by Fiona McGinn | Jul 28, 2015 | Sales
As business owners, we depend on sales to provide us with the cashflow and profit we want and need. Whether you do the selling, have others sell for you or any such combination, your revenue, profit and income will always reflect how well you turn prospects into paying customers.
So why do some owners and sales people struggle while others find easy success?
No, the answer is not that they were born salespeople or they have a natural ability to sell. The truth lies in the fact that sales success comes from three things – Attitude, Activity and Ability.
Attitude is more than just self-confidence. Yes, you must believe you can sell before you will successfully do it! But attitude is not just about you and your personal beliefs, especially if you have others selling for you.
What is your attitude about the products or services you offer? Do you and your team firmly believe you fill a need in the market? Can you deliver what you promise every time without fail? Do your customers get real value by working with your company or purchasing your products? If you or your team cannot confidently say YES to these questions, selling will typically be a challenge. So how do you fix it? Focus on improving the delivery of your service and get clear on the benefits so you (and your team) always have the WE CAN DO attitude.
Activity is all about DOING and involves marketing to generate leads and sales to convert those leads to paying customers. If you do not generate enough activity, you will not generate enough sales and revenue. So how much activity is the right amount? It depends on the sales and revenue goals you have set (and yes, you must have specific, measurable sales goals).
To start, ask yourself two questions. What strategies, such as cold calling, advertising, direct mail, networking, referral programs, are you using to generate leads and how consistently and frequently are you using them? All too often, small businesses rely on one or two strategies and do them when revenues drop or they get around to it. Next, look at the sales management system – or process you use to convert leads to sales and ask yourself what activities, such as follow-up calls, setting up meetings, doing estimates or proposals, making presentations, must be done to turn a lead into a sale?
Finally, set activity goals to support your revenue goals. The best way to do this is to start with the end in mind – revenue goals or number of new customers. Then, using your conversion rate, develop the number of appointments, proposals and/or leads you need to achieve this. Note, if you do not know and track your conversion rates, start doing so immediately. All successful sales people know their conversion rate(s) from lead to sale and you should too.
When we talk about someone’s ability to sell, it is all about how well he or she can uncover customer needs so they can provide the best possible solution (i.e. make the sale). To do so effectively, we must recognise two important things: First, buying decisions are primarily emotional, a desire for gain or fear of loss (or pain avoidance) and second, people buy benefits, not features. Therefore, success in sales requires that you know more than just the features of your products or services. You must know the benefits your products or services provide and understand the true emotional motivators for YOUR target customers.
Once you understand these two important facts, selling is much easier because you do not sell; you simply provide solutions that meet their needs.
So how do you uncover emotional needs and build desire for your products or services? Brian Tracy says it best – you question skillfully and listen carefully. So ask yourself this: How much of your time is spent building rapport and asking great questions? When you do ask a question, do you stay in the moment (and really listen) or is your mind focused on how you will close the deal?
A wise man once said “God gave us two ears and one mouth so we should listen twice as much as we speak.” This is great advice, especially when you are in sales!
So now you have the three keys to sales success and higher income – attitude, activity and ability! And here is the good news. All of these skills can be learned and developed if you have the desire to be successful – a passion for learning and a willingness to invest the time to make it happen. So get started – and watch your revenue and income soar!
Want to learn more about sales?
Fill in the form below and one of our coaches will contact you to see how we can help!
by Fiona McGinn | Jul 22, 2015 | Customer Service, Sales
Retaining customers has never been easy, and in the digital age that we live in today, it has only got harder, with cutthroat competition and aggressive marketing strategies all around. To maintain a consistent customer base, one has to put in the effort. Any efforts toward building customer loyalty will certainly pay off. Follow these 4 tips to build strong customer loyalty.
1. Provide Great Customer Service
Go the extra mile to keep your customers happy. Listen to their concerns and complaints and respond appropriately and promptly. Ensure that there is an accessible way for customers to communicate with you, be it by email, telephone, or social media. The reputation of your business is at stake here, so remember to always maintain an upbeat attitude towards your customers.
2. Provide Customer Incentives
Give the customers a reason to return to your business by offering them incentives – frequent shopper points, buy two and get one free offers, etc. Make sure that the incentive is appropriate for the target audience by co-ordinating your incentive program with your marketing efforts.
3. Stop Hiding behind Technology
Not being able to reach an actual human being at business is a common frustration, and all of us have experienced waiting so long to talk to the customer service representative that we gave up halfway. It is less likely it is that you will see that customer again if it is difficult for them to speak to the relevant personnel when they have a problem.
4. Build Employee’s Loyalty
You will earn your employees’ respect if you are competent. Display willingness to protect your employees, and remain consistent in your actions and decisions – it will help you earn the employees’ trust. Employees will feel good about their job if you are loyal to them, and in turn it will ensure that loyalty is passed along to your customers.
Follow these top tips to guarantee customer satisfaction and build a loyal following for your brand.
By Ailina Calip – ActionCOACH
by Fiona McGinn | Jul 1, 2015 | Digital Marketing, Marketing, Sales, Social Media
Social Media has revolutionised how people discover, read and share news, information and content. If you don’t have a good online presence on a popular social media platform then you run a high risk of becoming invisible to your customers.
In the current fast-paced market, every business needs to develop and maintain individual accounts on different social media platforms to attract customers and keep them informed of the latest offerings.
With more than half of the world population being active on social media platforms if you don’t work with an active social media presence, you will get left out of the competition. What you need to do is build your brand identity on different social media platforms by following these tips:
• Choose the best social media platform to reach out to your customers. It is best to do a survey and know where your target market is most active. Then create a social platform to attract customers.
• Once that is done, make sure you ensure visibility by opting for different social networking strategies. These will help you further build your social media account, to engage the interest of your customers.
• Engage with followers through discussion and media sharing. Social Media has made marketing more conversational and gives your business the opportunity to really show its personality and makes it easy for people to connect with you.
• Post interesting videos and photographs to give a valuable insight to the target market about the products and services you offer.
• Start a promotional campaign by introducing contests that offer great gifts to online contestants. Introduce interesting rewards for growth and promotion.
• Offer interesting news and feedback to create loyal customers on social media platforms.
• Upload the latest updates about your products, services, latest attractions, events and promotional campaigns, and outlet openings on your social media platform.
• Make a lasting impact on your target market, making them come back for more interesting updates and news on your products and services.
• Remember its not just all about you!! Share other content that may be relevant to your product/service and engage with trending topics when they happen.
All of these points will help ensure your business is a success on social media and will help to build brand loyalty, trust and passion.
Connect with us on Social Media here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BusinessCoachingIreland
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoachingIreland
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-coaching-ireland
by Fiona McGinn | May 14, 2015 | Business Planning, Finance, Sales
Every business is made up of 5 key profit generating areas which we like to call the Business Chassis. These are the five things that all businesses should have in common.
- Leads. This is the total number of leads – those people who have contacted or who have been contacted by the business – over the course of a year.
- Conversion rate. This is the percentage of people who actually bought. For example, if 10 people walk through a store and three people buy something, that store’s conversion rate of 3 out of 10, or 30%, for that day.
- Average euro sale. This is the average euro amount per sale – estimated over the course of a year. It’s just an average, and can range from €5 or €10 (say for a discount retailer) and up to tens of thousands of euros (say for a car dealership).
- Average number of transactions. This is the number of purchases the average customer will make over the course of a year. Again, this can be an estimate. In a retail setting, this will probably be larger than those companies that operate in a professional services industry.
- Profit margin. This is the profit percentage of each and every sale. Simply put, if a business sells something for €100, and profit was €25, the profit margin is 25%.
The sad thing is most business owners don’t know the numbers associated to any of these five areas even though they are a critical part to running any business.
Let’s first examine “why” these areas are so critical to your business. These five components are called the Business Chassis because your entire business “runs” on these components. No business operates without them and when you consider them as a maths equation, they represent the fundamental math that leads to business growth and success or business failure and death.
The “5 Ways” formula used these components to help drive profits. See the formula below:
Lead Generation x Conversion Rate = Average Number of Customers
Number of Customers x Average Euro Sale x Average Number of Transactions = Revenues
Revenues x Profit Margins = € Profits
In your company, let’s say you have either estimated or fully determined the following numbers:
4,000 x 25% = 1000 Customers
1000 x €100 x 2 = €200,000 Revenue
€200,000 x 25% = €50,000 Profit
What does all of this mean?
Simply put, you are running a business that converts 1 in 4 prospects into paying customers, and those customers average two purchases at €100 per purchase each year – and your company enjoys a 25% profit margin on revenues of €200,000.
It also means your total profit for the year is €50,000.
So what would happen if, over the course of the next year, you could increase results by just 10% in each of the 5 areas?
Let’s do it, and then let’s take a look at what happens to your bottom line:
4,400 x 27.5% = 1210 Customers
1210 x €110 x 2.2 = €292,820 Revenue
€292,820 x 27.5% = €80,525.50 Profit
Small improvements focused on each of these five areas will have a dramatic increase in your business. Sound too good to be true? It is real- trust me!
This is a POWERFUL concept that most business owners overlook. Simply understanding how the math equation works is game-changing. Then taking the time to develop the specific strategies to use to make the improvement happen can change the future course of your business.
by Fiona McGinn | May 7, 2015 | Business Planning, Marketing, Sales
Marketing is critical to the success of any business and is an important effort in gaining prospect attention, building product or service demand and winning customers. Here are some top tips to help you improve marketing in your business:
1. Know Your Customer
You cant sell to them if you don’t know them!
2. Observe The Marketing Environment
Changes will happen in the environment and you must learn how to adapt to these changes and see the opportunities available.
3. Tailor Product/Service For Your Customers
Research what your customer needs and wants from your product or service, often we can presume we know best without having asked the customer.
4. Outstanding Customer Service
The process of conducting business is almost as important as the product or service you are offering. Word of mouth is a powerful selling tool and customer service is a great way to generate it.
5. Communication and Advertising Strategy
This is key to ensuring a sound marketing campaign, which will make the customers aware of a product they haven’t even heard of before.
6. Invest In Your Employees
Your employees are representing your business, look after them and give them the training they need to be the best they can be at there jobs.
7. Great Presentation
This is your customers first impression of you and can be influential in the decision making process and generating trust in your brand.
8. Have a Pricing Strategy
Don’t just price based on costs plus a margin. Look at what you are trying to achieve and what message you are giving out by setting your price at a certain level.
9. Respond Well To Complaints
This is your opportunity to turn the customer around, try to respond quickly and positively.
10. Have a Marketing Plan
Develop your strategy in the form of a written marketing plan, this will help ensure everyone in the business understands the direction the company is going.
If you would like to learn more about Marketing come along to our half day Marketing For Real Results Workshop Thursday 14th May. Click here for more details and to register your place today.
by Fiona McGinn | Apr 23, 2015 | Sales
A critical success factor for all businesses is how good they are at selling.
Every business is selling something, a product and/or a service, but very few are actually trained in the art of selling.
Here are seven keys to selling to help you on the track to greater business success:
1. Ask More Questions:
Questions are the answers in sales. Too many sales people tell their customers the features and benefits of their product or service but never take the time to find out which of the benefits the customer is actually interested in. So, ask them to tell you what they want.
2. Set Daily Targets:
A common theme in sales- chase enough customers in the hope that one or more will buy. In reality this leads to sales people only selling to the early adopters or price shoppers who would probably buy from anyone. However by keeping track of how many customers buy on average from a given number of leads and then introducing strategies to convert a higher percentage will ensure your sales team learn how to improve their results. Set daily targets and assess your performance against these targets.
3. Use Sales Scripts:
No one likes to hear someone read from a script but customers do expect us to be consistent. So how do you ensure all your interactions with prospects are consistent and that you deal with objections in a professional way? By writing down what it is you say in any given situation and by training your team to use the same questions and language you can bring a lot more productivity to your sales process.
4. Offer / Guarantee:
Why should someone buy from you and not a competitor who can provide the same product or service at a lower price? What is it that you offer them or can guarantee them that will differentiate you from your competition? Your offer must generate excitement to get prospects to make a decision to buy now.
5. Ask For The Sale:
One of the biggest common failings in sales is not asking the prospect to buy. A fear of rejection, that the sale will be lost, prevents many sales people from actually asking the final question. Just do it and learn from those that say no so you can improve your conversion rate over time.
6. Learning:
To be successful in sales there absolutely must be a habit of learning. Learn from other sales experts, learn from books, learn from your best customers and learn from past experience. Both your good and bad experiences can be a huge help in improving your sales success. You must record these experiences and build your knowledge over time. Write it down so you do not keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
7. Testimonials:
We all need to be reminded of what we are doing right and why our best customers love dealing with us. Sometimes we focus too much on what is going wrong rather than what we are doing right. Focus on the good stuff and we will do more of it! Get your customers to write down their testimonials so you can use it in your marketing and attract even more great customers.
Here a example of a video testimonial we made at our last Business Planning Event.
If you would like to learn more about Sales and the How to close more sales then come along to our half day Sales Success workshop Thursday 30th April. Click here for more details and to register your place today.
