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How To Expand Your Salesforce Without Hiring Anyone

We all know that all businesses have to sell to survive, let alone prosper. Most businesses will have some sort of specialist sales function, but this could be a small percentage of the total number of employees. If non sales people, who have contact with the customer, could be trained to promote your services or products in an appropriate way, how much extra business could that generate?

Those not directly involved in sales often have preconceived ideas about selling and sales people and a lot of those ideas are negative. The word, ‘salesperson’ itself has certain connotations. Pushy, spivvy, lack of integrity, questionable honesty to name just a few. And what’s a good salesperson? Well maybe someone who can palm you off with something that you don’t want. We think of such things as double-glazing and time-share and there are lots of horror stories about people’s experiences from dealing with such unscrupulous sales people. The word, ‘selling’ conjures up all of these images and it’s not an image that many want to be associated with.

So the first thing that we need to make clear is that relationship selling is a very different thing. With relationship selling, you do not sell anything as such. You ask the customer what they need or want and show how this can be achieved with the use of your services. This is something that non-sales people can feel comfortable with and therefore do.

There is no place for those high pressure selling techniques; no place for tricks; no attempts to force the customer to buy and no place for the guilt trip so often used in the pensions and insurance industries (‘…if you had died before I arrived here tonight, what kind of mess would you have left your family in? Yuk!)

If the customer does not, at the moment, need what you have to offer, then you have nothing to sell. If you do manage to palm them off with something that they don’t really want, then they will be dissatisfied and they won’t buy from you again. Whereas if you just say that, unfortunately, you don’t seem able to help at the moment but that you’ll keep in touch, even promising to come back in three months time, perhaps, then you’ve been honest and you’ve still got a contact. If you sell encyclopaedias, then you only sell to each customer once, so it doesn’t matter so much if you’ve conned them. With relationship selling, you are selling an ongoing relationship, hopefully for many years. If you con your customers at any time, the relationship is lost.

Businesses need to grow to survive so they need to sell. And by selling more, they increase the job security of their staff as well as the probability of providing more interesting work in an expanding company. Everyone understands this, but to conquor the inertia non-sales people have to promoting their products and services, they need to develop the skills to sell in a ‘non-salesey’ way.

Something that all businesses are searching for is a Unique Selling Point. What is it that makes you different, better than your competitors? You have to be honest with this one and say, ‘Nothing really’. You can bet your competitors know as much about the service that you both provide as you do. You can bet that they are as technically able. You can bet they try as hard. It’s a truth of life that any time you do find yourself one step ahead, your competitors will soon mimic what you do and thus close the gap. (You must, of course, keep on searching. If you don’t search for something extra, then you will soon fall behind.)

So, if the products and quality of service you sell are more or less identical to your competitors, why should a prospective customer choose you rather than them? Well, assuming you’ve got your product and pricing about right, then the only difference is the people. Business is about people. One company does not do business with another company. People from one company do business with people from another company. To be successful you need to get on with your contact. You don’t have to be bosom buddies and slap each other heartily on the back each time you meet but you do need to get on well enough to do business. Your customers need to trust you.

Training your customer support, accounts, quality control, transport etc functions in Relationship Selling techniques will strengthen the relationship with your customers and provide opportunities for additional business. Your salesforce has just grown dramatically!

To quote from Mark McCormack, ‘All things being equal, people will always buy from a friend. All things being not quite so equal, people will still buy from a friend!’

How to Start a Tanning Salon

Start a tanning salon and you will have a very successful business in the palm of your hands! That is the outlook that a person in this type of business search needs to have. Yet you do need to be realistic about it all as well. While there is no argument that you can make money with a tanning salon due to the demand for it, there are quite a few expenses involved as well. Too many of them go under due to the overhead being more than what they bring in.

One of the biggest problems you will find when you start a tanning salon is that equipment can have an unbelievable price tag associated with it. On one hand you don’t want to get too in debt with what you buy. Yet on the other hand you already know that consumers want a good variety of options. So if you can’t offer them at the tanning salon they will go some place that can. You will have to decide which approach you want to take.

You need to look at quality models of tanning equipment that aren’t at the high end of the price range as well. Take the time to read reviews and you will find there are some great buys out there. You may want to get new equipment due to the warranties or you may find it a great investment to pay less for used equipment that still has plenty of life left in it.

When you start a tanning salon the atmosphere needs to be in place as well as the equipment. If you lag in customer service it will show and you will lose customers. They need to feel welcome the second they come into your tanning salon. Their questions need to be answered from staff that is friendly as well as well informed. They also want to be assured they can get in for their scheduled appointment time. Remember that time is a very precious commodity to people and if they are wasting it waiting for their turn to tan they won’t be impressed.

If you really want to start a tanning salon then I encourage you to do so. This could be the business opportunity you have been waiting for. Having the right information before you start though will help ensure you do enjoy every bit of it. You will avoid the common issues that many people fail to realize in this business. Pay attention to the problems others have had so you can avoid them.

You may want to open a brand new tanning salon or buy one that is already in place. Give plenty of thought to your location for the business as it can significantly impact you. Convenience is a fact that must fit in for people to commit to going there all the time. Be willing to advertise and to promote various aspects of your business. That way you have a great chance of capturing the business of those that want to tan. They do have a choice about where they do it though so give them a reason when you start a tanning salon to come to you for their needs.

How to Create Loyal and Promotable Staff by Freeing Up More of Your Own Time

«There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly»- Buckminster Fuller.

Effective delegation is both a skill and an art. Having and using this ability has many significant benefits and is of the utmost importance. It is a vital component in the toolkit of any leader. And yet, time and time again I come across leaders who do not use it effectively or anywhere near enough.

I hear many ‘reasons’ (read ‘excuses’) for this:

* ‘My team already have too much on their plates. I cannot pile on any more. It wouldn’t be fair on them and they would resent it. So I do it myself.’

What evidence do you have that they would resent it?

How can you help them to empty their plates a little so that they can take on delegated work?

If you delegate the right task, at the right time, to the right person and in the right way, the more likely reality is that they will show gratitude. They will be happy at the increase in their sense of responsibility, they will feel empowered and trusted. And as they begin to act up rather than act down they will notice themselves becoming more promotable. All of this will inspire more loyalty not less.

* ‘It’s easier and quicker if I do it myself.’

This may possibly be true the first time and it may not.

It may take a little time to explain or teach a member of staff how to complete a particular task the first time, but once they’ve got it and can finish it unaided this can only save time for you.

And is this ‘reason’ completely accurate in the first place? Or are you just using this as an excuse because there is some other reason you don’t want to give the task to someone else?

Ask yourself ‘What is honestly stopping me from delegating this task?’

* ‘If I’m truly honest I just think I’ll do a better job of it than any of my team. So it’s best if I get on and do it.’

Well done for being this honest with yourself. It’s a tough one to own up to! But what evidence do you have to support that statement? How do you know for sure unless you give them a try? How sure are you that you’re not just finding another excuse to hold onto something that you now need to be letting go of?

* ‘I know it’s not my role to do that any more, but I really enjoyed that part of my job before I was promoted and I want to carry on getting involved to that extent.’

Mmm. As you continue to climb your career ladder it is imperitive for both you and your staff that you act at the level you have reached plus spend time acting up to the next level. If you act at levels below your position you use up time unnecessarily (which can result in severe effects on your work/life balance, plus stress caused by impending deadlines and overwork). Importantly it also inhibits the progress of your staff’s climb of their own career ladders.

So how do you delegate effectively?

Well that is too lengthy a discussion to go into here, but if I have raised your awareness and you have accepted that delegation, properly done, actually leads to more loyal and happier staff who have a willingness to go that extra mile; and you have also realised that you need to be delegating more effectively and more often, then that is a very good start!

HOW CAN OUTSOURCING LIVE CHAT SUPPORT SERVICE INCREASES SALES?

Today, e-business has become a popular trend to promote business online. To meet the competition of online market, it is obvious to promote your business using e-marketing tools. A number of business activities are commonly being outsourced to have the benefits of online world. A competitive field that is successfully being outsourced is customer care.

Customer care works to add a personal touch in your business activities and now, it has become a significant part of organizations. Online businesses also offer customer care to provide solutions online. Live chat support is a comprehensive part of customer care.

Surprisingly, the e-customer care support industry has become largely dependent on live chat facility. Here are some important points that emphasize on the perception that live chat outsourcing increases sales.

•    Live chat support outsourcing increases sales to 25 to 35 percent. That is because, live chat operators not only provide solutions to the problems , but also, suggest using newer services or goods that provokes interest in the customer
•    Live chat operator can deliver 70 percent of the information with the help of  previously answered queries and can simultaneously deal 4 recipients
•    Through live chat outsourcing, it is obvious that productivity is affected positively. By having operators all the time for clients, it is a best practice to build confidence and credibility which is directly related to sales
•    Live chat outsourcing can bring in huge sales by cutting the cost of the expenses previously usd for telephonic communication
•    Live chat outsourcing offers 24/7 access to your clients’ world wide that means having a global market with in your approach
•    Live chat outsource enables easy access to trained and efficient operators that means no more wasting money on training an e-team or live chat operators staff.

Businesses are not about making money, it’s about building credibility among your clients and potential customers, it merely depends on profit generation, it depends on how satisfied your customers are from your services?

Live chat outsourcing is a tool that can help your e-business to groom and flourish, by meeting the needs of e-marketing.

Irreplaceable product testing solutions- gain

Electrical equipments are employed at most of the agencies, in this current day and age. Most of the disasters and the fires are caused due to the faults and the spoil that are caused in the portable appliances and the other electrical gadgets which are usually employed at the bureau. Therefore, it is made compulsory by the legislation of Health and Safety at the office, to carry out the portable appliance test on frequent intervals in order to make certain the wellbeing of the people operating the locations where the portable appliances are employed. Uniform product testing would guarantee a protected working environment at your office and you can function without the fear of any sort of catastrophe, due to the faulty portable appliances.
You can either coach a few members of your office staff to carry out the portable appliance testing or you can hire a specialist for the pat testing work of your office. Today, there are various pat testing courses that are effortlessly existing in the market. Many of them are just for a lone day. Thus, you can straightforwardly procure any kind of pat testing equipment in the existing age from these various offline as well as the online market place. Also, there are the several kinds of pat testers and the electrical test equipments accessible in the souk at a very reasonable rate.
Here at the products 4 testing, you can effortlessly benefit the equipments of the several recognized companies such as Fluke and the <a href=»http://www.products4testing.co.uk/»>Seaward</a>. There are diverse types of the pat testers existing at Product 4 testing. Amongst all, products 4 testing is perhaps one of the most reputed companies that are known for supplying great product testing solutions. In our common website, www.product4testing.co.uk, you can effortlessly avail all the irreplaceable product testing solutions. You must recognize which type is best suitable for your office and procure it. The first form of pat testers is the «Pass- Fail Type». These are thus very simple to understand and also straightforward to use. Their models are also very clear. They only give an easy result whether the portable appliance is pass or fail. By the Pass — Fail sort of pat testers, no specific details are offered. However, pat testing equipments of this kind are not able to perform numerous tests that are significant while pat testing.
Another sort of pat tester is the «Manual Pat Testing Equipments». These kinds of pat testers are tremendously functional in their use. They can easily assess various complicated portable appliances. But to use this sort of Pat tester, you require a proper. Of recently, the «downloadable Pat testing equipments», another kind of pat testers is very much in demand in the market.