Behind-the-Scenes Branding
Branding can function just like traditional marketing. Take a print ad, for example. Ultimately, a customer will go to your website or pick up the phone because what was on paper was compelling, interesting, memorable, or just a really great deal. When you approach branding a B2B business the same way, your customers think of you and the feeling and/or service you give them when their customer is right in front of them. Branding contributes to the actions of a sale.
Power to the Peon
The project he is working on is behind schedule. He believes that there is nothing he can do about his team running behind. Leadership in the organization won’t support him trying out some new things to get his project headed in the right direction, he believes. “I’m just a peon and can’t do anything to change how things are done,” he said.
Choose Your Words Carefully
Whether doing business with strangers or longtime customers, the same rules of etiquette need to be applied. We never want to take liberties and feel that we can talk to customers the way we do our golf buddies. People can be easily offended, and it would be a shame to lose sales because our sense of humor doesn’t match our customers’ or because we don’t control the use of inappropriate language. Even if the customer is using off-color words or phrases, we cannot take that as a cue that it’s OK to join in.
Hold on to What You’ve Got
Most of the time I teach people in our industry how to run profitable businesses by using proper sales and management techniques. Many of you have learned your lessons well and have gone on to build very successful businesses. Your reward for all of your hard work comes in the form of a sense of accomplishment and, of course, money. As good citizens, you’ve paid taxes on the money you’ve made and hopefully put the rest to work to make you more of it. Many of you have invested in real estate, either land, buildings, or both. Others have tried the stock market, bonds, annuities and other business ventures, hopefully all lucrative. Some of you have put your money in banks feeling that even though there wasn’t much to be made, it was safe.
Forrest Gump Was Right
Sometimes, bad things happen. Anyone who has not lived in a climate-controlled bubble knows this. Your reaction to an unfortunate series of events is what changes the entire experience.
How Expenses Can Sneak Up on You and What You Can Do about It
Anyone who has been in the transmission or auto-repair business for a while has experienced this: You come to one of those rare points in time when you think you’ve purchased all the equipment you need, all of your major bills are paid, your debts are all manageable, and you start to feel like you can finally take some of the profits out of the company that you worked so hard to make. Then you wake up. It was a nice dream, wasn’t it? The reality is that there is always something more to purchase or a new or increased expense with which to contend. There’s always a new tool or machine that you yourself or someone else convinces you that you just can’t live without, while at the same time every utility and government agency is working as hard as it can to get you, the small-business person, to pay more.
The Cheap Haircut
It’s great to show your personality, make jokes, and upsell to increase your bottom line. At the end of the day, if your main product sucks, none of the rest matters.
The Honey Effect
No two customers or situations are exactly the same. But you will find that you get better results if you treat the person on the other end with respect and a little extra TLC.
The Older We Get
Aging is not always a pleasant subject with which to deal. It tends to slow us down, make us forgetful and force us to change the way we go about our everyday lives. Although deep down inside most of us will be 25 forever, our bodies don’t help us keep that promise. Our brains tell our arms and legs which way to go but they don’t always obey, and remembering everything that used to be automatic becomes a struggle, so we have to continually think a move or two ahead.
I’ve found, as I’ve aged, that the simpler I keep things the more chance I’ll have of remembering them. This is especially true in dealing with customers. If I follow the same routines and tell the truth all the time there is much less I have to remember, allowing me to be far more effective. That way I won’t hesitate when I’m speaking and won’t have to search my internal database constantly trying to remember what lie I told to which customer. I was never a very good liar to begin with, but for those who are, you probably won’t be as you age, so it might be a good idea to start changing your tactics now.
It’s Just Routine
“Routine.” The word basically means to do the same things in the same order time after time. What’s interesting is that in the transmission or auto repair business that’s exactly what we need to do to be successful: Follow the same routines every time. There are routines for dealing with telephone callers, with customers as they come in, with diagnosing and pricing jobs, with calling customers to close sales, with handling price objections, with delivering the finished vehicle, and with following up after the work is completed.
The Fast and the Furious Way to Make Sales
In context, this is exclusively talking about racing cars. Out of context, I’d argue that this applies to sales. Standing by your car is like standing next to a list of sales you’ve made. Sure, it’s cool to have a mile-long list to show how many people you can sell something to. But after a while, you’ll likely run out of people willing to fork over their money. Racing your car is when you’re performing your job. When you put in the work to hone your craft and take challenges head on, you become one of the best. Your skills lead to admiration. Admiration earns respect. Respect opens the door to friendship. With that friendship, your list of possible customers can be endless.
Outside Insight – Can Restart Your Marketing Brain
If you’re lucky, your thoughts, opinions, and ideas are challenged every day. Regular, open discussion is a healthy thing, especially when it comes to justifying what you’re most passionate about.
But let’s be real. With the various responsibilities you have in your day and how busy work can seem, it’s easy to fall into a consistent, comfortable, unchallenged rut.
