Customer Appreciation: Conversations

Publisher's Note: Wayne Bailey is the newest contributor to our "Profit-Driven Tips" e-newsletter.

Sigmond Freud said, "A man with a toothache cannot be in love." What was Mr. Freud referring to when he said this? I think he was trying to say we can't listen to others when we are focused on ourselves. Ouch!

When was the last time you were having a conversation with someone and you were multi-tasking at the computer, making a grocery list or checking incoming emails on your BlackBerry? I'm guilty. Are we really that busy that we can't give someone five minutes of our undivided attention?

It's important that we not just give lip service, but we do listen. We're even made to listen more than we talk. Why do you think we have two ears and one mouth? Next time you're having a conversation with someone, especially face-to-face, try looking the person in the eye and interact in the conversation.

Leading author, John Maxwell said, "Any time a person has an axe to grind; the words of others are drowned out by the sound of the grindstone." We are unable to listen to someone if we're more interested in getting our words heard.

A good rule of thumb I use when I'm having a conversation with someone...if the subject gets changed and we're interrupted, I don't bring that subject back up unless the other person brings it up. If they don't, guess what? It wasn't that important to the other person to begin with or you have exhausted that part of the conversation.

A great book that's in my library is "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. It's a wonderful book that was written 50 plus years ago but still holds true today. He tells how to carry a conversation with friends, family or business associates. It's definitely worth the read.

As Mr. Maxwell put it, "People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." One way to do that is to take the time to send a card with a personal note. Tell them how much they mean to you and watch that relationship grow!

Wayne Bailey is a Distributor with SendOutCards. He has recognized tremendous growth in his personal and business relationships by implementing the strategies he talks about in his articles. You can email Wayne at wayne_bailey642@hotmail.com or visit: www.sendoutcards.com/waynebailey.

Social Media Marketing

With social media at the forefront, it's important for the small business to take advantage of the opportunities to further build relationships with existing customers and market to new ones. The problem... most business owners don't have the time or resources to devote to actively posting on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Many business owners also don't know there's a right way and wrong way to post on these sites.

In response, Eagle Soars Consulting has created several different social media marketing plans for the small business owner. We do all the work for you so you can concentrate on other areas of your business. Each plan is available for monthly subscription. To learn more and sign up on-line, business owners can go to: http://eaglesoars-marketing.com/our-services/marketing/social-media

Great Ways to Jump Start Sales - Part 3: Follow Up on Lost Leads

The sales cycle is as much about customer service as is the actual production cycle. Every business owner wants to make certain they are handling sales calls as professionally and efficiently as possible. Though, from time to time it happens... we get busy running the day-to-day of our business and begin to lose track of the leads we generated earlier in the year. Now's the time to revisit those leads as there's a good chance your prospect never took any action. Let me give you an example.

Say you are the owner of an automotive repair business. At the time your customer picks up their car, your Service Advisor should be trying to get him or her to schedule a follow-up appointment to deal with issues that were identified during the routine maintenance or repair. First, if that's not part of your standard operating practice, it should be a policy that is instituted right away.

For sake of this example, however, let's assume, your Service Advisor has tried but the customer has decided to hold off. Now is a good time to start giving those customers a call to remind them of the much-needed service. You can give them a special offer as an incentive to get the work done now. You won't get everyone to schedule an appointment, but even if it's a handful, that's more than you had before you made the calls.

There are certain types of practices that prohibit you from following up with leads, like law firms and medical practitioners. All other businesses should be implementing some type of strategy to revisit those leads that may have gotten lost in the daily activities. You can be creative as you'd like. The point is to just do it.

In the future, and before you get to this point, implement procedures to prevent this from happening. Everyone who takes inbound calls or greets a new prospect should know how they found out about your business. Keeping track of this information on a simple form will help you identify which marketing strategies are working for your business and what's attracting your target market. Once a prospect calls or comes into your business, assign one person to follow-up within 24 hours. Set standard policies and make sure they are being followed.

Don't know where to begin? We can help set up scripts and standard operating procedures for your sales cycle.