Jun 25
So what do you do when things get quiet in the business?
Do you…
- Wonder why?
- Start to do all the little things that you mean to do when you are busy?
- Start marketing?
- Sack some staff!?
- Sit and wait…
- Check how things were this time last year?
- Ask what’s happening?
- PANIC!
- Change things?
- Go back to the business plan?
Or a combo of the above…
Whatever you do when things go quiet make sure you do SOMETHING other than panic, as that usually leads nowhere fast.
At this time in the morning many are open and ready to go, but there are those that seem to not get in ’til later… It sets me to wondering what business was like for them say… yesterday. Did they not get enough people in the door that they felt it’s not worth it? They have checked over the last week or forty and found no one comes in before 11am so why bother being there?
It takes a lot of things to be good in business and one of them is attitude, if the 9am start begins to fade, then what else might be fading too
I thinks its an opportunity lost and think they need to consider what else they can do in that time. The books, ordering, secretarial outsourced work (an hour or two a day of that sort of thing could be useful.)
It comes down to money, if you are not making any (or enough) to pay the way then you are not doing well in business and so a tough decision needs to happen, but I guess first off is recognising the challenge you face and then being able to take action on it.
So if you walked into your business late this morning take inventory… of yourself and where your business is headed.
P.S. I thanked a business the other night for being open past 5:30 (they stay open until 7pm) as I didn’t have to rush to get there. so refreshing when a store has figured out that customers matter!
Getting started in business is one thing, gaining success is another. Many of us will have seen and heard of people who have failed in business even though they felt they had a great business idea and the finances to put behind it to get started… So what went so wrong that it failed?
Lets look firstly at one possible factor, it is said that about 10% of society is motivated to achieve, and of that about 3 % are probably the ones with enough active risk taking motivation or drive to actually get started and see the business through to fruition.
So if you take 100 people and only 3% have the drive or motivation to be able to pull it off, then what happens next?
Out of that possible 3% there may be those that blindly go forth and try being in business and will flog it like a dead horse to try and get a result, even when all the money is gone or vanishing fast.
I guess it’s a time when the emotion of going into business takes over from the logic of it, and before long if there is no “balancer” the person starting the business can run off the rails with ease. Indeed the balancer may well be a person that “holds the purse strings”, figures out the budgets and projects forward when money can be spent.
The “business achiever” on the other hand will still come up with ideas and use their energy and enthusiasm to forge forward, but now within some reasonable constraints.
I figure without the emotional side being constrained by the logical side, all hell can break loose.
So here’s to better business, know your limitations, and balance things out, your long term success might well count on it!
Lets say you have done things right and you have a good service or product to sell, and yet people are not buying… What next? Well consider these three interlinked points and see if you can do something with this.
Firstly people start off as suspects, they move to prospect next, then when they buy they become a customer.
So lets figure out the ‘suspect to prospect’ part and see if we can find ways to get them engaged enough to want to buy what you have.
Here are the three points.
1. You are not offering them what they want right now – In a shop, they might walk in to kill some time, or they might want something but they can’t see it right now…
2. Not offering them enough information for them to “sell themselves” on what you have to offer -You can have the best product or service in the world, but if the info is not there to support it how can they ‘process the information.’
3. They don’t want to talk to you, maybe they want to check things out a bit first – This can be a case of “I want to look first and see if it’s okay by my ‘standards’.”
That’s the three points, so lets pull it apart a little.
Okay so we are talking about the psychology of sales, or more correctly, pre sales. So what’s going through the persons head? Probably at a sub conscious level they have a need or want to be met and are “cruising” to find a solution. If they have no need or want, they may be open to an idea, if it fits with their values and beliefs.
So they may be on a search for an answer or could be open to an idea. If they are searching in a retail context for something they “want” they might be readily put off by a sales person that says “Can I help you”, the suspect does not make it to prospect. If on the other hand they have a strong need for something they might respond more positively to the “call for help”…
Lets go for the person that has no idea of what they want, a blank canvas… a person comes along and offers them a “Business opportunity” they may turn straight off. Why? well the idea does not appeal to their values and beliefs, the things they find important at a core level.
If however the sales person was to set things up so they were in alignment with the persons values and beliefs, they will probably have a much better chance of success.
An example… You have a business proposition, the economy is down and you have a sure fire way to assist them to get through it. 1. figure out what they want, $$, financial freedom, peace of mind they can get ahead, that sort of thing. 2. Give them info that shows the benefits of fitting to those needs. 3. Give them the chance to check it out a bit first, no hassle, no bother…
The challenge is to do it in ways that do not put them ‘offside’ in the process.
You are currently browsing the archives for June, 2008