Adding Value

[jockinbox]

following @AroundTheWorld thread says to Be then Do and finally I will have

Yesterday I read that thread & it all made sense, I had been lifting with a buddy for hours everyday talking about the Forums, sharing knowledge etc, and talking about how bad we wanted it. The truth is, everyone wants it bad. If we kept thinking that way we will never make it, we would be throwing darts in the dark. Its time to step out of our own shoes & see what the marketplace needs and how we can add value to it.

Everyday there is more & more noise on this forum and less and less value. This thread is going to have as much value as I can provide while I attempt to take myself into 5th gear and get in the Fastlane.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jockinbox]

I found this article today its about the Millionaire Mentality and its surprisingly accurate (link: http://www.creative-wealthbuilding.com/millionaire-lifestyle.html)

It reads:
As I have stated above, millionaires think and act differently than how most people do. Millionaires tend to have a positive mental attitude. They possess the confidence to go after their dreams and persist until it becomes a physical reality. They also hold a high self image of themselves and others. These achievers live the millionaire lifestyle because they invest in their personal growth, their business, and they invest in providing greater value to others.

I tell you---the millionaire lifestyle is busy! I don't mean being busy just to be busy. They are out and about constantly looking to help others get what they want and living a life of enjoyment. You will not find one millionaire sitting on their duff watching mindless TV. There may be a few exceptions here and there, but every hour watching TV is an hourly wage wasted. Instead, they are enjoying the company of others, working on their business, relaxing, reading, vacationing, and investing in themselves.

Studies and interviews have shown that millionaires really don't work. There is no work for them because they are doing what they love. The only time you are working is when you're doing something you don't want to do. Sure, they may put a considerable amount of time, money, and effort, but to them that is not working. When you're living the millionaire lifestyle, one of the things you'll have trouble doing is distinguishing work from play. That's because all millionaires love what they do all the time. If you don't love what you do, then you'll never earn or retain millionaire status for long because too much effort and hard work will be required.
------------------------------------------------
Lesson: treat others so good they don't believe it

Some examples from the book I'm reading from Disney
A client mentioned how he left his charger at home, the cast member went to the store the next day (her day off) purchased him a charger and left it in the clients room with a note
A client asked for a banana, having arrived late to the hotel. Unfortunately the kitchen was closed, and the cast member apologized. She saw him walk away dismayed and saw a sign the manager had put up reading "treat them so good they don't believe it" She went to the kitchen, got 2 bananas and took it to his room
The receptionist asked the customer if they would like to keep the hotel key card as a souvenir for her daughter. The customer replied "thank you but I have 2 girls and giving one a gift will be unfair" the receptionist went into the back and produced another key card with the second daughters name

Disney boast a whooping 70% return rate of their clients, maybe this is why.

 

[jockinbox]

lesson: believing in yourself

I read through Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich book yesterday & I concluded that the secret was to believe in yourself. A great leader stays positive in every situation, it radiates from him & others can see it. They stay true to their convictions and don't switch sides, they stay true.

How do you continue your path when everything is failing? When it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulder. How do you keep going when the odds are against you? BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Let me tell you a little story:
There was a kid growing up, didn't speak till age 4, didn't read till age 7. He was so far behind his class that the teachers called him "stupid" and said he had the "inability to learn" So much so that they expelled him saying that hes bringing down the other kids in the class. Called his parents told them hes gotta go, they're like "great, got a retard kid"
So they sent him to work. He got fired from every job he had, at 21 he was still getting fired from every job. All he knew was failure, so when he found what he wanted, he chased it relentlessly. His idea failed over 1000 times. Exactly 1093 times he failed. On the 1094 the light bulb lit

When have you tried something over 1000 times and kept going?

Another kid worked for the Kansas City Star newspaper. His manager fired him for "lack of creativity" In reality what he loved was being creative. Went out to New York and put all his money into a production company, but then the Great Depression hit and lost everything. Left him on the street, eating dog biscuits for food. Still he kept going. Raised enough money to catch a train to Hollywood, started talking to Universal about an idea he had called Oswald the rabbit. Universal loved the idea, he got excited thinking this was finally his chance but they went behind his back and patented it right from under him. He didnt have money for a patent. Again failure. Still he kept fighting for what he wanted...his belief was stronger than everyone's disbelief. He came up with another idea a cartoon mouse and everyone said get the hell out you're gonna scare women and children, he said I think they'll like it so he named him Mickey. I think you know the rest of the story. Disney rakes in billions of dollars every year, in 1996 they bought ABC. Just so happens that ABC was the mother company of a small little newspaper called the Kansas City Star.

They say the greatest form of revenge is success. That must've felt good. He rose above it so much that the bought the company that bought that company. Nice.

Stay positive, stay the course.

 

[jockinbox]

Using Math

A lot of us wonder when it's time to quit our jobs to pursue a business venture. The answer is actually quite simple

Figure out how much your idea will likely make (profit)
Figure out how much you annual job earnings are

If your business will likely profit more than your job it would be wise, regardless of emotions, to pursue it.

For example,
You want to start a restaurant and you calculate the demographics, clientele, plate cost, estimated traffic, & business expenses and you figure you can most likely net 70k in a year.
Meanwhile your job only earns you 30k a year.
Therefore it's logical, regardless of emotions and fear, to pursue your business venture.

However if you are making 150k a year at your job it would be best to stay.

This is not a set in stone rule, but a lot of the times out emotions are what control our actions. Take emotion out of the equation and you'll be happier with the results.

When you watch professional pokers play & they've got a pretty good hand..flop comes out..odds looks good..their opponent checks..game time. Chances are if they bet, their opponent will fold, they risk a small percentage of the pot to take it down and walk away with the victory. But their opponent re raises, all in. They calculate their odds of winning, how many better hands there are and if they like the odds they'll call.
Here's what separates pros from rookies: if they lose this hand they don't go rampant cursing their luck blaming the house or the dealer. No, they made a calculated decision. If that hand would have played out 100 times maybe they would have won 88 times. The pros take emotion out of their equation, they made the right call, regardless of the outcome. They are not affected by the loss, it's part of the game.

You have to take calculated risk in life, if not you'll never get anywhere.
What's the worst that can happen? Your business flops?
Your ugly wife leaves you for using all her jewelry money on your business?

Screw that, jobs are in abundance. Worst case scenario, you take another job, re calculate your position and try again.

Don't be reckless, take emotion out of the equation, and you'll sleep better at night. Regardless of the outcome.

Be great, nothing else pays

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jockinbox]

 

[jockinbox]

Saw this video on YouTube last night

Its called "How I can afford an Audi R8 at 25 years old"

Unlike what I expected it wasn't some hyped up bullshit telling you to join some MLM. The kid is a software programmer and he makes programs that helps IT companies. Basically he started off working as an IT support person and he didn't like school so he just ran with that. On his time off from work he learned to program and after a few years decided to make a program that would help him do his job better. Long story short, he puts his program online for free, some people download it, he says "why not make some money off it" so he starts selling the software and it starts generating sales. After a few months he was making as much from his software sales as he was in his slowlane job. Finally he decided to quit and just do it full time.



Here's what I took away from the video:

1-he started making software to help him perform his job better
There's a TON of people on this forum that quit their jobs without having a plan or are wondering whens the earliest time to quit.
You could be sitting on a gold mine of information. One guy said he worked the oil fields for a few months and was asking everyone about their needs/frustrations. Maybe he should be asking himself thatwhat do YOU hate most about your job?what would make your job EASIER?
its easier to find answers in oneself than to ask around. & unless you've got a one of a kind position I guarantee someone else has the same needs/frustrations.

2-he says the freedom is his favorite part
Guys, why are we in such a rush to quit our jobs? Its not so that we can buy a Ferrari in every color possible, its so we have time to spend doing whatever we want. If you're on this forum to figure out how to make an extra 1000-10000 a month to finance a Lexus, buddy, you're in the wrong place. If your "fastlane" business involves you working for money without a way for you to absolve yourself, you're not fast lane, you're self employed..re read the book.
3-he makes peoples life easier (he cares)

A lot of the people on this forum are interested in Stocks, Forex, Poker.

Why?

These professions allow you to not need anyone. What I've noticed is that people that have a desire to get into these things HATE dealing with people. They are scared of calling, they think they aren't salespeople or have a negative view on sales. They are attracted to the lifestyle where they can tell everyone to go to hell while they drive their exotic cars. Is it possible? Definitely. Is it likely? Nope. Regardless, this forum isn't for you.

Remember, you're the average of the 5 people you hangout most with. Doctors hangout with doctors, lawyers hangout with lawyers, you aren't going to be Doyle Brunson or Oliver Velez hanging out with people on this forum. I'm sure there's poker forums / trader forums somewhere.


Cheers,

 

[rkmalo1]

Millionaires math

A lot of us wonder when it's time to quit our jobs to pursue a business venture. The answer is actually quite simple

Figure out how much your idea will likely make (profit)
Figure out how much you annual job earnings are

If your business will likely profit more than your job it would be wise, regardless of emotions, to pursue it.

For example,
You want to start a restaurant and you calculate the demographics, clientele, plate cost, estimated traffic, & business expenses and you figure you can most likely net 70k in a year.
Meanwhile your job only earns you 30k a year.
Therefore it's logical, regardless of emotions and fear, to pursue your business venture.

However if you are making 150k a year at your job it would be best to stay.

This is not a set in stone rule, but a lot of the times out emotions are what control our actions. Take emotion out of the equation and you'll be happier with the results.

When you watch professional pokers play & they've got a pretty good hand..flop comes out..odds looks good..their opponent checks..game time. Chances are if they bet, their opponent will fold, they risk a small percentage of the pot to take it down and walk away with the victory. But their opponent re raises, all in. They calculate their odds of winning, how many better hands there are and if they like the odds they'll call.
Here's what separates pros from rookies: if they lose this hand they don't go rampant cursing their luck blaming the house or the dealer. No, they made a calculated decision. If that hand would have played out 100 times maybe they would have won 88 times. The pros take emotion out of their equation, they made the right call, regardless of the outcome. They are not affected by the loss, it's part of the game.

You have to take calculated risk in life, if not you'll never get anywhere.
What's the worst that can happen? Your business flops?
Your ugly wife leaves you for using all her jewelry money on your business?

Screw that, jobs are in abundance. Worst case scenario, you take another job, re calculate your position and try again.

Don't be reckless, take emotion out of the equation, and you'll sleep better at night. Regardless of the outcome.

Be great, nothing else pays

Good post. For more on this, read my favorite post by a forum member here:

http://foreverjobless.com/ev-millionaires-math/

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jockinbox]

Increased efficiency

You are what you repeatedly do everyday. If success is something you're striving for, then it's not an accident its a habit. It's not an event, it's a process. And what you do every day is that process.

Some things that might help you like they have helped me:

Turn your f**ing phone OFF. Stop checking every 5 minutes for notifications, trust me FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc has not changed in the last 5 minutes. And if it has its probably something you shouldnt care about. Ever wonder why lawyers turn their phones off at 5? So they can FOCUS on their family time. Logically if you want to FOCUS on your business ideas and getting things done you should follow suit.

Stop texting. Unless you're getting deals through text, which I doubt, you need to stop texting. Texting someone is like playing tennis with a wall, its going to keep on as long as you keep on. This is a colossal waste of your time.

On the same note, its probably a smooth move to change your phone number. Pick who you want to give your number to VERY carefully. The last thing you want is some slow laner/ side walker taking up all your fast lane time. Trust me, who would you rather get calls from: your boy who works at the supermarket to play volleyball or a potential client? Yeah, I thought so.

Stop going out to eat everyday. Okay, if you're craving something go for it..& try to invite someone who's a business owner or in the field you're in. That way you can pick their brains, remember, you're the average of the 5 people you hangout most with. If you aren't craving anything, eat at home cheap. This will save you money to put into your business.

Wake up earlier. Ever wish there were more hours in a day? There are, wake up earlier. No one is around to bug you, no phone calls, no noise. & hopefully you aren't using this time to check FB..right?

Read more. Now ever since I started posting on here I've tried to read a book a week. Might not seem like much, but consider the average American reads one book a year. This means you can easily outsmart your counterpart by reading a few.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
I know this is Progress thread but I think you would benefit more (if at all) from learning about how my thinking is changing than what I'm actually doing. Anyways here's what I've done towards my fastlane plan:
Picked a niche
Went out to lunch with 5 business owners
Asked about their frustrations and how I could help them make more money
Curiously, they all gave me the same answer.
Purchased domain, setting up website now (new to this whole programming gig)
Downloaded SEO and marketing books/courses/material.
My plan is to use paid traffic to build the site while working on SEO to promote & get some "free" organic leads with interest in the product.


Back to grinding, gas tank is on E
Cheers,

 

[jockinbox]

Belief
5:43 AM. Dark outside, empty gym, 315 pounds on the bar. The kind of silence, you can hear the whisper of your thoughts. I sit on the floor catching my breath, counting them..one...two...three..I'm all out of energy, but my workout calls for more. I sit and wonder where great people have their belief.
Great people in life have a belief in one of two things. Their God or themselves. There's something about all those cocky sports players, Kobe Bryant, Barry Bonds, etc. That aura of pure belief in themselves. If the game came down to the final score they would want to take the shot. Others on the team would be scared...what if I miss? This is an important game. Everyone in my city will hate me. Yet time & time again, Kobe winds up with the ball, down by 2, 5 seconds left on the clock...takes the shot and makes it. It's not that he doesn't fear failure, of course he does. But he believes in himself, he didn't cut practice early, or run one less lap around the court, or perform one less suicide. NO. He pushed himself to do everything and the confidence he's developed in himself, gives him the power to do what others cant.
Tim Tebow is an athlete that puts his faith in God. Isaiah 41:10 reads "do not fear for I am with you" This removes all doubt in his mind.

I guess its because its hard to be thinking about so many things, in a time like that. Where they put their belief gives them peace.
I take a breath, get under the bar, and squat.

I hope this finds you in a good time, where things seem averse, that you are afraid if you are enough.
Brothers, if you've put in the sweat equity, believe in yourself as ENOUGH. You CAN make it. Everything seems impossible until somebody does it.

Breath...shoot
Cheers,

 

[Andy Black]

I like your progress thread title. Much better than me centric ones (mine sucks for instance).

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jockinbox]

Cost Vs Value: How to price & pitch your products

Interesting question came up today on the forums @mikekob developed a incredible software that solves a huge need but had a problem regarding pricing & how to pitch to hospitals (b2b)

There's 3 things to consider here: savings, reputation, market

1) Savings
Let's say your product solves a problem that will save your customer 10k a month. If your product cost 11k a month, you won't get any sales because they will be bleeding 1k a month. If you sell your solution at 1k a month, you miss out on a lot of money that could be profit.
So the solution is here is to get as close to the 10k you save the clients while still making them want to switch.

This applies to a lot of service business models like insurance. Suppose someone wants a quote on their car and they pay 200/m & your company can provide the same for only 100/m. From a sales perspective you should get as close to the 200/m while still providing enough savings for your client to switch. Maybe they'll switch for 180/m and you just sold 80 dollars more of product, which means more perspective value, higher retention rate, more satisfied clients, better referrals.

2) Reputation
So let's assume that you are a personal trainer and charge on a per session basis. You get a client that wants to lose weight/gain muscle. He/she starts off and quits 3 weeks later. As a trainer you know a transformation will take at least 12 weeks to get to where they want to be but you allowed the client to work with you without a contract. Now the client goes on FB and tells everyone you're a shitty personal trainer because you didn't them results. You just missed out on a lot of potential clients because of this negative publicity
Instead the trainer should have pitched this as a 3 month deal with 60% upfront and then when the client finishes the 12 week program he'll see the results he wants & refer you some more fat people.
Mike is just starting to sell his product, the LAST thing he wants is a hospital network saying they didn't see savings using product. Now if he gets them on a 1-2 year contract, demonstrates savings, they will be RAVING about him/his product.
Eventually Mike will have to deal with copy cats since software is easy to reverse engineer, but he'll have reviews on his side. Nobody is gonna want to take a shot with the new kid on the block when Mikey's got the market cornered. Figure out how long it'll take to convert your sales into costumers and make this the minimum. Anything else you're wasting your time
If it takes a year for the hospitals to see savings, Mike should be pitching as a 60k product not a 4k a month product.

3) Market (n/a to mike)
Who do you want to target? Better yet, who do you want to deal with? Do you want to deal with 100 low end clients or 5 high end clients? Once you find out who you want to target it gets so much easier. The personal trainer that only trains celebrities and athletes banks, vs the the trainer that trains your average Joe could be living paycheck to paycheck. The shoe company that sells $30 shoes has to sell 1000 to make 30k, the shoe company that sells $250 shoes only needs to sell 120.

Some random tips in no particular order about selling b2b from my experiences
When selling to a business they only care about 3 things: increased sales, cutting costs, and higher conversion.
Give yourself value, don't bend over backwards for them. Make them chase you.
Tell them their competitors are interested in your product or have already purchased your product
Be willing to prove your product firsthand
Make it hard for them to say no
Make them think about what you want them to think about (the problem your product solves)
Don't try to sell them on the first meeting
Ask questions, make improvements, rinse & repeat

Happy Saturday guys
Motivation attached

 

[mikekob]

Thanks for your advice about how to price my product. Legendary stuff right there.

 

[jockinbox]

How to hire 'unlimited' sales reps

@tropikal ask
"I'm looking to hire some sales guys to make outbound calls to my customers to sell a high priced training package. Commissions per sale are high. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can go to find good sales guys for this? I'm sure someone on here has done this before. What is your method for finding these people?"

It's always cheaper to do salary + commission from a business perspective.
1-you can hire better talent
People with sales exp usually feel entitled to salary, I don't blame them
2-less of a turnover rate
They don't feel like their wasting their time. If you go 5 days without a sale you'll most likely quit, where as if you had salary you have motivation to stay.
3-less commission per sale means more profitability while giving you more room to incentivize

Here's the formula I've used to hire new reps & maintain profitability

How often do you expect a sale
How much is the profit per sale

Let's say you make about 1000 profit per sale & expect to close 1 every 2 days average

Salary + Commission
$15hr X 16 hours=240+200 commission = 440

You'd have to dish out at LEAST 60%
So $600 a sale MINIMUM, in my experience if reps are commission only they usually want 60-100% of the profit

Everyone always worries about hiring salary & them not performing, fire them, problem solved. Remember, salary is the "safety" & "security" slow lane folks crave. Give them what they want & make money off that too!

So where do we find said reps? Well @ $15 an hour you shouldn't have too much of a problem since that's well above minimum wage but here's some ideas

Craigslist usually $25 per job post
Monster/indeed/the ladders: very expensive per job post
Recruiting: you can look into recruiting sales reps from: wireless stores, retail locations, best buy, etc. These cats are usually making close to minimum wage with "commissions" idk what the hell some of the companies mean by that (my first ever sales job @ a retail location I made a whopping 0.25 commission off a $100 sale, on top of my glorious minimum wage salary)

Also, don't try to mess with this formula, if you can afford to pay your people more DO IT. Don't be greedy it's gonna bite you in the a$$. I had a friend who worked for a wireless company & most of them working there were making $8 an hour and bs commissions (I also heard a rumor they would hold pay checks) Needless to say they all left and the company went bust a year later. If you have talent, invest in them, champion them. You have no idea how many sales jobs I've held in the past & I've literally quit on the first day because the commission structure was bullshit.

You can also hire kids straight out of high school that are hungry and get someone to train them. This usually works well since 18 year olds have girlfriends and POS hondas they wanna buy parts for.

Hope this helps!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jon.a]

How to hire 'unlimited' sales reps

@tropikal ask
"I'm looking to hire some sales guys to make outbound calls to my customers to sell a high priced training package. Commissions per sale are high. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can go to find good sales guys for this? I'm sure someone on here has done this before. What is your method for finding these people?"

It's always cheaper to do salary + commission from a business perspective.
1-you can hire better talent
People with sales exp usually feel entitled to salary, I don't blame them
2-less of a turnover rate
They don't feel like their wasting their time. If you go 5 days without a sale you'll most likely quit, where as if you had salary you have motivation to stay.
3-less commission per sale means more profitability while giving you more room to incentivize

Here's the formula I've used to hire new reps & maintain profitability

How often do you expect a sale
How much is the profit per sale

Let's say you make about 1000 profit per sale & expect to close 1 every 2 days average

Salary + Commission
$15hr X 16 hours=240+200 commission = 440

You'd have to dish out at LEAST 60%
So $600 a sale MINIMUM, in my experience if reps are commission only they usually want 60-100% of the profit

Everyone always worries about hiring salary & them not performing, fire them, problem solved. Remember, salary is the "safety" & "security" slow lane folks crave. Give them what they want & make money off that too!

So where do we find said reps? Well @ $15 an hour you shouldn't have too much of a problem since that's well above minimum wage but here's some ideas

Craigslist usually $25 per job post
Monster/indeed/the ladders: very expensive per job post
Recruiting: you can look into recruiting sales reps from: wireless stores, retail locations, best buy, etc. These cats are usually making close to minimum wage with "commissions" idk what the hell some of the companies mean by that (my first ever sales job @ a retail location I made a whopping 0.25 commission off a $100 sale, on top of my glorious minimum wage salary)

Also, don't try to mess with this formula, if you can afford to pay your people more DO IT. Don't be greedy it's gonna bite you in the a$$. I had a friend who worked for a wireless company & most of them working there were making $8 an hour and bs commissions (I also heard a rumor they would hold pay checks) Needless to say they all left and the company went bust a year later. If you have talent, invest in them, champion them. You have no idea how many sales jobs I've held in the past & I've literally quit on the first day because the commission structure was bullshit.

You can also hire kids straight out of high school that are hungry and get someone to train them. This usually works well since 18 year olds have girlfriends and POS hondas they wanna buy parts for.

Hope this helps!

Is there a fast-lane idea here?

 

[jockinbox]

@jon.a More like...scaling for dummies lol

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Guys, why are we in such a rush to quit our jobs? Its not so that we can buy a Ferrari in every color possible, its so we have time to spend doing whatever we want. If you're on this forum to figure out how to make an extra 1000-10000 a month to finance a Lexus, buddy, you're in the wrong place. If your "fastlane" business involves you working for money without a way for you to absolve yourself, you're not fast lane, you're self employed..re read the book.

Amen.

Just came across your thread. Some great stuff.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jockinbox]

How I turned 49 cents into $1,500 through intimidation
So I've been going hardcore on the forums and trying to absorb as much info as I possibly can through here, podcast, books etc & I've been "following the bread crumbs" A member of this forum posted about a book he read called "Winning Through Intimidation" He's not the greatest member here, but he's substantially better off than I am to say the least. Anyways I followed the bread crumb and saw the book on sale at Amazon for 0.49 cents, I remembered I had a few dollars as points on my credit card & I went for it.
Got the book, ran through it & I was mind-blown to say the least. As I lay there thinking it over I get a text from a chick asking if I want to hangout. We get together over coffee and I learn that her boss is bitching about lack of sales on her website. Time to start intimidating. I immediately tell her that I have experience in this sort of thing (I don't) and I regurgitated just enough of the little I do know to make me seem like I know what I'm doing. Anyways night ends & I think nothing of it, next day I get a text "my boss is interested"
Ok, I thought, dont screw this up. Borrowed my dads only suit (im about 40 lbs lighter & a few inches taller, needless to say it's not a good fit) & showed up. This is the easy part, I'm already in a position of power & have years of practice in sales. Next thing I know I walk out of there with passwords to her domain & hosting along with a contract for $1500 bucks. Awesome, only one problem. I don't have the first clue on setting up a good website. But hey, when you have bills due in 3 weeks I couldn't afford not to. Went to the library, got on youtube, read some blogs & figured it out. She had about 250 products that I had to make pages for so that took a while. I would venture to say I spent 20 hours learning & 10 hours implementing. Some stuff I outsourced on Fiverr. Anyways, I got it done. She was happy & I cashed my check.

It's crazy how things happen when you put your mind to it. A friend of mine once told me "your mind is powerful, that the Bible says it is with our minds that we serve the Lord" One moment I've got less than 20 bucks in my bank account, the next I have just enough to get by for another month. I'm doing some research on cities throughout the US, I think I'm going to move to a new town. Maybe a change of environment is what I need.

Be great, nothing else pays

 

[jockinbox]

Getting referrals and a simple trick to boost retention, earnings, and profitability without spending much time/money

Do you know what the best time to ask for referrals is? Its right after you make a sale. Don't take no for an answer. This script is setup for a positive answer since the previous questions are affirmative

Mr. Customer thanks you for letting me earn your business today, how satisfied are you with the service I've provided you?
blah blah
Great, I'm happy I was able to exceed your expectations today, would you recommend my work to someone?
blah blah
Terrific, do you know anyone who needs this product/service?
yes=you know what to do
no=well I would love to talk with the first person that came to your mind. Who did you think about when I asked that?


Dale Carnegie's salesperson of the year was Jeoffrey Gitomer and he says he would rather have 100 existing customers than 1000 leads. Over the years, society has shyed away from being aggressive in sales, but he still makes a valid point. It's so much easier to sell to someone who already knows you/trust you. It's important to always follow up with you people you didnt close, but its even more important to follow up with those you did. Keep that relationship warm. Dont sell somebody something and then 14 months later ask them to buy something else if you havent followed up.

Here's an exercise I'm using with my current contract to improve retention/boost sales

Think of 5-15 customers that made you the most money last month and write them a quick thank you note and follow up by phone 3 days later. Every month do this with the previous months. It should take about 2-3 hours a month and you will see immediate improvement. The conversation should NOT be about sales but something else entirely. Ask them how they like your product, what they wish it did, recommendations, pros/cons, etc.

You will blow your competition out of the water. What was the last time you got a call or a thank you note from a product you purchased?
Only the very successful companies do this. Verizon Wireless, is critical on the follow up process.

Over time, your retention will be higher among the more profitable customers customers and you will lose the dramatic, time consuming, productivity killing customers that barely make you money.

I think Pareto's Principal applies nicely here.

Cheers,

EDIT: THINKING ABOUT DOING AN AMA, WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

 

[bbrrookie]

Hey @jockinbox ive really appreciated your threads and i am looking forward to your progress. I just began my journey into the fastlane about 1 month ago. Awesome work and contribution.

An AMA would be cool. Figure out where you wanna move yet?

Edit: you have an AMA already lol...im late my bad!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[jockinbox]

Hey @jockinbox ive really appreciated your threads and i am looking forward to your progress. I just began my journey into the fastlane about 1 month ago. Awesome work and contribution.

An AMA would be cool. Figure out where you wanna move yet?

Edit: you have an AMA already lol...im late my bad!

No problem
You'll have to excuse my absence , I've been pretty busy.

Good luck on your fast lane journey, shoot me a link to your progress thread & I'll make some time to read it.

 

[regalforte]

Think of 5-15 customers that made you the most money last month and write them a quick thank you note and follow up by phone 3 days later. Every month do this with the previous months. It should take about 2-3 hours a month and you will see immediate improvement. The conversation should NOT be about sales but something else entirely. Ask them how they like your product, what they wish it did, recommendations, pros/cons, etc.

This is an excellent suggestion. Thanks for sharing; going to do this first thing tomorrow morning with my current clients.