September 30, 2011

How to Turbo-Charge Your Sales

Filed under: Blog,News,Techniques — Rachel @ 11:16 am

How to Turbo-Charge Your Sales
By Mike Schultz

76% of leaders at small and medium sized businesses cited sales growth as their greatest challenge in 2011.

Having been through the process of founding RAIN Group with my business partner, John Doerr, I know just how difficult it can be for a young, growing business to get off the ground.

You’ve got a great idea that people have told you will succeed, outstanding content, and the people in place to make it all come together. Problem is, when it comes time to launch, you’re just not generating the business you thought you would.

More often than not, this is a direct result of the fact that many entrepreneurs simply have not been taught how to sell. And even experienced salespeople struggle to sell in an entrepreneurial environment where there are unique challenges to selling new ideas or selling against big, well-branded competitors.

As good as your business idea might be, it’s not going anywhere if you can’t sell it.

Fortunately, it’s never too late to learn.

To help you out, I’ve made a series of video training lessons specifically for entrepreneurs and sellers in growing businesses. They’ll teach you everything you need to know about how to make the sales that will help your business achieve the growth you’re looking for.

Specifically, you’ll learn:

  • The most common sales mistakes entrepreneurs sellers at growing businesses make
  • How to avoid these mistakes
  • The unique challenges of selling in an entrepreneurship and how you can overcome them
  • A step-by-step guide on how to communicate your value
  • How to lead masterful sales conversations that result in new business
  • The simple formula to make millions of dollars (or pounds) in sales

The first video in the series is available now. And the best part is, I’ve made the series available to you for free! Note that these are not quick-tease videos. This series contains 60 minutes of value-packed RAIN Selling content.

So head over and check it out. I guarantee it’ll be worth your while.

Share

September 18, 2011

Government financial support for new business…

Filed under: News — Rachel @ 5:30 pm

Starter pistol at the ready…

Government financial support for new business

With this in mind, throughout the month of October and for the remainder of September 2011 Approach Sales Services are in a position to offer start up business support for their new business sales strategy.

“If you are on target to reach your business plan but are finding it a struggle then maybe a conversation is in order… We can operate within your business, taking time to meet your customers, attend appointments with your sales team, look at your KPI’s, targets, reporting methods and customer service processes. By breaking down the sales process into its component parts you can start to take action, waiting only increases your deficit”

We are often asked to manage the whole sales process on a part-time or interim basis. This can include reviewing all sales processes within your organisation and the day to day management of your current sales team. This is ideal when it does not make financial sense to have a full-time Sales Director as a new business or where a Managing Director gets caught up in the day to day growth of the company and can no longer dedicate the time required to performance manage the sales function. Our clients range from large blue chip operations right through to the smallest business, either way they each have the same director level contact and customer first approach. This package is designed specifically for new (or under a year old) companies in the North West of England only at this stage.

The full package includes:

Campaign Strategy & Planning

Many companies have a product or service that is of value to someone (or they possibly should never have set up in business). The question is: What is the most effective way of taking it to market?

Critical sales interactions assessed and addressed

There are some things that are missed after a company has been registered and launched. We will ensure that throughout our consultation time with you these (usually missed) areas are addressed.

Target/Prospect identification

There are systems that can be utilised to identify your new business potential but these are costly. Because we do this for a living we have access to a great many of these systems so before you invest thousands of pounds let’s have a conversation.

Base level marketing

If your time is taken up on the day to day running and delivery of your new business there is potentially some marketing tips you may be missing. These are relatively simple but time consuming to impliment in the first instance. We can relieve some of that pressure.

Elevator pitch & Impact statements

When you first launch your business or preferably before you announce yourself to the world we should be having a conversation about how you are to introduce yourself to your potential clients. Networking is key to the success of a new business and how you introduce yourself IS a make or break situation.

Approach Sales Services are effectively your SALES TEAM to coach you or your sales people in the art of prospecting. Companies come to us when they need to raise their profile but are unsure of that ‘next step’. Developing the new business campaign, collateral development, CRM set-up and reporting are all included with Pipeline Management – Ongoing demand generation, lead nurturing and multi-touch campaigns to manage new business opportunities effectively through the sales pipeline.

This service is offered at a rate of £372.50 during this time only for start-up or businesses with under 12 months trading.

Call Rachel on: 0333 2000 113 or contact us here NOW!

Share

September 7, 2011

Tip for today!

Filed under: Blog,Techniques — Rachel @ 9:44 am

The next time you find yourself with a bit of free time (yeah right), take an hour or so to go through everyone that is in your prospect cycle and re-visit the suspect/prospect criteria.

By knowing exactly if your prospects are indeed prospects makes your follow-up calling much more effective, saves time which of course saves money:

  • Need for your product/service or event

Things may have changed since you last spoke. Make it clear that you are a professional and not in need of emotional care by simply asking the question:

“Hi Mr/Mrs/Ms Prospect, I know when we last spoke you were seriously looking at a solution to …………………………………… As a business person myself I’m not so silly as to expect things to stay the same – What are you doing about ……………………………………..? Have you solved that issue now?”

  • Budget to purchase

Again, ask the question on your first call if you are at the point of talking service and delivery. You have a right to know if they as a company have the funds to pay for it. Don’t just bowl in and ask if  they have the means to pay:

“Mr/Mrs/Ms Prospect, you sound like you are taking your need for ……………………………………. very seriously. Have you allocated a budget to get this issue resolved?”

  • Are they the true decision maker?

One simple question in your initial conversation could cut your follow-up call time in half!! By asking:

“You’ve been really open with me and I truly value the time you have taken to have this conversation. I will take a look at things in more detail at my end before getting back to you. Have you been asked to lead this project? Does that mean you have responsibility for the final decision?”

Only by covering these areas will you be able to clearly identify your prospect from a mountain of suspects.

Good luck!

Share

September 2, 2011

How to get more Facebook ‘likes’

Filed under: Useful Info — Rachel @ 6:42 pm

I joined a group today on Facebook which is all about expanding networks, meeting new people, introducing your products or services and getting (and staying) out there. I am an extremely busy woman. I ride a vintage Vespa Sportique and am part of a scooter club, I have 3 children, 2 of whom are grown (and personally, more demanding than the one still at home lol). I am a wife, a business woman, a community governor, a mentor, a friend to many and much, much more…

I’m a big believer in networking: BNI, 4N etc. I don’t attend that many events these days, partly due to the crazy hours that I work but also I have found that there are alot of businesses out there (particularly smaller businesses) that are just takers. Constant messages asking for ‘likes’, events to be shared and so on and very few actually reciprocate. I network very succesfully using social media and believe that it is simply because I remain balanced and remember the manners my Mum taught me.

Take a look at this group and see what you think:

How to get more facebook likes!

Share

September 1, 2011

Ask a silly question and you will get a silly answer!

Filed under: Blog,Techniques — Rachel @ 8:29 pm

Why is it that so many cold callers waste the time of the prospects that they do manage to get that all important conversation with?

“Mr Prospect, could you tell me when your contract is up for renewal?”

The above is an example of a silly question… It wastes both your time and your prospects time if you ask that question as one of your introductory questions.

If you were to ask:

“The service you are receiving at the moment, is there anything you wish were provided as part of that service? Do you feel your current provider is giving you exactly what you need as a business for you to do your job well?”

These sort of questions are much more likely to get your prospect to open up and more importantly, take you seriously as a business person instead of a novice cold caller that is simply ticking boxes.

The right sort of conversation is what ensures your communication channels are kept open for when their contracts are up for renewal.

Share