(From Rene’s educational moment Friday October 11, 2013)

We all have it happen to us. You have done several attempts to follow up on a referral you got, or another lead that showed some interest, and then breaks off all communication. You know you have to do at least 5 attempts to reach them. But let’s say you still did not reach them again.

Now what?

You write one email. And this email will only have one line in it. NOTHING ELSE, or it won’t be effective.

Hi <name>, are you still looking for <describe need>?

Hey Bob, Are you still looking for a Fall portrait for your family?

Hi Jim, are you still looking to clean your carpets?

That is all. Restrain yourself. Only one sentence. And see if they respond.

So, the Zeigarnik effect makes you want to complete what you started right?

What if you have one of those personalities that have no trouble starting new things, but have trouble finishing things? It makes sense that the Zeigarnik effect now works against you. Remember, completing something makes you immediately forget the details of what it was that you just completed. Thus it stands to reason that not completing things makes you feel that there are still so many things to do, loaded will many details. You did not get any closure so to speak. Ever had that restless feeling that you still had so much to do?

<transcript of educational moment at Winchester #1 BNI, march 2013>

Bluma Zeigarnik was a woman from Poland who lived in Vienna in the 1920’s. She observed how waiters seemed to remember the orders of the people they served, even if interrupted, but at the moment the order was completed, they seemed to forget. When tested in laboratories, it turns out that the chance someone forgets a task they are working on is 50% bigger when this task is just cimpleted.

This particular effect, now known as the Zeigarnik effect, has been documented over and over. It states that if you start something, your mind somehow cannot let go until it is finished. One example of its use is in the so called ‘cliff-hanger’. You now feel the need to watch the next episode of whatever you were watching if this episode ended with a cliff-hanger.

The reason why I mention the Zeigarnik effect, is that it can be an effective tool in fighting  procrastination: when faced with a bigger project, we often have the tendency to postpone working on it as we somehow sense that the work might be quite significant. The trick is to start with something: choose a simple task to start working on, and now the Zeigarnik effect kicks in: you have to keep working on the project.

I use it often in coaching sessions with clients that somehow dread to start on something. “Time to eat the Elephant, let’s break it down to some simple tasks that you should have completed next time that you see me” I will say. That is the trick to enlist the help of the Zeigarnik effect: Start Starting.

<Rene’s educational moment January 18>

You are moving to the close of your sale. Everything seems fine, and then you use a word that triggers all types of unpleasant other thoughts. Images of being sold into something, or of binding yourself into a costly contract with endless payments that you are legally stuck with. Oh no. Better to think a bit more about buying what you propose….

Here are the words that you should not use, and which ones to use to replace these so called ‘scare words’ with:

Cost         –         Total Investment
Down Payment  – Initial Investment
Monthly Payment –  Monthly Investment
Contract   –        Agreement, Paperwork, or   Form
Sign    –             OK, Approve, or Endorse
Buy      –            Own
Sell / Sold  –      Happily Involved, Worked With,   Acquired, or Ordered
Pitch    –            Presentation
Deal –           Opportunity

Good luck changing your sales vocabulary!

January 11 transcript of Rene’s Educational Moment at Winchester Friday BNI

Let’s talk about Sales and Closing for a while. Let’s say you just presented your product or service, how many of you check, just before you ask the closing question, a ‘temperature question’ that tells you the time is ripe to go for the close?

Temperature questions don’t commit the prospect to anything, but their answer to these questions should tell you if they are ready to buy or not.

For example, a good temperature questions could be ‘Does what I just presented fit with what you are looking for?’ or ‘do you think this would help you reach your goals’?

If the prospect responds positively, you can ask your closing question.

December 21st educational moment at Winchester Friday BNI

If you have to choose between a product that is recommended by a friend that you have known for years, and a product that is recommended in an ad on TV, which one do you trust more?

That should be an easy answer, the recommendation by your friend of coarse. How about this one: you visit a restaurant and one waiter says: “everything on the menu is great” or the waiter that says: “I would not take the fish”.  You all seem to prefer the waiter that was actually a bit more negative about the fish. Why would that be?

It is all because of trust. We trust people when we perceive that they are looking out for our best interests.

This begs the question: “What are you doing to show to your clients that you are looking out for their best interests?” Assuming you are of coarse. For example, do you really think that not staying in contact with them for longer than a year is a sign of you really looking out for their best interests?

<transcript from Rene’s educational moment at November 23 2012>

Let me share my conversion rates with you:

18 – 9 – 4 – 3

18 cold leads, or BNI ‘referrals’ of the kind ‘such and so would like to meet you’ will lead to 9 people that actually say that they want me to take an in depth look at their business to see what their business could actually do better. So that is about halve. I call those ‘warm’ or ‘serious leads’. As you can imagine, this is the phase where I deselect some as well, a they are clearly not ready for coaching, or I doubt that they ever really agreed to meeting me but just said yes to you to get you off their back.

Of those 9 that say ‘yes’ to taking an in depth look at their business, only 4 will actually have that session with me. Why I loose more than halve in this stage is still not clear to me. I suspect that the southern politeness plays a role, where you don’t say ‘no’ in somebodies face. Most of them set appointments, and then mention to me that they need to postpone it, and we keep postponing it until it never happens. Or I show up at the confirmed appointment and there is nobody there…

Of the 4 that actually will have a session with me, 3 will actually sign up to become a client because they have that potential that I am looking for, and they appear ‘coachable’.

so basically 6 cold leads, to 3 warm leads, to 1 client.

Why do you think that I measure these conversions from phase to phase?

The answer is of coarse: “What you do not measure, you do not improve”. When I started I closed less than 1 out of 5 in that last meeting versus the 3 out of 4 now.

I measured, and tweaked the process, and measured again.

Do you know your sales conversion numbers from phase to phase?

(Transcript of Rene’s moment of business education for the Winchester BNI on Friday morning 11-16)

How referable are you? One of New York’s top coaches who has been a business coach for over 30 years came with the following observation: There are 4 rules that will determine  how likely it is that people refer you. What you need to do, is not if you know these rules, because some of them are quite obvious, but, how much do you actually DO these things. So please, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 to determine how referable you are.

Rule 1: Be on Time for all appointments.
If you make someone wait longer than 30 seconds, you give them the feeling that you do not respect them. So make it a habit to always arrive a bit early.

Rule 2: Do what you say you will do.
And if you have said that you would do something, and you are not capable of fulfilling that promise, call the person and tell them.

Rule 3: Finish what you start.
People really respect it when you are known as someone who will complete what he or she started.

Rule 4: Always say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’.
Manners are really appreciated, and the habit of sending hand written thank you cards goes a long way.

How did you rank? If you add your four scores up, do you go over 35? If so, and you do not get a lot of referrals in our group, come have a one on one with me, because there is obviously something wrong.

(transcript from Rene’s educational moment of Friday November 9)

A couple weeks ago I was talking about the first two levels of Leadership. I realized that I never completed the whole concept for you.

Level 1 of leadership is leadership by position. You are a leader, because the organization you work for placed you in that place. The people below you will do what you ask, but typically without passion.

Level 2 of Leadership is leadership because people WANT to follow you. Or in case you use this skill in a sales situation (since leadership is about influencing people), because they really like and trust you. You get there because you care for the people around you.

In level 3, you are a Productive leader. You get results. These are typically leaders that have learned to set goals, with plans and commitment to reach them. Now be careful, some leaders reach this level while skipping level 2. They will be productive because they do everything themselves. As a business coach, these are often the small business owners that I get as clients who are desperately trying to keep ‘all the balls in the air’, working many hours a week, and no longer growing beyond that point. They have not learned to trust their people. You might also recognize some leaders around you who never managed to leave level 2. They like their team too much and consequently are too nice to keep their team accountable.

Level 4 are those leaders who have learned to Leverage. They are consistently teaching the people around them, and thus they are the leaders where growth turns exponential. The leaders that never leave level 3, can only produce more by working harder. But it is only by being a leader at level 4 where you can grow production by ten times or more.

Level 5, an extreme rare level, is for those leaders that create and nurture other leaders.

Where are you as a leader? Do you think you are stuck at a certain level? The great news is that all these levels can be learned.

(from Rene’s educational moment at BNI on Friday November 3rd)

By now you should all know that the number one reason that marketing fails is due to not hitting its target market. Are you addressing your right target market? How do you know?

Here is a simple way to figure out if you are focused on your target market: Make a list of your top 50 ideal accounts that you don’t have yet. For example, if you are in business to business, what are the top 50 businesses that you would like to sign on next? Then ask yourself, what do these 50 have in common?

Note that over time this list will change. Some you sign up, some say ‘no’ to you. That is okay, just keep adding names back into the list so you have 50 again.

What is your top 50 targeted suspect list?