Why choose you?

Separate yourself from the competition

Your business has competitors and your customers know that. Your customers also have to find a way to decide which company to buy from. According to Joe Calloway’s article “What’s your Tiebreaker? Creating a Clear Reason to Choose You Instead of Your Competition” most customers end up depending on price to be the factor that makes their decision. You and your competitors all have good quality products and services, making it harder for customers to choose.

Calloway says this is the commodity trap, where the lowest prices almost always wins because the customer does not see any other difference. Most companies don’t want to deal with this. Here are some of Calloway’s tips on other determining factors your company should have besides price:

Be the fastest: quick response and always be on time. Become known for returning customer calls in an hour or guaranteeing two-day delivery but always doing it in one.

Be the easiest to do business with: become the no hassle choice. Look at every aspect of how you interact with customers. Correct anything that might make you the least bit difficult to do business with.

Let the customer choose: offer more selection and customization. Customers know exactly what they want, so let them decide. Give them what they want, not what you want to give them.

Demonstrate value: competitive price and clear value. You don’t have to have the lowest price, but you do have to demonstrate that you’re a great deal. Never take for granted that your customers understand that you’re worth what you charge.

Be relevant: take a “big picture” approach to serving your customer. Look beyond your customer’s immediate needs and think about how you can help them succeed, make their lives easier or create new opportunities for them.

Solve problems on the spot: empower employees to make it happen. Train employees to resolve customer problems without having to state “I’ll have to ask my manager” or “I’m sorry, but our policy is…”

The ultimate tiebreaker: consistency of performance. If customers know that they will receive the same level of service every time, no matter who they deal with at your company, that is the most powerful differentiator there is.

Should we pay for our news?

Google is pitching an idea to newspapers

As the newspaper industry struggles to keep afloat, there is a continuing debate over whether or not we should pay for online content. We are accustomed to finding news on the Internet for free, so this idea doesn’t seem fair even though we’ve paid for newspaper subscriptions for many years.

In the article, “Google developing a micropayment platform and pitching newspapers: ‘Open’ need not mean free’” by Zachary M. Seward, Seward explains that the Google proposal is in response to the Newspaper Association of America’s request for ideas. The Google platform is that people can access news by purchasing a subscription. The method for paying would be an extension of “Google checkout.”

Seward says that transaction costs are a problem with micropayment plans that are currently being considered by the newspaper industry. “Google checkout” would take care of this problem, but Google would gain a percentage of the revenue from the subscription sales. As Seward says, the newspaper industry might not be thrilled with the idea since its debatable if Google takes in revenue from news already.

How is this going to affect selling classified ads for the paper? Well, if the industry can find a way to make a profit off of Internet advertising, charging for subscriptions might be the answer. This will work if the subscriptions bring in more readers to help sell more expensive advertisements. But, in the mean time, a reader of the printed newspaper is going to bring in more money than the Internet browser.

Get a mobile app for your classified ads

Smartphones might be able to save your classifieds

Classified ads bring in revenue for newspapers.
And it is convenient to look online for these ads instead of in the newspaper. However, with the invention of smartphones people can be anywhere they want while they search through ads and contact the sellers or buyers at that moment.
In Steve Outing’s www.reinventingclassifieds.com article, “How’s your classifieds mobile app coming along?” he gives reasons why smartphones are great news for classified ads:

1. Mobile phone is an ideal instrument for placing an ad – take photos, fill out a form on mobile classifieds application with text information, post the ad and pay for the ad using a credit card or Paypal.

2. Options for searching ads on phone – Search on the go, see photos or videos from the advertisers, search across multiple classified sites with an application that covers multiple web sites and be provided with directions from your current location.

Outing says even though we are in the early stages of the mobile applications revolution, more are becoming available and they have affordable prices. For the iPhone, the Apple iTunes Store has nearly 30 applications, some free or ranging from 99 cents to $4.99.

If you publish classifieds, Outing says you’ll want them to be included in some of the applications. He says it’s extra exposure for your advertisers, so look out for the popular ones to add to your classifieds.

Learn to listen

When you’re out to do business, you can’t think of it as an exchange of money for services or products.
According to the article “Use the Consultative Approach” in the May 2009 issue of Selling Power, it’s about solving a problem. You have to listen to the customer and figure out their problem. Then, think about how to fix it and ask yourself: what’s going to be the best solution?
Jeffrey Gitomer, who has been writing about selling skills since 1992, says salespeople who use the traditional style contrast with the ones who use the consultative approach.
Both kinds of salespeople get the job done, but the consultative people are willing to give up short-term gains to have long-term benefits. Gitomer says they build relationships on a foundation of trust, credibility, respect and performance.
According to Gitomer, salespeople need to raise the level of selling skills to a level where clients want to know more. He says clients will return calls and make referrals for salespeople they trust.

Here are Gitomer’s five components of consultative selling:
1. Find and understand the customers’ needs
2. Partner with the customers and become a resource
3. Show customers how they can achieve their objectives with your product
4. Believe that your business, product and service are the best
5. Believe in yourself. A positive attitude makes it all work.

It's Complicated

Hello all,
I am gearing up for the WCAA conference at the Red Rock in Las Vegas next week, I thought I'd check in on the blog. Our intern Kim Milfort recently graduated, so we hired a new intern on August 31 whose name is Kaye. Look for her take on sales in the next issue of Creative Selling. We're also in the process of hiring a new associate editor, who will make his or her debut in the November issue. On top of that, we moved offices from Suite 300 to Suites 200-208 at our Ferry Street location in Lafayette. Needless to say, the blog has been lost in the shuffle. I hope you'll forgive me and tune in next week for updates from WCAA.
All that being said, on to today's post - It's Complicated.
As I was talking to a friend of mine, I started explaining why I was excited about today's World Cup qualifying matches. This past weekend, dozens of games were played around the world for an opportunity to land a spot at the World Cup. Each continent's governing confederation has its own system of qualification for its member teams, making it sometimes difficult to explain. If you're in South America, everyone gets to play everyone else once at home and once away, and the top four teams win a spot at the World Cup. However, if you're the fifth place team in South America, you have to play the fourth place team in North America to see which of you gets to go play in South Africa in 2010 at the World Cup. Confused yet? It gets worse, but I won't continue as that's about as far as I need to go to make my point.
How many of you have infrastructures and rate cards that leave your customers with similar headaches as they try to wrap their heads around classified rates versus ROP versus retail versus packages with online components and why the cost for page four is different than the cost for the back cover by such a large margin? While I could explain to you the justification for all the nuances of qualifying for the World Cup, it doesn't make it any less of a headache for you to try to understand the first time, and it doesn't mean there might not be a simpler way. Similarly, while you could explain why the rate card and infrastructure stands the way it does, that doesn't mean there might not be an easier way for your customers.
How much time do your sales reps waste explaining the rate card? How many customers have gone away in confusion rather than sort through the binder of options available to them? As you start planning for 2010, remember the acronym KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid - and try to think of ways to create packages geared toward advertisers of the "good," "better" and "best" variety that allow your advertisers to meet their needs without removing focus from their business. Make it easy for them to drive traffic to their location using the power of the local newspaper's voice, and they will reward your efforts.