We all know referrals are your best source for building business. There is nothing more effective than getting a referral from someone you know on a product or service that you’re interested in purchasing. So, even though most business people know this, why don’t we get more referrals? Well, there are two reasons: First, we don’t ask. Second, we don’t ask properly. So I want to talk about asking for referrals properly, how important it is to ask by sharing a story. We all have stories that we’ve shared about something we’ve done, over and above the norm, that our clients truly appreciated. Telling a story is the best way for somebody to remember what you do and share it with others when recommending you. I’m going to give you an example of something that happened to me: About five years ago, I wanted to get Lasik surgery, so my husband got me a gift certificate to a surgeon for Christmas. I went in to speak to Dr. Salinger. We sat down and, after extensive examination, he said: “Greta, you’re a very good candidate for Lasik surgery. The only problem is you have a thinning cornea because you’ve been wearing your contacts for so long, and probably abusing the length of time you are to wear them. You certainly will do well with the surgery, but you will take a little bit longer than others to heal. You will have some pain while the scarring heals.” That immediately scared me, because I am one of those people who hates anything even close to pain. But I did get the surgery done. When it was finished, he sat me up and said: “OK, here’s your pain medication. When it starts hurting, I want you to take this.” On our way home, I read the information on the medication. It said to take it every four hours for pain. So, that’s what I did. About 24 hours later, my eyes really started to hurt. I started to feel an intense amount of pain, so I called Dr. Salinger and told him it felt like someone was stabbing my eyes. He said: “Greta, take your pain medication. That’s what it’s for.” I told him I had no more left. He replied: “No problem, I’ll call it in for you right away.” A couple minutes later, the doctor called back: “Because this medicine is considered a narcotic, I can’t call it in.” I said: “What am I going to do?” He said: “Greta, it’s almost lunchtime. Don’t worry about it. I will drive up to your drugstore, hand fill out the prescription and hand it in. Have your husband go there in about a half an hour to pick up your medication.” Well, he absolutely saved my day. What’s the moral of the story? How often does a doctor leave his office and drive to the next town to drop off a prescription? I think never. Now, I’ve told that story several times. The reason I share it with you is to let you understand that people remember stories better than a recommendation. When I share that story, especially when I’m doing a workshop or a seminar, people will come over to me afterward and ask who my doctor is. I know he’s had at least two or three new patients just from me telling that story. So, what does that mean to you? It means that the two reasons you don’t get more referrals is that you don’t ask and you don’t ask properly. Asking properly means you have to think about something specific you’ve done for a client. Think about what you did over and above to help them. Make sure that you describe, in specific detail, what their issue was and what you or somebody in your organization did to help with it. That’s what people are going to remember and share. And that’s what’s going to get you referrals. So, what have you done for customers lately, and who have you shared that with? Greta Schulz is a sales consultant for businesses and entrepreneurs. For more sales training tips and tools, or to ask her a question, go to www.schulzbusiness.com or email greta@schulzbusiness.com. Click here to share this post.

    After watching the two political conventions over the last few weeks I naturally asked people what they thought. “Oh I am definitely voting for Obama” I heard a lot yet several people I talked to said Romney was their man. I am so intrigued by how people make decisions. Maybe not all people mind you, but surely the majority of people make their decisions differently then you would probably think. The interesting part came after that question because my next question is always why do you like Obama or Why is Romney your man?, and the answers were so telling. “I really like Obama, he seems like he is a great guy. He’d be a good leader.” Or Mitt Romney has experience and seems to love our country.  “I really love Paul Ryan, he is really down to earth, and smart”. What really floored me was when I asked about their platform I got lots of blank stares. No one really knew what they stood for in particular and really didn’t seem to be concerned with it either.   I am not here to say that either candidate is better or worse then the other, nor do I profess to know politics better then anyone else, but I am amazed at the way the average person makes their decisions. Years ago in Florida there was an amendment that would, if passed, allow one particular industry to decrease taxes for themselves. Their industry only. Do you know they actually had an ad campaign that said “if we pass this amendment, we will have lower taxes”. The only ones getting lower taxes were them but the public bought it and the amendment passed! Crazy but true.   Now let’s look at selling and how this becomes relevant. Since you are typically selling to the average American, it is important to keep in mind that people make their decisions on things different then what you may think. If you believe your “platform” (features and benefits) are what is important you will often share them when a prospect asks about how you are different, often sharing one and two things in particular that you believe are most important again, to you.   Keep in mind, no one cares what you think, only what they themselves think and to uncover what they think is all that matters. We are all so caught up in telling people the important things about our product or service we forget to actually check to see if they think that is important to the person potentially looking to buy. You know what they say about assuming…   So do you think our politicians will heed this advise? It probably doesn’t matter much as long as Obama keeps asking for more time while smiling that gleaming smile and Romney keeps touting his morality.   Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business SELLutions in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is the best selling author of "To Sell is Not to Sell". Greta does corporate training for fortune 1000 companies and she has an on-line training course for entrepreneurs. For more tips go to: www.schulzbusiness.com Click here to share this post.

Is it easier to sell a product or service? “It’s easier to sell a product because you have something you can actually show the prospect”. “Oh no, it’s much easier to sell a service because you can really sell them on the features and benefits!”.   Guess what, you’re both wrong! You are never selling a product or a service, you are only selling what the product or service can do for your prospect. The solution your customer perceives is the problem to the problem they are experiencing is the only one that matters. What your product or service does is irrelevant, until the prospect tells you what actually is relevant.   We have a friend named Rich. Rich and I had a discussion one night at dinner on this very subject. Rich told me he could ‘never’ (and I love that word) sell a service because a product is so much easier. “Why is that?” I asked. “It’s just easier to compare when you have something in your hands. You can show your products ‘features and benefits’, (another of my favorite terms) and really compare apples to apples against your competitor” Rich stated proudly “Rich, how do you know what ‘apples’ they want in the first place? What if they want oranges? “Oh I ask them up front what their needs are and then I show the differences”. “So, I’m confused, why can’t you do that with a service?” “Well Greta I guess you can but it’s easier with a service”... “OK Rich, I got it” even though I didn’t but at this point, my husband was kicking me under the table to leave it alone.   In sales you are a matchmaker of sorts. Your job is to uncover as much about the prospects issues as they see them and the effect these issues are having on them and their company. Additionally if nothing changes, what are the re-percussions of that? Once you have a good understanding of what that is, you will recommend the proper solution, irrespective of the product or service. Often salespeople misunderstand the word “benefits” for solutions. Feature and benefits selling is typically is a pre-set dissertation of what the prospect should see as a benefit, not what they decide is a benefit. For example if you say “the feature of this copy-machine is the speed of the copies and the benefit is you can get them faster and have your copies ready earlier”. Well, if you don’t have an issue with time and you issue is something completely different like ease of use, who really cares about your “benefit”? If you are selling properly, it shouldn’t matter whether it is a product or a service because what you are really selling is what the client is ultimately looking for, not how you get there. Anyone can “demo” a product or talk “features and benefits” but a real pro only gives solutions to the issues the prospect is talking about, no more and no less.   Click here to share this post.

Have you ever tried to pick up a pencil? Have you ever tried to take a drink of water? No you haven’t.  You just do it. Lack of commitment is the failure of most salespeople, and even their clients. “I tried” is the lamest excuse I have ever heard. I’d like to share an example that illustrates this point, using the example of advertising.   There are approximately 120,000 salespeople selling some form of advertising in America.  Each of those sales people will make “prospecting calls” to an average of three business owners per day. One business owner out of 12 will say, “Well, maybe it does make sense for my business. I’ll go ahead and buy a small schedule and ‘give it a try.’ And if it works, I’ll use your station/ paper product/ (fill in the blank) on a regular basis.”   Sounds pretty good, right?   This is perhaps the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Let me share a similar example with you to prove my point. Let’s say you are in Vegas standing at the roulette table and you think, “I’m going to place a small bet on black and if I win, I’ll start betting on black on a regular basis.”  Sounds a little ridiculous, don’t you think?   There are thousands of business owners who will be making a decision to “give it a try” today. Most of them will experience poor results. Will they be disappointed? Yes. Surprised? No. They will not be surprised because they have “given it a try” before, with very limited success.   Why would business owners do what they have done before and expect different results? Because bad salespeople have taught them to do this. Not every product or service works this way. But if you’ve ever heard the old adage “over promise and under deliver,” it gives the same result.   “I’ll give it a try” or “let me test the waters” is the signature of an uncommitted customer. I think we would be hard pressed to find these customers experiencing a high degree of reward from their efforts…because there is none. With risk comes reward. Show me a committed and focused client, and I will show you success in the making.  
 Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business SELLutions in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is the best selling author of "To Sell is Not to Sell". Greta does corporate training for fortune 1000 companies and she has an on-line training course for entrepreneurs. For more tips go to: www.schulzbusiness.com click on Caffeine   Click here to share this post.

An excited Corey recently came to me with this story about a large client he’d been working on months and months. His manager warned him that the relationship was strong between the client and the current vendor so it was a long shot. Corey was persistent and kept going and going and going, a bit like the energizer bunny when one day he came to me barely able to breath;   “Greta!,” he said. “I did it! I got ‘em!  The big one I was working on!”    After congratulations and back slapping, I asked a few key questions.  “Corey, wasn’t that the prospect working with your largest competitor?”   “Yep!” he replied.  “They sure were and that’s the best part!”   I then asked how they were going to handle the situation when the incumbent (who’d had the account since the first Bush was in office) found out he’d taken it and then counter offered to keep the account.   “They’re so mad at him,” Corey answered. “The service has gone down and they told me it was time for a change.”   Having received a promise that the initial order would arrive within the week, Corey left the prospect’s office with a handshake and then indulged in a rousing “YES” once he got to the privacy of the parking lot.   Three days later, there was a message on his voice mail.   “Corey,” spoke the voice of his “new client”.  “Call me ASAP.  We’ve got to talk.”   From the tone of his voice, Corey knew there was a problem.  He immediately called the client and asked if there was something wrong.  The man told Corey he was sorry, but the incumbent vendor found out about the potential loss of business and came back with a counter offer. Lots of promises. Better service.  And, of course, a significantly lowered price.   Predictably, the incumbent kept the business. Corey tried to call back to see if he could offer any other concessions, but the client was too embarrassed to even return his calls.   So what happened? Typically, salespeople hate bad news.  They don’t want a potentially unpleasant conversation with a prospect, especially when it feels like things are going well.  They often put blinders on when their guts tell them a situation could be on the horizon.  And they’re rather quietly pray that it won’t happen, rather than take steps to head it off at the pass.  BIG MISTAKE!   You’ve got to deal with potential problems when you see them coming.  If something can go wrong, or if you gut tells you it might, deal with it right then.  In this case, Corey knew it was a possibility.  So what could he have done that might have changed the outcome?   At the end of the process, when the client agreed to move forward, Corey should have made this move:   “I’m glad we’re going to be working together.  Between your needs and what we have to offer, it seems to be a good match.  But I’m curious—when ‘ABC Competitor’ finds out you’re making a change and comes back offering to beg, borrow and steal to retain your business, what will you do?”   By taking this step, you’ll have a much better chance of saving the account.  Bring it up when you’re there rather than later when they’re too embarrassed to discuss it.  If they’re switching for a legitimate reason, this discussion helps solidify the decision.  If they say, “Well, I’d have to look at it,” then you’ve never really sold it in the first place. This will also allow you to have a conversation right there and then about that bringing up the reasons they were leaving their existing vendor. After you leave it is much less effective to have this conversation.   Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business SELLutions in Palm Beach, Florida. She is the best-selling author of "To Sell is Not to Sell". Greta does corporate training for fortune 1000 companies and she has an on-line training course for entrepreneurs. For sales tips go to: www.schulzbusiness.com     Click here to share this post.