Small Business Leadership and Sales Blog

“True genius is when you can do a simple, repeatable tasks and accurately track the results”.  - MarvinLeBlanc.com

For those that want to grow their referrals through the help of your existing customers here is what you need to do:

“What if you emailed just 5 or 10 customers daily, directly from your customer data base. (Some call it your CRM – Customer Relationship Management software)

That it! That’s the tip.

1-Don’t call them.
2-Don’t assign this task to a team member. 
3-Your EXTREMELY short email will ONLY soft sell for your next visit with them.
4-Soft ask for the Referral.
Why?

Because you must either you do all the talking and asking for your referrals or you can commit to enlisting the help of your customers to talk for you. 

You need to understand that you must ask your customers to help you. Would you please ask for help? Do not just try to generate all your referrals without the help of those that already trust you.

Belive it or not, your customers don’t naturally think about constantly giving you referrals.

THEY MUST BE REMINDED – CONSTANTLY. So REMIND THEM! Without beating them up!

Remember, you’ve EARNED the referral. How do I know that? Because they are already your customers, so obviously there’s some level of trust already established.

Oh and by the way, the 10 minutes you spend a day on this task is surely a lot less expensive than a bus bench, bill board or other traditional advertising channels.

Try it. Think about it. The 10 minutes you waste on the internet can be used to generate referrals that come from people that already own your product.

That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

Would you like to see the email I use? Grab it here. Feel free to use it and let me know how it works for you! 
Peace, Love and Gumbo
Marvin LeBlanc 

We can spend our whole life working in sales and yet not know its origin. That astounds me — so much so that I often ask salespeople, “Have you ever looked up the word sales in the dictionary?” Never in my speaking career has anyone in my audience responded to me with the correct root of the word.

So here it is. It comes from the word sellan, an Old English word meaning to give.

• It does not mean to take!
• It does not mean to sell door-to-door like a charlatan.
• It does not mean to connive.
• It does not mean to manipulate.

Can you imagine if all the newcomers that strike out in the sales world really knew what salesmanship was about? They would understand that true salesmanship is about true give-manship!

Get that or you ain’t got nothin’, folks.

In my view, we’ve got so many people living in this capitalistic society who are so involved in me, me, me. Rarely will anyone give a “dung” about what you want until you help them acquire what they want.

Thank you Lefty Lefton for this revelation: As salespeople, we must start with the prospective buyers’ most important question: “What’s in it for me?”

We have to make it all about them. It’s kind of an unorthodox, altruistic turn if you really think about it. If you satisfy them first, you’re going to get enough of what you want. But, you’re going to have to wait.

My point? Be more patient and sell more! Being from Louisiana, I call this “gumbo patience.”

Marvelous people, it’s a lot like cooking a good gumbo. You have to bring that gumbo up to a boil, then you have to slow it down. You don’t rush it. If you rush it, you’ll burn the hell out of the bottom of the pot, and the gumbo will taste like starch. You have to have a little patience. So, you put that gumbo on a low fire and you wait.

Word to the wise: Don’t overlook the “bringing it to a boil” point that I just made. Excellent communicators must never forget this rule: I must be red hot before I can expect you to get lukewarm. Remember that it’s our responsibility to inspire our prospective client to get “red hot” and boiling with desire to move forward.

It’s like one-day-old wine. Nobody ever drinks one-day-old wine. It’s not good until later. It’s the same way with sales. We have to wait and stay with our systems and go through the process. We can’t be so self-consumed with paying our mortgage, bills and insane expenses that we don’t stop and ask some good questions.

Peace, Love and Gumbo, 

Marvin LeBlanc LUTCF, CNP

Having a bunch of good and bright employees can be both gratifying and stressful. It is because efficient employees greatly contribute to the company’s productivity. It is stressful at the same time since it would be very disadvantageous if these employees suddenly leave the company. Not thinking about keeping these employees, and actually keeping the personnel resources intact with great people, could jeopardize the company’s continued success.

Ideal Employee Requirements

No one wants to work with lousy employees. Most business owners want their employees or work team members to be ideal as much as possible. Just like the requirements of American business magnate Warren Buffett on his employees:

• highly intelligent
• highly energetic
• have high integrity and
• have at least an intermediate skill in computers

Any company may not afford to take time in training new employees about computers. To have these employees is to scout for them, and continually do so. Even if they are already around the organization, they might leave someday for greener pastures, considering they, being of high demand.

Scouting for Ideal Employees

During the hiring process, the employer would get the vision and concept of the prospective employee about the business. The entrepreneur can also gauge the chemistry of the new employee and the management. Experts also said that in order to hire the right people, they rather convince them not to take the position. They explained the bad side of the company like work pressure, long working hours, etc. By being honest to the applicants, they already filtered who shall stay long or not. This minimizes turnover and waste of time. They do not want to train the employees only to see them leaving too soon and this is a way to eliminate prospective employees who wouldn’t have made it to the job anyway. Telling the applicants the truth is just being honest which would also do justice to both the applicants as well as to the employers.

Myths About Keeping Employees

Many believe that employers have multiple ways to keep their employees with them, even those who are on high demand. The following are some myths about keeping them:

• Key employees will stay especially when economy is tough as they are afraid of losing income. This is wrong because uneasiness caused by the tough economy can threaten security. When they are undervalued, employees would be unproductive and start looking for something better.

• Employees can be loyal when treated well. Even if treated well, employees would change jobs if they are not happy with the positions they are holding. They would only stay if they also have the feeling of fulfillment in their respective corporate roles.

To keep the talents happy and stay put is to determine the objectives of the company, and find individuals who are able to meet these objectives. Employees need to be motivated as well as engaged so they will stay long.

More Numbers Creates Stability

Sometimes, employers hold on to their employees because they stop scouting for more talents. Or do not have the right strategy to attract the right employees. As the main drive of the organization, employees are people; and people are the only ones capable of achieving the company’s goals by carrying out systems and perform deliveries. New ones can bring fresh vibe to the organization while keeping the balance in the human resource so as not to lose productivity. More numbers can create more stability and strength. To attract more talents, the recruitment process should be in itself strategic, interesting and exciting.

Need some motivation for your group?

Pick my brain, bring me to your group, or get signed up for some one on one coaching. Click here for information or drop me an email at marvin@marvinleblanc.com

How can I Build Quality Relationships with Each Customer?

No business establishment can make it far without quality relationships with each customer. However, establishing these quality relationships with each customer does not come easily. One is required to have specific attributes or techniques that will keep the customers always wanting to come back to your business.

Thoughts to Steer By

As a business a person, are you and your team passionate about what you are doing?

Is your team conveying that you are competent enough to handle their concerns?

In every aspect of your direct contact with the client, make sure that you bring out the professionalism that is in you. It is good that you show some “strictness” in your work.

Be purposeful. Be valuable. Follow a coherent system. Your system should put the client at ease. They want to know that “you” know where you are going.

For instance, keep working on avoiding “gabble” talks. (Keep the small talk, small. Short. The 2-hour appointment is becoming more and more rare. The attention span of my clients is very short. I suspect your clients can’t sit still and listen that long either.)

Another aspect of creating quality relationships with each customer is by being friendly with them. It is important that you put on a happy face. Your mood will influence the direction of the meeting or interaction. Be sure to shake their hand and look directly into their eyes while addressing them. This is a clear indication to your client that you are concerned about them and giving them all the attention that they require. This gives them confidence in you and they will be more willing to conduct future business with you.

Customers will always gravitate toward the person who is capable of resolving their problem. You must establish trust in the relationship and always ask open-ended probing questions. Allowing them to talk will help you to know what the client has in mind and how they feel about the product. After talking with them (oftentimes more than once) you should be in a position to come up with the best way of meeting their needs effectively and ensuring that the good relationship is maintained between the two of you.

You should not rush into having them trust you but rather let it grow. This takes patience and time. Simple things that some people tend to ignore can gain trust. For instance, you can choose to ignore or act upon your customer’s feedback or comments. Showing them that you care about their feedback and comments goes a long way toward building trust.

How do we continue to make our clients feel special?

Answer: By learning about their likes, dislikes and preferences. Sending them a sample of a great coffee you found only works if they are coffee drinkers.

You should always remember that each client desires individualized attention. One size hardly ever “fits all”. Especially when you are doing business with someone. When people authentically feel special, they are more likely to do business with you and refer you to new people.

A referral is the highest compliment a customer can give you. And you are receiving that referral because you “EARNED” it! Be thankful and acknowledge the referral. It is a big deal!

Keep BUILDING!

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Is your current team member compensation archaically still paying for time and effort or is it rewarding results?

Compensation is a key determinant when people are looking for any kind of job. Every person dreams of getting a job that enables them to practice their career and expertise and pays well enough to enable them to meet their daily needs. The greatest challenge for most businesses and companies is how to balance between compensating team members for results achieved by a team member and finally the balance that is the profit for the company.

In order for any person to achieve results, they both need experience in that particular field and skills. Experience is what a person has learned about a particular field that they cannot learn in any institution. No one can dispute the fact that senior people are very experienced in whatever they do since they may have earned an experience of probably twenty years and above. During this period, these people have also built relationships that are very important for the success of any business.

It is however important to note that the success of any business is not entirely dependent on experience and the relationships. A business needs to have a new perspective on things in order to be able to remain relevant in the current world. The new perspective may not come from people who have been doing the same job, the same way for the last twenty years. Sadly, leadership must embrace that “senior” team members may have skills that have become quite stale and outdated. And unless they are open to embracing different ways of doing things, they may become irrelevant in a very short period of time.

“Complacency kills.”

Results, skills, time, experience and effort are all essential ingredients for any organization to succeed. The question therefore is how to compensate each team member for the contributions they bring to the table. Senior people are likely to bring experience, time and effort to the team. However, the most important thing for any organization is results. It is very hard to produce any better results when a person has been working a certain way for many years and they do not know any other way of doing things. Additionally, one may also be very unwilling to embrace new ways that could lead to greater profits, if the old way of doing things has always worked.

The greatest challenge for the organization is how to determine the compensation plan. Do you compensate team members simply because of their time and effort or their results? Both people who are young in a career and the experienced senior individuals are likely to offer their time and effort. However, the time and effort for the young is likely to translate to better results owing to the new skills they may have acquired. For senior people on the other hand, they are likely to yield the same results they have been getting for the past twenty years since they are still working the same way they always have.  

Time and effort are essential for the success of an organization. However, these are not the only determinants. Results are essential for the survival of a company. Therefore, any business whether large or small has to ensure they get the best results from the team members. Any company that has been simply paying based on the time and effort contributed by the members versus results, might need to reevaluate their systems.

“Doing nothing will guarantee stagnation.”

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Ships are safer in the harbor, but they were not built for that. We are not built to merely stay in one place.

Life is so exciting. There are so many things we all still want to see and do. And all this stuff we go through in life is nothing more than us committing to different choices.

On the flip side, lots of days I don’t feel like I’m getting a good hand from the dealer, but that’s the hand that I have to play, so I do it with as much marvelousness as I can. As I stated earlier: Without adversity, there is no personal growth.

Usually I try to learn from mistakes and take a lesson from hardships. But there are times when I look up at the sky and say, “Lord, I’ve grown enough today.”

There is no victory in lying down.

• You will win as long as you keep fighting in this great game of life.
• Don’t ever accept being mediocre.
• Be marvelous, no matter how bad things get.

Peace, Love & Gumbo

Marvin LeBlanc

Please share your comments below or feel free to email me directly at Marvin@marvinleblanc.com. 

I stay continually amazed at how clueless many managers are about what their team members want, yet they’ve been managers for years. Ask questions of your team
members and listen to their responses. Your job is to make sure they have one heart.

When put in charge, take charge, and have the courage to do the right thing. Continue to show appreciation of your team. Courage is not passing it off or acting cowardly. Courage is tak- ing the necessary action steps to get to a worthwhile goal. Make a commitment to the goal and make a commitment to get better. Taking risks is OK, too. Players who take no risks usually lose. Don’t let your ego get in the way.

Leadership is essentially the ability to lead, inspire, and in- fluence. Leadership must define the talent. Leadership and teamwork are intertwined. You are the leader of your team, so lead by example and don’t expect your team to carry you. The following few easy actions can help you maximize the output from your team:

• Hire the right people (discussed below). People won’t burn out if they are the right people, if they are open to train- ing, and if you continue teaching them.

• Utilize their strengths. Maximize everyone’s talents through leverage, training, expectations, accountability, conse- quences, and empowerment. Realize that very rarely does the true core of a person ever change. Sadly many managers tend to manage around their team members' weaknesses. Avoid this tendency & forever strive to manage around a team members' strengths.

• Train. Hold training sessions from 8-9 a.m., four days a week. An employee cannot find money if they don’t know what they’re looking for or where to look for it.

I would love to hear your ideas in the comments.  In case you missed it, you can downlaod Chapter 1 of my book, Come Hell or High Water by clicking here!

BRING MARVIN TO YOUR GROUP...

Marvin LeBlanc is a professional entrepreneur who built a thriving business in the insurance and financial services industry for 30 years, and who is still actively engaged in his business in New Orleans, Louisiana. A Dale Carnegie graduate and professional member of the National Speakers Association, Marvin is available to motivate and inspire...

• Dynamic people with initiative and vision
• Insurance agents and associations
• Entrepreneurs
• Sales professionals
• Colleges, universities, high schools
• Home-based business owners
• Network marketing organizations

Marvin's keynotes, seminars and team training workshops are now available now.

Call 225-938-4177 or email marvin@marvinleblanc.com to discuss your group's needs and how we might work together to make “Marvelous” happen!

Welcome Back Marvelous People!

When someone describes you, what is the one word most frequently used to describe you? Do you  know what that word is? Do you even care? You may say, Marvin why the heck should I care? Well here's why. Because your life has a purpose. You matter. Your life's legacy can be that you were a "difference maker".

DIFFERENCE MAKERS ARE PERMANENT MARKERS IN A DRY ERASER WORLD!!

You can choose how large your COMMITTMENT is to "difference making".

Just for your family and that's all? Great!! That's huge. The world can benefit greatly from people like yourself that's committed to "taking care of their own".

How about your family and your neighbors? (look outside. Is there a neighbor that just needs to sit and talk with you over a cup of Community Coffee?)

How about your family, neighbors and the community you live in? (that community you live in, which group of people there are going through a world of hurt?)

How about your family, neighbors, community and the state you live in? (I bet you know what the biggest problem your state faces. Hint: your family, friends and neighbors talk about it all the time. How can you make a dent in the problem?)

How about your family, neighbors, community, the state and the country you live in? (A pebble in a pond makes a ripple that reaches wide)

You may be thinking: "Oh now hold on Marvin, you're taking this thing way too far?"
Really.

Explain to me WHO told you that you can't be a difference maker for all 5 of these groups.

Who are these people?
Do you even know their names?

Let me tell you exactly who these people are.

They are DREAM KILLERS!! Yep, I said it. Who are "they"? Do you even know their names? Have you ever sat down with them and shared a meal?

Important Point:Obsess with memorizing and repeating this question over and over until it becomes a part of your very fiber.

Ready for the question? Here it is.

WHY NOT ME??? (write that down!!! Go ahead, no one's watching. Now put it in your purse, wallet or on your refrigerator. The Places you visit often.)

Get this:
It requires no special talent, no special training, no special college degree or ANY degree or even a High School diploma to commit to a life of being a "difference maker".

What it DOES take is:
1.Selflessness
2.Daily Random Acts of kindness
3 Compassion
4. We, we, we. Not me, me , me.

Now be honest - if you don't already possess these 4 traits of a difference maker, can you not develop these 4 traits?

All it takes is to CHOOSE. The world needs you now. I could care less what your past is. The only thing that matters is the choice to be a difference maker now. Live in the present.

Will  you choose to be a Permanent Marker or a Dry Eraser?

I hope you enjoyed today's message.

Speaking of choices, our "Community" of readers could really benefit from your ideas and tips on how they can be better difference makers. Be sure to use the comment and feedback feature we have provided. Be selfless. Be a Giver!

Until next time!

Peace, love and Gumbo!!
Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP
South Louisiana

In small business and in life, I have found that we go through three phases of attitude. * The first is excitement. The second is frustration, and the third is recommitment. During and after Hurricane Katrina, all of New Orleans sank deeply into the frustration phase, myself included. There are six sub-phases of frustration that everyone in my business and personal life were experiencing:

1. Shock
2. Denial
3. Fear
4. Anger
5. Justification
6. Acceptance

1. Shock is the first sub-phase of frustration. You are going to be shocked at the realization that it’s possible you’re going to be hit with another hurricane. Intellectually, you know good and well that the possibility exists, but when you see that icon again, you’re still going to be shocked. It’s amazing how many people live with the mentality of “that could never happen to me” even when it HAS happened to them before. It is easier to not focus on the adversity which is why you are shocked when the hurricane hits.Today’s article will focus on the first three sub-phases, shock, denial and fear.

2. Denial comes next. You deny that the weatherman could possibly be correct. What are the chances we’ll have another Betsy or another Katrina? This may sound humorous, but there are people who have lost everything and still believe that New Orleans and the surrounding areas will be spared in a future hurricane. I find that absolutely amazing. Never having another Category Five hurricane hitting New Orleans not only defies my logic, it defies all science.

3. Fear is the third sub-phase of frustration. You say, “My goodness, what if this weatherman is telling the truth? What if we really are going to stay in the funnel and get hit?” Fear is not something anyone likes to feel or even admit to feeling. If you are fearful, sometimes you revert back to “denial” in an effort to hide your fear.

Regardless of the stage of attitude you are at it is imperative to remember these three things:
• Don’t play the victim.
• Don’t play the blame game.
• Own it!

If you are reading this blog and were not involved in Hurricane Katrina can you think back in your life and determine what your “Katrina” moment was? How did you respond? If it was a defining moment for you as Katrina was for me, it is probably something you carry with you each and every day.

Learning to channel your energy after adversity is a gift and takes work.
I love helping people see the good, find motivation and be successful in business and in life! Join me for a and let’s make Marvelous happen in your life!

Peace, Love and Gumbo! 
Marvin LeBlanc LUTCF CNP

* Content adopted from Jim Winner author of Split Second Choice, the power of Attitude.