When times are tough, the not-so-tough get discounting. The temptation to give away what you can’t sell is strong, but it’s a guaranteed hiding to nowhere. Sure, you’re getting turnover, but profits are small (or non-existent), there’s no customer loyalty, and when times improve you’re going to have a hard time convincing those customers to stay with you and pay more.
But what are your options? The first step is to redefine how you see selling. We’re not talking hard- sell, make a pitch, take-the-money-and-run selling, we’re talking about a system of converting leads into sales and, importantly, a long-term relationship.
Define your market, and then deliver your message
Perhaps the most important thing you need to do is to consider who your customers are. You can’t be all things to all people; you need to target your business.
Once you have a well-defined target market, what are you going to say to them? You need to deliver an appropriate message to your potential customers. What is your customer’s specific need? What is your promise? How does it meet their needs? It might seem surprising, but this is an emotional need
– How will your customer feel when he does business with you, what’s in it for him?
Entrepreneurs are at an advantage here. Entrepreneurs deliver innovation and give customers the opportunity to buy a wider range of different products and services, not just the run of- the-mill standard range from the big suppliers. So in addition to the message about your specific product and service, it’s important to relay the benefits that an entrepreneurial supplier can have for customers.
Provide a solution
This is crucial: you are not selling a product or service; you are providing a solution to a customer’s needs or problems. It follows that the first step is to understand what that need or problem is, from the customers. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate expertise, to show that you know and understand his market, to recommend a course of action. Most entrepreneurs are technical before entrepreneurial. We start out as computer programmers, or engineers, or accountants, and then start our own businesses. As a result, we tend to get wrapped up in the technology. Most customers are not interested in the details of the technology. They want to know what it does for them. How does it make them faster, better, smarter?
Make an impression
Only once your customer has all the information he needs to make a decision, do you try to close the sale. Of course you’ll hope for a positive outcome. But even if you don’t make the sale today, if you follow this plan, you’ve made an impression. If that impression is a good one, there’s every chance that the customer will come to you when he’s ready, or when circumstances change.
