School Uniforms

Go The Extra Mile

Sales
     Successful salespeople go the extra mile when providing service, and turn the customers they serve into advocates to help them promote their business. Your referrals and follow up on business are in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of service you render on a daily basis. Want more referrals? Improve your service!

Following are five powerful tips that will help you improve your customer service.

1. Under-promise and over-deliver. Develop a reputation for reliability; never make a promise that you can’t keep. Your word is your bond.

2. Pay attention to the small things. Get in the habit of returning phone calls, e-mails and other correspondence quickly. Your mantra should be: follow up, follow up, follow up.

3. Stay in contact and keep good records. Take the time to jot down notes from meetings and phone calls making certain to record all relevant information. Maintain a written record of service.
This is especially helpful when clients are reassigned to a new sales rep. Setup a suspense system to track important contact dates such as client review calls and birthdays. Consider sending a personal note or an article of interest every six months.

4. Give your customers a promotional product. It sounds like a given, however it is often forgotten. It is your business — use the power of promotional products to your advantage. Remember, the product will be around, even when you are not.

5. Establish a feedback system to monitor how your customers perceive the quality and quantity of the service you provide. Service is not defined by what you think it is, but rather how your customers perceive its value. When it comes to customer service, perception is reality.

Progressive companies emphasize commitment to customer service from the top down by establishing training standards and continuously monitoring customer satisfaction. Companies that fail to implement an effective customer service program actually do a disservice to their customers and unknowingly, leave the backdoor open to their competitors. If you do it right, sales and service blend seamlessly and you will exceed your customer’s expectations.

Source: John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. He is a nationally recognized sales trainer.

Note: Today’s PCT is the last for e-newsletter for 2008. You will see us back in your e-mail inbox on Monday, January 3, 2009. Our wish is for a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Stress is building as many small business owners watch the economy evaporate in front of their eyes.   As the economic news continues to worsen daily they struggle to meet their most basic obligations. If the slowdown continues, some may face hard decisions.
However, most entrepreneurs have a sink or swim mentality. Focus on the right things and you can get through this downturn.

Today and tomorrow, Promotional Consultant Today will explore 10 ways to stay focused and survive these challenging times. Today we’ll look at the first five.

1. Cash flow is king:  As a small business owner, you must know how your cash flows. This isn’t fancy accounting; it’s simply tracking how cash comes in versus how it goes out. Take two hours, and use your QuickBooks or check register to get a grasp of this monetary movement.

2. Trim the fat:  Many small businesses experienced a tremendous run in the last 10 years. Since they had good cash flow coming in the door, they allowed fat to accumulate in the things going out the door.  Now is the time to look at where your money is going, and eliminate unnecessary items.
Think about trading in business Hummer for a less expensive and fuel-efficient car and getting rid of that expensive copier lease.
In addition, you may need to make some tough decisions about eliminating employees. It’s critical to quickly get your cash outflows to a manageable level.

3. Look into the future:  When clients and projects were rolling, most entrepreneurs believed new business would materialize whenever things temporarily slowed down. Those times are gone. Analyze what money is coming in during the next three months, specifically from where, and when. Compare this to the new cash outflows that you assessed in step No. 2. If things are tight, that’s fine; if more is going out than coming in, trim more and find additional income. Do this exercise each month, always looking three months out.

4. Get back to basics:  When you first went into business, you may have had to fight and claw to make ends meet. Make a list of the things you did then to bring in revenue. You probably moved away from many of those strategies when business improved. This is the time to aggressively return to them.

5. Avoid the evil temptation:  It’s tempting to use debt and credit cards to borrow your way through slow times. Since no one knows how long this slump will last, borrowing may result in the demise of your business. Say “no” to using credit cards, the equity in your home, or any other borrowing. Resolve that you’re going to scratch and claw your way through this using the cash flows of the business. You’ll come out stronger in the end.

Source: Thomas E. Houck, CPA, CFP, is a speaker, author and consultant whose program, “Your CFO Advantage” helps business owners grow their businesses, reduce their taxes and lower their stress level. His book, The Top 10 Mistakes Business Owners Make (and how to fix them), helps business owners develop strategies to lead a better life by running a better business.

Lesson From Yogi
In Yogi Berra’s 2007 commencement speech to the graduating class of St. Louis University, he said, “Be careful if you don’t know where you’re going in life, because you might not get there.”
Yogi’s latest take on his own funny and famous quote from years ago certainly describes the unfortunate situation that many professionals and business owners find themselves in.

While focusing on the tactical nature of doing business, the strategic vision is often lost, and in some cases it never gets established in the first place.  We’re sure that we need to make the month. We’re sure that we have to pay the bills. We know that we have to keep our customers happy if we have any hope of survival. But in the end, will the business activities we engage in every day deliver the end result we wish for?
We can only answer that if we know what the desired end result is. What will your business look like at its most successful moment? In other words, what is the ultimate state of your business? Armed with a crystal clear and compelling vision of your destination, you can lead your organization to accomplish it.
Today and tomorrow Promotional Consultant Today will look at a few ways you can leverage your strategic vision to create change in your organization.

A Vision
A strategic vision encourages business and personal alignment. In the absence of a clear strategic direction, employees and even business owners will do what they think will provide the most value in the given moment, as they individually define it.
Whether you know it or not, you’re operating according to a personal vision right now, and every person in your organization is as well. Even if everyone has the best intentions, growth of the business will be slowed because everyone is working on their own definitions of success.
Once you’ve clearly defined your vision and shared it, your activities, the activities of your employees and the resources of your business will come into alignment with that common destination.

A Focus
A strategic vision creates focus. When the economy is in a down cycle, the tendency is to focus on the difficulty of conducting business, the lost opportunities and the impact to the bottom line. This attention to the negative can erode confidence and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
By keeping the vision at the forefront of the organization’s awareness, employees and management alike can focus on generating new ideas, planning for the future and seeing new possibilities. It’s much like deciding to buy a particular new car, and then noticing the car everywhere. When we’re focused on a positive outcome, coincidences, resources and opportunities arise as if by magic.

Source: A speaker and consultant, Kim Marcille’s 25-year background in business leadership ranges from Fortune 500 experience to small business ownership. She’s founder of Possibilities Amplified, Inc and author of the forthcoming, Amp It Up! Secrets from Science for Creating the Life of Your Dreams.  She is formerly vice president of new initiatives for the Miami Herald Media Company, and former CEO of Catalyst.

Get Out Of Your House And Thrive

All week we’ve talked about the increased productivity, efficiency and profitability you get when you run a business out of your house.

But working at home doesn’t mean you should be in isolation. In fact, networking is even more crucial when your office is at your fingertips all the time.

Without a networking strategy, you run the risk of feeling alone. You might miss talking to people, which could lead you to socialize with a neighbor rather than network with a prospect. And you might miss the companionship of someone to BS with around the coffee station.
The answer is to schedule networking into your work plans. Doing so is good for business growth and your personal development.
So what to do?

Join Professional Organizations
This approach keeps you abreast of trends in your field and lets you participate in regular meetings with people like you. Often you get the combination of professional education, new contacts and relationship building.

Participate In Business Groups
You might find it valuable to join a local chamber of commerce, the Rotary, volunteer organizations and other groups that bring people together. After all, you don’t know where your next best client might come from.

Seek Lunch Partners
I’m not saying eat out every day. But a few times a week is pretty good. You can arrange meetings with prospects, clients, suppliers or people on your virtual team (you do have a virtual team helping you, don’t you?). This meeting gives you opportunities to explore possibilities, brainstorm or look for projects to collaborate on.

Attend Trade Shows And Conferences
These events are great opportunities to mingle with people who are geared toward meeting someone new. Just as you are.

Create Opportunities To Meet People
Talk to other entrepreneurs and business people. You never know what the person sitting next to you does. Perhaps she’s the buyer of promotional products for a Fortune 500 company. If you don’t reach out and launch into conversations — not sales calls — you may miss an opportunity to create a business connection.
Recently, I was at a minor league baseball game. One of the newest stadium advertisers had signage near the visiting dugout. It turns out a guy sitting near me was wearing a shirt with that same company name. We got into conversation and that led to a meeting, which led to a proposal.
The point is, you’ve got to get out there and network. Naturally, this is true no matter where you hang your office sign. But it becomes more important when you need the social interaction with other people that you may miss when you work from home.
Of course just showing up at an event is never enough. You’ve got to be bold and reach out to meet people. Be friendly and subtle so you don’t overly pitch your business. Remember that you’re creating a relationship first, and a sale second.
There’re more tips for how to network once you’re in the arena, but that will have to wait for another column.

      Source: Roger A. Shapiro is an independent marketing communications consultant with 25 years experience helping people use words to reach results. He works out of his home office as he consults, teaches writing and speaks on writing and communication issues. He is the author of Write Right, 26 Tips to Improve Your Writing Dramatically.

Surviving The Baby Boomer Exodus

In 2011, the oldest of the baby boomers will turn 65, marking a turning point in corporate America. As the 76 million baby boomers begin to leave the workforce, the United States will experience the most dramatic economic and demographic changes in its history. For the first time we are facing a mass retirement movement. To survive unscathed, companies must begin planning and preparation for this transition.

Think about your own company for a moment. How will you handle this transition? How will you groom your Generation X workers to step into leadership roles? How are you going to transfer the 40-plus years of wisdom and experience that the boomers possess to your younger workers? How do you plan to keep your company successful and running smoothly with a deficit of workers?
The bottom line is that all companies need to harness the young leadership already in their organization so the baby boomer exodus has as little impact as possible.
Today and tomorrow, Promotional Consultant Today will explore avenues to make the upcoming transition period a smooth one.

Know What You’re Up Against
You need to find out as soon as possible how this mass retirement will affect your company. Get with your human resources department and find out your workplace demographics. How many baby boomers are currently working in the company, what are their positions, and what are their anticipated retirement dates?
For example, are all your middle managers positioned to retire in the next five years? Will your sales department shrink by half in the next few years? You need to know what the impact will be on your company so you can start planning and be ready for the transition.

Develop A Knowledge Transfer Strategy
Most companies have policy manuals detailing each position’s job requirements. While such a policy manual is a good start for grooming younger workers, it’s simply not enough. After all, you can only document so much of the day-to-day activities. Plus, there are subtleties of every job — things you do just because experience and knowledge points you in a certain direction. You can’t document those kinds of things — go a step further and develop a strategy/policy/training system for transferring the knowledge and skills of the older workers to the younger successors.

Mentor Younger Workers
As part of the knowledge transfer strategy, companies need to implement a mentoring program. For a company to have a successful transition, the younger generation needs to work side-by-side with the older workers for a significant period of time. You simply cannot transfer 40-plus years of knowledge and expertise overnight. Therefore, if you know that a key person is going to be retiring in three years, have that person start mentoring a younger worker now.
Again, this is not something you can do during a new hire’s 90-day training period. True mentoring takes a year to accomplish at the very least. Additionally, Generation X workers who receive this sort of long-term mentoring will feel more valued and will be more likely to stay with the company long-term.
Tomorrow we’ll look at retaining older workers, the management team and successful transitions.

Source: Anne Houlihan is president of Satori Seal. In addition, she is founder of Elevated Leadership International, where she shares more than 25 years of hands-on corporate experience and coaching to help companies of all sizes.

By. Promotional Consultant Today

Fighting The Word ‘No’
You’ve done the research. You’ve made the cold calls. You’ve made the sales pitch. But, your job as a promotional consultant begins when the client says “No.” It’s when the client says “No” that your job really begins.
Following are a few tips to consider when you hear rejection.

Don’t Take “No” As A Personal Rejection
If you are going to be a top sales producer, you’ve got to learn how to deal with “No”!

Source: Chuck Bauer has more than two decades of sales experience. An author, consultant and speaker, he is a member of the National Speakers Association. A man of many interests, he is an instrument rated private pilot, body builder and mountain biker. Contact Bauer by clicking here.

The Heart Of The Job

Everyday you have new products to learn, paperwork to complete, hundreds of customer problems to solve, meetings to attend, inside people to cajole, managers to mollify-and, on top of all this, you are expected to sell something.
It’s hard to do so when you have all these other aspects of your job howling for your attention.
How do you manage all of this while at the same time build sales? How do you sort through all of this and focus on the essentials of your job?
Good question. Let’s start by identifying one of those essentials. Think about the sales process-the activities it takes to make a sale. Certain key activities come to mind. You know that you need to make appointments with qualified decision makers, to collect information about their needs, to build relationships, to demonstrate products, to follow up, to answer questions, etc. Your list of important sales activities is probably expanding monthly.

But if you´re going to focus on the essentials, there is one absolutely necessary activity around which everything else resolves. All of the other activities are either a means to bring about this activity, or actions that spring out of this one key activity.

Making An Offer Is Key
What is it? Making a persuasive offer to your customer. Thinking of it in its simplest terms, making an offer means saying something like: “Here is this … (product, service, package, deal.) How about buying it?”
You make an offer whenever you respond to a request for a price. When you demonstrate a product, you make an offer. When you bring in a piece of literature and tell your customer about some new product or service, you make an offer. When you respond to your customer´s request for information about a product or service, you make an offer. All of these are variations on a theme, but all of them can be classified as the presentation of an offer.
Those offers are the heart of your job. Without them, you can sell nothing. Your customers will never buy if you never offer them something to buy.

Look At The Numbers
It is an unmistakable fact, that in sales, quantity counts. In other words, to be successful, you must make a certain number of sales offers. Regardless of how much skill or sophistication you apply to your job as a salesperson, you cannot totally negate the quantity aspect of it. Given two salespeople in equal territories, of equal abilities, and the one who makes the greater quantity of offers will generally have better results.
With this in mind, one simple way to cut through all the things that you have to do is to focus on the essential component of the sales process-making an appropriate quantity of sales offers. If you’re looking for a simple way to increase your results, focus on the quantity of sales offers that you make.
Do two things.

1. Begin to keep track of how many sales offers you make in the course of a week. Initially, don’t worry about what you’re presenting, and don’t be concerned about the dollar volume of each potential piece of business. Those are more sophisticated concerns that can be considered later. For now, just keep track of how many offers you make. Use a simple hash mark system in your planner. Each day, make a hash mark for each offer you presented to a customer. At the end of each week, add up the number of hash marks.
There is an amazing law of management stating that the behavior you measure is the behavior you get. That applies to self-management as well. Just the act of keeping track (measuring) the quantity of sales offers you present will help you focus on those essential activities. As you become more aware of the quantity of sales offers, you´ll naturally be drawn to ways to increase that quantity.
2. Begin to find ways to increase the quantity of those sales offers. If you find yourself averaging five presentations a week, try to increase that to an average of 10.
When you´re overwhelmed with too much to do, and you´re feeling like you´re being drawn in a kaleidoscope of conflicting directions, focus on the essential part of your job. Measure and increase the quantity of sales offers you make. It will keep you close to the heart of your job and help you focus on the highest priority activities.

Source: Dave Kahle, a nationally-known speaker and sales coach, has published more than 1,000 articles, six books in 10 languages, and numerous multi-media training programs. In addition, he serves on the editorial advisory panel of two newsletters: The Competitive Edge and Sales & Marketing Excellence.

By Vince Dicecco from Sign Business April 2008 pg 80

” …The next time you are thinking of making a significant business decision- to hire more people, to move to a bigger facility, take on a new product line or venture into a new market, to name a few- try to forecast its impact on the company with and without a national emergency.”

Is Your Glass Half Full Or Half Empty?
     Yes, there is magic in positive thinking!
     In aviation, the word attitude means the angle at which the plane meets the wind, whether the wings are level with the horizon, and whether it is climbing or descending. The pilot who fails to take responsibility for the attitude of his aircraft is in serious trouble.

Likewise, any person who has not taken charge of his or her own beliefs and attitudes runs a similar risk. The key to cultivating and maintaining a positive mental attitude is to take control of your thinking and avoid negative minded people. It’s a challenging task to develop a calm, focused mind, but well worth the effort.
     Every setback and failure you experience also comes with a great opportunity. When one door closes, a window of possibility opens. The key is to look for the opportunity and avoid dwelling on failure. Think thoughts of defeat and you are bound to feel defeated.
     Your attitude is not determined by circumstances, but by how you respond to those circumstances. You determine your attitude; you always have the choice to respond either positively or negatively. What happens to a person is less important than what happens within them.
     The great inventor, Thomas A. Edison, was known for his positive mental attitude. In December 1914, the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, was almost entirely destroyed by fire. Edison lost $2 million worth of equipment and the records of much of his life’s work. The morning after the fire, as the 67-year-old inventor walked among the ashes, he was anything but defeated. Looking around, he remarked, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”
     Yes, there is magic in a positive attitude!
     I recommend that you read the following books and consider adding them to your personal success library:

How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling, by Frank Bettger

The Magic Of Believing, by Claude M. Bristol

You’ll See It When You Believe It, by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

What It Takes To Succeed In Sales, by Jeanne & Herbert Greenberg

The Power Of Positive Thinking, by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Positive Action Plan, by Dr. Napoleon Hill

The Master-Key To Riches, by Dr. Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone

Psycho-Cybernetics, by Dr. Maxwell Maltz

Creative Living For Today, by Dr. Maxwell Maltz

     Source: John Boe presents a variety of training and motivational programs for meetings and conventions. He brings more than years of experience as an award-winning sales trainer to the platform.