Business Owner’s Best Practices (Action) System

Introduction?:

Best practices are learned procedures for completing operational functions, marketing, successful sales, and business development tasks. ?These tasks are necessary for a sales professional or staff member in any other organization. When I refer to a sales professional, I intend to include operational staffing for all organizations. I refer to the process as a “best practices action system.”

Almost any endeavor involves conversing with and convincing others in self-promotional conversations. The techniques discussed below may benefit folks who are not directly in sales but spend a percentage of their time in company promotion or self-promotion on behalf of the company. These methods may help any business owner, service provider, or employee who desires to advance their career.

Growing new relationships and universal expansion of business opportunities fall within this article's learning concepts.

Salespeople or businesspeople may question why they are not getting the desired results.?The reasons may be outside their control or directly under their control. Some feel that they are beating their heads against a wall or racing down a dead-end street the harder they try.

A minor tune-up or a major overhaul could be helpful.?When I experience failure, I always go back to the basics, ground zero, reconstruct my learned processes and re-focus on changing my actions from what is not working to those that will work.

A timely mantra that I am sure most folks have heard; is “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein gets credit for this clever statement.?The simple conclusion is to change the strategies and action habits.?

Operational efficiencies and cash flow to pay operating costs, including profit, are necessary for all for-profit, not-for-profit, and religious organizations. The CPA, doctor, dentist, pastry baker, retailer, fast food operator, auto parts store, realtor, loan agent, real estate agent, or auto repair shop can use these techniques.?How about the church preacher who learned methods of spreading the word but is also responsible for growing the faithful congregation? More is needed if the contributions from limited numbers of faithful congregates cannot pay the bills. The architects and drafting technicians sitting in their offices coordinating property development entitlements and draft plans may find these techniques apply to them.

There is pressure on all fronts to grow in one’s profession and business, develop a positive cash flow and be successful in any enterprise.

There are many educational programs.?Combine the knowledge gained here with further education and learning.?We need more training about operational efficiencies, government involvement, marketing, networking, sales techniques, mechanics of the sales process, and personal development. Some methods are improvement skills, and some are motivational. Experience is the best teacher.

Let’s review the sales and promotion process:

For-profit businesses and organizations contain some form of sales and promotion component. I will use salesperson and organizational members interchangeably.

Focus on the benefits. Some folks learn that?successful sales result from a presentation (verbalizing) in a pre-arranged word script or learned word sequence.?Sales trainers will suggest that certain words are best used to make the initial presentation, overcome objections, and close the transaction. Some closers may use pressure tactics, ask questions, handle objections, and close transactions hard. Yes, sequences of preplanned words are essential to promote or convince prospects that your products, goods, or services have benefits to them worth purchasing.?

Knowing your products, goods, or services, having a sound prospecting system, and a well-scripted sales presentation are necessary. ?No doubt! ?Many folks in organizations such as churches and professional services prefer a softer approach.

I subscribe to a different sales and marketing philosophy. ?“You locate a buyer rather than create a buyer.” If you have a large group of “active” prospects, or “lead base,” and keep your presence in their thoughts, they will likely consider you if they need related goods or services. ?Also, all people in organizations, including sales staff, must focus on continuously developing “like-and-trust” relationships and friendships.

The salesperson’s or organizational staff members’ first and most important job is to develop a thorough understanding of the products, goods, or services. The salesperson should be capable of making a presentation and handling questions and objections about the function, usability, quality, durability, and pricing. The salesperson must explain benefits, desirability, technical aspects, and emotional appeal. The salesperson must habitually ask for the order to complete the transaction.

I do not believe there are natural born, predestined, successful salespeople. ?The same goes for successful owners and operators of businesses. Success in sales or operating a successful business is a learned proposition. ?Some salespeople may start earlier than others, even in childhood, by gaining confidence and developing the required characteristics to be successful. Various levels of confidence may be achieved at different stages of our personal development.

Tenacity is an essential trait of a good salesperson or organizational leader. ?A person with tenacity has the determination to achieve goals, courage, spirit, resolve, resilience, and the mental strength to persist; or resist opposition, unwarranted criticism, jealousy, danger, or hardships. ?A good salesperson also has learned to “be ever-present” while communicating with others.

80/20 Rule:

The 80/20 concept applies to almost all sales and organizational endeavors. ?The top 20% of the salespeople account for 80% of the total sales volume. ?Correspondingly, the bottom 80% accounts for 20% of total sales volume. ?The top 20% earn 80% of the available?income. ?The remaining 80% of the salespeople receive a meager portion of the remaining 20% of available?compensation.

The top 20% of a manufacturing company’s employees are responsible for 80% of the production or output. 80% of the employees are responsible for the remaining 20%.

The 80/20 rule also applies to the “quality of your active” prospects. ?20% of your “active” prospects will result in 80% of your new business transactions. ?A salesperson’s job is to focus on the top 20% of “active prospects” and convert the remaining 80% into the upper 20%. ?Or eliminate those unproductive leads that you realize are a waste of time.

Marketing Strategies:

Marketing strategies include face-to-face communications, direct calling, mass and individual emailing, postal mailing, group networking, online presentations, zoom calls, and attending industry-related trade organizations. ?Direct calling is helpful for repeat follow-up calls to maintain an ongoing relationship with active prospects. ?For calls that get non-answers, a follow-up email as a reminder is appropriate. ?

The above activities consist of strategies to convert prospects into “active relationships,” including establishing business relationships and friendships. ?“Actives” consists of a group communicating with you and expressing interest in your product, goods, or services. ?Of course, “actives” can and should develop into friends. ?Yes, friends do business with friends!

Many business relationships and friendships make life easier. ?These relationships and friendships transcend personal happiness, good mental health, self-actualization, and potential monetary gain. ?Although caution, if financial gain is the only focus, the strategy will appear phony, superficial, and ineffective.

Developing an extensive network of “active leads” and personal relationships takes daily focused time and effort. ?Merely locating and purchasing a list has no value. ?A list is only the beginning. ?Initial introductions and subsequent follow-ups are necessary and will develop into success over time. ?An outsourcing vendor can verify whether the addresses and email addresses are correct. ?Active daily management of the list is essential to convert people from “cold” or “warm” into “active.” Import the list into a customer relations software system (CRM).

Here is a suggested action that you could take for someone who routinely or habitually does not respond to your request to communicate; send an email that states, “Fred, I have tried to contact you a few times without success. ?Would you prefer that I do not bother you?” If Fred wants to continue the relationship, he will respond. ?Fred may respond politely and say “no,” or not respond.?If Fred does not answer, you may demote him to “cold” and keep him in your database email marketing system.?“Cold” leads get no personal follow-up other than marketing with a mass email distribution.?If Fred is disrespectful or belligerent, delete his record entirely. ?Subject him to the big “Delete” in the sky.

A daily action habit is to spend a significant portion of your day calling or emailing “actives.” However, I call my friends more frequently than 60 or 90 days.?Repeated calls can be bothersome. Re-start the process every 60 to 90 days.

People change jobs, and companies go out of business, show you disinterest or disrespect, habitually fail to return phone calls or emails, retire, change names, change email addresses, change business locations, etc. ?Information contained in your prospect list requires constant updates and expansion. ?The “active” prospects in your network are the only ones you may reliably count in determining the size of your network or lead base. ?Also, even with a sizeable “active” lead base, you may lose 20% to 30% of them annually for all the reasons stated. ?“Warm” leads should become “actives.”

Replacing “dead leads” with “active leads” is necessary. ?You may drop the prospect from your “active” list and discontinue active follow-up over a reasonable time, such as 24 months of consistent follow-up. ?The other option is to email them occasionally with your standard email blast. ?Over time they may again become “active leads.”

The quality of a prospect list may disintegrate overnight. ?In 2006 my company was primarily using direct mail. ?We mailed about 1,000,000 letter-form solicitations each month. ?Then, by September 2007, the market crashed, and the lead-based list quality disintegrated overnight. ?Hundreds of thousands of institutional and private money lenders, real estate agents, loan agents, investors, and builders/developers left the industry. ?The quality of my lead list immediately went up in smoke.

Prepare for that event! ?It will be necessary to reconstruct a new list starting from day one. ?If a crash occurs in the quality of your lead base, consolidate the list down to your “actives.” Email or call to verify that they are still there.

A poor strategy is repeatedly following up with the same prospects, even when they display disinterest or non-responsiveness. ?Lists are fluid and constantly changing.

All the above is a recurring process throughout one’s career.?As the process becomes well-lubricated through practice and experience, you will expect increasing momentum in business until you have so much business that you need to stop marketing temporarily.?Assimilate the new incoming business, then get back on track.

Daily Action Habits:

Remember the funny phrase; “Size Matters.” What size is your “universe of active possibilities?” Are there?10s, 100s, or 1,000s, of prospects that you may be able to follow up on personally??You have a current network size of “cold,” “warm,” or “hot or active” leads.??Each person in your company has a separate group of clients/prospects. ?If you add the size of your network to the size of all the networks of each party you market, you can establish a total or “universe of contacts.”

Do you and each person you follow up with have their own large enough network and a consistent daily action habit to develop a sustainable and financially successful career?

Here are three different examples of developing sizable networks:

1)?You have 10 “active” leads in your universe. ?Another person you follow up with consistently has?10 “active” leads in their separate network. ?If you communicated with your ten each month or each quarter, and they communicated with their leads, then the total universe of “active” possibilities would be 20.

2)?You have medium-size networks such as 250 but must engage in a consistent follow-up daily action habit. ?Failure to engage may become your barrier. ?It will be necessary for you to change your action pattern. ?Calling, emailing, and communicating consistently with at least 10-20 active prospects is a good start. ?20 is not a magic number, but if you call and they enjoy talking with you, that may be all you can handle. ?Otherwise, you may reach 20 to 30 “actives” and follow up with a polite “thank you” email. ?Repeat every 60 to 90 days.

3) You have 250 or more “active” leads in your network that?you follow up with each month or quarter with a good action habit. ?The person you follow up with also has 250 or more potential leads that they follow up consistently with a good action habit: 250 + 250= a total of?500 universes of possibilities.

4)?Within your network of associates, let’s say 250, and each has their own 250 within their network, your network of possibilities is 250 X 250 or 62,500.

5)?Then, there are referral buyers and prospects that automatically come with your successful follow-up system. ?

Let’s assume that your CPA or financial planner has 2,000 clients. ?The clients need a service provider in your field. ?Whose name pops up? ?Yours, if you have effectively stayed in touch with the CPA and financial planners.

These examples remind you that if you want to become successful, associate and follow up with other correspondingly successful people, each with an extensive network. Imagine having 1,000 or 10,000 different people?receptive to taking a call from you, showing you respect, enjoying the conversation, and having their extensive network.

Leveraging your time and effectiveness:

There will be a natural point where help (one or more assistants) will be required to keep up the pace, close all the transactions, and provide quality service because you will be overloaded. ??Hiring a professional assistant will significantly leverage your time and effectiveness. ?The assistant may be an employee or an independent contractor.

The salesperson should identify tasks only he can do, such as face-to-face communication with the client. ?Others may write up an offer and present it to a seller and seller’s agent.

The effective salesperson should always delegate to an assistant or junior partner when possible. Benchmarking the tasks to be completed (in writing) will ensure performance and accountability.

A government license requirement may prohibit an assistant from certain functions and limit your delegation decision. ?However, in some states, such as California, there are provisions in real estate licensing law for performing specific support tasks under the unlicensed assistant law. ?Each state has its own.

The effective delegator will free up time to close more transactions, spend more with family, and enjoy time in their mental hobby shop, away from the encumbrances of work. ??

“You locate a buyer; you do not create a buyer.” Remember this concept.

Thank You

Dan Harkey

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