Posted by Editor on June 15, 2011 under Business Coach, Business Coaching, Business Mentor | 
When it comes to sales your customers quite literally have all the answers …
Asking great questions can help boost your sales
Have you ever answered a question with a question?
Would that be making a difference to your conversion rate?
The answer to the latter is most definitely yes!
Asking questions not only increases your conversion rate, but builds rapport with your customer and ensures that the sale becomes their idea and not yours.
Asking questions also means active listening. You can ask questions about your customers work, business, kids or hobbies but make sure that you are listening with sincere interest.
It may even be helpful to note down some of the answers – such as the names of their kids, interests etc. for future communication. By asking questions and listening, you are building rapport and attaching importance to their conversation.
Also, by asking questions you are remaining in control of the conversation. Once you find yourself doing all the talking you are no longer in control. Just remember that the person asking questions sets the direction for the conversation.
If the customer is dominating the conversation by asking you questions make sure you answer the question with a question.
However, try to vary the questions that you ask.
You may remember from looking after your own children or babysitting that being asked “but why?” over and over again tends to get a little monotonous.
Questions can guide consumer interest, discover a need and give accurate information. There are two commonly known types of questioning – open ended and closed questions.
How to build rapport and qualify
Open-ended questions are an excellent way to ensure customer involvement in the conversation and are a key to identifying not only what they need but a lot about themselves.
You can use open-ended questions to build rapport, to find a need, to discover a customer problem and find the right solution.
In journalism, there are six key questions used in the interviewing process which is as equally useful in sales: who, what, where, when, why and how.
Here are a few examples of open-ended questions which are very useful:
- Who are you buying the product/service for?
- How often would you use the product/service?
- What features were you looking for in this product/service?
This type of questioning yields a lot of great information from your customer and helps you determine which product/service is uniquely suited to them.
Closed questions tend to get one word answers “yes” or “no.” They can be used to gather information quickly – not unlike a check-list.
Using closed questions can also confirm a buying detail and help confirm the sale.
By using questions you are encouraging the customer to communicate, building rapport, establishing their needs, directing the conversation, diffusing tension and inviting discussion.
Learning the art of questioning and listening is the key to increasing your conversion rate and well on the way to creating a continuing customer relationship.
A good personal business mentor in the form of an ActionCOACH Business Coach can guide you in the best ways to ask questions and get better results from your sales.
If you are interested in getting more customers, who spend more, more often, call your local ActionCOACH today!
Posted by Editor on June 14, 2011 under Business Coach, Business Coaching, Business Mentor |
There are two things that business people find very challenging …
1) Thinking ahead, and …
2) Doing things in order of importance.
Having a good personal business mentor guide you in the “how and why” of focusing on these two things can make all the difference in your results.
Use the 80-20 Rule to Set Priorities
Plus, doing these two things makes the difference between success in business and just surviving.
The same is true for all areas of our lives.
Most people have heard of the Pareto Principle, more commonly known as the 80/20 Principle. Roughly stated this says that in most businesses 80% of your business comes from 20 % of your customers.
Other examples of the Pareto Principle are:
- Reading: 20 percent of the book contains 80 percent of the content.
- Job: 20 percent of our work gives us 80 percent of our satisfaction.
- Products: 20 percent of the products bring in 80 percent of the profits.
- Picnic: 20 percent of the people will eat 80 percent of the food.
So… when it comes to your priorities, 20 percent of your priorities will give you 80 percent of your production IF you spend your time, energy, money and personnel on the top 20 percent of your priorities.
When you do this you are getting a 400% … or a four-fold return in productivity.
Every business person needs to understand the Pareto Principle as it applies to the areas of customers, team and leadership.
So … in the area of customers, it is vital to identify the 20 percent who account for 80 percent of your business.
For your team, you must identify the top 20 percent producers.
Spend 80 percent of your people time with these people to develop them to their full potential.
In leadership, take an honest look at the question, “What do I have to do that no one else can do?”
Remember, a leader can give up everything except final responsibility.
You can decide whether you will be reactive or proactive when it comes to the use of your time.
The question is not, “Will I be busy?” but, “How will I invest my time?”
It’s not, “Will my calendar be full?” but, “Who will fill my calendar?”
It’s not, “Will I see people?” but, “Who will I see?”
Do this and watch your productivity and personal satisfaction rise to new heights!
Posted by Editor on June 13, 2011 under Business advice, Business Coach, Business Coaching, Business Help, Business Mentor, Grow Your Business |
The most common complaint we get today as business coaches to small to medium sized business owners is that, “we can’t compete with the big guys on price.”
A Good Business Mentor Wll Show Your How to Sell Value to Price Focused Shoppers
The perception in the market place is that people are shopping on price alone. The only reason your customer asks the price up front is because that is what we as business owners have trained them to do.
How many times have you rung or gone into a business not really knowing what model, style, color or features you were looking for and purely asked for the price? At this point did the sales person come back with “that is £29.95” or did they ask you some questions about what you were looking to use the product/service for? In this instance let’s say it is a kettle.
Now in most people’s eyes a kettle is a kettle; but, they have many different features and offer many different benefits. So what if the sales person simply said to you when you inquired about price, “just so I can help you best is it okay if I ask you a couple of questions about the kettle you are looking for?”
Would you have answered yes?
The sales person could then ask questions like:
- Are you looking to replace an existing kettle or is it a gift for someone?
- Do you regularly use your kettle or is it rarely used?
- Would you like a kettle with a quick boiling time?
- Have you seen the cordless options that are available?
- Are you looking for something to match your kitchen?
- So what color are you looking for?
- Is it important that it has an automatic cut off when the kettle is boiled?
- Are you after a stove-top option, or an electric kettle?
- Kettles come in different cup capacity; what cup capacity do you require?
From these questions, the customer gets the idea that the sales person is genuinely interested in their needs and the salesperson is able to offer options in the most suitable kettles for their needs. The price is therefore negated.
It’s just a matter of now asking the customer to buy.
A good salesperson would then ask, “well, based on what we have just spoken about there are two options to choose from, model x and model y, which one suits you best? Great, I can either put that away for now or I can process it on credit card for you and have it delivered to you tomorrow – which do you prefer?”
If the option is credit card, ask, “which credit card is it easiest to process that on?” and make sure the prospect is aware there will be a delivery charge of x amount.
If the option they choose is to have it put away, this gives the sales person the opportunity to get the customers’ name and contact details.
If the customer chooses this option make sure the sales person gets a time frame for them to pick the item up. Be definite with the infinite. If the customer is in your business the sales person then simply takes them to the point of sale terminal and transacts the sale.
This example was based on a kettle, a relatively small value item. How does this apply to your business? This process works equally well on cars, houses, furniture, service based businesses and any other product, including funeral homes.
You just need to work out what your customers are actually looking for when they ask for the price, and what’s most important to them in their buying decision!
And a good business mentor in the form of an ActionCOACH Business Coach can do just that.
Posted by Editor on March 25, 2011 under Business advice, Business Coach, Business Coaching, Business Help |
Goal setting is as important in personal life as it is in business. The most common denominator in all the self-help literature and books is the importance of goal setting. We’re told to set long-term goals, short-term goals, lifetime goals and personal goals.
The benefits of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results orientated, Time-framed (S.M.A.R.T) goals have been written about in books for years.
So, it follows that goal setting is obviously a powerful process.
It is about “eating the elephant, one bite at a time” and of turning vision into achievable, actionable things. It’s the common denominator of successful individuals and businesses.
Despite their obvious value, our experience with goals have shown that some are good at setting goals and sticking to them, achieving great results and others can’t keep a New Year’s resolution to stop smoking for two days in a row.
Failure to set goals can be seen as a fear of failure.
That is, it’s blow to our integrity when we don’t reach our goals. When we make and keep commitments, such as setting and achieving goals, it reflects the amount of trust we have in ourselves. We increase our confidence in ourselves to make and keep commitments to others and ourselves.
However, when we don’t achieve our goals we lose confidence in our ability to make and keep commitments and to trust ourselves.
There are many reasons why we don’t achieve our goals. Sometimes the goals we set are unrealistic. New Year’s resolutions are typical examples. Suddenly, we expect to change the way we eat, or the way we exercise just because the calendar changes. It’s like expecting a child that’s never ridden a bike to suddenly jump on and go, or to run a marathon without months of training. These goals are based on illusion with little regard to natural growth.
You must be able to crawl before you walk.
So, how do we set and achieve goals?
Stephen R. Covey says it best in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
“To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”
An example of a S.M.A.R.T. goal might look something like the following:
WHAT
My goal is to maintain a healthy body.
WHY
So that:
I can be fit to do the things I enjoy.
I can be an example to my children in health management.
I can build my personal character strength.
HOW
Good Nutrition. I will increase my intake of fresh fruits and vegetables and decrease my intake of sugar, fats, salt and red meat.
Physical. I will exercise aerobically 3 times a week for 30-minute periods.
Focus. I will be aware of my body and look out for any health problems.
Focusing on the smaller, short-term goals and achieving success will give you the confidence to set other goals. So, remember, set your goals based on the S.M.A.R.T. principle to have the best chance of achieving your goals.
If you are interesting in learning more about goal setting and effective business advice for your company, contact and ActionCOACH near you.
Posted by Editor on March 24, 2011 under Business Coaching |
If you are looking for good business coaching or advice for your company, one of the best places to start is in terms of better communication.
We often refer to the brain as having two hemispheres: the left, largely responsible for logic, and the right, predominately responsible for creativity.
This description fits what we know to be the cortex or new brain; however, there is a third dimension, the hypothalamus or prehistoric brain, which is in fact the brain stem and is solely responsible for instincts.
Bruno Catellani of the Institute of Communication, Management and Sales in Switzerland refers to the prehistoric brain as the “Guard” or “Gatekeeper.”
The “Gatekeeper’s” sole function is to decide whether you are a friend or a foe; it is incapable of thought or rationalization and reacts purely on instinct by how it perceives your approach.
If your initial approach stresses the “Gatekeeper,” it will switch on the fight/flight response and part of this process includes shutting down all other message receptors which means any opportunity you had to communicate has just been totally closed off.
It’s absolutely true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Building the language of trust is the first step to successful customer service, which translates into building sales.
So, if the “Gatekeeper” doesn’t think, does the initial “Language of Trust” have to be verbal?
No, the first impression you deliver is based on instinct alone.
The signals that you need to give out in the first 10 to 20 seconds are instinctive, i.e. your body language translated by your movements, gestures, facial expression and eye contact are open and relaxed.
Your voice modulation and tone are calm, the speed of your speech is controlled and gentle and finally, you must not invade the customer’s space.
Other factors, which will influence the “Gatekeepers” decision whether you are friend or foe, are: your appearance, clothes, smell, enthusiasm and posture.
Once you’re past this initial first impression you can get on with developing a relationship with your prospect.
Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA broke communication down into three “V’s” as follows:
• Verbal: The message itself; i.e. the words you use.
• Vocal: The sound of your voice, intonation, projection, pitch and speed of your voice.
• Visual: The posture and gestures, facial expression and eye movement that people see.
The Thomas Gordon Institute added another dimension to this research and came up with:
• Words: Verbal
• Voice: Vocal
• Face: Visual
• Body: Visual
Both institutions measured the effectiveness of each component of communication and the contribution to believability.
Here are the results of their respective research:
UCLA Thomas Gordon
Verbal 7% Words 7%
Vocal 38% Voice 23%
Visual 55% Face 35%
Body 35%
100% 100%
So, the first step in delivering Great Customer Service to Create Great Sales is simply to approach and greet your suspect/prospect with open, friendly body language coupled with soothing, gentle voice modulation.
Our total focus in this step is to get past the ‘Gatekeeper’ so that we develop and build rapport and open the prospect’s message receptors.
The words themselves are not that important, a simple “Hi, how are you today,” is a good ice breaker.
For more information on how ActionCOACH can help guide you to better results in this area in your own business, contact an ActionCOACH Business Coach near you today!
Posted by Editor on under Business Coaching |
UK-based ActionCOACH Business Coach Gary Mullins was recognized with one of the ActionMAN Awards at the 2011 EMEA Conference, which was held at the Skyline Sheraton in London, England.
Mullins is one of the top coaches in the ActionCOACH system and his hard work certainly has not gone unrecognized.
ActionCOACH Founder and Chairman Brad Sugars presented the ActionMAN to Mullins.
“Gary is an incredible coach and very deserving of this award,” Sugars said. “The way he deals with challenges and overcomes them is impressive and I know he has a bright future ahead of him with ActionCOACH.
Mullins was grateful to be honored for his hard work with such a prestigious award.
“This is a valuable award to me and my team, and I thank everyone for their support. This was a great way to end a great year. I’m looking forward to what we will accomplish this year as well,” he said.
ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching and executive coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 32 countries.
To learn more about ActionCOACH, go to actioncoach.com.
Posted by Editor on March 23, 2011 under Business Coaching |
One of the first steps in effective business advice is knowing how you as an owner and your team work and learn.
Knowing how and where people work best can be a powerful and lucrative tool for business owners with a team of people.
Personality profiling is not a new tool by any means, but still one of the best ways and most effective ways to ensure you are able to achieve a close-to-perfect match when selecting new employees and repositioning existing personnel.
At ActionCOACH, we use DISC and VAK to help make decisions about team members and where best to place them. It also helps the team gain a better understanding on how to communicate with each other.
Knowing someone’s personal profile allows for a much better understanding of how the person learns and operates.
DISC
DISC uses the Style Analysis Instrument and was initially designed to assist people achieve a higher degree of success in life and work. Successful people know their strengths and limitations and by realizing their weaknesses, are able to overcome their shortcomings and take full advantage of their strengths.
DISC uncovers insights about four dimensions of normal behavior.
A brief description of the four behaviors is listed below:
“D” Style “I” Style “S” Style “C” Style
Adventuresome Charming Amiable Accurate
Competitive Confident Friendly Analytical
Daring Convincing Good Listener Conscientious
Decisive Enthusiastic Patient Diplomatic
Direct Inspiring Self-starter Trusting
Innovative Optimistic Relaxed Fact-Finder
Persistent Persuasive Sincere High Standards
Problem-Solver Popular Stable Mature
Results-Orientated Sociable Steady Patient
By recognizing your peers and behavioral styles and adapting to them, you’ll increase your understanding, appreciation, and communication with them leading to relationships that are more productive.
VAK
At ActionCOACH, we also use the “Language System Diagnostic Instrument” (LSDI) to analyze a person’s communication and behavior patterns and for determining how to interact with that person in the process of change.
The result of the questionnaire is a clear understanding of where you fit and how we make distinctions concerning our environment.
Both internal and external are represented in terms of three sensory systems: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
People who rely on their visual systems appear to run movies in their heads when remembering or storing information.
If people are primarily auditory, i.e. taking information through sounds, remembering may be like replaying a tape recorder, with original tones and dialogue. People who are primarily kinesthetic respond to internal bodily feeling or tactile sense.
They remember bodily sensations in recalling experiences.
This knowledge provides an amazing insight into the people we work with or for; however, we must be cautious not to “box” people or become complacent about ourselves because we are not naturally suited to a particular task.
For more information on DISC and VAK, or business coaching, contact an ActionCOACH near you today.
Posted by stevezog on December 30, 2010 under Business advice, Business Coach, Business Coaches, Business Coaching, Uncategorized |
What is the biggest challenge facing your business today? Is it not enough customers, lack of repeat business or just not enough time in the day to do everything necessary? Life is full of challenges for small business owners, which is one reason we see so many more Business Coaches helping small business owners than we did just a few years ago.
So why is there more call for Business Coaches now than ever before?
The business world is ultra-competitive. Because businesses and business owners are faced with more challenges, and more opportunities, today than ever before, every company needs to align themselves with quality Business Coaches.
Due to the nature of business today, there is probably more than one challenge in your business you can think of off the top of your head. No matter the situation, it comes down to one important question, what have you done to resolve those challenges your business faces? Have you looked into the field of business coaches to find the one that will work best with you?
The right Business Coaches offer concrete solutions for the problems your business faces, so it is vitally important you find the right coach. Business Coaches who have been trained by ActionCOACH offer your business the greatest advantage over your competition for many reasons.
First of all, Business Coaches from ActionCOACH not only have myriad strategies to focus on all aspects of your business, but they have been trained to understand how to bring balance back to the life of every small business owner.
Whether you’re dealing with a poor company culture, lack of Cashflow, a dwindling customer base or anyone of a number of other issues that plague small businesses every day, there is one way to alleviate your issues and keep your business growing. That answer is to find the best network of business coaches in the world and use them to leverage your business into what you’ve always hoped it would be.
Maybe the most important reason Business Coaches from ActionCOACH are better than the rest is the incredible network of resources available. ActionCOACH has Business Coaches all over the world, helping thousands of business every month.
Because of this network of Business Coaches, there is always somewhere to turn if your challenges simply won’t go away with the usual coaching programs. ActionCOACH Business Coaches have resources that other business coaches can only dream of. That is why these Business Coaches provide the best in service, systems and strategies in 32 countries throughout the world.
Posted by stevezog on December 24, 2010 under Business advice, Business Coaches, Business Coaching, Uncategorized |
In the spirit of giving thanks, we thought we’d share some heartwarming testimonials.
At ActionCOACH, we pride ourselves on the fact that we’re not business consultants — we’re business coaches. We’re not hired to fix things and leave, but we’re hired to coach, mentor, advise clients and be a sounding board for all questions and concerns. All problems are tackled together. Business coaching is NOT the same as business consulting!
Listen to hear what these ActionCOACH clients are thankful for, and how ActionCOACH helped their businesses!
