Avoid Your Competitors

Look for some new niche markets you and your competitors overlooked. You may uncover a market you can dominate with little or no competition. One quick and easy way to find profitable new markets is to sub-divide your current market into several narrowly defined niche markets. Then customize your advertising to the unique needs of prospects in each niche market.

Tip: You can narrow the appeal of an existing web site without losing its effectiveness with your main market. Just create customized web pages for each market segment you want to target. Then add a link to each of these specialized pages on your home page.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Catch Someone Doing Something Right Today

Sales people aren’t only interested in money. There’s a lot of job satisfaction that comes with helping customers resolve their problems. And doing so requires a lot of hard work. As such, it is important that sales reps be recognized for doing their jobs well. Try to take a positive approach with reps and catch them doing things well. Let them know that you appreciate it. Make it a point today to look for sales reps doing a good job and give them the credit they deserve for doing so. Some managers have a very difficult time with this approach and will need to work on their style. Reinforcement of a job well done often reduces the frequency of mistakes and sub-par performance by letting sales reps know they are appreciated and that good work is recognized, even if they didn’t get the sale.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

On-Line Customer Service Training Program

I am pleased to announce the availability of our newest training snippet, Customer Service Excellence. These snippets are short, on-line training programs that you can take any time, anywhere, 24/7, from your PC. And, you can take them over and over again, as often as you'd like. Please click on the following link to learn more about our new Customer Service Training Snippets.

http://www.peaksalesconsulting.com/Customer-Service-Training-Snippets.htm

This new on-line customer service training course is broken into 3 modules, running from 20 to 35 minutes in length. You can watch and listen to them at your leisure from your home or office PC and come back over and over to review what you've learned. All for one low package price.

These online Customer Service Training Snippets include lessons on:

- The Impact of Customer Service
- How Attitude Affects Service
- Understanding & Satisfying Customer Expectations
- Personality Types and How to Deal With Each One
- Listening Skills – Why Listening is Important & How to Improve It
- Caring for Customers
- Handling Difficult & Angry Customers
- Preventing Service Problems With Proactive Service
- Feedback – What to Start/Stop/Measure
- Telephone Techniques
- Improving Teamwork

If you're dealing with customers in a support environment, then you know how important it is to turn them into repeat customers by keeping them satisfied and making them loyal by providing excellent customer service. This training program will help you and your service team exceed your customers' expectations, increase repeat business and energize your employees.

To read the Press Release, please click on this link:

http://www.prlog.org/10052623-customer-service-training-on-shoestring.html

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Do You Really Need Another Sales Person?

It might seem that there is a need, but many times it is a result of poor management, bad processes/procedures, and low productivity from other sales reps or some other related reason. Before hiring another sales person, a manager should examine management tactics, productivity of the reps, processes and procedures and the overall quality of the people currently working for him/her. In some cases fixing one or more of these problems can help avoid hiring another sales person.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Avoid The Short-Term Fixation

Companies that focus too much on short-term bottom line performance often end up deteriorating the foundation of the business by not paying enough attention to important employee and customer issues. A fixation on the short-term can lead to customer service problems, high employee turnover, hiring less than high performers and an erosion of goodwill. Be careful to balance short-term performance with long-term viability. Stay focused on hiring good people, managing with accountability, delivering outstanding customer service and building strong sales and customer-orientated teams.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Shift the Product/Service Mix As Needed

Enhancing profits is often a case of changing or shifting the mix of products and/or services sold. Sales that are weighted more heavily toward lower gross profit items will yield a lower overall gross profit and, therefore, lower net income. Selling products or services that carry a higher gross profit can substantially help bottom line performance. In many cases, this shift can be accomplished by working with your sales force to change the way they sell. Many sales personnel gravitate toward selling items that carry a lower gross profit because they have conditioned themselves to sell based on price rather than on value. It is critical that sales personnel understand how to sell based on value delivered rather than on price.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

What is Database Marketing?

Database marketing is the development of your customer and prospect database as a marketing tool. It is gathering information about your buyers and prospective buyers and using this knowledge to market on a more targeted level. Database marketing is mass marketing, conducted on a deeper, more personal level. Although you may never meet all of your customers, you'll identify their motives for buying, and apply these indicators to large populations to reach individuals or companies who display similar characteristics.

The result: You sell to a targeted audience. You get to know your customer's name and business. Your marketing database helps you develop a highly accurate customer profile. It helps you to better understand your customer's business. You'll identify the key contacts in your marketplace and focus your efforts on the decision makers.

Database Marketing is Customer-Centric Marketing. A well-constructed database gives you extra power and flexibility to support all your marketing efforts:

• Relationship Marketing. It's knowing your customers in-depth. You address their specific needs and wants in your communications. You learn what, when and how they buy.
• One-To-One Marketing. Capture detailed demographic business and technology data on an individual basis at both the site and enterprise. Reach key buying contacts by name and job function with a personal message targeted to their interests.
• Database Integration. Once you know your customers’ needs and match your product to them, you overlay your data to other databases to find other customers with similar needs.
• Loyalty Marketing. Create an ongoing exchange with your customers that carries beyond the sale. It instills confidence and encourages the sale of related products and reorders.
• Targeted Marketing. Identify your best customers and treat them as individuals who deserve your special attention.

What's the Point of Database Marketing?

• It's relevant to the customer. You reach customers who find your products and services relevant to their needs. Give extra care to service questions and new sales propositions.
• It's informative. Targeted messages are read! You're not only selling a product, you're providing information specific to the customer's or prospect's market. If there's interest, there's no perception of an unwanted sales call or unwanted mail.
• It's more efficient use of your marketing dollars. The money invested in creating a database will return dividends as you promote fewer “suspected” buyers and reach more “prospective” buyers. Customers tell you who they are and what their preferences are.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

SUCCESS Magazine

Anyone interested in a magazine about the personal development industry will be interested in knowing that SUCCESS Magazine will be launching in March 2008. Below is the release with full information. I hope you find this useful.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
----------------------------------------------------

SUCCESS
Magazine

What Achievers Read

For Immediate Release CONTACT:

Rachel Levy Konik

212.255.8455 ext. 235

RachelK@rosengrouppr.com

New Owners Promise to Deliver SUCCESS

Iconic Magazine Announces New Editorial Direction

~ Industry Veteran Darren Hardy Selected to Helm the Publication~

DALLAS— Targeting the red-hot $11 billion personal-development industry, SUCCESS Magazine will relaunch in March 2008 with a new owner and publishing team.

VideoPlus, L.P., which acquired the rights to the title earlier this year, has named Darren Hardy publisher and editorial director. The new editorial direction marks a return to the magazine’s early publishing roots, providing entrepreneurs and small businesses with the tools and information they need to achieve their goals, dreams and ambitions.

Launched in 1891 by Orison Swett Marden as a personal-development magazine, SUCCESS has been informing and inspiring achievers for more than a century. Through the years, the publication has been led by several renowned personal-development authors and editors, including Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone and Og Mandino. The publication’s previous incarnation went head-to-head with general-interest business magazines at a time when the entire industry was retreating.

Under its new owners, SUCCESS will draw on a strong heritage and foothold in the personal-development industry. VideoPlus is the industry leader providing sales tools, magazines, videos and conferences to the direct selling industry.

“Thanks to champions like Oprah Winfrey and others, the personal-development industry has experienced massive growth during the last several years,” said Stuart Johnson, VideoPlus president and CEO. “Today, there are entire aisles in the book stores devoted to self-motivational titles, but there is no magazine exclusively devoted to the topic. SUCCESS will fill the void, providing readers with compelling editorial content and tools that give them a competitive advantage in achieving their personal and professional goals.”

Johnson selected Hardy to lead the SUCCESS magazine publishing team because of “his proven leadership and experience in interactive media and the personal-development industry.”

“SUCCESS drifted off its core-value proposition the last decade or so,” Hardy said. “We intend to make SUCCESS the foremost trusted resource for new ideas, resources and inspiration for today’s striving entrepreneurs and small-business owners. With the expertise, brain trust and client base that VideoPlus enjoys in the personal-development industry, we are confident that we will be successful with the new SUCCESS magazine.”

Hardy brings top management skills and editorial vision to the magazine. Before joining SUCCESS, Hardy held executive positions at two personal-development-based television networks: He lead an affiliate of The People’s Network; and was President of TSTN.com, The Success Training Network (no affiliation with SUCCESS magazine). Hardy has been the President/CEO or private-equity investor in several other multimedia companies.

Hitting newsstands March 4, 2008, SUCCESS will retail for $5.95. It will be published bimonthly and distributed nationally by Curtis Circulation with an interim rate base of 100,000. Targeting well-educated professionals between 30 and 55, SUCCESS aims to make consumers more successful by providing personal-development content from well-respected names in the industry as well as leading CEOs and entrepreneurs who exemplify success through personal-development principles. Editorial feature sections will include Business, Relationships, Wealth, Well-Being and Making a Difference.

About SUCCESS magazine

SUCCESS, published bimonthly, is designed specifically to serve the growing entrepreneur, home-based and small-business markets. SUCCESS features personal development thought leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs and other achievers with practical advice, ideas, tips and training on leadership, goal setting, time management, selling, motivation and much more. All in one beautifully designed, easy-to-read magazine. www.SUCCESSmagazine.com

About Video Plus

VideoPlus, L.P., in Lake Dallas, Texas, a Dallas suburb, is a vertically integrated media and marketing communications company founded in 1987 by Stuart Johnson. It provides innovative, turn-key, concept-to-completion solutions for small- and large-business growth. Internationally recognized clients rely on its customized video, audio and print products to increase customer acquisition and revenue. VideoPlus, L.P., creates, produces, masters and replicates CDs, DVDs and DualDiscs and on-site full-color printing services. Its magazine division publishes several national newsstand magazines, including Success from Home and Empowering Women. Internationally, VideoPlus, L.P., delivers products in more than 15 languages in countries around the world and has a sales office in the United Kingdom and a distribution facility in Poland. www.VideoPlus.com

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Do You Have Too Many People?

Many businesses have evolved without putting much emphasis on cleaning up processes to make them as efficient as possible or on hiring the best people possible. Both of these often lead to having too many employees because the company has had to deal with inadequate productivity by hiring more people to compensate. Look at your processes and your people and determine to what extent this has occurred or is occurring in your company. Having too many people is a significant detriment to the bottom line.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Focus On Doing Things Right

Too much emphasis solely on the bottom line can create an environment where bad decisions are made too frequently. An overemphasis on profitability can cause managers and others to focus so much on the short-term that the decisions they make are actually detrimental to the long-term performance of the company. Try to instill a mentality that calls for a balance between a focus on the bottom line and on the long-term health of the organization. Taking a pure bottom line approach to management has caused more than a few organizations to struggle over time. Don't get caught in a strong bottom line at all costs mind set.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Ask Your Employees

Employees can be your single best resource for suggesting changes to the way things are done. Since they are the front-line contact with customers, sales people especially often know a lot about how customers view your business. And your sales people often have excellent ideas about how to make processes better and more efficient. Try to create an environment where employees are expected to make suggestions about improving things. Avoid suggestion boxes or do away with them since they rarely are effective and they imply that not everyone should participate in making the business better. Actively ask employees for their input about what is working and what isn't working. Ask them to provide suggestions about how they would make those things that aren't working better, especially as they relate to enhancing the customers’ experiences in doing business with your company. It is important to act on or respond to all suggestions. Obviously not all suggestions will be appropriate, but employees need to understand why their suggestions won't work. For the suggestions that are appropriate, take action and include employees in the process of implementing changes when possible. The important thing to keep in mind is that employees represent a wealth of potential ideas about how to make your business better.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Qualified prospects are worth their weight in gold

Prospects may not be consciously aware of their need for a product. A well-planned sales presentation can help your prospect determine his or her needs. If the need is already determined, this will obviously shorten the time you need to close the sale.

Of more importance is the size of the need or more precisely, the size of the potential sale. Not all prospects who have a need for a product are equal. A good prospecting system will determine this factor. Some method of sorting prospects must be employed when the number is too high for contacts to be made in a reasonable period of time. Is there money available in the prospect's budget? All too often this matter is not discussed until the sales presentation stage. Whenever possible, you should try to discover financial information. Often salespeople do not think of credit until they attempt to close the sale. Then the credit check kills it.

Does your prospect have the authority to buy? The prospects who have the authority to buy may be either hidden or inaccessible. This is the number one problem in prospecting medium- and large-sized firms. To discover who can actually sign the order may be very time-consuming.

You can develop your own strategies for identifying those with the power to buy. For example, you can paint a picture that puts those blocking access to the buyer, the receptionist or lower-level executives, in a precarious position. That is, suggest that if the person with authority to buy were to find out that you were denied access, they could be in trouble because the firm would have lost a significant benefit.

You can also consider these other factors when qualifying prospects. Consider the level of service demanded by the prospect. Some prospects ask for special services far in excess of what their purchases justify. Keep a close watch on the sales figures. Some clients are barely profitable or even loss producers. You may choose to concentrate only on prospects with high-volume potential.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

New Methods For Getting Introduced to Prospects

It has always both been a challenge and absolutely vital for salespeople to generate strong relationships. However, in recent years, this challenge has become even greater. Phone calls to prospects go to voicemail, direct mail pieces are immediately disposed, and unsolicited e-mails are deleted. The best way to approach a prospective buyer is unquestionably through an introduction. So how does one find the right person to introduce them?

Let’s say that a salt salesman wishes to contact snow plowing businesses. A tire salesman has a relationship with such a business. The salt salesman requests the tire salesman introduce him to that snow plowing contact. Once the introduction is agreed upon, the salt salesman pays a fee to the tire salesman and receives the proper contact. Wouldn’t a system like that be great? Well, the good news is that there are now new systems available that go beyond traditional sales lead portals.

For instance, Salesconx (www.salesconx.com) is the first-of-its-kind Web portal enabling sales professionals to monetize existing relationships and build new ones with key decision makers. With Salesconx, you can leverage your relationships to earn money and gain access to decision makers within your industry in three simple steps: search connections to grow your business, purchase connections to people you want to do business with and make money by selling your own connections.

Salesconx professionals will only introduce their contacts to sales associates who meet their standards. To ensure the reputability of contacts using Salesconx, members are subject to a qualification process. If you’re interested in finding another method for getting introduced to the kinds of leads you’re looking for, check out this new generation of lead sharing.

Sales Reps Need a Plan

Selling requires a solid plan of attack. Most sales reps are not very good at developing and remaining focused on a plan that guides them through their sales year. An effective way to enhance the efforts of sales reps is to require an annual sales plan that focuses on current and prospective customers and how the rep will strengthen existing relationships and foster new ones.

Specifically, the plan should include the rep's sales and gross profit goals for the year along with a detailed listing of current customers and a plan for penetrating those accounts more deeply. In addition to current customers, it is imperative that such a plan address prospects as well. Again, the plan should list specific target accounts along with a specific plan of action for fostering a relationship with them. Also, sales reps are often their own worst enemies in terms of time management. A weekly time management plan should be a part of the overall plan and should include an allocation of the rep's time to the various activities required. It can even be as specific as allocating administration, face-to-face sales, telephone appointment setting and proposal writing to certain times of certain days. But keep in mind that it is difficult to stay on this schedule exactly and the rep will need to adjust accordingly. However, the point in developing such a plan is to force the rep to become more disciplined in his/her approach to selling.

If the rep is in a territory making calls, it is often helpful to create a routing plan that directs the rep through the territory on specific days and weeks. Again, there will be deviations from this plan, but it can help significantly in getting reps out of the office and into the field.

Without a plan, sales reps tend to wander aimlessly at times. With a good plan that has some discipline built into it by the rep, the chances for success increase dramatically. Sales reps are notorious for burning time in the office or in a car or airplane. Haphazard routing and poor time management contribute to this significantly.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Bring Trainers In-House

When sending a number of employees to a specific training session, consider bringing a trainer to your location to conduct the training. Many companies that provide training services will be more than willing to send a trainer to your location if enough employees are involved. In some cases, this can be as few as 3 or 4 employees, but a more likely cutoff would be closer to 6 employees. There are at least two advantages to having the trainer come to you. First, the session can be geared specifically to your business and second you will save the travel expenses associated with multiple employees going elsewhere for the training. Of course you will be asked to pay the travel expenses for the trainer. When the training session is priced such that it is not significantly more than sending employees away for the training, you will realize significant savings.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Lost Customers and Profitability

Losing customers is generally a symptom of problems somewhere in the organization that need to be addressed. Every customer that goes elsewhere takes a piece of your bottom line with them. We stress customer service so heavily because of this fact. Customer service is a bottom line issue. When management has the attitude that "we can replace that customer with another one" or "we have plenty of customers", the company has a mentality that runs counter to optimal bottom line performance. Do you track your customer base and look at purchase history and average length of tenure as a customer? Analyzing your customer base will often uncover problems that need to be corrected. Take every customer seriously and look at them as a piece of your bottom line. Keep in mind that businesses erode their bottom lines by not paying close enough attention to customer retention activities and the level of service provided.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Sales Training in the Brief

There should be no question in a sales manager’s or business owner’s mind that sales people need to be trained, or even re-trained, in order to be more successful in their sales career. As time goes on, even seasoned sales veterans forget the basics or have never learned some of the newer techniques required in today’s challenging markets. The problem is that it’s difficult to find the time to sit through full-day training classes or long eLearning sessions when all that may be needed is a brief overview of a specific selling skill (i.e., how to cold call or how to close).

I just developed a set of training tools that can help solve this issue. I call them Sales Snippets and they are a set of 10 sales training modules each covering a different aspect of selling; including cold calling, listening skills, qualifying prospects, negotiating, handling objections, closing, and more. Each Sales Snippet is anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes in length and includes an automated slide presentation with training instructions provided by myself, Russ Lombardo. The best part is, the entire library of 10 Sales Snippets costs only $29.95, and you can return over and over again to view (or re-view) any of the training modules you'd like.

Just click on this link to learn more and, if interested, to purchase your Sales Snippets: http://www.peaksalesconsulting.com/Sales_Snippets_Training.htm There's even a free sample you can preview.

If you are new to sales, these sales training modules will serve as excellent primers to help build your sales career. If you are a seasoned sales veteran, then these modules will help as refreshers or as ways to introduce some new methods needed in today's changing sales environment. And, if you are a sales manager or business owner, imagine the benefit of offering your sales team these quick, simple and economical online sales tools to help them become more effective and successful.

Good Luck & Good Selling!

Russ

Review Your Prices Now

This is a friendly reminder that your pricing structure should be revisited regularly. Too many businesses let prices remain unchanged without review. Keep in mind that your costs are increasing and at some point those increases need to be covered. Modest price increases are not very often an issue with customers as long as they are not too frequent or too large. And in some industries or markets, competitive pressures might be forcing prices down somewhat. Be careful not to panic and make drastic price cuts unless absolutely warranted. Usually modest reductions to meet a deteriorating price environment are called for. Look for true competitive advantages your firm might enjoy. If you believe that demand for your products or services will not be negatively affected by leaving them where they are or even by increasing them, don't feel compelled to reduce prices. Obviously you will need to understand your market and competition very well before making pricing decisions. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that your initial pricing strategy might have been incorrect. If so, price adjustments up or down will be in order.

Good Luck & Good Selling
Russ

A Valuable Source for New, Quality Sales Leads

Finding leads is a tough task. Finding quality leads is even more challenging. I want to share with you a service that you might find very useful for yourself, your sales team and even your business. It's called Jigsaw, and is a very unique way of finding leads that were created by other sales people, like yourself. So you know they are good.

Jigsaw is an online business directory that allows users to find, collect and trade business contacts through a subscriber built database. This directory has proven popular with recruiters, marketers, and sales professionals looking to expand their business contacts. Jigsaw makes for a kind of electronic rolodex, assembling information found on most basic business cards, including corporate email addresses, business address, and in some cases, direct phone numbers for individual contacts. To date Jigsaw has compiled 6 Million complete business contacts through the user community of 235,000+ mostly sales and marketing professionals. The Jigsaw community adds 10,000-15,000 contacts each day.

The directory also offers company information like address, website and phone numbers. Users can also search for companies by industry and geography, number of employees, and by Fortune 500 or 1000 ranking. The site’s fans see Jigsaw as filling a valuable niche, allowing sales professionals to bypass gatekeepers to contact prospects directly. Aptly named by Inc Magazine as “The World’s Biggest Rolodex.” Jigsaw is helping address the data concerns of companies and individuals. Whether it be avoiding single thread deals by mapping accounts, cleaning current CRM databases, or generating a list of target customers, Jigsaw is helping professional execute more efficiently through higher quality data.

The pricing is very attractive as well. You can either Play (earn points for every lead you post on Jigsaw) or Pay (for as little as $25. per month). You can even earn points by referring other users and challenging data that you believe is incorrect or not current. Not bad for access to over 6 million business contacts.

For more information on Jigsaw, click HERE.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Sales Compensation

Compensating sales personnel in a manner that rewards them appropriately and that truly provides an incentive to stretch to higher levels of performance is sometimes a difficult balancing act. Some business owners and managers are reluctant to structure sales compensation plans that could allow sales reps to earn significant incomes. I believe that it is important to build sales compensation plans that reflect the effort expended. For example, to pay sales reps a straight salary, with a small bonus or none at all, doesn't really take into account the rep's effort. But paying sales reps for achieving certain thresholds or targets and creating a significant payout for exceeding reasonable, but demanding, expectations provides for a direct relationship between effort expended and compensation. It is important to avoid paying sales reps on a "coupon clipping" basis (this simply means that reps are paid handsomely regardless of their performance). Developing a sound sales compensation structure is dependent on the type of business you operate. But don’t be afraid to pay sales personnel for overachieving. And avoid over-rewarding sales reps that don't stretch to reach high levels of performance.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ