Sales Drying Up? What To Do When You Get Stuck in a Sales Sahara Desert
Every now and then when you least expect it, your sales will dry so fast your mouth puckers. I call it “The Sahara Desert Dry Spell”. When it happens, it will suck every ounce of energy out of you if you don’t know what to do!
When the Sales Well Goes Dry
The reason Sahara Desert Dry Spells are so tough to deal with is because they happen so unexpectedly. It starts when you lose business that you were counting on, usually due to changes outside your control. If you get caught unprepared, what follows is a Sahara Desert Dry Spell.
It happened to me when I lost FOUR of my largest television advertising accounts in one year. Nothing to do with me, but I was left scrambling to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Losing those HUGE clients was a really tough lesson, especially as 100% commission salesperson. It forced me to become REALLY CREATIVE and also to make sure it never happened to me again.
So What Is a Sahara Sales Desert?
You’re selling like crazy, working your little buns off and then WHAM the sales start disappearing and you start to panic. The key to avoiding the dry spell from hell is knowing what to do.
Plan Ahead! If you are too busy working in your business instead of ON your business, you will have one dry spell after another. You must plan ahead and determine the months of the year that your sales increase or decrease and then create a strategy on what to do!
Have Some Reserves! (Camels Do!) Most people in business are under-capitalized. You have to SAVE or have access to money to help you weather a DRY SPELL so you don’t react in a manner that is totally short-term thinking. A dry spell is not a good reason to cancel advertising, stop promoting yourself, or not invest any professional development. If you are at that point, then you aren’t making wise business decisions and you have more DRY SPELLS in your future. GUARANTEED.
Don’t Have All Your Water On One Camel! It happened to me and it could happen to you. Who is your biggest client? Now imagine that client goes out of business, retires, chooses another provider – where would YOU BE? Don’t keep all of your revenue in a handful of clients otherwise if something goes wrong – you will need a HANDFUL OF KLEENEX!
Make Sure You Are Headed For An Oasis and NOT a Mirage! Do you have realistic sales targets? Do you have an established sales and marketing plan for the next year or are you WINGING IT? How much do you want to earn this year? Write out in detail how you are going to achieve that goal.
Remember this piece of advice: “Dig the well before you are thirsty.” Otherwise you will be looking at a dry bank account because your sales have flat-lined or dropped. Get creative with your sales and become your own rainmaker!
Want more sassy sales advice? Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report “The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make” at www.salesdivas.com
Business 101: Are You Giving Too Much Away Because You Are Afraid to Sell? How to Get Over Your Fear of Selling
Maybe you’re one of them. A “sales-natural.” Selling has always come easy to you and you’ve never felt any kind of fear during the sales process.
Then, dear reader, this article is NOT for you (get out there and sell something)!
However, if you love what you do, but on a regular basis (waaaaaaaay more than you’d like to admit) you’ve experienced some stress over your sales – hey- you’re in the right place!
Sales stress can happen anywhere – either just thinking about it, or meeting with a client or lying awake at night at 3 am panicking about your revenues.
Plus you catch yourself “giving too much away” – too much free info, free meetings, free advice, free products…and that’s causing you even more stress and some resentment. Why? Because all those freebies aren’t turning into sales revenue for you.
3 Reasons Why We Worry About Selling:
- Because you really like helping people and you hate the thought of being salesy or pushy!
- You have great passion for your product or service, but you wonder why your customers don’t understand that FASTER.
- Rejection and no customers means no money- honey! (This is what really scares you)!
Listen. I know selling can feel like an on-going root canal. Here’s Why: You Don’t Know What You’re Doing!
Selling is like all things in life – when you first start doing something it feels uncomfortable and awkward. So you stop. Which makes it even harder the next time.
Focus on your strengths. Remember you like helping people, and you have a product or service that people are looking for – so now dive into the following tips!
6 Foolproof Sales Tips For The Faint-Hearted
#1: Attract versus Chase – Cold-calling is dead. I repeat – cold-calling is dead. Get some credibility and referrals instead so people are drawn to you versus being repelled! (Trust me – the world does not need another pushy salesperson)
#2: Customers Need To Know You Exist – Look, the philosophy of build it and they will come has sunk a thousand ships. You need to network, get in front of people, potentially advertise, join associations, get into the media. Do not sit quietly in front of your phone or website hoping for gold coins to drop from the heavens. Make it happen!
#3: Customers Don’t Buy From “Risky Companies” – Sorry, you may have the most amazing youth juice on the market, but if Oprah isn’t using it (or any of my friends), then I probably won’t either! Remember – you need to build credibility – so get some REAL TESTIMONIALS as fast as you can. Let people sample your stuff SOMEHOW.
#4: Being Boring Will Make You Broke – Don’t worry about the so-called competition. You need to STAND OUT from the crowd – what makes you unique and oh-so-compelling? If you don’t know, then I guarantee your customer won’t either.
#5: Follow-Up “Forever” – Everyone asks me when they should quit following-up. Hmmm. It depends. Make sure you’re following up with the customers who are the best fit for you. Everyone else – release. Be creative with your follow-up: social media, of course, use a monthly e-zine, blog, direct mail, Fed Ex – think of 5 different ways you can stay in touch and keep bringing ADDED VALUE to your customer.
#6: Give Hors d’Oeuvres NOT The Whole Turkey – If you give people too many appetizers before a big dinner – you guessed it – they don’t eat much of your big, fancy-schmancy turkey dinner. In business, we do have to share our advice and/or product, but we do it AS TRACKABLE TEASERS. You shouldn’t be giving anything away unless you’re getting something in return. Email address for your newsletter, for example. You need to TRACK those freebies to see if they’ve turned into sales.
You’re not a coward. Or a chicken. You’re someone who is really serious about learning what it takes to create success. That’s fabulous!
So here’s a Diva Dare for you – go through the above tips and choose 3 activities you can do within the next 7 days. No whining. Procrastinating. Complaining. So there.
Want more sassy, savvy sales tips for women? Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report “The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make” at www.salesdivas.com!
Business 101: Why Cold Calling Sucks – 7 Alternatives to Dialing for Dollars to Get Sales
If you’re a woman in sales –sooner or later you’re going to be tempted, coerced, bribed, or threatened to make daily and weekly cold calls. My word of advice?
DON’T DO IT!
Now let’s be clear here. If there was a DEAD BEAT SALES TOOL AWARD – cold-calling would win hands down. Here’s why. A cold call is when:
• You contact someone you don’t know
• They don’t know you either
• You interrupt someone’s day (as they don’t know you HOW could they be expecting you?)
• You’re more than likely leaving long-winded voice mail messages
• You’re afraid to leave a message so you don’t
• Your customer doesn’t answer the phone as they don’t answer numbers they don’t know
• You’re filtered through voice mail and call display
• You spend hours trying to connect with strangers and spark a relationship that doesn’t exist
• 99% of the people you contact NEVER call you back
• Repeat the same nasty process all over again
• You’re happy with really crappy results.
Feeling excited yet? I thought so. Now you also know how the person on the other end of the line feels. So. Let’s move you away from stuffy and stupid old-school sales techniques to…
7 Sales Diva Smart Strategies To Do Now:
#1: Referrals - Want new customers? Easy. Each time you’re in the process of working with your customers, ASK if they would help spread the word about you. Referrals are the FASTEST way to grow your sales and yet most people AVOID doing it as they don’t want “to bug” their customer. You’re NOT BUGGING THEM – you’re asking for their advice.
#2: Email Introductions – Many people have great intentions of phoning people to refer to you but they get busy. So ask them to send a quick email introduction. MOST OF THEM WILL DO IT – and FAST.
#3: Testimonials – Tell customers that you’d like to share their success and also help promote them. Then get a testimonial that shows what the problem was, what the process was working with you and what the end result was. Ask them to be as specific as possible and also if they could use a NUMBER. For example, “My skin looked better in 3 days” or “I had 4 times the sales after working with the Sales Diva”. (Couldn’t resist!)
#4: Hang Out Where Your Customers Hang Out - Networking is great as long as you’re connecting with the right people. If they aren’t your customers – then what are you doing?? Ask your customers what types of associations they belong to and then attend as a guest and eventually join as a supplier member. Note: You don’t have to own a hotel to be in the Hotel and Restaurant Association.
#5: Speak at Events – You don’t have to be a professional speaker to do this. But you do have to have something interesting, and educational to share. If you like speaking – then this is a wonderful opportunity to do 15 minute to 1 hour presentations where you TEACH people versus doing a big sales pitch. It positions you as an expert in your field.
#6: Tap your Database - Want to work with someone? Then send an email note to your personal database, Facebook fan base, twitter followers and ask if anyone knows the company/person that YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW. Ask them to do an introduction for you.
#7: Postcards – Choose a list of prospects that you’d like to ATTRACT and send them a postcard with a cool testimonial on the front. It stirs people up, makes them curious and it is through the postal service – so it’s something they can touch versus always through a computer.
So there. 7 Cool and very smart ideas for you to STOP COLD CALLING and for you to attract LOADS MORE CUSTOMERS. NEVER cold call again, lady. Now. Get cracking!
Want more sassy sales tips for women? Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report “The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make” at www.salesdivas.com
The BIG Idea File: Why they CLICK – The Secret to Writing Killer Headlines that GRAB Attention
Uh-Oh. Are you making this horrid marketing mistake?
Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn.
Why am I so tired?
Well – in the past 24 hours, hundreds of emails, thousands of tweets and just as many facebook posts have crossed my path. And the majority of them are SO BORING that they get deleted or ignored as fast as they come in.
So how many do I actually open or bother to click on? Well – I certainly don’t open the DULL ones. I ONLY open emails or click on links from people I know OR those that have a headline that captures my interest.
Are You Making The Horrid Marketing Mistake of……BEING BORING??
The secret to engaging your audience is to write attention-grabbing headlines. I like to share fun, whimsical, or outright stupid every day experiences that also have a sales lesson. And I do it by being a little odd AND always making sure I have a headline that makes someone’s “curiosity antennae” go up.
Because remember, cupcake. Unless someone actually READS your ezine, email, tweet, Facebook posting …you’re just spinning your wheels for nothing.
One of the big myths in marketing is that you have a “captive audience.” That your newsletter subscribers, followers or facebook fans will want and HAVE to open your email, retweet your tweet or click on your link.
Yeah right.
I don’t know about you – but when I see an email that sounds too promotional, too salesy, too dull – basically NOTHING about me….I DELETE IT. The same goes for tweets and facebook posts. The dull, salesy ones get ignored.
I don’t read it. Ever.
Which Means Your Potential Customers Won’t:
• Click the link to buy your product
• Won’t click the link to go to your website
• Hear about your new location, sale or whatever
• Spend money with you
• Spread the word about you on Twitter and Facebook
Because frankly my dear, they just don’t give a damn.
You Have To Remember The First Rule of Selling.
Want to know what the FIRST RULE of Selling is?
A rule that will save you loads of time and make you more money?
Hmmm. Thought so.
Marketing Has To Make People CURIOUS
We only pay attention to things that relate to us, our problems and our dreams. You want your customers to lean and think “What’s That About?” Because we have to FEEL something in order to become engaged, interested, drooling with joy – get my drift?
So Here Are 5 Critical Marketing Activities You Have To Do RIGHT NOW:
• Know what frustrates your customers the most
• Use the word YOU or YOUR in the headline
• Throw in some delicious adjectives to liven things up!
• Quit training people to ignore you
• Track your results
Now – get writing!!
So there.
Kim Duke, CEO and Founder of www.salesdivas.com provides sassy and savvy sales advice for women in business! Sign up for her weekly ezine (that thousands RAVE about) and you’ll receive her 30-page FREE report: The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make.
Business 101: 3 Outrageous Ways To Double Your Sales!
I knew that would catch your attention lady!
Recently I had someone ask me if a 10% increase in sales was good.
I could actually feel one eyebrow starting to rise to the ceiling (aka Sarah Jessica Parker) when I was looking at her, as I was thinking…
“Honey – why are you happy with 10% when you can have 100% (or more!)?”
I’m not being coy.
You bet – a 10% increase in sales is good but it isn’t great. And unless you have huge profit margins or you are Walmart - 10% isn’t going to make much of a dent in your revenues.
So let’s look at it as a step in the right direction.
3 Outrageous Ways To Double Your Sales
So first of all, why are my suggestions going to feel outrageous to you?
Easy. Because you’re NOT DOING THEM. (remember – I have Diva ESP – I know what you’re up to!)
Outrageous Step #1: Leverage Existing Clients.
Here’s the thing. Repeat clients will spend 20-67% MORE EACH TIME if you’re offering new ways for them to purchase from you.
Write down the Top 30% of your clients and write this underneath:
- My New Product Lines. (if you don’t have any – then get cracking!)
- Ask for 3 referrals per customer. (you’re going to get on the phone lady!)
- Client divisions/needs I haven’t sold to. (what has changed with your customer – are you only meeting a small portion of their needs?)
Outrageous Step #2: Ask Clients To Buy More Frequently
Remember – Coke dropped out of the “cola wars” when they realized they only needed to sell ONE MORE LITRE of Coke per year to the customers who already loved them.
Are you like FLAT POP when it comes to this too?
Ask yourself – why should my clients buy from me MORE OFTEN? Write this down:
- What incentive can I offer them to buy more?
- Who could I create a strategic alliance with to offer a NEW BONUS to my clients?
Outrageous Step #3: Raise Your Rates!
Look. If you’re someone who has no control over your company’s pricing – then quit reading this step and go back and re-read the first 2 points. No whining.
But for the rest of you girls – who have COMPLETE CONTROL of your pricing because you’re a business owner – let me ask you a question.
“Are you being a chicken when it comes to raising your rates?”
When most women hear this from me they think they ’re going to be ripping off their customers or they will lose business.
Here’s what I have to say on this. ( you know I always have an opinion!)
Noooooo – you aren’t going to rip off customers because I can bet that you’re giving away too much for free right now.
Secondly – you WILL LOSE some business and that is OK. It leaves room for the right clients who DO have the money to spend with you.
Your Diva Fun-Work Assignment?
Quit settling for small. It isn’t becoming, it doesn’t suit you and it is squishing you in all the wrong places!
Block off 60 minutes in the next 7 days to dive into the exercises above and make next year the year of DOUBLING YOUR SALES!
So there.
MOMeo Chat: Rock your sales and marketing mojo with an ezine!
Rock your sales and marketing mojo with an ezine!
THIS WEEK: Thursday March 18th at 7 pm MTN / 9 pm EST
What is the #1 rule in business – no matter what the business? Build your list. You hear it over and over, but how can you maximize your ezine as a marketing and sales tool?
Well…join MOMeoChat as expert panelists @SalesDiva Kim Duke and @NikaStewart share their secrets to rocking your sales with your ezine!
Do you have any burning questions you’d like to ask our panelists?
Add them to the comments below and don’t forget to add your twitter name so other #MOMeoChat participants can follow you on twitter! Don’t forget to use the proper syntax: http://twitter.com/momeo!
Stay for the Official After Party from 8 pm MTN / 10 pm EST to 9 pm MTN / 11 pm and get to know your fellow #MOMeoChat participants!
About #MOMeoChat Twitter Hashtag Parties!
Every week on Thursday from 7 pm MTN / 9 pm EST, join MOMeo Community and MOMeo Magazine for #MOMeoChat on Twitter!
Every week, we will bring you expert panelists to talk about and answer YOUR questions on building your business, family and household management and finding a little playtime time for yourself!
The best secret to keeping your customers thrilled: In a digital world, handwritten notes are worth the extra effort
It was one of those days.
I had lots of work, feeling like there wasn’t enough time to do it all, loads of visitors expected at any minute, and my dog had just decided to throw up on the carpet.
In the midst of it all, I dashed outside to check my mailbox. It was stuffed full of fliers, bills…everything pretty ho-hum. And then I saw it.
A package, with handwriting. I knew it contained something FUN!
I opened it up and immediately started laughing. It was a cute little notepad with a cartoon woman with the caption: “Put your big girl panties on and deal with it” and a handwritten note:
“Kim,
I thought of you when I saw this notepad.
The content in your newsletter is fabulous!
Thanks!
Frankie”
Honestly – I laughed so hard I had tears. It was EXACTLY the kind of mail I needed to lighten the load that day.
That’s the best secret to keeping your customers thrilled. If you want to stir the pot, create strong relationships, make an impact and show that you’re not just someone chasing the money, send Fun Mail to your customers.
I bet you feel the same way about receiving a nice little handwritten card, envelope or package in the mail. You feel special. That someone is thinking about you.
We remember those people who make us feel special. So do your customers.
What can you send in the mail?
Four Rules:
- It has to be all about the customer
- Don’t include a bunch of sales material
- Don’t send anything junky (unless you know they’d love it!)
- It must be sent via mail or courier
What can you send? Easy.
- Thank you cards (more on that below!)
- Birthday/Congratulations/Any type of card will do!
- An article, website info, cartoon, joke – anything tasteful and relevant
- Gift card
- Recipe(s)
- Bubble bath
- Bookmarks
- Chocolate
- Books
- Magazine subscriptions
- Basically anything!
Before you start licking stamps, there’s a difference between thank you cards and Fun Mail.
1) Thank you cards can be sent anytime, to anyone. Why should you send a thank you card? When someone has:
- Bought from you
- Said no to you – (thank them for the time and opportunity)
- Met you for coffee and given some advice
- Sent you a referral
- Helped you in ANY WAY!
2) Fun Mail is meant for the big love.
You should focus your fun mail efforts on customers, potential customers and connections that fall into your top 20 per cent. Otherwise, you’d spend your entire life at the post office – and really – we need you for more than that!
Before the end of the week – send some Fun Mail to five of your favorite clients as well as five thank you cards to people who have helped you recently.
You’ll also discover this is one sales activity you might just fall in love with.
Are your sales plugged? MOMeo’s 30 Day Challenge continues with Kim Duke – The Sales Diva!
Some of the comments and questions I receive from all over the world sometimes make me wonder if I’m the Sales Plumber instead of The Sales Diva!
Comments such as:
“My sales are plugged!”
“I feel blocked”
“Kim – my sales are stuck!”
Well lady – there’s a famous quote that applies to sales as well.
“A body in motion stays in motion.”
Is your sales pipeline plugged?
If your sales are plugged, slow or non-existent, it’s because of one word. Are you ready – it may HURT!
Inconsistency.
Your sales suck (and are stuck!) because you’re being inconsistent with:
networking
promotion
follow-up with clients and prospects
-
all types of marketing that you’re avoiding
Did any of the above sting a little? I hope it did.
Because the “STOP. GO. STOP. GO. STOP” approach to your sales and marketing HAS to end, lady.
Remember –“a body in motion stays in motion.”
That is how MOMENTUM is created in business.
When you’re focused on consistently getting the word out to your prospects, clients, strategic alliances on a DAILY basis you will not believe what will start to happen.
New fabulous clients will pop out of the woodwork.
Strategic alliances will call out of the blue.
The media starts getting wind of you.
BIG opportunities you can’t imagine JUST SHOW UP.
Your bank account starts to blossom, not bleed.
Some bossy Sales Diva advice? Sit down and make a daily plan of at least 3 to 5 activities you need to do EVERY DAY that will grow your business.
So there.
Sign-Up for the 30 Day MOMentum Challenge: 30 Days to Build Unstoppable Momentum
Kim Duke, CEO of www.salesdivas.com is an international sales expert for women in sales. Sign up for her sassy and savvy advice at www.salesdivas.com and also receive her SMOKING HOT 30-page free report: The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make.
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