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More Money From Every Sale Class
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Here is an Excerpt from Make More Money from every Sale

Lesson 8
It is the purpose of every business to sell and serve

Why should we sell more to every customer?

Simple! That's what business is all about.

Your business must have a purpose - a big one.

I speak to a lot of business people and they never cease to surprise me over their lack of ability to define why they are in business.

I wonder if you fully understand the purpose of being in your business. Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited (Harper Collins, 1995) tells us the purpose of being in business is to give the owner more life. He says the thing needs to run itself with good systems which free up the owner to live better. He calls it "having more life." The owner can then choose to sell the business, or work in it just for the fun of it, or only visit it now and then. In the meantime however the owner needs to work on the business so here is where we will start, by defining a purpose for your business.This will in turn explain the importance of add-on selling to the overall scheme of giving you more life.

When I ask people in my seminars to define the purpose of business the responses usually fall under two headings.

Some say, "To make a profit." Others tell me, "To provide a service."

Being in business to make a profit is a fairly empty ambition. That is the purpose of the Mafia.

On the other hand, being in business to serve people is a noble notion, but it better defines the purpose of the Salvation Army, strictly a not-for-profit organisation. However, if we combine these two ideas, we have a great definition for business.

The purpose of business is to serve people in such a worthwhile way that paying for your goods, they will gladly help you earn a profit.

That's how Walt Disney built his fabulous business. His motto went along these lines: "Do what you do so well that people will bring their friends back to have you do it for them."

Let's get serious but let's not be dull.

Let's get serious for a couple of minutes and write out a purpose for your business; one which takes into account your need for profit and your customers' need for service. It's the kind of thing you and your staff need to stick on the walls and nail to the backs of your eyelids so it drives what you do every day. But please -- spare us any predictable and tired phraseology that looks pompous in a gold frame but which means nothing to the reader.

Here's a suggestion about how to start it.

Speaking and writing for a living is a great job anyway but sometimes it is unbelievably sweet. It was that way in New Zealand one time when I was invited to speak at a national convention for telemarketing people who sell display advertising.

Man! Are they pumped?!

They are doing what they love and love what they do. Once you see their energetic approach to everything they do, you have to ask, "From where do they get their drive to achieve and succeed?"

Their leaders tell you it's from the fact that everyone of them owns the corporate vision and each person owns a part of that vision at a local area level.

Instead of writing out a mission statement or a vision statement full of motherhood phrases like this (the underlining emphasizes particularly worn out words) We will strive to achieve primary position in the marketplace by superior service and excellence in product presentation, they use visuals instead.

The executives of the company get together each year and thrash out a graphical representation of what they stand for and explain it to every employee. Because it is done in pictures and not words, anyone can explain it in whatever terms they choose. The picture captures the spirit of their mission without following the letter of the law.

Then the local teams follow suit and create their own mission in their own picture. They use magazine cutouts, sketches and photos.

I saw one group with a homemade collage of a K-12 yacht in stormy seas with cutouts of the work team's photos pasted on the crew's bodies. I asked them if they could tell me their team's mission. "Easy," they said, fighting over each other to tell me.

The yacht represented the target that corporate office had given them. They were on board together to get to the end of the race and they'd only make it if they each played their own part. The huge wave washing over the boat represented considerable local opposition; stiff competition in the fact that radio advertising was strong in their area. The picture showed them surging through the surf, using energy, team work and great tactics to beat the opposition, with their sails full of strong winds of encouragement from other work teams all over New Zealand.

I couldn't fault it. Every team had something similar to show and they could all explain what theirs meant.

Can your people explain your corporate mission as enthusiastically as this? If you or they can't do it, now is the time to get stuck into the project, because I have a sense that your business is like a ship without a rudder.

And this is a must: Make sure your mission statement includes something about making a profit by providing a great service.

Money Maker

Lay aside some quality time to get this done. It might take several hours or several meetings and it might not be the easiest thing you've ever done, but once you've done it you will have a strong wind in your sails. You will be able to refer back to it and re-direct yourself regularly.

When you've created something with which you are happy, copy and paste it here.

Add-on selling is vital for a number of reasons

From here on in the book I'll be ramming home the line that selling more to customers we already have right then and there in the store is a sure fire way to increase our profits and render a great service.

I'll be pointing out that it is important to recognize how customers and the market place are always changing so taking advantage of every opportunity is the only way to survive.

I'll also explain how add-on selling is an open wallet opportunity and I'll spend a lot of time enlarging on the service angle of selling.

BRIGHT IDEA:Embody this philosophy for your life.

It would be safer to stand between a mother bear and her cubs than try to deter a person who is ardently pursuing a worthwhile

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