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Added for You - When You're Negotiating, Money isn't as Important as You Think
You've been around the block a time or two. When it comes to choosing promotional gifts for your clients, you know your stuff. Why, you always get the nicest phone calls, notes and emails from your clients, thanking you for their gifts.The question is: do those people call and write again with new orders for your company's product or service? Which, when all is said and done, is what giving clients promotional gifts is all about. Right?Of course! And most of the time after those polite thank you calls and notes, you hear nothing, at least not right away and certainly not in the way of increased orders and sales.That's why you need to know this secret to giving the perfect promotional gifts to your clients-and guarantee results your accountant will notice.The secret is personalization. No, no, not as in giving gifts with names and such engraved on them, though those can be quite, quite nice.No, this is individualized personalization. That's a mouthful, isn't it? What it means is that when you're giving your clients promotional gifts, you need to think of each and every one of them as individuals-and give them gifts that speak to their tastes and interests.This isn't as difficult as you might think. In the course of doing business with people, we learn a great deal about them. Things like if they're dog lovers, wine enthusiasts, proud parents, gadget freaks, that sort of thing.So when it comes time to do promotional gift-giving, take those things you've learned about your clients and use them in choosing stellar gifts that will keep your customers calling you. Give that wine enthusiast a good bottle of wine. Wrap up a picture frame with a border of dogs on it for your dog lover client. Give you gadget freak client a handheld game or cell phone accessory.No money for that? Think you should give everyone the same thing? Great! You can still personalize.Think packaging here. Instead of cookie cutter wrapping paper, wrap the dog lover's promotional gift in paper with dog bones on it. Put a card with miniature wine accessories hot-glued to it on your wine enthusiast's gift. The possibilities are endless.And in doing small things like this, you show your customers they're more than just dollar signs to you. They show you see and appreciate them as people. And as we all know, we like doing business with people who “get” us. Our clients and customers are no diff
2. You must convince her that she could not have gotten a better deal than the one you're offering her.
That second point is where Power Negotiating comes in because everything I teach is designed to convince the other people that they won the negotiation and that they couldn't have done better. Let's face it, does what you pay for something really matter? If you're going to buy a new automobile, does it matter if you spend $20,000 or $21,000? Not really, because you'll soon forget what you paid for it, and the slight increase in payments is not going to affect your lifestyle. What really matters is the feeling that you got the best possible deal. You don't want to go to work the next morning and have everybody crowded around to admire your new car when somebody says, "How much did you get it for?"
You say, "I worked out a terrific deal. I got them down to $21,000." "You paid what?" he replies. "My friend bought one of those, and he paid only $20,000. You should have gone to Main Street Auto Mall." That's what hurts-the feeling that you didn't get the best deal.
<What’s a niche?Dictionary.com provides a great, twofold definition:“A situation or activity specially suited to a person’s interests, abilities, or nature.” “A special area of demand for a product or service.”It’s safe to say you will be most successful and fulfilled in business if you provide a product or service that others want or need, in an area that is “right up your alley.”There are thousands of business opportunities but just because something worked for someone else, doesn’t mean it will work for you. Doing something you love is undoubtedly your best option.“But,” you say, “what I love is just a hobby. I can’t make money from doing that.”Well, chances are you’ll be able to figure out a way to turn a profit from it. All it takes is a little creativity.Answer these questions to hone in on a business idea that will suit you and therefore, set you up for success. When answering the questions, don’t limit your answers. Brainstorm. Write down everything that comes to mind, regardless of how silly, impossible or unprofitable it seems.How do you spend your free time? What is your dream job? When you were young, what did you want to do when you grew up? When others need help, what do they ask you to help them with? If you didn’t have to worry about making an income, how would you spend your time? What would you pay someone else to let you do? What are you passionate about? What are you good at? How do you have fun? What do others appreciate in you? What brings you fulfillment in life? What’s your hobby? If you could get paid to do anything, what would it be? What jobs have you enjoyed in the past? What do others say you’re good at?Once you’ve jotted your answers down, review them and see if you pick up on any themes. Again, don’t write anything off at this point, just group like things together.Maybe you listed your job as a teacher's assistant (TA) in college as being one you enjoyed. Perhaps several friends have told you you’re really good at explaining computer problems. These two items would constitute a theme such as teaching, troubleshooting, finding answers, etc. The theme “name” isn’t important; the job characteristics are.Now look at the your theme
First, we'll talk about something that you may find hard to believe but it's something of which I've become convinced-that people want to spend more, not less, and that the price concerns salespeople more than the people to whom they sell.
Then I'll teach you all the things that are more important to people than money.
Finally, I'll teach you some techniques to find out how much they'll pay.
People Want To Pay More, Not Less
After almost two decades of training salespeople, I have become convinced that price concerns salespeople more than it does the people to whom they sell. I'll go even further than that-I think that customers who may be asking you to cut your price are secretly wishing that they could pay more for your product. Hear me out before you dismiss this as being imbecilic. I was the merchandise manager at the Montgomery Ward store in Bakersfield, California back in 1971. Although Bakersfield was not a large town, the store ranked 13th in volume in a chain of more than 600 stores. Why did it do so well? In my opinion, it was because head office left us alone and allowed us to sell to the needs of the local population. For example, we did a huge business in home air conditioners because of the outrageously hot summers. In Bakersfield, it's common for it to be 100 degrees at midnight. In those days an average blue-collar home in that city cost around $30,000. The air conditioners that we would install in these homes might cost $10,000 to 12,000. It was very hard for me to get new salespeople started selling in that department because they had a real resistance to selling something that cost more money than they had ever made in a year. They simply didn't believe that anybody would spend $12,000 to put an air conditioner in a $30,000 home. The customers were willing to pay it, as was illustrated by our huge sales volume, but the salespeople weren't willing to support these decisions because they thought it was outrageously expensive.
However, if I could get salespeople started to where they began to make big money and they installed air conditioner son their own homes, suddenly they didn't think it was so outrageous any more, and they would dismiss the price objection as if it didn't exist.
Beginning stockbrokers have the same problem. It's very hard for them to ask a client to invest $100,000 when they don't know where lunch money is coming from. Once they become affluent, their sales snowball.
So I believe that price concerns salespeople more than it concerns any customer. This is demonstrated by the experience of one of my clients who is a designer and supplier of point-of-purchase sales aids and displays. He tells me that if three products are on a shelf in a store-let's say three toasters-and the features of each are described on the carton, the customers will most frequently select the highest price item-unless a salesperson comes along to assist them with the selection. When that happens, the salesperson, who is probably working for minimum wage, is unable to justify spending money on the best and manages to talk the customer down to the low-end or middle-of-the-line toaster.
The important element here is the description on the carton. You must give customers a reason for spending more money, but if you can do that, they want to spend more money, not less. I think that spending money is what Americans do best. We love to spend money. We spend six trillion dollars a year in this country, and if we could walk into a store and find a salesclerk who knew anything about the merchandise, we'd spend seven trillion dollars a year. And that's when we're spending our own hard-earned after-tax dollars. What if you're asking someone who works at a corporation to spend the company's money? There's only one thing better than spending your own money, and that's spending someone else's money. If that weren't enough, remember that corporate expenditures are tax deductible, so Uncle Sam is going to pick up 40 percent of the bill.
So, I believe that we've had it all wrong for all these years. When we're trying to sell something to somebody, she doesn't want to spend less money; she wants to spend more. However, you do have to do two things:
1. You must give her a reason for spending more.
2. You must convince her that she could not have gotten a better deal than the one you're offering her.
That second point is where Power Negotiating comes in because everything I teach is designed to convince the other people that they won the negotiation and that they couldn't have done better. Let's face it, does what you pay for something really matter? If you're going to buy a new automobile, does it matter if you spend $20,000 or $21,000? Not really, because you'll soon forget what you paid for it, and the slight increase in payments is not going to affect your lifestyle. What really matters is the feeling that you got the best possible deal. You don't want to go to work the next morning and have everybody crowded around to admire your new car when somebody says, "How much did you get it for?"
You say, "I worked out a terrific deal. I got them down to $21,000." "You paid what?" he replies. "My friend bought one of those, and he paid only $20,000. You should have gone to Main Street Auto Mall." That's what hurts-the feeling that you didn't get the best deal.
Trade show displays are the fastest and most effective ways to focus the attention of customers on your product. To yield positive results out of your investment you need to attract customers, and this requires eye-catching displays. And for this you don't have to make a huge investment, just go for used trade show displays. It is cost effective, though the buying process is bit long. Buying used trade show displays requires patience and perseverance because you have to beware of fake and useless displays. It is better to take the help of experts before buying the used displays.Only a few aspects of the display matter when it comes to serious business. Be sure that your used trade show displays look professional so that they can enhance the image of your company and product. It should be attractive enough to hold the customers attention and it should be small enough to fold into a bag for easy transportation. Good displays should have features like custom graphics, versatility, flexibility, and should be easy to assemble. Experts can change the design and graphics to modify the used trade show display to your specific requirement.It is easy to choose used trade show displays because they have been used earlier for particular product or service. Since it has been used earlier, it will be easy to give it a new look based on the product and the image of your company. If you are first timer in a trade show and don't want to invest a lot on displays, you should buy a used trade show display.
However, if I could get salespeople started to where they began to make big money and they installed air conditioner son their own homes, suddenly they didn't think it was so outrageous any more, and they would dismiss the price objection as if it didn't exist.
Beginning stockbrokers have the same problem. It's very hard for them to ask a client to invest $100,000 when they don't know where lunch money is coming from. Once they become affluent, their sales snowball.
So I believe that price concerns salespeople more than it concerns any customer. This is demonstrated by the experience of one of my clients who is a designer and supplier of point-of-purchase sales aids and displays. He tells me that if three products are on a shelf in a store-let's say three toasters-and the features of each are described on the carton, the customers will most frequently select the highest price item-unless a salesperson comes along to assist them with the selection. When that happens, the salesperson, who is probably working for minimum wage, is unable to justify spending money on the best and manages to talk the customer down to the low-end or middle-of-the-line toaster.
The important element here is the description on the carton. You must give customers a reason for spending more money, but if you can do that, they want to spend more money, not less. I think that spending money is what Americans do best. We love to spend money. We spend six trillion dollars a year in this country, and if we could walk into a store and find a salesclerk who knew anything about the merchandise, we'd spend seven trillion dollars a year. And that's when we're spending our own hard-earned after-tax dollars. What if you're asking someone who works at a corporation to spend the company's money? There's only one thing better than spending your own money, and that's spending someone else's money. If that weren't enough, remember that corporate expenditures are tax deductible, so Uncle Sam is going to pick up 40 percent of the bill.
So, I believe that we've had it all wrong for all these years. When we're trying to sell something to somebody, she doesn't want to spend less money; she wants to spend more. However, you do have to do two things:
1. You must give her a reason for spending more.
2. You must convince her that she could not have gotten a better deal than the one you're offering her.
That second point is where Power Negotiating comes in because everything I teach is designed to convince the other people that they won the negotiation and that they couldn't have done better. Let's face it, does what you pay for something really matter? If you're going to buy a new automobile, does it matter if you spend $20,000 or $21,000? Not really, because you'll soon forget what you paid for it, and the slight increase in payments is not going to affect your lifestyle. What really matters is the feeling that you got the best possible deal. You don't want to go to work the next morning and have everybody crowded around to admire your new car when somebody says, "How much did you get it for?"
You say, "I worked out a terrific deal. I got them down to $21,000." "You paid what?" he replies. "My friend bought one of those, and he paid only $20,000. You should have gone to Main Street Auto Mall." That's what hurts-the feeling that you didn't get the best deal.
<So how on earth can we be expected to stay abreast of the changes in our marketplace. Well the simple answer is:continually adapt to the changes you facelisten to your staffask your customersread magazines / newspapers / blogs / e-newsletterslisten to people in the pub / on the train / in the supermarket / etcBut all that can sometimes simply lead you down the wrong pathway! But then again without all of these sources of information it is near impossible to make an informed decision about where to direct your businesses focus.One thing I learnt about business while running Grazies, a corporate health and wellbeing management company, was know your marketplace better than your competitors and they will value your business far more highly. In addition to this, you can second guess their next move, your can target their clients with a more appropriate solution and you can tailor your PR messages to hit their weak spots.Businesses need to constantly evolve - adapting to the changing face of business as we know it today.Some people businesses believe they know better than clients, some businesses believe they need to simply serve the clients wants, others just fee they have a product to sell and they are going to sell it to anyone who will listen.In my experience successful businesses adopt a multi-pronged approach. They listen to clients, they come up with new ideas and share them with current and potential clients, they innovate based on the requests of clients and they also look to push the boundaries to fulfil needs as well as wants.Therefore I would encourage you to ensure that your business aims to innovate, while maintaining a close eye on what your competitors are doing and what your customers and looking and asking for.You can never know enough about your competitors, your clients, trends or what is happening in your specific or closely aligned marketplaces. Enjoy business, serve your clients well and make plenty of money along the way!
Beginning stockbrokers have the same problem. It's very hard for them to ask a client to invest $100,000 when they don't know where lunch money is coming from. Once they become affluent, their sales snowball.
So I believe that price concerns salespeople more than it concerns any customer. This is demonstrated by the experience of one of my clients who is a designer and supplier of point-of-purchase sales aids and displays. He tells me that if three products are on a shelf in a store-let's say three toasters-and the features of each are described on the carton, the customers will most frequently select the highest price item-unless a salesperson comes along to assist them with the selection. When that happens, the salesperson, who is probably working for minimum wage, is unable to justify spending money on the best and manages to talk the customer down to the low-end or middle-of-the-line toaster.
The important element here is the description on the carton. You must give customers a reason for spending more money, but if you can do that, they want to spend more money, not less. I think that spending money is what Americans do best. We love to spend money. We spend six trillion dollars a year in this country, and if we could walk into a store and find a salesclerk who knew anything about the merchandise, we'd spend seven trillion dollars a year. And that's when we're spending our own hard-earned after-tax dollars. What if you're asking someone who works at a corporation to spend the company's money? There's only one thing better than spending your own money, and that's spending someone else's money. If that weren't enough, remember that corporate expenditures are tax deductible, so Uncle Sam is going to pick up 40 percent of the bill.
So, I believe that we've had it all wrong for all these years. When we're trying to sell something to somebody, she doesn't want to spend less money; she wants to spend more. However, you do have to do two things:
1. You must give her a reason for spending more.
2. You must convince her that she could not have gotten a better deal than the one you're offering her.
That second point is where Power Negotiating comes in because everything I teach is designed to convince the other people that they won the negotiation and that they couldn't have done better. Let's face it, does what you pay for something really matter? If you're going to buy a new automobile, does it matter if you spend $20,000 or $21,000? Not really, because you'll soon forget what you paid for it, and the slight increase in payments is not going to affect your lifestyle. What really matters is the feeling that you got the best possible deal. You don't want to go to work the next morning and have everybody crowded around to admire your new car when somebody says, "How much did you get it for?"
You say, "I worked out a terrific deal. I got them down to $21,000." "You paid what?" he replies. "My friend bought one of those, and he paid only $20,000. You should have gone to Main Street Auto Mall." That's what hurts-the feeling that you didn't get the best deal.
<Researched and improved methods of marketing have lead to increased competition and business productivity. Business houses, firms and multinational conglomerates have plotted new marketing techniques to put forward a better image in the consumer market. Large advertising campaigns and smaller methods like personal selling and demo presentation have influenced marketing procedures all over the world. An effective way of marketing is through the use of kiosks. A kiosk is a small and independent structure that stands out and is used for selling merchandise and marketing a particular service. Kiosks usually exist at retail areas or in common areas such as shopping malls and railway terminals. Internet kiosks also exist and can be used effectively for surfing the Internet from any location.Primarily, kiosks are found inside shopping mall hallways and are small, booth-like structures partaking in the sale of specialty products. These kiosks employ about two to three workers who operate the kiosk and answer customer questions. In recent times, kiosk machines and mall-operated kiosks have grown in popularity because they provide a sort of small retail store without the need for heavy capital investment or high rental charges. Retail stores and large stores have set up self-service kiosks at places such as drug stores. Kiosks are a great way to test the demand for a product in a new area where the product is unknown and in situations where the supplier cannot afford to invest on rental, advertising and employment costs.Kiosks exist in many forms these days. ATM kiosks, Internet kiosks and kiosk video rentals are some common examples of special purpose kiosks. These types of kiosks are expensive to set up and require high initial investment of funds, time and labor. However, they are used extensively after they are set up and the initial installation costs are easily recovered.Kiosks have become extremely popular these days. They can be used for a large number of applications such as gaming, billing, credit card payments, Internet access, sales and advertising.
The important element here is the description on the carton. You must give customers a reason for spending more money, but if you can do that, they want to spend more money, not less. I think that spending money is what Americans do best. We love to spend money. We spend six trillion dollars a year in this country, and if we could walk into a store and find a salesclerk who knew anything about the merchandise, we'd spend seven trillion dollars a year. And that's when we're spending our own hard-earned after-tax dollars. What if you're asking someone who works at a corporation to spend the company's money? There's only one thing better than spending your own money, and that's spending someone else's money. If that weren't enough, remember that corporate expenditures are tax deductible, so Uncle Sam is going to pick up 40 percent of the bill.
So, I believe that we've had it all wrong for all these years. When we're trying to sell something to somebody, she doesn't want to spend less money; she wants to spend more. However, you do have to do two things:
1. You must give her a reason for spending more.
2. You must convince her that she could not have gotten a better deal than the one you're offering her.
That second point is where Power Negotiating comes in because everything I teach is designed to convince the other people that they won the negotiation and that they couldn't have done better. Let's face it, does what you pay for something really matter? If you're going to buy a new automobile, does it matter if you spend $20,000 or $21,000? Not really, because you'll soon forget what you paid for it, and the slight increase in payments is not going to affect your lifestyle. What really matters is the feeling that you got the best possible deal. You don't want to go to work the next morning and have everybody crowded around to admire your new car when somebody says, "How much did you get it for?"
You say, "I worked out a terrific deal. I got them down to $21,000." "You paid what?" he replies. "My friend bought one of those, and he paid only $20,000. You should have gone to Main Street Auto Mall." That's what hurts-the feeling that you didn't get the best deal.
<I’ve listed the most successful techniques used to land a job in just about any field imaginable. Most people believe that getting a job relies upon a good resume and interview skills. Well, that is just not so. I have found that there is a formula that if applied correctly works almost every time. In fact, through research I have discovered that the common denominator among people who consistently got work was due to them incorporating The Six Master Keys in their presentations. Let’s take a look at them.1. AUTHORITY: Become an authority in your area. Write articles, post notes in forums, joins groups and chat rooms. The more people recognize your expertise in your field the more they will seek you out. Make sure that your resume and website conveys the fact that you are one of the leading authorities out there. Most people in today’s world never do any research or read any trades publications on their jobs. Take a few minutes out of your day to do this and it will put you one giant step ahead of others. This simple technique alone can greatly increase your chances of not just getting work but getting consistent work!2. SOCIAL PROOF: It means nothing if you say it. However, if others talk about how good you are then it is taken with more weight. Make sure that you include testimonials from satisfied clients in your blog, website, and resume. This will go a long way in building trust and rapport which are the very foundations of the entertainment industry. Keep in mind that testimonials are not references. References are passive and require someone to contact your previous employer. Testimonials are active marketing tactics used to brand you and make you stand out.3. QUALIFY: Typically when going for a job you must answer a serious of probing questions from the employer. But all that now changes. As someone who is an Authority, who has Social Proof, you will now question them. You must qualify them to see if their project or position is something YOU are interested in and is worthy of your involvement. This is not the same as the popular Questions That Sell sales technique as qualifying is a way of demonstrating your value and communicating that you have standards. Qualifying gets them to meet certain objectives and criteria that you set. Remember, you have the pick of the litter. You are in demand! Always convey that you can walk away at anytime. Never seem desperate for the job even if you are.4. URGENCY: In our
2. You must convince her that she could not have gotten a better deal than the one you're offering her.
That second point is where Power Negotiating comes in because everything I teach is designed to convince the other people that they won the negotiation and that they couldn't have done better. Let's face it, does what you pay for something really matter? If you're going to buy a new automobile, does it matter if you spend $20,000 or $21,000? Not really, because you'll soon forget what you paid for it, and the slight increase in payments is not going to affect your lifestyle. What really matters is the feeling that you got the best possible deal. You don't want to go to work the next morning and have everybody crowded around to admire your new car when somebody says, "How much did you get it for?"
You say, "I worked out a terrific deal. I got them down to $21,000." "You paid what?" he replies. "My friend bought one of those, and he paid only $20,000. You should have gone to Main Street Auto Mall." That's what hurts-the feeling that you didn't get the best deal.
The objection that every salesperson hears most is the price objection. "We'd love to do business with you, but your price is too high." Let me tell you something about that. It has nothing to do with your price. You could cut your prices 20 percent across the board and you'd still hear that objection. I trained the salespeople at the largest lawn mower factory in the world. You probably own one of their products because they manufacture most of the low-end private label lawn mowers that discount and chain stores sell. Nobody can undercut their production cost on lawn mowers. They have it down to such a science that if you bought one of their mowers at Home Depot and you tipped the kid who carries it to your car a dollar; the kid made more on the lawn mower than the factory did. That's how slim their profit margins are. However, when I asked them to tell me the number one complaint they hear from the buyers at stores, guess what they told me? You got it. "Your prices are too high."
You hear that complaint all the time because the people you're selling to study negotiating skills too. They meet in groups at their conventions and sit around in the bars saying things like, "Do you want to have fun with salespeople? Just let them go through their entire presentation. Let them take all the time they want. Then when they finally tell you how much it costs, lean back in your chair, put your feet up on the desk and say, 'I'd love to do business with you, but your prices are too high.' Then try not to laugh as they stammer and stutter and don't know what to say next." Instead of letting this kind of thing work you up into a sweat, adopt the attitude that negotiating is a game. You learn the rules of the game, you practice, practice, practice until you get good at it, and then you go out there and play the game with all the gusto you can muster. Negotiating is a game that is fun to play when you know what you're doing and have the confidence to play it with vigor.
The next time you're trying to get somebody to spend money remember that they really want to spend more money with you, not less. All you have to do is give them a reason and convince them that there's no way they could get a better deal.
Things That Are More Important Than Money
A reporter at a press conference once asked Astronaut Neil Armstrong to relate his thoughts as Apollo 11 approached the moon. He said, "All I could think of was that I was up there in a spaceship built by the lowest bidder." A cute line, but he was falling prey to a popular misconception that the government must do business with anybody who bids the lowest price. Of course, that's not true, but it's amazing how many people believe it. I hear it all the time at my Secrets of Power Negotiating seminars: "What can we do when we have to deal with the government? They have to accept the lowest bid."
I once found myself sitting next to a Pentagon procurement officer on a flight to the East Coast, and I raised this point with him. "All the time I hear that the government has to buy from the lowest bidder. Is that really true?"
"Heavens no," he told me. "We'd really be in trouble if that were true. Cost is far from the top of the list of what's important to us. We're far more concerned with a company's experience, the experience of the workers and the management team assigned to the product, and their ability to get the job done on time. The rules say that we should buy from the lowest bidder who we feel is capable of meeting our specifications. If we know that a particular supplier is the best one for us, we simply write the specifications to favor that supplier."
Of course, that is the key to selling to government agencies, whether it is the city, county, state, or federal government. If you want to do business with any level of government, you should become known as the most knowledgeable person in your industry, so that when the agency starts to prepare bid specifications, they welcome your advice on what they should specify. Fortunately, the trend is away from this type of direct bidding and toward the government agency hiring a private sector project manager to supervise the work. By inserting this middle person, they avoid the obligation to let bids and instead let the middle person negotiate the best deal.
So even with the federal government, price is far from the most important thing. When you're dealing with a comp
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