Ever notice how many people seem kinder and more personable at this time of year?

As Harlan Miller said:

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.

My wish is that you have time to slow down from the frenzied pace in your career and enjoy time with the people you hold dear.

Holiday blessings!

Nancy Bleeke

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Differentiation…its the goal for companies, products and sales pros alike. Yet, how do you stand out from all the other salespeople and products or services?

We don’t have to go to the extremes of celebrities (hint: if you watched the Grammy’s last night, Cee Lo Green with Forget You – really stood out – see picture).  What we do need to do is be SMART in ALL our communication and contacts.

• Start with preparation. Your preparation leads to a more productive, focused and less stressful meeting for everyone.
• Make the effort to tie who you are and what you do relevant to THIS person.
• Ask intelligent questions that are different from what everyone else asks. (Yes, most sales people ask the “what are you using today” “what aren’t you happy with” and such questions)
• Relate what you can do for them back to their problems, opportunities, needs and wants.
• Think for them – what do they need to make a decision? What information, time, resources? Make it easy for them to say yes and  move forward.

Thank goodness we don’t need crazy clothing, music or puppets (again, a reference to the Grammys) to stand out from the crowd in sales.

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By the time anyone reads this post, my vacation will be well underway!  Just writing the words makes me want to “Wahoo!”

Why is that? What is vacation anyway?  For me, it is an opportunity to recharge and to reconnect with my family 24/7.  Like many of you – I love to work – and that is a blessing and a curse for my family.

Even with the best of intentions, most evenings I find myself plugging away at the computer and working on projects. I don’t unplug fully enough.

But this vacation I am!  I have books to read (my goal is three non-business books) – and one business book I can’t wait to read by David Levin. Kayla, my awesome intern, read it last week and I kept hearing her laugh out loud – now I can’t wait to read what she found so humorous!

You will not be forgotten! I have blog posts lined up for you, Lynn Zimmer ready and willing to help with any questions and Kayla manning the phones and office!

I wish you 7 days of greatness – great productivity, great relationship building, great success and great laughs!

Dedicated to your sales success.

Nancy

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It’s a Tuesday Tips Day for Sales!  Time for a few ‘little’ ideas you can use to build your success!  

1. Listen more than you talk.
2. Pay attention to their signals on pace, tone, body language and adjust yours to match.
3. Check for typos in anything  you write – before hitting ‘send’.
4. It’s okay to be a ‘name dropper’ – use their name sparingly throughout the discussion, but use it!
5. Prepare 2-3 open-ended questions to engage and get them talking.
6. Pause before making contact to make sure you are not distracted and ready to be ‘in the moment’.
7. Take notes when someone else is speaking.
8. Be yourself – don’t lose your personality in your conversations (unless you are boring or overbearing naturally – then leave that part out
9. Make the time to prep before you step  – into the conversation.
10. ACT!  After some time in preparation – DO something and move forward in the sales process.

That’s it – 10 sales tips for Tuesday!

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Two days left in April – and for some this is a ‘woeful’ time.  They have about 24 hours to ‘make numbers’.

I spoke with two different sales managers this morning – both scheduled meetings - that needed to reschedule because they are in ‘make the number’ mode. Really? Today is when they are worried? What about on April 15th or even April 1st?

It’s so timely to think about this after the last post of Cause and Effect. If you are really scrambling now, the cause might have been what did – or didn’t – do weeks or months ago!  It’s time to diagnose the cause of the state you are in.

1. What was your plan for the month? Did you have a clear plan with actionable items?
2. How diligent did you carry out the actions necessary?
3. What market changes happened? How did you adjust for them?
4. What resources did you use effectively during this time?
5. What barriers did you personally create?
6. What worked well for you this month?  What actions and contacts paid off?  How can you duplicate those?
7. What did you do to strengthen your knowledge, skill or belief in what you sell?
8. What successes did your customers realize as they used your product/service? How can you use that for next month?
9. On a scale of 1-4 (no middle ground here – you were above or below average) – how well did you carry out the activities needed for success?

Your answers to these questions will help you make sure next month end is a ‘wow’ instead of a ‘woe’.

Good luck!

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How well do your “check in” follow-up calls work for you? You know the calls to the prospect or customer who was not ready to act or change yet? But you know there is future opportunity.

So, you have reminders set up so you can regularly keep in touch and you ‘check in’.  Most check-ins sound like this:

• “Hi Greg, it’s been a while since we connected. Thought I’d check in and see if  you’d like to talk.”  or
• “Hello Cheryl, how are you? You had mentioned I should check back with you this week to see where things are.”

Ever made calls like this? Or been the recipient of a call that sounds like this?  How effective is this approach?  Does it move the sale along? More often than not, it doesn’t.

What to do then? You need to ‘stay in front’ of them, keep your name out there, identify when it is time, right?  Of course! 

What’s important is to vary your message and method to keep it interesting.  My colleague, Melissa Blair, of Cultivating Sales, reminds me often that NURTURING is the process that works.

What does it mean to nurture the prospects in your pipeline (or pre-pipeline)?  Nurturing or Drip Marketing are the terms used to STAY IN TOUCH with leads and customers.  To ‘drip’ regular messages and value to these people that keeps you top of mind, share valuable information with them and stops the ineffective ‘ check ins’. 

Think about a dripping water faucet. It seems insignificant, but over the course of a few hours, all those drips add up – filling a glass!  it’s the same with drip marketing. Each ‘touch’ is small and seemingly insignificant, its the cumulative effect that pays off!  

It only takes a few hours to initially identify your plan and get started, then the process is ready for auto-pilot leaving you valuable time for your other sales activities!

It works for Sales Pro Insider, Inc.  – we are a sales organization too!  We need to keep in touch with our leads and pipeline.  Last December, we put together a 12-month Drip Marketing plan. One ‘touch’  each month to our top 50 prospects. The pieces of the plan included:

1. HOW we would connect: we challenged ourselves to think of mixing up the ways to stay in contact: email, regular mail, and phone calls.
2. WHAT we would communicate: helpful tips, quotations, free tools, etc.
3. WHEN we would connect: one ‘touch’ each month.
4. WHO we want to stay in contact with: our top 50 prospects.

Then we put the plan into action. After just 3 months I am thrilled with the results! Three of the 50 have asked for us to move forward in the sales process!  That’s a 6% return after just 3 of our non-pressure filled ‘drips’!

The next post will include all the different free or inexpensive tools available to help you Stay In Touch.  There is a strong interest in nurturing – the proof is that the article Melissa Blair wrote a year ago for this blog is one of the most accessed posts!  Read 10 Ways to Increase Sales Using Drip Marketing.  You can follow Melissa on Twitter.

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Last week I was a buyer. I needed to purchase new ‘pieces’ for my training programs - binders, tabs, etc.  After hitting the local office supply stores and not finding what I needed. I surfed the Internet.  

In my search for just the right tabs, I found The Tab Store.  Who knew such a store existed?  I was kind of excited as I went through the selection process, customized my order and added it to the Shopping cart. Before hitting Submit, I ran an idea by Lynn Zimmer and then was confused about the tab order and just left the shopping cart.  I figured I’d get back to it later.  But I never did.

Two days later I received an email from Judy in customer service. It was a simple email -

Thanks for registering with The Tab Store.  We noticed that you didn’t place an order. We were wondering if there is something we can help you with.  Did you find everything you were looking for?  Is there an issue we can help you resolve?

Please let us know.

Thanks,

Guess what?  It came at a perfect time when I was unsure and needed a little hand-holding so I responded. “Yes you can help me. Please call me at 414.235.3064.”  A little while later the phone rang.  I explained what I was trying to do, the rep helped me and even placed the order FOR me!  Yeah, something off the To Do list!

You know what? If she would not have acted on that ‘little extra’ and sent the email, I would not have ordered through them. The little touch of follow-up worked perfectly to close the sale! 

And now it’s your turn.

How many people are sitting now in your pipeline (or worse on your prospect list) with an unresolved want or need because they are not sure what to do. And that with a little nudge or offer of help – you might bring them GREAT value?

My challenge to you this week is to look at your list. Who maybe showed some interest and is just stalled. Who could you contact with a SIMPLE message to see if there is something ‘you can help them resolve’?  Maybe you’ll close more sales this week because of it!

Look at how The Tab Store benefited. They did receive my order AND they now have many hundreds of people hearing about it.

What would that kind of word-of-mouth do for you?

p.s. If you have a company you want to ‘hold up’ as the example that did the little extra that earned your business OR an example of a little extra you gave that paid off big – leave a comment! We can all benefit from knowing great ‘go to’ companies!

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As we hit March 15th also known as the Ides of March- the date Julius Caesar was killed – let’s add a happy spin to the date!  It’s half-way through the month (and getting close to quarter end for many of you).  It’s also half-way through the voting period for the Top 10 Sales Articles! My article on “The Three “I”s of Open Ended Questions is in 3rd place as of today and I would love to make a move UP and win!  Thanks in advance! 

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Want to be a top performer?  One way to up your game is to tap into the power of having a coach. Before you say yes/no – a few thingsto consider:

• What does a coach really do?
• Are you coachable?
• Where can you find one?

First, what does a coach really do? Well wikipedia states that “Coaching is a method of directing, instructing and training a person or group of people, with the aim to achieve some goal or develop specific skills. There are many ways to coach, types of coaching and methods to coaching. Sessions are typically one-on-one either in-person or over the telephone.” 

Interesting. And I’m so glad to see that they note there are ‘many ways, types ad methods to coaching.’  From my experience a coach is someone who ASSISTS someone else in their development. This can be through asking reflective questions, guiding and mentoring, nudging, providing accountability, challenging – but ALWAYS helping the person commit to action and move forward.   The coach is not the person who gets ‘in the game’ – they help with preparation, cheering them on and debriefing after an event. 

Are you coachable? This might be the most important question of all.  As we help companies hire the best sales professionals and leaders, one of the attributes we assess and interview for is ‘coachability’.  It is a deal-breaker if the candidate is not coachable. Why?  None of us will become the best we can be without opening ourselves up to help and development. 

How important is coachability? Well, I’ll share a recent example with a sales leader. He had the skill, knowledge and experience. His coachability was low but the organization still thought he was ‘their guy’ and they hired him. Short story, he lasted 6 months. Why?  He wasn’t open to other ideas, to feedback, etc. He alienated people because it needed to only be ‘his way’. What did that cost the company? At minimum $200k plus a LOT of ill will in the culture.

Where can you find a coach? There are coaches for hire – but you might not need to hire one. How about your manager?  A colleague who is insightful and will give you the ‘truth’.  A friend or spouse or family member? The right person for you might not be in sales – if they are able to help you firm up your goals, offer insight and a ‘nudge’ (or kick in the pants) when needed and who will celebrate with you.

When I facilitate goal setting sessions – in classroom or with individuals – the goal plan includes identifying stakeholders. One of these can be a coach – the person who helps  you stay focused and on track to achieve what YOU want to achieve. 

Look at the highest level professionals – from sports to entertainment (even politics) – nearly all of them have a coach, an advisor or someone who guides them through their profession. 

Consider the 3 questions listed here…the most important is ‘are you coachable?’  Your coachability matters today – and it very much affects your tomorrow.

P.S. if you would to see the entire goal setting process, click here for the free eBook, Timely Tips to Achieve Your Goals. The eBook is short and provides ‘how’ and a tool to get your goals written.

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Recovery time. Most of us dislike the thought of needing time to recover from anything. We like to keep on going.  Yet, if we overdue our week at work, we need time on the weekend to recover. If we overdue our fun on the weekend, Monday is tough because we need time to recover. If we don’t take care of our health, we may need medical recovery.  Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t need recovery time?

Recovering isn’t just for overduing it or a medical situation, Lynn Zimmer, of the Sales Pro Insider team, shared the following with me:

There are four things that you cannot recover in life:

 The Stone…………after it’s thrown,
 The Word………….after it’s said,
 The Occasion….after it’s missed, and
 The Time…………after it’s gone.

Today I share it with you because it is a great sales tip!  I am taking liberty to share the four things that are REALLY hard to recover in sales:

Your reputation….after it’s been compromised

Your word…after you have made a commitment and broken it

Your time…if you have used it unwisely

Your honor and integrity…if you ‘sell out’ for a quick gain at someone else’s expense

Most things aren’t totally unrecoverable, but the effort to try and recover is significant.  It’s easier to not ‘lose’ them in the first place.  Every action you take – or don’t take – matters.

This weekend is Valentine’s Day.  The time to show those you care the most how much they mean.  Think about  how these four items are also hard to recover with your family and friends.  Make time this weekend to ‘be’ with those you love and build your reputation, honor your word, use your time wisely and show your honor and integrity.  Then you won’t need any recovery time next week.

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TGIF -  Thank God It’s Friday!  Do you feel like that this week? You don’t have to.  Let’s make today – FUF!  Follow-up Friday. 

Fridays are great days for follow-up.  Many people are at their desk today trying to wrap up their week and tie up loose ends before the weekend starts. It’s often a GREAT opportunity to for you to catch them!  You can make it a very productive day to:

• Send information of value to a prospect
• Telephone contacts in your pipeline – prepare in advance what to leave as a voicemail message (just checking in doesn’t cut it)
• Respond to emails that have been sitting for days
• Complete the paper work that you have not had time to do the rest of the week
• Prepare for next week’s calls
• Set appointments for next week and the week after
• Review your goals and decide what you will focus on next week
• Take 60-90 seconds and just sit and breathe thinking about what you HAVE accomplished this week.

For me today is about preparation and opportunity.  I have a really great sales appointment this afternoon that I am excited about.  It’s with a long-time customer of my sales training. Today we are broadening our discussion to see how I might help them meet their broader human resource objectives of recruiting, training and coaching a top notch sales team. I know I can help them move that needle to save time, money and their effort! 

A good sales appointment today will mean I have a follow-up Monday

What do you do on Friday to wrap up your week?

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