Business and Finance

For me, getting Mondays started on the right foot was one of the hardest things to do. I would ease myself into the work week like I ease myself into a swimming pool that is uncomfortably too cold…anxiously, rigidly and not looking forward to it.

Once in the office, I’d start off slow. I just went through the motions of opening the doors, checking email and voice mail, and letting what I found dictate the morning and ultimately the week-yuck!

This is not the way to begin a productive week or grow a business.

I came to realize I could enjoy my business much more and get the high payoff items that I enjoy doing done, by making a few little adjustments.

By moving from a haphazard start of the week to a set routine that fits my personality, I’m now jazzed on Sunday evenings looking forward to the Monday morning lineup.

Here are a few things to avoid doing and a few things to do when setting up your own Monday morning routine…with a bang!

Continue reading ‘How to Banish Monday Morning Blues Forever!’ »

When venturing into a business you want to identify the most essential factors that will make you business succeed. These critical factors are usually thought out by you when you are envisioning your business and mapping out your business plan. Chances are you have probably thought of these factors and its best to think about them deeper and outline these factors. These factors will enable you to implement an action plan to carry out when starting up your business.

I am consistently asked how do you define your critical success factors to your business. The answer is simple and it really comes down to What matters to your business? This could include sales,customers,people and/or even the product developed on your part. In the end your success factors come down to the very core values of why you are in business in the first place.

Below are some ideas (in no particular order)

* Product Creation / Development and Branding

* Product Research, Supply and Demand / Knowing your market audience

Continue reading ‘How to Identify Success Growth Factors Within Your Business’ »

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
~Robert Cushing

Let us strive to improve ourselves, for we cannot remain stationary; one either progresses or retrogrades.
~Mme. Du Deffand

One of the first things I usually say at the start of a motivational talk is “winners and losers are predetermined but only the winner knows it”! I say this because I believe it with all my heart. A winner jumps into a situation and proceeds to deal with it by any means necessary. While a loser sits back and makes excuses as to why something can’t be done. A winner thinks on his feet and moves forward. While a loser says they need more time to look at the situation. A winner starts with a good plan and makes it better as the situation calls for it. While a loser will always be planning to do something and never start doing anything. A winner makes good “breaks” in business. While a loser hopes for a “break” in business. A winner will congratulate another winner when he is bested by them. While a loser will make excuses and cast blame. Get the picture. I thought you might. Always remember that the easiest thing to do when something goes amiss is to blame or make an excuse. Don’t do it! As my grandmother would say “put on your big girl panties and deal with it”. Have a reputation as a “can do” kind of business professional not a whiner. For years I have been known affectionately as the “trash man” and I love it. I earned this reputation in another career and it carried over into my current businesses. You see I believe that I can sell any property. So properties other Realtors would pass on because of condition or some other oddity, I get sold. You’ve got a house with a tree in the middle of it after a hurricane, call me, I can sell it. I have earned the reputation as the “trash man” and I relish it.

Continue reading ‘Be a Winner!’ »

In a time with so much economic uncertainly, consumers are on the hunt for bargains. And consumers aren’t the only ones tightening up their belts; businesses large and small are scrutinizing purchases more than ever.

Whether your company sells to consumers or business, creative promotion strategies can give sales a much-needed boost to revenues in a difficult economy. To generate ideas, take a look at the big retailers. While the economy is slow, the big box stores are pulling out all the stops to bring customers in the door (and to their websites).

Following is a list of promotion strategies from the real world. Use these to inspire ideas for generating creative promotions for your business. Though many of these are used in retail sales, they can easily be replicated for all kinds of businesses.

Gift with Purchase

One local furniture store frequently gives away substantial gifts with purchase. For example, buy a bedroom set and get a flat screen T.V. or a gas barbecue. The cost of the bonus item can be subsidized by partnering with the maker of the give-away (they offer it at cost in exchange for publicity).

Falling Prices

Many retailers are trimming prices across the board and using the opportunity to advertise: “Check out our new lower prices!” You can bet that they will raise prices again later when the economy begins its recovery, but in the meantime, it gives them an edge over their competition.

Continue reading ‘Promotion Strategies to Crank Up Sales in a Slow Economy’ »

One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is investing the majority of marketing efforts in attracting new customers and forgetting about past customers. Your current and past clients are the foundation of your business because without them, your business would not exist. It also costs far more to acquire a new client than it costs to generate business from an existing client.

Showing appreciation for your clients can set you apart from your competitors, increase loyalty, improve retention, inspire sales and even build relationships that last a lifetime. Reaching out to your clients is also an opportunity to remind them that your business exists. Effective marketing relies on repeat exposure and showing appreciation is an affordable and effective way to keep your marketing wheels in motion.

One note of caution: some companies and industries have strict guidelines about accepting gifts. This is especially true of media professionals and government workers. Gifts can be construed as bribes so when in doubt, ask your clients if such policies exist or stick to sending items with no monetary value.

Following are client appreciation strategies that can help you cultivate client retention.

1. Greeting Cards

The Guinness Book of World Records lists Joe Girard, a car salesman from Detroit, as the world’s best salesman. Girard earned the honor by selling 18 cars in a single day. One of his secrets to success is sending 12 cards per year to every single customer and prospect. There are dozens of major and minor holidays throughout the year and each provides a great reason to send a card.

Continue reading ‘12 Ways to Thank Your Customers: Client Appreciation Strategies You Can Use Year-round’ »

Effective sales letter writing skills are imperative for the web business owner or entrepreneur. Fortunes are made and lost online on the strength of sales letter writing. No matter how great your product, if you cannot convey that to your potential buyers, and convince them to buy your product, you will not make it online. Perhaps you are struggling today. For More details login to : www.killer-sales-letters.com Take these keys and use them to revolutionize your sales letter writing ability, and in turn, revolutionize your sales. Know Your Purpose and Your Audience: This is an extremely important and oft overlooked Key to sales letter writing. It is so easy to think, this is a good product, I’ll just tell them all about it and they will buy. But it does not work that way, does it? You must know your purpose assuming it is to sell a product; you must do what will work to sell products, not what you necessarily want to do. You must write a compelling sales letter that literally drives people to purchase from you. You must also write to your audience.
They do not really care what a wonderful product you have created, they really want to know, what will this product do for me? How will it solve my problems and make my life easier? So write to their problems, their challenges not your excitement about your new product. Headline: This is one of the most important parts of a sales letter, and yet many web writers simply try to throw one together in a hurry. Think this one through. If they are not compelled to read the rest of the letter after reading the headline, how much will you sell? Nothing? Nada. Zilch. The headline must tell it all. Continue reading ‘Attractive Sales Letters Can Increase Your Sale’ »

SOS, also known as Morse code, is a universal distress signal. For salespeople, a “Save Our Ship,” becomes a “Save Our Sales” distress call. While everyone selling likely has their own SOS, here are five common sales calls for help.

1. Cancelled appointments

Are you confirming any appointments you set with prospects? Either the day before or the morning of, telephone or email prospects. I usually telephone. If something has come up for the prospect, I reschedule with them right then; they’re already on the telephone. If they just don’t show, that’s an entirely different problem and solution. NOTE: never assume that a no show means not interested.

2. Prospects buying from competition

Are you going through all that you know how to do and losing sales to the competition? What about losing to the competition of procrastination? Examine your qualifying process. You have a qualifying process, right? At a minimum, early on you want to be certain of four things: you are working with someone with a budget for your product or service; you are talking with all decision makers; the prospect has indicated a need by conveying a problem they want to eliminate or a solution they need, and their timeline fits with your sales process timeline.

Continue reading ‘Sales Training – Salesperson’s Universal Distress Signals’ »

Filled with music
mostly from the 1950’s and 1960’s some Jukebox songs weave a tale of the life of someone who sells. Let’s put a quarter in for some Jukebox music to make you smarter, take the pain of rejection away, improve your creativity and reduce your stress. As a salesperson or small business owner with sales responsibility, your thoughts, attitudes and actions are vital to your sales success. Here are the top picks:

1. We Belong Together, Ritchie Valens. “You’re mine and we belong together.” Is that what you are thinking about your prospects? And just how are you showing them? Do you take your time to build rapport? Are you getting to know them? Then are you letting them get to know you, your product and your service?

2. What’s Your Name, Don and Juan. “What’s your name? May I walk you to your door? It’s so hard to find a personality, With charms like yours for me.” Learn about primary personality styles with a model like the Personal Profile SystemÒ or some other. An easy and exacting model of a prospects buying style will help you help them easier. If you open the next sales step sooner or later, depending on the buying style, you will find a perfect match of selling for your customer.

Continue reading ‘Sales Training – Salespeople Get Uplifted With Jukebox Music!’ »

Unlike real barbed wire being cheaper, easier and quicker to use to get results to better control livestock and land, sales reluctance is costly, stubborn and slows down a salesperson’s success. If a salesperson’s product or service is that valuable, a salesperson will want to have various ways to cut through and strengthen their self-promotion.

Go under. Barbed wire is a wall without being a wall, just like reluctance is a sales barrier which may not be recognized. Reluctance commonly shows up as fear of rejection, failure or being perceived as an impostor and pervades all parts of the selling process. Research by Behavioral Sciences Research Press has found that for sales call reluctance, there is usually a specific limited reason. Find out what causes your particular reluctance, then find a way to get it under control.

Cover it with a blanket and climb over it. Rather than become entangled in the barbed wire of sales reluctance, identify your issues and set an action plan to get over it. Do you have an underlying belief that salespeople are scammers? When I lead sales training workshops I often ask, “What words would you use to describe salespeople?” A long list of negative words like, dishonest, pushy, doesn’t listen, start to be spoken. When you are reluctant about follow-up, do you procrastinate to avoid seeming pushy? Consider changing that the belief to how what you have to offer brings great value to people and you owe it to them to help them.

Continue reading ‘Sales Training – Salespeople Tips on Crossing the Barbed Wire Fence of Sales Reluctance’ »

Ready to put your Web pages up; Ready to sell a lot more products and services, if you’re not getting the sales, you want you may want to think “makeover.” Whether you’re just starting or doing a web makeover, you need to Power Write your sales letters.

Before you call your Web master to design your web site, like you want to be sure you have great sales copy for each product or service you want to sell.

What Doesn’t Sell

-big pictures
-my mission
-my bio
-subscribe to my ezine
-dark colors
-a lot of script
-page takes more than 10 seconds to load

in my first Web site, I made many mistakes. Sales for six products didn’t go over $200 a month, each product, and service sales letter gave my visitors reasons to buy. Sales were $75 the first month, and in four months, they reached $2265. The next year they went to 3000 and each year after, over $4500.

Continue reading ‘Write an Order-pulling Sales Letter!’ »