At BDU, one of our core philosophies is the concept of “squeezing the lemon.” It’s not about turning lemons into lemonade. It’s the idea of “squeezing” the most out of everything we do and maximizing every opportunity to make the most out of a situation, whether it’s for business or in our personal lives. Even something as basic as taking a minute to think about what else you need to bring with you before you walk upstairs or into another room is a way of “squeezing the lemon” – it’s how to get the most out of your time and energy.

In every interaction you have with another person, and in every step you take in your day-to-day life, you have the chance to “squeeze” out a little something extra. Whenever you are doing an activity, ask yourself if it’s purposeful and what you’re getting out of doing it. In addition, start to consider other things you can add to that activity to get the most out of your efforts.

Here are just a few of examples of how you might “squeeze the lemon” in the business development world:

• Get updated LinkedIn recommendations: During a meeting with an existing client or customer, they begin to tell you how satisfied they’ve been with your products or services. At this point, most sales people are content with simply saying, “Thank you so much!” and just moving on. However, there’s so much more you can “squeeze” out of this situation. Thank your client or customer for their praise and ask them if they could possibly put what they just said into a LinkedIn recommendation for you. (“That is so nice of you to say that, and it really means a lot to me that you are so happy with the level of service that you are getting from our company. Can I ask you a huge favor? Could you possibly put what you just said into a LinkedIn recommendation for me?”)
• Generate referrals to other contacts, departments or divisions: While your client or customer is expressing their happiness for your products or services, leverage their satisfaction as a chance to “squeeze” a little more out of your relationship and ask for a referral. (“Thank you so much for what you said! You just made my day. I love customers like you, and I am always looking for others that I can help. Do you know anyone at (name, division, department, affiliated company) that it might make sense for me to talk to so that I can see if I might be able to help them out as well?”). Cross-selling is by far one of the easiest ways to grow your business significantly!
• Maximize your time out in the field: You are planning out your schedule for the next week and you notice that you are driving over 45 minutes to get to an appointment. At this point, you only have that one meeting on your calendar. Take a little extra time to figure out who else you might be able to meet with or what else you can accomplish while you are in the area. For instance, you might have other clients, prospects or centers of influence around that location that you could schedule, or you might want to drop something off at one of your top prospects nearby. Time and territory management is all about “squeezing” the most out of each location you’re in and maximizing the time you’re spending on each task!

In sales, there is a direct correlation between the activities we do and the results we get. If you are consistently doing something extra and “squeezing the lemon” to get out that extra tiny bit, you can begin to take your sales to another level!

Want some help “squeezing the lemon” when you’re with your clients or customers? BDU’s Client Visit Checklist provides questions so you can uncover valuable information in each of your meetings to make sure you’re getting the most out of these interactions. This checklist, as well as our other BDUtensils, is available to download for free.