WHY AVOIDING RISKS IS A BAD IDEA.

Last week I was calling back the clients that had worked with me so far this year, I am sure you all do that. What? You don’t. Maybe you should carve out some time to do so as there is no easier sale that you can make than a sale to an existing customer as they know and trust you already.

I was concerned about one particular client as his fear of rejection had kept on the sidelines. It was starting to become a major issue with his manager. Yes, he was about to be terminated and the manager had decided to hire me for him and the rest of his team as a last resort.

WHEN THEY LOWER PRICES, RAISE YOURS!

“OMG!! That’s the eighth time we have had to do that this week!”

“Do what?” said I with confusion in my voice. “Match the price on a leaf blower that my competitor has on sale.” I will never understand why some make pricing the ultimate king in business. All pricing does is enable you to win the race to the bottom. A race no one should be anxious to win.

Businesses have to come to their collective senses. Those who have followed my blog for a while know that it is NEVER about the pricing. It is the value consumers seek. Do you win ALL of the business when pricing rears its ugly head? No, but you can win the majority of them by using creativity and by adding value to your product.

WERE THEY EVER YOUR CLIENT?

WERE THEY YOUR CLIENTSDuring the early 2000s, I dealt with forestry companies. Primarily with their engineering department as well as the forester’s themselves. These companies were very motivated by pricing and loyalty was as good as your pricing. They changed suppliers at a drop of a hat. However, later I did find out they did have loyalty.

They use a particular commodity that would retail anywhere from $0.81 – $0.95. There were a 100 units in a case. The average order for this commodity would be anywhere from 5-20 cases at a time.

BE RIGHT WITH YOU!

be right with youA couple of weeks ago, during one of the classes of The Action Suite, one of my clients went off on a rant about something which happened to her a week or so earlier. What happened to her has been happing more and more today and with competition, be it from other businesses, or the one competitor which effects everyone, the internet; have businesses forgotten what ‘customer service’ is?

She had walked into a Starbucks and was the only person in line with three people working behind the counter. No one acknowledged her. No one addressed her even with a: “I will be with you in just a second.” One made direct eye contact with her and did not even nod to acknowledge her presence. Finally, many minutes later, someone came to help her. She let her feelings be known in no uncertain terms and left the store without purchasing anything.

WHAT IS YOUR HURRY?

not hurry

Does anyone remember the days when you walked into a prospects/client’s office and simply stated what you had, what it did, how it did it, why they needed it and when did they want it? I do. I also know if you are doing this, you may not be getting the results you want, or need.

Those days are long gone and I for one am so happy they are. There was no ‘getting to know the prospect’ time. All we wanted to do was walk in, tell them all about the newest thing and get out with an order if we could. The sad part was, we walked out more often without the order than with. Then, things started to change and we began the ‘bonding and rapport’ process.

It was not a miraculous concept, it simply meant we started to get to know our clientele better. We slowed the process down. The end results were more sales orders than before.

SAY IT

say itConfucius said: “Life is simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Why is that?

There are many times during a session of The Action Suite I get: “Joe, it can’t be that simple.” to which I reply: “Yes, it truly is.”

There are so many out there in the area of sales that are expounding all sorts of techniques and tricks as well as manipulative ways to get to the bottom of what the prospect may be thinking or feeling. Here is a thought; ask.