Posts Tagged ‘Brad Sugars’

The Death of Selling

SELLING AS YOU KNOW IT is dead. And you should be as happy about it as I am.

Ever since Tom Hopkins and the dozens of other Americans hit our shores to preach how you can make more sales, boost the bottom line and get that client to part with their cheque, we’ve followed blindly. All the while assuming what we were taught is going to make our lives easier and our wallets fatter.

Well, I’m here to declare the old form of selling is officially dead.

The 24 best closes, the ‘Benjamin Franklin close’, the ABC, always be closing, and all of the techniques that have been taught in some form or another since the 70s have been murdered.

They’ve been killed by a far better educated, far more sophisticated consumer who in some form or another has been sold, oversold, and closed to the point of rebellion.

The old ways have been rejected outright by a consumer who now has the ability to research every purchase from you, your company, and every competitor of yours over the internet.

So, what do we, as salespeople, do now? How can we convert prospects if sales is dead? Well, we have to go back to the one thing that has always worked… RELATIONSHIPS.

All things being equal people buy from people they like. And to take that one step further, even when things are not equal, people would still rather buy from someone they like, more than someone they don’t.

So, is your business set up for relationships or a quick sell job?

Here’s a simple test: Do you send a brochure or a salesperson? Do you answer the phone or put people into a machine? Do you send an email or pick up the phone?

Do you record the person’s purchases or their family member’s names or both?

Do you have at least eight customers you now call a ‘good friend’?

Most companies we coach today are set up for making a sale, not building a relationship. It’s funny, the bigger a company gets the further away from relationships they tend to move. That’s your advantage as a business owner. You are a real person and you build real relationships.

Never ever think a big company can out-perform you in the area most important to customers today. People still think price is the most important factor and EVERY survey I have ever read shows it’s not true.

A relationship and people liking you is the most important thing in sales. That being said, we need to seriously move with the times. Much of selling and relationship building today is done before the prospect even walks through your door or picks up the phone. Your website needs to be your best information provider, and the ability to find you through Google today is vital.

Go to www.google.com and type in what any prospect of yours would when they think of buying your products or services. Where do you rank? If you’re not even on the first 2 pages, that’s a killer today.

Here’s a simple example, type in business coaching and see where my company is. If it’s not at the top today, it will be very close to it. Remember the old way of selling is dead; people have already researched their purchase long before they come to see you. They don’t tend to trust what a salesperson tells them so they ask their friends and then they ask the internet.

That’s why your website has to be a great sales tool for you.

You need to get people involved, you need to educate your prospects and let them complete their research so they already trust, understand and know your product or service before they contact you.

One final point. Every new customer could become a lifelong buyer if you treat them right. But if you build a relationship, they will not only buy from you, often they will convince their friends to buy from you too.

Business is not a short-term game, it’s not about the quick buck this month. It’s about the long-term relationships you build. You see, in business, it’s not who you know that matters, it’s who knows you.

Article reprinted courtesy of My Business Magazine

Some Owners Need to Sack Themselves- Part 2

There are a couple of ways not to replace yourself. In some instances, these tactics may have worked but those successes are the exception – and not the rule.

1) Make a clean break. This is the easiest way to replace yourself. Here, you basically go out and hire a pro to come in and run the business. That person comes in, and you go out. Obviously, this isn’t recommended for a number of reasons. The new person has little or no institutional knowledge of your business or its history.

Secondly, such change is usually too drastic for customers and employees. Sometimes, it’s even too drastic for the business owner – who in many instances undergoes a change of heart six months or a year down the road and decides to come back. Many times, the company that the owner returns to is not the one he or she left.

2) Put a family member in charge. This is also an easy way to replace yourself, and it is also not recommended. The reasons for this are obvious: resentment among top management and employees; perceptions of nepotism; the idea that skill sets don’t match the high standard of a founder.

Putting a family member in charge could be an option if the plan of succession for a business is already laid out that way; if all team members are aware of that plan, and the person tapped to lead the company has paid his or her dues working in the company from the ground up. Most times, however, owners aren’t so prepared or long-term oriented in this regard, and the envy and resentment of family members in charge leads to problems from which most companies never recover.

Maybe you’re the person who had the great idea, the brilliant innovation or the breakthrough product. But maybe you’ve taken the business as far as you can take it. Maybe it’s time to get out of the way and let a new team of professionals take over so you can move on – and start your next business.

Recognising you are not the perfect sales person, manager or marketing director isn’t bad. It can be liberating. Realising you’re the perfect entrepreneur can be the just what you need to really succeed in business – at a level you may have never dreamed possible

Some Owners Need to Sack Themselves- Part 1

SO, YOU STARTED the company, you built it up, but are you the best person to keep running it?

It’s a tough question. Entrepreneurs are not always the best managers. In fact, they are often some of the worst.

For entrepreneurs who find themselves “stuck” or see their companies at a growth plateau, a great question to ask yourself is whether or not your greatest strength is managing what you’ve built. For most owners, it isn’t. For most of them, what they really need to do is get out and start a new venture or enterprise.

Because entrepreneurship is what they do best. What are the characteristics of a great entrepreneur? They’re different from those of a manager or employee. That’s why owners are entrepreneurs in the first place.

Beyond a vision and drive for something more, true entrepreneurs realise trading time for money is not the way to get rich.

However, being stuck as a manager in your own operation is not productive, especially when your talents lay elsewhere.

But how do you get out of your own business in a way that benefits everyone – including yourself?

First, you must recognise that “you” may be the issue. Once you admit that, options and opportunities become clearer.

Ideally, you already have some systems in place in your business and a good team you can trust to run at least some portions of your operation.

Then, you must take a leadership position to put new leadership in place. There are a few great ways you can successfully make it happen that have proven effective for other owners in your position over the years:

1) Recruit two or three high calibre people and let them work their way to the top. Don’t let them know you are looking at them as your replacement one day. Instead, mentor them and let them lead their various divisions and see for yourself who would be the best fit for the company long-term.

2) Look within. Here, you’re looking at your current roster of executive staff you currently have for one or possibly a group of employees who could take over the company and run it long-term. You might even find a way to create an income flow for yourself long-term from this type of arrangement – one that would let you do something else.

3) Find and run a business that is not dependent on you. Ideally, this is the business you start after you sell or find a creative way to get your cash out of your existing business.

Business Ownership the Surest Way to Wealth- Part 2

I use the following seven iron-clad rules to buying a business. These are absolute, and I’ve only lost money when I’ve not followed them myself. So I’ll forewarn you: break them at your own risk. You’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

1. Find a business that is surviving despite itself

Target a business with bad service or poor presentation that still seems to be making money. Sometimes it is the only supplier in town (better for you). Sometimes, just a few changes can greatly increase sales and profits.

2. Focus on cashflow, not assets

It’s easier to get an increase in sales in a service, retail or wholesale business versus a manufacturing firm. Focus on cash flow instead of tying up your dollars in depreciating assets.

3. Find a business that requires low skills and offers a staple product or service

Focus on businesses that employ people who are easy to hire, easy to train, won’t cost a lot and are easy to keep. Also focus on businesses that are based on what I call the ‘Shoes Principle.’ Everyone wears shoes. Don’t worry about inventing something new; just sell what people want to buy.

4. Find a business with bad sales and marketing

Poor marketing is a sign of great opportunity. This could include no real measuring of results, or having a list of past customers that has never been used as a marketing tool. Typically, a few fixes can greatly leverage efforts.

5. Hire a great jockey

If you’re blessed with cash, hiring the right person to run your business is a great way to go. Say you meet a fantastic chef or barkeeper, then you could buy a restaurant or bar. If you met a great hairdresser, you could buy a salon. The key is to find a great jockey first and then find a great horse for them to ride.

6. Find a business with high upside

If you can’t get a lot of upside improvement, you can’t make a lot of money. Focus on companies that are nowhere near running at full capacity.

7. Be patient for a great deal

Always set your price before you walk into any deal-making session. In fact, walk out of your own door
with a firm price in mind. And whatever happens, never, ever pay more than that price.

Article reprinted courtesy of My Business Magazine

Business Ownership the Surest Way to Wealth- Part 1

WHEN YOU CONSIDER the various ways to build your wealth, the three avenues are shares, property and business? But of the three, which is the best way of building wealth? For me, the answer is obvious and standout winner — business!

No matter what you read in the newspapers, business is — and has always been — the best way to build wealth. The biggest money investors on the planet are the venture capitalists (VC’s). They are ‘big money’ people who have excellent reasons why they put those dollars into certain deals.

Generally, they look at both a company’s management and opportunity for success. And in doing so, they don’t buy shares or property.

They buy whole businesses. Yes, they may acquire those firms through the purchase of shares. And they might get some property in the package. But overall, the world’s top VCs look for whole businesses they can buy. Some VC’s look at emerging industries in markets with high growth potential, while others look at existing industries and companies that are underperforming in their market or category.

The aim?

Turning those companies around.

Once a VC owns a company, a few things can happen. VC investors could split a company’s divisions up and sell them off in parts. Or they could decide to put their own management in place to help leverage growth. Or they may use a single business to buy other similar kinds of businesses to leverage cashflow and profits through acquisitions.

Whatever they may do, the point is the smartest and best money people in the world buy businesses. And if that’s what they do to make money, maybe it’s something you should do, too.

Why?

Because ownership allows control of day-to-day operations, something you can’t do when you buy shares in Microsoft.

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have their own team to do that. You can’t do that with property either — primarily because longterm capital appreciation is based on a variety of factors — most of which are outside your control.

But you can control business operations that produce and generate cashflow, and return on investment from profits on cashflow is the key to creating long-term wealth in a business. For the majority of entrepreneurs, I recommend the VC strategy of buying an existing business and turning it around. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the ‘find, fund and fix’ model is probably the simplest way I know to get into business for yourself to take advantage of everything entrepreneurship has to offer.

Article reprinted courtesy of My Business Magazine

Greatest Secret in the Business World

MOST BUSINESS owners struggle for years chasing higher profits. Most fail. And they do so because they are relentlessly trying to make their bottom-line grow by focusing on upping sales or cutting expenses.

After all, those are the only factors you can work, right? What if I told you there are many paths to bigger profits? And showed you a way to drastically increase your bottom line by working any one – or all of them?

You see, most of the owners coached by my team or me are so stuck on getting more customers, more revenues or more profits, they miss seeing a much bigger picture. They don’t realise all three of those numbers are the result of five other factors…

And when you know all five, you can multiply your bottom line. Would you be a little more excited about your business every Monday morning if you knew your profits were “multiplying”?

Well, in today’s column I’m going to guide you through what I call the “Five Ways” – the formula for profit that I believe is responsible for more business growth than any other “secret” I know. Best of all, it works for any business, including yours.

How? By remembering that profits, revenues and the number of customers are all the result – an end score. And just like baking a cake, unless you change the ingredients, the results stay the same.

The “Five Ways” focuses on the following five factors that drive profit in any business – and these five alone: Lead Generation; Conversion Rate; Average Dollar Sale; Average Number of Transactions and Profit Margins.

Increase one – or any – of these factors and you start multiplying your profits. Let’s work through each factor one-by-one.

Leads: The first factor in the “Five Ways” is leads. So what’s a lead? It’s simply the total number of potential buyers a business has contacted – or that contacted the business – over the course of a year. Leads are also known as “potentials” or “prospects.”

Conversion rate: This is the percentage of people that actually bought. If ten people walk through a store and three people buy, that store’s conversion rate is three out of ten, or 30 per cent.

Number of customers: This is the number of total customers, and is determined by multiplying the total number of leads by conversion rate.

Average dollar sale: This is the average dollar amount per sale – estimated over the course of a year.

Average number of transactions: This is the number of purchases the average customer will make over the course of a year.

Revenue: This is the total amount of overall sales for a business.

Profit margin: This is the profit percentage of each and every sale. Simply put, if a business sells something for $100, and profit was $25, the profit margin is 25 per cent.

What does this all look like? Let’s run some numbers. Let’s say your company has determined the following: It has 4000 leads and a conversion rate of 25 percent equals 1000 customers. There are two transactions per customer with an average sale of $100. Your revenue therefore is $200,000. Let’s assume a profit margin of 25 percent, so profits are $50,000

Over the next year, let’s aim at an increase of just 10 percent in each of the five areas. Now, many companies will be able to do bigger numbers, and most of the companies we coach achieve far greater increases over a year. But let’s just aim at some simple things to work in each area.

Watch what happens to your bottom line: Number of leads 4400, with a conversion rate of 27.5 per cent, equals 1210 customers. Let’s assume there are 2.2 transactions on average per customer with an average sale of $110. Revenue therefore rises to $292,820. Let’s also assume a bigger profit margin of 27.5 percent. Profits rise to $80,525.50

Interesting, isn’t it? The $30,525.50 increase in profit ($80,525.50 – $50,000) in percentage terms equates to a 61 percent boost in the bottom line ($30,525.50/50,000). That’s phenomenal leverage.

Remember, we are multiplying here, not just adding. And if you think 10 percent is impressive, run your own numbers or the same numbers with a 20 percent increase and it will start to blow you away.

A free resource

If you want to run a variety of numbers on your own, we’ve developed an interactive “Five Ways” calculator at the following link: http://www.actioncoach.com/free-business-calculator-profit

It’s simple, it’s free, and it’s designed to give you an idea of how powerful the “Five Ways” can be. Hopefully, this great “secret” will guide you to greater profits, and also show you how powerful knowledge can be for your business.

Article reprinted courtesy of My Business Magazine

Just Saying Thanks Can Be Worth A Lot of Business

I HAVE A THEORY, and it’s a theory I have seen proven again and again in business. And, it’s a theory that has made so many companies so much money, that it literally blows me away how few ever use it.

Think about this: who is the number one prospect likely to buy from you tomorrow? That’s right, the people who bought from you yesterday. And that’s where my theory kicks in.

Over the years, several reports have shown that most companies spend six or seven times more on chasing new customers than they do on getting past customers back. And yet, the majority of profit in any company comes from repeat business. Without repeat business a company will always struggle to grow and make profits.

So, back to my theory – a company that doesn’t send thank you cards to its customers leaves a lot of profit on the table. It’s not just the thank you card; it’s what sending the card tells me about how you do business.

Look at it this way, when was the last time you were sent a thank you note from a company you did business with? If I’m right, it was a long time ago, if ever.

Big companies, small companies, they’re all as bad as each other. They spend a small fortune getting you to come in and buy and when they have you right where they want you, they let you get away. Most don’t even do the basics right. But even if you get the basics right, let’s see how well you’re doing over all.

Here are my six steps to getting your customers buying from you again and again.

1. Collect their details – and I don’t just mean their name and number. You need to learn as much as you can about them. Preferences, birthdays and anything else that will help you turn them into a regular customer. One thing to make sure of, you need to have a great database system, but it’s no use keeping names if you don’t use the next five steps.

2. Send a thank you card and invite them back – and do it in hand writing, even on something as simple as a postcard. It’s crazy how simple and inexpensive this is, yet so few ever do it. You can even include business cards they can give to their friends.

3. Plan future buying – this is so simple yet very rarely done. What if you sat down and thought it through, or even called or met every customer and discussed their future needs. Just think of how easy it would be for a printer to remind you or even call you about the fact that you are running out of letterheads.

4. Inform your customers of your entire range – ever had customers say, ‘oh, I didn’t know you sold that’? You want every customer to know everything they can buy from you. Just think of how people have insurance with several different companies; when was the last time your insurer called and asked if they could offer you a quote on all the policies you don’t have with them? You need to be more pro-active with customers.

5. Write a monthly or at worst quarterly newsletter – with everyone now circulating email newsletters I am of a firm belief that going back to the old way of written and printed newsletters will get the results. With so much technology, sometimes it’s the back-to-basics that work best.

6. Special offers – if they’re not receiving offers, carrying a VIP card, or in some way made to feel important, then you aren’t getting as much from your customers as you should be. Think of your favourite restaurant, could they send you a text every Monday with the menu specials for the week.

I’m sure you can think of dozens more ways to get your customers coming back. It’s not about ideas though, it’s about action. It’s about putting any or all of these ideas into action in your business now… and if you do nothing else… at least you sent someone, or everyone, a thank you note.

The 20 Types of Executives – Part 4

In our final article, we’ll review the last types of Executive personalities.

Hopefully, you can be better aware of your own type of personality and see how executive coaching could benefit you.

14. The Popularity Contest
This executive still wants to be friends with his direct reports. He prefers harmony and popularity to conflict. As a result, he has a hard time raising standards, giving tough feedback, and holding people accountable. The coach can work with this client to have him value respect more than popularity, practice the behaviors that lead to results, and get skilled at dealing with conflicts.

15. The Psychic Communicator
This executive keeps it all in his head. Employees rarely know how they are doing, what future plans are, the vision for the organization, or what they need to do to get ahead. Often these individuals have trouble expressing their ideas, or haven’t thought through their point of view clearly enough. The coach can work with this executive to become a concise, more open communicator.

16. The Analyst
The Analyst needs to know every step in a process, and often drives non-analysts crazy with ongoing requests for information. However, the Analyst’s focus on details is valuable. The coach can work with the Analyst to get comfortable making decisions more quickly, and to learn to adapt his style for the drivers, visionaries, and political animals of the world.

17. The Death by Consensus Executive
This person will almost never make a decision without 100% agreement from everyone who has any kind of say in a particular matter. On the plus side, this person works hard to get buy-in and commitment from people in the organization, so that when consensus is reached, things actually get done. However, he goes too far and takes too long to move things forward, including wasting time with too many meetings and involving more people than may be needed. As a coach, you can work with this person to become more comfortable getting “just enough” consensus to move forward. For instance, plan ahead to determine exactly who needs input and who doesn’t, how to handle resistance (e.g. whether to go around someone, influence them indirectly, or offer them bigger incentives to change), and how to influence people quickly to get on board.

18. The Saboteur
The Saboteur often resents or feels threatened by a peer and does what he can to sabotage his peer’s efforts. For instance, in health care it is not uncommon to see the COO and CFO undermine one another’s efforts, and compete for more power over the budget and personnel. A Saboteur might publicly agree to a decision, and then resist it or ignore it afterwards. He is also known for blaming other people for anything that goes wrong, and refusing to take responsibility. The coach needs to deal delicately with the saboteur’s behaviors, and get specific data about what the executive is doing and the potential costs. Then he can suggest alternative behaviors and, if needed, have open discussions with the client and his peers to agree on new rules of behavior going forward. Remember that a Saboteur can just as easily sabotage the coach as anyone else he works with!

19. The Empire Builder

The Empire Builder is a master at protecting his or her turf. He builds silos that prevent the overall organization from working as efficiently and smoothly as it could. The coach can work with this type of executive to think more about the overall system and process, and the need to focus on customer satisfaction and loyalty first.

20. The Control Freak
This executive doesn’t trust others to do things as well as him. He tends to micromanage and set people up to fail by not giving them enough information, resources, or latitude to show what they can do on their own. He steps in too soon in situations, so that employees don’t develop and often take a passive approach. The coach needs to work with this individual to either trust his team or put in place a team he can trust. Then the coach can work with him to set boundaries and guidelines for when to direct (e.g., when people don’t have the skill or the proper attitude), and when to monitor.

Gain by Being Open to the Coaching Process
You will find as you start your coaching that gaps will exist between where you are and where you want to go. That is normal and simply part of the process. Know at the start that only by identifying, measuring and tracking can performance improve, and change can only take place by implementing strategies and tracking results.As you progress, you will feel more comfortable making any mid-course corrections, and acknowledging your wins and milestones.

The 20 Types of Executives – Part 3

In our first two articles on this subject, we looked at the types of Executive personalities. Now, we’ll continue with our overview, so you can be better aware of your own type of personality and see how coaching could benefit you.

9. The General
The General is the old school command and control leader. He wants his people to be loyal, and to do what he wants them to do, on time, under budget, and his way. This leadership style can be effective, especially in organizations that need a clear direction. However, the “soldiers” who report to the General often complain that they don’t feel part of the bigger vision, and burn out from doing project after project, task after task, without a greater purpose or mission. They also resent being in a “mushroom farm” where they only get information on a need to know basis. Finally, younger workers do not respond well to the command and control style. The coach can help the General develop new ways to motivate, involve, and bring together teams to get results.

10. The Bureaucrat
The Bureaucrat needs specific processes followed and does things by the book. He is very similar to the “Safety First” archetype. The coach can work with the bureaucrat to focus on results instead of tasks, and to break out of his comfort zone.

11. The Perfectionist
The Perfectionist needs to get the A+ every time, even if the requirements of the work don’t demand a perfect score. He often makes decisions slowly, suffering from analysis paralysis, waiting for 100% complete and comprehensive information (which almost never exists). The coach needs to work with the perfectionist to do what’s needed for the job, to make decisions with imperfect information, and to be more willing to take risks without guarantees of success.

12. The Loose Cannon
This executive is the bull in the China shop. He says things that are politically incorrect, goes off topic in meetings to push his own agenda, pushes ideas without listening to others, and generally ignores the political structure of the organization to get things done. He also tends to be the “ready, fire, aim” type of leader. The coach can work with this person to become aware of the political nature of the organization, how to promote ideas more wisely, and how to do a bit more research before jumping to conclusions.

13. The Legal Liability
Some superstars in organizations have blind spots that can create a legal liability for the company. For instance, the brilliant neurosurgeon might be abusive to his nurses. The law firm partner might yell and swear at associates, even making personal attacks. In too many cases, these people cross the line into sexual harassment as well. Your job as a coach is to make it clear how serious these issues are, and work with the person to correct their behaviors immediately.

However, often the organization tolerates these behaviors, which means you may first have to go to the top levels of the organization and have them decide that they will no longer tolerate inappropriate behaviors, even if it means losing superstars (although the organization can make the case to the superstar that, if they do go elsewhere, other organizations will be far less tolerant). In other words, the neurosurgeon or other similar key person will not change if they don’t have to, especially if senior leadership tacitly tolerates the poor behavior. You may have to change the organization’s explicit values first in order to change the person second.

The 20 Types of Executives – Part 2

In our first article on this subject, we looked at the types of Executive personalities. Now, we’ll continue with our overview, so you can be better aware of your own type of personality and see how executive coaching could benefit you.

4. The Status Seeker
The Status Seeker won’t admit it, but he prefers the perquisites over getting results. He or she is very concerned with looking good, getting credit, and building a strong reputation. Fancy titles, big bonuses, special recognition, and the corner office are all important to the Status Seeker. The coach needs to have the status seeker focus on results and accountability first, and the natural status that follows from results second.

5. The Bottom-Liner
This very driven executive speaks quickly and concisely, has little tolerance for lengthy analysis, makes quick decisions from the gut and wants results yesterday. The Bottom-Liner needs to become more patient and tolerant of people with different styles, and learn to adapt his style to the person he is dealing with.

6. The Safety First-er
Executives motivated by safety resist change. They may be close to retirement, or simply do not want to rock the boat. Generally they are skilled at keeping their heads down and doing predictable tasks. Their challenge many times is getting outside of their comfort zone.

7. The Envelope Pusher
The Envelope Pusher has a very high tolerance for risk, sometimes too high. He often is an Early Adopter of new technologies, and is frustrated when others don’t move as quickly as he does. He often has bold new ideas that are ahead of their time, or at least ahead of where the organization is ready to go. This executive is a wonderful asset to an organization, because he is often a source of innovation and a refreshing voice for change. However, sometimes his ideas need to be tempered by the organization’s willingness to change. Also, he may need coaching on focusing on the details and getting results today, regardless of what will be possible tomorrow.

8. The Visionary
The Visionary is great at painting inspiring pictures of a wonderful future. Unfortunately, he often isn’t very good at developing action plans or figuring out how specifically to achieve the vision. The coach can help bring greater range to the Visionary by working with him on shifting from vision to opportunities and alternatives, and finally to a plan with accountability for making things happen.

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