By Greg Ferrett

As in life, at the core of every business is a heart beating away providing life giving oxygen, [boulder on road] paying salaries, keeping production moving and supporting the families of every person involved. This heartbeat pumps something which, like our own heart pumping oxygen, can kill your business faster than any other business problem. This essential oxygen for business in paying customers.

No matter what business you are in, and this includes 'not for profits' and totally volunteer organisations, the life blood of every organisation is people willing to be engaged, to volunteer, to pay fees, and to buy products or services.

Traffic Jams

I live and work in a large city. This involves travelling in and out every day. I take a keen interest in traffic reports as I know it takes just a small accident to create a major blockage on the roads. Manufacturing companies wait on deliveries to meet the demands for production; Events wait on patrons to turn up; Buildings wait on maintenance companies to fix the elevators ... the list goes on.

A major blockage can bring a city to its knees.

Wait until you feel the pain

I was talking with a cardiologist and he despaired about the small number of people who proactively did something about their heart health. Even though there are well proven ways to maintain a healthy heart less than 5% of the population did anything at all about it voluntarily.

This struck a chord with me as less than 5% of people in business or sales have EVER attended a sales training program, read a sales book or listed to a sales or motivational CD by their own choice. (Brian Tracy - 'Psychology Of Selling')

The average person waits until they feel the symptoms until they do something about the pain of a heart problem - and if you are a male you are likely to wait until it is too late.

In business, if you wait until you feel the pain of a blocked sales pipeline of funnel, insolvency is often just around the corner.

Is Selling a 'Black Art' or Normal?

Selling is often termed the 'Black Art'. Something necessary to make a business work, yet mysterious in nature. Somehow the sales wizards go out and bring in orders.

An inventor I have worked with keeps telling me "If you build it they will come".

It is now ten years since he built his first working model and no one came. He has built three improved models and still no one came.

Selling is a very normal function and is about telling people a story. You do not need a working model, just an idea or concept which might work. It is not about building, it is about proactively listening to others and sharing your ideas. It is simple and straight forward.

At the core of your business is a heartbeat, and that heart is kept going by listening and telling others your story.

Today’s question and actions

What are you doing to keep the heartbeat of your business going? Here are a couple of things you can do;

Know your story. Keep it simple and do not leave things out just because you think it has all been said before. For this new person it is the first time and it is important they get the full impact. Like an actor playing the same show every day - keep the passion alive and your audience will applauded every performance.
Look for something new with each customer. Every person who does business with you, decides to volunteer, or become engaged with what you do does so for their own reason. Find out their reason and you will have a depth of real stories to keep you message fresh.

There is nothing difficult about selling if you know your story and can relate it to others. Usually if there is a blockage it is because you have not maintained you own enthusiasm.

Have a great week!

Reprint permission

Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; mailto:greg.ferrett@mondaymotivationalmoment.com