Customer Service

5 Essential Steps to Sales Success

“Sales is what you do for someone, not to someone”

Bob Proctor

Next to a fear of public speaking, I think the fear of sales runs a very close second. There is such a stigma around sales, the “pushy type”, the “aggressor” the “used-car salesperson”. None of us want to be described like that. But when you are in business for yourself, you must do a certain amount of sales in order for your business to be successful. You cannot just build your website and “hope they will come”.

I have found that people’s mindset around sales and most specifically, their experience around being sold to or selling is the biggest factor towards our fear. We’ve all had unfortunate experiences of being sold to, where the salesperson never focused on our needs, but just continued to describe all the features and talk about how much we will love it. Or we might remember our own botched sales call, where we were hung up on, thrown out of a store, or had someone yell expletives at us until we left.

But I look at sales very differently. If you offer a product or service that can help relieve someone of their “pain” (and I use this word very broadly), it is your DUTY to get out there in big way and talk about the benefits of your product or service. You could be helping lots of people, but if they don’t know about what you’re offering and how it can help them, you are doing those folks a huge injustice.

Sales is a numbers game, a better mousetrap by itself, doesn’t win sales. In other words, you might have the best product or service out there, but if you aren’t putting yourself out there in a big way, you will not increase your revenues. Here are five essential steps to help you create sales success in your business.

1-Networking-you must have a networking strategy. This means a plan for where you will spend your time networking and with whom you will be speaking. You want to be sure you are networking in places where your ideal clients hang out…not at events with your competition.

2-Consistently Contact Prospects-when you come home from your networking events, it’s important to have a system in place for following up with the prospects you met. Sending an e-mail or making a follow-up phone call the next day is crucial to begin developing a relationship with your prospect. Your sales success is directly linked to your prospecting activity. You must follow up, follow up, and follow up!

3-Asking Good Questions-Where is your customer’s “pain”? Be sure you are asking good open-ended questions, so you can get as much information as possible. A good way to start the question is by asking, “So, tell me about….” Asking a question starting with “tell me…” ensures you will get more information than if you asked a closed ended question, that garners a “yes” or “no” response. Develop a list of 25 questions your prospect hasn’t heard and that your competition isn’t asking.

4-Present Solutions/Benefits-so often people start talking about their features. Everything is “we can do this, we can do that”. Once you have heard ALL the pain from your prospect, only then can you start to offer solutions.

5-Ask For the Order! Logical-right, but did you know over 50% of all sales calls end withoutasking for the order? People are so afraid of rejection-that they go through the entire process and don’t ask for the order! You can’t help somebody, if you don’t give them the opportunity to buy your product or service.

Sales is mindset, if you are not clear on WHY you do what you do, and for whom, then that’s the very first place you need to begin. Get clear-figure out why you do what you do and who you do it for…

If you are clear about WHY you do what you do, how you help people through your product or service, then it is imperative that you talk to as many people as possible about what you do, and what you offer so you can be of service to many, many people in this world.

Are You Building Value With Your Clients?

by Administrator Leave a Comment

“Customer care is not a technique-it’s a mindset”

Anonymous

Too often as entrepreneurs, we get so focused on getting new clients that we sometimes forget to “take care” of our current client base. It’s really important in your business tomake your clients feel special and significant in any way you can. Reaching out with a small gift, a personal note or just anything to say, “I’m thinking of you…” goes a long way in going from “client” to “loyal client” or “raving fan.”

Everyone like to feel significant, so it’s your job to find ways to WOW them! And remember, it doesn’t have to be expensive, adding value doesn’t have to “cost” something. Sometimes the simplest things are the most profound!

So here’s a list of some things (and most are pretty inexpensive) that you can do on a REGULAR BASIS to build more value with your customers.

Send eCards
Join Send Out Cards (www.sendoutcards.com) and start sending lovely personalized cards-or send one to celebrate your client’s successes
Cut out comics from the newspaper that are relevant for your client and mail them with a personalized note
Do some research for them about a topic they are interested in, copy and paste it into a document and e-mail it to them
Make a donation (even if it’s $5) to their favorite charity
Make a personal phone call-just to check in
Handwritten note or letter to say congratulations on their accomplishment
Send them a book that you’ve found inspiring
Gift certificate for a manicure at their favorite place
A recorded CD or report that you have on hand that would be beneficial to them
Send them a video you’ve recorded especially for them

Who can you surprise today with a token of appreciation or a kind word that will make them feel special? I urge you to list three names and what you will do to make a personal connection with him or her today.

1. ________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

How Are Your Customers Feeling?

by Administrator Leave a Comment

Last week I ended up in the emergency room with acute appendicitis. I had had a CAT scan in the late afternoon which showed some fluid around the appendix and there was some concern that it might burst. My doctor sent me immediately to the emergency room with my CAT scan CD in hand, saying, “We’ll call and let them know you are coming-hopefully that will speed things up.” Upon arrival I was quickly seen by the triage nurse who then sent me back out in the waiting room, saying, “Have a seat, we’ll be with you in a few minutes”. There were nearly 20 people in the waiting room and very quickly I overheard someone say outloud, “I’ve been here for over two hours, when can I see a doctor?”. At that point, I panicked. My abdomen really hurt at this point, I had a fever and chills. Sitting was the most uncomfortable position for me and I started to worry that my appendix might rupture, since I had been in pain for over four days.

Over two hours went by. During that time a couple of nurses came out and took a patient or two back into the emergency room. But when any hospital personnel came into the large waiting room, they were very careful not to meet anyone’s eye, lest they be asked, “when will a doctor see me?” No one ever came through the room to ask if we needed anything, blankets, water, pillows-nothing. Now I know emergency rooms can be filled with people who may not be having a medical emergency. And often times, doctors send their patients there after hours when waiting until the next morning to see someone, would probably have been okay. But a patient is a patient. A customer is a customer. I know the hospital personnel had the best intentions, but it occurred to me that every doctor, nurse and hospital administrator should have to sit in one of their waiting room chairs for two and half hours with an acute pain in their belly, shivering with chills and a fever, and no information.

This made me wonder, how are we, as leaders and business people, treating our customers? Are we giving them the information they need along the way, so they know where we/they are in the process? Do we have the courage to look them in the eyes when we are clearly at capacity and things aren’t running as smoothly as we’d like? Or do we shirk around and keep our eyes to the floor so we don’t have to engage in a tough conversation? Are we proactive in asking them what would be helpful to them at that moment? Where are the gaps, from our customer’s perspective, in our good intentions?

I’m not talking about customer surveys and focus groups to get at this stuff. I’m talking about meeting our customer eyeball to eyeball and finding out if what they need and communicating with them every step of the way. What are the questions on their minds? Where do we drop the ball in the process? Whether we are a Fortune 500 company or a solopreneur, it’s important that we know how our customers feel-at any given moment. So, I invite you put yourself in your customer’s shoes and walk through the process in your business. Where are the gaps? Where does it feel uncomfortable, unclear or even scary? Are you making your customers feel more comfortable? Or are you keeping them in pain?

Customer Service

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