Email is an incredibly powerful business tool and it’s hard to remember how business used to function in the days before email took off. I don’t know about you, but I still get really excited each time I get an email enquiry.

How you respond to email enquiries, however, could make the difference between winning a new client and putting more money into your bank than normal and….err….not!

The normal way to react to an email enquiry is to send an email back. In these days of iPhones and iPads you can do it in seconds. What a waste!

You have put in a lot of marketing effort into generating that enquiry and simply replying by email is the equivalent of running a marathon and then giving up just 100 metres before the finishing line!
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Happy new year!

2011 was a tough year for many selling a business service. It seems that 2012 will, at best, be more of the same and the businesses that survive and prosper will not only evolve their business model but also evolve their sales and marketing messages.

Sadly many talented people have not made it through 2011. They had business services that could have been very successful but they went broke trying to educate their market

Educating a market can be very frustrating, time consuming, and costly for any size of business. It’s hard work in boom times so why would it be any easier in one of the hardest economic climates for decades?
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I always love this time of year. It’s a good time to forget the past, reset our goals, and focus on the year ahead. Whilst many of you may have set personal goals, I wonder how many of them are actually WOW! goals? Will they motivate you enough to do some of the things in sales which take you outside your comfort zone?

Focused and consistent sales activity is needed to make 2012 a great year despite all the economic challenges. There are important activities that need to be done and the right type of motivational goals will spur you on to just get on with it rather than giving into fear and doubts.

Ask yourself how exciting are your goals? When you think of them, do they make you go ‘WOW!’?’ When I go through business owner’s goals with them I normally see important goals on the list but they are typically too far off in the distant and without the kind of emotion needed to inspire immediate short-term action.

The answer is to Continue reading →

No matter whether you celebrate or even recognise Christmas, there is one thing hard to escape during the month of December and that’s the Christmas party. Client Christmas parties are a golden opportunity to not only refresh your client relationships but also seek out new opportunities within the same organisation.

Pitching at social gatherings, however, doesn’t tend to go down that well, especially at a client’s Christmas party. You want to ensure you are invited back again next year! So how to you take advantage of the opportunity without being annoying or getting thrown out? Continue reading →