How to Win Clients and Influence Referrals

(MoneyWatch) What's the difference between a customer and a client? A customer might be there for a transaction, but a client is there for a special relationship. The term dates back to ancient Rome when citizens would attach themselves to an aristocratic patron for protection and clout. Patrons took care of their clients and they were rewarded for it.

This column is for all of you out there who make your living selling to clients and want to attract more of them. To attract new clients, the best approach is to prove your expertise by giving away valuable information through writing and speaking. Actually, that isn't technically true. You should sell the information if you want to win clients and influence referrals. Here's how.

1. Follow Dale's lead. Unfortunately, many sales and marketing people who learn this truth find the idea of writing and speaking too daunting and even mysterious. Most feel this is only for a select few, but that is a miscalculated view. First comes the problem, then comes research, and finally presentation. Dale Carnegie is the role model to emulate. He wrote the original self-improvement book and was the first superstar of the self-help genre.

2. Do your homework. Carnegie wrote that he had searched for years to discover a practical, working handbook on human relations. He started by reading every scholarly book and magazine article he could find to ascertain how the great men and women of all ages had dealt with people. Then he interviewed scores of successful people to discover the techniques they used in human relations.

3. Speak up. From all that material, he prepared a short talk. He called it "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and it soon became a 90-minute lecture. Then the teacher learned from the students. Carnegie asked attendees to share their stories of how the principles helped them. First, he put the rules down on a postcard, which grew into a leaflet, then a series of booklets, each one expanding in size and scope. After 15 years of experiment and research came the book by the same title in 1937 as that original short talk. Of course, it has been a best seller ever since (if you haven't read it, you really should). The first edition had a print run of a mere 5,000, but the last time I checked it had sold more than 15 million copies.

4. Be the expert. During those 15 years of research, Dale Carnegie became the go-to guy for human relations. Thousands attended his training each year and he prospered. This also resulted in many consulting contracts. He is long gone, but his training company has continued to this day.
5. Make them pay. Those who sell high end services can fill a pipeline with qualified prospects in as little as 30 days by offering advice to prospects on how to overcome their most pressing problems. But don't do it for free. Charge for your seminars and the information will be valued more by your potential clients. The burden is also on you to research great information.

This strategy also helps those people who know, like and trust you enough to refer business to you. You can make these people a special deal: if they know someone who would value what you have to say, then your referral source can offer comp admission to your events on a space-available basis. Look what this does. You make the referral source feel special because they can hook people up. The prospects who attend still value the information more because there is a charge for it, and they feel even better because they didn't have to pay.

Happy Selling

Stephanie Fletcher

This article was written by Tom Searcy, and you can read more at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505183_162-57415800-10391735/how-to-win-clients-and-influence-referrals/

Techniques for Effective Cold Calling

Pre-Approach
The pre-approach gives you the knowledge and power to have informed discussions with prospects. Analyzing prospect data will help you tailor your approach. But don’t let the pre-approach slow you down and become a barrier to making the sale. Sometimes picking up the phone or dropping in on prospect is the best course of action.

Six "must knows" before picking up the phone
1. Key information about the industry, company, and people
2. Specific key issues and needs they are facing
3. Evidence of your past results with similar customers
4. Common ground or contacts
5. Specific call objectives
6. An appropriate call opening

Whether you’re making an appearance or using the telephone, the sales process doesn’t change. But using the phone presents a different set of challenges that you need to be aware of and prepare for. Some of these challenges are:

• It’s easy for customers to avoid you.
• Many people see incoming phone calls as an interruption.
• Attention spans on the phone are dramatically shorter than in face-to-face meetings.
• You can’t see customer reactions.
• Body language, a major communication tool in face-to-face meetings, is eliminated.
• It’s easy for a customer to do something else while talking to you.
• Technology can make getting to the right person challenging.
Develop your cold calling skills and grow your customer base with Dale Carnegie Training's Live Online Training Program.

Create change and see what happens

With The Apprentice returning to our screens next week it’s timely that I should discuss an entrepreneur in this blog post. One who had an idea for a product and who followed it through with grit, determination, initiative, passion and trying something different. Here’s some things I learned which I wanted to share.....

Sara Blakely came up with an idea of creating underwear which makes you look thinner and solves the VPL which so many women try to avoid. Spanx was born. And now at the age of 41 she is a self made billionaire (1 billion USD, £638 million). I have no idea whether she was in it for the money or if she wanted to create something she was passionate about, but however you measure her success, she is in no doubt successful. So just how did she do it?

Her past jobs certainly helped her. She worked at Disney as a meeter-and-greeter which no doubt gave her a background in Customer Service (as Disney are renowned for excellent customer service). She then worked as a door-to-door salesperson and was used to hearing ‘No’s’ and having knockbacks.....no doubt with the odd door slammed in her face. She also was a stand up comic in her spare time which meant she had no problems presenting to crowds, some of whom I can imagine could be a tad difficult.

She was passionate about her product and invested her life savings to make it happen. And in order to get her product noticed she really had to fall back on to her previous sales role.

Sara also had initiative and in her 10 min slot with a potential buyer she took her to the ladies to show her a before and after demonstration of her product rather than spend the whole precious ten minutes explaining to the buyer why she should stock her product. There certainly wasn’t a confidence issue there. But her big break came six months after that meeting whereby she sent a sample to Oprah Winfrey who was so impressed with her product that she added it to her Favourite Things Show. What better free advertising/PR can you get than an endorsement from a world renowned celebrity on a show which is seen on a global scale? Needless to say Sara never looked back after that.

As a result of her success, she set up the Sara Blakely Foundation to help women through education and entrepreneurial training which also funds scholarships in South Africa, as well as donating $1 million to Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy.....therefore giving back to the community.

Some of us will have an idea which we want to pursue and some of us won’t. Some of us will have most of the tools we need to pursue that goal and some of us won’t. If you would like to know how to present to groups, or build up your confidence, then by all means drop us a line. We are friendly, helpful and above all, really listen to what you require. And we would love to help you achieve your dreams.

I will leave you with a quote from Sara Blakely which I think sums up her success:

‘Now I give speeches and I always ask: If no one showed you how to do your job, how would you be doing it? Take a moment and ask that question. Often your way is better. Maybe it’s a fresh new approach. If you are doing something the way that everyone is doing it, you are not really creating change by doing it that way.’

Helen

Who's agenda are you really on?

Ever found yourself in the midst of yet another fruitless cold call from a sales person who professes to be the answer to all of your business problems?

Have you found yourself during the call, internally questioning "just how do you propose to help my business when you haven't asked a single question about us so far, you've simply blurted everything about what your company does and what you want!"?

With some cold callers the more you pull away the more they feel they should push until one of you is cornered or conflict is arrived at. What is it they don't understand about
"I'm not interested"?

In each case I am confident to speculate that only one or two key elements are being missed however the impact is multiplied each time they fail to be applied within the conversation.

In truth who amongst us has the time or indeed the inclination to stop what we are doing on a busy day and listen to somebody who displays little to no genuine interest in what is important to us?

Consider how much more useful it would be if the person calling questioned effectively enough to uncover what makes your business tick, to allow you to share what has made your business successful over the course of its existence? The very fact that you are in business must mean there are any number of things really working well surely?

The true value of a cold call lies in the sales person genuinely seeking to understand the opportunities and challenges your business is facing now and is likely to face in the foreseeable future. They should strive to draw out the ambitions that lie at the core of your strategy for moving forward. Only here both of you really begin to recognise if what they offer will in fact help propel you forward and accelerate the achievement of key objectives.

When a potential supplier applies this approach they begin by demonstrating how they aim to partner you in the accomplishment of your ambitions. They don't waste your time selling you something you don't need to buy.

Angelina Foden

Win Business or Win More Business? Both.

As I was sitting in a meeting with a potential client, during those 45 minutes David used about 4 or 5 client examples to establish credibility and demonstrate capability. As soon as we came out of the meeting I suggested we should create a concise document outlining some of the major clients we worked with, solution and results.


Being around for 100 years means we have a lot of case studies and testimonials. It's great to have so many success stories but sometimes, in particular for newer members of the team, is difficult to memorise all the information and probably end up not using it.


In our next weekly team meeting (today) we have kicked off the process and in the space of 10 minutes we came up with 6 examples which have been written and are ready to be used. We will continue to do this every week and in just a few months we'll have lots of client examples everyone can use.


If you are looking to increase conversion ratios take 10-15 minutes every week to think, write, share credibility statements. This will share knowledge within the team and create a stronger impact with prospects and clients.


Corina Balaneanu

Dale Carnegie & Jeffrey Gitomer form partnership to deliver world leading sales training

Exciting news!!!!! At this years Annual Dale Carnegie Convention in San Diego it's been announced that the leading Author Jeffrey Gittomer and Dale Carnegie Training have formed a partnership to develop some of the worlds leading sales training collateral and the first step will be to launch a new programme in 2012 titled Jump Start Your Sales Success that will be followed later in 2012 with an advanced sales training and a cutting edge sales management programme.

Learn more about our new partner here.

In a world now dominated by social media where it is infinitely easier to find out information about products and services over the internet and even evaluate the sales person coming to meet you on facebook, linked in and google. Buyers are more informed than at any time in history therefore to differentiate ourselves in this competitive information heavy market we need to recognise as Gitomer says 'People hate to be sold to but love to buy' These new programmes will help you to get onto your clients agenda and sell more than ever.

Watch this space for further updates on this exciting new sales curriculum.

David Anderson
Managing Director

Focus On The Customer

There are three strategic imperatives for any business. Firstly, to ensure the shareholder value is increased. If our shareholder, and other stakeholders, do not see a return on their investment they will wish to put their money (and time) elsewhere. Just think about how you feel about your 0.10% interest on your savings.

Secondly, gaining customers and increasing the share of each customer's spend is also paramount. Increasing revenues & profitably is vital if our organisations are not going to stagnate and ultimately die.

Thirdly, costs must be reduced. Now let's be clear this does not mean beating up suppliers for the best price. It means getting the most value from the money we spend and also cutting out waste - of every sort.

When we satisfy these three imperatives we create and maintain a successful and vibrant business. Without we suffer frustration, stress and many other negative emotions.

The easiest way of getting to this beneficial condition of growth and profitability is by ensuring we win more business than we know what to do with and at our competitors expense. Being skilled in the process and relationship aspects of winning business is key. Creating successful relationships with customers will also ensure we streamline our production and delivery systems and processes, this ensuring maximum value form our cost base.

Sign up for our Sales Advantage now and gain an edge over you competition and secure the future of your business and career.

David Pickering

Trainer and Sales Consultant

www.London.dalecarnegie.com

You're Fired!

At least one contestant on The Apprentice hears these words each week as over 7 million of us view in to watch the challenges and triumphs they endure.

Last week the teams were split into boys verses girls and were given a list of ten items, a budget and a day to hunt them all down for the best price.

Those of us who love watching human behaviour will have noticed that the boys more or less hit the streets straight away with their Project Managers words of ‘offer them at least 70% less than what they want’ ringing in their ears, whilst the girls sat down with the telephone directories and located the majority of the items before hitting the streets some two hours later.

The outcome was that the boys managed to buy 7/10 items and the girls located and bought all 10. However, even with the hefty fines the boys were given for not getting everything on the list, they still won! Why? Because they negotiated better and some may say harder than the girls!

Negotiation is the most important part of the sales role and can be the hardest, and here are four tips to help you with that process:

There should be three stages of every negotiation.
Learning the other person’s goals and establishing what you want will direct the flow of the discussion. Gather information on the other person and his or her needs by doing your homework. The goal should be to reach a compromise. And both parties should leave the negotiation satisfied.

Work with, not against, others in determining neutrally beneficial solutions.
Try to create a win-win situation. Your customer should feel good about the transaction and you should walk away happy about your sale. Never attempt an offer too quickly; you don’t want to think you could have done better twenty minutes later, nor would you want to leave anything out.

Finalize all agreements.
Don’t depend on working out all the details later. Time pressures cause us to be vulnerable to compromise and human errors as well as the customer backing out later claiming certain points were not discussed. Offer to write up the agreement, if possible. There are always small points that are unclear. When you write the agreement, you define those points.

Follow through.
Do what you said you would do and do it when you said you would do it. Make sure the customer follows through on their end of the agreement.

If you would like further tips then why not come along to our free Sales Advantage session on 6th January. A perfect time to kick start your New Year.

Helen Mills
Financial Controller
http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Dale Carnegie helps sales professionals find effective strategies for dealing with sales stress and other challenges. Inconsistency and the lack of a sales system are the two most common causes of stress. If you make 40 sales calls one week and 5 calls the next week, the amount of new business you close will be different each week. That adds more pressure and greater anxiety.

Here are a few tips:

• Set up a realistic system that you can stick to regularly.


• Develop daily and weekly mini-goals that you know you can achieve.


• Discipline yourself to follow through with your plan.


• Be consistent.

Also to keep stress under control, sales professionals should network with peers by attending professional meetings, events and seminars, this will allow you to see how other salespeople handle challenges such as sales stress.

With that in mind, we'd like to invite you to one of our complimentary seminars...

Sales Advantage preview - Tuesday 2nd March, 9.30am - 12pm

Coaching Salespeople for Success - Thursday 4th March, 8.45am - 10.45am

We look forward to welcoming you!

Corina Balaneanu
Sales Consultant

www.london.dalecarnegie.com

Leap of Faith .....

Is now the time to take risks and do things you've never done before? I was running a seminar for a group of business managers two weeks ago and was particularly struck when during a discussion about the dreaded 'credit crunch' one of the participants suggested if you weren't in sales before 1997 you were in for a rude awakening about what it was like to sell in a difficult market.

As business people we are being called upon to go and sell the value of our products and services in a way we haven't had to do in the past decade. If bookings on presentations skills programmes is an indicator that people are being asked to get out there and see more clients then the answer is definitely YES.

We're certainly in a time when we have to try new things to succeed. So ... in challenging times is it important to look before you leap? This final question came in into my mind when I found myself standing on a ledge in the French Alps last week ... snow board strapped to my feet and asking myself the question .. How did I get here? Stupiditiy is one answer!

My conclusion to the quesiton of looking before you leap is ... look but don't look for too long, the drop just seems to get bigger!

Now is the time to take action ... be it in business or French Mountains!:-)

David Anderson
Managing Director
http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/