Our sales target is a nightmare. We keep dropping the price but it seems we’re still far from reaching our goals. Any tips?

LA: How does the offer ‘Pay nothing and get two’ sound like? Keep dropping your prices and that’s what you most likely will end up offering to your customers. Using discount to close deals may be due to one of three problems or a combination of them: (1) Your pricing strategy is too high compared to your direct competitors. (2) You are desperate to get your commission or to avoid corporate pressure. (3) You and your customers are not talking ‘value’. So, if it’s a pricing strategy, keep your price just above competition but don’t go too high. Use the difference as a reason to explain why your product is better. This approach will change the conversation to point number three, ‘value’, which is where you always want to be. However, if desperation is the reason, push your price by 5-10% higher to give yourself a chance to negotiate without losing sweat.

If you are responsible for setting the targets, remember that sales targets are quite useless and in fact damaging to the business. Sales targets force the team to focus on the overall quota without paying much attention to profitability. Year after year, the business will pay the price thanks to shrinking profits and increasing expenses. A more useful approach is Profit Targets. When the sales team thinks profit, dropping the price will hurt their commissions and bonuses. They will think twice before giving away their own money…and that’s just my two cents.

People in this market are lazy. We invite customers and consumers to attend our products launches but they don’t show up. What can we do to get some attention?

LA: We all read about the same boring corporate releases about a product launch or a new promo event. We all see the pictures that accompany these articles. You know, the ones with some executive management cutting a ribbon, pulling a fabric away to reveal the product, or my favorite, using flashing lights and smoke machines. Hurray! And we wonder why customers lose interest in attending or why the press is not eager about the event! How can anyone get energized about such events, seriously?

The first step towards exciting the public to attend an event is to have an exciting event. Let go of all the used and abused ideas. Get creative. If you don’t know how, ask a group of some newly hired young employees – even if they were from different departments – to create a taskforce and brainstorm for the launch. Fresh minds can add great value. This is a good alternative if you can’t hire a professional event management company – underline the word ‘professional’. The second step to increase attendance is to create interest and excitement in the way you promote the event and in the way you invite your audience. If you’re not excited about it, why should they? How do you know if you’re coming up with different ideas? If whatever concept you come with has been done before, it should be left alone…and that’s just my two cents.

When I give presentations or speeches to my staff I can see that they’re forcing themselves to listen or pretend to be engaged. How can I make my speeches more memorable and interesting?

LA:There are many ways to engage your audience. You remind me of a restaurant manager who gave the same speech about increasing sales and improving customer service to his staff everyday. He always ended his speech with “Remember, the customer is always right”. He never listened to his staff. He never asked them for any feedback. He never changed his technique. Do you know which restaurant I’m talking about? Well, I can’t remember. They shut down. Communicating with staff or any kind of public speaking whether to motivate or to inform depends on key ingredients. Start by telling stories. You can see how the restaurant story can get your attention. Stories engage us and make the point more memorable.

When was the last time you used any props? Imagine coming to the meeting with a ‘fake’ sword, shield or a shotgun (again, ‘fake’) and looking at your sales team and say, “Make no mistake, we are at war. Our competition wants to kill us, but we have something new for them! Here’s the plan…” Not only your employees won’t forget this day, they will be fired up for weeks. Using an analogy can make the message sink deeper. Analogies are like great jokes from a comedy movie; they make you laugh so much that you don’t forget them.

Interacting with your team by sharing the problem and have them carry the discussion while you facilitate the meeting can lead to more engagement. You can also try changing the meeting place. If you’re addressing a warehousing problem, go to the warehouse and let them see how bad it is. One more thing, restate your main point at the end of your speech with a strong short liner for maximum impact…and that’s just my two cents.