Skating the Infosphere

Most consultants I’ve talked to don’t spend any time trying to recover inactive clients and it’s a big mistake. We tend to magnify the problem we had or just want to move on, but sometimes a simple apology and offering to make things right will bring you back a client worth thousands of dollars in billing.

Clients can quit contacting you for a number of reasons:

They had a bad experience.

They no longer need your product or service.

As their needs evolved, they believed your company no longer could offer what they need.

They just got busy and forgot about you.

You can see how important it is to have a communication process to stay in contact with clients as some quit calling for the sole reason of “out of sight, out of mind.” Think about all the vendors that you’ve stopped buying from for no real reason. It happens to everyone.

There are clients that you have consciously let go because they are bad clients. I recommend consistently “firing” the bottom 5-10 percent of your client base as a regular practice. But most consultants have an attrition rate higher than that.

Make a Target List

Go through your database making a careful list of clients you have done business with in the past but are no longer buying from you. Cross out those relationships that you have no interest in reviving. Next, categorize the remaining list using the following parameters:

Don’t know why they’re inactive

Was a problem but you thought you resolved it

Was a problem but you didn’t resolve and would like to win them back

Determine how much the client spent with you.

Date of last purchase. You’ll want to focus on more recent clients first and work through to a point of diminishing return.

The first thing you need to do is get excited. With a little diligence you can revive 25-50 percent of these clients and dramatically increase your revenue base. The key is humility, sincerity and resolve.

The Disgruntled Client:

Understanding What They Want

Before you contact the inactive client it’s important to spend some time focused on the outcome. You need to be prepared and anticipate their reaction to your call. Disgruntled clients have certain needs that have to be met before they become active again. Below is a checklist to review before you make each call:

They want to be regarded and respected

They want you to make things right

They want to be listened to and heard (two different things)

They want to insure that the problem doesn’t happen again

They want you to understand the problem and why they would be upset

Don’t defend yourself or make excuses. Acknowledge that it shouldn’t have happened. You should be prepared to make an offer to resolve the problem and communicate your willingness to go great lengths to win them back.

Making Contact

The next step is to simply pick up the phone. Call them and ask to meet face to face. Assure them that they are a valuable client and that you’d like to know if there is anything that is keeping them from doing business with you. You must communicate your absolute sincerity and concern.

If the client had a bad experience, regardless if it was your fault, try to make it right. Offer to refund their money, correct the problem and give them a discount against future services or whatever would be appropriate in your particular situation.

Apologize no matter whose fault it is. The client is always right. They write the checks and in an economy that is driven by customer satisfaction, you have to go the extra mile to stand above your competitors.

Be prepared for the fact that you will not resolve every situation. You may get screamed at or abused. Stay the course, be calm and reiterate your sincere apologies. In some cases there will be no possibility of reactivating them or getting a rational response to your call. If you are professional and earnest, the worst that can happen is they will feel better about the situation and won’t complain to their associates about your company, which can be damaging. Send the people a sincere letter thanking them for assisting you in identifying problem areas with your company.

You’re in the Spotlight, So You Better Shine

If they do agree to accept your effort to resolve the issue, whether it’s in the form of redoing the work or free products and services, then you must be exemplary in the execution of the promise. Get a clear understanding of your commitment and the timeframe for its completion. You must go the extra mile here.

Communicate when you’ve fulfilled your obligation, thanking them for the opportunity to clear up the problem. Send a sincere letter reiterating your appreciation for working with you to resolve the misunderstanding. Depending on the type of work you do, simply maintain regular contact to inquire if everything is working, and if there is anything you can do to be of service.

Getting in Touch with Old Friends

Often you’ll find that former clients are having financial or other difficulties that have prevented them from continuing business with your company. Express your genuine and personal response to their problems and find out if there is anything you can do to help. People remember who was around when they were down. A small gesture here goes miles in referrals or when they get back on their feet.

There are also the clients that have grown, or changed technologies, and now feel that they need to work with a bigger organization. In a lot of cases it’s really just a perception problem. Tell the client that you’ve grown too and that you’re ready to meet their needs.

If you truly can’t serve them, let them know how much you’ve appreciated their business and invite them to contact you if there is anything you can do for them in the future. If they were satisfied with your services, don’t hesitate to ask for referrals. Be sure and follow-up with a letter.

Finally, there are the old clients that simply forgot about you. In some consulting businesses, it might be appropriate to systematically send out a letter to clients to stay in touch and acknowledge that you haven’t heard from them. Come up with several that are appropriate for your particular consulting business and send them out at specific times relative to the last purchase.

You need different letters because the reasons for a lack of buying vary from client to client. Track each mailing so that you can refine the process based on which letters garner the most responses.

If it’s appropriate for your business, send clients a coupon for a free hour of services. The perceived value is high and they will be inclined to use it to initiate future work.

About The Author

Bryan Brandenburg has published 5 books as well as a number of articles both in print and on the internet. He has published almost 30 software programs both for consumers and business. More information can be found at www.vmmg.net.

b.brandenburg@vmmg.net

An important part of your business plan should be to generate a steady stream of qualified leads. Making sure that leads flow into your “pipeline” will be one of the most vital aspects of your overall business. This will be particularly true if your business is network marketing. You need an abundance of leads constantly flowing in because sales and recruiting is mostly a “numbers game”. There are plenty of ways to obtain new leads, depending on your time and resources. Perhaps the most simple method is to buy a list of leads that pertains to your niche. Many firms in fact provide this service, and you can acquire leads pertaining to nearly any topic under the sun, from pets to sports.

Make absolutely certain that you choose a firm with integrity. Make sure you can always call them on the phone. Each individual lead typically costs between 1 and 5 dollars each, depending on variables like freshness of the lead and how many customers are allowed to communicate with the lead. It is possible to buy exclusive leads but they are obviously more expensive and you may be on a budget. Leads will come with a broad spectrum of data for the most part like name, postal address, telephone number (sometimes they provide more than 1 contact number), email address, investment they are willing to spend and their interest level.

A key is to make certain that your leads are from a solid source. Sometimes leads acquired from the world wide web are inferior if there is an incentive of some kind to fill out the form such as a free prize of some sort or the other. This can be the wrong motivation to fill out such a survey and therefore the leads are less than ideal. Their only motivation should be interest in being matched with a home-based business. In addition, note that internet forms are sometimes filled out by children for kicks. This is in fact a severe problem so always find out precisely how the leads are generated. Be certain you know how fresh the leads really are and if you will have exclusive rights to them. Generally a lead should be sold to no more than three other people.

Another option in leads generation is simply networking. Numerous business networking groups and/or organizations exist in just about every major US city. Whether it be through your city or state economic development departments, Chamber of Commerces or private initiatives, the structure is already set in place. And also many local newspapers publish meeting dates for the different interest groups.

You really should be an active participant in these meetings as they can truly help your business. Although networking can really take place anywhere, certain environments are better for building a productive network. Business meetings fall into this category. It may sound like a bit of cliche, but the key with leads is in the follow up and follow thru. Bear in mind that you might need to follow up more than once or twice before closing the deal. After making your initial sales presentation, you need to follow up to answer any questions or objections, then you will be ready to close the deal.

For further information go to Home Business Articles and discover more about sales lead generation and other related topics in the free-reprint original home business article archive.

Ryan Joseph is a writer/researcher. For more info. visit http://www.aaronsfreebies.com/

In this INFORMATION AGE everthing is so fast paced to the edge of reckless. Time is fleeting but today is the ultimate luxury. No time for anything but job, family and friends. The job wins too much. We would like to have more time to find that perfect baby gift for friend or family but who has time. Still, we want to find the perfect baby gift.

Unique Baby Gifts are the present that can have an impact on the future of another life. Whether the Unique Baby Gift is for the child or the mother, it will help both regardless. Unique Baby Gifts can raise the awareness of a newborn such as an educational game or mom-baby learning activity. You can also give a Unique Baby Gift in the form of a case of diapers for the parents. Think of all the worry free hours you can provide with a case of baby diapers. More time for mom-baby. That always means better bonding between mom and baby. Unique Baby Gifts can also be some of the modern electronic advances. Once there was a baby monitor that monitored the baby in their room and occasionally picked up the local police and emergency band. Now we have full baby digital and video monitoring at Shodega.com. There are many ways to show our love and support for the new mom and baby. In this busy world, if we can’t lend a hand maybe we can give the gift of convenience. Unique Baby Gifts have changed but the intent has not. We just want to make a contribution to this new life born and the new life the parent is starting. Check out Shodega.com for the best baby gifts. Have that perfect gift shipped right to your door today.

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Finding Romantic Gifts for someone you care about is a decision of a lifetime. If the relationship is young the gift must say something about the receiver. If the relationship is more mature, the romantic gift must address your relationship with your romantic interest. Some of the romantic gift standards are jewelry, apparel and fragrances. Perfect gifts can be found at Shodega.com. Modern romantic gifts can be anything from housewares, kitchenware and sports memorabilia. We always struggle to get the best romantic gift for a loved one but the best romantic gift is one from the heart. The best romantic gift may very well be a new swimsuit or opulent fragrance but the best romantic gift may also be an electronic dictionary or leather vest. A romantic gift is from the heart and meant to tell the other person how we feel. We want everything to be perfect before handing the romantic gift over. Give the gift that “rocks their world.” Giving gifts which are natural and practical say a great deal about how you see your intended. Giving gifts which are opulent and lavish can speak to the heart of love to say “You are worth it all.” How better to say “I care” then with a spontaneous romantic gift that the other person will never forget in a million years.

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In this time of seeming constant change, no professional
practices or firms can be complacent about their future. The
threats come from various directions, some obvious and visible
such as larger merged firms or new starts, and some less so,
such as internet services. Unless you take these seriously, what
does your future hold? It is important that, regardless of size,
you look seriously at what you do to generate fees and to find
new clients. This article covers some of the key aspects you
need to think about and gives some ideas for how you can be more
proactive and more effective in generating revenues. We offer
some things to think about for identifying the best ways you can
do this for your practice and the type of market you work in. If
you start to apply these principles you can build a more
sustainable business with more guaranteed revenue flow.

Traditionally, most professional firms have had to grow through
forms of networking, referrals and personal relationships,
because of legal restrictions. However, these constraints have
been removed and, the market dynamics have changed in many
areas. The “New World” requires you to operate differently if
you want to survive. However, the first prejudice to overcome is
your own reaction to the word “sell” and to rethink what it
means. After all, you did not do all of your training to become
a “seller” did you? Why should this thinking be so prevalent? In
our society, one of the biggest barriers is the public
perception of selling and sales people. How are they usually
portrayed in our media? No wonder you do not want to be thought
of like this! Yet, it is a misrepresentation if you think about
how many people are involved in selling jobs every day of the
week. They are working in a very different way, where they are
behaving professionally and, generally, with integrity.

What are your concerns about selling? How people might perceive
you? You do not like the idea of pushing people? The good news
is that effective, professional selling does not have to be
about this! Dictionary definitions will tell you that selling is
about “convincing of value”. If you are to do that, you need to
establish the right kind of relationship with clients and
prospects, where you can find what their real issues are and
what they consider as value - and then show them how you can
satisfy that. The fun part of selling is that value is an
individual perception and will change according to the
circumstances too. Rather than think of yourself as a “seller”,
what about a “provider of value”, “solution provider”, “problem
remover” or similar? Do any of these seem better? When we were
working with one accounting practice it made a great difference
when the main players rethought this and saw themselves in
another light. They became much more positive and had success
with approaching existing and potential clients with this
mindset (and some added skills we had developed with them!)

Whatever size your organisation is, there will be threats
happening in your market. As many firms merge and grow, they can
offer wider ranges of services to clients. Others look to
establish relationships with organisations in different, but
synergistic, areas where are opportunities can be generated for
each other. For simple services which can be commoditised, the
internet may be a threat where some clients will think they can
do things for themselves. There is an answer to this - decide to
become proactive in your sales effort. (Or would you prefer “fee
generating”?)

To move from the more traditional, reactive style of your market
to a proactive one, creating your own opportunities, does
require a number of changes. These start with the people being
willing to change their attitudes. For those who will not, ask
them what is stopping them? What do they think they gain by
staying as they are? However, it is better to start with those
who are more positive and happy to move in the direction you
want. We are not suggesting that your practice or firm becomes
like the American law firm (and a few leading City ones) where
future success and promotion is almost totally linked to
billable hours and revenues generated with the mega-hours and
pushy culture that often goes with it!

One early step to take is to identify the sales process which
works best for your organisation and in your market. Whether
people like it or not, consistently good performers will follow
a process, albeit with some flexibility. This means that they
can deliver results consistently. When “modelling” top
performers from an investment bank, this caused something of a
surprise as they thought that their successful people were all
more opportunistic and entrepreneurial! These could be
successful - occasionally!! Good sales organisations are clear
about their process and use it for a number of things. We have
examples we are happy to share.

When you have identified each stage of your process, then it is
possible to break them down into best practice activities. From
these, you can check the competencies needed to be able to work
though them. This allows you to provide any necessary training
or development to ensure that the skills are embedded.

Those who are going to do the revenue generation can now plan
their prospect and client contacts more effectively. They also
can be better prepared for meetings and assess how well they are
progressing.

The other major benefit when you have assessed your process is
that you can see where the critical control points are. From
this, you can create the sales control system to measure how
things are going. This tool is vital to any form of effective
sales management as it puts the focus on the activity leading to
the results, which is where you can take any necessary
corrective action. You can set standards for the various stages
and also work out the ratios needed to ensure that you achieve
the desired results. This enables you to measure the right
things - and will help more accurate forecasting too.

When this is in place, it becomes much easier to assign roles
and responsibilities. Who will manage the process? Who are the
doers? Who are the support staff? Pulling all of this together
has produced some significant improvements in organisations
where we have worked. Where this particular process was
developed (a bank outside the UK) they have seen a considerable
growth in sales, product retention rather than cancellation, and
staff retention in this area.

There is another key element to this. What style or approach to
selling will work best for your firm. In the professional
services sector you will almost certainly want to have some
emphasis on relationships and maybe a relationship selling
model. An alternative to this, which is perhaps even more
applicable especially for new business generation is to
introduce a consultative selling approach. This requires an
emphasis on communication skills, relationship building and
knowledge of your business and the prospect’s market place -
plus sales skills. Consultative sellers will help clients and
prospects to identify the real issues they are facing and to
create a sense of partnership in helping to find a solution. In
the short-term, the solution may not be what you offer, or
someone else could be better positioned to supply it. However,
getting into the right “mindspace” of the client or prospect
will pay off in the future.

We have seen many professional services firms make significant
progress when they have changed their attitude to selling and
introduced the processes and skills. It is not about selling
your soul to the devil, it is about becoming more proactive and
effective in “convincing of value”. This will enable your firm
to take more control of its destiny and to generate the revenues
you need to achieve the plans you have.

This is a quandary not unlike the chicken or the egg question, “Which comes first?”. Do you focus on creating a superior product and continue to develop superior products or do you shift focus from the product to the sale prior to fully developing the line, or schedule of services?

In the study of business start-ups there are a tremendous number of entrepreneurs who created, or found marvelous products and yet were unable to crack the marketplace. How many programs have you seen on TV that show warehouses of goods, that just sit and are never introduced to the consumer?

Without demand, there are no sales. Without sales, there is no success. It is easier to create for the sake of self-expression, than it is to find a way to effectively share the creation.

The current, most visible example of the power of marketing is the throng attracted to New York by “The Gates” in Central Park. Recent travelers, when asked why they are going to New York, invariably say they are going to see The Gates. But, once viewed, visitors and New Yorkers alike have said that they resemble short shower curtains the colour of pale Velveeta. Looking down from a plane or one of the tall buildings that surround Central Park, the saffron coloured winding trails bring to mind a flow of sorts that is totally lost when viewed from the ground, but people continued to flock to Manhattan in droves to see the work.

How to create your own buzz….

1. Develop one core product with a great name.

2. Look around and see if there are other businesses or events you can attach your name to, to launch.

3. If not, write and send out your own Press Release. http://www.notable-marketing.com/get_press_info.php

4. Once you have started to court the Press, keep sending out Press Releases on a regular basis, but make sure you have something worth saying. It’s often the perspective or the timing that works to capture the spotlight. Be merciless in your presistence but keep your sense of humour!

5. Call on your most successful competitors and see if they will share with you how they got started. They may even refer clients, if they have moved to the next level.

6. Call up a company you want to work with and ask them for their buying criteria. Make an appointment to go in and ask for their advice on your product/service.

7. Go big or go home! Don’t hold yourself back through lack of confidence in your own sales ability. If you believe in the greatness of your product/service then call on businesses you know would benefit.

8. Don’t get so excited by a positive response that you start to manufacture enormous amounts of product or make commitments to buy a large volume of supplies before you have a contract that guarantees a sale.

9. If someone recognizes the uniqueness of your product and sees the value of doing business with you, they will make a commitment. Make sure the terms you agree to are ones you can meet and still make money.

10. Your product/service does not have to be perfect. It just has to find it’s niche and be marketed to that niche continually as it evolves.

The product may come first but if sales don’t follow right away, don’t give up. Persistence is a key element in any venture and marketing to a clearly defined niche makes it easier for your customer to find you.

Nancy Fraser is the President of Nota Bene Consulting. She has been helping clients improve their advertising results and grow their businesses for over 20 years. Free advertising and marketing information in Notable News http://www.notable-marketing.com

If you are a loan officer or mortgage broker and you are on the market for mortgage leads, you may want to research the companies you are considering to determine exactly what kind of leads you will be receiving. Not to mention, where they are coming from.

A junk lead is classified as a lead that is old or recycled by many loan officers and many lead companies. It may come cheap, but chances are, it won’t be worth the two dollars you spent on it.

A real time lead is a lead that is considered fresh. Meaning, you will receive it on the same day the applicant fills out the on-line form. If the lead is any older than a day, it can hardly be considered real time.

When researching mortgage lead companies, be sure to find out where the mortgage lead company is obtaining their leads from.

If they obtain them from web sites they own and operate themselves, where they are directing potential clients to fill out on-line forms, you can safely assume that you will be receiving fresh, real time leads.

If the customer service rep for the mortgage lead company you are considering starts dodging your questions, than you can safely assume that the leads are not fresh.

This is not to say that the lead company does not have good leads to offer, but it would be wise on your part to find out exactly where the leads are coming from to be sure you are getting the best quality leads for your money.

In the end, it all depends on what you are looking for. Quality or quantity.

Quantity will most likely get you hang ups and answers such as ” I closed that loan weeks ago,” or “I filled out that application months ago.” If you are tired of these scenarios, you should definitely consider going with quality mortgage leads, otherwise known as real time mortgage leads, it just might be worth your while. Best of luck.

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site, he is also the owner of www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead company.

If you are a loan officer or mortgage broker, and you are
considering purchasing mortgage leads, one thing that will be
important to know, is where these lead companies obtain their
leads from.

Many times, mortgage lead companies will sell their leads
multiple times. They have a data base of thousands of leads that
they sell repeatedly over and over.

Or, they buy leads in bulk from third party vendors and sell
them at a profit.

This is known as recycling leads, or selling junk. And who knows
how many times that third party vendor sold their leads to other
mortgage lead companies.

By the time that lead lands on your desk, it has gone through
the hands of literally dozens of loan officers.

Your best bet is to deal only with mortgage lead companies that
own and operate their own mortgage lead generation sites. This
way at least you now that there is an excellent chance that the
quality of the lead will be good.

How can you find this out?

Call someone in the customer service department of the company
you are considering. Don’t be shy, come right out and ask where
and how they obtain their leads.

If you are not satisfied with their answers, than move onto the
next mortgage lead company.

Remember, if you are not happy with their customer service, than
more than likely you will not be happy with their leads.

As with all things in the human world the Remote control car market has exploded with the technological advances of the last 10 years. You can now get a reasonably cheap rc car that does 80kmph. 10 years ago you couldn’t even buy such a car unless you made it yourself. As a result these fast remote control car are skyrocketting with stock prices in fastcar.inc more than doubling in the last 12 months, it seems the remote control car market is expanding as expected and will continue to do so. A lot of people love the speed of the little fast rc cars, some people like the affordability of the hobby. Some kids do it just because its quite literally as fast as some cars, yet from the age of 10 they can do it - that’s a lot of power to give a 10 year old, even if it is only 2 bhp, the car weighs under 1 lb…So whats the future of our little remote control gadgets? Are they to go airbourne? It would seem rc helicopters are also catching on…

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Mostly I view all videos on youtube - its a good central place to start looking for funny videos online. However recently I have come accustom to finding more random well hidden videos - because they are usually better than the mainstream crap you find on youtube.

Example1: I love remote control cars - I love powersliding rc cars, racing radio control cars and muddy jumps in 4×4 rc hummers. So I went looking for some cool rc videos when I found an awesome site to get petrol rc cars - pretty cheap too for the awesome quality they show. They all have proper titanium subframes and awesome shells - they even have a skyline one

So next time you feel like typing in youtube.com, msn.com, google.com - then rethink - do a little detective work instead - the net is full of awesome rc goodness.