Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

No Disclaimers

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disclaimer!Earlier this week I heard my pal Nikki Rausch at Your Sales Maven speak. Selling Without Being Salesy is a topic near and dear to my heart and it was so great to hear her advice. Nikki says the #1 Mistake to Avoid when selling is:

No Disclaimers

Preach woman! As she says, you’re robbing us from having an authentic experience here. We are now distracted by whatever your excuse is (I have a cold, kid’s sick, I left my notes at home, I’m nervous, etc.) whatever your disclaimer is – take a breath and keep it to yourself. Text your significant other or BFF and tell them, but please don’t distract your audience or client or prospect.

This has been a bigger challenge for me lately with the passing of Hank. I took a few days off, I eased into work with clients who know me well and I did the work I knew I COULD do. But I also knew not to schedule many meetings or appointments that were going to be overwhelming for me. The mascot of your company passing away is a pretty big disclaimer, and then I end up talking about when their dog died 10 years ago. I appreciate making the connection, and I want to make sure it’s not taking either of us out of the situation at hand.

I’m lucky to have amazing clients who understand and are giving me grace this month. And the two new clients I’ve started working with are so wonderful and I’m doing my best to not use disclaimers! How about you? What are your disclaimers? Start paying attention – and email me if you need to dump that disclaimer somewhere before your next meeting!

Newsletters Work.

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IMG_2992I tell all of my clients and anyone I may potentially work with that I treat each client differently and I don’t put anyone into a box. That being said, one of the first things I recommend to every client or prospect is a consistent newsletter. While monthly is ideal, every other month or so is OK too.

Over the past two weeks I have had two people contact me and it was “I’ve been getting your newsletter for the past year and I think I need some marketing help, can we talk?” YES. YES we can.

This is why you have a newsletter folks! Write good content, give ideas away for free, and get in their inbox without asking them to spend thousands of dollars on your latest or greatest thing. Just help them. Sure the real goal is to be overwhelming enough that they hire you to do it for them, or with them, but give them easy to manage ideas.

My newsletter is pretty straight forward. Every month I give you 3 things to do on one topic. 10 out of 12 months networking is one of those 3 things. But it can be whatever. Your newsletter doesn’t have to be long. It can be re-purposed blog posts or a tip sheet, or your speaking schedule and a couple quick tips.

Keep your newsletter simple. Make sure that everyone who knows you is getting your newsletter or has the chance to check it out. I’m not out hunting for clients, they’re coming to me. And they’ve always been around. I didn’t have to sell them, I just had to educate them. I have two great new clients this month from my newsletter alone and it was all because I’ve been consistent. How about you?

Follow Up!

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Hank's cousin Dexter
Dexter – Hank’s cousin, how could you NOT follow up with such a cute pup?

If you get my newsletter then you know that I am a stickler for following up with people. And I nag you about it often. So, yesterday while catching up with a friend, the topic of follow up came up AGAIN!

I’m amazed – someone gave you their business card and said “hi, I’d like to give you my money, or connect you with someone who will give you THEIR money” and you don’t follow up with it?  To answer your never ending question: this is why you aren’t successful.

People – I can’t stress enough, if someone sends you an introduction email or asks you to send them information, FOLLOW UP. If you’re out networking often, make sure you take some time the day after that event (or later that day if it’s a morning event) and send them the information they requested. Also take a few minutes to put their information into your CRM and you can easily create a follow up system. I wouldn’t nag folks, but I’d check in with them if you don’t hear back in a few days (give it 4-5 biz days) to make sure they got your information and see if they have questions.

Yesterday after that meeting I met with another colleague. We discussed a couple of people from our networks we should connect each other with. Two hours later I had an introduction to a lead, I had a follow up FROM that person, and we’re meeting next week. I will GLADLY send business his way again. And I did, later that afternoon, and he followed up and they’re meeting. See, two people got great leads because of FOLLOW UP. You should try it, it’s not hard and it often leads to great things!

If you don’t do the follow up with me, why would I ever trust that you “gladly have time for my referral”?