Len's book is available from Amazon and by contacting MPPA Overcoming Discomfort in Asking for Money

 

 

            Most teen-age kids have no problem asking their parents for money, and there are plenty of other people who can do it without a second thought.

 

            But, many business people not only feel uncomfortable in asking for the money they have so deservedly earned from providing their product or service, they handle their discomfort by simply not asking or doing it clumsily (more on that below). The result is an unacceptable level of accounts receivable.

 

            One effective way to get past this barrier is to first share the uncomfortable feelings with the person you want to ask, prior to asking.  Here’s how.

 

            Say something like this:  “(Client), I really hate to ask for money, it makes me uncomfortable, and I worry that my clients might think I’m more concerned about money than I am in providing our service.” or words to that effect.  If you think that this approach is “corny” or artificial, experience has shown that most clients will actually reassure you that it’s OK to talk about payment or that they have a similar problem.

 

            Then, after you’ve shared your feelings, as one human being to another, is to say something like this: “However, you do owe $500 and we need to discuss how you plan to take care of that in a way that will work for both of us.”  (Notice the “both of us” part.  That means that they can’t just propose some unacceptable payment plan; you have to agree to whatever is proposed, and you may have to negotiate.)

 

Asking for Money Effectively

       

     First, let me tell you how NOT to ask for money.  DON’T BE VAGUE.  Never ask for “something on the account” or “a payment”.  If you do, anything you get is a ”payment”.  Incidentally, if your debtor is vague by offering you a payment, you say, “That’s great.  The best we can do is $250 today with a post-dated check for the balance cashable in two weeks. Now, you’re in a negotiation, which is far better than accepting some drawn-out payment plan that causes the debtor no strain by stretching out paying as long as possible.

 

            So, how do you ask for money effectively and professionally? First confirm that you are talking with the right person. Then, just be friendly and direct, like this: “Hi, this is Jim Grable from On-Time Consulting, and I’m calling about the $235 balance on your account.  Would you please write a check for that amount and send it in today?  Thank you.”

 

            I realize that sounds way too easy, and you will get all kinds of responses, which I’ll discuss in a future Collection Tidbit.  But, you have begun the dialogue correctly, which definitely improves your odds of collecting.  Notice that, in my request for payment, I got right to the point, I didn’t apologize for calling, and I didn’t talk about the weather or ball scores or other evasions of the real subject for the call.

 

            Eventually, with a little practice, you’ll become more comfortable and effective in asking for money. Leonard Sklar ©2008

 

 

THE SOUL OF SELLING

How to Achieve Extraordinary Results

with Remarkable Ease

(and not lose your soul in the process)

by

Carol Costello

Copyright © 2005 by Carol Costello All rights reserved

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Murray Thompson, Ph.D., Consultant to Fortune 100 companies

 

Introduction

Part 1

The Soul of Selling: How and Why It Works

1. The Magic Bullet: Why The Soul of Selling Works, Every Time

2. How the 6 Steps Work: Passing the Cosmic Hors D’Oeuvres Tray

3. What You Get (and what it costs)

4. The Discomfort Dilemma: Why We Want to Stop, and How to Keep

Going with Ease

 

Part 2

Your 6 Steps: Making The Soul of Selling Your Own

5. Step 1. Put Down Your Baggage (and fix what you can)

6. Step 2. Pinpoint Your Passions

7. Step 3. Create your Speaking Bank

8. Step 4. Promise Your Result

9. Step 5. Conduct the 10-Touchstone Honoring Sales Conversation

10. Step 6. Keep Going Until You Get the Result

 

Part 3

Taking Charge:

Becoming the Source of Your Own Success

11. Mastery: Owning Your Sales World

12. Generosity of Spirit: Giving and Receiving Support

13. The Soul of Selling as Personal Growth: Becoming the Person

You’ve Always Wanted To Be

14. Your Soul of Selling Synergy Group

 

 

CHAPTER 1

 

THE MAGIC BULLET:

Why The Soul of Selling Works

—Every Time

What if you could guarantee the exact sales results you wanted, every time?

What if you also knew that you were acting with integrity, that you were

honoring and appreciating each person with whom you spoke—whether or

not they bought? And what if, on top of that, you got genuine pleasure from

selling, and even began to relax into doing it with ease?

The Soul of Selling offers you exactly that. You get extraordinary results, and

thrive because you are feeding your soul with personal values, higher purpose, and

meaningful contribution.

 

You are being good, and doing well. This is the “magic bullet” everyone wants.

You get people on board with your product, service, project, or vision, while growing

into the person you’ve always wanted to be.

 

The Soul of Selling is a new paradigm for sales. It invites you to shift how you

see “selling,” to think of it not as pushing, manipulating, conning, or pressuring—but as a

way of contributing to life and feeding your soul. You become a stand for something that

you find valuable, and serve others by offering it to them in a respectful, honoring way.

When you see selling as service, you are free to go all out. You can bring yourself 100%

to the task, and that makes everything easier and more fun.

 

The six steps of The Soul of Selling guide you through this process, so that you

sell with mastery, grace, and the results of your choice. Your inspiration comes from

within, from your own core values, and so you can renew it, reignite it, or realign it at

will. You act with integrity, out of your own natural capacity to inspire. You can finally

be yourself, get great results, and feel good about how you get them.

 

You do not have to be a natural seller, or an experienced seller, to succeed with

this method. Selling is an acquired skill. I am not a natural seller. I developed The Soul of

Selling out of my own desire to make the things that I loved available to more people,

and at the same time to succeed in the world, act with integrity, and feed my soul. All you

have to do to succeed with this method is follow the six steps. Whatever your dreams,

your visions, or your goals, The Soul of Selling will help you step up to the plate and

make them real.

 

THE FOURFOLD GUARANTEE

 

The Soul of Selling offers you a Fourfold Guarantee for Results, Integrity,

Passion, and Ease. When you can make that guarantee, selling is sweet. (And R-I-P-E!)

You take the guesswork out of results, and the stress out of selling. Each time you begin a

selling project, you know that you can guarantee:

 

1. Results. You get precisely the sales numbers you choose, every time.

 

2. Integrity. Everyone you contact is respected, appreciated, and honored—

whether or not they buy. You can trust yourself never to con, bully, or

otherwise manipulate your customers, your product or service, or yourself.

 

3. Passion. You find a new energy based on what you truly value. Your unique

brand of enthusiasm comes to the surface, and makes selling fun .

 

4. Ease. You can relax. You don’t have to second- guess yourself, your methods,

or your motives. You can just follow the six steps, be yourself, and enjoy both

the process and the outcome.

 

The Fourfold Guarantee works for professional salespeople, entrepreneurs, first time

sellers, small business owners, bake sale chairs, fundraisers, multi- level marketers,

community leaders, individuals with professional practices, and anyone who wants to

inspire others to support their product, service, project or vision.

 

WHY IS IT “THE SOUL OF SELLING?”

 

“Soul” is the part of us that craves higher purpose, authentic relationship, and

meaningful contribution. Webster’s calls it “the seat of real life or vitality; the source of

action; the animating or essential part; the moving spirit, the heart.”

 

“Selling” is simply offering your product or vision in such a clear and inviting

way that people see value in it for themselves and get on board. Selling might mean

offering a computer or insurance plan in the marketplace. It might mean lining up people

for a carwash on Saturday, or collecting money for the kids’ baseball uniforms, or

inviting people to join a book group. It might mean inspiring people to be part of a

program to end hunger in the world, or to support world peace.

 

The Soul of Selling is based on three principles:

 

1. We all want to have a positive impact on our world. You might want to be the

top software salesperson in your company, or help win an election, or

spearhead an environmental cause. When you know how to “sell” these things

in a way that gets results every time, you have the power to change your

world.

 

2. We all want to nourish our souls. We want to be good people who act with

integrity and contribute to others. We want to feel good about who we are and

what we do.

 

3. We don’t have to choose between these two desires. We can combine doing

well and feeling good. Being an impact person who gets results does not mean

you can’t also be a good person who supports others. And being a good

person does not mean you can’t have a powerful impact on the world. In fact,

a person of compassion, purpose, and vision can do far more good if he or she

also has the power to make things happen. A person who already has the

power to make things happen can last longer and stay happier when he or she

brings heart, soul, and meaning to those results.

 

Our cultural and corporate values are shifting toward “soul.” For those of us who

sell, this means combining big results with self-esteem, higher purpose, growth,

contribution, and authentic personal values. It means finding a way to be successful,

satisfied, and congruent—a way to honor both ourselves and others as we put our

product, service, or vision on the map.

 

The Soul of Selling gives the quest for the bottom line a moral compass, and

shows us how to navigate the new landscape where results and values not only can meet,

but must meet.

 

The six steps are your handrails. They guide you down the path to becoming an

amalgam of strength and contribution, of capacity and compassion, of steady will and

generosity of spirit. They call forth your ability to produce extraordinary results, and to

do so with meaning, integrity, and ease. They foster genuine enthusiasm for sharing what

you find valuable, and ask you to be the source of respectful, empowering relationships.

They show you how to honor your core values, see your lessons, make gracious course

corrections, become a stand for your visions, and still get extraordinary sales results. You

have the tools to be a force of nature—a force for good.

 

A SIMPLE, ELEGANT ANSWER

 

I grappled with how to sell big without selling out for twenty-five years, while

acting as Director of Sales for three start-up companies that are still thriving today. I

stepped into every pothole out there, climbed out, dusted myself off, and figured out what

I could have done to avoid that pothole.

 

Finally, I had a map of where the potholes were. I found a way to sell exactly

what I promised, and also to know in my bones that everyone I contacted was better off

than they had been before we talked. I learned how to inspire myself, and keep that

inspiration fresh and authentic. I could finally relax and enjoy some peace and ease in

selling, as well as great results. I could take pride in what I did, and how I did it. I could

enjoy the fruits of being a big seller, and at the same time let it shape me into the person

I’d always wanted to be.

 

For a secretly shy person who wanted both to contribute and to succeed in the

world, this was heaven. I saw that selling could be a high calling. It takes courage, grit,

and a spark that we want to share with others. People who sell deserve all the support and

encouragement they can get. I wanted to be on their team.

 

I broke down what I was doing into the six steps of The Soul of Selling, and

started telling people about it. Soon I was teaching a seminar on this approach for people

ranged from top professionals who sold millions of dollars a year, to people who had just

taken charge of their first church garage sale. Experienced professionals and rank

amateurs, corporate big shots and fledgling solo practitioners, people who sold products

and those who sold services all reported the same outcomes:

 

1. Whatever their results had been, they get better. They sold more, in less time, with

less effort.

 

2. They enjoyed selling more, and did it with more ease—avoiding burnout and

turnover.

 

3. They took greater pride in what they did, because selling became service.

 

4. They had a technology that let them repeat their success, and kept them thriving.

 

WE’RE A SELLING SPECIES

 

Most of us sell every day of our lives—whether or not we know it, and whether or

not we call our job “sales.” We can’t help ourselves. When we human beings find

something that is fun or valuable, we can’t keep our mouths shut. We want to share it

with the world, or at least a few friends. We want to scoop people up and get them on

board, whether it’s asking them to “buy” into a:

 

· Widget

· Professional service

· Multi- million dollar contract

· Friday night dinner party

· Insurance policy

· Worthy cause

· Class or seminar

· Better results on a customer service team

· Real estate consortium

· Local park clean-up

 

When you know how to make these invitations with grace, and mastery, life is

easier and more pleasant. When you also know how to get the results you want, life is

more rewarding. It doesn’t matter whether you’re motivated by love, power, generosity,

profit, altruism, or any combination of the above. It’s great to be comfortable with

offering people something you’ve found valuable—and confident that you can talk about

it in such a clear and inviting way that they see a piece of it for themselves and get on

board.

 

THE RUBBER AND THE ROAD

 

Life will always hand us opportunities to “sell.” The only questions are:

 

1. Will we have fun, or get cranky?

 

2. Will we contribute, or waste energy complaining that selling is difficult and

demeaning?

 

3. Will we succeed, or will we fail?

 

This is where the rubber hits the road. At some point, we have to bring the

conversation around to results, to specific outcomes and numbers. How much did you

actually make in commissions last year? Did you, or did you not, get the contract? How

many new clients did you bring in last month, and is that enough to pay the bills? Are

people coming to the dinner party, or will we be going out for fried chicken? Will we

build the new church, or not? Will what you’re selling in multi- level marketing allow you

to quit your job, or do you need to sell more? Exactly how much more?

 

In my sales seminars, this is the point where everybody’s stomach tightens up.

Their eyes narrow, their faces freeze, and I can see the balloons forming above their

heads: Sleazy! Manipulative! Why risk being rejected, or failing? Besides, pressuring

people is wrong! That’s why I don’t get the numbers. Good people can’t guarantee

numbers, or they risk being bad people! Everyone knows that!

 

This is where the trouble starts—in the seminar, in sales, and in life.

 

WHAT GOES WRONG: THAT QUEASY, UNEASY FEELING

 

In the seminar, I assure people that oxygen masks will be dropping from the

ceiling. I tell them to secure their own mask first, and then help others. They laugh, but

tentatively.

 

For many of us, professionals and novices alike, “selling” brings up nightmarish

thoughts, or at least a subtle but pervasive dread. The only way around this is to tell the

truth about it. Before we can proceed with the seminar, we first have to surface all the

squirrelly little thoughts that people have about selling and those who do it, about

themselves as sellers, about their product or service, and about the people they will

contact. Otherwise, they will take all these fearful thoughts and queasy feelings with

them when they go out to sell.

 

I give them twenty minutes to write down all this negative mental chatter, and

then they call out all their answers while my assistant writes everything down on a huge

tablet in front of the room. Some fifty minutes and thirty pages later, we all sit exhausted,

staring at the tablet. As my assistant slowly turns back the thirty pages, we see phrases

like:

 

· Selling is a sleazy game, and only sleazy people play it.

· Who do they think they are? Don’t they know they’re taking food out of

my children’s mouths when they don’t buy?

· People will know I’m a weasel, and just out for the money.

· I’m not really that good a therapist, and people will find out if I put myself

out there.

· The vitamins I’m selling aren’t as good as we say they are. How can I

stand behind them?

· People are miserly jerks, so I’ll have to trick them into buying something

they don’t really want, and then they’ll hate me for it.

· I can’t take rejection.

· I try to be nice but they must see how pissed off and confused I am, so

sometimes I don’t even ask them if they want to buy.

· I’ll fail.

· I’ll succeed.

· I’ll feel like a fake, sound like a fake, and even if I’m not faking people

will think I am.

 

Much of what winds up on the tablet isn’t actually true, or even what people

really think—but the suffering they experience is real. These queasy, uneasy thoughts and

feelings are snaking around in their conscious or unconscious minds, creating havoc and

misery. Oddly, there is very little difference between the thoughts of top salespeople and

the thoughts of novices. The top producers have learned how to hide it better, to talk

about it more obliquely, and sometimes not to let it affect them as much, but I am always

amazed at what they carry around with them.

 

The first question I ask is, “How much of this is actually true?” People’s fears are

real, but most of them admit that the chances of these fears actually materializing are low.

Then I ask, “Can you see why selling sometimes seems hard, and why you don’t

always get the results you want or feel great about doing it?” They nod grimly, but at

some point as my assistant keeps turning back through those thirty pages of mind numbing

thoughts and fears, someone starts to snicker. The things that go on in our

minds are so wild, so abundant, so in conflict with one another, and sometimes so

ridiculous that eventually hysteria overtakes us and we can’t stop laughing.

After a break, we settle down and start to take apart what goes wrong. Why do we

get so crazy around sales?

 

WICKED OR WIMPY?

 

The conventional wisdom is that there are two kinds of people in sales. One group

gets great numbers, but will stop at nothing to get them. The other group has kind,

generous spirits, but they may or may not get results—and so may or may not have jobs,

businesses, and incomes.

 

Nobody wants to be part of either group, so we freeze. We become like deer in

headlights, staring into the bright light of our fears. We don’t want to be, or to seem to be,

like sleazy used car salesmen. We don’t want to impose on people, lose our dignity, or be

rejected. We are willing to forego clients and commissions, and even give up on the

dream of having our own businesses, rather than get into the sales game. Even seasoned

professionals who have sold billions of dollars of goods or services have these concerns.

They wonder if they can call up “the magic” again, and make it work just one more time.

THE “STOP” RESPONSE

Confronted with the choice between Wicked and Wimpy, many people simply

stop. They get so hopelessly embroiled in worries that they refuse even to try selling, and

take themselves out of the game completely. Others just stand immobile in the middle of

the field. They don’t pick up the phone. They close the file with the list of people to call,

if they’ve even brought themselves to make the list. They withdraw into themselves,

rather than risk that their fears may be true—even when they know logically that most of

those fears are ridiculous.

Of course, people who freeze in this way fail anyway. They don’t sell the widget,

get the clients, raise the money, or do the seminar they’ve always dreamed of doing. They

don’t build their businesses, make their quotas, get their projects off the ground, or share

their visions. They don’t grow or widen their worlds, make their contribution, or fatten

their pocketbooks.

Their product, service or vision never sees the light of day, and all the people who

might have benefited from it never even get a crack at it. They withhold from people the

contribution they might have made, and miss out on financial success, relationships, and

experiences that might empower, expand, and enhance their lives.

That’s what happens when we succumb to the “Stop” Response. But some people

can’t stop. It’s their job to sell. Others took on a commitment to produce a certain result,

or for some other reason feel they need to keep going, whether they like it or not. They

often fall prey to the “Stagger” Response.

THE “STAGGER” RESPONSE

These people stagger forward. They tell themselves and others that they’re “out

there selling,” but they don’t bring all of themselves to the task. They have one foot on

the accelerator and one foot on the brake. They have trouble picking up the phone when

there is anything else to do. They have very clean floors, alphabetized spice racks,

defragmented hard drives, living rooms full of needle pointed pillows, and garages full of

sorted and organized nails, nuts, and bolts—but they don’t have many sales. They often

feel frustrated, powerless, cranky, and out of control.

They trudge on—but in agony. Agony isn’t a good thing in the sales arena, and so

they don’t get terrific results. That makes them even more miserable. Unless they

discover some way to combine power and peace of mind, they find themselves with some

difficult choices. They can go Wicked, and feel awful about themselves. They can go

Wimpy, and probably fail. Or they can keep staggering, and succumb to the stress of

playing, and usually losing, a game in which they are only half engaged.

This is no way to live.

WHAT IF?

What if selling were no longer an exercise in avoidance, or in powering

over the discomfort? What if, instead, it were a chance to be the person you’ve

always wanted to be each day, and at the same time be a star and make fistfuls

of money by offering people a product or service you value?

What if you were so clear about the value of your product, service, project, or

vision that you loved talking about it, and spoke of it with confidence and joy? What if

you could just put your attention on contributing to the person with whom you were

speaking at the moment, and stop worrying about yourself or your results?

The Soul of Selling gives you these things and more. You begin to enjoy

picking up the phone to tell people about what you’re offering. You start to

think of yourself as the kind of person who can actually say, “I will have twenty

people in my seminar this week” and know that, without fail, you will have

twenty people. Or, “I will meet that $500,000 quota.” Or, “I will have three new

clients in the next two weeks.”

What if you had fun with selling?

THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU IF…

When some people hear the word “selling,” their blood runs more quickly. When

others hear “selling,” their blood runs cold. This book is for both groups. It is for

everyone who sells, invites, or in any way wants to call people to their product, service,

cause, event, project, or vision. Whether you are an experienced sales professional, or

recently nominated to get volunteers for the neighborhood association, you can

exponentially increase both your results and your enjoyment of the process.

This book is not about marketing. It won’t tell you how to define or reach your

audience. It won’t tell you how to write the world’s best flyer or get on “Oprah.” Nor is it

about figuring out people’s vulnerabilities so that you can box them into a corner, ask the

perfect questions, and either shame or dazzle them into buying what you’re selling.

This book is about talking to people face-to-face, or phone-to-phone—and

interacting with them in a respectful, empowering way that honors both them and you. It

is about the Fourfold Guarantee for Results, Integrity, Passion, and Ease. It is for people

who want to take charge of their relationship with selling—and enjoy all the financial,

socia l, emotional, and even spiritual fruits that come from selling big and being good.

USING THIS BOOK

This book guides you step-by-step through personalizing The Soul of Selling

approach for your specific situation. It is also a place you can come for inspiration and

regeneration.

Part 1, “The Soul of Selling: How and Why It Works,” gives you an overview of

the method, the six steps that make it so powerful, the benefits you’ll receive from using

it, and how to deal with the Discomfort Dilemma that is always present in sales.

Part 2, “Your 6 Steps: Making The Soul of Selling Your Own, ” is a detailed

description of the six steps, with exercises to help you tailor each one to your particular

situation and use it most effectively.

Part 3, “Taking Charge: Becoming the Source of Your Own Success,” contains

chapters on creating your Personal Sales Vision, giving and getting support, letting

selling shape you into the person you’ve always wanted to be, and creating a Synergy

Group of like- minded sellers.

I suggest you get a special notebook for the exercises in this book. You can make

a few notes in the lines provided, but then expand your answers in your Soul of Selling

notebook. The more you give to this process, the more powerfully it will work for you.

STEPPING OUT

Nobody succeeds in sales without becoming the source of their own success. This

method is about getting the ball in your court, and then letting it rip.

Nothing works unless you embrace it wholeheartedly and give it a chance to

succeed. Researchers are discovering this about diets. Fats, carbs, proteins. Everybody

has a different idea about how to combine them in order to lose weight. It turns out that

the type of diet doesn’t make much difference. What matters is how well people follow

whatever diet they choose.

I invite you to try this method for three months. If you use it rigorously, my guess

is that you’ll start to fall in love with selling, and with the results you’re getting.

Most people don’t believe that you can both sell big and be good until they see

how it’s done. That’s the subject of Chapter 2.

To buy the book, http://www.soulofselling.com/book.htm

 

blogs_and_wikis_slides_handoutsA blog is a user-generated website where entries are displayed in a reverse chronological order (most recent on top). Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject and can be public, or protected and therefore only accessible within an organization or a team. Blogs have revolutionaized the process of publishing information on the Web as well as the sharing of information within companies. A wiki on the other hand is a collection of web-pages that anyone can edit. Wikis are used as a knowledge-base similar to wikipedia, and as a collaboration tool reducing reliance on group email. With wikis you can reduced email volume, cut down meeting times, and accelerate project cycles. And finally, Windows SharePoint, is a Microsoft add-on to Windows Server 2003, which offers powerful collaboration tool that includes document management, calendar, and task management.

 

In this session, we will explain the benefits of blogs and wikis and Microsoft SharePoint, and demonstrate the steps involved in creating them and using them, and show how they can be useful for business professionals and oganizations in their collaboration effort. At the end of this meeting, you will have the information you need to define the vision and purpose for your blog and/or wiki and/or Microsoft SharePoint site, as well as many insights into how to go about implementing them.

 

About the Presenter

 Pierre Khawand has more than fifteen years of experience in the software industry. He has led several technology ventures and completed successful mergers and acquisitions and founded People-OnTheGo in 2001 to enable business professionals to communicate and collaborate more effectively using leading edge technologies. His best selling “Accomplishing in less time, less effort, and less stress” workshop enables managers and executives to better cope with information overload and competing priorities. Pierre is the author of two popular blogs (less-is-more.typepad.com and 81dayexperiment.typepad.com). He has recently published the Smartphone Experiment book—how to select your smartphone is 5 easy steps. Pierre holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Michigan and has completed several Executive Education programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Management.– Pierre Khawand, CEO of People-OnTheGo
pierre@people-onthego.com
www.people-onthego.com

Professional Service Customers Want It ALL

How to consistently deliver the “good stuff”

by Tom Penck, Service for Profit

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson may not have had anything nice to say about the virtues of consistency, but in my experience, professional services customers value it above all other things. A work product that is predictable in delivery time, price and quality — with no surprises — goes a long way toward winning business the next time around.

 

Early on in my working life, I learned the importance of these three elements. When I was 14, I spent the summer working with a professional painter and a friend of the family. During one episode, when I was hurrying to finish a section just before lunch, Hutch, the team lead, took it upon himself to explain how things worked in the painting world:

 

“There is FAST work, CHEAP work and GOOD work. We specialize in the good stuff. We get our referrals on the quality of our work. Look there, you got more paint on the floor than you did on the wall ….”

 

A few years later, I spent a summer stocking shelves in a drug store. My supervisor encouraged me to exhibit greater speed:

 

“Now Tom, at our store, we know working fast keeps our prices down. And customers want lower prices. You’ve got to be faster.”

 

I also learned about CHEAP work at the drug store — by what they paid me!

 

Thus, I was introduced to the “fusion cuisine philosophy” of service delivery: Any combination of FAST, CHEAP and GOOD are possible and can produce wildly different experiences.

 

Two out of three won’t cut it.

 

Now that I have years of professional services marketing and delivery behind me, I have realized a basic truth: Those who deliver and sell professional services must buck the common belief held by product-focused organizations that it’s only reasonable to deliver on two of the three elements. If you’re selling services, your delivery must be FAST, your pricing must be CHEAP, and you must maintain the highest quality (GOOD services).   

 

• FAST: Every professional services engagement I have been associated with has had a time component. Speed is value: Speed is money in the bank for customers. Even if the engagement is long-term, they measure progress (and judge value) by speed in attaining milestones. Indeed, in the technology services space, the advantage of speed (fast time to market, etc.) is often a competitive advantage and the reason for purchasing the professional service in the first place.

 

• CHEAP: If speed is one key, value pricing is another. Cost is always an object, even when the client says it isn’t. Clients who opt for professional services frequently look for a “reasonable” cost — a value that equates favorably to getting the work done some other way (with an alternative internal resource, a different vendor, etc). They want to be assured that their service purchase is reasonable for the project and will provide a positive ROI for their company.   

 

• GOOD: By definition, professional services staff delivers services by virtue of special training, knowledge or expertise. Therefore, customers have a deep-seated expectation for high-quality service and guaranteed satisfaction. Ask any provider how long he or she expects to keep the business of a customer for which the provider had to “redo” a project or correct obvious errors.

 

If all service providers maintain this level of performance — FAST, CHEAP and GOOD — we would never lose a client and would be successful in all of our proposals, right?

 

We all know that is false. Everyone loses business because of contracting issues, geographical preferences, technology mismatches, etc. — factors one can’t control. The good news is that every service provider experiences the effects of these factors, which even out the playing field in the marketplace

 

Change their perception to change everything.

 

Here is why professional services differ from other types of services: PERCEPTION is the hidden variable. Communication with the client is the floating constant that evens out the bumps from a rocky delivery experience or bridges the pricing gap between you and your competition. Setting client expectations, communicating problems and proposed work-arounds, and closing the loop after the job is done can make the difference between service that is perceived as FAST, CHEAP and GOOD, and service that is lacking.

 

I’ve found that it’s best to focus on the elements you can control (speed, pricing and quality), and open an early, clear channel of communication with your clients. Your customers may like surprise endings in movies, and in their fortune cookies, but not in their professional service engagements.

 

bio for Tom Pencek

 

Tom Pencek is an independent professional services marketer, practicing in the SF Bay Area and works with service clients of all sizes to help them deliver Good, FAST and CHEAP services. He can be reached at tom@tlpencekandassoc.com, or thorough his web site, http://www.serviceforprofit.com

 

 

 

Elevator Speeches Made Easy

by  Susan Schwartz, CEO of You Who Branding

Telling people who you are and what you do should be the easiest thing in the world. But in practice, most people have little, if any, idea how to introduce themselves effectively.   If you suddenly go blank when it’s time to deliver your elevator speech, be sure to attend this session!

Brand expert, Susan Schwartz of You Who Branding, will give you an easy-to-follow formula that will help you create an introduction that is clear, compelling and memorable.  You’ll discover…

• How to grab attention with your opening
• The key word you must use
• What you should never say
• Why less is better than more
• Three ways to get people to remember you
• How to make sure people know who you are, what you do, and why they should work with you. 

About Susan Schwartz:      

In a career spanning more than 20 years, Susan Schwartz has been an advertising copywriter, an image consultant, a speaker and trainer. She has also been a greeting card editor, TV producer, intuitive healer and stand-up comic; but not all at the same time.

When the question, “What do you do?” became impossible to answer because she was doing so many different things, she combined her significant interests and talents into a single practice.

Now, as founder and principal of You Who Branding, Susan helps individuals and entrepreneurs craft their own authentic brand identities, starting from the inside out.

http://www.youwhobranding.com/

 

 

 

 

How Local Businesses Can Improve Their Visibility on the Web

By Kevin Dean, Internet Marketing Consultant, WSI Net Advantage

 

It is estimated that 25% of all searches on the web are seeking local businesses, services, and resources.  This might include city functions, school activities, networking groups, as well as customers looking for businesses like yours.  These searches are performed on search engines, directories, and other sites noting references and referrals.

 

Is your traditional marketing approach ready for this huge focus on the web?  Here are 10 steps for your company to take advantage of the growing pace of localized search by your prospects.

 

In the process, it is likely you will also improve the message you present on your website, improving the number of contacts and opportunities generated from your site.

 

1. Say what you do – simply and concisely.  Do you say exactly what your services are?  Many business owners never say it in terms that regular people use.  Include the benefits you can provide the visitor if they contact you.  Also make sure your site looks good.  Maybe it’s time for a make-over. Now that you can take advantage of the visitors once they get to your site, let’s review the other nine!

 

2. State your physical address, city, and state. Did you know there are 13 Fremonts in the US

and several “Bay Area’s”?  You may not be a storefront where people can come and visit, but many local business people and customers prefer to work with local services.  Include your Zip Code.  Skip the street name if you wish.

 

3. What other towns do you work in?  As a contractor, store owner, or service provider, you may have a clear geographic area you serve.  If someone is searching for your services in the next town over, would you like your site to be considered for posting?  Add these towns in your footer or as a “Cities Served” box on your pages.  Use text not an image.

 

4. State your target market.  Are you seeking small business owners with a limited budget?  Do your focus on companies with more than 10 computer installations, or 5 employees?  Let your site filter contacts which do not match your business model.  Create specific areas of your site for each type of client you see.

 

5. Use Google and Yahoo Local listing services.  Close to the top of search engine displays for local services are local business listings.  These were originally culled from phone directories and may be out of date or incorrect.  Check your listing and be sure it links to your site, provides a correct address and phone number, and describes your services properly.

 

6. Place your web site name on ALL correspondence that you distribute.  This includes brochures, invoices, envelopes, packing materials, receipts, email footer, letterhead, shopping bags, and of course, every business card you print.

7. Use business email.  Do not use a Yahoo, AOL, or GMail address.  Use your business URL – yourname@yourcompany.com.  It looks professional and reminds people of your website name.

 

8. Ask other businesses to link to you.  Swap links with partners or preferred vendors them so you can show people who else you work with.  Visitors on their sites have the opportunity to link to you.  Use relevant linking text as well as clear logo.  Standardize to assist your linking partners.

 

9. Link from local directories.  Many cities have local service directories from public and commercial services.  Find ones that match your marketplace and request to place a link, or maybe pay a small fee.  If you are a member of a club, Chamber, association, or other group, be sure their site links to yours.  Show club affiliations on your site too.

 

10. Try local sponsored advertising.  You cannot likely add every key phrase to your site so your site will be listed naturally.  By using local advertising, you can post links to your site from Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and others with appropriate key phrases only viewable in the areas you serve.  Some services include valuable “return-on-investment” methods which allow you to see how many leads are actually contacting you due to this advertising.

 

These 10 easy to implement ideas will help you generate new leads and customers through better use of the Internet.  If your business is not taking advantage of local search activities by your potential customers, you are missing out on countless opportunities.

 

Copyright © 2007 Kevin Dean, All Rights Reserved

Kevin Dean is an Internet Marketing Consultant and President of WSI Net Advantage in Fremont CA. He specializes in helping business owners better utilize the Internet.  Contact Kevin at (510) 687-9737, kdean@WSINetAdvantage.com,  http://www.WSINetAdvantage.com