Powerful Sales Accelerators During Economic Crisis

One natural business truth is that you have to sell if you want to stay in business. Currently, achieving sales success seems overwhelming given the reported months of continued job losses and the U.S. Congressional Budget Office announcing estimates of the $11 Trillion budget deficit for the next decade. We are witnessing the world’s largest economy appearing to shrink by over 2.3 percent this year alone, the most since 1946.

However, as companies continue to cancel orders, return goods to vendors, cutting jobs and overhead expenses. Many opportunities exist for high quality home based business entrepreneurs that offer cost effective niche products or services.

Increasing sales during economic crisis particularly for the home based business entrepreneur may be the single most important learned skill of any business survival plan. Every contact, company large or small during a tough economy is a potential new sale. Customers are responding to discounts seeking the “most bang for the buck” cutting expenses across the board. Take heart entrepreneurs: sales is a craft, not an art. It can be learned.

During competitive economic climates first think in terms of building personal relationships, “people do business with other people." Consider the "lifetime value" of a customer, not just a one-time sale. Finding money takes consistent efforts practiced overtime. Don’t be fearful always ask for the sale when the moment is right.  Learn the sales skills that can increase your bottom line.

Listening: A great salesperson hears what the customer wants - their concerns and priorities. When calling on a customer listen so you can understand how your product or service meets the customer's budget needs better than a competitors.

Ask questions: Ask the customer relevant questions to draw them out. "What do you like in your current situation?" "What don't you like?" "What features are the most important?"

Present clear benefits, not what you do: You work with your product or service every day, so it's natural to focus on the details of your work. But customers don't always want to know the ins-and-outs of your business; they want to know how you save them money while meeting their needs.

Be honest: Lying is not only unethical and possibly illegal. It's also a sure-fire way to lose clients and potential customers.

Compare, don't criticize, your competition: Stay, factual - positive - compare your benefits and value with your competitors.

Build relationships: We all prefer to do business with people we like and trust. You might want to make a little less profit to begin an ongoing customer relationship. Get to know your customers; find out about their businesses or families. One way small businesses can beat out the big guys is by building strong relationships.

Get aggressive: Create cost effective ways to find work for your business. Develop online web search engine optimization (SEO), social network groups, or post your business card with local shop owners. Find low cost workers including school intern assistants use personal contacts. As your work load grows, you will have less time to solicit new business with more of your time spent servicing existing clients.

Do your homework, be prepared to get that sale, take a deep breath and relax. As long as you are prepared and understand the sales process, you will do just fine. Whether you are cold calling a potential client or making a person-to-person presentation, always think of how to close the deal. Remember these sales tips;

• Believe in your product or service

• Practice your presentation

• Create the Need – Why does the customer need your product or service?

• Think of your objection handling strategy

• Review what went right or wrong after your sales calls

• Learn to accept "No" for an answer

• Measure your sales success making adjustments – challenge yourself to do better each time  

Sales are a natural and powerful part of any business life. You don't have to be a naturally-gifted salesperson to be successful. The sales process gets easier with each success. Just do it!

For information email james@sustainablevirtualbiz.com  or Call (503) 621-4953.

Making It Simple - Surviving Financial Depression  

We live in a fast paced world.  Computers.  Cell phones.  Satellite TV.  Multiple cars.  Multiple televisions.  Big houses.  We’ve grown accustomed to all of these things, but are they really necessary?

The economic news in the United States is not good. Bank failures.  Bailouts.  Rising unemployment.  Stagnant housing market.  Economic stimulus packages.  It seems that every day headlines contain stories about each of these subjects of our depressed economy. 

I’m not going to speculate on how long the bad economy will last, whether an economic stimulus plan will help, or if we’re in a recession at all.  None of that matters when it’s your family facing cutbacks and job losses. What matters is what we can do in the here and now.  And instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, some of the best ways to survive a recession can be found from the lessons of our ancestors during past depressed economic times.

A defining awareness of our ancestors was the ability to adapt and learn self reliance. They took the time to learn survival skills. If they needed vegetables, they grew them.  Meat?  They butchered and preserved it themselves. Is your grocery budget to high? Learn to cook from scratch. Walk to the local store instead of driving. Get active!

Instead of assuming you need to pay for something, ask yourself if you could learn to “do the job” yourself.  Sometimes the answer might be no.  But sometimes the answer just might be yes.  And if you learn, you’ll not only save money, but you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment for learning something new.

Education and training is important; it’s the second component to our “doing the knowledge.” And you should seek out root knowledge, not branch knowledge. This means you can’t just skim the surface of a subject matter and suddenly become the master of it. We must be patient, learning on a personal level.

In our fast paced, internet driven society today, we often lose sight of the fact that personal relationships with others in our community are important.  But they are.  When push comes to shove, and you need financial help, having a local support system can be a life saver!

For instance, if you need a car repair, but don’t have the money for the repair, you might barter with a friend that knows how to fix your car. Bartering is a great way to get things you need, if you don’t have the cash. 

Teaming up can also help in other ways.  If you’re a busy family who is used to eating out when life gets chaotic, you can cut costs by teaming up with another family or families to cook.  If each of you makes one meal, but triples the recipe, you can give portions to your friends and rotating meal schedule so everyone can save money.  With a few good friends and a little creativity, you can make your resources stretch a long way.

So often we convince ourselves we have needs, when those “needs” are really desires. The next time you say you have nothing in your house for dinner, ask if you really have nothing, or if you just don’t have anything that sounds good to you at the moment.  See what I mean?

I know none of this sounds easy or fun.  And you’re right.  Sometimes it’s not either.  But when you’re trying to survive tough economic times, when your income has been cut drastically, sometimes you have to do what’s not easy or fun. You’re in survival mode.

None of this is permanent.  Once the recession passes (and it will pass), we can lighten up again, reveling in the fact that you survived tough economic times without going further into debt.  You’ll appreciate your accomplishment and surviving the learning experience which will make us stronger more appreciative people.    

For information email james@sustainablevirtualbiz.com  or Call (503) 621-4953.