byMeridith Powell
You’ve had a great holiday, lots of wonderful time with family and friends and now it is time to hit the ground running. Time to think about what you want to get out of 2019, and what you wish to the new year to bring.
While you’re busy focusing on your personal New Year’s Resolutions, we’ve got you covered on the business front. The tips and trends you need to know and be thinking about as you set your business strategy.
6 ReSOLUTIONS to Make 2019 Your Best Year on Record!
1. Get Out in Front – of the traditional sales process. Understand that in today’s economy the sales process starts without you. How your customers and prospects gain information and make decisions has changed. Right now, they are Googling, reading articles, and talking to your current customers. Moreover, they’re using that information to decide whether to move forward or not in the sales process. If they’re actively looking for information, and actively asking people for their opinion, if your name, your business is not coming up, then realize you’re not out in front of the sales process you are behind it. So, Get Out in Front and ensure your names, your business is smack in the path of where your best customers and prospects are looking!
2. Growth Happens Inside Out – want to grow your business in 2019? Sure, you do. Then focus first on your existing customers. But not like you have done it in prior years, this is customer experience on steroids. You have to add value to existing customer relationships at the level that inspires them to both buy more from you and tell others to do that same. The happier your customers are, the better-taken care of they are, the more they will tell others to do business with you. Prospects will verify you before they do business with you. Meaning they will ask your existing customers, they will go online and read reviews, and they will look at your ratings. You need to make sure your current customers are saying what you need them to say, that inspires your prospects to give you a second look.
3. NO Barriers to Entry – you need to be so easy to do business with. Understand that in this economy you’re lucky to have every customer or prospect you have. They have choices, the moment you throw up a barrier, make it difficult to do business with you, is the moment they will move on. Now is the time to look at what it is like to do business with you from the customer’s perspective. Are you sending them through a long phone tree? Are you asking irrelevant questions? Asking them to fill out forms they don’t like, and you don’t need? The easier you are to do business with, the more business you will do.
4. Release Your Inner Gumby – how stretchy are you? Can you go with the flow, and bend whichever way the market dictates? This year discover your inner Gumby and be ready to flex your business plan when new opportunities arise, when new challenges or obstacles appear, and when new competitors and products enter the market. Both entrepreneurs and technology are changing the landscape of our industries at a rapid pace. You need to be just as focused on what is happening outside of your business as what is happening inside your company. Take the time, at least quarterly, to evaluate what is happening in your market – with customers, competitors, your industry and technology. Also, ask yourself, what if anything, do I need to change? Then turn on your inner Gumby to respond before the marketplace forces you to.
5. Don’t SCREW Up – consistency equals trust, and while you’re working hard to provide fantastic customer service, you need to make sure that every member of your team is as passionate as you are, and on the same page. For the customer experience to be exceptional, it needs to be consistent. When customers have the power, when they have the choice to get the same product you sell somewhere else – well they are less forgiving. Take your customer service goal for 2019 up another level and strive hard not to screw up.
6. .Transactions Passé – When is the last time you called a customer out-of-the-blue with an idea? Called them with a plan to make their business better or improve their life? If you’re just checking-in if your best customers are calling you, or if your clients are coming to you with questions, then you’re not selling, you’re filling orders. You’re about to hand your best customers over to your competition. In today’s marketplace, customers don’t need you to buy the product; they need you to add value. Transactional selling is a thing of the past. The worst thing that can happen to you is when a customer finds out about a product you sell from someone else other than you. Make 2019 the year you leave Transactional selling behind, and you start adding real value to the customer relationship.
Want to Learn More?
Then join us for a FREE webinar on January 31st at Noon EST.
We will dive deep into each one of these New Year’s ReSOLUTIONS giving you the tools and information you need to make 2019 your best year.
~Meridith Powell
FB: @meridith.powell Twitter – @meridithpowell
Twitter – @meridithpowell www.valuespeaker.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/meridithelliottpowell/
Meridith Elliott Powell is an award-winning author, keynote speaker and business strategist. With a background in corporate sales and leadership, her career expands over several industries including banking, healthcare and finance. MerIdith worked her way up from entry-level to earn her position in the C-Suite. She is a Master Certified Strategist, Executive Coach and Certified Speaking Professional, a designation held by less than twelve percent of professional speakers. She is Master Certified DISC Trainer and Coach, and has facilitated and coached thousands in the program.
She has a cutting-edge message, rooted in real-life examples and real-world knowledge. She is the author of four books, including Winning In The Trust & Value Economy (a finalist in the USA Best Book Awards) and her latest “Own It: Redefining Responsibility – Stories of Power, Freedom & Purpose about how to build cultures the inspire ownership at every level to create its at every turn.
Voted one of the Top 15 Business Growth Experts to watch by Currency Fair, and one of the top 20 Sales Experts To Follow by inked In. Meridith is regularly featured in publications such as Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., Investment News, and American Banker among others. High energy and highly interactive, Meridith’s helps leaders and business owners learn the new rules of success today. How today’s economy has changed. How that has changed today’s customers and employees. And specifically how that affects your business. In her highly engaging keynote-speaking sessions, Meridith shows her audiences how to attract more business, retain top talent, and leap into position to win in this new economy. No walking on coals, no breaking boards, just real-life strategies you can put into place first thing Monday morning.
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