SMART BUSINESS

The terms used to describe the various aspects of risk management are bewildering, even to an experienced project manager. At least I find them bewildering. I’m going to examine some of the terms used to describe risks and the way they are managed and hopefully shed some light on what they refer to and what they mean. I hope to clear some common misconceptions up at the same time.

The first misconception I’d like to address is the meaning of the word “risk”. We tend to view that word, especially in the project world, as having a negative connotation. Frequently it does imply a negative consequence, but not always. Actually a risk can have a positive outcome such as when we risk money on a lottery ticket and our ticket wins. Risks that have a positive outcome are called opportunities and risks that have a negative outcome, such as when we refer to the risk of a car accident, are called threats. We take action to encourage our opportunities, such as buying lots of lottery tickets, and we discourage our threats, such as when we get inoculated against the threat of a flu virus. Both opportunities and threats are forms of risk, the key difference is our approach to managing them.

There is a great deal of confusion around the terms used for our difference approaches to managing risks. We commonly refer to our management of risk as “mitigation”. The dictionary definition of this verb is “to make less severe: to mitigate a punishment”, or “to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or pain; moderate”. While it is true that we mitigate some of the risks to our projects, mitigation is just one strategy used to address potential risk. Sometimes we choose to avoid a risk altogether, such as when we respond to the risk of encountering a traffic jam on an expressway by choosing an alternate route (we may still risk encountering a traffic jam, just not the traffic jam on that expressway).

Transference is another term used to describe our response to risk. The classic example is when we buy insurance on our car to deal with the risk of an accident. We aren’t necessarily reducing the chance of an accident, or even reducing the impact of the accident, we are simply reducing the impact on us should the risk event (the accident) happen by sharing the financial burden with the insurance company. There are other types of transference. Outsourcing work to an organization with more skill and experience in performing the work than we have is another example. In that case, our intent is to reduce the likelihood of the event happening by having someone more skilled and experienced do the work. We may also be reducing the impact on ourselves, depending on the type of contract we choose.

Mitigation is the strategy we use when we can’t avoid the risk altogether and we can’t transfer the risk, or don’t want to. Mitigating the risk requires us to take some action that will reduce the severity of the impact of the risk event if it should happen. Another way of looking at our traffic jam scenario is the relative likelihood of a traffic jam occurring on the expressway as opposed to the alternate route. If the alternate route has never experienced a traffic jam we could view that response as avoidance. If traffic jams happen on the alternate route less frequently, we’ve simply reduced the likelihood of being caught in one, or we’ve mitigated our risk. This is where common usage departs from the dictionary. We commonly refer to any strategy that either reduces the impact of the risk event, or the likelihood of it happening.

Contingency plans are a specific type of mitigation. The contingency plan differs from a other mitigation strategies in that no action is taken until the risk event happens, unlike other strategies that require the action to be taken before the risk event can happen. Taking the alternate route is only effective if we plan our trip that way. It isn’t much use when we find ourselves in a traffic jam on the expressway. A contingency plan to deal with our expressway traffic jam might be bring along a flask of hot coffee or cold drinks to refresh ourselves while we wait for the traffic jam to clear. A term that should always be associated with a contingency is trigger. Trigger refers to the circumstances, or set of circumstances that will cause us to deploy our contingency plan. Pouring ourselves a cup of hot coffee from our flask while we’re cruising down the expressway at 60 mph is not a good idea, it is likely to cause a crash and involve us in a traffic jam, the very event we seek to avoid! We shouldn’t indulge in the hot coffee until our car is stopped and we can see from the traffic ahead that it isn’t likely to start moving again anytime soon. This set of circumstances is referred to as the trigger.

Another common response to a risk is to simply accept it. We usually do this when the probability of a threat happening or its impact if it does happen make it impractical to spend any money or effort on a response. I’ve planned to walk to the bus stop to catch a bus and the weather forecast calls for a 50% chance of showers. It’s summer, I’m wearing jeans and a tee shirt – do I want to buy an umbrella to avoid getting a wetting? Probably not, I’ll probably be hot by the time I get to the bus stop and a rain shower may be refreshing! In this case I’m simply accepting the risk. Another term sometimes used to describe this response is “assume”, as in I assume the risk. Assume means to take on or to appropriate. I’m doing neither when I walk to the bus stop without the umbrella. The risk is already there, I don’t have to appropriate it. When I hire an insurance company to protect me against a collision, they assume the risk, or at least the financial impact of the risk. When I choose not to respond to a risk, I’m accepting it.

“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. The actions we use to respond to opportunities are just about the direct opposite of those used to respond to threats. Instead of avoiding the opportunity, we exploit it. Exploit is not the grammatical opposite of avoid, strictly speaking. Seek or confront are probably closer to opposite. Exploit is used in reference to risk management because it more accurately describes the action we take. Whenever a poker player sits down to play the game for money there is an opportunity to make money. A cheat, or card “mechanic” will exploit this opportunity by fixing the cards so they can’t lose. Potential victims of the cheat can avoid falling prey to their exploitation by avoiding playing in a game with the cheat. If there is a chance that a telecommunications company can capture a large market share by being the first to market with some new technology, they will exploit that opportunity by shortening the time to market.

Rather than transfer a risk to someone else, we share an opportunity. Usually we share the opportunity with someone, or some organization, whose strengths are uniquely compatible with our own and our partnership will improve the chances of realizing the opportunity. This is corporations enter into joint ventures. Each corporation can contribute something to the venture that their partner cannot. Singly they cannot deliver what the project calls for but collectively they can. The opportunity in this case is may be a contract they bid on together, or the capture of a market share for a product they jointly produce.

Instead of mitigating a threat we enhance an opportunity. Enhancement takes a very similar approach to mitigation. We may do something that will increase the impact of the opportunity if it occurs. For example, we will prepare an ad campaign that boasts of our being first to market with our new technology. This does nothing to improve our chances of getting to market first, but will increase our market share even more if we do get there first. Alternatively, we may choose to improve our chances of getting to market first by shortening our development time, or we may do both.

The term accept has the same meaning for both threats and opportunities. In both cases acceptance of the risk means that we do nothing to avoid it, exploit it, transfer it, share it, mitigate it, or enhance it. If it happens, great, if it doesn’t, that’s OK too. We may be able to enhance our chances of winning the lottery by buying many tickets (although not much), but most of us are willing to accept the opportunity presented with a single ticket.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions you held about risks, threats, and opportunities. Just remember two things: risks include both opportunities and threats, and mitigation is only one response to dealing with threats.

You can be paid salary, weekly wages or on daily (upon completion of the job). You are also legible to bonuses, commissions and other benefits that the company you are working for offers. At the end of the day, you will realize that you have made dome good fortune from this job compared to white collar job employee.

A New Year calls for a new perspective.

Imagine yourself wearing old, dirty, cracked glasses with an outdated prescription. You may think you see the world fine, but that’s because you’ve worn them for so long that you don’t even realize anything is amiss.

This is the predicament for many traditional sales professionals. From real estate and mortgage to insurance and technology, there’s been a gradual and consistent decline in commissions, renewals, bonuses and perks.

It’s like squinting a little more each day without realizing you’re almost blind.

But not all professional sales people are losing sight. Many have shed their old spectacles and replaced them with an updated pair that gives them a clear, unclouded perspective. As a result, they are flourishing in their sales careers-even to the point of realizing their vision of retiring from full-time sales with residual income.

We hope the following tips can will shed some light on their point of view and provide clarity on how to reinvent-and reinvigorate-your sales career in 2012 and beyond.

1. Survey your field.

With your shiny, new glasses on, take a good, hard look at your sales industry. While it’s important to stay optimistic (sales folks can be optimistic to a fault), it’s also vital to be realistic.

Let’s say you’ve been in health insurance sales for ten years. It’s likely that your income has taken a significant hit over the last few years-not to mention near annihilation of your renewals. So if things go as planned and the Healthcare Reform Act is implemented, how might that affect your income? Will health insurance sales still be a viable career? What needs to happen for change to occur? Is that realistic or wishful thinking?

How about real estate? What have the past six to twelve months been like? Is that likely to change or remain the same in the next six to twelve months? If the market stays relatively unchanged over the next two to three years (or longer), can you hang on?

These questions aren’t meant to be doom and gloom, but if the environment around you is changing and you can’t adapt, then it might be time to enhance your product/service offerings or move to a more viable sales field.

2. Appraise greener pastures.

Remember Richard Dreyfuss’ character in the 80s movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills? He played a millionaire who had made his fortune in… hangers. The seemingly bland, insignificant business of making and selling hangers brought him and his family great wealth and comfort.

This is not to suggest that you go out and start selling hangers. The point is that, more often than not, it’s the products and services that we take for granted that offer the most opportunity.

Take, for example, the small and mid-size business sector. As competition increases, smaller companies providing products and services to consumers need a lot of support in order to compete with bigger businesses that have more resources.

If you decide that it’s time to strengthen your sales portfolio – or even reinvent your sales career entirely – consider looking for products and services that provide specific, nondescript solutions to small and mid-sized businesses.

Providing behind-the-scenes solutions that resolve their day-to-day problems and consistently make their life easier is likely to increase your value to the marketplace while solidifying your sales career.

3. Look for structure and support.

As most sales professionals know, there are ample ups and downs in sales. And when you’re reinventing yourself in your sales career, sometimes it can seem like your “downs” are more prevalent than your “ups.” Especially in the beginning.

This is why it’s pivotal to have a strong support team in place that can help guide and encourage you every step of the way.

This does not mean a support team that’s cheering from the sidelines but doesn’t have skin in the game. The best way to reinvent yourself in your sales career is for your support team to:

• Be actively and successfully selling the product or service you’re looking to sell;
• Have an established track record selling the product or service and training others to do the same;
• Deliver training that is comprehensive, current and consistent so you learn how to be successful selling that product or service.

Too many sales organizations are being led by people who have very little relevant experience selling the products and services being promoted by the company. When a sales rep faces a challenge, they are often fed empty motivation that does little to solve their actual problem or advance them in their career.

To avoid this frustration, carefully evaluate support systems for how they walk the talk.

Auld Lang Syne (the good old times)

Many sales professionals are nostalgic for the bygone sales days when things were simpler (though never easy) and companies were more loyal to their reps. In fact, some are still looking at the present sales landscape through that outdated lens. They are hesitant to adjust their vision because it may mean a temporary period of blindness.

Unfortunately, when they stumble and fall, it takes them longer to recover.

The path to a more prosperous life and sales career may mean that you momentarily see things worse than you did before. But the journey of reinventing your sales career isn’t one you need-or should-navigate alone. If you have an accurate roadmap, it’s one that will bring you more clarity and confidence with each step.

So what does the New Year look like for you? Does your current sales landscape look vast with green opportunity ahead, or is it starting to look like the dust bowl? What will you do to ensure an impressive income and enjoyable journey in your sales career in 2012 and beyond?

Alex Gardner is National Marketing Director at http://UnitedSalesPros.com where he’s collaborated for 10+ years with a nationwide group of active, top-producing, commission-only sales enthusiasts who earn their living making sales. United Sales Pros provides a platform for independent, commission-based sales professionals in any industry to access cutting-edge, relevant, valuable, and applicable resources to help them advance in their sales career. We invite you to take full advantage of the fresh ideas that are shared on http://UnitedSalesPros.com, offer your own commentary and insights, and to suggest topics you’d like to see addressed related to commission-based sales.

The art of selling is a complex and challenging process. With a framework in place you can ensure that you are positioned to achieve sales success with confidence and realise your goals.

Set Objectives

The best way to motivate your sales performance is to have clear and defined objectives. Assess your market, market conditions and how your product or service is positioned. What support tools are in place to help you achieve sales? Are you supplied with qualified leads, or do you have to find them yourself? Does your product have a strong branding presence that will help you leverage your sales activity?

Define the prospecting activity you need to undertake and have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in place to track it all the way through from initial contact to sale, follow up and beyond.

Set some targets that are achievable – and then stretch them a bit. You must believe that your targets are achievable otherwise you will spend too much time worrying about how you can’t achieve them rather than how you can. However at the same time you should aim to stretch yourself to avoid complacency.

Do Research

Ensure that you know everything there is to know about your target customer, your product or service and the products and services offered by your competition.

Be Prepared

Be prepared to offer alternatives to a customer – don’t assume that because a customer enquires in regard to a specific product or service that the specific product or service is actually what they are looking for. For all you know they may actually require something quite different which you won’t know until you have the conversation.

Build Rapport

Do everything you can to build a connection with your customer. Watch for cues in the body language and facial expressions displayed and mirror these. Look for opportunities during your conversation to establish common ground. It is all about building trust. The more that the customer feels like you understand them and the more they feel you have in common, the more trust they will have in you, and the chances of making a sale will increase proportionately.

Being empathetic is one of the strongest sales skills you can have. If you have the ability to see from the customer’s perspective you will be better able to understand their needs and respond appropriately.

Ask Effective Questions

Ask the right kind of questions, and you will gain the information you need to help you make the sale. Start with broad, open ended questions that will generally provide you with a number of avenues you can pursue to hone in on what the customer really wants. Stay on track and keep control of the conversation.

Listen

If you don’t listen effectively, then it is highly likely you may miss many valuable cues that the customer provides. Don’t listen with half an ear and be trying to formulate your next question or response. Listen first – then respond. Don’t rush the process and don’t be aggressive.

Explain the benefits

When speaking with a customer, you should talk about the benefits of the product or service. Customers want to know what advantages they will gain from your product or service and how it will fulfill their needs. The features of the product or service are a support mechanism for the benefits.

Meet objections

Listen carefully to objections. They may well present you with opportunities to showcase the benefits of your product or service and how it can satisfy the customer’s needs. Often customers present objections because they are uncertain of their own needs or want more information. Other times objections are made because the customer has decided they actually don’t want what you are offering.

Sometimes you have to make a judgment call to stop wasting your time and the customer’s time if they have objections you just can’t counter. Don’t take it personally. Move on to the next customer and invest your time more productively.

Close the sale

Watch for buying signals and simply ask for the order! And a word of advice for the over exuberant sales person – quit while you are ahead – if you have the order – thank the customer for the sale and leave them to get on with their business. And you can take some time out to celebrate your sale before you move on to your next customer!

Follow Up

After you have made the sale it is important to follow up with your customer to make sure they are satisfied with their purchase. This will help to build the possibility of future sales. You should also ask for referrals to new customers. Be mindful to take your cue from the customer as to how often you contact them. Some people will be happy with one follow up and then never to hear from you again until they call you when they are next ready to buy. Other customers will be happy to talk with you as often as you like. It is a delicate tightrope to walk and important that you are tuned in the subtle nuances of their responses to your follow up communications.

For more information on innovative business Technical Writing, Training Materials Development, Resume Writing, Job Interview and Management Coaching, or Change Management Consulting, contact Romana Stratton, wordsmith and principal of Extreme Business, at http://extremebusiness.com.au. Romana will be happy to provide a free half hour consultation to discuss how Extreme Business can help your business grow and achieve set goals!

With the busy trade show season upon us, we find ourselves traveling often. This can become quite tiresome not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. For this reason it is extremely important to take some time daily and focus on yourself and your wellbeing.

Everyone has routines at home and when traveling things get switched around. One thing that is important is to do what you can to stick to your routine as best as possible. If you normally wake up and go to the gym before the office; take advantage of the fitness center in your hotel, if there is not a fitness center take a walk around town (this gives you a chance to see a new place as well) or walk up and down a couple of flights of stairs. It may not be the same work out you would have at the gym, but it keeps you on track mentally and it will be easier to get back on track when you get home.

Dining out is another big challenge and although it will be difficult to not indulge, try to stick with your healthy diet. If you normally have a very light breakfast, don’t go and have a huge southwestern omelet because it is offered to you. You may have the thought that you will be too busy and not have the chance to eat again later, but the fact is you will feel dragged down with less energy and you will still be hungry later so you will then be eating more than normal. So stick with your light breakfast and maybe grab a protein bar that you can pack in your briefcase or purse for the off chance you don’t get to eat a regular lunch. Of course let’s not forget those business dinners; yet another opportunity for generating new business as well as an opportunity to indulge in food and drinks. It is important to know your limits and stop well before you get to them, you do not want to embarrass yourself or feel any aftereffects in the morning at your next meeting.

Travel for work is hard on our families as well as it is for us. If you have young children, it is important to take time and talk to them on the phone (or web-cam) and ask them about their day or how their ball game or dance recital went. What ever it may have been that you had missed, the kids feel it and you can let them know you are still there, in spirit, by talking about it and sharing in their joy. It could be really hard to do this especially with meetings and dinners, but it is important to make that effort in your scheduling to leave time for these calls. Family is most likely your priority and most likely it is the same for your business companions as well.

Travel for business is a great opportunity to build more business, or create new contacts and it all comes down to your attitude for success. The best thing you can do for yourself is remain flexible, as things happen, (flights get delayed, or meetings run long); know your limitations, (ask for help instead of trying to be everywhere all the time); and most importantly take care of yourself, keeping everything in balance is part of your well being and your success.

There’s a big possibility that you are reading this article, “How To Start A Dollar Store” because you are most probably tired of your 9-to-5 day job and would like to finally unleash that entrepreneurial spirit in you.

After years of being employed and working for someone else, you have finally realized that success for you is having your very own business and in this particular case, your very own dollar store!

As a typical newbie in the industry, you just want to make sure you get everything right the first time. How do you open your own store you ask? Easy!

The answer to this question is similar to answering the question: How to start a business. Here are five ways to get you started!

1. Save Your Money…One Paycheck At A Time

Starting your own store is serious business. It will involve a big amount of money as capital to get things rolling. As a salaried worker, it might be wise to start saving your hard-earned money, one paycheck at a time.

2. Learn More About Successful Dollar Stores

Starting a dollar store is no longer a novel idea; it isn’t something that hasn’t been done before. In fact, there are numerous stores sprouting everywhere. So, your question at this point is not how to start your own but how to start a successful one.

Check out the dollar stores you see around. Shop and experience being in one. Talk to the employees and customers. Read about it in the Internet. You can find answers to all your questions if you did your homework.

3. Choose A Store Model Wisely

Not everything is created equal. There will always be better dollar stores. After learning all you need about this business opportunity, identify which store model you are going to be comfortable with. Remember that you’re going to be in this business model for a long time.

Check for a store model that has a well-trained staff, shows exemplary customer service, and has a good merchandising system or good relationship with its suppliers. These are some of the wise things that you should be considering.

4. Location, Location, Location

One of the crucial elements in setting up a business store is location. There are stores of this type that have closed shop not because it’s not carrying good products or has lousy customer service, it just happens to be located in a place where there is less traffic.

Staring a dollar store today is not just about having the money to invest and having a successful model to replicate. Where your store will be located in the community is just as important.

5. Get Professional Help

It is perfectly normal to have doubts or apprehensions or simple jitters the moment you decide to have your own business. But only if you are either doing it on your own or because you are dealing with the wrong kind of help.

Staring this type of business opportunity involves more than just your entrepreneurial spirit. Seek professional help from experts who have successfully installed dollar stores before. These experts can help you in finding the right location, securing financing assistance, and establishing a merchandise system. Your business could even be built for you and you could have your very own store open in seven days!

If you’ve ever wondered about how to start a dollar store, then wonder no more with these five easy steps! You could now have your own store that is custom-fit to your vision of your very own successful business.

Now that we are in the 21st century, we start experiencing the effects of global warming, climate change and the increasing problems which concerns our environment. These environmental problems can’t be put to a stop completely. What we could do is to lessen them and delay their ill effects to the best of our abilities. Unless we act today, environmental issues would eventually start piling up until such time that we could no longer figure out which one to address first. This is not just on the interest of a few, not just on our leaders but this is a dilemma that every person in the world should be concerned about. Since we couldn’t alter the situation altogether, we could start with small, meaningful steps to save the environment inside our home and our workplace.

Nearly everyone spend most of their time inside the work area. As such, this is the best place to begin with our endeavors about “going green”. However, before we could actually exert all our efforts for a greener working environment, we need to fully grasp the idea as to why we have to do it. If it is still unclear to you up to now or for any member of the team, it s suggested that a “talk” or at least a short discussion for that matter be carried out. We could get the expertise of an environmentalist or any authority regarding that issue to educate us further. Thus, we come up with the first idea!

COMMIT TO “GOING GREEN” Turning your office green involves having the commitment to create an eco friendly workplace. It is not on a per project basis. It is not simply a series of tasks that needs to be completed. It is a permanent and continuous adherence to doing environment friendly practices in the office. You could go further by developing programs which aims to promote a green office surrounding.

CONSIDER CARPOOLING AND OTHER OPTIONS One of the best ways to literally “go” green is to consider carpooling. It has numerous benefits. You and an office worker or a friend will be able to save fuel and help lessen the harmful gases released in the environment even before reaching the office. Having the right mindset in going green plus actually kicking off to an ideal start through carpooling is simply a brilliant idea. You could also opt to commute. Take a train or a bus whichever you think would be best. Another great alternative would be to ride a bicycle or better yet, walk. Not only would you save a decent amount of cash but this will also enable you to exercise and keep your body healthy.

THINK BRIGHT, SAVE ON LIGHTS If you have the liberty to do so, purchase lights for the office bearing the Energy Star label. Electrical fixtures and light bulbs with Energy Star utilize less energy and brighten the room with the same kind of radiance as that of a regular fluorescent. Make it a habit to turn off your lights when leaving the room or when you are not using a particular area of the work place. Little, modest acts like turning your lights off whenever possible could go a long way if done repeatedly.

Another smart idea regarding lights is to use natural lighting if it is viable. Take advantage of the brightness of a spring day. Tie your curtains neatly so that sunshine can get through. Pull up those blinds for a clear view of your desk near the window. It is a lovely way to commence the day by taking a glimpse at your windowpane and marvel at nature for a moment or two.

TO PRINT OR NOT TO PRINT That is the question! Remember those memorable lines from the soliloquy of Shakespeare? Alter the verb and you come up with a variation such as this. It still holds true, we make decisions every single day. Meaningful yet seemingly trivial decisions such as printing a file’s hard copy or not gradually become important. We all know that papers are made by cutting trees down. If we are concerned with the environment, we would think twice on whether or not to use the printer. The same is true with using a copier. Let us all find ways to lessen our paper usage. It has a domino effect on Mother Nature much like any other environmental issues that we all have to face.

Furthermore, recycle used paper by printing on the opposite side. It could be used for note taking, for drafts or scratch. The list could extend to various ways on saving up on paper and reusing them. Other forms such as glossy magazines, old catalogues, used brown envelopes, folders and more could all be recycled. So, keep in mind that going paperless is being part of going green. Don’t lose sight of our goal!

TAKE CARE OF OFFICE EQUIPMENTS Computers, copiers, fax machines, printers and other electronic office equipments are not just the company’s responsibility. Each employee must be concerned enough to maximize its use. These equipments will work for us on a longer duration of time if we know how to use them properly. When you are not using them, turn them off. After a day’s work, do not just leave these equipments on a sleep mode because energy is still being used up. It will cost the company even more. Reduce bills and lengthen the life of your equipments by turning them off when you are not using them.

UPHOLD THE 3R’S OF GOING GREEN: REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE There are countless ways that we could do in our workplace to reduce waste, reuse office supplies and recycle them. As mentioned in the preceding chapter, we need to commit ourselves to do everything we could towards an environment that is clean and truly green by supporting programs with this objective.

MAINTAIN A “GOING GREEN” CHECKLIST Come up with a list of activities that needs to be done continually so that you will all be reminded from time to time about the objective of maintaining a green environment. It will also help to have someone to take the lead role. Assign people and work as a team to achieve an eco friendly workplace.

Today I am bringing you my top 7 secrets to successful marketing. I will admit that I had trouble sticking to only 7 so I am going to assume that you have read previous issues where I have stressed how important it is to have defined your target market; why you should always keep it simple (business does not have to be complicated); know the importance of building relationships with prospects; and why you are the only person who can write any advertising and promotional material for your business.

1. You must have a database – this will prove to be the key to your success.Your database should contain as much information about your clients and prospective clients as possible so that you can contact them with details of new products and special offers. Of course having a database alone is not enough, you must be constantly following up with leads and building relationships so that in time prospects will choose to buy from you.
2. Attract new clients and keep the interest of existing clients by using PR. Public relations does not have to be expensive or difficult and you can do it yourself without employing an expensive PR agency. What you need to remember is that every interview you give or article you write, must contain your contact details. Other great ways to raise your profile include writing a book or publishing a report.
3. Offer promotions that give people the chance to try your product or service and make your company stand out from the competition. These promotions must be exciting in order to make potential customers want to take immediate action – for example, there are not many people who can resist a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer. Here it is important that you have higher priced products to up-sell in order to make it financially worthwhile offering promotions. What you need to remember is that the promotional offers that are the most successful are those that have a time limit so tell prospective clients what they need to do and how little time they have in which to do it.
4. Get your clients to do your sales and marketing for you by asking them for referrals and testimonials – if they are impressed with your product or service then they will want to tell others. The easiest way to do this is when a customer compliments you on your product or service, ask if you can quote them. Write down what they said and ask them to agree it and then use it.
5. For your marketing to really be successful, you need to show your target audience that you are an expert in your field and there are many ways of doing this – one of the quickest is to be a published author.
6. Effective marketing is far more important and cost effective than a large sales team. A well worded direct mailing to targeted customers can produce great results especially when accompanied with a time limited promotion. If potential clients want more personal contact then you could try offering a teleconference but be sure to follow up afterwards.
7. This should probably be up at number 1, you must niche your product or service if you want to succeed. The 80:20 rule also applies in marketing. It is highly likely that 20% of your income comes from 80% of your customers. This means that since most of your income comes from 20% of your customers, it is this 20% that you really have to focus on even if it is to the expense of the other 80%.

And of course, if you really want your marketing to be a success, your reason for being in business must be more than just taking money from people in return for your products of services – you must provide outstanding customer service that people will not find elsewhere!

As with the last issue of my Inspirational Toolkit, these 7 tips are taken from a new program (“Effective Marketing Strategies to Get You More Clients”) that I have recently developed in an attempt to demystify the sales and marketing process and help my clients succeed.

If you wish to discuss any of the above or would like more information about this new marketing program then please contact me.

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

Peter F. Drucker