Passion is the fuel that lights the flame in any endeavor. Rarely can anyone succeed without an abiding passion for their efforts. It is the passion for the game that brings on the winners. It motivates, stimulates, and drives others around them. It is essential in inspiring a team, influencing customers to do business with you, delivering a great project, and providing consistently exceptional customer service.

If you are in a leadership position, having passion for your vision and inspiring your team toward that vision helps keep them going even if the odds are against them and even when the circumstances are dire.

Power-Up For Prosperity With Passion

If you are in sales, or are a small business owner, passion begets a positive attitude which is vital to sales success. It is the engine that never stops moving you forward no matter how great the challenges you face. Passion gets you back up the hill when you experience a valley of disappointment. Passion helps drive you to overcome any odds. Passion is the insatiable fuel that keeps you moving forward in the right direction no matter what roadblock comes your way.

Whatever your job position may be, passion does not go unnoticed. People will see how well you do your job. They will see it when a task is hard, you don’t give in, and you apply yourself to overcome it. Your drive and your motivation will be noticed by your team and your company. Your customers will hear it in your voice.

Put a little passion into what you do. If you are disgruntled for whatever reason, then do it for yourself. Regardless of how tough things might be, strive to be the best at what you do. Consider this quote:

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
(Martin Luther King, Jr)

Passion is the one intangible that drives any individual to succeed and enjoy life.
Put a little passion into your personal life too!

The most crucial, and often the most difficult, aspect of achieving success in business is having the ability to attract new customers. Keeping your customers loyal to you can be testing, too, but at least at that point, you already have them through the door and buying from you.

Unless you have a brand new invention or something innovative to bring the masses to your brand, the task of bringing in customers is made harder by the fact most of your target audience is already loyal to a competitor and, in some cases, has been for many years.

How can you get them ‘on the hook’ and set up to turn their loyalty in your direction?

Hold a Giveaway

Just be careful about how you do it!

Giving away a product as a footfall driver can be dangerous, especially if it is just a ‘turn up and get it free’ type of offer. However, if you are saying spend $100 and get X free, especially if X is something rather nice, then you stand a much better chance of bringing in people who are likely to stick with you for the long term.

Of course, you can hold as many giveaway events as you like, but if your product is not of a good enough standard, you won’t be successful.

Create Excitement

The way we use the internet in 2013 makes it easy to create a buzz around your product. Whether you create a quirky video that you aim to go viral or drum up a large following on Twitter or Instagram, as soon as people are curious as to what you do, you have half the battle won.

Encourage your customers to tell their social media followers about your brand, or the latest products they have bought from you, too.

Show Off

What you don’t want to do is blatantly position yourself in the market and say, “We are better than this competitor because they are useless at X, Y, and Z.” It doesn’t look good when Apple, Google, and Facebook do it to each other, and if they can’t get away with it, it is unlikely you can.

However, you can go all out in promoting something that is unique and potentially life changing for your potential customers. A message that says “First Business to Achieve This,” or “Market Leading New Product” doesn’t need many more bells attached to it. Even in these times of global austerity, people want the best, often regardless of price.

Of course, once you have established your presence in the market, you can then rely on your customers to do the showing off for you, as they will be only too quick to use social media or your own feedback forum to write testimonials and review your products or services.

Bring new customers to your business and wow them so that they never leave. Remember, however, to avoid the mistake of alienating existing loyal customers by focusing solely on the new ones; show the people generating your profits some love, too.

Posterita is revolutionary new retail point of sale (POS) software that allows chain stores and single stores to manage every aspect of their operations via an easy-to-use web-based platform.

One of the most challenging situations is to turn difficult customers into loyal customers. If you can do so, then you may not only gain a new loyal customer but also create an advocate for your business. When you encounter a difficult customer, instead of getting angry and defensive, be respectful, apologetic and humble.

An owner of a pizza restaurant told me about a situation where a customer was charged for something he did not order and asked for the manager. The customer started yelling at at the owner, “You hire idiots to work here.” The owner apologized, corrected the bill and gave him a free pizza-to-go. He impressed the customer, and exceeded his expectations. Consequently, the gentleman became one of his most loyal customers. He introduced more people to their establishment and always complimented the owner o their great pizza. He visited so frequently he and the owner became good friends.

You can establish life-long friendships and build strong customer loyalty by going the extra mile and handling each customer with special care–whether they act like Dorothy or the Wicked Witch of the West.

Being extraordinarily responsive in your delivery of service to your customers is the mark of a smart business person. On a moment by moment basis, strive for excellence in your delivery of service to both your external and your internal customers. In doing so, you will set an example for everyone in your company and help maintain the momentum needed to obtain customer loyalty. At the end of each day, you, your customers and your coworkers will be the final judges of your performance.

Here’s a great article on Keeping The Most Difficult Customers, Customer Loyalty, Customer service excellence

http://www.christinespeaks.com/customerrelationshipmgt.htm

The constant struggle for business professionals today is to somehow obtain a sense of balance between their job and personal life. For many people I know it is like a tightrope act that can cause anxiety and lead to burnout.

Without balance between your business and personal life, there’s just no way you can survive in today’s fast-paced world and not buckle under the pressure. If you’re leading a high-pressured lifestyle like most of us, you need to take time each day for self-renewal, joy, and serenity in your life. This is necessary to stay fresh, be creative, and enjoy life. Just as healthy eating habits take into account your nutritional needs, so does a balanced life take into account all your needs: your need for family, friends, work, play, private, and spiritual time.

To achieve balance requires clearly defining your values and shifting a few hours each week from one activity to another. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. It requires coming to terms with your values and priorities, deciding what is most important and making a decision to make the tradeoffs they require. Then, you need to have the discipline to create a structure that defines how you spend your time. If you think of your life as a jigsaw puzzle, you may have these pieces squarely in place–going to the office early, staying late to catch up on paperwork and working weekends. If this is the case, then where are the missing pieces of your life–the time for yourself and your family to complete that puzzle? It takes self-discipline to complete it. Discipline is what is required to help keep your life in balance.

Having a clear understanding of your values should determine how you spend your time. Values help define who you are and tend to evolve as you get older and wiser. When you ask people what they value in life they usually respond with: children, family, relationships, financial security, education, spirituality, health/physical fitness, travel and volunteerism. These are the things they hold dear, and the things they feel are most important in life. They also mention the activities they most enjoy–boating, golf, music, movies, cooking, etc.

The key to achieving life-balance is to build free time into your schedule so it becomes routine. To do this, you must respect and cherish your free time and make it a habit to block out time on your calendar for YOU. Schedule activities that will regenerate your mind and your body. Here how: Get your appointment book and look at your monthly calendar. Now, look at the next two weeks ahead. Take a pencil and make an appointment with yourself in the days ahead to do the things that nourish your mind and your soul, and nurture relationships with those you love.

My theory is this: So much of our time is taken up with responsibilities that we need to “steal” a little back for ourselves. Block out a couple of evenings to see a friend or a family member. Block out days for bicycling, shopping, museums, family, movies, visiting, golfing–whatever it is you enjoy. If you don’t have entire days, then block out a couple of hours–whatever you can afford. And, yes, I know that you are working long hours and don’t have enough time with your family, so do what you can. Here are more ideas that may be helpful to you.

• Tune Out the Business World

During this leisure time, be sure to block out all thoughts about business to recharge your batteries. Remember that this will enable you to generate creative ideas. As you are engaged in leisure activities your subconscious mind is contemplating decisions to be made, and ideas to bring into your conscious mind. This will occur after you have rested.

Do this at a certain time each evening as well. I personally have made it a personal RULE that I do not think about business after 8:00 p.m. each evening, unless I’m writing or attending a business function. I’ve been practicing this habit for years and it has helped me to relax before bedtime.

• Be Spontaneous

Embrace spontaneity in your life. Do what you feel like doing when you want to do it. Accept last minute invitations and take short spur-of- the moment trips when possible. Living your life planned to the split second allows no room for spontaneity. I try to block out at least one day each month where I make absolutely no plans or commitments with anyone. Try it sometime. It will give you an opportunity to be spontaneous and provide some space where you can stretch and breathe and take life at a less harried pace. Gather the kids at the last minute and go hiking.

• Be Outrageous.

Here’s a great way to regenerate your mind and body -especially if you feel you are about to experience burnout. Shift gears to charge your mental batteries by doing something you’ve never done before–even if it seems outrageous. When I started my company, I was feeling overwhelmed with all I had to learn and do. One day my friend said, “Let’s go skating! Tuesday is adult night.” I couldn’t imagine two grown women skating at a roller rink but she persuaded me to go. The upbeat music was energizing and we had so much fun laughing at ourselves. It was definitely a stress buster. You may not wish to put skates on your feet, but doing these types of things will definitely reduce your stress level and keep your outlook fresh.

• Who Says You Can’t Do It? Break the Rules!

Breaking your own rules helps prevent burnout and may be a luxury in which you forget to indulge. Who says you can’t stay in bed late on Sunday and not get dressed or shaved? Who says you can’t take a walk through the park with a friend at lunch hour? Who says you can’t go out after work on the spur of the moment to go to dinner or see a movie? Who says you can’t let the housework go for a couple of days? Who says you can’t block out an evening or a few hours on a weekend to do absolutely nothing? Who says you can’t take a day off to take the kids to the beach?

• Just Say No!

As Steven Covey tells us, “Learn to say no to activities that are not congruent with your core values.” For example, “I’d like to say yes, but it’s important to me to spend time with my family tonight.” Or, “I’m sorry, I really need to recharge my batteries this weekend.” Or, “I’m sorry, I’ve committed to coaching Little League this summer.”

Easier Said Than Done?

Perhaps you have been thinking, “Oh, sure, easier said than done” as you’ve been reading. Why is it so hard for us to slow down and relax? Earlier, I mentioned my childhood neighbor who is now a high-powered executive of an internationally prominent corporation with over 70,000 people who ultimately report up to him. He has more responsibility than anyone I’ve ever known–both personally and professionally. Not only is he constantly receiving calls from their branches throughout the world, but also he and his wife are parents of four children.

One day, I asked him how–with all the long hours, international travel, public speaking, client meetings and writing–does he keep his life in balance. He gave me many ideas, but what remained in my mind was what he told me about how he maintained balance when his children were small. He said he took his family to their home in the country almost every weekend and would invite a client and their family as well. This way, both of them could squeeze in business discussions AND spend time with their families. He also took his children to the country club and permitted them to take turns driving the golf cart while he played. Other than when he was concentrating on hitting the ball, he was completely focused on listening to them share stories of what happened at school that week.

A balanced life creates harmony between your business life and your personal life. Don’t leave the activities of life-balance at the bottom of your “to-do” list. When you incorporate leisure into your life, you will be able to handle the grit and grind of working in today’s real world. Alternate hard work with hard play. Balance giving with receiving. Take care of your responsibilities to others with taking care of yourself. When you do, you will be able to think more creatively, perform more effectively, and enjoy your life.

To survive in the most challenging business climate we’ve ever experienced, we’ve gotten “lean and mean.” We’ve downsized, reorganized, cut costs, and struggled to manage our working capital. We’ve had to make tough decisions and hard choices to survive. Now, it’s time to build the muscle in our businesses. We need to put smart practices in place to ensure our organizations are “Fit for Success.” What it requires is accountability – a concentrated effort from every employee to be responsible for a positive result in every task, project, and every interaction with customers and coworkers.

Establishing an accountability culture in your business will give you a competitive edge while increasing your opportunities for long-term business growth.Communicate the importance of accountability and help your people understand its meaning.

In simple terms, accountability means that employees will do what needs to be done and take ownership for their role in the process. Ideally, they will act as though your company is their company and practice “entrepreneurial thinking.” They will step up to the plate and do what needs to be done. They will work together as a team, will be supportive of one another, and display initiative beyond their job description. Most important, they will agree to work together for the betterment of your organization and understand that they are not only to answer to management for their performance, but also to each other. They will also hold each other accountable for their attitude, as well as their level of performance.

A prime example of this comes from one of my clients – a successful equipment distributor who won an Award for Customer Service Excellence from their manufacturer. This smart and profitable company compiles a list of everything their people should be accountable for. Where does this list come from? Their employee, of course. They recognize that Employee Involvement is what makes organizations “fit for success,” as people tend to “buy-into” and promote what they, themselves help to create.

Here’s another example that comes from the Service Department, “We agree to practice our core value of “Safety” by locking out and tagging out any equipment that may be unsafe.” Here’s one from the Parts Department, “We agree to be accountable to never turn away any business, unless we are absolutely sure we cannot provide it.” From the whole company, “We agree to make every effort to answer the phone by the third ring.” “We agree to do all we can to support our sales team.”

Here’s another example of how one of my banking clients in the Midwest practices accountability. They not only have a list of specifics they agree to be accountable for, but every department grades the other regularly on courtesy and customer service -including internal customer service. The department with the highest score is recognized and rewarded. They also tally the overall score for the bank– then challenge each other to raise the score higher each time. This helps sustain the momentum of “accountability” as well as a “service excellence” culture.

Steps to Establish Accountability

1) Define the meaning of accountability to your staff and ask them what it means to them.

2) Clarify the areas in which people will be held accountable. Expectations must be stated in a specific and clearly differentiating manner. To accomplish this, define precisely whatever old behaviors or attitudes must be abandoned, and what new behaviors must be exhibited on a consistent basis.

3) Be prepared for confrontation and conflict. Many managers prefer to avoid making their subordinates (and themselves) uncomfortable. Failure to confront poor performers or people with negative attitudes can stifle productivity. If people are not held accountable for their job responsibilities and their interaction with managers, customers and coworkers, service excellence cannot exist.

In your efforts to create an accountability culture, keep this in mind: You will never succeed if your people are not made to feel valued by being treated well. Management must be accountable to display dynamic leadership and treat their employees as well as their best customers. Treat them with respect and appreciate their efforts on a daily basis. Then, you will be able to sustain the momentum for the accountability you need to build the muscle in your company.

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Need help? We can provide a workshop to help you to establish “Sales-Service Excellence Culture” where accountability is just one area we cover.

The violin is one of the most marvelous musical instruments that has ever been created and truly one of the most challenging to master. Of this, I’m sure, as I have personal experience in this area. If you wanted to learn to play one, what you would learn in your very first lesson is that it must first be properly tuned before it can be played.

The critical task of tuning is performed by first, turning each individual peg from which each string is attached until the sound is as close as possible to the musical tones of “E” A, D and G. Then you “fine-tune” it, by turning the tiny screws for each individual string on the tail piece until you hear the pure musical tone.

The steel strings on the violin are highly sensitive and easily effected by various factors, room temperature, the pressure from the violinist’s fingers, the pressure from the bow and humidity. So it’s necessary to not only tune before you begin to play, but also to retune during your practice and between each song as well.

You may think this sounds somewhat simple to learn, but it’s not. Yet only when you develop the ability to tune it perfectly, will you be able to achieve good results. If the violin is not properly tuned, then of course, your results will be music that is “out of tune” or “off-key” even if you are a musical virtuoso. However, just as a professional athlete wouldn’t dream of performing their sport without first warming up their muscles, a violin virtuoso would never dream of playing their instrument unless it were perfectly tuned.

What Does This Have to Do With My Job?

Well, just like a violinist, as a business professional you, too, have an instrument you should “fine-tune” before you begin your day and then retune often as the day progresses. It, too, is highly sensitive and is effected by pressure and other factors that can cause it to go out of tune. It’s an incredible instrument because it’s a human instrument. It’s your mind. And just like a violin it, too, must be tuned and retuned perfectly to precision thinking and positive attitude if you want to achieve your personal and professional goals.

Think about this analogy – with all the demands of the work place–the tough economy. fierce competition, the speed of change, the new technology, too much to do- too little time, and all the stress and challenges you must face each day, you need to stay in the right frame of mind to handle these challenge.

The violin strings are tuned to the musical tones of E A D and G.
Here’s your tune up:

E – Excellence in all you do

A – Attitude – positive (no brainer)

D – Discipline to stay focused, execute tasks, pursue new business, not
let stress get to you, master new skills, and more

G – Greatness -or Goals, whichever you choose. I like both.

The closing words of my most popular book, Wake Up and Smell the Competition:

“Your MIND is a human instrument of the finest order,
And the most delicate balance.
Tune it as if it were a fine violin
To achieve success in all your endeavors.
Play it with passion, rhythm and great expression.
Then, you will live your life in harmony with others,
And to its fullest potential with yourself.”

Research confirms that insurance and financial services pros who are proficient in building relationships achieve more referrals and greater success. In a recent study of Fortune 1000 companies, researchers at Booz Allen Hamilton and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management found that the most financially successful companies are more relationship focused than sales focused. That’s their “differentiator.”

One of the best ways to build relationships and get great referrals is to hold a customer event.

Open houses, client appreciation days, golf outings, and similar events provide opportunities to get closer to the client, help build stronger client relationships and, ultimately, create higher levels of client loyalty. If done correctly and creatively, you can obtain rewards.

Hold an event with a theme that is appropriate for your business. The invitation should make your best customers say “WOW, I don’t want to miss this!” Here are a few examples that have been successful for many businesses:

Valentine’s Day for Single Women Only

Here’s one to plan right now. One of three top producing wealth management firms representing a well known financial service company holds an annual Valentine’s Day luncheon for single, widowed, or divorced clients and their single female friends. The result. Well, he’s at the top, what do you think?

A Family Affair

Host an event that includes customers and their families, as well as employees and their families. This makes them feel like family too!

Picnics, barbecues, holiday parties, and theater parties, among others, are all great. I have even seen a company pull off a very successful ice skating party complete with snowball fights, hot chocolate, and snow-related prizes.

Playing the Game to WIN

Purchase tickets to football, basketball, and baseball events.

Learn More-Earn More

Host an educational seminar that will provide valuable information to help your customers increase their profitability and lead better lives. This can produce a great turnout. Here are a few examples that are proven winners. Consider those that are applicable for your industry.

• - “Live to Enjoy Your Money-How to Keep Your Heart Healthy”
• - “Teaching Kids About Money”
• - “Don’t Wait – Plan Your Estate”
• - “Home Improvement Made Easy”
• - “Business as Usual is OVER – What are the New Rules of the Game”
• - “The ART and Science of Influencing People”

Many companies bring in an author who has written a book on a hot topic. The author and firm promote the event together, resulting in a win-win for both.

Don’t Miss the Boat

Take customers on a boat outing. You can do it after business hours and call it a Sunset Cruise – “Cruisin’ With XYZ.” (My colleague, Maribeth Kuzmeski, principal at Red Zone Marketing, a firm that specializes in the financial services industry, gets the credit for this catchy event theme.)

Rockin’ to Success

You can obtain a great turnout at an after hours party with this theme.

Block Party

Block out the date for the XYZ block party. Hold it in your company’s parking lot. A similar theme might be Takin’ It To the Streets.

An Evening with ______________.

Purchase tickets to an event that your customers would be delighted to attend. Every year, a wealth management firm purchases a block of tickets for Joel Osteen, a famous author and senior pastor of Lakewood Church who has a big following in that area. They get a huge turnout and says that his clients look forward to it every year. Families are included.

Country Club Classic

If you are a member of a country club, hold an after-hours cocktail party and appetizer event. A financial advisor located in the Chicago area held an event at Medinah Country Club. If you live in Chicago, or are a golfer, you know that Medinah is a very impressive country club. Most people never even have the opportunity to get through the gates. Did she obtain a great turnout? You bet.

Getting the turnout you want

As soon you set a date for your event, e-mail or send a SAVE THE DATE announcement. Then, call the client to let them know that an invitation is in the mail and to hold the date. (Sales pros always need a reason to call clients and potential clients.) Another way to obtain a great turnout is to hold an internal contest. Offer a prize for the sales person who can get the most customers to attend.

A financial services pro in Chicago was calling customers the morning of a big event his firm was holding. A week later at a sales meeting, the President handed him five one hundred dollar bills for getting the most clients and potential clients to attend.

Getting referrals at the event

There are several methods to obtain referrals at your events. One great way is to expand your invitation list. When you call the client “John, would you like to invite the brother you told me about?” Or, “Carolyn, would you like to bring a friend or family member who may also have interest in the services we offer?”

Another way is to give each customer a small gift as they leave. These gifts should be on a table by the exit and next to a nicely wrapped box with a slot. As you, or someone else in your company, hands them the gift, also hand them a referral card. Thank them for attending, ask if they enjoyed themselves, and thank them for their business. Then, graciously ask, “Would you be so kind (a great phrase to use, and one I wrote about in The ART of Influencing Customers to BUY From YOU) as to fill out this little referral card?”
If your event was great, they should be motivated to do so.

Small events can be just as effective

Too small of a business and too few funds to hold customer events? Even a small firm can do this successfully with a small budget. Here’s a cost-effective way you can obtain referrals through events. Think of the best restaurant in your area that is centrally located. Choose one that has a private room and is known for great food so that invitees will say, “Lawry’s! Wow, I love that place!” If the restaurant is famous for steaks, make sure the invitation says, “Choice of Steak, Chicken, or Fish.” Make a deal with the restaurant for a great price.

Consider your per-plate charge and the expense of printing and mailing one hundred invitations. Set a goal of having fifty people present. Send an invitation to your best customers, advocates, and anyone who is in a position to refer business to you. If cost is an issue, resist the temptation to include family members, friends, and neighbors unless they can bring someone who can use your product or service.

Make a SAVE THE DATE announcement, send the invitation, and ask for an RSVP. Then, give a follow up call. Once you know who is coming and how many, check to see if you are on budget. If you are, ask each person if he or she would like to bring a guest who might also use your product or service.

Whatever type of event you choose to do, make sure it’s different, memorable, and suitable for your client base.

When a sports team is stuck in a losing streak, and feeling down and out what does the coach say? He or she usually claims that the team is going to “get back to the basics” with grueling practice drills to reverse the trend and boost the motivation.

It doesn’t have to be grueling. In today’s world, is the little, practical things about working and getting ahead that seem to have been lost. Its the same with happiness. Perhaps we need to go back to the basics in both areas, especially when it comes to creating and executing a smart business plan.

Basic happiness
Let’s start with happiness. Perhaps no one stated it better than Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Jung -

1. Good physical and mental health.
2. Good personal and intimate relationships, such as those of
marriage, the family, and friendships.
3. The faculty for perceiving beauty in art and nature.
4.  Reasonable standards of living and satisfactory work.
5.  A philosophic or religious point of view capable of coping
successfully with the vicissitudes of life.

Perhaps the more mindful you are of these and other basic things that bring happiness to you, the more you are likely to bring these elements into your life. Makes sense doesn’t it?

Don’t lose the good feeling
Here’s a another basic for happiness. Think of how you felt when you first fell in love, got your first job, made your first sale, became a manager, helped a customer, or established your business with a smart business plan. Do you remember the feeling? Hold onto it. If you are a health care professional, teacher, or are in a service business, remember that each and every day provides an opportunity for you to make a difference in the lives of others. Make that difference and keep the feeling in your heart.

Basic Sales
If you are a business owner, manager or sales pro, go back to basics by spending more time on the phone. Redouble your sales efforts with more face-to-face visits with customers. Revisit that basic “Sales 101″ and take every aspect of asking for the order, listening, asking questions, communicating benefits, “mirroring” the customer knowing your “batting average,” and even smiling when on the phone. Become a master of these basics, then become a master at building relationships.

Basic Business Fundamentals
Reexamine your basic business fundamentals and values. Make sure your staff demonstrates the values of honesty, integrity, respect, customer focus, teamwork, excellence, quality, health, family, safety, concern for the environment, accountability and other values you have stated. Your values should drive everything you do.

Here’s another business basic you should have well underway for the year: a simple business plan.

Creating and executing a business plan is not optional. It is critical to your success and cannot be overemphasized.

Interestingly, many mid-sized and small businesses do not have a detailed, well-developed business plan. Some have no plan at all. Some experience growth despite this lack of direction you can obtain from a business plan. However, most find that they can meet customer needs, manage their business, and increase sales and profitability when they have a road map as their business plan. to guide them If you need help in creating a business plan, you might find help here:

Business Plan Tool and Guide

Today’s customers are more service savvy than ever. If you don’t excel in every aspect of their experience customers will head straight over to your competitor. Sales and customer service staff must work together as highly effective teams – all working toward the same goal – increasing sales and developing a reputation for superior customer service. What is required is true teamwork.

The challenge with teamwork is that it does not necessarily come naturally; teamwork requires training. Here’s why: Most individuals have been programmed from childhood to excel as individuals and not as team players. Unless a person has participated in a teamwork training program, or has had experience on a sports team under the direction of that rare dynamic coach, he or she does not know how to apply teamwork. In spite of this obstacle there are seven actions to take that will help you to align your sales and customer service teams for results.

1.) Sales and customer service managers should instruct sales and service teams to create a list of things they think each team does exceptionally well.  This is the first step in teamwork.

2)  Hold a meeting and appoint someone to facilitate. Set ground rules for the meeting on how you will practice teamwork at the meeting.  ”We will all participate.” “We will speak openly.” Will will be solutions-focused.” “No finger-pointing, blaming, etc.”

3)  Share what’s on your list – what you do exceptionally well. Congratulate each other.

4)  Discuss key elements of teamwork

-          Common goal
-          Open Communication
-          Sense of camaraderie
-          Trust — that each will do their part

5)  Determine ways teamwork, communication and customer service can be improved.  Examples:

-     Service staff should keep the sales person informed.

-    Customer service should recognize, they, too, are “in sales,” and it is not the responsibility of a salesperson to build relationships, it’s the service staff as well.

-  Brief Monday morning meetings with sales and service managers to discuss hits, runs, and misses of the previous week. One service person and one sales person should attend as well. Teamwork should be applied at these meetings.

-    Sales teams should share what they hear in the field. Open communication is a key element of teamwork.

-   Both teams should understand each others’ pressures.

-   Both teams must recognize they must serve each other well in order to serve customers well.

-  Identify service flaws and how to eliminate them. Again, we are applying the essential elements of teamwork.

-  Identify ways to “WOW” customers Example: The sales person brings in flowers from the customer service staff. Sales and service managers visit customers together to inquire on how they can help the customer and better serve them.

6)  Have a discussion on what can hold back teamwork – territorialism, fear of conflict, “us” versus “them” mentality, blaming, business silos, negativity, lack of respect, competitiveness, egos, finger-pointing, “it’s not my job attitudes,” and anything else you can think of. Address what needs to happen to break down barriers between departments managers, and teams.

7) For issues that rely on the team consensus and commitment, involve the whole team in the decision making process. That way, each team member will feel his or her ownership in the final decision, solution, or idea. The more he or she feels this way, the more likely he or she is to agree with and commit to the decided line of action.

There is a great deal more involved in aligning sales and customer service for results through teamwork. Consider teamwork training and make sure it’s fun. For now, these seven steps will get you started.

(Need teamwork training? Call (847-581-9968)

For another great article on Teamwork – http://www.christinespeaks.com/why_teamwork.htm

Effective Trade Show Promotion 

You spent a great deal of time, money and hard work into preparing to exhibit in your upcoming industry trade show. Now you need to promote it. What you do prior to the show, is just as important as what happens at the show. Send invitations to a targeted group prior to the show. That would include your “A” list of existing customers, and most desired customers.  Make that list, and send an impressive invitation. Make it unique and memorable.

For example, one company which manufacturers buckets for construction equipment sent an invitation to their booth in a small gold-colored box. The outside of the box had a sticker on it that read, “Get a Bucket of Gold with Acme.”  Inside it something rattled. The recipient couldn’t help but be curious and open it immediately.  Inside, there were little gold nuggets, chocolate gold coins and a gold-trimmed invitation. The header said “You Can Dig Faster for the Gold with Acme Full Size Excavator Buckets” There is a special “Gift of Gold” with your name on it waiting in our booth.” This was a highly successful campaign. Gifts were given that kept with the “gold” theme.

Here’s an idea recommended to an importer and supplier of beautiful granite and marble in the kitchen and bath industry. It came from one of the smartest national sales managers I know. He suggested they think of the Top Ten potential customers they wanted to see at the show, and their best customers.  He recommended that they make a paperweight of beautiful granite with the customer’s initials inscribed. Then, they sent a letter with a photo of the paperweight that says, “This personalized gift is in a box with your name on it in our booth at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. The number is 2702.  We will look forward to seeing you there.”

Here’s yet another idea.  I have seen people flock into booths to obtain a funny tee shirt.  If you send a photo of the tee shirt in advance, and let them know there is one in a bag with their name on it, they will surely come. The funnier the better.  People need a few laughs these days.

Swiss Army knives make great promotional products for tradeshows. One company used them in an elaborate giveaway in a first-class promotional campaign aimed at presidents of companies. Here’s what they did: They sent out a mailing two months prior to the show in an envelope that had a photo of a Swiss Army knife on the envelope with text that read, “One of these has your name engraved on it and is waiting for you at our exhibit.” Inside, there was a letter asking them for an appointment to visit their exhibit to pick up their gift. It worked. Almost everyone who received the letter arrived at the exhibit. You can do the same with whatever gift you choose for your trade show promotion.  Don’t forget to have your sales people talk with those people before they receive their gift.

Some companies will give away jackets—another desirable item.  And depending on your industry, golf clubs are great!  (Usually they will have one at the show, and ship to the customer after the show so they don’t have to take it on the plane.) Toys also work great.  Everyone who has a kid needs to bring something back for them. Or, they knows a kid who would like to have a dinosaur or dragon toy.  Even a simple tee shirt will bring people in, as long as you promote it before the show. As previously stated, funny tee shirts work well if you send customers a photo of it before the show with the promise of one waiting. Many of the most sophisticated executives and even doctors will stand in line for a Harley-Davidson tee shirt. If you think it will work as an effective trade show promotion, do it; you won’t know unless you try.

An even more creative way for trade show promotion is to  purchase a gift that you can send in two parts. For example, send the earphones to an iPod with a photo of the iPod and a note that says, “What goes with this is in a personally addressed box in Exhibit Number 108.” (You will want to be sure these gifts are discreetly wrapped, so as not to offend anyone who may not have received one.) A sales manager purchased 25 iPods for the most important 25 prospects he wanted to bring into the exhibit. The long-term result? New representation, new customers and increased sales. That’s the name of the game, right?

Perhaps you might send them a single ticket to a sporting or entertainment event that is in their city with a note, “Another ticket to this event is waiting for you in an envelope at our exhibit. We will contact you to arrange an appointment to pick it up.”

Establish a giveaway or “gift” budget for your trade show promotion. Then, tap into your creativity to think of what gift would draw your VIPs into your exhibit. You could consider a “sneak-preview” to a new product. There are drawings for big prizes, which work for some exhibitors. How about purchasing five or ten specialty items and reserving them for the people you most want to see, or are most likely to do business with you. Even a gift card works!  Think of something they might really want to have, and go for it.

Studies have revealed that, on average, show attendees receive twenty to thirty invitations to a single show. Whatever you decide to do, make sure your invitation is special, unique, and most important, entices the customer to want to visit your exhibit!  Don’t forget those specialty items too for trade show promotion.  Everyone loves those.