In the late 1980′s and early 1990′s I saw signs and glimpses of how selling was undergoing changes and how businesses and salespeople needed to rethink selling and working with customers. At this time there was no documented evidence I could use to reference and confirm my hunch that things needed to change. No evidence I could use to show and validate my findings to business leaders. I could only rely on my own (unofficial) references.

My 17 years in business has told me that particularly when a business has started on a “hunch” or “gut feeling” finding clarity can be a struggle. With constant self doubt and knowing something is there but unable to put your finger on it can make finding business clarity seem almost unobtainable.

Many businesses, business leaders and their teams struggle with achieving their sense of clarity because they find it difficult to answer the following questions:

o Why do we do what we do?

o Who we do it for?

o How we do it?

So wherever you are at in your business journey, start 2012 by finding, defining or refining your clarity of purpose; it‟s a liberating experience. The following tips will help you find clarity of purpose:

Know your philosophy - A philosophy should be something that you and your business live by. Think of a “motto” and remember this whenever you feel you‟re losing your clarity of purpose. It will give you direction and focus.

Know your vision - Having a vision should go hand in hand with your business philosophy. Having a vision will clearly define what your business is aiming to achieve, similar to an objective. Your vision should always reflect your philosophy.

Know how you will do it - What beliefs will you instill? In what ways will your business help others develop their skills, knowledge, mindset and quality of life?

When a business leader knows the answer to these questions they will uncover their business‟ real intentions, talents, desires and goals. Without the answers to these questions, little else matters in business because anything we try to do without knowing these answers will lack clarity of purpose.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit http://www.barrett.com.au

For a long time now, I’ve noticed some of my clients actually stopped themselves from marketing themselves because they believe they still need to learn more about their profession to be perfect or that expert.

However, they had already obtained their training certificates, had already completed their practical, but still they believed that they were not qualified enough or professional enough to get clients. They were fearful of someone finding out that they didn’t know what they were talking about, that they weren’t an expert!

Some didn’t believe they were ready enough to go out there and attract clients. They believed they still needed to learn or practise more beforehand. They just didn’t believe they were ready to go out there and market themselves in a big way.

Here are some of the statements I’ve heard from clients over the last year:

• I’m not as good as the professionals.
• I’m not as good as my competitors, so I need to do more.
• I need to be more of an expert to attract clients to work with me.
• I need to learn more to be credible.
• I don’t know enough yet, I still have so much more to learn.
• I don’t have enough experience they will know I’m a fake.
• I need to practise more so that clients keep coming back.

Where was all this self-doubt coming from? Was it a worry of ‘I’m not ready to market myself fully because I don’t know enough yet’ therefore I don’t want to expose myself and be vulnerable. Was it a sense of not ‘being enough’ as a person? Perhaps it was thinking that if I’m not perfect then I’m not good enough?

Whatever it was, I knew that it would spiral out of control. They would never feel complete; they would just continue to learn instead of doing.

All I know is that if you continue to wait until you know it all before you get out there and market, you will never actually get out there. The world continues to learn, things continue to change, what was the norm last year is now completely different. Think about social media and how many times facebook has changed the way it does things. If you wait for the perfect time… you will be waiting for a very long time. There is no more perfect time than NOW.

Perfection comes from doing something and improving on it… you can’t improve if you’ve done nothing. Remember he who hesitates loses.

You don’t need to be ‘the expert’ to do more marketing and to have more clients. I call myself a client attraction expert, but I’m not the only one who talks about marketing, I’m not the one who’s been doing it the longest. But what I do have is my own experiences, my methods, my energy and my authenticity in my knowledge and how I deliver the information for solo-entrepreneurs and business owners to ‘understand’. And it’s the same for you.

It’s your knowledge, your own experiences, your style, your personality, your methods, and your energy all combine to make you different in the marketplace. Clients will be attracted to you because of all these things and more. Clients will be attracted to you because they know, like and trust you.

You are the expert simply because you know more than the average person. Stop anybody on the street and ask them something technical about what you do, and you’ll find that they won’t have any idea what you are talking about. But I reckon you could do what you do in your sleep. You know your profession, you know your theory, you are an expert and you do know enough.

I’m not saying stop learning, you can learn more and I highly recommend you do. I read marketing, consumer behaviour, mindset and self-improvement books all year. But I’m not waiting until I know it all, because I never will and neither should you.

Just get out there more than you are now and start attracting clients today, forget perfection, it will all work itself out. Remember, you know more than the majority of people and these same people need you. So market yourself today so they can find you!

You can be the best in whatever you do, but there is one thing you do need to know more about and that’s systematically attracting new clients and closing the sale. Therefore it may be time to invest in a step-by-step marketing system that will make everything easy for you. The Easy Marketing to Get Clients Home Study System™ gives you the foundation for you to get out there in a big way. It’s full of simple easy systems so that you continually get new clients. It’s all easy to do and simple to understand. You can get it at easymarketing.com.au.

Deborah Jackson of Easy Marketing, and author of ‘Easy Marketing for Women’, teaches self-employed professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners how to consistently attract ideal clients, how to put their marketing on autopilot and create a prosperous business!

To receive your FREE ‘Six Simple Steps to Niching Yourself’ audio CD, as well as other helpful marketing tips, simply visit http://www.easymarketing.com.au and sign up.

You’ll soon find that Deborah is someone who explains – in layman’s terms – the simple steps to marketing success. Once you’re a fan of Deborah’s, why not find out how her high-powered marketing strategy sessions can help you.

For B2B sales this space used to be particularly male dominated, but not anymore, and that’s not the only thing that has changed for B2B sales. “Puffing up the books” is all too common and completely useless to the salesperson, the team and the business. However, professional sales people who aren’t misleading their sales and business managers about their results are also seeing their prospects sit idle in the pipeline. This is because the buying process has now become a lengthier process.

More businesses are including their committees, board members and managers in their buying decisions and each person will approach the buying decision from a different perspective. This means the sales person no longer has one point of contact and needs to make sure they accommodate for this in their sales process. This includes the information they give, questions asked and answers provided.

B2B transactions are also having a major overhaul. With access to so much information, the buyer has grown into a more sophisticated, well informed consumer, especially in the B2B space. The savvy business person knows that many of those commodity purchases they traditionally made face-to-face with a sales representative can now be made online thus saving them valuable time and money. The pathway from supplier to partner is not as relevant and will see businesses re-thinking their go-to-market strategy.

As sales people we are now asking ourselves, how do we cope with this changing B2B landscape? The following tips are ways we can ensure we stay in the game:

Lengthened buying process – It’s all about being prepared and precise. Identify how many people are needed in the decision making process and how you are going to meet their needs and allocate the time to do so. Be explicit about why you do what you do; how you do what you do; what you do; and how you help people achieve results. The process may be lengthy for you, but keep in mind it’s also a time consuming process for your prospects also. Offer to address questions with each person face to face instead of back and forth emails and going through a middle man. 

The fall of the transactional B2B sales person – It’s predicted that transactional selling will no longer require the field sales teams. However, if your company is the one that has developed and produced a particular product, it is crucial you create a reputable and informative online presence. Your customers will be going to websites as the “go to hub” for information and if you don’t have an online presence someone less reputable will fill this for you.

Sales is an ever-changing world but there is no need to become anxious or despair. Part of being an effective sales person is having the ability to adapt and this is just one of the scenarios in which this skill will be put to the test. Be prepared, be aware and most of all resilient.

To help you be on the front foot next year with the expected volatile economic conditions check out the Annual Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report and see what’s in store for your business in 2012: http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/the-12-sales-trends-by-year/12-sales-trends-for-2012/ 

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit http://www.barrett.com.au

Most businesses realise the importance of competent, trust worthy and results driven staff in their mission for growth. Employees are the ones who manage the day to day operations of a business and are a critical component in dealing with clients and customers, and can be seen to be the face of your business.

As business growth starts to build many businesses leave their employees to one side and start concentrating on how they can continue this pattern of growth. This is understandable as objectives unfulfilled in business will see you being left behind and your competitors taking the lead. However, your employees, and specifically your top performers should be a part of these plans for future growth. Ignoring your top performers could cost your business more than you think.

What most business owners or managers are thinking when they get a great performer is that they’re “so easy” “I wish all my employees were like this”. The fact that managers see their top performers as “easy” is what leads them to leave them to one side as they feel they should be concentrating on the things that are “difficult”.

Although top performers don’t need to be “fixed” they still require on going support. What makes top performers different to other members of staff is their eagerness and willingness to grow and learn. They crave continuous learning and quickly feel as though they’re being taken for granted without this. They feel if the business doesn’t care about their professional develop then why should they keep caring for the business. The following are key ways in which businesses can retain their top performers and give them the support and develop they want and need:

Listen - When you listen to an employee’s wants, needs and concerns, this is a sign of respect as well as showing you have a genuine interest in their professional wellbeing and development. Make time to allow your employees to discuss their professional development. Do they have ideas they want heard? Would they like to take on more responsibility? You may find their contributions are just the kick your business needs to go to the next level.

Training and Coaching – Investing in training and coaching for your top performers is something they would greatly appreciate and benefit from. Top performers love learning and to be given new challenges. With the guidance they get from a professional, you will see their results increase and confidence in and motivation for their job increase as well. 

Cut back on monetary incentives – Sometimes money just doesn’t cut it. If you think “investing” in your top performers means giving them a bonus or a pay rise think again. This can only keep a top performer happy for so long. At the end of the day, growth is what they crave.

Before it’s too late, think about how your business is currently treating its top performers. Are they being left to fend for themselves or are opportunities provided in order for them to also grow alongside your business? Investing in the development of top performers will have a direct impact on business growth.

To help you be on the front foot next year with the expected volatile economic conditions check out the Annual Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report and see what’s in store for your business in 2012: http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/the-12-sales-trends-by-year/12-sales-trends-for-2012/

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit http://www.barrett.com.au

Consider the following sales tips and selling become less of a “you vs them” approach.

We don’t want a script – When someone is selling to you do you respond well to a forced, scripted and rehearsed monologue, or do you prefer an honest, informed and attentive dialogue? The answer is simple. We all like people to listen to our needs and wants and add valuable advice to a conversation. Turn your approach around to ask questions and respond accordingly and you’ll find you quickly ditch the script and have more meaningful client relationships and sales results.

Ask the right questions – Most conversations are conducted by questions and answers. Your clients and customers may ask questions to which you respond but what questions are you asking? Design your questions to learn more about your client’s current position, what they like and dislike and what they would like to do if given the opportunity to grow.

Find the time to prospect – Prospect, prospect and prospect. Do this every day and you will grow. Finding the time to prospect can often be more difficult than the prospecting itself. So make it easy and map out time to make it happen. Are you over servicing current clients? Are you doing activities that aren’t urgent and could be put on hold? Once you find that your time could be better managed, perhaps look at when the act of prospecting is right for you and your business. Consider making prospecting calls first thing in the morning. This works on two levels, 1) you get it out of the way first thing in the day and, 2) it’s often the best time to call people.

The sales plan – Every process needs a plan, and the same goes for the sales process. Your sales plan should include everything you need to know about your business and industry and the tactics and tasks you will perform to grow your business. Think strategically about your competitors, current issues facing your industry, your goals and objectives, budget, time, limitations and strengths. Your sales plan should be a guide to keep you on track and help organise your vision into actionable and result driven tasks.

At the end of the day, everyone is different. Stay true to yourself and communicate in an honest and genuine manner. Don’t copy anyone else’s sales technique. Instead develop your own and you and your business will benefit.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit http://www.barrett.com.au

Developing your sales team is one of the best long term investments you can make and it doesn‟t need to kill your budget. Firstly, its important management understands 21st century sales. It‟s no longer a simple case of a sales script and a cold call or door-knock. It‟s about adopting a well-rounded business approach. Sales people today need to know the business strategy, understand the budget and their role in achieving business goals.

Keeping your sales people “in the loop” keeps them motivated and driven to achieve a common goal. Giving your sales people knowledge gives them power to do a better job for you.

Your sales team is only as good as you make it. Clients tend to value subject matter and solution expertise which isn‟t the same as product knowledge. They‟re looking for business partners to help them map a pathway forward for the future and integrate a myriad of components. This is what a sales team should be and if trained to be so, your sales team will be your most valuable asset to your business.

So…how do we get our sales teams to become our most important asset? The „smooth talking‟ sales person adopting the hard sell approach is outdated and most of all, ineffective. If this is the type of tactic your sales people use then lose it. Instead invest in the following areas:

Dispel the myth – Start by changing the culture and attitude of your business. Dispel the myth that sales is on the “bottom level”. Whether this takes place in a large business meeting, or is communicated in other ways, your business and each individual in the sales team need to understand that sales people are fundamental business partners. They‟re the reason everyone is paid.

Business acumen and commercial awareness – Tell your sales team what the business strategy looks like and explain the goals and objectives. Tell them about the current issues and environmental factors that affect the business and how the business sits in perspective to the rest of the business world. You sales team will then understand they‟re a part of something larger than simply trying to “sell”.

Listen – Listening is the foundation of any role that requires you to solve problems and give advice, which is exactly the job of your sales people. Sales people listen and ask questions to feed information back so you can respond to your clients with a solution that meets their needs.

When you operate a sales team this way, you‟ll quickly discover that your staff morale improves as does your bottom line. Your sales team is not only important for your business, it‟s essential.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit http://www.barrett.com.au

Handling difficult situations is customer service 101. If the bottom level of business need to be prepared for a crisis, then even more so should managers and CEO’s. When poorly equipped for a crisis, management can portray the most shameful and undignified behavior. Blame shifting, self serving game playing, indecision, narcissism and quite frankly, gutless and pathetic attempts to distance themselves from the issue are all ways unprepared management can react in a crisis.

In order to not just ‘talk the talk’; but ‘walk the talk’ and show the way forward in a crisis, the following should be fundamental to how a business reacts during a crisis:

Get all the necessary facts – There is no better way to deal with a crisis then knowing all you can about the issue at hand. Otherwise, how will you know what went wrong and in turn how to fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again?

Who is doing what? – Know who will be the spokesperson, the information gather, the negotiator and so forth. Give each relevant person an allocated role so when a crisis does occur, each person knows what he or she is doing from the get go.

Remember you staff – Inform you employees on the progress of a crisis as much as possible. During a crisis, your staff will feel particularly vulnerable and concerned for their own welfare. If you don’t treat your staff with respect during these hard times, an employee backlash could occur only adding fuel to the fire.

Listen to your clients and customers – If they were happy with your business before, chances are they will forgive your mistakes and current misfortunes, but only if their concerns were addressed during the crisis. Your clients and customers should understand that all businesses go through times of hardship, but remember, it is how you fix the situation that will see them stand by you.

Make no bones about it, whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not, when a crisis occurs, you and your organisation will be on show like never before. Employees, clients and management alike will all be asking the question, how should I behave? The trick is to answer this question before you need to ask it.
Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit www.barrett.com.au

The mistake is that many businesses don’t stop and think, what exactly is this going to cost? Is it worth my time and resources? Businesses can get blinded by measuring the number of results achieved rather than focusing on revenue and profit margins.

When businesses reach a point where they are simply not coping and business is not going as planned, external factors can be blamed such as the economy, consumer confidence, or the need to adopt a new business process. However, the problem can be located by just looking at how your time is currently being spent and chances are you will see you are simply over servicing your clients.

Over servicing can be recognised when we are spending too much time on a particular job or client that we miss opportunities to bring in new business. We end up running out of time each week to prospect, and simply don’t have the time to switch off from the daily grind and sit back and analyse your current business position and strategise how you would like to grow your business for the future.

In our haste to keep up, be on top of things, be seen as the one with all the answers and be ahead of the pack, we are inadvertently creating a climate of confusion, indecision, and unnecessary distress by exposing ourselves and our teams to unrealistic expectations.

To get out of the over servicing trap, we should not resort to ignoring out clients requests; neither should we aggressively reject their needs. After all, our clients are the ones paying the bill and they should expect their wants to be met and receive value for money. The difference with over servicing is that it doesn’t just involve fixing a process, but dealing with the sometimes fragile relationship; the client relationship.

The following are some tips to help you break out of the over servicing cycle:

1. Make a monthly plan and stick to it – the key word here being stick to it. Clear goals help you determine what to focus on and what information you need to have at hand to help you achieve your goals. If an urgent task does arise, make room for this by changing the plan, and putting a not so important task off until the following month.

2. Determine effectiveness – Think about what tasks will achieve the most relevant results or is of most importance in terms of outcome.

3. Don’t be afraid to say no – Again, it’s not about rejecting a client’s wants, but explaining in your professional opinion what is the best way in moving forward at this current time.

Explain what is best for their brand or business. Explain the processes that will take place, and the outcomes that will be achieved.

How you manage your time and client requests is just as important as your technical skills. Your clients will ultimately respect that you are clearly and rationally thinking about their business and priorities, rather than quickly getting through a job and jumping straight onto the next without any thought or assessment.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit www.barrett.com.au

Have a think about your customer and look at whether you are giving them what they want. Look at how you communicate with them, can this be improved? Communication is key for positive relationships with the new age customer. The internet has given communication a whole new perspective. Online dealings with customers are just as important as face-to-face communication; in fact it’s probably even more important to get this just right.

Many businesses don’t take care with online customer service believing that as a quick and effective communication tool the job is done. Responding quickly to customers with the right information they need is key. Handle queries simply and easily. Make sure you clarify and solve people’s problems and communicate in a positive, professional manner. Listen to your customers. Stop talking about yourself and your business. What do your customers want and need? Are you giving it to them? Let your customers do the talking, ask them questions, find out what they are after and then work with them to give them what they want and/or need.

Customers are business’ most important partnership assets and as salespeople and business people there is many ways to work with our customers and develop a far deeper value based relationship.

Barrett is hosting tables for clients and contacts at the Annual CSE Sales Leaders Conference 2011. CSE2011 is all about The New Era of Professional Selling: The Pathway from Supplier to Partner. This year’s conference brings global and local industry case studies of organisations getting customer relationships right. If you would like to attend please register your interest and we will get an information pack sent to you ASAP.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit www.barrett.com.au

So how do we change the perception? It starts with building trust with your clients, your contacts and your staff. Allow your people to be part of your business. We need our sales people to know and understand how business works and the business’ commercial drivers. Sales people need to be aware of how the business develops its strategies so they can optimise sales profitability and measure the financial value of the customer-organisation relationship.

Adopt a sales culture that encourages positive competition but steers clear of pitting people against each other to achieve “top dog” status. This type of culture will reflect your organisation and public perception will be that you and your organisation are untrustworthy. Build your team based on their individual strengths and give them opportunities to meet their individual goals. Your sales team will be happier and more productive and this collaborative approach will flow through to your customers and clients.

Back in the old days of selling customers as targets and winning a sale was referred to as “the kill”. It’s no wonder the salesperson was seen as untrustworthy. Remove this language from your team’s repertoire. Encourage your people to show empathy and drop the “game face”. Can your sales people actively listen? Develop this skill and see how your customers and clients respond.

Sue Barrett is one of the leading female voices commenting on sales today. Sue is an experienced business speaker and adviser, facilitator, sales coach, training provider and entrepreneur and founded Barrett Consulting, support system where you can get access to sales assessments, sales consulting, sales coaching and sales training programs including planning, prospecting, selling skills, account management, emotional resilience and more.

Visit www.barrett.com.au