As I was filling my car with gas the other day, I noticed a man using the pay phone nearby. He wore a black suit, cranberry-colored dress shirt (about two sizes too small around his neck) and a solid black tie, which I think was a clip-on. If he was on his way to a job interview or meeting a client, I didn't give him much chance. He looked like he didn’t belong in his clothes. He was uncomfortable, out of style, and more than a little out of sorts.
Don’t be like the guy on the payphone. Wearing a tie doesn’t guarantee you’ll look professional. Meeting a prospect in person is like going on a job interview. And since you are the most important thing you have to offer your first customer, your appearance carries a lot of weight. It’s not just your product or service that has to meet qualifications. You have to wear clothes that “fit” in more than the literal sense. You have to look like you belong in your clothes. You must have the appearance of a successful businessperson, whatever that may mean in your industry. Don't, for example, throw a tie on with short-sleeve shirt you're wearing and assume you'll look professional. Yes, business has gotten a lot more casual in recent years, but your prospect may one of last of a breef who doesn't think that's such a good thing.
On the other extreme, let’s say your business requires you to spend most of your time outside. Suppose your regular “uniform” is a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt. It wouldn’t make sense to automatically jump ten rungs on the business attire scale to a suit when you meet your prospect. If you do, you may look as uncomfortable and out of place to your prospect as the guy in the cranberry shirt looked to me. Wear clean, relatively new clothes—perhaps something nicer than jeans—but also wear clothes that look right on you. If you still have a polyester leisure suit from the 70s, don’t wear it to meet a prospect unless you’re auditioning for lead singer of a rock band and attempting an ironic fashion statement.
Appropriate “attire” applies to more than just clothing, particularly as more business is conducted on the phone or online. Attire extends to the way you speak, your printed materials, web site, etc. If you’re thinking, “I guess I’d better get some business cards printed,” you’re not taking your professional appearance seriously enough. Your business cards should be expertly designed, rather than something that appears to have been produced as an afterthought. If you’re going to launch a web site, it must be a professional web site rather than something your cousin Tina designed for you (unless Tina is a web or graphic designer).
A consistent message is equally important. If you’re going to contact prospects on the phone, practice your introduction until it’s flawless. How’s your grammar? Even the smallest slip-up can instantly turn off a prospect. Every thing from the way you dress, your hair, and the way you speak can effect the prospect’s impression of you. You’re selling yourself. Make sure you’re a great-looking product.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Death of the Business Phone Call
The following article recently appeared in RainToday.com, an e-mag for sales professionals. The article has applications for new entrepreneurs.
Supposedly, email is killing the art of letter writing. I fear intelligent phone dialogue is on life support, too. We think we're saving time by shooting off a quick email to someone. Or if we receive an email, we just assume we should answer in kind.
To read the entire article, go here.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
How "Free" can be Profitable, part 2
At the end of our first 90 days, my company had no customers. There was no need to shop at Hallmark for client-appropriate Christmas cards. However, we continued to line up a lot of appointments, prepare proposals and arrange follow-up appointments. We were getting good reactions from most prospects—except for the reaction that mattered most: the actual signing of an agreement.
One of our angel investors served on a civic board with someone who was married to the executive director of a non-profit agency. Our investor thought the agency might have a use for our software, which was designed to help organizations request bids for products and services. After one quick meeting, the non-profit became our pilot customer. The agency wouldn’t pay us a dime the first year, but they agreed to use our untested software to help with millions of dollars in bids.
In exchange for free access to our software, the pilot customer became our super reference. They would be on call to say good things about us, and also meet in person with prospects when we asked them. We asked them often.
Putting the product to the test
Thanks in part to our pilot's customer's reference, we won our first paying customer within weeks. But our pilot customer helped in other ways. The pilot experience confirmed our software worked the way it had been designed, but it also showed us how to improve it. Our pilot customer put it through its paces in real-world situations, which no amount of experimentation could replace.
The quickest route to discovering ways to improve a product or service is to allow a customer to use and abuse it. Even years after developing your product or starting your service, your customers may want to use it in ways you never imagined. We saw how our software meshed with a company’s business practices, and how we could enhance the software to help improve those practices. Those enhancements made it more appealing to other prospects.
Working with an actual customer offers value that no amount of listening to prospects can equal. You can better anticipate the needs of subsequent customers. If a prospect brings up concerns, you'll be more prepared to address them immediately, rather than to say, “We’ll get back to you.”
More valuable than instant revenue
It would be great if your pilot customer—your first customer—actually paid you something for your goods or services. But that is not her main purpose, so let’s assume she doesn’t pay a cent. The main purpose of the pilot customer is to talk about you—to provide both references and referrals. You want her to feel so good about you and what you have done to make her life easier that she will complement you and your product at every opportunity, even without being asked. When she tells others, “Look at what a great company this is,” she also means, “Look at how smart I was to give them a chance.”
Our pilot customer has since paid thousands of dollars annually to use our software. Better yet, they asked to develop a second product, which quickly became the focal point of our company.
One of our angel investors served on a civic board with someone who was married to the executive director of a non-profit agency. Our investor thought the agency might have a use for our software, which was designed to help organizations request bids for products and services. After one quick meeting, the non-profit became our pilot customer. The agency wouldn’t pay us a dime the first year, but they agreed to use our untested software to help with millions of dollars in bids.
In exchange for free access to our software, the pilot customer became our super reference. They would be on call to say good things about us, and also meet in person with prospects when we asked them. We asked them often.
Putting the product to the test
Thanks in part to our pilot's customer's reference, we won our first paying customer within weeks. But our pilot customer helped in other ways. The pilot experience confirmed our software worked the way it had been designed, but it also showed us how to improve it. Our pilot customer put it through its paces in real-world situations, which no amount of experimentation could replace.
The quickest route to discovering ways to improve a product or service is to allow a customer to use and abuse it. Even years after developing your product or starting your service, your customers may want to use it in ways you never imagined. We saw how our software meshed with a company’s business practices, and how we could enhance the software to help improve those practices. Those enhancements made it more appealing to other prospects.
Working with an actual customer offers value that no amount of listening to prospects can equal. You can better anticipate the needs of subsequent customers. If a prospect brings up concerns, you'll be more prepared to address them immediately, rather than to say, “We’ll get back to you.”
More valuable than instant revenue
It would be great if your pilot customer—your first customer—actually paid you something for your goods or services. But that is not her main purpose, so let’s assume she doesn’t pay a cent. The main purpose of the pilot customer is to talk about you—to provide both references and referrals. You want her to feel so good about you and what you have done to make her life easier that she will complement you and your product at every opportunity, even without being asked. When she tells others, “Look at what a great company this is,” she also means, “Look at how smart I was to give them a chance.”
Our pilot customer has since paid thousands of dollars annually to use our software. Better yet, they asked to develop a second product, which quickly became the focal point of our company.
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