Parts working optimally together.
Diary of a
start-up: Generating sales as a new
Andrew Needham
Here, Needham talks about how he and his team have
tackled sales strategy…
At this month’s board meeting, our investor Martin
McCourt, former CEO of Dyson,
summarised running a business into two broad areas:
driving the top line and control.
There are a number of areas I focus on every month under
these two sweeping headings
and January has been good in terms of generating sales,
a
core component to driving the top line.
Spending time with customers, understanding their needs,
what they think of your proposition
and building relationships is the life-blood of any
business. It’s why I have been working closely
with my host relations team to teach them as much as
possible about the sales process
and how to drive sustainable revenue streams
for HeadBox
by building long lasting customer relationships.
In fact, January 2016 has been HeadBox’s biggest
revenue month to date!
One of the hardest things my team has had to learn this
month is that it’s okay to ask for business. We have spent a lot of time with
our hosts in recent months, listening to their needs
and what they want from us; how we can drive more
inquiries and bookings for them.
We work through our product offer and marketing
initiatives and how this will benefit them,
so it seems natural to “ask for
their business”
even though I am always surprised how often people don’t.
Often when you have followed the steps below and combine
them with a great product
the answer you get is “yes”…
Listen, listen and listen again
I remember when I was setting up my first company Student
Pages in the 1990s
and I was taught an important lesson. You have two ears and only one mouth
so use them
in that order. Understanding what your customers want by actively
listening to their needs
rather than talking at them is critical to ensuring how
best your proposition can help them.
Listening to your customers also helps you to innovate
and come up with new ideas
that you had not previously considered as well as find
new solutions.
These conversations always ensure that your business is
moving in the right direction.
Sell the sizzle
and not the fat
Once you understand what it is that your customers want,
you need to be able to match
your proposition to their needs. So it’s worth spending time
working through in detail
your product offer; not just what it is and who it is
aimed at but also why it is different
and how it is going to benefit your customers.
I break this down into FABs – features, advantages
and benefits.
All too often we obsess about our product features when
all our customers want to know is
what are the advantages and the benefits of those
features to them.
I have found that being able to articulate these
succinctly and clearly is key.
Customer
objections are good
When our customers tell us they don’t like something
about our offer
we like to tell ourselves that they are wrong
or they haven’t understood properly.
Customers will never buy something from you if they have
concerns that are left unanswered.
These can cover all sorts of areas from the audience and
the product to how
you are promoting what you’re doing to the value and
price. And sometimes it is not clear
at the outset what the real objection is so you have
to ask “Why? Why? Why?“
until you do. Understanding why your customers are not
sure is key to helping you adapt
so that your product offer fits what they need.
People love to buy
not to be sold to
We all know the sales structure; pre-approach,
introduction, hook, bridge, body, demo, close,
but ultimately people buy because they like you as much
as they like what you have to offer.
The old adage that people buy people first is true so
building relationships with your customers
by getting to know them and spending time with them is
something we have being doing
a lot of this month. It’s often when you’re not in a
business environment
that you are able to learn the most about your customers
and what they want.
http://startups.co.uk/diary-of-a-start-up-headbox-on-generating-sales-through-client-relationships/
You can pre-read all your course material for internal
knowing.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times
faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
All
aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.
Turbo
Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com
gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com
just for fun.
To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more
things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
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