How to get more business with less work than you thinkBrian HilliardMortgage,networking,clients,referrals, marketing
I have two numbers for you: 69.3 and 67.5. Those were the
average strokes taken, per round, by the top 20 and top four PGA
golf professionals during 2003. Now, a two-stroke differential
might not sound like much, and in fact--for those of you who don't
follow golf--it really isn't. But check out the next two numbers:
3.6 and 6.3, as in $3.6 million earned on average by a top 20 PGA
pro, compared to someone in the top four who earned $6.3 million.
So, if you were one of the top four golfers in the world, you
earned roughly twice the amount of money than those who finished in
the five-20 slots. That's not a bad payoff for performing just a
little better, relatively speaking, than the next person behind
you.
So, what do golf and financing have to do with each other?
Everything.
I like to think of it as the theory of sales relativity, and it
simply says this: The amount of "extra" work you put into your
business, relative to that of your competition, directly translates
into a revenue figure that is two to three times greater than
everyone else. In other words, in the highly competitive mortgage
industry, everyone is working hard, talking to agents and marketing
his business. But, if you can accomplish just one more thing on a
regular basis relative to what everyone else is doing, then your
income will be two to three times higher than that of your
competition.
Before everyone starts yelling, "I already work six days a week!
I can't work any harder," think about what I said. If you can
accomplish just one more thing relative to what everyone else is
doing, then your income will be two to three times higher than that
of your competition.
This doesn't mean working longer hours per se, but getting more
done while you're there. It doesn't mean working seven days a week
for the next month, but rather, staying an extra 10 minutes when
you're just about ready to go home, and doing something
productive.
That's the time when you're getting ahead of the competition.
That's the time when, if you accomplish just one more task, make
one more contact or mail out one more marketing piece, you'll
dramatically impact your revenue figures.
So, what are some examples of a few "extras" you could be doing?
Here are three of my favorites:
†Attend one more networking event this week. You never
know who you're going to meet at these events. Getting yourself out
to one more each week will almost guarantee you a dramatic increase
of exposure within the community.
†Network with one more previous client this month. If you
want to increase your business and get more referrals while you're
doing it, then a great first step is to spend more time with people
who have already used your services.
†Make one more phone call (or e-mail) just before heading
home. As a sales coach, I make five to 10 contacts each day as a
means of increasing my business. But, no matter how many calls I
make during the day, I always make it a point to go the extra mile
and make one more contact before leaving the office. Why? Over the
course of the year, that works out to be more than 200 "extra"
contacts, and all I need is one of them to turn into a customer for
that time to be very well spent.
Here's the bottom line: Initiate at least two of these actions
every day, and watch your business take off.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "That might work in golf, but
is that really the case with my business?" Well, to be honest with
you, I wasn't sure myself, until I tested it out in one of my
seminars. During the workshop, I passed out a few copies of my book
so the audience could take a look at it, page through it and get
familiar with the contents. Now, it's important to note that most
of the speakers I've seen don't do this. So, just by handing out
some books to the audience, I'm doing one little thing relatively
better than my competition. You know what? As soon as I implemented
this practice on a regular basis, book sales went up 100 percent.
That's right; I did one more thing relatively better than everyone
else, and it doubled my revenue.
What works in golf works in business, and I'd challenge you to
start making the theory of sales relativity work for you.
Brian Hilliard is a motivational speaker and author of the
book, "Networking Like a Pro!" He may be reached at (404) 434-2826,
[email protected]
or visit www.agitoconsulting.com.
