…and shape up for 2012

So… that’s Christmas over for another year. Most of us have had time to gather with friends and family, consume vast quantities of food and drink – and gawk at television. Now what? Back to reality… back on the “hamster wheel”?

Did you make the usual list of new years resolutions? Lose weight, get fit, spend more time with the ones you love etc., etc., etc.

All well meaning intentions I’ve no doubt – but how many of you will stick to your plan. Do you even have a plan? Do you know why it’s really important to achieve your goals? If not, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but reality check… they’re not going to happen!

In order for things to change you need to facilitate the change. Get them written down clearly and concisely and have someone that truly understands the power of goal setting help you set your plans into action.

What about your business. What resolutions have you made for your business? How will you be sure to stick to them?

I find the beginning of the year is a refreshing time in business. I always feel very optimistic about what the future holds and have all kinds of different ideas for my business and my clients too.

So – let me help your business get 2012 off to a flying start  – and let’s do it for a great cause. Come and join me for a one off special, sales and marketing “BUSINESS BOOT CAMP” with all profits going to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

No press ups or assault courses, (providing you behave…) but in a single, full-on fast-paced day I’m going to explain;

• How to achieve even more profits from existing clients
• How to dramatically increase your new enquiries
• How to create a constant stream of leads
• How to put your business networking on legal steroids and reap the rewards
• How to find and turn the sales lead tap on in your business
• The fundamental key to creating profitable business relationships
• How to easily get 26 hours out of your day – yep it’s possible
• How to drive the right traffic to your website – whenever you want to and much, much more…

This is all happening on January 17th 9.00am – 5.30 pm at a great location near Stansted Airport. Normally my Master Classes sell for at least £198 – you can grab a place on this on-off “BUSINESS BOOT CAMP” for just £49 plus vat.

visit www.eurekasales.co.uk/gosh/ for details and to book you place today!

Here’s what a few people had to say after the last master class… what will you have to say?

“Two small changes to my website last week have increased my sales by 40% thanks to Steve Clarke and Eureka Sales” Phil Cleary, Citadel Ltd.

“Business still on the up 15-25% month on month…all thanks to your brilliant mentoring of course!” Ben – NetGeek.

“November 2011 we invoiced 44% more than we invoiced in November 2010. We have never been so excited about what we are doing now and the prospects for the future thanks to Steve”. Alfred Van Pelt – Something Different Ltd.

You can’t just keep doing the same old thing and expecting different results – that’s the definition of insanity. Come and learn what works in business today, come and discover how to make 2012 the best year you’ve ever had in business. See you on the 17th!

Questions – call 0845 053 4937 or visit www.eurekasales.co.uk/gosh/

Do you want more clients, more sales and more profits? Yes! Then claim your FREE ebook today…

“Steve has encapsulated the secrets for business success in his book… Don’t just read it, devour it – and most importantly, take action!”

Bev James M.D. The Entrepreneurs Business Academy

I don’t know about you, but I’m so tired of hearing people moan and groan about the state of the economy, the price wars they find themselves in and how people just aren’t buying any more – what utter rubbish!

Let me add a caveat…  You must have a product or service people actual want and maybe even need. I do wonder sometimes what people are thinking when they set up in business.

If you’ve ever watched Dragons Den on TV you’ll know what I mean. Don’t you wonder… what on earth are some of those people pitching the dragons for investment thinking of… who on earth would buy what they have on offer!

However – assuming you have something that eases someones pain, solves a problem or delivers pleasure – you potentially have something to sell.

There are still plenty of people buying – the question is; do you know how to attract the right kind of clients? Do you know where the “lead tap” is in your business and how to turn it on at will to create a flood of paying clients to your door?

I know how to increase sales – maybe, just maybe I can help you.

My book, “How to Thrive Not Just Survive” contains my proven formula for business success (and yes, even if some clients are spending less these days).

I’ve decided to make it available in downloadable e-book format this week to readers of this blog – absolutely FREE!

So let me ask you – and be honest… are you getting the volume of enquiries you want… maybe you are just getting what you deserve… that’s the cold harsh truth.

But it’s not your fault and you’re not alone. Not too many people go into business because they want to be spending their time in sales and marketing – It’s just not your area of expertise – right? It’s not what you’re good at… Well that can all change and very easily, and it must…

It doesn’t matter how good your products or services are – you will always be beaten by any competitor that knows more about the key elements of effective sales and marketing, particularly in these challenging times.

Let’s keep this very straight forward – good marketing is what you do to get the phone to ring, sales are what you make once the phone rings… simple!

Your FREE e-book will clearly explain…

• How to relight the fire if you’re feeling battle weary
• Why you must sell the sizzle not the sausage
• How vital it is that you stop wee-ing everywhere
• Why your clients are tuned into Radio WII-FM
• Where your best clients are and exactly what they want!
• How to get your phone ringing off the hook
• What sexy underwear and a good headline have in common… and why that matters in everything you do…

To claim your FREE ebook today, just follow this link!

Do you find yourself all too often spending time with time wasters and tire kickers rather than with prospects that want to buy your products or services at the right price?

Well – it’s probably your own fault! Sorry.

Good marketing is like a magnet. Magnets attract and repel. Your marketing messages should effectively attract the right people for all the right reasons and you can afford to repel the time wasters that are really not in your target market. Stop trying to drag every living, breathing person into your lair in the hope of a sale!

I’ll be honest… as someone with a lifelong background in direct sales, “marketing” for me used to represent all the fluffy nonsense, all the feel good stuff, the intangible brand awareness that large agencies would charge large companies for, but they’d never want to be held to account for any specific results.

Yet in the main, I’ve changed my view. Maybe this comes from a better understanding of just how essential and effective good marketing is and can be… when you know what you’re looking to achieve.

Let’s just quickly clear things up for you with my simple definition;

Marketing is what you do to get the phone to ring.

A sale is what you do when the phone rings.

Guess what? If the phone isn’t ringing – no sales! OK, so a lot of you may conduct business online and don’t necessarily want the phone to ring, but don’t be pedantic, I think you get my point.

Marketing for me, is all about reaching the right potential customers and through your message and various methods then converting them to eager prospects. Sales then deliver paying customers and work diligently to keep them as lifetime clients.

Unfortunately, many business owners see marketing as a necessary evil, an unpleasant task they have to carry out at some point or another.

I hope that you’ll see that this is so totally wrong – and very dangerous too. To a great extent, regardless of what you are selling, marketing is your business.

Effective marketing is a whole lot easier than you might think. If you don’t know anything about it yet, don’t panic because you’re not alone. Very few business owners really do, even many of those who’ve been in business a very long time.

Generally speaking people get into business because they have a passion for their products or services. The hairdresser didn’t start the business because they were passionate about sales and marketing – their passion is hair and beauty. But without effective marketing how will they drive business through their doors. The same is true for a solicitor, and accountant or any other business.

If you don’t get your head around marketing, you’ll always be beaten by your competitor that does, no matter how good your offering is.

Here’s the first question I’d ask you;

Do people actually “want” your product or service?

I remember always being told in my early days in sales:

Find the customers “need” and fill it. Have you heard that too?

I’d challenge that now. I’d argue you’ll have far greater success if you:

Find the customers “want” and fill that.

Think about it for a moment. Who gets pleasure from buying what you need, and who’d rather buy something they really want?

Have you got a product that people want or really need? All too often, people will start up in business to sell the services or a product that really only they would want themselves.

The business graveyard is full of people who had “great ideas” that no one else bought into. You’ll know what I mean if you’ve ever watched Dragons Den… what are some of those people thinking?

Research your product and marketplace!

If money is tight, you don’t need to spend a fortune on research, doing a little yourself is better than not doing any at all. Identify the sorts of people likely to want to buy your product or service and ask them what they think of your idea.

What problem do you solve? What pain can you remove? What pleasure will someone derive from doing business with you? Find an emotional tie to what’s on offer. People buy based on emotions.

Here’s a biggie – stop feature bashing and focus on benefits!

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

You have probably heard this before, but people don’t by features, they buy benefits. Sell the sizzle not the sausage.

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.

Take a look at your collateral materials and your website. 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 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 of your product or service. Try using; “which means that…”

So you list a feature and then ask… which means that – the next thing out of your mouth will be a benefit statement and that’s what you want to weave into your marketing messages – not feature after feature. Enquiries will flow and sales will result. There’s far more explanation on this subject in my book.

To receive my top 10 marketing strategies you can implement immediately absolutely free, that will help you generate enquires and boost your sales just visit my website where you’ll see the sign up box www.eurekasales.co.uk.

“Just one of your free tips increased my enquiries by over 20%”

Dan Thompson – 5 Star Boot Camps

The role of the Digital Business Britain manifesto is to increase the economic output of the UK by encouraging individuals and businesses to embrace a Digital Mindset. My friend Penny Power is championing this movement… it’s powerful stuff and I’m a supporter.

Digital Business Britain 8 Point Manifesto

1.	Adopt a Digital Mindset and philosophy Challenge both Government and industry to treat Digital Business as a critical growth sector within UK plc. We must work together to secure the right infrastructure and levels of investment, education, job creation and supportive legal frameworks.
2.	Improve Britain’s trading future Understand that the UK’s digital future is synonymous with its trading future. Businesses and individuals need to invest the time and resources to understand their position in competitive global, national and local digital markets and what that might mean to their business viability mid-to-long term.
3.	Ensure national inclusion Ensure that no geographical area is excluded from the digital economy. Innovative business ideas and creative individuals can be found across the UK. The joy of digital business is that it can be operated anywhere in the UK, allowing businesses to spring up everywhere. However, we should remember that competitors across the globe can do the same thing, so we need to act now to ensure that our digital assets are fully exploited to the benefit of UK plc.
4.	Provide Digital Skills to all, offering individuals choice and a future that they can control Give employees, and those seeking to commence or join or return to work, the opportunity to learn digital skills, offering them coaching and encouragement to build trusted networks. In turn, this will assist them in building value both in the organisations for which they work, and in themselves.
5.	Embrace ethical on-line behaviour Adopt a Digital ‘People’ Charter designed to promote ethical and positive interactions online by providing a conduct framework for social networks and forum owners, along with guidance on social media policies for business owners.
6.	Value the social capital created by individuals The online reputation of a business has become critically important. Similarly, individuals develop digital equity/reputation, known as social capital. This capital represents a key asset which, when carefully nurtured will benefit the equity/reputation of their business. So it is vital that they have access to digital networks both to transact efficiently and to work effectively in the workplace, at home, or while on the move.
7.	Ensure our Business leaders, Advisors, Mentors and Coaches understand Digital Business Ensure business leaders, advisors, mentors and coaches embrace and understand the potential of ‘a Digital Business’ to reduce fixed costs and apply an ‘outsourced/networked business model’ throughout their organisation, encouraging the inclusion of small businesses and the self employed.
8.	Recognise the value of home based, digitally connected business in the economy Raise the status of home-based, networked businesses within large influential institutions, such as the banks, to ensure they understand that in the digital world, measurement of a successful business lies not in employee headcount, nor office size, nor overhead but can be measured in terms of income, network size, influence and sentiment.

The Digital Business Britain Manifesto was co-created by Bob Barker, VP of Corporate Marketing and Digital Engagement, Alterian Plc, who previously chaired the Government’s Information Age Partnership working party on UK ICT competitiveness.

I support:

We do this and we do that… You need to understand and accept that no one is really interested in you or your products. That’s OK, take a deep breath and let me explain what I mean.

Most human beings are only interested in “what’s in it for me”. Someone once explained this to me by saying that people are tuned into radio WII-FM, that’s: What’s In It For Me. I’ve never forgotten it since, I hope you don’t either.

Review all your sales copy, including your website, in fact, particularly your website, as it’s often one of the most prevalent “we” areas. “We” do this… “We” have been around since… “We” have the greatest…etc. etc. Get over yourselves – people don’t care!

What’s in it for me? So what that you’ve been in business 25 years? What does that mean to me? If there’s no tangible benefit to the customer, don’t mention it – sorry, but they just don’t care, not yet.

Think about where you can chan ge “we and our” for “you or your” – talk about and to your customers, not about you and your business.

And whatever you do… stop “feature bashing” and focus on benefits.

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

You have probably heard this before, but people don’t by features, they buy benefits.

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 just don’t care. They are trying to work out… WIIFM – so tell them!

Take a look at your collateral materials and your website. If you’re a “feature basher”, your work consists of flyers, leaflets, 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 and your phone number. Are you surprised that no one cares enough to respond?

What do you blame the lack of sales on? Your competition, cheaper pricing, the government, a rise in VAT…? Sorry, they’re all just excuses.

You may be right in one respect… They don’t want you or your products: but they do 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. In my Marketing Master Classes we work through numerous practical exercises to help you put all of this into practice until its second nature to you.

Here’s a very simple method of uncovering the benefit over the feature of your product or service. List one of your features; let’s say it’s a low emissions car… a feature of the car is that it has low emissions. Now say “which means that…” and the next thing out of your mouth is a benefit…

Why not stop making excuses about your sales being down and join me on one of my Master Classes.  Can’t make it person? No excuse these are available as a DVD/CD set too!

In a week when we’ll witness another Royal Wedding and an exchange of lifetime promises and commitments, it made me stop and think about the promises we make to our clients in business.

Just as a successful marriage will thrive and survive given trust, understanding and the delivery on certain promises made from the outset – so too a business relationship can strengthen or sadly diminish over time.

Just as in any good relationship you must create and deliver products or services your customers want, at the right quality, on time, consistently. And from time to time… throw in a few pleasant surprises the other party wasn’t expecting – that can really work wonders!

Whatever your promise is, deliver on it.

If anything, under promise and over deliver. Way too many businesses get this concept transposed, and that’s not good at all!

So for your business this all boils down to planning coupled with quality control and how you track your delivery. So if you’re a sandwich shop, don’t buy too much bread that leaves you throwing away more than you can sell, but also make sure you have enough to cater for demand so as to not disappoint your customers.

If you’re a service company or a call centre, ensure you have the correct level of staff to meet your customers’ peak call volumes. A missed call is a sale lost, and worse yet, potentially repeat orders lost too.

Whilst you are planning your stock or staff volumes, you must ensure you maintain or exceed your customers’ service expectations so that they come back to you as repeat clients. Poor quality of your product or service could easily make your customers seek alternative suppliers – what’s the point in that?

When a restaurant can’t get your order right or takes far too long to get the food to your table, how do you feel? What’s the point of such a business wasting money on marketing to you when you’ve had this kind of experience?

Your business must master delivery, and that means achieving consistency. As a small business you can often cover a mistake with a smile and a personal apology. But, as you grow, as your staff levels increase, as your customer base increases, what was once a small problem could put you out of business. Be warned! Bad reputations are really easy to spread!

How is your delivery right now? Have you mastered the delivery of consistent quality? Quality that your customers are happy really with?

What you must keep in mind is that there’s no point filing the sink unless you first put the plug in! Don’t spend your time and efforts marketing your business if people can fall straight down the plughole because of poor service delivery.

Here’s an exercise for you: what are your top ten customer complaints? I encourage you to write a list. Maybe the last few are grumbles that would only upset someone like Victor Meldrew, but let’s shoot to exhaust the list of ten. Once you have identified the issues, set about making the necessary changes to plug your sink before you turn on the taps.

What’s the latest buzz in sales and marketing? QR Codes! What are QR codes, how do they work and what can they do? Here’s the quick low down…

This fancy looking monochrome bar code is a QR code (Quick Response Code). All you need to do in order to unlock the code is download a QR code reader app to your Smartphone.

I use “i-nigma 4” – it’s incredibly quick – and it’s free. Download it and scan this code…

Activate the app – point it at the QR code and bingo!

It takes you straight to the page of my website I choose to send you to. You can view the text, watch a video and navigate around my website all on the go and on your Smartphone.

Chances are – you were thinking like so many people – “what are those all about? Just another fancy manufacturer’s type of bar code?”  Well you were not too far wrong, but get ready – things have changed.

A QR code is a two dimensional barcode which can now be read by a free app on just about any mobile Smartphone with a camera. Quick Response indicates that the content of the barcode can be quickly and easily decoded.

The QR code was first used in 1994 by a subsidiary of Toyota. The initial usage was for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing.

We’ve moved on!

During the last few years the QR code has slowly found its way into the marketing world due to the connection with mobile phone applications – and now it’s set to explode!

I predict that QR codes will play a significant role in your marketing materials over the coming months – if they haven’t already.

It strikes me that the use of QR codes is only restricted by your imagination.

You point your camera phone to the QR Code, just like snapping a photo. Voilà! The browser on your phone launches, directing you to the webpage or program that was linked to the specific QR code you just scanned!

Creating the codes in the first place also only takes seconds and again can easily be done via a free web site – without any knowledge of coding whatsoever.

You’ve now opened up a whole new world! But it’s not just about pointing you to websites…

QR codes can be used (and are being used!) for;

* Special offers and promotions

* Coupons and competitions

* Maps and directions

* How to guides

* Promotional video

* Sending photographs

* Menus

* Event bookings and registration

* Name badges at seminars

*  Estate agent signage… the list is endless.

You can create QR codes for phone numbers, contact details, emails, data lists, or for whatever your mind creates the need for.

I was told by a client of mine recently that they thought this would be going mainstream very soon as they had spotted one on a lamp post in Bishop’s Stortford. I don’t know about you, but sounds like its mainstream alright!! It’s official – QR codes have arrived!

As with all good marketing you must be able to measure the results. With QR codes you can very simply measure the data – based on the number of scans, the number of responses, the dates and times people used them. Using this information you can determine the effectiveness of this exciting new marketing channel.

This is relatively new to lots of people – so as you add this to your arsenal of marketing materials – be prepared to do a little explaining at first.

Like I said, these are cropping up everywhere. Here’s one of the most fun applications I’ve seen so far – “Geek Couture” – go ahead and scan it – it’s not half as frightening as you might imagine.

As ever – just ping me an email if you’d like to know more steve@eurekasales.co.uk. Or scan this code and join me on Facebook. There’s lots of talk on there about all things sales and marketing.

There is nothing more natural than listening to or delivering a compelling story. A story that is intriguing and one that creates excitement… particularly those that stir up emotions.

Just think about it, from a very early age most of us have been exposed to stories from our parents, grandparents, nursery school teachers etc. We’d sit on the edge of our seats hanging on every word…

As adults, when we talk to friends and family we naturally share stories. When you tell people about an interesting situation that arose during your day or whilst on holiday – it’s not very likely you’d just detail the list of events in a dull monotone fashion – is it? I expect not.

One of the secrets of top sales people the world over is effective storytelling. I don’t mean the “never let the truth get in the way of a good story” type of fabrication. I mean compelling, anecdotal, real life experiences with other customers and clients that can be shared with your prospects. Engaging stories full of emotional attachment and spelling out the benefits to the listener.

Here’s a format that will help you. Try using, “feel, felt, found”. Let me explain…

It’s fairly safe to make the assumption that most people are more interested in themselves and their problems than hearing about how wonderful your products and services are.

The thing that will fully engage people and allow them to freely discuss their problems in more detail in order for you to help them is to hear that you know how they “feel”.

They want to hear that other people you’ve helped “felt” just like they do.

Then you can explain through your story what those other people “found” that helped them solve whatever the problem was.

So instead of bashing away at all the features of your latest gadget or gizmo, tell them about clients just like them who have solved similar problems to those they are having and you will capture their interest.

Stories should focus on the drama, the emotion, the pain and the difficulties before you helped. Stir up the emotions of how that “feels”. You can reassure them by letting them know that others “felt” just the same and then lead them to the “found” and the happy ending.

Don’t waste too much time saying what you actually did for them. You’ll know they are interested because guess what… they’ll ask you!

Make some notes of all the key benefits of your products or services. Now think back to various situations where your product or service positively impacted another person or company. Spend some time building emotions and feelings into these situations until you have compelling stories.

When you’re with your friends you naturally trade stories, we all do. Selling is no different – be yourself. To sell more… sell less – if that makes sense.

In my experience, when using stories in general conversation, it is better to have your stories natural and unrehearsed rather than highly polished. Every feature has a benefit – and every benefit has a story.

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.