Don't Discount Ur product/Service

Hi,
 Greetings..
Today i have gone through an interesting article in a magazine,which reflects my experience in mirror.While reading this article you may not be understand the relevance of this article, But being employed with US$6 Billion,Group subsidary, i personally felt how importance it is.....

Emphasize the virtues of your product or service, rather than the price. It will keep your competitors at bay, and your customers close.

As Sales force/Business owners, we are often tempted to discount our product or service, thinking it will somehow win us customers and drive growth.  Customers are relentless about asking for discounts too, believing that getting something cheaper is better.  Whichever perspective you look at it from, discounting is not only dumb, it's dangerous. 

Here's why:

You'll cut corners. 

Even if we try to look past it and keep our eyes on the far-off prize of increasing sales, the reality of discounts is that they require you to take a loss.  If you discount your product, something has to get cut.  Perhaps you will change the way your product is crafted, and use lower quality materials to make the discount work.  Perhaps you will have to reduce the level of service you provide, or the speed with which you deliver orders, all in the name of the discount.  While this strategy may result in a quick burst of sales, it will also burn your customers.  A customer who receives a sub-par product may be happy with the discount—until she opens the box and has buyer's remorse.  And when she does, you can rest assured, she will let other potential buyers know that you sold a product that did not meet her needs.  Rarely will she mention that the product was discounted, but instead only that it was not what she thought she was getting.  That discount has now cost you not only money, but reputation as well.

You'll invite competitors to attack.

Discounting is generally a sign of distress—and one that is easily readable by your competitors. When businesses are having trouble converting prospects to customers, they look to discounts to win business. When cash flow is in jeopardy and a company needs to balance books quickly, discounts are often used to create an emergency influx of funds.  As word gets out that you are discounting—and it will—any good competitor will come on strong by lowering prices in kind, further undercutting your chances of growing your business or stabilizing revenues.

You'll reveal a lack of confidence in your product.

Price is the weakest of all attributes to use when trying to sell your products, because any company can meet or beat your pricing either temporarily or long-term.  If you lead your sales with a discount or promotional offer, it sends a signal to your customer that your product has no better attribute to distinguish it from competing products. You may actually have the best product on the market, but by offering it at a discount, you are not only discounting it, but also devaluing it.  Discounts proclaim, in a silent but deadly manner, that what you are selling is worse than, or at best equivalent to, the product of your competitor—and customers are smart enough to know it. Relationships are built on the confidence your customers feel in your products, and the assurance they get from buying what they know to be quality. Discounts wipe out these two brand essentials and leave your business in a very risky position in both customers' minds and the marketplace.

So the next time you are ready to head in the direction of discounting, consider your choice carefully.  You surely have a better reason to convince customers to choose your product.  Focus on articulating the why of your product instead of the how much.  It will keep your competitors at bay, and inspire your customers to stay close

I always Belive in One Saying "Build Value for Your offering, The Value will play remainign part"

                             Happy Selling,Build Value

Manager(boss)

This post talks about core beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses, I read this interesting article in an online magazine, Really must read post.Continue reading....
The best managers have a fundamentally different understanding of workplace, company, and team dynamics. See what they get right.

I learned that the "best of the best" tend to share the following eight core beliefs.

 1)Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.

Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of "troops" to order about, demonize competitors as "enemies," and treat customers as "territory" to be conquered.

Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers ... and even competitors.

2. A company is a community, not a machine.

Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by "pulling levers" and "steering the ship."

Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.

3. Management is service, not control.

Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they're told. They're hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the "wait and see what the boss says" mentality.

Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.

4. My employees are my peers, not my children.

Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can't be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.

Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.

5. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.

Average bosses see fear--of getting fired, of ridicule, of loss of privilege--as a crucial way to motivate people.  As a result, employees and managers alike become paralyzed and unable to make risky decisions.

Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they'll be a part of it.  As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization's goals, truly enjoy what they're doing and (of course) know they'll share in the rewards.

6. Change equals growth, not pain.

Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change ... until it's too late.

Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don't value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.

7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.

Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.

Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.

8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.

Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.

Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.

As we all know Boss is a key person in Management matrix which leads an employee towards job satisfaction or viceversa, Being working as a US$6 billion Group subsidary, i always say one thing "Love Your Company, Like you Boss"

Increase your Sales--Easy ways

Hi, Readers,
    Here are some vital ways, which will enable your organisation to increase sales..
Make these easy steps to your sales process to create a huge increase in sales revenue.

Want to sell more? Here are 12 simple actions that you can take today that will increase both revenue and profit.

1. Reduce the number of opportunities you pursue. The more opportunities you've got, the more likely you are to make a sale, right? Wrong! If you can't give each prospect the attention they deserve, you'll lose sales you otherwise might make.

2. Increase the percentage of time you spend selling. Get somebody else to handle your paperwork, expense reports, or whatever busywork is involved with making a sale. Use the extra time to get in front of customers.

3. Stop buying technology because it's cool. Smartphones, tablets, and PCs can be important tools--but learning and supporting them can drain your productivity. Only purchase devices and programs that actually help you sell.

4. Think about your solution as a verb. Suppose your company makes glue. If you're selling "glue" (a noun), you'll talk about product features. If you're selling "gluing" (a verb), you'll talk what your offering does for your customer's business.

5. Treat selling as a service to the customer. Stop thinking that selling means "convincing" the customer, "overcoming" objections, and "winning" the business. Instead, view yourself as the customer's ally in solving a problem.

6. Terminate weak engagements--politely but immediately. The moment you find out that a customer really doesn't need what you're offering, point them in the right direction, then politely withdraw from the opportunity.

7. Don't confuse telling with selling. Rather than talking to the customer about what your product can do, ask intelligent questions so that the two of you can discover whether the customer really needs you to help solve a problem or achieve a goal.

8. Hone your lead generation effort. Based upon your own experience, observe who's just interested and who's actually buying. Hone your lead generation efforts to find more of the ones who are actually spending money on your offering.

9. Don't focus on the gatekeepers. Make sure that you're talking to the realdecision-makers, and not just the influencers and sideliners. When you meet a decision-maker, stay in regular communication throughout the sales cycle.

10. Stay on top of your opportunities. Don't lose track of what's changing inside the account. Build a short sales plan that documents the process and the players, so you don't spin your wheels trying to remember who needs what and when.

11. Outflank your competition. Find out who the other guys are calling on, and how they're approaching the account. Figure out who they're talking to, what they're saying, and defensively position your offering to counter their approach.

12. Increase your average Rupee value. It takes just about as much effort to cut a 1,000 deal as it does to cut a 10,000 deal. The more revenue you book on each opportunity, the more money you'll make overall.

                                                "Happy selling"

Sales Versus Marketing

Hello Readers,
 Greetings!!
                     I have come up with interesting post this time, the persons who have been into sales and marketing domains might experienced this issue, which i am going to share. Being working as a sales professional for a $6 billion group, i dare to share this after observing the things in all aspects, some part of the content taken from a business magazine. Continue Reading.

 Here are the nine most common complaints Sales has about Marketing, along with my advice to resolve the problem.

1. Marketing Acts Superior

Many marketers have business degrees, so they think they're better than sales reps who don't. However, business degrees are of limited use in sales situations–because very few business schools offer courses in sales, let alone majors or degrees.

Since what's taught in b-school is (frankly) a mix of accounting and biz-blab, the superior air of the MBA'd is neither appropriate nor helpful.

The Fix: Make certain that every marketer you hire has at least six months of experience selling something.

2. Marketing Doesn't Believe in Sales

Marketers are often taught in b-school that good marketing makes a sales force unnecessary. As Peter Drucker put it: "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous" and "the right motto for business management should increasingly be 'from selling to marketing.'"

However, unless a product is a plug-and-play commodity, your only differentiator is how you sell it.

The Fix: Make it clear in the charter of the marketing team that they are there to support the sales team, not to replace it.

3. Marketing Thinks Selling Is Easy

Marketers think that they can create so much demand that selling consists of taking orders. However, many "demand creation" activities don't create all that much demand–especially in B2B, where customers generally ignore ads, brochures, and such.

And, of course, anyone who's ever sold knows exactly how difficult it can be.

The Fix: Have the marketers make sales calls–or field inside sales calls–so they can see how hard it is.

4. Marketing Avoids Being Measured

Marketers generally get paid when they produce leads, brochures, white papers, and so forth–even if none of that activity results in a single sale. They successfully get themselves measured on the deliverables, rather than whether the deliverables have a measurable financial impact.

The Fix: Compensate marketers on the ability of the current sales team to generate revenue and profit from the sales leads that marketing produces.

5. Marketing Claims to be 'Driving Sales'

Ugh. I've heard this phrase dozens of time from marketers who are trying to take credit for sales, even when they had absolutely no impact on making those sales take place. It's a perfect example of the "law of inverse relevancy," which is "the more you don't plan on doing something, the more you must talk about it."

The Fix: Make Marketing subservient to Sales on the organization chart.

6. Marketing Pretends It's Strategic

Give me a break. Brand is a reflection of product and service. If those are good, the brand is good; if not, the brand is bad. Yeah, branding activities help–but the idea that marketers are "brand managers" who should be directing all activities throughout the company is, frankly, ridiculous.

The Fix: Reward marketers for behavior that directly results in a measurable increase in revenue and profit.

7. Marketing Wastes Money

Needless to say, Sales is perfectly capable of wasting money (big time). However, there's also no question that marketers often expend cash on fancy brochures, advertisements, and trade show junkets that have little or no business value. And, let's face it, the more that's spent on marketing boondoggles, the less money there is for commissions.

The Fix: Give the sales team veto power over all pricey marketing activities.

8. Marketing Pretends It's Engineering

Once again, give me a break. While marketers often attempt to set a firm's technical direction, most of the time, the marketers have never even spoken to a customer–and have no idea what's technically feasible.

The Fix: Let your engineers do the engineering. That's what you pay them for.

9. Marketing Argues About Lead Quality

Marketing frequently provides Sales with lists of unqualified or underqualified leads, and then accuses Sales of being clueless because it can't close the deals.

What the marketers fail to realize that a lead is only good if it's possible (or even easy) for the sales team to close. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.

The Fix: Reassign (or fire) marketers who can't provide leads that the sales team can close.

     " Looking forward for successful association between Marketing & Sales teams" 

How To Close a SALE successfully

Hi Readers,
                   As you are aware of sales closing techniques with your own experiences being a sales professional.By this post i would like to share some effective closing techniques of sale activity which will enable you to close deals successfully. Hope this will useful for your selling activity..continue reading.

 A deal usually has several parts: the hatching of the idea by one party, then its conceptual embrace by the other side, and finally – the closing. The first two phases of a transaction or Sales cycle  are much easier than the last in most cases.

Sealing a deal – because of the prospect that it might fall apart before you get to that point – can put a lump in the throat of any small business owner.

Yet, there are ways to make yourself a better “closer” even if you’re not the natural schmoozing type and arent up on the latest sales techniques - you don’t even have to have ice water running through your veins.

Ideas for closing sales deals:

Get beyond “yes”: Time is your enemy. Once you’ve gotten your target to agree in principle that you’re going to make this deal, move them as quickly as possible toward getting it into writing. That’s because into the narrow opening between “yes” and signing on the dotted line can creep things common sales problems like second thoughts, competition or unforeseen events. So if you get a verbal expression of interest, then move resolutely toward a verbal commitment, then as quickly as possible to a written agreement that hopefully closes out the sales cycle.

Create a sense of urgency: Sometimes the person on the other end of the deal will be happy to close it – when they can get around to it. Timing may be much more important to you. So if necessary, you want to create a sense of urgency to get their commitment, and that may require some final concessions to refocus their attention. This may involve offering a 2% greater discount, net-30 terms instead of net-10 requirements, or offering a two-year service agreement instead of one-year coverage. You’ll know what it takes.

Use the threat of competition: Unfortunately, in order to get the other side to close, sometimes an entrepreneur will have to get them to understand that if they don’t do the deal with you, you’ll do the deal with someone else. Sometimes this involves bluffing, sometimes enhancing the appeal of what you’re offering. But if you can convince the target of your deal making that you’re doing something that’s going to become powerful, everybody wants a piece of that.

Generate “late-breaking news”: Throughout the relationship-building and negotiating process and beyond, be funneling helpful new information to the other party. This might be a press release about a new product, a copy of a story about your business that you’ve managed to land in the local newspaper, the result of a new independent test of your service, or that one last testimonial from an existing customer that you’re keeping in your back pocket.

                         Be prepared to not close:.Dear friends,never give up your confidence, even sale is not closed successfully. Being personally experiencing the sales i always tell a truth to upcoming sales professional ''The race is not over, because i have not won yet'' . This is most important saying i got from my company CEO through mail.The reality is that most deals don’t close, if you measure by the number of potential relationships and transactions that your company pursues. Something happens. There isn’t a fit. The timing isn’t right. You must disdain losing any deal and fight hard to land every last one. But you also need to be sober about the percentages – so you can raise them.