All Entries Tagged With: "employee engagement"
It’s The Message Not the Medium Contest!
Written by Tibor Shanto, Renbor Sales Solutions
[Contributing Author]
Last week I did a piece on texting as a form of cold calling. As I anticipated there was a lot of reaction to it, and as predicted most of it was negative. Can’t say I blame people, it is intrusive, intimate and personal; but one can argue that’s the very point that makes it so tempting to sellers.
The responses seem to fall into three groups:
- The smallest group saw it as inevitable, and were resigned to its arrival
- Another small group felt it had potential
- The majority opposed it
Some felt it was just wrong, others said it was illegal and threatened to call the FCC, and then there were morally and religiously wrong and dammed my soul to hell. Don’t worry I did not take it personally.
There were a couple of other interesting sidebars. One was just a curiosity for a Canadian… I was surprised to find out that many in the USA seem to pay for incoming text messages. I always thought Canadian carriers were ruthless and mercenary, but even they don’t charge for incoming texts, and for a nominal fee you can get unlimited in and out bound texting. Now please don’t jump all over this, but a crafty marketer may see an opportunity to subsidize the costs related to texting for those who opt in to receive commercial texts.
Another was the suggestion that while it was immoral and abhorrent to prospect via text, it was all right to prospect via Twitter, tweeting seem to be OK, go figure.
This got me to reflect on the quote from my fellow Canadian Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message”. It may have been different back in his day, but with all due respect to Marshall, selling today it is the Message not the Medium.
It is always risky when I think because I come up with ideas, and here is what I came up with (it was late on the weekend night), a contest! Can you construct an effective, enticing and engaging prospecting message in 140 characters or less? Here is how it works:
Click here to enter the contest
Complete the entry form, and give us your best approach for a new prospect in 140 characters or less.
Now we know you all sell different things, so we give you choice, just select one –
- Software sales either CRM or Document Management
- Services – Consulting, Sales training, HR/Recruitment, Outsourcing, etc.
- Transportation service – either 3PL or asset based
- Retail
We will review all submissions, collect the best ones, present the best five and put them up for a vote. The contestant with the winning message will win a copy of my new book Shift!: Harness The Trigger Events That Turn Prospects Into Customers.
So jump on and submit that winning tweet, feel free to enter multiple time for multiple chances to win.
Good luck!
Texting as a Form of Cold Calling!
Written by Tibor Shanto, Renbor Sales Solutions
[Contributing Author]
“The medium is the message.”
A while back I wrote a piece about e-mail as a form of cold calling. We had some interesting reactions… This was top of mind as I was listening to a recorded webcast by a former CMO of a large company who suggested texting a potential prospect. Not only would he recommend it as a means of ongoing communications, but as an initial, first approach.
“That’ll blow some minds,” I thought. Thinking back to some of the reactions to e-mail as a first shot, I know some would see texting as heresy. The individual who suggested it pointed out a couple of things worth considering…
First, he acknowledge that he may be at the tip of the spear… he carries multiple devices and embraces “new technologies” like web 2.0 and social media to a greater degree than some of his peers.
With a bit of research you can easily ascertain which individuals are active in social media. A number of companies have created a “presence” for their executives, but they are hardly “active.” When you identify someone who is active and interactive, you can decide to use an alternative mode of approach.
If you are able engage someone on Twitter, do you think that person would be open to communicating via text message?
The second thing he pointed out was that he was always on the move, as a result, mobile messaging was a much more effective means of contact.
Some of you are thinking, “With a BlackBerry or iPhone, mobile messaging can simply be e-mail.” But think about the volume of e-mails coming in on these devices… SMS (text) is a way to stand out! If you are one of 200 e-mails versus a handful of test messages, your odds should increase. The question becomes… increased success or increased failure? Frankly, if you don’t get shot or lose a limb, I see little downside.
The other consideration in using text is the quality and focus of the message. It has to hit them between the eyes, elicit an instant and visceral reaction that says, “I need to respond to this!”
There is no room for long narratives… quickly explain, “why them, why this, why now,” and let’s be clear… it’s not about you, your product, or your company. My goal is to hit the bull’s eye in 100 characters or less… it’s not easy!
Having said all this, there is still the question of how acceptable it is to use text as a “cold call.” My sales training clients and prospects I have spoken to have not reacted well, saying text is “private.” I’m not sure what that means specifically, but I get where they are coming from.
I believe it is part of the evolving landscape. Initially people thought the same way about e-mail, and that evolved. Think back to when voice mail was first introduced, similar reactions were expressed. I think there is a generational thing to it as well, and just as younger people now tend to communicate more via Facebook than e-mail, who is to say that young buyers and sellers won’t see text as an acceptable means of interaction.
One last thing to consider, we have our e-mail address on our business cards. We don’t get hung up on whether our e-mails are delivered to our desktop or handheld. We also have our mobile number on our business cards, so why get hung up on the difference between a voice delivered message or text… same number… same device! Contrary to the opening quote, I say… It’s the message, not the medium.
P.S. – I recently published a case study of the success we had with a major wireless dealer in Canada, click here to download.
How Long to Get This New Sales Technique to Work?
Written by Tibor Shanto, Renbor Sales Solutions
[Contributing Author]
When you hang around sales people long enough, you eventually realize we all have some form of ADHD, or some affliction impeding our attention span. The upside of ADHD is that it helps us get over lost sales. We take in the lesson without being emotionally wounded. On the downside, our ADHD prevents us from putting things into practice long enough to achieve maximum effectiveness.
Sales people with short attention spans often need instant gratification. Sales managers are the same way… pushing to, “get something to close… anything… today!” If they don’t experience the immediate hit, they start looking for a better way.
Sales reps have a knack for offering reasons why sales techniques won’t work. It’s their “voice of experience” talking, but the funny thing is, in the same breath, they will tell you they haven’t tried it yet! “It’s a good thing I didn’t try it. It wouldn’t have worked because…” here come the reasons.
The ones I love most are the ones that tell me, “No, it doesn’t work man. I tried it once, and it doesn’t work. I remember Bob over there tried it in 1992, and it didn’t work for him either.”
We have to remember to go back to the basic principles of success. Stephen R. Covey taught us it takes 21 days to develop a habit. It goes to follow that reps should give new sales practices at least four weeks before passing judgement or deciding if it works. The first 21 days should be dedicated to perfecting the technique, refining execution, and making a commitment to practice… implement… and then practice some more.
I can give you a million reasons why some techniques won’t work. That’s easy, but the people who achieve the greatest success, and make the most money look for the one thing that will make it work. It goes back to the culture of rationalization that permeates sales. It’s time to stop rationalizing away our failures and focus on our commitment to succeed!
Are Your Best Employees Ready to Leave?
The loss of Core Employees will devastate your Company’s future: Your Core Employees are the good performers, your talent, your bench strength – the ones who can take the Company to the next level. They will not be easy to replace and, in some instances, may be irreplaceable. And they are going to go to work for your competition. Do you really want your best and brightest working for an organization that is trying to put you out of business?
…interesting post over on Fast Company.
It reminds me of a conversation I had earlier this year with a manager who said, “It’s an employer’s market right now. Employers hold the power to pay less, provide fewer incentives, etc.”
Are your best employees happy working for your company… or are they anxiously looking for the next opportunity to leave?
Managers That Brag About Their Own Greatness…
The reason that self-promotion works and self-adulation doesn’t is because self-promotion is the art of spreading ideas, concepts, and a greater vision. Self-adulation is just the promotion of accomplishments, deeds that have already been done.
When you promote ideas, you give people something to cheer for. You give people a cause to support. People, in many ways, are selfish. They promote the things that make them feel good. Your accomplishments aren’t likely to make them feel good, but your ideas do.
via copyblogger.com
As I read through this recent article on CopyBlogger, it makes me think of Top Performers Turned Managers. These managers quickly learn that the “self-talk” they use to drive their own performance doesn’t inspire the same result with their employees.
So what does the manager do… they begin telling stories about their own personal success, and it comes across as self-adulation… which again… doesn’t inspire.
If you want to engage, motivate, and inspire… focus on the two things mentioned above… promote ideas and promote the things that make your people feel good!
All Employees Are Marketers
I like finding thought leaders like Richard Parkes Cordock who support the belief that Sales, Marketing, Service, Client Retention, Employee Retention, etc… everything is linked together and these things are everybody’s job!
Where do you fit in with your company’s big picture plan?
A strategic plan has a better chance of being successful when it’s easy to understand, easy to find, and easy to share. -Ben McConnell
I’ve always been a big fan of leaders who create a yearly strategic plan for their team. Employees are more engaged when they know where the organization is going… and when they understand where they fit in with the big picture plan.