Done well with consistency and synergy, PR and marketing are really cost effective ways of bringing in new customers, so start 2010 with a brilliant plan to keep that flow of clients through the door.

1. Set aside some time.  You can’t do any planning effectively if you have given yourself half an hour between a sales appointment and a teleconference with a feisty supplier.  Clear the diary, hold your calls and promise not to check your email for at least two hours because you need to give your brain some breathing space.

2. Spot your core customer.  Analyse your customer base to find out who is spending the most with you, how often they are coming back and what they are buying.  You should be able to identify a core customer and they are the ones you should be targeting for the best chance of success

3.  Know where your profit is coming from.  It might be that most of your profit comes from one or two big deals or it might come from lots of the smaller transactions.  If you have limited resources for PR and marketing in terms of time and money you should spend it on the part of the business which will bring you the maximum return

4. Focus on what you want to say.  Really hone in on the one or two most important things about your business which could be your key services or the things you do better or differently.  Don’t try and tell everyone everything or no one will understand what you are trying to say

5. Understand your competitors.  Look at what they say about themselves, how they position their business, where they are investing their marketing money.  You can then be clear about your niche and how you differ from everyone else in the market

6. Be realistic. By now you will have narrowed down what you want to say, who you want to say it to and why you are telling them.  This will make drawing up the activity plan much simpler but choose activities which are achievable within the time and budget you have available.  Your PR and marketing plan should be an integral part of your business not a nuisance so give yourself a plan you can do.

7. Let ‘little and often’ be your mantra.  Your marketing messages will be better understood if you are consistent with what you say and you say it regularly.  Committing to a small amount of time each week on what appear to be low key activities will bring you much more success than one big event with a brass band and dancing girls followed by nothing for the rest of the year.

Related posts:

1. 7 tips to grow your business & sales in 2010
2. 7 more tips to grow your business & sales in 2010

Wear your customer’s shoes. Whatever you call them – customers, clients, punters or patrons – gain an insight into what switches them on and, more importantly, what might turn them off. It’s not enough to ask merely what your customers want – you must discover what they REALLY want. What are their preferences, their worries, their agendas, their problems, their passions? Knowledge equates to leverage.

Know your best customers. It’s tempting to think that all customers are great customers – but this isn’t always so. Your BEST customers are the ones who love what you do, who don’t mind paying a little more, who come back again and again, who tell their friends and contacts and who want you to look after them forever and a day. You want more customers like this and less of those who don’t fit the bill.

No plan means no action. A plan of action is the single most important tool in your quest for success. There is only one way to produce an effective plan and that is to write it down. As long as it exists only in your head it is no more than a lose collection of ideas. Written out it becomes a visible, measurable, manageable and powerful commitment.

Carry people with you. To be completely effective your plan should be shared with those who will be involved in delivering it. Those around you will pull your wagon more willingly if they understand your rationale and are fully involved and inspired by the journey ahead.

Communicate clearly. A message in your mind can sometimes be a very different thing to the message you want to send to your customers. Try to stick with single-minded pointers, which are more effective than the complex multi-layered variety. Make sure that your marketing message is relevant to your customers – their stuff must always come before your stuff. Test everything before publishing anything.

Select media with care. Whatever else you do, don’t automatically assume that you need a truckload of brochures, an impressive website, a hip blog or any other habitually bought-in promotional asset. All these techniques will communicate but your goal should be to select THE route or routes that will connect most effectively (and deliberately) with your targets. Don’t count the people you reach, reach the people who count!

Measure, measure, measure. A famous advertiser once complained that only half his advertising efforts were effective. His big concern however was that he didn’t know which half! If you didn’t know whether your marketing efforts are working then you can’t adjust them or establish a value for your outlay. If you don’t measure properly, you can’t manage properly.

Business success is not a secret available only to a privileged few. It is available to anyone who takes the time and trouble to think through the necessary steps.

Related posts:

1. 7 tips to grow your business & sales in 2010

Fine-tune whatever you sell. It doesn’t matter if you sell a product or a service. Either way you should be asking yourself if it can be improved. If the offering itself can’t be polished then what can be done to change the way it reaches and excites the buyer?

Look carefully at your competitors. Who are they? Where are they? What are they doing, saying, selling, charging? How are they weaker or stronger than you? Study what the enemy do particularly well, then look for ways that you can do better still. Being better than your competitors – even in a small way – will give you a point of difference.

Create a point of difference. Being different from your competitors is an advantage because it helps you stand out – and if you stand out you become easier to notice and easier to remember. Being different also means you don’t need to compete head-on with an identical offering so you’ll spend less time, effort and money on marketing – it’s win-win!

Map your market. How crowded is it? Who else is there? What might change? Eighty percent of the products we use today did not exist 25 years ago. That’s a huge amount of changes and somewhere along the way those changes created winners as well as losers. The trick is to look ahead and see change coming. Once you know that, you should aim to be a part of it rather than a victim of it.

Know your own business. No enterprise can prepare for an offensive without first taking stock of its situation. Be realistic. What shape are you in? Are you well resourced, running smoothly and in profit? Or are you desperate, poorly funded and weak? The answer to these questions should influence whatever is contained in your plan of action.

Be honest about your skills. Nobody can be good at everything. Nobody can be everywhere at once. Nobody can really be effective if they work 24/7. Realise where your time is most productively spent then task others to do everything else. If you are aware of weaknesses in your personal skills repertoire which might create weaknesses in the business, then seek professional advice or coaching to help you plug the gaps.

Don’t overlook your personality. Frequently the magic ingredient that sets one company apart is not WHAT it does, which is very seldom unique, but the WAY it does things – which almost certainly IS unique. Identify the values and traits that make your business special, then celebrate and amplify them.

We live in exciting times. Rather than hope to succeed why not seize the day and plan to succeed. Don’t miss the next seven pointers.

Related posts:

1. 7 more tips to grow your business & sales in 2010
2. 7 tips on starting 2010 with a strong PR and marketing plan

Not only is editorial coverage free, but it is much more likely to be read than adverts, so for these two reasons alone, you should try to generate some press coverage for your business.

1.  Know the name of the journalist.

Each newspaper will allocate a specific area for a particular journalist to cover.  Addressing your news to the right person means it is less likely to get lost.  It also gives you the chance to build up a relationship with the journalist over time as you send out more news.

2.  Know your deadlines

Newspapers are divided into key sections: features, news, sports.  Find out which days of the week they do the main news pages so you can send them your information on the right day.  Crucially, make sure you know the day they go to press and never call or send them details on that day as the journalists will be really busy finishing the paper and will not respond.

3.  Make sure you are in the catchment area

Newspapers will only cover news from businesses which are within their circulation area, even if the goods or services you provide can be enjoyed by their readers (they have to draw the line somewhere).  So make sure you know every publication which covers the town in which you are based and don’t waste your time sending details to any others.

4.  Include a photograph with a person in it

Always include a photo if you can as you will increase the chances of your story being picked for publication – as long as it is a good photo of course.  Include people but make sure the shot is tight in eg it is just of the subject’s head and shoulders.  If there is a product to be photographed get them to pick it up or crouch down alongside it.  It might feel contrived but the photo will look better.

5.  Get the important details down straight away

Make sure the first paragraph  includes the crucial details so the journalist (who will have about 20 releases a day to read) can understand what the press release is about straight away.  Include where, so they know it is within their area, names, dates and a brief outline of what the story is about.  Leave the quotes and the superlatives for the remaining ten paragraphs.

6.  Don’t forget the contact details

It is unlikely that the journalist will use your press release verbatim and they may need to contact you to clarify details so make sure at the end of the release you include a name, telephone number and email address.  Don’t just ask them to refer to a website.

7.  Buy It

Having been a journalist myself, there is nothing more infuriating than being chased by someone wanting to know if their release went into the paper.  If you have sent a release for consideration, checked that the journalist has received it, then go and buy the paper yourself to see if it has been included.  If it isn’t in, then there is nothing wrong with checking with the journalist to see if it might go in next week.

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1. 7 tips if you are thinking of selling your business

The following 7 ideas may help your business avoid disruption during the postal strikes. They won’t apply to all businesses, but I hope they’ll give food for thought.

1. Ditch the cheque. The new Faster Payments service is easy and it works. Even BACS payments only take three days. Ask your clients to pay you electronically – offer them support if they’ve not done it before. Electronic payments are cheaper and faster for all concerned. If your bank don’t help you switch away from the cheque ditch them too – they don’t deserve your custom.

2. Talk to a courier firm. Couriers are more expensive than first class it’s true, but what is your product worth to your customer? Why not give them the choice of a guaranteed delivery for a little more cash. If shipping lots of low value items is your bread and butter this isn’t likely to be an option, but people know that the supply chain is disrupted and will respect you for offering alternatives.

3. Compensate your customers for a disrupted service. It’s all about taking control. Some subscription magazines have opened up free access to their online content to compensate print subscribers for delayed delivery. Think of low value solutions that could mean a lot to your customers. If word gets out it could be great publicity and will put you ahead of the competition.

4. Send documents electronically. PDF is a great format for securely exchanging documents with people, and it doesn’t need to cost a thing. There are free PDF tools available to download which will create PDF files from any application (see www.cutepdf.com). If a document needs to be signed will the recipient accept a scanned copy? Scanners are cheap and will output in a variety of file formats (including PDF) ready for you to email.

5. If you’re sending out marketing material by post consider changing to an online/email campaign. The web is awash with ideas about using social networking and web 2 applications for marketing and it doesn’t need to be costly and time consuming.  Ask a designer to help you develop a simple HTML email campaign or blog and twitter about your services. If you’re smart the results can be instant and powerful.

6. Study your supply chain. If you send products locally can you deliver in person or invite customers to collect from you direct? Again everyone knows there’s a strike on and people will respect you for giving them options. It could be a great way of building stronger relationships with your clients. If you ship a lot of “stuff” long distances have you considered a distributor? With great economies of scale they can secure better prices with carriers other than Royal Mail and it might free up your precious time to work on new business.

7. Relax! In this “just in time” world everyone wants everything now. However if you have a good relationship with your customers and are honest with them, you might find them to be more compassionate and forgiving than you would expect.

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1. Understand your audience

Due diligence is key before pitching for new business. Ensure you understand exactly what the company’s objectives are, and how your services can specifically help them achieve those goals. In addition, if the business has a particularly strong credit position despite a challenging market, mentioning this demonstrates that you make it a priority to research and understand your customers.

2. Promote stability

Big business may have concerns that SMEs are less financially stable and therefore less able to provide a guaranteed level and duration of service. It is vital to quash any uncertainties by actively promoting your business’ financial health and long term plans to prospective clients. Be prepared to lucidly discuss your business plan and structure, noting milestones and targets, making it clear that you are able to partner your clients for the long term.

3. Price sensibly

Prices should be based on your operational costs and must be sustainable from the outset. Companies that win business simply by undercutting the market have a tendency to be unstable and often go bust. Be competitive, but price sensibly to maintain a stable position and demonstrate to prospective customers the your service represents value for money.

4. Prioritise customer service

A good technique is to ensure that your core team are trained to understand as many different areas of your business and the general business landscape as possible, so that when speaking to a customer they can address any question or request directly. A knowledgeable account manager is vital for corporates that demand a quick, responsive service.

5. Innovate

Having a good understanding of your customer base is key to providing a service that is relevant and useful. Ask your customers what additional business requirements they have. By doing this, Opus was able to identify a need in the corporate market for an online flexible energy purchasing platform. This was then developed in house and launched as Opus Evolution in September 2007. This service has since become one of Opus Energy’s leading products, boosting turnover in the past 12 months by 25%. In a competitive market, smaller players need to use their flexibility to innovate and quickly respond to customer needs in order to stay at the forefront of the market.

6. Network

Existing contacts and referrals are likely to make up the majority of good business leads, particularly for SMEs with smaller marketing budgets. Ensure that you are involved in industry business associations. Attending industry events with a demonstrable product is also a good way to encourage interaction with potential customers. Case studies also help potential customers to identify with similar problems that your service has provided the solution for. Corporates are much more likely to consider you as a contender having seen glowing reviews from their peers.

7. Retain customers

Customer retention should be a priority. Face-to-face contact is essential to build and maintain working relationships with corporate customers, as it shows a commitment to their business. It is amazing how few businesses do this as standard. Opus Energy’s high customer retention rate has been achieved by ensuring that account managers travel to their client’s sites for regular after sale meetings and account reviews. The effort should not stop once the sale has been closed, instead it should increase, with each customer being valued as a long term investment.

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It’s been a great first few months for SmallBizPod Sevens with over 100 contributors signed up and lots of excellent advice and tips uploaded. Now for news of the first Sevens winner.

Every four months (rather than once a quarter – apols for changing the goalposts slightly!) we’ll be giving the #1 contributor to SmallBizPod Sevens an iPod Touch and £100 to a charity of their choice.

The winning set of tips is based purely on the number of times the article has been read and voted on according to the analytics on our site.

And so, for the period 15 January to 15 May 2009, here are the top 7.

They’re all good to read, with some great practical advice, so do check them out, if you get a chance. Also I hope they might inspire you to offer up your own advice for start-ups and fellow entrepreneurs

1. 7 practical tips on marketing your small business website

2. 7 things you need to know about ebid

3. 7 tips on business advertising on Facebook

4. 7 quick business networking tips

5. 7 tips for implementing effective health and safety

6. 7 things to consider before starting a business

7. 7 tips for a successful franchise

So there we are. Joe White wins an iPod Touch and £100 to donate to a charity of his choice.

If you’d like to contribute, do check out all the details on how to upload your business tips here.

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1. Let your prospect state their needs before you attempt to sell anything. Finding out what your prospect wants – needs analysis – is extremely important. By giving them the opportunity to explain you will, in effect, gain their approval in advance, providing that you can then present your pitch in a way that meets each of their stated needs. Another advantage of this approach is that the prospect is less likely to later dispute or change the spec as it was theirs in the first place.

2. In personal selling situations good rapport is vital. First impressions take just seconds to form and can be irreversible. Remember too that first impressions are not reliant upon words but can include intangibles such as demeanour, manner, dress sense and even humour.

3. Understanding why people buy is key in both marketing and selling. Ultimately, most purchases are made for one of the following three reasons: NECESSITY – My car is totally unreliable so I need a new one; OPPORTUNITY – There’s a special offer on my dream car – I must buy now while stocks last. DESIRE – Wow! The body styling of the new turbo model is so-ooo cool… I have to have it!

4. Different buyers will have different priorities so you should be prepared to adapt your selling pitch according to the circumstances. For example a corporate purchaser will most likely be focused on price, reliability and quality – logical decision drivers. On the other hand, an individual or small group will be more able to focus on lifestyle or fashion preferences, personal taste or ego – emotional drivers. The closer that your pitch fits with their mindset the closer you will be to a successful sale.

5. There are surprisingly few barriers that will consistently prevent buyers from committing – just four in fact. Here they are: What you are selling is simply not relevant to them (“Whadya mean you don’t need a pink zeppelin?”); What you are selling is in some way defective; There is something wrong with your sales pitch; There is something wrong with you (time to check-in with an image consultant maybe).

6. Alternatively, there are several things you can do to sway the buyer. These winning moves include: having an offering that is relevant, different and good quality; presenting it at the right time and at the right price; being convenient and easy to deal with; being likeable and easy to get along with; being persuasive and using a convincing, benefit-led sales pitch. If all else fails, you can try to present your offering as the only one of its kind in town.

7. Lastly, the golden rule. Never buy the sale. By all means give a little ground here and there if it helps negotiations. And by all means add extra value – such as free delivery or a few accessories – but do avoid the temptation of reducing your selling price to rock bottom or beyond just to win a sale. Price slashing is not a sustainable, long-term strategy. Remember that neither you or your business can survive for long without making a realistic profit.

Related posts:

1. 7 tips if you are thinking of selling your business
2. 7 tips to grow your business & sales in 2010
3. 7 steps on converting web traffic to sales for your business

Marketing is key – no matter what your business
If you’re just starting out, then depending on the industry you are entering, you may hold marketing as being secondary, in many respects, to your day-do-day focus on ‘just getting the job done’.

This may be particularly true for tradesman and those entering the service industry, but I’m living proof that no matter what your service or business offering, an active and creative marketing strategy can prove invaluable.

A plumbing firm may be the last place you might expect to find a comprehensive marketing strategy in action, but it’s played a key role in the ongoing success of Pimlico Plumbers.

Research is a key part of the marketing process so you are only as good as your research. Spend time finding out the facts about your potential customers and also about your competitors as that is the best way to always stay ahead of the game.

Communication is key – mix it up
Marketing is a way to engage new customers, which is so important when, in the current climate, financial pressures may cause your current customer base to shrink, that said, it also encourages existing customers to stay with you. There are now more channels of communication than ever before, and if you get a good mix across the board then you could soon reap the benefits.

Established business?– get back to basics
When you have been in business a while, especially as a small-medium sized business, or when time pressures are tight, there is a tendency to focus only on what has worked in the past. If a certain channel of communication has proven successful, then it can be tempting to just keeping doing it. Whilst it’s fair to say that ’if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, it is also important to be aware that there are now more communications channels than ever before, so it important to be aware of new opportunities to have a look at any areas which you may have let slip. Get back to basics, refresh the activity you are doing and make sure you are covering all the angles.

Equally, when business is booming it can be easy to place marketing on the back-burner. But when your busy spell inevitably starts to slow you may find yourself behind and even back to square one. You have always got to stay one step ahead of your competition!

Communicate – don’t forget the power of public relations
PR is an essential part of the marketing mix. It can take many shapes and forms, but ultimately helps communicate your business messages to those key audiences you wish to reach. If PR is not something you are familiar with, then don’t be afraid to seek professional support from experts. One skill for any entrepreneur to learn is knowing when to delegate. I know what I’m good at and I know when to use the outside services. Currently Pimlico use the services of two PR agencies, who work closely with our internal PR Manager to maximise, devise and manage the opportunities for Pimlico to be seen and heard.

Get online – take advantage of the web
Having a clear, user friendly website has never been so important. Now, more than ever before, consumers are accessing the internet and using it as a research tool, to help them make an informed decision on future expenditure, and to choose their supplier. Investing in your website and making sure it is up to date with the latest prices, contact details and business developments is vital to ensure you are not missing out. Your website is the electronic face of your business. It communicates your brand, your services and your values, so make sure it is saying what you want it to say and keep it up-to-date

Are you twittering? – social networking could help your business
The internet is now a daily part of many people’s lives and millions of individuals are now members of social networking sites and other new media. Businesses are increasingly seeing the benefits of social networking sites as a way to engage with customers on a further level. Along with newspapers, magazines, campaign groups, industry figures and politicians, anyone keen to communicate is now getting involved. See if a presence on a social site could benefit you.

If times are tough – consider carefully before making cuts
When times are tough and budgets are tight the first casualty can often be marketing spend. But I would advise anyone thinking of cutting back to consider their decision carefully. When competition for work grows, you need to ensure you are visible, available and providing the best service you can.

Related posts:

1. 7 tips on starting 2010 with a strong PR and marketing plan
2. 7 small business online marketing ideas for 2010

Don’t get business cards unless you’re going to use them

Millions of business cards are printed every day, but a high proportion of them wind up as pulp because their owners don’t spend any significant time meeting people as part of their day to day business. If you’re running a retail shop, for example, you probably won’t need very many cards – whereas a typical business advisor or consultant will need lots.

Don’t DIY

After you’ve left a meeting or networking event your business card is usually the only tangible reminder people have of your business. If that reminder is obviously home-made or you’ve used a standard template, off the shelf template for your cards (there’s a purple one I’ve seen lots of times handed out by lifecoaches!) then you won’t be remembered as the professional and well prepared person you no doubt are.

Get your message across

Spend some time thinking about the name of your business, your logo and the style of text etc on your card and get professional help with the design. If your name and logo don’t make it obvious what you do – look at adding a strap line to the card to help people remember. For example, if your card says ‘Fred Bloggs Associates’ it would be a good idea to add ‘Business Advice Services’ or ‘Chartered Accountants’ or ‘IT for Small Businesses’ to give potential clients that critical reminder.

Look at your contact details objectively

Little details can give big clues to a client about the nature of your business. ‘Orchard Cottage’ is obviously a residential address, ‘Orchard House’ may not be – a PO Box may be hiding something. Using an email address like fred@btinternet.com looks cheap and unprofessional so why not spend £20 or so on a domain name that matches your business name?

Consider using the back of the card

Many people swear by this – if there’s key information that you think clients would find useful then in theory putting it on the back of your card will make people keep your card rather than throwing it away. I’ve seen rugby fixture dates, tax rates and other information on the bakcs of cards – but bear in mind that if the information goes out of date you’ll need a new set!

Avoid gimmicks

There are quite a lot of ‘different’ kinds if card around – unusual shapes, cards that unfold into brochures or that come in cute little envelopes. This is a personal opinion only but I think anything that doesn’t fit in a standard sized card box (or can be made to fit by removing its container/extras) is probably a waste of money.

Only carry one kind of card

It’s becoming very common for people to run multiple businesses and I have often come away from a networking event with 2 or 3 cards for the same person. While it’s good to have a separate corporate identity for each business I think it’s potentially very confusing for clients if you hand out multiple cards. I think its best to go to any meeting or event with a clear idea of which business you’re promoting and ONLY hand out cards for that.

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One clear story

The media are looking for a hook or a story with a news angle. If you think you have an interesting news item and want to develop a press release remember that you must sum up the fundamental detail in the first paragraph. You must answer the questions – who? what? where? how? why? – in one short, snappy opening paragraph.

Is it news?

What benefit is your news to readers? Is it relevant and timely?

Having a new financial manager at your business might seem like news to you but that doesn’t mean its going to make the front page of The Sun! Your story either needs to be of regional, national, global or trade importance, depending on which publication you are targeting.

Who is your audience?

Before writing your release you need to decide where you want your story to appear. Is this a trade, business, local or national story? You must be realistic.

Explain how your news affects other people, customers, companies, the local area, or the world. Your company launching a new product is great to you, but what about other people? What are the benefits to them or the wider economy?

Types of stories

Use classic business stories that are rolled out year-in-year-out to make the news. These include – business milestones, new products, key appointments, deals and MBOs.

Make it easy for journalists

Journalists want brief, easy to digest information and a story they can grasp in one minute. Try to write a press release that is one page long, includes the date, headline, four paragraphs and a quote. Remember to always use lower case letters when writing people’s job titles.

Are there newsworthy people involved in your company’s event? Even using a local celebrity can go a long way. Are you promoting or advocating for a cause? Do you contribute a percentage of the profits to a charity? Does your company sponsor a fundraising event? This is almost always a newsworthy tie-in.

When sending your release aim to either use a media database or look on the website of the publication you want to target to find the name and email address of the relevant journalist.

When emailing keep emails short and sweet, do not start an email with ‘hey’, and if you do call always do this in the afternoon and keep it short. Journalists are time challenged so ensure you sum up your story succinctly. Also do not send large jpegs that will clog up a journalists’ inbox.

Headlines and quotes

This is the first thing a journalist will notice. It has to be eye catching. Try and come up with a headline that’s to-the-point. Puns also work well but don’t make them too cheesy!

Only include two quotes at most and make them relevant to your story and use one spokesperson.

KISS

Keep It Simple Stupid! Always write clearly so a journalist will have to make as few edits as possible.

Remember that although the ultimate goal is to get promotion for your company, you also have to give the media good stories. Do not write a release that is effectively an advert. There needs to be some kind of news element in your release.

One final tip is most successful PR professionals develop personal relationships with key journalists and develop a sixth sense for whom to offer which stories to. So try and invite a few of your key contacts out for a coffee and get to know them.

Related posts:

1. 7 tips for getting local press coverage

Over the last 10 years sales has become firmly established as a respected career with professional standards and a proven path to senior management along with finance and operations. Standards of training and professionalism continue to improve and yet we are all capable of falling into bad habits.

1. Short Termism

Too often we don’t consider the long-term value of a customer. Profitable relationships, built up over years, can be lost because of one hasty decision or a complaint poorly handled. Not only do you lose that customer for life but they will create a negative network that loses you a whole host of new prospects and you are left wondering why. Think about not just the current sale but how much that customer is worth over the five or ten years you may be doing business with them.

2. Bloodhounding

This is where we take a call. The guy says he’s interested, so we get in the car and drive to Penzance. We drop everything and follow the latest scent like the bloodhound. We neglect the business we currently have on our plate and jeopardise real customers for the sake of an unknown quantity. This shows a lack of structure and a need for training in planning and time management. The old adage applies “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

3. Over Promising

Good sales people under-sell by lowering a customer’s expectations and then either meet or exceed them. Customers respect the conservative approach and will conclude that you know your business and that you are being realistic. Far better to win the sale based on achievable objectives than to over-sell and under-deliver. Account management training is essential, especially in the early days when enthusiasm can sometime over ride good business sense

4. Phonophobia

When you get into sales you know you will have to cope with rejection on the phone. So you have two choices: use the training to overcome rejection and see it as a challenge or give up and change career. It is vital at the interview stage to filter out those people, who will never be able to cope with rejection. Some people interview well, but fall apart when it comes to a negative response. Look out for people who have had lots of sales jobs in a short space of time. Cold calling training with simple techniques will massively improve your success rate on the phone, if you apply them. One example that works for me on a first intro call is: using “could I speak to…” instead of “can I”, saying “thank you” rather than “please” and saying your own name twice. The mix of deference and assertiveness will help you get past the gatekeeper.

5. Over informing

The suspect calls and you reply with a 20-page proposal and put it in your pipeline. You have avoided the issue of finding out whether the caller is serious by putting a weighting factor on the suspect. In the graduate recruitment business we make sure that our sales people always weight the opportunity by scoring them according to a number of factors: Do they employ sales people already? Are they growing? Do they understand our proposition? Do they have a timescale?

6.Non-referring

Some sales people just will not ask for a referral and yet it should be the easiest “ask” of all. Why? Because it doesn’t cost them anything. Networking is the most powerful source of new business, so always ask the customer for a referral and don’t be put off by the answer that they want to try out the service before referring you. The best time to ask for referral is early on. In a business-social setting the ability to network is essential if the event is to be anything more than death by finger-buffet. We actually run a course in how to “work the room.” By studying body language you can learn how some people seem to be able to move with ease around a room, remembering everyone’s name and coming away with a fistful of referrals.

7 Ostriching

When a deal goes pear-shaped you can either run and hide – in which case it will get worse and be a thorn in your side for years to come – or you can front it up and deal with it. Over the years I have often found that my worst customers often become my best. Why? Because you take the complaint seriously, escalate it to senior management. The client then sees all these senior guys crawling over his company and he knows you are serious. He forgets about the original issue and just remembers the attention level he got. He will then recommend you to others. If you do this the worst that can happen is that you will lose the sale…but you had lost the sale anyway so it’s all to gain.

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1.  Before you attend any business networking event make sure you have practiced your 60 second pitch. This will allow you to easily and quickly articulate what your business offers, and the benefits it may have for the person you’re speaking to.

2.  Make sure before you attend any networking event that you know what your aims are and what you want to get out of the function. It is very easy to gravitate towards friends and associates, and whilst this may be more comfortable you must remember it is a business event at which to meet new people, and not a social gathering.

3.  Ask for a delegate list prior to the event. This will allow you to research the kind of contacts who will be attending, and you will know quickly who you wish to meet. It will also give you the chance to identify businesses with whom you might be able to work with to gain future referrals.

4.  Do not spend the entire time at a networking event talking with one person, unless of course this was your sole purpose for attending the event in the first place. Generally 5 to 10 minutes with each contact is long enough and allows you to constantly be meeting new people.

5.  Make sure you take plenty business card with you, and hand them out at every opportunity. You might even want to consider having specific business cards made for networking purposes. It is important to have a business card which reminds others what it is that you do and what your business offers.

6.  Once the event has finished be sure to follow-up with those who you’ve met. Whilst you do not want to spam people with your wares, a quick e-mail or phone call to follow up on any lead is expected and acceptable.

7.  Bear in mind, when attending a networking event, that you are not necessarily trying to sell to the person in front of you. Each person at the event will have their own network of trusted business associates, and there is nothing more powerful than a personal recommendation from a friend. Your ultimate aim should be to encourage others to promote your product or services to their own network. It is this that will bring you the most referrals.

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Although it’s tough, with hindsight there’s always a lot of good things that come out of a recession. In fact, Doug Richards, from the Dragon’s Den has been quoted as saying there’s never a better time to start up a business.

That’s because you make every penny count in this climate and set up a robust business model. And established businesses can use the recession to get back to a robust model too.

1) Boosting your credit control efficiency has less chance of offending potential clients in tough times – in fact, it’s expected. Increase the references you take up and use a credit reference agency. And sharpen up your money collection: although you can use late payment interest warnings, I find that offering inducements for early payment works better. Plus immediate invoicing, done right first time, with correct references to PO numbers and contracts. Log those who are dodging payment & chase: go round to collect in person.

2) You’ll never get a better time to persuade staff to sharpen up their act. Use the economic climate to really crack down on expenses control, budgeting, efficiency and productivity. If you have lost work and need to make redundancies, plan carefully how to lose the staff that don’t deliver. And look to see what work you can outsource through sites like peopleperhour.com.

3) Drive down costs going green – it’ll never be easier to sell in to staff, but develop a policy for your business and do it with commitment so it still has traction to save you money when the going gets better. Gain green credentials on the back of saving money by driving down energy & travel/transport costs, keeping company cars longer, etc – and publicise your green-ness to benefit from increased access to public sector tenders and business from not-for-profits & charities etc. Consider outside accreditation and green awards.

4) It’s much cheaper to boost your sales enquiries conversion rate to customers, but most people try to increase sales enquiries which is the most expensive option. You can’t improve your conversion rate if you don’t track it, so set up a spreadsheet, amend your database or use sales software (there’s free options at ZoHo.com). Become brilliant at converting enquiries to sales with win:win strategies and teasing out the personal benefits the buyer needs to look great because he/she bought from you. And use well written case studies to poor peer group pressure to buy from you and bump up your SEO content. Fix the conversion rate before you start raising your profile and driving traffic to your business with on and offline PR and marketing.

5) And boost sales per customer through cross-selling, great newsletters, and referrals programs with rewards for referrals – it’s much cheaper to sell to the converted than start from scratch.

6) Then work out what brings in business and do more of it! Spend more on the things that bring business in, so if it’s referrals work out how you can get more – by networking? By increasing rewards to referrers? Increasing profile on and offline? If all the sales enquiries come through your website: consider getting professional help with Pay Per Click campaigns. Plus boost natural search optimisation with blogs, newsletters (posted to your website as well as distributed by email to your mailing list) and press releases to on and offline media to add external media endorsement and boost SEO rankings.

7) Don’t forget to keep trying out new markets too – either new sectors or new geographical areas – not forgetting online. Companies are laying off some gems of experienced people and others in work are looking for extra cash. They could help you open up new routes to market.

So, use the gloom to get your business into shape to sprint away as soon as the recession ends with great new ideas, new markets, a green gleam, the best possible team, and a sharpened up set of business procedures. Plus fantastic sales conversion rates, superb cross-selling, and of course brilliant sales, referrals deals, marketing & PR.

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If you’re going to do your own PR, and as a startup you’re often best placed to, you’ll need to understand that wily beast, the journalist.

Here are seven tips that should help you take the first steps in building a positive relationship with the ladies and gentlemen of the media.

1. It may seem obvious, but identify which journalists are going to be interested in your business news or stories.  Like any communication press releases are far more effective, if they’re tailored to an individual.  Mass mailing journalists is only going to add to their bulging inboxes and potentially have a good story written off, rather than written about.
2. If you don’t know the name of the journalist you should be contacting, then you’ve probably not read, listened to or watched  any of their work.  If you haven’t, why not?  You wouldn’t approach a customer without dong your research.  If you know what types of stories interest a journalist, you’re much more likely to be in a position to pitch yours successfully.
3. As for pitching, it’s a pre-requisite for any startup and the same skills are required when you call a journalist.  Once you’ve done your research and honed your story, it’s often a good idea to call a journalist and run the story past them.  Often you’ll have little more than a minute to capture their imagination.  So brush up your elevator pitch.  Do seek feedback, you may pick up some tips on how to shape future stories.
4. Find out what deadlines the journalist you are approaching is working to.  News journalists in particular are not going to appreciate a call from you, if they’re on deadline.
5. If you do establish a rapport with a journalist and they are interested in your business or stories, do remember that there is no ‘off the record’ and that some journalists may use flattery, flirtation and friendliness as a ruse to extract more information than you were perhaps expecting to give.
6. Remember, if you can make a journalist’s job easier, or give them an angle on a story that their fellow hacks haven’t got, you could well benefit.  Journalists are very stressed, very competitive, often underpaid and are fewer in number as media business models struggle.  Keep this in mind and always try to give ‘good quote’.
7. Don’t take success or failure in pitching personally.  Ultimately if you’ve developed a good relationship with a journalist, you may get heard ahead of others, but their critical judgment on a story is likely to remain beyond influence.

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