Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category

Save With Post-It Rebate

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

As Organizers we use lots of Post-it Notes and labels with clients so I wanted to share this sweet little deal I came across. 

Click here  to get a $10 rebate offer from 3M / Post-it ® if you purchase $20 in 3M  Permanent Labels and/or Post-it ® Removable Label products.  It does not appear that the rebate is valid on the popular Post-it ® Notes, but on the labels which include the new Post-it® Removable Labels that you may have seen in recent advertisements.  Click here to see a list of available products. 

This is a great time to stock up on some of your favorite products or try out some new ones.  You may also be able to get additional savings by purchasing your items at Office Max with your NAPO discount card.  If you are a NAPO member look up Office Max under the Industry Exchange section of the NAPO web-site for details.

Enjoy your savings!

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Posted in Sales | 2 Comments »

Don’t Throw Yourself Under the Bus When Doing Public Speaking

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Public speaking is a powerful business development tool, yet it’s a common source of stress for nearly everyone. I love speaking in front of a crowd. It’s what I feel I do best; for some reason I feel really comfortable and in my zone. Public speaking is a great way to promote your business, get in front of potential new clients, have an audience to sell your products to and for people to get a taste of the solutions you offer.

One thing that really irks me is when someone gets up to speak and says something like this:

  • I am really uncomfortable
  • I am really out of my element
  • I am so nervous
  • I have never done this before

The reason this bothers me is since nearly everyone is afraid to speak in public, there’s no reason for you to announce your insecurity. If you are standing and speaking, don’t let people know you may be a little nervous. Nine times out of ten, they will think you are awesome and would never know otherwise.

If you would like some help public speaking, purchase our audio recording called Take The Fear Out Of Public Speaking and learn how to create powerful presentations that turn attendees into clients.View more of A Red Bench’s teleclass recordings here.

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Posted in Marketing, Sales | No Comments »

Are Your Sales The Problem, Or Are You?

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

On our monthly class for professional organizers, and other service based businesses, we spoke to Sales Expert Helen Graves.  The topic was How To Sell Without Being Salesy Or Feeling Like a Pushy eSalesperson.   What was interesting is Helen is a shy person and used to hate sales.  She was afraid of it and found herself not selling any of her products regardless of the business.  The problem wasn’t her product or business, it was her.  Helen Graves

On the class Helen shared her sales template she uses with every perspective client and now has a tremendous record of success and sales.  One of the questions that came up on the class was not being assertive enough.  The professional organizer said, “If I sense a person is not interested, or even on the fence, instead of trying to pull them back on the fence and over, I back off and give them too much opportunity to say no.  I then lower my price too much in an effort to pull them back on, thereby compromising myself and my service.”    

Helen responded by saying when we pull back or don’t have confidence in what we are selling, the person on the other end can sense this energy and therefore pulls back and loses confidence as well.  Consider this the next time you are in a “sales” situation.  Are you asking for the business?  Are you pulling back or lowering your price?   It is the product the problem or you have some work to do on your sales approach. 

The business training class with Sales Expert Helen Graves is now available on our website.  Search for  How To Sell Without Being Salesy Or Feeling Like a Pushy eSalesperson.

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Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses | 2 Comments »

No Permission Equals Lost Clients

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

phone_redIn last week’s blog Are You Chasing Away Clients, I talked about the rule I learned in telemarketing training back in my college days, “three no’s and you go”.  I discussed how in your third attempt to get in contact with a non-responsive client that you should define that you will not be following up with them again but that they can contact you.

But what if you are actually speaking to the client over and over again and you are not getting a “yes”?  On our recent teleclass Relationship Marketing with Donna Smallin she shared with us that she called someone 7 times over two years before they agreed to have a meeting with her and then they hired her for a two year time period.  Wow!  The key to her success was persistence and permission.  Each time she called this person she asked him “would it be okay if I check back with you in a couple of months?”  Each time the prospect said “yes”.  When you get permission to call someone back you don’t feel bad about calling them because they told you it was okay.   In last weeks article Are You Chasing Away Clients, that situation pertains to a non-responsive client, or someone who you keep trying to contact and never can get through to them via phone or e-mail.  In Donna’s example the situation pertains to a client you are actually speaking to who is telling you that they are not ready to use your services right now.  These are two very different situations.

To sum it up, if you have a non-responsive client use the “three no’s and you go” rule of thumb or if you have a client who is not ready to commit you can use the “would it be okay if I check back with you in a couple of months?” technique.

Don’t forget, we’ll be learning more on How to Sell Without Being Salesy from Helen Graves on our August 3rd teleclass. 

Do you have a favorite tip?   We love to learn and share.

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Posted in Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses | 3 Comments »

Are You Chasing Clients Away?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

runningI’ve recently listened to several people speak on the topic of “selling” and one thing that keeps coming up is that you should not “chase” your prospective client.  So what does that mean exactly?  Of course you need to “ask for the business” and you have to follow up with your prospects.  So what’s the right mix?  How do you know if you are chasing a client? 

 It’s important to know your limits.  How many times are you going to try to get in touch with the client before you stop?  We get this question a lot!  One rule of thumb to follow is: “three no’s and you go”.  I translate this as: if you try to get in touch with someone three times and you never hear back from them it’s time to move on.  But before you delete that prospect from your address list be sure you communicate your action with them.  In your third and final e-mail or attempt to contact a non-responsive prospect be sure to say something like:   “Because I know you are so busy I want to check in with you and be sure that you are still interested in…   As a Professional Organizer the last thing I want to do is waste your time and clog up your inbox.   If I don’t hear back from you within a week I will not follow up with you again.  Or you can simply e-mail me back and let me know a time that we can speak or if you would like me to follow up with you in one month.”

 Of course you would add greeting and closing remarks, but you get the idea. The main point is not to chase the client and to define the ending in a way that is sincere and let’s the prospect know the ball is now in their court.  The chase has officially ended and you couldn’t sound more pleasant to work with.  The chances are when the prospect is ready they will call you back.

 I’ve also learned from many speakers that being able to sell is really about being yourself and building relationships and we are fortunately to be interviewing Helen Graves on August 3, 2009 who will help us understand this even more.  This is going to be a great call!  I love hearing different people’s perspectives on selling and then figuring out how to make them work for me.   What works for you?

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Posted in Sales, Teleclasses | 4 Comments »