New Year -New Plan

Guest Contributor: David Colomb
David's Posts - David's Blog

As we enter the New Year, and the tough economic times, it's time to think outside the box in planning and executing sales. Your customer is probably scared to death, and if they're like mine, they make have a list of issues that lead them to believe they can't buy. Let's face it, that isn't going to work for us.

This is the time that you need to have a business discussion with your customer and point out that there is a new President on the horizon, an economic recovery plan in the Congress. They need to start planning on their own economic recovery plan. If they're going to stay in business, and we assume that they are, they need to continue to buy the materials that they need to do business. Use the information that you've collected from other customers to recommend what they can buy from you that will help them to be successful in their business. Be aware that they may not need as much of your goods or services, but they still need to do business. The second thing is that you need to use whatever incentives that your company can provide to help them succeed.

This is a time where relationships are built. The salespeople who are a team member and a consultant who is truly interested in helping with their business will become a trusted part of their business as things begin to improve. The salesperson that rolls in and doesn't listen or have any interest in their customer's survival will be out the door, and not in a position to reap the improving economy.

We all need to understand that the way our customer does business will change and evolve as this economy goes through its own evolution, but the government and business leaders have learned a great deal through other recessions and they will find a way to get us back on the right road. The U.S has always been, and will always be the greatest economy in the world. We all need to pull together to help get back on the road to recovery. Every person who buys something and sells something in this environment is helping to make America better.

As we look at the numbers in relationship to the population, this recession is significant, but it isn't as bad as the Great Depression. The powers that be were able to identify the downturn and get on to improving things. It'll all work out.

Find Your Hidden $$$ in Your Business

Guest Contributor: Shannon McCaffery
Shannon's Posts - Shannon's Site

It's a brand spanking New Year and I'm proposing I take you back to marketing lesson 101- "Find Your Hidden $$$." And no I'm not talking about money that maybe you hid in your mattress or put somewhere in a safe place for an emergency (or in the case of the markets melting again.)

I'm talking about the money that you have no idea about that's buried in your business. One of my favorite things to do with my new clients is really dig deep into their business. I do a marketing assessment and can literally find the hidden money in their business.

You're in luck this month because I want to share with you two of my marketing secrets to help you find the hidden money in your business:

Current Clients- This is the best way to find hidden money- because they already know you and hopefully had a great experience buying your product and/or working with you.

- Are you communicating to your current clients on a regular basis? You need to communicate with them at least 12 times a year as a minimum. Communicating with them 24 and even 52 times is even more beneficial.

- How are you communicating with them? Via email? Printed newsletter? Electronic newsletter? Via direct mail? By phone? There are several ways to stay in touch with your clients. Remember, you're in business not just to make money, but to make the sale to get a new client that you will keep and market to for life.

- Is your communication interesting, informative, entertaining and valuable? It needs to be at least informative and entertaining. Give them valuable information that can help them.

- Are you creating new products or services and subtly selling them in your communications? This is key- tie your communications into subtly promoting products or services. Constantly come out with new products/services or updated and revised ones to keep the pipeline fresh.

Referrals- This is tied to the point above about your current clients. Asking for referrals from your current clients is huge. The best time is when they are gushing tons of praise for something you've done for them. This is when they want to help you. Another thing you can do is simply email or snail mail them a nice letter asking for referrals and rewarding them with a gift card to Amazon, Starbucks or possibly donating money to their favorite charity.

These are only two ways to find hidden money, and there are so many more. In this economy, start with these two inexpensive things to get your business moving. If you're interested in discovering more, you can always contact me, I'm happy to help you.

Here's to an incredibly prosperous '09 for you!

Shannon.

Why Selling to Small Business is profitable in economic downtimes

Guest Contributor: Albert Luk
Albert's Posts - Albert's Site

Happy new year! Best wishes for a healthy, prosperous and rewarding year to all the readers. 2008 obviously ended on a down note: the stock market was down, unemployment up, bankruptcies up. Is 2009 going to be another bad year?

Not necessarily. Several studies, including a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/entrepreneurs-and-recessions.aspx have shown that downturns are often great periods to start business and that theses businesses become economically important in the long haul. How important? Microsoft, Southwest Airlines and Oracle were all started during economic downtimes.

Why? As the Economist recently wrote: "one reason why downturns tend to be good times to launch new businesses is because established companies abandon promising growth opportunities too fast. Oracle and Microsoft were both born in difficult economic times."

To extend this analysis further, big businesses tend to shrink to core competencies in downtimes and shed any division or product line not immediately returning its investment to the bottom line. In some instances, the "baby may be thrown out with the bathwater" and promising projects put aside and associated staff eliminated.

This often provides opportunities or niches that smaller, more entrepreneurial, companies (often started by the same people who were eliminated from big corporations) can commercialize without the threat of a larger competitor elbowing them out during the critical start-up phase. As the saying goes, change equals opportunity.

Thus, the challenge of selling to small business in downtimes then is not, contrary to popular opinion, that there is shortage of businesses starting but finding one that will grow organically over time.

However, there are always several things to keep in mind when selling to small businesses:

1. People want relationships not an up-sell. Find ways to help these companies grow which may not necessarily lead to a direct commission and you will earn your client's loyalty.
2. Sales cycles are slow. There is no readily available pool of capital and small businesses are not flush with money at the outset. Be patient.
3. Think singles and doubles and not home runs. Many start-ups that become successful are feeling their way around at first. Develop a relationship with smaller products or services rather than over-whelm them with the large items.

Just remember all sales, especially small business sales, are based on forming a long-lasting relationship. Best of luck.