More Sales in Four Simple Steps

Trying to make a sale without a plan is like taking a cross country trip without a map. At some point you are going to get lost.

If you are on a two month vacation getting lost can be a fun and whimsical experience, but if you’re trying to go from Manhattan to Los Angeles in three days, getting lost and losing valuable time (and gas) is an unacceptable option.

To get from Manhattan to Los Angeles as quickly as possible you need to take the shortest, most efficient route. Using your map, you may choose to travel from New York to Cincinnati to Albuquerque to L.A., catching some sleep in each city. If you reach each city in accordance with your plan, you can rest assured that you will arrive in California in a timely fashion. Making a sale is no different than planning your trip. If you set and reach short term goals during your sales process, you can improve your ability to make more sales and save time doing so.

The trick is to set the right goals for yourself.

When you look at a map of the United States you can easily see that each of the cities mentioned above is along one of the shortest routes between New York and Los Angeles. However, you won’t always be able to see the shortest path to a sale. The following strategy will help you set your goals along the way.

Get Your Market’s Attention The first part of the plan is to understand the general notion that you are in business because your product or service fills a need, satisfies a desire or solves a problem. Therefore, the first goal in the sales process is to get your market’s attention. Your market exists because it has a need for your service or product, but you can’t help them if they don’t know you are around to help.

There are many ways to pursue your market’s attention. Chief among them are:

* Opening a Store * Internet Marketing * Print Advertising * Broadcast Adverting Embarking on any of these endeavors will increase your ability to get your marketing message in front of a targeted audience.

If you’ve opened a store you better have picked a dynamite location. Opening your doors in a neighborhood that doesn’t need your product or service will set you down a slippery slope. On the other hand, setting up shop in the heart of your market will go a long way toward consistently helping you position your marketing message where you want it – in front of your prospects. What’s more, setting up a physical location for your business goes a long way in helping achieve the second sales plan goal: getting your prospects to contact you. All your prospects need to do to contact you is walk through your door.

Internet marketing is similarly beneficial. Instead of walking down the street, seeing an ad in your window and walking into your store, your internet client surfs the web, sees your ad and then visits your web site.

Both on and off-line stores generate business by marketing to well targeted passersby. They also offer the unique advantage over print and broadcast advertising of not requiring your prospects to switch media during the sales process. Not having to do so removes an obstacle to making a sale.

Once you’ve gotten your prospects to notice you’ve reach your first goal and are now considerably closer to making a sale.

Get Your Prospects to Contact You The next goal is to get your prospect to contact you. It doesn’t matter if they are standing outside your store, looking at your ad in the local newspaper or surfing the Web, your ad has to be good enough to motivate enough people to contact you. They can walk into your store, visit your web site and complete a form or pick up the phone and call you, it doesn’t matter just as long as they contact you.

That’s a pretty big task to accomplish on a regular basis, but it can be done. Two things you can do to motivate your prospects are to offer a tremendous rebate and give away valuable information.

Offering a tremendous rebate is effectively giving something away for free. When you give something away people tend to respond in kind. If you offer a 60% rebate on a $1000 item for clients who order by phone (as opposed to buying on-line or via a catalog) you have a much better chance of making a sale than if you were to entice them with a lollipop instead. Giving away a lollipop adds no value to your offer. Returning $600, on the other hand, adds tremendous value. Of course, any discount you offer has to make sense within the confines of your price structure.

Another way to leverage people’s tendency to respond in kind is to give away useful information, in the form of an E-book or other electronic media, in exchange for your prospects’ contact information. People hunger for information. You can give it to them in return for their valuable contact information. This way you can continue to market to them and increase your chance of making a sale even though your prospect isn’t buying from you immediately. If you market to them consistently and well a percentage will ultimately contact you. Try sending a regular newsletter or E-zine to keep you and your business on their radar screen. When they decide they need help with their problem they will default their need to the solution most prevalent in their mind, namely you.

Once a prospect picks up the phone or walks into your store to learn more about your product or service you have completed your second goal and are one step closer to making a sale.

Find Out Exactly What Your Prospects Need Whether you are talking to someone on the phone or standing with a customer in your store your next goal is to find out exactly what your prospect needs. As an entrepreneur you may make the common mistake of believing that your clients need what you have. This couldn’t be more untrue. Your (and my) clients want what they need. The best way to find out what they need is to ask a series of questions designed to identify the most salient factors about your prospects’ problems, needs, desires and concerns. You can also use questions to learn about your prospects’ decision making process - are others involved in marketing decisions? Are there seasonal considerations in making marketing decisions? Etc…

Once you have these answers you can use them as bullet points as you present how your product or service will handle each of your prospects’ concerns. Go through each of their issues and clearly explain how your product or service addresses their unique circumstance.

Once you use questions to present the reasons why your prospect is going to buy from you, you are just one step away from completing your goal of making a sale.

Ask for the Business Once you have presented your well structured case for your prospect’s business do not hesitate to ask for it. When you reach this point in the sales process you have successfully:

* Won your prospects attention * Convinced your prospect to contact you * Gleaned the information you need to make the sale So ask for the business! You’ll be happy you did.

Move Your Marketing Forward If you keep these four goals in mind and combine them with a powerful and compelling marketing message, one that motivates your prospects to take the action you want, you will significantly increase your ability to generate new business.

More Sales in Four Simple Steps - To learn more about this author, visit Jeremy Cohen's Website.

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