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.

Do you use the same principles in sport as in business???

Last Saturday night I went on a date with my husband to the soccer (dedication I say).
It is not a sport I would normally follow or really know about. Apart from the aim of the game is to
kick the ball into the net. Well how hard is that?
So I started to look at things a little differently during the first half after many near misses.

Really its about teamwork...
The beauty of soccer is that it’s a complex game where the possibilities are endless. Your proficiency in soccer not only depends on your physical coordination, but also on your ability to read the game, make quick decisions, and communicate with your teammates. No matter how crisp your dribbling, shooting, and passing skills may be, it’s all useless without a strategy. You choose the one most likely to achieve your goal.

The best way to improve your strategy is to play with and against the best. If you play a good team and you’re constantly put under pressure, you’ll be forced to play the ball quickly. Don't do things that you know you wouldn't get away with if you were playing a good team. This kind of discipline will keep your mind sharp.

Making an effort to understand how teams get a winning edge and look for an opportunity to apply that strategy yourself on the field.
Another strategy or tactic in soccer is knowing your role. That's why the best teams have all the players roles well defined
Teams will often change tactics if they score a goal or they're ahead with just a few minutes left in the game.
Soccer is so much about momentum and confidence. The best teams never lose the belief that they can come back and win the game.

So is soccer and the strategies the players and coaches use really any different to running a business?

Prepare,Prepare,Prepare...

Gain the Upper Hand in Any Situation, so what does this mean?
“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail,” Benjamin Franklin the influential author, inventor and Founding Father once said. Planning and preparation will give you a 10-times greater chance to achieve your goals. It will reduce wasted time and effort, while improving and maximizing results.
So here are some tips on preparing so you can stand out from the crowd:
1. Study: The people who are achieving super status are the ones that continually reading, listening to Cd’s watching DVD’s at any opportunity. They don’t waste their time with escapism and mindless entertainment. They are the ones that have all the data, background and always working on improving their craft. This will always give you the upper hand in any situation. It takes approximately 10000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill. For instance it would take 10 years of practicing 3 hours a day to become a master in your subject. (If you want to read more on this The Outliars by Malcolm Gladwell)
2. Develop: Decide on the skills that are necessary to achieve the oracle status in your Niche (remember the 10000 hour rule). Everything is learnable and you can master any skill. This will help you to succeed in your business and in your life.
3. Practice: Whether you are a musician or a Footballer playing in the Grand Final they spend time practicing. Busy professionals and entrepreneurs should practice the skills they need for success—public speaking, impactful writing and interpersonal communication. The more you practice the better you get.
4. Play the Game in Your Head First: Recreate the event exactly as you want it to be. What do you want to happen first, how you expect the event to play out? Whether it is an important phone call, training or presentation know what the purpose is and how you want it to be. Try re-enacting the event you’ll be amazed at how your posture, energy and expectation will change. As we know from our NLP training your unconscious mind rises to the occasion. Try it and let me know how you go.