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Can You Teach Your Small Business Prospects to Buy?

By Charlie Cook | August 9, 2007

Can you teach?

Is there an inner teacher in you that could help grow your business?

I’ve been a teacher ever since I graduated from college – literally and figuratively. My first post-college job was as an elementary school teacher and then I moved on to teaching children with behavior problems as a special education teacher. Later I graduated to working with big kids, with senior executives as a management consultant.

For the last couple of decades I’ve found my true passion as a marketing coach developing marketing ideas. I love providing marketing solutions and helping people transform their businesses.

When you know something that can help someone else it’s satisfying to share that knowledge and it’s good for business too. One of the most effective ways to build credibility with prospects and to help them see how valuable your products and services are is to teach.

You may never have trained formally as a teacher or graded papers but if you’ve been in business for a few years you’re an expert and your clients would be impressed if they realized how much you knew.

One way to convince clients of your expertise is to tell them, “Twenty years in business” or “America’s best”. You could do that but it wouldn’t impress many. Instead you can effectively demonstrate your expertise with articles, newsletters, audios, videos, etc. Do this regularly and your prospects will see you as the go to expert in your field.

You may be asking yourself – “Aren’t there tons of others in my field who know as much as I do or more? How can I differentiate myself from them and stand out from the competition?”

You’re 100% right. In most service professions or product areas, there are lots of competitors, people who have the same amount of experience as you do or more, but there is one difference…

Most small business owners don’t use their marketing to educate their prospects and to capture their loyalty and their business.

Regardless whether you sell advertising, concrete plants, hearing aids, real estate, design, or consulting services, there are tons of ideas you can give away, ideas you can teach your prospects that don’t cost you a dime and make you look smarter and better than your competitors.

If you use this simple strategy you can easily stand out from your competitors and be seen as the expert in your niche. Isn’t that what you want to stand out from your competition and get the greatest share of the business?

If you’ve ever wanted a simple and honest way to market your business and see your profits grow I’ve detailed what to do in the ‘Insider Secrets to Highly Effective Marketing‘. Use this link to claim your copy >>

I’m always teaching whether it’s with my clients or my friends on the ski slope or out sailing and there is a point where you should drawn the line. Don’t try teaching your wife or husband. Even if I know exactly what my wife should be doing to make the perfect ski turn, she’d much rather hear it from a ski instructor. The same goes for your kids once they become teenagers.

Even though your family may not appreciate you as a teacher – your prospects do. They do want to discover the great insights and tips you may take for granted, ones that will help you build a long-term winning relationship with them.

You’ve worked hard to become as wise as you are – now tap your inner teacher and leverage all that effort by marketing your knowledge with the ‘Insider Secrets to Highly Effective Marketing‘ and get all the business you deserve. Use this link to claim your copy >>

You can teach your prospects to buy and grow your business!

– Charlie
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work

TeleClinic – How to Sell Even If You Never Thought You Could

By Charlie Cook | July 26, 2007

Hate selling? Wish you could close more sales and grow your business?

Whether you’re a sole entrepreneur or small business owner or work for a large company – the traditional sales model doesn’t work. It makes you feel pushy and scares away more prospects than it converts into happy customers.

** Save the date **
Wednesday August 1st, 1pm EST
Can’t make it? Register anyways to listen to the call when you want.

In this TeleClinic, I’ll be sharing the secrets of how to master selling and close more sales whether you’re just getting started or have been in sales for decades. I’ll be detailing the step-by-step formula: its as simple as 1,2,3…

You’ll discover how to get your prospects asking for the sale and how you can profit almost instantly with these easy to use techniques.

This isn’t rocket science – it’s just most people are stuck trying to sell using an outdated traditional model that only works marginally. Once you discover how easy it is, it can change your business forever.

I’ve never shared this sales technique with anyone but my private clients before, so you don’t want to miss this teleclinic. It will only be offered this once.

Use this link to register >> http://www.mfsstore.com/teleclinic-hts.html
– Charlie
Small Business Marketing Ideas You Can Profit From

Where Is The Real Potential For Your Business?

By Charlie Cook | July 25, 2007

Are you sitting on a source of untapped revenue?

Most small business owners are but they’re just not accessing it. Take Kathy who has worked hard over the last couple of years to more than double her business but is still struggling to break even. She is sitting on a gold mine, if she could just tap it.

“I spend about $5000 to make $3000 in sales. What can I do?”
Kathy, Therapeutic Massage

I’d consulted with Kathy several years ago on marketing her growing therapeutic massage business. By rethinking her strategy and rewriting her radio spots, her marketing had helped grow her business to employ seven therapists and serve thousands of clients. Now she was back with another problem and another request for marketing advice.

This year she hired a top-notch copywriter and equally good radio talent to create even better ads. Her company’s spots are funny and well written, and are bringing in new business – but not enough to cover the expense of her upgraded advertising. She’s convinced this is the right marketing approach for her business. How to make it pay?

Kathy’s marketing was on the right track, but not enough of her new clients were coming back. Typically, a new client would leave very satisfied with her firm’s services, but rarely return.

Where’s the real profit-potential in your business? The fastest way to grow your business is by helping your clients buy from you again and again.

Kathy knew that to pay for her radio advertising she not only needed to bring in new clients, but she needed to convert those new clients into repeat clients. If and when they signed up for her firm’s services for the second, third and fourth times, she’d be more profitable.

Wish more of your clients bought from you again and again? Keep selling the same way you have been and you’re going to get the same results. Discover exactly what to do to close more sales in Eliminating Obstacles to Sales. Use this link >>

Getting a prospect in the door and getting them to buy is only the first step in the marketing and sales cycle. To grow your business significantly you need with your business you need existing clients to buy again and again.

Clients who have already bought from you – know how great your products and services are. They’re much more likely to buy from you again. In fact it costs 8 to 10 times as much to attract a new client as converting an existing client into a repeat client.

Take a look at the numbers. Say you make a $50, $500 sale or a $5,000 sale and then the customer goes away. You’ve made a bit but how much could you be making?

Now imagine if instead of making just one sale per customer you had 5 – 10 a year, year after year. How much more would you make. As client relationships continued to be added and a few dried up you’d increase your revenue by at least a factor of 5 if not many times more.

Just do the math. Every time you make a sale and the client doesn’t turn into a repeat client who buys from you again and again, you’re losing big time. If instead each new client become a life long client you could easily add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your annual revenue.

Isn’t it time to do something about it?

Find out how to help existing clients to become repeat clients. Discover what works to get clients to buy again and again. Get the solution to closing more sales with this link >>

If your clients aren’t choosing to buy again and again, and you’re confident in the quality of your goods or services, then the problem is that you’re not giving them the right choices.

Kathy knew this but wasn’t having success getting her satisfied clients to come back on a regular basis. She’d been offering a discount to clients who scheduled their next massage right away, but wasn’t getting results from her offer.

Think about it. You’ve just enjoyed a professional therapeutic massage and loved the experience. What would motivate you to come back regularly?

Kathy’s offer missed the mark in that clients didn’t see much value in her offer. I suggested that instead of offering first time customers a discount on their next massage, she offer them a monthly membership with unlimited massages. She loved this idea and immediately saw the potential.

How can you make your sales and profits soar? Build repeat business by offering customers services they want and need, and make the perceived value high.

Imagine if your local gym sold individual workouts instead of annual memberships. What do you think would happen? Given most peoples’ follow through on working out, the health club would be broke.

Memberships, annual maintenance contracts, and special offers to past clients are just three ways you can leverage your initial sale and turn it into regular repeat sales and increase revenue for your business.

Are you missing the chance to increase sales by 50% or more? Do something about it. the Insider Secrets to Eliminating Obstacles to Sales >>

– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work

Want to Close More Sales with Your Small Business Marketing?

By Charlie Cook | July 20, 2007

You’ve been working with a prospect, moving closer and closer to a sale. Just before you clinch the deal, they decide to go with a competitor’s product or service. Doesn’t this drive you crazy? Just when you think you have the sale all sewn up – it vanishes in thin air.

They may say that your firm is too small, or you charge too much or they decided to work with a friend in the business after all, or all of the above. I’m sure you’ve heard every excuse on the planet.

How do you keep from losing the sale?

Catherine called from real estate agency in town with a similar problem. Her firm regularly competes against national real estate chains and one of the most common objections prospects give is that Catherine’s company is too small. Given that the average sale price of a home is $1 million in town, with some properties selling for over $10 million, losing a listing hurts.

Its natural to want to avoid potential objections to closing sales and hope a prospect never brings them to light. You hope you can make the sale without your prospect ever balking because your firm is small, expensive, located in an unusual place, or whatever.

Many small businesses are, well, small. You may need to charge substantial fees to make a good living from your work and most people have a friend of a friend in the business. Unfortunately no matter how much you try to avoid them many prospects will bring up objections and you can lose their business.

How can you overcome these common objections?

Use prospects’ objections to your advantage and transform them into selling points!

Ever had a prospect raise an objection and ended up losing the sale? Want to discover a way to eliminate objections so you can close many more sales?

I wrote the Insider Secrets to Eliminating Obstacles to show you exactly how to structure your marketing and manage the sale process to get your prospects hungry to buy from you. Use this link to claim your copy >>

In the sales process, prospects always have concerns. If you don’t discuss them or figuratively leave them under the table they will come back to haunt you later. To move beyond prospects’ objections, acknowledge them. Identify their concerns and put them on the table for discussion to resolve them. Here’s how:

Over the years that you’ve been in business, you’ve heard all of the common objections prospects raise. Take out a piece of paper and fold it in half. In the left column, list all the reasons prospects give for not working with your firm leaving a couple of lines between each reason. Across from each objection, in the right column, jot down reasons each objection is actually a plus for your clients.

When you meet with a prospect, use your list to bring up potential hurdles yourself and address them up front. For example, Catherine’s real estate firm is small compared to the national chain firms in town. Catherine might say to a prospect, –

“You know we are a small firm with ten employees. Let me tell you about all the resources we have to help you sell your home. In addition to providing you with the same resources you’d find at a larger firm we provide more attention to detail, more local knowledge, etc.”

Then Catherine can go on to explain how her firm sells a higher dollar volume of homes per employee than the national firms. She could also talk about her highly motivated brokers who earn higher commissions in large part because they aren’t part of a national chain. She could mention the $100 million in homes sold last year.

After explaining the many advantages of working with her unique firm Catherine could ask her prospect, “Are you interested in having a small firm of highly motivated experts help you sell your home?”

With your experience in the business you know the most common objections prospects raise but what about others you haven’t considered. How can you keep these from getting in the way?

To make sure you’ve covered all of a prospect’s concerns, ask them. Jot down a question or two to use to uncover any hidden or lingering concerns they have. Address them and move on. After they’ve explained their concern, restate it clearly to make sure you have it right and then counter it. For example if they are hung up on price, explain the value and benefits of your services and expertise.

Don’t know why prospects aren’t using your services?

You gave it your best shot, but they still selected another firm. Its time to do a post-mortem and find out what went wrong. Call up that lost prospect and ask them why they picked another service provider. Write these reasons down and tack them above your desk. The next time you meet with a new prospect, bring them up.

Early on in the sales process, bring up possible objections and get prospects talking about their concerns. When these are on the table you can address each one and show how each is an advantage. When you put prospects’ objections on the table and transform them into selling points, you’ll see your sales and your business soar.

Want more business? One of the easiest ways to instantly increase your sales and profits is to improve your conversion rates, get more of your prospects to buy. Want to improve your conversion rates? Use this link to claim your copy of the Insider Secrets to Eliminating Obstacles to Sales >>

Charlie

Getting Return Calls With Your Phone Messages – Small Business Marketing Tips

By Charlie Cook | April 13, 2006

As part of your small business marketing effort you make calls to prospects. Working from your list of leads you pick up the phone to call a prospect. What happens?

80% of the time, the person you’re trying to call isn’t there. Of course you leave a message. Then what happens?

Usually nothing. You don’t get any return calls even if you make a hundred. Well maybe one.

What’s the one mistake most small business owners make marketing their business over the phone? They leave a message that pitches their products and services.

Trying to sell cold over the phone is the best way to ensure you won’t get a call back. Instead your objective should be limited to one thing. Focus on trying to get your prospects to return your calls.

Don’t try to sell anything when you leave a phone message.

– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Guru

Which Is More Important to Your Small Business: Marketing or Sales?

By Charlie Cook | November 6, 2005

Which is more important, small business marketing or small business sales?
What percent of sales should marketing bring in?

The marketing department of course thinks they are the most important. Or talk to a sales person and they think marketing is a bunch of silliness and that the real work is closing the deal, or selling. Who is right?

To grow your business you need both marketing and of course sales.

Your small business marketing creates the context for sales. Marketing gets your prospect’s attention, helps your prospect understand how your products and services can help them. The better your marketing, the easier it is to close the sale.

Imagine you were in sales and you had the choice between making cold calls all day long or making follow up calls to prospects who had already indicated an interest in your product and were ready to buy. Which would you want to do? Of course following up on hot leads is far preferable to making cold calls. You’d have a lot more success and sales.

No marketing and you’ll have to work hard to close a few sales.

With effective marketing you’ll generate a flood of leads and close a ton more sales.

So which is it, marketing or sales. To grow your small business you need both!
– Charlie Cook

How to Get Your Prospects to Buy and Increase Small Business Sales

By Charlie Cook | September 1, 2005

Everyone wants to increase sales, but few small business owners do anything about it. What can you do to increase your sales?

Stop talking about your firm and your product.

Instead give your prospects a reason to read your marketing materials and then …

… give them a reason to buy.

Include specifics about what your product can do and support these with testimonials from clients.

Discover the best way to get your prospects to buy with The 15 Second Marketing Guide.
– Charlie Cook

Personalized Selling Works

By Charlie Cook | August 5, 2005

Periodically I post pictures of myself on vacation, kayaking, skiing, or hanging out in Tortolla. These add a nice touch but the interesting thing is that they also help sell product.

When I include a link to these pictures in my newsletter, I get hundreds of people clicking on them to see what I’ve been up to. When I put these pictures on a page that has links to my marketing manuals, the people clicking through to see me having fun in the sun, buy my manuals.

They buy my – 15 Second Marketing Guide and discover the fastest way to increase their sales.

They buy my – Small Business Marketing Manual and double the number of clients.

They buy my – Creating Web Sites that Sell and turn their web sites into incredible profit producing centers.

Personalize your marketing to increase your sales. It works.
– Charlie Cook

What’s the Secret to Improving Your Small Business Internet Sales?

By Charlie Cook | June 21, 2005

Want to know the one idea that will make the difference between making your web site a success or a failure?

Of course you do.

Your website has one purpose, to get people to contact you, whether it is to buy from you or to give you their contact information so you can follow up and get them to buy from you later.

So what’s the secret to writing and designing a small business web site that sells?

Your web site and every page in it are ads.

So what?

Each page of your site should be written and structured to work as a well written ad. It should get your prospects’ attention in the first 3-5 seconds, keep their attention for the next 10 seconds most people spend reading ads, and get them to contact you. Both the visual elements and copy need to work together to create a path for your prospect to follow so they view these elements in the order you want to do what you want, buy from you.

Does your small business web site do this? Does it grab your prospects’ attention and then in less than 15 seconds explain to them why they can’t live without your products or services and motivate them to contact you?

If it does you are proably making hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars from it. It it doesn’t work like a well crafted ad, stop wasting time and money and discover how to increase your marketing and your online sales with Creating Web Sites that Sell.
– Charlie Cook

How Do I Motivate My Sales People to Sell More?

By Charlie Cook | May 25, 2005

“What’s the best way to motivate my sales staff? They’re not making as many calls as they could or making as many sales as I think they could?” – George, Colorado

In my experience the problem is most often not the sales reps or their motivation. The problem is that sales reps are given goals and often incentives but aren’t provided with the marketing strategies or tools they need to get the job done. A carpenter would have a tough time building a house without a hammer, a saw, lumber and nails. Sales reps are the same. They need the right marketing tools to get a prospect to the point of a sale.

The best way to motivate new and experienced sales people to sell more is to give them the tools they need. It’s hard to get excited about selling any service or product when the sales script your using, the company brochure and your other supporting materials don’t help you get the prospect’s attention, interest and their business. It’s no wonder so many sales reps lose motivation and drive. Just telling sales reps to sell more and offering larger incentives isn’t a long-term strategy for increasing sales.

If you want to motivate your sales force, you need to show them how to stop only selling and instead focus on helping their prospects get what they want. Few people I know are interested in being sold, but everyone needs a wide variety of products and services and most will happily pay for things they want.

Here are a three ways to motivate your sales force.

1. Provide you sales reps with a marketing plan and a marketing strategy that gives them with a steady stream of qualified leads.

2. Teach your sales reps how to talk about what your firm does so it prompts interest instead of a yawn with the 15 Second Marketing guide.

3. Show your sales reps how to use questions instead of a sales pitch to start conversations that lead to sales. Support them with marketing materials that will prompt prospects to contact your sales reps. Learn how to apply this proven marketing strategy using More Sales with Less Selling.

Give your sales reps a marketing plan and the marketing tools they need to help your prospects get what they want. You’ll see their motivation and your sales soar. – Charlie Cook

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