How to Differentiate a Product or service

When potential customers are shopping around, how can your products or services stand out? Try these top 10 tips to increase your sales.

1. Begin by differentiating your services or products by who you and your company are.

What differentiates you? More training, more experience, better methods, a better team? Come up with your key points.

2. If people can buy a similar product or service for less, be ready to overcome that obstacle.

Agree with the potential customer that they can buy for less but show them that they may be comparing apples to oranges.

3. Sell based on value.

Describe what they will get from your product or service. Use the "feel, felt and found" method. Here's an example: "My coaching service provides new approaches for you so that you'll make new discoveries, and see new answers, so that you will feel in charge of your business and your life".

4. Stress the quality of your product or service.

Point out what you are providing for the same investment as the competitor.

5. Talk about dependability.

How long have you been in business? What's your experience or background? How about testimonials and benefits?

6. Have some advantages that differentiate you.

What can you provide that others don't? Come up with something special or exclusive. Ask your customers what they might suggest.

7. Give outstanding follow-up services.

Frequently, customers complain that after the sale, there is no follow-up. Differentiate yourself by providing a unique follow-up service. That alone will be a refreshing change for customers!

8. Offer a money back guarantee.

Great point for differentiation.

9. Take credit cards if most of your competitors don't.

10. Target a niche that your competitor doesn't sell to.

Want to be different - just sell to people that no one else has marketed to... it takes a bit of research but can really pay off!

11. How to Manage People Effectively

The ten below (and there are surely more) are a good yardstick to determine your profit potential through people management.

1. Create Expectations

Tell people up front what is expected of them.

2. Set a Stretch Challenge

Make people grow and coach them along the way.

3. Never move too slowly on critical personnel decisions

Dragging your feet here will really hurt your business.

4. Involve people in both DEVELOPING and IMPLEMENTING strategy

Too much tops down brings the top down.

5. Call a Spade a Spade

Address poor performance or it'll cost you -- BIG.

6. Reward your stars!

Pay good performers what they're worth, and it will be returned to you tenfold.

7. Get the Right Person for the job

Define the job and find the person who can do it rather than redefining the job to fit the capabilities of the incumbent.

8. Require that People do Their Homework

When people are not prepared for meetings, the company is not prepared to make decisions. Stop the presses!

9. Constantly Upgrade Skills

Provide continuous training to keep people at their best.

10. Recognize That Pride Drives Performance More Than Money

Complement people for a job well done.

How to Get Customers to Buy

The Most Effective Sales Skill: Irresistible Attraction.

1. Be a walking example/demonstration of how effective your product or service is.

2. Seek to serve instead of just seeking to sell.

3. Add value by network all of the time: Be a matchmaker every single day.

4. Add value to your potential customers by expanding their professional vision/goals.

5. Add value to your current customers by making sure they're maximizing the use of the product/service.

6. Turn your customers into your company's R&D Department, not just a focus group.

7. Improve your communication skills/relating style so that people WANT to be around you - a LOT!

8. Turn your customers into your sales deputies; have them feed you business instead of "prospecting."

9. Teach others how to sell in an Irresistibly Attractive way -- this guarantees you a strong future.

10. Strengthen your Personal Foundation/Reserve Levels so that you don't need the money anymore.

Why do some Business managers hit the gain goal more often than others? They do it because they keep their performance pointed in
that direction - direction of profit earning. They never lose sight of the goal - to finish the year with a profit.

This manual Gives suggestions which should help an owner-manager to zero on profit making. It points out that you must keep
educated, make timely decisions, and take effective action. In effect you need to control the activities of your company instead
of being controlled by them.

Topnotch Performance in golfing, shootingfishing demands knowledge, training, and endurance.

Likewise in Small businesses, year-end profit arrives to the owner-manager who tries for topnotch performance. You attain profit
making targets by knowing your performance, by practicing the art of earning timely, balanced decisions and by controlling the
organization's activities.

Adapt the Suggestions in this manual to your circumstance. They should help you predict the shots to maintain your company headed
in the ideal direction - toward profit earning.

First Rule of Gain Making: Know Your Business. The Time-honored truth"Knowledge is power" is especially pertinent to this
owner-manager of a small business. To keep your business pointed toward gain you must keep yourself well informed about it. You
have to know how the company is doing before you may improve its operation. You have to understand its weak points before you may
correct them. Some of the knowledge you need you pick up from day-to-day personal monitoring, but records should be your principal
source of advice about gains, expenses, and sales.

Know Your Profit. The gain and loss statement (or income Announcement ) prepared regularly each month or every quarter from your
accountant is one of the most essential indicators of your business's worth and health. You should make certain that this
announcement contains all the facts you will need for evaluating your gain. This statement must pinpoint each revenue and price
area. For instance, it should show the profit and loss for all your products and product lines in addition to the profit and loss
for your whole operation.

It's a good Thought to have your profit and loss statement prepared that it reveals each product for the current interval, for the
identical period this past year, and also for the current year-to-date. By way of instance, a P&L statement for the month of
November would reveal expenses and income for the current month, for November last year, and prices for the eleven months of this
current calendar year. Many corporations publish their annual reports with a few previous years so stockholders can compare
earnings.

Comparison is The key to utilizing your P&L statement. If your accountant is not already supplying figures that you may compare,
you should discuss the possibility of getting them supplied.

Financial Ratios from your balance sheet also help you to understand if your gain is exactly what it ought to be. As an example,
the ratio of net worth (return on investment ratio) shows what the business brought on the equity capital invested.

Know Your Costs. An owner-manager ought to know prices in detail. Then, you can compare your price figures as a percentage of
sales (operating ratio). Be sure your costs are itemized so that you can set your fingers on those that seem to be climbing or
decreasing according to your expertise and the price figures of your own industry. When costs are itemized, you can spot the
offender when the overall figure is higher than what you'd budgeted. Take advertising costs such as. It's possible to grab the
offender should you split out your advertising expenses by product lines and from websites. Additionally, a thorough check of
inquiry yields from advertising will help avoid unproductive publications.

In understanding your Prices, keep in mind that the formulation for gain is: Gain equals Sales minus Costs.

Know Your Product Markup. Be certain That the pricing of your products supplies a markup adequate for the sort of profit you
expect to attain. You must keep constantly educated on pricing since you need to adjust for rising costs and at precisely the
exact same time keep prices competitive. Knowledge on your markup also helps you to run close outs with your eyes open. Continuing
to make a product that just a few clients desire is a powerful merchandising tool just when you use it on goal - for example, to
hold or attract buyers to additional high markup solutions. Don't be afraid to shed a loser from your line.

Garbage-In, Garbage-Out. An Owner-manager shouldn't fudge the records. The acronym GIGO that the computer business uses is true
with manually stored records as well as with machine-processed ones. If an owner-manager lets"garbage" to enter the records, the
accounts will include"garbage" Reports need not be extensive but they need to be accurate.

Search For Trends. Try to not look at a single month's sales or Profit picture by itself. The characters on your working
statements are meaningful only when you put the image in the right framework - that is, look at your figures in the context of
what has happened and what's likely to happen. In that fashion, you catch a downward trend before it gets out of control.

You should also Concern yourself with the figures behind the dollars - for example, the amount Of units offered or the amount of
orders. Insist on cost-per-unit figures. The Fluctuation of the cost-per-unit can be more meaningful than just looking In the
dollar figures . Another idea is to exhibit these comparative Figures on charts so that significant trends can be viewed readily.

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