Sales & Marketing Articles For Entrepreneurs & Small Business OwnersAre You Building Bridges Of Influences?When it comes to face-to-face networking, you should focus on two varieties: Attending meetings or events where you will likely find your target market. Attending meetings or events where you will likely build your Bridges of Influence. There is a good chance that you already know who your target market is and that you are […] Straight Talk About Public Relations Fees & ServicesWhat level of support should I expect from my Public Relations Agency? The simple answer is as much support as you’ll allow them to give. They can be a powerful and economic extension of your management team or you can treat them simply as vendors … the choice is yours. There are some basic levels […] Focus On Educating Your CustomersWhen customers are not buying, it’s very easy to take it personally, think the whole world’s against you and get very demotivated with the whole thing. And then of course, that makes the situation even worse – because customers can sense a mile off if you’re not happy and even though you desperately want more […] What’s Hot and What’s Not: A Six Step Process to Identify Promotional Opportunities to Target Your MarketAccording to the experts, new technology appears online approximately every two and a half seconds – and theoretically, every new application has the potential to transform your business. How do you know what’s worth your time and what’s a total time-waster? That’s a serious question, when you only have 24 hours in a day and […] 10 New Year’s Resolutions For a More Ethical, Ecological, Profitable, and Successful BusinessIn this age of business scandals, it’s crucial to remember that businesses based on ethics and quality actually work better. With that in mind, here are ten easy resolutions to inspire your business to achieve a very profitable 2008. 1. I will base every aspect of my business on honesty, integrity, and quality. 2. I […] Just What Is An Autoresponder?The word ‘Autoresponders’ has been used more and more over the last few months and pretty much all of us have now experienced them even if you don’t yet realise it. But just what is an autoresponder and why should you think about using one in your business? Well, let me explain. The simplest form […] Tell Descriptive Stories That Engage Our Minds And Help Sell On More Than One LevelPerhaps you’ve heard that sharing Features, Advantages and Benefits is a more effective approach than just feature dumping on our prospective customers. But do we effectively do that in our sales conversations? Let me share a simple experience where a young shoe salesman did this well. We need shoes and since we are on our […] What You Measure Gets Done – Record Your Progress And See Increased SuccessAs a selling professional, I would expect you have created a simple system to record your sales activities and results. Hopefully you are recording and measuring these areas on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. Sales to new customers Sales to repeat customers Sales presentations and closed sales (closing ratios) Sales to referrals vs. […] Your Personal Bias May Be Costing You MoneyWhat kind of buyer are you? If you are normally a ‘price’ buyer and your prospective customer raises objections to the price, you may be more open to accept their objection as real. If you are the kind of person who tends to ‘think it over’ before you buy and your customer says, “I want […] 10 Steps To A Better ‘___’ Business – Part ThreePart three: The following ideas have proven effective for the Business enhancement success of ‘any’ business. Fill in the ‘__________’ with your field, and apply accordingly. Sell an inexpensive ‘introductory’ product: If you are in a position where you have a product line, make it easy for people to start dealing with you. Find something […] 10 Steps To A Better ‘___’ Business – Part TwoPart Two: The following ideas have proven effective for the Business enhancement success of ‘any’ business. Fill in the ‘__________’ with your field, and apply accordingly. Build rapport with clients …teach or provide something new: I got my start in the speaking and training business, as a kitchen designer, by offering in-house and continuing education […] 10 Steps To A Better ‘___’ Business – Part OneThe following ideas have proven effective for the Business enhancement success of ‘any’ business. Fill in the ‘__________’ with your field or business, and apply accordingly. However, since I am primarily in the speaking and training business, I will share ideas drawn from what I am learning in my quest to make what I do […] Six Steps For Launching An Online Marketing PresenceAs a teen entrepreneur coach, I work with young entrepreneurs who are often bootstrapping when they start out. They are searching for simple ways to build a presence online to compliment whatever they are doing in the offline space. Even though they are often technologically savvy, when starting a business, marketing a business online can […] Back To Basics – Your Press ListYou are only as good as your press list. You can put together the most fantastic press release, but if the wrong people see it, it’s worthless. Putting together a press list is something my clients struggle with because..well..it’s boring. But it has to be done, so my suggestion is to get on with it, […] Meet The PressIf there’s one way to make sure that you get your PR moving, that’s to give yourself a deadline. And what bigger deadline could you get that a specific date where you meet the press. Here’s our 7-point guide on inviting press to an event… 1. Decide what it is you will do and put […] Qualifying QuestionsQualifying your customer is the process of determining their interest in your value proposition, their budget and their decision-making process. Do they have the Money, Authority and Desire (MAD)? They are not fully qualified unless they have all three. One of the ways you can determine if they are MAD is simply to ask. Here […] Have You Taken Action On Your Marketing Yet?I had an interesting conversation with someone the other day about our newsletters. He said he received them and I asked him whether he found them useful. He said he did, but mentioned that 70% of what I included, he already knew. Good point, I thought – but often it’s not about what you […] Vast Numbers Of Sales People Sound Like Achievers In The Office … But Become Deceivers In The Market!I was once asked by a speaker agency to run a focus group meeting with their clients. One of the key points made at the meeting was that most of the clients were tired of meeting speakers (recommended by the agency) who were ‘interesting to talk to in person’ at the briefing, and then ‘awful […] Sales Can Only Be Made When You Reach The 3rd And 4th “Customer Columns”I ‘touched’ on this issue in an article not long ago, and since then I have developed the line of thought far more, because the topic is critical to sales success. Let us imagine that every sales presentation made, small and large, including conference speeches…always ‘lands’ in one of four columns as perceived by customers […] Customers And Prospects Prefer To Be Told In a Nice Way, Not Sold In Any Way!If you become the client of a ‘professional’, such as an architect, an engineer or a doctor, you probably welcome being told what is best for you…providing of course that the ‘telling’ is done in a pleasant way, and with good intentions. We expect such people to ‘down-sell’, not ‘up-sell’, and remember we do not […] |
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