Winning in Sales: Creat Value First
In today's sales environment people are constantly bombarded with sales messages and marketing everywhere they turn. This generally turns them off to any type of new product or service that can help their business to be more productive, save money, or meet their business objectives. This is bad news for sales reps and small business owners because you contact them to schedule an appointment their first thought in mindset will be "oh here comes another marketing pitch".
The way to combat this is to give value to your customers or prospect so that when they do have a need for your product or service they will contact you and ask for advice. So how do you add value to your customer or prospect and be seen as a person who can help them overcome some of their business obstacles?
One of the best ways to add value is to start an e-mail auto responder and an ezine that you can continually follow up with your customers and prospects with to keep your name in front of them. When you are creating your follow up materials make sure that is something that they would be interested in and it talks to them about their business and how to meet their goals. One of the biggest mistakes most companies and sales reps make is that all there market materials are focused on them and their product or solution not the needs of the prospect.
Submit articles to local newspapers or websites that your prospects read. Many newspapers and websites would be happy to have contributors that can add value to their readerships. When you are creating articles for submission talk about some of the latest technologies or developments that have helped other companies meet their goals. Give value in this article and at the bottom of the article you can leave your contact information and this will give your customer or prospect a way to contact you.
Offer a free report to your customers and prospects that is related to the industry that you are in. For example, if you sell office equipment write a report such as the five ways that companies lose customers by using outdated printing materials. Or five ways you can increase productivity in your office by digitizing your copier and fax. Everybody loves to get something for free and you can leverage this by getting their contact information and the next time you contact them you will be a warm contact and they will view you as an expert.
In today sales environment you have to find a reason that your customers and prospects want to do business with you and want to meet with you. There is no better way to become a person of value than to give value in the beginning.
About the Author
Did you know that even the most successful cold callers only have a 2% success rate while cold calling? You know that cold calling prospecting is one of the least effective ways to find new prospects? Go to http://www.sickandtiredofcoldcalling.com where you will get a free 5 part e-course to eliminate cold calling out of your life.
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