|
| ||
|
| ||
|
Sales Training | |
|
| ||
|
|
Catapult Your Business-How to Get Customers to Chase You Instead of the Other Way Around
I was thinking about the statement: The Small Business Administration tells us that 80% of all small businesses will not make it more than 2 years, and by 5 years 90% will have gone out of business. If that is the case, then why does every business out there try to be like the others? Most copy everything right down to the way everyone else in the same industry lays out their office. The reasons I get from clients Can we then assume that they are all wrong? Yes! At least 80% of them! Finding How to Be Different Will Bring More Success Faster Than Trying to Be Like Everyone Else For most companies there is someone just like you on literally every street corner in the world. Isn't it a little hard to get noticed standing in a crowd that all look alike? If you want to be noticed, don't you have to look different, do something that would make you stand head and shoulders above that crowd? I'm going to give you two points here that, if you decide to follow them, will make your business so visible that people are chasing you to buy from you instead of the other way around. It will make your business a magnet, pulling customers in. Finding Your Unique Selling Proposition, That Thing that Makes you so visible above the crowd that they are chasing you When I'm working with my executive business coaching clients I spend a significant amount of our time trying to find what would make my clients different. This one idea alone can make you super successful if you find your powerful unique selling proposition. Let's start a worksheet on a piece of paper. On the far left create a column called Products/Features/Services, and list all of your products, your features, your services down that column. List each on their own line down the left side. Next to that create a column, label it, "Benefits, What would a client get from buying my product or service. This is an answer to "Why buy my product (service)." Don't worry about perfection here. This is a thought process that will get better the more you think about it, and until you start writing down your thoughts it isn't going to get better. So start now. This is a process. You'll find that your early answers will be rather weak and wishy washy. You might not think so when you first write them down, but I'll guarantee that the more you review this each time you'll look back and realize how far off target you've been when talking about your product before, and probably still are in the early phases of what we are doing right now. Make sure that, as you write the answers in each column to the right, that they line up with a product or service on the same line of the first column. So, answer the same question for each product or service. The next column to the right is "Why buy it from me?" In other words, if someone has already decided to buy the product based on the benefit you just wrote in the 2nd column, and IF there really is someone just like me on every street corner, then give a reason why they should buy from you, or even better, why should you be noticed above that crowd on every street corner. A quick suggestion: Before you go where everyone else goes-your answer shouldn't have anything to do with being less expensive. If you go there you'll lose. Everybody else is already there. You'll just be looking like everybody else anyway. Take your best shot at this, we'll come back and get it better later. Now, the last column: ? Take both the Why buy the product? Finding the right measurable result is where you'll find your opportunity to stand out above the crowd, where you'll find a statement that will make your company a magnet to customers. I want you to step back and really look at all of those answers. Did you answer all of the questions based on what benefit the customer really receives? Or was it still about the product/service, was it kind of iffy, wishy washy, weak?. I'll use one of my client's businesses. He is a business coach as well. I coach the coaches, a business advisor to business advisors. His product is business coaching, training, sales training. Now for the benefit a customer might receive: It's almost too easy to say education, better skills, but that's not digging deep enough. Benefits: Increased business, increased bottom line, easier to run business. In my opinion that is still a little weak. But let's move on so that you get the idea. And I suggest you do the same. Get the ideas down at first. Then, after completing all of the other columns come back and look at it with the new ideas that will have been generated. Why buy it from me? It's a little too easy to say that he gives them training, or does it at a better price than others. If he digs deep enough, he gives them results instead of training. Where most companies provide training for a day, he'll ask the client what he wants and dig for that deeper answer, and then focus on delivering results, not just training. Still not where I want it. It's still weak. For the measurements: Small business clients that act on the ideas they generate together double their business in 3-4 weeks, and he'll guarantee a 2:1 ROI on his fee. Now if I go back to Why buy it from me, and add, "giving results (and how much, make it measurable, do you double a business? A really good coach can.), and doing it in 3-4 weeks" instead of just some time we're starting to reach that really powerful statement. Using what you find in the measurable part in your marketing, in your elevator speech, you'll find people noticing you for a change. You'll start to see marketing results go up 5-10 times. When you use this in a networking event you'll have the room coming over to find out more. Most of my clients really balk when we start talking about "make it measurable." They are usually afraid to have to commit to something. And many have never even thought about what kinds of results could be measured. I'll get answers like "How can I put a measurement on it? I have so many different products. They are so different I can't give you ONE answer." Or, gee I don't feel comfortable committing that I can do that. I'll not let them get away with that. Pick an average, pick the best you've ever done, the worst you've ever done. This is a thought process. And then let's put something down on paper that you are willing to commit to. Let's write down something that says, "most of our clients will get this?.." "the typical client will get this?.", and "I will absolutely guarantee that a client will get this?" At first, many of my clients will feel that they are having to commit to something they don't want to commit to. Well, guess what? That's what will make you different. Pay close attention. These are the KEYs to catapulting your business forward. Everyone else is selling generic stuff on every street corner. Just make sure that your statement is true and deliverable. Believe me it works. I have people running over to me after chamber introductions to hear more. Or sometimes to say, "You can't really do that?.can you?" Back to my coaching client example: Sales went through the roof when he was willing to stand up and commit to doubling someone's business, or doubling the output of some specific part of a business, if they, in turn, would just act on the ideas, and then guarantee a 2:1 ROI against the fee. That's measurable. That's a very visible, clear definition of results. Measurable results in an elevator speech, ads, brochures, wherever your getting out there to be seen will become so powerful of a statement that your business will magnetically be pulling customers in faster than you could possibly imagine. Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leader's Perspective, LLC is considered one of the world's leading breakthrough specialists. Typical results are doubling his small business clients, while hsi larger clients experience doubling the outputs of departments and workgroups. His focus is "multiplying companies." He has worked with some of the worlds largest companies, on multi-billiong dollar projects. With over 35 years of business experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some have doubled and some have jumped 10 times. He claims the key to that is: http://www.leaders-perspective.com/Small-Business-Help.aspx mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective.com
MORE RESOURCES: |
RELATED ARTICLES
Finding the Need is Only Part of the Sale Many of us in sales are taught to believe that the most important job of the salesperson is to 'find the need' of our prospects. If we can uncover 'needs' then our job is easy; we just need to show our prospect how our product or service fills that need. 4 Easy Ways to Boost Your Sales Here are 4 easy ways you can boost your sales for little or no new expense .. Whats Your Sales Training Goal - Exposure or Behavioral Change? When your company invests in sales training, what is the expected outcome? Is it a change in how your salespeople perform their daily activities - in other words, a change in behavior?Unfortunately, most companies drastically underestimate the amount of time and effort that must be invested to accomplish behavioral change. Sitting in a class for a couple of hours or days is a good way to expose salespeople to new skills and techniques. Increase Profits from Your Existing Customers An area many businesses fail to recognise as a way to increase profits is by utilising their existing customers. Don't view each sale as a "one-off". Focus On The Customer: The Only Secret To Closing People are always looking for ways to close the sale. Often times when you lose a sale, it has nothing to do with your ability to close. 7 Safety Tips Every Realtor and Door-to-Door Sales Professional Need to Practice These are the top 7 safety tips that criminals don't want you to know. It makes their job harder. Quick Tips On Handling Rejection Looking for a way to handle rejection?Edward W. Smith, motivational speaker, author and TV show host, who specializes in quick tips on how to move your life ahead even faster, offers the following advice. 7 Steps to Selling Artwork Selling arwork is easy when you follow a road map. In this article you learn the step by step guide to marketing art for profits. Successful Sales People Know Which Differentiators Matter Know where to focus. Not everyone evaluates product solutions with the same decision criteria. Customers - Always be Focused on Them I was looking at some promotional literature and web sites the other day and it was interesting to note the number of times the words - "We" and "Our" was used in this material.Lots of statements such as: "We are a leading supplier of__" "Our products do__" "We research__" "We have 50 years experience__" Very rarely did I read anything that stated what these businesses did for the customer. Humanize the Sales Process Q & AQ. Sometimes when I'm presenting to clients, I sense that the customer tunes out. Resistance Training for Sales People What was the quickest rejection you ever got? 2 minutes into your call? 1 minute? 15 seconds, 3 seconds?Resistance comes in many forms in sales. Buyers may resist from the beginning of the presentation to the very end. How To Improve Your Sales Skills One of the biggest problems for many business owners is the ability to overcome objections. In fact, for many, this skill could be the difference between succeeding and going back to being an employee. Boost Your Productivity, Networking and Sales: Make an Impression Through out our career and lives we regularly get an opportunity to meet new people and form new relationships. Did you know you have seven seconds to make a first impression? Apparently in those seven seconds people assess your age, income, marital status, education level and interests - in seven seconds! Regardless of whether people are right about their perception of you? we all subconsciously make assessments of people when we meet them. Sales Discipline: Five Steps To Recover From A Lost Sale Ever lost a sale? Of course you have, we all have. The difference between the average salesperson and the great salesperson is how quickly you recover from the lost sale. Leverage Avoidance Values for Irresistible Selling What are values? Values are filters that everyone uses to help make sense of all the information we must process before we make a decision. When you appeal to a person's values you speak directly to their decision-making criteria. How to Achieve Sales Goals by Focusing on Activities When I broke into sales in 1986, I read several books that talked about how important it was to set goals if you wanted to achieve success. I bought into the idea completely and started writing down extensive lists of goals that I expected to achieve, along with due dates for each goal. How To Get Clients To Take Immediate Action Are you tired of excuses? Looking for a persuasion technique to get people to take immediate action? Are prospects saying things to you like: "I'll think it over and get back to you?" "I need to talk it over with my wife." "Call me next week and we'll set up an appointment. How To Go Perpendicular In Your Sales Territory First and foremost are you thinking Strategically? "Do you have what it takes to do what it takes?"1. Did you achieve all of your personal goals in 2004?2. Do You Have to Be Aggressive to Make Sales? A few weeks ago I was onsite at a company that had hired me to train their sales team on how to stop using traditional selling and start using the Unlock The Game? sales approach.After one coaching session, one member of the sales team came up to me and said, "Ari, your approach makes complete sense -- but I'm afraid I'll lose sales if I stop being aggressive and start being passive!"Whenever I hear a comment like that, I want to scream, because it means that the person just doesn't yet understand that removing pressure from the sales process doesn't mean being passive!But. |
|
Sales Training | Site Map | VirRex | Map | Web Domain Directory | Greeting | Directory | Photo Gallery Card | Newey | View Card | Free Calendar |
| © 2006 - 2008 |