Everything Before the But is Baloney

These articles are part of my weekly Tuesday Tidbit religiously read by over 30,000 senior executives. Go to NoahFleming.com to make sure you’re on the list.

I was working with 50+ salespeople a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta. I asked them how many thought that getting referrals for new business was essential to the success of their company.

Naturally, every hand in the room went up. 

I told them to keep up their hands if they had proactively asked an existing client for an introduction over past six months. About half of the hands went down. 

Then I asked about the past three months. Another group of hands went down. 

Finally, I asked about the past 30 days. Only two hands remained.

There were chuckles in the room. I responded as light-heartedly as I could, looked directly at the President and said, “So let me get this straight. This is something every single person in the room agreed was extremely important to the success or failure of this company, and yet almost none of you have bothered to do this the past six months??? ….. Sorry folks, you’re all fired.” 

More chuckles.

Unfortunately, while this was a bit shocking, it also wasn’t surprising. There are some things in all of our lives that we recognize are essential, but only in an abstract way. They’re the things on our “someday” list.

Someday, I’ll finally get serious about eating right. 

Someday, I’ll work out every morning before getting to the office. 

Sometime, I’ll read all the books on my ever-growing list.

Or, as St. Augustine put it so long ago: “Lord, make me chaste—but not yet.”

There is, of course, only one solution for this–we have to hold ourselves, and our teams, accountable for what they are doing. Not what they plan to do, or want to do, or hope to do, or once dreamed they were doing. Remember, this isn't micromanagement. It's quite simply–management.

We have to set the expectation that referrals will be requested. We have to monitor to make sure it’s happening. We have to have exception reporting in place to make sure that when it’s not happening, we’re alerted and aware our process isn't being followed before it's too late.

Of course, this extends far beyond referrals–this is true for anything that’s important to our companies. 

Be wary of hearing “I really should…” or “I know it’s important, but…” 

Remember, everything before the “but” is baloney (or another B word, depending on how coarse the room you’re speaking in is!) 

Your Challenge For This Week: Identify 2-3 things you know (or 100% of your salesforce would say) are extremely important to the success of your company and ask yourself if you know, without question, that they’re being done regularly and consistently. 

If you don’t know, consider what tools, support, or processes would allow you to answer these important questions within seconds–not at the end of a year, or two, or more.

As a thought starter, here are a few example ideas.

• Do you know that your salespeople have asked for referrals at least 3-6X over the past 30 days? If you know your salespeople are doing this, how do you know?
• Do you know, without question, that every quote that goes out the door is followed-up on?
• Could you pick an existing customer, supplier, or distributor, at random, and tell me the last time they were talked to, and what the conversation was about?
• In a retail business, do you know how many clients your store associates keep files on, and the last time they reached out or engaged the customer? Do you know how many people entered the store, and bought, without ever capturing their information?

P.S. We now have 31 episodes of The Evergreen Show podcast. On next week's episode, we discuss the importance of implementing a referral generation process. This show is 15 minutes long. If you're not listening on your commute, or during a short break throughout the day, why not? You're missing out. Subscribe and check it out HERE.

#linkedinLearning

Noah is the author of the landmark books, Evergreen, The Customer Loyalty Loop, and the upcoming release of Dealing with Difficult Customers. The books break new ground on customer loyalty, customer service, customer experience, and customer retention. Since 2005, Noah’s firm, Fleming Consulting & Co., has worked with clients around the globe to help them dramatically grow their businesses. Learn more about Noah here. Noah is also a LinkedIn Learning Instructor–view his courses here.