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5 Low-Cost Tools to Get More Business
Instructor: John Asher, President of Asher Strategies
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John Asher and his Washington DC based Asher Strategies team have worked with over 12,000 sales professionals all around the world. John shared with us the following 5 low-cost, easy to learn tools for getting more business from current customers and for finding and developing new customers.
1. Listen to your customers and take notes while interacting with them. 95% of people surveyed say sales people and business owners talk too much! Take detailed notes when meeting with a customer/buyer. Summarize your notes and repeat it back to your customer. This forces you to listen and will prevent you from making mistakes. And, your customer will have confidence that you understand.
2. Give your customers something extra. Giving extra is one of the key components for sales, marketing and customer service. It doesn’t have to be a lot in monetary terms, because what you are really after is the psychology that works in a customer’s mind. The customer says to themselves, “Wow, this person/company gave a little bit extra, went the extra mile to interact with me”. Think of a Baker’s Dozen. Some extras to consider are free training on your product or service, a free audit or inspection or emailing interesting information.
3. Understand your customers unanticipated needs. The key to doing this is to think ahead for your customer and be knowledgeable of what potential needs could come up in the future. Make sure you can satisfy those needs. One example is a company that sells counter tops. When a fabricator calls in an order for a counter top, the customer service representative knows what it takes to have a perfect installation and therefore asks if the fabricator needs glue, a splashboard, a lip for the sink or brackets. This simple check list helps this business discover their customers unanticipated needs and deliver great customer satisfaction.
4. Get customer feedback. Statistically, only 1 in 10 customers will tell you if they have a complaint. This means that there are potentially 9 other customers out there with the same complaint that you will never hear anything about. Getting the feedback you seek is a direct result of having great customer conversations. Ask questions in the right way - be sincere and non-threatening. Make it obvious that you really want the feedback and you intend to do something about it.
5. Ask for referrals. Here is a bold statement “Average businesses and average salespeople never ask for referrals. Top business owners, top sales people and big companies ALWAYS ask for referrals.” Think Verizon’s family calling plan. While national statistics show that, if properly pursued, about 50% of referrals will close and turn into business, 87% of the referrals that are given in our country are never followed-up.
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