Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Sometimes when people say they have a sales problem, their sales process is OK, they are just not doing enough of it. For example, I have talked with people who have mailed 100 letters, and were very suprised that they got just one or two responses.

If they had mailed 1000 letters, they would have gotten the 10 responses they wanted.

Can you give us more numbers? How many people are you calling on, how many companies you talk with meet your ideal client profile, how many needs have you identified, how many proposals have you presented, how many are turning into sales, how long is it taking?

Just rough numbers would be a good start...

What are the specific services you are offering - are you preparing new websites for companies without one, or are you offering a "tune-up" or enhancement for existing sites? Can you describe a bit more about the quality of the materials you are using? Do you have a web site, and can you give us a link to it?

With more details, I can just give some general advice, which would be: look back at your successes. Identify those companies you have been successful in selling, and the types of people who have bought your service so far... and try to repeat the process.

I'd also like to know a bit about your sales skills. You describe yourself as a designer - do you have sales experience? If not, it may be that a good sales book (I'm sure many folks on this forum can suggest their favorite) might alert you to some things you might try a bit differently.

And, if you lose a sale, all is not lost. After the prospect has signed with your competitor, go back, thank them for the opportunity to bid on the work, let them know you are a designer not a salesperson, and ask them what you could have done better. From your earlier post, it seems that you sell to small businesses. In my experience, many small business owners are happy to give helpful advice.

Don't get down on yourself. Wake up a bit earlier, work a bit harder. Also, check out some other posts from web designer companies, such as https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=1952#12620

Good luck !

dwayneneckles,

bottomline I'm not into all the fancy terminology but in my several years as a consultant I can tell you one of the things that helped me get to the place where I was closing unbelieveable amounts of business and it was in these following areas below.

Let the market tell you what it wants. The customer needs to offer you more details into why they really need what they say they need. Often I would ask suttle variations of the same question in order to get the client to tell me more.

Let your customer do most of the talking in order to build greater repore. Often when selling sales people shut the client down by coming in too strong as the expert. Often I would come in asking the client to tell me what they wanted.

If the client can not verbalize why they need a website it could be that they really don't need one. What I'm about to tell you maybe a little advanced but when my clients could not give me a "compelling reason" I would often tell them "well maybe you don't really need a burglar alarm system" As I said this is rather advanced. Sometime my clients would come back "firing off" why they needed the alarm system. I would not take it personal but then I would softly say yeah I think I see now, you do need a burglar alarm system". And at that point you began to fill the need based on the things you're told. Your customers need to be a little bit more passionate on "the why". Getting them to a place where they are a little more emotional about why they are buying is key here!

You are on track if you are trying to find out the value proposition.

Finally let the client know that you are there to serve their needs. You must get into an emotional state where you are geniunely concerned (I mean to the point that your client feels that you are).

Selling is a very emotional business. I would recommend you read a book written by a friend of mine named Daryl Travis, called "Emotional Branding". It's well written and it will help you understand how to sell your product better.

I Also recommend the following, Tom Peters "The Brand You 50", Get Anyone To Do Anything, by David J. Lieberman, PH.D., Brian Tracy's "24 Techniques for closing the Sale", Mark Victor Hansens "The Aladdin Factor" and theirs one more that's great but I have to dig it out of my library.

I know I've given you a lot to think about but that's why they call it work. Thanks for letting me serve you. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE

Dwayne,

Everybody's looking for how things affect their bottomline. To answer your question if you're trying to break into an industry that can not see the benefits you better believe it's your job to help them understand how a website can benefit them. No different than it was my job over and over to help my clients understand how a burglar alarm system would help them save money it's your job to do the same.

At the end of the day it's about increasing revenue and lowering expenses. If you can't communicate it in these terms in some way you're going to have a rough time.

Maybe you ought to spend a little more time examining more clearly who your market is.

Consider partnering with someone in a host beneficiary relationship (like you are doing with printers) but find a partner where the needs align better.

Find someone who you help complete their end of the business. Like partnering with clients who sell software. You know their clients in the market are using computers (it's possible they may need someone to work on their website.

Like McDonald's knew that people who used gas at Amoco were hungry. Amoco knew that people who eat hamburgers need petro. More than anything in these times you need a mastermind group or partnerships through host beneficiary relationships. I hope this helps. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE

Dewayne,

here's some information about the Value Proposition. It was created by a guy named Michael Lanning in 1984. Go to this site mid way through the page there is a pdf white paper you can download. www.exubrio.com/services/white_papers/?OVRAW=value%20proposition&OVKEY=valu...

More than anything Dewayne I think the advise given above is very solid. This is good information and it works best when it's used :-) Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE

One proposal per month, eh? What would it take to increase that number to one proposal per week? What about one proposal per day?

And I'm curious about the market - why are you going after hair salons?

If I were selling in your market, I might call on hair salons - but only after I had called on each and every Association, Advertising Agency, Law Firm, MARCOM manager at local mid-sized companies, University, Acountant, consulting firm - and just about every other category in the yellow pages.

Your web site says you have sold to a university and an association. That makes sense, associations and universities spend money on web sites.

Do you have a "value proposition" problem? Yes, all the evidence indicates it makes no sense for a hair salon to invest in a web site. As they say, the nice thing about beating your head against the wall is that it feels so good when you stop.

You need to find people who are spending money NOW, and get a piece of the pie. Most likely, the immediate projects will be from companies who already have a web site, who are interested in search engine optimization, back end database integration, content management, or a general upgrade to the site.

==> I TOTALLY AGREE <== with Deremiah that you should partner with other firms - especially if you bring back end integration skills.

Good luck.

dewayne,

That aspect of it should probably be your part time thing but telemoxie has given some excellent advice on what your main prioritys should be. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE

If she will pay "any amount of money" - go over and pick up the check. Get to work.

You can do a Yahoo Yellow Pages search of hair salons in LA, click the links of some of the sponsored sites, and I'll bet you can find plenty who already have this capability on their web site.

Check out a few of the sites, write a proposal, and ask her to write you that check she is so ready to write. (You may be in for a suprise).

After you start on her project, start calling associations, ad agencies, marketing communications managers at mid-sized companies, universities, and other folk who actually spend real money on web sites.