6 Tips to Increase the Quality, Quantity of Your Client Referrals, by Terry Corbell

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Terry Corbell, The Biz Coach
Terry Corbell, The Biz Coach

As a professional, you can ease the pain and save time in making sales calls, if you’re a good steward of your already-existing circle of associates and clients – potential centers of influence. That’s a term that refers to people who can and will refer business your way.

There are two types of centers of influence: 1. People who know you well and will refer business to you without being asked. 2. Those acquaintances who need some prodding.

For the former, be grateful and show a gracious gratitude. Don’t take such leads for granted.

Be grateful for the latter, too, and get more quality referrals if you use the following tips:

1. Make sure you’re prepared for referrals. That means being up-to-date branding on all your collateral – from your Web site to business cards. Rehearse your elevator pitch and value proposition, and  be ready to offer them at the right opportunities.

2. Lay the groundwork to pop the question. The best time to ask for referrals from a valued client – to maximize your client profile portfolio – is when you’ve done a great job. Be Subtle. Ask your client if he/she likes the results of your latest project. Making sure that you get a thank you is one of my firm’s internal 60 ground rules for effective client service.

(These ground rules have been instrumental for my being able to sustain multiple client relationships on a month-to-month continuous basis for nearly two decades.)

3. Respond. Give your client a couple of meaningful strokes. Ask your client for referrals to two people just like them – people who will profit from your expertise. Reiterate exactly what you want. Express your thank you to your client and the opportunity to be of service.

4. With the referrals, be prepared to discuss your anonymous case studies and references. Unless your client doesn’t mind, it’s best to be careful with the referrals in how you share your successes. Understand the five strategies to build trust with clients.

Be prepared to ask lots of open-ended questions. Do not criticize the prospect’s organization or employees – even if asked to do so. That’s a rude tactic, and you don’t want to imply that you have knee-jerk solutions – if even they are obvious.

5. Schedule a meeting. Even if the referral doesn’t meet your criteria for a new client, meet with the person. Otherwise, you risk annoying your valued client who gave you the referral.

If you can’t help the person being referred, offer to help find the right professional for the situation. Candidly, I’ve taken on projects referred by clients because I wanted to maintain the strong relationships.

Agree on the next course of action.

6. Follow up. Thoughtful handwritten notes should be immediately sent to both the referral and the client who did the referring.

Thank you notes to the prospect should include the following elements:

  • Indicate how it was a pleasure to meet the person.
  • Mention one or two examples from the conversation.
  • Include your value proposition, and how you will be of help.
  • Mention you appreciate the connection because it came from a valued client. (Your referral will more likely want to become a valued client, too.)
  • Thank the person, and include a statement to prevent buyer’s remorse.

On the other hand, if you don’t decide to work with the referral, explain why to your client in-person. Remember it’s an opportunity to restate your criteria for new clients.

Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Selling your books during public speaking — 10 tactics

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Often it is appropriate to offer our books or other collateral for sale when speaking in public.  Here are some tips on the best handling of the sales.

Preparation:  What to take:

  • an assistant (or the venue’s host) who has agreed to handle the selling activity
  • lots of business cards
  • Books or other saleable items
  • Receipt booklet (with carbonless copy) with name of item and dollar amount written in (in advance).
  • Small sign (in clear plastic photo frame, 3″ x 5″ or 4″ x 6″ in which is printed in bright red or black letters:  “Book <title>:  $20 ($28 SRP)” or some such announcement, “Special for tonight (or, for tonight’s audience):  Discount: $20″).  Note on the sign if you take cash, cash & checks, or cash, checks & credit cards.
  • Accept cash (or cash and checks) only, unless you have a credit card set-up.
  • Take lots of smaller bills for change.  Lots.
  • Take a box or closed file folder for the smaller change-bills and for the cash received from purchases, and for the credit card copies and receipt copies.

Set up:  At the venue before you speak:

  1. Set up a table with the retail person/assistant at the back or side of the room.
  2. Put a stack of books or other collateral on the table, with at least one book standing up and facing out to the audience.
  3. Place a stack of business cards at the front of the table, or insert one into each book before arranging on the table.
  4. Place the pricing sign in front, with any notes about discounts.
  5. Have the receipt book and a pen ready.
  6. Determine if you will take cash only, or cash and checks, or all of those and credit cards (say so on the sign).

Conducting the sale: before and after your presentation

  1. Have your assistant handle the retail end of it — the selling, money handling, the receipt writing. You must stay free of this to handle the prospects who want to speak with you.
  2. Have your host announce the availability of the book, and its discounted price, during the introduction before you begin your presentation.  Do not mention the selling or the book yourself, unless you are well-known to the audience members.
  3. Proceed with your contact with the audience, with your presentation and with the crowd of prospects and fans who want to speak with you after your presentation.
  4. Do not pay any attention to the selling (as you will have set everything up in advance so as not to distract yourself from your prospects).

While the selling is going on without you, after your presentation, speak with the audience and work with any prospects in the room.  Here is a related article on handling these crowds.

Good luck.

 

Riding someone else’s wave, by Seena Sharp

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Seena Sharp

 

 

Seena Sharp

Gangnam Style. Honey Boo Boo. Fifty Shades of Grey.

When something takes pop culture by storm, it’s hard to ignore because success sparks everything from parodies to related products.

Psy is a South Korean rapper whose zippy “Gangnam Style” made him an international star. Everyone from t-shirt vendors to late-night television offered up their take on his tune. Fourteen lifeguards in El Monte, CA were fired over their video parody and generated extensive news coverage.

If you don’t know who Honey Boo Boo is, we’ll spare you.

The saucy “Fifty Shades of Grey” novel and sequels have made $145 million for the publisher, and created a Grey market for everything from cooking classes to bed linens to jewelry to…Fifty Shades of Earl Grey tea.

What does this mean for your business? Opportunity! Watch for evidence of the “Wheelhouse Effect” in play. That’s what happens when something quickly captures mass attention and breaks through the filters we all use to know what’s current.

How does your company uncover what’s emerging to jumpstart your brainstorming for growth opportunities and marketing?

 

Seena Sharp of Sharp Market Intelligence is my long-time colleague who identifies your competitive edge by uncovering opportunities, threats and growth segments. Visit Seena at www.sharpmarket.com, and download the free chapter in Seena Sharp’s book, Competitive Intelligence Advantage: How to Minimize Risk, Avoid Surprises, and Grow Your Business in a Changing World (Wiley).  And read the great Amazon reviews.

Working Smart # 15: Closing without pitching to potential clients — how not to be a “vendor”

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There is a delicate line between pitching your expertise and offering your help.  There are subtle behaviors in walking that line ~ without giving away too much information (or strategy or resolution) and engaging your prospect with full understanding of your value.

The approach must be:  “I’m here to be of service…. to help/ to explore / to see if my expertise can be of any help to you /your dept / your team.”

You must not act like a vendor selling your wares or competing with “bids” on an open Request for Proposal.

You must not need anything (even if you are desperate for paying gigs).

Do not pitch.  Again, do not pitch.  Instead, offer something of value — a new direction in approaching the prospect’s problem (but not the solution itself), or a success story you once resolved for a similar problem.

The prospect interview (the first, perhaps also the 2nd or 3rd) should be a direct demonstration of your expertise, essentially, a small consulting meeting.  The prospect cannot know the value of your services unless he/she experiences the effects of that value.  You need to give some stuff away.

Here is that fine line you must learn to navigate.  You do not offer the final resolution to the problem, or the strategy itself.  But by the questions you ask, and the suggestions you make, and the brief success stories you share, you show your prospect how you think, how you approach the problem, what questions to ask to get to the next steps, and so on.  Many of these suggestions may (should) need your further participation to be effective.

Essentially, you must “step back” (from pitching) so that your prospect has enough space to “lean forward” to ask for more from you — more thoughts, more expertise, more co-dependence, more work (under contract).

Successfully walking this line comes with experience.  The first step is to realize that you must assume this position when speaking with potential clients, and be aware of this “positioning” at all times.

Good luck.

Sound Strategy Starts with “SWOTing” the Issues, by Gene Siciliano

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geneiciliano What you MUST tell your donors to avoid IRS challenges, by Gene Siciliano

Gene Siciliano, your CFO for Rent®

Every CEO has an idea where they want to take their company. In really good companies that idea is written down in some detail in a document so that everyone who can advance that idea can see it clearly and avoid confusing interpretations of verbal pronouncements. That document is called a strategic plan.  A good strategic plan outlines the company’s vision, mission, strategy and long term goals and objectives. A better strategic plan will have a detailed operating plan to support it, describing in some depth what will be done in the next year to move the company one year closer to the strategic idea in the CEO’s mind. For most companies that do formal planning, that’s as far as it goes. And that puts their companies in the top 10% in terms of best management practices.

Blog swot image-001
A great strategic plan, however, takes best practices a step further. It begins with understanding what challenges need to be overcome and what unique advantages the company enjoys to help it overcome those challenges. That understanding is best achieved – maybe only achieved – by performing a SWOT analysis at the very beginning of the planning process. SWOT, or Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats, helps the company’s leaders focus on what might get in the way of the goal, and what might help to achieve the goal.

For example, a solid distribution system for getting your products to market could be considered an internal strength, while an inexperienced sales force would be considered an internal weakness. A research breakthrough by a university that opens up a new market for your products could be seen as an external opportunity, while aggressive cost cutting by the competition could be seen as an external threat. Since challenges and advantages are both inside and outside the company, it helps to see it graphically, like the image above. The idea is to use the “Good” to best advantage and counteract the “Bad” as best you can with the resources available.

And then follow the plan. You’ll be wealthy, powerful and free in no time at all. Probably.

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

My close colleague, Gene Siciliano, CMC, CPA (our “CFO for rent®” ) is financial consultant, (and author and speaker) who works with CEOs and managers to achieve greater financial success in a dramatically changing economy.  His website is filled with resources and articles, and you can sign up for his newsletter and his blog.

Crowdfunding – the good, the bad & the ugly

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I was fascinated by this guest blog, Why I broke up with Kickstarter, in VentureBeat, not only for its rant, but for the broad array of comments posted (it is rewarding to read all of the comments on this post).

Essentially, designer Jim Clark is raving against Kickstarter for its model not being more than Kickstarter promised to deliver.  Beyond those objections (judge for yourself if they are valid, as do the commenters), he reveals his own lack of planning for the success of his Kickstarter raise.  The blog post in itself offers some insight into how others may plan for the implementation of their successful raises, e.g., delays in receiving funding, lack of follow up support, and other issues which may or may not be posted on the Kickstarter site.

I always tell my clients that “success can be your worst enemy,” especially when I am advising them to plan carefully, and to allocate their capital (are they raising enough?), and their time to market, adoption ramp (beware the Chasm), and their real costs and time to profitability.  This is a fine case study of missing those benchmarks.

The blog post and its comments tell a story with deep insight into entrepreneurship and what happens when it goes right, and when an early success can be big trouble.

Let me know what you think.

3 Tips to Design for Any Technology, by John Shiple

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This succinct short video shows how you can get your team all speaking the same language when initiating the design of technology, or of the business itself.  These are the first steps towards innovation.

My friend and colleague, John Shiple of FreelanceCTO, is a leading consultant, offering his services as a chief technology advisor to funded, early-stage and larger, scaling technology ventures. He has produced a series of short videos covering some of his expertise that he offers to technology CEOs.

 

The upside & downside of crowdfunding for gaining your first professional investments

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Turns out that successful equity crowd-funding your startup may be a detriment to your gaining funding from professional investors afterward.  And, as of now (May 2013), this cannot actually be done in the U.S.

I’ve been talking with attorneys and investors about the JOBS Act (“Jumpstart our Business Startups Act), which was signed into law in April 2012, a law which has not proceeded quickly since that time.  Now, more than a year later, we have little clarity on the restrictions and structure of how we can offer early stage equity for our new ventures through public solicitation, primarily the Internet. In fact, it is not at this time lawful to do so.

We can accept cash contributions in exchange for rewards (like T-shirts or access to back-stage events) and this is working well in the arts and entertainment sectors.  But we cannot yet accept cash for an equity stake in any venture.

And it seems this may make some trouble if you need more than the crowd-funding capital to build, launch and grow your venture.  Currently the proposed cap on crowd-funded investment is $1M.  Here’s how professional investors may see it:

  • Your cap table is too complex.
  • There are already too many investors in the mix to ensure an ROI,
  • You may not be communicating with those many investors correctly, which may imply some later liability for the venture.
  • The ROI for those early stage crowd-funding investors may be questionable, implying later trouble from them.
  • The hassle of handling these many early stage investors when setting valuations and creating an ROI scenario may be too much work for the professional investors, in light of the risk of a follow-on investment.

Professional investors (angels and venture capitalists) are generally looking to say “no” to most early stage opportunities, and this may count on the negative side of their evaluation of your venture.

That said, crowd-funding for ventures needing serious equity investment in an upcoming round can use rewards-based crowd-funding to establish important benchmarks with those potential professional investors.  Here’s how:

  • Establish your product’s market viability by driving early sales through promotions and discounts offered through your crowd-funding site.
  • Show you have tested your product in various market sectors and at various price points, and share the results.
  • Prove which of your product’s target market sectors are responsive at what price point through tested online channels, and build your growth strategy on real data.
  • Validate your market traction, and projected market penetration, from early market response and sales.
  • Offer metrics to support your claims of rapid scaling.

So, while we are all waiting for the JOBS Act to become law, we can leverage crowd-funding in ways that direct our launch and growth strategies, and which investors will appreciate.

Good luck.

Is Your Web Site Losing Visitors? Best Practices to Fix the Trend, by Terry Corbell

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Terry Corbell, The Biz Coach

Terry Corbell, The Biz Coach

 

If your site’s visitor numbers are falling, there are five possible reasons. The key is to know what’s wrong before you start applying solutions.

 

It used to be that Web-site owners only had to worry about losing traffic in the summer. Instead of surfing, they found it more fun to enjoy the fresh air of the summer months, which prompted publishing solutions – five tips to deal with the inevitable traffic slowdowns.

But things have changed.

How’s your Web site traffic? Have you been suffering a decline in your visitors’ rate, but you don’t know why? If it’s any consolation, it’s ostensibly a perplexing problem for a lot of people.

“Slowly, but surely, you’ve been watching your traffic numbers decline, despite not having changed much of anything about the way you publish content or optimize your website for the search engines,” writes Michael Garrity, an editor of Website Magazine.

His article is entitled, “5 Reasons Your Search Traffic is Declining.”

Wisely, he suggests a “search result audit for your various keywords that will show you where you’re currently ranking on Google and its competitors for your most important keywords.”

He’s right. Your standing on your search engine results page (SERP) affects your visitors’ rate. If you rank highly, your visitors’ numbers are strong. If not, they’re weak.

In my experience, about 70 percent Internet surfers select a result from only among the first 10 on the SERP.

In addition, my sense is that the No. 1-ranked site attracts about 40 percent of the top 10 listings. (So, if you focus on content marketing, it’s important to use proven strategies for a No.1 rated blog.)

Mr. Garrity says Web sites falter in prominence for five possible reasons:

1. New Competition. He theorizes that too many search-engine optimization pros think they’re doing something wrong – without considering the possibility of increased competition – rival sites poaching their users.

“This is one of the reasons why conducting regular industry assessments and search audits is imperative,” he suggests.

2. Content is Out of Date. He believes the majority of content becomes old and declines in value, resulting in a SERP decline.

“One way to tell if your content isn’t as enticing to searchers as it used to be is to monitor that page’s analytics, and if something that used to get a consistently high influx of visitors now gets less and less, it’s likely that the content on the page is decreasing in value to most readers,” asserts Mr. Garrity. “A method for correcting this issue could be to produce a new, updated version of that content, and then to link to the new page on the old one.”

If I understand Mr. Garrity correctly, here’s where we slightly disagree on the solution to outdated content. Yes, you might have outdated content.

However, you’re paying for the bandwidth consumed by your users, and it’s best to save money. So, it you have new information to share — contrary to Mr. Garrity’s advice – simply update the old content and indicate it’s updated. Otherwise, Google will discount the value of the old page.

Google loves updating for fresh relevance and value, and so do readers. (Try not to delete the original post because Google will notice the 404 error and your site will be penalized for ranking purposes.)

Also, I’d make another suggestion: If you believe such pages are relevant, not to worry. You can use your social media and strategic press releases to boost traffic. Again, Google will notice.

3. Shifts in Algorithm Values. He points out the search engines might be making algorithm changes.

Agreed. Note: For you to stay popular on Google, be aware the search engine looks for its desired answers to 23 key questions about your Web site.

“If you notice that Google seems to favor certain types of content for one of your keywords or targeted search terms, maybe that means you should consider making a video or infographic the next time you consider writing a blog post about a that topic,” he suggests.

4. Caught Red Handed Being a Black Hat. Black hat artists use disreputable SEO strategies to trick search engines into a high ranking on the SERP. If you’re discovered using black hat techniques, you’ll be penalized.

“If you genuinely weren’t intending to be shady and just made a mistake, it’s important that you find out what your exact offense was and correct it as soon as possible, so that you can start trying to garner some good will with the search engines and make your way back up in the rankings,” Mr. Garrity says.

5. They’re Just Not That into Your Content. Ouch. Perhaps, your writing isn’t popular.

“To rectify this problem, you should be aware of the top sites and blogs in your niche or industry, and take note of what they’re regularly publishing content about (in order to understand emerging trends) and what their readers are saying in comments sections and on social media sites to see what they’re asking for, so that you have a better idea of what content will be engaging and valuable to the visitors you want to attract,” he recommends.

Furthermore, I’d add that the key for bloggers is to know the secrets for attracting and keeping readers.

Access his full article here. Website Magazine is a free publication, and provides excellent, timely tips.

Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

2 Best Words for a Start-up Job Description Ever, by Margaret Heffernan

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thumbnail mheffernan002 4 Characteristics of the Ultimate Start up Hire by Margaret Heffernan

Margaret Heffernan

Next time you write a job description, take this hint from a U.S. Army Green Beret.

Last month I wrote a column about recruiting for start-ups. In it, I recounted my “green beret” speech, in which I warned aspiring employees just how tough an experience working at a new company can be.

In response, I received a thought-provoking email from one reader, Alex Brown. He wrote:

“As a former Green Beret Commander finishing up my MBA at Georgetown this spring I’m focusing on finding my place in the start-up community out in Boulder, Colorado. It’s been a challenge to convey my comfort with discomfort, and my love of ambiguous environments. Funny enough “find work” was a common phrase that I heard and spoke throughout my Special Forces career.”

The ‘Find Work’ Mentality

I love the “find work” phrase he uses to describe his proactive attitude about work. It encapsulates what every great employee does: rather than sit around and wait to be told what to do, actively scan the horizon searching for needs. I know I’ve been lucky to have worked alongside many such work finders; until now, I never fully appreciated that is what made them so great.

This might be a valuable phrase to add to the job descriptions you write when you’re hiring, if you use them. Another variant I’ve seen is: “If the ball’s falling, catch it.” The point is that in great companies, no one is waiting for instructions. Everyone is aware of what needs to be done and keen to do it–whatever “it” is. That the work is self-selected makes it more rewarding. And a workforce that looks for problems will always be smarter and more adroit than any leader or system can be.

The alternative is to load people down with rules and assignments. This gets the work done but it won’t give you the early warning system that the work finders provide.

One Requirement of a Work-Finder Workforce

That said, for a work-finder workforce to truly be effective, every single person has to appreciate the difference between real and unnecessary work. To be able to draw distinctions like that requires a clear strategy, crisply articulated. Which means, of course, that you had better have one.

This article first appeared in Margaret’s Serial CEO column in Inc. online.

Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur and author. She has been chief executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation, and iCAST Corporation. In 2011, she published her third book, Willful Blindness. @M_Heffernan