Grow Your Business by Building Your Credibility as an Expert

In today's world of 5-person or less small businesses, oftentimes building demand for your business requires building demand for your expertise as the owner and a subject-matter expert in your field. With the many resources available today, online and elsewhere, the opportunities to showcase your expertise and build your personal "brand", as well as that of your company, are almost limitless. On our website find an article that will provide you with tips to utilize some of these opportunities to your best advantage for growing your business. Learn how to maximize the opportunities presented by blogging, social media, public speaking, teaching, portfolio presentation, and publishing in your efforts to grow your business.

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The author, Linda Daichendt, is Founder, CEO and Managing Consultant at Strategic Growth Concepts, a consulting firm specializing in start-up, small and mid-sized businesses. She is a recognized expert with 20+ years experience in providing Marketing, Operations, HR, and Strategic planning services to start-up, small and mid-sized businesses. Linda can be contacted at linda@strategicgrowthconcepts.com and the company website can be viewed at http://www.strategicgrowthconcepts.com/.

Use History as a Guide to Grow Your Business

One question that seems to be most prominent when talking to small businesses, or reading the social networks, today is 'what should I be doing to market my business effectively in the down economy?'. There are a multitude of answers to this question, but the one I like the best is to keep functioning in business-as-usual mode with an added dose of aggressiveness when it comes to advertising/promoting your business. In today's Web 2.0 environment, that doesn't necessarily translate into spending more money, but it does mean you have to get more creative and aggressive with your promotional strategies.

However, as I've had discussions with a variety of small business owners on this topic, I find that they are not convinced. They are less than confident that increased marketing in today's economic environment is the right choice. In my state of frustration at not being able to convince them of the soundness of this strategy, I elected to find evidence to back me up. In the course of that evidence search I came across the article below which was published in iMedia Connection. If this well-written article doesn't convince a small business owner of the viability of self-promotion in today's economy, then, I'm certain I don't know what will. Please read the summary below and follow the link to the complete article, then let me know if you agree with me.
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Published in iMedia Connection: October 17, 2008
How brands thrived during the Great Depression
By Dave Chase

Companies can and do prosper during times of economic turmoil. Take a lesson from brands whose Depression-era advertising strategies were key to their survival.

To begin, not all was doom and gloom during the Great Depression. It was a time when those who knew what they were doing made great economic strides, and the very nature of the Depression was an economic boon for them. It was a time when several companies benefited from aggressive marketing while their rivals cut back. A good example of that would be Kellogg besting C.W. Post during that time. Consumers didn't stop spending during the Depression; most just looked for better deals, and the companies providing those better deals came out stronger after the Depression ended. When spending picked up, consumer loyalty to those companies remained.

Generally speaking, those companies that not only survived but also thrived during the Great Depression were those that continued to act as though there were nothing wrong and that the public had money to spend. In other words, they advertised. These are industries that didn't wait for public demand for their products to rise. They created that demand even during the most difficult of times.

The complete article can be found HERE.

5 Tips to Maximize the First Appointment with a Prospective B2B Customer

It's often said that you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. It's definitely true when it comes to B2B sales. When you set up an appointment with a prospective customer, you should leave no details to chance.

1. Research:

Know your customer and their needs as much as you can prior to the meeting. It personalizes your customer service, and your potential customer will be pleased that you took the time to find out about their business.

2. Have passion and confidence:
Remember that every appointment is like a job interview. You may be invited back or eliminated from the competition. Remember to show your passion for the business and your confidence in your ability to fulfill their needs.

3. Ask qualifying questions:

Have a list of "qualifying questions" prepared to take with you. Some of these should be specific to their industry, and some to their specific business, so you can identify the problems they are having and come up with solutions to solve them.

4. Sell solutions and benefits, don't push product:

Don't try to "sell them" at the first meeting. Use this as an information-gathering session. Take a "consultative" selling approach. Your job is to pull information out of them and then educate them on the solutions and benefits your company can provide.

5. Offer to hold the meeting at their office:
Be on time, well-researched and prepared for any questions. Meet the client at their business location. They will appreciate you taking the time and saving theirs.

The Art of Selling at Full Price

Below is an article written by Lawrence Dawood, the Director of Training for Wireless Toyz, a franchised cellular retail chain. The original audience for this article was the Operations Field Staff for the chain who were experiencing significant hardship in weaning the franchisees away from "bargaining" for customers.

As I read this article again recently, it occurred to me that the issue is not limited to the cellular industry, and that Lawrence's thoughts could provide assistance to many business owners in many industries. Throughout my career I've worked with companies and clients in a wide variety of industries and have found this issue to exist in most of them – sales people are afraid of the difficulty of selling "value" so they resort to selling "bargain" to achieve a closed sale, which ultimately harms the business financially. In previous training that I've conducted on consultative selling, this "value" proposition has typically been enthusiastically received, but rarely implemented once they're back in their home environment. I've come to believe over time that the reason is because we haven't started the change in the thinking process where we need to – at the top, with the business owners.

So my thought in making this article available to you is to bring the dilemma to the forefront if it exists in your organization, and to provide you with some "tools" to help eliminate the issue. Therefore, when you read the article below, substitute your industry and product into it wherever it references the cellular industry and products, and I believe you will find benefit in it as well.

Selling Value, Not Price

"Our products have become commoditized and our customers only care about price." This was the opening volley at a recent sales training session when I introduced the idea of Selling Value Over Price. The salespeople's resistance to the idea was strong and quite predictable given what's gone on in our marketplace over the last 5 years. Far too often in the cellular market, we have degraded our value proposition to the point of offering our products for "FREE!" The wireless industry has taken one of the true "miracles" of communication - the cell phone - and systematically stripped the value from it to the point where customers "expect" to get a new "FREE" phone almost every year. Cellular Agents are looking at their bottom lines wondering where it will end and how they can slow the degradation of their business. While we can't sell every customer and prospect at list price, there is still a large percentage open to a well-defined value proposition that begins with the following 3 Steps. 1. First, you've got to BELIEVE! I asked the sales team a question. "Do you believe that YOU and what you offer are worth more than the other guys?" They all chimed "YES!", except one guy who probably should change the title on his business card to "Giveaway Expert". We then set out to answer the following questions. "Why should a customer pay us more than the other guy who offers a similar (or the same) product?" and, "How do we convey this to the customer?" They listed about 2 dozen reasons why the customers should pay more for their services than their competitors. The next key was to transfer these "added values" into a tangible part of what they offer to their customers. If your sales team (from the Owner on down) doesn't believe that you're "worth more" than the competition, then you're not. Game over. Play the discount game and good luck. However, if that isn't where you want to be, then try the above questioning exercise with your sales team and then read on. 2. Define your Value Proposition Building a Quantifiable Value Proposition for your customers begins with the understanding that "value" often comes in the elements that we wrap around the product, and not in the product itself. Products have become so similar, that the focus must shift from the product to "the relationship." Here are some of the elements of value (beyond the product) that can add tremendous value over the life of a customer Relationship: The "expertise" of your personnel at uncovering problems and helping the customer to solve them. The resources and special services of your company on the sales and service sides of the business. Knowledge of Applications-how other customers creatively utilize your products and accessories to improve their efficiency and profitability. Your ability to demonstrate ROI (Return-on-Investment) in terms of how our products, expertise and company resources can help to increase our customer's revenues, decrease their costs, and/or impact their bottom line. Your ability to quantify all of the above in dollars and cents for the customer. 3. Improve Sales Competencies As an industry, the wireless business (at least on the cellular side) has transformed itself from being "problem solvers" to being "promo-pushers." The average cellular salesperson would go into withdrawal symptoms if you took away his/her promo's for the next quarter. Hiring people after they've been in this business for any length of time is almost a guarantee of lower margins. Therefore, upgrade your sales team by hiring reps who are "Problem Solvers" vs. "promo pushers." Hire people who understand Step 2 - how to define and sell "value" beyond the product and a potentially lower cost. For existing reps, it is critical to increase their competency at uncovering what customers will pay extra for and conveying this during their presentations. This takes training and on-going role play on a weekly basis. Look at the deals you sell for the largest margins and dissect the reasons why customers purchased from you vs. going to a cheaper alternative. Selling "Value" is not an easy transition for most salespeople, but an essential one if they want to boost their income... and if you want to boost the profits at your company. So the bottom line is to focus on creating a value proposition for your customers and training your team to package and present along with the product. You'll find this to be the most profitable sales decision you can make... and it'll show up on the last line of your Profit and Loss at the end of each month.