About Me
- Waltmorey
- Pinellas Park, Florida, United States
- I founded Core Business Solutions with the goal of helping business owners improve operating results, add value, and recapture the energy and passion that was present when the business was new. We also have the expertise to assist start-up companies create the foundational structure needed to provide the best opportunity for the business to grow and prosper in uncertain economic times. Our goal is to help the business entrepreneur/owner, through mentoring and coaching, develop or enhance managerial skills while providing that independent and objective advice and expertise usually provided by a board of directors.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Three Key Elements to Make Your Offer Irresistible
12:41 PM | 
Posted by
Waltmorey
As a customer, you’ve no doubt received many sales pitches from companies trying to sell you something and I'll bet the vast majority of which you ignore, tune-out, or reject outright. But when the tables are turned, and you are the one making the proposal, there are three key elements that will make your offer more compelling. These three components make-up what’s known as your Unique Selling Proposition or “USP”. This is one of the simple tips I share for converting prospects into buyers. Whether you’re making your proposal in person, through a brochure, or on your website, you’ll have more impact by including these three elements…
1-Translate Features into Benefits
Sales often get bogged down in detail when a product or service is overly-described in terms of features rather than benefits. A feature is a physical characteristic of or a fact about a product or service. A benefit is what that feature does for the user. For example, a feature of an automatic garage door opener is when you push a button; the garage door goes up or down. A benefit is since you no longer have to get out of your car and be exposed to the weather; you save time, possible back injury, and maybe even reduce dry cleaning bills.
In your proposal, be sure to translate your product or service features into benefits. Here’s an easy way. Briefly mention the feature, then use these six magic words: “What that means to you is…” Then describe the benefit. Translating features into benefits helps potential buyers fully appreciate the value that you provide.
2-Describe your Difference
Chances are, there are other suppliers of your kinds of products or services so it’s important for customers to know what makes you unique. Rather than trying to explain what you do better than your competition, instead describe what makes you different.
That takes you to the third element of crafting your unique selling proposition…
3-Prove it!
Provide facts, statistics, examples, and testimonials that verify your claims. If your evidence is in the form of a client testimonial, be sure to include the client’s full name and company. Otherwise, the ‘fact’ looks like fiction. Obtaining customer endorsements is easy when you do good work. Simply ask for permission from your happy customers to feature their comments. Most people are flattered and will happily consent. be sure to take this one step further and add video testimonials to your website. The power of a simple well-done video cannot be over-stated.
Now-Finish with "What’s Next"
If your proposal is in writing; be clear about the next step. Tell the customer what you want them to do; visit your website, phone you, stop in, sign the 'OK' form or the agreement. This Call To Action (CTA) is the natural progression and your prospect expects it. Do not disappoint...Ask for the order!
If appropriate, also explain what they’ll gain by doing this sooner rather than later thus creating a sense of urgency. Perhaps there’s a limited supply, or the offer ends at a certain date. You can also outline options for implementing. I don’t recommend however, getting too detailed with implementation plans at this phase. Better to do that after the customer decides they want to move to the next step.
There are lots of other pieces of information you can include proposal. Certainly, your knowledge of your customers’ circumstances and challenges is a good place to start. Just make sure that when you get into the substance of your proposal that you add the three elements of the USP or Unique Selling Proposition. Chances are you’ll address a lot of the buyers’ unexpressed objections, make them more comfortable doing business with you and close more sales easier and faster.
I hope this blog post was useful for you. In a few weeks I'll post another item to help business owners work 'on' their business.
Walt Morey,
Core Business Solutions Inc.,
8712 40th Way North, Pinellas Park, Florida 33782
Tel: 727-647-8242
waltmorey@iib.ws
http://www.corebizsolution.com/
Practical Business Advice
Enter your content here
1-Translate Features into Benefits
Sales often get bogged down in detail when a product or service is overly-described in terms of features rather than benefits. A feature is a physical characteristic of or a fact about a product or service. A benefit is what that feature does for the user. For example, a feature of an automatic garage door opener is when you push a button; the garage door goes up or down. A benefit is since you no longer have to get out of your car and be exposed to the weather; you save time, possible back injury, and maybe even reduce dry cleaning bills.
In your proposal, be sure to translate your product or service features into benefits. Here’s an easy way. Briefly mention the feature, then use these six magic words: “What that means to you is…” Then describe the benefit. Translating features into benefits helps potential buyers fully appreciate the value that you provide.
2-Describe your Difference
Chances are, there are other suppliers of your kinds of products or services so it’s important for customers to know what makes you unique. Rather than trying to explain what you do better than your competition, instead describe what makes you different.
That takes you to the third element of crafting your unique selling proposition…
3-Prove it!
Provide facts, statistics, examples, and testimonials that verify your claims. If your evidence is in the form of a client testimonial, be sure to include the client’s full name and company. Otherwise, the ‘fact’ looks like fiction. Obtaining customer endorsements is easy when you do good work. Simply ask for permission from your happy customers to feature their comments. Most people are flattered and will happily consent. be sure to take this one step further and add video testimonials to your website. The power of a simple well-done video cannot be over-stated.
Now-Finish with "What’s Next"
If your proposal is in writing; be clear about the next step. Tell the customer what you want them to do; visit your website, phone you, stop in, sign the 'OK' form or the agreement. This Call To Action (CTA) is the natural progression and your prospect expects it. Do not disappoint...Ask for the order!
If appropriate, also explain what they’ll gain by doing this sooner rather than later thus creating a sense of urgency. Perhaps there’s a limited supply, or the offer ends at a certain date. You can also outline options for implementing. I don’t recommend however, getting too detailed with implementation plans at this phase. Better to do that after the customer decides they want to move to the next step.
There are lots of other pieces of information you can include proposal. Certainly, your knowledge of your customers’ circumstances and challenges is a good place to start. Just make sure that when you get into the substance of your proposal that you add the three elements of the USP or Unique Selling Proposition. Chances are you’ll address a lot of the buyers’ unexpressed objections, make them more comfortable doing business with you and close more sales easier and faster.
I hope this blog post was useful for you. In a few weeks I'll post another item to help business owners work 'on' their business.
Walt Morey,
Core Business Solutions Inc.,
8712 40th Way North, Pinellas Park, Florida 33782
Tel: 727-647-8242
waltmorey@iib.ws
http://www.corebizsolution.com/
Practical Business Advice
Enter your content here
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Friday, May 27, 2011
How To Handle A Difficult Discussion
Whether it involves talking with your teen about sex or drugs, your spouse about finances or housework, or your employee about attendance or performance issues, the prospect of initiating a difficult
discussion is daunting to many, if not most, people. Mix in the tendency to procrastinate tackling unpleasant tasks, then feeling guilty about putting something so important off, and you can wind up feeling even more miserable and anxious about the impending conversation. You might even lose sleep over it.
Initiating such a discussion doesn't have to be nearly so painful. With the proper mindset and some preparation, you can learn to handle even the most difficult topic with ease and confidence. The following tips will enable you to do just that.
1. Realize that by having the discussion, your goal is to benefit others as well as yourself. Whether or
not he shows it, your teen will most likely appreciate that you care enough to talk to him about things that concern or matter to you. In the case of the employee with the performance issue, he/she will have an opportunity to correct or improve on it, or face consequences. In either event, the other members on your team will certainly appreciate that you took steps to address the situation, because they will see the poor performer either stepping up to the plate or terminated.
2. Focus on the possible positive outcomes of having the discussion sooner rather than later. The employee's performance could most certainly improve. Or you may have the opportunity to replace a poor performer
with someone more willing and able to do the work and follow company or departmental policies. Either way, the performance of your team as a whole will benefit, which will be a positive reflection on your own performance.
3. Prepare for any possible reaction to the discussion. Have contingency plans for handling any behavior or response to what you have to say, whether it be anger, denial, silence or disbelief.
Knowing in advance exactly how you will deal with any of these will give you the confidence you need to proceed. Understand that you cannot control a person's reaction, and in many cases you
cannot predict it either. But you can always prepare for any possibility.
4. If the topic for discussion is an especially difficult one for you, have a reward planned for yourself when you complete it. Take a half day off to do something you enjoy, or treat yourself to something you ordinarily would not. After all, you just accomplished something that doesn't come easily for you. You deserve something special.
Following these tips will not make handling difficult discussions any more fun, by any means, but doing so when the necessity arises will make you a better and more competent communicator, manager, parent and/or
spouse. And who wouldn't benefit from that?
I hope this blog post was useful for you. In a few weeks I'll post another item to help business owners work 'on' their business.
Walt Morey,
Core Business Solutions Inc.,
8712 40th Way North, Pinellas Park, Florida 33782
Tel: 727-647-8242
waltmorey@iib.ws
http://www.corebizsolution.com/
Practical Business Advice
discussion is daunting to many, if not most, people. Mix in the tendency to procrastinate tackling unpleasant tasks, then feeling guilty about putting something so important off, and you can wind up feeling even more miserable and anxious about the impending conversation. You might even lose sleep over it.
Initiating such a discussion doesn't have to be nearly so painful. With the proper mindset and some preparation, you can learn to handle even the most difficult topic with ease and confidence. The following tips will enable you to do just that.
1. Realize that by having the discussion, your goal is to benefit others as well as yourself. Whether or
not he shows it, your teen will most likely appreciate that you care enough to talk to him about things that concern or matter to you. In the case of the employee with the performance issue, he/she will have an opportunity to correct or improve on it, or face consequences. In either event, the other members on your team will certainly appreciate that you took steps to address the situation, because they will see the poor performer either stepping up to the plate or terminated.
2. Focus on the possible positive outcomes of having the discussion sooner rather than later. The employee's performance could most certainly improve. Or you may have the opportunity to replace a poor performer
with someone more willing and able to do the work and follow company or departmental policies. Either way, the performance of your team as a whole will benefit, which will be a positive reflection on your own performance.
3. Prepare for any possible reaction to the discussion. Have contingency plans for handling any behavior or response to what you have to say, whether it be anger, denial, silence or disbelief.
Knowing in advance exactly how you will deal with any of these will give you the confidence you need to proceed. Understand that you cannot control a person's reaction, and in many cases you
cannot predict it either. But you can always prepare for any possibility.
4. If the topic for discussion is an especially difficult one for you, have a reward planned for yourself when you complete it. Take a half day off to do something you enjoy, or treat yourself to something you ordinarily would not. After all, you just accomplished something that doesn't come easily for you. You deserve something special.
Following these tips will not make handling difficult discussions any more fun, by any means, but doing so when the necessity arises will make you a better and more competent communicator, manager, parent and/or
spouse. And who wouldn't benefit from that?
I hope this blog post was useful for you. In a few weeks I'll post another item to help business owners work 'on' their business.
Walt Morey,
Core Business Solutions Inc.,
8712 40th Way North, Pinellas Park, Florida 33782
Tel: 727-647-8242
waltmorey@iib.ws
http://www.corebizsolution.com/
Practical Business Advice
Saturday, April 16, 2011
The Social Media Revolution
Not sure if you should join in the Social Media Revolution to promote your business?
Here's a link to a very revealing video.
http://socialnomics.net/?p=1117
Here are just a few stats from this video which is almost a year old:
1.Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30-years-old
2.96% of them have joined a social network
3.Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
4.Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
5.1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
6.Years to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…
7.Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
8.iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
9.We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.”
10.If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest ahead of the United States and only behind China and India
11.There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
12.Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, word of mouth now becomes world of mouth
13.If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $1,712.32 per hour
14.25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content
15.34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
16.Do you like what they are saying about your brand? You better.
17.People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them
18.78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
19.Only 14% trust advertisements
20.Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
21.90% of people that can TiVo ads do
22.Kindle eBooks Outsold Paper Books on Christmas
Still think you should not be using Social Media to promote your business?
THINK AGAIN.....
In about 2-3 weeks or so I'll review another subject designed to provide business owners with information they can use to help them work "on" their business.
Until Next Time : Live Simply, Speak Kindly, Care Deeply, Love Generously and Live In The Moment
All My Best,
Walt Morey
Core Business Solutions
Executive Business Advisor- Accredited by the Institute for Independent Business
http://www.corebizsolution.com/
Ph: 727-647-8242
Here's a link to a very revealing video.
http://socialnomics.net/?p=1117
Here are just a few stats from this video which is almost a year old:
1.Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30-years-old
2.96% of them have joined a social network
3.Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
4.Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
5.1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
6.Years to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…
7.Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
8.iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
9.We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.”
10.If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest ahead of the United States and only behind China and India
11.There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
12.Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, word of mouth now becomes world of mouth
13.If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $1,712.32 per hour
14.25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content
15.34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
16.Do you like what they are saying about your brand? You better.
17.People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them
18.78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
19.Only 14% trust advertisements
20.Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
21.90% of people that can TiVo ads do
22.Kindle eBooks Outsold Paper Books on Christmas
Still think you should not be using Social Media to promote your business?
THINK AGAIN.....
In about 2-3 weeks or so I'll review another subject designed to provide business owners with information they can use to help them work "on" their business.
Until Next Time : Live Simply, Speak Kindly, Care Deeply, Love Generously and Live In The Moment
All My Best,
Walt Morey
Core Business Solutions
Executive Business Advisor- Accredited by the Institute for Independent Business
http://www.corebizsolution.com/
Ph: 727-647-8242
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