Selling – in class situations we often talk about Selling as being about getting the deal / closing the sale. In this course we see Selling is being about how you can help your prospective customer to make an informed choice about buying your Product or Service.

Those who criticise Selling and Sales people see Sellers as pushing products on people – this is not always the case and should not be the case for you and your business.

We will shortly add some articles on Selling.

Task 1 – thinking about your product(s) or Service(s) – start to gather a list of why you are F.A.B.. Think about your Product(s) / Service(s) what are:

their Features / attributes / specifications, the Advantage(s) that you offer the Benefits the customer gets through dealing with you rather than your competitors

This should be at the heart of your “Sales Pitch”.

If you are seeking funding, you may need to develop an “Elevator Pitch” – this is how you define your business in a 1 – 2 minute summary i.e. the time it takes to go a few floors in an elevator. You will find a good article on this in the downloads section shortly.

Task 2 – begin to draft your Elevator Pitch.

Promoting – for small businesses Promotion is often the way to generate early sales – so:

• What can you offer?
• How can you differentiate your offer from others?  Better, Faster, Cheaper(?)  – the first two are fine, but try not to compete on Price – find ways of offering “better value”.
• What low cost tactics are there to reach your intended customers, unless of course you are well funded to advertise widely etc.

Task 3 – Look at how businesses that offer what you offer promote themselves – adverts, posters, flyers, leaflets, website, vehicle livery, sales people ….. Start to gather a list of what your competitors do and ask friends and family where they would look and what would attract them. This should build on your earlier Market Research task.

Marketing – is often misunderstood – Marketing is about identifying what prospective and current customers want and meeting their needs and wants. One mature Marketer defined Marketing as being “what you do to get the highest price from the Customer for your product / service”.

Task 4 – Look at the premium brands in your sector – what do they offer and how do they present themselves. It is worth noting that in a recession or “downturn” as at present – good profits can be made by meeting the needs of price conscious consumers, where you can do so profitably. Customers always appreciate Value and never mode so than in a downturn. That may be why businesses started in a recession often fare very favourably when the economy becomes more buoyant.

Please make sure the issues / ideas already identified are being dealt with in Tasks 1, 2, 3 and 4 above and add any new issue to the relevant lists too.

We will soon be adding more on these topics in the downloads boxes.