Colin Myles's Blog, page 26

One overlooked simple sales strategy

Did you know it costs on average $10.000 to gain one new customer. That is a lot of time and money.
However one overlooked simple strategy is to increase your sales to your existing customers.

Yes it is simple and obvious, but often overlooked. Here are three reasons why you should go back and look at your existing customers with a loving eye . . ..

1. They have already bought from you

2. They continue to buy from you

3. They like and trust you

You don't need to do the strutting peacock dance, showing how beautiful and elegant your product or service is. You already know who the decision maker is and they will still take your phone calls.

Now I am not saying you stop looking for new customers, because that would be foolish. But you can make the process easier by taking care of the people who already like you. Keep building deeper and deeper relationships with your existing customers and you will be amazed what magic can occur to your sales.

Don't neglect the ones who already love you and your product.

Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
" If people like you, they will listen to you. But if they trust you, they will do business with you "
Zig Ziglar

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How well do you listen ?

When you listen do you just hear the noise and reply with the noise in your own head or do you listen for the meaning so that you can reply with a meaningful answer ?

The answer to that question will go a long way to influence you success in business relationships. When someone is talking and all you are doing is preparing your answer in your head without really listening to what they are saying is one of the big reasons business relationships flounder.

I appreciate you want to show the other person how smart your are, how tech savvy or up to date with the current trends, but if the other person was not looking for this, you will leave them with the feeling of not being a good listener.

To paraphrase a quote from Zig Ziglar, " people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care " we can turn this into " people don't care how much you know until they know you listened to them ".
Over the years when I was in the hospitality industry, many people lost sales from me because they did not listen to my concerns. They were too busy giving scripted answers and trying to close a one time sale that they never heard me say " we don't have the budget for that right now " " can you tell me who else bought this product/service so I can chat to them" or " we have just gone down a different route and that is not in our plans for the next six months ".

If they had listened they could have asked me further questions that would have kept them at the from of my mind. They could have asked " When are the budgets prepared ? and could we meet in x month " " XYZ company have being using this product service for the past six months, here is Mr. B's number give him a call anytime " or various other phrases that showed they were listening.

It can be difficult but if you learn to take the time  to listen for the meaning behind what your current or prospective client is saying and ask meaningful questions, you may be surprised at how many positive answers you receive.

Stop hearing the noise and preparing to answer with noise. Noise is just that, noise. Listen with the intent to get the meaning of what people are saying. Listen with intent to ask good questions. Listen with intent so they other person knows you took the time to listen to them.

Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
" People don't care how much you know until they know you listened to them "

P.P.S.
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Problem Solving with Philosophy

Often in the life cycle of a business challenges arise. There are many ways to tackle these bumps in the road, universities and colleges have gotten rich providing courses on problem solving.

But you the busy entrepreneur may not have the time to go back to college for three to five years to learn how to solve your challenges. Today I would like to go back in time to save you time. The philosophy process that has been around for centuries has being described as thus . . .

Analysis - Synthesis - Evaluation

To put it into modern business speak
1. Identify the main challenges
2.Work on a set of solutions
3. Chose the correct solution and make sure it is the best of the best

Simple, but you have to throw out your ego to follow the three step process. You have to be honest with the challenges you face. No pretending, no closing your eyes and ears to what your customers or your bank balance is saying.

Once you have got over that part, you can start working on solutions. Again you have to be honest with yourself and not come up with a solution that you like, but one your customers want and will be willing to hand over cold hard cash to receive.

Choosing the best one, is not always the one you come up with, which is why being honest with yourself and your companies prospects in following steps one and two are critical. You don't want your business to be in the throes of death and praying for a miracle.

This simple exercise that philosophers have been following for years, could be the difference between you having an outstanding year or a dismal one.

Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
" Anyone to the degree of his enlightenment, sees as much as he has polished of himself. The more he polishes the more he sees, the more visible do the forms become. " Rumi

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It is called THI  Trinity of your Success.

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And proven traits
To increase your success
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It is simply my small way of thanking all of you who read my blog posts and read my books
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Colin Myles
Author

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Was Shakespeare Right ?

" There is a tide in the affairs of men, which when taken at the flood leads on to fortune.
  Omitted all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries. On such a full sea
  are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures. "
William Shakespeare

For me, I believe the words mean we should ride the waves. But to be able to ride the waves we must prepare, so that when they come we are ready to float on by those who have not prepared.

Doing your homework and being prepared doesn't mean to be paralysed by over thinking, but being ready for when the moon is up and the tide rises. If you have an idea for opening a shop, you need to do some ground work first. It's location, the footfall, the cost of the rent, revenue needed for it to be viable. Credit terms from suppliers, staffing and other variables.

There may be times when the rent is too high. There may be times when the shop is available but the location is not right. But by doing your homework, you will be ready to strike out when the flood is upon us.

This goes for any venture. Imagine waking up on a Monday morning, taking all your savings out of the bank and starting a venture without some background work. The chances of failure would be high and you would probably end up miserable and broke.

So before this happens, do a little background work and be ready to set sail when the tides are high.
To your success,
Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
Freedom is always and exclusively freedom
for the one who thinks differently.
Rosa Luxemberg

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Soft Skills Sell

" It's not abut your ability to talk long and loud, but the quality of words you use "

Soft skills is not about using force or threat to get your way. All that does is put people's back up, dig their heels in and increase their resistance to your idea.

The words you use will either make you or break you. Have you ever met someone who just talked and talked without saying anything ? Did you hear what they said or simply ignored it because they bored or insulted you ? Pretty sure you did.

Your ability to use the right words in a quiet commanding fashion will gain you better results than warning someone about the consequences of not following  orders, no matter how insane they appear. You often find people in management who feel force is the way to achieve results, probably got promoted, not for their ability to inspire, but intimidate.

If you believe intimidation is the way to motivate your team, then you are living in a fool's paradise. Because people may smile and nod at you, but they will take delight in watching you fail and get frustrated. They will keep things hidden from you. Leading to the fallacy where you believe everything is wonderful, but beneath the surface it's all going to hell.

Being able to sell your ideas requires the soft skills of persuasion. People will do more to help you when they believe in what you are saying. When they feel you are talking to them as a human being rather than a machine to be dictated to according to your whims. And it all comes down to the quality of words you chose to portray your message.

Today I would like you to take an inventory of the words you use when asking people to carry out tasks.
Write down the amount of hard forceful words you use as opposed to the soft ones. Next take a good look at the list and ask yourself " am I really getting the best results for the team,myself and the company "

I guarantee you that when you switch your vocabulary to the softer gentler words, the communication and results will improve. Take the soft skills sells challenge and replace the hard with the soft. See the difference.
Let me know how you get on, by leaving a comment in the section below.

Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
" Those who are skilled in combat, do not become angered.
  Those who are skilled at winning, do not become afraid.
  Thus the wise win before the fight,
  While the ignorant fight to win. "
  O Sensei Ueshiba

P.P.S.
Read a free preview of 5 Keys to Doing Business with the Right People  Click Here

How to Make things Easier

" Confront the difficult, while it is still easy "
  Book of Tao

Eight simple words that can make a big difference to you, your life and work environment. A lot of times we all at one stage or another, put things on the long finger. Before you know it we are running around like headless chickens trying to find a solution. Because we are running around, you are more likely to be reactionary rather than pro- active.

Because of this you don't quite hear or understand the solutions or alternatives and start to assume the noise is where the answer is, not so. By being brave and saying to yourself right at the start of a situation " I need to confront this now " you will have more time to listen, study and understand what your next step should be.

Let's take the example of your car. You drive it seven days a week. In and out to work and for shopping and trips at the weekend. You know the sound and feel of it, you notice when something is not quite right. You get up on a Monday morning and drive to work and on the way you notice a noise that was never there before, you acknowledge it and hope it goes away. But it is still there on Tuesday.

Now you could book it into your mechanic and get a diagnosis or you could cross your fingers and hope the noise goes away. Two weeks later, not only is the noise still there, but the car does the salsa shudder when you put it into neutral. Everyone is staring at your dancing car and not for the right reasons. You bring it to your mechanic. They deliver the bad news $600 to fix, but they mention that it was all caused by a little bearing that would have only cost $50 to repair if you had brought the car in when you first heard the noise.

Confront the difficult while it is still easy. Whether this is a new project with a deadline or looking at your household budget or your sales plan for the year, it doesn't matter. Start working on it while it is fresh and easy and you are full of enthusiasm. It is easy to move forward before the difficult becomes difficult. You will find that you have more free time. You can become pro - active rather than get stuck in the mud, spinning your heels trying to find a solution to something that was easy four weeks ago.

Don't delay, get started.

Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
The one way pull on the straight path, is better than the two way pull of perplexity " Rumi

P.P.S.
" Trying to compete on price is like still believing in the tooth fairy "
 How to Avoid Business Failure . . . Read Now

The best book I read in 2015

On average I read somewhere between 20/30 books a year, across various genres. It can be hard to choose one book, but this year  one book stood out.

It was  " The Four Books " by Yan Linanke

Why because it hit on many levels. First as a read it was stimulating and full of learning, with beautiful prose. So kudos to the translator because the book was first written in Chinese.

On a deeper level it shows how man can justify treating other humans as dirt. Showing how even people who are not treated well will  try and conspire against each other just to win favour with an overlord who they know to be an idiot.

The starting point is the Great Leap, a momentous period in Chinese history and how man will do almost anything to survive. It relates this around five individuals and their struggles to survive. But to go down another level, it is probably the best handbook on how not to run an organization.

From falsifying numbers to threatening people to believe the false numbers. To a belief that quantity outweighs quality. Belief that a reward system based on the delusions of management is the way to encourage people. At the end the Great Leap experiment was a failure, leading to mass starvation on a scale not seen before.

If you like to read a book that will stimulate, this is for you. If you are in management or just starting out on your journey, then there is no better book to read about how not to treat people. Sometimes it is good to come at challenges from a different view and this book does that. I can see myself returning to this book to read and soak up its message,but also for the beautiful prose and use of word to describe things and people.

Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
" I aspire to inspire before I expire " Unknown ... a great quote for your new year.

P.P.S.
If you believe you have a great product,but nobody is buying. Learn how to generate trust to build more sales   http://amzn.com/B00BUT3NDQ

Omotenashi

Omotenashi is a Japanese word describing a way of treating a guest, blending welcome with warmth,understanding and respect. The Japanese language makes no distinction between guest and customer.

Like all things there are rules to follow, but true Omotenashi is a one to one relationship that changes with customer to customer and moment to moment.

When as the last time as a customer, your custom was welcomed and valued ? When did you feel you were important to the business you were buying from ?

The answer to these two questions will determine your amount of repeat business. I hear you saying " but this is pretty obvious ". Well you would be surprised how many enterprises don't engage in the basics of making their customers feel welcome.

So here is another question for you to ponder, " how many places which have " Service " in their mission statement, really provide service ?

I believe there is a gap in the market for enterprises to take hold and own Omotenashi, to stand out and above from the crowd. As a business owner take a look around your area and competitors. Do you believe you could gain from making every customer feel like they were a guest in your own home ?

Sounds simple, but it takes time to build the belief in yourself and your staff, that this is the future for customer service. This is the true path for your customers to experience something they have never felt before. Something they will talk about,brag about and say " XYZ business is the place to go, they treat you like royalty.

Remember, your customer is your guest and your guest is your customer.

Colin Myles
Author

P.S.
" If you wish to move mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting stones today " African Proverb

P.P.S.
G.R.I.T
Spirit of an Entrepreneur is  available from Kobo Now

Fear, Failure and Hope

" In perplexity the fear of failure and the hope for success are always in conflict with each other, advancing and retreating " Rumi

One of the things I attempt to achieve each day is to read a poem or two by Rumi. It assists in clearing the mind of stuff that is running around with nowhere to go. Probably have read these lines about ten times, but they only struck me one day last week.

And they go back to the conflict man has had since the dawning of time. Should I follow my dreams ? Should I follow my heart or my head ? Everyone else is doing this, should I ? What happens if it becomes a success ? Where do I go if this fails ?

As you go through your day, the ebb and flow of fear of failure and the hope for success is like the ocean of tides. Sometimes you are optimistic and others doubtful. Is there a way to be more upbeat about your prospects and keep the doubts at bay.

Yes and no. Affirmations helps, being positive helps, but all it takes is one negative influence and the tide has turned and all you can see is the downside to what your dreams may hold for you.

What assists me and may be of benefit to you is to look at the risk. What is the worst downside if this venture goes belly up and what is the best possible outcome if this venture is successful. You can substitute the word idea for venture.

You can look at the risk in terms of both time on its own and money by itself. But the question I ask myself is can I afford this time, if the outcome is negative and what is the upside if things go well ?

Can I afford to lose X amount of money ? Sometimes you have to be prepared to have small losses because the upside when right can be staggering.  This swing between fear and hope is something you have to decide to deal with by yourself. No one on the outside can deal with perplexity that is in your mind, only you.

Sorry if you were looking for a quick fix, its not here. All I can do is share with you, that you are experiencing something mankind has been wrestling with since the barter system first took place. The person who was good at crafts had to decide if they made twenty items, could they barter them for enough provisions to keep his family fed, clothed and sheltered throughout the year.

But the one stumbling block in our decision making is our emotions. We are not as rational thinking as we would like to think, that is why the perplexity exists in our mind. It will never go away, but you can reason with yourself to a degree when looking at the upside or downside, in terms of time and money.

Hope is what keeps you going and hope is when you learn to ride the waves of perplexity.

Colin Myles
Author
5 Keys to Doing Business with The Right People

P.S.
" Emotions are the fuse that lights your decisions " Colin Myles

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