October 2018
Get in Front of the Parade
When I was in high school, a group of friends dared me to become the drum major for the marching band. I don’t mind a good challenge, but I was an athlete — I played basketball and football. I wondered what my athlete friends would say. Having recently become familiar with the term “Renaissance man,” I decided to take on the challenge. I was already a trumpet player; why not move to the front of the band? That’s where the action happened. With a whistle and baton, I summoned the crowd’s attention and the cadence for the Post Falls High School marching band!
were not sales-driven and lacked passion and enthusiasm. I wanted to make a big impact my first day, so I hired the marching band from one of the local high schools. Their job was to show up, march around the building several times and blast “Celebrate Good Times” by Kool & the Gang to get the blood pumping. It was 8 a.m. on the dot. The band was in place, ready to dazzle and delight. However, there was one thing missing: my new employees! I got a quick lesson in how deep the problems were, because the sales team and staff were accustomed to showing up later. I wasn’t fazed. I gave a signal to the band and they played and marched around several times, garnering the attention of a few of my workers and plenty of folks from surrounding businesses. This was the message: Following today, things are changing! Looking at my old photo recently made me realize that, in the business world, you can be in the parade, but to really get attention, you need to be in FRONT of it! Whether you’re the boss or an account executive — you need to work harder to get attention and get the results you want. I was bold enough to hire the band after several successful attempts to woo clients made earlier when I was in sales. I sent my very first sales proposal to a decision-maker in Honolulu in a pizza box. That is, I faxed the proposal to the Pizza Hut and had them stuff it inside the pizza I had ordered for my prospect. He called me immediately.
In another case, I ordered a new pair of shoes for a CEO and stuffed a note in them, “Just trying to get my foot in the door!” Again, standing out from the crowd — leading the parade — put me in front for success.
Here’s a photo of my client, Tom Beeles. We meet regularly for breakfast and he had 100 things on his mind as usual. I arranged for the wait staff to march out and sing “Happy Birthday!” He was completely surprised that I knew it was his birthday. His energy and attitude went through the roof. Those delightful, unpredictable moments break up the way business is usually done. I challenge you to bring more novelty to your approach. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it DOES have to be thoughtful. Lead the parade. Be bold. Jump in! Once you have their attention, action will follow. -Dave Tester
Turns out my inner drum major reappeared 25 years later when I took my first job as a general manager. My mission was to change the culture of an underperforming team. The existing culture had made it all right to arrive at work late and leave early. The employees
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The Secret to Lead Conversion
It’s All About the Relationship
IMPLEMENT A SYSTEM The habit of nurturing leads stems partly from company culture and partly from systems and processes — it’s something of a chicken-egg situation. If you don’t have systems in place to make follow-up part of your sales process, it’s not going to be a priority for your team. And if you don’t have a culture of determination and relationship-building in place, the systems and processes don’t matter. Entrepreneur and business transformer Robert Clay recommends a five-no strategy — follow up with a lead until you’ve heard no at least five times.
In the business classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie showed us that the secret to sales success builds on showing a genuine interest in other people and rests in the relationship that develops from there. The concept may not be much of a secret anymore, but it’s as important as ever in the sales cycle — and too many people aren’t following through on it. It turns out that Carnegie was onto something. Did you know that just 2 percent of sales happen during the first touch? Two percent. Let that sink in. That means 98 percent of sales happen sometime after that first touch. In fact, ample research supports that 80 percent of sales happen after the fifth follow-up. If your sales team isn’t following up past that first touch with a prospect, there’s a slim chance they’ll convert.
With the direct correlation between touches and conversion, it’s clear how important it is to follow up and nurture relationships with leads. We can look back to our good friend Dale Carnegie and thank him for sharing his wisdom about relationships. If you want to nurture and convert your leads, you’ll want to instill Carnegie’s principles into your sales team. Considering how many quality leads get away, there’s always room for improvement in developing relationships. How can you start building that lead relationship today? FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP It’s all about the follow-up — or lack of follow-up, if you’re wondering why your leads aren’t converting. You’ve probably experienced it yourself: You have a great interaction with a company and express interest in their product, but then you never hear from them again. That company just lost you, a hot lead. You can’t buy if you’re not presented with the opportunity to do so. Make it easy on your consumer base by implementing a follow-up system.
Tester- MONIALS Rikki Garlick, Training and Quality Assurance Manager, ProService call center, Boise
“I hired Dave to train our managers on how to give better customer service and de-escalate issues over the phone. The training was AMAZING. I’ll be honest; I was nervous about you making live calls. My palms were sweaty, but you nailed it. I recommend Dave times 100.”
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Experience vs. Potential
Scaling a business is one of the most complicated challenges for entrepreneurs. Developing a model that allows for consistent growth while maintaining profit margins and effective systems is a substantial task for business owners. But once the proper blueprint is in place, a new test presents itself, and how well you perform will undoubtedly define the future success of your company. Hiring plays a significant role along a company’s path to success. It’s not a landmark or a checkpoint on the map; it’s the vehicle that takes you to your destination. Your business is only as good as the people who propel it forward. You need individuals who fit into your culture, possess the necessary skills to be effective, and have a desire to continue learning best practices if you’re ever going to achieve your goals. Some qualities are universally known to be linked to good hiring practices, but there’s still one important question that divides the masses: Do I hire for experience or potential? EXPERIENCE A degree- or trade-specific education can certainly lay a foundation for an employee to be successful, but experience provides specialized training that cannot be found anywhere else. An employee who has a working knowledge of their craft can provide a sense of security when hiring. With new employees playing such a pivotal role in growth, many employers want to limit uncertainty and ensure they aren’t gambling
What Matters More in New Hires?
with their company’s future. But experience doesn’t equate to competency, which is why some employers elect to hire for potential.
POTENTIAL The argument for hiring based on potential centers around two concepts. One is that by hiring someone with a bright future and helping them achieve their goals, you could gain the loyalty of that person and thus retain that employee for a longer time. This comes with the caveat that those who have potential also look for potential, so as an employer, it’s important to provide opportunities for advancement. The other argument is that potential combined with training can equate to a more effective employee in the long run. In truth, the disagreement that transpires is a moot point. You can hire someone with experience or an individual with potential and strike out just the same. All successful employees will have one important trait: passion. You can’t teach passion, but you can hire for it.
Family-Size Chicken Wings Ingredients
Take a
BREAK
Sauce • 1 cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons accent • 2–3 tablespoons butter Wings • 24 chicken wing parts (12 wings separated into 2 parts) • 4–5 eggs
• 1 cup chicken broth • 2 cups apple cider vinegar • 2 1/4 cups sugar • 3 teaspoons soy sauce • 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 cups cornstarch • 4 teaspoons garlic powder
Directions
5. Brown wings in a frying pan with butter. 6. Place wings into a 9x13-
1. Heat oven to 375 F. 2. Mix all sauce ingredients. 3. Mix cornstarch and garlic powder. 4. Beat eggs until blended.
inch baking pan. Cover wings with sauce and bake for 20 minutes. Turn wings over and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
Dip wings in eggs and roll in cornstarch and garlic powder mixture until coated.
7. Enjoy!
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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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Get in Front of the Parade
The Secret to Lead Conversion
Tester-monials
Debunking Experience vs. Potential in New Hires
The Surprising Origins of Trick-or-Treating
Why There Are Kids on Your Porch Asking for Candy
As Halloween looms and you load up your grocery cart with candy, you may ask yourself, “Why do I provide these spooky gremlins with a sugar high every Oct. 31, anyway?” Well, when your doorbell starts ringing around 6 p.m. this All Hallows’ Eve, you can thank the Celts for this tradition of candy and costumes. Halloween itself is a kind of mishmash of four different cultural festivals of old: two Roman fêtes, which commemorated the dead and the goddess of fruit and trees (not at the same time); the Celtic Samuin or Samhain, a new year’s party thrown at the end of our summer; and the Catholic All Saint’s Day, designed to replace Samuin and divorce it from its pagan origins. Long before there were young’uns on your porch dressed as Thanos with candy-filled pillowcases in hand, the Celts believed that Samuin marked an overlapping of the realms of the living and the dead. To
trick the spirits leaking into our world, young men donned flowing white costumes and black masks — a great disguise when ghosts were about. The Catholic Church was never a big fan of these pagan traditions, so they renamed it “All Saints’ Day” and gussied it up in religious garb. By the 11th century, people were dressing up as saints, angels, and the occasional demon instead of spirits. Eventually, costumed children started tearing through town begging for food and money and singing a song or prayer in return — a practice called “souling.” But when did they start dressing up as Minions? Starting in the 19th century, souling turned to “guising,” which gave way to trick-or- treating in mid-20th-century America, and the costumes diversified. So put on some clown makeup and a big smile, scoop up a handful of sweets, and scare the living daylights out of ‘em — ‘tis the season!
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