Get your thinking into gear! People do not buy an 'object', they buy benefits. They do not want loans from banks, they want money quickly and painlessly to obtain something they want.
2. FAB
Make it FAB. What are the product's features, advantages and benefits? What's in it for the customer?
3. Know your competition and your marketplace
Not just their product and price but the claims your competitors are making about quality and delivery. What is the difference between you and your competitor? How big the market is and which bit do you want? Then, who buys, when, why and how?
4. Promotion, promotion, promotion
- Direct mail - Email marketing - Internet marketing - Advertising - Upselling - Referral - PR - Face-to-face: appointment or cold calls - Telephone - Networks
If you are serious about growing your business, pick two of the above marketing methods that you currently are not doing or not doing well. Focus on them, find out whether they will work effectively for you and do them!
5. Don't give it away!
Any fool can give stuff away. What price will the market bear? Reduce your costs and increase your margin!
6. Target your buyers
I keep six honest serving men They taught me all I knew Their names are What and Where and When And How and Why and Who.
(Rudyard Kipling)
Get to know the proper name of the company/organisation. Is it part of a group, what is its turnover and credit rating? How many employees? Who is its current supplier? Anticipate objections from your previous experience. How will they remember you when you have gone?
7. Connect, connect, connect
Find out about your target's corporate plans. Get to know his/her personal ambitions and concerns. Do you know whether the business has short-term problems? Few sellers have the sense just to ask, 'How's things?', but it can make all the difference.
8. Don't oversell
Overselling and over-promising leads to disenchantment; sell the product, not your introduction. Remember that promotion is important, but thirsty people get round to wanting the drink, not the advertising campaign.
9. Think of SARAH if things go wrong
Stop talking. Active listening. Reflect content or feeling. Act with empathy (not the same as sympathy). Handle objections.
10. Ask for the order
No tricks or closing techniques – just ask. Then stop talking until you have a reply. Then deliver.
About the Author
Len Collinson has been the FPB's National Chairman since 2002. He is a founder and a director of Collinson Grant Group, the firm of international management consultants, and has investments in three other companies.
