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Communication – How are YOUR communication skills standing up?

 in Business  tagged Relationship Marketing / Relationship Marketing Made Easy by

How are YOUR communication skills standing up?

Just like in dancing – are you doing the Tango or the Mis-fango?

This is something to seriously consider! Earlier I wrote about people not responding to modern communication systems in my piece “Are you getting through?” where essentially it was revealed that most people are just not responding to your phone calls and emails etc.

Are you one of the guilty ones and what is this costing your business?

This is a sample of some of my attempts to communicate over the last couple of weeks.

I phoned a friend and associate to give him a red hot lead and got his answer machine, where I left a message to give me a call. I’m still waiting and the red hot lead has gone elsewhere.

Contacted a company with a question that when answered would in all probability result in a sale. Since I contacted them (coincidentally?) I have received two sales prospecting calls from them, (where I deliberately did not restate my question) but I am still waiting for someone to contact me with the answer to my question. Some other company it seems will soon be getting some business.

My second car runs out of rego shortly and I have decided to retire it from service. I have rung two local wreckers who advertise in the local rag wanting to buy old cars. Both went to answer machines and both still have not returned my call. On a second call I hung up before the machine cut in to cause a missed call message. Still no answer.

I have attempted to follow up four new contacts from a recent networking event. I have left phone messages and emails asking them to make contact with me. None have! Do you think any offer of a future JV might be forthcoming?

I ran into one of them yesterday and mentioned my messages. Boy was I surprised at the reply. “I have better things to do than chase after people trying to sell me something.” I thought I was making contact to help build a relationship and sure it would be great if it lead to a sale.

By the way, perhaps I should mention that other calls have been responded to with generally a good result for both parties.

It is true that sometimes calls etc being made to us are to try to sell us something and sometimes this can be frustrating, even for those of us who make our living selling, which really is everyone in business. But as you can glean from my examples above none of them were actually sales directed, in fact in one case it was to put an easy sale in his lap.

See what I mean, if your end of a communication is not happening, it could be costing you dearly. Just like in dancing – it takes two to Tango!

communication

Ron and Sue

Email – Are you getting through??

 in Business  tagged email / Relationship Marketing / Relationship Marketing Made Easy by

Email – Are you getting through?

It seems electronic communications are dying out, even to the point of plain not happening. This is definitely having an impact on and making it harder to do business.

Recently I was sitting in on a sales and marketing training webinar and the speaker was making quite a to-do about how people these days are not responding when you are trying to contact and connect with them.

He pointed out that a large number of emails get delivered to the junk mail basket and are never seen and over 60% of emails that make it through are either totally ignored or just not responded to.

Most people are choosing not to answer their phones, preferring to let your call to go to their answering service, where they will listen to your message and decide if they want to respond or not – then they might ring you back or text you.

He then pointed out that most preferred to simply text and leave it at that. (Texting a longer message is cumbersome and lacks any emotional overtones that could cause your message to be misconstrued).

He was teaching that today you need to skip straight to the text, if you want to make contact, especially as at the moment 95% of people almost immediately respond to a text message. But I wonder how long this will last, especially as the quantity increases as more turn to texting instead of other means of communicating.

email

Everyone used to and they still do—open their mail. Nearly everyone used to answer their phone and answer their email and before email no one could ignore a fax.  So where to from here?

Why don’t we improve the situation and make the most of the action most people still engage in, and that is to go to their letterbox and open their mail. (And what’s more, today they are actually looking forward to and enjoying the experience.)

When they do, you still need to grab their attention and make an impact, so you don’t want just a boring letter, or even an envelope that looks like it could be a bill, nor do you want an envelope without a real stamp on it.  Why not take advantage of the latest technology like Send Out Cards utilizes and send them a full colour, personalised greeting card, conveying your message and sentiments. Best of all, you can get your customised and individualised card into someone’s letterbox for under $2.00, including the stamp! Even if it’s just a one-off! 

Digital electronic communication has held centre stage and while it may be dirt cheap, it has had its day.

The past is returning to the future, the letterbox is reclaiming its role as the entry point into the hearts and minds of our existing and potential customers. How long is it going to be before you start using it and getting your message through?

Ron and Sue

Is Gratitude Important to Success in Business?

 in Gratitude  tagged Gratitude / Relationship Marketing by

Is Gratitude Important to success?

I am currently reading a book all about Gratitude. It has a simple title “Gratitude” however it shares several authors, all women and I suspect it was written with women as its prime audience. I am about three quarters of the way through and thoroughly enjoying every word of it. Each of them contributes to each chapter by taking look at different ways of applying gratitude and the difference it has made in their lives and by extension how it affects our lives and outcomes.

In all of their stories, built on their real life experiences there is the compelling theme that the degree of your gratitude determines the extent to which your life works for the best. Not surprisingly, reducing our level of gratitude seems to carry us in the opposite direction.

Even in the hard times, it is worthwhile seeking out some little thing to be grateful for. For it seems that this very act has a way of blossoming, bringing in some light and a more positive outlook that leads to a better outcome. Life begins to work again.

Throughout my business career I have made it a point to do my best to live with gratitude, not only in the good times, but also during the hard times. During my time as a sales trainer and currently as a marketing consultant, I have valued the virtues of gratitude and its contribution to success.Is gratitude important to success?

Gratitude is an extension of the golden rule and is governed by the law of cause and effect, meaning the more you give it out – the more you get an equivalent in return.

Gratitude, deeply felt and expressed has a magic quality of bringing more joy into your life and business activities. It contributes to and builds your self-worth. It generally increases your profit.

What a marvellous way to run a business! In fact nearly all of the great sales trainers and marketing and business consultants have expressed the need for gratitude in running any successful enterprise. They have encouraged the use of thank-you notes and cards and other means to actively convey your gratitude.

A study of the great men and women of business and society will reveal a deep level of gratitude in their lives and a desire to make it known.

So, Is Gratitude Important to success? I’ll let you be the judge.

Ron and Sue