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You’ve probably heard this phrase before, but think about it; people don’t buy features they buy benefits. In other words, they buy the sizzle not the sausage.

How many of you can think back to the old Danish bacon adverts on TV? Can you picture the bacon sizzling in the pan? You could almost taste the bacon and smell the aroma wafting from the pan… Danishhhhhhhhhhh. It was the smell, the tasty cooked breakfast – quite literally, the sizzle they were selling.

In short… feature = dead pig, benefit = delicious breakfast – which one are you buying? (Apologies to any veggies reading this, but you get my point).

All too often business owners waste time, effort and money pushing feature after feature of their product or service and… you guessed it, the potential customers don’t care.

There’s an assumption that would-be clients will understand why they should buy the product or service just because they’ve been told about it. Thus, many business owners only communicate the features of their product or service to prospective customers and neglect to mention the benefits.

What they really care about is… what’s in it for them?

People purchase based on the benefits. What will they get from your product or service? How will they feel, what will they save and so on.

Take a look at your collateral materials and your web site. If you’re a “feature basher”, your work consists of flyers, letterhead, ads and a website all of which have your logo and company name, a list of things you do or the “features” of your products or service and your phone number. Are you surprised that no one cares enough to respond?

They don’t want you or your products: they want to know what you and your products or service can do for them!

This is often very difficult for many people to get to grips with. Here’s a very simple method of uncovering the benefit over the feature, try this;

“Which means that…” after you state any feature, let me give you an example.

Our long wheel base cars have extra leg room (feature, who cares?)… which means that your beautiful wedding dress will look as wonderful when you get out of the car as it did when you stepped in, (benefit) – that’s what the bride is buying!

Can you tell your features from your benefits? As a good rule for marketing, no feature should be mentioned without the back up and reinforcement of a benefit statement. Here’s the really great news – you can stack up dozens of benefits for every feature!

This applies to conversations with clients, your advertising, and your website – everything that’s going to touch a client or a prospect.

So you may need to change your entire mindset. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, see their problems, understand their fears, learn their wants and needs, and then provide the solution to them by way of benefits. That way you can stop selling and let people buy from you.

Take the time to understand your customers, and show them you understand what they want… and watch your sales shoot through the roof.

Instead of a spectacular performance, we saw Andy Murray make a spectacle of himself as we were subjected to relentless slow motion TV replays of his foul mouthed Tennis Tourette’s and internal self-destruction.

Along with millions of viewers I witnessed an outstanding display of tennis from the Serbian Novak Djokovic as he cruised purposefully and almost effortlessly to victory against the British No1, Andy Murray (or the Scottish No1 as many seem to be referring to him now that he’s failed to win a single set from the three Grand Slam finals).

There can be no doubting Murray’s physical fitness or his technical ability. The problem with Andy Murray appears to be his mental game. In any sport you have to get the balance right between form, fitness and your mindset.

The same is true in business and very true in sales. I know many business people who are technically adept, masters of their craft, yet at the critical moment or on critical tasks their mindset and their beliefs let them down.

Murray held his head in his hands, tugged at his shirt and kicked his racket. In outbursts of full blown Tennis Tourette’s he yelled profanities at his mother and coach, even swore at the seagulls overhead and whatever conversation he was having inside his head would have been a debilitating waste of mental energy.

In sport, as in business, confidence is a massive factor and it’s often what separates the winners from the losers, we need to be mentally fit to win.

Perhaps he needs a coach capable of providing the combination of technical discipline and encouragement necessary to focus his mind not just his racket and save him from this lack of self belief that was once again his greatest opponent.

In business, if your sales figures just aren’t where you want them, if you start losing clients, if your profits are down… do you know what to do and how to remedy things? Who’s there for you to help focus your mind and your efforts? Do you have a coach that helps you… or do you just go it alone as best you can?

With confidence… comes greater confidence. If you start winning games you will go on court with more belief and the more you win, the more you begin to feel like you can’t lose. The very same is true in business.

Have you noticed that good players are almost equal in their physical and technical abilities? Yet only a few of them are real winners. The same is true in business. One of the all time tennis greats, Pete Sampras used to say: “You need the game, you need the heart, and you need the mind.”

There’s a verse in my book – it’s about mindset and it ends like this;

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can!

If you want to improve your tennis – get a coach… If you need to get your head around how to win more sales – contact me.

Telephone:0845 053 4937 or email: steve@eurekasales.co.uk

Most people are familiar with the term ROI; Return On Investment.

I’d like to suggest that in todays hectic business world there’s a new measure you should be considering and it’s ROE; to me that’s Return On Engagement.

Now more than ever before it’s imperative you “engage” with your clients and prospects at every opportunity so that when they’re ready to buy – you’re the person they know, like and trust… you’re the person they want to go to.

Networking should be high on your agenda for effective engagement, off-line and on-line through social media too. Social networking let’s you put your networking on legal steroids!

It’s not what you know… It’s who you know. We’ve all heard that expression before, right?

Well I’d like to suggest that’s not reality. In many cases it’s a cop out for all those people that feel they’ve been dealt a bad hand and no matter how hard they work, someone else will always steal the prize because of… who they know. Well that’s rubbish.

It’s all about “what you do with what and who you know” that will help you succeed in business. It’s your – Return on Engagement.

Here are a few of my top tips that will allow you not to just “survive” in the world of networking, but to positively “thrive”!

Develop a strategy and know which groups you’ll attend, how often and why you are there. Turning up is a big part of it, on-line or off, but turning up is not enough. You must go in knowing the purpose of your involvement.

Be clear on what you offer.This might sound rather silly, but I’m always coming across people that find it difficult to articulate what benefits people will derive from using their products or services. If you’re not clear – others will struggle to “get it”. The result will be no enquiries, no referrals and no business through networking – and that wont be because networking doesn’t work!

Become a valuable resource and connector for others. When you are known as a strong resource, people remember to turn to you for suggestions, ideas, names of other people, etc. This keeps you visible to them.

Engage with the people you meet. Build rapport, get to know people and what they do. In order to be interesting, you must first be interested. Ask good questions of the people you meet and actively listen to what they have to say – don’t just wait for your turn to speak.

Follow up! Not with a blanket spam sales email after you’ve collected a fist full of business cards, but follow up on conversations and any offers of help or assistance you may have made during a meeting. Be reliable and trustworthy.

No doubt he’s been hugely successful, but his new celebrity status and grouchy image might just have gone to his head.

The former Labour Government Enterprise Champion and spokesman for small business let his grumpy, miserable persona spill over into his new year message to business owners in an article in the Telegraph on 6th January.

His article started;

“My message to those who run a small business is that at this time of year it’s good to have a good look in the mirror and rethink your strategy. May I suggest that whatever plans you are thinking of, don’t – repeat don’t – rely upon Government or banks or anybody else to give you ideas.”

I’d agree… at least to a degree. This is the time to reflect, take stock of what worked and what didn’t, although this should be happening as much in real time as possible, not at the end of one year and start of another. There are plenty of people that can offer sound and valuable advice to business owners, this is not the time to go it alone.

He went on;

“Consider why you started your business. I assume it was that you have some experience or expertise in your field, and that is the big point – don’t rely upon anyone else. It’s going to be you who defines the way forward.”

Here’s where we fall out (and yes, I have an axe to grind… I offer people help and support with their sales and marketing). Most people I meet that own their own business, are or at least were, passionate about their particular product, service or area of expertise. But they don’t all posses the natural ‘Lord Sugar’ business acumen. They don’t know how to market themselves and find more clients. They want and need help.

He continued…

“I am sick and tired of hearing people asking what to do, going to networking meetings and seminars expecting to glean some gems of wisdom. These events are money-making exercises and benefit one party and one party only: the organiser. They have become an escape for people to justify sitting around wasting a day bullshitting with each other while they should be working. You will learn nothing other than that there are another load of people in the same boat as you”.

I agree there are some awful network meetings, and I’ve been to them… the “Monday Moaning” meetings as I call them. A complete waste of time. On the other hand there are some exceptionally good groups and events.

When you’re a grumpy, miserable know all – who wants to network with you? You are better off going it alone. But I find his comments and generalisations ignorant and dangerous. If a network group or organiser of events such as myself fails to deliver value – the people stop coming and the money stops flowing, simple.

There are people that will attend events to prevent getting on with the real work, no doubt. However, there are many more that attend an event, get fired up with new ideas and motivation and when they put these new ideas into action they see the benefits and reap the rewards.

For the record – I agree with much of what the wise old grouch has to say about self funding a business and not relying on the Government and banks for hand outs and support.

Lord Sugar… perhaps you should be fired!

I posted that statement on a Social Networking discussion forum just before Christmas… let me tell you… that set the cat amongst the pigeons. Several hundred comments and a healthy yet sometimes rather heated debate ensued.

Old school die hard sales people and professional telemarketers came at me with all guns blazing. I received a barrage of; “cold calling only doesn’t work if you don’t know what you’re doing”. “The only people that think cold calling doesn’t work are those that can’t cut it”.

On the other hand for the majority of business people who never enjoy the prospect of picking up the telephone and trying to drum up interest through cold calling this was music to their ears.

Folks – time has moved on.

The headline statement says (80’s style). In the heat of the moment and eager to protect what they believed in, so many of the “old school” cold callers completely ignored this key element. A big failing in a salesperson who doesn’t actually listen to what’s being said! Cold calling and sales scripts will always work… in certain markets and used by professionals. More importantly, as one element of your sales and marketing arsenal.

The good news is that today there are far more effective ways to get even more people who want whatever you have on offer to come to you and ask if they can buy… how refreshing would that be?

By this time next year there will be more Generation Y’s than Baby Boomers in the population. So what? Generation Y’s don’t want to be sold to the old school way, script or no script. They want to decide who they buy from, what they buy, when they buy and how they buy.  This younger generation will be your clients, your employees and for many of you… your employers.

You have to move with the times.

I have run sales teams with 60 plus salesmen and women, in the UK and the USA. I’ve personally cold called, I’ve knocked doors in the rain, and I’ve tele canvassed. What were the options in the 80’s? We had no internet, email, social media, video conferencing, webinars, etc.

The big challenge with many businesses I now work with is that they don’t have enough clients, sales and profits. The owner is passionate about their product or service but doesn’t understand how to make sales. They employ a sales manager… old school style. Smile as you dial, always be closing, etc etc. Results don’t role in, change the manager and sales team… rinse and repeat.

No – change the way you think of sales and marketing and find better ways to become visible and attractive. Let 2011 be the year more clients come to you!

For those that want to embrace change – I wish you a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year…. and a healthy and happy same old year to those that want to bury their heads in the sand and keep doing the same thing and expect different results – that’s the definition of insanity.

With all the doom and gloom of government spending reviews, cutbacks and business failures, sometimes it’s nice to hear a little good news.

Essex based software business Truckcom Systems has some very good news – this year its turnover is up more than 20% on last year, and profits are up by almost 40% making it the best year in the company’s history.

Truckcom have developed a unique and powerful smartphone based vehicle fleet management system that’s used to guide and track fleets of trucks all over the UK.

A big part of it’s popularity is that unlike other fleet tracking systems on the market, Truckcom requires no installation. It simply tracks the positions of the smartphones whilst they are in the vehicle. It’s easy to use, flexible, and very low cost with a simple tracking only package available for as little as 40p per user per day.

What does it do? Well in simple terms fleet tracking with Truckcom allows its customers to:

•  Set up fleet tracker alerts to warn you when things happen that you may be interested in.

•  Keep fleet tracking records, minute by minute, of where your vehicles have been – so if you need to check something afterwards, you’ve always got a route replay facility.

•  Monitor traffic congestion on the fleet tracking map.

•  Manage your truck drivers’ working time compliance and tachograph hours with Truckcom’s fleet tracking time management module.

And much much more besides…

As the country struggles out of recession, they have found plenty of new customers for this kind of technology that want to save money and improve the efficiency of their fleet of vehicles. Plus their existing customers are reaping the benefits this technology delivers and they too are expanding strongly.

Managing Director Hugh Wightwick is understandably pleased with the company’s results this year.

“More and more fleet operators are realising that they can use this kind of everyday technology very easily to improve their businesses. More people than ever are using smartphones (such as Blackeberrys and iPhones) and the numbers are on the increase. Our systems run on regular smartphones. Truckcom is all about helping fleet operators to take control – and once they have, they can improve their customer service, they can reduce their costs, and they can ensure they stay legal.”

With increased efficiencies come reduced fuel bills from a reduction of fuel burned so these little gizmos are doing their bit for the environment too.

A new Truckcom customer, SAPA Building Systems, is very pleased with the system. “Taking Truckcom on board is one of the best decisions we’ve made in communication terms”, says Steve Stack, SAPA’s Fleet Manager. “We can track the movement of every vehicle in real time which means we can improve efficiencies all round”.

“We’re very good with technology, but sales and marketing were never our strong points.” explains Hugh. “I decided to look for some external help and support and someone recommended Steve’s book to me; How To Thrive Not Just Survive. I found it relevant and timely. I then booked onto his Fast Track Marketing Master Class and joined his monthly Sales Mentoring Programme too and haven’t looked back.

One of the things that we weren’t really focussing on before Steve got involved was clearly promoting the benefits of our system”, says Hugh. “Also, whilst we had some ideas on how best to promote our product, Steve’s advice and regular mentoring has taken us to a new level of marketing – it’s been great”.

Now that he’s found his stride and seen the results – he throughly enjoys the challenge of marketing his products and services.

Hugh is pictured below along with Steve Clarke and Dan Thompson at the Eureka Sales Mentoring Christmas dinner where they were both presented with a bottle of champagne in recognition of their outstanding achievements in 2010.

Dan owns a fitness business called Colchester Boot Camps. In 2010 Dan fought off tough competition to be awarded the Colchester District Best New Business Award. In his own words Dan credits the Eureka Sales Mentoring Programme for having helped him “transform” his business.

Congratulations Hugh and Dan.

It’s never been more important than in today’s crowded business environment to give yourself every competitive advantage possible. For many people this means you need to rise above the crowd and become a recognised expert and a leader in you field, but just how do you do that?

What will you do in 2011 that will reinforce who you are and to demonstrate the knowledge you possess? What will you do to help attract more interested clients in your direction? Will you commit to regular blog posts, submit articles to your trade or industry publications and conduct talks or seminars?

Here’s one idea to raise your profile and a very powerful one at that. How about getting that book written… the one you’ve always said you should write, but never got round to it?

Just think what it could mean to you and your business to be a published author? A leader in your field, an authority on your topic? And do you know what… it’s not half as tough as you might imagine, with the right help (no pun intended).

Writing a book is a great way to get your thoughts down on paper and share them with the world. You can assert your expertise and gain respect as a recognised expert in your field.

It could open so many doors for you. Let me tell you… it could make all the difference… and stand you head and shoulders above your competitors.

I made the commitment myself last year. I planned the outline for my book, who it was targeted at and mapped out the content. Just a few weeks later, I was a published author and my first book “How To Thrive Not Just Survive” was in print. The next one is on its way…

So stop just thinking about it. Thoughts alone won’t make it happen! If you want to see your book in print, you need to make it a priority, make a plan, and obtain some skillful guidance to help you write the best possible book!

International speaker and leading UK writing and publishing strategist Mindy Gibbins-Klein is – “The Book Midwife”™. Mindy has agreed to be my guest on a free teleconference on Thursday 16^th December at 9.30am and you’re invited to dial in and listen for just the cost of the call at your local rate.

If you’re reading this after the event – no worries, you can visit the resource section of my website and listen to the recording there.

Once you are a published author, you can use that book to open doors to new business, higher fees and many other opportunities such as speaking engagements, interviews and joint ventures. You can also have an electronic version of your book, an audio version and even a video version if you want.

For dial in details just email me and I will send them to you. Or if you have a specific question related to writing your book you can email me steve@eurekasales.co.uk and I will put your question to Mindy on your behalf.

I was listening recently to a fascinating business speaker, Grant Leboff, as he explained that when Barak Obama was campaigning for the presidency he talked repeatedly about the necessity for change. Yet by the time he assumed office in January 2009 the world of business had already changed – dramatically.

Back in 1990 – a London born computer scientist by the name of Tim Burners-Lee implemented the first successful thread of the World Wide Web and the internet was born. As a result, the biggest change we’ve seen since the industrial revolution occurred during Bill Clinton’s time as President between 1993 and 2001.

When Clinton came to office there were just over 600 websites around the world, by the time he stepped down in 2001 there were over 36 million websites around the globe and business, in particular the way we need to market our products and services, had changed forever.

Cast your minds back – if you can and if you’re too young to remember, ask your mum or dad… When we watched the equivalent of today’s ‘The X Factor’ (Opportunity Knocks) or the equivalent of ‘I’m a Celebrity,,,’ (3-2-1 and Dusty Bin), we had little alternative to Saturday night TV entertainment. We only had four channels to choose from. We had to watch it whilst it was live. The majority of TV sets didn’t even have a remote control… imagine!

With viewing numbers for these shows hitting 18 million on a Saturday night it was an advertising company’s dream come true. Companies could buy their time and shout their messages to the masses. What were the alternatives?

We can now record any one of hundreds of channels. We can pause live TV. We can watch programs on our laptops when we want to and catch up on anything we missed over the internet. What do we do when the adverts come on?… Fast forward!

You can’t just keep SHOUTING your sales messages the old fashioned way and hope to be heard above the noise, and I mean shouting in any form of advertising. You need to be finding new ways of engaging with your clients and prospects.

We used to measure results of marketing based on a R.O.I. (Return On Investment). I’d suggest a better measure today would be an R.O.E. (Return on Engagement). Focus on building your contact database and building relationships.

You need to find new ways to engage with more people and hold their attention. Let people get to know you and trust you – that way, when they’re ready to buy – they come to you and ask for what you have on offer.

How do you do this? You need to focus on your niche. Be the expert in your field. Share your knowledge and information freely. Don’t get too hung up on the idea of security on the web. I know too many people that practice “security by obscurity”. You need to be noticed and you need to be attractive.

The switch to blogging from flogging makes so much sense. It’s how you share your knowledge and allow people to get to know you, trust you and buy from you.

If you need more help or advice or have a question about how to integrate blogging into your business or what to blog about email me steve@eurekasales.co.uk or call me on 0845 053 4937

It’s the ultimate steal and what every person dreams about when searching through an attic, garage sales, antique stores, and flea markets.

Apparently, the owners of a now very famous 16 inch vase, kept it rather precariously perched on top of a bookcase in their living room.  The ornate Chinese vase adorned with flowers and a fish motif on the front sat for years without too many people paying it any attention at all.

One little nudge could have sent the thing crashing to the ground at any time. However, the owners wouldn’t have considered it a total disaster! The porcelain ornament would have been worth an impressive £800 on their insurance policy.

That same Chinese vase just sold at auction for a record £53.1 million!

I have talked to countless business owners over recent months; who don’t realise that they have a hidden fortune in their own business.  Ok, it may not amount to a staggering £53 million but what would a 22% increase in new enquiries be worth to your business? What would it mean to you and your business to increase your profits by over 40%?

Most business owners I meet made a decision to go into business because they had a passion for their particular field.  Be that law, engineering, hairdressing or anything in between. Very few go into business because they are passionate about sales and marketing – but that’s where the big money is hidden.

To succeed in business, particularly in today’s economic climate, it’s a given that you’ve got to be careful and watch your costs, and of course you must keep an eagle eye on cash flow. But, now more than ever before, you must be proactive in marketing and selling your products or services. You need to invest in this area like never before!

In my book “How To Thrive Not Just Survive”, I detail my formula for business success. Within one element of the formula I explain how every business owner must clearly understand and articulate the benefits of their products and services as they relate to their clients. Sounds simple and yet so many people miss the mark on this one.

Once you understand some of the fundamental reasons people are motivated to buy, you are able to find the right words, use images that instill confidence within your would be clients, you can put your message in the right way, in the right places and new enquiries will begin to flow.

“2010 has been our best ever year in business. I’ve been working with Steve and attended his various marketing courses and I’m also a member of his sales mentoring programme. As a result – our sales are up over 20% and profits are up a staggering 40% on last year” says Hugh Wightwick – Managing Director of Dunmow based business – Truckcom Ltd.

If you’d like to discover where the fortune is hidden in your business and you’d like to see your sales hit new heights get in touch. You can start by downloading my free hints and tips at www.eurekasales.co.uk or call me on 0845 053 4937.