10 Killer Ways To Sell Your Back-End Products

A back-end product is a product you attempt to sell
your customers after they have recently purchased a
related product from your business.

If you’re not trying to sell back-end products to your
customers, you’re making a big mistake. It is easier to
sell to existing customers than it is to sell to new ones
who don’t trust your business yet.

Below are ten killer strategies you can use to sell your
back-end products to your existing customers:

1. When you ship people the first product they bought,
insert a flyer or brochure for your back-end product
in the package.

2. Give customers a free subscription to a customers
only e-zine when they buy your product. You could
include your ad for your back-end product in each
issue.

3. Send your customers greeting cards on holidays or
on their birthday. Include a small advertisement inside
the card for your back-end product.

4. After people order your first product from your web
site, take them to a “thank you” web page and include
your back-end product ad on that page.

5. Send customers a free surprise gift after they order
your first product. You could attach another ad with
the free gift for your back-end product.

6. If you’re selling an electronic product, like an ebook,
include your ad for your back-end product somewhere
inside the electronic product.

7. Give your customers a free membership into your
“customers only” private site. You could include your
ad for your back-end product somewhere inside
the private site.

8. Contact your customers by phone and ask them if
they were happy with their purchase. You could tell
them about your back-end product.

9. Send your customers a thank you letter by mail or
e-mail. You could mention your back-end product
somewhere on the letter.

10. Ask your customers if they want to be updated in
the future when you have new product offers. You
could have them sign up to receive e-mail or snail
mail updates.

Your business will have a greater chance of surviving
when you attempt to sell back-end products to your
existing customers.

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

When it Comes to Business Cards, Vive la France!

Don’t let the small size fool you. A business card is one of the
least expensive and most powerful forms of advertising you
possess. Your business card is your introduction to potential
clients. It’s your opportunity to make an impression with every
person you come in contact with. You will most likely need to
order 500 or 1000 cards (1000 is much cheaper per card). But
what are you supposed to do with 1000 cards?

Business cards don’t have to sit on a shelf collecting dust. I
suggest taking a page from the French. When I was in Paris,
every business had – and used – business cards. Even the
restaurants and bars used them effectively: wait staff presented
a business card either with the check or directly to the diners
after the check was paid. It’s a simple, effective technique
that works because everyone takes them. Use the same idea for
yourself. Think of your business card as a mini billboard for
your company; you need it to be seen to make an impact.
Depending on the type of business, there are several ways to
showcase your card. You never know who is going to pick it up
and call you, or give it to a friend. Widely-used services can
distribute their cards in everyday places. For example, my
sister, who runs a manicure business, often puts business cards
in places where the general public might easily see and pick up
her card. She hands out her cards like confetti. She places them
on bulletin boards in stores and fast food shops, inside
magazines at doctors’ offices and on the sink in restrooms. She
also has a bulletin board in her salon and encourages customers
to post their cards, in return for passing out her cards to
others. This last idea can be used, with a variation, for any
business. When handing out business cards to an individual, give
out three at a time, asking them to distribute them to others
they may think might be interested in your business. Do the same
in return.

Keep business cards within hands reach. You should place some in
your briefcase, purse, pocket, and on the front desk or
reception area of your business. With cards readily available,
you’ll always be able to introduce yourself with them.

Hand your card to the receptionist at the doctor’s office, the
hostess at the restaurant, or the technician at the auto repair
shop. Include your card with all correspondence, including
letters and thank you notes to customers, potential customers
and business associates. And don’t forget including one in all
your bills. Someone is opening your bills, and you never know
who that someone may be.

When you hand out your card, it’s important that you make it
memorable. Write a brief message on it before handing it to
someone: your extension number or direct phone line, “Ask for me
personally,” “Best wishes!” or “Thanks!” all work well.

Make your business card do double duty – and point it out to the
person you’re giving it to. Print a coupon or special offer on
the backs of your cards. Also include these special cards with
invoices to current customers. If you offer a referral
incentive, print it on the card.

It’s all in thinking outside the box when it comes to the box of
cards sitting in a desk drawer. The French don’t use the
hard-sell like Americans do, but they realize ‘Le Card’ is the
quickest way to turn a brief encounter into a long-term
customer.

Why Business Must Practice Multi-Media Sales Techniques

As spring training gears up for baseball, professional ball players are practicing the skills they have developed over a lifetime to achieve perfection. These professionals are where they are today because they put in the time, energy and discipline of thousands of hours of practice. Their goal is to execute perfection during their practice sessions. Many of them practiced to perfection using video tools and special coaches to assist in their development. The commitment these individuals have made is beyond what many of us could imagine. Their practice efforts prepare them for perfection on the baseball field.

80% of Sales Professionals Stop Practicing

If practice is this important in baseball, why isn’t it like this in sales? Eighty percent of sales professionals stop practicing their sales skills once they reach a level of success they are comfortable with. Why? Most sales professionals believe they know how to handle objections and that the sales process hasn’t changed. They assume that what they have learned hasn’t changed and the success they have achieved will remain with them.

It is a good thing the professional ball players don’t think the same way or they will be replaced in the lineup. Sales professionals need to prepare for the 90 mph fast ball from clients and prospects. The landscape of business continues to shift and change with technology, trends and other factors. When sales professionals don’t practice implementing these new trends and learn what to say or how to demonstrate a solution, they lose.

A New Way of Pitching Sales is Growing

New technology for getting and reaching clients and prospects is changing the way we communicate in business. In one example, on-line ordering portals for business are growing in ways that are replacing salespeople. Pod casting is another way businesses are getting their message out and driving sales to websites. An RSS feed is another way to reach prospects or an industry with new information. However, only about 12 percent of the population knows how to use an RSS feed today. Expect this number to change quickly in the coming months.

With the growth and adoption of web meetings, streaming media including audio and video, salespeople can multiply their efforts and reach more contacts. The bottom line is that salespeople must practice and sharpen their sales skills using new technology and communication tools.

The Impact of a Multi-Media Generation

If businesses and salespeople are not practicing multi-media new sales capability, they won’t be effective. This means that if you are not developing and practicing new sales skills, you are falling behind. The internet makes it easy to learn about these new sales tools. You can join webinars, pod casts or telephone conference calls to learn more.

Consider this, professional baseball players don’t practice for just one pitch. They prepare for the fast ball, the curve ball and the sinker because they never know what the pitcher will throw at them. So, just as in baseball, every professional salesperson should practice new sales skills and be prepared for anything customers throw at them.

Steve Martinez is a pioneer in automating the sales process for business and salepeople developing customized action plans for business. http://www.sellingmagic.com

Six Steps to Creating Online Presentations for Telephone Selling

How much extra money could you make by closing just one or two additional sales a day? You can double, or even triple, the effectiveness of your telephone selling by showing prospects why they should buy from you, instead of just telling them.

Clients and prospects are visually oriented. They process and retain 75% of the
information they see, compared to about 15% of the information they hear.
There are six steps involved in preparing online visuals you and your prospects can look at online during telephone conversations and teleconferences.

Step 1: Desired result

Start by identifying what you want to accomplish during each phone call. Ask yourself:

• What is the primary message I want to communicate?

• What action do I want my client or prospect to take?

• What information can I provide to convince them to take the desired action?

Your answers to these questions will provide the framework you need to begin preparing for your upcoming calls.

Step 2: Benefits

Next, translate your product or service into benefits they will enjoy if they take the action you want them to take. Identify as many different ways as possible your product or service can benefit your client. Be as specific as possible.

Step 3: Framework

Open your presentation program and create an “empty” set of visuals to support your upcoming calls. This will provide a framework for developing your telephone sales presentation.

Don’t be concerned the contents of each visual. At this point, don’t stop to fill in the details for each visual. Simply create an empty presentation visual and title for each of the points you want to cover in your upcoming telephone calls.

Hint: You may want to create a template with placeholder visuals to help quickly prepare future presentations.

Step 4: Provide proof

Next, go through your presentation framework and complete each of the visuals by adding appropriate text and graphics. As you complete each visual, strive to make your benefits as specific and as visual as possible. Translate your products or services into added dollars and cents revenue, reduced costs, or time savings.

Whenever possible, show, rather than tell. Translate words into information graphics, like tables, charts, and graphs, to emphasize:

• Comparisons, i.e. before and after revenues or expenditures of time and money.

• Trends, i.e. growing market share.

Add photographs to personalize and reinforce case studies and testimonials. Use logos, rather than words, to emphasize case studies and satisfied clients.

Step 5: Contingency visuals

Next, prepare to respond to objections that prospects may bring up during your calls.

Start by identifying the possible objections that prospects might come up. Determine how to respond to each one. Then, prepare visuals that will only be used if your prospect brings the specific objection up.

Typical objections concern price, competitive features, ease of use, and economic uncertainty.

Step 6: Upload and rehearse

After reviewing your work, use your presentation program’s Save as… command to save your presentation in the appropriate online format.

Then, upload your presentation to the server where you and your prospects can access it online during calls.

Rehearse your presentation, until you can comfortably proceed from point to point, and easily access the contingency visuals, (if needed).

Consider your web-based presentations a “work in progress” that you continually update and refine. Prepare additional visuals as new objections come up. And prepare personalized slide titles and visuals for specific clients and prospects.

Let Roger C. Parker help you harness the latest technology to promote your expertise. For more information, please visit www.onepagenewsletters.com

Why Consider ‘Sales Prospecting’ as a Sales Management Training Course

The last thing a sales manager wants to do is to go through a certification course in ‘Sales Prospecting’. They’ve been there and they’ve done that, or they’d not have been promoted to a sales manager level. After all, that’s up to the sales rep. That’s why they are hired on. In fact, I recently asked a Vice President of Sales in a competitive industry if he’d be open to looking at a ‘Sales Prospecting System’ for his sales managers his remark was “That’s what we hire sales reps for. If they don’t do it, we fire them and find some that will.”

Well, by definition, I guess that’s fair. Because if you take a look at any outside sales representative job description, you’ll see experience criteria listed such as: “Excellent cold calling and lead generation experience,” or “Must be able to identify Target Prospects and maintain an appropriate activity funnel,” or “Must meet or exceed activity standards.”

So why should a sales organization consider establishing a prospecting certification course for their Sales Managers? In order to consider this argument, let’s first take a look at standard criteria within a sales manager job description:

“Responsible for managing Sales activity for new and existing Account Executives”

Now let’s break this job criterion into individual elements and look at it as a professional Investor would look at a ‘Business Case’. Here are some synonyms for the word ‘Responsible’:
• Accountable
• In charge
• To blame
• Liable
• Guilty
• Answerable
• Dependable
• Conscientious

I don’t know about you, but if I understand the King’s language here, I am beginning to feel I have some ‘Skin in the game’ as a sales manager already. Let’s investigate a little further by pulling out the phrase ‘managing sales activity’.

There are (2) different ways to manage. You can choose to ‘Supervise’ or you can elect to ‘Organize’. If 100% of your sales team is 100% effective at professional prospecting; meeting or exceeding the necessary activity standard, ‘supervising’ will do the trick.
You’re dismissed.

But to the extent that they are not is the extent you will need to ‘organize’, put in order a best practice prospecting system to support new sales appointment activity. (Or start over like the sales executive fore-mentioned.)

Now let’s peel back the phrase ‘new and existing account reps’.
In a sales manager dictionary, ‘new’ means ‘New-hires’ and ‘New-hires’ reflects ‘Ramp-to-quota’. Simply put, the quicker a new-hire ramps to Quota the better for both parties; the new-hire and the sales manager. Both get more credit, earn more recognition and receive more commission. And what is the most important facilitator in getting a new-hire sales rep to Quota in the least amount of time?

It’s making sure they secure the necessary amount of new appointments. It’s the fuel in the tank. The quicker they do that, the quicker they will ramp to quota with the proper mentor support of course.
And that brings us back to the leadership choice between choosing to ‘Supervise’ versus electing to ‘Organize’.

Here’s a (1) rep ‘Hard-number’ example.

Average New Hires per Year: 1
Monthly Sales Quota: $7,500
Average Term Agreement: 24 months
Current Average Ramp-to-Quota: 5 months
Improve Average Ramp-to-Quota: 4 months
Average ‘Sub-Quota’ Revenue per Month during Ramp: $2,800
Annual ROI: $112,800

In this example, reducing the time it takes for (1) new-hire sales rep to achieve Quota by only 1 month returns back to the sales manager $112,800 in additional sales revenue.

The other and sometimes forgotten performance silo within the term ‘New-hire’ is sales employee turnover. Most sales employee turnover occurs with the first 8 months of bring a new sales employee onboard. My studies also tell me that 90% or more of that turnover is directly related to low sales activity; not setting enough new appointments to meet the quota ramp criteria.

Using the same model as above, let’s look at what’s in it for the Sales manager to promote a Prospecting system to reduce new-hire employee turnover.

Number of Sales Reps: 10
12 Month Turnover Rate: 40%
Average Salary: $25,000
Recruiting Costs/Rep: $1,000
Training Costs/Rep: $1,800
Monthly Sales Quota: $7,500
Improve Turnover Rate To: 30%
Revenue Ramp-up Costs: $60,000
Total Annual Cost: $178,533
Revenue Production Loss: $63,000
Saved Reps: 1
Annual Savings: $44,633

Reducing annual turnover for just (1) new-hire sales rep returns back to the sales manager $44,633 in additional sales revenue and recovered costs. Multiply that out by your own sales employee turnover number.

Now back to our sales manager job description criteria of “Responsible for managing sales activity for new and existing Account Executives.” Let’s investigate the term ‘existing account managers’ and what managing sales activities by ‘supervising’ or ‘organizing’ means to our career.

First of all, what percentage of your existing sales team is reaching or exceeding quota each month. Of the percentage that is not, what percentage of them are not achieving quota due to sub-par sales activity? When you uncover that sales performance number and understand the ramifications to revenue result, you will move another notch closer to your ultimate answer of ‘supervise’ or ‘organize’.

Secondarily, what percentage of your sales reps time is spent on securing new business appointments? JDH Group clients spend on average 50% of their weekly ‘hourly rate’ on prospecting. For a sales rep working 45 hours per week, that’s over 22 hours dedicated to front end activity. If you decided to ‘organize’ a prospecting system, become certified in it and help others with it, would that drive that number down? Will that allow your sales team more time to pursue higher-value, solutions-based selling opportunities?

One definition of ‘Best practice’ is the sum of everything everybody in your sales organization knows that gives you a competitive edge in the market place. Putting in place a ‘Prospecting system’ with best practice components and elements, becoming independently certified to it as a manager/leader and mentoring it throughout your sales team will ensure that nobody is left behind.

And enabling your sales team to share knowledge and insight stimulates ‘Targeted’ sales activity that will drive new business and help you reach your desired results more often.

Jeff Hardesty is president of JDH Group Inc., a sales performance training company based in Powell, Ohio. He can be reached at jeff@convertmoresales.com.

Calculate your sales team’s ‘Sales Performance Competencies’ here

convertmoresales.com/marketing_blitz.php

Submit your numbers for a complimentary 30-minute performance consultation with Jeff Hardesty

convertmoresales.com/roi_survey.php

How to Lose the Sale Quickly & Easily

Here are five sure-fire ways to guarantee you will not get the sale;

Focus on yourself. I recall meeting several salespeople from a variety of vendors regarding an initiative I was working on for a client. EVERY single person began their presentation by telling me about their company rather than learning about my needs and wants. I ended up being subjected to information that had little or no relevance to my situation, which meant that 20-30 minutes of my time was wasted in each interview. I understand the importance of providing some background information on your company at the beginning of your presentation but keep it brief. I personally don’t care how much your company is worth, how long you have been in business, or what projects you have recently completed. I want you to focus on my needs first. Demonstrate that you care about my particular situation or show that you are interested in learning more about my business needs and I will reward you with my full attention.

Don’t listen to me. When I worked in the corporate world I gave countless salespeople information pertaining to my business requirements only to have them draft a proposal that did not take these needs into consideration. Don’t waste your prospect’s time asking questions if you are not going to listen to his responses. The best salespeople ask probing questions, take written notes, and clarify their understanding of the prospect’s needs at the conclusion of each meeting. This enables them to create a proposal that addresses the client’s specific concerns, issues and situation.

Make elaborate claims about your product/service. I once had a salesperson claim that his product was completely unique from anything on the market. When I questioned what he meant, I discovered this “unique feature” was something that several other companies offered as well. This salesperson immediately lost any credibility he may have established and failed to close the sale. Do your research and learn what your competitors offer. Know how to position yourself differently without exaggerating or overstating your product or service.

Talk too much. It continues to amaze me how many people think that telling is selling. I have window shopped in a variety of stores and excellent salespeople understand the importance of silence and have learned to become comfortable with it. Unfortunately, too many people talk far too much. I recall listening to a salesperson ramble on at great length about a product I was genuinely interested in purchasing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise to tell him I wanted to buy it. In fact, when I told I wanted it, he tried talking me out of the sale by stating, “If you want some time to think about it, there’s no rush.” While I appreciated his low-pressure approach I couldn’t help but wonder how many sales he had lost in the past.

Do not respect my time. Today’s business executives are extremely busy. In fact, I recently read that most decision-makers have just one hour of unscheduled time during a given week. When you are granted an appointment or are talking to someone over the telephone, respect their time constraints. Get to the point quickly and keep your presentation concise and brief.

You may think these are pretty basic mistakes and you may believe you don’t make them. I suggest that you think otherwise. The majority of people who sell a product or service fall prey to these mistakes on a regular basis. Here is a final example;

When I was the manager of training for a large retail organization I was contacted by many sales trainers. One in particular, spoke at great length about the features of his program and how valuable it was because participants would learn how to effectively qualify customers. He told me that this workshop would teach people how to ask the right questions and listen to the answers. In turn, I would see a noticeable increase in sales. While I agreed with his concepts, I seriously doubted his ability to deliver. Why? He did not apply the concepts of his own workshop. In fact, he spent most of the allotted time talking rather than learning about my needs! If he didn’t practice what he preached, how could I be sure he would deliver?

Pay more attention to your prospect’s needs and respect their time. Avoid these common mistakes and increase your sales.

Copyright 2004, Kelley Robertson, All rights reserved.

Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, works with businesses to help them increase their sales and motivate their employees. For information on his programs, visit his website at http://www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com. Receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by subscribing to his 59-Second Tip, a weekly e-zine available at his website.

Planograms – It’s Not Just for the Big Guys

In my consultancy, I often mention planograms. Retailers’ eyes often glaze over and they mention that they are only relevant for big retailers, but don’t they have a role in all retail business?

A planogram is a visual representation of what a category should look like to maximise sales.

It should include all the products and shelving and provide the optimum layout of the category to maximise sales.

This is a powerful tool to enable you to manage space effectively and hence your profits. It helps you place the right product in the right place at the right time.

I accept this may be hard work for the retailer to achieve on his or her own, but why not partner a planogram with your supplier? It’s a win: win for both parties.

Get a Market Edge

A planogram can provide you with merchandise consistency, which should result in increased stock turns, improved product ranging and hopefully more satisfied customers.

My first involvement and awareness of the value of planograms was with Scott’s, the international garden care company.

They were seeing a decline in garden care product sales in independent retail outlets and action was needed.

Independent retailers were aware of the problem, but could not come up with viable solutions, but a partnership between independents and suppliers came up with an answer.

Firstly, Scott’s talked to the general public. They found that most potential consumers found the existing layout confusing and did not understand the signage that confronted them.

Remove the Jargon

The first priority was to remove the jargon. Words like fungicide, miticide, pesticide and words that were ‘common’ language to experts, were replaced with words such as disease control, pest control and slug and snail control.

Often the words put people off. I have the same problem with jargon when trying to buy a camera, computer or mobile phone!

Reduce the Selection

In Scott’s experience, some retailers were offering consumers 15 ways to kill a slug. This was in so called ‘expert outlets’. In the consumer’s mind these were no experts. They did not know the best way to kill a slug.

This is where planograms come into their own. It forces you to look at the width and depth of the range and ask yourself are you helping or confusing the customer?

I am a firm believer in a good-better-best policy. Three ways of solving a problem, i.e. killing a slug, is fine with me. It gives me confidence that the retailer has done their homework and come up with the best solution.

Once independent retailers had partnered with Scott’s and embraced the concept, they found sales increased by up to 40%.

The key changes were:-

Placing products in a logical order from a consumer’s perspective, in other words, layout the stock by thinking for the customer.

Using language that was consumer language rather than industry language to grow sales.

Providing sufficient range to show so the retailer is a specialist, but not offering that much duplication that it confused the consumer, (ie offer a good product, a better product and then a best product).

Identifying best sellers and preferred choices by introducing a facing management policy that reflects sales and sales patterns.

Changing the planogram based on seasonal trading patterns and consumer demand.

Providing consistency that is easy to understand, both for the retailer and the consumer.

Whatever your retail category, there is a role for a planogram. They key is to stand back and take a serious look at the category. Analyse it from a consumer’s perspective. Then plan it out on paper with the consumer in mind.

The result may surprise you.

John Stanley is a conference speaker and retail consultant with over 20 years experience in 15 countries and has authored several successful marketing and retail books including the best seller Just About Everything a Retail Manager Needs to Know. http://www.johnstanley.cc

Instead of Discounting, Back Some Value Out of Your Proposal

Last minute discounting has become so prevalent that many companies have come to depend on it as their default sales strategy. Employing a go-to-market strategy of being the lowest cost provider is one thing, but dramatic, tactical discounting on every deal will erode your company’s margins and leave you digging a deeper and deeper hole in which your company will ultimately bury itself.
I don’t want to give you the impression that discounting is never appropriate. I can think of three scenarios where it is required:

1. When a company has mispriced their offering.
Let’s face it. Times have changed. Competition is fierce. And yes, as much as we don’t like to admit it, prices and fees have been forced down in some markets. If everyone else is now selling what you sell for $1.00 and you’re still selling it, just as you always have, for $2.00 and you can’t prove you can deliver a dollar’s worth of additional value for the customer, your pricing is too high–way too high. Call it a discount, or call it a price adjustment, in this situation you’ve got face reality and sell your products at a price the market will bear, or you won’t sell very much at all.

2. As a token concession to close the deal.
I don’t see a problem with “rewarding” a buyer for signing an order within your timeframe, for example. Understand, I would much rather provide other concessions that don’t cost my company money and don’t educate my customer that whenever I am going to ask them for an order, I am going to give up part of my margin and commission. But I do live in the real world and understand that for my clients, pricing concessions are sometimes required to get the deal signed.

3. When you haven’t done an adequate job of selling the unique business value your product or service will provide the customer.
My clients will tell you I am never happy in a situation like this, but if you’ve not done the best selling job, and there is some room for a discount, and you need the deal, discounting may be better than losing the deal on principal.

How do you avoid discounting?

I talk a lot in my book, How Winners Sell, about the fact that to succeed in business to business sales today, you must sell business improvement, not products or services. That means differentiating yourself from your competition in the unique value you, your products and services, and your company can provide toward your customer achieving their corporate, divisional, business unit, department, or government agency goals.
Have you transitioned into the mode of creating customer demand by targeting accounts–getting in before they know they have a need, and establishing yourself as a knowledgeable, trusted, and patient advisor? If not, you’ll continue to be on the receiving end of all sorts of one-sided customer demands, mostly taking the form of answering requests for information, doing presentations, demonstrations, fighting the constant battle against having your offering commoditized by the customer, and being on the receiving end of strong demands for discounts.
We’ve been taught over the years to bundle our products and services where possible to provide the customer with a single investment number. That way, we were told, they can’t nickel and dime you, and can’t slice up your offering, able to say no to pieces they don’t want or need. But now times have changed and when you think about it, that’s exactly what you want to do.

If you sell products or services that can be componentized, sold in pieces or modules, or in phases, you’re potentially in good shape.
Scenario
You know your competition is going to come in with a substantial discount, as they have before. Your sales effort must include:

•Assuring yourself that the customer is not making a decision solely or primarily on price. This question must be asked again and again of key decision makers.

•Getting agreement from the real buyer that you understand their business objectives and that your offering can help them achieve those objectives. This method does not work unless you are dealing with the real buyer.

•Finding unique areas of additional value (on top of their existing requirements) that you can provide through the capabilities of your product or service offering.

•Management support for potentially selling part of your offering now, and the rest later on rather than selling the whole thing at a discounted price.

In cases where you know your competitors will be discounting, you’ll need to offer several investment options to your customer. Alan Weiss, the consultant’s consultant, suggests providing three opportunities for them to say yes.

If you offer your prospect three options to buy–let’s say for the sake of labels, Platinum, Gold, and Silver–and you’ve done a good job of selling the business value of your offering–you can avoid having to concede more than a nominal discount.
Your plan here should be not to discount, but rather to back value out of your proposal to meet the prospect’s desired investment level. Presenting three options lets you do exactly that. The customer gets to determine how much they want to invest and will enjoy the resulting ROI associated with that level of investment.

Here are the three options:

The Platinum Option

•Gets the customer what they need (and want)

•Highest level of investment. You might ask for a 10-30% premium over the Gold level for this option, depending on the value you believe you can deliver to the customer.

•All the features, modules, components, capabilities available

•Your best resources

•Quickest time to value

•Priority service — A special 800 number, top of the queue, 24 x 7 x 365

•The highest ROI

•Other perks, such as quarterly meetings with your CEO, special invitation events, input into your product development plans

The Gold Option

•Gets the customer all of what they need (and a few wants)

•Budgeted level of investment. This is aimed right at the prospect’s budget level.

•Most/many of the features, modules, components, capabilities

•Proven, talented and dependable resources

•Quick time to value

•An attractive ROI

•Other perks, such as quarterly meetings with your VP of Service, special invitation events

When your prospect tells you your competition has come in with a very low price, you discuss calmly with them the fact that you have an option (the Silver option) that will provide them with what they need at a competitive price. You will already have differentiated yourself from the competition in a number of areas: understanding the customer’s business, industry, opportunities, challenges, competitive and customer pressures, and built rapport with the real buyer. In addition, you’ve professionally educated your prospect on the risks that befall companies who depend on tactical discounting to win. (See my July 2003 article, “How to Outsell a Competitor Who Slashes Their Price to Win.”)

The Silver Option

•Gets the customer most of what they need now, and the rest in “phase two,” next quarter or next year

•The lowest level of investment, aimed 10-30% below the Gold level, depending on how severe a discount the competition is going to offer

•Some of your total array of features, modules, components, capabilities. The rest can be purchased later.

•Talented and dependable resources

•Reasonable time to value

•An ROI that meets their corporate requirements

What will the customer do? The may tell you they want your Platinum option at the Silver price. If you’ve done an effective job selling the business value of your product or service and built a relationship with the real buyer based upon trust, you can look them in they eye and tell them it just isn’t possible. What will they do then? My clients tell me that more often than not, they’ll go for the Gold or Platinum option.

©2004 The Stein Advantage, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Before founding The Stein Advantage, Inc. in 1997, Dave Stein spent more than 20 years employed in a diversity of executive sales and marketing roles for corporations worldwide. Dave consultants with, coaches, speaks and trains on competitive selling strategies, helps companies to strategize specific, complex opportunities, organize a sales organization, present and position themselves with analysts in the best possible light, as well as to recruit and hire the best sales reps. He is the author of the Amazon best selling business book: How Winners Sell: 21 Proven Strategies to Outsell Your Competition & Win the Big Sale, Dearborn Trade Press, May 2004. For more info: http://www.HowWinnersSell.com or contact his office at viv@HowWinnersSell.com or call (845) 621-4100.

How to build a Better business Site (Part I)

Sell like a professional!

Just beginning to develop a second income stream? Or are you an
established affiliate of several programs? Doesn’t matter…
EVERYONE shares the same goal… to maximize profits. And this
is done with a better business site!

So it’s time to build income through content… i.e., to build a
better business site that gets the CLICK!

Deliver VALUABLE content to your readers… *AND* tasty content
to your spiders… With a Better Business Site!.

A better business site must be a WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN proposition for
four parties…

YOUR VISITOR The Search Engines Your merchants, and… YOU!

Let’s look at each WIN…

YOUR VISITOR must get what she is looking for — outstanding
information. OVERdeliver with original, HIGH-VALUE info. If you
don’t do this, she simply clicks the BACK button to the Search
Engine and says… “Next!”

The Search Engines are in business. Their product is the quality
of their search results. Help them make their product better,
and they’ll love you. How? Search Engines use computer programs
called spiders to go out and bring your better business site
back to its home (i.e., the Search Engine’s database).

Then when someone looks up for what you offer, say, “factory
outlet stores,” another program decides whether your better
business site, or another, is more relevant.

You must HONESTLY convince each Search Engine that you are the
most relevant (at least in the Top 20, preferably in the Top 10)
for the KEYWORDS that you target. If you TRICK the engine, your
success won’t last long, and when it discovers the trick, it
will ban you. Why? Because tricks hurt the Search Engine’s
product rather than help.

Help the searcher, your potential visitor and your merchant’s
potential customer, solve her problem or her quest. Satisfy the
whole reason WHY she is doing the search. If you do this, you
ADD VALUE to the Search Engine’s product.

If you do this properly, you never have to worry about the
Search Engines, because they and you become partners in an
effort to deliver QUALITY content to searchers…

No tricks in comment tags or invisible links or anything else
that is not natural for a true content better business site. No
hoping that the SEs don’t change their attitude towards your
“tactics.”

No worrying about just the right number of times to repeat a
keyword in the META Keyword tag.

No time-wasting, constantly “staying on the cutting edge” ahead
of the engines

No 8 versions of the same better business site, one for each
major engine.

Focus on creating one “best fit” better business site that
scores well with most of the engines for most of your words most
of the time.

Then spend your time creating another better business site. No
games. No off-target keywords to suck in untargeted customers.
(”Hey, this better business site’s not about Monica Lewinsky!
What gives?”)

No fretting about whether competitors will complain about your
tricky methods. No multiple domains, hidden inter-linking, etc.
– since every page is for the customer first and foremost, and
since you are simply writing to ALSO satisfy the Search Engine,
none of this is necessary.

There’s simply nothing to worry about. Sleep well and enjoy
solid, stable results by doing it ALL right the first time.

To deliver a second stream of income, your must include into
your web pages links to merchants related with your product.
Your MERCHANTS want sales. And the best way to deliver that is
through outstanding content that gains your visitor’s
confidence, then using “in-context” TEXT links to
refer/recommend/direct those visitors to places that you believe
will deliver great value.

YOU must WIN, too, of course. How? Ah, that’s the easiest part.
If you get the first three WINS right, you WILL succeed.

Think about it… OVERdelivery to your visitor ensures repeat
visits, confidence and ongoing sales. The Search Engines will
never ban you. And, as you become a SUPER-affiliate, your
merchants will pay you more and more, perhaps even giving you
special bonuses and deals!

FIND-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-kaCHING

The road to *YOUR* WIN is: “FIND-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-kaCHING” Why?
Because here’s what has to happen for you to WIN…

FIND

Your POTENTIAL visitor must FIND you in the Top 10 (no worse
than top 20) of the search results for your keyword. If your
potential customer does not find you on the first or second page
of the Search Engine’s search for your keyword, well, you simply
don’t exist for that word. Game over.

CLICK

Your POTENTIAL must read the Title and Description that the
engine uses in the search results, *AND* must find it
sufficiently compelling to CLICK to your better business site.
If your Title and Description are boring or tacky, your
POTENTIAL visitor will probably not click to your KFCP
(Keyword-Focused Content Page). Game over.

CLICK

Your VISITOR finds HIGH VALUE content, learns to trust you as
someone honest who delivers, and so follows your
recommendations…

CLICK again!

If your page delivers poor, LOW-VALUE info (or even worse, a
SALES PITCH), you still get the CLICK… on the BACK BUTTON to
the Search Engine’s results page. “Who’s next?” Game over.

CLICK-kaCHING Finally, your VISITOR arrives at your merchant (or
your order page) in a “feeling smart about myself” and
open-to-buy mood, ready to CLICK that BUY button! Did I just
hear a cash register?… kaCHING! Ahhh… if you get the
FIND-CLICK-CLICK right, that last CLICK-kaCHING is almost in the
bag!
FIND-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-kaCHING… To accomplish that, all you
have to do is… Get the first three WINS right. The fourth WIN,
your WIN, must follow automatically. And all you have to do to
nail down those first three WINS is…

We’re about to discuss building your better business site. I’ll
try to keep it as non-technical as possible. If you are a
tech-expert, you probably don’t need most of my advice, but if
you aren’t the best tool to build a professional web better
business site is Site Build It!
http://newsletter.easy-home-business.com/hts/sitebuildit.html
Whether you are a tech-expert or a newbie, however, better
business Site Build It! is a product that makes all the
technical issues invisible to you.

You must focus upon what’s REALLY important — getting your
knowledge out of your brain and into your better business site.
All you need to know is… what you KNOW!

Here is what you do *NOT* need to know…

No html required No ftp or any knowledge of how Web hosting
works — this works purely through the browser! No Search Engine
skills — better business Site Build It! will take you by the
hand as you create SE-effective pages. You don’t even need to
know what a META tag is — better business Site Build It!
creates all these for you. No techie stuff at all.

And you must use a paid better business site like the one better
business Site Build It! gives you, because engines score
freebies NEGATIVELY for many reasons, even if you have your own
domain, you will score much higher at the engines than with any
free better business site.

All you’ll have to do is… Build your better business site,
following the online help if you ever need it. The online help
takes you through every step of building a Theme-Based Content
better business site that will score well at the major Search
Engines. And it goes well beyond that… helping you build
traffic in other ways, too. For more information you can go
here:
http://newsletter.easy-home-business.com/hts/sitebuildit.html

THE PHYSICAL LAYOUT OF YOUR BETTER BUSINESS SITE

The Structure of Your better business site Your Theme-Based
Content better business site should be made of a home page that
gives the “what’s in it for me” about your better business site.
It elaborates on the VPP (”Valuable PRE-selling Proposition”)
and delivers the major benefit statements (more on
content-building in the next section).

Think of your better business site as a PYRAMID, with the home
page CROWNING the pinnacle.

Your home page should link to SEVEN other pages. These seven
Keyword-Focused Content Pages will contain content that is about
your MOST PROFITABLE KEYWORDS *AND* that fit with the whole
better business site Concept and VPP.

You will link your home page to these seven, both within the
body copy, as you outline what the better business site is all
about, and from within a text or graphic navigation bar (navbar).

Your home page should not link to any of your merchant partners
– it’s too early. Its job instead is to link to your
HIGHEST-PROFITABILITY pages. It must GET THE CLICK to at least
one of these seven pages. This is important for two reasons…

Your visitor hits a “money page” — your HIGHEST- PROFITABILITY
Keyword-Focused Content Pages weave “in-context” TEXT links to
your merchant-partners while OVER delivering great content.

This is how you make your income, so we want to lead your
visitors to your HIGHEST POTENTIAL pages ASAP. Your spider-buddy
follows the links and indexes (i.e., brings back to the Search
Engine’s database) your most important pages first, and most
reliably — the deeper a spider has to go, the more likely it is
that he misses and FAILS to bring YOUR bacon back to his
database home.

So we want to structure our better business site so that the
HIGHEST PROFITABILITY pages have the best chance of being
dragged back to all those spiders’ homes. We’ll call your SEVEN
HIGHEST-PROFITABILITY pages “TIER 2″ pages, since they are on a
second TIER below the home page.

Each of these pages can themselves link to 5-10 pages (”TIER 3″
pages).

You likely won’t pick the absolute 7 HIGHEST POTENTIAL keywords.
Some will be too close in meaning. Others may not easily lead to
a TIER 3, as we’ll see in a second. So you pick the 7 that make
the most sense and help to form the strongest better business
site overall.

TIER 3 pages should relate to the TIER 2 page that links to it.
For example, let’s say that “outlet malls” is one of the most
PROFITABLE keywords that your research has found. What do you
do? Create a TIER 2 Page (”outlet-malls.html”) called… “Top
Factory Outlet Malls Where You Can Shop Via The Net” This page
links to TIER 3 pages…

A page that ranks the top shoe outlets that allow you to shop
via the Web Another that rates the top clothing outlets Also to
the best fur discount malls, clothing outlets, Nike outlets, etc.

So, your TIER 1 home page links to 7 TIER 2 pages (not more,
because your navbar starts looking pretty congested). And your
TIER 2 pages each link to 5-10 TIER 3 pages.

This clean, 3-TIER approach yields an easy, navigable better
business site… for both your visitor and your spiders. Spiders
always come in through the front door (as long as you submit the
home page to them… ). From there, you’ve left them a nice
trail to follow. So they can easily index the rest of your pages.

Humans, however… Humans may find any page, TIER 1, 2, or 3,
via the engines. So each TIER 3 page should provide a link back
to its related TIER 2. And the same for TIER 2 to TIER 1.
Otherwise, keep internal linking only to what’s really necessary
and relevant.

Written by Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi

Sell Without Feeling Like A Used Car Salesman

Many business owners and professionals are appalled at the thought of having to sell their products or services. If you are going to be successful though, regardless of your profession, you are also going to be in the business of selling. But you don’t have to don a plaid jacket and adopt the sales techniques that have made the used car salesman infamous.

If we are uncomfortable “selling” our services, it is generally because we are trying to “sell” before someone has reached the purchase stage of the buying process. While selling may never be the favorite part of your job, by implementing a systematic process you can move potential clients into the purchase phase and increase your comfort level and success with selling.

Imagine that you were in the market to purchase a big screen TV. You had visited a couple of stores to see what was available, done some research on the internet, talked with friends, and narrowed the choice down to 3 models. Now you have a few questions you need answered to help you make your decision. You go to the appliance superstore, a salesperson approaches you as you enter the department and asks if she can be of help. She asks you a few questions about where you plan to put it, your budget, and what the primary use will be. She answers your questions and helps you decide on the model that is best for you. Not only are you not put off by the salesperson, you would have been upset if there would not have been a salesperson to help you.

Contrast this with a situation where you are visiting an appliance superstore with a friend. You decide to go check out the big screen TVs because you’ve been thinking about getting one. The same salesperson approaches you and asks if she can help you. You say, “No thanks I’m just browsing.” As if she hadn’t heard your reply, she starts asking you the same questions as in the scenario above. However, this time you find the questions annoying and the sales person pushy.

The difference in these two scenarios is simply your position in the buying process. How would it have been different if instead of insisting on asking you a series of questions she had simply given you an article re-print from Consumer Reports and a list of 10 questions to consider before purchasing a big screen TV with the store’s name, her name and telephone number at the bottom?

The process people go through in making a buying decision is:

• Phase 1: Awareness and Knowledge

• Phase 2: Liking and Preference

• Phase 3: Conviction and Purchase

The only people you should try to sell your products or services to are those people in the conviction and purchase phase. The problem is many businesses do not implement the necessary steps to move prospective clients to Phase 3 so they are constantly trying to sell to prospects that are in Phase 1.

Think about it like this, you and your products or services are standing at the edge of a chasm on Mount Everest. I call it the Purchase Chasm™. Your potential customers are on the other side. Your job is to get those prospects to cross the chasm on a flimsy aluminum ladder, one step at a time and ultimately purchase your services. At this stage your objective is simply to get them to take that first step out onto the ladder, followed by another until they reach the ultimate decision to purchase. You don’t push, manipulate or cajole them into purchasing. You simply serve as a guide providing information and assistance through the process.

So how can you begin to move your potential customers across the Purchase Chasm™?

Step 1 - Awareness and Knowledge: Before someone can purchase your product or service they must be aware of it. They must also be able to picture in their minds the problems the service will solve for them. And that picture must be enticing enough to motivate them to take that first step. At this phase your objective is to make your potential customers aware of your services and give them knowledge about the benefits they will gain from working with you. This is generally done through activities where you can reach a large number of people at one time. A major goal at this stage is to collect contact information so you can continue to provide information to help these prospective clients move across the Purchase Chasm™.

Step 2 - Liking and Preference: Awareness alone is not enough. Potential customers must also have a positive disposition regarding your services. During this phase it is important to maintain consistent contact. Consistency builds credibility. You also want to let prospective clients “sample” your service in order to minimize the perceived risk of purchase. You can do this by sending out a regular newsletter (e-mail or hardcopy); sending out a monthly tip related to the service you provide; offering free or low cost introductory trainings; participating in selected networking events on a regular basis; and offering teleclasses. The important thing is that you are consistently in contact with these potential clients. After all, you don’t want to leave them out on the middle of the ladder over a deep chasm without a guide.

Step 3 - Conviction and Purchase: The final step in the process is getting those potential customers who have begun the journey across the chasm to actually make the decision to purchase. Now it is time to sell. And if you have developed a relationship with the potential client throughout their journey, this step should be as simple as reaching out to take their hand as they reach the end of the ladder, reassuring them they have made the right decision by embarking on the journey and asking when they would like to get started. At this point, it is critical that you ask them for their business. If you don’t, they will wonder why you had them take the journey. They’ll feel like the person in the appliance superstore who is ready to make a purchase and can’t find a salesperson.

It may take as many as five to 15 exposures to your product or service for a potential client to move through the process and cross the Purchase Chasm™ from lead to loyal customer. The key is to build those exposures so each one matches the level of the process where the potential customer currently is (i.e. direct mass media activities to potential customers in the awareness phase and use personal selling with prospects in the conviction and purchase phase).

Writing, speaking and networking are activities that many coaches and consultants enjoy. By systematically using these activities as marketing tools you reduce the time you actually have to spend selling, you focus your selling activities to people who are actually ready to buy, and it becomes a natural ending to the relationship building process.

© 2004 STRATEGIES-BY-DESIGN. May be reprinted with credits and contact information

Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-Design, a Dallas-based firm that helps businesses from independent professionals to specialty retailers Map A Path to Success by bridging the Purchase Chasm™ from Lead to Loyal Customer. Strategies-by-Design provides a unique combination of consulting, coaching and training to help clients improve the return on their investment in marketing and promotional activities. For more information or to sign-up for their marketing tips newsletter, go to http://www.strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311.