Sales Debriefing

Let's face it, as small business owners you have to be a 'sales person' whether you want to be or not. While you would rather be focusing on the bigger picture, if you want to be successful you need to engage in sales conversations on a regular basis. So, how did your last sales call go? Did you make the sale? Why, or why not?

Taking the time to debrief after a call can help you do a much better job the next time. So, what types of questions should you be asking?

• How did the prospect react to the information provided - People process information in several different ways; some need to ask a lot of questions, others just want the top line summary. Some prospects need visual examples, others need a hands on experience to fully grasp your offering/product. So, did you adjust the call to their style, or did you simply run through the same presentation as you always do?
• What was the mutually agreed "yes" - Was everyone clear on the purpose of the call? Too often people pick up the phone or drop by to chat, and at the end of the day they say goodbye with no clear next step. While it is helpful to keep your name in front of people, going into a call with a plan will help you move toward a desired outcome. Making sure the other person knows the outcome options on the front end helps as well. If you are hoping to get an invitation for an office visit, did your prospect know that at the beginning of the conversation?
• Did you provide a USP? - Be different. All businesses must have a Unique Selling Point. If you do not stand out from the crowd, why should a prospect choose you? Make sure to send a clear message as to what you offer that others do not. Focus more on what makes you unique, as opposed to simply what you do.
• What pain indicator made you relevant - Did you take the time to find out what they really needed? Or do you have a one size fits all solution you are trying to shove at every prospect, regardless of what they need? If you are unable to empathize or relate to your prospect, they will not see the relevance of you or your company.
• What is their budget? - This is a tough one. Most people don't like to talk about money, but it is important to get this on the table early in the sales process. Do they have the funds? Is this something they are willing to invest in? You don't have to nail them down to an exact amount in the first conversation, but you should have an idea if you are playing in the same ball park.
• What happens next? - After you hang up the phone, is there a clear next step? If not, review the list of other questions. Do a better job of getting these answers and the next steps will be obvious.

About the Author:

As Creative Director or Roundpeg, Lorraine Ball is typically at the center of the managed chaos that keeps this agency on it's toes. With more than thirty years as a marketing professional (lie, tell her she doesn’t look that old) Lorraine is a native New Yorker, and a Hoosier by choice, committed to fostering growth and entrepreneurship in her adopted city. 

When not at Roundpeg, Lorraine can be found sharing what she knows in seminars and presentations around the country. She has a BA from Queens College, City University of NY, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Follow @lorraineball | Connect on LinkedIn

Reaching out to a Prospect: How Much is Too Much?

So you have the perfect prospect who fits all your target criteria, and you decide to reach out to them. You get their voicemail, or the receptionist, and after several attempts you get no return call, no messages, no emails, nothing. What do you do next? How long should you keep trying before coming off as annoying and irritating? How much is too much when it comes to reaching out to a prospect?

When you are selling a product or service, you need to be persistent. But, there is a fine line between persistence and annoyance. If you are uncertain where to draw the line, here are some tips to help you out.

Email versus phone; which is better? You can choose between using an email or a phone call, or both - depending on the type of product or service you are offering, and what you think will resonate more with each specific prospect.

Reaching out via Email

In today's tech savvy world, emails are a great means of getting a message across. It doesn’t put too much stress on the prospect, or on you, and it can be saved for later reading. But if you choose to start the communication via email, as most businesses prefer, do not be too surprised if you do not get a response after the first email. People receive a plethora of emails on a daily basis, and many of those emails end up in trash or junk mail. That being said, if you decide to use the email approach, go ahead and schedule several follow-up emails without the fear of coming off as a pest. Make sure to space them out by a few days to a week.

Tip: Make sure that you are targeting to the appropriate contact with relevant information. Small Business CRM can categorize prospects and update the status of various prospects so you do not have to waste your time finding out what your prospects have been up to. With the use of a Simple CRM you will get this done much faster and with a more precise message.

Reaching out via Phone

If you decide to proceed with a phone call, be prepared for reaching voicemail or the 'gatekeeper'. If you do manage to get through, you need to be natural yet to the point. Remember that politeness is key; "Hello Mr/Mrs [name], how are you? This is [name] from [company]...". It is always good to ask if they are busy or if they have a few moments. Again, you want to be brief, especially when making a cold call. People are busy, and you do not want to come across as wasting their time. Time is important in today's busy world, let them know you are cognizant to that fact.

 

Phone and Email Combination

The best method is, of course, the email/phone combination. Start with a phone call. If you leave a message, feel free to let them know that you will follow up with an email if there is information you need them to review, or if you are attempting to set time for a meeting. With this method, it allows them to follow up with their preferred communication message. When making cold calls/contacts with little information, wait at least 48 hours between the two combinations if you do not want to be perceived as a bother.

When You Should Stop

When you are getting into your follow up calls and emails, make sure to give a value proposition and modify your follow up messages. Always reply within your initial message sent. If you are saying the exact same thing each time, you have a higher rate of losing their interest. After sending the two (slightly different emails) the third one should be the final email. Let them know in a non-direct and non-threatening way that this is your last contact. As opposed to saying, "this is your last chance for a discussion", or "I will no longer be reaching out", try modifying your message to, "if you get to a point where a conversation makes sense, please feel free to reach out". If you do not receive a response after three emails or three phone calls, then it is probably time to stop.

Creating Quality Sales: Let's get SIIC

Sales is not only about selling; it is about experience, connections, and most importantly...relationships. Creating Quality Sales helps to nurture relationships, make them stronger, and in the end, last longer. There are many things we as salespeople do incorrectly, such as thinking only of the bottom line. Don't get me wrong, the numbers matter, but how you get there is important not only to your wallet, but to the reputation you carry for yourself and your company. 

There are four main steps, pieces of the puzzle so to speak, that I practice when it comes to selling and working with prospects and customers. Let's get SIIC! Selling with Sincerity, Intuition, Integrity, and Common Sense that is; when they come together is when the quality of sales increase. Let me define and break them down for you one-by-one:

Sincerity: The quality of being free from pretense, deceit, or hypocrisy; a mix of seriousness and honesty

In today's world, sincerity seems more difficult to come by. Social media, blogs, and the age of selfies tend to put a focus on me me me. Everything we do and post, we are more focused on our own wants and desires more than ever. In sales, we must put our clients and prospects first, and us second. Just as we want others to respect our time, we must respect their time in return. Be prompt, be ready, and avoid rescheduling as often as possible. I much rather have a client reschedule a meeting than me. After all, we are the ones that need them, not necessarily vice versa. When you are in a meeting put your cell phone away, not on the table flipped upside down. Allow the focus to be on them; this shows them that you not only respect their time, but their presence as well. You cannot be fully engaged with an individual if you are scrolling through emails or glancing at how many likes your lunch post is receiving.

Most importantly, care about who they are before you care about the sale. Business is great and all, but do not forget they are a person with a life outside of the office. Ask questions about their families, hobbies, where they are vacationing. Empathize with your clients and prospects. If you know their grandmother was in the hospital, send a note to ask how she and their family is doing. Find areas outside of a proposal and quote where you can relate with the client or prospect, such as similar hobbies. Knowing who a person is, is key to any lasting relationship, even within business. Not to mention, if you find out unfavorable facts about someone, their morals, and integrity, you can proceed with caution or kindly back away, and save yourself from hidden stressors down the road...and a potentially bad partnership!

Intuition: A feeling that guides a person to act a certain way without fully understanding why; something that is understood or known without proof or evidence

Some people are born with natural intuition. Some must work to understand the difference between intuition and individual perception. Paying attention to a prospects' body language and voice inflections are ways to help you to hone in on your intuition. If someone keeps looking at their watch, have delayed reactions, or are sitting with their arms across their chest, they are probably not interested. You might even be talking too much! If they are leaning in, nodding their head, and asking questions, they are engaged and their interest is peaked.

When all else fails, and you cannot read your prospect, do not be afraid to ask questions! Be upfront, ask them for their thoughts and if they understand what you are offering. People appreciate when you show you care what they are thinking, as opposed to assuming or guessing. You know what they say about assuming, right? Listening beyond your rationalizations (a.k.a. personal perception), and putting yourself in their shoes can help you better understand what is going through their mind.

Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness

Keeping your personal integrity is not only important, it is key. Do what you say, own up to your mistakes, and make sure everything is on the table. At times we are tempted to say, "Sure, we can do that!", when you have no clue if it is even feasible. Being upfront with your prospects, even if they might not like what you have to say, is vital. The truth is always appreciated, and empty promises can easily break their trust in you and your company. If you make a mistake, which will happen, be upfront and make sure to apologize. We are all human, and mistakes are expected; however, how you deal with them shows your true integrity.

Avoid the sleazy salesman status! Pressure sales is a thing of the past, as should be little white lies. If you can't give a prospect everything they want, be clear on what you can offer and focus on the positives. If they say "no" do not try to push the sale on them, they will only become frustrated and annoyed. Not to mention, you can come across as desperate. "Do they need the sale THIS badly?!" Bad mouthing a former employer or competitor is also frowned upon, and can come back to haunt you. You want to sell by how good your product is, not by how bad other products or salespeople are. So, do not be tempted to talk down someone to talk yourself up, this reflects in poor taste and poor integrity.

Common Sense: Sound and prudent judgement based on a simple perception of the situation or facts; normal native intelligence

For me, Intuition and Common Sense are similar, but they do differ. Intuition is inference, whereas common sense is more factual and experience based. When is comes to common sense, listen for specific keywords and phrases. If a prospect is saying that their team is small or they do not have resources, you do not want to try to sell them something that is built for a large company; move to a more suitable fit. If a prospect is having a difficult time grasping what you are saying, your product is probably not for them. Again, step outside of your individual perception to understand what they are saying; reality vs. identifiable reality.

Know your industry. Know your clients' industry. This is where straight up factual common sense comes into play. A product built for insurance companies will not work well for real estate clients. The more you understand exactly what your client does, the better you can qualify your offerings. Doing your research is vital to generating quality sales. Learning from experience will help you time and time again. Set aside the needed time in conversation with your clients to ask relevant questions, as well as doing your homework ahead time, will help build the common sense you need for closing a deal.

Author: Erin Ahaus Contreras
Director of Business Development at AddressTwo CRM
erin@addresstwo.com
www.addresstwo.com

3 Simple Steps for Generating Leads with Social Media

3 Simple Steps for Generating Leads with Social Media

When business owners think of social media, they usually think of the process of building a brand image, and not so much of generating leads. But that’s where they are wrong. Social media can be a huge addition to your overall lead generation strategy, that is if you know how to use it to its fullest potential.

However, before you begin generating leads through social media, it is important to position yourself as an authority figure in your line of work. You can achieve this through your website, blog, your newsletter and by establishing good rapport with your customers. That means being responsive and attentive to your customers’ needs.

Once you’ve mastered that, it’s time to harness the power of social media for lead generation. Below are three basic ways to get started:

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#1: Join relevant Twitter conversations
Twitter can be a great source of new leads once you start searching. There are thousands of people who are interested in what you have to offer, you just have to find them. Luckily for you, Twitter has made it easy to explore conversation threads already in progress. Here’s how you can search Twitter conversation threads and dive deeper into your search for leads. In addition, you can also create your own threads and generate leads that way.

#2: Follow brand mentions and maintain a positive image
Maintaining a positive brand image is crucial when it comes to generating leads through social media. Brand tracking is important, especially across social media. With this method, utilizing special monitoring tools, such as Hootsuite, Mention, Social Mention, Topsy, Talkwalker, etc., is key.

Monitoring what others are saying about you on social media is important so you can respond to critics when necessary, and engage in relevant conversations. By doing this you’ll be able to keep your brand image positive and (relatively) untainted. This is crucial, as when potential prospects start researching about you, they can see negative comments which can discourage them from doing business with you.

#3: Create Facebook contests
Contests are huge on Facebook, and they tend to attract a lot of people. A Facebook contest is a great way to get tons of likes and comments, and collects email signups by offering a prize in return. The downside is that not all leads will be ideal, but at least you will gather emails which you can use later on for targeting.

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Don't forget to maintain and track your clients and leads within Client Relationship Management (CRM) software, such as AddressTwo's simple CRM and Email Marketing solution. Staying in contact with your prospects and on top of your sales efforts is crucial to generating sales. Don't allow follow-ups to slip through the cracks and miss out on potential business. Sign up for a Free Trial of AddressTwo, and see what the power of Two, can do for you!

Holiday Cards - Why the Direct Mail Touch Should Not be Lost

Tis the season!  

Well, tis almost the season, and you need to start thinking about…Holiday Cards! (Insert rolling eyes and sighs.) October is a few days away, so now is the time to begin thinking about your Holiday plan of action.

For many businesses, sending Holiday Cards can be a time demanding and fund draining activity. Because of this, more and more companies are opting to forgo the card sent via snail mail, and reach for the convenience of the computer instead. An e-greeting can be pretty and send a caring message, but more often than not, gets lost within the Holiday email shuffle or sent directly to spam. And let’s face it, opening an email is far more impersonal and leave many reaching for the delete button as soon as they begin rolling in.

Holiday Cards should be seen as an investment, and spending that time and funds to invest in your clients and prospects speaks more than flashy animation and sparkly graphics. Think of your clientele as family. They help keep your business home up and running, and if you’re doing your job right, they will have your back when the opportunity arises. Would you send your loved ones a birthday card via email if a CVS is not far around the corner? I’m guessing your answer is, “no”.

Printed Holiday Cards are a great way to thank your clients and partners for their support and loyalty over the past year, and to let them know how much you value their relationship. Most Holiday Cards are opened and displayed throughout the busy holiday season, keeping you at the forefront of your clients’ mind. If you keep up the tradition, those on your list will look forward to receiving your card year after year. There’s power in that; knowing you are important enough to make it on THE LIST.

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When you take that step to send out Holiday Cards via direct mail, make sure you do it right:

Personalize it. If you can’t afford to write a unique note in each card, create and print different messages per recipient. In other words, categorize your list into three or four different groups. A message to a client vs. a vendor or business partner should be different.

Leave sales at the door. This is a time of thanks for past and current business, not a time to generate more sales. Greedy Holiday givers who create expectations in return show poor taste.

Be sincere. If you send flowery words full of caring sentiments to a client you typically butt heads with, the message could come across as sarcastic. Always use kind words of course, but if you are generally a playful person, have fun with your messages. If you are a sentimental bird, allow your thanks to flow plentifully.

Design smartly. Catchy, yet simple, designs will stand out from the crowd. Incorporate your market niche within your design. For example, if your business is centered around fresh produce, use an image of a broccoli Christmas tree within the design. Remember to keep your logo small, perhaps even on the back of the card. This is about them, not you. (No business cards within either…)

Be a friend, don’t offend. Avoid including content, including words or images, that could come across as offensive or is inappropriate for the workplace. One would think this is common sense, but you would be surprised.

Time your sending. The first or second week in December is the best time to get your cards in the mail and in their hands. Any time after that, you are risking your investments to be caught in the mail rush, or lost in vacation pile for your recipients to shuffle through following the Holidays (embarrassing).

So, now that you have all of your contacts organized and in one location...take this opportunity to get them into a Simple CRM (Client Relationship Management) software, such as AddressTwo. AddressTwo was built for small-medium sized businesses who need a smart and cost effective solution for contact management, setting follow-up tasks, email marketing (drip campaigns), and pipeline tracking, to name a few features. Your clients are important around the Holiday Season, don't let the rest of the year stay quiet! Register for a free trial of AddressTwo CRM to see how it can streamline your sales and communication processes year round. Better yet, email your client list to A2, and have a trial created for you with your contact list imported and ready to go!

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Allow PostTwo to do your Holiday cards for you! Simple and easy solution for printing, stuffing, and mailing. Part of your friendly neighborhood, simple CRM, AddressTwo.

Discover what the power of Two can do for you! 

Why CEOs Never Win the Lottery

Have you ever noticed that people who have achieved great success never win the lottery?

There is a very simple reason for that – they never buy lottery tickets. They do not leave their success, and its spoils, to chance. Playing the lottery is taking a blind chance, hoping for the big win. And that is not something big achievers ever really do; they plan and prepare.

There is a saying “Luck is preparedness meeting opportunity” and Jeff Olson, author of The Slight Edge basically decries that as hogwash. He says that “luck is preparedness. Period.” I would tend to agree with him – we make our own luck. We pave the way for success to come marching toward us. We PREPARE FOR SUCCESS. 

How do we do that?

3 Steps to Prepare for Success

1) First, we have to, as Stephen Covey of the The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People fame says, “Have the end in mind.” Know what the end-goal is, how it looks, and what it feels like when we successfully attain it. It might be greater sales, more profits, happier life, more free time, and financial freedom. Whatever it is for you, you have to know it, see it, and feel it. 

2) Next, we have to gather the tools and resources necessary to achieve the task(s). Perhaps that means an online program to collect names on a list, keep track of contacts and touches, or an email distribution system. AddressTwo works if that is your need. You might need processes to systematize the touches and communications with potential clients. You might need suppliers or manufacturers lined up and at the ready for increased production. 

3) Last, we must track our progress and measure outcomes. There has to be a yardstick – a ruler with benchmarks – to let us know two things: that we are staying focused, and that we are making progress toward our goal.

When a small business owner knows what he wants, puts all the pieces in place, and then measures progress, he can’t help but find success. That may be taking a risk, believing in what he can offer and do, but it’s not leaving it to chance and hope. There is no lottery involved, but there is preparedness.

To Your Success!

 

Jack Klemeyer, founder

Grow Your Business Coaching