Selling Tactics

Gary Hayduk asked:


Buy high, sell low. That’s not what any of us want to do! We are taking a bit of a backwards approach by discussing this since most people, when they buy a timeshare, don’t usually think about making money on it. Instead they’re thinking of how they’ve made an investment in future vacations.

The companies who first sold you the timeshare have very effective strategies and you can learn a thing or two from them. First, take note that they tend to make their sales pitch during the “vacation-heavy months.” June, July, and August are the best target months if you’re going to try to make money on a timeshare.

When selling your timeshare to make a profit, be prepared to be patient. You need to wait until the property value rises. And sometimes it won’t. There is often a recurring theme in failure– false expectations. Don’t count on making hundreds of dollars in a few short months,.

Renting Your Timeshare to Others

Remember, that every timeshare unit is used by many people throughout the year. You can rent your portion of the timeshare to others who want a “luxury” vacation. Your renter gets a great deal– the services of a full service, upscale hotel for a good deal.

Classifieds

Your time-share owners club may offer this as a service. In this way, you’ll be preaching to the converted. People who look at these classifieds are interested in the kind of unit you are renting. Or try approaching other owners (or posting a classified for this purpose). People who own timeshares before and after your dates may be looking to increase their time.

Advertise

Post classifieds on as many free internet group sections that you can. Most online services such as Prodigy, AOL, etc have free or lost cost advertising.

High-Pressure Tactics

Sales people who promote timeshares are very good at what they do. When they are doing their sales pitch on location they can count on the fact that there will be people there with money who will jump at the chance to vacation here at the same time every year.

According to Dana Dratch at www.bankrate.com you can save 50% to 70% when you buy a timeshare, if you know where to look. These deep discounts mean you could return the timeshare to the market and sell it for a good profit.

The website at Money Central (www.moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Travelforless/P90804.asp) says think used. Try to buy from the owner rather than the developer. The owner wants to sell. “The rule of thumb is 50 cents on the dollar, on the high end,” says Rogers. Shop around, though, he says, “and it can get better than that.”According to syndicated travel columnist, Ed Perkins, “You can find some of them for 10 cents on the dollar.”

Be careful, though. If you buy from the owner you may not get all of the “package benefits” that you would if you bought from the developer.

Find a Great Deal

As with all things, shop around and shop carefully. Don’t rush it. Your phone and the Internet can be your best tools. Google the keywords “time share” “by owner” and you will have no end to your choices. A good deal’s only good if you get what you want.

Once you find a property you like, research other units in the complex. See how they are the same or different from the one you’re looking at. And check to see if the developer is still selling units. Find out what the retail prices are. It’s suggested that you ask the current owner for references. And if you can, visit the complex and chat with other owners. Find out if they’re happy with the complex or dissatisfied. It’s very important to know if guests are happy with the management. To get a good idea of the place, rent for a week.

Are you really getting a deal? Compare the price of a week’s stay at the complex you are considering with other luxury vacations. Don’t forget to add in all the fees of the timeshare.

Dana Dratch at www.bankrate.com says “Decide what part of the time share appeals to you (travel or this particular property), and keep that in mind while you’re dealing. If your aim is to use your purchase as a bargaining chip to trade for time in other properties, you want an attractive location, preferably during a peak season to give you the most leverage. When you talk to other owners, ask how tough it is to get your reservations or trade for other accommodations. And if you want to trade, is there a fee?

Buyer Beware

Whatever you do, don’t get scammed. The timeshare market is like any other business. There are scammers out there who only want your money and maybe, your personal information. The first they pocket, the latter they sell.

If you are careful, you can make money selling timeshares. Follow the advice above and you make experience success.

If you liked this article, you’ll find more Timeshare articles at:

Sell & Buy Time shares

List of things to do in

Things to do



BENJAMIN

Alvin Day asked:


What is your sales tactic for your small business or sales career? Do you know?

Often people begin a business because of their knowledge in a specific area. Since their primary motivation for starting the business was their love and knowledge of a specific craft, skill or service, they then consider this function to be the most important part of their business…that is wrong thinking; don’t let it happen to you.

Whether you are a mechanic opening up an auto shop or a fitness expert opening a gym, your primary focus must be on sales and marketing. A strong sales and marketing strategy will keep a regular influx of new customers coming into your business. Expertise and quality of your products and services will help you to hang onto those customers, but there will be no customers on which to hang, if the sales and marketing functions are weak or absent.

This combination will keep your business going, so let’s examine some insight as to the sales and marketing component.

As you create anything to do with sales and marketing, telephone pitches, brochures, write-ups for your website, anything at all, keep in mind that its primary objective is to sell. I have come across many a beautifully arranged website, leaflet or other such advertisement where the business owner uses jazzed up language to describe a subject most passionate to him or her.

This business owner fails to make a sale because he writes text that is merely descriptive of what he does instead of writing text that will focus on getting a customer to buy.

To empower the messages you send out to customers through the internet, mail and other advertising media, you must acquire the persuasive skills required to influence prospective customers.

Learn how to color your words with persuasive language; communicate from the perspective of the prospect’s benefits; and, apply other tactics used by the most successful sales professional. You will find helpful information on some of the above tactics in the free resource that I have made available in my resource box below.

When you sharpen your persuasive skills, you will greatly increase your ability to sell your products and services. Use the many resources available to you to increase your sales, keep your customers loyal and make your business successful.



DEAN

longhaired freaky person asked:


It was a typical Republican sleaze campaign tactic, but I wonder how many people actually believe it after the election.

CHESTER

Seridee asked:


You know, if you want a product to sell better in the west, just slap a Christian cross on it or some other more subtle tie in to the Christian faith, but does this tactic work as well in the Middle East as it does in the west?

LANE

Sam Manfer asked:


If sales managers taught their sales and support staffs to interview and listen, they would increase their territory sales tremendously.

 

I just read an interesting White Paper that said sales people are hindered cross-selling in existing accounts because they are out of their comfort zone. They are OK selling products / services they know well and avoid selling those they don’t know as well.

 

Now some of my clients argue that their sales people stick with one because they make more money vs. the other. I agree with both, but lean heavily towards this comfort zone observation.

 

Anyone who has been involved with my coaching knows that I strongly encourage prospecting extensively in existing accounts.  It is the easiest place to get more business and grow sales volume because you have contacts, credibility and access - if you choose to use them. 

 

However, sales management has to make this happen.  So if sales people are uncomfortable or don’t like the money they get from the cross-sell, what is an astute sales manager and profit-center leader to do?  I suggest “Effective Listening”.  Relieve the burden of promoting products / services and enforce the tasks of interviewing and listening for key words and phrases. 

 

If a sales person uses his or her contacts to get to the senior executives (C-Levels and profit-center leaders) and asks “Issues and Concerns” questions and listens for remarks that reflect challenges, problems and unmet opportunities, relative to the sales person’s total solution portfolio, they will learn a lot about other opportunities ripe for cross-sells. 

 

For example, one of my clients sells civil engineering and construction services.  Many of the people are very knowledgeable with environmental engineering and are connected to some powerful people in government agencies or corporations.  To get these people to sell roads, buildings or other engineering services would be a big mistake and a huge lost opportunity. 

 

Here’s why.  If they tried to sell these other services, they’d do such a poor job that they’d lose credibility with the executive relative to these other services.  As a result the company would lose a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.  However, if this person doesn’t use his or her credibility with the executive, the company will have to compete with all the other vendors. 

 

Now if this environmental person was conditioned (from training and role playing) to ask generalized questions, such as, “What are the issues and concerns you have with up-coming engineering projects” and be trained to listen for words, phases etc,  s/he could glean trouble spots from the executive where his/her company could possibly assist. The environmental person would then report the findings to a sales manager  who would assign someone to assist with expertise.

.

The beauty of this is that the environmental person wouldn’t have to worry about promoting.  S/he just has to ask some questions and/or listen for remarks spoken either in casual conversations, in meetings or in a formal interview.  The onus of “selling” would be removed and the risk of botching the deal would also be removed.  Yet, the qualified lead would be at hand along with a senior contact to work it through.

 

This being said, however, sales management has two key responsibilities to make this “Effective Listening” process happen.  First, they have to set up training sessions with the cross-sell services to teach people the keywords and phrases to be listening for. Most training that other services of a company do is usually “How to Sell” rather than “What to Listen For.” 

 

Second, management has to have a process of assignment and follow-up.  The qualified lead must be attended to and the person with the relationship networks (transfers his/her credibility) to the expert with the powerful leader.  If this process is not managed diligently it will fall through the cracks because the expert and the person with the contact each have other things to do and/or their own agenda.

 

So what about the money piece?  Stated more accurately, what’s in it for the environmental person or any sales person to use his or her contacts for cross selling?  Keeping one’s job is a good WIFM.  Recognition and money are other obvious incentives.  However, I strongly believe that if sales management makes it easy for people i.e. shows them how to interview rather than promote i.e. push services, and gives them the back-up talent as needed, sales people and/or professionals will naturally deliver good leads that will enable the company to cross-sell more.  See one of the biggest motivators for sales people is the close - getting that order is a real rush.  It doesn’t matter the size or the what.  It’s the yes.  Conversely, the thought of the “no” is the biggest deterrent.

 

Sale managers have to get out of their routine and be the trainers and managers for the cross-sell process.  Telling sales people they have to do more, training them how to sell it, throwing monetary incentives are 20th Century tactics that didn’t work that well then.  Relationship selling - using the contact, Investigative selling - learning about the contact’s issues, and Network selling, - using ones contacts to enable another is the 21st Century strategy for successful cross-selling.

 

Bonus Tip:   FREE E-Book “Getting Past Gatekeepers and Handling Blockers”.  Just click this C-Level Relationship Selling Link http://www.takemetoyourleaders.com/Antion/Ebookfreesignup1.htm Sam Manfer makes it easy for any sales person to be effective and feel comfortable connecting with and relationship selling C-Level leaders



SAMUEL

givelove asked:


And dont tell me about his “Change” marketing tactic. All politicians promise change. If they promised the same old thing, then no one would listen.
And dont tell me about his honesty and sincerity. If you think politicians are honest and sincere, I have a brooklyn bridge to sell you.

BRADLEY

mohsir_4218 asked:


I want to make fast money in shares. I know that proper tactics will fetch fast money in trading shares. I also know that one has to be very careful. I have a online trading account in kotak. I invested about two lakhs fifty thousand rupees. I could gain one lakh twenty thousand within a period of about two months but during the third month I was to sell at loss as such my profit came down to eighty thousand rupees. I got few tips from prasoon dalal Ahmedabad which helped in earning about fifty thousand remaining i earned in purchasing and selling of IFCI , BHEL, UNITECH etc. Can any body guide me about the intraday trading of IFCI and other companies where the gap between the high and low price will be more. some times if I fail to sell on the same day then I have to take the delivery in such cases I cannot sell all the stock on next day only sevnty five percent can be sold and remaining after four days. till then the price may fall.Are there any shares which are good for intra day.

COREY

Lee H asked:


Rooms to Go advertised a sale price on a particular bedroom suit with a coupon. ( Black Friday Sales Event )When I tried to purchased the bedroom suite they refused to sell it as they had advertised and tried to sell it for $2,000.00 above their advertised price. This seems like false advertising and the “Bait & Switch” tactic to me. Is this legal?

EDUARDO

Sam Manfer asked:


C-Level relationship selling is simple and more effective than any other strategy, tactic or selling technique once you learn the process.  However, if you don’t know how to do it, it can be like cold calling in the sense that it’s intimidating, fraught with rejection and nobody wants to do it.  But unlike cold calling C-level relationship selling will increase your sales and market share faster and easier than anything else.

 

C-level relationship selling will enable you to sell just about 100% of all the products and services in your portfolio that fit to 100% of your existing customers.  Now would that help you meet your sales goals?  Well as tough a task as the above sounds, it is far easier to accomplish than it is to sell that same amount to new customers. What if you could sell just all your existing accounts 10% more?  Would that help your sales picture?  Of course it would and it’s really easy if you develop professional C-level relationships.

   

Yes, I’m saying that to increase your sales and market share, give-up on trying to penetrate the walled cities of new accounts, and focus on getting more and more cross-sells from your existing bastions of strength. Then as your existing accounts buy more of all your products and service (with your help), those walled citied accounts will crumble and come rushing to you for your expertise.

 

Here’s why.  First, do you believe that you can help your existing customers do their business better – more sales and/or more profits – if they bought more of the total portfolio of services you sell in addition to what they now buy?  Of course you do.  Well if they do buy more from you and do get better, that will put a lot of pressure on their competition.  The word will get out that it was you and your company expertise that did it.  And that’s when you’ll start getting requests from accounts that were previously not interested in some or any of your products and/or services.

 

However, in order to get your stuff more fully absorbed, you’re going to have to solve the issues and concerns as it relates to sales and/or profits of the C-levels or profit-center leaders of you existing accounts.  In order to do that you will have to learn what those issues and concerns are for all the senior people involved.  You can’t assume to know what their problems are and you can’t take the word of you main, lower-level contacts.  Even if you know from experience or your main contact is correct (which is usually wrong), the top people don’t know you know their issues and concerns.

 

Think about it.  A C-level would say or think, “What does this sales person know about me and my situation?”  Now once you’ve talked and related on a professional level, s/he will feel you understand and will now be willing to listen to how you may be able to help.  And this is how you cross sell and start to get more and more of your portfolio into that account.  C-levels and profit center leaders have the power to make you sales happen.

 

So here is how to begin C-level relationship selling.  First, start spending more time at existing accounts, but not just with your main contacts.  Use your relationships at the lower levels to network you up and out.  That is, meet their boss and their boss’s associates and continue to move up and out.  My motto if you haven’t heard it from me before is spread like bvnnv nvn znzz

 

Now, my meaning of “meet” with these people is very specific however.  A meeting is a one-on-one interview where you ask customer focused questions to learn what that individual’s issues and concerns are as they relate to your bigger world of solutions and listen aggressively.  It’s not your time to give a product and services presentation.  Once you know where this person’s head is at and the person realizes you understand, then you can offer to help.  As the person sees the fit, they buy into you and this is how the relationship starts. 

 

Keep repeating the process until you are networked to meet with the C-levels, the profit-center leaders, and their immediate staffs.  It doesn’t matter if the meeting is in their office or at a lunch.  What matters is you get know each person’s mind set for the moment and s/he knows you know.  Without that it’s impossible to develop a relationship.

 

Using subordinate relationship that you’ve developed over time is vehicle to get you to the top C-level and other influential people.  This will take a lot of your selling time, but it will be worth it.  My rule is 50% of your selling time should be with existing clients/accounts.  30% should be with old or lost accounts and 20% with new accounts or self-ops.  See some of my previous articles of why this works best.  

 

Minimizing your prospecting to new accounts and competitors’ accounts sounds risky, doesn’t it? The bigger risk, however, is for an existing customer to start doing more business with your competitors, and we all know that’s exactly what your competitors are trying desperately to make that happen.

 

If the above reason doesn’t motivate you, consider this.  C-level relationship selling is prospecting, and it’s in new territory.  The beauty of C-level relationship selling, although intimidating, is that these prospects represent bigger, faster and easier sales.

 

Now I invite you to learn more about mastering C-level relationship selling.

 

Bonus Tip:   FREE E-Book “Getting Past Gatekeepers and Handling Blockers”.  Just click this C-Level Relationship Selling Link .   Selling at the C-level can make any sales person and/or manager an over-achiever for closing business.  It’s easy if you know the steps.  Learn the process at http://www.C-LevelRelationshipSelling.com



CLINT

Evil Mayson asked:


For me, it was the first Final Fantasy Tactics. The only game I ever sold because I couldn’t beat it.

JARED