February 2019
February is the best time of year to write a love letter to your significant other. Roses are great, but a letter is better. I’m assuring all of you that by the time you are reading this, Claudia has already received my letter, checked it for grammatical errors, and told me, “Thank you, and I love you too.” By the way, I am the luckiest guy in the world. Look at Claudia in the red Valentine’s Day dress. Shazam! The Lo e Letter
not tell you. Invite them to tell you how you’re doing. The “I miss you” letter is what you use to invite them back or to ask them to give you another try.
Here is a copy of our last “I miss you” letter to a former client:
Dear Jim,
I am challenging you today to ask yourself and your team, “How are we staying in touch with our current customers?” If you’re not writing some sort of love letter to your current customer base, the month of cupid is the month to start. These letters should include a thank-you, say, “I appreciate you,” and, “What can we do better?”
We haven’t talked for some time. I wanted to reach out and let you know how much my wife, Claudia, and I appreciate you and miss working with you. I also wanted to share that I finally finished “the book.” After two years in the writing process, “Dialing Strangers: Overcoming Hangups and Producing Cold Calls That Sell,” is on bookshelves today. I actually began this project in sixth grade when I made my first cold call. (You will have to read the first chapter of the book to see how I fared with that call.) I wanted you to be one of the first people to get a copy of the book. As always, I value your friendship and business. I wanted to connect and see if I can help you or your company in any way. I could provide my one-day live cold-calling seminar to your sales team. If it’s okay, I would like to touch base with you from time to time, and I will follow up with a phone call soon. Again, I appreciate all you do. If you like what I do, please tell others. If I can improve, please tell me (and that includes any feedback on the book).
I have a motto about upset customers. Bad news is not like wine; it doesn’t get better with time. Sit down with your team and write an “I love you” letter right now to your client list. I recommend using either a monthly newsletter or an old-fashioned thank-you card. I work with The Newsletter Pro in Boise, Idaho to create exceptional newsletters. Hopefully, most of you have received a thank-you card from me at one time or another, complete with a photograph of you or something that is significant to you. The company I use to create these cards is sendoutcards.com. This month is also a chance for you to write an “I miss you” letter. This could be sent to clients who have not done business with you in a year or two, or it could be someone who decided to leave you because of a bad experience. That’s also why I encourage you to write “I miss you” letters, because 96 percent of customers who have a bad experience with your company, according to ATI Shop Talk, will
Sincerely,
Dave and Claudia
As always, if I can help you in any way, just reach out to me at askdavetester.com or call me on my cell phone. -Dave Tester
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The Most Important Job 3 Ways a Bad Receptionist Can Ruin Your Company
If you have a receptionist in charge of answering phones and greeting people who walk through the door, you need to know they’re making an excellent first impression. This applies to every company, from dental offices to law firms. A great receptionist can make your life easy, while a bad receptionist can lead your company to ruin. Here are three important red flags to watch out for. 1. THEY PUSH CLIENTS AWAY. As your gatekeeper, part of your receptionist’s job is to filter the lines of communication and make sure no one’s time is wasted. However, a receptionist should never treat clients like intruders interrupting their workflow. You want people to feel welcome at your company, otherwise they won’t want to keep doing business with you. This attitude should also extend to the rest of your employees. If your receptionist treats their coworkers like pests, there’s a chance they will treat clients the same way. 2. THEY’RE DISORGANIZED. Your receptionist is responsible for relaying information to the rest of your company. What happens if a client calls while you’re in a meeting and you never call them back because you weren’t informed? What if a client’s file goes missing in a messy filing cabinet? A receptionist with poor organizational skills can increase stress around the office and anger clients. 3. THEY’RE NOT TECH-SAVVY. As your company’s jack-of-all-trades, your receptionist should be able to learn whatever software the company uses, from word processors and Excel to industry-specific software. Your receptionist should also be able to easily learn new skills to facilitate system improvements and new technology. The last thing you want is company-wide changes to halt because your receptionist insists on doing things their way. When you are hiring a receptionist, take the time to find a candidate who will make life easier for everyone at your company. You won’t regret it.
Tester-
MONIAL
“Excellent Training today. The presentation was great, and you engaged our team in the topic.”
Taylor Blackwell President/Owner Walker 360 Montgomery, Alabama
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D.A.V.E.
Hiring with
With a great economy comes great challenges. The largest challenge I see as a business owner and business encourager is trying to find superior talent. Talent is out there, but we get so impatient to hire that sometimes we forget the little things that mean a lot. If you want happy people, hire happy people. If you want enthusiastic people, hire enthusiastic people. I know it’s easier said than done, but we have a system that can help you find your next superstar for the office. Just remember D.A.V.E.
A is for Audio. Interview the candidates over the phone and record the call. Most businesses have no script for interviewing, improvising as they go. I do have a script, and I do follow a system. The reason this works so well is you can slow your mind down. When you listen to the interview audio recording, you will not be swayed or misled by body language or get distracted by thinking about what question to ask next. Record the interview over the phone. We can help. V is for change of Venue. Please don’t just interview your candidates in a conference room with one or two people. Take them out. How do they treat the wait staff at a restaurant.? How do they behave after- hours at a ball game? Take the time to interview them in a venue other than your office. E is for Enthusiasm! I can coach many things for you, your staff, and even your clients. I cannot, however, teach someone to be enthusiastic. As the late legendary basketball coach John Wooden once told me, “David, act enthusiastic and you’ll be enthusiastic.” The candidates must have enthusiasm, or at least be willing to act like it, or they should not be a fit for your business. Please don’t hire them. Hire enthusiastic people.
D is for DISC assessment. If you are not using a DISC personality assessment before you hire someone, you’re asking for trouble. I know human resources might tell you it’s against the law, but that is simply not true. If you would like more information on how we provide the DISC personality tool for your business or if you would like testimonials from others who use it, please reach out to me at askdavetester.com. DISC is a must before hiring anyone new on your staff.
If order to acquire top-notch talent for your business, remember D.A.V.E.
Take a
Cream Wafers
BREAK
Cookie Ingredients
Frosting Ingredients
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar • 1/4 cup soft butter • 1 egg yolk • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • Food coloring (optional)
• 1 cup butter • 1/3 cup heavy
whipping cream
• 2 cups flour • 1/4 cup sugar (for
coating the cookies)
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 F. 2. Combine all cookie ingredients in mixing bowl. 3. Chill mixture for 1 hour. 4. Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. 5. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. 6. Fully coat cookies in sugar. 7. Place on baking sheet, poking the tops with a fork. 8. Bake 7–9 minutes. Set aside to cool. 9. Whip frosting ingredients together until smooth. 10. Make sandwiches by combining two cookies each with frosting.
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Tester TIME 17707 Madison Rd. Nampa, ID 83687 208-707-9807 www.dialingstrangers.com
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
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The Love Letter
Is Your Receptionist Chasing Away Clients?
Tester-monial
Hiring with D.A.V.E.
Book Review: ‘Do the Work’
Pressfield first addressed the challenges aspiring artists, entrepreneurs, and athletes face in “The War of Art.” This guidebook lays out Pressfield’s core philosophy that a creator is their own greatest enemy. It’s in this work that he first coined his idea of “resistance,” Pressfield’s word for the self-defeatist attitude that causes so many great ideas to be left on the drawing board. “Do the Work” is a follow up to it, prescribing Pressfield’s antidote to resistance — you guessed it: doing the work. Compared to its predecessor, “Do the Work” is a quick read. Though it’s less than 100 pages, what this guide lacks in length it makes up for in specificity and approachability. The book is laser-focused on helping anyone who is undertaking creative endeavors to identify their own resistances and overcome them. Combined with Pressfield’s no- nonsense delivery, every page is filled with the distilled, biting wisdom of a man wholly dedicated to his craft. Pressfield manages to strike a tone that is stern, humorous, cynical, and at times even whimsical without missing a beat. You can feel the author smirking at you through the page when he tells you, “Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional, crazy heart.” He dares you to pick your pen back up and return to your drawing board. “Do the Work” crackles with the tempered passion and biting wit of a learned master. If you’re looking to reignite your creative spark, “Do the Work” needs to be a permanent fixture on your nightstand.
Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way
Few modern authors have a resume as colorful or textured as Steven Pressfield. A graduate of Duke University, the best-selling author served in the Marine Corps, drove tractor trailers, taught school children, and worked as an oil field roustabout — all before penning his first published work. Having struggled as a writer for 17 years before seeing his first paycheck, it’s no surprise that Pressfield has plenty of wisdom to share when it comes to making long-term dreams a reality.
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