business development strategies

How To Sell To Indecisive People

They want it, they need it, but they just can’t commit!  It’s tricky.  I get it.  We don’t want to lose the sale by giving up too soon.  But we don’t want to be strung along missing out on other sales while we do everything in our power to get this person to sign.

The first key to selling to indecisive people is to recognize what type of indecisive person they are.

1. People pleaser: People pleasers want to make everyone happy with them and have a very hard time saying no.  Because they are taking you into consideration, they have a hard time getting clear on what they want.  You can sell to a people pleaser by manipulation, but DON’T!  You will have more cancellations, and dissatisfied clients if you take this route.  And both of those are expensive.  Instead use verbiage like, “It seems like you are having a hard time deciding.  If you take me out of the picture, what would you most want to do?  Because even though I would love to have you as a client, I wouldn’t want you to decide to work with me unless it is absolutely what you want.”

2. Co-dependent: Co-dependent people struggle to make decisions on their own.  They want someone else’s input.  Sometimes that other person really does need to be involved in the decision and sometimes they have no business being involved in the decision.  The key to selling to this type of person is to find out who the other person they need to talk to is.  The second step is to ask, “Does this person play a role in (your business, your household management, your daily hair styling etc.)?”  If they do play a role and should be involved in the decision, simply ask, “Can we get them on the phone or schedule a time when the three of us can meet?”  If they are not involved ask the question, “What do you think they will say, and why is it important to you to talk to them first?”  Honestly, I could write an entire article on how to close this one, but for the sake of keeping this article from becoming a novel we’ll leave it at that.  This will give you some crucial information to get the conversation started.

3. Over Analyzer: This person needs a lot of details!  They will want to read everything you have printed, they will want to interview your clients, they will want to scope out your website, and they may want to pull a back ground check on you.  To sell to this type of person DO NOT ask them to make a decision before they know what they need to know.  You will break rapport.  Asking this type of person to act without information is like asking them to jump off a cliff when they don’t know what is at the bottom.  Instead, ask the questions, “What do you feel like you need to know in order to feel good about this purchase?”  “What other questions can I answer for you?”  And “What type of information would you like on this?”  They may need to read through information on their own, but whenever possible try to get all of their questions answered during your meeting.  Make sure you set a follow up call with a very firm date and time.  Set the follow up call for a day or two later.  Don’t let them go a week, because during that time they will come up with another question, not have an answer and decide that it isn’t going to work for them.

4. Feeler: Feelers need to feel good about the purchase and no amount of logic or information will replace them having an internal confirmation about what is right to do.  These people will need to pray about it, sleep on it, consult their crystals, do muscle testing, or any other host of things that are completely unrelated to your conversation.  Believe it or not, I am a feeler.  I do get a lot of information and ask questions so I can see the big picture, but when it comes down to it, if I don’t get a good vibe, I will not work with someone.  But that is not the kiss of death!  Feelers need an internal confirmation, but they can also get that pretty quickly.  You just need to ask them questions that will get them looking inside right now.  Use phrases like, “I understand and I want you to feel good about this decision too.  Can I ask you a question?  As we have gone through the information about (my product, service etc) what is your heart telling you?  Are you feeling comfortable with me?  Do you want a few minutes alone to check in and see if you feel like this is right?” 

5. Green Lighters: This group wants the perfect time.  They want the stars to align.  They want all of the lights to be green before they start out.  This is the most challenging group for me to work with.  I will have people who really want to coach with me and just need to wait for the right time, and a year later they are saying the same thing and again the next year, same conversation.  It’s crazy!  Your goal with these people is to help them understand that if they choose not to move forward, they will not receive the benefits they are looking for.  I do everything I can to close these people on the spot because I have found they are the least likely to close at a later date.  I will ask them questions like, “Why does this feel like the wrong time?”  What would need to happen for this to feel like the right time?”  If they say something like, “The fall would be better.”  Don’t accept that answer!  They are just trying to put off making the decision.  If they have something concrete like, “I’m having a baby in 3 weeks and it’s not a good time.”  You will want to accept that answer, it’s legit!  

All of us are indecisive at one point or another.  Don’t get frustrated with your clients, just patiently resolve their concerns.  They are human and so are you!  If you want to attract people who are more ready to make decisions, get clearer in your own decisions.  Don’t ask people to do what you are not doing.  What brand of indecision shows up for you? For more details: business strategies you can also visit here: business leaders

Time management

Are you finding joy in your business?

I am so blessed to have some of the best people in the world as clients.  Last week I was coaching one of my personal clients and it came up that she was experiencing some burnout in an area of her business.  She loves her business.  She is disciplined and willing to keep doing this particular activity because it has been essential in her building her organization, but she is also tired of it.  It’s not fun anymore.  Can you relate?  I could!  As we were talking, I suddenly realized that I have an activity I am doing in my business that has been essential in building our company and guess what?  I’m sick of it!  I am disciplined and I can continue to do it, but is that really what is best for me and the company?

It got me thinking.  If I’m not enjoying it, why am I doing it? 

As I started pondering on this task that I am sick of, I started actually looking at the results it was producing.  Can you guess what I found?  The results are consistently going down.  When I was excited about it and looking forward to it, we got amazing results.  When I got bored, the numbers went way down.  Imagine that!  Enjoying what we do actually helps us to do it better! 

Do you remember my blog post “It’s not about the Passion?”  It’s important to distinguish that I didn’t ever stop working because the passion was gone.  But that doesn’t mean you have to continue doing the same things you are no longer passionate about in the same way.

Do you want more joy in your business?  Here’s a couple of tips

1. Let yourself do the things you love!  Yes, you do have to have all areas of your business functioning.  And yes, you will not love everything that needs to be done.  But you DO NOT have to do all of those things yourself.  I sometimes reward myself with doing things that I love that are not income producing.  Confession, I like creating logos and designs.  It’s not income producing and it doesn’t make sense for me to do it because I’m not nearly as good at it as our graphic designer.  But I really do enjoy it.  So I let myself do it.  Not all the time, but from time to time.
2. If you are not having fun:  make it fun, change it up, or throw it out.  My favorite part about business is how creative it is.  There are literally no limitations on how you can do business.  If you are tired of what you are doing for marketing right now, do something that is fun.  If you are tired of your sales presentation, change it.  If you just simply cannot find a way to enjoy something in your business, stop doing it and do something different.  Maybe you have been giving the same presentation for years and are bored of it.  Most people who are burnt out just stop doing the activity.  Instead, you get to decide how you want to mix it up.  Do you want to change the frequency?  Do you want to change the format?  Do you want to change the topics you train on?  Do you want to start a dance party segment.  Or do you want to do something else entirely.  Presentations are one marketing opportunity, but not the only marketing opportunity.  The sky is the limit!  Instead of feeling stuck to doing something that works, you will open up possibility to discover what you really love!
3. You are most productive where you are the happiest.  This week as I was doing monthly performance reviews with my team I asked the question, “What are you loving the most about your job.”  They gave me great answers and sure enough the areas they are performing in the most are the areas where they are experiencing the most happiness.  My goal is to allow them to spend more time in those areas.  Why force them, or me to spend time working in areas where we are not happy or productive?
4. It’s your business!  Own it!  You are the owner of your company.  The leader of your organization and the master of your life.  There are essential parts of business, but there are no have-to’s in terms of how you do them.  Get creative, start playing, and make it fun again.  Your clients will thank you.  Your family will thank you, and you will thank you! For more details: business strategy You can also visit here: business growth

business strategy

How much is your stress costing you?

We all know stress is not good for us. That isn’t new information.  It effects our health, our relationship, our spirituality and pretty much everything in our life.  But did you know that stress is costing you money in your business?  And do you know why? 

1. Stress limits your vision.  Vision is what moves the company forward over the long haul.  Stress is consumed with what is happening right now.  8 out of 10 mornings, I wake up and feel stressed within 30 minutes.  Sometimes I feel stressed the moment I wake up.  Other days, it creeps in.  Either way, what is causing me stress is the huge mound of tasks that need to be done that day.  The tasks are always related to what is happening in my short term.  Schedules, clients, events, problems, emotions etc.  NONE of those things determine where I go a year from now.  Vision is what creates my future, and when stress creeps in, vision goes out.  Without spending time each day working towards your long term vision, you will miss the important things, in business and in life.

2. Stress creates a work pattern that can’t withstand the test of time.  I know some of you thrive on stress and pressure.  Right before the deadline is when you come alive.  Others of you completely shut down during stress and pressure.  The reason is that stress activates your amygdala in your brain and produces a fight or flight reflex.  Some of you fight, some of you flight away from stress.  Your body releases cortisol to increase your heart rate, and breathing.  It physically prepares you to run or fight.  For the flight people, stress is going to completely shut you down and you will immediately see why it is costing you money.  You hide from your Income Producing Activities.  For the fight people, you may love working with a deadline, but your body can’t maintain in.  It’s like trying to sprint through a marathon.  There is no way you can maintain that pace over the long haul.  When my clients start to stress, (and when I start to stress), I tell them (and me), “I am in business for the marathon, not the sprint.”  We don’t have to fix things all at once.  What you do today will not likely make or break your career.  But what you do over the course of time determines your level of success.  Just start and do something that will move you closer to the goal.  

3. Stress blinds you to the subtleties.  Sometimes it is picking up on the little cues that makes the big difference.  I believe we all have the ability to be a good people reader.  We can pick up on their cues, like tone of voice, and body language.  We can hear their pauses and their breathing.  However, when we are stressed, we don’t notice any of these things.  Sometimes we barely register the words they are saying.  And words are only 7% of the conversation.  93% of the conversation is non-verbal.  It is essential that we plug into those clues.

4. Stress decreases your passion.  Have you ever noticed how little you want to go into work when you are stressed about what is going on?  We dread it!  I am a very disciplined person and I still feel like I am hiking with a back pack full of rocks when I am stressed.  It’s sooo much harder than it needs to be. 

Knowing how stress makes you less effective in your business, I want you to ask yourself a question, and write down whatever comes to mind.  

“How much is my stress costing me?” 

I teach all of my clients to take time each day to get mentally, physically and spiritually connected.  The biggest reason they don’t follow through is because they don’t feel like they have time.  I promise, you do not have time NOT TO!  Would you rather take 15 minutes to get rid of stress or spend the entire day running on empty?  The results are always better when you decrease your stress level! For more details: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business development

What Pruning My Shrubs Taught Me About Business

Last Friday when my family and I went outside in an effort to tame our wild land, I didn’t expect to get business education.  But I am grateful that I did!  We have 10 acres of land.  9 acres or so are forest.  And Everything is wild! Even though we worked hard last weekend, it barely made a dent.  So here’s my words of wisdom from my weekend in gardening.

1. Nothing major gets fixed in a day, or even two:  It’s going to take months for our forest to be clear enough to walk through without getting tangled up in bushes and shrubs.  It’s going to take years before our land is exactly what we want it to be.  We spent Friday night and Saturday working on the yard and yes it would be great if that took care of everything.  But that is simply not realistic.  Success happens as we create consistent effort over long periods of time.  Next weekend, we will work on some more projects.  (This time armed with a machete.  It really is that wild!)
2. Celebrate the little stuff: Even though we didn’t tame the land in a weekend, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy and celebrate what we got done last weekend!  We accomplished a lot! We (meaning my husband) fixed the lawn mower and mowed the lawn.  We (meaning me) pruned all of the shrubs in the front of the house and pulled weeds in the flower beds.  We installed our fence for the goats and bought all of the materials to build their shelter.  That is worth celebrating.  It’s not done, but we made progress.
3. Pruning is essential: We’ve lived here for 2 months and the shrubs were long over due for some pruning.  They were wild, too tall and had no shape.  As I was pruning them, I talked to the shrubs.  (I am weird like that.)  I told them how much I valued their growth but that if they were going to be the beautiful shrubs I knew they could be that we would have to get rid of what was not serving them well.  In my mind I was thinking of all the pruning I had done and still needed to do in my business over the last few months.  I’ve had people leave my team.  I’ve had to make changes to my programs and my systems.  Sometimes those changes are hard to make.  And they can be emotional.  It is hard to let people and things go that you love and have served you well.  But if you are going to be as amazing as you can, you must be willing to prune.  I got emotional while I was cutting my shrubs.  I wondered if it hurt the shrub as much as it sometimes hurts me to go through the pains of managing growth.  But when it was all done, and I was looking at my beautiful, shapely shrubs, I was reminded that the end goal makes it worth it.
4. Enlist support: there is no way I could have done everything we got done last weekend on my own.  I am so grateful for my teams.  I’m grateful for my family team who can get in there and get the job done and be cute while doing it. And I’m grateful for my business team who see things from a different perspective than I do.  They think of new ideas.  They are more skilled than me in many areas and they manage areas I cannot manage on my own so that we can serve more people. For more details: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business strategies

Finding Your Marketing Mojo

A couple of years ago I was at a business retreat feeling like an utter moron in business.  I was making good money.  I had plenty of clients and things were going well.  But this business retreat had an entire day devoted to marketing.  I was clueless about marketing.  As we learned about creating a product funnel, our target markets, and different marketing strategies, I kept thinking, How in the world do I have a business if I don’t market? Looking back, of course I was marketing.  I just wasn’t necessarily marketing the way everyone else was marketing.  But it was working.  And it turns out, I really love marketing.  Especially now that I am contentiously doing it!   Here’s my top 3 tips for finding your marketing mojo!

Have at least 3, preferably 6 months of marketing strategies mapped out.  You can tweak it as you go, but if you don’t have a plan in place, you are just reacting to immediate needs.  Maybe you really need some new clients right now.  It’s important to fill that need.  But if you just respond to that need, you will continue to have that problem.  Getting out of that immediate need response requires a longer strategy.

If you hate it, don’t do it!  When I got my start in business I was doing direct sales and the go to marketing strategy I was taught involved meeting people as I was out and about and exchanging cards.  There was nothing wrong with the strategy.  It’s actually a really good skill to have.  But I was a young mom and the only places I was out and about was story time, the park and the grocery store.  And with my little guys, it was hard to stop and talk with people while my child was being a little guy.  So I spent years with someone else watching my kids while I went out and didn’t come back until I had at least 5 names.  I got really good at it, but I NEVER liked it.  It required so much discipline.  I wish I had known then that there are unlimited ways you can market.  I LOVE marketing now because I LOVE the things I do when I market.  I only use strategies that are truly enjoyable to me.  When you love the process it is so much easier!

Get creative and think outside the box.  It doesn’t have to be expensive.  It doesn’t have to be something you have learned about from a coach and read about in an e-book.  Just think, how can I connect with my target market?  When I was putting on my first A Celebration of Real Beauty event, I had so much cash going into the event itself, which I had to be really creative with my marketing budget.  I knew that I wanted mom’s to come and that mom’s would come if they felt it would help and benefit their teenage daughters.   One of my really good friends is the director of a charter school.  So I offered to go and do an assembly for their school.  I got the girls excited about the message.  I invited them to attend, and to get involved.  Pretty soon I had about 15 girls that were ambassadors and were reaching out to other school administrators and to friends to help spread the word.  That was basically free, and pretty effective.  It all came by thinking outside the box.

I challenge you to get your marketing plan in place.  I don’t want you to be focusing your energy on attracting a client or two here and there.  I want you to focus on having a constant flow of people moving to your business!  Go get your marketing mojo on! For more details you can visit here: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business development strategies

Is Your Business Ready To Hire Help?

Are you ready to take the plunge and hire help? It’s a big step and an important one in your business. I don’t know of a single million dollar company that is run by one person wearing all the hats. Hiring really is part of growth and one that too many business owners fear. There is a lot of responsibility that goes along with hiring. Now you get to pay out paychecks every single month regardless of the cash flow coming into the business. You get to learn about the legalities of hiring. And you will get to start managing people which will take time away from your roles in the business. And I recommend you do it as soon as you possibly can!

Just because you can do it yourself, doesn’t mean you should. With the exception of web design, there probably isn’t anything in my company that I couldn’t do. And I am good at a lot of it. But my goal is to do a lot in the areas that no one else can do, and to do very little that someone else could do. It is how I create growth in my company, how I am able to spend time working on the long term goals and how I keep sanity with my 5 kiddos.

Start small and start soon. In the world of o-desk, virtual assistants and independent contractors, there are so many inexpensive options for small business owners to get help. You may not need a full time person. You may not need a part time person. You may just need someone 5 hours a week doing a very specific task.

No one can succeed at an undefined job. In my opinion this is the only thing that needs to be done before you hire. Take the time to write out the job description. Write out exactly what you will have this person do. How quickly you want them to do it, how you want them to report that it has been done, and anything else they will need to succeed in their job. If you bring someone in to help you, and don’t take the time to equip them with the information they need to do that job, you will be setting both of you up for FRUSTRATION!

Replace the time with IPA’s to create revenue. When you hire, it is very important that the time they are spending doing tasks for you is replaced with

you doing income producing activities. That is how you generate the money to pay for this new person. Put yourself into the areas that really produce in your business.My challenge to you this week is to determine what is your next area to hire out and write out the job description! Then if you are really feeling brave, actually post the job! You will be amazed how much more you can accomplish when you have help! For more details please visit here: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business leaders

Out Earning Your Husband

I work with a lot of women!  They are passionate, smart, and amazing.  A re-occurring fear I see in these successful women is that if they out earn their husbands, it will in some way hurt their husband or their relationship.  The cold hard truth is that it CAN happen.  But it does not have to happen.

I’d love to share with you some very honest and personal advice.  These lessons took me a long time to learn, and I learned them through some personal pain.  I hope it helps you on your journey!

1. Your spouse is worth so much more than their paycheck.  Part of the reason I was struggling to out earn my husband was because I was looking at him as a paycheck.  If I earned more, then my activities were more important.  Wow is that an unhealthy way to build a marriage.  Find your spouse’s true value.  Then recognize, appreciate and applaud them for the value they bring into your life.  It will make a huge difference as your paycheck starts to get bigger when both of you are very secure in where your true value comes from.
2. Fill your spouse’s emotional needs.  Often times when a business starts to grow, it puts a strain on the marriage.  I get it!  Building a business is physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually consuming.  We eat, breath, and dream our business.  It’s hard to unplug and sit next to your spouse watching a game when there is so much to do.  That level of distraction is not conducive to building a strong marriage!  And often times the business gets blamed.  It’s not the business’ fault!  It’s a sign that you need to start speaking your spouse’s love language!
3. Stay on the hunt for resentment.  Resentment is one of the most dangerous emotions to any relationship.  It is also one that I am very prone to.  There are times when I love being the main provider and doing what I love.  I am so grateful for my husband supporting me in this journey.  But there are also moments, when I get overwhelmed and all of the sudden it’s like a switch goes off and I start resenting that I have to work.  For me it happens often right after I have a new baby.  It’s so important that I watch for those emotions and clean them up immediately.  Resentment is a business killer and a relationship killer.  Watch for it!
4. Talk about it.  Ask your spouse how he/she would feel if you out earned them.  Ask what they would like to do if you were providing more.  Your business could be the key to your spouse really living their dreams.  But you need to talk about it first so that you can all be on the same page!
5. Don’t shrink to make your spouse feel better about themselves.  The BEST thing you can do for your relationship is be your BEST self.  It is hard to break through and change when you have a spouse that isn’t ready to change with you.  But if you change with a commitment to loving and respecting your partner, and keep yourself balanced between business and family, it will be the best thing you ever do! For more details you can visit here: http://amywalkerconsulting.com

executive business coach

Bye Bye Safety Nets

I’ve been in business for almost 15 years.  I’ve had times of struggle, times of steady growth, and times of rapid growth and huge changes.  When I look back at my times of rapid growth and success, there was always one thing in common.  I completely got rid of my safety net.

The first big leap, my husband quit his job to support me in making a short term push to reach a rank that would provide us with enough income to support our family.  The second time, I closed down my business (which was half our families income) to follow my inspiration and become a speaker and coach.  The third time, I resigned from my beloved job where I was making 9,000-12,000 a month to start my own company.  Every one of them was risky and every one of them was right for my family.

It’s a big risk leaving behind a stable paycheck to step into the world of entrepreneur-ship.  Some people stand on the side lines for years waiting for the right moment.  Others jump right in and hope they don’t drown.  No two people’s journeys will look the same, but there are some common principles that will help you progress towards your goals!’

First identify your safety nets.  If you didn’t notice the common theme, money is a common safety net for me.  If I am comfortable and taken care of, it is soooo easy for me to settle.  But when my family is depending on me to produce money to pay the bills, I show up!  Money is not everyone’s safety net and I don’t recommend that everyone quit their jobs to start their business.  Most people do better with a gradual transition.  But you still have safety nets.  It could be staying inside your comfort zone and only talking to a select group of people.  It could be not hiring household help so that you can fall back on being too busy taking care of the home and kids.  It could be something entirely different.  Running a business with a safety net in place is kind of like running a diet with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer.  Willpower only works for so long until you go running back to it.

Once you know what your safety net is, don’t just cut it and let it go.  That would be unwise.  First, firm up your plan.  When my husband quit his job so many years ago to support me, it wasn’t a reckless decision.  We carefully weighed out how much we needed to get by, what it would take for me to reach that level every month, what our potential income was in the future and mapped out a plan for me to accomplish it.  If you are going to cut the safety net and jump in, make sure you have a landing plan!

Last tip for you is to put some skin in the game.  If your business is too easy to walk away from, you have a problem.  In my early years of business, I did not have enough skin in the game.  If I made extra money, great.  If I didn’t, great.  When things got hard (and they always do at some point), it was VERY easy for me to rationalize why I didn’t need to succeed and finish the goal.  I meet business owners all the time who desire HUGE amounts of growth.  But when I ask them about what they are willing to sacrifice to get it, they are simply not willing to sacrifice.  They don’t want to disrupt the schedule.  They don’t want to invest in learning new skills.  They want it all, but without paying the price.  It doesn’t work that way!  Be wise in determining what that will look like for you!  The first thing I ever did that put skin in the game, was hire someone to come and help me in my home for a few hours a week.  All of the sudden, I had to work because I had someone to pay!  It got me moving!  The most life changing skin in the game experience was when I invested over $25000 into a business coach.  It was terrifying, but it taught me the skills to create a strong and very profitable business.  Figure out what that will look like for you!  Then take a deep breath, believe in yourself, pray a lot, jump in and get to work. For more details visit here : http://amywalkerconsulting.com/