Community Involvement and Sales: Give first, and ye shall receive in droves!
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Give and it shall be given unto you... — Luke 3:68 KJV
Luke of course wasn’t talking about Sales when that verse made it into the New Testament. But the verse has held echoes for centuries amongst the pages of the Christian Bible.
No single greater truth could have been written for so many things than what was written in that single moment. This simple truth applies especially in Business!
“Give and ye shall receive…” is a statement I have been hearing since I was a little boy and something I had only started applying to my Business a couple of years ago. This truly is the single greatest Business growth tool I have ever used in my entire career.
If you want more Sales, you have to give something of yourself to get them, your charm, humour, your time, your energy, your service, effort. All of your emotional being!
If you want a great Sales team and you’re the manager, you have to give up so much, so much to take them to the next levels of their careers. I have given time and energy, I have given relationships, I have given 12–16 hour days, and even some sleepless nights to build some incredible teams.
If you want more Business, give something first, there is no faster way. When I first began SalesTrainInc. I called every Business owner in Southern Alberta I could get the phone number of just to give them a free online training course at absolutely NO CHARGE.
And now, as I write this novel, even now, I call people up and give them the first three chapters absolutely free of charge!
The greatest Sales Professionals and Business owners I have ever met, have had a singular focus of giving first above all else, knowing that at some point, something was going to come in return. This giving however did not come without a fair share of lead collection and digging into who the decision makers were in companies, gathering intel, etc.— but the initial offer has always been free of charge.
If you want to truly grow you Business, I suggest you begin thinking of things that you can start giving away at absolutely no charge! Of things that you can be putting out into the community, something that your company is going to be known for!
Give first, ask questions, receive later. This is the model. This will always be the model.
Here are some areas where you can consider giving first —
Sports/ Youth Organisations:
If you’re into any kind of sport and your company can help them out with anything, in any way, whatsoever, then do yourself a favour… do it. For crying out loud! I remember a Business Owner who owned one off the largest roofing companies in my home city at the time, he had ALWAYS helped out the Judo club there in a BIG WAY every single year… WHY?
BECAUSE HE LOVED THE JUDO CLUB!
Crazy enough, not only did we as athletes benefit from his contributions every single year, but he would as well in terms of reduced Judo fees, reduced uniform fees, reduced tournament fees, feeling good internally, and the list goes on and on and on…
It pays dividends in more ways than one, especially if you are in regular attendance every single year!
Secondary to that, are youth organisations! SaleTrainInc is ALWAYS going to be offering our training to under 18’s absolutely free of charge — forever. Why? Because school sucks… I don’t have a single doubt in my mind about that… school just blows. They don’t teach you anything about Persuasion, Leadership, Selling, Negotiation… yea… let’s travel to a 3rd world country and use the functions sign on our graphing calculators to negotiate for anything shall we? I understand it if you’re going to be in trades, be a doctor, a lawyer, or some other Proffession that needs EXTENSIVE training in order to get into the field. But in the Business field… it’s completely under-represented in the education system before Post Secondary, and in Post Secondary, it’s run by a bunch of people who have never run a Business in their lives and do case studies of the past… things that happened ever 100 years ago.
It’s hard to determine what’s actually legitimate from what is so outdated my grandfather would look at it and say “Man, I remember that happening when I was 12…”
But the truth is, the youth are also our future above all else! They are the generation that will carry on the name, they are the generation that will lead the charge!
If your service is adaptable in any way to give to youth, then do it. Find a way, or create something that is going to enable you to give back to youth!
Still not convinced?
Think of it like this then, giving something away to kids has a lasting impression on them especially at an early age or in their formative years as teenagers! They then become adults… who then become paying and LOYAL customers for the rest of their adult lives.
Give that a whirl; Skippy!
Giving away your product:
Some of the greatest give and receive moments on the planet come out of software!
The give first model is one of the most efficient ways of doing Business!
Truth is, I don’t buy software for my company unless I can give it a try first! Plain and simple! If there is no perceived value that I can’t get my hands on right away, then I’m not interested in making the purchase toward the product itself — it’s really that simple.
Want to talk online company selling physical product?
I remember vistaprint.com doing something no one in the Business card space EVER considered doing and they started out their advertising campaigns on Television and Radio saying that if you made an account they were going to give 100 cards at absolutely no charge!
THIS WAS NUTS!
Everyone I knew was picking up Business cards left and right! But what did that do for Vistaprint? They got the contact information of LITERALLY MILLIONS of people that they now own the marketshare to! Loyal customer for YEARS to come! I still receive emails from these guys and I only picked up my 100 free Business cards 10 YEARS AGO!
Talk about a way to get into the marketplace!
Want to know the number one thing I tell struggling restaurants to do when there Sales are low? Go outside and start giving away free samples. Shit, give away free samples when times are good let alone bad!
The more customers the merrier! If you know your food is good! Then why not offer a sample of it to the world? Worst thing that happens… you lose at most $20 that day? Best thing that happens is you have a bunch of customers coming into your store thinking… “Damn, that WAS good! I want more… and I am kind of hungry!”
Don’t believe me? Take a trip into Costco sometime.
Find a way to give away your product, samples are something that are ultimately going to save your Business, no questions asked. You just have to get creative!
Speaking:
If you’re in consulting and you’re not giving away free speaking arrangements — you’re dead in the water. I’m telling you, I’m still doing free speaking arrangements to this day (Call: 1–403–331–5229). The results from this are absolutely wonderful! In a crowd of 100 people I speak to, someone is bound to buy something at some point, and that’s just the financial side! Let’s talk about all of the peoples lives we change with our products? Yes, you can make money and feel good too!
In the case of me speaking to a room full of Business owners… well… when I signed 3 contracts that day… I wasn’t complaining, the “Give” Model worked!
The results are tremendous when you can speak about your product!
It generates leads, it gives you a chance to tell your story, it gives you a chance to pitch what it is you’re selling, and it give you a chance to grow your income and your Business!
Even if you’re not in consulting, find organisation that will allow you to give away a free speech on “10 ways to better clean your oven so the repair guy doesn’t come to your door.”
It was counter advertising I had one of my clients doing (who was a appliance repair technician), and guess what happened, he got more clients as a result!
Sitting on Boards/ Chamber of Commerce:
Get involved in as many things as you possibly can in your community. That should go without saying, does this sound busy? Yes? It’s because it damn well is, and that’s the point! Get involved for the cause and Prospect for new Business EVERYWHERE!
You’ll be doing your good deed for years to come, that goes without saying, but then you’re going to be making money from all of the new contacts you’ve made over the time you spent growing organically within those communities!
There is no better way to get started than to join your local Chamber of Commerce and begin making a difference in the legislation within your city!
If you REALLY want to know the inner workings of what is going on in your community, then I highly suggest that you start leveraging the organisations that are working with the city directly in order to influence change!
Crazy concept right?
This is the beginning of where you could go within the Chamber itself! The Chamber could potentially introduce you to a variety of different boards that might peak your interests as well so you can start growing through those organisation too! Who knows, you sit on a board, offer them the products and services that you are developing for the community, you could own shares in a company you would have never thought of owning shares in! It’s happened… multiple times… to myself and many people I’ve worked with in the past.
Make sure you’re doing something your passionate about:
This goes without saying, listen I’m ALL OVER giving in order to receive. Some people are more partial to giving to give, and I don’t have any ill will for the missionaries of the world! Keep up the incredible work!
This is Business however, and you’re going to have to make something of it!
The once piece of advice that I’m going to deliver however is this, whenever you’re getting ready to give something away or donate your time to a good cause, or jump on a board. Make sure it’s something that you’re truly passionate about, something that you genuinely want to see grow! Something you want to see succeed!
There is nothing worse than watching someone who has joined something because they figure “What the hell, it’s helping my community… why not.”
Only to have them drop it a week later because they’re not actually passionate about it!
I’ve been there. I’ve seen people do this; It sucks. Don’t be that person.
If you’re going to go for something, please do the world a huge favour, and make sure it’s something you can stick to or see through until the end!
Matthew is the Founder of www.salestraininc.com and you’re reading part of my upcoming book “The Sales Engine”. Want the first 3 chapters? Here you go!
