Archive For: September, 2009

Closing The Sale…Tips to overcome the hangups

Closing the sale is an art and possibly one of the biggest ‘hang ups’ for budding business and sales people, copywriters and more…  but why and what can you (or we) do about it?

Let’s look at why Closing the Sale can be a challenge for some… I believe it’s the fear of rejection that makes Closing a Sale a challenge for most. We all want to be liked, and if we ask someone to ‘buy’ what we’re selling and the prospect says no, then we feel that they are rejecting us personally.

Really, nothing can be further from the truth – our prospect is not really rejecting us personally, they are just rejecting our product or service – AT THE MOMENT.  However as most Sales or Business People are passionate about their product, it can be difficult to differentiate the ‘no’ for the product or service from a ‘no, I don’t like you’…. Read more

Cold Calling Tips For Entrepreneurs

I was recently asked by a reader of my newsletter about what they should consider when Cold Calling on businesses.  I thought I would share my answer here.

The one thing that I would like you to consider, is that when you Cold Call – whilst your goal is to create life-long customers, the purpose of a Cold Call is to take Suspects to Qualified Prospects. What I mean, is that when you Cold Call on someone, you SUSPECT they could use what you’re selling, but you’re not certain.  After you’ve called on them and discussed what your product can do, you will know if the Suspect is really a fit for your product or not. Once you have a qualified prospect, you then focus on converting them to a customer, and then to a life long customer. Read more

Manage To Own – Franchise Training and Bakers Delight

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Starting a small business can be very, very daunting. There is a lot of information that a Small Business Owner needs to have, including but not limited to, personnel management, financial management, stock ordering and OH&S requirements, as well as having sufficient capital to fund the business through the start up and lean times.

Certainly, most first time business owners will not have a fraction of the skills they need to run a business and there really is no substitute for the learning that occurs with experience however, that learning often comes at a high price.

A JOB is a safe option and some of the bigger companies, retail or food service chains, have a complete managerial program for their staff. They will train you to become a manager – so that you learn the system, you breathe the system – and then they let you loose to manage the system.

Unfortunately, for small business owners this option really doesn’t exist – it is highly unusual for anyone to provide you with on the job training for your business. The Small Business owner is required to invest (often heavily) in their business and deal with what comes – without having a support framework to turn to. Read more