Tweet

3 Killer Business Skills -- Master These or You'll Wind Up in the Business Boneyard

Guest post by: Jim Rohrbach

Article Overview: You've got to learn how to network with other professionals, ask effectively for referrals and conduct consultative sales interviews with people or your business will die.

3 Killer Business Skills -- Master These or You'll Wind Up in the Business Boneyard



"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Mohandas Ghandi

Want to know the scoop on what it takes to survive in the marketplace? I hope I don’t sound morbid here, but let's take a look at the "business mortality rate" if you will. The Small Business Administration estimates that 50% of new business will go under within 5 years. In a personal service business, like being a Financial Advisor, I suspect that figure is much higher. If you're new in the game, look at the person in the office next to you -- odds are that in a half-decade or less one of you will be gone.

What is the cause of this high mortality rate? Business rookies, and even veterans who are struggling may have the necessary technical ability to deliver results for clients but typically lack the necessary marketing and sales skills to keep their heads above water. Even if they are part of a prestigious organization, they are basically handed a phone book and told, "Go call somebody." Since 1992 I've been coaching small business owners, entrepreneurs and sales professionals on growing their clientele. I make sure they work on the following three "killer" business skills that will insure they not only stay in business, but thrive. The ones who don't master these will be doomed to going "six feet under" in the marketplace.



Networking with Business Owners The majority of business people I meet really don't know what networking is. They think they're doing it by going to a Chamber of Commerce meeting, schmoozing with the people at their table over breakfast about their local sports teams and passing out business cards. Then they complain, "I never get any business from the Chamber -- it must not be a very good one," and stop going. That's NOT networking, that's coffee-klatching -- good for gossip, terminal for new business.

Real networking consists of one-on-one interactions between business owners to determine their ideal prospects and centers of influence, then subsequently providing introductions (either in person or via email/telephone) that generate new business opportunities for each other. I don't want to suggest you avoid networking events like Chamber meetings; I am suggesting you attend them to make contacts, then set up one-on-one meetings to do the above.



Asking for Referrals from Satisfied Clients How often do you get unsolicited referrals from your clients? If you do, great. If you are like most providers this is a rare occurrence. It's not that these people you serve don't value the effort you make on their behalf -- they do. It's just that once you've delivered they want to quickly move on to the next challenge in their busy day. Only by making a point of discussing referrals do you significantly increase your chances of getting them.

You are responsible for initiating this discussion by adding it as an agenda item when you meet, which can take place during a review, or even informally over lunch. Begin by helping the client clearly understand the value you've provided by working together. Assuming the client acknowledges this you would then bring up the subject of referrals by asking, "If you were to introduce someone to me and I provided the same quality experience for them that you've gotten, tell me -- what would be in it for YOU?" This taps into your client's self-interest: It's now about how they'd feel helping someone they know, not about you growing your business. With that identified, you can begin the process of drilling down on who your client might know that they could introduce you to: Family members, friends, business associates, co-workers, professional peers, charitable allies, etc. This conversation greatly increases the probability that you'll get well qualified introductions.

Professional Selling Skills One of my great mentors, Brian Tracy, stated, "When you evaluate failure in business it all boils down to one thing: Not enough sales." This may be the #1 killer skill. It appears that people who are most likely to make it on their own have some sort of sales background – they know that if you can’t close the deal, you’ll close the coffin on your business. Let’s say you’ve gotten in front of a prospect – do you know what to do? If you begin by talking about yourself, your firm, your company’s products and services, features and benefits, doing a presentation on the latest high tech gear, guess what? That’s not selling, that’s “show biz.” And you’ll typically wind up with the prospect saying, “Thanks for the information. I’d like to think it over.” Which translates to, “Hasta la vista, baby!” You'll probably never even get that prospect on the phone again -- the opportunity for a sale is dead, and you'll never even know why.

Smart business owners invest in their success, especially in sales training if they don’t have experience managing the sales process. There is more science to this than floundering entrepreneurs think, a methodology that will maximize your potential to bring on new clients. This involves a series of steps in which you begin by doing NO presenting initially. Your role is to use a systematic series of questions (which I call a “Consultative Interview”) to have your prospects define their needs, budget and decision making process. Only then would you present your solutions to their problems. Unfortunately, many business owners “wing it,” hoping that if they just throw enough spaghetti against the wall that some of it will stick. And then they wonder why their business is on life support, and a priest has been called in to deliver Last Rites.

The bottom line: These three killer skills are essential for your success if you have any type of business, especially a personal service firm. Do yourself a favor and get some help in these areas -- I don't want to read about you in the "Business Obituary" column!

Related Articles
  Be Impressed, Grasshopper, Not Impressive
  I Hate MBAs/Redux
  PASSION to do it will show through
  Master Franchises Explained
  These Storms Aren't Really Storms
  It Pays to be Nice ... and CALM!
  Killer Emails For Your "Home Based Online Business Opportunity"
  Dental Implant Center
  Some Home Based Online/Offline Money Making Ideas Which Can Be Profitable
  Webinar Tools For Creating The Perfect Webinar!
  Be A Hawk
  Aire Master is Sweeping the Franchise Industry
  Top 7 Rules to Master Success
  The Secret of Success
  Master Your Game: Introduction
  Why not become a Master Franchisee
  Mastering Time Management
  Scary!
  Bring the Four Swordsmen of Client Service With You
  Master Franchisee vs. Franchisee?

Article Tags: business cards, business skills, chamber of commerce, clientele, high mortality rate, live forever, local sports, new business, personal service business, phone book, prestigious organization, rookies, rsquo, sales professionals, schmoozing, six feet, small business administration, small business owners, sports teams, technical ability



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Business Coaching Internship Review - I joined in during the first phase of the internship and at this point we are committed to doing research and development of RSC Business Group operating in Toronto. RSC Business Group already has products and services in Coaching Small businesses in Los Angeles but we didn't want to assume that the same products were wanted and needed in the Toronto market. Our goal at this point is to commit to interviewing 1000 business owners to capture this data. Through the teleconference internship I've been involved in we've been focusing on Communication Skills and on active listening which are practiced when we conduct our interviews and Coach our clients when they come on board. This is a lot harder than it sounds! Part of the internship is also creating the Toronto RSC Business Group's departments, job descriptions, Marketing and Communication plans etc that a business owner would create for their own company. This trains us in the way we would coach a company as well. The internship is phased in two parts and there is compensation plan involved as well for the clients you personally bring in. These clients are coached directly by Robert Chun as you begin but you are given a chance to learn his techniques. I haven't gone through this experience yet though. It's hard to explain Robert Chun's method of Coaching as it happens at a psychological level in his ability to listen and question the person being coached into the next steps they need to take. The Teleconferences are 2 hours long but it's very interactive. If you have a desire to explore this area of Business I'd recommend contacting Vwodek listed above and get invited to a Coaching Conference call. You can decided then if it's for you. Note: it is a commitment but the skills you walk away with whether you plan on working with RSC Business Group or not is invaluable.
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: HOw to market a B2B consulting company - [quote="zohahunt77":428owzbi]Hi, I was wondering if anyone can tell me the difference between B2B and B2C. I don’t know about b2b marketing but I have done marketing so know things about it. I will suggest you to take online services which will spread your business all over web network. Online marketing is the best way to market any business.[/quote:428owzbi] B2B = Business to Business - You are marketing to other businesses. B2C = Business to Consumer - You are marketing to consumers.
English teachers learn Japanese as Interns - Yasunori, what about the many students that leave N. America to teach English in Japan. They may want to learn Japanese (maybe Business Japanese is a bit different) and the Japanese Business Culture.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Emotional Energy is Our Engine

Understanding Influence

Self Employed Business Ideas

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.