Business owners, marketing/sales

[woods89]

I did sales for my own company for over 40 years.

Marketing and Sales are two different animals.

The Simple explanation to sales; Be a problem solver.

Know your product and competitors products inside and out.
Listen to your customers, establish trust and fulfill their needs with your product.

I've never put stake in the selling ice to eskimos types....First, listen and determine if you have a potential customer- some aren't. Don't waste your time or theirs if they aren't. Focus on the ones that need your product or service.

I'd just like to underscore the point here of having the right lead in front of you. A big part of success is working for the right people. In many service industries right now the contractor/business owner needs to be interviewing customers as to being a good fit as much as customers are interviewing them. It's hard to tell a customer that "we just aren't a good fit for each other'', but it must be done sometimes.

Also, as has been said, people want to tell you their story. Help them do that. It will establish trust, and give you valuable info on what their priorities are. In my opinion, salespeople should say less rather than more. It's about what the customer needs, not so much what you think you have to offer.

 

[Beendare]

I'd just like to underscore the point here of having the right lead in front of you. A big part of success is working for the right people. In many service industries right now the contractor/business owner needs to be interviewing customers as to being a good fit as much as customers are interviewing them. It's hard to tell a customer that "we just aren't a good fit for each other'', but it must be done sometimes.

Also, as has been said, people want to tell you their story. Help them do that. It will establish trust, and give you valuable info on what their priorities are. In my opinion, salespeople should say less rather than more. It's about what the customer needs, not so much what you think you have to offer.

Great Post^

 

[woods89]

100%. Service and quality are everything. There are a million fast food restaurants that sell chicken but chikfila is always wrapped around the building and down the street. Why? The service and kindness.

Tangent-

We went through a Chick-fil-A drive thru a week or two ago. Had a teenage girl take our order and she was just fantastic. It's so different than most fast food restaurants.

Does anyone have some knowledge of how they train? It seems like it's always a pleasant and amazingly efficient experience with them.

 

[ben h]

Read and follow the book Never Eat Alone. That’s the best way to market and network, in my experience.

For those that have Audible, this book is included in the membership and is "free" to listen to. I'm only about 40 minutes into it and I think it's worthwhile.

 

[2ski]

I get it and I hear ya. I’m just going off what I’ve seen in my career. Even folks that try and put themselves in that spot, it never seems genuine and most folks can feel that. I’m sure there is a way, I just haven’t seen it.


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Oh dont get me wrong it takes work. Its not just a simple it'll happen. You have to be willing to out yourself out there and see what your conversational strengths and weaknesses are. And build based off the strengths.

 

[missjordan]

I see a ton of people leveraging social media as an avenue for sales and marketing. But they go beyond trying to “sell” something and they make it personal. Like informing the public about the industry in small bites. And if done right over time it builds integrity. We see if a lot in the hunting industry but really a lot of other sectors don’t have that. And are an untapped resource for someone to dive into


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[def90]

Out of the ordinary, use to work full time for myself, didn't do bad, but also, my weak point in my business is the salesman/marketing. I'm now going back to being self employed 100%, im wanting to learn more on being a good salesman and how to market more correctly. Anyone have knowledge or suggestions on where to go to get better at these things? Everyone salesman to sale a good marketing or salesman program nowadays, im wanting to actually learn how to grow so im not my own glass floor anymore.

Help?

What industry are you in? It will all depend on what you are doing.

I work in the trades. I wasted money advertising online and in local home magazines with zero results. The best money spent was taking builders out to lunch or dropping off donuts at job site trailers.

Have a few builders that just send me the prints asking for numbers everyone they get a project.

 

[MeatInTheFreezer]

As a small business owner, I appreciate the info in this thread. I have a process engineering business in the manufacturing sector where I am focused on helping companies meet welding related compliance requirements and to get thier welders certified, among many things.

I am totally referral based and don't have a website after almost 3 years of business. Anyone have a strong argument for starting a website? And if so, what platform? (square space, go daddy, etc.)

 

[sndmn11]

As a small business owner, I appreciate the info in this thread. I have a process engineering business in the manufacturing sector where I am focused on helping companies meet welding related compliance requirements and to get thier welders certified, among many things.

I am totally referral based and don't have a website after almost 3 years of business. Anyone have a strong argument for starting a website? And if so, what platform? (square space, go daddy, etc.)

I do business development for a digital marketing company. If you, or anyone on this site wants to chat, I am happy to do so. Just send me a PM. I have a large network and can vet out what you may be looking for as a solution, and the connect you with the right people.

 

[roadrunner]

As a small business owner, I appreciate the info in this thread. I have a process engineering business in the manufacturing sector where I am focused on helping companies meet welding related compliance requirements and to get thier welders certified, among many things.

I am totally referral based and don't have a website after almost 3 years of business. Anyone have a strong argument for starting a website? And if so, what platform? (square space, go daddy, etc.)

Wix or Weebly. Fairly simple to use, especially if it is informational only. Drag and drop text and image blocks to build the webpage.

They're free to set up an account with and then when you're ready to publish the website, you can choose your domain and link it to your webpage.

This will allow you to step into the world of search engine optimization (SEO) to increase visibility.

 

[Beendare]

@woods89 nailed it on the right leads...but how do you get those?

Target marketing is key...and thats a science in itself, there are all different aspects of that.

It's worth mentioning too....when you get a good lead, jump on it. It's important to understand the mentality of the customer/client. They called because they want to discuss this right away....jump on it, not maybe call them back in a week. [A lesson one of my partners still doesn't understand]

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

When I started SRS, I had very poor people skills. Wasn't outgoing, didn't like talking to people. I had to force myself to talk to people, literally. I've gotten a lot better over the last 5 years though, and honestly I have more fun than I used to in social situations because I got used to being outgoing.

Trade shows have been a great way for me to make new connections, and also shooting matches. Don't know how that would transfer over to what you're doing, but they helped a ton.

I'm much better at sales, than I am at marketing. You get to a point where you can watch someone and tell that this guy is not going to want to be a dealer for our products withing the first 15 seconds of a conversation.

Marketing is its own beast. I vastly prefer forums to social media but appealing to the masses is easier on social media. We just started doing email / newsletter stuff once we had like 15,000 emails. Its crazy how hit or miss they are. one random one will net $1000's in sales. One that you would think will do great, gets like $300.

I could do this for 40 years and still not know what I'm doing.

Ken

 

[TaperPin]

As a small business owner, I appreciate the info in this thread. I have a process engineering business in the manufacturing sector where I am focused on helping companies meet welding related compliance requirements and to get thier welders certified, among many things.

I am totally referral based and don't have a website after almost 3 years of business. Anyone have a strong argument for starting a website? And if so, what platform? (square space, go daddy, etc.)

That sounds a lot like a situation where the decision makers aren’t googling companies, but the guy who knocks on the door and introduces himself gets the call. That doesn’t mean a professional LinkedIn or webpage doesn’t have value if it’s well done to provide an expanded list of things you do and recommendations from past clients. If it’s not well done it hurts more than it helps. My guess is people hire you because they like you face to face and it’s very hard to get away from that. All sorts of small professional consulting types are in the same boat.

Every industry is different, but I have a feeling focusing on how to increase face to face introductions should be the priority and they can get your page off the business card if they are curious how serious to take you. In other industries heavily reliant on referrals it can be as simple as asking current clients if they can point you to another company that might use your services. Then you’re not talking to them cold, but John Doe suggested you touch base to see if you can be of assistance. It’s like the compressed gases salesmen who stop by shops regularly even if that shop doesn’t use them (we have one of those in the family). There’s a lot of effort spent getting around the gate keepers to the decision makers just to say hello and leave a card.

I didn’t help much, or at all, but hopefully looking into all this turns up some useful nuggets for you.

 

[roadrunner]

The #1 sales people for any company are its customers.

 

[IDVortex]

I need to go back through and read the responses. A lot of you have valuable input. No clue how i missed this, even though I started it.

Appreciate it greatly!

 

[MeatInTheFreezer]

When I started SRS, I had very poor people skills. Wasn't outgoing, didn't like talking to people. I had to force myself to talk to people, literally. I've gotten a lot better over the last 5 years though, and honestly I have more fun than I used to in social situations because I got used to being outgoing.

Trade shows have been a great way for me to make new connections, and also shooting matches. Don't know how that would transfer over to what you're doing, but they helped a ton.

I'm much better at sales, than I am at marketing. You get to a point where you can watch someone and tell that this guy is not going to want to be a dealer for our products withing the first 15 seconds of a conversation.

Marketing is its own beast. I vastly prefer forums to social media but appealing to the masses is easier on social media. We just started doing email / newsletter stuff once we had like 15,000 emails. Its crazy how hit or miss they are. one random one will net $1000's in sales. One that you would think will do great, gets like $300.

I could do this for 40 years and still not know what I'm doing.

Ken

I appreciate the honesty. I too am working on the people skills I am not naturally good at.

You touched on this, but being able to read people quickly is a skill. Weather that's making a sale or just reading thier body language and mood. Sometime I can tell someone just wants to BS (and I need to just do that with them even if I hate it) or other times I can tell people just want things "bottom line up front" because they are super busy.