Keep in Touch and Follow Up to Easily Close Sales

Keep in Touch and Follow Up to Easily Close Sales
Keep-in-touch marketing is a process that you incorporate
into your business to stay in front of your prospects and
customers. Develop a system to follow up with every
prospect, every time. Be respectful that the time may not
be right, but remember, you offer a quality product your
prospect may eventually need to solve his or her problem.
Gently persist with your prospects with regular calls to
check back in with them.

Studies show that over 80% of sales take place after seven
contacts. To be absolutely effective in your marketing, you
need to plan on having at least seven contacts with your
prospects. Too many people give up with prospects too
early. And this is one of the reasons they have trouble
keeping their pipeline full.

Remember, "Not right now" does not mean "no." "We're
working with another company" does not mean "no." Until you
hear the word "No," it's not a "No." In addition, these
calls are building relationships with a person who might
also be a referrer or COI (Center of Influence).

Remember the Dr. Seuss book, "Green Eggs and Ham"? Super
salesman Sam-I-Am works on persuading his friend to try the
not-so-appetizing meal of green eggs and ham. He is
relentless regardless of his friend's objections. He asks
questions about various scenarios. Would you try them with
a fox? Wearing socks? In a moat or a boat? Finally, the
friend decides to taste the stuff only to discover he LOVES
it! A prospect converted into a raving fan. I think
Sam-I-Am would have made a lot of money as a sales training
consultant, don't you? Even though he is a cartoon
character, Sam is still a great model for the power of
persistence.

Often when we have a goal of making a sale, we try just
once or twice and then give up. We say, "Well, I guess it's
just not going to happen." To be truly successful, keep at
it! Successful business owners are not at the top of their
game because they are "naturals." It's because they don't
give up. When at first they don't succeed, they try again
and again and again until at last...they realize their goal.

Herbert True, a marketing specialist at Notre Dame
University, did some amazing research on sales follow up
and found the following:

** 44% of all salespeople quit trying after the first call

** 24% quit after the second call

** 14% quit after the third call

** 12% quit trying to sell their prospect after the fourth
call

This means that 94% of all salespeople quit after the
fourth call. But 60% of all sales are made after the fourth
call. This revealing statistic shows that 94% of all
salespeople don't give themselves a chance at 60% of the
prospective buyers. (from The Success Principles by Jack
Canfield)

So, how are you currently keeping in touch with your
prospects and customers on a regular and consistent basis?
You must create an ongoing follow-up program to keep in
touch with your prospects and customers so you stay on the
top of their minds. To be effective, you must get in front
of your prospects and referrers at least once a week and
not less frequently than once every month.

----------------------------------------------------
Learn marketing techniques to attract new customers quickly
in Author Wendy Maynard's free report: "Marketing
Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline" at
http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/free_report.html

Provide Price Incentives for Customers to Help You Lower Costs

Provide Price Incentives for Customers to Help You Lower Costs
In these days of global competition, the customer is more
in charge than ever. That doesn't mean that you need to
offer services that cost you a fortune: Better designed
pricing can be a great help.

Let's consider an industrial example. A commodity
manufacturer of building materials studied its customers in
terms of how the mix of products they ordered affected
profits.

The company had a unique manufacturing process that made it
cheaper than competitors to produce higher volumes of
identical items, but more expensive to produce smaller
volumes of those same items. This was true because every
item was made to order.

The ideal solution for this company would be to have
customers split their orders, buying the small unit
quantities from competitors and the larger quantities from
this firm. The manufacturer had prided itself on being the
low-price supplier across the board and wasn't sure how
well this focus on getting profitable volumes could be
accomplished.

Using market research, the company was able to determine
that a high percentage of current and potential customers
would be willing to split their orders in this way if a
price disincentive were provided for lower volume orders.
The manufacturer provided that disincentive by raising
prices on small volumes of individual items, and keeping
low prices on the higher volumes.

Quickly, its business mix shifted towards its highest
margin manufacturing configuration, and its profit margins
soared. This happy result occurred despite having just lost
much of its low order-volume business.

A Hewlett-Packard unit investigated how its customers used
its various service capabilities in the mid 1990s. Products
were priced as though every customer used each service
offering equally. In fact, some customers did use most of
these services while others did not.

The profitability of an account that did not use the
services was much larger than that of a customer who used
most of these services. The services also presented another
problem in that providing the services often tied up the
best people at Hewlett-Packard.

Based on this analysis, the Hewlett-Packard unit began
charging for most of the services that were not used by the
bulk of its customers. At the same time, it could lower the
price for those who used few services and gained market
share with those customers.

Services that were hard to supply or were too intrusive on
the time of key people were priced at a substantial premium
to their cost, to discourage anyone using the services who
didn't really need them. As a result, Hewlett-Packard saw
its costs drop as the required service levels declined
while revenues rose due to more competitive prices for
those who didn't need much service. The increased volume
also helped drive costs down.

How can you adjust your prices to encourage low-cost
behavior by your customers?

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

----------------------------------------------------
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an
Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The Ultimate
Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for
accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:
====> http://www.fastforward400.com .

Easy Understanding of Bookkeeping - part 1

Easy Understanding of Bookkeeping - part 1
-- A Simple Definition of Bookkeeping --

In very simple and basic terms, it can be said that
Bookkeeping is the recording of your company's Income and
Expenses into a set of account books known as Ledgers (read
section on Ledgers to know more on Ledgers), Income and
Expenses are also known as Receipts and Payments, Inflows
and Outflows, Revenues and Expenditures, depending on the
accepted terminology used by your company, industry or
trade.

-- The Double Entry System

The basis of a good bookkeeping practice is The Double
Entry System. Many non-accountants and non-bookkeepers,
these are people who are normally unfamiliar with
bookkeeping and accounting principles, get lost in their
bookkeeping from the very start, by not fully understanding
Double Entry.

-- What is meant by Double Entry?

Simply put, Double Entry is to enter each piece of data,
transaction or information twice (double) into your ledgers.

Whether the data, transaction or information is a sales
invoice, a receipt issued for a payment received or a
payment voucher for a payment made.

All these data will be entered once as a Debit and once as
a Credit.

The end result would be, that by entering the same piece of
data twice, once as a Debit and once as a Credit, the
accounts therefore balances and leaves a balance of zero
(0), when the total Debits and total Credits are deducted
from each other.

For example, if you receive a payment of $100 for a Cash
Sale, you would Debit the Cash or Bank Account and Credit
the Sales Account, with the $100.

So when you prepare your Trial Balance (which will be
explained in my article on Final Accounts), your Cash
Account balance would have a Debit balance of $100 and your
Sales Account balance would have a Credit balance of $100,
meaning your Trial Balance balances.

-- Why Double Entry and not Single Entry?

Of course, some may argue that a Single Entry System is
easier to use, since you only need to enter the data or
information once.

But what has to be noted, is that a double entry system
gives an automatic check and balance and therefore will
alert you of any errors and/or omissions that may have
occurred in your bookkeeping.

A single entry system will not allow you this check and
balance.

So I will only discuss about The Double Entry System and
will ignore the Single Entry System.

----------------------------------------------------
I have been in Management since the 70s, IT since the 80s
and since the late 90s I began merging all my expertise
into Internet Businesses that includes Accounting Software,
Online Bookkeeping Services, Online Travel Booking System
and Online Shopping Catalog.
To view my products and services go to
http://www.multibizlink.com
To subscribe to any of my FREE tutorial, or for more
information on Bookkeeping email me at
rajaidris@multibizlink.com

Leveraging the Power of Persuasion In Motivating Your Team

Leveraging the Power of Persuasion In Motivating Your Team
Persuasion is the deliberate attempt to influence another
person's map of reality in order to get a change in their
thoughts and actions. So how can you leverage the power of
persuasion to increase the motivation and performance of
your people?

Give them your attention, listen well and learn about what
motivates them. You can do this by using any motivational
model that appeals to you. You can use the Kirschner
Motivational Model or McClelland's Model or even Maslow's
Heirarchy of Needs to speak to the needs motivations of
your people in a way that moves them, engages them and
connects them to a desirable future. And you can use a
motivational model to offer to protect them from an
undesirable future as well.

Successfully using a motivational model isn't just about
what you say. It's also about how you say it. The fact is
that most people are listening emotionally most the time,
and logically only rarely. So, no matter how logical you
are in what you propose they do or don't do, you have to
send signals that encourage your people to let themselves
be influenced by you. Otherwise, you may be wasting both
their time and yours.

There are known ways to package what you say for maximum
impact. I call these packaging tools 'signals,' 'guides'
and 'themes.' Signals speak to how you address the
emotions. Guides make it easier for others to understand
the logic of what you say. Themes are a way of structuring
what you say to help you stay on track while saying it.
The more you use this kind of approach, the more successful
you will be in getting a sustainable result.

Engaging the motivations of your people shouldn't be hard
work. In fact, it puts to work the fact that almost nobody
goes to work wanting to do a bad job. Most people want to
do well, and want what they do to matter. So teamwork
happens when leadership happens, and leadership begins with
you knowing the answers and being able to share the answers
with your people to three very important questions.

The first question is What are we doing? This refers to
the task before us, the goal we're aiming for, the problem
needing a solution, the challenge needing our energy and
focus, our reason for being here, being together.

The second question is, why are we doing it? This question
seeks to isolate the reason behind the reason for doing
something. For example, what elevates this problem to the
place of needing a solution over other problems? What
makes this challenge the important one over other
challenges? Why do you have this particular goal instead
of some other goal? What is the compelling reason that
makes this more important than something else? Your people
must know why they're doing what they're doing, or they'll
find no reason to keep doing it until it's done.

The third question isn't about the task, goal, problem or
challenge. And it's not about the reason behind these
things, either. Instead, it's about the motivation of your
people. The question is, why does it matter? Why does it
matter to me? To you? To us? What do we stand to gain or
lose in doing or not doing it? Because human beings act
out of self interest, or they do not act. That's what
matters, and that's what makes what we do matter, makes it
count.

Once you have the answers to these questions firmly fixed
in your mind, you can help your people to find their own
answers to these questions and then keep those answers in
front of them as a reminder of meaning and purpose. But
don't let a day go by without making certain that these
questions are part of the ongoing conversation between you
and your people. Because time is fleeting, memory is
short, and life has a way of filling in our moments with
other input and information, unless we make a real effort
to hold a strong focus.

Of course, it's one thing to have a lofty vision, and
something else entirely when it comes to the rubber meeting
the road. To keep your people connected and focused, you
simply must treat them with respect, keep them informed
along the way, and give recognition whenever it's due.
Recognition, not just in the large things, either, but in
the small things as well. People feel recognized when you
show appreciation. Thanks for showing up. Thanks for
speaking up. Thanks for standing up. Thanks for keeping
your promise. Thanks for following through. My mom used to
tell me that there is always something to appreciate, you
just have to appreciate the value of appreciation to find
it.

Done well, the use of persuasion creates a good atmosphere
for getting good results. And that's good, because nothing
worthwhile is likely to get done in an environment where
bad behavior dominates and respect is lacking. You know
the saying about one bad apple can ruin the whole barrel?
Well, one person behaving badly can undermine your best
efforts at positive persuasion.

Here's what's bad about bad behavior. It has a bad effect
on morale, teamwork and results. There's no getting around
the fact that pushy, negative, disruptive and unreliable
behavior is costly because it has real world consequences.

So what is to be done about the bad behavior of an
individual on a team? It's important to keep in mind that
human behavior is purposeful. People do what they do for
what they consider a good reason, and labeling a particular
behavior as good or bad may do little to influence whether
you get more or less of it. More important is to understand
what's behind a behavior, how it serves a purpose in
someone's life or work. Understand the 'good' intent behind
'bad' behavior, and you may find yourself in a position to
do something about it, from helping your people understand
that the consequences of their behavior are self defeating
to their good intentions, to revealing to them better
options for fulfilling their good intent. Done
persuasively, they'll be grateful for the insight and
opportunity to learn from you. And you, as a result, will
get better results from your people.

What specifically can you do when there's a problem with
someone's behavior? First, observe it. Notice what is
happening, when it happens, where it happens and how it
happens. Then get together with the person or people
involved, and learn everything you can about it from them.

Set the stage by telling them what you've observed, where
and when you observed it, and then ask them, "When this
happens, what's going on for you? What is your intention?"

Next, tell them the self defeating part. "When you do that,
here's the reaction it gets. Is that what you intended?"
And the answer is almost always going to be "No, it's not!"
That's your learning moment, right there. "What do you
think might work better?" Either give your people a chance
to come up with a new choice, or, if they're drawing a
blank, either brainstorm with them, or tell them what you
know could work better. In any case, you'll have set the
table for learning. A little reinforcement, and it becomes
their skill for life.

Effective persuasion requires knowledge about people, tact
and skill in dealing with them, and your commitment from
the moment you start to the moment you get the result you
aimed for. Bring these things to bear and your efforts
will bear fruit in the form of motivation and morale,
achieved goals and positive results.

----------------------------------------------------
©Dr. Rick Kirschner. Dr. Kirschner is a bestselling
author, professional speaker, trainer, teletrainer, and
coach. Clients include NASA, Starbucks, Texas Instruments.
Author of the 'Insider's Guide To The Art Of Persuasion.'
For a limited time, get a $49 value 1 hour audio on Dealing
With Difficult People absolutely free! Visit
http://theartofchange.com/promo for details!

Six Things You Need to Know about Sustainability

Six Things You Need to Know about Sustainability
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it
attached to the rest of the world. --John Muir

If you read any green blogs or listen to traditional
media's take on the green economy, you have no doubt heard
the term "sustainability." If you are like most, you have a
general sense of what the word means, but you may not be
able to come up with a clear definition of the concept.

You are not alone! As it turns out there are many, many
definitions of sustainability. In fact a brief web search
gave me at least 48 different definitions!

Although this multi-faceted term is difficult to grasp,
it's a critical concept to understand if you want to have a
green career.

______________________________________________

First and Foremost—What is Sustainability?

Let's begin our conversation with the definition that is
cited most frequently. In 1987, a UN report by the World
Commission on Environment and Development made the
following statement:

"Humanity has the ability to make development
sustainable— to ensure that it meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."

In other words, we must not just look at the immediate
impact of a project but at how that project will impact
future generations.

______________________________________________

Second—Sustainability Requires Us to Shift Our
Perspective

No longer can we believe our personal and professional
actions impact a limited number of people in a limited
geographic area.

We must see that our actions and decisions impact the
entire world, from what we purchase to what we discard,
from how we travel to how we eat. We are part of a much
larger system than we realize.

______________________________________________

Third—Sustainability Demands that We Understand How
the Earth Works

The Earth is made up of complex interlocking systems. A
change in one system can have a ripple effect across other
systems and times.

To become sustainable we must become aware of how our
actions impact the Earth, its natural resources, its flora
and fauna, its climate, its chemical balance, etc. The
cause and effect relationships aren't always clear and
obvious at first glance. One must understand, observe, and
study the interlocking systems involved to determine how
one action impacts nature's delicate balance.

Scientists recently discovered that the reintroduction of
wolves in Yellowstone resulted in an unexpected comeback
for the endangered willow tree. Turns out having the top
predator back in play meant the elk didn't linger on the
river banks nibbling on the willow shoots. With a healthy
supply of willow trees, the beaver population is
rebounding. With the dams and ponds created by eight
additional beaver colonies, the stream ecosystem is also
rebounding with increases in songbird and fish populations.
Just one change has led to a cascade of recovery in the
Yellowstone ecosystem.

This is a great research opportunity for scientists who
usually research what happens when a species disappears
from an area. Read more
(http://www.yellowstonepark.com/MoreToKnow/ShowNewsDetails.a
spx?newsid=179)

______________________________________________

Fourth—Sustainability Asks Us to Make More Informed
Decisions

By examining the true costs and benefits of our actions in
more detail, we make more informed decisions as individuals
and as organizations.

-- Economic - how does the action look from a financial
perspective? Are the decisions likely to lead to financial
success over the long term?

-- Social - how does the action impact the entire community
from employees to suppliers, investors to customers, local
communities to global communities? Are the actions being
considered likely to improve their situation or harm them?

-- Environmental - how does the action impact the
environment? How are the materials for the project
obtained? How is the waste from the project handled? What
decisions can be made to minimize the negative impact on
the planet?

For those of you who are familiar with the term "triple
bottom line," you'll see a distinct parallel with Profits,
People, and Planet.

______________________________________________

Fifth—Sustainability Takes a Special Kind of
Leadership

Traditional leadership models, centered on the notion that
wise leaders use their charismatic ability and vision to
lead followers to create change, will not produce the
needed results around sustainability.

The Sustainability Leadership Institute
(http://www.sustainabilityleadershipinstitute.org/) says
"Traditional leadership models, centered on the notion that
wise leaders use their charismatic ability and vision to
lead followers to create change, will not produce the
needed results around sustainability."

Instead they see a new leadership model developing in which
leaders nurture a collaborative effort of those within a
community or organization. Together the group generates
solutions that work within the context of their
organization. There are no set answers in this form of
leadership. The leader's role is to stay attuned to changes
and to figure out each next step in a way that honors the
entire community effort. For a full description of the
Sustainability Leadership Model, please visit their site.

This dichotomy between traditional leadership and
sustainability leadership may explain why much of the work
in this arena is happening at a grassroots level in
individual organizations, cities, and non-profits.

______________________________________________

Sixth—Sustainability Invites Us All to Learn More and
Get Involved

Playing your part in a sustainable world means stepping
into new roles and responsibilities. Don't expect yourself
to figure it out on your own. Reach out to others who are
involved in this work. Learn from them and apply what you
learn.

Here are some valuable resources to get you started

-- Sustainable
Measures(http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/) website is
full of information about sustainability.

-- Wikipedia also has a good article on sustainability.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability) Be sure to
scroll down to the See Also heading for links to additional
articles related to this topic. Don't feel you need to read
every single article. Choose the ones that interest you
most.

-- Explore local communities who are working on
sustainability. Check out the list
(http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/Resources/SustainableCom
munities.php ) to see if there's a project going on near
you! -- Take a course, get a degree, green your MBA, or get
a green MBA. A number of schools now offer sustainability
programs. Taking courses is a great way to learn the
basics, meet other people who share your values, and green
your resume. As a starting point, check out Arizona State
University
(http://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu/degrees/index.php)
and the Green MBA (http://greenmba.com/). If you aren't
ready for a full degree, search for online courses and
short term certification programs. These aren't the only
schools offering programs in sustainability. Check your
local schools to discover what they offer.

----------------------------------------------------
Green Career Expert, Carol McClelland, PhD, is the author
of Your Dream Career For Dummies and founder and managing
editor of Green Career Central. A comprehensive set of
easy-to-use resources, programs, and events helps you
identify your green niche, find a green job, start a green
business or get a green education. Visit
http://www.GreenCareerCentral.com to request our free
report--Six Strategies to Find Your Green Career.

My Objections to Objections

My Objections to Objections
"Your price is too high!" When you've frequently had to
sell your products or services it is very likely that
you've heard this kind of statement before. It could be
called the 'king of objections'. Other frequent objections
concern product/service details, commercial terms, and
performance issues (like delivery time, warranty, etc.).

In the course of this article I will share with you my
views on objections, how they can be minimized if not
avoided, and how to deal with them when they show up
despite our best efforts. Before I get into the four types
of objections, let's see where objections come from and how
they could be avoided in the first place.

Trust is Key If you want to find a way to minimize or even
completely avoid objections, it is imperative that you
develop a deeply (!) trusting relationship with the
potential buyer. No, it's not good enough to just get along
well with the buyer. Our own research has found that true
trust requires three key elements:

- Competence. You know your product, services, the market
environment, etc. and you are proficient in presentation,
communication, etiquette, and so on.

- Rapport. You know how to make another person feel
comfortable with you.

- Care. You truly (!) care about the well-being of your
counterpart and accept the possibility that your
product/service might not be a very good fit for your
prospect... in which case you will not sell it.

I found that many successful sales people are quite good in
the first two factors. But what do most sales people care
about? Well, they care about the sale (or the
commission/bonus they might get). And what do buyers care
about? Certainly not about the seller's commission.

The good news is that you can decide to care about your
prospective buyer at any time, but genuinely caring about a
good outcome for the buyer is key. We've come to call this
the NATOO (Not Attached To Own Outcome) mindset. When we
manage to achieve deep levels of trust with the potential
buyer, we reap some great benefits: - We are much more
likely to hear the truth from the buyer. - If our
product/service fits, we might be the preferred choice
because chances are good that the buyer doesn't trust the
other sellers that much. - The buyer will allow us to
assist in the buying decision making process.

I repeat: Your care must be genuine. If you fake it,
chances are high that you'll get just the opposite of what
you want. Once we build trust, we can actually clarify all
the decision-making criteria of the buyer. We can talk
about the available budget, expected payment terms, etc.
and negotiate terms that may lead to win-win outcomes.

A proposal then becomes only a confirmation of the
discussions we've had. In this 'ideal' scenario where trust
is built, there won't be any objections at all because we
won't offer anything that isn't asked for by the buyer.

Objections can appear only when we offer information that
isn't asked for or expected in the way we offer it. So, to
minimize objections, it is of prime importance to:

a) Build deep levels of trust with the buyer (there are
techniques available to speed up this process);

b) Stop offering information that isn't asked for; it is
much more useful to clarify matters as much as possible
through appropriate questioning;

and c) Be sensitive to the slightest signs of resistance
and to pull yourself back immediately. When this approach
is executed perfectly, you won't face any objections at
all. That's one of the key aims of the Stop Selling!
approach.

But let's be honest. We are not perfect, and even very
proficient users of the Stop Selling! approach sometimes
fall into the trap of inducing objections. So what's to do?
We've noticed that there are four types of objections:

- Buyer tactics
- Subjective objections
- Objective objections
- Excuses

Let's examine them individually, as a doctor would a
patient.

Buyer tactics

Diagnosis: This is quite common when dealing with
executives who make purchasing decisions. They tend to
raise objections just to weaken your position and to gain
more bargaining power.

Medicine: Become aware of the tactics and remain cool.
Acknowledge the objection while showing that you won't get
emotionally affected by it. Try to reframe the conversation
towards win-win outcomes. See how you can build more trust
with the buyer.

Subjective objections

Diagnosis: The objection is more like a feeling without
profound basis. It might even be that there is something
else disturbing the buyer and it's difficult for the person
to clearly express that.

Medicine: Use questions that help the buyer to become
clearly aware what actually doesn't match. Once this is
discovered, deal with it in a collaborative manner with the
buyer.

Objective objections

Diagnosis: You find out that these objections are clearly
based on facts that can't be denied.

Medicine: In this case there are only two choices. You can
either do something meaningful about it or you will need to
be ready to accept that you aren't a sufficiently good
match because the buyer may choose not to work with you.

Excuses

Diagnosis: If you notice that objections seem just to be
simply excuses to get rid of you, then you certainly
haven't achieved a very trusting relationship. People who
truly trust you won't make any excuses because they will
feel comfortable enough to tell you the truth.

Medicine: Check if there is still a chance of deepening the
trust between the buyer and you. You may also attempt to
find out the truth by asking more questions... but chances
are that you won't get anywhere in this situation.

Conclusion: Objections can be minimized if not completely
avoided. The key is to build deeply trusting relationships
with potential buyers. Trust is based on Competence,
Rapport and Care (CRC). If you start caring for your
buyers' outcomes and become proficient in the areas of
competence and rapport, you are on the best way to build
strong trust with your existing and potential buyers.

If objections still appear despite your best efforts, then
you may need to diagnose them first and then use the
appropriate 'medicine' to deal with them.

----------------------------------------------------
By Charlie Lang, executive coach and trainer and Managing
Partner of Progress U Ltd., an executive coaching and
leadership training company. For more articles or
information about Progress U's leadership and sales
training programs, please visit http://www.progressu.com

Four Success Factors for Customer Service

Four Success Factors for Customer Service
How many times have your pondered methods to provide
customer satisfaction? How much of your money and time is
spent on costly surveys and loyalty programs? Save your
time and money and stop ruminating through the customer
satisfaction maze. The time has come to set your compass on
the true direction of client needs. Based on over 26 years
of research and thousands of client issues, we have found
four factors clients require. These four factors drive
success, control profits and assist to retain clients.

Accuracy

Clients deplore inaccuracy. Case reviews illustrate
wrongful charges on cell phones, cable television and
automobile service as exemplars. While these represent only
a microcosm of industries, they are illustrated here to
identify with most readers. What frustrate clients most are
not infrequent fees, but the shallowness in resolution.

Maria recently took holiday in Mexico and used a credit
card as payment for food and beverage. Through a myriad of
unfortunate circumstances she was wrongfully charged
incorrect fees. Since December 2007, she has been
striving to resolve the fees with both the card issuer and
hotel. Thus far, she has spent more time and money on the
telephone surpassing the actual fees. A business frequent
flier and a frequent guest of the hotel chain, she has
terminated the card and any future hotel business.

A major customer service issue for most organizations is 1)
capable talent and 2) decision power. For many firms an
inordinate time is spent passing blame and discovering
those in charge. At some point the cost of doing business,
becomes unprofitable. Too much time is spent in the
quagmire of bureaucracy. Organizations must allow employees
to reach swift conclusions to customer issues. Let
employees make decisions, they will learn from this while
reducing stress and developing timely solutions.

Second, periodic audits, even in large companies enable
leaders to discover trends and frequent anomalies.
Constantly review the customer issues and streamline the
bottleneck expeditiously.

Availability

Many years ago I learned a wonderful best practice from my
mentor - return all calls within 90 minutes. In my many
years of service I am happy to report a 95% return rate. I
do obtain challenges periodically but callers frequently
lose. Clients devour the spontaneity. Clients want
accessibility to their vendors. How often do you enjoy
lengthy hold times?

The proliferation of voice mail and email creates barriers
to communication. Think about times when you call a bank or
credit card issuer. Your call falls prey to an automated
phone bank, requiring you to input your account
information, social security number, phone number, name of
first-born, etc. With each keystroke, you are required to
repeat this perfunctory exercise only to repeat yet again
to a live operator. By this time your only desire is to end
the call!

Organizations must streamline processes and become
available. The best organizations use live operators
without rote scripts. If voice prompts are required
eliminate wasteful methods to expedite wait times.

Partnership

The proliferation of the Internet evens the playing field
for clients and organization. Similar to fifty years ago,
clients have issues and they clamor for quick resolution.
When possible they desire one voice for all questions. They
desire collaboration. Rather than frequent several vendors,
it is easier for one vendor to address the myriad of issues
clients face. Collaborative efforts leverage solutions,
price and most importantly client vendor relations.
Organizations eliminate duality in sales and service
issues, lower cost of acquisition while clients obtain
expeditious solutions to their issues.

Advice

Seth Godin had a wonderful Blog entitled "The Marketing of
Fear". The notion exists in selling that consumers have
pain. Sales training schools and many managers instruct
sales professionals to identify the pain for the benefit of
establishing solutions.

The truth is that no consumer desires to be reminded of his
or her pain. Clients want from selling professionals: trust
and respect. Clients want to know you understand the issue,
researched their objectives and can expeditiously provide
value in solutions. There is a need for a trusted advisor
that continually illustrates client efficiency. Pain is
negative, value positive.

Refrain from FEAR FACTOR and create relationships with
clients. Deter the notion of pain and begin to ask
provocative questions that align with objectives to gain
immediate results. Questions keep them talking, illustrate
your continued interest and open the door for additional
questions. Customer service and selling professionals come
and go, advisors remain in site forever!

Customer Service is not an exact science. New issues arise
daily requiring flexibility. Yet after significant
research, issues typically align with the four factors-
accuracy, availability, partnership and advice. Competition
and information increase the difficulties for success.
Differentiation is paramount in today's global landscape.
Review these four functional areas and begin to lower
service costs and increase client retention today.

----------------------------------------------------
Drew Stevens PhD is known as the Sales Strategist. Drew
assists organizations to dramatically accelerate business
growth. He is the author of seven books including Split
Second Selling and Split Second Customer Service and Little
Book of Hope and is frequently called on the media for his
expertise. Get a FREE download Drew's White Paper on
Selling Effectiveness or Business Building e-book at
http://www.gettingtothefinishline.com

Coaching Keys To Bringing Out The Best In Others

Coaching Keys To Bringing Out The Best In Others
The most common obstacle to building and projecting your
authority in coaching others is the idea that coaching is
about talking, that somehow talking takes priority over
listening to understand.

Iunderstand how this happens. In fast paced environments,
it's a natural tendency to put the pedal to the metal, to
try harder, move faster, do more. The problem is that you
wind up talking at your people instead of with them and to
them. And the obstacle this lack of understanding creates
is that without knowing what motivates your people, you
can't engage them where it counts.

When you understand what motivates your people, and it's
different for different people, you can speak with
authority that is recognized as authority, because it is
relevant and conveys experience and knowledge.

The next most common obstacle is the confidence problem.
When managers come off as tentative, hesitant or uncertain,
it tends to evoke these responses in the people around
them. This problem is the side effect of at least two
missing pieces: first, not knowing your own motivation, and
second, not being prepared to speak when you need to speak.
The fact is, people want to be led, not managed, and they
need to get that sense of authority from you, because it
gives them confidence to do what needs to be done. They
believe it when you believe it.

Now, it's a legitimate question, confidence in what? After
all, in these changing times, nobody really knows what's
coming next. And some degree of introspection is prudent
for anyone wanting to thrive instead of merely survive. But
you can have confidence in your motivations. You can have
confidence in what you do know. And you can have confidence
that under the right conditions, people will want to give
you their best, to do their best.

So, what are the key listening and communication skills
that you can improve upon as you work to develop and
strengthen others?
There are two skills that are fundamental to success in
coaching. The first is blending, the second is asking
questions.

Blending is the foundation of all successful relationships.
It happens whenever you reduce the differences between
yourself and another person. It happens whenever you send
signals of similarity and commonality. And a failure to
blend is the cause of most conflict, nobody cooperates with
anyone who seems to be against them. If perception is
everything in relationships, then sending blending signals
is how you create the perception of partnering with your
people in a process or project.

As for questions, I believe it was the stoic philosopher,
Epicetus, who said "We have two ears and one mouth so that
we can listen twice as much as we speak." Maybe this is the
apt metaphor for the way we're built, but I've observed
that too many people just don't get it. Although they
certainly think they do. Ask just about anyone if they're a
good listener, and they'll tell you yes. But most people do
a meager job of it at best, instead drawing conclusions and
then making statements instead of engaging people by asking
questions.
Maybe the people who don't ask very many questions are
afraid of looking stupid. Maybe they think it makes them
seem weak. Or maybe they think they're supposed to have all
the answers. Maybe it's just a function of the fact that we
can think faster, at 500 words a minute, than most people
talk, which is about 130 words a minute. So it's pretty
easy to get ahead of what we're hearing, or for our minds
to wander to what we want to say when its our turn to talk.

But a great coach understands the limits of his or her
knowledge about another person, and explores that boundary
to build the connection, rather than building the boundary
and weakening the relationship. The key is curiosity. The
less you think you know, the more you find out. The more
value you place on what you can learn by listening, the
less distracted you'll be with your own thoughts.

Perhaps you've heard it said that 'there is no such thing
as a stupid question.' That's a great guide when it comes
to everyone other than you! You can't afford to ask dumb
questions if you want to bring out the best in your people.
When someone asks me a question, no matter how trite,
simplistic or off the point, I welcome it and find the
opportunity in it.

When it's me asking, I think that there are dumb questions.
They're dumb if they fail to take into account things
people have said. They're dumb if they're closed ended
instead of open ended, unless I intend to bring something
to a close. I want my questions to serve an intelligent
purpose. I want to get to the deep structure of a person's
motivations and positions. I want to learn about their
goals and aspirations, their desires and fears. Asking
questions is a great way of leading people to their own
resourcefulness. And I want my questions to inform, just as
their answers will inform me.

As a coach, the more you know, the more likely it is that
you will know exactly what you need to know in order to
elicit comfort confidence and credibility.

----------------------------------------------------
©Dr. Rick Kirschner. May be reprinted without any changes,
as long as author biography and links remain intact. Dr.
Kirschner is a bestselling author, speaker, trainer and
coach. Clients include NASA, Starbucks, Texas Instruments.
Author of the 'Insider's Guide To The Art Of Persuasion.'
For a limited time, get a $49 value 1 hour audio on Dealing
With Difficult People absolutely free! Visit
http://theartofchange.com/promo for details!

Tips On Using Business Lines Of Credit

Tips On Using Business Lines Of Credit
Banks nowadays are being pretty tight fisted with their
money especially when it comes to small businesses. I
recently talked to a friend of mine who is a Vice President
at Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas. The topic of the current
credit situation came up and I asked him how tight the
lending was. He said to me the only thing that the banks
really care about now is your Fico score. Even your company
financials are secondary to your score. He then mentioned
to me that the same principles are applying to renewals
that they apply to new applications. But some old
strategies can help your cause at renewal time provided
you've been applying them since the start.

So what does your bank want to see you doing? Well for
starters they want to see you using your credit line. The
purpose of a bank line of credit is to cover cash
shortfalls for small amounts of time. A bill needs to be
paid but your customer hasn't yet paid you. You draw on the
line and borrow the money you need to pay the bill. Once
you've been paid you pay the money back to the bank. Over
the life of the credit line you repeat this process
continuously. Borrow and repay is what they want to see.

Now you need to remember the golden rule about asking for
money. Ask when you don't need it. Then when you do need it
you already have it. Credit lines are meant to give you
short term flexibility. They should be used for ongoing
cash generating operations. They should not be used for
projects that may or may not see a return in the future.
Nor should you stretch your budget for projects that are
based on future returns thinking that you can use your
credit line to cover expenses.

That's the mistake a lot of small businesses make. Say they
find a piece of equipment they could use. Now they've done
just fine without this piece of equipment in the past but
for whatever reason they just have to have it. Maybe they
think it will improve productivity or that there is more
demand for its use than there actually is. But they don't
have enough money set aside to buy it and they can't
finance it. So they use money from there credit line to buy
it.

Well now we run into the problem. If your company didn't
have the money to buy the equipment outright without help
how then are you supposed to pay the credit line back down.
You see the second thing banks are always looking for is
your ability to pay the balance down to zero. They want to
know you have the ability to pay them back. And the more
times you borrow on the line and then pay it down to zero
the better you will look.

Now let's look at the other end of the spectrum. Your
company has plenty of money and doesn't need to use the
line. Use it anyway. You never know when your situation
might change and if you show your bank you don't actually
need the line they may not be inclined to renew it when it
comes time. Remember they're in business to make money too
and they only do that on money you've actually borrowed not
on the fact you have a credit line.

Credit lines can be of great help or cause major problems.
So don't treat it like you've just won a shopping spree
because you have to pay it back.

----------------------------------------------------
Cash Miller is an experienced entrepreneur and speaker who
has spent over a decade as a small business owner. His
years of experience in small business cover such topics as
planning, management, marketing, human resources,
ecommerce, and taxation. If you are looking for more
information on this subject and others related to starting
and running a small business you can visit his website at
http://www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com

The Laws of Sales Success

The Laws of Sales Success
Sales professionals must create magnetic appeal to increase
closing efficiency. Our present global environment creates
numerous obstacles that polarize sales efforts, form the
proliferation of the Internet to advanced media.
Ironically, with the intrigue of technological miracles the
foundation of sales success exists upon 10 principles.
Since the beginning of trade, selling has not changed, nor
have these laws. These principles as they have for
centuries are the laws that attract numerous clients and
create successful selling professionals.

The Law of Preparation

The best selling professionals are always prepared.
Preparation denotes a voracious appetite for information.
Productive professionals attract more clients when they
read information and eventually convert this to client
knowledge. The knowledge output provides client value in
terms of competitiveness, productivity and even
profitability. Value stems from reading newspapers, trade
publications and conducting research. When clients
determine from the value professionals provide they are
more apt to conduct business and moreover, use them
repeatidly. Finally, closing ratios increase when selling
professionals anticipate client needs.

The Law of Selling Methodology

Sales training is critically important to all
organizations. ES Research Group reveals that 90% of all
sales training programs conducted for corporations result
only in a 90-120 day increase in sales productivity and, as
a result, fewer than 20% of companies realize any
sustainable productivity gain that lasts beyond 12 months.
In the United States alone over four billion dollars is
spent per year on training selling professionals with two
thirds of that money ear marked for one day training.

To be competitive, selling professionals must be
competitive. It appears that taking the time to develop a
training program does in fact pay tangible returns. Many
companies think that sales training can help with the
strategic account planning aspect of selling. More
importantly is providing selling professionals with a
methodology they adhere to and more importantly create
attraction.

The Law of Value Proposition

Many professionals are quick to state what they do for a
living. While not much is incorrect with this statement,
the tendency forms stereotype. And, worse yet as an
entrepreneur operating a business, one gets placed into a
pool with competitors. One of the best assets for every
selling professional is a value statement. Be mindful, this
is not an elevator speech. This pithy statement ends the
stereotype and focuses all attention completely on the
prospective client. A value proposition is solutions based
with all benefits focused on the consumer. Customer value
propositions have become one of the most widely used terms
in business markets. These simple statements enable selling
professionals to articulate their company's position into
useful terminology that engages the prospective client.

The Law of Referrals

Proper attraction involves referral acquisition.
Professionals abhor asking for referrals! Business is
driven by the ability to ask for new business. If clients
are happy with your work they will willingly provide others
with your value. The best way to seek referrals is when you
are first engaged with the client and they are at an
emotional high. More importantly you want to ask when you
are in the account, since this is the best time to be top
of mind.

The Law of the Decision Maker

Sales attraction is discovering the true economic buyer.
67% of selling professionals spend too much time with those
that cannot make a decision. Sellers are often duped into
the process because they do not ask the proper questions.
Good detective work means asking the difficult questions.
Selling professionals must be intelligent enough to know
about the organization, the competition to conduct and
intellectual conversation. Research has found that the
title never denotes the economic buyer.

The Law of Value

True selling professionals endeavor to resolve client
issues before the client understands the issue. They have a
passion for converting products and services into value. In
a recent interview with over 10,000 clients, they indicate
their desire for sales professionals that can speak client
language, understand the core issues and get to the heart
of the matter expediently. Ask clients provocative
questions that get them thinking about legacy, expectations
and strategic direction.

The Law of Networking

Truly the best professionals constantly network. Selling
professionals by nature require constant engagement with
others to comprehend business trends and meet new
opportunities. Admittedly, there exist a plethora of
networking associations and organizations, choose those
close to your location and aligned with your business.
Review your local paper for functions that interest you and
attend as a guest, but go! If you do not attend, your
competitors are.

The Law of Desire

Successful professionals love challenges, are exceptional
at overcoming adversity and love what they represent. They
are never shy or non-conversant, and you can sense their
spirit and their passion when they speak. Successful
professionals have an aura of spirit, of love, of passion,
of commitment in everything and anything that they do. The
passion for assisting others is the fuel that bounds from
failure to fortune.

The Law of Faith

Faith is a component of both passion and love. Faith is the
ability to disavow the norms. Thomas Edison did not believe
he failed he had faith to succeed. If Henry Ford, and
Andrew Carnegie did not have faith our American business
system would not be the supreme power it is. And if Abraham
Lincoln did not have faith, African Americans would not be
free and his name would not be associated with America's
greatest president. In fact, faith was so imperative for
Lincoln because his successes did not arrive until after
his 40th birthday. Faith is one of the largest key
components to the laws of selling attraction.

The Law of Success

Professionals have to breathe it, become it and yearn for
it. Success does not come easy. The Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King jr. stated, Faith is taking the first step even
when you don't see the whole staircase. Take the ladder of
success one step at a time by seeing each step, living each
step and appreciating each step.

----------------------------------------------------
Drew Stevens PhD assists organizations to dramatically
accelerate business growth. He is the author of seven books
including Split Second Selling and Split Second Customer
Service and Little Book of Hope. Dr. Drew is a thought
leader on sales and customer service issues. He can be
reached at http://www.gettingtothefinishline.com Get a FREE
White Paper on Sales Effectiveness or FREE 40 page Business
Builder e-book at http://www.gettingtothefinishline.com

The Power of Perceptions in Shaping Customer Satisfaction

The Power of Perceptions in Shaping Customer Satisfaction
What's the value of perception? Isn't it interesting how
our perceptions rule our beliefs and actions? So much of
the brain research today seems to support the idea that our
perceptions define our reality.

For that reason, this article focuses on the role of
perception in the minds of consumers. Is the glass half
empty or half full? The definition resides in your
customers' eyes!

------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
People Perceive Quality in Many Ways
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

Regardless of how good you believe your offerings or
project solutions are, your clients and customers will be
responding to "quality in perception" even more than
"quality in fact."

Quality in fact refers to the features that we believe
we're paying for, such as how much something weighs, how
fast it runs, or various other characteristics.

Quality in perception refers to things like courtesies,
special considerations, a caring and personalized attitude,
and a host of other subtleties that can lead us to believe
we're receiving something above and beyond what we're
paying for. Effective quality in perception can help
compensate for any gaps in quality in fact that could
otherwise irritate or inconvenience consumers.

------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Often, Perceived Value Is Not about Cost
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

Some years ago, I was a volunteer mediator in the Small
Claims Court system. Over a period of months, I was
fascinated with the proportion of cases involving alleged
wrongdoing or incompetence. People were suing businesses
such as termite services and auto body painters, and even
former best friends and health care providers over a
variety of grievances! The suits often sought fairly small
amounts of compensation, which meant that the financial
aspects were not the primary concern.

What repeatedly emerged in the mediation sessions was that
each plaintiff felt that the vendor, service provider,
health care provider, or ex-friend had not listened to his
or her concerns. Those plaintiffs frequently believed that
their complaints about shortcomings in services, products,
or communications had simply been dismissed.

Had the defendants in these cases earlier offered something
as simple as a sincere apology -- and had they made a
concerted effort to communicate while also taking timely
remedial action -- I believe the resulting quality in
perception could have prevented many of these lawsuits,
even if the quality in fact still left something to be
desired.

------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
New Proof of the Power of Apologies
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

The New York Times recently reported that sincere,
heart-felt apologies coming from doctors, surgeons, and
hospitals who made serious medical mistakes have the effect
of greatly reducing the likelihood that patients will sue
for malpractice. Further, patients who settle out of court
are often willing to accept lower settlement payments than
when doctors become defensive and deny what happened.

"Deny and defend" is the advice that malpractice lawyers
and insurers typically give to doctors in the U.S.,
according to the Times. Studies that show that as few as 30
percent of medical errors are ever disclosed to patients.
Yet because malpractice claims have helped cause medical
expenses to skyrocket, drastic changes in approaches to
handling these high-stress situations are sorely needed.

According to the article, two years ago, the University of
Illinois Medical Center initiated a program of openly
acknowledging and apologizing for its medical mistakes.
Since then, the number of malpractice filings against the
center dropped in half. And in 37 cases where the hospital
acknowledged a preventable error and apologized, only one
patient has filed suit.

In one patient's situation described in the article, "the
doctor was completely candid, completely honest, and so
frank that . . . all the anger was gone." This apology also
helped settle the case for a significantly lower amount.

------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Creating a Perception of Seamlessness
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

To help ensure the continuity of our customers'
perceptions, we need to create consistently pleasant
experiences in every interaction each person has, from
visiting a Web site or bricks-and-mortar location, to
asking for more information, to buying products, to
receiving shipments, to interacting with the actual
products or services, to asking for help, and so on.

Consider this very important point: People perceive a
series of interactions with your organization and offerings
as one cohesive experience -- as if everyone and everything
represents threads in the same seamless piece of woven
fabric.

Customers don't care whether behind the scenes, your
business is spread out all over the world, or whether
individual departments consist of contractors or employees,
earthlings or aliens. Whenever customers call technical
support representatives, for example, they expect them to
know all about the features advertised on the Web site that
are supposed to be in the product.

So, if there is any type of communication disconnect, you
might be able to explain it to yourself, but there's no
logical explanation for it in your customer's mind.

------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Prescriptions for Boosting Quality in Perception
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

These important findings show the power of apologies and
candid communications in influencing the perceptions of
clients, customers, or patients. To make sure you're not
overlooking potential ways to create quality in perception,
consider:

1) Special courtesies that can set your offerings apart
from your competitors'

2) Your ability to listen to and handle complaints quickly
and diplomatically

3) Your willingness to be honest with clients about
problems and shortcomings

4) Clear, prompt, and courteous communications that convey
consistent details

Remember that quality in perception is not a substitute for
quality in fact. But it can go a long way toward minimizing
customer and client dissatisfaction, as well as powerfully
reinforcing stellar quality when you ultimately deliver it.

----------------------------------------------------
Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of the award-winning
"Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" program.
She helps people "discover and recover" the profits their
businesses may be losing every day through overlooked
performance potential. To sign up for more free tips, visit
her site at http://LearnShareProsper.com