The Benefits Of Getting Business Advice

You know your business, so why would you need business advice? Because you can't think of everything and a seasoned business consultant can help you move your business to further success and profitability. Whether you are selling services or products hiring a small business consultant is a good investment in the future of your business. Think of your consultant as a mentor whose goal is to help you do better and to achieve your goals. You need support while you improve your business and consultants can help with all the tasks you need to manage. Here are some areas where getting business advice can help.

Many times, moving your business to the next level depends on marketing and promotion. This can take a number of forms. An experienced consultant will have worked with a range of businesses and will know which strategies work best for what type of business. The consultant may recommend rebranding, changes to marketing material, overhauling your customer communication channels and more. Perhaps the consultant will suggest new ways of marketing yourself, such as a targeted email campaign. This business advice will not exist in a vacuum. Your consultant will review your entire business before selecting the strategies that are most appropriate for you.

Preparing For Growth
If you are preparing for expansion, then getting business advice from a consultant could help you to secure the funds you need to grow. Getting investment often depends on having a sound business plan and knowing how to present it. Your consultant can help you with forecasting and models and can use his contacts to get your plan in front of the right people. This is one reason to get business advice from someone with experience in similar business types – networking can be invaluable when you are ready to grow.

Perhaps you just need to find a way to become more efficient at managing your business. You might need advice on controlling cash flow, converting leads and enquiries to sales or setting up a web sales portal that sells your business as well as your products. All of these are areas where you may need business advice. A consultant can take an objective look at your business to see where you can save time, money or both. At the end of the process, you will have a more profitable business that is poised to dominate your chosen niche. Isn't that a great reason to pay for business advice?

Posted in March 2009 by GiztheBiz http://www.blogger.com/profile/00730143392777624619

RAPPORT

Rapport : An emotional bond or friendly relationship between people based on mutual liking, trust and a sense that they understand and share each other's concerns.


Building rapport with customers is like squirting oil into gears. Imagine some gears grinding together. When you squirt lubricating oil into the gears, you reduce the friction and make everything work smoother.
1. Pay attention to your appearance.


2. Try an occasional bit of disarming honesty


3. Humor


4. Use a sincere complement


5. Ask a perceptive question


6. Indicate a personal connection


7. Tell a short personal story

Tips

• Reaffirm the timing and ability to focus on the agenda.
• Ask to meet in their buying area.
• Ask if it ok to take notes.
• Compliment.

• Share something unique and personal about yourself

• Be able to articulate your value adds.

The Job Of The Sales Person

Simply stated, the Job of the sales person can bet reduced to these six elements:


• Engage With The Right People
        o  You can be the most trained, thoroughly equipped salesperson, with the best questions, the most powerful presentations and the gift of a good sense of humor. However, if you waste all this on the wrong people, you’ll never be successful.

• Make Them Feel Comfortable With You
        o If they aren’t comfortable with you, they won’t spend much time with you, and the time that they do spend will be guarded and tentative.

• Find Out What They Want
        o This step is the heart of selling – the essence of what a salesperson is all about. I know that flies in the face of the routine practices of multitudes of salespeople, who believe that the end all of their focus is to push their product. While it is certainly true that the company expects you to sell your product, how you sell it is really the issue.

• Show Them How What You Have Provides Them With What They Want
        o Sooner or later you have to make an offer to your customer. In order for you to sell anything, they must decide to buy it. And if they are going to buy it, you need to make them aware of it.

• Gain Agreement On The Next Step
        o Every sales interaction has an assumed next step. If you call someone for an appointment, the next step is the appointment. If you present your solution to a decision-maker, the next step is the order. In between, there are thousands of potentially different sales calls, and thousands of potential action steps that follow the sales call.

• . Insure That They Are Satisfied, And Leverage That Satisfaction To Other Opportunities.
        o This is the one step in the sales process that is most commonly neglected. Most salespeople are so focused on making the sale that they neglect to consider that their real purpose is to satisfy the customer. And that extends beyond just the sale itself.

JUST LISTEN!

When we listen, we send a powerful message that we care about the other person. Conversely, when we don’t listen, we send the message that our agenda is far more important than the customer’s trivial ideas and issues. That makes effective listening one of the all time great relationship-building devices.


From a salesperson’s perspective, the more we listen, the more different positions, motivations, opinions and nuances we are able to understand and accommodate. The wiser and more capable we become. Since we are able to understand an ever-growing panoply of positions and opinions, we are able to feel a rapport with more and more customers, and move closer to a consensus position with them.

Listening positions us as a consultant, not a peddler, in the eyes of the customer. Ultimately, listening provides us our competitive edge.

1. Listen constructively.


2. Discipline yourself to build the habit of responding to your customer’s comments.

NEON SIGN

Imagine your prospect with a three-inch high neon sign fixed to his/her forehead.

The sign is bolted in with four stainless steal bolts at each of the four corners.

On the sign are bright red neon letters which spell the words

"SO WHAT?"

“The only way you can get the sign to shut off is to translate that statement into a benefit by using the words "This means that you....."
Mediocre? Or outstanding?



The world is full of salespeople who never invest in their own success. Few salespeople have ever been trained in the best practices of their profession. They are content with mediocrity. A few continually pursue their own growth and development. They become outstanding salespeople, significantly outperforming the others.

Beat The Recession – Invest In Consulting

The economic recession may be the best time to invest in consulting, if you do it the right way. Most people are not looking to spend additional money now, but if you hire a consultant who gets paid when you get results, you have absolutely nothing to lose. In fact, you could end up a winner, by creating a lean, mean business machine which can react quickly to new opportunities as they arise. Here are some of the ways in which investing in consulting can help you to ride out the recession.

Don't Flash The Cash
There's never been a better time to control your cash flow. Is the right amount of money coming in each month? Have your expenses spiralled out of control? Are your suppliers being less flexible than they were, putting the squeeze on your bottom line? Hiring a business expert who offers consulting services will help you to identify strengths and weaknesses. The consultant will review your business and will help you to see where you can improve. Even better, the consultant will give advice on how to make those improvements, making your business much more efficient.

Promote Yourself
When you hire a  consulting service, you may learn new ways of promoting and marketing your business. The consultant has worked with many businesses and has picked up information on best practices. That means there's a shopping list of options for you to select. Perhaps there are networking events in your niche that you should be attending. Maybe you need to make contact with new suppliers or potential customers. It could be that your website and sales brochure need an overhaul. All of these are services that a consultant can provide. They will expand your market reach, boost your market presence and give you a new look that will appeal to your customers.

Plan Ahead
Perhaps your competitors are being short sighted in closing down some services. This could be a good time to snap up a bargain so you are ready for the upturn. One of the advantages of consulting is that it helps you to plan for the future, starting from where you are now. You will end up with a feasible plan for the development of your business which will make it stronger and more effective. There are always new opportunities around; your  consultant can help you to identify the right ones so that you can gain the most value for your business.

Summary: Is the recession getting your down? Inject some new life into your business by investing in consulting services

Posted in Feb. 2009  by GiztheBiz http://www.blogger.com/profile/00730143392777624619

Who's Kicking Your Cat

The master motivator, author, and speaker Zig Ziglar came up with this wonderful analogy years ago. Here is our paraphrased version of his great work.

Mr. B was the top dog in a very large company. Every morning, he met some of his cronies for breakfast. On this particular morning, he lost track of time. He looked at his watch and realized he was going to be late for work.


He left the restaurant and jumped in his car. He barely had the engine started when he threw it in reverse to back out. He burned rubber leaving the parking lot. As he got on the freeway he put the gas to the fiberglass.


As he sped down the highway, he looked in his rear view mirror. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the flashing lights. He pulled over and rolled down his window.


“Where are you going in such a hurry,” the officer asked.


“I’m needed at work,” he replied abruptly, “I’m a very important man!”


“Well, you’re not above the law.”


“I didn’t say I was … but shouldn’t you be chasing real criminals and leave me alone?”


“I’ll leave you alone in a few minutes. Let me see your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.”


Mr. B handed him the requested information. Then he sat there and stewed. As the minutes passed by, he got more and more angry.


The officer came back and handed him a ticket, along with the rest of his documents. He grabbed them out of the officer’s hand, rolled up his window, and took off down the road.


He finally arrived at work. He was really late now. When he got to work, the first person he saw was his sales manager.


“Good morning, Mr. B” said the sales manager with a smile.


“There’s nothing good about it,” barked Mr. B, “I want to see you in my office NOW!”


The sales manager followed him into his office.


As Mr. B threw his coat down on the couch, he yelled at the sales manager, “You fell short of your goal last week for the second week in a row. I want to know what you’re going to do to get back on track and I want to know now.”


“Mr. B,” the sales manager objected, “We just talked about this yesterday. We have four big deals. Any one of them will put us over the top and I’m sure we’ll get at least one of them.”


“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Mr. B blurted out while looking at some papers on his desk. “You’re dismissed.”


The bewildered sales manager walked back to his office. When he got there, the first person he saw was his assistant. He screamed at her. She screamed at someone who screamed at someone else.


And so it went for the rest of the day.


Eventually the receptionist got yelled at. When she got home, the first person she saw was her twelve-year old boy. She yelled at him and sent him to his room.


On the way to his room, the family cat walked in front of him. He kicked the cat!


So here’s the question –


Wouldn’t it have been much better, for everyone involved, if Mr. B had just gone directly to the receptionist’s house and kicked her cat himself?

And here’s an even more important question –


Whose cat are you kicking?

How can I get by the gatekeeper?

—Edward G Anderson

A: The challenge here is that the majority of sales people try to "get by the gatekeeper." It's like a game: come up with a variety of new and incredibly fancy techniques to stump the gatekeeper and reach the final target. You can play the game or you can try something different.

While most of us have been taught not to waste time and get to the decision-maker as quickly as possible, think about the information that you can gain by engaging the decision-maker's administrative assistant. That information can be vital in how you move forward in the account.

Also, these days, getting direct access to the decision maker is a lot easier than in the "good old days." For starters, you should have your Google alerts turned on for the person and the company you are targeting. Remember that you can't provide a solution until you have an idea of the problems that they face or you know something about what they are going through. You also have LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, and Facebook giving you access to your industry thought leaders. You can join the groups that they participate in, follow them for a while, and then you can ask them directly for a meeting if you believe you have a solution for them.

I was just prospected by someone who contacted me directly through LinkedIn. He performed his search through the LinkedIn Search utility, checked my credentials, presented his case and asked for the meeting. What was his offering? A software product that allowed sales people to leverage their social networks, connect those networks with their CRM and give them the ability to effectively prospect through these networks.

If you do happen to get routed to the administrative assistant, ask for the assistance. The administrative assistant will have inside information on the company as well as the knowledge of the decision-maker's current challenges, issues and schedule. If you wanted inside information on your prospect, the administrative assistant is the place to get it.

Another point to remember is to identify what you are trying to accomplish. If your goal is to get to the decision-maker, then call in the early morning hours between 7 and 9 a.m., before the crew gets in, or call in the early evening hours between 5 and 7:30 p.m. Most managers, directors, and small business owners work outside of normal business hours to get things done. Most will even answer their own phone. There is nothing in the sales rulebook that says you need to call between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. If you have a viable solution for them, they will be more than happy to listen to what you have to say.

On the other hand, if you are looking to "get past the gatekeeper," then you will restrict yourself to activities that bring you into direct contact with the gatekeeper just so you can have the pleasure of "getting past them."

The primary goal of your initial contact phase is to get to the person making the decision regarding your solution. If you stay on track, then your efforts to reach the decision-maker will include activities like:

1. Calling outside of regular business hours.

2. Using the social networks to reach them.

3. Using networking groups and referrals to reach them.

4. Using direct mail techniques to lead in to a phone call.

5. Leveraging the power of the administrative assistant.

Here is one final thought. Once you have your audience with the decision-maker, you need to provide a relevant solution. If you aren't providing a solution that is relevant to their needs, then you will find yourself facing the administrative assistant at every turn because they will have been given specific instructions to "get rid of the time waster."