You have a database of cold prospects to call, you want to make sales to.

You have to make the dial, wait for the answer, get put through and then it's ON ...

Sell or be SOLD on the fact that you cannot help, have nothing they want and are wasting their time ...

First Key, the first line out of your mouth had better WOW me or you're dead ...

And by the way ... how are you today DOES NOT WOW ME ...

Ask me a benefit filled question ... ?  But don't make it overly 'salesy' ...

Hi it's Steve from XYZ company and I'm calling to see if a 37% increase in your bottom line profits is something you could invest just 3 minutes chatting about?

Or ...

It's Mary from ABC company and my boss has asked me to call and find people who needed extra sales in this economic downturn ... are more sales something you would like to invest 4 minutes looking at ... ?

Get my attention and give me a benefit ... IMMEDIATELY ...

Then use questions rather than sales statements and you will win far more deals ...

All the Best ... Brad Sugars

They try everything - new sales scripts, better ads, new products, yet to no avail ... every day they open their doors, they plunge further into debt.

In most cases, the reason things aren’t working is very simple - there’s not enough business out there to keep them operating.

To illustrate, think about this example - Harry and Barry open up a hardware store.  There’s 6 other hardware stores in the immediate area, but the boys aren’t fazed - the other shops are staffed by ‘pimply kids who don’t know anything’.  According to Harry and Barry, they’re experts in the game - and will get heaps of business simply because of that.

They open a store a block down from the big competitor, write a couple of ads with the headline ‘Opening Sale’ and they’re off and running.

For two weeks, things seem to go well - they may be selling the products extra cheap, but they’re selling lots.  The cash register keeps ringing and things are pumping along.

Soon after though, things slow down.  In fact, they almost come to a dead stop - just a few customers a day, buying a hammer here and there.

The boys wonder why.

Whilst they got a few things right - the ads were ok, the customer service was good, the store was laid out well and the products were well chose, they missed the most important point of all ... whether the business was viable at all.

If they’d done a little research, they would have discovered the following - every year, 1.1 million is spent on hardware in their area.  If each of the 7 local hardware stores had an equal share of the sales, each one would have revenue of around $150,000 each.

Of course, the stores had wildly different figures.  The largest, a nationwide chain had the lion’s share at $475,000 - almost half.  The next biggest, a smaller, older store with a loyal client base, had $260,000. 

The 5 other stores made up the rest.  Naturally, 4 of them were on the verge of going under.  The fifth was Harry and Barry’s.

Looking at it from this perspective, the boys’ dream of opening a hardware store and becoming wealthy seem a little unrealistic.  They’ll be lucky if they last the next 6 months.

Think about your situation.  How much business is out there, and how much can you actually claim?

If there’s only a million dollars worth of sales, and you manage to grab 10%, that’s only $100,000 in sales.  Take out basic expenses (not including your own wage), and you’d be lucky to pull $30,000 profit out of it.

You may as well go and work for someone else - that way, you’ll earn more money and have less responsibility.  If the business goes down, it’s not your house, car and credit rating on the line.

So what do you do if your business is a dud?

Sell - get the heck out before it’s too late.  “But nobody will buy it,” most people say.  Wrong - you’d be surprised how many people there are willing to take a business that’s just getting by to buy themselves a job and ‘make a go of it’. 

Take the money and invest in something with more potential.  “But I can’t do anything else,” business owners often contest.  Wrong again - if all you could do is sell hardware, or wash dogs, or whatever it is you do, you should avoid business and get a job.

Owning a business isn’t about doing something - it’s about making money.  It doesn’t matter what the actual product or service is ... you can easily find people who know how to do the work; your role is to do the business.

So don’t flog a dead horse any longer than necessary - you are not bound to your business for the rest of your life.  You are free to change direction at any time.

Scared?  Good - that means something has stirred.  Let that stirring become action, go see one of my ActionCOACH's and you’ll be taking the first step towards real business success. 

All the Best ... Brad Sugars

Put a system in place to make sure you’re only ever selling to decision makers… and most importantly STOP wasting your time… it’s valuable.

2. Learn how to contact those so called ‘hard to reach’ decision makers… They’re only hard to reach because you haven’t found a way in yet…  Of course, timing has a lot to do with it but your marketing is your foot in the door, and it’s then, that your sales skills are put to the test…

Strategically the fastest way to contact a ‘hard to reach’ decision maker is to send them a marketing piece about yourself and your business that has a little yellow post-it note attached with this message, “Thought you should read this… CK.” By the time they’ve thought about who sent it to them they’ve read your letter …

Or, send them a letter that promises you’ll give them a call, and then when you speak with their secretary you can say that you promised to call them personally…

Speak with the right person, find out why they buy, and help them do it NOW…

3. How to create literally hundreds or new and qualified leads each and every month … Stop wasting your time working hard and chasing blind leads and get your marketing working for you and have your leads call you.  That way you’re only dealing with people who ‘want’ to work with you … I know in our franchise this is vital ...

4. Price is Never a Concern… Unless YOU believe it is first… The only sales people I’ve ever met who get heaps of price concerns are the ones who focus on it themselves… Get over it; make your customers focus on value and service instead…

Ask your prospects questions that focus on service, value and their needs, never price…

5. Ask more questions… The key to selling is having your customers sold before you ask them to buy.  And, the best way to do that is to have them sell themselves by answering your questions…

6. Listen and give positive strokes… After every question listen well, don’t jump in and make your point, just stay quiet, nod your head and agree, then ask another question…

Put bluntly, you don’t have to make your point every few minutes, just let them speak for a half hour or so and then bring everything they’ve said together to make your sales argument…  Remember, it’s things they’ve said that makes your sales pitch to them…

7. Never ask for the sale… Assume that they want to buy and just confirm details of the sale, like their address, the color, etc.  Too often people just forget to assume the sale, our franchise is built on the fact that people want to buy ...

All the Best ... Brad Sugars ...

PS.  Check in with my ActionCOACH team if you want more on this ... www.actioncoach.com ...