A Proven Way To Boost Your Customer Numbers and Increase Your Sales
A Proven Way To Boost Your Customer Numbers and Increase Your Sales
Many new businesses believe that their customers are anyone who buys their product. However, if you can define exactly who your market is and specifically target your customer, you are more likely to be successful.
Don’t get caught in the trap of believing you must keep getting new customers, and put all your resources and efforts into opening up new markets. It is more important to plan how to get repeat orders from existing customers. It costs seven times more to gain a new customer than to keep an existing customer.
Without customers you have no sales. It is therefore logical that you must look after you customers as though they were the most important part of your business – because they are!
When developing your business structure it is important that customer loyalty be considered. This is important because:
• Without customers you have no business
• Looking after your existing customers is more important than finding new customers
• It costs less to keep existing customers than to find new customers
• You should reward good customers
• Businesses who wish to develop strong Marketing Strategies have to be Customer orientated.
By looking after your customers, they will become your ambassadors and promote your business to their friends and contacts.
An important way to develop a business is by Networking. But remember, networking is not about making sales. Networking is about making contacts, through which sales can be made. If you only go to functions attended by people you know, you are not networking – you are socialising. To network you have to meet new people Often it is the contacts of your initial network connection that offers the greatest reward via referrals. This domino effect is very powerful and needs to be nurtured and developed by every business operator.
It is also very important to think about your philosophy and approach to business if you want networking to work for you. For years now, we have been told that we must consider business in terms of ‘What’s In It For Me’ (called WIIFM). This is wrong! A better approach is ‘What Can I Do For You’ with the outcome of this being WIIFM!!
Networking is a long-term investment. Results from networking do not occur over night. Think of networking as Research and Development and learn to enjoy the process.
Never try to make a sale when networking. Remember you are simply trying to make a contact, develop relationships and build trust. One way to speed up this process is to have a good ‘Follow Up’ plan for those you make contact with. You might consider doing some of the following to make your network feel special:
• In today’s digital world we are used to sending and receiving emails – but to impress someone you have just met and you want to develop a relationship with, send a hand written note saying how glad you were to make their acquaintance. Ask them to send you information about their business. In return, most will ask you to reciprocate. You have now begun a business relationship, in an atmosphere of trust.
• Invite your contact as your guest to a function that may be of interest to them. If you pay for their entrée it will still be an economical way to promote you and your business while ensuring they feel quite ‘chuffed’ at receiving the invitation!
• Send a newspaper or magazine clipping with a personalised note added to it, to bring something of interest to their attention. I remember a business acquaintance sending me a clipping which I responded to and ended up winning a $20,000 grant for a project I was developing. How important do you think this network contact became to me?
Be proactive by networking different contacts together that you feel may be appropriate. You have to have a good memory, and make use of your data base to ensure that this approach will work. And at all times be conscious of ‘What Can I Do For You’. If you do this well and often enough, you will soon have a number of people asking you for assistance. Every time you assist a contact, it allows you to ask for a favour in return. By building your network in this fashion you can be guaranteed of an increase in customers and sales. You can get a free copy of Barbara's e-book report ‘Making Networking Work’ on http://tinyurl.com/ev6ta
A Proven Way To Boost Your Customer Numbers and Increase Your Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Barbara Gabogrecan's Website.
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It is important that you are aware of who it is you want to sell your product/service to. Recognising your target market is an important step in running a successful business.
Many new businesses believe that their customers are anyone who buys their product. However, if you can define exactly who your market is and specifically target your customer, you are more likely to be successful.
Don’t get caught in the trap of believing you must keep getting new customers, and put all your resources and efforts into opening up new markets. It is more important to plan how to get repeat orders from existing customers. It costs seven times more to gain a new customer than to keep an existing customer.
Without customers you have no sales. It is therefore logical that you must look after you customers as though they were the most important part of your business – because they are!
When developing your business structure it is important that customer loyalty be considered. This is important because:
• Without customers you have no business
• Looking after your existing customers is more important than finding new customers
• It costs less to keep existing customers than to find new customers
• You should reward good customers
• Businesses who wish to develop strong Marketing Strategies have to be Customer orientated.
By looking after your customers, they will become your ambassadors and promote your business to their friends and contacts.
An important way to develop a business is by Networking. But remember, networking is not about making sales. Networking is about making contacts, through which sales can be made. If you only go to functions attended by people you know, you are not networking – you are socialising. To network you have to meet new people Often it is the contacts of your initial network connection that offers the greatest reward via referrals. This domino effect is very powerful and needs to be nurtured and developed by every business operator.
It is also very important to think about your philosophy and approach to business if you want networking to work for you. For years now, we have been told that we must consider business in terms of ‘What’s In It For Me’ (called WIIFM). This is wrong! A better approach is ‘What Can I Do For You’ with the outcome of this being WIIFM!!
Networking is a long-term investment. Results from networking do not occur over night. Think of networking as Research and Development and learn to enjoy the process.
Never try to make a sale when networking. Remember you are simply trying to make a contact, develop relationships and build trust. One way to speed up this process is to have a good ‘Follow Up’ plan for those you make contact with. You might consider doing some of the following to make your network feel special:
• In today’s digital world we are used to sending and receiving emails – but to impress someone you have just met and you want to develop a relationship with, send a hand written note saying how glad you were to make their acquaintance. Ask them to send you information about their business. In return, most will ask you to reciprocate. You have now begun a business relationship, in an atmosphere of trust.
• Invite your contact as your guest to a function that may be of interest to them. If you pay for their entrée it will still be an economical way to promote you and your business while ensuring they feel quite ‘chuffed’ at receiving the invitation!
• Send a newspaper or magazine clipping with a personalised note added to it, to bring something of interest to their attention. I remember a business acquaintance sending me a clipping which I responded to and ended up winning a $20,000 grant for a project I was developing. How important do you think this network contact became to me?
Be proactive by networking different contacts together that you feel may be appropriate. You have to have a good memory, and make use of your data base to ensure that this approach will work. And at all times be conscious of ‘What Can I Do For You’. If you do this well and often enough, you will soon have a number of people asking you for assistance. Every time you assist a contact, it allows you to ask for a favour in return. By building your network in this fashion you can be guaranteed of an increase in customers and sales. You can get a free copy of Barbara's e-book report ‘Making Networking Work’ on http://tinyurl.com/ev6ta
A Proven Way To Boost Your Customer Numbers and Increase Your Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Barbara Gabogrecan's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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