Love it or hate it, if you are a business owner sales is an important part of your business. However, we can get so wrapped up in stressing about sales that we easily go about them the wrong way.

 

What if you could love sales? What if you could actually throw your sales pitch away and still make the numbers you need to? Sounds too good to be true, right?

 

There’s a catchy mantra going around in business today. It’s “Be a resource. Not a sales pitch.” We found this concept very inspiring. In today’s blog we decided to break this phrase down into what it means to us and how we apply being a resource to business.

 

Know your consumers

 

Everyone cringes a bit when they turn on the TV and there is an overdramatized infomercial on air. What is it about an overzealous actor making a sales pitch that we all hate though?

 

For one, the problem is not in what they say near as much as how they say it. There is nothing worse than being too pushy. Your potential customer may desperately need your services. However, if all you do is deliver an over-rehearsed speech again and again about how great your products or services are, you are not likely to win consumers over.

 

Always remember: Today’s consumer is much different than the consumer of the past. Today’s consumer is more educated about your product or services than you may realize. He has researched online, read and watched all the details before coming to view your product and asked all his friends for recommendations on Facebook.

 

Treating him or her as a clueless consumer is a waste of time. If you really want to get to know your consumer, ask questions that matter such as why he or she chose a particular product or service over another. How will the item be used for them specifically and what problem is the consumer trying to solve by making this purchase are great questions to consider.

 

Learn your consumers’ needs

 

Sometimes we scratch our heads when we compare brands. The market is competitive in today’s world, and it is difficult to have to best product, the lowest prices and the best marketing campaigns to beat the competition every time. So, how do businesses make it?

Businesses are not built on good sales pitches or any of the things mentioned above. Businesses are built on relationships.  

 

It is impossible for us to design a website that represents a client well without taking the time to get to know the ins and outs of who they are, their business and their style. We have to put aside who we are and create what represents them best.

 

A good car salesman isn’t going to take you to the largest pickup truck on the lot and tell you how wonderful it is if you tell him you commute an hour to work everyday. He’s going to understand that having an energy efficient vehicle that will hold up well to many miles is ideal.  

 

Connect with Your Community

 

You never know where you are going to be when you earn a new client. Little things can lead to bigger things. Taking an opportunity when asked to share your knowledge in front of others is important. Buying an ad that you know won’t generate sales but will give you an opportunity to get to know someone you would like to do business with is important.

 

Your focus should always be on building relationships, not increasing numbers. When you provide great service and build relationships, the numbers will follow.

 

Build Credibility

 

As a marketing and design business, we offer a wide variety of services. There are other businesses and individuals that offer some of the same services that we do, of course. On occasion, a client may mention that he or she has decided to allow someone else to design a particular item for them.

 

We learned long ago not to take such instances personal. We don’t get upset, we don’t “write them off”, and we don’t spend a lot of time trying to make them see why they should have picked us over them.

 

Zig Ziglar said it best when he said, “Stop selling. Start helping.”

 

What you should do is make sure your client is still taken care of. For example, if someone lets us know someone else is going to design their logo, we want to take the time to let them know what important qualities their logo design should have so that it is useable such as being given to the client in a high resolution file so it can be printed tiny on a promotion item or huge on a billboard.

 

Oftentimes, proving at you care is enough to keep this client coming back to you for more business.

 

Give them a glimpse of the difference you can make

 

Sometimes a client presents something to us that we know we can improve for them, but they tell us they don’t want to change it. A good approach in this scenario is not always to try to convince them otherwise with your words. Instead, prove to them what you could do.

 

You shouldn’t give away a ton of work for free, but sometimes just showing a client how we could improve upon a concept, website or print material they already have is an easy way to change their mind and earn more business.

 

You never know the experiences people have had before you. In our business, we often must work hard at earning someone’s trust before we earn their business. Someone’s business and branding are personal to them. We recognize this and don’t take it lightly.

 

We hope this blog inspires you and that you are able to apply these concepts to your own business. If you are one of our clients who has allowed us to build a relationship with you, we thank you for being a valuable part of our own business growth.