Grant Cardone - If You're Not First, You're Last - Sales Strategies to Dominate Your Market and Beat Your Competition

The lessons to be learned:

1. Commit to follow up.

2. Your interest in your clients is more important than their interest in you.

3. State, up front, that you will continue to follow up until you get a result.

4. Be creative in the ways that you follow up.

5. Always, always, always leave a message on recorders and voice mail.

6. Never quit, ever! Be unreasonable in your follow-up, and you will gain market share regardless of the economy.

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If you are directly involved with sales—or if you own a company that sells a product—then you’ve probably received a call at one time from an existing client introducing you to someone he or she knew who wanted your product or service. Unfortunately, this is something that happened to you, not because of you. The goal is to make this happen more often so that you aren’t waiting and hoping. Anyone can get lucky, but you want to use your actions to create luck.

Waiting around is a low-level, apathetic, passive activity that lets too many unknown factors rely on chance. You want to be—as often as possible—the generator of any activity for your business because then you will control the outcome and income regardless of the economy in which you live and work. I actually have this crazy idea that if you’re involved in an accident, it is better to cause it than have it happen to you . When most people get into an accident, the first thing they do is start pointing fingers, shouting (unconsciously) to the world that he or she is a victim. At least when you cause the accident, you can say, “I made that happen.”

I would rather be the cause than the effect. I would rather make a bad investment decision than give someone my money and have them make a bad investment decision. I hate being a victim, and I don’t trust or want to wait on that thing called luck. I don’t mind failing as long as I am failing because I go for it, and I don’t mind mistakes if they’re mistakes I made while doing something as opposed to something happening to me. The goal of these steps is for you to take actions that will generate additional opportunities and revenue and ultimately help you create your own economy.

Let’s return to the concept of using existing clients to create new clients. There are two things you must do: (1) always ask; and (2) concentrate on how you ask. While I discussed this briefly in an earlier chapter, I now want to focus on the specific contact and technology whereby I ask existing clients to reactivate others they know and help me build my business.

You will call all of your existing clients and touch base to see if there is any way you can further serve them. You’ll offer suggestions on how they can better maximize the product or service you sold them, and before ending the call, you’ll ask them to help you . “John, let me ask you—do you have any friends, family, or business associates who would have a use for or an interest in the products and services I represent?” Then be silent and let him tell you. If he says he doesn’t know anyone, say, “I understand. If you did know someone, who might it be?” It might sound confusing, but you will be shocked at how many times this second question will generate names. You will also be surprised how many times you get a name the first time you ask. Some clients will even say, “Funny you should ask. I was talking to so-and-so today and he asked me where I got mine.” Then respond with, “Great! How do you spell his last name? First name? At what number can I reach him? What is his e-mail address? And why do you think he would be interested?”

Do not ask, “Will you give him my name?” Do not ask , “Can you give me his name?” Do not ask , “Do you know his number?” You want to ask these specific questions above—not for your client’s permission. Be sure to inquire as well, “Why did you think of him?”

Business consultant and very bright business development expert Tom Stuker once said, “The worse part of earning a client’s business is that you lose your best prospect.” It is critical that you replace those to whom you sell with new prospects; otherwise, you will always find your personal production going up and down. Your success is not limited by the economy; it’s only limited by the people you know and the amount of interest you can generate in your products and services. This is how you create your own wealth without depending upon the national or global economy. Salespeople, managers, entrepreneurs, CEOs, businesses, and entire industries suffer and even cease to exist because they don’t take the time to generate new opportunities from those they just conquered. As I stated before, you cannot advertise your way through an economic contraction. You simply have to do a better job of working, creating, and finding every possible contact who might do business with you!

Learn how to activate and multiply your existing clients to create new ones. Trust me, they will help you if you ask. Ask early and often in the relationship—and keep asking. I have never paid clients for this kind of help, but I have rewarded them after the fact. I deliver a great product, service the hell out of it, do everything I can to create a “wow” experience—and then shamelessly ask the people to whom I have sold if they know anyone interested in what I have to offer. I have even used this method with people who haven’t bought from me. I remember asking one particular client who I was unable to close a deal with, “Who do you know that would be interested in taking advantage of what I’m offering you?” He said to me, “Why would I send you to my competition? I don’t want them to improve.” Then, for no apparent reason, he reversed his earlier lack of interest and said, “If you believe in what you do that much that you would ask for a referral after I turned you down; then come in and do a full presentation for me and my team!” Now, I have no idea why he suddenly changed his mind. Maybe he took a minute to consider exactly why he would not want to send me to someone else—even when he himself had just denied my services. All I know is that for some reason, that single question changed his mind. I presented to his group, and he became a great client who subsequently hooked me up with others in his sphere of influence, thereby opening the door to other clients for me.

I’ve also had people opt not to do business with me but give me the names of others who they thought might want to at that time. I’ve even earned a referral’s business before closing a deal with the person with whom I was originally working!

Famed clergyman and writer Basil King is quoted as saying, “Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid!”

The actual saying was , “Go at it boldly, and you’ll find unexpected forces closing round you and coming to your aid.” From the Bible, John 16: “Ask and you shall receive.” Well, the same truths apply in business as they do in life since life comprises business and its quality depends—in many ways—upon the quality of your business. The only rule when it comes to generating opportunities is that you must generate and regenerate as many imaginable in order to prosper. So be relentless in your commitment to drive new possibilities to your business.