277 – You Gotta “Ask For the Order”

John (Intro): Over the last two decades, I’ve been on an insatiable quest to learn everything I can about leadership. What makes the best leaders so good? After running companies small and large over the last 20 years, today I speak on stages worldwide to audiences interested in that same question. My name is John Laurito. I’m your host, and I invite you to join me on this journey as we explore this very topic and what makes the best leader so good? Welcome to Tomorrow’s Leader. 

John: All right. Welcome to today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader, where we dove deep on all things leader-related, related to leading yourself and leading others. I am John Laurito, your host. So the other day I went outside, I saw something very scary. I went outside of my yard, I mean, outside of my door, rather my kitchen door area, which leads out to the porch. And around that down the stairs, you’re at the driveway. And as I’m going down the stairs, I look to the right. I’m actually going down the stairs and I’m in this surrounded by all these like gnats. But they weren’t gnats. They were something different. And I’m like, what the heck? I mean, just a swarm of them small little creatures, whatever. And I look to the right and they are covering my side of my house, like covering the side of my house. And I’m like, what the. And I look and I’m looking at these things. I’m like, oh, my gosh, what are those, termites? 

John: And I took a picture and I looked it up, and sure enough, there’s, like, a whole hole. Just I’ve never seen it before, never before in my house, any flying anywhere around. And they were suddenly all over the side of the house. This one area, I’m like, what the. So I freaked out a little bit, of course, and I called an exterminator, called the termite guy. And from one of the main companies that you know, and they sent a guy over and the guy comes over and he tells me, you know, he asks for dealers. He takes a walk around the property, this and that. And he said, well, you don’t you fortunate there’s no damage done. There’s no evidence of actually termites being here at all. But the fact that you saw him is not a good thing. 

John: I said, okay, well, what do I do about this thing? Because I saw them. They were here and he started going to his explanation, which was very confusing, something about, you know, putting these things in the ground, this and that. I kind of understood what it was going to be and everything like that. And I said, okay, well, that’s so how long does that take? So so I’m asking him buying questions. How long does that take? How long would it take you to actually install it and get it done? Give me the answer. He told me this. I said, How effective is it? How long does it last? Then this and that? I said, How long do your, you know, your or your, you know, guarantee sort of walking through all that. All these are buying questions. I called them so they know I’m a really very likely prospective buyer. Um, this just had happened, so there was high urgency. 

John: My concern level was very, very high. He could tell and I told them I was going way out of town, to which I was about to leave on a trip. And so there in my mind, there was a little more urgency now, maybe not in his, I don’t know. But we get to the end of the meeting and he says, okay, well, I’ll leave my information for you. And you know, when you get back,

just let me know. Give me a call and let me know what you think. And I’m like, Really? I, I’m thinking to myself, Buddy, I really need your services. And all you had to do was probably put a little put an iPad in front of me to start the service. And I probably would have done it. I would have made a decision on the spot, and I actually took him I’m like, all right, yeah. Okay. You know, let me think about it just in our chat within a couple of weeks, I actually haven’t talked to the guy set. 

John: So this was maybe three weeks ago. He didn’t follow up. I didn’t call him. What’s he expect? I’m not going to call him, but I would have actually made a decision on the spot and I would have been better off before because of it. Now I got to go find somebody, uh, you know, which I’ll probably now do a comparative, you know, cost a thing and I’ll get somebody else to see what with a better deal is. But had he asked the right questions and just asked for the order, I would have done it right then. I literally would have because it would have been a convenience thing. I’m like, All right, you came out here, you seem reputable. You know what you’re talking about. Great. Okay, terrific. I’m going to do it. Done enough to worry about anymore. But the problem is, he never asked for the order. He never actually went 90% of the way but didn’t go all the way. He ran the ball to the ten-yard line but didn’t go into the end zone and there’s nobody blocking him. 

John: So there was a clear path and all he had to do was say, Great, what’s the most convenient way for you to do this? You managed to build it on your credit card. You might pay annually, pay monthly what you want to do. And I would have said, Well, all right, why don’t we do this? I would have done it. So hello, I but what it makes me realize is, you know what 90% of salespeople do. Not ask for the order. They don’t, actually. They hint. They hint. They’re very good at hinting about it. They suggested they throw out innuendos. They throw out suggestions, but they don’t. They come close sometimes, but they don’t actually ask the question. 

John: To get started, they don’t actually put it in front of somebody. Okay, great. What’s the easiest way to pay for this? When? When do you want to have the first payment made? Whatever the case is, some closing question gets it going. So I just was thinking and it made me realize how many times I’m in situations like that. It’s unbelievable. Now that I mention this to you, now I’m doing this podcast, and you are going to take notice of this. How few people actually ask for the order? Now, what is this? This has a lot to do with sales. This has a lot to do with personality and being directive and being assertive, but also has a lot to do with leadership too. I find leaders when I say ask for the order as a leader, what I’m talking about is different, but it’s all in the kind of that same realm. It’s being really clear and asking what you want from your people and telling them what you want to do. What do you want them to do? 

John: Be directive. Don’t beat around the bush. Let them know. Listen, if this is an important mission for the company, and here’s a reason why they say, is, hey, we need everybody to get behind this. Because here’s the thing that needs to happen. Just be direct. Don’t hint at it. Don’t spin stuff. Just be very candid and very direct. People will appreciate that there are a lot of people that are willing to follow you and want to. They just need to hear really, really clear direction, dumb it down for them. What do you want them to do? How can they help you? Just be really clear. Hey, can I get your help on this? This is something I really need

some help with. This needs to be a win. And you’re the person. I can help me do this by saying Here’s what I need, okay? 

John: That’s what I call asking for the order. Okay. I find that leaders, salespeople, and people in general just don’t ask for the order. They come short of it. You know, they’re asking here’s a great example for those of you who are in a business, referrals are such an important part of what you do, right? There’s a difference between asking for referrals by saying, hey, by the way, don’t keep me a secret. That’s hinting at that suggestion that’s better than nothing versus saying, hey, who do you know who fits this profile? Who might be somebody to that I could provide some value? 

John: You know, my referral script was always as an advisor. Hey, has this meeting been valuable? Great. All the things we talked about, what was the most valuable thing? Great. Hey, you know what? There are a lot of people that you probably know and care about that haven’t taken the time to do the things that we’ve done here together. And I was hoping, with your permission, of course, we could brainstorm for a couple of minutes on some of the people that you know and that you care about who might be able to benefit from the type of work that I do. What do you think? Great. Let me explain how you handle a referral. When you refer somebody to me, I’ll give them a buzz in about a week. And I would just ask you, to call them or reach out to them first. Let them be calling. For whatever reason. They don’t want to hear from me. Just let me know. I won’t give them a buzz and I want to call somebody who does want to hear from me. Otherwise, I’ll call them to set up a consultation, a free consultation like we initially had. With that in mind, here are a couple of people, categories of people that really I know I can help. 

John: One is bang, and just give them your target market, so to speak. Who comes to mind and pen the paper letter? I’d sit there with my pen on my paper that’s asking with the intent to receive, that’s asking for the order. So much different than just saying, hey, by the way, don’t keep me a secret, you know, as you’re leaving them. Now, that’s not I’ve never referred somebody. I’m sure. Maybe I have. Maybe that’s an exaggeration. They can’t remember referring to many people after the fact when they said don’t. Oh, yeah, you know what he said? Don’t keep them a secret. I shouldn’t worry. Let me think about this now. It’s not like that ever came back into my mind, right? 

John: So the bottom line is, to ask for the order. I hope this episode, a short episode, I hope it prompts you to do. There’s something that you might not be as clear on. You think you’re being clear, but you’re probably beating around the bush a little bit too much. Okay, be clear. Ask for the order. Ask for the order. Ask for the order. Ask for the order. Ask for the order and give me some referrals to get a termite person. All right. Okay. Here’s me asking for the order. Will you please go down below, and give a five-star review. Do you know how important this is for me? Please, that’s just important for me. I’ve told you this. This is just building content. Put it out there. I want this to reach as large of an audience as possible. I really do. 

John: So if you think these episodes are helpful, if they’ve helped you even in the slightest bit, I know you know at least one person, if not probably ten, that would really enjoy these episodes as well. I’ve now got almost 300 of these episodes saved up, which I love doing, and I’m going to do 300 more to 3000. But I’d love your help in getting this to people that are

not listening to it. So can you do a couple of things? One just goes down below, go on your podcast app, Apple Podcasts I know has it, go down below, give a review, five stars, whatever. Put down what you thought, and what your comments are that help propels it and get it into new people’s hands, it makes a big deal. 

John: The second thing is you share this episode or this whole podcast with somebody that’s a big deal. Have them subscribe to it. Okay, please. I’m asking for your help on that. That’s me asking for the order. But it’s helping you. It’s helping somebody else get some new information. And maybe they give me some ideas for future content or guests or whatnot. But I appreciate you greatly. You’re my faithful, loyal audience. I love you to death. I’m here for you. You have a direct line to me whether you realize it or not. I feel like I’m talking to you on the other side of this microphone and the other side of this camera screen. I feel like you’re in the room with me. I hope you feel that way. I hope you feel I’m talking directly to you. So let me know what you think. Let me know what’s on your mind and let me know how I can help. I’m here for you. All right. Thanks, everybody. Have a great one. See you. 

John (Closing): Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader. For suggestions, or inquiries, about having me at your next event, or personal coaching, reach me at john@lauritogroup.com Once again, that’s john@lauritogroup.com. Thanks! Lead on!