Nothing just happens. If you want to see positive changes in your life, you’ve got to create the strategy to make it happen. Most people have sincere motives to change the quality of their lives, yet things have grown worse. But that’s because they keep using the same approaches that have always kept them grounded. Changing from the old to the new is all about emotion mastery. It’s all about doing what you have to do, not just doing what you feel like doing.
One of such change strategies is creating a new and better plan for your life. With it, you can overcome any form of financial, health, emotional or marital challenge. If you have been following our series of ‘When Times Are Tough, Which Way Do You Go?’, you’ll be familiar with the first four steps in the series:
First, you take a break, relax and get ready to think. Second, you start thinking by asking questions. Third, you move to find answers. And fourth, you make sure your answers and solutions are in line with your life goals and values.
Step five: Create a New and Better Plan
If you have taken your time to go through the first four steps, you would have armed yourself with enough ideas to create a new approach or strategy that would completely solve the major challenge you are currently facing.
Redefine your goals. Many people launch out to solve a problem they have not properly defined. If your goals are not clear enough, your plan will not be strong enough to achieve them. It is a plan based on clear goals that will provoke the energy, discipline and vitality needed to bring about a breakthrough in that endeavour.
Write down your goals. It has been said that only about 3% of the world’s population have written goals. And the amazing thing is that every one of these 3% achieves in a few years what most other people never achieve in their lifetimes. That is amazing! If written goals are so important, why then are most people not setting them? The answer: setting goals regularly requires more discipline than many people are willing to undergo. But the good news is that you can join this successful class by changing your attitude in the next few seconds. Take a minute to write down a major life goal. And then set a deadline to achieve it…immediately. This is a sure way to instantly bring transformation to your life.
Prioritize Your Tasks. Every worthwhile goal requires a list of tasks to achieve it. List out everything you need to do to achieve each goal. Then organize them into a simple step-by-step plan. For the ones you need to do regularly, prioritize them in order of importance. Then make up your mind to accomplish the most important tasks in order of priority.
Identify Obstacles on your path. Many succeed in making good plans but fail to realize that there will be challenges. For instance, if you are planning to break a habit, you should be ready to fight the emotional pains that will want to stop you from carrying on with your plan. Don’t assume that things would just happen because you have a strategic plan. You’ve been swimming with the tide, now you’re about to swim against it. Therefore be determined to follow through with your plan. Many people give up not because they lack the capacity to follow through but because they were not ready to deal with certain obstacles along the way.
It is important that you list out the difficulties that you are likely to encounter along the way. Don’t assume anything. Then write out what would be your automatic response to each of those anticipated obstacles. Are you going to just give up or are you going to find a way to manage it without giving up on your mission? Write out what you will do. This is a fool-proof strategy for handling obstacles long before they show up.
Brian Tracy in his book, Goals! puts it this way, ‘Every minute you spend planning and thinking before you begin a quest, will save you time, energy and money in getting the results you desire… the number one reason for failure is action without planning.’
I recommend this book for you. It is one of the best books written in recent times on planning. Remember that if you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail. Start planning your way out of that challenge right away.
We’ll continue next month. You will succeed!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
7 Strategies for Selling Your Products& Services
Every business is either growing or gunning for extinction. This has nothing to do with the present size of the business. There are multinationals that may fold up in the next few years, where some small companies are warming up to launch into the global market.
What then determines the fate of any business in a competitive environment like ours? It is the ABILITY TO SELL. The following suggestions will help you develop this all-important skill.
1. IDENTIFY THE MAJOR NEED OF YOUR PROSPECT. Your prospects are those who need your products or/and services and have the capacity to pay for them. You cannot sell to a customer whose need you don’t know.
2. UNDERSTAND YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE. The best way to know your product is to use it yourself. When you sell from the vantage point of having used the product, your sales presentations will be more persuasive and convincing. The best experience you can relate to a prospect about your product is your own. You can then share experiences of other satisfied customers.
3. CREATE A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. If there are two persons trying to sell similar products to you and a friend happen to be one of them, which one would buy from? The answer is obvious, isn’t it? The major reason why most people would buy from their friends is TRUST. Most people are afraid of making wrong buying decisions. ‘Suppose I buy it and it doesn’t work?’ ‘Suppose I discovered that I paid too much for it?’ These are just some of the questions that races through the mind of a prospective buyer. Therefore, break a prospect’s buying resistance by building trust. Build trust with words; words that reveal his or her need for your product. Rehearse the first few words you ever say to a prospect. Most business people are too much in a hurry to sell and that is why they record low sales. The good news is that you do not need a lifetime to build trust and friendship.
4. ALWAYS ACT AS A CONSULTANT, NOT A SALESMAN. People are suspicious of salespeople. They believe that most salespeople are only out to get their money. Therefore, act creatively by finding a way to educate your prospect about the benefits of your product. Describe how your product would affect the joy, profitability and convenience of your prospect. However as you do this, let your prospect know that he or she has an option, to buy or not to buy.
5. NEVER ASSUME THAT A ‘NO’ IS PERMANENT. There are so many reasons why a prospect might say ‘no’ to your offer. She may need more information about your product. She could be in a bad mood. She could lack sufficient funds to buy immediately. Therefore, if a prospect says ‘no’ to your offer, find out why. Ask a digging question like, ‘Why are you not buying?’ or ‘If you would eventually buy this product in the future, what do you think would make you buy it?’ This way, you might get a clue that would help you turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’.
6. ‘I WOULD THINK ABOUT IT’ IS A ‘NO’ IN SELLING. If a prospect says she would think about it, it is her polite way of saying ‘I’m not interested’. Reply such a response with a statement like, ‘Everything you need to make your decision is already available, why not take advantage of this opportunity right away?’ This kind of response is especially good for those who are selling tangible products. Before then, you must have proven the benefits of your product or service to your prospect.
7. AVOID ENDLESS TALKING, CLOSE THE SALE. There are those who can talk for hours on their product and services but never remember to ask for the order. The key to quick and easy sales is focusing on your prospect’s feedbacks and his needs, not your product. The moment you notice the interest of your prospect in the product, stop selling; ask for the order. Say, ‘So how many units would you love to buy?’ or ‘When do we begin work?’ (for service sales). If you accurately identified the need, the predictable response would be ‘yes’.
You cannot succeed in any business beyond your skillfulness in selling. You need this ability to attract prospects, motivate your sales representatives and relate well with your clients, partners and associates. Start developing that ability today.
What then determines the fate of any business in a competitive environment like ours? It is the ABILITY TO SELL. The following suggestions will help you develop this all-important skill.
1. IDENTIFY THE MAJOR NEED OF YOUR PROSPECT. Your prospects are those who need your products or/and services and have the capacity to pay for them. You cannot sell to a customer whose need you don’t know.
2. UNDERSTAND YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE. The best way to know your product is to use it yourself. When you sell from the vantage point of having used the product, your sales presentations will be more persuasive and convincing. The best experience you can relate to a prospect about your product is your own. You can then share experiences of other satisfied customers.
3. CREATE A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. If there are two persons trying to sell similar products to you and a friend happen to be one of them, which one would buy from? The answer is obvious, isn’t it? The major reason why most people would buy from their friends is TRUST. Most people are afraid of making wrong buying decisions. ‘Suppose I buy it and it doesn’t work?’ ‘Suppose I discovered that I paid too much for it?’ These are just some of the questions that races through the mind of a prospective buyer. Therefore, break a prospect’s buying resistance by building trust. Build trust with words; words that reveal his or her need for your product. Rehearse the first few words you ever say to a prospect. Most business people are too much in a hurry to sell and that is why they record low sales. The good news is that you do not need a lifetime to build trust and friendship.
4. ALWAYS ACT AS A CONSULTANT, NOT A SALESMAN. People are suspicious of salespeople. They believe that most salespeople are only out to get their money. Therefore, act creatively by finding a way to educate your prospect about the benefits of your product. Describe how your product would affect the joy, profitability and convenience of your prospect. However as you do this, let your prospect know that he or she has an option, to buy or not to buy.
5. NEVER ASSUME THAT A ‘NO’ IS PERMANENT. There are so many reasons why a prospect might say ‘no’ to your offer. She may need more information about your product. She could be in a bad mood. She could lack sufficient funds to buy immediately. Therefore, if a prospect says ‘no’ to your offer, find out why. Ask a digging question like, ‘Why are you not buying?’ or ‘If you would eventually buy this product in the future, what do you think would make you buy it?’ This way, you might get a clue that would help you turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’.
6. ‘I WOULD THINK ABOUT IT’ IS A ‘NO’ IN SELLING. If a prospect says she would think about it, it is her polite way of saying ‘I’m not interested’. Reply such a response with a statement like, ‘Everything you need to make your decision is already available, why not take advantage of this opportunity right away?’ This kind of response is especially good for those who are selling tangible products. Before then, you must have proven the benefits of your product or service to your prospect.
7. AVOID ENDLESS TALKING, CLOSE THE SALE. There are those who can talk for hours on their product and services but never remember to ask for the order. The key to quick and easy sales is focusing on your prospect’s feedbacks and his needs, not your product. The moment you notice the interest of your prospect in the product, stop selling; ask for the order. Say, ‘So how many units would you love to buy?’ or ‘When do we begin work?’ (for service sales). If you accurately identified the need, the predictable response would be ‘yes’.
You cannot succeed in any business beyond your skillfulness in selling. You need this ability to attract prospects, motivate your sales representatives and relate well with your clients, partners and associates. Start developing that ability today.
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