I’ve been in Florida for 5 days. It’s a chance to rejuvenate and write. the ‘plan’ was morning walks on the beach, writing, maybe a swim in the pool in the afternoon, and more writing. A good plan, right?

Well, the weather changed that plan – it rained for 4 days – serious rain, high winds and gloom. 

Today is my day of departure, and of course, the skies are clear and the sun is shining. I made time for a walk on the ocean’s edge before the airport!

As I was walking, I looked for shells. Each trip I find one or two special sea shells to take back to Wisconsin. We put them in the rocks around our pool to connect the two spaces we loves.

The beach was full of people hunting for shells this morning after the storms. There were thousands of shells – or rather parts of shells.  As I walked the shoreline like everyone else, I didn’t see any special shells, they were probably picked up already. So I waded into the ocean a bit to see what else I could find. Some, but still mostly broken. Then I waded out knee deep – figuring its a better workout anyway – and THERE were beautiful shells aplenty!  I filled my pockets within ten minutes.

Isn’t this how it is with sales? We need to look for prospects and opportunity. Yet often its easy to stay where it is safe on the shore and wait for the perfect opportunity to find that perfect prospect to surface.

We then find that many of the prospects may not be qualified – like the broken shells. So we need to exert more effort, wade in further and get ourselves really wet to find the perfect prospects – maybe they are even untouched by our competitors!

By taking the extra steps, we differentiate ourselves from most other sellers. They stay at the shoreline and fight for the easy picks.

By wading in, we can find a more bountiful opportunity.

As you think about this – are you playing it too safe by the shoreline? What waters should you wade deeper in to find your opportunities?

I challenge you this next week to take that step by:

• Identifying what is happening in your market that has washed ashore some opportunities?
• Where are your competitors focusing their efforts because of this?
• What is the next level for finding more opportunities? Is it calling someone you never have?Asking for referrals from your happy customers? Finding a plan for opening new relationships? Mining your CRM for stalled sales or former customers?

Identify at least ONE action  you can take – and then wade in to grab it!

Print Friendly

A few weeks ago, I hosted a webinar through the Verizon Wireless Women in Sales efforts at SalesGravy.com.  Alice Kemper, my Sharpenz partner, and I were sharing our tips on how to sell to and with different Types of people.

Verizon Wireless, as the sponsor, was represented by Debra Palme, a Business account Manager in Minnesota. Debra shared a tip to the hundreds of participants that day – and I’ve asked her to share it with you!

Debra’s tip on a strategy for those ‘stuck’ prospects or the ‘no call back’ customers  is powerful!  

I have been working in outside sales for almost 10 years and I have been a sales manager for over 5 years.  One of the top challenges my sales professionals encounter is a customer who will not return follow up calls or emails after an appointment.  The sales representative will wonder if they are not following up with the customer enough or maybe they are “stalking” their customer too much.

I encourage my sales reps to be more aggressive and ask the tough question, “Are you still interested in Verizon Wireless?   It is ok to tell me no.”

This question comes in various forms, but the intention is the same.  The sales person wants to know if they have a chance of winning the opportunity.  Each one of my sales representatives has encountered a non-respondent customer and every time they use this form of questioning with the non-respondent customer, they have received a response back within days and sometimes hours.

Many times the customer will say, “Yes we are still interested,” but when a customer says they are no longer interested it allows the sales person to move on and spend more time working on other opportunities.

As a manager, coaching your team members to ask the “tough” question is a good way to monitor and measure those sales people who put all their eggs in one basket; this teaches them to fill up their funnel.

Think of how much time and effort you can say when you KNOW where you stand with a prospect.  Funneling your energy and time into probable prospects is a good time management – and successful strategy.

I thought you might want to know more about Debra. Read about her success in leading her team, wouldn’t you like someone like Debra to be YOUR manager?

I started as a Business Account Executive at Verizon Wireless and after three years I was promoted to a Major Account Manager.  I was a MAM for a year and I have been a Business Account Manager for over 5 years.

I inherited a team that was not achieving quota, but by the end of my second year of management the team was averaging over 120% of quota.  My team has been very successful and over the last 5 years 7 people that have been promoted.

The two objectives I focus on with my team are prospecting and attending their customer appointments.   After prospecting or attending appointments I offer constructive feedback to help them improve sales aptitude.  How we sell has evolved throughout the last 10 years and it will continue to change.  It is important to focus on the basics, but it is imperative to be informed on new ways of selling and evolve with market demands in order to become a successful sales professional.

Thank you Debra!!!

And this was a great reminder of a fantastic book, Go for No, by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz, see this post for more information. Yes is great – but being open to NO makes the difference!

Print Friendly

Most of my posts focus on tips of what TO do, today is a what not to do example.

Yesterday, I had a door-to-door sales rep visit my home. I am always excited when I have a sales rep visit so I can see how they approach the sale!

This man started talking AT me as soon as I approached the door and I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Though I could tell from the truck in my driveway that he was selling beef.

Now I was a bit intrigued because I know people that have made great food purchasers from this company!  But he never gave me a chance, he talked and talked – actually he sold and sold with comments such as:

• I’ve got to end my day to pick up my kids.
• If I return to my warehouse THEY make me pay ‘like’ $20 a box to return them if i didn’t sell them.
• Just for YOU (looking to the side and behind him to make sure no one was listening) I’m going to do a Buy 1, Get 1 today.  THEY don’t care how I get rid of this stuff.
• Blah, blah, blah – list of features that were meaningless and incorrect
• THEY, THEY, THEY when mentioning his company

Turn off!  So many slimey, manipulative techniques in the first 3 minutes.  But I wasn’t done, I wanted more to remind myself how it doesn’t have to be this way.

He put a brochure in my hand and and I heard more “They’ statements.

I asked, “Do you work for THEM?’

He responded with a surprised expression and a sarcastic tone, “No…I just drive their truck and have their product to sell.”

I said, “Well, you keep saying THEY so I’m not sure if you are part of THEM.”

He stuttered and then went on with his slimey sales pitch and ‘deal’.

The finale was when I asked him how many actual pounds of meat come with the $375 price  and he told me ‘I’m not sure – like 25 or 30 I guess.’

Well, I quickly counted the pounds on the sides of the boxes at my feet and it was 16 pounds. And I was done with the fun. Explained I was not interested and walked back in the house.

But it wasn’t over – he asked me for his brochure back!

The top What Not To Dos from this example?

• Do NOT talk about ‘THEM’ when referring to your company. OWN what you sell.
• Do NOT talk AT your prospects, customers and buyers.
• Do NOT play ‘let’s make a deal’ – it makes you look less than ethical.
• Do NOT misrepresent what you are selling – if you don’t know the answer, let the prospect know you will find the information.
• Do NOT waste my time.

Now I didn’t find this 7 minutes was a waste of my time at all – it turned out to be a great reminder that not every sales rep is a sales professional.

How about you? Have any fun or annoying ‘door to door’ stories to share?

Print Friendly

In many parts of the world – summer has arrived or is coming soon. (In Wisconsin, we are desparetly waiting still….)

Summer time often means a little more time to sit and enjoy life or maybe work in a little R&R on vacation! And that’s a great time to read…to let your mind fill with new possibilities or solve agonizing questions such as:

• Why did I ___________ ?
• How can I ___________ ?
• What on earth caused _________ ?

Well, I have put together a list of great sales books. I personally know many of these authors – and their insights, experiences and unique styles all provide something valuable to help YOU be more successful.

There are so many books we have made this a two-part post!  Look for Part 2 on May 30th.

And, to make it easy for you to reference the entire list, we’ll have a full listing of all 25+ books available for download on the 30th for you as well.

Enjoy!

42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness, by Michael Griego. If you are a professional salesperson, sales manager or director, vice president of sales or marketing, CEO, or anyone supporting selling efforts, this book is for you. If you are a senior executive, consultant, venture capitalist, board member, entrepreneur or aspiring up-and-comer, you should know the updated tools, language and tactics of selling in today’s market.

Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by using What You Already Know About the Game of Baseball, by Dave Kurlan. Summer and Baseball!  Baseline Selling makes for a great summer read because unlike most sales books, it’s enjoyable to read, it’s easy to apply and the Baseline Selling sales process is both intuitive and easy to remember.

Business Expert Guide to Business Success, 21 Business Experts Guide You to Profit by Lee B. Salz and Jeb Blount. Build your business right the first time with practical, proven strategies that grow profitable business for the long haul. Be in control of that business rather than it controlling you! 

Bypassing NO in Business, New Body language and Influence Strategies to Eliminate or Reduce Resistance to Anything by Harlan Goerger. 31 quick ideas to get you to the beach more often with more green! Get more YES without pushing, lying or negative manipulation of your customers.

Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz. A short, fun easy read about a guy who learns an entirely new way to view success and failure and the “NO’s” he encounters in his sales career. Written in fable style, you’ll get plenty of entertainment and sales lessons along with your tan!

Mastering the World of Selling – The Ultimate Resource From The Biggest Names in Sales, by Eric Taylor. No other resource gives you such depth AND breadth on so many sales-related topics, from so many experts – literally everything you need to know to become a Master of Selling and take your sales to a level you could only ever dream of before now.

Secrets of Successful Selling by Kelley Robertson. A good summer read, because each two-to-four page chapter offers a different piece of sales advice, technique or strategy. Categorized alphabetically, it is a great reference book and its short chapters make it easy to pick up and review in-between sales calls. You can read one or two chapters, go for swim, read another few chapters, enjoy a BBQ, etc.

 SNAP Selling by Jill Konrath. If you’re frustrated dealing with today’s crazy busy prospects who never answer the phone, stay with a status quo they don’t like and take forever to make decisions, then check out this book. Tons of ideas and fresh strategies for dealing with frazzled prospects. #1 sales book on Amazon.

The Art of Social Selling – Free e-book from The Customer Collective, with contributions from Anneke Seley. Summer. It’s a time of relaxed deadlines, vacations, and the perfect time to let your mind explore new concepts and grapple with ideas your busy workaday mind doesn’t have time to explore.  This summer, consider the changing behavior of today’s customer that is prompting the contemporary sales organization to rethink how they sell. In this e-book, top corporate leadership and thought leaders who sell in a variety of industry sectors will share success stories and strategies for using social networks to generate leads and cultivate relationships.

The Selling Gap, Selling Strategies for the 21st Centuryby Harlan Goerger. Gain more beach time in less time with new ideas on how people buy in today’s market. It’s not about product, it’s about decisions and facilitating those decisions.

Negotiation Rules by Jeanette Nyden.  Big deal negotiators know the rules to winning great deals without sacrificing their bottom-line. This book is packed with dozens of relevant and practical skills that will help you successfully negotiate your next big deal.

Print Friendly

I just finished reading the Sales Winner’s Handbook by Wendy Weiss, the Queen of Cold Calling.  Wow!  If you are in a position where making calls (who isn’t) is ciritcial to your success, the easy-to-use and implement scripts and strategies will skyrocket  your sales performance – just like Wendy claims!

You already know questions are critical in sales.  The wrong questions end the sales conversation before it even gets started.  Yet, the right questions help you smoothly gain agreement to do business together. 

Wendy Weiss  shares 144 killer questions to qualify your prospects, get the critical information you must know, justify price, and close the sale.  These questions along with her word-for-word scripts are a game changer.  Included in the book are scripts – yes, actual word-for-word scripts you can adapt to YOUR sales for:

1. Appointment setting
2. Working through objections
3. Leaving voice mails
4. Following up with Prospects
5. Closing and more

Personally I appreciated one of the last chapters – Words to Use and Words to Avoid.  Words to avoid?

• Just
• Hopefully

Think about how MINIMIZING those words are to ANY message you are sending. 

Jennifer Younge, Ross Culbert & Lavery, Inc. says…

“Wendy Changed My Life!”
“The small design company I work for in the Flat Iron district was really strapped.  This is my first job in sales.  We are 14 people and I am the only sales person.  When I arrived six months ago I realized my natural abilities were not going to be enough.  Thanks to Wendy I’ve arranged meetings with The Trump organization, The Bank of New York, Trammel Crow Company, Cushman & Wakefield, The CIT Group, AIG, The Depository Trust & Clearing, Snapple Beverages and dozens more.”  Wendy is the genius behind my success.

The book is under $50 (and there are many freebies that come with it) and the potential benefits to your sales are priceless.  To get your hands on this practical and easy to implement handbook – click here.

Print Friendly

Kendra Lee, an incredibly talented sales author and top IT seller, put to words what I have observed about email prospecting…

More from Kendra’s  recent newsletter:

—————————————————

Email prospecting is hot.

It feels much less threatening than cold calling. No one will hang up on you. You have time to think about exactly what to write. And, if prospects like your message, they’ll respond.

But just as easily, prospects can delete your email – and never read a word.

Within three seconds of noticing it, they make a decision to read or delete. I call this the Glimpse Factor. You need to be able to break past it before they’ll ever read the great content you’ve toiled over.

Here’s how the Glimpse Factor works. When prospects first glimpse your email they have three questions top of mind:

• Do I have time for whatever it is now?
• Can I delete it and do nothing at all?
• Do I need to hold on to it to do something later?

Because they’re busy people, they’re secretly hoping that they can delete it with no further action. But your objective is to craft emails that make contacts feel like they have to read and respond immediately. Before you can accomplish that, you have to break past the Glimpse Factor.

To make their delete decision, the first place your prospects look is at the email address. They’re checking to see who the email is from, If they don’t recognize your name and note an email extension from a generic provider such as gmail or yahoo, odds are they’ll hit delete.

Approach prospects using your company email address. While they may not know your company, it reinforces your credibility and they’ll jump to read the subject line.

In the split-second that they read the subject line they’ll ask and answer, “Is this for me personally? Is it junk that I can ignore?”

They’re looking for any excuse to quickly hit delete. Use subject lines that require prospects to read your email. 

•  Can we talk Tuesday at 10:30?
• A quick question
• A thought about IT spending

If your subject line doesn’t feel relevant to your contact, it’s gone.

Next they hop to the opening salutation looking to see if it begins with their name. Including your prospect’s name alerts them that the email was sent for them specifically. Without it, discard.

While you’ve made it into the body of the email, your contacts don’t yet begin to read. Instead, their eyes drop to your signature at the bottom to check out your authenticity.

If they didn’t recognize your email address or company, prospects want to find out who you are. They’re scanning for marketing hype at the bottom. It’s okay to have links to your social networks and website, even a tag line about your company or a link to a free resource. But a blatant advertisement is their signal that this email isn’t one they need to address.

Prospects’ final test is to determine how difficult your email appears. They’re assessing to see how much effort it’ll take to address.

Simply by glimpsing the format of your content, they’ll make their decision!

To break through, keep emails brief. Use short paragraphs so they appear quick to address. You may be tempted to use bulleted lists to accomplish this, but resist. In prospecting emails bulleted text implies marketing content or action items, both of which have negative connotations to busy people who don’t know you.

If you make it past all these check points, they’ll finally begin to read the compelling message you’ve written just for them.

In just three seconds, your prospects make a choice: read or delete. Remember the Glimpse Factor as you compose your messages, and you’ll see both your response rates and your new sales pick up steam in no time.

——————————————–

Well said Kendra!   Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert and author of the award winning book “Selling Against the Goal” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and exceed revenue objectives in the Small and Midmarket Business (SMB) segment. Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association events. To find out more about the author, read her latest articles, or to subscribe to her newsletter visit www.klagroup.com or call +1 303.741.6636. 

Print Friendly

Sometimes new tools become available that remind me that some of our sales activities could be so much more simple!And who doesn’t want to make capturing and nurturing leads more simple?

At the Sales SheBang event in August, a company,  ActiveConversion recently . Nancy Nardin, President at Smart Selling Tools recommended that we have ActiveConversion as one of our sponsors.

And I’m so glad she did – they have one of  THE best lead management tools out there for SMBs!  Their tools identifies who is visiting your website, scores  the activity during that visit, and then begins to automatically nurture those leads through email!  It allows small to medium sized companies to gain competitive advantages they hadn’t had access to before. 

It’s not only affordable but very user-friendly.  In fact, they even offer a free trial and satisfaction guarantee! Here is what I learned about ActiveConversion and why you should check out that free trial!

1. Their solution identifies anonymous visitors and sends those leads to the right person at the right time. It helps manage and nurture those leads and better qualifies them to shorten the sales cycle.
2. You don’t have to be an expert in knowing what works best in lead conversion, ActiveConversion will do that for you.
3. Once you see which companies have visited your website, you will become addicted to the information and never want to lose that data.
4. ActiveConversion helps companies’ double lead generation and manage sales leads throughout the entire sales cycle, not just as lead generaton.

To learn more about ActiveConversion, I encourage you to do two things, go on to their website  and sign up for a free trial account. If you need more help then do not hesitate to give them a call on their toll free number 1 877 872 2764 and request for a demo.  They really are helpful!

It really is a cool tool!

Print Friendly

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but “NO” can never hurt me!”  What a powerful quote from the Go For No book by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz.

Andrea gave me the Go For No book last week at the Sales Shebang in Chicago.  It is a ‘short’ book that I read early Saturday morning as I sat on the patio enjoying the fantastic end-of-summer weather in Wisconsin.

Go For No is a story about Eric James Bratton (fictional) who discovers that his success increases exponentially with the number of Nos that he seeks each day.  Eric  finds that if “Yes is the destination, No is how you get there.”  The philosophy is that persistence pays off.  And most of us give up WAY too early – like after we hear No once, twice, or even three times!

Fenton and Waltz’ message is that we need to embrace failure (if we consider hearing “No” a failure).  They outline the Five Failure Levels and the number of people that stop there – meaning if we keep going we differentiate ourselves and will find more success at the end! 

What are these Failure Levels?

1. Level 1  The Ability to Fail -  100% of people have this ability. 80% of people stay here because they avoid any form of failure.
2. Level 2 Willingness to Fail – These people come to accept failure as a natural product of the process of seeking success. Only 20% of people make it to this Level
3. Level 3 Wantingness to Fail- Developing the desire to fail with the inner faith that growth follows. Fewer than 5% of people get to this level.
4. level 4 Failing Bigger and Faster – These people conclude that if failing is good, than failing faster is better!  And they go after big goals to make it worth their effort!
5. Level 5 Failing Exponentially – Bringing others along because if individual failure means individual success; group failure equals group success!

Sounds crazy to ‘want’ to fail – but reading the book reminded me of a story I heard many years ago from a trainer.

Bob was a couple of years out of college working for a manufacturing company in Detroit. He had impressed management enough to be given the lead in a million dollar project.  He was so excited and spent 10 months executing the project…which failed quickly.

Bob was summoned to the President’s office. With his head low, Bob entered the office with his ‘data’.  The President had many questions for Bob on How, Why and What. Then he asked ‘What would you do different?” Bob had some thoughts on that.

The President thoughtfully listened to Bob and then excused him. Bob was confused and said, “So, do you want to me clean out my desk today?” The President said “Why would I want you to clean out your desk?”

Bob replied, “Aren’t I fired for wasting the time and money on this project?”

The President chuckled and said “Fire you? Are you kidding? Son, I’ve just invested a million dollars in your education! I need to see a return on that investment.”

Wouldn’t it be great to work for THAT President?  Well, even if we don’t when take on the Go For No philosophy we have permission to TRY – and if it doesn’t work, that is more than OKAY – we are now closer to success.

I ‘grew up’ in the banking industry. Going for No was NOT okay with the President I worked for. We were careful…very careful….too careful! And unbelievable ideas and successes were missed. I learned a lot – and grew a lot but was also stifled.

After years I made a change…to the opposite end of the spectrum!  President Peter Reynolds at BRIO Toys (he now owns the Little Little Little Toy company) changed my possibilities. Peter was open to new ideas…and letting people try ALL kinds of things. That is where I learned how much I love sales – and the people who sell!  Without the permission to try things and possibly fail…I surely wouldn’t be in the career of selling and helping others sell better! 

I highly recommend you get a Go For No book – and the resources that come with it for yourself- and your team if you have one.  Don’t just read it once – read it again – digest the message. Determine how you can approach what you do with the Go For No attitude.

This week I am challenging myself to hear ‘no’ more often. Its a great week to put this into practice – with a focus on business development at work and transitioning  3 teens back into school – the Go For No mindset might just allow me to feel like a winner by the end of the week!

p.s. This is not a sponsored recommendation – I receive no monetary gain from recommending this book – its just THAT powerful.

p.s.s. I just returned from a local parade. I told the folks around me I was Going for No for all the freebies being tossed out. they couldn’t believe what I received! A Frisbee, water bottle, tons of candy, certificates from local stores, temporary tattoes, a bead necklace (not like at Mardi Gras and refreshing squirts of water.  Yes it was a  little silly ‘test’ with great reesults.  My ‘loot’ was more than double anyone around me (And I paid it forward and gave kids most of the goodies I collected too. I wanted to keep the water bottle…) 

Print Friendly

Technology and work overload have made it easy to lose  the personal touch. Even pushing messages out through social media can be very one way – unless you are in a dialogue. 

The good news is that with so many professionals only focused on technology ‘touches’ it is easier than ever to create a memorable WOW experience for your contacts!

Sometimes the small touches matter more!  Easy wows that take little time and money:

• Send a handwritten personal note. Attach a copy of something interesting you have ready lately that would be interesting to them.  Your note can be as simple as “I thought this would be of interest to you.”
• Share something inspirational. Find a quote and add it to your email signature. Change it often.
• Call someone without a sales reason – thank them for their business and let them know you value their relationship. Keep it short -though often they will want to chat longer if it is all about them!

When you Wow your contacts with the small touches – they will remember you when the BIG opporutnity arises.  The 5 minutes you spend on the small things do matter. It’s one of those ‘Just do its’ that we need to make time for.

I suggest you make time today to Wow one prospect or customer. Then do it again tomorrow!

What else do you do to wow your customers?

p.s. Today as I head to the women’s sales experts conference, Shebang, one of our preparation items is to share our “$1 idea” – a small thing we have done in the past year that has helped in some way.  I’ll share the ideas discussed with you next week!

Print Friendly

Today I facilitated a workshop with a group of 40+ realtors. Our topic? Referrals!  Instead of coming in and telling them what to do – collectively their years of experience FAR outweighed mine – I used a Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kit instead. 

The format included each person identifying “I wish I knew” items on referrals as a rookie and as they look at what is needed the next six months.  I circled the room and listened to what they were sharing…solid reminders and principles of referrals.  Here’s a dozen tips for you to ponder and act upon.

1. Ask for referrals consistently.
2. Have a plan for asking.
3. Identify Howto ask in a way that is comfortable for you.  Some like humor, some asked in writing, others at certain points in the relationship. 
4. Have a process of follow-up to the referrer. Lots of discussion around whether you should reward the referrer in some way.
5. Tap into the need for many people to help. Ask for their help!
6. Assure the referrers of your intentions and what you will do with the contact information.
7. Be timely in contacting the referral.
8. Do not ask for their entire contact list. 
9. Be specificin what information you would like.
10. Use social media outlets when possible.
11. Be sincere and honest (someone suggested saying “I get referrals from every one of my clients.” and the group said if it wasn’t true, then you would break trust.)
12. Always be thankful – state your appreciation and then assure them how you will use the information they shared.

Taking action on these tips will increase your ABILITY to earn valuable referrals.

There’s so much more to referrals. What’s your best tip?

Print Friendly