Monthly Archives: February 2020

Losing Out On Sales? It Could Be Down To Your Health (Seriously!)

There are millions of people out there that are working with health issues every day of their lives. Naturally, you’re aware of how this impacts your performance at work. Health problems make it hard for you to be as attentive as you’d like, and they can mean you miss more days than the average person. However, did you ever stop and consider that your poor health might be causing a lack of sales? If your sales figures are down, and you’ve tried to figure out why, then this may be the reason. How? Well, let’s explain: 

 

Mishearing clients during calls or meetings

Several health concerns can mean you start to mishear what your clients are saying. The most common example of this is hearing loss. If you’re hard of hearing, then you might have to keep asking clients to repeat what they’re saying. Naturally, this is terrible for your sales success as it annoys the prospect, and they’re likely to put the phone down or decide not to purchase what you’re selling.

As a consequence, you need to solve this issue by seeing a hearing health professional. They can diagnose the cause of your hearing loss, which means you will most likely need hearing aids. Now, one of the many hearing aid benefits is that they restore your hearing – and can even enhance it. So, you’ll no longer be saying ‘pardon’ twenty times in one conversation, which stops your clients from getting annoyed and can help you make those sales. 

 

Showing up late for meetings

If you suffer from chronic and persistent health issues, then it can mess up your schedule. A prime example of this is IBS. An uncomfortable thing to suffer from, and a problem that may cause you to take bathroom trips at short notice. In turn, you can be late for important meetings with clients.  

The same goes for other health concerns that can delay you. Even being overweight may slow you down and make you late. This is awful for your reputation; will a prospect be likely to agree to a sale if you’re late for the meeting? It doesn’t look very good on your professionalism, so the chances are slim. 

 

Scaring potential clients with bad breath

Yep, your oral health can make you lose out on sales. Bad breath puts people off, so you can say goodbye to a lot of face-to-face sales as a result. Nobody wants to do business with an individual that can’t clean their teeth properly. It’s so off-putting when someone has bad breath! It sounds harsh, but you just want to run away. So, fix your oral health issues, and you can fix some of your sales problems!

See, it sounds ridiculous, but your health issues can be a factor in poor sales performances. It’s also something that stats and analytics can’t identify. This is why you should strongly consider your health if you can’t find any other reasons for a lack of sales. Sort out any issues, then see if it changes the situation and helps you make more sales. 

 

Reselling Business Essentials All Successful Merchants Need

There is some serious money to be made in reselling, but just like any other business, there are some things you will need to be successful. Fortunately, my post below outlines the most essential ones. Read on to find out what they are. 

At least one platform 

Before anything else, you need to have a platform in mind. A place where you can sell your stock. Of course, the critical choice here is whether you will do this online, or in real life with many merchants choosing just one or the other. 

 

However, it is well worth noting that you can maximize your profits by choosing to do both. With IRL selling being done in markets, car boots, or even with shelves dedicated to your product in a larger store. 

 

Supply of stock 

Next to succeed at reselling, you are going to need a steady supply of stock. Of course, you don’t want to come in because it can be a real pain to keep on top of, not to mention use up a lot of room in your home. However, you won’t want too little to come in either. After all, staying abreast of the trends, and being able to provide your customers with what they want is an essential aspect of success. With that in mind, starting off will a smaller number of one or two types of items, and then building up your stock from there is the best idea. 

 

Just be sure that you go for reliable when it comes to pipeline as well as just price on stock. Otherwise, you can end up taking orders that you cannot successfully fulfill, and that will not do your business any good at all. 

Ways to take payment 

Another vital issue that resellers need to be aware of is how they will take payments from customers. Of course, if you choose to use some of the more prominent platforms like Amazon or ebay, this will be decided for you. However, if you choose to make your own eCommerce site or sell in real life, you will want a way to take payments that goes beyond just cash. With that in mind, why not give this payment processing company a try as they can supply you with both a merchant sales account and a free card reader? Something that can significantly increase your ability to make sales. 

 

The best camera you can find 

Finally, if you are selling in any form other than directly in real life, you will absolutely need to invest in the best camera possible. After all, it is the images of your items that will convince customers to part with their hard-earned money. 

 

Of course, the camera you choose is only half the story, because you will also need sufficient lighting and the skills to use it. Luckily, you can get some helpful photo-taking tips online in places like Youtube, and tutorial sites like Udemy and Skillshare. Something that can help you to take your images to the next level and resell as many units as possible.

 

You The Person vs. You The Brand: Why The Difference Matters

When you go into business, there is a very real sense that, as much as your services or products, what you are really selling is yourself. After all, there are more than enough places where someone can buy coffee or find cleaning services; it’s the bit extra that you add to the mix that makes it a viable business in a competitive world. So it’s normal that you come to see a brand you start as being a part of you. 

This is particularly relevant in a world where CEOs are also public figures to some extent. All of us can name one or two celebrity executives who we’d never dream of talking about if their businesses and brands weren’t huge. It can be hard to separate the person from the brand when it comes to these billionaire experts – and especially as a solopreneur, it can also be tough to separate yourself from your brand. However, it is essential that you do so – and the following are just a few reasons why.

 

Your brand will attract criticism: it’s not about you

The first business ever to start up probably had the first dissatisfied customer within an hour; that’s the nature of running a business. When people are unhappy with any aspect of their interaction with a business, they’ll usually not be shy about saying so – and thanks to social media, that can spread far and wide in a short time. The first time this happens to your business, it can feel like someone has insulted your very own children, but you must not take criticism of your brand personally. Address it professionally and learn the lesson – and forget any invective that came along with the complaint, because it isn’t about you.

 

Your brand needs to pursue issues you might let go

If your business involves making and selling items, then there is a fair chance that before too long you will have clients who, by agreement with you, resell your product online. In these cases, those clients are representing you – because it is, in the end, your name on the product. If your minimum advertised prices monitoring software lets you know that someone is selling your product cheap, putting at risk your business reputation in the process, you as a person might let it go. As a brand, however, it is something you need to pursue – because uncooperative resellers can put your business in danger.

 

Your brand can take risks that you should not

In truth, most business decisions that have any value contain an element of risk, and once you have set up your business and assigned it a budget, you need to be ready for the possibility that it won’t come off. Businesses fail sometimes, and even the most successful entrepreneurs swing and miss occasionally. By separating yourself from your brand, it will be easier to make those risky business decisions that can often pay off in a big way – you’ll never make a call like that if you’re “too close” to it in a personal sense.

You as a person are more than your brand, and it’s important that you don’t invest all that you are in the success of your business. By standing separate from your brand, you can keep a cool head when it matters in business.