Using music when you put people on hold

If you can avoid it, don't put people on hold. But if you have to put people on hold, then use that time & market to your callers. This is not time to be cheap, use a professional company like VariVoice to create & record...

A message that explains your unique expertise.
A message that sells the benefits of a service that you offer a special on.
A special message that offers them a free gift or discount when they make a referral.
A “10 things you should know before you...” message that points out all the benefits you offer over your competitors.

You can find out more about VariVoice at http://www.varivoice.com


Not telling your callers what to expect

Sometimes people forget that everyone in the world does NOT know how you do business.

You do the same thing everyday so its second nature to you & your staff, but its all new to the first time caller.

Explain in detail what you do & what they can expect & your callers will be relaxed & confident. If you offer a free appointment or free initial consultation, just explaining to people what you plan to discuss & that there will not be a hard sell will drastically improve the number of people that show up for their appointments.

Tell them what to bring, how to get there & where to park. Letting them know what they can expect & what you expect sets you apart as a professional among a field filled with amateurs!

You can do this online too! Perry Marshall has a page on his website where he sells his 'Definitive Guide to Google Adwords' ebook, audio seminar & DVD. He actually lists all the steps of the ordering process so people know what's going to happen before they order!



Not figuring out the problems of your callers

Your callers want something. They call you to solve a problem to make a pain go away. In spite of the fact that you help a dozen other people solve the exact same problem every day, each caller thinks their problem is 'special' and unique to them.

Show sincere personal interest in each person you speak to on the phone. Treating your callers like the individuals they are and taking time to figure out what their real problem is will help you to create a customer for life.


Not having a call to action

Every time you or a staff member talks to someone on the phone you must give them a definite call to action. People need your help. Tell them what the next step is to get their problem solved. It could be:

Buying your product or a combination of products
Booking an appointment or a series of appointments
Getting a referral to another business that can help them better j

Just don't leave them hanging, people need your help. Tell them what you think they need to do & help them make it happen.


Next week I'll talk about the biggest mistake we make on the phone!

Failing to capture your callers contact info

A database of your clients and prospects is the most valuable asset you own. You might say that the real business you are in is the creation of a database filled with people you can market to.

If your business location burned down you could be up & running in no time with a database of clients & prospects that you can tell where your business has relocated to (You might even be able to generate quick income by having a 'Fire Sale'!).

Without a database its going to be very expensive to advertize a new location a& get new customers. But every time you add another name to your database you have increased the value of your businesses most precious asset, its customers.

Not getting the contact information of your callers is worse than letting a fortune slip from between your fingers. Its like throwing away money!

You've paid good money to advertize your phone number & that cash was wasted if you don't get the contact information of your callers. You also lose the lifetime value of that customer or client & you miss out on all their referrals too.

You must capture the contact information of all your callers.

Not using a phone script

Why reinvent the wheel every time you or someone who works for you answers the phone?

Put together a script of what to say any time you or your employees answer the phone. Create a list of how to answer the most common questions & how to overcome the most frequent objections.

My good friend Che Brown is a master of creating & using scripts. His web site is http://www.partnerslearning.com

Never testing different scripts

So you've created a great script! Can you improve it? Why not try by testing...

• a different greeting when you answer the phone
• a different phrase or set of wording against another
• a different call to action (there's more on that next week)

Failing to describe what makes you special or unique

Why should people do business with you? You have to tell them... you can't expect people to take the time to figure it out for themselves!

If callers hear repeatedly what you can do for them that nobody else can, they will know exactly why they are coming to you and not somebody else.

When they are talking to their friends, family & business associates they can describe what you do perfectly because your script quickly articulates it over and over again every time they call.

These are just a few mistakes many of us make on the phone. Look out for another set late next week!

Are you a chicken? Chickens take any and all clients that come their way. Chickens accept these clients on their terms. Chickens get told what to do and how much they will get paid for their efforts.

Adding insult to injury, all that bending over backwards gets them nowhere because... chickens dont make any real money. Chickens hate their jobs, chickens have nervous breakdowns and its all because chickens don't know how to market!

Chickens have no clue how to generate a large pool of prospects that are looking to do business with them. But when your marketing is good enough, price is not a factor and you can charge what you want because you have more people waiting in line for your services!

Grow a backbone and raise your prices! Problem clients will go away, freeing you to focus your energy on clients who appreciate and will happily pay for your efforts. Your net profit will increase as you add additional clients at higher rates.

Now if you like being the low cost solution provider go ahead, keep being a chicken. But if you want to conduct your business on your terms and be well compensated for your efforts, then you must learn how to market!

Some people think that opportunity only knocks once. Others say that because of the recession, opportunity is knocking now. But they're all wrong! Opportunity is a noun, it can't knock... its a door!

Opportunity is the door to your goals and dreams. YOU knock, no YOU POUND on it (not timidly either!), you pick the lock, blow it off its hinges with dynamite, get a battering ram... whatever it takes to make the opportunity open up to you.

But ideally, you'll call a locksmith... an expert who has the knowledge and skills to open up the door for you. FindWealthNow wants to be your locksmith, the place where you can find the knowledge and skills needed to open the door to greater profits in your business!

So why does it take regular contact with your past clients to get referrals? Maybe its because they're PAST clients! I have a friend Dave Elliott who has this problem.

Dave is a Peak Performance Coach who specializes in rapid transformation. He helps people overcome the fears, insecurities and other self destructive behaviors that prevent them from having the fullest success possible in their personal & professional lives.

But he does it so quickly that often after just six to eight sessions people have achieved the results they were looking for and moved on!

What happens next? Well Dave is then out of sight & out of mind. What Dave needs to do is make sure each of his past (and very happy) clients gets an email from him at least once a week.

You see it often takes 7 to 9 (depending on who's talking) positive impressions for people to take action, but people only remember 25% of all marketing that is directed at them.

That means Dave might have to send out at least 28 to 36 emails to his list of past clients to start getting referrals.

But Dave isn't lazy. So what would happen if Dave regularly reached out to some of his past clients by phone and during the conversation happens to mention that he's looking for more clients just like them?

You can be sure that he would start getting client referrals in weeks and not months! You can do the same thing. Call and check up on your past (happy) clients and ask them for referrals of people just like them!

For information on Dave Elliott and his amazing coaching program go to http://mpowerunlimited.com/

So how do you get your past and present clients and customers to give you referrals?

First of all they have to remember you exist!

Do you make a habit of calling and checking on them?
Are you sending them emails on what you’ve been up to lately?
Can you put together a one page newsletter you can send them in the mail?

If not, you need to start doing one or all three NOW!

Here are a few ideas about what to talk about on the phone…
Their family
Their job/career/business
Their goals

See a trend? Talk about the things that are important to them. Don’t sell anything!

You can sell in your email and newsletter. People expect that. But you need to give useful information; Checklists, action plans, mind maps and profiles of coaching & consulting clients you have helped in the past will all help people to see you as the expert!

If your contact is personal and regular, they will remember you when the time comes. Look for more details on why in my next blog post!

Are you ready to quit worrying about your cash flow and finally start getting better at marketing your business?

Men & women just like you have managed to create a 24 hour, no cost sales force for their businesses. How? By implementing a system that encourages referrals.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “But I’ve tried asking for referrals, it doesn’t work!” Guess what? You’re right… if you show up out of the clear blue sky with your hand out asking for referrals, it won’t work!

But think about this…

If you truly care about your clients and customers;

If you are deeply concerned about their success, health and overall level of happiness;

If you truly feel that you can help them protect and enrich themselves better than anyone else, then it is your responsibility, your obligation to make sure that they and everyone important to them know that you are available for consulting, coaching or collaboration.

They are not going to do this on their own! If you truly care about people then you must consistently remind your current and past clients what you do, how you can help and what kind of clients you are now looking for.

Failure to do that is like negligent homicide; sitting back and letting them get less than optimal results in their lives because you think asking for referrals doesn’t work!

Start looking for ways to add value and get your clients to tell their friends about you! There will be more hints in my next blog post.