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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 285
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| Thought for the week: "A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain." Robert Frost |
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In this week's issue:
How to sell without salespeople
By Jonathan Jay
How do you increase sales without having a sales force in place? It's easy. It's all down to your marketing.
Your marketing can do 100% of the sales work for you. Think about it: salespeople can only talk to a certain number of people a day. They have off-days and they have on-days. However, your marketing can be multiplied and replicated thousands of times.
Imagine writing a letter to your potential customer. And then think of sending that same letter to as many people as you can find who might be interested in your product or service. You can contact many thousands of people at the same time with the same sales message.
All you have to do is tell the person reading the letter what action to take: "If you want this, this is what you have to do."
You can also overcome any reluctance to commit to the purchase by offering them the opportunity to speak with someone in your organisation. "The best action to take is to pick up the phone and call this number, and speak to one of our team." You can tell them what sort of person makes an ideal customer. "You are perfect for this product if you fill (this criteria), (that criteria) and (the other criteria). But if this isn't you, then our product's not for you."
It means the people who call will be qualified prospects.
One person can handle the incoming calls depending on what you're doing. Compare that to having an army of telesales people phoning out and speaking to only one or two people that qualify in a day.
If you'd like to sell more of your product or service, use your marketing to do the work.
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Jonathan Jay is the founder of SuccessTrack - Success Strategies for Business Owners, and author of The Marketing Secrets of a Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneur. Go to www.freemarketingbook.org for your free copy. |
Each week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business ideas in the UK and elsewhere around the world.
- Nutritious food parcels delivered direct. Graze is a business that makes up parcels of nutritious foods and delivers them direct to the customer. Aimed at office workers, parcels come in four themes - energy, wellbeing, pre-workout and post work-out. Contents include nuts, seeds, vegetables and deli food.
- Members-only shopping sites. The ideeli website is an example of a growing trend in 'club' style business ideas. The site offers discounts on coveted fashion items and is aimed at what it calls 'trend-setting' women. Here's the catch: membership is invite-only. Once invited, membership is free but users can pay $7.99 a month to receive texts on the latest arrivals.
Regularly improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.
Do you know the meaning of the word 'fatuous'?
a) stupid, not correct
b) likely to cause unhappiness
c) a tendency to become obsessed
d) fortunate, lucky
Answer at the end of the Bulletin.
The following topical business issues have been recently reported in the media. Did your radar pick them up?
1) Three well-known business groups are calling for the Government to develop plans to award more public sector contracts to small firms. But research by FreshMinds for the business groups has revealed that what proportion of small firms think that finding out about Government opportunities is difficult?
a) a quarter
b) a third
c) one in two
d) three quarters
2) A report by Enterprise Nation and BT Business has revealed that 2.5 million businesses - more than half of the UK's small businesses - are run from which location?
a) a business hatchery
b) serviced workspace
c) an office
d) from home
3) The Orange SMS Business Jury has revealed that nearly half of small firms - 43% - believe that which factor most represents a successful business?
a) a good reputation
b) good customers
c) high profits
d) a large turnover
Answers at the end of the Bulletin.
Compare types of business insurance online
Insurance comparison website Compare the Market now compares types of business insurance, to help alleviate the hassle of searching for business cover to suit you. Not only does it compare public liability insurance, it also compares tradesman insurance, commercial vehicle insurance, office insurance and beauty business insurance.
Top tips on beating credit problems
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is offering timely advice to help small firms deal with credit problems. Top tips include carrying out new credit checks on customers and getting regular updates from major customers.
Free tools to boost your search engine marketing efforts
Search engine optimisation firm Vertical Leap has some handy free tools and gadgets available from its website to help you boost your online marketing. Tools include a broken links checker, an external link indexer and a pay-per-click return on investment calculator.
Scaled down accounting software for micro businesses
Book-keeping is at the heart of any small business, but the software meant to help is often designed for medium-sized and large enterprises. Gnucash is a free application built with freelancers and micro businesses in mind and it has all the features of its larger commercial competitors.
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For more useful resources, tips and practical how-to articles you can request a free copy of EnterQuest's sister publication, BETTER business magazine. |
To receive a free copy of BETTER business magazine simply send us your name and address to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com, putting 'EQ magazine offer' in the subject box.
Win one of 33 uni-ball Jetstream high-tech pens
EnterQuest has teamed up with JetStream, the hi-tech pen people, to give away 33 superb uni-ball pens.
Jetstream boasts smooth, dependable qualities which uni-ball believes will prove popular with busy executives who need to write as much as possible in a short amount of time. It's ideal for signatures, too - the script will not blur and is guaranteed to stay bold.
The pen also features an ergonomically-designed rubber grip which supports the fingers and absorbs the pressure of a tight grip, making the pen ideal throughout long meetings or conferences.
Uni-ball has 33 Jetstream pens to give away, with three first-prize winners receiving an exclusive accessory set including a briefcase or handbag, plus stylish files to ensure their work life is as orderly and precise as their handwriting! Just answer the following question:
Q. In the latest Orange SMS Business Jury poll what percentage of business owners think a good reputation most represents a successful business?
E-mail your answer, together with your name, address and daytime telephone number, using 'uni-ball competition' as the e-mail subject line, to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com.
All entries must be received by 31 October. EnterQuest and uni-ball will use the information you provide for their own marketing purposes only and your details will never be shared with any third parties (except to arrange delivery of the prize). Competition rules are available on request.
This book reveals what happens when a venture capitalist invests in a business and offers advice from some of the investors from the BBC's Dragon's Den. It includes case studies of businesses that won investment from the Dragons and stories from those that were turned down. Check out:
Just one word answer
The answer is a).
Fatuous means stupid, not correct.
The interviewee made a fatuous remark to the business owner which spoiled his chances of being employed. |
How's your business radar? The answers
1) The answer is d) - Some three quarters of small firms surveyed said they have difficulty finding out about Government opportunities. Additionally, the same amount said there is too much formality in the procurement process.
2) The answer is d) - The report revealed that over half of the UK's small firms are run from home. The greatest concentration of home-based businesses is in London, the South East and the East of England.
3) The answer is a) - The text poll from mobile phone giant Orange revealed that having a good reputation represents a successful business for the majority of firms surveyed. |
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Good luck
The EnterQuest Team |
