Overcome Objections - Would You Ever Pay $150.00 For A Bird Feeder?

Overcome Objections - Would You Ever Pay $150.00 For A Bird Feeder?
This article is intended to put the fear of low prices and
low priced competitors in perspective so you can sell more
and discount less. It is designed to share with you the
fact that your customers don't buy prices, they buy value
and they buy solutions. When we focus on price, we lose
control, we lose sales and we lose money. If you usually
discount or lose sales over price, we have good news for
you.

Take as an example, a bird feeder. This is a simple device
that holds seeds for birds. The inexpensive brands start at
about $9.00. There are hundreds on line and at big-box,
low-price stores like Walmart. If you sold bird feeders,
would you assume that most customers would have to get it
at the low Walmart price to buy? That is exactly the
assumption many of us make in our sales. If there is a
supplier at a low price, we assume our customers know and
will want to buy from them and that the lowest price is the
benchmark that all other prices are measured by.

Back to the bird feeder. I bought a bird feeder that cost
$150.00. Now before you offer me your swamp land in
Florida, let me explain why I did and why I am very happy
with my purchase. You see, I like birds but I don't like
squirrels. Squirrels don't sing, they eat a lot and they
are basically rats with fluffy tails. I tried a lot to get
rid of them but nothing was effective. Like your customers,
I was searching for a solution to a problem.

One day I saw a bird feeder with a motorized perch. When a
squirrel touches the perch, a motor starts and whips the
squirrel off the feeder. It's entertaining and safe, but
best of all, it got rid of my pesky squirrels. Now, this
feeder cost $150.00...that's 15 times what usual feeders
cost. Worse yet, I already had a perfectly good feeder that
I would have to throw away. It took me about 5 seconds to
make up my mind and make the purchase.

This example shows that you, me and your customers buy
solutions not price. If the problem is bad enough and the
solutions is good enough, price is not an issue. We all
need to concentrate on finding the problems our customers
want to solve and presenting a great solution.

There are a lot of skills in doing this. The words we use
are important, timing is essential and so is finding out
exactly what our customers want solved. Skills in
overcoming price and in presenting value and solutions are
worth developing and refining as they will pay dividends
for your entire career.

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Sales training article discusses how to deal with price
objections and customer will pay any amount if there is a
value and a solution. It teaches how to sell for more and
technqiues required to close more and overcome price
objections. For more information on our DVD visit
http://www.pricedoesntmatter.com

Home Based Business Success Tips

Home Based Business Success Tips
We all know how much we love our businesses and what a joy
it is to be able to finally say, I own my own business and
then to actually start making money doing it. It's the
best! However, sometimes it's just hard to do. We've all
been there -- The biggest project of your business finally
comes your way, and that's when the entire family comes
down with the flu, including you. You land your dream
client, one that you've been after for months, if not
years, and then your inlaws call and say they are making a
surprise visit, they will be there tomorrow. Or how many
times has this happened- you finish a project with the
client eagerly waiting and in trying to send them the file,
your internet decides to go down.

So what's a successful entrepreneur to do? I think one of
the most important things to do is just realize, sometimes
it's going to be hard. And that's okay. Often I believe
we feel that because we finally own our own business, and
we work so hard for it, that we must be positive and happy
ALL the time. We don't. Hopefully the majority of the
time you will be, however, when things come up, it's AOK to
say, wow, this is tough and find support. Have an online
or offline buddy that you can go to and talk. Someone who
will say, hey it's going to be better; someone who knows
you and knows just the right thing to say to make it better.

It's also important to plan ahead. No, you can't tell when
the kids will get sick. However, you can plan and have a
back-up subcontractor so you can go straight to plan B.
The time to plan for this is before it happens, way before
you need it.

Here are a few tips I hope you find beneficial:

1) Find someone now who can help you with your business.
Send them work now so they become familiar with your needs.
Let them know that you will be using them on a sporadic
basis. You'll probably find that once you see how much
help they provide you use them a lot more than you thought,
but at least you know you have the support you need.

2) Computers - Hands up - who backed up their system last
week? Ouch!! Think about this, how would you feel if you
went to turn on the computer and it was blank, dead, gone.
That can and will happen. You need to back-up regularly
and you need to check those back-ups. One thing I recently
discovered is I backed up regularly to another computer.
However, I didn't know how to retrieve the documents I
backed up.

3) Internet down - Do you have a friend in the neighborhood
who also has a computer that you can use. How about the
local library. Most of the time you can wait it out,
however, for many of us if we do legal or medical
transcription, it's crucial to be able to get it there. I
once had an attorney preparing for the trial of the century
(at least he thought so). The case rested on me (at least
that's what he told me), and right when it was time to send
him all the pleadings, our phone went dead. (For all of
you wondering, we did pay the bill, it was a technical
problem). I immediately rushed over to my neighbors and
was able to send the documents. My client was none the
wiser.

4) Summertime - MOMS, tell the truth, it's hard. In the
summer with the kids home from school it's harder to run a
home-based business. They are bored. You are busy. And
just because the school bell rang its last toll, the work
still comes in. Here too you need to plan ahead. Two
words, Summer Camp! If you can't do summer camp, then
definitely get creative. Stock up on crafts at the Dollar
Store. Get Paint by Number Books and things that will take
time, and be fun. We have some fun ones at our site at
www.virtualwordpublishing.com.

Also, allow your children
to get creative. Get 3 ring notebooks and allow them to
write their own book adventures or design their own
magazines. Scissors, a few old magazines, paste and a
little imagination will go a long ways.

5) In laws - It's gonna happen. If you want to get busy in
your business, have company come in town. Guaranteed,
that's the time that you will be your busiest. I've been
in business for 23 years now, and it seems that every time
company comes into town, I get hit with a major rush. And
it doesn't get easier with the more years in business. But
one thing I do is plan ahead. Because I live in Florida
and get lots of company, I can't take time off every time.
However, what I can do is rotate and take time off with
different clients. That way I'm not working for all my
clients during that time. Also, if you don't have a
separate office, do something, anything to get a computer
in a room so you can close the doors and work. When they
see you there, to many it feels you are available. When
you work a 9-5, no one considers you home until 5:30.
However, when you happen to be in the same house, it's
often easy for them to think you can socialize.

These tips should help you survive and thrive in your
business even when times are tough.

----------------------------------------------------
Diana Ennen is the author of numerous books including
Virtual Assistant - The Series, Become a Highly Successful,
Sought After VA and accompanying Workbook. She specializes
in publicity and marketing and is president of Virtual Word
Publishing http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com . Stop by
for free booklets and reports on business startups.
Article is free to be reprinted as long as bio remains.

Coaching Your Employees Can Be Fun

Coaching Your Employees Can Be Fun
What is coaching? Coaching is a more enjoyable way to
interact with your employees. Like a coach of a sport's
team, you want to encourage your team, ensure they know how
to play, know the rules of the role, clarify any
misconceptions, and be there to listen and support them as
they grow in their job knowledge.

You are the manager and that includes coaching your staff.
Your primary focus is to set standards and guide your
employees to higher performance levels. It's about
reframing how you see your role as a manager from demanding
to coaching performance levels.

Coaching an employee includes knowing their skills, depth
of job knowledge and the basic gifts or talent they bring
to the table.

How do you do all of the above while under pressure to meet
the demands of the business? In a downsizing, streamlining
business world, managers also have other functional
responsibilities beside managing employees. With all this
responsibility, you just want your employees to perform and
do what they are supposed to do. Maybe you feel that you
are hand holding them and you can't afford to do that.
Coaching is not hand holding. Rather it is setting clear
standards and making sure each team member is doing their
best work. You have to spend time with your team in
order to maximize the potential of your players.

Even more significant, how do you do this when you never
learned how to manage? Not knowing how to manage, coaching
can be a bit intimidating in the beginning. Like a
beginner, start slowly and make small changes to how you
interact with your team. Don't expect to be a great
manager overnight. Rather focus on one step at a time.
Here are some ideas that can help you move forward:

How often do you recognize or praise them for doing good
work. If you see someone doing something that warrants
recognition, do you stop and let him or her how you
appreciate his or her work?

Since people are different, take the time to find out how
you can best help them perform better....by asking them.

Take one employee each week and watch their
performance.....how do they do their job, where do they
need some help, how do they interact with other members.
It can be overwhelming to watch everyone at the same time.
One person at a time can be interesting.....like putting
together the puzzle pieces.

Watch how your manager handles you.....are you getting what
you need to develop your management skills. If not, read
or take classes to become better at this role.

As each team member is different, so are managers different
in their styles of management. Coaching is fundamental in
the development of your management skills.

----------------------------------------------------
Pat Brill is the author of the blog "Managing Employees"
http://www.ManagingEmployees.net . You can reach her at
pat@TheInfoCrowd.com.

First Impressions Count: The Importance of a Top Class Exhibition

First Impressions Count: The Importance of a Top Class Exhibition
Every business wants to find a powerful and cost-effective
way to market their product.

For many, trade shows and exhibitions create the perfect
platform to do so, allowing businesses to interact with
large volumes of industry-focussed buyers in a short space
of time.

Whether you're looking to launch a new product, revive
sales of an existing product or raise your profile within
the sector, trade shows offer the ideal space to showcase
your brand.

But with so many organisations competing for attention in
the same space, it's important to set yours apart.

Investing in a top class exhibition stand that's tailored
around your product can make all the difference to its
success at a show. Here's how...

Maximum impact

The type of stand you have depends on your budget, the
space available and the nature of your product.

First time exhibitors on a limited budget often start with
standard shell scheme spaces, but these identical
structures make it extremely difficult to set your brand
apart from the others.

Modular units create much more impact and can be
instrumental in creating a buzz around your stand. They are
also more flexible. They can be custom-built and tailored
to match your corporate identity, or specifically designed
for re-use at future events - making them more
cost-effective in the long run.

Space and consistency

Building your stand around one central theme or message
creates the feeling of consistency and flowing design,
making it easier for visitors to stream through your space
and interact with your product.

Every aspect of your stand, including your exhibition
staff, should compliment that theme.

It's also important to ensure there are no physical
barriers to getting onto your stand - think about how you
arrange your stock and sales materials so that they're easy
to reach and don't obstruct access.

Displaying too many products can confuse and overwhelm
visitors, so try to keep it simple and uncluttered by
selecting only key products or ranges.

Attracting customers

In a busy exhibition hall, sellers have less than five
seconds to attract a buyer's attention. In that time, your
stand should tell visitors who you are, what you do and how
it will benefit them, in a clear, powerful and engaging way.

It's often harder to maintain their attention once they're
on your stand, but there are several things you can do to
stimulate interest.

For example, stands which allow space for movement through
demonstrations and presentations often attract the highest
level of participation and the largest crowds.

Incorporating visually-engaging materials such as
state-of-the-art digital imaging is also a popular choice
on top-of-the-range stands.

Lighting is equally important as it creates the right mood
around your product, so give careful consideration to the
lighting design and ensure it reflects your product's
appeal.

More complex products and services that are less obvious to
passing consumers will need a more vibrant design scheme to
attract initial interest, and this can be achieved through
striking use of colour and graphics.

The benefits of investing in a custom-built stand are
significant, and provide a powerful and cost-effective
selling aid that can be adapted and re-used time and time
again.

----------------------------------------------------
Exhibitions are a great way of getting your message across
to your 'public', but you need to do it the right way, and
your prime weapon is your exhibition stand. Get this wrong
and you are handicapped from the start. This article
provides some thoughts on the subject but if you want more
information and ideas, visit
http://www.fullcirclegroup.co.uk

Are Your Meals 50% Deductible or 100% Deductible?

Are Your Meals 50% Deductible or 100% Deductible?
There are several specific rules to determine if a meal is
a legitimate business expense. These specific rules
include meeting the business purpose requirement and the
ordinary and necessary requirement. In this article, it's
assumed that the meal has met these requirements and is
indeed a business expense.

*General Rule

Meals are generally 50% deductible. This means when a
business pays for a meal, only 50% of that amount is
deducted on the tax return. It's extremely important to
know the exceptions to this rule because some meals are
100% deductible!

Meals that are 50% deductible include:

- Meals with clients, customers and vendors.
- Meals with employees
- Meals with partners, shareholders and directors
- Meals during business travel
- Meals while attending a business seminar or convention

**Exception to the Rule (This is a great exception!)

Some meals are 100% deductible! These meals include:

- Meals for the business holiday party or other social
event (like the company picnic).

Office snacks provided to employees at the office. This may
include coffee, soda, water, candy, donuts, and similar
snacks.

Meals provided on the employer's premises to more than half
of the employees for the convenience of the employer. An
example of this is when a business provides meals to
employees in order to keep them working weekends or working
later than usual. This is for the employer's convenience to
keep the employees at the office.

Meals for which the business is reimbursed for the expense.
For example, if a business takes a client to lunch and then
bills the client for that lunch in a separate line item on
the invoice, then the business can fully deduct that meal.

Ever wonder why some accountant or attorney invoices show
the meals expense as a separate line item? Because it
makes the meal expense fully deductible to them and makes
it 50% deductible to the client! Be careful if you are on
the receiving end of this invoice!

If the meal expense is not specifically itemized on the
invoice (and just lumped into the service fee), then the
meal is only 50% deductible to the business and 100%
deductible to the client.

*Important Tip: When it comes to preparing your tax
return, it's easy to forget which meals met the
requirements to be 100% deductible. And if your tax
preparer has never asked you this it most likely means all
of your meals are being subject to the 50% limitation !
It's best to capture this information when you actually
have the meal. You can do this by setting up two meal
expense accounts in your books:

Meals - 50% deductible
Meals - 100% deductible

Simply code it the proper account when you enter it in your
accounting program (such as QuickBooks). Then it's all
ready for your tax preparer with no additional work!

----------------------------------------------------
Tom Wheelwright is not only the founder and CEO of
Provision, but he is the creative force behind Provision
Wealth Strategists. In addition to his management
responsibilities, Tom likes to coach clients on wealth,
business, and tax strategies. Along with his frequent
seminars on these strategies, Tom is an adjunct professor
in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University.
For more information please visit
http://www.provisionwealth.com

Shopping - One Of The Best Leisure Activities

Shopping - One Of The Best Leisure Activities
Women and shopping are two inseparable factors that are
knitted together closely wit each other. Shopping is an
experience in itself that relaxes as well as rejuvenates
the women in the most fantastic way. Shopping is also
called as one of the most effective stress busters that
combat the problems such as depression, tensions and
emotional fluctuations. But this renowned activity requires
certain skills so that women end up doing the most
profitable deal for themselves.

So if you are interested in learning great facts about
shopping then keep reading on and learn exciting stuff.
Here are presented some of the most valuable tips for doing
shopping smartly and that can serve the purpose in the best
ever possible manner:

- Whenever you go for shopping, make sure the thing you are
looking for, whether it is outfit, jewelry, shoes or
anything suits you well. This is considered the essence of
the true fashionista. It should give your look the fusion
of elegance, smartness as well as appeal. Always be honest
to your body structure and choose the things that look
great upon you. Also take care of the complexion factor and
go for things that suit you well according to your skin
tone.

- It is always wise to get access to the names of the sales
associates. These sales associates can provide oceans of
information about the upcoming sales. This way you can
avail heavy discounts on different products and save pools
of your hard earned money.

- Nowadays a vast array of renowned stores and outlets
offer special coupons, notifications and invitations for
the new products. These pieces of information can be easily
and readily assessed through the Internet. One of the
biggest benefits of such valuable information is that you
can avail heavy discounts on the newly launched trendy
things and add a touch of enthusiasm in your life.

- Another useful tip for shopping is that always make a
list for the things to be bought. This way you can minimize
unwanted and undesirable inefficiency while shopping and
end up enjoying your favorite activity with a focused
vision.

- One can get more inclined towards designer outlets as
this can help you immensely in saving bundles of your
money. The fact of the matter is that designer outlets
offer attractive discounts at the different things which
provide the customers with the scope for getting the "in"
things at the most reasonable prices.

- It is always better to pay your bills in cash as this
will let you minimize the hassles related to credit-card
bill and you can enjoy better satisfaction while shopping.

- Nowadays many stores provide the facility of signing up
the newsletter. The advantage attached with this amenity is
that you get free fashion tips as well as up-to-date
notifications about the latest and hottest sales.

So make use of these highly valuable shopping tips and
enjoy the leisure activity of shopping with a difference.
So, what are you waiting yourself? Get yourself indulged in
smart shopping. Happy Shopping!

----------------------------------------------------
The article is written by Nor Nan. Please visit following
websites for more information:
http://www.newretailmarket.com
http://www.cellphonefair.com

Coaching Skills Training: Mind the gap!

Coaching Skills Training: Mind the gap!
If people are not performing to their potential something
will be missing in terms of their own knowledge, skills or
attitude. In other words, there will be a performance gap.

Where the performance gap is to do with knowledge:

Coaching is of little use where a person needs to develop
their performance by acquiring knowledge; coaching can not
tease out what is not actually there.

For example, it would clearly be absurd for a driving
instructor to take a pupil on a first lesson and ask "How
might you press those pedals in sequence to bring about
some forward movement?" The pupil would have no idea
because in the first instance they need some input, some
knowledge that they can begin to use and develop.

In such cases we are obliged to adopt a Tell style although
we must recognize its drawbacks and look to move towards a
coaching style as soon as the people we coach have enough
knowledge to become responsible for developing their own
learning from that point. Many coaches make the mistake
of trying to coach where the development need is one of
knowledge and invariably the coaching session breaks down
and leaves both parties feeling frustrated and confused by
the coaching process.

Where coaching can be useful is in helping people think
through for themselves the ways in which they might go
about filling their knowledge gaps.

Where the performance gap is to do with skills:

In any sphere of work there will be a body of knowledge
needed to perform well in a job and a set of skills
necessary to put that knowledge to good use. The key to
developing good skills is practise. If I wanted to develop
my skills as a public speaker I could read every book ever
written on the subject but I would not begin to become a
good public speaker until I had got on my feet and began to
practise the skills of positioning, hand gestures, speech
variance and so on.

Coaching can be very useful here as although it cannot
replace the time needed for practise it can help people to
decide exactly what their practise priorities should be and
how they are going to get the most from any practise
session.

In trying to develop my presentation skills, I might
practise positioning my visual aides and asking audience
questions because the books I read suggested these were key
aspects of successful presenting. However, my coach may
help me realise that in fact my last presentation didn't go
as well as I hoped because I ran out of time and was
rushed at the end. Much better then, for me to practise
pacing my delivery and designing flexible material.

Where the performance gap is to do with attitude:

Coaching comes in to its own as a development tool where
individuals have a decent level of knowledge and skills but
for some reason are not putting them to good use.

Of course this may be because they have become
disillusioned with the work or the organization and are
looking for an opportunity to leave. If this is the case
it might be best for both parties to part company and
perhaps we could offer coaching as a way for people in this
position to decide on their next steps.

Quite often though people are not harnessing their
knowledge and skills because they have lost sight of what
they are trying to achieve or have some limiting beliefs
that say 'I'm just not good enough' or 'it's a young
person's world these days' or 'they'd never take me
seriously' etc.

Coaching is a wonderful remedy to such problems because it
quickly enables people to regain focus. Focus means being
free form distractions and we focus most easily on what we
find compelling. If you've ever watched a cat toy with a
mouse or an insect or watched a child play with a toy
they find fascinating you'll know that this is true.

Some people confuse focus with effort but this is not the
case. In fact if we try too hard we tend to get uptight and
tired. We begin to develop a fear of failure and our
endeavours become totally unenjoyable.

We can develop a quality of focus quite easily by noticing
what we notice. If for example I discover in a coaching
session that I tend to lose eye contact with an audience
when giving a presentation, then I should try to note how
often it happens next time. The likelihood is it will be
far less because I will be far more focused.

Hopefully you can see that this is very different to
someone suggesting that I 'don't lose eye contact'. Such
well-meaning advice will simply increase pressure and
probably produce mistakes in other aspects of my
presentation.

Focus is a very tenuous thing and we can be distracted
quite easily. Especially from things we do not really enjoy
(compare reading a novel with a textbook).

Coaching is effective because it works with what the person
being coached finds most interesting and promotes
ever-deeper levels of focus, and consequently awareness.

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com