Don't Sell Your Services

Lauren · Posted: March 22, 2006, 11:29 pm Post subject: Don't Sell Your Services

Mommy's Helper - Mom's Market Ezine
Issue #122
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

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Editor's Rambling:
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Note from Anita

I so can?t wait for April to roll around and the nice warm weather ? yes I?m getting a bad case of cabin fever! We did manage to get a couple really nice days in which was great but all it was nothing more than a big ole tease! And this weather has been horrible to our health! My children and a lot of my daughter?s classmates have been missing a lot of school lately due to illnesses ? spring come now!

This week, I?d like to announce one of the newest members to our team, Val Selby. Val will be helping us with our Grand Re-opening of MomChats.com! She?ll be in charge of handling all the scheduling for the chat rooms. If you?re in need of a chat room for your next online party, ?vendor mixer? or even a team chat, be sure to contact Val for a room. You can find out more info at http://direct-sales-news.blogspot.com/2006/03/momchatscom-grand-re-opening.html

Till next week...

~Anita DeFrank
Mommy's Helper

Note from Kara

Busy week as always, and we had a great time at our local home show. I love being a vendor because it gives me a chance to get out of the house as well as chat with others in business locally. We made quite a few contacts and getting to shows is something I highly recommend. I've have some write ups available in our Direct Sales Newsletter soon!

Last week we mentioned the start of a new website, and I'm happy to announce that it's officially finished! Introducing the grand opening of: WAHM-Articles.com. I know we are always on the look out for new article directories, so we hope you will enjoy this one that is specifically targeted towards WAHMs. The focus will be on family and business articles, so please do feel free to post all your wonderful articles here!

See you next week!

~Kara Kelso~
Mom's Market

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Article
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Don't Sell Your Services; That's Not What People Buy

Believe it or not, no one actually buys your service. No one buys coaching. No one buys consulting. No one buys financial planning. So what do people buy? Well, there are, in fact, two things people buy.

The first thing people buy is a solution to a problem.

People buy a service only because they believe it will solve certain problems and give them certain results. They are not buying the "how" of a service. Your service is simply the "how" you do it. Your service is the tool or method you use to solve problems and deliver results.

Do you buy a hammer because you just want a hammer? Do you buy a car because you just want a car? Do you go to the dentist because you happen to feel like being drilled? These examples show you that you are buying a solution to a problem; you are buying a result. You would not buy a hammer, a car or go to the dentist unless they all solved problems and delivered results.

Just suppose you focus on telling someone all about "how" your coaching and consulting service works and what it is. At the end of the conversation (if they are still listening), they will have a good understanding of your "how" but they'll be left wondering what problems you will solve for them and what results you will deliver.

If people do not know what problems you will solve for them and the results you will deliver, it is highly unlikely that they will buy your service. If however you focus on understanding their problems and the results they will get, you will be focussing on what people are buying and your chances of success will be dramatically increased.

The second thing people buy is YOU

Once someone has decided they have a problem they want solved, they then make a decision as to who will solve it for them. If you have focused the conversation on telling them all about your "how" and what your service is, they will feel that you are focussed on yourself and your needs. When the focus is on you, people get the sense that you have your own best interest at heart and don't really care about them. They will start to think you are simply trying to sell them something, and all sorts of sales resistance will surface.

If you have been focussing the conversation on understanding their problems, they will feel that you have their best interests at heart. They will start to trust you and open up to you. They will naturally decide you are the person to solve their problems (assuming of course there are problems to be solved, etc).

So in summary, don't focus on selling your services. Instead, have conversations where you focus on understanding problems and then people will assume you know "how" to deliver results. The more you focus on understanding their problems, the more they will trust that you are the one they should be working with.

(c) Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2006. You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end).

Tessa Stowe helps Coaches and Consultants stop struggling to sell, and instead attract clients like magic! Her FREE e-course tells you how: "Attract More Clients Naturally: 10 Simple Strategies That Work ... Even If You Hate Selling!" Sign up now at Attract More Clients Naturally.

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Childcare
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What?s for dinner, Mom?

That?s a question dreaded by many mothers. Yet, it?s one heard often because night after night, it?s up to you to feed the hungry masses.

Cooking for your family can be difficult to say the least. There is the problem of having the time necessary to plan, shop for, and prepare the meal. That, combined with the difficulty of finding something everyone is willing (and wanting) to eat, can leave a lot of moms frustrated or turning to less than healthy convenience options like fast food. Whether you love to cook or you hate it, providing your family with a healthy, home-cooked meal can bring a great deal of satisfaction. Here are a few tips for getting dinner on the table and your family happy to be around it:

Plan your meals in advance. Nothing takes the fun out of preparing dinner faster than trying to figure out what to eat when everyone is hungry and tired from the day. Sit down one day each week and plan out your meals. You can then make a grocery list and one trip to the store. It will save you time and money!

Allow family members to each ?pick? a meal. You can keep a list of options you are willing to cook and then let each member choose. If the family member in charge is old enough, you can also have him help prepare the meal as well.

Use convenience foods as an ingredient, rather than as a meal. For example, use the shredded meat from a rotisserie chicken in a casserole or salad; use frozen meatballs in pasta or to make a meatball sub; add your own meat or veggies to deli salads or pastas.

Add fresh veggies and/or herbs to frozen meals you purchase from the grocery. It will add a fresh, bright taste and color.

If you have trouble getting your little ones (or hubby) to eat their veggies, dice them or puree them and then add to casseroles or sauces (spaghetti sauce is especially good for hiding minced vegetables like carrots or bell peppers). The smaller the pieces, the easier it is to ?sneak? them into the meal.

Put out the dip. Little kids especially love to dip their food, but adding a dipping sauce, cheese sauce, or gravy can liven up plain foods for anyone. Providing ranch dressing for carrots, cheese sauce for cauliflower and broccoli, or honey mustard for grilled chicken can make the difference between a fight to get them to eat and a cleaned plate.

Make two. When you make a meal, prepare twice as much and freeze half. Casseroles work especially well, but there are tons of things you can freeze and reheat.

Cook once, eat twice (or even three times). If your meal calls for chicken, cook a couple of extra pieces. You can slice it up and use it for another meal that week or toss it in the freezer. When you have to chop onions, do extra and freeze small batches to be added to other recipes. Cook extra ground beef and refrigerate or freeze for another dish. Bake a few extra potatoes and use them later for twice baked, mashed, or fried potatoes.

Plan for leftovers. Make meals bigger than what you need and plan to eat the meal again later in the week. You can fix fresh veggies or add warm bread and it will feel like a new meal.

Cook in two dishes. You can cook one meal and separate it into two dishes to add seasonings or ingredients to one dish that certain family members like and leaving them out of the other dish. This works great for meals when you want some grown-up flavors that the children may not like.

Mix it up. When you eat the same meals time and time again, you can get bored of even your favorites. Swap recipes with friends, search recipe websites, or just dust off one of your old cookbooks. When you try new recipes that you like, keep a copy of it with your old stand-bys so you can slowly grow your dinner selections.

Play with your food. Fix fun meals that allow family members some flexibility and control over the ingredients used. Try fondue with different dippers of breads, meats, and veggies; toppings and individual crusts to make your own pizzas; or diced fresh veggies, chopped cooked meats, and shredded cheeses to build your own omelets.

When you aren?t fighting with kids to get them to eat what?s on their plates, the attention during dinner can turn to more important things, like sharing family time. Remember, the key to a great family meal is really the family sitting down together. By implementing a few of these tips you can make getting to the table a little easier and keep everyone (including Mom) a little happier.

Julie Eiben is the wife of a United States Marine and a stay-at-home mommy of three small boys. She is an aspiring chef and avid do-it-yourselfer. She works her home-based business around her busy family schedule which allows her to be home with her wonderful, energetic boys. You can find out more about how she does it all by visiting her business websites.
http://www.fourpointmom.com
http://www.fourpointhealth.com
http://www.fourpointbiz.com

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Coffee Break
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All In A Day?s Work

?Lisa Barker

Multi-tasking is not a lost art with this mom. What I used to do well in an office for somebody else, I now do for free at home, but on a higher stress level.

Take yesterday for example. While writing up an invoice and taking care of business on my home computer, my two-year old had discovered that mashed banana on laminate flooring makes for a nice skating rink while at the same time his three-year old sister had somehow managed to fall and scrape herself just below her eye.

Those are merely three things. How hard can it be to juggle them?

Let?s cover the scene step by step.

Step One: Save documents on Word; print invoice; call older kids to help clean up banana skating rink; yell for middle child to bring a wet cloth for head wound on oldest toddler.

Step Two: Oldest children run down hall to living room and hit banana slick at top speed and slide through to far wall while middle child dances in place upset at younger sister?s head wound while banana-maestro steals over to printer and grabs newly printed invoice with sticky fingers.

Step Three: Instinctively grab invoice with blood-covered hands thereby upsetting the banana-maestro who now wants to know why older sister?s head is leaking while oldest siblings slip-slide to gawk at bleeding child. Middle child has disappeared.

Step Four: Wring out one of MANY wet cloths middle child has managed to bring for small wound while older siblings realize how fun banana-skating is and three cats inspect invoice trying to discern if it is worth sampling.

Step Five: Bark out orders for banana clean-up, make middle child hold bleeding child who is now fully wailing at site of blood, whisk banana-maestro out of reach of bleeding sister while scaling fridge to reach the first aid kit on top shelf above fridge.

Step Six: You got it?phone rings, UPS shows up and curious neighbor wants to know if everything is all right.

Step Seven: Now that things are cleaned up, sink onto sofa and make mental note to reprint invoice and vow to replenish chocolate stash?just as husband walks in the front door.

Step Eight: Before he gets a word out try to explain that you really DID have a grip on the day before the last twenty minutes had unfolded. No, you don?t know why the UPS man is still standing around outside or why the two-year old is packaged in a box while middle-child is smirking and looking suspicious.

Step Nine: Slip off to kitchen to make dinner, sign homework papers, pack lunches for next day and trip over cats that want their dinner, too.

Step Ten: Say grace--Thank you, Lord, for these and all my blessings. (DING-DONG!) That UPS man is still out there???

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Jelly Mom? is written by Lisa Barker, author of "Just Because Your Kids Drive You Insane...Doesn't Mean You Are A Bad Parent!" and syndicated through Martin-Ola Press/Parent To Parent. To publish Jelly Mom, buy the book or leave comments, please visit http://www.jellymom.com.

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Recipes
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CROCKPOT FRUIT DESSERT

* 3 Grapefruit, peeled
* sectioned
* 1 can (11 oz) mandarin orange, sections, drained
* 1 can (16 oz) fruit cocktail, well drained
* 1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, well drained
* 1 can (16 oz) sliced peaches, well drained
* 3 Bananas, sliced
* 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
* 1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

Place all ingredients in cooker. Toss gently. Cover and cook on low about 4 hours. Makes about 2 quarts.

Do you have a favorite recipe to share?
Post them at Mommy's Helper Community (www.MommysHelperOnline.com/phpBB2)!
Note: Recipes must be quick, easy, healthy, and original. Nothing from a cookbook or a box please.

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