Posts filed under 'Sales Portal'
The truth is, not all customers are equal. It’s common knowledge: to succeed, we must concentrate our marketing efforts on the customers who are most profitable.
I believe that the obverse is true, too. At the other side of the profitability bell curve is that pool of customers who drain our time, talent and energy, customers so enervating that they are not only not profitable, they represent real losses in money and momentum.
I call these potential customers the Pain-In-The-Assets or PITA Prospects. Fortunately, you can frequently identify them within the first ten minutes of conversation. While the following observations may be drawn from the field of marketing consulting, I’m sure you’ll recognize (perhaps with a sigh) some of the tell-tale danger signals all professional service providers inevitably cross in their careers.
1) “I’ve tried X, and X just doesn’t work.”
Advertising. Websites. Databases. Your would-be customer insists that they’ve already tried a common, business-tested tactic and found failure where others have succeeded. Instead of analyzing why it went wrong, or making the effort to learn from their experience, they assume the tactic itself is flawed. So they reject your very reasonable recommendation and move on to some other “magic bullet” solution. Which, given their impatience, is also likely to fail.
2) “My cousin’s nephew will handle the coding.”
Ah, a two-fer danger signal. First, a desire to “save money” by consigning important work to an amateur (plus an implied disrespect for real, professional expertise). But as an added bonus, you get the specter of family politics. Any criticism on your part, no matter how diplomatic, becomes an assault on a loved one. Run!
3) “I love the way Microsoft does this.”
Yeah, me too. And if I had a loose $250 million lying around, I’m sure that’s the direction I’d go as well. But I don’t, and that’s one of the reasons mere mortals, such as myself, have to do things differently. More modest resources demand alternative methods and adjusted expectations. Beware clients who set unreasonable expectations based on comparisons to businesses several leagues above themselves.
4) “You know, I showed this to my neighbor and now I have second thoughts”
You’ve spent weeks conducting research, compiling information and composing plans. After several more weeks of discussions, negotiations and long, tedious meetings, the client has finally achieved internal consensus and committed to a plan. Or so you thought. One day you get a phone call out of the blue: your client contact discussed your plan with his neighbor (the propane salesman – the brilliant nephew coder must have been busy that day) and now, based on one over-the-fence conversation with someone who knows absolutely nothing about the business at hand, the entire project is torpedoed. Yes, it is time for second thoughts – your own. Dump this client.
5) “Our budget is kind of tight on this.”
You look around your client’s office. There’s plenty of money to spend on $1,000 office chairs, gourmet coffee brewers and the collectible pinball machines in the corner. But not for your particular project. Is this really an issue about money? Or is it about what the client really values? If something is worth doing right, it’s worth spending money on. No money? No you.
6) “We’ve tried four vendors already and none of them could ‘get it.’”
Sure, we usually believe that we’re better than our competitors, but our honesty compels us to acknowledge that, on the whole, most of them are fully competent and capable professionals. One or two may let a client down, but when it becomes three or four or more, I get suspicious. When there’s a high burn-through rate, chances are the fault lies with the client’s working process, not with all the vendors.
7) “Give us a big discount on this – there’ll be lots more work ahead.”
Such a deal! Do this project for less than its worth – and maybe you’ll earn the opportunity to do many more cut-rate, nickel-and-dime projects in the future. Again, this is about values. A prospect who makes price the top criterion for choosing a vendor is not the kind of client who respects quality work.
“Why? Because my competitors are doing it this way.”
There are lots of good reasons for pursuing a policy – but to follow a competitor’s path usually isn’t one of them. You often don’t know why a competitor takes a particular action, and more importantly, without data regarding its effectiveness, you don’t know whether it works. A competitor’s behavior is poor rationale for an important business decision – but the application of that rationale is a clear sign of trouble.
9) “We need your quote tomorrow.”
Drop everything, because this is a rush, rush, rush. No matter that there’s no time to gather relevant information or assess the true scope of the project – your detailed quote has to be surrendered right now. But funny thing…
10) “We’re still reviewing your proposal.”
A few weeks have passed since you and your team stayed up until 2:00 in the morning to hammer out the proposal your prospect just absolutely had to have in the morning. But the initial deadline for the company’s decision has long passed and you can’t get straight answers from any of its representatives. Okay, so maybe that’s the way business goes sometimes. But if you eventually do get the work, guess what? The original deadline for deliverables will remain in effect, even though there’s now half the time to get the job done. Consider this bad start an ill omen.
A final observation.
To some degree, all customers present their own unique challenges. Part of our responsibility as professionals is to rise to these occasions, to deliver that extra edge of service or brilliance or persistence our clients may require.
But when the relationship begins on faulty grounds – when the customer shows carelessness or lack of respect for your experience and expertise – watch out and reconsider. It may be time to cut your losses and move beyond the PITA prospects to serve the customers who deserve your best efforts.
Jonathan Kranz is the author of Writing Copy for Dummies, http://kranzcom.com/book.html, and the principal of Kranz Communications, http://kranzcom.com, a marketing communications and public relations writing firm specializing in B2B and consumer services marketing. He offers customized in-house and on-site marketing and PR seminars, and is a popular speaker at professional association events, meetings, workshops and conferences, http://kranzcom.com/speaking.html
November 15th, 2007
Across england there is a huge amount of plant machinery. Tractors, diggers, excavators - you name it we have it. But over the years the machinery technology develops and models become dated and broken.
Refurbishing tractors is a huge industry because of this fact, and used tractors, second hand plant is as popular as new stuff - tractors are typically built as work horses, designed to last a long time and operate for many a year. Hence fixing up old tractors and making good used plant work again is a great occupation.
If you are looking to find it you can try several things - looking in your local farmers market boards, or online - but there isn’t a huge following online, nature of the business I suppose. Nether the less refurbished-tractors.co.uk will now provide used tractors, second hand farm machinery and used plant / trailers at great prices - check it out now!
October 4th, 2007
Affiliate marketing is a method of marketing products through affiliates, who earn a commission for each sale they provide. Affiliate marketing is connected with, and often used together with, other forms of internet marketing, including search engine marketing, pay per click advertising and email marketing. Affiliate programs use a cost per action (CPA) model, where nothing is paid for ad impressions of clicks, but actual leads and sales.
The Advertiser’s Side
Advertisers, who use affiliate marketing to get sales, often see affiliate marketing as a superior form of online marketing. The main reason for this is that affiliate marketing is completely performance driven. If one of the affiliates can provide no sales, he will not be paid anything. The advertiser only needs to pay some of the profit he makes. If done right, affiliate marketing ensures that advertising costs are always below real revenue, so every sale will make real profit.
Another benefit over other forms of marketing is that the costs to launch an affiliate marketing campaign are very low. If the advertiser wants to recruit very many affiliates, other forms of marketing may be necessary to market the affiliate program for potential affiliates. However, to launch a small campaign it may be enough to add the program to some free affiliate program directories.
The Affiliate’s Side
Mane affiliate programs are free to join, so they can easily be made profitable. Every sale from these programs is profit for the affiliate. Many programs exist, where the share of the affiliate is actually higher than 50% of the final price, so the potential to profit is huge. Some programs offer recurring payments, and can build into streams of residual income.
As compared to pay per click (PPC) advertising, affiliate programs are in many ways a better way to monetize a web site. Affiliate programs usually have no policy that forbids encouraging clicks, on the contrary: writing favorably of the product is encouraged and expected. The advertisement can also be more easily blended with content, since affiliate link are often included in articles about the topic.
Affiliate Directories
Affiliate directories act as a connection between advertisers and potential affiliates. Advertisers list their programs in the directory, and potential affiliates search the directory for affiliate programs that fit their web site theme.
There are many free directories to look into, but the most successful, and largest directories are paid, or take a commission. The most popular include ClickBank, Commission Junction, and ShareASale. These are used by thousands of advertisers and affiliates.
Sutocu is the author of Your Website Profit. See our recommended real estate Greece, and Greece Hotels .
August 29th, 2007
Leaflet drops or leaflet distribution is by far the cheaper method of direct mail However, leafleting brings significantly lower response rates. This is because its less targeted. You can increase the response rate by creating offers on your material and aslo spending the time to create a quality design.
For many businesses the distribution of brochures or leaflets, is by far the most cost-effective form of marketing. Some do Direct mail and leaflet drops whilst others prefer telemarketing and email marketing.
The whole idea is that it allows you to target customers with greater accuracy than any other method. This is because direct marketing whether done by door to door or via the post allows you to generate a specific response from targeted groups of customers.
Get a good printer to provide examples and costings as this is the last piece of the puzzle. Try not to produce your designs on the cheapest material available, as perception is everything. From the time your distributed leaflet is looked at, a picture will be already forming about your company in your customers mind.
July 25th, 2007
By far the favourite man made slate Hayday Construction use are made by a Belgian company with the most popular slate being 300mm x 600mm Montana type. This particular slate has a textured surface and riven (natural looking, dressed) edges.
This slate looks very similar to a traditional Welsh slate, however they are far cheaper to purchase, much quicker to lay and also lighter than traditional natural slate. The
Montana slates are available in Blueish/Black and Purple, useful if you are matching in with an existing welsh slate roof. Montana Cement Fibre slates are produced in accordance with European Standard En492.
June 27th, 2007
Jeff Foxworthy does a comedy routine “You might be a redneck
if…..”
Here are some tips that I see most sales people do that destroy
their success. You might not be a successful sales person if….
You might not be a successful sales person if….. o You don’t
know how many customers you need this next week that are
necessary to hit your yearly total revenue target
You might not be a successful sales person if…. o You don’t
know what your average customer is worth to you.
You might not be a successful sales person if…. o You don’t
know where to find an even bigger customer, or you haven’t been
looking for one.
You might not be a successful sales person if…. o You are
happy selling one at a time, and you don’t know where to sell
one to many.
You might not be a successful sales person if….. o You don’t
know how many sales you have to close this week to be able to
hit your yearly total revenue.
You might not be a successful sales person if….. o You don’t
know how many sales you will close out of 10 appointments. o You
aren’t constantly looking for ways to increase that number.
You might not be a successful sales person if….. o You don’t
know how many leads and appointments you need this week to hit
your yearly total revenue.
You might not be a successful sales person if….. o You don’t
know how many marketing activities that are needed this week to
deliver the number of appointments needed this week.
You might not be a successful sales person if….. o You don’t
know how many cold calls are necessary to deliver the number of
appointments needed this week.
You might not be a successful sales person if…. o You have no
clue how to increase your revenue, your number of customers, or
your profits.
You might not be a successful sales person if….. o You are
refusing to measure your progress o You are saying it is
impossible to measure your progress
What You Can Measure, You Can Manage… What You Can Manage You
Can Improve…
————————-Dramatically!———–
These are some of the top key numbers that IF you don’t know you
are probably NOT successful.
Knowing these numbers does three basic things.
Step 1– Having measurable goals so that you know what you
should have been doing, where your target is, and have developed
a plan how to hit that target EXACTLY.
o Let’s you know what you should be doing to achieve the revenue
you’d like to be making this year.
o Psychologists say that you are 7 times more likely to achieve
your goal if you have it written and clearly defined.
Step 2–Measuring your progress toward those goals let’s you
know if you are on target, and what is working, and what is not.
Step 3–Learning from what worked and what didn’t allows us to
optimize. Having the measurements is THE ONLY way for that to
happen.
And, here’s a real big aha….most of those that completed step
one and two more than doubled their business. Those that went to
step 4 found that it catapulted them another 5-10 times in the
next few weeks, and if they kept it up, the multiplication of
their business results kept up as well, over and over and over.
You might be a successful sales person if…
——————–You avoid all of the problems above.
June 21st, 2007
If you’ve been involved in business for any length of time at all, you’ve probably been introduced to the concept of Cold Calling. Is Cold Calling a waste of time, or is it a viable method of building a business from the ground up?
First, let’s examine how successful businesses work. Have you ever received a Cold call from Bill Gates trying to get you to buy software?
I didn’t think so, yet, he is an extremely successful business owner, despite the fact that he doesn’t set on the phone all day Cold Calling, Prospecting, and Recruiting new customers and clients.
To be successful in your business, you need to think like a successful business owner. You need a high performance marketing and promotion strategy. This will allow you to generate your own leads rather than buying those worthless generic lead lists that the majority of the online lead generators are selling.
If you’ve ever tried using a Cold Calling script on a batch of leads that you purchased, you’ll know what a waste of time Cold Calling can be.
When you generate your own real time targeted leads, they are requesting information from you directly. They already have an interest in what you have to offer, and they will be glad to hear from you when you call them.
You see, this is not a cold lead list. These are leads that are coming to you. Your not chasing them and trying to pitch them on anything. This is the power of calling a list of warm leads that want to talk to you.
Building your own lead generation system is not as difficult as it may seem. In fact, just about anyone can generate their own leads in virtually any business or industry. You simply need to follow a step-by-step plan, implement a business success system, and start building your business like the professionals do. You can actually receive a simple guide to Lead Generation at www.MentorMindSet.com.
Think like a professional, act like a professional, and build your business like a professional. The results will come when you take consistent action and sincerely believe in what you do.
Troy Berlin is an Internet Professional devoted to teaching, training, and mentoring students in the True Art and Science of building a business. Download a complimentary Lead Generation Secrets Ebook at http://www.MentorMindSet.com
June 4th, 2007
Being a salesperson can be a very profitable job. Commissions go higher the more a salesperson can sell. In addition, many sales jobs have bonuses for salespeople that exceed their expectations, including stock options and vacations. Even though sales can be a very rewarding job, many people are reluctant to participate because of its instability. If you don’t sell anything you do not get paid. It is very likely that a person could make $10,000 one month and only $3,000 the next.
To assist people at getting over their fear to enter the sales field, I am providing 5 tips on how they can become better salespeople. With these tips anyone can feel more comfortable pursuing a sales job.
1. Contact a lot of prospects. You can not make a sale if you only contact a few people each day. Make sure you contact as many people as possible.
2. Follow up with existing customers. Following up with existing customers will tell them how customer service orientated you are. That good service will make them a more loyal customer.
3. Network. Going to networking groups is a great way to meet potential customers.
4. Ask customers for referrals. word-of-mouth is a big part of business success. It is a lot cheaper than advertising and it is more credible.
5. Don’t get discouraged. Rejection is part of the job, just keep trying.
If you follow these 5 tips you will realize that anyone can be a good salesperson.
Andre Bias is the owner of http://www.kidfriendlyentertainment.com, and online source for top notch DVD’s for children 10 years old and younger. He is also the owner of the websites http://www.pokergreed.com and http://www.mustseeauctions.com
June 1st, 2007
Lubov (Luba) Warrack, a dedicated silversmith and featured
jeweler on jewelrycrossings.com, quite amazingly arrived at the
jeweler’s bench via the science lab.
In fact, Luba came to the United States from her homeland of
Russia in 1990 on a research grant. A graduate in biology from
Moscow State University, she received a Ph.D. in neurophysiology
from the Russian Academy of Sciences. When her research was
completed at a university in North Carolina she wanted to become
a university lecturer, but was told her Russian accent would
present a problem.
Luckily, at the same time Luba was involved in scientific
research back in Moscow, she was also pursuing a parallel
interest in and fascination with jewelry making. She
successfully completed an apprenticeship with Evgeny Butorov,
silversmith and restoration expert at the Moscow Historical
Museum from 1979 to 1982, working on icon mounts in gold and
silver filigree. So when her work in academia was ending, Luba
decided to take her jewelry making talent to the next level.
Soon she was selling her pieces of sterling silver earrings,
pendants, bracelets and rings at local jewelry shows on the east
coast. Some of Luba’s early work concentrated on the classic
Russian filigree she had learned back in Russia, but soon she
found herself experimenting with contemporary styles and the
innovative techniques in silver making. She studied
plique-a-jour enameling with Valeri Timofeev at East Carolina
University and reticulation techniques at Duke University under
Mary Ann Scherr. Today Luba’s artistry still excites the
beholder with intricately woven filigree patterns, inspired by
her training on Russian historical icons. But her creative
energy also finds a home in a fascinating technique called
“reticulation” which transforms the surface of her sterling
silver pieces into a creased, crepe-like texture. She especially
enjoys making ribbons of sterling silver and weaving them into
custom bracelets and pendant mountings. Often she imports rare
Russian gemstones not readily found in North America, as well as
the more familiar like amber, and incorporates them into her
contemporary designs.
Citrine Silver Pendant In the past ten years Luba has exhibited
her work at numerous shows from New England to California and
has won many awards including Best in Jewelry Category at the
Virginia-Highlands Show in Atlanta; Best in Show at the
Cityfest, Charlotte, N.C.; and Best in Category at the Art on
the Lawn, Richmond, VA.
Luba makes her home with husband Giles, a mathematics professor,
in Greensboro, N.C. You can see Luba’s work by visiting
www.jewelrycrossings.com and clicking on her gallery called
“From Russia with Luba.” - Susi, Silver Jewelry
Crossings
May 30th, 2007
The road to a sale can be a bumpy one. While some travel that bumpy road with ease, many waste their time whining about the bumps and eventually end up quitting. These people quit because they are looking for quick answers, perfect scripts, and easy “how to” instructions. They just don’t have what it takes to keep trying for that sale.
Newsflash: Sales success doesn’t come from an answer in some book you’ve read, or from following the instructions that your company has laid out for you. Success in sales comes from living (and selling) by a set of principles that you have made completely your own.
Most salespeople disregard sound principles because they aren’t the quick-fix answers they are looking for. These same people think that principles are too “soft.” Sure, they may seem soft, but they are very powerful. So powerful, that if you don’t make the time or effort to understand them, you will lose to someone who does.
Take a hard look at yourself. How tough are you? How do you handle pressure? How much time do you spend whining? Lack of persistence is a symptom of laziness, apathy, ignorance, and other equally pathetic reasons why salespeople suck at their jobs. You must relentlessly pursue victory if you ever expect to achieve it.
If you want to have this kind of persistence, you must have the qualities that will develop and encourage it:
Definite Purpose: Know what you want – EXACTLY what you want, in definite terms. Without this specific, personal understanding of what you want, your persistence will be nothing more than roadkill.
Desire: You gotta want it, baby! If desire burns deep and strong within you, you will have the strength and courage to survive the difficult times.
Self-Reliance: Stop waiting for others to do things for you. Stop going to others for leadership and find it in yourself! Develop and rely on your OWN abilities. Your belief in your ability to finish the job fuels the persistence you will need to do it.
Definite plan: You must have a definite and organized plan, regardless of its flaws and imperfections. Your plan will sustain and encourage your ability to remain persistent.
Accurate knowledge: Knowing that your ideas are valid, through experience or observation, will give you the confidence to stay persistent. Repeatedly guessing, instead of knowing, kills everything you have been working for. Stop guessing – Google it!
Cooperation: If you’re going to be persistent, you must have the ability to play well with others. Empathy, understanding, and encouragement from those around you go a long way towards developing persistence.
Willpower: You choose what you think about all day long. Take control of your thoughts and you can accomplish anything! Dedicate these thoughts to developing a purpose and plan. Persistence will follow.
Habit: Your mind feeds on your experiences and forms habits. When your mind is consumed with the picture of victory, persistence becomes habit. There is no magic switch you can flip to become persistent; it will only take hold when it has become second nature.
Victory comes when you understand that there is no textbook way to make a sale. People buy from people – spend time becoming a better person. Have your own set of principles that will give you the drive to follow your plan and purpose.
Still seem too soft for you? Think of it this way: making these principles the backbone of your work will give you the tireless determination to beat your competitors every time. Sure, you could waste your time whining about lost sales and looking for a quick fix, but wouldn’t you rather be making money?
Tom Richard conducts seminars on sales and customer service topics nationwide. Tom is also the author of Smart Salespeople Don’t Advertise: 10 Ways to Outsmart Your Competition With Guerilla Marketing, and publishes a free weekly ezine on selling skills titled Sales Muscle. To subscribe to this free weekly ezine go to http://www.tomrichard.com/subscribe
May 22nd, 2007
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