What do PAs and Suncream have in Common?
June 3, 2009
Welcome back!
Wow, the weekend was hot.
We ended up at the Caravan at Silver Sands, Lossiemouth. 1.5 miles of golden sand (and about 350 jellyfish). The sky was clear, not a cloud to be seen, and the water was not as cold as I thought it would be. The sun was beating down, and the kids were covered in Sun Cream, SPF 35 (Sun protection factor), and I now have a pink peeling nose.
Do you know how much protection a Sun Cream with SPF35 gives you? Now I could be wrong, but apparently, you multiply the number by 10, to tell you how many minutes protection you have. So, a suncream with SPF 5 will give you 5 x 10 = 50 minutes of protection from the sun. A suncream with SPF 20 will give you 20 x 10 = 200 minutes of protection from the sun (over 3 hours) and so on.
The role or function of suncream is to screen the sun, or block its harmful rays from getting through to your skin.
Much like the role of a PA or Gatekeeper is to protect their boss from the calls from someone trying to make a sale.
Your phone rings…
April 2, 2009
…and it’s a prospect.
What information do you ask them?
Do you ask for their basic contact information and simply pass the lead on to a sales rep in your oganisation or….
Do you further qualify them or not
Do you ask how they heard about you?
Do you ask the questions that help to confirm they meet your prospective client criteria?
(What is your criteria that a new prospect should ideally meet or match?)
Do you ask about timelines or budget?
Do you ask how you can help them?
How do you eliminate any fears or objections on that first call?
What other questions could you or do you ask on that call?
How do you conclude the call?
What’s the next action - is their turn or your turn?
Do you give them any information? What information, and how is it presented?
(Visually, Auditory or Kinesthetically)
How do you maintain momentum with the prospect?
How do you arrange to speak again, do you or not?
How and where is the information you’ve gathered, stored?
How do you follow up your prospects, and is that process, automated?
