Offering Value

This is an area companies don't provide. If you're a small business owner, you should ask yourself, what can I provide to my customers as a bonus for them doing business with me? What our company does is give customers thank you cards. Something as simple as a thank you card is enough to make the customer feel appreciated for their time and money they spend on you. They'll remember you for that, and it's crucial so that you stand apart from everyone else.

Whatever your product or service is, offer something that'll make the customer feel glad they did business with you. Take into account also that you could provide something that is of no cost to you that can make a consumer's life better. 

That no cost method is free information. Offer that in a chart, checklist, or a step-by-step procedure that's easy to read and that offers good instructions that the consumer can use right away. One example a marketing free lancer we know offered was twenty snacks that are under 200 calories. This is perfect for people looking to lose weight and get in shape, but still need a snack here and there to get through the day. 

Make a list of at least five things you can offer of value that is low cost. Offer one of them to each person that purchases and track to see which of those five things offers the most value, and stick with that item. Track them by following up with existing buyers and ask how they like that item you gave them extra. 

What can you offer of value? How will your customers who buy from you remember you? How can you get them to keep coming back for more? Provide value, and see how you'll stand apart from your competitors. 

Customer Satisfaction: Something Hard to Receive These Days

I'm recently having a moment of dissatisfaction with a company who has not delivered my items I ordered two months ago. And as I keep calling them to ask for my refund (for they charged my card without ever shipping the packages) my calls aren't being returned. Not going to name the company, but I will say this, it's the worst type of situation I've ever had with a company.

And they have a voicemail message with part of it saying "Your call is very important to us." If it was important they would call back. And as I continue to deal with them I may have to take further action. This is a company with no structure for good customer service. This is a company with lack of communication. And this is something that may drive them out of business, for they lost my business forever, and they will lose other people's business as well. 

I am writing this because there are several companies out there that don't place emphasis on customer satisfaction. Customer calls aren't returned, there's long waiting periods, customers are directed to several departments for no reason, and customer service reps are sometimes outright rude. Companies don't realize that they lose potential repeat revenue from satisfied customers. Without customers purchasing their products, companies can't survive.

Fed Ex, the shipping company, pays $100 for every customer that's upset and dissatisfied over their package shipments. No questions asked. Why is that? Because for example, if you keep a satisfied customer, and he's paying $185 a week to ship packages out, $9,620 a year, $96,200 in ten years, and then he's dissatisfied with one package, it's better to pay that $100 and apologize for the situation rather than angry him more through remarks and lose the potential revenue off that one person alone. 

Once companies realize that, they'll look at providing customer satisfaction a lot differently. Since customer satisfaction has gone untapped, those who provide that first will come out on top. 

Education Really Matters

I was reading this article posted in April 22nd of this year (you can find it on here on http://www.ballerstatus.com/2009/04/22/retired-nfl-coach-tony-dungy-spending-retirement-in-prison/) and it was talking about how there's a 67% chance that you can end up incarcerated if you didn't have a high school diploma. This is from an interview with Tony Dungy, the retired coach of the Indianapolis Colts. He spends hie time now visiting prison facilities, and inspiring inmates to change their direction in life.

I look at that article and what he says seems very true. For some people I knew from high school are either dead, in prison, or physically impaired for life. A few are probably still living the street life. None of these people I knew graduated high school. Some of them dropped out of high school and went out on their own, living the life they wanted. A few gave up at the last minute. 

I had said to myself, that we would walk into the real world right after high school. And it's real indeed. So it is time for us as adults to inspire children to stay in school, and stay focused. If you're a parent, you have to keep them focused, and teach them how to behave and what is right and wrong. 

Because once someone has a diploma, they don't necessarily have to go to college to be successful. They can choose to be entrepreneurs, go to trade school to learn a profession, become proficient in singing or dancing, or work a 9 to 5 job. Overall, it's important that kids be taught that they can succeed and don't have to go the wrong path. 

Why Objections Are Necessary in Sales

When I worked at Apple Computer as a Sales Rep there, I used to hate objections. Still now I get bothered by them, but they are what you need in order to sell effectively. Often I would build rapport, ask open ended probing questions, and offered the right computer for a particular prospect, with the right software and accessories to suit their needs. 

I would then ask if that's what they are looking for, and they would say yes. I would ask them if they could see themselves using the computer and items I recommended, and they would say yes. But when I said, "Great let's check out now so we can get this order placed," the prospect would then say, "No." 

So why is it after I asked them if they are confident in my solution and that they can see themselves using the computer they still stay no? The reason is there's still a grudge the prospect is holding that is keeping them from completing the order process. People hate making decisions, especially big decisions. And if you purchased an Apple computer, you made a huge investment. 

So you have to asked something like, "Ok I asked you the kind of work you'd be doing, and you approved of the solution I've given you related to what you'll be doing. What's holding you back from completing this order?" I've used to ask these types of questions to dig in to see what was keeping them from saying yes. And at that point, they'll be open to explain why. Sometimes however, you have to back track and ask them questions pertaining to their current lifestyle. A question like, "Now you said you have a current project for school, when is that project due?" is a good way to find out how you can convince them that purchasing now is better than waiting. 

One important thing though. If your prospect maps out several reasons why they can't buy now, you either didn't do a good job at probing, didn't provide the right solution to their problems, didn't listen to their answers, or didn't map out the benefits that'll suit their particular needs. So now you will have to back track and start all over again, which can be a factor in terms of time to the prospect. I'll have an example of an objection that I overcame in my next posting. 

Stay Consistent in Your Goals

Consistency means unchanging in achievement or effect over a period of time. That means when you start something, prepare to finish it. Many people I have know said they have gone to school to pursue a major, or don't know what major they want. And eventually they drop out. 

In the past when I was trying to gain weight one of my friends was very inconsistent with working out. He would want me to pick him up and go to the gym. Many times I called him and he said he didn't want to go. It was time consuming for me so I started working out on my own. 

If you're looking to look your best, and also feel good about yourself, be ready to be challenged. Be ready to work for it. Be ready to be consistent. It's one of my favorite words, because it's the opposite of quitting, and also procrastination. Quitting isn't in my DNA. There's a difference between quitting and striving for something that may not be worthwhile at the end. When I feel something isn't working out, I move on. I weigh my options before making a decision. 

Remember its easy to be consistent in whatever you're working for if you're a dreamer. See yourself where you want to be at in the future. Have a picture in your mind. Even if you don't have it yet have that photograph in your mind so that you've stay motivated to achieve it. Believe me it's great knowing when you're progressing. Consistency will help you see the results overtime. 

Using Your Resources Wisely

There's some of large corporations that are dominating their perspective markets. They make big but they also spend big. They can easily spend millions of dollars easily on expanding their operations, advertising, researching, and developing new products. Much of those dollars are easily spent at a big risk of losing tons of money. 

Large corporations that are successful today can afford to gamble and lose their money. But small businesses can't. A lot of small businesses must use their money wisely. For the most part one gamble that turns unsuccessful can lead to a small business shutting its doors closed permanently.

Our small business Heavenly Essence, Inc. (www.heavenlyessence.net) has been expanding slowly but surely. One of the reasons why is because we use our resources and money wisely. When we needed pictures for our brochures, we had my dad's co worker, who had taken photography classes, take the pictures for us. With the help of our former graphics designer, we managed to have a great photo for the brochure for the fraction of the cost of a professional photographer.

My dad did the programming of our website, and has our website running on his custom built server at home. The cost? Nothing at all being that my dad is a professional website programmer and is proficient with computers. My mom's friend is a marketing freelancer, and has met up with us in several occasions to assist us in development of our marketing materials and to convey our marketing message to our target market. The cost for that? Absolutely free. 

Those are examples of using your resources wisely. You may know people pursuing careers in sales, marketing, financing, accounting, computer engineering, etc. Or you may know people already involved in this fields and are very good at what they do. Maybe you or someone else have some equipment that can be used for business. 

Whatever the case maybe, if you're a small business you need to be creative and take advantage of the resources that you already have, so that your small business that maybe small on the inside will be big to your target market on the outside. 

Getting Funds Through Getting to the Consumer

Last Thursday I was at a Small Business Administration (SBA) class on how to get loans from banks and lenders offering SBA loans. At least that's what I thought the class was about. 

Unfortunately when some of the reps of a few banks went out there, things didn't go as planned. They were talking about how they weren't going to lend money to small businesses because of they don't trust them, it's not making the banks much money from offering small loans, and because of the economic slump. Small business owners at the class were not too happy. 

I didn't look at being at that class as a waste of my time or money. I looked at it as confirmation. Confirmation that banks and lenders are not going to lend to start up small businesses that don't have income coming in. At this point small businesses can't rely on banks and SBA lenders to lend the funds. They have to get the funds on their own.

My plan to do that is simple, getting the product to the consumer. We have free samples of our Pure'ity hair care products. Through offering samples, getting contact info of people who try the product, and through countless following up, we plan on getting prospects to because brand loyalists. 

If you're a small business owner, and you offer a product or service that has great benefits and a competitive advantage, it's time to start showing people why they should be using your product or service instead of a different company. Remember you are your most effective marketing weapon. Your time and energy you put into getting prospects converted into customers is important. You have to have that drive to succeed, and go out of your comfort zone. 

Don't have a lot of time to do it all yourself? Start considering hiring independent sales reps. Independent sales reps will help sell your product or service. The benefit is that since they're not an employee of your company, you don't have to pay employee compensation, unemployment, or health care expenses when hiring them. You just pay them the commission amount they receive for every sale they make. 

One last tip, do not cut back on your marketing. Without marketing, you'll have no prospects that'll know about you. If you're a small business and been in business for awhile, cut back on expenses that you don't need. For example, if you don't have customers calling in much for service, it'd be time to downsize your customer service department. The strength of your marketing determines the strength of your profits at the end.