Are you taking advantage of your most valuable selling asset?
Are you taking advantage of your most valuable selling asset?
Your customer list contains...
• The people you have successfully satisfied.
• The people you can sell to with the least amount of expense.
• The people who will recommend you to others.
• The people you can market to when business is slow.
I recommend:
• If you do not have a database of satisfied customers, create one immediately.
• You stay in touch with your customers on your list at least 4 times a year with exclusive offers.
• You create a technique to tie and connect your customers to your business so when a buying
decision is made you are remembered.
In the 1980’s I saw one of my competitors, Sears, drawing my prospects and customers to their store by offering them short and long term buying credit terms. So, of course I figured if it worked for them it would work for me. And it did. I arranged credit for my customers with a local finance company. But Sears was still drawing customers away from me. Many of which I did not even have the opportunity to sell because they, the customers, never came to my businesses, they went directly to Sears when they needed to make a purchase.
So, I did what most sellers will never do. I asked the prospects I was losing to Sears why they did not come to my store to make their purchases. I discovered they never thought of me or at least thought of Sears first.
Sears knew something I didn’t. A customer is most likely to shop a business that they are carrying a plastic credit card in their pocket or pocketbook for. Sears connected the customers to their store with that plastic credit card. People purchasing on credit felt it was easier to lay down their plastic credit card on the counter than to fill out a credit application at my business. Plus, they felt they had credit available at Sears because they had the credit card in their pocket.
I could not issue my customers a credit card. I did not carry my own paper, I used a local finance company. So, I did the next best thing. I issued my customers, the ones on my customer list, notice I said customers, not credit worthy customers a plastic buying card. We named it Janet’s Credit Express. It clearly stated on the back of the card that it was a buying card which entitled the named holder Preferred Credit Privileges. No one ever questioned that the plastic buying card was not a real credit card. When we were presented with the card, we filled out a credit application and proceeded the normal credit verification process. If the customer was not credit worthy, we could not sell them on credit, but most of the time they purchased using cash or lay-a-way because they felt connected to our store through the perception of the plastic card they carried in their pocket.
It was not long after that I saw the credit card companies figure it out too. No more exclusivity. Everyone is sent credit cards in the mail. They, like me, discovered when the customer is connected to your business they purchase more products and services more often.
Are you taking advantage of your most valuable selling asset - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Janet's Website.
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Your most valuable selling asset – CUSTOMER LIST
Your customer list contains...
• The people you have successfully satisfied.
• The people you can sell to with the least amount of expense.
• The people who will recommend you to others.
• The people you can market to when business is slow.
I recommend:
• If you do not have a database of satisfied customers, create one immediately.
• You stay in touch with your customers on your list at least 4 times a year with exclusive offers.
• You create a technique to tie and connect your customers to your business so when a buying
decision is made you are remembered.
In the 1980’s I saw one of my competitors, Sears, drawing my prospects and customers to their store by offering them short and long term buying credit terms. So, of course I figured if it worked for them it would work for me. And it did. I arranged credit for my customers with a local finance company. But Sears was still drawing customers away from me. Many of which I did not even have the opportunity to sell because they, the customers, never came to my businesses, they went directly to Sears when they needed to make a purchase.
So, I did what most sellers will never do. I asked the prospects I was losing to Sears why they did not come to my store to make their purchases. I discovered they never thought of me or at least thought of Sears first.
Sears knew something I didn’t. A customer is most likely to shop a business that they are carrying a plastic credit card in their pocket or pocketbook for. Sears connected the customers to their store with that plastic credit card. People purchasing on credit felt it was easier to lay down their plastic credit card on the counter than to fill out a credit application at my business. Plus, they felt they had credit available at Sears because they had the credit card in their pocket.
I could not issue my customers a credit card. I did not carry my own paper, I used a local finance company. So, I did the next best thing. I issued my customers, the ones on my customer list, notice I said customers, not credit worthy customers a plastic buying card. We named it Janet’s Credit Express. It clearly stated on the back of the card that it was a buying card which entitled the named holder Preferred Credit Privileges. No one ever questioned that the plastic buying card was not a real credit card. When we were presented with the card, we filled out a credit application and proceeded the normal credit verification process. If the customer was not credit worthy, we could not sell them on credit, but most of the time they purchased using cash or lay-a-way because they felt connected to our store through the perception of the plastic card they carried in their pocket.
It was not long after that I saw the credit card companies figure it out too. No more exclusivity. Everyone is sent credit cards in the mail. They, like me, discovered when the customer is connected to your business they purchase more products and services more often.
Are you taking advantage of your most valuable selling asset - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Janet'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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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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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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