Strategic Sales & Marketing Solutions

MORE walk-ins
MORE cold calls
MORE requests for referrals and follow-ups with current customers

Welcome to Sales 2009. How do you like it?

When a prospective customer calls you on the phone, and for some reason or another wants to buy — either they heard something good about you, or they read something about you, or they read something that you wrote, or someone referred them to you — the odds are close to 95% in your favor that you can make some sort of sale and build some sort of relationship. Not bad odds.

REASON: The prospective customer called you, seeking information in hopes of making a purchase.

BACK TO REALITY: You come into your office and you sit at your desk. Today’s the day you’re going to (have to) make 100 phone calls (cold calls) to prospective customers. The odds are that 95% of them will end up somewhere between “no” and hang up. Bad odds. And, of the other five people that displayed some form of interest, one may eventually end up buying. The problem is you will have to go through every sales gyration and your entire sales cycle to make that happen. Product offering, appointment, proposals, biddings, follow-up ad nauseam, finding the right decision maker, and other walls of selling that you have erected based on your (or your company’s) inability to be a marketplace value provider.

RECAP: You will make the sale 95% of the time when you RECEIVE an unsolicited call from a prospective customer. You will lose the sale 95% of the time when you MAKE an unsolicited call to a prospective customer. Hello!

YESTERDAY: For the past ten years (yesterday), it’s likely that your business has been winning sales by capturing low-hanging fruit and you, as a salesperson, have thought to yourself, “I’m pretty good. I made president’s club.”

TODAY: All of a sudden you get to today, and you’re looking around for fruit. It’s nowhere to be found.

And now you’re in scramble mode for several reasons:
1. You’ve built no platform.
2. You have no video testimonials to prove your value or the value of purchasing your product.
3. You have little or no reputation built in your marketplace.
4. Your product or your service is highly competitive, and it’s difficult for you to differentiate yourself from the people you hate. Your competition.
4.5 You have no value message that you send to your existing customers week after week.

Read the rest of the article

This article has been reprinted with the author’s kind permission.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling and eight other business books on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development at www.trainone.com. Jeffrey conducts more than 100 personalized, customized seminars and keynotes a year. To find out more, visit www.gitomer.com. Jeffrey can be reached at 704.333.1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com

Subscribe to the best weekly sales eZine being published today, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Caffeine. It’s free, and each issue contains powerful and useful articles like the one you’ve just enjoyed.

©2009 All Rights Reserved – Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer, Inc • 704/333-1112

Do you know the feeling of excitement when you make the decision to take on something new in your business? It could be you’ve made the decision to finally do that workshop, or design a new product or program, or write a book. You feel exhilarated because you’re finally fulfilling your life purpose. You’re about to take a quantum leap in your business! You’ve now created a bigger game to play in your business.

As you begin to make changes, you may notice different emotions are beginning to surface. That excitement you’re feeling has changed to fear and you’re beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

You see, the second you leave your comfort zone, it’s likely you may experience discomfort and resistance. Since all positive changes take place outside the comfort zone, change can be painful. The very moment most people feel the pain, they pull back inside the comfort zone. This is the reason why many people fail to improve themselves or create lasting changes in their lives: They are unwilling to put up with the pain of change.

Here are some things to notice about change:

* Some people embrace change and some people resist it.
* Change makes some people feel uncomfortable…so uncomfortable that they may even become ill.
* When thinking about change, the mind automatically thinks what it has to give up to make the change.
* Making changes may bring up fear of losing security and fear of failure.
* People will come up with excuses, reasons and circumstances as to why they cannot change.
* If they feel the pressure, they’ll withdraw and retreat to the way it was before.

And as people about to make the BIG change in their businesses and income, and take on doing something they’ve never done before, many people hit the “Panic Wall.” The Panic Wall is the place a lot of people hit when they’ve taken on a bigger game in their businesses. We call it the “breakdown” before the “breakthrough.” Suddenly you’re flooded with self doubts, the fear of failing, and lots of reasons not to take action.

All of these things happening are not unusual. You’ve made a decision to take a BIG leap in your business and all your fears have surfaced. There’s now a gap between where you are and where you want to be. The structure you had in place no longer supports you in what you’re up to next. Whenever we stretch ourselves and step outside our comfort zone, the “ego” will fight like crazy to keep us playing small, fearing annihilation. The ego is the part of us that wants to protect us from repeating past disappointments; therefore, keeping us from moving forward.

The Panic Wall is when the old paradigm mixes with new beliefs. Part of you really, really wants to make the quantum leap, but the other part of you known as ego is afraid of letting go of what it already knows. This is where successful people feel the discomfort and stay the course while others pull back and retreat.

At this point, many of your limiting thoughts, beliefs, and fears are screaming louder in your head than ever before. Thoughts like:

* I’m just not ready to do this yet.
* I don’t have what it takes.
* I’ll never be successful.
* I’m not smart enough.
* This isn’t going to work.
* There’s too much to do.

These limiting thoughts are not the truth. It’s your ego trying with all it’s might to keep you small. In the short term, you may feel better; however, if you let the ego win, you’ll never experience what’s possible once you get to the other side.

The only way to go from your “breakdown” to your “breakthrough” is to stay in action. Experiencing a breakthrough in your business means stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone.

When I speak about “stretching beyond your comfort zone,” your comfort zone could be the fear of losing your security or losing love. To break through to the other side and make your quantum leap, you have to be willing to be with the discomfort for a brief period of time. It takes being:

* Courageous
* Believing
* Committed
* Persevering
* Staying in action
* Being in communication with others (During this time it’s important to reach out to people you trust such as a mentor, coach, and mastermind group.)

The Panic Wall is strongest the first time you experience it because you’ve never been to this place before. The place you’re in during this time is very uncomfortable and the discomfort can be so intense that many people will give up and retreat to what’s familiar. But if you’re willing to be with the discomfort and follow the steps I mentioned, you will make a quantum leap!

Your Assignment:

How badly do you want to take that quantum leap and be successful? If you’re willing to do what it takes to make the changes, here are some ways to keep moving forward.

* Be courageous, believe in your dream/purpose, make the commitment, stay in action, and be in communication with others.
* When you hit the Panic Wall, recognize the following:
o Understand it is only temporary.
o You’re on the cusp of a HUGE breakthrough.
* Write out a vision of what you want to achieve and how it looks when you do achieve your vision (be vivid and specific).
* Spend some alone time reading your vision daily and visualizing how it feels when you achieve your vision.
* Declare it (write a bold statement declaring your intention, “I declare I will write that book!”).
* Share your Declaration with at least five people you trust and feel safe with. (The more frequently you speak aloud your Declaration, the more you will believe it.)

This article has been reprinted with the author’s kind permission.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.

The Chinese symbol for “crisis” actually consists of two words, one signifying “danger, and the other, “opportunity”. Too bad for us that we too often stay focused on the danger, ignoring opportunities in the crises in our lives. We are stuck in the “gunk” of life!

The truth is that while we are operating from our emotional “reactive mind”, we are unable to perceive options and opportunities in front of us. Our brains can’t process opportunities while we’re stuck in “fight or flight” mode. Many folks operate in that mode daily, wondering why their lives are in a “hold” position.

Here some tips I’ve used with myself, as well as my clients: Limit your “gunk time”, by:

- turning the challenge over to the Universe, to God, first thing in the morning, one day at a time, until the crisis has passed.
- If you start to obsess about “it”, remind yourself that you’ve let it go, just for today.
- Write down what you’re grateful for–I even include my toes, my teeth, you name it!
- Celebrate the good things you have, apart from the challenge. The good far outweighs the gunk!
- Write down other times when you’ve handled other “gunky” times–then celebrate THAT!
- If you must worry, set aside a daily “worry time”, and do your worrying then (set a timer, too!)
- Take a brisk walk, doing “self talk” about how the “gunk” will pass,
- Then visualize that wonderful day when the challenge is GONE–and celebrate that!

It’s absolutely essential to stay focused on our own path, our gratitude, and our gifts.

© 2009 Lynnea Hagen, Abundance Coaching.

This article has been reprinted with the author’s kind permission.

email: lynnea@abundancecoaching.net
phone: (408) 975-9930
web: www.abundancecoaching.net

Salespeople are faced with the daily choice of short-term pain versus long-term gain. Rather than relying on confidence in their ability to effectively communicate the full value of their products and services, inexperienced salespeople will begin to offer discounts, price concessions and incentives in order to entice their prospects into a closed sale. If they succeed, they have created a customer with expectations. Every time they approach the customer for repeat business, the customer will demand a new perk, a new gift, a new instance of “something for nothing.” Unless the salesperson locks in the second sale in the same moment as the first (such as time-limiting a discount of 30 days against a long-term agreement in which the cost reverts to full price), they are playing a game that they will never win.

There are times in which these tactics are appropriate, and there are others that add up to a simple admission by the salesperson that they lack the skill or mental stamina to guide their prospect through the sales cycle.

The acquisition and ongoing nurturing of customers requires a series of skills that are usually learned by trial and error. The professional salesperson must possess a deep, almost fanatical interest in human psychology and what “makes people tick,” also known as “why they buy.” Every sales encounter is a lesson. Each lesson, accumulated over time, is like the single drops of water that form a rock. One lesson, one drop at a time, extended over years, results in a salesperson on the road to mastering their craft.

Just as you learn to ride a bike or a horse by getting on, falling off, getting up, brushing yourself off, and getting right back on again, you learn the appropriate and inappropriate use of discounts and incentives in the sales process by making money or losing money.

A nation-wide fast food restaurant chain recently offered a bold promotion. They mailed a full-color flyer to residents with over $25 worth of coupons for their food. Half of the coupons offered as much as a 50% discount for a meal, while others were of the “two for one” variety. In addition to the discounts, they announced a date on which customers could come to the restaurant for a free meal: two pieces of chicken with two tortillas and salsa.

On the day of the promotion, the parking lot at my local restaurant was full at opening time, with drivers circling the lot hoping for a space. The line for ordering extended to the door. Some customers simply took advantage of the free food and ordered no additional items. Others used coupons from the flyer and purchased food as well.

Was this promotion successful? A percentage of people showed up for the free food and will not return unless a similar offer is made in the future. A second group consisted of regular or semi-regular customers who might have made an extra, unplanned trip to take advantage of the free food. The third group consisted of the “sitting on the fence” or “unaware” customers…those who either did or did not know of the restaurant previously and had never tasted the food.

The promotion was successful in two very significant ways. First, it was a gesture that appealed to the pocketbooks of the community at a very challenging time in the economy. While some people could obviously afford the food and simply enjoyed getting it for free, others might have gone a while between meals. Second, it issued a challenge to the restaurant’s competitors to follow their lead. One direct competitor, in fact, accepted the challenge by offering a similar (but more limited) promotion during the same week.

The success of the promotion also relied on the fact that it was a numbers game. There is a significant difference between a one-on-one negotiation with a single client and a “loss leader” day in which “X” amount of product will be offered at an “X” percentage discount in order to build public awareness and strengthen the brand. The cost of the promotion becomes marketing overhead, a legitimate business expense, so there really is no way to “lose” money. The immediate issue at hand is the profit margin resulting from the promotion, but there is also a “ripple effect” of new business that might not have been generated without it.

With any customer relationship, you must examine the long term. There are customers whose primary interest lies in paying the lowest possible price, often in combination with something that is clearly labeled as “free” (even if the actual cost is rolled into the overall price). There are others who make buying decisions based on value, as well as an ongoing relationship with a reputable vendor. The majority of customers will fall between these two extremes, and it is the responsibility of the salesperson to be somewhat clairvoyant, to look into the crystal ball and make an educated assumption regarding the state of the relationship in six months, a year, five years. If the salesperson becomes a dog chasing their tail in order to consistently appease the customer’s desire to receive “something for nothing,” they have failed in their greater task of creating a stable and profitable customer.

There are a number of ways to include discounts and incentives as rewards and gestures of appreciation to long-term customers. You can also provide things of value which cost nothing, such as articles that are directly relevant to the goals and challenges that your customers are facing. Focus on the words “trusted business partner” and realize that unless you sell a completely commoditized product…something which is used and discarded and replaced by new product in an ongoing cycle…your customers remain in a relationship with you because of your expertise and the investment you’ve made in their success.

Never offer a discount or incentive to “tip the scales” in order to close a sale. Sales greatness cannot be achieved with “hit and run” tactics. Focus on providing value, building relationships, and showing appreciation to your loyal customers. It is the only path to long-term sales success.

If you were to distill the essential wisdom from all of the sales books and articles published in 2009 to one key golden nugget, your mission statement would become “Find the people with money and custom-tailor your value statement to those people.”

Of course, that’s pretty conventional wisdom for even the best of times. But in the current economy, the people who are willing to spend money on your products or services might exist outside of your “sales comfort zone.” Therein lies the first step…if you are willing to surrender any notion of the false concept of a “sales comfort zone” (or a comfort zone in any area of life, for that matter) you are already miles ahead of the rest of your competition.

As an example, you might be very comfortable with the “walk in / drop in” method of in-person cold calling. In the world of strip malls and “Mom & Pop” businesses, it’s one of the easiest ways to get directly in front of your prospect. In most situations, it is also “gatekeeper-free.” You simply walk in, strike up a conversation, and you’re selling. If you are uncomfortable on the phone, you will not face that issue. If you are articulate, well-groomed and professional, there is a good possibility of quickly building rapport and entering into a sales cycle within moments. You might secure an appointment for a follow-up conversation, or you might close the sale on the spot. During times when the “Mom & Pop” stores lining Main Street in Anytown U.S.A. are thriving, it’s a veritable harvest waiting to be plucked.

We are not in those times. Sole proprietors, Mom & Pop, small business owners…these are the prospects who are reading the newspapers, watching TV, surfing on the Web and witnessing unrelenting doom and gloom and a hundred reasons a day to keep their wallets in their pockets.

That does not mean that every small business owner has mentally shut down when it comes to spending. It simply means that if this is your area of sales expertise, the basket which holds all of your eggs, and the one trick your pony has mastered…you’ve got a problem.

In the current economy, as a professional salesperson, you have two key objectives: find the money and go after the money. You cannot chase and hope to catch something which does not exist. In thriving economic times, “persuasion skills” and a bit of cat and mouse might help you turn the corner with hesitant prospects. In tough times, you are potentially dealing with prospects living in fear, in panic, in “survival mode.” The extended effort you waste in attempting to “persuade” them keeps you away from other, more qualified prospects.

A colleague phoned me recently. He’s a small business owner who specializes in incentive gifts…items like coffee mugs emblazoned with a corporate logo. He bemoaned the fact that “things are tough out there right now.” He asked if I had any clients who might have a need for his products and services. I explained that many of the business owners I’ve spoken with in recent days are hesitant to spend a single penny on what they consider to be “non-essential purchases.” An additional problem lies in their definition of the things they consider to be “essential.” That includes expenditures which might, ironically, help them survive…marketing, advertising, and promotion. I told my colleague that unless he is able to approach a prospective customer and clearly articulate how his products and services will make them money, save them money, or bring them new customers, he most likely will not get an extended audience with them.

In this scenario, my colleague has an overwhelmingly tough uphill climb. He can find the money by stepping out of his current comfort zone of small business owners into a broader corporate playing field, but once he’s standing on it, he will still face the challenge of crafting his value proposition. At this particular point in time, companies don’t have to provide perks for their employees. They simply need to point to the headlines and the daily stories of layoffs. The climb must go higher, up through the first level of clouds, up through the first few levels of people who have the money to spend.

Once that level is reached, a new challenge presents itself. Perhaps the “incentive gifts” determined to be appropriate for small business owners won’t pass muster in larger companies. That calls for a new offering, and with it, a new value proposition.

It all begins with finding the money and conducting thorough research on the person or company in possession of it. The second step is to identify all areas of growth or challenge that the person or company is currently facing. The third step is to craft a value proposition, preferably laced with detailed and enthusiastic testimonials from current customers, which clearly and unquestionably translates into making money for the prospect, saving them money, or bringing in new customers.

A salesperson who can accomplish that is a salesperson who can sell successfully in any economy. The remaining salespeople need to internalize all of the elements outlined above and aggressively put them into practice. Consistency of effort will yield the desired results, but more importantly, will also result in a “sifting” process which empowers the salesperson to identify the best markets and the best approach in each. Let go of the familiar. Step outside of the comfort zone. Take a deep breath, put a smile on your face, and go to work.