Research your prospects thoroughly
Very often, when we find a new prospect who is willing to see us – or better still, asks us to come and see them – we are so excited that we go straight there without another thought. We don’t think too much about what they do, how big the company is, whether they need our service – we only think about the fact that they are a prospect. The problem with this approach is that it makes the sales appointment a random event. They may have a need, or they may not. They may buy, or they may not. If we don’t get the business we can at least say we gave it our best shot. What we forget in this is the value of our own time. If we had to pay someone by the hour to go to those appointments for us, how careful would we be to vet the prospect first? Many company owners we meet have only a limited amount of time for sales activity. If you are one of them, make the most of it.
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If you go down to the woods today For many of us, when we go about our daily duties, visiting or greeting customers, we are on our own. This can make some people nervous, especially when visiting a new prospect that we want to impress, and may even prove to be too daunting – so we fluff it up, or just don’t bother. The idea of collaborative working is not new, but for many, it is still an experience we have never had. After all, you want to concentrate on delivering your service or offering your product – you don’t need the distraction of someone else trying to pitch in do you? In my experience, the opportunity to bring complimentary services or distributors together can be very powerful, and surprisingly well received by clients. It demonstrates that you have adopted an holistic approach to a particular requirement of theirs, and not just restricted your efforts to a narrow brief. An example of this might be when a customer tells you that they have plans to expand or move premises. You might be their telecoms provider, or you might supply their stationery, but this scenario opens a number of other opportunities for you to effectively use the close network that you have developed, to offer a total solution. Why not take along an accountant, a solicitor, HR specialist or even an insurance broker? Or perhaps you’ve identified that they would like to speak to a carpet supplier – you make the call. Anyway, returning to the subject of my “blog”, my point is that there really can be strength in numbers, and you don’t need to always go it alone. In the words of the nursery rhyme, if you go down to the woods today, you’d better not go alone. Add a PS to your sales letters
When you write a sales letter there are certain items you need to include. One of them is a postscript. Studies have shown that most people, when reading a letter, and especially a sales letter, read the heading first and the postscript second. If they don’t find anything to grab their attention by then, guess what? Of course, the postscript will only get read if the letter fits on one side of the page. Your heading really needs to catch people’s attention, but the postscript gives you a second chance. We usually try to fit a time-limited offer in there. That looks like three tips in one this week. Did I ever tell you to deliver more than you promised? Oh, that makes it four! Have a good supply of Cautionary Tales
We often talk to our clients about what really motivates customers to buy. Of the different reasons that come up, there are always two themes – to achieve gain and to avoid pain. Of the two, avoiding pain is by far the biggest motivator. Most of us can think of examples of customers who have either avoided a major problem by buying from us or have missed a great opportunity by delaying. These stories are gold dust to you, and you should dust them down, practice them, and repeat them at every opportunity. Get your prospects thinking about all the pain that could come their way if they don’t do business with you. They’ll soon become customers Exceed your customers’ expectations
There is one thing you absolutely must do if you are to ensure you keep your customers – exceed their expectations. There is nothing more toxic than a dissatisfied customer. There is another, equally important reason why you should exceed their expectations – that is how you get a good stream of quality referrals from them. So, given that we know how important it is, how do we do that? First of all, it is key that we manage their expectations in the first place. If you are providing a service that the customers are familiar with – servicing a car for example – the key is to do it better than your competitors, and to provide a few extra touches that they didn’t expect. Some customers may never have used your type of service before, and so they may not know what to expect. When you first start dealing with them, you therefore need to ensure you explain carefully what you will do for them and what they can expect by way of results. Then, you ensure that you are able to deliver more than that. Ryan Air are masters of this. They provide probably the worst service in their industry, but they set their customer expectations so low that they actually have a high satisfaction rating. Whilst we don’t recommend the Ryan Air approach to customer service, there is still a very important lesson we can learn. Most importantly, ensure you have clearly explained, and your customer has understood, what you will be providing, and be careful, especially in your sales presentations, not to set the bar too high. Another weekend of sporting success, it is now becoming increasingly difficult for our sporting stars to “exceed our expectations”, this is the subject of our sales tip today. |
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