Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old…

by // 1 Comment

Seattle Cider Basil MintIn a new town you have to make new friends, find your go to places and get into a new routine. I’m doing okay with all of this (I promise.) One of my new favorite places is the local taphouse. It’s dog friendly, so Hank loves it, they have AMAZING beer on tap which helps since I’m really missing my Beer Geek Girl crew and discovering new bars and beers. And because I’m active on Twitter and so are they, I’ve gotten to know the owner (it’s how I found them in the first place!)

Last week I was in and we were talking about cider, which I love. I asked if they ever get Seattle Cider, a cider company in Seattle (obviously) that I really love and miss and can’t find as readily down here. He said no, he hadn’t heard of them. The next morning on Twitter the owner tweeted that he had a present for me when I’m in next.

So now I’m sitting in the taphouse writing this post and in my bag is a fabulous cider from Seattle Cider I’ve been DYING to try and now get to because I made new friends, talked to strangers, AND told them what I want.

I always tell you guys I can’t help you if I don’t know what you need, and if I don’t know you’re out there. Sure it’s a bottle of cider, but hey, what cool stuff have you gotten lately because you made a new friend?

Are You Respecting Wishes?

by // Leave a Comment

are you respecting your clients wishes?I was talking with a client this morning about a workshop he recently attended. He mentioned that it was all about getting past objections. As my client & I were talking about that point, he said “I get business because I respect their wishes when they ask me to stop talking.”

Yes it’s just a “cup of coffee a week” or “a decision you can’t afford to miss out on” but if I’m not ready to buy, I’m not ready to buy. You pushing me into a decision I’m resentful of doesn’t make me like you. But if you tell me you understand and let me know if I change my mind you’re there for me, I appreciate that.

My client and I are on the same page in this regard, which is great. Learning to overcome objections is a great thing to learn about, helping your prospective client understand the VALUE of your product or service is a great thing to do. But bullying someone into buying your product or service, talking crap about the competition, treating them like an idiot for not knowing about your widget, that may get you the sale in the short term, but I guarantee it’s not going to get you far in the long term.

Years ago I worked with a company and we referred to this process as “Bless and Release.” It’s OK that they don’t want what you’re selling. Do you really want to work with someone who doesn’t want you? Harsh dude…

So, the next time you find yourself overcoming objections, take a moment to make sure that you are respecting their request to stop talking and be done selling them, or continuing to explain and educate IF they requested that.

Ask Yellow Dog: Buy My Stuff!

by // Leave a Comment

Buy My Stuff!I received a great question last week from a sales rep for a small business the other day:

If a lead gives a verbal commitment to buy, e.g. “Yeah loved the product, I’ll definitely place an order later tonight”, then does not. What is the best way to give them a friendly reminder and how long should I wait to do so?

Your question is GREAT and super common- almost all my clients deal with this issue (we all do!). I would suggest setting a system in place and depending on how frequently this happens, have a template email ready to go that you either automate or do weekly. There’s a few options to follow up…

1. The next day. Sending a quick note that doesn’t talk about their order not placed (people do get busy) but a quick “Hey Joe, it was so nice to chat with you yesterday! If you have any questions about My Awesome Company or need any help getting your order placed please don’t hesitate to contact me.” simple, gets your name in their inbox and may be that something just popped up. This also gives them a chance to respond and say they had a change of plans or something came up and they’re on it. 

2. End/beginning of the week. Set a weekly time to send out a “reminder” email to anyone who hasn’t placed their order yet- this would be if you have a lot of folks on a weekly basis who verbally commit but don’t follow through. I’d write something similar to the first email with a bit more info: “Happy Friday from My Awesome Company! I know when we spoke earlier this week you were planning to place an order on our site. I haven’t seen it come through yet and I just wanted to check in to see if you need help getting the order placed or have any questions/need anything from me.” Again, it reminds them you noticed they didn’t come through yet, but gives them the out and a chance to respond “your ordering system sucks, do it yourself” or “got busy” those kinds of things.

3. Individual a week out – If you aren’t coming across this problem in a large quantity then I’d say about a week after you had the call do the follow up. Again, something super simple and not nagging. I’d lean closer to the language in #2 than #1, but “great to talk with you last week, if you have questions…I noticed your order hasn’t been placed, if I can help please lt me know” 

These are three templated follow up email types that I’ve done for my own business throughout time, and it at the least gets your name in their inbox again. If your company has a newsletter you might also want to get them signed up for that so they have something regularly coming into their inbox from you guys to remind them how awesome you are!