Archive for the ‘Better Business Methods’ Category

Many years ago while participating in track and field my coaches typically spoke of cadence. In fact, many athletic events use cadence in their respective performance. Football players have a cadence before each play, dancers have a cadence in their performance and coincidentally those that sell require a cadence.

To perform at a higher level in selling products and services, one must have a certain cadence in delivery and building relationships with clients. Here are some of the things required to assist with your cadence:

1. Confidence. Consumers invest in those they know and trust. However, they also invest in the conviction from the selling representative. Your cadence will be affected by the highs and lows of your confidence.
2. Presentation Flow. Presentation is where it all begins. Know what you want to say, how you are going to say and but most of all listening is more important then speaking.
3. Preparation. One cannot have cadence if there is a lack of preparation. Understand how your services can assist the buyer. Look at issues from the perspective of the buyer; think output. What can you deliver that can aid the client?
4. Presence. When you look good, you feel good. Sellers need to dress the part. Invest in good clothes, and groom well. Be noticeable when you walk into a room.
5. Poise. Buyers implicitly affect tempo with questions and concerns. Remain neutral during volatile periods with proper research and preparation. The better you plan the less likely impact to your poise.
6. Equality. When you formulate equality with the buyer there is better conversation. Your interaction should be a meeting of peers, anything less is a vendor.
7. Labor Intensity. Relationship building is must easier, and you have more swagger when you meet only with decision makers. Gatekeepers waste time and affect your confidence. Meet and greet only those that understand your value.

The concept of cadence is formulated from continuous learning and practice. Athletes and dancers practice daily to broaden their strengths. They understand the value of self-mastery, learning all they can to heighten their performance. Take the first step and before you know it you will be swaying with the music.

2010. Drew J. Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

Drew J. Stevens Ph.D. (Dr. Drew) is the author of Split Second Selling and the soon to be released Ultimate Business Bible and six other business books on sales, customer loyalty, self mastery and business development solutions. Drew helps organizations to dramatically accelerate revenue and outstrip the competition. He conducts over 40 international keynotes, seminars and workshops per year. Dr. Drew is the founder of the Sales Leadership Certificate one of only 14 programs in the United States offering an accredited degree in the profession of selling and has a top ranked podcast called Sales Acceleration. To discover how Dr. Drew can assist your organization visit his marketing and sales website or call 877-391-6821.

Popularity: 64% [?]

During my workshops I frequently speak of the need for selling professionals to be prepared for every selling situation. With the lack of selling methodology and training amongst 92% of the selling population there are a number of gaffs during the sales day.

After a relaxing Independence Day weekend, I returned to several emails. One of the most striking included the following, “I realize that your company may be too big to have a need for our training materials, but I liked what I saw on your webpage and I thought it might be worth having a conversation.”

While I honor the selling representative for having the gumption to connect, their lack of knowledge for my firm is alarming. Worse yet, there exists the typical bromide of “what you can do for me approach”. Selling professionals must refrain from selling products and begin to realize the need to invest in and develop relationships. Consumers buy from those they know and trust and this begins with intellectual dialogue based on objectives and values.

If there is a desire to invest in a relationship then:

1. Conduct fundamental research on the company and establish need.
2. Get introduced to the economic buyer through a third party.
3. If a cold call is required, ensure the focus is on objectives and measurements of success.
4. Conduct research on the true economic buyer, blind messages to gatekeepers will only get lost.
5. Stop thinking of input; consider how your product or service will benefit the customer. Think of external value end the selfishness and focus on the prospective client.

Before you pick up the phone or key a letter:

• Know the customer.
• Know the industry.
• Know the competition.
• Know your value.
• Know your differentiation.
• Know your value proposition.
• Know your output.
• Know your decision maker.
• Know your time frame.

Customers are too busy and not inclined to have their time wasted on the folly of sales commission. The only methods of competitively selling today include differentiation, value and output. Anything less is simply a waste of the selling professionals time. How much do you know?

© 2010. Drew Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

Drew Stevens is one of the world’s leading authorities on Sales Marketing & Business Development Solutions . Drew is the author of the successful sales process book Split Second Selling. He is also the creator of the Sales Leadership Certificate one of only 14 programs in the United States offering an accredited degree in the profession of selling and has a top ranked podcast called Sales Acceleration. To discover how Dr. Drew can assist your organization visit his marketing and sales website.

Popularity: 67% [?]

In recent weeks in working with a number of clients, there is a tendency to see similar issues between them. Much of what I experience concerns the sales force. The larger issue is that many organizations do not invest in their sales teams. Ironic since the notion of every business is to retain and acquire clients.

To assist organizations to operate more efficiently here are a few thoughts to remember:

Selling professionals are in the marketing business. Spend one to two hours per day creating information that increases marketing. Use resources stemming from IMC to assist you and the organization to attract consumers. Creating an array of activity lessens labor and helps to increase brand.
Use testimonials to build brand. Ensure that your customers and alliances can reiterate your value proposition and articulate it to others. Consumers that trust you and enjoy your value will be tickled to inform others.
Maintain customer contact. Those that invest in customer relationships are always top of mind. Consumers not only conduct business with whom they trust- but also remember!
Sellers and their business are dependent on customers. Ensure that all calls are returned timely. I use a 90 minute rule! If not return all calls and emails by day’s end. Additionally, any and all staff should be well versed in customer service culture.
Eschew the folly of trends. Refrain from the bromide trends of “casual day”. Always be prepared to visit a customer. Buy good clothes and resources (i.e. Wallet, brief case and yes a pen) to emulate the part. Have good vocabulary and become well versed to speak with economic buyers.

©2010. Drew Stevens Ph.D All Rights Reserved.

Drew Stevens is one of the world’s leading authorities on Sales Marketing & Business Development Solutions . Drew is the author of the successful sales process book Split Second Selling. He is also the creator of the Sales Leadership Certificate one of only 14 programs in the United States offering an accredited degree in the profession of selling and has a top ranked podcast called Sales Acceleration. To discover how Dr. Drew can assist your organization visit his marketing and sales website.

Popularity: 37% [?]

We see it a lot here at The Sales Corner. Including the “decision makers” making the decision to put an exorbitant amount of money into a product or service to gain little to no attention from that service or provider. In this example below, we show you a common type of approach;

“Mr. Customer, you can pay $15,000 dollars to get you in the top 3 on Google in less then 6 months!” Doesn’t that sound great?! Oh, and by the way, can and will also offer you; Internet Marketing, SEO Services, additional Search Engine Placements, Revenue Ad ideas, ways to sell products, and other things that will appear to help your online growth…. and if you want to gain access to that stuff, you’ll need to pony up another $15,000 or more to take advantage of those things!” If you’d like can start right away as long as you can provide them a Credit Card, AND SURELY WILL GUARANTEE you top placement on Google for your money, and their hard work, and you’ll become famous! Doesn’t that sound great Mr. Customer?”

Ho Hum, but we here at The Sales Corner say “Sorry Mr Customer; You’ve just been screwed out of a nice chunk of change!” Change that you could have used to buy a new desk, computer, programs, or hell, maybe you wanted a vacation with your family while you left the business to someone else!!

Why are you screwed though? Here’s how, and we think you’ll find this a bit intriguing;

1) ANYONE can search Google for anything.

When they do, some of YOU will have success on the top pages and some will not. However, it’s true that the top 5 links mostly get the clicks, it’s not always true that just because you are in the top 5 you’ll stay there there based on what those optimized search terms were. No, you’re in the top 5 because Google put you there based on how they ranked your popularity. (among other criteria….)

(This information alone to the right service provider is worth about $10,000 dollars in their price book, and I’ve just provided it for
free.)

So how popular are you today?
Where do you fit in?
Is your provider KEEPING you in that top 5 with “good ethics” and “dynamic ways” to keep you in the top listings?

Frankly our “Kid and Pre-Teen Research Team” can do better then some of the “experts” out there. WHY? It’s because they are creatively changing and remain dynamic.

You’ll stay on top of the Google game if you are dynamic, changing, and doing doing doing something that Google likes. Do you know all the secrets? NO, and let us tell you, neither do we, nor does the next service provider.

What The Sales Corner does know is how to keep you in front of your customers in your market. We help you build on your relationships and open NEW doors!

The perks of some of these things are becoming “famous” on Google, or having “the source” be you when a potential party is looking for your solution, service, or similar product etc…

We hope you take the time to consider this the next time you are seeking a service provider with a very large amount of overhead needed to do a job that any smart 3rd or 4th grader can do. Please be different; be smarter then those people. HELP YOURSELF LEARN and GROW and ACHIEVE and perhaps best of all SAVE YOUR MONEY! (Or give it to us, to help your ROI…..)

The Sales Corner Memberships;

http://www.thesalescorner.us/blog/sales-corner-marketing-seo-sales-membership-packages/

Popularity: 38% [?]

Sales proposals are part of business. Buyers want to know what they can expect before they turn over their hard earned profits for your goods or services. Websites abound with free templates to how to write a killer sales proposal. Yet, to be the Red jacket, to stand out from  all those other sales people suggests you may need to change the game plan if you truly wish to increase sales.

Outside of formal RFP’s required by many government or related agencies, most businesses use the word proposal. This word comes from the word propose which has Latin roots and means “to place forth.” Your goal is to place forth to your potential customer (a.k.a. prospect) what you will deliver.

Credit: Integratedinfo.co.in

If proposal means to place forth, then exactly what you are placing forth?  In simple terms, you are placing forth a statement of work or SOW.  So what would happen if you began to replace this phrase statement of work with proposal?  Would you think differently about your relationship with the prospective customer? Sales Training Coaching Tip: Change your words, improve your results.

Any gray suit can write a proposal, but those (Red jackets) who understand the nuances of words and how those words affect people (think emotional intelligence and neuro-linguistic programming) can bring additional value to the relationship via a statement of work.

The problem with proposals are they are just that – proposing. Your potential customer does not see you any differently than anyone else who has submitted a similar document. Also why would you waste your time unless you knew, barring some unforeseen obstacle such as a change in management, you were going to earn the sale?  I learned very early on that I could be in the proposal writing business or in the business of earning sales. For me in my executive consulting and coaching practice, practicality told to me choose the later because proposals in and by themselves are lost leaders.

Today, I do not, repeat do not, submit any proposals. Those are for the gray suits who are like sharks fighting after bits of decaying fish. What I have learned to do is to personally deliver statements of work that solidify the relationship and succinctly spell out how I envision the engagement to be conducted. My time is valuable and hence I am very selective in who I work with.

You can continue to deliver sales proposals after proposals or truly learn how to separate yourself from all those other sales people. The choice is yours.

Popularity: 23% [?]

My name is Francis Walsh. I spend most of my time right here, typing words that get noticed. I know this is true because people come and ask me what I’m writing about and why.

“I like to think they are more interested in my words but they’re not.” “They are interested in what I talk about.”

Content is King

“No doubt about it, content IS king.”

Right now, our friends and colleagues are talking and writing too. The problem is much of what they’re doing online has nothing to do with me or you. They are interacting on a personal level with their friends and colleagues who keep them motivated. Motivation is the key to happiness. Happiness is motivated through interaction on a personal level.

“People are online looking for the answer to their next big question and they know where to go for their answer, but they don’t yet know who the answer is going to come from.”

Even you have questions that need to be answered. They may change as your day goes along or as the need for an answer arises. What we all hope to have when questioning the things we need to know more about, is a rapid response.

“We like to get a quick response.” “Don’t you?”

Content is the answer. Or better yet, “Content about your product has the answers about your product.” Your business can quantify an actual benefit from having more answers about your product online. “Not just on YOUR blog or website, but anywhere there is a forum of similar minded individuals or subjects to leave an answer behind. This is the PERFECT place to introduce your position and the benefits of your product.”

“You have to spread yourself around if you want to really begin to see the benefit of marketing to the online community.”

Rapid Response Initiative

“I like to think that I can answer a question from anyone online before they actually sign off from that session of computer use.”

If you begin to initiate a rapid response to each and every request for an answer that comes in from anywhere online, you will dramatically increase your bottom line by “I would say 15% to start.” “And it doesn’t matter how big your company is right now!”

Small companies therefore have to consider that a 15% increase to their offline business from online activity would be a great boost, and big companies can see that taking back or acquiring more market share is possible. “Even companies that think they already have a presence online.”

“Some businesses don’t know what they’re doing really, and have no idea of the commitment it takes to drive business from the online marketplace.”

Being prepared to respond to that user before he or she signs off the internet is how you can expect these kinds of results.

The Sales Corner

Matt Geier has the platform to push a company forward quickly. Not just a man with a plan, but a team with a dream. “The dream is about building equity from internet sources using content placement and rapid response initiatives that not only boost productivity of what already exists online, but generates its own business away from the one location certified to be The Product Source.”

The investment is sound. The people are experienced and motivated. More businesses are getting results that they cannot get from anyone else. Other companies run around with a product’s old content, putting one thing everywhere. “One little thing” (and then they pray.)

“I expect everything I do to be successful and it is.” “I expect that every company that I work with will see tremendous growth, and they do.” “I can only say that I know what The Sales Corner will do, and it will be well worth it if you put your business on a fast track with us.”

“I can say more but then I think I said enough already.”

Sincerely,

Francis Walsh
77375

@awewriter

FACEBOOK

Popularity: 61% [?]

What nonsense is that? You’re the one that conceptualized, designed, and built your business from the ground up. You’re the one that has 100% control over everything in your company; right? Or do you?

Do you build any of your “business model” on “what ifs” — because “what if” you lost a limb, an ear, a finger, an arm, a leg, or god forbid, your head? Could you continue to operate in whatever way you needed to without a hiccup in your service to clients, customers, and other business relationships?

“I doubt that I could continue operating at full capacity in the event of a catastrophic time.”

Knowing our own limits, only helps us understand yours. Were all different, but, similar. Business can be looked at in the same light;

Business models are at a core, the template for all business models. Having a different business then the next person only makes you “similar” in the fact of processes, and things to do to keep your business active and going. (finding new partners, getting new suppliers, having someone do collections, finding new customers, seeing into new markets, driving new sales etc..)

You’re business may not have the same struggles as mine, or Joe’s, or Bob’s but I can bet your “butt” that all three of our business’s will need help to stay going, either now, or in the future!

So if you’re reading this, then you may be like a lot of other people who ask us; “What can The Sales Corner help me with?”

This is our response, which simply put is EVERYTHING, “What do YOU NEED?”

Once you can establish the need or multiple needs that you have, it will be easy to find a way to fill the need using The Sales Corner.  In fact there are several ways we can fill your needs with the offering of full service membership packages to look out in ALL the areas you might be looking for help!

See a complete list of package offerings here;

http://www.thesalescorner.us/blog/sales-corner-marketing-seo-sales-membership-packages/

ADDITIONALLY I can offer you some “REAL INSIGHT” into others similar needs and how they were able to utilize The Sales Corner to address those needs;

Question 1

My computer is running slow; My internet sites take longer to load and I wish there was a way I could get someone to help me without having to worry about the expensive price of the local “Squad” or wait from “someone in another country” to call me back or fix my issue.

Answer 1

The Sales Corner is able to propose one of our Phone Service and Support membership packages which are designed as all inclusive to what was needed here for this client to get phone support for  “general technical help, and product application support.” As this client had issues and needed a resource to contact with the assurance they would get a timely, and well educated response!

Question 2

What do I need to keep active, and reach my customers/clients?
I already know how to write my own content, publish my own articles, and get out into the Social Media scene to grow myself;

Answer 2

The Sales Corner is able to propose one of our Quarterly Website/Blog membership packages which is all inclusive to what this client needed to get a Website Built, Integrated, and Managed after Install! We think it’s great even when you don’t know what you need to in order to have a medium to communicate yourself on. This gives them ability to communicate directly and privately to their own user base!

Question 3

How can I get into new Sales and Marketing areas with my current projects?
I don’t know anything about how to use a blog, where I should be online or offline, or how to reach new people because my “old” approach isn’t working anymore;

Answer 3

The Sales Corner is able to propose one of our Quarterly Internet Marketing / Sales membership packages which are designed as all inclusive to what this client needed to get their products, their face, and “their business” out to people who wanted to know about them! This will keep them there where they need to be, in front of people online and off!

Question 4

Some folks out there have their own sites on a free host, or a host that charges them a monthly or annual fee; That’s okay, but sometimes people don’t always know what to do in these cases or how to get to their files etc. How can The Sales Corner help me get a place to host or store my files for my website, my blog, or FTP access?

Answer 4

The Sales Corner is able to propose one of our Quarterly Website/Blog Hosting membership packages which are designed as inclusive to what this client needed for their files to be stored, accessed, and managed on a regular basis as they saw fit! Now they can upload/download and so can their users (With or Without a Blog if they like since this is “file storage”).

As you can see, The Sales Corner and our network of members have very good methods of helping you get more information for free, save your business money, get more all while you can walk away and feel confident to know that you’re business isn’t going to fall under, because you couldn’t afford our monthly fee, or that yearly cost to keep it going!

“The Sales Corner is always willing to listen and work with all of our members to accommodate their needs and wants and desires, after all you help us keep going as much as we help you; We simply supply the magic powder to mix it all together which is then what we give you which is tangible and something you can count on for your business needs!”

Matt G
The Sales Corner

“The Shaman says only the best leaders use help to their advantage.” The Sales Corner Probing Question of the Day:

“When you find yourself without an answer to a problem….” “Where do you go to find the answer?”

Popularity: 100% [?]

One of the worst things that hurt individuals is the inability to grow. We all have skeletons that haunt our past- if we let them. Previous issues, phobias and concerns can be like anchors on boat, they can continually drag you down until you reach the bottom; and they can sink you.

If you feel you are held back, it just might be past ghosts. The focus must be on the present and the future- not the past. You cannot alter the past; you can only impact your future.

I learned this imperative life lesson many years ago as a survivor of child abuse. After many years of physical and mental anguish I was forced to mature quickly while making many life-altering decisions. Now as a professional entrepreneur and more importantly a joyful father and husband I understand the power of focus and future. Life from time to has been volatile but if you remain focused and positive you can create the future you desire. Here is what I have learned along the journey:

1. It is imperative to have goals and to write them down. When the mind views something on paper there is an implicit contract that gets committed to memory. Additionally, focus on time frames so issues you desire remain in reach.
2. Dreams are those visuals that instigate and instill our desires. Never let anyone tell you dreams are folly. Those that do are stuck in their own hubris.
3. Guilt is negative thoughts derived and devoured by self-deprecation. The “pity pot” cements us. Positive thoughts instill better outcomes.
4. Franklin Roosevelt once stated, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” This is not a trite statement but very true. Fear similar to guilt stops you. Fear derails you. Fear stops growth. The best attitude against fear is risk. Higher risk means a greater opportunity for high returns.
5. Similar to fear, procrastination when manifested will derail future growth. Procrastination is the resultant of both fear and guilt. To stop procrastination, one must create motion. Motion creates energy and with it the more speed to get more accomplished.
6. Stop engaging with negative individuals, they only sink you. You are the summation of the individuals you associate with. If those around you do not love you unconditionally then you need to find new people. Altering your associations will bring significant changes in attitude and behavior.
7. Never lose hope and never lose faith. Life has some hurdles and it is how you operate through and around them not avoiding them. Hurdles are unavoidable but can be speed bumps with the right attitude.
8. No matter what God you believe in, never lose faith. God does not want anyone to fail and is always with us in the shadows walking right behind or beside us.

©2010. Drew Stevens PhD. All Rights Reserved.

Popularity: 45% [?]

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The Sales Corner has always promoted free and generous ways to promote your website, your business, or whatever else your sales and marketing “business” is.

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Popularity: 14% [?]