As the economy slows, competition for scarce resources increases and sales are now back on the agenda - the shoe is now firmly on the other foot!

It is worth noting some key points raised by Neil Rackham (of SPIN Selling fame) in his article: "Selling tactics for difficult times"

• Only 50% of sales people have sold in difficult times - if you have a young sales force then this proportion will be much higher.

• In an economic downturn, sales cycles (from start to close) are typically 40% longer

• Many people believe that in tough times, customers buy on price - this is a fallacy as most customers will buy on value, not price

• Research has shown that during difficult times, customers will buy safety i.e.. the offering with the lowest risk. Often the perception is that the lowest risk option is to stay with the "status quo" i.e.. the current product, service and/or provider

• Committees are often involved in making economic decisions in difficult times and group decision making usually favours lower risk

• Buyers also realise that their decisions will come under more scrutiny in tougher economic times.

This means that businesses and sales people will need to adjust their strategies in order to compete effectively and to survive in a depressed economy.

Sales Survivors

Rackham's research indicated that many sales people struggle to adjust to the "new rules" of the downturn (just as many business owners and managers struggle). There is also a group that will adapt and survive (even thrive) in an economic downturn.

In his article, Rackham outlined the key characteristics of "the Strugglers" and "the Survivors" based on research undertaken in previous downturns. This is summarised in the table below.

Interestingly, research has shown that a key factor in the buying decision for customers was the "confidence" of the sales person.

Are your sales people confident when they sell? How can you help them to build confidence in themselves, your pricing and your products and services?  Call me to find out how I can help you achieve this quickly - click here

Improving your sales force

In a second article, Rackham exposes 5 top tips for building a world class sales force:

• Sales Supervisors are the key to success - lift the level of supervision not the level of sales person. You don't need better sales people - you need better sales supervision.

• Fewer accounts = more sales - Research has shown that dramatic improvements in sales can come from reducing the number of opportunities that a salesperson will focus on by up to 30%. It's the quality not quantity approach!

• Create Value - Your sales people must become "value creators" or "problem solvers" rather than "talking brochures".

• Coaching brings results - ensure that your team has support at all levels from manager to supervisor to sales person. Effective coaching can often provide that external sounding board and third party accountability that can help to improve results.

To get started rate yourself on the following audit. Mark the scale with a cross to denote where you are now and a tick to mark where you want to be in six months.

List three action against the largest gaps and get moving.

If you need some free clarification or assistance give me a call - Ross 0409 459736 or Click Here 

1. Profile your customers.  Most business can tell you how many products they sold and what the products do.  Very few of them actually know who their customers are. 

2. Segment your customers.  This is a difficult process in most businesses because the information has not been collected.  Consider issues such as customers’ income, location, industry background, sales volume, etc.

3. Identify your “A” Class Clients.  Rank all your customers.  A small percentage of your clients (between 20% and 30%) will be responsible for the majority of your profit.  These customers are usually regular purchasers, with a high value per purchase, and you enjoy dealing with them.

4. Identify the Situation facing them.  In order to understand future market trends, you must understand the changes occurring to the environment of these clients.  What is happening for them?  Are new competitors, new Government legislation, increasing costs, new technology, etc affecting them?  Consider a survey of your customers to capture this information.

5. Identify their Problems.  Talk to your customers and find out about their challenges and problems.  Listen to their concerns.  Try and get them to be specific about the issues they face.

6. Get them to Quantify the Implications.  Discuss with them what would ultimately happen if they do not find a solution to these problems.  Would they face financial difficulties, longer working hours, or greater stress?  Here you are trying to understand what would motivate them to change to you.

7. Create the Need for your Services.  Your customers should now be asking for your help.  You have the opportunity to offer a solution.  They will be more interested in you and your company rather than how much you charge.

8. Outline the Costs and Benefits of your Services.  Completing a Cost Benefit Analysis makes it simple for your customer to make a decision.  The clearer the benefits, the less the issue about price.

9. Offer a Guarantee.  Every business informally provides a guarantee, but very few have defined it, and told their customers!  The clearer you are about your guarantee the easier it is for you to limit your exposure.

10. Ask for the Sale.  This is the step that everyone puts off.  Your customer is expecting you to ask for the sale.  When you don’t ask for it they think that you cannot successfully meet their need.

Practicing, testing and scripting are essential.  These steps provide you with the content of any future advertising and promotion.

Clients have achieved outstanding results using this 10-step process.  We can assist you through each stage and achieve significant success. 

Fill in the following template to create your sales and marketing program.

What makes this date any different?  It’s just a day!  It has nothing to do with timing. It’s really something deeper–something inside of you that simply holds you back despite your having the desire to be the best you can be.

And that’s the point I really want to drive home as we start this new year.  Desire is simply not enough.  It’s not enough in your personal life, and it sure isn’t enough in your small business.  I’ll admit it’s a starting point, but at the end of the day desire is worthless without clarity about where you want to be, a plan of action and a firm commitment to yourself to follow through.

Here is a short list of seven popular New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business Owners, in no particular order.  If you are already doing some of these religiously, good for you.  If not, ask yourself why, and then make the commitment to take action and follow through! 

1. Make the commitment to learn more this year
Whether you decide to enroll in a small-business class, or simply read a different book each month about business, a successful person, or personal development, you and your business will be the better for it.

2. Make business planning and strategy a priority
Just because your business isn’t a new startup, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spend some quality time planning and strategising for a successful year.

3. Increase your networking efforts
This is really a no-brainer!  If this is on your list for this year, put the plan together on where, when and how and stick to it.

4. Better manage your work-life balance
The game of small business and entrepreneurship is stressful at times.  Find ways to better manage your work-life balance.  You and your family will thank you for it.

5. Find a way to serve, contribute, and give back
Isn’t this really what it’s all about anyway?

6. Hire a business consultant
Not someone who relies only on rhetoric but one who can help you really plan and implement quality strategy.  Experienced, unbiased, neutral advice from a third-party is really invaluable to you and your small business.

7. Communicate more with your employees:
 Find out the real reasons why they are dissatisfied, and do something about it.  They will work harder for you, and be more dedicated to you and your company over the long term.

 Use the following formula to rate yourself on the factors that are critical in achieving potential.

If you have an unyielding desire to succeed, a crystal clear vision for the future and an exceptional plan of action give yourself 10 of of 10 in each box.  The closer you mark yourself toward 0 the less sure you are about that factor.

Now simply multiply your scores together and divide by 10 to get your change percentage.

If you want this year to be the best ever give us a call and we’ll help you get there.

Call us direct on 1300 933 074 or 0409 459736 to arrange your free review session.

Is your service a key factor in setting you apart from your competitors?
Does it frustrate you that while others claim to give service, you deliver better service, quality and value?

Most businesses perceive their competitive advantage to be their ‘outstanding service’, ‘better quality’, or ‘understanding the customers needs’ however many believe that they are not communicating this service excellence effectively.

They express a strong sense of frustration that if only they could better communicate what they offer, their business would grow in leaps and bounds.

Remarkably, less than 25% have a programme in place to systematically follow up customers and extend further services to ‘nurture’ them into long term loyal clients. Very few ever write to their customers after the sale.

What is most interesting is that most of these businesses are generally successful, growing, and run by very switched on people.

So why do switched on people not do things they clearly know they should? Certainly, there is a time constraint. We are all victims of the ‘trying to do everything at once’ syndrome.

But more so, I strongly sense it is our tendency to invest time and energy in areas we know and understand, steering clear of areas unfamiliar to us or outside our ‘comfort zone’.

And while what you're doing works, there's a temptation not to extend past that, even though there may be vast untapped new business waiting outside the comfort zone.

Comfort zone or not, the facts are irrefutable: A concerted approach to effective marketing (and by that I mean all its facets including advertising, joint venturing, staff training and communication generally) is the most powerful form of leverage available to you.

Literally without spending an extra cent, focussing in this area can revolutionise your business.

For example, think about the way you and your people convert enquiries on the telephone. If your conversion rate is currently 1 in 4, and you were to focus on training that allowed your people to lift conversions to 1 in 2, you've just lifted profits by 100%.

Think about writing to your customers. If you haven't done so, you may literally have millions of dollars in latent business just waiting to be tapped.

So how can we integrate these insights into the power of marketing?

Well, here are 8 ways to package your excellence... and turn all that energy and commitment into sales.

Of course, the temptation will be there to say, ‘I already know all this stuff’ however whether you know it or not is not the point. It's how consistently and effectively you do it that counts.

1. Don't assume your clients recognise or appreciate your excellent service.
You might know how fantastic your service is and how committed to the client you really are but only by constantly reinforcing it (using specifics where ever possible), will the likelihood grow that clients and prospects will fully appreciate it.

If you are fanatical about your quality and service you have a potent marketing tool waiting to be harnessed.

For example how does your letterhead remind or inform people how good your service is. What statement captures the reason they can depend on you?

How does your distribution system advertise the benefits of your company to others? When you send out product does your packing slip say, ‘We are proud that our products are of the very highest standards. If this does not meet or exceed your expectations in every way, simply return it for an immediate replacement or refund. And thank You ...for being an ABC Pty Ltd client’

2. Keep in touch ...more often than your competitors.
This isn't earth shattering stuff either. It certainly isn't the first time you've heard it. Yet in our experience, hardly any of the businesses have a policy of writing to clients after the sale ...or sending some other value adding information on a routine basis.

Now you may tire of reading all those letters and handwritten notes to clients but to your client, it's new. They'll be pleasantly surprised and delighted that you care. When it comes to doing more business or referring others, who will they think of first?

Few business people will ever disagree with the logic behind this ‘keep-in-touch’ approach, yet almost unanimously, they'll rationalise that they are too busy or don't have the facilities to do it.

In fact, no business can afford not to practise these vital steps.

The trick lies in having a system.

It doesn't matter if your system entails scribbling X number of notes every night, or handing over names and addresses to a marketing company together with a stack of your letterheads and a standard letter.

What matters is that consistently following the ‘I keep-in-touch’ programme will guarantee that your great service-and hence your future profits, are being proactively nurtured.

3. Harness your reservoir of good will.
If you're as good as you think, then you'll have a lot of people impressed with your service. You already know ‘word of mouth’ is your most powerful form of advertising. Help them to make you even more successful by helping them talk to others about you.

Do a bit of soul searching. Ask yourself: Do you make it easy for your delighted clients to advocate you? Can you even imagine what it would mean in terms of new (and quality) business if you could grow referrals by say 10%?

There may be literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in good business waiting for you if you develop a packaged system for letting your clients refer you.

Why not get your team together and mind map the ways you could package up the referral process in order to make referrals easier for your clients and alliances. Also think about ways you might measure the effectiveness of your strategies.

Instructions on how to mind map Click Here

4. Make your literature work harder
What do you do with the brochures that cross your desk every month? Mostly you toss in the bin without even a cursory glance, right?

Why do company brochures hit the bin so fast? For one, they are an arms length communication that are impersonal and therefore easy to discard without any sense of guilt.

Secondly, most brochures are a company ego trip. They talk only about the company and not the needs of the the reader or prospect.

The cold truth is, no one gives a damn about the company, only what the company can do for them

Does your brochure commit that sin?

Put it to the test as you would a salesperson, question its presentation, and make sure it justifies its existence.

5. Document & duplicate what works.
There is almost always a better way to convert leads to clients.

It still costs you the same in your selling effort whether the person buys or not. And when you look at the dynamics of lifting conversions by even 15%, it could return you vastly more profit than thousands of dollars supplementing your ad campaign.

Again it’s about developing systems that you can measure and continuously refine. How does your best sales person do it? How can you package up the methods he or she uses and pass them along. Can’t be done? Then how come McDonalds can motivate my 14 year old to consistently produce awesome service all day every day for as little as six bucks an hour? They have a great system(s).

The key here is to not try and improve by 100% in one jump. Remember if each of your sales channels or people improved overall conversions by only 15% your profits are on the rise through better utilisation of your existing resources.

Take some time right now to write down the top five actions needed to start increasing the effectiveness of your sales process.

6. Actively seek out others who'll endorse you to their clients.
This strategy is one of the most powerful yet under-used means of generating profitable new business and a wealth of new clients.

You have a colleague in a like but non-competing business. Your colleague has invested perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in acquiring and building trust with his or her clients. Imagine the potency of that colleague marketing to his or her list with a letter that talks about you.

It talks about how valuable your service has been to them and that of all the people they've come across in your profession, you have consistently shone in every way. Perhaps that in one project alone, you saved them $15,000 because of your in- depth knowledge of your subject. And because they (the person reading the letter) are such a valued client, your colleague has bought them an hour of your consulting time ...or they've sponsored the reader for some sort of sampling of your wares.

Of course, you give the hour's consultation or the sample to your colleague without cost.

It is a good deal. A wonderful opportunity for your colleague to be seen to be doing something valuable for their clients.

And a wonderful opportunity for you too. It doesn't matter that you're giving your time or a sample away. It brings you into contact with a new circle of prospects who'll be pre-disposed to you! List down three alliances who you could network with in this way.

1)________________________________________

2)________________________________________

3)________________________________________

7. Publicity – It’s Free Advertising
You may be amazed at how receptive the media is to your story. If you have been performing well for clients, and your clients love you for it, tell your story to the business magazines and the daily press. Of course, they won't be interested in something that is a straight plug for you. Justify using a theme... Like small business making a success... winning against the odds... helping others to succeed... then that is news.

When you are written up, you'll get a boost to your profile and your credibility and, perhaps some new clients. But the potential doesn't stop there.

Reproduce the article (first obtaining permission and citing the publication) and use it in every way you can... mail it to your clients, to your prospects, along with the testimonials on your testimonial sheet

8. Commit To A Client-Oriented Newsletter.
This is hard. Writing a newsletter on a regular or even occasional basis demands discipline and commitment. Few companies ever sustain that commitment. And of those who do, most make the fatal error of focussing the content on themselves and their achievements, not on the customer's needs. Believe me, a well written client- focussed newsletter to your clients is a wonderful and powerful tool for keeping close to them

Like I said, it's hard. In fact, none of these 8 ideas is particularly easy. The key is to pick one... or a few... and work them hard until you have them ticking over successfully... then start on another. That way your guaranteed to win

What four things would you write about if you had to issue a newsletter at the end of this month?

1)________________________________________

2)________________________________________

3)________________________________________

4)________________________________________

At Partnercorp, we have ready made systems and processes to help you get moving on these important initiatives. Give me a call right now to secure a free marketing review session for your business.

Call Ross on 1300 933 074 or  0409 459 736 or click here

• How to close a sale
• The amazing power of body language
• The 3 secrets to becoming a great salesperson
• How to overcome every objection you'll ever hear
• How to generate Golden leads
• Why product knowledge is useless... unless you know this powerful secret
• Why people really buy
• Why benefits sell and features don't
• Why you shouldn't be a human headline
• When to ask for the order and a whole lot more!

Your Presentor - Tony Moffitt

A professional salesperson for over 25 years, Tony Moffitt has sold "just about everything". Having learned the craft of professional salesmanship in the electrical appliance industry, Tony has since worked extensively in fields as diverse as home improvement, advertising, motor vehicle sales, high-end art sales... to party plan and jewellery.

As well as leading teams of salespeople and telemarketers, Tony has worked as a Sales Manager in many companies. He also often consults to individual businesses, either working with staff sales people, or developing lead generation teams.

Tony has years of experience that can be contributed to helping your business make more money by having sales staff that know how to sell

This course has guaranteed results and you can see a definite improvement in yourself, your profits and the success of your business.

Details 

Date:  Thursday the 25th of November 2010
Time: 9.00p.m. - 5.00p.m.
Cost:  $600 per person

Hurry and book now as seats are limited. Call 1300 933 074 to secure your booking now!

In In the example what score did each get? What score is the target score for each product/service. Is there a minimum score that your products must get to stay in your portfolio? How could you improve your score?

4. Review your scores. The score should indicate which products are performing well and those that are struggling.

5. So from our example above you can now identify two great products. (Consulting and Training) The real benefit from the Product Benefits Analysis is what comes next.

If we assume that every product must have 50 points, what changes would be required? Generate action plans to justify the new points. Target scores that will ensure that all products do well.

6. Every product and service in your portfolio can be a contributor to your organisation. Imagine if every product scored above 50 points. What difference would it make to your competitive position? What impact would it have on your sales and profit.

7. It is recommended that you review your products and services at least every six months. The scoring process generates strategy and action plans. It is a professional approach to a common problem.

If you would like assistance in using this business improvement tool contact  one of our Newcastle Business Consultants 

We communicate price to our customers and educate them to give price primary consideration which means that the moment a competitor comes along with a lower price we risk losing a customer.

A focus on price more often creates problems for us rather than solving them.

Much of the conventional thinking on this matter can be explained in the sister article to this one Popular Thinking v Profitable Thinking.

Your customer's perception of you can be just as important as your price.

If their perception of you is that of a quality supplier, unique product, convenient location etc, you'll win business.

Perception is where our focus needs to be.

And you can change that perception even though you might be selling the ‘same’ product as your competition.

Price discounting can often mean we don't make enough margin to allow proper investment back into the business to improve and refine our product and service into the future? This is a major issue for small businesses.

By focusing on price I'm certain we set up the expectation in the customer's mind that he or she can ‘do a deal’. In other words, if you're dealing in what you perceive as a price-sensitive market, don't blame the customer -look first at whether the customer has been made to be price-sensitive by price marketing.

So how do we reduce price into the sales equation?

Start from the basis that the customer always buys value.

If you look at it in mathematical terms, the ‘equation’ in the customer's mind goes like this:

Clearly then, there are only two ways to increase the value: increase the benefits the customer perceives he or she is getting or decrease the price you ask the customer to pay.

So pose the question 'how can I add value to my potential customer?'

Benefits to the consumer

5 Reasons to deal with me

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2.....................................................................................................

3.....................................................................................................

4.....................................................................................................

5.....................................................................................................

5 Reasons to use my company

1.....................................................................................................

2.....................................................................................................

3.....................................................................................................

4.....................................................................................................

5.....................................................................................................

5 Reasons to use my Product / Service

1.....................................................................................................

2.....................................................................................................

3.....................................................................................................

4.....................................................................................................

5.....................................................................................................

5 Reasons why the customer should make a decision today

1.....................................................................................................

2.....................................................................................................

3.....................................................................................................

4.....................................................................................................

5.....................................................................................................

Gross profit margins are so heavily eroded by price discounting that only extra-ordinary increase in the volume of business will justify the discounts.

For example, a ten per cent drop in prices across the board will only be compensated in gross profit terms by a lift of at least 25 per cent in sales and a ten per cent drop rarely achieves that sort of increase.

Indeed, a ten per cent reduction in prices can produce a ten per cent reduction in the value of gross sales.

A 20 per cent discount off the normal retail prices would require an 86 per cent lift in sales. Such volumes, were they to be achieved, would require more staff, higher overheads and more intense management attention.

Be proud of your prices. If you 're not, how the hell can you expect anyone else to be.

Once you are comfortable that your pricing strategy integrates into your overall marketing effort you can focus your attention on driving sales.

Look at the following worksheet and develop a motivation and sales strategy.

Prospecting Ask Yourself........

Do I know how many prospects I want this year?

Do I know how I'm going to do it?

Do I employ definite prospecting methods?

Do I give myself a pre-determined number of new prospects each day?

Do I constantly visualize my success - in prospecting, presenting, closing?

Do I possess a prospecting consciousness, and prospecting awareness?

Do I spend time each day getting information about the prospects I have?

Do I qualify and grade every lead call?

Do I mail out a certain number of pre-approach letters every day?

Do I call a certain number of people each day for appointments?

Do I have a definite goal each day, week and month for presentations?

Do I generally find myself on schedule as I work toward by goal?

Do I start work at a set, specified time every morning?

Do I know how many hours I spend each day face-to-face in interviews?

Do I keep regular working hours?

Sales Affirmations

Behind every sale is a person.

I have more fun and enjoy more financial success when I stop trying to get what I want and start helping other people get what they want.

My selling purpose is to help people get the good feelings they want about the product and themselves.

I quickly reduce my stress because I no longer try to get people to do what they don't want to do.

People don't buy our services, products or ideas, they buy how they imagine using them will make them feel. We become what we think about.

Before The Sale

First I see other people getting the feelings they want.

Then I see me getting what I want.

I study the features and advantages of what I sell - thoroughly and often.

I see the benefits of what I sell actually helping others get the feelings they want.

During The Sale

I sell the way I and other person like to buy. I invest time as a person.

I ask ‘have’ questions and ‘want’ questions.

The difference is the problem.

I listen and I repeat back what I have heard.

I honestly relate my service, product or idea only to what the other person wants to feel.

The other person closes the sale when he sees he gets the maximum benefits with the minimum personal risk.

After The Sale

I frequently follow up to make sure people are actually feeling good about owning what they bought from me.

If there is a problem. I help them solve it - and thus strengthen our relationship.

When they are feeling good about what they bought, I ask for active referrals.

For more information on our business consulting services - Click Here

To complete a free diagnostic of your organisation Click Here

 Basically it is about asking the right questions during the sales process.

 The ten step sales process is:-

 The planning

1            Identifying markets
2            Identify the problems
3            Identify the features
4            Identify the benefits

The sales call

5            Ask SPIN (Situation, Problems, Implication, Need) Questions
6            Provide proof that you can deliver
7            Show cost and the benefits
8            Provide a guarantee
9            Close

10           Record the process

Let’s look at each step:-

The Planning

1 – Identifying markets.

Which 20% of your customers provide 80% of your profits?
Which 20% of your products provide 80% of your sales?
Which 20% of your customers give you 80% of your problems?
What gives us an edge in each market?

 Step 2 – Identify the Problems

What are the problems the customer is having? Try to identify at least ten. They may be problems involved with profit, sales, training, risk, cash flow or even processes to name a few.

Step 3 and 4 - Features and Benefits

Taking the problems identified above we now place them into a Features and Benefits table. In the Features column we identify how we can fix the problem and then in the Benefits column show the benefits to the customer. We recommend you try to add at least four features and benefits to each problem.

The Sales Call

Step 5 – SPIN Questions

Situation Questions:

This is where you probe for the background to the buyers needs. Dont ask too many Situation questions at the face-to-face meeting, research can establish background prior to your meeting.

Some examples of Situation questions are:

     Are you satisfied with your current supplier?
     Are you worried about retaining your staff?
     Are you experiencing strong competition?

Problem Questions:

A problem question establishes the buyers problems and difficulties. They help establish the needs. Natural sales people ask a lot of Problem questions. They help you establish an understanding of the buyers current problems. They provide a link to your product or service.

Some examples of Problem questions are:

     How many people do you have leave each year?
     Are you having any problems generating sales?
     Are you experiencing any problems with profitability?

Implication Questions:

These reinforce the importance of the buyers problems to generate sufficient energy to promote action. They provide emphasis and clarity. They stress the consequence of the problem and are particularly relevant when dealing with decision makers.

Some examples of implication questions are:

     Has the skill shortage resulted in more errors?
     Could the transfer of coordination to Contractors result in a loss of customer contact?
     Has the current work pressure caused a loss of staff?

Need Questions:

The need questions link the value or benefits of the solution to the buyer. They anticipate objections as they demonstrate the value of your product/service solution.

 The Need questions naturally lead to commitment and action.

Some examples of Need questions are: 

     How valuable would it be to reduce the level of waste in your organization?
     How much profit would you make if we could reduce your inventory by half?
     How valuable would it be to enable your team to be trained on-line at home?

 Remember it is essential to make sure that you are focusing on solving the customers problems and then linking your product benefits to each problem as shown in the example in Step 3 and 4.

Step 6 – Provide proof that you can deliver

This can be achieved by providing your customer with evidence that you have the ability to deliver the product or service. Here you may provide details of previously satisfied customers who are willing to be contacted.

 Written testimonials from other customers, streaming videos, CDs can also help in providing proof

 Step 7 - Show Costs and the Benefits

List your costs.  Sometimes this may need to be done by stages of implementation, for example some services provision.  In other cases it might be add on components.  What does each cost area deliver in benefits to the customer?

Step 8 - Provide Guarantee

This removes any concerns that your customer may have. This can be a money back guarantee, replacement or rework.

 For example: If I could guarantee that your team would be trained by the target dates and that all of them passed the set performance standard, would you be prepared to pay $20,000 for the training in advance?

Step 9 – Close

 Here we script the close by asking questions like;

      Did you like our proposal?
    What was the best part of the proposal?
    What Barriers do you think will occur?

If the responses are predominantly in the positive you can proceed to ask for an order or contract.

Step 10 – Process

Finally implement the sales process by arming your sales people with the information generated from this planning process and using it to develop your sales materials.

Document it step by step, providing areas for measuring, continuous improvement, updates and ongoing training.

 If you need a hand to prepare and execute the sales plan contact  your Partnercorp business consulting team anytime.

Promotion
Why seminars
Charges
Topic
Presenter

How to promote, present and profit from seminars and workshops!

Seminars and workshops are particularly potent business development tools. Here's everything you need to know to use them to grow your business.

Seminars are a hybrid sales tool. They combine the benefit of face-to-face (or at least eye-to-eye) contact, with the scalability of a direct mail campaign. (By ‘scalability’, I mean that seminars make it possible for you to speak to 300 people with little more effort than would be required to address just one.)
This article will show you how to harness the power of seminars and workshops to multiply the effectiveness of your sales process.

Why seminars?
Now it could be argued that a seminar is likely to be less effective than a one-to-one sales presentation because the attention of the presenter is shared between audience members — but that isn’t necessarily the case.

You see, a good seminar presentation has two important advantages over a one-to-one sales presentation (other than scalability). First, a seminar automatically positions the presenter as an expert (after all, a congregation has gathered to hear this person speak). And second, because a seminar is less invasive than a one-to-one sales presentation, a seminar is easier to promote.

Seminars as a part of your sales process
The most important question to address when planning your seminar is, where exactly does it fit within your existing sales process?

Typically, you have three options. Your seminar can be used to acquire new relationships. It can be used to add value to existing relationships (with both customers and prospects). Or, if your core business involves promoting seminars, your seminar can, in fact, be your product.

Our suggestion is that the primary objective of your seminar should be to add value to the existing relationships under your management. If you can use the same seminar to acquire new relationships, that’s a bonus.

What are you selling?
The next question you need to address is, what exactly should your seminar be designed to sell?

If it’s unrealistic to expect people to purchase your product at the conclusion of your seminar, don’t ask them to. Instead, sell them up to the next step (perhaps a complimentary 40-minute consultation).

Ideally, you should only be selling one thing at your seminar. If, for example, you are ‘selling’ a complimentary 40-minute consultation, you might want to resist the temptation to load up your attendees with books, tapes or other peripherals. After all, you don’t want sales of low-margin products to cannibalise potential higher-margin sales.

To charge, or not to charge?
from our experience, charging is a must. It ensures the date gets into the attendees diary. it also gets a better 'turn up' rate.

Now some of our clients are reluctant to charge because they are not sure that the subject matter will be worth the fee.

If you run an uninteresting seminar, audience members will be disappointed, regardless of whether or not they paid to attend. This is because, for most busy people, the cost of purchasing a ticket to attend a seminar is only a small component of the total cost of attendance. It’s better to charge, and then to invest the effort required to prepare a valuable presentation.

We recommend a minimum ticket price of $33 for business to consumer seminars, and $55 for business to business events.

When, where and for how long?
On the ‘when’ question, we recommend breakfasts seminars for executives and CEOs of all but the smallest businesses. Evening seminars work best with consumers and owners of micro businesses.

On ‘where’, always host your event in an up market environment.

And on ‘how long’, we believe the ideal duration for an event is between one and a half and two and a half hours (including a fifteen minute break).

Choosing a topic
As well as guaranteeing the attention of your audience members, the correct choice of topic will make your event a breeze to promote.

And when it comes to choosing topics, the cardinal rule is, focus wins!

It may seem paradoxical, but more focused topics tend attract the greatest audience numbers.

It is essential that your seminar topic promises to solve a problem or provides a benefit of interest to your target audience members (preferably both).

Giving it all away
Our second rule of the sales process states that you should give freely of your knowledge in order to earn the right to charge a premium for implementation.

It’s important to bear this in mind when you’re planning your seminar presentation. Too often I hear seminar presenters say that they are careful not to give away too much – for fear that, if they do, audience members will no longer need their services.

The reality is that the true value does not lie in the information you share at your seminar, it lies in your ability to implement that information. If you give unreservedly of your knowledge, you will find that audience members will queue after your event to share their problems and ask for your assistance!

The importance of a model
Perhaps the greatest challenge in planning your seminar presentation is to share your knowledge in such a way that audience members can easily digest it.

There are two techniques you can employ to effectively communicate complex information.

The first is to present this information to audience members in do-it-yourself terms. In other words, rather than explaining how you do what you do, show audience members how to do it. Where approriate get them to apply the lessons immediately through exercises.

The second is to present your information in the form of a model. Models have long been favourite tools of consultant (e.g. The Boston Consulting Group’s Boston Matrix.) A model provides a user-friendly portal through which complexity can be readily appreciated.

Structuring your content
When it comes to structuring your content, you can’t go too far wrong with the old maxim: tell 'em what you’re going to tell 'em; tell 'em; then tell 'em what you’ve told 'em!

Unless you’re a natural comic, I suggest you skip the ubiquitous joke and begin with a promise. Fact is, the best way to get your audience’s attention is to promise to solve a problem for them. (i.e. tell 'em what you’re going to tell 'em.)

Once you’ve made this commitment, it’s simply a matter of showing them how they can solve this problem — preferably using the model we discussed earlier. (i.e. tell 'em.) Once you’ve fulfilled your obligation (and exceeded your audience’s expectations) simply summarise your key points and conclude by reminding them that the problem they came with no longer exists! (i.e. tell 'em what you told 'em.)

Question time
If there’s one thing that’s likely to bring a seminar presenter unstuck, it’s questions! However, if you plan for questions, they can actually assist you to deliver a stronger presentation. To plan for questions, begin by asking yourself the following questions ...

Am I happy to take questions?

If you’re not confident enough to field questions, simply advise your audience at the beginning of your presentation that, because of time restrictions, you won’t be able to provide a question time. Then simply write your e-mail address on a whiteboard and invite audience members to e-mail their questions for your prompt response.

Am I happy to be interrupted with questions?

If you’re happy to field questions, you should advise your audience whether they should save their questions until a question time at the conclusion of your presentation, or whether they should feel free to interrupt you during your presentation. It doesn’t matter which option you choose, as long as you advise your audience of your preference.

If you are going to have a question time, be sure to come prepared with at least two of your own questions. That way, if your call for questions is unproductive, you can ask yourself a question! The best way to introduce your own question is to say, ‘You know, a question I’m frequently asked is … ?’

Who should present your seminar?
It is important that the person who presents your seminar is a representative of your organisation.
If she is not, she will do little to build your relationship with your audience. For some reason, financial planners love to invite fund managers to present at their seminars. This practice is good for fund managers, but not so good for the financial planners (who pick up the bill)!

These financial planners would be better off learning the content and presenting it themselves (of course, they can still give fund managers credit where it is due).

It’s also a mistake to have multiple speakers present a seminar. Unless you’re organising a three-day conference, your seminar should be presented by one person only. That person should be the person with the best presentation skills (not necessarily the greatest technical knowledge).

If your presenter does not have great technical knowledge, simply have him direct questions to a panel of experts at the conclusion of your event.

‘But I’m not a professional speaker!’

If you’re the person who’s been nominated to present your organisation’s seminar, here’s some good news. The fact is, you don’t have to be a professional speaker in order to present your own seminars.

Provided you present seminars within your area of expertise, your detailed knowledge will automatically provide you with the kind of credibility that a professional speaker would have to work hard to establish.
And assuming that you have a good knowledge of your subject, the other two requisites of a good speaker are not difficult to come by. You need the ability to speak comfortably before a group (we can show you how to get that through personal coaching) And, as previously mentioned, you need the ability to present your knowledge in simple, do-it-yourself terms.

Promoting your event
Once you’re convinced that you have an appealing topic for your event, your next step is to write a sales letter/invitation. Begin with a compelling headline. Then walk the reader through your seminar, explaining clearly how she will benefit from attending.

The letter/invite should not be less than a page in length!

There’s nothing that impresses audience members more than a full seminar room. And if you’re going to invest the time and effort required to present a worthwhile event, you owe it to yourself to ensure that you invite enough people to make your seminar a success.

For more information on how we can help you develop a successful sales and marketing plan contact our Newcastle Business consulting team.   

This means sales emerge from the number and quality of relationships that your organisation has under management.

The key to success lies in continually growing the number of relationships under management as well as having a carefully crafted management process that fosters and develops these relationships into sales opportunities

This article deals predominantly with the last element of the sales conveyor process. Click on the links below to access the other articles in this series;

Acquire the relationship
Maintain the relationship

A sales opportunity is typically an expression of interest in a specific product or service, generated as a result of your sales management process.

* Always charge – ($45 would be the minimum to charge)
* Choose an upmarket venue
* Make sure the topic is specific. eg The topic like Marketing is vague – try, How To Double The
Effectiveness Of Your Promotional Dollar
* Duration should be between 1.5 to 2.5 hours including a break
* Pick the best presenter to deliver, not the most knowledgeable
* Seminars must have two ingredients – It must solve a problem and it must be interesting
* Send invitations rather than a flyer

Invite ten times the number you want to attend

Relationship Maintenance Worksheet

Newsletter
What four things would you write about if you had to issue a newsletter at the end of this month?
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
4. __________________________________

Letter / E-mail
What four things could you write about in a letter to your key targets segments?
(These things need to be different to those in the newsletter)
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
4. __________________________________

Phone Call
What four reasons would you have to call your key customers? Who could help make these calls?
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
4. __________________________________

Special Events
What four special events could we run that would provide contact with our target market?
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
4. __________________________________

Gifts
What could you send to your key customers to show them you were thinking of them?
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
4. __________________________________

Part 3 - Sales Conversion Process

In previous articles we have looked at pricing and its role in your marketing strategy. We are going to look at creating a sales process that allows you to grow your business with consistency.

At Partnercorp we subscribe to the view that most businesses achieve consistent sales when they focus on client relationships. This entails client relationship generation, development and maintenance.

This means sales emerge from the number and quality of relationships that your organisation has under management.

The key to success lies in continually growing the number of relationships under management as well as having a carefully crafted management process that fosters and develops these relationships.

From where does the opportunity to create relationships come? Relationships come from two sources:-

• Existing clients
• Potential clients

• Salespeople can be difficult to recruit and manage
• Good salespeople can be hard to keep
• Salespeople often own client relationship so when they leave so does the client.

• Buying a list of your target market and adding the records to your database.
• Commission some telephone research to acquire company and individual target details.

• Strategic alliances. Identify businesses that already know your prospects. Get them to offer your communications program (eg newsletter) to their clients for you. Alliances can include your suppliers.
• Direct mail. Using lists you can use direct mail to get potential clients to self select. Offer them something for free eg subscription to your newsletter
• Advertising. Like direct mail, advertising can get a result if properly formatted and targeted.

Unlimited Prospects
Remember the sale cannot be started - Unless you call
You cannot get acquainted - Unless you call
You cannot win their confidence - Unless you call
You cannot answer their objections - Unless you call
You cannot get the sale - Unless you call
You cannot destroy your fear of failure - Unless you call
You cannot get what you want - Unless you call

Benefits To The Consumer

5 Reasons To Use ME!
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5 Reasons to Use My COMPANY!
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5.....................................................................................................

5 Reasons to Use My PRODUCT/SERVICE!
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5 Reasons Why They Should Make a Decision TODAY!
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Behind every sale is a person.

I have more fun and enjoy more financial success when I stop trying to get what I want and start helping other people get what they want.

My selling purpose is to help people get the good feelings they want about what they bought and about themselves.

I quickly reduce by stress because I no longer try to get people to do what they don't want to do. When I sell on purpose it's like swimming downstream.

When I want to remember how to sell I simply recall how I and other people like to buy.

People don't buy our services, products or ideas, they buy how they imagine using them will make them feel.

We become what we think about.

The selling Cycle

Before The Sale
First I see other people getting the feelings THEY want. Then I see me getting what I want.
I study the features and advantages of what I sell - thoroughly and often.
I see the benefits of what I sell actually helping others get the feelings they want.

During The Sale
I sell the way I and other person like to buy. I invest time as a PERSON.
I ask "have" questions and "want" questions.
The difference is the problem.
I listen and I repeat back what I have heard.
I honestly relate my service, product or idea only to what the other person wants to feel.
The other person closes the sale when he sees he gets the maximum benefits with the minimum personal risk.

After The Sale
I frequently follow up to make sure people are actually feeling good about owning what they bought from me.
If there is a problem. I help them solve it - and thus strengthen our relationship.
When they are feeling good about what they bought, I ask for active referrals.

A Sustainable Competitive Advantage is identified by comparison of an enterprise with its strengths, weaknesses and the competitive position of each of its major competitors. If an identified advantage can be copied, or can be easily emulated by a competitor, then it is not sustainable.

Firms may survive without identifying and achieving competitive advantages in suitable market niches.

However, research has shown that consistent performance tends to correlate with firms that have at least one defined competitive advantage and have identified market niches based on these strengths.

SCA's and strategic fit

The key to strategic management is to capitalise on enterprise strengths, and overcome relevant weaknesses, in order to take advantage of marketplace opportunities and mitigate the impact of potential threats.

A SWOT analysis and SWOT Matrix provide the raw information for the development of appropriate strategies based on this approach

The objective is to find the best strategic fit for the enterprise in relation to the present external (market place) environment and the anticipated or evolving environment.

Identifiable sustainable competitive advantages are therefore the basis of strategic fit.

SME's and niche markets

SME's do not usually have the resources to compete effectively against larger enterprises or against well-entrenched competitors or across large geographic markets.

However, they may be able to identify an unfullfilled need and focus their efforts and resources on fullfilling that need more effectively than any other entity. This is the essence of 'niching', that is, establishing a dominant position, or pseudo-monopoly, in a definable, sustainable and profitable segment of the market.

Small businesses must have one or more specific advantages over a larger competitor in an identifiable market niche. These advantages may include:

• ability to fulfil customer orders on short notice
• supply of relatively small volumes of special products
• a competitive price; and
• provision of excellent service to customers

Having identified competitive advantages, market research may be necessary to segment and identify market niches.

How to identify your SCA 

Determining the Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) for any organisation requires an understanding of the customer's needs and preferences.

A competitive advantage arises out of activities which provide high value to the customer and a strong ability to beat competitors. The SCA process will help you identify a range of issues which can be contenders for your SCA.

Step 1:

Brainstorm in your team some of the factors that could be your SCA. Your list should include issues such as lowest price, best quality, response time, etc.

Step 2:

Rate each of your critcal success items our of 10 ( 0 being the lowest and 10 the highest ) using the following criteria:

1. Value to the customer
2. Our current ability to beat our nearest competitor for the segment

Step 3:

The next step involves plotting these factors on the matrix below. You will find it easier to write the scores out of 10 for each axis for all items before you plot.

Step 4:

Once you have finished plotting all the items, look for those that scored highest in the Value to Customer axis. Even if they scored poorly on Ability to Beat Competition, we can move them through strategy to the top right hand corner of the matrix.

Step 5:

We need to now find which factors will have the most impact on the business. We call this extra dimension pervasiveness. By putting each of the factors into the following statement you can usually tell which is going to be the most pervasive.

"We will win by having the best .............................."

f

 If you would like a hand in developing your SCA give the Partnercorp business consulting team a call - Contact Us

To discover any gaps in the competitive advantage of competitors and to develop specific action plans to improve the strategy of the organisation under review.

Activity

1. Brainstorm the factors that customers use to decide who they buy from in the industry under review. For example if the industry is consulting, the factors could include, reputation, price, track record and regular contact. Try to identify 10 factors.
   
   
2. Weight each of the factors to reflect the importance of each e.g.  
   • Reputation = 20
   • Price = 15
   • Track Record = 35
   • Regular Contact = 30
   • TOTAL = 100
     
     
3. Rate the firm at 50% of the weighting and then audit 2 or 3 competitors below.
   
   
4. Review the total scores to establish the competitive position of each firm in the industry.  
   
   
5. Decide what score you need to achieve the position in the industry that you want. Lets assume, based on the table above, you want to get to 60 points.
   
   
6. Where can you produce the 10 points required? e.g. Can you improve your rate of contact? this might raise that score 15 to 20 points.
   
   
7. Develop specific action plans to achieve the targeted scores and implement them using the One Page Plan process.
   
   
8. Repeat this competitor analysis at routine intervals

You can test the effectiveness of this model by applying it to your current Clients. Score them and check out how they compare to our target score of +20. Put your best and worst clients through the process. Then review the following questions.

• Which Clients do you want to spend more time with? How will you do that?
• Which Clients do you want to spend less time with? How will you do that?
• How can you test a potential Client before starting a formal relationship?

You should find that these three questions point the way for you in terms of your Client relationships.

The gap analysis will give you the issues, Partnercorp tools and coaching support will give you the strategies, action plans and momentum to effect positive change.

Click here for more info on our business consulting services.

Where are the gaps?  Which areas need immediate attention?  How will you approach it?  Who will help?  Who will be responsible for the outcome? 

Use the following table to list your top areas for improvement and the actions for moving forward.

Customer Needs

As a Customer Service provider you should ensure that these needs are addressed for all your customers. 

Customers needs may be immediate or in the future.  They may not even know what they need or want. There are a certain number of needs universal to all customers and some needs relevant to individual customers.

What are some individual needs you can think of?

The best way to find out what your customer needs is to simply actively listen to what your customer is telling you and to ask effective questions.

Active listening

When you are actively listening to your customers you:

 The most effective questioning technique when trying to identify a client’s needs is to ask open questions.  Open questions cannot be answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’.   They encourage the customer to give an answer enabling you to develop the conversation to gain more information about the customer’s needs.  Open questions usually begin with how, what, when, where and why.  For example:

 Hints …..

 By using the skills covered above you can make sure that you understand the client’s needs right from the start.  This makes the identification and provision of services or products much easier and will help you evaluate how well you met the customer’s needs.  Never jump to the conclusion that you know what it is the customer wants.  Always confirm with the customer what their needs are. 

If you need assistance with developing your customer service strategy, contact  our business consulting team.  We also provide professional and accredited training services on a range of topics including customer service. Click here for more information

One of the easiest (and most profitable) things you can do if you want to have a major advantage over your competitors is to know the lifetime value of your average customer. This is because the competition (most anyway) has no idea what their typical customer is worth to them.

Your competitors usually base their marketing and advertising budget on a percentage of sales?

This means that during a slower or weakening economy, the competition usually cuts their marketing and sales budget by a substantial percentage in order to conserve cash.

Therefore, if you continue to market during that period... you'll acquire their customers.

Because of not knowing what the lifetime value of their average customer is, your competitors won't spend the necessary resources to nurture the relationships with their customers. What that means is they'll end up losing a large percentage of their customers to you.

Why?

Because your marketing campaigns will provide a more visible alternative. Back this up with good service and you should keep them for life.

I know this may seem so simplistic, but it's true. If you look around your community, you'll notice there are a few companies that seem to have more business than they can possibly handle while others are struggling just to survive.

The Formula

A. Average sale =
B. Number of sales per year per customer =
C. Number of years customer buys from you =
D. Number of referrals from customer =
E. % of referrals that become a customer =
F. Gross Sales per year per customer (A x B) =
G. Gross Sales over life of customer (F x C) =
H. Referrals who become customers (D x E) =
I. Gross Sales from referrals (G x H) =
J. Total Value of Satisfied Customer (G + I) =.

A. Average sale - simply add up your the total dollar sales for a year and divide that by the total number of sales transacted.

B. Number of sales per year per customer - take the total number of sales transactions for a year and divide it by the total number of customers.

C. Number of years customer buys from you - since 20% of the population moves every year, this number may probably be less than 5 years.

D. Number of referrals from customer - how many people does each satisfied customer tell theirs about you? You'll have to guess this number, it is probably between 3 and 12.

E. % of referrals that become customers - the more compelling your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is, the higher the percentage. It usually is between 20% and 70%.

To help you get started, lets work through an example. Fill in the blanks under the column marked "Your Business."

Remember to use an estimated average and keep in mind that some customers only buy from you (or use your service) once and others may buy five, ten or twenty times.

1. How much is the average sale ________( $10)

2. How many times per year does
the average customer buy? ____________   (24)

3. How many years will the average
customer continue to buy from you
(assuming you keep them happy?) _______   (5)

4. How many referrals will the average
customer generate for you? _____________  ( 6)

5. What percentage of those referrals
will become your customers? ___________ (25%)

Okay, now that we have the crucial information we need to calculate the lifetime value of your average customer. In the next exercise, we'll insert these numbers into the formula and see what number you'll get for your business.

The next step is to insert the numbers into our formula and get the following results.

Now, look at the number you've just calculated for your average customer again. Are you surprised that your average customer is worth that much money to you?

In the example business, the $10 customer is actually worth $3,000 in sales (over the course of several years).

Now you can see why you want to spend your valuable resources to keep your existing customers happy.

This shows why it’s crucial that you communicate with your customers on a routine basis in order to provide them a service that they won't find or get anywhere else. This will also ensure you are able to fully maximise the profits you can make from them over the next several years.

Just by doing this simple exercise, you will have a distinct advantage over your competitors and you'll achieve more profitable results