Distance Selling : What Is It?

Distance selling is the process in which a sale is made between a dealer and a consumer who are not present in front of each other.
There are various means which distance selling can take place, some of the means are press advertising , via the telephone, radio, fax or e-mail or through television which e know as teleshopping.

When you are selling products through distance selling, there are two key sets of regulations that you must comply with.
The first is the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations. This regulation covers the seller that is the company that sells products to the consumer through distance selling.

Mostly the regulations require that the sellers

1. Provide the consumers with all the required information, before they place the order.
2. Before the contract is closed it is important that the buyer is provided with information in a durable medium.
3. An order confirmation should be sent, and it should be send well within the time, for example in case where service is being provided the information confirmation should reach before the completion of the service.
4. The consumers should be given a chance to cancel the contract.

Next is the Electronic Commerce Regulation, they place regulations on business that sell or even advertise precuts and/or services using the distance selling means such as internet, emails, text messages, telephones etc. these regulations require that you should

1. The commercial communications should be clearly outlined
2. Outline the steps that you have to take in order to bring the contract to completion.

When making a distance sale, it is the obligation of the seller to make sure that the following information reaches the buyer n good time, “in good time” means that the information should reach the buyer before the completion of the contract.

The trader should provide the full name of himself, the permanent address of his place of trade or business.

He should provide in writing a description of the goods and services that he will be offering.

The price of the goods and services should be mentioned inclusive of taxes and other charges.

The delivery cost should also be mentioned.
It is required that the mode of delivery and payment should be clearly mentioned and the customer should be given a right to cancel the contract.

The dealer should specify the minimum period for which the price and the offer remains valid. In case there is any dispute, the responsibility lies on the dealer to prove that he had provided all the required information. It is mandatory on the part of the dealer that he provides all the information that has commercial relevance and that he cats in good faith, he should not in any ways try and take advantage of any disability of the customer be it ignorance age or any other such factor.

Any distance contract entered in to with a minor, interdicted or incapacitated person is considered to be unlawful and such null and void.

You can find more information on newspaper advertising here.

Sales Techniques You Just Didn't Know

The most important sales technique is to know your prospect before the appointment. This will make them feel that you take an active interest in their business and that you have done your home work. Everyone loves to talk about their success so it is important that you let your prospect do most of the talking. You can comment on the efficiency of their system and the success of the business to score some additional brownie point.

The next important sales tips is to stick to your promises. It is inevitable that you stick to your words, if you promise to send in a quotation on a specific day then make sure that it is done, nothing kills faith more than unmet promise. Do anything that can help you to remember the promises, put up little notes on the dash board, set up a reminder but do not forget your promise.

If something unavoidable comes up and you are not able to stick to your promise then you should call and inform the prospect and explain the situation. The best thing to do is to make a clean breast of things rather than keep any one waiting.

Always focus on the success of your client. If your client’s business is successful you will also get successful by default. Gather all the information about your area of expertise and share it with the management, make sure that they realize that you are working for the best of the company and you want them to succeed. This sales technique always works.

In case you are not being able to provide the service on a scheduled time, then it is advisable that you explain to the clients the reason of delay rather than trying to give them any excuses. Nothing frustrates a person more than unwanted excuses.

In case you are in the field of medical practice and you are not being able to attend to your client on the scheduled date, then first of all explain to him why this situation occurred in the first place, the reason may be that because of seasonal changes there are more patients and the staff tat is present is unable to handle the huge influx. Next try and explain to him the corrections that you are taking in order to make sure that the needs of your clients can be met as soon as possible, for example state to him that you have organized for additional staff that should reach in a day or too and thus the medical staff should be able to attend to the client. This should be sufficient to pacify the client and to keep him calm.

These are the sales techniques that can bring all the difference to your business and help you to succeed.

Selling Tips You Can't Ignore

You might have discovered that sales aren’t all about the products. Imagine how I felt when I realized that I was purchasing more products than I was selling. I decided to stop right there and scrutinize why I wanted to buy something I saw advertised.

This, after all, could really hamper my ability to run a business properly. If you think that a good product will sell itself you are mistaken. I have found others with far bigger sales numbers than me while selling the same product. Over time I learnt a few selling tips that I am going to share with you.

1. Marketing is very important as is the ability to adapt and change situations to your benefit. For example you might have, on your hands, some glue that doesn’t really work well. Let us say you couldn’t really sell this in the market as it is, right? How about putting this glue on the back of paper chits and calling the new and effective product post-its? See how this works?

2. The second of my selling tips is that it might help if you target your audience especially if you have a limited budget. In this case you might want to focus on those people in the market who are already looking for your product or products rather than randomly attack the market. Turn these people’s wants into needs. Ever seen those ads that really make you want to buy the product?

3. Don’t waste your advertisement by letting these people see it and move on. Give a call to action.

4. Try enticing customers with sops like free gifts.

5. Make your potential customers really want to buy your product. Both the product and its ad must, therefore, be attractive. You can never hope to be a success unless you can convince prospects that they really need your product. Your message has to be strong and convincing.

6. Rejections will happen all the time. Rather than give up and fail you should concentrate on why you were rejected in the first place. Learn from your mistakes and improve on your efforts.

7. Articles should be entertaining. Information is easily available and customers can easily find out things nowadays. When you write you must put down what customers want to read. Don’t bore them with too much dry information.

8. Don’t forget to sell yourself. You are the seller and without you the sales process isn’t possible. You are the one that makes the product look worth buying. One may think that the job of a model is to look good. No, that is a requirement to be a model. A model’s job is to make the product look good.

9. Sales are all about building relationships. You must make sure that you do this. Anybody giving you selling tips will tell you this.

10. The last of my selling tips to you is to constantly contact prospects without going overboard. Don’t spam, that will turn them off. Just send regular updates via email. If these emails keep bouncing then don’t waste your time – the account may be closed.

Sales Training Courses

One of the first things that sales training courses teach is the techniques of talking. The problem is that you are never taught to listen to people. The emphasis is laid on talking and selling the product.

But for once, try to imagine yourself in the position of the customer. How would you feel if someone started talking to you but wouldn’t listen to what you had to say! Disgusted and annoyed, to say the least, right? Thus, in order to be a good salesman, you need to develop the art of listening. Listening is one of the most effective ways of getting people to trust you and like you, so try to listen when you are dealing with your customer.

There are certain techniques in sales training courses that can help you have better interactions with your customers and become a successful salesman. You need to be a patient listener – and that is one of the primary criteria for being a good salesman. Patience is very important in this job because:

Remember that the person on the other side, that is your customer, also needs some time to think and react to your words. Be patient and give your customer that time.

When you are conversing with your customer or even a prospective one, remember that the more opportunities you give to the person, the more you get to hear from him or her.

Always avoid being unusually hasty while talking. A little bit of patience and pause will open new avenues and give a whole new dimension to your interaction.

One thing that your sales training courses tell you is that you are there to know more about the customer and his preferences. Thus, you are the one who will be most benefited by listening to him or her. Thus, when it comes to gaining something from a conversation, you can do it only by letting the customer talk and voice his or her opinions.

In fact, a pause or two can also prove to be quite helpful to you because it gives you the time and the space to think about your next question.

How will you take that pause without any awkwardness? Whenever you are interacting with someone as important as your customer, try to keep one thing in mind – never lose your concentration. You need to take close notice of everything that the customer has said. Missing something will do you no good, so pay your undivided attention!

When your customer is talking, a very important thing to do is to look interested. This will encourage the other person to be more comfortable with you and share their thoughts more openly.

After you ask a question, give your customer the time to think and answer. Do not pile up your questions and baffle your client!By using these simple techniques, you can improve your communication skills and that will, in turn, help you interact with your customers better.
Just follow these simple techniques from your sales training courses and you will notice a marked change in the sales!

5 Great Sales Tips

One of the primary concerns of any business is selling their services or products, for selling them is vital for the company’s survival in a cut throat market. Various kinds of sales tips exist for better marketing, yet it is very difficult to pick one which is just right for the task at hand and will succeed.

All sales techniques don’t work for all products for each sales tip is unique for every product. Every product and market has its own requirements and rules and tips which cater to the idiosyncrasies of that particular market. The sales tips which might lead to the sale of a holiday plan will not work for selling a television set.

However some general sales tips, which have worked beneficially over the years across all industries and products, are presented below.

1: Connect with your client emotionally – You need your clients to connect emotionally with your products, services, and your company as well. You need to involve your clients in the process of brand building. However an emotional connection is never a one way street and therefore you need to care about your customers emotions too. If they look tired or depressed ask them if they are and what can you do to help. Building a personal relationship with your clients is important, and doing so does wonders for the customer’s image of your company. For a customer, often being friendly and there to talk to helps the customer to de-stress and deal with your company better.

2: Give your customers what they need - Tailor your services and products to the actual requirement of your customers. It is ultimately bad for your company if you sell your customers more than they need. When they realize that you have sold them more than they need, they will stop trusting you and move onto another company which understands their needs better. No customer trusts a company whose primary focus is their personal greed and not the customers benefit.

3: Be focused on your clients – What you say and how you say is very important. It is a common mistake on part of enthusiastic salespeople that they speak for the customer instead of to the customer. It is not a good idea to take your clients decision for him. A very important sales tip is that you should lead your customer to arrive at the conclusion that he needs your product by himself. At the same time, it is better to appeal to him to see the benefits than imposing your judgment. If you are saying things like “this holiday plan seems to me to be the best bet for you”, change it around to things like “Your wife and children would love playing by the beach in Hawaii”.

4: Help your customers to imagine the outcome of their decisions – Lead them on to realize how, by buying your companies copier machines, they will save on toner, because you not only have a better product but one that is cheaper to run as well. When customers arrive at decisions by themselves, they are usually eager to buy your products. Similarly when they see how they actually stand to benefit from their decisions they are more likely to make a purchase.

5: Try to appreciate the customer’s point of view: If your client does not wish to spend a large sum of money immediately, do not force him or push him too hard to do so. Rather preserve your arguments for a later date when he actually wants to buy a product. No one likes being pressurized into a situation where they have top spend money.

These are some of the basic sales tips which work universally and are likely to help you succeed. Best of luck!

You Have To Work Hard To Increase Sales

It is a general and widely accepted belief that in order to increase sales, hard work is required. You must accept that you think alike. If the results aren’t foreseeable, you feel you might need to push the limits further. But irrespective of the efforts put in, there comes a point of diminishing sales. Further efforts will only bring down the sales volume. The fact is that sales are not dependent on the amount of efforts that you put in.

When a child, I was asked by my Dad to do a chore, and that obviously required me to close the gate. However, despite my vehement attempts at closing the gates, they would open as soon as I would leave the place. Also, there was no way I could go around seeking for help, as there were animals around who were witnesses to my desperate attempts at latching the gate, so they would have had some tricks in their mind if I left. After a lot of struggle and frustration at this task, my big brother came up to me. When he came, I was sitting at the gate, keeping it closed with my body’s support, almost in tears. Then, my brother came, just flipped the latch, closed it, and went away. I realized that the latch was upside down, which I didn’t notice when I was trying to latch the gate. This made me even more frustrated since the task could have been done so easily, only if I had paid attention at the key area.

The same goes for sales. You need not work inhumanly hard to increase sales. If things are constantly going against you, there is a clear need that you require a little help from outside, just like it happened with me. With increased frustration, if you try to push the boundaries further, with the hope of getting something good out of it, be rest assured, that all your attempts to succeed in a failing situation will be in vain!

If you are at the point of saturation of frustration, you are obviously overlooking a simple thing which can be done to increase your sales. You may not be aware of it, but your desperate attempts to increase sales might actually be acting as a catalyst in reducing it. Also, under such circumstances, you are unaware of where you are going wrong, though outsiders might consider it as an obvious and in-the-face error. So the fact is that there is something wrong that lies in your approach. This could be the manner in which you attract customers, how you communicate with them, your relationship with current clients, and many other things. Small changes can result in a big way to your sales. The moment you realize what this change is all about, you are likely to be even more frustrated since you were overlooking the obvious! Much like what happened with me during my childhood days.

Sales Coaching: What Are The Benefits?

The concept of sales coaching is rather old. Yet it is now offered for all kinds of businesses where sales are involved. Whether you are in new or used car sales, real estate, financial or even insurance sales you can now benefit from sales coaching. Here are a few pointers you should keep in mind if you are looking to get a sales coach any time soon.

1. The Right Approach: There are two kinds of sales coaching and they are separated by the approach that the coach takes. The coach, who must be a proven coach, can either apply a development approach or a training approach. You are far more likely to benefit from a development approach than a training approach. Training will look to give you new skills, something you can try and do yourself. Development is something you could really use. This method seeks to strengthen your weaknesses and emphasize your strengths. Remember that it is your strengths and not your weaknesses that will benefit you.

2. Experience: Unless the coach has really been there and done that he or she cannot really benefit you. A sales coach with a solid sales background is what you need. Sales coaching using the knowledge gained from experience can be really beneficial to you and your business.

3. Strategies: Sometimes there are certain strategies missing from a company’s sales training program. In this case a good sales coach can enlighten you on these strategies. One good one is direct one-on-one sales. You could also experiment with intensive role-playing. Not everyone, however, is very receptive to this form of sales strategy.

4. Modeling: This is of both direct and indirect help to your sales process. For this you need to model the kind of performance your coach wants you to exhibit. Here is an example. I, for instance, believe that prospects need to be touched or contacted about 36 times a year. You should also use postcards and hand-written notes. I do these things myself, touching my prospects many times. My clients know all about this. They were my prospects after all.

5. Assessments: Sales coaching includes assessment of your general sales skills and abilities or be specific about certain areas. These assessments can help ascertain some base lines that are particular to your strengths. Many coaches can provide you with access to assessments that you may not have had access to like some nationally taken ones.

6. Knowledge and Expertise: While everybody can sell, only some can really make money out of selling. Your coach should be someone with a lot of know-how on sales, marketing, strategic planning and customer relations. Sales coaching is about transferring this knowledge.

7. Focus: This is one of the primary reasons to get a coach. A coach can help train you to focus when facing various challenges that sales can throw at you. You can learn from your coach through personal exchanges, the internet and email and lessons.

You can already see why hiring a proven sales coach is a good idea.

Sales Techniques: What Should You Use?

Right since our childhood, we have always wanted to be like someone else, just to fit well in the crowd. But as a sales representative in the professional field, differentiation is what you need to achieve. This differentiation in sales techniques can be regarding three things: You as an individual, your product, your company. Most of the salesmen are apt at differentiating the product and the company, but fail to recognize the importance of differentiating themselves. You meet the customer’s eye first, not the product or the company.

Given below are 7 ways of sales techniques by which you can differentiate yourself:

1. Appearance: The first impression, it is said, is the last impression. If the potential customer sees you in an un-groomed state, chances are bleak that he/she may even stop to talk to you. For personal grooming, ironed clothes, polished shoes, a neat tie and combed hair is a must.

2. E-mail signature: The signature of your e-mail, besides having your name, must have a catchy phrase, which lists your expertise, your contact number, and your website. Besides, intimating people periodically about new developments on your company’s or product’s front by means of a P.S. is a must. So emails give you an option to brand yourself.

3. Get people to return your call: It is a big challenge for salespersons to get someone to return their call. Being different does the trick in such cases. A client, Mike, shared a particular instance with me. Purchase a coffee mug and write on it – “Let’s discuss business plans over a cup of coffee.” Include a business card in the mug mentioning the time when you will be free to receive his or her call.

4. Use business cards: All business cards are printed just on the front. Print a quote or print your testimonials on the blank back side to differentiate yourself.

5. Customize literature: Almost all promotional matter is printed on an 8½*11” paper. This looks quite dull. So buy a bigger, say 10*12” paper and paste the original sales literature on that. Utilize the blank spaces on the side for writing a note, a reminder or other things. This will prevent monotony.

6. Keep in touch: As a salesperson, you should opt for a follow-up manner of work for all contacts. After a day, send them an email. A handwritten note can be dispatched after 3 days, and a handwritten note accompanied by an article after 10 days. This would mean 4 exposures within a fortnight!

7. Creativity: For big proposals, use your creativity in preparing charts. Just think of the various people who would have a direct interaction with the customers, like you, the sales manager, the technical service department guys, the customer relationship manager, etc. You will get a proper picture in that case. Then you might go ahead and make an organizational chart and include in it the details like the full name, post, contact number, email ID, and a photograph. This makes sure that the prospective customer is not a stranger to anyone in your sales team. Also, the prospective customers can avoid an individual salesman if he/she wants, but not a full team!

So if you follow these sales techniques, you are sure to be benefited!

10 Steps To Improve Your Telesales Results

Here are ten steps to improve your sales results

1. Develop a script you feel comfortable with and stick to it.

2. Be sure you are using a pleasant, relaxed tone of voice. This, more than any other factor, will help you make a success out of the first crucial seconds when most calls are won or lost.

3. Identify yourself clearly and briefly, and then continue with your pitch.

4. Get your prospect involved in a discussion; preferably with “yes-answer questions”.

5. Having gained even apparently insignificant response, realise that you’ve opened the door to a positive result. Expand on this initial success. Respond positively, genuinely and with mild enthusiasm. “Oh, good.” “Great.” “That’s good to hear.” Then continue.

6. Use problem and solution statements. “Naturally, you don’t want the value of your home to drop. Can I spend three or four minutes explaining how ABC Decorating Company can be a low cost, effective solution?”

7. Don’t wait or pause, except when you are expecting an answer. Even so, pleasantly and respectfully guide the conversation forward if you have to. Fill the gaps.

8. Although I suggest having a script, rehearse it so thoroughly that you don’t sound as if you’re reading or referring to it.

9. Bring your product or service alive for your prospect. Paint a mental picture wherever you can. Make your prospects imagination work for you.

10. Ask for the order (or to schedule a meeting).

Follow these 10 steps and you can quickly improve and optimise your telemarketing results.

Marketing And Sales: What You Need To Know

Though Marketing and Sales must go hand-in-hand to achieve any positive growth, in reality it is mostly the reverse. While bad marketing for a good product can be as disastrous as taking a joy ride in a sabotaged aircraft, poor turn over need not necessarily be blamed on unrealistic marketing policy alone.

Before delving deeper into the subject it needs to be mentioned here that though there is a lot of relationship between the two, but it can be safely stated that ‘Marketing’ is a much wider term than ‘Sales’. Sales are basically a part of Marketing. In other words, a company has a marketing policy, and sales is one mean in which the company tries to meet its marketing plans.

But ironically there is often a conflict between these two departments. The Marketing people can feel the pulse of the industry and provide leads, but are often rebuffed by the Sales people who argue that their ‘feelers’ were off beam. Sales people often claim that the figures fell shorter than the projected volume because of this. Whatever be the cases, it is evident that each undervalues the other to such extent that their integration, a factor much is needed to keep the business going, ultimately becomes a myth.

To achieve synch among Marketing and Sales it may become necessary for the Marketing people to get involved in all levels of product development, taking along the Sales personnel with them so that they too can appreciate the leads to be ultimately supplied by the Marketers. In other words, starting at the ground root level and then progressively going up together, instead of taking up the marketing at any mid-stage alone might be fruitful. Also, Marketing's increasing influence in each phase of an organization's growth deeply affects its relationship with Sales.

But in spite of the tension between these two departments, both Marketing and Sales need to work together for the success of any business. Performance of other departments too vastly depends on this relationship. And that is why modern day management attempts to create a friendly atmosphere where marketing and sales works in synch.

Sales, Marketing and the Internet

When it comes to the online world, can marketing and sales be differentiated? Is the act of selling over the Internet through an online store an act of marketing? Or is it sales?

Well the fact is, selling a product or products or a service over the Internet is primarily sales. And the act of supporting this function is marketing.

Take for example the online major Amazon. When the company does promotional exercise through channels such as popular Television, radio, magazines and billboards, then all these activities can be termed as marketing efforts that are geared towards creating a brand consciousness and brining in web traffic to promote and support sales.

But in many smaller stores, marketing and sales often become one and the same as most of these businesses cannot often afford a bigger marketing exercise and limit themselves just to the exercise of sales.

Mastering The Keyword Sales Pitch

Selling products on your website may sound like an easy task, but is actually quite complicated and difficult. Like traditional sales people, it's your responsibility to target consumers and convert your site visitors into customers; only you won't be using the phone to get your message across.

To generate more sales, you want to try and convert visitors of your site into customers in need of the products you sell. This is difficult to achieve from the perspective of search engines, but your website should be authoritative, organized, credible and encouraging of serious customers so that they'll buy your products. The easiest way to get these potential customers to your site is through keywords, which are entered into search engines by consumers looking for a specific product or service.

It's important to think of all the keywords associated with your products that consumers may enter when searching for a service. For example, if a customer is looking for a backpack, it's likely that they'll begin their search by entering the word "backpack" into a search engine. If your website sells only backpacks, it's obvious that your domain name should include the word "backpack" in order to generate the most traffic possible.

If the domain name of your choice i.e. www.backpack.com is already taken, think of variations of that keyword that will still attract search engines. For the word "backpack" there are several different domain names you could use: back-pack.com, backpacks.com, back_pack.com, back-packs.com, back_packs.com, ect. It's important to use a dot com domain name since it's easiest for customers to remember. A relevant and creative domain name is essential because it is your keyword and will have a great effective on your search engine rank.

After you've come up with a domain name, it's important to make sure that every other link on your page contains that word to reinforce your relevance and create even more keywords that search engines can use. This also applies for the content, titles, tags and descriptions located on your site. The more your keyword appears, the higher you'll be ranked on search engines. Try to think of all the words a consumer could associate with the product your are selling and spread those throughout the site as well. For instance, another word for backpack is book bag and it's likely that consumers will also enter that into a search engine when they're looking for a new backpack to buy.

When visitors located your website for the first time, it's incredibly important that the site have value and content, particularly if you're relying on your products to sell because of authenticity or uniqueness. You should be offering services or products that are useful to customers and at a competitive price, otherwise they'll go to another website. Offer them easy ways to understand your products or services by writing articles and posting them to your site. These articles can also act as a way to incorporate more keywords to bring more visitors to your site in the first place. Getting the visitors to your website can be complicated, but achievable. The hard part is offering a great product, price and service to actually make a sale.

The Relationship Between Marketing And Sales

When comparing marketing and sales and considering how they relate to one another I always think of the medium sized business where I had my first job. The marketing department people were serious and analytical, always busy with statistics and campaigns and meetings. The sales people were breathless, always on the go, always on the phone or going to meet customers, always on the cusp of some enormous deal, some magic sale that would catapult the company’s turnover way over the annual target. As a junior it seemed to me that the marketing people and the sales people were from two different planets. I now know that they were simply two parts of the same continuum.

Marketing can be described as the set of activities that are undertaken in order to generate leads, while selling is the act of turning a prospect a hot lead into a buyer and later a repeat customer. The marketing and sales functions of any organization are glued together by leads. If there are no leads, the two will fall foul of one another. I saw this in that business I was describing earlier. But leads work both ways. The marketing department has to deliver them and the sales department must act upon them to maximum advantage. But leads must first be generated and that is why marketing tends to overwhelm the sales function when the two are discussed.

The various forms that marketing takes are well known because they are so visible. They range from cold canvassing to brand or corporate advertising, through to the more targeted types of marketing such as direct response advertising and referrals, where the particular benefits of the product is explained to the customer. If this is done properly, then qualified prospects will actually approach the sales people for assistance. Sales people love those leads. It is in fact when the sales people take over the communication function that the lead ceases to be a lead and becomes a prospective customer, then a customer and finally a repeat customer.

Actually I have painted a somewhat idealistic picture of the lead relationship between the marketing function and the sales function. It is just not that simple because not all leads are equal. An extremely tiny percentage leads are customers who are ready to buy. Most of them are merely interested in possibly buying at a future date and some are just mildly interested, just browsing. That’s why it is important to have some sort of lead management system so that potential customers can be turned into buyers and buyers can become repeat customers. All follow up communication should be friendly and informative, definitely not hard sell. The company representative should be regarded as a helpful expert rather than a rabid sales person. Fortunately many of the follow up functions can be automated to take the form of email, direct mail, voice broadcast and fax broadcast. Obviously the lead would be encouraged each time to call directly if they have questions or a ready to buy. The follow up effort is usually a function of the marketing and sales departments combined.