Just a thought on follow up that could revolutionise your business
I had an epiphany.
Did you know there are 17 ways to get in touch with me!
You can;
- Message my Facebook Profile.
- Message me on my The Business Womans Network page.
- Message me on my Mandie Holgate page.
- Message me via this site.
- Email me via my mandie@mandieholgate.co.uk account.
- Email me via my mandie@thebusinesswomansnetwork.co.uk account.
- Email me via info@thebusinesswomansnetwork.co.uk.
- Text me.
- Whatsap me.
- Send me a message via my @BWNcouk Twitter account.
- Send me a message via my @Mandieholgate Twitter account.
Bear with me there is a point to this list…
- Send me a message via my Instagram account @Mandieholgate
- Send me a message via my Instagram account @thebusinesswomansnetworkuk
- Send me a message via Pinterest.
- Send me a message via The Business Womans Network on Google My Business or even my Mandie Holgate GMB account.
You could even leave me a voice message on that old fashioned landline.
The point is, there are various methods to get in touch and yet even in lock in (I prefer Lock in to Lockdown – sounds more fun, that’s a story for another time!) I find that people don’t get in touch, even when they want to.
I often hear “I wanted to speak to you about this” and then they add “But I didn’t like to trouble you.”
Don’t let your own hang ups and incorrect beliefs stop you from phoning people.
Whether it’s because you emailed them and you’ve not had a reply, or whether you just want to see how someone is, pick up the phone, message them, send them a letter heck if you own pigeons send one of those, but don’t miss out on what you need because you were holding on to an incorrect belief. It can seriously damage your happiness and success.
Want proof?
Mrs X had put in a proposal to work with a company and they’d heard nothing – after working with me they picked up the phone stopped stressing they would look desperate and got the contract – in fact the customer said “I’m so glad you called, I’ve been meaning to get in touch.”
Mr X knew things weren’t working well in the office and they had ideas on how to fix it, the only issue was that they didn’t want to look like they were negative and not a team player – after coaching with me they realised they weren’t going to turn to their boss and tell them they were rubbish, and the company sucked, they had genuine ideas to help with productivity of the company and found a constructive way to present these ideas that were very well received. Guess what that did for their career?
Miss X had an endless conversation battering her in her head that said she had upset someone and she couldn’t get it out of her head, it was upsetting her whole life, when she should be working, her mind was elsewhere and if she was having fun it would hit her as a negative comment, she came to me with this overloaded brain and after coaching she contacted the person in question with a long message saying how sorry she was and that it was something she never wanted to see happen and it had been so hard to write this message etc, etc….the recipient didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. In fact the recipient said “If you had upset me, I would have told you.” Can you imagine the relief?
I see this happening in people’s lives all the time, they let their perception of reality, their beliefs (usually limiting ones) and their experiences taint the moment to obscure it into a negative outcome.
So come on reader, pick up the phone!
I make my coaching clients do this all the time and it’s led to some amazing results. Alas most of those are confidential but I can tell you clients have been able to;
- Start charging fees they never thought anyone would pay.
- They’ve been able to secure contracts with organisations that they thought wouldn’t touch their little company with a barge pole.
- They’ve been able to get their dream jobs.
- Been able to secure promotions because they found their voice.
Find your voice, consider the best way to contact that person and if you don’t hear from them, get in touch again. With 17 ways of connecting with me, it’s not surprising we miss messages!
If you put this into action and get results I would be terribly grateful if you would leave a small donation on this blog – check out the little box at the top on your right, thank you. Writers need pennies too. And if you would like more help I own an amazing mastermind group that is only £5 a month and I’d love to welcome you too.
Need to build your confidence or work on your communications? Check out my courses.
7 proven tips to power up your phone call success
Here are a few ideas to help you when it comes to picking up the phone.
- Admit there is a problem. From management to the self employed I’ve heard a ton of excuses why email is better; We need the paper trail” “It’s company policy” “It helps to keep people in the loop”… While all of these can be true, the true power of email has been heavily diluted since everyone adds you to their database, copies you into the clipping of a paper clip and no one wants to get sued for getting it wrong. Therefore, email is not always the most powerful solution. Think about it – it can slow down replies, answers, courses of action and even results. One client that started picking up the phone more said in a follow up session that not only were people shocked to hear from their boss, they also felt like they had been listened to. As this client pointed out “When had I ever suggested I was not here for my team?” However, email can be impersonal and picking up the phone changed that.
- Have a plan. Don’t just pick up the phone and wing it. From arranging meetings, to closing sales, from follow up to chasing up, plan the result you want. In doing this you are able to structure what points you need to raise.
- Get permission. With the greatest plan in the world if you don’t have permission to talk, you will be off the phone before you can boil a kettle. Find a way that feels natural to you however start the conversation in a way that makes it clear you wish to discuss x and will only need 1 minute. That if I don’t get the opportunity now I will call back at 2pm tomorrow, so is now a good time or shall I call back then? A question that reinforces (nicely) that this person is not getting out of this phone call, you will polite, courteous, to the point and respectful of time. Never start a conversation on the phone with “Is now a good time or are you busy?” (Do you know anyone on the planet (apart from my dog!) that is not busy! You just gave them the perfect excuse to get off the phone!
- Keep it succinct. Are you lacking in work to do? (If so pop around to any office, including mine and I will give you a job!) the point is because everyone is so busy you need to be straight talking. Not only do people like honesty they also appreciate someone that doesn’t waste precious time, so don’t add in too much general chat.
- Be led. The key to a successful phone call is to be led by the other person. To listen to the vocal clues, they are giving you and using them powerfully. Do they sound stressed, desperate to get you off the phone? Not going to be ideal to bog them down in detail then is it? Far better to succinctly spell out what is needed even if that is a time to meet to answer 3 questions that you need. You are likely to have heard of mirroring this is the skill in which you match their tonality, speed and choice of words between visual, verbal or kinaesthetic, i.e.;
- “I see what you are saying.”
“I hear what you say about x that sounds good to me.”
“I feel that the key points are this, would that be right?”
These all allow the other person to feel listened to. And if you struggle to hear these vocal clues, get in touch I’d be happy to share some more ideas for you.
- Lead. (“Make up your mind Mandie, am I being led or leading!” I hear you say) Being led means you make that person feel respected, however you also need to remember that you have a plan and as such you need to take the lead in the conversation. If you not sure what that is like listen to a radio interviewer guide someone into answering a question in full and then leading them into a closed answer. Politicians for instance are awesome at not answer what is asked of them and concentrating on their own agenda regardless. What does that do for the interview? It annoys the viewer/listener and the interviewer! So, it is important to know your agenda but be respectful of the other parties.
- Do as you say you will. This is so easy but so often neglected. If you say you are going to take one minute, take one minute. If you say you just need one question answering don’t start discussing last nights match or the meeting come up on Friday. Ultimately phone conversations can be very powerful if you learn to read people. And as such people will look forward to your number coming up if they know you are going to make life easier for them. Deal with things succinctly, efficiently and quickly and not take up too much time. So, do as you say you will. If you are going to follow up with an email that “Doesn’t need replying to, purely for confirmation of what’s been discussed, to save time for your team.” Then do it.
The whole point of the phone is that it can be used to get impressive results fast.
To build rapport and connections easier than via email where tonality can get misheard or misread.
It is to make yours and those that you work with lives easier, happier and more successful, so you can see the fear of picking up the phone is one we all need to get over, or it can have a costly impact on success.
If you would like more support, there’s a whole chapter in Fight the fear that looks at this fear and a number of other chapters that look at why the fear exists in the first place!
How To Stand Out At An Event (For ALL The Right Reasons)
When it comes to promoting your business, a very powerful opportunity can be a business stand. Notice the word “can” in that sentence though, because many business women make critical mistakes when it comes to having a stand at an event.
You see it’s not just about what you do on the day – the before and after are important components in making any event work for you and your businesses success.
So here’s a quick top tips guide to having a stand and getting the most out of that opportunity;
Tell everyone you know beforehand that you are going to be at that event.
Firstly this gives people a chance to learn more about your business without feeling pressurised. They can learn about what you offer in a nonchalant fashion which can be very useful for people who are new to what you offer. This is great for potential customers and to business owners who you network with who want to be in a position to promote and refer you. It also allows you to promote yourself in a different format to your existing leads and customers by telling them what your business has coming up. Offering a special offer, an event only price, or free ??? at the event gives people incentive to pop by and say hi to you.
Make sure at the event your stand is engaging in more than one way. Businesses assume that being there with their products is enough to ensure people will be attracted to you. It’s not!
You need to have something visual that instantly attracts people’s attention. Say for instance an event last 5 hours and you want to have the opportunity to talk in depth and explain more about what your company offers to people, and that will take 15 minutes per person. That means you can see 20 people effectively on your own. What will you do to ensure the rest of the world passing by stays of their own accord?
Your business signage needs to be easily read – in the time it takes to walk past your stand – ie 3 seconds.
You need to ensure your business cards are easily spotted – people have every intention of “Popping” back, but a busy event means they can easily get distracted – what do you do to ensure they DO come back?
Remember everyone will have signage, freebies and highly likely many will have a bowl of sweets and / or the requisite bottle of bubbly raffle – so what do you do to stand out?
Don’t hide behind your stand. I know its tough to stand all day, but sitting is not ideal either. You need to look smiley, happy to be there and loving it for every person that walks by. Where are you likely to g? To the stand with the smiley face or the one with the person on their phone sat down? The stand can act as a physical barrier so be aware of where you chose to stand.
What about asking people for their social media links, so that you can give them a shout out while you are at the event? How great would it be if you were promoting people and their businesses while at the event. How nice does that make you look?
The most important point about this day for you is that you gain as many contacts and potential quality leads as possible. And that is why the free raffle is so popular. But how can you do this with a twist?
Remember the most important part for you of any event is to be remembered for all the right reasons because the vital work comes AFTER the event and that is in the follow up. So what do you do to be remembered so that when you contact potential leads they are raring to go and can’t wait to hear from you?
Its critically important that you get in touch within 48 hours, because after that people are losing the “Wow it was great meeting that business” feeling. So your actions after need to be calculated and planned. What do you intend to do. And please tell me its not sign people up to your newsletter without their permission. A)its against the law B)Its disrespectful of peoples busy lives and C)Its gets you known for all the wrong reasons. What can you do to ensure people want to hear more from you? The answer is be engaging, interesting and useful.
Remember you can’t dictate when someone buys, but you can have a say in who they chose to buy from. So what actions are going to be in your follow up procedure to ensure that you are on peoples radar long after the event. Knowing this in advance means the day will be more effective and your follow up process will work too!
Whether you spoke to 50 or 500 people, after the event is where you need to shine – Every time.
How will you communicate with your contacts after?
What will you say?
What will you offer?
If you have free advice and reports available, now is a good time to make potential leads aware of them. The thing about effective marketing is that many different formats will drip, drip, drip snippets of your business fabulousness to them all of the time, making them feel like you already work for them. So it can feel like a natural progression in to working together. What will you do to ensure people want to interact with you?
How will you choose to interact with these potential leads after the event?
In knowing this information BEFORE an event you can ensure that DURING the event you are getting what you need to ensure effective follow up AFTER.
And effective follow up leads to more customers – which was the reason you had the stand in the first place.
I know its a cliché (I still love the saying though!) but think outside of the box An exhibition is your chance to get remembered and known and spread the word on all you can offer. Having a clear course of action and a goal will ensure that you come away from the event with leads, sales and contacts so that your business truly benefits from the event.
And on that note I look forward to seeing many of you at the Chelmsford Business Showcase where I and the Business Womans Network will have a stand and will have lots of business women promoting their businesses on our stand too. See I just love spreading the business love!
To learn more get in touch with me and if you are struggling with getting creative on how to make exhibitions work for you, just shout. I’m here for your success.
07989 935556
mandie@mandieholgate.co.uk
It will be great to be promoting your business too!
Whether you spoke to 50 or 500 people, after the event is where you need to shine – Every time.
How will you communicate with your contacts after?
What will you say?
What will you offer?
If you have free advice and reports available, now is a good time to make potential leads aware of them. The thing about effective marketing is that many different formats will drip, drip, drip snippets of your business fabulousness to them all of the time, making them feel like you already work for them. So it can feel like a natural transgression in to working together. What will you do to ensure people want to interact with you?
How will you choose to interact with these potential leads after the event?
In knowing this information BEFORE an event you can ensure that DURING the event you are getting what you need to ensure effective follow up AFTER.
And effective follow up leads to more customers – which was the reason you had the stand in the first place.