4 Ways to Grow Customers By Kim Jones

Ahhh,,,the first signs of spring have arrived. Flowers are blooming, birds are nesting and car carriers are loading up and heading north. For many a South Florida business owner, spring also means fewer customers and slower sales.

Here are four ways that you can reduce the impact of the summer doldrums on your business by making sure your sales continue to bloom.

1. Measure the "soft" metrics. To capitalize on your most "growable" accounts, look for new ways to measure such relationship components as customer satisfaction, brand equity, and trust.

Use a simple customer survey or comment card to measure the strengths or weaknesses of key elements in the relationship between your company and your customers. Businesses that understand where their relationships are strong can use that knowledge to strengthen these relationships further.

2. Identify key customer groups. Even if your company has hundreds of individual customers you can try to group them by most valuable, most "growable", or most profitable. Using this information can help you design products or service offerings that capitalize on growth opportunities.

For example: A restaurant that identifies a customer group called "wine lovers" may find that this group is ripe for private wine tastings, cooking demonstrations and food pairing events, all perfect ways to draw them into the restaurant during the slow summer months.

3. Encourage customer feedback. Customers are usually happy to tell you exactly what's missing from your business. It's up to you to be courageous enough to ask. Customer feedback, both good and bad, is vital for creating and leveraging customer relationships. Even if you don't ask, your customers are still out in the community telling their friends and family exactly what they think about your business. Wouldn't it be nice to know what's being said?

4. Manage lead generation. Ineffective lead generation is acknowledged to be one of the biggest obstacles to finding new accounts. In fact, according to an Aberdeen Group "Viewpoint" study, up to 80 percent of marketing expenditures for lead generation and collateral go to waste due to lack of commitment, poor follow-up and a lack of discipline among salespeople and marketers. You need to commit to a disciplined, year-round lead generation strategy to identify and target the most "growable" accounts.

Commit now to taking the necessary steps to ensure your business doesn't wither away during the hot summer season. Take the time to talk to your best customers, develop new product offerings for your best customers and improve your lead generation and follow-up procedures. Finding out what's working and what's not will give you the "dirt" you need to make your business grow.
____________
For over 15 years Kim Jones has been helping businesses grow through incomparable marketing and savvy selling. Questions or comments can be e-mailed to Kim Jones.

Closed-Ended Questions By Brian Tracy

Start Sentences With Verbs...
Closed-ended questions allow you to get definite answers and move toward closing the sale. Closed ended questions start with verbs, such as "Are," "Will," "Is," "Have," "Did," and even contractions such as "Aren't," "Didn't," and "Won't."

This is often called a convergent question. It brings conversation gradually to a convergence on a single point or decision. It is answered with a "yes" or a "no." You use this question when you want to begin narrowing the conversation and getting specific answers that lead you to a conclusion or a commitment.

Solicit More Specific Answers...
You can use closed ended questions to get more specific answers. "Will you be making a decision within the next two months?" "Are you considering changing your suppliers for this product?" "Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?"

Ask Them To Take A Position...
A closed ended question forces the prospect to take a position. "Do you like what I've shown you?" "Does this make sense to you, so far?" "Would you like to get started on this right away?" You use this type of question when you want to get clear answers and bring the sales conversation to a close.

When A "No" Means A "Yes"...
The third type of question is a variation on the first two and is called the "negative answer" question. This is when a "no" means a "yes" to your proposition. "Are you happy with your existing supplier?" If the customer says "no" it means that they are interested in considering a new supplier. "Are you getting the kind of results that you expected?" If the customer says "no", it means that the customer is open to considering your product or service as an alternative.

Action Exercises:
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, begin closed-ended questions with verbs. Whenever you want the customer to be more specific or to take a definite stand on your product or service.

Second, ask closed-ended questions in a warm, friendly, curious tone of voice. Always be courteous, caring and concerned. Never use pressure or manipulation.
___________
Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

No Doesn't Always Mean No - by Tom Hopkins

Awhile back, I heard about a super salesperson who was extraordinarily successful prospecting by telephone. She seemed to have a real knack for it, even though she was fresh out of college - having no previous sales experience.

The company's other salespeople had targeted a list of high-profile potential clients and had been calling repeatedly month after month without success. This young woman was given an opportunity to work through the same list.

Almost immediately, the young woman began to get confirmations for the salespeople to make presentations to the real 'powers that be' at each company. It seemed the woman had an uncanny ability to get through a company's bureaucratic layers and into the decision maker's offices.

When asked about the key to her success, her employer said, "She just doesn't hear the word 'no.' When one method doesn't work, she simply tries another approach."

This woman's example offers a good lesson: No doesn't always mean no. In fact, it often means something entirely different.

As you meet more and more potential future clients and as you improve your skills, you should find yourself not hearing 'no' when they say 'no.' You should no longer timidly back out of the door or end the call, apologizing all the way for interrupting your prospect's busy day with your unworthy intrusion. You should respond with courage and conviction, press on, and try another tack. Extol the benefits of your product or service that the prospect so richly deserves. Capture their attention. Find the hot button that makes them give you a second look.

You need to understand what is really being said between those two little letters that have you so intimidated - N and O.

* No may mean "Slow down, you're going too fast for me to absorb all of this wonderful and fascinating information. Take it easy. I want to get all of this."

* Or, "Wait, go over that part again. I'm really interested, but I'm a detail sort of person."

* Or, "That's all well and good, but what's in it for me? You really haven't shown me anything about the features and benefits that I am most concerned with."

* Or, "You're doing all right, but you are really not keying in on my personal likes and dislikes."

* Or, "I need to hear more about the value of this investment."

Of course, there will be occasions where 'no' really does mean 'no,' but those times are actually very rare - especially if you've done your homework on the potential client before making the first call. Tucked in there between N and O is a wealth of hidden potential.

Remember, nothing of tremendous value comes easily. It's your job to don the miner's hat and do a little excavating. Focus on the end result of having another happily satisfied client, rather than on the dust and rock you encounter along the way.

As you progress and enhance your skills, you will begin to develop your ability to read between the lines…or should I say, between the letters.

* From the book, Sales Prospecting for Dummies by Tom Hopkins.
_________________
Tom Hopkins International
7531 E. 2nd St., Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Tel: (480) 949-0786 or 800/528-0446 Fax: (480) 949-1590
Visit our website for a great "Tip of the Day".

Creating Client Trust by Paul McCord

Selling is not about the features of our products or services--or even the benefits the customer receives. Rather, it is about our relationship with the customer. People do business with people they trust.

That does not mean people will not make an occasional purchase of a specific item or service from someone they do not trust, because most people will. However, those purchases tend to be exactly that—one-time purchases.

To generate consistent, repeat business, to generate high quality referrals and to generate larger, more profitable sales, you cannot rely on the occasional one-time purchaser. To build a sales business you must develop a book of clients who trust you.

Most people will pay a little more, sacrifice a little, or wait a little longer when buying from someone whom they really trust and respect. The hard part is building the trust and then maintaining the trust.

What are the keys to building client trust?

Know What You’re Talking About ...
Customers and clients want to be able to trust that you know what you are talking about. When you tell them something, they want to be able to rely on what you said. If the information you relay turns out to be wrong, you have created a doubt. Create just a few doubts in a client’s mind and you have destroyed your ability to gain their trust.

So, what do you do when you do not know the answer? Unlike many, if not most salespeople, you do not make it up as you go along--or guess. You simply let them know that you do not know but you will find out—and then find out. You might even be able to make a call to get the information while you are with them. If you cannot, give them a specific date and time that you will get back with them with the information. And, before calling them, double check to make sure the information is correct.

Give the Right Advice ...
Just as a client or customer wants to be able to trust the information you give, they want to be able to trust the advice and recommendations you give. This means that if your analysis of their situation indicates that your product or service is not the right solution for their problem, you let them know and then direct them to where they can get the right product or service.

Nothing will destroy your credibility and the client’s trust faster or more surely than if, they believe you are giving false or prejudiced, self-serving advice or recommendations. Moreover, once caught giving (or being perceived to be giving) self-servicing advice or making self-serving recommendations, you will never recapture the customer’s trust or respect.

This is tough and takes a great deal of integrity. That is the core of establishing a relationship built on trust and respect. Once the client knows that you are willing to sacrifice an immediate sale for the sake of maintaining your integrity, your reputation with that client is sealed. They may not purchase from you now, but they will come back because they know that you will lead them in the right direction—even if that direction is away from you.

Know Your Customer’s Expectations ...
Crucial in creating a trust relationship with your client is meeting their expectations and priorities. Unfortunately, this tends to be one of the weakest areas for most salespeople.

Even though one of the most popular buzzwords at the moment is “exceeding client’s expectations,” seldom do salespeople or companies actually do it. Why? Simply because they have no idea what the client’s expectations are. They think they know, but they do not.

Most salespeople and companies act and think like all customers and clients are identical. They have, at most, a belief that they know what their clients expect and then strive to meet those mythical expectations. They seldom, if ever, ask the customer or client what their real expectations are. And without asking, the most they can hope to do is meet or exceed what they believe their client’s expectations should be.

To gain and maintain trust, you must ask each and every client exactly what their expectations during the sale are and then do everything in your power to meet—or exceed--those expectations. Only by knowing exactly, what your customer wants and expects can you possibly insure they get the purchasing experience they want.

Furthermore, clients have more than simply sales expectations. They also have product or service priorities. A sales expectation is an action the client expects to happen during the course of the sale. Moreover, any single client may have multiple expectations. They may expect to be kept fully informed via e-mail, or they may expect to be notified only if there is an issue that arises. They may expect delivery at a certain time—or they may only expect delivery within a reasonable timeframe. They may expect personal training on the product. Or, any number of other things.

But they also have priorities for the product or service. These also can be many and varied. While one customer may indicate that their primary priority is that the product do X, another’s priority may be that the produce’s price not change between the time of placing the order and receiving the product.

One may have ease of use as a priority, while another may have multiple functionality as a priority. Most salespeople tend to think of these as items that are their company’s or the manufacturer’s responsibilities. They sell the product or service, the company provides the product or service. Customers do not think that way. To the customer, you are responsible for making sure that what you sell them meets their priorities exactly.

If there is anything that falls short of their priorities, you must either find a product or service that meets them or gain their acknowledge that the product or service misses the mark to one extent or another. For if, the product or service does not meet their priority list and you have not explained where the product or service falls short, your credibility and trust will suffer just as much, if not more, than the company’s will.

Do What You Say You’re Going to Do ...
The fourth key to gaining your customer or client’s trust is simply doing exactly what you say you are going to do—exactly when you say, you are going to do it. Our performance and integrity is judged on what we say and what we do. More than any other part of our interaction with customers and clients, how closely our actions parallel our words will determine our ability to gain the trust and respect of clients.

This interaction of words and deeds is more important than anything else—it trumps price, it trumps competence, and it trumps personality. Of course, a customer wants to work with a competent individual that they like and get along with well. But if given a choice between a highly competent, likable person they don’t trust and a less competent individual that they don’t click with but whom they trust, people will pick the trustworthy person almost every time.

Salespeople tend to lose credibility and trust due to a lack of communication and follow-up. Salespeople tend to have no problem communicating good news, of course. Where they habitually drop the ball is in regards to negative news. They seem to hope against all hope that when problems and issues arise with a customer’s purchase, the problem or issue will rectify itself and the customer will never know the difference. Seldom does that happen. Most often, the problem or issue becomes more serious because the salesperson did not communicate in a timely fashion with the client, leaving the client with little or no alternative once he or she does discover the problem.

Timely communication of issues must be a priority for all salespeople. It is your obligation to your client to give as much forewarning as possible. You owe it to your customer to give as much notice as possible so they have an opportunity to make other arrangements if necessary. Yes, you may stand a chance of losing a sale, depending on what the problem or issue is. Nevertheless, in order to gain and maintain trust and respect you must keep your client fully informed.

Equally, at fault of costing salespeople trust is not following up on commitments, being punctual, and engaging in rude behavior. Although your customer may never mention it, they will notice if you commit to sending something and don’t send it, don’t return phone calls in a timely manner, are consistently late for appointments—even just a few minutes late, or take phone calls during appointments.

If you claim by your words that you are a professional, you must demonstrate that professionalism in everything you do. You dress professionally, you do exactly what you say you are going to do exactly when you say you are going to do it, and respect your client’s time. Many a salesperson has lost their position with a client by not taking care of the little things.

You must earn your client’s trust and respect—and that trust and respect is maintained over time by doing the things you did to earn it in the first place. You do not have to be Miss Personality, nor do you have to be the expert. You have to be trustworthy in both words and actions and your words and your actions have to compliment one another. Trust is easily earned by someone with character and integrity, but hard to earn if you lack those qualities. But even once earned, it can be quickly lost.

Copyright 2007, Paul McCord
_________________
Sales trainer, consultant, speaker and bestselling author, Paul McCord is a international expert on lead generation, referral selling and personal marketing. Visit his site at PowerReferralSelling.com or email him at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com.

Selling - One Decision At A Time By Sharon Drew Morgen

In today’s business environment, products and services are being designed to enable buyers to customize elements of their solution. From cars to tech, airplanes to designer jeans, the B to C market is being driven by individual tastes.

But the decision making leading to the purchasing choice is the same. Whether one person has to purchase a single item (buying a new pair of shoes), or a team has to decide to add team building to their skills, or a company has to determine whether or not it’s time to partner with a new vendor and offer a new product capability (Starbucks and the New York Times), it all comes down to the decision-making process: until or unless the decision(s) get made to do something different, to make a choice, or take an action, nothing will move forward.

UNTIL NOW: PRODUCT BASIS

Through time, sellers have worked from the belief that if you offer the appropriate data, if you gather the right information so that you’re ‘adding value’, if you know that your product/offering would match the needs of the buyer, that you’ll be successful X percent of the time. But let’s look closer at each of the elements I’ve mentioned.

1. ‘offer appropriate data’. Once you provide information (via a pitch, presentation, ad, marketing material, etc.), you will only connect with the group or demographic already seeking your product line. All of those prospects who don’t already realize they need your offering won’t recognize your value; you have no value to them if they don’t know they are missing anything. By definition, once you offer some sort of information, you are populating your prospect list with those people already in search of what you are talking about.

I recently heard one of my new sales people telling a prospect about one of the programs we offer. When I asked her why she was limiting the discussion to one program, she replied: “This is the one I think they need because X.” I called the man back, and went through the facilitative questions. Turns out he actually needed a different program, and would not have considered using the one that was pitched to him. My new seller was assuming the ‘right’ answer based on what she’d known from past situations that were similar. Not to mention that the buyer didn’t start out knowing his entire fact pattern (as is true when all buyers start the discovery process).

Using this line of pitch reduces your prospect list to those people who can align their immediate need with the image you are offering them, thereby leaving all of the people who might need something close, or something easily customized, out of the picture.

Also this approach puts you directly in line with your competitors, as folks seeking a solution will search for all products like yours. And, by definition, you are then undifferentiated from the competition and in a price war.

2. ‘gathering the right information’. The biggest problem here is that you gather biased information. You start from the assumption that your product might be a solution, and ask the questions that will give you the data that concurs with your suspicion (given you choose a specific, familiar demographic to prospect) and that highlight possible needs in the area your product can support. Obviously, a huge set of biases are built in here.

Say you’re selling a training course and you speak with someone who has a problem that you can solve. Gathering information would sound like this: How many people need it? What do they hope to accomplish? What have they used until now? What type of results do they want? What type of program do they seek?

But there is a bias built in here as well: the bias is that the entire group has already decided to make a change in their skill set (What stopped them from doing that already?); that everyone is on board with the proposed changes that would come from the program, and that the appropriate people will know how to buy-in to the changes being requested of them.

Prospects must grapple with a different form of internal decision making before they can reach a decision, and find answers for questions such as: How will participants know when they want to change? How do they decide that one form of training is better than another? Exactly how much are they willing to change? What happens with the people who are not in agreement? How do the new folks who join next month get melded in? How do they propose to maintain the skills over time? How can they integrate the old learning materials and accepted current behaviors with the new material to be learned?)

The time it takes people to come up with their own answers is the length of the sales cycle; their status quo was built upon hundreds of small and large decisions that were made historically and would have to be re-visited before any new decisions get made. In other words, gathering information is but a small piece of the dialogue and actually is necessary only after the decision to change occurs.

3. ‘adding value’. What, exactly, does this mean? Value according to what? To the proposed solution? To the historic problem? To an initiative that most people are uncomfortable with? And according to whom? To the person you’re speaking with? To the CEO of the company? To the teammates that have helped the prospect remain in their status quo? And, how do all of those involved in the decision making know what value means to any or all of them? How do any of them know what each of them value? Or how they’ll know to shift current values for future values?

When you hope to ‘add value’, it’s code for saying that you want to make sure that your product will be right for your prospect – that it will solve a problem for them. Ultimately this expression gets used by sales people who want the prospect to know that they really care and that ensuring they get the ‘right solution’ is important to them.

But ask yourself this: why is the prospect attempting to solve the problem today – and not tomorrow or yesterday? Why haven’t they used their old vendor to solve the problem? Why don’t they continue to use their normal fixes so they won’t have to buy something new? What political/relationship issues will they be setting in motion as a result of any change – and how does this get evaluated?

True value can be added when/if prospects are helped in managing the decisions they need to make. These days most sellers are attempting to ‘add value’ also, so everyone seems to care. But the caring mainly takes place around fixing a problem in the area a product can solve – not in managing the change environment that has created and maintained the problem. And it’s this area that sellers can actually provide true differentiation and add value.

4. ‘matching the needs of the buyer’. Needs for what? There are several issues here: 1. the importance that the buyer places on ‘need’ vs. the value the seller places on ‘need’; and 2. what the ‘need’ is, exactly.

1. If the prospect had such an important problem, they would have resolved it already. Why haven’t they? What would they need to do differently to get the problem resolved (and your product purchased) tomorrow? Who would need to be involved with agreeing to a solution?

2. What, exactly, are the ‘needs’? It is never as simple as just finding a solution that resolves the identified problem; the identified problem itself is easy to solve. It’s about the relationships and initiatives and historic roles and rules that need to be managed, so when a solution gets put in place, there will be no chaos. The ‘needs of the buyer’ are actually a complex set of internal systems that need to be addressed so that when a decision to fix the problem gets made, the systems that have held it in place can support any necessary change.

NEW THINKING

Jeff Thull, who wrote Win the Complex Sale said: “The business of selling is not just about matching viable solutions to the customers that require them. It’s equally about managing the change process the customer will need to go through to implement the solution and achieve the value promised by the solution”

Selling has been about product for too long. The new sales paradigm requires sellers to lead buyers through their up-front decision making, and this can only happen one decision at a time. Each person, each team, each problem, each activity, each historic behavior, relationship, policy – each element that has created and maintained the status quo needs to be managed in some fashion before any change can take place.

Instead of selling product, teach your buyers how to make their buying decisions. Use the Buying Facilitation Method® to lead them through their sequential, historic decision making, so they can make new decisions (which includes purchasing of your product) and not engender disruption. Hint: they need to do this anyway, with you or without you as they can’t tolerate chaos. So it might as well be with you.

Then, you won’t have to:

* offer appropriate information – the buyer will design their solution and tell you the exact information they need;
* gather information – the buyer will know exactly what they need to address;
* add value – by leading the buyer through all of their internal issues that need to be managed and teaching them how to recognize, think, and change without disruption, you’ll be giving them true value well beyond your product offering;
* match the needs of the buyer – you’ll show them how to manage their own unique and systemic needs since their solution will have to match the internal criteria of their environment and so much greater than your product can offer.

Remember: your choice is to sell or have someone make a buying decision. It’s much easier and quicker to teach buyers how to buy – and it automatically differentiates you, ads values, and is cheaper in regards to time and effort.
______________
Sharon Drew Morgen is the author of NYTimes Best Seller Selling with Integrity, and a speaker, consultant, and trainer. She is the developer of the Buying Facilitation Method, a new sales model that gives sellers tools to help buyers make their best decisions based on their own criteria. Contact her at: www.NewSalesParadigm.com or sdm@austin.rr.com.

* Share your thoughts on the above advice in the comments below...