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Your
EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 443
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Thought
for the week: "Customers
buy for their reasons, not yours." Orvel Ray Wilson
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In
this week's issue:
Why
people won't buy from you
The
main topic in this week's bulletin revisits the subject of salesmanship,
with some tips on how small business owners can improve their effectiveness
at selling.
In
an extract from Mark McCormack's book "What
They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School" the
author illustrates this week's topic perfectly in the following
short business tale:
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A
dog food company was holding its annual sales convention.
During the course of the convention the company president
listened patiently as his advertising director presented a
hot new campaign, his marketing director introduced a point-of-sale
scheme that would 'revolutionise the industry' and his sales
director extolled the virtues of 'the best damn product in
the business'. Finally it came to the president to take the
podium and make his closing remarks.
'Over
the past few days,' he began 'we've heard from all of our
division heads and of their wonderful plans for the coming
year. Now as we draw to a close, I have only one question.
If we have the best advertising, the best marketing, the best
sales force, how come we sell less goddamn dog food than everyone
else in the business?'
Absolute
silence filled the convention hall. Finally, after what seemed
like forever, a small voice answered from the back of the
room: 'Because the dogs hate it.'
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A
big part of being successful at selling is down to your understanding
of the reasons why people (or other firms) need your product or
service and as a result why they choose to buy it from you. For
example:
-
how it helps the customer
- how it solves their problems
- how it does what they expected (and what you promised)
- they can't get it anywhere else locally (if at all)
- they can afford to buy it
However
for many owner managers, despite an excellent understanding of their
customers needs and reasons for buying, they become baffled and
frustrated by the fact that their product just isn't selling in
the volumes they had expected. In fact sometimes their product does
not sell at all.
A
useful way for you to look at your levels of sales - or lack of
them - is identifying and understanding the reasons why people
are not buying from you. In other words if you can understand
what your prospects claim to be the barriers or objections which
result in them not buying from you then you can work on those objections
and do something to fix them.
In
fact overcoming buyers' objections is one of the key principles
of good salesmanship. However, if you remain oblivious to buyers'
objections then a record of poor sales might lead to a situation
where you receive no sales at all, and your business will inevitably
begin to run out of cash.
An
effective way to approach this is to pinpoint the reasons why you
personally might object to buying someone else's product of service.
You could even extend this to picking reasons why you wouldn't buy
your own product if you were a customer.
For
example when you buy from other firms what do you do look at when
you compare and consider one particular product over another? What
is it that makes one product 'more buyable' but a similar product
'less buyable' so to speak? Is it its price, its size, its performance,
its shelf life, its guarantee, its taste or even its lack of credibility
if it's new to the market?
Look
at your own product and compare it to your rivals'. Which would
buyers (or you as a buyer) have the most objections to? If it's
your product then you can focus on the negatives - the specific
reasons for not buying - and start to do something which
will reduce and ideally eliminate buyers' objections.
However
it is also important to recognise that sometimes your product, or
your product concept, is just downright rotten. No matter how hard
you try to sell it, or how many times you change your approach,
it is never going to work. The time has come for you to cut your
losses, and for you to walk away.
Some
business owners just don't get this. Despite the growing evidence
that their product is a dud and nobody will buy it, the more time
they spend trying to prove that they are right.
Good
salesmanship sometimes needs you to recognise when you are flogging
a dead horse, or in McCormack's example above dead horsemeat.
To
comment on this article please
click here to have your say.
Each
week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business
ideas in the UK and elsewhere around the world.
Creating
a Google+ business page
This
PC World guide explains how
to create a Google+ business page. The guide contains picture
demonstrations of each step of the process such as adding photographs
and posting an update.
What
not to do in SEO
This
article from digital marketing specialists Divario explains the
top SEO sins that can make websites look untrustworthy or
unreliable, and deceptive practices that could result in the website
being penalised or removed from search engine indexes altogether.
LinkedIn
polling tool
This
polling tool from LinkedIn allows you to have your business
or marketing questions distributed to all your connections
and other professionals. Questions can also be shared via Facebook,
Twitter or your own website or blog.
Tips
on how to use social media
This
article by Kronik Media provides 60
tips for using social media in your business. It includes
guidance on how to use blogging and podcasts to increase customers.
Here's
our weekly look at some unusual, daft and often ridiculous business
ideas, products and news.
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Also
from EnterQuest's publisher
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The
UK Small Business Marketing Bible contains hundreds
of tips and tactics for boosting your sales using proven marketing
strategies that work no matter what product or service you
sell.
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www.enterprisequest.com
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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.
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