Sales and Marketing Questions

Here are a few questions to simulate your strategic thinking for the New Year. 

If you are getting too many no’s or don’t knows, just leave a comment and I’ll do my best to reply.

1. What sets your business apart from the competition, why should they choose you instead of your competitors? 

2. Have you got five or more lead generation strategies to generate sufficient leads to achieve your budget for 2010? (Excluding referrals).

3. Do you close above 50% of your prospects? (A prospect is defined as someone that has shown an interest in your products and services).

4. Have you got three or four referral systems that are being consistently worked by the appropriate people in your organisation? (Word of mouth does not count).

5. Are you spending sufficient time in managing and developing your sales and marketing activities?

6. Are you attempting to increase the size of every sale with every new and existing customer/client?

7. Do you have a cheaper alternative when people cannot afford to buy from you?

8. Are repeat sales built into your sales model?

9. Do you know how long an average customer/client stays with you in years?

10. When you have lost a customer/client do you know why?

11. Do you continually communicate and educate your customer/clients in terms of the benefits and applications of your products/services?

12. Do you have a very strong initial offer to start a relationship?

13. Have everyone that 'sells' been trained in consultative sales?

14. Have you done anything before that’s worked in sales and marketing, but you no longer do it? (If yes start doing it again).

15. Do your sales people have script books that enable you to ensure that your sales expertise doesn't ‘walk out the door’ if your best salespeople leave?

16. Is it really easy to buy from you or could you make it even easier?

17. Do you use joint ventures to obtain more customers or sell more products and services?

18. Is your website generating sufficient leads in relation to your investment in it?

19. Do you take advantage of your existing relationships? (For example has your solicitor, accountant or banker helped you beyond just providing a service?)

20. Is the time that you are investing in social media and the internet producing a return? 

Let me know what you think to the questions or if you have any issues.

These questions are from our strategic business audit document.



Regards




Mark



Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

Get More Done In 2010

Just a quick post to suggest that its worth completing the form 'How To Remain Focused The Secret To Time Management.' It only four pages so it won't take a lot of time reading it! 

Regards


Mark

A Results Driven Approach To Your Business Success

Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

Sell it again Alice

Last Friday I had a nostalgic trip down memory lane and enjoyed seeing Alice Cooper in his 'Theatre of Death' tour in Nottingham.


It was the third time I've seen him and he keeps on coming up with new ways to 'act' out his death!


Hanging, guillotine, a box full of spikes and a large syringe administered by his nurse the 'killer. Tiffany Lowe, after the song poison.


Its all harmless fun, it was a real laugh hanging out with lots of people with strange makeup and black Alice wigs. They weren't all middle aged + but it wasn't a family show either!


Anyway back to my normal subject of marketing. Prior to the gig there was a bloke with a drum handing out leaflets promoting the recording of the gig.

This was on a memory stick, which enabled the punters to take away half he concert. The other half was available via a download later on plus some other goodies.

As you can see I was one who decided to part with more money.


So Alice sold the gig twice, not to everyone of course, but that's the opportunity for you and many people in different walks of life. The opportunity to record to reproduce your knowledge, your skills digitally, then to sell it again.


So the question that's worth asking is. What do you know or what skills do you have that are worth something to someone else?


What are your skills and knowledge, which can be reproduced and sold many times over?


That's real leverage.


He's another idea even if you don't want to sell it; you can still help other people by sharing your knowledge.



Food for thought for the New Year.

All comments welcome have a great Christmas and all the best for 2010.


Regards




Mark



Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

Sales Objections & Put Offs Can You Help?

Overcoming sales objections and put offs will increase your sales.


A put off is something like 'send me something in the post or call me in three months, or he's busy you'll have to send him an e-mail.


An objection could be 'that's too expensive, you'll have to get your price down.' Another example might be 'we've already got one or our existing machine is okay, or we are happy with our existing supplier.


I have a number of objections and put offs within my results driven sales system as you'd expect.


What I'd like to do is build a bigger list with your help and I'll develop lots of response and share what I put together with people that help me.


So can you send me your common objections and put offs and in return I'll send you a new objection book when I've designed suitable responses for you.


If you have a standard reply to an objection or put off that you use already, could you send me that as well to help other people?


I will send you a copy of this new objection book when its are collated, in February next year.


All you need to do is send me some objections or put offs and subscribe to this blog and I'll send you the book in February. 


Regards 


Mark





P.S. This isn't going to be a PDF, there will be a very small charge to cover the production and postage costs for the objection book. 


I'll let you know what that will be when its put together next year, but rest assured it will be only be a nominal cost.


 P.P.S. This offer will end at the end of January 2010.


Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2010 All Rights Reserved

Sales Rescue

Have you ever had a verbal conformation that the prospect wanted to buy from you, but later on they got ‘cold feet’ or ‘buyers remorse.’

There are a number of ways that you can try to overcome this situation.

1. Get them to commit to signing an order or agreement in the first place.

2. Write to them after they have placed the order, re-enforcing the positive points of your proposition, telling the customer or client what a sensible decision that they have made and how they will benefit from the purchase.

The second point I don’t really like, but that’s a personal point of view. The first point strays into the area of legal advice, so no comment on that one! Talk to a practicing suitably qualified person.

If a sale is going down the pan, you need to communicate and find out why.

Don’t use e-mail, its too impersonal.

Get on the phone or meet the person and ask them what are their concerns, try and isolate the real reason (s) someone has changed their mind, then offer a solution.

Ask some questions like these

What’s stopping you going forward?

What are your concerns?

Is it the return on investment?

Will buying this product/service give you a return you are looking for?

Is it the delivery options?

Is there an issue with financing the purchase?

Are you happy with the guarantee?

Keep calm and don't let any frustrations show, have a genuine concern.

Sometimes its not in your clients best interest to proceed, in that situation its better to agree with your prospect and accept the situation, or if you feel its not right for them mention it yourself.

On the assumption that it is the right thing for the client to proceed, when you have isolated the concern if you don’t have an immediate solution take time out, consider what else can you afford to do to make it work.

It’s not all about price cutting, for instance recently I restructured a deal where there was a strong guarantee, but the client was still not sure, so we structured our deal whereby if we did not deliver they could not lose.

We did not cut our fees just how they were paid.

I welcome any comments you have, your own experiences etc.

Regards

Mark


Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved