Dear Everyone,
Welcome to the latest GavinIngham.com newsletter. This week, why
everyone in your company has to be a salesperson, tips on brand
identity from The Apprentice, one of my favourite motivational
quotes and a couple of extra places for my June No Fear Cold
Calling seminar (skip to the end if you want to make sure that you
get them as they'll probably be gone if you read too slowly!).
**********
Garden Sheds, First Impressions & Why Everyone Has To Be A
Salesperson Now.
I've just been to look at a new shed for the garden. It's not exciting,
it's not hi-tec and it's not complicated but it is amazing how wrong
people can get such simple things in their businesses. Just quickly,
here is what happened…
I went to the local shed shop (they also sell fencing and other
wooden garden stuff). I want to use them because they are local and
I want to support local businesses. People are always moaning
about local businesses shutting down but then they buy online, so
what do they expect?
Personally, I do not expect them to be as cheap as online. Why
should they be? They have overheads, they have road front
premises and they have real UK staff to employ and all that
entails. I don not expect them to match prices. And I do not expect
them to be open 24/7 like the internet. But I do expect them to
provide a better, more friendly, more local and more
understanding service.
After parking the car I walked to the office. At least three
members of staff saw me walk to the office so I did not ring the
bell and stood and waited instead. I am not (usually) impatient
and I figured that they would not just leave me there and it
would be rude of me to ring the bell. But I was wrong and they
did leave me there. So, after a couple of minutes, I rang the
bell. And waited. And waited. After about five minutes I decided
to pick up a brochure and leave. I would not be buying from them
but it would be useful to use their (expensive) brochure as a
reference point.
As I left, a man walked past me into the shop, totally ignoring
me. I turned and he said, "Have you been served?" I said, "No"
and then the phone rang and without saying, "Sorry, can you
hang on a minute" or any such polite phrase he just picked the
phone up and turned his back on me.
I walked out never to return.
Now, I have no idea how much this company spend on advertising
but they are in the Yellow Pages. I have seen their adverts locally
and they do pay for prime retail premises to catch walk in trade.
They have changing signage, brochures and marked up vans.
Someone somewhere thinks they want to attract business.
Someone somewhere realises the importance of sales for a
successful business. But what is the point of attracting business
if when it arrives you treat it this way and it walks out of the door
never to return?
We like to think that we are doing everything we can to help our
businesses grow, to improve our sales (at home and abroad) and
to get the economy moving. But many aren't. If you run a
business you need to embrace selling. You need to make your
business a veritable sales machine and you need to make sure
that every customer is looked after. Here are some simple
maxims…
* First impressions count, you may never get to make another.
* Everybody in your organization is a salesperson.
* Everybody is responsible for sales.
* Your company is only as good as your weakest link.
* Sales is simple, it starts with the customer and a positive attitude.
* Smile, greet, communicate, follow through.
What can you do to encourage everyone in your business to make
sure that they make a strong first impression?
**********
One Of My Favourite Motivational Quotes…
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with
talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan
"press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of
the human race."
- Calvin Coolidge, United States President
**********
Brand Identity & The Apprentice Semi-Final.
Over the last few years the economy has changed, business has
changed and how we go about selling and marketing have changed.
For many, life has got tougher. Many businesses that once made a
comfortable profit now struggle to keep their heads above water,
many salespeople who used to easily beat their targets have to work
harder and brands that once sold themselves now do not.
On last night's Apprentice semi-final we saw the two teams
competing to create a luxury product range for an affordable price.
This task was all about having a clear brand identity, a solid
business plan and a route to market. One team got this, creating a
male grooming range with a clearly defined identity, a route to
market and a clear business strategy (Ok, so the packaging was
poor but that would have been easy enough to change).
The other team messed it up, not really knowing what they were
about, what their brand identity was, who they were selling to, what
they were selling, at what prices or where.
Clearly, I have no idea what was going on in the head of team leader
Adam but we have been watching him for 11 weeks now and he
seems to have a fairly common trait whereby he believes that the
more things he has to sell, the more chance he has of selling
something. People who are desperate to make sales often think this
but the opposite is frequently true.
In last night's task, Adam's team team set up a confectionery outfit
selling hot chocolate, some drunken jellies, some wafer type
chocolates and some marshmallows. It all reminded me a bit of
standing underneath my Nana's sweet cupboard at 2pm! You never
quite knew what you were going to get…a bit of Spangle here, a
Smarty there, perhaps a Chewit or, if you were really lucky, a Fruit
Salad or a Chocolate Eclair… but I digress…
You will see people do this. They figure�if they can sell something,
they should. They don't seem to realise that people do not want to
pay a premium for a jack of all trades and a master of none. People
want to understand your business, they need to know what your
business is about, they want to know how you are different. You
need to make it easy for them to find you, easy for them to come
to you for advice / help, easy for them to buy off you, easy for
them to get excited about your brand, easy for them to recommend
you.
Fail to do this and you just make it �easy for them to go
somewhere else.
In my business, over the years, I have defined what I do so that
my clients know what I and my business are about. And to do this
you need to realise that IT IS ok to turn business away. One of the
best words I ever use is, "No". Just because I could train your
team on communication skills doesn't mean that I am going to
(I'm not). And just because I could do deskside coaching with your
sales team doesn't mean I will (because I won't). But if you want a
speaker to inspire and motivate your teams at your next
conference, that I will do!
If you want people to understand what you are all about then you
need to be able to clearly define it yourself. When asked what they
were about, Adam could only say what they weren't about… "not a
chocolatier" and "not a confectioner". Who is ever going to
remember what you are not? Who even cares what you are not?
What are you?
In today's competitive and challenging business markets, your
company identity and brand is more important than ever. You need
to be able to clearly articulate what you are about, what you sell,
why you sell that, who it helps, how it helps people, why they want
it, why they need it… and so on…
Not surprisingly, Ricky and Tom won the task with their male
grooming plan, Modern Gentleman and Adam, Jade and Nick lost
with their (not so) Sweet Thing. Lord Sugar was faced with a difficult
decision in the boardroom but concluded that Adam was out of his
depth and fired him.
That leaves Ricky, Tom, Nick and Jade in next week's final.
Without prior knowledge of their business plans I have no idea who
I would pick as a winner but I did have a thought that it would be
rather fun to cancel next week's ridiculously staged and hammed
up interview process and instead have them go and present their
business plans to Duncan Bannatyne, Hilary Devey, Theo Paphitis,
Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones. Now that would be a good
show!
**********
No Fear Cold Calling Seminar, 19th June, RIBA, London
This seminar has been full for 2 weeks but one of my clients just
decided to book their whole team onto a later seminar so there are
5 spaces left on this. It will be first come, first served so if you
want to attend, book now on 0845 838 5958. See you there.
**********
That is about it from me for this week so have a great day and sell
with passion.
Kind regards
Gavin
**********
Set your next conference or AGM alight by booking
motivational
speaker Gavin Ingham now.
Check out my educational and motivational books,
audios & DVDs
now at www.gaviningham.com.
Read more articles like this one at
www.gaviningham.com.
Gavin Ingham Ltd
Branwell House
Park Lane
Keighley
BD21 4QX
Tel: +44 (0)845 838 5958
**********
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