A lot of people view marketing as the method of selling a product. Marketing, to them, means creating a print ad, television commercial, or radio segment and hoping it brings traffic so that they can make a few sales.

Marketing, in reality, is really much more than your ability to advertise your products, though. Marketing is your ability to brand yourself and make yourself known amongst members of your target audience, including your current client base. Marketing includes the way your organisation treats the public as a whole. It’s a culmination of your values, your philosophies, your team members, and their mindsets.

So when you next start to train a group of new employees, how will you explain your company’s marketing campaigns? The truth is that most of your employees don’t have all of the real skills necessary to develop a strong marketing campaign from A to Z but if you utilize the skills they do have and supplement them with outside resources you’ll do a bang-up job putting your company in the public spotlight.

These are a few things you should consider as you market your organisation:

• Develop a customer service agreement outlining your organision’s mission or goal with respects to customer service. How will you let your customers know what your standards are and how will you get your customer service team to live up to those standards?
• Set a procedure for complaints. Your customers should be allowed to complain if your customer service team doesn’t meet their goals or expectations. You should set a complete system, including who will take the initial complaint and how it will be handled up until it is resolved.
• Don’t ignore those complaints, either. The better you handle them, the less likely it is you’ll lose a customer later on down the line. Even handing a complaint well is a mark of good customer service.
• Constantly communicate with your customers. Let them know what’s going on within your organisation and how you are working to solve problems with your systems to make their experiences with you even better.

Keeping your customers happy IS a marketing method and its one you should take very, very seriously. After all, your current clients play a huge role in your marketing as well – and if they are spreading information about bad experiences you won’t receive as good a response from your traditional marketing campaigns either.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Sharon Drew Morgen is perhaps one of the most well known advocates for selling techniques in today’s society. Her concepts have earned her wide recognition both in Europe and the United States and has done a lot to change the way salesmen think about buying and selling.

Morgen’s theory is known as Buying Facilitation (R). Her book talks, in short, about why buyers refuse to buy and why sellers aren’t good at selling. She then outlines what you need to do in order to manage the chaos associated with the buying and selling process.

A few examples include:

• A salesman helping the buyer understand their own systems and why they need to change.
• A salesman helping a buyer understand that not all change results in chaos.
• The seller has to help the buyer see the larger (macro) viewpoint instead of only the smaller, immediate picture. If he can do this, he’ll be able to show the buyer that the new system or product is worth using despite the initial hardship associated with implementing a change.
• The seller is able to act as an adviser to the buyer, helping him to meet his exact goals as they apply to buying.

These are just a few examples of the items detailed in Morgen’s Buying Facilitation(R) Method. Sadly, she doesn’t make much of her work available to the public so in this instance I’d have to recommend you take a look at her book, Buying Facilitation, or visit Sharon Drew Morgen’s website. If you’re in sales, or working as a sales manager, I’m pretty sure you’ll find it to be an easy and useful read.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Manager Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

As a manager you are responsible for not only overseeing your team but for ensuring they have the skills necessary to do their jobs. In some cases, this means making sure your sales associates have the confidence necessary to make a sale.

Seriously. Imagine walking into a store and asking a sales associate for help. You ask a question and he gives you a very short, minimal answer. One that begs you to ask a dozen additional questions. You won’t, however, because he seems anxious to get away from you or continues to give you short, simple answers.

Now imagine walking into a store and having a sales associate approach you before you can even ask for help. Every question you ask is met with a full answer and gives you the impression that the associate knows quite a bit about his product and his job. He shows you all of the product features and explains how they can work for you.

Which associate will you be making your purchase with? The second, I’m sure.

Why?

Because the second associate did two things. He acted confident about his knowledge and his product and he made you confident in his knowledge and product at the same time. He has gained your trust and you truly believe that the product you are preparing to purchase will do every single thing he claims it will.

Now – that’s a big deal.

Take some time out of your busy schedule and survey your sales team, whether you’re in retail or in some other sort of outside sales department. What do your sales associates say about your company and products, in their attitudes, when they open their mouths? Are they trustworthy or are they losing business because they’re unsure of themselves?

It may be time to have a refresher course when it comes to your company’s products or services – or to find a way to help those who seem to be struggling become more confident in themselves.

Good luck!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

The holidays are a great time of year, especially if you are in sales.

Yes, you heard me correctly. I refuse to believe that the holiday season is an acceptable excuse for anyone – whether in customer service, management, or sales – to slack off. You should be just as productive as ever, even if that means changing your angle of attack. What do I mean?

Say you have a list of clients, contacts, family members, friends, and acquaintances you haven’t spoken to in a very long time. You’ve let so much time lapse, in fact, that if you call they’ll really know that you’re simply calling to try to build up a sales relationship. That doesn’t necessarily look good for you as a salesperson.

The holiday season, however, gives everyone a great excuse for picking up the phone to say hello and rekindle relationships, both personal and professional. People who are usually busy or traveling for business purposes are spending more time at home or in the office, trying to get things done before the holidays and, as such, are easier to get in touch with. And most are glad to reconnect.

I’m not saying you need to close a whole bunch of sales this month. What you do need to do is make as many phone calls as possible over the next few weeks, especially during the week between Christmas and New Years. What you should end up with is a great list of leads that will help you to jumpstart your New Year with a huge amount of momentum.

You’ll be working, you’ll have results to show your sales manager, and you’ll be excited about the potential sales you may close in January. Now that’s the right way to start off a New Year!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Courses

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

It doesn’t matter if you work in customer service, as a salesperson, or as a manager for either team. Leaving an effective voicemail is essential to your success in the workplace. So what exactly is a successful voicemail?

One that can be understood.

The truth is that most people leave terrible communication skills and leave horrible voicemail messages. They speak too fast, they ramble as if they’re speaking to you instead of just getting to the point, they’re sometimes rude, and they sometimes even forget to leave their name and phone number. Those who receive their messages end up having to play them over and over again in order to understand what is being said – that’s if they can figure it out at all.

Get into the habit of taking your time when leaving voicemail messages. Don’t let your fears of leaving a message for someone make you nervous. Slow yourself down, speak clearly, and stick to the pertinent details. Make sure you state your name and phone number at both the beginning and end of the message. If you are in sales, you may even want to throw in a brief, complimentary comment about the company or its website before getting to your point.

In short, brief voicemail messages with clear information and an obvious purpose are a lot less aggravating than long, drawn out messages that seem to never end. The clearer your intention, the better your odds of receiving a return call!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”