Sales Mistake #9:  Focus

68% of lost business comes as a result of lack of attention. Counter this statistic by paying attention to current customers, those on your prospect list and all lost customers who you still care about.

The selling profession runs rampant with “hit and run artists. It is a costly practice. Think about it. You spend endless hours investing money after bad trying to schedule face time with some stranger. You finally say and do what it takes to establish some degree of rapport. For any one of a million reasons, the client chooses not to do business with you, and you drop them like a hot potato. Not much logic here folks.

I recently received a phone call from a woman who I used to do business with years ago. She was responding to a postcard I sent to her a week earlier. I was just keeping in touch.  My timing was perfect. She called me and gave me the name of the person I should be speaking with if I was interested in earning some money.

Is this the only time a random postcard has worked some magic for me? Not on your life. I can’t count the occasions where my touching base with “former clients” has resulted in a solid lead for new business.

I’m getting tired of my banging my fist on the table on this subject but I am going to do it just one more time. DON’T GIVE UP ON PAST CLIENTS. Contact them. Don’t quit on them and don’t quit on yourself. Persistence works when administered properly. It works. Do it!

Sales Mistake #10: Not planning the day efficiently

Don’t talk yourself into thinking you can “wing-it”. Your success will come as a direct outcome of how much time you put into planning.

This mistake can fill a book all by itself. I once was as guilty as the next person when it came to sales mistake #10. So, to avoid being labeled a hypocrite, here is a single thought for you. Think about planning your day around the acronym W-I-N.

Win stands for “what’s important now.”

Regardless of the task at hand, keep asking yourself what is the most important use of my time, right now? Your answer will undoubtedly change as the day unfolds, but by using this stop check, your chances of remaining focused on the most important task at the moment will be enhanced.

Marketing Mistake #9

You fail to connect with your prospects and customers sufficiently often

Check it out!
We are back to The Rule of 7.
No harm. Repetition is the key to learning.
Again. Contacting your prospects seven times over an 18-month period. That’s the key.

WORTH REPEATING
AND REPEATING
AND REPEATING
AND REPEATING
Why You MUST Follow-Up With Your Customers/Leads!
Did you know that the average consumer needs to hear a commercial 17 TIMES before making a “buying” decision. Yet, so many adroit marketers miss the boat when it comes to follow-up.

Even I have been guilty of not following up with leads or staying in constant contact with my customers. It is SO critical that you keep in contact with your customers, and follow up with your leads.

For instance, if you’re capturing people’s email addresses when they visit your web site, what are you planning to with those emails. Keep in mind, these are people that have raised their hand, and expressed an interest in your service.

For you NOT to follow up on those leads via email would be a CRIME! You could send them weekly or monthly tips about their particular interest. You could have a free recorded message for people who are not on the web, and offer them a free report by snail mail, etc.

The bottom line is to always give your customers/leads, EVERY available option to get information from you. Remember, don’t think that just because you’ve emailed or snail mailed them once or twice, that they’re not interested in what you have to offer. Keep in mind that people are VERY busy, and they’re NOT sitting around the house waiting for something from you! This is why follow-up is SO critical.

Marketing Mistake #10

You let past buyers and customers get away.

Shame on you!

The human approach to losing an account is to stay away because you think that the people you were once doing business with don’t like you anymore.

Foolish you. In all probability, the reason they stopped doing business with you is because you stopped paying attention to them.

Regardless of your “reasons” why not go back to former business associates, and find out what the current status is. I want you to go back as soon as you can.

No, that is not clear enough. I want you to contact all past clients within the next 7 days.
Now that is an objective for you.

What will you say to them?

Say you are sorry that it has taken so long to contact them again. Tell them that for whatever reason they decided to move on without you, you plan to address their concerns and provide them with a superior service. Apologize if necessary.
And then ask them for another opportunity to work with them.

Tell me this: What have you got to lose? They will remain yesterday’s news unless you do something about it.