Last week: Why many small businesses fail
So how can you develop this skill? It’s as easy as picking up a book. Audio programs are also a brilliant and time-effective way to develop your selling and marketing skills, particularly if you drive a lot. You can turn your car into a university on wheels. Seminars and workshops are also useful but often mean taking time out of your business schedule or going after hours when you are often too tired to concentrate. On-line training programs are a great alternative but choose carefully; a program that has a coaching and mentoring component with a ‘live’ mentor or coach makes an enormous difference.
The return on investment for dollars invested in such training can be enormous. Our research shows it to be somewhere in excess of 14:1. That is a 1400% return on your investment and great insurance for the success of your business.
The vital skills
So what skills will impact your business most? Without a doubt it is your ‘prospecting skills’ – the ability to get yourself in front of people who can use your products or services, as often as you can. There are many effective ways of doing this via some intelligent and often-times inexpensive marketing. I can guarantee that if you follow up such a promotion in a systematic manner, area by area, using face-to-face or telephone contact, you can improve your results by hundreds of percent. It’s also vital to have a powerful, well-thought-out ‘opening statement’. I have a client who built a successful gardening and home repairs business in an area populated by executive families on one simple question: ‘Is your time worth more than the few dollars you would pay me to do your garden maintenance?’
These skills can mean the difference between a successful, profitable business and a disaster.
Another important skill to develop is the skill of asking for ‘referral business’. I call it the ‘golden chain to success’. If you have a satisfied client, isn’t it likely that this client has friends or relatives who can also benefit from what you can offer? Often all you need to do is ask. The key is knowing how to, without pressure. It can be as simple as three questions: ‘Mr/Ms Client are you happy with what I provide you? Do you have any friends or relatives who could benefit as much as you do? Would you mind if I ask who they are?’
Another skill that I see sadly lacking in most small businesses is the skill of handling incoming telephone enquiries. It amazes me that a businessperson would spend thousands of dollars on advertising and nothing on ensuring that when the telephone rings, the call is converted to business. It’s a skill that can be easily developed. These skills can mean the difference between a successful, profitable business and a disaster.
Develop skills
I believe that Peter is sitting on a fortune with his ice-cream business. All he needs to do is develop some selling skills, which in turn will give him the confidence to go out and get more wholesale business than he could ever dream of, from restaurants and retail ice-cream outlets all over Melbourne.
Are you sitting on a fortune in your business? Could you double or even quadruple your sales if you were serious enough to develop the skills necessary to move your business into high gear? I work with hundreds of businesspeople every year who are doing exactly this, even during this recession. All it takes is a decision to get serious and seek out the education. Let me know how it goes!
Wayne Berry, CEO, Top Gun Sales Business International Pty Ltd
