Blog Archives
“No” Can Be Good
I loved this post today from my good friend Chris Goodrow! Have a read, and enjoy your Tuesday.
Did I mention it has been a busy summer?
Well it has.
What was designed to be a summer of nothing, turned out to be exactly the opposite. Please don’t mistake that statement for complaining however. Although our expectations and reality didn’t quite line up this summer, I feel that I have been productive and have demonstrated to myself that I can adapt and perform well under various pressures: certainly better than I ever have before.
Additionally out of the craziness I have some stories I would like to share.
Last year, my wife and I embarked on a new venture by investing in Real Estate. The first year has been rewarding beyond our expectations, both from a personal development perspective and a business perspective. One tiny aspect had been nagging at me since soon after we took possession. A small section of concrete at the back of the house…
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The Five Star 5 – Why I Don’t Sell In The Summer!
Summers are short in Northern Canada, so I have to make the best of the warm weather and longer days!
I actually do sell in the summer, and just wanted to get your attention with a catchy title 🙂
Here are the top 5 things that I like to do with customers and/or prospects when most of my competitors are on the golf course:
- Drop by later in the day with cold drinks and snacks. Most people are stuck at their desks just counting down the minutes until they get to leave and enjoy the sun too!
- Take them out to lunch! Make sure to sit on a patio and take in the great weather.
- Attend an outdoor sports game, concert or other outdoor event. No better way to get to know them than enjoying these activities together
- Plan a trip with key customers. Every time I hear about customer trips they rave about the good fun for years to come!
- Have a “there are still people to sell to” mentality vs. “everyone is off ’til September so I will just coast” mentality.
These business building activities will pay dividends in the long run. Nobody likes being stuck in the office when the weather is balmy!
I am sure there are many other great ideas that I am missing. But the key is to:
- get creative
- build rapport
- get sales!
You don’t want to risk your competitors having all the great ideas!
Three Pillars of Business – Marketing, Sales & Service
Sarika Periwal reached out to me about a guest blog. I thought it was a great idea to do a post on marketing, sales and service.
For any business to succeed keeping customers happy is essential. It is always more profitable to retain an existing customer who will come back for repeated purchases than to convert new potential customers for each sale that the company makes. Statistics exist to support the fact that the cost of acquiring a new customer can be six to seven times higher than retaining an existing customer. To this effect you need some strong policies which help the company to improve their customer retention rate.
The focus of these policies is to deliver a flawless customer experience when they deal with your company. It does not matter what you sell. It could be a physical product, a digital solution, a service that is offered in special circumstances, or anything else. There are three main areas where your customer or potential customer will interact with you. These are marketing, sales and service. They are also known as the three pillars of successful business. If you manage to get your act together for these three aspects you will have a thriving business model. Here’s how you can do this and benefit the customer and the company both.
Marketing
All the marketing campaigns that you run are to get your customer’s attention. These all hope to make the right kind of offer to the customers at the right time to tempt them into making a purchase. Here the focus is to build on the trust that the company brand name inspires. To make the customer believe that they have the right solution to their needs and to provide the customer with the ultimate financial deal when they buy what the company is offering.
Sales
There is nothing as sad as losing a customer who would have bought from you but couldn’t find how to complete the sale. This pillar deals with providing the potential customer with the ease of buying the product in a quick and hassle free experience. You need to be able to provide the customer with many ways of buying the product. It could be in the shop, online or through partner vendors. There should be many payment options as well. A lump sum payment is easy for a small purchase, but arranging finance options for a larger purchase is a good idea. Also let there be the option of paying via cash, banker’s cheque or credit card. Each customer may have a preference for a specific payment mode.
Service
When it comes to encouraging retention and customer loyalty to your brand it is the after sales service that is most important. Many customers feel that a company loses interest in them as soon as they make the final payment for their purchase. This does not encourage them to buy from the company again. What needs to be done is to make the customer realize that the company is just as interested in pampering them even after the sale has been completed. A well trained team can make this a reality.
Author biography:
Sarika Periwal represents KarmaCRM, an online CRM service for small businesses and individuals. Karma offers a powerful and feature-rich backend system with an easy user interface. This tool can help you manage all 3 areas of your business efficiently. Contact us for more details or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter .
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 