Selling?!

[Crate Crazy]

First of all, sorry the delay in posts... been moving around a lot lately, and am finally settled, I think!

So when I was away, are we selling...

What have you done in your market that is working?

How many of you have followed up with past customers to see why they're still buying from you?

Better yet, how many of you have followed up with your disgruntled customers? After all, "your most unhappy customers, are your greatest source for learning".

We can only build as individuals so strong, without learning new tricks and tips. And without asking, well you'll never know. Wouldn't you like to know why someone is buying from you?

This gives two advantages, 1) helps you learn what this customer (and potentially others) look for from the market place in terms of "enter reason of buying here", and 2) shows what the customer thinks of you. Odds are what they say may not be what your company wants portrayed, or in some cases they may think your product line is one thing, when maybe it has evolved and they don't even know.

Main thing I'm getting at... ask questions. Feel free to be that little annoying kid... you may be surprised at what you learn

[storemore]

Carey,
In starting out in this business, where and how do you start to sell? Any Suggestions???

[Crate Crazy]

Hey Storemore,

Thanks for the post...

To begin with its crucial to carve a niche in the marketplace. So determine what market it is you're going to go after, low price, high service levels, value added, high quality etc... then I suggest doing a market analysis as to what companies fall into your niche.

As an example, if you're looking at selling to IBM, Alcatel etc... I can assure you low quality/low price isn't going to win them over, high service levels on the other hand might.

Once you know the ideal customer that fits your niche, next step is to find disgruntled customers .. meaning those who are fed-up with their current packaging and are looking for any reason to change. To do this I suggest telemarketing or field sales... it only takes 5 minutes to tell if someones unhappy with their packaging. If as soon as you start to talk with them and they try to stear you away, just leave for the time being. You can always go back when you're done filtering through the companies who are looking for a change.

Make sense?