When I meet people for the first time and they understand that I’m a marketing consultant, I’m frequently asked, “Where do most of your clients come from?” Many times I believe the question is asked innocently enough. But, quite often I feel like the person asking wants to know if I have a magic answer that might work for them.

Most small business owners are passionate about the services they provide – not the marketing it takes to consistently find more clients. Many service businesses will admit that they’re not really sure what works best or how to get going with marketing.

The result is usually a scatter gun approach. I refer to it as episodic marketing. It is characterized by a series of unfocused and hastily-planned, one-shot episodes (or campaigns). A common example is throwing together a tri-fold brochure that you can start mailing or handing out to everyone you meet, or sending out a direct mail piece to try and stir up some interest.

Typically, the motivation for these marketing episodes is a slowdown in business. And then when business picks up, you quickly scrap the current campaign (until the next slow down).

No System, No Consistency

What’s missing for most small service businesses is a system to break marketing down into a series of connected small steps. A marketing system is the key to generate a consistent supply of leads and convert them into new clients.

So Where Do Most of Your Clients Come From?

For me, the answer is that they are coming as a result of my ABCD Growth Marketing System. The same system I’m using to help teach my clients how to get better, more consistent results from their marketing is the system I’m using to build my own business.

Having a system allows me to dependably follow simple, but proven and effective processes to consistently generate leads and convert them into more business.

It is not a result of one or two great ideas or strategies. It’s breaking marketing and sales down into a series of connected strategies and tactics to gain attention from prospects and help them to become clients. The system helps move prospects forward that are ready to say “Yes”, and lets those who are not motivated or ready to make the investment move on.

Why Do You Need A System?

If you don’t have a marketing and sales system, you’ll never be able to grow your business to its full potential.

Most businesses address their primary business functions with systems. You have your billing system, accounting system, payroll system, and time management system. It’s likely you have systems to manage client or project work. One primary business function that seems to go without a system is Marketing.

There’s a great misconception that to be an effective marketer, you need to be creative. And most small business owners will tell me that they’re just not good at that. But I would contend that marketing should be more of a science (a system) than an art.

That’s the number one reason to have a system. Without a marketing and sales system, most service businesses end up re-actively marketing when business is slow and stop when they are busy. This mindset usually lends itself to episodic marketing.

With a system, you’ll be better prepared to generate inquiries and convert new clients all year round.

Marketing and Sales

Notice that I’ve said you need a Marketing and Sales system. Marketing and sales are NOT the same thing, but you need a system that addresses both seamlessly.

Let’s just look at the important difference between marketing and sales and why they should be successfully combined in a system like my ABCD Growth Marketing System.

One of the notions I hear over and over again is that Marketing is about creating name recognition or brand awareness. I would argue that these are simply welcome side-effects of marketing.

When you are a small business and all of your time, energy, and money count, then what you really need is for marketing to produce a consistent stream of good quality leads. Therefore, I define marketing as the use of strategies and tactics to generate a constant supply of high-quality leads.

Sales then is the process(es) you use to convert as many as possible of those high-quality leads into clients.

This is why the two should be seamlessly addressed in your system. Too many businesses jump forward to selling before a potential lead is even established as a qualified prospect.

Conversely, many leads go uncultivated when there’s no means to explore the prospect and move them towards becoming a potential buyer.

A System is The Key To Reaching Your Full Business Potential

Now just imagine if you had a system to drive these vital functions in your business. A system that breaks down the marketing and sales process into smaller, more manageable, interrelated steps.

Think about your own business. Where do most of your clients come from? Is it from your marketing and sales system? It should be.

When a customer walks into your office, you want to make sure they feel welcome, you want to treat your customer as though they are a piece of gold, and not as a statistic.

Have you ever been standing in a line, and when it comes to your turn to be waited on, the sales associate yells out “next?”

Just thinking about that scenario makes me cringe. It is hardly a way to build a relationship with your customer.

I have been working in sales for more than fifteen years, and I have literally had customers tell me that the most important thing to them is to be appreciated and not treated as a statistic.

Keep this in mind the next time you wait on a customer, instead of yelling “next,” you can politely say, “may I help you Ms. Jones.”

We all have our daily, weekly, and monthly goals that we must meet. And with this pressure applied to our daily work day, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that it is the customer who is the most important thing when it comes to our company’s existence. They are the backbone. Without customers, we cease to exist.

Here are a few tips to ensure that your customer is appreciated by you and your company, and not viewed as just another number in line.

1. Address Your Customer by Name

When addressing your customer, make sure you call them by name. This will put your relationship with your customer on a personal level, and customers like to know that they are remembered. It gives them a feeling of importance with you, and your company.

2. Don’t hurry them out the Door

The last thing the customer wants is to be hurried out the door. Remember.  You are running a business, where people are your greatest asset. You are not on an assembly line manufacturing cars, so don’t treat your customer as though you are.

When you are finished with your customer’s transaction, ask if there is anything else you can do for them, or if they have any questions for you. You could even use this opportunity to ask if you could go over some of your company’s products with them, which you feel could benefit them.

The last thing you want to do is get them in and get them out.

3. Discuss Non-Business Topics

There is more beneath the surface of your customers than just the business that they do with you. People love to talk about themselves, such as their family, their jobs, their pets, their hobbies, etc.
So ask your customer about one of the topics mentioned above, I guarantee they will be delighted to tell you all about it.

This is also a great way to get to know your customer, and build a strong relationship with them.

A strong business relationship is a great opportunity to obtain all of your customer’s business as well as the business of all of their friends and relatives through referrals.

So remember, don’t treat your customer like a statistic, and treat them as you would treat one of your friends.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the author’s name and reference links are kept intact and active.

In promotion and of advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person’s written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of some product. The term “testimonial” most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens. Testimonials can be part of communal marketing.

It’s the customers’ experiences that your sales will increase when they are seen or heard testifying to the benefits of your products or services.

What do people who’ve actually purchased and used your product or service think about it?

Answering that question is one of the most fundamental tasks your website needs to accomplish–and it’s as simple to do as it is important.

Are testimonials effective? Indeed, they are. It could really help you in boosting your sales.

• Testimonials build trust.    Through testimonials, you are telling your visitors the positive experiences a customer endure while using your products, or while encountering your services. This could convince other potential customer to purchase!
• Testimonials aren’t “salesy”. As a matter of fact, testimonials stand out as candid and unbiased accounts of how well your product works.
• Testimonials whipped out skepticism. Testimonials influence even the tough-to-sell visitors to give your products a try. Good testimonials have the power of convincing people.

 What makes this testimonial so powerful? Let’s break down the elements of an effective testimonial in more detail:

A good testimonial is filled with benefits. A comment like, “This product is great!” is nice to hear, but it doesn’t tell visitors what your product can actually do for them.

You want the benefits of what you offer to be front and center in every testimonial: “This product doubled our profits in a month!” or “This product made the pain in my back disappear completely–and did it fast!” or “We’ve never seen any product that could get the rust off our car without damaging the paint–until now.”

A good testimonial substantiates your claims. If you say your product can do something, your testimonials should back up your promises, complete with actual facts and figures. How much money did your customers save by using your product? How much time did they save by using your service? How did it solve their problems or improve their lives?

A good testimonial is from someone your audience can relate to. You want your visitors to see that your product helped someone just like them. Make sure your testimonials come from someone with whom your target market can identify.

If you sell primarily to seniors, for example, ask your customers if you can include their age along with the testimonial. If you’re selling to moms with children, ask if you can mention how many kids they have or include a photo of their family.

A good testimonial is credible. Accompany each testimonial with the first name, last name and hometown of each testimonial-giver to show that your endorsements come from real people. Always try to include a photo as well.

And if you can, take it to the next level by including audio or video testimonials for maximum effect. Do anything you can to help your visitors connect with your testimonial-givers on a personal level.

A good testimonial endorses the key benefits of your product. It’s fun to hear that your super-duper floor cleaner smells nice or that the bottle doesn’t drip–both things that matter to people who would consider using your product. But have you established that it cleans their floors well?

A good testimonial is comparative. Did your customers try another product that didn’t work before they found yours? You want your visitors to know what your product can do that the other products can’t. Choose testimonials that set your product apart from your competition.

Nothing sells better than truth and you can get closer to the truth and when it comes from someone who’s had a real life experience with you, your product, your services, and your company.

It’s unlikely that any successful person or company operates without goals. They may have one giant or lofty goal. They may have a series of smaller goals leading up to the ultimate achievement but success is built upon goals. Goals accomplish many things. Three of the primary accomplishments are:

Goals energize people and energetic people achieve more.
Goals signal the direction of the company and sales team.
Goals measure the achievement of the organization.
Do you know how to establish reasonable goals?

Follow this simple five-step plan to set goals to increase sales.

1. Start with national or company objectives.

You must know all metrics acceptable to sustain growth. Historical data should be considered in addition to the makeup, ability and desire of the entire sales organization. If the economy or governmental regulations impact your business you must consider them in your plan. Why not start at the bottom to establish goals? After all, don’t salespeople have a better feel for potential and reality?

Scenario: Each sales representative assesses their territory, results from prior years, market share and potential. They “come up” with a projection and turn it in to the sales manager. They desire to hit their goals so they “sandbag”. They decide to shave a few percentage points off the goals before submitting them. Other representatives apply the same logic. The Sales Manager adds up the goals and decides to act conservatively before communicating the projections to Senior Management. Believing the projections and the dire future they foretell, layoffs begin. Sales support and training get cut first. That’s how a sales team can create a real problem.

2. Review territories and results to understand expectations and buying behavior.

Can you assess the impact of repeat or carryover business? Does your business fluctuate due to seasonality? Do you employ enough sales representatives to adequately serve the market? Can you quantify the effect of pending mergers and acquisitions? Did last year provide useful information?

3. Develop potential allocations to divide the national or company goal among the territories.

This may be done at the judgment of the sales manager. They may elect to use formulas based exclusively on prior sales. Or they may assess prior sales and market potential to determine territorial goals. Population of viable prospects and territories could be factors in establishing goals at the sales representative level.

4. Finalize the formula and process you plan to adopt.

Then you must test it by asking many questions that start with, “What if…?” What if mergers and acquisitions besiege your industry? What if a tropical storm causes catastrophic damage in your Southeast region? What if the largest account in each territory reduced the need for your product by only five percent? How would that affect your performance? Compare your plan to the performance last year. How would the new compensation plan have worked last year? Imagine you’re a salesperson working under the proposed plan. Would it energize you? Would it move you to selling the right products? Is the plan aligned with company objectives?

5. Review the goals one more time and communicate them with the entire team and the department responsible for tracking and compensation. Schedule periodic reviews to assess achievement and progress.

Establishing goals is challenging. Poor goal setting leads to increased costs and can lower morale. If you sell in a volatile market you may consider goals with shorter time frames. In addition you should review them frequently and make adjustments as needed. Remember to communicate with the sales team the likelihood of this review as well as your solid business reasons for doing so. Understanding market potential allows you to reduce turbulence in the goal setting process. This is difficult in many business sectors but not impossible.

Goals based on business objectives and the markets are the most accurate. Strong sales managers are aware and recognize the difference in establishing goals for rewarding and recognizing employees and goals for use in performance evaluations.

Stack ranking sales representatives represents an alternative to setting goals although it is only fair if territories, opportunity and responsibility remain equitable.

Goals accomplish many things. They energize individuals and companies. They clearly communicate the direction of the company. Goal setting is a very integral component in the best selling organizations in the world. Do not trivialize this opportunity to increase sales.

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
Albert Einstein

Online businesses are booming nowadays. When people heard about this, they eagerly jumped into this lucrative market, and believe me, it’s now much easier to earn money with the use of the internet. As a matter of fact, you could earn a lot even when you’re home.

You must be a newbie when it comes to online business, since you stumble upon this article. Well, you come to the right place! Read on to find out helpful perks in selling products and services online.

Enlist the help of techie gurus to get you up and running on the internet fast. You don’t have to seek out website design firms, they are much expensive. Besides, you’re still starting to build your business, you have to refrain from spending much more than the budgeted fund you planned in spending for this idea, and go for the very least expensive options you could find. It’s a plus if you do some self-learning about web designs and development, of course if you have some spare time. You can contact any freelancer who could make your website for a cheaper price.

Try to find inexpensive tools that are going to yield a high rate of return.  An inexpensive tool that you must invest in is a “sequential Autoresponder”.  A sequential Autoresponder sends out email after email to your customer list.  You can send out a free e-course with this Autoresponder.  Make sure that you send a product link as this can lead to sales conversions.

When you are selling products and services online it is beneficial to understand the type of revenue sources available.  Utilize as many, or all, of these revenue sources to maximize profit.  The revenue sources include:  direct sales, joint venture deals, residual affiliate program, EBay affiliates & EBay direct sales, Google AdSense program.

The first revenue source is through direct sales.  This includes sales letters which connect directly with the customer.

The second revenue source is joint venture deals.  Joint venture deals entail working with another colleague to help sell each other’s products.  You then give each other commissions.

The third revenue source is a residual affiliate program.  A residual affiliate program is when you recommend a colleague’s service or product to help turn it into a sales conversion.  Basically, you will earn a commission as an affiliate for life.

The fourth revenue source consists of EBay affiliates and EBay direct sales.  EBay is growing significantly every day allowing EBay to be used as a lead generator.

The fifth revenue source is to participate in the Google AdSense program.  In this program, Google puts advertisements on your website for you and if somebody clicks on them, then you get paid.

Finally you can earn revenue from telephone seminars that you can disperse across the Internet and mentor coaching retreats.

Of course, none of these tips would work out if you don’t put decent effort and determination in your work. Your willingness to take risks and exert more effort in building your online business will boost your interest; generating positive omen around your business will keep you up and running for a very, very long time.

Good Luck!

Have you ever experienced doing a really good job, and you felt proud talking to your potential clients about your job-well-done services, yet it seems that not a single one called and actually hire you?

This article might help you answer your woes. With a little exercise, you can join the ranks of business and sales people who get hired, sell services and increase referrals.

Before we proceed in answering the question, let’s take a look at the differences between promoting products VS services.

Products often have features that reveal results at an instant. By talking about the benefits of such features and how it could make your customer’s life easier, surely, there’s a sale in there!

Services, on the other hand, are intangible – incapable of being realized or defined. They are more challenging to sell because the outcome of a particular service is different from the other, and can be difficult to quantify, measure, or prove.

If you’re still stagnant in your business while continuing your usual marketing strategy, you better find different tactic, and fast! You’re wasting a lot of time using the same strategy and the result is still the same – flat!

Go come up of a new sales technique to promote the intangible results of advertising.

Authors, Coaches, Consultants, etc. produce results that improve the human side of life and business and “Alternative Healers” deal with subtle energies that may take longer to produce quantifiable results.  To the average consumer, these are luxuries that, although desirable and beneficial, can be “done without” if money is tight.

Many are good at explaining how they work and what tools they use. The problem is that most consumers couldn’t care less about how you work. They care more about the benefits they’ll experience after hiring you. They want to be clear on what results you can deliver in exchange for their hard-earned money.

“What’s in it for me?” – a very crucial question every customer would say before purchasing such products or services. As service providers, we must be able to describe and portray clear results to our potential clients.

Success Story:

One client arrived in despair.  She had a great service as a professional organizer and sadly, few customers to show for it.

I asked her to give me the top 10 benefits of her good service…alas she (like many others responding to this request) provided a list of top 10 features instead.

She listed “features” that describe how she gets to a result. Features like:

                – Customized quotes

                – Office flow organization tweaking

                – Created new filing systems

                – Ergonomic layouts for offices, etc.

Sound pretty good, don’t’ they?  Sure, and her customers seemed interested and keen, BUT they were not following through and hiring her.

I helped her articulate a more effective sales list of the benefits and results of her good work. Results like:

   – Added value of charging only her client’s specific needs

   – Improved and streamlined office procedures

   – To save time and decrease frustrations

   – Ability to provide better customer service

   – Increased efficiency with improved filing structure

   – Less time wasted due to poor office layout

   – Resulting in increased productivity all around.

We created a list of 6 good questions she can ask to uncover if a client needs organizational help.  Why waste time telling clients all about our services if they don’t need them?

Now, my client will always ask questions to find out first if someone seriously needs her service. If they do, she tells them with confidence about the results she can provide and is more secure asking for their business.  By following these guidelines you too can get hired faster with more confidence practically every time!

Many people regard sales as the most effective way of earning unlimited income. In fact, 7 out of 10 salespeople who were interviewed why they preferred sales as their job, they have contended that in sales, they can earn income on tap. This goes to show that they can either earn more or earn less.

From this point of view, salespeople view their success based on the kind of sales training that they have. Of course, no one could instantly exert expertise without the proper training that he needs in his career.

Hence, many salespeople are more than willing to submit their selves to sales training. They know that it would be one of the best ways to earn and achieve success.

So for those who cannot understand why sales training is important in a salesperson’s career, here are some of the advantages of engaging into such sales booster activity.

1. It is a great help

Based on its basic concept, sales trainings are especially created to help the salespeople hone their skills and improve their craft. Their ability to create more sales is improved through the acquisition of advanced marketing strategies.

2. Molds better attitude

Another best thing about sales trainings is that they do not mainly focus on improving the skills and abilities of the salesperson as far as selling are concerned. Through these trainings, the attitude and behavior of the salesperson towards sales are improved.

Sales trainings teach them how to deal with the clients properly, how to handle objections, and how to persuade people. These things are not commonly taught on ordinary training programs.

3. Teaches good interaction

Through sales training, the seller will be able to identify the right strategy in dealing with his clients. It provides the right combination of language, perception, attitude, and the art of selling in order to interact with the client in the most favorable method.

The focus of this activity is to make the seller realize that selling should never be hard, or what most salespeople believe as hard selling. The point here is that with proper interaction, selling becomes an art, where the words and emotions are interlaced so as to lure the client to buy the product.

The Upshots

If sales training had been effective and was properly explained, chances are, sales will grow. But if it was done otherwise, more than a few nonconstructive results may happen.

One of which is the lack of communication or miscommunication. Without proper orientation on the job and proper comprehension of the nature of the job, both the management and the employees might have difficulty in communicating the correct ideas and concepts.

Also, without sales trainings, salespeople will be less confident in distributing their products. This is because they are not fully aware on how to face their clients and how to persuade them into buying.

And last, without proper sales trainings, the people will not be enticed to do their job and advanced on a higher level of enthusiasm. This is because they are not aware of the possible compensation they will get ever they have performed better.

Indeed, sales trainings are not just any ordinary program and not just like any other training program designed just for the sake of having it. It has its purpose, and its results will definitely reap more income.

Here are 7 key ways to jump start your cold calls:

1. Research Your Market

Before you start your cold calls it’s important that you’re prepared.  This way, your prospect feels you really do understand their situation. Research the company you are calling, identify what issues they are having based on your other clients in their same industry and ask others in your company the main reasons why people buy your product or service.

The better prepared you are about discussing you prospect’s issues, the easier it will be to allow the conversation to flow.

2. Change Your Mental Expectations

Traditional selling has always taught us that our main goal of the cold call should be an appointment or a sale. With that mental focus, our mind is focused on the end goal before we even have a conversation with the person we are calling.

This creates conflicts because you will be trying very hard not to use words that make you sound like all you care about is the sale. And if your prospect senses you are focusing on the appointment or sale, they will immediately be defensive.

Change your mental expectations to focus on building a conversation first.  Once you have generated a good dialogue, you can determine if you are a fit or not with your prospect.  Be careful not to mentally “jump the gun”.

3. Understand Your Prospect

Take a few minutes to think about the focus of your call. Think about how you are going to approach the conversation. Put yourself in the mind of your prospect.

How would you want to be approached? Certainly the last thing you want to hear is a sales pitch from someone you don’t know.

Instead, begin the conversation diffusing any mystery as to who you are with “Hi, my name is Jim and you and I haven’t met yet”. This removes the mystery of who you are and allows you to begin talking about how you can help them solve a problem, rather than you having to default to a sales pitch.

Think before you speak.

4. Build Trust Through Conversation

Learning to build a conversation is the key to cold calling success. Engaging in a conversation should be as natural as calling a friend. Your objective is to build trust on your call so that your prospect feels comfortable conversing with you rather than trying to focus on getting you off the phone.

How do you build trust? You build trust by removing any elements in your approach that connect you to the negative “salesperson” stereotype.

5. Ask A Question

Begin your cold call with “Hi my name is John, maybe you can help me out for a moment?”

Yes, that’s really all you have to begin with because in the next few seconds you will hear “How can I help you”. That is how you can build a two-way dialogue rather than having a one-way talk.

The truth is you are asking for help because you don’t know if you can help them yet, right? Until you have the information you need about their situation, you can’t determine if you are a fit or not.

6. Eliminate Pressure

Pressure is the main reason several cold calls turn into a negative rejection-filled experience. It doesn’t have to be that way.

If you can become aware of things you are doing that trigger pressure on your prospects, you can turn cold calling into a very productive and enjoyable experience.

The key is to never force your sales pitch, engage only in a natural conversation, and most importantly let your prospect talk. By doing all three you will eliminate pressure from the call and your prospect will be more open to the idea of what you have to offer.

7. Learn To Determine A Fit

So how do you know if your prospect is a fit with what you have to offer? You need to ask them this question towards the end of your problem solving discussion “Is solving your problem a top priority or something that is on the back burner for now?”

By determining the answer to this question, you can see if you can decide if your prospect is worth pursuing or not. You will also be able to determine their time frame which helps you better adjust your expectations.

Make no mistake about it, if you really want to be successful in cold calling, you’ll need to let go of traditional sales thinking. Try these strategies and watch how cold calling can be fun and productive.

1) Do you monitor and manage tasks or do you identify and train essential competencies?

Do you want to know the big difference between due diligence and a core competency?

Here’s a classic example:

Collecting 50 business cards per day is an act of data procurement, while training to a 60% conversation to appointment ratio is focusing on an essential component to ensure your sales team’s success.

Don’t focus on accountability to tasks but enlighten to identification. It’s much more important to teach your people the “business” of the business they’re in.

If you currently have your sales team accountable to tasks, then you’re merely “managing” tasks. In order to become more effective – you should be training on measurement of competencies so your people can ‘run their own business.’

2) You measure details not directly related to performance and results.

A telecommunications sales manager proudly told me he requires his sales reps to document ‘100 dials per day.’

I was shocked when I heard this. I asked him if he was in the ‘dialing’ business or the ‘communication’ business.

Think about it for a minute. What does the measurement of ‘dials’ have to do with performance or results? Can you ever improve your dialing skills?

It’s insane to waste time and energy measuring that type of stuff when there are so many other “valuable” things to measure.

The focusing of measurement not related to “performance and results” takes you away from the real deal- essential competencies.

In the X2 system ‘Show Time’ begins with the actual conversation, a measurable competency that we can attach to systems and training for critical improvement. By measuring these competencies you’ll spend less time documenting insignificant information and more time analyzing meaningful business metrics.

3) You attempt to manage your subordinate’s ‘time’.

During the playoffs, a winning college coach was interviewed about his coaching philosophy

He said: “You develop the best game plan you can, build systems and processes to help support it, train everyone how to work within it, and then let the players go out and unleash their natural abilities. You let them play the game between the lines.”

Makes sense doesn’t it?

Most sales reps will be accountable to results if you identify the important competencies required for success. Your job is to supply targeted training with appropriate structures for learning and application, and measure degrees of improvement.

4) You require detailed forecasting beyond your normal sales cycle.

It’s hard to imagine a management strategy more toxic than this one.

Because only two things can result and both are disastrous.

Let’s say your average sales cycle is 27 days and you require your team to supply a 30, 60 and 90 day forecast. First of all, the forecasts you get won’t be very accurate to the actual results. Second, it will probably be resented and considered ‘busy work.’

Here’s a much better idea:

Set up your forecast to the time within your control – in this case a 30-day rotating calendar. Define a business rule for forecasting accounts on a weekly basis.

Ask empowering questions:

“Has it passed the defined gateways to be included on your opportunity list?”

“Have you helped the sales rep ‘scrub it’ to make sure it’s realistic and not pie-in-the-sky?”

“Have the proper strategies and tactics been implemented per account to effect a higher closing ratio?”

Bring your forecast accountability back within your normal sales cycle for more focus and better results.

5) Do you see yourself as a people manager or a behavior coach?

Attempting to manage people delivers rather poor results. (It really does!)

People usually resent being ‘managed’. They feel controlled and naturally become defensive…especially sales people who are self-starters and consistent producers. That’s why experts say to manage to ‘required behaviors.’ I have always believed in taking it one step further. Here’s an example of what I mean. Webster’s dictionary defines behavior as ‘an act’. You can tell people how to act or show people how to act. I suggest you do this with transferable systems and powerful routines that are in line with the competencies that will improve their results. (You decide)

6) Is your management style the same for self-starters as it is for mediocre performers?

Think about it…

Your ultimate goal is to empower ALL your sales people to be self-sustained performers, right? Some people need more help than others – but top producers usually only need to be held to general points of accountability.

My advice…Back off!

If they have a sales drill that works, let them work it. Define your management style and processes in line with performance benchmarks and results.

For everyone else – Diversify your degree of ‘hands-on’ management in line with routine results and declare those milestones as the road in becoming a self-sustained professional.

Some of the most effective things in life are the simplest.  Marketers spend a lot of time trying to understand the psyche of consumers, discover ways to predict economic trends and a million other aspects of business that can determine success.  Hey, it pays to remember that some things are just basic, common sense and as easy as pie.  Let’s look at some tactics that just might be the key to the success you’ve been pining for.

1.  Keep an Eye on Your Best Customers

Would it be great if all of your customers were just like them− easy to please, to be loyal, and to be ready to tell a friend about your wonderful service. Just maybe, you can develop more customers just like them!

Think about it… what makes them so great?  What are the traits they have in common?  Direct your marketing campaign to people who are just like them.  Focus on their niche!  You’ll net new consumers and higher profits for your efforts.

2.  Hurry It Up!

What’s the hurry?  Today, customers are busily running helter-skelter from work to day care to home to an event back home… They’re rushing through life, but trying to save a buck as they go.  How much do you think they would appreciate the ability to do both in your shop?

Revise your advertising campaign to stress the time they’ll save and the money they’ll keep in their pockets while enjoying all of the wonderful benefits your products have to offer.  Chip in a few specials where they can save even more money (with a deadline, of course). Deliver!  Immediately!  Let them save money and time… and hey, watch your sales explode!

3.  Make it Easy to Buy

Convenience is the key to attracting buyers in today’s fast paced society.  What will be the fastest and easiest for them… credit card, phone, fax, Internet, or cold hard cash?  They say there are different strokes for different folks… your customers don’t use the same methods to buy.  It just makes sense that if the method they prefer is available, they’ll be more likely to take advantage of it.

Simplicity… ah, it makes life so much easier.  Yeah, your harried customers are busy and tired.  They don’t want to mess around.  Most of the time, they just want to make the purchase and head home.  Convenience stores testify to the fact that quick and easy often overrides a better price!

4.  Follow Up

Following up with a customer who didn’t buy can be the determining factor between and “almost sale” and a satisfied, loyal customer.  Simply contact them afterwards and let them know the product is still available or offer them further information they may find valuable.

One of my favorite catalog companies always close out the sale with a special buy that is available only at the time of purchase.  I’m not an impulsive shopper by any stretch of the imagination, but it stops me in my tracks every time.  I know it’s a one-time shot, and I really consider whether I want or need it before I hang up the phone.

Exploding your current sales volume and profit margin may not be as difficult as you’ve been making it!  Give these 4 tips a shot, and see what happens!