At the beginning of each year, I come up with an annual theme that encompasses what I want to achieve. This year, my theme was MM – Massive Momentum. I want to grow my business exponentially versus incrementally. I posted this on one of the LinkedIn forums, and someone suggested that I add the word “Magic” to it, so now it is MMM – Magic Massive Momentum.

When I added the extra “M”, light bulbs went off in my head. MM by itself felt heavy and tiring. It felt as if I had to do everything myself or it would not happen. As soon as the Magic was added, suddenly MMM was so much lighter. It felt like it wasn’t just me having to do everything to create Massive Momentum. I knew that I’d have a lot of help from others, and I had tapped into that leverage. It made my goal of exponential growth become realistic for me.

What has this to do with your own sales and sales growth? Everything. if you want exponential sales versus incremental sales. Everything, if you want to make more sales faster with less effort.

You see if you just focus on the sale in front of you, and once that sale is made, you rush off to the next one and so on, you will make sales and you may even get an incremental increase in your total. You might even achieve MM but – and this is a big one – you’ll soon be exhausted as you are doing everything. It all revolves around you. There is zero leverage with this sales approach. If you go on holidays, nothing will happen. If you are sick, nothing will be happening. You may have gained MM, but it’s only incremental and you have personally paid a big price.

Now suppose that instead of just focusing on the sale in front of you, you focus on gaining a “Customer for Life”. When you gain a “Customers for Life”, they will buy more from you like magic. With very little extra effort on your part, the initial sale will have doubled, tripled, or more. What also happens like magic is that your “Customer for Life” starts raving about you to others. Then some of them also become your “Customers for Life”, and then like magic, they rave about you to others as well.

Now instead of you having to do everything, your customers are doing a lot of the selling activities for you. You’ve got free leverage. You could even go on holiday and some sales may come in without your usual effort. Your sales growth takes off as the sales are now starting to come in exponentially.

So the choice is yours. MM or MMM?

So what do you need to do to create a “Customer for Life”?

First, you need a sales process and philosophy that supports the “Customer for Life” approach. Most sales processes do not. Most are essentially a “hit and run” method and may even destroy the potential of future sales with a customer.

Second, you need to have a very important system in place or it will not work. If you don’t have this system in place, it’s very unlikely you will tap into exponential sales. It effectively adds fuel to your ‘Customer for Life’ fire. This system is one that builds your personal relationship with your customers and shows that you appreciate them.

When you consistently and sincerely give appreciation to your customers, it will ignite their desire to give back. It simply follows the natural law of giving and receiving. Your customers will give back in a number of ways: they will give you more business, they will become raving fans, and they will tell others about you and recommend you. All this starts with giving appreciation consistently.

Put in place an appreciation plan and system that touches your clients at least 4 times a year, if not more. It can be as simple as sending cards – physical cards in the mail. It’s not hard and it’s not expensive. Yet together with a “Customer for Life” approach, the sales results can be exponential.

Try it and watch the MMM happen in your sales!

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As I mentioned in the article above, if you want an exponential increase in sales, you must put in place an appreciation plan and system that touches your clients at least 4 times a year, if not more. It can be as simple as sending cards – physical cards in the mail.Sending very personalized, high quality, real cards can be easily done from your computer – at a fraction of the cost of what you pay for cards in a store. Plus there is no need to go to the shops or the post office. The system for doing this is SendOutCards.

To test drive the system, and send a card with my compliments, click here.

If you are interested in also spreading the word about SendOutCards, click here and watch the video. It will give you an overview of this incredible opportunity. If you like what you see in the video, and would like to chat further, just email me at tessa@salesconversation.com .

Have you got the cart before the horse when selling? Many people do, so you are not alone. It’s also why many people struggle with selling. In this analogy, the cart is your sales process, and the horse is your sales philosophy.

Most people when selling focus on their cart – their sales process, their sales skills. They focus on learning how to present and persuade, how to overcome objections, how to close. In fact, this is how a lot of sales trainers and coaches teach them. So even the “experts” are leading you to the cart before the horse approach.

Actually, most people consciously forget about the horse. Most don’t even think about their sales philosophy. They simply focus on their sales process and sales skills, and they end up with a sales philosophy as a byproduct of the process they have chosen.

What’s wrong with focusing on your sales process first and your sales philosophy second, or just ignoring the whole thing? It’s all about the results you want vs. the results you will get.

Suppose you don’t want to persuade and manipulate people because it’s not your true nature. You don’t want people thinking of you as being like that. But suppose you are using a sales process that is based on persuading and manipulating people. What sort of reaction will you get from prospects?

What will happen to your sales as a result? If you use a persuading/manipulating sales process by default, people will think you are all about getting the sale – even though that’s not really “you”. Why wouldn’t they?

Assume that your customers can give you lots of additional business and referrals. Suppose your sales process is focused on getting that initial sale no matter what. If that is true, you may forget to mention some things to your prospect or you may be tempted to sell them the wrong solution. What will be the impact on future sales and referrals?

Will you end up with a “Customer for Life”? I doubt it – do you get the point? So how can you avoid a sales process that is not aligned with who you are and what your intent is?

You avoid using such a sales process by consciously deciding on your sales philosophy before you lock in on a sales process. You put the horse before the cart. You consciously decide who you want to be (and not be) when selling, what your longer term intent is, and then you choose and use a sales process that is aligned with that.

For example, if your intent when selling is to gain a “Customer for Life” instead of just making a sale, you discard sales processes that are all about persuading, manipulating, and pressuring people. You’ll ignore processes that are focused on making the sale and stop after the sale is made.

Once you have adopted your sales philosophy, you want to proactively convey it to your sales prospects and customers, as it can be a huge differentiator. If you have a sales philosophy that is all about helping people and gaining “Customers for Life”, you will stand out above your competition that is only focused on making a sale.

Stop now and consciously decide on your sales philosophy. Then look to see if your current sales process is in alignment. If not, quickly find one that is in sync and begin to use it. You will soon be making more sales and you will also have a lot more fun selling.

It’s that time of the year when you start thinking about what you want to achieve over the next twelve months. As they say, be careful what you wish for.

Just suppose that you are a consultant or a coach and your wish is to be booked solid in 2011.

Let’s suppose your wish is granted and you are booked solid. What does a day, a week, a year in your life look like? Take a few minutes to really imagine it and feel it.

What words come to mind to describe how you feel? Exhausted? Drained? In need of a holiday?

What words come to mind to describe your personal relationships?

Don’t underestimate the power of this exercise. It could change your life. I only wish I’d had someone ask me to do this exercise before I started my sales coaching business.

You see being booked solid, rushing from client to client, is exhausting. Yes, you may be making lots of money but you have no time freedom. You stop working, the money stops. You go on holiday, the money stops. Sound familiar?

So maybe you really don’t want success in your current business.

Two years ago I had a big AHA moment. I realized that with my sales coaching business I had created a noose around my neck. I always had to “turn up” or the money would stop. I love to travel and spend time with Mike (my husband) but with my coaching business, when I do the money stops.

Two years ago, when I woke up to the fact that my business model was not going to give me the time/money freedom I wanted, I “found” and joined SendOutCards.

To me SendOutCards is perfect as it:

- offers a vehicle for financial/time freedom;

- makes a difference in people’s lives;

- has the McDonald’s Factor. Anyone can succeed as there is a simple system to follow and you are trained on it.

Although I continue to write sales articles and run TeleForums, I no longer actively look for coaching clients. Instead I focus on building my SendOutCards team and on helping my team achieve the financial and time freedom they want. I’m having so much fun and it’s far more rewarding than I could ever have imagined.

So in 2011 if you want more time/money freedom, seriously consider changing your business model so it will give you the time/money freedom you want.

SendOutCards may or may not be for you but spend 10 minutes and click here to watch a video. It could change your life like it did mine.

Once you’ve watched the video, send an email to me at tessa@salesconversation.com and we can set up a time to chat further to see if this a fit for you – or not. I’ll also send you the first call of the Bootcamp I ran this year for my team. This call covers the three Success Principles for building your SendOutCards business. The other calls in the BootCamp covered the five Action Steps for building your SendOutCards business.

My wish for you is that you achieve time/money freedom in 2011 so you can do the things you really want to do and you can spend more time with those you really care about.

Today’s marketplace is getting more and more competitive. It’s because there are more and more players, some of whom will offer ridiculously low prices in an attempt to make a sale. So how can you stand out and differentiate yourself, even if your product is a commodity? How can you beat your competition without having to lower your prices? It can be easier than you think if you start using the following four sales strategies.

Strategy One: Sell only to those that are going to buy.

Competitors will be bending over backwards to do whatever the prospect says in the hope that they can persuade them to buy from them. Your competition will make presentations, give demonstrations, write proposals and jump through any hoops the prospect puts in front of them. This is true even if the prospects do not intend to buy anything from anyone right now, or if their solutions are not the right fit.

You are a professional and your time is valuable. So you can only afford to spend your time selling to those who are going to buy from someone now and if your solution is the right fit for them. You need to effectively interview – qualify – your prospects before starting your sales process. Even if a prospect asks you to come and present your solution, convey that you are happy to do that but they need to answer some questions first. Be polite but firm, and be prepared to walk away if they don’t qualify or will not spend the time with you to see if they do. You’ll stand out from your competition with this approach. Let them waste their time, but don’t waste yours.

Strategy Two: Do not try to persuade or convince.

Instead of being persuasive and trying to convince your prospect to buy, explain how you can help them solve their problem and why you are the best one to do that. Be completely unattached as to whether they say yes or no to you. You’ll stand out by the fact you are not trying to push them into a sale. Instead you are trying to help them make the best decision for them. Your confident approach will pull them towards you while your competitor’s desperate approach will push them away.

Strategy Three: Sell unique results, not your products.

Your competition will have no doubt fallen into the trap of selling their products as they think that is what people buy. They’ll be trying to show how their widget is the best widget as it has the “x” feature etc. You can stand out by selling what people really want to buy: an end result or a business outcome. Your product is only one component of that outcome. Sell all the other components as well. Even if your product is a commodity, how you deliver the outcome can be unique. How you deliver and assure support and service can be unique. How you make your customers feel can be unique. Convey and sell this uniqueness. If you are not sure what your uniqueness really is, find out fast so you can sell it.

Strategy Four: Do not focus on the sale.

Your competition will be focused on making a sale. Their sales process will reflect this intent. They’ll probably be skilled in persuading, in answering objections, and in going for the close with a variety of techniques. They will not care if the customer does not buy from them again or refer others. They are only focused on getting the sale no matter what the long term consequences.

Stand out from your competition by having your sales process and your focus be about making a customer for life. To you, the initial sale is small in comparison to the additional sales that will result from this customer in the future and the referrals that will result. It also means that if you don’t get the initial sale, you keep growing the relationship with the prospect until you do secure that first sale.

Just follow these four strategies and you will easily beat your competition. Your prospects will pay a higher price for the greater value of the results you are offering. Your new customers will want to see you again and will remain loyal over time. Try these strategies and see!

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TIP

Part of your uniqueness could be the way you make people feel.  You will make people feel good if you send them real cards in the post.  Cards that are 100% about giving appreciation versus trying to get a sale.  The system I passionately use and promote for sending out these real, personalized cards is SendOutCards.

If you are planning on sending your customers and prospects holiday cards, here’s a tip that will make sure you are remembered.

Send your cards early!!

That’s it. The reason you will be remembered, and you’ll dramatically increase the impact of the cards you send out, is because your cards will be on your customers and prospects desks the longest – so they’ll be thinking of you the longest. Simple really.

There are three very important provisos:

* Make sure you are sending someone a card with no agenda attached.
* Make sure the card is about them – and not you and your business.
* Make sure your card is a WOW and memorable card.

You can easily create and send WOW memorable cards with the service I passionately use and promote.

Click here and you can send a REAL card from the comfort of your computer for $2.99 and it includes postage. You can even add a gift.

Click here if you’d rather send a REAL card for less than $1 plus postage.

If you want to receive a percentage on all the cards and gifts you send and others you know send, click here and watch the video.

Don’t underestimate the impact of sending your holiday cards early. You’ll be surprised what will come back.

By the way if you are not planning on sending your customers and prospects REAL cards and even gifts, I’d encourage you to think again. What you appreciate appreciates and the opposite is true too.

Happy card sending and here’s to an appreciating 2011.

Are you having fun selling? Are you enjoying it – or do you dread or resist it? If you aren’t having fun selling, then I have a hunch that you think selling is all about persuading and convincing people to buy something they may or may not want or need.

If that is what you think selling is about, then it will automatically and naturally create huge resistance and tension on your side as it is simply not in one’s nature to try to persuade or convince people. You don’t want people to think of you as someone who acts in this way as it makes you feel like a phony. You feel you can’t act with integrity using this type of sales approach. So it’s fairly easy to convince yourself not to sell at all – or if you do, then you only do it half heartedly.

If you think selling is about persuading and convincing, you’ll be asking yourself “How can I do that?” You’ll be thinking that there is a lot to learn. You’ll believe that you have to master a lot of techniques like how to overcome objections and how to “close.” You’ll be thinking that you better put off selling until you’ve practiced all these techniques. But actually you don’t really want to use these techniques – as you don’t want to be a phony persuader or a convincer – so you put off learning these techniques as well.

If you think selling is about persuading and convincing, you’ll also be expecting (and getting) a lot of rejection experience. You really don’t like rejection, so it’s much easier to simply avoid or minimize doing the thing that is causing it. Therefore, you minimize and avoid selling – problem solved!

So what is the solution? How can you easily and quickly go from resisting selling to actually enjoying it, and as a consequence, make a lot more profitable sales? The solution is quick and easy. Ready? Simply change your definition of selling. Instead of persuading and convincing, define selling as helping people get what they want.

If you believe selling is about helping people get what they want, there will be no resistance on your side as you enjoy that. You like it when people think of you as someone that will help them get what they want. When you are helping people like this, you are acting with integrity as the “real you”, and it makes you feel good.

If you think selling is about helping people get what they want, then you’ll naturally know how to do that. You’ll know that first, you need to find out what they want. If you can help them, then you show them how you can help them. Finally you give them the choice of whether they would like your help or not. Some will and some won’t. All of this can be the result of a normal comfortable conversation – which you know how to have.

If you think selling is about helping people get what they want, then you know that not everyone will want your help at this point in time. Maybe in the future they will. Even if they need your help now, it is their choice to decide if they want you to help them. Your role is to simply help them make the best possible decision for them. With this view, there is no rejection because it’s not about you. It’s simply about them making a decision that is best for them.

Can you feel your resistance to selling go away when you think about selling as helping people get what they want? There is a great sense of fulfillment when you can help someone else get what they want. You’ll enjoy sales more with this approach and you’ll also make a lot more profitable sales!

If you want to increase your sales, read and put into action these seven powerful sales strategies.

Strategy #1: Stop Selling

Stop trying to convince or persuade people to buy your solution. Stop trying to get a sale. Instead, focus on how you can help the person you are talking to get what they want – whether it’s your solution or not. Focus on how you can give them value. Amazing as it may seem, with this approach over time, people will be interested in you and in what you have to offer. Even if they don’t need it themselves, they will refer others to you.

Strategy # 2: Throw Away Sales Gimmicks

There are lots of sales gimmicks to attract attention or increase appeal. You can learn 50 ways to close. You can learn how to overcome objections. You can learn how to give the best and most persuasive presentation. The problem with most of these approaches is that they are focused on persuading and convincing and getting the sale. Your prospects sense that it’s all about you – you getting the sale. They feel that you don’t really care about them. They pick up that you are trying to persuade and convince them and their automatic protective reaction is to get away fast – and they do.

Strategy #3 : Qualify, Qualify, Qualify

If someone does not have a problem that they want you to solve now, they are not a prospect. So it is a waste of your time and theirs if you spend time now trying to help them buy your solution. Spend your time helping those that want to benefit from what you have to offer now. Put in place a qualification process and only sell to those who qualify. Then you will have more time for those that are ready to buy, and this will increase the probability of them buying from you.

Strategy #4: Answer Two Questions

Prospects want to know the answer to two questions: “Why should I be interested in your type of solution?” and “Assuming I am interested, why should I buy it from you?”. Can you answer both these questions in 30 seconds? If you can’t, how can you expect your prospect to want your help? Make it a priority to give clear and concise answers to these two questions fast.

Strategy #5: Increase Your Price

If you always use strategies #1 and #2, trust will be present. Since trust is there, your prospect will feel more comfortable about committing to a longer term relationship with you. So you should offer them a longer term commitment option that is in their best interests and clearly benefits them now.

Strategy #6: Appreciate Your Customers

The easiest, fastest sales are to your current customers if – and this is most important – you have consistently shown that you appreciate and care about them. Just doing a great job is always expected, and you can’t anticipate repeat sales and referrals from this alone. If you conscientiously recognize and are grateful to your customers, they will buy more from you and also become loyal fans and refer others to you. What you appreciate will show gratitude in return, so appreciate your customers.

Strategy #7: Build a TRAC record

If someone does not need or want your solution now but it is likely they will in the future, put in place a system. You need to build Trust, Relationship, Awareness, and Credibility (TRAC) so that they will remember you and contact you when the time is right. Do this consistently over time, and your pipeline will overflow with people contacting you who want what you have and already know, trust, and like you.

All these seven sales strategies are easy to do. They are also easy not to do. So if you commit yourself and consistently use them, you will make significantly more sales faster. THEY WORK !

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Implementing Strategy #6 & #7

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Sending real cards of appreciation to your clients and prospects is an essential component of your implementing Strategy #6 and #7.

The system I recommend, and use extensively myself, is SendOutCards. Test drive it and send a card now to one of your “A” clients just to say “Thank You” for being your client. I’ll even pay for the card and the postage.

You can exponentially increase your sales with very little effort and additional cost. I suggest you grab a pen and paper because what we are about to cover will have a greater impact if you write down some numbers.

Draw a line down the middle of your paper, and write “Example” on top of the left-hand column and “My Numbers” on top of the right-hand column. For this exercise, let’s assume that a sale you are working on is a $1000 sale and your prospect’s name is Joe, so write “$1,000 – Joe initial sale” in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column write down the value of an actual sale you are working on and the name of the prospect.

Now, let’s assume Joe buys from you and becomes a “Lifetime Customer,” and let’s assume he would spend $10,000 with you over his lifetime. In the left-hand column, write “$10,000 – Joe Lifetime.” Then work out your real prospect’s lifetime value, and write that amount down in the same format in the right-hand column.

In our example, the immediate sale to Joe is $1,000 and the lifetime value is $10,000, so the lifetime value is ten times the initial sale value. What is the multiple of the initial sale for your customers’ lifetime value? I have a hunch it is at least double the sale amount you are currently focused on.

Now let’s assume that Joe raves about you to Sarah (which Joe would do if you converted him into a fan), and Sarah becomes your Lifetime Customer as well. Write “$10,000 – Sarah Lifetime” in the left-hand column. So the initial sale has gone from just $1,000 to Joe to $20,000 to both Joe and Sarah.

Let’s assume that Sarah raves about you to Kim, and Kim becomes your Lifetime Customer. Write down “$10,000 – Kim Lifetime” in the left-hand column. Now the initial $1,000 sale has grown to $30,000. Do that same exercise for your prospect in the right-hand column. What has the initial sale increased to?

In reality, Lifetime Customers will rave about you to more than one person, so these numbers are actually underestimates. If Joe raved about you not only to Sarah but also to John, and they both became Lifetime Customers and they both raved about you to two people each, who then became Lifetime Customers, you would have seven customers in total from your initial sale to Joe, whose $1,000 sale has now turned into $70,000. We are actually being very conservative in these numbers and are underestimating the ripple and exponential affect of Lifetime Customers.

The trap that almost all of us fall into is focusing on the initial sale to Joe, and once we’ve made the $1,000 sale, moving on to the next sale of $1,000 as fast as possible and forgetting about turning Joe into a Lifetime Customer. Falling into this trap has the potential to cost you all those other sales to Sarah and Kim and John and many others; it has cost you leverage and exponential sales.

If you compare the effort (and the cost) required to make 70 sales of $1,000 versus one sale of $1,000 that results in $70,000++ of sales, where your customers do most of the selling for you, the message is clear: if you want an exponential increase in sales and a ripple effect and leverage from an initial sale, focus on ensuring you have Lifetime Customers.

So how do you do that? Well, you need to have two things in place.

First, you need to have a sales process that is focused on Lifetime Customers and not one-off sales. A tip for implementing such a process is that, each time you interact with a prospect, ask yourself whether what you are about to say or do would create a Lifetime Customer. If the answer is “no,” don’t say or do it.

Second, you need to have processes and systems in place so that, once someone becomes your customer, they become a Lifetime Customer and a raving fan. Raving fans become your unpaid sales force! On average, 68% of customers leave simply because they feel unappreciated, so a simple step you can take straight away to convert your customers to Lifetime Customers and raving fans is to appreciate them. It’s not hard, it’s not expensive, and the results are potentially exponential.

Within the next 24 hours, commit to showing all your customers you appreciate having them as customers. Do something as simple as sending them card in the mail saying “Thank you.” You’ll be amazed at the impact such a simple act can have. Then, within the next 72 hours, develop a plan to show your customers consistently that you appreciate them and to turn them into raving fans.

Let’s look for a moment at the opposite of what we are talking about. What happens when this effect works against you instead of for you?

When I was at my gym (soon to be ex-gym) last week, the owner was very rude to one of his clients, and a number of us heard the interaction. When I saw the client later, she told me she had posted the incident on Facebook!! So news of this single incident spread wide and fast. The gym owner did not realize the lifetime value of his client or the ramifications of his single rude interaction. Ouch.

Think back to the last bad customer or sales experience you had and who you told. Think back to the last good customer or sales experience you had and who you told. Think about the ripple effect and ramifications of these incidents.

Are you getting the enormity of what we are talking about? Embrace the potential of this lesson and make it work for you, and you will soon generate incredible leverage to give you exponential sales results.

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RESOURCE

Consistently sending personalized real cards is a proven way to develop customers for life. You can either send cards manually – which is probably too cost and time prohibitive – or you can use a system.

The system I recommend, and use extensively myself, is SendOutCards. Test drive it and send a card now to one of your “A” clients just to say “Thank You” for being your client. I’ll even pay for the card and the postage.

SendOutCards FastStart BootCamp

If you’ve been thinking about building a SendOutCards business, now is the time to take action. In October I am starting an 8-week FastStart BootCamp designed to fast start your SendOutCards business. If you are part of my SendOutCards team, there is no charge for attending this BootCcamp. Send me an email to Tessa@SalesConversation.com if you are interested in building a SendOutCards business and would like to participate in this FastStart Bootcamp.

Would you like to double your sales in the next six to twelve months? Have I got your attention?

The two strategies I am about to outline have been proven time and time again to result in an exponential increase in sales. I’m not talking about a 10%, 20% etc increase. I’m talking about a 100%, 200% or even 300% increase.

These strategies are easy to implement and do and yet very few do them. Most people are so busy chasing new customers that they miss out on the easiest sales of all – which you will make when you implement these two strategies.

Off course I’m assuming you have satisfied customers and they trust you. You have delivered what you said you would deliver and maybe even more. So here are the two strategies:

Strategy One: Nurture Your Clients

You need to put in place a strategy to transform your clients from satisfied clients to raving fans. Raving fans will ‘naturally’ rave about you to others and effectively become your unpaid salesforce.

Most make the mistake of thinking that because they have done a good job; their clients will become raving fans and tell others. Unfortunately this is not the case. Your clients expect you to do a good job – that is what they paid you for. Statistics show that 14% of clients leave because they are dissatisfied with product or service whereas 68% leave because of the way they were made to feel.

To turn a client into a raving fan requires that you make them feel good. It requires that you transform the relationship from transactional to personal fast. You need to show your client that you care about them as a person rather than as a transaction. Also showing your customer that you care about them once is not enough. You need to show them that you care about them repeatedly and consistently over time.

In order to show your clients repeatedly that you care about them, you need to develop a plan to connect with them on a personal level at least once a month. This could involve a combination of such things as non-business phone calls (just to see how they are doing), sending them some information to help them with their hobby, going for a non business lunch/coffee, sending them cards and sometimes cards and gifts (Thank you cards, Hi cards, birthday cards, holiday cards, appreciation cards, etc).

You will probably want to have a different “nurturing” plan for your “A” clients versus your “B” and “C” clients.

As a result of implementing this “Nurture Your Clients” strategy over twelve months your sales will increase from your clients and you’ll get more referrals and more sales from referrals.

Exponential growth can happen from implementing just this one strategy alone. However what is really powerful is if you also implement Strategy Two. And the probability of Strategy Two working will be increased because you have Strategy One in place.

Strategy Two: Proactive Offers

First start by identifying who are the clients that give you 80% of your revenue. Typically 20% of your clients give you 80% of your revenue in a year.

For each of these clients do a six and twelve month forecast of what they will probably need from you in products and/or services.

Now come up with an offer that makes it very appealing for each client to commit to buying from you now what they will be buying from you in the next six and twelve months. What can you add that they will value to the extent that they will commit now rather than later?

Now present the two offers to them: a six month offer and a twelve month offer. Present it in such a way that they can see it is in their best interests to commit now rather than later.

You will be pleasantly – and very excitingly – surprised by the sales that will result (particularly if they know you care about them versus the transaction!).

Make it a priority to implement these two strategies so you can at least double your sales. Implementing them will I suspect cost you far less than what you spending to acquire new customers and it’s a much easier way to double your sales.

What are you waiting for?

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Implementing Strategy One

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Make sending cards part of your nurturing strategy. You can either do it manually – which is probably too cost and time prohibitive – or you can use a system.

The system I recommend, and use extensively myself, is SendOutCards. Test drive it and send a card now to one of your “A” clients just to say “Thank You” for being your client. I’ll even pay for the card and the postage.

How would your customers describe how they feel about you?

Bear with me for a moment if you think I am being a bit touchy feely. You are probably wondering what this has to do with sales.

You see, how your customers feel about you – which is really how you make them feel – has a huge impact on your sales.

For example:

If your customers feel that you just see them as a transaction, do you think they are going to keep wanting to buy from you? Will they refer others to you so they can be made to feel like a transaction too?

Conversely if your customers feel that you care about them as people, do you think they are going to want to keep buying from you? Will they refer others to you in the knowledge that you will treat them well and make them feel good too?

If your customers feel unappreciated by you, do you think they’ll keep buying from you? Will they send you referrals so they can feel unappreciated too?

Conversely if they feel appreciated by you will they keep buying? And will they send you referrals?

You know the answers to these questions -they are obvious.

Yet even though you know the answers to these questions, what are you consistently doing to make your customers feel good? What are you consistently doing to show your customers that you care about them as people? What are you consistently doing to show you appreciate them? What systems do you have in place for doing this?

You can absolutely increase your sales and referral just by making your customers feel good.

Joe Girard, who I frequently mention, is proof that making your customers feel good works and results in more sales and referrals. Joe Girard, the “World’s Greatest Salesman”, was a car salesman, and you had to make an appointment to buy a car from him. Really – an appointment to buy from a car salesman! Joe’s secret was that he sent out over 15,000 cards of appreciation a month to his customers and potential prospects.

So aim to be the Joe Girard in your niche. You’ll stand out in your market place and you’ll increase your sales and referrals. It’s not hard IF you do some simple things like Joe did.

Recommendation
The system I recommend and extensively use for sending personalized, real cards and gifts is SendOutCards. Try it out for yourself by sending a real card to someone right now. Just click here and you’ll be talked through creating and sending a card.

Is this you?
Are you looking for an opportunity to earn some additional income while still working in your current business/role? Would you like to join my team and spread the word about SendOutCards? You’ll receive comprehensive training/coaching and have a lot of fun along the way. If you’d like to find out more about this HUGE opportunity click here and watch the video. If it makes sense, send me an email at tessa@salesconversation.com . We can then set up a time to chat. The timing for spreading the word about SendOutCards is perfect for a number of reasons.