1. Define and redefine your value proposition. You may feel like you are forced to simply reduce your price because of the competitors pricing. This means that you have been leading with price and not value. You must redefine and re-communicate your value to prospects and customers. If you obtain and keep business on price alone, you will suffer margin loss and eventually you will lose the business on price as easily as you obtained it. If you can tie your product or service to an Operational or Maintenance savings, now is the time to do it and produce a method for measuring the savings.
2. Create trades to maintain current business and obtain new. We are in a recession, business owners are looking for every way to get a deal. However if you concede to every request for price reduction, then you will suffer margin loss and a reduction in sales. Instead, this is a great opportunity to offer a "trade". Instead of reducing price alone, look for other areas of business that you currently do not have. Ask to supply them in that area or sell a capital piece of equipment (at cost) in trade for a price reduction. They will feel as if they are receiving a great deal and have thus created a win-win situation.
3. Back to the Basics. Getting back to the basics of sales calls skills and methodologies always reinforces and refreshes your sales team. Sometimes we assume that we are performing the basics in a sales call when in fact we are not.
This is detrimental to sales success and is an easy way to increase productivity. It is amazing how much your sales team has an effect on your revenue, irregardless of your product. For example, I went to several mattress stores shopping a new mattress with my wife the other day. I very much liked a particular mattress at one store, but the salesman just kept firing technical details at me about elasticity and foam recovery rate...who cares! The key is, some people will care, some people won't, and you can't get there unless you ask questions.
4. Create a Follow Up System. If you are not actively collecting feedback from your current customers, then start! Feedback is not only great way to ensure aid in keeping customers, but it allows you to engage in penetration sales with those existing customers. Many times these feedback systems result in the customer expressing an additional need or problem. Is a problem a problem?....No, a problem is an opportunity for increased sales!
5. Persistence. Don't laugh. The same reason that you got the sale yesterday is even more of a reason now. Your competitors are going out of business or downsizing, one at a time. Your competition may be spending less time at an account because of the reduced value, or being stretched...Time to Strike! Timing is critical and the only way to capitalize is persistence. Get there before the other guy that is still in business does!
Patrick Rogers is a Certified Business Coach and is the Founder and President of Corparise.com, Corparise Business and Sales Coaching Network. Please visit http://www.corparise.com for more information about Corparise's business and sales coaching programs.
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Interesting!
Doing business is not a rocket science, but maintaining business profitability is an important factor in any business. I will maintain my business profitability with online business and search engine optimization a supplement to it.
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