Over the weekend I found myself in a small town of about 118 people. It was early in the morning and I wanted to fix breakfast. My idea for breakfast that morning was eggs and potatoes fixed my way. Going to a restaurant was out of the question. I had a skillet ready to heat with a few eggs, cheese but no potatoes. There were, as I found out, only three locations I might find a potato for sale in this small town. I gathered my three recommendations and began my potato quest. After going to the first two and coming up empty, I was concerned that my craving wasn’t going to be satisfied. I pulled up to the small store, Apple Annie’s, which incidentally was also the post office and video rental location. I found my potato and retrieved it for 80 cents. I walked out of there with a huge smile, satisfied knowing it was going to be great weekend.

If I had not found my potato, my craving would have subsided and lunch would have turned my cravings to a taco or pizza and the importance of a potato would have been a distance memory. This is an example of how customers are with their needs and their timing when it comes to things we sell or offer. Prospects will look to trusted recommendations and engage in a quest to satisfy their wants. It will be important to them at that time, in that moment but the craving won’t last forever.

Timing and cravings

Our customers don’t always buy something because they need it, but they will buy because they WANT it. It is a wise salesperson who can turn a customer’s need into a WANT. Take my potato example. I didn’t need the potato, I WANTED it and I WANTED it really bad. It was a craving that drove me to three different locations and I would have paid more than 80 cents for the potato.

Your customers will have similar cravings that are tied to problems they have. They will need a solution to a problem they have. They will pay anything for a solution to the problem if they are engaged by a salesperson that can turn the simple need into a WANT. How does this magic occur?

In many cases the problem which the customer has a need for is made worse. Yes, worse! This is something a great salesperson will accomplish. Once the problem grows to become larger than life, the customer now WANTS to solve the problem and will pay anything to get it taken care of. Changing the need into a WANT pays huge dividends because the customer feels the pain and wants it to go away.

Needs and Wants don’t last forever

Timing makes a difference in sales which is why we must be top of mind with our customers and prospects. Sometimes the window of opportunity for an order will only last a few days. There are multiple issues the customer will get involved with. If the problem they currently have gets stale and is replaced with a new and larger problem. Our solution will be placed on the back burner. When this happens, we must make the problem larger than life with the customer so they buy, NOW.

If you are working with a customer to resolve a problem. Make it hurt and make them WANT to solve it with your solution before their cravings disappear.

Steve Martinez is a pioneer in automating the sales process for business and salepeople developing customized action plans for business. http://www.sellingmagic.com

We live in very competitive times, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Not only are we now participants in a global economy, but the Internet enables customers to shop our prices down to the penny, making us ever more accountable for keeping costs in line, and for tightening profit margins.

It’s tempting to try to find a way to sell, based on price, alone. When you see yet another huge Wal-Mart tractor-trailer tooling down the highway, wearing the slogan, a low price, “Always,” it seems compelling, doesn’t it?

If you can guarantee rock bottom pricing, won’t the world beat a path to your door?

Not necessarily. For all of Wal-Mart’s success, and I don’t disparage it, that company doesn’t yet own 100% of the retail market. Even if its pricing claim is completely true, that it has the lower price, always, there are still shoppers who don’t want to patronize those stores.

Why do they willingly pay more, presuming there is a Wal-Mart in the vicinity?

There is only one answer: Price is not valueat least to everyone.

Some people shop for the experience. Still, at Nordstrom, for instance, as you stroll through the store, you can hear someone playing the piano. What a beautiful touch!

Of course, the prices have to pay for the pianist, but so what? There’s elegance, and well, we’re worth it, as one hair care commercial used to say.

Why will people pay a surcharge to order concert tickets online or over the phone, instead of at the box office? Convenience, right?

That has value, and people are willing to pay value to get value.

I could so on and on.

The next time a customer claims your price is high, or higher than a competitor’s, tell them price isn’t value, and back it up with specifics that say, sure, our price is slightly higher, but you get a lot more value from us.

Always!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Public liability cover is suggested because all firms are at risk to some scale. Even if nothing appalling has ever taken place to your organisations possessions that is no assurance that it will not sometime in near the future. If a group of people are harmed or their resources lost, it is your legal requirement to suitably reimburse them. This expenditure might be tremendously large, depending on each individual case.

Though, you do have a method to protect yourself against this possibility. Acquiring public liability insurance permits you to breathe a great deal easier. If a particular claim is expensive, the insurance organisation will be at hand to present you with a protection net. Its their sense of duty to guarantee that you are shielded from claims & legal charges brought against you. This leaves you free to focus on actually doing business, rather than worrying about what might happen. Following are numerous examples of times when public liability cover have in the past come in useful.

Proprietors of plumbing organisations as a rule get the job finished fast and easy. However, every now and then something may go very wrong. For instance, should you accidentally smash up a customer’s water pipes while on the job, affecting possessions for example computers & flooring, public liability insurance will be there to pick up the expense.

Another example is that of a promotions business. If a client were to break an ankle in your office, even if it is not your fault, you would be held responsible. Although, with public liability cover you wouldn’t have to pay the claim whatsoever.

In a related instance, physical damage caused to a passerby by a worker on a construction site is the liability of the firm’s director. This type of claim can easily get dreadfully pricey indeed, unless you get the right insurance. Find the best Public Liability Insurance quote online with Insured Risks.

There are many out of the box insect controls. This atricle tells of some of the best low cost and envirementally friendly ways of controlling pest insects.

Put up a bat box. A single bat can eat 1000 or more mosquitoes in asingle night.

Put up bird boxes. Baby birds need to be feed insects. They can’t digest grain. Thus an increase in birds will mean a decrese in the insect population.

Create a habitat for lizards. Bring them home if you seeone and release it near a rock wall.

When on a walk in the fall, if you see a praying mantis nest, bring it home and place in on one of your shrubs. It is a great benificial insect.

Bring home frogs and toads if your landscape has a suitable place for these critters. They can eat countless bugs in a day.

Catch a skunk that is a a friends home in a have a heart trap. Place a blanket over the trap and slowly bring home the skunk in the back of your truck and release it near your property. These smelling old timers love grubs and cutworms.

Don’t kill your snakes. These slithering reptiles eat mice, bugs, and beetles. Yes, the gardeners worst pest. Do you hate Japanese Beetles? Give them away. Always remember to give away your beetles. Never place a beetle trap on your own property unless all residents of your area are attempting to control beetles. The reason is that you will most likly attract more beetles to your landscape than you destroy. If you are trap minded the best idea is to give them away.

Yes, It is better to give than to receive. This old motto is even good for Japanese beetles. Japanese Beetles can be controlled with traps that lore the beetle with food and sex attractants. These are generally a bag trap that one hangs 4-5 feet off the ground. It is never a good idea to place them near your plants that they will eat. So I simply suggest give them to your neighbor at Christmas!!! If you want, hang the trap on open space area trees near your property. Thus the beetles will be dirtected away from your property.

What we do on the farm is we hang the trap on branches of a tree that overhangs our pond and open up the bottom. The little critters fall into the pound and our fish clean them up. What a way to recycle and not have to empty the traps.

Some of the effected popular flowers and trees favored by the beetles are:

annual asters astilbe canna cosmos daylilly delphinium hollyhoch iris marigold peony roses zinnia Linden trees purple plums

When you sign up on our web site to our mailing list, you will receive more of our unusual gardening and landscape tips along with many free tree and plant offerings from our surpluses that we have. Go to our web site at http://www.seedlingsrus.com

This is a copy of my most recent email newsletter. This was an overwhelming success. *********************************************************** January 2006

The Early Bird Gets the Worm—Don’t Delay Free Tree Day Jan. 28th is a Free Higan Weeping Cherry Tree Day

Greetings! January 28, 2006 is free Weeping Higan Cherry Tree Day…..All members of our email club can receive a free Higan Weeping Cherry when you bring your pickup to our 5275 West Swamp Rd. Fountainville Pa. location. These trees are 10-12′ tall and in 24″ baskets. These trees must be picked up on the 28th, before 5pm. sorry, no rain checks. There is a limit of one per family and you must have been a member on or before January 27, 2006 of our email club.

Sincerely,

Bill Hirst Free Tree Day Jan. 28th, 2006 is Free Tree Day

5275 W. Swamp Rd. Fountainville, Pennsylvania 18923

January 28, 2006 8:00AM-5:00PM Reasons to Come to this Event We are selling 150 acres of our nursery and we must liquidate many trees and plants. Some of of plants are in quantities that would supply us for many years of sales. But we can’t move that number of trees. Thus they will be either sold at a discount, destroyed, or given away. I like the last option. Thus if you bring your pickup to the farm today, Saturday the 28th, we will give away 1 free Higan Weeping cherry to each email newsletter subscriber to Highland Hill Farm that picks up the tree by 5PM. Sorry you must be have be signed up by Jan. 27th, to qualify. There are no rain checks. These trees are in 24 and 28 inch baskets and are app. 10-14′ tall. We will help load them in your pickup.

We have a total of 75 trees ready to give away while the supply lasts. All other trees and plants are 20% off today.

Driving Directions to the Farm Highland Hill Farm 5275 W. Swamp Rd. Rt. 313 Fountainville, Pennsylvania 18923 myhirst@yahoo.com http://www.seedlingsrus.com We will have other free tree offerings each month. So keep in touch. ************************************************************** Within 15 minutes of this email being sent people started to arrive to make selections. We would have had no customers on this day. Yet we sold enough other stock to make this offering possible. We gave away 52 trees and this was even covered by the press showing up and giving us exposure in local papers.

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Chamonix Mont Blanc is a prestigious holiday destination with the infamous Monte Bianco as well as majestic glaciers. Everyone like to go hiking or from time to time eating out. I normally fly from Mifflintown and stay at a Chamonix guesthouse during my break.

We previously stayed in The Landmark London but it rarely met the standards of its description: The Landmark London is an elegant first-class property situated approximately 31 miles from Gatwick Airport and about a 15-minute ride to Heathrow International Airport via the Heathrow Express from Paddington Station. Hotel amenities include 24-hour cashier/concierge, express check-out, 24-hour room service, high-speed Internet access, 24-hour business center, laundry/dry cleaning, heated pool, fully-equipped gym, steam rooms, sauna, whirlpool/Jacuzzi, and massage services. Guests may also enjoy the Landmark Boutique and Kara Hair & Beauty Salon, both of which are located on the mezzanine level. Drinks and dining are available in the Winter Garden, the Cellars Bar & Restaurant and the Mirror Bar.Guest rooms feature executive desks, private bars, satellite TVs with On-Command movies, multi-channel radios, three telephone lines, high-speed Internet access, voicemail, bathrobes, hairdryers, large windows, and White Company bath amenities.Extra beds can be placed in rooms for a charge of 60GBP per night. Breakfast is available in restaurants or via Room Service. The Landmark’s Spa & Health Club is re-launching in May 2007 after a spectacular refurbishment. The new spa is home to a 15-metre swimming pool, steam rooms, a spa pool, relaxation room, a Sanarium and a gymnasium. The spa will have four treatment rooms offering a range of ESPA treatments, including massage, facials and body envelopments. The new Spa will be for exclusive members only ? day membership is ?30 but will be discounted for hotel guests at ?10 per day for adults, and ?7 per day for children. Guests enjoying any spa treatment will have complimentary day membership of The Spa and Health Club on the day of their treatment.

However in Chamonix ski resort the guesthouse is nearly always excellent. Also dining out in our groups number one cafe, Crown Center Complex - Westin Crown Center, munching Ginger Chicken is a pleasure. Chamonix Mont Blanc is a large enough village to insure that there is lots for the tourist to do. With a beauty salon and a plethora of shops, Chamonix offers a choice of skiing, French alpine charm and shopping which few French ski resorts can hope to rival.

Elegant apartment situated in the historic center of Rome, just behind the Quirinale Building, the building of the Italian President, few steps from Piazza Barberini, Spanish steps and Trevi Fountain, we offer to our guests the possibility to live an unforgettable holiday, remembering the Dolce Vita of Fellini, in fact this apartment located near the famous Via Veneto give the opportunity to live where the most important persons spent their life. Only 20 meters from one of the most beautiful building of the world, Palazzo Barberini, where there is the National Gallery of Ancient Art.

The Trevi apartment is composed by a very nice living room, with a comfortable double sofa bed, a kitchen where cook something, an elegant bathroom with shower hydro massage and Sauna where our guests can relax after a long roman promenade and a nice bedroom with a king size bed and a little bed for child. Inside, there is a safe, air conditioned, iron, washing machine, hairdryer and other services on demand.

Nearby there is the underground Line A and the most important bus stops for all direction of the city. Garage for the car very near, only 20 meters.

Other suggestion for Rome? Charming accommodation in the centre of Rome: find an Hotel Spanish Steps, or compare price for cheap Rome hotels, or make a reservation for a tour in Rome

1. Sell your products at a wholesale price to retail web sites. You could sell them individually or in bulk.

2. Set up joint ventures with other businesses to sell your product to new customers. They can introduce it to their customers for a set price.

3. Allow other web sites to sell your product for a set commission. They can take a percentage of the sale and send you the rest of the order to drop ship.

4. Sell your product through an affiliate program. You just pay people a set commission for each of their sales or click throughs.

5. Sell people the rights to reproduce your product. You could sell them straight out for one price or collect royalty payments from each sale they make.

6. Set up a cross promotion deal with another web business. Allow them to sell your product as a back end product to their existing customers base.

7. Sell your product in a package deal with other web businesses. You can both advertise it and split the profits.

8. Rent your products out for a set period of time. It’s like selling but, you get the products back to rent again.

9. Allow people to subscribe to your products. It works best when selling info products, services or memberships.

10. Allow people to lease your products. It’s like renting them but they have the option of buying at the end of the lease.

Do I have any specific thoughts about selling when times are tough? Well, if you are to achieve high levels of success in selling, you must be able to get positive results even while circumstances are negative. In just about every area of selling the field will over populate in boom times and thin out in tough times.

The Real Estate industry is a classic example of this. Yet some people stay in the industry year after year, regardless of ‘booms’.

The consistently high performer will get results no matter what the circumstances. I find it’s down to attitude. Some people look for circumstances in a victimized kind of way, to justify their poor results. They celebrate their good days, but in the down times, they have their ’safety net’ of excuses ready. What they are doing, is giving negative thinking a lot of power simply by spending precious energy and time dreaming up and focusing on their ‘reasons why it won’t or didn’t work’ etc.

Any time you offer your subconscious a choice between two goals, one negative and one positive, you risk it taking on the negative one. Which one do you give the most focus to?

The exceptional achiever deliberately ignores talk about recessions, wars, the miserable state of affairs in the world or in their own lives, doom and gloom and any other subjects that he or she feels detract from their ultimate success. These individuals steer clear of the melodramas of life and concentrate their efforts instead, on matters far more worthy of their precious time and energy. Their ‘batting average’ matters more and it’s here where their focus lies.

I believe the biggest obstacle to successful selling occurs in your own mind. This brings us back to our perception of a refusal to buy being a personal ‘rejection’. Quite simply, in selling, if you constantly feel rejected you cannot achieve exceptional results.

It is also my belief that the number one reason for mediocrity in selling, is that three letter word - EGO! A falsely inflated ego is a vulnerable, fragile thing. If you are the type of person who takes “No” as a personal affront to your very worth, selling will be an exquisitely painful process to you and most people, sensitive or not, will avoid pain at all costs. You will become a master avoider and procrastinator.

If you cannot confront and take steps to resolve the emotional issues that keep you prisoner and sabotage your success, then no amount of sales training will change your results for the better. Many people have wonderful people skills and are natural persuaders, but as long as they continue to equate their self worth with whether or not everybody wants to buy their products, they will set themselves up for a fall.

When someone does not accept an offer I make them, I know it has nothing to do with me as a person. I therefore don’t become emotional about it.

Lubov (Luba) Warrack, a dedicated silversmith and featured jeweler on jewelrycrossings.com, quite amazingly arrived at the jeweler’s bench via the science lab.

In fact, Luba came to the United States from her homeland of Russia in 1990 on a research grant. A graduate in biology from Moscow State University, she received a Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the Russian Academy of Sciences. When her research was completed at a university in North Carolina she wanted to become a university lecturer, but was told her Russian accent would present a problem.

Luckily, at the same time Luba was involved in scientific research back in Moscow, she was also pursuing a parallel interest in and fascination with jewelry making. She successfully completed an apprenticeship with Evgeny Butorov, silversmith and restoration expert at the Moscow Historical Museum from 1979 to 1982, working on icon mounts in gold and silver filigree. So when her work in academia was ending, Luba decided to take her jewelry making talent to the next level. Soon she was selling her pieces of sterling silver earrings, pendants, bracelets and rings at local jewelry shows on the east coast. Some of Luba’s early work concentrated on the classic Russian filigree she had learned back in Russia, but soon she found herself experimenting with contemporary styles and the innovative techniques in silver making. She studied plique-a-jour enameling with Valeri Timofeev at East Carolina University and reticulation techniques at Duke University under Mary Ann Scherr. Today Luba’s artistry still excites the beholder with intricately woven filigree patterns, inspired by her training on Russian historical icons. But her creative energy also finds a home in a fascinating technique called “reticulation” which transforms the surface of her sterling silver pieces into a creased, crepe-like texture. She especially enjoys making ribbons of sterling silver and weaving them into custom bracelets and pendant mountings. Often she imports rare Russian gemstones not readily found in North America, as well as the more familiar like amber, and incorporates them into her contemporary designs.

Citrine Silver Pendant In the past ten years Luba has exhibited her work at numerous shows from New England to California and has won many awards including Best in Jewelry Category at the Virginia-Highlands Show in Atlanta; Best in Show at the Cityfest, Charlotte, N.C.; and Best in Category at the Art on the Lawn, Richmond, VA.

Luba makes her home with husband Giles, a mathematics professor, in Greensboro, N.C. You can see Luba’s work by visiting www.jewelrycrossings.com and clicking on her gallery called “From Russia with Luba.” - Susi, Silver Jewelry Crossings