I just spoke with a client who has suffered a loss . . . of confidence and credibility in a vendor. Who, by the way, is also a client.

As a business advisor, clients often ask for a referral to another vendor.

For whatever reason, the vendor I introduced to my client, when asked a question, gave an incorrect answer.

Unfortunately, the vendor didn't say, "I don't know". As a result, the prospect now thinks this vendor is someone who can't be trusted.

And, by association, I've been dragged into question for having made the referral to someone who would say 'anything' vs. "I don't know".

There's been a serious loss of credibility. For everyone. It could've been avoided. If someone had the guts to admit they don't know something.

The lesson:
Pride goes before the fall . . . from grace. Learn to embrace your limitations. Acknowledge your ignorance. It will build your credibility and . . . your revenues, too!

Today was a telling day.

Two lessons.

First, "Being There Really IS Important!"

Second, "Keeping In Touch Really IS Important"

Allow me to explain.

Last fall we had our home stained. As part of the work, we had a lot of our trim replaced. But, not all of it. In fact, not even most of it.

We told the contractor, "Let's do the rest in the spring". He agreed.

Well, it's now summer. Spring came. Spring went. We never heard from the contractor.

Enter a new contact who is, of course, a contractor.

"Can you do trim?", I asked. "Of course!". "Good. Call my wife and let's get this project underway."

I am disappointed. The first contractor had a 'signed check' waiting to be picked up. Why he didn't FOLLOW-UP, I don't know.

Bottom line: Failing to follow-up was costly.

Lesson: Keep your promises. Especially your 'promise' to keep-in-touch and stay-in-mind. Past clients are already sold on you. Don't blow a good thing. And if you need help, get a client cultivation system in place to make sure you do.

This is a cute one.

I just got an email from a salesperson for an extremely large, renowned international company asking (very nicely!) what my current level of interest in using their service is, if any. She goes on to challenge me by asking if she should just "remove me from her database".

OK, here's the joke.

I have been a client of this firm since last October! Happily so, too.

Apparently, while the 'move' to ask me to "________ or get off the pot" is one I personally admire, it isn't appropriate. Not here, anyway.

Why?

First, because it isn't necessary -- I AM a client.

Second, it reflects a gross ignorance of her knowledge of who I am and where I'm at vis a vis buying her company's service.

While I applaud the attempt to follow-up, I think her company just gave me a 'behavioral message' that I'm considered a 'number' and not a 'valued relationship' to them.

Lesson:
If you make the effort to contact a prospect, have a SYSTEM in place to stay top-of-mind with them.

And make sure that system allows you to know WHO you're cultivating and WHERE they are in their buying-cycle.

If you don't, you'll either lose business opportunities you should be closing and/or you'll come off like someone who doesn't value your business relationships.

Opportunity:
If you're reading this post and it's setting off some alarms . . . here's something you may like to know. I have just entered into a strategic alliance with a firm that specializes in designing, installing, training and supporting smaller firms and professional practices to have a system to treat people as people, not numbers and cultivate the value they offer your firm . . . as long as you keep-in-touch and stay-in-mind.

Interested?

Call me: Bill Doerr, CCO / SellMore Marketing, LLC: 860-798-6964

I just returned from a conference in Kansas City, MO for Duct Tape Marketing Coaches. As a DTM Coach since 2005, I found this year's conference or 'gathering' to be the best yet.

We spent three great days together with John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing and one of the most prolific people I've ever met.

What was really exciting about this meeting was the degree to which the coaches, not John, were the main contributors on the program. That is symptomatic of the significant growth of the community of coaches -- a sign of great progress for the Duct Tape Marketing brand in a relatively short time.

The other thing I found quite interesting was the unveiling of a new program that is, well . . . absolutely FANTASTIC!

While the unveiling of a whole new offering is a few weeks away, all I can say is that it combines one of the most fantastic combinations of valuable services for helping a small to mid-size business market itself. Stay tuned for more details as they are released in the next two weeks.