When others know you are always looking for new clients and when you are someone who sends referrals to others, it’s amazing what can happen for you. This note (link above), you might be surprised to hear, was handed to me in church by a friend, Jon who sells insurance and someone I have referred clients to. Yes, maybe you shouldn’t be doing this in church but you should be networking and you need to be someone who seeks out people who either know people you could work with or is someone who could work with you. How many opportunities are you missing by sitting back? By not aggressively looking for work? We could all improve here.

When someone sees you in church and hands you a note with a lead on it, that’s a pretty good sign; you have made it clear you’re always looking for new clients. So, let me close by asking you to attend one of my field trips or my big event in February, GROW! 2011! I want your business!

Leads come from all kinds of places.

I hope all of you enjoy Labor Day and take some time to say thanks to all those who work so hard to make our country work! I thank you; you’re one of those people!

ATTENTION: To all of you who are not too far from Novi, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, Marty will be speaking at the 6th Annual Michigan Snow Conference and Expo on Thursday, September 16th at 8:30 am. Click here to view the schedule and get the registration form. Marty would love to see you in Novi.

My wife is from Chicago; we go up there quite a bit. I love that town and I love my wife’s family; they are wonderful people. At about the halfway point in Lafayette, Indiana, there is a Dairy Queen where the kids like to stop. For the past two years, they’ve had this sign on the door:

Now, why in the world wouldn’t you fix that door? This baffles me. The door is so hard to open; my kids can’t open it and surely Grandma and Grandpa can’t either. When you think of stupid things, this might take the ice cream cake! But, I see this in business all the time. I see entrepreneurs who overlook big things in their operations that make a big difference. The front door to an ice cream shop is a big thing; it needs to be easy to open. The best customers of a Dairy Queen are kids and families. If your door can’t be fixed, what else aren’t you going to fix? And this leads me to my point. What’s stupid at your company?

We all have things at our company that are stupid. And we’d all be well served by having a meeting with our teams to determine what’s stupid around here. I have a few things that come to mind at my office at Grunder Landscaping Company and Marty Grunder! Inc. Here are 3 things that are stupid at my office:

1. The awning over our front door needs to be replaced. I know it; my team knows it but we haven’t done it. Oh sure, budgets are tight but not that tight. I’ll be getting that done.
2. We have all kinds of clients we’ve done business with in the last ten years that need a personal call or visit from one of us. After all, I’m the guy writing a book on relationship selling, right! Yes, we mail them newsletters but that personal touch makes all the difference in the world. I’m going to get that done too.
3. We haven’t taken our office team out to jobsites to show them the work we do. I mean, it can’t get much stupider than that. We ask them to do proposals, order plants, do work orders, prepare billings, talk to clients and so on, yet we never show them the byproduct of all their help? I’ll be taking them out to jobs soon.

Yes, even Marty Grunder makes mistakes and his business is not perfect. Don’t get complacent with your business. Think about what the customer sees…..think about what’s stupid at your place and get those things fixed as soon as you.

And, if you happen to plan on going to the Lafayette DQ, bring your strongest friend along to open the door. Once you get inside, the service and ice cream are very good.

She made this salmon and sweet peas meal for us and it was so good I wanted to share it with you. It’s good for you and one of the best fish dinners I’ve ever had. So, in my ongoing quest to help you live a well-rounded life, here’s the recipe

My mom is a terrific cook.

Marty and his mother (the wonderful lady he gets his enthusiasm from)

Like all moms she has specialties. Growing up, I loved to eat my mom’s salmon patties, her Johnny Marzetti (a pasta dish she still makes for me), her beef stroganoff and her cherry pies. And her scrambled eggs are still the best I’ve ever eaten. My mom continues to amaze me with her cooking; she is still looking for new recipes. A couple of weeks ago, my wife was still in Florida with her family and two of my daughters and my son. It was just me and my 14-year old daughter in town and we got lucky; Mom cooked dinner for us almost every night. Oh my, did we eat well and healthy too.

She made this salmon and sweet peas meal for us and it was so good I wanted to share it with you. It’s good for you and one of the best fish dinners I’ve ever had. So, in my ongoing quest to help you live a well-rounded life, here’s the recipe

I hope you’ll make it and if you do, by all means, drop me and note and tell me what you thought of it. I’m sure my mom would love to hear how good it was.

Those of you who have read my books and attended my seminars know that I am a big fan and have learned a lot about business from a grocery store in my hometown. The store is Dorothy Lane Market; it is an incredible operation. They have 3 stores in my area. I know what some of you are thinking—Dayton, Ohio? Isn’t that the place that Forbes magazine called one of the fastest dying cities? Yep, that’s us. Trouble is, while we have our problems, Forbes didn’t bother to look around very much. If they had, they would have seen a lot of good things. One of them being Dorothy Lane Market. Check out this award they won.

My friends in Chicago brag about Sunset Foods. So I went there….nice place, yep, but Dorothy Lane Market is at a much higher level; even my father-in-law from Chicago, who knows his grocery stores, will agree. Others speak about Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati or Stew Leonard’s in CT. Nope, been to both, DLM has them beat as well. Anyway, there is a lot to learn from a successful business. I often say, “Success leaves clues.”

Here’s a photo of my daughter Emily and me at DLM last week.

It’s a wonderful store that completely understands who they are and who they aren’t. And they are proof that you can get ahead in business by zigging when everyone else is zagging. So, my idea this week is to go on DLM’s website and read about them. See what ideas of theirs that you can apply to your business. And, if you’re really looking for help with your business, come see me at one of my Field Trips and, by all means, sign up for GROW! And if you’re really ambitious, call Nancy to talk about having me visit your company and show you how to grow it and make some money!

“Most people think “selling’ is the same as “talking.’ But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.”

Roy Bartell

What a great quote. And, so I ask you: do you listen very well to your prospects and clients? Okay, let me next ask you this: how do you feel when you know someone’s not listening to you? How do you feel when a salesperson is not listening to you?

This week seek to listen to your prospects and clients and hear what they are saying. If you listen closely, you will discover exactly what they want and you will know exactly what you need to do to make the sale. In the coming weeks, we’ll talk more about listening…..stay tuned.