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!

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Filed Under: Marketing Tips, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: prospecting, Sales Tips

It’s the end of another month. Sales managers and sales pros around the world are faced with the reality of ‘their numbers’ and efforts for the past 30 days.  Some are happy, some are not. 

Because I am fortunate to work with many companies and sales professionals each month, I get to see a lot of reaction – and reality!  I offer you several Do’s and Don’ts for your month end actions.

Do:

1. Look at your numbers.  Not just the ’sales’ or results. Look at your activity, your close ratio, your prospecting efforts, etc. Closed sales only tell part of the story of your effectiveness and efforts.
2. Set your goal for next month. Do you have ground to make up from this month? Or from earlier this year?  Write down your goal(s) and as you write it – pay attention to your self talk. Are you confident in your goal? Are you second guessing it? Make sure it is realistic and believable.
3.  Discuss your monthly results and activity with your manager, coach, mentor to seek their opinion.  What do they see you doing well that you should continue doing? What do they suggest you can do different to be even more effective next month?
4. Celebrate your success and progress!  What is a reward that is important to you? Extra time this weekend with friends/family? A nice dinner out, a special drink or treat? Pause and acknowledge what you have done well.

Don’t:

1. Make excuses. Whether you made your numbers or not. If you don’t like your results – it means you need to do something different next month
2. Ignore the facts.  So often I see people who under- or over-estimate results without hard data. You won’t know if you don’t look and get the hard numbers. 
3. Procrastinate. Monday starts a new month. Be prepared to jump into August with enthusiasm and energy – and most important activity!

Using these tips will help you – and your manager – find happiness and success at the next month end.

What other tips do you have for month end?

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips
Tags: goal setting, Sales Tips

I am constantly amazed at the transparency that now exists in our world. The likes of  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. allow us to find out nearly anything we want about others.  That is why when people act without integrity, their surprise at people’s reaction to their actioin is always interesting.

This past week, in the sales expert world, a plagiarizer was ‘outed’.  Michael J. Roman’s blog was FULL of directly ‘ripped off’ articles from Jonathan Farrington, Kelley Robertson and others. (Both have amazing bodies of work and expertise – visit their blogs too!) What is more appalling is that his apology to Jonathan contains this explanation:

It seems that one of my employees who is my “Creative Director” in fact is not as creative as I presumed he was. All this time I was complimenting him on his articles, which in fact were approved by me for publishing. Clearly this comes down to me no inspecting or researching his work more carefully. Basically, I was taking it for face value. We just started this blog a few months ago, and when we did, I was writing my own articles. Shortly thereafter I assigned that task to someone else. Apparently he (and I) found your articles very well written. I however did not know that he was basically stealing your information as well as the information of others.

What?  My Creative Director was writing articles – yet Michael is also claiming those as his own on his now-closed-down blog.  Am I wrong, but that isn’t being yourself, is it?

The wrath of the sales expert community has been mighty and swift. Within 24 hours of Jonathan sharing the plagiarism news, authors and bloggers were ALL over Michael J. Roman.

For me, it is personal too. Last fall I had a plagiarizer take my Do Your Sales Meetings Stick article published on Salespodia and use it as her  own. My reactions included:

• How dare she?!
• Really, didn’t she think I would ever find out?
• Who does this in today’s world?
• Wow, I must write good articles if someone is willing to claim them as their own

And then I thought, how easy is it to ’steal’ from others without really knowing it? 

In the late 1990s, early in my consulting career, I emulated a successful consultant – the way he talked, his approach to all things sales, etc. His style was not quite like mine – but I thought that was how I needed to act. In essence I was stealing his style.  And I did earn business with HUGE companies.  But months into most engagements, I would hear a comment like “I never realized you were so funny!” or “Your expertise or advice is so much more than we expected.” Not bad comments, but it seemed there was more to the words.

I finally asked a trusted client what she meant.  Her response – even 10 years later – is still embarrassing.  She told me that during the sales process, they loved what I was offering, the results that had been achieved, etc. but that I was seen as a “Vanna White’ without much additional value. And that the product/service was what they bought, not me.

Huh? They saw me as a TV game show side-kick? Wow!  Then she went on to say that I need to be myself because my expertise and personality were truly valuable and she is sad that she almost missed out on it.  I thanked her for that information and took time to reflect on it.  I was putting all my efforts into showcasing WHAT I offered in a manner that was not genuine to me.  Though I was winning sales, what was I losing that I didn’t know?

In addition to losing my ’self” I was probably losing sales as well.

And that is when my resolve to help sales professionals stop FAKING it and be themselves was solidified.  That in this transparent world, the more you are yourself, the more successful you will be.  Acting like someone else or taking the words of someone else will STOP you at some point. It might not be as swift and public as Michael J. Roman – but it will happen.

Now, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn from others and ethically borrow best practices. What it means is that we need to give credit where it is due and then use the ideas and actions in a manner consistent with who we are.

Being yourself – even if that means showing some of your quirkiness -  will win you more friends, loyal customers…and success in the long run.  And these are biggest WINs of all.

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Filed Under: Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: sales success, Sales Tips, Social Media

“What’s new?”  I was asked that question yesterday from someone I hadn’t spoken to in a while.  Talk about an open ended question!  It doesn”t get more open than that, does it?

Problem is..I was tongue tied. I had no idea of where to start to answer that really open-ended questions so I said ‘Not much.” And the conversation pretty much ended there.

‘Not much.’ was my response to a really open ended question?  Surprise, surprise. Of course, this might be the “How ya doin’? question that people ask as a greeting instead of a real question where they want a response.  But maybe not.  I just wasn’t going to work that hard to figure it out or ask for a clarifying question.  Instead of connecting us and starting a conversation, this very open-ended question left us with silence. 

Open ended questions – and  the power of asking for information and listening – is central to great collaborative selling.  Yet asking a Who, What, Why, When, How question takes more skill and expertise than just the way the question is worded.  The value to the prospect, and you, the sales pro, comes when the open questions are used with intent!

To be effective and valuable, great open-ended questions need to be:

• Targeted to the situation and person
• Open, but not too broad where the person doesn’t know where to begin
• Prefaced with the intention of the line of questions and a why you are asking
• Relevant and timely
• Followed by open ears and a paraphrase of what you heard

Let’s go back to the opening question ‘What’s new?” to initiate contact with someone you haven’t seen in a while.  Following the tips above, a more effective approach is:  “Hi Nancy, I haven’t seen you in a while. How is your new Sharpenz business going?”  or “How is the end of the school year wrapping up for your family?”  or “Last time I saw you, you mentioned that Kevin was in college. How have you adjusted to him being out of the house?”

Now, those are open questions, targeted to me, open and clear, and timely based on something they know about me (or better yet, tied into something we discussed in the past showing they listened the last time we were together) that connect me to something I can talk about!  They are a great conversation starter – and in business a great conversation and connection leads to sales opportunities.

The intent of these opening questions might not be stated, but the action of asking a relevant, personalized and meaningful clearly shows the intent of wanting to really connect with me and begin a conversation.

When you want to start a productive conversation, skip the “What’s new?” common greeting and make an intentional great connection.

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Filed Under: Sales Tips
Tags: Open ended questions, Sales Tips

This past weekend I worked ‘concessions’ for several hours at a school event. We had many items to sell -sandwiches, chips, candy, drinks and ice cream. I enjoyed the sales process outside of my normal business setting and decided to have some fun with up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

I observed my prospects as they approached the ‘window’ for:

• Body language  – were they open and seemingly hungry or thirsty? 
• Did they have cash in their hands? 
• Who was with them.

Then when they placed they order, I really listed and continued to observe. Based on what they ordered, I offered ‘more’ – a drink, something crunchy, or the ‘meal’ versus just the sandwich and drink.  But I didn’t just stop with the offer,  I explained the ‘why’ and value associated with it.

• Would you like something to drink with those nachos because the salt will make you thirsty and you won’t have to come back through the line again.
• Ever try Fritos with a sloppy joe? It’s a great combination and more filling.
• Did you know you save 25 cents when you order the meal instead of just a drink and sandwich making the chips only 25 cents?

The results? (Yes I did keep track the first hour  before it got so busy then my brain was mushy to keep the percentages.)  The result was at least a 50% close rate.  Yes 50% – and for some that said no, they came back later to order the recommended item and said I was ‘right’ the first time.

Yesterday, Kayla, my awesome intern, worked the concessions during a track meet – we talked about my experience and up-selling – she reports a 50-60% success rate!

The tips? 

1. Identify the natural add-ons for what you offer.
2. Give extra value by paying attention to your customer’s situation and offering recommendations that will give them more with what they are purchasing.
3. Tie the recommendaiton specifically into the value they receive.
4. Show confidence in your recommendation.

It really is THAT easy…and fun!  I can’t wait to work concessions again and perfect the process even further.  And to let others in on the ’secret’ that will net the group even greater profits.  You can do the same for your company!

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, Sales Tips, value proposition

Ready for a powerful and productive work week?  Sometimes on Monday mornings it is hard to get out of  the weekend mode. Especially if the weather was wonderful and you spent the whole weekend outside.  Now it’s like ‘What? Oh yes, work.”

So, I’m taking the approach I took   the yard work  to ‘dig in’ to the work week.

1. First, the LIST. I took my first 20 minutes to review last week’s status and make my list for this week – not just a To Do list, I put an ‘outcome’ list together followed by the actions.
2. Cleared my work place – getting rid of stuff on my desk is freeing – and gives me a clean slate to start.
3. Tools - I had some tech issues last week – first outcome needed this week is that they are operational to support what I need to get done!
4. Action - I’m already done with two items and this blog post is my third!  It feels good to have progress so early and I’m going to keep moving along!

Whether you are seeing this message early in the day or not – it IS early in the week. Making the time to DIG IN now allows you to advance your success during the week and get OUT for some free time next weekend.

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Filed Under: Success Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, productivity, Sales Tips

How proficient are you with the necessary skills and habits of sales success?  Are you swinging and hitting the ball out of the ballpark or experiencing a lot of strike outs?  Maybe a few little adjustments can get you back into your A game.

Yesterday I participated in rec league softball practice. It’s the first time in 14 years for me!  I played from 9th grade until I moved to a new community 13 years ago.  Then being a spectator and coach for  youth teams took precedence. This year though, my husband and I both joined softball leagues (much easier with 2 of 3 kids are driving to their own events

So…yesterday I dusted off the cleats, borrowed my daughter’s new glove and headed to practice.  I admit to some apprehension – after all – its been a LONG time since I stood at the plate as a PLAYER!  I was rusty for sure – and had forgot some of the small nuances – which leg to lead, the follow through needed to get the ball out of the infield, etc.  Let alone my nerves of people I don’t know determining whether I was going to be a valuable team member or not.

I’d like to say I pulled it all together in those two hours, but I didn’t. I was definitely better after two ‘at bats’ – but I know I need to get to the batting cages or get my boys to pitch me in our backyard.  It’s going to take a while.

It’s like that at work too. There are certain aspects of sales that we don’t regularly stay on top of.  Then when we do pick up the bat again, we aren’t as good as we once were.  So the question becomes – How hard do we want to work at getting better?

The downturn in the economy was a big wake up call for many.  Nearly 20 months into it – I see many salespeople are not as successful, I see others who have dug in and worked at perfecting skills they hadn’t needed in a long time (prospecting, referrals, etc.)  Guess who is doing better today? 

It’s Monday – what do you need to ‘hit out of the ballpark” this week?  After identifying ‘what’ - evaluate “how” equipped and skilled you are for the different aspects needed. Do you need to ‘dust off’  any part of the sales process?  If so, preparation and practice will help.  Your swing will be more productive and you will ‘connect’ with the ball hit toward you.

Much success!

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Success Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, Sales, Sales Tips

The rain has finally stopped in Wisconsin and I am looking forward to planting my vegetable garden this weekend.  For the past 20+ years we spend a day ‘getting dirty’ in the garden.  The process is messy – and the yield later in July, August and September is well worth it.

It’s the same with our sales success.  The seeds we sow today may not bear fruit for a while, yet that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be constantly planting them. 

Too often I coach managers and sales pros who don’t have enough in their pipeline.  Once the pipeline looked ‘full’ they stopped sowing.  Big mistake!  We need to identify our ‘reap ratio’ and timing and then sow continuously to keep an even number of ripe prospects at each step of the sales cycle.

What do I mean? Well, in my garden for example, I only plant certain veggies once a season. While other veggies – like onions and lettuce – and some herbs need to be planted every 4-6 weeks for a continuous fresh crop throughout the season.

It’s the same in your pipeline!  Some prospects may bear fruit sooner than others.  The continuous monitoring of where the prospects are in your sales cycle will allow you to have a continuous crop of sales throughout the year.

Fortunately rainy days and weather don’t affect the sowing process at work as much as it does in my backyard.  It might be a dirty process of digging in to find the right leads, secure referrals and make those phone calls, but the yield (and $$) will be there if you sow the right seeds now.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: focus, maximize sales productivity, priorities, Sales, Sales Tips

There’s a TV show on HGTV called What Not to Wear.  Stacy and Clinton host and work with someone nominated from friends/family for a makeover. 

It’s fascinating to watch the transformation over the four day process.  And there IS a process to the transformation:

1. Video footage taken by friends/family is shown to the person for them to become aware of what others see. 
2. A 360 degree mirror is used with the hosts assessing what works for them and what doesn’t. The mirror allows the guest to really see themselves from all angles. 
3. What’s helpful about watching the show is they not only show the ‘guest’ what NOT to do, they lay out simple ‘rules’ for them to apply with their clothing choices.
4. Finally the guest can choose to adopt the new rules and look as they shop and then head home for a welcome party where they show their new look to their friends and family.

As a business/sales coach I watch transformations happen much more slowly.  Though the process is the same to building or breaking a habit. 

• Awareness
• Assessment
• Application
• Adoption

These four steps are necessary to get to the end result – adopting a new habit or skill!  You might not have a skilled coach bringing you along the way – and the process can be uncomfortable – the key is to get through it and stick with it. 

So, what can you do with the 4 A’s? 

1. Awareness – observe successful salespeople. What are the actions and attitudes they have?  Make a list.
2. Assessment – open yourself to honest feedback from others. Manager, peers who see you in action, customers.  Ask them for feedback on what you do and what you should not continue to do.  (If you would like a short, free assessment to look assess – email me at nancy@salesproinsider.com – I’ll be happy to send you a 80 question assessment you can use as a baseline.)
3. Application- decide on WHAT you need to do – and do it!  Act on the feedback.
4. Adoption- this happens with time, repetition and reinforcement. Ongoing application of the right actions will lead you to consistently adopt them.

To truly adopt or break a habit takes between 21 and 35 days (depending on the study) – plan for 4-6 weeks of concentrated efforts.  The payoff?  In sales, 4-6 weeks of the right actions will bring more sales!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: focus, maximize sales productivity, productivity, sales success, Sales Tips, skills

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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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: sales, Sales Tips