Define Your Sales Process - Simplify Your Advertising
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Free Download - What Is The Point Of Advertising? By Jonathan Hook |
What is your sales process and why does it matter? I was recently talking to a client of mine about a marketing campaign he was interested in running.
This client is a computer networking consultant. He does on-site visits to service business's computer networks.
So, he calls me up and said that he needed more clients and so was going to run some advertising. He mentioned 3 mediums - (bulk) postcard mailings, billboard ads and Google Adwords. He was going off in all different directions and I started asking him a couple of simple questions. Once he couldn't answer them, I just said, "Ok, stop. Backup. What is your sales process?"
His reply - "What do you mean, my sales process?"
I said, you are a long way from talking about advertising. You aren't ready yet if you don't know your sales process. Before you spend any money on advertising, you need to have some things in place.
The first is a defined system for closing sales. You see, marketing should be about controlling an known entity. It is something in which you invest in order to gain a return. It is not (or should not be) something that is done by random chance in order to "see what happens".
To define your sales process, you must think about the steps that potential customer or clients go through before they hand over their money to you. How do they get from not knowing you to becoming a paying customer? Then, you simply create a path for them that makes it easy to follow from one step to the next and then promote it.
For example, my computer consultant client... We had a good discussion and I asked him how he gets his clients. What is the step before they contract you to work in their office? "Oh", he said, "that is easy. We set up a meeting with them. If I can get in their office for a meeting, I will close a good majority of prospects."
Great.
See, now we know what we are selling. Any of the advertising that we do does not sell the consulting service. Advertising should be the start of the sales process and should follow like a chain. Any ads that we put out for his service only have to sell the potential client a meeting. If the consultant gets into a meeting, he will close the majority of the time.
So, do we run ads that sell the meeting? Well, we could. However, there is even a more effective way. Think for a minute... wouldn't it be better to go in to the meeting as an "expert"? Wouldn't it be better if the potential client already felt some respect for the consultant? It would very likely increase the close rate. How do we do that? Well, I suggest adding an extra step to the sales process.
Take the opportunity to position yourself as an expert.
We'll call it the two-step method. Introduce yourself to your prospect via an information package. Or through a free trial of your product/service. Or with a free consultation. Something that will let them feel comfortable with you before you ask for the sale.
I have suggested to my consulting client to offer a free info package. Maybe a report he is writing regarding monthly computer maintenance tasks. It could be a free site visit and inspection of their computer network. He could actually go and offer some kind of network security analysis - after which, he could identify to his prospect certain areas of their security that could be enhanced or maintained.
The point here is that if you have a clear, defined sales process, it is easier to do advertising. All that your ad has to do is ell the next step. So with our consultant example, here is one proposed scenario:
1. Advertisement invites readers to go to a website and learn how to maintain their computer network monthly for maximum performance.
2. Website requires visitor to exchange their contact information for a free report on the topic.
3. Consultant follows up, using contact info to set up a free consultation.
4. Free consultation leads to identifying flaws in the company network security.
5. Now the consultant has something to sell - a specific solution to a problem he has already identified for the customer. Why wouldn't the prospect buy?
See, by now, the consultant is already an expert. He has already proven that he knows his stuff (free report), he has been in to the office and identified issues that the prospect has. If he is smart, he takes a minute to explain why each issue he has identified is relevant to the security of the company. This also proves him as the expert and builds trust from the prospect. Now asking for the opportunity to fix these problems is easily done with a high rate of closing.
Some extra notes:
Some of these steps could be changed. For example, the advertisements could offer a free consultation directly and eliminate the free information product. It may depend on what you are more comfortable with. It may also depend on the complexity of what you are offering or your area of expertise. One thing to keep in mind, though is that you will very likely get more people asking for a free report or free information than you will for a free consultation. You should test this of course, but free information that is sent over is less threatening. Your goal here should be to generate leads and a prospect list with which you can follow up later on. A few follow-ups will greatly increase your close rate.
The main point here is that whatever you decide your sales process is, know what it is. Write it down and make it step-by-step so that it flows. Have one step lead to the next so that when your prospect enters your "sales funnel" (i.e. Sees your ad), you are leading them along to the finish line (turning them into a client).
More importantly here is that you even know what your sales process is (many businesses don't have a defined sales process or even know how or why they get customers). This way, it is easy to know how to advertise - just start at the top of the sales process. One step sells the next until you have a repeatable, defined sales machine.
Define Your Sales Process Simplify Your Advertising - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Hook's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle'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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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He 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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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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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is North America's leading authority on team culture. She is an author and professional speaker and president of the leading team culture consultancy, TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Crampton has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down or to subscribe to TIGES Free monthly e-newsleeter go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: Winning Business Team Cultures And Why They Thrive, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton'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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