Many, of course, look and are too good to be true.

This one isn’t and it’s from what you may think an unlikely source: BT

BT Tradespace is a free forum where anyone based in, or doing business in the UK is actively encouraged to set up their stall. Not only is it free, it staffed by a bunch of people who couldn’t be more helpful.

If anyone knows of any other good low- or no-cost places we can promote our businesses, please share them here!

Anyway, in the article I’m referring to he talks about how the whole idea of basing a sale on identifying pain is maybe not the best premise. On first read I found it hilariously spot on the mark.

On second read I realised how many people have ‘jumped on the band wagon’ of identifying pain to the exclusion of virtually any other reason as to why a customer might buy. Trouble is, unless you’re very, very good at this technique, you end up coming across as a snake oil salesman.

I’ve met one guy who is very good yet, without exception, anyone can spot the people he’s trained a mile off and they don’t have anywhere near his finesse. And guess what? They sound phoney, nobody likes their attitude or approach and they fail.

“… if you want to find pain, become a doctor” - is Jeffrey’s sound advice that really hits home.

So, if you’ve been going down this path and getting nowhere, why not STOP right now? Adopting this no-nonsense approach can free you to instead use sensible, gentle conversational questioning techniques to find positive bases for people to buy from you…

Go back hundreds of years and you’ll see that well-connected travellers would carry letters of introduction to several people they didn’t know in places they would pass through. One or more people who knew the traveller and the fact he didn’t have the right contacts in all of the places he’d visit provided those letters in order to help smooth the way for him in foreign lands.

The idea was that each person he gave the letter to would act as host to the traveller whilst he was in his area, providing hospitality and introducing him around his circle of friends and business associates.

Each host would not normally expect any direct payment: However, in those days when you couldn’t just turn on the radio, television, or access the worldwide web, etc. for information, the guest would be expected to inform and entertain, bringing eagerly awaited news of people, places and events in other lands. He would also, doubtless, offer to reciprocate his host’s kindness, and extend that offer selectively to those of the host’s associates with whom he found a rapport or common interest.

By the time he arrived home the traveller would be able to bring back personal messages to his sponsors and update them on people, places and events abroad. Meanwhile he would have many new contacts and, possibly, friends that he would probably never have met had he been left to his own devices.

What is that if not a form of networking, which reminds me: How many times have we heard it said: “It’s not what you know - it’s who you know”?

Another example is membership: Membership of the freemasonry, old boys’ public school ‘clubs’ in the UK - often informal but nonetheless powerful for that - graduating from the same alma mater or belonging to the same sorority or fraternity in the USA are all fairly obvious examples where ‘who you know’ - not necessarily even directly but by association - can give you an advantage and get you that all important business or social introduction. You basically move right to the head of the queue.

Your new contact is reassured that he can expect you and your behaviour to conform to that of the peer group: Here is someone who understands the rules. Therefore he will also feel that he can save time on due diligence (checking you out).

Your path is made smoother by the fact that you are, provided you keep your implied part of the deal and continue to live up to expectations, one of the accepted.

As long as you remember the cardinal rule:

Do NOT try to sell to these people - forget it or ignore it and you’ll be branded a pushy pedlar - your aim is to build trusted relationships with each other…

“How do small businesses figure out what are the best things to invest in during the financial downturn if they can’t afford all of the things they want to do.

How do they measure the potential ROI before embarking on judicious investing?”

The first thing that springs to mind, Sally, is Douglas Adams’ “Don’t Panic!” and that’s not being facetious.

We do panic and feel we have to take action: we must do something to stop the rot. And that’s where we can make the BIG mistake of ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’.

So, have a quick panic by all means and get it out of the way then just stop, take a few deep breaths and think before acting:

• Why am I in business?
• What is this business supposed to support in my life?
• Chances are many of my customers and suppliers are hurting just as much as me - how can we help each other?
• What is it that my customers/ potential market want that I can provide better than anybody else?
• What are my assets and resources?
• How can I trade them?
• How can I improve them?

We invest in three ways, not just one:
Emotion
Time
Money

And, whilst we many of us may be perilously short of the third , we’re not bankrupt on the first two, so we need to invest them wisely. The above questions do help.

Thanks for taking this deeper, Sally.

Are they “cutting back on spend whatever the cost?

Or are they judiciously continuing to invest in certain areas where they know they’ll get good, sustainable Return On Investment?

Your employees and your customers are your best assets right now. How about investing in the first to make sure you keep and grow more of the second?

Just a thought…

Oh, and if you want to read more about poverty, you’ll find stuff here.

You should be regularly checking that your customers are happy with your business service - you can’t afford to assume that they are.

The world is changing and customers are aware of competitive offerings and, though many will still not say a word to you about any upset, you don’t want to wait until they walk off with another suitor to find out there was a problem.

So, during your contact call you first want to discover whether there are any hidden snags. If there are, lucky you, you have a chance to sort them out and put them right. But don’t ask for your testimonial at that point.

If, on the other hand, you satisfy yourself that your customer is indeed happy: Ask for a testimonial and make it as easy as possible to comply.

You should always know how a new customer came to you as you will either have been making contact with him or her or you will have asked how they heard about you.

So, when a customer refers a potential client to you, you’ll know who should be thanked and can do so straight away.

(If you neglect to do this don’t be surprised if that’s the first and last referral you get from that quarter. The customer may not mention anything to you but he or she may well to others.)

If you convert that introduction to business you may decide that more tangible appreciation in the form of a gift is appropriate.

Especially in times of economic uncertainty people will be careful who they spend their money with. So if you think it’s non-u to ask for a referral, isn’t it about time you got over it?

Another thing is that a customer who refers a potential client to you once could and would refer many more if sufficiently motivated to do so.

American research has shown that the average person has an immediate scope of influence over at least 50 similar people. That’s potentially 50 new clients from each existing satisfied customer. Yet the average satisfied customer only tells three people of his or her good experience.

So the moral of the story is:

Ask for referrals and reward them appropriately.

Accounting, Billing, Invoicing, Estimating & Contracts

LiteAccounting - Invoice and track payment from your customers without a bunch of extra, useless features.

Invoice Journal - Free invoicing program.

endeve - Issue invoices, manage clients and check revenues all in one place.

ContractPal - Take your contracts and forms paperless and have them completed, validated, signed and processed online.

Bootstrap - Online bookkeeping software that lets you track sales and expenses, organize your records for tax time, and more.

Citrus - An online billing website that allows your customers to view, download and pay their invoices by credit card or direct debit.

Zapproved - Create and send proposals, manage the approval process and reach agreements without any hassle.

Mumboe - Online contract and business agreement management app.

FinanciFY - Easy to use online financial management tools for small businesses and individuals.

Plus many more on their blog - http://mashable.com/2008/09/21/270-online-business-tools/

Take a look and tell me what you think.

Sarah

Essex Same Day Couriers and Delivery services

Resources for those that drive for a living

I’ve always hated being bored and figured that if I was going to spend eight hours (give or take) every Saturday behind that counter, I might as well learn as much as possible about the stock carried and the store’s customers.

I discovered that many of the women who stopped by didn’t wear much make up or generally spend money on what they considered to be frivolities, and were often wanting to buy a little something to give themselves extra confidence for some upcoming special event. Therefore to spend even four shillings (twenty pence) on a small lipstick and matching nail varnish (if they could find one) was a Big Thing. So we’d spend ages selecting the right colour lipstick first (nothing too bold or ‘brassy’), testing it out on the inside of the customer’s wrist, and then try and match it up with a discreet pearl effect nail varnish.

Sometimes they’d be particularly daring and succumb to some mascara (always brown rather than the harsher black, unless their colouring and skin tone dictated otherwise), and, on rare occasions, a gentle powder eye shadow.

I’m not making fun of these women; that’s the way it was then. And it taught me my first-ever working tip:

• Put your soul into your job, even if it’s just a temporary one
• Try to learn as much as possible about it that will help you to do it to the best of your ability
• Genuinely “give a toss” about the customer
• Listen to their comments (good and bad) and pass them up the line to your supervisor

- if you do, you’ll get more out of it and enjoy yourself much more. And if the management do their bit, the customers will come back. Again and again. And again.