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...

  Check this out.... I was in London the other weekend watching my daughter Tori doing the London 10K run. It was a great little run through the streets of the West End, along the Embankment, past Big Ben and then to Downing Street. At the end of the run we decided to go for lunch in Covent Garden.  You'll probably know that there are lots of restaurants around Covent Garden and there is a certain one called Flat Iron. It was recommended to us but you can't book. After a short walk we arrived to find a queue of people waiting to get in for meal. And I mean a queue - check out the photo. We were starving so we didn't bother waiting and moved on. However, this got me thinking... how can a little restaurant attract so much attention and yet other restaurants nearby were empty? What was this place doing that clearly had raving fans queuing to get in for food? I appreciate that we are in a very different market than a restaurant but doesn't it make you think?  What am I doin...

 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...

 I attended an online conference today to extend and enhance my skills and knowledge. It was all about Sales and one of the first things that was mentioned was First Impressions. Here at the Forces Group we talk about the fact that 1st Impressions Count and last....  ---> and never forget you don't get a second chance to make a good first impression!! But there was one statistic mentioned today that really stood out to me.... First Impressions are made in the first 4 seconds.... just 4 seconds.... really? I was so intrigued that I looked into this further and there is another statistic that says it is 7 seconds and another study that says it is actually fractions of a second. There is a lot of psychology involved here and I don't intend to spend hours researching BUT I am taking the premise very seriously and I would suggest that you do too.... Why...? Because if it is true then it could change your business, and there is no way it will hurt your business. So here is someth...

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...

Back in April 2017 we discussed the value of online Customer reviews at the first Group Conference at the Birmingham Motor Cycle museum. In those days we might have had 30-40 attending. One of the talks was on Reviews and what Review platform everyone preferred..? There was lots of differing opinions but with the help of Trustist it meant we could accommodate everyone. In 2017 the Group has amassed not much more than 1,000 reviews in over 10 years but following that meeting the Group hasn't looked back. There were some cynical views from around the network but they have been silenced through the results achieved since. We have a very specific process for collecting reviews and that is why we rhythmically collect hundreds a week. If you are a top operator you will know when to ask for a review and how to ask for a review. And if you are one of the best you will even follow up (nicely) to remind a customer of the importance of a review - good or bad.  The best performers get over 30%...

I was chatting to Tom (Taylor) in the car this afternoon and he told me about the latest Review of the Day from Tom Field (Pestforce). We get loads of fantastic reviews and only 1 can get nominated as ROTD. However, this review from Tom Field is BRILLIANT in that it simply encapsulates the key things that makes a great service business…………… and virtually none of the review talks about the actual technical stuff.  Speed of response (I say response. Ie. Response to talk (reply) to the customer not necessarily when the work is done.) Arrived promptly Engaging Took payment by card Received Treatment and Invoice Giving post service advice  It clearly demonstrates what was important to this customer and there are many others that highlight the same. And guess what, this attracts more customers who value the same……………… do you want to attract customers who value HOW you do things, and not just what you do…..?? I send this out to reinforce wh...

I have sent out various messages recently about the upwards growth of the business. This is a general trend which should be used as inspiration to cut across all the negativity on the news and social media. Yes, we are all seeing challenging times but we still move things forward…………… Despite this trend of growth there is one area of business that is cropping up more often than I would like – Financial Control. Or more frankly – lack of any financial control !!! And I am talking about many that could be viewed as being very successful. You can choose to watch the 2 videos or simply read the text - they are largely the same but it could be good to watch and read. I shot the video on a Saturday during cricket and had to end it as we had a collapse of wickets, hence the need for a Part 2. This may not be your cup of tea but it is really important. Part 1   Part 2 Remember Sales is VANITY, Profit is SANITY and cash is REALITY. Even if you are in a good place with your finances a...

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.

 It has been great chatting to people since the conference and it is clear that a good few people are thinking about what TNT's they can put into use in their business. In the video I highlight 2 idea that are being put into action with a few to being different to others, making you stand out and ultimately making the customer feel special. (Tiny Noticeable Things). I know how good our customer care is across the board.... you cannot get 20,000 reviews without being good at what we do!!!  It also helps that we have a system and everyone understands the importance of reviews. TNT - Tiny Noticeable Things - are extra little touches (metaphoric) that makes the customer feel special and have a profound impact on them. The kind of thing they weren't expecting (in a good way) and might even bring a bit of light into their day!! I first heard Adrian speak about 14 years ago and the TNTs resonated with me and we have used them on many occasions.... and when they work it makes everyone...

Online Customer Reviews have fundamentally changed our business over the last few years. It was back in April 2017 the Group conference at the Motor Cycle Museum that we highlighted that the Group had collected very few reviews over all the previous years. From memory we had less that 800 reviews across the brands. I am really proud to say that we have now close to exceeding 9000 reviews!! That is HUGE..!! We are leading the way in our respective sectors and when, or if, the competition finally wake up we will be way ahead of the rest. If you are not actively seeking out reviews from your customers then you will be losing sales. We have lost count of the number of customers that say they chose us due to the reviews they had read. Not only are they good for prospective new customer they can also…. Increase the Click Through Rate on the website They help add new content on your website which is a positive thing for Google They make you stand out from the cr...