The Net’s Most Wanteds

Sales are competitive and there is always someone who wants to replace us at the top. This competition factor challenges us both in business and as a salesperson everyday. It doesn’t matter if we are a business owner or a top sales performer. If you are a seasoned salesperson, someone wants your customers and your business. This challenge will never stop and we must always be vigilant about protecting our business especially our key customers.

When we watch sports, it doesn’t matter what game we are watching. The winner is decided by just one play or a moment that perfect execution is demanded. Success or defeat is just one action away. It is the same in our business and in sales. The secret to winning is staying in the game mentally and physically. We run the risk of losing sales if we don’t keep making new contacts and leveraging our existing business contacts for referrals. These pro-active actions will ignite new life in our sales game and keep us at the top of our competition.

Closing the back door of opportunity

Sometimes a competitive business or salesperson needs a tiny crack to get in the door of a key customer. Then again, sometimes we leave the back door wide open for them to come in because we forget to close it. We leave opportunities open because we don’t visit with our customers and learn how their business has changed or what new problems they have. For example, if we don’t ask we won’t learn that a customer is launching a new product line or that they are being swallowed up by a competitor, changing our business relationship. This will either be a great opportunity or a huge loss. We won’t know unless we remain close to our key contacts.

Successful business owners can’t afford to relax.

You’ve heard the story before; a business owner makes a comment that they don’t have time for pro-active marketing. They have just gotten too busy. Perhaps they aren’t contacting customers or prospects as they have in the past. Yet, they are enjoying the taste of success and are complacent. Hopefully they will recognize this defenseless situation. The business must recognize why they are basking in success. Fortunate business owners will recognize this pattern. Sales wisdom allows them to make quick adjustments and refocus pro-active marketing and sales strategies which will keep them at the top.

Clients versus customers strategy

The best pro-active sales strategies are focused on developing clients instead of customers. The difference is simple. Clients are more like friends and take an interest in you because you take an interest in them. Clients recognize that you care about them because you ask about their business and want to celebrate their success and support their challenges. Clients are repeat uses of your services and recommend you to their friends. Clients will maneuver past other businesses to reach you because they want to acquire their service from YOU!
Customer’s are on-time users of your service and take little interest in you except when a need comes up that they need and you are convenient to them at the time.

A winning sales pro-active strategy has two parts. We must have both a good defensive strategy and a strong tactical offensive strategy. These must be pro-active, not reactive to our business. If we are not pro-active in our game plan, by the time we are able to react to a competitive situation, the game will be over and we are finished. Don’t let this happen to you. Create a winning, pro-active sales strategy.

This article was submitted by Steve Martinez, Founder of Selling Magic a Sales and Marketing consulting company that teaches business and salespeople how to automate the sales process with technology. Get a regular dose of our sales tips at http://www.sellingmagic.com.

Situated opposite the Aurea Door, one of the four doors of the ancient Paestum, "Il Granaio dei Casabella" was originally an ancient granary that has been transformed in hotel. It preserves its former charm and is immersed in a tranquil atmosphere, ideal for relaxation.

From some of its rooms, furnished with remarkable taste and in different ways, you can enjoy impressive views of the ancient town, whilst from the other rooms you can admire the typical Mediterranean garden with olive trees, fruit-trees, acacia, pines and oleanders.

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This article distinguishes proactive selling from reactive selling and illustrates the technique and benefits associated with proactive selling.

Are you getting “no’s” bleed from customers saying no too often? Try asking questions that can’t be answered with a no. Try proactive selling.

Reactive Selling

Much of the time, we adopt a reactive posture with our customers. We “lob” a statement or benefit over the fence and wait for the customers to respond to the statement or benefit. Then we react to their response. Reactive statements include:

• “I’m calling to see if there’s anything we can help you out with today.” lob … wait … The response usually is “No, not today. Thank you.” Our reaction is “Well, if something comes up….”

• “Last week I sent you our line card and I’m following up to see if you’ve received it.” lob…wait… The response usually is “Yep. But I don’t need anything…” or “I don’t remember.” Our reaction is, “Well, if something comes up…”

At the very best, many reactive sales calls end with the rep – not the customer – doing something. Reactive sales calls result in the rep sending literature or setting up another phone call.

With reactive sales calls, you give up control of the conversation and reduce the possibility of making something happen.

Proactive Selling

Bring the customer into the conversation with an open-ended but specific question:

• “How familiar are you with our Pro-Act registry service?”

• “How familiar are you with our Inventory Elimination service?”

• “How familiar are you with the depth of inventory we stock?

This question should be targeted towards the customer needs but can be very effective for cold-calling as well. You retain control over the conversation and build the opportunity to qualify the customer.

In General

Also don’t forget to:

• Begin each call with a specific Initial Value Statement.

• Confirm that you’re speaking with the decision-maker. “Are you the one who makes the decision to buy/sell…”

• Ask if this is a good time to talk for a few minutes.

• If the customer has done business with your company, thank them for their business.

And Finally…

Proactive selling won’t work for everyone and won’t work all the time. But when you’re feeling like you’re getting “no’s” bleed, try proactive selling.

(This information comes from Planning for Success, a module in Entelechy’s High Performance Sales program. Check out this module as well as our 40 other modules, training tools, and eGuides at www.unlockit.com.)

Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer service, and training. Terence can be reached at 603-424-1237 or ttraut@unlockit.com.

Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer service, and training. Terence can be reached at 603-424-1237 or ttraut@unlockit.com.

Even Big Chickens Can Achieve Success

Heroes and cowards feel the same fear. It is the action they take that separates them. The idea that we have to develop courage to succeed is ludicrous. Successful people take action while they are afraid.

Transferal of fear

If you seem unsure of yourself, the customer picks up on it. (Have you ever bought anything from a really sweaty salesperson?) Then the customer fears failure. He is afraid he won’t get what he needs or your product will not perform as you’ve described.

Credibility and projected confidence are cures for the customer’s fear. You can achieve that credibility and confidence through testimonials: current customers telling her how well your product serves their needs. What you say about your product is not enough. What others say is proof.

Worst-Case Scenario

No one sales call will make or break your career. What’s the worst thing that can happen? The prospect says no!

If you never asked for the sale, never tried to close, you would never know the outcome and the sting of rejection does not last as long as eternal regret.

A hero is a coward who just hung in there one minute longer.

Top-producing salespeople kick their projected confidence into gear regardless of how they feel. Many great salespeople have closed big deals with great confidence … and then freaked out in the parking lot afterward.

© Wynn Solutions 2005

Garrison Wynn, is a nationally known speaker, trainer, and consultant. He is the president and founder of Wynn Solutions, specializing in the truth about success.
www.wynnsolutions.com

Keynote speaker Garrison Wynn helps people learn how to make the jump from being great at what they do to understanding and developing the qualities it takes to be chosen for the job.

As a keynote speaker, advisor, and entertainer, Garrison has worked with some of the world’s most effective corporate leaders and salespeople, from multibillion-dollar manufacturers to top New York Stock Exchange wire houses. He has a background in manufacturing, entertainment, telecommunications, and financial services.

http://www.wynnsolutions.com/

http://www.managingchange.biz/

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Prospecting is the engine that propels anyone in sales. Without consistently initiating contact with prospective customers to talk with, your sales will plummet and everybody loses. Studies confirm that 80% of all salespeople fail in their first year because of the fears associated with prospecting. 40% of veteran producers with more than five years — experience severe sales slumps due to fears associated with prospecting.

Fears are productivity busters that drain our energies and makes sales prospecting emotionally difficult. Fears most commonly recognized in the sales world are fear of rejection, fear of loss, fear using the telephone, fear of not be prepared, group selling and a host of others. All of which jeopardize existing relationships with customers and stand in the way of acquiring new customers — resulting in loss revenue for companies and loss income for salespeople.

Eliminating those fears is something that is easy to overcome. But sales managers and trainers who tell sales rookies and seasoned professionals to do the things you fear most and it will go away — haven’t a clue of what harm is being done. The person who is motivated, has sales goals and is reluctant to cold calls, self-promotion, selling to groups or any other forms of call reluctant is legitimately fearful. Forcing that person to make cold calls on the telephone is only imbedding the fear deeper. It is like pounding a nail into a person’s leg and at the same time telling them to think positive and it won’t hurt.

Fears are feeling establish when we allow ourselves to, mindlessly, recite self-limiting thoughts. To overcome distressful gut wrenching feelings we must replace fear producing self-talk with non-fear-producing statements.

Sales, is a stressful business causing negative mind chatter in a person to conjure up all kinds of unpleasant thoughts. When prospecting, it is not at all uncommon for the salesperson to check out momentarily by going into a state of self-hypnosis reciting counterproductive, contorted and self-defeating talk. When that occurs, you need to replace it with self-enhancing self-talk, which will result in constructive emotional responses.

When complacency and stress sets in — beware. Check what is going on with your self-talk. It just may be that you are slowly being contaminated. When you are having feelings of distress and despair over any form of prospecting, listen carefully to yourself. Are you hearing highly charge and emotional words like — couldn’t, terrible, awful, can’t, hate — that automatically invoke self-talk statements that are inhibiting your career.

Here is a simplified but useful way of reversing self-diminishing self-talk:

1. Close you eyes and take three deep breaths.

2. While you are exhaling, slow your self-talk down to the point that you are reciting, your words, in slow motion. Listen for your self-defeating talk.

3. Disconnect your self-defeating talk with goal-supporting non-fear producing statements.

4. Continue the reinforcement by visualizing a positive outcome along with your non-fear producing statements.

Your focus in this simplified exercise is to realign your emotional energy. Fear takes on many different forms and drains us of energy, while robbing us of many valuable hours we could be using more productively for prospecting and growing our business.

Don L. Price – Coaching Minds To Succeed, Sales/Marketing & High Performance Success Coach, International Speaker, Consultant and Author of Secrets of Personal Marketing Power-Strategies for Achieving Greater Personal & Business Success —
http://www.donlprice.com

http://www.donlprice.com/files/htisubmit.htm

Repetition will increase your sales. Repetition will increase your sales. Repetition will increase your sales.

Have I made my point? Probably. You certainly know what this article is about, don’t you. Now let me tell you a little story:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl named Trixy. Trixy was the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. She was so beautiful that Prince John fell madly in love with her beautiful face. But Trixy, who was incredibly beautiful, thought she was too beautiful even for Prince John. So Trixy decided to join a rock band and be a backup dancer. The End.

Without looking back at the story, can you recall what the prince’s name was? Maybe you can and maybe you can’t. But, without looking back at the story, can you tell me what was so special about Trixy? You most definitely can. And why can you remember what was so special about Trixy? Because I repeated it about six times!

This same principle can be applied to your marketing to help people remember your message. I often see commercials on television that impress me as clever and visually engaging, but ask me thirty seconds later and I won’t remember the name of the product being advertised. I don’t have a faulty memory. I just need things to be pounded into my head sometimes.

Your advertising should definitely not use as much repetition as my story did. However, you do need to figure out what is the most important thing to communicate to your potential customers hammer that point home. If you are having a sale, you need to emphasize that you are having a sale. If you are advertising to get your name out, you should repeat your name and address at least twice.

Don’t be afraid that people will find your advertisement annoying. Many people only listen to advertisements with half an ear. Advertising becomes like subliminal messaging. It is always going on in the background, even if no one is paying rapt attention to it. We can all recite certain logos and jingles, even though most of us don’t make an effort to memorize them.

Don’t just repeat yourself in your ad. When you find your target market, advertise where you think people will hear it and do it over and over again. There is a local jeweler who advertises constantly on every radio station I listen to. I always know when they are having a sale and what will be on sale. I will also remember their exact address until my dieing day.

Repetition is one of the best marketing strategies you can use to convince people and help them remember your name and your message, so you better use it. Don’t make me repeat myself!

Just starting a new online venture? Maybe your site has become outdated and you need a more attractive site to provide a more professional look. A website builder may be your answer.

What is a Website Builder?

A website builder is a web-based application that allows you to build a website in no time flat. Website builders have been around for several years on the Internet but were for the most part unpopular due to the finished product. Most site builders provided a very cheesy look with huge navigation buttons and large header banners and a very primitive layout. This made for a very unprofessional site that screamed “amateur”. Those days have since changed. With the advancement of development languages site builders can now produce very professional and jazzy designs.

Do I have to know HTML?

This is the great thing about website builders. You need not be a web designer or a programmer. If you can follow simple instructions and feel fairly comfortable typing, you can have a website online in a few hours. A website builder comes with complete instructions to guide you in real-time as you build your website thus taking the guesswork out of site development.

How much does it cost?

Many website builders can be purchased as a package with web hosting. This is especially appealing as it assures compatibility of your website building application with your web hosting. It can be very frustrating to have to purchase a website builder application and install it on your web host and that is assuming that all goes well.

Most web hosting/site builder packages start at $4.95 per month with support if you have problems while building your website. You can also add eCommerce capabilities to your website which would allow you to sell products or services online but this will cost you a whopping $9.95 per month for an entry level package! Website builders are worth a long hard look if you are on a budget and cannot afford the services of a web design company.

What happens when I want to change the look of my web site?

Another advantage of website builders is that they come with from 100 to 10,000 preinstalled templates that allow you to change the look and feel of your website whenever you like. You may need to change your pictures in some instances but this generally takes little time.

Can I modify my website without using site builder?

After your site has been completed your web pages are transferred to your web directory in the form of HTML documents for viewing by visitors on the Internet. Most companies that provide site builders allow you to edit your pages with a standard HTML editor. This gives you a lot of flexibility in the event that you would like to add a feature(s) to your pages that are not offered in the site builder.

If you are on a budget and don’t want to risk investing a lot of money by having your site developed by a web design company then maybe you should consider a website builder. You invest a total of $10.00 to start and if you don’t like it in most cases you can cancel your account at any time.

Bueford Copeland is a Technology Consultant and has been managing computer networks on the Windows and Linux platforms for 10 years. To obtain web hosting, website builder services and for affordable domains names please visit 561Design Group.

No matter what you sell online, be it a product or service, it is critical to define what sets you apart from your competition, makes your product/service appealing to your target market, and what benefits your product/service provides your customers. This is your Unique Selling Proposition or USP.

Being able to communicate the unique benefits of what you have to offer in a specific manner is critically important for achieving a distinguishable difference between you and your competitors.

You should aim to make your USP the one specific idea that first comes to mind when people think of your product or service. A very famous example comes from the automobile industry: when people hear “Volvo” they instantly identify it with “Safety”.

You must obviously work to educate your target market about your product’s USP. People did not just automatically associate Volvo with safety. Volvo helped to instill this idea in their heads through cleverly planned advertising, promotion and publicity.

You must have your USP clearly defined before you begin to craft any sales material for your product or service. This will help you to communicate your USP to your target market. If YOU can’t state it your prospects sure won’t see it. Depending on the real benefits of your product or service and the void in your market that you are filling, your USP might be one of the following (or any number of others you might think of):

* You sell your product or service for less than your competition does.

* You sell a higher quality product or service than anyone else in your industry.

* You provide more customer service or education before, during and after the sale than anyone else does.

* You offer twice the guarantee of your closest competitor.

* You offer better bonuses than anyone else does.

* You serve a specific demographic i.e. age group, industry, or type of person.

Here’s Exactly How to Create Your USP:

Write out in one to two paragraphs the benefits, NOT features, of your product or service; what sets it apart from your competition; and what makes it appealing to your target market.

Edit out the generalities and focus on the crispest, clearest, most specific promise your product/service can offer to your target market.

Rework it until you have a simple, clearly defined USP that your customers can instantly identify with. You should try to express your USP in a way that people really think. For example, forget anything like, “The innovative leader in banking services, financial products and convenient technology”.

People just don’t think that way. So it doesn’t stick in their minds. This is more like it: “South Africa’s only international bank”. Get the idea? Keep it simple. Succinct. USP’s work best when they are a sentence or two for the most.

Lowestfare.com is an example of a company whose USP is clearly defined in their domain name. This company provides the lowest air fares in the air travel industry.

Does Your USP Pass This Checklist?

* Is it true?

* Is it easy to understand?

* Does it differentiate the product in an attractive manner from the competition?

* Is it expressed the way people will express it in their own minds?

If you haven’t answered YES to all four of the above, go back and rework your USP until you can.

You should present your USP in every ad. And do so year after year. People remember with repetition.

Some salespersons and network marketers make the terrible mistake of thinking that the sale ends with the sale.

They tend to think that, once the client bought something –that they already “closed” the prospect– their work is over. To the new client, however, his/her signature on the dotted line and her/his credit card order mean only the beginning of the sell/buy relationship.

In this article we explore twelve practical ideas that you will want to apply right away to guarantee your customer’s satisfaction after the sale.

The service you give to your clients and customers does not begin some time after they already bought. On the contrary, it should begin right at the moment you shake their (virtual) hand, in signal of their acceptance of your proposed deal.

Depending on how you act from that precise moment on, you’ll be assuring, or neglecting, the future of that sale and of many more future ones. With those same clients and with their referrals.

Let’s see and review some points that you may want to put into practice to be even more professional in your sales:

Point 1. Don’t make the mistake of keep on talking once you already made the sale — If you do, you risk letting the (already decided) prospect to involve you in some argument about the sale. And this may remind her of some points or objections of minor importance. Normally, then, these will make her want to “think the whole deal a little more over.”

Point 2. Prepare your exit — Thank the new client for his time and congratulate him for his decision and for buying from you.

Point 3. Schedule at once the next interview — Establish with the client the date and time of your next appointment, where you’ll bring him his documents or the product he already bought. Inform him when and how he’s going to receive his products (if you don’t do the actual delivery) and tell him that in that next interview you’ll answer any new questions he should have.

Point 4. Keep the client informed at all times — If you are going to be late (you personally, or the delivery of your products, service, documents or bill), for any reason, make sure your customer is fully notified. And that she’s agreed to the new date or time.

Point 5. Make sure the client understood perfectly and clearly any special requisite or condition. And that she is willing and able to comply with these.

Point 6. Manage the non-productive interviews — If you truly feel that some sales interview are not going to end positively, finish it diplomatically, but let the door open for an interview later on. Of course, do NOT leave without asking for at least one referral.

Point 7. Avoid the prospects that never buy — Don’t fall into the trap of keep on calling on those prospects that never quite say no, but neither buy. You’ll be much better off trying some other prospect or servicing a customer. And you’ll have the energy and disposition to do it at your best.

Point 8. Make sure to ask for referrals — Ask for referrals. Ask for referrals. Ask for referrals. If you made the sale, ask for referrals. If you didn’t made the sale, ask for a number of qualified names and additional prospects. The referrals obtained in unsuccessful sales interviews could turn into successful ones, if the other person buys from you. Did I already say you have to ask for referrals?

Point 9. Control your facial expression — Whatever may be the end result of your sales interview, control your expresions, especially the non-verbal ones. After a good sale, don’t start to smile like the proverbial cat who got the commision.

Point 10. Maintain the dignity at all times — Leave the impresion that the sales interview is part of the service you offer. And don’t look too disappointed if the candidate didn’t buy.

Point 11. Assure the client that you will keep in touch through your service — And be true to your word.

Point 12. Be in contact continuously — So the clients could not tell you that they only see you when you have something to collect or to sell them.

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