Business: The easiest way to make a sale
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- Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:02:25 +0800
2007/07/28
Business: The easiest way to make a sale
By : Hanzo Ng
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Acquiring a new customer includes having sales people calling corporations to
introduce their products.
WHEN asked which is the most challenging job for the sales and marketing
division of a company, my business guru replied that it is acquiring a new
customer. Indeed, this job is the toughest, the costliest, and most complicated.
Companies spend a great amount to acquire a customer. First, they generate a
lead, then entice a prospect to use their products.
To this end, they run advertisements in newspapers, magazines, television and
radios. They also showcase their products in tradeshows, organise seminars to
educate their prospects or have sales people calling corporations to introduce
their products.
Next, is building rapport by making prospects like and trust us. We have to find
out their needs.
We have to craft out a value proposition that is uniquely compelling. And we
have to convince them our solutions are far superior than that of our
competitors.
Be prepared to face rejections, objections and negotiation games. We may have to
follow-up with a dozen meetings and endless rounds of talks at the coffee table.
The processes may be daunting, but every business has to continually add new
customers to their list. We must fully optimise the process to ensure the time
spent is worthwhile.
The rule of thumb is to always increase the value of each sale. As long as our
product or service adds legitimate value to our customer, we must always be
selling more to our customers. By increasing the value of each sale, we can add
10-30 per cent in pure profits to our bottom line. Sometimes, it can be more.
Ideally, we can increase the value of each sale through up-selling,
cross-selling and bundling.
Up-selling is where we request our customers to expensive purchase items to
upgrade their current subscribed service level or opt for add-ons they may not
have previously considered.
I know a salesman who used to work for a five-star hotel at the front desk. His
job was to check in customers and to up-sell them. He would ask: "Sir, will you
be working in your room?" If the reply was "yes", he would say: "I see you have
booked the superior room, sir. May I suggest you upgrade to our deluxe room as
it offers a very comfortable working table? Many of our executive guests upgrade
to this room for a mere RM50."
Another value-enhancing method is cross-selling: Persuading customers to buy an
additional item they did not intend to purchase at first. Let me illustrate the
strategies low-cost carrier AirAsia uses to cross-sell.
Initially, AirAsia only had air tickets to sell. Now they have "Go Holiday" as
well as hotel room packages. This is a perfect complement to the air tickets. If
we are off for a vacation, why trouble ourselves by dealing with two vendors
when we can purchase air tickets and book our hotel rooms at the same time?
We head to the airport, and wait to board our plane. For those who prefer "to
beat the queue", AirAsia offers Xpress Boarding for RM20. For that money, we are
given access to the priority lane and earn the privilege to choose our favourite
seat by the window.
Inside the aircraft, if hunger strikes, rest assured our gastronomic needs will
be taken care of. Mineral water is available for RM4 a bottle.
Next comes the caps, t-shirts and pens. These souvenirs look too good to resist,
hence another RM15 spent.
And for the safety-conscious passengers, parting with RM15 for a RM50,000
insurance protection may be a small price to pay. Lastly, we can take a coach
journey to KL Sentral for RM9.
Bundling, or combining several items together and giving a discounted price, is
another way to get customers to spend just a little more and get a better value.
Bread Story uses this strategy: Buy three breads of any type and get one free.
If we want to boost our sales, it is wise to up-sell, cross-sell, and bundle our
products and services right away because, besides the hard cost of our products,
there are virtually no advertising, marketing or acquisition costs involved.
Hanzo Ng has been called the ?most influential sales trainer? and is highly in
demand for his unconventional Sales Ninja training programmes. He is the author
of Secrets of the Sales Ninja, available in major bookstores in Malaysia and
Singapore. Contact him at hanzo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
nstol
.
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