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Sometime later, you call the prospect and introduce yourself: “Hello, Ms. Prospect, my name is John Businessman. Larry Source recommended I call you. I’m an accountant…”

Handling referrals this way, as you might expect, gets minimal results. Your chance of converting the referral into a customer will be greater if your referral source:

1. Makes the initial contact with the prospect (his acquaintance) to assess her need and, if appropriate, alerts her that you will be getting in touch;

2. Sends the prospect background information about you and your business;

3. Lets the prospect know the nature of his relationship with you;

4. Gives the prospect a brief description and endorsement of your products or services;

5. Arranges to introduce the prospect to you;

6. Follows up with the prospect after you contact her.

Unfortunately, if you don’t ask your prospective referral source to do some of these things, he probably won’t – not because he isn’t willing, but because he doesn’t know how these actions could make a big difference; doesn’t have enough information about you or your business, or simply doesn’t know how.

Make it your goal to communicate to your sources the actions you wish them to take and then provide them with all the materials necessary to accomplish those actions.

If you do this, I guarantee you’ll get better-quality referrals that will more quickly turn into actual business

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Raj Patel grew up in north-west London where his family ran a corner shop. Patel received a B.A in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford, and a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics, and gained his PhD in Development Sociology from Cornell University in 2002. He has been a visiting scholar at Yale and the University of California, Berkeley. As part of his academic training, Patel worked at the World Bank, World Trade Organization and the United Nations. He has since become an outspoken public critic of all of these organizations and it seems that people either love him or hate him – he has been named as “the antichrist’ by some whilst a New Age group is claiming him as the next Christ! Whether your love him or hate him – his message seems to be completely aligned with the spirit of BNI – namely that sharing and taking an interest in others is the way forwards for business and the way forwards for humanity.  Here is a short video of Raj Patel talking about his new book:

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“Crackle, snap and pop” is good – you will attract new members no matter how small you are. “Ho Hum” is bad, very bad. You will lose members, no matter how big you are.

I talk to hundreds of BNI members and they all tell me that they come to BNI for referrals, but they also come to the meetings because it’s their weekly booster and a chance to mix and mingle with other like-minded businesses owners.

The problems begin when we all start to get a bit familiar with each other. When we start to stand up and say “I’ve done this so many times, you all know how my business works”. No, no, no – this is very bad. When this happens it’s time to shake things up a bit.

One way to do this is to introduce regular meeting stimulants (located on the www.bni.co.nz) website. Another is to applaud everybody’s 60 second – it may seem lame or ‘uncool’ but it gets the blood pumping and the pulse beating. It injects ENERGY!!!

If your visitors come to a meeting and have fun, they’ll stay no matter how small your chapter is. If your members come to a meeting and they have fun, they’ll also stay.

No fun, no referrals.

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It would have been easy for the team to stay behind the following excuses – that they were not from a big country, that soccer isn’t a major in New Zealand, that they are only “part-timers.” But they didn’t. Under the great leadership and guidance of both Coach Ricki Herbert and Captain Ryan Nelsen, the players were instilled with a sense of discipline, hard work and the belief that they could do anything. They demonstrated that they need not be cowered by multi-million dollar superstars on the world stage. And whatever technical limitations they had, if they worked hard, played with all their conviction and gave it all they had, they could achieve greatness. They took full responsibility and pride and did exactly that!

Ricki Herbert as coach exhibited tremendous leadership courage in picking team members such as Winston Reid and Tommy Smith who were literally unknown to the other members of the team before the actual campaign began; yet they all pulled together. Contrast this with the efforts of France with multi-million dollar resources and players at the peak of their game who regularly played in top competitions around the world. This really reinforced the point that a team of individual champions is never as effective as a champion team.

It’s a testament to the excellent leadership of the All Whites and team culture that whatever individual egos might have been present, the players ably demonstrated that they have to work in with others and it’s not all about them. Within this cultural context, players like Simon Elliot and Mark Paston who had up till now, had fairly average careers, and were able to lift their game to unprecedented levels.

If All Whites had listened to the conventional wisdom from the pundits, it would have been hardly worth their while going out on the field. And yet with determination, a clear game plan that encapsulated their strengths and shrewd on-field management all led to the results we have seen. I am left questioning – how many times in business and even in our personal lives, we over analyze things and don’t give it a lash?

The All Whites “can do” attitude – making the best of resources they had, their engaging performance and inspiring leadership at FIFA reflects much of what goes on in NZ business every day. According to CapabilityNZ SME’s make up 97% of enterprise in NZ, accounting for 40% of the economy’s total output with 30% of all employees.

We have many hard working, committed people and champion teams giving their all to make their business a success for their families and the nation. We hear a lot about charismatic leaders. But there are also many quiet and or behind- the- scene leaders going about achieving positive results. We don’t hear about them in the media but are known by their family, employees and local community. They too can draw a lot from the All Whites example and feel proud of their efforts and results they create daily with their teams to make a difference.

As a business psychologist and executive coach, over the last two decades, Jasbindar has helped countless individuals and teams in organizations become even more effective.  Contact Jasbindar to discuss how she can be of best service to you.

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When you are trapped at an event where people are milling around, acting formal and sterile and unwilling to open up to genuine relationship building, scrap any negative reaction (”I shoulda stayed home”) and instead anoint yourself as the event’s host, even if only in your own head.

Imagining that it is your role to help other guests break through gives you permission to act a little bit differently – you’re acting in service of the entire event to make sure everyone has a good time.  Assume an aura of relaxed self-assurance while you make sure everyone has a drink and someone to talk to.  Find out what they’re looking to do and who they’re looking to meet and make introductions.  Start conversations.

Even if it is not in your basic DNA to be the life of the party, appointing yourself to the “job” of making sure that the event is a success can be the kick in the pants you need to inject some energy into a failing function. Whether or not you’re able to transform the event, you’ll certainly transform your own experience of it.

How have you transformed a bad networking event?

LINK TO KEITH’s WEBSITE

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The next of the big five obstacles is “No Money”.

Unfortunately for many of us in sales the majority of prospects we meet do not have large amounts of cash reserves sitting in their bank accounts waiting for us to show up and relieve them of it regardless of the wonderful solutions we may have to offer.   They do however have funds they can access if the issue you uncover is big enough to warrant immediate action and worth diverting these to you.

This being the case we need to uncover the specific problem our solution can solve and then use what I term a Return on Investment Calculation (ROIC).  This will in essence turn the problem into an issue that requires immediate action.

A friend of mine showed how his solution could save a professional service business 273 billable hours at $120/hour.  This came to $32,760 – and his solution cost $12,000.  It was easy for the buyer to see how he could save money by reducing costs.

Evaluating the “return on investment” for a prospect (or customer) makes it easier for him or her to justify spending money on your product or service and helps the prospect visualize the value the purchase or investment will create.  This sales skill will help you position your offering apart from your competitors and ultimately make moving forward with you and our offer more compelling.

Your goal is to put the value your product or service creates in context for your prospect.  Sales professionals create this context by breaking down the costs associated with the product or service and illustrating how the purchase or investment provides a positive rate of return for the company.  When the prospect sees your analysis, they should conclude it’s a no-brainer. Above all, remember – the wiifm principle (what’s in it for them?) always applies.

Objective –

To provide quantitative information to demonstrate the hard value your prospect will receive by making an investment in our product or service.

Return on investment is defined as the amount of money they can expect to make or avoid losing as a result of making an investment…an investment is anything that is purchased for the purpose of generating income (or decreasing expenses) or an item that is expected to increase in value over time…while an ROI analysis can be very sophisticated and include such details as time value of money, tax rates and cash flows, a simple ROI analysis will generally work…just be sure to match your audience appropriately and never work at a level you feel they may not understand (it’s always best to be on the conservative side during your preparation)

Keep in Mind –

Your goal is to illustrate the investment you’re asking your prospect or customer to make in terms that help him or her see a positive return… be sure to…

• Keep our analysis brief and direct
• Clearly state your assumptions
• Include all costs (direct and indirect) the prospect will incur to make the investment

Things to Avoid –

Your prospect may disagree with your assumptions and approach…if so, you’ll have an additional opportunity to engage with your prospect and you’ll likely learn even more about how your prospect will make the buying decision… to ensure credibility of your analysis, you’ll want to avoid the following:

• Unrealistic assumptions on usage, response rates, etc
• Assumptions that the prospect cannot control
• Excessive time frames which exaggerate positive returns
• Over estimating the value of intangibles

Action Steps –

• Create a problems list – your solutions overcome
• Work out what costs potential buyers may be incurring as a result of not using your solutions

Brett Burgess is a Sales Trainer and Programme Developer for Sales Impact Group based in Hawkes Bay

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I thought that the following article by Jeff regarding networking might be of interest to you- although it is important to bear in mind that it is targeted for a specific industry:

Use the following strategic approach to networking to continue growing your business over the next two to three years.
You can grow your business almost entirely by referrals – even in the current economy- if you take a strategic approach, and if you persevere over a two- to three-year period. Use the following process to create your own strategic networking success.
Find Your Focus
1. Identify which area of your business you want to grow the most. For example, is it landscape maintenance? Lawn care? Design/Build? Irrigation?
2. Identify the client profile that is ideal for that area of your business.
3. Focus your networking efforts around this target clientele.
Identify Key influencers
Identify those people who know or influence this target client. Break this into two groups:
The trade and professionals. Which groups and associations in your area are the best to target? Examples of trade groups include BOMA (Building Owners & Managers Association), ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects), AIA (American Institute of Architects) and your local association of realtors.
Start with one association for every one or two networkers in your company. Make assignments and teach your employees how to network.
The influencers. Which community organizations contain the most influencers and are most active within your target geography? Examples of community organizations include the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, church groups and your local garden clubs. For every one or two people in your company who will be networking, assign them to one organization. (Expert networkers can join multiple organizations.)

Plan on going to every meeting. Also spend time with members outside of meetings at their offices, and over meals and outings. Also, try to bring these people on as your clients so they can experience your services (even at a reduced rate, or for a partial service). Don’t be pushy, though. Use a soft sale approach.

You can download the first six chapters of Jeff’s book for free at: http://www.jeffreyscott.biz/books.html

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  Jessica Watson has become the youngest person to sail solo non stop and unassisted around the world in 210 days.

She planned it. She went on lots of small cruises and slowly built up to longer ones.

She tested it. On the way to Sydney for the start, she was hit by a large ship. To many, this meant she shouldn’t do it. To her, it was a trial that she learnt from.

She did it for herself. She wasn’t out to break any records. She was out to complete a dream.

When you read how she prepared for it, there was every chance she was going to succeed. One question asked was how she felt in the middle of a storm with high seas. Jessica replied she had no option but to keep going. She learnt how to deal with adverse conditions. She learnt as she went.

What Can You Learn From This? Where do you have a great idea or would love to do something yet are allowing others or that little voice in your head to say ‘it won’t work’. Where are you holding yourself back? Now’s the time to start living your dreams. If you haven’t already, create a dream of what you would like to do or be. Map out how you are going to achieve it. Begin preparing by doing things a little bit at a time. Seek the help of others who have been there before you. Ask yourself: What’s the worst thing that can possibly happen? Can you deal with it? How? If you can deal with the worst, you are well on your way to achieving your dream. As most great visions and dreams only ever stay within the person’s head as an idea, it is important to let it out and begin the journey

NOW. What do you have to lose? What do you have to gain? Good luck.

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