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Do you want $$$$$ in your business? You MUST READ this by Dr. Jeffrey Magee

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

By Dr. Jeffrey Magee, PDM, CSP, CMC
Great sales professionals are not just born as such. It is work and daily effort that lead to the consistent sales which allow them to be perceived by others as great. Your job as a sales trainer/sales manager is to assist sales professionals in recognizing the daily efforts that can assist in generating inquiries from targeted demographics, resulting in increased closing ratios.  Sales professionals must realize that during the windows of down time in their sales day, there are productive, constructive activities which should dominate their schedule.

One way to turn cold calls into warm calls (most sales professionals would rather have their teeth pulled without anesthetic than make cold calls on a daily basis) is by deploying Rule 1/12/50. A way to stimulate inbound inquiries regarding your services/products is via Rule 1/12/50. A way to reach out to never-before-contacted suspects or prospects, and make their acquaintance in a non-threatening manner, is via Rule 1/12/50. A powerful way to ensure that your sales funnel (review Mini-Seminar 14) always remains full of leads is via Rule 1/12/50.

So what is Rule 1/12/50? It is a systematic approach to selling which compliments your efforts with manageable marketing efforts.  Coach your sales professionals to realize precisely what they should do, regardless of any other efforts being initiated by their organization.

Rule 1 / 12 / 50

1 = represents the actions which should take place the first part of every month, whether that is day one or the first days of the first week of each month - make it work for your sales professional’s schedule.

12 = represents a consistent approach for all 12 months of the year, before any analysis is undertaken as to whether to continue the approach, stop the approach, or adjust the approach.

50 = represents the targeted number of outbound contacts to be initiated every month. Identify the best 50 suspects to which you want to attempt to introduce yourself, or the best 50 prospects to whom you want to make a specific offer, or the best 50 customers (active or inactive) in front of whom you want to place a specific offer.

The specific contact action is a personalized, direct marketing approach. That monthly action can be:

1. A hand-written note card with hand-written envelope (studies reveal that hand-written envelopes are opened first in a stack of mail and hand-written notes are read from beginning to end and not scanned!).  Always include several of your business cards!

2. A personal letter with a suggested approach via one of your products/services of which they may not be aware.  Always include several of your business cards!

3. An email announcement, offer, request, etc.

4. A faxable note and a fax-back response request form for more information or requested follow-up (How might you achieve the same effect with social media?).

5. A direct mail card announcing who you are, something great that is now available, and ways for them to find out more or contact you.

6. A copy of any press releases or press clippings that may be of intrigue to the contact and stimulate them to contact you for more information.

Brainstorm with your sales professionals about different ways to contact suspects, prospects, and customers. Also brainstorm powerful messages you could include.  Now cold calls become warm calls. A sales professional can now make an outbound call to a suspect, prospect, or customer and the call can sound as follows:

“Hello, this is ________ with _________, I sent you a recent note on __________, have you had the opportunity to read it?”

1. If the answer is yes, then proceed with your conversational sales process.

2. If the answer is no, then “That’s all right, the reason I sent it to you is….”

Coach the sales professionals to realize that Rule 1/12/50 helps to fill one’s Sales Funnel to contact at all three levels, it may stimulate some contacts to call you, and it may even add to one’s bottom line, merely from a simple letter and postage stamp. WOW, low-cost marketing, high-yield sales.

Activity 31-A
Using Rule 1/12/50 To Continually Connect

Compliment your selling efforts by designing a direct marketing contact campaign to continually feed your selling efforts and your sales funnel via Rule 1/12/50.

Identify below specific industries, markets, geographies, groups, associations, types of individuals, etc. which would serve as lucrative target audiences to which to direct your letters/faxes/emails, etc. on a monthly basis:

SUSPECT POOL    PROSPECT POOL    CUSTOMER POOL

Month One:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Two:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Three:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Four:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Five:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Six:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Seven:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Eight:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Nine:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Ten:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Eleven:        ______________    _______________    ________________
Month Twelve:        ______________    _______________    ________________

* Transfer each of the monthly action plans above to your personal calendar system on the first portion of each corresponding month. This will assist in motivating you to action!

Month One Offer:    ___________________________________________________
Month Two Offer:    ___________________________________________________
Month Three Offer:    __________________________________________________
Month Four Offer:    ___________________________________________________
Month Five Offer:    ___________________________________________________
Month Six Offer:    ____________________________________________________
Month Seven Offer:    __________________________________________________
Month Eight Offer:    ___________________________________________________
Month Nine Offer:    ___________________________________________________
Month Ten Offer:    ____________________________________________________
Month Eleven Offer:    __________________________________________________
Month Twelve Offer:    __________________________________________________

Month One Specific Offer In Text Form: _____________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

I want to hear from you!
Be careful that you are not always simply bombarding your clients / prospects with sales pitches.  Rather, try to find good information that they might want to learn, or that will help them solve a problem in their life or their business.  What information, report(s) or studies can you provide? Or even better, how can you take raw information and make it meaningful to your customers?  Use this time as an opportunity to make connections, share ideas, and be a resource.


Dr. Jeff Magee
Dr. Jeff Magee
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Coaching Tip of the Day - Backup or Crash and Burn!

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

virus-detected This will be short and sweet today.

Back up your laptop and/or your PC weekly or even daily, since they make it so easy now a days!!!

Believe me when I say you cannot afford to be out of commission for hours at a time resolving such a frustrating issue as a PC crash or virus. Let alone the stress it can cause you which will have direct impact, of the negative kind, on all other aspects of your business and life. I am experiencing all of it as we speak and the clock is ticking on 4 hours since it started. Calculate your hourly value times those hours and a lot of money is seeping out the door.

Coaching Tip of the Day!

Subscribe to an online web based backup and restore system or buy yourself an external hard drive to back up your files. Do NOT attempt to risk your business because you don’t want to spend money on this type of insurance.

Trust me when I say, several hours or multiple days of out of business is NOT worth it.

Do it NOW!

Bernadette

Coaching Tip of the Day - Dream BIGGGGG!!!

Friday, November 13th, 2009

success It is Friday the 13th….how fun is that!

Some people who may be superstitious don’t like Friday the 13th’s as they expect strange or even bad things to happen on these days. I myself find them to be exciting and full of opportunities… many times dreams of mine come true on Friday the 13th, and today was no different; but more on that later.

I was talking with a two clients this week who are struggling to find their next big adventure in life. Meeting with one of them this morning I wanted to know about her passions; the things she really loves to do that makes her excited. Only seconds into the discussion her eyes opened wide, her smile naturally expanded, and her energy spiked dramatically. I was having a hard time keeping up and had to tame her in. It was a lot of fun to watch and listen to her.

I asked her what was preventing her from pursuing those dreams. She simply said “I don’t how to go about it.”

This is what I find with most people. Although there may be fear of change and moving outside the norm, when you dig deep they eventually admit they just do not know how to pursue a dream that may take them in a different direction that they are not familiar with. This is not uncommon for any new pursuit someone might take on.  However it can be easier than they think.

Coaching Tip of the Day!

Dream BIGGGGGG and then go to work to plan how you can pursue your dream. Here are some simple steps that take little time to work through:

1) Take 5 minutes to sit down quietly and write out the DREAM(S) you have for your life:

  • Consider this: if money, time or people were not an issue in your pursuing your dreams, what would those dreams be?
  • As you write do not analyze it or think to much about it

2) Take 25 minutes to write out EVERYTHING you would need to do to pursue that dream and make it a realty

  • Again, pretend that money, time or people were NOT an issue

3) Look the list over and bucket those activities and tasks that you can do NOW and then:

  • Put a start and end date on all of the activities and tasks you noted
  • Start small and easy building up to the bigger things as you move forward (whether that be a week, year, or 5 years)……
  • Remember, even the smallest step toward your DREAM gets you one step closer. And just think of the excitement and energy it will bring to you.

I worked with both of those clients to do this same exercise and both of them found sure fire things they could be doing now to ultimately accomplish that dream. And one of them would cause one of them to make drastic changes in his life and his families. But it was what would make him happy and loving life - which the family will ultimately benefit from.

Dream BIGGGGG…. you will be surprised how possible those dreams are!

One last note on my Friday the 13th dream - I dreamt of a book that I felt needed to be written (a memoir of sorts). That was in July. Today, Friday the 13th I learned that my book has been accepted and picked up by a publisher. Unbelievable!!!!! Exciting and scary.. but I had a dream, I followed the above, and now a few months later I am definitely on my way to realizing a dream…. You can do that too!

A toast to your dreams, and Happy Friday the 13th.

Bernadette Boas

Coaching Tip of the Day - Time your tasks, Increase your income!

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Do you know where you are spending your time each and every day in your business?

Do you if those tasks and that time is providing the return in productivity, revenue or profit that you expect for you and your business?

No matter the business, the client, and the length of time someone has been in business, one significant drain on their results and accomplishments is distractions, lack of focus, and swirling throughout their day. Instead of looking for client pushing papers, emails, or other tasks that are not revenue generating and driving value to their business. Instead of prospecting for new customer, identifying new or current ways to market to their customers, managing their team, or creating new strategies for growth, many business owners find the work day ending without many things accomplished in the day.

There are many reasons why that is which is what yesterday’s Tip of the Day discussed: the potential pot holes, constraints and barriers to one’s success. Today, I want to provide you 3 simple tips for increasing your productivity as Entrepreneur each and every day. The Goal: increase productivity and therefore your business success!!!

Coaching Tip of the Day!

Get a grasp on your time and see immediate increases in your productivity, energy and focus, as well as your teams:

  1. Write down the 3 most important tasks and activities you as the Business Owner should be doing each day to generate revenue and to move your business forward!
  2. Allocate the amount or percentage of time you should be spending on each of those activities.
  3. For one week, keep track of everything you are ACTUALLY doing during each business day by Task,  Time and Duration: for example 1 hour on email from 9-10am, 30 minutes with customer at 11:00-11:30, 2 hours traveling/attending networking event, 45 minutes writing an order at 6:00pm, 2 hours working the cash register 1:00-3:00pm……. you get the point.

How does your Plan and your Actual list stack up for the tasks and time you are actually spending time on, and the activities you should be doing? Are they in line or are you finding yourself doing tasks that are not revenue generating and working toward the goals of your business.

Additional Tip:

You have to work on the revenue generating and business development activities during your core work day, i.e. 9-5:00.  when your customers and prospects are available. All other tasks and activities MUST be done before and after the core revenue generating hours, i.e. email, paperwork, bookkeeping, filing, creating newsletters/marketing, updating contact management file, etc.

Attached is a Time Block Schedule template that can help you allocate your core revenue generating time effectively (see legend on the document), so you stay on point.

  • If you have to do email allocate when during the day you will do it
  • If you have standard appointments or networking events, block them out
  • You have team meetings or HAVE to work in the business, block it out
  • Block out all of the revenue generating activities to ensure you have time to do them
  • Then ALL other administrative and operational activities must be:
    • delegated to someone else
    • hired or outsourced to someone else
    • done by you OFF hours (and yes that does mean early mornings, nights or weekends)

Try it for 21 days, 3 full weeks, and watch your productivity soar, as well as your bank account!

master-timeblock-schedule-blank-templatetimemoney

Good luck and let me know how you do!

Bernadette Boas