How To Explain What You Do In Such
How To Explain What You Do In Such A Way That Your Prospects Are Compelled… Nearly Forced To Want To Do Business With You “You’ve got 15 seconds to tell me why I should do business with you instead of your competitors… Ready…Go!!” The First 15 Seconds Notes Copyright Notices © Copyright The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 2012 All rights reserved. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in___________________________ any form or by any means mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and ___________________________ recording, or by any information and retrieval system. ___________________________ The Licensee is authorised to use any of the information in this publication ___________________________ for his or her own use only in carrying out duties necessary to fulfill their ___________________________ role to the maximum. Published by: The Academy of Sales and Negotiations PO Box 692 Warners Bay NSW 2282 Web: http://salesandnegotiations.com Fax: (02) 4945 0293 ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Legal Notices ___________________________ ___________________________ While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher assumes any ___________________________ responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter given ___________________________ in this product. ___________________________ The Publisher wishes to stress that the information contained in this product ___________________________ may be subject to varying country and professional organisations’ laws or ___________________________ regulations. ___________________________ The Licensee must accept full responsibility for determining the___________________________ legality and/or ethical character of any and all business transactions and/or practices adopted and enacted in his or her particular field and___________________________ geographic location, whether or not those transactions and/or practices are suggested, ___________________________ either directly or indirectly, in this program. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 2 The First 15 Seconds The First 15 Seconds How To Explain What You Do In Such A Way That Your Prospects Are Compelled… Nearly Forced To Want To Do Business With You. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Imagine yourself in a business meeting. You’re sitting with a group of people at one of several tables in the room, and the speaker or presenter asks for each person to stand and briefly introduce themselves to the rest of the group. ___________________________ As each person takes their turn, you hear something like, “My name is Barry Lewis, and I work for Chevrolet.” Then he takes his seat and the next person stands and says, “My name is Cheryl Wallace, and I’m an agent for QBE Insurance.” And so it goes from person to person, and from table to table. You even find yourself doing the same thing. ___________________________ What you’ve just witnessed is one of the most common and wasted opportunities in business. It’s common, because nearly everyone does and says practically the same thing. And it’s wasted, because the person who is introducing him or her self has just passed up a perfect opportunity to let others in the room know how they can help them solve their problems. ___________________________ What’s worse, is it’s compounded by the fact that it takes place in a group setting, in front of a number of people. And that’s not the time or place to blow such an opportunity. ___________________________ Now, picture yourself meeting someone for the first time. You may be introduced to them or you may have just come together, it really doesn’t matter. As you hand the person your business card, you mention your name and explain what you do. ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 3 The First 15 Seconds Now stop and think for a minute. Did what you say in that situation differ from what you said in the business meeting? Did you state your name and mention your occupation? Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ If you did, you may have passed up a great chance to get in a mini commercial about yourself and the benefits you may be able to provide the person you’re talking with. ___________________________ So what’s wrong with that format anyway? Plenty, that’s what. ___________________________ You see, people don’t care at all about who you are or what you do. It may sound cold and callous, but it’s absolutely true. They don’t care what your occupation is, who your company is, how big they are, what they sell, how many locations or employees they have, or what your prices are. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ But what they do care about is how you can help them. What kind of value you can bring to the relationship. Now granted, some people are “people” people. They just like other people and may be interested in developing relationships. That’s okay. But we’re not talking about that here. We’re talking about business situations. And in those situations, people are interested in how they can benefit from a relationship with you. It’s almost as though each person you meet has an invisible shield surrounding them that flashes the message: “WIIFM”…“What’s In It For Me?” That’s an important concept to understand. And it’s critical that you pound it into your brain until you become crystal clear about it. Not until you fully understand that people don’t want what you have, that they only want the benefits that what you have offers, can you even have half a chance to do any meaningful amount of business with them. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ So, how do you know what your prospects… the people you want to do business with, need? Better yet, how do you know what your prospects want? It’s not enough to guess or to try and figure it out on your own. The old saying, “If you want to sell © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 4 The First 15 Seconds John Smith what John Smith buys, you first have to see through John Smith’s eyes,” really applies here. You’ve got to get into your customer’s heads. You’ve got to walk in their moccasins. You’ve got to understand where they’re coming from, what their goals, dreams and desires are, and perhaps more importantly, you’ve got to understand where they are hurting or lacking. You see, people really only buy for two reasons: to solve a problem, or to gain pleasure. That’s it. Every time someone buys something, it’s because they have a problem they’re trying to work out or find a solution to, or they want to experience pleasure of some sort. Second, people will buy faster, and will spend more money, to satisfy wants rather than needs. Understand these two points, and you’re nearly half way there. The next step is to determine how you can fit in to their picture. Think about it… how do you fit in? How can what you do, what you sell, or the service you provide for others help them either solve a problem or gain the pleasure they’re seeking? Do you even know, really know what their wants are? The best way to find out what a person (or a market, for that matter) wants, is to ask them. This can be done in person, by telephone or by sending your prospects a questionnaire and asking them to complete and return it to you. Get specific. Get involved. Probe deeply. Put yourself in their places. Develop a deep empathy for their situations. Only by seeing things from their eyes can you gain the understanding you need to serve them in the most effective way. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Once you’ve identified what your prospect’s (or market’s) wants are, prioritise the items in order of importance to your prospect. Then, identify those you can help them solve or satisfy. Next, see if you can make the problem bigger. Magnify it. Add to it. Embellish it. Stretch it. Make it more dramatic, more painful, bigger than it really is. But don’t overdo it. Don’t make it sound so far out that it’s unbelievable or seems excessively exaggerated to your prospect. © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 5 The First 15 Seconds Now you’re ready to develop your solution. How can what you do help them? Can you take away a certain pain? Can you provide financial relief? How about mental or emotional relief? What about physical comfort? Can you help them obtain a certain pleasure or avoid unpleasantness or loss? Specifically and precisely, how can you or what you sell, offer or provide help your prospect solve his or her problems or satisfy their wants? Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Once you’ve gotten this far, you can begin to formulate your articulation statement. In other words, what are you going to say to your prospect that lets them know you can help them? And how are you going to say it in such a way that when they hear you say it, they have no choice but to say, “Really? How do you do that? I want to know more!” Here’s a template to help you get a more clear picture of the process and to help you develop your own strategy: ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 1. Determine your prospect’s problem, hurt, need or want from the prospect’s point of view. ___________________________ 2. Enlarge, add to or magnify the problem. ___________________________ 3. Get your prospect’s agreement that this is, indeed, a problem for them. ___________________________ 4. Let your prospect know you understand their situation. ___________________________ 5. Articulate how you can help your prospect solve, satisfy or eliminate that problem by talking in terms of benefits to them. ___________________________ 6. Offer proof that you’ve helped others in similar situations. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Here’s how it might sound for an insurance agent speaking to a prospect who is tired of paying high car insurance premiums (aren’t we all?): ___________________________ Prospect: “Hi, my name is John Smith.” ___________________________ Agent: “Nice to meet you, John. My name is Cindy Richards.” ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Prospect: “What do you do, Cindy?” © 2012 All rights reserved 6 The First 15 Seconds Agent: “John, you know when you pay your car insurance premiums, how they seem to increase every time, even if you’ve never had an accident or made a claim?” Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ (Your prospect will either nod, make a statement or at least smile acknowledging that they understand, can relate and agree.) ___________________________ Agent: (After a slight pause.) “It’s frustrating isn’t it? I mean, why should good drivers have to pay for the poor driving habits of those who are less responsible? It’s really not fair. And to top it off, it’s insulting. ___________________________ Again, your prospect will either verbally or nonverbally acknowledge that he or she is in agreement. Agent: “Well, being in the business, as well as being a consumer has helped me understand exactly what you go through when you get your insurance bills. And I don’t like it anymore than you do. “So what I’ve done, is develop a system and a process to help my clients avoid paying those high and unnecessary costs. I call it my “Personal Risk Analysis”…“PRA” for short. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ “It all starts with my first meeting with a client when we determine exactly what their risks are, how much they can self-insure and how much will need to be covered by insurance. Then I put together a couple of plans they can choose from that solves their problems, and does it cost-effectively…without breaking the bank. It works great, and my clients’ love it. And that’s why more than 96 percent renew their policies with me every year!” Now, granted, that’s longer than 15 seconds. But what matters is not how long it takes; it’s not even what you say that’s important. What is important is © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 7 The First 15 Seconds that you capture your prospect’s attention quickly – in the first 15 seconds. And you can do this by identifying and relating to their problems. Whatever you say after that should serve to demonstrate how you can help solve their problems for them. After hearing this kind of introduction, who wouldn’t want to know more? Remember, the whole idea is to evoke a “Really? How do you do that? I want to know more!” response from them. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ This same format and process can be used with any type of business. And it can be used effectively in group situations or in one-on-one situations. You may want to tighten it up, make it shorter, eliminate a sentence or paragraph, or add another benefit or two. But whatever you do, take the time to formulate your own personalised 15-second introduction. It will be well worth the time you spend, and will reward you with a steady stream of new prospects just begging to do business with you! ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 8 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Copyright Notices © Copyright The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 2012 All rights reserved. Notes _______________________ _______________________ No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by_______________________ any information and retrieval system. _______________________ The Licensee is authorized to use any of the information in this publication for his or her _______________________ own use only in carrying out duties necessary to fulfill their role to the maximum. Published by: The Acadmemy of Sales and Negotiations PO Box 692 Warners Bay NSW 2282 Web: http://salesandnegotiations.com Fax: (02) 4945 0293 _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Legal Notices _______________________ _______________________ While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or _______________________ contrary interpretation of the subject matter given in this product. _______________________ The Publisher wishes to stress that the information contained in this product may be _______________________ subject to varying country and professional organizations’ laws or regulations. _______________________ The Licensee must accept full responsibility for determining the legality and/or ethical _______________________ character of any and all business transactions and/or practices adopted and enacted in his or her particular field and geographic location, whether or not those transactions and/or practices are suggested, either directly or indirectly, in this program. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved 2 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Notes Table of Contents _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Introduction ............................................................................... 4 _______________________ Marketing Strategy #1 - Do what you do so well, that when others see you do it, they want _______________________ to see you do it again, and will bring others to _______________________ see you do it. ............................................................................. 6 _______________________ Marketing Strategy #2 - Use the _______________________ testimonials of other satisfied customers to help pre-sell your prospects. ........................................................ 9 _______________________ _______________________ Marketing Strategy #3 - Build a database of current, past and prospective customers and _______________________ keep in touch on a regular basis. ................................................. 11 _______________________ Marketing Strategy #4 - Make all of your _______________________ advertising efforts Direct Response ............................................. 13 _______________________ Conclusion ............................................................................... 15 _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ © 2010 All Rights Reserved 3 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Introduction Notes _______________________ The bottom line of all businesses is to make a profit. That’s why a business exists in the first place. It sounds nice for someone to say that the reason they’re in business is to help other people, or to provide some needed service, but in the end the real bottom line is that the business owner wants and needs to realise a profit on his or her investment. _______________________ Profits are what drive businesses and allow them to provide more goods and services, create more jobs and expand the economy. Profits are what allow the philanthropist to continue giving and providing relief and humanitarian service to others. _______________________ There are many factors that affect profits, not the least of which is customers purchasing goods and services provided by the business. Without customers making purchases, there simply would not be a business. _______________________ If a business expects to remain in business for any length of time, or to grow, the business owner must master the skill of getting customers to do business with them. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ That includes new customers… those with whom they have never done business before; current or existing customers… those who patronise the business regularly; and past customers…those who have done business before, but may have taken their business elsewhere. _______________________ The process of getting people to do business with you is called “marketing.” Unfortunately for many businesses, this process, as critical as it is to the success of the business, is one of the tools business owner’s least understand. _______________________ Marketing… effective marketing… the kind that produces inquiries about your offer, adds customers and increases your profits, is not just a matter of placing a couple of ads in the newspaper or sending out some mailings. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved 4 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In And it’s not creating a beautiful brochure that describes the company, the CEO or manager and the products and services offered by your business. Results-producing marketing… the kind you want for your business… is a combined and coordinated effort of a number of factors. But what about the economy? Doesn’t that have something to do with how a business approaches marketing? It certainly does, there’s no question about it. The economy, and how it’s performing, does have a real impact on businesses and how they should approach their marketing efforts. And here’s where a lot of businesses get in trouble. Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ When the economy is down, most businesses stop, or drastically slow down their marketing efforts. _______________________ Then, without new customers coming on board, existing customers making repeat or additional purchases, and past customers returning, the company’s business drops off even further. _______________________ Fewer customers making purchases automatically translates into less profits. Less profits, of course, means less available funds for marketing, and before you know it a vicious cycle develops with a downward trend. When times are tough, is not the time to cut back on your marketing efforts. Sure other businesses do it. But people still have the need or the want for your products and services. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ So, when other businesses are cutting back, that’s the ideal time for you to forge ahead, and increase your marketing efforts. It’s the one time you will have the least competition for your customer’s attention. _______________________ On the other hand, when times are good… when the economy is booming, good marketing… effective marketing, can blow the socks off your competition. _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 5 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Why? Because your competition doesn’t understand the difference between the marketing they’ve always used, and high-impact marketing that’s accountable and that produces results. And if they keep on doing the kind of marketing they’ve always done, and you move on to more effective types of marketing, they don’t stand a chance. Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Marketing can consist of many forms. Some involve money, some involve personnel and some involve a certain commitment of time. Some work well in good economic times, and others work better in a down economy. _______________________ Here are four good, useable marketing efforts that work well in any economic climate. These strategies can be put to work in your business today, and help move your business forward regardless of the economy or your available financial resources. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Marketing Strategy #1 _______________________ “Do what you do so well, that when others see you do it, they want to see you do it again, and will bring others to see you do it.” _______________________ That quote comes from Walt Disney. It was the strategy he used for marketing Disneyland, and he said it could apply to any business, regardless of what that business sold or offered. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Broken down to its individual components, it means this: _______________________ “Do what you do….” That’s what you do… not what anyone else does. It’s important that you do the things you (or your business) does the best. While it’s okay to emulate other successful businesses and copy some of the traits that made them successful, you should adopt those traits, add your own personality and adapt them to your business. _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 6 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Do what you do… “so well….” That means excellence…not mediocrity. If you’re going to do something in business, do it with excellence. No longer is it possible to maintain…long-term, a competitive advantage because of your product or the price you charge. We live in a “me-too” world, where your customers can buy the same or very similar products to what you offer from any number of other suppliers for the same or less money. You must do what you do very well. Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ “…when others see you do it….” “Others” means your customers…the people who buy your products and/or services. When they see you do what you do (or buy what you sell, or deal with your company)… they, _______________________ “…want to see you do it again….” We call that, “repeat business.” Your offer was so good, or the way you dealt with your customers was so unique, that they want to come back for more… to see you do it again. Not only that, but they will… _______________________ “…bring others to see you do it.” That’s called “referral business.” When your customers like what you do and bring others to experience it, that business costs you nothing in hard marketing costs. It’s a result of word-ofmouth. It’s a personal endorsement of your products or services from a satisfied user. That’s the sincerest form of flattery, and the best form of advertising you can get. _______________________ You’re not trying to “meet” your customer’s expectations… you want to “exceed” them… to give them more than what they expected. Similar products and services can all be expected to perform in similar fashion. But when it comes to the attention, care and service we receive, we all have our perceptions of what “good” means. Keep in your mind a balance scale. On one side of the scale mentally put the dollar amount you charge for your products and services. On the other side of the scale, your service. Make sure that the “service” of the scale always outweighs the “price” side. Be sure you always give more service than the © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 7 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In customer perceives they should be getting from their transaction with you. Here are a few questions to ask yourself that will help you determine how well you’re doing: Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Do I offer the best quality product or service I possibly can? What can I do to improve it? _______________________ What is the best benefit to my customers that each of my products or services have to offer? _______________________ How can I better convey that to my customers? What can I offer my customer above and beyond the product or service they purchased? Do my customers trust the advice and suggestions they get from my staff, and do they feel comfortable dealing with us? Why should they do business with my establishment instead of any and all options they have, including doing nothing? Would I purchase this product or service if I were in the market for it? Would I purchase it from my company if I didn’t own, or work for the company? Would I feel comfortable referring my friends, relatives and associates to this company? The answers to these questions can help you determine where you need to make changes that will benefit both you and your customers, and add substantially to your bottom line. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved 8 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Marketing Strategy #2 Use the testimonials of other satisfied customers to help pre-sell your prospects. Testimonials are one of the most powerful tools any business owner can use, but also one of the most underutilised. Testimonials are not limited to any one type of advertising or promotional media. Television ads, radio announcements, newspaper layouts and infomercials all make use of testimonials. Often, celebrities are used to promote certain products, especially when national or large-scale exposure is involved, but that’s not always necessary. Your own clients are some of the best sources of endorsement you could possibly want. Especially if they are known to those you are marketing to, or if they have something else in common… perhaps they live in the same town, have similar businesses, belong to the same organisation or association, etc. There are really only three reasons people don’t buy from you. 1. They have no use for your product or service. 2. They can’t afford your product or service. Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 3. You haven’t developed the level of trust, credibility, and believability they need in you to do business with you. _______________________ There’s not much you can do if a prospect can’t use or pay for your services. But there is a lot you can do to help wipe away the underlying layers of skepticism they bring to the relationship and establish the trust level they need to say “Okay” to your offer. _______________________ People don’t like to be the first to do anything… especially if it involves parting with their hard-earned © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 9 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In money. And, they don’t like to be manipulated. The sales world is full of hype and promotion, and oftentimes, false and misleading promotion. Notes _______________________ If your customer or prospect can see that others have done what they are being asked to do, or that others are currently doing it, they tend to feel safer, and will be more likely to participate. But you first have to relieve any nervousness they may have of being “taken.” _______________________ Testimonials are not difficult to get. One of the most effective ways is to send users of your products or services a questionnaire or evaluation form that asks for their feedback on how they’ve benefited from using the product or service. _______________________ The questions should be in “open-ended” form, and ask for them to write their feelings about their experience with your product or the service they received from you, and not just for “yes” or “no” answers. _______________________ Another effective method is to call your clients on the telephone and record the conversation (with their permission, of course). _______________________ Then you can transcribe the parts you want to use, and send a copy to them for their approval and authorisation. Often, after a brief warm up conversation, people will forget the recorder is running, open up and give you all kinds of good, useable information that can be edited for use as a testimonial. Using testimonials is one of the most effective ways you can eliminate fear, increase the believability and credibility of your offer, and add to the number of sales or inquiries to your advertisements or promotions. Whatever you do, don’t overlook this important and valuable tool! _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved 10 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Marketing Strategy #3 Build a database of current, past and prospective customers and keep in touch on a regular basis. Who are your current customers? Do you know? How do you know? Do you have a record that shows who they are, what products or services they regularly purchase, what their last purchase was, when it was, and how often they make purchases from you? How do you know that the person you consider to be a “current” customer isn’t, in fact, a “past” customer? When was the last time he or she bought from you? Have they sent any referrals to you lately? If so, who? If not, why not? Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Have they taken their business down the street to a competitor? If so, to whom? And why? What about your prospective customers? Do you know who they are? Have you developed an “Ideal Customer Profile” that accurately describes who your best customers are so you’ll know whom to target with your marketing efforts? Do you have a list of them? Do you know how to reach them? Are you reaching them on a regular basis? The answers to these questions can give you valuable information that can blast your business to heights never dreamt of. By knowing exactly whom you have dealt with in the past, who you currently deal with, and who you would like to deal with in the future can dramatically change your business, your profits and your bottom line. If you’re not currently using a computer to keep track of these and other categories of customers, you should be. This database can be the starting point of unbelievable profits! © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 11 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Targeting your marketing efforts to the right people can make or break your entire advertising or marketing campaign. And if you’re a small business, you can’t afford to have that happen too many times. It’ll drive you right out of business! Keeping in touch with your customers…past, current and prospective, is one of the best marketing tools you can employ. It doesn’t have to be “hard-sell.” It can be as simple as any of the following examples: Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Send birthday cards to your clients. _______________________ Send postcards on the anniversary date of their first purchase with you. _______________________ Send a questionnaire asking for their evaluation of the product or service they purchased, or feedback on how it could be made better. Send an informational newsletter on a regular basis. Involve your customers in a contest or promotion… perhaps a referral generating promotion. Sponsor client lunches with guest speakers that address subjects of interest to your clients. Have them bring a friend. Send announcements of “preferred customer” sales or events by special invitation. Include an invitation for someone who is not one of your current customers. Make your current customers feel special Make your past customers feel missed And make your prospective customers feel wanted Use your internal database to keep in touch with these groups of customers. Let them all know how much you care, and how much you appreciate their business, and this will take your business to new levels faster than nearly any other method you can think of. © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 12 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Marketing Strategy #4 Notes _______________________ Make all of your advertising efforts “Direct-Response.” _______________________ Nearly every advertisement or promotion you see today is what’s known as “institutional” or “image” advertising. That is, the ads promote the image of a particular product, service or business. _______________________ Now, here’s a hard and cold fact: People, your customers… couldn’t care less about you or your image, your company or its image, your sales quotas, or whether or not you’ll be in business this time next month. Not, at least, until you show them how your product or service can benefit them. Image advertising may be okay for very large organisations that just want to create or maintain name recognition in the marketplace, but if you own a small or mid-size business, you most likely can’t afford that luxury. You have to make every dollar you spend on promotions count. The best way to do that is with “direct-response” advertising. This kind of advertising focuses on the customer or prospect, and shows them how to solve their problems with your products or services. Direct-response advertising is designed to get your customers or prospects to become emotionally involved and to take a certain action… such as, call for more information, send in a response card or make a direct purchase. With standard, institutional ads, you have no way of knowing how effective your ads are because you have no way of measuring how many people respond to them. So, you have no way of calculating the actual cost of the ad. That’s not good. © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 13 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In On the other hand, because direct-response ads require a person to take a specific action, they have an automatic built-in method of measurement, and you can measure whether or not it is profitable to run that ad again, or if it needs to be changed to be more effective. Direct-response ads can be integrated effectively into the marketing efforts of nearly any business, and can take the form of mail order, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and telemarketing. Each of the components of a direct-response ad can be measured and tested separately so you can determine which combination of headline, opening statement, body copy, offer, guarantee, etc. works best. Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Here are three simple, but not conclusive guidelines that can help you get the most from your direct-response ads: _______________________ Create an attention-getting, emotional-based, benefitoriented headline. _______________________ Start small and test each component separately. Only increase the size of the ad gradually as you determine which combinations work the best. _______________________ Offer a free gift for responding. Make sure the offer has a highly perceived value to the reader, listener or viewer. Consider things such as special reports, free tapes, booklets, introductory seminars or initial consultations. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Remember that the only reason you ever run an ad… any type of ad, is to evoke an immediate and qualified response from your customers or prospects. You want and need this feedback, and you need it now, not six months from now. How else are you going to know if you should continue running this particular ad, or if you should change some component of it? You’re in business to make a profit, not just to tell others about your wonderful products. Your ads have to work. They must work. They must produce results that can be translated into dollars. © 2012 All Rights Reserved _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ 14 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Notes Change your advertising efforts from a cost into an investment… a profitable investment with a measurable return, by changing all your advertising and promotional efforts to direct-response. It can ad significantly to your bottom line, and will be one of the best moves you can make. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Conclusion _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Marketing… effective marketing doesn’t have to be difficult to be productive. But it must be done. If you fail to market, or if you market ineffectively, you can’t expect to remain in business very long, let alone grow your business. _______________________ With the tremendous increases in technology, and labour and materials availability, more and more businesses are finding it difficult to maintain any type of competitive advantage because of their products or prices. For your business to prosper and grow, you need to aggressively engage in effective marketing practices. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ If the products and services you offer to your customers and prospects are really worthy of their hard-earned money… if they really will provide a benefit to them… then you, as a business owner, owe it to yourself, your employees, your suppliers and your customers to learn as much as you can about the marketing strategies that work in today’s competitive business environment. You then have an obligation to see that as many people as possible take advantage of the wonderful benefits your products and services can provide for them. And, you have an obligation to do it as cost-effectively as possible so more people can afford them and so your business can remain in business to serve even more people. _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved 15 Four Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers, No Matter What Condition The Economy Is In Now you’ve learned four strategies that can be implemented immediately and help you get on the road to making your business more successful and profitable. Study them. Tailor them to fit your operation. Then apply them. They won’t do you or anyone else any good unless you put them to work. Finally, learn all you can about results-producing, leadgeneration marketing. Become a student. Apply the concepts and strategies to your business, and watch it grow! If, for some reason you don’t have the time or desire to learn the latest marketing techniques, don’t just drop the ball. Your business and your customers are too important. Notes _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Make sure you find a qualified consultant that can help you analyse your business, decide which strategies will work best for you, then set in motion a systematic plan that will help you skyrocket your business to the next level. These four strategies will start you on your way. Apply them in your business, and your competition won’t stand a chance! _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ © 2012 All Rights Reserved 16 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Plus: 120 Brainstorming Marketing ___________________________ ___________________________ ‘Power Tools’ You Can Use Today! ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Powerful strategies to skyrocket ___________________________ Powerful strategies to skyrocket your business ___________________________ your business And multiply your ___________________________ And multiply your profits and business profits and business success. ___________________________ success ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2010 All rights reserved 1 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Keep these concepts in mind: ___________________________ ___________________________ You've failed many times, although you don't___________________________ remember. You fell down the first time you tried to ___________________________ walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to___________________________ swim. . . . Don't worry about failure. ___________________________ My suggestion to each of you: ___________________________ ___________________________ Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try. – Sherman Finesilver ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Successful men are influenced by the desire for pleasing results. ___________________________ Failures are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods and are ___________________________ inclined to be satisfied with such results as can be obtained by doing things they like to do. ___________________________ The common denominator of success - the secret of every man who ___________________________ has ever been successful - lies in the fact that he formed the habit of ___________________________ doing things that failures don’t like to do. – Albert Gray ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 2 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth Contents Notes ___________________________ 19 Secrets Introduction ................................................................5 ___________________________ ___________________________ 7 Ways To Increase The Number ___________________________ Of Customers Your Business Has ...................................................7 ___________________________ Get More Leads .............................................................................. 7 Increase Your Conversion Ratio ......................................................... 7 ___________________________ Reduce Customer Defections ............................................................ 7 ___________________________ Increase The Number Of Referrals ..................................................... 8 ___________________________ Establish Referral Reward Programs................................................... 8 Reactivate Former Customers ........................................................... 8 ___________________________ Establish Joint Venture Arrangements ................................................ 9 ___________________________ ___________________________ 5 Ways To Generate More ___________________________ Income From Existing Customers ..................................................9 Increase The Value Of Each Sale ....................................................... 9 ___________________________ Sell More Products And Services ........................................................ 10 ___________________________ Increase The Number Of Times Customers Purchase ............................ 10 ___________________________ Establish And Maintain A Segmented Database.................................... 11 Extend The Lifetime Value Of Each Customer ...................................... 11 ___________________________ ___________________________ 5 Ways To Increase The Efficiency Of ___________________________ The Business Operation And Its Margins .......................................12 Control Or Reduce Expenses ............................................................. 12 ___________________________ Increase Profit Margins .................................................................... 13 ___________________________ Manage Time More Effectively ........................................................... 13 ___________________________ Increase Staff’s Knowledge And Competence ...................................... 13 ___________________________ Create A Teamwork Approach ........................................................... 14 ___________________________ 1 Powerful Way To Determine And Ethically Exploit ___________________________ The Lifetime Value Of The Business’ Customers ............................14 ___________________________ 1 Big Way To Create A Clear, Compelling And Irresistible ___________________________ Reason For Your Prospects And Customers To Do ___________________________ Business With You And Not Your Competitors ...............................16 ___________________________ ___________________________ 120 Marketing Power Tools ...........................................................18 ___________________________ More Help For Your Business ........................................................19 ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 3 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth Copyright Notices © Copyright The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in by any means mechanical or electronic, including photocopying recording, or by any information and retrieval system. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ any form or ___________________________ and ___________________________ ___________________________ The Licensee is authorised to use any of the information in this publication ___________________________ their for his or her own use only in carrying out duties necessary to fulfill role to the maximum. ___________________________ Published by: The Academy of Sales and Negotiations PO Box 692 Warners Bay NSW 2282 ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Web: http://salesandnegotiations.com Fax: (02) 4945 0293 ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Legal Notices ___________________________ ___________________________ While all attempts have been made to verify information provided___________________________ in this publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility ___________________________ for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter given ___________________________ in this product. ___________________________ The Publisher wishes to stress that the information contained in this product ___________________________ may be subject to varying country and professional organisations’ laws or ___________________________ regulations. ___________________________ The Licensee must accept full responsibility for determining the legality ___________________________ and/or ethical character of any and all business transactions and/or practices adopted and enacted in his or her particular field and geographic ___________________________ location, whether or not those transactions and/or practices are suggested, ___________________________ either directly or indirectly, in this program. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 4 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth 19 Secrets Introduction Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a business that consistently and predictably realises extraordinary growth and another business that struggles just to make ends meet? Or why a business that was started in a garage or basement of a home and run by the seat of its pants, can out perform in sales and profits, some of the best run companies? Or take two businesses that operate in the same marketing arena. They both sell the exact same products or the same services for the exact same prices. Why can one business continually grow and prosper, while the business owner spends a good portion of his or her time away from the business on trips and vacations with their family, and the other owner spends an inordinate amount of time working harder and longer hours just trying to pay the bills and never taking any time off? In the pages that follow, you’re going to learn a handful of practical ideas that have worked for some of the world’s largest and most prestigious businesses, and that will work for you in your business, as well. Ideas and strategies that you can begin to use immediately to quickly and easily take your business to the next level and begin adding profits to your business’ bottom line. There’s no reason you can’t improve your business or increase your profits as long as you adhere to four fundamental principles 1. First, you must have a product or service that is beneficial to those who buy it. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 2. Second, your product or service must be wanted or needed by the end user. ___________________________ 3. Third, you must effectively make your prospects aware of the availability of your product or service. ___________________________ 4. And fourth, you must make your prospects an offer that is enticing, compelling and in their best interest to purchase your product or service. © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 5 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth The first two areas – having a beneficial product or service that your prospects want or need, are areas that you’re going to have in place, or are going to have to develop. Notes ___________________________ The third and fourth principles – letting your prospects know about what you have to offer and then compelling them to buy from you, is where the following ideas can be of enormous assistance to you. So grab something to write with, get ready to make some notes in the margins of these pages, and let’s dig in. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ When you get right down to it, there are really five basic ways any company, any association, or any organisation can increase its business. First, a business can increase the number of new customers they have. Second, they can generate more income from their existing customers. Third, they can increase the efficiency of their operation, cut their expenses and improve their margins. Fourth, they can determine and then ethically exploit the Lifetime Value of their customers. And finally, they can create a clear, compelling and irresistible reason for their prospects and customers to do business with them, and not their competitors. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Each one of these categories on its own has enormous potential to dramatically affect the bottom line profits of your organization, but if you combine two or more of them, they can have a synergistic effect, and the results will be exponential. Let’s take a look at the first principle of growing a business… Increase The Number Of Customers. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 6 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth 7 Ways To Increase The Number Of Customers Your Business Has. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ Ask nearly any business owner what they would like to have more of and most likely you’ll get an answer somewhere along the lines of, “more customers.” ___________________________ There’s no denying that customers are very important to any business. Without an adequate number of people purchasing the goods and services sold by a business, there wouldn’t be any need for the business, and they would soon be out of business. ___________________________ But getting customers begins with having someone to tell a sales story to – a prospect – a lead – and then converting those leads into buying and profitable customers and then keeping them from leaving and buying from the competition. Here are some ideas you can use: 1. Get More Leads. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ That is find ways to get in front of more prospects to tell your sales story to. There are a number of lead generation devices that can do this very effectively, from direct mail or telemarketing campaigns, to paid advertising or free publicity, to joint ventures and hostbeneficiary relationships, just to name a few. 2. Increase Your Conversion Ratio. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ This is the converting of interested prospects into paying customers. You do this by getting better at what you do. You develop your sales skills, your word tracks and your scripts. And you can even upgrade or attract a better quality of prospects who would be more likely to buy from you. 3. Reduce Customer Defections. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ That is, close the back door – don’t let existing customers slip away to do business with the competition. Statistically, for every five percent increase in customer retention, a business can generate a 30 to 40 percent increase in profitability over a 12 to 16 month period. © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ 7 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth Since most businesses lose around 19 percent of their customers each year, only 81 percent are left. But if that number were to increase to 86 percent your business would enjoy a 30 to 40 percent increase in profitability. Notes ___________________________ Remember that it costs six to eight times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one, and it’s 16 times easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one. So when you compare the acquisition costs for getting new customers to like you, know you, trust you, and buy from you the first time, versus getting your existing customers to repurchase from you, the cost-tosale difference is significantly different. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 4. Increase The Number Of Referrals. Getting new customers through referrals is one of the most cost effective methods there is for growing a business. Referrals from good customers are much easier to sell to because they’re already somewhat “pre-sold.” With conventional advertising it takes a certain amount of valuable time to create credibility and trustworthiness in the minds of prospects. But when a prospect comes as a result of a referral, that credibility and trustworthiness has already been established by the one who referred them. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 5. Establish Referral Reward Programs. ___________________________ Make it worthwhile for your customers who take the time and make the effort to tell others about the benefits of doing business with you can do a lot to bolster the number of referrals you get. ___________________________ Simple things like movie passes, restaurant gift certificates, car washes, manicures, or samples of some of the additional products or services you provide make good choices. The reward for a referral should be perceived as high value to your customer, but low cost to you. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 6. Reactivate Former Customers. Every company, including yours, has former customers – those who used to do business with them but for one reason or another have stopped and are now doing business with a competitor, or maybe not even using your products or services any longer. © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 8 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth It’s often much easier and less expensive to sell something to someone who has done business with you in the past – someone who has already experienced the service, quality, convenience, terms, and relationship you have to offer, than it is to create a completely new customer and build that trust and credibility from ground zero. 7. Establish Joint Venture Arrangements. Work together in mutually beneficial arrangements with your centers of influence. Find people or companies who have already spent considerable time, effort and money establishing and building relationships with customers who are of the same buying profile as the customers you are targeting. Then work out reciprocal arrangements with those business to refer, endorse or suggest that their customers consider certain products or services offered by your company. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ The second principle for growing a business, is to Generate More Income From Your Existing Customers. 5 Ways To Generate More Income From Existing Customers. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ This category has the potential to add more profitability to your bottom line faster, easier and more cost effectively than any other method. You should pay very careful attention to each of the following sub categories. 1. Increase The Value Of Each Sale. Getting more money from each sale, or increasing the average transactional value of each sale – that is, getting more money from every purchase your customers make has the potential to add an immediate 30 to 40 percent in pure profits to your bottom line. Using this technique, and making a simple suggestion, fast food restaurants add millions in profits to their coffers every day. They use the strategies of: © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 9 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth Up-selling – not selling anything additional – just offering a larger size or more of the same item the customer is already purchasing. Super-sizing a drink or an order is an example of Up-selling. Notes Cross-selling, or suggesting that your customer buys an additional item that they didn’t intend to purchase, is another effective way to increase the size of the order. Asking if a customer wants fries with their hamburger and drink is an example of how a fast food restaurant uses this technique. ___________________________ Packaging, bundling, or combining several items together and giving a discounted price is another way to get your customers to spend just a little more and get a better value. Happy meals or Value meals are an example of this technique. ___________________________ Each of these techniques only adds a little more to the total cost of the meal, and aside from the actual hard costs of the additional products, that “little more” is pure profit since there are no advertising, marketing or acquisition costs involved. ___________________________ 2. Sell More Products And Services. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ The goal of every business should be to make sure their customers are getting the maximum value, use, enjoyment, benefit, and satisfaction from the products and services they purchase from them. If your business has additional products or services that would help your customers increase the benefits they derive from their original purchase, you have an obligation to your customers to make those products or services available to them. ___________________________ If you don’t have anything additional that you can make available to them, you could easily look outside your company to other businesses who offer products or services that are complimentary, but not competing, and that would enhance the value of the original purchase, and work out joint venture arrangements to make those products available to your customers. ___________________________ 3. ___________________________ Increase The Number Of Times Customers Purchase. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Too many businesses operate with a one-time sale mentality. They give very little thought to repeat © 2012 All rights reserved 10 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth sales or back-end purchases. But that is where the real money is. It’s not uncommon for a business to lose money or barely break even on the initial sale. And it oftentimes takes several repurchases before any real money is made. 4. Establish And Maintain A Segmented Database. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ One of the most effective ways to increase sales is by having an up to date, clean and segmented database of all your customers – past, present and future customers – your prospects. When you keep track of your customers and what they’ve purchased in the past, and then see that they are informed of special sales and offers, special events, and new items, and discounts and promotions on items they would be interested in, shows them that you care about them, and encourages them to make additional, often more profitable purchases. ___________________________ 5. ___________________________ Increase The Average Buying Lifetime Of Each Customer. It just makes sense that the longer a customer continues to do business with you, the more products and services you’ll have the opportunity to sell that customer, which of course, translates into more profits. But also, the longer that customer keeps coming back and buying from you, the more benefits they’ll receive from the products and services they’ve purchased, which leads to a more satisfied customer, and again, means more profits to you. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ For example’s sake, let’s say your average customer trades with you for a period of five years before moving on to do business with another company, or no longer needs the product or service your business offers. If that five years could be extended by just one year, it would mean an increase in profits of 20 percent – even if nothing else changed. Actually, it would be somewhat more than 20 percent, because there were no acquisition costs for that extra year like there was for the first year the customer did business with you. © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 11 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth And naturally, the longer the customer’s buying lifetime with you, the more chances you’ll have of getting referrals of others who can use and benefit from the products and services you sell. Notes ___________________________ The third principle for growing a business, is to Increase The Efficiency Of Your Business. 5 Ways To Increase The Efficiency Of The Business Operation And Its Margins. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ This is probably one of the most overlooked areas to building and sustaining a profitable business. Yet, it has so much potential for making a positive impact on your bottom line. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 1. Control Or Reduce Expenses. ___________________________ Getting a handle on where your money is going is critical. Most businesses have an incredible amount of waste, not only in actual money lost, but in human capital – lost or wasted time by their employees and staff. You need to keep a very tight reign over any expenditures, and money should only be spent after careful consideration and analysis as to how it will contribute to your bottom line profits. ___________________________ One of the biggest money wasters is the area of advertising and marketing. Careful testing of ads and promotions should be carried out in small runs before “rolling out” to your entire list or to the marketplace. Direct response ads with enticing and compelling offers should always be used in place of more traditional image or institutional ads. When you consider how much it “costs” to bring in a dollar of actual profit and then see how easy it is to spend that money and not get a positive return, it’s not hard to see why so many businesses have a difficult time showing a positive balance at the end of the year. ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 12 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth 2. Increase Profit Margins. Profit margins are the difference between what the product or service you offer costs you to make, produce, purchase, or acquire, versus what you sell it for, and after deducting sales, processing, fulfillment, and delivery costs. The more steps there are in the process from production or acquisition to delivery, the more room there is for excess costs to creep in, and the lower the profit margin will be. Every effort should be made to monitor, control and slash costs whenever possible. Remember, a simple two dollar saving on a twenty dollar product can add up to 20 percent more profit for your business. 3. Manage Time More Effectively. Every person on the face of the earth has exactly the same number of hours, minutes and seconds in their day – every day. No one has an advantage in this area. It’s true that we all have different jobs, tasks, priorities, and responsibilities, and those all require different amounts of our time, but you can significantly increase your available time if you will take stock of where you are, what you’re spending your time on, and then effectively employ the principle of delegation. By concentrating on things that matter most, or that only you can do, and then delegating the lesser important tasks to the lowest competency level person that can handle them, you’ll have more time to focus on the important priorities – the things that can make you real money. 4. Increase Staff’s Knowledge And Competence. How many times have you called a business and asked a question, only to have the person on the other end of the phone act like they had no idea of what you were talking about or where to get the answer? It happens all the time. Unfortunately, with today’s labor laws it’s much more difficult to get rid of incompetent, rude or uncaring employees without the threat of lawsuits or other problems. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Knowing how to hire the right employees is becoming more critical, as well as how they’re trained to handle © 2012 All rights reserved 13 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth different situations that come up in your business. It’s surprising how few businesses have regular staff or employee training meetings. And for those who do, most of their meetings have to do with administrative duties, and are “reactive” in their approach. By changing your focus and conducting “proactive” meetings – how to deal with certain situations, sell more effectively, show interest in customers, and so on., will do a lot to not only improve your company’s image, but will also be a contributing factor to your profitability. 5. Create A teamwork Approach. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ You cannot afford to run your businesses with a “super star” mentality. Just as in any team sport, to be truly effective, it takes the entire team to make a company run smoothly and efficiently. Want to know how to make your company more responsive to the needs of your customers? Hold a team meeting. Invite people from every department – sales, manufacturing, accounting, fulfillment, delivery, even janitorial. Have a brainstorming session and get every idea possible on the table. Don’t be judgmental. Get them all out. Then go through each idea and discuss how it can be used to more fully satisfy the needs of your customers. Sometimes the best ideas come from those you’d least expect. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Now let’s look at the fourth principle for growing your business… Ethically Exploit The Lifetime Value Of your Customers. ___________________________ 1 Powerful Way To Determine And Ethically Exploit The Lifetime Value Of The Business Customers. ___________________________ The Lifetime Value of a customer is one of the most valuable things you as a business owner can know. It is simply a calculation or determination of how much (in dollars) each of your customers is worth to you. ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 14 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth The reason this calculation is so critical, is that by knowing what the value of an average customer is, you can then determine how much you can afford to spend to acquire a new customer, as well as how much you can afford to spend to keep an existing customer from leaving you and purchasing from a competitor. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Lifetime Value can be determined a couple of different ways. To get the Gross Lifetime Value you calculate: ___________________________ The average purchase amount… ___________________________ Multiplied by the average number of times a customers buys per year… ___________________________ Multiplied by the average number of the customer continues to buy… ___________________________ Plus, the monetary value of their referrals. ___________________________ This gives you the total worth or Gross Lifetime Value of each customer. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Another way to determine the value of a customer to your business is to compute the Lifetime Profit Value. This differs from the Gross Lifetime Value, in that this computation figures the amount of profit each customer is worth to your business. This is determined in much the same way as above, but with one additional step: ___________________________ The average purchase amount… ___________________________ Multiplied by the average number of times a customer buys per year… Minus product acquisition or production costs, fulfillment and delivery costs, sales commissions, bonuses and salaries, advertising and marketing costs, and other overhead expenses. Multiplied by the average number of years the customer continues to buy… Plus, the monetary value of their referrals. This gives you the total profit value of each customer. There’s value in doing both types of calculations for your consulting clients. When initially demonstrating the concept of Lifetime Value it may be easier and quicker to figure Gross Lifetime Value. But © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 15 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth when doing calculations for the purpose of developing actual marketing strategies and campaigns, the Lifetime Profit Value will give a more accurate picture. Notes ___________________________ Finally, the fifth principle for growing a business… Create Compelling Reasons For Your Customers To Only Do Business With You. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 1 Big Way To Create A Clear, Compelling And Irresistible Reason For Your Prospects And Customers To Do Business With You, And Not Your Competitors. ___________________________ Here’s a simple test you can perform: Ask any business owner, any manager, any entrepreneur or any professional why their prospects or customers should buy from them, and you’ll most likely hear something like, “Because we offer the highest quality products, the best service, the fastest delivery and the lowest prices around.” ___________________________ But really, what do you learn from that kind of statement? That kind of answer does absolutely nothing to compel you to want to know more, or to nearly force you to get out of your chair, pick up the phone and call, or to get in your car and drive to the place of business, or to fill out and mail in a response card. ___________________________ In fact, just the opposite. You’ve heard this kind of “ho-hum” statement so many times before by countless other businesses, that you no longer pay any attention to such statements. Competition in business today is so keen, products and services are so similar, and prices are so cutthroat, that it’s difficult, in fact nearly impossible in almost any industry, business or profession, to maintain for any predictable length of time, a competitive advantage © 2012 All rights reserved ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ 16 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth because of the products or services a business offers, or the prices they charge. The simple truth is, that if you can’t give your prospects and customers clear and compelling reasons to do business with you, you can never expect for your business to be any better than any of your competition. And you’ll just be another “me-too” business – at least in the eyes of your customers. And since they’re the one’s with the money, that’s the only place that matters. To be competitive in the marketplace today, you must differentiate yourself and your business from any and all other options your prospects and customers have to choose from. In effect, you’ve got to stand out not only as the most logical choice for your customers to buy from, but the only choice they have. That differentiating factor has to be as clear and compelling as FedEx’s, “When it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight” was for them. There was no question in the minds of the buying public that when something was so important or urgent that it had to be delivered the next day, that the only one who could get it there was FedEx. Not, not the Post Office, not anyone. Coming up with your own unique differentiating factor – that one thing that no one else can offer, or that preempts anyone else who markets the same products or services as you, is critical. And when you can articulate it in such a way as to capture a unique position in the minds of your prospects and customers, you will gain a very competitive edge, and your competition won’t stand a chance. Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 17 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth 120 Marketing Power Tools To move your business forward easier and faster here is 120 powerful, business boosting marketing activities and tools for you try out in your business. Begin immediately Notes by holding brainstorming meetings and workshops with your associates or staff. Almost effortlessly, you will ___________________________ quickly come up with lots of great ideas to build your business. ___________________________ Just explore the list imagining ways that you can incorporate them into ___________________________ your business and write down your thoughts and ideas. Don’t judge your notes straight away. Put them aside for a few ___________________________ days before revisiting them and deciding which ones will work best for your products or services. Create and implement a plan to implement the best and most profitable___________________________ ideas. Revisit the list periodically and watch your sales and profits soar. ___________________________ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. A u d io C asse tt e s/ C D R O M ’ s/ D V D ’ s V id e o Casse t tes/ CD R O M ’ s/ D V D ’ s M agazin e A rt ic les A d ve rt o rial’ s (lon g co p y ad s) O n -ho ld M e ssage s B u sine ss Card s as A d s B o o ks B ro c hu re s T rad e Sho w Bo ot hs F le a M arket St and s F airs B u lle t in Bo ard s/ E le ct ron ic W eb Sit e A sso c iat e E -M arke t in g B illbo ard s P iggy bac k M ailin gs Co -o p A d ve rt isin g Jo int V en tu re s E n d o rsed M ailin gs Cro ss P ro mo tion s/ Se llin g Co n ferenc e s T e le c on fe ren c es Co u po n s Sp o nso r Co m mu nit y Se rvic e Cat alo gu e s Co n su lt at io ns Co n t e st s P rize D raw s T rain in g W o rkshop s T ax i A d’ s Ce le brit y E n do rsem e nt s Co rre sp on d en c e Co u rses N ew sp ap e r/ M agazin e Co lu m ns Cale n d ars H o u se T o H ou se C an vassin g D ire c t M ail D ist ribut o rs D o n at io ns © 2010 All rights reserved 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. D em o nst rat io ns Sam p le s D ire c to rie s E x hibit s F lyers/ H an do ut s F un d R aise rs G ift s G ift Ce rt ific at e s N ew sle tt er Inse rt s M agazin e In se rt s N ew sp ap e r In se rts In vit at io n On ly E vent s B re akfast Se m in ars P rivat e U n veilin gs P re view s P e rso n alize d L e tt e rs D ire c to ry L ist in gs L o ss le ad ers M agazin e A d s N ew sp ap e r Ad s Classifie d Ad ’ s Su p erm arke t B o ard s M at c hbo o k A d ve rtisin g Cin e m a A d s N ew sle tt ers N ew P ro du ct R ele ases P e rso n al Sale s Co nt ac ts P o st C ard s P art y P lan s M LM P o st ers P aid / U n p aid Pu blic Sp e akin g P o int o f P u rc hase Ad ve rtisin g P lac e m at s in R est au rant s P u blic it y/ P ress R ele ase s P e r In qu iry Ad s P e rso n al L et ters R ad io A ds In t e rvie w s On A ud io / Vid eo R ad io / T e lep hon e Int erview s T V T alk Sho w s 8 0 . ___________________________ T V In fom erc ials 8 1 . ___________________________ R e p o rts/ Sp ec ial R epo rt s 8 2 . R e fe rrals ___________________________ 8 3 . R e c o rd ed T’ p ho n e M e ssage s 8 4 . ___________________________ V o ic e M ail 8 5 . ___________________________ F ax on D em an d /F ax B ac k 8 6 . CD R O M Cat alo gu e s ___________________________ 8 7 . O n -L in e Cat alo gu e s 8 8 . ___________________________ Sem in ars 8 9 . ___________________________ V e n d o r Spo n so re d E vent s 9 0 . St at em en t Stu ffe rs ___________________________ 9 1 . Sale s/ M fr’ s R e p s 9 2 . ___________________________ D ire c t Sales P e op le 9 3 . ___________________________ B ag St u ffe rs 9 4 . Sp o nso red E ven t s ___________________________ 9 5 . Sp ec ial E ven ts 9 6 . ___________________________ Sign s 9 7 . ___________________________ M arqu ee / B an n er Sign s 9 8 . M o vin g Disp lays 9 9 . ___________________________ St o re W ind o w Disp lays 1 00 . ___________________________ Su rve ys 1 01 . ___________________________ In bo un d T ele m arket in g 1 02 . O u t bou nd Te lem arke t in g 1 03 . ___________________________ T -shirt Ad ve rt isin g 1 04 . ___________________________ B u m p e r St ic ke r A d s 1 05 . ___________________________ O n -V e hic le A d vert isin g 1 06 . W o rksho p s 1 07 . ___________________________ W o rd -o f-M o ut h 1 08 . ___________________________ Y e llo w P age s 1 09 . P ac kage A d ve rt isin g ___________________________ 1 10 . In -P ac kage A d ve rt isin g 1 11 . ___________________________ 0 80 0 Nu m be rs 1 12 . ___________________________ G ift B asket s 1 13 . B lim p s & Se arc h L ight s ___________________________ 1 14 . A sso c iat ion M e m bership s 1 15 . L e t t e rs to t he E d it o r 1 16 . Cu st om e r M ailin g L ist s 1 17 . P e t ro l Pu mp A d’ s 1 18 . A ffin it y Sales 1 19 . Ce n t re s o f In flu enc e 1 20 . T e st im on ials 18 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth So there you have it. Nineteen solid strategies that you can begin using immediately to help position your company to gain an advantage in your marketplace and begin adding big profits to your bottom line. do. But this isn’t all. There’s so much more you can Notes ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ More Help For Your Business Working with some of Australia’s most successful companies, as well as hundreds of small and medium size businesses, the business development consultants of Streetsmart Business Advisors have been able to uncover tremendous profit centers that have been lying dormant, just waiting to be tapped – ready to unleash a flood of new found profits that go directly to the business’ bottom line. If you’re serious about growing your business, virtually eliminating your competition, and dominating your market, we need to talk. The ideas, strategies and systems we can create for you and install in your business have been proven time and time again in countless businesses, a variety of industries and in nearly every profession. And we are confident we can work the same magic for you and your business. The future of your business is directly in your hands. We’ll be happy to discuss how, together, we can create a powerful marketing strategy that will position your business to become not only the obvious choice, but in reality, the only choice for your prospects and customers – and your competition won’t stand a chance. So don’t delay. Pick up the phone now and give us a call – before your competition does. We guarantee you won’t regret it. ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 19 19 Secrets to Immediate and Exponential Business Growth All The Tools, Systems And Methodology To Give You An Unfair Advantage Notes In Your Marketplace ___________________________ ___________________________ Over the years the principles that are at the foundation of the Streetsmart Business Advisors ___________________________ building and development systems have been used to make billions of dollars for small, ___________________________ medium and large businesses just like yours. ___________________________ Streetsmart has refined these principles into a series of dynamic scientific processes to meet the challenges facing businesses large and small by utilising the latest cutting edge ___________________________ technologies. ___________________________ Find out how Streetsmart Business Advisors Solutions can help you… ___________________________ Drive hordes of hungry customers to your business. ___________________________ Craft and use powerful and irresistible direct marketing strategies to drive your sales through the roof. ___________________________ ___________________________ Counter competitor price cutting without reducing your margins. ___________________________ Keep customers coming back again and again to your business. Uncover and profit from the hidden assets to be found in your business. Quickly, simply and effectively increase sales to your current customers by 10%, 35% and even 90% or more, with no additional marketing costs. ___________________________ Advertise your business for absolutely no cost. Create passionate and undying customer loyalty to permanently keep your ___________________________ competitors out. Find, acquire, keep and motivate superstar salespeople and employees. Live and enjoy greater success by speedily building a business that is highly profitable ___________________________ and will run itself. Make your business 100% recession proof in 30 days or less. Get and use testimonials to dramatically boost your sales. ___________________________ Price test to garner maximum profit from every sale you make. ___________________________ Add an immediate $5,000 to $10,000 in new found profits in the next 30 days. ___________________________ Double, triple, even quadruple your sales conversion rate. ___________________________ And much, much more… ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 20 How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ © 2010 All rights reserved How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes _________________________ Copyright Notices © Copyright The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 2012 All rights reserved. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical or electronic, including photocopying _________________________ and recording, or by any information and retrieval system. _________________________ The Licensee is authorised to use any of the information in this publication _________________________ for his or her own use only in carrying out duties necessary to fulfill their _________________________ role to the maximum. Published by: The Academy of Sales and Negotiations PO Box 692 Warners Bay NSW 2282 _________________________ Web: http://salesandnegotiations.com Fax: (02) 4945 0293 _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Legal Notices _________________________ _________________________ While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this _________________________ publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the _________________________ subject matter given in this product. _________________________ The Publisher wishes to stress that the information contained in this _________________________ product may be subject to varying country and professional organisations’ _________________________ laws or regulations. _________________________ The Licensee must accept full responsibility for determining the legality _________________________ and/or ethical character of any and all business transactions and/or practices adopted and enacted in his or her particular field and geographic ________________________ location, whether or not those transactions and/or practices are suggested, either directly or indirectly, in this program. ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Table of Contents Notes _________________________ _________________________ Introduction.......................................................................................... 5 _________________________ Practical Things You Can Do To Lower Your Advertising Costs ...................... 7 _________________________ SET UP YOUR OWN HOUSE AGENCY ............................. 7 _________________________ YOUR RESEARCH..................................................... 10 1. 2. _________________________ CONTACT THE PUBLICATIONS ................................... 10 _________________________ DON’T PAY RATE CARD RATES .................................. 11 3. 4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 _________________________ Information Gathering ............................................. 12 _________________________ Identity ................................................................. 12 Develop Rapport, Gain “YES” Momentum_________________________ .................... 13 _________________________ Publisher’s Discount ................................................. 13 _________________________ Mail Order Discount ................................................. 14 _________________________ Test Discount Rate ................................................. 14 _________________________ Distress Space ........................................................ 15 _________________________ Immediate Decisions ............................................... 15 _________________________ Immediate Payment ................................................ 16 _________________________ Remnant Space ....................................................... 16 _________________________ The Test Rate Close ................................................. 17 _________________________ Repeat These Questions with Each Publication ............. 18 _________________________ Behind the Scenes .................................................. 18 _________________________ Call Back from the Publication ................................... 19 _________________________ Timeliness .............................................................. 19 _________________________ 65% Discount So Far .............................................. 19 _________________________ Continued Discounts ............................................... 19 ________________________ Full Page or Partial Page .......................................... 20 ________________________ When Media Solicits Adverting from You ..................... 20 ________________________ Ask for PI Advertising ............................................. 20 ________________________ PI Inserts .............................................................. 21 ________________________ Processing PI Orders ................................................ 21 6. ________________________ DEVELOP LONG TERM RELATIONSHIPS ...................... 22 ________________________ FUTURE CONTACTS ................................................. 22 7. THE INSERTION ORDER ........................................... 23 5. © 2012 All rights reserved How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. _________________________ KEY EACH AD ................................................................ 27 _________________________ COMPOSING AND PROOFING YOUR AD.............................. 28 _________________________ MISTAKES AND CORRECTIONS MAKE GOODS .................... 29 _________________________ CREATING MORE AND MORE CUSTOMERS ......................... 30 _________________________ ON-GOING ASSISTANCE ................................................. 31 _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Introduction Notes _________________________ This special report is a quick course in advertising ‘street smarts’. If you apply the principles and tactics you’ll learn here, you will save thousands and thousands of dollars on your advertising. And if you invest that savings back into buying more advertising the right way, you will generate more and more customers and more and more profits. _________________________ You’re about to learn a step-by-step, duplicable and repeatable system. Once you learn how to apply its techniques, you can do the same thing over and over again and continue saving money for yourself, buying more advertising time or space from the advertising media, and informing your potential customers of the benefits they’ll receive from doing business with you. It’s truly a win-win-win situation. _________________________ Sound simple? Well, it is! _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Knowing how to advertise is the key to getting customers. But knowing how to advertise at up to 80% off the regular rates is the key to enormous profits from your advertising, because for the same money you would normally spend, you can do 80% more advertising, and draw an even larger response. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ When you put all the pieces of this little-known system in place, publications will call you and offer you the greatest deals you can imagine. Why? Because they’ll: 1. Recognise you’re a pro at advertising 2. They’ll enjoy doing business with you 3. You can pull them out of tough situations at the last minute 4. You’ll be adding extra dollars of profits to their bottom lines that they would not normally have In today’s competitive market, you not only need to know how to get the best deals, you also must know how to make it beneficial for the advertising media to work with you. When you do, you will develop life long relationships that keep on giving. © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes Why should you pay 100% for your advertising – especially when you can get if for much less? You spend money on advertising to generate customers. If you can save 15% to 80% on your advertising and still produce the same number of customers, you’ve just reduced your acquisition cost per customer – and that translates into more profits for you. For example, let’s say you spend $10,000 for an ad, and you determine that each new customer, on average, spends $100.00 on their purchase. And let’s say that your profit margin is 50%, which nets you $50.00 in gross profits. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ In this example, it will take a total of 200 new customers to just break even. There are not many businesses that bring in 200 new customers with each ad they run. _________________________ Now, if that ad were to only cost you $2,000, then you would only need to generate 40 new customers to break even. Any additional customers would be pure profit to you. _________________________ Keeping your advertising costs as low as you can while getting as much out of your advertising dollars as possible just makes good business sense. So let’s get started with some practical things you can begin doing right now to begin slashing your ad costs! _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Practical Things You Can Do To Lower Your Advertising Costs Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 1. SET UP YOUR OWN HOUSE AGENCY When an advertising agency places an ad for a client, they typically get anywhere from 15% to 18% of the amount of the order as a commission. By eliminating the agency and having your own house agency, you’ll redirect that commission to you, instead. That automatically cuts your advertising by 15% to 18%. Pretty good deal to know about! How To Set Up An In-House Agency Here’s all you need to do: If you print your letterheads with your computer, simply put the words, “HOUSE AGENCY,” under your company name on your letterhead. Or, if you like, you can insert the word “Advertising” after your company name on your letterhead. If you have your printing done by an outside printer, have them make up another set of letterhead as above. Unless you plan on doing a lot of advertising with different media, you won’t need to get a large volume of these letterheads printed. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ That’s all there is to it. It much less expensive than 15 percent of your advertising budget, and it will save you a tremendous amount of money in a very short period of time. Now you have a house agency which entitles you to do business just like a regular advertising agency. Immediate And Substantial Savings Can Be Reinvested For Even Greater Results And Profits © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes Let’s say you spend $100,000 per year placing ads. Having your own house agency will save you $15,000 to $18,000 in advertising costs right off the top. Another way to look at is; your advertising is going to cost you $82,000 to $85,000 per year, instead of $100,000. You get exactly the same for your advertising dollars. You simply spend less. “Where’s the catch?” There is none. You place the ads directly, rather than telling the advertising agency to place the ads. By eliminating the middle man, you pocket the difference. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ If you choose not to pocket the savings, but instead, use it to invest in more advertising, your competition, who are paying the regular advertising rates, will think you’re spending yourself broke. Meanwhile, you’re creating even more customers and more profits, and laughing all the way to the bank. _________________________ You must be aware, that when you have your own house agency, you have to provide professionally prepared ads. But that’s not generally a problem. With the many software and graphics programs available for personal computers, you should be able to very quickly and easily lay out a pretty fair ad. _________________________ If you were to use an ad agency, you’d have to let them know what product or service you want to advertise, how you want it presented, and in what media you want it placed. But if you’re going to go to all that trouble, you might as well give that same information directly to a graphic designer. They’ll do the same work for you that they would have done for the ad agency, and you’ll save the ad agency’s markup on their work, for an additional savings. _________________________ House agencies are becoming more accepted all the time, and nearly all media will honor them. Some may question it, but if you let them know that this is the way you do business, most will go along with you. After all, you’re paying them money to run your ads, and 85 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing. ________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Professionalism And Preparation Are The Keys To Credibility And Savings The best way to instill confidence in the media you’re dealing with, is to know what you’re talking about, look and act professional, and be prepared. Do your homework. Find out in advance what they require from you. Find out about sizes, borders, reverse type, color, photo requirements, etc. Learn the “jargon,” talk like they talk, use the same buzz words and terms. Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Make sure your ads are designed to meet their specifications. And make sure you fill out the insertion order correctly. You don’t want to give any indication that you don’t know what you’re doing or that you’re anything less than experienced and professional. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask questions. Remember, you’re about to save 15%to 18% - you can’t afford to do or be anything less than thorough and prepared. _________________________ If the media gives you a hard time and doesn’t want to accept your house agency, forget them. There are other alternatives to spend your advertising dollars with who will honor the way you have your business set up. No one has the right to dictate how you run your business, and if you choose to have an in-house advertising agency, that’s your business, and you should be entitled to the same discounts that any other business would get. _________________________ Be As Much In Control Of Your Advertising Money As You Can Some newspapers that have their own advertising layout departments do their own layouts, and don’t pay agency commissions. This is especially the case in smaller towns that work with less sophisticated advertisers, or who don’t have professional and independent graphics houses in their towns. While you may not be able to save the full amount by having your own house agency, you may be able to convince them that you can save them some time and work by providing your own ad layouts, and work out some other type of discounts by running © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits the ads multiple times. Notes _________________________ Advertising agencies are very good at spending as much of your money as they can get away with. They work on commissions based on the dollar volume of the ads they place; so the attitude is often – why not place as many ads as possible at top dollar? Now that you have your house agency and are earning at least 15% off every ad that you place, how do you proceed? _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 2. YOUR RESEARCH If you operate a local or “neighborhood” business and your potential customers are geographically located within a certain radius of your business, get a list of all of the potential newspapers, magazines and other media in your area that you can advertise in. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ If you run a larger company and deal on a more regional or national basis and your customers come from a larger area, or if you want to do direct mail advertising, then you should ask your local librarian to direct you to the book, Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS). This amazing reference manual lists everything you need to know about all the publications you might want to advertise in, as well as who owns all the lists of people who have purchased certain types of products or services. Once you have identified your target publications and your ideal target market, move on to the next step. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ 3. CONTACT THE PUBLICATIONS ________________________ ________________________ Step three is to contact your target publications, ask for the advertising account executive that will handle your type of business, and request that they send you a “media kit.” If you fax them, use your house agency © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits letterhead. Notes _________________________ If you call, you can say: “My name is ________________________, and I’m the president of_________________________. We are considering expanding our advertising campaign, and would appreciate it if you could send us a media kit.” That’s all there is to it. A media kit contains the sales materials and technical information that the advertising medium uses to sell print or broadcast advertising in their respective publications or stations. It will contain samples of their publication, data about the subscriber base, area they cover, numbers or readers, listeners or viewers, sex, age, average income, education, special interests and any other information that will be helpful to potential advertisers. Once you receive the media kits from the various media, study them very carefully. If you are going to spend money advertising in them to create new customers, you want to know that their readers are the same as your target market. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ One of the most important items included in the media kit is what’s known as the Rate Card. 4. DON’T PAY RATE CARD RATES _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ Advertising agencies and publications would like you to place your order and pay according to the rate card. This is not something you want to do. Pay close attention to the next few sections and you will never have to pay rate card rates again. This is literally worth thousands of dollars in savings to you. Study the rate cards carefully. Your goal is to buy the most advertising at the lowest cost possible. When you call a publication, try and match these © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits words as closely as possible. Notes _________________________ Always call the publication in advance of your call to discuss the possibility of advertising to get the name of the person you’ll be dealing with. That way, when you call back, you’ll likely be put through because the receptionist recognises your call as someone who knows the person you’re contacting, and doesn’t pass you off to someone who doesn’t have the authority or position to work with you on your basis. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.1 Information Gathering _________________________ Let’s say you’re calling a newspaper, you say: _________________________ “Hello, can you tell me the name of the advertising director that handles (the section of the newspaper you want to advertise in).” _________________________ That’s it. When you get the name, thank them and hang up. Anything more, and you’ve just given away the fact that you’re just another caller inquiring about advertising, and you may get shuffled off to a lower level employee who probably won’t have the answers you need, and will just have to ask the person you originally wanted to talk to. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.2 Identity When you call back, say: _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ “Hello, this is ________________. I’m calling for ____________. Would he / she happen to be in now?” What you’ve just done is established yourself as friendly, but direct, and someone who may know or have business with the person you’ve requested. In most cases, you’ll be put right through. © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits When you reach your party, say: Notes _________________________ “Hi, ______________. My name is ____________. I have a business in your (town / marketing area), and I’m interested in the possibility of running some full page ads in your publication regarding (type of product or service you’re offering). Are you the person I need to be talking to regarding this?” Response: “Yes.” _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.3 Develop Rapport, Gain “YES” Momentum Continue: “We are planning a large scale advertising campaign and once we choose a publication that produces results for us, we’ll be a consistent advertiser. “Are you interested in getting a consistent advertiser? And do you have room for a consistent advertiser?” Response: _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Of course, the answer to both questions will be positive. _________________________ Now you say: _________________________ “Before I can consider placing an order, I need to ask you some questions.” ________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ 4.4 Publisher’s Discount If you sell information you should ask: “What is your Publisher’s Discount?” Response A: Usually they will say it’s another © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits 20%. Combine this with the 15% you saved previously, and you are up to a 35% savings on your advertising. These discounts are usually available, but are not generally published. If you don’t ask the question, you can bet they won’t tell you about them. Publications are in business to make a profit. They are only interested in getting you to spend as much of your money as they can. Response B: “No, there is no Publisher’s Discount.” So you say: “Okay”, and move on to the next discount, which is… Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.5 Mail Order Discount You ask: “What is your mail order discount?” Response A: “I don’t know if we have one.” Response B: “We don’t have one.” Response C: “That is another 20%.” (If they have such a discount, you’ve cut more than half off the rate card rate.) 4.6 Test Discount Rate At this point you need to say: “Since I am going to be a consistent advertiser, I need to know your ‘Test Discount Rate’.” Response: They either give you an amount or they question what it is that you’re referring to. So you say: © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits “Every time we develop a new advertisement, we like to test it for results, and since most of the magazines (newspapers / publications) offer a Test Rate Discount, I was wondering what is yours?” Response: If they say they don’t offer one, go on to the next question. Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.7 Distress Space Now you ask: _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ “How often do you offer distress space in your publication?” _________________________ Distress space occurs when an advertiser has canceled their scheduled advertisement and the magazine or newspaper has this space open. _________________________ This means that the magazine or newspaper is at the printers, and it’s already laid out with a blank page or a blank space that needs to be filled. The publication can now offer that blank page or blank space to an advertiser that can take it on a short notice. _________________________ Response: “From time to time we do have distress space.” 4.8 Immediate Decisions You now say: “Once we become a regular advertiser, and when you have space available on a distress basis, we can make an immediate decision to place our ad.” If you know you have an ad that is working and you can get 80% off the cost of that ad, wouldn’t you make an immediate decision? Of course, you would. © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes So when they call, you need to be prepared to make an immediate decision. _________________________ You will say, and this is very important: _________________________ “Yes, I can do it.” But the following part is the most critical. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.9 Immediate Payment In every transaction, all parties should benefit. And if you want your relationship to continue at the highest level, it’s best that the other party thinks that they’re getting the best end of the deal. In other words, it should always be a winwin situation, but more of a win in favor of the other party than it is for you. One way to do that, is by paying your bills as quickly as possible – not letting them have to bill you or wait for their money. When they ask you to have the check there by Tuesday, have it there by Monday. Not Wednesday, but Monday. Whatever date they give you, have your check there by that day or the day before. If you’ll see that they get their money quickly and without any hassles, they will call you constantly with tremendous discounts and deals. It’s a winwin situation for both of you. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.10 Remnant Space _________________________ ________________________ Now you ask: ________________________ “How often do you offer Remnant Space?” ________________________ Remnant space occurs when a publication sells on a regional basis. In other words, if an advertiser wants to advertise in a specific region of the publication, they will request that the advertising be run only in that specific region of the publication. © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes This could be for testing advertising to see if it is effective. Or the company just wants to market in a specific region. The rest of the country is a remnant of the full page ad. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Let’s say that the rest of the country is 75% to 80% of the circulation. The publication might offer that to you for 20% off the rate card rate, since you’re their friend, and you’ve kept your end of the deal in prior situations. _________________________ You can now buy the rest of the country at a very low rate. _________________________ The publication also makes out, because it has an ad that it can replace a blank page with, in the rest of the country. _________________________ They will often say, _________________________ Response A: “We have it from time to time.” Response B: “I’ll have to get back to you on that, I don’t know.’ Response C: “We don’t offer remnant space.” If they say they will get back to you – You say: _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ “Fine.” _________________________ You accept everything they say even when they don’t offer all of the above. _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ 4.11 The Test Rate Close To close you say: “I am interested in advertising in your publication, but I need a good “test rate.” When you have something that will give us a good test rate, we will be eager to © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits advertise to test the results. Because when the test works, we will be a consistent advertiser. Please give me a call, and thank you very much.” 4.12 Repeat These Questions with Each Publication Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Do the same thing with all the other publications or newspapers. 4.13 Behind the Scenes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ In the meantime, whomever you spoke to is meeting with their boss at some time after your conversation. _________________________ Their boss now says, “How are things going? _________________________ They say, “Well, I had this person, a business owner, on the phone who said that he’d be a consistent full page advertiser and asked me about discounts, remnant space, and distress space, and I told him that we didn’t offer these.” _________________________ The boss now says, “What? We can use all the advertisers we can get. A full page advertiser just called, and you told him that we couldn’t do anything for him, and we’re having trouble meeting our payroll on Friday?” _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ (You should understand that magazines and newspapers rely very heavily on advertising revenue. This is what helps pay their large payroll and expenses. Every dollar they receive in advertising, no matter how little it is, helps to add dollars to payroll. Magazines and newspapers are among the most difficult businesses to own and make a profit. They are always in deep debt. Because of this, they will always accommodate a potential consistent advertiser.) So, the boss will say, “Get on the phone right now and cut a deal.” © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes _________________________ 4.14 Call Back from the Publication Approximately 90% of the time, the advertising manager will call you back. When they do, they will tell you that they had a meeting with the boss, and you can get the advertising for 50% off the rate card rate. They will add that currently they don’t have any remnant or distress space right now, but they will keep you in mind if and when they do. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.15 Timeliness _________________________ _________________________ The account executive will probably say, “Your decision is needed today and we need to have your art work and insertion order in by tomorrow. Do it. Live up to their expectations. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.16 65% Discount So Far _________________________ You have now earned 65% off the rate card. Add it up: that’s almost two thirds off. _________________________ 4.17 _________________________ Continued Discounts _________________________ _________________________ But this is so very important. Do you think that the publication will try to charge you the higher rate when you advertise again and again? No. In fact, they will offer you the same terms and conditions over and over again. They will definitely have a hard time raising the rate. This is definitely a win-win situation for everyone involved. You win because you paid one third of the rate card rate, and they win because they are making a profit. Also, you’re reliable, you keep your word to them when they need you to advertise quickly, and you pay them immediately. © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits 4.18 Full Page or Partial Page Notes _________________________ You ask the same questions, whether or not you’re a full page advertiser or a fractional page advertiser. However, most of the concepts that I have presented to you are more applicable when you are placing full page ads. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ For classified ads you will have a harder time. In this situation perhaps you can only get a deal 20% to 30% of the time. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.19 When Media Solicits Adverting from You When a publication that you have not contacted calls you, use the same procedure that you do when you call the publication. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Some magazines and publications (and the broadcast media) advertising account executives constantly review advertisements in other publications and then call the advertisers to see if they would be interested in advertising in their magazine, publication or media. _________________________ 4.20 _________________________ Ask for PI Advertising _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ When this occurs you should say: _________________________ “Your publication is not currently in our budget and is not really what we were looking to advertise in, but perhaps we could test an ad to see the response. Here’s what I’d like to do. We could do the ad but only on a ‘PI’ basis.” _________________________ (A’PI’ is a Per Inquiry order. You only pay the publication based on the revenue the ad generates. Typical fees are in the 40% to 50% range of the revenue generated. ________________________ You should also say: © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits “If this ad works the way we’d like it to, we’ll be a consistent advertiser.” Some, but not all publications, will do this. Those that do give you an opportunity to see results without you having to risk a dime on advertising. Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.21 PI Inserts With newspapers you might be able to do a PI deal involving inserts, on a 40% or 50% of revenue arrangement. This is true, especially if you print your own inserts and drop them off at the newspaper. If it’s really a great circulation newspaper, you might do this and also offer to pay up to 20% of the normal cost plus a PI percentage. Either way, both of you win. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 4.22 Processing PI Orders _________________________ There are other things you should know about PI orders. Some publications will only work such arrangements if the orders go directly to them and they pass them on to you. This allows them to monitor the results themselves, and “keep you honest.” Others will prefer that you take the orders and them pay them based on your results. _________________________ If they say that they want the orders to come through them – _________________________ You say: ________________________ “Great, we’ll be happy to do that.” _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ If they ask, “How do you normally do this?” ________________________ You say: ________________________ ________________________ “The orders come to us. We give you a computer printout of the orders that came through each advertisement, and we pay © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits you within seven days. Notes _________________________ “Which way works best for you?” Let them choose, because you shouldn’t care either way. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 5. DEVELOP LONG TERM RELATIONSHIPS _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Sometimes, after you’ve developed a relationship with a publication, they’ll call you and say, _________________________ “I’m in deep trouble this month. One of our large advertisers just pulled out of the next issue, and I’ve got this distress space available. Normally the cost is $10,000. It costs me $1,500 to run an ad, so I’ll give it to you for $1,000. Can you do it?” _________________________ Normally you would think that this is a great deal, and jump on it for the $1,000, but don’t be so quick. _________________________ Say to the ad manager: _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ “That’s a great deal, but I don’t want you to lose money on the ad, so I’ll send you $ 1,600 for that ad.” Now, you’re probably thinking that that’s crazy. Why pay $ 1,600 for an ad when they offered it for $ 1,000? You’ve now developed a friend for life, and you’ve helped that person and the publication out of a jam instead of taking advantage of the situation. This is one of the best ways to develop a long term relationship and get them to do favors for you in the future. Remember, what goes around comes around. 6. FUTURE CONTACTS © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Whenever an advertising manager says that they can’t do anything right now, You say: “Thanks. Would you put me on your list of potential advertisers for the future?” The publication industry is always changing. People are hired, fired or change jobs or positions within a company. And there’s always a push for advertising-generated revenue by the publication. Now they call you, so don’t bum your bridges. Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 7. THE INSERTION ORDER _________________________ _________________________ You’re ready to place the order for the ad, so you create an Insertion Order. It can be nothing more than a sheet of paper that confirms the terms of the deal you’ve made. _________________________ You use your letterhead with House Agency on it, and create a simple form in your computer that says Insertion Order in bold letters. Include all the pertinent data such as: _________________________ Date of the insertions order Date ad is to be placed Size of ad Black and white Color specs including the separations Emulsion side up or down The number of lines per inch LPI (All must match the publication’s specs given in the media kit) Placement (* See added notes page 26.) Duration or number of times the ad is to be run Rate to be paid (** See page 27.) Terms of payment ** See page 27.) Your agency discount given in percent & dollars Contact person that handles the placement of your advertising within you company © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Graphic artist and phone/fax # that created the ad Carrier/shipment Where and when the ad is to be returned or if it is to be held in house for future use Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes SAMPLE INSERTION ORDER _________________________ _________________________ Your Name Advertising Company 123 Main Street Suburb State Postcode Phone: (00) 0000-0000 Fax: (00) 0000-0000 Email: you@you.com Contact: _________________________ Insertion Order No._______ _________________________ Insertion Date: __________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ To: Publication: Address: Phone: Fax: _________________________ _________________________ Please Publish the Advertising of: _________________________ For: _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Dates of Insertion _________ Issue______ Space Size________________________________ Color___ B/W___ _________________________ Position___________________ Ad Code____________ Key No.______________ Headline: _________________________ Special Instructions Enclosures _________________________ Rate Send tear sheet to agency Velox or stat _________________________ Gross Rate Send publication to agency BW Negatives _________________________ Less Discounts Send tear sheet to client Color Negatives _________________________ Return artwork to agency Color Separations Hold artwork or plates Match Proof Re-run of previous ad Emulsion side up down Other Contact for Artwork: Right Photos Carrier _________________________ Net Amount _________________________ Left reading Les$15% Comm. LPI Net Cost _________________________ ___ # of Glossy BW ________________________ ___ # of Color Photos Terms ________________________ Artwork enclosed Date _________________________ Artwork to come Other ________________________ ________________________ Order is Contingent upon Rate and Position. _____________________________ ________________________ Authorised Signature Notes: © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ Per:_________________ CC: ________________________ _________________ ____________________ ____________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits Notes * Special Notes: Position of Ad Placement Position of your ad in a publication is critical. You must insist that you have to be on page 3, 5, or 7. Ask them if they can arrange that for you. You must include on the insertion order page 3, 5, or 7 or the words, “OMIT”. If they say that they have other advertisers who already have those pages booked which could be the case, negotiate the best pages as you can which would be as close to the front as possible, and on the right hand page. Statistics have shown that the further up front an ad is, the better the response. What if the advertising manager comes back and says, “I’ve checked and checked, and the best we can do for you is page 17. Will that do?” You say: _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ “Ok, but if page 3, 5, or 7 come up, I want one of those pages.” Why settle for page 17? Because you always want to be in the first third of a publication. If they say that the only place they can put your ad is in the back of the publication – You say: “PULL THE AD.” Probably within a day or two, you’ll get a call, and they will agree with your request. But always make sure that on your insertion order, you put page 17 or OMIT. That means that at the last minute, they can’t put you elsewhere in the publication. Always place your ad on the right-hand page of the publication. Never, accept a left-hand page placement. ** Financial Terms Always be specific about the financial matters and © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits terms of payment. Always give details such as the following: One full page color ad on page 7 Full rate card rate $10,000 Special discounted rate $2,000 Type of discount(s) that apply to the ad Authorised by ____________ (the name of the advertising manager that quoted you the rate) Less 15% agency discount Total price of ad: $1,700 Notes _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Terms payment: Paid in full with the ad Paid */2 with ad and Vi upon publication To be paid in full upon publication 30 days net _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Some publications will give an addition 1% to 10% off the price of the ad if it is paid for in advance or even upon publication. Often high penalties apply for payment after 30 or 60 days. Do you get deals all the time? No, not always. Can you get those most of the time? Yes, if you ask. 8. KEY EACH AD _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Always include a Key Code in your ad. That is, key each ad with its own number or identifier so you can track the results of it. Add a department number to your address or an extension to your phone number. This is the most reliable way to determine where the order came from, especially if you’re placing many ads in a variety of publications. When a potential customer calls, all you have to do is ask for the extension number. If a prospect mails in the order form, you will have the department number on it and can track © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits where the ad was placed. Notes _________________________ Another way to key an ad is by asking that when the prospect calls, that they ask for a particular person, such as, “Susan” or “Jeremy.” You don’t have to have anyone by those names working for you, the names are just identifiers to see where the calls are coming from. When a caller asks for “Susan”, the person answering the call says, _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ “I’m sorry, Susan is not available at the moment, how can I help you?” They’re telling the truth – Susan is not available at the moment. And right away, they know which ad the call is coming from. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 9. COMPOSING AND PROOFING YOUR AD _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ If you’re not experienced at composing ads, you should take the rough copy of your ad to a graphic designer and have them create a professional ad that is camera ready to send to the publication. This means that the ad is composed exactly like the publication requires. If it is color, you will see a match proof. If it is black and white, then you will see a print of the ad. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Some publishers want the ad on a disk. If this is done, you need to be assured that the graphics house can produce exactly what the printer of the publication needs. You are the final OK for the ad. You need to proofread it carefully. Don’t proof an ad when you are in a hurry. Always have at least one person read the ad who has never seen it before. Always check it line for line against the original ad copy. Have your graphics house send the ad directly to your publisher. Graphic artists know how to package © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits ad art for transport. If there is any damage done to it, the graphics house the publication or the carrier is responsible. You are not. Notes _________________________ _________________________ To eliminate a misunderstanding regarding the art, the publisher and the graphic artist should be in touch. This takes you out of the loop and prevents you from relating data that you do not fully understand, and you’ll save money in the case of any difficulties. _________________________ Be prepared to pay several hundred dollars for each ad. Don’t cut corners or take any shortcuts in composing your ad. You want to present quality. Select a graphic artist who is experienced in ad makeup, and always ask for samples of the person’s work, as well as testimonials from others who have used them in the past. _________________________ When the ad runs and you receive your copy of the publication, you find that the ad ran on page 235. What now? _________________________ 10. MISTAKES AND CORRECTIONS MAKE GOODS Publications do make mistakes. But what do you do if a mistake is made? You call up and say, “I just received a copy of the publication and the ad ran on page 235. We verbally agreed on page 17, and my insertion order gave those instructions. I would like a ‘make good’.” A “make good” occurs when the publication makes an error; therefore, they run another ad at no cost to you. They have to do this. With this situation you’ve really made out. You received two ads for the price of one, and even though the first ad was on page 235, you’re still going to receive some orders. This doesn’t happen that often. When it does, you © 2012 All rights reserved _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits must communicate with the advertising manager and receive a make good ad. Notes _________________________ _________________________ 11. CREATING MORE AND MORE CUSTOMERS _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Whatever your advertising budget is, always keep in mind the following things: _________________________ Test any ad before you spend a lot of money on advertising. Once you know it works, then duplicate, duplicate, duplicate. _________________________ You will get consistent predictable results provided all conditions remain the same. Keep in mind that no advertising is guaranteed 100%, no matter how much you test. Considering these factors, let’s walk though an advertising mindset that produces more and more customers and thus more and more profits from your advertising. _________________________ Let’s assume you have an advertising budget for the holiday season of $ 10,000. According to our original example you earn a profit of $50 from each customer, so you need to generate 200 customers to break even. _________________________ Let’s also assume you get all the discounts possible. Instead of spending $ 10,000, you get your desired ad for $2,000. Now, the first 40 customers pay for your ad. ($50 profit per customer X 40 customers = $2,000.) Your other 160 customers will yield you sheer profits. ($50 profit per customer X 160 = $8,000. That’s a nice profit. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ Now, let’s duplicate this until we have spent all of our budget – the entire $ 10,000. That would mean spending $2,000 in four additional ads or ad campaigns. The profits would be $8,000 from each of five © 2012 All rights reserved ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ How To Slash Your Advertising Costs By Up To 80% and Use These Savings To Create More Customers and More Profits campaigns. (5 X $8,000 = $40,000) That’s $40,000 profits over and above the cost of goods and the $10,000 you spent in advertising. Notes _________________________ _________________________ This is, of course, hypothetical. No one knows how many customers you will receive from any ad campaign. The principle is what’s important here. Always reinvest your savings from a discounted ad to buy more discounted advertising. _________________________ You can readily see the benefits in buying your advertising right and then turning your savings into placing more ads so you generate more and most customers and more and more profits. _________________________ 12. ON-GOING ASSISTANCE _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ If you advertise in some unique publication and want some input on the type of an ad you’d like to place in it, please feel free to contact me and I’ll give you some additional input. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ There are many ways to advertise and if it is going to cost you money, you must negotiate by asking the questions you’ve learned in this report. _________________________ Since you are a buyer, you have the power to negotiate the best possible price for your advertising. But please, don’t abuse this power by taking advantage of others who are hurting or are in a difficult situation. _________________________ The whole concept of getting the best price for your advertising is to prove to the publication that you can be a constant advertiser in their publication and to develop a relationship with the key decision making person. This will be a win-win situation for both of you. Win-win is what advertising – and business is all about. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ © 2012 All rights reserved 1 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Sales & Negotiation Secrets Revealed. 2 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Copyright by The Academy of Sales and Negotiations © 2012. All rights reserved. Second Edition 2012 No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in uniform or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without a express written permission from the publisher. The “legal stuff” that you have to read and we have to put in… In no event will The Academy of Sales and Negotiations be liable for (i) any incidental, consequential, or indirect damages (including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of programs or information, and the like) arising out of the use of or inability to use the service, or any information, or transactions provided by this manual, or downloaded from our services, or any delay of such information or services. 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Of course this manual is not intended for use as a source of legal or accounting advice. You should always be aware of any laws which govern business transactions and practices or other group business practices in your state or country. The advice of a fully qualified legal and/or accounting professional for related matters is needed and must be sought for every business transaction and financial decision you make. Any reference to any persons or business, whether living or deceased existing order for this truly quintessential. Published by: The Academy of Sales and Negotiations PO Box 692 Warners Bay NSW 2282 Fax: (612) 49450293 Email: sales@salesandnegotiations.com Website: http://salesandnegotiations.com PRINTED IN AUSTRALIA 3 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Sales & Negotiation Secrets Revealed. In this manual we have put together some of the best sales and negotiation secrets ever revealed. And as an added bonus, we have included a list of 80 Free Online Ad Pages & 300 Directory Submission Sites for Cranking up Your Business Website! When completed these free ads and directory submissions will pack a punch to your online presence and organically grow your search engine optimization. Turbulent times demand us to work smarter not harder - so it is recommended that you review this information on a regular basis so you can get a hold of this information. The review process is where the greatest impact can be made in your sales and negotiations systems. Business is all about leverage and one new idea or concept could make thousands of dollars in the right business or sales process. We have purposely made this manual simple to read. If concepts are simple they are easier to implement. This is so you can immediately write your ideas down straight after you read the content. I encourage you to brainstorm and write down your thoughts as you go rather than reading from cover to cover like you would a novel or magazine. So grab a pen, a highlighter, a marker or whatever you can get your hands on and get ready to turn the concepts, into sales and business strategies that you can use to plug up the holes in your sales systems and discover the hidden money. After reading and reviewing this manual, it is recommended you use a coach or mentor to move your sales systems or selling career to the next level. A great sales coach or a mentor in this area will keep you and/or your team accountable to your action plan. Warm regards, Coach Cameron Roberts 4 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “How to Build Rapport and Trust Quickly and Effortlessly!” Building rapport is one of the most important processes in influencing others positively so as to build strong relationships. It is the most important key for most sales professionals to achieve willingness or agreement from their prospects. Rapport is the foundation for all mutually active relationships. When you build a good rapport with your prospects, they tend to agree to your ideas and suggestions unconditionally, and commit to the deals more responsibly. By being in rapport, you are in agreement with your prospects both verbally and non-verbally. Building rapport helps you win friends among your customers and influence your prospects better. You will be able to maintain relationships with a wide range of people. You will be able to sell more effectively if you present the products using the customer’s own thinking style. You need to build good rapport with the clients if you want to know more about their thinking process. There are several ways to build rapport and trust quickly and effortlessly. It is a fact that people always flock together by type, interests, beliefs, occupation or gender. You can harness this aspect of human behavior by giving out information about how you feel and what you think and believe. As people begin to experience the common bond, it becomes easier to build rapport with them. Involve yourselves in conversations on mutual interests, ideas, and beliefs as most people like to be with people who share a common bond. Another way to build rapport is by discovering social or economic similarities through education or background check. When you successfully match such similarities you can easily lower the resistances from the other side and therefore you can continue to build a very strong rapport quite efficiently. 5 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations How to Build Rapport and Trust Quickly and Effortlessly! (Continued) Another way to match one another is to maintain the rhythm of agreement with one another while you are talking. This process is called pacing. You can pace the words used by the other side, their tone of voice, the volume as well as their body language. This will make the other party comfortable in dealing with you and most likely agree with all your terms. Successful sales professionals know the importance of active listening skills. They listen attentively, take notes, and avoid interruption, criticism or argument. To develop a good rapport during conversation with your prospects, use open ended questions and show agreement to the statements made by them regarding their needs and requirements. Prospect’s temperament plays an important role in sales. Your prospective clients may be aggressive, expressive, passive, or analytical. Whatever be their temperament style, you must adjust your presentation style accordingly. For example, an aggressive client, always want a short, concise and quick presentation as they have little patience for spending more time. You must always remember that, in this highly competitive market, your prospects have a wide range of options available. Most sales professionals fail to understand the importance of developing trust and rapport with their customers and succumb to tough competition in the ruthless market. Always give emphasis to customer relationship if you are really ambitious about taking your business forward. 6 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Negotiating using Technology, the Advantages and Traps of Telephone, Email, and Social Media.” Technology has had profound effects on the mechanism of negotiation. The distance, which had been a major barrier in most negotiation, is no longer an obstacle. This has improved the efficiency and effectiveness of business negotiations in the growing global market. Through the use of email, phone, and video teleconferencing, many negotiations that were usually performed face to face, can now be done without anyone leaving their place. Technology has helped in accomplishing negotiations without the investment of large amount of time and money in travel. As an example of how technology helps in negotiation, you can see the simple act of emailing the participants, the agenda for negotiations. Traditionally, during negotiations, if the discussion requires additional data to proceed, either the negotiation will be suspended till the data is produced or the parties agree to do without it. The technology of video conferencing and, the use of the internet help in successfully bypassing this obstacle and speeding up the negotiation process. Through the use of email and other technologies you can always keep track of the conversations during a negotiation. Through social media technology one can also get the peer opinions about certain parts of negotiation and gather relevant information. Important discussions can be put online via different social media sites and polls can be conducted to check the opinion of the relevant parties. While technology has had positive influence on the process of negotiation with respect to solving distance issues and data availability, but it does also have several negative influences as well. 7 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Negotiating using Technology, the advantages and traps of Telephone, Email, and Social Media. (Continued) Technology cripples the participants in a negotiation from communicating their ideas effectively, as they miss out on valuable insights into their counterpart’s mind through tone of speech and body language. When the parties use technology for negotiation, they lack the emotional connection which is very essential for the negotiating parties to reach a conclusion. When you negotiate through phone or email, you will lose the ability to establish an emotional connection with the party on the other end. During teleconferencing, it is very difficult for a listener to identify changes in the voice of speaker and detect changes in the body language. This cripples the listeners from understanding the true intentions of the speaker. You may argue that video teleconferencing solves this issue. Video conferencing may help in noticing the body language, but still you will be devoid of the advantage of face to face negotiation. Finally, the major trap one may come across while using technology for negotiation is data security and privacy. When you use technology it is very difficult to ensure that the information shared during the negotiation remains confidential and secure. You may argue that there are different software applications available for securing your data. But, as technology improves on a daily basis, newer methods of phishing or hacking come up. Information security is not something which technology can fully guarantee. Here is where the traditional method of face to face negotiation is still considered a safer option. 8 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “35 Phrases to Use When Negotiating Sales in Business, Retail, Real Estate and Buying a Car!” Negotiation is a fundamental skill to have in business these days. Everybody participating in a business, be it buyers or sellers, wants to obtain the best deal possible. One can use different phrases and expressions in English during business negotiations to improve one’s side of the deal. You must be wondering, how best to convey dissatisfaction, criticism, frustration or agreement during sales negotiations in business, retail, real-estate and car purchase. One must understand that there is no best way in negotiations. The end-result of any kind of communication will depend on the situation, culture, age and relationship between the negotiating parties. As a sales professional, when you begin a negotiation, you should always start with a welcome. You can open a negotiation with welcome phrases like, • “On behalf of…I would like to welcome you to…” or, • “It’s my pleasure to welcome you to…” or just • “Welcome to…”. After welcoming the potential customer to the negotiation table, you should suggest a procedure for the further sales proceedings. You can say, • “I would like now to begin with…”, or, • “To start with, I think we should establish an overall procedure” or, • “As our first order of business…” 9 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 35 Phrases to use when negotiating sales in business, retail, real estate and buying a car! (Continued) After having put across your procedures, you can ask your prospect whether they agree with your terms. You can use phrases like, • • • • • “Does that suit your objectives?” or, “Is it compatible with your expectations?” or, “Does that look acceptable to you?” or, you may also ask, “Is there anything you would like to alter?”, “Is this okay with you?” After their agreement, if you want to hand over further discussions to another colleague, you can inform the same to your client by using phrases like, • “I will now hand you over to Mr. Smith, who will…”, • “I will now hand the further discussions over to Mr. Adam…”, • “Now I am leaving this meeting over to my colleague Ms. Clare, who…” Before you make your proposal to your prospects, you have to get a general outline of what they have in mind. You can request using phrases like, • “May I ask, please, what you have in mind regarding our products and services?”, • “What in general are your expectations?” When the clients begin responding, and pointing out disagreements at the opening of the negotiation, you can gather their attention by using line like, • “May we leave that till later and first focus on…” or, • “Can we deal with…first?” After making your proposal, when you meet your client again, you have to recap the previous session. You can begin by saying, • “At our last meeting, we discussed…”, • “I hope you remember that, in our last meeting, we had decided that…” 10 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 35 Phrases to use when negotiating sales in business, retail, real estate and buying a car! (Continued) When you continue your discussions from a point to the next, you can begin by saying, • “Could we move on to the next issue, which is…” During further negotiations, you can put forward hints of future possibilities by using phrases like, • “We foresee…”, • “We envisage…”, • “We see…” When the client puts forward a suggestion, you can seek clarification using phrases like, • • • • “Could you clarify one point for me?”, “I'm not sure I fully understand your point.” Or, “What exactly do you mean by ...” or, “Could you be more specific?” When you define your proposal more specifically, you can use phrases like, • • • • “It involves ...”, “It covers ...”, “It includes ...”, “It leaves out ...” When you make reassurance regarding the offer, you can begin your lines with, • “Let me reassure you that ...”, • “I can promise you that ...”, and • “Have no doubts that we will...” 11 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “How to Negotiate With Airlines, Hotels and Rental Car Companies!” Everything is negotiable! A price is merely just an offer which just invites a platform for negotiation. If you have the right knowledge regarding a product or service, it becomes very easy to negotiate a great deal in their purchase. There are several ways to negotiate your travel. Here are some of the best tips to negotiate with Airlines, Hotels and Rental Car Companies which are the most indispensable elements of the travelling experience. When it comes to airlines, there are a few areas where you can negotiate. You can negotiate when your flight is delayed or cancelled, or you are “bumped” due to overbooking, or if your baggage is lost, damaged or delayed. If a flight is delayed or cancelled, according to the rule, the airline should provide alternate transportation on another of its flights or on another carrier, at no additional cost to the affected customer. Airlines can be negotiated by providing food, lodging and other amenities to stranded passengers, but you must ask them nicely. If you are bumped due to overbooking, the airline may offer you monetary compensation. This compensation or benefit is negotiable and the negotiations must be carried out with the airline representative right at the gate. If you do not agree with the compensation being offered, you can always attempt to negotiate a larger compensation from the airline. If your baggage is lost, delayed or damaged, you can negotiate for compensation. If your baggage is delayed you can negotiate a small sum from the airline authorities for the inconvenience caused. If your bag is lost or damaged, the airlines will compensate for the value lost. Here, they may try to push repairs than replacement. Make sure you negotiate a better deal out of this. 12 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations How to Negotiate With Airlines, Hotels and Rental Car Companies! (Continued) Hotels are more negotiable on rates than other aspects of travel. You should do a good deal of homework researching for the baseline price for the dates you are travelling. When you contact a hotel reservation agent, do not hesitate to ask for the “very” lowest rate as prices are always meant to be negotiable. Another way to get a great deal is to contact hotels that are independently owned, because they are more likely to give you a discount or deal than a chain of hotels would. When you deal with the pricing of a hotel, if all negotiations fail, ask to speak with the manager. He maybe more enthusiastic in giving you the deal than let the room remain vacant. Car rentals are always a negotiable area but most people fail to try to get the best deals. Like hotel or airline, car rentals too start with highest rates for their cars. Before you set out to rent a car, go online or check with local sources and get a baseline fee of the best available rates. You may also go from counter to counter and go for the lowest bidder. Do ask for free upgrades, because every car rental business has a certain number of free upgrades for those customers who ask. You can get other upgrades for some amount but this is entirely negotiable. 13 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “How to Maintain a Positive Climate When Negotiations Turn Hostile!” Negotiation is the process where two or more parties engage in a dialogue to reach an understanding so as to resolve a point of difference. Here, each party will have competing interests and thus negotiations can be quite lengthy or hostile. A negotiation ends when all parties have come to a conclusion and agreed to a settlement. When you are amidst a negotiation process where one party loses temper and becomes aggressive, you may instinctively react by fighting, or submitting to the adversary. Both reactions do not help you resolve anything reasonably. You must realize that, as a human being, you are an evolved creature with intellect and logical reasoning and you must react proactively without being affected by the influence of anger or fear. You should trust your intellect completely while you are negotiating. There are several tricks to maintain a positive climate when negotiations turn hostile. You can control the situation and get the discussions in your favor with key simple techniques. The first step is to stop talking and let the other party put across their heated arguments. Listen to them carefully and watch your body language. When you are in the middle of a heated negotiation, your body will impulsively react to the hostility. You should put a check on your physical reactions by directing your mind to what is happening to your physical system. When you successfully identify all your physical reactions to the hostility, you will become aware of how it can interfere with your reasoning. Once you get an insight on your reactions to hostility, you can easily outweigh these responses with your intellect. After calming your physical reactions, the next step take, is to delve into your mental reactions to hostility. 14 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations How to Maintain a Positive Climate When Negotiations Turn Hostile! (Continued) Here, your goal should be detach yourself mentally from anger while dealing with a hostile adversary. You should separate the person in question from your mental periphery and concentrate on his or her problems. Convince your mind that, his or her perceptions are not true but just a wrong interpretation of the truth. You should realize that, there is no point in spending your energy in reasoning with the other person who is in this angry state. After gathering yourself mentally and physically, listen to the opposite party carefully without any interruption. Do not react and resist thinking about their verbal volleys. Look at them directly in the eyes while listening to their heated arguments. Your courteous and non-aggressive listening will be the exact opposite of what the other side will be expecting and as a result their hostility will diffuse automatically. After the other party subsides, when it’s your chance to speak, you should start speaking slowly, in a calm and composed manner. Restate the heated points put forward by the opponent in a calm voice and slowly explain your reasoning. Start with closed questions dissecting their points, so that they may answer them with a yes or a no. This is a very efficient way to make them agree to your explanations quickly. Keep an open mind and lead the discussions to seek multiple possibilities before agreeing on the one that suits all the parties best. 15 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Play the Win-Win Game So Everyone is a WINNER!” Negotiations play a big role in resolving conflicts in different areas of human interest. While hostility is ever present in negotiations, today there is a greater emphasis on seeking a win-win outcome wherever possible. The aim of a win-win negotiation is to arrive at a solution that is acceptable to all the participating parties, and leaves everybody with a sense of victory, in some way or the other, after the negotiation. You must realize that, there are many styles of negotiation. You may play aggressively, seeking to win the negotiation when you feel that you do not need the goodwill of the opposite parties. You may prepare in detail some tricks to manipulate and convince the other end into submitting to your terms during a negotiation. But such an approach disadvantages the other side greatly and this might finally lead to retaliation. By using tricks and manipulations, you may succeed in a negotiation, but you will lose their trust and damage your teamwork. Before negotiating on a major disagreement, you should prepare your points thoroughly. You should be clear on what you want to get out of the negotiation and what the other party is looking for. You should look for certain points put forward by the other party and see if you can agree with them to reach a settlement. You should also look for alternatives both the parties have, when you reach deadlocks with your opposite party. You should analyze on how a failure in this negotiation can affect your prospects. You should take a look at the history of your relationship with the opposite party and inspect whether there is any hidden issues that are affecting the negotiation. If yes, you should think on how you can handle them. You should have a clear-cut picture of what outcomes you can expect from this negotiation and also the consequences of each of these. 16 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Play the Win-Win Game So Everyone is a WINNER! (Continued) You should also have a clear understanding as in who has the upper hand in the negotiation and know when to agree and disagree. If you want a win-win outcome from your negotiation, you should make sure that, by the end of the negotiation, all parties should feel positive about the outcome. To negotiate successfully, you should detach yourself from your emotions and physical reactions to the verbal volleys from your opponent. But emotion can be a crucial element in determining your needs and requirements. So, emotions should be fairly discussed during a negotiation so that all parties may be completely satisfied with the outcome. The win-win approach adopts a principled negotiation where the parties bargain for mutual gains. By this approach a negotiation is viewed as a problem solving process. In a winwin negotiation all the participating parties must have a shared desire to seek a better solution for a problem such that no one side enjoys an upper edge. In such negotiations, success depends upon the cooperation of all the parties and a shared determination to settle at only a mutually beneficial agreement. Win- win negotiation is the best approach to arrive at the best solution for any conflicting problem. 17 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Ten Sub Conscious Rules for Sales & Negotiations!” Negotiation is an inevitable process in all sales, irrespective of the type of business you are running. Persuasion is the key to success in every negotiation. To persuade someone, is to make someone agree with you or your opinions. To achieve this, you have to convince the opposite party to change their minds. Learning the tricks of persuading the sub conscious of the opposite party will come in handy when you deal with your clients. The following are ten sub conscious rules for sales negotiations- #1 - Imagery One way to affect the sub conscious of your listener is to use imagery in the description. You should put your point across in such a way that, the listener can involve their visual perception to comprehend the information. You can use this as an effective tool in making a concept more agreeable to the listener. For example, if you are selling a gun to a prospect, when you describe what it can do, it is always better to say, “The gun keeps you safe.”, than to say, “The gun helps you kill.” The word “safe” will form a more positive picture in the listener’s mind and help him or her agree with the deal. #2 - Repetition Another way to persuade the opposite party during a negotiation is to program their sub conscious by repeating a statement more than once during a conversation. You can use it to your advantage by making your listener hear the same information in different rephrased lines in the conversation. #3 - Proof The next tool to influence the sub conscious, is to provide tangible proofs supporting your statements. It is a well-accepted fact that people always believe what they see. By producing reports, facts and figures before the listener, you can convince him or her better of your claims. 18 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Ten Sub Conscious Rules for Sales & Negotiations! (Continued) #4 - Reflection Another rule to influence a person’s sub conscious is to imbibe certain aspects of his or her body language or movements into your bearing so that, you may create a sense of empathy with the opposite party. This will have an effect on the sub conscious of the opposite end and they will feel more comfortable in communicating and agreeing with you. #5 - Scarcity This is a popular trick used by most sales people. They make certain product appear more appealing by saying that it is on limited supply. This gives an assumption to the sub conscious that, the item is in great demand and finally agrees to purchase it. #6 - Reciprocity This is another tactic used to create a feeling of compulsion within the mind of the opposite party. Do someone a favor, if you want the same in return. Do something that benefits or pleases the opposite party and they will feel obliged to return the favor. #7 - Congruence Hand shake is a powerful tool when it comes to sales. This is a very good example of congruence. Most people relate handshake with agreement or closing a sales deal. Clever sales professionals make use of this and take the opportunity to shake hands with the prospect before they really agree with the deal. #8 - Speech Speech is a means of communication which is received through hearing. To be more convincing to the sub conscious of the listener, when you speak, you should be clear concise and crisp, and avoid stammer or inappropriate pauses. 19 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Ten Sub Conscious Rules for Sales & Negotiations! (Continued) #9 - Touch Touch has a reassuring sense to it unless it is inappropriate for the occasion. When you invite a prospect to a meeting, start with a hand shake and invite to the table with a touch on the shoulder. This will appear warm and comforting to the client. #10 - Pleasing the Palate During a negotiation, offer the other party a warm drink and a palatable dish. This will influence their sub conscious in several ways. They will accept you as a warm and sociable person and feel comfortable in communicating with you. 20 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “The Seven Simple Hot Button Words to Use When Negotiating!” Negotiation is part science and part art form that involves two or more parties interacting with each other to resolve a point of difference and reach an agreement bargaining for individual or collective advantage. As a buyer or seller, you should always remember that everything is negotiable. Your leverage during a negotiation directly depends on the questions raised and the answers given. The secret of successful negotiation and sales lies in the words you use. With the right words at the right time, one can convince the other party successfully. For every sale & negotiation, irrespective of the field, there are a few hot button words which you can use to put your point across effectively. Words have the power of communicating ideas and the amazing power of words is that, a word can cause different effects at different times. Here are seven simple hot button words to use while selling & negotiating. During every negotiation, as a first step you have to understand what exactly the other side has in mind. Use the question, • “Can you help me understand better?” This is a hot button that will initiate a deeper conversation into the matter at hand. This is an important step during a negotiation, because the answer to this question will make the subject clearer. Collection and generation of information is the main working process behind a negotiation. 21 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “The Seven Simple Hot Button Words to Use When Negotiating!” (Continued) There are six golden words to use when you collect information from the other side. They are: • • • • • • Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. These RED HOT button words can be put into straightforward questions to collect the required information. To seek further information about a point in discussion you can use the question, • “What else can you tell me?” This will prompt the opposite party to divulge more information, which you can use to frame your opinion during the negotiation. A negotiation is not a war. NEGOTIATIONS SHOULD BE FUN! (Well in your mind anyway! Then you’ll be better at them!) It is an effort to reach an agreement where there is a point of difference. So, there will be instances when you may agree with certain points. By agreeing to certain points, you can encourage a positive atmosphere for the negotiation and arrive at a conclusion faster. There are three hot button sentences which you can use for agreeing during a negotiation. When you want to express that you agree with the opponent on one certain point he/she mentioned, you may say: • “I agree with you on that point.”, This BRILLIANT one line will stop the other party in their tracks from stressing on the same point again and move forward by keeping your agreement in mind. 22 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “The Seven Simple Hot Button Words to Use When Negotiating!” (Continued) When you agree with a solution offered by the opposite side regarding a problem you put across during negotiation, you can say: • “That’s a fair suggestion.”, This sentence will signal that you are positive with their suggestion and they can move forward. There is no point in negotiating if you agree with everything the opposite party says. There may be situations where you will have to disagree with the opponent. To politely express your disagreement with certain point made by the opposite party, you may say: • “I am afraid I have to disagree with you on that”, Another way to express your disagreement and your expectation is to ask, • “Is it the best you can offer?” This question will prompt the opposite end to reconsider their suggestion and improve their point. If you want to express your disagreement and mention what you have in mind about the matter, you can begin your statement with: • “From my perspective,” and continue explaining your suggestions. Use these seven simple hot buttons and see yourself reaching a win-win settlement in many more sales or negotiations. 23 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “The Fabulous Five Negotiating Personalities!” Negotiations and Selling is a crucial process in all commercial dealings. Most customers and sales professionals are adept in the process of commercial negotiation when it comes to buying and selling respectively. But most often, people forget the influence of personality characteristics on the buying or selling instincts of every individual. When you prepare for a sale or a negotiation, you should analyze the other party’s tendencies when under pressure of decision making. In particular negotiator personality types can be analyzed in terms of assertiveness and emotion. The importance of knowing the personality type lays in the fact that, one negotiating approach that works on certain type of people may not work on another. Those negotiators who are low on assertiveness are slow in decision making, and offer more time and attention to the negotiation process. Assertive negotiators make quick decisions, and have little time for the negotiation process. There are basically, 5 types of negotiating personalities in terms of emotion and assertiveness. • • • • • Dominant Analytical Expressive Amiable Collaborative 24 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “The Fabulous Five Negotiating Personalities!” (Continued) The first personality type, the Dominant style is characterized by high assertiveness and low emotion. The people with this personality style are very business-like and efficiencyoriented. These negotiators act fast and make decisions in a split-second. They rarely have time for negotiations and are usually business with their fast-paced lives. When you prepare to meet such people, have all the facts and logic ready and prepare questions regarding specifics and actions to be taken. Next type is the Analytical style which is characterized by low assertiveness and low emotions. Such people are precise and orderly. These people are motivated by logic and facts and they demand high level of accuracy. So, you need to provide them with a lot of information to make them feel comfortable in making a decision. Expressive style personality is characterized by high assertiveness and responsiveness. They are reactive and impulsive, and make spontaneous decisions. They are very enthusiastic and, have the ability to motivate others. These people are not good listeners and are always in a hurry to assert themselves on others. They enjoy being the center of attention. Then the Amiable Style personality is characterized by high emotion and low assertiveness. They are very responsive and are usually dependent on others. They are emotionally expressive and value loyalty, sensitivity and patience. They have the tendency to be impulsive and sentimental. Finally, the Collaborative Style personality, which is the perfect blend of emotion and assertiveness, is the ideal personality for a negotiator. These people are courteous and empathetic. They understand that negotiation is not a battle to be won, but an important process in reaching successful deals benefitting the other party as well. They are very positive and are always willing to work towards positive results. 25 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “The Fabulous Five Negotiating Personalities!” (Continued) Here is an example to demonstrate the effect of personality types in negotiations. Suppose, Mr. Smith wants to buy a Laptop in Australia for $1500 but he has stumbled upon an unethical and pushy salesman who is trying to sell him a laptop at an unreasonable price. Here, if Mr. Smith is not assertive enough, the salesman may take advantage of the opportunity and force him to seal the deal for the said amount. In such a situation, Mr. Smith should possess a dominant personality and be quick in negotiating and asserting what he desires. He can start by low-balling the salesman with an offer of $1300 and when the salesman comes back, he may re-negotiate to an amount of $1200, citing lack of funds and promise ready cash if the deal is sealed instantly. 26 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Become a Body Language Expert and Discover How To Outsell Your Competition!” There is a popular saying which we have all heard, “Actions speak louder than words”. People will not always divulge what they are thinking but, their body language can easily give away hints about their thoughts. Reading people’s body language is considered to be instrumental in being a successful sales professional and negotiator. You can begin reading the other party right from the first contact during a sale or a negotiation. The first contact during any meeting is usually through a handshake or a friendly greeting. In a negotiation setting, you can quickly analyze the behavior of the other party by the way they shake hands. As a general guideline, if your hands are shaken up and down, then the other party considers you as an equal. If the opposite party shakes your hand with their palm facing down, they see you as inferior and, if they offer their hands with palm facing the ceiling, they consider you superior. During any sales process or negotiations you should look out for three types of body language. The first kind includes: • • • • • • Strong eye contact, Nodding, Leaning towards the other party, Open palms, Intent listening and A smile on the face. 27 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Become a Body Language Expert and Discover How To Outsell Your Competition!” (Continued) People showing these characteristics are open to your proposals and interested in your ideas. In such cases, your words are considered seriously by the other party. The second type includes: • • • • • • Frowning, Raising eyebrows, Taking deep breaths, Crossing arms, Not looking at the speaker, and Tapping the fingers and sitting back. Such people have come to you with their own ideas in which they strongly believe and find your ideas are conflicting. When you see such a behavior, you should see if you have made the other party upset by your suggestions or proposals. Such people may soon end their conversation if you don’t take enough care to pause and accommodate their ideas into your points. The third type is the unpleasant body language in a sale or negotiation. It mostly includes: • • • • Making a fist, Flapping hands, Refusing eye contact, and Violent or exaggerated gestures and more. People showing such behaviors are either deeply offended by your points or are feeling nervous or intimidated. In such cases, you should repair the relationship before you continue the negotiation. 28 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Become a Body Language Expert and Discover How To Outsell Your Competition!” (Continued) There are certain cues to look out for when you are negotiating with the other party. If a person sits back with his or her arms behind the head and makes strong eye-contact, you should realize that the person has a dominant character and be cautious. Not offering you a seat, is another sign of showing who is in charge. As mentioned earlier, such people tend to offer palm down handshake. You may receive such handshakes warmly but you should politely turn the handshake sideways to assert that you consider the opposite end as your equal. One must always keep in mind that, negotiating and to a lesser extent, selling, is not about winning an argument or being right, but reaching a common ground where you and the other party are mutually benefitted. Use the above people reading skills to know what your prospect or other part needs or requires and whether they are comfortable negotiating with you and buying from with. This skill will come in handy during your negotiations and can help you greatly in putting your point across and convincing the other party while maintaining a steady relationship with them. 29 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Power Shopping Time…Why Everything Is Negotiable in Tough Economies!” The global recession, GFC (or whatever other name they want to give it) has taken its toll worldwide on different businesses and their outlooks. The time is ripe for small businesses to pick the best deals of those services that help to keep their business running. Those services which have been charging $100 per hour might now accept $35 per hour… and if they don’t go on line and find a virtual assistant who can do a similar job for $10 per hour! After many decades in an industrial age, the power has shifted now to the individual consumer – and if you are a small business this means you! For instance this means that your business book keeping, legal or technical services that you require for running your business are, like everything else - on sale! All you have to do is to open your mouth, ask the question and negotiate politely. There are not many services for which you will have to pay full price in these tough economic times. If your provider won't budge to your terms, seek out another one who will. Everything is negotiable in tough economic times. If you are looking for office space for your business, this is the right time. Even though the real estate market is depressed and it is more difficult to get a mortgage, there is still a great deal of flexibility in the real estate market. The fact that, the real estate market is going through a rough patch, also shows that the sellers too have to negotiate. The sellers are finding it difficult to sell their properties. You might not only find a favorable price but you may also be able to bargain for more favorable terms. This is indeed a great time for people to start a business – or even buy a business that is in distress! 30 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Power Shopping Time…Why Everything Is Negotiable in Tough Economies!” (Continued) For buyers and sellers, this is indeed a good time for striking very attractive deals. In a slumping economy, every dollar is precious. Whether you are a customer, a seller or a business owner, every dollar in your wallet counts during purchase and you can get the best deal possible. Negotiations are an inevitable process during every sale or purchase process. As a customer, if you are in a hurry to make the purchase, you will not be able to pose an effective negotiation. When you hurry into buying a product, the seller who is watching your eager approach, may take advantage of it and discourage any bargain. Never hesitate to ask the seller to do better on the price. The seller may say no, but if you don’t ask – you’ll never know! When it comes to selling, the sellers must acknowledge the fact that, people purchase more goods from people they like and feel comfortable with. Discounts will play a great role in negotiating your price to your customers. Also try to provide exciting offers and free samples along with the product they purchase. You will then be in a better position in selling your services and products to your customers. For entrepreneurs, now is the right time to hunt for potential employees for your business. Unemployment is rising to terrible levels throughout some parts of the world – and virtual staff may do the work you need done at a fraction of the normal cost. This is the right time to employ potential employees, as you can negotiate better on their remuneration and job requirements. They will also be less likely to change jobs in tough economic times. As a business owner you are in a great position to negotiate on the job requirements. When you negotiate with employees, be fair and reasonable so that the other party may still be comfortable and happy working for your business in the long run. 31 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “The Customer Is the King or the Queen!” No matter what you have in your business arsenal, it is finally the customer who decides the fate of your enterprise. Customer satisfaction is the key to successful selling. Your goal is to create a herd of raving fans that move through the community promoting your business for FREE! What does it take to make your customer happy? If you can find the answer to this question, you can set your business on fire, stick it on auto pilot and watch the cash come into your bank account. When it comes to booming business sales, your primary focus should always be on the customers. (Did you read that? – ALWAYS on your customers!) Once you get your business and sales systems in motion, and you have customers coming to your business frequently, you should distinguish between regular customers and your best clients. You must take extra care in handling a regular client because they talk more about you to their friends, and it is more expensive to get a new customer than to retain a loyal client. You should display your acknowledgement to a regular client by greeting them by name and offering them higher benefits on sale purchases for being loyal. This will spread a smile on your best clients’ faces and encourage them to refer your business to their friends and family. This earns you instant creditability. Customer rewards program is another exciting way to keep your clients engaged in contact with you. It may seem odd for small businesses to have such a program as big enterprises do, but it is proven customer-winning technique. 32 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations The Customer Is the King or the Queen! (Continued) You need not make it too complex. It can be a simple discount offer on festive days or special days in the life cycle of the customers like birthdays or anniversaries. This will go a great way in building stronger relationships with your best clients and will in turn boost your sales. Who does not like a freebie? Everybody loves freebies. Offer free samples of your new products to your customer when they buy a product or service. The customer will be happy at the warm reception and curious about the free samples. A happy customer may end up buying the new product, once they are satisfied with the samples, or they may at least give it to their friends who might be interested in the product. Either way your sales are set to rise. Getting new clients is very vital for your business to grow. But it is equally important to entice your current clients into newer deals and keep them engaged so that your business may be assured of a sustained growth and development. The success any business depends on how well you treat your customers – they are the ones that decide to buy from you or not! Customers are Kings and Queens! Treat them like royalty and you’ll live like a rock star! 33 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Without Training Your Sales People Could Send Your Business BROKE” It takes a lot of energy and a thick hide to become a successful salesperson. But sometimes, even the toughest of sales professionals are bogged down with ruthless competition, choosy clients and short-tempered prospects. So, what’s the secret of survival? What does it take to motivate your sales team? You should understand that motivation and development comes from within. You should install in your sales staff some motivation to begin with. Train them in such a way that they taste success and are motivated to hunt for more. Without the correct type of SALES TRAINING, your sales team could send your business broke. The inspiration or belief that one is capable of success is itself a motivation to succeed. You can take up different strategies to awaken your sales professionals. As the first step to fire-up your sales teams, start with an attractive commission. When you introduce a new product or service, try offering a higher cut to the salespeople handling its sales so that they may be motivated to put in that extra effort to make it a hit in the market. Involve your staff in personality development sessions and suggest sales blogs, motivational stories and online sales forums so that they may draw inspiration from them and become better equipped to face the day-to-day challenges. Ask each of your staff to set up a personal development goal. When you define a personal development goal, you analyze your life and lifestyle, and reveal the areas that you want to improve. 34 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Without Training Your Sales People Could Send Your Business BROKE” (Continued) Train your sales people to focus on one goal at a time. Discourage negativity in your sales department. Organize contests and games so that the staff interact with each other, and build good relationships with each other and at the same time enjoy working for you. Salespeople are always prone to rejection. Train them not to take rejections personally. A salesperson should block the negative influence of rejection, analyze its cause and accordingly make amends in his or her sales approach. Whatever steps you take to keep your sales team motivated and fired up, make every effort to keep it frequent and effective. Publish reports of performance reviews and offer bonuses to top performers, so that you may motivate your staff to compete and excel in what they do. Move away from the archaic “command and control” mode and instill in your staff a sense of belonging to the company. Acknowledge that they are the face of the company and encourage them to develop a sense of ownership. 35 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Tough Tactical Tools for Simple Sales Success!” When you look at the market, you can see a horde of small business enterprises rising every day out of which only a few get to experience financial abundance. Most small business owners become slaves to their own enterprises, and in many cases have created for themselves an expensive job. Have you ever wondered what makes the difference between success and failure in sales and business? The secret of their sales and business success lies in the tough tactical tools they use to ensure a simple stream of successful, ongoing sales. One of the most tried and tested sales tactics is the use of scarcity. Most businesses have generated quick sales using the limited supply tactic. As you are presenting your product, when your prospect begins to show interest, you can tell them that the model they are interested in is scarce, and they need to make their buying decision quickly. Clients will have a feeling that the product that is least available is the most desirable and this will influence them into buying your product. When you use the scarcity tactic, you should make sure that there is some credibility in your claim. Manipulated scarcity will help you sell some pieces, but people will see through the veil over time. Another way to improve your sales is the use of advertisements. Internet is proving to be a great platform to advertise any type of business and build your brand. A compelling advertisement gives a face for your company before your prospects, and they will find you genuine and dependable. When you are selling your products or services, you can also use the limited time tactic to create urgency in the customers to take your offer. 36 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Tough Tactical Tools for Simple Sales Success!” (Continued) Use tags like: • “once in a lifetime offer” and • “Hurry! The offer ends soon”, This is so that customers may feel the rush to buy your products or services. Again, you must make sure that the offer is not manipulated or fabricated because, if the customer finds out that the limited time offer is up and running for a longer time, they will expose your design and reject you. Another sales tactic is to build genuine relationships with your prospects or customers. One way to do this is to be polite and friendly to them. Provide them with small gifts on special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. Set up an appointment with your prospect at a classy restaurant and invite him or her to have a delectable lunch with you. Most customers will feel an obligation to consider your offer. Whatever you do to attract your prospect’s attention, you must adhere to two golden rules – Always act out of Honesty and Integrity. You should be honest even if it hurts. You should give your clients genuine information about your products and services and keep away from overselling. Honesty will be rewarded abundantly everywhere in the life of your business and selling career. 37 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “How To Overcome Sales Rejections” In any sales process, the unreasonable fear of rejection can stop you from leaping through life in your career as a sales champion. Every sales-professional experiences rejection many times in their career. You should remember that you are not the only one going through these bitter episodes. The secret of sales success lies in how well you get over rejection and the negative feelings that result from it. Your level of success depends on how many rejections you can tolerate. If you can get rid of your fear and increase your tolerance to rejection, you can see a drastic fall in the negativity, paving way to confidence and courage. How to get over rejections? First, you must realize that the prospect is rejecting only your offer and not you. You should try your best not to take it personally. When you face a rejection, you should not overreact and wipe that customer off your target list but just try to fit their expectations into your proposal. One major reason for most sales rejections is that you reach the prospects at the wrong time. If you try to meet them when they are busy or just before some important appointments, they may just dismiss your offer with a “No” because of their preoccupation. So, you must take instant rejections in this light and discourage any negative feelings. Train your psyche to take each “No” as a stepping stone that takes you closer to a “Yes”. Approach your prospects with a positive attitude and upon rejection, draw back politely and thank them for their time, because it is not very unlikely that a prospect may change his mind and look for your product and services. Another trick to nullify the negative effect of a rejection is to step back and view the overall goals and accomplishments. This will help you beat the negativity resulting from the individual rejections. If you do not take rejections positively, it can have a negative impact in your attitude and approach towards future prospects. Whenever you face a rejection, pick yourself up quickly and move on to the next prospect with a positive attitude and a genuine smile on your face. You should look at rejection as an opportunity to analyze your performance and improve your salesmanship so that you may find yourself leaping through life in the near future. 38 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Online Marketing Techniques to Blast The Competition Sky-high!” Businesses today have adopted technology in almost every aspect of sales and marketing, and have set many entrepreneurs to the top in their commercial ventures. Online marketing is the most innovative and definitive way to reach out to your niche market and target customers. There are various online marketing techniques in the virtual web that can help you change the face of your business. The first move to make as you foray into the world of online marketing is to create a dedicated website for your business. Creating an interactive website for reaching out to your target consumers is one step forward towards a successful online marketing campaign. Creating a website is no longer a complex and geeky affair. There are now various platforms like Wordpress and Joomla which can help you create and update your website without any prior programming knowledge – and if you are paying a web designer thousands of dollars each year – you are getting RIPPED OFF. The online environment has changed. Consider outsourcing your work to an overseas virtual assistant. Once you have created your website, you have to fill it with relevant content. When it comes to online marketing, content is King! Content marketing is about publishing information about your industry and your business within your target market. Content is indeed paramount when it comes to search engine visibility, and it also plays a vital role in building credibility and trust with those that are interested in what you are offering. 39 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Online Marketing Techniques to Blast The Competition Sky-high!” (Continued) It takes commitment and consistency for content marketing success, but it can help you in building an online presence that transforms your business. When you have your website ready with all relevant content, it is now time to take it out to the people. Most people go to search engines to find information about various products and services. They type in the keywords and the search engines look for websites carrying the relevant information on the keyword. You have to make sure that your website shows up on the search results when they search for the products or services you offer. To ensure that your website is visible to the target market, you should have your website search engine optimized. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a technique to modify the structure and content of the website to improve its visibility on the search results so that more customers may visit the site. Another hot topic is that of SMO – or Social Media Optimization. This is where the search engines start to scan and crawl over the socials media posts and blogs to consider your rankings. No one knows for certain how much SEO and SMO you need for the search engines, as Google won’t release that information to the public. One thing is for sure – you need a targeted approach for growing your online ranking which includes lists, ads, blogs, posts, and the type and frequency of social media posts you send out. There are also several other internet marketing techniques available, like email marketing, use of auto responders, Customer Relation Management Systems (CRM) and many more. Social media marketing is the latest trend in online marketing. Create an interactive page in one of the popular social networking sites for your business and keep it updated with information regarding your products and services. 40 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Online Marketing Techniques to Blast The Competition Sky-high!” (Continued) Through blogs and posts on these pages, you can invite your prospective online customers to your website and thus improve the traffic. Having a clout in the social media will help you popularize your business to a larger audience. Constantly update information about your products and services in these platforms so that more prospects become aware of your online presence and as a result, boost online traffic to your website. “Putting your business online”, is the mantra for success these days in the business world. Internet is proven to be the best way to reach potential customers for any business on earth. It will help you make your business more visible to your prospects. The sole reason why you should put your business online is that, your prospects look for the products or services online. These days, people from all demographics use the internet to search not only big business products but also small local businesses in their area. So, it is of great importance for small businesses to take their business online. First step for any business to create an online presence is to get a well-designed website with customer-oriented content to attract prospective clients to your products and services. Having a dedicated website for your enterprise is the best way to introduce your business to the entire globe with little or very low start up costs. If your enterprise finds most of its business in the local area, you should get your website optimized for local searches, so that your website may invite traffic from the local market you serve. Another way to increase your online presence is by listing your business in search engines. Add a business listing in leading search engines like Bing or Google for free. When you have your business listed in the search engines, your website will be more likely to show up when the prospects search for your product and services. 41 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Online Marketing Techniques to Blast The Competition Sky-high!” (Continued) It’s not enough to list your business in popular search engines, but you should also optimize the website so that your prospective customers may easily find your website in the search results. Creating online ads is another way to improve your online presence. Ads will help in increasing the popularity of your enterprise in the virtual world. Use catchy images to increase the impact of your ads in the online world. You can also upload videos describing your products, services and their advantages so that you attract more highly targeted traffic from the search engines. Google loves video content! The video you have the better your online presence. 42 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Avoid These Six Costly Sales Mistakes That Beginners Make!” The growth of a business begins with the selling of its products or services. The greatest challenge faced by any small business is its sales process. You need the right sales professionals with the right sales mindset to take your products to the prospective customers. As an ideal salesman, should avoid the following mistakes to ensure successful sales and a fruitful career… Most sales professionals make six costly mistakes when selling. COSTLY MISTAKE #1: Not Qualifying The first step in prospecting is to see if the prospect is qualified and capable of being benefitted by your products or services. Sales professionals often make mistakes in qualifying a prospect and end up wasting their precious time and energy on people who don’t require or cannot afford the products or services. So, when you qualify your prospects, ask them what their requirements are, and what their budget would be. Analyze their response and if they qualify as a possible prospect, you continue to the other steps of prospecting. COSTLY MISTAKE #2: Rushing Another mistake to avoid while selling is to hurry the customer. Don’t be in a hurry to blurt out information about the features and benefits of the products and services, without first finding out whether the prospect is comfortable with your communication and interested in the information you provide. COSTLY MISTAKE #3: Always Agreeing In the attempt to win the prospects, do not commit the mistake of saying yes to all their requests. If you agree to one request after the other, the prospect may feel that they can be more demanding and make use of it. If you find the request unreasonable, do not hesitate to say a polite “no”. 43 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Avoid These Five Costly Sales Mistakes That Beginners Make!” (Continued) COSTLY MISTAKE #4: Verbal Diarrhea When you are introducing your product or service to the prospects, keep your conversation quick and short. The information you give should be simple, concise and effective. Always make sure that you tell them only what they need to know. Avoid confusing your customer with too much information and having verbal diarrhea. COSTLY MISTAKE #5: Overselling Avoid overselling your products. Never exaggerate the features and benefits of the product or service you are selling and don’t push the prospect into buying. Overselling is a big turn-off for most customers. When the customers find out that the benefits have been exaggerated, they are most likely to reject you. COSTLY MISTAKE #6: Looking at $$$ Signs Finally, avoid prioritizing your own personal sales commission ahead of the prospects needs or desires. Greed will only make you lose prospective customers. Always focus on how the customer benefits from your products and services because, when the customers benefit from your products they will in turn, buy more from you more often and they will tell all their friends and family how well you treated them! 44 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Ever Wondered What it Takes to be a Sales Expert?” What are the skills that make you a specialist in the sales process? Becoming a sales expert is not something that happens in a fortnight. It takes hard work, persistence and in-depth understanding of the overall sales process. It all begins with your choice to succeed. Once you make the decision to succeed, there is no turning back. As a first step towards your journey to sales expertise, you have to analyze and understand what you do best and define your sweet spot in sales. Analyze the market and see if there is any industry or target market that fascinates you and keeps you within your favorite spot in the sales process. Once, you have defined your field of choice, align yourself with the best in your arena, interact with them, and build a friendly relationship so that you may receive from them, some useful tips and inputs to survive in the market. Once you are in the realm of sales, it is extremely vital gain the trust and support of your colleagues and your customers. Relationship building is a crucial step that starts from the beginning of the sales process and is fortified or battered depending upon how you maintain the interaction. To be a sales expert, you need a thorough understanding of the sales process. A key factor in understanding the sales process is to identify with your customers. You should analyze how a customer arrives at a decision and assess their needs accordingly. A trained sales expert will always have the right questions to ask the clients such that they reveal more information about their needs and expectations effectively. As a sales expert, you should know the strengths and limits of your sales team and also how they can affect your sales performance. 45 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Ever Wondered What it Takes to be a Sales Expert?” (Continued) When you are assigned a product or service, sell it to yourself and think on behalf of your prospective clients. This will give you a greater insight into what reactions you can expect from the target market. To become a successful sales expert, you should be able to listen to what your prospective customer is not saying. Effective word of mouth advertising is indeed what makes you click. The more effective you are at advertising yourself and your product, the more is the trust and respect you gain from the clients. Finally, it is time and experience that makes you adept in your field. Success always belongs to perseverant and hardworking individuals! 46 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Quickly Close a Sale Faster Than You Thought Possible!” Every sales professional is on the hunt for closing deals and winning new customers in their sales careers or business. Not all are lucky all the time. Some succeed while some just quit. What is the secret that make the successful sales champions click? Everything begins with how you handle your customers, and how well you defend your confidence against the negative effects of the number of rejections you may face. To ensure quick closing of sales, when you are prospecting, put yourself in the place of the prospects and think on their behalf. This will help you understand not only their needs and requirements, but also what they may expect from you and your products. When you gather the information of what is in the clients’ mind, you can easily position your product before them accordingly. Another strategy to influence your prospects’ psyche is to make the appointment where you are in complete control. In this way you can take your prospect out of their environment and give them an exclusive space to consider your proposal. If you conduct the interview at the client’s residence or office, it is highly likely that he or she may become preoccupied with their personal affairs and find little time to listen to your proposal. As it is easier to say “No” than “Yes”, the client may just reject the offer without giving it a proper thought. So, it is very vital to take your prospect out of their preoccupation and bring them to a comfortable environment before you make the proposal. 47 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “Quickly Close a Sale Faster Than You Thought Possible!” (Continued) Time is not a luxury that sales professionals can enjoy. When you get your client agree to your terms put in your efforts in closing the deal as soon as possible so that the client may not go for second thoughts about your proposal. Try to create a sense of urgency by citing that the product is in great demand or the offer is limited to few days. Also give them some final concessions so as to have their attention. Finally, when you reach the closing question, be alert so that you may not blurt out something which may waste all your efforts in reaching this point. You may be tempted to talk more out of excitement of closing the deal and start making unreasonable promises which you cannot keep. Keep your excitement under control. To get yourself leaping through life in your salesmanship, you need to put in hard work in all your endeavors. There is no shortcut to success. 48 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations “So Where Do I Go From Here?” Glad you asked… The first step from here is to consistently review your sales systems at work. This includes training your sales teams. Consider what parts of this manual jumped out at you the most. Remember it often only takes one or two ideas that you have, to make the world of difference in your business or sales career. Write down some goals on when you would like to implement these new ideas and concepts by. Create a deadline for completion with your managers or sales teams that you believe will have the greatest benefit. It usually takes a process of consistent review and study for information like this to be stored in our long-term memory. So refer back to this information frequently. This manual has been designed to be an easy read, so the information applied can be used immediately into your business or sales systems – this is so that you can take massive action and begin to uncover the hidden money! One of the best ways to get results in your sales career or business is to seek the services of an excellent sales coach or mentor. Look for someone who has experience in sales and negotiations. I sincerely thank you for your investment into this program with your time and effort. I look forward to seeing you real soon at one of my seminars or future events. In the meantime, can I suggest that we get connected? All best for your sales success and business growth in the future. Warm regards Coach Cameron Roberts. 49 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 50 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations 51 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Use the following list of websites to promote your business with FREE online ADS – yes you seen that correctly… FREE ONLINE ADS! http://www.ozebiz.com.au http://www.aussiepages.com.au http://www.hotfrog.com.au http://www.aussielocal.com.au http://www.webfind.com.au http://www.localbusinessguide.com.au http://www.perthexchange.com.au http://www.local.com.au http://www.quokka.com.au http://cracker.com.au http://www.australiaonlineadvertising.com.au http://www.aussieweb.com.au http://www.truelocal.com.au http://www.freeadsau.com http://www.ozfreeonline.com http://www.adsglobe.com http://www.classifiedsforfree.com http://www.bestwayclassifieds.com http://www.freeadsplanet.com http://www.adpost.com/au http://www.global-free-classified-ads.com 52 http://salesandnegotiations.com/ facebook: coachcameron.roberts © 2012 - The Academy of Sales and Negotiations Use the following list of websites to promote your business with FREE online ADS – yes you seen that correctly… FREE ONLINE ADS! 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