Sell More - Set Great Objectives For Meetings

A well planned and structured conversation leading to agreed outcomes is satisfying for both the buyer and the seller. Setting objectives for your next meeting can have a major impact on the outcome of any meeting. One of Stephen Covey's Highly Effective habits is "Begin with the end in mind". Exactly what is it you are trying to achieve at the meeting? Once you have thought about what you want to achieve then test the objective:- Is it reasonable? Based on past experience with selling this product/service to this and other clients. 'Chunking up' and 'chunking down' as useful ways to build up a vision or break down goals - you may know what you wish to achieve overall but need to create steps en route. These smaller steps may be the objective(s) for this particular meeting. Does the person you are seeing have the authority to make the decision/commitment you are seeking? If you don't know then find out before you meet. Not selling to power is a common mistake. Are you happy to educate people and just have comfortable conversations? Unless the people we engage with have the authority to make a decision (or are willing to help us get that authority), we will not make the sale. Why is it in their interest to make the commitment you will ask for? Put your client's need before your own. To you it may another sale to reach target, a way to raise funds, first sale for new idea or product. To your client of course it is a new way to work, a way to save money, make money, improve their life etc etc. ie people buy the benefit they will achieve. Empathy is very important. In their position would you buy what you propose? Why? Can you visualise them saying 'YES!' How will they say it - exclaim it as they decide the reason to buy? Happily agree with everything you say? Raise objections then agree after rationale debate? What is their 'proof strategy' (more about this later)? How will they feel when they say yes? This is a powerful technique to align your behaviour with the expected outcome. In future blogs we will discuss NLP, which I believe has a key role to play in selling to assist you to understand your buyer and modify your own behaviour if you choose. This approach delivers several benefits. It helps to drive the outcome that you want - and by definition will also help your customer since we will be selling a solution to their needs. It also helps to weed out the meetings that you don't have time for - ie if you cannot set a worthwhile objective perhaps you should re-set expectations or cancel the meeting. In summary, you can drive the objective setting of meetings to a large extent. Test your objectives beforehand and by using your sales skills ensure meetings are as productive as possible. By owning this process to the largest extent appropriate you can relieve your buyer of effort and enhance their productivity - s/he will thank you for it! http://www.softskillslimited.com/ http://www.theRobertJohnston.com/ I am the author. For over 25 years I have been very successful in selling and management. Working for some of the world's most well known companies such as IBM and Oracle. I'm based in the UK and now decided to follow my passion and set up a business delivering sales training. At my sites you can book on a course at a great offer price. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_W_Johnston

Growing Your Business Profits

Grow your business profits using dollars you have already spent on inventory! Today is a great time to revisit the idea of bartering! With organized barter more automated and efficient, it is a terrific time to take advantage of the increased buying and spending power in addition to the cost savings to operate your business. Many retail stores are closing their doors due to the lack of business and cash flow. Most retail stores believe that by slashing their prices they will cause more customers and traffic to the store. This might be true for that moment, but isn€™t the real objective to gain NEW customers and LOYAL customers? If a store has the inventory and capacity to increase sales without it affecting their hard cost of doing business, barter is a win/win situation. Barter customers bring other cash customers when they talk about the experience. While barter can drive new customers to your store, the new customers can tell their friends and family about their experience and you can gain cash business at the same time you are moving that inventory or filling excess capacity. Example: A business or retail store owns inventory and it is moving slower then expected or needed. Meanwhile the business owner has some immediate business needs that are critical to their business. If the business owner can market their inventory through an online barter website and attract new customers to purchase some of the items for full retail using barter credits, the business owner can then purchase the items for the business using that revenue rather than spending new money! Some examples might be new store signage or printing and advertising! The idea situation is the use the new barter revenue to advertise and bring in additional cash paying customers. Don€™t forget that your new barter clients will be loyal to you and also help promote your business as long as they continue to feel like valued customers and receive excellent value and service from your staff! Barter clients should be a welcome addition to your business and treated as friends. Remember they are also business owners and understand why you are bartering and want to help you grow and prosper in your business also. Cost of Barter: You might wonder what joining a barter organization might cost and also the fees associated with bartering. The fees to join or membership costs vary from each trade exchange. Most exchanges charge anywhere from $195.00 €" $495.00 and up as a membership application fee and monthly fees range from 0-$20.00 per month. Trade service fees on transactions vary from 10% trade or 5%- 8% cash on each transaction. The thing to remember is that you are paying only a transaction fee on what you purchase or sell. In addition consider that many times you can apply for a line of barter credit and spend into the system before you even make your first barter sale! Your local trade broker will also assist you by bringing you new customers to pay the trade credit line back! What credit card company or bank will do all that for you? In fact a great trade exchange will establish a barter budget for you to follow so that you aren€™t taking too many trade credits above what you will be spending in the system. In the barter economy your products and services are more important than your credit score. You can use your inventory to secure a barter loan and make improvements to your business! Consider how leveraging money you have already spent into advertising or maintenance or other ongoing expenses like printing, or landscaping, repairs or equipment maintenance or even purchasing new equipment can add additional profit and cutting costs to your bottom line. Consider how leveraging money you have already spent into advertising or maintenance or other ongoing expenses. Increase sales and profits with money you already spent! Whether you are a service related business or retail store you can benefit by increasing your customer base by up to 10 €" 15% and reducing overhead costs by spending that new found revenue back into your business and YES even consider giving yourself a raise in barter revenue to spend on personal needs. Turn that downtime or excess inventory into what you need or want for yourself and your business. I encourage any business that has a vanishing commodity such as advertising space, hotel rooms, empty seats or room in a cafe or restaurant to use barter to capture that potential lost revenue and turn it into future purchases and increased sales! Need more information on how Bartering can add to your bottom line profits? Ask The Barter Coach! Kathleen (Kathy) Smart is the President and CEO of SmarterIdeas Inc. http://smarterideas.com, and one of the founding principals with the International Business Academies Limited, http://ibalnet.com, an Atlanta Georgia based LLC Kathleen has had over 26 years of experience in helping business owners succeed. Kathleen hosts her own internet based radio programs where she interviews local business owners and individuals who can bring inspiration, information and education to entrepreneurs and business owners. Over the past year she has interviewed, teacher of the year, Ron Clark, Blue Man Group and many others. Her show is designed and dedicated to educate and inform entrepreneurs and business owners with information that can give them the tools that can help them turn that corner in their life or business. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathleen_Smart

Visual Display Tips

Creating displays can help you to nurture your crafty side. The most effective displays always have a theme and seem inspired. Inspiring displays inspire customers to feel as passionately as you about the merchandise that you're selling. Boutiques are famous for creating memorable displays that keep customers curious about what you'll do next. Whether you run a boutique or larger retail store, you can use these tips to make your displays more interesting and effective. 1) Do some research before you begin. Surf the web, go window shopping, and look at magazines to get your creative juices flowing. You can get ideas that help you to decide on a theme or a focus for your display. Consider the merchandise, of course, but also think about color to set the mood, the season, the promotion, or the theme of your store. Once you get an idea, the rest will quickly come together. 2) Consider running your ideas past your employees. Give them a theme and ask them for their ideas. Sometimes your employees are your best asset because they see what grabs customers' attention every day, out on the floor. Hold a contest to inspire your staff to be more involved in the success of the store. You may be surprised at how creative some of your employees may be. 3) Once you have your idea, decide on a budget. Remember that less is often more and you don't necessarily have to spend a fortune on a display. You may want to buy a few key pieces for the display. Try to buy things that can be reused in the future so that you can get the most bang for your buck. Tables or racks that fold, props that inflate, and decorations that lay flat are easiest to store for future use. Mannequins can be customized to fit a lot of different types of displays and can stay in good shape for many years. Investing in this proven seller is never a bad move. 4) When setting up your display, keep balance and focus in mind. Start by setting up your focal point. Too many focal points will not draw attention like a central focus will. The focus doesn't have to be in the center of the display. Good visuals are hardly ever perfectly centered. They're often more interesting if they're not. A customer may pass twenty window displays with centered mannequins and hardly notice them, and then the one that tells a story and isn't perfectly centered will be the one to turn their head. 5) Use lighting, signage, whatever you need to draw attention to your focal point. You can even use more mannequins to direct attention to the focal point. Have them looking at the main character or feature in your display. 6) Make room for interesting visual displays throughout your store or boutique. Use slatwall panels and slatwall accessories to free up space on the sales floor. You can use the slatwall itself to create interesting slatwall displays. Using vertical space can help you to better manage your merchandise so that your displays remain the center of attention. About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail displays, including mannequins mannequins, dress mannequin forms, female mannequins, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ron_D._Maier