Blogs – Page 9

7 Golden Sales Rules for Small Business

June 3, 2011 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

GoLocal, a great rewards program, based in Austin, Texas, to encourage people to buy locally.

I have just finished a five-hour sales training session for Go Local an Austin, Texas company that is licensing its program nationwide to encourage people to support their locally owned businesses and buy locally. This is a great marketing tool for businesses and reward system for new and existing customers. Even though some of the licensees had sales experience, their questions and concerns prompted me to put together this list of sales concepts that I consider critical to success.

It starts with agreeing with the first “golden rule”. [Read more…]

Want a Mentor? Look around you.

March 2, 2011 By Jan Triplett 3 Comments

Business Success Center prospects tell us in their initial meeting they want a “Mentor” to advise and guide them to solve a specific problem or achieve a specific goal.

I completely understand. I’ve had several wonderful mentors. My godmother, Northwestern University professor Alvina Krause, had “teas”. At these salons, I learned the fine art of conversation. My grandmother taught me the importance of family. My mother helped me find my voice and be comfortable being myself. She always said, “We grew up together”. Maybe so, but she was my guide.

There were important male mentors, too. My brother Bill (aka WC Triplett, II) has worked for Presidents and Senators, Tibet and Tienanmen, written best sellers and significant treaties. He showed me how important it is to get involved. Ed Van De Vort gave me confidence because he believed everyone was capable. [Read more…]

6 Situational Outcomes™: Because Not Every Customer Wants a Solution

February 3, 2011 By Jan Triplett 1 Comment

Your best customer wants something specific to happen when they use your product or service.

It’s common wisdom that what people want is a solution. There is even a school of sales training and many books around the concept of “solution selling”.

I disagree. Not everyone wants a solution, i.e. something solved.

Sometimes they want and need something else. Not everything is a “problem” for a customer; sometimes, it’s a “gap” that needs to be filled. I talk to my clients about “gaps” not “problems”.

I referred to these five valued outcomes in my “Best Practices in Pricing” session at ProductCamp Austin. (My slides from the session are on Slideshare .)

In my 30 years experience, there are actually six different results a customer values. The one to stress as a benefit and to base your product or services features depends on the Platinum Customer Profile™ of your best customers. [Read more…]

Being Able to Visualize is a Mixed Blessing

January 29, 2011 By Jan Triplett 2 Comments

Posts can be very personal. This one is.

Visualizing the needs & concerns Egyptian small business owners, their families and their employees like this man. Photo by Julie Gomoll.

I have a friend, Rasha, who is from Egypt and who has family there. My thoughts are with her and the wonderful people I met through the eyes, words, and pictures of another friend, Julie Gomoll.

Sometimes we say, “I can’t imagine” what it’s like. But I think business owners and other creatives can imagine in huge detail. [Read more…]

Best Pricing Practices: 3 Right & 3 Wrong Ways to Price

January 12, 2011 By Jan Triplett 4 Comments

Price right & reap your reward. Cartoon by Roger Stewart, Porthole Productions.

I have proposed a topic, “Best Practices in Pricing”, for ProductCamp Austin. If you’ve never been or ever heard of it, it’s a great day of free business information for product managers, business owners, and those thinking of starting a business. Attendees select the topics the day of the event so they get to hear what they are most interested in that day.

Although the session has sold out, there is a waiting list. I encourage you to get on it. For more information on Austin Product Camp, go to http://productcampaustin.org. For information on my session on Pricing and the 39 other great sessions, go to http://bit.ly/e6chc0. [Read more…]

Why Lefties Make Better Salespeople

January 10, 2011 By Jan Triplett 4 Comments

Left-handers rule!

My brother gave me a copy of A Left-Handed History of the World by Ed Wright for Christmas. As my husband, Daniel, said, that’s much better than a previous gift of 101 Uses for a Dead Cat by Simon Bond. Others found it amusing, as a cat lover, I did not.

I am left-handed. It was interesting to read about other prominent lefties. Some of my favorites include: Queen Victoria, Charlie Chaplin, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Madame Curie, Henry Ford, Ramses the Great, and Joan of Arc. Several US presidents (Reagan, Ford, George W. Bush, and Clinton) were on the left – when it comes to hands at least. [Read more…]

10 Ways You Can Be a Platinum Customer™

November 17, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Upper Crust Bakery — Austin’s finest!

I love Upper Crust Bakery on Burnet Road in Austin. Great birthday cakes, eclairs and great service. They always know what I want and make me feel special. A few weeks ago, one of their terrific staff told me I was a great customer. Wow!

That got me thinking. What can customers do to give great “business service”? This would help businesses have better sales and create more Platinum Customers™. It’s just what our economy needs: all of us to play a positive role and take responsibility. [Read more…]

Scary Business

November 5, 2010 By Jan Triplett 1 Comment

I was just interviewed by Patricia Rogers of the Austin Business Journal . Ms. Rogers is the List Director for ABJ, writes the Growth Strategies and does some wonderful profiles. She asked me a lot of good questions and I learned something about her. She’s from Houston, we share a love of animals especially horses, and, luckily for Austin, she didn’t follow the advice of her uncle to stay out of journalism (he was a journalist in Houston).

What’s your scariest business moment. Mine? No one would show for a seminar I was giving. Photo from Flickr by Aunt Owwee

One question she didn’t ask was about a scary moment in business. Mine was scary and the most fun. Last March I did a program for SXSW “Networking for Introverts”. Why was I concerned? What if no one showed up? That didn’t happen. As a matter of fact the room was full to overflowing.

I wondered if they would participate. Not good for a speaker when everyone is silent. No worries here either. I found that if you give an introvert an opportunity to talk, they’ll take it. They came up with good comments and questions. It was a blast that I wish I could repeat. [Read more…]

Why Independent Businesses Must Do More Than Donate

October 25, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

RG4N worked to keep Austin Neighborhood & Small Independent Business friendly.

Next month, it will be four years since I became the Business Liaison Chair for Responsible Growth for Northcross (RG4N).

I chose to get involved because I am a business owner, a small business activist and I live and work in the area.

Last night was the VIP opening of the more neighborhood-sized WalMart on Anderson Lane in Austin, Texas. The RG4N board was invited and several of us went including the original President, Paige Hill.

Our efforts to stop the supercenter were not about size as much as about the impact of that size. That impact includes traffic, litter, security, safety issues for those with disabilities, crime, air and water quality. It was also about the impact on locally owned stores that do not fare well with a big box, especially a WalMart, nearby. [Read more…]

How can you have a breakthrough in business every day?

October 1, 2010 By Jan Triplett 2 Comments

Breakthroughs call for fireworks. Photo from Flickr.com by Beverly & Pack.c

There’s nothing better than to have a “Eureka” moment when you own a business. You struggle and come at the problem from different angles and all of a sudden there’s a “flash” and a “pop” and it all fits nicely in place.

When this happens to you, do you:

Breathe a sigh of relief?
Jump for joy?
Clap your hands?
Slap the back of the nearest “ole fella” whether you know them or not, whether they have played any part in this or not?
Just go back to slugging it out on the next problem?

I hope you do 1-4 because breakthroughs, no matter how small, deserve a “hurrah”. [Read more…]