E-Zone Forum: Top Selling Tips for Small Business
The E-Zone successfully hosted its second Forum on “Top Selling Tips for Small Businesses” on the 3rd of November. The first speaker was Thomas J. Weisenbach, with a lifelong sales career. He started his presentation stating that, in order to sell, the business must pose several questions, such as: What is your vision? What is the value proposition? How am I different from my competitors? He explained that everything is a process of improvement. You have to understand the mind of your customer. He said that customers want sales people who can: understand the customers’ business; add value beyond products; align with how customers buy; improve the customers’ business process; innovate and creatively solve problems and listen well. He examplified this problem solving by stating that at one time Caterpillar was one of his minor customers and they were having problems with rust on their machines. His company then created a product specifically for them to decrese the amount of rust, and in-turn they secured a multi-millon dollar customer. This shows that if your business can meet your customer’s needs, you will benefit. At the end of the presentation, he gave more sales tips, such as, you have to do what you say that you are going to do; smile and be positive; don’t forget about the importance of team selling and always play to win. He then reminded everyone that “everyone lives by selling something” so you must put forth 100% for your business to survive.
The 2nd speaker was Tim “Bubba” Hunt, best known around Statesboro for his very innovative Pawn City & Car City advertising. He started his career working in a Pawn Shop and by 1991 he was owning his first one. Throughout his career he has owned 10 pawn shops. The theme of his presentation was that no matter how big or small your company is, it all starts with how you treat your customers. Especially for small businesses, he advised attendees to: “Stay consistent with everything, always open on time and close on time; put value on your product, it is not always about the price; provide an excellent customer service; make a measurable marketing plan; always do what you say you will do; deal with the customers no matter what; use statistics to make sales; and always be enthusiastic”. He mentioned the importance of the internet saying that 78% of the American population access the internet, basically the ones that don’t access, are either people that are too old or too young. Due to this fact, you as a sales person have to make sure that your business has good visibility on the internet. He explained that you have to understand who you are, an entrepreneur, a manager or a technician. You can’t be all three, so hire the right people to do what they are good at and do what you are good at. He finished his presentation saying that what makes you unique is what will make you become successful.
The 3rd and last speaker was Dr. Linda Mullen, with over 30 years of sales experience. She started the presentation saying that she agreed with
what the previous speakers had said and would just add some other points. She said that during a presentation only 5% of the people will really listen and only 1% will follow the ideas presented. She encouraged everyone to attend sales training sessions. As Bubba Hunt mentioned before, she recommended reading books like Fully Alive, Fully Human by Ed Foreman and The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. She explained that sales managers should use 60% of their time contacting and interacting with people instead of being behind their desks. She finished her presentation emphasizing the importance of finding the customers’ needs and bringing an innovative solution to the problem they faced.
After their presentations, there was a discussion/debate which gave all of the attendees an opportunity to answer any questions they had. The next E-Zone Forum will be on the December 1st, 2011. The topic will be about How to avoid running out of cash .
We would like to thank the sponsors of the Forum: Dabbs, Hickman, Hill&Cannon, LLP; Sea Island Bank and Georgia Southern University.
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