Sales

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 I feel a little withdrawn from learning when I don't write.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...

I was thinking a little bit last night about how so often we are disconnected from our clients when trying to sell them our products. It spawned a post about remembering our audience on my blog at CopierCatlaog.com. I wrote what I think are the top five things your website (and your language) should include when talking to your clients.

Ken posted a response titled, Are You Being "sold to" or "told to"? 

Pretty good post. I recommend a read (plus, he makes me sound intelligible).

The fact is, if we understand how we buy, we'll be able to sell more effectively. More to the point, if we understand how people buy, we'll be able to sell more effectively.

The most important thing about buying is that we buy like we sell.

If are accustomed to selling fast and glossing over the details, we are likely to buy that way. If we focus on selling the commodity, we will want to buy the commodity. If we want to help our customer understand their business problem and want to help them solve it... even if our product is the best, we'll expect sales people to honor us the same way. continue reading...

I was looking at some cell phone plans today. What is wrong with this?

I love the line that says, "Whether you have one employee or thousands, T-Mobile as plans that suit your business needs." continue reading...

In my search for VoIP, I decided to check out Skype as an option for VoIP. I figured that I am always on Skype... it only made sense to use it as a soft phone.

I looked at their services and pricing and noticed that they have Skype Pro, Skype Credit and you can get a local number. What I couldn't tell was how all the pricing and services worked together. You can get a "personal online number" (which took a little to understand that it was likely a phone number) for $6 per month. But, I couldn't tell if I also needed to get Skype Pro for an additional $3 per month. Then, If I got those two services, would I then need to also buy Skype to add minutes?

Well, on their website, there is no way to really understand that as far as I could figure out. I think that I have a reasonable understanding, but not 100% clear. continue reading...

Why is it that companies want their customers to be duped into making a decision? Why can't they just tell it like it is?

As you know, I have been researching VoIP providers. I have been trying to compare service quality as well as price. I want to make sure that I get the best service for the price.

It is not easy.

Receiving information from Packet8 that conveniently obscures that: "The service plan includes 200 minutes incoming and outgoing calls within U.S. and Canada. Additional minutes will be billed at 3.5 cents per minute, with outgoing international minutes billed at the current Packet8 international rates." continue reading...