Silence is golden. Especially in a sales situation.

It's funny how a lot of us just don't like silence. We ask a client or prospect a question, and if they don't respond immediately we feel this massive urge to jump in and help them out! I think most of the biggest mistakes we can make when promoting our products and services is talking too much. Silence gives your prospect a chance to process the information so don't be afraid of it. Let it happen.
 
Most people will only wait two or three seconds before jumping in to answer the question, rephrase it, or move on. Two of the main personality profile types take much longer than that to process the information and formulate their response, so jumping in is likely to irritate them and could potentially lose you a client or a sale. 

Keeping you educated...
​Jo x

Unfortunately, there are still businesses out there that look at clients and prospects simply as pounds in the bank. (Although I'd like to think that this didn't include you, as you have the good sense to be reading this and looking to better yourself!)

Ask great open questions to encourage your prospect to talk to you. Be genuinely interested in the response. Practice active listening—nodding, encouraging, smiling.

You don't have to be super-intelligent to be a good conversationalist; you just need to know how to ask good open questions. People love to talk about themselves, even shy people, given the right questioning.  

Keep on keepin' on!
Jo x ​

I absolutely love Tony Robbins. I have been listening to his audios and reading his books for about 25 years. Nobody motivates me like Tony Robbins, except maybe Zig Ziglar and Les Brown. I was lucky enough to attend his Unleash The Power Within event in New York in 2014 and actually did the fire walk. Yes, I walked four metres, barefoot, over burning hot coals! It was an amazing experience.
 
So, if Tony Robbins can motivate me to walk on fire, then I'm pretty sure he can motivate you to do whatever you set your mind to.
 
All of his stuff is good, but I particularly recommend Awaken The Giant Within and Unshakeable, Your Guide To Financial Freedom

Happy reading
Jo x

Business owners often go to more effort to find new clients than they do to keep the ones they've already got. Whenever I speak to a new client, the first thing they want to do is marketing. They think that's the exciting stuff, and while new clients are the life-blood of a business, there is a lot to be said for spoiling your current customers or clients so they stay loyal.

7 ways you can show your clients "the love":
1) Send a small gift out of the blue. It doesn't have to be expensive, just something personal, decorative or useful. Please don't send them a pen or a coaster with your logo on it! That's not the type of gift I mean. That's just self-promotion and the customer will see it as that. 

Guest post from Sarah at Sarah Barter Proofreading.

Whether you're setting up a website, writing a blog post, putting together a client proposal or designing a poster, don't underestimate how unprofessional and off-putting little spelling mistakes and grammatical errors can be to both potential and returning customers. Proofreading is basically quality control—it’s the final polish of your words before you release them to the world!