Can Your Prospects Feel The Benefit?Written by Kimberly Stevens
I met Rod at a Chamber of Commerce function in 1998. While everyone else took turns introducing themselves to other business owners at table telling them about their business, Rod was massaging my neck and shoulders. By end of morning I was asking him for his phone number. Now before your mind races too far ahead, let me tell you that Rod owned a business providing Shiatsu massage.And he didn’t just massage my shoulders – he worked his way around from one person to another during introductions. While we hawked our businesses nervously putting on our best sales pitch, Rod enabled us to FEEL value of his service. What did it cost him? Nothing. Now, we don’t all have luxury of being able to let prospects sample our services so easily, but if we’re creative we can help prospects FEEL benefit of working with us. Most of us work so hard developing our sales pitch, creating and refining it numerous times over first couple of years as we obtain a sharper focus of exactly what we want to do in our business. But, ultimately, all of this hard work results in same type of pitch – “Hi, my name is Kimberly and I’m a Business Coach. I work with business owners to help them increase their sales, profits, and rate of success.” Okay, that sounds fine. Quick and to point. But, what did you really get from it? You know who my target customers are – business owners. You know results they will achieve by working with me – increased sales, profits, and rate of success. But, what’s missing? Do you know what it’s going to feel like when your sales increase? Do you know how exhilarating it will be when your business is growing faster? No. You hear what I say, but it’s still a gamble for you. These days, coaches are everywhere promising all sorts of things from helping you find your spiritual center to helping businesses to deal with impact of economic downturn on their staff. So how do I enable business owners to FEEL benefit of working with me as a Business Coach? I offer them an opportunity to participate in a free 4-week MiniSeries of my FastTrack MBO (Mastering Business Ownership) Program. I invite them to experience exactly how business coaching and a structured learning program will increase their sales, profits and overall rate of success. This is my offering of a trial or sample. This is how I give them an opportunity to FEEL benefit of service I offer.
| | 5 Training Rules To Guarantee The Best From Your StaffWritten by Noel Peebles
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in business it’s this. You can’t always do everything yourself… even if it is sometimes quicker and cheaper to do things yourself. Unless you’re running a “one man band”, every business needs good, reliable, well-trained staff. Surprisingly enough, I’ve discovered that delegation is one of best methods of staff training. In fact, I believe that delegation is a management skill that is often overlooked. Although not every staff member will possess leadership qualities, most people respond well when given some responsibility (however small). Staff members like to feel that they are important and that they are being trusted. Agreed, allocating responsibilities can have its risks. However, from experience, I have found that giving responsibility usually brings out best in people. They rise to challenge! Over years I have hired a lot of staff and have never had a major problem. Although, I must admit, I have always placed huge emphasis on employment selection process. I believe it is well worth time and effort to choose most suitable employees. Call me old-fashioned, but I do tend to hire people who take a pride in their appearance. Among other things I look for, are signs of integrity and enthusiasm. Anyway, assuming that right people get hired, then next step is to thoroughly train them well. I can’t stress that enough! Now, I’d like to share with you some basic rules to follow with regards training, delegation and responsibility. They’re not based on academic theories or any scientific research. Quite simply, they’re my rules based on my own experience running my own successful small businesses. They work for me! Rule # 1 For starters, when giving other people tasks to do, clearly explain what is involved and when completion is required. Check that they have understood, by asking them what it is you are requiring them to do. Rule #2
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