Marketing 201 | SBA.gov

Marketing 201 | SBA.gov
As you learned in Marketing 101, marketing is the process that companies use to get consumers interested in the items they're selling. Marketing is advantageous to your business for many reasons. Here are just two of the benefits.

• You alert customers to a product that suits their wants and/or needs.
• Marketing will net your company profits, which will allow you to continue to do business in order to meet future customers' needs.

Marketing efforts are the most successful when they focus on what the consumer wants, not on what you THINK the consumer wants. Having trouble finding out information about your target market? Read this article to learn helpful hints and tips for researching your market.

How Can I Make My Customer Happy While Still Staying True to My Business?

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives." Sounds complicated, but in order to be a successful marketer and businessperson, you'll need to follow a few simple steps:

1. Define a target market.
2. Discover what products customers in your target market want to buy.
3. Set a price for these products.
4. Advertise your product to your customers.
5. Make your product available to your customers.

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What Activities Are Included in Marketing?

Marketing activities are numerous and varied. They include everything necessary to get a product off of a sketch pad and into the hands of consumers. Marketing includes activities such as:

• Designing a product to appear desirable to consumers
• Performing market research and pricing
• Promoting the product through public relations, advertising, marketing communications, and sales and distribution

Marketing requires the orchestration of everyone who plays a role in the common goal of pleasing the customer. If you're a small business owner with no employees, you may need to mentally break down the silos separating core business functions and think more holistically in terms of marketing strategies. Back to Top

How Can I Incorporate Marketing Into My Company?

The following represents a comprehensive list of marketing ideas that we’ve compiled for you to help you understand customer needs and ways to satisfy those needs. General Ideas | Target Market | Product Development | Education, Resources, and Information | Pricing and Payment | Marketing Communications | Media Relations | Customer Service and Customer Relations | Networking and Word of Mouth | Advertising | Special Events and Outreach | Sales Ideas | Marketing Performance

General Ideas

• Engage in at least one marketing activity every day.
• Determine a percentage of gross income to spend annually on marketing.
• Set specific marketing goals every year; review and adjust quarterly.
• Carry business cards with you at all times. You never know who you’ll run into!

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Target Market

• Stay alert to trends that might impact your target market, product or promotion strategy.
• Read market research studies about your profession, industry, product, target market groups, etc.
• Collect competitors' ads and literature; study them for information about strategy, product features, benefits, etc.
• Ask clients why they hired you and solicit suggestions for improvement.
• Identify a new market.
• Join a list-serve (email list) related to your profession.
• Subscribe to a LinkedIn group or a list-serve that serves your target market.

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Product Development

• Create a new service, technique or product.
• Offer a simpler/cheaper/smaller version of your (or existing) product or service.
• Offer a fancier/more expensive/faster/bigger version of your (or existing) product or service.
• Update your services.

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Education, Resources, and Information

• Establish a marketing and public relations advisory and referral team composed of your colleagues and/or neighboring business owners; share ideas and referrals and discuss community issues.
• Create a forum or environment for employees to offer their suggestions.
• Attend a marketing seminar.
• Read a marketing book.
• Subscribe to a marketing newsletter or other publication.
• Subscribe to a marketing list-serve.
• Train your staff, clients and colleagues to promote referrals.
• Hold a monthly marketing meeting with employees or associates to discuss strategy and status and solicit marketing ideas.
• Join an association or organization related to your profession.
• Get a marketing intern to take you on as a client; it will give the intern experience and provide you with you some free marketing help.
• Maintain a consultant card file for finding designers, writers, and other marketing professionals. Hire a marketing consultant and conduct several brainstorming sessions.
• Visit another city or county to observe and learn from marketing techniques used there.

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Pricing and Payment

• Analyze your fee structure and look for areas requiring modifications or adjustments. Establish a credit card payment option for clients.
• Offer a discount to regular clients.
• Learn to barter. Offer discounts to members of certain clubs/professional groups/organizations in exchange for promotions in their publications.
• Provide cash discounts.
• Offer financing or installment plans.

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Marketing Communications

• Publish a newsletter for customers and prospects (it doesn't have to be fancy or expensive).
• Develop an online brochure of services.
• Produce separate business cards/sales literature for each of your target market segments (for example, government and commercial and/or business and consumer).
• Create a poster or calendar to give away to customers and prospects.
• Print a slogan and/or one-sentence description of your business on letterhead, fax cover sheets and invoices. Get your business out on the Internet.
• Create a signature file to be used for all your email messages. It should contain contact details, including your website address and key information about your company that will make the reader want to contact you.
• Include testimonials from customers in your literature.
• Test a new mailing list. If it produces results, add it to your current direct mail lists or consider replacing a list that's not performing up to expectations.
• Announce free or special offers in your direct response pieces. (Direct responses may be direct mail, broadcast faxes, or email messages.) Include the offer in the beginning of the message as well as on the outside of the envelope for direct mail.

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Media Relations

• Update your media list often so that press releases are sent to the right media outlet and person.
• Send timely and newsworthy press releases as often as needed.
• Write a column for the local newspaper, local business journal or a trade publication.
• Circulate reprints of published articles.
• Publicize your 500th client of the year (or other notable milestone).
• Create an annual award and publicize it.
• Get public relations and media training or read up on it.
• Appear on a radio or TV talk show…that said, we don’t want to see you on Jerry Springer or Judge Judy.
• Create your own TV program on your industry or your specialty. Market the show to your local cable station or public broadcasting station as a regular program, or see if you can air your show on an open access cable channel.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper or trade magazine.
• Take an editor to lunch to see what they're writing out and explain how your business might fit in.
• Get a publicity photo taken and enclose with press releases.
• Consistently review newspapers and magazines for possible PR opportunities.
• Submit tip articles to newsletters and newspapers.
• Conduct industry research and develop a press release or article to announce an important discovery in your field.
• Create a press kit and keep its contents current.

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Customer Service and Customer Relations

• Ask your clients to come back again.
• Return phone calls promptly.
• Set up an email or fax-on-demand system to easily respond to customer inquiries.
• Use an answering machine or voice mail system to catch after-hours phone calls. Include basic information in your outgoing messages such a business hours, location, etc.
• Ask clients what you can do to help them.
• Take clients out to a ball game, show, or another special event - just send them two tickets with a note. Hold a seminar at your office for clients and prospects.
• Send handwritten thank you notes.
• Send birthday cards and appropriate seasonal greetings.
• Photocopy interesting articles and send them to clients and prospects with a hand-written FYI (for your information) note and your business card.
• Send a book of interest or other appropriate business gift to a client with a handwritten note.
• Create an area on your website specifically for your customers.
• Redecorate your office or location where you meet with your clients.

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Networking and Word of Mouth

• Join a Chamber of Commerce or other organization.
• Join or organize a breakfast or lunch club with other professionals (not in your field) to discuss business and network referrals.
• Serve on a city board or commission.
• Host a holiday party.
• Hold an open house.
• Send letters to attendees after you attend a conference.
• Join a community list-serve (email list) on the Internet.

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Advertising

• Advertise during peak seasons for your business.
• Get a memorable phone number, such as 1-800-WIDGETS.
• Obtain a memorable URL and email address and include them on all marketing materials.
• Provide Rolodex cards or phone stickers preprinted with your business contact information.
• Promote your business jointly with other professionals via cooperative direct mail.
• Advertise in a specialty directory or in the Yellow Pages.
• Write an ad in another language to reach the non-English-speaking market. Place the ad in a publication that the market reads, such as a Hispanic newspaper.
• Distribute advertising specialty products such as pens, mouse pads, or mugs.
• Mail bumps - photos, samples and other innovative items to your prospect list. (A bump is simply anything that makes the mailing envelope bulge and makes the recipient curious about what's in the envelope!)
• Create a direct mail list of hot prospects.
• Consider non-traditional tactics such as bus backs, billboards, and popular Web sites.
• Project a message on the sidewalk in front of your place of business using a light directed through words etched in a glass window.
• Consider placing ads in your newspaper's classified section.
• Consider a vanity automobile tag with your company name.
• Create a friendly bumper sticker for your car.
• Code your ads and keep records of results.
• Improve your building signage and directional signs inside and out.
• Invest in a neon sign to make your office or storefront window visible at night.
• Create a new or improved company logo or recolor the traditional logo.
• Sponsor and promote a contest or sweepstakes.

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Special Events and Outreach

• Get a booth at a fair/trade show attended by your target market.
• Sponsor or host a special event or open house at your business location in cooperation with a local non-profit organization, such as a women's business center. Describe how the organization helped you.
• Give a speech or volunteer for a career day at a high school.
• Teach a class or seminar at a local college or adult education center.
• Sponsor an Adopt-a-Road area in your community to keep roads litter-free. People that pass by the area will see your name on the sign announcing your sponsorship.
• Volunteer your time to a charity or nonprofit organization.
• Donate your product or service to a charity auction.
• Appear on a panel at a professional seminar.
• Write a How To pamphlet or article for publishing.
• Publish a book.

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Sales Ideas

• Start every day with two cold calls.
• Read newspapers, business journal, and trade publications for new business openings, personnel appointments, and promotion announcements made by companies. Send your business literature to appropriate individuals and firms.
• Give your sales literature to your lawyer, accountant, printer, banker, temp agency, office supply salesperson, advertising agency, etc. (expand your sales force for free)
• Put your fax number on order forms for easy submission.
• Set up a fax-on-demand or e-mail system to easily distribute responses to company or product inquiries.
• Follow up on your direct mailings, email messages and broadcast faxes with a friendly telephone call.
• Try using the broadcast fax or email delivery methods instead of direct mail (broadcast fax and email allows you to send the same message to many locations at once).
• Use broadcast faxes or email messages to notify your customers of product service updates.
• Extend your hours of operation.
• Reduce response/turnaround time. Make reordering easy - use reminders. Provide pre-addressed envelopes.
• Display product and service samples at your office.
• Remind clients of the products and services you provide that they aren't currently buying.
• Call and/or send mail to former clients to try and reactivate them.
• Take sales orders over the Internet.

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Marketing Performance

After implementing a marketing program, entrepreneurs must evaluate its performance. Every program should have performance standards to compare with actual results. Researching industry norms and past performances will help to develop appropriate standards. Entrepreneurs should audit their company's performance at least quarterly. The key questions are:

• Is the company doing all it can to be customer-oriented?
• Do employees ensure the customers are satisfied and leave wanting to come back?
• Is it easy for the customer to find what he or she wants at a competitive price?

Marketing 101 | SBA.gov

Marketing 101 | SBA.gov
In order to successfully grow your business, you’ll need to attract and then work to retain a large base of satisfied customers. Marketing emphasizes the value of the customer to the business, and has two guiding principles:

1. All company policies and activities should be directed toward satisfying customer needs.
2. Profitable sales volume is more important than maximum sales volume.

To best use these principles, a small business should:

• Determine the needs of their customers through market research
• Analyze their competitive advantages to develop a market strategy
• Select specific markets to serve by target marketing
• Determine how to satisfy customer needs by identifying a market mix

Marketing programs, though widely varied, are all aimed at convincing people to try out or keep using particular products or services. Business owners should carefully plan their marketing strategies and performance to keep their market presence strong. Conducting Market Research Successful marketing requires timely and relevant market information. An inexpensive research program, based on questionnaires given to current or prospective customers, can often uncover dissatisfaction or possible new products or services. Market research will also identify trends that affect sales and profitability. Population shifts, legal developments, and the local economic situation should be monitored to quickly identify problems and opportunities. It is also important to keep up with competitors' market strategies. Creating a Marketing Strategy A marketing strategy identifies customer groups which a particular business can better serve than its target competitors, and tailors product offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts and services toward those segments. Ideally, the strategy should address unmet customer needs that offer adequate potential profitability. A good strategy helps a business focus on the target markets it can serve best. Target Marketing Most small businesses don’t have unlimited resources to devote to marketing; however, the SBA wants you to know that you can still see excellent returns while sticking to your budget if you focus on target marketing. By concentrating your efforts on one or a few key market segments, you’ll reap the most from small investments. There are two methods used to segment a market:

1. Geographical segmentation: Specializing in serving the needs of customers in a particular geographical area.
2. Customer segmentation: Identifying those people most likely to buy the product or service and targeting those groups.

Managing the Market Mix Every marketing program contains four key components:

1. Products and Services: Product strategies include concentrating on a narrow product line, developing a highly specialized product or service or providing a product-service package containing unusually high-quality service.
2. Promotion: Promotion strategies focus on advertising and direct customer interaction. Good salesmanship is essential for small businesses because of their limited advertising budgets. Online marketing is a cheap, quick, and easy way to ensure that your business and product receive high visibility.
3. Price: When it comes to maximizing total revenue, the right price is crucial. Generally, higher prices mean lower volume and vice-versa; however, small businesses can often command higher prices because of their personalized service.
4. Distribution: The manufacturer and wholesaler must decide how to distribute their products. Working through established distributors or manufacturers' agents is generally easiest for small manufacturers. Small retailers should consider cost and traffic flow in site selection, especially since advertising and rent can be reciprocal: a low-cost, low-traffic location means spending more on advertising to build traffic.

The aforementioned steps combine to form a holistic marketing program.
The nature of the product or service is also important in citing decisions. If purchases are based largely on impulse, then high-traffic and visibility are critical. On the other hand, location is less of a concern for products or services that customers are willing to go out of their way to find. The Internet makes it easy for people to obtain goods from anywhere in the world, so if you’re worried about reaching a certain market, selling your product online may do wonders for your business.

More Layoffs Comming - Fight Back

It has been announced that at 20 major companies have announced layoffs since the election. In talking with other business owners, I get the feeling that there will be many employees converted to part-time and part-timers will have their hours reduced. While this is sad and was predicted, it is also a time of great opportunity and let's be very clear ...no employee is safe in this environment. If you have a job keep it, but prepare for the worse and start your own business immediately. Every household in this country need a business, for tax benefits and opportunities business presents.

Who is laying off? The Blaze Reports.

Contact Jerry W. Williams for making a plan.

7 Mistakes Business Owners Make

Now is the time to put the past behind and to look forward to a new or fresh revival for your business.

View the Freshly Posted and FREE Video for gental reminders of common mistakes made by Business Owners and entreprenuers make. Click her: Dynamic Business Concepts

View it here also.

Emergency Preparedness | SBA.gov

Found this article on the SBA website. It is vey timely because to the weather expected on the East Coast.

General Preparedness Information

• Create a preparedness program for your business
• Identify critical business systems [PDF]
• Create an emergency communications plan [PDF]
• Test your business systems
• Enroll in the Red Cross Ready Rating Program
• Build a disaster preparedness kit
• Learn about SBA's Disaster Assistance programs (online course)

The resources below can help you develop a plan to protect your employees, lessen the financial impact of disasters, and re-open your business quickly to support economic recovery in your community.
Emergency Preparedness | SBA.gov

Double Your Revenue Immediately

By: Jerry W. Williams

A few years ago one of my mentors, Jay Abraham, was talking about the fact that in many businesses the sales person or customer service person was too timid or too bashful to suggest an add-on sale or an up sell because of the fear that it may cost the sale they are presently sure of. The fact is that it may be a disservice may to not mention that another service is available or another product could be a benefit to the product or service being purchased.

This can be best explained by examples so here are a few; I went into a national pizza chain the other day, after preordering over the phone. They were in such a hurry to get me out of there that they didn’t ask if I wanted a soft drink with my order. When I phoned in they didn’t even offer or suggest any other product for my order. I made another to pick up soft drinks.

These examples can go on endlessly but for simplicity suppose that you ordered a carpet cleaning because of the coupon for the service. The carpet cleaner is doing you a disservice if they do not mention that “it is a good idea, while we are here to also scotch guard for protection. It will cost more if we have to come back.”  The fact is that the add-on sale is the most profitable sale you can make.  

Suppose that the value of an add-on sale is $50.00and your employees only make one additional sale per day. Just that small sale amount of $50.00 per day, 5 days a week will add up to $13,000.00 per year in additional revenue. If you have 3 employees and they all do 1 add-on sale per day that is $39,000.00 per year extra.

So how do you get your employee to produce the add-on sale? You give them an incentive. Make them a partner in that sale by offering a commission or bonus for that sale.

They were happy to ring up the sale and happy to remind the client of complementary products. It also was a way to get more money into the pockets of the employees.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Williams

Top 10 Reasons Referral Marketing is So Effective

By Howard Partridge  - 7 Secrets of a Phenomenal L.I.F.E.

Definition of ReferralMarketing: “The process of building a network of sources that will refer multiple clients to your business.”

Top 10 Reasons Referral Marketing is So Effective

1.       Your Network is unlimited – As you begin to build relationships with powerful referral sources and you get your clients to refer you, the network continues to grow with no end in sight.

2.       Higher Quality Clients - Since Mercedes Clients seek out a referral, you get higher quality clients just from being a “referral based.” Referred clients usually don’t even ask about price. They are more concerned about quality than price.

3.       Pre-Qualified Clients- By education your referral sources, your prospective clients will be pre-qualified; therefore, they will already know you charge more.

4.       People Trust Referrals- Wouldn’t you agree that referrals already have a level of trust for you? Sure they do. They trust you because the person they trust knows you.

5.       Reduces Competition- With referral marketing, you are no longer fighting for the best ad placement, or getting copied. Relationships are hard to duplicate.

6.       Low Cost- With the right referral marketing system, you won’t spend money on expensive advertising. The cost is very low for referral marketing. Even with a Referral Reward Program (which I highly recommend), the cost is still extremely low compared to most advertising.

7.       High Returns- The returns can potentially be huge. In many industries a 4-to-1 return on investment on advertising dollars would be outstanding. In other words, if you invested $1,000.00 in advertising, you would get an average of $4,000.00 in return. With referral marketing, if you pay a 10% referral reward and everyone cashes in on it, you will have a 10-to-1 return. In my reward program, /I get a 20-to-1 return.

8.       Returns Guaranteed- With a referral reward, you don’t pay it until after the product or service is paid for. With traditional advertising, you put your money on the line and Hope for a return.

9.       Small Time Investment- The biggest objection I get to referral marketing is “time.” See reason #10 to overcome that challenge.

10.   EXPO-NEN-TIAL MULTIPLICATION!! – …If you can invest just 30 minutes per day calling on powerful referral sources ( companies that are in a position to refer you on a regular basis), do think it is possible to generate just $1,5000.00 in new referrals in a one-month period? Not too difficult for most small businesses.

To find out more about how to use a referral system in your business join us for the (Zig) Ziglar Born to Win Business Growth Workshop October 4^th, in Columbus, GA. The Author, Howard Partridge and Tom Ziglar will teach this and much more! Business Growth Workshop information on $97.00 with a money back guarantee if not satisfied. 

Business Success Through Excellence: Success: MAKE IT HAPPEN

Business Success Through Excellence: Success: MAKE IT HAPPEN

Success: MAKE IT HAPPEN

Business Growth Workshop - Columbus, Ga  Oct. 4th

Are working too hard for too little?

• Has your business turned into just another JOB?
• Are you watching your life pass you by from inside your office?
• Is your team just a revolving door of barely motivated employees?
• Are you investing money (that you don’t have) to keep your Business open in the off tax season months?
• Are you overwhelmed by running your business and find that you barely have enough time to focus on what’s important?

If you answered yes to any of these then you’d benefit from the different perspective and tools that a coach could offer. Right now you are in a work harder cycle that is difficult to break.

You’ve fallen victim to some bad habits and you ned help to get out of the rut.

Join tom Ziglar (son of Zig) Howard Partridge in Columbus, Ga on Oct 4th for a Business Growth Workshop. Satisfaction is 100% Guaranteed or a ther will be a full refund.



More information: click here

6 Secrets of Business Growth

View this short video of Howard Partridge for 5 and add number six. (click on his name)




Don't Give Up!

Never Give Up

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." - Harriet Beecher Stowe, author

Jerry W. Williams

Email

Idle Assets

I ran into a local friend/businessman today whose business is down 1 million dollars from where it was 2-3 years ago. He walked away from lunch with no less than 1 million dollars of ideas in possible residual income opportunities from idle assets he already owns.  We are getting together next week for a possible joint venture, so he will not have to take time away from his daily business. If you believe, you will see...together we can ! Join me on Linkedin

Declaration of Independence

Last paragraph of Declaration:


We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. http://ow.ly/c0VOi


..." one Nation under God with liberty and justice for all."
Have a great day my independent friends!

The Key to Success

I read a quote by Stuart Wilde that makes you stop and think. Always ask yourself, when selling your idea or product; How high is my energy level on _________ subject. Here is his quote, "The key to success is to raise your own energy. When you do, people will naturally be attracted to you. And, when they show up, bill them!

High energy is attractive, but you cannot fake it. You must know what idea or product you are selling inside and out with all the benefits and you convey that excitement while asking questions. The questions, with excitement, will convey to the client that you have what they need, not that they need what you have. Features and benefits are all good, but if you go through your long launduary list of features and benefits, you are just doing a presentation. Questions, with the finding the concerns of the client and then your excitement of being able to help them is what you bill them for. Solve their problem, not yours.

Jerry W. Williams

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Know The Size Of Your Prospect

While consulting with a new client recently I was reminded that a new business person quoting  a seemingly high price is a scarry position to be in. All kind of thoughts will run through your head ... Can I cut my costs?... Should I price lower to get the business? ... Am I missing something? ...  You may know what I'm talking about.

In this case the business owner was approached by a national company to license his service. The company does not have a lot of business yet and could use a long term client. One of the challenges this business owner had to overcome was that to do what the prospect wanted, a license with a annual renewal was  needed to purchased by the business owner and to him the fee was large. The need to pass this fee on to his  client was where he was scared. After going over a lot of options, my client looked releaved because he understood that "size matters", when thinking about your prospective client, and that while thousands of dollars to you may seem big but to a national company, it may be petty cash.

We further talked about the sales presentation and that he should not be ashamed to present a profitable price for himself. To give him a little more peace about this huge yet scary opportunity, we asked what would happen if didn't get the business. He looked very peaceful when he responded that things would continue as they are for the present, but long term HUGE ideas are now flowing about how to explode his business (of which we will continue to work with him on).

The fear of failure, on securing the new business was not even a concern because of the new ideas flowing because of the opportunity and the fact that he had saught advise.

Jerry W. Williams

Linkedin

IRS Suspends Issuing Individual Tax Numbers without Documenttation

(JofA) - Beginning June 22, 2012, and continuing until the IRS issues new rules (which it says it will do by the beginning of the 2013 filing season), the IRS will not issue individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs) unless the applicants provide original documents such as passports or birth certificates.

IRS Suspends Issuing ITINs without Original Documentation 

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The Golden Rule of Selling Like a Brilliant Sales Professional

By Brian Tracy

 June 13th, 2012

To improve your sales performance and become a better sales professional, adopt the Golden Rule mentality. The Golden Rule says to, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It also says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Golden Rule mentality in sales, says simply, “Sell unto others as you would have them sell unto you.”

The Golden Rule

What does this mean? Aren’t there all kinds of different personalities that require different sales performance techniques? Well, yes and no. Practicing the golden rule in selling simply means that you sell to other people the way you would like to be sold to. The successful sales professional uses the golden rule to sell with the same honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy and thoughtfulness that they would like someone else to use in selling to them.

Become a Brilliant Sales Professional by Seeking to Understand

In order to improve your sales performance, you must first seek to understand the customer. If you would like a sales professional to take the time to thoroughly understand you and your situation before making a recommendation, you practice the same thing with your customers. If you would like a sales professional to give you honest information and to help you make an intelligent buying decision, you practice the same with your customer. If you would like a sales professional to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the strengths or weaknesses of his or her product or service, and that of his or her competitors, then you do the same with your product or service and your competitors.

Improve Your Sales Performance by “Caring”

Perhaps the most important part of golden rule selling is the emotional component embraced in the word, “caring.” A top sales professional will care about their customers. They care about themselves, their companies, their products and services, and they really care about helping their customers to make good buying decisions. If you think about the very best sales professional you know, you will recognize that they are caring individuals who maintain a high level of sales performance simply because they “care”.

They Don’t care How Much You Know

If you think about your very best customers, you will recall that these are invariably people you care about, and who care about you. When you think about the people you buy from, you will recall that they seem to care about you more than the average. In every part of your business life, you will find that the significant people all have the denominator of caring as part of their character and their personalities.

Differentiate Yourself from Your Competitors

A top sales professional, positions themselves as consultants, sees themselves as a resource for their clients. They see themselves and carry themselves as advisors, mentors and friends. They become emotionally involved in their transactions and they are generally concerned that their product or service be the ideal solution to the real needs of the prospects they are dealing with. They differentiate themselves from their competitors by being more concerned with helping their prospects than with selling their products or services. Their customers often feel that the sales professional cares more about them than they care about making a sale. And it’s true.

I hope you enjoyed this article on improving your sales performance using the golden rule of selling. If you are a sales professional, please feel free to share your thoughts and comment below!

Find Brian Tracy’s products by following my affiliate link

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The Key To Long-Term Success

By: Brian Tracy

Successful people have been studied in depth for more than 100 years. They have been interviewed extensively to determine what it is they do and how they think that enables them to accomplish so much more than the average person.

In this Newsletter, you learn the most important single factor of long-term success and how you can build it into your personality and your attitude. You learn how to virtually guarantee yourself a great future.

The Harvard Discovery on Success 
In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book entitled The Unheavenly City. He described one of the most profound studies on success and priority setting ever conducted.

Banfield's goal was to find out how and why some people became financially independent during the course of their working lifetimes. He started off convinced that the answer to this question would be found in factors such as family background, education, intelligence, influential contacts, or some other concrete factor. What he finally discovered was that the major reason for success in life was a particular attitude of mind.

Develop Long Time Perspective
Banfield called this attitude "long time perspective." He said that men and women who were the most successful in life and the most likely to move up economically were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they made in the present. He found that the longer the period of time a person took into consideration while planning and acting, the more likely it was that he would achieve greatly during his career.

For example, one of the reasons your family doctor is among the most respected people in America is because he or she has invested many years of hard work and study to finally earn the right to practice medicine. After university courses, internship, residency and practical training, a doctor may be more than 30 years old before he or she is capable of earning a good living. But from that point onward, these men and women are some of the most respected and most successful professional people in any society. They had long time perspectives.

Measure the Potential Future Impact
The key to success in setting priorities is having a long time perspective. You can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life.

For example, if you come home from work at night and choose to play with your children or spend time with your spouse, rather than watch TV or read the paper, you have a long time perspective. You know that investing time in the health and happiness of your children and your spouse is a very valuable, high-priority use of time. The potential future impact of quality time with your family is very high.

If you take additional courses in the evening to upgrade your skills and make yourself more valuable to your employer, you're acting with a long time perspective. Learning something practical and useful can have a long-term effect on your career.

Practice Delayed Gratification
Economists say that the inability to delay gratification-that is, the natural tendency of individuals to spend everything they earn plus a little bit more, and the mind-set of doing what is fun, easy and enjoyable-is the primary cause of economic and personal failure in life. On the other hand, disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.

The long term comes soon enough, and every sacrifice that you make today will be rewarded with compound interest in the great future that lies ahead for you.

Action Exercises
Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, think long-term. Sit down today and write out a description of your ideal life ten and twenty years into the future. This automatically develops longer-time perspective.

Second, look at everything you do in terms of its long-term potential impact on your life. Do more things that have greater long-term value to you.

Third, develop the habit of delaying gratification in small things, small expenditures, small pleasures, so that you can enjoy greater rewards and greater satisfaction in the future.

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Did you know that 84 percent of sales in America take place as the result of word-of-mouth advertising?

Some of the most important sales promotion sales activities are those that take place between customers and prospects, between friends and colleagues, in the form of advice and recommendations on what to buy, or not buy, and who to buy from. What does this mean for you?

It means that the only way that you can be among the top ten percent of salespeople in your industry is by having your existing customers selling for you on every occasion. Because of the importance of mega-credibility in selling, your customers must be happy to open doors to new customers for you wherever they go.

Never Prospect Again

All top salespeople eventually reach the point where they seldom have to prospect because their customers do much of their selling for them. When you live your life consistent with your personal and business mission statements, both fitting together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, your sales career will soar, as will your sales results and your earnings.

Be Clear About Who You Are

One important point with regard to vision, values and mission statements: be gentle with yourself. It has taken you your whole life to become the person you are today. If you are like everyone else, you are not perfect. You have lots of room to grow and improve. There are many changes that you can make in your character and personality in the course of becoming the excellent human being that you aspire to. But change in your personality will not come easily, and it won't come overnight. You must be patient.

Persist Until Your Succeed

The reason that people grow and become better and better over the course of time, is because they persist gently in the direction of their goals and dreams. They don't expect overnight transformations. When they don't see results immediately, they don't get discouraged. They just keep on keeping on. And you must do the same.

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What Do Business Consultants Do?

Today, (June 13, 2011) I was privileged to pick up two new clients. One just bought a going business and the other wanted to began the planning process to start one soon. Both of these individuals have a better chance of surviving than those who just jump into business without getting assistance or learning from experienced business individuals. The national average for business survival is down to 51% after 5 years, but the odds are greatly improved by getting ongoing mentoring.

These people came in with their questions: like how to start or what should I do next. The new business owner will start immediately to work on the "Business Plan" doing all the research necessary (demographics studies, financial projections,cost analysis, ect.) with our expert advise and guidance. The owner who purchased an going business will work with us to create a marketing plan, business plan, a model for growth which includes making this business look bigger than it is, creating a set of financials (income statements) to be reviewed monthly, an inventory system and much more.  With buying, fixing and selling the existing business as on option we plan to make all operations very system oriented so that in the future either the sale can be consummated with a system being sold or additional locations added with a system that can be used to make operations work like a well oiled machine.

Business ownership is not for the faint of heart, but feeling of accomplishment is one that need to be experienced by all who have even a minor desire to have the pride of business ownership.

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During Bad Economic Times Business Can Grow

Many times business people sit on their hands or as one business owner recently told me, "I am scared to expand!" During bad economic times is actually when businesses can began that journey to greatness by starting the growth process. I believe the early starters are the ones who will succeed.

Les Brown says,"The only limits to the possibilities in your life are the buts you use today." Nothing can be closer to the truth than this. You must get rid of the buts and excuses and began now to see that dream come true.



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Successful Companies Review Their Business Plan Every Six Months!

A business set-up for effective long term growth will always have a written plan for reaching the goals or vision for the company.

A business plan can be basic or extensive. The best plan is very extensive, however, starting with a basic plan is better than nothing. Any company not planning to succeed is actually planning to fail.

The elements of a basic plan is:

1. Cover Sheet - Which would include a LOGO, Business Name-Address-Name of Principals, be very professional and emulate your business
2. Mission Statement - A one paragraph statement of what your business is and what you want to accomplish (view this from the clients prospective)
3. Description of the Business - What is your product or service? What market will you be going after? Location of the business and why was that location chosen? Who is your competition? What will attract clients to your company verses going to your competition? Name management and the duties of each.
4. Marketing - Again, Who is your market? How will you get their attention? If you have a particular niche, speciality or attraction, what is it? What will you use to advertise or promote your product?
5. Competition - Who is your competition and what edge do you have over them?
6. Financial - A. List all financial needs.Include equipment and costs, how much money you plan to invest to get things going. B. Project cash flow and go out for three years.
7. Summary

This is the simplest of plans and I recommend that much thought be put into this plan, it be put in writing and shared with all employees. We (Financial Control) can coach you step by step through the process. We can be contacted by any of our links: Email  Linkedin

Speed Up Slow Paying Clients

A major concern in business today is the Slow Paying Client. Late payments create a problem that is sever in nature and can be catastrophic in nature to credit giving supplier.

To speed up slow pays:

1. Offer discounts for early payment.
2. Have a get tough policy and corporate image by pushing for full payment as soon as the invoice becomes late.
3. Be prepared to not accept denials, delays, denials and disputes by making sure invoices/statements are correct when presented to the client
4. If absolutely necessary, accept partial payment and/or installment plans.
5. Add late charges, follow strict credit limits and COD policies. Habitual late payers need to be put on COD immediately.
6. Include a copy of the credit policy on statements and invoices.
7. Use a collection agency when necessary, remembering that the agency or attorney will keep a portion of the monies collected.

Jerry W. Williams is a business consultant and coach in the area of Growth Ventures and would like to help you take your company to the next level of Success Through Excellence. Linkedin,www.jerrwwilliams.com or email him

Despite Economy Kauffman FastTrac Entrepreneurs Started and Grew New Businesses in 2011, According to Survery

KANSAS CITY, Mo.), June 4, 2012 – Kauffman FastTrac entrepreneur courses have been helping business owners launch and grow companies since 1993. After surveying recent FastTrac graduates via email, data indicate that, despite the current economic environment, the programs remain applicable and are integral in helping entrepreneurs achieve success with their businesses.

More than 41 percent of the nearly 600 FastTrac graduates who responded reported they had either launched or continued their business after taking the course in 2011. The majority of respondents took the FastTrac ^® NewVenture ^™ program for aspiring entrepreneurs, but some participated in more than one course during 2011. Further, most reported revenue growth after taking a FastTrac course. In fact, 25 percent saw their business revenue grow by more than 21 percent. ...read more....Kauffman 

I was honored to be selected to attend the Fast Track Growth Venture in 2012. Please contact me to help you have the growth venture  and life you dream of. email: jerry@jerrywwilliams.com of follow me in linkedin:
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Copy Right!

As  a business coach/consultant, one of the greatest pieces of advise I ever give to start-ups and even seasoned businesses is to find the best, most polished business in the country, or world. Study that business and copy every element you can., because this can save time and energy in the growth (or even survival) process.

Look at how they structure the businesses sales force, marketing, operations and do things the way they do things. The old saying of if you do what  you always do you will always get the same results cuts both ways ... if you do what others are doing ...you should get similar results. Now that is not only worth thinking about , that is worth the effort.



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Break-Even Analysis

Break-even analysis is a necessary and familiar  tool to most executives. It provides a logical analytical tool for determining the relationship between fixed costs, variable costs, and revenues. These relationships can be graphed in order to illustrate the point at which costs are at least covered by revenue.

The break-even analysis, however has many other applications. For example, an analysis can be used to test different marketing strategies  or to develop particular contingency plans. It can also be used to solve various and many "what ifs'" such as: What would happen to sales volume if and profits if fixed costs increase and prices remain consistant? What steps can be taken in the event that your competition cuts prices and sales volume decreases? What increase in sales volume must be attained to justify an increase in your advertising budget? To justify a 30 day extension to a distributor, how much additional sales volume is needed?

Break-even can also be used to determine the effect of a major acquisition on a fixed, variable and total costs; determine the maximum variable costs; measure past performance; ensure a minimum profit; or identify the point at which a company, department or product should be shutdown.

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