Small Business
Marketing News

In this issue:
A Note From Our Sponsor
Thought For The Day
Feature Article: "Entreprenurial Sales Tips"
On-line Marketing Quick Tip
Off-line Marketing Quick Tip
A Note From Bizine.com

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Food For Thought:
"The mind is like a parachute; it works much better when it's open."

Author Unknown

Entrepreneurial Sales Tips
by Terri Gray

Hello, everyone! How many of you out there love sales? Yes, I said it - the dreaded word - sales. Oh, I know I felt you cringe. It's a fact that most people do not like sales. It is also a fact that businesses will not survive without sales, right?

Well, this week's article is on . . . Sales. I happened to attend a very interesting meeting last week. The guest speaker was Richard Balius, a local sales coach. The topic was entrepreneurial sales skills.

Balius pointed out the that entrepreneurs are in a different situation than most "sales people", who work for someone else. You see we, we have an advantage - we know our products or services inside and out. We also firmly believe in them, or we wouldn't have given up our "normal" lives to start our own businesses.

The problem is, we are too close to our products or services. We have a hard time leaving the other hats we wear at the door and only putting on our sales hat. This tends to make us more vulnerable. Most of us take it too personally if someone doesn't want or need our products or services.

Balius also talked about another reason we feel discomfort when we go out and try to "sell" our products or services. He claims that many of us experience this feeling because we've always been taught not to brag and that makes it very difficult to toot our own horns.

So how do we overcome this? We need to make a conscious effort to distance ourselves from the ownership hat that we wear. Put on your sales hat and keep in mind that sales is your only job at that moment. All your other hats simply give you more background and product knowledge to better answer questions. If you remember to focus on wearing just that one hat, it will be easier to sell your products or services.

You should NOT feel that you have to apologize for being a salesman. That is your job. And you are getting paid to do it. The business owner you are selling too would expect nothing less from his sales folks. So be upfront about your purpose.

Balius suggests setting the tone for a sales meeting in the following manner:

Mr. Prospect I have 3 goals for our meeting today:

#1: Is to meet you and finally put a face with a name
#2: Is to introduce my company to you and
#3: is to see if there is some way I can help you and your business.

This sets the tone for the meeting. It puts your sales intent out in the open and lets the prospect know what you intend to do.

From that point ask the prospect to tell you about his business. Find out what his business goals are and if there are any problem areas. Have a list of questions ready that you have prepared a head of time. Let them know that you need to gather information in order to see if your products or services can be of benefit to them.

What are your goals for this quarter?
Do you have a plan?
Can you share that plan with me?

Before you speak, think how would I feel if a salesperson said this to me? Use your gut feelings. Sell the way you would buy. Be sure to LISTEN to his/her responses and to take notes.

Then you can take their concerns and needs and turn them into a solution. I understand why "xyz" is so important to you. That's exactly why I have developed "abc" to solve that problem. (meet that need etc. . . .)

Don't expect to sell on the first call. Most people do like to think things over? Don't you? None of us like to be pressured.

Let them know that you are going to type up what you discussed into a proposal and will fax it to them on such and such a day. Then schedule a time to call them for a phone appointment to review the proposal.

For example: I will fax over the proposal to you tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. I would like to set up a phone appointment with you at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon, will that give you enough time to review the proposal?

Set up the phone appointment, fax the proposal as promised and call promptly at the scheduled time. This will reinforce your professionalism and make the sale easier to close while your products/services and proposal are still fresh in the prospects mind.

********************************************* Terri Gray
Helping you succeed on and off the Web!
Bizine.com WMDesign@bizine.com

Quick Online Marketing Tip
by Terri Gray

Increase traffic to your site! Have a Contest!

Bizine.com is currently participating in a contest. It is the $200 giveaway "Solve It" Contest organized by Digital-Women. The contest is sponsored by 20 business women - we each invested a small amount into the contest and $200 of the funds will be given away FREE!

You've probably also seen many businesses work together to form Easter Egg Hunts online.

You could giveaway cash, products, services . . . you name it! The options are endless. What are you waiting for????

Why not get one of your own going? Network with other businesses who are targeting the same target market, but who are not in direct competition with each other. Share the expense of the contest or giveaway and help increase traffic for each other.

By announcing it on all of your sites you are directing traffic to one another and increasing your exposure all around.

If you need help putting one together contact me and I can put you in touch with some folks that will be glad to help you out! mailto:WMDesign@bizine.com Just put Contest Help as the subject

Terri Gray
Visit Bizine.com for info on the "Solve It" Contest

Off-line Quick Marketing Tip
by Terri Gray

Here's a quick tip on making a sales call over the phone

Don't say . . .Hi, my name is John Smith with ABC Corp. How are you today? They will spend some time trying to figure out who you are and if they know you. By that time they've probably figured it's a sales call. They know you really don't care how they are and and will usually get annoyed right off the bat.

Instead be up front and say: Hi, my name is John Smith with ABC Corp. This is a sales call, did I catch you at a good time? If they say no, simply ask if they have their calendar handy. Then ask when is the first available opening that we might schedule a phone appointment? When you call back you can simply say that you had a phone appointment with them at that specified time. Most people will appreciate your up front honesty and professionalism.

Terri Gray
Helping you succeed on and off the Web!
Bizine.com WMDesign@bizine.com

Bizine.com accepts reader submissions.
If you have a business article that would be of interest to our readers, simply submit it to: terri@terrigray.com

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