The ‘Art’ and ‘Lessons’ of Shopping for Bargains.

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I’m spending the day at Marché aux Puces, the antique flea markets of Paris. Also known as the “Puces” or “MAP,” it hosts 14 named market areas that offer an authentic and one-of-a-kind atmosphere. The market, steeped in history, brings together antique dealers, designers, artisans, artists, and customers from all over the world.

It’s a powerful business location. Picture 2,500 antique dealers ready and willing to sell items ranging from bric-a-brac and advertising memorabilia, to designer jewelry and handbags, vintage fashion and furniture, all the way to museum quality pieces dating back centuries.

It’s more than the eye can imagine, and way more than the wallet can afford.

I’m bringing my ‘A game’ to the market because the sellers are both seasoned and knowledgeable. It’s clearly a ‘buyer beware’ market and cash trumps credit cards by as much as 20%.

NOTE: There are three types of sales prices at the market. ‘Retail,’ ‘negotiated,’ and ‘wholesale.’ Retail prices are for the unsuspecting customer who’s willing to pay what is marked on the item or what the dealer asks for. Negotiated prices are for the savvy buyer who is able to negotiate the listed price and pay something he or she is more comfortable with. Wholesale prices represent the real amount the seller is willing take to part with his cherished item.

Of course, I’m trying to buy things between with a price somewhere between negotiated and wholesale. Meanwhile the dealer is trying to sell at a price somewhere between retail and negotiated.

Let the games begin!

After buying a few negotiated items, as luck would have it, I ran into the great Michael Andrew Wilson, a longtime friend and professional shopper.

To give you a frame of reference, Michael purchased all of the furnishings for every Ralph Lauren store in Europe. He has spent millions of euros at this market, and every seller and dealer knows him personally. You can learn more about Michael by reading his blog at http://mawparis.wordpress.com

I’ve been to the market 20 times. Michael has been to the market 1,000 times. He knows everyone. I know no one. But by walking around with him, I had ‘wholesale’ prices wrapped up.

One other advantage that Michael has: he speaks fluent French. I speak broken French without verbs. When the buyer and the seller speak the same language it’s much easier to complete an agreed-upon transaction. It’s also much easier to haggle for a lower price.

All in all, it’s a buyer’s marketplace UNLESS the buyer wants something bad. And, if the seller is savvy he or she will hold out until they find out how bad the buyer wants it. Luckily, those sellers are few and far between.

Most of the dealers at the market fully realize their sale is of the moment, and when a buyer walks away it’s likely they will never return. The more conversation the seller engages in, the more questions the seller asks, and the more the buyer feels like they’re getting a ‘deal,’ the more likely it is that the customer will part with cash.

The seller’s fatal flaw is also the buyer’s fatal flaw. It’s impatience and the need for immediate gratification. The more profitable sale is exactly the opposite. It’s patience combined with extended emotional engagement.

Which kind of seller are you? How would you be able to win the sale over 2,499 other competitors, all within walking distance on a sunny day in Paris. To me the answers are obvious, but maybe that’s because I’ve been there many times before.

Let me share a few with you so you might be able to engage your customers in a way that they will buy from you rather than your competition…

1. Find out how the buyer intends to use whatever it is they’re about to purchase. Where will it go? Who will see it? Will their family and friends admire it? Have they ever bought anything like this before? How much do they know about this particular product? How long have they been thinking about purchasing this kind of product? Do they think the value is there?

2. Try to uncover their urgency for purchase. Why do they want this now? Do they understand that this is one of a kind? How much do they love it? How much do they want it? How much do they need it?

2.5 Make certain you’ve explained affordability based on value and that their perceived value is the basis of their desire. Everyone thinks most sales are made based on price and everyone is wrong. Sales are made based on desire, need, and perceived value combined with urgency and utility.

DO THIS: Take a long look at your sales presentation. I recommend you record your sales presentation and use that for your review. You will see in an instant how engaging you are and how well you let the customer have a chance to buy. Or not.

I posted a few pictures of my selling/buying adventure on Instagram – @jeffreygitomer – if you want to take a look.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Why Your Business Needs To Start Monetizing Its Data

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Because of the digital age that we live in, most people know of and even understand what data is. They say that information is power. In the business world, that is quite right! Firms of all shapes and sizes have and deal with a lot of data on a daily basis.

Data examples include contact details and even the way customers pay for their goods and services. It’s a well-known fact that running a business is tougher than ever these days. But, the sad truth is that organizations aren’t using the data they have to make some money!

Data monetization is a lucrative market. The sector is large, but it could be bigger if more firms used the information they hold to increase their revenue.

If you’re still not convinced, keep reading to learn why your business needs to start monetizing its data today!

Why Your Business Needs To Start Monetizing Its DataPhoto courtesy of Sean Ellis

You learn more about your customer spending habits

Let’s face it, we all have uniquely personal spending habits. Some of us lead an extravagant lifestyle and are happy to pay for high-end products. Others prefer to count the pennies and only buy things we need rather than all those things we want.

Customer loyalty cards are one of the best ways of gaining insights into how people spend their money. It’s a classic way of fostering data monetization. Why? Because you can target specific promotions to individual customer groups.

Let’s say that you own a retail store. People will sign up for loyalty cards if they know they can enjoy special offers and deals that are applicable to them. Yes, you can offer targeted promotions to loyalty card holders.

But it’s also a good way of learning which products are best-sellers and which ones are nothing better than loss leaders.

Work with other firms to cross-promote products and services

If you run an ISP business, you could work with retailers that sell computers to offer your services to their customers. Likewise, you could offer discounted rates to people leaving particular competitors.

Sharing data is always a neat idea for two sets of organizations that can complement each other’s wares. There’s no point trying to go solo if there’s an opportunity to work with someone else. At least on an opportunity that is mutually beneficial of course!

Sell anonymous data to relevant organizations

No one likes the idea of companies selling their personal details to other people. But, did you know that you can sell anonymous data to third parties without it being controversial?

For instance, let’s say that you are a commercial property developer. And you own a shopping mall. Market research firms may wish to buy data from you like the following:

  • Number of shoppers per day, week, month or year;
  • Average store occupancy rates;
  • Shopper spending habits (e.g. Do they spend most of their cash on clothing, food, or electronics?).

As you can see from this example, anonymous data can be attractive to third party organizations. And because you aren’t selling any personal details, you won’t fall afoul of the law.

Return to the Tactical Execution Forum

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 5 – Anonymous Condition Reports

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StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program Article | Condition ReportRegardless of the degree to which an organization embraces the values of a learning organization, the reporting of some specific adverse conditions or trends may be perceived to be unwelcomed by one or more potential condition report authors. Whether or not a chilling environment exists, individuals having this perception will likely not report these specific issues and may report few, if any, others because of a fear of reprisal. Consequently, such circumstances rob an organization of the opportunity to improve unless there is a mechanism in place that provides these individuals with a degree of professional safety.

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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Are you a social sales pacesetter? Or are you losing business to one?

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Here are a few questions to get your social sales juices flowing:

  • Why are big companies interested in big data?
  • Why are formerly non-social companies suddenly scouring and analyzing social data?
  • Why is ‘mobile’ the new ‘social?’
  • Why is ‘cloud’ the new data room?

Often referred to as pacesetters, companies that have chosen to embrace and engage cloud, analytics, mobile, and social strategies are cleaning the clock of their competitors who have chosen the path of cautious resistance or even abstinence.

NOTE WELL: The real pacesetters are using all four strategies – not one or two.

PERSONAL NOTE: When I saw the statistic that 68% of Facebook usage is mobile, I realized the revolution was in full swing and those not playing hard would lose sales, loyalty, goodwill, reputation, and profit.

REALITIES:

  • Customers are smarter. You must be at least as smart.
  • Customers are social. You must be at least as social.
  • Customers are mobile. You must be at least as mobile.
  • The availability of online information about you AND your competition is instant.
  • Customers expect an easy-to-buy process.
  • Mobile is not an option – it’s an imperative.
  • 24-7-365 is the new 9-5.

My good friend, Sandy Carter, is one of IBM’s General Managers, and their social selling evangelist. Sandy fed me some support data from their recently published IBM’s 2014 Business Tech Trends Report. The report reveals that previously emerging trends like Big Data and analytics, cloud, mobile, and social are now being implemented across corporate enterprise beyond just experimentation and wait-and-see.

The Tech Trends Report also found that the gaps in IT skills that used to exist within these core segments are starting to narrow as organizations are uncovering the skill sets needed to use these technologies to their full advantage.

THE SECRET: These big pacesetter corporations have discovered that by partnering with smaller, specialized companies they are able to obtain the critical skills they need to gain a competitive advantage – thus paving the way for innovation and increased market share. They also learned that total integration of all four pacesetter elements was their breakaway move.

BOTTOM LINE FOR FASTER SUCCESS: Pacesetter organizations are now finding partners in a myriad of places including academia, start-ups, clients, citizen developers, and established specialized leaders. Pacesetter corporations that integrate cloud, analytics, mobile, and social technologies across their business are four to seven times more likely to use cloud to deliver social, mobile, big data, and analytics.

In short, pacesetters use technology for the competitive advantage and the results are more profitable business outcomes.

Here are a few concepts beyond buzzwords that will help you think about and understand why these strategies are being deployed and bringing amazing returns:

1. Cloud Strategies: Where can I store data and apps that are accessible on demand globally?

2. Social Strategies: How am I in touch with my customers to give them information and social proof, and how can they be in touch with me to tell me all is well?

3. Mobile Strategies: What are my customers using to communicate ideas, needs, and desires? How are they accessing my information? How are they purchasing?

4. Analytics Strategies: Data helps make better and smarter decisions. Data shows the past, reveals the present, and helps predict trends in the future. Another word for analytics is profit. REALITY: An app without analytics is a washing machine without a motor or a car without gas. How is your EXISTING data being mined, analyzed, and used to target trends, analyze profits, and increase sales?

4.5 Partnering Strategies: How are you using SEO experts, app builders, bloggers, and social awareness companies – global outside experts – that can help you achieve amazing success in a fraction of the time (and cost) it would take to do it yourself?

YOUR BOTTOM LINE: Now is the time to get your social mojo working in your favor. The opportunity is ripe and the expertise you need is at your fingertips. Carter told me, “The companies we deal with that listen to us with ‘all ears’ and eagerly implement the pacesetter solutions quickly convert their investment to ‘all clicks’ as their social interactions skyrocket and sales quickly follow suit.”

How’s your conversion doing?

“Get involved and get more.” If you search the hashtag #IBMBTT you’ll be able to access pacesetter ideas and answers – and maybe add a few of your own.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The Big Picture of Business – Avoid the Tired, Trite Terms: Encourage Original Thought, Focus on Priorities and Strategy

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Words count. Put together, they reflect corporate culture. Used out of context, words become excuses, gibberish, rationales and basically wastes of energy.

When people hear certain words and expressions often enough, they parrot them. Rather than use critical thinking to communicate, many people often gravitate to the same old tired catch phrases.

I sat in a meeting of highly educated business executives. The presenter was dropping the term ‘brand’ into every other sentence. The word had lost its power and came across as a fill-in-the-blank substitution for a more appropriate though. Many people used to do the same thing with the word ‘technology,’ using it far from its reasonable definitions.

These clichés do not belong in business dialog, in strategic planning and in corporate strategy. These expressions are trite and reflect a copy-cat way of talking and thinking:

  • ‘Solutions’ is a tired 1990’s term, taken from technology hype. People who use it are vendors, selling what they have to solve your ‘problems,’ rather than diagnosing and providing what your company needs. It is a misnomer to think that a quick fix pawned off as a ‘solution’ will take care of a problem once and for all. Such a word does not belong in conversation and business strategy, let alone the name of the company.
  • The ‘brand’ is a marketing term. The strategy, culture and vision are many times greater and more important.
  • ‘So…’ In the 1960’s, TV sitcom writers began every scene with ‘So…’ After enough years of hearing it, people lapse that dialog into corporate conversations. It is intended to reduce the common denominator of the discussion to that of the questioner. It is monotonous, and there are more creative ways to engage others into conversation aside from minimizing the dialog.
  • ‘Value proposition’ is a sales term and is one-sided toward the person offering it. It implies that the other side must buy in without question.
  • ‘Right now’ is a vendor term for what they’re peddling, rather than what the marketplace really needs. Expect to render good business all the time.
  • ‘Customer care’ means that customer service is palmed off on some call center. “Customer experience” comes right out of marketing surveys, which rarely ask for real feedback or share the findings with company decision makers. That is so wrong, as customer service must be every business person’s responsibility. Service should not be something that is sold but which nurtures client relationships.

Many of these stock phrases represent ‘copywriting’ by people who don’t know about corporate vision. Their words overstate, get into the media and are accepted by audiences as fact. Companies put too much of their public persona in the hands of marketers and should examine more closely the partial images which they put into the cyberspace. Our culture hears and believes the hype, without looking beyond the obvious.

Here are some examples of the misleading and misrepresenting things one sees and hears in the Information Age. These terms are judgmental and should not be used in marketing, least of all in business strategy: Easy, Better, Best, For all your needs, Perfection, Number one, Good to go, Results, World class, Hearts and minds, Cool, The end of the day, Virtual, Right now, Not so much and Game changing.

Street talk, misleading slogans and terms taken out of context do not belong in the business vocabulary. Business planning requires insightful thinking and language which clearly delineates what the company mission is and how it will grow.

These are the characteristics of effective words, phrases and, thus, company philosophy:

  • Focus upon the customer.
  • Honor the employees.
  • Defines business as a process, not a quick fix.
  • Portray their company as a contributor, not a savior.
  • Clearly defines their niche.
  • Say things that inspire you to think.
  • Compatible with other communications.
  • Remain consistent with their products, services and track record.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.