Can We Move This Sale Along, PLEASE???

I am a HUGE fan of Paul Castain (Uncle Paul) and his blog, tweets, Linkedin Group, etc.

I recently hosted a Sales Playbook! Group discussion "What fresh way of following up for a decision aside from the lame "I'm just calling to follow up" (often accompanied by a crackle in one's voice) has worked for you?"

I got some great responses and thought I'd summarize them here, for your benefit.

• Communicate that you're following through, not following up
• Provide a new value. That could be a new product or idea, news about their company, news about their industry, new marketing materials/brochures, tid bits
• Compliment/flatter them by letting them know you were thinking about them, that you want their business
• Set expectations when you agree to follow up in the first place ... that you will be calling back on an agreed-upon date and that you will need to confirm milestones along the way
• Create a sense of urgency by communicating that "today is the day we agreed I'd call you to activate our plan in order to begin achieving the desired results," that you require lead time once a decision is made
• Be respectful by acknowledging their right to say "No" while providing new, additional benefits to their moving forward
• Pay it forward. Do something unexpected. Give them something. Refer them to someone who could benefit them ... no strings attached

I was encouraged by the fact that the responses overwhelmingly made it about the prospective client/customer and NOT about the sales person. What that tells me is that Zig Ziglar has done his job well in that we understand "You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. "

If you have additional ideas, please leave a comment - for the benefit of those who follow.

Continued success,

John Patrick, Profit Doctor

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-88e7ae6453f0944c34c9f1af19af8afa}

If Talk is Cheap, Why'd I Just Pay $49 For This CD?

I'm a big fan of who is considered to be the top sales guru of our time. I'm not mentioning names due to the nature of this blog..

From the surface, he (the only hint you'll get) appears to demand and command customer service above all else. The irony is that after all those cd's, dvd's, and books, I found customer service was lacking when I became a paying client. I jetisoned my prior product provider at the insistence of "the man," after a revival-type webinar, in blind faith that the grass was truly greener.

My grass died.

Here's what I've learned from my experience, in hopes you'll spare your clients, customers or patients a similar experience:

• Be reactive when there's a problem. It really didn't make me any happier to get a "We can't help you now that we've gotten your money, but please let us know if we can help you with anything else ... we're here for you!" response.

• If you're going to change the product, advise the customer ahead of time. After converting, the very features of the product that caused me to jump ship were removed ... with no warning.

• Find a way to fix it now. I was told that new and better features would be coming soon ... in about two or three months! Now my business is on hold for 60-90 days. A costly lesson. I have to wonder if "the man" would be surprised at the lack of urgency here.

• Follow up to completion. I got a call from a senior person, offering to help. The call came after hours (impressive). I called back three days ago and left a message. My call has not been returned.

I welcome feedback, comments, and/or your story.

Continued Success,

John Patrick, Profit Doctor