Feel the Force - Become a Business Jedi

  I have had an interesting week and have spent a bit of time with a number of franchisees. I massively enjoy talking to you all and always come away with some new thinking, or something happens that acts as a reminder for me. I was chatting to a small group saying how pissed off I get when you put in a quote and then you never hear again. Well that had happened to me a few times over the last couple of weeks – a couple of nice quotes had been put forward after following my structured process and then radio silence. For some reason some prospects seem to have access to the “witness protection scheme”…… uncontactable. And the fact was I had followed up more than a few times on each…… and got nothing back. However, following my trip I was determined to get an answer and find out why they hadn’t purchased from us. I was determined to ensure that I either got a return for my time investment by getting a “yes” or I found out the reason they had not moved forward. Happily I can confirm t...

On the Lockforce monthly call on Tuesday there was mention that customers are using the Whats App facility to contact you via a text message as opposed to calling. This was reiterated again in another couple of conversations thereafter. So this has got me thinking? Is this a trend or just a bit of a blip...? From the stats I see there is clear use of the What App function on the webpages, but still relatively small compared to calls. So how do we deal with the dreaded Whats App / Facebook message, text or email..... "I need some new locks, how much will it be?" or something similar. Here is something that I use in the event that I see something similar on Facebook... Customer... "Hello, I would like a quote for xxx." Response... "I am sorry to hear that you have a problem.  So that I can understand the situation and give you the best advice , what is the best number to contact you on…?" This will get me one of 2 responses..... 1)  They text me the number t...

 I was listening to a podcast while relaxing in the bath (probably a sight you don’t want to imagine) the other day. Phil M Jones was the speaker - he has a great book called Exactly What To Say. I recommend it for your reading list.  The podcast covered lots of thing but 1 thing resonated with me HUGELY.  I n our training we talk about the only way to succeed is to fail. (Fall down might be a better thing to say). Failing is a key attribute to success. The problem is that many people don’t want to go through the pain of failure to discover success. Or they try something once and give up too early. This was emphasised on the podcast but he added another element… mistakes!!   Phil Jones made the point that there is a difference between failure and mistakes.   His interpretation was that..   a mistake is knowing how to do something and simply not doing it properly or consistently. while,   a failure is trying something new and not getti...

To grow a financially strong business having income that is "guaranteed" each year is a wonderful thing.  So when you receive a call from a customer asking for you to quote for a "contract" it is understandable that you might get excited.  I know I get excited when asked to quote for some work, particularly if it looks quite a big opportunity. However, I have also learned that it is important to stay grounded and be curious. Most other sales people will be rushing to their vehicles to get down and see the potential opportunity and they will do everything they can to secure the deal. I strongly advise the "be curious" approach..... The main reason is that I want to understand more about the opportunity before I started getting excited and more importantly, investing my time to help the customer and secure the work. I want to qualify the opportunity (and the customer) IN or OUT.  Qualified IN means that I will spend more time and Qualified OUT means that I w...

Your Conversion Rate (CR) is a simple calculation of Jobs Won divided by the number of leads. In mathematical terms you couldn't get any more simple and the result is a simple %. If you read up much around marketing then you may see the reference of CR or CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). This is a term that can relate to many different aspects of sales and marketing but for this matter it is as simple as No. of Jobs divided by the No. of Leads (calls, text, etc...). I have seen CR's as low as 15% and then up into the 80%'s. And let no-one kid you that they convert all their calls!!!! Learning to convert calls is all part of your key learnings in business and is this video I touch on some of the basics... There is a lot more involved in the sales process and look out for a following video talking about the various steps in the sales process and how each step involves investment from the customer.

If you want to improve your sales you must perfect the Sales Success Formula.... this is part 1 In this video we talk about the most important part of running a business - lead generation. I am not sure I know any business please cannot operate, grow and make money without getting new customers from leads. We are all good at our job and I am forever hearing the words "I get all my work through word of mouth". Now, to be fair that is not an issue as long as it brings you enough work so you earn what you want, and it brings in the type of work you want to do. But if you want consistent leads then you need to figure out how to do the right things, the right way so that leads flow into your business on a consistent basis.  If you master this part of business then you are in control of your destiny.

If you are feeling a bit dejected or lack motivation then ask yourself if you are actually looking after yourself properly or are you losing the fight with your health and fitness. I have spoken to many franchisees in recent weeks who have chosen to take action and get more physically active to improve their health, weight and general fitness. They have all said how taking walks, running, going to the gym, watching what they eat etc.... is contributing to their mental wellbeing which is having a positive impact on their business. Wow.... common sense but few talk about how being in good health can really help you when in comes to business. When the shit happens or things are going wrong some people queue up to be a volunteer (they claim they are a victim which is rarely the case) and some people take positive steps. Today I am raising my hat to those that are taking the necessary action to ensure that they are looking after themselves - by getting fitter and healthier - and seeing impr...

  The transcript of the video.... Many of you will know that I actively seek out new learnings and experience and i get a lot of ideas and inspiration from a place called the EC run by a serial entrepreneur called Nigel Botterill.  He is very good at what he does and his only failing is that he follows Leeds United. To be fair I get loads of inspiration and ideas from you guys. Anyway he shot a little video the other day talking about the words that should never be said by a business owner.....  I watched it and it really resonated with me. So what are the words you ask...? I'll tell you in just a minute because they are important but the point of the video is 2 fold, share the words of advice from Nige and also make it clear that following advice ain't simple. We all share the same challenges so none of us are different. So I was chatting to Phil Shaw the other day about a strategic idea I was thinking about.... and at the end I nearly said the words that I shouldn't eve...

In business we all need to learn.... and the best way to learn is to find people who are good at what they do, spend time with them, listen and learn. The facts in business are that only 20% of businesses in the UK are in really good shape and only 5% absolutely killing it. It can be hard to know the truth from the bullshit so you need to be astute and be good at filtering out the good from the bad. Here is one person in the network who I can assure you is good at what he does and more importantly, how he does it.... It is a 25 minute video but watch, listen and learn.