I’m reading a book that has nothing to do with marketing or sales. (GASP!) Even though this book is not even remotely connected to business, the authors managed to force me to stop everything and just ponder for a while. What did they say that was so profound?

Just this: “When we were young and first started out we made everything complicated. Now that we are older, we’ve simplified everything only to find it works better.” (paraphrased)

How about that? I had to stop and think on that one. Sure enough, I still tend to make stuff a lot more complicated than I need to. It reminds me of a story of a fellow who went to his 10 year high school reunion…

The guy had done well and was pretty proud of him. Of course, he was anxious to show off. Then he saw a classmate who had obviously topped them all and his jaw dropped. He had to get the inside story. The conversation went something like this:

“Hey Joe, how’s it going?”

“I’m doing all right. You?”

“Fine, fine, but not as good as you from what I can see.”

“Yeah, I kinda stumbled onto something and it made me rich.”

“What was that? I mean, I hate to say it, but you were voted the guy most likely to be collecting garbage…”

“Yeah, well, I started making this product for two dollars that I could sell for five. It’s amazing how much money you can make on a three percent profit.”

My point? In the story the fellow who wasn’t very bright – not even smart enough to calculate what his profit margin was – made a fortune by producing a product and selling it.

It’s not rocket science folks. And, yes, even the simplest product is a bit more complex than this but does it HAVE to be hard? No.

Lately, I’ve been pounding on one topic – your sales process – and one point in that process – the one step in that process where you need to focus:

Get the people coming to your place of business to raise their hands.

I don’t care if you are online or offline. Take names.  Take email addresses. Take numbers. Start a relationship. It doesn’t matter if they are buying today. Heck, it doesn’t even matter if they NEVER buy. Why? Because they know people. And if you treat them well, chances are they’ll remember you and maybe send someone your way.

The gloves are coming off. The gauntlet is tossed. I challenge you to do something today to get more hands in the air.

Let me know what action you are taking – leave a comment – contact me directly – whatever. If you don’t want your comment made public, just say so.

If you need help, feel free to ask.

God bless,

Andy

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