28. February 2008 by Pat.

A lot has been written about what makes a good salesperson. Education, experience, training, and even a certain inborn “killer instinct” have all been mentioned as necessary qualities to be good at sales. From my experience, however, the best salespeople are the ones who are the best “people watchers.”In other words, to be able to sell to your customers, you have to be able to know who they are, what they want, and what they are feeling. All of these can be determined with good research, strong observation skills, and an attentive nature.

Knowing your customers is not just a one-time act — you want to pay attention to your customers before, during, and after the sale:

BEFORE THE SALE:

You should have a feel for your “ideal” customer before you launch any advertising or marketing campaign. What newspapers, magazines, and e-zines do they read? What topics interest them most? What groups or associations do they belong to?

You can devise a questionnaire to send to your best customers and prospects. Entice them with a free offer or a big discount.

Many actors start developing their character by writing down a long list of words that describe the character. This helps the actor think deeply about the part they are going to play.

This strategy works well to help you figure out what kind of people buy often. You likely know far more about your prospects and customers than you realize. This method helps you get a clearer understanding of what you probably already know.

DURING THE SALE:

You can save yourself time and energy by paying close attention to your customers during the sales process. One thing you should definitely do is watch for signs that the customer is ready to buy.

The more expensive your product or service, the more time it takes to sell it. Customers want to know all about how it works and what it can do to make their life or business better. Help them work through this process and you will make more sales.

Here are a few signs customers give you when they are ready to buy.

The customer suddenly speeds up the pace. She has decided she wants to buy and is moving with more purpose toward the sale.

Some people are just the opposite. They slow down the pace when they get serious about buying. Rush them and you will lose the sale.

Your customer starts asking a lot of questions. Remember that customers only ask about things that really matter to them. Take this as a good sign you’ve got a serious prospect.

Others will ask all about terms of payment, delivery, and guarantees even before they tell you which item they want. They feel more comfortable doing this because they can show serious interest in buying without letting you know exactly what they want to buy.

AFTER THE SALE:

This could be the most important time to pay attention to customers, especially if you want to make repeat sales or get referral business.

Contact your customers to see if they are satisfied with their product or service. If the customers have questions or complaints, do your best to answer the situation quickly. Remember that you can sometimes head off future problems by paying attention to customer concerns.

If you find that your customers are completely satisfied, ask if you can get a testimonial. Nothing helps you make a sale like strong testimonials from satisfied customers. Prospects are impressed when they hear positive things from those who have already bought your product or service. “This gadget doubled my gas mileage and saves me $200 a month! Buy it!”

Some types of customer recommendations work better than others. “This is great stuff” is a good testimonial but “This stuff cut my costs by 20%” is even better. Try to get customer recommendations that tell what kind of results the user got.

When customers say something good about your business or products, ask them if you can use their comment in your marketing. Almost everyone will be delighted and flattered that you want to use their words. Write them down and file them away for later use.

Even though the Internet is probably the most technological thing in our lives, we need to remember that Internet BUSINESS still revolves around PEOPLE. We should always make sure that we pay attention to the people we do business with — there really NO better way of doing market research.

Posted in Home Businesses | Print | No Comments »

26. February 2008 by Pat.

You’ve heard them. You know the ones. “The Law of Attraction is damaging to an individual. This is a selfish belief that people made up so they can think of only themselves.”

Give me a break.

There are so many different subjects that a skeptic can pick on and just because they don’t believe what you do, they believe this somehow gives them the right to tell everyone their opinion as if it is the only fact. There are many things in this world that cannot be seen, cannot be touched but are as real as you and I.

So do we attack the skeptics for their beliefs? If you are a true believer in the Law of Attraction, you don’t. Because the Law of Attraction is about allowing others their own opinions and perceptions without judgment and stay in the world you are creating. Let the skeptic create his own world.

Whatever rings true for you is the path you should follow. If the Law of Attraction is it, then so be it. If another belief is it, then ditto. What I personally take issue with is condemning another person for their right to believe whatever rings true for them.

It’s interesting how quickly someone will believe another with a strong opinion and then pick it up as his or her own belief. You can listen to others that preach against or you can think about what you prefer to be and create your own you: the person without judgment on others, the person who minds his own business and takes care of his own world, the person who can think for himself no matter what anyone says and comes out with a ‘ring true’ belief for his self.

The Law of Attraction gives others hope. Hope that they can achieve whatever their heart desires no matter what state their life is in. You can become what you want. This isn’t selfish. This is taking initiative, this is being responsible for your life, this is being happy. What’s wrong with being grateful and thankful and have what you deserve in life?

So you are doing your best to stay in a good-feeling mood, keeping your eye on the prize, when you happen to pick up a little magazine with a huge article, “How the Belief in the Law of Attraction or Better Known These Days as the Secret is Hurting You.” You can’t help but read it and when you do, you almost feel hurt.

Make sure to stop right there.

Just realize that you are feeling hurt by someone who has not learned how to harness the Law of Attraction; someone who really doesn’t know anything about it. Why feel hurt when this person doesn’t really know what you know. Give him some slack and take some for yourself. If you want this opinion to enter your world, then let it. If you don’t want it to enter in your world, forget about it. Remember, it’s just another person trying their best to create their world and they want you to be a part of it. You can choose to be a part of their world or not. If you choose not, go on your merry way and get back to feeling good and attaining what you desire.

The skeptics will not be a part of your world unless you let them. That is what they are banking on. Not only that, a skeptic believes what they say is for your own good. What he doesn’t recognize is that you and only you know what ‘your own good’ is.

Don’t let opinion bring you down; you have a world to create and make wonderful.

Posted in Personal Development | Print | No Comments »

21. February 2008 by Pat.

Show Me The Money! Have you constantly read posters and signs that read ” Make 1 Million In 30 Days!!!”. If you haven’t well I have and I am sick and tired of it. It’s about time this work from home companies put up or shut up. Now I am not knocking every work from home company, there are many great ones out there. What I am knocking is the fly by night companies who are just looking to rip people off. Before you join or buy into any work from home company there are some basic steps you should take. I call them the Show Me The Money steps.So here we go. First you want to do a background check on the company. How long has the company been around? Does the CEO have a good reputation or is he a crooked con artist? What are people saying about the company? One thing to remember is some people will always have a bad impression on these work from home companies. So take everything you hear, bad and good, with a grain of salt. And do not judge on other people’s results because they may or may not have skills which you have.

Next what is the training like? Will they teach you how to build your business? Or will they leave you high and dry once they have your money? Talk to people within the company, your support system is key! Most people are just starting a home based business so the help is vital. If they do not get good training or have a support system in place they will fail.

Lastly do you have the money and the time to build a business? This is also a very important question as well because no matter what anyone tells you building a business does require time and money. Now if you have lots of spare cash you can always hire someone to get a lot of the work done for you. But if you are short on cash then you will have to devote a larger portion of your time. Which can be tough if you have a demanding job and a family to support.

So these are just a few things to think over before joining a work from home business. Remember though the main purpose of any business is to “Show Me The Money! “.

Posted in Home Businesses | Print | No Comments »

7. February 2008 by Pat.

92% of all success is achieved through systems. Systems provide the consistency and predictability required to get the results you want. At first glance you may think systems are for big business and that they don’t have any value for you as an individual or small business owner, but that just isn’t true. Highly successful people have systems for: time management, planning, and how they do their work. Systems are part of their strategy for success.

To succeed you need consistent and predictable results. Without that no one would want you as an employee, and no one would want to purchase your product or service. Think about McDonald’s success strategy. People don’t choose McDonald’s because they serve such wonderful food. People choose McDonald’s because they can count on consistently and predictably getting the same experience.

Systems help you to strengthen your persistence. When you don’t have systems that consistently and predictably produce a result you don’t know what to change, or how to change it when things aren’t working the way you want. Everything seems haphazard and unexplainable when you really could predict the results you’re getting if you clearly defined the actions you’re taking. When you include systems as part of your success strategy you’re more likely to persist to improve the system until you get it right to produce the results you want.

Successful people gain confidence through their systems. Increased confidence enhances your determination to continue on your path for success because you know exactly what you’re doing now and the results that’s producing. As you focus on the system and the desired end result your determination mounts because you aren’t taking short comings as personal defeats, but rather opportunities to improve your systems.

Systems thinking as a success strategy isn’t something that comes naturally to all people. So what do you do if you aren’t a systems thinker, or don’t know how to be a systems thinker. Look to others who are experts in the things you aren’t to help you to create systems that will make your path to success shorter.

Posted in Personal Development | Print | No Comments »