More Sales; Less Selling (Part 1)

For most business owners, selling is not something we are very comfortable doing but unfortunately it is a necessary evil if we want our business to be successful...The key to more sales with less selling is embracing the concept:

BUSINESS OWNERS DO NOT SELL!!!

That's right, business owners do not sell!!!  So what do we do???

1. We EDUCATE our buyers to make the best decision for them even if that means purchasing from our competition
2. We INSPIRE our buyers to want to buy from us by developing a relationship with them
3. We are a RESOURCE for our buyers beyond just offering our own product or service

This 3 part series will cover, in easy to implement actions, steps to more sales; less selling!!!

GETTING STARTED:

1. Identify / confirm that there is a market for your product / service - We all know that EVERYONE should buy, need, or want our product / service but the real question we need to ask ourselves is WHO HAS PURCHASED THIS TYPE OF PRODUCT / SERVICE OR SOMETHING SIMILAR IN THE PAST...WHO WILL PAY MONEY FOR OUR PRODUCT / SERVICE
2. Identify your 3 initial TARGET markets - How you market to a professional, college educated male between the ages of 35 - 45 will be very different to a female, young adult in college between the ages of 18 - 25...it's not to say that you will not, someday, break into new markets but right NOW, who is going to buy your product / service now
3. Commit to a monthly minimum marketing budget - This can be as little as $25.00 P/Month but you must commit to that budget.  If you don't use the full amount; that amount carries over to the next month...With this program, you don't need a million dollar marketing budget
4. Commit to a DAILY time commitment that you will proactively market to your customers - This can be as little as 30 minutes per day but it's important that you commit to the time frame and stick with it. Keep in mind that some days you may do MORE and that's good...Also, you don't get to "roll over" the time by saying, "oh, I'll just do an hour tomorrow."  You and I both know that when we "roll over" time; it just keeps adding up
5. Workable database - Without a workable database, why work!!! I suggest using Excel since it easily works with a various number of programs.  Using 1, that's right, 1 master database will save you time and aggravation.  Some columns to include: First Name / Last Name in separate columns (to personalize emails), Address Number / Street Name in separate columns (to schedule visits easy), Industry (so you can refer others to them), General Title (to target certain groups such as business owners, administrative, etc)

In the past 2 years, we have had clients implement this program resulting in an increase of 20 - 60%...this series is simple, effective, and designed for the busy business owner!!!

We also conduct a monthly workshop covering the entire series called Creating Customers For Life the 3rd Wednesday of every month from 2:00 - 4:00 PM at the SBDC North San Diego County location.  For more information, check out the website: http://www.sandiegosmallbiz.com/.

Happy Selling!!!