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It was a 90 minute conversation where I asked to record my side of the conversation for possible publication. The reason? We were discussing sales philosophy and how that might impact strategy, execution and building a business to reach higher levels of success.
Some hi-lights of the conversation and other key points:
Don’t lean toward manipulation. Instead, serve!
Being transaction oriented and go for short-term profit, or avoid that and look for the long-term play.
You can go all in on trying to manipulate or you can go all in on watching what customers want/need. Pay attention to behavior or try to change behavior — it’s smarter and more profitable to pay attention to it and then react accordingly.
Do right by the customer.
Be good. Improve. Make your offer as good as you can make it, but don’t confuse things thinking if you build a better mousetrap that your sales challenges will be fixed.
Visibility precedes understanding. And after understanding there has to be appreciation. Without appreciation there is no sale.
You have to get known (visibility) first. Then you have to teach or show people so they know what you’re offering (understanding). But that doesn’t mean they’ll see the value (appreciation).
Long-term thinking fosters long-term behavior. It impacts every facet of your business. By doing the right thing now you build experience (and higher determination) to continue to do the right thing.
The competitive edge is patience for the long-term outcome. Sometimes it’s a lack of optimism that causes people to take the short-term payoff.
Bula Network Owners’ Alliance – how I’m approaching selling this
Too many business owners focus solely on the first of my trifecta of business building: getting new customers!
Too few give any attention to the second one: serving existing customers better! And that explains why so many suffer defeat on the 3rd one: not going crazy in the process.
Once we get the customer’s money we then neglect them. I don’t get it.
Customer base is everything! Every business needs a rock solid customer base.
You can’t sell your way out of a problem by merely being transactional. Sometimes it’s a motivation problem — business owners are driven more by their own needs, than the needs of their customers.
The average person on Twitter has 208 followers. My guess was a “few hundred.”
The average person on Linkedin has 930 connections. My guess was 500.
Let me know what you think of today’s show.
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About the hosts: Randy Cantrell brings over 4 decades of experience as a business leader and organization builder. Lisa Norris brings almost 3 decades of experience in HR and all things "people." Their shared passion for leadership and developing high-performing cultures provoked them to focus the Grow Great podcast on city government leadership.
The work is about achieving unprecedented success through accelerated learning in helping leaders and executives "figure it out."