How your business can rise like a Phoenix from the ashes

Is your business struggling? Have you been thinking of closing down shop or moving locations? Maybe you don’t have enough customers coming in or leaving great reviews for you?

Well, here is something you may want to consider instead of closing down the business for good. I mean, you’ve been working hard and in the end, you deserve a successful running business. So, why not give it one last shot. One last push before you give up for good.

There are several ways to enhance your customers experience. Yes, some might cost you some money (I see it more as an investment) and some are free. You can also use a good combination of both (which I would recommend) and find a better way to market your business.

1. Look at your customer service

Is your business a local shop or restaurant? Do you have an office where you meet customers regularly? Do you provide an outstanding service?

In many cases we find that the business owners believe they offer a great customer service only to be told afterwards that their service isn’t really that good at all. Providing a great service is one of the most important aspects of business. If you believe customers chose you because of your low pricing, think again. It’s only a minority who look for the cheapest option. Over 85% of customers are buying based on their feelings and emotions that they have towards a seller. No matter what you sell, if you are not looking after your customers properly, then you will not survive. Change your routine if you have to, but make sure you always offer top notch service to your customers.

2. Sales ability of owners and staff

Are you capable of selling? Maybe you think you are but how good are you really? Many retailers or waiters/ waitresses are just order takers. Customer comes in, buys a product and leaves. Nobody is asking questions, trying to establish the customers needs. I’ve been preaching this for years now and except a few people who took this on board many are still suffering the low sales turnover. If you ask the right questions and LISTEN, your customers will feel valued and will buy from you. Not necessarily the product they were initially looking  for, but maybe something in addition to that, or more. In rare cases customers have to be shown that the product they chose is not the right product for them. This happens every now and then but it is up to you to make the right recommendation to your customer. What is the right product? Can they get it from you? If not, where can they get it? Sales and customer service in this case go hand in hand. And even if you lose the sale because you don’t have product xyz in stock, you can still help some other person to get the deal by sending them over. You will earn credibility from your customer and they will still be back. You can also consider getting the product for your customer. Have you ever considered that? Think in terms of joint venture. Imagine a customer comes in and buys a TV from you and he also wants a very specific DVD player that you don’t stock. Maybe you know somebody who stocks this DVD player and you give them a call and tell them, I have a customer for you who wants to buy this product. Do you have it in stock? Imagine the other person says, yes, I sell it for 199. Could you make me a deal so I can sell it on to my customer for 199? And say this person only gives you a discount of 10 EUR. Suddenly you can sell a product from somebody else and get a small referral fee or commission out of this one. Put your business head on for once and think who can help your business achieve higher sales results? How can you work together? Maybe you can do the same for this other business if they refer clients over to you? Think about it for a moment.

3. Change strategy

Sometimes we have to change our strategy, our routes to market or even our entire business around in order to make it work. Remember why you went into business in the first place? Maybe it was because you thought you could do the same as your boss did. You can offer a better more proficient service or sell more products? Be more flexible with customers? How did that work out for you? Well, if you’re still reading, I presume not so good. Business is about constant change. Moving away from one strategy that you’ve held for a number of years is sometimes necessary. Don’t get stuck in “The old ways” but rather look at what you can do differently in order to succeed.

4. Use some crazy ideas

Crazy doesn’t necessarily mean bad or “insane”. Crazy sometimes is good for business. Be a bit more open to attract different customers to your premises. Be a bit more outgoing, flexible and open minded. Sometimes you have to do the drastic thing and just get out of your shop and talk to people on the street. It may not be the most comfortable way of doing business but heck it beats closing down shop, doesn’t it? Imagine you can talk to 50 people a day when you get out of your shop. And only 5 of them would visit afterwards, do you think it would be worth your while if they come in and start buying from you?

Maybe you can do a competition, work with other businesses together, create an in-house event etc. Maybe you can do a shopping hour and offer everything for one hour a day half price (maybe on selected items etc.). It would be a promotion so consider that you may need to invest in this but getting people into the store should be first priority.

How about a nice “Midnight Shopping Event” with a glass of wine or champagne (booking mandatory). Maybe you own a boutique and you could do a modeling event? Become a model for one night…The ideas and possibilities are endless.

5. Restructuring and new layout

Sometimes it’s the business itself that needs a new structure and layout. Even if you have a great marketing and sales strategy, it doesn’t mean that customers will come in flying into your premises. And maybe an event is not even a problem but bookings are not made? Look at your shop and what you would like to achieve. How is it structured? Does it look nice from the inside and outside? Is the layout great? Do you have old carpets or new ones? Maybe you want to attract a younger audience but your products and services don’t reflect that. Take a risk and create a new layout, new store front, buy some exciting new products etc. It might help you turn things around once word gets out.

6. Get a coach or consultant/ mentor

This might be a good investment. A business coach or consultant can help you turn things around. Yes, they are usually not that cheap but the value you’re getting will help you and your business not only to stay alive but to grow. Of course no coach or mentor can come in and save the day. You should not expect that. If you’re already bankrupt or very close to closing, it might not even be possible for them to help you at all. However a coach is always a great way to discover alternative options. Maybe closing the business is good but the way to do it might be worth looking into. Maybe they can help you discover new avenues to go down to and create better business opportunities with you. A business coach can cost anything from 50 – 200€ an hour and is depending on their own experience and expertise. The value of this is incredible if you are a open minded and ready to explore. A great coach or consultant can help you on any of the points raised above. You just need to have an open mind and be ready for change.

7. Don’t give up

No matter what you do, don’t give up on your dreams. Just because one thing isn’t working doesn’t mean something else won’t work. Sometimes we have to close down one chapter of our lives (or business lives) to open up a new one. There is always opportunities out there so keep following them. Learn from your mistakes and make sure that next time around you avoid making the same mistakes. You will get better at this but as with everything it requires practice and patience.

Let me tell you a quick story. Have you ever heard of the Phoenix? The Phoenix is a mythology creature, a bird that has a long life. Towards the end of it’s life-span it gets heavily sick and dies by self-combustion. Out of the ashes rises now a new, healthy bird, majestic and full of life. The Phoenix is believed to regenerate itself every 100 years or so, (at least that’s how the story goes that I’ve heard). I think it’s the perfect story for any struggling business. If you are struggling or really have no other option as to closing down shop, think of the Phoenix. No matter if you had a great run or you were struggling right from the beginning, something majestic will come out of this struggle. Something so incredible that you can’t even imagine it right now.

But I am certain that you will rise again and again out of your own ashes if you keep going and trying.  

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland. Creating a synergy between consultation, training and coaching helps our clients to achieve the best results.

Hotel Reception: How to grow your revenue

Any hotel reception is the first point of contact for customers/ guests coming into a hotel. This is the first impression any guest will get and it’s important to make a great impression.

However a lot of people (hotel staff/ managers/ directors and receptionists) think this is not a place to sell. I believe it is the most important place to sell and I will elaborate on that in a moment.

Any reception is dealing with different type of customers:

1. The ones who didn’t book and just ask if there is rooms available

2. Guests who booked before and want to check in

3. Local customers who are looking for bar/ restaurant/ gym/ spa etc.

4. Guests who checked in previously and now want information from the reception on available services, asking what’s in the area etc.

5. Guests who are checking out

The reception area is dealing with all sorts of customers and representing the entire hotel. If your experience is great while checking in or talking to the receptionist, your overall perception of the hotel will improve. However if your experience is bad, long waiting times, neglected services or you have a receptionist that doesn’t really care then no matter what you do with the rest of your hotel, the experience will be bad for your guests.

Here are a few tips on how to improve your customers experience with you:

1. Use the right time greeting (Good morning/ good afternoon/ good evening)

2. Introduce yourself by name (Good morning sir/ madam, my name is xyz. How may I help you?). This is important as you will make a difference to your guests straight away. You will make their experience much more personal if you introduce yourself by name.

3. Put all your attention to the customer if possible. Try not to get side tracked, answer phones etc. unless you have no choice (being the only one at the reception). If you are the only one tell your customer to excuse you for a moment and apologize. Greet and acknowledge other customers when they come in and wait for you. A simple nod and smile is more than enough.

4. Always smile. It’s one of the most neglected things people do but it’s also one of the most important. And it doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with customers direct (meaning face to face) or over the phone. A smile can be heard through the phone line.

5. While you checking in your customers inform them about your loyalty programme and sign them up. Make sure you know the benefits by heart and give them 1 or 2 reasons of why they should sign up. This will create loyalty and brand awareness. You should aim to sign up at least 80% or more of your guests.

6. If you know about any special offers this is the time to test your customers. Ask them why they are in your hotel (business or pleasure), and make a referral about any area of the hotel. For example if they are there for business you can mention the great Jacuzzi to relax after a hard days work or special offers for the spa, etc. You can also mention any special deals you have in the restaurant. You would need to ask sales related questions of what they would like to do and then make the right recommendation to the guest. You may even be able to sign them up straight away.

7. Make them aware of in-room purchases such as mini-bar, movies etc.

8. Make them aware of any other services that you offer such as 24 hour dry cleaning for suits etc.

9. Prepare a welcome package for your guests of available services within the hotel, what’s available in the area and special offers or vouchers. To give you an example that will definitely make your guests go for dinner in your restaurant (if they haven’t booked it) might be a dessert voucher for every day of their stay. Basically if they decide to go for dinner in your hotel then they can use the voucher to get the dessert free of charge. Think about it, how many people would go for dinner if they get something for free?

10. Sell, sell and sell. Selling is natural and it provides your customers with a great experience. The points I’m raising here are not meant to be taken all at once. Choose some of them especially on the sales aspects. It all depends on your customer and what they would like to get out of their stay. If they want to rewind and relax use the spa option, sell spa treatments etc. If they are there for work, offer lunch and/ or dinner in your restaurant, and book a table for them if needed. You may also sell wine/ champagne, flowers, chocolates, or any other hotel accessories that you may have.

Reception is a great way to boost sales if done right. And it can be done without pressuring or pushing the customer into buying something from you. Think why they stay in your hotel, what is special about your place, what is available in the area and how you can make your customers stay even more special.

Food for thoughts.

What is your experience with hotel receptions? Let me know.

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

The importance of Up- and Cross-Selling

Many businesses seem to neglect up- and cross-selling opportunities and fear that if they would try to up-sell or cross-sell that the customer might leave and not return. The fear is that the initial sale will fall through and that customers might feel pushed to buy additional products or services.

Before we dive in, lets see what it means to up-sell and cross-sell:

Upselling

Up-selling is usually when a customer asks about a specific product and the seller includes other products, upgrades and services to enhance the initial item the customer asked for. Take a computer for example: You may see a laptop that you like, it has the specifications that you as the customer believe it needs. The seller now might try to sell you additional memory, a bigger or faster hard drive, better graphics card, an extended warranty etc. The seller also might recommend additional soft and hardware depending on your requirements such as external printers, external hard drives, or specific software. The need should be established by asking the customer lots of questions and listen to what they have to say. This can be established for example by asking “Why does the customer need this specific product? What’s the purpose or what do you need it for? Why did the customer chose this particular machine and not a different one? What software does the customer have or would require in order to use this machine fully. The next step would be to provide information about the product and the benefits or if required, move the customer to a more suitable product for what he/ she needs to accomplish. You may show the customer “What comes with the product, what’s not included etc. What additional products would the customer need in order to use the machine fully etc.” Imagine you don’t ask those questions and the customer gets home with his machine and discovers it’s not the right machine for him/ her. Or that items are missing that are crucial for him/ her to work with the machine. The customer then would feel disappointed by the seller and might need to either come back at a later stage or (the most likely thing the customer will do) buy the additional products elsewhere. In many cases because products have been mis-sold the customer will even return the product and goes to a different seller who (hopefully) will then provide the customer with the product(s) the customer really needs.

Cross-selling

Cross-selling is usually done once the initial sale and up-sell is finished. Cross-selling is when we divert the customer to a different product or service. To give you an example: Lets say as a customer you want to buy life insurance. The agent has finished the life insurance, got your signature, took care of additional up-selling opportunities such as included a pension scheme in your life insurance cover etc. Now the agent might ask you about your car: “I’ve seen you have a nice Mercedes out there. Do you mind me asking which insurance company you use? If the agent knows that he can beat that insurance quote he might add that to his sale. This can be done at any stage even if the car insurance is not due for some time. Of course this could be done for house insurance, public liability etc.

Any business (unless they only have 1 product to sell) will have these kind of opportunities.

What we as a business society need to understand is that up-selling and cross-selling is not an evil thing to do. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is certainly sales people out there who would take advantage of customers. But those usually don’t last very long and customers will see right through it.

And it’s not only about selling more products. Up-selling and cross-selling is about establishing the customers real needs and requirements. Providing more value and benefits to your customers is the key. Asking relevant questions will not only elevate your sales but your overall customer experience will become more positive and this in turn will bring loyalty to your business.

If you’re not telling your customers about current promotions, things they need with the actual product that they intend to buy, additional benefits and features and how this enhances their experience then you’re loosing out, your customer is loosing out and the overall experience within your establishment will become less valuable to your customers.

This is a service that you “HAVE TO” implement in your daily sales activity. Your customer will thank you for it. And no, this is not to push the customers over the edge, this is to help them have the best possible experience and value that their money can buy and that you can provide.

As a sales person it is your responsibility and duty to your customer to provide them with the most accurate information and establish their real need. Just because a customer is asking for a specific product doesn’t mean they really want it, need it or can even use it to their full extend.

I will give you one more example that a great sales person will do for their customer:

Imagine a customer comes into your shop and wants to buy a nice 60″ TV. He saved over a year for it to finally be able to buy it. He comes to your store and picks out the TV of his dreams. You may even deliver. Now imagine your customer comes home, the TV is delivered and he sees that his living room is far too small for the TV. The TV fits just about in the corner where his former 32″ TV stood. His living room however is so small that he was already sitting very close to his 32″ TV, say 2 – 2 1/2 m away. Because of the size of the new TV it needs to stand further out from the corner and now he sits 1 1/2 m away. He can’t enjoy his new TV as he sits too close. He also discovers that his TV stand doesn’t fit or former wall mount is too small etc. One disappointment after another. What do you think is now going to happen? The customer will most likely return the TV and feels disappointment with the shop. If the sales rep would’ve done their job right he would’ve discovered all this by asking simple questions such as “What size TV do you currently own? is it on a stand or wall mount? How far are you currently sitting from your TV? Will the new TV stand in the same corner/ hang on the same wall etc. By asking the right questions the sales rep would’ve discovered all of the above and could’ve avoided the disappointment for the customer, directing him/ her to a different or smaller size product, explain the why’s and may even use the left-over money to up-sell DVD/ Blu-ray/ Surround System/ Wall mount/ TV stand etc. Yes, he would’ve probably made less money but would gain a happy customer that most likely will return to him for future purchases.

Honesty and asking the right questions, making the right recommendations are crucial to build a great service and create customer loyalty.

Are your sales people using proper questioning techniques to establish the customers real needs? What is your experience with your sales team? Let us know.

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

Slap in the neck…Telephobia

Telephobia sounds very straight forward, doesn’t it? Somebody who is afraid using the telephone. Well, it could be that easy however we need to distinguish between people who have a fear to talk to somebody in general over the phone or who have a fear of talking to new prospects. Well, this wouldn’t be the SalesFearFactor if it were about people in general…

So, lets dig in a bit more of what Telephobia is really about:

Here is the official description of Telephobia by the BSRP (Behavioral Science Research Press):

“Prospecting energy diverted to coping with fear associated with using the telephone as a prospecting tool. Energy typically over-invested in less efficient forms of contact that do not require using the phone.”

In general terms people are usually not afraid of using the phone to order a taxi or a pizza. Telephobia is only present if people are using it for prospecting activities. That said, we still need to distinguish of different forms of Telephobia:

1. General fear of making any connections to potential new or existing customers

2. Fear of making any connections with potential new customers (common)

3. Fear of making any connections with existing customer/ prospecting base (rare but I came across a few people who had no problem digging through the Yellow Pages but couldn’t cope with talking to existing customer base)

But how can you tell if you or somebody you know has Telephobia? Here are some symptoms that you might come across:

Sweaty palms before making a prospect call

Raised heartbeat

Heavy breathing

Some severe cases even start to stutter or stumble over their words.

What to look out for?

People who would rather meet face to face instead of using the telephone

Lots of complains about the phone (being useless, just a waste of time etc.)

Did you ever receive bad news over the phone? Or do you have any negative memories associated with the telephone?

Telephobia is quite straight forward and doesn’t need a lot of explanation. But the impact it has on your organization or team could be dramatic. Many companies set calling standards for their teams such as number of phone calls to be made on a daily basis and you will probably find that not a lot of people will have a problem with the phone. However if you have somebody in your team not performing to standards (and really look for very low prospecting activity over the phone) then you might have a problem. But should you now just go and let this person go? No, absolutely not. If you want to turn things around for him/ her then there is a solution. And the good news is, that this will increase your sales revenue without doing much.

Telephobia is easily diagnosed and corrected if the right tools are applied. All you need is a commitment from this person and the willingness to change. Once you have that, you can get proper training and advise on how to cure Telephobia.

An example of a telesales rep (outbound):

One of my clients job is to outbound and sign up companies and switch them to a new tariff (telecommunication industry). His expected call rate was a min of 30 calls per day. He made approx. 15 – 20 calls per day but because he was very good in his job and signed up more clients than most other sales reps, the company left him alone and didn’t even think of threatening him to move his calls up. However they did notice some strange behavior of clever avoidance tactics from him. He managed to reach beyond his revenue target but his manager noticed his discomfort and wanted to help him. That’s when I came into the picture. After testing him and working with this person on a 1 to 1 basis he nearly doubled his calling activity going from 20 to 37 calls per day within a 3 week period. His revenue exploded and so did his commission check. The preferred tactic he chose to overcome his Telephobia? Thought Zapping. Thought zapping is about linking negative thoughts with unpleasant action such as a slap in the neck.

However most people don’t want to look stupid in front of their colleagues and might want to try other (similar) methods such as a rubber band that is put around their wrist (left hand) and every time a negative or intrusive thought comes up that prevents them from doing the task, they just hit themselves with the rubber band from the top (never from the bottom because of veins and arteries running through the lower arm) and immediately replace the negative thought with something positive. Could be a thought about their children, wife, lover etc. Basically something that brings positive thoughts out in a person or a smile, happy feelings. 

I don’t want to go into too much detail with this because as mentioned in some of my previous articles, in order to cure or help an individual to overcome Telephobia depends all on other factors as well, such as other types of Sales Call Reluctance that might be present, motivational aspects as well as other prospecting behavior from this individual.

Please do not try just any techniques in order to cure yourself from Sales Call Reluctance that you may come across through research or that was mentioned in this article. This is just an example technique that helped this particular client. The reason being is that you might end up doing more damage to your mind than actually helping yourself. If applied wrongly or if applied with the wrong Sales Call Reluctance type you might end up getting worse than better. So, please be careful and only apply if prescribed by a professional trainer who is accredited and authorized by the BSRP (Behavioral Science Research Press).

If you want to learn more about Sales Call Reluctance or would like to find out what type you might be suffering from feel free to contact us.

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

 

Identity Crisis – Role Rejection

In one of my earlier posts we’ve talked about Sales Call Reluctance in general. This article today is one out of 12 that will come and will explain each Sales Call Reluctance type in more detail.

We will start this off with one of the most powerful types of Sales Call Reluctance in my opinion and that could make an impact on your business right now: Role Rejection.

Are you ashamed of being in sales? How would you know? Well, try this one: When you connect with customers, do you call yourself a sales person, sales rep or do you prefer other terms such as credit adviser/ financial or loan consultant etc? Do you feel the pressure of sales is getting to you? You would love to quit your job or maybe you have resigned from your job because it is a sales related activity? Maybe you were successful but couldn’t cope with being a sales rep? When somebody asks you what do you do, do you try to deny that you are in sales?  If you answered yes to any of the above questions than congratulations, you may suffer from Role Rejection.

Here is the official description of Role Rejection by the BSRP: Prospecting energy lost to coping with unresolved guilt, shame or discomfort about being in sales. Contributing factors may include over-identification with negative stereotypes about salespeople, or feelings that choosing a sales career has disappointed a significant other. Energy may be diverted to expressing a rigidly over-positive attitude or using a “deflected identity” to disguise the sales function.

Role Rejection is about people in sales who do not want to be in sales. In fact, they don’t even like sales. They don’t like to call themselves sales people because they are ashamed of being in sales. Especially in today’s world, a lot of larger companies merge departments or close down one department and move employees around like they are cattle. And you may have someone (or maybe you are someone) who was in Technical Support and they suddenly find themselves/ yourself in a sales role.

In many cases those people are quite successful in sales. They earn some of the highest commission checks, bring the highest sales, convert more customers etc. However success doesn’t last as most of these people cannot cope with the stress and the fact that they are now considered sales people. And even though they are successful, they quit while succeeding and a lot of managers or business owners don’t understand why this is happening.

We also see whole organizations suffer from Role Rejection. Look at the banking or insurance industry. Most of their sales force is called Financial advisers, credit advisers, loan consultants etc.

But how can you make a difference? How can you turn things around for them? This is not really an easy answer as it depends on several factors. But one thing you might be able to do is to create the right identity. Calling your team Sales Representative, or Field Sales Rep can already make a difference.

Getting people and management to identify with what they actually do is key and will help an organization to first keep the people they have and second they will be able to identify the people who are ashamed of being in sales and get them the professional help they would need in order to keep them in the team.

Nothing is worse for an organization than losing some of their best sales people just because they can’t cope with being in sales.

To give you one example: An insurance agency in Germany with more than 48 branches chose one branch to test this “theory” on. The result? Within 8 weeks they increased their sales by 12% just by simply switching the name from “Finanzberater (finance consultant)” to “Verkaeufer (Sales Rep)”. Obviously it wasn’t only about switching “names” but to get the right training to help with the “identity-crisis”. They estimate that if they switch the title for their sales people within the entire organization, this 12% increase would reflect approx. 10  Million Euro in additional sales revenue. Imagine that. Do you see how powerful it is to give your sales team the right name?

What is your experience with Role Rejection? Do you want to find out if you have Role Rejection or any other reluctance that might prevent you from prospecting and selling? Then click here to find out more about the only test in the world that can measure Sales Call Reluctance: SPQ Gold (Sales Preference Questionnaire). And if you want to take the test feel free to contact us for more details.

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

 

What to do…what to do…no more leads…

Are you running out of leads? No idea where or to whom to sell your products or services to? I think every single sales person has been at that stage during their career. But what did they do to get themselves out of it?

Here is a list of things you might want to consider:

1. Contact former customers again to discuss future opportunities. You never know, one of your former customers might need to buy additional products or services from you. Or you can inform them about new developments, activities, events or just want to meet up for a coffee with them to see how things are going after they bought from you. Follow up is a crucial part of sales and a proper after sales service can go a long way and generate new business for you.

2. Ask your former customers for referrals. You may be able to combine this with step 1 but most customers who are happy with you and/ or the service/ product you supplied, have no issue recommending or referring you to some other potential customers. This is probably the best option in order to keep your business going. Especially when you’re selling b2b, business owners/ managers understand the meaning of referrals and some might be happy to help.

3. Look over your old prospects, the one’s who didn’t buy yet from you. What was the reason? Maybe they didn’t buy because of an un-established need? Or maybe they just didn’t like your approach. Contact them again and get some feedback. Yes, it might be hurtful (in some cases) but it’s a learning curve. Feedback is valuable and most people are willing to provide you with feedback of why they didn’t buy from you. If it was you, maybe hand the account over to a colleague. We can’t get along with everybody, sometimes it’s as simple as that. This has nothing to do with you personally. It’s business. And if it’s a great sale, maybe you can even share the commission (if possible) or get an account from the other sales reps to deal with some of their clients. Selling may be competitive, but you’re working in the same company so the goal is the same: Increase the companies turnover and ensure future growth.

4. Re-establish your target market. Have a look again at your old prospects and other companies similar to your target audience in your area. If you don’t know your target audience, or you say, everybody should use my product, then think again. You may think your product is suitable for everybody, but who is actually buying? Make a list of your current customer traits and find companies or audiences that are fitting (age/ type/ gender/ company size/ industry/ country etc.).

5. Try a different target market. I know this one doesn’t correspond to point no. 4, however sometimes if you depleted all your options you may need to rethink your target market and make it more suitable for a new audience. This means, redesigning your pitch, values etc. It’s a lot of work but may be worth your while. If you’re targeting the IT industry for example and you have no more companies to go to (which I doubt but there is always this one sales rep…) maybe a similar market may be suitable for your products or services. Maybe automotive, pharmaceutical, retail etc. could also be a fit for your products. Yes, sometimes we need to adjust certain aspects of our presentations or sales pitches but hey, that’s life. Think why this audience may be able to use your products as well and what are the benefits for them? Maybe they are not in the IT industry, but have an IT department??? Food for thoughts…

6. Go to networking events, join social media networks, groups etc. This will get your name and trait out there. I’m sure a lot of you doing this already but as a sales rep or manager who is employed, how many of you actually go to business networking events to meet new people? A lot of people who are employed wouldn’t go because their company is not paying for it, meetings are held outside office hours / late in the evening or even weekends. If you want to make money, you need to hang out where your clients hang. Easy as that. And if you’re not willing to go the extra mile for your customers, what are you doing in this position? (Sorry for being blunt, but if you are in sales, and no longer have enough customers you need to look at activities that will bring you new clients).

7. Join Networking groups. You can also join local/ national or international networking groups such as BNI (Business Network International). They might be costly, but a lot of people get great value out of it. It’s all about meeting new people and getting referrals, and that’s what those networking groups are all about. Referring business to each other. So, get in there, yes, they are holding meetings usually early in the morning, but honestly, how much do you want to grow your business/ sales?

8. Ask your family and friends. Yes, I’m serious about that. Even if you believe they have no use for your products or services or that they are too expensive for your family and friends. Think about it this way, we all have a network of people and most of us know at least 250+ people that are hanging in our social (media) networks. Besides that we all know between 30 – 100 people which we consider acquaintances, friends etc. Ask them to help you out to introduce you to some of their friends or acquaintances. A lot of sales people don’t want to mix personal life with business life however you are leaving out a massive amount of people that you could easily tap into to get introduced to or do business with. Don’t be shy, get in there. It’s not about convincing your mother to buy your health insurance. It’s about convincing your mother to help you find people who would be interested to buy health insurance from you (I guess you catch my drift here). This is your network as well 🙂

9. Hit the phone. I mean, seriously now. If you have already tried points 1 – 8 and you’re still out of options, then there is only 2 things left to do: Either hit the phone or quit. Sometimes it requires drastic action in order to get back on track. And if that means to open the telephone book or yellow pages to get out there again, then by all means, do it. It will not be the most fruitful time in your life, but usually 1 out of 10 will listen to you and may even invite you over for a coffee to meet. In order to ease the pain of just calling, you could create an email list of companies that you haven’t targeted yet and send them an email first. You may want to do some research but this will take the (extreme) cold out of cold calling. Read my article on successful email marketing and you will see what I mean.

10. Still no luck but haven’t quit yet? OK, here is one last thing you might want to try: PRAY. I mean it, seriously, go to church and start praying. Well, maybe not literally. But talk to your local priest. Even if you’re not a church goer, an atheist, have different faith or religion then what’s locally available, go anyway. Talk to the local priest or pastor. They know a lot of people and they are in the business of guiding and helping people in their most desperate times. Having faith is one thing but maybe the local priest knows somebody who you could talk to to get your business off the ground again? If that doesn’t work you may also want to try chamber of commerce, other business owners/ entrepreneurs, talk to other sales reps even from different companies, join clubs, health and sport clubs etc. Don’t give up. There is a lot of things that you can do that we haven’t even mentioned yet.

A lot of people saying that we as individuals like it comfy. We stay inside the box where it’s cosy, comfortable and nice. But sometimes we have to go to different lengths in order to succeed and need to stick our heads outside of our own box. And most of the times it works. If it doesn’t who’s to say that you can’t take the box, throw it out the window and redesign a complete new box for you? Brainstorm with colleagues, co-workers, managers and/ or other business owners on how to increase sales and get more leads.

You might also want to consider a business or sales coach to help you find new leads.

Thank you for reading. Follow us on facebook or twitter for more current news.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

A simple guide to networking events

Have you been to a networking event recently? Here is what happens most of the time:

People meet at networking events, talk briefly and go their ways. Afterwards not much is happening and many people complain that it wasn’t really fruitful. Nobody contacted you afterwards to do business with you. Nobody send you an email or called you to buy your products or services.

Well, here is a shocker: One of the most important fundamentals of networking events is the follow up that comes afterwards. You may have made great connections but if you don’t follow up with them, no one will.

Here is a few tips of things that you can do before, during and after the event:

Before the event takes place:

Get your 60 second pitch ready. Yes, have a pitch or elevator pitch ready that you can deliver in 60 seconds or less. Make it interesting and make it count. Rehearse the pitch until you perfected it. If you need help designing a pitch for you then I would urge you to do some research.

Dress for success. Dress for the occasion. Business smart is good but (for men) a suit would be better. Proper business attire is the key for both men and women and it doesn’t really matter what your profession or business is all about. You want to get in with investors, meet new potential customers, get business referrals etc. In order to get those, you need to look the part. Nobody is referring someone who is dressed like a teenager that want’s to score.

 

Show up before. Make sure you show up on time, maybe even 5 – 10 min early. This could give you a head start by already talking to some potential new customers before others are joining the group. I personally make it usually about 30 – 45 min earlier. And as people come in, I’m already there to introduce myself before the event starts and have time to talk to more people.

During the event

Use your pitch. You have rehearsed your pitch now talk to potential new customers. These events are usually filled with different types of businesses and may not even resemble the target market that you have however this is about making connections. Maybe they are able to introduce you to some of their key customers. Keep this in mind when talking to people.

Go around. Don’t spend too much time on one or two people. We all tend to find the people who are a bit like us. And networking events are no exception. We may have the best intentions to introduce ourselves to everybody however we mostly stick with the people we either know or meet who are like minded. This is not (only) about meeting like minded people. This is about looking for business opportunities with as many people as possible. You can mingle afterwards if you wish but use the time wisely. Many business networking events have a set agenda such as speed networking or any other games that will engage the crowd. If this is the case and you followed my advise of being early, then you already have made a good bunch of connections and can enjoy the games of the evening. (Just a thought…)

After the event

Send an email. A few days after the event (no more than a week after) send an email to each of your new contacts. Introduce yourself again and of course mention that you’ve met and ask if they are available to meet for a coffee. Don’t make a big pitch of why they should meet you or what the benefits are to your products or services. Keep it short and simple.

Use the phone. Max. 2 days after you’ve sent your email, pick up the phone and again, introduce yourself, mention that you’ve met during the event and that you’ve sent an email and you were wondering when it would be best for them to meet with you. Here you may need to have a small pitch ready because some people might wonder why you would want to meet up. Many people however will most likely agree to meet with you especially if you had a connection with them during the event. But in general keep it simple. Having a coffee to find common business interest goes a long way and doesn’t scream sales right away. Yes, you may want to sell your products or services but you may also get some referrals out of this in case they are not interested. And obviously this goes both ways.

Prepare yourself. Book the meeting and prepare a small agenda of what you would like to get out of this meeting. This is mainly for yourself. You may want to send it over to your new contacts to give them a chance to prepare something as well. Remember, they give you the courtesy to show you what you’ve got so it’s only fair that you provide them the same benefit.

No sale at first meeting. Key again is to not make a full pitch. The first meeting is not about selling your products or services but to see if there is a general or common interest. Yes, you may want to be prepared for somebody telling you straight away, that they need exactly what you’re selling, but honestly, how often does this happen? You can show off what you do, who you are, what your company does, benefits, strengths etc. but take it slow. Also give them the time to tell you what they do. Afterwards establish the grounds of going forward. Book another appointment if they want to hear more about the products or services you offer, or see if you can exchange customer details in form of referrals. If you provide a handful of customers to them, they might do the same for you.

The key point I would like to make is that barely anybody follows up after networking events and wonder why no business comes out of it. It is vital and important to keep business going and if you want to not waste your time going to those events, then maybe it’s time to follow up with your new connections. Because barely anybody really follows up after those events, there is a lot of business left undone. If you’re one of the people who will follow up you can be rest assured, that something positive will come out of it. Give it a try and let us know how you got on.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more up to date information.

Thank you for reading.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

How to find the right sales job

There is a lot of confusion of what would be the right sales job for me. Well, I can tell you that there is not really a right or wrong to this. However there is something like a preference. In today’s world we have multiple choices of different sales careers.

Here is a list of some of them:

Sales Account Manager

Field Sales Representative (B2B or B2C)

Business Development Rep/ Manager

Lead Development Rep/ Manager

Telesales (inbound/ outbound)

Retail sales (assistants, managers, clerks etc.)

This is just a handful but it represents most of the current sales jobs available on the market. Here is what you need to know about those jobs:

Sales Account Manager – This role is usually a more passive sales role. You mainly deal with current customers/ clients also known as install base customers. You usually get assigned a territory and a list of accounts and it’s up to you to keep those customers happy and informed. In most cases they already purchased from the company and you need to provide maintenance renewals, contract renewals, additional product information etc. Why passive? Well, you do have to call or visit them (depending on the preference of the company you want to work for) usually at least once a quarter to build a relationship and to keep those customers happy and buying from you but normally you don’t have to develop leads. This is a great role for people who are strategic in thinking and are capable of implementing up-selling/ cross-selling techniques. Closing a deal might still be part of your job but the main focus is to make sure these customers will remain customers to the business. Usually paid a higher base salary and commission (60/40 split is quite common).

In rare cases you might need to develop new accounts as well but again, this is depending on the company and their route to market.

Field Sales Representatives – This is a more active role in selling. You are responsible to sell directly to either business clients or consumers. It involves booking meetings with potential new customers, create small campaigns to drive sales such as email campaigns or events. This is an outgoing role and usually not suitable for people who have a fear of cold calling or door to door sales. If it makes you uneasy this role might not be for you. However if you like being out of the office most of the time, travel a lot (either inside the country or even outside) and have unregulated working hours than this is a great job to be in. The rewards? Usually high commissions but a very low base salary. Some companies offer additional benefits such as a company car/ petrol card/ laptop and mobile phone.

Business development representative or manager – This is also a very active role. It might not require you to travel as some companies offer this role as a inside or internal role. But it does require you to make new connections on a daily basis. You are usually free to network and implement new ideas in order to drive customers to the business. However it needs to be pointed out that this role has it’s rewards of medium commission and a higher base salary. The 60/40 split is also very common in this type of role.

Lead Development Representative/ Manager – This role is usually done in larger companies such as medium to large size multinationals. It requires people to be constantly on the phone and generate new business through certain lead generation tools. This could be that leads are coming in through a website that need to be followed up and qualified, re-qualify old leads or even some cold calling or follow up on email and other marketing campaigns. Again, this is more an active and outgoing role that requires the rep to deal with new potential customers every day through phone conversations. The lead development rep is usually not in charge of driving campaigns and is merely there to initiate contact with potential new customers. However it needs to be pointed out that this is a very low paid and ungrateful role to have. As a lead development rep you are usually not required to close deals but just to generate interest. You will have a low to medium base salary and low commission or a bonus. In many cases leads get handed over to sales reps or sales account managers. Relationship building is usually not part of the role and you will talk every day to new potential clients. Many companies even have a min calling rate that you would need to achieve (such as 40 or 50 calls per day).

Telesales (inbound/ outbound) – This role could be pro-active or in-active depending on the organization. If you are applying for a job as an inbound Telesales rep then all you have to do is take calls and close the deals over the phone. Providing information is key and asking for the sale is a must in this role. You will also have up-selling and cross-selling opportunities to increase your sales revenue. As an outbound rep you might have to do some lead development on your own but usually you receive a list of clients that might be interested in the products or services offered by the company. Your job is to just call and see if there is a real interest and then close the deal. In many cases outbound telesales reps need to do a lot of cold calling. In both cases the salary is a medium base and medium to high commission. One of the main aspects to look out for is the commission structure. Most companies offer capped commission. This is on 100% of the target and some might offer an additional bonus if you achieve more than 100%. However capped commission also means that you may not be able to earn more. If it’s uncapped commission the one thing I would urge you to do is to look at the teams performance. How likely is it to achieve target and what is the highest that people can earn? Many companies claim that their commission structure is uncapped however the target is rarely achievable. So, do your homework and look out for these things.

Retail sales – Retail is one of the purest forms of selling. For most people (unless you are the business owner) it doesn’t require much prospecting work. Customers are coming into the premises and (hopefully) leaving with some new products that you are selling. The downside to this? If you are a trainee, clerk or shop assistant you might only get a base salary. Commission is rarely offered in retail (which I have to say is a real shame). But it still provides a decent enough income and lets you deal with potential new customers as well as “regulars” on a daily basis. Product knowledge is asked and many retailers establish themselves in a retail niche market. Such as electronics, computers, toys, men’s or lady’s wear etc. you can nearly find anything in retail. However a lot of retailers are suffering from not knowing their products well. This is the downside to retail. Too many products and competitors out there. In order to make a difference to your shop it is important to keep you and your team well trained and informed on new products. Knowledge is key in retail as well as driving a great service and friendly staff. As a business owner it is vital to get customers into the premises. This can be achieved by looking at your shop and make sure it attracts the right customer (gender/ age). However prospecting doesn’t stop there. Your staff is also required to prospect however this again is a different type of prospecting. It requires your staff to be outgoing and actually talk to the customers. Over 80% of customers leaving retail premises because of low or no attendance from the shop assistants/ owners.

This is only a handful of potential sales roles out there in the market. However one thing is for sure: No matter what type of sales role you currently have or are looking for, make sure it is the one for you. Nothing is worse than being in a sales job that you hate or don’t like because of the nature of the role.

Prospecting (making connections every single day) is a big part of sales no matter what type of role you’re looking for. Just because you are looking to become an account manager doesn’t mean that you don’t have to prospect. Prospecting in this case is just done in a different way and you still need to be outgoing enough to make this job work.

I hope this is helpful in finding the right sales job for you. If you need more information or require help in finding the right job for you, you should consider taking our Selling Style Profile Analysis.

Thank you for reading and please follow us on Facebook or Twitter with more current sales news.

Carsten Schnier

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

Successful Email Marketing

I’ve seen it all the time. Marketing emails bombard business owners or managers in companies at least a few times a day. Offering anything from promotional merchandise to training.

But how effective is it really? Well, in my experience it is not very effective. No matter how good your email is, a lot of sales people are barely getting any replies or call backs. The reason? Very simple: There is hundreds of people doing exactly that on a daily basis and most of these emails get deleted straight away, land in spam folders or get even blocked completely and not even reaching the right person.

So, how can you make sure your email marketing is effective? Here is a few tips that you might want to try:

1. Know your audience. I keep telling people that it is important to know who you’re targeting. Just sending an email to somebody or even worse, to an info address will not get you anywhere. Do your research. Find out who you should address this email to. Don’t just send an email to your entire list in one go and start with Dear Sirs…If you know the right contact person, address them by their name and remember, if they have a title you may want to start with Dear Dr/ Prof. Sir/ Lady/ Lord etc. This gives you credibility that you’ve done your research.

2. Have a compelling subject line. Depending on your industry you may want to have a great subject line. It’s the subject line that inspires people to either delete your email or at least open it. I would urge you to read this article on “How to write a compelling subject line“. A subject line will either open the door for you or block it.

3. Have your statement within the first 2 lines of the email. Everything you want to say, your offer, reasons, benefits, why this person should talk to you etc. should be said within the first 2 lines of your email. Barely anybody reads beyond that especially if they suspect that you want to sell something. But the first 2 lines are the ones they remember. You will see in the later step why it is important to have your key message within the first 2 lines.

4. Have your emails scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday after 9:30 am. The main reason for this is that a lot of companies send emails before 9 or even the day before after 5 PM when no emails will be read. Some even over the weekend. Now, during the night emails are piling up and if you are just one of the many, then you will get unnoticed. You want your email to be on top. So, wait until 9:30 or even 10 am and send it then. Most emails would’ve been read by then and it is much more likely that your email will be read within the first 30 min after arriving.

5. Avoid attachments, logos, pictures or lots of links in your email. Keep it simple. The reason why many emails land in spam folders or get blocked by corporate spam machines is that they contain images, links to external websites etc. Keep your email in a formal text format. You can have your companies website in the signature, but if you have your logo in that email, it is very likely that your mail will be deleted or caught in spam folders, blocked by corporate servers etc. If you want your first email to be read, then simply refrain from adding any of the above to your email. This is your first contact and unless you are in their email safe list your email will most likely be deleted.

6. Don’t expect anybody to get back to you. Most marketing emails are not getting answered and key decision makers are not picking up the phone to contact you. Unless you have something extremely extraordinary, your mail will be deleted upon arrival. Out of 1000 emails you will maybe get 2 or 4 replies (if you’re lucky). So, what is the next step? Very easy and straight forward: Pick up the phone and call to make sure they received your message. And the key is to do that within the first 2 – 4 days after you’ve sent your email. Your cold call becomes automatically a warm call and the reason why you should call within the first 48 hours is simple: The person whom you addressed that email to will remember the first 2 lines of your email :-).

7. Have your elevator pitch ready and book an appointment (or if you’re only selling over the phone, then sell your heart out).

Email marketing can only be effective if the people who send the emails in the first place are following up on them within the first 2 days. And don’t follow up by sending another email. This will not result in anything.

If you follow these simple steps then your sales should spike and your conversion rate goes from approx. 5 – 10% to approx. 40 – 60% and sometimes even higher than that.

And it doesn’t really matter if you are selling over the phone or making appointments. This works all the time. Guaranteed 🙂

Thank you for reading.

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Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales consultant based in Cork, Ireland 

The good old days

Every organisation, entrepreneur and business owner is looking to increase sales turnover. Back in the old days or lets say when I started out in sales things such as facebook, linkedin or other social media didn’t existed or were just in the starting phase. Sales people used to do the hard work or what we call now the old fashioned way. But why is it that this good old ways don’t work anymore? Or do they still work?

I am a sales and business coach/ trainer and I started my business a little over a year ago. I’ve tried both ways of getting sales and this is what I found:

First I started to use social media. I created a facebook page and invited all my friends and family to like the page. I also developed pages on other social media such as linkedin (or my personal linkedin page if you want to connect) twitter etc. (Feel free to like or follow me and my company on any of them).

It wasn’t long until I got my first client and started building the business from there. Or so I thought. After my very first client signed up with me, that was kind of it. No more interest. Yes, I got the sympathy likes as I call them but not much has happened. So, I decided to join a business networking group, went to networking events and again, got lots of contacts and interest in what I do. (I had my elevator pitch all prepared and ready to get some clients).

My thinking was, that I had a great product, fantastic service and I could even guarantee an increase in revenue. But it seems that there was no interest in what I did. I mean, don’t get me wrong, people seemed interested when I talked to them but as soon as I followed up and tried to make an appointment I was hit with the usual: No time, no interest, no money etc. And although I used all my converting techniques it seemed that I was failing at the simplest things. After a few months not getting any business and redesigning everything the way I thought would be good, still nothing happened.

And then it hit me. What if I went against everything I was advised not to do? What if I go back to what I originally learned on how to get customers?

Just to give you some thoughts of what people told me not to do:

– Cold calling doesn’t work anymore. It’s a waste of time.

– Knocking on doors doesn’t work anymore. It’s a waste of time.

– Being pro-active and getting clients doesn’t work anymore. It’s a waste of time.

– Coaching is an utter waste of time.

– There is already plenty of training and coaching companies that offer sales training. Don’t go into that field. It’s a waste of time.

It seems everything was just a waste of time. Now, I knew I had the right product. I knew I was the right guy to help increase sales. In fact, because of my background and that I was educated in sales in Germany and had a multinational view on things I knew that I could turn things around for companies. I could see things in businesses that no one else could. I could create a vision of success for others and help them implement it. If they let me in and if they are willing to change.

But for that I had to change my approach. So I took all the advise I got from so called business mentors, other sales training professionals and marketing & pr people and threw it in the bin. In fact, giving advise to start up companies and telling them that they shouldn’t cold call or knock down some doors is in my personal opinion the worst advise one could get. If you have a product or service that no one knows about and you want to get the word out, unless you have already millions on your account and can spend hundreds of thousands of Euro in marketing and advertising your options are a little bit limited.

So, I combined both new and old methods as I do believe once you have a name you will get customers through social media. But you need to get there first.

So, here is what I did:

I knew my product SPQ Gold (Sales Preference Questionnaire) is for everybody out there who is in sales or want to sell something. I also knew that my workshop (Fear-free self-promotion and prospecting) is one of a kind and state of the art and helps people to retain over 12 times more information than any other kind of workshop or training out there. Which also means, that once you attended my workshops you were able (mostly with a little bit of follow up coaching) to implement what you’ve learned on a daily basis and this would help increase your revenue. This is what I had, and I knew it was powerful. But I needed to filter the companies I wanted to work with.

So, I defined my niche even more with salesclinic.biz and use coach-clinic.com only for personal development. Once I had defined my niche I was ready to get some clients.

I looked at companies that are very sales driven and focused only on SME’s (small to medium sized enterprises). I didn’t bother with large multinationals although this was my main expertise but their process is very lengthy to get approval for training and coaching. So, I avoided them up until now.

Once I had my target audience defined I started compiling a list of contacts. It took me a while but after a few weeks I had over 500 companies listed, with the following contact details:

Company name, main business, website, address details

Name, telephone and email from receptionists

Name, telephone and email from decision makers

Name, telephone and email from sales managers/ directors/ company owners

This process took me nearly a month to complete and I had also done a lot of research on those companies in the meantime. But I haven’t called yet. Except if I couldn’t find the information I needed on linkedin or on the company’s website, I called quickly to obtain above details. I didn’t want to talk to any decision makers at that time. I only contacted the receptionist or whoever picked up the phone and asked questions in a market research style. And this was well received. People were really helpful.

Then I was ready and started to call. I already had most of the information that I needed and finally was able to get to the right people. And to my surprise my cold calling worked. I got meetings with high value decision makers.

Now it was up to me to present my information to them and get them to buy my test SPQ Gold or SSPA Test (Selling Styles Profile Analysis) my workshop and coaching. I didn’t get everybody of course. As with every sales pitch, my first few I actually blew. But I got better at it and after only 4 meetings I got my first order.

I believe it is important to say that I overdone my research. And I didn’t need to do that. But for me it was a time to reflect and change my ways. I wanted to show people that this could be done and that with hard work and lots of follow ups you can get the meetings and sales that you require.

If you are just starting out with your business and no matter what your business is, what kind of product you’re selling or services that you are offering, don’t give up. But don’t just go for the new ways of selling. If you are like me and don’t have thousands of Euros or $ lying around then you may want to consider going back to the old ways.

Do your research, define your market (or niche) and target audience and make sure that you don’t give up. Success will follow if you prevail and keep doing the things that need to be done in order to make your business a success. Cold calling and door knocking is still a great way to sell and I realise that not everybody is comfortable doing that, but if you own a business and want to make it successful, then stepping outside of your comfort zone is just the beginning.

Thank you for reading.

Carsten

Carsten Schnier is the founder of SalesClinic & Coach Clinic and professional sales coach based in Cork, Ireland