The Simplicity of Business

It is sometimes difficult to practice what you preach.  As a professional sales trainer you would think that I know exactly how to execute on what I train.  It’s engrained, embedded, but it never fails to stump me how we are also conditioned to stray from the basics.  Social media this, tweet that, analytics, and so on, are all amazing advancements, but can also be a significant distraction. 

Never underestimate the power of a relationship.  The other day I was sitting in sales meeting and the team was discussing lead generation.  Everyone had these amazing cutting edge ideas. Not to date myself, but the millennials sure have some advantages over us Gen X. We did have to walk 20 miles to school in the snow you know.  Lol Anyway as we were wrapping up the meeting my instincts took over and I shouted out don’t forget to ask your existing clients for referrals.  At that moment I thought of a dear friend of mine I hadn’t seen in some years.  I thought, hey I wonder what Brian is doing? We have both always been in the financial services industry so maybe we could refer each other some business.  As it turns out we are in parallel non-competing businesses with the potential to send each other a mountain of business.  One lunch meeting with an old friend and more potential business than I could get in a year on a social media site.  Go figure. 

More on personal relationships, foster them.   Every company I have ever worked with or owned we always provided leads, but hunting is super important.  Hunting will allow you to survive in tough times and take you to the moon in good times.  One exercise I do with all of my new sales reps is once they are comfortable with our product I ask if we can make some calls on “their” phone to “their” people. Not a sales call, but a “hey I’m with this new cool company and this is what I do” call.  This is always fun because I start at the letter A and people get to reconnect with friends and family they may have not spoken to in years.  Usually within an hour we have a lead or deal from their existing contacts. This happens every single time without fail regardless of the industry I have been in. How simple and awesome is that.  The fact of the matter is that people want to do business with people they know and like.  In fact they are dying to give you some business or refer someone who may be able to use your product or services.  Over the years you collect thousands of contacts.  Why do we not use them more often?  We spend tens of thousands of dollars on advertising when your rolodex has more business than any single ad.  Crazy, right? Reminds me of when another friend started an Allstate agency.  I was one of his first customers and gave him everything, homeowners, auto, etc. I didn’t even ask price.  I wanted him to have my business because I wanted to support his. I figured insurance was a commodity anyway and he would take care of me and he did for many years.  Even after years I could have easily gone on the net and shopped around.  The commercials for insurance were in my face every day.  The thought to leave my friend never even occurred to me.      

The other day I thought of a colleague that has always been a good reliable lead source for me.  I was busy so I had one of my sales reps call on my behalf.  Nothing.  I was surprised, but moved on.  About a week later I had this nagging feeling and a free minute at my desk so I picked up the phone myself. After some pleasantries as it turns out my guy had 5 deals siting on his desk for me. I was in disbelief, I asked “didn’t my sales guy call you?”  He laughed and said yes, but I was waiting for YOU to call me Chris.  That statement hit me like a ton of bricks.  I literally felt embarrassed.  This is my contact.  My relationship.  Not something you should ever pawn off or to be taken lightly.  Lesson learned.             

The phone is your friend.  Last example.  I gave a couple leads to one of our reps and a week goes by with no traction and he is asking me for some more leads.  I go to my Glenn Gary file, but then pause.  “What happened with the leads I gave you?”  Nothing was there he said.  I sent out a couple emails and nobody got back to me.  Huh?  Nothing there?  Really?  Let’s make a couple calls together.  Can you guess what happened?  Business happened.  While email, social media, texting, are all useful tools, nothing beats an interpersonal phone call or face to face meeting. 

The basics are basics because they work.  They have been around since human kind started commerce.  The invention of the telephone changed everything, then came the net and technology, with a whole new level of sales possible.  I’m a huge advocate of new advancements in technology and communication being dead smack in the middle of Fintech, but I will tell you one thing; the contacts in that smartphone that took you many many years to acquire has more business that you can handle.  That next deal, that big commission, that new job, are all waiting for you. The question is, are you ready to pick up the phone?  In fact, I dare you to, greatness is waiting!