Sales

You have the picture in your mind of the stereotypical salesman.

Pure CHEESE!

Just because we apply this vision of a sales person to car salesmen, you see people like this all the time.

It’s the multi-level marketer that always want to talk to you about “a once in a lifetime business opportunity.

It’s the real estate broker that is always pitching how much he can sell your house.

It’s the person that always is trying to convince you that what you are doing can be done better if you just try the latest and greatest.

When someone is overbearing, we know it.

When we are overbearing, no one tells us. continue reading...

As an ethical business owner, you try to provide the best product and service you can to all your clients and potential clients.

If you are a sales person (a good one) you'll do the same.

Every day, I have to remind myself that sometimes that is just not possible.

The key to success, in my opinion, to any business is appropriately understanding when to be willing to lose. You have to be willing to understand that you can't (and shouldn't) win them all.

Two and a half years ago, before I started Tribute Media, I wrote a simple blog post on the concept that if you try to be everything to everyone you'll end up being nothing to no one (I know the grammar problem... but you can read the post here.)

The challenge for a business owner with everything on the line (the same goes for a salesman trying to make a commission) is to remember that it is okay to say no. It is okay to lose a deal once in a while.

I am not suggesting that you go out of your way to lose a deal. What I am saying is if the deal doesn't work for your company, you need to be willing to walk away.

As a simple example... continue reading...

With all the talk about the economy being so bad, companies are finding new ways to increase traffic and sales. During the Christmas season, we always see businesses offer discounts (sales) to attract buyers. They are willing to offer discounts in the hopes that it will drive more traffic to their location and sell other products that have not been discounted.

If you are selling a product or a service, the real question is, “How do you know when to discount?”

You might be talking to a customer that is trying to negotiate a better deal or you might be trying to set up a new promotion to drive new traffic.

So, how do you know when a discount is appropriate? continue reading...

I know, we are a few days in to the new year and I am finally getting back to posting. I have been thinking a bit about how I am going to grow my business this year amidst the “recession.”

I believe that the economic downturn right now is due to a series of bad business decisions and not much more. There are certainly outside influences that can cause challenges in business but businesses can weather the storm if their leaders start making good decisions. If Wal-Mart can grow, then why can’t you?

We are on target for triple digit growth and I thought I would share the top five things you can do to experience the same type of success in your business this year.

I’ve talked about growing in a down market before, but what can you do that will specifically help you right now see success? continue reading...

As my businesses is growing… double digit growth every couple of months… I am often asked what am I doing that really sets me apart from other organizations? How are we increasing our business when others are failing? Why am I able to hire new employees when others are required to downsize?

How is it that my business is growing when the economy is “so bad?” I know that my company isn’t the only one that is doing well.

Certainly, in one blog post, I won’t be able to tell all the reasons why our little company is seeing so much success, but there are some things that you can do right now (or start doing right now) that will have meaningful, positive impact on your bottom line.

Here are the top three things that we have focused on that have made all the difference to us. continue reading...

This is my 500th blog post. I guess you could say that I am a bit prolific in my writing.... or, I am just a bit long winded.

The best advantage for this blog is an opportunity for me to learn new things. I get the opportunity to research and formulate ideas as I write. I feel a little withdrawn from learning when I don't write.

I thought that I would share the top ten things that I have learned during the course of writing this blog (I guess you can call it my best of...)

These are in no particular order. continue reading...

In thinking a little about how you might compete, I also pose the question of how you sell? Sales tactics have evolved over the years. By and large, people don't want to be "sold to." But, they do want to have their problems solved.

If you talk about your products all the time, you are simply a pitchman. The natural question that follows from the client is, "Okay, so how much is it?" You put yourself into a position that they client will naturally look for the lowest price. continue reading...

When you sell the same thing everyone else sells, how do you compete? When your product is identical, do you simply drop your price or do you find some sort of substantial differentiation?

I would hope that when you look at your product offerings that you don't fall into the trap that you are better because you are the lowest price... because someone will always be a lower price.

I would hope that you don't think that just because you say you have better service, more employees, more revenues or because you are local that you think that you have a point of differentiation.

You have to be great to be different. If you aren't truly great, then you better get your prices as low as possible. continue reading...

I am a pretty demanding customer. I think that there are many people out there who are willing to accept less from their vendors. In some cases, I think they are willing to accept less because they are pleased with the low cost. However, I think that most people don't expect better service because they have been conditioned to accept mediocrity.

While I don't believe in a "customer bill of rights" because I think that it is an easy thing to say and forget, I believe in good customer service policies that positively affect the customer experience. continue reading...

In 1992 when I left high-school and needed a Job, I found that AT&T was hiring. They were hiring for their leased phone division. Since the breakup of MaBell in 1984, AT&T maintained the leased telephone division.

The primary aspect of my job was to convince people that leasing telephones was a viable thing to do. (dumb, huh?) And I was very successful. I would lease cordless phones at $50 per month... and you could go and buy one at the time for $100.

I would very often get calls like, "I just noticed that I had a bill from you all for $4.95 for a Princess Phone. I don't have this phone, please cancel my bill"

Upon further discussion with the client, we had been billing them since 1984 for that phone at $4.95 per month because prices never changed. (Our records didn't go before the break-up) Nearly $500 over the 8 years. They often would not have seen the phone in 5 or 6 or more years... yet we were still billing them and they kept making the payment. continue reading...