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The other day when I was driving my car to see one of my elderly clients, minding my own business and mainly listening to the rhythm of my windshield wipers I was kicked in the face by a something I heard on the I love Marketing podcast.
Dean Jackson mentioned his "Before, During and After" concept. Basically what are you doing before the close (sometimes days, weeks or months before), during the close and after the sale?
What made me sit up straight was the realization that I invest too little time, effort and thought in two of those areas.
After thinking about it and talking to a few people in sales, I realized that if you want to eat you have to be good at one of the three or you can't be a sales person. But most of us focused on one and shine brightly in this area, got kind of good at another almost by accident and the third kind of just happens (or doesn't happen).
For example, the mechanic that repairs my bat-mobile (actually and old, green Saab) and has repaired it for years is personable and does a great job fixing cars, but Elvis (that's his real name) has never reached out to me by phone, email, snail mail or text.
What if I liked the work he did, but forgot the name of the business? How would I find him again? If I did a Google search for "auto repair shops in Bridgeport CT", I'd see his competitors and I might select one of them. He'd lose business and my car might not be fixed correctly.
Conversely, what if I get a postcard from him while a friend is visiting? I might hand the post card to my buddy and tell him about my great experience. Or if my friend went to get a drink from my refrigerator and noticed his magnet holding up my a picture of my grandkids? Or if I got a text when I'm out with friends. (Remember I like the guy and he is a good mechanic, so unless he over does it or does it poorly, I would look at any contact favorably.)
I think if he got better at "After" he'd double his business in a few years. I think that if I put more energy and thought into the two I don't do well I'd do much better as well.
My sales funnel is as follows:
Before
During is the sales presentation or sales letter.
After
What do you do best, before during and after? Why? What do you do in that segment that the average sales person doesn't?
What part of the sales funnel do you focus on e.g.: moving suspects into prospects or clients into fans? How? What do you do in that segment that the average sales person doesn't?
Ladies and Gentlemen, please try to stay focused. There will be a few ideas on this thread worth a million dollars if enough veterans contribute and no one hijacks this thread.
Some of us just need to patch a few holes in our sales funnel to double (or 10X) our incomes.
Dean Jackson mentioned his "Before, During and After" concept. Basically what are you doing before the close (sometimes days, weeks or months before), during the close and after the sale?
What made me sit up straight was the realization that I invest too little time, effort and thought in two of those areas.
After thinking about it and talking to a few people in sales, I realized that if you want to eat you have to be good at one of the three or you can't be a sales person. But most of us focused on one and shine brightly in this area, got kind of good at another almost by accident and the third kind of just happens (or doesn't happen).
For example, the mechanic that repairs my bat-mobile (actually and old, green Saab) and has repaired it for years is personable and does a great job fixing cars, but Elvis (that's his real name) has never reached out to me by phone, email, snail mail or text.
What if I liked the work he did, but forgot the name of the business? How would I find him again? If I did a Google search for "auto repair shops in Bridgeport CT", I'd see his competitors and I might select one of them. He'd lose business and my car might not be fixed correctly.
Conversely, what if I get a postcard from him while a friend is visiting? I might hand the post card to my buddy and tell him about my great experience. Or if my friend went to get a drink from my refrigerator and noticed his magnet holding up my a picture of my grandkids? Or if I got a text when I'm out with friends. (Remember I like the guy and he is a good mechanic, so unless he over does it or does it poorly, I would look at any contact favorably.)
I think if he got better at "After" he'd double his business in a few years. I think that if I put more energy and thought into the two I don't do well I'd do much better as well.
My sales funnel is as follows:
Before
Suspects People who might or might not buy what you have to sell.
Prospects People who will buy what you have to sell, but not necessarily from you.
Prospects People who will buy what you have to sell, but not necessarily from you.
During is the sales presentation or sales letter.
After
Customers People who bought from you once, but aren't emotionally connected to you and might or might not buy from you again.
Clients Customers who think of you first when they want to buy again and may refer you occasionally.
Fans Clients that don't consider any other options when it is time to purchase again and refer you enthusiastically and frequently.
Clients Customers who think of you first when they want to buy again and may refer you occasionally.
Fans Clients that don't consider any other options when it is time to purchase again and refer you enthusiastically and frequently.
What do you do best, before during and after? Why? What do you do in that segment that the average sales person doesn't?
What part of the sales funnel do you focus on e.g.: moving suspects into prospects or clients into fans? How? What do you do in that segment that the average sales person doesn't?
Ladies and Gentlemen, please try to stay focused. There will be a few ideas on this thread worth a million dollars if enough veterans contribute and no one hijacks this thread.
Some of us just need to patch a few holes in our sales funnel to double (or 10X) our incomes.