I make no bones that this is original thought, but the number of times I hear businesses talk about their great products and how they struggle to sell them, it breaks my heart (but makes plenty of work for trainers).
Selling aside, there's an earlier step to consider.
Do you actually know who your target market is?
What defines them?
What pains are they looking to solve?
Have you created an elegant solution to a problem that doesn't really exist or for which there's only limited or no demand?
Unless your message to your market makes them say "That's for me!" your marketing and sales effort is wasted, so is your scarce money, time and your resources are sapped for no advantage.
Marketing, sales, "relationship selling" (whatever!) - their purpose is to speak to the individual and make them feel that there is a big enough "WHY?" i.e. cause/call to act for them to make a decision to buy it, put their hand in their pocket, click/call/accept the offer and BUY.
Did you forget that when you put your last pitch together? What about in your last cold call or direct mail/advert or when you had 60-seconds to tell someone about your business proposition?
Tell them (or better still get them to tell you by asking intelligent questions) why what you offer is important to them. They don't care if you have the best widget if it doesn't speak to their need or pain.
So:
1. Identify the herd 2. Gather the herd 3. Produce product to suit 4. Sell today, educate tomorrow.
(C) Copyright Marcus Cauchi & Sandler Systems Inc, 2006 Happy selling!
Regards Marcus london1.sandler.com
Sales Training London: Define Your Herd Sell to Suit - To learn more about this author, visit Marcus Cauchi's Website.
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Marcus Cauchi
(Visit Marcus's Website)
Marcus Cauchi is London's first licensed
Sandler sales trainer. 19 years in direct
sales, he's sold physical products,
services and intangibles with varied
success. Over 16 years he left behind over
£56 million in deals he could have won,
but did because he didn't know any
better. He thought you had to qualify for
needs, present the benefits of your
solution, trial close, follow up with a
proposal or further information and the
close. He learned the hard way that when
you "pitch" a prospect lies to protect
himself. When you present and answer his
questions, he'll steal your ideas. When
you close, he'll mislead you or defer to
a higher authority (boss, wife, CFO) and
then when he's got you to document in
writing (proposals) and give away your
confidential pricing, he'll shop that
around your competitors to get the best
deal. When you follow up for a decision,
he'll give you unlimited access to his
voicemail and hide. Marcus teaches
counter intuitive selling. Average clients
increase revenues by 100-1100% in a year.
He's probably not for you though as it's
difficult and expensive.
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