Action Speaks Louder than Words
Research, analyze, & walk the talk
Do Market Research Quietly
Still waters run deep! This saying is advice to be knowledgeable and to speak only when necessary.
You should do your product and market research. Listen to feedback and understand your competition.
No matter what you are selling whether a product or service, chances are there are several competitors out in the market offering pretty much what you are offering. Ask your customers why they come to you for business. Make notes regarding your positive and negative qualities. Do not hesitate to ask customers how you can improve.
From this feedback, analyse your strengths and weaknesses. Create a sales strategy around your strengths and find ways to remedy your weaknesses. Seek the advice of business consultants, skills trainers and your peers in the business.
Write down what makes you and your product or service different or unique. Build your brand and image around these features and strengths. Apply your sales strategy daily.
Do not focus too much on your past good performance.
In order to continue performing successfully you have to take fresh action daily based on an Action Plan that sets out daily, weekly, monthly and yearly schedule. You should review your Action Plan periodically. It is a good idea to have a brief weekly review, followed by a more detailed review perhaps every three months.
Remember, the laws of business success favour those who can best adapt to the changing environment. Do not hesitate to review your plan at any point in the year when changes in the market occur that could impact on your performance either positively or negatively.
Be a Specialist with Contacts in other fields
Do not be a “know-it-all” having a little knowledge on many things but little in-dept knowledge in your area of business. The “talkers” may get heard by the markets but the “quiet doers” very often end up closing the most profitable sales. This happens when you get value added expert advice for your customers.
Ask your customers what they are looking for in your service or product and work to deliver on their expectations. Remember, business is not just about delivering on a promise but is additionally about keeping the customer satisfied. You want your customer to talk about their positive experience in dealing with you. A satisfied customer is very often a long term repeat customer and promoter of your business.
Be a Daily Doer
Wake up in the morning and apply yourself to the tasks on your schedule.
The greatest satisfaction comes from doing the most difficult thing first. If it is picking up the phone to make the daily calls, just do it. Smile before you make that phone call. The person on the other end will “hear your smile” through the cheerful melody in your voice. Keep your conversation short and to the point.
A good practice is to write out a draft e-mail of what you want to say. Immediately after the call redraft the e-mail to take into account the positive points in the conversation. Click to send when satisfied with the accuracy and tone of the e-mail. You would have immediately left a reminder of your conversation with the customer.
If you do need to attach further information to your e-mail that requires research or looking up data then by all means get the information first before sending the e-mail.
Short thank you notes and brief spoken words of appreciation should be part of your business process. This could encourage sales and prompt payment.
Ultimately business success is about having happy, paying customers!
International Business Consultant
Your connection to global markets!
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, North America
The geographical centre of the world's largest market.
