Recently on Sales

Are you thinking that maybe it is time to brush up on your sales skills? How about your company? Are there salespeople in your organization that could benefit from training to improve their skills and positively affect the bottom line?

Many times I am asked by clients to review their business model
in an effort to help them with their marketing or business development.
There are many times that these same clients have actually developed a product that they feel is superior in performance and appearance.

When I ask them why anyone should prefer their product to any other similar products they always tell me that their product has one or more features that make it better.  In this post we will look at the importance of innovation, the traps and the advantages and how to prosper from it.

Just about everyone in business is selling these days. The ability to sell and persuade customers is a skill that takes some time to develop and is among one of the highest paid activities any business owner can do. 

Last week my wife and I were invited to be a guest of CH Premier Jewelers as they hosted the Patek Phillipe watch collection. For those of you not familiar with Patek Phillipe, it is one of the worlds top luxury watch makers that can trace their origination to 1839. So, if you like complicated watches and have an eye for quality workmanship this is the brand that you look to set the standard. Therefore, when I received the parchment invitation I quickly accepted.

In part one we introduced some of the problems companies face when simply demanding more from their salespeople these days.

In this second part we will look at where the hidden costs are for most companies and what can be done to overcome a non producing salesperson or sales team.

Although what is discussed here pertain to a mid to large sales organizations, the same issues also affect small companies with only one or two salespeople. By taking note of these common misconceptions and the practical solutions presented here companies can significantly improve their bottom line

The recent economic challenges has caused many owners and managers to have a sense of urgency in bringing in sales like never before. It was not  long ago when simply having the open sign turned on meant people would buy and revenues would come int. Not anymore.

The desperation caused by low sales numbers had resulted in businesses responding by demanding more from their sales personnel. It is believed that placing more pressure on the sales team will result in increased sales activity and make up for the massive loss in revenue.

When I checked my mail today, I eagerly tore off the plastic wrap of this month's edition of Wired magazine and flipped open to find myself staring at the start of an article entitled "The Good Enuf Rvlutn" about how cheap and simple beats perfect almost every time.

I'm always surprised when I meet a fellow entrepreneur who's working on a fantastic new product that could be on the market today, but has instead spent the past 3 years - and plans to spend the next 2 years - getting it "just right."

The Despair poster for Quality sums it up best:

"The Race for Quality Has No Finish Line - so Technically It's More Like a Death March."

When creating new products - and please keep in mind I'm not talking about implantable medical devices, surgical instruments, avionics, or bear spray - it's better to get your product to market and tweak as you go than spend years in development.

I was flipping through the latest edition of the Robb Report earlier today and saw an advertisement from British Airways on their upcoming new level of pond-hopping service on custom-built Airbus A318s starting at $12,290 before taxes and fees.

For part 2 of my 3 part series on Marketing Campaigns Gone Wrong, let's take a look at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

As marketer, we work so hard to get a prospect into our business, and have them opt-in, become a paying customer, or try our product. What happens from there, however, is a different story.

Imagine that your business is a bucket. You pour customers into the top, and hope to retain as many as possible. Now image that your bucket has a small hole in the side and customers are leaking out and you have to continually market to put more into the top.

Now image that bucket has lots of holes, and some of them are BIG holes, letting boatloads of paying customers with cash in hand pour out the sides and away from your business. That's what can happen to all of us in our businesses, and it happens to big business, too.

What follows are three marketing campaigns that were excellent at driving traffic to a business, but fell down from there leaving heaping mounds of money pouring out of the bucket.