What have Capture1 learnt in their 23 years in business?
1/ It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!
My good friend and first business mentor and coach, Will Kintish taught me this and it’s as true today as 23 years ago when he taught me that first golden lesson! So with that in mind, be nice, be kind and be generous. It pays more dividends than anything else!
And with that, it pays to be part of networks and groups of like-minded people; not only for generating clients, but for support and friendship. That’s why I have been a part of Manchester Business Breakfast Club for over 20 years!
2/ Think about what you do in terms of ‘helping people’ rather than selling to people.
We are all in business to trade something that we can provide, that will help someone, that will help solve a problem and provide something that will makes someone’s life better, easier, less painful, more pleasurable, more efficient, more comfortable – whatever – it is solving a problem and it is helping someone. Once you start seeing what you are selling as just ‘helping people’ it makes a whole difference to your mindset in selling.
3/ Do WHAT you say you will do, WHEN you say you will do it…
This has been a value we have lived and breathed throughout our business. Come hell or highwater we will be reliable and do WHAT we say we will do, WHEN we have said we will do it; because you get remembered for being reliable or for the reverse; not so. And being reliable is something I notice (or not!) in others too!
4/ Listen more than you talk…..
I am part of a business book club group (we read books on business and discuss!) and this month appropriately, the book is the Dale Carnegie ‘How to win friends and influence people’; and in that book there are a couple of great quotes that resonate here –
“We are interested in others when they are interested in us”
“And so I had him thinking of me as a good conversationalist when, in reality, I had been merely a good listener and had encouraged him to talk.”
I learnt this pretty quickly in business; partly because I naturally am interested in people and like to ask questions anyway. And I learnt quickly in running our business that you are more likely to get the sale if you listen more than you talk.
This value is not only true in sales; it’s good to remember this rule with colleagues, staff, and with customers on social media (ask lots of questions and you get more engagement). Which is one of the reasons that we now specialise in helping businesses use chat marketing; with interactive WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram chat channels allowing them to ask more questions and have more genuine conversations with customers; resulting in them feeling listened to.
5/ Do what you’re good at…delegate the rest and automate as much as possible!
We all only have so much time and if we’re not careful we can waste so much time dithering on the things we are not very good at. So concentrate on what you are good at and find good people who can help you do the other stuff, usually in much less time! And when you can use automation tools even better!
Want to learn more? Head over to their website for the full list.