You should listen more than you sell

A sales conversation or call shouldn't start with your pitch. You should never offer your products or services without first getting a clear understanding of the potential client's needs and desired outcome.

Sales professional will always listen twice, maybe even three times more than they speak. As a small business owner, you need to be sales professional. You are the face of your business. You are not only selling your product or service, you are selling yourself. There are some basic sales skills that you should not only practice; but also perfect. Getting a handle on these skills and making them a habit will help your product or service sell themselves.

First, listen, listen and listen some more. Before you offer any professional opinion or advice, really listen to your potential client's concerns, needs and desired results. Let them speak without interrupting and have them elaborate when you are unclear or don't understand. This requires dialogue not a monologue. Engage your customer in problem solving dialogue by asking intelligent and open-ended questions to draw out the real issues. Never guess what their needs are, let them tell you. There will be plenty of opportunity for you to discuss things from your perspective.

Acknowledge that you have not only heard their concerns but clearly understand them. Be sure you speak to them in a clear straightforward manner without jargon or rhetoric. Reflect back on what you have heard by summarizing your client's points. Follow-up with questions of your own to clarify your understanding; seeking first to understand and then to be understood.

Ask what their desired outcome looks like. Don't be afraid to encourage and endorse your client's good ideas; but offer them a new perspective. Explain what it will be like working with you and using your product or services. Give them examples of how you have assisted other clients and achieved their desired outcomes. Let them know what they can expect and what will happen. Do you offer a guarantee? Be specific. What are the terms of service? Be clear about your business process. And now is not the time to shy about your expertise and capacity.

It's time to close the deal. Ask for the sale. Be confident in your product or service and your ability to meet your client's needs. Be assertive and give them solid reasons why they should work with you and INVITE them to take action now and get started. Do not say, "what do you think?" Encourage them to take advantage of this opportunity to buy from you or work with you.

Prepare yourself for your next sales conversation. Refrain from verbally assaulting your clients and spend more time listening. Have some open-ended questions already prepared. Know what aspects of your business you are going to highlight that will benefit the client. Speak with assurance. No one likes to be "sold to." Everyone wants to be heard and listened to. This is especially true in sales.

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Perú Factoring. Carta al director, diario Gestión

Carta al director publicada en el diario Gestión (18.8.09)

Perú Factoring
En la nota 'El programa de factoring lanzado por el gobierno en mayo no opera', publicada hace unos días, se hace referencia a modificaciones que COFIDE, el MEF, Produce y la SBS están trabajando para el funcionamiento de Perú Factoring.

En ella la ministra de Producción Mercedes Araoz afirma necesitar introducir cambios en el actual marco legislativo para que el servicio de factoring impulsado por su portafolio funcione. La ministra, y es lógico pensar que sus asesores, esperan que las facturas adquieran mérito ejecutivo para facilitar su cobranza, al igual que una letra de cambio. Sin embargo, parecen perder de vista que el marco legal existente no es obstáculo, ya que no es necesario que las facturas adquieran carácter de documentos ejecutivos para ser descontables por quienes las emiten.

Así como el Ministerio de Producción, nuestra empresa Value Investments Perú también se encuentra trabajando en un servicio electrónico de descuento y negociación de facturas. En nuestro caso se trata de facturas conformadas (título valor que cuenta con la conformidad y fecha de pago cierta por parte del cliente obligado al pago de la factura) y su implementación contempla el marco legal de la actual Ley de Títulos y Valores. Quizá el portafolio de la ministra Aráoz podría no requerir modificar la ley actual para sacar adelante el programa de factoring que impulsa. El mérito ejecutivo de las facturas es un aspecto legal que no se ha cerrado desde hace más de una década y es muy posibe que tampoco se logre, puesto que una factura no tiene medios para certificar que será pagada.

Héctor Gaudry
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Private equity suffers worst year on record-study

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - Private equity returns saw their steepest declines on record in 2008, down by over a quarter as the value of firms' investment portfolios tumbled in the wake of the credit crisis, according to a study published on Thursday.

Private equity firms took the knife to company valuations last year as falling stock markets and poor earnings outlooks forced them to pare back the value of their investments.

Private equity returns fell 27.6 percent in 2008, exceeding the decline of 9.1 percent seen in 2002 at the height of the dotcom bubble, consultancy Preqin said.

But there are signs of value returning to the sector, Preqin said.

"December 31, 2008 represented a low point for the private equity industry, but early data from March 2009 already confirms that the industry is already recovering," Etienne Paresys, head of performance and general partner data, said in a statement.

Leading European buyout house BC Partners [BCPRT.UL] recently wrote up its current fund by 22.4 percent for the first half of 2009, returning it to par value, a source familiar with the situation said. [ID:nLR165894]

Private equity firms are sitting on over $1 trillion of "dry powder" -- capital committed but as yet unspent -- waiting to be invested when conditions improve, said Preqin. (reporting by William James and Simon Meads; editing by David Cowell)

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