Posts Tagged ‘Helen Graves’
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. 
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.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Half of getting what you want is to ask for it. I learned this valuable lesson at my very first job out of college. I was a straight commission sales person for the bad country station in Pittsburgh, PA. Not the good country station, but the bad one; we had terrible ratings and the station was just not good. We had no listeners which made it tough to get advertisers on the air.
Anyway to make a long story short I learned two things at the job. To think outside the box and to ask for what you want. I would meet with people and listen to what their needs were and then I would share with them how we could help them achieve a goal or reach a certain audience. And then…. I would ask for the business! I was listening and asking. And you know what? I started to get it. Do you ask for the business you want?
Attend our next Teleclass called “How To Sell Without Being Salesy” with Sales and Marketing Expert Helen Graves, and learn what to say if you hate to sell and selling techniques tips you can use right away. Click here for more info and to register.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Red Bench Program, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
In 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.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Audio recordings, Christa Wagner, Continuing Education of Professional Organizers, Donna Smallin, Helen Graves, Marketing, Professional Organizer Business, Red Bench Program, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Being an entrepreneur requires you to wear many hats and the sales person can be the most intimidating hat of all. Why is this the case? Probably because in sales we have to promote ourselves and we aren’t always very good at self promotion. We don’t want to feel like we are selling and being pushy right.
Well there are many selling techniques that are extremely effective and you won’t feel like a pushy sales person. Listening, for example is key and often overlooked. If you ask the right questions and genuinely listen to what people have to say, they will tell you what they want. Give your customers a chance, and they will tell you what you need to know. The key is talk less and listen more.
Attend our next Teleclass called “How To Sell Without Being Salesy” with Sales and Marketing Expert Helen Graves, and learn what to say if you hate to sell and selling techniques tips you can use right away. Click here for more info and to register.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Effective Selling Strategies, Helen Graves, Sales
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
I’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?
Tags: A Red Bench, Add new tag, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Sales, Teleclasses | 4 Comments »
Monday, July 6th, 2009
We are thrilled to announce that Helen Graves will be our August 3rd speaker. Christa and I had a call with Helen two weeks ago and in 45 short minutes Helen was able to offer us some fantastic advice! We put some of her tips into place immediately. Thanks Helen!
Helen is dubbed the Grand Poohbah of Crackerjack Online Marketing Strategy. She has a fun approach to sales and says “the most important belief to nurture is that marketing can be fun!” Now that is a shift in mind set! Have you been thinking that marketing is fun? Don’t miss this call to learn how you can make marketing and sales fun AND increase your business. Personally, I can’t wait!
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses | 1 Comment »
