Great Ways to Jump Start Sales - Part 1

There are a lot of different techniques and strategies business owners can use to jump start their sales. But, before you start to invest time and energy into any of those strategies, it's imperative that you do one thing...understand the needs of your customers.

Seems simple, right? In fact it most business owners believe they already understand the wants and needs of their customers. Even more, they think they're actively meeting those needs and their customers are satisfied. This may be so, but if you limit your thinking in this area, you may just be leaving business on the table.

Times and buying attitudes have changed. With this in mind, when was the last time you talked with your customers about their needs? Also, have you engaged your staff in the feedback process? If you actively solicit input from your customers and staff in the feedback process, you may just be surprised at what you learn.

So where do you start? The best place to start is at the beginning of your buying process. Evaluate the entire customer experience from beginning to end, then tighten up loose ends. Once you've done this, talk with your team to see if customers have communicated needs that are going unmet. Finally, regularly ask customers how you are doing by instituting a process to solicit honest feedback.

In taking these steps, not only will you improve the customer experience, but you may come up with additional ways you can meet the needs of your customers and future prospects.

There's more to marketing than advertising and mailers...

When people think of marketing a small business, they consider just the typical strategies like advertising, internet marketing, networking, mailers, and email. What most business owners fail to recognize is that marketing encompasses all of who you are and what you do... from the way the phones are answered and your employees respond to questions to your production and accounting policies.

Because every aspect of your business has an impact on how well you do business, it's important to review business practices every now and then. When doing so, business owners should consider each part of their business from a marketing perspective (keeping your corporate image in mind) and ask some of the following questions:

1. When customers call are they greeted with a "smile" and quickly directed to the appropriate person or do they get lost in the sea of voice mail?
2. When there's a problem, is the customer passed around from department to department or is there a set policy and person(s) who handle and resolve all complaints?
3. Are all your employees valued for their knowledge, input and skills?
   
4. Does your sales team work with your production team?
5. Are your proposals/estimates easy to understand?
6. How quickly do your employees return phone calls?
7. Are your invoices easy to understand?
8. Do you pay your vendors on-time?
9. Do you make any claims in your products/services that you really don't deliver on?
10. How quickly do you respond when someone places an order?

There are so many more questions you can ask. The key is to periodically ask and evaluate how your company is doing. Remember, your corporate image doesn't stop with a nice looking logo, fancy website, and creative marketing pieces. If there's one aspect of your business that doesn't fit with the corporate image you want to portray, it's time to get down to business and fix it.

Eagle Soars Welcomes New Marketing Executive, Gretchen Biondo

Eagle Soars Consulting is pleased to announce the addition of Gretchen Biondo to its team of marketing and training executives. Biondo will be handling sales and new business accounts in the Treasure Coast area of Florida.

"It's always nice to work with someone who is enthusiastic and energetic," states Anne Lazo, owner of Eagle Soars. "Gretchen will be a great asset to the Eagle Soars' team. Her personality and desire to see business owners succeed are a winning combination for this company and the clients she will bring to us."

Biondo comes to Eagle Soars with a wealth of business knowledge and has worked as a buyer for a promotion company for a number of years. The company is looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Biondo.