Timely
Tidbits from Media II Advertising, Public Relations, Sales
Promotion
Selling
in the 21st Century Means Giving Customers What They Value
Selling in the 1990's has evolved
from solution selling to niche product or one-to-one selling
– which is and will be the make or break key for
sales teams in the 21st Century. This thinking is the
consensus of sales executives at high tech companies around
the country, according to a recent survey from the KLA
Group, an international consulting agency based in Littleton,
Colorado.
Value is no longer always defined
as "extra product" or "extra product-related services,"
according to KLA. Value is now in the eye of a very savvy
customer.
Though responses were geared to
a high tech selling environment, the top points executives
said will make or break a sales team in the 21st century
can apply to many selling environments. They are:
- One-to-one consultative selling
- Provide customers with the ability to solve their
problems.
- Vision - Help your own customers
remain competitive in this ever-changing marketplace.
- Immediacy – You must be
able to respond immediately no matter what the communication
form – telephone, e-mail or more.
- Communication – Use every
medium possible – e-mail, Internet, phone, face-to-face,
to get a clear picture of how you can help your customers
get where they're going.
- Anticipation – Anticipate
customers' needs and act before you are asked.
- Build a true relationship –
Be competent, trustworthy, and capable of leveraging
relationships.
- Focus – Customers have
so much information they can become distracted from
their core issues. Be prepared to keep them on track.
- Help customers filter through
the myriad of information available to make an informed
decision.
- Tighten the marketing and sales
relationship –- the prospect should not know when
marketing ends and selling begins.
- Build a sales structure for
the "new sales rep" – as one sales exec stated,
"The quality and consistency of direct selling reps
has gone way down in basic selling skills." Plan for
this in your sales structure, commission planning, and
training.
Get Free Consulting Help for Your Business
Thinking about expanding your
business, searching for new funding sources, starting
a business, or just need an impartial opinion about a
decision? Business Advisors of Cleveland (BAC) provides
sage advice to entrepreneurs, small firms and community
service organizations free of charge. Its members are
retired accountants, advertising/marketing professionals,
human resources personnel, attorneys, and many other disciplines
from area companies such as Alcan Aluminum, E.I. DuPont,
Ford Motor, Lane Bryant, and Key Bank.
Media II recently helped BAC develop
new literature, provided public relations guidance, and
developed a new web site, www.busadvcle.org. We did it
all for the same cost that they charge their clients,
zero, zip, nada. It's a valuable resource that we are
happy to help them communicate to business owners
If you have a thorny issue, not
sure about a next step, or just need a sounding board,
contact Business Advisers of Cleveland.
Batter
Up!
For the last year there has been
a frenzy of construction activity next to our offices
as the new ballpark for the Lake County Captains, a Cleveland
Indians Class A affiliate, is taking shape. It promises
to be a fun, family- and wallet-friendly venue for watching
young players try their best to make it to the major leagues.
Like to see a game on us? Reply
to this email with the subject of "I Wanna Go" and from
all replies received we'll have a drawing for 4 tickets
to the Sunday April 13 game where they'll be giving away
2,000 baseball caps.
Building
the Trust of Surfers
A study conducted by the Persuasive
Technology Lab, Stanford University, and Consumer WebWatch,
evaluated the importance of various elements in web sites
that build trust. Participants in this study used the
look of the page more often than any other factor to judge
its credibility. Participants could list more than one
factor in their responses. The top 10 factors, ranked
by how often they were mentioned:
1. Design look: 46.1 percent
2. Information design/structure:
28.5 percent
3. Information focus: 25.1 percent
4. Company motive: 15.5 percent
5. Information usefulness: 14.8
percent
6. Information accuracy: 14.3
percent
7. Name recognition and reputation:
14.1 percent
8. Advertising: 13.8 percent
9. Information bias: 11.6 percent
10. Writing tone: 9 percent
So, how does your web site look?
Quote
of the Month
Microsoft paid $14 million for
using the Rolling Stones song "Start Me Up" for their
commercials. This is wrong. Microsoft paid $14 million
for only part of the song. They didn't use the line, "You'll
make a grown man cry."
– Unknown
If
you have a topic you would like to see us address or if
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let us know. Email roy@mediaii.com
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