BIZBUZZ: Cy Charney: The Salesperson’s Handbook

Hi, I’m Gary Brown, a FocalPoint business coach.

Welcome to episode 16 of BIZBUZZ.

I stimulate conversations in order to help business owners imagine a future state of affairs that is different from their present state.

The following video highlights some content from The Salesperson’s Handbook, written by Cy Charney.  The focus is recognizing what constitutes excellent customer service.

I am going to comment on the basic customer needs that are identified by Charney.

He suggests that customers have a handful of basic needs. Customers want to feel safe; they want to be treated as special; they have a need to feel successful; they want things done right the first time and customers want to get things done efficiently.

This raises a question in my mind. If basic needs are being met, how focused on price do we need to be?

Charney also introduces an appropriate quotation from Aristotle. He stated that “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”. I wonder how many of us realize that habits are acquired through practice?  Sometimes, I can’t help but think that some more practice is needed!

Well, that’s it for The Saleperson’s Handbook.
Thanks for watching.

Your comments are always welcome.
Stay tuned for more BIZ BUZZ.

BIZBUZZ: Restak, Richard; The Naked Brain

This is episode 8 of BIZBUZZ.

I stimulate conversations to challenge business owners to consider new possibilities and to Act Boldly.  The following video highlights some of the content from Richard Restak’s book The Naked Brain that grabbed my attention.

Hi, I’m Gary Brown a FocalPoint business coach.

Welcome to BIZ BUZZ.

I’ve chosen to comment on The Naked Brain, a book written by Richard Restak that deals essentially with the subject of emotion and logic.

I’d like to make three observations from the book that I feel are worth considering.

The first deals with verbal communication.  Restak contends that tone of voice is the most revealing of all sensory channels when it comes to detecting a speaker’s true feelings or beliefs.  Is our listening active enough that we pick up tone of voice?  Perhaps more importantly, do we pay attention to it?

My next observation deals with customer loyalty.  Restak states that customer loyalty has a profound emotional component.  He underscores the significance of this statement by indicating that a 5% increase in the number of loyal customers will, on average, increase your profit per customer by 25 to 100%.  That is very dramatic!

My final comment deals with some Gallup research that is presented in the book.  Gallup found that people stay loyal to brands that engage their trust and their affection.  The limbic part of our brain controls our emotions.  Are we reaching that emotional level with our customers?  Are they merely satisfied with our products & services or are they genuinely happy?

That’s it for The Naked Brain.

Your comments are always welcome.

Stay tuned for more BIZ BUZZ.

Only For The Bold

For those businesses that use the calendar year as their fiscal year, it is time to wrap your minds around your budget for the upcoming year.

Here is a challenge for you to chew on.  What would it take to double your revenue in 2014?

Now, if you say it can’t be done, then you’re right.  But, if you ask yourself “what would we have to do in order to double our business?”, then you are at least open to the possibility.

If you are going to double your revenue in 2014, determine your average annual revenue per customer.  You can attempt to double the number of customers you currently serve or double the annual revenue per customer or some combination thereof.  Some questions to ask yourself are:

a) how do I get more and better leads?

b) how do I improve our lead to customer conversion rate?

c) can we increase the number of transactions per customer?

d) can we increase the amount spent per customer transaction?

Here is a perspective that you can use in your planning activity:

1) Do more of some things

2) Do less of some things

3) Do some new things

4) Stop doing some things altogether

Let’s get started by looking at the top 20% of your client base.  Chances are that these customers account for 80% of your revenue.  Are there additional services or products that you currently offer that these customers would purchase from you?  If they are also focused upon growth, will the frequency of their purchases be increased?  Will they pay more for the existing products and services that they purchase from you?

Are there some customers that should receive fewer services from you?  Are there services that you provide for which you are not adequately reimbursed?

Who are the targeted companies that you should be approaching?  What new products or services can you add to your offering that are complementary to your current offering?  Is your current business plan in need of being revised?

Let’s go back to that 80/20 analysis of your customer base.  Which companies are candidates for pruning from your customer base?  Do you have any products or services that should likewise be expunged?

I’d encourage you to spend some time asking yourself how the business could be doubled rather than simply accepting that you can’t do it.  There will be smiles all around even if you only lift the business by 50%!