Tips for using email and web leads effectively in sales

By / / Customer Service, Education in Sales, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Skills, Social Sales

Sales can be made in several ways: face-to-face, over the phone, web-based, direct mail or via e-mail.  With the plethora of internet businesses now transacting sales online you’d be forgiven for thinking that you could dispense with sales people all together but in many instances you would be incorrect.  There are very few businesses that can run purely on the internet with no sales people interaction required.  At the very least these online businesses need customer service or ‘live chat’ enquiry centres where customers …

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How many clients and sales are you losing out the back door?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Customer Service, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Forecasting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline

Are you aware that it is six (6) times more expensive to acquire a new client than it is to retain an existing client?

Keeping clients onboard and engaged with your business is just as important as your sales team finding new business sales with new and existing clients, however many businesses do not pay enough attention to the back end of their business leaving client retention to chance.

Have you ever mapped the whole value chain of your business and looked at where your clients engage with your company?

How many client touch points are there?

The more …

How many clients and sales are you losing out the back door? Read Post »

First, people buy the salesperson

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Customer Service, Education in Sales, Sales Skills

Here’s a simple reality… Prospects and customers buy the salesperson first during every sales call – or they don’t buy at all.

In any major sale, especially Business-to-Business (B2B) or complex Business-to-Consumer sales, the prospect or customer makes a predictable series of buying decisions that lead to a final purchasing decision. The first and perhaps the most important of these is:

                ‘Do I buy what this salesperson is saying?’

This decision is always made before the prospect or customer will seriously consider factors such as your product or service offering and price.  Yet many

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Hey Retailers – stop whinging and start caring!

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Customer Service

Over the past few months there has been a plethora of editorial regarding the decline in retail sales. Amongst other things, an argument being put forward by traditional retailers for these poor sales numbers is the unfair advantage Internet traders have because many don’t have to charge GST for products under $1,000. This, claim the brick and mortar retailers, makes it impossible for them to compete and still be profitable. Never mind that international retailers have recently opened (brick and mortar) stores in Australia and are making a profit; never mind too, that most retailers have steadfastly refused or learned …

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What customers really want from their suppliers

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Competition, Customer Service, Education in Sales

Most salespeople will be quick to tell you that their customers say what they care most about is product and price. It goes further. When salespeople lose out on a deal the first thing they tell management is that the product quality wasn’t up to scratch or the price was too high.

Yet the studies we have conducted and most of the feedback we get from our clients’ customers is that the most important thing is having a What customers really want from their suppliers Read Post »

Delivering “good service” isn’t enough

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Competition, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills, Teamwork

I was impressed by a brief but excellent ABC News Video on the impact of social media on a business’ reputation and brand, especially when things go wrong and that to reduce or eliminate any negative publicity issues to begin with starts with something rather old fashioned – delivering Service. This got me musing about and the importance of good ‘ol fashioned customer service’ and what it really means today in a digital world.  The team has proposed we adopt C.A.R.E. as our mantra.

What is C.A.R.E. about?

Everyone knows that delivering good customer service is a fundamental building …

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Solution Selling Isn’t as Dead as Some People Thought!

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Communication, Customer Service, Education in Sales, Mindful selling, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Skills, Sales Tips

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, salespeople had a clearly defined role. They called on prospective customers, asked a lot of questions in an attempt to understand their customer’s needs, and in many instances they inadvertently helped their customers crystalise their thinking and clarify their needs. At that time salespeople controlled the sales process and comfortably directed their buyers. And buyers were happy to be led because they didn’t know any better.

Back in the 1970’s salespeople had an important role to play in providing …

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Customer Satisfaction & Retention Booster

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales Management, Sales Relationships, Sales Results, Sales Tips, Success

It is five to ten times easier to keep a customer we have than to get a new one – so taking customer satisfaction and retention seriously should be serious business. We already have the most powerful marketing tool to boost customer satisfaction and increase customer retention, as well as improve employee morale and develop new products and services that are exactly what our customers want and need. The problem is that most companies don’t use it.

There is no more useful tool in our marketing armoury than our front-line sales and service people. …

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B2B Field sales force to halve

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Customer Service, Education in Sales, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Pioneer, Sales Tips, Sales Training

What will sales teams look like over the next 5-10 years? How will we sell to and service our clients? Will our businesses actually require field sales representatives as all?

With ‘Field Sales Force Numbers To Halve’ voted the sixth most important sales trend for 2012 from The 12 Sales Trends of 2012 by our readers, these are critical questions business and sales leaders need to ask themselves if they want to have an effective sales effort.

WHY? With access to so much information available and a plethora of …

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What’s influencing your customers’ buying decisions?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Communication, Customer Service, Education in Sales, Neuroscience, Sales Psychology, Sales Results, Sales Strategy, Strategy

Product demand and brand scores are down and the reasons are tough to manage. There are a multitude of factors influencing buyers, some are within our control and many are not. Factors such as bad experiences with retailers and intermediaries, mediocre service levels, the increasing number of competitors with similar products and brands, cheaper pricing are just some of the causes. The tricky global situation is also creating a more conservative spending climate where saving is now the prevailing consumer mindset. With all of this how do we influence our customers so that they want to buy from us? How …

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