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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 247
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| Thought for the week: "Too many people today know the price of everything and the value of nothing." Ann Landers |
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In this week's issue:
How to offer your customers value for money
People don't buy 'things', they buy opportunities. People don't buy cars, office equipment, electronic gadgets, or even ideas. They buy special discounts like long-term financing, bonus products, and simple payment terms.
When you package up all the opportunities you've created to sell a product or service it's called an offer. The key to selling any product is to create an irresistible offer that your prospect can't refuse. Your challenge is to create an offer so irresistible that your prospect thinks 'I'd be a fool if I said no to this opportunity.'
There is a risk-reward conversation that takes place in the mind of a prospect when considering your offer. They ask themselves 'Is the promised reward greater than the required risk?' If it is, the prospect will usually buy. If not, they won't.
This is where you need to look at the perceived value that you can offer your customers. Perceived value is what the customer gets from the offer and what risk they have to give to receive the benefits of the offer. The trick is to increase your perceived value and decrease the risks to create an irresistible offer.
Elements to help increase perceived value include:
Elements to decrease risk include:
Having one or a combination of these elements in your offer will increase your response rate. The more elements you use to increase the benefits and decrease the risk, the higher the response rate you'll enjoy.
How to handle tough prospects
As a small business owner, chances are you'll spend some of your day making prospective calls to sales managers to sound them out about your products. But when you're making a sales call, are you prepared for any unusual questions that may crop up? Here's a quick run-down on how to tackle them.
In the information gathering process, have you ever had them ask you extremely technical questions that were out of the ordinary?
Some inexperienced business owners might hit a stumbling block because they don't know the answer, or because they're unable to provide the service that the prospect wants.
But what the prospect is asking isn't always a solid requirement. They're often genuinely concerned and interested in your ability to provide them with top-quality service, or to meet a particularly unusual requirement. In other cases, they might be using tactics to belittle you or your business, or simply to get you off the phone.
To determine the precise motivation of their request, you need to ask 'check' questions, which should help you gauge how important the information is to the enquirer. Their responses dictate with how much importance and urgency you should answer. To help you sort the sincere requests from the time-wasters, here are some examples of check questions you could ask them:
After an outrageous request for service:
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How often do you run into these types of situations?
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How often do you need that type of service?
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Are you getting that service now?
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How much extra are you paying for that type of service?
After technical or number-oriented questions:
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Just out of curiosity, how will you use that information?
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What will you be comparing those figures to?
Think of similar questions you've been asked before. Then look at the check questions you can respond with to determine how important their question really is.
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Each week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business ideas in the UK and elsewhere around the world.
- Make-your-own wedding rings. This business idea rides the wave of the design-it-yourself culture and other customisation trends. The New York Wedding Ring offers couples the opportunity to design their rings and be expertly guided through the crafting process.
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 'effusive'?
a) formal
b) harmful
c) deceitful
d) excessive
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) Christmas retail sales figures are still coming out thick and fast. According to the latest figures from the analysts at Nielsen, what was the top Internet performer during the 2007 festive period?
a) ASDA
b) eBay
c) Comet
d) Next
2) Demand on network bandwidth and lost productivity in the office is costing the UK economy £6.5 billion per annum, a report by IT firm Global Secure Systems has claimed. What does it say is causing the deficit?
a) workers travelling to meetings
b) home working
c) social networking
d) malware attacks
3) Major high street retailers Currys, Dixons and PC World have announced they are to stop selling which type of product?
a) blank CDs
b) DVD players
c) analogue TVs
d) desktop PCs
Answers at the end of the Bulletin.
Procurement site for Olympics contracts
The London 2012 Olympics Delivery Authority has launched a procurement site for businesses interested in finding suitable contracts. The London 2012 Business Network explains procurement policies and processes and lists current and future procurement opportunities. It also contains details of London 2012 promotional events.
Free mailing toolkit for small firms
The Royal Mail website contains a Working Smarter toolkit designed to help small firms get the most out of the postal services it provides. The toolkit features popular services and enables you to stay on top of customer data and business post to help save time and hassle.
FSB help for flood-affected firms
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is again offering help for small firms affected by the recent floods. It set up the flood loan fund in July last year after the summer floods. Members of the FSB wishing to ask for FSB help should contact their regional FSB office.
e-Marketing Online website
This website is worth bookmarking if you're keen to get to grips with web marketing or enhance your existing skills. It's packed with e-marketing articles and a marketing glossary. There's also a link to an e-marketing blog.
This book is designed to help readers get their business idea off the ground as soon as possible and remain focused on the business, not the obstacles. It helps the reader to figure out what they can do on their own without the help of a team, and looks at other business issues such as communication and selling. Check out:
Just one word answer
The answer is d).
Effusive means excessive.
The effusive praise of the entrepreneur's dinner speech left him slightly embarrassed. |
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Good luck
The EnterQuest Team
This information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought where appropriate. |
