Ever been in the situation where you’ve called a sales prospect over and over with little or no response? We’ve all been there and we’ve impatiently written off the prospect as dead because we didn’t want to face another non responsive call.

Next time you are prospecting and this happens, think of this: its a well known fact that sales people give up on sales prospecting calls far too early. A few more calls and the sale is likely to be yours. Also consider the fact that being diligent in following up will prove your commitment to the sales process and gain respect from your prospective buyer.

With a little patience and perseverance that opportunity you are about to write off as dead could turn into a sale. Go dial that number, smile and think of the closing the deal. Here are some pointers that will help: 7 tips for turning cold calls into hot leads.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

There are tons of opportunities all around you to build your business. In the local newspaper, on business blogs, at networking events, in the shape of the person in line next to you in Starbucks.

The key is to be curious and talk to people. Every day. Ask them what they do and listen to their answers. And if you see a potential solution you can offer, then do it. Don’t start giving yourself all the reasons why they won’t be interested.

Finding new business opportunities is not some deep, dark secret. Neither is it complicated. Know what you do (the solution you provide), know who you do it for (your target markets) and then go out and start contacting people. That’s how you build successful business. One contact at a time.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

The piece of business advice I hate the very most? Just be passionate and your business will succeed. Gag.

This is wrong. I know lots of failing entrepreneurs who are passionate about their product. Unfortunately no one else is, which is why they have no customers and are making no money.  The truth is that it is extremely hard to be passionate when your business is not making any money. You tend to feel like a fraud instead.

Your business will not succeed if you haven’t clearly defined a market need for your product/service. And if you don’t know who your target market is and the reasons why they would buy from you. Just because you think it’s a good idea, doesn’t mean that the rest of the world agrees with you. For proof of this, just watch episodes of Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den.

If you’re lacking passion for your business because you aren’t making money, you need to revisit your business model and see if there is actually a good chance of becoming profitable. If you can’t see one, walk away. If you can see an opportunity, act on it.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

There is lots of buzz out there about how you need to create a relationship with your customer (true) and the key to successful selling is to be able to uncover their needs and provide a solution (true).  Unfortunately some companies out there have implemented customer service training programs that have their staff asking customers questions to uncover needs and then ignoring what the customer says.  Here are a couple of examples I heard about recently:

• A business associate got a call from his bank customer service representative, asking in a cheery voice if there was anything his bank could do for him.  His reply – reduce the interest rate on my credit card.  Her answer – no.  His next requeest: was there any way to reduce his bank fees?  Her answer – no.  Why bother making this phone call – window dressing?
• A client of mine who has run a financially successful business for 5 years and is now expanding her business operation called her large global bank about gettin a line of credit for the expansion.  They told her it would be no problem – come in and see us and we will get it set up.  She goes for the meeting and finds out they are happy to extend credit to her through a credit card with 29% interest attached!  Needless to say she has moved to the competition.

In the Ghost CEO coaching program, we teach all our clients that Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability are keys to business success.  Both of the banks above lost credibility by asking customers whay they could do better without ever intending to deliver anything different.

If you want to succeed in business, mean what you say.  If you genuinely want to find out what your customer wants and you are prepared to improve your product or service, then ask.  If you are just doing it because it seems to be the thing to do, don’t bother.  You’ll keep more customers and credibility that way.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

Experience, hard word and talent are not enough to succeed in today’s workplace. You need to also focus on building a network that will bring you the success you want. Your career will likely span multiple jobs and fields and the best and fastest way to get where you want to be is having a network of people you can call on. Building an effective network takes time, planning and intention. Here are 5 rules that will help you out:

1. Talk to strangers. You never know who is standing behind you at Starbucks.
2. Build a network with intention; create a plan of the types of people you want to meet and work the plan.
3. Give as much as you get; don’t be stingy about looking for ways to help others out. This will repay itself many times over when you need a helping hand.
4. Reach out to people long before you need anything; do not be that person who only ever calls when they need something. That is not networking – that is using people and you will not be appreciated for it. Stay in touch regularly with the people in your network.
5. Ask for what you want, not what you think you can get. The simple act of asking will get you a lot more than you can ever imagine.

Remember: success does not come to those with a low tolerance for risk or those who are led by fear. Start talking to people – you will be surprised what you learn!

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

Our Deepest Fear
adapted from Marianne Williamson’s “A Return to Love.”

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, whom am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are we not to be?
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won’t
feel insecure around you.
You were born to manifest the glory of love.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

I find women to be the worst culprit of trying to ‘dumb down’ their awesomeness so as not to appear ‘boastful’ or like they’re ‘bragging’. This is a huge mistake. Anyone who knows me will be the first to tell you that no matter how small my successes, I always share them. There is so much value in sharing with one another when we are succeeding, growing, learning and changing. As we continue to merge our collective experience and intelligence we become more and more powerful and effective in reaching heights once only imaginable.

This week, step up and stand out. Let your light shine. Share your WINS no matter how seemingly small and allow them to build momentum to carry you forward. It’s about time you GOT OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

I see this happen a lot, especially with small business owners. They hit the market and plant a bunch of seeds, then get discouraged when nothing happens right away. They expect there to be an immediate reaction and to receive an immediate result from their hard work. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

All seeds have an incubation or gestation period. Sometimes it’s short and seeds seem to grow almost on demand, other times you start to wonder if anything is growing at all, so much time has passed.

Working in outside sales, followed by self-employment and entrepreneurship, I’ve always been familiar with the concept of planting seeds. The golden rule is: you never stop. You get up everyday and plant, to the best of your ability, quality seedlings in a market that needs and wants what you have. You don’t get attached to which ones grow to fruition and which ones fizzle out before they reach the surface. You allow each seedling to go through it’s necessary gestation period requiring you to have faith in the process. (You don’t see a farmer out digging up his crop 1/2 way through the gestation to see if anything is growing.) By staying focussed on planting, and having faith that the right seeds are growing strong to fruition, you will enjoy many a quality harvest.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Show me a business with little profit and I’ll show you a company with little prospecting going on.  The two are related.  The more prospecting you do, the more customers you find, the more profit you make.

The cardinal mistake I see business owners making over and over, is leaving prospects in their sales funnel for too long.  Ideally you want to be turning over a new prospect list every 30 days.  Instead, what I see happening, is that Bob mentioned he might be interested in buying 3 months ago.  Suzy has left him in the funnel since then.  She hasn’t done any follow up because she doesn’t want to pester him or drive him away.  Meanwhile she is counting on him to end up buying so she doesn’t want to chase other prospects that she is knows less about.  Sound familiar?

Prospects that hang around on your funnel like this are weeds.  They are choking out other good prospects that would buy from you and not waste your time and energy.   Approach the ‘Bob types’ and find out if they are going to buy.  If not, pull them out of your garden (your funnel) and replace them with others that are likely to turn into customers.

Everyone makes this harder to do than it really is.  Finding prospects is easy once you know who your ideal client is and why they buy from you.  Become crystal clear on whom you want to do business with and who you don’t.  Pull out the weeds and save yourself a lot of time and stress.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

Business is like farming.  You don’t plant seeds on Monday and harvest on Tuesday.  You plant the seeds. You fertilize and water them.  You pick out the weeds.  Then once the harvest is in, you work fast and hard to pick the crop before it goes rotten.

Business development is the same.  There is a 30 to 90 day lag before you see any results from your prospecting efforts.  That’s why it’s so important today that you plant your crop for the last quarter of the year.  So grab a pen and paper – here’s what you are going to do right now:

1. Decide how many hours a week you are going to put into business development – block them off in the calendar right now.  (This is your planting field.)
2. Pick the target customers and markets you want to land in this next quarter.  Decide how many sales you are going make. (These are going to be the crops you want to grow.)
3. Figure out how to get In touch with these prospects.  Get creative.  Use direct mail, a phone campaign, a gift or something free to catch their attention.  Be consistently persistent in staying in touch with them.  (You need to water and fertilize prospects to turn them into customers.)
4. Reap what you sow.  Once you have qualified a prospect and they seem ready to buy – close the deal!  Move quickly to make the sale so you don’t lose them to the competition.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

I got a call from the new business account manager at my bank last week;  she called to introduce herself.  I told her I was surprised as I had never received any kind of contact from this bank since I had opened the account.  I also told her that I did not recommend this bank to any of my clients or in my seminars because of the lack of service.

Her response?  Nothing.  She repeated her name and phone number and told me to call her ‘anytime’.  She did not ask any questions about my business or what I did, made no attempt to fix things.  It was obvious that she had been told to call a list of customers and she was going through the motions – nothing more.  She blew a golden opportunity to turn me into a satisfied customer and has, instead, ensured that I will switch to another bank.  And the irony is that I would prefer that the bank fix things, rather than having to switch accounts.

In addition to actively seeking new customers, be sure that you’re not loosing existing customers.  Take a look at your existing customer list – what can you do to make them feel glad to do business with you?  Usually it is as simple as a thank you phone call or a short note of appreciation.  But if you are going to pick up the phone – do it with sincerity and a willingness to fix things.  Otherwise don’t bother.