Know What Can Annoy Your Customers

The last thing you want your customers to think about you is that you are obnoxious. You do not want to project yourself as an irritant. Here are few common mistakes that salesmen often make, which can annoy the customers:

Asking Scripted Questions: Most of the sales training seminars focus on ‘sales scripts’. However, you will be surprised to know that scripted questions are very irritating. Asking scripted questions will put an impression that you are not interested in providing a solution to the problems of the customers. It will create an impression that you are solely interested in making a sale.  Scripted questions are usually intrusive by nature. Asking such questions can alienate your prospects from you. So, instead of asking scripted questions, it is preferable to learn about your prospects and prepare a brief agenda to discuss with them. This will establish exchange of information. Also, this will enable you to interact with your customers on a personal level.

Being a ‘Know-It-All’: ‘The Challenger Sale’ is one of the most popular books on selling. Basically the book is the revised version of ‘ Solution Selling’. The book advices the sellers to challenge the customers. Some of the sales professionals tend to challenge their customers by giving a lecture to them. They feel that the customer might get impressed with their expertise. No one likes getting a lecture. Further, giving a lecture to your clients might make you sound like you think you know better than the client about his business. No one would appreciate that. It is preferable to do adequate research about the client’s business and identify how your offerings can help him to run his business in a more effective manner. Also, listen to the problems that your customers are facing and offer them a solution.

Benefits of Participating in Business Trade Shows

A trade fair is also known as a trade show, trade expo or trade exhibition. It offers a perfect platform for companies to showcase their latest services and products. Trade shows can be classified as ‘Public’ or ‘Trade Only’. The ‘Public’ trade fairs  are open for the general public, while the ‘Trade Only’ fairs are open only for the professional representatives of companies and media. Some trade exhibitions are a hybrid of the two.

According to a survey conducted by the Exhibition & Event Association of Australia, an average investment of 9 percent of the total marketing budget spent on participation in a trade exhibition helps to increase profit returns by 23 percent. Trade exhibitions are a vital part of a company’s marketing mix. If you are a small business owner, participating in business trade fairs is one of the most effective marketing techniques you have at your disposal.

A trade exhibition allows you to demonstrate your products live. The traditional print advertising is not interactive enough. Further, demonstrating your products through television advertisements can be really very expensive. A trade show offers a comprehensive platform that compiles all the marketing activities, including advertising, promotion, networking, face to face contact, public relations, market research, study activities of competitors and selling actions. Reports suggest that most of the leading industry players spend approximately 10 percent of their total advertising budget on trade exhibitions. The figure for the companies operating in the B2B sector is as high as 40 percent.

Trade fairs offers a genuine opportunity for making a great first impression on your clients. Generation of qualified sales leads is the most important benefit of participating in a business trade show. Whether your small business is local or international or service or product based, participating in trade fairs is a great way to get noticed as an industry leader. Trade shows are also an effective means for increase the visibility of your products,  gather market intelligence and know about the recent market trends. Further, trade shows also provides an opportunity for improving your business network.

Two Popular Types of Affiliate Marketing Programs

Affiliate marketing is a marketing technique in which a business rewards its affiliates for the visitors or customers brought about by the marketing efforts of the affiliate.  This marketing procedure includes four core players, the merchant, the customer, the publisher and the network. Online marketers often focus on other marketing techniques, such as SEO, e-mail marketing, article and blog syndication. Affiliate marketing techniques are often overlooked by marketers. However, affiliate’s marketing techniques can help you to attract a huge amount of quality traffic to your website.

You just need to find few good affiliate partners, sign up and implement few effective affiliate marketing programs. Here are two different types of affiliate marketing programs:

Pay Per Click: In the pay per click program the affiliates are paid for each and every click. The payout is comparatively less. This type of program is perfect if you have huge amount of traffic visiting your website. However, getting your company accepted in this type of affiliate networks is a bit difficult. The approval of your application depends on various aspects of your website and your traffic sources. Making money from this type of a program is comparatively easier because you get paid if the visitors just click on the displayed ads or links.

Pay Per Sale: This is one the most popular affiliate marketing programs. In this type of program the affiliate gets paid for every sale made by him. It enables you to earn high commission for every sale. However, it not that easy to succeed in this type of program. The pay per sale program is suitable for you, if you have made your place in a particular niche or marketplace. Several vendors pay their partners a high percent of commission for selling their products and services. You need to put in some sincere efforts and be patient to get the desired results.

How to Choose Keywords for Your Website

Keywords are the words or terms commonly used by people to search for information online. Different keywords joined together are known as key phrases. Optimizing your web pages with relevant and targeted key words and key phrases forms a vital part of a successful SEO campaign. It can improve the visibility of your website and help your website to secure higher ranking in search engine result pages. It can help you to draw a huge number of qualified visitors who are interested in your services, products and website content.

Keywords can make or break the search engine ranking of your website. Choosing the right keywords and key phrases is important for securing higher ranking in search engine result pages and making your website more visible. However, it is important to use keywords in an optimum percentage. Overusing keywords can cause your website to get banned for spamming.

Here are few tips for choosing relevant keywords for your website:

An effective way to find out relevant keyword combination is to put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Be creative and try to think like your customers. For instance, if you deal in golf equipment, go for keywords like golf balls, balls, putters and brand names. You may choose specific product names in order to cater for specific searches.  Compile a list of keywords and key phrases that you may think users might type into search engines when looking for your products and services.

You may use several online keyword tools, such as Google keyword tool and other free keyword tools to find out what keywords or key phrases people are actually using to look for your products, services, company or website. Using keyword tools will also enable you to identify some less competitive and highly searched keywords.

Avoid choosing too long phrases. Longer phrases are less commonly used by Internet surfers.People commonly use two to four word phrases. Further, if you are a local small business owner selling products and services locally, you should choose location based key words and key phrases.

How To Promote Your Online Business

If you are looking for a means to create a steady stream of income, developing an online business is a great idea. The overhead costs of starting an online business is low. Further, an online business provides a perfect opportunity for reaching millions of potential customers. However, with numerous websites and online businesses out there, the competition can be fierce. Your online business must offer something unique to the prospects. This can help you to set your website apart from other online businesses and draw traffic to your website.

Here are few tips for promoting your online business:

Search Engine: There are several ways to promote your online business over the internet. Search engines are one of the most important resources which can help you to draw traffic to your website. Securing high ranking in the search engine result pages can help you to attract a large amount of quality visitors to your website. If your website does not show up in Google searches, the chances of attracting significant amount of traffic is minimal. Implementing search engine optimization techniques can help you to secure high rankings in search page results. Use relevant keywords, metatags, links and backlinks to gain more favorable ranking.

Quality Content: Content is king! Uploading keyword rich, quality content on your website can increase the online visibility of your website. You can write informative articles, blogs and blurbs. Submit the blogs and articles in article directories and blog directories. Ensure that the resource box include your business name and URL.

Newsletter: Newsletters are one of the best tools for free website promotion. Develop a list of existing customers and potential customers with whom you can communicate by sending out e-newsletter. Send out newsletters on a regular, bi-monthly or monthly basis. Your newsletters can include the recent happenings in the industry, quick tips, special deals, discounts, free reports or anything that your customers would find interesting.

Further, you may write press release and submit it to press release submission websites and local publishing houses. You may also join relevant online discussion groups, forums and message boards. Participate actively, interact with other members and discuss about your products and services.

Four Rules to Get Real Results From Reward Programs

Whether its a sales team or any other team in the organization, contests and reward programs are likely to motivate your employees to work efficiently and perform better. However, these programs can fail to reap the desired results, if not implemented properly.

Following the four rules can make your reward program a success:

Announce the Reward Program Well in Advance: Most of the companies wait till the middle of the year to announce reward programs. This can exasperate employees. Employees will feel that they should have known about the program or contest from the beginning. This can discourage your employees and reduce their motivation level. To get the desired results from your reward program, announce the program or the contest and prizes as soon as it is launched. Start tracking the performance of your employees only after announcing the program.

Make the Awards Achievable: Set realistic targets and achievable awards, to draw the the interest of your employees. Your employees will be interested in the contests and the programs, only if they feel that the rewards and prizes are achievable and they have a fair chance of winning them. If your employees feel that the targets are unrealistic and beyond their reach, they will feel reluctant to even try. You may offer monetary incentives, promotions, appraisals or other attractive gifts.

Provide Regular Status Updates: High performers are usually very ambitious and competitive. They want to track their own performance and progress. Further, they want to compare their own performance with that of their co-workers. Develop a system that allows the employees to track their performance and see where they stand.

Eliminate Favoritism: Do not let any type of favoritism creep into your award program. The tiniest bit of favoritism can destroy the morale and motivation of your employees. If your employees come to know that you are playing the games of favoritism, they will soon lose interest in the contest.

Unethical Sales Practices That Can Damage Your Brand Image

Attracting new customers for a start-up business is not an easy task. Trying to sell a new, unproven or unbranded product is quite a difficult task, especially in B2B market places where the acquisition cost of a product is high and sales opportunities are comparatively few.  Further, the sales persons working for a start-up or small business are usually under more pressure as compared to a sales representative selling a well-established product. They often opt for unethical sales practices to meet their targets and survive. However, opting for unethical sales practices will generate only short-term gains. In long run it can cause permanent damage to the company’s brand image and credibility. Further, it can lead to unfaithful customers.

Here are few unethical sales practices that your sales team must avoid:

Making False Promises: Making false promises and commitments to your customers and prospects, which your product cannot fulfill is not an ethical practice. When your products or services will unable to fulfill the promises made by your sales representative, your customers are likely to get irate. The unsatisfied customers are likely to opt for your competitors products. In some cases irate customers may provide negative testimonials and reviews about your products or services. This can damage the credibility of your company. Instead of using unethical tactics, it is preferable to make realistic promises, which you can deliver.

Never Badmouth your Competitors: Saying bad things about your rivals is not the best thing to do. Your prospect is more likely to remember the negative things you say about your competitors. Further, prospects nowadays are smart enough to make out what is true and what is false. They can easily read between the lines. Saying negative things about your competitors will project that you are not confident about your products and services. So, avoid speaking poorly about your competitors.

Further, misrepresenting your product and not being transparent about your pricing structure are other unethical sales practices.

Top Three Dual SIM Smartphones in India

Dual SIM smartphones have revolutionized the Indian mobile handset market. Dual SIM is one of the most important features of mobile phones. More than 54 percent of the mobile phones sold in India are dual SIM phones. However, the dual SIM feature was missing in most of the smartphones till few months ago. Today, the market is flooded with dual SIM smartphones. The leading brands offering smartphones with dual SIM feature are Samsung, Spice and Micromax.

Here are top three dual SIM smartphones to look forward to:

Samsung Galaxy Y Duos: Samsung Galaxy Y Duos is a sleek device. The phone features a 3.14 inch screen. The feature rich phone is loaded  with 3G, WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth. The smartphone features a modest 832 MHz mobile processor. The phone operates on Android 2.3 Gingerbread which has a TouchWiz custom user interface layer on it. The sleek device is reasonably priced at Rs 8,700.

LG Optimus Net Dual: The LG Optimus Net Dual P698 is an advanced version of the Optimus Net. The advanced device is available for Rs 10, 500. The phone operates on  Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. It features 800 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM and 3 megapixel shooter supporting 4x digital zoom with geo-tagging. Further, the smartphone features a 3.2 inch TFT LCD screen, which supports HVGA resolution of 480 x 320 pixels. The Android device is powered by a 1500 mAh Li-ion battery. Other regular features include Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G and USB.
Micromax Superfone A78: This is the latest addition to the Micromax family. The touch and Qwerty phone features a full Qwerty keypad and 3.5 inch capacitive display.  The smartphone is powered by Android 2.3 operating system and a 1300 mAh battery.The high end device features 650 MHz processor, 0.3 megapixel front camera and 3 megapixel rear camera. The device is reasonably priced at Rs 7,800.

Top Three Sales Closing Tips

Sales closing is an important sales term, which refers to the process of making sales. Sales closure is one of the most important stages of the whole sales process. Sales closing means the achievement of desired outcome from a sales procedure. It may include obtaining the signature of a client or receiving a payment. Here are few useful tips for sales closure:

Every consumer is unique: Some reports suggest that consumer behavior can be generalized. However, every consumer is unique and he/she should be treated differently. It is not preferable to take the same approach for every customer. Treating every customer in a similar manner will not improve your sales volume. Read about customer behavior, including body language in order to understand your customers in a better manner. It is important to consider every customer unique and give him a special treatment. For instance, you are sales person selling laptops. If your potential customer overhears you talking with an existing customers and you take the same approach to convince him, your prospect would not feel special.  Collect some information about your prospects, learn about their needs and wants and customize your sales pitches accordingly.

Know the product: It is important to know your product thoroughly before pitching it. Nowadays, consumers are smart enough to make out whether the sales person genuinely believe in what he or she is saying.  It is preferable to learn and understand about the product features. Knowing your product well will help you to demonstrate its uses and explain its benefits in a better manner.

Have incentives ready: Not all customers require incentives to close sales. However, some ask for incentives. Once you feel that the client is interested in holding out incentives, it is preferable to have incentives ready to encourage closure. Try to avoid interruptions. Interruptions can affect the flow and erode the client’s willingness to close a sale.

Top Three Tips to Grow Your Business

Once you have survived the start-up phase, the most obvious next step is business expansion. However, you may be wondering how to go for a business expansion. Here are few tips to grow your business:

Open another location: This is one of the best choice for business expansion. However, physical expansion requires careful research and planning. Look at the past and present trends both economic and consumer. Also, make sure that your management team and administrative systems are efficient enough for establishing and running a setup on a new location. Prepare a comprehensive business plan for setting up a new store on the new location. Also, determine how and from where you will collect funds. Choose a location that would be best for your business and light on your wallet.

License your product: This a low cost and effective growth medium. This growth strategy is especially effective for service products and branded products. You can receive royalties and monies from continued sales or use of your company name, brand and software. Licensing also helps you to minimize the risk. You just need to find a trustworthy licensing partner. You can begin by researching about companies, which provide services and products similar to that of yours. Further, before entering into partnership with a company, it is preferable to find a competent lawyer who specializes in intellectual property rights. This is one of the best ways to minimize the risk of losing control of your product or service.

Diversify: Diversifying is an excellent growth strategy. It enables you to have multiple channels of income and increases your sales and profit margins. Here are few effective ideas for diversifying your products and services:
Start selling complementary services or products.
Start importing or exporting yours or others’ products.
Become a paid columnist or speaker