What Wins… Talent or Experience?
I’d rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent. - John Wooden
8 Tips for Turning Contacts Into Allies!
- Follow Up or Fail
- Make Sure Your Contact Retains Your Name
- Site Something Particular that Was Discussed
- Secure Their Commitment to Set Aside Time to Visit with You
- Keep the Focus On What You Can Do for Them
- Always Express Gratitude
- Follow-up with Appreciation for the Person Who Introduced You
- Make Follow-up a Habit… Make it Automatic!
video via youtube.com
Selling Granny
Written by Hal Alpiar
[Contributing Author]
Think prospects understand your message? Try this!
Even if you’re selling a new social media techie tool, make your “elevator speech” so simple that your grandmother could understand it.
David Balasco, the famous theatrical producer and playwrite, would have put that to the test. He refused to see any salespeople unless they could “write a short, simple explanation of what they were selling on the back of their business card.” Extraordinarily few were reportedly granted an audience.
Let’s get back to the “elevator speech” reference. Maybe you’re a hotshot city-slicker, so elevators are no big deal, and you get this whole idea like lickity-split, but maybe there’re not a lot of elevators where you are (we only have one that I know of in my town), so you’ll need to use some imagination.
Here’s how it goes– first off, if you can’t describe what you do, what your company does, and make a clear case for why someone should consider purchasing your product or service in 30 seconds, or roughly the amount of time the average elevator travels between floors, you are losing sales opportunities left and right (uh, or up and down!).
You altready know the first 10 seconds of every sales pitch are consumed with your initial appearance and how you come across, and that a sale is made or broken in that first flash.
The words you use and how you use them and how your voice sounds and how your face looks and how your body moves and what your eyes are focused on, and what kind of clothing you have on, and how careful your grooming is, and how genuine your smile is, are all happening at the exact same time.
That first 10 seconds defines you. The next 20 seconds defines the product or service and company you represent.
True professionals push the time window by combining the 10 and the 20, and allowing themselves to star in a 30-second commercial.
What’s your 30-second commercial? (That is your “elevatror speech.”) How do others who you ask to rate it, rate it (10 being best), 1-10? Ask a dozen people. Got your scorecard? What does it tell you?
Okay, you’re great, got it all down pat, know how to do your spiel inside out and backwards. Now comes the real test. Find a Granny. Do it. Give her your pitch. If she gets it in 30 seconds, you are a true winner . . . and you should be out selling instead of reading this. Go! Be gone with you! Sell!
If Granny misses the point, you need to work it some more; it’s not good enough; you can do better; do it! Why is all this important? Because if you can get yourself to present yourself and your ideas this simply, you will be prepared to successfully sell anywhere, anytime, to anyone. Remember what you know about “PRACTICE.”
Social Media for Sales is Different
Written by Bill Rice, CEO/Founder, Kaleidico
[Contributing Author]
Do a quick review of all the social media stuff you have read lately. Especially take a close look at stuff supposedly addressed to sales people.
It’s all about social media “marketing.”
We’re “sales” and we work differently. We don’t have all day to generate audiences, run “campaigns,” and attract customers. And chances are if we tried (without some coaching) we would just be driving away prospects.
What’s the difference?
- We have a sales quota. It only counts if someone writes a check to the company.
- We sell only to people. Impressions and eyeballs don’t cut it!
- More conversations are the key. Real conversation, not broadcasts.
- We have to get one-on-one, as quick as possible. See difference #2.
- No one cares how many people we know. See difference #1.
The point is that sales and marketing are different. We’re measured differently and our goals are different.
If you’re in sales, I hope I have changed your frame of reference for approaching social media. Stop marketing and use social media like a big CRM database ripe for you to slice and dice, segment, and pull lists from like you do everyday. Stop the frustration of trying to become Twitter or Facebook gurus. Stick with what you know–finding good sales targets.
You should focus on these fundamentals:
- Learn to use Google’s advanced search
- Learn to use Twitter’s advanced search
- Become a Linkedin.com expert
These are the keys to prospecting for people to talk to, not crowds to please.
You’re first goal with social media is to harvest the database. Ironically from this data pull you are going to naturally listen and get lots of insight into what works. This research and study of sales targets on social media will naturally serve you well when you try moving to the next level–personal lead generation.
What do you think? Are you wasting time figuring out social media? Or, maybe you think I’m all wet…comments?
Email as a Form of Cold Calling
Written by Tibor Shanto, Renbor Sales Solutions
[Contributing Author]
The term “Cold Calling” brings out a visceral reaction in most sales people, to the point where it has become a much bigger debate than it should be. I am especially amused by jokers who sell the promise of “Never Cold Calling Again.”
Cold Calling is about getting on someone’s agenda when they did not have you on there that morning. Unless you are in a position to hit quota without having to contact new potential buyers, cold calling will always be part of your routine.
Some sales people will have a percentage of new revenue coming from existing clients, some from proactive “Sales 2.0″ efforts, some from direct referrals, but few if any B2B sales professionals can avoid cold calling altogether.
Even with referrals where a client suggests, “You should call Bobby over at Yellow. I think he is the market for…” it is still a form of cold calling, because you are trying to engage someone who wasn’t aware you existed before you reached out to them.
The Good News!
“Cold Calling” doesn’t have to be all phone work. Email has become a very effective form of cold calling. Email helps to initiate the process and plant seeds with prospects who don’t answer or respond well to phone calls.
2 Reasons Avoid Long Emails
- It gives the prospect enough info to make uninformed decisions. I much prefer shaping that initial impression myself.
- If your email looks time consuming and requires the reader to scroll down… down… down, you will most likely get deleted.
I prefer emails that are short. My only goal is to stimulate enough interest to schedule a meeting with the prospect.
Be very strategic with your subject line. It is the first key to email success or failure. I recommend you put your desired result… your call to action… as the subject line. If your goal is a meeting, which it should be, then put it in the subject line: Meeting Monday May 17, 9:30 am?
Nine times out of ten this will get them to look at the body of the email.
In the body, be specific and direct. As always, make it about them and what they value, not about you, your company, or your product. Keep it to two or three lines at most, then close with your call to action again, “How is Monday morning May 17, at 9:30 am?”
Good luck this week using a combination of cold calls and emails to schedule more appointments! Feel free to contact me to share more examples.
Will Your Children Have More or Less of an Opportunity?
In looking at this graph on Seth Godin’s blog, it reminded me of a conversation I once had with a mentor who told me, “We are quickly approaching a time where sending our kids away to attend a 4 year university will be something only the elite can afford to do.”
*graph via sethgodin.typepad.com
The Driving Force for Greatness
“Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.” -Martha Graham
2 Quick Tips To Increase Your Productivity!
Written by Silvia Quintanilla, CEO, Industry Gems
[Contributing Author]
Want to be more productive?
Put your money where your mouth is!
I’m always in the middle of reading anywhere from 5 to 8 books. One book in particular that I’m enjoying is called The Four Hour Workweek. A friend gave me this book a couple of years ago and I finally got around to reading it.
Not only does the book have a captivating title, it also offers some good lessons for salespeople. Especially when it comes to making your days… weeks… and months more productive.
One lesson I am applying came from a story the author tells about a technology salesperson he met at a dinner party. Though successful in sales, the salesperson also wants to make more time for his family. He wonders how he can balance both life and work while continuing to increase his income.
Tim (the author) teaches the salesperson to begin asking himself the following question three times a day at scheduled times:
Question: Am I being productive or just active?
The salesperson changed the question to his own words, which were:
Reworded Question: Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important?
In just a short time, the results of this question made a significant difference in decreasing the salesperson’s work time – while producing four times the results!
Another good productivity technique comes from a dilemma I was facing a few years back. I got the idea from my sales trainer Eric Lofholm. One day I realized that for the life of me, I could not get up in the morning when my alarm sounded. I would constantly hit the snooze button over and over again.
I approached Eric with my problem and his solution was brilliant! I have been using it for over 4 years now. Eric had me promise someone that if I did not wake up on time I would owe them lunch.
As with the first story, I modified Eric’s suggestion. Instead of promising my friend “lunch,” I promised to pay them $20. I speak to my friend, my sister, on a daily basis. This makes it easy to make the promise every day.
In four years, I have only paid the $20 twice, and I’ve increased my daily productivity by almost an hour every day. You can’t put a price tag on that!
Apply this technique to your situation. Choose a pain point that is significant but won’t break the bank. Here are some situations that might be pertinent to you:
- I will make 10 phone calls to new prospects tomorrow
- I will write a VITO (Very Important Top Officer) letter to that key executive today
- I will finalize that demo presentation by Friday this week
- I will get home by 5:00 pm for dinner tomorrow
Do you have a productivity idea that works for you? Share it with us!
If Twitter is IN and faxes are OUT, where are YOU?
Written by Hal Alpiar
[Contributing Author]
If you’re reading this in your pajamas,
your bathing suit, or hipboots and a barrel,
. . . and you don’t have business cards in your pocket right this minute, you are on the cusp of not being a true sales professional!
Did you think business cards were a thing of the past and no longer relevant, that Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn have relegated them (along with faxes) to some obscure, no-longer-important dark corner of the sales world? (Well, you may not believe it but faxes continue to be viable exchange commodities in many businesses and industries. Don’t write them off yet.)
As for Social Media, Social Media Today reports 87% of Americans have heard of Twitter. 7% use it!
A recent Citigroup Study says 37% of small businesses have not used a website to market their businesses, that 84% have not used eCommerce, and that 62% do not use basic email for marketing!
Another recent study says only 16% of 30 million small businesses in the US actually use social media for marketing!
Okay, so what does all this tell us? The potential is astronomical? Absolutely, but –guess what else? Business use of the Internet, or email and social media marketing is miniscule compared to what most of us would believe. Granted it’s hard to imagine percentage figures like these when we find ourselves online everyday and many nights. But it’s true.
This translates to the fact that we should certainly continue to pursue online efforts to create sales opportunities and continue to be the pioneering sales leaders that we are, but it also means that we are nowhere near the point of abandoning our basic tools. And Tool Number One is still your business card!
Keep yours up-to-date, and clean, and snappy! Laminate a couple and keep them in your bathing suit pocket and workout equipment bag. Carry them in your pocket, your briefcase, your glove compartment or console. Fasten a couple under your bicycle or motorcycle seat, your toupee or your horses saddle (well, okay, maybe not under the saddle), and always carry a dozen in your wallet or purse. Why? Because –just like other stuff you carry in your wallet or purse– y’never know!
NOTHING loses a sale quicker than fumbling for and not finding a card (or maybe worse, finding and handing over a card that’s bent and stained or scribbled on) when you’re caught with an off-guard request. In fact, off-guard is something none of us can afford to be. And that –with only one chance at a first impression– is the point.
Your business card is still YOU once a prospect walks away. Oh, and this little wake-up call blog post is not limited to the activities of trade and professional shows. In fact, most of us are well-prepared for those.
It has more to do with “off-hours” activities — the kid’s soccer games and practices; graduations, parties, wedding receptions and (yes) funeral gatherings; restaurant and medical office visits (not necessarily in that order); trips to the bank and post office and visits to the police station (like I said, hey, y’never know!).
BTW, your handwritten personal website or email address on the backs of your card, inked at the moment of exchange, can make a major impact out of a minor transaction –especially at (and after!) trade and professional shows.
Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and mightier even than American Express: Don’t leave your pajamas without it! “It”? Your business card of course. Priceless.