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Will You Add? - Joint Venture JV Partners are Worth Gold
Bonuses paid when a job or a year “goes well” or “you make money”, or worse, paid as a Christmas bonus inevitably become ENTITLEMENTS. When the incentive is not paid based on the job and/or the year EXCEEDING your planned profit and performance, when it’s not based on the employee or employee group (as applicable) exceeding their specific standards in their jobs linked to your MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE PROFIT, simply the bonus becomes a gift and eventually becomes an expected entitlement. When it becomes an expected entitlement and it’s not paid on a job or at the end of the fiscal year or in December, the reverse often occurs…productivity declines - another waste of profit and cash flow with a potential decline in business discipline, poor attitudes, and more lost profit and cash flow.In order for a performance compensation system to work it should have the following qualities:* Specific standards
Visit your builders and re-modelers job sites. Educate them about 2-3 products in each flooring option and provide them samples to keep and show their customers. Work personally with their customers and provide your partner itemized estimates for each project at no charge. Do all the work for them when it comes to your product or service. Call them regularly and ask if everything is going well. Take them to lunch once in a while. Mail, or e-mail, them your newsletter regularly. (We'll talk about your newsletter later.) Never let them forget how valuable you are to them. And never let them forget how important they are to you.
You can build joint business partnerships in other areas related to your business also. Why not partner with a carpet cleaning company? How about a furniture store? Painters come across customers who need new flooring. Realtors are an excellent source of many new flooring customers. Many people need to replace the flooring before selling their homes. All these different business people could be handing out your business cards and personally referring people to call you. You can have a huge amount of business pa
Here are some ideas to help with screeners and voice mail.Don't Get Lost in the Phone System Bermuda Triangle. When initially trying to locate a decision maker you've never spoken with, if you detect even the slightest bit of hesitation in a screener's voice when they give you a name, continuing questioning. Nothing is as frustrating as being shoved from one unwanting soul to another like a hot potato. Find out the title and department before you're sent there.Ask for the Highest Level. Find the level higher than the one that typically makes the decision. This way, if you need to be referred, it's better to say that you “. . . were speaking with Karen at Mr. McNabb's office, and she felt that Ms. Collins would be the person I should be speaking with.” It's important that you don't imply that Mr. McNabb said that she should buy from you; just let them know that you've come from above and
I took the time to educate my contractors/customers on the flooring options available to them. I promised them my company estimator would physically measure and inspect each of their projects and I would determine the best flooring options for them to offer their customers. I dropped in on them during the day at their job sites and chatted with them. I let them know I was interested in their business. And I supplied them with itemized FREE estimates at contractor rates on the flooring for each of their projects and advised them how to add a percentage and make money WITH me. I was making money from the business they brought me and I wanted them to make money also. None of their other suppliers took the time to teach them how to make money with their products. In other words, if you go the extra mile your customers will know you care about them. Always deliver more than what your customer expects to get. Even if you have to spend a little of your own money, give every customer extra attention. Make them feel special.
When my contractors send their customer in to buy new flooring from me I make sure I give them a FREE spot cleaning kit. I tell them to make sure they call me if they have any question at all. I tell them I'm available to them for the rest of their lives. If you sell cars give them some FREE car wash coupons. If you sell clothing give them some dry cleaning coupons. If you sell electronics give them FREE sets of batteries. Tell them you are now their 'personal,' on-call expert. This is powerful, and it creates loyalty.
Most salespeople consider this "going out of their way" and they won't spend the resources, money, or time to do this. I don't consider this "going out of my way" at all. This is treating people like you would love to be treated. This is how I work. This is how you should work.
When I 'over-deliver' to my customer they are impressed because they don't expect it.
In the flooring business we run into many jobs that need repair work done before we can install new flooring. When I had customers ready to buy my flooring products and services but they needed repair work before we could install the flooring, guess who I told them to contact. Conrad and Jay, my new contractor partners. Conrad went from having hardly any customers when he first came to me 3 years earlier to now having 2 crews working full time. I sent him a flood of new business in the first year and to this day I continue to get a steady stream of referral customers from Conrad. He continues to buy from me, sends my new customers, and I stay in touch with him. Conrad and I are business partners. We carry each others business cards at all times.
Jay had worked in building maintenance for a local hospital for many years. He was only 31 years old when he decided to go out on his own and begin his remodeling contractor business. He was very skilled in his business for his young age. I visited his job sites and inspected his work. I spent time with him educating him about flooring and how he would make money by working with me.
I had our estimator do his measures, I laid out the projects, I gave him itemized estimates, and he simply added his percentage and made money with no work on his part. It was a win-win. I referred a flood of my flooring customers to him for repair work and 10 months later he had hired 3 employees to keep up with his business demand. He actually called me and said he couldn't handle any more referrals for a while. Who do think Jay continues to buy his flooring products from? Who do you think he refers people to when they need flooring? Jay hands out my business cards regularly. And I hand out his cards.
This is how you build profitable relationships WITH other businesses related to your business. My partners trust me because they know I genuinely care about them and their businesses. I don't try to sell them anything, I become their business partners.
You must do the same. If you sell flooring products and services and have no builder or remodeler business partners, call on some. Introduce yourself and ask if you can help them. Every time you get rejected make sure you leave them a business card and tell them they can call you anytime for expert help with any flooring question, no obligation. Continue to call on these people until you find a few who need your help. You WILL find them if you continue to search. Go outside your comfort zone and become partners with other businesses. Help them and you help yourself.
Visit your builders and re-modelers job sites. Educate them about 2-3 products in each flooring option and provide them samples to keep and show their customers. Work personally with their customers and provide your partner itemized estimates for each project at no charge. Do all the work for them when it comes to your product or service. Call them regularly and ask if everything is going well. Take them to lunch once in a while. Mail, or e-mail, them your newsletter regularly. (We'll talk about your newsletter later.) Never let them forget how valuable you are to them. And never let them forget how important they are to you.
You can build joint business partnerships in other areas related to your business also. Why not partner with a carpet cleaning company? How about a furniture store? Painters come across customers who need new flooring. Realtors are an excellent source of many new flooring customers. Many people need to replace the flooring before selling their homes. All these different business people could be handing out your business cards and personally referring people to call you. You can have a huge amount of business par
Businesspeople are often in a difficult position when negotiating, enforcing policy, and making decisions that impact relationships with customers, staff, vendors, and stakeholders. Many take the easy way out by procrastinating or they do the comfortable thing by just allowing the issue to continue instead of doing the right thing and deal with it.Dealing with difficult issues by hoping they will go away might feel comfortable because human beings can fool themselves for a time and pretend those issues don’t exist. But by doing the comfortable thing they open the door to long-term risk that is probably much worse and much less comfortable than the current issue. Additionally, it really isn’t all that comfortable. There is a certain amount of nagging memory of the issue that wakes you up in the middle of the night and calls attention to your denial.Doing the right thing, and dealing with
When my contractors send their customer in to buy new flooring from me I make sure I give them a FREE spot cleaning kit. I tell them to make sure they call me if they have any question at all. I tell them I'm available to them for the rest of their lives. If you sell cars give them some FREE car wash coupons. If you sell clothing give them some dry cleaning coupons. If you sell electronics give them FREE sets of batteries. Tell them you are now their 'personal,' on-call expert. This is powerful, and it creates loyalty.
Most salespeople consider this "going out of their way" and they won't spend the resources, money, or time to do this. I don't consider this "going out of my way" at all. This is treating people like you would love to be treated. This is how I work. This is how you should work.
When I 'over-deliver' to my customer they are impressed because they don't expect it.
In the flooring business we run into many jobs that need repair work done before we can install new flooring. When I had customers ready to buy my flooring products and services but they needed repair work before we could install the flooring, guess who I told them to contact. Conrad and Jay, my new contractor partners. Conrad went from having hardly any customers when he first came to me 3 years earlier to now having 2 crews working full time. I sent him a flood of new business in the first year and to this day I continue to get a steady stream of referral customers from Conrad. He continues to buy from me, sends my new customers, and I stay in touch with him. Conrad and I are business partners. We carry each others business cards at all times.
Jay had worked in building maintenance for a local hospital for many years. He was only 31 years old when he decided to go out on his own and begin his remodeling contractor business. He was very skilled in his business for his young age. I visited his job sites and inspected his work. I spent time with him educating him about flooring and how he would make money by working with me.
I had our estimator do his measures, I laid out the projects, I gave him itemized estimates, and he simply added his percentage and made money with no work on his part. It was a win-win. I referred a flood of my flooring customers to him for repair work and 10 months later he had hired 3 employees to keep up with his business demand. He actually called me and said he couldn't handle any more referrals for a while. Who do think Jay continues to buy his flooring products from? Who do you think he refers people to when they need flooring? Jay hands out my business cards regularly. And I hand out his cards.
This is how you build profitable relationships WITH other businesses related to your business. My partners trust me because they know I genuinely care about them and their businesses. I don't try to sell them anything, I become their business partners.
You must do the same. If you sell flooring products and services and have no builder or remodeler business partners, call on some. Introduce yourself and ask if you can help them. Every time you get rejected make sure you leave them a business card and tell them they can call you anytime for expert help with any flooring question, no obligation. Continue to call on these people until you find a few who need your help. You WILL find them if you continue to search. Go outside your comfort zone and become partners with other businesses. Help them and you help yourself.
Visit your builders and re-modelers job sites. Educate them about 2-3 products in each flooring option and provide them samples to keep and show their customers. Work personally with their customers and provide your partner itemized estimates for each project at no charge. Do all the work for them when it comes to your product or service. Call them regularly and ask if everything is going well. Take them to lunch once in a while. Mail, or e-mail, them your newsletter regularly. (We'll talk about your newsletter later.) Never let them forget how valuable you are to them. And never let them forget how important they are to you.
You can build joint business partnerships in other areas related to your business also. Why not partner with a carpet cleaning company? How about a furniture store? Painters come across customers who need new flooring. Realtors are an excellent source of many new flooring customers. Many people need to replace the flooring before selling their homes. All these different business people could be handing out your business cards and personally referring people to call you. You can have a huge amount of business pa
Because of corporate downsizing, many people have been laid-off or voluntarily taken early retirement packages and/or incentives. This happens when times are good due to mergers and acquisitions or when the economy is in the dumps and corporations are working to cut payroll costs. Almost all of these people have absolutely had it with corporate life; they feel burned and unappreciated. They realize that there is no such thing as job security. If a franchiser sales team gets the lead in time, they may still have good credit. If not, these laid off employees will have spent their savings on family crisis type emergencies and day-to-day living expenses. They will have either taken a job for less pay somewhere else out of necessity or be in a line of work totally foreign or unrewarding. Once this happens, they may no longer be in the market for a franchise.These corporate victims may have never e
In the flooring business we run into many jobs that need repair work done before we can install new flooring. When I had customers ready to buy my flooring products and services but they needed repair work before we could install the flooring, guess who I told them to contact. Conrad and Jay, my new contractor partners. Conrad went from having hardly any customers when he first came to me 3 years earlier to now having 2 crews working full time. I sent him a flood of new business in the first year and to this day I continue to get a steady stream of referral customers from Conrad. He continues to buy from me, sends my new customers, and I stay in touch with him. Conrad and I are business partners. We carry each others business cards at all times.
Jay had worked in building maintenance for a local hospital for many years. He was only 31 years old when he decided to go out on his own and begin his remodeling contractor business. He was very skilled in his business for his young age. I visited his job sites and inspected his work. I spent time with him educating him about flooring and how he would make money by working with me.
I had our estimator do his measures, I laid out the projects, I gave him itemized estimates, and he simply added his percentage and made money with no work on his part. It was a win-win. I referred a flood of my flooring customers to him for repair work and 10 months later he had hired 3 employees to keep up with his business demand. He actually called me and said he couldn't handle any more referrals for a while. Who do think Jay continues to buy his flooring products from? Who do you think he refers people to when they need flooring? Jay hands out my business cards regularly. And I hand out his cards.
This is how you build profitable relationships WITH other businesses related to your business. My partners trust me because they know I genuinely care about them and their businesses. I don't try to sell them anything, I become their business partners.
You must do the same. If you sell flooring products and services and have no builder or remodeler business partners, call on some. Introduce yourself and ask if you can help them. Every time you get rejected make sure you leave them a business card and tell them they can call you anytime for expert help with any flooring question, no obligation. Continue to call on these people until you find a few who need your help. You WILL find them if you continue to search. Go outside your comfort zone and become partners with other businesses. Help them and you help yourself.
Visit your builders and re-modelers job sites. Educate them about 2-3 products in each flooring option and provide them samples to keep and show their customers. Work personally with their customers and provide your partner itemized estimates for each project at no charge. Do all the work for them when it comes to your product or service. Call them regularly and ask if everything is going well. Take them to lunch once in a while. Mail, or e-mail, them your newsletter regularly. (We'll talk about your newsletter later.) Never let them forget how valuable you are to them. And never let them forget how important they are to you.
You can build joint business partnerships in other areas related to your business also. Why not partner with a carpet cleaning company? How about a furniture store? Painters come across customers who need new flooring. Realtors are an excellent source of many new flooring customers. Many people need to replace the flooring before selling their homes. All these different business people could be handing out your business cards and personally referring people to call you. You can have a huge amount of business pa
You've heard the adage Keep It Simple Sweetie (K.I.S.S.)? Well, that saying couldn't be more true when it comes to personal branding. Like many areas of life, keeping things simple is the most effective tact and personal branding is no exception.No matter how challenging or 'unique' your business is your brand will always be more relatable and effective when your target audience can understand it in mere seconds. If you find yourself having to over educate your audience, that's a sure sign that your brand has not passed the K.I.S.S. test.The most powerful personal brands are built on a three-prong approach - your brands three most critical messages that are simple, direct and one-of-a-kind. Like a tripod, omitting even one of these three elements can negatively impact the stability of your brand.To ensure that your tripod is well balanced on all sides, check for the following brand el
This is how you build profitable relationships WITH other businesses related to your business. My partners trust me because they know I genuinely care about them and their businesses. I don't try to sell them anything, I become their business partners.
You must do the same. If you sell flooring products and services and have no builder or remodeler business partners, call on some. Introduce yourself and ask if you can help them. Every time you get rejected make sure you leave them a business card and tell them they can call you anytime for expert help with any flooring question, no obligation. Continue to call on these people until you find a few who need your help. You WILL find them if you continue to search. Go outside your comfort zone and become partners with other businesses. Help them and you help yourself.
Visit your builders and re-modelers job sites. Educate them about 2-3 products in each flooring option and provide them samples to keep and show their customers. Work personally with their customers and provide your partner itemized estimates for each project at no charge. Do all the work for them when it comes to your product or service. Call them regularly and ask if everything is going well. Take them to lunch once in a while. Mail, or e-mail, them your newsletter regularly. (We'll talk about your newsletter later.) Never let them forget how valuable you are to them. And never let them forget how important they are to you.
You can build joint business partnerships in other areas related to your business also. Why not partner with a carpet cleaning company? How about a furniture store? Painters come across customers who need new flooring. Realtors are an excellent source of many new flooring customers. Many people need to replace the flooring before selling their homes. All these different business people could be handing out your business cards and personally referring people to call you. You can have a huge amount of business pa
In the past, business was about selling products and services to make a profit.From my personal observation in the mid 1980’s, while working as an advertising photographer in Chicago, I watched the advertising business turn from creative focus to focusing on bottom line results. The industry never really recovered from that change.Here’s the problem with bottom line focus. There are hundreds of thousands of people vying for each others “business attention.” Conservative estimates put the number of advertising messages each person sees at about 1,008,000 and climbing every year.No one cares about your bottom line. As a result, if your message is focused on generating revenue, it will fail a majority of the time.So, how are sales made? How do we convert interruption into money?1. By telling authentic stories about your talent and passion in business to people who ca
Visit your builders and re-modelers job sites. Educate them about 2-3 products in each flooring option and provide them samples to keep and show their customers. Work personally with their customers and provide your partner itemized estimates for each project at no charge. Do all the work for them when it comes to your product or service. Call them regularly and ask if everything is going well. Take them to lunch once in a while. Mail, or e-mail, them your newsletter regularly. (We'll talk about your newsletter later.) Never let them forget how valuable you are to them. And never let them forget how important they are to you.
You can build joint business partnerships in other areas related to your business also. Why not partner with a carpet cleaning company? How about a furniture store? Painters come across customers who need new flooring. Realtors are an excellent source of many new flooring customers. Many people need to replace the flooring before selling their homes. All these different business people could be handing out your business cards and personally referring people to call you. You can have a huge amount of business partners if you simply decide to work at it. This is powerful. Think creatively and you will come up with many more ideas for new business partners, no matter what products/services you sell.
If you sell used cars, why not partner with detailers, car washes, repair shops, tire shops, auto insurance firms, body shops, etc? Send them business. Use their services yourself and recommend them in a newsletter to your customers. Hand out their business cards and have them hand out your cards. Stay in touch with them and become their partner.
No matter what you sell you can find "related" business partners, send them new customers, and get new customers from them for your own business. Build a business relationship with them that benefits each of you.
This business 'model' can be used in any type of retail sales operation. Open you mind and 'brainstorm' ideas, no matter what product or service you sell.
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