When Your Partner Won’t
Sometimes even the most amicable of partners find themselves in disagreement. My personal partner (my husband) and I find ourselves in that situation frequently. He wanted to paint the walls a dark color; I wanted something brighter. He likes to vacation where it’s cold; I like it warm. Up to this point we have always found a compromise, but sometimes it means having to change the rules a bit.
Recently, I was asked by Fortune Small Business (FSB) to respond to a partnership question where the two partners were unable to reach an agreement about borrowing money to complete a contract that could make a big difference for the business. It appeared as though they were not viewing the opportunity presented to their company from the same vantage point.
The company had just received its first big government contract. Additional working capital was needed to complete the terms of the contract. One partner had maxed out her credit cards on behalf of the company. The other partner did not want to take on any additional risk and was unwilling to even sign for a bank loan. What to do?
Resolving differences between partners almost always means having to compromise. In some cases, as in this one, the terms of the partnership may need to be adjusted, in which case an attorney may need to get involved.
Read the question presented and my response to resolving this partnership disagreement in the FSB article at http://primestrategies.com/prime/pdf/fsbbanker0002.pdf.
Wall Street Walks
One of the real highlights here in New York City is the financial industry and its physical impact on downtown Manhattan. Wall Street is more than just a street. The term also signifies an area of only a few blocks radius at the tip of the island.
I met Annaline Dinkelmann, owner of Wall Street Walks, www.wallstreetwalks.com, through one of my Brain Exchange Roundtable meetings. She invited me to attend one of the walks, which I did in May.
She’s a great tour guide and it was clear she loves her work. The tour was really quite interesting and I learned a lot I didn’t know. The highlight, of course, was seeing the gold in the vault at the NY Federal Reserve.
She has created a new “walk”, and I want to let you know about it. It’s called “Women of Wall Street”.
To kick-off the Women of Wall Street walking tour, Annaline has partnered with the Museum of American Finance and will start the walking tour with a visit to their new exhibit, Women of Wall Street.
These tours will be on Wednesdays in June 2009. Tours start at 11:00 a.m. and meet in the lobby of the Museum of American Finance, located at 48 Wall Street. To sign up, visit http://wallstreetwarls.eventbrite.com/.
Women of Wall Street walking tour (without the exhibit visit) is also available on Fridays at 11 a.m. Please email Annaline at annaline@wallstreetwalks.com, if you would like to join her on a Friday.
Bold, beautiful, and influential. Discover the female power brokers who have shaped the history of Wall Street. The tour will expose the women who dared to infiltrate this male-dominated industry. Women such as:
- Victoria Woodhull, who ran for President and opened the first woman-owned brokerage in 1870,
- Hetty Green, a successful business woman whose tough nature and intense frugality earned her the title of “The Witch of Wall Street”,
- Muriel Siebert, the first woman to purchase a seat at the New York Stock Exchange,
- and many of the women who are moving and shaking the financial world today.
Want More Sales! Create More Value!
If you’re feeling frustrated with the results of your sales efforts, don’t give up; try creating more value. Of course, value will be different for each type of business. Your job is to determine what it is and how you can provide it.
Adding free bonuses and extras is a common way to add value. Barnes & Noble built its online business quickly by offering free shipping when Amazon.com did not.
An accountant friend added the service of setting up and training on the client’s accounting software making it painless for the client and much easier to obtain needed information for taxes and reporting. It was a win-win and many clients saw the value.
Depending on your business, you might include free upgrades for your software. Maybe add a complimentary financial assessment for a new investment client. Or a free car wash with an oil change. Consider where you can add value at little or no cost to you. The objective is to get the commitment from the customer. Once a customer they are a prime candidate to buy more if you have provided value.
Consider adding a new “value” service. Listen to customers and prospects. If you see a pattern of inquiries you may have an untapped market, just waiting to be filled.
Make note of things people have asked you for that you don’t currently provide…but could provide.
A colleague who sells training in how to generate leads kept being asked if her service included performing the work for which she was training. She had said no to three inquiries when she realized there was a real need for someone to effectively provide these services, not just the training. By listening to what her market really wanted, she was able to open a new division of her business and have three clients immediately. Yes, she had to hire someone to help her, but she built that into her price structure.
Maybe redefining or renaming what you offer will make a difference in how a prospect perceives its value. They may not be buying a “weekend retreat”, but will be interested in an “intensive training” on a critical or timely topic.
I am working with a Pilates instructor who has developed a unique approach to performance. Through her additional training in other modalities and her years of experience, she can define and rename her services as performance enhancing to athletes, entertainers and corporations.
Packaging can make a difference, too. It’s all about perception. A clearly presented message of value is part of the packaging. Make sure your promotional material reinforces the value. Small and short-term commitments are attractive packages right now.
Some people are reluctant to buy services by the hour, so maybe a flat fee for the whole package would be more attractive. Can your service be broken into segments with specific benefits achievable by segment? If your basic product is high cost or requires a long lead time, consider offering a smaller version or breaking your service into logical segments and selling them sequentially. A smaller financial commitment might be enough to get the sale.
A colleague was having trouble selling her 6 week program. So I suggested she repackage it as a 2 hr. intensive with follow-up options. She found it was much easier to get commitment for 2 hours and $250 than for 12 hours and $1,500. Her challenge will be to create enough value to encourage a large percentage to continue with the program.
Sometimes what’s needed is a target market shift. It’s always good to ask the question: who else might find value in what I offer. You may have to repackage your product or services to fit a different market, especially if your former target market is shrinking.
When a communications consultant found that the corporate market had dried up he chose to sell his services to laid-off executives who wanted to increase their odds of getting the job they wanted. In the same arena, an executive recruiter has opened a division of her business offering services to candidates seeking executive positions.
When you’re looking for ways to make more sales consider how you can create more value for the buyer. Keep your ears to the ground and listen for the cues that you will get from customers, staff, colleagues, providers and the media. Find the hidden value in your product or service and bring it to market.
For a brief review of the entire marketing process, plus tools and complete instructions on how to make strategic changes in your marketing and sales efforts, download the “One Page Marketing Plan”.