Leslie Groene - Focusing on Top Line Growth (D1718)

Time is precious and so are our pets, so time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24/7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow-ups for up to 5 pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments, and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year-round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care. Welcome to the Exit Coach Radio show, the show for baby boomer business owners who are looking for cutting edge information as they plan their 3 to 10 year business succession and exit. Every week we interview top professional advisors for. Their best tips, strategies, and precautions so you can be well planned. And don't miss our one minute exit coach tip of the day on exitcoachradio.com. And now here's your host, the exit coach Bill Black. Thanks very much. Thanks for joining us today. It's a pleasure to have you with us, and I'm very excited about my next guest. She is Leslie Green. She's joining us from Huntington Beach, California, and we're gonna talk about focusing on top line growth. Now, Leslie is a member of two. Uh, groups that I think very highly of and I actually belong to both of them, Provisors and Visage. So we're gonna talk about uh top line growth and we're gonna talk about uh how you can work on your business and grow that top line. Leslie, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to the show. Thanks a lot, Bill, appreciate it. Oh, I'm a little, I'm a little bit, uh, I'm very excited to have you on here because you're local and you're a member of two groups I really love Provisors and Visage Leslie, so, uh, tell us about, uh, a little bit about Green Consulting and how you got started and what you do for your clients. Perfect. Well, um, I came out of college and went into a sales environment which was relationship development type sales. I was in a manufacturing environment and when and I became a sales manager later on without boring you with all of it. 18 years ago I started my business called Green Consulting, and what it is is I focus on helping companies with top line revenue growth. So I'm a sales development trainer, a sales coach. I wrote a book along the way called Picture Yourself in the Life You Want, which is a business strategy book. So what I I help customers do clients figure out how to sell more. Solutions, projects, um, manufacturing products, and it's funny because I tell people, everyone thinks their industry is special and everybody is, but it's really about finding someone to buy your thing. By your program, by your product, by your box, by your custom manufactured product, by your professional services. So what I try to help customers do is my customers is get a better strategy, a better goal, a better plan. Of who's my target customer, what's my approach. How do I develop the approach? What do I do in between? This is kind of my little, my little picture in between a name on a piece of paper and collecting money, what are all the steps in between that I need to do to get a customer and make money from it? And in between that there are a whole bunch of steps, a whole bunch of ideas, but it needs a plan. And it needs to have a goal and we need to be accountable. What I, what I'd like to tell people is they're accountable to me as they would be perhaps a um a personal trainer at a gym so I'm watching you not to sit ups, but I'm helping you make phone calls. I'm helping you with a script, yeah, I don't you can do your own sit ups, but I'm helping you figure out who do I wanna call on, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna say. How am I gonna close that prospect so that I can get a deal or money from them and they'll buy from me. So there's a lot of tools I have, a lot of different training modules, and it's really about. Me engaging with my clients and helping them along the path along the way to be smarter, faster, better, more strategic, more skilled, more effective. Do they have the right tools? So that, that's what I do and I do it in many different industries, um, I, as I said, I started out in manufacturing as a sales coach and then it, it morphed into a big accounting engagement, uh, real estate, banking, and all these other industries that have different. Objective, but it's still about finding someone to buy from me or you or somebody else. How do I get someone to listen to me and then how do I pitch them and build a relationship and then get them to buy from me so it it takes many different forms, but it's all the same thing really. Yeah, and I like the way that you you characterize that and it's, it's a couple things that we hear a lot, and one is that once you pop the hood on a business, it's about getting orders and filling orders. I mean, it's, it's really pretty simple and basic. You you build it down to the building blocks and the other thing is that we hear a lot, Leslie, is that a lot of times it's uh the people that. Giving the message aren't clear on what the people that are receiving the message that your buyers really want to hear, and they'll be saying A, B, and C, and and the buyer will be thinking, well, what I, what I'm interested in is D E and F. So how do you get into that that initial messaging and figuring out what the buyer really cares about to solve their problems. That would seem to me to be a first building block of of success is let's create that right message. Is that right or is it more about activities? It is, it is correct because the first thing you have to do is, is engage with someone so they want to engage, and the message is extremely important and I like to tell my, my clients to think about your client's objectives. Are they what are they trying to sell? Who's their customer? Do they sell through distributors? Do they sell, uh, you know, B2B? Do they sell to consumers? Do they sell online? Or what are your customers trying to accomplish? And then that will help you build a strategy for the approach so that you can be more on target. I facilitate a lot of um uh panels and. You know, big events where there's speakers there and what these buyers say is you need to know about my business. Don't ask me to help you sell me. You need to know enough about who I am so that you're helping me with ideas, not just getting me to tell you what I want, so. And sometimes it's hard to do. It's hard to get that information to figure out what does this particular company want or need and what do I have that would fulfill that want or need or what new idea do I have that they may not have thought of yet. But yeah, absolutely, uh, the best tactic is to have some kind of idea about what that company or person. would be interested in or excited about, it's called a hook that they would then attach to which then allows you to build the relationship and further develop the partnership and and a couple of ways to do that, go ahead, sorry. I that's OK. Get an internal coach at the prospect you're calling on someone you know who knows somebody. What, what, what's going on in that business. Obviously you want to check their website. If you get a referral, then there's someone you could ask what's a hot button? What are they working on market facing, what are their new initiatives, uh, what's their new products. Um, when I was working with the accounting firm firms, Sarbanes-Oxley was hot in the marketplace, and that was a really important part that those accounting professionals needed to message out to customers. So it became part of the dialogue of what am I going to say to a customer or a prospect I'm going to incorporate this new legislation because it's really hot. So a thing like that you want to jump on because the industry you're calling on. is concerned about A, B, C, or D. And you need to figure out what that is. That's why you have to do your homework. Absolutely, that's, that's a good point and having someone else who's a little bit distance from you as the the creator or the promoter or the manufacturer of the product or service is a really good idea because they may be able to look at it with fresh eyes and say, I know you think this is why people buy this or or want this or need this, but in fact. Uh, there are other reasons that are that are more emotional reasons why someone might want this, and that's where you need to create your messaging. And of course once you have your messaging, it has to turn into activities. And so how does some there's so many ways to put out a sales message these days, um, some better than others. How do people prioritize their selling activities these days, Leslie? Yeah, it's a great question. Um, I think one of the things, and I want to back up a little bit, the reason. Someone would want a a business coach or a sales coach is that it is another brain on your business. Most sales people, um, have a certain amount of autonomy where they are really running their own business within a corporate, you know, umbrella. So what you want to do is think about I have my own business within this company's, you know, portfolio and how am I going to maximize my efforts if I have someone who partners with me. And only cares about my business, then I would have two people working on the same set of problems and challenges and objectives, which doubles your efforts about outcome and and the way you want to do that is you want to build a specific plan. What are my, I call them touch points, so I've got a, you know, a target in mind. What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna start? What other steps are required? The first thing is they have to like you. Which is what you just talked about. They have to like you and then trust you, and then they'll give you a chance. But if they don't like you or trust you, you, you're done in a this is a relationship selling environment, so you have to figure out how do I, how do I step into it, what steps do I have to take, and then make a plan. The plan could be you, you first call, you send an introductory letter, you send an intro email, you send a case study. You send a white paper talking about some new product or technology and you reach out to this person and then the next step would be, you know, mix up those tools maybe you'd start with the intraletter, then you try to make a phone call, see if you can talk to somebody, then you send an email and see if any of these, these methods get someone to bite, you know, talk to you, and then, then you have to figure out, OK, what am I going to do now? And a, a couple of mistakes sales people make is they stop trying. And they do something a couple of times and there's no consistency to it and there's the momentum stops. And they start over and then what you're doing is calling on 50 people. One time instead of 5 people 10 times. So if you wanna think about what does it take for me to get a new client, you know what what steps do I have to. Do you know, do I have to take to get a new client? OK, I need to do this and this and this and this. OK, so I have to do all those steps with every prospect and if you stop making those steps, those touches I call them, you, you've lost all your momentum and you've wasted the first couple steps because you stopped doing it. So, you know, a big mistake people make is they're, they're inconsistent and the prioritizing the sales activity is key because if you don't prioritize it you won't do it and it'll be Friday. And you were supposed to make 4 calls a day. You won't make 20 on Friday because it's too hard. The best way to prioritize it is to decide what am I what's my plan. And break it into little steps and make it not too overwhelming. I do quite a few webinars, but you know, one of the ones, if you're a brand new sales rep, you have a lot of time to prospect if. Uh, uh, we've lost our connection with Leslie. We're gonna find out what we can do and see what we can do to get her back on. Uh, we'll be right back after this message. You're listening to one of many shows on Exitoachradio.com. We're interviewing advisors, authors, and thought leaders for their best tips, ideas, and precautions so you can be well planned. If you'd like to be a guest on any of our shows, go to guest.exitcoachradio.com. Exitcoachradio.com. Come listen for a minute. Hi Leslie, we have you back. Yes sir, you do. OK, alright, so you were talking about um some very interesting ideas and I think it what it boils down to is building a relevant relationship. Uh, and then making sure that you don't lose momentum on that relationship, so making sure that you know what's next and, and sequencing maybe varying your, your ways of communication is that what we were getting at there? OK. Right and and the and the thing. Well I was gonna say so so a lot of people say well OK so building relevant relationships I guess you know these days is um I can do that while. Inviting people to events or giving like they like you said providing them information periodic being kind of pleasantly persistent um what's the right priority when you just meet someone how often do you get in touch? How long should it take? or is that vary? It does vary and I do quite a bit of, um, quite a few matrix with my clients in in in terms of how long did it take you to get, you know, engaged and get revenue from your last client. You know what does it take to find a client and build it and then you can build around that some You know, it's it and again it's kind of soft and loose. It's not, um, you know, automatic and, and the same every time, but let's say it takes you 4 months and it takes you 3 or 4 touches, 68 touches, then you know if you quit in month 1, unless of course they tell you go away, I don't like you, if you quit in month one you haven't put in enough time. On the other hand, if you're, if your sweet spot's 3 to 4 months and you're 10 months in, you have to decide is this prospect engaging with me? Have I learned anything about them? Will they talk to me? Will they meet me? Do I have a relationship at all, or am I wasting my time? And that's when you have to switch out and find a different prospect. So there is a way to analyze your own success and figure out what the right, you know, sweet spot is for you in relationship engagement. So yeah, you can do that and what you have to look at the past, which is a predictor of the future. And if you, if you increase your skills, enhance your skills, you could be more effective. So what you can look at is last, you know, last year it took me 4 months. Maybe I can do it in 3, 3.5 months because I'm using better tools, better skills. I'm picking better prospects. I'm more buttoned up on the phone. I'm more strategic in person. I have a client that is really, she is a machine at the cold call and getting the appointment, but what we figured out is she isn't very good. Yet at closing the appointment to the next step, so the clients got, you know, the prospects say thanks for coming in. And she walks to her car and I said to her, you've got to figure out how to engage them longer. What's the next step when you're in there. So when you're in the meeting, get the next step. Because you may never talk to them again. So, oh, we gave you a meeting, you're really nice. Have a nice day. OK, well, thank you for your time. Where do we go from here? And sales people are afraid or forget to ask the question. That's a closing question. What's my next step? And then you have to be quiet and let them answer. I don't know. I'm happy with my current vendor, you know, I'm already engaged with these people, but you have to learn where do you stand. And what do you do next, but you've got to ask the questions to learn that. You have to, you have to risk that rejection, right? I mean, you have, there's a big difference between, between teaching and selling. Uh, a lot of people are very good at disseminating information, but the selling requires the close up something, and sometimes you start with, I, I would imagine you start with that smaller, even a small relationship is a good relationship that can lead to something bigger, right? Yes, but you have to, you have to, um, build it and ask for it just because someone likes you. doesn't mean they'll buy from you because I had a client that had a bunch of women that were her friends in industry she wanted to call on. She'd do a lot of lunches with them and I told her, I said, you cannot have one more lunch with these women. You can do it on a Saturday. You cannot have one more work lunch because they're not customers. You have to figure out how to convert these girlfriends to customers or their girlfriends, and I'm fine with the girlfriends, but you can't spend selling time on them. So one of the another challenge we have is how do you get someone who likes you to buy from you? You gotta ask. I'd like to work with you. We have a good rapport. Where do I go from here? That's a closing question, and you learn where you stand. But if you don't know where you stand, you can't do anything about it. You can't change course, you can't resolve an objection, you can't work on the next step. You can't further qualify yourself. You can't bring in additional information because you don't know enough. So we have to ask questions so we can learn, you know, where do we go from there yeah a lot of people I guess would would that are in sales would say probably that a yes is OK and no is OK but uh maybe you're killing me you're just killing me here. Right, well if you don't ask the question you won't get anything you'll think you're in a good spot but you don't have enough information and you call them back in a month and you never get them on the phone again and you wasted your time. With a really good meeting and you didn't find out how to pursue the relationship because you did not ask. Good point. So we have a couple minutes left. I'm sorry. I, I was just gonna say we have a couple. Go ahead. Sorry. I had a guy that got into a big movie studio out here in the Los Angeles area and he said I got on the bid list on the, you know, I'm on the top 10. I said, how do you get work? I don't know. What do you have to do to get business? I don't know. What's your next step? I don't know. So he got on the list, but he has no idea what to do now cause he didn't ask. So you have to turn those opportunities, yeah, into a strategy. What do I do now? I've got an open door, but I don't know what to do, so you ask. OK, I'm good. You're, you're up to you now. OK, I was gonna say what characteristics are crucial for today's business development professional and we only have about a minute and a half minutes left. So tell us what, what are the characteristics that are crucial. Persistence is crucial today and ever before. Um, you have to be strategic today more than ever we have to be really thoughtful about people's time, what's in it for them, or they will not waste their time on you. People are super busy. We have to be really strategic about our message. We have to be, um, goal oriented so that we're calling on the right people. We have to be motivated to be successful because in a business development selling environment. No one's going to hand it to you. You've got to go get it. You gotta find it and get it and close it. And then you have, you know, competitive is huge because I want to keep the competition out. I can turn, you know, gum chewing into a competition. I'm so competitive, so you got to be really competitive because you want to keep the competition out. And you want to be so buttoned up that the people you're working with don't need other suppliers, vendors, solution providers, whatever it is. So you're the, you know, the big, the big kid on the block, you get the lion's share of the work. You got to be competitive to get that done. Persistent, strategic, and competitive. Great tips, Leslie. Tell our listeners how they can get in touch with you best. Um, my website is Leslie@reconsulting.com. The website's Green Consulting. My office number is area code 657-464-9199. My book is on Amazon and also you can buy my book, Picture Yourself and the Life You Want on my website, and I will sign it for you. So I'm here to help and help you get where you want to go or improve your game and get a little bit farther down the road. Leslie, it's been a pleasure and a lot of fun talking with you. Unfortunately time flew by and we're gonna have to uh move on and and we'll visit with you sometime in the future again and get deeper on some of these topics because it's very interesting. Thank you so much. Thanks so much bye bye. We're gonna take a short break, we'll be right back after this, so please stay with us. Hi everybody, this is Spike Riel with the Exit coach. Business owners, can you name the 8 key value drivers that you and your manager should be focusing on to increase the value of your business? Introducing the Sellability score index. Visit our website and answer 25 questions about your business, and you will instantly receive your sellability score, showing you how well you stack up in the 8 value driver areas. It's a great management tool. It's absolutely free for our listeners. Just visit exitcoachradio.com and click Get My Sellability score. Just thinking about what will happen to your business if you're gone keep you awake at night? Will you get the price you need from your business to carry you through retirement? The BEI Network of Exit Planning Professions is the world's leading advisor network with the power to help business owners transition out of business on their own timeline and terms. Ask your most trusted advisor to create a BEI plan for you, or visit us at exitplanning.com. That's exitplanning.com. Thank you for listening to Exit Coach Radio. Time is precious and so are our pets, so time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24/7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to 5 pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments, and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year-round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.