I was doing an extensive consulting program for a major insurance company when I found myself saying, to the trainers I was training, “A thousand details make the difference,” between producing outstanding success and marginal respectability.

A thousand? Isn’t that overstating the case?

Not at all.

If you are a successful person at any level of business I assure you that you know at least 1,000 more things about your job than anybody else. And it is these things that make you as capable as you are.

I can also say that you probably don’t KNOW that you know 1,000 more things. You just do them, automatically, reflexively, and routinely, but the routine is invisible to you.

A consultant or a coach or any professional in the knowledge business differs from you inasmuch as she knows how to organize her know-how into a package that can be delivered to a novice, bringing that person up to speed, fast.

Let me give you an example from my experience as a call center director, and later as a sales and customer service consultant.

Where do you want to locate your desk as a manager or supervisor? Actually, you want two or more desks: one in a private office, where you can coach people in semi-privacy and get your work done; and the second in the calling area, so you can hear what’s going on, second to second.

Should you greet every rep at the beginning of every shift? Absolutely! You want to monitor their nonverbal behavior. Are they smiling, tired, sad, enthusiastic, friendly, unfriendly, glad to see you, hiding something?

Moreover, you want to show they matter, as individuals, and no memo or silly plaque on the wall will have the same impact as your toothy, validating grin being there for them as their work is about to begin.

Plus, you make yourself accessible to any news or concerns that they have. What better time to hear these things?

What is the ideal color scheme in a call center that is doing outbound selling?

Orange and yellow.

Did I make my point?

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

In my many years of Party Plan direct selling I have seen it time and time again…
women come home from their annual convention fired up, determined that by next
year they’ll be able to walk the stage in the top 10, earn the cruise and have enough
income to purchase their dream home on the ocean. It is great to come home
motivated and excited about your company. Having big dreams is a wonderful thing!

Sometimes, however, it’s just not realistic for the average WAHM who wants a life
outside of her business. Because she has just heard some wonderful goal setting
advice from the top leaders in our company she sets those wonderful goals, posts
them on the fridge with a picture of the dream home circled in red pen and she
looks at them every day.

But the reality of it is, many work at home moms have life boundaries that they are
unwilling to cross. And those boundaries will make it very difficult to achieve even
one of those goals. Because of this, unfortunately, many women who could have a
wonderful and fulfilling career in direct sales quit because the goals they’ve set are
just plain unrealistic for where they are in life. Instead of enjoying the benefits of a
business with the freedom and flexibility to earn some money while still living the
rest of life, they assume they’ve failed because the unrealistic goal was just that…
unrealistic for now.

That said, if you’re a mom like me who has a full life with other involvements and
time commitments that you are unwilling to shelve even temporarily for your direct
sales business, you might enjoy an unorthodox approach to goal setting. I like to
call it Goal Getting.

With Goal Getting you are looking at your life and determining exactly what you can
expect from your Direct Sales business based on your priorities and life
commitments. Basically, you’re working backward from the usual goal setting
process.

First, let’s lay some groundwork. If you are married, talk with your husband about
your schedule. If you were to say to him, “Honey, I’m planning on being out four
nights a week for the next 6 months so I might earn a cruise,” what will he say?
What about three nights? Two nights? Is one night a week or even one night a
month the more realistic schedule for you? You can always come back to him after
you’ve written down your schedule (see next step) to add in an extra day or two or
more.

Now, here’s where the work comes in. If you don’t already have a master family
calendar, it’s time to get one! Get a nice big calendar with room to write in each day
of the month. Pull out all the schedules you have, school, church, mom’s groups,
bunco nights, etc, and put them all on there for as many months out as you can. Do
you have date nights with your hubby regularly (if not, you should… but we’ll save
that for another day)? Is there a TV show that you absolutely will not miss for
ANYTHING and are not willing to record? Be realistic here ladies…some moms come
into a business and say, “Oh, I can sacrifice ‘Survivor’ to do a party” but then the first
time a party comes along on that night, and they resent having to give it up. Do
yourself a favor and admit it…and schedule around it!

Do not just look at evening activities, but write in the daytime stuff too. Think
through a typical week for your family. You want a realistic picture of what is there.
So few women do this but it’s a worthy exercise no matter what home business you
are in but particularly with Direct Sales where being away from home for a party or
workshop is a given.

Now, take that full calendar back to your husband and work together with him to
determine how many and which nights would be best for you to be away. Meet with
the rest of the family and talk over what this is going to look like so everyone is on
the same page.

The groundwork is laid…now let’s GET the goals…

1. Find out from your company what their average party/workshop sales are. This
will likely be your average too and even if your totals are higher, use this average for
the goal getting process since it will allow for cancellations, reschedules and the
like.

2. Based on your commission structure, and basic costs of doing business,
determine how much you’ll take home from an average party.

3. Multiply that number by the amount of parties you’ve determined you can do in
any given month.

Ok, now what do you think of that number? Not bad, huh? Do you want it to be
higher? Talk with your family again and see if there are any changes that can be
made, but remember that those changes will mean sacrifices in other areas of your
life. That’s fine but just remember that you cannot have it all!

Although many hope for it, most in the home party plan business will not reach the
$100,000 annual achievers club and the company incentive trip while still being the
president of the PTA, singing in the church choir, being the Girl Scout Troop leader,
having a date night with your husband and maintaining a spotless house where
husband comes home to every night to a rested wife ready to meet his every need!

However, even with a full life, you CAN make a nice additional income, purchase
your own products and gifts for others at a discount and maybe even earn an
incentive or two. And who knows, when the kids are older and the scout troop no
longer needs you as leader, you can add a party or two to your schedule and earn
that cruise.

Annette Yen lives a full and happy life as a homechooling work at home mom. With
over 20 years of direct sales experience she loves sharing her love for direct sales with
other moms. You can get a free Goal Getting Worksheet and other tools for your direct
sales business at her site http://www.directsalestools.com.

So, you need to build your business, make more sales, and increase your revenues. It’s universal; what business person doesn’t? But did you know that one of the most effective, easiest and least expensive things you can do to accomplish all of these is also one of the most overlooked sales activities?

Follow-up. Yes, FOLLOW-UP!

How many networking events, client meetings, etc., have you attended where you made solid contact with someone that is a candidate for your services or products? They may not have run at you with their check book, but they fit your “good client” profile. What did you do? Trade business cards, chit-chat and then… what? You took all those business cards you collected back to your office and added them to the box, the folder, the heaping pile of other cards from other events….. If you’re really good you may have actually entered the prospect’s information into a contact database. But, do you have a process in place to follow up with these people, especially those who weren’t ready to write you a check on the spot?

A successful sales person has to have a process - an order taker does not.

For example:
In the early to mid-’80s Fidelity and Vanguard funds were THE 401(k) provider of choice. This was, in large part, because Fidelity and Vanguard started the “bundled 401(k) program” by including all the participant recordkeeping, compliance and administrative services for “free” if their funds were the plan’s exclusive investments options. For the next decade, Fidelity and Vanguard needed “order takers” to sign up new clients; people who understood business and 401(k) programs. There was no selling involved. Their “sales” reps were fielding calls left and right and if they didn’t follow up on an inquiry, there would be ten other calls coming in the next minute. Ah, those were the days…

Alas, things change. Fidelity and Vanguard are still leaders in the mutual fund industry today. They are not, however, the only game in town any more. Fidelity and Vanguard actually have to sell their services these days; they have to differentiate themselves, articulate the benefits unique to their investment philosophy and yes; they are even known to negotiate on price now and again.

If you’re business is not the only game in town and responses to your audio logo or elevator pitch don’t normally include “Yes! That is exactly what I need; how much?”, I guarantee you can increase your business significantly by just following up correctly.

Selling is all about trust and relationships. When you follow up it is important to:

• Be consistent. Follow up is a process. It isn’t a single call. You want to develop an ongoing and positive relationship with your target market. You and your business should be first-in-mind when the need for your product or service arises. Consistency is the key here.

In addition, follow up isn’t just for prospects. For most companies, developing new business with existing clients costs less than half of what it costs to win new clients. Don’t forget your current customers!

• Be genuine. People like to do business with people they like and trust. Get to know your client and prospect and develop an understanding of the issues and challenges they face. Don’t try to be something you’re not and don’t misrepresent your product or service. This might sound like a no-brainer, but even the slightest omission or exaggeration can kill a relationship.

• Focus on adding value, not on closing the sale. Follow-up doesn’t mean ‘close the sale’. You follow up to stay in touch, provide information and develop the relationship. Doing all of these things will bring you closer to closing the sale, but you and your prospect will arrive at that point together; you won’t be dragging them there. Going for a ‘close’ before your prospect or client is ready is one of the biggest mistakes small business owners and sales people can make.

For all of you self employed and small business owners who hate to sell, you will see your business increase if you’ll just follow up according to these 3 principals. If you haven’t already, it’s important that you invest in a database; a single, computer/PDA-type repository of all your customer / prospect information (name, contact and business information, past call reports/communications, specific interests, etc.) ACT!, Goldmine and Outlook are three well- known contact databases out there. As your client and prospect lists grow, you’ll be thankful you made the investment in a quality contact database AND in learning to use it!

If you do nothing else to improve your sales and business growth this year, show a genuine interest in your prospects and clients through consistent follow up with a focus on helping them find solutions to the challenges and issues they face. You will see your business take off.

Bold Vision Consulting, Inc. helps helps independent professionals, business owners and organizational groups achieve breakthrough results by providing the learning experience combined with the system needed to bring about the real changes needed for sustainable and breakthrough performance, year after year.

Lynnelle Bianco, president of Bold Vision Consulting has over 25 years experience as a leader in sales, marketing, client service and in the effective planning and execution of strategic plans and projects.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Lynnelle moved to Portland Maine from New York City in 2003 after a successful 15 year career as Vice President in JPMorgan’s Worldwide Securities Services division.

1. When you make your first sale, follow-up with the
customer. You could follow-up with a “thank you”
email and include an advertisement for other products
you sell. You could follow-up every few months.

2. You could upsell to your customers. When they’re
at your order page, tell them about a few extra related
products you have for sale. They could just add it to
their original order.

3. Tell your customers if they refer four customers to
your web site, they will receive a full rebate of their
purchase price. This will turn one sale into three sales.

4. When you sell a product, give your customers the
option of joining an affiliate program so they can make
commissions selling your product. This will multiply
the sale you just made.

5. Sell the reprint/reproduction rights to your products.
You could include an ad on or with the product for
other products you sell. You could make sales for the
reproduction rights and sales on the back end product.

6. You could cross promote your product with other
businesses’ products in a package deal. You can
include an ad or flyer for other products you sell and
have other businesses selling for you.

7. When you ship out or deliver your product, include
a coupon for other related products you sell in the
package. This will attract them to buy more products
from you.

8. Send your customers a catalog of add-on products
for the original product they purchased. This could be
upgrades, special services, attachments, etc. If they
enjoy your product they will buy the extra add-ons.

9. Sell gift certificates for your products. You’ll make
sales from the purchase of the gift certificate, when
the recipient cashes it in. They could also buy other
items from your web site.

10. Send your customers free products with their
product package. The freebies should have your ad
printed on them. It could be bumper stickers, ball
caps, t-shirts etc. This will allow other people to see
your ad and order.

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.