Trump Your Prospects.

One of my earliest coaching clients called me one day and he said that he had a problem. He’d made a sales proposal to a nonprofit organization, met with the committee, reviewed the proposal, and answered their questions. He said he’d run out of reasons to follow up with them while he was waiting to hear their decision. He asked me if there was any other reason I could think of to contact them. I said, “Yes. Trump your prospect.” He didn’t understand what I meant and so I explained it to him.

I said that right now, the committee only saw him as a vendor. But he could change their relationship by becoming a revenue source. I told him to go find somebody who is interested in joining their association and ask his contact if he would be willing to call the prospect. By doing so, he would be putting himself in a different category — that of a revenue source. People treat you differently when you are a revenue source than they do when you are only a vendor. It’s because you’ve earned the right to be seen that way. It comes from going the extra mile, even when you don’t have to.

A few years ago, it became necessary to put locks on the door of all the houses of worship in the area. This is a sad state for our society, but most would agree, a necessary one. When our small church put a combination lock on the back door for its congregants to gather, they neglected to install one on the front door as well. Since the front door is more handicap accessible, it only made sense to have that one done also. I offered to pay for it myself and I called one of my seminar clients who has been with me since 2001. I asked him to install a similar keypad on the front door and never asked him about the price. I didn’t have to. I knew he would do a good job for me.

After he visited the chapel, he emailed me to let me know that because of the way the wiring had been set up, it was going to be an extremely difficult project. However, he said that he would only charge me for the actual keypad because he knew I was doing this as a donation to my church. The important thing to understand here is that my clients routinely go above and beyond for me. I don’t use their services expecting to get a deal. They give me a deal because I refer them. I only refer people who are good. That’s why they almost always take my phone calls. Yes, I do call on them when I have something I think they would like to buy. However, I frequently also have a referral or information they want and so, they usually look forward to my calls.

When was the last time you went the extra mile for one of your customers? If someone called and asked him or her, would that person remember? It requires extra work to go the extra mile, but when you do it often enough, you tend to wind up with a lot of extra-satisfied customers.

“There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.” – Zig Ziglar

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the Sales Academy. I encourage you to register for my live in person Sales Academy program beginning on Friday, April 21 and running for five consecutive Friday mornings until May 19, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.