Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Sales...

I have worked with salesmen all of my professional life. The ying and yang of the modern business world is something coders learn to live with. Usually, it is the tech side that will make excuses - "Ahh, not quite ready, beta versions always have bugs, that feature/function is not possible" - you get the point. It's been a different story lately; technology has blossomed on the web. Coding is easier, pages are more 'hip', applications are now cheaper or free and most importantly, they are very powerful. And so it appears the tables have turned. Now, the excuses are coming from the suits, and of course, the economy, the economy, the economy. So, if it is just one excuse over and over again, does it really affect the whole company? Here is my retort, for what its worth.

It is a fact that people and businesses are still buying a lot of goods and services. If we can't sell our product line, then we need to change it or restructure the price. And there is no question that either one of those options is going to be a painful measure. Think about it - you put your life into your current product, building its brand and customer base, but the only way for you to keep the doors open is to replace it or augment it with something to bring in some scratch; that is frustrating. It may not be fair, but it's rather simple and it certainly beats resisting core change until you are forced to put the "Going Out Of Business" sign on your door. We won't do that and luckily, we don't have to. Technology has taught us some very welcome and foreseen changes.

If your marketing efforts aren't cost effective, change them. Okay, another simple one, I know, but really... just do the math. If it costs your company $25 a lead and $100 to close in sales commission, and if you only make $50 per sale after all is said and done, then you need $100 per sale just to keep the lights on, you are living on borrowed time. So, what's the remedy? Think creatively. Take into consideration the compensation of your salesman. Sure, we could cut his commission in half and then we would be rolling in the fat, but that's not enough for him to live on. You also need to consider that lead cost is from a third party, so there is no room for wiggle there either. If your market allows, you could give your salesman tools to be more productive at selling, like a hosted auto power dialer for salespeople. Then we forgo the cost of a new employee, yet you still increase sales. Our salesman is happy making more and so are we. The point being, don't jump the gun by squeezing the last turnip, water and nurture it to make it stronger.

Marketing is an expensive part of most sales cycles and the foundation of our sales. The good news is SEO marketing can give the big ROI but the bad news is you must know what you are doing and work it intelligently. We use both Organic and Paid search engine marketing to generate leads and sales. Monitoring what works and changing as we go for maximum ROI. There is plenty of FREE info on the net to get started with like SEOChat.