Do your profit cogs have teeth missing?

I sat across the desk from a business owner who has a great business concept.  His business should have been doing a whole lot better than it is.  

I could see this wasn’t because of any ‘financial meltdown’.   It was because some of the ‘cogs’ in his business that should have been producing profit, weren’t ‘meshing’.  And faulty cogs in a business chew relentlessly through profits that should be in the bank.

Now, I love bringing things down to their lowest common denominator.  So I pulled out my pen and asked him for a piece of blank paper ... And found him an extra 240% net profit.

I’ve been doing this for 28 years, so finding that additional profit was fairly straightforward.  It’s something I’ve done with hundreds of businesses. 

In this case …

I looked at his lead generation, and clearly it wasn’t working effectively.  In fact, it wasn’t working at all.  His ads had weak headlines. There was no call to action.  The ads did little to tell his ‘magic story’.  And they did even less for his image.


I showed him that by re-writing his ads, and by making some basic changes to his website, and by proposing a way to double his referrals … he would conservatively increase his sales leads by 85% … with very little effort.


Then I focused on his current conversion of enquiries to sales.  His gut had been telling him this was a weak ‘cog’.  In fact, his people were way worse at converting sales than he, especially over the phone.  They’d take names, send brochures with a form letter, and THINK they were selling.


A simple role play of what NOT TO DO, and an explanation of some supporting sales collateral, and we agreed he would, at the very LEAST, improve his sales hit rate from the present 3 out of ten to 4.  That was ultra conservative.


And while that doesn’t sound much, that small improvement represents a 33% increase in sales.  I believe we can lift it to 6 out of ten personally.


Then I looked at his pricing. He had been way too wary of putting his prices up, but with the new presentation and sales collateral I described, agreed it’d be a snap. I reminded him too that sellers will often have more problem with price than the buyer ever will.


At this point, I stopped the exercise.  I knew that if we continued to add in more ‘profit factors’, his profit potential would look unbelievably huge.  But even that little exercise took his sales from $2,850 a week to some $6,500 a week. And his profits from $950 to over $4,000 … a week.


Here’s the really interesting part in all this...


He’d been holding back from taking his ‘hot business concept’ to other parts of the country, because the profits were too thin.  Now, he could see a whole new profit ‘engine room’ that will allow him to expand gradually, but with absolute confidence.


You know, it’s this pencil and a blank sheet of paper exercise that has kept me buzzing all these years.  In some cases, I see such huge potential, I may well get involved in a JV with the client.  And in this may well be the case here.  


Not every venture qualifies to that level.  But there are some amazing ‘sleepers’ out there with profits waiting to be unlocked.  


In a similar exercise several weeks prior...

By phone this time, I identified the missing ‘cogs’ for an importer of industrial equipment. 

Fixing his processes will take his business from under $2 million to over $6 million in the next twelve to eighteen months.  With an 800% increase in his NET profit line.

Look, before I go on, I've got to say something...

As I write this, I get the sense that it sounds like gratuitous trumpet blowing.  But in truth I'm only stating the facts.  And if I don't tell you the sort of things that I do, it won't get your attention, and that will serve neither of us.


Frankly I see all too many business people missing these opportunities.  They don’t measure the key performance indicators that flag these problems, so they don’t know it’s happening.  Or if they do, they haven’t been able to find ‘marketing’ people who understand that their business IS a piece of machinery, let alone who have the skills to fix it.


I’ve worked with literally hundreds of businesses, doing this.  I’ve owned retail businesses, had equity in a national trade service franchise, worked with professional firms … and I’ve done it over and over again. 


In my seminars, I’ve worked through my examples … such as a lead generation ‘information based’ strategy for a retirement village client that produced a 3,000% increase in enquiry. 

And wrote an ad that produced a 280% increase in sales for an automotive aftermarket company.  And I developed a sales training video program for a national tyre group that DOUBLED their forecourt sales.


For the trade service national franchise group, I developed a selling presentation script which increased the success in conversions to sales by better than 80% for some of the operators, and increased their revenue performance by an average 120%.


My case studies fill my manuals, e-books and online resource library.


Why am I telling you this?

I’d like to offer you an opportunity to have me (and my team) do it for you.
Normally, unless it’s on a profit share basis, I don’t consult one-on-one anymore … but this is different.


First up, I’ve been really taken aback by the overwhelming response we’ve had to this blog. 

One blog entry a few weeks back was featured in the New York Times business blog and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce blog...

But more than that, I've been impressed by the comments coming back from my subscribers and readers. 

There’s clearly a lot of pain out there, and a lot of businesses looking for help.  And for a small window of time, I can provide it.


Second, I’m doing it as an advanced training exercise for my team over the ‘down time’ between now and the end of January. 

So I am looking to do a number of small projects.  For those four to five weeks, we’ll roll our sleeves up and work on the ‘cogs’ for clients’ businesses … helping individual businesses get geared up for a blockbuster 2012.


Third, my experience tells me that in one or more of the projects we’ll review, there will be another ‘sleeper’ … a business 'super success story' waiting to happen.  


If that turns out to be your business, there might be a JV opportunity, ramping up your business to a whole new level, in return for an agreed profit share.


Either way, this is a once a year opportunity.  If you want to take it, you can simply contact us, briefly outline your business and tell us what ‘cogs’ you feel are missing that hold you back from making it a goldmine.


And if we agree it has potential, we’ll roll our sleeves up and get down to the nuts and bolts of how we’d work with you.


How much will having us work on your project cost you?   As a ballpark, it could be in the region of $2,000 to $12,000 … depending on what is entailed.  


But let’s be very clear on something. 

If we do take a project on, we will have VERY clearly mapped out in advance what the potential outcomes will be for you … at best and worst case.  And if it doesn’t show potential to rapidly return you your investment in multiples of net profit increases, we’ll politely decline.


Importantly too, I’ll be personally involved … at every stage.  Including the creation of ‘marketing collateral’, scripting of sales presentations, redesign of websites, providing of sales training tools.  Whatever it takes to make success happen.

As well as identifying those ‘cogs’ that are going to get the ‘business machine’ running at its peak, and that produce the quickest and biggest impact on profits.


And importantly, we will do the actual ‘where the rubber hits the road’ stuff that’s required to IMPLEMENT …


So there you have it … if you’re interested in having us work on your business in our down time between now and the end of January, use the contact button below and we’ll be in touch.


Don’t procrastinate however.  This isn’t a contrived ‘while stocks last … free set of steak knives’ offer.  It’s an honest and straightforward fact that we can ONLY take on a small handful of projects.  We’ll give our all to those projects … but those who aren’t quick to respond will simply miss out.


And without sounding too cute about it, 2012 is going to be a year where businesses will struggle and flounder if they try to operate profitably with ‘inefficient cogs’ … or they can take affirmative action and get solid marketing strategies in place, to guarantee they’ll roar into life in 2012 and produce windfall profits, while others are battening down and pulling back and wondering what hit them.


Again, to flag your interest in this opportunity, use the contact button below and we’ll be in touch.


Either way, my kindest regards.  All the best to you and your business, now and 2012 …


Chris Newton

4 things to do immediately when sales start drying up

FOUR things to do immediately when sales start drying up (and a personal invitation from Chris Newton at the end of this email) ...

The current economic conditions are a fact of life.  But it’s no time to curl up in a corner in the foetal position.  

Now is the perfect time to be actively looking at new (or old) ways to turn things around.  Smart players boom in these times.

Let me give you four basic action steps to get sales pumping through your business again.

1. Tighten up your sales processes.

OK, I rant about this regularly.  But I get to look inside lots of businesses, and I have to tell you ... SALES are being lost every day for the want of some simple changes. 

• What about when the phone rings with a request for information?  Realise it’s NOT a request for information!!  It’s someone wanting to BUY.  Organisations are so laid back, they accept sending of a brochure and bland form-letter as handling the ‘sale’.  It’s NOT.  You need an elite team of trained ‘green berets’ hungry for sales, who make sure every possible (ethical) avenue has been covered, systematically and consistently, to get the sale.  And you need to track what’s happening ...

• What’s going on in the business?  In the ‘good times’, it’s so damn easy to ignore things that make you cringe, and be too busy to do anything about it.  Times aren’t ‘good’ right now.  FIX these things internally that eat away at your market share.  What sort of things?  Customer enquiries sitting for days unattended to.  Poorly worded letters going out, often with grammatical or spelling errors.  That square peg in a round hole person who should never be handling sales enquiries, who is still there.  I could go on.

• Sales skills.  Presenting at a conference recently, I invited a gentleman up on the stage.  Like most of the people in the room, he thought he was pretty good at selling.  But about 45 seconds into our role play (with me as the customer), he was stumbling, uncomfortable and disoriented as to how to handle my basic questions on price and why I should buy from him and not his competitor.  To relieve him of his discomfort, I switched roles.  With limited knowledge of his products, I showed him and several hundred other business owners how easy it is to keep control of the sale.  The whole room agreed this change in approach would work for them.  But up until then, almost NONE of them did these things.  Bottom line, if your ‘green berets’ aren’t seriously honed in the skills to handle a prospect’s enquiries, you are losing market share.  And with the “shrinking pie”, that’s a luxury you simply can’t afford.

2. Mass Marketing vs Boutique. 

I’ve talked a great deal in the past about ‘mass marketing’ strategies.  It’s time to think about ‘Boutique Marketing’.  This is awesomely powerful. 

There’s a wonderful story about how David Ogilvy arrived in New York, from the UK as an unknown, and went on to build one of the largest and most successful ad agencies on the planet.  How?  He focused in on exactly which companies he WANTED on his client list. 

He wrote a list of the FIVE ‘blue chip’ companies he wanted to get.  We’re talking Shell, Lever & Kitchen, Rolls Royce.  The big guys. 

He stuck his list of these five giant corporations on his bathroom mirror.  And every day, would not leave that bathroom until he had at least one initiative to get one of those companies one step closer to being a client.  The rest is history.  

He ultimately got all five. 

You see, when you break your market down into small ‘boutique’ numbers of prospects, you can bring enormous focus and energy to bear, just on them!   You can ‘afford’ to stand out and be noticed.

Fed Ex a package to the 5 decision makers, find ways to add value to them, create a dialog with them.

In tough times and in the ‘good times’, almost no one goes to this effort.  If you can be a bright star on the horizon for your prospect list, odds are you will ultimately win the prize.

3. How many ‘dead leads’ do you have? 

Just like some ancient reptile in Jurassic Park waiting to be reawakened, many of your dead leads may not be dead at all.  Chances are, they’re just waiting for someone to come along and poke them into action. 

One business owner said to me the other day that he has 50,000 unconverted leads in his database!  It’s taken the tight times for him to think about re-approaching these people. 

What if he can stir even 2% of them into life and they buy from him?  For his business, the recession would be over!  Do you have leads and past client names that are really just dormant, waiting to get a great offer from you?

4. Remember ‘Shoe Leather’? 

I love this story.  One of our clients is a very successful chiropractor. 
We’ve been writing his ads, supporting collateral and client referral and reactivation pieces on and off for years.  But he has just pulled off a coup of his own.  With ‘shoe leather’ marketing. 

No, he didn’t go door to door in desperation.  He leveraged himself.  He secured an invitation to go to the local gym, and for a nominal fee, offered to give the members a spinal check. 

The result?  Out of ONE visit, he’s gained 25 new clients.  A good morning’s work?  You bet!  His ‘lifetime value’ of a client is worth some $4,000 to him over the next four years. 

That’s $100K in new future business in a morning.  Now that’s inspiring.

What’s the bottom line on all of this?

Tough times are not for sitting in an ivory tower and worrying.  They’re times when different strategies, including well thought through ‘shoe leather’ marketing, can pay massive dividends.  May you boom in the ‘tight times’.  

Personal Invitation from Chris Newton:

Okay, this next bit is an invitation to work with us on your marketing ... if it's appropriate for you right now.  Go to the link below to hear:

www.resultscorporation.com.au/offer.mp3

(If you have trouble with the link above, you can also listen to the offer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2agQgmvuGiM&feature=channel_video_title)

Chris Newton

Are your quotes losing you business?

You may have heard me say before: ‘tear up your quote forms!’

Now, that's a fairly provocative statement.  And for many businesses, doing quotes is the only way they get business.  Or that’s what they think.

There is a better way.  Not only that, it will earn better margins, win MORE business, and serve your customers better.  A different positioning in fact, that will leave your lower priced competitors scratching their heads as to how you're winning the business.

First, what does the word quote mean to your prospects?

It means: "Check my competitors. Shop against me. Find the best price."

Think about it.  If that's how you're positioning your business, solely focusing on price, then your business will forever be fighting an uphill battle.  Now more than ever, given the increasing influence of the Internet and the 'global village' market.

Let's re-think the way you position your 'quote'. 

Start by not seeing it as a quote.

See your quote as a job specification, an action plan, a specification sheet...  Call it what you will, but don't call it a quote.  Get that word out of your vocabulary, and the vocabulary of your team.

Second, where do you put the price on your quote now?

Right at the bottom, at the very end?

Hmmm, what does the prospect do when they receive the quote?  They go straight to the very bottom and take a look at the price before they read the details.

So how might you address that?

Think about putting it right up the top.  Thank them for the opportunity to work with you on this project, state that their investment will be x, and then take them through the value they'll receive - list out the benefits.  Like this:

"Based on our discussions and your specifications, your investment will be x dollars.  Let me spell out exactly what you will get for your investment..."

Guess what your prospect is focusing on now?  Suddenly you've turned the whole focus around.  They're focused on the value they'll be receiving.  And the price is out of the way.

And importantly, when you write your proposal, assume that you've got the job.

Now I don't mean you don't have to try.  Instead, have the mindset, the 'belief system' that your solution IS the right one.  And that your prospect would be crazy to go anywhere else.

And in truth, if you've done your fact finding and set up expectations correctly with the client, there's no reason you CAN'T be confident you've got the best price/value solution.

One final point...

Even in a struggling economy, buyers are more concerned with the value of what they're getting than the cost.  There's a bit of wisdom here:

The seller often has more problem with price than the buyer ever will.

Hard to accept but true.

Until next time,

Chris Newton

P.S. If you'd like more help on re-working your 'proposals' or 'job specifications', take a look at this article on our Results Corporation website:

http://www.resultscorporation.com.au/Articles2.html

Taking advantage of a marketing opportunity...

This blog entry will pick up where the last blog entry in the white paper series left off, and give you one more example analysis to get your 'creative marketing juices' flowing.

Example 4#: A white paper that was created in a matter of days to capture a 'window of opportunity'

I was visiting our UK office just when the Global Financial Crisis was beginning to gather momentum in the media.  Businesses were going into panic mode and yet I knew I could give them very simple, basic ‘survival’ guidelines that would help insulate them from the downward spiral.

So on the flight home, I wrote a special report called the '10 Proven Strategies to Boost Your Sales and Profits (& Recession-Proof Your Business)’.

Essentially the white paper was a temperature check for the prospect's business, with strategies, statistics and case studies that clearly articulated how not only to 'weather' the GFC storm, but to grow and profit despite it.

In reality, this white paper would have probably been a great tool for our prospects at any time, but because of the media attention around the GFC, it really struck a nerve.  We were being inundated with online requests – consistently up to three or four every day in the early days.

After the initial flurry, we stopped actively promoting the white paper. Yet we still get requests coming in, and have over 370 new prospects on our database since we have made the report available. And while I was involved in creating a new venture and not looking for ‘consulting projects’ per se, I think you’ll agree it would have been a very fertile field had I been seeking them.

Here's a sample of the white paper:

This is the final blog entry in the white paper series. If you'd like help with crafting your own red hot lead-generating white paper, call me on (+617) 3300 6909, or simply use our Results Corporation contact form to drop us an email.

You also might want to request our own new white paper - '21 Tips on Creating an Effective White Paper'.

A red hot lead-generating white paper...

In this blog article we'll pick up from where we left off with how to craft a white paper that positions your business as ‘the authority’ and gets qualified prospects to ‘put their hand up’.  If you have not done so already, it might be an idea to read the first blog entry and second blog entry I have done in this series.

Example 3#: A white paper for the ages

As a business owner you'll no doubt identify with the white paper title and content we created for Sheridans Accountants and Financial Planners.  More specifically, the principal of Sheridans created the content. Our task was to help mould it into a ‘marketing tool’.

As you’ll see, the white paper asks the questions business owners are thinking, and gives simple solutions to those questions.  Each of these solutions is then supported with case studies and statistics taken straight from their client files.

Importantly too, the white paper provokes the prospect into thinking about different ways they can increase their profit, grow their business and build their asset base. Or to put that another way, to quantify the things they’re MISSING OUT ON now.

And of course the solutions eloquently showcase Sheridans' unique service and standards WITHOUT being ‘salesy’.

Being able to highlight your strengths through the medium of asking the right questions is a very powerful skill in creating a white paper.

However, a word of warning.  Remember, the white paper must not look like a brochure for your business.  The white paper must be a document designed to be genuinely informative, not simply to try to sell your services.  It is best to imply the wisdom of using your services through your case studies to demonstrate how you do business.  That said, your white paper must still have a call to action at the very end.

In my next blog entry in this series we'll look at one final white paper that netted 374 leads (and counting!).  Make sure you sign up above to ensure you receive all entries in this series.

Want to 'close' more sales? Try 'opening' with more questions...

Here's an easy test for you to try next time you're in a one-on-one sales situation.  Consciously observe how much you’re TELLING … and how much you’re ASKING.  You may find the results of this experiment very interesting.
 

Unquestionably THE most powerful approach in selling is by asking questions: questions about your prospect, their situation, their needs, and what they're looking for.

The temptation however is to revert to TELL MODE.

A salesperson needs to be like an investigative doctor, asking about the symptoms of a patient to diagnose the problem before prescribing the treatment.  In the case of the doctor, doing it any other way would be professional malpractice.  Not asking questions in selling is malpractice too.

The great thing about asking questions and listening to the prospects answers is that you can then ‘prescribe’ the solution exactly for their needs, and use their language. 

Remember this phrase: “Based on what you've told me, 'X' would be the most appropriate service/product for you.  Remember how you said you are looking for …”

Easy.  Powerful.  And so few salespeople do it effectively.

Sales Letter and Copywriting Clinic

Before I start, let me say this is an example from our archives.  So if the ‘technology’ references seem somewhat archaic, bear with me.

You see, the copy structure and approach is the message.

This was an actual sales letter (left) inviting me to attend the release of a new software product.




You will I trust get value from being an observer to the marketing blunders this company made.

Not surprisingly, I changed the name of the company.  The REAL company is one you’d recognise immediately.

Before you go on, scan the letter they sent out to who knows how many thousand ‘prospects’.

The Curse of Assumption

Okay, so the REAL company is a big brand.  You'll know it.  But does that mean you know as much about their XANADU 3000 as they assume you do?  And will you care?

A huge mistake in writing a sales letter (or any communication) is assuming that the prospect will care about the business, the service or product, or that they'll even stop what they’re doing long enough to try to peak their interest.  They won't!

Your reader is at the wastebasket 

Write your letter picturing the prospect reading your letter by their wastebasket.  Or they have their finger poised on the delete key.  You have to create a letter that makes it impossible for them to discard it.

And DO NOT assume that because you live and breathe your business, and your products and services, that someone ‘out there’ in the marketplace will too.

Most likely, when your prospect woke up this morning, they were NOT thinking about you!  And they’ll go through the day and go to bed at night, and chances are, they won’t have given your business a thought.

Coming at your communications from that perspective, it makes you realise that you have to work many times harder to grab their attention and keep it past those critical first few seconds, and then to motivate them enough to ACT on what you want them to do.

Turn the table on yourself ... 

How many sales letters have you binned?  How many emails have you instantly deleted?

Are your sales letters stopping your prospects in their tracks and commanding their attention?  Or are they rambling on about how good your company is, or that your computer division was established in 1984?

Now, just in case you feel this letter example ISN’T a sales letter, and that it's an invitation … and therefore doesn't need to 'sell' ... rest assured its objective IS to ‘sell’ something.   Its objective is to ‘sell’ the reader on giving up two hours to come to an event, reorganising their diary, and braving the traffic snarls to get there.  It IS a big sales task.  And that's not even the first sale.  The first ‘sale’ is getting your reader to stop and read your first paragraph.  Make sense?

The 'WHO CARES? test'

Whenever you write anything, make sure you give it the ‘WHO CARES? test' first.  If it doesn’t compellingly grab the reader’s attention, hold it with riveting advantages and benefits that demonstrate how you will help them to save money, increase productivity, look younger, feel fitter, get more sales, increase their profits, or whatever, then it WON’T pass the 'who CARES' test.  Don’t waste your time sending it until you’ve re-worked it massively.

How to fix this letter

Here’s the irony.  The XANADU 3000 may indeed be some amazing new innovation that will revolutionise your entire working environment.  It may quadruple your productivity.  It may cut costs by 48%, or enable you to cut three weeks off your delivery schedules ... or any one of a myriad of benefits.

But from that letter, you ’d sure NEVER know it.

The letter suffers from ‘product peddling’.

That is, it is ‘we’ focused.  It’s all about the writer’s fascination with their company and their product, NOT what that product will do for you or me.

As well, the letter suffers from bland generalisation syndrome.

It sounds impressive; ‘… addresses the changing data capture environment by delivering the highest level of applications flexibility, without the usual penalty of performance degradation.’

But what does all that mean?

The key to powerful communication is to be SPECIFIC.

If your product delivers a 48% cost cut, don’t just say it will ‘cut costs’.  Say it will cut costs by 48%.  If customer surveys have shown that it cuts 21 days off delivery times, say so.  And go on to say that, for the average user, this translates into over $40,000 a year in savings from stock control efficiencies.  And that 27 of the users have attributed winning new contracts worth a collective $4.7 million because of their faster delivery times.

Can you see where I’m going with this?  Once you learn how to write in this compelling, benefit oriented way, you’ll truly revolutionise your communications.

You’ll win more business.  You’ll increase your profit margins.  You’ll begin to gain an unassailable hold on your niche market.  And your competitors will wonder what you’re doing.

Does that sound like something you’d like to take on board?  If it's made you feel that way, it’s because I simply did what the letter above failed to do.  I focused on what’s in this ... for YOU.

Simple, isn’t it?

If you want to learn a whole lot more about how to write amazing communication pieces, I've developed a complete writing e-program, 'Write and Design your own Ads, Sales Letters, Brochures, Flyers and Sales Presentations'. 

For more great articles, examples and tips like this, subscribe to this blog.

Are you looking for sales in all the wrong places?

We're all interested in ways to increase profits. But, all too often, business owners look in the wrong places for the answers while an abundance of extra profit is being lost right under their nose. They just don't see it leaking away, day after day. Let me give you a real life example.

Some time back, a client came to see me with a marketing problem. He was the owner of multiple tile showrooms. He said the market was hardening, his competitors were undercutting his prices, and he was starting to lose market share. "Chris, I want you to come up with a new advertising campaign. Something catchy and gimmicky that will get our sales up, and fast".

My response wasn't what he expected. Instead of talking gimmicky ideas, I quietly asked him: "Alan, what's your sales process? How does business come to you now? How much of your business is 'walk-in' traffic, and how much starts as an enquiry over the phone?"

Perplexed as to why I was going down this line of questioning, he told me that the market is extremely price focused, and people typically shop around for prices over the phone before they go into a tile showroom.

I asked another question "What percentage of those enquiry calls actually convert to a visit to your showrooms?"

Well, that question really set him off! "Twenty percent would be being generous!" Their average conversion rate was a real bone of contention he had with his staff.

"Alan, what's YOUR success rate in converting callers to sales?".

He fired back, "Look, I run a twelve million dollar business with multiple stores. I hope you're not suggesting I answer the phones!" I assured him that this was not my intention. But I still pressed him for what happens when he DOES answer the phone. "Well, I reckon I get about 80% coming in to buy. But I've been in the industry for a long time. I know my products backwards. And no one has my knowledge in that area."

Perhaps you can see where I'm going with this. Here was an experienced and intelligent businessperson who'd come to me convinced he needed a 'catchy' new ad campaign. But he was looking in completely the wrong place for a solution! What he really needed was something different altogether. Look at the numbers.

Alan was getting 80% conversion to a sale over the phone. His people were averaging 20%. His team's conversion to sales was haemorrhaging badly. My next question really blew the lid off his problem for BOTH of us "Alan, how many people across all your stores take these sales enquiry calls?"

"FORTY!", he answered. He had forty people taking his phone enquiries at a devastatingly low 20%. It meant every time someone in his team picked up the phone, he was losing 60% of his potential sales.
And HE thought he needed an ad campaign!

By training his people to convert, not at 80%, but just 40% I showed him that he'd immediately add some FIVE to SIX MILLION DOLLARS to his turnover. Without a cent more on advertising.
No matter what your business, there's an indelible lesson to be had here. Review your advertising by all means for increased profit opportunities. In fact, during this course, we'll be showing you exactly how to do that. But always look at your current sales PROCESS first. As yourself these searching questions:

Do you actually know what your average 'conversion rate' is? I don't mean 'guess it'. Do you accurately measure it? Do you measure it for each individual? There's great wisdom in the saying, "What you don't measure, you can't manage". As well, do you have scripts to maximise the success of your individual team members on the phone, and in face-to-face sales situations?

And do you have a follow up system to follow up sales that didn't happen right away? And a system to develop ongoing communications with your prospects? Do you programmed approach to ethically re-selling existing clients?

In each of these seemingly innocuous questions is hidden the potential for an avalanche of new sales and profits. But it IS hidden. You won't see the opportunities unless you dissect your sales process and identify them!

Get more tips like this one by joining 'Chris Newton's Strategy Brief Marketing Course'.




To contact Chris Newton, the author of this blog, go to www.ResultsCorporation.com.au