Finally - The Secret to 70% More Sales

"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it - but all that had gone before."

-- Jacob Riis, Photographer and Journalist   

  

The following is a guest post by John Sonnhalter B to B marketing expert:

In the B-to-B market where sales cycles can be much longer and complex to several factors, many leads are given up on if they aren't ready to buy when your salesmen call. We need to focus on quality not quantity of leads.

According to the Albertson Performance Group  quality nurturing will lead to 70% more sales than no nurturing.

Nurturing keeps you top of mind, builds credibility, solves prospect's problems and positions you as an expert. That's a pretty good way to start building a relationship, isn't it?

  

The chart below highlights a typical buying process and that sales shouldn't get involved until stage 6. It's marketing's job to move them through the first 5 phases and then hand them off.

  

Illustration from the Albertson Performance Group

  

  

By taking them through these steps, you show them your value and price becomes less of an issue, you narrow your competition and shorten the sales cycle.

 You might want to re-think your process before you hand over those sales leads as soon as you put them in your system.

   

My contribution:

The best nurturing program is a consistent emailing of TIPS - short videos, audios or text (like this one) that provide relevant information to your customers and leads. The main thing is to steer away from any sales, coupons, discounts etc. Simply no selling - just serving them with good content to develop trust as they as they go through the stages above. 

Rick Wallace

"Helping people exceed their expectations"

 

The Power Of Benchmarking

"There is no way you can't have the best business on this planet.
No one stops you but you - that's the only possibility ."

- Byron Katie    

 Here is a 3 minute audio on what I have learned about the power of benchmarking. It covers: 

• Expectations
• Self limiting beliefs
• Transformation
• Courage

For more articles, audios and videos on small business issues, check out more  articles on our website. 

Rick Wallace

"Helping people exceed their expectations"

 

Lies That Are Holding You Back

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

- Bertrand Russell  

I received a request the other day to publish something on "limiting beliefs" so I started by thinking how I would get the attention of business people with that title. Probably wouldn't - so I went back to my roots and came up with 9 Lies that are holding you back. This is from a book from my coach Steve Chandler.

Hopefully that worked. "Limiting beliefs" are in fact lies. You see, all of our lives we have gathered information and filed it away - some of this information was filed under beliefs.

You see beliefs are in our past and to our unconscious mind are simply undeniable, ingrained, foundational truths. We never, or seldom, challenge them. They just come to mind subconsciously whenever we come face to face with a decision or choice we need to make in our business or in our life.

But what if that belief is not true, is in fact a lie? Then it can and does limit us. I saw this phenomenon dramatically illustrated when I began to facilitate a Mastermind group of clients in the same business. We immediately built a spreadsheet that we used to benchmark all of the companies - looking at Key Performance Indicators like Gross margin %, Productivity, Net Profit, Cash flow, etc.

For years the little benchmarking they had done was against the "industry average" and their companies were, for the most part, generating above average Net Profits. So they settled in and believed that was good with little room for improvement.

When they saw that 3 of the other companies in the group were double and triple those numbers it shocked them into "what could be". They immediately threw away the belief they had held for so long that you could only make 6% net profit in this business, and began to look at every area of their business, challenge their beliefs and profits grew.

Well many beliefs are true, but a lot of them are lies and they limit our lives and our businesses.

Let's look at a few:

1. You need money to make money
2. I just need to get my name out there and my sales will grow
3. Everyone buys on price
4. People buy only from people they like
5. There is only so much profit I can make in this business
6. I can't raise my prices in this environment
7. You just can't find good people
8. It costs too much to hire really good people
9. Everyone is busy, we can't get more productivity out of my crew
10. I can't afford to do more marketing
11. If you want something done right you have to do it yourself
12. I need more leads, more territory, better economy if I am going to grow

What is your favorite "limiting belief" or lie?

First step - challenge beliefs all day, every day. Some of them are just not facts, they are in fact lies that are holding you back. The ones above all have many facts and solutions that prove them to be lies or limiting beliefs. Don't let them hold you back.

Rick Wallace

"Helping people exceed their expectations"

For more articles on business subjects that you may find useful, check out past  Articles on our website.