How to Make Sales That Stick

Too often, entrepreneurs focus on only one or two aspects of the sales process at any time. Unfortunately, this ends up in a lopsided sales cycle that doesn't have any staying power for your business. Consider the ACCD model:

In this model, you focus on your customer from the very beginning through to the end. Here are some considerations:

Attract: Make sure that your website, storefront, and any other attraction methods that you're using match up with what you are actually going to deliver to your paying customers. You don't want to set up a false set of expectations, because you will never turn prospects who have been duped into considering you into revenue.

Convert: This is the point at which you get your prospect to really pay attention to you and make a decision to buy. This may be your online shopping cart, or it might be your initial phone call with a new client. Be clear with your prospect about the benefits of buying from you vs. the many other options available.

Close: This is the moment at which your customer actually signs on the dotted line and commits to pay you. Make sure you have clearly outlined what he or she can expect - whether it is your average shipping time to your first in-person meeting, telling your customer what and when you will deliver is critical to making sure the check cashes.

Delight: The sales process never ends. From the minute the customer makes a purchase, he can still get "buyers remorse" and change his mind. Make sure you do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it. Meet and exceed your customers' expectations and they will come back to you again and again.

Virginia Ginsburg is founder and chief consultant at Swell Strategies. She is passionate about supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and running successful enterprises. An avid reader, in this blog she reviews books and articles and relates specific learning points back to entrepreneurial businesses.

This is Why You Resist Selling

 by Tessa Stowe


©Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2010

Are you having fun selling? Are you enjoying it - or do you dread or resist it? If you aren't having fun selling, then I have a hunch that you think selling is all about persuading and convincing people to buy something they may or may not want or need.

If that is what you think selling is about, then it will automatically and naturally create huge resistance and tension on your side as it is simply not in one's nature to try to persuade or convince people. You don't want people to think of you as someone who acts in this way as it makes you feel like a phony. You feel you can't act with integrity using this type of sales approach. So it's fairly easy to convince yourself not to sell at all - or if you do, then you only do it half heartedly.

If you think selling is about persuading and convincing, you'll be asking yourself "How can I do that?" You'll be thinking that there is a lot to learn. You'll believe that you have to master a lot of techniques like how to overcome objections and how to "close." You'll be thinking that you better put off selling until you've practiced all these techniques. But actually you don't really want to use these techniques - as you don't want to be a phony persuader or a convincer - so you put off learning these techniques as well.

If you think selling is about persuading and convincing, you'll also be expecting (and getting) a lot of rejection experience. You really don't like rejection, so it's much easier to simply avoid or minimize doing the thing that is causing it. Therefore, you minimize and avoid selling - problem solved!

So what is the solution? How can you easily and quickly go from resisting selling to actually enjoying it, and as a consequence, make a lot more profitable sales? The solution is quick and easy. Ready? Simply change your definition of selling. Instead of persuading and convincing, define selling as helping people get what they want.

If you believe selling is about helping people get what they want, there will be no resistance on your side as you enjoy that. You like it when people think of you as someone that will help them get what they want. When you are helping people like this, you are acting with integrity as the "real you", and it makes you feel good.

If you think selling is about helping people get what they want, then you'll naturally know how to do that. You'll know that first, you need to find out what they want. If you can help them, then you show them how you can help them. Finally you give them the choice of whether they would like your help or not. Some will and some won't. All of this can be the result of a normal comfortable conversation - which you know how to have.

If you think selling is about helping people get what they want, then you know that not everyone will want your help at this point in time. Maybe in the future they will. Even if they need your help now, it is their choice to decide if they want you to help them. Your role is to simply help them make the best possible decision for them. With this view, there is no rejection because it's not about you. It's simply about them making a decision that is best for them.

Can you feel your resistance to selling go away when you think about selling as helping people get what they want? There is a great sense of fulfillment when you can help someone else get what they want. You'll enjoy sales more with this approach and you'll also make a lot more profitable sales!


Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

5 Reasons Why Persuading Prevents Sales

by Tessa Stowe


Do you think selling is all about persuading and convincing? Are you trying hard to get people to agree with what you tell them? If that is the essence of your sales approach, it will lose you sales. Here are five reasons why.

Reason #1: You will resist selling.

If you think selling is all about persuading and convincing, you will resist doing selling as you probably don't enjoy the experience of having to get people to agree with you. Doing that is difficult and can feel like fighting. You may also be concerned about what people will think of you. As a result, selling will be something you do rather reluctantly, and really wish you didn't have to do at all. If you resist selling, you are not going to be selling as often as you need to. Consequently, the less time you spend selling, the less sales you will make - plain and simple.

Reason #2: You will experience sales resistance from your prospects.

The moment you start trying to persuade or convince is the moment your prospect identifies you as a "typical salesperson." As soon as they reach that conclusion, they go into protection mode to prevent themselves from being sold to. They put their sales resistance barrier up. When a sales resistance barrier is present, the chance of getting a sale goes down.

Reason #3: You will miss out on the larger sales.

If your prospect trusts you, it is fairly straightforward to make a much larger initial sale. You can do this by giving them an option which assumes they will be with you for the long term. If they trust you, they will give serious consideration to this longer term, higher priced option. However, if you are persuading or convincing your prospect, it is unlikely they will trust you. They'll think that you care more about making a sale than you do about helping them. When there is little or no trust present, your prospect will be very cautious about making a long term commitment to you. Hence, they will probably not be interested in your higher priced option.

Reason #4: You will miss out on the easiest sales of all.

The easiest sales of all should be from your current customers. However, and this is very important, if you acquired a customer through persuading and convincing, it will affect the trust between you and your prospect. He or she will probably not be too keen on repeating the last sales experience with you. So next time they need something that you can offer, they may go look to someone else who cares more about them than about themselves.

Reason #5: You will have few referrals.

If your prospects and customers did not enjoy the persuading and convincing sales experience with you, they are definitely not going to give you referrals. They will want to protect their own reputation within their network of friends and associates.

So what is the solution?

Instead of thinking that selling is about persuading and convincing, approach selling as helping people to get what they want. If you approach selling in this way - and use a sales process that matches it - then there will be little sales resistance on your side and from your prospects. As you successfully build rapport and trust, your prospects will be more open to higher priced initial options. Finally, you will get more repeat sales and referrals from your customers.

Starting today, stop persuading and convincing, and intently focus on helping people to get what they want. Both you and your prospects and existing customers will feel the difference. This simple change in your sales approach will result in more sales and customer loyalty.

©Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2010
Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

How to Create a Squeeze Page that Gets Strong Results

by Kristin Marquet

The Internet is saturated with content, sales pitches and products. As a result, you have to make your business standout from the rest of the businesses out there.

Squeeze pages are one of the best ways to do this. They are mini web pages with opt in forms to catch the name and email addresses of prospects. They are used to build email subscriber lists.

Your squeeze page should look something like this:

• Use a headline (in red size 18 or larger font), a sub-headline (in black size 16 or larger font), followed by 5 to 7 bullets (in black font)
• Keep your sales copy concise. The entire objective is to get the prospect to sign up through the opt in form
• Use 200 to 300 words on the page
• Use headline generator software to help come up with compelling headlines
• Use a keyword selector tool to help pick the best keyword search phrases for SEO purposes
• Use video to personalize your message. This helps you connect with prospects. (Check out www.marketingmakeovergenerator.com)
• Use product or service benefits as bullet points
• Use a simple opt in form from www.aweber.com, www.constantcontact.com or www.verticalresponse.com
• Adding bonus products with (high perceived values) will help convert prospects
• Use a privacy policy. Let prospects know that you respect their privacy and will never sell, rent, or lend out their personal information

If you're in a market where prospects are used to filling out opt in forms, consider using a longer squeeze page. You have to sell prospects to opt-in. Use a strong headline and sub-headline. Highlight all of the benefits of your product or service.

Answer these questions:
How can your business help your market?
Why is your business better than the rest?
What are you offering? Make sure it is something that is useful.

Kristin Marquet is a regular contributor to the Secrets of Success blog.

How to Attract all the Clients You Need

by Ileana Kane

I was taught if I work hard and take one step at a time, I'd get to my goal. For awhile that did serve me and it's only one way. What I'm talking about is day to day, striving and struggling to make incremental gains in business. It's the path of conventional growth. What I call ladder climbing instead of leap-frogging. What I'm asking of you is to be open to stop accepting present circumstances and being content with incremental growth in your business.

Take a risk on going for unconventional success by going the route of unconventional approaches. Go for a breakthrough! A quantum leap!

Focus On The End Result

Start first with a crystal clear vision (dream) of the outcome you want. Create a strong focal point for yourself and your business. Go ahead and visualize your arrival - just as if you were a runner readying yourself for a race. Forget the how! The answers will come to you like simple and streamlined solutions. No forcing necessary - stay out of your own way and let it occur. Now for you perfectionists, forget making the perfect plan, forget getting everything neatly organized and eliminating the risks. Be willing to be with ambiguity, confusion or chaos. All that you're doing is what Columbus did. He sailed into uncharted territory. Just keep your focal point of where you're going to land.

Light The Fire In Your Heart

Passion is the single element that will energize the soul, fill the spirit and put fire in your heart. Go with your burning desire, the fire in your heart, and you will never be let down. In order to allow this to happen, shift the limits on your thinking and give yourself the permission to carry you past the point of wishful thinking and halfhearted effort.

Employ New Behavior

If you want unconventional success, be willing for the unconventional approaches. Accelerate your achievement by rapidly employing the new behaviors. Otherwise, more of the same gives more of the same. So, if you lean on the dependable behaviors from the past they turn into major obstacles to your future success. To have a business without boundaries you must think without boundaries. Trying harder will take you down the path to burnout. Hint: More effort isn't the answer. Get uncomfortable and go for it!

Ditch the Doubt!

Imagine a new definition of rational thinking. What if rational thinking is the same as skepticism? The truth is doubts are the product of habitual thinking, not accurate thinking. Put the old inhibiting ideas aside (just in case you may want to pick them up again at some other time. Try on accurate thinking. Imagine for a moment you could double your income or even triple your income in less than a year. Suspend your disbelief from what's probable to believing in what's possible.

Ready Aim Fire

In the ready, aim, fire strategy, getting ready is the con game you're playing with yourself. If you wait to get all prepared, organized and perfect - you'll never get there. Taking action is an act of faith. Once you take a step the next step will appear. Your dreams will begin to crystallize into your reality when pursued-how cool is that?

Breakthroughs In Action

Ready to take a shortcut? Have you ever felt resistance to something that you want to take action on? Then you don't take action and you resist the resistance. Ready to change? Make a list of all that you are resisting. The next thing to do is to take action on each one. Go ahead try it...you'll be pleased.

**If you would like personalized coaching to assist you in overcoming your obstacles, email Ileana at Ileana@ileanakane.com for further details.

© 2010 Ileana Kane   All Rights Reserved


Ileana Kane, CEO of Ileana Intl, teaches Enterprising Entrepreneurs how to express their true value and get paid what they are worth. Her products and services show you how to make more money, save more time while enjoying the freedom in your business.  Get your FREE audio: www.ileanakane.com

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