Category: Sales & Marketing

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Sales & Marketing

What I Learned From A Successful Small Business Owner About Sales

Yesterday I stopped in a large Fortune 500 retail chain to make a small purchase. As I was checking out, the clerk was looking at an inventory list that she was working on when I came to the counter, she hardly looked up, and then proceed to check me out. She muffled an obligatory “Thanks.” and handed me my receipt quickly as she began to look back at her inventory list.

I thought to myself, wow, if I was the CEO of the company, I would not be happy with the customer service. As a consumer, however, I quickly shrugged it off and accepted it as poor service that was not out of the ordinary, until today.

Today, I stopped in a small business and made another small purchase with a very different customer service experience. I was greeted with a friendly “Hello” and smile from the owner right when I walked in and was told to ask if I needed any help. I was then left to myself to complete my shopping. I checked out and he looked me in the eye, said, “Thank you, I really appreciate your business” as he reached out to shake my hand.

Wow. As I walked out, I felt really good about the interaction, just because he looked me in the eye and said a genuine “Thank you” with a handshake. That was it. That is all he did. Granted, maybe a handshake at a large retail store would be different, but maybe not a bad thing? Certainly a “Thank you.” while looking someone in the eyes would be appropriate.

What I learned from him is that the little, tiniest customer service experiences can have a huge impact on customer loyalty.

In the world of sales, make sure you are doing the simple little things, to have a huge impact:

1. Look people in the eye when you shake their hand.

2. State a genuine “Thank you.” when you have earned new business, set an appointment, or gained a commitment. Also, hand written “Thank You” notes never go out of style.

3. Always be early or on-time.

4. Never be late.

5. Be prepared.

6. Listen much much much more than you speak, please.

7. Smile and learn to laugh easily. (Both are contagious, good for your health, and make you more likeable)

8. Follow up when you say you will.

9. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

10. Be kind and thoughtful.

About The Author:
Sales Coaching Expert, Jeremy Ulmer, has helped hundreds of sales professionals, sales leaders, and business owners just like you overcome sales challenges to increase productivity and win more clients faster. For 100’s of unbeatable, sure-fire ways to increasing your sales results, subscribe for your free sales tips or request a free sales coaching consultation at: http://www.SalesCoachingHabits.com

Yesterday I stopped in a large Fortune 500 retail chain to make a small purchase. As I was checking out, the clerk was looking at an inventory list that she was working on when I came to the counter, she hardly looked up, and then proceed to check me out. She muffled an obligatory “Thanks.” and handed me my receipt quickly as she began to look back at her inventory list.


I thought to myself, wow, if I was the CEO of the company, I would not be happy with the customer service. As a consumer, however, I quickly shrugged it off and accepted it as poor service that was not out of the ordinary, until today.


Today, I stopped in a small business and made another small purchase with a very different customer service experience. I was greeted with a friendly “Hello” and smile from the owner right when I walked in and was told to ask if I needed any help. I was then left to myself to complete my shopping. I checked out and he looked me in the eye, said, “Thank you, I really appreciate your business” as he reached out to shake my hand.


Wow. As I walked out, I felt really good about the interaction, just because he looked me in the eye and said a genuine “Thank you” with a handshake. That was it. That is all he did. Granted, maybe a handshake at a large retail store would be different, but maybe not a bad thing? Certainly a “Thank you.” while looking someone in the eyes would be appropriate.

What I learned from him is that the little, tiniest customer service experiences can have a huge impact on customer loyalty.


In the world of sales, make sure you are doing the simple little things, to have a huge impact:


1. Look people in the eye when you shake their hand.

2. State a genuine “Thank you.” when you have earned new business, set an appointment, or gained a commitment. Also, hand written “Thank You” notes never go out of style.

3. Always be early or on-time.

4. Never be late.

5. Be prepared.

6. Listen much much much more than you speak, please.

7. Smile and learn to laugh easily. (Both are contagious, good for your health, and make you more likeable)

8. Follow up when you say you will.

9. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

10. Be kind and thoughtful.

About The Author:

Sales Coaching Expert, Jeremy Ulmer, has helped hundreds of sales professionals, sales leaders, and business owners just like you overcome sales challenges to increase productivity and win more clients faster. For 100’s of unbeatable, sure-fire ways to increasing your sales results, subscribe for your free sales tips or request a free sales coaching consultation at: http://www.SalesCoachingHabits.com

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Are Sponsorships Right For You?

Although the whole notion of sponsorships has been around for years, it’s only recently been gaining popularity in the online entrepreneurial community. Which leads me to 2 very important questions —

1. Should you as a business become a sponsor?

2. Should you offer sponsorship opportunities?

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each and see if your business is missing out because you haven’t fully considered sponsorships.

First, let’s look if you should become a sponsor. Sponsorships are great if:

* You’re going to be reaching a significant number of your ideal clients.

* The person/biz/event your sponsoring has high credibility and influence with your ideal clients, thus boosting your credibility by connecting your name with theirs.

* You have a way to collect contact information so you can build your list and exposure.

* You’re okay if the sponsorship turns into a long-term tactic rather than making money in the short-term.

Yes, I would classify sponsorships as more of a long-term marketing tactic than a short-term, make money immediately, tactic. That doesn’t mean you WON’T walk out of there with sales. But I would view any immediate sales as a bonus, and the point of why you’re doing the sponsorship is to increase your exposure and visibility for the long term. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t track your sales and make sure you get a good return on your investment, it just means you understand this is an investment in your marketing and your business and the pay off might come that day or next week or in 6 months.

If you need an immediate influx of money, sponsorships are probably not the way to go. First off, they’re more expensive than just the cost of the sponsorship — you’re probably going to have come up with booth design, advertising, flyers, etc. And second, while you very well could walk out with immediate sales (especially if your sponsorship comes with some speaking or stage time) there’s no guarantee of that. It could just as easily work out that the sales start coming in a month or 2 later, which may turn into a very big stress point for you depending on how much you need that cash.

So, now let’s look if you should offer sponsorships. First, is your business offering something where a big group of your tribe is hanging out? Something like an event is perfect, but it doesn’t have to be an in-person event. It could also be a virtual event. Or you could even offer sponsorships if you have a membership site or an association or you’ve created some other community.

Are there going to be enough people involved to make it worth your sponsor’s money and time? Ask yourself if YOU would pay to be in front of your community? (Be honest with the answer.)

Now the other part of this is will the sponsorship interfere with your ability to sell your own products or services? If you think it’s going to dilute what you’re doing, then I wouldn’t do it. But if it isn’t, and your community is big enough to warrant it, offering sponsorship opportunities could be a great way to add an additional income stream to your business plus add value to your community by offering them products and services they need.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Home Business: Make Sales With a Millionaire Mindset

Article Contributed by Tami Stodghill

I have been contacted the last few weeks by some people who have purchased a business opportunity or are wanting to do just that. But many of them are concerned they are not “natural sellers”. They either have a limited past in sales, an unsuccessful past in sales or are worried they won’t be able to sell the opportunity/service/product in such a way that they will profit from their venture. When we started out, my past was NOT in sales.

Actually, our backgrounds were in Press Relations, Freelance Writing and Technical Support. We didn’t have to worry about quotas or reaching sales goals, so this was an issue for us as well. Would we have what it takes?

The answer is that anyone can be successful in sales. And all it takes is the proper mindset. Seriously. And if you can adopt that mindset, you will find success in your venture. I’ve covered other things that are important to home-business success, and please note that these are all still a must when it comes to achieving the kind of success that most people want—consistency, positive attitude, honesty, integrity and ongoing training and mentoring. But equally as important is the approach you take with your business. Adopting this mindset released us from fear of failure and being able to move forward with our business.

Stop right now and ask yourself, “if I had a million dollars in my bank account right now, would I be afraid of calling this prospect back and chancing rejection?” Because it will instantly change your approach and your selling technique. It will free you to speak with prospects honestly and openly and will take the “desperate” out of your sales pitch. You will relax and say what you mean—covering the best about your opportunity with total self-confidence.

Let me explain further, why this approach will make you the best representative you can be for your business…

When you convince yourself that each and every sale will not determine your success, and that you have breathing room, so-to-speak, your technique instantly alters to one that projects success. And people need to know that they can believe in YOU as well as the opportunity you are selling. Since I dealt with a great number of editors through email when I was in Press Relations, phone interaction was rarely needed and I have to admit that my phone skills cried out for a complete makeover. I dreaded dialing a number to return a call to a prospect and when I did, I instantly tensed up and got ready for the rejection. Obviously, I went nowhere fast. And through the advice of a seasoned colleague, I completely revamped my approach and mindset to that of a millionaire. And lo and behold—I found success.

People don’t want to buy into a business through someone who lacks confidence, seems beaten down or desperate. That’s all there is to it. They want to follow the lead of others who are experiencing success and who are relaxed in the pursuit of that success. By telling myself that no call I made would make-or-break me, I went into it without apprehension, without trepidation and without butterflies in my stomach. Every lead wasn’t going to decide my success or failure. There will always be people out there who are looking for something, and your opportunity might not be what they are looking for, no matter what your technique is. So to stress over it, only displays a business that isn’t that desirable. When you phone or contact prospects with confidence and with the attitude that you know you believe in your business, people gain a sense of trust and will, in turn, believe in your opportunity too.

Take a few minutes each day to ensure your mindset is what you need it to be to make every call and contact count. Tell yourself that your bank account reflects your success, so that the sense of desperation and “overselling” that can occur are no longer an issue. Our lives, and our business, changed the moment we took that advice. And I guarantee YOU will find that others will respond and will find what you have to offer is exactly what they want for themselves.

About the Author

Tami Stodghill was the Press-Relations manager, for a world-wide extensible-technology distributor based in London and the US for 20 years. She was also a freelance writer for several industry publications and is now a home-based business owner with WMI. She makes her home in Page-Lake Powell, Arizona, in the summers and Palm Harbor, Florida in the winters where she enjoys boating and reading, camping, hiking and meeting new people. She runs a blog site exclusively to offer tips for success for any small or home-based business.

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Sales & Marketing

Three Marketing Methods for Three Types of Businesswomen

Traditionally, business owners may think of marketing as printing glossy brochures, placing advertising in print media, filming television commercials or recording radio ads. With the advent of the Internet and its continued ascent as a popular way to communicate, marketing has entered a whole new atmosphere. Whether a female business owner craves fast growth or desires a steady stream of income, she can take steps to put a marketing system in place to fit her needs.

A recent study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on female entrepreneurs, reveals there are five distinct types of women in business. Based on professional market research of more than 1,000 women in business, this study shows that each type of business owner has a unique approach to running a business and therefore each one has a unique combination of needs. This article outlines three of the five types and provides tips for creating marketing strategies that meet the needs of the business, now and in the future.

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and generally, she makes a nice living. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women entrepreneurs fall in the category of Jane Dough.

Most Jane Dough business owners want their businesses to grow – and fast. Of all the five types, she’s the most likely to say she has a long-term vision of what she wants her company to be. Nearly all Jane Doughs say they have aggressive plans, and two-thirds of them want to deliver growth of 25 percent or more during the next few years. So what is Jane Dough looking for, in terms of marketing, and how can she get it?

* Return on Investment. Jane Dough is less worried about cash flow than her counterparts, even though she takes home less money than other successful entrepreneurs. This is because she reinvests more in her business to sustain high levels of growth. So she wants her investments to pay off. Therefore, Jane Dough is likely to invest only in marketing that she’s researched and that she believes will pay off. When she does invest, she’ll invest big. And because she has done the research, it will pay off.

* Systematic, measurable marketing. Jane Dough is thrilled to spend her time managing the business, fine-tuning the operations and marketing (as opposed to other types, who love “doing the work” of their business). Because she enjoys strategizing, she will want a marketing system she can track, so she can determine its success. For example, if she markets her web site and uses that to drive business, she may want a system in place to keep track of how many people visit the site, and how many of these visitors then make purchases from the site or call for services. She may consider a direct-mail campaign for people who visit the site and ask for more information but don’t buy – and could track those customers by using a coupon or special offer.  She sees running her business as a kind of game – while she takes it seriously, she is in this for the long-term and enjoys tweaking her systems here and there for increased success.

Merry Jane. This entrepreneur is usually building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or she makes beautiful artwork) that she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule. She may have a day-job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. She realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments.

Because Merry Jane so values her time freedom, she must consider marketing systems that don’t require her to put in much extra time but still drive work her way. Finding the right balance means maintaining that time freedom and growing her revenue. Here are some tips for doing just that:

* For maximum marketing efficiency, Merry Jane must determine exactly who her marketing will target, and why this population will purchase her product or services. In doing so, her marketing will be as efficient as possible –  so whatever time she does invest will produce a greater return. To easily and quickly determine her target market, Merry Jane can ask existing customers why they chose her and what they enjoy about working with her.

* Slow-growth strategies that build relationships over time. Many Merry Jane entrepreneurs juggle several responsibilities (such as taking care of the kids and household, taking care of aging parents or even working another full-time job).  They want to meet those obligations well and have smooth-running lives – so they must implement processes that maximize efficiency. Networking, affiliate marketing and referral marketing all utilize processes that could take up as much or as little of Merry Jane’s time as she wanted – and have the potential to produce new clients and to boost her bottom line.

Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and then she decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have started making something that served her own unmet needs and found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Although Accidental Jane may sometimes struggle with prioritizing what she needs to do next in her business, she enjoys what she does and is making good money. About 18% of all women business owners fit the Accidental Jane profile.

Most Accidental Jane business owners are satisfied with the lifestyles they’ve created. They enjoy the freedom of choosing who they’ll work with and what kinds of projects they’ll work on. They enjoy the flexibility of owning their own businesses and not being tied to employers or employees. Their biggest challenge: the ups and downs of business, which result from the proportional downs and ups in their marketing efforts. When Accidental Jane is busy, she doesn’t put much effort into marketing. When things slow down, she steps up the marketing efforts until she’s busy again. The cycle continues, causing stress when business is slow, and stress when it picks up so much that it becomes overwhelming. What’s the solution?

* Keep Up the Good Work. In many cases, Accidental Jane is successful because she is highly skilled and committed to excellence in her work and in customer service. Often, Accidental Jane left the corporate workforce and struck out on her own, and her sterling reputation followed her, attracting business through referral and word of mouth. This, in itself, is a great marketing technique and as long as Accidental Jane continues to do the good work she demands of herself, she will thrive.

* Despite a great reputation and a stream of word of mouth referrals, Accidental Janes we surveyed expressed that they would like to level out cash flow. When Accidental Jane becomes engrossed in a project, she rarely takes the time to follow up on leads. A few tips to even out cash flow: if work is almost too abundant, she can say “yes” to only projects that fit a list of specific criteria and consider delegating less important tasks to an assistant. To keep the work flowing in, she can create an effortless, automated marketing system, such as a weekly tips newsletter or a “tweet bank,” which allows entrepreneurs to create dozens of tweets at once and then send them out on an automated schedule of her choosing. Also, she should remember to gather testimonials as projects wrap up, so they’re always at hand for marketing materials or as references (a note on testimonials: they don’t have to be forced or formal. Just acknowledge someone who gives the company a compliment and ask if it can be used as a testimonial. Type it out and send it to them for review. Use these testimonials on a web site or brochure, or just mention them in casual conversation).

Whether a female entrepreneur is striving for fast growth or just looking to maintain what she’s built, she can use marketing to get exactly that. With today’s marketing options ranging from traditional materials to 140-character messages on mobile devices, anything is possible – and being a business owner is more challenging and more rewarding because of it.

About the Author:

Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com

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Sales & Marketing

Sales Coaching Tips To Minimize Distractions & Boost Results

As a sales professional, sales leader or business owner, distractions can often be the main obstacle for achieving great success.

If you have too many distractions, you will never achieve your full potential.

It is important to continue to evaluate what sales activities will be most important to reach your goals. Then, you must focus on those activities first, and make a commitment to complete them each and every day without failure.

You must remove and minimize your distractions. You will then have the time to focus on what you have determined is most important.

Here are some tips on how to minimize common distractions:

Limit your number of social networks. Determine which social networking sites are most valuable to you. You may be a member of multiple forums, on line groups, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and will be invited to join other networks as well. Pick a couple that are most helpful for you and drop the rest.

Do not log into social networking sites while you are working. Save social networking for times when you are not at work.

Block time to check your email. When you are working on a task, focus on the task. Emails constantly flying into your inbox can be a constant distraction. Schedule specific times during the day to read and send emails.

Send fewer, shorter emails. Also, don’t become dependent on emailing versus picking up the phone. There is value in the personal touch.

Shut off notifications. Are you constantly getting pinged with an email, or tweet, or text or IM? When are you actually focused and present in the moment? Don’t forget that the most important time you have is right now. Consider at times completely shutting off your computer or turning off your smartphone.

Clear off your desk. Only keep what you truly need on it. Keep it neat and tidy. Do the same for your computer desktop.

Do one thing at a time. Multitasking can be totally counterproductive.

Do the tough stuff first.

Have a cut off time. Make sure you have set times to complete your activities as well as set times to stop working. Have you ever planned a trip where you left work early at 12:00 noon? Remember how much you got done before 12:00 noon because you knew you had to leave early that day? Exactly.

The next step is to put these items into action and start minimizing your distractions today. Also, consider making a list of all other distractions you may have.

By minimizing my own distractions, I was able to be a #1 sales performer within multiple fortune 500 organizations. Now, as a sales coach, I help support my sales coaching clients achieve similar success by providing specific solutions to challenges that are holding them back from extraordinary results.

About the Author:
Sales Coaching Expert, Jeremy J. Ulmer, has helped hundreds of sales professionals, sales leaders, businesses and entrepreneurs overcome sales challenges to achieve breakthrough results. Jeremy has been ranked a #1 sales performer in the U.S. for 4 years at two Global Fortune 500 Companies, is the former Director of Sales at the #1 Outsourced Sales Company in the U.S., and is a Featured Presenter on Sales Skills and Entrepreneurship at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. If you are ready to dramatically increase your sales results then subscribe for your Free Tips or Request a Free Coaching Consultation at: http://www.CoachWithJeremy.com/