Are You Leaving Meat On The Bone?

If you have kids, maybe you’ll resonate with this story.

I have two daughters Nina (8) and Mae (5).

There are times when we got out to eat as a family or go to a birthday/family party the following occurs...

Mae fills her little plate to the brim. Meat, beans, taco dip, extra chips, some sort of beige color cheese-based dip from a crockpot, sausage, extra cheese...can you tell this is a Wisconsin party?

She basically has a manhole cover filled to the brim with what most self-respecting Wisconsinites call a light snack!

Here’s what happens next...

She sits down.

She takes a few bites of a couple of items.

She gets distracted by something.

She claims she’s full!

She leaves with half a meal still left on her plate.

Alternate ending: Dad eats the rest of her meal and his, needs to take a nap.

This little situation has played out a couple of times and it got me thinking of the old saying…

“Leaving meat on the bone.”

And when it comes to sales there are many organizations, sales teams, and individuals that are “leaving meat on the bone.”

I’ve picked 3 areas of business and will show you how in each situation how you can go from leaving meat on the bone to feasting!

Prospects

You’re not following a strong cadence when it comes to new leads. For new leads you need to have a cadence that’s going to have you reaching out 15-20 times over the next 30 days. People get busy, life happens, don’t give up on these leads.

You need to be using multiple forms of communication to get in touch with these leads. Just like “love languages” every prospect has a communication language. They may want to communicate via one of the following: email, text, social media, phone call, or direct mail and it’s your job to figure that out.

Also includes people that said “no” to you over the past two years. Management changes need change, and hopefully, your product and company change. Don’t write these closed lost opportunities off for eternity.

Current Customers

This might be the most overlooked aspect of everyone’s business.

So few companies are doing current customer communication effectively. I honestly think the companies that get ongoing customer communication right will have more business and happier customers than they’ll ever know what to do with.

Those that don’t will be swallowed up by changing technology or by your biggest behemoth of a competitor

How are you communicating with your customers?

Do they only hear from you if they missed an invoice?

Start a weekly/monthly communication strategy. Whether it be a customer newsletter, or your commitment to call each one of your clients every single month, trust me, it’s worth the effort.

People often buy products or services because they liked the person that sold them. Now you’re going to deprive them of that...sad :(

What about anniversary cards on the day they signed up with you, birthday cards, or just a nice “thank you” for your business card?

In this day of increasing technology where I’m fairly certain my Amazon Alexa is listening to my sleep, and showing me an ad for something in my dreams the personal touch will never be lost.

Referrals

When was the last time you asked for a referral?

Seriously…

Listen, too many people are afraid of asking their clients, friends, and associates for referrals. I get it, it’s difficult for me sometimes too. That’s why you have to do it, because doing the uncomfortable, and the difficult tasks that you don’t want to do are where the treasure lies.

Speaking of referrals do two things:

Copy my referral script for yourself below. Send it to everyone that you’ve done work with. Just send this script with a little note saying, we’re looking to work with more companies/clinics/churches/food trucks/ice cream stands just like yours and it would really help if you referred me to someone you think could use me.

While we’re talking about it, how about you send me a referral using the script below and I’ll take it from there...

Hey __,

I wanted to introduce you to my friend and coach, Mark Evans. He's helped me ___ and ___. And I know he could help you have a big breakthrough in your business.

Mark, meet ___. "Insert 1-2 line background"

___, I know you would benefit from working with Mark because he can help you grow your sales team and help your current sales team sell more effectively.

Also, Mark would love to send you a copy of his book when it comes out in a few weeks, Raise Your Standards: The Definitive Guide to Building 7-Figure Sales

So just let him know your best shipping address, and if you would like to learn more about his programs.

I’ll let the two of you take it from here.

Talk soon!

Now take the information above and pick that low hanging fruit, and feast on the meat still left on the bone. There’s no shortage of opportunity right now. Will it always be like this? Honestly, I don’t know!

So that’s why the time is now to capitalize on every opportunity. Maximize every lead. Get all the juice you can out of your current operation. Get as efficient and as effective as you can so if there is a correction in the market, or 2008 you’re ready.

While your competition struggles hard, you put distance between them and you.

Your competition gets scared and pulls back, you lean in.