Biz Coach Steve

Category: Sales

  • How to Be More Persuasive

    What will make you more persuasive? Thinking less about what you want and more about what you deliver for others. Think about delivering benefit instead of trying to win over your clients/prospects.

    A benefit exchange is the heart of persuasion. It answers the question from the radio station-WIIFM, “What’s in it for me?” for the person you are seeking to persuade. In other words, it’s a benefit you promise in exchange for someone taking your desired action.

    The old school way of marketing is nothing like WIIFM. It was clearly a neglected concept in communicating a business’s products and services to the market. But benefit exchanges are useful for all kinds of situations, such as getting someone at work to agree to your proposal, inspiring people to change their habits or compelling someone to buy your product.

    We so often get the benefit exchange wrong. The number one error is we talk about attributes vs. benefits. We get lost in the qualities of an idea or a product rather than translating those attributes into the benefits they deliver for a prospect or customer. Telling me that a proposal addresses a problem in workflow is citing an attribute; demonstrating how it saves money or increases efficiency is showing a benefit. Rack and pinion steering is an attribute of a car; responsiveness that makes you feel safer on the road is a benefit.

    Good benefit exchanges focus on what your audience wants – not what you want. That’s the second common error most small businesses make. Don’t fall into the trap of communicating based on the benefits you desire. Think from the perspective of those you want to influence and speak to that world view.

    Those are ways we go wrong. So how do we do it right? If you want to be more persuasive, here are five ways to build a strong benefit exchange and win hearts and minds in the process.

    Make the Benefit Immediate: Few of us take action based on a benefit that we expect to receive in the far future. It is human nature to seek instant satisfaction over distant gratification. How can you make your case that if someone does what you want, they will reap immediate rewards? Answer the question: what will be better tomorrow?

    Make It Personal: A compelling benefit needs to make people feel their lives will be better as individuals or within their tight circles of friends, family, community or work. At the end of the day, the personal connection, not the grand concept, grabs our attention. Make sure you’re focused on why your agenda is specifically relevant to the person you wish to persuade.

    Speak to Your Audience’s Values: We can’t easily change what other people believe, but by plugging into their existing mind-set, we unleash great power behind our message. Make sure the benefit you are communicating is something others seek – not just what you want. Those two things are rarely the same, but we often imagine they are.

    Know What You’re Up Against: Think competitively about your benefit. Is it better than what people get for doing nothing – or something else instead? Don’t forget there’s a reason people aren’t taking the action you seek. They may be deriving benefits from those alternate behaviors. How can you shape a benefit better than sticking to the status quo?

    Be Real: Last, you need to make sure your benefit exchange is credible and honest. People need to believe in what you communicate. Ask someone who is respected to back you up. Or show other people gaining the promised benefit. Or tell a good story that is a true example of the benefit in action. You want to persuade by keeping your promises.

    If people aren’t doing what you want, you may to speak to someone and get an outside perspective. Maybe you are thinking the WIIFM is you, when the WIFFM is your customers. What outcomes are you providing to your prospects and clients?  How will you and your company’s products or services solve their problems, needs and wants?

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday

  • Don’t stop working during the holidays

    The Holiday Season is upon us and for sales professionals and sales managers this time of year adds special challenges for maintaining focus on sales productivity.

    Being an entrepreneur has lots of challenges between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. The familiar music, parties, seeing old friends, and spending time with family. In the midst of a joyous season the sales environment can be brutal.

    During the holiday’s salespeople and business owners struggle to maintain activity targets while prospects and customers routinely put off decisions until the New Year. The good news is, despite the challenges, you can take control, maintain your focus, and still close deals. The key is in staying true to the fundamentals of selling and maintaining self-discipline combined with a sprinkle of creativity.

    One of the hardest things about selling during the holiday season is getting customers to act on buying decisions. They say they just want to wait until the New Year to make any decisions. To them it makes logical sense to wait. Far too many salespeople willingly accept this excuse as logical too. However, if you’ve been around selling long enough you know, by the time you get to January, most of these deals will be cold.

    To have any chance of closing these deals you have to strike while the iron is hot. You cannot allow emotions to wane. So, during this time of year you have to give your prospects and customers a more compelling reason to make a decision now than to wait until later. This means getting creative with your offer, price, value added services, or signing bonuses. You may have to give up more to get the deal done than during other times of the year. 

    In sales, like it or not, activity is everything. If you are not prospecting, questioning, presenting, and closing you will fail – no matter what time of year it is. Of course with all of the wonderful (and not so wonderful) distractions of the holidays, it can be easy to slack-off, let your self-discipline slip move away from your normal daily routine. 

    This slip has two consequences. In the short-term it hurts your closing ratio during the month of December. In the long-term it impacts your sales pipeline during January, February, and March which can have a major impact on your future income.

    To keep this from happening to you, it is critical that you sit down with your daily planner right now and ensure that you have your calendar blocked properly for daily prospecting and lead generation, as well as information gathering, presentations, demos, and closing meetings. Take into account all of your holiday activities and build them into your planner. You may have to do some workarounds, but the key here is to get everything planned out in advance. To stay on track set daily activity targets and commit to reviewing those targets each morning and afternoon. You will be amazed at how powerful this forward planning process is for keeping you on track and focused during the holidays.

    Most importantly, by planning in advance and developing creative ways to close more business, you will find that you feel less stress, cash bigger commission checks, and have plenty of time to enjoy the holidays with the ones you care about the most.

    One thing I cannot stress enough is to be open as much as possible during the holiday season and answer your phone. Just that alone will separate you from the rest of the pack. Keep moving forward, do not take the season off and your business will benefit in the first quarter of next year.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking

  • What is your USP? And why is this important

    What is your USP?

    You may have heard that question at some point when you were building your business or starting up. USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition.

    In very simple terms, why should I buy from you versus anyone else?  What makes you different? Unique?

    After presenting the Scores ABC’s of Starting a Business workshop for years, it still blows my mind how many people do not have a clear focus on what their business is and who problems they solve and to whom are they solving those problems for.  We hear extra filler junk, such as. “I am like the UBER of XXX.” So, what I heard is that you have a billion-dollar valuation, are in the debt over a billion dollars and have not been profitable and probably will never be profitable. Not good.

    This was from an INC magazine article. “A Unique Selling Point is a feature or a characteristic of a product that makes it stand out of the masses and allows the product to look more exclusive/valuable to the customer. The unique selling proposition is often the crucial factor why a customer bought a specific product from a specific company (A), rather than a comparable product with similar features of another company (B). Simple put: the USP’s are the unique benefits a product offers its purchasers.”

    So how can you create your own very compelling USP?

    Simple. Follow this simple formula and create your own USP. Think of it as your elevator pitch.

    First, write down your target market. Now you may have more than one, but not more than three. Why? Because if your message is trying to be everything to everyone, no one cares, and no one wants to hear it. They want someone to solve their problems-not the worlds. Be specific on who your market is.  If it’s dentists, then what kind of dentist? Orthodontist? Periodontist? General? Oral? Etc.  Be specific.  “My company works with orthodontists.”

    Next, write down at least 25 problems your target customer has, then write down 10 more. This will really help in in your business down the road. Identify the top 3 problems your target market has based on your list. How do you know what the top 3 problems are? Hopefully, you know why your customers are doing business with you. If not, ask them what problems/challenges your product/services solves for them.  If you don’t have customers yet, then meet with a mentor to have them help you find those top 3 challenges. You also may know what 3 challenges you want to solve for your customers-but it must be in alignment with THEIR needs.  I.E. Orthodontists problems are; patients not showing up for appointments, potential clients not having insurance to get braces (cost) and finding good staff.


    Now write down at least one solution to each one of the problems you outlined in the last step. Be specific. Using our dentist as an example; send out email, text and voice mail reminders for the appointment, providing another insurance solution if they don’t have insurance, use a systematic process to hire great staff.

    Let’s put it all together.

    “My company works with elite orthodontists who have challenges obtaining new patients and attracting high level staff. We help them develop acquisition and retention strategies to build their practice and their team.”

    You may be thinking, how did I get that USP from the exercise. It’s simple. THEIR problem is getting new patients in because they don’t have insurance, keeping patients and getting new staff. The USP says that in a language that is speaking to the orthodontist-not to anyone else. Now, if another type of dentist heard this, would they want to know more from you?   Absolutely. You can alter your USP to your market.

    I.E. “My company works with elite dentists who have challenges obtaining new patients and attracting high level staff. We help them develop acquisition and retention strategies to build their practice and their team.”

    See how that works.  You must speak to your audience. It’s NOT about you. It’s about who you serve, what are their problems and how are you solving them.

    Stop being the Uber, Apple, Tesla, Google, or whatever other company you want to compare yourself to. They have their USP. Here are a few.

    Uber: Ride when you want, where you want

    Apple:  We provide a lifestyle with our products

    FedEx: When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight

    Coke: The real thing

    Google: Access the world from your fingertips

    You are NOT them. They have established themselves in the market, you are working on establishing yourself. Speak to your audience, be unique, be you. They do not have to define their market; it has already been defined.

    Create your USP today.  Be clear.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking

  • The old run-a-round

    How many times have you encountered an extreme run-a-round when you trying to get an answer from someone?  I bet we all have many horror stories of being transferred around from customer service representative to customer service representative.  Or when you are in the business and the person behind the counter tells you that you have to call an 800 number to get your question or issue resolved?  How about when you ask an employee a question and they don’t know the answer but then just disappear on you-not knowing if they are asking someone else or just hiding from you.

    As someone that has pressured my employees to provide the best customer service experience as possible these kinds of customer service nightmares drive me crazy.  They are fully 100% avoidable, but only if the business owner or manager wants them to be avoidable.  Many times, employees are not given proper customer service training.  They are given a handbook that they never read, and it has some paragraphs about customer service that they employee should follow.  This is far from being adequate.  Business today (especially in a downturn economy) really need to focus on customer service.  It’s free, it’s easy, and its great customer service will set your business apart from your competitors’. 

    So, some of you are saying “How”?  How can I instill great customer service in my front-line employees?  How can I get my staff to provide great customers service?  Simple.  It all starts at the top.  Everyone in your organization must be properly trained in customer service skills.  This even includes the folks in the accounting department.  Everyone that comes in contact with your business, whether they are the customer, someone picking something up for the customer, your vendors, your business partners, the delivery drivers – EVERYONE is your customer! 

    Right now, I am going to focus on how to eliminate the run-a-around in a few simple examples.

    1. A customer asks the cashier if they purchase 10 items could they get a discount.  Simple and straight forward.  Not your everyday question, but instead of the employee going “I don’t know.  Why do you want to buy 10 of those?” or the employee just walking away from the customer and not saying anything, train them to follow simple procedures.  Have the employee act (not overdoing it) enthused that someone would like to purchase 10 of an item.  Then inform them “I don’t know, but please wait here a moment and I will get the manager who could answer that question for you-I will be right back.”  The employee informed the customer on what they should do and what he/she will do to get their question resolved.
    • Now if the manager does not have the answer and needs to ask the owner or their supervisor, here’s how that should be handled.  Manager- “I’m sorry I do not have the answer to your question at this time.  Here’s what I can do for you.  Please let me put aside 10 of the items for you and get your contact information and I will contact the owner/supervisor and get an answer for you within 24 hours.”  Once again, the manager informed the customer of what they are going to do to get the question answered and gave the customer instructions on what will be done.

    Starting to sound like the run-a-around again doesn’t it?  The difference is simple communication.  The run-a-around that most business give the customer all steams on the employee not knowing who to go to in situations.  We used to provide customer service training to all the department at once.  This way a person in department A knows who to contact in department B in case there is a question that department B handles.  All the phones had a list of who to contact from each department in case these scenarios arose.

    Now, the best way to handle this is to empower your employees. In this case, maybe the front-line employee does reach out to their manager who does have the knowledge to answer the customers inquiry and for the front-line employee learn something new about those deep policies that are in the business. Then the manager can inform everyone on what just occurred and let them know what the procedure is for a similar situation. You cannot train everyone on every little scenario, but as they come up you can train everyone. This will strengthen your customer service skills and win over your customers.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking

  • Speed Networking and More

    Launch yourself into a new circle of people waiting to talk to you.

    Speed networking programs are showing up all around the world. These events tend to be a fun, exciting and effective way to make a lot of initial connections in a very different environment from the standard business networking meetings.

    Speed networking programs generally involve people meeting each other one at a time for a short interval and then moving on to the next person in line. They are fairly structured in the way people queue up to meet. For example, one variation is to have two concentric circles of people. The individuals sit across from one another and after the set time period–generally one minute–the outside circle of people gets up and moves in one direction around the circle until everyone has met.

    I have referred new business owners to attend a speed networking event for a few specific reasons.

    1. You will get to meet fellow business owners in a fun environment. Those other people may be your customer, vendor, future partner, or a great referral partnership.
    2. You get to really practice your elevator pitch in an environment, where that is all you have time to do. Go there with 2 different elevator pitches and see how the person on the other side of the table reacts. If they lean in and are engaged-you have a winner. If they lean back, cross their arms, and/or have that “what are you talking about” look on their face-you need to work on your elevator pitch.

    The potential downside to speed networking is if someone thinks this is “all” they have to do to network effectively. The key to making speed networking work, is to take those contacts and develop them over time into “credible” relationships that lead to “profitable” referral partners.

    Some people have likened speed networking to speed dating. While there are clearly some similarities, there is also a subtle but significant difference. Speed dating is done to eliminate potential suitors and keep from wasting time on people with whom you share no common interests and no mutual attraction. The presumption is that you are going to follow up with only the ones you connect with during the exercise.

    Speed Networking is not to eliminate potential referral sources, but to nurture the relationships that come out of the event, even if you feel you have nothing in common.

    So how do you go about participating in a speed networking exercise with the proper focus to make the most of your time? Here are several points to consider:

    1. Start with the end in mind. You’re not there to bag the big one. You’re not there to eliminate referral sources or referral partners. You’re there to find ways to connect with each and every person you have the opportunity to sit (or stand) in front of for that one- to two-minute period.

    While you will not, realistically, become close friends with every person in the room, you’re increasing your potential referral sources by meeting many people in one setting.  HINT: Go into the networking with the goal of really connecting with other participants.

    2. Conduct the exercise as a mini interview. Think in terms of what you can find out about the person you’re meeting. That’ll allow you to help further the goals of that individual. Forget about mining their database or trying to determine who they know to further your goals. In working to mutually benefit one another, ask questions that’ll clarify where and how you can best help your new referral source. HINT: If you have time left, have some basic questions you can ask the other person to get to know them better.

    3. Make notes during the exercise. If you’re not provided some type of contact card on which you can jot notes while in the exercise, be sure to use your own pad of paper to write down the information you discover. Be sure to note the person’s interests and goals you could help achieve. HINT: Bring mini post-it-notes, put your notes on it, then adhere it on the back of their business card with my notes on it.

    4. Follow up. If you don’t follow up with those you meet during the speed networking exercise, you will only have succeeded in wasting your time–which is exactly what you were trying to avoid by attending the event in the first place. Collect the business cards of each person you sit with during the exercise. The magic happens after the exercise, in the weeks and months to come.  HINT: You are NOT there to collect business cards, then spam everyone. Please do not do this. Word will get out about you really fast.

    Set appointments with each person, not to convince them they need your product, but with the intention of becoming better acquainted, finding out what their needs are and how you can positively impact their lives. You’ll realize the reason you went to the speed networking exercise in the first place: to develop more referral business.

    I believe speed networking can work if it’s done the right way. It can be a fun, energetic and dynamic way to further your own goals of having a thriving, successful word-of-mouth-based business.  Give it a try.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking

  • 4 Simple Strategies to Manage Your Online Reputation

    True story: In 2017, Devon an 18-year old was charging his Dell laptop on his couch. It let out a big bang and then burst into flames. He blew the flames out. Unplugged the laptop and put it on the table outside. It exploded again. This time he used a fire extinguisher. As that wasn’t enough, it exploded again. It was all caught on home security cameras and became viral overnight and spread like wildfire across the internet. Thousands of bloggers started bashing the company and demanding they apologize. In a matter of days, the company’s hard-earned reputation and goodwill in the marketplace was in jeopardy as Dell issued the biggest product recall in computer history.

    Michael Dell started his computer company in his dorm room and transformed it into a multi-billion-dollar company. He spent years building his legendary empire and suddenly, the company’s reputation was at stake thanks to the power of Social Media.  This could happen to your company.  Are your prepared to handle your online reputation?

    Bad things Happen to Good Companies

    The internet is filled with stories of companies and individuals whose reputations have been in ruins overnight. Honest businesses fall prey to manipulating competitors out to ruin them and steal market share in return. Many businesses have experienced, through no fault of their own, scheming competitors bad mouthing and spreading false rumors about them through social media. Heck just read the fake Yelp reviews. These days, the means to spread rumors about a business are many and as a result, it is imperative for businesses to proactively manage their online reputation.

    In a study by McKinsey & Company, they stated how consumers really make decisions. Part of the study stated, that the number one-way consumers make a decision to buy a product or service is through online reviews and ratings. Online reviews are not just for major sites like Amazon. Today, a customer can research a product or service just about anywhere including blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and of course, within the dreaded search engine result pages. As such, business owners need to ensure that their company reviews are clean. By clean, I mean over 90% of reviews for your products and services should be positive. Of course, every now and then you will have that rogue customer who is not satisfied with your product or service and even though you may have gone the extra mile to satisfy him or her, it just didn’t cut it for them. But that’s the cost of doing business.

    Reputation Management online is not as tough as one would imagine and can be broken down into four solid pieces. Monitor, Listen, Respond and Amplify. Let’s look at each one of them:

    Monitoring your Reputation: 
    The starting point of online reputation management requires businesses to begin proactively monitoring conversations happening about their brand. Automated keyword searches can quickly reveal the topics and themes that customers (and competitors) are talking about. Companies often feel overwhelmed in the beginning due to the large volume of content on the internet. But proper configuration and tweaking of keywords can help tremendously. It is easy to set up Google Alerts. Use your company’s name as a keyword and have Google send you what it finds about your company. Set up a few different alerts. Include your name on one of the Alerts, Organizations you are affiliated with, Etc.

    Listening to your Customers:
    In this critical piece of online reputation management, a business needs to separate the noise from the real conversations taking place on social media about their products or services. The real conversations can be separated into two distinct categories; those that are actively talking about your business, and those that may warn of a storm on the horizon. The latter category requires you to listen carefully and diffuse the storm before it gains strength. Most social media managers categorize and separate these conversations into those that need “immediate attention” and those that require “active listening.” This allows them to be prepared and to strategize ways to diffuse the situation before the conversation turns into an ugly rant against their brand. Listening requires a careful plan of action with a fine balance between coming across as overprotective and defensive and simply monitoring your reputation.

    Responding is an Art:
    Effectively responding and diverging crises is an art. You don’t want your communication to sound like a well-honed PR message. People complain on social media channels because they are not satisfied, and they are usually hoping for a resolution. Always be sympathetic and put yourself in the customer’s position.  This does not mean that you should allow a customer to take your brand hostage while they are ranting against your company. However, responding means first analyzing what went wrong and how you can make it right. Most large companies follow a certain set of processes to ensure that they are responding to customer complaints on social media in a fair manner. These set processes can be setting up special email groups, hiring additional employees in the customer resolution area, and coming up with special offers to win these customers back.  Responding negatively will only do more harm than good. Watch your words.

    Amplify your Wins:
    I have seen many companies go to great lengths to satisfy an angry customer on a social media platform. It is not uncommon for complaining customers to receive complimentary gift certificates, free services, heavy discounts, you name it, in response to their public complaints.  At the end, both the customer and company are happy, and all is forgotten.

    A very critical piece that companies often neglect is to amplify the positive actions the company took to satisfy the angry customer. Traditional customer service folks are not trained on how to amplify positive remarks. This onus typically falls on the social media managers to let the world know that your company goes great lengths to satisfy their customers. Amplification of positive experiences with your brand or services goes a long way in the social media world. This amplification is not just leaving a comment behind but finding strategic, meaningful ways to communicate to the rest of the world. This is the art of social media.

    These are just some of the high-level strategy pieces that a company of any size can employ to manage their online reputation.

    What strategies are you going to take to manage your online reputation?

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking

  • How to Ask for Help

    A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox.  He had cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny red shovel.  In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

    The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt.  With a little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the large rock across the sandbox by using his feet.  When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the wall of the sandbox.  Every time he made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. 

    Frustrated, he burst into tears.  All this time the boy’s father watched from his living room window.  As the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox.  It was his father.  Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?”

    Defeated, the boy sobbed back, “But I did, Daddy, I did!  I used all the strength that I had!” 

    “No, son,” corrected the father kindly.  “You didn’t use all the strength you had.  You didn’t ask me.”  With that the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed it from the sandbox.

    We all need help at some time.  Don’t be afraid to ask for it.  As I like to say, don’t say no for the other person. 

    Successful people rarely reach the top without a lot of help along the way.  The ability – and willingness – to ask for help is one trait that really stands out among those who are truly committed to success. 

    I can personally attest to the necessity of asking for help.  I visited Score to start my first business Got it up and running with their mentoring. Since that time, I have owned 6 different businesses, ran 3 others and still ask for help in my current business.  By not asking for help could cost you your business.

    As one who is often on the other side now (mentoring for Score and being a certified business coach), I appreciate the opportunity to advise and mentor entrepreneurs and emerging talents.  When you are seeking advice from the experts, here are some items to consider:

    • Don’t waste their time:  Once they’ve agreed to help, get to the point quickly.  Don’t go through your life story in excruciating detail, or spend an hour explaining your business plan or the plot of your novel.  Plan what you want to ask so you can make a clear, succinct request.  Utilize your time with them, stay on point. Take notes so they know you value their input.
    • Get specific:  Don’t just ask, “What should I do?”  Imagine you can ask only one question (because that may be the case).  Identify the most important issue you’re facing that your expert is qualified to address and build your question around that.  Be prepared in case you get a chance to ask a follow-up or move on to another subject.  Don’t assume you’ll have all the time in the world to get to what you need.
    • Save one general question for the end:   The corollary to the rule above is to save a few minutes to ask something like, “Is there anything else you’d recommend?” once you’ve gotten the answer to your essential question.  This gives the expert a chance to expand on whatever information he or she has shared and provides the opportunity to start building more of a relationship than a one-time transaction.
    • Give people options:   When you approach an expert, ask for permission to probe his or her mind before starting to fire off questions.  Give the other person some control over how to respond.  It’s polite and shows your consideration for the expert’s time and workload.
    • Offer something in return:  You’re asking for a favor.  Be ready to trade services, buy lunch, offer your own expertise, or reciprocate in some other form.  This demonstrates your professionalism and commitment to building relationships, not just grabbing information and leaving right away.

    Don’t struggle in your business. Ask for help. Meet with a Score mentor and see how they can help you today.

    Story came from Mackay’s Moral.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing

  • You Lost the Sale, because …

    Nobody likes getting rejected.  We have all experienced rejection many times in our lives and we do try to avoid it as much as possible. Just like in high school, having the person you had a crush on rejected your offer to go to the dance-it happened so fast and you don’t know why. Being in business is different than being the captain of the high school football team or head cheerleader. Your prospects are rejecting your offer for things you are doing and may not realize you are doing. By being aware of all those little ways you put off your customer, you can avoid them and work on becoming a better, more approachable salesperson.  Stay away from these four damaging sales interactions that can end up sealing your sales fate with a customer’s 180-degree turn straight for the door.

    1. Focusing on price instead of VALUE:

    This is probably the biggest mistake many salespeople make is ignoring the difference between price and value. Most salespeople think they are the same thing-they are NOT. If you offer a customer a product that solves a distinct problem and it’s something, they have been trying to find for quite some time, that item price and value will probably be very high. When their needs are met, price tends to matter more to lose the sale.  I.E. if you are stuck in the desert with no water for 2 days and you come across someone selling water. Price will not matter to purchase the water. But, if someone has a case of water in their hand and you are trying to sell them more water, value will matter more.

    If you push a product that has little to no benefit, your customer is bound to walk out of the store empty-handed regardless of the price and that is bad news for both of you. You’re more likely to annoy them out of buying something they might actually want than to make a sale when you push items that have no value to them. This will leave your customers frustrated and destroy their loyalty to your brand.

    Keep WIIFM in mind. What’s In It For Me?  The me is the customer. If you are too busy selling you and not solving their problem, then the Me on the wrong person.

    • Avoiding the budge conversation:

    Speaking of price, you should never start pushing a sale until you’ve addressed the customer’s budget. Sure, it can feel a little awkward; but until you know what a customer is can and is willing to spend, your tried-and-true sales tactics won’t do any good.

    Think of your customer’s budget as a map. It can point you in the right direction as you promote various products, and it can help them find what they’re looking for at a price point that makes sense.  Of course, there will always be opportunities for upsells, add-ons, and showcasing higher-priced products; but unless you know where your customer stands on budget, you’ll have a hard time selling them.

    If you push the customer too hard on an item that’s above their price point, it could lead them to skip a sale altogether. Or worse, take the sale to another retailer. And the last thing you want is your customers’ loyalty shifting to someone else!

    1. Being impatient about getting to the checkout:

    A salesperson who runs to the cash register before the customer has actually committed to a purchase is always a red flag. Doing these signals to the customer that you don’t actually care about what they need, just about ringing the till.

    Read your customer’s body language and verbal cues to get a sense of where they are in the sales process. Sure, most customers require a bit of coaxing and warming up before they’ll let you into their circle. But the sooner you can start building trust, proving that you’re there to help and not to force a sale, the better off you’ll both be. As soon as that trust is built and you can show them what value a specific item will bring them, you won’t have to drag them to the cash register kicking and screaming.

    1. Letting ‘no’ be the final answer:

    It’s easy to let ‘no’ be the final answer. However, checking in with the customer a second time might magically turn that ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’ You don’t want the customer to live happily ever after with someone else’s product, right? Of course not. So, put on your big kid pants and ask for the sale again.

    In sales, a ‘no’ is rarely a cold, hard, set-in-stone ‘no’. Again, demonstrate your patience here and find out the real story. Establish rapport and you’ll usually find a way to solve their problem, encouraging them to change their answer to that one word you like much better — ‘yes’.

    By sidestepping these missteps, you can ensure you don’t find yourself in a sales dilemma that ends with losing a sale, or even a customer. Avoid the above interactions and instead of a lonely rejection, you’ll be enjoying the sweet success of a sale.

    #

    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing

  • Sharpen your Sales Techniques

    Sales is the lifeblood that drives business.  There are no jobs unless someone brings the business through the door.   Career success often depends on your ability to sell a product, a service or an idea.  Even if you are the accountant for the business- you’re in sales. If you engage with vendors or customers – then you are in sales. Everyone in the company must realize they are in sales whether their titles state that or not. No matter what field you’re in, you’ll sell better by remembering these key pieces of sales wisdom:

     

    Satisfy the customer:  There’s a meat counter in the supermarket in my neighborhood.  There are always three or four clerks waiting on customers.  But one of the clerks always has customers waiting for him even if one of the other clerks isn’t busy.

    One day I asked him the reason for his popularity.  He said: “The other clerks always put more meat on the scale and then take some away to arrive at what the customer ordered.  I always put less on the scale and then add to it.  It makes all the difference.”

     

    A sales person tells, a good sales person explains, and a great sales person demonstrates: A company was selling unbreakable mirror glass and had a sales contest.  At the awards banquet they asked the #1 sales rep what his secret was.  He explained that he had the factory cut him several four-by-four squares of the mirror glass.  When he went out on calls he would put one of the squares on the customer’s desk and then take out a hammer and try to smash it.  It wouldn’t break – and the impressed customer was sold.

     

    Sell what’s on the truck:  Years ago, in New York City an Italian fruit vendor was teaching his son the basics of salesmanship.

    “Don’t tell people we are out of peaches,” the father said patiently, “ask them to buy some of our very fresh plums.  Sell what’s on the truck.”

    Many of today’s salespeople could take the same advice.  Don’t spend a lot of time complaining about the current state of the product line or describing products you can’t deliver right away.  Sell what’s on the truck – and your customers will be well served with the quality products you can deliver to them right now.

     

    Get in front of prospects:  Every sale starts with a prospect – a potential customer with an interest in what you’ve got to sell.  Identify those who need what you’re offering.  Find out where they are so you can target your sales efforts effectively.

     

    Profile your buyers:  Your product should fill a defined need.  Analyze the kind of people who might benefit from what you’ve got to offer so you can tailor your pitch to them.  Do they already use something similar?  Do they need to be educated about what you can do for them?

     

    Get into the customer’s mind:  You have to tailor your approach to match individual buyers.  Once you’ve targeted specific prospects, spend some time getting to know their personal priorities and professional preferences, and what they’re looking for when they consider products like yours.  You’ll do a better job of selling to them if you focus on satisfying their requirements instead of yours.

     

    Know when and how to ask for the sale:  Author Murray Raphel offers these words of wisdom: “A ‘closing’ . . . defeats your primary goal in selling: the lifetime value of the customer.  You don’t ‘close’ the sale.  You ‘open’ relationships.  Isn’t the end of the first sale really the beginning of the next sale to the same customer?”

     

    Ask for the order:  I can’t believe how many sales people do everything right, but then they fail to ask for the order.  Often that’s the most important part of the process.

    The famous automobile pioneer Henry Ford was once asked by an insurance agent whom he had known for many years why he never got any of Ford’s business.

    “You never asked me,” Ford replied.

     

    What sales techniques are you going to sharpen today to move your business forward?

     

    #bizcoachstevef

  • How do I know if my business idea will work? (Part 3)

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Part 3 of 3

    Today, entrepreneurs have a wealth of information at their fingertips to help them get started. There are online classes and local workshops for those ready to start a business, local state and
    community mentoring programs, you can hire a coach or consultant to help you get started. I hear from soon to be entrepreneurs “How do I know if my business idea will work?” This is part 3 of a 3-part series.

    Now you have conducted your market research and tested your idea it’s now time to create a plan of action and TAKE ACTION. This is where many entrepreneurs fail on. They are afraid of failure or success and do not take action.

    One great way to develop a plan of action is to have a S.M.A.R.T. goal. As Stephen Covey said, “Start with the end in mind.”

    A S.M.A.R.T. goal can have your action steps within your goal. The beginning letter of the anonyms can have different words that mean the same thing. A SMART goal is still a SMART goal no matter if you use T for timebound, or timeline, or timetable, or timely.

    S stands for Simple: This is your idea that can be conveyed to someone in a sentence or two in which they will see your vision for your business.

    M stands for Measurable: Tom Peters said, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Measuring can be many different things in your plan. It could be units produced and sold, maybe it’s reaching X number of people, with X number wanting to set appointments, that translates into X number of sales. If you are in manufacturing a product, measuring becomes easy. If you are in service, you need to measure other items such as calls, ad dollars and views, etc. No matter what you must have a good measurement system in your plan of action so you know you are on the path towards your goal.

    A stands for Achievable: Your goal, your business must be achievable. Do not think in the first year of business you are going to be bigger than Google – get real. This is where your numbers cannot be over inflated, in fact you should be conservative with all your estimated revenue numbers and aggressive (or inflated) with all your estimated expense numbers. If you believe you will have 50 customers in the first month and it took you 3 months just to get 10 customers during the testing phase, then you should tone down your guesstimates.

    R stands for Realistic: Your goal in general has to be realistic, your numbers need to be realistic, everything needs to be achievable. Many new entrepreneurs over inflate their revenue numbers, and go very lean on their expense numbers when creating their plans. They a couple of months of in business they realize they are behind on their revenue plans and way over their
    expense numbers. Be prepared that your revenue numbers may be less than you planned for, and your expenses will be 2 to 3 times more than you planned.

    T stands for timeline: You need to have a timeline associated with your action plan and goals. During your testing phase, you got a good sense on how long it took to make your product, or how long it took to generate a sale. Each piece of your plan must have its own timeline.

    Below is a simple example of a SMART plan for you to get an idea how it all works together so you can create your own SMART goal.

    So, now if you are ready to take the leap and be the entrepreneur you want to be – start now.  Do your market research, test your product or service to make sure its viable and it can generate revenue for you, and most of all develop a plan of action with specific goals. Get assistance in any area as needed. The greatest business leaders have all asked for help along the way, they have hired people much smarter then themselves in order to achieve their goals, they listened to the successes and failures of other entrepreneurs, they stay motivated, engaged and determined to be successful. Why shouldn’t you do the same.

    Good luck on your new venture.

    #bizcoachstevef[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]