Let’s suppose you are the owner, marketing director, or sales manager of a firm that specializes in outside sales, but at the same time may have inside sales as well. The market isn’t doing what you want it to do, but deep down you know that your sales force could do a lot more than it’s now doing. It just isn’t doing it well enough, and you need the business—now!

You've tried all of the ideas, tips, and suggestions you can find; and you’ve used every gimmick and gadget known to improve sales, and although there are sales spurts, nothing seems to work for very long. Does this sound like your firm? Here are a few ideas you might have missed that not only don’t cost much, but can have phenomenal results!

The Sales De-Motivation Syndrome
Whether they will own-up to it or not, many otherwise stellar sales persons (and the rest of us as well) have a deeply entrenched fear of rejection that is most often the prime sales de-motivator, especially when things aren’t going as great as management feels they should be going.

Regular calls by a sales person are sometimes felt to be an intrusion by the customer, and a sensitive sales person with a company-backed requirement to perform picks up this feeling of intrusion, which results in increased reluctance on the sales person to make new calls or even to step-up the pace of existing calls. Being in a down market doesn’t help, but there is one thing for sure: there is always room for improvement.

Your task is to figure a way to increase sales, and to get the sales person and your customer listening on the same side of the ledger. One method could be a selling seminar.

Selling Seminar Solution
A selling seminar is just what it sounds like. It is a seminar put on by you, featuring an industry guru with answers, and is designed to increase sales of your goods and services. It is not intended to be intrusive, but informative. It gives your sales force renewed confidence by removing some of the fear of rejection, and can dramatically increase your sales by presenting new products or services to existing and potential customers. To be most effective you should hold four seminars each year in each geographical market to maintain a presence with your customers. Understand, this is a continuing project, not a one-time fix-everthing deal. Here are the ingredients of a successful selling seminar.

Ingredients

1. Begin by setting a date for your selling seminar far enough in advance to provide ample time to advise clients and prospective clients of the event. Put your marketing team to work on this aspect.

2. Design the invitation to stress four benefits to the attendee: the new and/or innovative products or service offerings they will see; the benefit to their firm by using these new products or services; the possibility of making new friends and business contacts in their related industries; and the ability to visit with the competition in an safe, open, easy forum. The secret is benefits, benefits, benefits and benefits.

3. Make a deal with one or more of your suppliers to help defray expenses by underwriting a speaker, paying for refreshments, or supplying door prizes as well as supplying demonstration equipment and sales material. Use anything and anyone that would complement your offer, including firms that supply raw materials or subassemblies for your product or service. Don’t gloss-over this thinking you can do it all yourself, you can’t! It’s just as important to show you use great materials, as it is to say you produce great materials!

4. Make this a friendly and happy event. In fact, consider hiring a firm that arranges parties to do the ‘people’ part of your selling seminar. Be sure you and your staff wear smiles, great big name tags, and since the tendency is to spend time with friendly faces, make it a requirement that you and your staff circulate, missing no one!

5. Hire one of your industry’s gurus to put on the actual seminar, and make it very clear that he or she knows the purpose of the selling seminar. It’s great to have a well-known speaker, but the topic should be something every one of your customers would like to hear.

Benefits

1. A selling seminar is a very cost effective way to open new doors, to invigorate your sales talent, and have your customers, suppliers, and industry leaders in one place at one time.

2. By doing something completely different, you will develop a new and renewed presence for your firm. Your customers will perceive you as an innovator, a mover, and a shaker in your field.

3. By removing some of the barriers, your sales force will gain new vigor and drive, and sales will increase.

4. You will invigorate existing customers, and if your marketing and sales team does their job, new prospects will visit your seminar and remain as customers.

5. This is not retrenchment time, it’s go-after-the-gold time! So … What’s keeping you from success? Visit Paul Tulenko’s web site at: www.tulenko.com or send snail-mail comments to: 2320 La Vista Court NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120.