Talk Yourself Up

Below are 10 tips for broadcasting your talents and your personal brand values on a regular basis without feeling uncomfortable or pushy.

1.Make it clear how what you do adds value for others.
Have a short but memorable sentence rehearsed that expresses clearly what you can do so that if someone has a particular problem they know you can solve, they immediately think of you. You will be the ‘go-to’ person for that particular issue. Make it short, interesting and impactful.

2.Make it hard to be forgotten once you’ve been introduced at any event. Networking can be one of the hardest and most tedious requirements of raising personal awareness. Once you have done all the hard work and managed to attract attention from your target market, make sure you give enough interesting information so that the listener will want to hear more from you — to set up another meeting, or to pitch an idea. There is no need to sell on the spot — that’s anathema to most people — but arouse curiosity and interest in your expertise. Don’t waste any opportunities.

3.Walk the talk. Meet your potential client’s expectations and demonstrate your abilities. If, say, your expertise is in personal branding, you can’t look scruffy and behave erratically. If you’re in finance make sure your own accounts are in order. If you’re an IT whiz then demonstrate it in your actions and express it through a brilliant website.

4.Show them what you’re good at. Have stories to tell about successes in your business. People don’t think in bullet points, so interest people with tales of projects won and their outcomes. Grow your reputation in the media and through your own blogs for what you’re good at.

5.Be proud of what you do. If you aren’t passionate about your work and are in any way embarrassed about it then, when you are asked about your job you will risk coming across as negative and draining. Even if you aren’t in the ideal job, stay positive when talking about it and keep your eyes open for opportunities. People are drawn to confident and happy people.

6.There will always be doubters.
You will always come across people at any level who will have a ‘Doubting Thomas’ attitude. Stay positive, believe in what you are trying to achieve and allow yourself to be delighted when they are proved wrong.

7.People don’t buy because you are selling — help them find what they want. If a man needs a 5mm hole in a piece of wood, he needs to find a 5mm drill-bit, but what he wants is just the hole. Become an expert on what it is your market needs and then demonstrate how you will be useful to them and meet their needs. Once they have seen the relevance, your position is secure.

8.People make buying decisions emotionally. Let people feel your emotion. Sure, explain the rational part of your business, but they people will be far more involved with you if you are more emotive in describing examples of where you have been involved. “Challenge, action, result” stories leave the listener far more connected to you. They’ll be more likely to remember you and pass on your stories to others they meet who may be experiencing similar problems.

9.Tell them everything. Because we do our jobs on a regular basis, we sometimes take our unique talents for granted. Most people who are experts in their fields will feel this way, and the talent seems to come naturally, so isn’t it the same for everyone? No, it’s not. Make sure that those who can use your abilities are fully aware of all the added value you are bringing.

10.Build your brand through 2010 and going forward. Broadcast your personal brand in every possible way. Make it clear and consistent, so that your unique skills and strengths are recognisable. Become known as an expert ‘talking head’ by the press, write a regular blog, offer to speak at events, always look well dressed and appropriate for your business and deliver a warm, confident, professional and likeable profile. Alongside practising the other hints in this column, 2010 should be a memorable year.

Original Post on BNET Insight by Tessa Hood

10 Dimensions Of Great Customer Service

By Stuart Cross

Most executives talk about the importance of customer service, but far fewer are able to succinctly describe what they mean. It can easily become an empty cliché rather than a strategy for growth.

Yet customer service can be as important for product businesses as it is for service organizations. I recently worked with a group of manufacturing executives who made the point that customer service has been as important as pricing in helping them retain customers through the recession.

You are likely to turn your customer service proposition into a real competitive advantage when

·It is focused on the few dimensions that your target customers really value.
·You can create a service offering that is truly distinctive.
·You can deliver it consistently to the required standards.

Here are 10 dimensions of great customer service. Which should you be focusing on to drive loyalty, profitability and growth for your business?

1.Convenience and accessibility. Dell doesn’t sell through retail stores, but you can buy custom-made computers online or over the phone 24-hours a day, which are then delivered direct to your door.

2.Environment. As a result of their selective distribution agreements, premium cosmetic and fragrance companies such as Clinique and Estee Lauder only supply retailers that deliver a high-quality retail environment to support their products.

3.Self-help tools and support. Supermarkets provide shoppers with a range of trolleys and baskets, and Nike has developed online support tools for runners to set themselves training goals and track times and distances.

4.Product and service availability. One retailer I spoke with recently believes that improving the availability of key product lines has contributed over three per cent to its sales growth in the past year.

5.Attitude and friendliness. A key aspect of Southwest Airline’s success in the US has been its ability to deliver a friendly service alongside its low fares.

6.Competence and expertise. NetJets (pictured), the fractional aircraft-ownership service, is currently advertising how it spends more on training and safety than the major airlines.

7.Speed and responsiveness. Tesco stole a march on competitors when it introduced its “one in front” policy, where it opens a new till when shoppers, queuing to pay, have more than one other shopper in front of them.

8.Personal(ised) attention. Nordstrom, the US department store, places customer service as its #1 strategic objective. As part of this objective, the store provides all its sales people with access to a “Personal Book”, allowing them to record and refer to individual customer preferences through their till systems.

9.Community. When a balding, middle-aged banker buys a Harley-Davidson, he is buying into a concept of youth and vigour. Harley supports this relationship with its brand by establishing communities of Harley bikers, known as the Harley Owners Group.

10.Links to related suppliers. Apple has created a whole new industry of apps providers for their iPhones. Apple hasn’t sought to provide the applications themselves, but, through its App Store has created the links for application developers and users to do business.

Eight Insights That Make Selling Easier

INSIGHT #1: Salespeople are guilty until proven innocent. While you and I know that selling is the soul of business and a good way to help people, most folk (even in business) tend to look upon the profession with suspicion. The minute you walk into an office, you need to prove that you can add value and that you’re not trying to pull a fast one. Sad but true.

INSIGHT #2: When you’re feeling pressure, you’re doing something wrong. If you’re constantly end the quarter with a flurry of activity, trying desperately to make your numbers, you haven’t managed your time, or you’re not thinking your sales process through. Selling is not an “unnatural act.” It’s supposed to be easy, not a struggle against time and fate.

INSIGHT #3: Never answer an unasked question. It’s all too easy to scuttle a sale by raising issues that haven’t yet entered a prospect’s head. Such behavior usually occurs when the sales professional is so afraid of losing the sale that he begins surfacing (and answering) objections that exist only in his own paranoia. Remember, you can’t read minds, so don’t try.

INSIGHT #4: One opinion does not make a consensus. It’s human nature to take one opinion (usually the last you just heard) and turn it into a final judgment. However, one opinion is meaningless. Just because the last prospect thought your offering was a waste of time, doesn’t mean that the next prospect will feel the same way.

INSIGHT #5: Always protect the customer’s self-esteem. It’s absolutely true that EXACTLY half of all the customer you meet will be of below average intelligence within their demographic. Even so, it’s your job to help them make good decisions and advance their careers. And you have to do this gently, without making them feel foolish.

INSIGHT #7: The purpose of a proposal is to reinforce already-made decisions. While proposals can sometimes help to develop an opportunity, in most cases, the proposal requesting (and writing) process happens after the prospect has already defined the problem and (probably) defined the solution as well.

INSIGHT #8: Remain professionally involved and emotionally detached. This is perhaps the best advice that anyone ever gave a sales professional. Taking things personally is the surest way to make yourself miserable. You can care about the customer, your career and your own firm, but it’s crazy to use any of those as a proof point for your self worth.

Original Post: Geoffrey James
http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=6309&tag=nl.rSINGLE

What percent of the buying decision is made based upon the product/solution?

The correct answer is: 30 percent!

Actually, it’s more like 29 percent, according to a study of buying habits conducted by bluewolf.com, a company that does systems integration for CRM and Sales 2.0.
According to that study, B2B decision-makers, on average make buying decision based upon the following criteria:

16 percent politics
23 percent chemistry
32 percent trust/understanding
29 percent solution

What’s exciting about this fact is that two of these elements — chemistry and trust/understanding — are very much within your control.

You can’t always influence the customer’s internal politics and, much of the time, you’re selling whatever solution your firm has to offer.
Even so, you can always use your sales skills to build better rapport and deeper levels of trust and understanding. And that’s over 50 percent of the decision-making criteria.

BTW, the above figure explain why sales efforts that focus on “features and functions” don’t work — those elements are responsible for less than a third of the decision-making process. So no way should they dominate your process.

By Geoffrey James