Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category

Raise Prices? In this Market?
Are you kidding?

dollar_currency_signDespite the weak economy, it is possible to raise prices if you are selective with your customers, start small, and increase prices gradually. Some of the same customers who would surely desert you if you raised prices too quickly will gradually accept small and infrequent price increases.

If your profitability is suffering due to price erosion, and your cost-cutting efforts aren’t keeping up, maybe you should consider raising prices. The following guidelines should help:

1. Be Selective

If you try to roll out an unimaginative, across-the-board price increase to every one of your customers, without regard to how profitable each customer is, you should be prepared for a negative response.  You should also be prepared for the inevitable retreat from your new pricing to your old, with the results of no margin gain and hard feelings toward your company.

Instead, why not select the least profitable five to ten percent of your customers and increase prices only to them? You know who these customers are: they pay lower-than-average prices; they negotiate every item of every purchase order down to the last penny; they don’t pay on time; they demand better-than-average specifications and performance; they tie up a disproportionate share of your time; they demand that you dedicate more resources than they’re willing to pay for; they penalize you financially for the smallest mistake; they don’t help you design and test new products; they don’t provide testimonials or references; they aren’t loyal, and don’t seem to care who they buy from.

Some of these customers may refuse to pay higher prices, and may stop buying from your company. But others will grudgingly accept the increase and slowly become more profitable. And in the end, wouldn’t you really rather have a smaller but more profitable group of customers?

2. Start small

Imagine someone you buy from telling you that prices were going up by ten to twenty percent or more. No matter how logical the explanation for the increase, you would be unhappy. Your customers will feel the same way.

Instead, consider increasing prices by only two to four percent at a time. Increases in this range tend to be easy to accept, and some customers may not even complain at all.

3 Increase prices gradually

You can’t expect to reach your ideal pricing overnight.  If you try, you’ll alienate your customers very quickly. Try implementing an increase every six months or so. You might not achieve your desired profit margins as soon as you’d like to, but in the long run, you’ll keep more of your customers.

4. While you’re at it, add up and point out services you currently provide for free

Doing this gradually paves the way for future price increases. Examples free services might include exceptionally fast delivery; shorter than average build times; live phone or web help; in-person technical expertise; performance improvement of existing products over and above the original specifications; field service support above and beyond what was included in the initial purchase price, warranty or specifications; after warranty support, and extended or more lenient payment terms.

Start the conversation by meeting with your customers, and talking about each of the services you’ve been providing. Gently let them know that it’s getting more difficult and expensive to provide the services at no charge. Share with your customers the range of fees you’re considering, and ask for their feedback. You may be surprised at how realistic and reasonable some customers are.

The take away: you can raise prices and get paid for services if you approach it in the right manner. Why not give it a try?

Posted by Don Maher in Achieving Sales Goals, Sales Tags:

Eleven tips for a more captivating presentation

sleepy crowdGot an upcoming presentation on your calendar? Here’s how to make sure your audience stays interested and engaged. The next time you’re tasked with developing and giving a presentation to colleagues, customers, or investors, try the following tips:

  1. Determine what you want to accomplish. What do you want the audience to remember and do as a result of your presentation? Whether it’s selling, buying, investing, or behaving differently, develop an interesting and simple story line that clearly highlights the key points you want the audience to remember.  If there is a “call to action”, make that crystal clear as well.
  2. Make your points memorable. If you plan to use PowerPoint, use pictures when you can, and less-and- larger rather than more-and-smaller text. We’ve all heard presenters say “this is an eye chart” when introducing a slide that no one, including the presenter can read. Please don’t say those words and don’t use anything that even resembles an eye chart. If you have very detailed information to deliver, put it in a handout to be distributed after the presentation.
  3. Limit the number of slides. Don’t use more than 10 slides per half hour of presentation time. Your message may be lost if you show and talk about more than that. And plan for some time to answer questions during and after the presentation.
  4. Have a “no slides” version. Projectors break or don’t show up, bulbs burn out and some people don’t like PowerPoint and would rather just talk with you. Make sure you can deliver an effective presentation without using slides.
  5. Practice and rehearse the presentation. I’ve seen people give presentations they’ve been handed at the last minute, and the results are pretty much what you’d expect; they stutter and stammer their way through them. Don’t try to give an important presentation without first rehearsing and getting critiqued by people who know what your audience will look for. Have a private, friendly and knowledgeable audience ask the tough questions in a rehearsal, before you have to answer them in public. Also, work on your ad lib skills, as no presentation goes exactly according to plan.
  6. Introduce yourself to your audience. (If you’re Oprah Winfrey or someone equally well known, you can probably skip this step).  I’ve seen quite a few people start right into a presentation without introducing themselves; don’t be one of them. In addition to the introduction, mention something relevant about yourself and explain why you’re there. If others from your team are with you, introduce each of them as well.
  7. Clarify the purpose of your presentation. If you’re presenting to a customer or investor, see if they agree on the purpose and if they have anything else they’d like you to address.
  8. Confirm how much time you have for the presentation. Be ready to deliver an abbreviated but effective presentation if you have to (as opposed to a high-speed version of the original that many people try and jam into the smaller time slot).
  9. Specifics are powerful, fluffy adjectives are not. Under no circumstances should you use the terms “paradigm shift”, “on a going-forward basis”, or ‘no-brainer”. Someone in the audience will cringe if you do (if I’m in the audience, I’ll cringe). Instead, use numbers, data, specifics, evidence, and real-world examples to show how what you’re talking about (a product, a service, a business) can help the audience. For example, if you’re presenting to a customer, show them how your product or service can help them earn or save money, and if possible, how much money. If that’s not possible, cite other customers who have earned or saved money using your product or service. And if you don’t have any customers yet, simply say so and why, and what you’re doing about it.
  10. Listen closely and answer questions directly. If you purposely give an evasive answer, or an answer that doesn’t make sense, your audience will know it and you will immediately lose credibility. Think about how you feel when a politician avoids answering direct questions and you’ll have an idea of how your audience will react if you do the same. No matter what, do not stretch the truth or say anything that you can’t back up, prove or at the very least, have a good reason to believe.
  11. Follow up quickly and completely. It’s ok if you don’t have a ready answer to an obscure question or the materials on hand to satisfy every request for more detailed information. It’s not ok to neglect to provide them within a few days. Capture every open question and request from your audience, send them an email that shows everything you captured, and then close the items on the list in a timely manner.

We’ve all sat through and sometimes delivered presentations that were less than captivating and that failed to get the hoped-for response from the audience.  We’ve all looked out at a sea of weary, yawning faces and knew that they wanted to be anywhere other than sitting or standing in front of us. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Use the tips I’ve suggested here, and if you like the results, please pass this blog along to the people in your world who really need help. You know who they are, don’t you?

Posted by Don Maher in Achieving Sales Goals, Marketing, Motivating Salespeople, Presentations, Sales Tags: , ,