Dear Friend,

Welcome to CHAKRA^SM. In this issue we want to share with you ways to increase your sales, because let's face it you're not in business if you don't make (profitable) sales. Every day the team at Third Eye interacts with business owners who have their head in the clouds and have no idea about the meaning of business, sales and marketing, so let's start by facing a few facts:

Business: A business (also known as enterprise or firm) is an organization designed to provide goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, in which most of them are privately owned and formed to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit or state-owned. The etymology of "business" relates to the state of being busy doing commercially viable and profitable work.

Sales: A sale is the act of selling of products or services in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity.

Marketing: Marketing and sales differ greatly, but have the same goal. Marketing improves the selling environment and plays a very important role in sales. If the marketing department generates a list of potential customers, that can benefit sales. A marketing department in an organization has the goal increasing the number of interactions between potential customers and the organization. Achieving this goal may involve the sales team using promotional techniques such as advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and public relations, creating new sales channels, or creating new products (new product development), among other things. It can also include bringing the potential customer to visit the organization's website(s) for more information, or to contact the organization for more information, or to interact with the organization via social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

Sales and marketing alignment and integration

Many companies find it challenging to get marketing and sales on the same page. The two departments, although different in nature, handle very similar concepts and have to work together for sales to be successful. Building a good relationship between the two that encourages communication can be the key to success - even in a down economy.

Traditionally, these two functions, as referenced above, have operated separately, left in siloed areas of tactical responsibility. Glen Petersen's book The Profit Maximization Paradox highlights that salespeople spend approximately 40 percent of their time preparing customer-facing deliverables while leveraging less than 50 percent of the materials created by marketing, adding to perceptions that marketing is out of touch with the customer and that sales is resistant to messaging and strategy.

Onward and upwards

Phew.......now I have got that off my chest, let's hear from Marcus Zillman, Troy Hazard, Cheryl Lampard, Mark Cyr and Rimma Kats. All of whom share their thoughts on business, sales and marketing and how to make your business more successful.

As always, no issue of CHAKRA^SM would be complete without a "Wise Quack" from The Donald plus, Mr. Bevan leaves us all wanting more in his final thought.

Well, what are you waiting for? Enjoy! Get reading CHAKRA^SM - enjoy!

I am asked this question numerous times daily and especially after giving one of my keynote addresses to national associations and private corporations. Now that the Internet has matured passed a fad and is solidly entrenched into the corporate/enterprise psyche, questions are constantly being asked about its future. This column is limited to 500 words or so therefore I will be brief with my overview and selective with the URLs.

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The world is changing. People are changing. It's the law of evolution really; it's how the universe works.

So why is it then that so many business owners and sales people just don't get that?

Every day you see business owners and salespeople who are stuck in what seems to be a universal vortex, a black hole in time that they just can't seem to get themselves out of. They keep defaulting to the old golden sales rules, you know the ones; 'be sure to follow the 7 steps to a sale', or 'only ask yes / no questions so you can drill through objections until the client simply can't POSSIBLY say no', and then there was the old faithful, 'once in a lifetime opportunity'.

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So, you have a great logo, collateral and branding for your company but when you meet your prospective client for the first time, those are not the elements that create that vital first impression: YOU do. I use the word "vital", because it is. You have approximately 30 seconds to make a first impression, of which 55% is based on your visual image/ non-verbal communication; 38% is one of voice/paralinguistics and only 7% is what you say. I'll repeat that: just 7% is based on the spoken word. In short, if your prospect doesn't like what they see, they're not even listening to you.

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NFC Technology

Near field communication, or NFC, is a set of short-range wireless technologies. This enables NFC targets to take very simple form factors such as tags, stickers, key fobs, or cards that do not require batteries. Global companies are interested in NFC's ability to provide pervasive marketing, simplify processes, and facilitate contactless payment for goods.

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Media Guerilla Joins Third Eye Team

Well.......did you enjoy it? Was it helpful? Please email and let us know. We are always pleased to hear from you especially if you found something in CHAKRA^SM that's prompted you or your client to try a new approach or adopt a new idea in business.

Tell us about your challenges and successes - we are always looking for interesting articles and guest writers to feature in upcoming issues of CHAKRA^SM.

Regards,



Adrian Bevan & Karl M. Gibbons

Third Eye Management

     

In this Issue

• The Future of the Internet

• Tell Me, Don't Sell Me - how to talk your way into a sale

• The 30 Second Sale - and you don't even speak!

• NFC Technology - the end of QR Tags

• Media Guerilla Joins Third Eye Team

• Who, Why, When & How?

• Wise Quacks

• Events

• Final Thought

Wise Quack from
The Donald

"Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarves are not Happy".

Events

TEM - Proud Supporters of

Who, Why, When & How?

It It has probably not escaped your attention that this year has seen Third Eye add several new members to its team; Todd Withrow, Marsha Friedman and Hope Daley. Many of you have asked us the why and how questions. Well the answer is very simple - they are here to help make your business better - they are here for you!

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Final Thought
by Adrian Bevan

To Clip or Not to Clip - that is the question.

Coupons, Vouchers & Special

Offers In this edition of CHAKRA we've heard a lot about sales and selling from a number of different perspectives. A fairly common question we a Third Eye get asked is, "should I create a special offer coupon?"

A Rice University study about people who use coupons found that nearly 80% of coupon users who redeem the coupon promoted are first-timers, and only 20% of them become repeat customers of businesses offering deals through services like Groupon, LivingSocial and OpenTable.

Checklist to evaluate your promotional offers to ensure they will be profitable

Are your customers who would have paid full price using these coupons? If "yes" that means you've just lost money.

Are new customers only buying because of the one-time offer?

If your existing customers (who are paying full price) see the offer, how will they feel about what they pay and their value to you as a customer?

Will this new customer be a coupon shopper ("switchers", people who aren't brand loyal and buy whatever is on sale)?

Will these new customers not paying full price cause you to be less profitable by taking up "prime time" from other full-price existing customers?

What's the likelihood that this new customer will buy again at full price?

Will they be customers who will be more valuable and profitable to you longer term? How likely will they be to buy other products and services you offer?

Will they tell friends who are coupon shoppers like them or will they help you attract long-term profitable customers?

Will these customers who were attracted by a discounted price tip well? Pay on time? Be pleasant to serve?

The people who look the most at any advertising are the people who already own/buy the product/service/company being advertised. They look at the ads for reassurance that they've made the right choice. Because of this, you don't want your existing customers/clients who pay full-price to see special offers for free or low-cost prices that they wouldn't get.