Jamie Herzlich jherzlich@aol.com
You're convinced you have a great product or service and want to get it to the right people, but before you can even make a pitch, you're stopped dead in your tracks by the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper can take many forms: personal assistant, secretary, office manager or even voice mail. Getting past these gatekeepers can be a daunting task, but it's not impossible, experts say. It just requires a little more planning and persistence on your part.Gatekeepers are "specifically trained to keep you away," says Jeff Goldberg of Jeff Goldberg & Associates, a Long Beach sales training and consulting firm. "If you're going to get in touch with the people you want to sell to, you'd better figure out how you're going to get past them or through them."
So how do you best do that?Well, it starts with understanding who the key decision makers are, so you can best focus your efforts on reaching them and not be handed off from gatekeeper to gatekeeper, experts say."Do your homework first," advises Maura Halligan of AdvantEdge Sales Training Inc. in Massapequa Park. "You don't use the gatekeeper to do your homework for you."Create an ideal client or customer profile, suggests sales trainer Wendy Weiss of Weiss Communications Llc in Manhattan and author of "Cold Calling for Women" (DFD Publications, $15.95).
Look at your existing customer base and analyze what the titles of the key decision makers are, she notes. That will give you a better idea of the kinds of people you should be targeting.You can also check out online databases like jigsaw.com, which has more than nine million business contacts in a searchable directory.And if all else fails, you can always verify with the gatekeeper if the person you are requesting is an appropriate fit. Just be sure when speaking to the gatekeeper that you don't approach that person in a passive or submissive way, Goldberg says.
Be polite, but ask firmly to speak to the person in charge.Speak with "authority, self- confidence and assurance," adds Weiss, also known as "The Queen of Cold Calling." If you behave like a boss, the secretary will perceive you as being a boss and give more value, importance and urgency to your call, she notes.If he or she asks what you're calling about, offer some information like "I'd like to discuss some ideas related to cash flow," and then try to take control of the conversation by asking again if their boss is available, advises Linda Berke of Taylor Performance Solutions in Melville, which offers sales training. If they say they're unavailable, ask when would be a good time to reach them, she suggests.
To help avoid a lot of this resistance, try getting a referral, Halligan says. So you might say to the gatekeeper, "I was told to call your boss by X," she notes. Another way is to mention another company in their industry that you're doing work for. So you'd say, "We just finished a project for X, and we thought since your company is in the same business, there could be some good opportunities here," she notes.
Of course, the rules change if you get voice mail rather than a person. It's best to call again, but if you have to leave a message, keep it short, suggests Michelle Nichols, a sales expert and president of Hug Your Kids Llc in Reno, Nev."Make sure your first five to 10 words are extremely relevant," she adds. "You need to leave a compelling message with a benefit in it."If your calls go unanswered, put the prospect aside and try the person again at a later date, Goldberg says."You don't want to harass people," he says. "You should always have enough leads so no one gatekeeper matters to you.
TIPS ON HOW TO CONNECT
If the front door doesn't work ... Try calling when the gatekeeper isn't likely to be around, either before 9 a.m., after 5 p.m. or even on a Saturday. You'd be surprised how many executives arrive early or stay later, and you just may catch them at their desk. Look for their direct dial on their company Web site, or some companies offer extensions via an automated telephone directory. You can also dial a random extension or department and ask to be transferred.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzherz5881492oct13,0,6095875.story
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Schumer seeks temporary small-business loan program
Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday called on the Bush administration to create a temporary small-business direct-loan program to serve as a bridge until funds kick in from the $700-billion federal bailout for Wall Street banks.B
ecause it will take a month for the bailout funds to enter the market, Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it is imperative for the federal government to help small businesses that may have trouble acquiring short-term loans to cover things like payroll or purchases.
For the full story click here.
ecause it will take a month for the bailout funds to enter the market, Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it is imperative for the federal government to help small businesses that may have trouble acquiring short-term loans to cover things like payroll or purchases.
For the full story click here.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Top Ten Tips for Magic Marketing
By Philip Chandler, Business Development Consultant
Whether you already run a business or are thinking of starting one, effective marketing is one of the keys to your success. Conversely, failure to pay sufficient attention to the way you present yourself to actual and potential customers is one of the shortest routes to obscurity.
So, culled from the advice given over many years to my clients, here are my top 10 tips for putting magic into your marketing, with special regard to the needs of people starting with limited resources.
Tip #1: Identify your prospects
Who exactly are your potential customers? Without being able to clearly and concisely answer that question, your marketing campaign will be a hit-and-miss affair with little hope of real success. Too many people new to business think they can sell to everyone. Craftsman-made, high-quality goods sell to people who appreciate and can afford them, not to bargain-hunters or people with good taste and no money. Cheap-and-cheerful, mass-produced products sell mainly to people with less discrimination and lower incomes.
Tip #2: Understand why people buy
People buy in order to feel good, or to satisfy a pressing need or desire. They buy with emotion and justify with logic. Give them good emotional reasons to buy, then show them why their purchase was a really sensible move.
Tip #3: Sell Benefits, not Features
People buy solutions - otherwise known as benefits - not features. They only care about what your product or service can do for them. They want to know that it will do something to improve their lives in some way - not that it is packed with technology they neither understand nor appreciate. Look at your product from a customer’s point of view - would you buy it? What advantages does it have over the competition?
Tip #4: Use simple language
Keep jargon for shop-talk with your colleagues - keep it out of your sales literature, unless you are selling to the trade or a highly technical market. People hate unexplained acronyms in body text. Use plain language and keep sentences reasonably short.
Tip #5: Create a coordinated corporate image
You don’t have to be a multi-national to have a corporate image. Look at how you or your company appears to your customers from their point of view. What do they see when opening your envelope? What effect do the colours, typeface, layout, paper, etc have on people? Have you ever asked them? If you have a high quality product or service, you need to position yourself appropriately in the marketplace using well-designed, high class print and promotional material to project a consistent, congruent image.
Tip #6: Use free and low-cost advertising
Before spending a fortune on media advertising, consider the possibilities for self-publicity offered by story-hungry local newspapers and radio stations. Study them carefully and angle your copy to match their house style. Get yourself interviewed. Consider using leaflets delivered door-to-door to sell domestic products - one way to accurately target your market. Use cards or posters in shop windows or notice boards if appropriate. For mail order products, test classified ads followed up with sales letters before venturing into display space. Always create coded ads so you can track results, otherwise you will never know what works and what does not.
Tip #7: Concatenate your products
Concatenation is the process of forming logical links between your products such that one purchase will lead to others. For example, having read this article you may want to know more about my company’s services and publications. I may consult for you one day, which may lead on to writing your sales literature or training your sales team. Using this technique, you can approach prospects with low-cost - or even free - offers, knowing that a percentage of them will go on to buy your more profitable lines later on. Had you hit them with the big-ticket item first, you would probably have had a tougher time making the sale. Each product should be complete in itself and have logical links to others: don’t cheat by leaving something out of product #1 which forces them to buy #2.
Tip #8: Ask for Referrals
When you have done a good job for someone, ask them if they can suggest two or three other people who might also benefit from your service. Even if they don’t buy, you can still ask for referrals, as in: “I understand that this does not suit your needs right now, and can you suggest someone who may be interested?” Give people an incentive to recommend others, such as a coupon redeemable against future purchases.
Tip#9: Exceed people’s expectations
Go the extra mile. Do something extra without expecting payment. Time and time again it has been proved that people will pay over the odds for exceptional service. A friend of mine actually traveled two or three times a year from Devon to York (about 600 miles round trip) by train to visit her favorite hairdresser! Extreme, perhaps, but this is just one example of the lengths people will go to for that little bit extra. Do more than you promise, and your name will be etched on your customers’ memories in gold lettering. Do less, and you may never see them again.
Tip #10: Learn from feedback
The most accurate and valuable market research you will ever do is face-to-face with your customers. If you want to know what they think of you, ask them! Ask them what they want and they will tell you in plain, jargon-free language. Talk to people - they love to tell you what you are doing right and what you could do better. And it will save you a fortune in fees from market research companies.
Copyright © 1997 P J Chandler. All Rights Reserved.
Whether you already run a business or are thinking of starting one, effective marketing is one of the keys to your success. Conversely, failure to pay sufficient attention to the way you present yourself to actual and potential customers is one of the shortest routes to obscurity.
So, culled from the advice given over many years to my clients, here are my top 10 tips for putting magic into your marketing, with special regard to the needs of people starting with limited resources.
Tip #1: Identify your prospects
Who exactly are your potential customers? Without being able to clearly and concisely answer that question, your marketing campaign will be a hit-and-miss affair with little hope of real success. Too many people new to business think they can sell to everyone. Craftsman-made, high-quality goods sell to people who appreciate and can afford them, not to bargain-hunters or people with good taste and no money. Cheap-and-cheerful, mass-produced products sell mainly to people with less discrimination and lower incomes.
Tip #2: Understand why people buy
People buy in order to feel good, or to satisfy a pressing need or desire. They buy with emotion and justify with logic. Give them good emotional reasons to buy, then show them why their purchase was a really sensible move.
Tip #3: Sell Benefits, not Features
People buy solutions - otherwise known as benefits - not features. They only care about what your product or service can do for them. They want to know that it will do something to improve their lives in some way - not that it is packed with technology they neither understand nor appreciate. Look at your product from a customer’s point of view - would you buy it? What advantages does it have over the competition?
Tip #4: Use simple language
Keep jargon for shop-talk with your colleagues - keep it out of your sales literature, unless you are selling to the trade or a highly technical market. People hate unexplained acronyms in body text. Use plain language and keep sentences reasonably short.
Tip #5: Create a coordinated corporate image
You don’t have to be a multi-national to have a corporate image. Look at how you or your company appears to your customers from their point of view. What do they see when opening your envelope? What effect do the colours, typeface, layout, paper, etc have on people? Have you ever asked them? If you have a high quality product or service, you need to position yourself appropriately in the marketplace using well-designed, high class print and promotional material to project a consistent, congruent image.
Tip #6: Use free and low-cost advertising
Before spending a fortune on media advertising, consider the possibilities for self-publicity offered by story-hungry local newspapers and radio stations. Study them carefully and angle your copy to match their house style. Get yourself interviewed. Consider using leaflets delivered door-to-door to sell domestic products - one way to accurately target your market. Use cards or posters in shop windows or notice boards if appropriate. For mail order products, test classified ads followed up with sales letters before venturing into display space. Always create coded ads so you can track results, otherwise you will never know what works and what does not.
Tip #7: Concatenate your products
Concatenation is the process of forming logical links between your products such that one purchase will lead to others. For example, having read this article you may want to know more about my company’s services and publications. I may consult for you one day, which may lead on to writing your sales literature or training your sales team. Using this technique, you can approach prospects with low-cost - or even free - offers, knowing that a percentage of them will go on to buy your more profitable lines later on. Had you hit them with the big-ticket item first, you would probably have had a tougher time making the sale. Each product should be complete in itself and have logical links to others: don’t cheat by leaving something out of product #1 which forces them to buy #2.
Tip #8: Ask for Referrals
When you have done a good job for someone, ask them if they can suggest two or three other people who might also benefit from your service. Even if they don’t buy, you can still ask for referrals, as in: “I understand that this does not suit your needs right now, and can you suggest someone who may be interested?” Give people an incentive to recommend others, such as a coupon redeemable against future purchases.
Tip#9: Exceed people’s expectations
Go the extra mile. Do something extra without expecting payment. Time and time again it has been proved that people will pay over the odds for exceptional service. A friend of mine actually traveled two or three times a year from Devon to York (about 600 miles round trip) by train to visit her favorite hairdresser! Extreme, perhaps, but this is just one example of the lengths people will go to for that little bit extra. Do more than you promise, and your name will be etched on your customers’ memories in gold lettering. Do less, and you may never see them again.
Tip #10: Learn from feedback
The most accurate and valuable market research you will ever do is face-to-face with your customers. If you want to know what they think of you, ask them! Ask them what they want and they will tell you in plain, jargon-free language. Talk to people - they love to tell you what you are doing right and what you could do better. And it will save you a fortune in fees from market research companies.
Copyright © 1997 P J Chandler. All Rights Reserved.
A New Name - More Precise and Informative Blog
Thanks for visiting me through asll these yeas. I have decided to consolidate all my activitiese into this site. TelecommutingPro.com information can be found here as well as information about starting up and successfully running your small business.
Hope to see you back here often.
Toni
Hope to see you back here often.
Toni
Monday, February 25, 2008
Telecommuting: It takes discipline to work from home
It may take discipline to work from home but it is worth it. This article discusses if telecommuting is the correct choice.
Your Success Is Our Success.
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Telecommuting: It takes discipline to work from home
When one telecommutes, boundaries dissolve and distractions abound. When I do have some work to do at home, I'm tempted to clean out my closet, bake brownies, take a nap, walk the dogs — just about anything can distract me from the task at hand. I guess I don't have the discipline required to be a successful telecommuter.But perhaps I could develop the discipline.
I believe what I would miss most is the social interaction.
Your Success Is Our Success.
Toni
TelecommutingPro
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Telecommuting: It takes discipline to work from home
When one telecommutes, boundaries dissolve and distractions abound. When I do have some work to do at home, I'm tempted to clean out my closet, bake brownies, take a nap, walk the dogs — just about anything can distract me from the task at hand. I guess I don't have the discipline required to be a successful telecommuter.But perhaps I could develop the discipline.
I believe what I would miss most is the social interaction.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
WOW, Telecommuting approved and under fire!!!
This article talks about OSHA regulations employers must adhere to even if the employeeis working at home as well as a list of other topice. You should not miss reading this.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Old law vs. the new economy
In August 1997, a certain Mr. T. Trahan of CSC Credit Service wanted to let his sales executives work out of their home offices. He was uncertain about his possible obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, so he wrote to OSHA, the agency that administers the act.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Old law vs. the new economy
In August 1997, a certain Mr. T. Trahan of CSC Credit Service wanted to let his sales executives work out of their home offices. He was uncertain about his possible obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, so he wrote to OSHA, the agency that administers the act.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Work At Home Entrepreneur Since 1985
This article discusses the success an individual who has worked from home since 1985. As a pioneer in 'work at home' jobs she discusses how she achieved success as a Virtual Assistant.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Entrepreneur Captures Attention in Family Circle Magazine
Diana Ennen knows what it takes to work at home, having done so since 1985. Ennen was among the pioneers in the work-at-home industry when starting a word processing business, but back in those days, it wasn’t as easy to get started. The Internet wasn’t as commonplace and work-at-home moms (and dads) had to learn from trial and error. Research on how to start a business also had to be done at a local library and bookstore, and not from the convenience of a home computer. My how times have changed.
Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Entrepreneur Captures Attention in Family Circle Magazine
Diana Ennen knows what it takes to work at home, having done so since 1985. Ennen was among the pioneers in the work-at-home industry when starting a word processing business, but back in those days, it wasn’t as easy to get started. The Internet wasn’t as commonplace and work-at-home moms (and dads) had to learn from trial and error. Research on how to start a business also had to be done at a local library and bookstore, and not from the convenience of a home computer. My how times have changed.
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