If you want something done, give it to a busy person

Why have I said this to you?

Because, the person who is normally asked to do something, is usually, the most effective person within the team, project or organisation.

I have known a lot of people who have enjoyed such privileged status - Haven’t you?

Such people are usually fully committed and effective.

One such person once surprises me, his boss and even himself.

He made an excuse not to except an invitation to do a particularly important and demanding task.

Which was most unusual, as he would normally be more than willing to accept any challenge put to him? He had a reputation for willingness and to accept and perform any task.

But on this particular occasion he surprised us all by saying “NO”, and he went on to say “I have another equally important project to complete”.

So, Why the change?

Well when, in confidence, I asked him “why the change of attitude”.

He said “I can only be fully supportive if I believe that the request has been made of me in good faith”.

In other words he was saying “yes I’m a busy person and normally I am happy to help out, but if these sorts of requests are not handed out on a fair and equitable basis, eventually even the most committed and supportive of us will eventually say “NO”!

So be careful when you ask a busy person to do something!

It would appear that once requests become the norm i.e. ‘give it to Fred or Mary to sort’ it undermines, devalues and reduces the willingness of busy and effective people the respond positively.

Where exactly does marketing and selling fit into your business?

In my line of work I talk to lots of business owners, directors and partners of businesses who say they hate selling and don’t really understand what marketing is all about.

Most appreciate that marketing is an essential business process and yet some look on selling as a necessary evil!

In these stringent economic times clients are very careful about what they spend their money on. They may even be afraid of the whole buying process or of making a big mistake. Which makes marketing and selling both difficult but essential?

To be successful at marketing you need to follow some well thought out and much focused steps.

If you follow the steps laid out below your marketing/sales process will become much easier, mainly because there is a logical flow to them and together they will gradually connect you to your prospective clients, help build your credibility and get you much more involved.

Nine Steps:

1. Choose a niche and get to know your prospective clients needs, frustrations and viewpoints.
2. Empathise with them.
3. Describe how you can add value to them, before, during and after delivery.
4. Offer to do something for them free of charge.
5. Remove or reduce their risk.
6. Have a variety of ways clients can get your help/buy from you.
7. Help people make a decision to say ‘yes’ to you.
8. Deliver more than you promised
9. Keep them informed

If you address the above within your own business context you will produce a process that is tailor made to you niche clientele. Once you have helped and guided your prospective clients through your nine step marketing/sales process they will very likely buy from you.

When your potential clients decide that they need and want your help, they will also want to feel that you enthusiastic about wanting to work with them. It’s all about helping them to make a good business decision that will give them the benefits they want and you have promised.

When you have developed and follow a fully thought-out set of steps your prospects will begin to trust you and see you as the essential expert you no doubt are. They will also tell their business friends and associates.

Follow your planned steps and things will get easier!

How involved are you with your clients?

I have a client that thinks he’s above any form of involvement with his clients!

I've tried to get him to change his mind on numerous occasions, but never got close to doing so.

Yet, I have a number of other client that take great pleasure in totally immersing themselves in their client bases.

One in particular told me recently, “you can't learn what's going on in the minds, hearts and souls of your clients by sitting around trying to be clever. What you must do, if you really want to learn how to market and sell your products and services, is to ensure that you make contact with and get amongst them.”

He also said, “to be successful you need to talk, laugh, weep, eat and drink with them, in fact do whatever you can do to get to know your clients as well as possible.”

So how do you stand on this?

Steve Jobs’ Top 3 Presentation Tips

I do a lot of presentations and workshops in my line of work.


But, because I’m professional and a bit of a perfectionist, I am constantly searching for better and more effective ways to engage with delegates.


As a consequence, I recently came across a transcript of a lecture Steve Jobs gave to a group of business development people.


He made three suggestions:

• Use personal stories to make a Point
• Speak from Your Heart
• Connect the Message to the Listener

Rather than lecturing them about the importance of following their dreams, improving abilities and having the confidence to know that everything will work out OK in the end; Steve Jobs’ chose to share three of guiding principles for ensuring an effective presentation. Presentations that are hugely effective because they are personal, memorable and connect with the listener on a heartfelt level.


Each of Steve Jobs’ three guiding principles forms both an anchor and a hook to the presentation and help to embed it in the listener’s memory.


So Tell a Story to help you make Make a Point!


If you have ever listened to Steve Jobs’ you will know that he always spoke from his heart. His stories were true, genuine and heartfelt, and his listeners could easily detect them as such.


So, how can YOU speak from your heart?


Well you need to speak about topics that you care about, things that you are genuinely passionate about. If you do, it will show through in your presentation.


So speak from your Heart!


Steve Jobs’ tells heart-felt stories that connect us and the lives we lead to his message.


Each of his stories has a key-takeaway message that the audience can apply to their lives.


e.g.  “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, luck, life, karma…because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart”


So connect your heartfelt message to your listeners!

My Daily Actions

From time to time clients have a tendency to side track our conversations.

Often a conversation may go from “our marketing gets us to this point in the process then it just stops, so what can we do to improve things”  to “Terry you’re a really organised person, what’s your secret for always appearing to be on top of things?”

Once I’ve worked out that they are not ‘pulling my leg’ I tend to answer as follows:

1.  Plan – plan what you need to do tomorrow the evening before; and bring outstanding actions forward and prioritise them. Then, as faithfully as possible, action each in priority order. At the end of the week do a similar exercise but to cover the whole week ahead.

2.  Records - keep a record of your actions, outcomes and progress. What you might record will probably be different to what I would. Just keep a record of what’s important to you. Then review it periodically and try to deduce from it what it’s trying to tell you. Sometimes getting the ‘message’ is not that obvious.

3.  Positive Mental Attitude - your positive mindset will help you face all your challenges. Stay focused and be positive. If you do your actions (which in the fullness of time will become constructive habits) will significantly shape how successful you will be.

4.  Speak to others - if you keep your services to yourself, don’t be surprised if you don’t get any work. So be visible, speak to as many people as you can each day i.e.  Clients, prospects and contacts. This will keep your name and services ‘front of mind’ within your current and expanding network. It helps them to get to know you, like you and ultimately trust you; which will inevitably lead to more business.

5.  Write to someone - and make a significant impact! ‘Snail Mail’ is making a comeback. In an age an instant electronic communication how good is it to receive a real letter or card from someone who has taken the time and trouble to write to you personally. Receipt of such methods of communication will pay off in spades!

6.  Keep up to Date - we are only as valuable as the knowledge, service or products we can deliver that benefit our clients .So ‘read’ widely and your competence will increase and you will be more able to communicate with everyone more effectively.

Sometimes of course, clients don’t actually ask for my opinion - Their loss perhaps?

Call me back, pleeeaaase!

I don’t know about you but I use the telephone a lot, particularly my bright shiny new smart phone. Which I readily admit is a lot smarter than me i.e. it runs bills up that I‘m not even aware of!


So the telephone is a fundamental and irreplaceable resource to me.


If you’re anything like me you have to initiate a lot of telephone calls for all kinds of reasons. Not surprisingly a lot of my calls are associated with marketing/sale in some form or other; and yes I don’t get through to folk all the time. Which is OK because we are all busy people aren’t we? 


But you know some people are so busy they never return my calls. 


Why not?


Well I don’t really know, but I do suspect that these people are missing out a lot of the time, or as my American friends would say “they are just leaving money on the table”.


How’s that?


Well, if they did return our calls they may benefit significantly. Let’s say that the person calling:

• Could be your very next client! 
• Was wishing to refer you to your very next client
• Could have a significant influence in one or more of you most important areas e.g. industry, sector, region or client; or even in some other way that if you ignore them, it could prove not to be a good thing for your reputation or business profits. 
• Could know someone or something that you need to know to help you grow your business; make it more profitable or sustainable.

So don’t just assume its someone trying to sell you something (and strangely enough that could even be to your advantage) they may actually be wanting to do you a good turn!


Think about it!

When did you last receive a postcard from someone?

One of my clients uses a postcard system that I introduced him to a couple of years ago.


It works wonders for him in that it warms prospects up to consider the use of his services, get’s him referrals to other prospects and helps him retain clients.


He sends about 200 cards out per month and he gets about 30 responses as a consequence.


His cards look great. They always have great photographs and illustrations on them; and some really thought provoking copy.


Printed at the top of every card are the words:



"The World's most helpful Postcard"


He reckons it’s the best tool he has and its great in terms of ROI (return on investment) 


Why not try it yourself?


As a trial exercise, put a list of 50 of your contacts, prospects or client together and send them a postcard. Obviously it’s got to carry a personal note from you and should ask them to do something for you i.e. a call to action from you.


How much is that going to cost?


Nothing at all once it starts delivering the results you want.


Even if it were to produce only one referral, or repeat client  or reminds someone that you still want to do business with them  what could that be potentially worth to you?


Plus it's easy to do!


If you don’t know how you know a man who can help


Terry O'Mahony