Sales Strategies During a Recession- Part 2 By Tiffanie Z. Lyon, MBA
June 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment
PART 2
2. Identify and Nurture Referral Sources
We know how important and effective it is to ask our existing customers for referrals, but are your developing your referral sources beyond our customers?
Who are Referral Sources?
Referral sources can be other sales reps or professionals who provide complementary products/services to what you 0ffer and who have a similar customer base. They sometimes are called Centers of Influence or Contact Spheres. Don’t forget about others within your industry– they are not all direct competitors!
Why are referral sources so important?
• They are another channel, in which to gain information and will facilitate new business.
• With proper strategy and consistent nurturing, it’s behind-the-scenes business development for your business; your sales force.
• When appropriate, their services may be able to add value to your customers.
Ask yourself: Who would be a good referral source for my business?
Start with the general industry category, then identify specific names/companies.
Once referral sources are identified, TAKE ACTION:
• Identify 3 referral sources you’d like to start with this process.
• Schedule a time to call — put it on your calendar!
• Call to set a time to meet — lunch? coffee?; The introduction is all about THEM.
• Conduct an informal interview to get to know one another better. Ask:
Tell me about your business.
Who are your typical customers?
What is an ideal referral for you?
With whom do you compete and how do you differentiate?
How can I help you? How can we best work together?
• Inevitably you will get to explain your business and your ideal referral; be specific.
• Agree to keep each other in mind next time a need comes up.
• Confirm next steps in working together.
• Set a plan to call 3 different referral sources for appointments – 3/month
• Track your activity in a separate process than prospective clients.
What’s your strategy for creating and nurturing referral sources? This is a great sales strategy at all times, but especially during a recession.
5 Simple Sales Strategies During a Recession (5-Part Series) By Tiffanie Z. Lyon, MBA
June 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment
PART 1
1. Develop and Nurture Existing Customers
We all know it’s easier to develop and deepen existing customer relationships than to go out and find new ones, especially during a recession. Now’s the time to look more closely at your existing client base and analyze them. Who spends the most? Who buys most frequently? With whom do you have the best chemistry or relationship and why?
Once you’ve re-connected with your customer base analytically, then reach out to them and discover additional needs they may have. You could be in a prime position to cross-sell or up-sell additional services that they may not have even realized you offer. Conduct a mid-year analysis or review with them.
It’s also a good idea to ask your best customers for a referral. But remember to show that you appreciate their business and also narrow the request down for them. It’s easier to think of people and companies when the universe is narrowed down versus asking, “who do you know who may be interested in my services?” For example, “Tom, you’ve been a long-time customer of ours and we sure appreciate your business. Who do you recommend I speak to in this office complex/on this street/in your Rotary Club who may be interested in our services? A referral from you would bring the kind of people we love to work with.”
Dig deeper within the organizations of your customers. Be certain you know all the players and have a connection “up the ladder.” For example, you may have a great relationship with a key person at the client company, but you really have never met any one else, such as the divisional manager or president. It’s important to have the endorsement of top management in case things change or your primary contact loses their job. A strategic approach is needed since you may be going over the head of your contact. This can be done, if it’s approached the correct way. Ask your contact if they can help you arrange a meeting with them, as well as a couple other key people. You should know who this people are if you know your customers well. Position the meeting as a way you are providing value-added service to your best customers, while stressing the importance of getting to know your customers even better. Offer a mini-training session, a product demonstration or something else considered value-added for them. Also, say that you want their input and feedback on how you can improve your products and services. This should warrant a meeting with several key players and keep your foot sturdy in this customer relationship.
Send your customer referrals when possible and do business with them, when possible. This shows your dedication and loyalty to helping your customers grow their businesses. They WILL remember these small efforts.
Send your customers cards often. In this electronic age, we seldom get snail mail letters and cards. Send a note letting your customers know how much you appreciate their business.
These are just a few things you can do to develop and deepen customer relationships. Keeping current customers happy is important at all times, but especially during a recession. What do YOU do to develop and deepen customer relationships??? Please share!
Profiling Your Existing Customers and Expanding The Business Relationship By: Tiffanie Z. Lyon
June 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment
During difficult economic times, it’s especially important to maximize our relationships with existing customers. We’ve all heard and have experienced first hand that developing and nurturing our relationships with current customers is a heck of a lot easier than going out to get new ones, right? The fact is, we DO need to do both, but this post will focus on our current customers and how to maintain and grow the relationship.
DETERMINING YOUR MOST PROFITABLE PRODUCTS/SERVICES:
Many companies have a gold mine of business sitting right in front of them in their existing customer base; we just need to be strategic in how to “mine” the data. The first exercise before we even begin to profile our customers is to look objectively and deeply at our product/service offerings. You might not be able to answer these questions on your own and/or right off the top of your head, but it’s well worth investigating. You may need to get your manager involved.
List out all the key products and services you sell.
Now, go back through the list and circle the products/services, which are most profitable to the company and frankly, to your pocketbook. Assume the “ideal” customer for each of these products/services. This is where you may need assistance from management. Most companies know (or should know) which offerings are the most profitable. It’s just smart business. Clearly, you will offer what makes the most sense to your customers’ needs at the time, but with all else being equal, it’s good to know what makes us the most money.
Now go through the list again focusing on the products you circled. Next to those, write down the traits or characteristics of the IDEAL customer for each. You should do this for ALL the services, but start with the most profitable. Where are these ideal customer located? How much do they spend? What is their age? income? etc.
So now you should have a good idea of what you have to offer and who is an ideal (and profitable) candidate for each one.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS:
Let’s look at our existing customers. Run a report on all the people who are considered your customers-current and past. Customers are customers – past or present. It’s a “warm call” verses a “cold call” when you re-connect with a past customer. They trusted and invested in you and your products in the past.
Next, make note of what the product was/is in which they invested, when did the relationship begin, what are the demographics and characteristics of the customer, etc. Really analyze them. What potential do you see? At first glance, can you get an idea of how you could help them make more money, save money, save time, offer convenience, and/or give them peace of mind or security? These are the key benefits most people are looking for in many products and services (as I’ve mentioned in a previous post).
Hopefully once you do this exercise you will re-familiarize yourself with these past/current customers and you will begin to see some potential for additional business from the active ones and ways in which you can re-kindle the “old” ones. What are you doing to re-capture past business? Are you focusing on your most profitable products/services? Why/why not?
Building Customer Loyalty By: Tiffanie Z. Lyon
May 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Keeping customers is more important than ever. As everybody knows, it’s a lot easier to keep and grow a customer than to go out and find a brand new one. So, here are some things you can do to build your customer relationships and their loyalty to you:
* Send your customers referrals and leads.
* Do business with your customers, when appropriate.
* Send your customers articles and information you think would be of interest to them.
* Send your customers a card thanking them for their business and on special occasion.
* Offer special discounts and incentives for customers only.
* Cross-sell other services that will benefit them.
* Host a customer appreciation event
* Profile your best customers on your website, e-zine and other venues
* Conduct a focus group, annual review and other customer-only sessions to get to know them better and get their input on new products/services.
Do you have some good ideas or tips for building customer loyalty? Please share!
Everybody Has Sales-Influence By Tiffanie Z. Lyon, MBA
May 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment
It’s important to understand that everybody in your organization touches the sales process- from the first telephone inquiry to the signed paperwork. All “sales” have a sales process (which you may have read in our my other posts) and it’s best to have your team positively influence that process. First impressions can be powerful. How does your receptionist answer the telephone on behalf of your organization? Who puts together information packets to be sent out? Do they look like they’ve been assembled with care? How do you position your company to your prospective customers? Here are a few tips:
• Educate your team on your company’s sales process and discuss where everybody “fits” into that process. This will create ownership and accountability.
• Inform everybody of your ideal customer and the most value-generating products/services the company provides its customers.
• Be certain everybody is saying the sales USP (unique selling proposition or “elevator pitch”).
Selling anything is based on having the right sales attitude, maximizing relationships and having a strategic process (Mindset/Art/Science). Selling is a team effort. So, rally the troops and Happy Selling ☺
MINDSET: Sharing The Value of What You Offer By Tiffanie Z. Lyon, MBA
May 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
It’s important to realize that what you are actually selling is not necessarily a product, a service or an idea, but “THE BENEFIT” the other person will gain from investing in your offering and the ULTIMATE RESULT they will experience. By doing so, you will naturally be more persuasive and have positive influence. Think about this: Almost everything we sell offers one or more of these 5 general benefits:
• Make money
• Save money
• Save time
• Offer convenience
• Provide peace of mind/security
Which ones do your product or service address?
With that in mind, let’s do an exercise to dig deeper into this concept and really help you understand what you are selling. It will make it a lot easier to get excited and share with others. Enthusiasm sells!
Create a three-column chart. In the left column, list the core products and services you offer. Then in the middle column, list the first benefit or outcome a customer would receive after they invest in each of your products/services. Don’t contemplate too long; just write the first thing that comes to mind. Now, as you look at those benefits or outcomes for each service ask yourself, “so what?”, “what does that mean to the customer?”, “what is the ultimate benefit or end state of that?” Take it one step further.
Here’s an example:
Service: Life or Business Coaching
Benefit/Outcome: Clearly defined values and set of goals
Ultimate Results/End State: SUCCESS! Achieving personal, professional and financial goals and faster than you could on your own!
The far right column is what you are selling! THAT’S what people buy. It’s not just a service or a widget, but you are selling that intangible end state, ultimate result. Can you see how easy it is to get excited about selling what you offer when you focus on and demonstrate the ultimate value to your prospective buyer? So, instead of trying to sell the left column, shift your mindset and focus on selling the right column. Combine that with excitement and you’ve crossed the mindset hurdle to sales.
SALES CYCLE CONTINUED>.. PART 2 “3 Tips to Speed Up the Sales Process” By Tiffanie Z. Lyon
February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment
In the last post, Part 1, I talked about the actual sales cycle—what it is and how to identify your steps of the sale. Once you have these identified and know what needs to happen during each step, then you want to understand how to keep the process flowing.
Ideally we want to speed up the sales process and control it each step of the way. Note that we are NOT trying to control the “prospect”, but instead the “process.”
Below are three tips to speed up this sales process and they should all work seamlessly together.
1) Mutual accountability; Assign homework
During most steps of the sale, there is almost always something that you and the prospect have to research, investigate, check into and pass by others, in order to move forward with the decision-making. If one of you or ideally both of you have this “homework”, then each are taking ownership of the sales process and there is mutual accountability. Try it!
EXAMPLE of “HOMEWORK”: “I will look into our delivery days for your area, keeping in mind your preference of Tuesdays. Meanwhile, you can check your current contract’s end date.”
2) Suggest and confirm next steps at the end of every phone/live call
Being professionally assertive and suggesting the specific next steps and the timing is to your advantage. Make it easy for the prospect. They will chime in (or should) if the timing and next steps are NOT feasible for them. The only time you won’t need to make the suggestion, obviously, is when the prospect is specific about next steps and the timing. Many times though, the prospects are vague, so it’s up to the salesperson to take control of this process.
EXAMPLE of “CONFIRMING/SUGGESTING” next steps (combining with tip#1):
“I’ll give you a call next Wednesday the 10th to learn of your contract end date. At that time, I’ll let you know our delivery days to your area and we can confirm your start date for our service.”
3) Take notes on above and follow up, follow up, follow up
The first two steps are totally moot, if you don’t have a way to track/document what’s suggested and the timing. You can’t follow up if you don’t remember. If you don’t follow up, the sales process D*R**A***G****S on……..
WHAT IS YOUR SYSTEM FOR REMEMBERING AND FOLLOWING UP?– Comment now!
Go to www.LyonSalesInstitute.com for FREE downloadable tip sheets, including these tips on “How to Speed Up The Sales Process,”
Does Your Small Business Have a Customer Loyalty Program?, by Myra Corrello, PhD
February 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Why do casinos, clothiers, hotels, airlines, and grocery stores spend so much attention and resources on their “rewards” programs? Simple, it keeps their good customers coming back for more!
Keep in mind it may cost as much as six times more to sell one unit of a product to a new customer as it does to sell the same additional unit to an existing customer. Therefore, one of the most effective business development strategies is to maximize your sales with existing customers! CLPs are ideal for helping accomplish this goal. The goal here is to spend more on your best customers because the return will be much greater.
Why do CLPs work? Because:
People want to feel special
People want to be treated differently than others
People want exclusivity / “premier” access
People love accumulating “points” for special rewards
People love unexpected gifts
So, what can you learn from the big CLP players? What do they do that you can mimic? Small companies have many options!
Consider:
Partnering with a hotel, restaurant, spa, etc. to purchase discounted packages and award to customers reach X level of purchases
Exclusive showings / parties
Exclusive seminars / demonstrations
Xth visit free programs
What other elements could you incorporate into your own CLP program? What great CLP programs have you seen other small businesses establish?
Myra
Helping Individuals and Organizations Increase Their Image, Influence, and Impact
MyraCorrello.com
How Flexible is Your Selling Style? By Tiffanie Z. Lyon
January 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We all are unique individuals. I believe our personalities are shaped both by our DNA and through our upbringing and environment (“nature” vs. “nurture”). We have a style that comes naturally to us, without effort; innate tendencies.
The type of selling I promote, teach and advocate for is just that: natural and genuine. Our prospects and customers can read through anybody being fake, insincere or trying to be something they are not. You must remain “you.”
That said, it’s also important to smoothly and seamlessly adapt to others so that you can build a connection and positive first impression. This goes for when we meet anybody for the first time, social and business networking events and when we’re prospecting for new business.
Here are a few examples to consider:
- If you tend to speak fast, loudly and are naturally enthusiastic and you meet with someone who is soft-spoken, calm and slower-paced, it’s advantageous for you to take your natural style down a couple notches.
- If you tend to be private, analytical and fact-based and the person you are meeting is asking you about your family and expressing broad opinions, you can share only what you feel comfortable and quickly turn it back around and ask them questions about the same.
Your style can be adaptable by reversing the table and letting a talkative person talk. They are bound to like you for that. If you tend to be talkative, friendly and outgoing and the person you are meeting with seems calculated and looking at his/her watch, it would be wise to skip the common pleasantries and get right- to-the-point of your meeting.
Remember, adapting your style to others is NOT being deceptive. It’s showing flexibility to work with others who may be different than you and building a connection with someone as the relationship develops. This is the first impression starting point of being able to naturally adjust your selling style for optimal results.
What do you think your personal selling style is? Do you adapt to others and augment your style depending on how your prospects and customers display themselves? Can you see the benefit of adjusting your style?
Happy Selling!
— Tiffanie Z. Lyon, www.lyonsalesinstitute.com
Understanding Your Sales Cycle- Part 1 By Tiffanie Z. Lyon
January 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Your Sales Process or Sales Cycle is what takes you from the introduction of an opportunity to a closed sale. Some sales cycles are short– like a retail transaction such as buying milk in a grocery store, to a longer sales cycles like buying a car or investing in professional services. The sales cycle/process tends to be longer when:
- it’s a high-ticket item; a lot of money involved
- multiple decision makers have to weigh in (i.e committees)
- significant consequences or ramifications if the wrong decision is made; risky
Step 1: Identify the steps of your sale:
It doesn’t have to be 7 steps, but it should be about 5-7. Example: New Opportunity, Approach, Planned to Meet, Analysis Complete, Proposal Submitted, Contract Signed, Follow Up and CRM. Use phrases that make sense to you. Remember: Some sales will combine steps and some may skip steps, but you’ll always have the first and last steps (the intro & close).
EXAMPLE:
New Opportunity– you get that business card of a lead, you see a business on the street you’d like to work with, somebody gives you a referral
Approach– a dialog is started, either in person, via email or telephone
Planned to Meet– you’ve schedule a phone appointment or in-person meeting to “qualify” and understand their needs
Analysis Complete– you’ve met and did a complete needs analysis to see if you can even help them (needs, decision-maker, timing and budget)
Proposal Submitted– you’ve now submitted pricing, quote, terms, arrangement, investment based on their needs, budget and timing
Contract Signed– paperwork is signed, handshake, letter of intent, closed deal
Follow up/Customer Relationship Management– product delivered, services rendered, follow up and cross-selling opportunities
Step 2: Describe what should happen in each step and also what needs to be confirmed before moving to the next.
Step 3: Timeframes: for each step, identify how long (on average) your prospect stays at that step.
Step 4: Allocations: You must always have prospects pretty evenly distributed throughout the sales funnel/process. Keep the sales funnel filled!
Ok, so that’s the 4-step process of identifying and defining your sales process. Do you know what your particular sales process looks like? Are you committed to documenting it? Will you take action?
Now, once you understand your sales process, it’s important to control that process (not “control the prospect”) to ensure prospects move through it quickly….. STAY TUNED… Next post—
“Part 2: 3 Tips To Speed Up Your Sales Cycle.”
Happy Selling!
–Tiffanie Z. Lyon, www.lyonsalesinstitute.com
