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Archive For: Sales

Do Short Cuts Save You?

Over the weekend I was hosting and presenting at a clients promotional roadshow. On the Sunday the event was at one of the major events centres in Australia.

The centre itself is very impressive. There were friendly staff directing everyone to where they needed to go and happily helping you with whatever you needed.

It was a little different in the event room itself.

Don’t get me wrong, the staff were friendly but there was a major issue with the Audio Visual (AV) and the response was “lacking” at best!

Here is a summary of a few things that happened:

The lapel mic packs were the short range ones not the long range ones so they lost signal every now and again
My mic pack died five minutes into the welcome (Luckily I could turn it into a joke and got them to change it on the fly while I kept speaking)
The replacement mic pack popped and crackled every time I got loud and excited (I get loud and excited a lot!)
The main speakers mic pack popped and crackled every time she got loud and excited
The remote for the presentation struggled to connect and always seemed to have a time delay in pressing the button and advancing a slide
The AV system reset itself and the lights and screen flicked on and off for half a second just before the main speaker came on stage
The friendly staff member on the desk was incredibly junior and didn’t really know what was going on – they were out of their depth
The senior staff member was the duty manager and not an AV person

Do you get the picture?

At the lunch break we completely changed out the AV desk for the more powerful, long range mics and our team came up with a strategy for the presentation remote which seemed to work.

It felt like this shiny, pristine venue was trying to take a short cuts and cost cutting by having junior staff and lower end AV equipment. The outcome is an unhappy client who will be asking for a partial refund and who is also questioning the additional 10 days they have booked at that centre and any other work they may do with them.

Customer service MUST be a long term game. The short cuts you take can cost you dearly in the end.

What about for you? Do short cuts save you?

Do You See the Full Picture?

Gutters roof
Image: ShutterStock

A few years ago, we had the gutters replaced on our house. They came, measured the existing gutters, quoted for new ones and then we had the job done.

I have been cursing them ever since.

What they did was look at what we had and then replace it. What they didn’t do is look at the full picture.

We have two pieces of spouting coming off the roof and onto another section that is the roof for the double garage and a bedroom. This flows into a gutter which has only one down pipe. Every time we have a strong rainfall (like last night) the gutter overflows on the building side of the gutter.

What this means is that we have had some interior waterfalls – mainly in the garage but once in the spare room.

The gutter people did not look at the big picture. The did not consider what we NEEDED versus what we HAD.

I see this in business all the time. Suppliers not considering what is in the best interest of the customer and focussing only on what they can sell.

As an MC, I see it in conferences way too often. The speaker sticking with their usual program rather than considering who is in the room and what their client actually wanted to achieve.

What about you?

Do you consider the needs of those around you? Do you take the time and look at the FULL picture?

Do You Rock?

2017-01-22 Chris Wilson

Over the weekend my vocal coach, Zerafina Zara, and I went to see one of Australia’s music legends, Chris Wilson.

Musically, he was amazing. I am yet to see anyone play harmonica better than he does and his raspy vocals inject such soul into his music. To be honest, the drummer and the guitarist were also fantastic.

But here’s the thing. Being a great muso is not enough!

Many may argue that is “should” be enough but the reality is, being a muso alone is not enough. When I put my event professional hat on and consider a performance as a Master MC, I think you need to be more.

My personal philosophy is that ANYONE who steps on stage to be in front of an audience, regardless of whether you are a rock star, a CEO, a speaker or a bride giving a speech, you must be Yourself, Amplified.

You have to be yourself because authenticity is essential to connecting to you audience and you have to be amplified as your work has to come across strongly and be able to break through any resistance. Your amplification of energy and confidence will do this.

Chris’ first bracket was fine. Good music performed will but he didn’t connect to the audience. This was contrasted with his second bracket. He chatted to us, made some jokes and told a story. The difference in energy in the room was noticeable.

The key element of success in any presentation or performance is to remember that “It is all about the audience.” They have to be connected with you, emotionally and energetically. You can do this via a ~~good~~ great introduction, looking at the audience, playing with the audience, acknowledging they are here and what it took for them to get here, or including them in your story.

When you connect with the audience, the whole place ROCKS! Your music and your message gets across easier, your fan base love you a little bit more and your event raises the bar that little bit higher.

So when you present, do you engage with your audience? Do you make them want to see you again?

Do you rock?

PS Here is a bit more of Chris for your enjoyment!

Summer Wonderland

Last week I was lucky enough to give away a holiday for two people, including tickets to the Super Bowl in Houston, worth over $20,000. It was all part of Air New Zealand’s new launch of Dave, the Frequent Flyer (That’s him pictured above – click on him to see him in action).

I like Air NZ. They are very clever but show it with a great sense of humour and humanity.

Dave is great way to show an alternate way for long haul travel.
Their new Christmas message (basically, it’s really hot in the southern hemisphere over summer, so no snow for us) is a fabulous mix up of the cheeky personality of Julian Dennison (the kid from Hunt for the Wilderpeople) and fabulous music from Ronan Keating. Click the image below to see the short film – it’s worth it.

They frequently have fights with other airlines on twitter. Recently it was with Aer Lingus. The best thing is that with their fights, everyone wins!
So much of their work is not a blatant promotion of their airline but generating fun while reminding you of what they do.

So how do you bring humour and humanity to what you do? How do relax and just enjoy the Summer Wonderland?

And the Winner Is …

Image: Shutterstock.com

It has been said that business is a game. If so, how do you play?
Who is the winner at the end?
Who is the winner as you go?

The arts are a great place for competition. The true artists know that it is not about them or their production, it is all about the audience, their customer. By making their customer the winner, they become winners too.

As an example, I saw a fabulous piece of improv theatre last night by my favourite improv troupe, Impro Melbourne. It was team against team, both striving for points. Both teams had been magnificent making us laugh, ponder, pause, even cry (almost) and at the end of the final round, the scores were level.

Oh no!

The host then declared a best of three Hat Off to decide the winner. A Hat Off is where the two players act out a scene while wearing a hat. Each player has to try and get the hat off the other player in the context of the scene. If they get it, they win. But if they try for it and miss, then they lose.

The first two out of the best of three competed and played well. But again, at the end of those two rounds the scores were still level. The final round would be the decider.

Two fine players, Rik and Katherine stepped up to the mark and as they started Rik did the unthinkable. He did what no one expected. He took his hat off and threw it on the floor in front of Katherine. He then told her to not pick it up as it symbolised their love and if she did it was over. A bit of toing and froing and finally Katherine succumbed and picked it up making her team the winner.

The real winner was the audience. Rik knew that throwing the hat down had a huuuuge chance of their team losing the match. But what it meant was that the audience got something unexpected. It got a framework of temptation that they had not thought about. Their level of tension and enjoyment was kicked up a notch.

They left with an increased feeling of satisfaction and an increased likelihood of returning and bringing their friends with them.

In great customer service, the focus has to be on the customer. Only by making the experience fantastic and memorable for them will your business continue to thrive. When you start to compete against your customer, you will always lose.

What about your customer? What would they say if you asked, “And the winner is?”

PS Want to make 2017 a Winner of a year?
Be sure to register for the full day planning session to make it happen.
You can get all the details here and take advantage of the early bird pricing.

October Book Deal

flower-book

This month I was supposed to be exhibiting at the Australian Book Expo. Due to factors beyond their control, it unfortunately had to be cancelled.

So I thought, why not have my own little book expo exhibiting a book of one – Get More Inspiration.

So here it is, only for the month of October get 30% off the retail price of $34.95 and I will pay for delivery.

That’s right, only $25 inc taxes and it gets delivered to your door.

The best thing about this book is that it is specifically designed NOT to be read. It is a “flicker”.

Flick to a page, get a burst of inspiration, take some short actions and then get back to the task at hand. Easy!

Loaded with quirky observations and simple truths, it will have a massive impact on business and on life. It is the resource you will turn to time and again to move you forward when you want and need to.

So take advantage of the October Book Expo Deal and order your copy today.

Stop Wasting Money

2016-08-31 flyers

So many businesses are haemorrhaging money and they don’t even know it. One of the key places they waste money is in their advertising.

Each week businesses spend thousands on letterbox drops, local paper advertising, posters and even local sport sponsorship. Each week, these same businesses refuse to track or even service the business that comes in from this advertising. So save yourself the money and stop advertising!

For example, recently we needed some gutter work done on an investment property. Serendipitously we received in the letterbox an A5 sized coloured flyer promoting a local gutter specialist. Let’s just work out the cost of that.

A quick Google shows that 5,000 flyers cost about $500 to distribute and about $500 to design and print. So that’s a $1,000 for the minimum run of 5,000 flyers to print and distribute. To pay for that, the business needs to bring in a new customer and a new job that pays $1,000 in PROFIT not just revenue.

Our gutter specialist not only did a letter box drop, they did an advert in the local paper “Trade” section. But it wasn’t a normal sized advert, theirs was a double advert so it was twice as big as everyone else’s. Now they service multiple areas so it is possible that they have this advert in multiple local papers. Their advertising spend continues to grow.

The reality is a little different. We called and let them know what we wanted. Putting aside the rough and ready way they answered the phone (“Hullo?”), we said we would be on site for the next three days. The guy said that “I will try to get there and if not I will be in touch.”

It has now been three weeks and we are yet to hear from them. (But their advert was in the paper again this week). So not only is it a waste of money, it is really poor customer service.

Stop wasting your money. If you don’t have the systems and processes in place to deal with the new business your advertising is generating, you are doing yourself more harm than good.

Your systems MUST be ready to accept new customers, discover where they are from (so you can track the effectiveness of your marketing) and then be able to service them. With the number of supporting products and services available in the market place today, there is no excuse for poor systems and poor service.

Here is how this experience could have gone.

The number on the advertising could have been for a virtual service. The person answering the phone could have asked for basic job and contact details, how the caller found out about them and then advised that the tradie would be back in touch within 48 hours (unless it was urgent), typically after 4pm when they finished hands on work.

If they tradie called within 24 hours, the customer would feel good simply because they called within 24 and not 48 hours. The tradie could advise that all quotes are done on Fridays and the next available quote slot is this Friday at 2pm (or whenever). They book a quote time and then start the process.

This whole process not only makes it easy for the customer, it also helps set their expectation for the service they will be receiving. Their customer service experience has not been left to chance.

Michael Gerber said, “The systems run the business and the team run the systems.” This is particularly important for solo business operators like tradies and entrepreneurs.

So look at what you are doing. Are you wasting money on advertising because you are not set up to actually take on the new business? Are you annoying people with bad service that you can easily avoid? Put your systems in place and make your success happen.

Whatever you do, stop wasting money!

It’s Not About You

I was at a funeral recently and it was sad. It was sad that my friends husband had died and even sadder that the priest shifted the attention off the man who had died and on to himself.

I have seen this happen on several occasions. The host, celebrant or religious leader turns the spotlight on themselves, their message or their beliefs rather than focussing on the needs of the audience.

A good GREAT host knows that it is not about them. It is ALL about the audience. Be it a conference, funeral, some other ceremony or even a simple networking event, how can you make it about the audience or the other person?

How can you shift the focus to be about them and their needs?

Get out of the road and make the event more memorable for others and you will make a bigger name for yourself than you would turning the spotlight on yourself in the first place.

Plain and simple, it’s not about you!

How Much?

I have just taken on another mentoring client.

They are a leader in their industry, have a significant presence in the market and are excellent at what they do but they charge only about 30% of the average industry price for some of their services.

Naturally one of the first things we will be doing is raising their prices.

To do this we will have to have some serious conversations, but not with their customers. It is all about what THEY think they are worth.

Your price does not reflect what your market thinks you are worth but what YOU think you are worth. You then need to go to market and position the value.

So for what you do, how much are you worth?

Grand Opening

WOO HOO!!

I am so excited that after some serious procrastinating, some hard work, bursts of inspiration, serious doubts, more procrastinating, more work, home made design, a lot of interviewing, a stack of support, the kindness of friends and some techo gurus the Get More Success show is now live!

Over the coming years I will be interviewing people from all walks of life and find out how they define success and what are their success tips that you may be able to apply to get success in your life.

As an added bonus, the show will also include excerpts from the Get More Speaker Success monthly blab. This is a group conversation with a more lighthearted approach that covers issues in the speaking, meetings and events industries. It has some great ideas if you are looking to run events.

Because of the increased demand in the visual media, a lot of my interviews are also on video as well as audio. So if you like to look at what is happening, feel free to watch as well as listen.

You can see/hear the show at The Get More Success website.

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP

The first couple of weeks of a podcast’s launch are important to help get traction. So this is where I need your help.

If you like the idea of the show as well as the first couple of editions that are out there, I need you to subscribe to the show in iTunes if you are an iTunes user.

This will trigger some of iTunes magic goodness and increase its profile and shoot it up the charts which then makes others want to look at it.

So I would love it if you could give me a boost.

It’s really easy. Just click this link to see the show listing.

Click on the “See in iTunes” button on the left of the screen

When iTunes opens, click on the subscribe button.

At the very least, head over and listen to Wayne Thompson from the Australian Type Foundry talk about how he creates fonts and some of the icon advertising pieces you have seen in advertising all over Australia (including the Optus “Yes” speech bubble).

So what is new in your life? What have you achieved after grinding away for what seems like years? How can I help you achieve success?

Stop Lying to Your Customer

Recently my mum got a new car. The Nissan Qashqai (pronounced Cash Ky or Cash Cow as we refer to it). She loves it. It has all the bells and whistles, lots of get up and go and is really comfy. The sales process was relatively simple and mum feels she got a good deal.

So far so good.

This week it was ready for it’s 10,000km service and that’s where the lying started.

Mum lives up country and is about 45 minutes away from the dealership. So it is no small thing to get the car serviced. It involves a day trip into town and getting everything done. As part of getting ready for the day she asked and confirmed when would the car be ready and was advised 1pm. “Are you sure?” She asked and was advised, “yes certainly.”

Back to pick up the car at 1pm and she was advised that it won’t be ready until 3pm “sorry for any inconvenience”. I just happened to call mum about that time and I can tell you, she was not happy. “They are not even working on the car because I can see it sitting just over there.”

You know what it’s like. It may not be a car service, maybe it is picking up an order or waiting on a meal or something else, maybe even a pre-recorded announcement at an airport that EVERYONE knows is a lie. My personal bugbear is “We apologise for the inconvenience.” It is a token statement, they don’t mean it or they would do something about it.

Back to mum. Here is the outcome. You know how a car service at a dealer usually costs about $400-$600? Yes it’s a bit more but you pay it thinking that it will help with resale value and you hope the dealer knows something about the car. Well that Nissan dealer will not be getting any of that money. Mainly because mum can’t trust them to do what they said they would but also because they show no empathy for how their lie impacted on her. Next time it is off to the local mechanic.

By the way, a local qualified mechanic is able to perform your services and it will not impact your normal warranty. Dealers try an scare you into thinking it will but that is because they can often make more money off servicing a car than selling it.

So are you lying to your customers?

Little white lies to keep them placated, shift an uncomfortable situation or because you actually don’t know what is happening so you make something up?

If so, stop it!

Customer relationships are built on trust. Lies degrade that trust and ultimately will kill your relationship all together. Tell your customers the truth – even if it is embarrassing, ugly or may seem to be a negative thing. Your customers are human. They accept that sometimes things happen but what are you doing to fix it.

Recently in Melbourne, a bus ran into a bridge and injured some of the passengers. It was from Gold Bus Lines. What makes it so memorable is that someone at head office sent a person down to put gaffer tape over the company branding on the bus. All that did is make us remember the name and not forget it. Your driver made a mistake, it happens so deal with it. Don’t try and deny the mistake – you can’t!

Research from TMI shows that your clients will become more loyal if they have a complaint and you deal with it than if you never had an issue at all. So it is not about getting rid of issues, it is about dealing with them well. (Get a 32 page extract from TMI’s A Complaint is a Gift book here)

So problems happen, how can I address them without lying or avoid them in the first place?

Under promise and over deliver

Better to say the car will be ready at 3pm and aim for 1pm than they other way around. Telling a client you will have a response by Friday and getting it to them two days earlier get’s an excellent response and if something comes up, you have two days up your sleeve

Be Honest

This day an age, the customer probably knows what is going on before you do. Companies CAN NOT keep secrets. Don’t even try. While you don’t have to give the specifics of a situation, you can at least let them know what is going on and when you will have an update. Most people just want crystal clear communication on what is happening.

Stick to Your Commitments

If you make a commitment to a customer, keep it. If you are going to miss it, let them know as soon as possible and manage their expectations. People don’t mind if changes happen as long as you do what you can to keep them informed and help minimise the impact on them. Yes it takes a little extra effort and time but it creates loyal customers who will happily refer you.

Have Respect

Just because you as an individual think that the situation is only minor doesn’t mean it is for the customer. Maybe they are over reacting, but maybe they are not. Maybe there are bigger issues here. A little respect for the customer and some smart questioning will help you better service them and their needs. Never forget that while the customer is not always right, they are always the customer and should be treated accordingly.

So next time you decide that lying to the customer might be a good idea, think of my mum.

Think of the thousands of dollars in lost future business, think of the huge network of people she will tell it to, think of her relatives who may post about it on social media but most importantly, think of how easy it would be to tell the truth (even if it is a little uncomfortable) and how that will be far better for your business.

Take Me Home

One of the key things you need to know as a speaker (or as a budding rock star) is that the audience want to take you home.

They may have only heard you for an hour or two but there is a connection and they want to get more info from you or hear more of your stories or find out more about your message.

This is true regardless of your “status” in the market place. There will be audience members that just connect with you, even if you are not the headliner legend in your field. For example, my lovely wife and I went to “Burn the Floor” at Crown Casino on Friday. It was a very good show with lots of dancing and some great music. A very solid casino kind of show. Everything done really well and done within budget.

But they still had a merchandise stand with posters, CDs, trinkets and clothing. At the end of the show there was a significant crowd there all wanting to buy their merchandise.

So as a speaker, educater, professional what do you have that lets your audience take you home?

Following in the footsteps of others from Professional Speakers Australia (The association for experts who speak) I have created over thirty differents discs (some CD, some DVD and some template discs), two books, two e-courses and many other products. After presenting at the Professional Speakers Australia event on the weekend on how to create product like this, some of the audience wanted to take me home. Having this product meant that they could.

If someone wants to take you or your company home, how do you make that happen?

Stop Goating Around

My gorgeous wife and I seem to have a penchant for goat based cafes.

We had three attempts at getting to the Giddy Goat cafe in Yarck before we actually made it on a time and date it was open. Recently we double our goat cafe participation by dining at the Gippy Goat in Yarragon.

Regular readers will know that one of my strongly held beliefs is that you MUST make it easy for the customer. Remove any barrier you can to make it so simple for your customer to discover what you are offering, why they may need it and then help them buy it. Don’t make them have to act the goat to give you their business.

During our trip to the Gippy Goat (which was lovely) I over heard a member of the local council (you could tell because it was embroided on her blouse) enquire about a booking for 10 people. The junior person said, “I’m sorry we don’t take bookings.” There was not much conversation after that.

Don’t get me wrong, maybe there is a great reason why they don’t take booking. Maybe that policy exists for a good reason. Maybe they don’t need they money or loyal customers. I would have approached it differently.

Looking around they had a room that could be used for a private function that seated about 12 people. That would have been a great room for them. 10 people at about $50 a head for lunch, coffee, dessert is $500. 10 happy council people who live in the area and then tell other people how good this place is could represent five to ten times as much. What if this became a regular booking for the council for a monthly or bimonthly group?

Again, I don’t know enough about the venue or the reason for the policy. What I do know is that you have to make it easy to be the customer. There are always other options so the best thing you can do for your business is make sure you are the one easiest to do business with.

Stop goating around and get the sale.

PS Stay tuned for some exciting news … ok I can’t wait. So here it is.
The Get More Success show is launching in 2 weeks.
Video and Audio interviews with successful people sharing their secrets on how to achieve success.
I will let you know when it launches!

Why Are You Shouting?

AIME2016 is on this week. That’s the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo. It is held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre and it is a real focus for the meetings industry. It is always good to go along and see what is happening in the industry.

It is interesting looking at some of the comments coming out on social media, and they are typical of many exhibitors and events all over the world. Essentially they are shouting “LOOK AT ME”

The actual comments are more like “come by stand 26B to see XYZ. You could we an ipad/bottle of wine/(insert token gift here)”.

Can I humbly suggest you save your breath and stop shouting?

What is happening is the more you do it, the more your fellow exhibitors think it’s a good idea to and then they do it and then you do it again and fairly soon everyone is shouting.

Meanwhile, all of the delegate have been scared off and purposefully avoid you.

Here is another approach. Make a personal offer to the people you want to talk with. If you have their emails or phone numbers, contact them directly and make an appointment or let them know why you would love to see them. If you don’t have their details, you will know the type of person you want to speaker to so make an offer directly to them that is intriguing and makes them want to come and visit.

For example, “For all the association event organisers visiting AIME, how would you like complimentary shoulder massage as we share with you ways to get more members at your events? Drop by the Event Strategists and let our masseurs work their magic for you”.

Isn’t that a little more attractive?

Find out what your niche customer will be attracted by and provide it. Then get ready for the onslaught of visitors. (Naturally this idea translates in to normal marketing, sales messages and even parenting)

So why are you shouting?

By the way, I will be at AIME on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. If you want to chat about how you can make your next event more fun, memorable and successful, call me on 0408 592 158 and we can catch up on the show floor.

Respect Your Brand

I am a Star Wars fan.

I was 9 when the first film came out. The first three films were great, the second three – not so much.

When I heard Disney bought Lucasfilm I was concerned. Disney are known for their focus on achieving a significant return for their investment, sometimes at a cost of the brand. (Recently they sent legal letters to people posting photos of their legally bought Star Wars action figures.)

The long awaited Episode Seven is due to open on the 18th of Dec. Already the marketing and merchandising has been going full steam ahead. I was stunned today to see the licensing of kids yoghurt balls (the advert is above).

I am certain many brands would love to piggy back on Star Wars popularity but what is the cost to Star Wars and Disney?

As a long time fan, I am saddened by all of the marketing. Somehow aligning “The Force” with everyday products takes away the “special” feeling the brand used to have. It is no longer unique but common.

What about your brand? Whether it be your company brand or brand “YOU”, be aware who you align yourself with.

If you don’t respect your brand, why should anyone else?
PS We ran a special Blab on Friday talking about Mindfulness and Communication. We also created a special deal for the 2016 Kick Off. You can check out the recording here and take advantage of the deal until midnight tonight (Monday 14th December 2015).

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