AVOID GIVING A DISCOUNT – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #57

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 57: AVOID GIVING A DISCOUNT Everyone likes a bargain. What is more, customers have been led to expect prices vary. Takes airfares and go to a dozen websites and travel agents, you will find yourself looking at a dozen different prices. Many of them are likely to be … Read more

GET THE COMPETITION INTO THE DISCUSSION – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #56

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 56: GET THE COMPETITION INTO THE DISCUSSION It is axiomatic that decrying the competition is not a good idea. If you say to a customer that company X is rubbish, it always turns out that the person deal with them, like them, or their brother-in-law works for them. … Read more

USE YOUR CUSTOMERS’ TIMING – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #55

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 55: USE YOUR CUSTOMERS’ TIMING Sometimes it is difficult to know the best time to do something. This is true of anything in life: when should you apply for a new job, move to the country, or just broach the subject of what colour the living room should … Read more

KEEP THEIR ATTENTION – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #54

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 54: KEEP THEIR ATTENTION It is bad enough when a customer’s attention wanders. It is worse when you know –or realize later –that it is your fault it is happening. Sometimes when a customer’s mind does wander, whatever is causing it has nothing to do with you; it … Read more

GUARANTEE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #53

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 53: GUARANTEE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN Any purchase puts the customer in the position of taking a risk. This is very clear with anything mechanical – the customer wonders whether it will go wrong, and if it does how things will be handled and what it will … Read more

KEEP CUSTOMERS THINKING OF YOU – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #52

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 52: KEEP CUSTOMERS THINKING OF YOU It is hardly a new idea to keep with customers. Memories are short, especially when people are busy, and exposed to numerous other message from other people and organizations. So most sales people do it to some degree or another, but sometimes … Read more

SURPRISE CUSTOMERS WITH SPEED OF RESPONSE – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #51

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 51: SURPRISE CUSTOMERS WITH SPEED OF RESPONSE A rapid response used to mean a brochure sent out on the day that a request for one arrived. Now communications are different: we e-mail and text instantly and can look at company details in real time on the internet. At … Read more

MAKE DESCRIPTION RING A BELL – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #50

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 50: MAKE DESCRIPTION RING A BELL There can be a problem in describing even the best product in terms that make sense to the customer. This problem is worsened if the product is new and unknown. The advice to sales people is always to be truly descriptive, but … Read more

SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #49

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 49: SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE This section acknowledges that not all selling takes place in the home country of the sales person doing it. Some operations are multinational, and whatever the first language of their employees, many such companies have English as their “business languages”. However, if you are … Read more

PUT OVER A CONSISTENT MESSAGE – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #48

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 48: PUT OVER A CONSISTENT MESSAGE Customers find it off-putting to check something out and find that different parts of an organization give even slightly different messages, yet especially with complex products it can be difficult to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet. Product knowledge is … Read more

TAKE YOUR TIME – Best Sales and Marketing ideas #47

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 47: TAKE YOUR TIME Many products and services are non-standard. A kitchen can be designed and tailored to fit your needs and your house, a landscape gardener works in a similar way, many computer systems and consultancy of all sorts is bespoke. To a degree this is one … Read more

REMOVE FEAR OF RISK – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #46

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 46: REMOVE FEAR OF RISK Many buyers are fearful of the decision you ask them to take. They feel insecure, they lack knowledge, they lack experience, they are conscious of acting for others – what will my boss say? – And all these feelings and more amount to … Read more

ASK FOR REFERRALS – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #45

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 45: ASK FOR REFERRALS Sometimes we are reluctant to ask for referrals, yet if you recommended to a prospect by someone who already buys from you (and is satisfied), that’s likely to give you a small head start. So why is there a reluctance to ask? Is it … Read more

SURPRISE THEM WITH YOUR WRITING – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #44

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 44: SURPRISE THEM WITH YOUR WRITING The written word is not everyone’s strong suit in terms of communication. Sales people often feel more comfortable in face-to face situation, and feel most confident of it too. Faced with having to put something into writing, they can produce something into … Read more

SHOW PEOPLE YOUR SIZE – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #43

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 43: SHOW PEOPLE YOUR SIZE Size is an measure contributing to the overall image of an organization. If the entire operation consists of one man and a (small) dog, it is difficult to give the impression of a multinational conglomerate, at least without telling some significant untruths. Certainly … Read more