Perspective on Lead Conversion

Customers Are Allies, Not Opponents

There's something inside-out about the way most business people think about the selling process. They all say, "We're customer focused," or "the customer comes first," or "customer satisfaction is our goal." But it's the exception, not the rule, when they really act like they believe it. Watch what they do (and maybe what you do) and you can see how backwards it is. They may not realize it, and no one would admit to it if they did, but most people in business see their customers as opponents to be overcome instead of allies to be helped.

Allies? Yes. An ally is someone who cooperates with you to achieve a common purpose. And that's exactly what a customer is. Customers are, by nature, allies who want to buy the products and services you want to sell. But today's high-pressure world has made many of them reluctant skeptics who are wary of being persuaded or even tricked into making a purchase. The sales practices of most businesses have warped their customers' basic hopeful nature into something suspicious, resistant, and sometimes even fearful.

What are these sales practices? They have names like "creating a need," "overcoming objections," and "closing the sale." And they are all born of the belief that customers aren't cooperative and that it's the salesperson's task to "get" the sale.

But you don't "create a need." Customers come equipped with their own needs needs that have nothing to do with you. The best you can do is help customers understand their needs better. You don't "overcome objections." You help customers understand your products and give them the information that helps them make their purchase decisions. And you don't "close the sale." In fact, you never close the sale. You open it and keep it open because your goal is not the sales transaction. It's helping your customers arrive at decisions that are satisfying and in their best interests.

So we call the selling process "lead conversion." If you think it's just a fancy name for selling, think again. It's not about words. It's about two very different attitudes and sets of beliefs. One sees customers as opponents people to "overcome" through manipulative sales techniques. The other sees them as allies - people to be understood and helped. "Sales" will always be a struggle because it's "us against them." "Lead conversion" recognizes your prospects' motivation to become your customers and gives them what they need to support their decisions to buy. It's not "us against them," it's we. It's a cooperative, honest, mutual exchange of value with your customers.

So, your lead conversion process is simply a system for helping customers make their buying decisions, not persuading them, not tricking them, not "selling" them. Helping them.

If you go out of your way to do something for a customer, then they also see you as an ally. Sending a 'congratulations on your new baby' brought back a customer for me. Giving my chess student a ride to and from tournaments along with my own kids probably helped in the parent's decision to sign up for my math program as well. These little things go a long way.

It's all about building rapport. If you don't take the time to find out where someone went to school, how old their kids are, why they are the way they are, who are their friends, what do they do in their spare time, what are their hopes and dreams, your conversion is based on luck and a tremendous amount of fallout.

This is a great comment, thanks for sharing. What are some methods or processes you use to build rapport with prospects? Also, where does this important information go?

I agree with you but how do you elicit this information without the customer feeling your prying into their private lives?

Although I do agree that building rapport is important, I'm not so sure that casual conversation really accomplishes the kind of trust and mutual respect needed to build a solid business relationship. When I meet with someone for the first time, I try to establish some ground rules as to why we are meeting and how we are going to spend the time we've allocated to each other. This really sets a tone of mutual respect. Then I go digging and I keep digging until I uncover what is really happening in their world. It's like an onion. I just keep peeling away at the layers and eventually you get down to the real meat of what is going on. It is then and only then that I determine whether I can really help them or not. It is true that many times people don't really know what they need. Most times they are giving you symptoms rather than relaying the true problems they are experiencing.

NOT PRYING IN TO THIER LIVES .........WELL YOU MUST BE OR HIRE THE PERSON{S}THAT ARE TRULY INTERESTED IN OTHERS. PUT THEM AND THIER COMPANY AT THE CENTER OF HE UNIVERSE FOR THAT MEETING. NOT YOU, AN INCOMING CALL OR ANYTHING ELSE.
ASK A GOOD QUESTION EVERY DAY FOR 1 MONTH.
HOW CAN I BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS AND PERSPECTIVE CLIENTS?

DO ALL THIS REGULARLY AND YOU WILL NOT NEED A CROW BAR. YOURSELF, YOUR PEOPLE,AND SENSORY PACKAGE ACTS AS THE INITIAL CROW BAR TO GET YOU IN THE DOOR. TODD@AVIVAGROUP.COM

Hi Scott,

I too am looking for Demo/Psychographic info for direct mail campaings. I have discovered SalesGenie.com but the psychographics are not defined enough.

Have you had any more luck?

Ann

Studio Ann Rea

www.annrea.com

We are in the process of putting together a "marketing project" for a local university Advanced Marketing class. The professor is looking for a few long term projects that his entire class will work on for a semester. If we can get sound demographic and psychographic information for FREE, what do we have to loose?

I cannot help but think of Harvey McKay's The Mackay 66. If you have not seen it there is a link here: http://www.mackay.com/howhelp/Mac66.html Every time we have employed this, or at least the idea behind it, we have gained a client that wants to stay with our service. Thought it might be helpfull. Russell

Fantastic List! Thanks for the link. If we get 10% of what's here, we'll be in good shape. Now we just have to figure out which 10% is most important for us to know. Hmmm.

I view may customers as "customers for life" and reading Michael Gerber's books have helped me to create systems that create the "customer for life" culture in my business. We build close relationships with our customers at all levels, and it keeps competition out. We use innovative ways to keep in touch and show the customer that we are unique, and positioned to help them. As a result, we are seeing record sales in this wonderful economy. As the owner of a construction firm, we have more business than we can handle.

Tell us more about these innovative ways you keep in touch. Are you sending them calendars? Are you giving them mousepads? Do you give them wine and things for their houses? Share?

Good suggestion! I just began jogging two weeks ago and eating better. Plus I am learning alot of personal mastery lessons from the T Robbins tapes, i.e how your focus can affect your attitude, i.e. if I'm focusing on all the empty storefronts, then I will think this town is filled with bad customers, etc., and I don't watch that much tv, just west wing, scrubs, and invasion.

I'm learning that constant reminders ofthe importance of my goal, i.e. "keep your eye on the prize" type swill helps me stay focused and routines help me stay consistent. I'm sure the routines will evolve into processes within the business, but without my routines, I would never have time to work on creating processes for future employees, etc. It's hard but it is coming along, so thanks for your encouragement...

As crazy as this may seem. Explore and review your diet and exercise program. Most people walk around sluggish because of what they are eating and lack of exercise. The better conditioned you feel the more creative you will become. I changed a year ago and can't believe how much better I feel. Also cut down on watching television. A time waster and dream killer.

Thank you all for responding. I finally have some down time to write back. The article at the Inc website was good, almost good enough to consider subscribing again (I once had a subscription - but I let it lapse because, in Michael Gerber's words, "They romanticize the notion of owning your own business", and I found very little value in their articles). I have a new vision of my duty as a business owner, as the person responsible to keep moving the business to the next level.

I'm excited to hear that Monika has started the process creation process, and I was very much in agreement with the post by Rachel, although I had to translate some statements to better understand them.

I especially took to heart the comment that you need to adopt the two habits of strategic work as the most important work, and take action without waiting for everything to be perfect.

I've decided to work on my personal skills in terms of attitude, discipline, consistency, and motivation, because I have realized this forms the basis of all my future success. After all, I would never be able to do the strategic work if I had a terrible attitude that resulted from my lack of discipline, consistency and motivation.

So I dusted off the old Anthony Robbins tapes and began listening to them again, but this time I realized I needed to write down the important parts, and make study notes so I can review them every morning, noon, and night, so I REMEMBER these tactics, therefore I can get the strategic work done.

Maybe all business owners already have these self-development skills, but I don't and I need to work on them first. I have a technical skill, which I have used to create work for myself, but all that doing it, doing it, doing it has left me drained, so I must move on to becoming an entrepreneur.

I will continue to visit this website, probably only when I get an email from you reminding me of a new article posted, etc. (I'm so busy I forget to visit the website), and I look forward to future articles and exchanges with other small business owners as they make the transition from one level to the next. Cheers~!

One of the foundations of effective time management is to learn how to prioritize. For many, prioritization is not something you are very skilled at doing.

Doing more Technician work WILL NOT help you move closer to your objectives. So it’s important that you move towards using any newly found time for strategic work. If you use time management tools to do nothing but more Technician work, then you will turn any of those tools into a shiny new fire hose. Your objective is not to put out the fires. Your objective is to trim back the undergrowth and build some new fire-resistant structures so the fire doesn’t start in the first place!

Having said that, you won't find ANY time to do the strategic work until you change your time management habits.

People who get the results want to develop similar habits and attitudes. Two of the most important attitudes they need to develop are:

That strategic work is the MOST IMPORTANT work you can do, and that making it an absolute daily priority no matter what else happens during the day is critical.
You need to make decisions and then TAKE ACTION on those decisions, even though you don’t have all of the information about the situation. In other words, a willingness to step into the unknown.

Do your strategic work. Strategic work is any work related to planning, tracking, or managing the operation of the business. You need to make this a daily practice and it needs to take priority over ANYTHING ELSE you do. If you develop this habit, you will begin to change the way you see your business. If you don’t, you probably won’t (or it will take a lot longer to make the shift).
Try doing something different at least once a week. Whether it’s a new system, a new way of training employees, a new way of interacting with customers, a new way of producing the product or service, a new way of answering the phone, or even something as simple as a new way of dealing with incoming mail, trying something new helps to exercise the entrepreneurial “muscle.” You need to try something new even if you don’t have all of the answers or aren’t sure how it will work. It does not have to be perfect. Waiting for it to be perfect is just an excuse to not try anything new! Just try it, and observe it closely to see what works and what does not. You can make adjustments as you go, based on what you learn.
As soon as possible, start looking for ways to delegate technical work to others. Make a list of what kind of technical work you want to delegate, decide which POSITION (not person!) is most appropriate to delegate to, and create a timeline and a plan to hand it over.
Take away employees’, customers’, and family’s permission to interrupt whenever they feel like it. Few strategies will have a greater impact on your productivity! Have employees get in the habit of prioritizing their “crisis” and develop a proposed solution to the issue BEFORE they come to you. Only events that require IMMEDIATE attention are worth an interruption. If the situation does not require immediate attention, the employees MUST find another way of communicating with you. E-mail, voicemail, adding it to the agenda of the next scheduled meeting, or putting it in a report are all preferred to interruptions. For customers, make someone else in the business the point of contact. Change your cell phone number and don’t give the new one to your customers. Instruct your employees not to give out the new number to ANYONE. Instruct your family to limit calls to you during the work day. Let your voicemail pick up the calls that do come in. You can listen to your messages and return them in batches a couple of times a day, instead of dealing with every perceived “crisis” in the moment.
Review the Objectives once a week and create a plan to do some work that week to generate observable, quantifiable progress toward that Objectives.

Yes, I start with great enthusiasm, but then it just gets too hard. I think my mistake was trying to involve every one right in the beginning, which means that things seemed to never get finished. I'm bad enough at finishing "things" or even getting on with them, but now I hope I am on my way. I am now developing the systems, implementing without further ado and then we will review them. This is when everone can have their input. So, our Operations Manuals are prepared (all pink because they were only $1), the Master is red. Everyone also has a Project Folder (Green) where any written notes should be stored in each Project dection. These folders are mirrored on our server.

OK there is more, thank you for giving me the opportunity to put this down.
Monika

sorry that you interpreted my abbreviation as profanity. thanks for the encouragement, I guess. your post still does not make sense to me, so I must say "excuse me" and go into a different conversation.

What is the purpose of this? Are you asking a question, or trying to make a point that small is better than large? Your posting lacks a conclusion, a question, and it doesn't invite participation... wtf?

FYI, I thought this was an intelligent forum for “entrepreneurs” and it is really no place for use of profane language.

I agree with you, this posting may lack in conclusion for the intellectually challenged.

It was not my intention to call for participation you just missed the entire point. I wasn’t making a question which is apparent since there aren’t any question marks. There is a conclusion stated “why many large corporate CEO’s admire entrepreneurial companies”.

Small business owners are privileged in many ways and many of us don’t realize it. The point here is that the majority of us think the grass is greener on the other side and many business professionals that go to the top can look back to the entrepreneurial level of their careers and see that everything was not that bad.

Intention? Conclusion? Question?

You can call it “Encouragement”.

Hi Charlotte,

My name is Andy and I took over a Hair & Beauty Salon in Maidstone, Kent nearly two years ago. At that time there were 22 staff members all of whom I was keen to impress (so they wouldn't walk out!). I spent weeks before the takeover planning my speech, analysing every little objection that might arise and basically causing myself unnecessary anxiety.

However, as with everything in life though, the reality was somewhat different. Rather than get everyone together, I took them into the office in twos to make it more informal. This gave them the opportunity to talk about their fears without any embarassment. I showed a warm, caring side of my nature by smiling, nodding and listening rather than by telling them how things were going to change. I also only talked about all the positives the 'new' business was going to bring them (n.b: them not me!)
The up-shot was that over the following months, some didn't want to change and left, others who were coasting were asked to leave. I now have half the staff, working twice as hard and making me more profit.

Try to remember that nobody likes change, so a softly, softly approach is always best. Good luck!
Andy

Good Day! Charlotte,

Don’t even try to say that in your first meeting to introduce yourself. No everyone has the same sense of humor and someone could feel offended. Just be yourself, without pretending to be funnier, tougher or nicer and if anyone don’t like it, then replace that person/s with someone that you can work comfortable and be yourself. I know Europe very well, and I think to the contrary to the U.S., you have a high unemployment rate which will benefit you greatly at the time to find good candidates.

The existing ones give them a raise, a small amount, but enough for them to see a positive change in the new management. Tell them how passionate you are about your product and company and how things are going to change to a better and more systematic way. Enroll in the E-myth Mastery program and follow your couch that will help you all the way to the automation of your business processes. Share the positive outcomes periodically to your employees in your weekly meetings, show them your determination to grow and how this will benefit their lives, personally and economically. It has to be a win/win situation for all and they should be aware of that.

Good luck :)

Hi Charlotte,

With any business that changes leaders, it is up to the leader to clearly communicate the "new game". So it’s up to you to communicate this to them. And you’ll need to communicate this to them in such a way that they clearly understand HOW THEY WILL BENEFIT by working for you? Do you know how to communicat to this new team? How are they pre-disposed to hearing information and messages? It might be wise to look into the characteristics of these employees who are currently their, as I am sure you will find common characterisitics that you can build off of. If you make an effor to meet them half way, they will come.
For starters, how much do you involve your people in the creative process? If it’s always you telling them what to do and how to do it, they won’t have the experience of using their own talents and creativity, and they’ll be less likely to want to use the systems you do have in place. Instead, approach it by explaining the RESULT you want for your customers and your business, and then asking your people for any ideas they may have to get that result. Be open-minded here. Your employees may not do it the same way you would do it, but as long as their way produces the result you want, you need to let them do it that way. They’ll have a more positive attitude about using the systems that they help to design. They will also be more willing to try doing things differently...you want to build alliances, not enemies.

The bad news is that you can’t make them change. That’s right! You can’t MAKE them do anything. The good news is that you CAN set the standards for what kinds of behavior are acceptable and what kinds of behavior are not acceptable in your business. If you set the standards and consequences, and enforce them consistently, then it falls to the employee to choose whether or not they will act according to those standards. And they make this choice knowing exactly what the consequences will be. What is most important is that you clearly communicate this from the beginning, so they know the new rules.

Have fun with your new adventure!!

With Quickbooks you should be able to export in a format called csv. Use these and then open it with excel and you can change your reports. I currently don't use quickbooks any more but when I did from memory I couldn't customize reports to my needs.

Customers/prospects are allies, but they're also people. Being people, they tend to prefer to keep their money, or at least part with as little of it as possible. While it is critical to establish rapport, and indeed even a true relationship with your client, prospects often can not articulate their problems sufficiently to overcome their reluctance to actually PAY for a product/service. So to an extent, a propect is often his or her own opponent. Bluebirds are nice, but only by 'creating the need' and 'closing the sale' can we regurlarly and predictably overcome our propects' tendencies towards inaction.

Customers Are Allies, Not Opponents

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