“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”
- Anthony Robbins

There are only two types of questions: Those that get negative or negligible results, and those that get great results. What questions are you asking yourself and your associates, employees and customers that can result in a better bottom line? What questions will reduce customer attrition, improve loyalty and profits and motivate the people you work with?

Design the Right Questions

• The answers to the questions we ask should result in answers that inspire, motivate and initiate innovation and positive action.
• They should encourage, cheer, challenge, energize and drive.
• The more specific the question, the more specific the answers… And the more specific the answers, the better. Specific is terrific.

By designing the right questions to ask those involved in our business, we direct the business to greater success and focus everyone on the goals and objectives for which we have taken responsibility. When you ask the right question, you create an answer that begets a success strategy.

Try Asking These for a Self Check:

1. “Which three things can we do to increase the amount of people coming into the store by 5% without any cost or risk to us?”
2. “How can I pay for results instead of promises when it comes to advertising?”
3. “Who do we need to work with in a Joint Venture to double the amount of prospects we are currently exposed to?”
4. “How can we create three new streams of increasing, passive income?”
5. “How can we benefit from someone else’s advertising and marketing activities?”
6. “What can we do to double the value we offer our clients, without increasing our cost of sales?”
7. “How can we get customers to increase the amount of times they visit our business by 30%?”
8. “How can we reactivate 40% of our inactive customers?”
9. “How can we create back end sales without increasing our overhead or the time it takes to sell the back end?”

Sales Tip

Learn to ask questions that result in a buy. “O.K., Bill, I’m going to charge you card now for the basic Widget. Now shall I add the Blue Squink for $100 as well as the Rutten for another $800, or shall I just add the Blue Squink?” The answer should be, “Sure, add both”, or, at worst, he says, “Oh, just the Blue Squink for now.” Either way, you have upsold him.

Management Tip

Management questions can help or hurt. Ask, “What could I have done to help you achieve even more sales?” “You’re really at the rock face, Candy. What do you suggest we do to improve customer service even more?” “Bobby, I want to pay you a higher commission. What can we do to ensure a higher transaction amount per sale?”

The average consumer is confronted with over 36,000 commercial messages per day. Decision makers face even more options. All available space is being bought up and sold as advertising space. Advertising exposure is increasing exponentially, and this naturally affects your cost of sales and therefore your margins. It now costs three times more to get just half the results you used to get. What to do?

You have two choices.

• You can work harder, which is tactical, short-term and comprised of reactive, daily activities.
• Or you can work smarter, which is strategic, based on a long-range plan and objective.

Your strategy should drive your tactics, not vice-versa. Strategists understand the big picture they’re creating. They agree with Michael Gerber, who said, “If you’re not working ON your business, you’ll soon be OUT of business.” So they create strategies that minimize cost and risk and maximize efficiency.

Why a Good Strategy is Essential

Statistically, motorists slow down when they see a police car to avoid a speeding ticket. Did you know they speed up again within only half a mile? That’s how quickly you’re forgotten by your clients and prospects if you don’t have a strategy that will create ongoing, unique, varied exposure and value. Strategists set goals and consistently work towards them, which leverages the Reticular Activating Systems of all those involved in the process. Involving others in your planning and creating joint ventures and win/win partnerships is essential.

Large companies know this.

90% of corporate executives surveyed felt a Joint Venture with another company was “absolutely essential” to maintain their competitive edge. At least 20% of the revenues in the Fortune 500 and International 2,000 are now coming from Joint Ventures. This strategic approach works in any size business and cuts the clutter to shreds, resulting in increased margins and staff retention, reduced customer attrition, radically decreased cost of sales and risk and exponential growth.

Sales Tip

By creating and setting your Buying Criteria, then educating your customers, you become the natural, logical choice. That overcomes clutter. And remember, it’s far better to spend $100 on each of ten good prospects than to haphazardly spend $1 on each of 100 suspects.

Management Tip

The second biggest problem in sales is that salespeople don’t close. But the biggest problem is hiring the wrong people. There is a proven system for hiring sales superstars and when you get the right salespeople, closing is no longer an issue. Once you have superstars, train them consistently and the sky’s the limit.

Two business owners met in a pub in Seattle in late January of this year. We’ll call them Larry and Bob to protect their identity. I had met with Bob to discuss increasing sales in his office furniture business and given him an idea to use. He had identified Larry as a potential Joint Venture partner for this marketing system and arranged a meeting.

Bob’s offer went something like this:

“Larry, we both sell good office furniture and we both offer great service. You’re not to far away from where I am based, as you know, and I have an idea to run by you. What is your average closing ratio? In other words, out of every ten people you pitch, how many buy from you?”

Larry replied that he sold about two in ten.

“So, Larry, what do you do with the other eight prospects? It cost you good marketing money to find them, and they all have an urgent need for office furniture, and they can afford it, or you wouldn’t be talking with them. If they leave your store, they’re going to buy somewhere else, right?”

“You’re right, Bob. What do you suggest, Bob?”

“I suggest that you say to everyone who doesn’t buy from you, ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you today. I know you’re serious about getting some office furniture right away, and I hate to waste your valuable time, so I’m going to call a good friend of mine who offers equally good products and service to what I do, and ask him to meet with you and see if he can help you.’ Then you call me and set up an appointment with your prospect. I’ll do the same for you. That way, Larry, we each get to see 18 prospects instead of 10! I see your pre-sold prospects and you see mine!”

On average 50% of the referred customers buy using this technique of cross referring unconverted leads between businesses.

Since they instituted this simple, yet effective system, both Larry and Bob have seen significant increases in their sales figures, at absolutely no cost or risk. Try it in your business; work WITH your “competition”, and make more money!

Elephants Know Win/WIn

Last night, my friend, Jos told me that when African elephants stand along the bank of a river to drink water, they instinctively adopt a very considerate and practical approach. Those who stand upstream wait until last to drink. Those furthest downstream first drink, then wash themselves in the river, so that the mud doesn’t affect the other elephants. Then the next one drinks, and so on, one by one, upstream. In this way, everyone gets clean, clear water to drink and bathe in. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Deer Know Consideration Pays

Then Jos told me about deer on steep mountain trails here in British Columbia. Evidently, when a deer is about to pass another on a narrow, slippery and treacherous trail, the deer at the highest point stops and waits until the other deer has passed. This is to avoid slipping and pushing the other deer over the edge. Some small minded, egotistical business owners seem to relish the prospect of pushing their competition “over the edge”, as it were!  Smart entrepreneurs, on the other hand, realize that their competition can be their strongest allies.

I Grew from $4,000 to $20,000 in 4 Days

• Did you know that 20% of the revenues of large, Fortune 500 and International 2,000 companies come from Joint Ventures?
• And that a massive 50% of those Joint Ventures are with their competition?

Amazing, but true. The best entrepreneurs create powerful, win/win strategic alliances and share resources, distribution and access. Wal-Mart established themselves in Mexico in a fraction of the normal time by joint venturing with an existing Mexican company. I once grew my revenues in one of the profit centers in my business from $4,000 to $20,000 in four days using a joint venture. It would have taken me four years on my own!

The Key is Linking Up with the Right People

Together, we can do amazing things. We don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems. Everything you need is already available when you create synergistic relationships, in any area of life – not only business. Unity is strength. United we stand, divided we fall. The key to success is linking up with the right people. We started the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum to link successful professional entrepreneurs, and it works magnificently. By being very selective and educating ourselves, we team up to reach our goals and create value, just like elephants and deer.

We’ve come along way since the “hard sell” and the manipulative closing techniques and tricks that used to work so well, so long ago.  Salespeople face a far more sophisticated, self-centered market today. New markets and new challenges require a new approach.  Things that used to work, don’t work anymore. Adjust or die.  The new business environment demands a mindset that is a step ahead of the competition.

Used to be…

We’d “pitch” the prospect and then close hard and keep on closing, ignore objections, force our products and services down their throats and trumpet loudly as we swaggered back to the office clutching a check.  Never more, Miranda; never more.  Try that approach these days and you’ll end up driving a truck and showing off the watch you won for “Best Salesman in 1979”.  Join the has-beens.  No.  Times have changed.

The Correct New Approach

The good news is that it’s really not hard to do.  The correct new approach not only increases closing ratios and retains customers, it cuts attrition and leads to massive increases in referrals.  The solution is Joint Ventures.  By creating unprecedented added value and talking only with people who are ready, even eager to talk with you because of the Joint Venture platform you’ve created, closing ratios can skyrocket. Strategists work ON their business, while tacticians work reactively IN their businesses.  Think more, work less, close more.  Be VERY selective.

Partnering up with the right people creates a funnel that attracts, qualifies and sells automatically. Credibility, trust, value and access can be created fast and effectively through Joint Ventures.  Sales are the logical and inevitable result.

I talked recently with a fellow who has a staff of eighty-five people that are not his sales team. He wants to increase his sales, so I suggested he consider turning these employees into salespeople. “But that’s not their job!” he protested.

Exactly. And that’s why most business owners overlook their greatest underutilized asset – their non sales employees. I got very excited when I realized that there were 85 people who could help increase his sales with no cost or risk!

The Unrealized Value of Your Employees

Every person on earth wants to feel important, recognized and appreciated. We want to feel that our contribution is important and that our ideas and suggestions are valued. Plus, we want to feel that we get rewarded for any value that we create. I have found that our employees at the coalface often know more about our businesses than we do. Their suggestions are based on real life, real experience and real opinions. They have insights and recommendations which could radically improve our bottom line profits, if we only gave them a reason to share those ideas, listened, and rewarded them accordingly.

Unleash Massive Sales!

Your employees want to feel a part of the business. They want to feel that they have secure jobs and that they can increase their income without moonlighting and arriving at your business half asleep. By listening to their ideas and providing them non-threatening and easy to use, understandable sales tools with a system to measure and reward results, you can unleash massive sales! When we understand that our businesses provide products and services that relieve pain and create value, we can train our employees to perceive “sales” differently. Use this massive, neglected resource – the cost is miniscule and the results are extraordinary – improved productivity and loyalty, decreased employee and customer attrition and increased sales and profits, innovation and motivation.

Give your employees what they want and the sky’s the limit

Zig Ziglar said, “You can get anything out of life, if you’re prepared to give enough other people what they want.” Most employees dread going to work and we can change that. Give your employees what they want: a voice, an ear, an opportunity, security, self esteem, reward, motivation, purpose and recognition, get your ego out of the way, and the sky’s the limit.

How workers ranked what they considered important, starting with the most important:

1. Appreciation for good work,
2. Feeling “in” on things,
3. Help with personal problems,
4. Job security,
5. Good wages,
6. Interesting work,
7. Possibility for promotion,
8. Loyalty of Management to workers,
9. Good working conditions,
10. Tactful discipline.

Apply this knowledge to your management systems and win!

Yesterday, I received this encouraging note from a friend of mine who is a very successful entrepreneur:

“Hi Robin,

I just read your Eagle Attitude article and you are right on. I always make asset vs. liability calls.

Recently one of my staff did considerable damage to our main computer and database by going to inappropriate places on the internet. Certainly grounds for firing, not too mention suing for damages. Instead we are reworking his job description to take advantage of some obvious talents. There are some penalties he is working through, but there should be some substantial benefit to the company long term.

It’s nice to read that a risky decision is sometimes the best decision.”

How I Joint Ventured Instead of Firing my Employee

That reminds me of the time I was a manager in a large, resort hotel and we learned that one of the staff members was secretly running his own little room service business inside the hotel. He diverted all the orders to his cousin’s café on the corner. The thing was that he gave excellent service and guests were delighted with the quality (that’s how we caught him – compliments from guests about dishes that weren’t on the room service menu!) So instead of firing him, we created a joint venture: we saved his salary, cut overhead substantially and continued to provide the service to our guest, while his own business flourished. Win/Win!

Savvy entrepreneurs always…

• Savvy entrepreneurs look for ways to capitalize on the strengths and resources of their partners, associates, employees and vendors.
• They focus on what does work instead of what doesn’t work and, most importantly, keep their egos in check.
• Take the time to listen carefully and discover hidden assets like skills, connections, resources and information.
• Know that sometimes, opportunities take a little while to appear and options take time to become apparent.
• Know that patience and good communication skills, as well as being prepared to generously share the profits, are essential.
• Think outside the box and keep your eyes on your common goals.
• Be flexible and open to new ideas.
• Know that good people are hard to find.

Sales Tip

The better you know your salespeople, the better you can channel their energy, interests, skills and time. Don’t make the salesperson fit the job; rather, make the job fit the salesperson. Take time to listen to their opinions and suggestions, encourage sharing and reward innovation and risk.

Management Tip

By clearly defining the parameters of your employees’ jobs, you remove fear. Show them what they have to do to get fired, and you reduce any reticence to innovation. Fear stunts creativity and openness. People who feel secure will be more productive and honest with you. Spend more time developing relationship with your staff than you do with your customers.

Joint Venture Brokers are strategists.

They don’t:

• Do things randomly.
• Grasp at straws.
• Leap onto every new, flavor-of-the month start-up scheme.

They are sophisticated entrepreneurs who are very selective and careful with the allocation of their time and attention. They carefully and objectively consider their options and focus on profit and long-term income and potential.

Why Most Fail

The concept of “FEEDERS” is essential and foundational to your Joint Venture success. The reason why 97% of the people in Network Marketing, for example, only recruit three or four people and then quit, or take years to get any traction, is that they simply haven’t Feeders to bring them an ongoing line of new recruits. The reason why most “Motivational Speakers,” “Coaches,” and “Consultants” have no money or customers is because they don’t have Feeders to feed them business on a regular basis. Any salesperson or business owner that understands this concept will make serious money.

What Works

A “Feeder” is a mechanism that continues to feed you prospects and business, given that you follow up and manage the process and the people correctly. Smart Joint Venture Brokers create the situation where all their Joint Ventures feed each other, and they have Feeder events and systems that operate consistently and predictably. They use leverage, delegation, duplication, and leadership to set up and maintain these Feeders. A Feeder that doesn’t work is carefully monitored, manipulated, tweaked, fixed, and adjusted until it either produces or is discarded, and it is weighed an evaluated solely on its performance, potential, profit, positioning, and productivity.

Salespeople, Joint Ventures, seminars, Bootcamps, newsletters, websites, book, CD’s, reports, centers of influence, give-aways, talk, conference calls, databases, webinars, and most of all our other Joint Ventures, are all Feeders, as long as the systems are properly and professionally established and coordinated. This is one of the skills that we teach at our DollarMakers Certified Business Mentor Training program. By creating self-duplicating systems and Joint Ventures that feed each other and attract new business by design, we use a technology that creates exponential growth and wealth with no cost or risk, and very little time. “Feeders feed, losers bleed.”