Business Mentor Weekly #13 – Identify Products

Implement This Principle: Knowing what you really sell is important
in that it gives you a correct perspective when developing marketing
strategies, sales collateral etc.

To Get These Results: Marketing and sales are more effective because
they focus on selling what your customers are really buying.

Thoughts to Ponder: What is your customer really buying when they
purchase your product? People purchase things that satisfy emotional
needs, perceived and real. A person buying a hamburger has a need to
stop being hungry at a convenient location and time and without
getting sick.

Take Action: Write down what needs your products and services
satisfy. Now review your marketing materials, are they targeted at
satisfying needs or do your ads attempt to sell your products at a
features and benefits level. If you are marketing to satisfy needs,
prospects know they will achieve desired results and price becomes
secondary, marketing features and benefits will get you price shopped,
it is as easy as a Google search.

Next Week’s Topic: Identify Services

Business Mentor Weekly #14 – Identify Services

Implement This Principle: Service offerings such as legal and
accounting, computer repair, installation and implementation services
are a relationship and trust sale and should be envisioned, designed
and sold from the perspective of trust and in the context of a
developing relationship.

To Get These Results: Implementing this principle will produce more
sales, shorter sales cycles, increased profitability, increased market
share and higher sales productivity.

Thoughts to Ponder: Selling invisible or intangible services involves
its own specific set of challenges. Your customer is not buying your
expertise; he is buying your ability to solve a problem he is not
equipped to solve. Leading the customer through a process that assures
you understand the problem establishes you as an expert, not just a
technical expert, but an expert in understanding and solving problems.

Take Action: Focus on understanding the client’s needs as they see
them. Collaborate with the customer to develop a win/win approach to
your solution to their problems, assure customers that you are vested
in their company through your service offering. Don’t waste time
producing proposals in the dark; get a conceptual agreement prior to
producing a one or two page proposal. For more on selling services,
see the recommended reading list on my website at

http://www.emerald-business-services.com/recommended-reading-list.html

Next Week’s Topic: Identify Critical Relationships

Business Mentor Weekly #15 – Identify Critical Relationships

Implement This Principle: Relationships provide dominate market
positioning, they are more effective and less expensive to maintain
than the other determining factors related to whether or not your
company is dominant, unique or just competitive.

To Get These Results: Relationships will propel you to a dominate
position in the marketplace faster and less expensively than almost
any other marketing technique.

Thoughts to Ponder: When it comes to growing and maintaining market
share few things are as valuable as relationships. To develop a
dominate position in the market place you can stock more inventory,
provide more services in more locations with faster delivery and lower
prices but the competitor with the best relationship will win the
business .

<———————————- Gravity ————————————

Take Action: Create the same strategy chart as the one above by
inserting your products and services, then consider how relationship
trump features and benefits. Test the resulting strategy against your
competitors. Remember, they will eventually make the same adjustments
you will relative to products and services. Only you can have a
relationship that puts your offering in a dominate position. Consider
scheduled reviews with clients, in person if the client accounts for
large volumes and by phone if they are small. Depending upon your
industry a review could be for design, quality, purchasing terms etc.
Make sure your customer is getting what they need out of the
relationship and treat them accordingly.

Next Week’s Topic: Identify Intellectual Properties

Business Mentor Weekly #16 – Identify Intellectual Properties

Implement This Principle: Intellectual properties are at the heart of
what makes your company money, if they are well defined they are an
asset, if not, they become a liability in that they are not protected
and can fall into the hands of those who would compete with you.

To Get These Results: Developing and nurturing intellectual
properties give your company a distinct competitive advantage.

Thoughts to Ponder: What is at the heart of your company’s success?
Everyone in your company should know and commit to memory the things
your company knows and does that no one else knows how to do. These
things include know how, proprietary databases, processes and
software, knowledge, patents, copyrighted information, trademarks and
brands.

Take Action: Document your intellectual properties in terms your
company can disseminate in company literature. Meet with your attorney
to determine what you need to do to protect your intellectual
properties (IP.) Bring your IP to the attention of field and sales
personnel, (not company secrets but the results your IP will create.)
Help your customer service people understand the significance of your
special knowledge and know how. If your employees and stakeholders do
not know or understand what is special about your company, you can bet
the message is not getting through to your customers.

Next Week’s Topic: Identify Patents