Okay, so now that we all agree that time are tough, let’s do something about it. Now is the time to be active in getting business. Sure there may be some challenges, but we are not called The Business Solution for nothing. Let’s talk solutions.

Managing Customer/Prospects - Direct Mail CampaignFor some businesses sending out a direct mail piece is a lot of work. We have a customer who has regular Open Houses and it use to take 2 weeks to prepare the address labels for the mail out. You might ask why so long? Names are in Outlook, names are in Trade Show spreadsheets, names are in Invoices, and names are in Get the picture? Once names were typed into a label program they had to go in and look for duplicate names and addresses that were missing. It was a very time consuming job, now with their new system it takes 40 minutes (and this includes time to load and watch the printer print out the labels). Not only is it fast, but now they have one central database to manage all their customers and prospects.

Managing Opportunity and Sales Life CycleSo what is the problem? If you only have a few names in each stage of the sales life cycle it is easy to stay on top of it. But what if you have 100’s or 1000’s? You need to know who to mail out to this week. You need to know who to call this week. You need to know who you have a sales meeting with. You need to know who to create quotes/proposals for. You need to know which sales prospects you are trying to close. You need to know who to invoice and who/where to ship products to. On top of all this knowing, you have to do the work to get and complete the sales. If you are a manager or an owner, you want to see how sales are going. You want to make sure no one is falling through the cracks. You need to make sure you have enough product or service available to fill the order.To have evenly distributed sales throughout the year, you need to have lists at each stage of the Sales Life Cycle (Sales Funnel). Every week you would have a number of leads to follow up on; a number of prospects to follow up on; a number of sales to close; and a number of sales to process. There is so much to know and do. Fortunately, with a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system the “knowing” part is automated so it is a click of a button to send this week’s list out for direct mailing or email blast. Click a button and get your call list. Click another button to turn quotes into invoices. Click another button and send orders to the shipping department for shipping.So what happens if I don’t have a good CRM system? You spend too many hours each day/week manually creating lists and labels then copying and pasting or rekeying into the next stage of the sales life cycle. You are wasting valuable time that could be used to make another sale.

Bottom Line – A Two Step Recovery Program#1. I am not going to be passive and wait for sales to come to me. I am going to actively go after them. #2. I am going to use a good CRM system to do all the grunt work so I can focus on getting the sale and filling the order.

Newsletters are a great way to communicate with your prospects and customers to let them know about your new products, services, or even an event that you are holding. It is also a great way to educate them on the value of your product or service and why they should buy from you. Remember the goal is to build name recognition, relationships, and promote your product or service.

Relevant ContentYour newsletter not only has to be relevant but also interesting. You need to write about topics that are of interest to your audience while at the same time educational. For example, if you were in the RV business you could have a newsletter about opening up your trailer in the spring. You would provide a number of tips on what they should be doing. There should be some reference to the parts or supplies that they will need and of course that you happen to stock them. Some people will look at the list and decide it is too much work or too difficult and leave it to the professionals (you I hope). The “do-it-yourselfers” may choose to purchase what they need from you. If I had an RV, I would appreciate this newsletter as you have helped me with an important task that needs to be done.

Make it Attractive and Easy to ReadWithin a few moments, your reader will determine whether or not they desire to look at the newsletter, so you need to grab their attention! Use bullets and appealing headlines. Use appropriate graphics as a picture is worth a thousand words. Be short and to the point. You can always direct them to your website to find out more about the topic.

Two Way CommunicationsLet your readers provide feedback on the newsletters so you can determine what they like and dislike. Remember, you know your business inside and out, so sometimes it is difficult to communicate to your readers who are not as knowledgeable as you are. Also readers can come up with new topics you did not even consider. Finally, having a say gets the prospect in a closer relationship with you which in turn makes them closer to a sale.

Contact InformationDon’t forget to let the reader know how to contact you: company name, phone, email, website, address, store hours, and any other information they might need. Don’t assume the reader knows where you are located. 

System to Manage Newsletter ProcessMost likely you will have multiple product lines (Marine/RV) and multiple customer types (wholesale/retail). You want to know which prospect/customer is in which group so that you can then send them an appropriate newsletter. This is something that your business management system should easily be able to do. Prospects/customers can be in multiple mailing lists, another thing you will want your system to be able to do. If your business management system can handle the logistics of sending out your newsletter, then you only have to worry about content and design of the newsletter. If your business management system does not do this, look to a professional for help (me I hope).Create a newsletter that provides value to your reader not a tribute to yourself. If done right, readers will be waiting for the next newsletter so they can learn more. When you are seen as the expert in the industry and the company that is going out of their way to help them; who do you think they will buy from?

To get the job done, you need the right tools.Jay Abraham says that “You need an innovative product or service and a great marketing system, everything else is just details.” So you have an innovative product or service. You have read books and articles on marketing; maybe you even have a marketing coach. Does this mean that your sales have gone up or that you have doubled your sales? No. You need to take action; you need to implement the marketing plan and to do that properly you will need software tools to get the job done. If you think you already have the software tools that you need because you use Outlook, some accounting package, or you have a few Excel spreadsheets, is your business growing as planned? If yes, read no further, if no, you need the right tools for the job.If you want to double your sales, you need to be concerned with the Sales Life-Cycle. There are 5 very important stages in the Sales Life-Cycle, with each one being just as important to the success of your business. If you are not good at or on top of even one stage, it can be the difference between being profitable or going out of business.

Pre-Sale - Driving traffic to your door.  Advertising and marketing, educating prospects on what you have and why they should purchase from you. This stage is where you are filling your sales funnel.

Sale - Determine what the customer needs or is looking for.  Discuss with your customer what you have to offer. Close the sale. This stage is where you are converting your sales funnel leads into a sale.

 Process Sale - Once the customer and you have an agreement, you have to come up with your end of the bargain. You will be manufacturing the part, doing the service, or getting the product for the customer.

Delivery - Giving the customer what they purchased. This needs to be in the condition and time frame that was agreed upon. Also at this time you need to receive payment for the order.

After-Sale - Following up that there are no problems with the sale. Cross selling customer on complimentary product or service.

Bottom LineMake sure that you excel at each stage of the life-cycle. Make sure that your software system seamlessly follows the transaction as it goes through each stage. Make sure that nowhere in the sales life-cycle is the sale lost in cracks. Make sure that you have a customer for life. Measure and tweak!

The answer to this question is starting to be my pet peeve, and I am sure I am not the only one in this situation. I’m going to use my company as the bases of this article. You’ll need to just change the name and facts to reflect your business.

I think it is very obvious what The Business Solution does. I think our advertising messages are very clear and easy to understand. I think that more than 50% of the readers of this article can totally benefit from what we offer. I have been around for a while, I am educated, I feel I am intelligent, and I am real world wise. So what is my pet peeve? Most businesses do not understand the benefit of what we can do to help their business; they think we are just a software and web company. Is this true for you? Prospects know what service or product you offer, but are not aware of how it benefits them?  Most businesses do not realize that whatever our service costs, they will benefit many times over.

When I get an opportunity to sit down one on one with business owners to discuss what we have to offer, here is some of what I hear them say.

“I did not know you did that.” “I didn’t realize how software and web solutions can increase my sales and the efficiency of running my business.” “I thought you would be expensive”. ”Not only will I make my money back many times over, you start as low as $47/month.” “I thought it would be hard to set up and learn how to use, and then I found out that you would install, set it up, and show me how to use it.” “We tried software a number of years ago and it did not work out, I didn’t know what you could do and what has changed since then.” And my all time favorite, and probably yours,”why didn’t you tell me you could do that for me, I would have bought ages ago?”

Don’t assume that your prospects are fully aware of what you offer, or how it can benefit them. Always look for new or innovative ways to show your prospects what you have to offer. Give your prospects a way to view or try what you have to offer. Whenever you get a chance, including networking events, tell people what you have to offer in ways that they will understand and how they will benefit from it. We are all trying to mass market what we have to offer, but often it is the one on one situation that really makes the sales. So if you are selling, take the time to talk to me to help me understand what you sell and how I will benefit from it. If you are buying, take the time to talk to the seller to find out what they have to offer and the benefit to you. This way both parties are happy.

So if you ever wonder why I have never bought from you, or have seen me in your office or store… I think you get the point.

There is a video out on the web by Tony Robbins where he explains why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  

It is all about taking action. The rich take action to be rich and the poor feel they never will be rich, so they either don’t try, or they try with the attitude that it doesn’t matter (they won’t be able to do it anyway) and sure enough they don’t.

The four components to making something happen, whether it is shooting a basket or growing a profitable business is: Belief, Potential, Action, and Results.

You must believe that you can do it. This taps into greater use of your potential, allowing you to take positive action, which leads to positive results, which enforces the belief that you can do it, which allows you to use even more of your potential, which…

You have to have the potential or skill to do the action. You may think that you can do it and when you try, you may succeed and that will reinforce your belief that you can do it. On the other hand, you may think that you can’t do it and when you try, you may fail and that will reinforce your belief that you cannot do it.  This is a self fulfilling prophecy.

So let’s get rich!

You are starting out on the journey to grow your business. You can’t change your own potential, but you can acquire potential from somewhere else (more about that later). Hopefully you have already taken some action, and that has given you some positive results. So this has your belief system thinking it is possible. Remember, if you think it is not possible, you are right, it won’t happen.

So what are you going to do?

You must believe that you can do it. You must condition yourself that you’re certain you are going to succeed.

Potential. You need to maximize your abilities, and you have to take action to acquire more potential for things that you are lacking, to make it happen. Your belief dictates how much of your potential you can use.

Take action. One action you may need to take is to acquire a proper marketing and management software and web system. This would provide the means for your business to grow as fast and as big as possible. You may need to raise capital. You may need a coach to help you make great decisions. You may need to update your skills or take a course. You may need to call The Business Solution. Whatever action you need to take to reach your goals, just do it. No action = no results.

Now let’s see some results. Whether you are shooting a basket or growing your business, the result you get is based on how much of your potential was used doing the action. The more potential you use, the greater the action taken, which maximizes your results.

Believe. Maximize Potential. Take Action. See Results.

To your riches!

To watch the video that I referred to, go to www.tonyrobbinstraining.com/320/interview-with-frank-kern-and-john-reese/.

A few days ago I was watching a seminar by Dan Kennedy (copy writer and marketing guru). He said that whether he was in the office or not, he would ask his assistant several times a day “How much money have we made so far today?”. Dan makes it quite clear to himself and to his staff, that daily sales is the number one measurement to ensure the success of his company. There are other numbers that he usually asks for daily, but sales are the only measurement he asks for several times every day.

Now there is a reason for his obsession over the amount of daily sales. It focuses everyone on the ultimate goal. For every decision they have to make, they consider what to do, when and how, to ensure that the decision will have a positive impact on sales. If the day is progressing and they are not making their target sales, Dan will jump in and find ways to get sales back on track. He does not wait days or weeks to make changes, he makes changes hourly.

Some of the other numbers that Dan looks at daily are:

• Average client transaction dollars
• Number of orders being processed
• Number of orders that are past their promised delivery date
• Opportunity dollars broken down by sales funnel categories

Dan uses a real time marketing and management system to give him the numbers at any point in the day. If his system did not give him numbers in real time but took weeks or months to generate (many of us wait for our numbers, if we even check them at all) by the time Dan found out there was a problem, it might be too late to do anything about it and never mind the lost opportunities.

With the technology that is available, all of us can have a real time system so we can manage our company “by the numbers”. This system can quickly pay for itself with the better decision making it allows.

Could you image going on a cross country car trip for an important meeting held next week and have no knowledge of how to get there, no map, no GPS, and no road signs. No way of knowing where you are or if and when you would arrive at the destination? Without having a real time marketing and management system you are running your business in the same way. Don’t run your business by chance, run your business “by the numbers”.

I don't know if it is just me, but everywhere I turn, I am seeing examples of businesses using technology to innovate their business. At one time it was in shows and movies but it was hard to tell if it was real or make belief. But now I am seeing commercials, articles, and ads of businesses using technology as their competitive advantage. By advertising their innovation to their customers, they are letting their customers know that they have a competitive advantage of choosing them over their competitors. This could be your company as well.

At The Business Solution www.thebusinesssolution.com we build those kind of technological solutions. If your company is thinking, or wants to take it to the next level, contact me at our website. I will discuss the pros and cons of your options with you and then you can decide how to proceed.

Contact us even if you only have an idea that you want to discuss with us. It might be the best contact you made this year! 

I am pleased to announce the launch of www.whatwouldkeithdo.com . On this website I will post common business issues or scenarios and how I would handle them. Most time the solution will evolve around technology, because as you know I love solving business problems using technology. You are free to comment and discuss my answers to the questions as well as feel free to ask questions and I will do my best answering your questions.

Just getting started so there is not a lot of activity yet, but keep your eye on it as over the next few weeks I will be adding more and more.

So here is to doubling your sales and running your business with less stress!