Author: Daz Wrigley

What Customers Want

Posted on by Daz Wrigley

Have you ever wondered why some prospects don’t buy from you after all the hard work that you have done to show them your product or service?

Chances are that you have been trying too hard to sell to them instead of getting them excited and engaged to buy from you…. There are reasons that I see why this happening every day in all types of businesses in every industry.

In sales and selling – It is either what you are saying/doing OR not saying/doing that is either contributing or detracting from your and the business success.

I would love a dollar for every time I have introduced myself to a business owner and they have said… I hate sales OR I’m not really good at sales…… But you are in the business world marketing and supplying your product/ service ?? That needs a solid sales style process to survive, doesn’t it? Think of this as just helping as many people as possible with your product/service – that’s not so salesy is it!

As a Sales and Business Coach, I believe if some small aspects of your sales process are refined or for some developed and put in place – you may even enjoy sales and selling ….Oops, okay maybe like it a little better. The truth is that while we neglect our sales skills, process and conversion numbers and then dismiss as the uncontrollable’s – sales and selling your product/ service will not be the strength it can be for you.

Hard fact: If your revenue increased by 2% per month due to an increase in sales conversions – how would your business look after 12 months? What would you do with the extra revenue and profit?  What about an increase of 10% revenue? WOW you may say…is it possible?

Businesses that I work with and coach are getting up to the 10% increases in revenue from tailored sales coaching…..just like the top sporting teams this year, having a great coach makes the difference to the results being achieved so everyone wins. By paying attention to your sales process, the sales skills of your business and importantly the key numbers around this area are crucial. Deciding that gradual improvement across this vital area then needs to be part of your strategic plan.

5 things that you must start doing for Prospects and Clients to BUY not be SOLD to more often!

(1) Get Better Leads (warmer)
Warmer leads are easier to work with right across the board. Referrals and return business come into this category along with people or businesses you know. Networking events and organizations are also crucial to the success of getting your share of warmer leads.We still need to market the traditional ways but your ability to reach out into your circle of influence from friends, family and people you do business with is where some businesses I see are now reporting the increase of this leads growth that is easier to win business from.

(2) People Skills, Communication and Build Relationships
Rapport is a buzz word in business and especially sales but we need to be good at using our people skills right across the business. Everyone in your team needs to display solid communication and people skills to build relationships with prospects and customers. This is one of the most underrated areas of business and one that brings more business potential undone that anything in a business. People like to deal with people they like and trust and that starts from the time your prospects meets or contacts you. Phone skills and presentation skills should not be brushed over for any business. The most successful business people build strong powerful relationships with their prospects, client and business affiliates.

“Easy to do BUT easier not to do” – Jim Rohn

(3) Master the Selling/ Buying Zone
Easily the most crucial part of getting a prospect to BUY from you instead of being SOLD to is this area!

Often called the needs analysis, this is your ability to diagnose the prospect’s needs/ wants so your product/service can be a solution to their needs. This is generally 80% of the sale. What you say here, the questions you ask are paramount to the prospect engaging to BUY. What is their compelling reason to use your product/service? What will your solution do for them, change for them, save them in $$$? When do they want the solution in place? Do they have a budget set for the solution? Good questions and listening are the key…..mix that with product knowledge, as an expert who wants to help and you’re well on your way to mastering this area.

People BUY emotionally and then back up the decision logically. Master this part of the process and the close of the business becomes so much easier

(4) Following Up Strategies
Not everyone buys the first time you meet and or present to them – even if you nail most of the above!  At least up to 50% will need to think about it, compare and then decide. What is your follow up strategy? Most businesses neglect this part of the sales process but neglect this and your sales will just sail away, maybe to another supplier after you did all the hard work. Follow up must be a strategy that you or your sales team work on so you can contact the prospect with an agreed next step.

Have a reason to call your prospect with an agreed day and time. Work hard to bring some new information to the next step meeting or some good news. Finally have an offer that gets the prospect moving that is secondary to the original solution, cost and plan. Getting them started is sometimes the best option on another product plan or service. Just don’t let them go without a next step strategy.

(5) Measure your Key Numbers – “What gets Measured Gets Done”
Just like the profit and loss, sales and conversion numbers must be measured right across the business. Lead to sale percentage for profitability needs to be sitting at 30% + for most businesses. How many leads do you need to reach your sales conversion targets? Do you know your key sales numbers at the moment?

For most sales teams in a medium business, there are more numbers needed to drive the success of sales and conversions. In my experience, this area of the business is done poorly and usually neglected as we get busy. Clear report numbers in this area manage, monitor and motivate both the business owner who is responsible for sales, as well as the sales team in a larger organisation.

Get these 5 tips working better in your business and the sales conversions will improve and so will your revenue and in the short term, your cash flows.

Your prospects will want to BUY from you not be SOLD to with a logical deal – but with a compelling reason that your product/service and company is the best option no matter what the investment is.

A Coaching Paradox

Posted on by Daz Wrigley

Is your Business running okay but could do better? Or do you want to work less hours? These 2 questions fall into 70% of Business owners surveyed in 2022 as being on their mind on a regular basis. Below is one of my favourite blogs for all Business owners to consider…..

A Coaching Paradox by Seth Godin

At the top tier of just about any sort of endeavour, you’ll find that the performers have coaches.

Pianists, orators and athletes all have coaches. In fact, it would be weird if we heard of someone on stage or on the field who didn’t have one. And yet, in the world of business, they’re seen as the exception.

Part of the reason is that work feels like an extension of something we’ve been doing our whole lives. Figure skating isn’t like school, but showing up at work seems to be. “I’ve got this,” is a badge of honour.

And part of the reason is that a few coaches have made claims that stretch belief, and we’re not actually sure what they do. It doesn’t help that there’s no easy way to identify what sort of coach we need or what we’re going to get.…

It turns out that the people with the potential to benefit the most from a coach are often the most hesitant precisely because of what coaching involves.

Talking about our challenges. Setting goals. Acknowledging that we can get better. Eagerly seeking responsibility.

And yet we avert our eyes and hesitate. It might be because having a coach might be interpreted as a sign of weakness. And what if we acknowledge our challenges but fail to overcome them? It could be that we don’t want to cause change to happen, or that we’re worried that we will.

One company I admire believes in coaches so much that they’ve put several on staff, ensuring that their leadership all benefit from one. But mostly, it’s something we have to pay for ourselves.

And so, paying for a coach, for something that’s hard to measure, which might be socially awkward, to get better at something that feels normal-combine that with a hesitancy to ask for help-it’s a wonder anyone has a coach.

The paradox is that the very things that hold us back are the reasons we need a coach in the first place.

Direct Response or Bust

Posted on by Daz Wrigley

Direct response marketing is a marketing that demands a direct response from your potential customers. This type of marketing is used to answer questions, present your branding, products and the reason you do what you do. Customers love this, as they are offered the opportunity to response, whether that be in the way of signing up for a newsletter, posting a comment on your site or blog, or purchasing a product from you.

So, what does direct response marketing look like? Well, it comes in many forms, including:

  • Direct mail
  • Print ads
  • Radio and TV ads
  • Coupons or other incentives
  • Telemarketing
  • Some of the advantages of direct marketing are:

A great way to use free time during lulls in business

  • Productive way to communicate and empower you to create more relationships
  • Great way to up- and cross-sell to current customers
  • Low cost way to rustle up new business
  • Used as leverage to turn small sales into large sales
  • Supplement your current marketing program
  • Cost-effective way to reach target markets
  • Offers measurable results
  • Reach outside your local area for new business
  • Increase the effectiveness of your sales force

These are all great things that can come from just taking a few simple steps to putting together a direct response marketing plan and executing it.

“I honestly don’t think you’ll ever find a safer, lower-risk, higher-profit method of increasing your business or profession than direct-response marketing.” Jay Abraham

Direct response marketing is one of the best ways to launch your business on a large scale and reach out to everyone in your target market whether they are in your local area or not. Our GUIDED TOUR can help you put together a great direct response marketing plan and get you on your way to heightened success.

Kick Start Your Marketing

Posted on by Daz Wrigley

Today I’d like to teach you about the three most important start up marketing tools you need to get and keep new customers.

  1. In person: It’s essential you meet with customers/clients in person whenever possible. This shows you respect them and take the time to work with your clients to give personal attention to each of them.
  2. Follow up letter: Always take a moment to send a follow up letter about what you talked about, new agreements or partnerships made and to thank them for taking the time to meet with you. Likewise, you should always send thank you letters or small gifts to partners you find success with.
  3. Phone call: Use a telephone call to follow up with them to talk again about the matters you talked about in your meeting and offer any assistance you can to help their business run smoothly and more successfully.

None of these will work if you don’t have a quality product/service to back you up!

Here are the key steps for putting together your start-up marketing tools:

  1. Research potential customers, buyers, competitors and their preferred methods of distribution.
  2. Talk to potential customers. Take a hard look at your product from a customer’s perspective and see what it needs to be successful.
  3. Follow up with your 3-step process from above.
  4. Develop systems for contact follow through, quality control standards and customer service.
  5. Develop post-sale follow up system to keep lines of communication open is customers and build on your current relationship which increases future purchases.

“Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs” Peter Drucker, management consultant

Here’s another one I love from an icon:

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.” Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

This lesson has offered you the tools to put together a start-up marketing plan that can be used over and over again to help your customer base and business grow in a manageable way.

Stop Wasting Your Resources!

Posted on by Daz Wrigley
Today you’re going to learn how to find a target market of potential customers so you aren’t wasting precious resources on blitz marketing. So, the two questions you have to ask yourself are:
  • What do people really want to buy from me?
  • What related products are they already buying?
Once you figure this out you will know who is more predisposed to purchase your products/services. Then, you find other businesses with the same customer base who you can customer share with. Come up with an incentive and great arrangement to encourage both of your customer bases to shop at both of your stores. The basic concept is this: You want to find existing businesses who have the customer profile that you are looking for to market your products/services to. Then strike up a relationship with those business owners to work out an incentive for customers to purchase from both businesses. As a result, you have an audience to market to and they generate an added value from their current base. So, how do you figure this out? There is a great formula from Jay Abraham you can follow with great success. LV = (P x F) x N – MC Here’s what it all means:
  • LV is the life time value of a customer
  • P is the average profit margin from each sale
  • F is the number of times a customer buys each year
  • N is the number of years customers stay with you
  • MC is the marketing cost per customer (total costs/number of customers)
Once you know how much you need to spend to attract a new customer, you will know how much of an incentive you can offer to a business to help attract new customers. So, here’s your step-by-step process:
  1. Find companies who already have the customer base you are looking for.
  2. Negotiate an incentive for them to share that customer base with you.
  3. Focus your marketing resources to this group of predisposed customers.
If you need help working through this process, please contact us and we’ll set you up with the most comprehensive system of marketing tools and resources.

Educate Your Customers

Posted on by Daz Wrigley

Educate them about what, you may be thinking. Well, consider this, many businesses focus solely on attracting new customers, but you NEED to spend a good chunk of your time retaining current and former customers. These are people you already know to be a good sales potential…they’ve already bought from you!

Take the time to market and sell new products to your old customers and less time trying to sell old products to new customers and you will see a drastic change in your sales, customer quality and branding position.

Here are a couple of key elements to use to retain your current customers:

  1. Stay in contact: This means by phone, email, e-newsletter, in person-by pigeon if you have too!
  2. Post-Purchase Assurance: This means you need to follow up with customers. Your customers need to feel like they are being supported for their purchase and with the item they purchased. How many times have you purchased a product, then felt completely abandoned? Something as simple as a Thank You note with your contact or customer service information can go along way in retaining a great customer.
  3. Deals & Guarantees: Always offer your current customers the best deals and guarantees you have. Show them you appreciate their business or even come up with a club specifically to reward loyal customers. You can also do this with a preferred pricing option.
  4. Integrity: Using good business practices and simply upholding integrity, dignity and honesty go along way with customers. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of swindling and crap out there and the safer and more confident you make your customers feel, the more they will trust you and that makes for an amazingly supportive and loyal customer.

There are three cornerstone ideas to a successful business:

  • Quality product/service
  • Offering useful products/services that solve a problem for or enhance the life of a customer
  • Offer subjects your customers find interesting

Use this approach of educating your customers and offering them real information and insight and you will be rewarded with loyalty and success.

Stop wasting all your time on new prospects while your current customers fall by the wayside!

As Jay Abraham says, “Your best prospects are your existing customers. If you’ve been putting all your marketing efforts into acquiring new customers, stop and diverts some of your resources into reselling, upselling, cross-selling to those same customers. In every ways possible – through package inserts, regular mailings, special offers – stay in touch with those customers and get them used to buying from you.”

So, there it is! Remember, we can help you put together the resources and tools to do exactly that. We can help you educate your customers and you can watch the benefits pay offer many-fold.

Lessons I Learned from Paris Hilton

Posted on by Daz Wrigley

Today we’ll talk about shameless self-promotion. That’s right, I said it! Shameless! After all, we are learning from Paris Hilton here.

It’s all about self-promotion! Self-promotion comes in many forms and you can use different tactics to get your name out there. Look at politicians! Talk about self-promotion and in some not so discreet ways, at that. But, seriously, consider some of the major superstars we all know. Madonna, Donald Trump, Howard Stern and Bill Clinton, just to name a few.

We all self promote. Did you raise your hand in class to show the teacher you knew the answer? Of course! That’s self-promotion. This is the kind of self-promotion we are talking about. With dignity, class and the knowledge to back it up. If you self-promote only to prove you don’t really know what you’re talking about, you’re going to lose business.

Natural self-promoters are the former and I want to tell you about the three major traits they have and use to build themselves and their businesses.

  1. The first is position. You need to position yourself around people who can make a difference in your life. You need to do this frequently. You need to wake up every morning and ask yourself “Who can I meet today who will make a difference in my success?” In fact, go a step further, write it in big, bold letters and tape it on your bathroom mirror.

Also consider:

Who can help me meet my goals?

Is it a prospective customer/client? A colleague with contacts? An association with key members who may become prospects?

Don’t settle into interacting with the people who are the easiest to access. You need to reach outside your comfort zone and there you will find a wealth of new connections that will bring you great success.

  1. Now, let’s talk about Style. No, this doesn’t mean you need an Armani suit to bring in more business (though, let’s be honest-it wouldn’t hurt) ☺ What this really means is how are you different from your competitors and others in your industry. What makes you memorable with customers?

If you are meeting a lot of people and they don’t remember you once you leave the room, you have a serious problem! This means you have an opportunity to present yourself in a more memorable way.

There are lots of little subtle changes you can make. Reassess your:

  • Business cards
  • Company message
  • Your picture
  • Your wording

Maybe even, your hairstyle (of course, now we’re back to the expensive suit, but it really works!)

You get the idea. There are lots of little ways you can work on making your image and business more successful. Also, consider how you sound on the phone and how you great people at meetings or other events. Think about your 30-sec elevator speech.

  1. The third trait of natural promoters is repetition. You can’t say it once and leave it at that. Successful self-promoters say it as many times as they need until they get a response. Would you remember a commercial for Coca-Cola if you only saw it once, no! You see it over and over and eventually you head out to the store.

You, also, have to make multiple impressions on those you are networking with in order to build brand awareness. Repetition is in direct connection with positioning. Once you find people to network with, reach out and find hundreds more who can help in your success as well.