Life’s a Pitch and then they buy

Nov 15, ’11 8:09 PM

Author Lorraine Allman Categories Entrepreneur, Relationships, Sales, Self-employed, Small Business / SOHO, be successful, market and sell

As a small business you know that every communication counts. When speaking with customers, suppliers, investors, competitors, or peers, the way in which you present yourself and your business will have a lasting impact on whether or not they do business with you, or in the case of competitors treat you as a genuine threat or potential collaborator.

Thinking of your business communications as ‘pitching’ may for some appear a little salesy yet there is nothing further from the truth. Pitching in this sense is simply about understanding, developing, and effectively communicating your authentic ‘personal brand’. It really doesn’t matter how many times you’ve won an award for excellence or how many features and benefits your product/service has, decision makers want to know about the person behind the business and will normally be influenced in their decision making by what they think of you rather than your business. I am reminded of a quote by Malcolm Levene who recently said “Being in demand for your services…is a direct response to how you behave and express yourself to others. These days that’s what counts”. I think Malcolm is right and that engaging authentically with the customer or supplier, getting your ideas and passion across is far more likely to lead them to the next stage of buying or supplying.

If you’d like some tips and ideas to improve your pitching skills, take a look at the series of short videos from Paul Boross (aka The Pitch Doctor) on his You Tube channel. His message is simple – “You are the message, You are the Product, You are the Pitch”.

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Small Business Sales Performance – Q1/2011

May 4, ’11 11:02 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Development, Online Sales, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, Sales, Small Business / SOHO, Start-Up, be successful

The Open University just published their Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain and I want to share one graph with you here.

As you can see micro and small business are suffering in this economic climate more than the mid-size and large businesses – why do you think that is? This graph has been haunting me for days and for me it comes down to the same old issues I keep on ranting about, in one word: FOCUS.

SME Sales Performance by Size

With business focus there is no way a larger business can out-perform a well run small business in terms of customer care, customer loyalty and business efficiency.

Bigger business is better at analyzing business performance and optimizing processes, these tools are available to small business for free – why are they not being used?

Focusing on the competitive advantages of being a small business, with lower over-heads, better customer service, faster reaction times and so on and on, should become second nature. Not following every rabbit-hole (distraction) is essential to business success too. Do a SWOT analysis and focus on what you are good at.

In my mind there is no way that large business can out-perform small business on a size adjusted basis – let’s get to it and let’s change this graph!

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If you never ask ….

Apr 19, ’11 8:58 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Sales

Do you wonder if anyone would buy the product or service that you want to supply or how much they are willing to pay for it? Do you wonder if your latest business website update is well received by the visitors to your webpage?

How can you find out? Simple – ASK!

Why are we always worried about asking the question? I guess because we are worried we may not like the answer. One the other hand – ….

……. if you never ask – nobody is ever going to say YES!

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20th Century Shopkeeper Mentality in the 21st Century.

Sep 14, ’09 10:28 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Sales

I went to a shopping mall today, I’m not great in shopping malls, in fact I hate shopping!

I was one of very few shoppers in this shopping mall, my wife had a look here and had a look there, many of the shops were empty. More shop assistants then customers, most of them chatting with themselves, not helping or assisting the customers as they should!

In fact I had to wave one assistant over from the other side of the massive store, where she and her colleagues were hiding and she was not happy that I had interrupted whatever she and her four colleagues were doing.

Later we went to another shop and I got talking to the owner. I asked how business was, he said, slow. “What are you doing with your self and your empty shop all day”, I asked. “Waiting for customers”, he answered.

He had a computer on his desk, so I suggested he should sell, market and promote his business online, while he waited for the next customer to come.

“I don”t know how, I”m to old for this online stuff”, he said.

I spend 30 minutes with him, set him up on twitter, told him a few things about twitter and got him going. Still, he was very skeptical when I left him.

A few minutes ago I got an email from him:

Hi Stefan,

Thanks for your help, got already 66 followers, I’m using the keywords we worked out and I’m getting great contacts for free. Not had a sale yet, but on guy lives in St. Albans and will see me at the shop on Saturday.

This really works, thank you so much……

Why sit in a shop all day waiting for customers, when you could be online to promote you business for free. No wonder the retail figures are so bad. Run an online business out of your shop, send a newsletter by email with the latest offers, use twitter or a blog to promote your products, actively.

And while you’re about it, get your shop staff in on the act, if they want to chat, let them chat to customers, online. – ST.

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Social Networking is the New Sales & Outsourcing for Small Business.

Dec 9, ’08 11:05 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Blogging, Marketing/PR, Outsourcing, Sales, market and sell, outsource effectively, use online IT

Using social networking sites for small business is as essential as being able to write an invoice in todays largely online based economy. It will help you to extent your business network and provide for two important business functions all at the same time:

Outsourcing – by networking you will get to know peoples skills, see their previous work, work with them on a per project basis and with that timeshare professionals;
Sales & Marketing – by networking you will find new clients, offer advice, become a trusted business partner and make money.

You always need to take care when doing business online, but you can get references from others, see their work and work out a payment plan, based on completion stages of the project.

Here are the social networking tools I use the most:

LinkedIn – it’s a business social network with over 30 million users.
twitter – is about micro-blogging and has over 2.5 million users.

I also use facebook, but have not made much off it so far. I only have limited time, so I focus on the best social networks for me.

Why not sign up today and join me and millions of others in the new and fast developing social networking business environment. –ST.

UPDATE 2008-12-10: If you want some proof have a look at this on enterprisenation.com – a social network.

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Don't Sell. Solve a Problem.

Feb 14, ’08 11:11 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Customer Service, Sales, market and sell

A few days ago I wrote a post about listening to your customers before you sell your product or service. You may be able to make someone buy your product/service once, but for your customers to come back for more you need to do more.

No matter how good your are at selling, no matter how smooth, slick and high-pressure you are, the fact remains you can’t make someone buy. The only way is to solve peoples problems. Which problem does your product and/or service solve?

Easy-to-run online accounting software;
do the job in half the time;
lose weight while you sleep;
easy-to-prepare gourmet meals;
cut overheads.

You get the picture – the best way to sell is to solve. This will tell you that bombarding clients with facts about megabytes, speed, number of cylinders and so on, is not what is needed. Find out what problem your customer has, then talk about the benefits and solutions your product/service offers for the problem – that will get you a sale.

If solving is selling, what are your solutions? Let me know. ST.

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Ask and listen, then sell.

Feb 11, ’08 4:40 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Sales

Selling and making money is one of the most important parts of running a business, obviously. It is astonishing how bad some “sales” people are, especially in small business this can have a detrimental effect on the whole business.

I read somewhere not so long ago that that in sales you should remember that you have one mouth and two ears, and you should use them in that ratio. Two thirds should be listening to your customer, or better listening and asking questions to understand your customers needs . Each customer wants to know what your product or service will do for him/her. No two customers are the same, so you need to find out what this customer is looking for to be able to offer them the product or service they need. Remember it is easy to scare people with too many details and facts.

Even a simple question of “How are you today?” can give you a some insight to your customers needs. “I’m in a hurry and need a present for my aunt!”, can be a good pointer as to the needs of your customer.

Asking questions before mentioning relevant features or benefits is more professional and often more successful. ST.

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Does your small business make your customers feel good?

Nov 28, ’07 9:51 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Marketing/PR, Sales, Small Business / SOHO, be successful, market and sell

Have you ever wondered why people buy products and services from you or anyone else for that matter? Why do people love an iPod, why do they buy a Rolex watch? The reason is always the same, it makes them feel good. It helps people to feel calm and secure, or superior – these feelings are deeply satisfying to all of us.

Is that the only motivation why people buy, I don’t think so. The other reason is to avoid feeling bad. Feeling bad may have to do with feeling pain, losing money, loosing business, being hassled, feeling guilty and so on.

Bottom line? If your product and service does not do one of the two, you may have a problem. ST.

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Benefits, Not Features is what sells!

Nov 20, ’07 6:58 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Marketing/PR, Sales, be successful, market and sell

Many worries in a small business are centered about sales and the need to earn money in order to pay for over-heads like rent, wages and so on. Especially in a technology driven company this can often be a problem. Often you try to sell to your clients as if they are industry insiders who understand exactly what you are talking about. While in reality they are customers and don’t know what makes this widget so special.

You need to sell the benefits of the widget, that is what customers want, benefits. Know who you are talking to, if you are talking to an industry insider, tell him all the technical details, because he understands enough of the technology to understand the details, and then work out the benefits for himself/herself. If you are talking to a customer who wants to use your service or product to gain a benefit from using you, let him/her know what the benefit is.

One word about not being able to show a benefit, I would openly say to my client that there is no benefit from using our product, you may not get a sale, but you will get someone who will respect you and come back, because he/she trusts you. You may also get referrals this way.

By the way, woman are far more benefit talk driven than men. Or as my wife will say to me and my son, talking about the latest gadget, stop talking “klingon” (the star trek species)! ST.

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Q & A: What are successful cost-cutting solutions in small business?

Oct 18, ’07 11:49 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Finance, Health Check, Home Business, Outsourcing, Sales, Virtual Assistants, Work/Life Balance, be successful, bootstrap, do a SWOT plan, do a reality check, do bookkeeping., do cost cutting, do credit control, find funding, grow your business, lower overheads, outsource effectively, plan cash-flow, plan your business

How long is a string? Let me give you some pointers here, but please remember you can always do more on the cost-cutting front in any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

Keep your staffing level low. As much as it may hurt, work longer hours yourself, until extra staff is economically viable.
Outsource all non-core business activities. This will reduce your fix-cost structure, make your small business more flexible and you can react faster to an economic down-turn.
Buy second hand. Do you really need the brand new van? Or computer, or……
Work from home, this will not only cut your cost, but may improve your work-life balance at the same time.
Let your staff work from home. No office cost, hire a room if you need to on an hourly basis.
Use online technology, so you don’t waste time and get distracted.
Focus on your core business and sales. Every distraction costs time and money, sales generates money.
Bootstrapping. Think before you spend a penny, could I borrow, hire or do it online, get creative.
Analyze your fixed cost every month. You will find things you don’t need – trust me you will.
Compare and get new quotes. Even if you need the service or product from your supplier, check others all the time, insurance, telephone, utilities, etc.
Get better payment terms. Ask to pay in 60 or 90 days, or get an early payment discount.
Check your bank charges – you’ll be surprised. Or have it done on a results basis, doesn’t cost you time and gets you money back.
Do credit control – get your money in lower your bank overdraft cost and charges.

This is only a short list of what you can do, but it’s a start. Remember even $100/£50 per month is $1200/£600 a year more in your pocket. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I’d be most grateful.

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