It’s that time of year: “Call me back after the holidays.”

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Humbug. Salespeople hate holidays.

Holidays are an excuse for decision makers to put buying decisions on hold. But the worst of them are the Christmas to New Year. “Call me back after the holidays,” and “Call me after the first of the year,” are two of the most hated phrases in sales. (They still rank behind “We’ve decided to buy from someone else,” “Your price is too high,” and “I want to think about it.”)

Call me after the holidays is not an objection. It’s worse. It’s a stall. Stalls are twice as bad as objections. When you get a stall, you have to somehow dance around it, and then you still must find the real objection or barrier before you can proceed.

Here are 11.5 clever lines and winning tactics to use that will help overcome the stall:

1. Close on the stall line. “What day after the first of the year would you want to take (would be most convenient to take) delivery?”
2. Firm it up, whenever it is. Ask, “When after the first of the year? Can I buy you the first breakfast of the new year?” Make a firm appointment.
3. If it’s just a call back, make the prospect put it on his calendar. Call backs must be appointed, or the other guy is never there when you call. Putting it in a calendar makes it a firm commitment.
4. Tell them about your resolutions. “I’ve made a New Year’s resolution that I’m not going to let great prospects like you, who really need our product/service, delay until after the first of the year. You know you need it.”
5. Offer incentives and alternatives. Create reasons not to delay. Buy now, invoice after the holiday. Order now, deliver after the holiday.
6. Question them about differences – and close them when they get there. “What will be different after the holidays? Will anything change over the holidays that will cause you not to buy?” (Prospect’s answer – “Oh no, no, no.”) “Great!” you say, “Let’s get you order in production (service scheduled) now, and we’ll deliver it after the holiday. When were you thinking of taking delivery (beginning).”
7. Agree. Then disagree. I know what you mean… lots of people want to wait. Most don’t realize that the money wasted/saved between now and the first of the year, will equate to a xx% savings if they buy now. Are you sure you want to waste the money?
8. Get a testimonial video. Ask someone who bought before the holidays and was glad they did to do a one-minute video about the value they received and how they originally wanted to wait and how happy they are that they didn’t. Videos with similar situations are a thousand times more powerful than your sales pitch.
9. Drop-in with holiday cheer. Use a small holiday plant or gift to get in the door. (No one says no to Santa – unless you live in Philadelphia. There they boo Santa.)
10. Create urgency. “The price will rise after the first,” or “There’s a product or delivery back-up after the first – schedule now.”
11. Be funny. Say, “So many people have said call me after the first that I’m booked until April. I do however, have a few openings before the first. How about it?” Making the other person laugh (smile) will go a long way towards getting past the stall. An alternative smile is “What holiday?”
11.5 Beg. Pleeeeaaase, I’ll be your best friend.

Reality check. The success with which this stall is able to handled is directly related to the quality of the relationship that’s been built with your prospect or customer. A good relationship allows more liberty to press for immediate action. A weak relationship will mean you wait until after the holiday. Or longer.

Prevention – the best cure. If you know this objection is coming, do something BEFORE it happens. Prevention of objections and stalls is the most obvious, most powerful, and least used sales technique. Here are a few prevention methods.

  • Start in early November to create urgency.
  • Set price raises in September to take effect January 1. Announce them right away and communicate them weekly into the holiday season.
  • Create a holiday special. Have a five day sale in December.
  • Offer December price incentives or special bonus incentives.
  • Throw a holiday party. Invite prospects and customers, and offer them a “Tonight only deal.”
  • Hold a series of seminars that are about important issues to your prospects and customers. Have the best one just before the holidays. Serve great food.
  • Create an internal sales contest with a great prizes.
  • Build relationships all year long.

The bottom line is – as sure as you’ll spend lots of money this holiday season, someone will ask you to call them after it’s over. When they do, don’t get mad, get creative. Don’t get frustrated, get a relationship.

Happy holidays. If you need more information on this subject, call me – after the first of the year. Ho, ho, ho.

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].

4 Services You Need For Your Business To Succeed

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4 Services You Need For Your Business To Succeed
It’s nearly 2016 and that could mean a new start for your company. Perhaps this year wasn’t as profitable as you hoped so it’s time to make some changes. If you want your business to be successful, we suggest you invest in the right services. That way you can save on costs as well as making sure your business is run more effectively. These are the services and solutions that we suggest.

Legal Advice

It’s crucial for a modern business to hire the right legal help. There are a number of different ways your business can find itself with a legal issue. It could be related to your employees. This might be to do with human resources, bullying or even an accidental injury. You’ll be thankful that you have employment law consultants at hand, ready to help.

You could find that you have a contractual dispute with a supplier. When dealing with contracts for your business, it’s best to think ahead. You need to make sure that you always have legal help whenever you are making a new deal with business partners. That way you will be completely protected. Of course, legal solutions are just one of the ways you need to protect your company.

IT Support

We imagine that a large majority of your business is dependent on online networking. If that’s the case you need to make sure that it doesn’t break down or falter. It’s difficult to do this without hiring a full IT team for your business. That’s costly so instead you should outsource this job to an IT support service. They’ll keep a check on your computer systems and ensure everything operates smoothly. This is particular beneficial if your business is using cloud-based software.

Using cloud-based software, you might be running your company from outside of an office. In fact it could be a global machine with lots of different parts. But if the server breaks, then you will almost certainly run into issues operating your business.

A Business Consultant

Business consultants come in all different forms and with various charges. You could get a marketing consultant or a customer service consultant. Either way, they are sure to boost the effectiveness of your business, offering you key advice in their specialised area. That said, the cost is troublesome. That’s why we suggest you use a person business advisor instead. These are far more cost friendly and will provide your company with great support.

A Market Agency

Lastly, any successful business owner will tell you just how important marketing is. It’s not just about getting your business noticed. It’s about making sure that your company is remembered by customers and that you are constantly making waves. The best way to do this is to hire a digital marketing agency. They’ll run promotion for your business on all major platforms, ensuring customers find and use your company.

Use these solutions and we guarantee your business will be more effective, and you will maximise your profits in the new year.

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Outsource These Tasks For Business Success

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Success in the business world relied on many different factors. You need to supply the right products or services at the right price. You also need to place your operation in the best location possible. All company bosses have to seek suitable team members to push their business forward too. However, sometimes it’s better to outsource certain tasks rather than employ more people. We’re going to draw your attention towards some of the most commonly outsourced jobs in this post. With a bit of luck, the information will help to save money and take your business to the next level. We’ll explain the reasoning behind outsourcing each process to set the record straight.

Outsource These Tasks For Business Success
Photo courtesy of Dream4U

Customer service

Most savvy business owners outsource the customer service part of their companies these days. That is because it’s much cheaper to let dedicate firms handle the job. You simply have to provide them with lots of information about your operation. You can even hand them a script if you would like their staff to use certain language. The best thing about outsourcing customer service roles is that you can keep your team small. It would cost a fortune to employ ten people just to answer emails, letters, and telephone calls. As you will discover when you research the market, you can get other people to handle that task for much less.

Marketing

You need lots of spare time to work on the success of your company. That means you might have to attend lots of networking events and such. You might also need a couple of hours each day just to sit thinking about your next moves. It’s impossible to have that much time on your hands if you don’t outsource your marketing efforts. There are hundreds of professional firms out there who would happily deal with the matter one your behalf. Most of the people working for those companies have official qualifications in the subject. So, you just need to trust in their expertise. Again, outsourcing that job is cheaper and more efficient. You could get amazing results in only a couple of days.

SEO

The guys at www.LosAngelesSEO.org say all company bosses now understand the importance of SEO. While that might be true, many of them are still handling the process in-house. That is a terrible idea because professionals working in that field know more than you. The simplest SEO mistakes could cause a penalty and damage your online reputation. At the same time, Google changes the rules far too frequently for you to keep up. Outsourcing the SEO process should mean you appear at the top of relevant search results very quickly. You’ll have to pay a premium for the service, but anything less makes you look like an amateur.

Web development

Some people decide to employ a web designer directly. That is a great idea if your company is making a decent profit and you can afford the cost. However, outsourcing the job will help you to save money during the early stages. Don’t make the mistake of trying to design your business website without expert help. Those free site building tools advertised on the TV might look good, but they’re not. Any internet user worth their salt can spot an amateur website a mile away. You need to present the right online image, and it’s impossible to do that without a professionally designed domain. Also, most web development firms will offer maintenance deals you should consider.

Content writing

Professional writers will always create better content than other people. For that reason, you should try to find a good and reliable freelancer. The people over at www.freelance.com have helped to make that process much easier. Ask them to create the content for your website, and your marketing emails too. In fact, you could ask them to write every letter you ever send. Outsourcing writing tasks should mean you always present the best wording to your customers and clients. Also, some writers will know how to use psychology to get better results. The way in which your text is written can make a huge different to success levels.

So long as you outsource all the processes mentioned on this page, your business should grow and expand quickly. Some company bosses have an issue when it comes to letting go of the reins. However, you must understand that trusting other people with certain parts of your business is essential. The last thing you want to do is build a company that needs thousands of staff members. There is just too much risk involved when you could simply pass work to other professionals.

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Leadership Inspiration – Great Projects

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StrategyDriven Inspirational Quote“Men despise great projects when they do not feel themselves capable of great success.”

Luc de Clapiers de Vauvenargues
(1715 – 1747)
Minor French writer and moralist

8 Keys for Overcoming Extreme Personal and Professional Adversity

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‘Sur-thriver’ insights on how to conquer fear and devastating losses with confidence, courage and chutzpah
 
Soldier 1: “You’re hit, you’re bleeding man.”
Soldier 2: “I ain’t got time to bleed.”

This short, yet intense excerpt from the movie Predator provides an important insight into one’s character. While challenges are sure to present in life, the principle here is that you can’t allow tragedy to stop you from moving forward toward completing your mission. Few business leaders have had to deal with more life-altering tragedy than Linda Losey, including the horrific separate deaths of her two young sons, yet the bevy of heart-wrenching circumstances have not stopped her from aspiring toward and achieving both professional and personal life goals.

How do you overcome devastating events and other personal challenges? How do you survive life’s most tragic situations to emerge stronger, healthier and perhaps even happier in the wake of catastrophic circumstances? How do you exist through the long, endless nights of your seemingly endless anguish to rise to see a brighter day and actually enjoy life once again? When do the persistent internal inquisitions, “Why now? Why me?”

Such are the questions that Linda, now Founder and COO of Bloomery Plantation Distillery, has asked herself time and time again, which has resulted in the kind of wisdom that can only be gained by struggling through extreme adversity (multiple times in Linda’s case) and coming out on the other side with a healthy mindset, a fresh perspective, and an inner well of strength, resolve and tenacity needed to not just survive, but thrive.

Below, Linda provides a few practical, top-line insights to help individuals better deal with unexpected adversity and even tragedy, and find astonishing strength to overcome:

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About the Author

Merilee KernMerilee Kern, MBA, is Executive Editor of “The Luxe List” International News Syndicate, an accomplished entrepreneur, award-winning author and APP developer and influential media voice. She may be reached online at www.TheLuxeList.com. Follow her on Twitter here: www.Twitter.com/LuxeListEditor and Facebook here: www.Facebook.com/TheLuxeList.