Thursday, April 10, 2008
Avoid Your Competitors
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
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Catch Someone Doing Something Right Today
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Monday, February 25, 2008
On-Line Customer Service Training Program
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
Monday, February 11, 2008
Do You Really Need Another Sales Person?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Avoid The Short-Term Fixation
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Shift the Product/Service Mix As Needed
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, December 29, 2007
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. What's the Point of Database Marketing?
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:
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
SUCCESS Magazine
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~
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
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Monday, November 26, 2007
Do You Have Too Many People?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Focus On Doing Things Right
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Friday, October 26, 2007
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
Thursday, October 11, 2007
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.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Friday, September 28, 2007
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.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
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.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Bring Trainers In-House
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Lost Customers and Profitability
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
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
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Review Your Prices Now
Good Luck & Good Selling
Russ
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A Valuable Source for New, Quality Sales Leads
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
Friday, May 18, 2007
Sales Compensation
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Focus On Numbers and Relationships
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Sales People Must Be Directed
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Put Some Structure into Your Selling Efforts
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Is Your Marketing Approach Stale?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Sales is a Function of Numbers and Relationships
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Friday, February 23, 2007
Place Minimum Call Requirements On Sales Reps
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Treat Every Customers As If They Are the Only One
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Expect Employees To Be "Team Players"
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
View Sales Reps as Profit Centers
An approach that can work well in assessing how effective sales personnel are is to maintain a profit and loss statement on each sales rep. Generally, this is not a complex thing to do. Each rep generates sales and gross profit. And each rep has expenses such as base salary, commission, benefits, bonus, office expenses such as rent and utilities, telephone expense, support expenses such as a portion of secretarial and clerical employees' wages and benefits, travel and entertainment, etc. By tracking sales, gross profit and expenses for a sales rep, you will be able to determine how "profitable" a particular sales rep is. This is valuable information in evaluating the effectiveness of sales reps and marketing efforts. The danger in evaluating only sales and gross profit numbers is that some sales reps are much more expensive than others depending on compensation and spending habits. Beware, however, that excellent sales reps sometimes are more effective because they spend more on things such as cellular telephones in following up with customers and travel and entertainment due to more proactive contact with customers. Others are wasteful in how they use both of these "tools". And still others do not use these "tools" enough. Tracking these expenses on an individual profit and loss statement can uncover many of these issues.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Customer Service Assessment
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Is Your Market Strategy Still Effective?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Call a Customer Today
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Price and Perceived Value
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Attributes Of Successful Long-Term Businesses
We believe there are attributes that are common to successful businesses. While there are probably others, we feel that the twelve attributes below represent the most important:
1. They are focused on the customer and gather feedback and input from the customer on a regular and consistent basis.
2. They understand the concept of relationship development, both internally and externally and they work hard at forming new relationships and strengthening old ones.
3. They are externally-driven (customer) rather than internally-driven (operations).
4. They have a high percentage of talented and high performing employees.
5. They understand how to apply their resources in a manner that maximizes their opportunity for success.
6. They have a high level of morale and teamwork and foster that kind of environment.
7. They do not constantly shift and change priorities.
8. They have well defined and simple, efficient processes.
9. They have a long-term mentality.
10. They have a long-range plan with goals that all employees understand.
11. They spend money wisely and are not afraid to spend money to the benefit of the organization.
12. They have strong and effective communication taking place consistently and regularly.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Use Your Web Site To Handle Routine Tasks
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Not All Customers Are Good Ones
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Friday, September 29, 2006
Don't Just Sell More
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Track Sales By Customer
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Monday, September 04, 2006
Deliver Value
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Avoid Fat, Dumb and Happy
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Grow With Caution
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Do You Know What Sells?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Buy Sales Consulting Expertise When Needed
Even though there is a cost associated with bringing in outside consultants, there are times when it is necessary. Good consultants can help you take a step back and look at your company differently. There are times in any business when certain expertise does not exist internally. In these cases, going outside to hire a consultant makes sense. It is important, however, to find a consultant or consulting firm that has a strong hands-on background in running a sales organization. They have been through what you go through daily and have made mistakes and learned from them. They can then transfer that knowledge to you, your managers and your sales team. Be careful when hiring consultants. Cheaper is usually not better. There is usually a reason that some consultants fetch big hourly rates. Even with a high hourly rate, they will often have a much bigger impact in less time than someone less experienced charging a lower rate. Don't rely solely on consultants. Learn from them and assimilate what you learn into your day-to-day management activities.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Monday, July 10, 2006
Strive To Gain More of Each Customer's Business
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Friday, June 30, 2006
Training Expense and Profits
It is essential that money spent on employee training be spent wisely. Far too much money is wasted on unnecessary or inappropriate training. In some organizations, there is no training plan, no training budget and/or little understanding of what training is most important to the success of the employee and the business. Does your business have a training matrix that shows what training is needed for each employee based on gaps in their skills? Or does your business paint all employees with the same brush and put them all through the same training? It is important to understand that not all employees need the same type of training. The impact on profits is twofold; 1) excess money is spent on unnecessary training, and 2) the employees are not trained to enhance performance in areas they are weak in. Look closely at how you are spending money on training. Is there waste? Is the training applicable?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Price For Long-Term Relationships
There are many factors that enter into relationship development. One of those is pricing. If a customer feels that you are constantly trying to sell them something at an inflated price, there is a good chance you will eventually lose that customer. In their zeal to pad their commission checks, sales people will tend to go in one of two directions; 1) quote a price that is too low, or 2) quote a price that is too high. It is important to have a set of consistent pricing guidelines for your sales force and anyone else quoting prices. While sales people shouldn't overprice to take advantage of a relationship, they shouldn't under price either. Under pricing establishes a bad precedent in terms of their expectations for future purchases unless they clearly understand it is special pricing of some sort. Also, under pricing negatively impacts your gross profit. Prices should be established in a market/customer-driven manner with an eye toward generating reasonable gross profits.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Do you have a product or service view of the world?
Do you view the world from the standpoint, "I sell (product or service) and I want to sell more of them." Or do you take the viewpoint, "I want to acquire and retain loyal customers." If your objective is to retain customer loyalty, you must ask yourself three questions:
1. How do I organize my marketing plans to achieve this goal?
Developing a Customer Perspective
Effective marketing programs start from the customer's point of view. To operate an effective, customer-centered marketing program, you must:
- Know your customers. Develop the capability to record and store customer information, starting with a customer profile on what their environment looks like, who they are, where they are, what they buy, and what they plan to buy.
- Address your customers’ specific issues.
Segment your top customers into targeted categories that allow you to address their specific problems and interests.
- Talk to those who will listen. Prioritize or score your database to make sure you’re contacting those customers or targeting those prospects that have the most potential.
- Qualify prospects for interest. Don't just purchase any list or lead for prospecting. Be selective; match it to your customer profile. You increase the efficiency of your marketing dollars and sales time when prospects are more qualified.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Principles Of Knowing Your Customers
Know your customers from your contacts with them. Marketing information goes deeper than marketing surveys or general market analysis. Database marketing provides detailed information about your customers and their business on an individual businesses, such as:
- Business name, title and job function, size and number of employees, phone number (enterprise-and specific site-based)
- Demographic, econographic and technographic characteristics
- Past product purchasing behavior and planned purchases
- Installed systems, equipment, software, etc.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Develop A Long-Term Relationship with Your Customers
2. Communicate with your customers personally by name. Database marketing allows you to be more knowledgeable about your customers' buying frequency, dollar value of their business, and other factors that influence immediate and future sales.
3. Add value to your customers' purchases. Expand sales through additional services such as training programs, related products and services and automatic updates.
4. Develop, enhance and expand your relationship. When customers trust and depend on you, they look to you for help in solving their problems. They look forward to doing business with you and want you to service more and more of their needs.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Creating A Database Attitude
Successful operation of a marketing database requires a change to a marketing culture. A marketing culture demands:
- A marketing approach rather than a systems approach. Marketing is customer-centered and all systems need to be created and managed to support customers. Ask, "How will this add value to my customers: experience and use? The technical nature of database management cannot supersede the need for marketing and customer support.
- A willingness to invest. Marketing databases require systems composed of hardware, software and experts to operate them. Loyalty programs require strategy and time to succeed. All are vital investments that are required before a database marketing program will succeed.
- Accountability and a return on investment.
Marketing promotions need to be considered as investments that require a return on investment. Reports and calculations need to be made for all decisions, and the decisions need to be accountable to show a required return on investment.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Monday, May 15, 2006
Customer Service and Your Bottom Line
Over the long haul, there is no question that providing outstanding customer service benefits a business significantly. It strengthens the relationships with customers, provides a solid foundation for additional account penetration and keeps customer attrition to a minimum. All of this benefits the bottom line. And outstanding customer services help avoid the additional work associated with mistakes, problems and inappropriate treatment of customers. Focus heavily on your customer service levels and instill a real discipline about how customers are served. Over time your bottom line will reflect the enhanced emphasis.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Improve Efficiency With Processes
Good luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
CyberSelling Book Reviewers Wanted
As a free Member, you'll be able to read each and every chapter as they are written, provide your comments, and reply to other members' postings. In doing so, you will get free, advanced reviewing of my new book and be able to provide your comments and opinions, thereby helping me to make sure it addresses my readers' best interests.
It's free and easy. I will even email all Members whenever a new chapter is posted. I hope you take advantage of this special offer. Thanks.
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Don't Be Afraid To Charge Higher Prices
Some businesses are afraid to charge prices that reflect the value of the product or service offered. They feel that charging a lower price attracts buyers they might not otherwise attract. In some cases that is true. However, if a product or service is reasonably priced, customers generally won't balk at paying a price based on perceived value. Only when there is a disparity between perceived value and the price is there reluctance or refusal to buy based on price. Ask yourself how your product or service stacks up against your competitors’ product/service. Is it of higher quality? Are you adding value to the process in some way that might warrant a higher price? In short, don't be afraid to price your products and/or services at levels that reflect their quality and value.
Russ
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Spend Money On Training, But Only The Right Training
Training is an important element in sales development and filling skill gaps. There has been an increasing emphasis on training, but many companies spend money on training that has little or no chance of making a difference. Evaluate what skills are critical to each sales individual and position in your organization. Put a training plan in place that addresses critical skills against skill gaps of sales reps. But before committing to specific training programs make sure you evaluate the effectiveness of the programs. Among the most effective types of training are individual and team mentoring programs designed to provide hands-on training tailored to the specific skill gaps of the individuals involved. Additionally, the trainer must have personal experience in sales and sales management to be effective and believable. Don't settle for just book-smart instructors. Understanding what are needed and fitting programs to those needs is very important.
If you'd like to determine the ROI of your sales training program, click HERE for our free Sales Training ROI Calculator.
Russ
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
It Usually Takes More Time Than Expected
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Do You Really Want To Lower Your Price?
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Some Customers Might Be Worth Losing
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Observe A Process Today
Take the time out of your busy schedule to spend time watching and learning about one of the critical processes occurring in your company. This means getting right in the middle of it and following the process by sitting with employees involved in it and asking questions about the specific activities surrounding it. Since productivity is essential in enhancing profitability, understanding processes and how they have evolved will help identify those that have extra steps in them and/or where there are efficiency and productivity issues. In short, spend time actually doing the steps in various processes and you will learn a lot about them. Sometimes things have been added or changed without your knowledge.
Russ
Thursday, March 02, 2006
To Travel Or Not To Travel
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Don't Over Promise and Under Deliver
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Friday, February 17, 2006
Don't Fall Into This Trap
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ
Saturday, February 04, 2006
How Morale Affects Profits
Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ