Author: Tize

Is your business “Marketing” challenged?

Post author By Tize
Post date September 1, 2021
No Comments on Is your business “Marketing” challenged?

Keep your business running with the right marketing strategies.

Marketing strategies help a business achieve sales goals and branding initiatives.and when you’re looking to start your own business, it surely pays to know the variety of tactics that work in attracting the right customers. While most business owners sit it down and find the time to write a marketing plan that makes sense for their business and brand, It is a struggle that not all are equipped to face.

To market a business means making your brand or service visible at all times, on every form of media, until your target demographic and the possible outcomes are achieved. It is a daunting task, but also a worthwhile endeavor when done the right way. Maintaining visibility and name recall are only a few of the marketing challenges a business owner is up against. In an ever changing world powered by fast paced technology, great ideas today may be considered obsolete tomorrow.

What does it take for a business to be constant in growth and attuned with the marketing trends of the present times? The best lessons we learn are the lessons learned through history. That said, let us embark on a journey to know more about what “marketing” truly is for the entrepreneur. Let us begin!

The Marketing Mix

The term “marketing mix” is a foundation model for businesses, historically centered around the four P’s; Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Over the years the marketing mix has been defined as the “set of marketing tools that a business enterprise uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market”. In a nutshell, the four P’s are essential factors involved in marketing goods or service to the public.

The concept of the four Ps has been around since the 1950s; as the marketing industry has evolved, the concepts of people, process, and physical evidence have become important components of marketing a product, too.
In our pursuit of understanding what our business desperately needs to become resilient during these ultra-challenging times, let us backtrack and see what the “marketing mix” has to offer and how it has stayed relevant to all forms of businesses, regardless of scale and size.

The First P: Product
Product refers to a good or service that a company offers to customers. Ideally, a product should fulfill an existing consumer demand. A product may be so compelling that consumers believe they need to have it and thus, it can constantly create a new demand. Successful marketers need to understand the life cycle of a product, and business executives need to have a plan for dealing with products at every stage of their life cycle. The type of product also partially dictates how much businesses can charge for it, where they should place it, and how they should promote it in the marketplace.

A perfect example of a product that continues to create demand throughout the years is the Iphone. Apple was the first to create a touchscreen smartphone that could play music, browse the Internet, and make phone calls. The Iphone was the most wanted breakthrough product in 2007, and in November 2014, seven years after its first release, Apple revealed that it had sold its one billionth iOS device. To date, the Iphone remains the most popular choice in mobile devices in spite of rising competition.

The Second P: Price
Price is the cost consumers pay for a product. Business owners must link the price to the product’s real and perceived value, but they also must consider supply costs, seasonal discounts, and competitors’ prices. In some cases, business executives may raise the price to give the product the appearance of being a luxury. Alternatively, they may lower the price so more consumers can try the product. As a business owner, you would also need to determine when and if discounting is appropriate. A discount can sometimes draw in more customers, but it can also give the impression that the product is less exclusive or less of a luxury compared to when it was priced higher.

When determining a pricing strategy, it is important to consider the business’s position in the current marketplace. There is truth in advertising and your business or product should be advertised as it is rightfully priced.

The Third P: Place
Place refers to where the product/service of the business is seen, made, sold, or distributed. In essence, place decisions or product positioning are associated with distribution channels and ways of getting the product to targeted key customers. It is always an important part of a business marketing strategy to consider how accessible the product or service is and ensure that customers can easily find you. The product or service must be available to customers at the right time, at the right place, and in the right quantity. A business would ideally “position” and provide their products over an e-commerce site, at a retail store, or through a third-party distributor.

When a business owner, or an entrepreneur makes decisions regarding product placement, deploying a marketing strategy that determines where they should sell a product and how to deliver the product to the market is an advantage. The primary goal of a business is always to get products and services in front of the consumers that are the most likely to buy them.

In some cases, this may refer to placing a product in certain stores, but it also refers to the product’s placement on a specific store’s display. In some cases, placement may refer to the act of including a product on television shows, in films, or on web pages in order to garner attention for the product.

The Fourth P: Promotion
Promotion refers to the activities that make the business more known to consumers. It includes items such as sponsorships, advertising, and public relations activities. In this digital age, the “place” and “promotion” factors are as much online as they are offline. Specifically, where a product appears on a company’s web page or social media, as well as which types of search functions trigger corresponding, targeted ads for the product. However, promotion costs can be substantial, thus it is essential to conduct a break-even analysis when making promotion decisions.

Promotion includes everything from advertising, public relations, to active promotional strategy. The goal of promoting a product is to reveal to consumers why they need it and why they should pay a certain price for it. A proven strategy is to tie promotion and placement elements together so they can reach their core audiences but it is equally important to understand the value of a customer and whether it is worth conducting promotions to acquire them.
When it comes to creating a solid and strategic marketing mix, it’s important to understand how the 4Ps of marketing fit into the whole picture. The 4 P’s of Marketing are key marketing elements used to position a business strategically and are variables that managers and owners control to satisfy customers in their target market, add value to their business, and help differentiate their business from competitors.

At Tize, we integrate the 4 P’s of marketing and make it work for your business. We go with your business, hand in hand, to develop and create niches specifically for your type of business for maximum gain and less risk.

Join us at Tize, and together we’ll never bow down to any business challenge we face.

Blog Customer Management Systems

How To Handle Common ‍Customers Objections

Post author By Tize
Post date August 31, 2021
No Comments on How To Handle Common ‍Customers Objections

I Object!

How to handle the most common customer objections, close that sale and keep your customer happy.

I bet anyone who works in sales will agree that a major obstacle in this field is hearing customer objections and complaints. What else could you find more frustrating than when being far along into a sale, almost driving to a close, when you suddenly find yourself in a pit of objections?

When that happens how should you respond? Is it a fright or flight scenario? Does this make you a lesser salesperson? The endless why’s keep pouring in and I kid you not when I say, these objections are all part of the game. You need not fret and lose hope, or roll about the floor like a child throwing tantrums.

You Know Why?‍

Customers are built the way they are and as salespeople, we have to understand that there is a certain level of truth to the adage “The customer is always right.” Client satisfaction is our motivation, and customer success is what we work so hard for.

Customer objections and complaints are addressed in a variety of ways, the following are the most common and here’s how to handle them. Get your act together and read on!

Remember that customers have concerns mainly about everything. From product quality, service reliability, and importantly, value for money. These factors are not to be considered as roadblocks, but instead, sales goals. It’s your duty to successfully engage the customers who have objections during the sales process.

Should handling customer objections and complaints make for the most crucial part of the selling process? Definitely not. There are strategies that you can use during this stage, and two of the most practiced are active listening and acknowledgment. Learning how to use these strategies are of utmost importance as it will guide and help you and your team throughout the process to understand what your customer is trying to say.

Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich once said, “The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself.” Following this simple advice every time you handle objections and applying the strategies accordingly will help you and your team maintain a clean pipeline in focusing without losing your target customer.

Engaging in an argument with your customer is a big NO for salespeople. Keep in mind that we are building relationships founded on trust and when you fail miserably in pushing back your aggression, the outcome will always be disastrous for both you and the client.

Let us delve more into the most common customer objections salespeople encounter and the proper ways to address each one!

It’s too expensive

Cash is king. It has always been and will always be. Value for money is often the bottom line for most customers and clients when they are poised to purchase something you are selling. Unless you see through the context of this objection positively, you’re screwed.

Keep your perspective clear and by employing the 2 basic strategies of listening and acknowledgment, you can easily take into account the status of the person right in front of you, the customer.

It is ethical for a salesperson to understand the predicament of the potential prospect. If the objection comes from a financial standpoint then perhaps you have positioned the sale in the wrong direction. If the nature of the same objection springs from a level of disinterest, then the average salesperson can actually push for a successful sale. It all depends on the skills and smarts you will employ.
Key point 1: Know Your Leverage

I need to think about it

There’s nothing more diminishing for a salesperson to hear when trying to make a sale. This common customer objection does not have to be taken in the negative, in fact, it’s the other way around. When a customer or a prospect gives this objection, there is a hint of hope that you could actually seal this deal! Come to think of it, your customer is actually saying it out loud!

“ I need to think about it.” translates to, “Please tell me more about the product or service you’re selling.”, or “I need to think about (when, where, why, how) this product fits my current lifestyle.”

If anything, this objection is but an affirmation of interest from the client and never a roadblock to a successful point of sale. Your role is to keep your client or customer informed of all the benefits, advantages, and overall value of the product and service you are selling.
Keypoint 2: Know Your Advantage and Strengths

It’s the product

Customer satisfaction. I bet you’ve come across these words everyday as a salesperson. Nothing beats the pride of making a sale and keeping a single customer smiling with satisfaction. How do you achieve this feat as a salesperson?

First, you should know the product or service you are selling by heart. Knowing is half the battle, and keeping your customer informed even during after sales will help to create and foster a customer relationship like no other.

Second, it would be a shame if you as the first contact for a product or service will be unreachable at certain times, therefore make yourself an annex to the service and product you are selling.

Finally, once you get to the point of merging your persona with the product or service bought by the customer, make sure that you embody customer satisfaction in everything you do. The first and second steps help to solidify trust and confidence, but your presence, that makes the sale priceless.
Keypoint 3: You are the product.

We’ll buy it soon

The salesperson can be likened to a swordsman preparing for battle. He needs to have razor sharp sales pitches ready to cut into any objections, even when the customer ups his defense with the classic “We’ll buy it soon” line.

The average salesperson would opt to charm the customer with every possible product or service characteristic, but that could only do so much.

Use this cliche to your advantage. Counter the timeline defense your client used against your pitch with the same mirror technique, but albeit more effectively. You can ask the customer how far long it will take for him to reach a decision. Or perhaps you could up your sales offer with a promotion whenever accessible, like discounts on a limited run, a freebie package only for your customer.

We’ve heard this battle cry almost every day. A million times over from our customers or clients. The right time to figure out if there is something that holds them in purchasing your product is now.

There are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but when you’ve got a blunt edge sword to make the sale, you only have trauma to attend to.
Keypoint 4: Time is on your side.

We don’t have the budget

Is this a common objection you hear daily? Just when you’re about to close a sale, that’s where the budget issue typically comes in. Worry not, that objection might just be a redirection.

As a determined salesperson, you can keep your customers interested by finding out what works for them. Ask them questions like “How much do you think it should cost?” or “How much do you intend to spend on this solution?” Answers to these questions give the salesperson options to close the sale sometime in the future. Remember that you are there to help and guide them towards making the decision in your favor.

Understanding the prospect and their capacity to pay for a product or service will help you frame any scenario objectively, whatever the nature of the customer’s objection. Give yourself a pat on the back for perseverance in chasing the opportunity of hitting your goal.
Keypoint 5: Take objections as redirections.

The Fear of Change

The fear of change can be one of the greatest barriers for prospects to purchase.

Not only do customers need affirmation that they made the right choice, but it has to feel 100% right. Regardless if the prospect is persuaded of a product or service from a rational standpoint, the challenge remains whether they are willing to conflict with their gut.

Do you think your clients are afraid of change?

Perhaps because they are just comfortable with the product or service they are currently using that making a change is too much for them.

The first rule in dealing with this objection is to acknowledge their fears. Client’s fears are real and acknowledging the fact that not everyone is good at adapting to new changes will help you come up with a strategy, instead of downright shooting down the point of sale. We need to understand the client in order to help them overcome their fears.

Providing the customer a bulletproof reason as to the how’s or why’s your product or service offers a better quality, will keep them informed. Compulsion through proper presentation will lead the customer to embrace the changes being offered.

Help them navigate the process, collaborate with them, and always make sure that you employ a strategy that keeps the client’s needs in focus. Being there from beginning up until the end is a big responsibility and is not for the faint of heart.
Keypoint 6: FEAR and SALE have four letters. Conquer both!

Put your game face on!

It’s hard to play tug of war in the sales arena. You can’t keep tugging when your customer is pulling on the other side. Instead of doing so, tread the same path or direction where you find your client moves through then let your personality and skills as a salesperson come into play.

Your character stands as your strongest point. Honed to be at its finest, your core as a salesperson should exhibit confidence and resilience. Your strategy will show you where to dig deeper into your clients’ desires and will lead you in the direction of a qualified sale.

Your resilience provides you the determination to improve despite tough situations, assisting you to climb even the steepest obstacles. Your selling skills get better with every perfect close. That could actually mean brawling with disapprovals every single day but that’s what makes you bounce back stronger.

Along with all your dispositions, it’s time to bring your expertise into the game no matter what objections come your way. Because that’s the Tize way!

Blog Customer Management Systems

CLOSED! Seal the deal with 5 power closer techniques

Post author By Tize
Post date August 31, 2021
No Comments on CLOSED! Seal the deal with 5 power closer techniques

Closing a sale takes more than ingenuity and effort In today’s competitive world. Sales teams must develop a strong understanding of tried and tested closing techniques and tactics if business success is meant to be optimized.

The modern world poses modern challenges, especially in a highly informed society. But there are also newer techniques that have been developed to solve these modern challenges. Any salesperson or rep knows that “closing” is the most crucial moment in making a sale and knowing how to close a sale seamlessly, smoothly, and quickly is one of the most important aspects of any salesperson’s skill set.

The “closing” moment determines whether prior efforts will amount to anything, apart from having a large impact on both the success of the rep and the business as a whole. Regardless of how customers and clients differ from each industry, scale, and size, the ever-reliable salesperson should have a ready repertoire of sales closing techniques for every kind.

Open With A Fever Pitch

Typically, a salesperson gets less than two minutes to explain how their business will benefit the prospect. With the attention span of prospects in an ultra-modern world diminishing at lightning pace, you need to open with a red hot fever pitch. We, as salespeople, do not have the luxury of an hour-long presentation geared towards selling a specific product or service.

Prospects simply do not have enough time to listen to long sales pitches unless endorsed otherwise by a well-known celebrity. Until then, you have 100 words or less to come up with the perfect elevator pitch. Talk about the power of persuasion.

The first few minutes of a business conversation determine the direction your interactions will take. A good sales pitch needs to convey the intended message concisely in a compelling manner. If the sales pitch is on point, you are on the right path to making profitable sales in your attempt to convince the prospect about the superiority of the service you are offering.

A great opening often leads to an epic close when done the right way. With a fever pitch opening, the ingress towards a promised met and fulfilled is not that far behind. Now that you’ve accounted for the importance of a killer opening, you can now learn the 5 power closer techniques.

Closing Time

With the promise of great openings comes an epic close. The final step is at hand when a customer decides to purchase the product or services offered by the sales rep. A gigantic effort has been made, and this moment is its crowning glory.

Make no mistake, the closing is far more difficult than the opening pitch yet by wll means, the most significant aspect of the entire process. Hence, these 5 power closer techniques should be mastered by all salespeople who want to reach their target.

Technique Number 1: The Assumptive Close
One of the most popular closing techniques, the assumptive close is enacted with an implication that a deal is almost done. Through positive assumption, the salesperson “assumes” the sale is a given and carefully insinuates that the next step for the customer is to make a related decision regarding quantity or delivery time.

Leading questions like “How many would you like to buy?” or “Would you prefer to take delivery this week or next?” are common pre-emptive questions that lead to the assumptive close. This approach is subtle in laying the groundwork for customer affirmation, if and when played right down to the delivery and tone of making a sale.

Technique Number 2: The Now or Never Close
This close is based in a sense of urgency, so it might include a benefit seemingly tailored to the customer in question. The aim is to inspire a purchase there and then, and this might mean implying that the product or service is the last one available at the price you’re offering.

Another way to do it would be to offer a discount for customers who sign up on the day, or to offer a benefit that seems unusual, like being put to the front of the list for delivery, or receiving a complementary service as a ‘one-off’.

Technique Number 3: The Soft Close
The soft close is a low-pressure technique that asks questions highlighting benefits, with a view to offering more information. At the same time, it helps reps to gather more information about needs and pain points. For instance, a rep might ask, “If this training program was able to reduce staff turnover by 75% and increase productivity by the same, would you want to know a little more about it?”

The question is relatively indirect and should make the customer feel comfortable to agree to the next step.

Technique Number 4: The Question Close
This close comes about through a series of probing questions designed to evoke desire in the customer while quashing any objections likely to arise. The sale could actually be closed using a question, which is good as it allows any outstanding concerns to be aired while the commitment is being made. It also allows for further pitching if there are concerns.

Technique Number 5: The Summary Close
The clue is in the name: sales reps must reiterate and summarise all of the benefits and selling points of the product or service before attempting the closing question. Using the points of interest or agreements expressed by the customer throughout the conversation, you package up all the attractive aspects in one sentence so they can visualise the deal.

It might look something like this: “So, you like the idea of the 10 piece professional kitchen set with the power juicer and free blender. The money-back guarantee gives you complete freedom, and the free next day delivery means you’ll have it by lunchtime tomorrow. What sort of time would work for your Goods In?”

Mastering these 5 power closing techniques will save you a lot of time and disappointment while making your mark in the sales domain. Know these by heart and you are guaranteed to be well on your way to being a skilled salesperson.

Meanwhile, you can learn more about sales, marketing and the power of CRM here at Tize!

Blog Financial Reporting

Crunching Figures, Hidden Numbers.

Post author By Tize
Post date August 31, 2021
No Comments on Crunching Figures, Hidden Numbers.

The importance of filing financial reports when running a business.

Here’s a piece of useful trivia. The abacus, called Suan-Pan in Chinese, as it appears today, was first chronicled circa 1200 C.E. in China. The device was made of wood with metal reinforcements. On each rod, the classic Chinese abacus has 2 beads on the upper deck and 5 on the lower deck. For those who don’t know yet, the word ABACUS is the short form for Abundant Beads, Addition and Calculation Utility System.

While the abacus is an ancient calculation tool used by many traders in their time, there is nothing ancient in the method of gathering data for financial reporting. It’s relevance to modern accounting and running businesses to this day and age is proof of the untapped power and potential of financial analysis.

In fact, financial analysis and reporting are one of the bedrocks of modern business. Financial analysis and reporting offer a level of insight that helps businesses remain compliant while streamlining their income or expenditure-centric initiatives across the board.

Financial reporting refers to standard practices to give stakeholders an accurate depiction of a company’s finances, including their revenues, expenses, profits, capital, and cash flow, as formal records that provide in-depth insights into financial information.

Each of these financial KPIs is incredibly important because they demonstrate the overall ‘health’ of a company – at least when it comes to the small matter of money. These types of KPI reports don’t offer much insight into a company’s culture or management structure, but they are vital to success, nonetheless.

The Benefits Of Financial Reporting

Financial reporting provides useful information that assists the company in a number of ways. A strong and reliable financial reporting system across sectors encourages healthy competition and allows capital inflows. It improves management in communicating the company’s previous accomplishments and future goals.

Here’s an in-depth look at real-world use cases that we at Tize want to share. The following points are what we consider to be the essence of financial reporting. Consider these as the key benefits of financially-based reporting and analytics.

Improved debt management

Debt can cripple the progress of any company, regardless of sector. While there may be many different types of financial reporting concerning purpose or software, almost all solutions will help you track your current assets divided by the current liabilities on your balance sheet to help gauge your liquidity and manage your debts accordingly.

Debt may stifle any company’s growth, regardless of industry. While there are many various forms of financial reporting depending on the purpose or software used, practically all solutions will let you track your current assets split by your current obligations on your balance sheet to assist you to measure your liquidity and manage your obligations appropriately.

Trend identification

Regardless of what area of financial activity you’re looking to track, this kind of reporting will help you identify trends, both past and present, which will empower you to tackle any potential weaknesses while helping you make improvements that will benefit the overall health of your business.

Real-time tracking

By gaining access to centralized, real-time insights, you will be able to make accurate, informed decisions swiftly, thereby avoiding any potential roadblocks while maintaining your financial fluidity at all times.

Liabilities

Managing your liabilities is a critical part of your company’s ongoing financial health. Business loans, credit lines, credit cards, and credit extended from vendors are all integral liabilities to manage. By using a financial report template, if you’re planning to apply for a business expansion loan, you can explore financial statement data and determine if you need to reduce existing liabilities before making an official application.

Progress and compliance

As the information served up by financial reporting software is both accurate and robust, not only does access to this level of analytical reporting offer an opportunity to improve your financial efficiency over time, but it will also ensure you remain 100% compliant – which is essential if you want your business to remain active.

Cash flow

Big or small, an organization’s cash flow is essential to its ongoing financial health. Working with a mix of detailed metrics and KPIs, it’s possible to drill down into cash flow in relation to anticipated profit and liabilities, keeping your monetary movements secure and fluent in the process.

The income statement reports a company’s profitability but provides no direct information on the company’s cash flow. Investors are paid back with cash from all sources, not revenue from activities. The cash flow statement depicts the flow of funds between the firm and outside contractors over a period of time. Investors can tell if a firm has adequate cash to cover expenditure and acquisitions by looking at this statement.

Communication & data access

Any modern financial analysis report worth its salt is accessible to and optimized for a multitude of devices. By gaining unlimited access to essential financial insights and data, you can respond to challenges swiftly while improving internal communication across the board. If everyone understands emerging trends and can share vital financial data, your organization will become more efficient, more innovative, and safeguarded against potential compliance issues or errors.

Simplify Your Taxes

The most convincing explanation to utilize financial reports is that you must and are obligated to do so by law. These reports are used by the Internal Revenue Service to ensure that you are paying your fair share of taxes. Financial reporting that is accurate reduces the chance of errors and saves a lot of time. It alleviates the overall strain of submitting your company’s taxes each year.

Make Better Financial Decisions

When a company has to make a decision, financial accounts must be examined. Managers can assess the worth of a company’s present assets to determine if it can afford to buy more. Managers can determine if assets need to be sold off when their value has declined significantly.

Importance to the Shareholders

Shareholders should be aware of the relevance of financial analysis and statements. If you own stock in a corporation or are an activist investor with a large stake in the company, having complete disclosure of all assets, liabilities, cash flow, revenues, and corresponding corporate costs is critical. You’ll also want to know whether the firm is doing something it shouldn’t be doing.

Crunching Figures, Hidden Numbers.

More than just a typical accounting procedure, financial reporting reveals a company’s financial information and performance over a specific time period. A financial report, in basic terms, is essential for understanding how much money you have, where it comes from, and where it needs to go.

Here at Tize, we get you past the goal of financial reporting.

We help you keep track of, analyze, and report your company’s earnings through cutting edge CRM that harnesses the power of financial information and data available. No hidden numbers to worry about, just crunching figures that matter for every single report.

Only Kung-Fu could do better in breaking the bank. Hi-yaah!

Blog Sales / Affiliates

The Salesperson Skill Set Essentials

Post author By Tize
Post date August 25, 2021
No Comments on The Salesperson Skill Set Essentials

These are the sales skills every salesperson should possess.

Are you the salesperson stereotype? Pushy, aggressive, idealistic, and always ever-annoying?
If you have been working in sales for over a year, chances are you fit this description. If you’re reading through this opening paragraph, eyes peeled for what comes next, then you’re in the thick of denial.

You are in fact, a salesperson cliché in every sense.

Admittedly, the description is a bit harsh and has probably never been particularly true for a few good salespeople. But we’ve all met that stereotype one too many times on occasion, luckily at least a few and far between the great ones. The one-dimensional method man that often costs the sale, even when the product is an easy sell.

As sure as the sun rises in the east, the world will continue to turn and fundamentally bring on change. Talking a lot, flexing the truth, and killing for a sale regardless of the prospect’s needs and requirements, simply isn’t how the sales game is played.

Not anymore and never again.

Welcome to the modern world of sales and marketing. Powered by cutting-edge technology, seeded by top-notch software and user-friendly programming, we are now living in the future.

Whacking your customers and clients in the head won’t make the cut, much less, the sale.

Today, information is readily available and customers are more demanding than ever.

Always a cutthroat industry, being in sales only means arming yourself with the most important sales skills to stay ahead of the competition. Whether you are a sales manager or a sales team member, you need to prioritize adopting important sales skills as part of regular training.

Since customer demands and the market are ever-evolving, having the best practices and key messages reinforced to your team, including your experienced salespeople, is crucial in ensuring that they are well-rounded all throughout the sales process.

There is a new information dynamic that demands much more specific sales skills, and a new type of sales personality: The salesperson who can draw on their complex knowledge to help solve a prospect’s specific issue is who the market requires, not just someone who’s simply an expert at selling.

Keep yourself attuned and in check with these key salesperson skill set essentials.

Strong At The Core: Mastering The Basics

The core strategy of targeted marketing relies on the strength of the skill set that most salespeople possess. The ability to adapt to effective sales readiness is a strategy that is essential to success. With training and coaching to support the development of critical sales skills, organizations can equip even the inexperienced salesperson to close more and bigger deals.

Effective Communication Skills
Strong communication skills are the foundation of building meaningful relationships with clients, setting expectations, and discussing a buyer’s pain points. Effective communication, both written and verbal, is a fundamental skill that salespeople need to persuade prospects or potential customers into buying a product or service. It is important to remember how communication is about much more than just speaking clearly and concisely. Salespeople also need to understand that tone and manner of delivery also matter.

Storytelling is a means of effective communication. Telling a story that empathically connects you to a client or a prospect allows the salesperson to tap into a persona that allows selling to be engaging and authentic. By presenting a product or a service into a story arc that will address the relevant pain points and needs of the customer, the salesperson opens a gateway of possibilities that may often lead to closing a deal or even better, building better relationships.

Keeping your writing and presentation abilities sharpened will be a big plus when interacting over email, social media, video conference, or in-person. Collaboration plays a major role in sales and marketing and to be able to communicate effectively throughout the sales cycle, from cold outreach and follow-up, to recognizing an opportunity is an essential skill that needs mastery.

Sales is an agile industry where you can further hone your communication skills efficiently and reinforce these concepts through training, peer learning, and team discussions. These are the avenues to exercise communication skills and collaboration.

Relationship Building Skills
Salespeople need good listening skills to connect with clients, yet in today’s fast-paced business world, the temptation to formulate an instant response or follow-up question is too strong. The pitfall of not being able to listen to your customer or clients’ needs is deep and wide. It is a point of no return. Right before you lose the opportunity, always be reminded that active listening is all about staying in the moment and a key factor in relationship building.

Relationship building is when a salesperson finds mutual, non-business-related interests with a customer to build rapport instead of immediately talking their ears off about the product or service details. The 2017 State of Sales Survey by LinkedIn states that trust in the salesperson is the number.1 contributing factor in a purchase decision of a buyer. This only proves that when the buyer clearly understands what the seller is saying a sales milestone is actually met.

The goal of relationship-building is simply to build trust with your customer. When successfully built, having a strong relationship with their customer also means that they will come to them for advice about specific pain points, as opposed to consulting with a competitor. This will make the relationship more genuine and help the salesperson establish credibility.

Talking to customers about non-work-related topics may seem like a meaningless exercise but knowing what’s important to the customer on a practical and emotional level has its rewards. Positioning yourself as a consultative salesperson requires a connection on a human level. This helps to grow rapport and foster trust and eventually, in time, these conversations will elevate into a business relationship.

Adaptability Skills
Modern sales skills require the salesperson to adapt to the current needs of the market and enable themselves to be “future-proofed”. Knowing your prospects’ pain points as well as know the product or service you are selling entails proper training. It is not easy to tailor sales skills unique to every client, but with technology and a genuine interest in developing the knowledge, you are well on your way to mastering the skill set essentials you need.

Present-day sales skills demand spending more time researching prospects and learning about the market than other traditional sales techniques. This can shape every interaction you have with a prospect from the first contact and nurturing, to your sales pitch and closing the deal.

CRM software allows you to gather insights on sales prospects you never would have had access to in the past. By taking advantage of these new tools, small businesses can understand and therefore sell to customers better with a more tailored and personal approach.

Learning how to take advantage of various sales tools, whether it’s conventional marketing, mastering the use of your CRM, or a sales readiness platform, using new technologies has quickly become a standard for salespeople, and the trend isn’t going away anytime soon.

Excellence is not a skill, but an attitude.
The past year has spelled out a recent economic crisis that has changed the way customers spend money and what has been bought or sold in a highly volatile marketplace. Be that as it may, salespersons need not focus on threats because, with the latest technology trends, the landscape of sales and marketing is always evergreen.

Excellence is never far behind. All you need to do is master the essentials, the Tize way.

Blog Payment Processing

How Does Payment ‍Processing Work?

Post author By Tize
Post date August 23, 2021
No Comments on How Does Payment ‍Processing Work?

How Does Payment ‍Processing Work?

Demystifying The Payment Process System

The how’s and why’s of the payment process uncovered.

Have you ever wondered about the complexities involved in starting a business? Most startups and entrepreneurs will openly share their experiences, however harrowing or difficult it was for them when they began their journey into making their brand known. As daunting as it may seem, starting off a business from the ground up is never easy.

When you’re faced with a competitive market, a volatile economy and a challenge that measures up to your full worth, arming yourself with the proper knowledge will only help to lighten the load. This is where the vital role of business development specialists come into play.

Payment processing is a business development solution that caters to every scale and size of any particular industry, most especially in the retail and hospitality sectors. In recent years, payment processing systems have helped to integrate business solutions in every industry sector, alleviating the systems and processes that have been established long before payment automation was introduced.

Good things come in packages. Depending on the scale or size of your business, there is a payment processing system that can help address your concerns on automation and business development. Let us delve more into the intricacies of the payment processing system, and see what best fits your company.

The Federal Reserve Payment Study (FRPS) made an extensive review that showed the increasing development in non cash payments and further enhancements on other forms of alternative payments. It’s a study regularly made to monitor the changes and developments happening in the U.S. payment systems. According to the survey, the trends in non cash payments showed a continuing decrease in check payments, yet with more than double the increase in other forms of online payments.

To further appreciate the wonders of online payment processing, it’s best to familiarize yourself with the terms involving the ins and outs of the process.

Payment Processing System

Most businesses these days, if not all, have other options to pay instead of just cash. Other than cash payments, most transactions are made through online payments. These online payments go through what we call payment processing.

Unlike the traditional way of doing payments, like what most brick-and-mortar businesses used to do, online payments are the most used form of payment these days. It’s almost exactly the same as handing over cash, it’s just that, it’s done seamlessly over the internet.

Payments are now usually done through a debit or credit card or other online payment systems. If you’re still wondering what revolves around a payment process and how it smoothly moves among individuals and businesses, it’s time to take a look more closely at each of the parties involved.

What Are Online Payment Systems?

Online payment systems are methods of payment that are done electronically in exchange for goods or services bought from a business. These payments are usually done through a debit or credit card. As an example, more than decades ago, when you dine in a restaurant, you probably would have had to withdraw money from an ATM first before entering an establishment.

Now, you can already use the same card that you use for withdrawal, to directly pay with lesser hassle and risks. As technology advances continuously, options for electronic payments are getting broader. There are now other forms of electronic payments such as online bank transfers, electronic wallets, and payment service providers. Below are some other terms used in online payment processing.

Debit Cards

Debit cards are cards issued by banks to their clients allowing them to immediately transfer cash directly from their account to another. These cards are commonly used by your customers as this is one of the oldest ways of doing online banking, along with the use of credit cards.

Credit Cards

Credit cards have existed since the 1950s and are being utilized more so these days. These are cards issued by banks to allow your clients to use their accounts to initially make payments. The bank gives the customer a bank credit that allows them to electronically transact within a certain limit and allows them to pay a transaction without an actual fund and is payable to the bank at a later date.

Online Bank Transfer

Online bank transfer is just another term we use for transferring money from one bank to another electronically. Online bank transfer transactions are usually done instantly but sometimes can take up to a few hours depending on the regulations of the banks involved.

Electronic Wallet

Electronic wallets or e-wallets are digital accounts your customers can use as prepaid accounts. It’s a system that uses your client’s information to keep their funds and be available for use as payment for online purchases. It’s basically called a wallet as it gives the privilege of making virtual cash transfers without the physical presence of cash. It’s also similar to a debit card, except that the fund is not stored in a bank account.

Payment Service Providers

Payment Service Providers (PSPs) are companies who help businesses like you in a way that they provide the service to facilitate the communication between your bank as a merchant and your customer’s bank using the data provided by the payment gateway. They are the ones working with all the parties involved in online payment transactions and are also known as payment processors.

Payment Gateway

A payment gateway is an automation technology that receives a customer’s card and other details to be transmitted to the payment processor and merchant’s bank. They provide data encryption to avoid threats that may be taken from the card itself.

Card Associations

Also known as card networks, card associations are chains of financial institutions that regulate different transaction terms between all parties involved in payment processing. Some well-known brands that you most likely know include MasterCard, Visa, and American Express.

How Do They All Work Together?

Imagine your client making an online purchase from your website. You, as a business, would need to ask for the information needed to proceed with the sale and make sure you’ll be paid at the end of the process. The first step in the payment process that you would have to go through is known as the authorization. It’s a step that establishes your capacity as a merchant and your customer’s capability to carry out the transaction.

After providing his payment details and other pertinent information, your role as a merchant is to transmit that through a payment gateway for encryption. Your chosen payment gateway will convey the encrypted data to a Payment Service Provider (PSP) who will do all the necessary communications with the related financial institutions.

The PSP will make a request from the card network who will do the verification with your customer’s account provider. The account provider will then approve or reject the request depending on the status of his account and will relay the intended message to your bank as a merchant.

To maximize your cost-efficiency as a merchant, all the authorized requested transactions of the day are pooled together before forwarding them to a PSP. The PSP will transact with the card association who will request a fund debit from your customer’s account provider. That provider will charge the amount from his account with the necessary interchange fees and will then be transferred to your bank account. You being paid for your product or service is the final and most important step in the whole payment process and is also known as the settlement or funding.

By further simplifying the not-so-complicated payment processing, it gives you the edge in offering payment flexibility, superb convenience, and reliable security through contactless services. This modern system of payment is favorable in the sense that it saves you time and manages your costs.

What Payment Processing System is sure to bring forth to your industry is the value of what automation means for you and your customers. A high value experience that can lead to long-term positive customer relations.

Here at Tize, we’ll be more than glad to assist you in your payment processing needs because we believe that remarkable customer service matters.

Blog Financial Reporting

The Importance Of Financial ‍Reports For Entrepreneurs

Post author By Tize
Post date August 23, 2021
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The Importance Of Financial Reports For Entrepreneurs

Why check and balance is essential in running a business

Many entrepreneurs get too overwhelmed with financial reports that they try to avoid it. When we are starting up, we tend to focus on everything– products, marketing, sales leads– except financial reports.

However, no matter how you want to avoid it, as an entrepreneur, it is your business to know where your money is coming from, how much money you have, and where your money needs to go. Well-prepared financial reports will help your business to the next level.

Our business is knowing how we run a business, and financial reports delineate where our financial position is.

Think of your financial reports as like a financial dashboard of your business. When your business is self-sustaining, it is imperative to get these financial reports set up. If you plan on getting a loan or financing options, your reports will be your profile for the banks or any financial institution for granting you a loan. Rather than underestimating their assertion, you can do your independent analysis and foster counter-offers as you negotiate.

No matter what size or industry your business is in, there are three financial reports that all entrepreneurs must know on the back of their hands: (1) Income Statement, (2) Balance Sheet, and (3) Statement of Cash Flows.

The Importance Of Financial Reports For Entrepreneurs

Income Statement

An Income Statement also called Profit and loss is one of the major and compulsory financial reports. It gives data that measures the profitability of your business from gross, operating, pretax to after tax.

This is the basic formula of an income statement. The end goal here is to get the Net Profit of your business for an accounting period– can be monthly, quarterly, or annually. It is the net profit that will tell you if your business is profitable or not.

Your business’ income statement will show the real strength and acquiring influence of your business throughout a time length. It gives a reasonable image of whether your business activities are bringing out a profit or a loss in the wake of considering every one of the connected consumptions. Thus, your organization can make restorative moves if there is a need to do as such.

Balance Sheet

While the income statement answers your question on how profitable your business is, the balance sheet will answer these main questions: 1.) What revenue is the certain business generating? 2.) What are the costs incurred in generating the revenue? and 3.) How much investment do you have for the future growth of your business?

A balance sheet is a financial statement that reports your business assets, liabilities, and shareholders’ equity at a specific period in time. Because it summarizes your business’s finances, the balance sheet is also sometimes called the statement of financial position. It reveals your business’s overall financial health. At a glance, you’ll know exactly how much money you’ve put in, or how much debt you’ve accumulated. Or you might compare current assets to current liabilities to make sure you’re able to meet upcoming payments.

All balance sheets are organized into three categories: assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity.

Asset: pertains to anything the company owns that is of value; this description also extends to cash.
Liabilities: anything a company owes, either to people or other businesses
Owner’s Equity: represents funds that would be available to the collective owners if the company were to sell off all its assets and pay all of its liabilities.

Statement of Cash Flow

This statement indicates incoming and outgoing cash flows that affect the condition of your funds. Statement of cash flow is an analytical presentation of the data presented in your balance sheet, concerning the change in funds that have been made in the reporting period.

This statement answers the question of whether your business is liquid enough to cover short-term payments rather than relying on credits. The statement enables users of the financial report to determine how well your business’ income generates cash and to predict the potential of your business to generate cash in the future.

Cash flows should be indicated separately for particular areas of activity: operating, investing, and financing. Operating activities detail cash flow that’s generated once the company delivers its regular goods or services, and include both revenue and expenses. Investing activities include cash flow from purchasing or selling assets, physical property such as real estate or vehicles, and non-physical property, like patents—using free cash, not debt. Lastly, financing activities detail cash flow from both debt and equity financing.

Why are financial reports vital when running a business?

Every entrepreneur needs to know these reports since it gives you data that helps you in making business decisions and it also gives you data about the financial circumstance, financial execution, and changes in an element’s financial position that are usable by a wide scope of clients in settling on their financial choices.

When your business has to make a decision, financial reports must be examined. Managers can assess the worth of your business’s present assets to determine if it can afford to buy more. Managers can determine if assets need to be sold off when their value has declined significantly.

From the financial reports, you can determine your business financial condition and how it has worked during the periods for which the investigation is led, and what are future patterns around there.

The pitch of a cutting-edge business climate is described by the amazing dispatch of boundaries that leave an imprint on the organization that works in it. Hamilton, executive, and originator of Sageworks, a financial data organization says. “You don’t want to be worrying about paying the next bill. You want to be focused on growing the business.”

Tragically, regardless of how skilled and submitted you are to your products or services, if you don’t take care of the financial side of your business, it’s probably going to fizzle.

The importance of financial reports doesn’t stop on the internal management, it also applies to external stakeholders who should be aware of the relevance of your business’s financial reports. If someone owns stock or is an active investor with a large stake in your business, having complete disclosure of all assets, liabilities, cash flow, revenues, and corresponding business costs is critical. Stakeholders can tell if your business has adequate cash to cover expenditure and acquisitions by looking at your financial reports. It will also tell them whether your business is doing something it shouldn’t be doing (like in the case of Enron).

Financial reports, we may say, provide useful information that assists your business in several ways. Strong and reliable financial reports across sectors encourage healthy competition and allow capital inflows. It improves generally in communicating the business’ previous accomplishments and future goals.

It may be too intimidating to emerge yourself in the accounting side of your business but knowing and understanding these reports will help you, your management, and your stakeholders.

Garrison, R. H., Noreen, E. W., & Brewer, P. C. (2008). Managerial accounting. Boston: McGraw-Hill/IrwinBondarenko, P. (2019, October 7). Enron scandal. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Enron-scandal

Blog Sales / Affiliates

The Biggest Challenges ‍Sales Managers Face

Post author By Tize
Post date August 18, 2021
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Dare To Become A Sales Manager!

Embrace challenges that make your sales team better and stronger

Sales managers face modern-day hurdles in the tech-driven realm of sales and marketing. Within fractions of a second, modern-day commerce demands mastery of the digital realm applied with the intentionality of conversion in every single mouse click.

The sales manager possesses the power of conversion. More than just hitting monthly sales targets and giving out analytical reports, as a sales manager you are tasked to deliver conversions that matter. You are the spearhead to a well-trained sales team assigned to meet the needs of every prospect.

It is a fast-paced era where we live. The availability of information can be accessed anytime and literally everywhere. The irony is the faster we travel eons into the future today, it still is a challenge for salespeople to embrace forward thinking. More of our kind have become social dinosaurs so to speak.‍

This is not the way.

Beyond busy schedules and countless other things that make it difficult for your sales team to adapt in sales and marketing, it is of utmost importance to keep track of the reasons to improve our game. How?

Polish up your strategies. It’s part of our mission as sales managers to formulate ways to make sure our team is up to speed, well-geared, and fired up.

Fret not ‘cause we’re with you on that.

Weaving Your Strategy

How your team moves in a sales campaign matters. From prospecting to conversion, strategies come into play and that’s exactly where the skills and training you have imparted as the sales manager become significant. Proficiency in dealing with the modern day client requires mastery of the craft and cutting edge knowledge of the playing field. Without further ado, here are some hurdles that obscure the way to sales domination and how we can overcome them!

Joining Forces With Recruitment

Finding people fit for a job is always a challenge. The profile of the person you are looking for is almost always a needle in a haystack. But we can’t be too choosy for our comfort, that’s why teaming up with HR in finding the best people to form your sales team is a must!

It won’t be a breeze, and it will never be easy, but hiring skilled and dedicated people with the assistance of HR will help weed out the candidates worthy of becoming part of your top-notch salespersons.

Remember this:
Hiring does not solely depend on the recruiting team. As the sales manager, you face challenges and work through solutions with your team daily. You are responsible for making the persons within this team work towards a worthy goal. Leaders are great followers and motivators.

Synergy Is Key

There are people skilled in selling out there that may be a dime a dozen but knowing who to work with and form part of your team falls on your choice. In running the course of finding the right “fit”, there will be parameters that need to be set. These parameters will determine the character of the potential sales people you will have as members of your team and eventually develop toward a better synergy.

Refining the hiring process and going through the ebb and flow of interviews and candidate selections can be tedious at the outset, but with sheer will and an open eye for pure talent that matters often uncover diamonds in the rough. Be clear on who you want, what you want them to bring to the table and lastly, team spirit always counts.

Gear UP!

There is no truth to soft selling. Chances are, your clients have tired of hearing the same sales pitch from the competition. That, and the fact that every piece of information is within but a click of a mouse. Accessibility is all over the internet and brand awareness keeps your leads, prospects, and clients keen on their ready objections. Of course, the usual apprehensions of our clients and consumers is set on default.

There is no other way to face this challenge but to take it head on. Gear up and get your lines ready, have those options and offers handy whenever possible, and stay on top of your game. You’re the sales manager, and you do not cower in the face of possible rejection. Instead, you maneuver through the challenge with proper motivation and a killer business acumen.

This Is Not A Drill

Sales skills training should never be routine. Honing your collective skill as a sales team with you in the lead requires fine tuning your moves to the latest strategies for better outcomes. Effective implementation of what you have learned as a sales manager should trickle down to each and every member of your team. Mapping out a sales plan can only be accomplished with the right attitude toward skills training.

Once you feel that training is disrupting your daily function, you’re on the right track. This is the type and kind of disruption that can only bring forth better results. Training is essential in becoming a formidable sales manager, and equally efficient when absorbed by your team.

In providing adequate training, you help your sales representatives get comfortable in handling prospects’ resistance or uncertainties, giving them the full gear to march with you towards your sales goals.

Execution of strategies depend largely on how much you and your team have learned in training. Preparation is vital and results essential. As a sales manager, your mindset affects the outcomes of your sales team. Before you set them up to face their challenges, be sure that they are capable of carrying out the drill.

Crafting Synergy

As with anyone who’s part of a team, sales managers should never work solo. As a sales manager, you must align with other departments of the company, especially with marketing. The power to provide a smooth transition is in your hands, but you cannot simply hog the limelight. Since it’s the marketing team that does lead generation, you need to work hand in hand to ensure a solid pipeline.

Working Large With Big Teams

Remember that proper coordination can impact customer acquisition and even retention. The success of a sales manager’s performance relies on how well they’ve built synergy among different teams and how efficiently they execute the process. Your role as a sales manager revolves around a greater circle. When you properly coordinate outside your department and heartily maintain these relationships, you can all work together to achieve goals and milestones that greatly contribute to the company’s success.

Keep your aim straight for the bag of gold by keeping your customers content and satisfied and boosting customer loyalty. That retention rate will stabilize when you love your job the right way. It’s not always a walk in the park, but hey, it’s a whole lot better than strolling in the sewers.

Augmenting Potentials Through Coaching

Being in the higher rank grants you the opportunity to bring people to a better position. They might not feel empowered to do their daily routine and that’s where you use your energy to make the difference. From reaching out to different people to expounding the minute details of products, it becomes taxing for salespeople to turn their humdrum daily tasks into something exciting. These are the situations where you as the sales manager employ your coaching skills.

Leveraging The Power Of Technology

Everyone loves technology. It has become a part of your life, almost impossible to ignore.

The proper use of technology can save us time and money, beneficial in getting results efficiently. In these challenging times when everyone has adapted to the new normal, video conferencing has been life changing. Leveraging the power of tech to maximize sales and close deals is power within the scroll and click of a mouse.

Take the case of companies that typically use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. It manages internal and external processes and is a foundational program in sales to boost profitability..

Your role is to encourage the use of the available technology for maximum cost efficiency. Arming your people with the apt technology and right frame of mind can address crucial concerns in gathering and converting data for sales productivity. Leveraging the power of technology means that as sales managers, whipping up sales representatives to focus on selling and producing better deliverables can mean utilizing what your company and your employees already have.

Fortify Morale

Coaching puts heart in the daily routine salespeople do. Technical training strengthens their capabilities to show product expertise and mastery. Sprinkle product mastery with effective coaching and it ushers people to intentionality, leading them to maximize their potential.

By boosting their morale, they become self-aware problem solvers and growth seekers that are all beneficial for your team and your company.

Passion makes a huge difference. Coaching your team brings your people to be the best at what they do and even stand out among competitors.

Would You Dare To Become A Sales Manager?

Now that you’ve mastered these tasks, it’s time to focus on putting intentionality in everything you do. Use these challenges for a better purpose. Remember, evolving as a company intertwines everyone to reach greater heights.

Despite the hurdles, a thriving business is the ultimate purpose why you continue to conquer the challenges. Become a sales manager and rally your team towards conversions and positive outcomes.

Onward to battle, we CHARGE!

Blog Sales / Affiliates

Are You A Deal Maker Or Deal Breaker?

How strategy and skills training for salespeople help seal the deal.

Entrepreneurs today stop at nothing to remain competitive, be on top of their niche, and always ahead of the game. For most enterprises that’s how you run a business in a typically dog-eat-dog world and if you happen to lose your footing or are caught unaware, you risk running your business to the ground.

At the backbone of every enterprise, retail or otherwise, are the salespeople. The team responsible for the growth and nurturing of clients and accounts. These are the people who create value for the business enterprise and the customer alike. The salesperson is a deal maker but sometimes without the proper training and information, they can easily turn into the deal breaker.

Salespeople are the front-liners of any business enterprise. They are key sales personnel and are delegated to bring new customers and clients. As such, the average salesperson can be expected to face all sorts of problems from a sales standpoint on a daily basis. Problems and concerns that can be addressed with proper training, a clear strategy, and killer salesperson skills.

Prospects often have different perspectives toward what your salespeople have been trained to sell. Some are simply skeptical at the onset, while most are ready to buy into wherever it is you’re selling, until they become actual customers or clients and give you more pain than you’ve ever imagined. True story.

Customers, clients, or prospects don’t come in the same shape and size. The problems and concerns a salesperson will deal with are of the same nature. Thus, adopting proven strategies in sales and marketing can strengthen the principles we have learned, giving us the boost we need to establish positive rapport, credibility, and trust. Training your salespeople on how to handle pain points of every kind can build skills to provide practical real-time solutions for real time problems. Growing a business is easy if you have grit. Remember, it’s a dog eat dog world in the realm of commerce and enterprise, without grit, you stand on very loose ground.

There are no shortcuts to excellence. Developing real expertise, figuring out really hard problems, it all takes time―longer than most people imagine. As a salesperson, you’ve got to apply these skills and produce services that are valuable to your customers. Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you’re willing to stay loyal to it. It’s doing what you love, but not just simply falling in love― it’s staying in love.

Let’s walk through the types of prospects and problems every salesperson faces and find the best ways to face each one!

The Prospect: A Profile For Every Persona

Ah, the prospect. The soon to be customer, the most valued client. Sure as they are what every salesperson needs to make a sale and keep the business running, not all prospects are what they seem to be. Sometimes, when our eyes get too fixed on making the sale, we get lost in the deal. Unbeknownst to you, the prospect has led you into a maze, chasing rainbows at every end.

Here are a few prospect personas you need to get to know better, before you even set your phasers to stun.

The Prospect Who Promises But Never Purchases

It’s the classic cat and mouse scenario with this prospect persona. Evidently, this type of prospect is as fixed on the promise of purchase given as you are fixed on trailing wherever they lead you on to. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Remember the following:

A salesperson always leads the prospect, and not the other way around.
The promises a salesperson makes are always kept, with the solid backup of a company that builds trust.
If a promise to purchase has been brokered, show your prospect an active timeline and the benefits that come with the period covered in closing the deal. Turn the tables around and be in control. Always.
Before you lose yourself in making the deal, know where your limits are in pushing for a sale. When and where promises are made, there are tell-tale signs that show sincerity, or the lack of it.
Not all prospects are worth the wait. Time is of the essence, and yes, you can always find a better opportunity every time.

It’s pretty evident that most salespeople often forget this. Salespeople are not aware of this sign. They may find themselves putting much time and effort into prospects that it’s a colossal waste of valuable sales-closing time.

The Price Anxious Prospect

Salespeople beware! In the course of closing a deal, the prospect that stands before you may morph into another persona. This happens when the cost is mentioned, or the price is laid on the table. They turn into the Price Anxious Prospect!

When everything begins to move in the opposite direction of a clear sale and your prospect shows unwavering concern about the price, what do you do? How do you handle the situation

When price anxiety becomes a top concern, here’s what you can do;

Assure the prospect with the value of your product.
Present data from real clients, show and tell real results and statistics.
Address the needs and goals of your prospect by contrasting the cost with value added service.
Make your prospect understand that they own the advantage being offered. No matter what the cost, whatever the price tag, it’s theirs for the taking.

Constants And Variables

There are 2 sides to a coin and both sides make for legal tender. The salesperson stands as a constant on one side of the sales equation with the prospect as the lead variable on the equal opposite side. Both sides are essential to our story, both personas a problem and a solution within themselves.

Sales training can only help your sales team get better. Weekly meetings to assess and reassess prospects and leads will help sharpen those skills in no time and eventually, help your team become sales specialists.

Remember that prospects and leads are potential clients and as salespeople, we are adept with the expertise to fulfill our mission of giving out the best client experience. We are deal makers and we possess the resilience to face every single problem, no matter how large or small in scale.

Stay hungry, stay focused, and keep your eyes on the prize, That’s the Tize way.

If you would like to learn more about how Tize can help grow your business, please email support@tize.com or call 727-842-9999 to setup a free consultation today!

How to pick the right customers?

Blog Sales / Affiliates

Picking The Right Customers

Post author By Tize
Post date August 18, 2021
No Comments on Picking The Right Customers

Is Choosing The Right Client More Important Than Delivering Results?

An alternative is presented here that you might find interesting.

Consider the following questions;

What does it mean to choose the right client?
and what does it mean to deliver results?

Modern businesses are tasked with objectives that can seemingly be contradictory.

On the one hand, a business must garner an audience, build and demonstrate credibility and authority. On the other hand, a business must be conscientious about costs—one of the more elusive concepts in business and economics. Costs come in all shapes and sizes. The most insidious of which might be opportunity costs or the costs of expanding finite resources where they may have better utilized them.

Of course, this is very tricky for a new business because opportunities may appear to be limited, and as a matter of fact, also highly limiting. Perhaps due to a lack of demonstrated performance, a lack of reputation, or the lack of cash flows that make the individual organization desperate to get anybody in the door. Much like that schoolmate going through the most awkward physical phase searching for a prom date, Shrek would seem like a great choice when the alternative appears to be nothing.

That said, the costs of saying “No” are often miscalculated. Because the actual costs have not been conceived, results can not be perceived in any given customer encounter. An example would be taking on a bad client at the expense of a future good one. (Zero-sum equation) Sometimes one in hand costs you ten in the bush. What’s worse is you don’t realize it.

For a new business, in particular, this poses a bit of a catch 22. It won’t appear to be as easy as “pick a better client.” It reminds me of the tired employee interview move where you find yourself auditioning for them in a Bugs Bunny-style game of reverse psychology. Sorry, chump – my money, my rules. The market value of brazen basic-bitch solopreneurs is ever decreasing.

Whereas the market for those who can speak the truth with humility is a rarity of the utmost value — know your lane. Perhaps there is a better way to position the questions previously asked, as such;

Can these two seemingly contradictory options (bad customers VS good customers) be reconciled in some way?
If by considering the context of what it means to have a client, customer, or prospect, could we deliver desired results to each and all equitably?

‍Good questions answer themselves, and sometimes the best answers to questions divorced from context are often better questions.

‍Does someone consuming evergreen content fall into the category of “client”?

When I think of a client, I think of someone who is paying me in some way. They are expending resources, and I benefit from that expense (Hopefully in a mutually beneficial way). Is it wrong to think of them as a client? I think it’s safe to say, at the very least, they are consumers of services. But what are the costs? The cool thing about products of this sort is that they are seemingly roughly the same irrespective of the size of the audience.

Problem Solved, Right? Wrong.

More often than not, all of a thought leader’s content tells people that success is so easy that a monkey can do it. Therefore, should the thought leader be surprised when the monkeys are insulted by your refusal to court them more substantively? After all, their investment in terms of time, energy, and pain are far beyond yours.

This is where thought leadership fails.

When it divorces itself from the truth and the prospective client, in a sort of conspiratorial way, starts to believe the world is devoid of sharp edges. “Buyer beware – this content is not for you,” says no content, no software, no certification course ever.

Therein Lies The Rub.

Good copy, content, certs, whatever has two jobs to do (not just one). It must repel, as well or better than it attracts, especially if you’re the poor bastard at the bottom of the funnel. By the time it gets to you, it’s likely too late. Your time is finite, your opportunity costs are real, and most importantly, your reputation is vulnerable.

Vulnerable to the bruised egos of foolhardy investors. Those who bought into the idea that they had a shot at the big leagues. They should be happy in the swamp with Shrek and the rest of the undesirables.

It’s Not Their Fault – It’s Ours.

Everyone loves a Cinderella story. Rudy is one of my favorite movies. Forrest Gump artistically isolates the purity of spirit and conviction like no other. The thing that makes those stories (yes, they do happen in the real world) so compelling is that they’re extremely rare. Though in no way to run a sports team, business, or platoon.

The hard and fast principle is that there are winners and losers in life – and the prevailing tendency is that winners win and losers lose. I could tell you that you need to bring in better clients or hire better people, but it’s most likely that your destiny is already hard-wired.

You see, Pareto distributions don’t just apply to your customers and employees; they apply to you as well. We are all subject to inequitable cosmic forces, and projecting them onto others makes you less vulnerable to those standards.

Therefore my recommendation is that not only should entrepreneurs seek better clients and fire the bad ones. But most of them should fire themselves in advance to spare us the time and energy to tell them something they should have heard at the beginning of the funnel.

In closing, allow me to steal that famous motivational Charles S. Dutton line from Rudy;

“You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And you’re gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don’t have to prove nothin’ to nobody but yourself. And after what you’ve gone through, if you haven’t done that by now, it ain’t gonna never happen“.

‍Will that be Visa, MasterCard, or American Express?

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