Use questions to find the pain

We’ve talked about the power of questions to get to the real issues before. We’ve also talked about finding the customer’s pain. There is a specific type of question to use to get to the pain.
 
We call these questions issue questions. They are the questions that get to the problems the customer is experiencing – problems which you can solve.
 
In order to get a better sense of the way these questions are used, let’s take an example. Imagine you are selling simple components. You have built your reputation on always having stock, so you have the best delivery record in your industry. If you are meeting a new customer, you’ll ask all the factual questions about what they buy, how often, what they pay, etc. But the issue questions, like, “what happens if your supplier is out of stock?” will allow you to have a discussion about all the lost  production, the late nights catching up on orders, the overtime payments to meet their deadlines, all of which are painful to the customer.  Then you can tell him about your stocking policy, and the reason it will save him from all that pain.
 
Issue questions are incredibly powerful for getting you to the point where you can really sell your benefits. Why not create a list of questions now that are relevant to your business?

Top Tips for a hassle free Christmas and New Year

I have been busy preparing for the festive season (Christmas to you and I) and as I do so, the risk manager within me always comes to the fore! I cannot help but see this time as one of increased risk and exposure with fewer precautions being taken to protect what we’ve purchased or built up over our lifetimes. I thought I’d share a few simple top tips to ensure that you and your treasured possessions are safe and with us all to enjoy another Christmas.

Top Tops

1.  If you have home insurance – check the cover to ensure that there is an uplift in the contents limit over periods such as Christmas. As your home is often full to the brim with the latest “must haves”, it’s worth checking that your insurance is adequate.

2.  Have you checked your smoke alarms or detectors recently? If not, do it today – not tomorrow as that could be too late. If the batteries have been in longer than 6 months, replace them – a fiver or tenner spent now could make the difference between peace and chaos.

3.  If you are travelling to spend Christmas with relatives – does your home insurance cover you for any loss or damage to any personal possessions away from home?  Check  - if you accidentally drop that i-Pad that your wealthy Aunt has just bought you, are you covered?

4.  Are you planning to be away for all or part of Christmas or New Year? If so, ensure that you tell a close neighbour who can regularly check on your house, and make sure you have your lights set on timer, and leave a car on your drive – anything to make sure your house doesn’t look empty!

5  Don’t leave festive lights on all day and all night. The most common cause of house fires is due to electrical faults and issues. This could be a faulty plug or wiring or simply that the transformer has burnt out.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous and Healthy New Year!

Public Wi-Fi – Do You Exercise Caution?

B2B internet and Kaspersky Lab carried out a recent survey to see if people took precautions when using public wi-fi hot-spots.

The results revealed that a staggering 34%, of those who took part in the survey, never took precautions despite the fact that it is easy for traffic along these networks can be intercepted and used for evil purposes.  14% even stated that they used these hotspots to shop and bank online event though they were exposing their bank details and credit/debit cards to such risks.

Kaspersky warned that even if the connections were on https connection, encrypted or password protected there were still risks involved in using these networks and without encryption cyber-criminals have an easy time accessing and stealing data.

Only 13% of the people surveyed admitted to checking the level of encryption of the hot-spot.

Next time you use such a hot-spot check the security before you use it.

Tips on how employers can try and avoid pitfalls while still partaking in the Christmas spirit!

Don’t offer alcohol

Having an alcohol-free event is obviously not always a popular suggestion; however it is one of the best ways to minimise risk for employers, particularly in today’s multi-cultural society where increasing numbers of people don’t partake of the ‘Christmas spirits’ anyway.

As an employer, you have an obligation to keep your employees safe whilst they’re at work, and there is still a supervisory responsibility even when you are hosting the Christmas party.

Hold your party off-site

This won’t absolve the employer of all responsibility but , the restaurant would be considered the provider of alcohol and therefore would assume some of the responsibility for refusing to serve someone when they’ve had too much to drink.

However this is still likely to count as a ‘work’ event and therefore some supervisory liability could still exist for the employer. The employer would still need to take steps for example if say an employee is visibly intoxicated, and not in a position to drive home. As an employer, you can’t simply turn a blind eye.

Hold a lunch or breakfast party

Common sense dictates that daytime parties discourage heavy drinking or pre-drinking. Some employers have been known to host “active” events such as skiing parties, or go karting.

Have a plan for employees who have had too much to drink

Consider offering either somewhere to stay for the evening or transportation to and from the event so people don’t feel compelled to get back in their car after the event and drive themselves home.

Pre-book mini buses / taxis, or book a few hotel rooms nearby in case people need to spend the night.

Invite spouses or families

Aside from excessive drinking, the most common problem that typically arises from office Christmas parties is sexual harassment. Typically the frequency of sexual harassment claims are dramatically reduced at Christmas parties when spouses are included. This can backfire however, if bored spouses are left by the bar while their other halves enjoy themselves only to object, violently, at the end of the evening. Best used in conjunction with a limited bar!

Employees are still bound by workplace policies, even at after-hours parties

A Christmas party does not give an employee free rein to do or say things that would never be tolerated in the workplace, nor does it give an employer the same right. An employee can still be disciplined for conduct that occurs at a company Christmas party.

Be careful about any false promises you make whilst in the party spirit

There is no rule that prevents promises made at the Christmas Party from being unenforceable, provided there is a clear intent for them to be binding. Telling Joe from accounts that he is “your bestest friend in the world” and that you will double his pay in the New Year may come back to bite you.

As always, employing people can be a minefield but it’s up to you to decide what level of risk you are comfortable with and ensure that your employees know what is expected of them before the celebrations commence.

It can be tempting to assume that we’re all grown-ups and common sense will prevail, but unfortunately at this time of year it often doesn’t. As a Tribunal claim makes for a pretty rubbish Christmas present, it’s best to be prepared!

Always be closing

We've often talked about helping people to buy rather than trying to sell to them. However, that doesn’t mean you should sit passively by and wait to see which way the customer decides.
 
Your job is to help the customer to recognise that the best solution to her problem lies in buying from you.
 
To do this you need to be always moving the process in the right (ie your) direction. Can you break the buying decision down into a series of smaller decisions, each one of which takes the customer a little closer to buying from you?
 
Once you do this, you will be able to gently encourage them, step by step, to the final, and all-important decision – to buy from you.

CAP Business Clubs help business start-ups

One of the great things about  running a business club is that you get  to spend time with positive, busy people who get things done and still find time to create new ideas. We actively encourage members to meet outside of the club, and  often find an hour our time over a cup of coffee can be very fruitful.

Chatting with Alison Ball from Lemon Photography last week proved to be one of those light bulb moments.

Alison suggested both clubs take on a business start-up, offering 6 months free membership to the club. This would give the selected applicants a chance to gain valuable networking experience and at the same time receive help and advice from the group, plus of course the usual lead generation. In addition to this they would receive five vouchers for one2one mentoring from members of their choice. 

Now why didn't I think of that??!!

I then shared this with both groups who unanimously backed the idea without hesitation. Miranda Jenkins from Skills to go, being an expert in business start-ups helped with the hows and whens and now we are ready to roll it out, with an actual start time of mid January. 

A page has been set up on this website with details and application forms (you can apply now!)  
http://www.capbusinessclubs.co.uk/apprentice.html

If you or someone you know is starting out in business and would benefit from this offer then contact us to apply. the two lucky selected businesses will be announced on January the 10th 

It's a fantastic opportunity and I'm proud to be associated with both CAP groups who lead the way in networking here in the Forest of Dean.

Believe you can win the business

Never underestimate the power of belief.
 
Over the last few weeks we have been reading about some of the experiments being done in the field of Quantum Physics (and you thought we were just a little bit mad). What Quantum Physics is teaching us is that we really don’t understand the world we live in at all. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the interactions between people.
 
At an unconscious level we pick up very sensitive pieces of information about the people in front of us. At a conscious level, we can usually tell when they are lying, and we can tell when they are happy and when they are sad. Unconsciously we can tell much more, and unconsciously we react to that information.
 
This explains why salespeople have great spells, and terrible spells; they are unconsciously giving out subtle signals about how confident they feel, and the buyers are picking up on those.
 
If you are to consistently succeed, you must put all doubt out of your mind and truly believe you are going to be successful. Achieving that will not be easy, and will take lots of practice. A quick pep talk before you meet the customer isn’t going to do the trick.
 
There isn’t enough space here to cover how you do this in sufficient detail. If this tip resonates with you, you might like to call us to discuss in more detail how you can truly improve your sales conversions, just by believing you can.

The Reason for Father Christmas’ Success

Father Christmas’ working year maybe very short but he has a huge amount of work to do in a very short space of time and a deadline that just can’t be missed.  So how does he do it?

Father Christmas knows what he’s good at and what he needs to focus on.  Everything else has been delegated to a largely unseen but dedicated team of skilled and organised elves that work throughout the year toward their Christmas goal.

We’ve all seen Father Christmas in Grottos asking children what they would like for Christmas but do we always pay attention to the elf by his side making a note of all the relevant details - name, address, gift etc. It is the same elves that are responsible for adding details from the letters sent to Father Christmas to the database making sure that no one is forgotten.

Senior elves check that all the presents are age appropriate and parentally approved.  They also supervise that the elves making and obtaining the presents do so within the allocated time frame.  Presents are beautifully wrapped and clearly labelled with each child’s name and address (and often chimney accessibility).  Postal elves sort the presents geographically into the relevant sacks and load them onto the sleigh which passed its MOT and is flight worthy thanks to the mechanical elves. 

For the months leading up to Christmas the stable elves have fed  Rudolph, Dancer, Prancer,  Dasher,  Blitzen, Vixen,  Cupid,  Comet and, Donner a special diet making them lean, keen and fast and Rudolph’s completed a  refresher orienteering course so that they don’t get lost.  They shouldn’t as the Sat Nav elves have programmed the sleigh with the quickest, most straightforward route taking into consideration adverse weather conditions and atmospheric delays (as advised by the weather and travel elves).

The wardrobe elves have polished Father Christmas’s boots and his outfit has been repaired, cleaned and ironed so that he looks his best; just in case someone catches a glimpse of him (and to make sure that there are no bits to snag on a chimney).

The list of jobs carried out by the elves is endless (only a few of them are listed here) but it’s because of the elves proactive and effective work that nothing is left to chance. When Father Christmas steps into the sleigh on Christmas Eve he is confident in the knowledge that all he has to do is make sure that every child receives their presents before the sun comes up on Christmas Day.  And that is why he hasn’t missed a deadline!