|
|
|
Doing Business Online — Private B2B Exchanges
Business processes are the building blocks of an enterprise. If one of these processes fails to live up to its expectation, business starts to flounder. How to minimize the risks, get a better monitoring of the processes and, at the same time,...
Part 1 of 5 On The Home Business Set-Up Guide
Dear Reader, These articles will provide a step by step guide on how to start and run a home based business based on my experiences and other home business owners. This is part 1 in a series of 5 articles. They are written in a basic format and...
PR Where it Matters Most
What’s more crucial to the success of a business, non-profit or association than its most important outside audiences and stakeholders?
Nothing.
Those stakeholder behaviors directly impact virtually every management and operating...
Riding The Sales Rollercoaster
Riding the Sales Rollercoaster By Mark Wardell
It's one of the biggest frustrations in business. One month
you're busier than you've ever been, and the next month you're
wondering if you'll make payroll. Why is it that so many
businesses...
Sales Process - How to Avoid Wasting Time on Prospects Who CAN'T or WON'T Pay
Do you have blind faith that, if you can somehow convince a prospect to engage in a sales cycle, you will eventually make a sale? If you do, watch out! This belief can waste your time, effort, and company resources.
Unfortunately, time and...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Five Dirt Cheap Ways to Increase Sales in Your Cleaning Business
Whenever a person is starting a cleaning business or looking to
grow their business certain questions usually come up. How can I
do it inexpensively? What are the most effective methods? Since
most janitorial work is done after hours this leaves daytime
hours to work on your sales and sales techniques. Here are some
proven methods to help you grow your business.
Telephone
One of the most effective and inexpensive ways to grow your
business is by using the telephone. The average of getting a new
customer is one out of one hundred calls. This may sound like a
lot but let's break it down. One hundred calls a week = 20 calls
a day = 1 new customer a week = 52 new customers a year. Having
said that, there are ways of making your telephone sales calls
more effective. One way is developing a great elevator speech.
This is basically a 10 - 15 second introductory statement about
the strong points of your business that is going to spark the
interest of the person on the other end of the phone. Follow up
your elevator speech with an open-ended question to get your
prospect talking and then be a good listener. It's a good idea
to have a few open ended questions prepared for your telephone
sales calls.
A good place to start to start looking for telephone prospects
is the your local yellow pages. Whether your target market is
Class A office space or industrial facilities, these can all be
found in something you have right at home.
Cold Calls
Keep in mind the 1 out of a hundred average applies here as
well. Also keep in mind that baseball players with a 300-career
average are in the baseball hall of fame. This means they failed
70% of the time and are considered some of the greatest players
of all time.
Targeting a certain area is a good idea for a few reasons.
Obviously this will save on time and gas but more importantly
you should focus on an area with your target market in mind. If
your target market is class "A" office space then start with an
area with a high density of this particular type of space.
You need to have a thick skin. Fear of rejection is what makes
people ineffective or stops them from making enough cold calls.
Having a small brochure about the strong points of your business
can be very helpful. If the person you need to talk to is out or
busy, you can leave your brochure and a business card. Ask for
the decision-maker's business card and put them on your list to
call back within a week.
If you happen to get in to see the decision-maker having your
elevator speech and list of questions memorized can be quite be
beneficial. Be prepared to listen, taking notes along the way is
also a good idea. It will give you a reference to fall back on
later.
Asking good questions and listening closely will help you to
find out if what you have to offer will meet your
prospect's
needs.
Networking
Networking is basically a short way of saying, tell everyone you
know or come into contact with about your business. Then you can
narrow it down to those who actually have a need for your
services. Joining your local chamber of commerce can reap
rewards and is generally fairly inexpensive. It will put you in
contact with the business community and if attended regularly
will ultimately make you a part of that community. Attend as
many functions as possible. Talk to as many people as possible.
Find out what they do, tell them what you do. Get their business
cards and give them yours. You can also network at social
events. Many people talk about their work when they go out. So
can you.
Follow Up
One of the most important functions of sales is the follow up.
Whether your initial contact came from a phone call, a cold call
or a networking event your prospect has a 0% chance of becoming
a client if you do not follow up. If you made a phone contact
with someone who seemed interested but needed to discuss it with
his partners, follow up within a week. If you made a cold call
and left a brochure because the decision-maker wasn't there,
follow up within a week. If you were at a networking event and
obtained a few business cards, follow up within a week.
It's a good idea to keep a list of your contacts and when you
made first contact with them. Then you need to decide which ones
have the best chance of doing business with you and incorporate
those into a follow up schedule.
Read
Reading is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to
increase your sales. There is a wealth of information on the
Internet, in trade magazines and at your local library. Reading
about your industry increases your knowledge and can make you an
expert. The more you know about your industry the more problems
you can solve for clients and potential clients, which will lead
to more sales. You might also consider reading about sales,
sales strategies and sales techniques. You can pick and choose
from different strategies and techniques and adapt the ones that
work best for you. Reading on a regular basis also has the side
effect of increasing your vocabulary. How many things out there
these days can you say have good side effects.
You may have noticed in my first paragraph the word work. Being
a sales person is hard work and requires good organization, time
management and discipline. Add the right amount of enthusiasm
and you will be on the path to success and realizing the
benefits of your hard work.
About the author:
Steve Hanson is co-founding member of The Janitorial Store (TM),
an online community for owners and managers of cleaning
companies who want to build a more profitable and successful
cleaning business. Sign up for Trash Talk: Tip of the Week at
http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com and receive a Free Gift!
|
|
|
|
|
| SellingPower.com | Solutions For Sales Management |
| Targeted to sales managers and upper tier sales professionals, this magazine helps you train, educate, and motivate your sales team. |
| www.sellingpower.com |
|
| Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management |
| The official web site of the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management has moved to the University of Missouri, Columbia, which is the home of the ... |
| mkt.cba.cmich.edu |
|
| Management Articles |
| Sales Management. Unleash Your Brand Ambassadors. A recent GlaxoSmithKline decision took the advertising industry by storm: The pharmaceutical giant ... |
| gmj.gallup.com |
|
| Manage Smarter - Performance Gateway |
| Manage Smarter is the online home of sales & marketing management, incentive, potential, presentations and training magazine. |
| www.salesandmarketing.com |
|
| The 5 Biggest Sales Management Blunders |
| Learn the biggest sales management blunders and how you can avoid them. Spending the necessary time wearing your sales manager hat will help foster a ... |
| sbinformation.about.com |
|
| DEI Sales Management |
| Stephan Schiffman's DEI- Management Group, offers sales training tools and educational forums designed to teach: Cold Calling and Closing Techniques, ... |
| www.dei-sales.com |
|
| Sales Management Training - Selling Seminars - Reinforcement & ROI ... |
| Offers sales and sales management training. Sign up to receive the monthly newsletter. |
| www.brooksgroup.com |
|
| Sales Management Resource International |
| Sales Management services, sales training, sales solutions, sales people. We provide a systematic approach to providing immediate sales results ... |
| www.salesmanagement.com.au |
|
| Reconnect Sales Management to Profitability - HBS Working Knowledge |
| "Work your pay plan" is one of the central tenets of sales management. ... In a similar way, top managers can reconnect their sales management to ... |
| hbswk.hbs.edu |
|
| Amazon.com: Sales Management: Books: Robert J. Calvin |
| Amazon.com: Sales Management: Books: Robert J. Calvin by Robert J. Calvin. |
| www.amazon.com |
|
| Amazon.com: Seven Secrets to Successful Sales Management: The ... |
| Amazon.com: Seven Secrets to Successful Sales Management: The Sales Manager's Manual: Books: Jack D. Wilner by Jack D. Wilner. |
| www.amazon.com |
|
| Personal Selling and Sales Management: KnowThis.com |
| KnowThis,com offers information, resources, reference and links for sales people, sales managers and other involved in managing a sales force including ... |
| www.knowthis.com |
|
| Sales Training and Sales Management: KnowThis.com |
| KnowThis.com offers information, resources, reference and links for anyone involved in sales training or sales management or other managing issues involving ... |
| www.knowthis.com |
|
| SMR Career Services |
| Sales Management Resources is a professional executive search company, dedicated to providing consumer products companies the recruitment of exceptional ... |
| www.smrcareer.com |
|
| SalesVantage.com: B2B Advertising, Marketing and Sales Management ... |
| B2B Advertising, Marketing and Sales Management Directory, Newsfeed & Business Referral Service designed for sales, marketing & advertising executives. |
| www.salesvantage.com |
|
| Contact Management Software, Contact Manager & Sales Software for ... |
| PC World Gives Prophet Contact & Sales Manager 4 Stars · eWeek praises Prophet for building a sales management solution into Outlook for a reasonable price ... |
| www.avidian.com |
|
| Sales Management- 7 Secrets to Successful Sales Management, the ... |
| 7 Secrets to Successful Sales Management, written by, Jack Wilner, one of today's leading sales management trainers, coaches and consultants, ... |
| www.7salessecrets.com |
|
| Sales Management Training |
| Sales management training for the complex sale includes business development programs and sales training seminars. |
| www.primesalesmanagement.com |
|
| Contact Management Software (SFA) price quotes - Free sales ... |
| Contact management software buying advice and free sales management software quotes from leading suppliers. |
| www.buyerzone.com |
|
| Waterhouse Group - Sales Training Programs: Consultative, Value ... |
| With over 20 years of experience in sales, sales management and sales training, ... Selling Success: The Journal of Sales & Sales Management ... |
| www.waterhousegroup.com |
|
|