Costco Connection - June 2011

Wally Amos is the founder of Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company. You can reach him at www.wallyamos.com.

Five no-no’s

on your
website
Do it now

HOW OFTEN DURING the course of the day do you put off doing things—calling old friends, apologizing for errors made in judgment, following up on an idea? Usually, I am pretty good at such things.

About two weeks ago, a former associate from my show-biz days told me of a mutual friend who had worked with us and was dying from cancer. I immediately made a note to give him a call. Periodically, I would think of calling, but unfortunately I never did.

Today, I called and got his voice mail. I then
called another friend who had worked with us,
and during the course of our conversation he told
me that our friend had died two days before. The
news left me with an empty, sad feeling; I wished
I had called. My call would not have saved his life,
but maybe I could have made him laugh or just
given him a good feeling. The call would have
given me a good memory, and the feeling of having
done a good deed.

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Tips for better negotiating and closing

“REGARDLESS OF how you feel about it, negotiation is an essential part of the sales process,” claim sales consultants Tony Rutigliano, a Costco member, and Brian Brim in their book, Strengths Based Selling (Gallup Press, 2010). They offer these tips.

Know your customer’s needs. If you continuously anticipate what your customers need next, you engage them in an ongoing conversation. Do this throughout the sales life cycle.

Rally your advocates. Cultivate advocates in the customer organization who will be your champions throughout the sales process. When it’s time to close, they can speak for you during negotiations and give you the inside scoop on quirks or wrinkles that could make or break your sale.

Lead with your strengths. Use your natural talents instead of trying to imitate the techniques of colleagues or “gurus.” Do what comes naturally.

Role-play. Enlist the help of a colleague or supervisor and role-play through all the steps. You’ll be grounded in every aspect of the deal, and will develop the approach that works best for you.

Prepare an answer for every objection. Don’t get caught off guard with an unforeseen objection. Think through every possible scenario, and practice your answers until you can deliver them without sounding defensive or nervous.

Leave the door open for future business. Explore the client’s needs, present and future. It’s often more productive to hold off on closing and explore needs and potential partnerships. Move away from a transaction mind-set.

Know when to walk away. Sometimes there are deals that aren’t worth closing. If a deal isn’t good for both you and the customer, don’t do it—it will be better for everyone in the end. C

PHOTODISC

BRANDX

THERE’S LITTLE question about the potential advantages a website offers for a small business. But having a poorly designed site can actually send customers away, advise Costco members Bobbye Brooks and Tonilee Adamson, the founders of Media4Women, based in San Diego. They offer this list of five things not to have on your website:

•Excessive text that requires visitors to read the page. They recommend having more “white space” than text: People today have a bullet-point mentality, so use short tags that can be quickly seen and read.

•Extensive pop-ups, flashing banners or videos that cannot be muted. Too much movement or sound can be distracting and annoying to visitors.

•Fonts, graphics or styles that make your website look dated. Be careful of using clip art or cheap-looking graphics that diminish your professionalism. Look at other websites in your industry and get ideas for how to make yours look current, contemporary and relevant.

•Muted, dull colors. It is important to have an attractive, eye-pleasing website. Colors elicit emotion, and the right colors can be very effective in attracting and keeping visitors.