Category: Blog

If ‘sales’ is one of those areas that you feel uncomfortable with and just don’t like to do, then it is highly probable that you aren’t allocating any time to it.

As small business owners, you will have many responsibilities and often not the extra staff to delegate those jobs to. So you become the accountant, the admin staff, the service provider, and the expert on legal matters, marketing and sales- amongst other responsibilities. Sales will often get pushed back and neglected in favour of other more enjoyable areas of your business.

It is important, therefore, that you allocate time in your diary each week for your sales activities. It need only be a short amount of time, but by allocating that time you will ensure that something gets done.

The sales activity starts with your prospects. There is no point in generating prospects through your marketing activities if you then neglect to follow those leads up. By allocating the time to your sales process you will increase your sales, thereby increasing business and profits.

It is vital that you get your sales process in place so that you then maximise the time allocated to it. It needs to be the most effective that it can be in the short time allocated.

Plan out your sales process and have a definite strategy in place. From your list of prospects, allocate time to making contact, introducing yourself, sending out information about your business, making an appointment, attending the appointment, doing your research, writing a proposal, and so on. Set aside an amount of time for each part of the process, log your activities, and see them through to the close of the sale.

Finally, even if you don’t consider yourself a ‘salesman’, you are. Your role is to identify and meet a need. By asking the right questions and listening, you will ensure that your prospect is genuine and save yourself a lot of wasted time.

 

A client recently complained to me that networking was proving to be a waste of time. They had tried a few different approaches – speed networking events, trade shows and group meetings, but they just weren’t seeing any results for all their efforts.

I explained to them that there are three critical things that you need to take on board when you plan your networking strategy:

1)      Networking is not just attending events.

You won’t enjoy many benefits from your networking if you only interact with people hoping to sell your product or service to them. You need to approach networking events with the intention of making contacts who are interested in reciprocally supporting one another to find new clients. Collect business cards and follow up your initial contact at the networking event with connections through social media, or fire off an e-mail to say that you were glad to meet and look forward to networking with them in the future.

2)      Expect to help others before expecting them to help you.

You need to expect to actively look for useful leads and contacts to pass on to your network before you should expect them to start passing referrals to you. It might take a little while for results to come through, but in the end, with networking, you get out what you put in.

3)      Network with the right people.

Think about who else your customers might buy from and what else they might buy. For example, if you sell wedding dresses, your customers are also likely to be shopping for a photographer and jewellery. If your customer is getting a new website designed, then they might also be looking for a copywriter. Seek out people from whom your customers might also purchase without any conflict of interests on either side. Attend the events that they attend, make contacts, build relationships; new prospects and warm referrals will soon be coming your way.

Whether your marketing material is an advert in a magazine, a website or a triple-fold flyer, there are some basic principles that remain true about your marketing content, whatever format you use. Here are my top tips

1)      First and foremost, make sure you’ve told people what you’re selling, what they can expect if they buy from you, and how you’ll solve their problems or fulfil their desires. This should make up ¾ of your content. If this interests them, they will read on. This should be more prominent even than your company name – if someone is interested in what you can offer, they’ll look closer to find out who you are.

2)      Marketing is not about you or your business – it’s about what you offer. Don’t make the first thing you tell people how many years you’ve been trading or how great your work is. After all, when you go to see a doctor, do you ask them what grade they got in their finals or who they’ve successfully cured in the past? Or is the only thought in your head about what they’re going to do to make you better? Only do the ‘about us’ bit once you’ve already got their attention.

3)      Include a call to action – tell people what you want them to do, ‘call me’, ‘e-mail to book an appointment’, and so on.

4)      And critically… make it easy for them to contact you! All your contact details need to stand out, be clearly visible and easy to find. No difficult-to-make-out fonts, no small type, and all the details: phone number, e-mail, address if appropriate. Don’t assume that all potential customers will be happy to e-mail you  or fill out a contact form – some may still prefer to speak to you

We held a Marketing Training Morning at Wolverhampton Novotel yesterday. Many thanks to all who attended – we hope you found it enjoyable and useful. We will be running another marketing training session in six months – full details will be released in due course. In the meantime, here is a selection of the feedback that we received:

 “I liked it that the advice was personalised to my business”

“the training was hands on and left me with a plan of action”

“It helped me to be definite about our unique selling point and what our key message is”

“it got me to think about where else my customers shop”

“I liked the interaction with the other attendees”

“one of the best parts was hearing from other business people with the same issues”

“the training was enjoyable and held my attention”

Our next training morning is on the subject of ‘Sales – helping you to close more deals’ and will be held at Wolverhampton Novotel on June 2^nd, costing £45 plus VAT per person. E-mail Doug@exec-tc.com to book your place.

Business Coaching is not waving a magic wand and making business owners’ problems disappear. Like all forms of coaching and training, it is about equipping clients with business skills, or enhancing them, so that they know what they need to do to make their business work for them now and for the future. Here is an example:

On the video from the night of our book launch, you will see Mel Riley, a friend and occasional client, describing what resulted from a Free Business Review that I did with her a couple of years ago. As is often the case, I talked to Mel a great deal about what her life goals were: what she would wish for if wishes could be granted. Mel’s wish was modest: she wanted to achieve a healthy work/life balance, with both time and money readily available for fun and relaxation, kept in balance with her work helping and supporting her clients, which is also very important to her. Knowing that, I was able to identify what business practices could be changed to help her to achieve this.

Like many business owners, Mel suffered from excessive modesty and was relying solely on word-of-mouth for marketing, rather than promoting her counselling services actively, not liking to be pushy. Together, we looked at areas of her market place that could be developed. Mel had worked in schools in the past and knew this arena, so I managed to persuade her to introduce herself to the local schools by sending letters with her flyers. This resulted in two schools taking her on.

I also had to persuade Mel to review her pricing structure to reflect of the wealth of experience and expertise that she offers to her clients. Again, like many, she was undervaluing herself for fear of pricing herself out of the market – in fact, by not placing yourself at the bottom of your market, you are giving your customers an indication that they are paying for quality services or goods.

Armed with this advice, Mel had picked up new clients in a matter of weeks, and was well on her way to making her wishes come true. She’s proven to be a keen and diligent pupil, and I’m proud to have facilitated the great things that she’s achieved.

Here is the story in her own words:

“I am self-employed and I suddenly lost one of my contracts due to funding cuts and felt much panic. I knew I had to do something but I didn’t really know what that something was.  A friend suggested using a business coach who was in her network group and gave me his number.

 I called Doug for a free consultation, and, if I am honest, I didn’t expect to like him. I was expecting someone pushy, who would give me the hard sell. I was convinced I would just have the free consultation and send him on his way. When Doug turned up, I found I couldn’t have been more wrong. Doug listened and understood where I was coming from. The morning flew by and before long I had a big to do list.  I had found the something I needed and just knowing I was doing something pro-active made me feel much better. cloud hosting info  I had a plan to get this show back on the road, I am a woman who likes a plan. Some of the ideas Doug gave me, and some were my own that I had not put into practice. 

 Using a business coach gives you the following

 1) Support and understanding that makes you feel less alone.

2) A coach can give you fresh ideas that you might not have thought of

3) Can help increase your confidence to get your ideas off the ground.

4) It makes you accountable so you don’t put things off or avoid them.

5) A business coach can keep you motivated or get you back on track.

 I have not only gained a business coach but a good friend. He has more than paid for himself and I would thoroughly encourage anyone who is struggling to invest in some support. There is no obligation to keep Doug and you can send him packing after your free review, but I suspect, just like me, you may decide to keep him.”

Mel Riley

Psychotherapist in Private Practice

 

One of the most common misconceptions that I come across with business owners is the tendency to muddle up marketing and sales. ‘Marketing’ is finding people who are interested in buying your product or service. ‘Sales’ is actually getting them to buy – closing the deal.  Activities that people might think of as Sales, such as cold-calling or door-knocking, are, in many cases, marketing activities, for example, if the desired outcome of the phone-call is to make an appointment for a company representative to visit and put a proposal together. It isn’t ‘sales’ unless you’re actually seeking the prospective customer’s agreement to buy.

Why is this distinction important? It is imperative that business owners think about their marketing in its own right, rather than thinking that it will happen automatically as part of their sales process. For example, if you’re not getting enough business, hiring a new salesperson might not be the right answer if you’re expecting them to seek out new prospects – for that, you need someone with marketing ability. Likewise, the person who is skilled at finding you interested people might not be the best person to close the deal with them. Some are talented in both areas, some are not.

The process of finding people who are interested in buying what you offer needs to be considered separately from the procedure of getting them to buy, although the two are naturally linked. It is important to understand that Marketing does not deliver customers. domain list . Marketing makes people aware of your product or service, delivers you people who want to know more, and, critically, if you’re getting your marketing right, it should only deliver people with a serious interest in you.

To find out more about how to get your Marketing right, you can attend our training morning on Monday February 17^th at Wolverhampton Novotel. E-mail Doug@exec-tc.com for details. You can also check out the ‘Sales’ and ‘Marketing’ Advice Sheets on our website.

Source material, Getting Down to Business by Doug D’Aubrey and Matthew Chuck.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles, freedigitalphotos.net

 The key thing about retail is that your customers come to you. They need to be able to find you easily, and you need to convince them to buy from you, and not from the next shop or website. Here are some pointers on how to encourage them:

1. Work out where your target market can be found.

Customers come in all shapes and sizes, but what description fits the ones that give you most business? Men, women, children? What age? What spending power? What sorts of jobs do they do? Once you’ve worked out who they are, you can think about how you can reach them, or else they might congregate, and target your marketing accordingly.

2. Let your customers know that you’re there.

Think carefully about where and how your target market learns about where they can buy the things that they want or need – whether an advert in the local paper or a glossy magazine is more likely to be seen by them. Also think about who else sells to the same demographic as you, and where there’s no conflict of interests, try to make some partnerships where you agree to promote one another.

3. Make them want to buy.

Once you’ve got the prospective customer to come to you, make sure that you have your goods attractively laid out so that it is easy for them to find what they’re looking for. On a website, it is particularly important that products are well described, and that the pricing is clear. In a shop, access should be uncluttered, shelves should be easy to reach, and prices clearly displayed, when appropriate. In addition, try to apply some of the same psychology used by supermarkets: try putting the stuff that people regularly buy, (like the bread and milk!), at the back so that people have to walk past your other goods to get what they came in for, and impulse purchases by the tills.

Retail advice taken from Getting Down to Business, section ‘Getting Into Retail’

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles, freedigitalphotos.net

This blog is for everyone who might have heard me mention my ‘sales board’ but haven’t yet got around to coming to one of my training sessions and finding out exactly what they’re all about. The Sales Board is a prop to help business owners implement a ‘sales process’ when they’re selling their product or service. It’s a ‘dry-wipe’ white board, ideally displayed prominently on your office wall, where you can’t help but see it, with all of your potential customers, (as l call them, ‘Prospects’), listed in a column on the left-hand side. Here is an illustration:

You use the board to log the date when you first made contact, whether it was by phone, e-mail or face-to-face, then to tick off when you have sent them a proposal/quotation, when you follow up the quotation or proposal to see what the Prospect has decided to do, if they can’t give you a deision right away, and then when you next follow up if they still need longer to decide, (it is down to your own discretion how many times you choose to follow up before you decide to leave the Prospect alone, if they persistently fail to give you a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’).

These are the benefits of the Sales Board:

1)      You have the date that you will next contact your Prospect up on the wall right in front of you, staring you in the face, so you won’t forget to do it.

2)      Because you agree with your Prospect the date that you will contact them next, you are saved from feeling that you are hassling them, or that you might be catching them at a bad time.

3)      Always calling your Prospect when you said that you would reinforces your credibility, as it shows your Prospect that you do what you say that you will.

More details about how to work your Sales Process are coming in future blogs – watch this space. If your business is a shop you might be thinking that the ‘Sales Board’ isn’t applicable to your sales process, so I’ll be addressing retail separately in my next blog. If you want more help with setting up a Sales Process in the meantime, or if you have any questions, call Doug on 07946 730475.

For the benefit of those who haven’t yet managed to make it to one of our sales training sessions yet, I’m putting a little series of blogs together about how to work your ‘sales process’. We’ll start with having a look at what I find people commonly get wrong when they’re selling.

Imagine that someone makes contact with you, by phone or e-mail, because they’ve been to your website or they’ve seen an advert that you’ve published, and they’re interested in using your services. What do you do? Do you tell them all about the services you can provide, and how good they are, and, once you’ve made it clear how excellent your product or service is, start to tell them about what it will cost? In many ways this seems like the logical thing to do, but, in fact, it’s not the best way to make sales.

There are two significant problems here. You haven’t given yourself the opportunity to find out why the prospective customer needs you – presumably they have a problem or a need which your product or service can resolve and fulfil for them. If you can find out all about what it is that this customer really needs, rather than relying on the limited information that they have offered at the start of the conversation, you might find that you were about to offer them something that wouldn’t have been as good as something else that you sell, or you might find that they actually need to buy more from you than you realised at the beginning. This knowledge is important in order to properly satisfy your customer and to capitalise fully on your sale.

The other problem is to do with the psychology of value for money: you haven’t given your customer the opportunity to compare the cost of what you’re offering them to what it costs them to do without it, financially and emotionally. They probably don’t have much of a frame of reference, and, when you quote a price, they are likely to compare it in their heads the cost of what you’re selling to whatever they last purchased, which might have been a cup of coffee from the vending machine. In all likelihood, the cost comparison won’t flatter you. You need to be able to make them see the true value of your product or service, which you will only be able to do once you’ve taken the time to talk to them about the real cost of the problem or requirement that they have come to you for help with.

 In the next blog we will describe how to put a ‘Sales Process’ in place to help you avoid the pitfalls that we have discussed here. If you can’t wait, or if you have questions in the meantime, call Doug on 07946 730475 or e-mail doug@exec-tc.com. You can also check out our advice sheet on Sales on our website.

 

In our last blog we explained how to establish exactly what your goal is for what you want your business to achieve. This time, we’re going to describe one of the support methods you can use to help you to achieve the targets that you have set yourself – and eventually get those goals.

As well as helping others with growing their businesses, I’m also constantly working on growing and expanding my own. One support method that has been very helpful for me over the years is ‘Masterminding’.

A Mastermind group is a group of five or six individuals who can be considered peers in terms of having broadly similar experience and career achievements. The group meets regularly, every month or two. The meetings are treated formally – as if it were a meeting with a major client – and, as in any business meeting, social discussion is kept to a minimum. Every group member has an opportunity to share with the group what their goals are, and what targets they need to hit to achieve the goals. They also share with the group what problems and constraints stand in the way of the targets being met.

Because they understand your business, but are detached from it, the other group members can think objectively and give you helpful suggestions. Importantly, after you have received the suggestions from the group, you commit to implementing at least one, and report back at the next meeting on what progress you have made. website loading speed test The commitment is the critical part: this maybe the only time that you, as a business owner, are held accountable to another person or group, and this is what will drive you to achieve.

These are the characteristics of a really effective Mastermind group:

–          The participants are people that like and trust each other, but they aren’t just a group of good friends or people that normally meet in a social rather than business context. This is important because they have to be able to be frank and objective, not feeling obliged to spare feelings or just patting one another on the back. The atmosphere should be a professional one.

–          There are no conflicts of interest among the members, so they should not be suppliers, or clients of one another, or members of the same organisation. Again, this is because the group members have to feel comfortable with being frank with one another.

–          The group takes their commitment to meet, and their commitment to the challenges that they set each other, as seriously as they would their other business dealings. It is the accountability that really makes it work.

We wish you all the best with your Masterminding – let us know how you get on, or if you’ve got any questions. For more ‘self-help’ growing your business, try our book Getting Down to Business, available from the online shop at www.exec-tc.com.