Monthly Archives: June 2016

0 How to Manage Multiple Offers

There is no rule about whether you make single or multiple offers.  If you walk into a shop, you expect multiple offers.  There may be a few shops that sell only one thing but I can’t think of any examples.  A shop that sells only cupcakes, will have many varieties of cupcake and it may be academic whether some lines are really cupcakes.  (Giant cupcakes are cakes, surely?)

It’s hard to make a single offer with no variations or alternatives.  Getting it out there may be all you need to find inspiration for variations.

Let’s say you’re a training agency and you have offered a course successfully for several years.  Demand has stayed constant and whilst the course itself has evolved, there has been no need to develop an alternative.

You find your profit margins fall, even though participation in the course remains constant.  You have increased fees but fear further increases might reduce sales.  Here are few things you might consider.

Context

Are there ways to extend and develop the course that were not available to you at the start?  Your context will have changed over the years in at least two ways:

Making Choices Between Multiple Offers

If you have the choice between offering one course or several, it is worth considering how you market your offers.

If you offer one course, the customer has two options, take it or leave it.  Offer two courses, perhaps at different prices, and the customer is more likely to choose one.

You might have several courses on offer but if you’re able to discuss the customer’s needs, you may be able to narrow down your offer to two options.

Note this cuts across the single versus multiple offers and shows how you can structure your offers to market them.  Having just one offer means people can say no (they can always say no of course) whilst several options can be confusing.  Narrowing the choice to between two offers, makes a yes more likely because it reduces confusion and tailors the offer to the customer’s needs.

So, the answer to the question: single or multiple offers?  Have several but try to simplify the choice for customers.  To do this you need several alternatives from which you can select two offers for each customer according to their needs.

How do you structure your offers?

0 What Does Transformation Mean for Your Market?

The word transformation appears in marketing literature from time to time.  In some respects it is an exciting word.  Surely transformation is what we’re all after?

But in other respects transformation is hardly an undiluted good.  The word does not imply a change for the better but just change of any sort.  I’m sure a prince transformed into a frog would not view transformation as good!

I’ve used the word several times in this blog and here are some of the meanings I have attributed to it.  Transformation as:

• Conversatio Morum – St Benedict’s principle of the person’s responsibility to achieve their full potential.
• Roberto Unger‘s small initiatives that foreshadow wider social change
• Where your origin story recounts a major change in your life’s direction
• Change to the economic system, perhaps to a national localised economy model

It is interesting to note how little these four uses of the word have in common.  I’ve used the word to mean both personal and societal change.  However, I have used the word to mean positive change consistently.

Transformation in Marketing

I think this is consistent with the way marketing literature uses the word.  It usually means (and this is another use) the change that will take place in the life of a customer should they accept your offer.  You are saying in effect that by buying your offer, they will find some aspect of their life experience will change for the better.

It seems unlikely anyone would buy anything they did not believe would change their life for the better.  But this is the point of the distinction marketers make between features and benefits.  When you buy anything, it comes with a promise of positive change.  If you can’t express that change or promise to deliver it, then you are unlikely to sell anything.

No-one in their right mind wants a website, for example.  Many people think they do because they have not considered what they want it for.  This is why successful website designers sell the benefits of having a website.  Someone who believes they want a website will pay the smallest amount they can get away with.  If they have no understanding of what it can do for them, they will not value it highly enough to pay a higher rate for a product that effectively supported their business.

Where the designer promises transformation, they increase the value of their offer.  It means more work for the designer but what they can charge can exceed the value of their extra work.

If you can’t grasp the transformation and express it in language your market understands then you will find your work will never make the financial returns commensurate with its value.

Can you think of times transformation has worked for your business?

2 In-Person Marketing: Sales Conversations

I find sales conversations the hardest part of doing business.  For most of my life, I’ve been sceptical about business.  I believed grants to be ethically superior to business.

I’m not entirely opposed to grants but sceptical about the grant-making industry; what grants can achieve and a project’s sustainability when supported by grants.

Many of the values of community I’ve supported during my working life can be found in business networks.  However, if you enter those networks you are sooner or later going to have sales conversations.

How do You Know it is a Sales Conversation?

Not all business conversations are sales conversations and it is important you know what type of conversation you are having.  Your partner in the conversation also needs to know.

The aim of a one-to-one conversation is not to make a sale.  It is to find out about the other person’s business.  If you are going to help another business it is important you understand their offer and their market.

Sometimes a one-to-one turns into a sales conversation.  I don’t necessarily recommend you try this.  It is better if the initiative comes from the other person.  A question like, “Do you know anyone who might be interested in my offer?” can occasionally result in interest from the person opposite.  This is not necessarily as helpful as a list of possible contacts!

It may at this point be a good idea to adjourn and meet again for the sales conversation.

On Not Being Slimy

Everyone fears the hard sell and most people have built-in slime detectors and will run a mile.  Even more problematic is if they detect hidden slime.  It is amazing how a conversation slips away when people detect hidden sales intentions.  I sometimes have to check back over what I said because people are incredibly sensitive and back off at a hint of sales.

The hard sell is out and the sneaky sell is also out.  So, what’s left?  First, sit down and listen to the other person.  In a sales conversation, the prospect must do the talking.  You ask a few questions and let them talk.

At some stage, assuming you can help, you can ask if they would like to hear how you can help them.

On Not Being Understood

This is a real problem.  Prospects often have a fixed idea of the solution they need.  Sometimes they don’t even know what the problem is.  I’m often approached for a website.  The sales conversation is crucial because prospects do not always need a website.

I don’t sell websites.  I sell local marketing solutions and sometimes they include a website.

If you’re ill, you don’t go to your doctor and demand an antibiotic.  You expect to take time to explain your symptoms and be examined by the doctor.  Usually, you’re relieved there is a cure and happy to do whatever it takes.  You might think you need an antibiotic and you may be right but usually you accept the doctor’s solution.

With your business, the chances are you know more about it than your marketing consultant.  Nevertheless, it is always better to take the opportunity to talk through your problem and discuss possible solutions with the consultant.  That way you can be sure your chosen solution is the right one for your business.

I had a prospect a few months ago who turned me down.  The other day I saw the offer of a website from a competitor they had accepted.  Their new designer is charging a little less than I did and is reproducing their current site with slightly better graphics.

Their solution is in flat html and is actually not an improvement on what they had before.  I failed to get across to them that (1) solutions like this are a waste of money and time, and (2) far more powerful solutions are available than many website designers are offering.

Their new designer has an advantage in that they are selling something simple and easy to understand.  Unfortunately it is the solution they want and not the solution they need.

On Not Saying No

One thing to bear in mind is many prospects do not understand they have two options; yes and no.  Both options are acceptable.  There are many advantages to someone saying no:

What can happen is the cold shoulder.  The prospect goes silent.  I suspect many people say yes to get out of the room and mean no.

I’m sure this is something I’m doing wrong and I share it here because I suspect it is a problem many business people encounter.  The solution?  I’m still working on it but I think it includes at an early stage reassuring your prospect and explaining the advantages of saying no, without making it so attractive that no-one ever says yes!

Closing the Deal

When someone says yes, depending on what is on offer, there are several steps to turning it into a deal.  Leaving aside those who say yes but mean no, there is another group who change their mind.

Clearly, there may be an advantage in having a cooling off period, particularly if you offer a consultancy service.  A programme of work with someone who is full of doubts is unlikely to work to anyone’s advantage.

However, there is something called buyers’ remorse and this often kicks in when you make an expensive purchase.  You will have experienced it.  If there are several days between yes and sealing the deal, it is possible for buyers’ remorse to set in before the payment.

Understand buyers’ remorse is independent of the advantages of sealing the deal.  It is a natural emotional response.  I’ve suggested some ways to counter buyer’s remorse and so I won’t go through that again – especially as I don’t know as yet whether any will work!

A lot depends on your belief in what you sell.  You need to be positive and on the ball.  I can remember times when I simply didn’t think of the right thing to say until afterwards, when it was too late.  The point is a lot of this is down to experience and whilst there are plenty of ideas around, nothing replaces experience.

Please share any approaches you have tried to sales conversations.  Did they work?