Here is a quick video, for sales people
Start thinking a little differently about your Linkedin profile. [Read more...]
Wonder Why You Aren’t Hitting Your Sales Targets?
April 20, 2011 by
Winning More Sales with Lead Management
It’s really this simple…
- 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
- 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
- 12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
- Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts
And here is the statistical path to sales success…
- 2% of sales are made on the first contact
- 3% of sales are made on the second contact
- 5% of sales are made on the third contact
- 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
- 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
Now THE question is how are you going to get there?
Here’s my suggestion, no My Guarantee–60 Day Money Back Guarantee:
Save yourself a click and call 855-868-7225 and find out more.
Are You Missing Sales Tips?
November 4, 2010 by
Better Closer - Daily Sales Tips
Are you missing sales tips that can increase your sales this month?
I have literally written hundreds of articles on specific actionable ways to increase your sales. Certainly, they will not all be new, helpful, or relevant to your sales process and targets. However, I guarantee that many of them do.
Can you afford to miss that one little tip? That article that triggers an adjustment to your sales process or inspires you to try a new angle of attack on a critical account? Something that helps you land one more deal this month?
Don’t worry. Technology makes it easy these days.
Sign-up for the RSS feed or email alerts.
You don’t have to read it every day, but when you’re stuck. When you need something, anything to get you closing deals again—you’ll have it.
Don’t go it alone. Get the RSS feed or email newsletter and I’ll be right there when you need a little push.
Extra bonus: If you get the email or RSS feed, you can easily reply to that email or call me at on my cell (at the bottom of every article) for a little help.
Why wouldn’t you sign-up for that? Get the email or the RSS. It will increase your sales!
10 Mistakes Sales People Make Online
November 1, 2010 by
Doing a Little Social Selling at Our Favorite Pie Place
1. They talk/write about selling. This is a big sales killer (and waste of time). Yet, I see it all the time. Seriously, unless you are a sales coach, trainer, or somehow make money from TEACHING sales—don’t do this. You annoying your prospects and educate your competitors.
2. They collect, friend, follow sales people. Goes hand and hand with number one. It’s okay to monitor and collect intelligence on your competitors, but don’t make this your audience.
3. They talk about their product. You’re customers don’t care about your product, even the ones that buy. They want to know about you (BTW, this doesn’t mean what you ate for dinner or did in Vegas). They want to know how you are helping people like them succeed. Talk about this.
4. They don’t prospect. Oh my gosh! This is a ridiculous, but consistent mistake. I make a lot of money off this mistake. People will come to me a say, “Bill I’m having a hard time prospecting.” I will open up a browser, go to Google.com, Twitter, or Linkedin.com (doesn’t matter which), and I can guarantee in 1-3 searches I can find 10+ people to call. Not anonymous names and phone numbers, but people that are in the market.
5. They don’t use what prospects give them. Social media it the world’s largest sales database. Everyday millions of people shout out in pain, reveal who they buy from, what they buy, what they need to buy next, and their preferred way to be pitched and contacted. Seriously, pay attention!
6. They don’t scout the competition. Social media is a double edged sword, but don’t worry about it your competition is lazy and won’t do this. Scout, snoop, collect information on your competitive sales people. Identify them, follow them, beat them!
7. They don’t reference the competition. If your competition is worth anything or your prospect is the least bit diligent, they are or will be talking to your competition. Acknowledge it. Set trap doors. Don’t talk bad about them, but you know where they are weak so make sure you emphasize your counter-strengths to each weakness. The next time your prospect talks to your competitor, you’re prospect will question your competitor into the hem and haw shuffle.
8. They don’t know about thought leaders. This is another big credibility killer. Your prospect is trying to make a decision about spending money, investing in you. Chances are good that they are doing a reasonable amount of due diligence. In this day and age that means a Google search. What will they find? Make sure you do this kind of search regularly. Who shows up? These are the thought leaders.
9. They don’t know thought leaders. Assuming these aren’t your competitors, and there is a very good chance they’re not, reach out to them. Read their stuff, analyze it, weave it into your sales pitch. If you really want to be powerful—meet them (in person). The jackpot? They might start referencing you.
10. They don’t cite thought leaders. See mistake #9. Weave these people and their perspective into your sales pitch. You don’t have to agree with everything they say, but you do need to acknowledge it and reference it. It builds trust and reliance on you as the “big picture” expert.
Bonus: They aren’t thought leaders! The best sales people ARE the EXPERTS. Write, present, speak. Be the first person and the most frequent person your customers run into when they are doing due diligence.
Everyone Wants Hunters These Days
October 4, 2010 by
We live in a brave new world, hopefully not in the Aldous Huxleyian sense, but certainly transformed by the collapse of many of our previous economic assumptions.
Okay, before I lose you to thoughts that I am about to dive into some political philosophical tirade (although, I’m known to do that offline occasionally) this article has a very simple point to it:
Companies, even big ones, no longer have the luxury to house large stables of sales people that they have to feed.
I use metaphors like “house” and “feed” intentionally. Most sales people I know aren’t “housed” on sales floors anymore. They aren’t “feed” big expense accounts, hot sales leads, and they don’t get paid base salaries they can live on.
No, most sales people I know are now much more like entrepreneurs than corporate types.
That’s why we, as sales people, need to make some mental and physical adjustments.
Companies, sales organizations, sales managers all want hunters, not gathers. This is a different world. One that requires slightly different application of our skills.
There are three areas you should immediately target for self-improvement. Assuming you intend to survive and hopefully thrive in this new sales environment:
1. Social Selling – Face it, social media and networking is the new email.
Back in the day, companies and sales people thought this was an idle, distracting, time wasting gimmick. Now, email is, without argument, the most efficient and effective sales tool when used by skilled sales people.
Don’t be the sales person without an “email address” when the prospect says, “can you email me your proposal?” (This happened. A sales person frantically called me once asking how to get an email account, fast!)
In case you need a translation of this analogy: Don’t be the guy with a crappy Linkedin profile and otherwise a ghost online when the prospect Googles you.
2. (Personal) Lead Generation – Remember, no one is feeding you any more.
You had better learn to hunt and farm. In this new world you eat only what you kill or grow. The choice is simple.
This means an online presence and an email list. A personal online presence and a personal email list.
3. Lead Management – Sales leads are precious.
When you get leads you had better manage them like you would an investment portfolio. That’s what they are–an investment in your future. Lead management is simply an iron-clad process for follow-up, nurturing, and growing a relationship with a lot of people (prospects and leads).
As your database gets big that usually means software. Today, it could be as simple as a process and a legal pad. But, do it!
If you master these three things. Strike that, if you do these things moderately well. If you use social media, create a lead generating presence, and manage your sales leads just a little better than the average sales person, you will be in high demand.
(Oh, and have no monthly quota stress.)
Bettercloser.com - Sales Needs Hunters
7 Reasons Social Media is for Sales Too
July 21, 2010 by
Social Media Sales
So, you’ve finally heard enough about social media. You’re to the point you actually think you might be missing something. You might even be hearing whisperings around the sales floor that this might be some of the top producers’ secret weapon to grab a few extra wins every month.
I’m glad you took the initiative to be here. We’re going to do a little equalizing.
You’re going to learn some of the basics of social medias. However, much more importantly we’re going to show you how to get value from it immediately–long before you’re a guru.
Why Try Social Media?
Okay, not quite convinced this is going to be worth your time to figure out? Let take a little walk down memory lane and talk about sales history.
Back in the day it all started with carrying a bag and walking door to door, getting a foot in the door, showcasing the product, and selling belly-to-belly at the kitchen table. (Notice all of our cliches come from old school sales).
Then things changed a bit. We started to send sales letters, picked up the telephone for a little cold calling, and blasted a few emails to stay top of mind. That’s right took a few marketing tricks to help us cover our prospects and sales pipeline a little more thoroughly and efficiently.
Social media is the next trick for personal lead generation. Think of it as the new telephone and the email of the future. Believe it or not surveys show that youngsters under 20 never use email–it’s Facebook or text message if you want to pull their chain.
7 Reasons Sales Should Be Using Social Media
Enough coaxing, you either want to learn this or you don’t. Here are 7 specific ways social media is going to immediately improve your sales process:
1. People hang out on social media - The fact of the matter is that millions of people are now congregating on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and hundreds of other social networking sites to stay connected and share ideas. If you’re in sales, why would you hang out on the Internet alone? (It’s kinda like eating alone).
2. Social media is stitch the fabric of referral networks – In the real (physical) world it is really hard to refer business. When someone hears a friends ask, “Do you know a good…” You have to recall the name of the great person you used, search around for a crumpled business card or a scribbled down number, and then you need to get it back to the person who asked the question. Most often these referrals don’t happen–in social media these friend just search the profiles of their Facebook friends and connect to the expert.
3. Trust is already inherent in social networking - Normally when we find people on the Internet or and advertisement for a service we start skeptical. Will they treat me right? Do they care about my business? Will they screw me over? There’s none of that in social media. If you’re in my social network and my friends vouch for you–that’s good enough to get started.
4. You can spot opportunities without cold calling – Cold calling is hard work. You have to break through the firewall and then start peppering the prospect with questions to see if there is a fit. Incorporating social media into your sales process lets you do most of the pre-qualification of a lead long before any call is made or email sent. Just read their profile and content. Is there a reason to do business, or not?
5. If you’re connected referring you is much easier – Outside of social networks you rarely refer someone you’ve never used. It’s too much of a risk and you probably don’t even know about these people and their services, unless it pops up in a random conversation with friends. However in social media you can search for great people to refer by seeing who your friends are endorsing, referring, and raving about. So, there are many times with social media you may get a referrals and endorsement from people you’re never even met.
6. Social media makes finding the right angle a snap – Starting a conversation is the hardest part of sales. What will trip their trigger? What is their burning objective right now? How can I make them a hero in their own company? These are the questions we love to know the answer to–they makes getting an executive’s ear easier. Interestingly enough managers and executives talk about these things all the time in their social networks, using them like advisory networks. And it’s all there for you to read and plan the perfect angle of attack.
7. You are going to find ins you never thought you had - Here’s my favorite. One of the first step in signing up with a social media or networking website is to automatically load in your address book. You will be floored by how many of your friends, colleagues, and prospects are already in the social media channel–instant ins and referral networks.
As you can see social media is not necessarily about engaging and Twittering all day. It’s about observing, listening, and searching for folks that need your products and services.
Then you can use all the user-generated chatter to guide you in the right approach to doing some of your traditional sales stuff–like cold calling, emailing, or even belly-to-belly selling.
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