Norman Davies' Blog

Marketing Ideas for $100 or less

Seven Ways to Build Sales for $100 or less

Increased sales are about getting and keeping customers.
Building business is complex; however, often numerous small actions can go a long way. Put these seven ideas into action and you will see results.

Send hand written thank you notes to every new customer. Keep track of your customers and send each new customer a hand written thank you note. Write a simple note, include a business card and mail it within a week of the first order. Almost nobody does this and you will be remembered! Cost, about a dollar for each new customer.

Send an email newsletter to every contact.

icontact.com provides online templates to build professional HTML email newsletters, surveys and more. This service allows you to upload your email addresses and build powerful graphic newsletters, which are imbedded directly in the body of the email. A great method to get your story out on a regular basis. Cost is about $10.00 per month.

Broadcast Fax.

Yes, I know everyone hates unsolicited faxes but your customers, particularly B2B, want to learn about your specials and relevant news. Services such as myfax.com make faxing easy. Once your contacts are entered you can upload a document and fax it out to hundreds of clients in just minutes – all done over the Internet. Cost $13.00 per month for 200 faxes and ten cents for each additional fax.

Networking. No I am not talking about painful small talk at business events but easy online networking with people you know or want to know. Check out linkedin.com and you will find a great way to control and promote your professional profile. It is facebook.com for professionals. Connect with clients, colleagues, peers and suppliers for free! Premier memberships are $20.00 per month. Find fascinating people (and me) on linkedin.com.

Youtube.com is a powerful business tool! All you need is a digital camera and you can record a product presentation, a business message or a facility tour and upload it to youtube.com. Provide your customers or remote employees with a web link and you have a sophisticated business tool to tell your story for free! Having problems with the technology? Ask a nine-year old for help.

You MUST have a web site.

Verio.com provides with domain registration and web hosting from $11.95 per month, which even includes an easy site tool that, allows anyone to build a professional site in minutes. Look for every possible free posting on the Internet to build exposure.

Voice mail is a great sales opportunity. Introduce your company, web site, new products, hours and more. Our voice mail was recorded by an internationally famous artist, emmaclarke.com and cost only one hundred dollars.

Take action! Do something new every week and in a year your business will be stronger.

Norman Davies is a Vancouver based Business consultant focused on Sales & Marketing solutions. Norman may be reached at 604-288-7509 norman@daviesinternational.com www.daviesinternational.com

Who Are We? What Do We Do?

Who Are We? What Do We Do? Of course these are questions that we get asked.


Davies International is a business consulting group whose focus is helping our clients build sustainable sales and marketing systems and processes.



What does this mean?

It means that we work with management to create a sales system for a business much like a process engineer would work with a company to design a manufacturing system.

Why invest in a system?

Every business needs to have a system for the manufacture and delivery of their product or service. It just wouldn't make sense to do it differently everytime. The more structured and organized the system is the more efficient it becomes. Henry Ford taught us that!

Why a Sales System?

Sales is just another process and like all processes (manufacturing, accounting, warehousing, records keeping, shipping, etc)the Sales process can be organized to create a more efficent, predictable and effective outcome.

What is a Sales System?

A Sales system is an organized method for securing business for the enterprise. The system will take into account every aspect of the business that effects the Sales outcome and seeks to organize, control and measure the influence on the Sales outcome. We work to assess the effectiveness of every area of the business that impacts the sale.

Then What Does the Sales Person Do?

A sales person is NOT a sales system but rather a part of the system - an important part but not the entire system. The sales person is the most visable player but in order for the sales person to be successful many other parts of an efficient system need to be functioning well. Brand awareness, lead generation, marketing, sales collateral, customer service, order fullfulment and more all contribute to the success of a sales person and ultimately the business.

How is a System created?

A sales system is unique to every business and must take into consideration hundreds of variables. Overall, however, a sales system is created the way any system is created by a through understanding of the inputs that are required to sucessfully generate sales in the most predicatable way possible and then design a standardized method for delivery.

What is not a sales system?

Hiring a smooth talking sales person and sending them out to cold call prospects is not a sales system. That is nothing more than buying lottery tickets and hoping to win.
When it does work it is usually because the Sales person intrinsically creates their own sales system. In fact, that is what many top performers do to succeed. The problem with this is that the reasons for success stay with the top performer and when they leave the business leaves with them.

Why should a business invest in a
Sales System?

To not invest in a sales system is to leave the success or failure of your business to chance. Sales people are difficult and expensive to hire and when they fail much is lost. The cost of hiring and training are lost as is the lost potential when sales territories sit empty. Another major loss is the credibility of the company when a very public part of the business leaves. Sales people work hard to generate credibility for the business and when the cheerleader leaves your customers will often believe there is a problem with the business. This is especially true if there is frequent turnover of sales staff. A Sales System creates many supports to maximize the success of the sales person. Successful sales people rarely leave a thriving business. Success provides an opportunity for the business to replicate its' success and grow by hiring moretop performers.

Davies International can work with you to develop a customized sales system for your business.

Costs of a Bad Sales Hire

Think about the costs of hiring poorly.

Sometimes the mistake is because of poor hiring practices but more often than not the failure of sales people is not having a sales focused organization. 

The result is that the new hire is unsupported and continually hitting walls within the organization.

I have been selling for years and I have had my failures.  I am not saying that failures I have had are not my responsibility, however, I can state that I have never failed in a situation where the company had an organized system for generating sales.  When the system was organized then I played my role in that success.  When the systems were not in place then all of my effort made very little difference. 

I could be a star hockey player but if I don't have a team, if I am on my own, I will surely loose against almost any team. Create a winning system and a winning team and your sales people will succeed!

Just think about the costs of failure....

Costs of a Bad Sales Hire

Lost Opportunity	Management Time	Administrative Costs
Missed deals	High maintenance	Separation processing
Lost deals	Less time for top performers	Discipline & termination
Vacancy Costs	Training Costs	Customer Costs
Missed opportunities	Require more training	Customer complaints
Inadequate coverage	Slower time to productivity	Satisfaction erosion
Replacement Costs	Employee Morale	Competitive Advantage
Recruiting	Lower team achievement	Lower ROI on employee
Management time	Resented by top performers	Lose opportunity for star

Out of The Box Is Where the Action Is!

Doing what you have always done and what the competition does will not get you noticed and will not build your business.

So why do so many businesses look to their competitors and within their industry when deciding marketing strategy?  Because they want to be safe but the reality is that playing it safe is the most dangerous game you can play.  Being like everyone else is a very difficult way to build sales.

I have had some experience in the Chocolate Business - sweet eh?  Well most Chocolate companies pretty much do the same thing.  Cheap Chocolate Bars look all the same and taste pretty much the same.  Premium Chocolate Bars pretty much look and taste the same.  So how does a product stand out? 

Well, if you were to follow most companies the way to stand apart is to look like everyone else. Clearly that does not make sense.  Clearly if you want to stand apart you MUST be different but most companies lack the courage or creativity to do just what is required.

One company that has stood apart is Hagensborg Chocolates www.hagensborg.com  they launched The Truffle Pig Bar.  They used an irreverent name in the high world of premium chocolate and the first to put a premium chocolate bar into a whimsical pig shaped mold.  What was the result? 

Hagensborg got noticed, Hagensborg got placement and Hagensborg got sales!  Risk equaled success!  Shelley Miller, the driving force behind Hagensborg followed her heart and took a risk.  To Shelley Chocolate is fun!

More businesses need to think out of the box and take risks, shake up your industry and do what has never been done before. 

Starbucks, Virgin, Apple and other incredibly successful companies have risked being different and have won big.

Think Different!

Is Dress For Success a Dead Idea?

More often than not sales people are dressed more for the golf course than the boardroom.

Is there anything really wrong with this trend?

Well, yes there is! I have watched this trend develop over the years and frankly I think what started as a way of being a bit more casual has grown into a lack of professionalism.

When I was in university I worked summers at a paper merchant company. That was when I first saw salespeople close up and realized that my co-workers felt that the salespeople did nothing more than visit accounts and collect big pay cheques. I realized that most people do not think that salespeople do very much at all. If a sales person was dressed in a golf shirt my co-workers felt they were probably on their way to play golf. The better dressed the sales person was dressed the more respect garnered from co-workers.

When I started my first role in sales I always dressed professionally and often received comments from customers and peers on my professionalism. I called on industries that dressed casually but still wore a formal suit and received even more comments on my professionalism. I dressed better than my peers, acted more professionally and consistently earned more.

What have I learned?

I believe that in order to be highly successful in sales the customer absolutely must see the salesperson as a professional consultant. This position gives the sales person power and influence in the sales process. A crisp, clean, sharp, professional image goes a long way to drive the sales process in the salesperson's favor.

The movie Glengarry Glenross perfectly illustrated the differences in perception. The Alec Baldwin character is dressed in a powerful manner and acts powerfully. The other sales people look worn out and tired like the clothes they wear.

By the way if you have not seen this movie rent it today! It is an absolute must-see for all sales people and their managers.

I would like you to think about dress in sales this way - if you were to see a group of people who are dressed causally standing with someone who is dressed like a Wall Street banker who would you assume is in charge? Whose advice would you take? Whose time would you treat as important and valuable? Whose call would you take?

Enough said!

Why Sales People Fail

As a business consultant and a lifelong sales person I have seen many sales people fail and have "enjoyed" my share of failures as well.

So why do sales people fail?

Well, of course the reasons are as many as there are sales people, however, the main reason sales people fail is that companies fail to provide a sales system for the sales people to work and thrive within. The company makes widgets or provides a widget service and needs more business. The widget company owner hires a competent sales person with a track record of success, gives the sales person a price list and sends them out on to the street. No marketing, no support, no promotion, no sales tools, no etc..

The sales person fails and GUESS WHAT? It is the sales person fault! Well, yes it is the sales person’s fault to the degree that the sales person should not have taken the job in the first place.

Owners and managers often think that to build a business they only need a sales person. In fact what you need is a sales system.  If a sports analogy were used it is impossible to win a hockey game with only a goalie or only a forward.  A play with on actor in street clothes with no lighting, no set, and no other actors must have a VERY powerful script to entertain.  Still, sales people are sent out with no tools and and support and are expected to succeed.

A sales system consists of marketing, public relations, advertising, sales people, customer service, and lead generation, referral systems, sales training and quality recruiting. If this is done sales people will almost NEVER fail. Doing these things is creating a sustainable lead generation, sale closing and business development.

Just hiring a sales person almost always results in throwing most if not all of your money away.