risk-free trial!

By Richard H. Lomax

Why? Because even at the level of being really good, there is still too much competition.

However, once you decide to operate on a much higher plane than your competitors, suddenly you’ll find yourself with virtually zero competition - and you’ll be rewarded with business growth and success that seems like it’s from another world. Here’s what I mean…

When was the last time you encountered or enjoyed truly jaw-dropping levels of service, or a result beyond your wildest dreams and expectations, or value from a supplier or provider that was so extraordinary you thought they must have got the price wrong?

If you’re like 98% of the population, you’ll probably be hard pressed to come up with any recent examples at all. And if you are lucky enough to have had such an experience, how many people do you think you have told since the event? Quite a few I’m sure.

Conversely, have you recently experienced a service or value or result that was, at best, only average, and could have been significantly better?

Let me ask you, if you’re brutally honest with yourself, do you and your business offer fantastic service levels with amazing results and outcomes for your customers which deliver truly outstanding value for money?

Or are you simply giving it your best effort, but really only when someone is watching?

Can you see what a fundamentally weak position most companies are operating from? And what a fantastic opportunity this presents for anyone who is prepared to step out of the shadows and dare to be extraordinary?

If you are you just another “good tryer” in your market-place, I’m afraid this doesn’t cut it. You’re destined to continue struggling to make any real headway in your business growth, and if an extraordinary company comes along - another Richard Branson, or a Richard Reed (Innocent Smoothies), or a Michael Dell - then you had better watch out!

If you really want to make waves in your market, then you have to recognise the highest purpose for your business… and it’s NOT about making maximum profits.

The highest purpose for your business should be to provide nothing less than:

1.                Fanatical, doting levels of customer service and support

2.                Value for money so good that customers instantly rush to tell their friends, neighbours and colleagues, and

3.                Results so compelling and enjoyable that clients cling to you like a lost limpet.

OK let’s look at exactly where in your businesses you can implement changes to take you from only “good” to providing the HIGHEST degree of service, value and result.

I’m sure you may be thinking “How can we do this for our customers without putting our costs up?” Am I right?

Break Down the Customer Experience

Consider breaking down the experience your prospect lives through from their very first contact with you, right through until they become a customer, and then on until after you have delivered your product and service to them, and they are able to reflect on the choices they have made.

Step 1: How do you talk to them in your marketing and in person?

Could you offer more impartial advice?

Could you take more time or space to explain the benefits (and shortfalls) of your service?

Do you offer rock-solid guarantees – or any guarantees at all?

Consider the guarantee of mail order and online retailer LANDS’ END:

“The world is full of guarantees, no two alike. As a rule, the more words they contain, the more their protection is limited. The Lands’ End guarantee has always been an unconditional one. It reads: "If you are not completely satisfied with any item you buy from us, at any time during your use of it, return it and we will refund your full purchase price." We mean every word of it. Whatever. Whenever. Always. To make sure this is perfectly clear, we simplified it further to:
GUARANTEED. PERIOD.®”

(Lands’ End: Over 10 million customers, with a database of 29 million customer and prospect names; mailing 260 million catalogues per year; achieving sales of $2.3 billion! Now that’s success in anyone’s book!)

Step 2: When prospects make an enquiry, how do you respond?

Do you ask really intelligent, detailed questions to truly understand their needs before deciding if your service or product is right for them?

Or do you assume that you are the ideal solution to their needs, and try and move them to a sale ASAP?

Do you show them the kind of results and user experience they can expect to enjoy?

Ask yourself how you would introduce this strategy into your business. Why not take five minutes now to write down two or three examples of how you can demonstrate more clearly the results you deliver?

Step 3: When someone places an order, what happens next?

Do they hear from you again before you deliver the product?

Do you nurture and educate them about ways they can get maximum benefit from your forthcoming interaction or meeting?

Do you pre-empt any post-purchase doubts or worries they might have?

How would you feel as a customer if you heard from your provider or supplier with helpful information or advice before they have even delivered their product or service?

Step 4: During the delivery of your product or service, how do you check that they are happy with how things are progressing?

Do you provide any extras and pleasant surprises they were not expecting?

Do you make 100% certain that the customer knows how to make the best use of their purchase?

Can you come up with two ways you can check they are delighted with your performance, in a systematic way that automatically happens - without you having to remember?

Step 5: After the product or service delivery, how do you follow-up to make 100% certain that you have delivered the very best and highest levels of service, value and results you possibly could have done?

Do you ask for feedback and quantification of their level of satisfaction?

Do you offer new bonuses or services that will deliver additional benefits for them?

How do you show your appreciation of their patronage?

N.B. Make sure that you spend the time training and re-training your staff so that they understand and can deliver this critical focus for your business.

The ONLY characteristic of your business that will draw customers to you is the degree of VALUE and TANGIBLE RESULTS that you deliver to EVERYONE that comes into contact with your business.

This includes your suppliers and staff. So think about going through the 5-step process and modifying it to make sure you are also delivering the best VALUE and RESULT to these vital players in your business.

The Payback You Can Expect

When you are absolutely certain that you have modified your daily business practices in the ways we have discussed, and you are confident that you are offering service, value and results that are in a different league from your competition, then you had better STAND BACK!

Because you will be about to experience the fastest and most dramatic growth your business has ever seen; far more so than you have ever believed is possible.

Why is this?

Imagine you are the VERY BEST provider of whatever it is you sell. This means that automatically the vast majority of your customers will start talking about you, and the amazing care and attention you went to in making sure you were the best option for them.

They’ll rave over the way you followed them up, and showed a genuine concern for their total satisfaction and delight at their purchase. And they won’t just tell one or two people. They will continue to tell dozens of people over the coming months and even years.

Some of these people will tell their friends and colleagues – and they won’t even have used your services yet!

Now a fair proportion of these people will become your customers – some in the near future, and some a bit later. But when these too experience the astonishing value and results you deliver, the snowball of word of mouth recommendation and referrals continues to grow.

Exponential growth will drive a mountain of sales and profits into your bank account, and sustain your business well beyond the years of your involvement with it.

Write down and print out the definition of your primary business purpose and put it on your desk and the walls of your staff’s offices for all to see:

 “The Primary Purpose of our business is to consistently deliver jaw-dropping levels of  service, results beyond our customer’s wildest dreams and expectations, and value that is so extraordinary people rave about us for years to come.”

When you live, eat and breathe this cornerstone principle of business excellence, you’ll find it has a dramatic influence on every activity of your company – from the way you talk to your customers, to the way you write your sales letters and emails, and the way you deal with staff and suppliers as well.

At the most fundamental level, when you treat other people as you would love to be treated yourself, you will find that the world has a wonderful way of rewarding you more handsomely (both financially and fulfilment-wise) than you can ever imagine.

This extract is from Richard Lomax’s excellent new book The 7 Secrets Of Highly Effective Marketing. Get a copy here

PART 1 of 2

Segment from the 8 CD program How To Out-Sell, Out-Market, Out-Promote, Out-Advertise Everyone Else You Compete Against… Before They Even Wake Up To What Happened by Paul Gorman. Get a special low LTITD.com priced copy with free bonuses here

What can you do if your business or practice is slow? If it isn’t generating the volume of sales you want—and need—to grow, prosper, and become competitively formidable?

First, know that you can turn your business around rapidly—within a matter of weeks. Second, analyze how you are currently approaching your market:

* What are you doing to seduce your customers or clients to buy?
* How pro-active are you in attracting new customers?
* How innovative are your sales offers?
* How customer-oriented is your marketing approach?
* Are you applying direct-response strategies to every approach you make? Or are you frittering cash resources on ineffectual institutional marketing?

Compel Customers To Buy From You Now!

The secret of attracting virtually as many customers or clients as you can handle is to develop relationships with them. Does that ring a bell? It should by now!

Developing relationships with your customers or clients means communicating compellingly and regularly with them, making every transaction an enjoyable and memorable experience, offering interesting, beneficial, and preferential buying opportunities, offering informative and innovative choices to help people make wise buying decisions, thanking customers for their purchase.

Look at how most businesses you buy from treat customers. You can relatively easily surpass their service, can’t you? When you do, you become a champion in the eyes of your customers. As soon as you develop consistent, meaningful, value-based buyer-seller relationships with people your business will change forever—and success will follow.  

Think about most businesses lack of relationship building. When was the last time you received a personalized letter from your local clothes shop telling you about the new range of casual suits they’ve just taken delivery of and how much they would like you to come along in the next 14 days for a private fitting?

When did you last receive a personal invitation to spend a romantic weekend at the elegant hotel you and your partner stayed at a few months ago? Or an invitation to celebrate your wedding anniversary at your favourite Italian restaurant? When have you walked out of a shop, or car dealership, or restaurant, or supermarket, or bank and thought, “That was an enjoyable and memorable experience?”

How often have you received a letter or card in the post thanking you for your purchase from a store, hairdresser, solicitor, accountant, bank, dentist? In fact, have you ever received a “thank you” note from any company or practice you bought from—even those you spent many thousands of pounds with, like estate agents, car dealers, travel agents, building firms, computer dealers? If you have, you’re lucky. Not one in twenty businesses realise the rapid-growth significance of these simple but powerful relationship-building methods.                  

Communicate Regularly By Mail And Bring Riches To Your Business 

The most sales-effective method of consistently communicating with your customers is to do so by mail. As you systematically attract and acquire new customers and regularly mail new, interesting, beneficial buying opportunities to them, your sales—and profits—will increase rapidly. Some business owners say to me “It is not worth making the effort to mail regular offers because only 3, or 5, or 10 percent of  customers respond.”

Realize that “only” 3, 5, or 10 percent response is where your fortune lies. That ‘small’ percentage response is worth thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands in additional profits to you as you keep mailing new buying opportunities.

My publisher, Big Sur, recently mailed a subscription offer to my monthly newsletter—Business Success Newsletter—to their customer list. The mailing resulted in a 15.9 percent response and generated a large income within days of the letter being posted. You can create similar results in your business! But that’s just the start. Let’s look deeper.

 A Simple Marketing Lesson That Can Generate Mountains Of Money

 Because a customer doesn’t respond to one offer you make available doesn’t mean he or she will not respond to another. Non-responders simply present a new selling opportunity. By not responding, your customer is simply saying, “This particular offer doesn’t fit my current needs or desires,” or “I am not able to take advantage of it this time,” or “I can’t afford it at the moment.” Very rarely does a customer think, “Oh no, not another darn mailing from ABC company!”

As long as you communicate with a sincere, interesting, benefit-oriented, non-pushy approach, your customers or clients enjoy receiving buying opportunities from you. Have you ever bought a book or CD from a mail order club? Do you look forward to receiving the monthly selection? Of course! Because you enjoy reading and listening to music. As long as the club sends intelligent offers based on your buying history you will count the days until their next selection arrives. Will you buy every time? Probably not.  But that doesn’t mean you want the club to stop sending offers. You will buy periodically—and keep adding to the club’s profits.

Have a look at Amazon.co.uk. Get on-line and buy a book or CD from Amazon and witness how smart they are. Their site demonstrates a marketing lesson that will make you rich when you apply it to your business. When you make a book or CD selection from Amazon three or four or five other books or CD’s in your category of interest are automatically listed. I recently bought The Mirror Makers by Stephen Fox (the best history of advertising and its creators I’ve read). As soon as I selected the title a headline appeared on screen announcing—“Customers who bought this book also bought:” Four related titles were listed, plus a ‘link’ to even more suggestions if I wanted to view them. Are these suggestions helpful? Certainly. Most customers find them interesting because they are targeted to their category of interest. Are they profitable for Amazon? You bet! On average, up to 30 percent of customers decide to buy a second or third title simply because targeted suggestions were made. (I bought a second title I never would have if it hadn’t been suggested.)

Keep in mind, if a customer does not buy it is usually for one of only four reasons:

1. They don’t want or have no need for that particular offer.
2. It is not a suitable time for them to respond—for any personal, family, or business reason.
3. They feel your offer will not sufficiently solve their problem or provide the promised result.
4. They cannot afford the price.

Almost every customer you acquire wants to buy from you again—and repeatedly—when what you offer meets with their current desires or needs. Different offers suit different people at different times. When you understand that you keep communicating different and targeted buying opportunities to all your customers all the time to provide each person with the widest and wisest buying opportunities.

When 3-15 percent of your customers respond to a particular offer—and 85-97 percent don’t—that’s great! You make money on the 3-15 percent—often a large amount of money. The remaining eighty-five to ninety-seven percent are saying, figuratively, “Not this time, thank you, but please continue informing me of new, interesting buying opportunities!” When you then develop, improve, modify, expand, add-onto, or package your products or services and continually introduce them to your customers, your sales and profits will skyrocket.

 Aim To Repeatedly Sell To 100% Of Your Customers!

 My customer philosophy is different from most. I take the attitude that my client never wants me to stop sending opportunities to improve their results or fill their desires or needs with products or services I provide—unless they ask me to stop. Your customers haven’t inquired or bought from you without reason. People respond to an offer because they appreciate the particular benefit or value you provide. In other words, they are highly receptive to the type of product, service, or treatment you sell or administer.

If a customer does not respond to a particular offer you extend it does not mean their interest has lapsed. It simply means that that particular offer isn’t suitable for them—for one of the four reasons I explained. But a different offer could be. So by continually making new, different, thoughtful, targeted offers to your list, you gradually sell more and more to more and more customers. Or gradually convert more and more inquirers to buyers.

Another point: You—or I—cannot predetermine what will most benefit your customers. You must ask them. How do you ask? You extend a targeted buying opportunity. You then track and analyze the response. If response is “high” your customers are telling you, “This offer is valuable to me, it is a suitable time for me, and the price is right for me. Thank you—I’ll buy!” If response is “low” your customers are telling you, “This offer is not right for me, or it’s not a suitable time, or the price is out of reach. But please continue informing me of other offers.”

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