The best sales advice EVER

Record all you phone presentations and review them. Ask yourself one question over and over– what can I do to improve this interaction and get my customer to feel more satisfaction and be happier by the time they get off the phone with me? If you keep finding ways to improve before you know you will be number 1. I’ve done it several times.

Thank you to all the people who believed in me I am expanding this blog

When I started this blog a few years ago the only thing I wanted it for was a place to store my business ideas so I could use them later. I did absolutely no promotion hell I didn’t even tell my own family it existed until I got to 10,000 hits. I found out that people are really looking for the business ideas that I had in always kept to myself. It’s been a humbling experience to say the least but now going to go out and live my dream of taking these ideas which I have gotten make emails and comments about in the global world instead of just my local one. The number one request that I have gotten in an email message from the readers of this site has been this “how do I apply your ideas to my business? ” I have given limited answers but I want to give more so I have started Impact Business Consultants (website announcement soon) which will allow me to take all my time and energy and focus it on your business. So before I could send you resources I thought would be best but because I didn’t have time to research your industry, business model, or sales and marketing efforts, etc I didn’t get to involved like I do with my local clients because they are paying the bills. I really never offered you my paid services because I was used to meeting my clients in person. However with the attention this blog has gotten very overwhelming. Now over 43,000 views have hit this blog something I never even dreamed of or really focused on. I offering you the same service and some even better than I do now but their will be a cost involved and I will be taking on just a few clients and no competitors in your industry– first come only one served. If you are interested in getting more of a hands on approach where I can guarantee my results please call me immediately at 302-757-0210 or email me at tom4change@gmail.com. I am going to offer my service at a reduced rate because I am looking for the tele or web-based business referrals.

Again I Humbly thank you .You believed in me and have pushed me to believe in myself . I am eternally grateful. 

 

P.S. I’ll be posting now more often so please keep being open and honest with these ideas the success of this blog depends on it

The Social web– how to use Facebook Twtter or MySpace to grow or KILL your business?

1st you NEED to realize that your business is complete different and should be treated as such then your personal pages. People put up profiles on social websites for a few reasons– get new friends, keep in touch with old friends or have a place to voice your thoughts and opinions among people they like and or trust. HOWEVER– Your business should only be on Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace for  ONE pure Goal– To make money !!!!

This is extremely important because many business owners are  running their personal and business profile the same way and it can ruin your business forever!

and you work this utilizing these methods

3  REASONS–and only 3– 1)To get people to spend more money when they buy (if they buy $10 use it for promos to get them to spend $12 next time) and  2) How to get them to buy what you have more often (if they buy once a month to get them to buy once every two or three weeks ) and lastly 3) how to get one customer to bring in more customers (what is going to cause one person to tell the people they trust or trust them that you exist and they support your business as well — growing a customers circle of influence to benefit you)

For you business realize this what you put on on the web is permanent one and you can NEVER retract it. It is called Caching of a webpage in which your browser saves every version of a website to see this use achive.org the home of Googles Wayback machine.  And what your thing as a funny , cool or neat idea or opinion your OTHER visitors might not  agree with and THEREFORE my chose to NOT use your business because they read such things even though you do. This is a HUGE point for those people that have never used your business in the past and are searching the web to determine IF they are going to use your business today. Think about how often you use review sites to purchase a product to see generally how people feel about it. Its great because they are people you don’t know and there for are mostly just speaking pure about their experience. PEOPLE ARE DOING THE EXACT SAME THING WITH YOUR BUSINESS .

HERE IS THE KILLER OF BUSINESS ON THE WEB YOU WILL never FIND OUT WHO OR WHAT IS CAUSING PEOPLE TO DECIDE NOT TO USE YOUR BUSINESS . SO LOOK AT YOUR REVIEWS, FEEDBACK AND POSTS VERY CAREFULLY EVERYDAY BECAUSE THEY ARE DICTATING THE REAL OPINIONS .

 

IF YOU WANT POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS TO CHOOSE YOUR BUSINESS OVER YOUR COMPETITION email me at tom4change@gmail.com and will show you how exactly drive the web, social media and review sites in your favor .

Growing fast is not nearly as important as growing strong

People always ask me for ideas that can grow their sales fast which is very easy for me. The problem is they get annoyed when I tell them to slow down and build great systems underneath the business before I build or while I build the sales. Here’s the thing everybody doesn’t realize to many sales can kill you your business faster than low sales because if the systems/ methods /structure you have in place can’t handle the growth. It will crush you and your customers will be very upset and probably leave . So I ask my clients “Do you  want to be here in five years or do you just want me to double your sales now?” If you interest in working with me be prepared with an answer I’m going to ask you as well.

How to get you customers to want to call you back

One of the things that I been working on lately is doing some coaching and training for sales professionals and since I thought some of the lessons I’m teaching them you guys could benefit from ……

Let me ask you this what is the ONLY reason you leave a voicemail? Its to get you customers to stop what they are doing and call you back as soon as possible … It is NOT to introduce yourself, help them to remember that you are still there or give them your phone number so they can call when they get around to it.

First is the voicemail is a great sales tool which many people don’t know how to use to get the most from impact from.I’m going to show you what people do wrong, why and the simple way to design a voicemail that invokes the action that you want.  The very first mistake business owners make is that they assume that you can leave voicemails that are like you are calling a family  member and that once they hear you voice they will just call back but you customers are busy and they need a great reason to return your call. So an example of the above  would be “Hi this is ________ from _______ please give me a call when you have the chance at ___________ ” The reason this doesn’t work is there is no reason “why” they should AND your making the assumption that they know exactly who you are which they might not remember you.

You have to give a great reason to call you sometimes it can be something they really want  but even better is triggering a pain point and telling them that you can solve it. The second reason you have to meet is to create action there is no way I know beside screaming “FIRE” to invoke action is to ask a really compelling, evoking and powerful question.

So heres a general example  Hi this is Tom from ____________ and I many customers tell me they struggle with _________   I’m calling to see if looking to overcome this challenge  in the next 30 days, If so give me a call at _____________ or email me ___________. I look forward to hearing from you if this would benefit you. Now thats I a rough and straight to the point but the it gets people to call me back.

Remember this I talk about giving lots of customer value and that what you have to think about when leaving a voicemail — What is the real value the customer is going to get by calling you back? And start with that idea. If you are looking for help in this area I’d be happy to design a voicemail for you that will get a good response and I guarantee the results (contact me at tom4change@gmail.com for rate information)

How to stand out from your from your competition this holiday season

1. Open after dinner on Thanksgiving like have a 9 to  midnight sale. Think about all those shoppers waiting for the next morning why not help them avoid some crowds, get things off the list, and most of all give them a great reason to get them off the off the couch.

2.offer Free delivery and gift wrapping  (within reason)

3. start a list completion service during the last two weeks call you favorite customers and see if there is anything you can help them find then call your friends hopefully other business owners to help them complete their shopping. Customers will love you because you doing something they couldn’t and never expected to get help with from you. Your building goodwill among other businesses by giving them free business they never expected at the peak time. You couldn’t meet the need anyway so you never lost a dime. I guarantee the other business owner and the customer will be going out of their way to help you out when it gets slow like Jan 2010 and isn’t that what we all need to build our pipeline of new sales after the rush is over.

4.Ask yourself the question during ALL slow periods — What can I do to provide my customers the greatest value and deliver it in a way they would never expect?

5.Remember that great service ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS beats lowest price because with our uncertain economy  everybody has low price but isn’t their service getting worse? Make sure ALL employees have excellent customer service skills I mean way above others.

6 Send out hand written thank you letters just because you care and nobody else is.

7.Differetiate, differentiate, oh yeah differentiate make sure you customer KNOW you not like the competition your a hell of a lot better.

8. Don’t believe the old lowest price wins adage –then why is Apple making a killing? Simple they deliver a better product in a greater way at a higher price

9. find ways to up-sell and cross sell all customers to maximize profits

10. If you need any help with the above –email me at tom4change@gmail.com

Giving meaningful gifts to your employees to show your appreciation of their hard work

I’m sure that you would agree the the two most important things in your business are your employees and customers. You know the great ones are rare and hard to find and only after you lost one do you see the impact they created to overall well being of your company. So finding ways to show them how much you value what they contribute to your success as a small business owner is of extremely high importance. If your one of my regular readers you probably have read my other post on customer value so here is the other part of the equation. If you haven’t read my primer on understanding my view points it is here.

I wanted to save this post because this is the time of year most SBO’s are looking for gift giving ideas for the most important people in their business or professional life. Finding unique and powerful way to show employee how much you value them can truly create less employee turnover and a more positive work environment than you may realize until it happens. This is truly something that giving once in the right ways can last you for the rest of the year … and next year. The power to make a difference in someones life with just a small but well thought out token is something that may last for their lifetime you never know. However it has to be WELL THOUGHT OUT _-not expensive to gain full effect. Most employers give bonuses and I say when they see the benefit to this way they wouldn’t never give a bonus again as a way to show employees you care. Why? it’s only money and it will be forgotten about two minutes after its spent so shelf life is a week max. I show you reasons/thoughts, others examples and a simple way to create your own way of starting to give thought–fully. Don’t get me wrong employees should definitely get bonuses but not a way to say thank you but rather as pay for the work they accomplished. The two should NEVER be confused with each other.

So getting back to the gifts– the personal the better shows how much you are really paying attention to them. Try your best to give memories not things. What I mean by that is anybody can get you something off a list so your goal is to be powerful and unique. You want the memory of the experience to last for the next 180 days at least. However if you do have to pick a present get them something that nobody else would think to get them. For example you notice that once every two weeks your co worker goes to the same place for lunch because they like it get them a gift certificate for two lunches at least. You save them money and they be thinking while eating those lunches.

Now for the great gifts the memories. Find favorite activities of hobbies that your employees have. Or sometimes if you find other things they are passionate about. Then give them the experience as a gift. So let me give you an example –I found out that one of my employees favorite baseball player was Tony Gwynn how ironic the same as mine. So I found out when the Padres where in Philadelphia playing the Phillies then I got us field seats. Now for the great part the surprise. When I scheduled I overstaffed he thought it was because of a big shipment coming in. When he showed up I handed him a Padres cap and said lets go needless to say he was blown away. One afternoon that YEARS later we still reminisce about.

Now he was a good employee before but afterwards if their was anything I needed he volunteered –I didn’t even have to ask. I can honestly tell you that $100 gift made and saved me a couple thousand. Now that’s not what I had in mind but after it happened I realize the magnitude of my gratitude combined with my thoughtful gift giving. When ever I do it the benefits FAR outweigh the cost. Whenever I need something my employees want to help me out because they know how much I care, how much of an impact they have and that I’m willing to sacrifice to show them that.

So the lesson is this give with your values and heart instead of just with your money and your company will grow in ways you can never imagine.

AS always if you need any ideas for your employees PLEASE email me — Tom Titlow Jr @ Tom4change@gmail.com

How can you make your customers lives easier this time of year?

we all how extremely stressful this time of year can be. However for small business owners it can create several opportunities that the benefits of can last the whole next year though. People remember the intangible things you did to create VALUE in their lives. what did you do out of the ordinary for them? What did you give they they couldn’t find anywhere else?( ex muscle relaxation through having a massage therapist on site as a free service on busy days, holding your customers gifts until they find a way to hide them or having a gift wrapping party –you supply the wrapping paper free of charge they get to wrap their presents in a fun environment where they are away from home and getting to network with other customers) I have tons of other ideas for you just email me. The overall idea is this–

In what completely UNIQUE ways can I make my customers lives more fun, less stressful and /or more productive during the holiday season?

Five guys Burgers–Audacity to increase desire

One of the greatest things about 5 Guys burgers is how in your face upfront they are. First the burgers are made literally right in front of you (imagine if your auto mechanic did that–let you watch what he was doing). Then as your waiting for your order they have at perfect eye level every review of their burgers for all over the US. What that says to me is our burgers are great PERIOD.  Remember I haven’t taken a bite yet but I saying how confident is that–how do they know if I’LL like it? I was ALMOST waiting to prove them wrong because of how OVER the top they are saying they are. I just love the concept –we are so sure you’ll like it that we are willing to show you what others are saying. By the way it’s not one magazine this display covers the whole eating area. The nice part is after you bite into one and you look along those walls  and then you realize how ABSOLUTELY right they all were.

NOW the busiest time of year don’t forget this

Most business pass or fail for the WHOLE year in the next few weeks. i’m sure that you’ve prepared for the busiest time of year. However I just wanted to share a big hint that business owners forget about or think they can live without(the Superman principle). SALES Support or Support in ANY busy area of your business during the holiday rush. Your goal is not only to have what your customer needs but to make your customers lives as easy as possible. Why? because everybody else is stressing them out.

Then there are your employees they matter most because if the are stressed it shows straight thru to your customers almost immediately. So the people you have that are supporting your frontline staff are extremely important to your success. The reason why is simple when things get crazy and hopefully they will they will be the silly putty that holds it all together. You have to make sure they are strong and cross trained in all area of your business customer service, sales, etc. So many times its the littlest things during those rushes that completely back things up  the last thing you want is lost sales this times of year . You never will get the chance again.

Great support will cover breaks, replish register tape, or answer phones when everybody is busy and the list goes on. They can’t truely make your break your best selling season.

3.75 keys to eliminating sales objections

One of the toughest parts in business is overcoming objections that your potential customer has about your products, people or your company.  So here are three general key I use without fail to save the customer.

1.Build confidence in the customer objections.Just remember that all an objection is them trying to find a reason NOT to buy. THEY WANT to buy if they didn’t they just walk away without saying anything. Most salespeople think the customer is saying no where they are trying to say yes they just need more information to back up their willingness to do so. I love objections because the customer is trying to buy what I have. It’s my job to make it as easy as possible to do so. So I always tell them I welcome objections and then when they occur I always start with ” I’m glad you brought that up” or “Many of my customers feel the same way you do….” I want them to feel good and confident for bringing up these points. Most people are scared at this time because they want to buy but they don’t want to here they aren’t able to.

2.Face the challenge head on. Customer are trying to see if you really stand behind the product because if you do then they can. ALWAYS be honest!!! If your not the customer will see it no matter how good you think you are. Make sure that if you put the objection do for now you get the customer to agree to it. Say something like ” That’s an good point you have brought up and I will get to it in minute okay?” Then make sure you do.

3.If your are ever unsure to the answer to an objection say this” That is an excellent point that I hadn’t considered,I don’t know the answer but I will find it out for you.” Then find out.

0.75 — Never make something seem less than ( ex a competitor) in order to make your product look stronger. It make your look weak and pushes their decision more toward them. They see it as you think they are better that’s why you have to knock them down you can’t compete on a level playing field.

whats the most important day in your customers lives?

The day that they were born every single year!!!! More business is done on peoples birthdays because people feel special on that day(even though they may not admit it) I know several companies that send out gift certificates to be used on peoples birthdays that make a killin. The question is –are you giving your customers the oppportunity to do business with you on their special day. They almost always come back for a repeat purchase or refer somebody etc.

B2B Sales–build your business –getting more customers

One of the things I love in business is watch the different ways businesses grow through discovering new customers. I love business owners that like to think out of the box. See a lot of business owners think that if thy advertise in the right places or market to the right people then people will show up at their doorstep. I say “maybe” but what is your back up plan if that doesn’t happen? If you don’t have a good back up plan I’ve got a successful one I have used in all the businesses I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of.

Being in outside and retail sales for many years I learned that if my customer wasn’t standing in front of me it was my responsibility to go out and find them. So I used to ask myself a series of questions in order to find my BEST customer. Notice I didn’t say just “a customer” I wanted to find the person or company that most desired my product or service. So I would imagine somebody using my product– sounds stupid but the details of the visualization were extremely helpful. Rather than explain this let me show you how I did it.

One of the companies I worked for was Sprint. I was lucky enough to get in right when people where realizing how much having a cellphone could change their life for the better. I primary enjoyed focusing on business customers when I wasn’t busy at the store. So I asked myself the most powerful question that you can ask in sales “who would benefit most from having the ability of the features that my product offers?”

Then I just sat down and wrote out a list of who and more importantly why they would be able to use my product to better their business. If I understood and could communicate the reasons why it showed them that I had their best interests in mind. What also separated myself is that I wasn’t just a salesperson rather I was someone that was trying to help them achieve their long term goals while achieving short term savings. Then I looked at the areas that I had the greatest opportunity of positively impacting the bottom line. Why did I do this? Those where the areas which I would be able to utilize my time and get them to say yes the fastest. After that I look at the who and wheres of that industry, company of division.

Who is the best person in this segment to prove my products worth to? I never looked at normal purchasing channels which really helped my success in that I never fought through red tape. So if I knew that a sales manager could make the most money I lent him out the phones for a couple of days so he could see it himself then he sold the purchasing manager on the decision. Most others started with the purchasing manager instead of the end user.

Where is the best place to find get in touch with that person? I molded my schedule to where and when was the best time for them. This was critical for me because I into place that others couldn’t access. I was always looking for the back door if you will. So if they were on the road I met them for breakfast, or I would show up at a trade show that I found out they would be attending. Needless to say I was never that guy waiting in the office for the appointment unless I absolutely needed to be.

I have this little thing I say to myself in business to business sales “If I can find the area which I can make the most difference to any business it will help me to penetrate the whole business”

How to turn customer complaints into $$$?

Your probrably asking yourself if that is really possible? I have to tell you some of the greatest fortunes ever created in business were because of this very concept. I marvel when reading of business successes that were either mistakes or came from places that the owner would have never expected. I love to see how you really never know when you go into business what the final result is going to be.

Now the first thing you need to do is to understand why this works so well then i’ll explain how amazingly simple it it to do (and its absolutely FREE). The reasons why are limitless as you will find. Lets start with this many business owner got into business because they wanted to solve a problem. When they got into business they found at many time like they where surrounded by many new problems (aahhh the struggles of the start up business). For somebody else those challenges you had will be somebody else’s business story. One of the challenges that every single business person is bound to run into is customer complaints.It how you handle these complaints or don’t that will determine the outcome of business.

Here is why simply what people are saying about you business to others is much more powerful than any marketing or advertising you may be doing. Now as painful as it may be at times you really do want to do everything in your power that if people don’t like your business or anything related to it (employees, products, or call wait times you know that this list is endless) You want to be the very first person they talk to. If they talk to a friend first you may have just lost a customer you never realize you had. So rule #1 is to do absolutely everything is your power to create open communication from your customers for any reason. Heck design a call hotline that when then call about their experiences you give them a code for free stuff( most fast food places do this look on the back of the reciepts to find out how)

BUSINESS TRUTH– people who complain care about you and your business if they didn’t they would just go somewhere else and you would never know.

1.Change your mindset from problems to presents (when you unwrap them you can make the business stronger better faster and more profitable)

2.Creating an inviting enviroment for the customer to let you know how they have been letdown by your by your products or services

3. Following up with the customer post sale to find out if they are happy or not(if you find a problem early before the customer can complain you can help the situation if you wait for the customer to say something alot of times its too late)

4 Writing down all customer complaints, ideas and reasons for returns.

5.On a montly basis go over all of them ask yourself two questions —how can I alleviate this concern for future customers? and Is there a way that I can create a solution that brings me extra income?

6. Share with others for feedback and do step 5 as often as possible (you’ll be surprised at things that you havent been able to solve suddenly have an incredible solution –repetition is the mother of all learning.

Often times a couple of customers that have the same challenges that aren’t simple fixes lead to a great new profit road.

Here is an example of how a fortune 500 company used this. IBM used to be primarily a hardware company –mainframes, servers, desktops and then some pretty complex software but they never provided adequate training for how to use it all. After losing their tails in the information age they righted the ship by LISTENING to the primary reason why customers left them. Now they are one of the largest consultants to fortune 500 companies and their revenue is being created by thier knowledge instead of tied up in all those systems. Not only did that save the company but it also brought them back to profitablity. ALL FROM FOCUSING ON WHAT THEY WHERE DOING WRONG AND TURNING IT INTO SOLUTIONS.

So take your ego out of the question and when you get a complaint or return don’t just that’s part of doing business REALLY look at the reasons why your customers are bringing this to your attention. Ask them one very powerful question “What could I do that would make this situation right for you?” You may get just give me a refund or they may end up telling you something you never realized.May there is a competitor you don’t realize is in town yet that is undercutting your price or may thay can’t stand how long they wait on hold. you’ll never know unless you ask. Remember customers want to help you to become more successful.

All you have to do is ask them— What is it going to make them happy ?

Starting a new business in a competitive industry

I had a friend walk up to me last night after I was done playing pool another passion of mine. He has seen some of the previous consulting work I had done for other small business start ups and asked me a question I get alot. So I figured I’d share this because I’m sure some of my readers may be asking the same thing.I have this idea for a business that I know other people make money at what do I do?What are you doing differently then they are to separate yourself in the potential customers mind? In other words why are people going to choose you over your competition. He then gave me a little info on what business it is  and I gave him some example that he hadn’t thought of yet. A really great question I love to ask people to help them with this concept is the oppposite minded. What need is not being met by the businesses right now that you could fill? What is it that you see other companies NOT doing that you have a passion toward?I call it looking for the gaps and if you find a gap big enough you can have a amazing business. So often though people have such enthusiam for starting the new business which I commend. They don’t stop and ask if the need is already being met. So why be one of many when you can create a new alternative? Business that ask if what can they do better than those already out their are the one with people beating a path to their door.This is a tried and true concept of the USP unique selling point. Which you find out what makes you business unique even in a crowded industry. Your businesses “voice” is what potential customers are going to use to decide if they will do business with you or not let me give you a great example of what I mean.The other day I went out to rent the movie “Wild Hogs” at Blockbuster they wanted $4.50 for a two day rental I thought that was a little crazy and didn’t know if I could watch if that night so I walked out. Before I went home I stopped at Hollywood video and they had it same price and same movie but one BIG difference to me. They had a five day rental at $4.50 BUT if I was done with it tommorow and I bought it back that would credit $1 to my account. Instead of punishing me for not watching the movie fast enough  (the late fees at blockbuster) Hollywood video would REWARD me for getting it back to them sooner BUT I the customer was in control and didn’t have too (I could keep it for 5 days it’s only a buck). So now im changing my habits because of how I felt like the getting back the rental was more important to Blockbuster than me then customers EXPERIENCE. Hollywood gets the visits first and probrably the majority of my rental income because of this shift. I made my decision because of each businesses voice and what each was saying to me.