Add-on selling pays

Those of us who sell for a living, (that means YOU—whether you own a business or sell products or services), all know how satisfying it is to reach the point where the size of our customer base regularly enables us to reach our target.

But, why stop there? There’s such a fine line between ‘satisfied’ and ‘complacent’, so why not go all out to do better? If the sky’s the limit, why stop at the ceiling?

Perhaps we shy away from going for ‘more’ because ‘more’ of a reward usually means that we would need to put even more time and effort into what we’re already doing than we’re prepared to. If we’re smart, this need not necessarily be the case.

Why not ask our existing satisfied customers for referrals, or even better, look for opportunities to sell additional products or services into our existing (and hopefully satisfied) customer base.

With add-on selling, we create the opportunity to increase turnover, while still investing a similar amount of our time and energy as usual.

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Are the basics right?

Each of the following marketing guidelines are important in their own right. Are you applying any or all of them in your business?

Be prepared for change. Make sure that you have access to an adequate number of products and utilise a range of marketing methods. In this way your total business isn’t at risk if a product line or marketing method goes cold.

Customers are your prospects. Always stay in contact, it’s far easier and less expensive, to sell to existing customers than it is to sell to new prospects.

Don’t overdo it. Never exaggerate a claim, even if it’s based on truth. Your customer is bound to see through any inflated claims made, which will not only jeopardize the immediate sale, but will also destroy your credibility.

Put together irresistible offers. Combine a special discounted price with unbeatable additional ‘value adds’.

Have more than one special offer lined up for your customers. Have a series of good offers, but one at a time, even if you continuously rotate them. Make sure that you place an expiry date on special offers. This will give you an indication of which ‘deals’ are attracting the most attention.

Target the right prospects. Is your product “expensive” or is your prospect “poor”? If necessary, change your target market so that your prospects can afford your products.

Offer an exclusive benefit. Do something that your competitors will be unwilling or unable to imitate. For example, making yourself available to customers around the clock would certainly be a big bonus for businesses who operate in the I T Industry. By the very nature of the I T business, where systems need to be operable 24/7, this type of service is exactly what customers need.

Never give up. Not everyone will buy from you first time round. Make sure that you have a process in place for capturing these types of prospects contact details. Follow up with them periodically. By maintaining ongoing contact, you just might sell to them some time in the future.

Write your adverts and sales messages as if you’re speaking to one individual only. You’ll get the best response if each reader can believe that the message was written specially for him or her. When you write, pretend that you’re writing to one person instead of to a large group. This will help you to pen your message in a more personal style and to keep formalities to a minimum.

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Build your business processes around normal people

You’re a customer, growing increasingly annoyed as you wait and wait and WAIT to collect an order at your preferred supplier. So, who are you going to see as being the cause of the holdup? Probably you’ll blame the company representative who’s assisting you. But, is this individual actually responsible for the poor service that you’re experiencing? Nine times out ten, you’ll find that the answer to this question will be NO. The most common reason why companies offer shoddy service is because the systems within the company have not been set up in such a way as to satisfy customers.

“No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.” - Peter Drucker.

How can employers empower normal employees to perform optimally? By clearly defining what their deliverables are within the company.

Consider the reasons why ISO companies are so efficient and respected. It’s because they can be trusted to consistently deliver what they promise to. This doesn’t mean that ISO companies don’t experience problems or that they all have super-heroes on the payroll. In ISO companies, problems that crop up become relatively easy to manage because . . . well, because they operate according to a carefully thought out and documented process flow. Within a clearly defined operational system, glitches in the normal chain of events become glaringly obvious. In ISO companies there are procedures in place that enable even the most average employees to take a course of action that will pro-actively assist with sorting out problems.

If managers put as much effort into drawing up proper company procedures as many of them seem to put into ‘putting out fires’, there would be a lot more opportunity for managers to devote their time and energy into making strategic business decisions that are likely to steer their organizations into producing added wealth.

My favourite success story (yes—I also really like their burgers) of a company who has the control of processes completely sorted, wherever those processes are taking place worldwide, has to be McDonalds. Consider for a moment the type of staff that the chain employs and their average level of skill. Then consider what actually brings about McDonalds’ continuing growth. It’s simple—their business model provides a uniformly predictable service to customers.

Bottom line; documentation says “This is how we do it here.” Without documentation, all routine work turns into exceptions. Documentation provides the people in an organisation with a written account of how to “get the job done.”

An efficiently documented business model should provide consistent value to customers, employees, suppliers and lenders—beyond what they expect. So, if you’re an entrepreneur, isn’t it time you asked yourself “What can I do that would not only provide consistent value to each of these stakeholders, but would provide it beyond their wildest expectations?” Now, start writing those operations manuals!

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Great people lead to greater profits

Customer care should be the first priority of every employee. The manner in which a product or service is delivered can often be more important than the product or service itself.

The level of customer care that your company provides to your customers is entirely dependant upon how caring your employees are.

A company’s attitude towards customer care always filters through an organisation, from the top down, which is why it’s critical for senior management to be committed to setting the right tone for the company, through their own example. Offering sloppy customer service at senior level is unlikely to inspire the next level to offer anything better.

Let’s assume that the management team in your business is setting the right example when it comes to caring for customers. How can you ensure that customers consistently feel good when dealing with your company?

The quality of the customer care emanating from the organisation is directly related to how motivated staff members are to deliver it. It therefore makes sense for employers to do everything possible to ensure that employees are happy and satisfied at work. Happy employees make customers happy too.

So what are the qualities of a good customer ‘carer’? This guide may be used as a benchmark by staff or employees and could also serve as a guideline for future training initiatives.

Accessibility - if customers find it difficult to contact company representatives, then the company is putting up barriers between the organisation and its customers.

Competence – If you are competent, you care about your own ability to satisfy customers and the impression created in the customer’s mind about your company and yourself. Competence can be improved by paying attention to these 4 issues:

• Knowledge – About products and / or service provided. Staff should be trained on all aspects of customer care and in the systems of the company. Caring people usually seek to improve their own knowledge levels and a caring organisation will provide them with the opportunity to do so.

• Skill – Caring people usually seek to increase or fine-tune their skills. They want to become better managers, or reps, or technicians or whatever. As they benefit, their company benefits and ultimately, the customers benefit. When it comes to customer care, all staff should be trained to deal with customers in a caring and understanding way and to identify and meet customer needs.

• Excellence – Caring people strive to be excellent in what they do. They take a genuine interest in the customer and are willing and able to take effective action when it comes to solving problems. Carers naturally tend to go the extra mile.

• Pride – Caring people take pride in what they do. In business, it’s the customer’s opinion that counts. If a customer has dealings with a staff member who has an unprofessional manner, he will assume that the company behind that person is not professional.

Peace of mind – People like doing problem-free business. They don’t like to be frustrated, feel anxious, or become angry. It’s really important for everyone in the organisation to treat customers in such a way that peace of mind ensues.

Credibility – Customers prefer to deal with people that they feel that they can trust and who they believe will give them a fair deal. The 4 rules to stick to in this area are – be sincere, keep promises, stick to the facts and never pass the buck. Front line staff should always look neat and behave properly in front of customers. That means, no smoking or eating or having personal discussions on the phone or reading magazines in front of customers.

Understanding customers’ needs – Find out what customers need, not what you think that they need. Ask questions, really listen to responses, then confirm your understanding of the customers needs in order to take correct action.

Reliability – Customers and colleagues need to know that they can depend on you. Be on time, respond promptly and be accurate in whatever you do. Don’t neglect to give feedback.

Communication – Avoid misunderstandings by using words and language that customers understand. Be clear about what you mean. Maintain eye contact. Always restate what the customer has said. Make notes. Keep customers informed. When taking telephone calls, identify yourself. Make only positive statements and guard against telling customers that something cannot or will not be done, which could seem to be confrontational. Rather say that you will investigate a matter to see what can be done, then get back to him or her with a proposal or a solution.

Responsiveness – Respond to customer enquiries on the day that they come in to the company. If you cannot respond to a query on the same day, then give feedback on the same day and inform the customer when you will be able to give a proper response, then – stick to your word.

Courtesy – Treat customers and fellow staff with respect. Call people by their names and use a polite tone of voice. Always tell the truth. Be polite. Always put customers at ease. Never blame them for any mishap and never make them feel guilty for their actions, particularly when they raise a complaint.

In closing, employers should ensure that there is a strong link between a company’s quality of customer care and its recruitment and promotional policies. The message in an organisation that seeks to be more caring towards its customers should be that “Good ‘carers’ are valued.” Try to always reward employees for providing outstanding customer care.

Taken from INTENSIVE CUSTOMER CARE, author – Paul Dorrian, first published by Zebra Press (a division of Struik Publishers) in 1996.

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Human or electronic – who are the best sales people?

Selling is one of the oldest professions and sales people are paid good money to do what they do. Yet an increasing number of companies are figuring out ways to sell their products to customers via the web. We examined whether or not human sales professionals could altogether be replaced with e-commerce packages and found that, in some cases, yes they could. But, in businesses where ‘new innovation’ is present it’s a different story.

In industries where the information about a product is relatively well known and remains unchanged, then the futures of the sales people in those industries are at risk. Consider the success experienced by three of South Africa’s better known online traders—Pick ’n Pay, Kalahari.net and Auto Trader and you’ll quickly see that the only professional sales skills required in the running of these enterprises are of the electronic variety. The commodities being marketed in all three examples are well known and unchanging. Respectively, groceries, books and CD’s and then motor vehicles.

Constant change is the primary source of job security for professional sales people. In selling environments where change is the only constant, then the sales people in that environment will be in a position to offer value to people. In environments where new products and services are offered or where products and services evolve constantly (and are therefore seen as complex) then the input of professional sales people is vitally important and crucial for the continuing success of the companies who employ them.

A salesperson serves two masters—the customer and the producer. Sales people need to continuously add value to both masters in order to survive.

The first value-add is convenience.
A.) To the customer, the convenience of getting their exact needs met when their need arises. Sales people offer their customers methods, ideas, options, components, products, services or properties that will fulfill their needs.
B.) To the producer or employer of the sales person, convenience means getting a hold of the customers needed to grow the business in order for the company to make a profit for the owners or shareholders. If the company owners were to wait for the phone to ring, without a sales person, then the company would go out of business.

The second value-add is advisor or broker of expertise.
Sales people help customers to understand complex applications of new products and technologies which cannot easily be communicated through text, pictures, audio or video. As such, the sales person’s relationship with the customer needs to be face-to-face involving dialogue and interaction where the needs and desires of the customer will be intelligently examined and then met by the capabilities and products of the producer.

If a professional sales person serves both customers and producers and creates more value for both than a web browser could, then they will rightly continue to be paid for doing so. As long as there are complex products being dreamed up and human beings, with needs, who make purchasing decisions, then there will be an ongoing need for professional human sales people.

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If you’re not online – you’re losing money!

If you want to maximize your success in business today, you need to be doing business via the internet.

Online marketing can be applied to every business, no matter what product or service you sell. Have you ever stopped to think how the internet could improve your profits - irrespective of whether you’re an installation company, a consultant, a manufacturer or a supplier?

Let’s look at examples of how internet marketing could be applied to your business.

Perhaps you’re a manufacturer and you’ve launched a new product. What’s the most cost-effective and fastest method of informing your customers about the news? E-mail of course. Compared to print, online marketing is ridiculously quick, cheap and easy! Placing a print ad in a publication not only costs quite a bit, but there would also be a delay between the time that you decide to place an ad and the time that you see your ad in print. Wouldn’t you prefer to receive almost immediate enquiries and orders?

Maybe you’re a distributor. Surely you would stand to benefit if you e-mailed your existing customers to inform them of any special deals that you may be offering? Perhaps too you could use the internet to develop the kind of loyalty and rapport that turns a first-time customer into a lifetime customer, by sending regular technical updates and standards bulletins to your customers.

For installation companies, imagine if after each completed job, you e-mailed your customer with a message something like this:

Dear (customer name),

Thank you for appointing us to do the recent installation at (address). We just wanted to let you know that we really appreciate your support.

We hope that you’re pleased with the standard of our work. If there’s anything that’s not entirely to your satisfaction, we’d be more than happy to fix it, if you’ll just let us know.

Should you ever need our services again, we’d be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

(Your name) at The Marvelous Bricklaying Company

Your business will surely stand out in the minds of your customers because you’ve taken the time and trouble to develop a bond. Surely you stand a better chance of getting them to come back to you again?

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Improve your sales skills

The following 5 sales skills are possibly the most important for professional salespeople. Get good at these, and you'll be able to make money no matter how the economy is doing.

1: Qualify fast to avoid wasting sales time

Do you chase after your prospects until they tell you yes or no? Do you ever tell your prospects "No", as in "No, I am not going to sell to you"? There are many things in selling that you do not and will not be able to control. The one thing that you do have control over is your time and how you choose to use it.

To qualify fast you must have a set of criteria describing who you will and will not sell to. You want to sell to the prospects likely to buy your products, and drop the prospects unlikely to buy (so that you can find more good prospects). Sounds simple, but too many salespeople let sludge build up in their pipeline, constricting the total revenue that flows out.

TIP: Develop a list of sales qualifying criteria that prospect's must meet in order for you to invest your sales time with them.

2: Motivate prospects

Qualifying goes beyond budget, authority, and need. You want to sell to prospects who *want* to buy from you. Finding prospects that need your products usually is not difficult. Finding those who really want your products though can be very hard if you wait for them to come to you.

Products sold by professional salespeople are more complex and offer more value than commodity products offered through stores, catalogues and brokers. Prospects generally do not know they need such products until they first discover that they have a problem. This process can take seconds or years depending on the nature of the problem (and the prospect!). Prospects get motivated to work with you when you help them to discover that you solve their problem better than anyone else can.

TIP: Determine which problems you eliminate or solve for your prospects. Plan and ask questions to uncover and agitate those problems.

3: Sell to people outside of your comfort zone

Most salespeople who are "people persons" already think that they are good at this. Let me ask you a question. When you last lost a sale, how was your rapport with the key person who decided against you?

You can't afford to look away and ignore people that you don't have natural rapport with. The good news is that people like people that are like themselves. All that you have to do to gain rapport is to stretch your behavior outside of your comfort zone until you become like the other person.

TIP: Match speech patterns with people to gain rapport outside of typical sports / weather chat.

4: Gain commitments instead of closing

Eliminate "Closing Cheese" from Your Vocabulary. You know what I am talking about: "Would you like that in gray or in black?" or "If I can show you how this will help you will you buy today?" Lines like these are why salespeople are down on the bottom of society's respect list somewhere near lawyers. Learn the power of asking for incremental commitments from the beginning of your sales cycle. It is not an easy shift to make. First you have to get the prospect to show you what they most want (See point 2 above). Then you can negotiate incremental commitments in return for more of your time, information or resources.

TIP: Practice asking for commitments once someone has expressed a clear want, pain, or desire.

5: Remember the SO WHAT principle

When you are giving a presentation, or selling one-on-one in your prospect's office, picture your prospect as having the words SO WHAT stamped on his forehead. Imagine that for everything you say, the prospect is asking "so what, why should I care?" Remember, prospects only care about how they can eliminate problems or make their business or life better. The answer to this question is always what your product does for them (benefits), not what your product is (features).

We’ve abbreviated this article which was originally published in the EGOPOWER sales newsletter. For a complete list of their sales articles visit www.sales-tips.industrialego.com/sales-articles.

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Polish up your phone skills

We all know how awful it is to be a phone-in customer who’s at the mercy of ‘someone’ on the other end of the telephone line who either absolutely infuriates us, doesn’t seem to care about our needs, or is just downright rude or unhelpful.

Want to increase a customer’s irritation factor over the telephone? Easy, just use any of the following words or phrases—“Can’t”, “Can’t help you”, “You should’ve”, “All we can do”, “It’s company policy”, or best of all . . . “You have to.”

It’s vitally important for all company representatives to convey the best possible image whilst interacting with customers over the telephone. Here’s a list of DO’s and DON’T’s that will help you to create a better impression over the ‘phone’.

Weak—Creates poor perception

Assertive—Creates positive perception

Who's calling?

May I ask who's calling?

He hasn't come in yet (in the morning)

He's not in his office at the moment

She's on lunch / gone to the ladies / at the doctor

She's out of the office right now, would you like to leave a message, or could someone else perhaps help you?

He left early today (at 2.30 in the afternoon)

He's out of the office until tomorrow

She's off sick today

She's not in the office today

He's on holiday for the next two weeks

He's out of the office for the next two weeks

I don't know

Let me find out for you

I'm new here

Although I'm new here, I'll get someone to help you

I just got here

How may I help you?

I'm not sure I can help you

If I can't help you, I know who can

If I can't help you, I'll find the right person

We haven't got it

We don't have it in stock right now, but I'd be happy to order it for you / call our suppliers and try to source it for you

I don't think that I can do that

I'll do whatever it takes

Your refund will take about six weeks

I'll personally handle your refund and get it to you as soon as possible

Mr Bloggs will be right with you

Mr Bloggs is looking forward to seeing you in about 10 minutes

There's nothing I can do about it, it's company policy

Our policy is designed to protect your interests, but here's what I can do for you

I don't have anything to do with your problem

Here's what I will do / who I will contact to resolve your problem

We have a problem

To solve the problem

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Take the order when you take the call

Your customer has called you. Give yourself a pat on the back because up to this point, from a marketing perspective, you’ve done everything right -

• The customer knows that you offer the particular product, commodity or service that he’s looking for right --now.
• The customer would like to (or needs to) deal with you, and
• The customer has managed to reach you.

Now, the only thing that’s bridging the gap between your customer and the order that needs to be placed is . . . YOU. As the salesperson, you’re in control of whether you take the order or not. Of course you want to take an order, don’t you? The following information might help to improve your chances of doing so, although you’ll probably need to take the phone techniques shown here and tweak them to suit your particular business.

1.
Answer the phone on the 3rd ring. If you snatch up the phone too fast, you’ll frighten some people who may think you’re too anxious. Too slow—6 to 16 rings, people might decide you aren’t attending to business.
2.
Answer the phone cheerfully. If you sound fresh and alert, people will assume that you offer the finest products or services available and that you’re keen to do business.
3.
Let your caller tell you why he or she is calling. Acknowledge the other person’s interest with something like “Yes Mr. White, we’ve had quite a few enquiries about that particular product. We’re really excited about it.”
4.
If necessary, put the caller on hold, so that you can obtain information for them, but do this only if you can fit it in smoothly and for no longer than 17 seconds. This will give you time to check stock, or to consider a strategy for closing the sale. When you come off the hold, say something like “Thank you for holding.” Always acknowledge courtesy with courtesy.
5.
Answer most questions with a question and move towards a close every time. For example—if your customer asks you “Do you still sell those blue matchbox-size decoders? And are they still R 900.00? Instead of answering YES or NO to those questions, a champion salesperson would answer “Is that the type you were hoping to find?”
Customer—“Yes it is.”
Salesperson—“Fine Mr. White, I could help you. How many are you looking for?”
Or, “Mr. White, we don’t stock that particular brand any longer, because our procurement department has managed to source a product that has more features and a longer warranty period. Could I perhaps make an appointment to show you our new product?”
(In cases where you run into heavy brand loyalty, don’t knock the brand, because you’ll be knocking the customer’s judgment. Rather ask questions like “Are there any features that the blue matchbox-size decoders don’t have, that you would like to see added to the product? Search for unsatisfied needs. That way, even if you can’t take an order with this call, you’ll have a reason to go back to sell to this customer later.)
6.
If you are able to give customers more of what they want—something added or improved—you’re bringing them good news. If you’re selling them something that is superior to what they have been buying, (particularly if it was purchased from the competition), don’t be smug. People generally don’t like admitting that they’ve made a mistake! Rather reassure the customer that he made a wise decision at the time that he purchased the other product. Then perhaps go on to say that there have been many recent technological advances.

Much of the information used in this article was obtained from Tom Hopkins’ book, How to master the art of selling.

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20 Top tips for marketing success

A particularly effective marketing strategy is one that keeps marketing in mind ALL the time. Not just quarterly, monthly, or weekly, but daily. Actually this is not quite as hard as it sounds. There are many ways in which you can incorporate marketing into your daily activities.

It's often said that doing anything for 21 days in a row will eventually turn into a habit for you. And a marketing habit is a great thing for any business to have.

We suggest that you choose three to five things to do at the beginning of every day that are related to marketing your business. (If you do them at the start of your day - before you start fighting the daily fires, you will almost always do them.)

If you work consistently on developing a marketing habit, and the proper marketing mindset, you'll soon find yourself going above and beyond your "three to five things" limit. In fact, pretty soon you'll find yourself talking and thinking in terms of headlines or talking, listening and thinking in terms of your customers and prospects' benefits. And the more you think marketing, the greater the chance you'll accomplish your marketing and overall business goals.

Just remember, the marketing activities that you do each day don't have to be time consuming.

Here are 20 ideas that might help you to get a healthy marketing habit started.

1. E-mail a thank-you note to a customer or prospect
2. Enter customer or prospect names into a database
3. Visit a competitor's website
4. Compose an e-mail sales letter
5. Call a few prospects or customers to get their e-mail contact information
6. Develop a series of survey questions
7. Brainstorm advertising concepts
8. Plan a renaming of your products or services
9. Work on new product development and introduction ideas
10. Invite a customer or prospect to your office for coffee or to discuss new ideas
11. Recognize a special prospect or customer
12. Discuss a marketing idea with a business partner or colleague
13. Visit a few marketing-related websites
14. Look critically at your own website
15. Plan your networking calendar for the week
16. Call to follow up with networking contacts
17. Brainstorm ideas for an "enter to win" contest
18. Rewrite your phone's on-hold message script
19. Brainstorm new product or service ideas
20. Plan a new customer service activity that will truly delight your customers


Remember that no one is really counting your "three to five" things so don't get married to the numbers. The point is to get started. Remember, weeks of non-marketing can quickly become months of non-marketing, which can easily turn into a non-marketing habit . . . and that’s a sure recipe for business failure!

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Use repetition in your presentations

When giving a presentation, your aim should not be to win an award. Your focus should be on closing a sale. The only purpose of presenting or demonstrating is to get your prospect ready to approve the purchase, by proving the reality of the benefits that your prospect is seeking.
You have to be an effective presenter or demonstrator to sell strongly, but what will it take to make you a more effective presenter? It’s quite straightforward, start using repetition in your presentations!

If you’re preparing to make a half hour presentation, you should really prepare a ten minute presentation. Here’s why. If you’re going to get your points across to your audience, you have to follow these steps:

Summarise what you’re going to tell them.
This is your introduction, where you introduce new ideas.

Tell them in detail what you’re there to tell them.
This is your presentation, where you’re covering your points in depth and relating them to your listener’s interests and needs.

Summarise again what you just told them
This is your summation, where you’re drawing conclusions from your points and indicating the direction that things should take.

Repetition—as the seed of selling and the mother of learning, it’s the single most important ingredient in all successful presentations and demonstrations.

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Why you need to have a positioning statement before you start communicating

Without a clear business focus or vision a business or organization can end up saying nothing and going nowhere.

Strategically, positioning is at the core of an effective communications plan. A well thought out positioning statement defines your company's direction and should answer each of the following questions:
1. Who are you?
2. What business are you in?
3. Who do you serve?
4. What's needed by those you serve?
5. Who do you compete against?
6. What's unique about your business?
7. What unique benefit does your business offer?

You’ll be surprised at how few management teams know the answers to these questions, or can agree on the answers to these questions. In most organizations, creating a clear positioning statement takes introspection and consensus-building.

A positioning statement should express how you wish to be perceived and should deliver your company’s core message.

Making It Happen

The following is a process for developing your company's positioning statement and key marketing messages:

1. Have information. If business plans don't exist you've got your work cut out for you.
2. The Right People. Those who are most interested and involved in key company activities need to participate in this process - typically the CEO (or similar) as well as the managers of marketing, sales and customer service. You must get top management's "buy in."
3. The Right Thinking. Hold a planning session (Meeting 1) during which you discuss objectives, outline the expected outcome and the benefits that communications consensus will bring. (One benefit is that time and money will be saved in developing communications tactics.)
4. Generate Ideas. In the initial session, held after the planning session, (Meeting 2) concentrate on uncovering issues and internal differences of opinion. Get people talking by discussing each of the seven key positioning questions. Customer surveys can provide the outside-in perspective on the company’s present position. Discuss what key competitors are claiming about themselves. Consider enlisting the services of an outside facilitator and a note-taker to capture all the important ideas.

One of the most important aspects of the positioning statement exercise is that all affected managers see and hear each other's ideas. It is only though this face-to-face process that understanding and consensus occurs. Try to make sure that every manager's ideas and thoughts are noted. Challenge the groups thinking by reminding managers that the goal is uncovering direction by defining what is real as well as what is the ideal vision. Do a SWOT analysis.

The hardest thing for many to grasp is likely to be the concept of narrowing rather than broadening a company's focus. Don’t lose sight of the fact that differentiation is essential. If management can't determine differences in the company, they need to look harder. Differentiating on price is usually a dead-end.

Keep in mind that claiming to be "the market leader" does not make it so.

Playing It Back

Once the planning session and the initial brainstorming sessions are over, gather the noted ideas and use them to develop a summary and a recommended positioning statement. Focus the summary on contrasts and similarities among ideas. Craft one or two positioning statements along with a set of key messages, and then distribute it to all in the work group shortly before the second session takes place. It’s vital that everyone should see it before the group meets again. Hopefully, participants will bring constructive ideas to the meeting and will all hope to reach consensus and closure.

The second session (Meeting 3) should focus on refinement and agreement on one positioning statement and on a limited set of key messages. By now, the proposed statements and messages should be close to the final product. It's essential at this point for the session leader or facilitator to drive consensus and closure and to make careful note of agreements and modifications to the proposed statements and messages. Ideally, the leader should publish the final language soon after the session ends to prevent an endless loop changes, additions and more meetings.

Don't put the final recommendation out as an e-mail message or you'll enter a version control nightmare and perhaps never gain management team closure.

Now, the path is clear for the company to begin actively applying its new positioning statement to all communications, both internal and external, from web sites to press releases.

This could involve dumping large supplies of sales material, which isn't going to be easy. (A softer option could be to change high-profile materials first.)

This process should be repeated as market conditions require, semi-annually is customary - not monthly or quarterly.

Get the word out! The payoff is communications success.

This is an edited version of an article written by Ford Kanzler which was first published in 2002.

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