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Stock markets reverse recent slide – Yahoo! Canada News

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Thu Oct 29, 2:59 PM

The Toronto stock market closed above 11,000 on Thursday as investor relief over U.S. economic growth helped claw back losses racked up during a four-day tumble.

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The S&P/TSX composite index surged 269.9 points to 11,075.2 after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the country’s gross domestic product rose at a 3.5 per cent annualized pace during the July to September period, slightly better than the 3.3 per cent growth that economists had expected.

It was the first time the U.S. economy has grown since early 2008 and a sign the recession there has ended.

“I don’t know that it was convincing enough to make everyone feel good again,” said Ted Whitehead, vice-president and senior portfolio manager at MFC Global Investment Management, an asset-management firm with offices in Canada and the United States.

“We can’t keep stimulating the economy [and] with the consumer still strapped, people are kind of questioning what’s next.”

The Toronto market lost 248 points Wednesday, adding to a 728-point loss over four straight sessions after a disappointing report on sales of new U.S. homes helped ignite worries about the pace of a recovery.

The Canadian dollar closed up 1.00 cents to 93.72 cents US.

The December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $2.41 to finish trading at $79.87 US a barrel. On Tuesday, a report in the Financial Times newspaper suggested Saudi Arabia is moving to abandon the West Texas Intermediate oil contract as the benchmark for pricing its oil.

New York indexes also charged ahead, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 199.89 points to 9962.58.

The Nasdaq composite index climbed 37.94 points to 2097.55, while the S&P 500 index was up 23.48 points to 1066.11.

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4 Easy Ways to Boost Your Sales
 by: Bob Leduc

Here are 4 easy ways you can boost your sales for little or no new expense …and without making major changes in your selling process.

1. Focus on What Your Customers Really Want

Your customers really don’t want your products or services. They don’t even want what those products or services do for them. What they really want is to gain the specific feeling they get after buying and using your products or services.

Keep this in mind when you create web pages, sales letters and other selling presentations. Emphasize the feelings produced by using your product instead of talking about what your product is – or how it works.

Tip: Convert the benefits delivered by your product or service into vivid word pictures. Then put your prospect in the picture by dramatizing what it feels like to be enjoying those benefits.

Example, if you sell financial products, describe what it feels like to enjoy an affluent life style without debt.

2. Keep Communicating With Your Previous Non-Buyers

You’ve heard it before – but I’ll say it here again. Most prospective customers will not buy the first time they see or hear about your product or service. You’re losing a lot of sales if you do not persistently follow up with those prospects.

Your follow up procedure can be as simple as periodically contacting them with a new offer. Or it can be more complex like distributing a newsletter or providing updated product information.

Tip: You cannot follow up with prospects if you don’t know how to reach them. Set up a system for collecting the names and contact information of all prospects who do not buy from you.

Example, offer a special report, a list of sources or some other valuable information your prospects cannot get anywhere else. Deliver it only by email or postal mail so you can get their contact address.

3. Encourage Questions

Questions from prospects may be a nuisance. But answering them can be very profitable.

Prospective customers only take time to ask questions when they have a high level of interest in your product or service. Providing a satisfactory answer to a prospect’s question often leads directly to a sale.

Invite prospects to ask questions when in live selling situations. And make it easy for them to ask questions when they are not …such as at your web site. For example, list a phone number or email address where you or someone else can answer their questions.

Tip: Include a Questions and Answers page on your web site with answers to frequently asked questions. It will reduce the number of questions you have to answer individually.

4. Make Buying Easier

Every non-essential action in the buying process is an opportunity for the customer to reverse their decision …causing you to lose the sale.

Look for ways you can make your buying procedure easier and faster. For example, many marketers use a multi-step shopping cart to get online orders when a simple online order form would do the job with just 1 or 2 quick clicks.

Tip: Don’t ask for unnecessary information during the ordering process. Instead, send a personalized “thank you” message after the sale and include a brief request for the information.

These 4 selling tactics may not be new to you. But are you using all (or any) of them? If not, they can easily boost your sales …for little or no new expense – and without making major changes in your sales process.

Copyright 2004 Bob Leduc

http://BobLeduc.com

About The Author

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards …and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You’ll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

BobLeduc@aol.com

 Mail this post Tags: Reverse Email Address, Reverse Lookup Email, Reverse Search Email

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