151 quick ideas to increase sales

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Chapter title here

151Quick Ideas

toIncrease Sales

By Linda Sparks

Franklin Lakes, NJ

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151 Quick Ideas to ... fill in blank

Copyright © 2006 by Linda Sparks

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International CopyrightConventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, inany form or by any means electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrievalsystem now known or hereafter invented, without written permissionfrom the publisher, The Career Press.

151 Quick Ideas to Increase SalesEDITED BY JODI BRANDON

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sparks, Linda, 1958-151 quick ideas to increase sales / by Linda Sparks.

p. cm.Includes index.ISBN-13: 978-1-56414-915-2ISBN-10: 1-56414-915-31. Selling. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred fifty-one quick ideas

to increase sales. III. Title: One hundred and fifty-one quick ideasto increase sales.

HF5438.25.S675 2006658.85—dc22 2006022404

www.careerpress.com

How to Use This Book 9Introduction: Putting Sales Into Perspective 11

1. Business Development Is the Bottom Line 132. Marketing 101: Lots of Ways to Influence Sales 143. The Three-Phase Business Development Process 154. Trust- and Rapport-Building—It’s Still Sales 165. The Formal Sales Cycle: Parts Are Parts 186. They May Be Clients Already—But It’s Still Sales 197. Clarify What You’re Really Selling 208. Understand the Lifetime Value of Your Customers 219. Understand the Impact Business Goals

Have on Prospecting 2210. Understand How YOU Add Value 2311. Inventory Your Business Development Assets 2412. Round Up Collateral Materials 2613. Get More Customers—the Good Kind 2714. Uncover Your Path to Sales 2815. Dump the Dead Weight 2916. Do You Have Brand? 3017. Share Your Bounty With the Community 3118. All Roads Lead to Sales 3219. Advertising Has a Place 3320. Public Relations Are Rich in Paybacks 3421. They Call It Earned Media for a Reason 3522. Publicize Your Publicity 3623. The Media Is Your Friend—Not Your Mother 37

Contents

24. The Community Wants to Know and Love You 3825. Websites Are More Than 24/7 Brochures 3926. Pricing Strategies Are Way More

Than a Discount Program 4027. Cross-Promotions Can Help You

Make New Friends 4128. Let Trade Shows Show You the Way 4229. Direct Sales Aren’t Always Direct 4330. Cold Calls Can Warm Things Up—or,

“The Cracker Jack Moment” 4431. A Territory Management Approach

Lends Perspective 4532. Direct Mail Still Delivers 4633. Publishing Your Ideas Increases Exposure 4734. Cause Marketing Takes It to Heart 4835. Speak and Grow Rich…in Prospects and Sales 5036. Customer Referrals Are Rare Birds 5137. Event Marketing Is a Hot Property 5238. Find the Synergy Inherent in Your Own Programs 5339. Develop Sales Objectives for

Improved Performance 5540. Identify the Most Efficient Strategic

Approach Ideas 5641. Selling More to Existing Clients 5742. Going Beyond the Transaction 5943. Quicker Closes Equal More Time for More Sales 6044. Organize a Collaborative Workplace 6145. Innovation Gets Attention 6246. Time Organize Your Business 6347. Momentum Markers 6448. Sales: It’s Not About You 65

49. Create an Opportunity-Focused StrategicAccount Profile 67

50. Go Wide and Deep With Key Contacts 6851. Mission Possible—Mission Profitable 6952. Market Position Matters 7053. Be a Budget Bandit 7154. Are You Speaking Their Language? 7255. Customer Satisfaction Connects Us All 7356. Knowledge of the Competition

Inspires Confidence 7457. Industry Insights Shine a Bright Light 7558. When Opportunity Knocks, Who Will

Get the Door? 7659. Income and Expense Streams Mean Business 7860. Staffing Gaps Cut a Wide Path 7961. Interesting Fellows 8062. Short-Term Goals Are Golden 8163. Big Red Truck 8264. Tap Into the Momentum Present in the Universe 8365. Referrals Come Easier With Celebration 8466. Regulate This! 8567. Patriotism Serves Up American Consumers 8768. It’s Fair to Say 8869. Partnering With Worthy Causes Helps

You Make New Friends 8970. A Mother’s Day Makeover 9071. Information Overload Meets

Relevant Intelligence 9272. Be Bold: Stand for Something 9373. Be Real: Share Yourself and Your Stories 9474. Be Kind: Show Genuine Interest and Concern 95

75. Talk Easily About Money: Pricing 9676. Talk Easily About Money: Add-On Projects 9777. Talk Easily About Money: Invoicing 9878. Understand the Value of a No-Sale 10079. Retail Stores Put Up a Good Front 10180. The Principle of the Loss Leader 10281. Convenience Stores Give You Gas 10382. Popular Brands Use Celebrities to

Strengthen Credibility 10483. So Many Choices, So Little Time 10584. Inventors Use Infomercials to Tell

a Complex Story 10685. Big Tickets Get Big Thanks 10786. A Chocolate on Your Pillow 10887. Independent Consultants Go One-on-One 10988. Consultants Live Their Work 11089. Home Builders Do the Work 11190. Big Business Inspires Big Ideas 11391. Marketing Is a Hard Number 11492. Coffee Shops Invite Us to Hang Out 11593. Free Cell Phones Aren’t Free 11694. A Web-Based Business Thrives on Visitors 11795. Converting From Free to Fee 11996. Affiliate Programs Multiply Your Efforts 12097. Events Accomplish Success With

Grassroots Efforts 12198. Events Rally Corporate Support 12299. Not-for-Profits Get People to Help Them Sell 123

100. Galleries and Museums Host Special Showings 124101. Do You Want BBQ With That Windshield? 125102. Bloggers Stir the Water 126103. The Bookstore Bonanza 127104. Scrip Bank Multiplies the Love 129

105. Media Outlets Take Their Own Medicine 130106. Retirement Communities Give Away Vacations 131107. Harley Davidson Builds Community 132108. You Can Do It, We Can Help! 134109. Organizations Have Long Memory 135110. Real Estate Agents Do Open Houses 136111. Buffet Style Feeds the Masses 137112. Assisted Living Assists Future Prospects 138113. More People Selling Is Better 139114. Make Sure Everyone Knows What You Sell 140115. Keep Employees Engaged 141116. Develop Your Corporate Information Bite 143117. Suppliers Can Help You Sell 144118. Customers Can Help You Sell 145119. The Community Can Help You Sell 146120. 100 Percent Participation

in Intelligence-Gathering 147121. An Attitude for Business Development 148122. Skills for Business Development 149123. Everyday Things That Impact Sales 150124. How to Lose a Customer 151125. Product Category Makeover 153126. Microwave Customers 154127. Target Market Overview 155128. Plan Ahead to Keep Them Talking 156129. 5 Levels of Deep 158130. Study Solutions to Your Customer’s Problems 159131. Build Memorable Sales Presentations 160132. Daily Nourishment Essentials 161133. Stay in Front of Your Clients Every Week 163134. Invest in Yourself 164135. Become an Expert (It’s Easier Than You Think) 165136. Keep Your Promises 166

137. Use the Buddy System 167138. Go on Retreat 168139. When You Feel the Pull 169140. Changing Places 170141. Reality Check 101: Income 172142. Reality Check 102: Target Market 173143. Reality Check 103: Approach 174144. We Manage What We Measure 175145. Leading and Lagging Indicators 176146. Measure What Matters to Customers 178147. Measure What Matters in Your Business 179148. Say Thank You—Often 180149. Live Thankfully 181150. A View of Abundance 182151. Celebrate and Reward Success 183Appendix 185Index 187About the Author 191

How to Use This Book

Every quick idea in this book has been selected to directlyor indirectly help you gain and retain customers, create rela-tionships, and build a successful business.

Don’t try to implement all 151 ideas at once, because somewon’t be a good fit right now. Read through all 151 quick ideasand select only those that can really make a difference at themoment. Don’t worry, you’ll go back and review the othersperiodically.

Label your ideas…Implement now.Review again in 30 days.Pass the idea along to _________.

Involve your staff in selecting and implementing these ideas,and don’t forget to give credit for their success! Invest in addi-tional copies of this book and distribute them among your staff.Get everyone involved in selecting and recommending variousquick ideas.

Revisit this book every 90 days. As your business changes,you will find new quick ideas that might suit you better nowthat competition is heating up.

Remember, all the ideas in this book have been proven inbusinesses across the United States and around the world. Theyhave worked for others and will work for you!

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Because you are reading this book, it is clear that you arelooking for new ways to improve your sales. Let’s begin ourwork together with something that will change the way yousee the role of the salesperson and the ways in which thesales team interacts with the rest of your organization. Toincrease your sales you need to gain a broader perspective ofyour organization that will allow you to increase the resourcesyou can bring to bear on the sales function.

At its lowest common denominator, sales is an individualtransaction performed between the salesperson and acustomer—essentially, a single action of selling. What you needto keep in mind is that each individual sales transaction is thecombined effort of many people—every employee in yourorganization; inputs received from your suppliers; the feedbackand support from customers and prospects; and the veryessence of the communities in which you produce and sellyour solutions. Add to this the particular place your product/service holds in the range of possible solutions available toyour customers and you are beginning to see how truly richyour new perspective should be.

If all of these assets are to be understood and brought tobear in your sales efforts, then you will need to operationalizethis new perspective. You will want to:

Clarify the roles that non-sales employees play inthe business development process.

Introduction:Putting Sales Into Perspective

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151 Quick Ideas to Increase Sales

Review the entire marketing mix in your organiza-tion for new and creative ways to connect withcustomers and prospects to make more sales.Make sure everyone in your organization isknowledgeable about and friendly toward the salesprocess.Recognize that the sales function is a businessdevelopment continuum that ranges from indirectpromotions to people you don’t even know yet, toproactive customer and account management.

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1Business Development

Is the Bottom Line

If a sale is an individual transaction, then the organiza-tion’s overall sales function should embody a broader perspectivethat can be referred to as business development. It’s all aboutdeveloping new business for your organization. Business de-velopment principles should be known and carried out in everynook and cranny of the organization, and by just about every-one in the organization.

It all works in a cycle. When your organization developsnew products or services, the goal is attracting and retainingspecific customers. Servicing customer accounts with hon-esty, accuracy, and integrity closes the loop on this cycle ofbusiness development by making sure that customers haveno reason to leaveyou and every reasonto stick around andprovide very valuablereferrals. And finally,every strategic planhas, at its core, goalsto acquire and retaincustomers. Almosteverything done inyour organization hasa clear and practicaltie to good businessdevelopment.

AssignmentDevelop a transaction map

that tracks your products/servic-es. I challenge you to find anelement that cannot be tied tobusiness development. Separate-ly, create a process list that detailsthe steps that make up your for-mal sales activities. Make this funby picking up a new box of cray-ons and invite everyone in theorganization to come by and addtheir own contributions.

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2Marketing 101:

Lots of Ways to Influence Sales

Documenting a complete business development continuumfor your organization will help everyone recognize their exist-ing inter-dependence.

In order to make more sales, it’s a good idea to look at thewide range of methods you have available to influence cus-tomers and prospects. Often we lose sight of the fact that directsales activities represent only one of many essential elem-ents of an overall market-ing mix—one tool in thebusiness developmenttoolbox. For some theterm sales has becomepassé, even unseemly.The term marketing hasbeen substituted in politeconversation in order toprotect sensitivities. Butjust substituting the wordmarketing in place ofsales has not changed thereality of the situation.

EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

The whole is worth far more than the sum of its parts.

AssignmentMake a list of the ele-

ments you know of from yourmarketing mix that impactyour business developmentsuccess. Rank them in orderof importance and add cate-gories you don’t think arecovered here. Keep the list;by the time you finish thisbook you’ll be adding more!

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Quick Ideas 2 to 3

Sales must be made if your organization is going to continue tostay in business.

Many things influence the prospect along the business de-velopment continuum, so it pays to understand the other elementsin the marketing mix and how they might help you to make asale.

Some of the elements that make up a typical marketingmix are advertising, public relations, Websites, pricing strate-gies, cross promotions, trade shows, special events, direct sales,and publishing and speaking.

3The Three-Phase Business

Development ProcessIn the grand scheme of things—business development

things, that is—there exists a basic, three-phase process:u Phase One: Getting to Know Youu Phase Two: Formal Salesu Phase Three: Customer and Account ManagementAlthough it is easiest to describe this as a linear process, as

if the prospect/customer moves along a flat continuum from

There are 64 colors in the crayon box, and all of thecolors can help you make a nice picture. There are moreelements than you think.


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4Trust- and Rapport-Building—

It’s Still Sales

Good things tend to come in threes.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

The first phase in business development begins with let-ting people get to know you. A great deal of the groundwork

one phase to the next, the fact is that all three phases representa dynamic series of transitions and feedback. Phase One startswith the organization floating its image and message in the pros-pect/customer pool. When the potential prospect recognizesthat your firm is one of its options for a solution to a problem,then we transition to Phase Two and Formal Sales. Once thesale is made we make the formal transition to Phase Three:Customer and Account Management.

Because most organizations tend to be stronger in one phaseof the business development process than they are in the other

two, the sales effort cansometimes lose momen-tum. It is important thateveryone in the organiza-tion understands how eachof these phases plays outand the impact they eachhave on business develop-ment success.

AssignmentMake a list of the

strengths and weaknessesyou feel your organizationhas in each of these phases.

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Quick Ideas 3 to 4

with prospects is laid out before you even get to meet them.They will make judgments about you based on your “brand.”Your brand is who and whatyou are in the eyes of others.How, when, and what pros-pects learn about you, yourorganization, and your solu-tions in this early stage canhave a dramatic impact onyour success at moving themto sales.

For example, in a profes-sional services environment,being known as a forward-thinking, approachable professional who participates openlyin a local business association may be the perfect ground-work for this phase. You and the future prospect may noteven know each other yet, but you have begun a path of trustby sharing a common interest and “bumping into each other”professionally.

Most small businesses don’t have unlimited funds to per-form expensive marketing activities. Choosing how youpromote your organization in this phase will say a lot to po-tential prospects. Do you value similar things? Do you speaktheir language? The goal is to be well known to them by thetime they need your particular product or service.

Time is money. Be truly present in the community youwish to serve.


AssignmentBecome active in a

professional, business,or community groupthat will put you in prox-imity of your futureprospects, and let themget to know you.

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The Formal Sales Cycle:Parts Are Parts

5The formal sales phase of the business development con-

tinuum is triggered when the prospect admits a specific needand recognizes your firm as a potential supplier of the solution.This is the point when a lead turns into a prospect. You willclose more sales if you recognize the distinct components ofthis phase and keep your actions on track.

Discovery: Develop a systematic approach to gatheringthe customer information you need to develop a solution.

Proposal: The proposal represents your offer of servicesor products in response to the prospect’s request for assis-tance. If you have performed a discovery process, you will beable to speak to the situation much more completely than yourcompetition. The proposal represents the technical aspects ofthe solution you propose.

Presentation: The pre-sentation of the proposaldocument (or your product)is your opportunity to con-vince the prospect to chooseyour solution. Treat the pre-sentation as an importantappointment with your pros-pect regardless of whether itwas pre-scheduled or not.Build a case for your solu-tion by demonstrating that

AssignmentThink about creative

ways to present your so-lutions to prospects. Thinkas a stage manager, an or-chestra conductor, or evena high school teacher pre-paring an important lessonfor a group of preoccupiedteenagers.

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Quick Ideas 5 to 6

you understand the prospect’s situation, the desire for thistype of product or service, and why your particular offer isthe one that offers maximum satisfaction.

What you have to offer is not nearly as important as whatyour prospect thinks of it.


6They May Be Clients Already—

But It’s Still Sales

Once a sale has been made with a new customer you havetriggered the third phase of the business development continu-um: the customer/account management phase. It is importantto note that this is not the end of the continuum. Customersrepresent the best source of add-on sales and qualified refer-rals, and the level of operational feedback that drives innovationand fuels public relations efforts. They may be customers, butsome of your most productive sales activities will occur in andaround these accounts.

Contracting: The prospect becomes a customer at themoment of agreement. Whether you have a retail transactionor a written agreement, or simply do business with a hand-shake, this represents an important transition in the relationship.The prospect has chosen you and can reinforce his or her owndecision by inviting others to choose you as well.

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7Clarify What You’re Really Selling

Treat customers as if they are your best prospects—because they are!


A pile of rocks is just a pile of rocks, right? Why should weget all sentimental about a pile of rocks? What if this particularpile of rocks was going to become a stone path in the Johnsons’

Add-On Sales: Ifyou effectively engageyour customer and doyour job well, there willoften be new opportuni-ties to serve. This is abeautiful thing, but youneed to be prepared tohandle it. Plan ahead forthe potential needs of your customers and develop a proactiveapproach to recognize, quote, and close add-on business. Ifneeds fall outside your offerings, be prepared with a thoughtfulreferral.

Customers as Champions: Nothing can help your salesmore than customers singing your praises, providing you withqualified referrals, and simply being a good partner. This finalelement in the business development continuum brings you fullcircle and places new leads directly into the trust and rapportphase of your program.

AssignmentAnalyze your customer

base and determine what per-centage of your sales comesfrom repeat customers or re-ferrals from those customers.

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Quick Ideas 6 to 8


Silence is not golden when it comes to your customers.

backyard? What if the purpose of the path was for Mrs. Johnsonwhile she carried her infant son?

The Johnsons needhelp choosing a product thatwill be appropriate for thispath. They may need in-stallation tips to make surethey get the best possibleresults. Many retailerswould simply load the prod-uct with no concern forhelping the customer makethe best choice.

Customers rarely needthe products or services you sell. What they are really lookingfor are solutions to problems and new opportunities. Under-stand this simple truth and you will increase your sales.

8Understand the Lifetime Value

of Your CustomersIn order to make the sales you desire, be prepared to

make the necessary investment. If there were a store thatsold customers—good customers—how much would you bewilling to spend? Consider this example.

AssignmentDevelop simple ques-

tions that you can use withqualified prospects to estab-lish a productive dialogue.Your goal should always beto learn enough about theirsituation to help deliver thebest possible solution.

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9Understand the Impact Business Goals

Have on Prospecting

There was a marketing team for a statewide professionalassociation that was suffering from a constant barrage of newideas and demands from their president. As a thought leader inthe industry, he was constantly asking the marketing staff towork on new projects. This might have been fun and exciting if

Make new friends, but keep the old—they are gold.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

A local ladies’ department store wants to attract more pro-fessional women. These women spend an average of $150 oneach visit to the store. The store’s cost of goods sold is about50 percent, so its gross profit is $75 on each sale. On average,these women visit the store four times per year, so these par-ticular shoppers are each worth $300 in gross profits per year.

If a client remains a regularfor three years, she has a life-time value of $900.

How much can the de-partment store afford to spendto acquire one of these highlydesirable regular customers?How much advertising, directmail, or sales perks should itinvest?

AssignmentPerform the kind of

analysis discussed hereon a low, medium, andhigh value account fromyour list of customers.See how much you canafford to spend.

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the old demands went awaywhen the new arrived—butthey didn’t.

The boss was unwillingto set clear business goals,but the marketing team hadto make a few assumptionsto maintain their sanity.They needed to set base-line goals for each of theorganization’s key incomestreams in order to keep their work in perspective. The teamestablished the following baseline factors relating to sales growthto help them to determine how much time and attention neededto be invested in acquiring new customers:

u What are our primary revenue streams?u What does our account (customer) retention

look like?

There are only so many hours in the day. Use a littlecreativity to determine the activities that will give you the bestpayoff.


Every salesperson has a role in business development, andyou’ll likely make more sales when you fully understand yours.

A salesperson at a value-added reseller (such as a com-puter store) helps the customer make sense of all the options.

10Understand How YOU Add Value

Quick Ideas 8 to 10

AssignmentInstead of picking a

sales goal, try this back-wards planning approach.Look at your budget and fig-ure out how many morecustomers you will need toachieve it.

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Knowing how you make a difference for your customerswill keep you focused on important issues.


11Inventory Your Business

Development AssetsEvery organization has major assets that can be leveraged

toward developing new business. Instead of starting with the

He or she may find people willing to drive an extra distance tobuy from someone with special skills and knowledge. If youfind yourself in this type of role, keep yourself sharp and tunedinto the options, and you will retain your competitive edge.

A salesperson for acontractor may have therole of managing deadlinesrelating to a request for pro-posal and demonstrating tothe buying committee thatdoing business with his firmis the best option. It wouldbe wrong for him to get so

caught up in the technical aspects of the proposal documentthat he lost track of his primary role as the salesperson.

If you are a person who wears many hats inside the orga-nization, you will need to take special care when you shift intoyour sales role.

AssignmentTake a close look at the

business you’re in and writedown the ways you add val-ue for your customer.

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sales goals and performance shortfalls, take a look at someoften-overlooked assets and see how they can lead the way inyour sales strategy. Consider leveraging assets such as exist-ing customers, your staff and facilities, and your company’sreputation.

A marketing company that has a staff of subject-matterexperts can develop a strategic approach to share informationwith the business community and allow qualified prospects achance to sample the type of expertise they could expect fromthis organization as paid counsel. White papers, articles in thelocal business publications, and informational Websites are justthe beginning.

A hardware store with a busy street-front location and filledwith on-trend inventory can host a home-improvement programon a local radio station and let walk-in customers supply someof the program content. A celebrity shopper would add somefun.

An event with a strongcharity cause and a largespectator following can in-crease participation orattendance by developing agrassroots effort encourag-ing experienced spectatorsto attend again, invite aneighbor, and help doublethe impact on the charity.

Leading with your best shot just might help you win theround.


Quick Ideas 10 to 11

AssignmentMake a list of your or-

ganization’s greatest assets.Consider how you can bringthem to bear on the businessdevelopment goals.

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Communicating withyour key audiences will in-crease your sales. To lay thegroundwork for developinga communications strategy,start by gathering samplesof all the tools, tricks, andtales that have been used inthe past to communicate in-formation to your audience.

For example, organiza-tions that develop detailed proposals as part of their approachoften create works of art that never find their way into routinesales collaterals. Retailers tend to reminisce about that onerecord-breaking sale, but often fail to capture the principles ofthe offer, the details of the sales results, and the potential envi-ronmental factors that played a major part.

Look for: existing customers lists; profiles and buying his-tories; market potential reports; internal and externalnewsletters; mission, vision, and value statements; business andmarketing plans; PowerPoint presentations; advertising copy;competitor analysis; annual reports; employee lists; organiza-tion charts; and financial statements. Nothing compares to sittingin a planning meeting and being able to provide a voice of rea-son because you have the facts right in front of you.


There’s no place like home to find the things that mattermost and are most effective.

12Round Up Collateral Materials

AssignmentGet a three-ring binder

and a set of tabs and collectyour samples. This will be-come a reference guidewhen you sit down with oth-ers to establish a strategicapproach to increasing sales.

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As a salesperson, you make a big investment in developingnew business, so why not target more of the customers youwant?

It’s easier to acquire good customers when you know whatyou’re looking for. Retailers with point-of-sale technology andcustomer-loyalty programs lead the pack in customer intelli-

gence. Small professionalservices firms know theircustomers as well as theback of their hand.

Look for the naturalsorters in your customerprofiles and their buyingpattern. Don’t be worriedabout what you don’tknow; focus on what youdo know about your cus-tomers and highlight theelements that will help youreach out to prospectsthat mirror your favoritecustomers.

All customers are not created equal. It’s up to you to goafter the type of customers you want.


13Get More Customers—the Good Kind


AssignmentWork through your cli-

ent list and make notes in twocolumns. List what you likeabout them in column oneand what you don’t in col-umn two. When you arefinished, highlight the ac-counts that you’d like toreplicate. Complete the as-signment in Idea 14 to helptarget more of the custom-ers you desire.

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14Uncover Your Path to Sales

Would you like to put yourself on a better path to sales?An industrial builder reviewed all their new customers for thepast two years. These prospects learned that a high percent-age of their business was related to local business ownerslooking for a new building site. They would drive into smallindustrial parks near their present site and see one of the build-er’s small construction signs at a work site. These signs arepractically free and single-handedly represent the company’sbest element in the pathto more sales. They hadno idea! Needless tosay, they now put themeverywhere possible—getting them up earlyand leaving them as longas possible. They alsoenhanced signage on allthe firm’s trucks andtrailers. The result wasincreased sales!

Knowledge of the past can greatly enhance the future.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

AssignmentExamine your customer

list and trace the path back-wards. You’re trying touncover the elements that in-fluenced them along the way.If they came from a custom-er referral—consider how thereferring partner came intothe fold before them.

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Here’s the harsh reality: A customer pays you for yourproducts and services or you pay them for the privilege of servingthem. You decide.

A restaurant that has been overusing coupons to increasetraffic may find that it has attracted the wrong type of custom-ers: customers who won’t visit without combining coupons andlow-cost menu items (to the point of eliminating profitabilityfrom the transactions) are not helping the business.

Promotional strategies, such as the one in this example,can be a legitimate element in the marketing mix, if the promo-

tion helps you to attractprofitable customers. Be-cause the coupons wereconceived as important tobusiness development, therestaurant needs to consid-er every dollar it is notcharging these customersagainst its marketing bud-get. This has not been agood investment of its mar-keting dollars, and therestaurant needs to make achange.

15Dump the Dead Weight

Don’t forget to consider the future impact of low- or no-profit accounts.



AssignmentDetermine the custom-

ers or the categories ofcustomers present in yourmix of business that are hold-ing your business back fromrespectable profitability.Now decide if you want toeliminate them or dilute theirinfluence by strategicallybalancing your mix.

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If it walks like a dog, smells like a dog, and barks like adog, people will likely assume it’s a dog.


16Do You Have Brand?

Branding 101 tells us to brand through repetition, consis-tency, and fulfillment. This includes the way we perform oursales efforts. If you’ve set your sights on increasing sales, itpays to take a look at your brand to ensure it represents whoand what you truly are in the marketplace.

There are many orga-nizations that presentthemselves one way in theircorporate marketing pro-grams and then establish acompletely different per-spective in their salesactivities. Make sure youand the company salesstrategies are in alignmentwith the brand strategy.

If you have a strongbrand then consider it anasset in your business de-velopment efforts and leverage the heck out of it. If you have aweak brand, work to make it stronger while hanging onto thegood parts. If you have no brand at all, you’re starting with aclean slate. Get some professional help to get started.

AssignmentDo you maintain your

branding strategy acrossyour marketing mix? Doesthe message in your cur-rent brand represent yourprimary value proposition?Does your brand messageconnect and resonate withyour audience?

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17Share Your Bounty With the Community

One of the best ways to position you and your firm in yourtarget market is to share what you can with your community.

A franchise hardware store receives a lot of market infor-mation from corporate relating to the community around itsstore. They routinely invite groups of local merchants to thestore, coordinate a sharing of market intelligence, and help todevelop promotional programs to benefit the entire group.

A training and consultingfirm has a large conferenceroom it uses for training andclient projects. The firmmakes this room available forboard and committee meet-ings after hours. They wouldbe attending the meetingsanyway, and having othercommunity-minded profes-sionals in their place is good

for business. The firm displays project profiles in the com-mon areas as a way to help guests understand the kind ofsolutions the firm provides. Many new customers have comethrough the channels these visitors represent.

Sharing is caring. Research has demonstrated that mostpeople prefer to do business with people who show they care.



AssignmentTake inventory of the

things you have that youcould share with yourcommunity—considertime, talent, treasure, andfacilities.

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Make sure you are on the road to someplace good.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

18All Roads Lead to Sales

Don’t let anyone tell you that marketing is not about sales.If you can’t draw a straight line from your organization’s mar-keting efforts to the closing of sales, then you should reconsiderthe investment you are making in marketing.

When establishing your business development programs,you should always take time to devise your own business de-velopment continuum. (You will find an example in the Appendixof this book.) Every single marketing-related strategy and tac-tic should be linkable to the moving of your prospects and/orcustomers along the Business Development Continuum. It’s asimple concept.

If you are planning to invest in advertising, take time tomake certain the advertising will lead to results. What results?It must provide leads in the community who may not know you

yet, or, move qualified pros-pects to action. And it shouldlead existing customers toprovide referrals or repeatsales. You can maximize thepotential of every marketinginvestment by consideringthe broader potential impacton sales.

AssignmentExamine a selection of

your planned or previouspromotional elements andtrace them systematicallyback to how they can or didimpact sales.

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19Advertising Has a Place

An event with broad public appeal often relies heavily onpaid TV and radio advertising to tell consumers who, what,when, where, and how much fun they will be missing if theydon’t attend. Events have the timed “call to action” that makesadvertising such a good fit. Promotional budgets for eventsoften range from 10 to 20 percent of sales.

By definition, advertising is a public announcement in printmedia, radio, TV, or Internet in order to attract or increase inter-est in a specific product or service. Advertising also has thedistinction of being one of the most expensive promotional ele-ments you can use. Therefore, it should be used only whenyou know who your prospects are, where they can be found,and what message will resonate with them.

As is the case with ev-ery element in the marketingmix, advertising works bestwhen integrated into a busi-ness development program.Knowing the lifetime valueof your customers and howmany customers you needto acquire this year will goa long way in helping youto make wise decisions.

Advertising is one of those things it’s hard to live with ordo without.



AssignmentDraft an advertising ap-

proach with no initial concernfor budgets. Focus on devel-oping a where and why—awish list of sorts. Later, thisapproach can be scaled untilyou come up with a programyou can afford.

34


Public Relations Are Rich in Paybacks

When you read a story in the newspaper about a business,you probably believe every word you read. It was written byan objective journalist, right? If you see an ad in the same news-paper, you view it as a paid commercial and probably discountthe message it contains because it is just a sales pitch. Thisreality positions public relations (PR) as an important elementin the marketing mix, because the journalist who wrote thatfirst story probably got his or her idea from some public rela-tions effort.

By definition, public re-lations is the practice ofestablishing, maintaining, andimproving a favorable rela-tionship between an institutionor person and the public.Business initiatives that con-tain material useful fordevelopment of a PR cam-paign might include:

u New products representing a new twist on a long-standing product category.

u Potential solutions to a public problem that hasbeen well discussed in the mainstream media.

u Significant anniversaries, such as 100 years serv-ing a community.

u Involvement in some worthwhile cause or event.Public relations should be an ongoing priority in your busi-

ness development program.

AssignmentMake a list of your key

publics and consider infor-mation you have access tothat they would find valu-able. Then develop anapproach to provide it.

20

35

A key element in consistent sales levels is consistentlysupporting your key publics.


21They Call It Earned Media for a Reason

When a particular company gets a lot of positive mentionsin the media it’s a sign that the organization has probably un-dertaken a focused PR campaign. This means the companyhas developed a list of informative topics that it believes thepublic will be interested in hearing.

Executing a successfulPR campaign without mak-ing a pest of yourself withthe media and the public ishard work. That is why suc-cess in this promotional areais called “earned” media.

What are you doing orlearning in the natural courseof your work that could beshared with others? Would being seen as a source of this infor-mation help you to build your business?

Instead of talking louder so people will hear you, try com-ing up with interesting things to say so people will pay attention.



AssignmentMake a list of elements

of your business that couldgenerate content to be re-packaged for distribution tothe public through a strate-gic PR campaign.

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This type of bragging is good for business and is not whatyour mother warned you about.


When you receive earned media, you should put it to workhelping you sell. Promote it with abandon by reproducing thestory and making sure that each of your key audiences gets theopportunity to read it. Here’s how:

u Get permissions to reproduce the story.u Post the mention on your Website.u Post it on the message boards at work.u Include the mention in

your newsletter.u Buy quality reprints.u Frame the stories to

hang in your offices.u Include the mention in

any of your customercommunications.

u Include the mention inmailings to suppliers.

u Highlight the story oraccomplishment inyour e-mail signatures and link back to the Web-site for complete story.

u Include a copy in employee paychecks.

Publicize Your Publicity22

AssignmentImagine that the

newspaper has justwritten a story aboutyour business. List allthe people you wishcould see it. Make surethey do.

37

The media has routine deadlines and an insatiable appetitefor information. Imagine the amount of information it takes toproduce a daily newspaper or TV newscasts; this demand forinformation creates a great opportunity for organizations with anorganized approach to public relations.

If promoting an event, you will focus on entertainment edi-tors and community calendars. If you have something relating tohealth and wellness you may focus on the journalists on the healthbeat. A retailer introducing a new product should tie the use of

the product to some signifi-cant consumer problem.

The media is not yourmother! Don’t expect themedia to care about yourneeds—and don’t confusePR with a paid advertisingprogram. Be confident andrespectful, and build rela-tionships with the media thatwill last a lifetime. The re-turn on investment will beexponential.

23The Media Is Your Friend—

Not Your Mother

An attitude of sharing versus selling will take you a longway with the media and other key audiences.



AssignmentCreate a list of media

outlets. Capture the mediarepresenting the local busi-ness community as well asindustry-specific outlets.Where do customers andprospects get their industryand community news?

38


There are a lot of people out there who have a stake inyour success—those willing to do big things to build andmaintain the thriving business community that you participatein. Make friends with them!


24The Community Wants to

Know and Love YouEvery organization is part of a larger community. If you’re

too busy trying to rack up sales to make friends in the commu-nity, you are missing an important opportunity to leveragesuccess.

Nothing comparesto community when itcomes to sharing yourchallenges, expenses,and troubles. Thinkabout how importantcommunity is whenthere is a natural disas-ter; doesn’t it alsofollow that a communi-ty can be helpful duringless-traumatic times?

Participate in community initiatives and inspire a dialoguebetween neighbors that is productive for business development.Be a community leader. It may be extra work at first, but willbecome a routine that gets results.

AssignmentDocument the various com-

munities in which your businessparticipates. Become involved inthose communities. Become aleader in them where you can.Develop name recognition foryour company.

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25Websites Are More Than

24/7 BrochuresOne way to view your Website is to think of it as a file

cabinet where you keep all of your best information. This in-formation should include details about your products andservices, background documents, and anything that helps theprospects decide to do business with your firm.

A Website can no longer be a last minute add-on in themarketing mix, and everyone in the organization should haveaccountability to keep thesite’s information contentup to date. Your Webpresence serves as theproposal for prospectswho have not made them-selves known to you yet.Does yours reflect thesame quality of productionthat an important propos-al would?

A Website can perform the same way a well-qualified salesassistant can—only better, because it never needs a day offand it can remember everything you can remember to tell it.



AssignmentTake inventory of the in-

formation content items fromyour Website. Review eachelement and note how it sup-ports leads, prospects, andcustomers.

40


The Elbow Room is a restaurant icon on the near northside of Tucson. Its claim to fame is its daily menu specials.Friday is fish night, and the special is all you can eat for $4.95.Other days, it offers similar deals on other meals. The place isalways packed, and you have to squeeze in.

In this case, the pricing strategy is not just a discount—it’sthe primary promotional strategy. It’s not a coupon advertisedin the paper or a two-for-one deal in the Entertainment Book.The Elbow Room does a robust business six days per week, 52weeks per year. Word ofmouth carries this messageof value.

Whether or not pricingis one of your primary pro-motional elements, arelevant pricing strategy issomething you should seri-ously consider. By offeringservice across a wide rangeof price points you make itmore difficult to leverage pricing as a promotional strategy. Thisapproach serves everyone poorly, and no one especially well.

I like the old saying: You can be cheap, fast, or good.Pick two.


26Pricing Strategies Are Way More

Than a Discount Program

AssignmentExamine your pricing as

it compares to others in themarket relevant to the rangeof quality you offer. Whatrole does pricing currentlyplay in your business devel-opment process?

41

27Cross-Promotions Can Help You

Make New FriendsA great example of cross-promotions comes to us from

event marketing. A grocery store acts as a ticket reseller for amajor local event with proceeds going to charity. The eventorganizers want to sell tickets to the grocery store’s shoppers,and the grocery store wants the opportunity to draw in the eventcustomers who don’t normally shop there. Both entities want toincrease traffic and sales.

Don’t worry about acquiring cross-promotional partners withcompatible products. The most important consideration is finding

partners who have match-ing customer demographics.Once you establish partner-ships you can concentrate onhow to productively interact.

Cross -p romot ionsshould offer valuable busi-ness development out-comes. In the grocery storeexample, the store has a spe-cial interest in the goodwill itreceives by being associat-ed with the event’s charityof record.

Sometimes the best way to help oneself is to find a way tohelp someone else.



AssignmentTake what you know

about your customers andprospects, and think aboutwhere else this type of cus-tomer may go to spend timeand money. Consider whatyou have to offer that wouldbe of value to potential part-ners. Then, approach themwith some ideas.

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28Let Trade Shows Show You the Way

Trade shows are an important promotional resource formany businesses. But others continue to rely on trade showslong after they are productive. Trade shows do not represent aquick-hitting sales strategy. In fact, without the implementationof a well-thought-out strategy you should consider skipping thistype of promotional approach entirely.

To determine if trade shows can be a productive tool inyour promotional tool kit, consider the following ideas:

u Who will you be coming in contact with, andwhere are they in your business development con-tinuum? Consider the conference participants,other exhibitors, and organizers, and whether ornot they represent your true target markets.

u How many quali-fied prospects orsigned deals doyou need to acquireas a result of thisshow, and is theresome other way tointeract with thesesame customersand prospects thatwill have greaterimpact or repre-sent a better use of time and financial resources?

u How will your trade show presence compare toyour competition? Can you afford to spend asmuch as necessary to present yourself well?

AssignmentConsider how the trade

shows can support all phas-es of business development.Always consider your pro-motional approach whenmaking decisions about spe-cific tactics and strategies.

43

29Direct Sales Aren’t Always Direct

Deciding not to invest in a trade show you have historicallyparticipated in may be the best decision you make all year.


Direct sales are an important category in the promotionaltool kit, but they might not always be as direct as you think.

A manufacturer may have a direct sales force on the pay-roll, or it may sell its products through some sort of reseller.Many choose to sell their products through well-positioned dis-tribution companies, whichbring an existing custom-er base to the table. Thisdistributor adds the manu-facturer’s product to itsexisting product selection.This gives the distributorsomething new to talkabout with existing cus-tomers and often opens upnew target markets for themanufacturer. Distributingyour product or servicethrough a well-positioned distribution company could help youget your product to market much faster than going direct.


AssignmentBrainstorm about the

ideal sales force for yourproduct or service. What andwho would these salespeo-ple know, do, and be thatwould make them a great fitto sell your products?

44


30Cold Calls Can Warm Things Up—or,

“The Cracker Jack Moment”

Sometimes the shortest path to success has a few curvesin it.


To most people, the concept of cold calling is not a pleasantone. But aren’t there times when a cold call is welcome? Suchas when you’re at a ball game and the Cracker Jack vendorcomes up the steps with his big tray of Cracker Jacks, yellingout to the crowd, looking for customers—right at the very mo-ment you were craving a snack.

By definition, a cold call is a sales-oriented contact with aprospect with whom you currently do not have a relationship.You can make cold calls for a variety of purposes, such as:

u Introducing yourself and pre-qualifying prospects.u Scheduling an

appointment.u Making a sales

presentation.Under what circum-

stances would someonewelcome an unexpectedphone call or visit from arepresentative of yourproduct or service?

Document the condi-tions that make for perfecttiming to introduce yourproduct to prospects. Nowbuild this knowledge intoyour promotional approach.

Assignment

45

Nothing warms a prospect better than their genuine de-sire for your product or service.


31A Territory Management Approach

Lends PerspectiveOne of the best ways to make more sales is to carve out a

sales territory. It may seem exciting to say that the entire uni-verse is your market area, but without established territories,you will have trouble getting and staying focused.

A sales agent for a new promotional product had the entirecity as a market area, but she decided to focus her initial saleseffort on a small area of town. She declared this area her LocalTrade Zone (LTZ) and established major streets as the physi-cal boundaries. She then developed a list of merchant typesthat she’d like to secure (four pizza places, five hair salons, andso on). The goal was to secure 50 customers in the initial LTZ.

Every day she workedin a defined geography, witha limited number of busi-ness types as her priorityprospects. It was easier toprepare for the day be-cause she was learning theins and outs of the selected


AssignmentCreate your own LTZ

by sorting your existing cus-tomers or prospects intological territories.

46


32Direct Mail Still Delivers

Focusing your efforts will greatly increase your learning,your contacts, and your sales.


Contrary to speculation, direct mail is still a very strongpromotional tactic. The category has been expanded to includemail sent through e-mail, U.S. mail, or any number of specialdelivery options. By definition, direct mail is a communiquésent directly to a customer or prospect and may include anytype of message.

One-to-one marketing is a phrase that has been coinedto describe this most effective sales approach. If a person feelsthat your message speaks directly to him and is extremely rel-evant to his situation, it has an excellent chance of getting afavorable response. E-mail distribution has made direct mailan affordable and flexible tactic for more organizations, but itstill requires a thoughtful approach to make sure your messag-es get delivered and read.

A salesperson who sends a follow-up e-mail message af-ter phone calls and appointments has an opportunity to set himor herself apart from the competition. Keep messages brief,

prospect’s industry. There was less drive time between ap-pointments, so time use was more efficient. Once she workedthrough this initial LTZ, she selected another, and then another,and so on.

47

but include a bit of helpfulinformation, a link to aWebsite of interest, or animportant reminder in eachand every message. Yourcustomers will associateyou with useful informationand are far more likely toopen and read all of yourdirect mail messages.

Reaching out to touch your customers and prospects in ameaningful way will keep them thinking about you.


You’ve probably heard the phrase “knowledge is power.”It’s true! Regardless of your field, having and sharing informa-tion about important or interesting topics will increase people’sinterest in doing business with you. No matter how much isalready written about your areas of expertise, there is always ademand for new and timely information. Your customers workevery day to try to make sense of the world around them andpublishing your ideas can help.


AssignmentMap out a year’s worth

of communication to yourprospects and customers andconsider the scenarios thatare best suited to the use ofU.S. mail or e-mail.

33Publishing Your IdeasIncreases Exposure

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34Cause Marketing Takes It to Heart

“Sharing” your knowledge is power!EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

Professional servicefirms require individualteam members to authorarticles about topics relat-ing to their profession as acondition of employment.Articles are incorporatedinto routine communica-tions with the organization’scustomers and prospects.

Although it is helpful if you get your articles published intrade or local business publications, you can effectively publishthem yourself in the form of white papers and corporate news-letters (or as e-mails or even Weblogs). Make them availableon your Website for added value. Use contract resources ifyou need help getting the content into good form.

Cause marketing is the practice of incorporating a commu-nity cause into your promotional approach. This process allowsyou to co-op your prospect’s interest in the cause to encouragethem to buy from you. The goal is to increase sales to new

AssignmentTake inventory of the

topics you invest time keep-ing up with, and determinehow your customers andprospects could benefit fromthem as well.

49

customers and increase brand loyalty among existing custom-ers by touching their heart and their interest in the greater good.

Starbucks sells an ex-pensive bottle of springwater called Ethos and onthe label it reads “Helpingchildren get clean water.”Starbucks gives 5 centsfrom each sale to supportseveral humanitarian waterprojects, with a goal to do-nate at least $10 million byend of 2010. Starbucks hasreceived quite a bit of pub-licity for this project, includ-ing a strong in-store promotional program.

The degree to which you integrate your cause into yourmarketing program will impact the benefits. Consider the fol-lowing ideas:

u Choose a cause that will resonate with your targetmarkets.

u Incorporate the cause tie-in into all your promo-tional elements.

u Devise an outreach to prospects who may bealigned with the cause.

u Proactively share your reasons for involvementwith the cause.

u Make certain your cause will not alienate anotherclient or customer base.

Ties to a cause show the caring side of your business.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentConsider what new

target markets you wouldlike to attract and choosea cause that will resonatewith them. Groups repre-senting potential causesshould have useful info ontypical supporters.

50


35Speak and Grow Rich...in Prospects and Sales

Speaking on topics you care about is an excellent way tomake yourself and your business known. Service clubs such asKiwanis, Lions, Sertoma, Rotary, and Jaycees meet every weekin your city and often invite guest speakers from the communi-ty to come to their meetings.

Most groups you speak to can provide a range of exposurethat goes well beyond the number of people who will hear yourtalk. Whenever possible, provide the following:

u A short article or series of articles for inclusion intheir newsletter.

u A brief written in-troduction for theperson who intro-duces you.

u Business cards.u A session handout

or brochure.If your particular busi-

ness does not lend itself welltopically to a speaking cir-cuit, then identify acommunity cause you careabout and offer to be a spokesperson for it. If the topics youchoose to speak about are not directly related to your business,you will want to take special care to get the proper mentionsfor your business.

AssignmentMake a list of the groups

in your community youcould speak to. Then identi-fy a list of topics you wouldenjoy sharing and begin get-ting the word out that youare willing and able to speakto groups.

51

Give and you shall receive.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

Be sincere in your interest in sharing this information. Therest will follow. It is not necessary for you to be a professionalspeaker to use this tactic, although it is a good idea to prepareyourself well and practice your presentations thoroughly.

One of the best ways to increase sales is to cultivate cus-tomer referrals. It is also common for a high percentage ofreferrals to spring from a small number of existing customers.The problem is that most businesses build a development pro-gram around acquiring more referrals. Yes, they may make theobservation that a high percentage of their business actuallycomes from referrals, but then they spend all their marketingresources on more expensive and less effective promotionalprograms designed to bring in new customers—not get refer-rals from existing customers!

Many firms have found a way to mine these precious cus-tomer referrals and you can too. Consider the following:

u Customers who appreciate your products are like-ly to know others who would.

u Many customers will help you if you ask them.u Understand what inspires your customers to re-

fer you business. (Ask them if necessary.)

36Customer Referrals Are Rare Birds


52


Investments in customer interaction can be part of themarketing budget if they systematically net you more profit-able referrals.


37Event Marketing Is a Hot Property

Event marketing is one of the fastest growing promotionalcategories. Many industries have shifted dollars away fromtraditional advertising in lieu of the flexible and exciting worldof event marketing.

A financial services company is a sponsor of a major out-door event that attracts 50,000 spectators. It makes a

u Invite customers to participate with you on com-munity/charity projects, pay their way, and askthem to invite afriend.

u When you send aspecial offer toyour customers,send a duplicatethat they canassign to a friend.Be sure to use atracking numberfor tracing yoursuccesses.

AssignmentSet specific goals for

the number of new cus-tomers you want toacquire, the number of ex-isting customers youexpect to participate, andhow much of your market-ing budget are you willingto invest to inspire an in-crease in referral activity.

53

contribution and in return receives promotions from the event,such as having its name mentioned in the event’s paid advertis-ing, recognition in posters and publicity, and on banners and in

multiple exhibit spaces at theevent. The company acti-vates its sponsorship byinviting a large number ofits customers to participateas volunteers. It also enter-tains volunteers and staff inits corporate chalet. Thepromotional activities lead-ing up to the event provide

countless opportunities for meaningful dialogue among its cus-tomers, prospects, and partners. Participation in this event is amajor business development strategy for this firm.

38Find the Synergy Inherent

in Your Own ProgramsIf you want to make sales without a lot more work, con-

sider the synergy inherent in your own systems. By definition,

If you can’t find an event that is a good match for yourdemographics, consider creating an event for your own pro-motional purposes. And it doesn’t have to be an event thatdraws 50,000, just one that brings in the right people inreasonable numbers.



AssignmentIdentify an event that

would be a match for yourdemographics. Brainstormhow you might involve staff,customers, and suppliers.

54


Bringing all that you are to the sales table creates synergy.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

synergy is the working together of two or more things, with theresult becoming greater than the sum of their individual effectsor capabilities.

Think about it this way: if you perform no sales specificactivities today, there is still potential synergy among the var-ious departments. Each day customers are being served,supplies and components are purchased, bookkeepers man-age payables and receivables, products are being developed,inter-office e-mails are flying, and important decisions arebeing made.

A manufacturer buys alot of components andsupplies from vendors.When the purchasing agentinteracts with these ven-dors, they have manyopportunities to gain andshare information thatcould ultimately impactthe firm’s standing in theindustry. Interaction withsuppliers is an opportunity to impact your prospects, custom-ers, and distribution channels. Is your purchasing agent fullyaware of your product line? Can he or she talk about it tovendors who might also be customers?

AssignmentList the functional

departments for your busi-ness. Identify at least threeactivities performed in eachdepartment that could di-rectly or indirectly impactsales.

55

39Develop Sales Objectivesfor Improved Performance

I think it was Walt Disney who said that “a goal is just adream with a deadline.” Many people like to dream about salessuccess, but fail to take the necessary steps to put them on theright path. Setting goals without considering where the growthwill come from is equivalent to dreaming.

Sales objectives divide the work up in an organized wayand allow you to develop approach ideas for each objective.They also make it clear to the entire organization how elements

such as customerretention, productdevelopment, andWebsite functionalitycan impact the at-tainment of salesgoals.

Sales objectivesshould identify a spe-cific key audience,volume targets, and

a date for achievement. When you string all of your objectivestogether they should create a straight line to your goals. You’llknow if you reach them or not. Let’s say a Web-based com-puter back-up service has set a goal to increase sales revenuethis year by 10 percent. That means it must achieve some com-bination of the following objectives in order to be successful.Once objectives are set, unique marketing and sales approach-es can be tailored to each one.


AssignmentExamine your sales goals and

develop specific and measurableobjectives to achieve them. Chal-lenge people outside the salesdepartment to be part of the pro-cess of achieving these goals.

56


40Identify the Most EfficientStrategic Approach Ideas

Developing marketing programs that help achieve multiplegoals or objectives at the same time increases synergy.

A fee-only financial planner was in a situation where sheneeded more clients to round out her practice. She didn’t want tospend a lot of time and money in marketing and sales, as she feltit took valuable resources away from her work on behalf of herclients. What she did want was to:

u Acquire a few more quality clients.u Increase customer referrals.u Leverage her interest and involvement in commu-

nity projects.

How do you eat an elephant (goal)? One bite (objective)at a time!


1. Retain at least 80 percent of existing customersat current rates.

2. Acquire a minimum of 25 new annual subscribers,each quarter.

3. Acquire a minimum of 20 new month-to-monthsubscribers, each month.

57

The strategic marketingapproach she chose includedinvolvement in a series ofcommunity events. She invit-ed a group of her preferredclients to participate alongsideher in these communityprojects and asked each cli-ent to bring along at least oneguest/referred prospect. Shepaid all of the costs of participation and everyone received aspecial team T-shirt. There was a meal included, so there wasplenty of time for getting acquainted.

These community involvement outings have become atrademark for this professional and a great approach for build-ing her practice with like-minded clients. Her clients approveof this practice-building strategy and participate willingly.

You get more than you give when you do it with a willingspirit.


41Selling More to Existing Clients

One of the most undervalued sales assets is the synergy tobe gained through your existing customers. Many businessesfocus so much energy on the acquisition of new customers thatthey leave a lot on the table regarding their existing customer

AssignmentDevelop a strategic

approach that will helpyou achieve at least threeunique goals or objec-tives. Include elementsyou are passionate about.


58


It’s typically easier to expand with existing customers thanto attract new ones.


base. Some organizations even go so far as to set existing cus-tomers aside, forcing their sales team to concentrate solely onnew customers.

Let’s face it: customers already know you, they’ve dem-onstrated trust by buying from you, and they’re giving you someof their hard-earned money. They are the ideal prospect. In-teraction with existing customers can provide:

u Insights leading to breakthroughs in quality andinnovation.

u Retained sales.u Add-on sales.u Referrals to like-minded prospects.When a local information services company periodically

reassigned sales territories, it almost always found that thenewly assigned repscould increase volumefrom existing clients,even in the mature ter-ritories. Newly assignedreps reviewed records,conducted information-gathering sessions, anduncovered needs simplyby looking at the com-pany’s accounts withnew eyes.

AssignmentConsider how your ser-

vices fit in with their needs.If you can’t periodically re-assign accounts, get achallenge partner to help ex-amine potential opportunitieswith existing customers.

59

42Going Beyond the Transaction

There is tremendous synergy in the common ground weshare with customers. If someone is your customer, there is atleast one topic the two of you have in common. Find a produc-tive way to interact beyond your typical sales process.

An organization that provides case management nurses forworkman’s compensation cases has insurance agents as cus-tomers. The agents as well as the nurses have a common interestin getting the patients to maximum medical improvement. Theagents are located across the country, so the case managementfirm has to get creative with long-distance communication.

One favorite tactic is to send each agent a gift card for acoffee shop along with a white paper featuring a treatmentoverview written by one of the nurses. A note invites the agentto have a cup of coffee and take a few minutes to read thepaper. This interaction supports this firm and its nurses as au-thorities on maximum improvement—a subject that they both

have an interest in—andopens the door for dialogue.

Energize your custom-er interaction and let it helpyou make more sales. Pre-paring for these customerinteraction events will makeyou better at your work.

Develop a common bond beyond the transaction.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentIdentify ways (specific

tools) to positively interactwith your customers outsideof the formal sales and ser-vice delivery activities.

60


Nothing gets the prospecting juices flowing the way a quickand profitable sale does. You say to yourself, “Why can’t theyall go like this?” The better question to ask is, “What can we doto make more of our transactions move this fast?”

Energizing your sales process and closing sales faster leavesyou with more time to spend doing more deals—achieving yoursales goals. Let’s take a closer look at the quick-close deal andsee what it’s made of.

Attributes of a quick-close prospect (the customer) include:u Has an immediate need.u Is confident that your solution is adequate.u Is prepared to make a decision.Attributes of a quick-close supplier (that’s you) include:u Effectively recognizes and clarifies customer

needs.u Provides information

that supports pro-posed solutions, rightamount—at the righttime—always keep-ing in mind thatpeople receive infor-mation differently.

u Knows how to rec-ognize and support aquick decision.

43Quicker Closes Equal More Time

for More Sales

AssignmentOutline a sales cycle for

your business. Be bold inyour expectations and thenidentify the specific supportsfor each phase that couldmake it possible. Then tar-get some prospects and goafter them.

61

Time is money!EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

One way to attract the quick-close sale is to participate inpromotional strategies that put you in the mix with your bestquick-close prospects. These strategies may look to be a bitmore costly on the surface, but when you factor in the time andenergy savings of the quicker sale, they are a bargain.

44Organize a Collaborative Workplace

Whether you work downtown or at the dining room table,you can benefit from developing a collaborative workplace. Col-laboration is achieved by working with others. Entrepreneursare pretty good at this; traditional business could take a lesson.

By exchanging information, sharing resources, and passingbusiness leads, you can create a network that can lead to in-creased sales for your organization. You are all out there doingbusiness, and the day-to-day stuff can get in the way. Turn

these day-to-day challeng-es into opportunities forcollaboration.

A small companytraced a high percentage ofits business to people theyhave interacted with aroundtheir office location. In fact,


AssignmentDescribe your commu-

nity. Make certain theseconnections know about youand what you offer.

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One of the best ways to increase sales is to create new orimproved products people can only buy from you. Every organi-zation should be investing resources in innovation each year. Forsome organizations, these investments may be largely time andattention, but for others it could include significant financial re-sources as well.

To maximize an invest-ment in innovation, you muststrategically incorporate itinto other functional areas ofthe business.

A financial softwarecompany offers an 800-number for its customers.When they finish solving acustomer problem, they ask

45Innovation Gets Attention

When you raise the water in the harbor, all boats rise.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

one of its largest clients came from a referral from its landlord,a businessman who had recently sold a company he’d foundedand invested in local real estate. Some business was traced toother professionals who had office space in and around its build-ing. The single largest influence on business development camethrough connections to its local professional association.

AssignmentIdentify some form of

innovation that will be occur-ring in your business thisyear. Consider how to lever-age this investment byconnecting it to at least twoother major functions.

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New is good. New sells.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

the customer if they’d be willing to answer a couple of questionsfor the research and development team. They then proceed toask carefully crafted questions designed to assist the developersand strategically supply the marketing department with informa-tion needed to mount a promotional campaign for the newproducts.

The investment made on customer support is now providingan exponential return with its added contributions to innovationand sales and marketing.

46Time Organize Your Business

Plotting marketing and sales activities, along with operations-oriented tasks, will lead to an increase in sales. If you’re planningto hire additional staff in conjunction with a new product line, plotit. If your team is attending a national conference, plot it. If you’rerolling out a new product, plot it. Plot everything that consumestime, money, or energy resources and show it on the time contin-uum for your business.

A retailer planning to attend a merchandise market can ini-tiate talks with customers months before the trip. What are theygoing to be looking for or need in the future? What should you belooking for to help them? This also increases dialogue with cus-tomers beyond just the typical sales and service delivery talk,and demonstrates that the retailer has an interest in the custom-ers’ success. Use market-talk to get them to talk about products


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47Momentum Markers

Increase sales by leveraging your organization’s momen-tum markers. Momentum markers are events, work projects,or seasonal influences unique to your business that have thepower to propel you toward your business development goals.

You’ll know them when you see them, because they tendto take on a life of their own. One of the best places to look forthem is the document discussed in Idea 46, where you plottedyour marketing activities along with operational functions on a12-month time line.

they may have an interest inpurchasing. This also setsthem up for follow-up whenthey get back from market.

The main point is to plotthe things you’re going to bedoing to run your businessanyway and look for the busi-ness development potential ineach one. Time organizingmakes it real.


Don’t try. Do. (Thanks to Yoda.)

Assignment

Draft a 12-month de-velopment time line.Include primary businessdevelopment activitiesand major operationaltasks.

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A food bank knowsthat the public’s attention tofood donations is at its peakduring the Thanksgivingand Christmas holiday sea-son. It’s also a time whenfood bank personnel arebusy with operational ac-tivities and don’t have time

to think about how to parlay this increase in activity into itsmarketing strategy.

New supporters emerge that were previously unknown;offers of volunteers that could be better utilized in other timeperiods must be recognized and captured for future contact.The food bank will experience the force of this momentummarker for months. Impacts can be anticipated, planned for,and leveraged into maximum outcomes—especially with theright planning and organizing.

Momentum markers are by nature predictable, and maxi-mization strategies must be in place long before they occur ifthey are to lead to increased sales.

We can’t control some forces, but we can anticipate anduse them to our advantage.


48Sales: It’s Not About You

Most people who find themselves in a selling situation spendso much time defining, refining, and understanding the features


AssignmentIdentify the momentum

markers in your organiza-tion. Ask people outside thesales department to help.They know stuff you don’t.

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Sales: it’s not about you.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

and benefits of their own products they forget to notice what’sgoing on in the life of the prospect.

This is crazy, because research tells us that people buybecause of some problem or opportunity that exists in their

world—not ours. This maybe a shocker to those whostill believe in the theory ofbuild it and they willcome.

The next several quickideas will help you focusyour attention on a rangeof customer-oriented ele-ments. By consideringthese elements you willfind it much easier to de-

velop a sales and marketing approach that will help you meetyour business development goals by helping your customersmeet their goals. Look for one or two to stand out as relevantin your particular business.

The first step is to find out what you know about yourcustomers and prospects. There are many automated cus-tomer relationship management (CRM) tools available tosupport this process. Your work here will be identifying theinformation elements that should populate the CRM tool formaximum impact.

AssignmentGather the background

files you have on your fa-vorite customers. See whatyou know about them, andnote what you wish youknew, so they can be moreeasily replicated.

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49Create an Opportunity-Focused

Strategic Acount ProfileWe owe it to our customers to understand a great deal

about them in order to provide them with the products theyexpect from us. This same understanding will allow you to se-lect the promotional approaches that will help you make sales.The opportunity-focused strategic account profile is an infor-mation-gathering tool that you can customize for the purposeof capturing customer information.

A professional services organization serving businesses(B-to-B), will want to create a very detailed baseline profileand turn it in to a template so that it can gather information asthoroughly as possible on all customers and prospects. Thisinformation will be very useful for building insightful propos-als and winning presentations. A retailer in abusiness-to-consumer situation (B-to-C) may choose todevelop a few key profiles that represent their primarycustomer types.

Regardless of the type ofbusiness you run, the infogathered in the development ofan opportunity-focused strate-gic account profile willimprove your promotional tar-geting and help you makemore sales.

What you don’t know CAN hurt you.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentCreate your own

customized accountprofile. Choose a clientthat you know pretty wellto use as your samplealong the way.

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If they know you, they can love you.P.S. It’s your fault if they don’t know you.


50Go Wide and Deep With Key Contacts

One of the key factors that cause unwanted turnover inour customer base is loss of the “in-house champion.” Everytime you lose an existing customer you go in the hole in yourclient-attraction process. Now you need two new clients in-stead of one. Build a range of contact information into youraccount profiles by gathering the following:

u Whoever else is involved in the decision to pur-chase from you.

u Detailed contact information.u Background information that will help you un-

derstand your customers such as annual reports,number of employees, and locations.

u Who else will be benefiting from your service.Account profiles are dynamic and should evolve over time.

Everyone in your organization who comes in contact with theclient has an opportunity to learn something of value.

If you manage your con-tact information and deliverexcellence, you have a goodchance of adding to your cli-ent base. You keep yourexisting client, and your cham-pion brings his or her newcompany into the fold.

AssignmentReview your exist-

ing accounts and workto build a relationshipwith additional contactswithin each account.

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51Mission Possible—Mission Profitable

A small IT company provides troubleshooting and net-work support for businesses. When they gather informationabout prospects and customers, they make it a practice tounderstand the client’s growth plans. Does this firm intend togrow? How will this vision be supported by the firm’s ITinfrastructure? How does the customer’s mission impactrecommendations?

The IT company includes references to its customer’s mis-sion and vision as it develops recommendations for upgradesand services. Estimates include three scenarios: reasonablepatch work (good), room to grow (better), supporting your vi-sion (best), giving the clientoptions with an eye on helpingthe client achieve its vision. Thecompany knows it is helping itsclients get where THEY wantto go, and it keeps this front andcenter.

Many customers are sobusy doing the day-to-day workthat they lose site of their vi-sion. They will appreciate thefact that you are there to helpthem stay on track.

If you are taking people where they want to go, they willride with you longer.



AssignmentTake a look at your

prospects and test yourknowledge of their orga-nizational mission. Notehow your products helpthem support this mission/vision. Build new knowl-edge into your routineinteractions. Add this toyour account profile.

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Understanding where your targets fit into the market canbe useful in developing an approach for winning and retainingbusiness. We’re talking about whether they are attempting toclimb the ladder of notoriety, fame, or market share. Maybethey simply want to make more money or at the very least notlose ground.

Even if your customers are individuals there should besome sense of position. Notmany people want to re-main static.

A commercial land-scape company knows thata key prospect is sitting ona 50-percent vacancy rateat a property and its prima-ry competition is only at10-percent vacancy, so itknows there is opportunityto help close a gap. It canpresent its landscaping pro-posal using a potential returnon investment based on in-creased leasing fees thatwill result from improvingthe look of the property.

By bringing the market position factors to bear in the salesprocess you can demonstrate that you understand the situa-tion and how your service can help the prospect to achievethe market position he or she desires.

52Market Position Matters

AssignmentTry to determine the

market position of your keyaccounts. Think about howyour product can help themimprove, and build that intoyour promotional approach.Your boldness should bedriven by their concernsabout market position. Addthis element to your ac-count profile.

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53Be a Budget Bandit

It pays to understand what budget category your customeruses to purchase your services or products under. This allowsyou to uncover other categories where your costs could beallocated. Offering suggestions can make the difference inmaking the deal—especially when you are coming in mid-yearand budgets are well established and depleted.

A local charity event has packaged its promotional inven-tory to appeal to a variety of organizational goals/departments/budget categories:

u Sponsorships typically come out of the market-ing budget because it includes advertising.

u Chalet sales can be paid for by employee organi-zations or individual departments for hostingcompany picnics or customer appreciation events.

u Vendor spaces can be paid for by HR to pro-mote job openings to the community.

Even those with what is known as the beg-for-budget haveroutine categories for book-keeping purposes. (Thebeg-for-budget means that nofunds are actually earmarkedfor certain purchase in advance.Managers simply have to begfor the things they want to buy.)

Once you know what matters, you matter.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentUncover the bud-

get categories foryour products. Askyour customers.

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Showing your customers that you know how to help themget things done puts you higher on the list.


54Are You Speaking Their Language?Many sales are missed because the salesperson did not

communicate with the prospect in a productive way. The solu-tion may have been perfect and the pricing good, but somehowthey just didn’t connect.

When you identify a new prospect or customer, ask ques-tions to determine his or her communication preferences. Doeshe prefer phone calls or e-mails? How hard is it to get a face-to-face meeting with her? Will he read detailed documents, orshould you focus on briefs and outlines? Does she return calls?If you are working through an administrative assistant, youcan ask about some of thesethings casually. Keep thefollowing in mind:

u A customer knownfor reading andsending after-hourse-mails is morelikely to read long-er messages sentlater in the day.

u A prospect whouses sight words todescribe non-visual

AssignmentConsider the communi-

cation preferences of yourtop three accounts and com-pare this to your routinemethods of communicating.Be sure to make notes inyour strategic account pro-file about the communicationpreferences you uncover.

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elements (“You should have seen what theysaid.” ) likely has a visual preference. Thesepeople may do better with written communica-tion to support all verbal interaction.

u Don’t leave endless messages for a customer whoisn’t returning phone calls. Try something differ-ent, such as sending a print document specialdelivery.

u Don’t forget to speak the language of their busi-ness, not yours.

Customizing communications will increase sales success!

If you’re not talking with customers, does that mean you’retalking without them?


55Customer Satisfaction Connects Us All

One way to be successful selling your service is to under-stand the customer satisfaction benchmarks facing yourcustomers.

You know who your prospects are, but now you need toexplore their situation a bit more deeply. Who are their internaland external stakeholders that could be affected by your servic-es? What satisfaction benchmarks already exist? Consider this:

u A mother wants to plan a vacation that satisfiesthe interests of the entire family.


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56Knowledge of the Competition

Inspires ConfidenceGathering background information on your prospects and

customers includes a solid understanding of their competition.Buying from you needs to help them compete more effectivelyin their marketplace. So find a way to leverage your understand-ing of their competition in your sales approach as well as yourcustomer service. For example:

u When the yellow page advertising rep comes to seeyour clients, he always knows what size ads theircompetition has run in the past.

u A purchasing agent needs a component that willfit seamlessly into the finished product.

u A business ownerwants to contractwith an IT firm thatcan keep his expen-sive staff running atfull speed withoutsending the CFOinto budget overloadand ensure that hisexternal clients canaccess their onlinesupport tools 24/7.

Your job is to help your customers do their best work.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

AssignmentCreate simple tools

that allow your prospectsto gather and documentthe needs of their ownstakeholders. Let themknow that you understandtheir role and that you arehere to help.

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It’s easier to be original when you know what everyoneelse is doing.


u An employee benefits company will want to knowas much as possible about the benefits its competi-tion offers in orderto shape a compet-itive package.

u When a marketingcompany is pitch-ing services, it willbenefit a great dealby knowing howthe prospect’scompetition is pre-senting itself in themarketplace.

57Industry Insights Shine a Bright Light

Take some time to investigate your prospects’ and cus-tomers’ primary industries. Looking at trade and professionalpublications and information from industry associations is a greatway to gain a broad view. It’s especially interesting to reviewthe advertising inside these publications. See how other mar-keters are approaching your customers with their products.Notice the topics of feature articles, as they represent issuesof current importance in the industry. A large city library will


AssignmentThink about your top

two accounts. What do youknow about their competi-tion? Now, determine howyour product or service canhelp them be more compet-itive. Does this help you toshape a winning pitch?

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58When Opportunity Knocks,

Who Will Get the Door?Pop quiz! Do you know the biggest opportunities facing

your customers right now? Do they? The fact is, with all this

have copies of many of these trade pubs. And of course manyare available on the Internet as well.

When a training company was asked to quote on the de-velopment of a presentation for a product rollout, industryresearch uncovered useful information. By scanning trade jour-nals targeted to hotel executives, the training company learnedthat hotel executives mademajor purchases (such asthe product in question)shortly after being boughtout by a new investor.Armed with this potentialtarget marketing insight, thecompany made changes inits proposal that provided thetraining company an edge inbeing chosen for the project.

The information yougather combines with whatyou already know to create a unique view. Build your insightsinto the sales and service approach for increased sales.

Remember: sales is not about you!EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

AssignmentAsk some of your cus-

tomers about their favoritepublications and tradegroups. The next time youhave a hot prospect, do someindustry research and getinspired about ways to helpthem shine.

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work going on around us, we sometimes forget that opportuni-ties exist to do bigger and better things.

Taking time to understand the major opportunities availableto your customers and prospects gives you both an edge. Byshowing awareness and even encouragement you can add val-ue in your relationships.

A forklift company owner has, as one of its customers, amedium-sized airport. During a sales visit the salespersonlearned that the airport was targeting corporate jet traffic andcorporate hangar rental. Some weeks later the equipment sales-man was talking with one of his distribution center customersand learned that it was considering the addition of a corporatejet. He was able to make a great connection with his two cus-tomers. He built great goodwill with both customers, and theyare now two of his best.

The biggest challengeto adding this level of en-gagement to your salesapproach is that mostsalespeople can’t getenough time with theirprospects to get past thefeatures and benefits pre-sentations. Concentratemore on being interestingto talk to and you will getmore time.

If someone knocks on the door and no one hears, doesthat mean that there was no knock at all?



AssignmentGo see one of your fa-

vorite customers and learnabout his or her opportuni-ties. See how you can addvalue. Add this info to theaccount profile.

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59Income and Expense Streams

Mean BusinessYour relationship may not make you privy to financial infor-

mation about your customers, but it pays to understand theirfinancial landscape. You prob-ably don’t really need to knowthe exact numbers, but it wouldbe useful to know the top in-come and expense categoriesand their percentages.

There are issues custom-ers are vocal about, but theymay also have little impact ontheir decision-making processas it relates to your products.However, there are other is-sues that customers quietlyinvest in. Those are the finan-cial issues you want to be tunedinto. Consider the following:

u High expenditures for legal and professional ser-vices may indicate an opportunity to assist withrisk management. Can you help mitigate risk?

u A high percentage of expenses in advertising indi-cates that the company is interested in growth.Can you provide exposure in some creative way?

u Low investments in salaries may indicate an ap-preciation for contractors who get work done.Do you have a way to minimize the overhead?

AssignmentGo to BizStats.com

and do some free re-search on the industriesof your customers andprospects. See whatyou can learn abouttheir financial picturethat may influence theway you service themin the future.

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60Staffing Gaps Cut a Wide Path

Payroll is often one of the top three expenses facing yourcustomers, and yet most companies are significantly under-staffed. Many more lack the expertise needed to be topperformers in their field. You have an opportunity to help closethat gap.

If you can show how doing business with your organiza-tion eases the staffing gap, you will make more sales. Canyou:

u Supply employee training?This could be expertise youhave in house or somethingyou contract for and pro-vide as a value-addedservice.

u Show how your serviceswill make its existing staff more productive andtherefore minimize the need to add staff?

u Share some of your in-house expertise, such asan in-house marketing professional who couldhave an occasional lunch with their in-house, butnon-professional, marketing coordinator?

A mortgage insurance company that wanted to make moresales to mortgage companies hired a training company to pro-vide time-management workshops for loan originators. This

As Deep Throat said: Follow the money.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentConsider what

you have to offer insupport of a staff-ing gap.

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61Interesting Fellows

What do football, kids, and beach vacations have in com-mon? They are the three things your next new prospect likes tochat about when not talking business.

Increase your sales bylearning more about the out-side interests of yourprospects and customers.When you learn about theiroutside interests you willalso:

u Identify avenues foryour promotionswhere you can at-tract more custom-ers similar to them.

u Learn about caus-es they care aboutthat could be madepart of your own community involvement programsand invitations for them to participate along sideyou.

was its way of adding value in the eyes of its prospects andclients. The mortgage companies appreciated the gesture andin return funneled a higher percentage of business to them.

Make buying from you a bonanza of value.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

AssignmentEnhance you account

profiles to include a space foroutside interests. Write downwhat you know about theirinterests. If you’ve been intheir office you probably re-member a lot. Take amemory tour of their space.Photos, trinkets, and generalclutter will give you clues.

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62Short-Term Goals Are Golden

It’s interesting how much more interesting you are toyour customers when you are interested in them.


Nothing compares with the shine reflecting off the short-term growth goals of your prospects. It can nearly blind you.In fact, they haven’t been able to see for weeks—maybe

months. But you can bringa new set of eyes to thesituation.

Be bold. Ask pros-pects what their short-termbusiness growth goals areand how they are doing inachieving them. It’s usual-ly good conversation, andthat’s always a good startwhen you’re in the trust-and rapport-building stage.

u Uncover elements that make them unique and thatcan be incorporated into your approach to work-ing with them with increased results.

When an interior designer found out that the doctors involvedwith the building of a new cancer center were also musicians,she organized a concert as part of the opening ceremonies andparlayed the event into a PR bonanza. Her clients were thrilledwith her ability to leverage the project in support of their market-ing efforts for the new facility.


AssignmentTry this tactic at your

next meeting, either with acustomer or a prospect. En-joy the process of learningabout what’s important tothem, and the informationwill take its natural course.

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Attaching yourself to a rising star can have an upliftingeffect on your business.


Don’t be concerned about what this has to do with your prod-ucts. Just learn!

Find out what inspired them to establish these particulargrowth goals in the first place, and you will begin to get a use-ful perspective. There’s also a good chance that you will uncoveran important tidbit that will be useful in positioning your prod-uct when it’s time to make the pitch.

63Big Red Truck

How many times have you had to say to yourself, “Thatwas so obvious. How did I miss that before?” Call them seniormoments, call them mind bumps, call them whatever you want,but begin the process of documenting detailed information aboutyour customers inside your opportunity-focused strategic ac-count profiles. Revisit them often for insights and updates.

This is also your insurance against the big red truck. Youknow, the one you could get hit by someday, taking all of yourfirm’s customer intelligencealong with you to your man-sion in the sky—where, Imight add, you will have nouse for it.

It’s all about increasingknowledge to increasesales. You must make your

AssignmentReview the last several

Ideas and customize yourown opportunity-focusedstrategic account profile.

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own decision about how much time, money, and energy youcan afford to invest in acquiring customers. These decisionsshould be made once you understand the lifetime value of yourcustomer. If your average transaction is high dollar and/or yourcustomers are with you generating income for a long time, theninvesting resources in your customer acquisition process makessense.

Prepare to share. Prepare to care. Prepare to prosper.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

64Tap Into the Momentum Present

in the Universe

There’s a lot going on out there in the universe—and anabundance of resources being applied to moving ideas along.People are hosting events, celebrating accomplishments, and cre-ating strategic alliances to accomplish the greater good. Thismomentum is an awesome force of nature, and you need to tapinto whatever you can to help make more sales.

Momentum is the speed or force of forward movement andeveryone in sales wants more of that. For every kind of productor service there is a range of marketing strategies.

A statewide CPA society wanted to ratchet up the level ofinteraction it was having with its members and prospects in thecommunity. It was hard to get accountants out of the office forconferences and routine association meetings. So the society


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organized a wide selection ofcertified educational sessionstimed to match the state’s pe-riodic requirements forcontinuing education units(CEUs). Build it and they willcome works when externalforces help propel them.

Tap into the energy present in the universe. Superchargeyours!


65Referrals Come Easier With Celebration

As a society we crave celebration. In fact, we’ll celebratenearly anything. Just this week there was a story in the news-paper about how to host birthday parties for dogs! You can tapinto this craving to celebrate to increase your own sales withjust a bit of creativity.

A financial services organization established a marketingobjective to gain 36 new clients per year, specifically throughreferrals from existing customers (mostly 40-somethings withyoung families).

It created an approach that included a connection to Grand-parents Day. The program included e-mails linking to info onits Website about the origins of Grandparents Day, a contest

AssignmentGather a group of

employees or peers andidentify a range of ele-ments that bump upagainst your industry/enterprise and possess amomentum of their own.

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for kids to nominate their grandparent for awards, ideas forhonoring parents, and, of course, information about financialservices such as long-term care insurance and a prominent linkto have this fun information e-mailed to a friend.

The key to increasingsales with this type of strat-egy is relevance. Thefinancial services organiza-tion knows instinctively thatleveraging its customers’feelings and responsibilitytoward both their childrenand their parents is a goodway to:

u Increase interest infinancial services.

u Enhance trust and rapport with the organizationas provider.

u Provide a reason and simple method for custom-ers to provide referrals.

Enriching the lives of others can have many benefits. (Oh,and yes, they did gain 36 new clients.)


66Regulate This!

Most industries, communities, and organizations are influ-enced heavily by government regulations. Regulations may


AssignmentRevisit your marketing

goals as they relate to in-creasing referrals from yourexisting customers. Tap intothe energy of a nationallyrecognized celebration toenhance your communica-tions strategies.

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Change is inevitable—why not look forward to it?EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

change quickly and unex-pectedly or they may be inthe works for years. Expect-ed or unexpected changesin regulations typically enterthe world with a force oftheir own, generating somemomentum that savvy mar-keters can tap into.

There are a variety ofways to leverage the mo-mentum of regulationchanges for increased sales.Here are a few:

u Acquire/develop reference materials explaining de-tails and impacts of the new regulations and becomean expert source with your key audiences.

u Develop new products, features, or services thatmay be results of new or changed regulations.

u Provide counseling relating to compliance—eitheras an income stream or value added.

The state of Indiana is eliminating its commercial inventorytax. Local economic development groups will see great improve-ment attracting businesses with a reliance on inventory.Contiguous states lose an advantage they have treasured foryears. This change creates a momentum of its own that many inIndiana are using to attract new customers.

AssignmentMake a list of some of

the regulations that have animpact on your business orthe business of your custom-ers. Develop a system forstaying updated on pendingchanges, and routinely con-sider how this might impactsales.

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67Patriotism Serves UpAmerican Consumers

Memorial Day kicks off months of patriotic celebrations.Patriotism is a grand example of an ideal that carries its ownmomentum. Tapping into red,white, and blue is a good wayto add color to your varioussales programs.

A locally owned group ofrestaurants found themselveshurting for business on holi-day weekends that includeoutdoor celebrations, so theydeveloped an approach tocelebrating the holidays with customers, employees, and sup-pliers. They did not have a big advertising budget so they neededto spread the word in a creative way. Here’s what they did:

u 12-Month Planning. Identified the dates for theircampaigns around three summer holidays: Me-morial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day.

u Leveraged Interaction. Ask customers, em-ployees, and suppliers to help collect interestingfacts for trivia questions and items for the prizepackages. (They got gifts, too: free food andAmerican flags.)

u Cross-Promotions. Displayed the rules and prizepackage (a picnic kit including items from other mer-chants) along with advertising for local holidaycelebrations.


AssignmentIdentify a promotion

that supports a downtime inyour business. Pick some-thing that brings its ownmomentum.

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Fly your flags with pride.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

68It’s Fair to Say

We’ll never know the real reason for the gravitational pull tofairs and festivals—but the facts speak for themselves. Peoplelove them! We haven’t been citified all that long, so maybe we’rerelating to our basic need to gather in the town square. Festivalscan nurture our need for community, and expanded communityis exactly what salespeople need in order to increase sales.

Remember the rule of momentum. A fair is going to happenwhether you get involved or not. It’s going be advertised, attend-ed, and exciting. In fact, many from your own groups of influenceare probably planning to attend.

1. List the primary groups with which you routinelycommunicate.

2. List your main communication goals for each group.3. List common features of your fair.4. Brainstorm ways to leverage a fair feature to help you

achieve communication goals with each group.

u Cheap Advertising. Placed flyers on the tablesinviting customers to play the game and eat here atleast one day the week of the holiday and receiveextra chances at prizes.

u Free Publicity. Contact local media with the story.

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Here’s an example ofsomething you might send tokey prospects: “To prove toyou we are fun to work withwe are hosting a pie-eatingcontest on Tuesday. Y’allcome on by and have somepie.”

The world is a carnival—buy a wristband and ride all day!EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

69Partnering With Worthy Causes Helps

You Make New FriendsCauses such as chil-

dren’s hospitals, humane so-cieties, housing programs,and cancer research eachhave a following. This fol-lowing generates a type ofmomentum advancing thecause. Adding some type ofcause-related component toyour marketing approach isgood way to energize yoursales. To benefit fully fromyour involvement, you mustplan and act strategically.


AssignmentPlug local fair dates

into your 12-month com-munications calendar.See how it fits in with oth-er plans.

AssignmentThink about a cause

that would match up wellwith your business. Con-sider causes that wouldresonate with your pre-ferred customers andyour employees. Performsome Internet research tosee what’s going on glo-bally in the category youchoose.

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70A Mother’s Day Makeover

The true value of a quick idea to increase sales is how itcombines with other quick ideas to build a goal-oriented salesimprovement program. If you want to improve your routine

You can’t have too many friends.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

A locally owned hardware store champions a Habitat forHumanity home build project. Every aspect of this cause rela-tionship is relevant to its business. It doesn’t get much betterthan this:

u Customers are engaged when a clerk asks ifthey’d like to donate $1 to help build a home.They write their name on a special house-shapedcard and hang it on the wall.

u Building supplies are provided to reduce the costof the build and suppliers get involved by makingprice concessions.

u Prospects learn of the opportunity to support thecause through mailings to promote the store.

u Employees, customers, prospects, and suppliersare invited to participate as volunteers in the homebuild project.

u The community hears about the store and theproject through the media.

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communication with your key audiences, consider tapping intothe interest and emotion surrounding holidays. Mother’s Daycards are one of the industry’s top sales categories.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the only practicalway to communicate with your customers and prospects is send-ing sales offers. Consider these suggestions:

u Employees, custom-ers, prospects, andsuppliers are invited toparticipate as volun-teers in a home buildproject.

u Develop a list of cre-ative ways to celebrateMother ’s Day andsend it to your con-tacts. It will surelytouch their hearts, and it just might keep them outof trouble this year.

u Include a footer message on each sheet mention-ing some current product-related news.

u Get employees or suppliers involved by solicitingcreative ideas.

u Plant trees or flowers near your office in honor ofmothers. Make an event out of it.

Making more sales is about improving and increasing yourrelationships. Let Mom give you a hand!

Touching hearts is always good for business.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentTreat Mother’s Day

and Father’s Day as op-portunities to use themomentum of an exist-ing event to approachcustomers and increaserelationships.

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71Information Overload Meets

Relevant Intelligence

Information overload is a topic getting a lot of attention.Your customers and prospects are feeling the crunch of tryingto keep up with their daily work and demands of staying in-formed. The Internet is making it easier to get information, butit isn’t necessarily providing useful insights to make their liveseasier…today. This is a special opportunity for you to providevalue-added service.

Would a more informed customer and prospect pool helpyou increase sales? Challenge yourself to name at least threetypes of information that, if your prospects knew they would bemore willing to make a buying decision for your service. Thengo about establishing creative ways to share this information.Using third-party references will help your cause the most.Become known as a goodresource.

A company that sellsbehavioral testing for jobscreening has trouble con-vincing companies to spend$225 per candidate on its in-strument. It is constantlyfrustrated by not havingenough sales. But a majorreason the company doesn’tclose deals is that prospects don’t understand the total cost ofemployee turnover. This situation is a ideal one to connect causeand solution.

AssignmentList the publications that

your customers read. Cre-ate a practical frameworkfor gathering and sharingnews and ideas relevant tothese customers.

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Read to share.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

72Be Bold: Stand for Something

Whether you’re a salesperson who is doing your life’s work,or someone picking up a paycheck, you need to figure out whatyou stand for. It starts with you personally, grows to include theproducts you sell, and then encompasses the customers you serve.

You must decide how you fit into the company and the in-dustry you’re working in and decide in advance what you standfor. Your personal stand should not conflict with the corporateposition.

The flip side to standing for something is admitting what youdon’t do. Be prepared to rule out some customers. Be bold inyour screening and you’ll have time to pursue those who matchyour stand.

A sales rep worked for a sign company. The owner taughthim to quote the type and size of the signs based on key vari-ables. The company presented itself as a cut above by standingits ground on its recommendations—not just giving the custom-

ers what they want. Theyoccasionally lost deals to oth-er companies willing to sell apoor solution. The companybecame known as a principledcompany.


AssignmentFigure out what you

stand for. See if it match-es your current gig.

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Stand for something or fall for anything.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

73Be Real: Share Yourself and Your Stories

You will get more results—sales and otherwise—if youfigure out a way to bring your whole self to the job. Whetheryou are looking to inspire referrals from a networking group ortrying to convince an existing customer to move your firm up toa primary supplier position, your best achievements will comewhen you apply yourself100 percent.

Getting acquainted is animportant part of the trust-and rapport-building phaseof business development.Transparency is highly val-ued in the formal salesphase. Customers oftencome to cherish friendlysupplier relationships thatstand the test of time. Each phase of business developmentbrings new opportunities for sharing our stories and will pro-vide you with tangible benefits, including:

u When customers know and trust you, they natu-rally share more information, making it is easierto provide them with the solutions they need.

AssignmentConsider how each one

of your roles contributes tothe whole you and how itbetter prepares you for theprofessional role servingyour customers.

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Be real; it’s easier than pretending.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

u When you share a story about something that chal-lenged you, it opens a door for them to revealpotential challenges that they face.

u Interesting people get referred more often.

The gift of kindness is one of life’s great blessings. Thinkingmore about others than yourself can have an amazing effect onyour own well-being as well as your sales. Start this interest andconcern before you even know your clients personally. Makesome choices about the niches to serve, gather information, anddevelop an understanding of their needs.

A sales rep for a large printshop has carved out a niche, call-ing on businesses that produce avariety of business publications.His customers appreciate thecombination of speed and quali-ty. One of his customers wasstruggling with the demands ofher employer. There was a lot offorced overtime that was makingit impossible for her to manageher family life.

74Be Kind: Show Genuine Interest

and Concern


AssignmentWhether you are a

startup or an establishedbusiness, decide to iden-tify your best niche.Most business peopleare not brave aboutchoosing.

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75Talk Easily About Money: Pricing

People like doing business with confident individuals. Oneway you demonstrate confidence and increase sales is by notavoiding money talk. The three places many sales people gettripped up in money talk are premature pricing questions, recog-nizing add-on work, and details on getting paid.

How to Manage Premature Pricing Questions:Tip 1: Tell your prospect in advance when you’ll provide a

price. “Today, I’m gathering information about your situa-tion. My next step will be to bring you a price quote.”

Tip 2: Discuss key variables that impact pricing structure.Several should be embedded in your discovery process anyway.“One of the elements that impact our project is your timeline. Tell me about your expectations around timing.”

Tip 3: Plan in advance what you’ll say if the prospect askswhat you charge. “My price is typically a project price. I’lloutline what the work looks like and run it by you. Once we

Caring comes from knowing.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

The sales rep contacted his other customers in search of aposition for this woman. His solid standing with them influencedthe recommendation and he did this with full knowledge of therisk that her replacement may not choose to use his print servic-es. The woman was able to change jobs to a more family-friendlywork environment and, as it turned out, he didn’t lose the busi-ness at the original account.

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agree on the work, I’ll be able to price it for you. Are youworking from some pre-set budget numbers you’re con-cerned about fitting theproject into?”

If you’re being trans-parent in your money talkand the prospect still seemsanxious about pricing, tryasking specifically what’s onhis or her mind. It’s best toknow.

76Talk Easily About Money:

Add-On Projects

Confident money talk builds trust, and trust is the basisfor relationships.


Talk easily about add-on work. Methods for add-on workshould be addressed early so customers are prepared for can-did assessments and quotes when needed. What isn’t includedin your initial project can be just as important as what is.

How to Manage Project Add-Ons:Tip 1: Proposals should include references to other phas-

es, even if you’re not quoting them at this time. Develop initialscope to show how your piece fits into the larger customer


AssignmentList elements that have

impact on your pricing strat-egy. Develop three phrasesyou can use early in the pro-cess that demonstrate atransparency about pricing.

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If the customer isn’t getting what he or she wants and/oryou’re not getting paid for what you do, then you have a lose/lose deal going on and you’re bound to crash.


77Talk Easily About Money: Invoicing

Getting paid should not be an Olympic event. Establish yourown expectations and always find out what your customersexpect. It’s that simple.

situation. “I’m quoting this initial phase of work. After it iscomplete, we’ll have the insights to quote the next phase.”

Tip 2: Customer work agreements should include a state-ment about add-on work. “Investment is based on workdetailed in the proposal. If during our project additional workis identified, it will be clarified and quoted separately.”

Tip 3: Talk with yourcustomer as soon as yourecognize add-on work.“John, I’d like to talkabout the new productline you’re introducingand how we might incor-porate it into the workwe’re doing on the xyzproject. Would 2:00 workfor you?”

AssignmentUse a basic work plan

to scope out all details ofyour work. Make sure todocument transition of phas-es and estimate the time foreach activity.

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How to Get Paid Without a Fuss:Tip 1: Project agreements should clearly state dates and

amounts. “Investment for the work described in proposalwill be $10,000. Initial payment of $4,000 is due upon ac-ceptance of agreement, with monthly installments of $1,500due on July 1, August 1, September 1, and October 1.”

Tip 2: During the same conversation, when the deal isapproved clarify procedures for getting paid.

u “John, who do I need to speak with for in-structions on invoicing? I want to make sure Iknow what you need from me so we can stayon track with billing.”

u “After my initial payment, my monthlies aredue on the first. Do they need to be in ac-counting by a certain day for that to happen?”

u “If there’s ever an issue with payments shouldI come directly to you or would you rather Ispoke with someone else?”

Tip 3: Send your invoicesas instructed and expect to getpaid on time. If not, use theremedy prescribed by yourcustomer. “John, I haven’t re-ceived my July 1 payment asexpected. I’m pretty sure wefollowed procedures. Willyou check on it and let meknow what needs to happento get us paid?”

Confident money talk is important, so practice as muchas necessary.



AssignmentDraft a sample

statement for yourproposals/agreementsabout how you expectto be paid. Be confidentin your money talk.

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If everything has a price, then everything should also havea value.


78Understand the Value of a No-SaleNo matter how tough they talk, most salespeople hate fail-

ing to make the sale. Although it’s understandable to bedisappointed, a no-sale response still has a financial value. Onceyou’re able to put a value on the no-sale you will likely in-crease your sales, because you will move on with more ease.

Perform an analysis using a specific service or productline. Look at the last 12–24 months and count the number ofsales you made. After determining your average sales amount,

divide it by the number of no-sales and you will have the valueof a no-sale.

One of my favorite phras-es on the subject comes fromZig Ziglar, sales guru, author,and evangelist. I’ve shared itcountless times over the yearsto encourage small business

owners and it bears repeating here: “Thank you for the $100*!”(*Insert the value of your no-sale here.)

Putting a real dollar value on your no-sale transactions willhelp you to appreciate their place in the continuum. That doesn’tmean that you should just accept them. Tell prospects in ad-vance that you’ll want to understand the details behind theirdecision—either way.

AssignmentUse the formula

presented here to deter-mine the value of yourno-sale transactions.

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79Retail Stores Put Up a Good Front

There is something excit-ing about setting up a newstore—with street traffic, dis-play windows, shelves, andracks holding just the right com-bination of merchandise. Eventhe crowded back room has acertain charm.

Though an increasinglysmaller percentage of salesoccur in a brick-and-mortar store environment these days, it stillprovides a great visual model for you to examine your own sell-ing scenarios. Consider these ideas:

1. Merchandise: What do you sell? It takes a very specialstore that can sell at both ends of a product continuum. What’syour niche?

2. Location, Location, Location: It’s shocking how manybusinesspeople do not clearly select their locations. They wouldnot dream of opening a store in some of the areas they try to sellin. What’s your target market?

3. Storefront/Curb Appeal: How does the business lookas people walk up to it? First impressions mean a great deal.What’s your image?

4. Sales Clerk: How will you help your customers findthe right size? What’s your sales process?

Go shopping and find out what’s in store for you.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentGo to a store that car-

ries products you enjoy andtake in the storefront andthe attributes you seethere. Perform a compar-ison using the elementslisted here.

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The loss leader tactic is not a silver bullet. It is a client-attraction strategy that must be incorporated into a thoughtfulsales process.


80The Principle of the Loss Leader

My husband loves it when a new electronics superstore opensin our city. They tend to bring in truckloads of neat items thatthey sell at very low prices—presumably at a loss (hence thenickname “loss leader”). What makes this a viable tactic is thatpeople go there to get the neat, cheap items and walk out withother not-so-cheap items. Better yet, they have sampled the storeand will likely return again to make future purchases.

u A loss leader is not a free gift. The customer mustmake a purchase. You just don’t get to make aprofit on it.

u The loss leader should be offered in a product cat-egory that represents target customers you wantto attract and there-fore lead easily into aprofitable relationship.(For example, an ITconsulting companyshould not offer a dis-counted toaster aspart of its new client-attraction program.)

Consider the rangeof products you offerand see if it makes senseto carve out a loss lead-er that could lead you toa profitable relationship.

Assignment

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81Convenience Stores Give You Gas

Did you know that convenience stores make little profit ontheir gas? I know we like to beat them up because of the priceswings, but they make very little money on their gas. So youcould say—in a way—that they give you gas. The convenientstore profit model is based on getting customers into the store.

One chain in our town offers a free candy bar with everyfill-up. Now, I know what you’re thinking: How can an 89¢candy bar inspire me to spend $70 to fill up my SUV? Thefact is, their prices are as good/bad as any station and it’s a nicegesture.

But wait, there’s more.Do you think they bring it outand say thank you for buy-ing our expensive gas? No,of course not. They want/need you to come in to thestore to collect your free can-dy and hopefully buy an icecold slushie, which, by theway, is likely to be one of thelargest profit centers in thestore.

While your customers are filling up with what you think isyour core product, is there something else you should beselling them back in your store?



AssignmentLook at your products

and services. Do you haveone of those got-to-haveproduct lines that carry a highpass-through cost with littleroom for making your ownprofit? What could you offerin your store that levels theplaying field?

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The bottom-line principle of celebrity endorsement is to getprospects’ attention so you can tell them about your product.


82Popular Brands Use Celebrities

to Strengthen CredibilityThe goal of celebrity endorsement is to use the star power

of the celebrity to gain approval for the product, transferringthe consumer’s admiration for the celebrity to the product. Butit’s expensive, and therefore becomes the purview of the big-budget advertisers. If you think that you could increase yoursales with some sort of celebrity endorsement, consider thefollowing ideas:

u Imagine that you have an unlimited budget to ac-quire a celebrity to help you tell your story. Whowould you pick and why? Is there a local celeb-rity who could accomplish this same visibility?

u What would you want the celebrity to say or doon behalf of yourproduct?

These ideas will show howendorsement could help you in-crease your sales as well ashighlight an advertising ap-proach for your products. Is itpossible that you could gain theimpact you seek with a moreaffordable tactic?

AssignmentWork through these

ideas and keep boilingyour responses downuntil to get to solutionyou can fit into yourbudget. Think local.

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83So Many Choices, So Little Time

When thinking about ways to increase sales it pays to lookat the dining-out craze. Many people eat restaurant meals sev-eral times per week. There are literally hundreds of places forthem to choose from, but research indicates that most peoplefrequent around five to eight different places.

Some would say that it’s advertising that keeps folks com-ing back. But many restaurants that have been around for awhile don’t advertise much. Established restaurants achievetheir best traffic by consistently preparing good food; providingquality service; and maintaining a clean, safe, and pleasant at-mosphere. Operational excellence is their best promotionaltactic. Their goal: Bring them back for more! Don’t over-spend

to generate new customers;concentrate on keeping yourold customers.

If you sell a product orservice that is consideredconsumable, perhaps oper-ational excellence will beyour best promotional tactic.Allocate resources in sup-port of this approach as if itwere as tangible as adver-tising. The promotional plansfor a start-up should lookvery different than that of amature business.


AssignmentDevelop sales objec-

tives that start with thenumber of transactionsyou need to reach yourgoals. Now identify howmany new customers youneed to achieve yourgoals. As you demonstrateretention, be sure to shiftpromotional resources to-ward the retention goals.

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84Inventors Use Infomercials to Tell a

Complex StoryHow many times have you been flipping channels and landed

on an infomercial that caught your attention? I’ll bet many ofyou have ordered something.

An infomercial is an excellent way to tell a complex storyor show dramatic results. This is why they are used so fre-quently by innovators and inventors to introduce their newproducts. Produced by combining a collection of elements suchas customer testimonials, product descriptions, and live dem-onstrations, the infomercial becomes a versatile asset.Infomercials can be viewedon a Website or at tradeshows, or burned to DVD anddistributed along with otherpromotional materials. Andwith all of the cable channelsavailable, TV is more afford-able than ever.

One of the biggest com-plaints from people who sell

AssignmentIs your product an in-

novation? Would aninfomercial help you in-crease sales? What wouldyour key message be, andwho would you like to seeit? Remember: It has via-ble uses beyond television.

Operational excellence is a viable promotional strategy.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

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85Big Tickets Get Big Thanks

Businesses that have highdollar transactions and/or long-term agreements often give bigthank-you gifts to customers andinfluencers shortly after a deal issigned. Reasons include:

u To show the customerthat they and the trans-action are important tothem.

u To mark the transitionfrom prospect to customer and celebrate the trustthey have established.

u To encourage the influencers to continue to pro-vide positive influence.

Maybe if you did an infomercial and sent it to your par-ents they would finally understand what it is you actually do.


complex products and services is that their prospects and cus-tomers just don’t get it. Either they are presenting to the wrongpeople and/or they need to tell a better story. If they say, “It’stoo expensive to make an infomercial,” I ask, “How expensiveis it to go out of business?”


AssignmentConsider what

transactions wouldwarrant a special gift.Try not to believe thatthe customer wouldlove something withyour business nameplastered all over it.

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Gift responsibly. Don’t overspend. Try to avoid giftingduring holidays when everyone will be getting in on the act, asyour gift could be lost in the shuffle and therefore minimize itsimpact.


86A Chocolate on Your Pillow

A nice hotel turns down your bed at night and, if you’rereally lucky, places a chocolate treat on your pillow. The reallygood ones also know if you have special dietary needs and youmay get something sugar-free.

They’re showing their customers how happy they are tohave them as guests andthat they care about theircomfort.

An IT consulting com-pany may be all aboutnetwork security and per-formance. Routine e-mailsto groups of registered us-ers at customer locations toremind them to perform

u To leave a reminder of the relationship aroundthe office, especially if your service is not a visi-ble one.

A thank-you gift should always include a personal note ofgratitude for what’s been accomplished as well as a spark ofwhat’s to come.

AssignmentTake time to identify a

practical and relevant way toshow care and concern foryou’re customers. Clue: itdoesn’t have to include choc-olate, but don’t rule it out.

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87Independent Consultants

Go One-on-OneThe practice-development habits of independent consultants

provide a great study in the collection and use of customer knowl-edge. Consultants often evolve into their “independent” rolethrough a series of jobs and projects, allowing them to finely tunecustomer and project preferences along the way.

Because of the closeworking arrangements theseprofessionals have with clients,they gather a great deal of per-sonal and business informationabout them. This intelligencecan be used to create compel-ling project quotes containing:

If comfort and care is the bottom line at a hotel, what isyour bottom line? Establish an approach that further supportsthe kind of partner you want to be with your customers.


some routine check could be highlighted by some personal tid-bit about healthy living, where to get cheap food, or tips forkeeping the peace at home. Or it could include a great tip oncomputer use.

These activities routinely get your company in front of animportant customer audience and remind them of the servicesyou are providing. And it positions you for further work later.


AssignmentChoose two elements

from the independent con-sultant model that you canadd to your approach toincreasing sales.

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88Consultants Live Their Work

Call them thought leaders. Call them advocates. Call themcrazy! But call them when you need the products and servicesthey offer because they instill a confidence that comes from

u Solid situation analysis—restating customer goalsand demonstrating the consultant’s competence.

u Project approach ideas for achieving success, in-cluding phasing and timing.

u A fee structure that provides fairly for the clientand the consultant.

Independent consultants are also likely to be:u Clear on how many projects they can handle ef-

fectively (workload).u Working on projects for which they have relevant

experience (niche).u Working with clients that they know they can truly

help (good testimonials).u Working on making the next sale by simply doing

their job well (referrals, niche).

Figure out how to break your customer/prospect poolsinto narrowly defined subgroups. This should allow you todevelop stronger profiles that can be used in selecting moreeffective targeting and servicing strategies.


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If you can’t figure out how sharing your gifts and talentscan help you make more sales, you may be in the wrong job.Perhaps it’s time to consider an income strategy more in align-ment with who you are. Then people will call you crazy!


absolute knowing. It’s not that they are obsessed with their work(although some probably are), it’s that their work is often anextension of who they are.

An independent con-sultant may have a gift forplanning and organization.Combine the gift with spe-cific industry knowledgeand access to prospects andthey become very good atmaking sales. Access toprospects often comesfrom active involvement in the community as consultants alsotend to share their gifts in service clubs, church, neighborhoodassociations, school, and so on. What can you take from thiscase in point to increase your sales?

89Home Builders Do the Work

Home builders are bold. They go into the neighborhoodswhere they’d like to sell and build homes and then—gasp—


AssignmentIdentify the core gifts

and talents that create thefoundation for what you do.Think about how you canshare your gifts and talentsmore in your day-to-day life.

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If seeing is believing, then demonstrating is convincing,and doing the work is inspiring.


they build homes! What a great idea. It’s the “doing the work”strategy.

The next step is to put in place a follow-through strategyto convert your “work” into customers. Home builders stafftheir model homes with cheerful souls hired to lead custom-ers through the home selection and buying process (a much

easier mission when you havean actual home to show offyour trademark features).Even better, a model home isnot really a marketing ex-pense: Eventually they sellthe home and recoup the orig-inal investment plus a profit.How many other industriescan actually sell their market-ing investments later for aprofit?

Another industry that lends itself well to the “doing thework” strategy is the field of consulting. A local organizingconsultant wanted her fellow business networking group tobegin referring clients to her, but she wasn’t getting any busi-ness. To help them better understand her services she offeredeach one of them an introductory package for his or her homeor office. Now they understand how she can help.

AssignmentHow can you devel-

op a “just do the work”strategy? What condi-tions have to exist to finda place to do what youdo—as a self-marketingapproach?

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90Big Business Inspires Big Ideas

No matter how huge big business gets, the little guy alwaysseems to find a way to carve out a niche. In fact, the nicheoften evolves out of a gap left in the market by the big boys orout of a surplus of demand created by the big boy’s big market-ing machines.

In an effort to see what you can learn about promotionsfrom the big boys, you are challenged to consider some marketinformation:

u Major retailers invest heavily in market intelligencebefore selecting building sites. Other retailers arecontent to follow them into markets.

u Big brands produceexpensive commer-cials (think of theSuper Bowl). Theiren t repreneur ia lcounterparts co-opthat momentum tocatapult their ownbusiness.

u Big business has lotsof departments andentrepreneurs havelots of hats.

If you are a smaller busi-ness taking on a big companyyou will think bigger by sim-ply keeping it in your sights.

AssignmentConsider the big busi-

ness players in your industry.What type of promotionalactivities are they doing thatyou wish you could afford?Broaden your view to all in-dustries. Now see what kindof scaled effort is possible.

If you ARE the big boyin your industry, then youmight find it useful to do thisexercise to see how thesmaller guys are nipping atyour heels.


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Following the leader is not such a bad idea as long as theleader is going someplace you want to go, too. Allow yourselfto be inspired, not oppressed.


91Marketing Is a Hard Number

One quick idea to increase sales comes to us from Corpo-rate America. Those folks routinely establish marketing budgets

with strong funding. Ear-marking a percentage ofyour income to reinvest inmarketing assures thatyou will have a businessto come home to year af-ter year.

Three to five percentof sales is a common mar-keting budget, whileorganizations in growthmode invest more. Onlineoperations selling high-margin products invest up

to 50 percent of their income in marketing, most of which goesfor customer acquisition. A financial commitment to marketingis critical to increase your sales.

AssignmentFind out what others in-

vest in marketing. Publiccompanies file annual reportsthat include financials. Checkout some that you think mighthave a similar style of busi-ness. The dollar values maybe different, but the percent-ages should be useful.

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AssignmentWhat can you learn

from the coffee shop indus-try that might help youincrease your own sales?What would make your cus-tomers interested andcomfortable hanging aroundyou or your business?

If you were serious about going on vacation, you wouldnot just think about it. You would actually ask for the time offfrom work, buy a plane ticket, reserve a hotel, and arrange forsomeone to feed your dog and get the mail. Why is it thatmany organizations only dream about marketing?


92Coffee Shops Invite Us to Hang OutCoffee shops tend to lean heavily on the hospitality model

of promotions. It is sometimes hard to tell how they makeenough sales to keep the places going.

Their gestures relating to hospitality are so overt there isno mistaking their intent. For example:

u They install free Wi-Fi so you can retrievee-mail and visit Websites, and you don’t reallyhave to go to youroffice at all unlessyour boss is oldschool.

u They also providenewspapers andmagazines just incase you did notbring enough ofyour own work.Some shops havea lending library.


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u They offer free coffee refills and will even makeyou lunch.

u More and more coffee shops are staying openlater in evenings and offering entertainment fromlocal musical talent.

The coffee shop theme is pretty consistent: Come early.Stay long. We love having you around. Why? Because whileyou are there, they have a chance to sell more.

Maybe the takeaway here is that you should spend someextended time in your favorite coffee shop and see what thehospitality model is all about.


93Free Cell Phones Aren’t Free

Repeat after me: My cell phone is just a tool. And: Afree phone is not really free. Introducing the “upgrade ordie” strategy for business development! Consider these facts:The free cell phone doesn’t do anything for you until you addbasic service. The basic service only teases you with all thosegreat features your friends use until you upgrade to includeunlimited photos, text messages, and e-mail. And then, onceyou embrace the great features, you will need an upgradedphone for full enjoyment.

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94A Web-Based Business

Thrives on VisitorsWeb-based business models are writing the book on build-

ing traffic to their doors, and it’s a book the rest of us need toread. There are a lot of factors that make the online businessmodels different from brick-and-mortar business, but here we’re

Take time to allow this model to spark some creative think-ing. It has not been that long since cell phones were only soldin specialty stores. Now you can get a phone and pre-paidminutes at all the big box stores.


Cell phones have be-come mainstream—anecessity to most. The busi-ness model is conditioningthe consumer population toallow, embrace, and evenappreciate the “upgrade ordie” sales strategy, essential-ly paving the way for otherbusinesses to tap the ap-proach to achieving moresales.

AssignmentConsider aspects of

your business that could bedelivered to your customerson a month-to-month basis,for example in a subscrip-tion style, either in additionto your typical relationshipor as an entry-level service.


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going to concentrate on thetraffic building illustration.Some of the tactics theyuse are:

u Offering qualitycontent that be-comes highlyforwarded to oth-ers (such as viralmarketing, akaword-of-mouthmarketing!).

u Advertising/linkingfrom sites that cater to their prospects.

u Routinely performing search engine optimization(SEO) to become highly visible to consumers whoare actually looking for their products or services.

u Advertising in targeted traditional ways.Many Web-based businesses don’t expect to see their pros-

pects face to face or even talk with them in real-time. Therefore,they tend to work harder than the typical brick-and-mortar busi-ness to create useful collateral materials and decision-makingtools that engage prospects in the decision-making process.

Visitors alone are not the answer, but once you build themachine to increase the traffic, it can be tweaked until you’regetting the best prospects.


AssignmentIn Web-based busi-

ness fashion, uncover ideasto increase traffic to yourbusiness. Imagine your or-ganization as an onlinebusiness if that helps youget in the groove. Heck,maybe you ought to be aWeb-based business!

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Conversion, by definition, is a change in nature, form, orfunction of something. Is it time for conversion in your busi-ness development approach?


95Converting from Free to Fee

Conversion is a change in the nature of the relationship be-tween the online business and the prospect. The number-onegoal is to impress the visitor enough to get his or her name and e-mail address. Once that is achieved your chances of turningthem into a paying customer go up dramatically.

Now I ask you, “What business wouldn’t benefit from theopportunity to send information or samples to lots of interestedpeople?” One element that makes the online model worth copy-ing is that visitors are encouraged to subscribe to newsletters,e-zines, or topical newsblasts. This conver-sion to subscriber ishuge because it allowsthem to pitch subscrib-ers each time they sendthe requested content.

Next is conver-sion from free to fee.Offers of fee-basedproducts and premiumcontent are expertlypresented with everyissue of the routine communication. The rate of conversion topaying customer is worthy of great attention.


AssignmentAsk yourself what part of

your process to move prospectsalong the buying continuumcould be infused with conver-sion principles from online? Visitsome of your own favorite sitesspecifically to observe conver-sion techniques.

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96Affiliate Programs Multiply Your Efforts

Affiliate programs increase sales of core products and pro-vide a second business with additional income streams. Thispromotional approach, popularized by the online business model,is worthy of our study. Consider this example.

An online business selling cheap airline tickets wants to in-crease its sales. Here’s what it does:

u Identify other onlinemerchants with com-patible products andgood traffic.

u Establish a commis-sion program, which isperfect, because youpay only after a saleis made.

u Set up a link on thenew partner’s site soits visitors can clickthrough and buy cheap tickets.

u Enjoy increased traffic and sales through the useof affiliate programs.

Because this has become such a popular approach to in-creasing sales, it has spawned a class of businesses that specializein matching up affiliates.

Test the water. You might be surprised who else is think-ing along these lines.


AssignmentWhether you are

brick-and-mortar or on-line, consider the benefitsof an affiliate program tohelp increase sales. Whomight make good part-ners? Look online.

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97Events Accomplish Success With

Grassroots EffortsA grassroots approach

for promotional purposes isbased on maximizing volun-teers in the promotionalcampaign. When promotingevents, this technique of in-volving grassroots volunteerscan dramatically increase yourpromotional impact.

Grassroots efforts inevent promotions often takethe following forms of supportfrom the volunteers:

u Selling raffle tickets. (Asking people to sell a min-imum number each often ends up in many beingsold directly to the volunteers.)

u Selling event tickets.u Putting up posters in public locations.u Word-of-mouth marketing.u Handing out information cards driving people back

to the event Website.Grassroots efforts need to be organized so that volunteers

can be well supplied to make it super easy for them to activate.

There is safety in numbers. Consider forming a herd!EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


AssignmentIdentify someone

who represents a “grass-roots” promotional teamfor your business orcause. Consider whatthey could help you ac-complish in their ownunique way.

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98Events Rally Corporate Support

One goal of every corporation is to connect with its key au-diences, including employees, customers, prospects, suppliers, andcommunity. Depending on size, industry, and market, many or-ganizations find it challengingto make these connections.

Event promoters under-stand this corporate reality andleverage this knowledge togarner support for their events.In fact, for many events, cor-porate involvement is theprimary income stream, withspectator ticket sales and on-site sales coming in second andthird, respectively. Here is a sampling of promotional elementsevents used to make money while helping corporations commu-nicate:

u Corporate chalets for hosting employee picnics orcustomer-appreciation events.

u Big-screen advertising provides an outlet for thecompany to show its latest advertising.

u Exhibit spaces are available for sampling and one-on-one interaction with prospects, customers, andpotential employees.

Linking your approach to the needs of prospects makeslife so much easier.


AssignmentAre there any ele-

ments you can borrowfrom either the corporateside or the event side? Inorder to sell, you have toreach the right people.

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99Not-for-Profits Get People

to Help Them SellYou probably know that major not-for-profits such as the

United Way, the March of Dimes, and the Children’s MiracleNetwork garner lots of corporate support for their annual cam-paigns. Here are a few program elements that make them sosuccessful at getting all this help raising money:

u Well-organized system for corporate involvement.u Campaign materials (videos, brochures, promo

items) that will inspire people to give to their cause.u Borrowed staff program where employees are tem-

porarily assigned to the cause in the role ofchampion and often make up informal speakingbureaus.

u Champions also get opportunities to participate inhigh-quality volunteer training and can be incorpo-rated as part of theorganization’s staffdevelopment.

u Public exposure fortheir contributions.

u A rallying point foremployees can bevery powerful.

I am continually shockedby the number of small busi-ness people who ask for helppromoting or influencing ontheir behalf that don’t have the basics in place that would allowothers to help.

AssignmentTake time right now to

take an inventory of the col-lateral materials and systemsupports you have thatwould be useful for some-one willing to be aninfluencer on your behalf.


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Being prepared to receive help from others is the leastyou can do.


100Galleries and Museums Host

Special Showings

Retail art galleries make an interesting business model.Galleries are retail in nature, because of the storefront, butwith a social style closer to that of a community center. Asuccessful gallery becomes a hub of activity for artists andtheir customers.

A primary promotional strategy for galleries is the “SpecialShowing.” Special showings give the gallery and their artistsgreat flexibility in targetmarketing. They can picktheir crowd by their choicefor the show and pick theirshow by their crowd. It is aunique opportunity for tar-geting both product andprospects.

Here are a few of theelements that galleries havefor leverage in their promo-tional approach:

AssignmentVisit an art gallery this

week and see if you get aninspiration. Consider if youcould benefit from having agroup of people milling aboutyour place, having fun, eat-ing good food, and being acommunity. Then come upwith your own “show” idea.

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Would your products stand up to a special showing?EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

u Location, facilities, image.u Art in general/certain artists in particular.u Artist style or topical themes that lead to other

target pools.u Community of other artists and their customers.u Knowing how to throw a theme party.

101Do You Want BBQ With That Windshield?

Some businesses seem to be a commodity. That is, theredoesn’t seem to be much to separate one supplier from anoth-er. Though it may be technically untrue, it’s the generalconsensus among consumers. That leaves promotional ap-proaches as the key variable in separating the winners fromthe losers in the competitive world of retail.

One pair of clever re-tailers in Arizona fights thegood fight. Empire Glasspartners with El Paso Bar-B-Que to offer free BBQwith every new windshield.The restaurant provides the

AssignmentConsider whether a joint

marketing venture makessense for you. Who wouldyou like to partner with?


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glass company (six) two-for-one coupons, each good duringone particular month of the year (a $60 value).

Every person who buys a windshield at Empire gets a giftin the form of free BBQ. Empire does not pay the restaurantcash for the gifts, and the restaurant does not pay to have theirpromotional coupons delivered. Both merchants have multiplelocations in the market area, so there is good synergy. This isjoint marketing.

102Bloggers Stir the Water

Joint marketing can make a meal out of a broken window.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

Blogging has become one the latest forms of free expres-sion. This online form of information-sharing is fast becominga communication must-have for a variety of purposes, such as:

u Creating marketing buzz about new products ornew uses of old products.

u Allowing employees (who are often subject-matterexperts) to share information conversationallywith users of your products and services.

u Presenting political views and reactions to pro-posed public policy.

u Providing an open platform for fact-sharing onissues where the mainstream media may not beoffering the news objectively.

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103The Bookstore Bonanza

It cracks me up to think about how many stories predictedthat book sales on the Internet would surely put brick-and-mortar bookstores out of business. It hasn’t happened yet! Infact, bookstores are more awesome than ever.

One thing that’s excitingabout blogging is that basi-cally anyone with somethingto say (and even those whoseem to have nothing usefulto say) can be the proudowner of a personal blogwithin minutes. Starting ablog is free and simple on-line, just as lots of other onlinepromotional opportunities areinexpensive and easy to use.

AssignmentCould you increase

your sales by starting ablog? What kind of infor-mation do you wish youcould share more freely?Go online and check outblog search engineswww.technorati .com ,www.pubsub.com, andwww.feedster.com to seewhat else comes up underyour topics.


With the world of marketing being so sound bite orient-ed. Blogging may be a good way to tell...the rest of the story(thanks to Paul Harvey).


www.technorati.com

www.pubsub.com

www.feedster.com

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Here’s how the threat has helped reshape their businessmodel and make more sales:

u Most bookstores now have a very nice coffeeshop/café, creating a space for customers to en-joy their books and hold meetings.

u Music offerings have increased exponentially, add-ing new target markets.

u They’ve incorpo-rated spaces forauthors to interactwith customers.

u Most have theirown online stores,helping them hangonto loyal custom-ers who wish tobuy online.

u Many have creat-ed membershipand loyalty pro-grams featuring e-mail communica-tions that offerdiscounts.

Being in a bookstore reminds you how much more lifeyou have left to explore. Get busy. If you were selling more,you could afford more vacations.


AssignmentGo to a bookstore.

Check out the periodicalsand sample the businessmagazines and those relat-ing to your products andindustries. Walk through theplace and take it in as a busi-ness model. Now go to thecafé for some refreshmentsand ponder what you canborrow from the bookstoremodel that will help you in-crease sales.

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104Scrip Bank Multiplies the Love

Here’s the market situation:1. Consumers need to make their hard-earned money go

as far as possible.2. Merchants need a flow of new and repeat customers

and have a limited amount of money for promotions.3. Not-for-profits need to raise money for their causes

and are looking for creative ways that don’t burdentheir supporters.

4. Scrip Bank wants to sponsor a business model thatbuilds wealth in the community by helping others getwhat they need.

Here’s the Scrip Bank multiplier:u Consumers purchase scrip in the Scrip Bank

merchant program. They spend the same moneybudgeted as usual on food, car care, furniture,and so forth. They allocate 20 percent of theirpurchase to the charity/cause of their choice.

u Merchants receive new and repeat customerscoming to redeem scrip. They receive free ad-vertising services (via Scrip Bank). Their onlycost is the cost of goods sold on the scrip portionof the transaction.

u Not-for-profits receive major donations by en-couraging their supporters to buy scrip and choosethem for their 20 percent charity allocation. Thesecharities drive large numbers of supporters to theprogram.


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u Scrip Bank runs aprofitable business.They provide: adver-tising for merchantsat no cost until theymake a sale; not forprofits with a highyield method of fund-raising that is noburden on anyone;and a way for consumers to make their expensemoney go further.

Sometimes the best way to make money is to spendmoney. Sometimes it’s not!


105Media Outlets Take Their Own Medicine

The media offers us a good study in valuing our product.When there is unsold media inventory (advertising space) latein the cycle, many outlets bundle it and sell at a discount, get-ting as much cash as possible in the short term. This may seemto be a good way to disperse all their space, but it sometimesplays with their value proposition. There are advertisers whowait in the wings to pick off this unsold inventory at below-market prices. These advertisers rarely pay market rates andoften openly disparage standard pricing models.

AssignmentInvestigate opportuni-

ties in your community toacquire free advertising inexchange for a percent-age of your typical salesincome.

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106Retirement Communities

Give Away Vacations

“You Win!… A FREE all expense paid vacation for four!All you have to do to collect your prize is….” We’ve all heardthe pitches—on the phone, in the mail, in the mall. But the fact

Sometimes a sale is a way to fail. Find ways to reinvestexcess inventory in support of your business goals.


Many top-performing media outlets don’t discount their un-sold inventory. Instead, they reinvest it to promote their in-housespecials, marketing projects, and community involvement pro-grams. This reinvestment proves they value the product. Yousee evidence of this type of reinvestment when you see a bill-board or a bus stop bench that says, “People read these signs.

You are!”If you’re having a

problem with the financialportion of your deal, con-sider cutting back on theproject, not on your rate ofpay. Find out what amountthe customer is trying toachieve and, if it’s possible,trim the work accordingly.

AssignmentDecide if you’re willing

to discount your value or re-invest your time moreproactively in things that willhave a higher payoff.


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Trips are good. Adventure is inspiration.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

is that one of the best ways to sell you on a retirement commu-nity is to get you there to experience it. Giving away a freethree-day vacation as an incentive is probably a good market-ing investment. First of all,free or not, most peoplewon’t waste the time un-less they are:

u Hoping to actuallyretire someday.

u Still unsure wherethey want to retire.

u Curious-types whoare always up foran adventure.

These elements can add up to a legitimate target market.This method works pretty well, and I do know people whohave taken and enjoyed many of these promo trips.

AssignmentConsider the pieces and

parts here. Is there a wayto incorporate travel ele-ments into your promotionalapproach? Is your sale abig-ticket item worthy of abig incentive?

107Harley Davidson Builds CommunityHarley Davidson has become an American icon, in the busi-

ness community as well as with the general public. Greatintention and significant PR restored Harley from its earlierbad-boy image.

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What doesn’t kill us, surely makes us stronger.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

The story of Harley Davidson’s business rebirth has beentold many times, and its promotional strategies are worth ex-amination. The rebirth began in the 1980s when a group ofexecutives bought the business back from AMF. The fight backfrom quality issues and a failing corporate infrastructure hasdefinitely made the company stronger than ever.

Since the ownership change in the mid-1980s, Harley David-son has:

u Achieved membership of more than 90,000 inits Harley Ownership Group (H.O.G.).

u Celebrated 25 years of support for theMuscular Dystrophy Association (M.D.A).

u Mainstreamed the availability of its branded ap-parel and merchandise.

u Celebrated its 100th anniversary in Milwaukeewith 250,000 visitors in 2003.

u Expanded its services by offering rental bikes,tour packages, and customized bike building.

u Enhanced relationships with dealers.Harley Davidson has

managed to penetrate everyaspect of the bike ownershipexperience with its businessand promotional strategies.The company has a remark-able history of communitywork, and is worthy of ourstudy. Its cult-like followingmakes it nearly impossiblefor a competitor to get to itscustomers.


Assignment

Go online and visitwww.harleydavidson.comfor a look at communi-ty-building as part of alegitimate business de-velopment strategy.

www.harleydavidson.com

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108You Can Do It, We Can Help!

Home Depot, one of the premium players in the big boxhome improvement segment, has a slogan: “You can do it. Wecan help.” And Home Depot does.

The promotional element we’re highlighting here is the do-it-yourself workshops that Home Depot offers its customers. Ithas a running selection of clinics and workshops on topics rang-ing from tiling your own bathroom to getting ready for grillingseason. It offers clinics in every store, every week.

A quick look at the Website (www.homedepot.com) willshow you how Home Depot interacts with its range of key audi-ences. It has an online catalogue that can ship just about anything

you can buy in a store. Soif you’re fixing up thatdream cabin in the woods,you can go to an in-storeclinic near your home tolearn the techniques, go on-line to place your supplyorder, and have your sup-plies shipped to your cabin.Then all you have to do isshow up next weekend andgo to work. You can do it—Home Depot can help.

Helping your customers achieve their dreams is not toolofty a goal.


AssignmentThink about how you

currently help your custom-ers and prospects achievetheir goals. Is there a wayfor you to provide a clinic orworkshop that will help theminteract better with your coreproducts?

www.homedepot.com

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Business organizations, such as chambers of commerce, pro-vide us with a useful illustration of member retention. In additionto the work they do all year to acquire new members, they haveto be diligent in hanging on to existing members.

Because the highest percentage of their member base issmall companies with one to five employees, the annual duesexpense gets great scrutiny. When the Greater Indianapolis Cham-ber of Commerce sends its renewal for membership, it includesa member benefit report that can be pretty impressive—it al-ways surpasses the investment made by the business. Some reportitems are:

u Number of peoplewho attended net-working functions,with the total value ofthe member discounts.

u How many click-throughs there wereto the member’sWebsite.

u Major accomplish-ments on behalf ofbusiness members (legislative, regulatory).

If you believe that your product or service adds value for thecustomer you ought to be letting them know.

109Organizations Have Long Memory

AssignmentWrite a sample “cus-

tomer renewal notice.”Say all the things you wishyou could say about howyour product helped thecustomer throughout theyear. Now see what youcan do to make it true.

Help people understand the value you add.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


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110Real Estate Agents Do Open HousesSome real estate agents do open houses and some don’t.

The reason most agents give for not doing them is that theyalmost never sell a house as a result of an open house. Theycomplain that visitors are mostly curious neighbors and drive-byswho can’t afford the house or aren’t in the market for a newhome anyway. Therefore, the open house is a waste of time.

The Realtors who do host open houses have the same ex-perience relative to making a sale: they rarely sell by open house.The difference is that these pro-open house Realtors consideropen houses part of their marketing approach—not their salesapproach.

As part of a marketingapproach the open houseprovides the Realtor with:

u Opportunities toshow listing cus-tomers his or herwillingness to gothe extra mile.

u Access to neigh-bors with future interest in listing (listing prospects).

u Access to early-stage lookers not yet working witha realtor (buyer prospects) with whom he or shecan build rapport.

u Downtime used to complete marketing busywork(communicating with all prospects).

There’s nothing quite as nice as having prospects presentthemselves to you.

AssignmentHow could you make a

customer support transac-tion (such as this open house)perform double duty as amarketing strategy?

137

Look beyond the surface to see the true value of anopportunity.


111Buffet Style Feeds the Masses

For a flat price, the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurantis an interesting market mod-el. These restaurants alwaysseem to be busy and manystay in business for a longtime, indicating they must bemaking adequate profits.Their claim to fame is youcan eat as much as you want for the same money.

From the restaurant’s perspective:u They don’t need expensive chefs. Low-paid cooks

follow basic recipes.u There’s less worry about specific items. They put

out what they have.u They have economies of scale, purchasing the

same items all the time.From the customer’s perspective:u It’s an easy group choice with lots of options.u They can choose what looks good.u There are refills on favorites.u The price is a bargain.


AssignmentExamine your product

or service range to see ifthere is potential for a flat-rate, all-you-can-use kindof pricing model.

138


Some professionals have trouble choosing a service niche.Some customers don’t want to carve out a project—they justwant your help.

The solution could be a buffet-style approach including:u A flat-rate, monthly fee (retainer) for a specified

amount of help.u Availability on regular and on-call basis to assist as

needed.u A range of services deployed on demand.If you did all of your business based on retainer accounts,

how many would you need to make your income goal? It’s notfor everyone, but it might be perfect for you.

Take as much as you like, but use all you take.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

112Assisted Living Assists Future Prospects

The demand for assisted-living facilities is growing steadilyalong with our aging population. With early growth comes morecompetition, and thereforefacilities have to becomemore creative in their pro-motional approach.

Some of the more ex-pensive facilities have begunto offer a unique serviceas a method of attracting

AssignmentIdentify one thing you

can do to leverage the oper-ational aspect of yourbusiness inside your market-ing programs.

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113More People Selling Is Better

It’s pretty hard to argue with the idea that more is better.And in the area of business development it’s almost alwaystrue. If your company is set on the ideas of growth and longev-ity, then work at getting more of the team involved in sales,because business development is everyone’s business.

Business development can mean a lot of different things todifferent companies. Some consider business development tobe more marketing-related activities such as networking, branddevelopment, and lead generation done in support of the sales

Make room in your business for a natural link to futureprospects.


future customers. They offer short-term stays for people whoneed special care while their regular caregivers take vacationsor just get away for a long weekend. Marketing these short-term stays allows the facility to:

u Actively market to its best prospects without theawkwardness of selling long-term stays. (This ishuge.)

u Showcase its continuum of concern to both thepotential resident and his or her current care-givers.

u Transfer some marketing costs to operations.u Add an income stream to the business.


140


AssignmentIdentify a few people in

your organization who youthink would be immediatelyresponsive to the idea of anexpanded definition of busi-ness development. Askthem to read Ideas 114–123and then brainstorm ideasfor getting other employeesinvolved.

It should be your goal for sales to increase awareness ofbusiness development throughout the organization.


function. Other companieshire a business developmentperson to be the salesper-son, finding and closing newbusiness.

It won’t be possible (orpractical) to turn your en-tire staff into sales ormarketing people, so thebest place to start is withan expanded definition ofbusiness development.

Business developmentis the positive and activerepresentation of your organization to everyone with whom youcome in contact.

114Make Sure Everyone Knows What You Sell

If you want to give your sales efforts a boost without addingoverhead, educate your entire staff on the products and servicesyour company provides. Staff orientation programs should con-tain the following information:

u History of the company.

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115Keep Employees Engaged

A great way to increase sales is to increase the level ofexcitement in and around your products and customers. You

You never know who your staff members may bump intoout there in the world, and it could make a big difference tothem and the company if they could speak knowledgeably aboutyour business.


AssignmentGather up a collection of

collateral materials to createyour version of the orienta-tion packet mentioned here.Add other items that youthink would be useful. Iden-tify someone to assist you ingetting this information intoeveryone’s hands.

u Company incomehistory and currentfinancial picture.

u Mission, vision, andgoals.

u Sales and market-ing strategies.

u Who your compet-itors and customersare.

u Your customers’businesses andmarket factors.

u What and why your clients buy from you.Every day your employees are interacting with a range of

community players. There are bound to be some influencers andprospects in the mix, and you will want them to be able to repre-sent you well.


142


will enjoy great results if you take time to keep employees inthe loop about target markets, recent sales success, and keyprospects. Consider these ideas for sharing information:

u Sales presentations could be looped and playedon a monitor in the break room.

u Periodic briefings could be held during lunch (pro-vided by you), including updates on customersand prospects.

u Trade show displays should be set up in house sothat employees can see how the sales team pre-sents the organization.

A lot of work goes into thedevelopment of proposals andsales presentations. Sharing el-ements of them with youremployees will give you a big-ger return on your investmentof time and energy. You mightbe surprised by how much in-terest they show and ideas theymay come up with.

Once employees see how and why the company’s servicesare being presented to prospects, they will have more clarityabout what they do and the difference it makes.


AssignmentPut a small team to-

gether to plan anin-house briefing foryour staff. Once you geta format established itshould be easy to repli-cate without a greatdeal of work.

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116Develop Your Corporate Information Bite

There are several ways that you can help your employeesbe more confident and positive in the representation of them-selves and the organization. One of the best ways is to teachyour organization’s information bite—a sound bite that brieflysummarizes a company in laymen’s terms. Here’s a list of ques-tions your information bite should answer:

1. Name of organization?2. What does your organization do?3. How many years in business?4. How many employees?5. What kind of products or services for sale?6. Name of your organization’s unique niche?7. Who are your customers?8. What does customer service mean to you?9. How does the orga-

nization currentlysupport sales?

Once distilled, youshould practice deliveringyour conversationally ori-ented info bite in 45 secondsor less.

AssignmentWork through the exer-

cise here and create aninformation bite. Plan toshare this process with oth-ers in the organization.

While attending a wedding next month, your lead devel-oper may be seated next to one of your best prospects. Will hebe prepared to share the company’s information bite?



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117Suppliers Can Help You Sell

Once you grasp the concept that business development isthe active representation of your organization (not just salespitches) you can get a lot of others in on act. Suppliers shouldbe added to the list—after all, they do have a stake in yoursuccess.

Businesspeople tend to think that their suppliers alreadyknow a lot about them, but most would be surprised by howlittle they can articulate to others about what you do. Even ifthey do have a pretty good understanding of your products orservices they may not know what niches you have identified.

If you want them topositively and actively rep-resent you to the peoplethey come in contact with,you have to ask them to.They do have other thingson their mind—such astheir own business develop-ment activities.

Meet with suppliersone on one and discuss howyou can help each other besuccessful.

Suppliers have a stake in your success. Let them help youtell your story. Maybe you can help tell theirs.


AssignmentReview the list of every-

one who sells you materialsand supplies. Schedule ap-pointments with them anddiscuss this concept. Youwill both benefit from thedialogue.

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118Customers Can Help You Sell

Customers can be a powerful part of the sales force, butmany salespeople never fully activate this category. There area variety of reasons, but mainly it is a lack of attention. Sales-people tend to work really hard to get a sale and then do aweak job of staying in touch with the customer during and afterservice delivery. They have moved on to the next big prospect.

Plan to solicit customers for add-on and referral business.That means you will need to handle the relationship with a high-er degree of attention, care, and proactive behavior. Knowingyour customers well, and having an idea how they can help, willalso help you to gain their support for the business developmentefforts.

Key elements that willimpact a customer’s will-ingness include:

u His or her level ofsatisfaction withthe products andservices you havedelivered.

u What he or sheunderstands yourofferings.

u The level of rap-port he or she haswith the employeesthat were part ofyour service team.


AssignmentWrite a project recap

for your last three coolprojects. Summarize the sit-uation each client wasfacing, what your productwas to accomplish, results todate, and key items learnedform the project. Includethese solution scenarios inyour ongoing marketing toexisting customers.

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119The Community Can Help You Sell

Customers can help you to develop more business, di-rectly or through their stories.


The community can be a powerful force for increasing sales.It’s big, it’s diverse, and it’s a product- and service-consumingmachine. Making community its own category of influence isimportant because it allows you to call attention to all the peoplewho do not already fit neatly into one of your other groups. Com-munity captures people who are not currently your suppliers,employees, or customers. In fact, they haven’t even made it toyour prospect list.

Interacting with the community in a meaningful way canhave tremendous impact on your sales. Granted, some of thisdepends on what you sell. Ifyou sell specialized industri-al products, your opportunitywill not be as high as it wouldif you sell karate lessons.

Help your company tobe a good community citizen.At the same time, be pre-pared to inform people in thecommunity about your busi-ness, and don’t be afraid toask them for their help.

AssignmentDevelop a community

interaction strategy foryour own territory. Consid-er ways that you and yourcompany can interact in ameaningful way. Activelycommunicate who you are.

147

Many communities have a “we take care of our own” men-tality. They can help a lot more when they really know you.


120100 Percent Participation in

Intelligence-Gathering

Knowing what’s going on in the communities you servewill help you sell more. And your goal should be 100-percentemployee participation in this process. When everyone helpsyou will collect more and better intelligence, and employeeswill get more engaged in the company’s growth.

Routine information-gathering should include items aboutall of your groups of influence, including: customers, prospects,suppliers, employees, and the community. Here’s a starting listof intelligence-gathering tips:

u Ask staff to bring in clippings from newspapersand other pubs.

u Expect all staff to enhance customer profiles ifthey learn new information.

u Watch for personal information that may call fora card or gift to a key contact (promotions, births,anniversaries, and so forth).

u If you are a one-person show consider using aclipping service to watch for key elements ofimportance.


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u Someone specificshould be assignedto each industryjournal so he or shecan do a quick lookimmediately uponits arrival. Thereare typically keysections where an-nouncements andfeature stories arelocated.

The act of collecting and valuing information about yourgroups of influence will help create community among youremployees.


AssignmentCreate a place for peo-

ple to share the informationthey bring in. High-tech orlow-tech—either way. Justbe sure to make it easy andinteresting.

121An Attitude for Business Development

Increasing sales willbe easier when employ-ees in your organizationaccept a broader view ofbusiness development.Part of accepting abroader view is under-standing and adopting

AssignmentIdentify two employees

and help them see how theycan have a positive impact onbusiness development byembodying these attitudes.

149

productive attitudes. Productive attitudes for creating a high-producing business development culture include:

u Business development is everyone’s business.u Helpfulness.u Sharing.u Abundance.u Involvement.u Collaboration.

122Skills for Business Development

People might not change their mind about their view ofselling, but they might make a new decision about what theyare willing to do to contribute.


A business development culture requires skills in makingand keeping a range of personal and professional connectionsalive. A skill is an ability to do something well and it is usuallygained through training and experience.

Pull back the curtain and let others see that the ones be-hind it (the sales team) are regular folk, just as they are. Theprimary difference is they’ve honed specific attitudes, skills,and knowledge. Skills necessary for sustaining a high-performingbusiness development culture are:

u Good verbal and written communication skills.u Information-gathering.


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u In fo rma t ion -sharing.

u Networking.u Problem-solving.u Time manage-

ment.u Ability to see the

big picture.

123Everyday Things That Impact SalesEmployees who understand their personal impact on the

business tend to stick around longer, provide higher levels ofcustomer satisfaction, and collaborate more openly with otherstaffers. All of these things can help you increase sales. Rec-ognize the everyday things people do that have impact and thenshare your insights with them.

Here are a few examples to inspire your thinking:u I come to work on time so that I can keep projects

on time.

Skills can be taught in many ways, including on-the-jobtraining, simulation, practice, trial and error, and modeling.


AssignmentModel the necessary

skills for total participation inbusiness development. In-volve your employees ininformation-gathering andinformation-sharing and youwill win them over.

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124How to Lose a Customer

A great way to increase sales is to not lose the customersyou already have. Take time to perform this creative exercise

u I return phone callspromptly so peoplehave a positive im-pression of ourorganization.

u I help make clientshappy so they keepbuying our products.

u I answer customerquestions to supportthe sales team.

u I keep the plant run-ning smoothly so wecan deliver on time.

Make sure employeeshave the tools they need todo their best work.

As the business development “champion,” your main roleshould be to help others to do their best work.



Assignment

Consider three mainjobs in the organizationand make a list of threethings that they do orshould do that would havea positive impact on sales.Then discuss them witheach. Consider startingwith the receptionist, de-partment heads, and therole with the highest con-centration of staff. Thenpick three more.

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Sometimes the best way to approach an important issueis from behind.


and see what you learn that will help you keep customers.Here’s how it works: You get a small group of people togetherto brainstorm ideas. It won’t take long. Have fun with this.

How to Lose a Customer:1. Make a list of things you would do if you wanted to

lose all your customers.2. Don’t do them.If you want to string the exercise out a bit more you can do

it in three steps. Have the group:1. Make a list of things that a restaurant could do that

would clearly make their restaurant the worst in town.2. Make a list of small things you could do that would

cause customers toquestion whether youwere the best vendorfor them.

3. Make a list of thingsyou could do thatwould make custom-ers quit doing businesswith you.

AssignmentWork through this

exercise and make agreat list of big andsmall ways to run offyour customers. Thendon’t do them!

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You may not need a complete makeover to achieve yoursales goals, but a new view is bound to spark something good.


AssignmentDo the creativity exer-

cise described here. Havefun and combine your dis-coveries with the other ideasyou have been considering.

125Product Category Makeover

Sales increases may be hard to come by for a mature busi-ness that already boasts a high percentage of the market share.Uncovering new ways to serve customers may be your bestbet. Try this is creativity exercise to get your vision refocused.

Get out the yellow page directory of your choice. Openthe book at random and pick a heading. Write this headingdown. Do it again to come up with a second random heading,and write it down as well. Examples include audio/visual, sales,rental, and service; as well as copiers and supplies.

Now, for the fun part: brainstorm what a business mightlook like if it was a combination of both these random catego-ries. Feel free to consider a combination of Web-based andland-based applications.

Repeat this exerciseuntil you get some momen-tum going. It’s okay to besilly about it at first, but tryto become more seriousabout the possibilities of thishybrid business idea.

Now you are free toconsider some possible cat-

egory combinations for your own business. Keeping yourbusiness as the first listing, use the phone book to identify po-tential combinations.


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126Microwave Customers

Microwave popcorn is a good model for increasing sales.All you need to do is zap it in the microwave and watch it cookto perfection. This perfection is possible because you have allof the essential ingredients in the bag. The short time betweenthe craving and the eating is what makes it best of all.

There are always cravings for new customers. People seemto be in a rush for them, too, so why can’t we have microwavecustomers? Maybe you can. Here’s the recipe:

u Identify an adequate number of sales leads/pros-pects. (Start with the best kernels.)

u Understand the sales cycle and keep the pipelinefull. (Put just the right amount of popcorn in thebag.)

u Know what product offers and calls to action willhelp you close deals. (Choose the best cookingoil and don’t forget to add the butter and the salt—it provides thespice.)

u Perform your in-tegrated sales andmarketing activi-ties consistentlyfor best results.(Cook on highpower.)

AssignmentMake some microwave

popcorn. Watch it cook. Eatsuccess and be inspired.

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Every time you see and smell popcorn, allow yourself tofeel success. Your co-workers will wonder why you startedeating popcorn for breakfast.


127Target Market Overview

Some people (mostly sales managers) think you have towork harder to make more sales. But that’s not usually thecase. The “work smarter, not harder” method also has greaterappeal.

In order to work smarter, every salesperson should havehis or her own Target Market Overview (TMO). The TMOwill provide the background needed to plan effective dailyactivities.

Your TMO should briefly address the following subjects:u Product/Service Proposition: Summary of

product/service proposition, including how theysupport customer needs.

u Market Definition: Geographic territory, num-ber of leads available in your desired categories,relevant details about demographics, and psycho-graphics of the area.

u Competition: Recognize direct and indirectcompetition.

u Strategy: General approach you will use to in-teract in your market.


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u Strategic Goals: Four to five.u Centers of Influence: What organizations or

categories of organizations can act as centers ofinfluence for your type of product (referrals, gate-keepers)?

u Strategic Activities: Eight to 10 implementa-tion activities you willperform in order toexecute the strategyand strategic goals.

u Territory or Busi-ness ExpansionPlans: Note anyplans.

If you don’t know enough about your market to write aTarget Market Overview, then you aren’t likely to achieveyour goals.


128Plan Ahead to Keep Them Talking

Gathering great information from your prospect about hisor her situation is one of the best things you can do to improveclosing rates. I call information-gathering “discovery,” becauseit is always an adventure. Approach your discovery sessionswith an open mind and enjoy the process.

AssignmentDraft a Target Mar-

ket Overview for yourprimary territory. Performsome basic research ifneeded. Try the public li-brary if you need help.

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Here are some tips for having a good discovery sessionwith your prospect:

u Good discovery takes time. Ask for the amountof time you need.

u Clarify the purpose of the meeting. Tell theprospect you’re not planning to present, but tolearn about his or her situation.

u Prepare a solid list of questions. He or shewill be impressed with your organization.

u Avoid slipping into product presentationmode. Presentation needs its own meeting.

u Demonstrate the importance of what youlearned. Include a brief situation analysis in yourproposal or presentation. Link what you learnedin discovery to recommendations.

If you must combinediscovery and presenta-tion sessions into onesingle meeting, make aclear transition. You mightsay, “Thanks for sharingthis information aboutyour (specific needs). Isthere anything I haven’tasked you about that youwish to tell me before wemove on to talk aboutsolutions?”

It’s amazing how much more interesting people thinkyou are when they do most of the talking.



AssignmentCommit to improving

your discovery process.Practice techniques on peo-ple from your network thatcould ultimately become in-fluencers for you as well.

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1295 Levels of Deep

Discovery should have purpose and depth. Let’s look atdepth. A concept known as The Five Whys originated in the

quality movement sometime in the 1990s. I adapt-ed the principle for use inteaching people about de-veloping discovery questionsin sales situations anddubbed the concept theFive Levels of Deep.

A series of five whyquestions will get you deepenough to understand al-most any key piece ofinformation. Here’s an ex-ample of how The Five

Whys could work for a Realtor. (Note: Questions are over-simplified to make a point.)

1. Q. What can I do for you, Mr. and Mrs. Prospect?A. We want to buy a house.

2. Q. Why would you like to buy a home?A. Because we don’t have one.

3. Q. Why don’t you have a home?A. We sold ours.

4. Q. What was your reason for selling?A. It was too small.

5. Q. Why was it too small?A. We are having a child.

AssignmentTry using the concept of

The Five Whys with yourspouse or a teenager to geta better understanding of hisor her situation. By diggingin to the Five Levels ofDeep you are sure to get thelevel of understanding youneed.

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Learning to use effective questioning techniques in a non-interrogative, conversational way will make you a better per-son all around. Good questioning skills will help you empathize,sympathize, and strategize.


130Study Solutions to

Your Customer’s ProblemsDo you want to be the go-to guy in your niche? Do you

want to increase the odds of being asked to the table? Thenstudy the primary problems, challenges, and opportunities thatare facing your categories of customers and prospects.

Start with the issues closely related to the solutions youprovide, of course, but be willing to go deeper. Think about theFive Levels of Deep discussed in the previous idea.

Sample Scenario: Salesperson works for a Web andgraphic design studio.

Potential Niche: Working with brick-and-mortar retail-ers who want to expand by opening or improving an onlinestore.

Special Study Topics:u Why are retailers expanding online?u Major examples of success running both types of

stores.u Major differences in retailing online and offline.u Required staffing for an online business.


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In this example, you caneasily see why they would ben-efit from carving out a niche.Realistically, it’s going to be dif-ficult for a salesperson to do anadequate study of customerproblems and opportunities ifthey don’t serve some type ofniche with their solutions.

131Build Memorable Sales Presentations

It pays to become a niche player. You will get an expo-nential return on your commitment to understanding customerproblems and opportunities.


Years ago, I was asked by the president of the local AdClub to speak with members about making presentations. I washonored to be asked, but I told him no. I was certain that hisgroup knew much more than I did about making presentations.They were, after all, an association of advertising professionals.

After further discussion, I did agree to speak with the groupon the topic of discovery. Specifically, how they could designdramatically better presentations, with meaningful content, bygathering better information from and about their audience? Hereare some tips for memorable presentations:

u The presentation should be the main reason forthe meeting.

Assignment

Choose one or twotopics to study and gaintremendous insights.

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132Daily Nourishment Essentials

Nothing looks as good as a new day! And every day weneed our nourishment.

u Make sure prospectssee themselves inthis presentation. In-clude references totheir mission, vision,and values; businessgoals; and successbenchmarks for cus-tomer, operational,financial, and inno-vative excellence.

u Always make a busi-ness case for your solution. Demonstrate the returnon their investment.

u Keep it as short as possible, but meaty, too.u The proposal is included in presentation, but it is

not the entire presentation.u Add quotes and examples that prove you do your

homework.

Memorable presentations prove that you understand yourprospect and you can help make them look this good, too!


AssignmentGive the presentation

the attention it deserves bybuilding the framework inadvance. Add specific pro-posal elements as theybecome known. Your indus-try will dictate the technologyexpectations.


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The best nourishment for a salesperson (and for most pro-fessionals) is meaningful work. By definition, nourishment is avaluable substance that one requires to live and grow, or re-main fit and healthy—something that provides a stimulating andhealthy emotional or intellectual environment.

Here’s a short list of ideas to increase the nutrition found inyour daily work:

u Start your day with inspirational reading or listen-ing. Every day!

u Express thankfulness for your unique gifts andtalents and put them to good use this day.

u Don’t plan activities you dread doing. If you hatethem, you’re probably not doing them well any-way. Find another way to deal with them.

u Sort your day by the people you are going to help.u Know how the day’s

activities are linkedto your personal andbusiness goals.

u Learn somethingnew every day. Findsomeone withwhom to share it.

u Be an inspiration toothers. You’ll feel it,too!

If we’re lucky, we’ll get lots more chances at having agood day. Practice makes perfect. Live well!


Assignment

Find a way to quitdoing one of the thingsthat make your dayshard to look forward to.Keep doing this until youget rid of all the junk.

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If you are managing your accounts well, all customers willbe prospects.


AssignmentWork with a group of

employees from other de-partments to brainstormpractical ways to stay infront of your client everyweek.

133Stay in Front of Your Clients Every Week

People lose accounts all the time because they are not pay-ing attention to their customers. When you’re not around for awhile, believe it or not, your customers might forget some of thereasons why they chose your solution in the first place.

Think about it this way: Your customer is someone else’sprospect now. Remember the full-court press you made whenthey were your prospect? That memory should be all you needto snap you back to reality. Brainstorm meaningful ways to stayin touch. Here are some idea-starters:

u E-mail a “thought of the week.” (Brand it for yourbusiness, and prepare them a quarter in advance.)

u Deliver on yourproduct and ser-vice promises (yourprimary touch pointif you have an on-going relationship).

u Send brief recapsor cool resourcesor information fromprofessional work-shops and seminarsyou attend (industry-specific and general business).


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134Invest in Yourself

There are a lot of things that impact your sales. But theone element that has the biggest impact of all is YOU! Howyou care for yourself will influence everything else in your world.

The fact is that many salespeople occasionally struggle fi-nancially. Take heart; you will come through this rough patch.You will get better at making sales and therefore increase yourincome or perhaps make a new career decision. Either way,you will want to learn how to invest in you. Here are some tipsfor investing your time, talent, and treasure in you:

u Look your best. Hit the sales, shop secondhand,and get someone who cares about you to helpyou shop.

u Keep your mind sharp. Read lots of books andjournals.

u Volunteer for something that inspires you.u Dump activities

from your sched-ule that don’t bringyou closer to a goalof personal best.

u Barter. It’s agood way to tradegoods or serviceswith others.

Investing in yourself is a proposition with lasting impact.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

AssignmentTake time to consider

where you may be fallingshort regarding your invest-ment in you. Make progressin one category this week.

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135Become an Expert

(It’s Easier Than You Think)Professionals are expected to bring knowledge to their jobs

every day. That’s why they’re hired by employers and cus-tomers. Those who effectively combine industry expertise, salesskills, and meaningful products take home the biggest prizes.

You can increase your sales and your overall value to youremployer, customers, and peers by becoming a recognized ex-pert on your topic of choice. Here’s how it’s done:

u Topic Selection: Choose a topic of interest toyou and your professional community. A narrowtopic is good for focus, but don’t go obscure.

u Research: Dig into history, founders of the in-dustry, who’s making news on the subject, andleading authorities.

u Study: Study the subject as if it was the cure forcancer. (Maybe that is your topic.)

u Writing: Keep a journal of all resources, insights,observations, and questions, and then turn theminto useful tools.

u Publishing: Make ar-ticles, surveys, andreports on the subjectavailable to your em-ployees, professionalassociations, and themedia.

u Speaking: Present onthe topic wheneveryou can.


AssignmentPick a topic to be-

come an expert on.Write down reasons forchoosing this topic.Highlight your relevantskills, knowledge, andexperience.

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u Fellowship: Interact with others who have a deepinterest. Share resources openly.

Build your specialized knowledge into your approach on thejob. You will have much fun.

Expertise is a journey not a destination.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

136Keep Your Promises

Understand that every time you assure somebody that some-thing will be done, you are giving a promise. The quickest way tolose business is fail to keep a promise. And one of the best thingsyou can do to increase sales is keep your promises. Here’s how:

u Make it a habit to fully understand and articulateall factors affecting a desired outcome.

u Make sure your entire work team understandsthe promises explicit in your relationships withcustomers.

u Don’t over-promise. This usually happens whenpeople are trying to make up for some other short-coming or disap-pointment. That’swhat people meanwhen they say that“things are goingdownhill fast.”

AssignmentThink back to the last

time you remember break-ing a promise. How did thatmake you feel? I thought so.

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137Use the Buddy System

Everyone has a bad day now and then, and sometimes weeven string a few of them together to create a bad week. Butdon’t let yourself stay there. A sales professional often has aunique role in keeping everyone else upbeat and resourceful.Allowing yourself to stay down is a good way to lose momen-tum in your sales effort.

Use the buddy system to get over disappointments andput yourself back on track. Everyone needs someone to talkto about problems. For professional considerations, choose a

discussion buddy who canrelate to your role and re-sponsibilities. Agree witheach other in advance tolimit whining and gossipand focus on productivesolutions.

Mastermind groupsare springing up all over the

AssignmentConsider joining or start-

ing a mastermind group ofyour own. Depending onyour market position youmight want to consider join-ing a group from out of town.

People don’t recommend people who don’t keep theirpromises.


u Be organized so that your good intentions don’tslip through the cracks.


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We were put on this earth to share each other’s burdens.It’s a blessing to do so.


place. They’re groups of like-minded individuals, often self-employed types with their eyes set on personal and professionalsuccess. They meet regularly to encourage and support oneanother. It is a great arrangement.

138Go on Retreat

Whether you are in sales for a big corporation, running yourown deal, or somewhere in between, you need time to think.You need to take time to think, plan, rest, create, contemplate,and brainstorm. It’s hard to concentrate on your bigger idealswhen you’re surrounded by the daily details of phones, e-mail,customers, co-workers, and kids. This “busy-ness” can keepyou from giving your true vision a voice.

The answer is to take yourself on strategic retreat. Alone,by yourself, because it’s your own ideas you’re looking for!The planning of your future deserves special consideration.

Here are some key elements of a private strategic retreat:· u One to two days is good. An overnight stay lends

perspective.u A quiet and inspiring place to work (think suite,

cabin, beach house, friend’s empty house).u Lots of flip-chart paper, markers, and tape.u Good food.

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There is a peace that comes from knowing you have carvedout a vision for your future.


139When You Feel the Pull

It is said that nothing can remain the same—and why wouldyou want it to? Sales and business professionals prove this ev-ery day as they seek new opportunities to do their best work andfollow the money. Challenge yourself to be the best you, even ifit means a move.

Signs that it might be time for a change include:u Your sales are off and you don’t really give a hoot.u You have more enthusiasm for your volunteer work

than your paying job.

AssignmentSchedule your own re-

treat in the next 30 days.Start a folder to captureplanning, organizing, and dis-cussion topics. If you find itdifficult to get organized, asksomeone to help you plan.

u No interruptions.Let people knowyou’ll be unavail-able. Put phonesand e-mail on hold.

u A plan for success.Go with the arough plan of at-tack so you cantake along any re-sources you thinkyou might need.


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u You’re in a badmood a lot duringworking hours.

u You feel as if thework you performis only using asmall portion ofyour capabilities.

u You worked reallyhard to capture a certain market and now youfind that you don’t enjoy working in the category.

Engagement Strategies:u Take on a volunteer responsibility that stretches

you.u Start blogging and test interest in your favorite topics.u Start writing articles and look for publishing out-

lets. The Internet is full of options.u Write that book you’ve been dreaming about. If

you write one page per day, you can have a com-plete book in less than a year.

It’s not over till you say it’s over. Dream big!EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

140Changing Places

When a self-employed business professional moves intoa new market there are many challenges beyond the typical

AssignmentPull out your resume or

bio and review past topresent. Think about whatyou’d like to add beforeyou’re done on this earth.

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moving hassles. If youmake your living insales,you’re probably going toneed to get on a fast trackto capture new customers.

Some tips for prepar-ing to make sales in yournew place:

u Buy a street guide.u Make a list of com-

panies and causesyou have enjoyedworking with inthe past, and checkfor local offices.

u Be genuinely excited about this opportunity for ado-over. People will appreciate your enthusiasm.

u Use this opportunity to close in on a niche that ismore exciting

u Send e-mails to your contact list and tell themabout your new adventure. Ask them for sugges-tions regarding your new city, and ask who theyknow in the area that you should connect with.

u Visit the library. Look at some back issues of busi-ness journals and other publications and decidewhich to subscribe to.

u Visit local chapters of professional and businessassociations that will help you acclimate to yournew city.

AssignmentOrganize a binder to

capture key informationabout your new community.Keep it simple by adding aset of 1–26 tabs. You canmaintain a handwritten tableof contents as you add im-portant lists, documents, andarticles. This will becomeyour market overview.

New place. New ideas. New excitement!EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


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141Reality Check 101: Income

Sales professionals are often lulled into projects with thepromise of big bucks, but many deals simply don’t perform. Hereare some reality checks to help evaluate deals. We’ll start withincome, because if there’s not enough money in the deal, youwon’t find financial success no matter how hard you work.

Reality Check 101: Is There Enough Money in the Deal?u Are you earning enough to thrive on? (That’s thrive

on, not just live on.)u Based on a typical deal, is there enough time to

make as many sales as you would need to for adecent living? Are you sure?

u Is your income per sale commensurate with thelevel of effort required to close and collect onthe sale (out-of-pocket expenses,average number ofcontacts to close,level of expertise)?

u Do you believe it ispossible to improveyour sales situationenough to get yourincome where itneeds to be?

AssignmentDo the reality check and

see what you discover. Ifthere is enough money in thedeal, that’s great. Then workthrough the next few pageswhere you can continue eval-uating your deal.

It’s really not so bad having all your eggs in one basket,as long as you have enough eggs for breakfast.


173

AssignmentDo the reality check and

see what you see. If thereis an adequate target mar-ket for your products andyou feel confident that youcan identify them, that’sgreat. If you haven’t donethe Assignment for Idea 141,go back a chapter and do itnow.

142Reality Check 102: Target Market

Salespeople often feel that if they work harder, they canovercome the problems with their deal, with their employer. Itstems from too much positive thinking and visualization. It’snot always about your personal performance. Sometimes youneed a better deal to increase sales.

Identifying an ade-quate target market foryour product is critical. Atarget market is a group ofcustomers of a certaintype considered likely tobuy a particular product.

Sometimes the prob-lem is that the identifiedtarget market is too big andunmanageable or too smallto sustain you. A poorly de-fined target market is oneof the biggest factors infailed sales campaigns.

Reality Check 102: Is There a Large Enough TargetMarket to Sustain You?

u Have you clarified your target market? Can yougive brief description?

u Have you identified the specific leads in your tar-get market? How many total leads can you list?How sortable are they by geography, or otherfactors?


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u Have you refined your target by sub groups to bemost approachable? This is niche-building.

u Have you gathered the contact information youneed on these targets/leads to commence withyour strategic approach?

Consider this distinction. A lead is a name on a target list. Alead becomes a prospect once there is some interaction andinterest on both sides.

It’s okay to have all your eggs in one basket as long asyou have enough chickens to feed the family.


143Reality Check 103: Approach

When sales are not what they need to be, it pays to look atthe numbers and where your program may be losing steam.(Check out the last few pages for more info on sales incomeand target markets.)

Reality Check 103: Are You Converting EnoughLeads Into Paying Customers?

u Are you turning enough leads from your targetmarket lists into qualified prospects? How manyqualified prospects have you done proposals for,presented to, or had in your store?

u How many qualified prospects have you closed(number of sales made lately, number of salesmade total)?

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144We Manage What We Measure

Business runs fast. We can’t give every detail our full at-tention in the moment so we develop methods of tracking andreporting, then details can be reviewed later and managed ac-cordingly. We, in turn, focus our management efforts on the

u What percentage of the leads you are personallyinteracting with are qualified prospects truly inter-ested in your solutions? How many this month?How many thisyear?

u How do you raiseawareness of yourproducts with yourtarget markets? Doyou maintain amarketing out-reach? (This is notsales.)

u Have you taken what you’ve learned from yoursales activities and revised your targeting and mar-keting efforts?

It doesn’t matter how many eggs you have or what bas-kets you put them in if your guests want sausage and pancakesinstead.


AssignmentDo the reality check.

These answers combinedwith those from the two pre-vious ideas should help youevaluate your deal.


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We manage what we measure, so measure what you be-lieve is worthy of management.


elements of our busi-ness that we measure.We manage what wemeasure!

Are you measur-ing the elements thatare most important toyour sales efforts?

Are you manag-ing the elements thatare most important toyour sales efforts?

145Leading and Lagging Indicators

A professional salesperson will always prefer leading any-thing over lagging everything. In this case, we’re talking aboutindicators, those little stats that tell us how we’re doing. There’snothing wrong with lagging indicators, but by definition they

AssignmentEvaluate the measuring and

reporting elements in your sell-ing situation. Determine if theyare useful measures for manag-ing sales results. If you work ina sales department where exten-sive reporting is required (andineffective), show this book toyour sales manager and worktogether to develop a more pro-ductive approach.

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If you’re going to be busy, be busy about the things thatcan truly make a difference.


AssignmentIdentify three leading

indicators that will help youdetermine if you’re gettingthe right mix of activity tokeep your sales on track.Consider what approach youwill take when leading indi-cators show weak activity.

are history. Leading indica-tors, on the other hand, giveinformation we can use toalter plans and devise newstrategies while there isstill time to make a differ-ence. Let me give you a fewexamples.

Lagging indicatorsare important, but historicaldocumentation, from a pre-vious period of activity, canillustrate a great deal. These are documents such as:

u Profit and loss statements.u New customer reports.u Lost customer reports.u Sales compared to the same period last year.Leading indicators can be culled from the marketing and

sales activities that are known to have a demonstrated effecton helping you make sales. Leading indicators are:

u Unique daily visitors to the Website.u The number of prospects who have asked for a

proposal or price quote this week.u The number of Website visitors who have down-

loaded your special report of the month today.u The number of daily store visitors.u The number of leads who returned the five-question

survey you sent out.


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146Measure What Matters to Customers

Many elements influence our relationship with customers.We must do more than deliver our products to ensure continuedbusiness, new projects, and those coveted referrals. Their per-ception of the value we provide is likely the most significant ofthem all. We must learn to measure what matters to customers.

Measuring what matters to customers assumes two things:That we:

1. Know what they value.2. Have a way of benchmarking their satisfaction and

progress.Knowing what matters to customers will come partially from

your targeting strategy. The more niche-oriented you are, themore similar customer expectations will be. Individual detailsshould be available from the selling process.

Benchmarking progress and satisfaction can be trickier, but,if you know what they want to achieve and how your product orservice is going to help, you will be able to create some type ofprocess for gathering updates and reporting them in your cus-

tomer report. Progress re-porting is your opportunityto remind them what youhave delivered in the periodand to subtly promote someof your other services.

Planning to measureprogress and report to cus-tomers will make you bet-ter from the beginning. Ifyou can’t measure it, youcan’t manage it.

AssignmentDevelop a method for

reporting to customers. Fre-quency can coincide withinvoicing or deliveries. Addmarketing elements by us-ing informative placeholdersfor your add-on services.

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AssignmentDo some research on

The Balanced Scorecardand talk with your leadershipteam about getting the orga-nization more in alignmentfor success.

147Measure What Matters in Your Business

Sales cannot be theonly department in the or-ganization focused on thejob of attracting and retain-ing customers. Their mustbe a cohesive effort on thepart of the entire organiza-tion. Establishing a bal-anced and strategic way ofplanning for, measuring, andrewarding progress will help achieve organizational success—especially increased sales!

Kaplan and Norton’s The Balanced Scorecard describeshow to integrate strategy and performance from several dif-ferent perspectives:

u Financial. To succeed financially, what is requiredby your stockholders?

u Customer. To achieve your vision, what doesthis mean you must do to satisfy the needs ofyour customers?

u Operational. To satisfy your customers andshareholders, at what business processes mustyou excel?

Sometimes you just need to remind them how good you are.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue


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Be a champion for excellence. It looks good on you.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

u Innovation. To achieve your vision, how will yousustain your ability to change and improve?

Robert Kaplan and David Norton published The BalancedScorecard in 1996 and The Strategy Focused Organizationin 2000.

148Say Thank You—Often

None of us gets through this life without a lot of help fromother people. Heck, I don’t think I get through many days with-out help from other people. The point is that you need to saythanks to people every day—lots of them. And you need to findsome creative ways to say it. Consider these:

u Handwritten cards are still a favorite and, withfewer people doing it, they stand out that muchmore.

u E-mail messages work, but consider adding somespice to your notes by using one of the stationeryfeatures or something else colorful (maybe a car-toon or joke of the week).

u An offer of tickets to attend a meeting of somesort to hear a speaker or panel.

u Special handwritten or other non-personalizedcommunication.

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Sincere one-on-one contact is still the best way to letpeople know you appreciate them.


AssignmentIdentify two unique

ways that you can thankpeople that will keep younicely in their minds andhearts. Be original.

149Live Thankfully

Be thankful for your:u Struggles, for they make you better.u Customers, for they help you pay the bills.u Boss, for she keeps you humble.

Tips for Staying on Track With Thank-You Notes:u Keep your stock of thanking supplies just as you

do essentials such as copy paper.u When you schedule appointments make it a habit

to note a reminder to send a thanks.u Keep a list of reasons to say “thanks for…” (trust-

ing me with your business, the opportunity to talkabout your busi-ness today, theopportunity to pro-vide you with asolution to your_____, the gift ofyour time today,being a goodfriend).


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u Family, for they bringperspective.

u Co-workers, for theybring levity.

You can’t know what willhappen tomorrow or tonight,and you can’t change the past.A spirit of thankfulness willhelp to keep you living in the present.

Life is never ordinary.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

150A View of Abundance

Choose to view the world with an abundance mentality andscarcity must find a new home. For those with an abundantview, there seems to be a plentiful supply of everything. Noworries about competition—just being their best and helpingcustomers make their most informed decisions.There’s time tohelp co-workers and professional peers without concern forgetting their share of leads or commissions.

If a market is shifting and market potential is eroding, abun-dance thinkers uncover a new niche; they don’t sit around andwhine about the good old days.

All of the resources in your life can be viewed on a contin-uum of abundance. Believe in scarcity or believe inabundance—it’s your choice.

AssignmentTake time each day

to give thanks for thesmall and big things thatbrought you joy.

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151Celebrate and Reward Success

Live abundantly and it will be returned to you exponentially.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

AssignmentConsider the areas of

your life where you are notliving in the spirit of abun-dance. Explore the basis foryour feeling of scarcity andthen do something bold tochange your view.

Celebrate success—yours as well as those around you.Here are some tips:

u Whenever possible, celebrate with an outing.The experience is sure to compound the excite-ment of the achievement and you also get thenew opportunities for interaction. Nothing cele-brates a consistent increase in unique visitors tothe Website the way a trip to the go-cart trackdoes, for example.

As a salesperson youhave unique ways to shareyour view of abundance.Share information freelyand more will come to you.Your understanding will bemultiplied.

Paul Zane Pilzer is awell-known economist andauthor with a unique viewon the impact of abundanceversus scarcity thinking.Read one of his books.


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u Celebrate the small things (proposals). Theyadd up to big things (sales). Bring in some shotsof orange juice and coffee for the morning aftera late-night push. If you really owe them, addfruit and donut-hole poppers.

u When a co-worker or professional peer makesa big sale, reward him or her with personalrecognition. How about a handmade poster tohang on his or her office door or cubicle?

u Help foster anenvironment ofreward and cele-bration in yourworkplace andhome. It shouldbecome a naturaloccurrence. Makea habit of check-ing in on Mondaysto see what mightbe up for celebra-tion this week. The anticipation has a value of itsown. Also, keep a stock of congratulations cardson hand.

u Celebrate Fridays with a juggling lesson fromyour co-worker.

Life is short. Celebrate the small stuff.EpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogueEpilogue

AssignmentIdentify two or three

benchmarks for celebration.Plan ahead for what you willdo when you achieve them.Remember to reward peo-ple for the efforts, not justresults.

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AppendixPotentialElements

in theMarketing Mix

Public Relations

Advertising

Website

Field Sales andDistribution

Pricing Strategies

Speaking andPublishing

Trade Shows

Event Marketing

Blogging

Cause Marketing

Client/AccountManagement

Formal SalesProcess

IndirectMarketing

ProactiveProspecting

ReferralsAgreement TestimonialsDiscovery Quoting Presenting

AwarenessBuilding

The Business Development Continuum

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Index

AAAAAadd-on

projects, 97sales, 20

advertising, 33affiliate programs, 121approach, sales, 175assisted living, 139

BBBBBbackground information, 74baseline factors, 23become an expert, 164big

business, 112red truck, 83tickets, 106

BizStats.com, 78blogging, 126book sales, 127brand, 17, 30

loyalty, 48strategy, 30

budget category, 71buffet restaurant, 137business

development, 13, 24, 139, 149development continuum,

14-18, 32goals, 23initiatives, 34

buying pattern, 27

CCCCCcancer research, 89cause marketing, 48celebrity endorsement, 104centers of influence, 156charity cause, 25cheap advertising, 88children’s hospitals, 89Children’s Miracle Network, 123chocolate, 109coffee shops, 114cold calling, 44

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collaborative workplace, 61collateral materials, 26common ground, finding, 59communication, 72community, 31, 146

calendars, 37events, 57initiatives, 38

competition, 155consultants, 110contact information, 68contracting, 19convenience stores, 102conversion, 119corporate

information bite, 142support, 123

coupons, 29Cracker Jack moment, 45cross-promotions, 41, 87customer

account management, 15, 19demographics, 41loyalty programs, 27profiles, 27referrals, 51relationship management, 66satisfaction benchmarks, 73

DDDDDdeadlines, 37decision-making process, 78detailed proposals, 26

development time line, 64direct

mail, 47sales, 14, 43

discovery, 18

EEEEEearned media, 35-36El Paso Bar-B-Que, 125Empire Glass, 125engagement strategies, 170Ethos, 49event

marketing, 52promoters, 122

existing clients, 57

FFFFFfinancial landscape, 78Five Levels of Deep, 158formal sales phase, 18

GGGGGgift responsibly, 109goal-oriented sales, 90grassroots campaign, 121

HHHHHHarley Davidson, 133home builders, 111

189

Home Depot, 134housing programs, 89humane societies, 89

IIIIIideal prospect, 58income streams, 120independent consultants, 108industry insights, 74infomercials, 107information overload, 93innovation, 62intelligence gathering, 146inventory, 24invoicing, 98

JJJJJJaycees, 50

KKKKKkey audiences, 26Kiwanis, 50

LLLLLlagging indicators, 177leading indicators, 177leveraged interaction, 25, 87lifetime value, 21Lions, 50Local Trade Zone, 45

lose a customer, 150loss leader, 103

MMMMMMarch of Dimes, 123market

definition, 155position, 71

media outlets, 131Memorial Day, 87merchandise, 101microwave customers, 155moment of agreement, 19momentum, 83

markers, 64Mother’s Day, 90

NNNNNno-sale, 101not-for-profits, 122

OOOOOone-to-one marketing, 46outside interests, 80

PPPPPpayroll, 79point-of-sale technology, 27PR campaign, 34practice-development, 109

Index

190


premature pricing questions, 96pricing strategy, 40primary revenue streams, 23product

category makeover, 152service proposition, 155

professional service firms, 47project add-ons, 97promo trips, 132promotional

budgets, 33strategies, 29, 40

publicannouncement, 33relations, 34

free publicity, 88

RRRRRrapport-building stage, 81real estate agents, 137referrals, 85regulations, 85retail art galleries, 124retention, customer, 23retirement communities, 130Rotary Club, 50

SSSSSsales

objectives, 55

presentations, 161process, 60territory, 45

Scrip Bank, 128short-term goals, 80staff orientation, 140staffing gaps, 78strategic

acount profile, 66activities, 156approach, 25, 56goals, 156

TTTTTtarget market, 154, 172territory management, 44three-phased process, 15time management, 150trade shows, 42transaction map, 13

UUUUUUnited Way, 123unlimited funds, 17upgrade or die, 116

WWWWWWeb-based business, 116windshield, 124

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About the Author

For more than 25 years Linda worked in the field of sales,serving in a variety of selling situations. Her sales roles haveincluded yellow page advertising, clerking at a local clock shop,and account management with a national information servicescompany.

Early on she realized her distinct preference for business-to-business selling; the nagging restlessness prevailed whenshe jumped the corporate ship in favor of the entrepreneurialexperience.

For 10 years Linda served as president and lead perfor-mance consultant with Performance Development Company(PDC), a business consulting and training firm she founded in1990.

Years of selling, consulting, and participating actively inthe business community have enabled Linda to develop athoughtful perspective on how things really get done in the day-today business world. She believes many factors impact anorganization’s ability to thrive and develop new business.

Her mantra is: Everyone within a system has a distinctimpact on organizational success. So thoroughly convinced, in2000 Linda co-authored a book with her business partner KrisButler titled Business Development Is Everyone’s Business.

Since writing Business Development Is Everyone’s Busi-ness, most of her work has involved developing integratedmarketing and communications plans for a wide range of cor-porate and not-for-profit clients.

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Her heart for community has led to major collaboration oncommunity causes including the Indianapolis Air Show and RileyHospital for Children. Working as an independent consultantgives Linda the opportunity to be selective and to choose cli-ents and projects that are a good match for her skills, knowl-edge, and enthusiasm for business improvement.

Linda resides in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband, Jim,her grandmother, and her hound dog, Emma.

151 quick ideas to increase sales

Education