Habla Blog

By Elinor Stutz

How is it possible, you ask, to recession-proof your business when newscasters are predicting, economically speaking, the “perfect storm”?

The three easy steps you can take to boost business during tough times are:

1.    Get the education for your business that you were putting off.

2.    Call a minimum of 10 people per day whose name is in your database and whom you met personally.

3.    Create and promote new product on days the phone is quiet.

Education comes in many forms: attending a university class, webinar, tele-class, seminars and conventions. Networking alone will potentially put you in front of a contact who has a brand new idea for you to consider.

Belonging to a mastermind group with members who have complementary businesses can bring about new ideas and insight on how to fast track your goals.   Hiring a coach familiar with your business and your goals is one of the quickest routes to success and will pay back exponentialy. 

Any piece of education will get you to your goal far more quickly and effectively than going it alone.  As you continue to educate yourself and grow in confidence and with new ideas, you begin attracting more people to your business.

Everyone in business must be dedicated to a database management system or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) as it is referred to by many.  The best advice is to group your contacts according to where you met them.  In this manner, it is easy to reconnect months later with familiarity including where you met.

When you find your phone traffic has slowed, make it a habit to call a minimum of 10 contacts listed in your personal database on a daily basis.  Most often, the person on the other end will be so glad you thought of them, they will begin to brainstorm with you as to how you can help one another.   As this becomes an everyday habit, your phone will begin ringing again.

The days that are particularly slow are the days when you can easily give focused thought to writing articles, compiling a manual, recording the podcasts you have been meaning to do, and writing a manuscript. 

Should one or some of these already be completed, the slower days are perfect for finding resources that will help promote your product(s).  You can offer a free tele-class or webinar for your contacts; develop an affiliate program and pay a reasonable commission; speak to groups about your business and how your products will assist others; or become a vendor at larger venues to show off your new creations. 

As you can see, by implementing the 3 easy steps listed above, instead of complaining about slow times, you will create good times on your own terms.

Elinor’s Story:

My first step was to educate myself on how to build business by reading everything possible both online and off-line, in particular marketing materials.

In the early days when the phone never rang, I ready marketing materials non-stop.  Every single one said to write a book.   I took the advice and time to write “Nice Girls DO Get The Sale:  Relationship Building That Gets Results”.  The marketing pieces never predicted my book would wind up in TIME Magazine, translate into 5 languages and sell worldwide!  It created tremendous attention for my sales training company, Smooth Sale LLC.

I subsequently created my product line.  The next thing I did was go out and promote my creations through networking, speaking, being a vendor and forming alliances.

Through the years of entrepreneurship, I have hired coaches for a few months at a time when I was ready to get to the next level and get there more quickly than figuring it out on my own.  Their fees were earned back exponentially.

While newscasters are predicting the economic “perfect storm,”  I am looking at my best year yet.

Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC and Author, transformed her highly successful sales career into training entrepreneurs, network marketers and beginning salespeople.  “We help you turn stormy sales cycles into a Smooth Sale”.    

Smooth Sale Delivers: 
Original work in the form of Professional Sales Training, Licensing, Coaching, Motivational Speaking and a full Product Line.

Products Include:
“Nice Girls DO Get The Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results”, published by Sourcebooks, “The Sales Toolkit”,  “Smooth Sale audio training seminar” and Entrepreneur kit – “How to GROW Your Business: mindset, strategy and implementation.  Visit www.smoothsale.net/products.shtml

 “Nice Girls DO Get The Sale” was featured in TIME Magazine, translated into multiple languages and is selling worldwide.  Elinor is a Contributing Author to Bay Area BusinessWoman News and Diversity Edge Magazine.  Visit her blog at www.smoothsale.net/blog/

For more information call 800-704-1499 or visit www.smoothsale.net

For information on Marketing, Branding, and Networking visit our website at www.wardspeaking.com.