A good friend gave me a book about building your business through referrals. The author believes, “The best marketing strategy is to be referable.” He is correct. He writes, “Referability means that your very best clients and customers are continually cloning themselves — continually introducing you to those like themselves or better than themselves.”

According to the author, your referability depends upon four habits:

1. Show up on time.
2. Do what you say.
3. Finish what you start.
4. Say please and thank you.

Could being referable be that simple? The author asserts that these four habits convey respect and appreciation toward the customer. He says, if you’re arrogant or erratic, you won’t be referred, no matter how talented or charming you are. He says if you’re not getting enough referrals, cultivate the four habits. He is partially right. Very partially.

I say his four elements don’t create referability – his four elements are a GIVEN in any business relationship. To be referable, you have to go WAY BEYOND showing up on time and delivering what you promise.

Those habits may have worked in 1955, when “Happy Days” was in full swing, but becoming referable and earning referrals in today’s times (unhappy days) are far more complex.

In my experience, I have found that a referral is earned, not asked for. When you ask for one, you immediately put your relationship in an awkward position, especially if the customer is reluctant to give you one, and you keep pestering him or her.

Here’s why: The one word definition of referral is risk.

When someone gives you a referral, it means they are willing to risk their relationship with the referred person or company. They have enough trust and faith in you to perform in an exemplary manner, and not jeopardize their existing friendship or business relationship.

Once you understand the definition of a referral and realize how delicate, yet powerful, it is — you at once realize why you get them (or not) — and that you must become risk free in order to earn them.

Referrals are awkward to “ask for,” and often create discomfort on the part of the customer.

Here are the elements that breed proactive referrals:

1. Be likeable. This is the first prerequisite. Without a friendly relationship, there is no need to go further.

2. Be reliable. The company, the product, the service, AND you, must be “best,” and “there when needed.”

3. The customer considers you an expert in your field. To be referable, you must have an expertise that breeds customer confidence.

4. They trust you. The customer is CERTAIN that you will do everything in the referred party’s best interest, like you have with theirs.

5. You have a track record of performance. You have already done the same thing with the customer and they’re comfortable that you can repeat the performance.

5.5 They consider you valuable – a resource, not a salesman. Not just, “do what you say.” There’s no real value there. I mean, provide value to the customer beyond your product and service. Helping the customer to profit more, produce more, or some other form of value, either attached to your product or not. Not value in terms of you, value in terms of the customer.

And there are telltale signs — clues that you “qualify” for a referral:

REFERRAL CLUE: Your phone calls are returned. This means there was a purpose, a value, or a friendship reason. Returned calls connote respect for who you are.

REFERRAL CLUE: You get reorders. This means they WANT to do business with you, and they LIKE to do business with you.

REFERRAL CLUE: There are no problems with service issues. Your interactions are smooth and your execution is flawless.

REFERRAL CLUE: They accept your lunch invitation. And the conversation is more personal than business.

Here’s the secret: If the one word definition or referral is “risk,” then you must be risk free – or at least risk tolerable.

Here’s the strategy that will work 100% of the time: Give your customer a referral FIRST. It will not only blow them away, they will become an advocate on your referral team.

Here’s the report card: The referral you got turned into a sale.

For years, hotel bathrooms have been asking me to “Save the Planet.” And there’s hanging signs asking me to use my towels several times so that “millions of gallons of water” can be saved and the earth’s eco-system can be realigned.

Now I ask you: Does that hotel want to save the planet, or save a few bucks? Who thinks “planet?” Who thinks, “a few bucks?” Why can’t they just be honest, and tell me that I can reduce their operating costs a bit if I reduce my towel usage, and it’s also good for the environment? Why can’t they just be honest with me?

I photographed a business sign I saw in a shopping center parking lot in Phoenix, Arizona. It read, “We can’t change the world, but we can change your oil.” Their business was booming, and their customers were smiling.

Mission statements mean nothing. Companies tell you how great they want to become and how great they want to treat their customers – and then they treat their people with disrespect. Most CEO’s can’t recite their company mission statement.

Giant corporations and their accounting firms have gone bankrupt because they lied, omitted, shredded, or manipulated the truth. Their CEO’s are in jails for lying and cheating.

Airlines? I don’t need to go into an explanation, that’s how pathetic their “truth” has become.

Politicians? Ditto. Actually they’re WORSE than airlines, and maybe the worst of the worst, and the lowest of the low. When I asked my students (YES, I used to be an adjunct college professor), “How many of you think that all politicians lie?” – every hand would go up! Is that sad or what?

Former president Bill Clinton lied about sex. You probably have too. All the other liars in congress got together and wanted to throw him out of office for lying. Hello!

Other politicians – at all levels – when called to tell the truth, suddenly lose their memory of what happened. Or worse, invoke the Fifth Amendment, and chose not to incriminate themselves. It’s another form of lying – withholding truth.

Interesting that these same politicians who lie pass laws compelling others to tell the truth, or face consequences. The “Truth-in-Lending” law has helped consumers immensely. Sad that such a law has to be written. You would think that the people responsible for lending would just be honest.

Honesty is a scary sales word.

Truth is a scary word.

People fear having to face these words.

I know I have.

And just so we understand each other, I’m no perfect example of piety – far from it. Many of the lessons and examples set here are from the music I had to face from my own forms of untruth.

And just so we’re on the same page about truth and lies:

“Omission” is a lie.

“For their own good” is a lie.

“Didn’t want to hurt them” is a lie.

“Small lie” is a lie.

“Hiding facts” is a lie.

Any questions?

It’s one of the Ten Commandments, yet men of the cloth lie.

Telling the whole truth takes character, conviction, and courage.

Telling the whole truth takes ethics, morality, honesty, and full disclosure.

That doesn’t seem hard on the surface, but apparently no one these days is willing to walk a mile to return a penny. That’s how President Lincoln got the nickname, “Honest Abe.” You’ll never hear anyone say, “Honest Bill,” or “Honest George.” They have other nicknames attached to their virtues.

There’s an old saying that goes, “How can you tell when a salesman is lying? Answer: His lips are moving.” That does not speak well for the reputation of salespeople.

Every salesperson, every company, seeks to build relationships with their customers. At the apex is truth. It’s how to keep relationships together, and why they fall apart.

No truth, no trust.

The lack of truth makes trust fall apart. Once you lie, and someone catches you, or even thinks it, you will spend an eternity trying to regain trust. Either at home, or at work. Maybe especially at home.

When someone says, “I’ve lost my trust in you, or I’ve lost my faith in you, it’s because they doubt your ability to tell the truth. They will say, “I can’t believe a word you say,” because they have caught you lying before, and believe you’ll do it again.

Loss of faith comes from lack of truth. Loss of trust comes from lack of truth. Loss of faith and trust are symptoms. Lack of truth is the problem. Faith and trust stem from truth.

I am not your mother extolling the virtues of telling the truth. I am Jiminy Cricket, making you aware of the consequences. In sales, and in life.

The good news is that you control your destiny. That’s why you got in sales in the first place.

The price of whatever you sell carries with it a discomfort for most salespeople. They’re hesitant to bring up price because it’s the final element in completing any transaction – or so they think.

Actually, price or fee or rate is a logical progression of a presentation. If the rest of the elements of a presentation have been properly communicated, and transferred, then price is not a barrier to sale. Better stated: price is not a barrier to the customer deciding to purchase.

Why do salespeople have reluctance or fear of price presentation? Because it determines outcome – yes, no, or delay (which usually means no). Price also brings truth. The “I can get it cheaper, we’ve decided to go with someone else, we’re putting this out for bids, I’m not the only decision maker.”
But the main reason salespeople get nervous about fee is that their belief system is weak. They’re not certain of their product, they’re not certain of their ability to deliver their message, they’re not certain of the customer’s desire to purchase, and they’re not certain of themselves.

When belief is weak, price is a bigger barrier to the salesperson than it is to the customer.

As a professional salesperson, your job is to be as personally prepared as you are customer or prospect prepared. Personal preparation, or should I say mental preparation will lower the barrier to your own price reluctance.

If you’re ready for the customer, if you’re proud of your company, if you’re proud of your products and services, if you believe in the value of what you’re offering, if your communication skills are excellent, and your self-confidence is high, then you don’t have to worry about price.

There are 4.5 keys that will help you in moving forward with price confidence:

1. Study your past successes. Look at all the reasons why customers bought from you in the past. If you don’t know the reasons, now would be a good time to call them and ask. Customers have all the “price and value” answers you could hope for. Most salespeople never ask for them.

2. Prepare your presentation in a manner that discusses prices and fees along the way, not at the end. Personally, I bring up prices and fees in the first five minutes, that way all the anxiety is gone. The customer knows there is a price attached to your product or service. The sooner it’s discussed, the easier it is to make value the heart of your presentation.

3. Convince yourself that you’re offering the best products and services in the world for value received. If you are not totally convinced, don’t start the presentation. Your belief in what you sell is evident to the prospective buyer whether present or absent.

4. Believe in your heart that the customer is better off purchasing from you. That they will profit more and produce more, and that the value of what you offer far exceeds your price. When your belief is so powerful that it becomes transferable to the prospective buyer, then you have become believable, and trustworthy.

4.5 Bring your best self to the meeting. The better prepared you are, both physically and mentally, the easier it will be to deepen your belief system, raise your self-confidence level, and walk in with a feeling of relationship, rather than sale.

5. Bring testimonials to the presentation. The voice of other customers that talk about the value, the piece of mind, and the confidence that others have in you. People who have paid your price, and are glad they did.

WORTH RESTATING: Your personal preparation, especially your mental preparation, holds the key to your confidence and ability to deliver the price. Become an expert at how your customer profits from the use of your product or service. Become a master at outcomes and ownership – not sales presentations and closing techniques.

These personal elements and sales tools, when present as a group, will make a compelling message, prove value over price, and create the atmosphere in which the customer will want to buy.

Your challenge is to master the elements.

I’m sick of customer satisfaction. The worst companies in the world tout the fact that they won some satisfaction award. It’s not just a bad joke. It’s a pathetic statement.

Every company is hoping that their customers will reorder. They’re hoping that their customers will spread the word about how great their products are, and about how great their people are. And they’re hoping to proactively encourage others to place an order or do business with them.

That is NOT customer satisfaction.

That is customer LOYALTY.

Every company must have loyalty as its mission, not satisfaction.

Every company must have loyalty as its imperative, not satisfaction.

Corporate driven mission statements talk about exceeding customer’s expectations, talk about being number one in the world, talk about shareholder value, and say NOTHING about the one word that makes all of these things happen: LOYALTY.

The reason that companies, especially big companies, don’t stress loyalty is because it’s much more difficult to achieve, and requires both an investment, and a commitment on the part of senior management to instill.

Customer loyalty is a hollow statement unless it is preceded by a mission.

REALITY: The company and its executives must be loyal to its employees, loyal to its product quality, and loyal to its service excellence. This means they must both invest in and support a loyalty imperative.

HERE’S THE SECRET: Loyalty must be given before it is received.

No company can ensure customer loyalty until they have secured employee loyalty. It amazes me that big companies will layoff thousands of people in the name of profit or shareholder value, and think nothing of what it does to internal morale, or the impact that it has on the reduction of service to its customers — even a reduction in the quality of its product.

Loyalty is both an action and a process.

Look at the best companies in the world. They have great employees. They have great products. They give great service. And they’re easy to do business with. This makes them attractive. And these are the elements that create loyalty.

The one element that is most important is great service. Memorable service. Loyalty-based service. And that flies in the face of satisfaction (the lowest level of acceptable service).

I hearken an ancient proverb, “To serve is to rule.” Giving great service is an integral part of the loyalty process and it’s a fundamental part of “giving loyalty before loyalty is received.”

Here are a few ideas/thoughts worthy of your consideration and eventual incorporation into your company’s loyalty imperative:

1. List all reasons that customers call you for service. There are probably less than 25.

2. List all barriers that you place in front of a customer connecting with you. There are probably less than 10. (Automated attendant, voicemail, lack of 24-hour availability, inadequate website.)

3. Once you have all the opportunities and all the barriers listed, have a weekend retreat with senior management and front-line people to determine best practices, generate new ideas for serving, and making it easier to do business with your company. Document (record) everything.

4. Put the ideas and the best practices into action. Create a training program for best practices, and invest whatever is necessary for making your company “barrier-to-place-an-order” free.

5. Rather than announce all of these changes in the form of a bragging advertisement, or internal hoopla, let your customers have an opportunity to react and respond to your new and better way of doing business. Let the referral part of your business begin organically. Let it be earned, not asked for.

5.5 All members of senior management must support this process both verbally and visually. If you’re going to evolve from satisfaction to loyalty, it has to be “hands on,” not just “words on.”

I wish more companies would add to their mission statement that they’ll be loyal to their employees — so that their employees would be loyal to their customers — so that their customers would be loyal to the company.

That is a loyalty chain. And it doesn’t start with satisfied customers. It starts with senior management understanding that loyalty is a way of life, not just a word. That loyalty starts at home, not at a customer’s place of business. Are you satisfied with your marriage or passionate and loyal to it, to him/her? Are you a satisfied mother/father or passionately loyal to your children? That loyalty is earned by a process, not by a wave of a wand, or even by you or your product’s excellence.

And loyalty is easily measured. Just look at your repeat business.

Satisfaction is also easily measured. Just look at the customers you lost.

Some Noteworthy Links:
TheLoyaltyGuide.com
Is Customer Loyalty Dead?
Strategize For Customer Loyalty
Ten Tips For Customer Loyalty

“See Spot Run.”

That sentence was from one of your first reading lessons.

“Look. Look. Look.”

That sentence was from one of your first reading lessons.

More than 100 years ago, The Scott, Foresman Publishing company created the immortal reader Fun with Dick and Jane. Millions of kids learned to read from those books — me included.

You learned to read at a very young age. It was fun.

Then came television, it was more fun, and your reading was cut in half – maybe more.

Then came beer, and less reading.

Then came job, and even less reading.

Then came marriage and family, and reading books converted to reading bank statements and insurance policies, and helping your kids learn to read from the very same books you learned from.

You get the idea. Many people, maybe even you, have substituted reading for other activities, pleasures, or necessities in life.

I believe it’s time to reverse that trend.

You have all heard the phrase, “Read to succeed.” I believe the phrase should be, “The more you read, the more you will succeed.”

• How much do you read?
• How much should you be reading?
• What do you read?
• What should you be reading?

Those are four compelling success questions.

Only you know the answers.

Here are a few more reading thoughts…
On book reports. Teachers asked you to do book reports for a reason. Book reports helped you talk about and think about what you read. Book reports helped you understand the impact of the book and generated thoughts and ideas about your new knowledge.
On tests. Tests, especially essay questions, forced you to clarify and elaborate on what you read. Almost forced understanding, especially if you were like me – cramming the night before.
On volume of volumes. It’s likely you read more books by the age of 12 than you read in your adult life. Why? Probably TV.
On speed reading. I am against it. You can’t read Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) in a minute. You have to read every word. You read a book to gain knowledge and wisdom from the lessons and the ideas. You read for the experience and the pleasure. It’s not a race; it’s a journey. If you want to win, think tortoise, not hare.
On fiction or non-fiction. Novels are not as thought provoking or idea laden as non-fiction. I am prejudiced toward non-fiction because it’s more “how to” and because I write it. I recommend that you treat yourself to a novel or two a year. But if you read a book a month, the ratio should be ten non-fiction and two fiction a year.

The benefits of reading are short term and long term:
Read to enjoy.
Read to understand.
Read to get answers.
Read to strategize.
Read to clarify.
Read to see what others are thinking.
Read to learn.
Read to expand your knowledge.
Read to refine your thinking.
Read to impact your thinking.
Read to create an atmosphere of focused thought.
Read to change your thinking.
Read to create new thoughts.
Read to generate new ideas.
Read to achieve.
Read to win.
Read to earn.

Here are some of my personal reading tips from things I do as I am reading, and after I put the book down:
• I highlight as I read, but I don’t just underline what the author said, I take my own notes as I read.
• I write in the margins and enter my margin notes in an action file. I put thoughts and ideas in writing as soon as they occur.
• I can identify with characters, and characteristics. Most notably Holden Caulfield, he was the first. Then came Sherlock Holmes, Howard Roark, and John Galt. There are many others including, but not limited to. Bugs Bunny, Alfred E Newman, The Cat in the Hat, and Don Juan.
• I discuss to clarify. I talk about what I learned from reading to clarify and affirm my own thinking.
• I take action on things I want to try, or things I’m trying to accomplish.
• I gain insight. Especially when I read about creativity and thinking.
• I am inspired by those in the arts whose paintings, woodcuts, and photographs I admire.
• I adjust philosophies and thoughts when more credible ones emerge. When I read, I’m open to learn, and open to new ideas.

How does reading impact you?

Many people go to the library to read. Libraries are a great place to read and determine if the book is valuable enough to own. Bookstores are where you can purchase books to build your own library. Books are not just for reading; they’re also for reference.

The action plan is simple: Read ten pages a day. At the end of a year you will have read 3,650 pages. My bet is that those pages will teach you more, inspire you more, and earn you more, than the TV re-runs you’re currently watching.

Think about the way you sell, and the way you present your product or service.

How many times do you think you use the word “we”?
My bet is hundreds.

How many times SHOULD you use the word “we”?
My answer is ZERO.

Everything you do or say is in “we” format – especially if you have a marketing department.

Does the customer care about you or themselves? Obvious answer. So why do you “we-we” all over them? They don’t care about you. UNLESS you can help them.

The key to mastering any kind of sales is switching statements about you, how great you are, and what you do, to statements about them, and how great they are, and how they will produce more and profit more from ownership of your product or service

HERE’S THE SECRET: Take the word “we” and delete it. Delete it from your slides, your literature, and ESPECIALLY from your sales presentation. You can use “I” but you can’t use “we.”

HERE’S THE POWER: When you stop using “we,” you have to substitute it for the word “you” or “they” and say things in terms of the customer. How they win, how they benefit, how they produce, how they profit, how they will be served, and how they have piece of mind.

“We” is for selling. “You” is for buying.

MANDATE FOR UNDERSTANDING: Go through your entire presentation and record it. Listen to it actively — which means take notes. Count the amount of times you use the word “we.” Take out the “we,” and begin to make value statements instead of selling statements.

Here’s the reality in plain English:
1. The buyer, the prospect, and the customer expects you to have knowledge of their stuff, not just your stuff. To transfer that knowledge, the prospect needs to understand and agree with your ideas, feel your passion, feel your belief, and feel your sincerity beyond the hype of your sales pitch.
2. You have to know their industry, not just your product.
3. You have to know their business, not just your product.
4. You have to know what’s new and what’s next, not just your product.
5. You have to know the current trends, not just your product.
6. You have to know their marketing, not just your product.
7. You have to know their productivity, not just your product.
7.5 You have to know their profit, not just your product.

Are you getting it yet?

Here are some classic examples of we-we thinking:
• We have to educate the customer. Do you really think any customer on the planet WANTS your education? I can just picture your top 25 prospects sitting around doing nothing and saying, “Boy, I sure hope those people over at Acme come over here and educate us, ’cause we’re pretty stupid.”
• You feel like you have to tell the prospect all about you, your company, and your product. Three things that are guaranteed to put any prospect to sleep.
• We offer solutions. Hey Albert Einstein, do you think I’m just sitting here all day doing everything wrong, HOPING that you will come along and rescue me with your “solution.” are an insult to a prospect. Answers are better, and more partnership and relationship driven.
• You compare yourself to the competition, rather than differentiate from them.
You’re still selling your features and benefits. More we-we. I don’t want features; I want value. I don’t want benefits; I want value.
• You have a PowerPoint presentation that brags, rather that proves. This will not put a prospect to sleep. It will put them in a DEEP sleep.

What were you thinking? Oh, you were thinking we-we.

Assuming they have a genuine need or strong desire, all you need to make a sale is:
1. Answers they need.
2. Ideas they benefit from.
3. How you differentiate from the others.
4. Value they perceive.
4.5 Trust they perceive as a result of all the other elements being in place.

Meanwhile the customer is qualifying you. They are forming a perception of you as you present. They are evaluating their risk of buying and doing business with you. They are formulating barriers. They are aware of their urgency of need, or not. They are doing a mental comparison between you and the others. They are thinking, and their thoughts will become your reality.

RISK REALITY: In sales, it’s not what you say, it’s how the customer or prospect perceives what you say. If the prospect perceives that it’s all about you, then there’s going to be a higher chance for unspoken risk and a lower sense of urgency on their part. If they perceive the presentation is about them, they understand it, and they need what you’re offering, then their barriers and risks will be lowered or removed. Paving the path to purchase.

There’s an old song titled, “Take the ‘L’ out of lover and it’s OVER” from the early ’80s by a group called the MOTELS.

Paraphrase: Take the “WE” out of selling, or it’s over. For you.

You rarely use the sales tips you’re given, even though they’re obvious and may be better than the way you’re selling. REASON? You’re comfortable with moderate success, and don’t want to chance losing what you have.

The classic example is my tip: Cold calling is a waste of time. You’re calling on people you don’t know, interrupting their day, manipulating your way in, and IF you get through to an actual decision maker, odds are you’ll say the wrong thing anyway. “If I could just have a few minutes of your time, I can save you some money.” Pathetic.

First of all, real leaders don’t want to save money, they want to make a profit. Second of all, rejection 98 out of 100 times is depressing, demoralizing, degrading, and not to mention giving you a bad rap as a rep.

REMEDY: Earn and generate referrals. It’s a much higher percentage sale, much more respected in its approach, and more likely to breed a relationship – and another referral.

NOTE WELL: Cold calls do work, just not that well. Two or three out of a hundred. Referrals work 50 out of a 100. Hello!

Seems obvious to me, yet cold calls persist.

So let me give you a few more pieces of sales gold. See which ones you can cash in on…

SALES TIP: Never call on purchasing or procurement. Only talk to people who tell purchasing what to do. Thousands of salespeople start with someone in purchasing because it’s the easiest point of entry. All purchasing people want to do is cut costs and reduce vendor profits in the process. HINT: CEOs tell purchasing agents what to do. Convince the big boss of your value, and the little boss in purchasing will follow his orders like a puppy.

SALES TIP: Always leave a message. When salespeople ask me, “Should I leave a message?” the answer is always the same. “Yes!” The main reason salespeople do not leave a message is fear that they will not get the call returned and/or that they have nothing of value to say. The reason they have nothing of value to say is that they are completely unprepared to engage the customer with anything of value. The reason that they’re unprepared is that they are unwilling to invest the time it takes to get ready.

SALES TIP: Ask for the sale every time. Salespeople go all through their presentation and the customer says, “Sounds great. Can you send me a proposal?” Salesperson says, “Yes” and leaves without asking for the sale. Happens every time. Salespeople should walk in with a proposal. Salespeople should ask, “If the proposal is exactly what we discussed today, will you accept it?” And finally, if you, the salesperson, do leave saying okay to the proposal, never leave without a firm appointment for presenting the proposal in person and finalizing the deal.

SALES TIP: Start your presentation with engaging, emotional questions, not a bunch of self-serving crap about you and your product. It’s likely your customer already has a pretty decent working knowledge about your product and your company. Your goal is not to educate. Your goal is to engage. And this is most easily done by asking emotional-based questions. One that I always ask is, “Where did you grow up?” This is a very emotional question. It immediately brings back thoughts of early childhood, siblings, parents, and hometowns. Oftentimes it’s different than the town you’re making a presentation in. Oftentimes it will reveal commonalities and similar interests. That one simple question will guide you to a beginning point of a relationship, and can easily be segued into brief customer history. (How did you get from there to here?) Add questions like “What made you choose this career?” or “Why did you choose to get involved in this business?” If you feel comfortable enough to ask deeper questions like “What are you most proud of?” or “How did that event impact your success?” you can develop solid rapport. Taking an interest in the other person is key to them taking an interest in you.

SALES TIP: Friendly beats professional every time. It’s always interesting to me to see the word professional when referring to salespeople or sales training. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather deal with a friendly person than a professional person, because I can get along with a friendly person, I can’t always get along with a professional person. And I want to like the people that I do business with. There’s a subtlety. You can act professionally, but when you speak, it should always be in a friendly manner. Be conversational rather than contrived – to me friendly is conversational. Professional is contrived.

There’s a few tips you can use. Will you use them? You decide.

This is part two of “how I write.” It is NOT part two of “how TO write.”

Everyone needs to (learn to) write in a more compelling manner. Clear, concise, compelling writing is a rarity in our world. E-mail and text messaging has helped with clear and concise, but it has taken “compelling” out of the formula.

I started yesterday by elaborating on the following major points:

I write like I think. I write like I talk.
I write anywhere, anytime.
I collect ideas. I collect thoughts.
When I get the idea, I stretch it.
I write from my own experience.
When I write a blog or a document of any sort, I stick to one subject, thought, or theme.
I write with authority.
I don’t “call it” anything.
I don’t care about grammar.
I do care about structure. I do care about flow.
I rely on spell-check, and keep on writing until I complete the thought.

I’m sharing my personal writing habits and methods because I believe they will help you understand writing, and become a better writer. And yes, I’ll tell you how you can get both parts at the end of this blog post.

Here are the rest of my personal writing philosophies:

My writing voice is not PC. If I waste time with “his or her,” I lose my thought. I don’t mean to be insulting, I’m just writing in my voice. It’s how I grew up. It’s the same voice as all the early books I read, and continue to read. NOTE: It’s a MESSAGE and a THOUGHT. It’s an IDEA or a STRATEGY. Not a GENDER.

I write in the male gender because I’m a male. I never mean to offend anyone. I’m trying to make points, generate new thinking, and help people succeed. That advice knows no gender. Read between the pronouns, don’t get hung up on them.

I do not include myself with the reader. I separate myself from the reader with pronouns. I say “you” “your” “they” “he” “she” “it” or “the,” NEVER “we” or “our.” I talk to the reader, but never include myself in the thought. NOT, “We all know…” rather, “You know.” NOT, “Our thoughts tell us…” rather, “Your thoughts tell you…”

I break the rules of traditional writing, grammar, and punctuation. Teachers of grammar would not give me a passing grade. I could care less. I’ve written thousands of successful proposal, articles, blog posts, critiques, etc. How many have they written?

I edit when I finish, but I edit better a day later. Editing is revealing. It tells you what you were thinking at the moment you wrote it. Editing a day later reveals, “What was I thinking when I wrote this?” EDITING SECRET: I read aloud when I edit. And I ask others to edit when I think I’m finished. Both of these secrets make my writing twice as powerful.

I end my lists with .5 rather than a whole number, for 2.5 basic reasons:

1. The .5 statement at the end of each list I make is the glue that binds the rest of the list.

2. Ending this way makes me think deeper about the subject. Think of a higher level. Here’s where I can add philosophy, humor, challenge, and or a final call-to-action.

2.5 It makes my lists different from all other lists. It brands me, and sets me apart from all other list makers (except for the few that copy me).

I love to write. This may be the biggest secret of writing with passion and clarity. I believe loving it makes the thoughts flow deeper and more consistently. I believe loving it makes me consider “long term legacy” as well as “short term impact.” I believe my love of writing makes me a more complete writer. Content becomes more relevant, and pride of authorship shows through in every sentence.

I just counted personal pronouns. The word “I” appears in this two part blog more than 90 times. A record. I use first person singular sparingly. If you’re a regular reader, you know I avoid first person plural (we, our) like the plague. It sucks the power out of my writing. And it drains the impact by lowering the value of the writer. When you write, you’re the authority. The reader is probably not, don’t include yourself with them.

Less about me, and more about you:

Here are 5.5 things you can do to improve your skills today:
1. Just sit down and write something. Every day.

2. Save your best thoughts and ideas the second they occur. Not on a pad of paper or a diary. ON A COMPUTER, where you can re-read it, expand it, and edit it.

3. Write it like you would say it.

4. Make sure your thoughts are simple, easy to understand, and complete.

5. Edit early and often.

5.5 You’re writing for the reader AND yourself.

So, write your ship today and learn how to write compellingly, with clarity, passion and in a way that creates results.

Over the past fifteen or so years, I have become a successful writer. Many of you aspire to do the same. Or at least to be a better writer.

People ask me often: “How do I write like you?” Or, “I’m not a very good writer.” Or, “I sit down to write and nothing comes out.”

I cannot teach you “how to write.” Or, “how to write better.”

I can share with you how I write, and you can take it from there.

Here are my facts:

I write like I think. I write like I talk. The thoughts I write are a silent extension of what I would have said if I were speaking aloud. That’s why I read aloud when I edit. I want my writing to sound like I’m talking. I will often get an email that says, “I felt like you were talking to me as I was reading” or “I felt like you were standing right there.” That’s because I “write” in “speak.”

I write anywhere, anytime. I don’t need a space or a place, I just need an idea or a thought. I write when an idea strikes. If I’m not near a computer, I find any scrap of paper or napkin I can get my hands on – the object is to capture the idea or thought the moment it pops into your mind. YOU WILL NEVER REMEMBER IT LATER.

I collect ideas. I collect thoughts. I have hundreds of them. When I want to write about something, or have a deadline, I select one of my ideas and expand on it.

When I get the idea, I stretch it. Write everything that comes to mind. All of the thoughts, phrases, or words I can think of. I just brain-dump until it’s all out. I may edit a few things when I’m done, but I write in a flurry because ideas are fleeting and thoughts are even more fleeting. In fourteen years of writing, the one thing I have found to be most true is that thoughts will leave your head, IF you don’t write them down at once.

I write from my own experience. I don’t need research statistics to back up a thought or a concept. Either it happened to me or I believe it to be true, based on my personal experience. Statistics lie, I don’t.

When I write a column or a chapter, I stick to one subject, thought, or theme.

This creates an in-depth look, and forces me to look beyond the norm and create new ideas for worn out methods and conventional thinking.

I write with authority. I’m emphatic and declarative. If you read my thoughts, you have no doubt about what I’m saying, or how I feel about it. You will never read the words, “on the other hand.”

I don’t “call it” anything. If it’s common, don’t claim ownership. I’ll be reading a story or a chapter in someone else’s book, and the writer will say, “And I call that customer service.” Well, hey there Sparky, what does everyone else call it? It’s a million times more powerful and authoritative to say, “It’s called: customer service.”

I don’t care about grammar. I write so that the reader can “get it.” I care about how it sounds when it’s read, and how it looks when you read it, not what some silly rule says. I put hyphens and apostrophes where they don’t belong, so that the reader has an easy time following the flow, and understanding the thought.

I do care about structure. I do care about flow. I want one thought to flow to another – and where it doesn’t or can’t, I make (structure) a list of things. And the list flows from top to bottom.

I rely on spell-check, and keep on writing until I complete the thought. I never stop writing to “fix” something until the thought I’m writing is complete. Spelling and writing are mutually exclusive. If you stop to spell, you lose thought-flow and momentum. You can always check your spelling; you cannot always retain the thought or flow.

Others impose limits on my writing. Like this blog. And it forces me to end early, and tease you until next posting. The rest of this writing will appear here next time – and I’ll include recommendations for getting started.

Most people misunderstand and mis-define the word serious. They view it as stoic, non-smiling, stiff, non-humorous, and boring. Hardly.

Serious is the intention, the intensity, and the focus that you put into your work ethic and your personal ethics. Serious is a way of life, a way of business, a way of selling, and a way of serving.

How serious are you?

When your prospect or customer comes to the realization that you are “serious” about doing business or earning business, it stems from the actions you took to make that feeling possible.

Those serious actions or characteristics include:
• Speed of response.
• Ability to deliver.
• Ability to serve.
• Desire to serve.
• Knowledge about how what we have will help someone.
• Friendliness.
• Personable.
• Perceived value of product or service.
• Truth at all cost.
• Available when THEY call.
• Easy to access anyone.
• Easy to do business with.
• Online access to information and ordering.

If you have all those attributes, you have a CHANCE of being perceived as serious.

What are you serious about?

I always found it pathetically funny when someone told me, “We have all the business we can handle.” This is a sentence often spoken in response to an offer to advertise. I wonder if that same sentence is true today? Maybe if that business owner was more serious about business building rather than business bragging, he would be in better shape today.

Yes, I’m serious about the economy, and our present state of affairs, but I am 1000% MORE serious about my business, my finances, and my sales. My focus is on success, not doom and gloom. There’s no bailout for entrepreneurs. And the only stimulus I have is the one I create for myself.

In good times or bad times, here are a few things we are serious about in my business: (How do you and your business compare?)
• We are serious about helping our clients. Many are in need, and looking for answers.
• We are serious about being friendly. It costs no extra money to be friendly, and it sets the tone for positive outcome.
• We are serious about being an online leader. Online is forever, and we are investing in our future.
• We are serious about NOW IS THE TIME. We are not waiting to see what happens, we are taking success actions on the opportunities that exist NOW.
• We are serious about delivery on every promise. While we may not produce miracles, we absolutely give it our best effort.
• We are serious about managing expectations and providing measurable results – new accounts, relationships, revenue, growth.
• We are serious about doing the right thing and the best thing for our customers. This is a true mission statement.
• We are serious about having fun while doing it. We kibitz, we wisecrack, we engage customers about them, and we do it with the serious intention of having a great time and being memorable.
• We’re a family, not a team. Maybe that’s why we’re serious about working together, staying together, and succeeding together.

I realize that many of my customers need help and I am serious about giving it to them. Not selling – giving.

I realize that many companies are having tough times, and because our field of expertise includes attitude, sales, and loyalty, we have a genuine opportunity to help.

As a former university professor and now occasional speaker, I’m serious about connecting with my audience. I want them to get my message and improve their sales, their business, and their lives – and to do that, I know everyone must laugh. And laugh hard. And laugh a lot. I’m serious about humor. I practice timing as I’m speaking to maximize audience laughter, pleasure, and learning. Over the years I have come to the full understanding of the power and appeal of laughter.

These are times that call for different approaches and different actions. They challenge me to have a different mindset and slower expectations of victory. Not LOWER, slower.

Your sales force is your company’s lifeblood. No matter how good your product is, it won’t sell itself, no matter how much you believe otherwise. Establishing a competent, effective team to draw customers is often challenging for entrepreneurs, though, who would rather focus on research and development or chase VCs.

1. Don’t hire sales people too early. In the early days, the founders should be able to sell (and should be selling).

2. You don’t need sales people, you need sales. Don’t think VP of Sales – think “Revenue Engineer”. (Not the greatest analogy, but just like you won’t hire a development “manager” as one of the first 5 people in a startup, you shouldn’t hire a sales “manager” either). Don’t get caught up in fancy titles – focus on dollars in the door.

3. Don’t hire several sales people at once. Your goal is to figure out the “pattern” of what kinds of people are best based on what you’re selling and who you’re selling it to. You need some feedback from the system so you can continue to iterate on your hires.

4. If you’ve never hired or been around sales people before, be prepared for a bit of a shock to the system. They’re not bad people, they’re just different. It’s always helpful to remember the obvious which sometimes escapes us… that your startup needs to sell stuff!

5. Resist the temptation to create complicated compensation plans. If it requires a spreadsheet to figure out the commission, it’s too hard. You’ll have plenty of time to confuse sales people later – start simple.

6. Agile methodologies can work in sales as well. Iterate! Refine your demo script, your slides, and any other collateral information. Capture the lessons learned by the best-performing people and spread it to the rest.

7. Sales people will generally act in mostly rational (but often surprising) ways based on incentives. The rules of the game define the behavior of the players. You were warned.

8. Always connect incentives somehow to ultimate customer happiness. If you reward just “deals getting done”, you’ll get deals – but at too high a price. You might get push-back that sales people don’t control/influence customer happiness, but they do. They “pick” customers. They set expectations. And they control the degree of “convincing” applied.

9. Make sure you understand the economics of your business. Figure out your total COCA (Cost of Customer Acquisition). This includes sales people, marketing people and marketing campaigns. Quick example: Lets say you paid a sales person $10k, a marketing person $10k and you spent $5k on Google AdWords (for a total of $25k) last month. If you sold 10 customers last month, your COCA is about $2,500. Different businesses have different needs in terms of sales vs. marketing spend. Make sure neither is too far out of whack.

10. Your life-time-value (how much revenue you expect to generate per customer) should be higher than your COCA. (No, I did not need a degree from MIT to figure that out.) Once your LTV is a multiple of your COCA, you’re ready to start turning the knob and scaling the business a bit (hiring more sales people). But, if your LTV is way lower than your COCA, proceed with caution. If there is no hope for LTV getting higher than COCA, you’ve got a problem. Don’t try to hire additional sales people until the economics sort of make sense. If the car is pointed towards a brick wall, hitting the accelerator is not a good idea.

11. Track data maniacally (even if it’s just in a spreadsheet). Information you will want includes: What was sold, who sold it, when, for how much, etc. This data will be invaluable later as you start to scale. For example, you should be able to answer the question: We had 14 customers cancel last month – who sold those customers? Is there a pattern? In the early days, you likely won’t have the volume (or the time) to analyze the data – but you should at least capture it for future use.

12. Your pricing should be in line with your sales structure. For example, you can’t expect to have an outside sales force (that meets with customers in person) if your average deal size is only $10,000. The math won’t work.

13. Once you get beyond three or so people, running your sales in a spreadsheet will become painful. Start looking at CRM systems (like Salesforce.com).

14. Start watching the shape of your “funnel” as early as possible. How many leads are you getting a month? How many turn into opportunities? How many of those convert into paying customers? Once you understand your funnel, you can slowly start tweaking your system to fix the “leaks”.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Feel free to contact Kolikoff & Company for assistance in building and/or outsourcing some or all of your sales team.