Ask For The Business

Writen by Jay Conners

Many times in the process of making a sales presentation to a potential client, we will break down our product piece by piece, explaining all of the features and benefits it has to offer, then we expect our customer to have immediate buy in, and purchase our product based on the presentation they just heard.

Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Simply explaining your product is not enough. To many times we are satisfied with our presentation of the product that we forget our number one goal. Closing the deal!

Customers will get up from your desk, or hang up the phone, parting with statements such as, that sounds great! Let me think about it, or let me discuss it with my spouse and get back to you.

The number one reason we do not ask for the business is the fear of rejection. We would rather end our presentation on a happy, upbeat note, and leave the ball in our customers court.

Ask yourself this question:

Would Michael Jordan leave the ball in the opposing teams court, or would he take the ball to the hoop?

You should be doing the same thing at the end of every sales presentation, take the ball to the hoop, except in your case, ask for the business and close the deal.

One of the best techniques for doing this is by asking leading questions.

Here are a few examples of leading questions:

How about we open an account for you right now?

Why don't we take a minute and get you started?

What do you say I go ahead and order an appraisal right now?

A leading question basically leads the customer in the direction you want to go with them, if they weren't interested in your product, you would never have gotten to this point. It is just following through with everything you just explained to them.

They are most likely going to agree with you and buy your product because the information is fresh in their mind. The minute they leave your office, or get off the phone, your business card is left in their pocket all but forgotten, headed toward a wash cycle, or the napkin they wrote your number on is headed for the trash.

Out of sight, out of mind!

So strike while the iron is hot!

Get their business while they are in front of you, because they may never be in front of you again!

Jay Conners is a former loan officer with more than fifteen years of experience in the mortgage business. You can learn more about the mortgage lead industry and how he became involved in it by visiting his site at http://www.jconners.com a mortgage resource center. He also owns http://www.callprospect.com a mortgage lead company.

Using A Strong Risk Reversal Closes More Sales

Writen by Archie Lawhorne

When you minimize risk in purchasing decisions a lot more people are willing to say "yes". Once they sample your product or service, if it performs as you say, most customers will keep that product and continue buying again and again.

Here's a little story to illustrate my point.

A farmer wanted to buy a hunting dog for his son. There were two for sale in a nearby town. The first seller told the farmer he was asking $300 for his bloodhound, non-negotiable.

The second seller told the farmer about his bloodhound, long before he mentioned a price or asked for a commitment. He said the puppy was from a long line of champion bloodhounds, well-known in the area for their tracking skills. And he brought out the puppy's mother and father and explained that they were like members of the family - very loyal and constant companions for the last six years.

The man went on to tell the farmer that he wanted the farmer's son to try out the puppy for a month before he had to make any decision. He offered to provide an extra kennel and a month's worth of food for the puppy. Finally, he said, at the end of 30 days, he would drive out to the farmer's house and either take back the puppy, or ask then to be paid.

Which puppy do you suppose the farmer decided to purchase for his son? Obviously there was no question. And there will be no question for you if you apply strong risk reversal into every sales offer you make. What exactly do I mean by a strong risk reversal? I'm referring to an iron-clad guarantee that eliminates all, or most of all of the customer risk in the transaction.

The clearer, stronger and more detailed the guarantee, the more credibility and impact it will have on a buyer. Consider how much more powerful it is if instead of saying, "your satisfaction is guaranteed," you say, "we unconditionally guarantee performance for a full 30 days." That's better, wouldn't you agree? But, what if you went a step further and said, "No questions asked, 100% money-back guarantee anytime within 60 days if my product doesn't perform exactly as promised." That's even better. But you could go still further by saying, "No questions asked, 100% money-back guarantee. If you don't experience noticeable and measurable improvements in your speaking abilities, a wider vocabulary, and bolder voice delivery, if you don't get the results we promised within 90 days of using our system, we'll gladly give you a complete and immediate refund of your full purchase price, no questions asked...that's our guarantee to you."

Notice the difference a strong and specific risk-reversed performance guarantee can make? When you apply risk reversal this way, your sales almost always skyrockets, and stays that way. You make more sales, sell larger purchase units and sell more frequently when people don't worry about making the wrong or bad buying decision.

When you incorporate risk reversal, you essentially eliminate your prospect's fear that they will make a bad, incorrect or damaging purchasing decision. That's an extremely powerful, persuasive point to make. It moves anyone who's indecisive or mildly interested and turns them into highly favorable prospects. If people are trying to decide between you and one or more of your competitors, it tips the level of the playing field significantly to your advantage.

Just adding risk reversal and a purchase strong guarantee to your sales offer makes a powerful difference.

There are a variety of approaches to the risk reversal strategy:

* A software vendor guarantees its product will reduce manufacturing costs by at least 10 percent.

* A copywriter offers his services for free if his direct mail package pulls less than a 5 percent response.

* A commercial water filter distributor offers to buy back any filtering units not sold in the first 3 months.

* An interior decorator agrees (in writing) not to be paid until her customers are completely satisfied with the work she's done.

If you don't employ some form of risk reversal, start doing it right away. If your current guarantee is short and vague, enhance your copy with more specifics and more attractive terms.

If your product or service is high quality and meets performance expectations, the longer the guarantee and the more specific the performance promise you make, the more people will buy. It's that simple.

Typically a 60-day guarantee will out pull 30 days by 20 to 100%. Test it yourself and see what results you get. The more specific you get in describing what "satisfaction" means, the more compelled they become to act in order to experience that benefit for themselves.

If you're concerned that employing a strong risk reversal will cost you in product returns and lower profits, don't be. Typically, unless your product or service is flawed or just plain inferior in terms of meeting customer expectations, the number of people exercising a refund guarantee is negligible. But the increase in people taking you up on the initial sales offer is anything but negligible.

Archie R. Lawhorne is an experienced writer and marketing consultant. Visit his Web site to learn how the powerful anti-aging supplement, VIBE, can help you to boost your energy, shed excess weight, enhance your mental focus and improve your overall cardiovascular health. For more information and a FREE SAMPLE of liquid VIBE, go to: http://www.liquid-vibe.com

Freelancers Subcontractors Amp Creative Folks How To Charge What You Are Worth

Writen by Kirstin Carey

If you are having difficulty knowing what to charge, then check out your competition and find out what they're doing. Find out if they post prices or fees on their website or if they have "packages" or deals. Do they have payment options? While you are researching, keep in mind just because your competition is charging one way it is not necessarily how you should be charging.

One of my clients is a business and life coach. Most coaches charge for a set number of scheduled phone meetings, which seems to be a standard for "the coaching industry," but that doesn't mean it's the best way.

I encourage my clients to charge fees that match who their clients are and what they are trying to accomplish. It's very refreshing to do what works for you and not necessarily follow the "industry standard." If you don't feel comfortable with the way your industry charges, by all means change it. Just because the industry's doing it doesn't mean that it's right. Another client of mine, Shelly, is a wedding planner. When we first began working together she had three "wedding packages" because that's what "everyone else does." She ran into problems with pricing because most of her potential clients didn't fit into the standard package and therefore Shelly had a long list of "upgrades" and additional items. She also had to charge more for weddings above a certain number of guests and weddings with over a specific number of attendants in the wedding party.

Potential clients became fixated on the package fees and felt ripped off when Shelly began adding additional charges all over the place. The packages were supposed to make things easier for Shelly's, but they actually created more problems than they solved.

Shelly was so relieved when she realized she didn't have to use the standard pricing packages most wedding planners used. She never felt good about them, but didn't trust her own instincts on how to charge. We worked on making a pricing structure that wasn't based on hours or packages but on the value to the client. She was able to quickly raise her fees and increase her client base simply based on her fee changes.

Are you charging your clients based on the value you are providing them or based on the "industry standard"? Is the industry standard an effective way to charge or is just what everyone else is doing?

Take a good look at the way you set your fees and handle client charges. Is it right for you?

Kirstin Carey is the author of "Starving Artist No More: Hearty Business Strategies for Creative Folks." Kirstin knows how much most creative people hate sales, contracts, and discussing money and she consults creative people on the business side of creativity so they make more money, get better clients, and still love what they do. She put together a resource full of proven strategies and insider secrets guaranteed to help creative types get the business help they need so they don't have to starve anymore! Go to http://www.MyCreativeBiz.com