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Working smarter

It was Thomas Edison who first said that: "success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration". He was right and when you think about it, you know that there can be no short cut to lasting success. It is all about activity.

Succeeding as owner of a small business means hard work, focus and developing an ability to handle rejection. Not everything is going to work, so as Edision also said: "I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward". You have to be able to get up and keep fighting when circumstances knock you down.

A common mistake is not to set goals. If you have no clear objective, you’re going to be hard pressed to find the inspiration to focus your effort. You then throw yourself into lots of activity, some of which is fruitful and some of which is not. This is the rut too many people find themselves in; busy and heck, but not actually making any progress.

Goals are crucial. They should be realistic, measurable and ambitious. They are also personal to you. Your vision for your life and business is unique and should not be based on what those around you seem to be striving to attain. But let me assume you have a clear vision of where you are heading. Let’s explore three ways in which you can focus your sales activity and work smarter. It’s good to work on selling smarter as sales, or turnover represent the lifeblood of any enterprise. Low sales pressure is like low blood pressure. Everything goes dark and it becomes difficult to do anything!

Prospecting

Sales activity is fuelled by your prospecting. Prospects are the raw material your sales effort processes into customers. The higher the quality of your prospects, the more you will convert into customers. You might not have  much time yourself for researching. Here are ten ways you can encourage people to do the hard work for you.

1. Advertising rep – find the journals that reach your market and ask their advertising people why they deliver value. They will usually provide you with statistics from their research and may even tell you about your rivals’ advertising success.
2. List broker – you can buy lists of just about every type of person, business or organization. A broker will tell you how many prospects there are. You don’t have to buy the list!
3. Government – you’d be amazed how much data is posted on the internet by Government departments and agencies. Ring the helpline and sweet talk someone into extracting the data for you.
4. Students – college and school staff need business studies projects. If your research involves a lot of legwork, use students’ legs to cover the ground.
5. Trade associations – you may not have joined the trade body that represents the sector you’re exploring, but ring the librarian or information officer and ask for a membership list. Their website may well contain many useful downloads that will help you.
6. Quangos – most quangos publish weighty documents that show why they are needed and what they seek to do. If a quango exists to support your audience, ask to be sent whatever is available.
7. Suppliers – if you are a distributor, potential suppliers will usually be more than happy to let you have market information. They will already have researched it.
8. Customers – if the customer wants you to do something new, suggest it will happen faster if they can find others who will also buy. It’s cheaper then for everyone.
9. Undergraduates – most universities have a website that markets work opportunities to students. Often, you can recruit a student to do your research for little more than minimum wage. Many welcome an alternative to serving fast food to make money.
10. Volunteers – charities use volunteers all the time for fund-raising and much more. Sometimes you can recruit volunteers or perhaps people with special needs to assemble and collate market surveys in exchange for an appropriate donation to their cause.
    

Selling smarter

Selling is not a mechanical process, more a focused conversation where all participants have agreed the topic. As well as following a logical sequence, you need to respond to your prospect in recognize opportunities to get closer to agreement. Many people give up too quickly. It’s not about being pushy, more about putting yourself in your prospect’s shoes. Here are ten ways to make your sales interviews more successful:

1. Ask why – if your prospect turns you down, ask why. Not only do you need to know the reason, but you also want an opportunity to overcome their objection.
2. Ask who – the moment you have the order is the best time to ask for a recommendation or referral. Too many people wait; do it straight away.
3. Drop cards – business cards are cheap advertising. Always carry cards and never hold back from presenting one.
4. Get about – develop a profile in your industry or sector. Attend the events your customers attend. Ask good questions of speakers you hear. Be noticed.
5. Be memorable – some of the best business people have a physical ‘trade mark’. Branson doesn’t wear a tie; others always wear a bow tie. Stand out from the crowd.
6. Read everything – once you develop the habit of reading press articles, office noticeboards, even invoices on your customers’ desks, you will become more aware of what you can do to increase your sales. Learn to translate what you read into opportunity.
7. Never stop – customers have a home life too. When you bump into people you do business with in the supermarket, make a point of speaking to them, but not about work!
8. Say your name – whenever you meet someone say your name as you introduce yourself. This both spares embarrassment and makes it easier for people to remember your name.
9. Signs – signwritten vans and other ‘point of delivery’ advertising are good ways of getting noticed, particularly if you sell to householders. Be easy to identify.
10. Make news – get to know the journalists who write for your marketplace. Keep them fed with stories about your business. Be helpful and responsive and enjoy more publicity.
    

Selling more

We all know deep down that the easiest way to grow our sales is to sell more to our existing customers. Somehow this often seems intimidating and less attractive than seeking out new people to conquer. Here are ten ways to make more from your existing customers, without ripping them off!

1. Morning delivery – people will pay extra for quicker delivery. All you do is rearrange your driver’s route to go there first. Your costs stay the same but the profits rise.
2. Changes – every time a customer has a change of mind, it creates work. Even if it doesn’t, make it obvious it’s a change and charge for it. People will pay for changes.
3. Overtime – if you have to incur higher labour costs to meet customers’ deadlines, should they not pay more? You can often charge more for a ‘rushed job’.
4. Assembly – so many people just do what they always do and forget to look for opportunities. If you make components why not see if you can handle assembly as well.
5. Disbursements – solicitors have a wonderful way of recording every phone call and postage stamp; and then calling them disbursements and charging. Do the same.
6. Packaging – environmental legislation makes packaging disposal a real headache for many. If you make regular deliveries, collect used packaging and recycle or reuse.
7. Just ask – Indian restaurants seem to offer you extras instinctively; poppadoms, pickles, side dishes, more beer. They understand that they offer, the more you will buy.
8. Assume – add things to the order and give the customer the chance to opt out; most will buy. A good example is the travel insurance added by online rail ticket sellers.
9. Time – time is your biggest cost. If a job is completed in less time than you estimated do not automatically pass the saving on to the customer. Benefit from your efficiency.
10. Offer choices – even if two options cost you the same, you can always ask more for the most popular. Price should be linked to demand, not your costs.

Finally, please remember that there really is no substitute for hard work. You can work as smart as you like, but you need to find and influence enough people to deliver you the turnover target you have set for your business. Once you’ve got that organized and flowing, you have time perhaps to explore some of the other facets of success, such as profitability!