Sell More, Work Less, Make More Money by Colleen Francis

Trying something new to get a better, and more profitable result

2008-02-19T16:08:00.001-05:00

Here is an example of a fellow sales professional Amanda, who tried something new this year. She wrote me immediately to share the story and I thought you should hear it too.

Amanda write our offices and said:

“Oh Colleen. Your tactics always work so well. This is a HUGE reseller (VAR) in NY that has been avoiding me like crazy.”

Here is what happened between Amanda and Frank:

Original email:

Dear Frank;

On April 12, I sent you an email asking for you to review the Talkswitch product line and as I haven't heard from you, I can only assume one of the following:

1) You're now not interested and I'm reduced to the status of an annoying piece of spam clogging up your email; or

2) You desperately want to contact me, but you're trapped under a fallen filing cabinet and can't reach your phone or PC.

Your guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, Amanda ,Channel Sales Manager

P.S. If it is #2, please let me know and I'll send someone round to help you out.

Response:

Amanda,

That's hysterical. Now I'm going to call you tomorrow.

Regards,

Frank

Result: Frank called Amanda, and the business moving forward.

Lesson, if you continue to do the same thing over and over again you will get the same result. If you want a different result, do something different. Shake it up! Have some fun! What have you got to lose?

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Control Freaks Unite!

2008-02-18T15:20:00.003-05:00

Cheryl Cran is a great friend and colleague of mine. She is an expert leadership consultant and I rely on her to help me and my clients with the toughest leadership issues. You should read her new book The Control Freak Revolution"! Look at what others are saying:

"The Control Freak Revolution is THE book that will show you how to take positive control of yourself, your life and your leadership. The secret to life is to choose what we can control and then take action to achieve what we want." Joe Vitale, author of "Zero Limits", "The Attractor Factor" and contributor to "The Secret"

"The Control Freak Revolution is a must buy, must read and must put into action book. The ideas and concepts of how to use positive control for greater results is a message that everyone needs. You will learn from Cheryl. I do." Dr. Peter Legge LLD (HON) CSP CPAE HoF CEO, Canada Wide Magazines

"The Control Freak Revolution is a must read, must put into action, must pass on book. If every leader had this book BEFORE they started it would have saved so much time and effort. If you are a leader or aspiring to be a leader this book needs to be read, underlined and kept nearby." Randy Sebastian CEO Renaissance Development Corporation

There is hope for me yet!

Colleen

For Sales Managers: Compensation Plan Best Practices

2008-02-15T11:25:00.003-05:00

They say choice is good. Obviously, they have never put together a sales commission plan. Commission plans come in a million varieties - and each one's a disaster waiting to happen. This week, Engage offers some tips for steering clear of commission calamities.

In one way, commission plans are the hammer of the sales manager's motivational toolkit - almost every company uses them to build revenues and reward excellence. But unlike the implements that hang from the average handyman's belt, commission plans come in millions of shapes and sizes. Instead of picking what you need from the shelf at Home Depot, you're expected to work the millions of combinations and permutations into a commission plan of your own. Each is new, unique, and a disaster waiting to happen.

Countless commission structures fail despite the best intentions of business owners. Many plans are too complicated to be properly understood or effectively implemented. More fail when sales managers don't explain their plans properly. The result: everyone comes up with their own interpretation of the rules, and forms a unique opinion of which customers and commissions they share. Before you know it, inside sales is battling with field sales, direct reps are at the throats of the channel team, and you're caught in the middle of the fray. Selling time is wasted, morale plummets and salespeople start to resign. That's no way to grow a company.

In 15 years of selling, I've never encountered a compensation plan that eliminated all conflicts. But with careful design and reinforcement of cooperative relationships, you can have a commission plan that works. Here are things to consider:

1. Keep your plan simple. The more complex the compensation plan, the easier it is to misunderstand or manipulate. For example, if your salespeople are assigned to geographic territories, be sure to develop and communicate clear guidelines on how they can sell to accounts that cut across territories, and how they'll be rewarded for those sales.

2. Understand the plan and all its rules yourself. Review and edit the plan with your sales manager, and bring a non-sales manager into the discussion for a different point of view. Together, you should anticipate the questions your team will have and prepare solid answers. Remember: your salespeople will check whether their potential compensation might decline under the new plan. If that's the case, be prepared to defend the changes.

3. Make sure everybody knows and understands the rules. Introduce the plan a couple of weeks before you plan to implement it, giving your team a few days to digest its contents. Then hold a group meeting to discuss it. Meet with each salesperson privately to reinforce the plan and address questions and concerns that weren't raised before the group. Ask your people about the plan to check for understanding.

4. Encourage team building to ward off conflict before it starts. Have competing reps (for instance, inside and outside sales) meet to establish relationships and build trust. The most successful teams always engage with their selling partners.
Bring teams together to discuss potentially problematic accounts. I have seen some plans that actually required an agreement in writing of how customers can be approached, by whom, and how the commission will be split.

One more thing: your sales team will behave exactly according to how the plan best rewards them, concentrating their efforts on what pays the most. If you have a specific objective (e.g. new customers, more repeat sales, higher levels of customer service), then you must reward the behaviors that pursue those goals. Lucky for you, you have no choice.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Love the One You're With!

2008-02-14T12:34:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentines day! Today, many of us are many of us are finding ways to communicate our love to our freinds, family and colleages. Don't forget about your clients! The following 9 Tips are the best ways I know to consistently and reliably exceed your customers’ expectations, and build greater love, loyalty – and higher profits – for life:

1. Be nice – and say thank you!You'll be surprised how much this matters – and how dramatic the results can be!

For new customers, always say "thank you" within days (or if it's online, within hours) of receiving your first order. After that, if it doesn't make sense to offer thanks for every order, make sure you do it at least once a year.

I encourage you to use handwritten thank you notes – preferably ones that aren’t branded with your logo to look like an advertisement. Depending on the size of the order, you might also encourage your managers or executives to thank the customer as well. In addition, many of our clients have gone one step further and developed a special “welcome kit” for new clients, complete with a thank you note, a small but meaningful present and useful information or perks for doing business with them. For instance, my karate school includes a 20% discount coupon for Dairy Queen in their welcome package, as a reward for having a good workout!

2. Make it easy to be a customer.Find ways to remove the voice mail maze, long login forms and other barriers you set up for prospects (or “suspects”). For example, get a dedicated phone line for repeat customers, or even have a separate customer-only Web site that makes it easier for them to re-order.

To make your business more customer-friendly, start by pulling in 1 person from each department (preferably not management) for a brainstorming session, and ask each of them what changes they would implement to make it easier to do business with your company. Prioritize the list, and then starting working on the new ideas one at a time.

If brainstorming isn’t reasonable at your office, consider hiring an outside firm to “mystery shop” your organization. Have them act as a prospect or client to see what an outsider really experiences when they deal with your company. Then take their findings, and take action to improve those things that need fixing.

3. Reward loyalty.Most companies make the mistake of rewarding only new customers. I know that I for one always get irked when my current suppliers give a better deal to new customers who may only be with them for a single order, than they offer to me, a client who has already proven my loyalty.

No matter how thin your profit margins, you can afford to give your best customers discounts, special services and even the red carpet treatment. Don't think so? Just do the math. Remember that new customers cost you up to 15 times more than repeat customers, and factor that into your profit-loss equations.

In many cases, it's not even necessary to invest in a formal "loyalty" program. Simply invite your best customers to "inner circle" events, focus groups or exclusive training. Even if the customer has to pay for the trip, at least they’ll feel appreciated, and many of them will go out of their way to attend.

4. Make it about them.Think about how good it feels when the waiter at your favorite restaurant greets you by name, brings you your favorite aperitif and always remembers exactly where you like to sit. You tend to return again and again, and always tip a little more than usual, right?

Believe me, that waiter knows exactly what he or she is doing. The good news is, the same approach works just as well with even the most battle-hardened buyers. Give them advice, counsel and content specific to their needs, without being asked. Make sure any emails, phone calls and special offers are customized to them, and their needs. And remember, it’s all about them – not you.

5. Ask them what they want.Most people want their opinions heard, and love being asked for their point of view. That’s why simply surveying your customers will not only gain you some valuable information and insights into their needs and preferences. It can also communicate that you care what your customers think – and what they want.

While you don't want to conduct surveys too often, you can ask for feedback after a particular transaction, or on an anniversary date. Remember: your clients care more about their own opinions than they do about yours. If you also report the results of the survey back to them, you’ll give them a double confirmation of your concern.

6. Ask them how you can help.Be truly interested in your customers, and show them that you sincerely want to help them. After all, they can’t continue to do business with you if they don’t continue to have a successful business of their own!

One client of mine doubled her referrals almost instantly just by asking, “Now…how can I help you?” at the end of every client meeting. By putting the needs of her customers first, she demonstrated how much she cares about them. You’ll find that many of your customers are genuinely surprised by a question like this, because as often as not, no one has ever asked them that before! And that’s why your follow-up question is indispensable:

“You’ve helped my business grow by becoming part of our family network. I would like to help your business grow, too. So let me ask you, what type of people do you want to meet to help increase your revenues?”

7. Get “buy” with a little help from their friends.The happier your customers are, the happier they will be to refer you to their own friends, colleagues and associates.

A referral from a customer is the highest form of trust. Trust is built on consistent behavior over time, starting with continuously showing your customers that you’re focused on their needs. Once you’ve established that level of trust, identify "apostles" among your most loyal customers, and empower them to crusade for your product or service.

Of course, always reward customers who send business your way. At a minimum, a handwritten thank you note will show them you appreciate the effort they made. At the maximum, a gift will help you secure that relationship – and likely lead to even more referrals in the future.

8. Get your customers involved.Build a customer panel or advisory board, and invite your customers to join. You'll be surprised by how many will be more than happy to join – and how many of those who do join will also start to share, refer and buy more as a result of their participation.

As an added bonus, if you listen and act on what they have to say, you’ll not only build their trust and loyalty, but you’ll also make them more willing to reach out to new prospects on your behalf.

9. Ensure everyone in your company is involved.Last but most definitely not least, make sure everyone in your company knows how important the customer is, and develop a foolproof communications plan that puts that knowledge into practice.

It takes years to build a great relationship, and just one big mistake to end it. The last thing you want after putting all this work into building loyalty is to have one of your representatives thanking a customer one day, and then having another treat them like an anonymous prospect the next!

Remember: whether they’re responsible for shipping products, setting up accounts, collecting payments or running a marketing event, everyone in your company who will talk to your customers at some point is a customer service rep. So make sure they all know who your most important customers are – and how they should be treated.

In fact, many of my clients find that putting all of their employees through basic customer service and sales training can be an exceptionally profitable investment. Every time anyone talks to a customer, they have the potential to either earn more business and loyalty, or lose it. Make sure you maximize every opportunity you have to treat your customers well, and the results will speak for themselves.

It's easy these days to complain about needy, demanding or high maintenance customers and clients. The only thing worse is not having needy, high maintenance, demanding – or any – customers at all!

My advice? Get over it! Refocus your time, energy and budget on building profitable relationships with your existing customers, and do everything you can to keep the people who keep the lights on happy.

Dedicated to increasing your sales - and your love,

Colleen

Do You Know How To Shut Up?

2008-02-12T20:22:00.000-05:00

Seems as if all my friends are publishing books this year! This is another great one I encourage you to read. Having been called "a Rebel with a Cause", Mike is known for being a resistor of conventional wisdom, canned solutions, and tired clichés. In his new book, Mike will push you to radically look at your life and your organization in revolutionary ways. With 52 of the most insightful life lessons that Mike has learned, you can read a different lesson each week, or read them all at once. Either way, you'll feel like Mike is sitting right there challenging you and entertaining you at the same time. Get a copy of Mike’s book now!

Get Your Copy Now

Stop blaming the economy

2008-02-12T11:11:00.000-05:00

A client asked me recently whether sales results can be improved - and sales targets met - even in what some call a "soft economy." The answer is an unqualified yes. But first, we have to stop blaming the economy.

Sure, the economy plays a role in sales success. But it's only one element, and definitely not the most important one at that. At its most fundamental level, sales performance is about one thing and one thing only: performance. Today's top sales performers understand that fact, just as they understand that their performance is a direct result of how they demonstrate Attitude, Integrity and Caring towards their customers, each and every day.

Yes, some clients have a poor perception of sales people. But that, too, can be changed. Don't believe me? Then read on - and please enjoy the last of our three-part series on how you can re-align your sales tactics, to fuel your success in any economy.

Successful sales people come from a wide variety of backgrounds, sales styles and techniques. But almost without exception, there's one thing they all share: successful sales professionals understand that honest communication is the secret to increasing sales effectiveness.

These sales people focus their efforts on creating a positive customer experience, based on openness and trust. As a result, 98% of their customers never even think of looking elsewhere when they need to reorder.

As the old saying goes, there are two kinds of lies: those of commission, and those of omission. If you want to establish a reputation for honesty, never lie to your prospects or clients either by what you say, or what you choose NOT to say. And no matter how tempting it may be, never rationalize a lie by telling yourself that it's "no big deal" or that it "won't affect the outcome of the deal."

Take my word for it - it will! Sooner or later, the customer will realize that they've "been sold," and once they do, they'll turn the tables and start playing games with you. Once that happens, your relationship will become based on distrust, and reestablishing trust can be a nearly impossible task.

As Steven Gaffney (www.justbehonest.com) and I discuss in our upcoming book on Honesty In Sales, the easiest way to have a more honest and open working relationship with your customers is to first learn how to separate the facts, from what you simply imagine or assume to be true. For example, say a prospect hasn't returned your phone call in two weeks (FACT). You imagine it's because they've decided to buy a competitor's product instead of your own (ASSUMPTION). But there could be an almost endless number of equally plausible reasons why they haven't returned your call, including:

* They bought from someone else;
* They've been too busy;
* The contract or funding was cancelled;
* They're sick or on vacation;
* They haven't made a decision yet; or
* They're ignoring you.

These are just the first six possibilities that came to mind. Spend a few minutes, and you could easily come up with a dozen more. The point is, we sales people are particularly vulnerable to the mistake of making decisions and taking action based on what we assume, rather than what we really know. Sometimes we're right. But all too often, our assumptions are wrong, and the consequences of acting on an incorrect assumption can be severe.

So how can you avoid making this mistake? By changing your mindset to allow for the possibility that you may be wrong. Try entering your next sales call by saying to yourself: "you know, I might be right that Colleen is not interested in my product, or I might be wrong. Either way, I'm going to find out."

Simply allowing yourself to admit that your assumptions might be wrong will ensure that you get to the truth before you make a firm decision, or take action. Has a customer ever been less than open with you? If so, step back and look at your own behavior. If you've ever lied to them, then your communication style may be to blame for their dishonesty.

For more tips on how getting to the truth can get your call returned, re-read our article on THE GATEKEEPERS: PART I - How to Stop Blaming Voice Mail for Poor Performance, and Start Closing More Sales.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Sales Rule #1

2008-02-11T06:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday Morning!

Sales Rule #1 is to never end your day without doing at least one proactive activity to put prospective business in the top of your sales funnel. That means making one call, asking for one referral, sending a letter, and email, going to a networking event. It doesn't matter what the activity is...just that you are acting proactively and putting yourself in front of probable prospects.

This week start a new profitable sales habit and dedicate time each day to create your own success. Pick up the phone and make some calls, send some emails or go out an meet people face to face. I suggest that you commit to completing your business development activities first thing in the morning to make sure they get completed. Its NOT that first thing in the morning is always the best time to reach people - in fact studies are now showing that between 4-6pm in the best time - its just that most sales people I meet, procrastinate all day and then never make the call.

The best way to make sure that your daily business development activities happen is to block the time in your calendar. Show your scheduled as booked. Make an appointment with yourself. I urge you to do this today for the whole week. And then stick to it!

Proactively reaching out to probable prospects each day is the only way to control your success in sales.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Coffee is for Closers!

2008-02-08T09:19:00.001-05:00

Hi There,

Coffee -or caffeine - is a staple in the diet of many successful sales people. Including me. Coffee meetings with clients, networking at Starbucks, meeting prospects at Tim Horton's....caffeine is central to the modern sales process.

Many people have debated the merits and health of caffeine and you can chose to believe what ever ones you want. Me? I love finding research that justifies my habits! Check out Kevin Dee's Blog on the health benefits of coffee!

Sipping my way along to help you increasing your sales!

Colleen
PS -isn't there caffeine in chocolate too?

Success in the Year of the Rat

2008-02-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year! According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2008 is a Year of the Rat (Earth), begins on February 7, 2008.First in the cycle of 12 Animal signs, the Rat Year begins the sequence and recurs every twelfth year signifying a time for hard work, activity, and renewal. I’m guessing that many of you have already abandoned the resolutions you made on January 1st so how about using Feb 7th as a sign to renew your commitment to growth. If you need help, email your resolutions to me and I will hold you accountable to achieving your goals: or join Lead-Up! and allow our exclusive sales membership community help you to have a great 2008!

According to Joseph Chau, master feng shui consultant of Mandarin Oriental, 2008 (year of the Earth Rat) is a “period of change” because it marks the start of another 12-year cycle, He adds that because the “wealth star,” is in the east the Earth Rat brings more luck than the Fire Rat, which began the tumultuous fire period from 1996-2007. Chau said this was why the previous 12 years was marked with unlucky events such as the 1997 Asian currency crisis, the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the 2003 SARS epidemic. “The coming 12 years should bring more luck than the past 12 years,” he said.

The year of the Rat maybe a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start. Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, and opportunities will only come for people who work hard, are well prepared and resourceful. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, work hard, be persistent, let things develop slowly, and make the most of every opening you can find. That’s how you can create the best “luck” Chau describes as coming your way in 2008.

FYI, if you are a Rat, you are: Smart, Magnetic, Well-liked, Affable, Quick-witted, Surreptitious, Selfish, Protective, Calculating and born in either 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 and 2008.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

A Sad Trend

2008-02-06T08:40:00.000-05:00

Sadly I witness many sales people and company have their best month ever (or best quarter) and then follow it up with a terrible money losing period. Its very predictable.

Why?

Because during the busy record breaking period, sales people forget to prospect. It's easy to get so focused on delivering orders and closing sales that you forget about filling the pipeline. As well, when you are winning deal after deals its easy to slip into a euphoria mindset thinking "Business is never ending!" "it will always be this way!" "I'm on fire!"

Truth is, business is great during this period because of all the leg work you did in the previous months. All the networking, referrals, cold calling, and meetings you accomplished in the previous months are now manifesting into sales. In order to remain successfull you must continue to complete those sales activities everyday.

If you don't continue to network, call and meeting with prospects, eventually your sales will dry up. You will have no one to sell to. Don't let this happen to you. Spend time everyday filling the top of your sales funnel.

Sales Rule #1: Don't go home at night until you have done at least one proactive outreach to a client or prospect that will potentially generate future business. This is the most profitable sales habit you can develop.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Sales By the Numbers

2008-02-05T18:01:00.000-05:00

I love statistics. Consider the following:

Eighty percent of happy clients will provide a referral if asked – only four percent of sales people actually bother to ask!
85% of sales are made after the 5th meeting yet 95% of all sales people give up after the 4th (Stanford)
Emotionally connected customers spend 46% more than satisfied ones
The closing ratio on cold calls is 75:1 while the closing ratio on referred leads is 4:1
83% of clients say trust is developed when a sales person starts collecting no technical data

How will you use these to improve your selling skills this year? I suggest, emotionally connecting with your clients by asking "non technical questions", asking for referrals and keep on calling! Just remember not to cross the fine line between persistence and stalking.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Monday morning inspiration

2008-02-04T15:03:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone,

I thought this would help to inspire you this week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuuesBhOR9g

Cheers Colleen

What are your Growth Goals for 2008?

2008-02-03T10:57:00.000-05:00

Between the leafless trees, knee-deep snow and seemingly never-ending grey skies, it can be difficult to think of anything growing at this time of the year. Yet while we may be months away from spring flowers outside, this is actually the perfect time to do a little growing on the inside!

When my brother and I were kids, we used to stare at the sky and ask each other how high we thought it went. Paul thought it was endless. I wasn’t so sure. To this day, I’m still intrigued by the thought that the universe is essentially endless. I often find myself wondering what else in our lives might be endless? How high could we all go, if we only allowed ourselves to really believe it was possible?

Think about your first few days in sales. Did you start out with the attitude that the opportunities for someone with your talent and expertise were nothing short of endless? Most of us did. That’s what got us where we are today. But where is that attitude now? Have the grim realities and daily tasks that go into making a business successful replaced the shout “how high can I go?” with the cry of “the sky is falling!”

Some days, this might feel like a more realistic summary of the challenges that come with building or running a business. The problem is, adopting a “sky is falling” mentality can severely limit potential growth for both you and your career. In a year where I suspect your income goals are higher than last year’s there’s simply no time to allow this kind of negative thinking to get in your way.

During my 15 years in sales, I have talked with many successful professionals who lament the loss of the excitement and energy they had when they were just starting out. Sure, they are successful and they still enjoy what they do. But many of them have lost some of the thrill they used to feel when it was time to work with new customers.

If this sounds familiar, ask yourself: what are your own goals for your business? Have you reached them? Do you have a 3- or 5-year plan? What is your exit strategy? Or are you just settling for whatever time and the marketplace bring your way?

Even if, to an outside observer, you might seem to be living the dream, it’s worth taking the time to ask yourself if the dream you’re currently living is the same as the one you had at the start of your career – when you were certain that nothing would ever hold you back. It’s easy to become complacent when you are earning what you wanted to earn this month, quarter or year. But who’s to say you couldn’t do just a little bit better this year than you did the last, if you set your sights just a little higher?

After all, 2008 is a leap year. That means a whole extra day to do something profitable with, and it’s a Friday to boot! So here’s my challenge for you this month. Find a way to get one more booking in February to grow your revenues higher than your February 2007 results. Or use the extra day to assess, reflect and plan your next move.

Find a comfortable, nurturing environment to reflect on your past goals, stretch into new goals and review your accomplishments. Think about where you wanted to be when you started out, and what you are going to do to get there this year. Ask yourself: what are your growth goals for 2008? And what are you going to do to make sure they come true?

Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen

How do you make decisions?

2008-02-02T07:34:00.001-05:00

"Successful people make decisions quickly and then slowly change their minds. Unsuccessful people make decision slowly and quickly change their minds." - Andy Andrews from the Traveler's Gift.

I notice that successful sales people also make quick decisions. They don't over analysis - or "anal-ize" as I like to say. Sure, they gather all the facts in a detailed needs analysis and they ask questions, and think about the best approach but once they have gathered all the information they act quickly.

Acting quickly is not just limited to client focused decisions. Its also related to their own personal growth. Mid January I was training a software companies inside sales reps. We were working on techniques to have prospects call you back. At lunch, Cheryl tried a technique. WOW! Now that is immediately action. The result? The prospect called her back the next day, less than 24 hours later. And this was a a prospect who had been previously ignoring her for weeks.

great result? You Bet. All because Cheryl decided to take action now. She made a decision quickly and stuck to her decision.

What decisions are you procrastinating on? Your best chance of success is to decide and implement now. Not next week.

Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen

Your Look Counts

2008-01-30T14:28:00.000-05:00

I find that in today's selling world more and more sales people think it's OK to get away with a casual look in front of their clients. And while some industries might support a well tailored "business casual" look, most will not support golf shirts, jeans and outdated and ill fitting clothes. Sadly...I see it a lot.

Truth is that I still sill more when I am wearing a suit. I believe its because a suit, suggests expertise, authority and success. People want to deal with people they think are successful. And, like it or not, they base their thoughts about you, on your appearance.

Over time, research continues to show that your outer look has an impact on how others view you. Dr. Robert Cialdini of "influence at work" shows us through his work that "when you look good, it is assumed that you are good at what you do.” I think it is always best when meeting new business associates that you look extraordinary, not ordinary.

Image and Branding expert Sandy Dumont who deals with high-powered entrepreneurs says “Looking powerful and upper class not only gets you noticed; it leads to higher credibility and respect.” As sales professionals you need to make your first impression the best impression, to gain respect which will foster the framework of future business relationships.

Success coach Lee Milteer reminds us that "if you don't make a positive impression by your appearance when first meeting people in any professional environment, you are likely to be dismissed as if they don't know your credentials or your success in your field. It has been proven that when you meet a person for the first time, your unconscious mind makes an instant evaluation that is almost always permanent and rarely given a conscious – or second – thought."

Give some thought to what you look like before you leave the house or office to make sales calls. Sales is about style AND substance, and without the style, you never get a chance to show youur substance off.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

More on Assumptions

2008-01-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

Honest, effective communication hinges on being able to make a distinction between what we know and what we think we know, and to apply this to our professional and personal interactions with clients, friends, colleagues and associates. This is a concept that was articulated at length by Dr. Brad Blanton in his book, Practicing Radical Honesty: How to Complete the Past, Live in the Present and Build a Future with a Little Help from Your Friends. He describes this distinction along the lines of what is noticed and what is imagined.

To explain this important distinction, let’s look at some examples:

You notice a colleague arrives 30 minutes late for an internal sales review. You might think that this person simply forgot about the meeting, and your manager sitting across from you might notice the late arrival and assume that this person just doesn’t care about the meeting.

You notice that the man across from you at a sales meeting is wearing a red tie. What you think you see is a tie that is fashionable, and someone else might notice it and think it’s not fashionable.

You notice that a client did not return your phone call as promised. You might think it’s because they have chosen a competitor’s product instead. Someone else might assume there’s another reason for the unreturned call (e.g., because the client is on vacation).

The things we see—what we notice—are matters of fact, such as appearance, words or actions. The rest of our experiences are based on subjectivity—what we think we see or what we imagine.

Assumptions can cloud the path to honest communication. People can confuse what they think they see with what they know by verifiable fact to be true. In other words, they can think their opinions are facts. In sales this can lead to trouble.

Learning to distinguish between imagination and fact—between what we think we see and what we know—can pay important dividends in our professional lives. Let’s look at some case studies that explore how this simple distinction can affect the sales success of an organization.

1. Motivating a Sales Force
A reward can be a great motivator, but there are perils in giving rewards that you think people will want. Consider the following example:

Recently during a coaching session, Brian, the sales director of an international software company, shared an example of how he attempted to motivate a series of teams. The end of fiscal year was fast approaching and his teams were dangerously close to not hitting their revenue targets. To get things back on track, Brian promised each team that its members would be treated to a company-sponsored ski trip if the sales numbers were met. Sales started to grow everywhere except for one team on the West coast. Brian reminded this team about the ski trip, hoping to increase their productivity, but to no avail. Later, the leader of the West coast team gave him an insight into what went wrong: none of the team members were enticed by the skiing offer because none could ski very well…and no one owned the equipment required to participate in the trip. By attempting to use what he imagined would be a good motivator for everyone; Brian accomplished the opposite with his West coast team.

2. Initiative
In sales and in life, imagined assumptions can cripple us if we’re not careful. It not only affects how we interact with others, it can also significantly influence our careers.

Not long ago, I noticed that a client in the insurance business — let’s call him Kevin — had stopped taking the initiative for new marketing ideas and business development. Several months earlier, Kevin’s boss, Susan, had told him he was in line to be promoted as the new sales director for the region. But months passed without a follow-up discussion about the promotion. Kevin began to imagine that his boss had changed her mind. In retaliation, he stopped assuming a leadership role, ceased all initiatives and performed only the necessary tasks associated with his position.

After a lengthy period of feeling resentful, Kevin sought out and found a new job. In his exit interview with Susan, he confronted her about being overlooked for the position. He maintained that this demonstrated a lack of respect for his work and that was why he was leaving the company. Susan was genuinely surprised and said she would have promoted him a long time ago, but had assumed he didn’t want the promotion because of the extra hours it required. She explained that she had noticed how Kevin had earlier complained about working long hours and not having time enough for his family. Later, Kevin’s frustration appeared to Susan to be a lack of initiative.

A short conversation could have prevented this misunderstanding. Instead, valuable resources went untapped, hard feelings were harbored and everyone lost something.

3. Customer Feedback
When consulting with clients, we often observe salespeople avoiding or refusing to deal with a problem, because they imagine that addressing it could anger a customer and send them to the competition. In these situations, we’re inclined to ask whether this behavior creates customer-service issues or disloyal customers down the road.

A customer-service team at a software company was dealing with an error in their software that a client had complained about. The team sensed there was no satisfactory answer to the problem. The development team indicated that it would take more than nine months to fix it. The customer-service team assumed that the client wanted the problem fixed immediately and that they would be unhappy to hear this news. Weeks passed. The customer-service team delayed calling the client back. Not surprisingly, the client became angry and imagined that the company didn’t care about them. Finally, the client called and demanded to know what was going on.

In the end, this team was responsible for losing the client to the competition because of a perceived notion that the company was indifferent to their needs. Engage Selling Solutions later reviewed this case and concluded that if the customer-service team had chosen to double-check what they had imagined to be true and had provided up front, honest answers, they would have solved the matter to everyone’s satisfaction.

I often observe sales managers or sales teams wrongly concluding that a customer offering negative feedback is simply a troublemaker or a problem client. Worse still, sales teams will make a concerted effort to avoid communicating with that client. That’s when trouble ensues. When an organization ignores its customers, it has to rely on more — but has to make decisions with less — factual information. The client, in turn, must do the same. With both parties relying on their imaginations to guide them instead of the facts, a bad situation can easily become worse.

Keep this statistic in mind: sixty-seven percent of business is lost every year because of customers who imagine that their service provider is indifferent to their needs and wants. That’s a staggering amount of lost sales for any organization — and it’s especially difficult to accept when mistaken assumptions are at the root of the problem. Without honest communication, an organization cannot understand the true needs and wants of its clients.

4. Customer Service
Credible customer service must be rooted in good faith. Consider the following example in which a salesperson made promises that turned out to be too good to be true.
A project group with a hardware manufacturer lost millions of dollars on a contract simply because they wrongly assumed (imagined) they knew what the client expected. In this case, the client made requests for items and services that were not part of the existing contract. The group assumed that if they signaled that they were unable to fulfill such requests within the allotted resources, the client would become upset and possibly terminate the existing contract or refuse to grant work to the group in the future. The group fulfilled the client’s requests, figuring they would somehow find a way to satisfy everybody.

Instead, it was unable to satisfy anyone. As time passed, they fell behind in their work…very behind. Rather than say anything, they used excuses to protect themselves in the event the truth was discovered. But these excuses took up even more time and caused further delays to the project. Eventually the project had to be stopped. Not only did the company lose the client, the group was also dismantled. Many talented people lost their jobs. The client hired another company and paid even more money for services because that company was up front and managed expectations of what could and could not be accomplished.

The Trouble with Assumptions
Assumptions abound for each of us every day. It’s a valid and important part of human thought processes. The trouble with assumptions — arriving at conclusions based on what we think we know — arises when we don’t check them against verifiable facts. In business and sales, this can present a significant problem in the way we interact and communicate with clients and potentials.

Consider the missed opportunities when a prospect reaches a completely wrong conclusion about you, because of assumptions made by either party (or both). Have you ever hesitated to ask whether your prospect was the real decision-maker for a project, worried that you might offend him if he wasn’t?

We have covered many examples in which people hurt their credibility and undermined their own potential simply by not keeping their assumptions in check. Learning not to assume, and check in to find out the real reason an action was taken is an indispensable skill to have—one that will serve you well in your career whether you’re an ambitious junior sales associate or a seasoned vice-president of sales for a Fortune 500 company. Watch for an upcoming tip that will help ensure you never make another assumption again.

The Trouble with Assumptions

2008-01-25T09:58:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

My grade 8 chemistry teacher Mr. Yamamoto was the first to teach me that making assumptions risked making an "A**" out of "U" and "Me". Today I find myself reviving that saying in all of my training and coaching sessions as most sales are lost, or relationships strained, because sales people are making assumptions about their clients rather than taking the time to gather the facts. It's my opinion, as you know from previous postings, that the best sales people focus on the customer first and engage in a dialogue that promotes open and honest communication.

The top 10% do not create proposals, forecasts and presentations on assumptions about the clients, they base them on the facts. Step one in learning to gather more accurate information about your prospect is to get over the fear of asking questions. Despite what many sales people think, asking questions does not make you look silly or stupid or undermine your power. Instead, asking questions emotionally connects you to the prospect and encourages them to share more, giving you better and more accurate information to base your solutions. Asking questions is a critical step to selling more in less time and making more money, so... get over yourself and focus on the customer! Give them a good listening to, not a good talking to and you will see the true facts emerge.

Dedictaed to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Great Article from Mike Staver - Leadership Expert

2008-01-20T17:31:00.000-05:00

I saw this article from my friend and leadership expert Mike Staver and loved it. I hope you do to!

*************************************************************************************
Do you need to lose weight?

The number one New Years resolution is about losing weight. I was on a cruise recently and made the mistake of having a toxicity evaluation. They measured my body fat, metabolic rate, lean body mass, etc. Why I would do that on a cruise is beyond me. But what I found interesting was the amount of time they spent explaining how the body stores toxins and how the cumulative effect of the stuff we put in our bodies AND minds affects us. So my question to you is: do YOU need to lose weight?

I am not pretending to be some nutritionist attempting to get on the multi billion dollar diet industry. In fact, I really don't care that much about your physical weight. I am most concerned about the metaphorical weight you need to lose.

What weight are you carrying around that you need to lose? Where is the personal or professional toxicity in your world? Perhaps this would be a good time to evaluate what you are carrying and cleanse yourself of it.

All of us carry our share of "toxins." There is no way to rid ourselves of all toxicity but we can eliminate a significant amount. The destructive effect of carrying weight that is non-productive is significant. If you are like most people there is something to let go of. Maybe it is a relationship that is dragging you down. Maybe you are holding on to emotions like guilt or anger that rob you of the light heartedness or energy that you need to be effective. Maybe you are in a job or career that you know is dead.

Here are some ways to cleanse yourself of the toxins and weight you carry.

1. Evaluate the professional and personal areas of your life for those things that create drag or sluggishness.
2.Spend time alone thinking about how you want your personal and professional life to look.
3. Choose one area and make a decision to shed that weight and toxicity.
4. Evaluate unintended consequences.
5. Replenish the gap with those activities and thoughts that produce energy.

**************************************************************************************

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Allies vs. others

2008-01-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

Prospects tend to chose industry allies and build relationships in their professional associations with other companies and peers who are similar and like-minded. In doing so, they can often become defensive when an outsider suggests they’re wrong. This can be harmful to sales people who are considered "outsiders".

Often this defensiveness takes the form of third-party validation in which a prospect might say:

“Others in the market have told me they think the same way about your company, too.”

It’s an easy thing to say, and difficult to verify. Where are these opinions coming from? Who are these "others" in the market?

"Others" refer to those insiders that your prospects are aligned with in the market. They’re influential on our prospects, and because they tend to justify opinions—right or wrong—these are opinions that matter. Its in your best interest to become allied with insiders in your market so you can have a positive influence on all those people influencing your prospect.

This pattern of communication can also apply to the dialogues people have within a company. If you only associate with those people who always share the same opinions with you, be careful. Nobody is right as often as they think they are.

Make sure you verify opinions each step of the way so "others" don't get in the way of you making the sale. At the same time, make sure you stay open minded by listening to the opinion of "different-minded" people.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Be Likeable

2008-01-19T12:46:00.001-05:00

Good Morning!

In sales, we talk a lot about likability. Likability leads to rapport and rapport leads to Trust. trust of course leads to a sale.

What is likability based on?

A person’s likability is based upon a strict set of mostly unconscious processes. First impressions are critical. Your initial judgment of someone filters all future words and actions with him or her. To make your opening moment most effective, Smile, it is very easy to smile and smiling conveys confidence, happiness, enthusiasm and acceptance.

dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

I finally did it!

2008-01-16T10:56:00.000-05:00

OOPS!

I may be 2 weeks late...it is after all Jan .15 not Jan 1...better late than never I suppose. It's my New Year's resolutions! Last night before I went to sleep I documented the 3 key business goals and a personal goal that I want to accomplish this year. This morning I hit the treadmill to start my plan to accomplish 4 10k races this year (personal goal) and made some enquiries about cottage rentals to book my writing retreats (writing more and getting the book published is a business goal)

How are you doing this year so far? I maybe late in starting but I do have a plan in place to guarantee success. It's easy to accomplish your resolutions or goals if you have a plan and are disciplined to stick to the plan. I encourage you to take a look at your resolutions today and create a plan that will help you achieve them...starting with an action you can take now. After all...there is no better time than the present!

Cheers Colleen
PS: read the first post of this year and send me your goals. I am happy to hold you accountable for achieving them!

Salesopedia Media - Resources Worth Having

2008-01-15T09:17:00.001-05:00

Hello Sales Bloggers,

As you can imagine, I receive a ton of sales newsletters and articles both by email and hard copy. Salesopedia Media is one that I particularly enjoy. They publish both articles and pod casts and the quality of their material is always relevant and up to date! This week's newsletter was all about questioning and I thought this one - Shut up and Sell - was worth reading.

Cheers Colleen

Start the year off right

2008-01-15T08:25:00.000-05:00

As you start your planning for the New Year, below are a few questions you should be asking yourself to give you a clear focus of the areas and goals where you are committed to improving, and to help make sure that this year is your best year ever.

Be Nice

1.How passionate are you about what you do? Loving what you do will ensure that you maintain the positive attitude you need to get to the top. Ask yourself Brian Tracy’s question, “if I knew then what I know now about this job, would I have taken it?”

If the answer is yes, find a way to communicate that passion to your team mates and your clients. Passion and a positive attitude are the glue that hold all your sales skills together.

2. Are your company, colleagues, family and friends life givers who support you in your endeavors, or life suckers who impede your progress? Only life givers can create an environment that fosters success.

3. Do you want to become who you hang out with? Tony Robins says that our success is directly linked to the expectations of the people we associate with. Do you have the right associations? If not, you might have to go to different places, try something new or join new groups to meet new or different people.

4. Are you the “it” person in your industry? Do people see you as a person with valuable information, and come to you first? This year, develop a plan to become the “go to person” for your clients. Studies show it can be worth between $63,000 and $117,000 in extra income for you per year.

5. Do you take responsibility for your actions? You can complain all you want that it was shipping’s fault for getting the order out late, marketing’s fault for not giving you good leads or your manager’s fault for not funding or training you sufficiently. The fact is, in sales, the buck stops with you. Your clients don’t want people who make excuses or whine about being victims. They want agents of success. They don’t care whose “fault it was,” only that you take responsibility for it. What are you going to do this year to take more responsibility?

As a side note, when I interview sales people I always ask them to tell me about an opportunity they lost, and why they lost it. If they blame others for the loss, they do not get the job. I know that sales people who can’t take responsibility, are never going to be in the top 10%

Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen

Resources for Sales people

2008-01-13T22:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday evening!

I have been member of CPSA since 1992 and have always found the association to provide high quality content to sales professionals in Canada. This articles "Six Business Trends Every Salesperson Must Know" is part of their regular newsletter and I think its a great one to read for the beginning of the year. I saw Dan Burrus speak in July and was blown away at his depth of knowledge and insights on the future and trends.

Cheers Colleen

Look after yourself - worth reading

2008-01-13T14:32:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

Sales people are notorious for working themselves to the bone and then getting sick. Its difficult (and gross) to deliver an effective sales presentation to a customer if you are hacking and wheezing in front of them so this season do yourself a favour and take precautions against getting sick. My friend Kevin Dee had a great article on "Taking care of yourself" in his blog that I thought you should read.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

A Change will do you go!

2008-01-11T11:34:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, welcome back and best wishes for 2008. Well...to be honest it's not wishes I am after for 2008 - it's increased production! Specifically, how can we all sell more while working less and take home more money in 2008. Although its a complex question with many solutions, there is one thing that stands out as an absolute truth if you want to sell more in 2008: you must change something from 2007. Simply put, if you want a different result this year, you will need to do something different.

So many people are resistant to change; I find change exciting. So many people are scared of change; I find change a necessity. Everyday I meet people who want to be better and want to be succeeding like they are not succeeding now. Yet, when I ask them to try something different, they respond with "well that's not the way I do things!" Insane! Wasn't it Albert Einstein that said the definition of insanity was "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?"

This year, make a change. You are not a static being, you are a dynamic one and change is within your control. Here is your first 2008 sales challenge. Decide on one thing you will change this year and email it to me. I will keep your desired change on file and hold you accountable for it this year through periodic emails and maybe even a phone call. Consider it a personal accountability "kick in the butt" motivator to keep you on track with the discipline the you need to make this year a great one.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,
Colleen

The move is complete!

2007-12-18T08:29:00.000-05:00

This weekend Engage moved into our new office space. Chris spent most of the weekend setting up computers, fixing printing issues and printing the website to our new hosting service at godaddy. Whew....am I ever glad we are on holidays next week....its been non stop since July!

Have a super Christmas and new Years! Take some time to reflect on your 2008 goals and I look forward to working with everyone to sell more next year!

Colleen

Quick Fix #9: Empathy, compassion - and sales

2007-12-17T15:46:00.000-05:00

It's the last in our series of quick sales fixes so finally, remember that the very best sales people always display a balance of focus, and empathy.

Successful sales people are goal-oriented individuals who want to win business. But they are also people who genuinely care for their customers, and want to help them above and beyond closing the sale.

To demonstrate that you care about your customers, ask questions, take notes and lean in to show that you're engaged in their answers. Be innovative in finding ways to help them with problems, even in situations that aren't related to you and your business. Be sincere, because no matter how good an actor you are, faking it just won't work. And take a genuine interest in your customers.

Because when you take an interest in people, they remember you - and when people remember you, it's good for business.

The Bottom Line

More than ever before, buyers today are looking for trusted partners, with whom they can build long-term relationships. They want to know that you're being honest, that you put their needs first, and that you really do want to help them.

The bottom line is, customers look at your actions, not your words, to see whether or not they can really trust you. So in every interaction with your customers, ask yourself: is what I'm doing right now enhancing trust, or eroding it?

In other words, ask yourself: if I were them, would I buy from me?

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Quick Fix #8: Your net worth is your network

2007-12-14T07:39:00.000-05:00

Good Morning,

There are two types of people in this world: Life Givers, and Life Suckers.

Life Suckers complain constantly about their problems, yet never seem to want to do anything concrete to solve them. They're exhausting to be around, can ruin even the most beautiful day, and will literally "suck the life" out of you if you give them half a chance.

Life Givers, on the other hand, understand the power of reciprocity, and use it to their advantage.

Life Givers know that what goes around, comes around. They're always in the top 10% of all sales people, because they understand the importance of building, maintaining - and especially sharing - their network.

Don't hoard your contacts. Open your proverbial Rolodex, and start making introductions. Be the first at an event or party to provide a contact to someone you've just met, rather than waiting for them to give you something first. Once you start sharing your contacts and making connections with and for others, your clients and contacts will soon start returning the favor, and you'll find your network will grow - and your business soar - faster than you ever thought possible.

Speaking of networking, here are a few ideas to help you connect with those who can help your business succeed:

Go to the same events over and over again, to become familiar with - and to - the other attendees. After all, no matter how efficiently you can "work a room," you're not going to meet all the important people at an association event the first time out.

Offer to help first. Instead of going into a conversation to see what they can do for you, ask: "If I could do one thing that would help your business, what would it be?"

Go to every event with a clear goal. Plan to meet five people, collect five business cards, and make five introductions. Then, when you get back to the office, send a hand-written thank-you card to everyone you've met.

Dedicated to increasing your sales!

Colleen

PS - don't forget to take our poll below!

2007-12-14T07:31:00.000-05:00

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Quick Fix #7: Honesty sells

2007-12-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

They bought from someone else;
They've been too busy;
The contract or funding was cancelled;
They're sick or on vacation;
They haven't made a decision yet; or
They're ignoring you.

These are just the first six possibilities that came to mind. Spend a few minutes, and you could easily come up with a dozen more. The point is, we sales people are particularly vulnerable to the mistake of making decisions and taking action based on what we assume, rather than what we really know. Sometimes we're right. But all too often, our assumptions are wrong, and the consequences of acting on an incorrect assumption can be severe.

So how can you avoid making this mistake? By changing your mindset to allow for the possibility that you may be wrong. Try entering your next sales call by saying to yourself: "you know, I might be right that Colleen is not interested in my product, or I might be wrong. Either way, I'm going to find out."

Simply allowing yourself to admit that your assumptions might be wrong will ensure that you get to the truth before you make a firm decision, or take action. Has a customer ever been less than open with you? If so, step back and look at your own behavior. If you've ever lied to them, then your communication style may be to blame for their dishonesty.

For more tips on how getting to the truth can get your call returned, re-read our article on THE GATEKEEPERS: PART I - How to Stop Blaming Voice Mail for Poor Performance, and Start Closing More Sales.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Quick Fix #6: The prospect is always right

2007-12-11T07:05:00.000-05:00

Nobody likes to be told that they're wrong - especially someone you want to buy your product or service.

I cringe when I hear sales people defend their products, services and prices when a prospect raises an objection. Take it from me, the prospect won't change their minds simply because you want them to. They will only buy from you for their own reasons - not yours.

To discover what their reasons are, you need to support and acknowledge their objection, rather than becoming defensive. So the next time a prospective client tells you that "we already use ABC to do that," instead of telling them why ABC is a bad choice, just respond by saying: "That's OK, many of our clients use (that product). The reason they want to talk to us is to ensure that they're always (insert a value statement). When was the last time you reviewed your system?"
For more information on handling objections, re-read our article Is your prospect hesitating? Are you surprised? available on our Web site.

After the question's been asked…

Finally, while we're on the subject of questions and conversations… have we forgotten the most important part of any conversation - listening to the other person?

Most people say they are excellent listeners. But when is the last time you actually felt truly listened to? To hone your all-important listening skills, try one of the following techniques during your next sales call or meeting:

Take notes. This will show your prospect that you're paying attention, while also ensuring that you don't forget any important details.
Pretend you're Columbo (without the scruffy trench coat!). Remember how Detective Columbo would always ask that one last, revealing question before leaving the room? Take a lesson from his successful track record, and ask clarifying questions such as "what do you mean by that?" or "how is that working?" You'll gain a deeper understanding of your prospect's needs, and instantly enhance your credibility.
Last but definitely not least, don't interrupt. Resist your urge to complete your prospect's sentences, and never, ever - ever - cut them off mid-sentence. In other words, when it's their turn to talk, keep your mouth shut!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Quick Fix #5: Start a conversation, not a sales pitch

2007-12-10T09:08:00.000-05:00

Too often, sales professionals set their primary objective as: "I am trying to sell you something." I know this may sound backwards, but adopting that mindset is one of the worst - and most common - mistakes you can make.

Instead, before every sales call, replace that objective with: "I want to start a conversation." This will help you instantly overcome two very important call obstacles.

First, it will relax you, and take the pressure off your client, freeing them to stop looking at you as an adversary and start viewing you as a trusted advisor.

Second, adopting a conversational frame of mind will encourage you to ask more questions (see Quick Fix #4 below), and bring you closer to that 80% listening "golden rule."

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Quick Fix #4: Turn a self-centered presentation into a two-way dialogue

2007-12-05T15:20:00.000-05:00

Entrepreneurs and executives alike increasingly want to know how they can sell more, in less time, at a greater profit. With that in mind, what is the single best thing you can do to immediately improve revenues, and raise your bottom line? Focus the bulk of your energy on your greatest revenue generator: sales!

Of course, when it comes to multiplying sales revenues, there are no magic bullets. After all, if increasing sales were that easy, everyone would do it - including your competition. But as we began discussing last month, there are nine "quick fixes" that can do wonders to help you break loose from all those "good old" sales techniques that just don't work anymore, set yourself apart from the pack, and start you on the road to consistently performing at the top 20% of the industry.

Over 20 years ago, Neil Rackham concluded a 12- year study analyzing some 35,000 sales calls conducted by 22 companies in 23 countries. The objective of the study was to determine the precise behaviors of successful sales people.

What did he find? That mediocre sales people make statements. The best ask questions.
Yet despite this research, today, the number one weakness among the overwhelming majority of sales remains their ability to ask questions. During sales meetings, your golden rule should be to talk no more than 20% of the time. This means listening for at least 80% of the conversation.
How can you accomplish this seemingly straightforward yet elusive goal? The next time you make a sales call, try one of the following simple exercises:

Turn all your "feature and benefit statements" into questions. For example, instead of just telling the prospect that your product is Web-based, try something like: "I understand that a Web-based application is important to many companies. Is that the case with you?" By asking questions rather than making statements, you will ensure that your next sales meeting is a two-way dialogue rather than a one-sided - or even self-centered - presentation.
Create a list in advance of all the questions you would like to ask. Then, carry that list into the meeting with you, and commit yourself to asking all the questions before you leave. In addition to improving your sales skills, having a prepared list of questions will also demonstrate to the client that you are diligent and well prepared for the meeting.
Practice using the word "why." Why is that important to you? Why do you need a 10% discount? Why do you want free shipping? Why do you need the quote tomorrow? Asking "why" can help you get to the true meaning behind what the customer is asking for.
Plus, aim to ask three questions every time the customer makes a statement. These could be expanding questions such as "please tell me more about that," clarifying questions like "why" or "what do you mean," or closed questions such as "is that feature mandatory to your requirements?"

Serving the Baby Boom

2007-12-04T13:33:00.001-05:00

I saw these interesting nuggets on the McKinsey Newsletter today and got to thinking about how better to serve this wealthy, demanding yet flexible market place.

The baby boom generation will soon have more influence over the US economy than any other group of 51- to 70-year-olds in history.
Despite this group’s economic power and high hopes, only a fraction of the boomers are financially prepared to retire. They also face significant health and social challenges. But the boomers are also resourceful and open to change.
Companies that can help them to redefine the idea of retirement, to protect their health and wealth, to achieve their aspirations on a budget, and to create a sense of community will be richly rewarded in the years ahead.

It's worth thinking about - regardless of whether you are a financial advisor or in health care or not.

Cheers Colleen

Quick Fix #3: The Right Opener

2007-12-04T07:05:00.000-05:00

The wrong opening statement can actively repel even the most open and agreeable of customers. So if you ever find yourself starting a conversation with "how are you today?" - stop it!

Why? Because it reminds your customers of all those annoying dinnertime interruptions they've gotten over the years from telemarketers looking to sell them something they don't want or need. Are you a telemarketer? I didn't think so. And even if you are, stop sounding like one!

Try opening with this rapport-winning phrase instead: "Did I catch you at a bad time?" This has worked exceptionally well for me, because it points out the obvious, and that makes the customer laugh. Of course it's a bad time! Any non-scheduled call is an interruption. But by admitting that fact, you can begin to build rapport, and start your conversation off on a high note.

Script your "Opener" right now. If you're stuck for ideas, re-read our article on 5 Steps to Cold Calling that Won't Leave You Out in the Cold.

The bottom line: Treat all your customers the same, and the best will go away
Finally, since we're talking about sales mistakes in prospecting, we can't forget our real customers - the people who are paying us now. What are you committed to doing this year to make sure your best clients stick around?

Here are a few great ideas gathered during a recent sales goal planning session I did with some clients:

Build genuine relationships, go beyond asking common questions, and dig for real emotional issues.
Take the time to schedule "in person" meetings as often as possible. The telephone and email are productive tools, but nothing builds rapport as well as a handshake and eye contact.
Be willing to offer your Gold customer something unique and of added value - a better service, a guarantee, faster turnaround time or a volume discount.
Get in touch with your customers every 6 weeks, and always call or send them something of value first - don't call just to see whether they're ready to order more product.
Send a note or other recognition on the anniversary of the date they started doing business with you, or even better, on their company's anniversary.
Send your best customers referrals to potential clients and partners.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Great new Article on HBR

2007-12-03T12:10:00.001-05:00

Hi There,

I saw this article on product development and creative thinking and I thought everyone should read it. You can see the article at Harvard Business Review on line.

Cheers Colleen

Quick Fix #2: Hidden Clues

2007-12-03T09:31:00.000-05:00

Quick Fix #2: Hidden Clues

According to a recent study from the October 2003 issue of Sales and Marketing Magazine, an average of 45% of sales people have faced discrimination from clients based on their non-verbal communication, including the way they dress, their mannerisms, their posture and even their gender.

Obviously, there are some things you simply can't - or wouldn't - change. But what about some of those things that are under your control, and which could have a serious effect on your success?

For example, did you spill mustard on your shirt or blouse, and forget to clean it off? Do you often go to bed too late and have to drag yourself into your first call, or tend to eat a huge three-course lunch and then spend your 2pm meeting yawning at your customer?
Sales is about trust. Trust is built on rapport. And rapport is a direct function of your customer's perception of you, and how they feel about you. No, it's not fair. But it is a reality. So pay attention to your business style, manner and projection.

Remember, in sales, the customer's perception is always the reality in which we work. Our job is simply to align our behaviours, style and intentions with our customer's perceptions. Substance is what will convince them your product or service is the right solution for their needs. But style is what will get your foot in the door.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

2007-11-26T06:30:00.000-05:00

Study after study has told us that only about 20% of all sales people are top performers, meaning they regularly close at least half of their qualified prospects. Similarly, about 20% of the sales force are either underperformers, brand new or on their way out. This means that the considerable majority of sales people - roughly 60% - can be classified as simply average. If you find yourself falling into that category, here are three quick fixes that can help you move up into the top 20%, and help turn your career from average to outstanding.

Quick Fix #1: Attitude

95% of all the top performers I interview tell me that the number one contributor to their success is Attitude.

I know you've heard that before. But take a moment and actually think about it. Are you so certain of your ability to hide a sour mood or personal annoyance, that you're willing to risk losing a sale if you're wrong?

The fact of the matter is, unless your last name is Streep, Brando or De Niro, your thoughts will affect your behaviour. In other words, we always move toward our most dominant thought. So make sure you play that positive tape in your mind, and don't let yourself get caught up in any negativity around you.

If you do find yourself slipping into a negative frame of mind, try some of these tried-and-true ideas to help you snap out of it, and put your best foot forward:

Listen to music (though your favourite Death Metal CD may not be appropriate at this time).
Exercise.
Have a quick meeting or phone call with a positive person (moods are contagious).
Read something inspiring, like Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret, or even Scott Adam's Dilbert cartoons to give yourself a good laugh.
Eat (my husband can tell you how quickly my mood can turn negative when I skip lunch!).
Call your favorite customer.
Sit quietly on your own, close your eyes and visualize yourself doing something successfully. Then repeat the "movie" over and over again in your mind.

In short, show your customer how you feel by being at the top of your mental game. Close business by projecting a sincerely happy persona, not hiding a negative attitude behind a facade. And above all else, either love what you do, or get out!

2007-11-20T06:37:00.000-05:00

1. Colleen – “I want to start my own business. Any suggestions?”

Congratulations. There is nothing better than joining the rank of the unemployable by creating your own destiny and rules! I am very excited for you. Chose a business that is close to your passion for the greatest success. If that fails….here are 12 new business ideas from recent editions of Springwise:

1. For a modest annual fee, residents of New York City can now have copies of their house, car or business keys safely stored by NewYourKey (www.newyourkey.com). Then, if the customer loses their keys, NewYourKey will deliver a spare within an hour, any time of day or night.

2. Two British companies are now offering certified halal meat-based baby foods (www.halalbabyfoods.com) to Muslim mothers who, because of the lack of such products in the past, often delayed the switch from milk to solids, leading to babies developing iron and protein deficiencies. The offerings include ten varieties of baby food suitable for infants from 4 to 7+ months old.

3. Following the trend to sophisticated and leisurely pursuits for an affluent population, entrepreneur and cheese expert, Sara Vivenzio, has opened the Cheese School of San Francisco (www.cheeseschoolsf.com) which offers beginner to advanced courses in cheese selection, storage and wine pairing as well as courses in cheese making. Sara also offers private and corporate events.

4. CloakVRoom (www.cloakVRoom.com) provides portable coat and small-package checking services at music festivals and other large outdoor events using large, customer-fitted trucks. Customers are given a numbered wristband with cloakVRoom's telephone # and Website so that if anyone leaves an item behind, they can reclaim it and have it mailed to them.

5. A British company (www.specialbike.co.uk), recycles old or abandoned bicycles into custom tailored, one-of-a-kind bikes in eye-popping colours and finishes.

6. Women entrepreneurs in the UK, Moscow, Dubai and Teheran have started "pink" taxi companies with female passengers for female drivers. The intent is to create a safer environment for women passengers and drivers. In Moscow, the original fleet, consisting of two pink taxis, has grown to 20 cars and 27 drivers.

7. Umbrolly, a British umbrella company now places umbrella vending machines in public spaces.

8. 3.5 billion wire hangers are tossed into landfills every year in the United States. Hanger Network (www.hangernetwork.com) has developed a sturdy and cheap alternative...a dry cleaner's hanger made entirely from recycled paper. Because they're paper, they can be completely covered in full-colour advertising and the advertisers pay for the hangers.

9. Since newborns grow out of their clothing every month or so, a German company, Lütte-Leihen (www.luette-leihen.de) has come up with a solution...for a fixed monthly fee they provide parents of newborns with a range of bodysuits, pajamas, sox and hats that have been cleaned and can be exchanged for a larger size every month as the baby grows. Besides saving parents the expense of clothes that are worn only briefly, Lütte-Leihen's service spares them the hassle of shopping for new items during a period in their lives when time is at a premium.

10. Pascal Riffaud, former concierge at hotels like the St. Regis in New York and the Ritz in Paris, has created a restaurant booking service in New York called PrimeTime Tables, specializing in impossible to get reservations. For an annual membership fee of $450 per year and a per-reservation fee, Pascal will get you a prime table at the most exclusive restaurants...guaranteed.

11. Avis Car Rental now offers fully insured and qualified chauffeurs to drive your Avis rental car for an additional $30 per hour. The drivers pick up customers in their rental cars from the baggage claim area or passenger loading zone, then chauffeur them around town. Finally, the driver will drop them off back at the airport and return the rental car at the end of their trip. The saving from hiring a driver and a car from a limo company is about 35%.

12. Thanks to a Canadian company, Allergy Translation Card (www.allergytranslations.com), international travelers with food allergies or dietary restrictions can now get customized cards printed out in any one of 22 languages to show to restaurants, grocers or hosts overseas. Customers simply log onto Allergy Translation's website and enter information about their particular food allergies or sensitivities. Then, they select the language of their destination and for $8 they print out the information they need. It's an easy way to ensure that dietary restrictions are accurately communicated, without having to fumble through a foreign language dictionary.

The point here is that the world is still full of possibilities. You just have to see them and know what to do with them. Don't forget to sign up to receive the free, weekly Springwise (www.springwise.com) E- Newsletter. It's a great "possibilities" idea generator. Again I emphasis…who could make this stuff up!

Get Sales Closed Now!

2007-11-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Seeing as this is the end of the year - I suspect many of you may be feeling what I like to call the “end-of-year blues.” It’s a positive time to be a consumer, especially if you are planning to buy a car, as you can often use this end of quarter or end of year blues to secure larger than normal discount from desperate and starving sales reps. On the one side, you’ve got pressure from your manager to close deals NOW!

On the other, you’re getting the brush off from clients who want to call you back next month or next quarter instead. Stuck right in the middle? Yup, you guessed it – it’s lucky old you! The end of a period is a time when your prospects have other fires burning bright. Often, they use those other priorities as an excuse to put buying decisions on hold – especially if you’re selling to publicly traded companies. “I need some more time,” “let me think about it” and “call me back next (month, quarter or year)” are three of the most frustrating phrases you’ll ever hear in sales.

The worst part is, these aren’t even valid objections you can deal with. They’re stalls. And stalling is twice as frustrating because it almost always masks a real objection. When you get a stall, you have to figure out how to dance around it, find the real objection, handle it – and then get the deal back on track. So what can you do to stop your prospects from stalling – and put an end to the end-of-quarter blues?

The best solution if you suspect a stall may be coming is to do something about it BEFORE it happens. Preventing stalls and objections is the single most powerful – and least used – sales technique I know. If you have a client who regularly seems to get cold feet around this time every three months, try some of the following patented stall prevention cures: Bring up the stall first and have an answer ready. Say: “Mr. Customer, you may be thinking that it’s best to wait until after the year-end to buy. I’m concerned that if you do that, we won’t be able to guarantee you these prices.”

Other ideas from Engage clients include: Keep your pipeline full. If you have a pipeline with at least 3-4 times as many prospects as you need in order to meet your goals, you (and your manager!) will feel far less pressure. When you feel less pressure, you’ll close more deals. Ironic? Yes. True? You bet. Start calling customers early on in the period to create a greater sense of urgency.

Set price increases in September to take effect January 1st. This four-month window of opportunity will encourage your customers to buy now. Create a unique holiday special. Hold a sale at the beginning of December or on Labor Day to boost sales in Q3. Have a “closing blitz day” at the office or, better yet, arrange a longer contest to see who can close the most deals.

Hold a series of seminars on issues that are important to your prospects and customers. Start it first thing in the morning at a desirable location, schedule the best session just before the end of the period – and make sure to serve great food!

Build relationships all year long by staying in touch with your customers on at least a monthly basis. Send them a “thank you” or “thinking of you” card, take them out for coffee, or just give them a call. Try to stay away from email, as it’s not the most effective relationship-building tool.

If you’ve done everything you can think of to be proactive and are still getting stalled, try these 7 great ideas to help overcome any unwarranted delays:

1. Make the customer be specific. "Thanks for letting me know that next month is better for you. What date would you want to place the order?” Or: “I would be happy to call you back next month. Would Tuesday, July 11th at 10:00 a.m. work for you?"

2. Control the call back. Don’t take “don’t worry – I’ll call you!” as an answer. You need to stay in control of the follow-up. I suggest you say: “Thanks for wanting to stay on top of this, Bob. How about, if I don’t hear from you by the 15th, I’ll call you on the 16th at 10:00 a.m.?”

3. Offer alternatives. Once when I was selling software, we offered to split an invoice in two, charging the customer for the software in March and the maintenance in April. Because the payments were split, the order fit better into her quarterly budgets and the customer as able to make the deal right away. Can you think of a creative way to help your customers say yes right now?

4. Question them into a corner – and close them when they get there. Tell your clients: "I would be happy to call you back next month. Do you mind if I ask, what will have to be different in May to make you want to buy from me then?" Or take the opposite approach, and ask: “Will anything change over the next few weeks that will cause you not to buy?" Once the prospect assures you that they do want to do business with you, you can respond with: "Great! Let's get your order into production now so your project won’t be delayed, and we'll deliver it after July 1st.”One Engage client offers to ship his product in advance and the invoice later, so that his customers can benefit from having the product on site while paying for it later. Of course, he only does this with clients who have excellent credit. But it works great – and he never has to discount his prices!

5. “Use the “F” word. Agree with your clients, and then disagree, by offering an alternative: “I know how you feel. Other clients of mine have told me that they felt the same way. What they have found is that they can save up to 20% if they buy now. Are you sure you don’t want to save this money now?”

6. Get a testimonial letter. Testimonials are the most powerful tool in your arsenal. They’re also a sales person’s best friend (next to my dog Conrad, of course!). Ask someone who bought before the quarter end, or any client who accelerated their purchase and was glad they did so, to write you a two-paragraph letter. The first paragraph should state how they originally wanted to wait, and the value they received by not putting it off – for example, did they save money? Time? The second paragraph should detail how happy they are with your after-sales service.

7. Get scarce! Remind your customers (if it’s true!) that the price will be going up after a specified date or that there might be a product or delivery back-up after the 1st of the month, and advise them to schedule delivery now. If your business tends to be seasonal, encourage clients to buy during off-peak periods in order to get priority shipping and production.

The success with which you handle stalls is directly related to the quality of the relationship you’ve built with your prospect or customer. A good relationship gives you more freedom to press for immediate action. A weak relationship may mean you end up having to wait until the next quarter to make the sale – or longer. One last thing – under the considerable pressure the end of a quarter can bring, many sales people give in to the temptation to hold a “slash and burn” sale to get their prospects to buy. I urge you to avoid this at all costs. In the long term, slash and burn sales are rarely effective, because all they do is set a precedent that your prices will drop whenever you’re desperate. Once word gets around, who will ever buy from you at full price again?

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Ensure 2008 is More Profitable than 2007

2007-11-04T21:29:00.000-05:00

Everyone feels renewed on the day they set goals for the upcoming year (or quarter). They’ve got a plan and all signs lead to them achieving great things. Our optimism kicks in! And considering we are only 57 days away from the start of a new calendar year now is the time to start thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2008.

It's amazing to me that as each year marches on, many salespeople have a way of letting goals fade into obscurity. Its so sad, because I know that you are capable of achieving your goals, you just need a plan! The key is to create a goal setting model that works. And it’s not that difficult to do, provided you employ these four steps:

1. Make each goal quantifiable. It’s simple to say, "I want to triple my sales this year," but how realistic is a goal like that? To make goals stick, you need a breakdown of exactly how you plan to succeed. How many more cold calls will it require? How many presentations?

2. Execute on a daily basis. Once your goals are quantified, make a daily chart that includes the number of cold calls made, presentations scheduled, sales closed, etc. It’s the only way to chart your progress and adjust on a week-to-week basis.

3. Create a "To-Do List." Successful salespeople know goals are more than words on paper. Each week, make a list of the top five things you need to adjust in order to achieve them. The following week, they replace the ones they’ve accomplished and continue to work on the others.

4. Create constant rewards along the way. You are the ultimate manager of you! Lasting success comes from when your motivation comes from within - not an outside source. To help along the way, provide yourself an incentive at key milestones. Try setting up small bonuses for meeting benchmarks along the way. Treat yourself to a purchase, a trip a day off or coffee with a friend. One way to achieve long-term goals is by focusing on short-term ones. I believe that what gets rewarded gets repeated.

Cheers, Colleen
Toll Free at 1-877-364-2438

"Colleen, one of our reps went from one or two conversations out of 10 cold-call connects and no prospects (previous week average), to 6 prospects from of his 10 cold-calls on the day immediately following your training. That is a pretty dramatic and immediate result!" – Thanks, Lewis Prochnau Corporate Sales Manager Protus IP

the 19 disfunctions of a sales team

2007-10-26T06:37:00.000-04:00

Good Morning,

My friend, expert sales recruiter just posted an excellent blog on 19 Ways to make your sales team quit. It starts like this:

If you lead a sales team, here are some simple ways you can make your top performing sales reps leave (Note …I am not quite sure why any sales leader would want their top reps to leave, but I have seen all of these things first hand, so I thought I would compile a list for easy reference):

I really suggest you read the posting and would add that #20 is:

Having your sales managers compete with your sales reps for leads, sales and commissions. Sales managers should be helping their team members close deals. They should not be closing deals themselves and receiving a personal commission.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Meeting Customer Expectations

2007-10-25T10:15:00.000-04:00

Meeting - or exceeding - customer expectations is at the heart of true, lasting success in sales. When we fail to meet those expectations, however, there can be a high price to pay, regardless of how strong the relationship is between you and your client.

When expectations aren't met, trust is broken, opportunities are missed and sales can be lost, all despite the countless hours of hard work that were put in to almost making something happen. That's why it is imperative to complete a full analysis of the customer's situation during the sales process, in order to understand fully what he or she wants - and to be absolutely upfront about your ability to deliver it.

(1) Be clear, thorough - and honest
Shared expectations produce greater harmony and more sales - period. When establishing expectations at the onset of a project, be as thorough as possible, and be prepared to adjust as needed.

For example, if you find the customer asking for something you simply can't deliver, try some of the following to set the right expectations, right from the start:

• “I’m not sure we can provide the program with that deposit schedule. If we can’t, does that mean it’s over between us?”

• “I don’t think we can meet your delivery schedule. Knowing that, does it make sense for us to move forward?”

In addition, be clear about what your customer can expect from you, as well as what they can't. Tell them what you can deliver instead of what they are asking for. Tell them that if ever you are unable to fulfill a request, you will always let them know either upfront, or the minute you realize it yourself.

(2) Set the bar for consistent performance
Remember the old adage, “under-promise and over-deliver?” In sales, this isn't just a falsehood. It also sets an expectation that you might not be able to keep up with in the future.

When you under-promise and over-deliver, you set the bar for what the customer expects you to deliver at a whole new level. What you “over-delivered” becomes the new baseline, and when you aren't able to meet this new standard consistently, your customer will end up feeling confused, disappointed - or betrayed.

To build a consistently profitable relationship, there's no point in delivering better, faster for less investment than your original promise if you know that you can't keep that promise through the relationship. It's better to simply say what you are going to do, and then do it exactly as and hen you said you would.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

What's wrong with Kinkos?

2007-10-15T08:43:00.000-04:00

Last night I tried to submit an online order to Kinkos to be printed and picked up in California. I live in Ottawa. I have used this service before with great success!

Since the last order I placed (maybe February of 2007) , they have upgraded their online printing system and while its easy to use.....it does not accept orders from international locations. Does anyone else find it ironic that the company who specializes in shipping internationally can not accept a Canadian credit card online for a $200 print order? Considering they have locations in Canada this seams doubly ridiculous to me.

In our online store at Engage Selling, we are able to accept credit cards from any locations world wide in a secure shopping environment. If I can do this - and we are the size of a flee in comparison - why can't Kinkos?

Colleen

My Number 1 Sales Rule

2007-10-15T08:39:00.001-04:00

Good Morning,

My number 1 sales rule is never finish your day without doing at least 1 thing to put new business opportunities in your sales pipeline. This is the most profitable habit you can develop.

So its Monday morning and I know I have a full day. A teleseminar at 10, a flight to California at 1, and 2 hour car ride from SFO to Napa to meet a client. Not a ton of time for new business development.

Its on days like this that discipline is important. By 8am I had 2 proposals out the door and 2 emails sent to clients who likely wants to do follow up training this year, and have not yet booked. That's 4 activities related to new business development.

How many new business opportunities have you developed today? Get into the habit. Your commissions will soar!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

2007-10-10T09:34:00.000-04:00

PT Barnum is considered one of the greatest marketers in the world. In his biography, showman Phineas T. Barnum (1810-1891) gives some advice for achieving success. P.T. Barnum's Commandments For Success

1. Avoid running into debt. "There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt," Barnum states. He encourages saving money. "There is nothing animate or inanimate that will work so faithfully as money when placed at interest, well secured. It works night and day, and in wet or dry weather." Follow David Chilton's advice from the Wealthy Barber - and put at least 10% of your gross income aside each year!

2. Persevere. "How many have almost reached the goal of their ambition, but loosing faith in themselves have relaxed their energies, and the golden prize been lost forever?" asks Barnum. "Perseverance is sometimes but another word for self-reliance." Stanford University shows that 95% of all sales are made after 5 contacts, yet 85% of all sales reps give up after 4 meetings. WOW....you must persevere

3. Whatever you do, do with all your might. Barnum emphasizes that hard work breeds success. "Work at it, if necessary, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now." he advises.

4. Depend on your own personal exertions. "No man has a right to expect to success in life unless he understands his business, and nobody can understand his business thoroughly unless he learns it by personal application and experience," Barnum writes. Understanding what you do is more important to your success than "luck." Create your own luck by being great at what you do and doing it often!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Why should I do business with you

2007-10-08T13:54:00.000-04:00

How can any business expect to outperform the competition when its own employees can’t explain—simply and convincingly— what makes them different from the competition?

That is the question behind a recent posting at Harvard Business Review Online

Here is an exercise to try. Ask yourself "Why should I do business with you?" and document all your answers as short 1 sentence statements. Next, announce the answer out loud followed by a blunt "so what!" Make sure you keep asking yourself "So what!?" until you have a strong quantifiable answer that shows the customer how you can help. Lastly, add an example of how you have done this for other customers. For example. If you drill down your "so what's to "I can double your cold calling ratio's and help you sell more faster",

add;

"for example at XYZ company we increased their cold call success from 2 out of 10 to 6 out of 10 and as a result they had a record sales month."

Example will make your USP real for the customer and also help to boost your confidence and conviction about your features and benefits.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Outsourcing sales

2007-10-05T10:44:00.000-04:00

I have been bombarded with questions regarding outsourcing sales. Generally I hate the idea. Why outsource the one piece of your business that brings in the money? Regardless of my advice to avoid outsourcing, people still do it. So....if you must, at least listen to this:

There are hundreds of companies who will outsource for you and regardless of who you pick make sure you manage them tightly. I believe that a profitable outsourced relationship requires more management than bringing someone inside. Most outsourcing relationships fail because companies think they can ignore the outsourcer. The opposite is true.

A badly managed outsourcer will produce bad results. So please make sure you set aside regular time and energy to meet, measure, review and plan with whatever team you chose.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Achieving your sales targets - Question from a reader

2007-10-05T07:32:00.000-04:00

Dear Colleen,

We have only one quarter to go this year and I need to motivate my team to sell more in the last 3 months. We are a bit behind so far and I want them to make up for it before December 31st. Any thoughts on what I can do?

Thanks - Mike

Dear Mike
Here are three tips that can help you to help your team improve their sales results, increase their revenues and exceed their sales targets for 2007.

Tip #1: Love the one you’re with.

Many companies invest far too much time chasing new customers, and far too little making sure their existing customers are happy. Research tells us that selling to an existing customer is between five to fifteen times less expensive (and takes far less time) than acquiring a new customer. Why risk losing something you worked so hard to secure in the first place? One sure-fire way to increase your customer retention rate is to create a monthly newsletter or other program that lets you stay in touch with them on a regular basis. Newsletters can be easy to create, inexpensive to produce and can even be distributed instantly by email. Most importantly, a newsletter can help keep you in your customers’ top of mind, so whenever they need to buy again, they think of you first.

Tip #2: Get some feedback.
A satisfied customer is predisposed to purchase more, purchase more often and even purchase something different than a customer who is less than satisfied with your product or service. So what are you doing to ensure your customers are satisfied customers? The most successful companies poll their clients immediately following a purchase in order to gauge their level of satisfaction and make any necessary changes to their sales and service programs. If you haven’t gotten any feedback from your customers in a while, pick a day this month for you and your team to sit down, call your customers and find out how they really feel about you. Ask them specific questions like how they would like to be served by you, what their experience has been like with the various departments in your company and what they would like to see you do differently. You can then use this information to craft a sales and service strategy that puts what the customer wants, first.

Tip #3: Get connected.

According to a recent Gallup study, emotionally connected customers spend 46% more than customers who are simply satisfied. How do you create emotional connectedness? Start by being personal. Have your sales reps send handwritten thank-you cards after each first-time sale. Keep track of and contact your customers on important dates such as the anniversary of the day they started doing business with you, their own company anniversary, family birthdays or anything else you can use to build a personal relationship. Plus, make a point of connecting with customers on holidays throughout the year. And always, always be on the lookout for any opportunity to refer someone to your customers. If you can help your customers grow their business, believe me, they’ll be only too happy to take you with them.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

How to become Successful

2007-10-04T07:09:00.000-04:00

Over the past 15 years I have worked with and observed many successful sales people. And by successful, I mean they are pulling in at least $500k or more in personal income per year. Many success traits I have observed have been written about in my secrets of the top 10% booklet available at our store and we discuss success habits at least once per year is a popular web class.

I do this because I believe strong that Behavioral Congruence is the answer to the following question

"How can I become a successful sales professional?"

Why? Because Behavioral Congruence = Results Congruence.

What does that mean?

Find a successful sales person - better yet, find 5. Take note of all the things they are doing that are the same. Yes, there will be some differences, there always is. You want to take note of the similarities. Keep in mind that the people you model must be people whose results you admire in business, and in personal life. If you can figure out what they are all doing, that is similar, to be successful AND you commit to doing those things, you too, will be successful.

Do what they are doing and you will reflect their results. Many successful sales people are modeled in our e-booklet "The secrets of the top 10%". If you don't know any successful sales people to model, this booklet is a great start because it will provide the clues of how to identify success as well as providing concrete ideas on how you can be a success.

Typically what we find is that top performers are:

* They are focused on value not cost
* They are focused on ROI not activity input
* They take immediate and decisive action, and make decision quickly
* They implement, rather than thinking about what to do next
* They associate with others like them, who are supportive of new ideas
* They are all breaking the model of how business is being done traditionally in their industries.

Often, successful people are the ones with the most outrageous ideas. Starbucks was considered outrageous when they opened their first store - I mean really, who thought there would be a market for $7 coffee? With hindsight….wouldn't you have liked to be a first investor now?

Here is an exercise I can't wait to start, and I encourage you to o it as well. One the left hand side of a piece of paper, right down all the things your competitors do. What is considered normal business practice for your industry. Then, on the right side, list all the things you can do, to break these norms and stand out.

Remember - you can't make a sales and win a customer for life until after you do something different. Find those things that your competition is unwilling to do, and do them. If you treat your prospects differently, they will treat you differently and you will be differentiated from your competition forever.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Voice Mail

2007-10-03T21:36:00.000-04:00

Voice mail is a problem for all of us and its not going away anytime soon. Here are some of the best tips I know to handle it effectively!

1. Never leave a voice mail on the first attempt you call. An Engage best practice is to call at least 3 times randomly during the day. If on the 3rd time you still don’t get through, leave a voice mail

2. Never leave a voicemail message for someone who doesn't know you. To the prospect, you're an anonymous caller. The chances of this stranger ever returning your call are, at best, about one or two percent! The only time you should ever leave a voicemail for a prospect is when you have been referred to them.

3. Voicemail should only be used as a last resort. Too often, we give up as soon as the voicemail kicks in on a call, either leaving a message (bad idea) or simply hang up (better, but not great).

4. If you do leave a message make sure you have a reference. Use a testimonial or reference to breakdown the skepticism barrier between you and the prospect. Make sure that the referral sources name is used up front in your message.

5. When in doubt, hit zero

You owe it to yourself to try everything you can to either locate them, or at least find out something about them. One way to do this is to hit zero when a voicemail message kicks in. You’ll likely get bounced to a receptionist, an executive assistant or a co-worker. Try asking the following question:

“I was hoping you could help me. I'm trying to reach Jane Smith, and her voicemail picked up. Do you know if she's in a meeting, or out for the rest of the day?”

Depending on the response you receive, you can then try one of the following strategies:

Strategy one
Them: “She's in a meeting.”
You: “Thanks for your help. Do you happen to know when she’ll be available?” “Maybe it's best to call back then?”

Strategy two
Them: “She's away today.”
You: “Thanks for your help. Do you know if she will be back tomorrow?”

Strategy three
If you speak to your prospect's personal assistant, ask if it's better to schedule a call in advance, and then have them set a fifteen-minute appointment.

6. Hit zero and ask for the sales or customer service department. Ask “I’ve been trying to reach Bob to speak to him about X and I notice he is difficult to reach. Do you know if he is the right person?” Generally customer service team and sales teams will help guide you through the organization and give you insight into how best to reach your contact and whether they are in fact the right decision maker.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

...Speaking of listening

2007-10-01T21:51:00.000-04:00

I just remembered.....

When we train sales people to listen we teach them to look at their prospects in "listening mode". This means, sitting straight, making eye contact, pen in hand ready to take notes and mouth closed. Having your mouth closed is important because it signals to your prospect that you are listening - not getting ready to talk - AND that they have your full attention. Its a sign that you are ready to take direction from them.

Interestingly.....Chris and I are in puppy training classes with our 4 month old puppy Conrad. We are learning how to get their attention and the trainer said: "You will know when you have the puppies full attention when they lock their eyes on you and close their mouth. A closed mouth is a sing that they ware waiting for your next direction".

....now if I could only train Conrad to take notes!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

A lesson from a client

2007-10-01T21:41:00.000-04:00

On Friday during a sales training class a client told me:

"when a sales person opens his mouth there is a chance he will make a mistake. Better off to let the client open his mouth instead".

I thought this was a great lesson in listening, so I just nodded, agreed with him and let it sink in for the class. Point taken Bob!

The Eagle Blog: Customer Service - Update!

2007-09-25T19:38:00.000-04:00

Check out Kevin's blog at The Eagle Blog: Customer Service - Update! He is as passionate as I am about customer service!

Cheers Colleen

Stuck in a Rut?

2007-09-25T19:23:00.000-04:00

According to last moth's poll, 77% of you believe that the best time of day to make prospecting calls is between 8:30-11:00am. While some afternoons I'm inclined to agree with you, I really do believe that the best time of day to make a prospecting call is whenever your customer is at their desk! If that's 9:00 in the morning, great! If it's between 2:00-5:00pm... make your calls then.

But short of having ESP, how can you tell when your customers are likely to be at their desk?

That's the catch - you can't, at least not with 100% accuracy. What you can do is experiment with the times you're calling to see if there is a right or wrong time of day - and don't fall into the trap of treating all your customers the same!

If you're in a cold calling rut, here are a few ideas you can try:

Systematically block off time in your calendar to make prospecting calls, and then stick to it, no matter what else comes up.
If you really hate making those calls, make them first thing in the morning to get them over with! If there's one thing you can count on, it's that if you start putting off something you don't want to do, odds are you'll never get to it (much like how I put off going to the gym…).
If you're stuck in a rut and not getting any positive results, experiment with different calling times.
Most importantly, make calls every day - and don't use time as an excuse. Remember: no matter how good a sales person you are, I guarantee that you'll lose 100% of the sales calls you don't make.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Is bad customer service costing you business?

2007-09-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

I am constantly amazed by the poor service I regularly receive by various vendors – restaurants, retail store workers, and sales reps who are trying to sell me products, or services. The service skills I am exposed to range from mediocre to poor, and include such travesties as lying to get put through to me on the phone, never following up, over exaggerating what products are capable of, not listening to what I really want, not caring what I really want, ignoring me when I walk into their business, only talking to my husband (yes it still happens) and ignoring me after I make an initial purchase. Whew! It seams to me that everyday, there is less and less humanity in customer service and more and more indifference. Could I be right?

You be the judge. According to market research firm BIGresearch A whopping 85% of Americans think customer service is getting worse, or at best treading water. As a side note I think this number is the same for Canadians we are often just too polite to say anything! Additional research from Accenture tells us that half of us have switched service providers in the past year because of crummy service. Why should you care? Consider this: (1) The US National Retail Federation Foundation reports that if 100 people have a bad experience with your company you could lose up to 36 current or potential customers because of the verbal ripple effect. (2) Selling to new customers is on average 15 times more expensive than selling to existing customers AND (3) People who experience bad service tell on average 17 people about it. People who have great service tell on average 2.

It’s clear that the best sales people must also be the best customer service people. Your job is not only to sell. Its also to build a rock solid wall around your customers so they don’t want to leave.

Recently during a coaching call with a client they complained to me that no matter what they did, they could not convert a prospect to a customer. this customer was dealing with a competitor and despite the fact that the prospect admitted to being unhappy with their vendor (orders were late, incomplete and sometimes wrong) they were unwilling to leave because they really liked and trusted their sales rep. In other words, the prospect was willing to cut the vendor some slack though a tough time in order to save a relationship with the sales rep. My client asked….”What can we do?” My response was “hire the sales rep”. They thought I was joking. I was serious. Anyone who is that good at building and keeping relationships should be on your team.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Are you at risk of losing your job to a kiosk?

2007-09-19T20:21:00.000-04:00

n the pulp novels of 1950’s science fiction writers, the future was a nightmarish place where machines turned on their makers, and robots took over from – or did entirely away with – their human counterparts. For countless sales professionals across the country, that future is now upon us. Only instead of robots, it’s Web sites, self-service kiosks, direct mail and even interactive TV that are threatening to replace us, and do our jobs faster, cheaper and without needing an annual vacation.

Thanks to the Internet, we can now get virtually any product imaginable delivered right to our front doors, at the click of a mouse. Plus, once a novelty, self-service options have become commonplace in virtually every facet of our daily lives. From issuing our movie tickets, to checking us into our hotel rooms or putting gas in our cars, sales from self-service kiosks last year topped $161 billion. According to IHL consulting, in 2006, those numbers could reach $1 trillion.

In other words, if you’re in an industry that is automating, you could be in danger of losing your job to a kiosk.

To continue to be successful, today’s sales people need to develop an ability to create a truly positive experience for their customers, which inexpensive clerks and data entry peddlers simply can’t match. The following 3 ideas are some of the best (and easiest!) ways I know to create a more positive customer experience, and keep yourself from being automated out of a job:

Be empathetic and compassionate.Truly care about your customers. And remember, unless your last name is “DeNiro” or “Streep,” faking it simply won't work.

Add value and give first.No, this doesn't mean giving away free product in the hope that a prospect will give you their business. Rather, give away things that will increase your value, such as a referral to another client or partner, or sharing an idea that could help them solve a business problem.

Love what you sell, the company you work for and the customers you serve.Customers buy from sales people who believe in the products they sell, and the companies they work for. Choose to be honest, open and empathetic to your customers' needs, and you will experience consistent sales growth, build an excellent reputation – and quickly rise to the top of your field.

Light notes for a Monday morning

2007-09-17T06:22:00.000-04:00

Interesting Sales bites for a Monday morning!

Officeteam.com reports that women take 29 minutes on average to do personal tasks while men take 44 minutes. Are men trying to do more personal tasks at work, or do they take longer to do the same number of tasks… Does it matter? The reality is, if you did no personal tasks at work you would be able to leave the office 29-44 minutes earlier each day… or make at least 10 more sales calls each day. How are you really spending your time? Working hard? or just passing the time.

For 2007, sales rep jobs are the most difficult to fill in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, new Zealand, Ireland and Peru according to Manpower. If you have a hunger to leave your country and you are a top performing sales rep, you might find success internationally.

If you sell b2C you should know that 91% of Canadians prefer landlines over cell phones for communication.

A recent Towers Perrin study found that just 21 percent of all US employees are fully engaged (I'd love to know how they measured it). According to Julie Gebauer of Towers Perrin, the following three things matter most in engaging employees: (1) Rational understanding of the company's goals and values; (2) Emotional attachment to the organization; and (3) Willingness to go above and beyond specific job tasks.

The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York generates $4,032 in sales per square foot, the most of any national retailer.

China accounts for 73% of the world's beer consumption.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center finds that Americans are de-linking children as the sine qua non of successful marriages. In fact, they now tell pollsters they rate "having children" as the ninth most important out of 10 markers of successful marriages.

Interbrand and Businessweek's annual survey of global brands shows that, this year, the search giant Google has been deemed the world's most improved brand.

And finally…. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale in the U.S., blowing away the previous one-day sales record of 6.9 million copies, set by? No, not Honesty Sells. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, of course.

Have a great sales week!

Colleen

Increase your Sales by Increasing your Referals

2007-09-13T07:11:00.000-04:00

88% of sales people report that they receive less than 5 referrals a month, Cold calling is a tough way to make sales. In fact, I have discovered that on average, it takes 75 cold calls to get one sales. On the other hand, referred leads close at an average ratio of 3:1. Spending time, asking and collecting referrals from happy clients and partners is a much more profitable use of your time than making cold calls because referred leads are one of the easiest and most profitable ways to grow your business. Perhaps even more importantly, referrals also provide a great benchmark for how well you're building your business relationships.

Referrals are the “holy grail” of lead generation. When you receive referred leads from a customer without asking for them, you not only benefit from the chance to land new business. You also gain proof positive that you've earned the trust of your existing customers to such a degree that they've also become your most enthusiastic sales reps! Simply put, the more referred leads you get on a regular basis, the better job you're doing.

To build your monthly average of unsolicited referrals, try one - or all - of the following 5 quick tips:

1. The Golden Rule. Provide unsolicited referrals to your customers first, and you will receive referrals from them in turn. What goes around comes around. So if you haven't been getting any referrals, ask yourself: how many referrals have I given my customers lately?

2. Get by with a little help from your friends. Become friends with your customers. Meet them socially at business events, charity events, luncheons or other venues that aren't strictly business. Remember - people respond to people. So the stronger your personal relationship is with a client, the more likely they are to refer their friends to you.

3. Provide remarkable service. What is remarkable service? Service that is so good, people will want to go out of their way to talk about it. Ask your “A” customers what great service means to them, and then deliver precisely what they want. You will be rewarded both for your credibility, and for your ability to make - and keep - your promises.

4. Give value away for free. Find something you can provide to your customer that doesn’t cost you anything, but which is of significant value to them. Maybe an email newsletter? A list of best practices or other customers' examples of how to use your product? Inside information about your clients' industry? Or even just a Q&A forum on your Web site? By providing extra value for free, you will increase the loyalty of your existing customers, and draw new people to you as an expert source of information.

5. Be proactive. Finally, strive to anticipate what your customer might need at each stage of product ownership. Then, do everything in your power to provide that service or information to your customer, before they need it.

If you want to come across to your clients and prospects as someone who they can trust to do business with, remember to eliminate all fidgeting, scratching, squirming and twitching, no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. Yes, I know it can be uncomfortable not to scratch your nose if you have an itch. But believe it or not, the very best sales people really do let their noses itch, their feet prickle and their ears tingle without doing anything about it - at least, not in front of the client.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Why is networking important

2007-09-11T08:43:00.000-04:00

Hi There,

I recently completed an online interview at www.beltwaynetworking.com and thought that you would enjoy - and profit from - the discussion.

Q: In today's business world, why is Networking important? There are 3 reasons why networking is important: (1) Networking is an important way to develop contacts that you might not be able to meet by cold calling. If you can develop a personal relationship with prospects before you pick up the phone to call them, they are more likely to be receptive to a meeting. (2) Networking also benefits you because you meet people who can introduce you to other decision makers. (3) Finally networking is beneficial because it enables you to build a network of referrals and introductions for your clients. If you can help you clients meet the people they need to grow successfully, you will encourage repeat business and referrals.

Q: When you network, how important is to set personal goals and expectations? Each time you go to a networking event you set a goal to accomplish. That goal should be the number of contacts you wish to make, As long as its 1 or more - you have a great goal! Don't be too hard on yourself about the number of people you meet at an event, and always make sure you are being realistic.You can't go to an event with 50 attendees and expect to collect 35 business cards! Sometimes, all it takes is meeting 1 super connection and the event has been worthwhile for you.Your primary goal should always be to attend the event and meet new people. Connecting with others you have not seen in a while is a useful goal as well if you know that those connections can potentially bring you business in the future I suggest setting a goal for the number of events with specific associations you will attend each month or quarter. The best approach is to pick one networking group that your prospects will attend - so you can network for new clients - and 1 event with your peers attending - so you can network with others like yourself. Networking with your peers helps you improve your skills and offers you invaluable ideas to use in your job.

Q: If you could share one piece of advice you have learned to make networking more effective, what would it be? I like to go to networking events alone because it forces me to meet new people. If you go with friends or colleagues, you will be tempted to hang out with the people you know.

Q: Who or what has had the biggest impact on your networking and how did it impact you? Being in sales for the last 15 years has had the biggest impact on my networking. Every significant sale I have won was the result of a connection I established at a networking events
including trade shows, industry events and dinner parties. One year at Engage, the two most significant clients came as a result of me networking with my neighbors at home! You never know who has the power to bring you business. As a result, you must always be prepared to network!

Q: Where can we find you networking? I network professionally with my peers at the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) and the National Speaker Association (NSA). I will also be networking at educational events this year such as the Dan Kennedy Super Conference in St Louis and many SMEI events (Sales and Marketing Executives International). I hope to see you there!

Prospecting is the Key to Sales Success

2007-09-06T10:39:00.000-04:00

A recent poll of Engage customers revealed a shocking habit. When asked, “How much time per day do you spend prospecting” 29% responded less than 1 hour a month prospecting for new business, 44% less than half a day, and only 17% at least one full day per month. Pathetic!! Considering that prospecting is the number one secret to sales success there must be a number of struggling sales professional out there. I can't say this often or emphatically enough, “There is no sales problem that good prospecting skills can’t solve.”

I know that you are getting tired of me spouting off about this, it’s just that 80% of sales people still don’t get it.

I frequently coach sales reps who know exactly what to say, when to say it, and have terrific, well-priced products. But they still can’t sell. Why? Because they have no prospects waiting in their sales funnel to qualify and close. And if you don’t have any prospects, you can’t make any sales. Period. To ensure you have a steady stream of new business opportunities, the following is a quick two-step process that I use in many of my coaching sessions, which can help you be more proactive with your prospecting each and every week:

Step 1: Evaluate. First, how many prospects do you really need? In most industries, you can use the average metric of about 25 "suspects" - or 3 qualified prospects - for every sale. A suspect is a cold prospect. You have an inkling that they should be interested in your product, but you haven't talked to them yet, and they haven't contacted or been referred to you. A qualified prospect is someone who you know has a need for your product, and a desire to buy it from someone. They also have the money to spend, and the power to make the transaction happen. To find out how many prospects you should have in your sales funnel, just multiply the number of new customers you need each year, by the number of suspects or qualified prospects it will probably take to get them.

Step 2: Execute. Once your target is set, you can start to work towards achieving it through the following four key prospecting techniques:

1) Get referrals. Referred leads are a profitable way to grow your business, as well as a good benchmark for how well you're building your business relationships. The “holy grail” in lead generation is to receive leads from your customers without asking for them. These unsolicited referrals are proof that you've earned so much trust and loyalty that your existing customers have become your sales reps! The more leads you get, the more satisfied your existing customers likely are, and the better the job you're doing.

2) Network. In any career, success or failure is a direct result of our networks, and the people we know. As the old saying goes, "take care of your people (or, in this case, your network), and your business will take care of itself.” For all their differences in approach, style and technique, the top 10% of sales people all have one thing in common: they are all more likely to employ a broad network of friends, family, acquaintances and connections to help them seize opportunities, and respond to challenges. To learn how to develop your network, take a look at our article "Getting By With a Little Help From Your Friends: 4 Fail-Safe Tips for Perfecting Your Networking Technique," available at www.engageselling.com

3) Be a Life Giver. Life Givers know that what goes around, comes around. They understand the power of reciprocity, and use it to their advantage. So don't hoard your contacts. Open your proverbial Rolodex, and start making introductions. Be the first at an event or party to provide a contact to someone you've just met, rather than waiting for them to give you something first. Once you start sharing your contacts and making connections with and for others, it won't be long before your clients and contacts start returning the favor in spades.

4) Make the calls. Last but not least, those sales reps who are at the top of their profession almost always have a short, precise "To Do" list, which relates directly to achieving their goals for the year. Right at the top of your list should be the number of prospecting calls you're going to make every day. And to make sure it gets done, keep your list short - probably no more than 4 to 5 items a day - and make sure it gets done first thing in the morning, before all those other inevitable little "fires" can create excuses for getting to work. By carrying out your To Do list each day without fail, you'll find your number of prospects will grow - and your business soar - faster than you ever thought possible.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Featured Guest Spot

2007-09-05T06:50:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I was honoured to be the featured sales expert on Jonathan Farrington's Top 10 sales articles blog last week. Check it out - his blog is a great resource for many practical sales ideas.

Cheers Colleen

Bad Sales behaviour take 2.....

2007-09-05T06:44:00.000-04:00

We receive a ton of calls in our office from sales people trying to prospect me. Mostly they are bad. Well, let me be truthful, mostly they are horrendous! The other day Casey took a call from someone who said they were referred to me. When she asked who by, the sales “pro” could not answer the question. It became obvious after a series of questions that she was just using this as a tactic to get through the gatekeeper.

Here’s a hint….lying never works.

Speaking of lying…. Last night at home I received a call from a telemarketer. Well, it was more like a message because it went right through to voice mail. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have noting against voice broadcasting, when it’s done correctly. In this case the message left was “we are just calling to make sure you received the free sample of meat we sent you” and then went on to deliver their commercial about their extraordinary meat. Now really, who delivers fresh meat in the mail to consumers who are not expecting it? This is just stupid. They did not ship me meat, they are just hoping I’ll call back so they can sell me some.

I’m not sure what makes me more frustrated, the fact that sales people still use these tactics, or that consumers are still falling for them. I realize its kind of a “chicken or the egg” argument. I wish it would stop because every time a lie is used, all sales people get branded with the same brush, making our jobs as real professionals even harder.

LAST one I promise….A couple weeks ago I was writing in my office and Casey was informed that I was blocking all calls except for one from a particular vendor. When she answered, I heard her ask “Oh hi Joe, are you the Joe from XYZ’s office?” and then she put the call through. I answered expecting my vendor and it wasn’t. So I had to ask, “why did you say you from XYZ office when you were not?” he replied, because I thought it would get me through to you?. I asked him if he knew what we did for a living (which he didn’t , so now he has two strikes – the second for not being prepared) and then I gave him a quick sales lesson about what lying got him, offered to sell him Honesty Sells at a discount rate because he needed it and told him not to call again. OUCH!

Yes….OK I was harsh. I am just so sick of blatantly ad and rude sales behavior. Remember our number 1 rule….BE NICE!

Dediciated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

The Eagle Blog: McKinsey's thoughts on jerks!

2007-08-17T13:50:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Please read Kevin Dee's The Eagle Blog: McKinsey's thoughts on jerks! I downloaded the report Kevin mentions and look forward to reading it this weekend. His posting has inspired me to create a "no jerks in sales" day to ban nasty sellers and their techniques from our profession.

Remember, in sales, Nice Guys (and girls) finish first.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Podcast on referrals

2007-08-09T12:30:00.000-04:00

I recently recorded a podcast for www.saleopedia.com that has been receiving a great response. I'm not sure if you are a salesopedia subscriber so I thought I would forward you the link directly. (You should sign up for their newsletter, it's great!)

http://www.salesopedia.com/content/view/956/1/

In this podcast I discuss the advantages of referred leads versus cold calling, supporting my position with the hard sales numbers you really should know. I address why we don't ask for referrals, when and how to ask for a referrals, and I share specific tips on asking for referrals that actually work. You will also hear about my 'Advocacy Program' designed to manage your referral network more efficiently.

Be sure to listen to the podcast and start immediately applying the concepts during your sales day - everyday!

http://www.salesopedia.com/content/view/956/1/

Dedicated to increasing your sales,
Colleen

How many friends do you have?

2007-08-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

Hi There,

Smart sales pros know that the size of your network is directly proportional to the size of your net worth. Networking, meeting new people, and contacts should be a daily part of your sales activity. Check out Harvard Business Review Online for a great posting about the power of networks.

While your at it....if you are a subscriber and want to "friend" me on facebook Go ahead. Just be sure to send me an email so I know who you are! I am always looking to expand my network and so should you.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Another month of lukewarm sales?

2007-08-09T10:29:00.000-04:00

Hi Sales Bloggers!

I wanted to let you know about a special offer presented to me from my publisher at Salesdog because I know you want to sell more -- a lot more. AND I don't want you to suffer through another month of lukewarm sales. You can learn what really works -- and what doesn't -- from North America's leading sales experts."Top Dog Sales Secrets" is a no-nonsense, high-energy, information-packed book that will teach you exactly how the top pros are selling more -- right now! Every day!

Click here to get started http://www.salesdog.com

Here's what readers are saying:
"It's like reading the best ideas from 50 sales books all in one book. It's awesome!"– Michelle Nichols, Savvy Selling International

"Top Dog Sales Secrets is a veritable "field guide" for anyone battling in the world of professional selling." – Mark J. Dougherty, Director, Financial Services, Co-Star

"An absolute must read for anyone wanting to improve their sales performance."– John Hetzler, Northeast U.S. & Canada Sales Manager, Hexion Specialty ChemicalsIt's your choice.

Get your copy of Top Dog Sales Secrets and watch your sales soar.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

P.S. When you send for your copy today, you'll also receive these three powerful bonus sales tools compliments of the publisher:

1. "Attracting More Customers: How to Create an Irresistible Elevator Speech" e-book (a $19.95 value) from sales strategist Jill Konrath of Selling to Big Companies

2. Special Report: "The Top 10 Voice Mail Blunders and what you can do to avoid them" (a $16.95 value) from telesales guru Jim Domanski of Teleconcepts Consulting

3. "Handling Objections" a 30-page workbook (a $6.99 value) by "The Growth Coach" Dave Kahle

Beating Procrastination

2007-08-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

Accomplishing profitable sales often means overcoming our innate human need for immediate gratification and focus on tasks that have long term results.

Procrastination happens because we spend time trying to convince ourselves that the sales task will be excessively painful. The desire for most sales people to put off cold calling is driven from the believe that we will "suffer" painful rejection by making calls.

(NOTE: I chose to believe that not making sales and hence not getting paid is more painfull than not making calls.....)

However, the rewards of getting what you want, and accomplishing your goals - financial and personal make the pain, and the present moment sacrifice well worth the hassle.

Nando Pelusi PH.D (clinical psychologist) offers these suggestions for fighting procrastination:

Start Small. My yoga teacher used to push us by stating, "you can do anything, hold any pose for 2 minutes". He was right, AND the same applies to any business task you are currently avoiding. Use the 15 minute mark as a time frame. Make calls for 15 minutes, non stop with no interaction. You can do anything for 15 minutes. In most cases you will build such a strong momentum that you will continue at the task until its completed.
Challenge Yourself. Dispute the idea that you "can't do it" Often we learn by trial and error. And if you take a long range view, you'll find that you can do something you once perceived as difficult.
Keep Tabs. Write out your goals daily. You're most likely to stick to your plans if you monitor your progress towards your goal on a regular basis
Commit to others. Game theory in business calls this "Credible Threat". The idea is that if you tell others what you are attempting, you are more like to accomplish the task. The intrinsic motivation provided by others will make you more conscientious about getting it done.
Accept Incremental Progress. Dispute the idea that you need comfort and immediate reward. Getting rid of those ideas can refocus you on your long term goal.
Reward yourself. What gets rewarded gets repeated! Relax after a period of sustained effort. Professional athletes know that in order to play their best when it counts, they need to rest their bodies some of the time. In order for you to be at your emotional best, you need to rest your brain once in a while too.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Motorcycle Momma's...and all that

2007-08-01T12:45:00.000-04:00

Today is full of marketing and sales gems This just in from Cristi Cooke at Majority Marketing:

"According to the July 25th, 2007 article in the New York Times, Harley Davidson has identified the women’s market as their fastest growing segment and is investing heavily in capitalizing on it. According to the article, women will spend about $300 million on Harley bikes this year in the United States, not including accessories, riding gear and clothes. The article quotes Jerry G. Wilke, Harley-Davidson’s vice president for customer relationships and product planning: “the opportunities to cater to women are endless, and we will continue to do more.”

...considering I am a Harley woman I say "Ahem to that!"

what are you doing in your business to ensure you recognize all fast growing demographic segments. It might not be women, it could be overseas, Hispanic or youth. Every quarter you should reassess where you business is coming from and ensure you are addresses segments that might be growing. Ask yourself: How can I capitalize on this growth?

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

2007-08-01T11:31:00.000-04:00

I couldn't resist this story from HBR on line today.....

"Mattel has just launched its biggest new Barbie product since My Scene, an unsuccessful attempt to catch up with Bratz, in 2002. The new 4.5-inch doll (complete with interchangeable outfits) doubles as an MP3 music player, but more importantly is a device that, when plugged into a PC, provides instant access to the BarbieGirls.com website. The site is a virtual world where girls can create their own personalized avatar, play games, shop, chat, and even design their own apartment. "

Interactive Barbie....I guess rather than using your own imagination from now on you can have the computer create it for you!

Creativity and imagination are cornerstones of a great sales performance. Don't sacrfice developing yours....

Colleen

Are you making it hard on yourself by selling to difficult Markets?

2007-07-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

Donald Cooper is a terrific business strategist. I receive his emails monthly and I thought this item was an interesting one for those of us who do business internationally:

The top 10 easiest countries in which to do business are...
1) Singapore
2) New Zealand
3) USA
4) Canada
5) Hong Kong
6) UK
7) Denmark
8) Australia
9) Norway
10) Ireland

He suggests that you check out the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business Report" available on the web. I'm going to check it out today myself!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

2007-07-18T16:49:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Today I received my copy of Top Dog sales Secrets. 50 Top Experts Show You Proven Ways to Skyrocket Your Sales . I love it!

The publisher selected excellent articles written by some of the best sales strategists I know including: Jill Konrath, Art Sobczak, Bill Brooks, Patricia Fripp and Jim Domanski.

Top Dog is a collection of over 80 articles are included on a wide variety of sales topics: prospecting, cold calling, phone skills, sales skills, questions, stalls, presentations, sales skills, strategies, value, closing and negotiating.

If you're looking for ideas & insights, you won't be disappointed. Check out Top Dog Sales Secrets now. P.S. 2 of my articles are in it, including several of my favorites: Winning the Negotiation Game and Are you teaching your customers to mistreat you.

BONUS! I have 1 extra copy in my office and the first person to post a comment on this blog posting telling me why they need the book....will receive it free of charge!

Dedicated to increasing yoursales,

Colleen

Enough is Enough!

2007-07-05T15:48:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

In the last 48 hours I have been witness to some of the worst sales behaviour ever.

The other night a telemarketer called our house, I answered, and she asked me if she could "speak to the lady of the house". I was at a loss for words so I just hung up. My husband told me I should have responded "there is no lady in this house!" To that he received a dirty look and a punch in the shoulder.

Today I was left a voice mail from a company that sells applicant tracking systems for staffing companies. Her voice mail said "I'm following up to see what type of applicant tracking system you use." If she had taken 2 moments to check out my website she could tell that I am not a staffing company nor a target client. Instead she wasted her time and my voice mail space.

Last week a specialty meat company called and left me a message asking how I "enjoyed the free sample they sent me". Of course, there was never a free sample. Am I really stupid enough to believe that they would send a raw steak in the mail in the middle of summer?

Horrific sales calls like these three are proof that sales people don't spend time preparing for their calls. Here are three simple things to prepare for each time you make a call:

1) Know who you are calling and be able to ask for them by name.

2) Research the company you are prospecting in order to have a relevant discussion about their business, AND

3) Develop an honest sales technique to engage with prospects. (For more on this, and the basis for the work I do in Honesty in Sales do see my partner www.stevengaffney.com)

Sales people say to me that my sales techniques are simplistic, the basics, and not Rocket Science. To that I respond "You're darned toot'n they're the basics!" Why? Because I get calls like this everyday where the basics (Be Nice, Stay Foced and Get to Work!) are getting ignored and sales people are losing business. Until we get the basics right, and are using them 100% of the time, we have no business trying to implement advanced techniques.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Puppy Pictures as Promised

2007-07-03T14:10:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

You will notice if you look at my calender that this summer I am sticking close to home. That's because I have a puppy on the way. We pick him up as soon as I return from the NSA conference in San Diego. (By the way if you are attending this conference, or if you live in the San Diego area I would love to meet you!)

Here are some recent pictures of little Conrad. He is 7 weeks old.....

And one with Conrad playing with his Dad "Bud"

I am looking forward to working on a few projects close to home this summer to enjoy puppy training. So..I promise to be active on the blog, web classess and email tips. Let me know if you have a particularly vexing sales question....this is the season for me to tackle it!

Cheers Colleen

Please Feel Free to Come in and Use our Washrooms

2007-06-21T16:58:00.000-04:00

I loved this artilce by my freind Kim Ades. Enjoy!

My daughter has a small bladder - that's just the way it is. She is still only 7 years old and invariably, each time we leave the house, we are in search of a washroom (restroom for Americans). I usually factor it in to our journey but sometimes a mother forgets. I forgot the other day. We went shopping at the ROOTS warehouse outlet in a strip mall not far from my office. ROOTS, for those of you who don't know, is a clothing store that sells t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and sweat pants symbolizing Canada's national identity in sports and athletics across the world. I was on a mission to buy a few gifts for some of my American friends.

With the assistance of my kids, I scoured the store for close to an hour. I chose a bunch of cool, funky t-shirts for my friends, a series of matching sweat suits for my kids, and even picked out a few things for me. My bill was easily $500. As we approached the cash, I heard the all familiar

Mom, I have to pee."
"Is it urgent?" I asked
"Yes - it's extremely urgent."

I approached the young girl standing at the cash register. "Is there a washroom that we can use?"

"No I'm sorry, we don't have a public washroom in the store."
"But my daughter is desperate."
"I'm sorry, I can't help you, we don't have a washroom in the store."
"Where is the closest washroom?"
"At Tim Hortons, in the next strip mall across the way."
"Are you telling me that when you have to use the washroom, you have to leave the store and go to Tim Horton's?"

She chose not to answer that one. Clearly they had a washroom that was not for public use. Not even in extreme circumstances. I begged, I pleaded, I was incredulous, and slowly my anger grew. I threatened to leave the store without buying a thing - they didn't care. I couldn't believe that they were ready to let a sale go because they didn't want to break the store's washroom policy.

I left the store fuming. Fuming and thinking that if I owned a retail store I would put up a sign that says "Please feel free to come in and use our washrooms." I would use it to drive traffic. In fact, I would be known for that. And as soon as they finished their business, I would offer them a pamphlet showing them the store specials or give them a food sample to keep them in the store longer. I would make them feel good about coming into the store. I would surprise and delight them and they would be happy to buy lots of stuff. And when they approached the cash, they would be greeted by the warmest, friendliest face who would go the extra mile to let them know about something else they might like to buy and call over a sales person to bring it over to them. I would turn it into an experience where they leave with a smile - one that they go home talking about.

What can you do to leave your customers feeling so good that they walk away talking about you? How can you go the extra mile? It's more than just adding value - it's adding delight. And it's training everyone in the organization to deliver delight. Think about what would delight you and factor it in. It doesn't have to be huge or wildly expensive - but it does have to leave people feeling like you truly care about them.

Kim Ades, MBA is founder and President of Opening Doors. She is launching a new coaching program called Frame of Mind, based on the principles of thought management. She is a regular contributor to a series of national real estate publications including Frog Pond Magazine, Real Estate Professional Magazine, and RISMedia's National Real Estate and Relocation Magazine.
If you would like to speak to Kim, she can be reached at kim@openingdoors.tv

A Sales No No!!!

2007-06-07T16:51:00.001-04:00

I just hung up the phone from a call I returned to a sales rep. She had left a message on my phone a couple days ago and not knowing if this was going to be a customer or a supplier call I decided to call back. The last thing I want to do is risk losing a potential customer because I don't want to talk to a vendor. Besides really...what's the worst that could happen. I suppose I could have an experience that I need to share! And that's exactly what happened....

I called the company back and immediately received the person who called me. That's a positive thing. I introduced myself and she said, "Oh Colleen Hi!" Like she knew me - that's another good thing because I felt welcomed. Then it all fell apart.

She said....Give me a second......pause...."what is your last name?". Then she spelled it. Then there was a pause...and then.... "oh and you are with Engage Selling right?...."

And finally...."Just gimee a second here, Oh yeah, well the reason I was calling..."

She was unprepared for the call and had to look me up to find out why she called me in the first place. This is a big No No! If your system is not sophisticated enough to immediately bring up the client's file...don't leave a message. You ruin your chances to make the sale when you have to stall, locate the client file and reconfirm who they are all while they are on the phone! You may as well be saying to your prospect "why are you calling me?"

You are better off to just keep calling them back until you reach them so you can be prepared!

Dedicated to increasing your sales
Colleen

Do you have what it takes?

2007-06-07T10:41:00.000-04:00

My friend John Dealy runs a very successful advisory council business and I receive his emails regularly. I thought this one was a great discussion of what it takes to be successful

1.They work smart and effectively.
They intention, they plan and they take action. They take time to play. They get up early, rarely complain. While expecting performance from others, they expect extraordinary performance from themselves. Repeated, high-level success starts with recognition that hard work pays off.

2. They are curious and eager to learn.
They study, ask questions, read and learn - constantly! They apply and/or take advantage of what they learn. Repeated success is not about memorizing facts, it's about being able to take information and create, build, or use it in new and resourceful ways. Successful people want to learn everything about everything!

3. They MasterMind.
They know lots of people, and they know lots of different kinds of people. They listen to, ask questions and interact with friends, neighbors, co-workers and taxi-drivers. They don't have to be 'the life of the party.' In fact many are quiet, some are shy. They have a rolodex full of people who value their friendship and return their calls. Successful people value relationships and they take advantage of the power of the MasterMind in both small conversations and larger group situations.

4. They work on themselves.
Socrates said 'Know Thyself.' Really successful people work on their personality, leadership skills, management skills, and every other detail of life. When a relationship or business deal goes sour, they learn from what happened and do better next time. Successful people don't accept flaws; they fix them!

5. They are extraordinarily creative.
Very successful people go around asking, 'Why not?' They see new combinations, possibilities, opportunities and challenges where others see problems or limitations. They ask for advice, try things out, consult experts and amateurs, and look for a better, faster, cheaper solution. Successful people create marvelous new and exciting possibilities.

6. The are self-reliant and take responsibility.
Successful people don't worry about blame. They don't waste time complaining. They make decisions and move on. Extremely successful people take the initiative, take action and accept the responsibilities for their decisions and the results.

7. They respond wisely to change.
Even in times of stress or turmoil, highly successful people keep their balance. They know the value of timing, humor, patience and being prepared. Extraordinarily successful people breathe easily, ask questions, and make quick decisions, even in a crisis.

8. They have a gift for living in the moment.
Extremely successful people know that 'Now' is the only time they can control. They have a 'gift' for looking people in the eye, listening to what is being said, enjoying a meal or fine wine, music or playing with a child. They never seem rushed, and they get a lot done! They take full advantage of every minute of each day. Successful people don't spend time; they invest it!

9. They custom design marvelous futures.
Living in the present gives them a unique ability to 'look over the horizon' and see the future. They observe trends, notice changes, see shifts, and hear the nuances that others miss. Extremely successful people live in the present, with an insightful eye on the future and build with enthusiasm!

10. They take Action!
When an investment isn't working out, they sell. When they see an opportunity, they make the call. If an important relationship is cooling down, they take time to renew it. When technology, a new competitor or a change in the economic situation requires an adjustment, they are the first and quickest to respond.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Follow up to Social Networking

2007-06-05T15:13:00.000-04:00

Interesting to note that I have had 2 previous clients, that I shamefully lost track of, find me on Facebook this week. Maybe it can be a professional and personal networking tool. Anyone ever used face book for professional networking purposes?

I believe that sales people need to be out in their market place constantly making connections who can either buy from them, or help them find new customers. The bigger your network is the more money you will make, and the more money you can help others make. Yes, its true, helping people achieve their dreams is directly tied to you achieving yours.

Any stories, good or bad you have to share about networking sites is greatly appreciated. either post it here or email us.

Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen

Something to Think About

2007-06-03T15:51:00.000-04:00

According to Dan Kennedy's research we lose customers for the following reasons:

1% die
3% move
14% are influenced by a friend's or relative's advice and switch to their brand
9%leave because of a better price or product
14% switch du to product or service dissatisfaction
68% leave because they felt the sales person and company were indifferent to their needs. They feel taken for granted

Now, there is not a lot you can do about the 4% who move or die but what are you doing about the 14% who are lured away on a freinds advice? What can you do to keep clients? What can you do to get your clients to refer you to their friends and family?

What are you doing to resolve customer service issues quickly. What are you doing to prevent customer service issues from arising in the first place?

Lastly - how can you show your customers everyday that you do not take them for granted and treat them as if they are your most valuable asset (becuase they are).

I suggest you spend the time to figure out the true value of each customer. What do they spend, who do they refer, how long are they on average a client. Likely you will be amazed at how much each client is worth to you over the course of 5-10 years.

Show them you care and they will reward you with more business.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Sales Success Story

2007-06-02T16:39:00.000-04:00

I was coaching a client yesterday who implemented a great campaign based on some advice. I thought I'd share the details because it is a great lesson in how staying in touch in a fun way can yield sales results.

June 1st was Doughnut day. How could you have known? Chases Calander of event is the best source for event marketing..... so my client experimented with 15 of his top prospects. He sent them all a card wishing them a "Happy Doughnut day" and a $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card. All total the campaign cost him less than $150, and in his words, "was far less painful than making cold calls."

NOTE that he did not ask for their business or promote his products at all. In return he received 1 order for $3000 and 3 call in from prospects who would like to schedule meetings and re engage. That's not a bad ROI for a small campaign.

The key lesson here is that people love to feel special. If you can make your clients feel special, and have doing doing it you can make more sales.

- dedicated to increasing your sales
Colleen

Social Networking Sites and Sales

2007-05-26T08:34:00.000-04:00

Good Morning,

I recently signed up on facebook...yes I am a bit behind. In my defence I was born in the 70's and facebook usually caters to the "younger demographic"...or so I thought. I was surprised to me how many business associates, and friends had already joined. Immediately I have been connected to a friend who I lost touch with 7 years ago, who now runs an Internet company . I good friend from high school I have not seen since 1987 recently reached out to me who is a recording artist in NYC and 2 girls I used to play soccer with who are now in Ottawa - where I am - working for the government. All highly successful,dynamic people.....life givers!

So far, I have made plans to get together with 3 of them face to face.

I am also on linked-in and have developed a fairly large network of people who I have recommended and have recommended me. I have done nothing with linked in yet....

All this on line social networking is interesting and fun,but are they just a distraction or can they lead to real business connections and sales? I am going to try. A couple of my facebook friends are people that I can help by connecting them to other I know. Remember its give first. This week I endeavour to reach out to all my new, old friends and see if there is some way I can help them growth their business. The more people I can help, the better.

I figure that since sales is all about connection, and tools like facebook and linked in are focused on connecting people why not give them a try! They can be just another tool kin your prospecting tool belt. Use social networking sites to reconnect with past clients, friends and colleagues and then pick up the phone, call them, get together, rebuild a true connection.

You already know that you should be expanding your network everyday if you want to be successful. I say, use every tool possible to do that. What have you got to lose for trying?

Dedicated to increasing your sales
~ Colleen

Do you Take Time off....Completely?

2007-05-24T12:43:00.000-04:00

How often to get away? I mean really get away - from your cell phones, email, blackberry or should I say Crackberry! I have been know to work hard, in fact some will call me a workaholic and I have had staff comment that I am "freakishly productive". I'm not sure the workaholic label is truly correct....but that's just a semantics argument. The truth is that when I am at work, I do work hard, and all the time. When I am at play, I play hard....no work.

This past long weekend, my better half and I celebrated in Montreal with a fine meal at Club Chasse et Peche and prime seats at the newest Cirque du Soliel show Kooza!. I have seen 5 Cirque shows now and they never cease to amaze me. This one was the best. They received 4 standing ovations during the course of the show and people literally jumped to their feet cheering at the end - including me. I highly recommend this, or any of their shows. They are truly and without excpetion the greatest show on earth!

Why were we celebrating? Well, we are now a single income family as my hubby has retired from corporate life (more on this to come in late June). And that is a good reason to reward yourself! This trip was part of his retirement tour. Other stops for him include Beirut, New York, Edmonton and San Deigo. Yes a diverse mix!

While we were in Montreal I made the effort not to touch my cell or email. It was very liberating to be present in the moment for all three days. No worrying about what I have to do next week, or may have forgot to do last week. NO stress about the busy upcoming week and my 2 web classes. Just play time.

So back to how we can be more productive and work while at work. The truth is, taking time off makes you more productive. When you turn off - 100% off - for a few days and do something fun you actually come back to your work feeling refreshed. Everything looks different and you have a new perspective. New ideas flow and a new energy emerges. Truth is, I am excited to come back to work on Monday when I have had a 100% play time weekend. Try it some time! Its a profitable idea you can't afford to miss.

Dedicated to increasing your sales

~ Colleen

Love Your Customers

2007-05-24T06:47:00.000-04:00

It takes love to be successful in sales.

Love what you sell, Love who you sell it for and love who you sell it too! Speaking of which, how often do you show your customers the love?

Do you show them appreciation for your success? After all, if they weren’t customers, you wouldn’t be in business! This month show them some love, send them a thank you card, some chocolate, a small gift. Starbucks™ cards work well because they mail easily and have an air of luxury about them. Not everyone will pay $5 of their own money for a coffee but they gladly appreciate you if you are buying!

Make your appreciation fun, do something unusual. Remember, that if you want to make sales, you need to make people feel special AND you need to stand out from your competition. So ask yourself…what is my competition unwilling to do? AND what will make my customer feel special?

Some great sources of unusual and highly appreciated food gifts are www.elenis.com for gourmet cookies; www.harryanddavid.com; for gourmet food in general, www.omahasteaks.com for delicious grade AAA steaks and beef products; www.tiffanys.com for luxury items that are surprisingly reasonable ($40 and up for gifts that are wrapped and delivered FedEx to your unsuspecting and now VERY HAPPY customer).

I would love to know what your gift or reward sources are.

Your choices are endless my advice is to just do something! Anything that shows appreciation is a good thing. If you missed valentines day use St Patrick’s day, Memorial Day, Canada Day or Independence day as an excuse to celebrate with your customers. Don’t like “holiday marketing? (I’m not sure why you wouldn’t but that a whole other discussion…) then just thank them and appreciate them for no reason.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,
~Colleen

Is Service Getting Better or Worse?

2007-05-18T14:04:00.000-04:00

I am constantly amazed by the poor service I regularly receive by various vendors – restaurants, retail store workers, and sales reps who are trying to sell me products, or services. The service skills I am exposed to range from mediocre to poor, and include such travesties as lying to get put through to me on the phone, never following up, over exaggerating what products are capable of, not listening to what I really want, not caring what I really want, ignoring me when I walk into their business, only talking to my husband (yes it still happens) and ignoring me after I make an initial purchase. Whew! It seams to me that everyday, there is less and less humanity in customer service and more and more indifference.

Could I be right?

You be the judge. According to market research firm BIGresearch A whopping 85% of Americans think customer service is getting worse, or at best treading water. As a side note I think this number is the same for Canadians we are often just too polite to say anything! Additional research from Accenture tells us that half of us have switched service providers in the past year because of crummy service. Why should you care? Consider this:

(1) The US National Retail Federation Foundation reports that if 100 people have a bad experience with your company you could lose up to 36 current or potential customers because of the verbal ripple effect.

(2) Selling to new customers is on average 15 times more expensive than selling to existing customers AND

(3) People who experience bad service tell on average 17 people about it. People who have great service tell on average 2.

It’s clear that the best sales people must also be the best customer service people. Your job is not only to sell. Its also to build a rock solid wall around your customers so they don’t want to leave. Recently during a coaching call with a client they complained to me that no matter what they did, they could not convert a prospect to a customer. this customer was dealing with a competitor and despite the fact that the prospect admitted to being unhappy with their vendor ( orders were late, incomplete and sometimes wrong) they were unwilling to leave because they really liked and trusted their sales rep. In other words, the prospect was willing to cut the vendor some slack though a tough time in order to save a relationship with the sales rep. My client asked….”What can we do?” My response was “hire the sales rep”. They thought I was joking. I was serious. Anyone who is that good at building and keeping relationships should be on your team.

The best sales people are focused on ensuring their customers only buy from them, without shopping around AND also actively refer other prospects. The very best sales people know how to make their customers feel so special and so safe doing business with them that they don’t ever leave, even when problems arise (as with the prospect above). Leaving is considered risky, staying is considered profitable.

To do this you need to build a service offering that is so valuable, the cost for the customer to switch to a different supplier is simply too high. How can we accomplish this? First, commit to yourself and your company that you will practice exceptional customer service everyday. Be n ice to your customers. Then….as Nike would say…Just do it! It’s easier than you think. Why?

Well first of all, the most recent research shows that consumer standards have been lowered by the lack of service in the market place. What was once considered a courtesy – eye contact, a handshake and thank you – now passes for great service! You don’t have to make this complicated

Profitable Statistics

2007-05-18T09:24:00.000-04:00

Fully engaged employees are 67% more productive and moderately engaged employees are 40% more productive than non engaged employees according to McKinsey.

Engagement can be defined as the opposite of alienation. So, if your sales team needs to be more productive, ask yourself first, how engaged are they? And what are we doing as a company to make sure they are engaged?

You can tell when a sales rep is engaged because they go the extra mile, they exert discretionary effort showing real passion for what they do. A fully engaged sales rep hurts when they lose a deal and celebrates when they win. They are competitive because they care. They fight for what's best for the company, the client and themselves because they believe in what they do. They are fully aligned with the products and the company.

Engaged sales reps create emotional connectivity with their clients. I know this sounds fluffy...and if you know me, you also know I hate fluff. So consider this fact.....emotionally connected customers spend 46% more than customers who are merely satisfied, accord to a 2004 Gallop study.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all build emotional connectivity with all of our current clients this year and have them raise our revenues by 46%?

Over the next few days I thought we could explore what it takes to build emotional connectivity between clients and sales people. send your comments and I will add my own. At the end, we should have a great database of ideas for everyone to use.

~ Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen

The Final Word Technology that Profits!

2007-05-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

Regardless of what technology tools you choose to sell with, your clients are demanding more and more technology tools to buy with. If you choose to ignore this trend, you risk being replaced with a person, or a machine that meets their needs better. So pick your technology tools wisely and don’t forget about building a personal relationship!

To continue to be successful, today’s salespeople need to develop an ability to create a truly positive experience for their customers using the variety of technology tools our customers are demanding. The following three ideas are some of the best (and easiest) ways to create a more positive customer experience, and keep yourself from being automated out of a job:

1. Be empathetic and compassionate. Truly care about your customers. And remember, unless your last name is DeNiro or Streep faking it simply won't work.

2. Add value and give first. No, this doesn't mean giving away free product in the hope that a prospect will give you his business. Rather, give away things that will increase your value, such as a referral to another client or partner, or sharing an idea that could help him solve a business problem.

3. Love what you sell, the company you work for, and the customers you serve.Customers buy from salespeople who believe in the products they sell, and the companies they work for. Choose to be honest, open, and empathetic to your customers' needs, and you will experience consistent sales growth, build an excellent reputation, and quickly rise to the top of your field.

The old way of selling doesn't work anymore. Old high-pressure in-your-face, pounding the phones, manipulative sales methods will cost you business. The 21st Century way is using a variety of technology mediums and personal skills creatively to build value and high trust relationships.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

2007-05-15T09:18:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Yes I know....blogging like crazy today!

Just a quick note about a new book that I am starting to read called the The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. check out this interview with the author. So far, he seams to be aligned with some of my time management priciples and when I am through the book I will have a complete review for you. If yoiu have read it already let me know what you think. I would love to see your comments.

Colleen

Our Babies were Born!

2007-05-15T08:24:00.000-04:00

You might remember in February I blogged about the loss of my beloved dog Blitzen. He died quickly, which we were grateful for. We miss him very much and its been more difficult than I thought to get used to such a quiet house.

Looks like that silence won't last....last week my friend had 8 puppies born, 1 of which is earmarked for us, should we decide to become dog owners again. And.....based on my husband's excitement, I don't think I have a choice!

I'm kidding of course. I can't wait to get a new puppy. As Charles Shultz (creator of Peanuts) always said. "Happiness is a warm puppy"

These pictures are from Day 2, and as you can see, and imagine, Mom looks pretty tired!

So I guess I have only 9 more weeks of a silent household to contend with before the little patter of tiny feet takes over and the perils of puppy training begins. It will all be worth it though...there is nothing better for a road warrior than to be welcomed home by the loving lick of a dog!

Another Technology Idea to Profit From

2007-05-15T08:17:00.000-04:00

Thanks to rapid advances in technology we can now get virtually any product imaginable delivered right to our front door, at the click of a mouse, or the dial of a phone. The same technology that helps us stay connected to our customers also threatens to take our customers away as options for self service and buying direct increase. Self-service options have become commonplace in virtually every facet of our daily lives. Whether it’s issuing movie tickets, checking into hotel rooms, buying airline tickets, checking in for flights, or putting gas in cars, sales from self-service kiosks last year topped $161 billion. According to IHL Consulting, in 2006, those numbers could reach $1 trillion.

Another option for using technology to improve connectivity and make more sales is multi-media. Have you ever seen a multi media presentation - say a movie? How did you feel? Now imagine that this is how your prospects will feel when you turn on your laptop and a video begins playing. They will be engaged and intrigued. Bingo! You have just differentiated yourself from the competition.

Another plus? Rather than having to rely on prospects’ presentation skills when they take your proposal to the board, you can rely on your carefully crafted multi-media presentation that delivers a consistent high impact message every time. A multi–media disc can be created with your presentation to leave behind, and the prospect can use this disc to position your products with others in the office. Here are three tips for using multi-media presentations profitably:

1. Canned presentations miss the mark. Just because it’s multi-media doesn’t mean it has to be canned. Make sure to customize each presentation to your prospect based on her needs.

2. You are a part of the presentation and you must continue to interact with your clients while the presentation is running. Pharmaceutical sales reps use short, multi-media presentations to show doctors how their drugs work. During the presentation the sales pros point to the screen, ask the doctors to make selections about what they want to view and take notes based on the doctors’ reactions. This ensures they stay engaged with the doctors while increasing the effectiveness of the tool. If you simply hit play and sit there, what do we need you in the meeting for at all?

3. Have live and written testimonials in the presentation. Proof that others are profitably using your solutions is the clincher to making the sale. Have the client click on a video section loaded with satisfied clients eager to tell your audience how wonderful you are and how great your product works.

Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen

Technology and the Sales Process

2007-05-14T13:59:00.000-04:00

Hi Engage Bloggers!

In the pulp novels of 1950s science fiction writers, the future was a nightmarish place where machines turned on their makers, and robots took over from - or did entirely away with - their human counterparts. For countless sales professionals across the country, that future is now upon us. Only instead of robots, it’s websites, self-service kiosks, email, PDAs, cell phones, and even interactive TV that are threatening to replace us, and do our jobs faster, cheaper, and without needing an annual vacation.

We need to use technology to stay connected with our clients, but we are also at risk of being replaced by that same technology. As our customers demand and use more and more technology, sales professionals must reduce their risk by utilizing technology to increase the effectiveness of all in-person client communication.

Over the next few days we will look at technology and sales in more detail to make sure you are using the tools effectively

Email Communication

Wireless laptops, handheld PDAs, and cell phones now give most people instant access to communication. Email and text messaging is replacing just about every form of communicating. Likely, the day will soon come that email will not only replace mail, it will also begin to replace the people that deliver it.

E-mail is a great way to stay connected to your clients and prospects because it’s fast, and for most, easier than a phone call. Email works! We can communicate with more people, faster than ever before. Frankly though, it doesn’t work effectively often enough because many salespeople are lazy, hiding behind email and using it as an excuse for not making sales. When my below quota sales reps complain, “He hasn’t responded to my email yet!” I say, “It’s time to pick up the phone and call your customer!”

The key to maximizing the effectiveness of any technology you use to communicate with your customers is blending it with other media types. Email blended with voice contact, fax, and face-to-face contact provides the best approach to relationship building, and ensures you can’t be replaced by a technology-only sales process.

Here are some simple email rules:

1. With people you don’t know well, keep all your messages short and clear. Don’t force anyone to scroll down the page, open attachments, or click on links to get the gist of what you are saying. They won’t do it. They will hit delete.

2. Think before you send. Simple rule - make sure you actually send what you wanted to send. “Recalling” a message is a sure way to turn off a prospect. If you are not sure of your message, save it, walk away from your computer, and come back to review the message a few minutes later. Your fresh review of the message will ensure it’s the right message to send.

3. Stop thinking about email as the only tool, and start thinking about it as one communicating tool to master and combine with others so you can stand out instead of being spammed out.

Speaking of other communication tools, I encourage you to use the fax. Why? Because nobody else is! Your fax messages make it to the decision-maker’s desk and stand out because you have little or no competition using this medium. In a business environment where your client’s voice mail and inbox are flooded with calls and messages that all sound and look the same, your fax stands alone.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Don't Make This Mistake in Sales!

2007-05-09T05:32:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we discussed two other deadly mistakes in sales. Another sales killer is poor time management .

An unsuccessful person spends most of their day on unprofitable activities and waits for the phone to ring. They spend most of his their time waiting for opportunity to find them rather than hunting for opportunity.

The most successful sales professionals are driven and focused. There is no time for distraction or negative self- talk. There is no procrastination or time for “admin work” during prime selling hours and they extend their day by starting early or working late (or both).

They are either in front of a client or planning to be in front of a client, and they have their calendar full weeks in advance.

Almost all successful sales people focus on three key things: their time; their objectives when dealing with clients; and what not to do to succeed.

The first and perhaps most important of these is time. No matter how wealthy, talented or successful we become, time is the one thing we can never get enough of. The top 10% of performers are acutely aware of the value of their time. As a result, they spend the most time doing those activities that make them the most money, and little time doing those tasks that earn them little or nothing.

When it comes to sales, this boils down to focusing your time on the three Holy Grails: Prospecting, Presenting and Closing. Notice that all three of these activities involve being face-to-face with prospects or customers. That’s because you sell more when you spend more time in front of your customers, whether prospecting for new business, presenting solutions to problems or closing business.

Mediocre performers, on the other hand, routinely spend too much of their day on admin tasks, or tasks that don’t directly increase their value. In many cases, this is simply because they don’t know – or haven’t taken the time to calculate – exactly how much this wasted time is costing them.

Ideas for improvement:

Learn how to organize your time efficiently by using the many methods and tools that are available. Be disciplined. Make the commitment to improve your time management skills and seek out and practice the good counsel of experts in the field through books, seminars, and training programs. Read the No BS guide to Time Management by Dan Kennedy or Getting things Done by David Allen. You can find them our reading list

Know the value of your time. Check out our full article on time management to calculate what your time is worth and what you want it to be worth. After you know the value of your time outsource EVERYTHING you can get one for less than you are worth per hour. Your job is to spend as much time as you can work in those areas that increase for hourly wage.

If you want to be disciplined, keep track of your time for a couple weeks to see where you are really doing everyday. For a copy of the time tracker we use, email me at sales@engageselling.com .

It does’t matter what system you use, as long as you put it to work to make the best use of your time! How you use your time will determine your net worth at the end of the day!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Lead Follow up

2007-05-06T15:44:00.000-04:00

There is no point in uncovering high quality sales leads if you can't follow up with them in a timely manner. What is a timely manner?

In the past many B2B companies asked sales people to follow up with leads within 7 business days.

Today, with the exception of companies faced with long sales cycles (over 3 months) 7 day follow up time is too long. Marketing Sherpa reports that in highly competitive industries, top quality leads should be followed up with in 30 minutes. Yes, search engines and web marketing tools have created demanding impatient prospects. We have to deal with that fact.

I suggest you generate leads in small volumes consistently each week. Prospect everyday for the best results. This way you always have new people to talk to and as business starts to close, you will produce a steady stream of profits.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Selling = Listening

2007-05-02T09:03:00.000-04:00

Listening is more important than talking

How we listen determines how clients talk to us. Listen as though your client could be the next Prime Minister. Listen as though they are extraordinary. Take notes to show their words are important enough to you to cherish.

This creates an aura of respect from client resulting in a more open discussion.

Have you ever spoken to someone who constantly looked over your shoulder or interrupted to tell you their opinion? It made you wonder why you tried to communicate in the first place. Compare that to the one who listened with great interest. Someone who made eye contact What did you think of either of them and who did you share more information with?

Listening will create respect and provide more information. Your turn to speak will come later.

Dedicated to increasing your sales

~ Colleen

Calling all Sales Managers

2007-05-01T13:57:00.000-04:00

If you hire sales people in your business then you MUST read this posting on The Art and science of Tech sales blog. The principals apply regardless of the business you are in.

Hiring sales people should be an objective process with measurability and accountability. Too often, sadly, managers rely on their gut feel.....and then they get burned.

Sell More Now! - Colleen

Change or Die

2007-05-01T13:32:00.000-04:00

I've noticed recently that many people find it easier to complain than to change. Not surprisingly, these are not the people in the top 10%.

Complaining rather than changing is deadly in in traditional business such as the banking, investment, and manufacturing where 90% of companies think they know everything. I believe that every 18-24 months we all should e reinventing our businesses to meet the new demands of the marketplace. We operate in a global economy and change is inevitable. The products and services that were relevant in the past are relics today. Products and sales tools that once were very profitable and effective may now simply be irrelevant. If you are complaining rather than changing, you might be one of those relics!

Change is inevitable. And, as a retired US Colonel once said, if you don't like change, you will like irrelevance even less.

I would bet that your clients are changing the way they do business, and they way they buy. How are you changing to meet the demands of your clients?

Dedicated to increasing your sales
~ Colleen

Your Chance to Win!

2007-04-28T12:26:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone,

First right answer will receive a 1 hour free sales coaching session (value $300 dollars)! What incredibly rich inventor (in fact one of the riches men in Britain) said:

"I made 5127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5126 failures but I learned from each one. That's how I came up with a solution. So I don't mind failure. I've always thought that school children should be marked by the number of failures they've had. The child who tries strange things and experiences a lot of failures to get there is probably more creative."

~ from Fast Company Magazine April 2007

Even if you don't know who it is....don't you think the advice is sound?

Think about how simple yet effective the message is. You would never have learned to walk if you gave up the first time you tried and you won't be successful today if you give up experimenting, trying and pushing yourself. Failure is only a message that you have not found the solution YET. Try again.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Your Price is Too High!

2007-04-25T22:01:00.000-04:00

Faced with the dreaded pricing objection? Here are some of my favorite and most effective responses. If you have other ideas that work please post a comment. It would be great to know what works for you.

Responses as questions:

How much too high is it?
I guess that means we are never going ahead?
Is price your only consideration?
Are you making the decision based only on price?
Sounds like you have seen something in the market at a better price?
I appreciate your honesty. What does too high mean?
How much did you want to pay?
Does knowing we are not the lowest mean there is never a chance we can do business together?

Responses as statements

Sounds like you’re getting a better deal somewhere else.
You are right, we are higher than______
That’s exactly why you need me!
It’s true, we will never be the lowest. You will always find someone who will charge less and you will always find someone who charges more. We will always be competitive
Thanks for telling me that. We work hard to make sure we are not the cheapest
Perfect! We don’t want to be the lowest price

Try one or all. I know they work!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Another Sales Sin

2007-04-24T11:46:00.000-04:00

Recently I have had a number of clients ask me about common mistakes sales people make and what to do instead. Here is another big one (although not as big as forgetting to find new clients everyday!)

Lack of preparation! This is a common reasons why sales reps fail. If you are doing a good job keeping the funnel full - please review the previous entry - failure to plan almost always results in a less than desirable result. Planning your meetings, demonstrations, and follow up is critical to ensuring that you understand your customer’s needs, and that you thoughtfully communicate solutions to address them.

Besides, if you are not prepared for a client meeting you clearly demonstrate a lack of respect for your prospect.

Most salespeople spend too much time thinking about how to sell a product to a customer as opposed to truly understanding a customer’s needs. Always keep in mind Steven Covey's rule #7, talk 30% of the time and listen 70% of the time. Your client's are hungry for a relationship with you. The only way to build that relationship is to spend time exploring issues and needs.

I suggest taking a list of questions into each sales meeting. Make sure you know what you want to ask before the meeting starts. Take some time to research the company and learn about their products and markets. Use that knowledge to develop questions about their requirements. As long as you don't come across as a know-it-all, a prospect is always impressed with a sales person who has done their homework.

Too much valuable time, energy, and resources are wasted by sales people offering solutions that the customer doesn't want or need. Spend quality time planning your calls and presentations and you will make a powerful impression on your customers and prospects.

The Biggest Mistake in Sales

2007-04-22T23:52:00.000-04:00

The failure to find and cultivate new customers is a death sentence in sales yet I see 80% of sales people refusing to do the legwork, networking and personal marketing required to find new customers everyday. Customer attrition and losing business to the competition is a frustrating inevitability in sales. You can't close everyone. Businesses move, people move, economies shift, and people decide to do business with others. Sometimes, your prospects have friends that compete with you. You can count on losing prospects and customers even if you think you are doing everything right!

Most companies don't have a sales problem, they have a prospecting problem. If you are counting on your current prospects and customers to bring in your revenue forever, you will most assuredly be disappointed. Sadly, the most common trend I see with sales people is that a phenomenal sales month is followed by a disaster because, prospecting was neglected as sales were coming in.

The sad reality I see is that most sales reps do not feel the full force of customer attrition and lost new business until it is too late to save the month. Even worse, they suffer for a long time until they refill the pipeline. I want to see you make a consistently high revenue, month after month, year after year. You can do that b y committing to a specific time every day to prospect. Block it in your calendar and close your office door. Be sure to attend networking events, make your calls, solicit referrals, make good notes, use a customer database set reminders, and complete your followup!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen