Small Business Leadership and Sales Blog

Walt Disney called the process of giving added value "plussing". His idea was to add value to a trip to a Disney theme park, movie or anything Disney produced. This extra value was not tied to anything Disney did that added money to their coffers. It was just little things that made the experience of going to a Disney function even more enjoyable!

The prospect of giving added value in any business, including insurance, is something worth looking into. In this way clients won't have to duck into a bathroom or engage in idle banter just to get away from a sales pitch they think is coming. Finding ways to give extra value in a business is a sure way to lock up clients for years to come. When they know it's not all about sales and selling they are much more willing to become clients and customers.

Yet, how does one go about adding value for a client? What kind of magic must one perform to win over a person or family for life? A few simple but powerful strategies are listed below. As long as one is natural and sincere these ideas can work magic on current and future clients.

• Find a niche for the business. Price LeBlanc, a mega car salesman in Louisiana, used to give away country sausage to everyone who bought a vehicle from him. Find a great niche!!
• Check out the refrigerator door when in someone's home. Children and grandchildren usually fill it with pictures and drawings. Learn about these kids. If one is in Little League think about sponsoring the team. Does one have a school trip coming up? Donate money for lunch on the trip or sponsor the entire trip. Give the client something to remember the business by not dealing with the company.
• Pay attention to what a person is passionate about. Does a client love to garden? Purchase a rare and colorful Old English rose for their garden. Does another have a book collection? Find a favorite or special book for them. The customer will understand they are valued for more than just their money. 
• The gang's all here!! Why market a business to one couple or family at a time? Gather up several, or many, and give a presentation to all of them. Feed them a meal. Give out door prizes. Get them to come out with family, friends and neighbors to be exposed to the business.
• Give a meaningful gift when business is done. Just sold a couple of large insurance policies to a couple. As they sign their names on the policy present each of them with a nice pen. Each time they use their pens after that they will remember their purchase.

Finding ways to add extra value may require some thinking. One has to make sure it keeps with the personality of the business and the person running the business. Rest assured though, if shown they are valued as a client they will continue to come back for years and years. 

Adding value for a client is a great way to lock in that person or persons business for life. Doing it in a way that does not add to the bottom line of a business shows the client that they are valued as both a client and a friend. So whether giving away country sausage or ink pens add a little extra to a client's experience and lock in their business for a long time, maybe even for life!!

Please enjoy this article from Wisdom Group. In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. How does Gladwell arrive at this conclusion? And, if the conclusion is true, how can we leverage this idea to achieve greatness in our professions?

Gladwell studied the lives of extremely successful people to find out how they achieved success. This article will review a few examples from Gladwell’s research, and conclude with some thoughts for moving forward.

Violins in Berlin

In the early 1990s, a team of psychologists in Berlin, Germany studied violin students. Specifically, they studied their practice habits in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. All of the subjects were asked this question: “Over the course of your entire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced?”

All of the violinists had begun playing at roughly five years of age with similar practice times. However, at age eight, practice times began to diverge. By age twenty, the elite performers averaged more than 10,000 hours of practice each, while the less able performers had only 4,000 hours of practice.

The elite had more than double the practice hours of the less capable performers.

Natural Talent: Not Important

One fascinating point of the study: No “naturally gifted” performers emerged. If natural talent had played a role, we would expect some of the “naturals” to float to the top of the elite level with fewer practice hours than everyone else. But the data showed otherwise. The psychologists found a direct statistical relationship between hours of practice and achievement. No shortcuts. No naturals.

Sneaking Out to Write Code

You already know how Microsoft was founded. Bill Gates and Paul Allen dropped out of college to form the company in 1975. It’s that simple: Drop out of college, start a company, and become a billionaire, right? Wrong.

Further study reveals that Gates and Allen had thousands of hours of programming practice prior to founding Microsoft. First, the two co-founders met at Lakeside, an elite private school in the Seattle area. The school raised three thousand dollars to purchase a computer terminal for the school’s computer club in 1968.

A computer terminal at a university was rare in 1968. Gates had access to a terminal in eighth grade. Gates and Allen quickly became addicted to programming.

The Gates family lived near the University of Washington. As a teenager, Gates fed his programming addiction by sneaking out of his parents’ home after bedtime to use the University’s computer. Gates and Allen acquired their 10,000 hours through this and other clever teenage schemes. When the time came to launch Microsoft in 1975, the two were ready.

Practice Makes Improvement

In 1960, while they were still an unknown high school rock band, the Beatles went to Hamburg, Germany to play in the local clubs.

The group was underpaid. The acoustics were terrible. The audiences were unappreciative. So what did the Beatles get out of the Hamburg experience? Hours of playing time. Non-stop hours of playing time that forced them to get better.

As the Beatles grew in skill, audiences demanded more performances – more playing time. By 1962 they were playing eight hours per night, seven nights per week. By 1964, the year they burst on the international scene, the Beatles had played over 1,200 concerts together. By way of comparison, most bands today don’t play 1,200 times in their entire career.

Falling in Love With Practice

The elite don’t just work harder than everybody else. At some point the elites fall in love with practice to the point where they want to do little else.

The elite software developer is the programmer who spends all day pounding code at work, and after leaving work she writes open source software on her own time.

The elite football player is the guy who spends all day on the practice field with his teammates, and after practice he goes home to watch game films.

The elite physician listens to medical podcasts in the car during a long commute.

The elites are in love with what they do, and at some point it no longer feels like work.

What’s Next?

Now that we’ve reviewed the trends uncovered by Gladwell’s research, what can we do about it? All of us want to be great at something. Now that we know how other achievers have gotten there, what can we do to join their ranks?

One approach: We could choose a field and practice for 10,000 hours. If we are currently working in our target profession, forty hours per week over five years would give us ten thousand hours.

Or… We can look at the question in reverse. Where have we already logged 10,000 hours of practice? What is it that we do really well? What tasks do we perform so well that people ask: How did you do that? Sometimes when we fall in love with practice we don’t even recognize it!

If you’re running a company, what does your company do better than anybody else? What is it that the individual members of your company do better than anybody? How do you create an environment that gives everyone on your team the opportunity to practice?

Conclusion

Business is tough, especially now. Yet even in the midst of a challenging economy, there are individuals and companies that prosper beyond all expectations. Practice plays a major role in success.

Suggested Reading

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Through interviews and statistical analysis, Gladwell determines why some people and organizations achieve success far beyond their peers.

Welcome Back for a quick Marvelous Nugget!

Today I am in one of my “Recharge Appointments” that I set weekly on my calendar.
One of the things that I do is that I go back and reflect on the notes that I take in a notebook. These notes come from company meetings, conference calls or one on one “huddles” with my team members or other beautiful people that are put in my world. My notes say:“Audi partem alteram….”

No, it is not a car ad. Or jibberish.

It is Latin and it means “Hear the other side.”

It was Saint Augustine that said this.  He scorned Christianity as a young man, but he listened to the other side and became one of the faith’s greatest evangelists.
These days it seems we’re too busy trying to get our own point across.  This makes for very bad listening. 

Listening takes practice and skill. Maybe that’s why most people prefer to talk. Because it’s easier than listening.

A close friend of mine that shared the above latin term with me, read an article on her flight to Arizona about a doctor who is deaf. She was challenged as to what a deaf person could teach us all about listening. 

Her observations for you to consider today:
1.   When it doesn’t come easy – when you have to work for it – do you develop listening abilities that most of us don’t have?
2.   Are you really listening to your clients? 
3.   Are you really listening to your friends & co-workers?
4.    A big part of creating a Marvelous Customer Experience at your company is to re-commit to authentic listening. Becoming a listening saint is the beginning process of that experience.

As always share your feedback below or privately email us at Marvin@MarvinLeBlanc.com  Don’t be selfish. Forward this to someone that might benefit in a positive way. We love to hear your stories of how you or your group are applying these principles as you pursue Marvelous Performance.

Until next time, I wish you Peace, Love and Gumbo.
Marvin LeBlanc LUTCF, CNP

Attention Marvelous People!

Do you ever need to hire a new “Director of First Impressions” (formerly known as the Receptionist) but you are weak at writing a compelling ad to attract the right person?

Are you just too busy or just too lazy to put in the thinking to come up with something?

Well today’s your lucky day. 

1. The ad below is an ad that actually works, so steal it now and do something with it.  Don’t post it at some boring career site. Take it and do what one of our Raving Fans did for us.

2.  What’s that? Let your “Raving Fans” also known as your Centers of Influence that love Facebook HELP YOU. Our Raving Fan posted it on her Facebook page. Yes, you can certainly do your own posting, but the point is to open your mind to other channels of people that are not in your immediate circle.

Here was her post:

Friends,

A friend of mine is looking to hire the right person immediately.  If you know someone who might be interested, please pass this email along and ask him or her to contact me for more information and to schedule an interview. 

Energetic, fast paced, established & professional sales office looking for a positive, thorough & reliable Director of First Impressions.  Responsibilities include answering multiple phone lines, processing payments, managing paperwork, etc.  Must be computer literate, have a positive attitude, friendly voice & be a quick learner.  Opportunities for advancement exist.  This is a full time (M-F 8 to 5) position in Jefferson, LA. If interested, please send me an email with resume and salary requirements.

Peace, Love & Gumbo, 

Marvin LeBlanc 

LUTCF, CNP

This is a guest article from Westley Annis. Enjoy these words of wisdom!

Peace, Love and Gumbo

Marvin LeBlanc LUTCF, CNP

Customer Service is everything.

Anyone who has been in business for more than three hours knows that to be true.

The funny thing, is that customer service seems to be falling away.

The first time you go into a store and see a self-checkout register, you go to it for the novelty of it. The second time you do it because the service at a human check-out register is lacking.

Not all self-checkouts are created equal. At WalMart, they are nearly as useless as a human check-out if you have more than a few items. Home Depot is a little better, but you better not have any big items. Sam's Club, who just rolled theirs out in November 2011 are the absolute best. So, your mileage will vary depending upon where you are shopping

Every national chain, especially franchises, now have only surveys where they want to know what kind of experience you had. This means it should be even easier to keep track of the service level of individual stores and workers. Unfortunately, either they are not getting enough people to fill out the surveys or they are ignoring them.

I am a mystery shopper. I get paid to visit different businesses as a customer and report back about my experience. The report I have to give is detailed. In fact, I am instructed on specific things to look for. I know what the uniform code is, how displays are supposed to be arranged and how long I should wait in line.

However, I don't think I would need this knowledge to recognize the level of bad service that is rampant, especially at fast food restaurants.

With the level of service you find at a McDonald's or Burger King, could they have grown from a few stores to the international chains they are today? The same goes with some of the younger chains like Subway.

Do we, as the paying public, accept the mediocre service in exchange for moderate prices and hopefully fast service? The cost of a "value meal", or whatever they want to call it, for one person is close to $7.00. For another few dollars, you can often get better food and better service, but at a slower pace.

Now that I think about it, maybe this old business sign is truer today then it ever was.

Hello Marvelous Practitioners!
My sincere wish is that this article finds you excited and committed to the two most valuable things we do: protecting assets and growing wealth for those that we serve.

Below you will find a word track that you can use face-to-face with clients, on the phone with clients or perhaps in an email or a letter. (Yes, easily one-third of your clients still like to open an envelope and read a real letter.)

As you read this word track remember, “Simplicity is the key to true understanding.” What you are about to read is so simple that you will be tempted to modify it or not use it at all. That will destroy your chance of using this battle-tested word track that has placed millions of dollars of coverage for over 25 years. Be sure to put it to use, and, as always, pass on your feedback to me at Marvin@MarvinLeBlanc.com

Side note: If you will not use this tool, who in your organization might be open to using the word track then following up with the prospect? Pass it on and let’s help some people!

FACE THE LIFE FACTS!    

LET'S FACE THE FACTS! The average American family is covered for LESS THAN 3 YEARS OF SPENDABLE INCOME after the major breadwinner dies. How much life insurance is enough for your family to live "IN THEIR OWN WORLD" after the major breadwinner dies?                                             
Before you put this down, you will have the answer by following these simple steps:

1. Pull out your life insurance policies on both spouses and the children (if there are any).
2. List the face amounts of each policy ($50,000, $250,000,  $2,000,000 etc.).     
3. Add these amounts together.                                        

The total amount on spouse 1 equals:(______________)              
The total amount on spouse 2 equals:(______________)            
The total amount on the children equals:(______________)

 
NOW, BE HONEST AND ANSWER THESE 2 QUESTIONS:

1. If spouse 1 died today, how long will the money from that life insurance program last? (_____________)
2. If spouse 2 died today, how long will the money pay for housekeeping, daycare and other things that require money that he/she contributed to help the family? (__________________) 

Don't put this down! Because this is the closest you may have EVER come to solving your financial problems. 
If you're like most people, you will see that the need to sit down with your trustworthy insurance and financial services representative HAS NEVER BEEN GREATER. I simply ask that you give me the opportunity to review your program. It will not cost you one red cent and there is absolutely no obligation on your part. 

Now that sounds reasonable, doesn't it?                                             
Yours in Life,  
Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP

Today we're going to talk about referrals. The best way to think about the referral process is that it is largely designed to gain new referrals from people who already love you. The easiest, most effective, most efficient, least expensive way to build your business is to use the trustworthiness of existing clients that have grown to love you and the service and the products that you provide.

For many years, I have been obsessed with the concept of internal marketing versus external marketing. I believe far too much money is spent on billboards and bus shelters and bus benches and church bulletins and newspapers. Are we kidding? Newspapers? There's a whole demographic of people 20–30 years old that have hardly ever read a newspaper. Yet some people are still stuck on these conventional advertising methods that not only eat up your money, but are very difficult to track when it comes to return on investment.

Instead, if you use the ideas in this article, you can cut your advertising costs significantly.

Word-of-mouth internal marketing starts when you talk to an existing client. For the purposes of this article, let's call him Mr. Bob Jones. Start your conversation by saying to Mr. Jones, “Can I ask you a question?” (By the way, no one's ever answered this by saying “No.”) Then say:

We need to grow our business here at “Insert Your Business Name” and the way that we want to grow our business is with customers like you. I have a few questions to ask you. Are you currently satisfied with our service?

Well of course they're satisfied, they're excited, they're happy. In fact, they might even be a personal friend. Your second question goes like this:

Well, Mr. Jones, we would like you to help us meet your friends, neighbors, co-workers and relatives. Let's start with your friends. Mr. Jones, the type of friend we're talking about is when you call that person on the phone, you don't have to say "Hey, it's Bob." They already know your voice. You've spent that much time with them. Which close friend of yours might appreciate our services?

At this point, I ask them if they could please write down the person's name and number.

Very good. Who else? What other friend might you want to help us with that would appreciate our service. Write that down. How about your neighbor, Mr. Jones? We are looking for the type of neighbor that is there for you in a pinch. If there's an emergency and you've got to immediately leave the house, you trust them; they'll watch over the house or take care of an errand for you. Write that neighbor's name down please.

Here, I pause to allow the client to think. They're going through their mental computer, visually imagining who in their circle of influence would have needs that match our services. You will be shocked at what great information you will get, and also how much time you'll save. Now that we've finished with friends and neighbors, we move to another sphere of influence.

Mr. Jones, let's talk about your co-workers. The co-workers that rely on you, and that you rely on. The ones you have a great relationship with. Are there any people in this group that you think might appreciate our services? Which co-worker comes to mind? Write that down. Thank you.

And Mr. Jones, lastly but certainly not least, let’s explore your relatives. Which relatives would really appreciate our kind of service and would like to work with us, the fun people that we are. Please write down the relatives that come to mind.

Mr. Jones, I want to thank you for going through this exercise with us and I want you to always know, we sincerely appreciate your business. We know you have other choices. We are committed to doing everything that we need to do to continue to earn your trust and your business in the future.

This is the method I have used for over 25 years. It can be used in any industry. You can build a business hard or you can build a business smart. Remember, I do use conventional advertisements, but never have I used a billboard of my face to build business. They certainly have their place, make no mistake about it. But generally, the most important place you can place your face is in front of the face of one of your existing clients that then gives you referrals to friends, neighbors, co-workers and relatives that they know and trust.

Always remember, marvelous performance is almost always intentional. Marvelous performance is almost never accidental. Have a marvelous day.

Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP

Notice the title says fact-finding conversations, not fact-finding appointment. As insurance and financial services professionals, we certainly want to work by appointment. However, it is not more appointments we need, but more conversations.

1. Forget appointments.

You can have many more conversations than you can have appointments.

The old way of thinking is: I must see three appointments a day, or I will not succeed. We were all trained this way. Relax. It's not your fault. This way of thinking used to work. But things have changed, and we must change our thinking about how to be successful.

Try thinking along the lines of: I must have one informal fact-finding conversation for every hour I work.

Well, Marvin, what's the difference between an appointment and a conversation? And why is this important to me?

People don't want to come in to see you for an appointment. People don't want you to come see them for an appointment either.

You may be using too many old think techniques. Of the licensed professionals in my Marvelous Performance Schools, 65% do not have an internet presence, personal blog, Web site or LinkedIn account. These are the people wondering why they are struggling to meet their goals. They are stuck using old thinking methods that are not working. (By the way, did you know 100% of Fortune 500 executives have a LinkedIn account? You can connect with them in groups on LinkedIn. But this only works if you are actively using LinkedIn.)

Here's the solution: Conduct informal fact-finding conversations when the opportunity presents itself. Not only when you have an appointment.

Example scenarios that happen every day (and much more frequently than the number of appointments you are conducting daily):

1. Your current client calls your office with a service question.

2. Your current client emails you with a service question.

3. You run into your client at a coffee shop, school function, church function or community function.

Are you seeing more opportunities yet? What other scenarios can you think of that I've not mentioned?

We live in a world that has more opportunities than at any other time in our careers. And I've been in this industry since 1987.

2. Stop selling products.

Our customers and prospects require us to engage with them much differently today. Old think continues to work less and less effectively. Most of the companies you represent are also still stuck in old think. If I see another company-produced product brochure, I think I will be nauseated. We don't sell products; we sell benefits. Nobody goes to the hardware store because they want to buy a drill. They go to the hardware store because they want a hole that the drill will give them.

3. Start asking questions.

Try this: "Mr. (Customer), may I ask you a question?"

Most people will allow you to ask them a question--the key is that you must be prepared with the first question. You may have some great questions that you prefer over my own, but if you want access to the questions I use, please visit www.marvinleblanc.com/LIS to download a free copy of "The 21 Interest Bearing Questions."

If you're on the phone with the customer, simply start at the top and read the question to the caller. If you have a chance encounter with a customer, you literally can pull out the sheet and read it to them.

Or try saying: "Mr. (Customer), we don't have the answers to all these questions. I need this completed." Hand them the sheet of questions. They can email or fax it back to you. You should plan to follow up with them until you get the sheet back. After all, a customer should give you their spirit of cooperation.

You might be saying, "Well Marvin, my clients are more sophisticated than that." Not true. The more intelligent they are, the more they need you to simplify the process. They may be an expert in their area, but they are not the expert in your area. You are.

Here's your call to action:

1. Carefully review the 3 key points I just gave you.

2. Honestly try the ideas presented here for 21 straight days.

3. Track your progress.

4. Think simple.

5. Think differently.

6. Think conversations, not appointments.

When people meet you do they think, "Wow, this person is on their game. They seem to never have a bad day."

If so, you are doing it right. Many of us have a tendency to allow bad moments to turn into bad days, and bad days to turn into bad months, and then suddenly, you're focused on how hard and unfair life can be.

Fact is, we all have "stuff." We always will have stuff. The key strategy for you is to find a way to quickly move from one pile of stuff to the next. That is the secret weapon you and your team can use to overcome and overachieve.

You must realize that what you expect is what you will get. Therefore, if you expect a lot of yourself, you will get a lot more from yourself than if your expectations are low. Same goes for your team, your prospects, your family and your relationships.

To be successful in sales and in life you must examine these questions.

• What do you expect out of yourself?
• Are you getting what you expect?
• Are you giving what you expect?

I take pride in being one of those people known for rarely having a bad day. This is not to say I don't have bad moments, but I have found ways to shift my focus so that bad moments are just that -- moments.

For example, my daughter and I were riding my Honda Goldwing. It was a gorgeous, sunny, dry day. We decided to take the scenic River Road instead of taking the interstate. We were listening to Buddy Guy on my iPod, and a split second later, we were catapulted directly over the front of my Goldwing. A careless, elderly driver had t-boned us. Many of you may be thinking, "Now thatis a bad day for sure."

My daughter lay motionless, face down on the asphalt in the lane of oncoming traffic. Immediately, I looked down to see the bones in my right wrist displaced and broken from the impact. We had both been hurled over the top of the car. Thankfully, we were heavily protected with proper bike gear. Other than some lower back pain that my daughter had, she was fine. I incurred 32 stitches and got two screws in my wrist.

The point is -- this was not a bad day.

It was a bad moment, and we are both fine. In fact, we were able to make it home in time to watch Louisiana State University beat Auburn, allowing LSU to keep its national championship hopes alive.

It truly is what you focus on that matters most. We could have focused on the bad moment and turned it into bad days and -- even worse -- bad months. Instead, we moved on and focused on the many positive events, people and blessings in our lives.

If you have had a tough month in business, one of the best ways to turn that month around is to quit obsessing about what you don't have and start obsessing about what you do have.

Start obsessing about what opportunities you can capitalize on.

If you're in a bad work relationship or you're in a bad personal relationship, make a move. Realize this thing called life is not a dress rehearsal. It's show time every single day.

This is your opportunity to be massively successful and to reframe the handful of bad days in light of your many marvelous days. You may be having one of those right now -- and here's to many more!

Peace, Love and Gumbo

Marvin LeBlanc LUTCF, CNP