I had noticed that only a few of my employees were taking advantage of suggestive sales out in the field and it always shocked me that everyone was not selling more. Coming from a background as a waiter I knew that the more suggestive sales I made the more money I would make in tips. And since I was paying my employees on commission I just assumed they would want to make more money based on more sales… well surprisingly, that wasn’t the case.

So back in October of 2007 I decided to create a fun sales game that would really turn up the suggestive sales in my team. We called it “Who wants to win an Xbox 360?” We picked the X-box 360 due to the fact that most of my employees were between the ages of 20 and 28 the Xbox is a gaming system that really appealed to them.

To launch the new sales game I brought in a brand new Xbox 360 and put a big red bow on the box and placed it right next to the time cards for everyone to admire every morning. The rules to winning the Xbox were based on a point system. For every employee that had a suggestive sale ranging from $3-$20 got one point. Suggestive sales ranging from $20-$50 were awarded two points and so on and so forth. If they were late they lost one point. If they had a bad attitude or showed up in the morning with no pep in their step, they lost a point.

We also rewarded extra points for taking the initiative on the job. If someone did something productive without being asked to; like wash the trucks, clean up the shop or the bathroom they got points. Now these extra credit points were awarded based on the management’s discretion, they weren’t predetermined.

The fun always came at the end of the month when we determined who had the most points because that was the winner! We kept a whiteboard in the shop where we have our morning meetings to keep track of the employees and their progress with the points.

I’m sharing this story with you because this game brought with it incredible results on more than one level. Not only did it generate the most revenue due to suggestive sales that my company had ever seen, but it also led to the best attendance record we’ve ever had! Nobody was showing up late, nobody had a bad attitude and everybody was gunning for the Xbox 360!

It became the topic at the water cooler, seeing each employee jockeying for his position on the whiteboard was amazing! Who would’ve thought that someone as simple as an Xbox could generate so much interest? I had tried cash bonuses, gift cards, and free dinners. You name it, I had already tried it and nothing had given me this kind of results.

I think the key to this game was the fact that we found something that everybody was interested in and we built a game around it. We made it fun, competitive and rewarding. Now suggestive selling wasn’t only fun, it became a challenge and it came with bragging rights!

Just to put this in perspective I bought an Xbox 360 gaming system for $390.00 and at the end of that month I had generated close to $12,000 in suggestive sales from this fun game at work. I’d say this wasn’t a bad return on my investment at all!

Do you think one of your employees would like the new iPad, iphone or the new Xbox Live? How about a weekend vacation get-a-way? The possibilities are endless! Think about what most appeals to your employees and give this game is shot. I would really love hearing how it works for you.

If you already have a great employee incentive program that works for your business please comment below. We always enjoy your feedback!

We all need them and we all love them. And guess what, it’s no mistake that this person knows everyone in town. Because it’s most likely from years of networking and getting to know people on a personal level that they have this endless rolodex of useful contacts and connections.

They’ve spent years cultivating relationships and that’s where the real trust and loyalty come into play.

The reason why I’m sharing this fact with you is that I feel that our success as business people is directly related to the relationships we build in the community.  It really is through networking and passing referrals that people grow to appreciate us more and value our friendship. And hey, let’s face it, nothing builds friendships in business faster than someone saying “Hey, I just referred you to my neighbor who needs to remodel his kitchen” or “Mrs. Jones should be calling you soon, she wants her backyard landscaped”.

So, do you want to pass more referrals? The answer is become a resource to people! Here are five great tips on becoming a great resource.

1. Let your customers know that you know everyone in town and that you have created great relationships over the years with quality companies you can trust with good values.
2. On your business cards put the tagline “need a referral call me, I’m happy to help”
3. Become very active in social networking, this a great way not only to meet great companies but to pass many referrals.
4. When you are talking with your customers or friends ask them the following question “is there anyone servicing your home that you are not happy with?  This is a great way to give out a quick referral, and your neighbor, customer or friend will appreciate it!
5. Follow up on your referrals, show them you really care, they will appreciate it and spread the word to their friends that you are the first person they should call when looking for a new service company.

Follow these steps and I guarantee you will see some great results!!!

Click the picture above for more great promotional ideas

Sadly, I realize that so many people miss that business lesson in a big way. So often I see and hear about companies taking their current customers for granted and later missing out on repeat business and referrals.

They spend all their time, efforts and marketing dollars on trying to get new business that they forget about the huge and great resource their current customer base is to them.

Ask yourself this one question; where do I receive most of my new business? Not knowing what your business is, I can almost guarantee it’s from referrals… am I right? Now ask yourself this; who are those referrals coming from? That’s Right! Your existing customers, that’s WHO!

Now that we have figured out where the referrals are coming from, let’s talk about some little gestures we can be doing to show our appreciation and gratitude for their business. As consumers we all have a choice on where to spend our money, the fact that our clients continue to choose us is something to be grateful for and I believe our gratitude should be expressed.

As a good example I’d like to quote a friend of mine who always says “Turn those customers into your cheerleaders!”

Here are just a few ideas of what companies may be doing in your line of work:

1. Leave behinds or gifts are great! Especially when they have your name on them.
2. A painter friend of mine will leave behind a nice candle after finishing a job. He also will give them some extra paint with his logo and phone number on it in case they ever need to do any touch up.
3. Customer Rewards Systems – we talked about this in a previous blog post.
4. How about this one; a remodeling contractor I know will host a catered dinner for the neighbors of the homeowner whose kitchen they just remodeled…. Pretty powerful when everyone is eating in the kitchen you just created telling the homeowner how beautiful it is! Not to mention all the other homeowners are going to want to keep up with the Jones’s.
5. A roofer I know will have a block party at the house they just completed apologizing for any inconvenience they may have caused during construction, if that doesn’t make your customer a cheerleader what will?! J
6. A property manager I know will always have a beautiful flower arrangement waiting for the homeowner welcoming them back for season. Everyone loves flowers!

Now it’s your turn; remember to think outside the box. Get creative and always leave your name and contact information behind for future use and for them to share. Chances are your customers are already referring you based on the great service you offer, these tips will just help send your referrals into the stratosphere.

Whether you’re a large company or a small “Mom and Pop Shop” start thinking locally because that’s where your customers are. If you’re not promoting your business on Google Maps (and Yahoo! Local), now is the time.

Google Maps will help you get high search engine visibility for competitive (and potentially lucrative) local city oriented keyword phrases like “Plumber Fort Myers“, “Kitchen Remodeling Naples“, or “Air Condition Company Cape Coral.”

When potential customers search Google Maps for local information, they’ll find your business: your address, hours of operation, contact information, even photos of your storefront and videos of your products or services. Google Maps will even give them a detailed map of your location and easy to follow directions to your office or storefront. They can also view satellite images with or without map data of your location and a “Street View” showing photos of your street and building. It’s free, easy to set up and you don’t even need a website to be listed. Google Maps is truly an amazing Internet tool.

Google Maps Provides High Visibility in the Search Results

Google Maps results usually show up just below the Google AdWords Pay Per Click Ads and above the organic search results in this order…

How to Get Listed in Google Maps?

Adding your listing to Google Maps is very easy. Just follow these step by step instructions and your listing can be online within 48 hours.

Step 1: Log in
To create your Google Maps listing follow these easy directions:

• Navigate to http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter
• Log into your Google account
• Click “Add New Listing”

It’s that easy!… do it now before your competitor does.

Here are some great tips you can be doing right now! to generate more traffic to your company and web -site.

Be sure and subscribe to my blog, you won’t want to miss the follow up blog post when I show you how to get your listing to the top of Google Maps

Nowadays you couldn’t pay me to swim in those lakes. But what I did back then was take all the golf balls I could find, clean them up, sort them, and put them into egg cartons. I would then sell them for $5.00 per dozen to the passing golfers. Not a bad gig considering I was my own boss at such an early age.

The reason for me sharing this story is not just to let you know how crazy I was to swim at night with alligators and snakes but to also let you know of a simple lesson I learned back then. That valuable lesson was to never overlook the obvious.

Here’s how I learned it: One afternoon, my buddies and I were hitting all the old golf balls into our neighborhood lake. This was a common thing we did after selling off all the good balls. Just then, a neighbor came out and curiously asked what are you doing?  We explained that we had no use for the weathered golf balls and figured we could at least work on hitting our irons and polish up on some lacking golf skills. After pondering for a second or two he suggested I take the golf balls to a friend of his who owned a driving rage in town. He said he was sure his buddy would pay me for the extra golf balls.

He was correct! I got an extra 15 cents a ball to be exact and well from that day forward my profits soared! Ok, maybe not exactly soared - but it sure is fun to exaggerate when strolling down memory lane. To be honest my profits didn’t soar but it was an extra $150.00 bucks for every 1000 balls I sold. Now granted these were balls I was normally discarding and not making a profit on at all. This extra cash gave me the buying power to acquire a lot of music tapes or better yet go see Romance in the Stone or Ghost Busters one more time before leaving the theatre’s.

So the Great Small Business Tip of the day is: Don’t overlook the obvious! There are always revenue streams in every business. Think about what you are discarding at this moment. Maybe you are an air duct cleaning company and just throw out the waste… maybe it could be resold for furniture stuffing? Or what about a flooring company… what are you doing with all the carpet you pull up? Is there a way that you can use that waste? Maybe it can be ground up and re-purposed? I hear auto mechanics are taking old tires and having them grounded down for mulch.

In this day and age of a GREEN awareness movement where recycling is IN and the economy is tight… it might be a good idea to take a moment and think about it. You just may have another revenue stream right under your nose and you didn’t even know it.

 let me know what kind of extra revenue you bring in with any new business that you discover. As always, I love to hear from you!