Secrets of Promotion

Written by Christopher Given Dip in Bus Admin, Cert in Mgt, ACMI


Secrets of Promotion by Christopher Given Dip in Bus Admin, Cert in Mgt, ACMI

www.vitalvortal.co.uk

Sales does not have a very nice image. Salesmen ringing up out ofrepparttar blue to sell their latest product, untrained or unenthusiastic sales staff knocking at your door, are some ofrepparttar 127191 images that spring to mind.

But service doesn't need to be like that in order to makerepparttar 127192 sale.

What is Customer Service?

"Customer Service isrepparttar 127193 supply of that which satisfiesrepparttar 127194 consumer need and want"

This is about providing a physical product plus allrepparttar 127195 individual tasks that make uprepparttar 127196 entire process. Please do not confuse service with sales, as they are totally different.

"Sales isrepparttar 127197 use of language and presentation in order to persuade customers to buy"

Elements of customer service

Availability of item

After sales service

Handling of orders

Reliability or quality

Most organisations employ people to handle customer calls, emails and to wait on customer's needs The functions are to:

§be there when customers contactrepparttar 127198 company

§provide timely and accurate service

§supportrepparttar 127199 sales organisation

All of this is designed for one purpose - Customer Retention

Who isrepparttar 127200 customer?

We usually think of customers as people outside of our company. It could be agreed that a customer is a person who purchases. Another definition could be someone with whom we have dealings.

Customers fall into external and internal types:

External customers

These arerepparttar 127201 lifeblood of every organisation. We deal with them every day, either face to face or viarepparttar 127202 telephone. You may have heard sayings like ‘the customer is king' or ‘customers are our no 1 priority'. Well, it's true, because without them there would be no sales, no company and no job.

Internal customers

These people work inside your company. Although they are not traditional customers, they rely on us to provide services and help withinrepparttar 127203 organisation in order to get their work done. It is vital that they are treated well, not only because we have to work together, but if we upset one anotherrepparttar 127204 next time we require each others services, either party could be reluctant to carry out their duties, which could effectrepparttar 127205 business as a whole. Not professional behaviour at all. And if work is held up because of conflict,repparttar 127206 eventual loser is alwaysrepparttar 127207 customer.

Worth and Price

Businesses need to make a profit in order to survive. Assuming that products are of excellent quality, have been tested and market research has been done, clearly establishing a need and want, then all we need to do is to sell. However, there is one obstacle -repparttar 127208 customer.

Every person will consider whatrepparttar 127209 product is worth to them before purchasing. The price has to be just right before they will buy. One definition of price could be:

The price isrepparttar 127210 sum, consideration or sacrifice given in exchange for goods and services.

An organisation will price a product and that price would suggest it's worth torepparttar 127211 company. But, imaginerepparttar 127212 customer likesrepparttar 127213 product, but notrepparttar 127214 price -repparttar 127215 customer now thinksrepparttar 127216 product isn't worth purchasing at that price. In other words, Something is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. The customer may have been put offrepparttar 127217 purchase becauserepparttar 127218 price was too high. This means a balance needs to be made betweenrepparttar 127219 price andrepparttar 127220 benefits/features ofrepparttar 127221 product.

The company can either lowerrepparttar 127222 price and produce more sales that way, or it can makerepparttar 127223 product more attractive by e.g. adding more functionality or re-designing to make it unique in some way, this wayrepparttar 127224 product can maintain it's current price. Either way,repparttar 127225 customer will be satisfied.

Personal selling is about communicating with people, and knowing something about ways in which they can react in different situations will help you to approach them, and find out whether their a serious purchaser, require more information or just browsing. Let's assume for a moment that we know how to sell effectively. Businesses have external visitors that contact them by different means. They will:

·userepparttar 127226 telephone to enquire about products ·visitrepparttar 127227 company website

We will tackle these in order.

1. Handling inbound calls

Every thing an organisation does will be noticed byrepparttar 127228 customer at some point. From producing a web site to answeringrepparttar 127229 telephone, everything must be executed to a high standard in order to generaterepparttar 127230 most favourable impression. When customers enterrepparttar 127231 business premises, they will gain an impression of howrepparttar 127232 organisation operates,repparttar 127233 value it offers and this includesrepparttar 127234 quality or level of service. And one ofrepparttar 127235 ways customer service will be noticed, is viarepparttar 127236 use ofrepparttar 127237 telephone.

Communicate The Problem...Get The Client

Written by Irene Brooks


Copyright – 2003 – Irene Brooks

Here’srepparttar scenario:

You‘re at a gathering and you come across someone who would be a perfect client for your business. You engage in a conversation andrepparttar 127190 inevitable question comes up. “What do you do?”

You get excited, your eyes light up. “This is it, this is my shot, I’ll get him now” isrepparttar 127191 thought racing through your mind.

“Well, I am a small business coach.” You say as you anxiously await for him to tell you how you arerepparttar 127192 answer to his prayers.

“Oh, I see…uh…I think I leftrepparttar 127193 lights on in my car…uh…it was nice talking to you, bye”

And you watch your perfect client rush away to find someone else to talk to.

It’s important that you are able to communicate what you do in ways that will help your prospective client understand that you are a solution to his problem. How you position yourself isrepparttar 127194 difference between getting that “deer stuck inrepparttar 127195 headlight” look from your prospect or having someone ask you for more information.

Positioning revolves around your core marketing message that clearly states who you work with, what problems you solve, what solutions you provide, what benefits you offer, what results you produce, what guarantee you give and what is unique and special about your particular service. Positioning isrepparttar 127196 foundation that you buildrepparttar 127197 rest of your marketing upon.

Here are two things that you must NOT do:

Do not use your label, this is a sure-fire way of ending a conversation quickly. How many times have you told someone, “I’m a coach” and they say “oh, what team?” or “how nice” and they quickly changerepparttar 127198 subject. Chances are that when you open with your label, if you get a continued conversation, that person is only being polite.

Do not userepparttar 127199 process, for instance, a coach might say:

“I help people discover their excellence by co-creatingrepparttar 127200 positive environment needed for a powerful conversation by having a two-way structured dialogical process that goes beyond basic listening skills and includes multilevel hearing and co-active interaction byrepparttar 127201 coach.”

If your strategy is to haverepparttar 127202 “deer inrepparttar 127203 headlights” look in every prospect’s eyes, well this isrepparttar 127204 one for you.

When you,repparttar 127205 business owner communicaterepparttar 127206 process of what you do, you are still not reaching your prospect by communicating what’s in it for them. They will be confused and they will run as fast as they can.

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