FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

I recently presented a seminar to new business owners on sales and marketing. There was a lot of excitement in the room as these new ventures are being launched. But what also struck me was the amount of hesitation and overthinking that was going on. As they get deeper into building their business, so many people become paralyzed by the amount of stuff they don’t know. Often they overcompensate by obsessing over small details that they feel they have control of. The result is a lot of wasted time and opportunity. The fact is that you will never know everything you need to know when running a business – it is a constant learning experience. Stop hesitating, stop sweating over the small stuff. Just get out there and learn while you do. Believe in your ability to learn and succeed.

There is lots of buzz out there about how you need to create a relationship with your customer (true) and that the key to successful selling is to be able to uncover their needs and provide a solution (true). Unfortunately some companies out there have implemented customer service training programs that have their staff asking customers questions to uncover needs and then ignoring what the customer says. Here is a couple of examples I heard about recently:

• A business associate got a call from his bank customer service representative, asking in a cheery voice if there was anything his bank could do for him. His reply – reduce the interest rate on my credit card. Her answer – no. His next request: was there a way to reduce his bank fees? Her answer – no. Why bother making this phone call – window dressing?
• A client of mine who has run a financially successful business for 5 years and is now expanding her business operation called her large global bank about getting a line of credit for the expansion. They told her it would be no problem – come in and see us and we will get it set up. She goes for the meeting and finds out they are happy to extend credit to her through a credit card with 29% interest attached! Needless to say she has moved to the competition.

In the Ghost CEO coaching program, we teach all our clients that Visibility, Credibility and Profitability are key to business success. Both of the banks above lost credibility by asking customers what they could do better without ever intending to deliver anything different.

If you want to succeed in business, mean what you say. If you genuinely want to find out what your customer wants and you are prepared to improve your product or service, then ask. If you are just doing it because it seems to be the thing to do, don’t bother. You’ll keep more customers and credibility that way.

I get asked a lot of questions about the best way to sell to corporate customers. Buying processes in most companies have changed a lot lately. Check out these numbers from Marketing Sherpa and In-Pursuit: Buy: The Numbers

Note the surprising response to cold calls. After you read this, look at your corporate accounts and ask yourself:

1. Do I know the names of everyone involved in purchasing my product?
2. Have I established a relationship with more than one of them?
3. As a company, what do we do to build our visibility so buyers can easily find us?

I was having a glass of wine with my good friend and brilliant life coach, Willie Carter, the other day and we were talking about how as a business grows, many business owners find themselves struggling with the kind of clients that a year ago, they would have loved working with. It Is all part of growing your business; Willie kindly sent this article along to share with my readers.

My Clients are driving Me Crazy!!!!

You’ve been in business for a while now. And you’re noticing that some or a lot of your clients are driving you crazy. They cancel at the last minute; they don’t pay on time; there’s a lot of talk and no action. You wonder: maybe you made a mistake. Maybe this isn’t the business for you after all. You’re losing your patience and compassion. You’re actually relieved when certain people cancel. What should you do? You’ve already invested so much time and money into this business. What will people say?

Sound familiar? What was really going on? What was the real message here? After having many of my clients go through this crazy-making period, it became obvious to me that this was a huge clue that they and their business were ready to move to the next level.

This new level required that they re-define their ideal client profile. These “problem” clients offered a contrast that could help the business manager clarify who they really wanted to work with.

These “problem” clients were a huge gift in disguise. Once the new profile was established, then it was important to let go of the clients that did not meet the criteria of this profile.

As your business grows, you grow and vice versa. As you change your client profile will change. It has to, or you will be driven crazy by clients that don’t match you or your business.

Scary to do? Yes. But, oh! You will feel so relieved. And you’ll have energy and vision again. And your business will grow quicker than you anticipated. I’ve seen this happen over and over again. Try it. You’ll see.

So, WHAT’S YOUR NEXT STEP?

• Make a list of qualities of the people you love working with
• Make a list of the traits of people who are driving you crazy
• Create your ideal client profile from the first list
• Refer out or let go of those clients that don’t fit
• Get ready for your increased business

Willie Carter, BA, BSc, Graduate Coach University
THE NEXT STEP
604-601-2105
thenextstep1@shaw.ca

Here is the list of public seminars we are running for July 2007.

The 10 Deadly Sins of Business Planning – SOLD OUT!
July 16th, 2007 6-7PM
Vancouver, BC
$49/per person + GST
To Register:info@fmwalsh.com

The 10 Deadly Sins of Negotiation
July 23rd, 2007 6-7PM
Vancouver, BC
$49/per person + GST
To Register:info@fmwalsh.com

The 10 Deadly Sins of Sales
July 30, 2007 6-7PM
Vancouver, BC
$49/per person + GST
To Register:info@fmwalsh.com

For those of you just getting started on a new business idea there is a great opportunity to get a head start with this latest course offering by Small Business BC.
Small Business Start-Up Summer Series runs the week of July 16-20th and will cover business plans, financial planning template, branding, advertising and marketing toolkit, as well as building a sales strategy. This is a fabulous deal! Check out the Small Business BC website for all the details.

It has been said that technological advancement will mean the death of person to person selling as we know it and that sales people will go the way of the dinosaur. Granted, technological innovations and the resulting ubiquity of information available on the web have made it easier for people to research products and alternatives, e-commerce applications have automated the sales-process for certain products. But we are social creatures by nature and human contact will always be a prerequisite for many major purchases. All these just mean that the sales person’s job has become more complex and challenging.

The one on one sales relationship isn’t going away anytime soon and new technology should be looked on as an opportunity rather than a threat. Companies and sales people must embrace new ways to build their networks using social networking sites for example. They should look on blogs as invaluable resources to help them assess the market environment they are competing in and differentiate more effectively. Sales people embraced mobile phones, Blackberries and email as means for prospects to get in touch with them easily, they should look on instant messaging and soft phones such as Skype as a simple extension of this and make themselves available at every touch point their prospect could want to contact them with.

The only sales people I see becoming extinct are those slimy sales types that think the can manipulate situations and prospects and even lie to them to get the sale. Thanks to the value of information on the web these manipulators will no longer be able to hoodwink so easily.