How to Sell to Customers in the SMB and Non Profit world

How to Sell to Customers

Welcome to the wonderful world of the sales profession and trust me it’s a profession and not just a job. It is a world of constant change, learning and new ways to sell your product or service. SMB and non-profits usually have sales people that need to have a more formal approach to selling. Not every company has a real SALES COACH or on-going training on premise to help. Here are 8 ways to improve your sales efforts:

1        Network

People do business with people they know and trust. It’s that simple. Meet new people and look for ways that you can help them.

Be a niche Player 

Be an expert in specific area or use your greatest strength in helping others

Pricing

Price is what you pay and value is what you get. Sell value

What’s In It For Them

Answer the questions Why would someone purchase or need your product or service?

What will they gain?

Be Authentic

People like doing people with those that love their job and are honestly interested in their customers.  People buy from people and from those they like.

Reat your Customers like you want to be Treated

This is very important in my world. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Treat your customers like you would want to be treated. See the world from their eyes.

Market better

There are many different solutions to marketing and some work better than others. Try different methods and ensure that your doing various cross channel and multi-channel campaigns.

CRM can be your Friend

The Palm Pilot PDA from 1994 was replaced with better customer relationship manager (CRM) tools. If you want to give someone a call and can’t remember what you spoke about last time, a CRM tool is invaluable. 

What do Business Travelers want the most?

What do Business Travelers want the most?

FREE INTERNET FREE INTERNET FREE INTERNET FREE INTERNET FREE INTERNET

The most annoying thing a tired business traveler has to deal with is those hotels who think that after spending $179 on a room you need to fork out another $15 bucks for it. Even better if you spend $600 a night in New York and have to pay extra. Those charges made sense back in 2000 when they had to invest in a closet full of DSLAM equipment and internet access was expensive but today the cost is super low. In fact I feel partly to blame. Way back in 2000 I did sell a hotel the dslam gear, cabling and even voice mail and explained how they can charge $17.95 a night and recoup their investment and make a fast 6 month ROI. 7 years later I am staying in that same hotel fuming at having to pay those charges. What is 300 rooms times $17.95 a night times 240 weekday nights? ooops $1.3M in revenue What is the loss of 60 rooms a night due to hefty Wi-Fi charges $2.7M? Maybe free internet starts to make sense.

Now if the Hotel really feels that they have the right to charge then at least offer a real high speed service with real bandwidth so we can use our video apps with no jitter and Skype with latency free service. Some hotels are actually advertising the 30x speeds. The latest tactic is to offer enhanced internet access with access to corporate vpn and faster speeds to support video streaming. Many business travelers actually need those features and have to pay extra.

Business travelers make up a big segment of a hotel's business revenue so it’s important to listen to their needs. Every traveler wants a comfortable bed, good lighting, a large desk and reliable high speed internet access. Health conscious travelers are also asking for healthy dining options and workout rooms. Many hotels when they do a refresh take into account most of those needs.

However, recent stays have identified the need for more electrical outlets. I don’t want to travel with a Monster power bar so I can charge my Playbook, my Laptop, cellphone, my iPad, my Nexus maybe a camera battery, maybe other stuff. It’s always the same single outlet embedded in the desk light and the closest outlet beside the alarm clock. Now we know why maids haul a 50 foot extension cord around with their vacuum cleaner. Maybe a high speed internet bundle with a power bar rental, free long distance and a bottle of water starts to make sense for 99 cents.

Now the negative aspect of all this you will forget your power adaptors and power bar and leave them behind. Every hotel has tons in the lost and found. I use a bright red elastic tie that I got with my Think Tank cable manager and it helps give me a visual but i can also wrap it to my laptop so it doesn’t get forgotten. One clever road warrior showed me how he takes the conference badge lanyard and ties the adapter and laptop together so he does not forget to take it with him.

Business travelers can be loyal and repeater customers if Hotels think a little bit about the customer experience and put themselves in their customer’s shoes.

Hoteliers that take time off from their C suite office and actually stay in one of their properties like the "Hidden Boss" reality show will be surprised in how they can improve the customer experience and improve their revenues.

5 Easy Steps to Direct Marketing for SMB and Non Profits

I have been busy helping some organisations and non profits with better selling and better marketing skills and a frequent topic came up. Does Junk mail work because we are not getting as much out of social media?

First off its not junk mail unless its marketed as such. A 2 for 1 pizza coupon on a flyer is not junk its cost savings and dinner for a consumer. Tweeting out a promotion is not effective if I am not a follower and cold calling does work for specific products and services. It is all about how the marketing is done and what the call to action to the customer is.

Social Media does work but again it depends on what you are trying to do,

Both can be very effective weapons in winning the hearts, minds and $$$ from our customers.

Direct marketing has been proven to be one of the most effective and inexpensive methods for an organisation to promote or sell its products or services. It allows you to target a specific group of people to generate a specific call to action.

Direct marketing is contacting your potential customer directly and includes direct mail, email marketing, telemarketing or text-message marketing campaigns.

Direct marketing is also helpful in building brand awareness, customer trust, loyalty and repeat business. Done properly, a DM program can also be easy to measure especially when a response code is used.

Here are five basic steps to starting your own direct marketing campaign.

1. Choose a promotion or offer for your specific campaign

Usually, a response is improved when there is a promotion or offer that the consumer can react too. A discount, a sale or a contest creates a sense of urgency to respond in the appropriate time-frame.

2. Run the campaign often

If you are doing a DM with mail or flyers, the average consumer may not react and usually a marketer needs to do 5 or 6 campaigns in order to get a response. Each campaign can refer to the same promotion but done in a different style or method.

A local Telco likes to send me mail, a flyer, a telephone call and even a postcard. They are still selling the same product but trying to get me interested via different marketing methods. Paper based marketing is still effective and even though it may be called junk mail a $5 off coupon on a postcard works for me.

There are new guidelines for email marketing that needs to be understood

http://fightspam.gc.ca/eic/site/030.nsf/eng/home

3. Have a call to action

When you are developing your campaign for your promotion, make sure you make an offer that will encourage your customers to act immediately. If there is no sense of urgency or time-line then the consumer will not act quickly. A car dealer can promote a lot sale and a BBQ on a weekend and the consumer can respond to obtain a free promotional item or register to get their discount code. Act now, call now, registration must be done today! Hurry before it is too late.

4. Make it Personal

Junk mail is addressed to the address not the person. If you are using a database then address it to the consumer. There are different tricks to use to get people to open their mail and handwritten ones work best. Computer generated forms look just like that so give some thought to how the envelope needs to look to invite a response. There truly may be a reason why some marketing is done on a fridge magnet.

Hello John

As a valued Subaru customer, we would like to invite you to our new model showing. Come in and look at what the new models have to offer and enjoy a complimentary custom frozen yogurt and a chance to win a Samsung Tablet……would get a better response than…

Dear Homeowner

As a valued automobile customer, we would like to invite you to our new model showing. Come in and look at what the new models have to offer and enjoy a complimentary custom frozen yogurt and a chance to win a Samsung Tablet……would get a better response than

5. Evaluate your Responses

Direct marketing allows data to be gathered for later analysis to see what worked and what didn't. The more data you collect and analyze, the more you will learn about your consumer behaviour. The more you know, the more successful you will be for your tweaking your next direct marketing campaign.

“Tony, the postcard campaign worked really well in the L4X and M3X postal codes”

Take a look at who the consumers were in that area and what they bought and when to better understand how they reacted to the campaign.

“We sent red postcards to those addresses and not the grey ones, so lets do another run with red postcards to the postal codes that didn’t react…ok?”

Marketing can be simple and complicated but the best method is to set a budget, develop a story and a call to action and choose the methods of delivery. If effective then you can see your sales or interest activity increase.

There is a lot of activity on multi-channel and cross -channel marketing programs that require staff and $$$ to do effectively.

A simple method could be to generate a response from a postcard mailing that drives traffic to your website where you can then attempt a conversion. Another method could be to sign up for a newsletter or on-going couponing.

Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL) affects small business

Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL), coming into force July 1^st, affects most businesses – any sending emails, text messages or messages through social media. But, according to a new member survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) this week, only 15 per cent of small business owners are fully aware of CASL's requirements, and most (62 per cent) have taken no steps to comply.

"Most small business owners don't think of themselves as spammers," said CFIB president Dan Kelly, "But under the new law, everyday interactions with customers and potential customers will be considered spam without a significant investment to document the right permissions."

Among other changes, the new law will require businesses to seek consent to send business emails, keep a record of those consents, and to add an unsubscribe feature to every email message. The required technological and process changes can be significant. As an example, a small business was told it will cost them $30,000 to $50,000to be in full compliance.

CFIB has received dozens of calls from concerned business owners who are struggling to figure out how to make their businesses viable in the new CASL world. Sadly, the support being offered by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), one of the agencies responsible for enforcing CASL, has been less-than-stellar.

"Businesses support the idea of reducing spam, but everything we're hearing suggests that the current rules need to be made small business-friendly," said Kelly. CFIB members support a focus on education over enforcement, and providing exemptions where these rules are not workable, for example where businesses send a relatively low volume of emails per month.

"The government has repeatedly insisted that CASL was designed to go after the worst offenders, and not the general business population," added executive vice president Laura Jones. "Small businesses want to comply with the spirit of the law, but implementing the letter of the law will be a challenge. Clearly, more work needs to be done to make CASL work for small business."

CFIB has prepared tips on implementing CASL for small business available at http://cfib.ca/a6267e.  

CFIB is Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region.

A Review of AmazonFresh

AmazonFresh is going to eat the local retailers lunch bite by bite and is Bezos's new disruptor

So there has been several attempts at on-line groceries in the past and most failed. In Canada, Longo Brothers Fruit Markets bought out Grocery Gateway in 2005. Their model is where pickers actually collect your chopping cart at a local Longo store for home delivery as opposed to the central warehouse model.

In the USA, there has been others that somehow failed. It is 2014 and enter AmazonFresh

Right now its in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle with plans for 20 more cities.

You need a $299/yr Amazon Prime Fresh membership which offers free delivery and video streaming associated with the goodness of Amazon prime. They are offering over 500,000 items with a $35 minimum order and deliver other goods unattended onto your doorstop.

How good is the service?

I asked a friend out in San Francisco as to their thoughts and this is what he said:

"You kind of need to order a day in advance because the drones are not ready to deliver the stuff yet but same day is possible depending on what you order. They ship in big green bags and cold stuff is packed in styrofoam and frozen water bottles. (cool you can drink the water later). I can choose delivery time slots as well. So far its very convenient as i don't have to bother going on stock up trips to the big box stores but it is more costly price wise however the convenience and time saving is worth it. So instead of hanging out in line ups and getting bashed around by shopper mom carts on a Saturday morning, I can take a drive out to Point Reyes or be mountain biking the trails in Marin County instead".

Is it really Fresh?

"Yeah so far its been fine but I prefer to get my vegetables, fruits and meats in person so I can pick and choose accordingly or from the different Farmer Markets instead. I got milk and yogurt shipped and it was delivered without any issues."

Getting an Amazon Fire telephone??

"No I have the Samsung Note 3 now but I love my Kindle Fire HD tablet. As an expat I should probably be looking to score a BlackBerry Passport as a second cellphone."

Still spending time at the Big Box stores?

"No because I can kind of get whatever I need from AmazonFresh so far but I am spending time looking for bargains at the Radio Shacks as they close down and I get stuff at local smaller grocery stores anyways"

When is the Apple watch coming out?

"I heard Mayor Ford is doing better these days"

Should BlackBerry do up a watch?

"Hey they could buy Pebble since the founder came up with a hacklab for getting his BBM on a watch display while cycling but maybe they should stick to QNX, M2M and having the most secure cellphone comms out there"

Thanks for your thoughts

"Too bad you torontonians dont have NFL Football and Dunkin Donuts"

Bye Bye now and too bad you do not have hockey or Harvey's Poutine. Oh hey I really called you to get a driver for windows 7 for my Palm One Z72 as it wont Hotsync with x64. You helping?

"Sure give me 20 minutes and you send me a BlackBerry Playbook and I will trade you a HP tablet."

with a 3Com Audrey.......??????

"no deal but i will send you a Halt Catch Fire TV show sticker anyways"

"Ok found the driver and its in Dropbox...eh!"

Skypeout..........

The World is Changing June 2014 Edition

The world is changing especially in North America where the first medical marijuana advertisement is appearing on TV. There will be 800 ad playing over a period of 2 weeks in New Jersey

Apple is now venturing into the in-car OS system with what is called “CarPlay”. I guess they couldn’t find some called iCar. The system will allow iPhone users to Bluetooth into the mobile system and make calls, receive calls, use Siri and be misguided by the Apple maps program. Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo customers now have a reason to get rid of their Vertu luxury cellphones.

3UK is doing this right now in the UK markets

Bell and Rogers continues its push into the traditional TV and radio media space and TELUS pushes forward into eHealth. A recent TELUS acquisition adds another 12,500 doctors who uses its electronic medical records technology. Interesting how new business streams are added to offset declining POTS and long distance revenues.

The recent bad weather and ice storms seems to have made customers switch from VOIP and Cableco based landlines (which need AC  power) to traditional POTS copper lines from Bell. Seems the Voice router batteries only last a few hours which is not enough when the power is out for days.

The Canada post office has seen declining revenues as many do not mail letters anymore because of email and social media networks providing practically real time communication. They are seeing some revenue increases due to the birth of on-line shopping. In the 1980s they released the Super Mailboxes which is on my street and has two lock boxes but the individual mailbox will not take magazines. Many times the Do Not Bend items actually get bent. The new Community Mailboxes are undergoing a Pilot in Oakville and will have individual mailboxes that can take magazines laid flat, can accommodate many parcel sizes and will feature larger lock boxes for oversize parcels. The outgoing mail slot is wider as well and new security key enhancements. Looks like CP did some homework in designing a mailbox system that meets today’s needs not those from 1981. This is an example of innovation where new ideas are taken to design an existing product into a better product. How about adding a solar panel and a smartphone charging station? Now when you walk the dog you can also charge your phone if need be.

Super Mailbox Community Mailbox (smart canadian thinking)

Radio Shack in the USA is in trouble and its closing over 1000 stores out of their 4000 store footprint. The demise of CB radio, DIY electronics, Home Computing has let Rat Shack slim down their inventory and focus on toys and Cellular. Too bad the margins on electronics were huge but I think the Best Buy, Frys and Amazons (and local Computer shops) have kind of disrupted their business. I was in 3 Radio Shacks on a recent business trip and they were all empty. You can see the reduction in items in the different categories. Too bad there is a long history of Radio Shack that has given birth to innovation.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/history.html

In Canada, Radio Shack was bought by Circuit City (which became Tiger Direct) and renamed The Source. In 2009, Bell Canada purchased them and in a brilliant move has now become the Bell Cellular location in many retail locations across Canada. Bell did not renew the Rogers reseller agreement and its focus is on selling bell Mobility products. In fact, in many stores there is a sales person standing right in front of the store at many busy malls pushing cellphones. So now you can go to Vaughan Mills and buy a Bell Mobility device from a Bell Corporate store, The Source, Bell Kiosk and also the Wireless Wave reseller.

 

The Source is actually growing its revenues by its specialty retailer niche and customer service values.

TELUS bounced back and bought Black’s Camera which gave them a broader retail footprint overnight and a new revenue stream. I don’t think the thought of printing photos off your cellphone was too important and it was just recently they offered some apps to do this. Regardless, the retail footprint was very important and it did beat out Rogers.

Wind Mobile did a partnership with Blockbuster who then went out of business. This was an excellent idea to place WIND kisoks rapidly across many locations. Red Box has taken the DVD rental space and at $1.99 a rental the self-serve vending machine is profitable.

Plastic in Fast Food Bread Products

Azodicarbonamide is a food additive that is added to bread in order to make it soft, light and resilient. It is also used in yoga mats and shoe soles to make them soft, light and resilient. It is banned in Europe but not in North America. Subway uses it in their bread and has pledged to stop using it. Where else can it be found?

Tim Horton doughnuts and buns

McDonalds: Buns, English Muffins,

Pizza Hut: Pizza Dough and Garlic bread

KFC: Buns

Starbucks: Sandwich breads and Apple Fritter

European studies show this additive to be somewhat carcoginetic but Health Canada states it is completely safe. In the USA it has been found in over 500 bread and pastry products and may be the case in Canada as well.

Next time you are eating some bread or pastry, you may wish to take a look at the ingredients and see if you are eating any Azodicarbonamide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azodicarbonamide.

Remember PepsiCo said it would remove an ingredient that had been linked to a flame retardant from its Gatorade drinks last year.

Beware Glaceau Vitamin Water in the 591mL bottle has 32 grams of sugar which is 8 teaspoons worth. 

Target Canada and its Quest to Change Canadian retail is failing

Target bought out all the valuable Zeller stores from The Bay (at a purchase price of $18 Billion in 2011) and launched itself last year. A launch that has failed miserably. I queried 10 of my friends and many seemed indifferent to the store and those that did visit complained about lack of inventory and product selection. This is obviously a supply chain issue. In 2013 they lost $941 Million dollars. WOW! That is a big loss to the balance sheet.

The good news is that many Canadian target shoppers continue to buy product in the USA. Why? Better selection, lots of inventory and better size selection of clothing.

The other dilemma is that pricing in Canada is higher than its US locations and at times is perceived to be higher than Zellers.

A recent visit to buy a $100 tea kettle led to frustration as the selection was slim with a limited stock selection. WalMart was no better they only offered 2 models but had lots of stock. The kettle was purchased from The Bay with 25% off and they had 6 models to choose from.

The other missed detail is that there is no weekly flyer in the local newspaper. WalMart and The Bay do weekly flyers, Target in my neighborhood does not. That’s a big marketing problem that is easy to fix. Target will bounce back but it will take more effort to win back the trust from the early shopping adopters.

Their target.ca website is horrible compared to the U version. With Canadians being high internet users and doing about half their shopping on-line is a serious omission.

Consumers need Target to work as competition will make the other retailers like WalMart work harder. Meanwhile, Dollarama is keeping its stores full and the no return policy on a dollar item makes it so much easier. If your overseas made product is not the quality you enjoy then throw it out.

Too bad Sears has taken it on the chin for not being relevant beyond lawn mowers and dishwashers because the fashion offerings really suffered and over time consumers shopped elsewhere. They really seemed to push their Jessica, Logan Hill and Nevada brand labels which doesn’t seem to hit the demographics of those who buy fashion.

Staples as well have focused heavily on big box stores where a medium format store would suffice but they do get on-line and it works very well. My wife bought several items that arrived the next day. Free Shipping was her motivator.

So we really need department store competition and hopefully Target gets a Canadian bulls eye sooner than later. Come on Target get better for us consumers...we love you!

French ACD Queues

I have been struggling with Dell Canada of late trying to resolve a major issue with the travel keyboard not working with the Venue 11 Pro tablet. I have 9 different 1-800 numbers and what appear to be the ones for Canada have the following “For French press 1 and for English press 2”…I now know my call is being answered in Quebec.

My experience with the offshore agent support has been excellent, although they have not fixed the problem after 2 hours, a supervisor jumps on to ensure everything is well and a follow up email happens as well. For the first time in my life, they called me out of the blue to see how my life was going? Not good I replied and another 3 hours trying to make it work. We have finally agreed to an RMA so let’s see what happens after the depot repair. I give Dell a high rating in Tech Support and Customer Service and they offer a better experience than my Apple Store headaches. I hope Dell can fix the keyboard disconnect issue, if not my fix is using the Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

Update: DELL pulled through and fixed the problem. I shipped the bundle to the repair depot and it came back the next day. Thats fast service and a supervisor called me to ensure everything was good. 

Shaw bets big on Wi-Fi

Shaw is focusing on internet services and not so much on cable. Naturally, the internet is the growth platform for the Cablecos. This value add is access to over 30,000 hot spots on the Shaw GO Wi-Fi Network across the serving areas that Shaw has local presence. This allows the user to have access through Wi-Fi outside of the home and it does not count against your data bill. So if you watch a Netflix movie on your tablet through Wi-Fi then there is no charge if it was on the Shaw 4G networks. When they add the Shaw GO phone app the home line can be extended to the smartphone through Wi-Fi. Interesting, your at the local Shaw powered coffee shop watching Breaking Bad and your Samsung tablet and your mom calls your home number and you answer it on your Blackberry Q10 and chat away. No charges against your data bucket as its all on the Shaw Wi-Fi network.

The average user uses about 1GB of data on their smartphone or tablet so this kind of offering could be a retainer tool for Shaw customers.

Shaw can easily monetize this for special events like the Calgary Stampede, or local festivals and guest use by tourists. Could this become the Canadian version of Boingo? I hope so as there really isn’t any national Wi-Fi provider in Canada unless you consider Starbucks a player in that space and more recently McDonalds.

WIND Mobile has the chance to compete against Shaw with a similar offering.

Road Warrior Travel Tips May 2014

OK here are a few more tips gleaned from recent travel adventures

How do you fight jet lag?

I try to match my sleep somewhat to my destination a few days before hand. When I get to my destination I wake up at the local time and try to get lots of sunshine as its this that resets your internal clock. Worked to help combat the 13 hour flip flop while on Japan.

Travel Essentials?

A single carry on and pack clothes that are easy to wash with some mild detergent if travelling longer than a few days. The new cotton like shirts that are made from high tech materials are a charm to wear and clean.

Apps?

Data plans can be very expensive considering a Google map download is 1 MB so use map apps that allow you to download the map.  Also a small compass is invaluable in locating North. I was so frustrated in Akihabara that the map I was using was upside down, incorrect and even the locals could not figure it out how to get to my destination. If I knew where North was then it would have been simpler and faster to get to the location. I use several location specific or city guides and Google maps. If you can get to a free WiFi spot then Google maps is very handy with directions. The Tokyo subway map was handy but once you figure out the system its not really that useful and the paper based map is better.

WiFi

Check before hand what access will be available. Starbucks are everywhere and some cities have municipal based access or sponsor driven access. Tokyo has free access for tourists but you need to get a passcard first. I was able to actually get one at a Tourist Info Center where English was spoken.

Large Plastic Zip Lock bags

Packing dirty clothes, a change of underwear for overnight flights, saving food doggie bags, and a impromptu trash bag. Tokyo has a lack of streetside garbage bins and citizens are encouraged to take their trash home, so when enjoying a banana you may have to bring that peel back to your hotel and the zip lock bag is your best friend.

Patience

Travel can mean long lines, delays, confusion and locals giving wrong directions.