| |
| |
|
Sales Information |
|
|
|
An Ideal Selling Situation
The largest sale that I ever closed was negotiated over hot dogs and a soft drink at a refreshment stand, just off the exhibit floor, at a Superintendent of School Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I met an educator who was interested in the summer study abroad programs that I was selling at the show. He saw my nametag for the Foreign Study League and wanted to learn more about my products. His school district filled two and a half jet airplanes with over 400 students (at more than $1,000 each) who enrolled in my firm's summer study programs in Europe. Exhibiting and selling at tradeshows, if handled properly, is the most cost-effective selling tool in which a business or professional organization can invest. By attracting prospects, clients or customers to a single location, a tradeshow exhibit is an "ideal selling situation," because you can sell at your booth, meet prospects at vendor sponsored cocktail parties or even promote your products or services during the down times when the show attendees are supposed to be in meetings--like the school superintendent that cut a convention session to learn more about my high school summer study abroad programs. In a day or two at a tradeshow, you can meet more decision-makers than you can contact over many weeks of cold calling and/or in-person meetings. And, participants who visit your exhibit are for the most part pre-qualified, with an interest in or a need for what you are selling, giving you access to decision-makers in a non-threatening and fun environment. Research shows that tradeshow participants rarely see the meetings and exhibits as a selling event, so there is less resistance to your product or service promotions. Also, Tradeshow Weekly magazine reports that: 86% of a tradeshow's attendees make or influence buying decisions for their business or professional organization. The magazine's researchers have also found that over 80% of the decision-makers attending a show were not even contacted by an exhibitor's representative prior to a given event. Yet, 75% of the attendees left an exhibit area having made a commitment (i.e. agreeing to taking the next step or setting an appointment) or actually concluding a purchase. As these statistics illustrate, often it's the little things you do prior to the show or with your exhibit that can make the difference in your level of success. To make the most of a tradeshow opportunity, you might want to call in an expert to help you orchestrate the many small details that can make the show a profitable event. Just go to http://www.thesellingedge.com/tradeshows.htm to learn more about the expertise and programs available to businesses and professional organizations that want to generate the most business from a tradeshow event. Obtain Free The $elling Edge®, Inc. Sales Myths E-Training Program At: http://www.mcssl.com/app/contact.asp?id=32989&afid=&formid=&preview= VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, tradeshows and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Wells, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Thompson Learning. He has also authored a Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides. Check them out at:http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/Book1.htm. Virden teaches for the Center For Professional Development, Texas Tech University at Lubbock, Texas and in the School Of Entrepreneurship, J. Willard And Alice S. Marriott School Of Management at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. You can contact Virden at: Virden@TheSellingEdge.com. or learn more about him at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com .
MORE RESOURCES:
Sales - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Using Emotion for Persuasion The other day, I received the last issue of a business magazine before my subscription runs out. Now, I like this magazine, but I'm swamped with reading matter so I won't renew. The Prejudging Predicament There's a direct correlation between sales experience and prejudging. The more sales and marketing experience you have the greater the tendency to prejudge your customers and prospects. Going Global: Communication Across Mental Boundaries A completed communication consists of a sender and a receiver. If there is just a sender - like in a pitch, or a lecture, or a commercial, or advertisement, or even a newsletter - it's not a communication, but an assertion, or a monologue, or an opinion. How To Sell Your Products or Services on Value And Stop Selling On Price Alone Have you ever met with, or talked to a prospect that wasn't ready to buy what you had to offer? What did you do with that prospects? Most sales gurus of the 1980's and 90's wrote books that told you to move on to the next prospect who is ready to buy now, and not waste your time on those that aren't ready yet.Here's the wrong assumption to make in that situation. Top Seven Ways to Write An Order-Pulling Sales Letter Ready to put your Web pages up? Ready to sell a lot more products and services? If you're not getting the sales, you want you may want to think "makeover." Whether you're just starting or doing a web makeover, you need to Power Write your sales letters. Referrals: Getting Good Business By Doing Good Business Whether you're a conventional sales person, a professional - such as a dentist or lawyer or doctor - or a business owner, you've got to have clients to stay in business. There are several ways to do this: either continue to find new customers, keep all of the customers you've ever had, get old clients to return, or get customers to send in referrals. How Can a White Paper Support Sales and Marketing? A white paper supports PR, marketing and sales because it works for all levels of decision makers. Engineers and executives may not be too impressed by brochures, but they are impressed by well-written white papers. Going Back To Get Ahead Have you ever run DOWN an escalator that was going UP? Well, I did at the Tampa Airport last week. Here's what happened:Last Wednesday I was scheduled to fly from Tampa through Dallas to Phoenix on American Airlines. Build & Protect Your Confidence I can remember the first time that I had to get new customers from a cold start. I was a sales rep at IBM. Why Arent They Buying? You've polished your sales page over and over againuntil it's gleaming with benefits. You're gettingplenty of traffic. How to Give Your Customers a Choice Between You and the Competition and Have Them Choose You Instead of giving your customers or potential customers a choice between you and your competition and having them choose the other guy, have them choose you.Michelle Dunn's new book" Become the Squeaky Wheel," says creating a credit policy can have surprising results. Forgive All Ebay Sins! Over the years, I have been amazed at the "blinding" greed and reckless approach to commerce that some business owners have employed. Lying to customers, selling inferior merchandise, and not offering refunds, left a firestorm of irate customers in their wake. Money Does Talk! When buying something, you can buy in one of two markets. The first is buying on terms in the retail market and the second is buying in the wholesale cash market. Do Your Customers Buy On Price Alone? Here are four simple things you can do to take price out of the equation!It's frustrating when people appear to be focused on price alone. All they talk about is the price. Exporting to Europe: Not the Challenges You Think If you plan to do sell your product or service in Europe the problems you encounter may not be the ones you expect. It's easy to focus on perceived difficulties, such as the so-called 'language barrier', while not noticing the real pitfalls - until it's too late. In Sales Service Means Business Some businesses flourish while others slowly fade away. There's usually a good reason. 6 Creative Questions To Move From HOW Are You To WHO Are You Imagine you just met someone new. The formalities of names, jobs and the like have been exchanged and you seem to be getting along famously. Selling Your Way To Success I wonder when we decided to become a sales person. I know when I was at school all I ever wanted to do was join the Navy and see the world. Do You Want to Know the 8 Tips to Selling More Products? So often sales men and woman are the very people that prevent themselves from obtaining additional sales and increasing their commissions. It doesn't matter if it's counter sales or door-to-door. Aamazing Tips To Increase Your Sales 1. When you make your first sale, follow-up with the customer.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
