5 Sales Techniques for Small Businesses
Every small business’ lifeblood is sales, regardless of the product or service it provides. Contractors need customers. Retailers need customers. Architects, landscapers, glaziers, salons, sports bars, graphic designers, and antique shops all rely on local, regional, and even national consumers to stay in business.
With so much competition, small businesses must take advantage of every opportunity to increase sales and expand their customer bases. With an expanding customer base come more retained customers. Retained or repeat customers often are the difference between existence and extinction.
Because there’s no magic bullet, small businesses must take a multi-pronged approach to sales. Even without a master’s degree in business, the basic techniques are accessible and fairly easy to implement:
Cold Calling
No one likes this technique, but it gets results. If it didn’t work, no business would ever use it. Though cold calling is typically associated with insurance salesmen and stock brokers, contractors use it as well. Reaching out to the general public one phone call at a time might seem like a waste of effort, but one happy paying customer builds a bridge to more happy paying customers. During a cold call, a business can grab a person’s attention, and inexpensive promotional items can lead to big results.
Enticements and Promotions
Customers love getting good deals. The success of two-for-one deals, buy-one-get-one programs, free promotional items, or just saving a significant percent makes customers feel they really are getting more for less. In fact, the cliche “the more you buy, the more you save” is rooted in this phenomenon. Simply promising customers a token gift for just visiting an establishment results in more sales.
Internal Analysis
Few business owners care for going over monthly reports. Even fewer will actually assess those monthly figures meaningfully. However, this little-used technique has huge sales potential. Business owners who keep in the know about the intricacies of their operations will realize more net sales than those who don’t make the commitment. Identifying trends takes out a lot of guesswork out of the sales equation.
Talk Up Your Sales
Sales is as much of an art as a science. It’s using a combination of experience, gut instinct, business analytics, and industry knowledge to make a sale. Three things are paramount to getting more customers to commit: attitude, due diligence, and demeanor. The first is acting as though business is thriving. Customers won’t tolerate begging. The second is knowing your customers’ business well enough to speak the jargon. The third is not using negative language during any portion of the sales presentation.
Incorporating Technology
Tablet computers aren’t just for reading digital books and playing games on the go. Using social media to reach more customers is one way to break down geographic barriers. Technology can be a small business’ best sales weapon if used correctly, and is increasingly necessary for any business to stay afloat as more and more consumers and clients do their shopping and conduct their business online.
By using a multifaceted approach, small businesses can grow and prosper for years to come. Even big companies can’t afford to overlook multiple methods of bolstering sales, especially when it comes to learning how to use new communication technologies to connect with more customers. Small businesses have little to lose and everything to gain by using all avenues available to support their sales.
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No-tell Marketing: Four Techniques to Make the Sale Without Telling the Tale
Go to any bookstore and you will see the shelves filled with books on salesmanship. Everyone seems to have some kind of advice on how to sell things and more specifically, how to sell things that nobody wants to people that very often don’t need them.
For sure, how to sell ice to an Eskimo is a hot topic. But a subject you don’t see discussed nearly as much is how to sell things which people may very well want or may very well need—but which fall into one or more of the “unmentionable” categories. These might be things you can’t fully discuss—or things you can’t show. In some cases, they may even be things you can’t name. But you need to sell them anyway.
So how do you do it? Well, believe it or not, this challenge is not as uncommon as you might think and it is a challenge which has been tackled many times in the past. Advertisers need to do this all the time. And over time, they have honed a few time-tested techniques which have proven to make sales like this not only possible but also very effective. Here are four of those techniques:
- Create a mental analogy.One of the most brilliant ad campaigns in recent history was 7Up’s “Uncola” pitch in the 1970s. At the time, the soft drink market was dominated by Coke and Pepsi’s cola brands. Without directly badmouthing the competition, 7Up managed to craft a mental equivalency between the monopoly of the cola industry and the mass tyranny of large societal superstructures. Through the simple use of one key catchphrase, 7Up positioned itself as different and daring—and proud to be so. The mental analogy was critical to sales because the image of rebellion characterized much of society at that time and it was particularly effective in appealing to the large and expanding youth market.
- Cast the corporation in a positive light.When your product has some negatives, you sure don’t want to talk about them even though a lot of people might already know about them. So what do you do instead? One very successful strategy is to focus on the corporation itself by cultivating a positive corporate reputation. Create a focus on the integrity of the company and the positive things it does for the community. Talk about how the corporation seeks to better the circumstances of the local residents and the initiatives it sponsors to improve the local cities and towns. Stress the company’s philanthropic advances and its charity work. By focusing on the positives of the company itself, the advertisers will see those same positives trickle down to the products produced by the corporation. And the product negatives will be trumped and in many cases, eradicated completely.
- Use an outrageous image to paint a mind picture.Talk about withstanding the test of time! It was back in the early sixties when magazine ads first appeared showing a hot blonde in a boxing ring wearing only a bra, shorts, high heels, and boxing gloves. A ridiculous image? Maybe, but that gal who was a knockout in her Maidenform sure sold a lot of bras back then. The advertisers took advantage of a time-tested memory trick—the association of something you want to remember with an outrageous mental image. And the key to the trick is that the memory association becomes stronger when the image is more outrageous. In the Maidenform campaign, the image was as Freudian as it was outrageous, capturing the concurrent themes of strength, independence, and of course, sex. The appeal of this ad campaign was indisputable and also long-lasting, as it ran for more than twenty years.
- Sell by implication. As early as the Sixties, Right Guard was mostly a manly brand of deodorant. As such, its advertising would generally emphasize male attributes; i.e., strength, virility, etc. So then why was it that one of Right Guard’s most successful ads showed a woman’s hand clutching a can of Right Guard aerosol spray? The ad promised a tough solution to perspiration. But what it showed conveyed a deeper message—a message that couldn’t be overtly spoken, at least not back then. The implication of a sexual tie-in with the product was powerful enough to supersede less dramatic product benefits. Dry armpits are great—but some other things are even better.
There is more than one way to skin a cat—and more than one way to sell. The conventional approach where you show the customer a product, talk about it, and tout its benefits is all well and good—if you are allowed to do it. But such is not always the case. When you can’t say everything, then you need to be more subtle. And when you use the right techniques, it can become very easy to make the sale without fully telling the tale.
About the Author: Marni Mutrux is a staff writer for v2cigs.com.V2 Cigs offers the industry’s most innovative electronic cigarettes. An e-cigarette is a non-smoking alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes.
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A Fool Proof Guide To Setting Up A Sale
Working in sales is one of the hardest jobs you can do. Although it doesn’t require any formal qualifications you need to have the right attitude. In today’s market place selling is more important than ever especially when anyone can buy anything they want online.
Any good business should be customer lead and sales driven. You need to be able to identify exactly what your customer wants and how you can deliver it to them.
So how do you succeed in sales?
Dispel the Negative
First off you need to dispel any negative connotations that sales has, whether you’re based in a corporate office or selling door to door you should be proud of both what you’re doing and the product your selling.
When it comes to your product (or service) you need to make sure you understand it inside out, you need to know the history and everything your product has ever been involved in. This in-depth knowledge could well be what sets you apart from your competitors. This will help you install faith and trust in both you and your brand. Once you have this knowledge you’ll be able to identify your unique selling point (USP).
Who are you Selling To?
The first thing you need to identify is who you’re selling to. You will never be selling to a company you will only ever be selling to an individual. Even if you have a room full of people you’re pitching too the decision to buy will untimely come down to one person.
This means you need to identify that one person before you do anything else. You need their name and not just their title; an email, phone call or letter addressed to ‘the head of marketing’ is going straight into the junk folder.
Make Contact
Now you’ve got your name you need to make contact. The best way to go about this is with an introductory email (or letter). You address your recipient by name and introduce yourself, your company and your product. This is just an introduction so you’re not selling anything at the moment.
You need to make the letter as personalised as possible. A generic letter that could apply to everyone will be obvious straight away. At the end of the letter include a brief sentence explaining you’ll follow up this letter in a few days. This gives them time to think it over and proves you can keep a commitment. Anything longer than a few days and they’re likely to have forgotten about you.
Follow Up
Once you’ve sent this letter or email you’ve made your first contact and you’ve got your reason for the next contact. When you call them up you can ask for the person specifically. You’ll probably get through to a receptionist or secretary initially and you’ve got to get past them. Ask for the name of the person you need with confidence like you speak to them all the time.
When asked for your name give your first name as this gives a connotation of familiarity, only give the name of your company if you’re asked for it. Avoid doing a well rehearsed introduction as again this makes you sound like a sales call.
Get the Meeting
The purpose of this phone call is just to get a meeting. Like the letter you’re not going into the call with the thought of making a sale in the back of your mind. If you can promise to offer them something at a cheaper price or more efficiently than they’re currently getting, now is the time to shine. You’re not there to waste their time you’re simply enquiring as to how you can fit into their business structure to provide a business benefit. Try to take this phone call standing up and with a smile on your face. If you’re slouched over a desk with the Monday morning blues it will come across in your voice.
About the Author: Kim works for Real Asset Management who are experts in fixed assets.
Photo Credit: LoopZilla
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The Reason Nobody’s Buying What You’re Selling
That’s right; I don’t really want what you’re selling. Most consumers don’t either. If people aren’t buying what you’re selling, or they’re not buying enough of it, stop and think for a minute what are you truly selling them?
If you think you are selling them your products and services you’re wrong. Consumers don’t want your “stuff and things”.
What we want to be sold, and what we’ll buy more of, are experiences and benefits.
We’re buying from people selling us experiences and benefits – regardless of what the product or service is.
We have no interest in your virtual assistants who can send email for us. We want more efficiency and more productive use of our time.
Forget selling us basketball shoes that have great ankle support. We want shoes that give us the chance to jump higher and be one step closer to Michael Jordan.
We don’t need the huge flat screen TV – sell us the envy of all our friends instead.
You are selling me tax preparation services – sell me on piece of mind that it’s getting done right.
Our wives don’t want a massage because deep tissue muscle stimulation is good for them – they need it because they work hard and deserve the pampering damnit!
Enough with the new 7 new flavors of mango sorbet you’re pushing – Put our imaginations on a tropical island for a minute and we’re sold.
You get the picture.
You aren’t selling us services. You are relieving us of the hassle of doing something ourselves and screwing it up.
Don’t tell me what your product does. Tell me what it does for me, and why I should care.
Quit selling stuff and things — start selling experiences and benefits.
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