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5 Unconventional Ways To Get More Customers

We all want more customers.
It doesn’t matter who you are — baker, butcher, or anonymous computer hacker. Getting more consumers is an all-consuming part of everything that you do. And that's pretty logical.
Without customers you find yourself out of work gasping for air. So it’s only natural that you perk up when the topic of winning friends comes around. Heck, you can always learn something from the experts, right?
Which is even more troubling because most of what is currently being shelled out as advice is really a pitch to buy a “7 step” CD series on social media advertising.
Too late you wake up way too busy, a smidge poorer, and wondering how all the tweeting and Facebook posting is getting you anything more than arthritis in your fingers.
So let's be frank. You can have more customers than you ever imagined. You can be in the nice position to tell people “NO”. You can be madly successful without selling your soul.
And here are a few ways to do that:
1. Stop needing new customers.
That’s right. Stop being so damn needy. It’s a bad stink that buyers pick up on the first time they start dealing with you. And it’s not just you networking like a maniac or tossing business cards at anyone within five feet of you, it’s the fact that you send horrible email marketing talking about how deals are “closing fast”.
That stuff just doesn’t work any more. (And it quite possibly never did work)
Be busy helping people for free. Give until it hurts. Sure you need to ask for the deal and get paid, but you also need to stop acting like you not landing this next new customer is going to make you go bankrupt.
If that’s really the case, then shame on you. Don’t take it out on unsuspecting new prospects.
2. Qualify new customers like they're enemies.
Make it a rigorous process for you to do business with new customers. One of the reasons that you don’t have time to go prospect for new business is that you are trying to take care of the nonsensical demands of bad clients you shouldn’t be doing business with in the first place.
Your time is valuable. In fact, it’s more valuable than the incremental revenue you might lose by saying “NO” to the occasional business riff-raff looking to beat you up.
Take the time to learn what you’re really, really good at. And then start taking on new customers that need that value. Not only will you be happy, your clients will be ecstatic at the outrageous results you’ll be getting for them.
3. Deliver way more value than customers deserve.
There is something simply magical about having your expectations blown away. It’s the chocolate mint on your hotel room pillow. It’s getting your Amazon.com package a day earlier than you expected.
Right? It’s hard to describe the delight at getting more than you paid for.
Most of us are so focused on profit and loss and “what is fair” that we neglect the opportunity to create raving fans. And these raving fans are the evangelists who will get other people excited about what you do.
And that excitement and loyalty isn’t something that you can buy or market.
It can only happen when you over-deliver on the value you promise.
4. Treat referrals like gold.
Referrals aren’t a name and number or email address on a piece of paper. They are the next generation of buyers for your company
Treat them super-duper special.
And you know what that means. That means that you build a relationship with them before pitching the heck out of your merchandise.
Sure you need to get down to business fast and not just talk about the “weather” or “pictures of your kids”; but you also need to learn “why” those prospects might be good fit for you savvy products.
Part of that respect and relationship has to do with follow-up. Instead of just dashing off a single email or making a call ad leaving a voicemail, put in the effort to follow-up with them five to six times. Remember, these are prime opportunities, not just “leads”.
5. Be something that matters.
Customers are tired of you being boring. Have a higher calling than simply making more money and taking bigger vacations. Get obsessed with changing the world around you.
Stop going through the motions of calling your products “better” and challenge your team to “be” better.
It’s the words you say. It’s the unselfish attitude you have. It’s the kindness you show. Money is just a way to help others. Remember that. Getting rich is a state of mind. You start by planning to enrich the lives of others.
And that goal, without question, is the most attractive quality any business can ever have. That’s the kind of business customers want to be a part of.
You can have more.
You can grow your business farther and faster than you ever imagined. But it requires you to “be” a better business-person. Are you up for that challenge?
This post originally appeared at Edgy Conversations.

Business Development Jobs: This Hot Career Pays An Average of $95,000

If your business offers a service, from accounting to web design, your most important business task is bringing in clients. But how do you find those clients? That’s where the fast-growing field of business development comes in.
A business development professional is someone whose primary responsibility is generating business for their organization. This category of professional used to be lumped in with sales and marketing pros, but now business development pros are focusing on recruiting new clients while marketing gurus are focusing on branding and internal and external communications.
Glassdoor.com named business development as one of their top 25 jobs in America for 2015. The study projected 11,616 job openings this year — that’s a lot of business development jobs! — with an average base salary of nearly $95,000.
If you’re comfortable connecting with new people and fostering relationships, this could be a field for you to explore. (Click here to tweet this article on business development.)

What is business development?

In 2012, Forbes published an article attempting to define business development, since it was not a term on the tip of everyone’s tongue.
Christine Spray, founder and president of the National Business Development Association, explained her take on the exact definition of the field. “When selling products, that is typically referred to as sales,” Spray said. “Products are bought because of price, quantity, quality, and how quickly you can get it. Business development is typically referred to when selling services, whether legal, accounting, financial reporting, IT, or marketing. People buy these services because of relationships and trust.”

What it takes to succeed in business development

It takes a unique set of qualities and skills to go out every day and bring in new clients. Since business is often reliant upon trustworthy relationships, it’s important that a prospective client is working with a business development professional that they trust, and a key part of business development is cultivating that sense of trust. “It’s about building relationships,” Spray said. “A lot of people call advertise things on a billboard, but a relationship with a person is what will help make the decision to buy.”
Interpersonal skills are incredibly important, as is being able to connect with people. “You have to be really good at building friendships,” Spray said. “It’s about making friends and helping people.”
Part of helping people involves developing your network and being able to connect people within your network, whether someone is seeking a real estate attorney or an IT provider. It’s important to be able to be the “go to” person making these connections. Building these networks requires frequent contact with a wide variety of professionals, though there is a fine art to networking and building these relationships.
“A lot of people just think business development is networking and eating all day with coffee, lunches, and networking events,” Spray said. “But people who just do that don’t last very long. You really have to know what questions to ask and how to help other people reach their goals, regardless of whether they buy from you or not.”
She also emphasizes the importance of following up, preferably the same day — even if it’s seven or eight in the evening. It’s also important to stay on top of changes in the field. To do so, Spray subscribes to a variety of newsletters and e-newsletters, regularly reads books on networking and communication, and continually focuses on growing her network.
Tenacity is another important trait in the business development professional. “It takes somebody who doesn’t mind being told ‘no’ 10 times a day before they get a ‘yes’ or a ‘maybe’,” Spray said. “They have to recognize that they need perseverance and that it’s a numbers game. But they can plant that seed — they may not need your service today, but tomorrow or a year from now, they might.”

How to prepare for a business development career

Learning how to communicate with people and savvy networking skills, are important stepping stones to a successful career in the industry. “The biggest thing anyone starting out in a business development role really needs to learn is the correct way to network,” Spray said. She emphasizes the importance of not running around and passing out business cards left and right, but rather cultivating relationships and learning what you can do for each person.
This constant networking often requires someone who is a people person. “Usually, people that are more outgoing are more successful at it,” Spray said. She recommends leveraging marketing, communications, and interpersonal skills. At the beginning of her career, she joined Toastmasters to learn about and practice public speaking.
Another training ground for potential business development professionals is somewhat unexpected. Spray recommends working at a call center to practice cold calling and learning to develop a thick skin. “Cold call experiences, where you hear a lot of ‘no’s’, build a lot of confidence as it teaches you perseverance, and that a “no” now doesn’t mean “no” forever,” Spray said.

Looking ahead: career of the future

Business development is growing rapidly. Most of the 60 clients Spray sees each month now have dedicated business development professionals on staff, whereas they didn’t have any a decade ago. “The biggest thing that has changed is that people recognize bringing in new business is harder than they think it is because there is so much competition,” Spray said. “Clients are not hanging out, they’re busy running businesses.”
Bringing in clients is also a good field for people seeking a solid career, even in uncertain financial times. “Business development is a profit center, and you’ll always have a job if you’re good at it.”
Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Fortune runs out for Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan

Lagos (AFP) - Goodluck Jonathan's rise to the top of the pile in Nigeria's ruthless political world has been described as accidental -- a matter of good luck.

But the amazing run of coincidence and chance that brought the son of a canoe-maker to the presidential villa in the capital Abuja, seems to have come to an end.

The 57-year-old southern Christian -- the first head of state from the oil-producing Niger Delta -- was thrust into the presidency in 2010 following the death of his predecessor Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, a Muslim from the north.

The mild-mannered Jonathan, often seen with his trademark fedora traditionally worn by Niger Delta natives, is from a family of boat makers. He became a zoology lecturer and worked on environmental issues before entering politics in 1998.

"I personally call him the accidental president. It was chance, good luck," said Adewale Maja-Pearce, a Lagos-based writer and contributing columnist for the New York Times.
"He was plucked from obscurity because he was considered pliable."
- Right place, right time -

As for his distinctive name, his late father was quoted as saying in a biography of the president that he "called him Goodluck because although life was hard for me when he was born, I had this feeling that this boy would bring me good luck."

His mother, Eunice, said although she had a history of lengthy labour in childbirth stretching for several days, Goodluck was born in record time.

Fortune certainly seems to have favoured Jonathan as he grew older.
An unconfirmed report has long circulated in local media that Jonathan, elected assistant senior prefect at his secondary school, grabbed the top post when the head prefect was expelled.
His rise to the top was similarly fortuitous, becoming governor of his native Bayelsa state in 2005 after his predecessor was impeached over money-laundering charges in Britain.
The night he was nominated by his People's Democratic Party (PDP) as Yar'Adua's running mate before 2007 polls, many Nigerians had never heard of Jonathan.

In one of the US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks, Jonathan purportedly acknowledged his inexperience in a meeting with the US ambassador while he served as acting president during Yar'Adua's illness.

"I was not chosen to be vice-president because I had good political experience," Jonathan said. "There were a lot more qualified people around to be vice-president."

A magazine once described the Nigerian leader as "hardly a man to set the pulse racing".
- Lack of clarity -
Though always calm in public, Jonathan headed a nation plagued by a range of crises.
Nigeria is consistently ranked as one of the world's most corrupt nations and the north is wracked by the brutal Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.
The main opposition All Progressives Congress had made Jonathan's perceived failure to tackle both problems a central plank of its campaign.
Jonathan earned praise however for staffing his cabinet with internationally-regarded technocrats, notably ex-World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was his finance minister.
But despite living in Africa's top oil producer, most of the country's 173 million people live on less than $2 a day and only receive a paltry supply of electricity.
Jonathan was accused of failing to take on such endemic problems.
"He has always said 'Oh yes, we will take care of that,'" said Pat Utomi, a professor at Lagos Business School and prominent political commentator.

"I think he meant to do well... but it seems there was never clarity in his head of where he wanted Nigeria to be."

Election Results

INEC Results: Live Updates As Jega Announces Results Of Election 2015 At Press Conference

on March 30, 2015

Keep refreshing this page to get updates on the Live Media Briefing where Jega announces the results:
Updated every 5 minutes

2:01 PM – Presentation of party candidates
2:03 PM – INEC Chairman takes the stage to introduce himself and the guidelines
2:15 PM – Jega is giving highlights about how the coalition officers guideline has helped with calculating the results.
2:16 PM – Jega shows the press the blank sheets
2:16 PM – Jega says there are 19 procedures that the Collation officers followed
2:26 PM – Jega says that the acronym of the parties will be read out shortly and the names will be read alphabetically
2:32 PM – INEC Official announces the procedure that will be followed by Collation officers to announces results from their zones.
2:34 PM – Sign language specialist takes the stage to give sign-language reports for people who may not be able to listen to the reports but can watch and understand languages.
2:39 PM – INEC Officials are putting together some details while people wait for someone to take the stage.
2:42 PM – INEC Official says that if there are any complains, there would be a complain form called the EC40G
2:43 PM – Jega says results will be announced on first-come, first-served. The first that will be announced is Ekiti State
2:44 PM – Collation officer from Ekiti State takes the stage to announce the results for that state
2:56 PM – Collation officer announces Ekiti State – Total Registered Voters – 723,255, Accredited Voters – 323,739, Rejected votes – 8,754. For the major parties, APC – 120,331, PDP – 176,466
2:58 PM – Collation officer for Ogun State is invited to come and give the figures for Ogun State and he announces that there are 20 local governments and 14 parties participated in the elections.
3:06 PM – Ogun State figures are – Registered Voters – 1,709,409, Accredited Voters – 594,975, Total Valid Votes – 533,172, Rejected Votes – 26,441, Total Votes Cast – 559,613. The party votes are AA: 584, AD: 1927, ACPN: 3072, ADC: 1364, APA: 1930, APC: 308,290, CPP: 978, HOPE: 332, KOWA: 432, NCP: 815, PDP: 207,950, PPN: 4339, UDP: 562, UPP: 597
3:11 PM – Enugu State Collation officer is invited to the stage to announce the figures for Enugu State who says there are 17 local governments.
3:17 PM – Enugu State figures are – Registered Voters – 1,381,563, Accredited Voters – 616,112, Total Valid Voters – 573,173, Rejected Votes – 12,459, Total Votes Cast – 585,632. The party results are AA:441, ACPN: 479, AD: 269, ADC: 478, APA: 715, APC: 14,157, CPP: 237, HOPE: 110, KOWA: 203, NCP: 76, PDP: 553,003, PPN: 407, UDP: 1623, UPP: 290
3:21 PM – Kogi State is next and the collation officer takes the stage to announce the figures from that state announcing that 21 LGAs in the state with 14 parties.Registered Voters – 1,350,883 Accredited Voters – 476,839 Total Valid Voters – 431,328, Rejected Votes – 17,959, Total Votes Cast – 439,287AA: 700, ACPN: 1039, AD: 427, ADC: 761, ADA: 1001, APC: 264,851, CPP: 967, HOPE: 144, KOWA: 190, NCP: 399, PDP: 149,987, PPN: 476, UDP: 180, UPP: 156,
3:29 PM – Osun state is next and the collation officer takes the stage. Osun State figures are – Registered Voters – 1,378,113 Accredited Voters – 683,169AA: 377, ADC: 937, APA: 1306, APC: 383,603, CPP: 1029, HOPE: 132, KOWA: 255, PDP: 249,929, PPN: 599, UDP: 124, UPP: 159
3:40 PM – Ondo State is next and the collation officer takes the stage to announce the figures for that state.
3:44 PM – Ondo State figures are – Registered Voters 1,501,549, Accredited Voters – 618,040 Total Valid Voters – 561,056, Rejected Votes – 21,379, Total Votes Cast – 582,435. The results for the parties are – AA: 386, ACPN: 2406, AD: 1237, ADC: 1227, APA: 1139, APC: 299,889, CPP: 1012, HOPE: 184, KOWA: 223, NCP: 846, PDP: 251,368, PPN: 734, UDP: 184, UPP: 221
3:47 PM – The FCT is next and the collation officer takes the stage to announce the figures
3:53 PM – The FCT figures for the parties are – Registered Voters – 886,573 Accredited Voters – 344,056, Valid Voters – 306,805, Rejected Votes – 9210, Total Votes Cast – 316,015. The figures for the parties are – AA: 139, ACPN: 342, AD: 240, ADC: 288, APA: 674, APC: 146,399, CPP: 347, HOPE: 83, KOWA: 165, NCP: 473, PDP: 157,195, PPN: 269, UDP: 95, UPP: 96
4:00 PM – Oyo State Collation Officer is next on the stage
4:05 PM – The figures for Oyo State parties are – Registered Voters – 2,344,448, Accredited Voters – 1,073,849, Total Valid Votes – 881,352, Rejected Votes – 47,254, Total Votes Cast – 928,606. The party figures are – AA: 6,331, ACPN: 8,979, AD: 6282, ADC: 5000, APA: 4468, APC: 528,620, CPP: 6674, HDP:839, KOWA: 1312, NCP: 1895, PDP: 303,376, PPN: 2842, UDP: 1069, UPP: 3665
4:11 PM – More updates coming soon…

I, Otunba Samuel Bamidele Aro, and my lieutenants want to sincerely thank each and everyone of you that started this missionary journey of liberation of Yagba with me and stood till the end, the Almighty God who knows all will continue to guide and protect all that concerns you, amen.

We tried our best but God who is the owner and giver of power gives to whom He deems fit, who are we to question His authority and supremacy. Whatever happened, it is His will.

At least Yagba people had been able to prove a point that we are not money mongers, betrayals, sell outs,etc like someone said that if money is thrown under a moving trailer, Yagba people would run to picked it, and that if the money miss road god of Yagba comes, money would changed the thinking and the orientation of Yagba people, we want to sincerely applaud and encourage Yagba people to continue with these fight of faith and liberation that they had exhibited, God in His infinite mercies will neither leave nor forsake us. They brought money but it failed them.

We shouldn’t be discouraged that the Senate doesn’t come to us, whatever is more than Senate will still come to us. We delivered and stood behind ourselves irrespective of all odds.

We had accepted the results and the outcome of the elections in good faith, congratulations to Otunba Dino Melaye for his emergence as the next senator of Kogi west, we put a very good fight against him but God who gives power knew why he gave it to him, may his reign bring the desired change we need in Kogi west, amen. The most important thing is we had sent Smart Adeyemi packing.

Once again we say thank you all and God bless.

iwalaiye's blog: Sales In a Competitive Society.

iwalaiye's blog: Sales In a Competitive Society.: It will interest you to know that in today's world,companies are looking for all means to help promote their goods and services and N...

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