Earlier this week, I held an Open House of The Action Suite to anyone who wanted to observe what we do during one of the sessions. The subject of the session was: ‘The Five Components to Higher Profitability.’ This in itself may not be earth-shattering to you; however, when I asked how many managers and/or owners of companies that some of the audience worked for if they felt that their owners/managers knew of these components and how they all fit together. That answer was earth-shattering. Not a single person said that their managers and/or owners had a clue.
Last week, I was in a meeting with a potential new client; who has since become a new client, and the owner stated: “Why do you ask so many questions, Joe?” Well, the answer to that question is quite simple; I replied: “To better understand your challenges and to discover if we are actually a fit.”
A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in a bar/restaurant on a Saturday evening to watch my son play hockey. When I walked in, I was struck by the fact that there was one bartender, one server and one person in the kitchen and that was two too many people working. The only other patron was a young lady who was there to watch her husband play; he played for the opposition which created great banter back and forth between us. I asked the server: “It’s kind of slow tonight. What’s happened?” Last year this place was packed and to get a seat to watch my son play was a challenge at the best of times. The response from him was quite telling.
Plato stated: “Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.” How many times have these three simple words gotten you in a lot of trouble: “In my opinion”? However, we all have them; opinions, that is, but we continue to get ourselves into difficulties if we express them. Therefore, should we continue to give our opinion or not? That all depends on how you frame the opinion.
Are your clients talking about you when you leave, or, are they talking to your competitors, ordering from them and talking about you? What is setting you apart from those competitors? Are you being different and unique enough to convince your prospect that they should be dealing with you? In other words, what are you bringing to the table that sets you apart from everyone else?
While at a networking event, the discussion led to the question of ‘the close’. I listened intently to the different ideas presented by everyone I thought to myself that I was somehow transported back in time to 15 or 20 years ago. Some of the suggestions were outdated, in that they all focused on the salesperson’s needs and wishes and really had nothing to do with the client. When it was my turn to share, I could not hold back and I asked if they had actually heard themselves?