It surprised me when I got this reaction when I told someone how many sales calls I make every week “How can you do that many calls?” she asked. ”How can I not?” I replied. As Suzanne says, believe “Sales are what you do FOR people not TO people.” I have always said that everyone is in sales. Maybe you don’t hold the title of salesperson, but if the business you are in requires you to deal with people, you, my friend, are in sales. Anyone in your business has the ability to make a sale or to lose a sale.

There are a few indispensible principles and procedures that any good salesperson must embrace. Honesty and integrity are by far the most important assets of an entrepreneur. With these two traits in place, a relationship of trust can be established with your clients. Zig Ziglar’s mother told him, “Son, if a man’s word is no good, eventually he’ll be no good.” If you commit to something, follow through. You can’t make a good deal with a bad person. There is some money out there that is not worth having. One of my coaches calls that “crazy money”.

One of our 10K clients reminded me of something that a lot of entrepreneurs skip over when it comes to sales — prospecting. That word drives fear into the heart of the individual who doesn’t believe that selling something to someone is for their benefit and overall well-being. We all prospect and don’t even know we are doing it. When you start the dating process, you are actually prospecting for the person you want to marry. When you have a product to sell, you need someone to sell it, so you have to go out and find the folks who need what you have. If you don’t believe that their lives will be better because of what you have to sell them, they you are either selling the wrong thing or you are selling it to the wrong person. A true prospect needs your product or services, has a potential desire to own that product or service and has financial ability to make that decision.
Prospecting becomes second nature when you can implement this quote: “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough people get what they want.” When you are truly interested in other people, you will learn what they like. If they like you, and most people like folks who take an interest in them, they’ll help you find people who do need what you have to sell, even if they don’t.
Mastering sales techniques, principles and systems should be the first skill set entrepreneurs aspire to acquire. Good business starts from the inside — the belief in what you have to sell is so strong and you have an honest desire to help your clients get their needs met. Here are 7 success strategies to help you master the essentials:
1. Be able to easily explain what you sell and who buys it.
2. Believe in what you sell.
3. Form partnerships with people.
4. Listen.
5. Every conversation you have with client is of monumental importance.
6. Everyone on your team can be taught to actively prospect.
7. You will sell more when people like you. People like you when you show interest in them.

Remember, it is all about the know-like-trust factor. The faster you get there, the faster your prospect becomes a client. Be in the business of making a difference in people’s lives.

-Cathi Harley, Director of Coaching

What a blast to spend time with the Women of the Curio Market in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe last year through Suzanne’s Global Empowerment Journey project. I knew it was going to be an inspiring trip, but I had no idea how much I would learn from these incredible and fascinating ladies.

I came away with such a new perspective and realization that sometimes we forget some of the simple ways we can rejuvenate, motivate and even inspire ourselves….For example:

Celebration:

Whew, did these women love to celebrate. At even the slightest moment of  “good” news, they would break into song out of gratitude for us being there to work with them.

This would happen frequently whether they were singing a song about “working for the gold” or another song we heard called “I thank you for the rest of my life.” Come on…don’t you just love that?!

It reminded me that so often we take things for granted…like getting a new client. That’s I am so adamant about doing a happy dance every time we here at SEC bring on a new client, every time a home study is sold…really any time money comes into our business. That sense of celebration and excitement creates a joyful and grateful place to do all our work from.

Giving:

At the end of our journey, the women passed around a big bag and each of the shop owners placed one of their curios they normally sell in the bag as a symbol of their appreciation. It brought nearly all of us to tears. Realizing, that should they sell one of these items in their shop, it meant money to feed themselves and their families for at least a day or two…  but they were willing to share what they had with us… oh… so beautiful.

It was a great reminder how important it is to not wait until you have “enough” to give, before you actually do give. The power in giving is when we give from a place of knowing there is always enough and that whatever we do give to others will come back to us many times over.

Community:

You could feel the sense of support and community even though these women pretty much sold the same items from shop to shop in their Curio Market. Their shops were small little sectioned of squares of space, each full of African bowls, carvings and batik cloth.

It was so exciting to see the love they had for each other and to discuss with them new ways they could further support each other in promoting each other’s shops so they could all thrive as a whole.

I came back with a new sense of my own community, not just the incredible group of entrepreneurs I went to Zimbabwe with, but also my connection to you… the Suzanne Evans Community… as well as my colleagues, friends and family.

We aren’t meant to do this all alone and the more we can celebrate with each other, give to one another and support each other in our growth, the more all of us succeed and truly create the change we want to see in the world.

So here is my question to you…are you taking time everyday to celebrate, give and build your community? If not, start right NOW.

What is one thing you can celebrate right now in your life and in your business? Did you get a new client? Did some unexpected money come in? Do you have food in your refrigerator? Do you have a refrigerator? Whatever it is… Celebrate it!

What is one piece of giving you could do today? Can you donate some time or money to a cause that is dear to your heart? Can you give some canned food to the food shelter? Can you go online and donate $25 to Kiva.com and help an entrepreneur in a developing country?  Whatever it is… Give It!

What is one thing you could do today to build community? Can you connect with your accountability partner? Can you reach out to a friend or mentor who understands building a business? Can you connect with a facebook friend and offer some support? Whatever it is… Build Community around it!

Make sure you are bringing these 3 things into your business and into your life EVERY day, and who knows, you may just burst into song too!

-Paige Stapleton, SEC Director of Client Development

It never ceases to amaze me how few business people make the time to follow-up after they have made initial contact with a potential client. I can think of at least six different situations in my own life that have happened recently when someone did not bother to follow up with me. These included a landscaper who designed plans for one of my properties, two different people who I spoke to me about needing their services at a live event, a sales rep for a water filtration system, and a contractor who was asked to send more specific information. In each of these situations I was very interested in the product or service offered by the person and was willing to spend thousands of dollars! Not one of them followed up with me.

This got me wondering…why don’t people follow-up? I think there are several reasons.

They don’t want to appear pushy. It may be true that following up too frequently will come across as being pushy. However, very few business people ever come close to crossing the line. In fact, one of the few times, a business owner was pushy was more because of his tone, rather than fact he actually followed up. As a business owner, you have to believe it is your responsibility to keep following up with your potential clients until you know for certain if they want to do business with you or tell you to “buzz off”.  A weekly call is more than enough to keep in touch providing you make sure your call is short and to the point. In between calls, how about sending them a video? High touch using high tech!

They forget. It’s easy to forget considering how busy we all are.  You may have every intention of calling your potential client but you get caught up in your business. You didn’t schedule the follow-up and it  doesn’t get done. This is a common dilemma but one that can be avoided by considering the follow-up like a scheduled appointment.  Put it on your calendar for every week.  Block out a minimum of 4 hours week for “follow up”.

They have never been taught. Many people have never received formal sales training like I did in my corporate job and have not learned why they should follow-up and how to make this happen. This is relatively easy to remedy. Start by asking or telling your potential client that you will follow-up on a specific day or time. Tell them how you will follow-up (telephone, email, face-to-face) and record this on your calendar.  We all use Google calendar which includes a reminder so you don’t forget to follow-up.

Here’s the bottom line. You can easily differentiate yourself from your competition by making the effort to follow-up with your potential clients and new clients. Don’t take it for granted that they will call you. “Now, when were you going to call me?”

-Cathi Harley, Director of Coaching

I come from a long line of cotton farmers from West Texas.  One of the biggest impacts on the market was when Eli Whitney created the cotton gin, He completely revolutionized the process of producing cotton fiber for clothing. Previously, cotton seeds had to be removed from the coarse fibers by hand. It was a labor intensive process involving sore, bleeding fingers. A machine that spent energy separating the seeds from the fibers led to an explosion of cotton production and this invention and the wealth it generated sparked new businesses and the cotton farmers became very wealthy.   

Every business should be a business that makes money. Inputs go in, energy is applied and money comes out. Some of them do it efficiently, some aren’t as efficient and some are just plain broken. Continue Reading

In late January 2013, the IRS announced delays in the processing of over 30 tax forms as a result of Congress not having approved tax law changes until January 2, 2013, most notably Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization.

What does this mean for you as a taxpayer?  Whether you compile your own return or have a tax professional handle it for you, it is standard practice required by the IRS that you do not submit “bulk” Efiles, or in this case, multiple returns in one batch.  But due to this delay in the availability of forms, “bulk” Efiles will occur and in turn this will most certainly cause a bottleneck as everybody will be filing at the same time.  Let the mad rush begin! Continue Reading

Companies are struggling in today’s sales market. They are forgetting the most important element in a sale is building a relationship.

I have had the opportunity at a young age to work for a couple drastically different companies, from IT recruiting to selling software testing and now settling in here at Suzanne Evans! There is one thing that I have learned throughout my travels; I am awful at the hard “sell!” I would sit in a cubicle day to day saying this whole “Sales Pitch” nonsense to random CEO’s who didn’t even know who I was. I realized if I didn’t even know a problem existed in the company I was calling then how did I know I could help them? Did they even need this service or product I was offering? I never understood the process… Continue Reading

I still look forward to getting mail, cards, and goodies through the good ole fashion US Mail. There is a child-like excitement about holding, opening, and reading mail. AND in the day and age of email onslaught and Viagra spamming (it really is amazing how many of these still exist), direct mail can make you pay attention.

About a year ago I had just moved. I kept thinking we need to get some things organized … but I kept putting it off.

Boom — the mail arrives on a Wednesday and in it is this postcard. Why did it get my attention?

I was in pain. I needed help and there it was in front of me. I went on to call this organizer and spent thousands of dollars with her. She was wonderful and efficient. She, in turn, joined my 10k program to build a new business of her own and we developed a wonderful relationship.

THAT direct mail postcard generated almost $20,000.

Marketing Sherpa recently released a chart that shows that direct mail is still considered an important part of any B2B marketing campaign. It may not have the “flash” of the latest social media trend, but it works.

So … think about shaking thing up a bit and send some direct mail. As much as I love Jaime, her postcard wasn’t that great, but it still worked. Here are some tips to make yours super effective.

Get Suzanne’s Successful Direct Mail Tips

I know the biggest objection I hear from people working with me is, “I would love to, but I don’t have the money”. AND I know it is the biggest struggle you have when landing clients, as well. Out of all the objections for people to get the help, support, coaching, or healing they need, money is the biggest. I have spent years working on this and finding ways to coach people into reality.

The reality is two things:

1. We always have the money to do the things we REALLY want to do.
2. You always get exactly what you need when you need it.

If you believe Universal Truths of Abundance you will know the money is always there. Now, I do know some people do not know where to look for the money and that is where I have put in a lot of time energy and research. I thought it would be very helpful to share this with you for two reasons:

1. You might be telling yourself you can’t get the support you need because YOU don’t have the money. Maybe this will help.
2. It will help you in speaking to clients who say they don’t have the money.

So, here we go – 10 ways to get the money you need every time!

Learn 10 Ways to Get The Money You Need