Can I sell that?

Can I sell that product?
Companies looking to grow will often engage in new markets they can explore, new areas they can target, new ways to increase revenue from existing clients. This coupled with other such concepts as affiliate marketing and refferals can help boost sales towards a symbiotic business relationship,
This is of course a good technique; you can sell a minor service or a cheaper service just to make contact with a company so that when they need a primary service they come to you, of course, for convenience. It is a means to create relationships. This is not restricted to B2B companies. It is prevalent everywhere. Google gives you the basic version for individuals of all its services free. Gmail, Maps, Drive, Google Plus. But, the minute you want to put your organization on Google’s grid, place ads on Google or get Google emails for your company, you’re in for a surprise.

Now being in an IT & branding company, this phenomenon is not new to me. We have constantly been in search of innovative ways to come up with services that can complement our efforts, that can help make a mark on vendor lists of our prospects.
Now it is ideal for every company to brainstorm over this decision themselves. My objective from this article is to only put forth what I found important questions that should be answered. These have definitely helped us take decisions on adding/avoiding more services to our profile.

Does it relate to our services?
What if Microsoft started selling burgers? Would you buy? I wouldn’t. For fear of founding Intel Inside of course. All your services must correlate with each other or at least pertain to a related industry. Unrelated services will not only affect your business operations but may also affect perception of customers and likely prospects.

Is it feasible?
Can we provide this service? Are we going to manufacture it on our own or sell a 3rd party solution? Is support going to be outsourced? Is profitability possible [if at all it is a goal]? Will the sales team be able to take on the new service-related challenges?

Will this complement our existing services or will we end up with a service we are selling at no profit that is taking up more time and efforts than what deserves to be put for our primary product.

Once we have decided to go ahead or at least taken the initial leap of faith, we need to evaluate the market for alternatives of the new service, their prices, terms, sales, market. A lot can go wrong in these areas.

Last but certainly not the least, we must also analyse our main competitors, to find whether any of them are also marketing this service either primarily or as a complementary service.
Now go out and Sell!!

That Annoying Telemarketer

If you are reading this, perhaps you have encountered a person who calls you, and just won’t give up. You hate him [or her, let’s think both while we write him]. Sometimes he calls you when you are at work, sometimes when you are trying to park, at times when you are trying to have a good time at home and he just won’t stop. At times you are rude because of his reckless attitude; or at times just because you know they are all the same breed. At each call, few questions come up to your mind:

What is this call about?

Who is this?

Where did you get my number?

 

Telemarketing is not always bad. Businesses or let’s say the world has progressed with the use of telephone in trade and communication.  Telemarketing essentially means that you scan the market for individuals/firms that might have a need you can fulfil or may be a prospect for the service you provide. It is a sensitive function that requires research and background study. What businesses do wrong is to treat it as a trial and error approach or an additional source. They hire a person with mediocre communication abilities, provide him a database to call upon and expect revenue to just start flowing in. Surprisingly, for some it actually works.

But this has spread a negative stance about telemarketing which has lost its significance as a pre-sales method. Companies just hire people in dozens, give them the same databases again and again, expect results, which makes the staff prone to calls all the time; at odd times, with no background, no productive approach & at times no greeting the recipient [“Hi Sir, looking for a business loan @ 3.5% per annum, with no collateral”]. Imagine the response if the recipient is having lunch.

What I think must change:

For businesses:

-Respect people’s privacy, call at appropriate hours.

-Use basic courtesy & greeting; inquire if the person is available to talk to

-Do some basic background study; know your prospect as well as your product

 

For recipients:

-Hear him out, this may be something you need

-There are polite ways of decline

-Refer someone; the caller could really use help

 

Yours sincerely,

An annoying sales person