Success Mindset Secrets About Referrals From Millionaires

Elinor Stutz-Smooth Sale, Success Mindset Expert

This is very special guest post from success mindset specialist, sales expert, author, speaker, top-rated influencer and founder of SmoothSale,  Elinor Stutz.  

Before Law of Attraction became popular, early positivity proponent Napoleon Hill talked about the importance of the success mindset. Later, Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins encouraged people to keep a positive attitude to attract more of what they wanted in life.  The highest paid salespeople know their success depends on surrounding themselves with excellence. And that includes their referral partners.

Here is a harsh reality: The referrals we receive reflect the ones we provide.  A top producing sales strategy is to understand your client’s perspective first, so that you may bridge it with yours to find common ground. And, so the real question is, are you providing the quality of referrals you would like to receive? Are you projecting the success mindset you want to attract?

The norm is for people to make introductions in the hope of making money on the back end.  An old saying heard in the IT field is,‘garbage in and garbage out.’ But what if an outstanding introduction comes your way, will you pay it forward?  Will you project the success you expect to have, even if the result comes much later? Let me share a story that illustrates the better type of connections and referrals.

Years ago, I met Linda at a conference. At the time, her expertise was in marketing and mine was in sales. Since then, we both expanded our knowledge, became authors, and have continued our friendship. We have also provide ongoing promotion of one another.  One day, Linda sent me an introduction to John.  I enjoyed an invigorating conversation with him. John then volunteered a referral to me of his own.

My success mindset of 'paying it forward' yielded a referral goldmine!

The pay it forward conversation was with Greg.  Our initial dialogue was in consideration of my being a guest on his podcast.  Greg then sent me a copy of his book to read. The subject matter was meaningful and motivated me to voluntarily provide a review of the book on Amazon. And I did have the opportunity to be interviewed on Greg’s podcast and share my story with his audience. The conversation was compelling. Afterward, we spoke about working on a potential project together. And I reciprocated the gift of his book by sending him a copy of mine.  The ‘pay it forward’ concept continued as I recommended another colleague as a guest for Greg’s podcast.

When we are in good company, appreciation for one another develops. Admiration brings about ideas for the better referrals and our success mindset expands. Over time, Linda and I became admirers of one another and came to recognize the people that may help each of us further.

Beware that the opposite of providing excellent referrals is that some contacts from our network may find us intimidating. Those of us who  continue to grow, may scare off others in our circles.  Accordingly, unpleasant remarks may come our way.  Take note, because the negativity can creep into all areas of our lives where we allow it.

Our success mindset is determined by the people we are around the most

Consider the type of people with whom you keep company.  Are your peers negative or positive minded people? If your answer is ‘negative,’ do you find these people holding you back or stalling achievement? And if you are among positive people, are you in the habit of promoting and referring one another? If the referral partners you have do possess a passion for excellence, perhaps a change is in order.

Concentrate on those friends and peers who share a success mindset, reciprocate and help one another achieve more. Strive to develop a dynamic network for the better opportunities to come forth.  When you do, you too will enjoy the chain of ‘pay it forward’ high quality referrals.  These lead to the Smooth Sale!

Success Mindset Sales Tips

1. Strive to be in the company of those who like to help

2. Reciprocate and volunteer help

3. Build a strong network of like-minded peers

4. Exchange ideas for promoting one another

5. Make introductions of the same success mindset caliber

6. Report back to the referring party on the merits of the conversation

7. Offer ideas for collaborative efforts to your peers and referrals

8. Share your personal story and vision for where you are today

9. Ask for the personal story of those you meet

10. Celebrate Success!

Success mindset and sales expert, Elinor Stutz

P.S. Send us your sales related questions to elinor@smoothsale.net.

13 powerful strategies to increase customer retention

Question: What is the source of highest profit sales? Most likely, it's your current and past customers. Next question: What is your customer retention process?

You've already attracted these customers to your brand, built the know, like and trust factor and earned a purchase from them. You successfully converted a lead to a paying customer. And it cost you money to do that. Maybe a lot of money. How much less expensive is it to keep good customers than acquire new ones?

Download the free Lifetime Total Customer Value calculator so you can get the maximum ROI from each customers this month.

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A good customer retention plan has amazing ROI.

In an article posted on Entreprenuer.com, Eric Sui said,  "According to Bain & Company, it costs 7X more to attract new customers than it does to keep them. Additionally, if you retain just 5% of your customers annually, you can generate up to 125 percent more profits. Retention strategies truly pay off in the long run and help you build a sound business over time."

I've outlined 13 keys you must have for your customer retention funnel to be effective so you can score more sales.

1. Make retention a top priority.

Prioritize the highest ROI activity your company does, which is most likely customer retention.

2. Measure life time value of customers.

Determine the life time value (LTV) of your average customers. The additional purchases, upgrades, replacements and referrals they send to you add up to a much bigger dollar amount than just the first purchase they make. Download this free LTV calculator here.

3. Provide amazing customer service

Have you noticed that even the cable companies want to "delight customers"? They finally get the importance of keeping current customers happy because it's way less expensive to keep customers than to acquire new ones.

4. After the sale nurturing

Create a system for following up after the sale at regular intervals. Depending on your business, that may be a week after the sale or a month. Pay attention to how your customers are engaging with your brand, it's product and services. Respond quickly to customers. Always. A good customer retention funnel has as process that everyone who touches the customers uses to continue nurturing the relationship after the sale. Continue delivering high value content and service and you'll score more sales.

5. Budget for customer retention marketing

Since the ROI on keeping customers is so much higher than on acquiring new ones, it makes sense to assign some budget to marketing efforts aimed at retention.

6. CRM

Without a good CRM, your customers may be on the business end of an ill-timed phone call from an inside sales rep pitching an upsell, when that customer is currently threatening to leave if a dire problem isn't solved. Not a good customer retention play.

Since the beginning of CRM time, having a 360 degree view of the customer so that companies could avoid this type of mistake has been the goal. You can't manage an effective customer retention funnel without a good CRM.

7. Communicate frequently

Your customers want to feel valuable after they've spent money with you. Communicate with them frequently to show you care. Birthday greetings, holiday messages, news and updates are great ways to show them you care. Remember to only email customers who have opted into your email list.

8. Engage on social media

Social media is the equal opportunity soap box everyone can use to rave or complain about their experiences with a company. Monitor social media and quickly respond to any complaint. Also, quickly thank customers who sing your praises. You can also use social media to ask your customers about what's important to them and nurture relationships.

9. Convert complaints into opportunities

Everyone remembers the companies that handle their complaints with such concern for making the situation gone wrong into an experience that feels right. It's interesting that what's memorable is how great it felt to the customer that the brand went above and beyond to solve the problem, and not what went wrong in the first place. Be a hero to your customers when they complain and watch that same customer become your advocate.

10. Create a customer loyalty program

Rewarding customers for their patronage is a great way to develop their loyalty. Provide added value, special promos or offers that your customers want. The rewards need to be easy to earn and redeem. Keep things simple. Score more sales by rewarding your current customers and nurturing them to send referrals.

11. Host an event

Show your customer appreciation by hosting an event. An open house, after hours event or guest lectures can provide powerful incentives for your customers to spend more time with your company. Having fun and feeling valued has a way of bonding people tighter together. Events work whether they are virtual, like a podcast or live, like an open office social gathering.

12. Corporate social responsibility

Many customers choose to buy from brands that give back over brands that don’t. If your company already has a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, share progress and successes with your customers. If not, get one. Select a cause that is consistent with your brand and aligns with your customers’ values and interests.

13. Upsell and resell

Since you're paying attention to how your customers are using the products or services they purchased from your company, you'll know what's important to them. When the time is right, offer and upgrade or replacement product that has high value and will help your customer achieve their goals.

Email marketing with calls to action and free demos or trials, just like regular marketing campaigns. Incent the customer to try new add ons, upgrades and eventually replacement purchases, in some industries.

3 Steps For Awesome Relationship Building - Keys to Success

In the era of customer experience is king, successful relationship building is key. Some people are naturally gifted in this art and some are not. We are all different, which is what makes the world an interesting place. So, if you don’t already have relationship building skills honed to a fine point, there’s no reason to feel badly about yourself. We can’t all be ace at everything. (For example, don’t ask me to file your taxes. Orange is definitely not my best color and I doubt it’s yours).

If you find that pleasing others interferes with your own happiness or success, you're not alone. Many of us have a tendency to be people pleasers. And it doesn't have to be a permanent condition:-) I'm a reforming pleaser and discovered steps that help me experience more joy and peace by reprioritizing my thoughts and actions. I share these steps in my ebook "Stop Pleasing Others and Get More Joy in Life" and invite you to download a free copy. Click the link below to get your free ebook:

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Relationship building skills can be learned.

Here are 3 simple and impactful steps I use to nurture relationships. Try them out and let me know how they work for you.

1. Ask.

Be intensely curious about people. Ask a lot of questions about them. For example:

• How do enjoy life when you're not working?
• What projects are you working on right now?
• How do you define success for yourself and your business?
• What challenges are you dealing with?
• What do you enjoy most and least about your work?

Since people love to talk about themselves, this is easier than you might think. Their answers will give you insight to what they care about and the problems you (or someone you know) may be able to help them solve. Showing an interest in someone is the ideal first step to great relationship building.

2. Listen.

Have you ever tried the experiment of listening more than you talk in a conversation? If you have, did the person you were “talking” with say, “You are so easy to talk to”? If you haven't, try it out sometime. The results can be a fascinating illustration of how much people love feeling heard.

Because people enjoy focusing on themselves (and that's not a bad thing) it's naturally a good thing to let them share ideas and insights with you.  It’s a human thing to connect, share, listen and feel heard. When you’re building relationships with humans, understanding this quality is invaluable. We are wired to connect and share our thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences with people.

3. Reconnect.

Now that you have established some rapport and discovered what your contact values, the most important step is to follow-up with them. Staying connected is how you’ll nurture and build this relationship. Call or email with a brief message about how much you enjoyed talking with them and that you’d like to stay in touch. I also suggest mentioning something specific they talked about.

Also ask what social media they prefer and connect with them on those channels. LinkedIn is a given for most professionals, but find out if they like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest also. Most people have a couple of go-to channels they like.

The magic of successful relationship building is to continue nurturing.

Now you have a platform for nurturing that new business relationship. Use social media to develop your new relationships by liking, reposting and making comments (positive and insightful, never negative). I suggest doing this within the first week, and then at least every couple of weeks after that.

Finally, since nurturing a relationship takes time, stay in touch with your new contact by email or text regularly. You don't want to stalk your new contact, but you do want to stay in touch. so I suggest checking in with them every month or so.

Finally, for more tips on ways to ramp your success, subscribe here . You can have a look at “Three Things Successful Entrepreneurs Do First Thing in the Morning”.