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One of the keys to a successful business -- and a fulfilled life in general -- is to not only have a plan but to also have forward momentum pushing you in the direction you want to go. Many times, the problem in moving forward isn't the goal but the struggle to generate the drive needed to accomplish what needs to get done.
When the momentum is lacking, it's easy to become disheartened and slack off or abandon the goal altogether in favor of looking for a new magic bullet. In almost all cases, the missing ingredient is very close. Typically, that missing key involves taking massive action. Not just any action, but action that is focused on the fundamental steps needed to drive the company forward. More often than not, that action revolves around sales. After all, if there are no sales, there is no business.
"Nothing happens until a sale is made."
Every business and industry has its own subtleties and nuances when it comes to sales, but there are core activities that apply to all.
What are these core activities?
Generating sales momentum is not as complicated or difficult as you might think, but you must have an effective plan for prospecting every single day. Begin by dedicating time on your calendar for prospecting and getting new clients. Nothing should interfere with this. Focusing on prospecting and sales is what creates forward momentum for the entire organization.
Sales should be the number one focus, whether you are a one-man show or a company with hundreds of employees. If sales activities aren't the focus and the priority, they'll be too easy to put off until tomorrow. You'll always have fires to put out and other tasks to attend to. Making sales the number one priority for the whole organization creates the momentum to move the entire company forward.
If sales is not the number one priority in your company, try this approach. For the next 30 days, make sales your number one priority every day. Don't stop selling even when you pick up new clients.
Create a dedicated time on your calendar every day for prospecting. Create and send direct mailers, make phone calls to reach out to prospects, attend a networking event, give a talk, send personalized emails, and visit top clients, asking for referrals. Seek momentum. It's the wind for sailing the ship forward. Dedicated, laser-like focus on prospecting and selling activities creates that momentum.
If you perform these activities without fail for 30 days, you'll be amazed at the positive energy you create. That activity and the results it brings will give you the boost and motivation to continue. Success and growth in business comes from focused sales momentum. Dedicate the next 30 days to making a permanent shift toward becoming a sales-focused company.
Pablo Picasso created paintings the world has marveled at for decades. Looking with awe at these masterpiece creations, it would be perfectly logical to imagine that the distinctive brush strokes were made by someone with a natural gift -- a gift not achievable by most.
Although Picasso's talent is undeniable and his style unmistakable, that genius was actually developed in a surprising way that many don't realize.
From the time Picasso was a young boy, he was formally trained by his father in oil paintings and figure drawings. And what method did his father use to train young Pablo? Jose Picasso was an artist who believed the best training for his son required formal and disciplined copying of the masters' work. For many years, young Pablo Picasso fervently reproduced paintings, drawings, and plaster casts of the masters. He not only copied religiously but also experimented with a variety of styles, theories, and ideas, until he developed his own voice and distinctive style.
So what does this have to do with business?
The ideas of meticulous practice and of learning a skill by emulating the leaders in a field are not as common today as they were in the days when apprenticeships were more common. In a world that craves instant gratification, people often overlook the hard work required to develop any talent and simply assume it just comes naturally to those who are gifted.
The good news is that there is a short-cut. The bad news is that even the short-cut requires some sweat equity.
Not everyone can become a Pablo Picasso. Not entirely because of the natural talent gap (though that's part of it), but also because of the not-wanting-to-put-in-the-hard-work-required gap.
There's incredible power available to you in muscle memory. Muscle memory is "consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition." When any task is repeated over and over, a muscle memory is created which allows one to perform the task almost effortlessly.
Olympic and professional athletes, concert pianists, and all other performers in the top of their field are perfect examples of muscle memory in action. They have practiced and performed so often that their performances seem to be effortless. That is the power of muscle memory.
Muscle memory can also apply to business mastery. It requires finding the leader in the field, analyzing and dissecting what they have done, and then recreating and reproducing those skills, often while adding your own unique style and flair. Practice often until muscle memory takes over. If it worked for Pablo Picasso, it can work for you.
Most business owners and company executives use the terms "customers" and "clients" interchangeably without fully realizing that there is a meaningful difference between the two. Understanding the distinction and setting your plans accordingly can help you build and grow a more profitable business.
Let's start with the definition of each term according to the dictionary.
Customer: "a person who purchases goods or services"
Client: "a person or group that uses professional advice or services"
Examples of companies with business-to-customer relationships include Wal-Mart, Apple, and your local grocery store.
Examples of companies with business-to-client relationships include service-oriented professionals such as accountants, attorneys, advertising agencies, architects, and the like.
There are pros and cons to catering to each type.
Customers will typically do business with you based on convenience, value, and price. They're loyal as long as you meet those parameters, and they don't require as much personal interaction as clients do.
Clients, on the other hand, are looking for more. Clients are seeking professional advice on how to get something accomplished in the best way possible. They're willing to pay more for that type of expertise than a customer would, but in return for that premium, they require more attention and hand-holding. A business-to-client engagement is typically a longer-term relationship than a business-to-customer scenario.
Every business has customers. Fewer have clients.
So, is your business built around customers or clients?
There is no right or wrong answer. It matters only that you know the difference and set up your business to serve whichever type you are seeking.
We all want to increase sales and grow our businesses. We also know that hiring and grooming a sales superstar is one surefire way of achieving those goals. Unfortunately, finding and retaining a sales superstar is a difficult task. Until you find the secret to make that a reality, here's an alternate path to consider for reaching your sales goals.
Self-publish a book!
You read that correctly. One of the best ways to increase your sales and grow your business is to author and publish your own book. Self-publishing your book allows you to present your points to your target audience in an authoritative way -- just like a sales superstar would.
Now, to be clear, we aren't talking about writing a novel the size of War and Peace. Nor are we talking about writing a prize-winning book. This type of book is written specifically to bring you leads and the types of customers who are looking to buy what you sell.
They say everyone has at least one book in them, but no one tells you how to go about writing it. Being an author is on many people's dream lists, but few go about actually accomplishing the tasks needed to bring a book to life. Perhaps that's because writing a book seems so overwhelming. "It will take many years." "I don't know how to write a book." "I don't know what to write about." These are some of the many excuses that stand in the way of making authorship a reality.
It doesn't have to be that way. Here are five simple steps to get you going:
It really can be as simple as that. Within a few weeks, you'll have the main part of the book finished and ready for editing. Finding nice cover graphics and having it printed is not difficult.
Imagine being able to hand a prospect your own beautifully printed book. Do you think that would establish credibility and open some doors?
Your own self-published book is the ultimate business card -- and the sales superstar you can use to grow your business in ways not otherwise possible. What's more, this kind of sales superstar has no ego and doesn't call in sick either. There's at least one book in you. Start writing it today.
While the economy seems to be slowly recovering, it's far from smooth sailing, and many businesses are still struggling to find firm footing. Even so, you don't have to look hard to find businesses that are thriving. What's the secret behind these companies that the struggling ones haven't found?
It may be tempting to think that lowering prices is the best way to compete in a struggling economy. When times are tough, people think longer and harder before making the choice to buy something. But this doesn't mean they will always opt for the cheapest option. If they did, Apple wouldn't be the brand leader it is today. There are many inexpensive alternatives to Apple's popular products, yet they continue to break sales records with each successive new product release.
The Internet has made it easy to compare prices and find the cheapest alternative. Only one company can be the cheapest, and the low-price shopper will spend as much time as necessary to find what they are looking for.
This type of person is not your target customer because they will leave you as soon as they find someone else offering a lower price. There's no brand loyalty in this game. Instead, it's a race to the bottom, with eventual closure its only prize.
A Better Approach
The much better approach is to increase the value you bring to your marketplace instead of lowering your prices.
This value could be found in offering helpful knowledge to people looking for the types of products you sell. It could mean offering bonuses such as free shipping or discounted installation. It could be as simple as a friendly, smiling person greeting customers in store or on the phone. The more value you can find and bring to the table, the less impact price will have as the sole factor for buying what you sell.
When you bring value like that, you become invaluable to your community and to the types of customers you want to attract. These are customers who won't leave you for the latest sale by the low-price companies. Instead, they're real customers who come back because they appreciate real value.
There are two broad categories of marketing you can use for your company, and it's important you understand the difference. These two types of marketing are called brand/image marketing and direct response marketing. Although both can have a place in marketing your business, for small businesses one (direct response) is much more effective and efficient than the other.
Brand or image marketing works off the premise that you can create awareness for your business or products by building name recognition. As Wikipedia explains it, branding "involves associating a product name or image with certain qualities in the minds of consumers." Successful brand marketing needs mass media like TV, radio, and billboards to push the message to a broad audience. For large companies with big ad budgets, this can be effective. Unfortunately, institutional marketing like this is difficult to track, making it hard to quantify a return on investment.
Fortunately for small businesses, there is a better way. It's called direct response marketing, and it's designed to generate an immediate response. This type of marketing has a message that -- when delivered correctly -- compels the receiver to respond by calling the business, walking into the business, or visiting the company's website for a special offer.
Direct response marketing is typically delivered via print (catalogs, sales flyers, postcards, etc), radio, and the Internet. Ads are results-driven, so it's easy to find out quickly if the campaign was successful or not. As a result, it's much more effective for most businesses because it can be measured, tracked, and held accountable for its performance.
There are several effective direct response formulas. One of the most popular is: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action (AIDA).
Attention is captured with a compelling headline. The best headlines focus on benefits to the customer.
Interest is generated by telling a story. Explaining the process and care that goes into each of your products is an example of content that can generate interest to read further.
Desire is created with a compelling offer.
Action is prompted with a deadline (time sensitive: respond by) and a call to action (call today, come by to redeem, visit the website).
Whatever the formula, good direct response marketing uses reasons other than just price to get customers to call or visit. Using direct response marketing to tell your company's unique story is a powerful weapon to help you stand apart from your competitors and increase the effectiveness of your ad campaigns.
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