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Sales Information Site Map
Everyones Favorite Topic - 3 Tips for How To
Selling with Purpose
Selling Abilities - Part 1
Selling -abilities : Part 2
Ten Quick Etiquette Tips for Business Lunches
I Am A Habit
Miracles are Your Responsibility!
5+5 = Your Dream
Selling Commodities
Stuff We Make Up About Our Prospects
Why People Use Long Sales Copy
The Anatomy of a Sales Letter
7 Ways to Stop Selling & Start Building Relationships
7 Pitfalls of Using Email to Sell
Ten Top Tips for Terminating Telephone Terror
Selling Services
Psychological Tricks in Selling
Five Keys to Make Your Cold Calls Sizzle
Your Ad -- Who Cares?
9 Ways to Keep Clients Coming Back For More
The Art Of Cold Calling
Forgive All Ebay Sins!
Do Your Words Betray You?
Doomed Before You Dial?
Eighty Percent of Success is Showing Up
Qualifying Your Prospect
Building Relationships
Take the Contract with You
Talking To A Prospect As If To A Friend
Your Voice is Your Instrument
Another Warm Lead
Why Are We All So Afraid?
Create A Killer Product by Writing Your Sales Letter First!
How To Set Goals and Achieve Them
Planning to Realize Your Goals
How to Blow Rapport Really Fast
Handshake Intimidation
My Competitor Has a Better Product
How to Leverage Your Influence
Open Your Introduction With A Firecracker Moment
Selling Strategy - 5 Ways To Success
Use Bundling To Increase Your Profits And Sales
Six Steps to Creating Online Presentations for Telephone Selling
Persuading Learners to Buy: 7 Groups
Ten FAST Ways to Sell Your Products
Top 10 Ways to Sell your Product or Service While you Sleep - Part 1
Top 10 Ways to Sell your Product or Service While you Sleep - Part 2
Selling Is Not A Dirty Word
Letting Them Use Plastic
Ten Tips for Choosing the Right Direct Sales Company
Why Write a Sales Letter for Each Product?
Sell More Products and Services with Testimonials
60 Ways to Increase Your Mail Order Catalog Sales
101 Ways to Improve Your Direct Mail Response
Why Arent They Buying?
Tapping The Potential Of Your Customers
Nine Keys to Make your Sales Copy Convincing
Selling the Dr. Seuss Way
Two Mistakes That Will Cost You Money
Pinging for Success: Creating Search Patterns
Success Reloaded: The Matrix
Selling: an art of a skill?
Warming Up To Cold Calls
Why There Will Always Be High Paying Sales Jobs
Creating Intense Emotions That Motivate People
Too Much Empathy Will Cost You Money
3 Tips For Getting Through The Voicemail Screen
How to Create Material That Will Get You Sales Now!
Dont Be Macho Selling Ice to Eskimos
The Force That Drives Buying Decisions
Impotent Questions - How Much Are They Costing You?
Use Pain To Get Commitments
Leveraging Yourself Up To Executives When Selling
Obtaining Self-Confidence
The Email Blow-Off
Dont Let Rattlesnakes Scare You
Now Is A Great Time To Sell!
Why Executives Wont Take Your Call
Peddlers, Hucksters, & Empty Suits
Cold Calling Reluctance
Build & Protect Your Confidence
Cold Calling Pressure Reduction
The Risk of Being A Yes-Man
Improve Your Sales Closing Ratio
Lock, Stock, and Barrel!
Why I Hate (Most) Benefit Statements
Dr. Seuss?s 3-Step Selling Process
How To Get Rich Giving Away Something Free
In Sales Service Means Business
The Best Day In The Week
The Prejudging Predicament
15 Ways To Get Really Motivated
Hurrican Selling Styles
The Doors Of Opportunity
First, Fast, And Foremost . . .
Before You Sell Do The Math
Smooth Sailing (Selling) In The Second Half of The Year
How To Take The Right Steps To Increase Your Selling Results
Leave a Better Voice Mail Message
5 Ideas for Writing Effective Sales Letters
A Quick and Simple Tip For Gaining Customers
Lead Generation Sins - 7 Of Them!
Asking The Right Questions
Grow Your Business By Increasing the Value of Each Sale - 29 Ideas to Spur Your Brain
Selling Against Goliath
Value Based Pricing, Not Price Cutting
Connecting with Customers
The Wall of Defensiveness: 7 Ways to Tear It Down
Are You a Cultivator or a Harvester?
A Stupid Question, but it has to be asked
Refining Your Telephone Prospecting Techniques To Be A Master Closer!
Customer Service Revival
Dead Silence From Your Prospect: The Worst Sound Of All
YOUR Future Profits -- Protect Source With CARE
Before They buy What You Say - 10 Steps To Selling Yourself
Selling To Women - Selling To Men - It Isnt the Same
Selling More CDs at Gigs, Case Study: The Rogues
How to Write Testimonials that Sell CDs Like Magic
Sell YOU With Your Small Talk (Yes You Can)
How to Set Appointments
How to Sell Your Products Without Competition
Packaging Maketh the Person
Breaking the Ice and Winning Over the Client
Are You a Winner or Whiner?
Dress as Though You Mean Business
Clear Up Blurry Communication
To Sell Successfully, You Have to Be Willing to Be Different
No Regrets
Im A Second-Story Man
Reviving Dead Clients
Getting Referrals
The Top 10 Ways to Add Extra Value
How to Build Sales With Extended Benefits
Instead of Discounting, Back Some Value Out of Your Proposal
Plan For Your Next Trade Show Appearance To Be A Success
How To Improve Your Voice
Telephone Techniques
Handling Objections
Consumer Effort And The Purchase Decision
SPIN, Relevant To Both Salesmanship & Advertising!
?The Power Of Consumer Opinion, & How To Profit From It!?
10 Amazing Product Selling Formulas
Its Better When They Tell Them
Voice Mail That Sells
The Power of Thank-You
Why Should I Buy From You?
How to Lose the Sale Quickly & Easily
How to ASK for Business -- WITHOUT appearing Pushy --
Web Promotion: 10 Amazing Web Promotion Ways To Jump Start Your Sales
Wholesale Secrets Revealed: The Holy Grail Of Wholesale!
How To Profit From Initial Consultations
10 Tips To Overcome Your Fear Of Selling
Selling Skills - How to Handle the Dreaded Question Whats The Price?
How To Make The Most Out of a Business Networking Event
Create a Magic Connection with Clients, Leads, and Business Associates Part II
How to Really Benefit from Associations (Part 1 of 3-Part Series)
How to Eliminate Objections to Price
The Truth Behind Linear Selling: Why It Can Make Prospects Run The Other Way
10 Important Things To Tell Your Prospects
Powerful Words
How To Get Face To Face Over The Phone
When the Nose of the Camel is in the Tent
Secrets to Buying Without Being Sold
10 Mistakes That Reduce Profitability
Focus on a Trade - Not a Discount
How To Bully Your Prospects Into Buying Your Product or Service
How to Write Effective Selling Proposals
How To Sell Your Products or Services on Value And Stop Selling On Price Alone
Casual Networking
Whats Your Clients Style?
Why Cold Calling Is Dead
Is Cold Calling Dead?
Using Emotion for Persuasion
Selling To Your Difficult Person
How To Seal The Deal In Seven Seconds
Five Things More Important to Buyers than WHAT Youre Selling - I
How To Write A Riveting Sales Letter That Closes Sales
Losing the Big-One: Salvaging Lost Accounts
How to Sell High Tech Solutions
Whats the Secret to Repeat Business?
Prepare to Sell!
Nothing Happens Until Someone Sells Somthing
Solution-Sell is a Myth!
Incentive Dilemma:
Money Does Talk!
Stop Screwing Up Your Sales Letter
What Successful Sellers Know - Others Dont ... The Subtle Art of Closing
Three Big Ol Tips for Better Sales Letters
Flea Marketing Lessons
Throw Out Your Selling Language - Unlock Your Natural Voice
Sell More: How to Get Motivated Buyers To Call You First
Hate Follow-Up Phone Calls To Hot Prospects Who Won?t Call You Back? Stop Calling!
Do You Have Enough Prospects To Make Your Numbers?
Leads, Prospects, and the Huge Gap Between
How to Sell: Selling Tips of Master Moms
Understanding The Corporate Buyer
Cracking The Billable Hours Ceiling
Successfully Selling Your Professional Services
The Damaging Admission - A Persuasive Technique
Dropped Jaw Syndrome, Your Fastest, Most Reliable Market Test
How To Make An Extra $100,000.00 Each Year
5 Ways to Encourage Impulse Purchases
Chicken Little And The Disintermediation Myth
Long Sales Letters vs. Short Sales Letters
3-Levels Of Successful Selling
Gic Number For Writing Sales Letters
Unique Selling Propositions
Your Clients Buying What Youre Selling
Sales Copy Tips
How Improve Conversion Rates
If I Wanted To Sell For A Living, I Would Of Majored In It In College
Freebies
Count Down To An Advert
A Pause For Thought
Lessons Learned At Gunpoint
Turn Your Wisdom Into a Workshop
Can You Use Hynotic Like Statements To Sell More Products?
Interactive Sales Letter Skyrockets Conversions with 2 Simple Questions
6 Steps on How to Install Confidence Into Your Clients
Stop Telemarketers, Do Not Call List or Not
How to create your own Unique Selling Proposition
Know What You Are Selling As If You Were Buying It
Five Deadly Sales Letter Mistakes
Write On The Money: The Ten Commandments (Plus Five) Of Profitable Sales Letter Writing
Give Up the Need to Sell
Selling Your Way To Success
Winning Sales Proposals
Sales Brochures - 9 Steps to Success
Marketing Conversations, And Conversation Stoppers
Touchdown! Closing Skills for Successful Selling
Do You Want to Know the 8 Tips to Selling More Products?
I Don?t Want To Be Sold; I Want To Buy
Do Your Customers Buy On Price Alone?
Are You Selling What They Want To Buy? Is It An Appropriate Solution?
Can Walmart Make You Rich?
Who Takes Your Money
12 Handy Tips for Generating Leads through Cold-Calling
Want More Sales? Write A Barry Bonds Sales Letter
How to Build A Steady Stream of Customers--Step One
Do You Know When You Are Being Sold To?
Selling for Beginners
Consulting Versus Selling
Going the Extra Mile and Getting Referrals
Great Telephone Skills
Book Yourself Solid
How Many Ways Do You Have To Justify Your Price?
Schedule Telemarketing Time For More Success
Sell With KISS, As In Keep It Simple, Stupid
Lazy Man?s Way To Get Customers
Why USPs Dont Work
17 Tips for Bringing Your Event to Life
How to Reach Purchasing Agents of Big Corporations
Dont Call Me
Customer Loyalty in the Technology Industry
Tips for Increasing Your Profits with Gift Certificates
When Selling, Keep It Simple Stupid!
6 Creative Questions To Move From HOW Are You To WHO Are You
10 Incredible Ways To Sell Your Products Now
Increasing Short and Long Term Profits
5 Tips to Choosing a Direct Sales Business
A Little Something Special Goes a Long Way
How Can a White Paper Support Sales and Marketing?
Telling the Value Story
How To Shorten The Selling Cycle And Reduce Buying Stalls
Your Best Friend - The Phone
Looong and Boooring Sales Letters
How To Get Your Mail Past The Gatekeeper And Into The Hands Of The Decision Maker GUARANTEED
How A Simple Greeting Or Post Card Can Turn Into Cash ? Guaranteed
Four Easy Steps To Building A Powerful Employee Incentive Program
Peak Performance ? What You See Is What You Get!
Define Your Best Customer
Creating Your Perfect Pitch!
The History of Sales: Dale Carnegie is Still with Us
Stop Talking - Start Selling
Save Your Breath: How To Sell In Trade Shows Without Pitching
Gatekeepers
Selling the Difficult: How to Sell What People Dont Understand How to Buy
The Trusted Advisor Relationship: What Is It, and What Should It Be?
Going Global: Communication Across Mental Boundaries
What is a Pitch?
The Struggle to Decide: The Paths Customers Take to Solve Problems
Is Sales Profession an Oxymoron?
Sales Letters - How to Write Them
The Relationship Between Colour & Sales
An Ideal Selling Situation
Overcoming the Fear of Selling
The Biggest Mistake In Selling!
Top 10 Ways to Maximize Your Approachability
The Problem With Technology At The Point Of Sale In Financial Services
Sex Sells!
Everything in Life is Selling
Color Psychology Will Make Or Break Your Sales Success
How to Make Sure You Sell More!
What Do Mobile Auto Detailers Clean When it Rains?
Selling ? Remember These Ten Rules and Succeed
Model Dell: The Art of the Affiliate Coupon
Youve Got a Great Business, but Nobody Cares!
What Should I Charge?
Creating More Effective Proposals
Never Stop Selling
Everything Follows the Pitch
Sales People have an advantage as entrepreneurs
How To Dramatically Improve Sales Closing Ratios
Just Ask!
Closing Sales Is Not A Problem, It?s A Process
Why You Buy, Part Three
Business Lessons Learned At The Mall
The Basic Secrets of A Million Dollar Sales Letter
9 Packaging Problems That Lose Sales
Business is Great; I?m Just Not Selling Anything!
How to Acquire More Leads
Future Business Key Element In Sales
3 Ways To Sell and Have Fun Doing It
The Hands On Approach
Going Back To Get Ahead
Caring - The Secret Sales Strategy
The ?Write? Way to More Sales
Sales Training from the Ghostbusters
Selling Your Business ? Step by Step Process
Whats So Special About You? Defining Your USP
Making the Sale When the Customer Wont Buy
Open Source Selling? The Next Evolution? The Next Revolution
Top Seven Ways to Write An Order-Pulling Sales Letter
Don?t Waste My Time!
Restaurant Pressure Washing
Getting Past the Gate Guard
Exporting to Europe: Not the Challenges You Think
The Most Important Word in a Business Letter
More Cleaning and Janitorial Customers Using Yahoo
Make Your Trade Show Booth Popular
At-ti-tude, n
Program Your Biocomputer For Sales Success
Lead Companies, Eight Features To Consider
Your Profit is in Your Follow-up: A System for Increased Sales Conversion
How Sellers Can Take Control
Referrals: Getting Good Business By Doing Good Business
Breaking Through The Comfort Zone Barrier
Why Are Customers So Indecisive?
How Leaky is Your Sales Pipeline?
Are You Scaring Your Customers Away?
Your Proposal Was Rejected... But Why?
It Isnt A Sale Until Youre Paid
A Simple Truth - Authentic Sales Tip
Writing Effective Sales Messages
Sorry, But Im Not Buying From You!
Six Simple Steps for Getting More Applications
Complacency and Fear are Sales Busters
Can Barter Help Increase Cash Sales and Visability for Your Small Business?
Aamazing Tips To Increase Your Sales
6 Ways To Get More From Your Promotions
UK Sales and Marketing Terminology
Ask for the Business
Sealing The Deal Over The Business Meal
Lance Has What It Takes
Quotations Tell... Proposals Sell!
Diverting the Flow of Customers to Your Business
8 Part Strategy For Constructing Your Advertising Message
A Brief History of the Sales Profession
Follow the Long Yellow Copy: Do Long Scrolling Sales Letters Work?
Sales 101: Handling The Angry Customer
The Importance of Good Sales Leads
Buying Mortgage Leads - Three Things to Consider
The Never Ending Sale
Value-added Selling?
What Not To Do With Your Leads
Get the Most Out of Your Current Customer
Mortgage Leads, Choosing the Best Option
People Buy People So Sell On Relationships
What Are Car Boot Sales?
Needs Based Selling
To Buy or Not to Buy? Motivating Your Customers to Take Action!
Mindset Over Materials: The Secret Weapon of Sustainable Sales Success
Aikido and The Art of Cold Calling
Three Ways to Get More Referrals
Picture Yourself a Winner
Selling - Trade Shows Vs. Regular Sales Calls
EXHIBITORS - Check Your URL
Challenge Yourself!!! Evaluate Your Selling Skills!
Seminars for Prospecting
Are You REALLY Listening?
2 ½ Steps to Sales Success
Keep the Referrals Coming
Revenue Growth Through Alliances
Things You Need to Know Before Joining a Direct Sales Company
The Top 10 Myths About the Sales Profession
Health Insurance Lead and Health Insurance Leads
Expert Qualities in Sales
7 Strategies for Writing Fundraising Letters
How to Give Your Customers a Choice Between You and the Competition and Have Them Choose You
Recommending Products Vs. Selling Them
Your Direct Mail Sales Letters Must Differentiate You
Selling For Keeps
Write Fundraising Letter Overlines That Donors Cant Resist (Includes Samples & Examples)
Listen! How to Sell More by Listening More!
Building an Action Plan
Three Ways to Increase Mortgage Applications
What is Lead Generation?
Generating Sales Leads
Mortgage vs. Real Estate Lead Generation
An Introduction to B2B Lead Generation
How to Generate Leads on the Internet
An Introductino to Insurance Lead Generation
An Introduction to Store Fixtures
A Look at Store Fixture Parts
The Benefits of Metal Store Fixtures
The Allure of Antique Store Fixtures
How to Buy Wholesale Store Fixtures for Your Business
The Benefits of Buying Used Store Fixtures
An Introduction to Mannequins
A Look at Mannequin Heads
Finding a Used Mannequin
The Benefits of Display Mannequins
Where to Find Mannequins for Sale
A Look at Child Mannequins
Female Mannequins: An Overview
Buying Wholesale Mannequins
The Secrets Behind Hypnotic Selling
The Answers (1 - 5) Are Here !!! - Challenge Yourself - Evaluate Your Selling Skills
How to Revive a Dead Lead
How Can Fundraising Consulting Help Us Raise Money?
Store Owners - Five Ideas to Increase Sales
Get The Help You Need With Fund Raising Ideas
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RELATED ARTICLES
Make Your Trade Show Booth Popular
So, you are taking your products and heading to a trade show, but this year you want to make your trade show booth popular in order to garner more business and have no idea how to do it. Actually, it really is quite simple to make a popular trade show booth as long as you put forth the effort.
How to Sell High Tech Solutions
Many companies are looking to improve upon the speed, security, and accessibility of business technologies, especially satellite and broadband connections to the internet. While customers are becoming more savvy, many don't speak 'tech-ese,' and they still are baffled by terms such as routers, IPSEC, T-1s, WIFI, and broadband. While these buyers may have a genuine interest and need for the products they investigate, more often than not their sales experience ends up a frustrating and confusing one.
7 Pitfalls of Using Email to Sell
* Are you sending e-mails to prospects instead of calling them?
Building an Action Plan
Going into your workday and waiting for things to happen, and then reacting to them is not a very productive way of doing things. You may as well be going into your workday blind.
Selling for Beginners
Speak to almost any self employed professional and most of them will say that they love their job but don't care much for selling their services. Here's some advice to help all those reluctant professionals who need to sell to clients.
How to Blow Rapport Really Fast
Do you have 5, 10, or 20 years of sales experience?
Challenge Yourself!!! Evaluate Your Selling Skills!
This evaluation is not for the "weak-kneed". Real questions to determine Real skills for Real world sales.When is the last time you were evaluated for your skills - not your personality or potential? Be honest. How do you critique you? How do you identify your strengths and weaknesses in sales?This mini evaluation is designed to critique your skills regardless of what type of sales you are currently in. Although the product or service may change the selling process remains the same.Take a look at the following questions, answer them carefully, and check back next week for the answers.1) List the top five most important steps in the selling process.2) Of these top five, which is the most important? Why?3) List the top three steps in the qualifying process.4) Of the top three which is most important. Why?5) What's more important - qualifying or closing? Why?6) What is your current closing average?7) How do you determine your closing average? 8) What is a qualified lead?9) How do you qualify your leads?10) What is the most important step in the lead qualifying process? Why?How do you know you're effective?How do you know you can't be better?How do you determine your strengths and weaknesses?Wouldn't it be important to know?
Do You Have Enough Prospects To Make Your Numbers?
Several years ago I worked with a CPA who wanted 20 new clients. We came up with a great direct marketing campaign that brought in 10 leads per 1,000 letters. His closing rate was 10%, so after his first few clients came on board, we calculated that acquiring new clients was costing him between $500 and $600. He liked the numbers (one client was worth about $8,000/year), but progress was slow. We advised him to open the spigot and mail 5,000 at a time, instead of the 1,000 he was sending. It worked, and he acquired the new clients he was looking for sooner rather than later.
Handling Objections
HANDLING OBJECTIONS
Why There Will Always Be High Paying Sales Jobs
With the dot.com revolution crushing once solid business models on an almost daily basis, the question surely crosses one's mind "am I next?".
Quotations Tell... Proposals Sell!
The traditional "Quotation" was originally devised during the Industrial Revolution of the 1850's and has changed little to the present day. It is a totally Dickensian format and absolutely out of date in a situation where supply so completely outstrips demand. We are now 155 years on, and selling through proposals has gone way past this old fashioned legal junk. Continue to include it if the legal eagles insist ( and they will, but then they still wear stupid looking wigs, and bow to "Hizzoner") - but don't expect it to do anything but harm in terms of helping you achieve the sale.
The Doors Of Opportunity
Alexander Graham Bell once said, "When one door closes another opens; but we often look so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that is opened for us." If you're in sales you gotta remember this one.
Too Much Empathy Will Cost You Money
Ever have a prospect start out your sales call by asking you "so how much does this cost?" as the first question out of his mouth? How you handle this question, and subsequent ones like it, will greatly influence the outcome of your sales-call.
If I Wanted To Sell For A Living, I Would Of Majored In It In College
By a show of hands, how many of you grew up as a kid saying to yourself, "I can't wait to grow up until I become a salesperson"?
Talking To A Prospect As If To A Friend
While working with a new coaching client, I asked to hear her sound bite. Everyone needs a good sound bite. A sound bite, sometimes also called an "elevator speech," is a 10- to 15-second commercial on what your company does, offers or stands for. Use it when you meet someone new in business, use it at networking meetings, and use it on the telephone as part of your introductory calling script.
Ten Tips for Choosing the Right Direct Sales Company
Direct sales can be your ticket to a profitable home-based business. There's low risk and low overhead - and you'll find lots of conversation, creativity, and cooperation among the company's representatives. But how do you know which company is right for you? Here are ten things to look for as you research your options.
Stop Talking - Start Selling
Selling is not talking. It's listening. You may have heard the saying "the first person who talks, loses". And, it's true most of the time. There are dozens of reasons to stop talking so you can start selling. Here are a few worth listening to:
Lead Companies, Eight Features To Consider
So now the time has come to invest in Lead companies, but how do you know which one is the right one for you?
Why Should I Buy From You?
Virtually every business you contact has this question in their mind. To truly maximize your revenues you need give people a reason to buy from you versus a competitor. Here are a few strategies that will help you differentiate yourself from your competition.
Selling -abilities : Part 2
In the last article I talked about different strategies for selling the 'reliability' aspect of your software or hardware. I mentioned how most high tech salespeople love to talk about their "-abilities": Reliability, Upgradeability, Compatibility and Expandability. In this article I want to discuss how to sell upgradeability. When is the right time to sell upgradeability? When do you mention the possibility of future upgrades? How do you position future upgrades to software or hardware with a new or existing customer without selling yourself short? How often should your company release upgrades? These are all great questions when it comes to the art of selling upgrades. Selling UpgradeabilitySo how do you sell upgradeability? Well, lets start with a basic question. What does the word upgradeability bring to mind when a salesperson mentions the word? If you're like myself, I think the product has room for improvement and in the future if I choose, I can upgrade to whatever new capabilities the software or hardware may offer. Microsoft Windows epitomizes the model for selling upgradeability. There are four ways to sell upgradeability:Strategy 1: Ernest Dichter a famous advertisement executive made a statement that talked about how we as sales or marketers must use the techniques of motivational thinking to make people constructively discontent. Dichter knew people would only buy a product when they are discontent with what they currently have. The job of marketing and sales is to make 'people constructively discontent' with what they're currently using. A good example of this is our migration from the audiotape to the compact disc. Marketers reminded us of that annoying 'hiss' sound with tapes and how time consuming it was to rewind or fast-forward to find our favorite song. They went on to promise the delivery of full 'fidelity' with the compact disc along with the ease and convenience of finding your favorite song. Consumers bought the argument and the age of the compact disc was heralded in. When selling upgrades, are you making your customer 'constructively discontent'? Strategy 2: When I hear upgrade in any sales pitch I immediately think of options. The task of the salesman is to give the customer a 'vision' of what could be possible if they chose your product and decide later on to upgrade. Upgradability indicates there are other features that can be purchased without having to absorb the cost for them all at once. A customer likes to know that if they are satisfied with the products performance that they could upgrade at any time to something more sophisticated or advanced. This piece meal approach is especially effective with customers who have limited budgets. Strategy 3: Upgradeability, especially second or third generation indicates to the customer that your company is continually improving on the product (i.e., responding to customer needs and investing in Research & Development). This is key; many customers want to be reassured that the product has not 'peaked in performance' and that you will be improving the product over time. Upgrades should be sold on average once a year. To many upgrades a year can be seen as 'product fixes' or another way of extracting further sales from a customer leading to 'buyer resentment'.Strategy 4: A major mistake made by many salespeople is not taking the time to show or prove to the customer how using your product will increase sales and effectiveness thereby leading to quick return on the buyer's Return On Investment (ROI). Customers want to see hard numbers on how the solution you're offering is going to positively affect the bottom line. Too often salespeople will say things like, "This is going to improve you productivity.", "This will make your employees more effective in their jobs." Or, "This is going save your company a lot of money adding this upgrade." All these statements are qualitative, not quantitative; the latter can be proven, the former is just an assertion. Customers want quantitative proof of how your upgrade is going to improve their profitability either by increasing sales or reducing their cost. Highly trained salespeople go into a customer meeting armed with quantitative proof of how upgrading to the next product level will achieve their profitability goals.Upgrades are a great way to add an additional revenue stream to your company's bottom line. Again, think Microsoft. Every year or so, a new version of Windows comes out and many of us technophiles rush out and buy it. How can you create this type of excitement or anticipation with your company's product upgrades? Victor Gonzalez, All Rights Reserved 2004
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