Selling is Not Smart

Selling is Not Smart

I have done many sales courses over the years.  I have read many sales books, blogs and newsletters.  I have listened to many sales CD's and tapes.  I have come to the conclusion that Selling is Not Smart.

What I mean by that is that there is no super smart magic special formula, sentence, statement, or approach that is guaranteed to work every time.  There is no secret that you are missing and the super stars know.

The foundation of sales is this.  

How can you solve your customer's problem?  

To get to ask this question you need to build rapport in a way that is comfortable to you and that doesn't alienate your prospect.  Basically, be you and have a conversation. The best way to find out how is to practice having an engaging conversation and listen for the issue or problem they have.

Practice on your partner, your kids, your friends, your work colleagues, your clients, your prospects and all of a sudden you will find that you are a legendary sales person - simply by finding out how to solve your customer's problems.

Like I said, selling is not smart, it's an effortless conversation.

Image: Clairity 

Where is the Best Place to Exhibit?

I am frequently asked, "What's the best place to exhibit?"

Sometimes this becomes, "What do you think of the XYZ show for me?".  Some of my boutique clients tell me that they have been exhibiting at certain markets and they are wondering if it is time to go to a big expo and which one they should go to first.

There are a couple of things to consider when you ask yourself these questions:

Where is your Target Market?
It may be the best show on earth, but if the people you sell to are not there it will quickly become the worst show for you.  That doesn't mean you have to stick to the theme of the show. A friend of mine has a Hummer Hire Limo service.  He exhibits at Sexpo because he targets Hens Parties and Bucks Parties.

So where will your target market be?  What show, expo or market place do they go to the most?

What are your Goals?
You need to consider your target market in line with your goals.  Maybe you are not after sales you are after brand awareness or looking for a joint venture.  What location will best serve that goal?  This is one of the reasons McDonalds love having an outlet in children's hospitals.  Their sales may not be massive there but it fits in with their goal of capturing their target market at an early age.

What are you trying to achieve?  What show, expo or market place will best help you achieve this?

Do the Numbers Add Up?
The costs investment to exhibit is different for different events.  Out of town adds travel, accommodation and meal costs.  Different size events have different booth costs. Staff levels will impact your costs.  Different locations impact on price points and bundles you may create or sell.  Cost per impression on your branding will be different depending on numbers and relevance of the visitor.

So do the numbers.  Is the return on objective and return on investment within the desired range?


I believe there is NO best place to exhibit. There are only places that fit within your defined requirements and those that don't. These three considerations will help you assess your next potential location to see if it fits your requirements.

Let me know if you need any help assessing it.

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.doubleyourreturn.com
www.warwickmerry.com 

Want to Get More Sales?

Last week I was interviewed by Annemarie Cross on her Career Success Radio program.  We talked about many things for just under an hour.  In particular, we were talking about sales and how to increase them.

I thought that it is the kind of thing many people would be interested in.  If you are interested visit Annemarie's Blog and have a listen.

If you like what you hear and are interested in finding out how to Double Your Return when exhibiting at your next Trade Show or Expo, then visit www.DoubleYourReturn.com to get your free copy of  the Double Your Return CD and special report on how you can Double Your Return when you next exhibit.


Enjoy!!

Are They Eating Out of Your Hand?

As I write this I am enjoying the last day of a four day get away at Wye River.  It is a stunning location where mountains meet the sea. The glorious gum trees are filled with bird life.  We have seen cockatoos, rosellas, willy wagtails (not sure of their real name but this is what I call them), currawongs and king parrots.  


I decided I wanted to get up close and as you can see I finally had them eating out of my hand. You can use the same process to get your customers eating out of your hand. 

1. Go where your customer is - I went on to balcony when the birds were there
2. Give them what they want - I had broken bits of biscuit that I knew they liked
3. Make it easy for them - I put some crumbs on the railing and then held my open handful of crumbs next to it
4. Support them and make them comfortable - I held my hand steady and gave them more crumbs as they stood on my hand
5. Show gratitude - As they fed I was saying thank you for visiting us
6. Celebrate your success - The rest of us staying at the house came out to say hello to the king parrots

What about you? Do you have your customers eating out of your hands? Use this process and you soon can!


Enjoy

PS Do you Exhibit at Tradeshows, Expo's or Conferences?  Want to have your visitors eating out of your hand? Register for the complimentary webinar 5 Steps to Double Your Return. 

Who Are You Talking To?

I have just finished three days on the floor of an expo for a client.  I continue to be amazed at behaviour of exhibitors. 

Let me back track.  It's easy to be an ORDINARY exhibitor.  All you need is cash and a product or service to sell and you can exhibit.  To be aGOOD exhibitor, you just have to do the basics right.  With a little extra effort and focus, you can be an EXCELLENT exhibitor.

At this stage, I just want to focus on being a GOOD exhibitor.  It is just about the basics.  The important thing is, who are you talking to?  So many exhibitors at the recent show were not talking to anyone.  Some were standing there with their arms crossed, some were sitting (I still can't believe people do that) and some were just waiting for others to talk to them.  Some even seem shy and unable to approach the visitors.

My theory is that if you are not talking to anyone, you talk to everyone.  

Nothing attracts attention like attention.  If you are not talking to anyone it makes you less approachable.  By speaking to someone, it is less intimidating for others to come and join in the conversation or look at your wares.  Talking to people also allows you to qualify them.  If they are not interested, politely move them on and if they are interested take them to the next level.

It you are not talking to anyone, talk to everyone.

Who are you talking to?

PS If you want to see how I exhibit, drop into see me at booth 48 at Meetings Mart.  It's free, on tomorrow at Crown Promenade in Melbourne and I promise I will talk to you!

How Sticky Are You?

I don't mean that in the brown and wooden stick kind of way, I mean do you stick to it?  Do you commit to a strategy and give it every chance to succeed? Or at the first (or maybe second) sign that it is struggling do you stop working on it?

Don't get me wrong, sometimes we try things and they don't work.  It makes sense to change the strategy or approach but too often people don't give it enough of a change.  Imagine if we did that in all aspects of life.

Maybe your parents were trying to get you to walk and after three times you kept falling over so much that they said, "They will never walk, it's crawling for them!"  Think of how much that would hold you back!  My friend's mother (now in her 90's) had a mild accident on her fourth driving lesson when she was 20 and then decided she couldn't drive and never did again. I still struggle with that.

So what is your strategy and as part of it, when are the check points and how will you know when to change strategy?  This is particularly relevant when exhibiting at shows.  In a previous business, my partner and I decided that we should exhibit our $900 product in the exhibitions at the International Coaching Federation (ICF) conferences globally.  We knew that the first one would not cover costs.  Two airfares, accommodation let alone exhibiting costs were significant.

A couple of shows with no sales was tough but we stuck to the strategy.  After three years (nine shows) it started to pay off financially, but the payoff in reputation and awareness happened far sooner and was more strategic.  My partner went on to be Australasian President of the ICF as developing a significant database of prospects for future work for us.

So what is your strategy?  Where is the payoff? How will you measure your success or lack thereof?  Most importantly, how sticky are you?

Enjoy!!



PS If you are in Melbourne next Tuesday 26th, come and visit me at the Meetings Mart Expo at Crown Promenade. I will be giving away copies of my new CD 7 Secrets of Successful Sessions as well as creating solutions for business wanting to Get More from their next Conference or Training Session.  Come as a guest of the Get More Guy and you even get free parking!


Image: Oaklara Nutgrabber

Do You Feel Special?

More importantly than do you feel special, do you make your customers, your prospects or your team feel special?

The research has shown what many of us knew instinctively. Customer loyalty and purchase decisions are more based on how your customer/prospects feel than a logical decision. So do you make them feel special?  Look at any exhibitor, leader, company or sales person who you think is "Extraordinary".  The reality is that they are not extraordinary, they are simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  They do a little bit more than your average person or company does and this makes them stand out.

For example, wifey and I went to dinner last night with friends to Borsh, Vodka and Tears.  Knowing it is popular I made sure that I had booked for 4 at 7:30pm.  So far all was proceeding as usual.  I got the phone call from them earlier in the day to confirm my booking (as has become standard with many restaurants now) and wifey and I headed in at the designated time.  Most places will just have "reserved" on the table, typically with a credit card logo as they will sponsor the sign and pay for them, but not here.  I was quite excited to find that their reservation system was.....My Name!!  Check it out. 

Now they didn't spell it correctly, but I didn't care because it was close enough.  To help them manage all of their bookings, it was also systemised.  Noticed the table number, the number of people and time of the booking is also on the card.  While I know it is only a little thing, it made me feel special.  Not just "another booking" but "Warwick's" booking.

In what you do, do you make your customers and colleagues feel special?  Do you just do that little bit extra to make it extraordinary?  You could be an exhibitor, a sales person or simply part of a larger organisation.  What will you do TODAY to make those around you feel special?

Enjoy!!

Warwick

PS I got plenty of feedback from last week's Get More Goer.  For those of you who really wanted to know, yes Mum did lick the spoon.
Also, demand for the Frangelico and Brownies recipe was high.  For those of you who missed it, you can download it here.