Like Nobody's Business

"We're committed to excellent customer service."

Interesting idea. However, I'm not sure that we really are. Most of the time, I assert, we're too busy listening to the little voices inside our heads. I mean the voices that are constantly filtering our experiences--judging and assessing, telling us that we agree/don't agree/like it/don't like it/seen it before/trust you/don't trust you and on and on and on. With our little voices giving us the blow by blow from Radio Free Saigon, it gets a little tough to hear much of anything else.

So, are we really listening to our customers, vendors, suppliers, employees and business partners? Probably not.

Setting up listening posts, routine ways to listen to our customers, can be a daunting undertaking. We face loss of management control, changing the fundamentals of the business, reliability of information and scalability. We tend to contact people only when there's a problem we're trying to solve--not to learn about how to improve services that are already great.

Request for Help

If you have a contact at MTV, send me an email. I have a business associate who's trying to make a contact there.

Resources

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Surveymonkey.com

Lessons in Listening to Customers (has the overview of the Vodaphone survey)

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CONTACT ME

Lalita Amos, [email protected]

Got a question or comment: Call the Question Line: 214 615 6505, ext. 3895

www.totalteamsolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm

totalteam.blogspot.com

We're not in business the same way we were in the PE (pre-email) days before 1987. Small businesses are proliferating in a curious way. Non-micro enterprise businesses with between 11 and 499 staffers have declined from 12% in 1997 to 9%. Micro enterprise business, however, has grown by 95%, with 76% of that growth coming from firms with no employees at all. Over half of those new businesses are being operated out of people's homes, lofts and garages.

Yup. The business horizon has changed! Along with that, people are challenging their thinking behind choices for administrative and office services. Intelligent Office locales like the one here in Indy, are helping firms get all of the flexibility and prestige of the bigger, bricks-and-mortar dogs while staying lean like their other flourishing clicks-and-mortar brethren.

People who use Intelligent Office, tend to be forward-thinking firms who consider:

- Ways to get more out of their scheduling system (even if they're firms of one)

- The real need for office space (either permanently or on an ad hoc basis)

- How to get the most out of their current administrative staff, if they have one.

- How they'll supplement their administrative staff for less complex tasks (like mailing and booking appointments)

The IO staff route calls, book appointments, handle mail, create mailings while at the same time offering modest rates for premium office space for hourly, daily, weekly and monthly lease.

Part of the challenge in using a service like IO is shifting one's thinking from the traditional to the innovative. For me, that meant the 4 months it took for me to realize that I could set up my cellphone to ring over automatically to my staff at IO if I wasn't answering.

They've bailed me out in crises (mother's death, father's grave illness and husband's emergency hospitalization) allowing me to keep my business rolling rather than being forced to close up shop.

Love the book, Working from Home, by Paul and Sarah Edwards. It's a must for people who run SOHO's (small offices/home offices).

When you find Chris from Intelligent Office ([email protected]), be sure to congratulate him on becoming a new papa.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION FORUM, LISTEN AGAIN OR READ SHOW NOTES

Lalita Amos

http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm

http://totalteam.blogspot.com

214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments

OK. You’ve started lining up your raving fans—people who know, like, understand and trust you. You’ve begun meeting with them, but are concerned that your relationships are starting to feel the chill. Consider these two broad mindsets when meeting with your raving fans and the prospects they bring you.

Sales Mindset (Referral Mindset concepts in parentheses):

* People who may need to be "sold to" (Raving fans find people who are ready to be buy. Need established by your raving fans who can ask more and better questions than you can based on their relationship)

* Convinced of your competency (Prospects found by your raving fans are predisposed to be believe in you by their business/personal associate. They already trust Jane and come to you believing that you'll be trustworthy as well)

* The sales rep is responsible for moving the prospect through the sales prospect (Your raving fan moves the prospect through the sales funnel)

* Lower level of repeat business (Raving fans generate more business with more of a likelihood to continue and expand. They are much more comfortable with the sales process and feel more confident in doing business with you).

Longer sales cycles (The work of your raving fans produces sales more quickly).

* Demonstrations are a must (Your raving fans have already demonstrated your competence, referring prospects—people they know—to your website or your sales literature. They need little more convincing. Instead, be sure that you’ve asked them for their understanding of your product or service and see if they need any more information—it my not be the information you think).

Now that you’ve lined out these two broad ways of thinking, consider this: both are necessary for prospecting using your raving fans. No matter how hot the prospect they bring you, you will still need to be skilled in the nuances of closing the sale. The fish can still jump off the hook.

The challenge is keeping your referral network, well, working! One of the chief ways you can cabbage-up your network is by selling to them. Given the amount of information you’ll be giving them so they can better support you, they’ll know if they need to have a conversation with you about a paid client arrangement. Trust me on this one: Don’t push.

Another challenge is in the lack of reciprocity that can occur between business associates. The feeling can be “if she wants me to help her, she’d better ask.” Interesting sentiment, however, she’ll be more likely to tag you as the stingy-gus you are and never help you again. Instead, ask her “Where are you challenged? And how can I help you win here?” Spend real time focused on her business and be willing to champion her business.

Pay it forward, my friend.

References:

Endless Referrals, Third Edition, Bob Burg

Get More Referrals Now!, Bill Cates

76 Ways to Build a Straight Referral Business, ASAP!, Lorna Riley

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION FORUM, LISTEN AGAIN OR READ SHOW NOTES

Lalita Amos

http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm

http://totalteam.blogspot.com

214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments

RESOURCES

At www.totalteamsolutions.com's whitepapers page, you can find the whitepaper "Create Your Kitchen Cabinet," which details how to create an advisory council. Use it to help you find additional customers and key business contacts.

Find and read "Raving Fans" for more information on how to use the power of people who know, like and trust you to more easily generate new business.

FIND HIM AND CONGRATULATE HIM

Scott Forgey's the gentleman I was referring to on today's show. He's a former attorney and lead large group format workshops on personal and organizational transformation. He's started a new consulting concern, Corporate Training Professionals.com. Send him an email to wish him well.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION FORUM, LISTEN AGAIN OR READ SHOW NOTES

Lalita Amos http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm http://totalteam.blogspot.com

214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments

Starting your own consulting firm is not for the timid. One must think like an entrepreneur. Here are a few key areas of your business you should concern yourself with:

* Administration: As I said, the tedious bits of your business that include your phone system, your location, your clerical support, your relationships with bankers, insurance firms, attorneys and accountants

* Research & Development: How you develop your new offerings

* Marketing: Key demographic information about your customers (or proposed customers). What they want, who they are, where they are, how they want to get it and how much they want to pay for it. Includes web, referral and other marketing systems.

* $ (sales, sales support and product/service delivery): What you'll do to close the sale and delivery of the product or service is needed

Some very helpful books:

* Consulting for Dummies by Bob Nelson and Peter Economy: Helps with a general picture of your business endeavor.

* Consulting on the Side: How to Start a Part-Time Consulting Business While Still Working at Your Full-Time Job by Mary F. Cook: How to transition from a full-time job to part-time consulting. Good for people who need a stop along the way to full self-employment.

* The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber: A great take on the mindsets necessary for successful entrepreneurship

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FOR MORE INFORMATION Lalita Amos http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm http://totalteam.blogspot.com 214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments

Do you have a disaster plan? Given that we in the Northern Hemisphere are just entering hurricane and tornado season, we would do well to know what to do. Write a brief (you know how much I love working from one page) plan, including medical other disasters, give it to a trusted party and then practice.

However, there are those disasters that are entirely personal, like a very sick parent, partner or child. Do you know how to keep your business running or will your business run out of gas?

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For more info:

Question Line: 214 615 6505, pin #3895

Comment Line: 214 615 6505, pin #3386 www.totalteamsolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm totalteam.blogspot.com

Neatness is overrated. More relevant are questions of productivity and effectiveness rather than how pristine your office space is.

CONSIDERATIONS:

Are you a serial (single thought processes) or a parallel (multiple trains of thought) thinker?

Do you have separate private thinking spaces (which you can keep in whatever way works for you) and public meeting spaces (which you can keep in pristine condition for meetings with prospects or clients)?

RESOURCES:

* Intelligent Office: http://www.ioindy.com

* Abrahamson and Freedman's book, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder--How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place

DON'T FORGET:

Stop Selling Like a Man Teleclass: 27 February, 9 Pacific/12 Central. Check back here or at Toni’s welsite for more details.

HOW TO REACH TONI NELL

http://www.springboardconsulting.biz/

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Lalita Amos

http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm

http://totalteam.blogspot.com

214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments

This episode includes an interview with the fabulous Toni Nell of Springboard Consulting. Focusing on one of the key steps in her "Stop Selling Like a Man" program, she helps us understand the importance of truth-telling while selling.

Toni Nell of Springboard Consulting is a player. She’s worked with A-List clients (like Morgan Stanley) and been the go-to-gal for such business luminaries as Jim Horan (One Page Business Plan) and Michael Gerber (The E-Myth Revisited). In her own right, she’s seen and done about everything in a sales context. What she’s learned is that selling is truly about understanding and moving into the world of your prospect or client – lock, stock and teardrop. Your PowerPoint presentations and glossy brochures be damned.

Key steps to being your ever-so-wonderful, authentic selling self include

1. Relaxing

At a sales call, there may be nothing for you to DO, except be fully

competent and ask, “So why am I here?” Your curiosity makes you

powerful.

2. Show up

3. Listen without agenda

4. TELL THE TRUTH (this episode)

5. Let go of the outcome

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Stop Selling Like a Man Teleclass: 27 February, 9 Pacific/12 Central. Check back here or at Toni’s welsite for more details.

HOW TO REACH TONI NELL

http://www.springboardconsulting.biz/

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Lalita Amos

http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm

http://totalteam.blogspot.com

214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments

We spend more time picking an Ob/Gyn that will birth our babies than we do building the business partnerships that provide the income we need to take care of said babes. We know that one out of nine new businesses experience a five year failure rate and that the survivors may not be fairing all that well.

For partnerships, more attention is spent on the legal and financial positioning of the partnership - whether it was a limited partnership. S or C Corporation, whether it was taxed like a partnership or a corporation and how the partners would get money from the partnership. Little information exists out there on how to have an effective partnership -- one where you don't continually fantasize about pitching one or all partners under the bus.

Once the structure is in place, where do we go to work?

Smaller firms tend to stay more tactical and, unfortunately, have a harder time getting and staying strategic. Business planning is a single event, usually tied to getting start-up funding needed to open the doors, but not an informative, educational process designed to help you understand the needs of the business and the needs and best thinking of the partners.

Business partnerships tend to work best when the partners have done the work of understanding each other. Knowing these things about each partner is crucial to determining how to best allocate them as resources:

* What are you good at?

* What can you do competently, but need support for (like, I can do the financials well, but it really takes it out of me)?

* What do you do badly?

Now, everything in a partnership isn't always a box of kittens (warm and fluffy). Conflict happens. The question is: what do we do when we're not on the same page? Conflict, by its nature, is positional. People square off on things that really don't matter most but, instead, on old wounds or superficialities. By asking partners what they're committed to for the business, the partnership or themselves, you can begin to move towards what matters most.

Consider this book: The Partnership Charter: How to Start Out Right with Your New Business Partnership (Or Fix the One You're in), by David Gage is a good resource for putting together (or repairing) business partnerships. For legal and tax advice, of course, see a legal or tax expert.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

Lalita Amos

http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm http://totalteam.blogspot.com 214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments

This episode is NOT about women. What it’s about is selling in such a way that in bringing your A-Game you bring yourselves. Toni Nell of Springboard Consulting is a player. She’s worked with A-List clients (like Morgan Stanley) and been the go-to-gal for such business luminaries as Jim Horan (One Page Business Plan) and Michael Gerber (The E-Myth Revisited). In her own right, she’s seen and done about everything in a sales context. What she’s learned is that selling is truly about understanding and moving into the world of your prospect or client – lock, stock and teardrop. Your PowerPoint presentations and glossy brochures be damned.

Key steps to being your ever-so-wonderful, authentic selling self include

1. Relaxing

At a sales call, there may be nothing for you to DO, except be fully competent and ask, “So why am I here?” Your curiosity makes you powerful.

2. Show up

3. Listen without agenda

4. Tell the truth

5. Let go of the outcome

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Stop Selling Like a Man Teleclass: 13 February, 9 Pacific/12 Central. Check back here or at Toni’s welsite for more details.

HOW TO REACH TONI NELL

http://www.springboardconsulting.biz/

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Lalita Amos

http://www.TotalTeamSolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm

http://totalteam.blogspot.com

214 615 6505, 3895 for questions or comments