Business-Building Steps From Terry L. Brock
You need more business! We’ve heard it loud and clear. In today’s economy many are struggling, but there are some who are doing very well. The key is the principles which one applies.
Here are some important steps you can take right now to generate more business — and one to avoid at all costs. Apply these principles and notice how things turn around for you in your own business.
Don’t forget to watch the video that accompanies this article for additional ideas. You can see that below on this page. Leave a comment (below) to others can benefit from your ideas and insight.
Steps To Get Business Today:
- Study. Study what the market wants and is ready, willing and able to pay for. Don’t just listen to what they want. Find out what they are willing to pay for, ready for it and have the money. I’ve seen way too many honest, entrepreneurs try in vane to sell their products and/or services without doing their initial research. They come up with what they think is a great idea that the market wants. Then they are continually disappointed when it still doesn’t fly. The better approach? Start with study. Find out what people want and are ready, willing and able to pay for it. Without that proper combination, you’re wasting valuable T.M.E. (Time, Money and Effort) for both you and your prospects. Once you’ve found the products and/services that people want and are ready, willing and able to pay for, sell and market like crazy!
- Contact. Make a specific number of phone calls, personal visits, email, letters, etc. etc. to past clients. Ask how they are doing. Don’t be pushy with sales but find out how they really are doing. Find out what they are going through and make your purpose to just say hello and help where possible. Don’t try to sell anything on this call. Be sincere to listen to them (yes, that means you have to shut up for a while!) and find out what they are going through.
- Be There. Get out to physical meetings and physically meet real, live people who can buy from you. Yes, email, Twitter, Facebook and more are nice. However, nothing can ever take the place of physically being there in front of important people. As Corbin Ball says, “You can’t share a virtual beer.” Join the organizations where your buyers hang out. Be there for them with value, not hype and trying to sell. This is what Relationship Marketing is all about.
- Go The Extra Mile. This week I re-read, as I like to do often, some of Napoleon Hill’s classic work, Think and Grow Rich. He talks about many principles, one of which is the habit of going the extra mile. It is one of the fundamental building blocks for success. Unsuccessful people put in — at best — 8 hours a day and think the world owes them a living. The world owes you nothing! 8 hours is just the beginning. To excel in any market — particularly a tough economy — you have to go way beyond what others are expecting and “make them say WOW!” as Winston Marsh tells us.
- Follow Up Like Crazy. Too many small business owners I see around the world do the right things — then stop. They don’t press through with an attitude of “smart persistence.” That extra effort of calling again, swinging by their office or dropping them a personal hand-written note can make all the difference. You’ve already done so many things right. Just go that little bit extra to push the ball over the goal line.
Avoid — At All Costs
After doing all the above, you’ll be off to a good start to generate more business today. But you have to constantly avoid a human tendency. That tendency is being so pushy that you only care about yourself and don’t see things from the other person’s point of view. Empathize with how she feels. Notice the challenges he is facing. See it from their point of view first and foremost. Then craft all your communications to helping them solve their problems. This is Relationship Marketing at its best.
Recently I spoke to some distributors in the plumbing business. They are going through some tough times now. I also heard from many who said they were making it as they tried to help others by going the extra mile. The successful distributors and wholesalers in plumbing, heating and air conditioning are doing well as they realize it is a different marketplace and they have to adjust. They are making a decisive effort to help their customers with problems and avoiding any hype or just pushing their own products.
Relationship Marketing is not always easy. However, it is the best way to generate more business in this, or any, economy. For more information, go to www.TerryBrock.com for videos that show how this can be done in your business.
Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc. Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results. He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com. Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: @TerryBrock
