The Business Development Blog

Great Potential and Progress

So far this year we've seen some significant growth in sales and progress toward building a better company at the Business Development Report. We want to share our observations with you and let you know that this year is off to great start.

The potential for greater growth with the new opportunities in family portraits and other services is a harbinger for great things to come. The Business Development Director salutes everyone for their parts in contributing to the progress that we have all made in the beginning of the year.

Keep this progress in mind as we head into the busy photography season. Remember to stay motivated and together we will convert a lot more sales and make a lot more money.

Pioneers Thrive with the Demise of Tradition

As the busy season for photography begins, keep the title of this article in mind as inspiration to think differently about what you are doing when you are doing it. Remember that even though you are offering a service in photography that has been around for almost 200 years, it is an industry that has been invented and reinvented by pioneers over and over in the course of that time. Now it is your turn to activate your thinking cap and come up with the next revision to that history. So try to think about new ways to sell an old service, new spins on the approach you might be taking to sales, and look for hidden value because opportunities do not knock, they wait.

 

Keeping this mindset will help you to understand the potential in this industry where it seems that these days the only constant is change, and that the traditional ways of doing things may not always be the only way of doing them. So even if you are not the most experienced or versed in technical training, there is a place for your ideas out there. Do not be afraid to speak up and share them. You just might make a major and profitable contribution to making money taking photos.

 

 

 

The Complete Sales Approach

We here at the Business Development Report have made a point to preach preparedness and practice as a means to converting more sales and making more money. We still believe those to be the key ingredients in the recipe for success at sales. In addition to those important factors, there is one often overlooked factor that can be the difference between making a few sales and putting up Michael Jordan numbers in terms of sales.

The approach we are talking about is to always use every single tool available to you in the sales process. From an initial email to a thank you note in appreciation of the client's time and interest, the sales process is a lengthy one, but one where forgetting to apply one step or another can mean huge differences in results.

Why are most sales jobs seasonal? Why are some sales people changing jobs every 6 months? One answer is that it is easy to lose focus and thus need to be retrained selling something different in order to convert sales and make the money. Don't fall in this trap!

The best advice from the Business Development Report when you feel as though your approach might be lacking in the results department is to stop and look at what you did when you were making big sales and compare that to your present situation. The differences can be because it is simply a time when clients were more receptive; however it can be because we forge steps in the process. It's easy to become lazy when sales are easy so when the going gets tough you need to refocus and double your efforts by being as thorough as possible to get the same results.

As unfair as it seems, the fact that things get harder and seasonally it will require twice the effort to get half of the results makes getting better results during the more conducive periods easier. Think of it as weight training for your sales skills. No pain, no gain.

Remember to appreciate the difficulty you are having during periods of down sales at getting a client's attention and converting a sale and carry that around with you when times are good and you can walk into anyone's office and get 10-15 meetings a day. You may be tempted to blitz through those clients with abandon at the hope that someone will give you an easy sale without you having to do the follow-up or go through the whole process. Don't get greedy! Treat each and every client during those periods in the same way that you would if you couldn't get one meeting in a week.

Avoid sales fatigue like the plague! Just because you're making more calls with fewer results doesn't mean you should ease up or skip steps in making your proposals to clients. Be aware of the fact that you might be forgetting steps and remind yourself to take each client seriously and methodically. By doing this you have a better chance of being successful at all times; not just when it's easy to get sales.

 

 

Speed Up When Everyone Slows Down

Hello again from your friends at the Business Development Report! This week we are going to give you more examples of how you can be more successful by avoiding conventional wisdom and convert more sales and make money.

Typically the signs of a slowdown around us, whether it's in traffic or financial markets or sales seasons is a signal that we should slow down too, right? WRONG! That kind of thinking may keep you from running into the back of that minivan on I-95 during the start of rush hour, but in the world of sales it is the absolute wrong idea. When everyone says it's time to slow down, we say it's time to hit the gas, and hit it hard.

Right now red lights are everywhere. Clients are booked with other vendors, they're more evasive than ever, they just won't return your phone calls and they certainly won't give you the time of day when you walk in off the street for a meeting. So what should you do? Conventional thinking says it's time to cozy up on the couch and get re-acquainted with Maury Povich and Oprah Winfrey. But we're here to tell you it's time to double your efforts, but at the same time, be smart about it. In the same way that the squeaky wheel gets oiled, the sales person who stays in the face of a customer gets the sale, even in the "down" times. The opportunities may not be nearly as easy to come by during these times as they are normally for a lot of external reasons, but the efforts you put to be in the face of the customer will be rewarding when they are once again looking for vendors.

Even if it feels as though you are being ignored, you must remember that when you have a large need for a service like a photography vendor, you hope to only have to make a decision once. And once that decision is made you don't want to worry about choosing someone else because to most people there are not many distinguishing characteristics between photography companies, only idiosyncratic differences in price and service, but to the untrained eye, they're all the same.

In order to make yourself stand out among the pantheon of companies and sales people vying for this business, you must be either the first person who contacts the client, the person who contacts them at the perfect time, the person who comes up with a solution to a recent problem, or the most persistent person who wears down their resistance.

The process never ends because the market may grow and contract as new players enter and exit, but for the most part the players stay the same; the only thing that changes are the needs and opportunities available to you. If you think about those clients in the longer term, you see that eventually they might be your clients, so any efforts you make to go above and beyond the competition without being too pushy or overbearing will pay handsome dividends.

Consider all of the businesses you can't get right now as future clients, make sure that you go the extra mile for them now when everyone else has gone home to watch soap operas. Continue to contact them and keep in their face because they are not going anywhere. Your challenge is to show them that you are not going anywhere either.

Advice of the Week #5

We are all fortunate to have opportunities to challenge the conventional and change the way things are done in business. It is important to remember that not everyone thinks this way and that some people are as fiercely opposed to change as some of us are in favor of it.

The best encouragement I have for you fellow advocates of change is to pay attention to the results, the numbers, and the tangible growth you see around you on a daily basis. Keep that in mind when the naysayers tell you it can't be done, or that you're wrong. When you look at change in those terms, you will see progress and that is the best justification for change possible.

Become the Miracle Cure

You need to become a relentless publisher of all the vulnerabilities of typical photography companies. Know them, tell them to your clients and be different.

Remember; it always takes PAIN AND SUFFERING for money to change hands. If your client is experiencing the pain of a bad photography experience, then your job is easy.

It is easier to sell a cure than a preventative measure and if you don't believe me, compare your monthly medical insurance bill to your monthly bill for vitamins, exercise, and herbal supplements. Find the problem, be the cure and remember this: You'll always make more money, with less pain and suffering for yourself, by selling a cure rather than a preventive measure.

 

 

 

Attitude Sells, Make Sure You’ve Got it Right

Make no mistake about it; the difference between the people producing big sales and those who are not is about 1 thing; their attitude. Believe it or not, the attitude and confidence you portray to potential clients walking into a meeting is what can make or break your ability to close a sale.

Nearly every successful sales person I have ever known shares this single trait of confidence that what they are selling is the best, and that the clients should try to convince them why it isn't and not the other way around.

Walking into a meeting with the knowledge that you have the best deal around, you know how to make these people's lives and businesses easier and more profitable makes convincing them of that fact way easier. It sounds intuitive, but it is extremely important. You have to believe it, walk it, talk it, and live it. You are not acting, there is no deception here and when you convert the sale both you the sales person and them the client, will be better off for it. Stop trying to close sales and start closing them. In the words of the wise Jedi Master, Yoda, "Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."

So get out there and do it.

 

Attitude Sells, Make Sure You’ve Got it Right

Make no mistake about it; the difference between the people producing big sales and those who are not is about 1 thing; their attitude. Believe it or not, the attitude and confidence you portray to potential clients walking into a meeting is what can make or break your ability to close a sale.

Nearly every successful sales person I have ever known shares this single trait of confidence that what they are selling is the best, and that the clients should try to convince them why it isn't and not the other way around.

Walking into a meeting with the knowledge that you have the best deal around, you know how to make these people's lives and businesses easier and more profitable makes convincing them of that fact way easier. It sounds intuitive, but it is extremely important. You have to believe it, walk it, talk it, and live it. You are not acting, there is no deception here and when you convert the sale both you the sales person and them the client, will be better off for it. Stop trying to close sales and start closing them. In the words of the wise Jedi Master, Yoda, "Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."

So get out there and do it.

 

“I’m Not the Decision Maker”

We've all been there before, you're meeting with a potential lead they have a wealth of interest and questions about your products and service, you give them your pitch, answer their questions, and then the conversation hits a road block when you ask for the sale and they tell you they can't make a decision. Meeting with these tire-kickers who are underlings for the powers that be is often easier than getting to the real deal, but like kissing your sister, these encounters rarely produce any real results.

 

The question is, "What do you do?" The first obvious choice is to try to get in front of the decision maker (seems obvious, huh?). For the most elusive decision makers, you need to take drastic measures to get their time and their attention. The first thing you can do is personally address a letter to them containing a list of at least 10 reasons why they should want to meet with you- not why you want to meet with them. Let them know why spending the time you need to deliver your pitch will be of benefit to them. Next, if you can't get through a gate keeper for an appointment, send the letter via Certified Mail. This will definitely get their attention since most people don't ignore certified letters, and this shows creativity and tenacity on your part.

 

If you are able to convert this approach and get a meeting, you should prepare your presentation with thoughtful research that can be aided by the "tire-kicker" you talked to earlier who couldn't make the decision. Get your facts straight before you present; otherwise you might just be wasting your time.

Finally, if all else fails and you just can't get in front of the right people and all you get is the "tire-kicker" who can't make the decision (these are the same people who test drive cars at Bentley dealerships when they currently drive a Buick) you just have to walk away. That's right- even in midsentence, just walk. If you know you've got the wrong person, you need to get out of there and chase other opportunities.

 

At first it might seem scary, eventually it can be liberating, but the confidence to walk from a prospect that won't give you the time of day , or isn't the right person to make the decision should build your confidence by way of the fact you know you can do better elsewhere.

 

Avoid Canned Explanations

Once you've crafted a thoughtful and concise pitch to get an appointment with a client, don't lose the sale by sounding too "salesy" and delivering canned responses to questions rife with buzz words that don't mean anything.

Using a well crafted pitch to get your foot in the door usually qualifies you for a round of Q&A with a client that can be the difference between you either making money and converting a sale, or hearing them tell you to go pound sand. The key to maneuvering between rehearsed and responsive is to remember that these people are being constantly sought after by sales people every day. Most of whom are self-interested and don't have any stake in what they are selling. Your advantage is to take ownership of the deal by creating relevancy between the two of you.

Simply put, you have to remember that most of the sales pitches and marketing they receive are a series of canned routines. They aren't relevant and they are not responsive to the specific needs of the customer. Most sales trainers actively preach dogmatic explanations for "what makes us better" and "why you should work with me" often to the detriment of the sales person's credibility and personality.

At the Business Development Report we want you to break the dogma, avoid the paradigms and buzz words, and most of all- we want you to make a smooth and effortless transition between your practiced, polished pitch and your personal connection with the client

As a result of the aforementioned barrage of sales ads, pitches and canned marketing that everyone sees on a daily basis from the morning commute until they watch episodes of the hit show "24" on Fox, Monday nights without a DVR and then go to bed, it is easy to see why a client might quickly lose interest in what you have to say. Your challenge is to avoid sounding like a FotoIllusion puppet when you get into their office.

So what do you do to differentiate yourself from the pack? You need to relate the fact that you work with clients just like them, and that they all have different needs. You suggest the things that work for similar clients, but bring up ideas that might fit the present circumstances. Not only do you need to listen to what they want from you, you need to fit that into what we provide, so you need to control the direction of the conversation without making them feel like you're railroading them.

Remember not to get hung up in paradigms quoted from the marketing material that is provided to you. Don't just fall back on the company line. You need to be a real human being, not a walking piece of ad-copy. Be conscious of what the client wants and be present in the conversation.

Unless your client is sleep deprived and you are trying to help that condition, you need to speak to them on a personal level and leave the canned responses out of the Q&A session. Speak from experience.