Ready to use to tap into the creative energies in your brain today?  Jill Konrath, world-renowned sales author and speaker, freshly returned from a trip to Dublin, Ireland has posted a Limmerick Challenge. 

Join the fun – and enjoy some giggles!

———————————————————————————-

The Limerick Challenge by Jill Konrath

After you’re done reading them, I invite you to take the Limerick Challenge.

 _________________

There once was a sales guy named Jack
Who just loved to yakkety yak.
He made customers itch
When he delivered his pitch
Then wondered why no one called back.
_________________

Who was trying to sell to this fella.
When they finally did meet,
She didn’t miss a beat
‘Fore she put him through PowerPoint hella.
_________________

There once was a man name Peter
Who wanted to buy a new heater.
But he was so appalled
When the sales lady called
Without thinking, he quickly delete her.

By Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling . For more info, visit www.jillkonrath.com.

———————————————————————-

And now my attempt at a sales limmerick.

There once was a sales lady named Mabel
She tried to sell a custom table
She never asked prospects for information
Which caused her sales manager consternation
And she quickly proved her self unable

Enjoy the fun today!

Print Friendly

Filed Under: Sales Tips
Tags: Creativity, Sales, Sales Tips

When you think of “Annual Sales Trip” what images come to mind?  Swaying palm trees, a golf course, great dinners and camaraderie?  Anywhere in that image does the frozen city of Fargo, North Dakota come to mind?

Probably Not.  Yet, I just read an amazingly funny story about a sales team that did not achieve their goals in 2010.  And a Sales Director who followed through on his commitment.

Josh Halpern of Just Born Candy company – makers of the marshmallow Peeps and Mike & Ikes (love these!) – set a sales expectation for his team in 2010. The team was able to select their Reward for making goal…and a consolation price if they didn’t.  They set their sights on Hawaii for their prize.  And North Dakota as consolation. 

Well, earlier this week they enjoyed their trip to North Dakota after the year’s results fell short of goal….You can read the article here.   Think there is motivation to achieve goal in 2011?

What about you?  I often remind readers that we need to celebrate our successes and follow through on our rewards. Do you have levels of rewards based on your outcomes?  It might be just the motivation to hit the goal the next time.

Now I’m thinking that this isn’t the ONLY creative sales leader or team out there…what other examples of “cold’ rewards have you experienced?

And to the team at Just Born…let me know if I can help with tools and training to ensure you earn the BIG reward next time. 

AP Photo/Ann Arbor Miller

Print Friendly

Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: Creativity, goal setting, priorities, sales success

Yesterday’s post discussed nurturing leads and customers with drip marketing. As promised, today’s post shares some tools you can use to automate and make it easiest for you.

It’s always great to know WHO to go to with questions, and Nancy Nardin of Smart Selling Tools  came thorugh on ideas for her drip marketing picks.  Nancy shares the following tools:

• ActOn Software

Obviously, marketing automation software would be helpful but they aren’t cheap or free. However there is one marketing automation tool that claims to be focused on the Fortune 5,000,000.  Yes, 5 million.  In otherwords, all the small businesses who need affordable marketing automation. You can get started with ActOn Software for $14.95/mo/1000 active contacts. They’ve built in all the typical marketing automation functionality such as demand generation, lead qualification, website tracking, webinar and event management and automation capabilities.

•  Yoono

A free toolbar slider (a vertical toolbar) that lets you track tweets and rss feeds of your client.  Here’s how to use it to stay in regular communication with your prospects.

1st. Create a list of your prospects’ twitter ids (you do this within Yoono).  Then each morning, simply pop open the Twitter Panel.  You’ll see a summary of all the tweets from your list.

2nd Simply re-tweet the ones you pick.  Your prospects will notice that you’re following them and are interested.

 The RSS functionality works the same way.  You simply subscribe to your prospects’ blogs. Then pop open the RSS Panel once a day or as frequently as you choose. From there you can share, comment, or tweet the blog post.

 And lastly, if you’re surfing the web and find a site (a page or article) you think your Twitter followers would be interested in, simply click the “Share” button on the side panel. It opens up a window for you to tweet about the page. The link is automatically inserted. Hit submit and you’re done.  Again, just hit “share”, type your tweet, hit submit – you’re done.

•  GoldMail

When sending along a helpful guide or other document, use GoldMail to personalize.  Easily record a quick personal message that attaches itself to the document.  GoldMails can be sent from within Microsoft Outlook or from Constant Contact. Click here to see a quick video demo on how to use GoldMail in Constant Contact

You get a lot of functionality in their free version.  You get even more with their $9.95/month version.

 Your GoldMails can also be posted via links within Twitter, or Facebook or use them on your web-site for call-to-actions.

•  Cloud2Mail

Want to really impress your contacts? Send them real mail. Cloud2Mails tagline is “Real Mail as easy as Email”.

Whether you’re sending postcards, greeting cards, brochures or just a note, all of these formats can be ordered and mailed much like an email.

Cloud2Mail is a free application on the Salesforce.com Appexchange with a simple low per unit cost structure (.50-.99).

At Sales Pro Insider we use SendOut Cards for our ‘real mail’. There is a small charge for it – and it is worth it! 

And there you have it!  Easy and cost-effective ways for you to stay in front of your leads and customers without the boring ‘check-in call’ every few weeks.

Please share other tools you use as a Comment.

Happy nurturing!

Print Friendly

Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Creativity, prospecting, Sales Tips

Ever notice how your ongoing ‘check in’ calls seem to go no where?  Or the “I’m following up to see if you made a decision.” Seems flat?

Well, Alice Kemper at Sales Training Consultants, takes a different approach!  She uses creativity to give them a WOW reminder.  The picture shows her latest effort.  A health care prospect is considering using the Sharpenz sales workshops for their team.  Alice knows she has competition and has strategically decided to have this First Aid kit arrive the day of the competitor’s presentation! 

If history is any indication Alice will seal the deal with this clever way of staying top of mind – and reminding the prospect of the value she will bring.

What accounts do you have ‘stuck’ in the pipeline? How important is it to move them forward? Might it be worth a $10-15 creative approach to get back in front of them and move the sale to a close?

And let’s share – what ideas have you used to get the attention of a stalled sale?

p.s. I’m a weather information junkie. I was THRILLED to see that in Wisconsin today – our ‘lenght of day’ is 12 HOURS!  Yahoo!  That, combined with the crocuses blooming yesterday and 62 degrees temps has me feverish with spring!!!

Print Friendly

Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Creativity, Sales Tips

Ever feel stuck for an idea?  Sometimes we get in a situation that is stalled and we just don’t know what to do.  We think we have tried everything and we remain stuck where we are.

2009 has been a bit challenging for some people  to say the least.  And we need to be more creative than ever to:

• Get in front of decision makers
• Find some sense of balance in our work/life
• Close sales
• Meet and beat our goals
• Move a stalled or stuck situation

We can throw a lot of ideas down on paper and that helps.  But to really tap into our creativity to get unstuck and unstalled,  we might need to tap into both sides of our brains – logical and creative!   

Martha Beck outlines the Kitchen Sink approach in her article, Half a Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste.  When you are stuck and need to open your mind to find new ideas:    

1. Sign your name in differnet ways.  Sign normally.  Sign with your opposite hand. Sign it upside down. Now backward.
2. Write the question you want answered with your dominant hand.  “How can I connect with ___ prospect?”  Then switch the pen to your opposite hand and write whatever pops into your mind.
3. Move!  Get out of your chair and walk a few steps.  Notice how your arms swing opposite your legs?  Now walk with your right arm going forward with your right leg.  Same with your left leg/foot. 
4. The kitchen sink – think about your opportunity or problem.  Now stop thinking about that subject and read about totally unrelated subjects (a sports article, a recipe idea, a biography, a blog ) think of the situation again – read – think of the situation.  This might trigger totally different ideas or actions!

This works.  Sunday evening I was stuck as I was brainstorming an opening for a sales training workshop on Tuesday.  I went through this process and within 15 minutes I had it!  It was simple, something I had used in an unrelated workshop years ago – and when I delivered it, the sales reps LOVED it!

To get ready to relax this weekend – get creative in answering a problem, challenge or opportunity that is stuck and weighing on your mind.  Use the kitchen sink approach to identify real alternatives and actions – which will take that TO DO off your mind and allow you to enjoy a more restful weekend.

What other ways do you get un-stuck? 

Print Friendly

Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Creativity, sales