How to Create Business Cards

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Make sure your business card represents your business and creates a lasting impression about you and your services. You want them to prompt action - a call and sale!

Before you get started.Remember, this is the smallest brochure or resume that you can leave potential clients/customers with. Your business card has to set you apart from everyone else in your industry, must be memorable, and most of all must have pertinent contact information.

Evaluate business cards of other businesses both in your industry and those who are nothing like you. Looking at other business cards, you can determine what mistakes others have made. Believe it or not, I have seen business cards that did NOT have any phone numbers, email addresses or no form of contact... What is the purpose?

Take notes on the things you like and don't like about the cards you are comparing. Keep in mind colors, logos, font, and even the type of paper that it is printed on. As the card gets more elaborate the pricing will change (front/back, glossy print, cotton paper business cards, etc.

Layout. I would draw very large on a piece of paper how the card should look. Make sure your contact information is large enough for people to read. You want people to contact you!

Printing.There are many printing options now. You can go to places such as office depot, office max, or even kinkos. Although these places may be convenient, they are sometimes limited on the things they can do. Depending on how elaborate you card is, you may want to go to a local printer where someone will be more hands on. Local printers usually do the printing themselves in-house and offer more graphic designing ideas to help you. (I sometimes feel the service is better.

Order your cards. When you get your finished product, make sure you spell check and read it over. You do NOT want to pass out a card with the wrong information on it!

Pass them out.Once you receive your cards, make sure you pass them out every chance you get. Remember to shake hands, make eye contact, and use your personality when giving your cards out. Try putting a discount (with an expiration date) for people you meet personally. Periodically, take a look at your card and see if it needs some sprucing up. Like your website or resume, your business card needs to be up-to-date.




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Tips for selling your products in good and bad times

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Most sales people have lost sight of what it takes to really make the sales. It is more than just writing up the orders and taking the money from your customers. Take the time to learn effective sales techniques and it will help you in every aspect of your personal and professional life. These techniques were lost in the 90's when there was a more robust economy. It is now time to get back into the way a sales person should really be selling to their customers. The seven tips and techniques in this Marketing Tidbits will take you back to the time when these standards were established. They are still effective today.

1. Help the Customer—Always start out in the right frame of mind -- to help the customer. When you remember your mission is to help your customers, the enthusiasm that you create will more than motivate you into taking the extra steps that you need in order to get the customer to make the important “buy” decision. When the salesperson has the vision of excellence in mind, they will want to concentrate on the customer more than the ringing up the sale and moving on to the next person. When you, as a salesperson, show genuine interest in the customer and provide outstanding service, this will make the customer want to do business with you rather than your competitors. When you are customer-focused, your job becomes more enjoyable and exciting. When you get to know your customers, you will find out what their wants and needs are; then you will be able to close the sale on the items for which they are searching rather than on items they do not want or need. The result will be a more satisfied customer who will return again and again because they know you are more interested in helping them find what they really need than in just making another sale.

2. Be a Good Listener—A great salesperson is a great listener. This holds true because they ask questions and listen to the answers of the customer. This is the best way to understand what your customers need from you. The biggest challenge of a salesperson is to find out what the real needs and wants of a customer are, because customers only buy when they need or want something. When a good salesperson takes the time to listen to the customer, they have a better chance of helping the customer find what they really want. Consultive selling is talking with your customer before making the sales pitch to them. Most sales people try to close the sale too early, while the great salespeople will talk with the customer more before going to the sales pitch and closing the deal. When you develop your skills to create more interaction with the customer, you then will be able to point your customer in the right direction of the right product or service that will help them solve their problem or fulfill a need.

3. Network to Find New Customers—Cold call lists should be your last resort when trying to find new customers. You can find new prospects through the local chamber of commerce or other business-oriented opportunities. You can get involved with organizations that suit your interests and you will find that you will meet other interesting people. By doing this, you can start conversations with them and create a network of business and customer prospects to build sales for your business. You can then follow up with your contacts with phone calls or sending them other important information you know will be of interest to them such as newspaper articles, magazine articles or something you find on the internet. You will then want to staple your business card to the information that you are sending out to these prospects with a short note. When you become useful to someone for whatever the reason, they will return the favor. You will need to do this quite often to receive the payoff, and it is more effective than cold calling prospects.

4. Making Your Customers Your Friends—When people are convinced that you are their friend and looking out for their best interest, they will buy from you. When they decide that you are their friend, they will then communicate and open up to you more. The next step in networking with others is to develop long-term relationships. When you do this, it will help you when you move to another job or have other products or services that are available to them. 5. Make More Sales—Making sales, like many skills, is something that improves the more you do. It is a numbers game that starts with finding prospects and following up with them. When you don’t track the results of your calls, you can end up not making enough sales. When you are persistent, it can pay off. When you do not follow up with your clients, this can be detrimental in your sales. It takes up to six times to get your customer to purchase from you. By being persistent, you will make more sales. You will need to be persistent in communicating with your customers, because they have the tendency to forget what has been relayed to them in your conversations. Track your activities by using a spreadsheet or database so that you will know how effective your calls were through your sales and dollars earned.




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How to Sell More Products Online

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Whatever your product or service is, it's up to you to bring people to it. Online, you don't have a stellar location with a great window display. You have to create excitement and interest, and you want to do it without breaking the bank. Try these steps week-by-week in order to really boost your online sales.

Exchange Links: Start placing links on your website to others that you honestly respect and would be of interest to your audience. Then, contact the webmasters of those sites and ask them to consider linking back to you. It's free advertising.

Be Active Online: Get involved with forums and discussion groups. When people get to know you, they learn to trust you and this can mean a boost in sales and a lot of word-of-mouth advertising.

Hold a Contest: The big boys love this little trick. When people can win something, they become interested in your business - fast. The contest should be specific to your business' area of expertise and have a prize that would interest your audience.

Get Listed: If you sell products that look great in a photo, try contacting a few of your favorite catalogs and find out what it would take to see your products in them. Usually, it just requres a sample product and a contract stating how many you can provide.

It's for a Good Cause: Periodically announce that all proceeds from a specific product will be donated to charity or an advocacy group. Do your research before you announce, and let visitors know exactly which charity or group will benefit.




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Tips for Promoting a Direct Sales Business in a Small Town

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Living in a small town presents a number of problems for any business since you just don't have that many people to market to. But for a direct sales business, you'll have to work twice as hard; not to get your name out there but to sell some products.

Tell everyone you've started your direct sales business. Word spreads quickly in a small town so it shouldn't take people long to realize you're in business. But keep talking anyway. Reminding people you're there and in business will boost sales.

Make flyers and post them around town. Hang them everywhere the owners will let you but always hit the highlights: the grocery store, the gas stations, the post office and maybe the local bar.

Start a direct mail campaign. Create a brochure and a letter and mail both to everyone in town. If you can't afford to get everyone in town, start with a smaller mailing. Send your packet to those people you know might be interested in your product.

Give an introductory offer for your product. Give people a discount for shopping with your direct sales business or for hosting a party. This will get customers to you. Put on a good show and get people talking. If one group of people enjoyed your show, you're sure to get more parties. Word of mouth is the best possible advertising you can get, especially in a small town.




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Seven Steps to Successful Sales

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1. Introduce Yourself, Then Shut-Up and Listen

The sales experience is not about the sales associate, it is about the customer. It is a courtship ritual to determine if the customer values the goods or services enough to invest in them by making a purchase. There is only one way to find out what the customer values, wants or needs and that is to listen intensely. If you are thinking about the next thing that you are going to promote then you can not concentrate on what the customer is telling you. Rather, think about how you can repeat what the customer is saying in your own words and you will be forced to listen intently to what they tell you.

A successful sales professional can reflect the emotion as well as the content of a customer conversation.

2. Why the Offer is Important to the Individual Customer

As new sales representatives learn about the company, products or services that they represent it is a natural inclination to initiate conversations by spewing facts and features like a walking commercial. Don't assume that the customer cares how you do something, how long you have done it or what you have been told makes you unique. The customer has a life with priorities, deadlines and responsibilities of his or her own. Show the customer what aspects of your offer are important from the customer perspective and resist the urge to talk about any other things that are not relevant. Of course, you will only know this if you have listened to your customer.

A successful sales professional focuses only on the specific attributes of the offer that are relevant to the customer.

3. Get Confirmation, Then Explain the Details

Get buy-in from the customer that you are on the right track. Ask the customer for feedback to confirm that the focus is on the appropriate facts, features or figures. Once you have provided feedback on your value as it pertains to the initial customer requirement, it is common for some customers to change the focus. This is an opportunity to find out if the customer has additional concerns or considerations. Listen with intensity and restate customer focus and topics in short sentences, reiterating each item that is important to the customer. Then explain the details of your offer that support all of these interests. A successful sales professional keeps the customer involved during the process of explaining relevant details of the specific offer.

4. Credibility, Show the Customer Why You can be Trusted

If the offer is on target with the customer requirements then it is appropriate to demonstrate reasons that the customer should trust you. This may be accomplished by using specifications for products, white papers and case studies for services, independent articles or references. The manner of demonstrating credibility varies significantly by industry and market. If there are no documents or history to use as reference, it is possible to demonstrate credibility by making promises and keeping them. A promise may be as simple as a commitment to follow-up with additional information by a specific time. Even if the customer was a referral and credibility was implied, never take it for granted. A successful sales professional earns the trust of every single customer through commitments and actions.

5. What to Do and What It will Cost

In addition to providing the price, also provide the details of what needs to be done to complete the transaction and what will happen after the sale. If the customer needs to take some action before, during or after the purchase then be sure to explain this in detail. In some cases there may be a registration, license or contract associated with the sale, so be sure to remove any mystery or doubt by stating the facts. Make sure that the customer is aware of any additional requirements or renewals. As an example, it would be incredibly disappointing for a customer to excitedly unpack a new printer and then discover that is it necessary to go back to the store for cables to connect it to a computer. Keep the customer satisfied and confident by providing step-by-step explanations and expectations. A successful sales professional knows the process and educates the customer.

6. Schedule Next Steps

In many cases there may be several steps in the sales cycle. If ongoing negotiation is necessary then schedule the next meetings and milestones. If registration or installation is necessary after the sale then initiate discussions to accommodate the customer schedule. For significant purchases and investments it may be necessary for the customer to review budget or finances, in which case it is appropriate to schedule periodic follow-up to accommodate these considerations.

A successful sales professional fills the pipeline by keeping a consistent schedule for continuous customer conversations.

7. Ask for the Sale

Don't assume that the customer is going to ask for the sale. Ask for the sale to determine if it is time to stop selling and time to start processing the purchase and assisting with the appropriate next steps to support the customer. Some sales associates are so passionate about the product that they keep promoting it long after the customer has made a decision to purchase and can actually lose a customer in the process. Stop pouring when the glass is full.




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Common Mistakes In Business Plans

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Your business plan is typically the first impression potential lenders of investors get about your business idea. Even with a great product, team, and customers, and you are unable to convey to properly convey your image, it could be the last impression if your plan has some of the following, common mistakes.

Lenders and investors review hundreds of business plan every year and with every plan, lenders and investors become more cynical because the same mistakes pop up with regular frequency. With so much competition for a limited amount of capital, it is imperative to not make these mistakes.

1. Financials

Unrealistic Financial Projections - Simply saying that you are going to do $100,000 in sales is not enough nor can you simply say there is no way of knowing. Everyone knows there is no way to accurately come up with financial projections over the next three years, especially in a start-up. But, what is required in your plan is that reasonable assumptions are made and supported with research. By incorporating a detailed list of assumptions and how you arrived at your numbers, the lender/investor can judge your analysis and decision making process. If you are projecting to generate high sales outside of industry norms, explaining how you arrived at this conclusion is a must. Lenders and investors have seen many, many plans that claim sales are going through the roof once funded and as a result are very jaded at statements like this. Financial data that is inconsistent with industry averages and overly aggressive sales figures will raise flags. Explain every number.

Confusing Cash with Profits - Revenues do not always equal cash. For example, suppose you make a sale this month for $100 that cost $50 to produce. Assuming your buyer doesn’t pay for 30-60 and even 90 days if dealing with state or federal sources (and assuming they all pay), the effect on your cash flow is significant. Suppliers and employees still have to be paid for their work while you are waiting on payment from the buyer.

While you may not have a significant portion of sales coming from receivables, the timing of cash flows is critical for developing a financial strategy as cash flow is much more important than profits. Profits are an accounting concept while cash is money in the bank. If you don’t believe me try paying your bills with profits.

No Adjustment for Seasonality - All businesses are seasonal to some extent, some more significant than others. Seasonality refers to the percentage of sales that are made in a month. For example, most retailers have huge November and December sales and lousy January and February sales. Did you make enough cash during the good months to cover the slow months to cover salaries, rents and lights?

If You Build It They Will Come - Be careful in assuming once your doors open people will be streaming in to buy. You have a new, relatively unheard of business. This is a time when your business is particularly vulnerable as most of new owner’s cash reserves have typically been used to open the store. If sales projections are off during the first couple of months and you don’t have enough working capital to keep the lights on, you may be quickly going out of business.

Insufficient financial projections - Basic financial projections consist of four elements: Income Statements, Profit & Loss, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow Statements.

For most businesses a three-year projection is sufficient, but if yours is a capital intensive one and will take longer to show profitability then use five. Actual figures are a must if you can get them and any number in the projections needs to be in the business plan narrative. If you are purchasing an existing business use the historical financials to show support for your sales figures.

No Quotes - Any significant expenses should have a quote accompanied in the appendix, especially for construction or remodeling as this is an area where most entrepreneurs slip as they do it themselves and greatly underestimate the costs.

2. Marketing

Failing to relieve the customer’s pain - Businesses are rewarded to make consumer’s pain go away. Pain can include; my car stopped working, my doggie is sick or my tax returns are too hard to prepare.

If your business plan can’t show how you are relieving the customer’s pain, then the chances for success in the marketplace is extremely limited.

Remember pain equals market opportunity. The greater the pain, the greater number of customer’s with this pain and the better you can relieve the pain equals greater market potential.

One Billion Customers Served - Claiming everyone needs your product/service will send a strong message to the reviewer that you don’t know your market and remove any credibility to your plan. In the good old days the shotgun approach to marketing could work as there were limited channels for advertisement. Today with unlimited outlets and more narrowly defined markets, this approach does not fly.

While it’s true everyone eats, not everyone will eat at your restaurant, nor could you effectively advertise to everyone. By researching the segments that are most likely to use your product/service and showing how your message will get to them will ultimately make your endeavor more successful. Having clearly defined target markets will show you have done your homework and be the cornerstone of a marketing strategy that can succeed.

We have no competition - Use this statement if your want your plan rejected. Every business has competition. While there may not be a direct competitor, meaning one that offers the same or similar product, there is always an indirect competitor.

Saying there is no competition tells the reviewer that you have either not done any market research or there is not a market for your product.

3. Organization

Writing For The Wrong Audience - A plan for a lender should be written differently than one for an investor. Banks are interested in seeing the likelihood that debts be repaid and investors are interested in the upside profit potential. Be sure to write your plan to your audience. For both, keep to the facts, keep it clear and keep it simple. If you don’t feel you have the writing abilities to make your plan shine, then get help.

Poor spelling and grammar - Leaving spelling and grammatical errors in your plan only tells the reviewer that you are not paying attention to details and may not pay enough attention to the business. Use spelling and grammar checkers and let others review your plan to make sure there are no errors.

Too repetitive - Many times, plans will cover the same points over and over. A well-written plan should cover key points only twice: once in the executive summary then again in greater detail in the narrative of the plan.

Remove the Jargon - Using simple language is imperative to getting a technical business funded. Don’t think that by using complex terms that lenders/investors will be so impressed with your knowledge that they will whip open the checkbook. Businesses that can’t be understood don’t get funded. If you can’t explain your business to a sixth grader your chances of funding are in jeopardy.

Investors are really only interested in your technology if it solves a problem that people will pay for, is better than the competition, can be protected through patents and can reasonably go to market without spending a lot of money.

Keep the technical details out of the business plan and in the white papers.

Appearance matters - Make sure your plan looks professional. Use professional printing, binding, keeping fonts consistent and easy to read. The more money being requested means investing more time in making sure your plan will stand out from the crowd. Be careful that you don’t go overboard and give the impression that the plan is all style and no substance.

Length - A long business plan does not make a better business plan. All of the industry and marketing research won’t save a flawed plan. Too many plans have been immediately rejected because they are too long. Lenders and investors favor entrepreneurs who can efficiently demonstrate the ability to efficiently get to the point.

An executive summary should be no more than 1-3 pages. Ideally it should only be one page but some complex plans require more. An ideal business plan is 20-30 pages, including financials. Remember less is more!

Use operating plans, white papers and marketing plans for the in-depth details.

Fluffing - Using phrases like "unmatched in the industry;" "narrow window of opportunity;" or "ground floor" are empty phrases filled with hype. If anything, the cynical reviewer will be turned off by the hype and trash your plan. Stick with laying out the facts – what is the problem, how will you solve the problem, how big is the market, how will consumers buy it and what is your competitive advantage. If the opportunity is there the lender/investor will be able to make the decision for themselves.

Overvaluing the business idea - What gives a business value is not the idea but the execution of the idea. A great idea is a start, but almost everyone has had a great idea at some point in their lives. How you will execute this idea is what sets apart a real business from the dreamers.

4. Execution Mistakes

Waiting too long - Funding a business takes a long time. Expect three months at a minimum after finishing your business plan to get funding. Unless you have sufficient capital, other sources of income and can be funded in-house at a bank, this number may be reduced. Bank financing for business with less than two years of operating history are typically funded through an SBA guarantee, which requires additional time, patience and paperwork. Financing through investors is usually an even longer process as they have a lot of people competing for their money and they tend to do significant due diligence to secure their investment. Waiting until you need the money is a sure way to keep your business from launching.

Unreasonable time lines - Many business owners underestimate the timelines for completing milestones. Its human nature to think we can do things faster than is possible. When getting a business started there will be several tasks you could not have anticipated and the some tasks you think will be easy which will end up taking much longer. It is best to overestimate and finish early, rather than scramble and execute your opening poorly.

Failing to seek outside review - When preparing your plan, be sure that you have at least a few people review it before sending it out. Preferably look for people in your industry or who have a specialization in sales, distribution, etc that could lend a fresh set of eyes and find any flaws in the plan. Being so close to the action can keep you from being objective and this additional scrutiny may save you countless headaches and money down the road.

Perfecting - It can be easy to spend countless hours perfecting your plan and ultimately never launching. Remember, your plan will never be perfect and in practice should be continually updated as you learn more about the business, market and customers. Don’t make your plan an academic practice, finish it and get in front of investors and lenders. Use this feedback to see if your plan really needs the additional perfection.




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7 Excellent Tips to Successful Telemarketing Online

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Telemarketing is selling, telephone based collation of data, spreading information on services or products and appointment making. Recognized as a successful marketing tool telemarketing is used world wide to generate sales, subscriptions, and make B2B contacts.

Telemarketing is expensive as compared to sending out mailers in the post. But experience proves that telemarketing gets five times the response of direct mail. Telemarketing is an effective business generation tool provided:

1. The objectives are clearly delineated. Determine whether you want to promote a product, gather information from people, take orders over the phone, or communicate information. Get your sales and marketing team to ideate and set the goals clearly.

2. Set targets for the number of calls and decision making conversations of the number of successes to be achieved in each session.

3. Get in order a database that is relevant.

4. Decide on the pitch and make it as friendly and attractive as possible.

5. Always undertake a test run so that you can fine tune glitches.

6. Work on perfecting a script. This will act as a guideline for each call. The first two seconds or so must capture the attention of the target audience.

7. Work on the telemarketing exercise in a focused manner. Even if you are outsourcing the exercise make sure that the people making the calls understand your business and focus clearly. Both you and the telemarketing team will have to think alike for the exercise to be a success.

Telemarketing skills is all about managing time well and generating an interest in the sales pitch. Telemarketers must be friendly, convincing, positive and caring. The smile and joy must reflect in the voice and the speaking tone must be practiced and well modulated.

A well planned telemarketing exercise will help your business generate a database, building business contacts and leads, create an awareness of your business activities, and promote your products.

Tie-up with a telemarketing agency or handle the exercise yourself if you have the infrastructure. Since it is a long term relationship find a telemarketer you can strike a rapport with. Read as much as you can about telemarketing and learn about legal issues, best practices, and TPS registered telephone users.

Telemarketing is a successful business tool and will lead to good returns if planned well and implemented methodically. Among all the marketing exercises telemarketing has a proven success rate.

The World Wide Web has articles and in depth guides on telemarketing as well as online telemarketing professionals who will take care of all telemarketing needs.




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Five steps for dealing with angry customers

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Every sales person will have at least one difficult customer during their career.

In fact, some experts argue that if you don’t have at least one angry customer by 10:00 a.m., you aren’t trying hard enough! While I’m not sure I subscribe to that particular philosophy, I do know that you can’t please all the people all the time. Nor should you strive to do so.

As a sales professional, what you do need to understand is how to handle angry customers whenever they inevitably come into your life. The following five steps will help you deal profitably with angry clients to make sure they remain loyal customers, and continue to be a source of future business and referrals.

Step 1: Never argue

Have you ever seen a harried mother in a restaurant or supermarket get into a shouting match with a young child? Even if she wins the argument, she loses, because she has allowed the child to bring her down to their level of combat.

The same holds true for business. You can't let a customer sucker you into an emotionally heated argument. The moment you do so, you lose your two greatest assets: your role as a professional and the advantage of a calm attitude.

Instead of getting angry, the best thing to do when a customer is mad at you is to thank them. Try something like: “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me to improve (the level of service, my responsiveness, etc).”

The key is to not respond either defensively or angrily. There’s an old saying that you can’t win an argument with a customer because they have the final word on whether to take their business elsewhere. Most sales people – like most people period – get their dander up the moment anyone says anything even remotely negative. They get defensive, angry or, even worse, they look for ways to retaliate overtly or coercively. The result is usually lost business and the end of a once-profitable relationship.

Remember: it takes two to argue. Note that, in the above example, you never say you agree with the customer’s complaint. You just acknowledge it.

Nine times out of ten, the customer has worked themselves into an even greater frenzy at the idea of the battle they’re expecting to have with you. If you don't get emotionally involved or provide the anticipated resistance, their anger will dissipate as quickly as it came.

Step 2: Put your ego aside

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be successful?

I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, being right is a lot less important than being successful. The top 10% of sales people always put desirable results (and greater profits) ahead of all other considerations – including their own ego.

In situations where you have an angry customer on your hands, this means focusing first and foremost not on defending your actions, but on defusing their anger, resolving the problem and keeping their business.

No matter how annoyed or insulted you may feel, never try to make the customer feel foolish either on purpose or by accident. Showing your customer that you are smarter or more knowledgeable might feel good in the heat of the moment, but in the long run, it will end up hurting you a lot does them.

You need to measure your success in these situations not by how well you “showed him,” but by how effectively you attained a profitable result and kept your customer.

Step 3: Listen

Give your customer a good old-fashioned “listening to!”

I can’t stress this enough: when handling a customer complaint, listening is far more important than talking. Whether you think they’re right or wrong, your client is entitled to their opinion. So whatever they have to say – hear them out.

Listen to what is being said, process it, reflect on it and then use it to improve. If you listen with the intent to improve, you’ll have an even better chance of actually understanding their point of view. Plus, if your client feels that you are taking their opinion seriously, they’ll be much less likely to stay angry, and much more willing to work with you to reach a satisfactory resolution.

Use the active listening techniques you’ve developed as a sales professional to ask probing questions or ask for examples. Sit up straight or lean forward, nod your head occasionally and give brief verbal encouragements such as “please go on,” “I understand” or “yes.”

Try taking notes to show that what they’re saying is important to you. And remember to let the client do at least 70% of the talking. Your customer wants and needs to tell his whole story without significant interruption. When you're listening, a minute can seem like an eternity. Don't let this distorted sense of time force you into becoming impatient.

At the end of the conversation, summarize what they’ve said to show them that you were listening and that you do understand. Then ask for one more opinion: what they think you could do to improve.

When you demonstrate real interest and concern by actively listening to what your customer has to say, you are showing that you respect them and take their problems seriously. By promising to take action to fix those problems, you simultaneously make the customer feel important and re-establish your own credibility in their eyes.

Step 4: Adapt to their personality style

We all know that different people have different personalities.

Some people are highly logical and analytical, interested in facts, statistics and technical explanations above all else. Others are more emotional and tend to be motivated by relationships. Others still tend to be urgent, bottom-line thinkers.

To get a feel for the type of person you're dealing with, watch their body language, the clothes they wear or the way they carry themselves. Even over the phone, a person's choice of words can yield important clues to their personality. When you think you have some idea of who they are, try to adapt your own personality style to better keep pace with theirs.

With a little practice, you’ll probably find this to be easier than you think. Once you’ve tried it a few times, you may also find that it makes your own work a little more interesting as well.

Step 5: Commit to improve

An uncertain customer is an angry customer. So never leave a customer feeling unsure of where they stand.

Consider this example. Suppose you bought a bookcase that you have to put together yourself. You lug the box out to your car, drive home, drag the box into the house, open it, gather all the necessary tools together, carefully figure out the instructions and assemble everything except the decorative front panel. You’re ready to put this final piece in place when you discover that one absolutely crucial hinge is missing.

Frustrated and perhaps dropping a few colorful words on the way to the phone, you call the store. The manager says to you: "I don't know what we can do or where we can get the part. Give me your number and I'll get back to you."

How do you feel? Does that response satisfy you?

Of course not, because you've been left with no real commitment and no idea of how long it might be until your problem is solved. Now, how much better would you feel if the manager told you: "I don't know what we can do or where we can get the part. But I'll get to work on finding a way to solve this problem immediately and I'll call you back absolutely no later than three o'clock this afternoon. Please give me your number."

It still doesn’t get you your bookcase built, but doesn’t having the time commitment make you feel much better? This goes for your own customers, too. Being vague or non-committal will only make them angrier than they already are. Being specific and making a firm commitment will leave them feeling much more satisfied with both their current issue and their ongoing relationship with you.

Always let the customer know that you appreciate their opinions and suggestions, and that you will be taking concrete steps to improve. You can even go so far as to ask whether they’d like you to check in with them again in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, don’t turn your back on what they’ve said or try to forget about it. Spend some time looking for any validity in their criticism, and perhaps share the feedback with someone you can trust to tell you the truth. This will also give you a good chance to look at the criticism from a neutral perspective.

One last thought

I’ve seen far too many people pull ads, cancel programs, postpone events or ruin otherwise profitable relationships just because somebody got offended. So whatever you do – don’t ever take criticism personally.

I know this can be hard, especially when it’s coming from someone you like (or someone who signs your paycheck!). The fact of the matter is, if you’re not offending at least one person, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.

The real you may make 2-3% of your clients uncomfortable. That’s okay, because you weren’t going to sell to them anyway. The thing to remember is that the other 97% of your clients really want to see your personality, your style and your communication reflected in your work. If you try to make everyone happy, the only thing you can be certain of is becoming a bland commodity that no one will be particularly excited about.

Only you can give other people permission to make you feel bad. Interpreting criticism as a subjective opinion with a concrete solution instead of a personal rebuke will help you grow, build better relationships and, ultimately, become more successful.

So take the opinions and criticism of others seriously, not personally. Use what they say to create an action plan to improve your performance. And don’t worry about being perfect.

As the Bard once said – to thine own self be true. Be your best not for your boss, your customers or even your family. Be your best for you.



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Save Money with Small Business Accounting

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Financial records to enable accounts to be submitted and the tax payable calculated are unavoidable responsibilities of being in business. Bookkeeping at its most basic level does not require high levels of accounting knowledge and experience and accountant fees can be saved.

Sales Invoices

A sales invoice is a prime document. In more advanced accounting systems technical terms such as sales day books, sales ledgers, debtors and credit control are important but at the basic level bookkeeping of sales is the act of recording those sales in the business books.

A sales day book is basically a log of sales invoices issued by the business and this level of recording financial transactions is all that may be required for a small business. A simple bookkeeping method is a list of invoices that only require entering into the business books once.

Simple bookkeeping for sales invoices is single entry bookkeeping with manual analysis. While the accounting staff may make these entries in the small business environment the business owner usually keeps the books.

Larger companies use accounting software to produce the accounting information in a variety of formats for different financial control and reporting purposes. Within the financial accounting package the sales would not only appear as a list making up the total sales turnover but would also be entered in a sales ledger.

Each sales invoice being allocated to the various clients to whom the sales had been made. The sales ledger at this stage of the bookkeeping represents the value of goods or services sold to each customer.

Purchase Invoices

A purchase invoice is a prime document and a purchase day book is a list of purchase invoices received from suppliers. The purchase invoice day book would not normally require further financial analysis of the type of expenditure. To that extent a simple purchase day book would be a good starting point for a simple set of accounts but require a little more sophistication requiring analysis by expense type for both financial control and taxation purposes.

Single entry bookkeeping is sufficient for most small business with the addition of analysis columns.

Medium and larger organizations require to track and control purchase invoices to control costs and payments. In a mirror of the sales ledger system purchase invoices would also be entered by supplier into a purchase ledger. The easy way is to allocate each supplier a code number so that the accounting software can collect the amounts owed to each supplier the individual supplier accounts being the purchase ledger.

Global Marketing Solutions for Local Businesses

The best way to improve your local business’s presence on the Internet is through online local business marketing. You can propose an article about yourself and your business in these submissions. It is a great way for you to promote yourself and your business to the local community, piquing the interest of those who read about you. Such submissions offer excellent alternatives to traditional marketing techniques, which are time-consuming and costly compared to online marketing. They are more personal and more likely to draw the customer in with the desire to learn more about what you can offer him or her. Not to mention that your possibilities are simply endless. You can reach countless people – today most people have access to a computer. Online searching is a great way for new clients to find you and they surely will! Not only globally, but also local clients search on the Internet to find your business, and this offers great possibilities.

Browse for sites where you are allowed to submit an article with one or two active links to your own site. These web sites typically require that you provide links at the bottom of the article in a short biography of yourself. When clicked, the links will divert the person reading the article to the printable coupons, offers, and discounts that your business provides. This is a convenient way for potential customers to read about your services and then follow the links to obtain more information about your business. Articles are also a great way to position yourself as an expert on the topic and show your best qualities through the information that you provide in the article. If you are not allowed to submit your article with links or URLs, consider trying a different portal. The purpose is for customers to be able to click their way to your site. If they can’t do this, they may go to the competition.

Trying to target local customers who will seek out your business and use your services? How will you reach these people? What can you do to grab these potential customers without using up your marketing dollars? Is there a good way that beats the old-fashioned marketing techniques? There sure is. The best solution is to submit local marketing press releases or articles to a variety of portals.

Many local businesses advertise through radio, newspapers, or other typical local advertising mediums. Distributing handbills, hanging up notices, and advertising through your local television cable operator are some of the old methods that people have used to market their businesses. Don’t worry. You can do much better than these old, useless strategies. Instead of these outdated methods, online services can be used via local business registration and online business profiles. The Internet is less expensive and more cutting-edge than ‘old’ media, which may not reach your target audience. Instead, with an online presence, you will target many different people – men and women of all ages. The Internet helps you to get through to a very broad target market and expand your client database.




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Build Leads, Customers, Profits and Business At Speed

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Those in business ignore sales and marketing at their peril. These disciplines are the very lifeblood of any commercial enterprise, whether a single mother working from home or a massive multi-national corporate body. Every business has either a service or a product to bring to the market, but bringing it is not enough - it has to be sold as well. To put this another way - consumers, potential customers and clients have to be both made aware of the product or service and then coerced into purchasing it.

If customers are not aware of the product they will not buy it, and if they don't buy it, it is impossible to generate a profit. The very essence of marketing is to bring to the market a product it wants, and to package and price it correctly so that it makes a profit for the business. It is the responsibility of the sales and marketing team to ensure this happens.

Everyone has their own preferred emphasis. Some prefer direct mail marketing, others prefer network marketing while a large number lean more and more towards email marketing. However one chooses, identifying the correct marketing strategies as part of the overall campaign is imperative. It is the very root of the success you desire for yourself and your employer.

Sales and marketing training courses should be regular ports of call for every member of the team. Selling is a skill that comes naturally to some, but not to most. Don't be disheartened! Everyone can learn the necessary skills so that they are repeated like drills. With the right training and strategies in place, the appropriate successful selling responses should kick in automatically. Also with marketing, one should be able to respond instinctively and creatively.

There is such a choice of media now that for the marketers it can be overwhelming. The widespread use of the Internet and the increasing availability of high speed connections, along with TV,results in vast numbers of potential customers being introduced to a product or service in no time at all. It is always worth seeing how the market uses the search engines to better understand its psyche. Don't you wonder at how some peoples' minds work? What makes them enter words in that order. Did you know that one of the phrases most looked for in the search engines is 'engine marketing search'. I find that amusing, but over one million people type that in every month. Why do they reverse the words? I don't know - but it is important to know that they do so marketing strategy can reflect these things where necessary.

Marketing managers vary in their approaches, but some will undoubtedly choose to use a marketing agency. The difficulty here is that many would like to seize the opportunity to do their own thing at your expense. Many designers have a similar attitude. If you opt for a marketing agency to rn and manage your campaign, you cannot afford to do so without first presenting the agency with a full and detailed marketing brief. The aim of this is not to limit their creativity, but to keep it focussed on your needs and not theirs. All this of course should be underpinned by solid market research.

At its most basic level, both selling and marketing are about the art of communications and the best choice of media for the markets to be targeted. It has to be said however, that not all possible clients and customers should be treated to the same method or system. For example, wholesale and retail markets will attract different methods of communication by the sales team. Again, if a product is to be sold in a store or shop, it is not the same approach as advertising an article to be sold at auction. Each market niche needs its own type and style of advertisement. Ads will have to designed to appeal to that niche, and it is important to understand the socio-demographics of the niche to get this right.




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Common reasons for sales reluctance

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Almost anyone in sales has some form of sales reluctance, whether it is a total reluctance to have anything to do with sales, a reluctance to call on certain prospects, or even to sell certain products or services. Sales reluctance can become an obstacle to achieving higher sales performance and in most cases it can be overcome. Here are 10 common underlying reasons for sales reluctance and a brief overview of what to do about it. It is not an exhaustive list but most other areas are connected in some way to these.

Lack of motivation

Self motivation acts as a driving force in sales and also as an anaesthetic. Its common for sales people who have a success early in the day to show little signs of reluctance but if they have a bad start to the day their reluctance just increases. Having motivating goals and a plan to obtain them is one aspect of overcoming sales reluctance. The other is how to stay motivated and recover from disappointments and rejection. Success breeds success in sales and motivation fuels the activity needed to achieve success. If you focus on your motivation levels you will find that you are able to be more consistent. ‘Take a check up from the neck up’ as Zig Zigglar says.

Lack of clarity

You can be highly motivated but if you do not know what you are doing or the direction in which you should be focusing then that can lead to reluctance. Your energy will be sapped and you will not know why. It’s because you are confused and need more clarity. The way to get more clarity is to seek it and ask better questions.

Lack of confidence

There are many areas of confidence that could impact sales performance including self confidence, confidence about your services, confidence about the market, even confidence in undertaking a new task. In sales, confidence becomes a ‘chicken and egg’ situation. The more you do something and the more you get it wrong, the more likely you are to start getting it right. Being able to control the feeling of confidence whilst developing competence is a learnable skill.

Incorrect Attitude/Mindset

Everything looks different depending on how you look at it. Preconceived notions about what selling is or isn’t and what people may or may not be thinking all adds to the sales reluctance mix. Learning to see things the way sales people do will help to put things into perspective and can help with sales reluctance. Seek mentoring from someone who is already achieving the sales success you want and learn how they think. Over time and with proper application you will begin to think just like them and have the same levels of success.

Limiting Beliefs

There are certain beliefs that we will have developed as we grew up such as ‘Its rude to talk about money’ or ‘People do not like me’ or even ‘All salespeople are crooks!’. These get experienced as self talk at a very subtle level whenever in situations that invoke them. Becoming aware of them is the first stage of overcoming them. Then you need to find counter examples and develop you own self talk and activities to develop new self talk. Working with an NLP practitioner could help you accelerate the process.

Insufficient strategies
If you have only learnt one way to sell and you are selling in a different market or to different prospects you may find that your sales results begin to suffer and you begin to lose confidence and develop a level of sales reluctance. Find someone who is achieving success in your new situation so that you can learn and apply their strategies. Read books, attend seminars, listen to audio programmes. Just make sure you are looking at new answers.

Need for approval

This is a very common issue in sales and one of the harder to resolve quickly. It is a good thing in terms of relationship building but if the sales person does not have control over their need for approval then it can lead to extreme reluctance in certain sales situations. At the extremes it will lead to total sales avoidance of anything to do with sales or anything that risks damaging the relationship between the sales person and the client. Conventional training will not resolve this. It takes a change in mindset in order to resolve or strategies to reinterpret rejection as something else. It is best to screen out people with an extreme need for approval at the recruitment stage. Personal mentoring and coaching can be effective and training that focuses on mindset rather than technique.

Poor self image

People live according to their self concept. If they do not see themselves as someone who can be successful in sales then they will feel uncomfortable with selling. Also they could not see themselves as someone who could talk confidently with a senior decision maker. It is possible to use visualisation and affirmations to help work on self image. NLP contains many techniques an individual can use to improve self image and working with an NLP practitioner can help accelerate the process.

Underdeveloped people skills

The individual may actually have a reluctance to something much more fundamental. They may feel uncomfortable in inter-personal situations such as meeting new people or even making eye contact. It is something you can screen for with sales people but business owners and partners, it needs attention. As relationships are at least 50% of any sale, it is better to begin with developing inter-personal skills before worrying about sales technique.

Lack of Activity

Just as success breeds an upward spiral of success, lack of activity can breed a downward spiral of lack of activity. Just like an electric fan that has been unplugged, the activity slowly slows. Even top sales people can fall into this trap. They may have a personal situation that takes their eye off the ball and slowly their performance diminishes. Before you know it they start becoming reluctant to do any activity. This is the easiest to fix. It takes getting the person focused back on all the things they were doing to make them successful in the first place.




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5 Business Essential to Maximize Your Sales Success

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Here are 5 essential prerequisites -- basic business essentials -- To Maximize Your Sales Success:

Business Essentials -- 1.A Customer-Oriented Focus.

It demands that you take a look at the big picture and think long-term. Invariably, this means that you avoid the get-rich-quick mentality at all costs. Your purpose in business is to not just make the sale, but to forge a relationship. Be significant, helpful, caring, advantageous, and unique to your customer and you'll be handsomely rewarded in return. It's the law of cause and effect in action. Build a reputation for continually delighting customers and they'll come back and buy from you again and again. Not only that, but they'll tell others too. These are the most profitable sales you'll ever make. If you need to find new customers each time out, you're rowing upstream and forever spending money in search of sales. The get-rich-quick artists aren't interested in relationship building, they simply want to extract cash from anyone they can, as quickly as they can, and they flee the scene to avoid any fallout. It's hardly a strategy for long-term growth and profitability.

Business Essentials -- 2. A Quality Product.

Don't even think about creating advertising copy if you don't first have a quality product to take to market. It doesn't have to be the absolute finest quality widget ever engineered, but it must offer some advantage to the marketplace. It helps if your product is an exclusive - something not easily obtained elsewhere.

If you're not thrilled about what you're selling, this lack of enthusiasm will come through in your copy. If you're not absolutely convinced that what you have to sell offers quality, unique advantages and solid value to the buyer, don't even try to convince others. To do so means you're pushing a product upon your audience, rather than pulling them towards it.

Business Essentials -- 3. An Irresistible Offer.

Your product alone should never represent your entire offer. If you want to sell by words alone, you need an offer that is so attractive, no sensible person could pass it by. Prepare an overall package that is worth far more than your product alone.

This is easy to do. Simply think in terms of appealing premiums, bonuses, coupons, consulting packages, gifts, accessories, etc. and you can create an offer that is 100% exclusive - no matter what you're selling.

Business Essentials --4. A Hungry Market.

Identifying a target market is a definite requirement. Ideally, your product and your offer should be shaped and molded to suit the specific desires of your tightly defined niche market. Spot a hungry market with unfilled or poorly filled "wants" and offer the ultimate solution. That's how you stack the deck in your favor.

Business Essentials -- 5. The Resources To Market Effectively.

It doesn't matter how outstanding your product, offer and copy is... if you don't have the capability of reaching your audience in a big way. In direct mail, there are postage, production and list rental costs involved. With web marketing, it's ezine advertising, search engine optimization, and pay per click (PPC) ads.

If you don't factor these expenses in at the start and plan for them, you're creative copywriting and product development efforts could be hampered right off the bat. It takes adequate capitalization to run any business and there are costs involved if you want to maximize your marketing. Proper planning helps transform an unexpected expense into successful investment that propels your business forward. Launching any enterprise without these basic business essentials is futile.

When you have these 5 business essentials in place, your copy is not only easier to write, it's far more convincing. And copy that's far more convincing, converts a lot more prospects into customers.



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Cost Secrets of China Sourcing

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A strategic view in favor of China Sourcing can provide an outcome as to how one can profit from blockages in supply chains. Many of North American and European businesses for the past many years have ridden the upsurge in China sourcing. China's supply of low cost labor is the main attracting factor. But, nothing is permanent and sourcing from China has shown many disadvantages. The factory side is not an issue in China but the supply chain which supposed to get raw materials to assembly plants and finished goods to retail units on time is an issue. The failure to do likewise can have a major blow on operating margins as victory depends on having what is selling in stock at the correct time. A new study says that companies that manage the increasing supply-chain troubles with creative solutions will get a profit from this challenge.

In view of China Sourcing, Mr. George Stalk Jr, an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and partner of Boston Consulting Group of Canada Ltd, talks of surviving the China Sourcing adversaries. There are options for North American and European businesses to steer clear of the growing traffic at ports and also in freight transportation systems. These disturbances, such as those which occurred at U.S. West Coast ports affecting the 2004 Christmas sales, where profit margins were affected adversely. Stalk notes that fast development of ports and rail communications to manage the increased cargo from China is unlikely.

The China Sourcing market is attracted by cost effectiveness. Attractive low costs alternatives such as air-freight which may appear costly initially but may actually lower expenditures by lowering the hidden costs of stock outs. Light, high-margin, highly unpredictable demand products like fashion goods can be benefited by this. Investment in premiums and an increase in capabilities - for example, for priority checks or improving their internal abilities to move goods in a fast and efficient way around congestion, are good.

According to Mr. Stalk diversifying with many suppliers and supply chains or producing major components and products locally in domestic market, accepting high unit manufacturing costs as a cover for lower supply- chain costs and dependable delivery schedules will help greatly. For example, they can transport some or all manufacturing operations to domestic terrains that is- moving them closer to home. This causes China manufacturers to be cautious in dealing with the International trade.

International trade is cost effective. Labor costs are much higher in parts of South America, Mexico and the Caribbean islands but significantly lower than in United States. So these are a favorable option other than China for U.S. Companies.

China Sourcing has emerged a winner as a primary commodity supplier for items like minerals, vitamins, calcium products, amino acids etc. Stalk advises that it will not be a cakewalk for businesses in China Sourcing to find out their own solution but with the correct strategy, they can turn the supply chain hazards into a golden opportunity.



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9 Packaging Problems That Lose Sales

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You have a great product, but it's not flying off the shelf. Is one of these packaging problems turning sales away?

1. You don't understand your market.There are so many new markets and retail outlets out there. Don't forget Internet marketing too. The question is can one package service them all? The answer is no. There are features that work to your benefit in all types of packaging, but in general attributes that appeal to one audience won't appeal to another. Read the rest of this entry »



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Making the Sale When the Customer Want to Buy

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Ever had a party online or offline, and had guests say "I love that item, but I can't afford it right now", or "It's so hard to decide, I want all of this!". This is a perfect time to sell all those items to your customer without them having to pay a dime.

If you aren't using this idea already, make sure to put it into action immediately. Have a gift registry form ready to point those customers to should they want extra items they simply can not buy right now.

What they do is fill out their information, special dates (Birthdays, Anniversary, etc), and the products they want. Then, they fill out names and contact information of relatives and friends they know they will be receiving gifts from. You contact the relatives, stating where you received their information and what's on the wish list you hold. Ask them if they would like a reminder before the special date, and which item they will be purchasing.

 It's a win-win situation for everyone! You make the extra sale, the gift-giver knows they are buying a gift the other person wants (no guess work or wandering around a mall!), and the one receiving the gift is getting exactly what they wanted but couldn't afford.

This idea works easily both online and offline. Keep several forms handy if you are offline, so you can pass them out at parties or events (Pre-made forms available with the Direct Sales Success Kit). Online you will want to set up a page with an automatic form for your guest to fill out.  



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