Dear Archive Visitor, Some of you noticed that The Sales Refinery Insights didn't show up in your email inbox last week. Well, there was a reason for that. Remember my daughter, Audrey, of dance camp fame? Well, she was feeling quite under the weather last Monday. Okay, that's the understatement of the year because she even decided not to go to ballet class. Audrey doesn't miss ballet class. Ever. When I received a call from Audrey on Tuesday informing me that she wasn't going to ballet again, I did something I rarely do. I suggested she go to a doctor. A couple hours later I received a call from the doctor that she was sending Audrey to the E.R., as she thought she had appendicitis. I think the E.R. had her admitted to the hospital in record time and then scheduled surgery for 5PM. I packed a suitcase in five minutes and was out the door driving to LA. So, instead of hanging out in front of my computer, I spent the week hanging out with Audrey, while she recuperated. But Audrey wasn't the only one in the spotlight last week. I was once again nominated on Top10SalesArticles.com for my article, "Does the Fear of Cold Calling Stop You From Calling Prospects?" However, I didn't accomplish much more than that, since I was spending most of my time watching over my tiny dancer!

What If You Followed-Up With All Your Prospects? By Tammy Stanley If you've read my book, you know that one of my all time favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. If you're familiar with it, then you certainly remember the lyrics, "Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road." Go ahead and hum that tune, but sing these words instead, "follow, follow, follow, follow, follow up with prospects today!" The characters in The Wizard of Oz follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, where they hope to meet up with the Wizard who will grant them their deepest desires. In direct sales you have to follow up with prospects before they can grant you an appointment, and you have to follow up with customers before they can grant you more sales or referrals. There are three ways to increase your business. However, most direct sales reps focus almost exclusively on only one way Ñ increasing the number of customers in their database. The problem with that is increasing the number of customers is typically the most expensive cost of doing business. In that case, it seems worthwhile to review the other two ways you can increase business. To increase business you can also work to increase the size of each sale or increase the number of sales per customer each year. For today's lesson, I'm only investigating that last way to increase your business Ñ increase the number of sales per customer. Did you know that statistically speaking, the easiest person to sell to is an existing client? It makes perfect sense really. If someone has already bought from you, he/she is already sold. In my personal experience, no company has proved their knowledge of this more effectively than Bon Appetit. There's a reason why I've subscribed to that magazine for 19 years Ñ Bon Appetit absolutely understands how to extract business from their current client base month after month, year after year. How can you get business from your current client base month after month, year after year? Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow up with your customers today! And when I say "follow up" I don't mean twice a year to inform them about the new product line. Consider that before I ever receive a notice that my subscription with Bon Appetit is about to expire, I've received an absolutely gorgeous magazine jam-packed with delicious recipes for at least six months. I understand that a magazine subscription with Bon Appetit is different than a bottle of cleansing cream or a pair of earrings, etc. But here's the million-dollar question? How could you make it more similar? In other words, how could you create real value with your customers twelve times a year? These days if I go to a home party or a trade show, I don't even hesitate to give my phone number to the sales rep. Do you know why that is? It's because there's no need to worry that the sales rep will start pestering me. You see, I know the chances are slim to nothing that the rep will ever give me a call. Now for those of you, who actually follow up with your customers and prospects on a regular basis, picture me standing up and giving you an ovation. While I'm giving you a standing ovation, I'll also venture to place a bet on the table that you are one of the stars in your direct sales company. That was a really safe bet. Truth be told, I'm not much of a gambler. It's well known that the sales people who stand out and rise to the top follow up with prospects and customers. Are you ready to make this fall season better than ever? There's a very simple way to do that. Make a commitment to follow up with your prospects and customers. Instead of thinking how you might be pestering them, consider the information I shared with you just a few paragraphs ago Ñ very few sales people ever follow up with their prospects or customers! Instead of considering you as a pest, your prospects and customers are more likely to think of you as "a one in a million sales representative" that actually cares enough to follow up. A few years ago, a friend of ours (I'll call him Mike because that's actually his name!) started a business selling insurance. The obstacle Mike faced in getting our business was that I already had another good friend in the insurance business, and our car and home insurance was with her. I wasn't going to switch insurance agents. And yes, Regis, that was my final answer! But that final answer didn't stop Mike from staying in touch. Once a month, he'd stop by my husband's office just to see how things were going. After about 3 months, it occurred to my husband that we could give our life insurance business to Mike, since we had term insurance and our agent lived in Oregon and never had any contact with us. It wasn't much business to give to Mike, but he treated us like we were his best clients. Every month we'd get a call from him. Sometimes he'd even take us out for coffee at our favorite coffee shop, and we'd have a great time catching up on each other's lives. Then the unexpected happened. The company my husband worked for closed their office in AZ and left him unemployed. Suddenly he had retirement savings and company stock to re-invest. Guess who's monthly follow-up call made it easy to decide with whom to entrust that investment money? Without a company health care plan to rely on, it also became necessary to purchase catastrophic health insurance. Hmm... guess who's monthly follow-up call made it easy to decide who could help us pick a health care plan? I've had investments with the same financial planner for years. But after his recent retirement, just guess who's monthly follow-up call made it a breeze to know with whom I wanted to entrust those investments? A major point here is that things change. At first we wanted to help out Mike and give him some of our business, but we didn't see how we could. Mike was smart enough not to let that keep him from staying in touch with us on a monthly basis. It didn't take us long to understand that no one out there would take better care of us than Mike. And the changes we experienced in our lives became Mike's opportunity to assist us and likewise grow his business. What would happen if you consistently followed up with your prospects and your customers? You might not meet up with the Wizard of Oz, but it might very well have a wizardly effect on your business! WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Author, Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker Tammy Stanley publishes the propelling 'Sales Refinery Insights' weekly ezine for direct sales professionals. If you're ready to jump-start your direct sales business, make more money, and create more value, get your FREE tips now at www.tammystanley.com/ezine/ezine_offer_ds.htm

My new friend, Jonathan Farrington, is a business coach, mentor, author, consultant and entrepreneur, who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels, in his capacity as Managing Partner of The jfa Group. Check out his blog from yesterday, July 18th, to see what he says about my book, Carpe Phonum. Jonathan Farrington's reviews my book, Carpe Phonum

Tammy Stanley, founded and directs The Sales Refinery, a sales training company that assists direct sales consultants to generate more business and build long-lasting sales teams through powerful marketing, selling and leadership strategies.

Tammy has been coaching and training since 1994 and has a deep understanding of the challenges and needs of the independent sales consultant. While raising four children, Tammy built a multi-million dollar direct sales organization, reaching her company's Circle of Excellence 7 consecutive years in a row. She earned numerous sales and leadership awards, world travel, and promoted 11 offspring managers.

The Tammy Stanley Sales Refinery
Tempe, AZ 85283
Call Today: 480-775-4866
tammy@TammyStanley.com