Credibility Lost or Gained, Are you Prepared?

If a reporter approached you about an interview, would you know what to say do or even how to dress for one? Would you know how to answer questions?

Have you ever wondered what the secret of working effectively with the media is? Do you wonder how to increase or even have quality coverage?

Quite often, what you don’t know can hurt you.

Most people have no idea on how to prepare for questions. It is important when you run a business to know what to do in a crisis and how to handle yourself and your staff. As well, preparing yourself for working with the media can bring you rewarding coverage, instant credibility and increase sales and profits.
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How to Sell: Selling Tips of Master Moms

“If you don’t think well of yourself, no one will think anything of you.”

At least half of selling is a mind set. Set your mind to being selfish with positive self-image, positive self-talk and your self-esteem. The sale is made inside our head before it takes place with the customer. It’s like any product or service we sell — a house, a car, a cleaning service, web site design — all of these were in someone’s mind as an idea before they came into reality. When we believe in ourselves, the sale will more easily take care of itself.

“Be brave. Timid people never amount to much.”

There are several places in the sales process where each of us can take this advice from mom. Are you afraid to call on potential new clients? Are you hesitant to probe about a customer concern? Do you educate about your products or services and then stop just short of asking the client to make a decision? Customers start out with you in the buying process to make a decision to buy or not to buy. Wherever you hesitate, be brave. Help customers to make a decision. Your sales will amount to much more.
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10 Tips To Overcome Your Fear Of Selling

Ahh. Selling. Sometimes, this is a word that is dreaded and feared by all but the most intrepid business owners. It seems that, even though we all know we need to “sell” our products and services, many of us feel fearful or anxious about actually doing so.

These 10 tips are designed to help you shift out of your fear, and into excitement, about sharing your product or service.

1) Know the source of your fear. This tip reminds us that it is necessary, first, to know what we’re afraid of. Most often, fears of selling come in several forms. Either we worry about not being liked, or being perceived as pushy, we (secretly) worry that our product or service might not perform as we say, or we struggle with the idea of rejection. Knowing the source of your fear (sometimes it can be a combination) is an important part of overcoming your fear of selling.
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Finding A Sales Force That Pays For Itself

The elements involved in building a sales force, especially one that pays for itself and also adds value to any business, are many and varied. The whole purpose and direction of a sales manager needs to be directed to creating a sales force that causes the employing company to expand through increasing sales.

This is done by the following general steps: Training sales staff to be able to sell the company product in large volume; correcting how sales presentations are made; handling any customer flaps his sales people make; and then testing and hiring more sales people, to create an ever increasing sales force. This is a continual process that a sales manager must be doing to justify his existence. If he doesn’t, the company cannot expand.
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Do You Have Enough Prospects To Make Your Numbers?

Several years ago I worked with a CPA who wanted 20 new clients. We came up with a great direct marketing campaign that brought in 10 leads per 1,000 letters. His closing rate was 10%, so after his first few clients came on board, we calculated that acquiring new clients was costing him between $500 and $600. He liked the numbers (one client was worth about $8,000/year), but progress was slow. We advised him to open the spigot and mail 5,000 at a time, instead of the 1,000 he was sending. It worked, and he acquired the new clients he was looking for sooner rather than later.
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Does The Market Really Want It?

At the very heart of any successful marketing strategy is the determination of what your present and prospective customers need, want, and desire. You have to find out what they want before you try to sell it to them. Never make the mistake of investing a lot of money into a product or service you want to sell before you understand how much demand really exists on the part of the customer.

If you want to be successful in business you have to provide a product or service people want. You cannot create demand. All the best marketing will not be able to sell a product or service that no one wants. The advertising graveyard is filled with award-winning campaigns that did not make a dime, because there was no desire, need, or want for the product being sold.
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