There are three types of business owner...

...those who watch it happen, those who wonder what happened and those that make things happen, which one are you?

I am going to be presumptuous here and assume that nobody ever goes into business with the intention of being anything other than successful. So that begs the question, why do so many businesses fail?  First let’s look at some of the facts:

• 8 out of 10 businesses fail in the first 5 years.
• Less than 4 out of every 100 businesses survive to see their 10^th birthday.
• Only 4% of businesses will hit £1 million turnover.
• 80% of businesses remain below £1/2 million turnover and a large number of those sit between £200 - £300 thousand mark.

Why does this happen? Well it all boils down to three different kinds of business owner:

As you read through the rest of this newsletter ask yourself the question “which one of these descriptions fits me best?”

As employees, we learn a trade and (for some) we become very good at it.  One day we have a realisation that we are working really hard to make money for somebody else or, it could be, we are fed up working for an idiot and if they (the idiot) can do it, may be it is time we opened our own business.

So, with a great deal of excitement, and maybe a little naively we start our own company. For some, the thinking is that customers will just show up as though a giant Golden M (McDonalds) has been placed in the car park and of course this is very rarely is the case.

The challenge with our new business adventure in the early stage is that we need an income; we need to put food on the table, we need to get to an earnings level at least similar to the one we had when we were in employment. The longer this takes, the more panic starts to set in and, for some, so do the fundamental mistakes that prove so costly in the end. These mistakes include things like allowing anybody to become a customer, allowing customers to extend the payment terms to suit themselves, discounting (giving away the profit to make the sale), employing anybody that is available, the list goes on. The reasons for doing these things are normally justified by the promise that someday, when the business has settled down the necessary systems will be put in place and everything will be okay. In a great many cases though, people learn to live with the problems they have created and ‘someday’ never arrives.

It is at this stage that a really dangerous little four letter word starts to creep into the business owner’s language: you will often hear them saying things are ‘FINE!’ They are waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because of cash flow problems but they are FINE! They spend their valuable money training their employees who then leave to work for the competition and they are FINE! They are working ridiculous hours at the expense of their family and are FINE! They are unable to take their family on holiday and they are FINE! In other words, they are in denial and it will only take a slight shift in the economy and their business is history and they might well even say to themselves, “I never saw that coming!”

For others, it may be that as soon as they reach the level of wage they were achieving as an employee, they are happy. So long as they keep their heads above water, life’s good. Problem with this thinking is that the business will always be dependent on them in actual fact it isn’t a business it is a job! They might watch others grow successful, profitable businesses and will give a whole host of excuses as to why they couldn’t achieve the same.

Finally, there are those that make things happen. They realise that their business is an asset and, therefore, is meant to provide a return and to get a return like any other asset it needs to grow. To achieve this, they build their business as if they mean to sell it, they begin with the end in mind and once they have a clear vision they put together a plan to achieve that vision.

Does the act of planning ensure success? Not necessarily.  Things will happen that are outside our sphere of influence but because we have understand how to and have gone through a solid proven planning process, we can re-plan and get back on course whilst the other two types of business owner are wondering what has happened or are just watching what’s happening.

In business you can either have excuses or results, but not both!

So what type of business owner are you? If you are somebody who makes things happen then no doubt we will be seeing each other at our Ultimate Planning Day.

If you are someone who wonders what happened or watches what happens, then the New Year is a great time to draw a line in the sand, your past does not determine your future. If you would like to make 2015 your best year yet,

Click Here ToBook One Of The Last Few Places.

Thoughts:

“There is no greater agony than bearing the untold story inside of you”… Maya Angelou

“The best dreams happen when you’re awake”…Cherie Gilderbloom

“A year from now you may wish you had started today”…Karen Lamb

“Every pro was once an amateur. Every master was once a beginner. So start now”…Robin Sharma

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been”…George Eliot

Susan
Business Performance Coach

Our next Workshop 'Ultimate Planning Workshop for 2015' is on Friday 12th December 2014 To Book Simply go to
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/no-business-owner-ever-wrote-a-plan-to-make-little-or-no-profit-work-ridiculous-hours-stress-over-tickets-14349625115
"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cheshire cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’
Telephone 0151 348 1202 / 07802 434 872
Growing Your Profit, Transforming Your Business, Changing Lives
www.mpcforprofit.com 

No Business Owner Ever Wrote A Plan to Make Little or No...

No Business Owner Ever Wrote a Plan to Make Little or No Profit, Work Ridiculous Hours, Stress Over Cash Flow, Employ people Who Cause Them Countless Headaches….

Those Things Happen Because They Don’t Have a Plan!

No doubt, when you started your business, you, along with countless others, were told the importance of having a Business Plan and, yet, less than 5% of businesses have a plan; why is that?

There tends to be three types of business plan:

1. The one you put together when you want your Bank to give you a loan. You know, the ones that never see the light of day when they have served their purpose. So they are not very useful when it comes to growing your business
2. To attract investment into your organisation. These can be very useful, but once again have a tendency to get stored away and never see the light of day once the investment has been secured.
3. A business improvement and growth plan that is tied to your life goals. After all, what is the point of putting yourself through the trials and tribulations of running a business if it is not going to help you achieve what it is you want for your life.

So, of the three, one and two have their uses, but three is vital if you are going to achieve the future you dream of.

How do you put together a compelling business improvement and growth plan? You need to start with the end in mind. One day, you will look to exit your business. A key question is what will it look like when that day arrives?

• How many outlets/offices?
• What is the turnover/profits?
• How many people do you employ?
• How many hours are you working?
• What is the legacy you are leaving?

Of course, on a more personal note, as a result of having your ideal business, what is the lifestyle you are able to have for yourself and your family?

Once you are clear on what the business needs to be achieving and you have a concrete future date for this to be achieved, start to track back from that date to the present moment. Along the way you need to be setting down markers/targets for where your business needs to be at certain points along the journey. So let’s say you have a ten year plan for your business, where does it need to be in 5 years? Three years? 1 year?  90 days? Next week?

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at time…And it is the same with planning a compelling vision for your business. What I find works is to break your big plan down into bite sized chunks of 3 months. Then, every 3 months, evaluate; what were the big wins during this quarter? What did I learn as a result of what I did/didn’t do this quarter? What needs to happen in the next 3 months to move my business towards my overall vision?

So what should be included in your quarterly plan?

Because this is an action plan geared towards business improvement, the plan should focus on What is going to happen to achieve the desired result. For instance, if your goal for the quarter were to grow sales by 20%, you could achieve that by:

• Putting together a tested, measured and scripted sales system.
• Improve your sales skills by reading one Sales book per month making sure you have a strategy in place to implement what you learn.
• Have in place scripts to up-sell and cross-sell your products

Keep the plan ‘skinny.’  It is better to achieve 2-3 goals than to have 101 uncompleted goals. Truth be known, it only takes a couple of solid strategies (for instance any two of the ones above) to double the sales in most businesses.

I recommend that every business person should be spending at least 4 hours per week working on their business. So the next step would be to timeline at least 4 hours every week which will be dedicated to implementing the strategies from your plan.

Some of you may be thinking where am I going to find 4 hours? Finding that 4 hours could well be a worthy goal for the next quarter because you need to be asking what is happening/not happening in your business that means that you cannot dedicate 4 hours to working on your business. For you to achieve your compelling vision, at some stage you have to break the cycle of working every hour in your business because you will just keep going round and round in circles. I have asked many business owners, how many years have you been in business? To which the reply may be 10 years. On further investigation, it turns out they have been in business 1 year, but just lived it 10 times because every year has been the same; they’ve neither grown nor expanded, made the same (or perhaps less) profit each year, basically experiencing the business equivalent of groundhog day!  After ten years, you would hope to have more to show for your efforts than simply to have maintained the status quo of year 1 for 10 consecutive years!

Now, on a weekly basis working from your plan, break down your goals into the tasks that you will complete the following week during the 4 hours that you have put aside to work on your business. An important point here is treat these 4 hours as though you are meeting with your number 1 customer/client. You wouldn’t miss that appointment would you?  At the end of the day, who is most important; you or your number 1 client? Achieving your vision, growing your business living the life you want, will only ever be a pipe dream if you keep cancelling appointments with yourself.

So there you have it, how to put together a compelling business improvement and growth plan. Simple, not necessarily easy.

If you would like to learn more on this subject and indeed put together a plan so that you can really ramp up the growth in your business throughout 2015 come along to our Ultimate Planning Workshop click here. This will be your opportunity to work on your business instead of in it, with a group of like-minded business owners. 

On the day you will receive:

• A 60 page workbook full of ideas, tools and nearly 500 proven strategies to help you overcome any challenge you are presently facing in your business.
• All the necessary templates to help you achieve your plan.
• A full day packed with ideas, strategies and motivation from 2 of the UK’s Top Business Coaches
• Tea, coffee and sticky buns and lunch provided
• The motivation to believe that you can achieve anything you want in your business and the knowledge on how to do it!

To grab your place before your competition does click here

Thoughts:

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence. Intelligent planning and focused effort”…Paul J Meyer

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way”…Henry David Thoreau

“Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it…Success is shy – it won’t come out while you’re watching…Tennessee Williams

“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark”…Anon

“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning”…Thomas Alva Edison

Dedicated to your success

Kevin
Business Performance Coach

Our next Workshop 'Double Your Sales in 2015' is on Friday 21st November 2014
To Book Simply go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/double-your-sales-in-2015-tickets-13756053727

"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cheshire cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’

Telephone 0151 348 1202 / 07802 434 872
Growing Your Profit, Transforming Your Business, Changing Lives
www.mpcforprofit.com

Jasper The Dog Adventure Reveals A Vital Lesson For All Business Owners

You may have seen or heard on the news this week the story of Jasper a border collie who disappeared whilst out walking with owner Adam Nolan near Scafell Pike in the Lake District. As a result a huge social media campaign was launched including a Facebook Group page which attracted 6,500 members and a ‘Find Jasper’ hashtag was widely shared on Twitter.

When Adam set about finding his lost dog, he was armed with one vital piece of information that made the search so much easier, a photo. He was able to show everybody just what they were looking for, people had vital information to help them search and here lies a vital lesson for all business owners.


Do you know what your ideal customer/client/team member look like? Without that information, searching for them is really difficult and, for any people helping you with the search, it is nigh on impossible.

If you think about it if there are customers that you don’t have or people that you would like to have in your team that are just missing people, and, as a result of that, you are missing the opportunity to help them, missing building relationships with them, they are missing from your P&L.

Great sales people and great businesses choose their customers/team members.  If you want to have a great business and make the right choices, you need to build up a comprehensive picture of what your ideal people look like, some of the things you might take into consideration:

• What traits and characteristics will they have?
• What age are they?
• What needs challenges and frustrations might they have?
• What are their desired outcomes?
• How does you product/business help them?
• Where do they hang out in the biggest volume?

Clarity is power here. Adam was able to leverage his search through social media and through various rescue organisations because he was able to provide the one vital piece of information that these people needed to act and that was a clear description of what they were looking for.

A common mistake amongst business owners is to throw some marketing out there in the hope that some of it sticks to somebody.  Two main problems with this approach are hope is definitely not a strategy, and there is a strong possibility that you will end with customers and people that you do not want.

Have you got any customers/team members that you wish you never had? Did you choose them or did they choose you? Is it possible that your competitors are really clear about who they want to do business with and you are attracting their cast offs? Technically this means you are feeding off someone else’s waste! Definitely not the way to grow a successful business.

By taking yourself through the exercise of building up the description of your perfect customer/team member you will have the added bonus of tapping into one of the most powerful tools at your disposal your reticular activating system (RAS). Your RAS filters the incoming information and effects what you pay attention to and what not to pay attention to. So, once you have your description in your conscious mind, the RAS will then pass this on to your subconscious – which will then bring to your attention all instances and opportunities to meet your ideal people which under normal circumstances would be just ‘background noise.’

To leverage this principle, you can set the RAS of your team members, strategic alliances, friends and family by posting your ideal description in places where it will be seen on a daily basis. To make this FUN you might consider putting their description on Wanted posters. A client of mine has a life size cardboard cut-out of their perfect customer…the strange thing is that, since employing this strategy, the average pound spend per customer has risen by over 30%. 

The customers, clients and team members you want are definitely out there and by getting really clear on what they look like you will have a far better chance of attracting them.

Defining your target market is just one of the subjects we will be covering in our upcoming Sales Workshop. This event is not for everyone. Only people who are committed and serious about really ramping up their Sales in 2015. Places are limited so grab yours here…It is going to be great to meet 

you.

Thoughts:

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself”…Peter Drucker

“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets”…Nido Quebin

“If you use standard research methods you will have the same insights as everyone else”…David Nichols

 “Everyone is not your customer”…Seth Godin

“There is only on winning strategy. It is to carefully define the target market and direct a superior offering to that target market”…Philip Kotler

Dedicated to your success

Susan Gallagher
Business Performance Coach

Our next Workshop 'Double Your Sales in 2015' is on Friday 21st November 2014
To Book Simply go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/double-your-sales-in-2015-tickets-13756053727

"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cheshire cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’

         

How to be a complete and utter failure at sales

1. Set small goals

Stay comfortable, no need too take risks and get stressed because you set the bar to high. Keep telling yourself it is better to hit 100% of a £100K goal than £800K of a million pound goal.

2. Do no planning

Fly by the seat of your pants and learn to be reactive instead of proactive. It is not like you need to know where your next sale is coming from. Being organised and prioritising the pipeline into a clearly defined plan is for high achievers only. Better off sticking with the pipedream!

3. Have no objectives for every sales opportunity

By having no objectives you will never feel disappointed and you don’t want any of that do you? A big plus here is that if you have no objectives you can have a good chat and tell potential customers all about yourself.

4. Do no research

Time is precious why would you want to waste it checking out a potential client via the Web, Facebook, LinkedIn, their web site etc. The more you know about them will mean you might have all you need to build rapport and that might get in the way of you telling them all about you and your product!

5. Ensure your coffee goes cold

Because that will mean you are doing plenty of talking and very little listening. If you follow the tried and tested successful approach of asking questions and listening (2 ears 1 mouth use them in proportion) you might get the sale and you wouldn’t want that would you?

6. Always presume you know what they are talking about

You know best, and that means that you don’t need to clarify anything when the potential customer is telling you about their problem. Better to sell them your product than actually give them what they actually need.

7. Stick rigidly to your process

Stick to your guns and have no flexibility it is up to the prospect to fit into your system. No need to tax your brain in the ‘game of sales’.

8. Let them know how wrong they are when they give you an objection

How dare they object. You have given them your time, your best sales patter, and, of course , you know what is best for them. So therefore there is no need for you to consider any objections you may be given or fully prepare any solutions to help them overcome their fears.

9. Wait for them to get in touch

Agreeing the next steps and systemising your follow up process will get in the way of you doing more urgent work. After all they would be mad to go elsewhere to purchase what you have offered them wouldn’t they?

10. Do not build relationships

You have enough friends, facebook and linkedIn connections. More relationships will take up more of your time better to let them move on to your competition.

Alternatively

You may want to be successful at sales, you may want to be a sales superstar. An easy solution would be to flip these ten bad habits and work really hard at doing the opposite. Another and easier solution would be to attend our Double Your Sales in 2015 Workshop Learn more here….you will learn just what it takes to become a Sales Superstar…..it will be great to meet you.

Thoughts:

“A failure establishes only this: that our determination to succeed was not strong enough”…Bovee

“Failure is the condiment that gives success it flavour”…Truman Capate

“If you succeed, it’s your fault. If you fail to succeed, it’s also your fault.”…K.C. Prince

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”…John Wooden

“You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you.”…Maxwell Maltz

Susan Gallagher
Business Performance Coach

Our next Workshop 'Double Your Sales in 2015' is on Friday 21st November 2014 To Book Simply go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/double-your-sales-in-2015-tickets-13756053727

"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cheshire cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’

Telephone 0151 348 1202 / 07802 434 872
Growing Your Profit, Transforming Your Business, Changing Lives
www.mpcforprofit.com 

Just imagine how strange it would be for someone to go into McDonalds, patiently queue up, and, when it is their turn to be served, they ask the till operator “What’s the best price you can offer me on a big mac?” and when given the price, they reply with, “If that’s the best price you can give me, I need to go away and discuss it with my family.  I will come back to you and let you know about our decision.”

What are the chances of that really happening? I am sure you will agree, pretty slim. Why is that? It’s because it is a low risk purchase, which means little or no sales resistance  and less decision time on behalf of the customer which, therefore, requires a low sales effort on behalf of the till operator.

Now imagine you have decided to purchase yourself a new coffee machine and you see an advert for the very impressive Clover Coffee machine. So, in a similar scenario as above, you approach the company and ask, “How much?” Only to be told, 8500 euros! What is your sales resistance like now? How much sales effort is required? How much decision time is needed?

The clover coffee machine is real and until it was bought by Starbucks it was retailed at 8500 euros for the baby in their product range. So how on earth do you sell an 8500 euro coffee machine?

The way they achieved sales was by taking people through a carefully thought out sales process that would include a number of personal touches designed to build a relationship and trust.

Before I go on to explain the process and the difference having a process could make to your business, consider the McDonalds scenario and ask yourself “How often is a similar situation occurring in my business?” and “How often am I giving away my profit in order to make the sale?”

To sell a Clover Coffee machine, the first thing the sales person has to be really clear about is their target market because clearly it isn’t an ‘anybody in the market for a coffee machine’ kind of product. They will have a clearly defined description of their perfect customer. This allows the Clover Marketing team to have a laser like focus in their marketing efforts, instead of the more usual ‘shotgun’ approach to marketing.

This opens up the idea that a sales process is as much about de-selection as it is about selection. How much time is spent in businesses all over the country wasting the most precious resource we have; our time, hoping that people within the sales pipeline will one day make a purchase. The whole thing smacks of desperation and, once that sets in, the customers sense it and will begin to haggle on price. If YOU don’t see the value in YOUR product, then don’t expect the customer to see it either!

Once their marketing hit the spot, enquiries were made, and people are then offered the opportunity for a home trial. A company expert brings along the machine, a free supply of coffee beans and makes sure that invites are sent to the customer’s friends, family members and neighbours. With everybody gathered, the machine is strategically placed in a place of prominence in the kitchen and a demo is given to all attendees (or, should I say, additional future customers)! The question here is, ‘How good does coffee taste when it has been brewed in an 8500 euro machine?’ Once the expert is confident that the customer understands how to get the best from the machine he lets them get on with their trial.

This technique is what is known in sales as the ‘puppy dog close’. Imagine you are going to purchase a puppy and, when visiting a breeder, you find a pup that you take a liking to.  If the breeder were to say to you that you could take it home for a trial and give you some free food, all the while ensuring you know that the cute little pup has all its inoculations and that if you have any problems, you can just bring the puppy back and pick another… What are the chances that after a few weeks of growing attached to the pup you would decide to take it back? The same thing is happening here with the coffee machine, the customer will grow very attached to the superb coffee they are drinking and sharing with jealous friends, family and neighbours.

Once the trial period is over, the expert returns to discover what the customer has enjoyed most about having the machine, safe in the knowledge that they will have grown very attached to having this superb piece of engineering taking pride of place in their kitchen.

Once the customer is gushing over the experience they have had with the machine, they will then be shown the full range-remember, this was only the baby model. The customer, who has enjoyed showing off the new machine, is now shown bigger and better models, with the expert pointing out how much envy people would have if they had an even more impressive model to show off.

With the up-sell in place, the customer is now shown ways that this could be made more affordable by spreading the payments over a longer period and, of course, in no way will they miss out because the nice sales person will leave the present model with them until his or her new model arrives.

Now the sale can be made, “All we need to do to ensure delivery by xx date, is for you to autograph the paperwork…” and suddenly, a sale for a 8500+ euros coffee machine has been closed.

• The key pieces to this sales process are:
• Dealing with the correct target market
• They are only ever selling the next stage and not the machine: “We have this brilliant coffee machine for sale do you want to buy one?” will not work!
• They test, measure and constantly improve each stage; knowing where people dropping out of the process lets them know where improvements can be made.
•  Each stage is designed to grow the customer’s attachment to the machine and therefore provide a ‘need’ to purchase the product.
•  It is as much a de-selection process as a selection process

If you are selling a high ticket priced item ask yourself “What does my sales process look like? “Is it mapped out and does each stage build trust and relationship?” “ What measures have I got in place at each stage?”” What difference would it make if I did have a process?”

As I mentioned Clover Coffee machines are now owned by Starbucks and they are utilised in a number of their more upmarket stores where their clientele is generally more affluent.  Here, when ordering their coffee, customers can select their preferred coffee machine; the cheap regular coffee, or the Clover Coffee, which, incidentally, is about twice the price of the regular cup.  Another clever bit of sales work is at play here; customers are offered the prestige of ordering the most expensive coffees on the Starbuck menus in front of their company; friends, family, associates, clients etc. and Starbuck turn a nice profit, but also, the Clover name is spread and advertised more and more and, additionally, those same clients that were so delighted to show off their Clover Coffee machine to friends and family in the original sales pitch, can also reference the Starbuck model too-they will have their very own top of the range coffee machine that is so good that even Starbucks use it, but only for their top end customers of course! Double boasting rights.

Want to know how to put in place a sales process that will really ramp up the sales in your business? Come alongto our Double Your Sales Workshop. It will be great to meet you.

Thoughts:

“it’s not your customer’s job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you”…Patricia Fripp

“The sale begins when the customer says yes”…Harvey MacKay

“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service”…Brian Tracy

“In sales there are going to be times when you can’t make everyone happy. Don’t expect to and you won’t be disappointed. Just do your best for each client in each situation as it arises. Then learn from each situation how to do it better the next tiem”…Tom Hopkins

“Always be closing…That doesn’t mean you’re always closing the deal, but it does mean you need to be always closing on the next step of the process”…Shane Gibson

Dedicated to your success

Kevin
Business Performance Coach


Our next Workshop 'Double Your Sales in 2015' is on Friday 21st November 2014
To Book Simply go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/double-your-sales-in-2015-tickets-13756053727

"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cheshire cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’

Telephone 0151 348 1202 / 07802 434 872
Growing Your Profit, Transforming Your Business, Changing Lives
www.mpcforprofit.com 

How to turn Yesterday's NO into Tomorrow's Yes...

I imagine that all of us (including the top sales guys) have had to face up to the dreaded ‘NO’ in a sales meeting. For some, the answer is to say “never mind I will get the next one that is just one NO closer to a YES” and they move on and book their next appointment. The challenge is that by going into the next sales meeting and doing more of the same and expecting a different result is Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity.

What would be a better approach?

To treat the NO as feedback or indeed feed forward, learn from it so that at the next sales meeting you take those learnings and turn them into opportunities to get to YES more often.

A great place to start looking for some feed forward is from the person who said ‘NO.’ This can be a toughie because our ego tells us we don’t want to go back to the place of our past failures. You need to get over that because, at the end of the day, the only person who truly knows why they said ‘NO’ is the person who said ‘NO.’

To help you along, you might like to take this or a similar approach:

“Ian, I know that you have decided to place your order with ABC Company. First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity of meeting with you and for allowing me to present our product. I fully appreciate your decision and hope that everything goes as well as you expect it to with ABC. I do hope that you will consider doing business with me in the future and just so that I can help you better when that time does arrive, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions, so that I can understand how you made your decision.”
The fact that they have accepted your call, and that you asked nicely, would suggest that they are more than likely to agree to answer a couple of questions such as:

• Did I provide you with enough information within during our meeting for you to make an informed decision?
• Do you feel that I communicated in a clear and concise way?
• What added information did my competitor give you that helped you choose them?
• Did my competition present their offer in a way that was more appealing and if so how?
• What specific benefits do you see with going with my competitor?
• What could I have done better in my presentation?

Some people might prefer to be nice to you at this stage and as you may know nice is an acronym for Nothing Inside me Cares Enough or in other words they may not want to hurt your feelings. To compensate for the awkwardness of them giving negative feed forward you could say:

“I would really appreciate your honest opinion and candour. I consider myself to be a professional so there is no need to worry about hurting my ego. The information you give me will make sure that in future I am better equipped to help you and all my other clients.”

The key thing now is to let go of the ego; some of what they tell you may hurt, but remember it is feed forward and by taking great notes and applying what you learn you are definitely a NO closer to a YES.

We will be continuing with this sales thread over the next month or so but if you really want to ramp up the sales in your business join us at our ‘Double Your Sales in 2015’ workshop on Friday 21^st November.


Thoughts:

“If we learn from losing, we become winners in the end”…Anon

“Success is the culmination of failures, mistakes, false starts, confusion, and the determination to keep going anyway”…Nick Gleeson

“If we are smart, we make a lot of mistakes”…Raman Frey

“Too often, sales reps simply regurgitate their presentations and expect to land the sale. It doesn’t work”…Harvey Mackay

“You don’t close a sale; you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise”…Patricia Fripp

Kevin Gallagher
Business Performance Coach


Our next Workshop 'Double Your Sales in 2015' is on Friday 21st November 2014
To Book Simply go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/double-your-sales-in-2015-tickets-13756053727

"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cheshire cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’

Telephone 0151 348 1202 / 07802 434 872
Growing Your Profit, Transforming Your Business, Changing Lives
www.mpcforprofit.com

Ever heard “I love your product but it’s too expensive”? Here is one way of moving past it.

I’m guessing that at some stage in your career you will have been really pleased with a sales presentation you have given, consider you have ticked all the boxes and be dreaming about how good it will feel when you deposit the cheque in your bank account, only to be met with “I can’t afford it” “It’s too expensive” “I can get it cheaper from XYZ company,” or some variation of this theme. What tends to happen in this situation is the sales person becomes a crazy person and instantly begins to offer discounts. In other words, to give away their profit just to make the sale! That is one of the main reasons that we have so many Busynesses.

If you were to put yourself into the buyers shoes, you would see that the challenge they are having is twofold; they don’t want to make a bad decision which they will regret in the future or they have not seen the value in what it is you are selling. They do not feel there will be enough benefit for them for the money you are asking them to spend.

What they are not saying is, “NO!”  It is your job to calm their fears and help them reach a better decision (I am presuming here that they are better off with your product than without it).

So how can you handle this? There are a number of options open to you and, if possible, you should have plenty of them in your arsenal, but here is one that I have found works particularly well for both myself and my clients:

Agree with them.

Here’s an example of how this may sound:

“That could be true, Tom. I agree with you that nowadays we all want the most for our money. What I have found over the years and, I am sure you may have found this for yourself, is that the cheapest price is not always what we really want. In actual fact when making any kind of purchase most people look for three things:

1.          The best quality
2.          The best service
3.          The lowest price

I am yet to find a company that can offer all three: the best quality, the best service and the lowest price. Just so I can help you best, which one of those three are you most willing to give up? Quality? Service? Or Lowest price?”

Price is always a factor but most customers have an elasticity in their budget and will rarely want to skimp on quality and service.

In a nice, gentle way you have reminded them that you get what you pay for. By using this process you are reinforcing the benefits that you have already discussed with them in your sales presentation and this will also focus them in on the value you are offering.

They will start to think, “I may be able to go elsewhere, but what would be the long term costs of that decision?”

We will be continuing with this sales thread over the next month or so but if you really want to ramp up the sales in your business join us at our ‘Double Your Sales in 2015’workshop on Friday 21st November

Thoughts

“I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard”…Estee Lauder

“People don’t ask for fact in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen fact”…Robert Keith Leavit

“People don’t like to be sold but they love to buy”…Jeffrey Gitomer

“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry. No desire, no trust”…Zig Ziglar

“Persuasion occurs when trust and confidence meet belief, risk tolerance and safet”…Jeffrey Gitomer

Dedicated to your success
Susan
Business Performance Coach

Our next Workshop 'Double Your Sales in 2015' is on Friday 21st November 2014
To Book Simply go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/double-your-sales-in-2015-tickets-13756053727

"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cheshire cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go’

Telephone 0151 348 1202 / 07802 434 872
Growing Your Profit, Transforming Your Business, Changing Lives
www.mpcforprofit.com

Rituals Vs RICHuals

Do you ever have those days where everything appears to be against you? No matter what you try to do, you feel as if you are banging your head against a wall.

Alternately, do you ever have those days where everything seems effortless? A hot knife through butter day.

Ever find yourself asking the question, “How do I have more of the effortless days?”  The answer may well be closer than you think….

Imagine:

After a lousy night’s sleep the alarm rings out and you think to yourself “Here we go again, another day in paradise, another lousy night’s sleep and I don’t deserve that,” so you reach over and hit the snooze button or reset the alarm clock. Eventually, you get up and because you are now against the clock, everything has to be done at twice the pace. Coffee, breakfast and getting dressed on the run. A lot later than you anticipated, you get into your car and as you are driving off your drive you realise you have left important documents on the kitchen side. You make your way back into the house to find that in your rush you left your coffee cup on top of your now stained documents, and you think to yourself “It is going to be one of those days!”

You get under way again and it is now 30 minutes later than the time you had planned to leave and you suddenly remember at this time, every day, it’s school run time, which means the roads will almost certainly be busy and will no doubt delay you getting to work. Guess what, you’re right and to add to your woes there is roadwork’s as well.

By the time you arrive at work (50 minutes late), you are not in the best of moods; the whole world seems to be against you and you just know that for today at least it isn’t get any better…..

What’s happened here is that because of a poor night’s sleep, you have put in place a set of rituals that just do not serve you, sure they are easier at the time and seem perfectly logical, but you have allowed your ego to take charge and now you are having to deal with the consequences.

How could this have been prevented? How could this have been one of those knife through butter days?

Changing Rituals into RICHuals…Now imagine:

Last thing before you left work the previous evening, you checked in with your 90 day plan (I am going to presume that you are a very savvy business owner and understand the importance of having a plan, if you don’t have one you can get one here… ) and you have taken the information from your plan and set a ‘to achieve list’ for the following day. You have also prioritised your list taking into account any important meetings, calls you need to make, etc.. With work put to bed you now head home for a nice relaxing evening which will include some reading of either a business or a self-development book because you understand the effect that growing your knowledge has on the outcomes in your life.

Nice and relaxed you head off to bed. You set the alarm on the other side of the room or maybe you don’t need an alarm your passion will get you up nice and early. Because you have planned the next day you are able to enjoy a relaxing night’s sleep and upon waking, you leap out of bed telling yourself what a great day it is going to be.

You then proceed to do some form of exercise for half an hour, maybe take the dog for a walk and all the while you are telling yourself how lucky you are to have such fabulous people in your life and your business.

You sit down for a relaxing breakfast with your family, clear in the knowledge that you have plenty of time because you have planned everything in advance.

Leaving home nice and early, allows you to listen to a motivating CD, perhaps the autobiography of someone you admire, to top up your knowledge and provide inspiration because you believe in the value of turning your car into a travelling university.

Because you arrive at work early, you have the office to yourself so there are no disturbances, which allows you to get on with some of the mundane tasks that later in the day could get in the way of you completing the important stuff. All this means that before most of the other staff have arrived you have cleared a great deal of your ‘to achieve list’ and you know that once again that by having put into place some RICHuals and being disciplined in following them you have set yourself up to have an exceptional day.

You might be asking why I have changed rituals into RICHuals; truth is what we are talking about here are habits and, as you know, some habits work well for you whilst some work against you. Having a daily set of good habits/RICHuals will help you have a RICH and fulfilling life/business.

Quite often when life isn’t going the way we like it we tend to blame other things for conspiring against us, when in actual fact it is ourselves that is at cause. The fix although not easy, is really simple; take a look at your daily habits and ask are they empowering me or working against me? Then put in place a plan to change one or two habits at a time. Attempting to change everything in one hit rarely works because it takes us into overwhelm. As the new habits become ingrained and working automatically add another new habit from your plan.

Slowly but surely you will notice changes taking place until suddenly the effect of all your new habits/RICHuals will reach a tipping point and your life/business just gets easier, RICHer and more fulfilling.

Give it go you know it only works.

Thoughts:

”Constant dripping hollows out a stone.”…Lucretius

“Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.”…Marabel Morgang

“Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting”….Christopher Morely

“It’s never crowded along the extra mile.”….Dr Wayne Dyer

“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”…John Dryden

Kevin Gallagher 

Business Performance Coach

Our Next FREE Seminar 'Learn The Secrets to Unlocking the Success In Your Business' is on Thursday 11th September TO REQUEST YOUR INVITATION Simply email info@mpcforprofit.com and we'll do the rest.

Telephone 0151 348 1202 / 07802 434 782
Growing Your Profit, Transforming Your Business, Changing Lives
www.mpcforprofit.com