Archive for Sales Tips
Have you considered Yelping Yourself?
If you haven’t tried www.yelp.com yet, it’s worth checking out! You might never go back to the good ole Yellow Pages again!
If you’re a business owner, be sure to watch the video below and read this article! http://makemoneyonlinecentre.com/wp/2009/07/12/seven-steps-to-business-success-on-yelp-com/
F5 ~ Refresh Your Business Workshop and Social
Okay, most of us can’t believe it’s already MID-YEAR! Did the first half go the way you wanted? If so, then it’s time to refresh! If not, it’s also time to refresh!
Join us for a fun and dynamic POWER Presentation on how to quickly evaluate and assess your business year-to-date, re-fresh your MVP (Mission, Vision, and Purpose), and establish action items that will end your year strong! Of course, there’s always the alternative . . .
Dates and Registration at www.864Community.com
- Sponsored by 864 Community
- Cost: Donation of $5 suggested to OneDaysWages.org / Fighting Global Poverty
- Refreshments provided
- Click Here to Download Promotional Flyer
Excuses, Excuses
There’s a great Phở restaurant that opened up about a year ago that I frequent about once a month. Every time I go to this place, and it doesn’t matter what time of day I go, the place is packed. You know the type of restaurant I’m talking about. You have at least two or three yourself that you frequently visit. About 8 months ago, another new restaurant opens up right next door. The space is larger, the decor nicer, and the menu more expensive.
Again, since I visit my Vietnamese Noodle house around once a month, I always peek inside the window next door to see how things are going. Noodle house is packed, the new neighbor completely empty. Well on my last visit, I see that the new restaurant has closed down and there’s a sign on the door: “Due to Economic Conditions, we have closed the restaurant.” My family has been in the restaurant business many years. We’ve had both successful ones as well as failed ones. One thing is for certain, there are no excuses in the restaurant business. Either people like your food and come back, or they don’t. Economic conditions weren’t a factor for the Phở place. They just found the right combination of price, service, and product that customers were demanding.
I wonder what would have happened if the new restaurant had a different marketing strategy, a new menu, cheaper prices, something! Instead, they chose the alternative . . . to wait and see.
So, which restaurant are you? The one that’s found a niche, or the one that’s just going to wait and see?
Tribes
Wow! I just finished watching the season finale of American Idol where the underdog, Kris Allen, beat out Adam Lambert! I think most people were in shock (including the judges) because Adam is clearly the more talented singer. So, how did this happen? Simple. Kris had more fans. His tribe was simply bigger.
Kris Allen’s win demonstrates a very important lesson in business! It’s not just about how good we are at what we do; it’s about how many fans we have who cheer for us!
So then, how big is our tribe? Are we increasing our sphere of influence on a daily basis, or are we simply hoping that our excellent service is going to be good enough . . . not the case for Adam; and definitely not the case for us!
Three ‘yes’s to success!
I remember my first year selling real estate when my broker made me watch one video right after the other of Tom Hopkins as he masterfully converted prospects into sales through a series of asking the right questions. It was both impressive and amazing at how asking the same question in different form would eventually lead to the desired outcome . . . namely, a ‘yes’ answer.
Improving our sales skills is just like singing . . . practice, and we get better. Eventually, we’ll get to the point where the only words we constantly hear, is ‘yes!’
Time for a new swing?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein
One of the typical coaching activities I do with clients one-on-one is to simply ask them what activities they’ve done in the past 7 days. (For those of you I’ve done this to, you know exactly what I’m speaking of.) As the client begins to rattle off activities such as prospecting appointments, networking functions, sales meetings, etc, I simply record the activities into an online document so that we can keep track of successes and challenges.
Now, at first glance, the activities look great! But then we have to dig a little deeper . . . “So, what new revenue generating appointments did we get this week? What new sales contracts did we get? How many new contacts did we add to our database? How many follow up calls did we make? What exactly did you say in those phone calls? How many referrals did we get?” You get the picture.
Can I be brutally honest? Many of us are the Charles Barkleys of our industry. What I mean by this is that when we were playing basketball and in the zone of a fantastic economy, all the shots were going in. Well, we’re playing a new game. Many of us are forty pounds heavier, out-of-shape, and in desperate need of a new swing.
- Step 1, swallow pride and admit change is a necessity.
- Step 2, get yourself a Haney (referring to a coach – Hank Haney is Tiger Woods’ swing coach).
- Step 3, hit a whole heck of a lot of balls (practice, practice, practice).
Of course, there’s always the alternative . . . remain on your current path and hope for different results. I suppose every once in a while, you might get lucky. Then again, watch the video. Is it time for a new swing?
A Virus worth Spreading!
Last year I took a trip down to Bandon Dunes golf resort on the Oregon Coast. Ever since that trip, I get a monthly e-newsletter with special golf packages. Like most e-newsletters I get, I delete them as I get them without ever really looking at the offers or content. But here’s what happened. One of the local golf pros at Newcastle forwarded the most recent “great deal golf package” to a couple of the members. One of those members was a friend of mine and he forwarded it on to me and a bunch of our mutual golf buddies. Each person in turn started to hit “Reply All” making comments about what a great deal it was. Finally, my friend sends me a personal email (entire email string attached) saying they needed just one more player and that I had to go. So I committed to going!
One email forwarded to two people. One of the two forwarded it to six more people. End result, 4 golfers commiting to a golf trip not otherwise planned. Just like a virus, we all got infected in one way or another. It’s called Viral Marketing! Imagine if you forwarded a great deal or value to a couple of people. They forwarded it on to a few others and so on and so on. Time to infect a customer or two!
How good are YOUR sales skills?
On a recent visit to Border’s Books, I was delivered one of the best sales pitches ever! After ordering coffee and a pastry, the smiling barista asked if I’d like to get $5 dollars off my purchase by getting a free Border’s membership. She also handed me the plastic membership card while she was asking so of course I took it and said “sure” (so as not to be rude). Her response was perfect! “Great, what’s your email address?” Without even having much time to think about it, I gave it to her! As soon as I was done speaking, she immediately asked, “and your phone number? This way you can get your discounts without having the card on you!” This gal had sales skills! Most of us decline such offers and sales or customer service people rarely show they care whether we want to save 10% off today or receive special discounts or promotions by email. They simply make their obligatory offer anticipating rejection and move on. This barista, on the other hand, seemed to genuinely believe that me getting $5 off today was a pretty cool deal and I would be silly not to accept! It was a routine sales pitch delivered, however, in a masterful way.
But I wonder how she sounded the very first time she gave that pitch. . . I bet she wasn’t quite as confident. Maybe she didn’t smile and make eye contact. I doubt she was very comfortable asking for the customer’s email address let alone the phone number. My guess is that it was after selling coffee day in and day out for weeks and ringing up who knows how many customers until she finally mastered the operational procedure.
On a scale of 1-20, the barista’s pitch and delivery combo was at least an 18. How’s your pitch and delivery?
Trick or Treat!
The concept of trick or treating is really something quite amazing if you think about it! Dress up, knock on a stranger’s door, say some magic words, and get free candy! The more doors you knock on, the more candy you get!
I have to share this trick or treating story with you! A real estate agent was preparing her “pop-by” gifts for some of her “A” clients. She purchased a bunch of plastic pumpkins which she planned on filling up with candy to deliver to her clients a week prior to Halloween so that her clients wouldn’t have the hassle of buying candy to give out to trick or treaters. Her 8 year old niece was over one day so she gave one of the empty plastic pumpkins to her and said “you can use this to go trick or treating with.”
The niece was greatful and took the plastic pumpkin. About an hour later the niece returns and shows her aunt all the candy she had just collected from around the neighborhood. The agent asked, “Where did you get all this candy?” The niece simply replied, “From the neighborhood. You told me to go trick-or-treating with it!” The agent couldn’t believe it! It was only middle of September!
What’s the point of the story? There’s lots of candy out there! Regardless of the market or economy, if we simply ask enough people for business, we’ll have pumpkins full of candy!
