Actual for You
Hubs | Hubbers | Topics | Request
#1 in Business Subscribe Email Print

You are here: Home > Business > Sales Training > 7 Sales Techniques To Differentiate You From The Competition

Tags
  • competitors
  • success
  • battle
  • doing business
  • specificity misses
  • phone number
    		•

    Links
  • Quick Tips To Help You Quit Smoking
  • 15 Proven Strategies to Grow Your List
  • Why You Should Take an Alaskan Cruise
    		•

    Actual for You - 7 Sales Techniques To Differentiate You From The Competition

    Entrepreneur News- 3 Ways To Get Your Reconnaissance
    As an entrepreneur, information is the base of all profits. Knowing how to get the right information about your projects and doing it quietly is like money in the bank.1) Networking is number one on the list. A good working relationship with a selection of peers can really help in finding and assessing projects. It takes time to develop a good network of hand picked people that you commonly keep contact with. Trust is a big issue but more importantly quality of positioning is more of an issue. By positioning I mean how that person fits within the relationship of the type of project you do and where they fit within that scheme. For example a rich source of contacts is the humble sales person or broker. They are easy to meet and very willing to do business with you even if you aren't buying anything from them initially. Real estate agents, Car dealer principles and Marine brokers all fit in this group. It depends on your market, your niche of course.Experts and valuers are also excellent quality positioning candidates for your network. Finally your competition. Other entrepreneurs that deal prolifically in your market. This last one might seem counter intuitive, but entrepreneurs often "hunt" in groups and help each other. There are only so many projects you can take on at any one time, however your network will continue to keep filling your Hopper with fresh leads and contacts. These can be traded or exchanged for favours later on or Joint Venture's could be formed with other entrepreneurs. Usually there are two elements that stop you from taking every acceptable project that arrives on your door step, they are time and money. You may be ov
    >

     

     

    This article has been viewed 7351 time(s).
    Article Submitted On: September 30, 2004

    How to Select a Facilitator
    Your choice of a facilitator can determine if the meeting is a success or a failure.Use these questions to make sure that you are working with the right person.Is the person a professional facilitator?There is more to facilitation than watching people talk. Facilitation is a complex activity requiring a special blend of sophisticated skills. You want someone who can identify the real goals for your meeting, plan an agenda that produces a result, guide people to find their best answers, and maintain a working environment for a fair process. That is, you want someone who specializes in helping people hold effective meetings. One clue comes from asking if the candidate facilitator is a member of the International Association of Facilitators. Dedicated professionals belong to the associations that serve their discipline.Has the person earned recognition as a facilitator?The International Association of Facilitators grants the Certified Professional Facilitator designation based on a rigorous skill-based assessment. Candidates must pass 1) a lengthy written application describing their experience, 2) two oral exams conducted by certified examiners, and 3) a live demonstration of meeting facilitation where one of the examiners attempts to disrupt the meeting. You gain added assurance when you work with a CPF.Does the person understand meetings?That is, does the candidate know how to set up, plan, and conduct an effective meeting? Does he know how to keep a meeting on track? Does she know how to maintain a productive, safe environment that allows the participants to work at their cr
    You have a choice. You can stand out or blend in with your competitive landscape. Differentiation doesn't come naturally, blending in does. We all want to fit in with the crowd, we want to be like everybody else, and we've been that way since we were kids. As a professional sales representative you should focus on what makes you different because the similarities will take care of themselves.

    When selling there are three principle things you can differentiate: You, your products, and your company. My observation is that most sales representatives do an adequate job of differentiating their products and their company. They neglect, however, to develop a personal brand. Before a customer considers buying your products, they must buy you.

    Here are seven ways to separate you from the competition:

    1. Your appearance matters. Look the part because your appearance influences your image. You are walking billboard and how you look is what your prospects see first. Belts and shoes should be the same color. Shoes and shoe heels should be shined - every day. When it comes to your wardrobe buy less and spend more.

    2. Prepare an effective e-mail signature. Your e-mail signature of course should include your name, a keyword a short phrase - describing your expertise, a telephone number, and your web site. Also periodically include a P.S. and a P.P.S. to emphasize new product introductions, special sales, and special events. In this way, every email provides a branding and promotional opportunity for you.

    3. Getting people to return your telephone calls is challenging for everyone. Using a different approach can make all the difference in the world. Mike, a client, shared this with me and it's guaranteed to be different. If someone very important is not returning your telephone calls use this approach. Buy a coffee mug and print these words on the mug. "Let's talk business over a cup of coffee." Put a packet of Starbucks coffee into the mug and include a note with your business card and the times you'll be available to take his telephone call.

    4. Here’s a business card idea. Why are business cards printed one side? Use the blank side of your business to differentiate yourself. You can stamp an inspirational quote. You can stamp the 7 reasons why customers like doing business with you. Use red ink to make it stand out.

    5. This is a small tip though it's an effective one. Most promotional literature is produced on standard size 81/2” X 11” paper. Since most people are overwhelmed by the amount of work on their desk - they simply create stacks of sales rep literature. Go to an Office Depot and buy brightly colored 9 X 12 paper. Affix your literature to the 9 X 12 paper and it’ll standout in any stack of literature. Use the open space on the colored paper to write a note, a reminder, or even your phone number.

    6. Visibility is more important than ability. Every contact counts. Develop a (one-two-three) follow-up system every time you meet and/or talk to a new prospect. Here’s my recommendation - within 24 hours send an e-mail, within 72 hours send a handwritten note, within 10 days send a handwritten note with an article to your prospect. Within two weeks you have a total of four exposures with your new prospect. Now that's impressive.


    7. Prepare creative organizational charts for your biggest proposals. In your business, if you do proposals especially for larger deals, consider using a very creative organizational chart. Think about the five to seven people in your organization who interact with your customers; you, your sales manager, your Vice President of sales, customer service, technical service, you get the picture. Create an organizational chart using boxes and include in each box the following: name, title, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and a digital photograph. This introduces your entire team with photographs to your new potential customer. It's easier for a prospect to say no to a salesperson than it is to say no to the entire team.


    The real difference among salespeople is what's inside their heads - their ideas. To offer generalities when customers are begging for specificity misses the mark completely. Don't permit generalities to skewer the real differences between you and your competitors.

    Being boring, bland, and benign won't cut it in today’s very competitive marketplace.

    If you want to make a difference you have to be different.

    Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

    Jim Meisenheimer - EzineArticles Expert Author

    Other Recent EzineArticles from the Business:Sales-Training Category:

     

     

    This article has been viewed 7351 time(s).
    Article Submitted On: September 30, 2004

    Used Conveyors
    There is a flourishing business in Used Conveyors and conveyor parts. Original users sell them for various reasons, like expanding, streamlining or modernizing their facilities. Dealers with large storage space buy secondhand equipment for resale. These are sometimes sold as they are or, in many cases, reconditioned or rebuilt. Such transactions benefit all three segments, the first user, the dealer and the buyer. Almost all parts and complete conveyor systems are available through this channel.Some dealers have expert consultants and undertake turnkey assignments for small as well as large projects. Generally the quality is good, and the equipment gives trouble-free service for long periods. There are dealers who offer warranties for what is bought from them, and service contracts so that the maintenance costs can be kept low. Some even provide training. With certain dealers a lease option is also available.Normally, the dealers are dependable and honest businesspeople. Nevertheless, it is prudent to take certain precautions when you sell or buy used machinery.If you are selling, keep the following points in mind. One practice in this business is that the dealer collects the items that are for sale and keeps them on a consignment basis in his store. You are paid when they are sold, after deducting the dealer’s cut. This procedure has obvious drawbacks. It is better to sell on cash down basis. Another important aspect is the time that is taken for dismantling the machines and removing them from your facility. Stipulate a fixed period for completing the job. A third one is to insist on the buyer cleaning up your premises after the jo
    >4. Here’s a business card idea. Why are business cards printed one side? Use the blank side of your business to differentiate yourself. You can stamp an inspirational quote. You can stamp the 7 reasons why customers like doing business with you. Use red ink to make it stand out.

    5. This is a small tip though it's an effective one. Most promotional literature is produced on standard size 81/2” X 11” paper. Since most people are overwhelmed by the amount of work on their desk - they simply create stacks of sales rep literature. Go to an Office Depot and buy brightly colored 9 X 12 paper. Affix your literature to the 9 X 12 paper and it’ll standout in any stack of literature. Use the open space on the colored paper to write a note, a reminder, or even your phone number.

    6. Visibility is more important than ability. Every contact counts. Develop a (one-two-three) follow-up system every time you meet and/or talk to a new prospect. Here’s my recommendation - within 24 hours send an e-mail, within 72 hours send a handwritten note, within 10 days send a handwritten note with an article to your prospect. Within two weeks you have a total of four exposures with your new prospect. Now that's impressive.


    7. Prepare creative organizational charts for your biggest proposals. In your business, if you do proposals especially for larger deals, consider using a very creative organizational chart. Think about the five to seven people in your organization who interact with your customers; you, your sales manager, your Vice President of sales, customer service, technical service, you get the picture. Create an organizational chart using boxes and include in each box the following: name, title, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and a digital photograph. This introduces your entire team with photographs to your new potential customer. It's easier for a prospect to say no to a salesperson than it is to say no to the entire team.


    The real difference among salespeople is what's inside their heads - their ideas. To offer generalities when customers are begging for specificity misses the mark completely. Don't permit generalities to skewer the real differences between you and your competitors.

    Being boring, bland, and benign won't cut it in today’s very competitive marketplace.

    If you want to make a difference you have to be different.

    Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

    Jim Meisenheimer - EzineArticles Expert Author

    Other Recent EzineArticles from the Business:Sales-Training Category:

     

     

    This article has been viewed 7351 time(s).
    Article Submitted On: September 30, 2004

    The Reality of Marketing Conflict
    Rhetoric aside, it’s clear that marketing is entering a new era, an era that will make the sixties and seventies look like a Sunday school picnic. Competition is getting brutal. The name of the game has become “taking business away from somebody else.”As companies experiment with different ways to increase sales, they are turning more and more to warfare strategies in general.But aggressiveness alone is not the mark of a good military strategy. Especially aggressiveness as represented by the “more” school of management. More products, more sales people, more advertising, more hard work.Especially more hard work. Somehow we feel better about success if we have to work hard to achieve it. So we schedule more meetings, more reports, and more memos, more management reviews.Yet military history teaches the reverse. A single-minded commitment to winning the battle on effort alone usually dissolves into defeat. From the trenches of World War I to the streets of Stalingrad in World War II, the military commander that lets his armies get bogged down in a hand-to-hand slugging match is usually defeated.The dogged determination of Xerox to make it in the office automation market is not a sign of future success. It’s a mark of futility.Much better are quick, lightning like strokes that depend more on timing than muscle. (What the Germans call blitzkrieg.) Not that muscle, or the principle of force, is not important. Far from it. But unless an attack is properly planned, you throw away your advantage if you let the battle degenerate into a war of attrition.Whenever you hear your commander say “We have to redouble our city misses the mark completely. Don't permit generalities to skewer the real differences between you and your competitors.

    Being boring, bland, and benign won't cut it in today’s very competitive marketplace.

    If you want to make a difference you have to be different.

    Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

    Jim Meisenheimer - EzineArticles Expert Author

    Other Recent EzineArticles from the Business:Sales-Training Category:

     

     

    This article has been viewed 7351 time(s).
    Article Submitted On: September 30, 2004

    Professional Yellow Page Advertising Design Assistance; Do You Need It?
    Having been involved in the franchising industry I have seen a lot of well-intentioned advertisements that simply did not pull and often I would cringe when I looked at some of those ads. But it was not just our franchise company franchisees that needed help, truly it is most all small business people.We finally instituted a plan that our franchisees had to fax us a copy of their ad 24-hours prior to sending in for publication, if they did not hear back from us in 12-hours it was automatically approved. The turn around had to be fast, as we did not want our franchisees to miss a deadline or marketing opportunity and we know people wait until the last minute. Also we wanted sales and for them to make money as that is the goal in business.That first year we rejected about 50% of the advertising display type ads and radio blurbs. A funny thing happened by not too unpredictable. You see the franchisees would send fax in the ads on Saturday night at 10 PM hoping we would not see them and they would be automatically approved for fear we might reject them at HQ. It was obvious we needed some help here. So, we revised the advertising in our Confidential Operations Manuals.Still we had to consider regional variation and ads do not work the same everywhere you see. So, as a small business person you might wish to consider doing it right and perhaps hiring a professional Yellow page advertising lay-out, design and strategist, indeed that is something most small businesses can use. Please consider all this in 2006.script" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">

    Other Recent EzineArticles from the Business:Sales-Training Category:

     

     

    This article has been viewed 7351 time(s).
    Article Submitted On: September 30, 2004

    The Value of the Simple Statement
    It is best to assume that with spoken language, simple is better than complex. Since we are unable to recapture or replay our spoken words, we hope that they will be correctly interpreted the first time they are heard. Unfortunately, spoken words can be the most misread and misinterpreted form of communication, and therefore, can be a great hindrance to effective persuasion. When you’re in a persuasive situation, use simple, direct, and concise language, rather than fretting about how eloquent you’re sounding. If you are preoccupied, you’ll miss a lot of important cues. Moreover, complex language may not effectively deliver your point.Persuaders normally try to speak to the lowest common denominator. The more advanced and complex your ideas and sentence structure are, the harder it is to follow your line of reasoning. You don’t want your audience struggling to understand what you mean. Comprehension should be easy because then your audience is more open to persuasion. If your prospects are struggling to find your logical thread, their emotions will never get involved, except in a negative, accusatory way.Clarity is of prime importance when persuading. Your persuasive attempts are useless if you are not clearly understood. Below is a list of complex words we use when we are trying to sound educated but which actually only confuse and tire our audiences. Notice the much simpler choice on the right that would help your audience to both comprehend your message and be persuaded by your presentation.Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help y>

     

     

    This article has been viewed 7351 time(s).
    Article Submitted On: September 30, 2004



    Please Rate This Article: 2 Votes | Average: 4.5 out of 52 Votes | Average: 4.5 out of 52 Votes | Average: 4.5 out of 52 Votes | Average: 4.5 out of 52 Votes | Average: 4.5 out of 5 (2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)

    HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
    <a href="http://www.actual4u.com/article/40250/actual4u-7-Sales-Techniques-To-Differentiate-You-From-The-Competition.html">7 Sales Techniques To Differentiate You From The Competition</a>

    BB link (for phorums):
    [url=http://www.actual4u.com/article/40250/actual4u-7-Sales-Techniques-To-Differentiate-You-From-The-Competition.html]7 Sales Techniques To Differentiate You From The Competition[/url]

    Related Articles:

    Payroll Iowa, Unique Aspects of Iowa Payroll Law and Practice

    Iowa payroll has some unique aspects and conditions. Some of the details and laws are set out in this article including information concerning: tax withholding and reporting; unemployment insurance taxes and reporting; wage and hour laws; and child support withholding.

    Small Business - Franchising and the Economic Reality of Regulation

    Have you ever considered how smaller businesses and even franchisees who own franchised outlets are hurt in economic downturns? Have you ever considered the ebb and flow of regulations and how they try to control it? We all know that the government does nothing very well and yet we allow them to try to reign in the cattle and corral the raging rapids of our economy. Why?

    Retailers! Open Your Eyes To A Whole New World For The Holidays

    Retailers who want to increase holiday sales 50%, need cash now and want to learn how to obtain alternative capital quickly without hassle in time to fund this holiday season should read on.

    Bookmark it: del.icio.us digg.com reddit.com netvouz.com google.com yahoo.com technorati.com furl.net bloglines.com socialdust.com ma.gnolia.com newsvine.com slashdot.org simpy.com shadows.com blinklist.com