Greetings!
This month's edition of The Quill consists of three articles. The first is the last of our series on the sales process and is entitled, The Final Step in The Sales Process- Follow-up. This step is key to future business growth and cannot be forgotten. A friend of our's frustration with several new hires led to our second article, Some Keys to Business Success for Recent Graduates. The last article also considers employee performance, but in a more positive light, Developing Peak Performance.
Enjoy!
Patriot Business Coaching |
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The Final Step in the Sales Process - Follow-up
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The Introduction; Gaining Favorable Attention; Discovering Wants and Needs; Presenting Benefits and Consequences; and Gaining Commitment. To many, once commitment is given or the order is obtained the sales responsibility is over. Take the order, give it to the operating side of the business and move on. But getting the order is not the last step. Good follow-up can be a source of future business. Let's consider what benefits good follow-up will produce and some ideas to be used in the process.
Building Sales Through Follow-up
T here is no greater marketing tool than a more than satisfied customer. My mother-in-law would never take her 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass for service to anyone other than Joe. We were never sure who Joe worked for, but we knew that if there was a small noise or problem with the car it would be in to to see Joe the next week. Joe always treated her right and treated her with respect and kindness. If one of her friends or neighbors mentions a problem with their car, she would always tell them to go see Joe. What's to be learned from this example? First, that a satisfied customer provides the opportunity to form a long-term relationship. Second, that a satisfied customer will generate business by referral of others.
Long-term relationships are the key to sustainable and profitable businesses. How much time, money and effort does it take to get a brand new customer? Now compare that with what is necessary to maintaining that relationship. Some may say that they lose customers to a competitor with lower prices but in general, we buy most of our groceries at the same supermarket, return again and again to the same dentist, and deal many times over with the same car dealer. Even at the end of life, families will bury their departed with the same funeral director. Studies have shown that a referral is the strongest source of new business. It is stronger than advertising at the Super Bowl or having the world's best website. Just consider when moving into a new area, one will most often talk to neighbors about where to do their shopping, or get their hair done, or their car maintained. The neighbors will not be bashful to pointing out the best and worst choices. Click here to continue reading this article on our blog... |
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Some Keys to Business Success for Recent Graduates
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 A friend of ours is a small business owner in a nearby town. She often hires recent college graduates to work in her shop because she believes they have demonstrated a capacity to work and learn. On several occasions she has been disappointed with the new hires, not because of their lack of cognitive skills, but their lack of non-cognitive skills (work habits). Here are some of her thoughts in bold and italics.
Attendance
No employee, no matter how smart and talented, is of any benefit to their employer or themselves unless they show-up on time. Come to work on time. That means 5 to 10 minutes early in "Boss Time". You are only a hero in your own mind flying in at the last second. In my world you lose points every time you do that.
Being Emotionally in the Job
Success comes by having a positive attitude about what you do. If you are just there for a pay check, you do not have a positive attitude and in the long run will not have a very big pay check. The attitudes that you develop on your first real full-time job can make you successful in that and future positions. If you are watching the clock for quitting time, you obviously want to be somewhere else-so just go there and don't come back.
Don't Forget the Work Habits You Learned in College
If you have successfully completed a college course or even obtained a degree, then you have developed work habits which an employer expects to see in your performance ... in addition to your line of study it says to me that you are able to complete a task on line, work independently and meet a deadline. During your college experience, you often had to use the internet to obtain research information. Most small or medium size companies expect college graduates to be able to find information needed to perform some of their tasks. They teach Google in college, right?
Click here to continue reading this article on our blog... |
Developing Peak Performance
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"A financial analyst once asked me if I was afraid of losing control of our organization. I told him I never had control, and I never wanted it. If you create an environment where the people truly participate, you don't need control. They know what needs to be done and they do it." - Herb Kelleher, Co Founder of Southwest Airlines  High performance people see things not only as they are, but also as they could be. This is the first step in creating an environment and structure where people truly participate and genuinely believe they are integral to the organization's success. When people expand their focus on the possible, they begin to seek new and better ways of doing things. They realize they have the capacity to shape their lives rather than accept things as they are. Leadership is the norm, not the exception. Everyone is encouraged to examine situations and lead in response to them. Previous habits of "doing it this way because we have always done it this way" give way to new attitudes, innovative thinking, and process improvements. The philosophy "if it ain't broke don't fix it," gives way to "regardless of how good it is, we can make it better."
Mentoring people to higher levels of performance requires that you establish the conditions within which performance serves both the organization's as well as the individual's best interests. The structure and culture of the organization must support the efforts of the individuals. Everyone needs to realize that his or her best interests and personal successes are served by the success of the entire organization. If the environment is not conducive to supporting and guiding people to new levels of achievement, new skills and behaviors will not thrive. You cannot lead people to higher levels of achievement if the structures do not support the behavior. The way people think leads to what they do. What people do leads to results. If you want to improve results, it makes sense to improve the way people think. Significant achievement is not likely without change, and change in behavior starts with a change in thinking. You have no doubt heard the expression, "We are creatures of habit." There is considerable truth to that statement, for almost all that we do and most of what we think is the result of habits that have been formed during the course of a lifetime. Much of what we do in a 24-hour period demands little conscious thought because we have developed habits that help us accomplish a number of things. Just as much of our behavior is habit, so are most of our attitudes. Attitudes are habits of thought. We have thought the same way about something for so long that it is now a habit. While some habits are useful in preventing us from having to consciously figure out the mechanics each time we confront a familiar situation, many habits keep people from stretching their capabilities and trying new, inventive, and possibly better ideas or techniques. Behavior and performance are likened to attitudes. If you want to improve performance, you have to improve the habits of thought that improve performance. How are the "we have always done it this way" attitudes and habits holding your organization back from the success you need to achiev
Article written by Tammy A.S. Kohl, President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
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