 I moved from working in my business to working on my business!
Jim White, Founder Savor Dallas http://www.savordallas.com |
 I found a community of business leaders who make being in business a lot more fun and less lonely.
Jeannine Sandstrom, CEO CoachWorks International, Inc. http://www.coachworks.com |
 I now have a place to be open about my business success and future challenges.
Debbie Mrazek, CEO The Sales Company Author The Field Guide to Sales http://www.the-sales-company.com |
Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category
By Jeff Becker
Selling your business is something that most business owners do only once in a lifetime. So how do you make sure everything goes well? Many business owners consider working with a business broker, an expert in selling businesses, to make sure they maximize the sell price of their business. Is this always a good idea? Lets look at the pros and cons of working with a broker:
Why you should work with a business broker when selling your business
1) A broker has (hopefully!) sold many businesses for prior clients, and you can use that expertise to learn the basics of the process and avoid making careless mistakes.
2) They can act as a facilitator to the transaction, making sure that negotiations go smoothly, the transaction proceeds at the right pace, and that the business is ultimately sold with all parties satisfied.
3) A broker may reduce your upfront costs of selling the business, as many brokers will pay for creating sales collateral and advertising the business at their own expense in exchange for a fee when the business sells. They also may have insights as to what advertising mechanisms deliver the best “bang for the buck” to make sure as many potential buyers as possible are exposed to your business.
4) They can provide expert advise related to market conditions and can help evaluate potential offers to buy your business. For example, a business broker will typically provide a free initial estimate of the sales price of your business, and can provide information on what similar businesses may have recently sold for in your area.
5) A business broker can help preserve the confidentiality of the sale. By having a third party involved, buyers can interact with the broker instead of the business owner, making it easier to protect the identity of the business for sale.
With so many good reasons why a broker can help sell a business, no wonder that most businesses that are sold ultimately involve a business broker. However, there are downsides to working with a broker that a prudent business owner should consider.
Why you should NOT work with a business broker when selling your business
1) Business brokers may charge a large commission. The amount of commission varies based on many factors, such as the ultimate sales price, geographic location, and the skills of the broker. For a “main street” style business selling for less than a million dollars, it would not be unusual to see between a 10% to 20% commission fee. Some brokers will also have a guaranteed minimum, on the order of $10,000 or $15,000. You should only hire a business broker if you believe that the time and effort involved justifies this price, or if you believe they will raise the selling price by more than the amount of their commission.
2) A great broker is worth their weight in gold, but a bad (or even mediocre) broker costs far more than they are worth. In many cases, the sale will be lost due to incompetence on the part of the business broker. If you are not confidant that the business broker can not only increase the transaction value, but can also increase the chances of actually getting the business sold, then you are probably better of managing the sale on your own.
3) Do not work with a business broker if you go into the transaction not knowing what you want out of it. Many times business brokers will contact you proactively, letting you know that there are buyers interested in buying your business. Selling a business is a big decision, and one that you should enter into with a great deal of care. Make sure that you are talking to a broker because YOU made the decision to sell, and that you have properly educated yourself about the process and the ultimate consequences of your decision.
Working with a business broker, when done properly and for the right reasons, can be a great benefit to selling your business. By educating yourself about the different factors involved, you have taken an important first step towards getting your business sold. Best of luck!
Jeff Becker has bought, run, and sold his own small business using a business broker. He subsequently became a licensed business broker and has advised both small business and Fortune 500 companies on business transactions. He provides insights to the business broker world to business owners interested in selling their business through his website, Business Broker Secrets, at http://www.businessbrokersecrets.com
“Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game, client service wins the game.” Lately, I have been thinking about aspects that differentiate one vendor from another. While expertise, experience, affordability, and ease of communication featured high on the list, client servicing made a distinct appearance.
Effective client servicing is very often what differentiates the winner from the plodders, in today’s highly competitive business landscape. Exemplary client service practices can give your product/service the extra impetus it needs to outshine rival product/service. And since finding new clients is much more expensive than retaining existing ones, the need for superior client servicing gets amplified. Also, a lost customer would mean lost revenue and an unhappy customer can damage your reputation.
With so much at stake, I don’t believe any organization would not want to service their clients well. In view of this, I would like to share some quintessential aspects of effective client servicing.
Honesty is the best policy
Honesty and sincerity go a long way with clients. Do not pretend that you have answers to every problem they have, if you don’t. Admitting a weakness in your knowledge or process is better than outright lies. The genuineness of your concern to formulate an effective solution to your client requirements will win you their loyalty and long term partnership.
Foresee you clients’ needs
Your business plan should be built around understanding and anticipating your clients’ needs and aspirations. Make sure you offerings are in sync with your clients’ expectations and delivers on those expectations satisfactorily. A mismatch would lead to unpleasant experience.
Listen to your clients
Effective listening entails truly making an effort to absorb and comprehend what is being said and acknowledge that understanding. Learning to listen is a key skill that will serve you well in all aspects of your business. Attend to even the smallest details. Try putting yourself in the client’s shoe and endeavor to understand their point of view.
Resolve conflicts in time
Don’t allow issues to remain unaddressed and mould and fester. Prompt and timely resolution holds the key to good client servicing. Don’t shy away from tendering an apology even if you are not necessarily in the wrong. Intervention by a senior member to placate an important client and seek effective solution can be effective at times.
Communicate and follow-up periodically
Your client service initiative should not stop with completion of sales process. The endeavor should be to maintain a free flow of information between you and your clients. The communication should be designed to educate clients about your product/service and organization. Newsletters, interactive forums, and other forms of social media are effective tools to communicate key messages.
Seek to build long lasting relationship
It is imperative to build long lasting relationship with your clients and not just perfecting a singular non-repetitive client. Building an effective relationship involves being responsive to client requests. Every effort should be made to accommodate client requests or to explain options that are available. A client, who feels appreciated, cared for and understood is less likely to leave in pursuit of better service and/or price. Effective relationship can compensate for poor performance, but it cannot be used or rather abused to justify low grade performance.
In short, superior client servicing is critical to your survival in the market place. It should be the cornerstone of your business and will help you retain a loyal client base.
Kneoteric is a leading online marketing company providing PPC Management Services, online marketing consultancy, SEO services and link building services.
By Paul Godines 
When selling consulting, you will need some highly successful methods to get clients. Because one of the most difficult issues that every business owner has, especially during a recession is getting clients. This might make you wonder if there are even enough clients to make it worth staying in business for.
When in fact that’s not the case, especially during a recession, business consultants are HIGHLY needed. Whatever you service or product you are likely the answer to someone’s problem. Even if your product is an audio made with your kids digital recorder, you can make an impact on the world.
More importantly its not how much you give but the value you offer that will earn you tens of thousands of dollars of income. So, lets start with creating a simple method you can use to sell your consulting.
Begin by realizing your not a business consultant, or a transcriptionist, or a virtual assistant you’re a teacher. That’s your job, whose primary role is to discover your prospects needs and than if applicable educate your client about exactly how you can bring value to them with your services and or products.
With that in mind, lets move on. All you need to do is create a comfortable conversation which helps you discover their needs. I suggest you do that by using just a few well placed words.
Here’s a simple dialogue you can use to uncover opportunities and enroll clients;
• So tell me what’s going on – use this to discover opportunities.
• What result do you want – find out exactly what they want.
• What’s the evidence you will use to know you have achieved your goals – determine if you can deliver those results.
• What’s that worth to you – find out to what degree they value those results. I use a scale of 1 – 5 for example.
• It sounds like – here you help them see the possibility of reaching those results.
• We can help you achieve those results – here you actually make a statement with confidence that you can achieve the results they want.
• Is this something you would like to move forward with – here you are asking them if they would like to actually achieve those results.
• Ok here’s the next step – here you take the time to take them to the very next step, usually the procedure involved with enrolling.
• Confirm – get them to confirm to you the nest step, make sure they know exactly what to do next, and when to do it.
Now what makes this system so successful is in how you use this list. Start using it with friends, clients, prospects and family, force yourself to ask them what’s going on. What they would like to see happen, ask them how they would know they achieved their goal.
Than ask them what its worth to them to achieve their goal, tell them what it sound like to you. What’s most important is to be casual and very relaxed. Once you have some practice – you should do this at least 50 times – you will find enrolling clients extremely easy.
If you’re ready to go to the next step, and become a High Priced Expert than go to Adapt on a Dime.com http://www.adaptonadime.com Get your FREE “Quick Start Guide To Become A High Priced Expert.”
Paul Godines Coaches Professionals to become High Priced Experts using Joint Ventures. Leveraging and Multiplying your Skills, Knowledge and Experience into a High Priced Consulting Practice.
By Marc Jarrett
Celebrity sells, and no one knows that better than hard-pressed charities. The economy might be in the doldrums, but the public’s voracious appetite for all things celebrity remains as strong as ever.
Wouldn’t it be nice, therefore, if a forum existed that allowed celebrities to chat on the phone directly with their fans, and raise money for a worthy cause in the process? Well, now, thanks to premium conferencing, they can.
As the name suggests, premium conferencing is powered by premium-rate numbers which have been key revenue generators for the media in recent years. The prize money on offer on shows like ‘who wants to be a millionaire?’ is typically raised by such numbers.
Here’s how it works: the celebrity decides a time and date in the future when they will be available for the event, which can be hosted anywhere with internet access and a phone.
The event is then marketed both on and offline, as an opportunity for fans to call for a chance of speaking directly with the celebrity, the conference host, and raise money for the celebrity’s favourite charity in the process.
When the time arrives, the host dials in on an 800 number, whilst all conference participants dial in on a premium rate one. These typically begin with the ‘09′ prefix, and are charged at a higher rate which is collected by the subscribers’ phone company. When employed in a fund raising capacity, some or all of the accrued revenues can be paid to the hosts’ chosen charity.
Callers that wish to speak to the host are placed in a queue, which the host can then monitor and control in real-time on the web. If the celebrity in question prefers, they can engage in the services of a trusted intermediary to act as a moderator for such an event. Needless to say, the CLI of the host is suppressed, so callers will be unaware of the host’s location when the event takes place.
Premium conferencing therefore is the ideal vehicle for celebrities to hold QA sessions with their loyal army of admirers and meet three key needs at once: raise money for the chosen charity, deliver a ‘reality’ event to an audience obsessed with both reality and celebrity, and — depending on how the host interacts directly with their fans – good PR for both them, and indeed the premium rate industry as a whole.
Furthermore, celebrities have worldwide appeal: thanks the worldwide reach on the web and the underlying international telephony infrastructure which acts as its veins, such phone events can be marketed to an eager global audience: Participants dial in on a local premium rate number in those countries that support them, or make a regular international Direct Dial (IDD) call in those that do not.
A caller from India, therefore, calls Liechtenstein for a chance to speak to the host who is in, say, the USA — premium conferencing is globalization, alive and kickin’!
As with twitter, eBay & Co, such technology simply facilitates the end-user experience which is generated by the users : so called User Generated Content (UGC) : The success or otherwise of such phone events will in large part rest on the shoulders of the host, the ’star of the show,’ and how they interact with their audience.
Premium conferencing is essentially a hybrid of the latest web and conferencing technology, coupled with a proven billing mechanism – an excellent example of the ongoing convergence and bundling of existing products that make premium conferencing possible.
One thing is for sure: premium conferencing will certainly give a celebrity obsessed public something new to talk about – “You’ll never guess who I was chatting with last night…”, could be heard more often.
If Brain May from Queen ever hosts such an event, I’ll be tempted to call myself…
Marc Jarrett
http://www.chatterwith.me
Money Talks
By Sandy Rees
How a major gift is defined depends on your organization. It might be $500 or $5,000 or somewhere in between. Typically, we think of a major gift as cash, but it could be an annuity, stock or something else. The defining characteristic is that it is a “Stop And Think” gift. The donor has put some thought into it.
Create a cultivation plan for your major donors and work it. Examine the ways you are communicating with them. Do you send them a newsletter of some kind? Do you provide them with a name and phone number and invite them to call you? Have you invited them for a tour of your organization? Have you learned all you can about them including their interests and their reasons for giving? Knowing all you can about a potential major donor will help you develop the best strategy for cultivating them and asking for the next gift. The better prepared you are when it comes to the Ask, the more likely you are to get the gift.
Build a relationship with your major donors by getting personal. Get to know them. Send handwritten note cards or better yet, call them just to thank them! Find out about their families, their hobbies and what other charities they support. And, most importantly, find out why they support YOU!
Involve your Board. Do any of your Board members know any of your major donors? If so, they can likely provide valuable information or assist in cultivation.
Make sure you have some kind of tracking system in place to keep up with all this data.
Beware of cultivating a donor for too long. Don’t spend so much time trying to gather every possible bit of information that you never get around to making the Ask. You’ll know when you have enough information and the time is right. Don’t procrastinate about it either. If you get scared and put it off, you are losing an opportunity. What’s more, you are denying your donor the chance to participate in your organization’s mission.
Want more practical tips and ideas for successful fundraising? Get the twice-monthly “Bright Ideas for Fundraising” at http://www.getfullyfunded.com
Sandy Rees is a nonprofit fundraising coach and speaker who shows small nonprofit organizations how to raise more money, gain more supporters, and strengthen their Boards.
(c) Sandy Rees, CFRE
By Sandy Rees
Major donors can be a great source of revenue for any nonprofit organization. Gifts from major donors are usually pretty easy to cultivate and receive. But how do you identify the ‘diamonds in the rough’ from a large pool of potential donors?
1. Watch for donors who self-identify themselves.
A donor who has a strong tie or belief in your organization and who has the means to make a large donation is your best candidate for a major gift. Many times, people will self identify – they will make a good-sized donation through the mail or at an event. You can usually multiply this kind of gift by 10 to 25 to determine the donor’s real potential.
2. Consider using a wealth-screening service.
There are services out there that will run your house list through a series of databases to help identify who on your list has deep pockets. Wealthengine and MAGIC are two of those. This provides you with a targeted list of potential major donors that you might have otherwise missed. But remember, just because they have significant wealth doesn’t mean they will necessarily make a large gift to you. Once you uncover your diamonds in the rough, you must cultivate them and develop a relationship with them in order to upgrade them to major donor status.
3. Look for LIA in a potential major donor.
Look for LIA (Linkage, Interest, Ability). A donor must have all three or you just won’t be able to get a big gift from them. Linkage is some commonality with your organization – usually they’ve received services from you as a client, someone they know has received services from you, or there’s some other reason that your cause hits close to home. Interest is the donor’s desire to help you. They are interested in what you are doing. Ability is the donor’s potential to give. They must have resources to be a potential major donor.
Once you identify potential major donors, it’s time to put a cultivation plan together and get to work. One day, you’ll likely reap big benefits from spending time with these donors who love your organization.
Want more practical tips and ideas for successful fundraising? Get the twice-monthly “Bright Ideas for Fundraising” at http://www.getfullyfunded.com
Sandy Rees is a nonprofit fundraising coach and speaker who shows small nonprofit organizations how to raise more money, gain more supporters, and strengthen their Boards.
(c) Sandy Rees, CFRE
Regardless of where you live, spring heralds the promise of new growth, balmy breezes of fresh air, new beginnings and renewed hope. This spring also represents the grand finale of the first decade of the new millennium, holding the promise of the turning tide of refreshingly needed change, no matter what your political proclivities, as the new presidential term unfolds: amended economics, new health care initiatives and drastically modified perspectives of our place in the world.
Last year proved to be incredibly challenging for us all as the proverbial economic roller coaster ride seemed to crash to the ground, with the upheaval of what we had come to know as “normal” and the tremendous sense of loss in our portfolios, jobs and standards of living. Many of us suffered both materially and psychologically as our foundations seemed to crumble and life as we had come to know it during the economic boom melted away into a seeming puddle. This is not the first time in history that such drastic changes have occurred and it won’t be the last, but history has also proven that we as humans are incredibly resilient and adaptable on the pragmatic level, able to transcend, transform and thrive under the harshest of circumstances. It’s this intrinsic adaptability that has allowed us to maintain a sense of balance in the most dire of situations, enabling us to emerge from the winter of our discontent to the budding springtime of new beginnings and new opportunities.
As Franklin D. Roosevelt said during a similarly challenging time in the last century, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”. In that statement he pinpointed with laser-like clarity the root of all negativity: fear. When we succumb to fear, we feel weak and powerless. We feel as if the rug has been “pulled out from under us”. We feel imbalanced and out of kilter. We describe the feeling of having “a pit in our stomach” or feeling as if “the sky is falling down” to crush us. These phrases and descriptions all point to our anticipation that something even worse might or is going to happen. These thoughts and words lift us out of the present moment and whirl us like a tornado into a doomed future. They set off a cascade of physiological chemical reactions that result in unhealthy changes within our bodies, which have an even more negative effect on our minds. They set the stage for a self fulfilling prophecy that may very well come true, because we as human beings are more powerful than we give ourselves credit for.
It’s been scientifically proven that when we think negative thoughts, our adrenal glands respond with a powerful “fight or flight” release of adrenaline. This mechanism proved very convenient when we were fleeing from saber-toothed tigers in the jungle, but it creates havoc in our modern-day bodies when we feel this surge of hormones but have nowhere to run. When we allow our fear to initiate this downward spiral into negativity, we can literally create disease in our bodies.
Numerous books have been written about how our thoughts create our reality. Many people denigrate these “ideas” as being “New Age” and relegate them to what they consider to be “nonsense”. However, each of us has the power to create positive change from the nexus of our initial thoughts. Quantum physicists have described the power we have to change our patterning by changing our basic thoughts and creating new, healthier pathways throughout the vast highways that weave their way throughout our craniums. We’ve all heard of “positive affirmations”, but did you realize that by repeating a well-constructed affirmation ten times a day, for twenty one days, that you can physiologically change your brain, neuron by neuron, creating new chemical reactions that can lead to health and empowerment? That mechanism offers each of us the ability to counteract the negative effects of fearful thinking, to take control of our destinies rather than succumbing to what appears to be happening around us or “to” us, and to avail ourselves of the new opportunities that present themselves on a daily basis if we allow ourselves to be open to these possibilities for change, growth and expansion.
As we look for new ways of living in the world, it’s important to get to really know ourselves, to know who we really are, who we really want to become and what we need to do in order to allow our real selves to unfold. Many people have recently lost their jobs, yet have been able to turn what seems like disaster and loss into the most precious gift they’ve ever received: the time and opportunity to get to really know who they are at their core and how they want to express themselves in their work and in their daily lives going forward. Many of them are looking for guidance and help in figuring out their next steps, which may range from finding a new job, to creating and developing a new business, to reinventing themselves. Affirmations enable them to develop a deeper sense of who they are, what they really need and want and to put that knowledge and those clearly identified desires into an actionable process of creation and momentum.
This spring offers each and every one of us the opportunity to create the new beginnings we’ve been longing for and to develop our bright shining paths into the future. It’s an opportunity for each of us to create our own “Yellow Brick Road”.
_______________________________________________________________________________
(c) 2009 Cathleen R. Pratt
Cathleen Pratt is President & CEO of The Revenue Generators, a South Florida firm specializing in coaching, marketing, communication and negotiation for individuals, small businesses and corporations. She is the author of the soon to be released book “The Achievement Factor: Seven Strategies for Success in Weathering the Current Economic Storm”, which draws from her many years as a sales and marketing executive with ABC, CBS and Discovery Networks International, blending her corporate experience with humor and insights into the potential that all humans possess to create, achieve and transcend to whatever they intend in their lives. Cate can be reached at http://www.TheRevenueGenerators.com
If you want to really make your article “SELL” then you’ve got to craft the perfect RESOURCE BOX. This is the “author bio” that is below your article body and it’s also known as your “SIG” (short for SIGnature).
Here are the essential items that should be in your RESOURCE BOX:
- Your Name: You’d be amazed at how many folks forget to include their name in the RESOURCE BOX. Your name and optional title should be the first thing in your resource box.
- Your Website Address: in valid URL form. Example: http://Your-Company-Name.com/
- Your Elevator Pitch: This is 1 to 3 sentences that encapsulates the essence of what makes you and your offering unique. Also known as your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
- Your Call To Action: You’ve got them warmed up and now it’s time to lead them to BUY from you or visit your website. This is where you “Ask For The Sale.” Best to only give (1) specific call to action.
Here are some optional items you could include in your RESOURCE BOX:
- Your Ezine Subscription Address: While getting your interested visitor to surf your website is nice, capturing their email address can help you begin the confidence/trust process. If you’re going to do this strategy, include a URL for your ezine subscription address and do not use an email address for the “join” address.
- Your Contact Information: Such as your business phone number or how to reach you for interviews or your press/media kit. Keep in mind that article marketing is a timeless strategy and you may not have an easy ability to retract what you put in your article once it hits major distribution.
- A Free Report: This could also be part of your call to action or your free bonus report that further enhances your credibility as the expert on the topic of your article.
- Your email autoresponder: I’m not a big fan of this strategy due to the fact that spammers will text-extract your autoresponder address and add it to their spam list. Perhaps this strategy was best for the 1990’s and has now run its course.
- An anchor URL that is related to one keyword or keyword phrase that you want to build SEO strength for. Example: if I wanted to build search engine relevance/strength for the term “Article Marketing,” I’d link up that term in my resource box to my website. This is an intermediate to advanced level strategy and should not be abused by over-doing it. Keep it simple.
What NOT to include in your RESOURCE BOX:
- A listing of every website you own. There is no faster way to dilute your credibility than by posting a half dozen irrelevant URLs that have nothing to do with each other. Best to only post ONE URL that is related to the topic of your article.
- A listing of every accomplishment you’ve achieved to date. No one cares. Keep your resource box brief and to the point. Yes, your resource box should be benefit oriented so that the reader finds value in reading it rather than your ego being justified.
- Advertisements or pitches for products that are not relevant to the topic of your article.
- Keep the size of your resource box so that it’s no larger than 15% of your total article size. Too often I see resource boxes that are 50% of the size of the total article and this is abusive.
Your Perfect Resource Box Conclusion:
The BODY of your article is where you “GIVE” and the RESOURCE BOX is where you get to “TAKE” for your article marketing gift of information. The resource box is the “currency of payment” you receive for giving away your article. Be sure to include your name, website address, your unique selling proposition as briefly as possible and a simple call to action.
About The Author:
Christopher M. Knight invites you to submit your best quality original articles for massive exposure to the high-traffic http://EzineArticles.com/ expert author community. When you submit your articles to EzineArticles.com, your articles will be picked up by ezine publishers who will reprint your articles with your content and links intact giving you traffic surges to help you increase your sales. To submit your article, setup a membership account today: http://EzineArticles.com/submit/
By Ian D Smith 
Whether you are a CEO of a start-up driving towards your first order or a regional sales manager striving to hit your 2009 sales target – sales are everything in today’s tough markets. My recent gig, leading the turnaround and double digit growth of the software group, Teamstudio over the last 7 years has many lessons worth sharing.
Sales growth starts with a compelling story. A vision to believe in! This story flows with passion through every aspect of a company, creating powerful marketing campaigns and effective sales scripts that encourage prospects to take action. Given this mindset, let me shine the spotlight on the work of David Sandler and more recently Jeff Thull to help you create a world class sales organization that will deliver consistent results. My take on their work was that Jeff’s processes were inspired by David’s tactical genius for closing deals. The essence of Jeff’s process – there are four main pillars to execute remarkable conversations with your prospects, close deals and add huge value: Discovery, Diagnosis, Design and Delivery.
Discovery Discovery is about research and preparation. It encompasses how sales professionals get ready to engage and serve clients. The discovery process is aimed at the identification of a specific client who has the highest probability of change. No desire to change – no Purchase Orders. It allows a team of professionals, outside sales, inside sales, engineers, and marketing staff to sign off on an Engagement Strategy for each priority prospect/customer. (Clearly these are constantly evolving).
Diagnosis Diagnosis stage encompasses how salespeople help their prospects and clients fully comprehend the inefficiencies and performance gaps. It is a process of “hyperqualification” during which we pursue an in-depth determination of the extent and financial impact of their problems. It is important to deal with each manager, one at a time. Generic value propositions will not compel action. This is a very personal and focused conversation with your prospect.
Design
Design encompasses how salespeople help the client create and understand the solution. It is a collaborative and highly interactive effort to help clients sort through their expectations and alternatives to arrive at an optimal solution. This also takes the drama and confrontation out of proposals.
Delivery
In the final phase of the sales process, the previous phases come to fruition. It allows the salesperson to execute the desired solution and deliver real results for their clients.
This approach ensures that sales conversations are set in the context of “trusted advisor”. The sales professional’s objective is to ensure that the client achieves better results. By investing in your client’s success, great things happen, such as: repeat business, testimonials, deeper long term relationships!
By embracing a diagnostic approach to selling, constantly exploring the consequences of customers ignoring priority issues and relentlessly pursuing improved performance for your customers, your sales team can become a world class organization. They will be seen, over time, as a source of great competitive advantage to their customer base.
World Class Sales Organizations Contain:
• A Specific compelling value proposition
• Engagement Strategies
• Diagnostic Questions
• ROI spreadsheets
• Costs of problems
• Harmony between sales and marketing
• War Rooms
• Deployment of White Papers
• Great cookbook metrics
• A passion for delivering improved client performance
• A relentless follow through
• The smart deployment of technology
• Mentoring of sales professionals
As an experienced business leader, Ian Smith is passionate about maximizing the potential of fast-growing companies. Over the years, he has come face to face with the wide range of operational and strategic issues, and relishes the challenge of transforming sluggish or outmoded business models into robust product road maps, effective marketing campaigns and successful sales programs. He has been described as “the glue between an organization’s founding vision and its marketing and sales.”
Interim CEO/COO, a Scot and world class masters athlete, Smith has covered a lot of ground in his nearly three decades in global business. Originally trained as an accountant in Glasgow, he has logged many miles as a finance director, a venture capitalist, an investment banker and successful CEO of a US based software group.
He has witnessed the life-cycle of a wide variety of companies, both large and small. Says Smith, “ambitious companies start life with passion and big ideas but often fail to realize their full potential”. This lack of success is often avoidable but it takes innovative thinking and impeccable execution. Using his unique portfolio of operational and executive experience; Smith partners with leadership teams to execute their vision. Each case is different. Support can take many forms but usually draws on his portfolio of experiences covering restructuring, acquisitions and sales leadership.
Written By Alan Rigg
Here is a question I recently received from a home electronics and appliance salesperson:
"I sell electronics and appliances at a Sears store. My biggest difficulty is selling to a customer who does not "need" a 42" plasma screen, but just wants one. If someone feels they need a product I am very capable of selling it along with upgrades and accessories. Yet, when someone would just like to have something, the percentage of actual buyers drops off quickly. How can I close more ‘I want’ sales?"
What is the primary driver for demand for your product or service? Is it need or want ? This is an important question because the sales process can differ substantially based upon which situation you are dealing with.
The "I Need" Sale
When you are pursuing an "I need" sale, the prospect usually has one or more fairly significant problems they need to solve. If you can help the prospect solve his or her problems and provide an attractive return on investment (ROI) , you will probably make the sale.
Here are some typical steps in an "I Need" sales process:
- Asking questions to determine which problems the prospect is facing
- Asking questions to determine how each problem impacts the prospect, both professionally and personally . (This engages the prospect’s emotions, which is a critical step in motivating an individual to make a buying decision.)
- Asking questions to help the prospect quantify (associate dollar amounts or percentages and time frames with) the impact of each problem
- Comparing the price of your product or service to the quantified impact of the prospect’s problems
While "want" can certainly be a factor in an "I need" sale, in many cases the most critical factors factor are the significance of the prospect’s business problem(s) and ROI. The larger the difference between the quantified impact of a prospect’s problems and the investment required to fix the problems, the easier it becomes to close the sale. If the quantified impact is a multiple of the required investment (for example, a quantified impact of millions of dollars versus a required investment of thousands of dollars), the buying decision becomes "a no-brainer".
The "I Want" Sale
The "I want" sale has a completely different dynamic. While it never hurts to ask questions to see if a prospect is trying to solve specific problems, in an "I want" sale the prospect usually doesn’t have any compelling problems they are trying to solve . Instead, the prospect is looking for the gratification that comes from owning something they perceive as desirable.
If you decide you are dealing with an "I want" opportunity rather than an "I need" opportunity, emotion and visualization become the key drivers that will help you make the sale.
Here are some typical steps in an "I Want" sales process:
- Once a prospect tells you they want something, ask them, " WHY do you want it?"
- Once the prospect explains why he or she wants the particular product or service, help the prospect visualize what it would be like to have it…in glorious detail. Again, use questions to help you accomplish your goal. Here are some sample questions:
- How will you use it?
- Who is going to use it with you?
- How would it feel for you to be able to show this off to your friends, family, or business associates?
- How will it fit into your lifestyle?
- Once you have helped your prospect build the most vivid possible mental image of what they want, it’s time to find out how BADLY they want it . Be detached and maybe even challenge your prospect a little by asking:"(Prospect’s Name), what you’re describing really sounds great! But, is it great enough to justify investing (name the price of the product or service)?"
- If the prospect responds positively, ask:
"Will your husband/wife/significant other agree? How will you explain your purchase to him/her?"
The benefits of this approach are twofold. By helping your prospect visualize what it would be like to own the product or service they want, you engage their emotions . Then, when you ask them how they will justify the purchase to others, you are helping them build a factual case that will help them avoid buyer’s remorse (a key factor in product returns).
Conclusion
Whenever you begin working with a new prospect, it is important to determine whether they are being driven by need or want . If an opportunity is being driven by need , ask questions to determine:
- The problems the prospect would like to solve
- How the problems impact the prospect, both professionally and personally
- The quantified impact of the prospect’s problems
If the price of your product or service compares favorably with the quantified impact of the prospect’s problems, you will be likely to close the sale.
If you determine an opportunity is being driven by want , take a different approach.
- Ask questions to determine why your prospect wants the product or service. (Answering your questions will engage their emotions .)
- Help your prospect visualize (in glorious detail) what it would be like to own the product or service.
- Ask questions to determine how badly the prospect wants the product or service.
- Ask the prospect how they will justify the purchase to others. (This will help them justify the purchase to themselves and avoid buyer’s remorse later on.)
If you are detached and willing to challenge your prospects a little, you will quickly separate the lookers from the buyers and close more "I want" sales!
Copyright 2007 — Alan Rigg
Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Team Performance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building and Managing Top-Performing Sales Teams, and the companion book, How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Top Sales Performance. His company, 80/20 Sales Performance, helps business owners, executives, and managers end the frustration of 80/20 sales team performance, where 20% of salespeople produce 80% of sales.
For more information and more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com