Timeshare selling alternatives

Timeshare Selling Alternatives Many people simply buy timeshares thinking that they would be able to take out some time from their busy schedule and go for vacation. But many end up not using their timeshares at all. So they start considering selling their timeshares. But if you think selling a timeshare is as easy as any other real estate property then you are completely wrong. Selling a timeshare is real pain in the neck taking several months to sell. Even when it finally sells, it sells at 40%-50% less than the original price. You might think is it really worth selling your timeshare or is there a better alternative to selling it. The answer is yes, there are alternatives to selling your timeshare. We discuss those in detail in the paragraphs to follow. One of the best alternatives to selling a timeshare is to rent your timeshare instead. You can either work this out with your timeshare developer if he can do it. The developers usually have special classifieds for timeshare, it would be a good idea to put an advertisement in those classifieds as they target people interested in timeshares. You can also search for a real estate agency specializing in renting timeshares or vacation homes. Most popular travel destinations have agencies that specialize in this. But remember there can be a fee if you choose to rent your timeshare through a real estate agency. You can also sell your timeshares by yourself by either advertising directly in classifieds or telling your friends, neighbors, family members and colleagues to see if anyone is interested in buying a timeshare. If not, internet is the best place to find out where you can put your timeshare for rent. There are many popular auction sites like eBay which has timeshare rental section on their auction website. Another alternative to selling your timeshare is timeshare exchange. Timeshare exchange is getting popular with many people facing problems with fixed schedule. And also many people get bored of going to the same place over and over again and they want a change. Timeshare exchange enables them to exchange their timeshare unit with similar unit at other timeshare location and at different time. Most timeshare companies have this facility and offer free exchange in the first year and charge a free from there on. But you can also go directly to a good exchange company and place your unit for exchange. But you have to remember that you can trade in only similar units only. You can’t trade in a one bedroom for a two bedroom. Also you cannot rent the exchanged timeshare to somebody else. You may also be charged a fee for this service and you will get a timeshare in exchange depending on availability. Last but not the least, instead of selling your timeshares why not donate your timeshares to a charity if you don’t want to for through the hassle of selling, paying huge upfront fee and much more. The donation is just like how you donate your cars, boats or stocks. Donating your timeshares to charity is tax deductible. But be sure to donate it to a right charity organization who can utilize its full potential. You can compare this with any losses you may incur if you sell your timeshare, donating a timeshare could bring you a handsome tax deduction.

5 Tips for finding your core competencies

1) Is it an essential component to your sales mission or just an ingredient in the recipe? List 10 actions, routines or tasks that are part of your sales day and considered essential components of your sales process. Now, ask yourself. How many of these are essential components to my sales mission are just ingredients in the recipe? Think about a professional golfer's essential competencies from tee-off to last putt. Is the ball and club a core competency, or is it the golf swing and putting stroke? What about a basketball player with the essential competency of passing, dribbling, and shooting? 2) Can it be measured routinely and accurately? A Core Competency is a definable entity that is related to performance and results. Ask yourself. Can I measure this with a napkin, pencil, and calculator? Can I put it on one piece of paper and be able to evaluate the status of my business? Do this first. You can always transfer it later to the million-dollar sales automation system. Can you apply a universal performance benchmark that is realistic and assures revenue goals individually and collectively? 3) You know you have achieved this when you can tell a sales recruit during the interview process the (3) simple numbers that will assure them success. Have you identified the ‘Key Performance Indicators’ in your sales process? A good KPI example in the sales process might be how many times you advance the first sales appointment to the next phase, whether that’s a demonstration, a site visit, a survey or a proposal. Another KPI is how many times you gain a new customer once the first gateway is passed. And when you do gain a new customer, what’s the average revenue you achieve? That’s certainly an important KPI. Because if your average revenue per sale is 40% less than the average peer KPI, you might want to find out why and take focused action to improve it, as you’re leaving money on the table. And what about the length of a sales cycle in days? Is that conditional or do you have a degree of control over it? If you have a team member that has an average sales cycle 30% shorter than the peer group, uncover and assimilate those best practices out to the rest of the sales team. Less time, more results. That makes ‘Sales Cycle’ a valuable KPI. Once you have your KPI averages you will be able to communicate to a sales recruit exactly how much sales activity (new appointments per week) is required on their part to successfully ramp to Quota is a pre-determined amount of time. That’s right, a ‘Pre-determined amount of time in days’. And that will shorten the time to Quota and reduce the Hard-dollar cost of Turnover from low appointment activity. But don’t assume they can do it on their own. Provide them with a training ‘System’ to help them achieve the activity routinely and effectively. 4) Can it be determined operationally that you're performing similar business activities better than your competitors? Strategy is the 'what' and tactics are the 'how.' If you are superior in operational effectiveness, you will tactically perform better than your peers and competitors. This works a lot like the outcome of a football game. The winning team almost always outperforms their opponent in fundamentals like "Blocking and Tackling." 5) Can you apply "Timely Training" and "Powerful Routines" around each core competency? We know what training is, but do we understand why training fails? Timely Training is having appropriate structures for learning and application, defining useful short-term objectives, measuring results, and working closely with qualified trainers for follow-up and support. Most importantly, there must be organizational commitment. Focus on one core competency at a time until a pre-determined benchmark result is realized. Don't move on or over until you do. Powerful Routines are linked to selling scenarios and allow you to dust off all the bases and then cover all of them to have the highest ratio of success aligned with each situation.

Three ways to get more referrals

When you are in the business of sales, among the many key ingredients to your success is receiving referrals from as many sources as possible. Wouldn’t it be nice if every morning you walked into your office and had a referral sitting there waiting for you on your desk? Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way, but here are few suggestions that should help steer some referrals your way. 1. Referral Groups There are many referral groups out there for you to choose from. The premise of a referral group is first and foremost to receive and give referrals. It works something like this; Once a week your referral group meets at a designated spot for breakfast or lunch, and the meeting typically lasts for an hour to an hour and a half. These groups normally don’t allow for any kind of conflict between industries, so you will most likely be the only one representing your industry. For instance there is only one banker, one printer, one loan officer, etc., etc. In the beginning you spend some time catching up and exchanging business cards. As you are eating, each person is given a minute or two to take the floor and talk about themselves and the company that they work for, and give the group an idea of what a good referral would be for them. Personally, I have been involved with these groups in the past and find them to work extremely well. One of the more popular ones is Business Networking International (BNI). You can find a local chapter on the web. Look at it from this point of view, if your group has twenty-five people in it, than consider it a sales force working for you. Don’t forget, you are required to give referrals also. 2. Chambers of Commerce Every city, town, or county has a Chamber of Commerce. They are not hard to find, and they are fairly simple to join. You can easily find your local chapter on the web or in the yellow pages. They also advertise in local business directories and news papers. The chamber is a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere. They meet once a week usually with a luncheon at a local restaurant. The first half hour is a network and business card exchange, followed by lunch with announcements about upcoming events, and a guest speaker. Before hand, tables are provided to display your literature and props, and be on hand to discuss your business. Chambers also hold annual events that you can participate in. Their events are normally held in the form of business expositions where you can rent a booth to display and sell your products. Chambers normally have a lot of members depending upon the location, so you will probably find yourself competing for business with other people in your industry. I continue to be involved with my local chamber, and have found it to be very beneficial to my career. I have found these organizations great for meeting people as well. Keep in mind, these organizations come with very reasonable annual fees’, so make sure it fits your budget. 3.Giving Referrals Perhaps one of the best ways to get referrals is to give referrals. If you give someone a referral and it works out for them, they will love you and remember you forever. And in turn, send referrals back your way. I have to say, throughout my career, I found this to be one very effective way to get referrals. You might want to consider teaming up with someone with a similar job in your industry. For instance, if you are a loan officer, team up with a realtor, or if you are a home inspector, you might team up with an appraiser. These are three very effective ways to keep those referrals coming your way. They have worked for me, and I have found them to be a nice way to break up my week, and build relationships with other business people in my community. Give it a shot. You won’t be disappointed. Good luck!

The power of a marketing and sales system

: Where Do Most of Your Clients Come From? When I meet people for the first time and they understand that I'm a marketing consultant, I'm frequently asked, "Where do most of your clients come from?" Many times I believe the question is asked innocently enough. But, quite often I feel like the person asking wants to know if I have a magic answer that might work for them. Most small business owners are passionate about the services they provide - not the marketing it takes to consistently find more clients. Many service businesses will admit that they're not really sure what works best or how to get going with marketing. The result is usually a scatter gun approach. I refer to it as episodic marketing. It is characterized by a series of unfocused and hastily-planned, one-shot episodes (or campaigns). A common example is throwing together a tri-fold brochure that you can start mailing or handing out to everyone you meet, or sending out a direct mail piece to try and stir up some interest. Typically, the motivation for these marketing episodes is a slow down in business. And then when business picks up, you quickly scrap the current campaign (until the next slow down). No System, No Consistency What's missing for most small service businesses is a system to break marketing down into a series of connected small steps. A marketing system is the key to generate a consistent supply of leads and convert them into new clients. So Where Do Most of Your Clients Come From? For me, the answer is that they are coming as a result of my ABCD Growth Marketing System. The same system I'm using to help teach my clients how to get better, more consistent results from their marketing is the system I'm using to build my own business. Having a system allows me to dependably follow simple, but proven and effective processes to consistently generate leads and convert them into more business. It is not a result of one or two great ideas or strategies. It's breaking marketing and sales down into a series of connected strategies and tactics to gain attention from prospects and help them to become clients. The system helps move prospects forward that are ready to say "Yes", and lets those who are not motivated or ready to make the investment move on. Why Do You Need A System? If you don't have a marketing and sales system, you'll never be able to grow your business to its full potential. Most businesses address their primary business functions with systems. You have your billing system, accounting system, payroll system, and time management system. It's likely you have systems to manage client or project work. One primary business function that seems to go without a system is Marketing. There's a great misconception that to be an effective marketer, you need to be creative. And most small business owners will tell me that they're just not good at that. But I would contend that marketing should be more of a science (a system) than an art. That's the number one reason to have a system. Without a marketing and sales system, most service businesses end up reactively marketing when business is slow and stop when they are busy. This mindset usually lends itself to episodic marketing. With a system, you'll be better prepared to generate inquiries and convert new clients all year round. Marketing and Sales Notice that I've said you need a Marketing and Sales system. Marketing and sales are NOT the same thing, but you need a system that addresses both seamlessly. Let's just look at the important difference between marketing and sales and why they should be successfully combined in a system like my ABCD Growth Marketing System. One of the notions I hear over and over again is that Marketing is about creating name recognition or brand awareness. I would argue that these are simply welcome side-effects of marketing. When you are a small business and all of your time, energy, and money count, then what you really need is for marketing to produce a consistent stream of good quality leads. Therefore, I define marketing as the use of strategies and tactics to generate a constant supply of high-quality leads. Sales then is the process(es) you use to convert as many as possible of those high-quality leads into clients. This is why the two should be seamlessly addressed in your system. Too many businesses jump forward to selling before a potential lead is even established as a qualified prospect. Conversely, many leads go uncultivated when there's no means to explore the prospect and move them towards becoming a potential buyer. A System is The Key To Reaching Your Full Business Potential Now just imagine if you had a system to drive these vital functions in your business. A system that breaks down the marketing and sales process into smaller, more manageable, interrelated steps. Think about your own business. Where do most of your clients come from? Is it from your marketing and sales system? It should be.