Greg's Right FIT #463

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Measuring
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Measuring

• When an organization wants more or less of something, that’s an opportunity. Your first concern should be how they’ll know they’re on track. That needs a measure. Ask for it. They either have it now, or they don’t. 
• Whatever it is the firm wants more or less of it, once they start reporting the metric, the thing happens. Employees focus on it and game the system, so to speak. Know this going in. For big change, you'll need a variety of metrics. 
• Another way of talking about metrics is calling it evidence. "How do we know this to be true?" The search for evidence is usually a project unto itself. 
• If the salesperson can’t describe what a company wants more of or less of, it’s hard to keep projects on track. Sounds trite, but it’s true. When a new opportunity is brought to you, boil it down to "what are they trying to get more or less of?"

Being Human - A magic conversation

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If there was a magic conversation in sales, it sounds like this: "What do you want more or less of? Where is that measure now? What’s the value of the difference? Over what period of time?"

You may have heard me say, the perfect salesperson has nothing to sell, but is able to fill every wish. This structured conversation gets close to what the perfect salesperson is saying/doing. At a high level, it always works. But like most things, once we get into the details, it gets more complicated. That’s okay. As long as you know where you’re going, even complicated conversations get easy. In this case, you are listening for things that can be measured. 

I was sent a job listing someone is interested in. In the job description, the hiring company put it like this: we want a “substantially raised profile”. They're asking for "more" of something. Measurable alarm! Measurable alarm! More of something! 

When your inner salesperson hears the measurable alarm, it should trigger some questions to be answered. Like, “What are some ways you measure that?” “What do you want it to be?” “What is it at now?” “What’s the value of the difference?” “How long will these increases last?” 

The company can respond to “how is it measured?” in a finite number of ways…unfortunately, the most common is “well. . ." That's okay. We'll take it. At this point, we’re in the sale! The magic conversation is working. It takes some skill and patience to turn it into business. Just know that when you can talk about the “future state” “today's state” and “the value”, you’re close to making a difference. 

Try it. It works. 

Random Stuff 1

Next week I'm giving a detailed run-down on how I use Google Search Ads for lead generation. It's for a product geared to marketing consultants, but I think it will be useful for in-house marketing people too. Take a look:

LeedFlo Academy Workshop

It's going to be priced at $295, but right now it's only $35, and comes with a recording. Send me any questions if you think it would benefit one of your people. 
 

Random Stuff 2

"I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be the truth." –Blanche Dubois

One of the late summer stars of the garden is green beans. We dedicated a small raised bed to the "Three Sisters," corn, beans and squash. The legend of the name is from Native Americans who grew them together. The three plants work well with one another, symbiotically deterring weeds, pests, enriching the soil, and supporting each other. 

The box didn't start off well. It seems that bean sprouts are irresistible to backyard critters. We ended up replanting the beans multiple times. On top of that, the corn didn't do well. We had cluster of stalks, but the cobs didn't form very well. Squash is squash, but man, once the beans took off, they really produced. 

We ate a lot of green beans. Steamed, boiled, tossed in olive oil, with almonds, with garlic, with bacon bits. All good. When we tore out the garden last weekend, we harvested another couple of pounds. That's when we found it. A green bean casserole recipe. 

In preparing the beans, we blanched them. I had no idea this technique existed. Boil the beans for 5 minutes, drain them, and straight into an ice-water bath. Ina Garten says this not only stops the cooking, it keeps your green beans a bright green. The beans were better than ever. And in Alton Brown's Best Ever Green Bean Casserole. . .well, I'm in love. 

It made me wonder what else in my life would benefit from blanching. What else could I stop from progressing and enjoy more? How about Wilson the ABC frozen in his puppy stage? Or maybe the kids at their cutest? Or maybe, just maybe, right at that time when my head was full of thick black hair. . .