It's hard enough to get customers. In tight times, the last thing you want to do, after you've gotten a customer, is to lose them. Not a good idea. But, it happens all the time to lots of companies. Why? One reason. Yes, that's what I said: ONE reason. In every situation, for every type of product or service, in all the thousands of customer interviews I've conducted, it's obvious that there is really only one reason why customers leave. The reason: "You stopped caring about me."

You want to grow your revenue - you need to grow your revenue - but the big question is: How? Do you take what you've already done and try to do the same thing in another location? Do you partner with others who are doing something related to what you're doing? Do you offer more products and services - to current customers, or new customers? Do you continue doing what you do now, but expand your distribution channel - selling through more portals, distributors, resellers? Do you make it easier for people to buy from you, on your current website? Do you increase your marketing spend? Do you hire more salespeople? The real answer is not what to do, but how you go about figuring out what you should do.

People buy when they're comfortable that they're making the right decision. If they're uncomfortable, they don't buy. This is especially true when money is tight or people are fearful. Their comfort zone - and how well you stay within it - will determine if you make a sale, or not. Let's look at what will kick you out of their comfort zone - and how you can stay inside.

As consumers, we are encouraged to enjoy life, relax, have fun, hang out with our buddies and laugh, drink, eat, travel, be entertained, look for ways to make things easier, more efficient, faster and more cool. As marketers and salespeople, we make claims that our products and services will help people do these things. Given that the average consumer is exposed to thousands of these messages a week, consumers are immersed in an endless sea of messages encouraging them to "do your thing," "just do it," and do "whatever turns you on." There's also an overriding theme, that you are really, really important, that it's all about "you." The problem is, in our society, money is the vehicle we all use to pay for those indulgences. We have to make money before we can spend it on our ever-so-special selves.

Some time ago, I wrote an article about how software buyers were mired in the "skepticism swamp." It's even worse now. If you're selling software, you have to be able to overcome the massive amount of disbelief that has built up in buyers' minds, thanks to all the promises that have been made to them - and broken. Everyone promised higher productivity, increased efficiency, and plug-and-play. HA. What everyone delivered was installation headaches, integration nightmares, missing-in-action service, and navigation that required that you know the program intimately before you could do anything useful with it. Today, software buyers and users consider each purchase an investment - of time and grief, as well as the money.

When I got an advance copy of the about-to-be-released book, Tuned In, and started reading it, my head swam. The authors, whom I've known for a long time, were singing my theme song so perfectly that I felt like I was in a parallel universe. Their basic premise? That the companies that make it - the ones that rise above all others - have one thing in common. They're "tuned in." They came to this conclusion after actually doing research - which is a good thing, all by itself. After interviewing hundreds of CEOs and people at thousands of companies, they were sure that the difference between the Starbucks and the Peets of the world was how "tuned in" they were.

In the beginning, the entrepreneur starts a company, and does all the selling himself. Then, as the business grows, he hires a salesperson, then a few more salespeople. This goes on for a couple of years, then he hires even more salespeople and a sales manager. As this progression occurs, this entrepreneur, now the CEO, makes selling mistakes. All CEOs make these mistakes, even if their background was in sales before they started their company, or before they joined the corporation. There aren't many companies run by salespeople; in my experience, CEOs usually come from engineering, finance, or operations. But even the sales-background guys and gals make these same mistakes. Avoiding these seven mistakes can save you a lot of grief. Here they are. I'll be stating each mistake as a belief, because it is the belief that gets the CEO in trouble. These beliefs are actually dangerous myths, myths that cost companies millions or billions of dollars every year.

You may have noticed - I didn't post last Friday, the Friday before Memorial Day. It was the first time I haven't posted since I started this blog in December 2004. Sometimes deadlines and life conflict. On Thursday, I got two phone calls. One from a girl calling from a windy location, on a cell phone. "Hi, this is Nicole. I'm here with your brother, Chris....oh, it is so windy, I'm sorry. I..." Click. My land line doesn't have CallerID, so I couldn't call her back. What was the call about? Where was Nicole - and what had happened to make her call, in that way?

There comes a time in the course of inevitable economic ups and downs, when "everyone" starts to feel like "things are going to hell in a hand basket." The media is filled with stories of business and industry failures, people start hoarding and cutting back on their expenses, sales that used to be easy become difficult, and company budgets are cut. There is a sense of impending doom, and financial statistics are reported that reinforce that sense. We are in one of those periods now. It doesn't really matter how we got here, or how much of it is real and how much is mass hysteria. Having been through a number of these periods, I've come to pay less and less attention to the "why."

When your market changes, your company must change with it. This seems so obvious - when you're an outsider looking into someone else's company. You can plainly see that buyers have changed what they are doing, and conditions have changed, but the people inside the company are behaving the way they have always behaved, as if nothing had changed. When you're inside one of those companies, you can tell that something is different. You get hints. But it is so much easier to continue doing what you've always done. You would rather ignore the changes you sense, than admit they are happening - and deal with the changes you know will you have to make. New players will come into the market, while the market is in its new state, and think, Ah, so this is how it is. OK, I will behave accordingly. They don't have to change their current behavior or infrastructure. They will simply start doing what makes sense. The leaders of the companies-in-denial either wake up and take action at this stage, or continue to sleepwalk. I don't have to tell you what happens to the sleepwalkers. They walk right off a cliff, never to be heard from again.

Here's a video that demonstrates the perfectly orchestrated sales pitch, shot and delivered professionally.

The most accurate economic indicator I have ever found is "primary customer motivation." As I interview customers for clients, I learn what is driving them to make the decisions they are currently making. In times of uncertainty, there is usually one big, fear-based driver. In times of economic growth, more drivers come into play, such as the need for status, the need to solve a problem, the need to change one's lifestyle, and the need to experience something new. I have also found that journalists and economists don't have a clue about "primary customer motivations" until it's obvious to everyone what is going on. And, you can be sure that if the facts conflict with their agenda, the agenda will overshadow the story. That's why any business owner who depends on the press or economists to "guide" him is always going to be a day late and a dollar short. Instead, if he was personally and regularly interviewing customers (or having someone he trusts do it for him), he'd be finding out what's really going on - six months before everyone else (including competitors). In any economic situation, these primary customer motivation drivers determine what people are buying and how, as well as what they are deciding not to buy.

Sometimes you mistakenly hire someone who turns out to be a rationalizer. Even though you've conducted several interviews and carefully checked references, nobody clued you in. You don't realize they're a rationalizer until they've been with you for you a while. As they make mistakes, and you point them out, you always hear excuses. You start to realize that they are never going to face up to their shortcomings and make the necessary changes. People either change or make excuses. They can't do both. Well, that's not strictly true. There are some people who protest at first, but after they've calmed down, they realize you're right, apologize, and then start to work on it. They're in a different category: "knee-jerk-negative at first, but then comes around." These knee-jerkers just hate themselves when they make mistakes, which accounts for the knee-jerk negative reaction. But they will later admit they need work in that area, and they will take care of it. Outside of the frustration you'll feel whenever you get that initial negative reaction, these folks can improve and get the job done. Back to the hard-core rationalizer. The fundamental problem is, this person sees the situation in a way that does not coincide with the facts.

I am currently working with a couple of clients whose sales are being affected by current economic events. One client is in the luxury travel business and another is in the recreational boating business. In the former situation, high gas prices, higher food prices, and the fall of the dollar against the Euro are causing their customers to pull back on their buying decisions. In the latter situation, high gas prices and a concern about the economy are causing their customers to put off their next recreational boat purchase. Of course, they're not the only ones feeling the pinch right now. If you are too, here's a recessionary rallying cry for you: If you want more sales, get serious. Serious about what?

Those persona articles I wrote recently (here and here), created a bit of a stir out there in BlogLand. Adele Revella from Pragmatic Marketing mentioned my concerns about personas and then went on to describe how those problems could be addressed, including not talking to salespeople about personas, but by relating stories about real buyers. Good advice. Pragmatic marketing also blogged about my persona blog, with a piece about how people find numerous ways to avoid visiting clients. Brian Eisenberg quoted Adele's quote, then also went on to talk about how to solve persona problems, using a 4-question survey that will help put flesh on the bones of your personas.

Email has become the message medium of our age. Just as we learned how to address and stamp an envelope, just as we learned how to fill out a FedEx form, we are now - still - learning how to use email effectively to run our businesses, and to buy and sell products and services. I'm not going to spend a lot of time this week talking about how frustrating it is when someone doesn't do what I'm about to recommend. Suffice it to say that stream-of-consciousness, flaky subject lines don't help you manage your business or increase your revenues. What is really happening - and we all know this, because we are experiencing it every day - is all activities, and all communication about activities, happen via email. It's become the central communication tool for all projects.

You manage others. What do they depend on you for - more than anything else? The truth. You sell a product or a service. What do your customers depend on you for, more than anything else? Yep. The truth. Nothing is more valued in the business world, nothing matters as much, as the truth. Employees eat it up when it's given to them, and, when it isn't, conspire amongst themselves to find out what it is. Customers demand it, and stomp out (warning others to stay away), if they don't get it.

Salespeople (or, I should say, order takers) who are used to taking calls all day are still having a hard time adjusting to the email-driven business world we live in now. The same is true of many small business owners. The phone is no longer the "instrument of choice" for today's busy buyers. Their preferred way of contacting companies when they are interested in a product or service is via email. And yet, too many salespeople and entrepreneurs are still treating email as an intrusion into their busy day. Because they get so much email and spam, and because they don't want to spend all day typing notes to people, they just aren't giving incoming email buyers the attention that they deserve. If your salespeople are struggling with, or ignoring, this issue, it helps for them to see the email scenario from the buyer's point of view. It will help them understand how just a few minutes spent responding can make the difference between closing a sale or losing a customer for life. Let's look at this from the perspective of a customer we'll call Jane.

Personas do have their place. When you're designing a product, you have to make decisions about what to put in and what to leave out. Personas can help with that process. But once the product is designed, and it's time to create your web page, write selling copy, and train your salespeople, personas can get you into real trouble. They can make you think you're addressing the buyer properly, when in fact you are probably ignoring who the buyer is, what the buyer really wants, and, in many cases, insulting the buyer. You see, if I'm the buyer, I already know who I am. So I'm not the least impressed if you think you know who I am. Besides, it makes me feel a little creeped out anyway, that you're so determined to know everything about me you can describe me to your buddies around the conference table. Do you really have to know all those things about me to sell something to me? I mean, c'mon. What does it matter how old I am or how much money I make? I just want to buy something to fix a problem. I don't want my personal space invaded. Not only that: Is it going to be a fun to buy your product, or are you going to make it a hassle?

There's a joke - you've probably heard one of the many versions of it - that I think of as the "demo" joke. My favorite version is the one starring Bill Gates: Bill Gates died and found himself standing in front of St. Peter, who was sizing him up. "Well, Bill, I'm not sure whether to send you to Heaven or Hell. After all, you helped society enormously by putting a computer in almost every home in America, and you gave away a lot of money. But, you also created that evil Windows program. It's a close call, so I'm going to do something I've never done before: I'm going to let you decide where you want to go." Bill replied, "What's the difference between the two?" St. Peter said, "Well, I'm willing to let you visit both places briefly, then you will have to decide." "Fine, but where do you think I should I go first?" "I leave that up to you." "Okay, what the Hell," said Bill. "Let's try down below first."

I am continuously amused at the lengths company executives will go to, to avoid talking directly to their customers. They'd rather do their taxes than phone or go face-to-face with a real, live customer. As a result of this fear, company executives and owners will bet the company on any other data they can get their hands on. They pore over their website metrics. They run web-based surveys. They ask their salespeople (sometimes) and customer service people (hardly ever) what customers are saying. Every so often, they may lurk on an online discussion group. They demand more and more data from their marketing folks. Every piece of data makes them want more data, because the data they get only raises more questions. Deep down inside, they wonder if it's all BS. If they found some backbone and focused instead on actually having a few conversations a month with their customers - and listening to the calls that come in from customers - they'd understand what their customers want them to sell, and how they want to buy. The rise of "personas" Over the last few years, the idea of customer "personas" has been finding its way into website design. The basic idea, obviously, is to design your website for the types of people buying your product, so it satisfies each type of person's preferences and buying process.

As I was coaching a salesperson recently, we talked about the differences between leaders and followers. It's an important distinction, especially during turbulent, recessionary times, which require all company leaders - and their employees - to meet new, higher standards. In many cases, the survival of their business depends on it. Leaders must become better leaders and their followers must engage in more leadership-like behavior. I pointed out that if you were to walk into any conference room, and start observing - even if you didn't know anyone in the room before you arived - you would be able to pick out the leader and the followers in about three minutes. It wouldn't matter where that leader was sitting at the table; it wouldn't matter what the leader was wearing or how old or young the leader was; it wouldn't matter what they looked like. Employees often believe - and behave as if - managers were "born" into management. Sure, someone can inherit a position, but that's rare. On the whole, leaders are self-made, not born. Leadership is a learned skill. I am not talking about the people who rise in the ranks due to political shenanigans. I am talking about people who have rightfully earned the right to be perceived as a true leader, someone worthy of being followed.

"Fast, right, cheap. Pick two." Print shop owners used to like to post this little truism near the front desk of their shops. There's a lot of wisdom on those five words. If you do it too fast, it's likely to be wrong. If you take too much time obsessing over details, it isn't going to be fast. And if you get it cheap, you might also get it fast, but it probably won't be right. The problem is, today's customers assume that they can get "all three" if they just look hard enough. Google has given them a virtual, endless, global shopping mall. If one vendor can't give them all three, they'll just keep looking. Click. Click. Click.

I have a psychic can opener in my briefcase. I use it every day to figure out what's motivating people - customers, partners, managers, business owners, and employees. I figure out what they need and want; what drives them; what drives them crazy; what they love to do and what they avoid doing whenever they can; what freaks them out and what makes them tick. It's the "people" part of the work I do on systems, processes, and people to increase revenue for my clients. Every now and then, I run across someone who has an emotional problem that is seriously affecting their work performance. My first step is to make absolutely sure that the emotional problem really exists - because it may not. Someone else may be misjudging the situation, slandering the person, or provoking the person. If the individual does have a legitimate problem, the second step is to sit the person down and kindly explain how their behavior is counterproductive, then see what happens. If the person takes it well, and is actually willing to work on the problem, progress can be made. If the person goes into denial or gets upset in the "lay it on the table" meeting, I'll still do what I can, but the writing will be on the wall. Sooner or later the person and the company will part.

A depression is one of the worst things that can happen to the economy - it affects just about everyone, in every industry, in every country. Recessions, on the other hand, tend to hit a particular group of industries the hardest, with lesser "ripple effects" on others. What's happening now, as everyone knows, is that lending institutions have stopped lending with wild abandon. The first people to be effected by this are those in the real estate business - real estate agents, lawyers, title companies, and all the others who gain income from real estate activity. Their income - and their spending - decreases. Many decide to leave the business. There is a personnel shift from the real estate industry to other industries, where the money is still flowing. Until they are securely ensconced in their new positions, and have recovered financially, they are still cautious about their spending. Recessions affect other industries, too, because of the recessionary drumbeat. The news media is always prowling around looking for the latest disaster. As you know, right now they're writing stories about the "subprime lending crisis," profiling people who have been affected. This steady diet of bad economic news affects everyone. Anyone who views their house as their main economic security will be more cautious about their spending. They will take longer to make decisions. They will want more information before making a commitment. They will more carefully compare one option against another, and will be more likely to postpone major spending decisions. Consumer spending will slow, and so will business-to-business spending. People who run businesses are consumers themselves, and they follow economic news closely. They become more cautious about their spending, too. Their employees see the boss pulling back, and they tell their families, "Things are getting tight at work. Better wait on buying that new car." This classic, recessionary mass psychology will affect your own outlook, the outlook of your employees, and your revenue stream. So why am I saying that recessions can be good for you? Because they provide a unique opportunity for improvement.