The Best Performing Sales People are Seen as the Experts their Field

Be the Expert in Your field...

The best performing sales people are seen as the experts in their field. They know to become the expert they must educate themselves, be professional at all times, act in the customers best interest and have high ethical standards.

The expert would come in, look at the situation, evaluate the needs of the client and then he would recommend the best possible course of action.

The expert would never think of recommending a course of action without all the facts. This is as applicable to ant type of selling from fridges to ready to wear fashion.

Step One
The first step Look at the overall big picture  you ask excellent questions, carefully prepared, in sequence, which are geared to give you a thorough knowledge of the  customer's needs and wants. This also gives you an opportunity to understand the customers buying behaviour.

Step Two
The second step is to now do an analysis of the information they have given you. Repeat back the results of your analysis and double check to be sure that the information you gathered was correct. You would ask additional questions to confirm and calibrate the customer. You and the customer would mutually agree that this results of the analysis and it seems to be an accurate description of the needs and wants of the customer and how they see the outcome.

Step Three
Once mutual agreement has been reached, that the analysis is correct and by this stage the customer should be comfortable with you. You can move on to step three and match the product to the customer, which will best suit their needs and achieve the outcome they require. You show that, what you are suggesting is the best of all possible solutions.

Experts who sell in the way of more as a consultation find that their sales closure is higher and get better results in less time.

Action Steps
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, take the time to do a thorough analysis by asking excellent questions and by listening carefully to the answers.

Second, repeat back and check your analysis with the customer so that you both agree on the results of your analysis- before you recommend a solution.

Here’s to your sales success.

Penny

"Walk a Mile in my Shoes"

When I sold something or complaining about a product that isn’t working for me I want to feel like the salesperson cares about me. My likes and dislikes, for that matter anything that will make my experience special. I really find it tedious listening to a sales person who’s just going through the motions. More frustrating is the stance and facial expression that says “Well what do you want me to do”?

When the customer comes back to complain about a product or they are not happy with the service they had received is when the salesperson needs to get into action and give the best presentation possible. They must go out of their way to give the client a solution that will satisfy them and get them to purchase again. WOW the customer!!!

I was on holidays with my daughter in Sydney staying in a 4 ½ star hotel in the city. We had a beautiful room on the 25th floor. She wanted to make me a coffee as we had our own espresso machine in our room. How cool we thought until a huge cockroach came flying out the machine. Well did we scream? There was no way we were going to stay in that room that night. I phoned reception demanding another room. By the way this was at 9.30pm at night. Well, I got a very apathetic person at reception who found us to be an inconvenience. They did change our room after one hour.

Did they WOW us NO!!! Would I stay there again or recommend this hotel NO!!!

If they had just put themselves in our shoes and asked the question how would I feel in this situation? They would have come up with a solution that not only WOWED me but had me coming back again as guest and telling my friends.

Perfection is the Poison of Profitability

'Perfection is the Poison of Profitability' Jay Abraham

This is a phrase I have heard previously and resonates with me. I meet and chat to many sales people who don’t actually get enough time out there making money because they want for the conditions to be perfect.

The most successful sales people do not wait for perfection they get it out there and find the customers and make the sales.

They don't obsess about doing everything 100% right or the exact right time. They just talk to more customers each day and get more referrals.

In the same time it takes for other sales people to make one call, they have:

• They have made their first call out to see a client by 9.15am
• They have planned out their day and who they will visit
• Have a list of potential clients to call
• Sent out potential correspondence to clients
• experimented with a new sales script
• Know their conversion, budgets and exactly how much they need to achieve and how they will do it.

You get the idea...

They also understand the importance of building and maintaining relationships, the power of leverage to get all this done.

This is why 20% of the top sales people make 80 % of the sales.

CHANGE: Why Is It So Hard?

We have just moved into an apartment in the Docklands, I must admit not my first choice of area to live at. After 6 months of looking, we knew we needed to take the plunge and this fitted most of the criteria.

People’s reaction has been mixed. Comments range from why you would leave such a beautiful newly renovated home to move to an apartment; to I wish I could do that and then proceed to give every reason as to why they couldn’t. Even the taxi driver thought I was crazy and I would regret it. Many people admire our courage to do something different and make changes in our life.

Life is about making changes and having the courage to try something different. The great thing is you may not like it or it may not work, then you do something different. This is no different in sales, you may have done things the same way in the past if that worked that’s great but more importantly are you reaching your full potential. Could you be making more sales and earning more commission by making some changes and learning some new techniques.

Fear of the unknown is common as is the fear of failure. It’s okay not to be perfect and to make mistakes, learn from them and move on. It’s better to have taken the leap forward and made the mistake rather than to sit on the fence or choose to do nothing!

Let me know what changes you made this week?

The Right Connection Lead to Sales Success

In sales it’s about connection. You’re probably wondering how to build the right connections necessary to build a successful business?

You are at work 24/7! It makes no difference whether you’re at a party, football game or even a school event with your kids, there is always a chance to start to building relationships with others. Make networking and  building relationships part of your daily life.

Networking is not about being in the room to get clients, make a sale or gets lots of cards and speak to as many people as possible about yourself. It’s about the opportunity to meet people and learn about them and how you can give to them and make yourself available without expecting any reciprocity.

The greatest gift that you can give to someone is the gift of listening. Why? You care about them. Use that time to find out about them everything. What their business is, what their greatest issue currently that keeps them awake, where they see their business. If they mention children, favourite holiday destinations, favourite food, write it down. When you phone them or meet with them you may have an opportunity to use it in conversion. Find ways to help them, let them know about a great article or send them a great book that might help them with their business or even it could be something they were interested in.

When networking, not only listen but ask valuable questions. Be cognizant of the art of conversation as well  looking at them when they are talking to you. “Your success is directly proportional to the size of your social circle, be it at work or at play.”-Joe Sweeney.

Once you leave the event write notes on either card small piece of paper etc. Then transfer it to either an excel spreadsheet or a small card with all their details, any likes, dislikes, education, associations, children ages, names, schools, favourite wine, food and restaurant. Write any information you are given so you can always use it as an ice breaker next time you speak with them. Always remember people buy from you because they like you trust you and think they are like you!

Use social media, Linked in, Face book etc. to further enhance the relationship. There are so many ways to get connected the secret is to start getting connected now!!!

It’s fun to go fishing regularly....

Recently I was exposed again to Fish, that fantastic story at the Pyke fish market. This book/video always makes me smile. The underlying theme is............ FUN!

Sometimes, we take ourselves too seriously. We have unachievable deadlines to meet, pressure to succumb too , bosses to keep happy. So why not see things a little differently? Come from a different place a place of having FUN and getting work done. No, you don’t have to throw fish around to have fun. Find other ways to have fun in your work. Some examples that I’ve experienced that make work fun are simple, put on some music and start dancing (from experience let me tell you it gets those endorphins up and running), celebrate a success have an impromptu morning/ afternoon tea. I would sometimes go past a beautiful bakery in Toorak and buy my staff custard donuts and we would have them for morning tea. Wow! Did that make their day? Of course it did!!

We must remember, it’s the little things that make a difference. You could even have a crazy hat day or put family photos on the wall or guess who it is in the baby photo. These things don’t cost money but, they create a sense of community and fun. Contrary to what you might think “Work Made Fun Get’s Work Done”.,

Let’s look at the FISH strategies

1. Choose your attitude

2. Play

3. Make their day

4. Be present

Such a simple set of strategies to work with. So why do we get so caught up in ourselves and our deadlines?

Let’s start with:

“Choose your attitude” - only you can choose the way you feel. Nobody can make you feel anyway unless you choose it, not your boss, not your wife & children or the man who cut you off on the road. These things will all happen, remember life is a journey and there are bumps in the road, detours or pot holes. Look at ways to change the meaning you put on it so your boss has bought a deadline forward you can whinge, moan, groan and bitch about he always does this.....blah, blah, blah or you can find a way to fit it in to your day, delegate it or outsource it. Have the behavioral flexibility to know that everything is achievable you just need to find a way.

“Play” - find ways to play at work, make it fun, laugh, take yourself lightly.

“Make their day” - there are so many little ways to make their day, buy a coffee, chocolate or even just write a card noticing their great work. Remember good work that get’s noticed gets replicated. Everyone wants to be made to feel special and important in some way. 

“Be present” - be fully present at work for your customers and colleagues it doesn’t matter what is happening in your personal life. Use work as an outlet to have fun, your problems will still be there when you get home if that’s what you choose. Remember we all have choices in life take the scenic route.

Have another look at the “FISH” book by Stephen C. Lundin, PH.D,Harry Paul and John Christensen sometimes we just need to revisit a concept to refocus ourselves. Find 10 ways to play in your work place and let me know how it went.

Is Discipline a Dirty Word?

My buzz word for 2011 is Discipline, and towards the middle of the year I have added Focus. I realized towards the end of last year that I needed to make some changes. I was working on a few projects and spreading myself thin. I needed to learn the word NO and to walk away from situations that were no longer fruitful.

I really needed to take a good long hard at myself. I am one of those people who get all excited about what I can achieve and then achieve nothing. I get caught up doing something else, the other new shiny thing. (Is that just me or does that happen to you as well?). I am the best at giving others trusty advise, like focus on one thing, get the system and make it a success and then replicate it. FOCUS!!! your time. Meditate, exercise and eat well and most importantly drink lots of water and don’t forget to breath. Blah, blah, blah.

I love the concept of doing the things I should be doing, but, it’s that D word, Discipline that gets me every time. It’s the middle of the year and even though I have achieved many of my goals, I still can’t say no to chocolate cake, so those hours at the gym may be a little wasted. Those extra kilos are still there!

Well I am happy to say that it’s July 1, 2011! I am focusing on being disciplined, I am turning the corner. I have focus. I am now waking at 6pm, drinking my bottle of water and meditating for an hour. (I always woke at 6pm but just stayed in bed and snoozed). I am working in 90 minute segments and then I will either rest, eat, do breathing exercises or go to the gym. (That chocolate cake still gets me; I’ll have to work on that one!)

Last night I did lose focus by watching a DVD, you can’t blame me I was curious. The movie “He’s just not that into you” I had always wanted to see it.

This morning I started off with my regime of meditation, the usual house stuff and now I am doing my 90 minute slot before I go into “Consider This Training” to learn how to use our new POS machines (these will be used for Cert II Retail Training).

So I am well on my way to living the” D” word and putting it into action. 

Here are some tips:

1. Know your outcome!

2. Set timeframes to get the task achieved and adhere to it.

3. Have or get the right mindset to get the job done. (If you don’t find out who does and model them) or get yourself some coaching.

4. Focus on what needs to be done and sometimes you may need to say NO to others if it interferes with your outcome.

5. Map out the best road to get there. See if you can delegate any part or all of the work.

6. Work in 90 minute timeframes, no email, face book or any distractions. When 90 minutes is up have a break, do some stretching, exercise or eat some food it’s up to you.

7. If you can do 4 x 90 minute shifts per day it’s like doing 12 hours of work try it and see how it works.

Give this a try let me know how you go. I’ll keep you updated from time to time on my progress.

Oh Markella my daughter has just made Chocolate Chip Cookies that will be my reward when I finish this 90 minute stint.

Can’t wait to chat to you again next week. 

In the meantime found this cool quote;

“It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action and discipline that enabled us to follow through.” ~Zig Ziglar.

What is the secret of service that keeps us coming back for more?

On that same weekend in Beechworth (refer last week’s BLOG) we had heard about these great restaurants. So we decided that we would dine out both Saturday and Sunday night. The dinner experience on Saturday night was unforgettable; it had everything the great waiter (owner), fantastic food. A great experience overall!

On the Sunday night we headed towards our restaurant. The waiter greeted us, sat us down, our napkins weren’t put on our laps (sign of a good restaurant and this one was not cheap). When he asked me for a pre dinner drink I asked what he recommended I felt like something warming, none of the options he presented took my fancy. So he left and didn’t even ask George (my husband) what he wanted to drink. Wow did he feel unimportant. 

Throughout the night this waiter was pleasant, robotic and did his job. It turned out to be a nice night spent with my gorgeous family but was it an experience - NO! So as we passed over a significant amount of money for an experience that did not match.

So when I started thinking about it the Saturday night, it was about the passion the small touches the little hints of our waiters family life and her children’s likes, she made not only George and I feel special but also the girls. As we laughed, shared stories I felt that we were having dinner with friends, not a stranger’s restaurant.

We hang out with people that are like us that have the same passion as we do... 

Reciprocity in Action on the Wine Tasting trail...

As it was the Queen’s Birthday long weekend we decided to go to Beechworth, a lovely old Gold
Mining town in the north east of the state. On the Sunday, we went out to the wineries of the King
Valley, naturally, being connoisseurs of a fine drop!

It was quite fascinating to watch the most used principle of the famous Robert Cialdini “Reciprocity”
in action from winery to winery (and we did visit a few)!!! Just a small glass of wine leaves us
wanting to return the favour by buying one or two or even a dozen bottles of wine!

“The rule says we must pay in kind what another person has provided us” as written by Robert
Cialdini.

For years wineries have been allowing us to sample their wines, and people in return have left with
a bottle or two. Have you ever wondered why you felt so obliged, sometimes without even liking the
wine to purchase? We feel obligated to return the favour, in other words, they offer a free sample
we buy a bottle. Reciprocity at work! After intensive study by sociologist Alvin Gouldner we can
report that human society subscribes to the rule of reciprocity.

So next time you are given something for free watch how you will automatically return the favour.
The key is how can you use this in sales?

Outsourcing or Not...

I would like to confess I am the outsourcing Queen, I will outsource anything from the weekly cleaning, gardening and getting my kids picked up occasionally from school (doesn’t every school girl have a driver?). I am even embarrassed to say I bought someone in to clean my oven, architraves and cornices.

But tonight I finally came to terms with what I have always known but was deluding myself; there are some things in business that can’t be outsourced. There are things that I must do myself and one of those is Blogging. Yes I have confessed......

I have had my VA (virtual assistant) do my last few Blogs. In the busyness of my day it just seemed so easy, streamlined put it all on Hoot suite let her do it so I don’t have to worry about it. That was my reasoning anyway.

But was I wrong, so wrong... as I sat horrified looking at my blog post it wasn’t the article I had rewritten it was my Virtual Assistants old article. OMG!!! my chest has tightened, I am short of screaming and crying at the same time, can you feel my pain? Maybe I am over reacting? (Feel free to let me know)

The most important lesson I have learned (re-learned) when it comes to the Marketing and the sales systems of the business it must be done by you, the person who is the voice of the company. It’s about building the character talking directly to the customer, talking their language building the relationship. Building a very clear marketing and branding message.

The lesson that Grace my VA learned is double check everything before it goes out. It was a great lesson for both of us....

As for outsourcing Odesk is my new best friend.....

The Magic of Thinking Big and its Lessons

Think BIG! For sure we have all heard this, but do we know what does it meant? Mr. D.J. Schwartz defines that in “The Magic of Thinking Big”. 

Think "big" requires a change of mentality. They can make good tactical sense, but it serves a great reminder in your daily struggle for success. 

Try these simple ideas to keep you motivated:

•  Focus on the things you're good at. 
•  "You're better than you think," writes Schwartz.
•  Use "language of the great thinker." 
• Try to talk with words that speak of hope and happiness.
•  Looking towards the future.
•   Try to see things from their potential, not just what they are today.
• Think that your work is important.
•    The next promotion will depend mainly on your way of thinking in the direction of your current job," writes Schwartz.
• Concentrate on big issues, leaving the banality of the image.
•   Ask yourself: "Is it really important?"

The Vital Role of TEAM BUILDING

Team Building and the Transformation Team - With so many companies are now a form of team building events, what is the best way to take into consideration? Team building activities, which they commonly called, the range of the entertainment group and frivolous things of motivation, Quad, football, cooking, archery, mini golf, football, football, etc. ... throughout what we call ... Appreciative team-building process. This is the REAL team-transformation, which affects people at Head, Heart & Soul and have lasting results.

Real teamwork takes time and desire to participate in greater good of the team, while only looking out for number one. It begins with the desire to work on behalf of the group. Explore reasons. Successful teams, when teams win their teammates, too well. Ineffective teams often are betrayed by selfish members of the team, whose personal goal to pay the team’s objectives.

Among the characteristics of effective teams, whether in sales or service environments:

• A shared vision of the team’s mission and goals

• Willingness to merge their individual talents to improve communication

• Clean equipment in both directions: between team members and team leader, and among members

 • Broad recognition of individual differences in their recognition

• Equipment and rewarding team members for their efforts.

REAL Team Building consists of ideas to get REAL with themselves and others if their team.

• The flexibility and responsibility
•  Energy and commitment
•  Appreciative Inquiry an Action
• Leadership Policy in love

If you think that what has contributed to the team-building event, it is our responsibility to make better use of your time, effort, costs and opportunities for team-building, which grows its own people and relationships.

Group members seek to:

• to be heard 
• to feel important 
• to be evaluated, recognized and appreciate  the opportunity
• to express individuality

All these things can happen in well-managed teams, without sacrificing the team spirit. It is wrong to believe that the best team leaders treat everyone equally. Realistically, not everyone wants or must be treated equally. If sales or service situations, many team members are motivated. These are self-starters who want the car keys and then ask to move away from curb. Other team members want and need for security, support and a little & free hand. Neither is right nor wrong. But each excels when it comes to how the majority want to be treated.

People in real time encouraging teams are happier, healthier, more caring, more resilient, honest, sincere, more energetic, more engaging, and more fun, earn more and are more satisfied with themselves and their lives.

If you plan to convert your productivity goes to a team building session or want to inspire your employees to ensure that the impact and effectiveness of creating sustainable value. Make your decision on the value at a low price!

Teamwork is developed over time. Day after day, your team will grow stronger through the experience and the natural relationships that occur over time. With time and attention to these tips, your group will soon be gone with success!

The Edge of Having a Leverage

Archimedes the great scientist and mathematician once said give me a lever and I can move the world.


Whilst that quote applies to the scientific world it has its uses in the business world. 

Leverage in business is about the ability to control a lot with just a little. In other words to be successful you must master this principle. The more leverage you have the quicker you can make money for your business. 

There a six key forms of leverage. I will focus upon mentoring today.

The definition of mentor is an experienced and trusted advisor. 

How can a mentor aid us in our business, they can assist us in the following way: 

1. A mentor can give us perspective. They remove the emotion out of our decision making and enable us to think in a clear manner. 
2. A mentor can close any skill gap that we may have. Rather than us wasting our time one becoming proficient in something, the mentor has already been there and done that, consequently we save time and energy and focus on the business. 
3. A mentor can teach us patience. When learning new skills, frustration creeps in. They teach us the ability to struggle through failures to achieve mastery.   

So what do you do now? 
Go out and find yourself a mentor, someone that you admire. Study them, learn what you can about them. To be the best in your field you must learn from someone who leads in that field.

Social Media Helps in Increasing Sales

Want to have an easy way to attract targeted clients/customers, increase sales and lessen your marketing costs, resulting to an increased profit?

For the past 10years, no matter how experienced you are or no matter how smart/great your ideas are, the truth of the matter is that selling has become that hard. We all know that there are plenty of targeted buyers/customers in the market waiting to buy, if and only if we could just get their attention. Having it the fact that it is almost impossible to get access to the target market due to call screenings, email filtering, ad blocking and not to mention the gatekeepers who are vigilant.

So, what’s the solution?

Attract more sales by cutting your marketing costs. To sell more, go to where the buyers are.

All fishermen knows it, if you want to catch fish you need to cast your line, drop your hook or set your net to where there are a lot of fishes.

Same goes to playing golf. If you want to hit the hole, play on the green one and not on the rough side.

It’s the way that it goes with business too.

No matter how eager or smart you try, if you are fishing on a pond with less or no fish at all, you will go home empty handed. If you want to have a great sale, you must go to where the buyers are.

Truth About Social Media

This new era, social media has been doing great help to businesses. The simple truth about selling is that your prospects are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, watching online videos, and other social networking sites. If you want to sell more, you have to be there too!

• Facebook is the fastest growing social network now, with over 300,000 businesses using it.

• LinkedIn is the Premier B2B networking site. A networking tool to find connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and business partners.

Over 80% of businesses of every type are using social media to attract buyers. For most of the people now are spending more time online socializing, and the rate of online purchases had gone so far that you can never imagine most of the people will buy online.

So now, if you want to have an increase on your sales, try doing what other businesses are doing, invest some time in advertising via social media.

Why Small Business Fails

One of the least appreciated aspects of entrepreneurship is why young businesses fail, and there's a simple explanation : They need to look at themselves.Why would they when its easier to blame others.

 Of course, there are cases that where something out of the owner's control has gone bad, but it was found out that those instances to be in the lowest level. What follows, according to some customer's experiences and observations are the top 10 reason why small business fails

1. The math just does not work. There is insufficient demand for the product or service at a price that is a profitable enterprise. This includes, for example, start-up trying to compete with Best Buy and economies of scale. 
2. Owners who cannot leave their own way. They can be tenacious, risk-averse adversary conflict - which means they must be liked by all (even the employees and suppliers who cannot perform their work). They can be a perfectionist, greedy, self-righteous, paranoid, angry or insecure. You get the idea. Sometimes you can even tell the owners problem, and they will realize that you're right - but he continues to make the same mistakes again and again.
3. Out of control growth. This may be the saddest of all causes of failure - a successful company, which is being destroyed by overexpansion. This will include moving into markets that are not so profitable, is experiencing difficulties that increasingly affect the business, or borrow too much money in an attempt to maintain growth at a certain pace. Sometimes less is more.
4. Poor accounting. You may not be in control of a company unless you know what happens. With wrong numbers or numbers that a company is in darkness, and passed all the time. Why? On the one hand, it is common - a misconception that an outside accounting firm had been hired primarily to ensure the taxes that the company - and disastrous. In fact, it is the job of chief financial officer, one of the many hats employer shall take up a real commitment.
5. The lack of a cash cushion. If we learned anything from this recession is that the business is cyclical and that bad things can and will happen over time - the loss of a major customer or criticism of employees, the arrival of a new competitor, the filing of a lawsuit. All these things can highlight a company's financial situation. If this company is already cash-strapped (and the potential for leverage), may not be able to recover. 
6. Operation of mediocrity. I've never met an entrepreneur who has described his mission mediocre. But we can not all be above average. Repeat and referral business is critical for most businesses, as is some degree of marketing (depending on the business). 
7. Operational inefficiencies. Paying too much rent, labor and materials. Now more than ever, companies are lean in favor. It has no staying power or the abdomen to negotiate terms that reflect today's economy can not leave the company competitive.
8. Dysfunctional leadership. Lack of concentration, vision, planning, standards and everything that goes into good management. Take fighting partners or unhappy relatives in the mix and you have a disaster. 
9. The absence of a succession plan. There is talk of nepotism, power struggles, the main actors being replaced by people who are over their heads - all the reasons that many family businesses do not the next generation. 
10. A declining market. Bookstores, music stores, printing companies and many others are facing changes in technology, consumer demand and competition from big business buying power and advertising revenue.

Life could be indulgent of friends and relatives, but entrepreneurship is rarely forgiving. In the end, everyone is also reflected in the soup. If people do not like the soup, the workers stop working, and customers to cease doing business with you. And that's why businesses fail.

Who Is Your Target Market

Consumers, as we all know, love to buy things. They simply love to spend money on products and services that mean something to them, and in many cases that don’t even mean anything to them. But how do you get consumers to buy from your business? Understanding your consumers’ psychology can be largely used to your advantage. Small Business has been using consumer psychology for years on end to sell their products and services. Studying a consumer’s behavioural pattern will help you formulate a great message that has the ability to persuade them to buy from you. This is why it is very important to know a bit about the consumer decision making process, as it can help you devise a great sales plan that your customers’ just won’t be able to resist!

Consumer psychology is basically the study of consumer trends and behaviour and is an invaluable resource for anyone in Small Business. Experts in consumer psychology start categorizing customers by what they buy, how they use these products and services, and when they buy. Mastering the art of analyzing your customers’ behaviour will help your re business succeed by educating you about how your consumers think and the reasons they come up with when deciding on a purchase.

Knowing your Target Market

Like practicing archery with your eyes closed, doing business without knowing anything about your target market will not achieve any of your business goals. Ultimately, every Business wants the same 3 things: increased sales, increased market share and increased brand awareness. But none of this will be possible if you don’t know who your target market is.

By learning who your potential customers are and by finding out what they really need,and what there biggest problem is you can offer them tailored products and services that are guaranteed to solve their problem. This is why it is very important to choose a customer base that is in some way appropriate to your business. Once you are done with the right kind of market research and have conducted surveys, compiled the results and check to see which markets make the most sense to your business. Make sure that the target market that you choose has the following traits:

1. Will have easy access to your services and products, either through visiting your business or by ordering online and over the phone.
2. Will not waver away from your products that are similar to yours.
3. Will pay a price for your services that give you a reasonable profit margin.

Once you have zeroed in on an appropriate target market, it is very important to know and understand what your customers really want. Once you know what your potential customers really want, you can tailor your business to give them just what they want. If you can find out your customers deepest desires, you will be on the fast track to success.

Your first step should be to put yourself in your customers place and ask yourself what you find valuable in the products and services that different businesses offer. What kind of information would you be looking for before you make your buying decision? Once you know the response to all these questions, you will be able to make more sales.

One of the biggest problems that most low performing businesses face is the fact that they don’t know who they really are and who they should be. Every customer wants to deal with a business person who is amiable, reliable, honest, and likeable.The Customers decision to buy is emotional. Working on yourself and improving your character can largely add to your businesses success.

Influence Customer Behaviour

The retail industry relies heavily on the number of visitors who walk into a store and the amount of merchandise that these people buy. The more the customers spend per visit; the more profitable will it be for the retail business in question. Keeping this in mind, retailers across the globe have been juggling between a number of innovative strategies and techniques in order to maximize sales. However, it is one thing to get more people to visit your store, but it is an entirely different thing to get them to buy from you EVERY TIME they visit your store. And this is where consumer behaviour comes into play!

To be successful retailers must understand the influence consumer behaviour has on the purchasing of customers. Understanding your consumer’s behaviour can not only help increase your overall turnover, but can also help you plan a powerful retail strategy.

The first step to planning an effective retail strategy is by understanding the retail customer. For any organization to grow and survive in today’s highly competitive market, it needs to first understand its customers and how to respond to their current and future needs. As far as the retail industry is concerned, understanding the retail customer plays a crucial role in the success of any retail firm. With globalization and technological advancement becoming the norm, a new era of consumerism has emerged where retailers are required to concentrate only on meeting the needs and priorities of the consumer.

Retailers need to know what the various factors are, that influence a customer to purchase – and this does not have to be just at the time of purchasing but can be all the factors that lead up to the time of purchase. This would include a number of internal as well as external influences, like:
In the past, many attempts have been made to study consumer behaviour including motivation research, observation, experimentation, electronic surveillance, interviews and surveys, and sales analysis or consumption research. Other factors that were taken into consideration were group influence, attitudes, motivations, and beliefs.

A great way to understand the nature of your retail market is to analyze a number of factors including population, geography of a particular area and demography. Analyzing the population will help you understand the potential markets. Population of a particular area can be based on a number of parameters like race, ethnicity and immigration and emigration rates. Immigration and emigration rates can help a retailer understand the actual population of a specific area. Race and ethnicity can help the retailer understand the buying patterns and choices of the consumers.

When a customer decides to make a purchase, there will be both psychological as well as socio-cultural influences that take place. Psychological influences include: changes in personality, beliefs, lifestyle and even attitude. Socio-cultural influences include: personal as well as family influences.

Understanding the influences to consumer decision making can turn the looker into a buyer and into a long term buyer.

Does your customer service reflect your store branding?

Each year, marketing companies spend millions and millions of dollars in trying to understand the habits of customers and their pattern of making purchases. Understanding the psychology of customers is an extremely difficult task. Countless reams of research papers have been written on understanding the psychology of customers over the years.

Experts believe that there are certain triggers that are responsible for customer preference. These triggers can be influenced by the marketing strategies of the company, the methods used for advertising, the branding or just the appearance of the product and the way it is displayed in the store. This is all a waste of money if the customer service does not reflect the same message when the cutomer enters the store and wants to purchase.

It is important to learn how to build a relationship with customers and listen to what they have to say. This will help you deliver what they want. Listening actively to your customers includes being sensitive to the verbal as well as the non verbal messages sent out by the customers. All this sums up to understanding the psychology of clients. When your customer looks at you as the expert who really understands what they need, they recognize that you are catering to their needs. By doing this, you may actually turn a skeptic into a fan. This is, most definitely, an effective way of turning your customers into loyal, lifetime ones.

Another vital element of a successful marketing campaign is maintaining customer interest. Gaining attention of customers is easy. It is maintaining their interest that is difficult. This goes on throughout the sales process. Apart from the communication aspect, present yourself as a professional and someone who is knowledgeable to the prospect.Catching subtle hints from the customer’s speech will help you identify the product the customer is showing interest in. Probing is an effective technique that mostly materializes in sales conversions. Asking the prospect information seaking questions will help you to hear thier needs and any objections you may need to answer later in the presentation. Most importantly listen intentley this will help to also spark the next question.

Understand what the consumer wants and then deliver it to them. Listening to the triggers that will get the customer to purchase.

You may think understanding customers can be a little difficult, but it is not impossible. With the right knowledge and practice, understanding consumer psychology will be easy and effective.