Author: Bill Cates

Have you ever done some that generated multiple benefits at once? Maybe not just for yourself but other people as well?

Here’s how one small business owner created a positive situation out of a negative review on social media, all while helping his business and his community at the same time.

I’ve read a few articles recently about the Do’s and Don’ts of how to write an email to get your message well received. To save you time, I’ve distilled most of these into 2 main “Rules.”

Okay… I can hear you now, “Who do you think you are telling me what rules to break or follow? I’ve done quite well for myself breaking the rules!“

I get it. I break the rules myself sometimes. With that said…

WARNING: Breaking these two rules could be harmful to the health of your relationships with prospects, clients, colleagues, and friends.

I just discovered the easiest, most comfortable, and most effective way to ask for referrals. Fasten your seatbelt… this could be a game changer for you! You’ve heard me talk about sharing your Why with…

The 4 most prevalent mistakes I see in asking for referrals are:

1. Thinking you’re more referable than you really are.

2. Merely promoting referrals – not really asking for specific introductions to specific people or brainstorming various categories.

3. Not creating an environment of “brainstorming” or “exploration” – no pressure and no right or wrong suggestions.

4. Not coming prepared to suggest specific people or categories.

Check out the situation presented to me by one of our readers. Check out my answer. Then tell me what you would do. (Seriously – I’d love your comments.)

Sending reasonable priced gifts to your clients – at least your ‘A’ clients – and your referral sources creates great “engagement.” And it’s “engaged” clients who give referrals.

So what’s your plan for this year?

One of the best gifts I ever sent to our clients is when my daughter was selling Girl Scout cookies. I sent out 144 boxes of Thin Mints. My clients loved it and my daughter led her troop in cookie sales that year.

By the way – if it has your logo on it – it’s probably not a gift… its promotion! There are exceptions to that rule, however.

Tell me if you’ve ever experienced this…

You’ve connected with your new prospect. You believe you can bring real value to -them. They seem to agree. But then… crickets. They keep putting you off. Or worse, they stop returning your emails or phone calls without a word of explanation. You don’t want to be a pest, but “What the heck?”

What went wrong? Why didn’t your prospect follow your recommendations?

Could it be that your prospect didn’t have a sense of urgency to act? And you didn’t help them?

INBOUND fuels the passion that drives the most innovative and successful business leaders of our time. From November 8-11, 2016 thousands of marketing and sales professionals from almost every industry imaginable and from all corners of the globe will attend INBOUND in the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

Tis the season for many social events, where you’ll be spending time with friends, close family, distant relatives, neighbors, and – yes – total strangers.

Many of these people might make great clients for you. Many others may never become clients, but might have the ability to refer and introduce you to others.

Let’s say you’re at a holiday party or other social event and someone asks, “What do you do?” How do you respond? Do you whip out your best elevator speech? Do you pretend you don’t want to talk about the great value you bring to your clients?

Are you blowing an opportunity?

I was reading some sales tips the other day and the author said “Selling services is selling an intangible. You can’t put it in their hands to hold or they can’t take it for a test drive.” Or can they? (Keep reading.)

While I agree that selling a service promise can often be more challenging than selling a product, there are a number of things you can do to make your service promise more tangible to your prospective clients.

Learn the power of using visual representations of your service model and providing prospects a “test drive.”

What’s that definition of insanity again? Oh… right! “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

One form of referral insanity is using outdated methods. Managers and trainers often teach what worked for them, but only produce mediocre results in this new world where we need to blend the analogue side of referrals with the digital side.

There are 5 insanely common and easy to make mistakes that so many people are making in their efforts to boost referrals and introductions.

PLEASE tell me you’re not making these mistakes!