The Power of Expectation... Miraculous?

I remember reading an article in Inc. Magazine about General Schwarzkopf.  When taking over a new command, Schwarzkopf questioned what proportion of the helicopter fleet was ‘battle ready’ on any given day.  “75% Sir!” was the answer.

Wondering why it was 75%, and not 74% or 76%, he put out an edict that, forthwith, the new fleet readiness was to be 85%.  And no doubt there were rumblings within the ranks that it could never be done.



But sure enough, operability MIRACULOUSLY rose to 85%. And stayed there.

The message in this little story? NEVER underestimate the Power of Expectation.

Another of my favourite anecdotes is of a new manager in a factory.  On his first inspection, he enquired of the day shift supervisor what their production totals had been for the day. 

Without any further comment, he took a piece of chalk and wrote that number on the concrete floor and moved on.

You can guess what happened when the night shift came on duty, can’t you?

Yep, they asked what the number was.  Next morning, when the day shift arrived, the number had been rubbed out, and a BIGGER total had been written on the floor!  And so it went each shift, exceeding the previous ‘norm’. 

Interesting isn’t it?  Set expectations low, and that is what you’ll get.  Set them high, and MEASURE the performance standards, and again - that’s what you’ll get.

Benchmarking is the key.  Just verbalising expectations won’t cut it.  Expectations need to be very specific, easily broken down into their components, and attributable back to those involved. 

And as the saying goes, “If you don’t INSPECT, don’t expect!”.

Until next time,

Chris Newton

How to Make Sure Your Invoices Get Paid

As the economy continues to splutter, more of your clients are going to struggle to pay your invoices.  No surprise there.

In fact, those who’ve long been in the habit of using YOUR money to run their businesses (or their lifestyle) will stretch things even more now.  Some will default.

This begs the question... 


How do you make sure you get paid in full, on time?

The best solution of course, is to get paid UP FRONT.  And more on that in a moment.

Regardless though of what your payment terms are now, getting to the front of the payment line is a function of how well you’ve set up the expectation of getting paid. ‘Laying the ground rules’ on being paid.

If, at the beginning of the business transaction, your client senses a casual approach to being paid, that’s what you’ll get.  In contrast, by firmly but nurturously explaining your terms BEFORE providing the service, and then following up immediately if the client misses a due date, you have a far higher likelihood of being paid.

‘Laying the ground rules’ on being paid is something many businesses are uncomfortable with.  And they pay the price later in tardy collections, which then create their own cash flow crises.


Why not get paid up front?

Our own invoicing policy is an agreed first monthly instalment paid before we begin a project, and further instalments at the start of each month.  If it’s a ‘lump sum’ project, we require 50% of the funds upfront.

Of course, to be paid up front, clients need to trust your capabilities to ‘deliver’.  And trust that you’ll go all out to give them an amazing result. 


But the key point is this. 

Create the expectation of being paid up front, educate your clients to the value you’ll deliver, and most will accept this graciously.

On the other hand, if you present your product or service merely as a ‘commodity’, something your clients can get anywhere, you’ll simply invite them to shop around for another supplier who will give them 90 days … or 120 days.


Bottom line?

Be passionate about what you ‘deliver’, and about the value you bring to the table … communicating your ‘value package’, your legendary service, your responsive support, your problem solving strengths and so on … and you’ll create the right expectation in your client.  They simply won’t go anywhere else. 

The alternative is to be a commodity.  And that means, getting to the back of the line!

4 things to do immediately when sales start drying up

FOUR things to do immediately when sales start drying up (and a personal invitation from Chris Newton at the end of this email) ...

The current economic conditions are a fact of life.  But it’s no time to curl up in a corner in the foetal position.  

Now is the perfect time to be actively looking at new (or old) ways to turn things around.  Smart players boom in these times.

Let me give you four basic action steps to get sales pumping through your business again.

1. Tighten up your sales processes.

OK, I rant about this regularly.  But I get to look inside lots of businesses, and I have to tell you ... SALES are being lost every day for the want of some simple changes. 

• What about when the phone rings with a request for information?  Realise it’s NOT a request for information!!  It’s someone wanting to BUY.  Organisations are so laid back, they accept sending of a brochure and bland form-letter as handling the ‘sale’.  It’s NOT.  You need an elite team of trained ‘green berets’ hungry for sales, who make sure every possible (ethical) avenue has been covered, systematically and consistently, to get the sale.  And you need to track what’s happening ...

• What’s going on in the business?  In the ‘good times’, it’s so damn easy to ignore things that make you cringe, and be too busy to do anything about it.  Times aren’t ‘good’ right now.  FIX these things internally that eat away at your market share.  What sort of things?  Customer enquiries sitting for days unattended to.  Poorly worded letters going out, often with grammatical or spelling errors.  That square peg in a round hole person who should never be handling sales enquiries, who is still there.  I could go on.

• Sales skills.  Presenting at a conference recently, I invited a gentleman up on the stage.  Like most of the people in the room, he thought he was pretty good at selling.  But about 45 seconds into our role play (with me as the customer), he was stumbling, uncomfortable and disoriented as to how to handle my basic questions on price and why I should buy from him and not his competitor.  To relieve him of his discomfort, I switched roles.  With limited knowledge of his products, I showed him and several hundred other business owners how easy it is to keep control of the sale.  The whole room agreed this change in approach would work for them.  But up until then, almost NONE of them did these things.  Bottom line, if your ‘green berets’ aren’t seriously honed in the skills to handle a prospect’s enquiries, you are losing market share.  And with the “shrinking pie”, that’s a luxury you simply can’t afford.

2. Mass Marketing vs Boutique. 

I’ve talked a great deal in the past about ‘mass marketing’ strategies.  It’s time to think about ‘Boutique Marketing’.  This is awesomely powerful. 

There’s a wonderful story about how David Ogilvy arrived in New York, from the UK as an unknown, and went on to build one of the largest and most successful ad agencies on the planet.  How?  He focused in on exactly which companies he WANTED on his client list. 

He wrote a list of the FIVE ‘blue chip’ companies he wanted to get.  We’re talking Shell, Lever & Kitchen, Rolls Royce.  The big guys. 

He stuck his list of these five giant corporations on his bathroom mirror.  And every day, would not leave that bathroom until he had at least one initiative to get one of those companies one step closer to being a client.  The rest is history.  

He ultimately got all five. 

You see, when you break your market down into small ‘boutique’ numbers of prospects, you can bring enormous focus and energy to bear, just on them!   You can ‘afford’ to stand out and be noticed.

Fed Ex a package to the 5 decision makers, find ways to add value to them, create a dialog with them.

In tough times and in the ‘good times’, almost no one goes to this effort.  If you can be a bright star on the horizon for your prospect list, odds are you will ultimately win the prize.

3. How many ‘dead leads’ do you have? 

Just like some ancient reptile in Jurassic Park waiting to be reawakened, many of your dead leads may not be dead at all.  Chances are, they’re just waiting for someone to come along and poke them into action. 

One business owner said to me the other day that he has 50,000 unconverted leads in his database!  It’s taken the tight times for him to think about re-approaching these people. 

What if he can stir even 2% of them into life and they buy from him?  For his business, the recession would be over!  Do you have leads and past client names that are really just dormant, waiting to get a great offer from you?

4. Remember ‘Shoe Leather’? 

I love this story.  One of our clients is a very successful chiropractor. 
We’ve been writing his ads, supporting collateral and client referral and reactivation pieces on and off for years.  But he has just pulled off a coup of his own.  With ‘shoe leather’ marketing. 

No, he didn’t go door to door in desperation.  He leveraged himself.  He secured an invitation to go to the local gym, and for a nominal fee, offered to give the members a spinal check. 

The result?  Out of ONE visit, he’s gained 25 new clients.  A good morning’s work?  You bet!  His ‘lifetime value’ of a client is worth some $4,000 to him over the next four years. 

That’s $100K in new future business in a morning.  Now that’s inspiring.

What’s the bottom line on all of this?

Tough times are not for sitting in an ivory tower and worrying.  They’re times when different strategies, including well thought through ‘shoe leather’ marketing, can pay massive dividends.  May you boom in the ‘tight times’.  

Personal Invitation from Chris Newton:

Okay, this next bit is an invitation to work with us on your marketing ... if it's appropriate for you right now.  Go to the link below to hear:

www.resultscorporation.com.au/offer.mp3

(If you have trouble with the link above, you can also listen to the offer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2agQgmvuGiM&feature=channel_video_title)

Chris Newton