Sales: Are you scaring away potential customers?

Are you scaring away potential customers?

Written by Chris Rawluk

Since repparttar

launch of showtheplanet.com we have been regularly inundated by sales pitches from Internet and technology firms from all over repparttar 127503

globe. We would think it a positive thing - since repparttar 127504

world is obviously finding us - except that its quite apparent from most of repparttar 127505

messages we've received that repparttar 127506

person on

other end of repparttar 127508

phone (or fax, or e-mail) has no idea what we're about. Even worse, most of these Internet companies seem have no idea how to do business on repparttar 127509

Internet. Here are some actual examples of contact from sales people to our office within repparttar 127510

last month: <> Salesperson from an internet company calls and leaves a message followed by 10 minutes of office background noise and conversations. Apparently this person hadn't hung up repparttar 127511

phone. This happened two days in a row from repparttar 127512

same person. <> Salesperson calls and introduces their product. This product obviously has nothing in common with what we do. We ask: "Have you been to our site?" They respond: "Uh...no, but...." <> Salesperson from an Internet company calls. We are interested and ask about pricing. The response: "Uhh...Actually, this is my first day. Can I get my manager to call you about that?" <> Salesperson from an Internet company calls. We ask that information be e-mailed to us. They courier a five pound information package to our office repparttar 127513

next day. It contains volumes of information about why they're such a wonderful (public) company, but no detailed information on prices or product. <> Similarly, we request pricing information via e-mail from an Internet company. They respond with their own five pound courier package. You guessed it. No

BEAT YOUR COMPETITION WITHOUT CUTTING YOUR PRICE

Written by Bob Leduc

One way to beat your competition is to charge less for a similar product or service. But you can also beat your competition when your price is higher. One of repparttar

best ways to avoid price competition is to become a specialist in a narrowly defined targeted market.

RELATING IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN PRICING

I recently spoke with repparttar 127502 creator of a marketing program for new business owners. He could have confronted repparttar 127503 established competition and competed with a lower price. Instead he decided to target prospects in 2 types of businesses he had worked with before -- insurance sales and MLM marketing. He knew a lot about repparttar 127504 operation of each business and repparttar 127505 people who worked in them.

He created a separate web site for each type of business and customized repparttar 127506 content to appeal specifically to prospects in that business. The site for insurance sales people looked repparttar 127507 same as repparttar 127508 site for MLM marketers. But repparttar 127509 content was totally different.

His plan worked. Sales are running almost 50 percent ahead of projection ...even with a price that's 15 percent higher than similar programs. He built a successful business in a highly competitive market by becoming a specialist.

CUSTOMERS LIKE TO BUY FROM A SPECIALIST

People like to do business with a specialist who has a unique insight into their situation. They feel confident about getting what they expect from a product or service when it is proposed by somebody who understands them and their unique needs.

Most customers or clients will even pay a little more to buy from somebody who thinks like them. It's worth it to avoid repparttar 127510 risk of being disappointed because they bought from somebody who didn't know anything about their special situation.

YOU'LL SELL MORE AS A SPECIALIST

Targeting a niche market enables you to design your sales messages with great precision. You can cater to specifically defined interests of prospects and communicate with them in their own style. More people will buy when they feel you are talking directly to them about their individual needs.

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