A Business Owner’s Best Practices (Action) System

by Dan Harkey

Introduction?:

Best practices are skills and a mindset of continuous learning and improvement. This system is designed for you, the reader, to inspire and motivate you to learn and improve, whether about opportunities, operational efficiencies, networking, sales techniques, or personal development. The emphasis on continuous learning is not just critical; it's the key to your personal and professional growth, empowering you to take control of your journey and build confidence in your abilities.

Almost all endeavors involve interactions with others in self-promotional conversations. The techniques (methods) discussed below are not limited to direct sales roles but can benefit anyone who spends a percentage of their time in self or company promotions. Whether you're a business owner, service provider, or employee, this system is designed to help you improve your sales and promotion skills and further your career, regardless of your specific role or industry, ensuring that everyone feels included and catered to.

Cash flow to pay operating costs, including profit, is necessary for all organizations, including religious and not-for-profit organizations. The CPA, doctor, dentist, pastry baker, fast food operator, auto parts store, realtor, loan agent, or auto mechanic can use these techniques.? How about the church preacher who learned to spread the gospel messaging about salvation, the kingdom of God, and Christ but forgot that he was responsible for growing the size of his faithful congregation? More is needed if the limited faithful followers cannot pay the bills. Then there is the architect or draftsman who sits in their office drafting plans and coordinating property development entitlements and may think something other than these techniques applies to them.

There is continuing pressure to grow and succeed in any enterprise.

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

Salespeople or business owners may question why they are not getting the results.? The reasons may be outside one’s control or directly under control. Some feel that they are beating their heads against a wall or racing down a dead-end street the harder they try. New and different strategies are necessary.

Whether it's a minor tune-up or a major overhaul, the advice in this system is practical and actionable.? When faced with failure, always remember to go back to the basics, ground zero, reconstruct your learned processes, and re-focus on changing your actions from what is not working to those that will work. This practical approach empowers you to take control of your situation and make the necessary changes for success, ensuring that you feel equipped and ready to implement the strategies.

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 is credited with this clever statement. The simple conclusion is to change strategies and action habits.

Let’s review the sales and promotion process:

Every for-profit business and organization contains some form of sales and promotion component. I will use salesperson and organizational members interchangeably.

Some salespeople learn that?successful sales result from verbalizing in a pre-arranged word script or learned word sequence. ?Sales trainers will tell you that certain words are best to present, such as initial presentation, overcoming objections, and closing the transaction. Some hard closers may use pressure tactics, ask questions, handle objections, and close transactions hard. Focus on the benefits.? Yes, sequences of preplanned words are essential to promote or convince prospects that your products, goods, or services have benefits to them worth purchasing.? Or your organization is worth joining because the benefits are worth it.

Knowing your products, goods, or services, having a sound prospecting system, and having a well-scripted sales presentation are necessary—no doubt! However, many folks in organizations such as churches prefer a softer approach. This could involve building relationships with potential customers or members over time rather than using high-pressure sales tactics. High-pressure tactics might include persistent follow-ups, aggressive persuasion, or creating a sense of urgency. On the other hand, a softer approach could involve recognition, building trust, understanding the customer's needs, and providing personalized solutions.

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, these are potential customers who have shown interest in your products or services and keep yourself in their thoughts, they will likely consider you if they need related goods or services. ?Also, all people in organizations must focus on continuously developing like-and-trust relationships and friendships.

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

Success in a sales career or operating a successful organization is not a matter of being naturally born or predestined. It 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. This means anyone can succeed in sales or running a successful organization with the proper learning and development.

Tenacity is an essential trait of a good salesperson or organizational leader. ?A tenacious person is determined to achieve goals, courage, spirit, resolution, resilience, and the mental strength to persist or resist opposition, danger, or hardship. ?A good salesperson also has learned to “be ever-present” while communicating with others.

80/20 Rule:

The 80/20 concept, known as the Pareto Principle, applies to almost all sales and organizational endeavors. It states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In sales, this means that the top 20% of the salespeople account for 80% of the total sales volume, while the bottom 80% only account for 20%.? The top 20% also earn 80% of the available?income, leaving the remaining 80% of the salespeople with a meager portion of the remaining 20% of available?compensation. This principle can be applied to various aspects of business, such as identifying the most productive employees or the most promising leads. For instance, in a manufacturing company, the top 20% of employees are responsible for 80% of the output, and the remaining 80% are responsible for the remaining 20%.

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

The 80/20 rule also applies to the quality of your 'active' prospects. These leads are most likely to result in a successful business transaction. Typically, 20% of your 'active' prospects will result in 80% of your new business transactions.? A salesperson must focus on these top 20% of 'active' leads and convert the remaining 80% into the upper 20%. For instance, an 'active' prospect could be a customer who has shown interest in your product or service and is likely to purchase. ?Or, if a lead is not responsive or shows no potential, it's best to eliminate them from your prospect list to focus on more promising leads.

Marketing Strategies:

Marketing strategies include face-to-face communication, direct calling, emailing, postal mailing, group networking, online presentations, Zoom calls, and industry-related trade organizations. Direct calling is helpful for repeat follow-up calls to maintain an ongoing relationship with active leads. A follow-up email as a reminder is appropriate for calls that do not get answers. ?

The above methods consist of strategies to convert prospects into "active relationships,” including establishing business relationships and friendships. “Actives” consist of a group communicating with you and expressing interest in your product, goods, or services. Of course, “actives” can 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. However, if financial gain is the only focus, the strategy will appear phony, superficial, and ineffective.

Developing an extensive network of “actives” 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 will verify whether the address and email address 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” “Somewhere in the Clouds.”

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

People move jobs, and companies go out of business, showing you disinterest or disrespect, habitually failing to return phone calls or emails, retiring, changing names, changing email addresses, changing business locations, etc. ?Information contained in your prospect list needs to be constantly updated and expanded.

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 “warm 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 primarily used 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 real estate agents, loan agents, investors, and builders/developers left the industry, and the quality of my lead list immediately went up in smoke.

Prepare for this event! You will need to reconstruct a new list and start from day one. If the quality of your lead base crashes, 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. To be effective, lists must be fluid and constantly changing.

All of 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 humorous phrase, “Size Matters.” What size is your “universe of active possibilities?” Are there?10s, 100s, or 1,000s of prospects that you can follow up on personally?? You have a current network size of “cold,” “warm,” and “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?

Examples of developing sizable networks:

·?????????????? 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 communicated with their leads, then the total universe of “active” possibilities would be 100.

·?????????????? 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” daily, unlimited and non-answered calls, and follow up with a polite “thank you” email. ?Repeat every 60 to 90 days.

·?????????????? 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 X 250=, a total of?62,500 universes of possibilities, including people in their network.

·?????????????? Your network of possibilities is 250 X 250 or 62,500.

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 contacted 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 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 vast network.

Leveraging your time and effectiveness:

There will be a natural point at which you will need help keeping up the pace, closing all the transactions, and providing quality service because you will be overloaded. You should hire an assistant to 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.

An effective salesperson should always delegate tasks to an assistant or junior partner when possible.

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 his family, and enjoy time in their mental hobby shop. ?

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

Thank You

Dan Harkey

Educator & Private Money Lending Consultant

949 533 8315 [email protected]

Visit www.danharkey.com

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