14 Fastest Ways to the CASH in ANY Business!

The 14 Fastest Ways to the CASH in ANY Business!

Okay, this is what you’ve been waiting for: the fourteen things you can do right now to generate cash. This list does not include paid advertising. The reason? Because paid advertising takes money, time, and testing. I don’t want you to spend a lot of money trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. If you have paid advertising you’ve done in the past that has worked extremely well, and you aren’t currently doing it, I would encourage you to consider that. If you do, be sure to implement it exactly how you did it when it was successful. You see, the idea here is to duplicate what works.

We know the following fourteen things work. Implement each and EVERY one of these as FAST as you can. They are in order according to ease of implementation, but do all of them as quickly as you can for best results.

FASTEST WAY TO THE CASH #1:

Set and Post Your Sales Goal

We talked about this earlier in the book. Do it now (even if you haven’t done your twelve-month budget). You probably have a good idea of how much needs to be coming in. Set it there for now. You can adjust it later. You may think this isn’t an important strategy to put cash in your pocket fast, but as a person who has reached many, many goals and dreams, I can tell you it works.

Why does it work? Because when you put something into your conscious mind, your subconscious mind begins to work on making it a reality. Post your goal where you can see it every day, several times per day. You may want to post it in several places. When you begin to study goal setting and visualizing your goals, you’ll find that this is a phenomenon that, when ignored, costs you real money. Not to mention many goals and dreams. Do it. Do it now.

Then begin tracking your success. Each day, post on a whiteboard or in a notebook how much you did in sales. Post it where you can see it every day, several times per day. This is a proven process. Go ahead and put down what you did yesterday in sales. If you have staff members, record their sales as well and post them. Do it now.

FASTEST WAY TO THE CASH #2:

Answer Your Phone LIVE

Any phone call that you capture that was a potentially lost sale will increase your sales. The following is an excerpt from my book The 5 Secrets of a Phenomenal Business that discusses the importance of the subject:

Avoiding the Silent Kiss of Death

Every day small businesses are suffering from what I call the “silent kiss of death.” The silent kiss of death is when a prospect tries to do business with a company and the owner doesn’t even know it! If someone calls your company during business hours and gets voice mail rather than speaking to a person, you’re taking a chance of losing that prospect. Many prospects (like me) will hang up and forget about it or call someone else. It doesn’t matter if you have Caller ID. By the time you call me back I’m probably off to other things.

If I walk into your store or restaurant and no one is there to greet me, guess what? Some customer types are going to turn around and walk right out. The sad thing is that many times these are the types of clients you want. People who are decisive.

I was reading one of John Maxwell’s books, and he shared a story about a time when he and Margaret were in the drive-thru at Krispy Kreme. They love Krispy Kreme when they’re hot, but when they drove by the “hot light” wasn’t on. They decided to drive through anyway; and to their surprise, the doughnuts were piping hot. When he asked the person at the window why the light wasn’t on, she replied, “We get too busy when the light is on, so I didn’t turn it on.”

If you’re like me, I can’t imagine how people could think that way, but they do. And it is up to us to train our people. We must train them why it is important to capture as many customers as we can when things are hot. This gets us through the lean times.

Profitable sales cure all other business evils. We need to close as many sales as possible because we are not only  squandering the time, energy, and money that was invested in marketing, but we also want to make sure we have reserves for the “evils” that come our way—when we have to pay more tax than planned, something gets damaged, an employee costs us money, someone doesn’t pay his bill, the economy tanks, or any other number of things that are completely out of our control. As my friend and author of The Facts of Business Life Bill McBean says, “Planning is not predicting the future, it’s preparing for it.”

Have a Phenomenal Greeting

When people walk into your practice, your store, your restaurant, or call your company, you want to have an enthusiastic greeting that demonstrates you are excited to hear from them. And you should be!

So have a phenomenal greeting when people enter your facility or call your company.

I learned from Zig Ziglar many years ago to answer the telephone with “It’s a great day at…” Of course, you might want to update that to “It’s a phenomenal day at…” (smile). Remember that your callers make several important assumptions about your company when they call.

They are listening to confirm that you will live up to the marketing message. They are making judgments about the value of your service, whether you know what you are doing, and whether you can be trusted or not. When the telephone is not handled properly, you can needlessly create a negative impression that now has to be overcome.

More telephone answering tips:

• Speak slowly and clearly. Your caller may not be listening closely.

• Never answer with “hello” (even your cell phone). A friend may have given a prospect your cell phone number (and why do we answer so negative when it is a family member?).

• Never allow a child or a family member answer your business phone unless they are properly trained.

• Never, ever answer with “Can you hold please?” This tells callers they are not important.

• Be upbeat and positive always!

• You may want to use a mirror. A smile comes

  through the phone.

• Eliminate background noise, music, dogs, kids. This can be distracting and takes away from the experience for the client.

• Ask the caller his or her name, write it down, and use the name from that point on.

  FASTEST WAY TO THE CASH #3:

  Up-sell Every Order

  Here’s another excerpt from The 5 Secrets of a Phenomenal Business:

  How to Double Your Profit with the Most Profitable Sale Ever!

  In any business there is one type of sale that brings the most profit. There is one single sales activity that can make the most difference in the profitability of your company. Not taking advantage of this all-important sales opportunity will cost you thousands of dollars.

The most profitable sale ever made is called the “up-sell” or “add-on” sale. Why is it the most profitable sale ever? Because you have already invested the time, money, and energy acquiring and serving your client. Therefore, anything that is added to the “ticket” is extremely profitable. This makes the up-sell the most profitable sale you can make.

Why Most Small Business Owners Don’t Up-sell

Have you been guilty of not making the up-sell in the past? I have. Why is that? Here are the reasons I have found that up-sells aren’t made (by the owner and staff):

Pushy salesperson

You don’t want to appear as the “used car salesman” stereotype. I will share with you in just a moment that you are actually doing your customer wrong by not offering the up-sell. I will prove it to you and you will agree, so stay with me.

Our view of a salesperson has likely been skewed as we grew up. We have been conditioned to believe that all salespeople are con artists. Maybe we grew up seeing salespeople take the discretionary income from our families. You must see yourself as a consultant who is looking out for your clients.

Fear

Somewhere along the way we have picked up the fear of rejection and we don’t really know where it comes from. When we get confidence through sales training, we have goals, we have a system that we follow, and we have the desire to reach our goals and take the best care of our clients, we can have the focus to move forward even in the midst of fear.

Do you remember the acronym for FEAR? False Evidence Appearing Real. Your wonderful imagination is creating emotional images. They are almost always false, but appear real because of the way our minds work. Winners don’t lack fear, they proceed in the face of it.

Lack of training

Sales training gives you confidence. If you have staff, they must be trained in sales and presenting the products and services properly.

No system

You should have scripts and procedures that are followed consistently. When you develop the right system that consistently works, it is then up to you to consistently implement it.

Lack of goals

If you do not have clearly defined, compelling financial goals, you are less likely to do all you can in this area. It’s a human fact. If your life goals don’t require money, hopefully the cost to your client will motivate you to make the sale. You may have employees who have not connected their financial position to their future and may have “stinkin’ thinkin’” about money. If so, that will limit the possibilities. You need to help them expand their money mindset.

Busy

We are all busy today, but let me ask you a question, “If you don’t make the most profitable sale ever and spend your time on less profitable activities, isn’t it costing you more time to not up- sell?” Ponder that for a moment.

How is it possible that not up-selling is doing your customer an injustice? Let me ask you another question, “If your client doesn’t use your extra services, will it cost them anything?” If not, you shouldn’t be selling it. There is obviously a gain from purchasing your product or service, so there must be a cost if they don’t.

Also, if they don’t buy it from you and they learn about it from your competitor, how do you feel about that? Are all of your competitors honest and ethical? How do you feel about them taking care of your customer rather than you?

Finally, do you have a phenomenal reputation? Do you have experience? Are you educated in your field and do you educate your clients? Do you provide a phenomenal customer service experience? Do you stand behind your product?

Then wouldn’t you agree that if they don’t get to take advantage of all you have to offer, you are actually doing them wrong by not at least letting them know about it? It is their decision, but you are the consultant. As advisors, it is our job to share the opportunity with them.

How Much Money Are You Leaving on the Table?

Think about how much you could potentially add to your business each day in add-on sales if you or your people were trained and focused. Now multiply that by five days a week. Now multiply that by fifty-two weeks per year. Now multiply that by the number of sales or service representatives you have. A mere $100 per day x 5 days per week is $26,000 per year. If I have ten representatives, that’s $260,000 per year!

And speaking of staff, I recommend giving them an incentive on the add-on sale. I know there may be some “purists” who disagree, and that’s okay if you do. But wouldn’t it be nice to give them a “raise” without having to pay more and more just for them to exist? Sooner or later, the business isn’t sustainable because we continue to give raises without increasing profits.

How to Make Up-sells Consistently

First, you must train yourself in sales. This is a worthy endeavor. Get everything you can from the Zig Ziglar Corporation on sales training. Train your staff. Zig always said, “Everyone in the company may not be in sales, but anyone can cost the company a sale!”

And by the way, what if the receptionist asked a question like, “Did you get the XYZ product? It’s really amazing!” The receptionist can then help make a sale. That brings me to the next point.

Ask Questions

Remember that selling isn’t telling. And telling isn’t selling. Determine the additional items you have to offer. In the interview process, include some questions that will reveal the prospect’s beliefs about that product or service. Ask questions that bring up that conversation. Here’s an example: The first business I started is a high-end cleaning firm that cares for stone floors, Oriental rugs, and fine textiles. The most profitable and most valuable up-sell is sealer for the stone and fabric protector for the textiles. We built questions into the script such as, “Did you get protector the last time you had this cleaned?” We don’t sell it at that moment, instead we gather information (the more they tell, the more you sell).

Later on, during Step Five, we outline that the solution includes sealer or fabric protector. Not having investment furnishings protected costs the client big time down the road, yet many companies fail to even mention it. The result is the customer’s property is at risk and the company doesn’t make the profit it could. The owner doesn’t reach his or her life goals, which may include passing on some of those profits to a good cause. Can you see how this all fits together in a phenomenal business?

Once you have opened the conversation, ask for permission to share more. Once you get that permission, you can go into a full interview on that particular service or product. If demonstrations or a free trial is appropriate, be sure to offer that.

A final note…don’t offer anything until you have established rapport with the client and you have secured believability. You must establish yourself as a trusted consultant and representative before attempting an extra sale. Many times this is accomplished by WOWing the client with the primary service or product first.

FASTEST WAY TO THE CASH #4:

Call Twenty Past Clients Per Day

You learned earlier in this book that not marketing to your past clients is “the biggest marketing mistake of all.” The good news is that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to market to them. In fact, a good old-fashioned phone call will do.

Over the years, my coaching clients have found that doing this simple thing has helped them increase their sales significantly. Start with the people who are overdue for service or that you haven’t seen in a while. If you don’t have your customer base on a database, then find their invoices, or anything that has their phone number on it. If you did not record their address and e-mail, this will be a good time to get it.

What do you say when you call them? There are many scripts. Use the one that is most appropriate for your business and culture. In Texas, I would simply call someone up and tell them I was thinking about them and thought I would call and see how they are doing. In the southern states, that would work just fine. But recently I was teaching in the UK, and the audience members, who were mostly male (with female clients), thought it might be awkward. No problem. There are several scripts you can use:

• “We are calling to update our records…” This is a great way to get information (such as an e-mail address) that you did not gather previously.

• “We are calling to let you know about our new referral reward program…”

• “We are calling to let you know about our special offer…”

• “We are calling to let you know that it has been over [enter the timeframe your client should frequent your business] since we’ve seen you…”

FASTEST WAY TO THE CASH #5:

Close More Sales by Overcoming Price Objections

I teach a 7 step sales process in my training program that builds rapport, connects with the prospect’s emotional state, establishes credibility, and then dives into problems and solutions. Once all of that is done, the investment is quoted. All along the way, I teach that asking questions is the key.

If you could close more prospects by getting really good at overcoming price objections, you would put more cash in your bank account. Not closing the sale causes you to work HARDER. Here’s an excerpt from my book The 5 Secrets of a Phenomenal Business about overcoming price objections:

In the best of situations, you will have already over- come all objections during Step Five. If not, this is where you will need to apply this skill. Did you notice the word I just used? Skill. To be a phenomenal business owner and sales consultant, you need skill that requires training. Train yourself with information, seminars, and coaching.

If there was ever a time when questions were important in the sales process, it is in this step. When you get an objection, always ask a question. Always. What kind of question? Well, what if you simply repeated the objection in the form of a question?

For example, if the prospect says, “Wow, that’s expensive!” you say, “So you feel it’s expensive?” They now have to respond. Remember, the more they tell, the more you sell. They might just say, “Yes, it’s expensive.” To which you respond with, “Would you mind sharing what you mean by too expensive?” Your goal is to get more information about their objection.

There are literally hundreds of closing techniques and questions you could use, so I recommend you study Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Sale CDs as well as anything else he produced on the subject. Again, you want to develop your skill in this area.

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