Essential Business Advice Tips: Sales

Pricing
Don’t be the cheapest in the market for what you do. Understand value versus price and what your value proposition is relative to your competitors.

Be wary of discounting and consider putting your prices up – do you really know what your customer or prospect is prepared to pay for what you offer unless you test it?

For example, if your margin is 40% and you reduce price by 10%, you need sales volume to increase by 33% to maintain the same profit. Likewise, a 10% increase in price could sustain a 20% reduction in sales volume without loss of profit ( for more information on price discounting see http://tinyurl.com/price-discount for price increasing see http://tinyurl.com/price-increasing).

Therefore increasing your prices may not be so scary. The important thing here is to test your market before making a sweeping decision.

Up Selling
The most common form of up selling is ‘do you want fries with that?’ – what is your version of this? If you have just made a sale or about to, what product or service can you add while the customer is in a ‘buying’ mood?

Cross Selling
Similar to up selling but undertaken after any sale has been made by going back to the customer offering them something else that may be relevant to what they originally purchased or even a different product or service that you believe would be of interest. A good example of this is Amazon, who will offer customers other goods that relate to what they have just purchased or that were brought by other people buying the same thing.

Customers
Know your customer and know what they want. When was the last time you surveyed your customers to find out what they think about you, why they buy from you (or not) and what their expectations are?

Even if you receive moans or complaints, this is valuable information that you can take action on to ensure that you have satisfied customers in the future. It could be a good source for product development ideas, as what you have offered historically might not be what the market wants today.

Customer Relationship Management
It is important to maintain a relationship with customers and stay in communication and contact (not just via a monthly invoice!); possibly through newsletters, email bulletins, visits, open days, etc. If you’re not doing it, your competition could be. It also keeps your brand in their mind on a regular basis.

Sales People
A heavy cost and burden for any business and the pressure is on for them to perform and bring in revenue; both for the employer and the sales person. Part of a recent survey indicated that less than a third (31%) of salespeople reviewed demonstrated proficiency in all eight core selling skills; therefore choosing the right person for your organisation is a ‘minefield’ and the cost to the business of employing the wrong candidate is substantial.

Joint Ventures / Strategic Alliances
If you have a strong client base but have exhausted what you sell to them i.e. what you offer may only be a one off purchase – a will for example; or you don’t have a suitable ‘up sell’ or ‘cross sell’ offering, it is worth considering a partnership with a non-conflicting organisation that would be interested in your clients’ demography.

As you have the trust of someone who has brought from you in the past, there is a higher possibility that they will buy from you again even if the product/service is through a joint venture/strategic alliance with another company.

Sales Pipeline
Have a system that manages where your potential customer is in the buying cycle so that you can interact with them accordingly from target, through to prospect, ready to make the decision to buy, the close and then after sales.

Measure conversion rates at each stage so that you can see if there are any weak links in the chain (often the closing part) and help you with making your marketing more effective.

How to Ask a Closing Question…and then ‘Shut-Up’

Hundreds upon hundreds of books have been written on closing the sale. You can be the most knowledgeable of presenters, you can dress the part from head to toe and put on a show like Robin Williams, but if you do not how to close the sale, you might find yourself limited to a happy meal on your “night out”.

Many of the leading sales experts have defined closing as, “Asking a question, the answer to which confirms the sale”. Once this question has been asked, you must abide by the oldest, most critical rule of selling: When you ask a closing question…. SHUT UP! The first person that speaks loses.

There is a multitude of ways to ask for the sale. Your method of asking a closing question should befit your personal style of communication. The closing should be fluid and effortless when done correctly. For this reason it is important to set the tone for closing upon meeting your prospect, ideally when you walk in the door. You must ask for the sale as soon as you hear that first buying signal. One very important guideline in asking for the sale is to try to eliminate no as a possible response to your question. You may not get the much desired yes as a result of eliminating no responses to your questions, but you will unearth further objections and get the conversation going in a direction that will eventually lead to a yes.

It is very important that you phrase your question in a manner directly addressing your prospects main need or desire. For example….”Mrs. Smith, would you like your new drapes to be delivered before or after your dinner party on the first of next month?” or “Would you prefer to have your new boots in red of would you prefer the black?” or “Will that be cash or credit card?”

Notice that all of these examples incorporate the simple techniques of using time, choice or preference to eliminate no as a possible response. Your prospect will be forced to change the direction of the flow altogether in order to come up with a negative or no response to your closing question. The important lesson here is: Leave it up to the buyer to decide, but do not give him/her no as a possible response once you have asked a closing question.

Of course, it is always important to remember to confirm your prospects interest and to look for concrete buying signals before asking your closing question. For example, Mr. Rogers has stated that he needs a new printer by Thursday, BUT he has not said that he is buying it from you. Ask, “Mr. Rogers, would you like me to deliver your new printer by Thursday?”, and then you shut up! In this case, you have given your prospect the option to say no, but it is highly unlikely that he will use it. Even if he does use it, you have a handy response, “…when would be the most convenient time to make the delivery?”, and, once again, you shut up!

The key here is that you ask your closing questions in a friendly, sincere manner without high pressure and without being pushy. Ever hear the expression “the silence was deafening”? Even a minute of silence can feel like an hour during closing. The tension begins to mount as soon as you finish asking a closing question. With enough gentle, directing closing questions, you will be on your way to sales success. Remember, the sales are there and ripe for the picking. You will receive, but first….you must ask!

Wake Up – Your Customer’s Speaking

Have you ever felt really peeved when a supermarket decides not to sell an item that you’ve tried from their store, liked it, and then incorporated it into your general shopping requirements? Or perhaps an own-brand item from a pharmacy that is not only cheaper than anything else on the market but also does the job so much better, and then the pharmacy decide to withdraw that product? Or maybe you’ve put yourself out to support a local farm shop and buy much of their produce which isn’t particularly competitive but nice quality and their home cured ham is exceptional, well worth the 20 mile trip every now and again, and then that shop replaces their home cured ham with ordinary supermarket ham at the same price?

If the answer to any of the above questions is YES then you will be among many thousands of shoppers who feel they have been let down by a company that they have supported.

Many big companies especially seem to have lost touch with their customers and actually treat their customers with contempt and really couldn’t care less about individual customers; the bottom line profit figure is the only thing that counts.

If a supermarket takes off its shelves an own-brand item that is popular with the local community because it is not producing as much profit as a well known brand, it will start to alienate its customer base; particularly in the supermarket business, there is a lot of competition around, and it only takes a few customers to become disenchanted with a supermarket they use and start trying out one or more other supermarkets, before the profits start to fall from the original supermarket. They will tell their friends about another supermarket and before long a small trickle of exiting customers becomes a stream.

A similar sort of thing has happened whereby big corporations have thought that they were being so clever by saving a lot of money by outsourcing certain services, for example call centers, to countries with cheaper wage bills; in the short term this policy does appear to be good, but what about the customers?

Pretty well anyone that you talk to will say that they get confused and frustrated when dealing with foreign call centers, not for any racist reasons but purely because most people at the foreign call centers may be able to speak their language pretty well but they still have a difficult-to-understand accent and they are not aware of the way of speaking, mannerisms, humor, etc in a particular country. It is pretty well universally agreed that people in call centers should be brought up and educated in the same country as the people they are supporting. Many banks in the UK are finally waking up to public reaction to call centers.

So these corporations using foreign call centers will eventually become losers, big time, when one or more of their competitors realize that satisfied customers are the corner stone of their business and that if their business is built on a shaky foundation of bottom-line profits, then a small tremor in public feeling and awareness could bring their whole corporation down.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Wake Up – Your Customer’s Speaking.

Success Starts With A Plan

Everything successful starts with a plan and selling is no exception. It does not matter what you are selling. It can be insurance or real estate, advertising or cars. It all requires networking at the highest level or just simply communicating with people either face to face or via any of the modern systems you like. It does not really matter but communicate you must.

We have all heard the story of the successful car salesman that sent out thank you notes, birthday cards and purchase anniversary cards to all his past clients and prospects. A simple act with a subtle sales message embedded in it that produced a ton of business and made him very successful. Of course there are scores of variations on this theme but very successful salespeople follow through and continue this year after year.

So plan to contact a specified number of people every day. Break it down into types of contacts and methods. Do not make it too difficult. Ring ten new contacts or existing prospects (anybody you are not currently doing business with). Talk to two new people in a public place. Preferably people you have noticed on a regular basis like shop assistants or fellow commuters. Email any number of old clients with useful information.

In everything you do try to follow up. Always follow up current clients, No exceptions.

There is no secret to being successful. Just look successful and dress appropriately to look successful for your position. Talk like a successful person and believe you are successful without appearing arrogant. Keep up the accumulation of contacts, most of them probably will not buy from you but they all talk to other people and your public awareness will grow exponentially. Along with that will come the increasing success and wealth.

This is true of small town sales people and internet whiz kids.Get out there and get your name spread around. Garnish your reputation with a respected name for good service and valued advice. Always remember the basics of honest dealing with people, a ready smile and remember to say thank you. Two very powerful words often forgotten these days.

Selling is not difficult or complicated and you should not make your plans difficult, otherwise it can get very hard to implement the plan you have decided on. You can put whatever you like in your plan. But try to keep it simple. Keep working with it. At the beginning fine tune it or even change it. But when you have got it right use it throughout your sales career.

Plan, focus, follow through, succeed and enjoy a happy life.

Consider these factors when you next think about how to win over people for the next initiative or project that you want to launch.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Success Starts With A Plan.

The Truth About Sales & Marketing

At a time when the world is facing its biggest economic test in years and  retailers are slashing prices to shift stock, it is valuable to step back and have a look at the sales and marketing process being deployed in your company.

Over the years, sales and marketing has been portrayed as a specialist art that only the few, naturally gifted, can excel in.  Proponents of this view can often be found with CV changes every two to three years and a trail of organisations left with a feeling of disappointment that things “didn’t quite work”.

To connect the powerful commercial ideas of the business to the necessary levels of sales or customer retention the sales and marketing function should be treated as a process that is 95% graft and science, 5% natural ability.

An effective approach is based upon six universal principles of sales and marketing effectiveness that impact performance.  These principles are relevant to all types of sales organisations irrespective of size, sophistication or location.

The exact weight that each principle carries in producing final results will vary between markets and, to some extent, between companies.

A critical foundation is forming a common view of those weights between customers, senior and front-line management.

•    Knowledge

Having a full understanding of the marketplace and how your products serve its needs. Do your homework. This is usually the basis of your competitive advantage.

•    Strategy

Providing a focus and direction for the sales and marketing effort commonly understood through the company.

•    Structure

The division of work among individuals and the coordination of the work once it has been divided. Even if you only have one sales person, tasks have differing priorities.

•    Marketing Operations

Relating customers’ needs to your products. Driving customers to being positively disposed towards your products. In many businesses this is largely driven by consistency and service delivery.

•    Sales Operations

Making it easy for customers to buy your products.

•    People

Recruiting, integrating and developing commercial people to achieve maximum performance (and removing any under performing people quickly).

All of these principles need to be incorporated into the process and actively managed to take control of the sales and marketing function.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Articles: Sales & Marketing – The Truth About Sales & Marketing.

8 Secret Tips When Writing Sales Letters

Did you know that fortunes were made or lost on the strength of sales letters?

It is not “Build a better mousetrap” that will make you rich. It is “Create a better sales letter” that will lead you to fame and fortune.

Secret one: Know your audience.

This is often overlooked. You don’t use the same approach to sell teenagers that you would use for senior citizens. Analyse your audience and find out how your product will solve their problems.

Secret two: Headline.

This is the most important part of your sales letter. You must draw your prospect in with your headline.

If the headline does not interest them, they will not read your letter. Your product may be wonderful, but if the prospect isn’t interested in reading your letter, there will be no sale.

Secret three: Introduction.

Introduce yourself briefly and tell the reader how you can solve their problems.

Tell them how you have solved the problems for other people. Use stories to relate how you have helped people just like the reader.

Secret four: Testimonials.

People are sceptical and need convincing. Include several testimonials from people who have tried your product and liked it. The magic number for testimonials is three. If you have more, use them.

Secret five: Benefits.

Your audience does not care about you or your product. All they want to know is what will your product do for them.

Do not describe your product here. Instead, tell all about the benefits and what the product can do for the reader. Tell them how their life will improve with your product.

Secret six: Guarantee.

Offer an unconditional guarantee. Your reader does not trust you or your product.

You must reassure them that they are not taking any risk by buying what you are selling. You must make them feel comfortable.

You as the seller need to assume all the risks.

Secret seven: Close.

Make it easy to buy and ask for the sale.

Tell the reader how to order the product and how fast it will get to them. Include as many different kinds of payments as possible.

If you streamline your payment process, it will make it easy for the customer to buy your product.

Secret eight: Test.

If the headline is the most important secret, this is the second most important. You need to test every aspect of your sales letter.

It can be very time consuming to do these tests, but it is very important that you do this.

Only test one thing in your sales letter at a time.

You can test different headlines first, then test your guarantee, then test your price, but you must only pick one thing to test at a time.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Articles: Sales & Marketing 8 Secret Tips When Writing Sales Letters.

Say “No” To Cold Calling

Starting at the A’s and working through the Z’s of the local phone book is not the most profitable way to sales success.

Your cold market is all the people you do not know.

You have at best a 9 percent chance that your cold market will turn into your warm market.

The odds are against you the moment you pick up the phone book.

A survey of buyers discovered that:

91 percent of buyers never respond to an unsolicited inquiry

71 percent of buyers find cold calls annoying

88 percent of buyers will have nothing to do with cold calls

Stop wasting your time on cold calling and start building your sales success with buyers that contact you. This is the best place to focus your energy.

Your success begins by taking a creative look at what you are offering to your prospects.

Why does someone need your product or service?

Who would need your product or service?

And finally,

What makes you different from your competition?

When you determine who needs your  product or service, you have pinpointed your niche market.

Take a close look at your ideal prospect.

Who are they?

What do they act like?

Why is this the type of prospect you want?

Consider the characteristics of your ideal prospect. You have selected your niche market and determined what your ideal prospect looks like.

Now, ask yourself “How can I become somebody special to them in this area of sales?”

Your goal is to market yourself to this niche as the one that has the solution to their needs. It is time to market you along with your product or service. When you decide to target a niche market you have the opportunity to build a reputation for yourself as a specialist in your field.

This reduces the rejections and stimulates new business inquiries from others.  To become a specialist you should use different types of marketing strategies.

To build your reputation you must become involved in the niche you are servicing. Join organisations and trade groups of your niche market. Maybe become a member of their community. Obtain leadership positions within these organisations. You want to be visible and known.

Create an awareness of you and your business. There are many opportunities to speak at lunches and weekly or monthly meetings of organisational groups. Get out there and be seen and heard.

Write articles with information that your niche market would find informative. Submit these articles to trade  publications for your niche. Contact your local paper about writing niche specific articles, start your own newspaper column.

Write letters to the editor of your local paper about controversial issues. Always end your letters with your name and the name of your business. Write a reply to an editorial opinion in a niche specific trade journal.

Develop educational flyers or brochures to generate awareness about your product or service.

If you are offering a new type of product or service, issue a press release.

Stimulate inquiries from high-potential prospects by conducting seminars centred on your niche market.

You do not want the seminar to be all about sales, you want to educate your prospects about you and your product or service.

Advertise to your niche market. Advertising will be costly and must be ongoing in order to be effective.

Start a newsletter based on your niche market.

Participate in local radio interviews about your niche.

Contact your local television station and find out if they produce segments on new businesses in the area.

Ask for referrals from community leaders.

Explain to them who you are targeting, who your ideal prospect is, and ask if they could introduce you to a couple of individuals that may be interested in what you are offering. Host a small casual function so that you can be introduced to these referrals.

Say “No!” to cold calling. Put the phone book back on the shelf and start using marketing strategies that work.

Create a marketing plan that includes various strategies and you will have a steady flow of prospects calling you.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Articles: Sales & Marketing – Say “No” To Cold Calling.

10 Steps To A Successful Negotiation

It’s a tough marketplace out there and strong negotiating skills are fundamental to achieving and more importantly sustaining career and business success, particularly within a competitive sales and marketing environment.

Those of us who want to achieve better results, both at work and in our private lives, need to develop effective negotiating skills. If your technique is too aggressive or even too soft, revenue and profit will be lost.

The key to effective negotiation is preparation and recognising what makes a good negotiator. It is important to understand when and how to negotiate, how your prospect will react and when your ‘opponent’ is trying to use his/her own negotiating techniques on you.

Contrary to popular belief, good negotiation is not about you winning and someone else losing. A satisfactory outcome is when neither side feels that they have compromised too much, given away when they did not want to, felt unnecessary pressure, threatened or were forced to make sacrifices that they could not avoid.

It is about both sides feeling that they have achieved what they wanted and are feeling satisfied with the outcome.

This ‘Principled’ negotiation results in all parties believing that they can work together and do business again in the future. It is not about just getting the business, but is really about getting good quality business, be it good price, larger volumes, long term contracts or repeat orders.

The 10 most important rules to follow are:

1.    Do not negotiate unless you need to. Always evaluate your needs honestly and never negotiate if it’s unnecessary, as it always requires a compromise, usually at a cost.

2.    Never negotiate with yourself. Understand your own bottom line. Decide in advance what matters to you and what does not.

3.    Never accept the first offer. There is always a better one still to come.

4.    Never make the first offer if you can help it. Remember rule no 3 above.

5.    Listen more and talk less. (one mouth and two ears) Good negotiators lead by listening, not talking. Let them ramble and leak information. While you listen you are not giving information away.

6.    Do not give away ‘freebies’. A free gift today is tomorrow’s starting point.

7.    Do not forget the difference between cost, price and value. Aim for a win-win.

8.    Don’t slice the bread, (slicing up the total cost into individual items and providing separate costs for each). Start with a complete value-orientated price. Only slice when you have to and only sparingly.

9.    Never rush. Always say ‘Maybe’ and ask for clarification and make certain that you understand the full offer before you agree to any single part of the offer. Give yourself time to check your own position.

10.    Never disclose your bottom line. Not at the start. During or after the conclusion.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Articles: Sales & Marketing – 10 Steps To A Successful Negotiation.

Sales Techniques That Will Close Sales

Have you wondered why, despite being able to describe the benefits of the products you are selling, the customer did not buy? You were told not to sell features but the benefits of the product, and that is exactly what you did. Yet you are not able to close the deal. What is that missing element that is needed?

The answer may be that the benefits you described are not benefits that apply to the customer. The question is what is in it for the customer to be interested in what you are selling.

If you are selling to a business organisation, focus first on the business requirements that are driving this deal. Whatever you sell had better give returns to the business. Otherwise, this might be your last sale to this organisation.

Once you know the business needs, connect them to the benefits that your product can offer. This means you must know your product’s features and related benefits. If you already know your product well, that is half the battle won. If not, you must find out. If yours is a technical product, a user-based understanding is all that is needed for a sales person. Later, you can bring in technical expertise as needed. The next thing to do is to establish the needs of the business that your product can meet. Present this from the customer’s perspective and your chances of closing the deal are very much increased. There will, of course, be competitive products and prices to be considered.

Having described the concept, how can you do this in a well-organised way? In this case, first list all the product features and their related benefits. Now for each of the benefits, write down what is the business need that can be met. Once you have written all of these down, convert these to questions that you can ask the customer. You will find repetition in this first version. Clean it up and organise the questions in a natural flow. Note down also the benefits and features along with the questions.

You can now use this questionnaire when you meet the customer. If required, you can also discuss benefits and features of the product. Getting quantifiable information will help in the business justification later.

When the customer sees that you know your contents, you can expect a better response as the customer knows that you are not wasting any time. The respect you show for the customer’s time is a very good basis to build a good customer relationship. This technique will help you establish which benefits will help the customer based on the business requirements as established by the customer.

The next step is for you to understand the customer’s industry and to be able to articulate the trends and why requirements not articulated by the customer should also be considered. Typically, customers appreciate this additional knowledge that you bring to the situation.

So far, it has all been about value to the business. Successful selling also needs empathy to human needs. Quite often, the person you are selling to will be well versed in the operational aspect of the job, but will have a limited knowledge of the industry direction. They are typically driven by the daily operations. While they may know industry directions, they normally appreciate any specific information that will help them.

The impact of technology has made people look differently at how a business can be successfully transformed. Here again, is another opportunity for you to be of value to your client. It is not sufficient that the customer buys a good or great product. They also need to know how to use it such that they can maximise the returns on the investment.

You need to be able to justify why your product will give better returns. If necessary, you may also need to meet others in the business to show how your products will have an impact on their business.

You must articulate how the products uniquely benefit the business. You must be able to provide information and data related to the business. You know how it will help their business. If you can do this very well, they will even sometimes call on you to ask your opinion because they know you care about the success of their business, and not just on the sales and commissions.

There will be other challenges, especially regarding prices. Even if the product price is lower than the competition, if you cannot relate the value of your product to the business’s needs, it will be tough to close the sale. With the kind of value proposition that you can bring to the table, you will stand a much higher chance of closing the deal.

One exception will be when you find out during the investigation stage that the customer is not ready for your products yet or does not need them. Be big enough to walk away. You would have established your credibility. When the customer does need your products, he will call you because he knows that he can trust you.

Take some time to prepare a questionnaire as described above, if there is none right now. Use it to understand the customer’s business requirements. Then present it based on the unique customer requirements. With these techniques, you will get the customer’s attention because you are helping to solve their business issues using your product. You stand a much better chance of not only winning the deal, but building a rapport and trust with the customer for the longer term.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Articles: Sales & Marketing – Sales Techniques That Will Close Sales.

How To Achieve Sales Targets

Sales personnel often ask themselves how to achieve sales targets? Prospects are more savvy now when buying products and there is a wider choice of products in the market place. What can sales people do to achieve these targets?

1. Selling Is About The Value The Customer Gets – Many sales people study very well the features and functions of the products and services that they sell. What is more important is to understand what value the product or service brings to the person who buys it.

For a given product, different people buy it for their own unique reasons. It is therefore necessary to know what are the kinds of needs that the product or service serves. You can then find out the needs of the prospect first and then only present your product or service in the light of their requirements. This approach will not only help you close the sale with the prospect that you are dealing with. It will help to increase referral sales that you can get.

2. Serve Before Selling – Sales people can be so focused on selling that they may not realise that this approach is normally seen as very aggressive by the prospect.

To understand the prospect needs and to serve the prospect with no expectation of selling is actually proving to be a much more effective way of selling. Once you know the prospect needs, be generous about tips on how the person can meet their needs. One of the options, of course, is to use the product or service that you are selling. This approach is subtle and non-threatening.

Even if the prospect did not buy, the chances that they will refer you to someone else is high. In addition, they may later decide to buy your product. So, do remember to give your contact details even if you do not make a sale.

3. Strategise And Follow Your Strategy – When you are faced with a question of how to achieve sales targets, the first step must be to strategise.

Without a strategy, you will be aimlessly going through actions not really knowing if you can achieve your target. Then, of course, follow your strategy. In following your strategy, monitor the results to check if your strategy is working the way you intended it to. If it does not, then it is time to evaluate and make adjustments based on your findings. This simply means that you have mini-targets and dates against which you track your progress. While strategies are high level, they are still not cast in concrete. It will be pointless pursuing a strategy that you realise is not making headway.

4. Develop A Plan Based On Your Strategy – It is important that a strategy is converted into a working plan with dates and expected results or deliverables at each of these dates.

In the event that other people are involved, clearly state who is accountable for each of these actions. Identifying results or deliverables is important as these will indicate if the actions have been successfully completed. Use these results and deliverables as a basis to make any adjustments to your action plan or even to the strategy if required.

5. Enjoy The Journey – Make sure that the whole process of achieving sales targets is an enjoyable journey for you. If you find that it is not, you may want to find ways of creating some fun along the way.

There are people who use fun stationery when planning and tracking their work. Even strategising can be fun when using colours and pictures. Mind maps are a great way to get your creative juices flowing. Another way will be to reward yourself not just at the end of achieving your objectives, but also at milestone achievements.

These do not have to burn a hole in your pocket. While you could take a holiday at the end of the project, at milestone achievements, you might want to reward yourself with watching a movie or buying that new pair of shoes. It could even be as simple as having that ice cream only when you achieve the milestone.

Steps on strategising, planning, tracking and rewarding are common thoughts on how to be successful at sales. Add to this the concepts of serving before selling and the value you bring to the customer, and you will have a winning strategy on how to achieve your sales targets.

via UK Business Advisors Ltd | UKBA – Articles: Sales & Marketing – How To Achieve Sales Targets.