7 Ways To Quickly Lose A Prospect’s Attention
By Ken Varga | February 6, 2010
There is a very short window of time that you have when you initially contact a new prospect by telephone, in a face-to-face meeting, or networking. If you fail to make an impression quickly, you have tuned them out.
Here are some of the things I’ve experienced where the person lost my attention.
1. Opening the conversation by introducing themselves, their company and what they do.
2. If they are in my office, making small talk about the “stuff” they see.
3. Explain to me how your product or service will benefit me. (This is not a misprint. Read below to understand.)
4. Telling me what other companies they have worked with.
5. Showing me the awards they have received.
6. Giving me a brochure immediately.
7. Starting a telephone conversation with, “Hi, how are you?”
Again, these are just a few of the things that have turned me off and you have probably experienced the same.
The moment your prospect senses that you are trying to sell them something that they don’t need or want, they will tune you out and look for a way to disengage or disconnect from the call.
They really don’t care about you. They don’t want to know about your company, listen to you talk about your products or services, or making small talk.
What they do want is a solution to a problem. They want to know how you can help them improve their business. Here are some thoughts on how you can accomplish that.
You must direct all of your attention on their situation and resist the opportunity to talk about you or your company.
When you meet someone, say something like the following, “Mrs. Prospect, many of our clients are currently experiencing (insert the problem here). How does that compare to your company’s situation?”
This demonstrates that you are knowledgeable about their business and/or the industry, and it gives them the opportunity to tell you about their most important concerns.
Over my last 40 some odd years, I have found that most people will tell you anything you want to know providing you give them a reason to do so. The key is to develop and ask high-quality questions.
Here’s really the bottom line…
The more time you spend talking about your product, the less inclined a prospect will want to continue that conversation.
The more you focus your attention on their situation—their problems—and demonstrate how you can help them improve their business, the more you differentiate yourself from your competition.
And this goes for anything you do in life. Whenever you are in any situation, if you talk about yourself, you lose them.
You only have a few moments to connect with a prospect, so keep it brief. Keep it focused. Keep it about them and you will keep their attention.
You’ve all experienced this, so tell me one of your stories.
| For more information on Ken Varga, visit: http://www.kenvarga.com |
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Topics: Attract More Clients, Attract more customers, Differentiaing yourself from your competition | No Comments »
Exceptional Customer Experience
By Ken Varga | January 31, 2010
Customers may not remember what you said, but they surely will remember how you made them feel.
It is very important to cultivate direct connections with customers and clients. Give them your direct phone line. Invite them to call you and let them know you are willing to help them in any way you can.
When you offer advice or information without immediate return, you gain a huge amount of influence with that customer.
This to me is building for the future. It very well may be beneficial down the road. So treat each person well, and take care not to get sucked into your own importance or self-hype.
Make people feel special and they will come back for more.
How do you make your customers and clients feel special? Tell me in your comments below.
Topics: Customer Retention, customer satisfaction | No Comments »
Sad but true!
By Ken Varga | January 22, 2010
I ran across this and found it so poignant, that I had to share it with you all. After reading this, let me know how you take the central topic into consideration in managing your business:
An Obituary printed in the London Times – Interesting and sadly rather true.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
– Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
– Why the early bird gets the worm;
– Life isn’t always fair;
– and Maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I’m A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. Hope you still remember him.
Topics: Business ideas | 6 Comments »
Do you need to be on Facebook?
By Ken Varga | January 15, 2010
Again, I was asked this question. And the answer is yes, if you work it well.
The business magazines and newspapers are abuzz with articles and information on the rapid growth of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Businesses large and small are asking themselves whether they need to have a presence on these networking sites and are hastily trying to figure out how to fit social media into their marketing plans.
Do you have a Facebook page? If you haven’t yet built a presence, here are some things to consider before setting up a page for your business. If you already have a Facebook presence, some of this might help you.
Before you begin using social media like Facebook, you should define how you market and what types of marketing efforts have been most successful for your business. With over half of the Internet population using social networking on a regular basis, it is very important for every business to determine whether these are the appropriate media to reach the audiences that you want to reach. You should also determine if they frequent those sites.
You might find Facebook a valuable addition to your marketing mix or decide that it is not appropriate for your business, because it doesn’t fit your model.
As a business owner, you are the face of the business, and the business really reflects your personality. If you are a social individual, a person who makes and stays in touch with large numbers of people, then you probably already have a Facebook page and want to know how to make it more effective.
Facebook is an excellent thing to use to stay in touch in a very personal way with many individuals.
Here’s my suggestion…
Before you decide to use Facebook for marketing your business presence, try setting up a personal page for yourself and get acclimated to using the tools and features that Facebook offers.
While you are getting familiar with Facebook, pay particular attention to learning how to use the tools to manage your identity and keep your personal and business social elements separate.
If you are thinking of using your personal page as your business page, then you will want to carefully separate each sphere.
Let say that you are an avid golfer and run a business. You must decide if it is appropriate for all of your golf buddies to be on your Facebook page, posting pics that don’t project a strong business image. You must not do this. My suggestion is to have a separate identity. One for your personal self and one for building your business.
While you are learning to use the tools and manage your Facebook account, do valuable market research by asking your clients and prospects if they are on Facebook and ask them to join your network.
You can also use the search functions for Facebook to identify other individuals who are already on Facebook that could be your customers.
These are tough economic times, and everyone should be looking for ways to market their business in the most economical way. If you have the time to devote to building and using your social network for marketing, social media may have marketing potential for you.
One of the first things I’d suggest that you do is to learn the Etiquette that is appropriate for social media.
Remember this is your network of friends. You don’t want to loudly broadcast your message as you would with a traditional advertisement, but rather to influence nicely.
Join the conversations, build a personal facebook presence, and you will quickly see what it offers for your future.
Topics: Facebook, Social Media, Twitter | 4 Comments »
Profits versus create a customer
By Ken Varga | January 10, 2010
Stop for a moment and ask yourself this question. “What is the purpose of any Business?”
Most individuals would say, “To Make a Profit.” Personally, I feel that is the wrong answer. It’s part of the answer, but not the answer. Profits are a result or an outcome of what we do and they only tell us if our business strategy and execution are viable.
Peter Drucker stated that, “concentrating on the belief that creating profits as a purpose was not only wrong, it could very well be harmful. “ He felt that it causes a business to make bad decisions and lose sight of those things that delight customers. He also said, “There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”
The ultimate objective of a business is to satisfy customer needs and wants at a sustainable profit. The sustainable profit part is critical.
Customers are the ultimate asset for any profit making company. They really provide all of a company’s real value. Unfortunately, customers are one of the few aspects of a business that are not managed as an investment. We must always keep in mind that we must profitably provide a better solution for our customers than our competition.
There is an old saying, “A good salesman can sell anything once. The trick is getting them to buy again and again.” The reason I say this is because marketing gets translated most of the time into simply persuading someone to try something for the first time. Companies are constantly trying to change someone’s attitudes or behaviors.
Today’s customers buy competing products from multiple companies with seemingly no real loyalty. Therefore, the most important element in profits is designing ways to have your customers allocate a larger share of their wallets to you. In my Marketing Tips of the Week, and also this blog, I try to help you accomplish that.
So, in essence, the primary goal of marketing must be the creation of loyal, long-term customers out of first-time or occasional buyers. Accomplishing this requires a clear and precise understanding of what makes customers want to be loyal. Gathering and understanding customer needs is the job of marketing. Review the issues in my Marketing Tips of the Week that help you to accomplish this.
If you have any additional ideas to build loyalty, please comment.
Topics: Customer Retention, Lifelong Customers, customer acquisition | No Comments »
Building a relationship with cards
By Ken Varga | December 19, 2009
Season’s Greetings everyone. I wish you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season! Have fun and enjoy your family!
Now on to our topic…
Can you imagine what your Social Networking followers would think if you sent them a card in the mail?
In our predominantly digital world, how much could you stand out by taking a few moments to select a special greeting card and sending it to your, here I go, “peeps” via snail mail? There is a company that I highly recommend to do this. It’s called Send Out Cards.
It is a wonderful automated system.
After paying a membership fee, you can create and send out a greeting card via snail mail for under $2 (which includes postage). You can also send out gifts if you want.
With Send Out Cards, you can do annual campaigns, upload birthdays and anniversaries and send to groups of people or all of your contacts. Here’s what you can do…
Take a photo with someone well known, and then send that person a greeting card with the picture on the front. Or take a picture holding your favorite book or information product and send a card with that picture on the front to the author or writer of the information product. Make sure you put in a note thanking them. You can even upload your own handwriting.
The possibilities are tremendous.
Those of you who have assistants (virtual and otherwise) can use them to help streamline the process.
Setting up the system to work the way you want will be easier if someone takes you through the process the first time. So if after checking it out you decide you want to use it, I recommend that you contact Janet Ostrov at www.sendoutcards.com/36043 (This is Janet’s link. I am not an affiliate and do not get anything for this recommendation.) She’s an independent distributor for Send Out Cards and she’ll help you set up the system to do exactly what you want and make the process easy for you.
If you test this let me know your results.
Topics: Customer Retention, Differentiaing yourself from your competition, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Being Above The Crowd
By Ken Varga | December 12, 2009
Every business person has specific goals they are striving to achieve.
These can include everything from increasing their market share and sales, to reducing operating expenses, to streamlining the business, to being creative and taking share from the competition.
Here’s another worthy goal.
Invest the time to learn the key objectives of each of your customers. Then determine how your products or services can help them achieve their targets.
In some cases, you may not be able to help them, but you might be able to recommend them to someone else who can assist them. When you do this you will be recognized and remembered.
The more you can help them achieve their goals the more valued you will become.
Under promise and over deliver. This has been my motto for the last 40 years. As old as this expression is, it is still one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd.
Far too many people make commitments to their customers and fail to follow through as promised. It is easy to fall into this trap, especially for service-oriented occupations. We have every intention of delivering on a promise, but often unexpected circumstances crop up that prevent us from doing so. While once in a while this is acceptable by most people, frequent occurrences will drive your customers to your competition.
Consistently helping your customers achieve their key goals and objectives will put you above the crowd.
Let me know your thoughts.
Topics: Customer Retention, Differentiaing yourself from your competition, customer satisfaction | No Comments »
Becoming a fearless business in uncertain times.
By Ken Varga | December 5, 2009
Today is very uncertain. We wonder how our customers are going to have the money to purchase from us and constantly hear about the government taking more of our hard-earned dollars and wasting it.
When a market is crowded, burdened by a sluggish economy as we now have, only the fearless survive.
In economic times like these, the natural tendency for a business is to hunker down, cut back on expenses and try not to lose the business it has. Here’s a news flash—that’s exactly the strategy that will do you in and destroy you.
If you are not the business that is standing out, and standing for something important, your days could be numbered. Use the strengths of what makes you different to make a difference with your customers.
Now is the time to reward your customers for their loyalty, take them out to lunch, and stay connected through communications to them. This is the time and the moment, to deepen customer relationships to ensure your security and your business’ future.
It’s time to focus on what you do better than any other business and put that out there to your customers and prospects.
Businesses that shine a light on what is different about them are well positioned to make a difference in this economy. Getting behind a cause is good for business and makes you look like a hero.
Conformity is not distinguishing you as unique. You must keep reinventing yourself, changing with the times and with your customers as they change. You should be true to the essence of who you are, and giving everyone the image that you are brand new.
In these times of uncertainty, many individuals are confused about what to do and how to do it. Remember, uncertainty makes everyone, including me, question our own personal value and the value of our business, and why we are doing things. The fearless among us overcome these doubts by creating action, belief, and courage.
It is time to start raising your hand to make a difference. The story you convey about your company is what others will believe. You have a unique power to have others believe that you are indispensable; that is exactly what you will be, if you believe. So believe in yourself and you will overcome these times.
This brings up another important point: belief in yourself and what you offer is an important part of succeeding in this economy. Do you agree?
Topics: Recession | 4 Comments »
Leveraging Social Media
By Ken Varga | November 28, 2009
Most everyone I know loves to have their birthday recognized. And even though you may already have created a database of your customers with their birthdays, here’s an idea that you can use for your social networking groups, be it Facebook or others that you are on.
Facebook, for example, makes it very easy for you to see, track, and remember all the birthdays of your entire community. In fact, there is a feature that I just found out about, where you can receive a weekly email notification of all upcoming birthdays of those in your community.
Here’s how. Go to your settings and click on “Account Settings”. Click the tab for “Notifications” and then click “Show More” under the first section. Then highlight the check box next to “Has a birthday coming up.”
I recommend setting up a systematic approach to sending out your birthday wishes. You can set aside a certain time each day in your calendar to log into Facebook and write on the walls of friends with birthdays that day. This shows that you care and can create visibility for you.
Be creative with your greeting. They will mean a lot to your followers.
I would love to hear some comments about additional ways you have found to use Social Networking sites like Facebook to build relationship with your community.
Topics: Customer Retention, Lifelong Customers | No Comments »
Reputation, Influence and Branding
By Ken Varga | November 21, 2009
I’ve often had experiences dealing with businesses that were very negative. One time the experience is good, and the next time bad. Why?
I use the phrase, “Repetition is Reputation.” When you are consistent, you build the trust of individuals.
Influence and branding are built on consistency. People like knowing what to expect. You can wow them or over-deliver, but do it consistently.
Make it easy for potential customers to understand who you are and what you do, and they will be more likely to say “YES” when you approach them.
Have any of you had the experience of dealing with someone who wasn’t consistent? Share it with us.
Topics: Branding, Customer Retention, customer satisfaction | 4 Comments »