Keeping Commitments Day 14 of The 28 Days to Better Selling
Today’s exercise is simple and brief but it can have a big impact on our success as salespeople and entrepreneurs. Watch the video clip from a seminar I did a couple years back and then answer the following questions:
1) Have you lost business in the past due to you or your company missing client commitments?
2) What are the most common areas in your sales and service process where commitments could be broken?
3) What could you do to improve your ability to keep commitments and exceed your client and prospect expectations?
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Twitter for Sales Part 2 Day 13 of the 28 Days to Better Selling
This is day 13 of the 28 Days to Better Selling. Today’s video on Twitter for sales people is about how to get more followers and connect with prospects. It also covers strategies on building community and credibility. This is twitter video is 13 minutes in length which is a bit longer than the rest of the lessons but I felt that the topic needed to be covered thoroughly. Tweet you later!
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Twitter for Sales People Part 1 – Day 12 of the 28 Days to Better Selling
Today is day 12 of the 28 Days to Better Selling. Following the theme of prospecting and client development tools the next two days are about Twitter for Sales People (and any other business person for that matter.) how you start using is Twitter is key.
You’re joining a community and introducing yourself effectively can help you build brand and make great connections. If you’re already on Twitter this may be a bit redundant for you. For those of you who are not using the tool, or are not getting the results you want, invest the next 9 minutes and watch the video.
28 Days to Better Selling Archive can be found here
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Needs Analysis in Sales Part 2 – Day 11 of the 28 Days to Better Selling
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Yesterday we focused on how to construct a client needs analysis questionnaire. Today’s lesson is focused on how to conduct a needs analysis effectively.
The core take-aways for this lesson are:
- Never sell during the needs analysis.
- Don’t finish the prospect’s sentences, allow them to explore solutions and challenges in their own context.
- Get permission to sell at the end of the needs analysis to maintain rapport and trust.
- Always get a commitment for the next step in the sales process.
28 Days to Better Selling Archive can be found here
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3 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets Part 4
This is part part 4 of the 19 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets inspired by Jay Levinson and adapted by Shane Gibson (me). Here’s today’s 3 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Tips:
9. Amazement – “Tell stories because stories are not boring.” – People love stories, that’s why they follow you on Twitter, they are following the story of your personal brand at 140 characters at a time. Stories spark passion, get good at using social media to tell stories.
10. Measurement – Measure your success, use tools like Google Analytics to track the traffic and behavior of those arrive at your site as a result of your social media activities. Don’t just measure profits either. Look at happiness, education, network growth, and positive community impact these are all other forms of profit.
11. Involvement – Listen and engage, or even better give them platforms to communicate and share. Then jump into the conversation and let them know that you hear them. This could be building a Ning.com social network for people who are in your industry. It may be starting a new LinkedIn or FaceBook group. You can also use a tool like Meetup.com to get your online community to meet offline and cement relationships.
Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets Part 1
Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets Part 2
Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets Part 3
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Needs Analysis in Sales Day 10 of the 28 Days to Better Selling
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
A few of us are in different time zones, others have expressed that they are a bit behind on the assignments so technically this is day 10.5 as far as timing goes but don’t worry, we’ll catch up by the weekend with some extra but easy to implement tweaks to our sales process.
Today is about building an effective needs analysis structure, tomorrow I will talk about how to conduct a needs analysis from a rapport perspective. The topic today focuses on why we need a structured needs analysis process and how to structure it effectivelty.
Your assignment today is:
1) Brainstorm all of the possible closed, open, leading and request type questions you could ask
2) Organize them from least to most confidential
3) Pick the top 5 to 7 questions you could ask a client during an initial meeting or qualifying call
If you want some feedback on your questioning format you can always e-mail me at shane@closingbigger.net.
To catch-up on previous lessons visit the archive for 28 Days to Better Selling.
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Listening in Sales Day 9 of the 28 days to Better Selling
Today’s focus is on listening. A big part of being good at all the steps in the sales process has to do with listening and being totally present. I have put together (in PDF format) a brief self-assessment on listening for you to complete. A big part of being a successful communicator is self-awareness. Take time during and after this assessment to really look at yourself and acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses as a listener.
Your ability to be totally present during the sales process and to connect empathetically with the client can seperate you from your competition. Clients often drop clues as to what they value and what they need if we listen closely enough.
Your assignment today is to be totally present and listen intently to everyone you interact with.
Download the listening self-assessment here
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Don’t Be a Boring Sales Person Day 8 to The 28 Days to Better Selling
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Face it, as sales people we can be really boring. We’re predictable, and in most cases we sound just like the next guy. Being boring is a guaranteed way to commoditize our product or service and drag our sales cycle out much longer than it has to be.
Listen to today’s podcast and then do the following:
1) Make a list of all the mediums you could be using for follow-up
2) Ask the question: How could I make each application of each medium value added, unique, or innovative
3) Set a goal to follow-up your A category clients using all of the mediums in a creative, enagaging way that will differentiate you, your product, and your company.
If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:
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Lead Nurturing in Sales Day 7 of The 28 Days to Better Selling
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Today is day 7 of the 28 Days to Better Selling. Today we are going to focus on lead nurturing. Lead nurturing is really about taking a contact or a prospect who has given us permission to begin a relationship with them, and through a series of value added contacts solidify the relationship. This relationship ultimately results in a deal if there is a match between what you offer and the prospect truly needs.
Your assignment today after listening to this podcast is to answer the following questions:
1) Do I have a structured process for follow-up over the life time of the relationship?
2) Is there anywhere in the process where I don’t have solid goals or book the next step?
3) Is there anything that is not client focused that needs to have more depth or be deleted?
If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:
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Investigative Prospecting Day 6 of The 28 Days to Better Selling
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Investigative prospecting is about identifying individuals or corporations that are experiencing a certain event that makes them more open to immediately doing business with you. We have talked about sources of sales leads, and even Linkedin prospecting in the past few days.
Today’s sales podcast is for Day 6 of The 28 Days to Better Selling. In sales your ability to find new opportunities and fill your funnel constantly is the oxygen your career lives on. Without prospecting continually your sales career will come to an abrupt end. Have a listen to today’s sales podcast. I’m looking forward to your feedback.
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3 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets
In continuing with the series from last week here are 3 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets inspired by the Father of Guerrilla Marketing my friend Jay Levinson:
6. Assortment of Weapons – Use a diversity of tools. Start with a blog or highly socially enabled site. Then use and master all of the major tools. You will identify over time which ones you have a talent for using, and which ones your market responds to best. Today these tools may include:
• Blogging
• Video Podcasting (YouTube, Viddler etc.)
• FaceBook
• Linkedin
• Flickr
• Twitter
• Forums
• Ning.com
• Digg
• StumbleUpon
• FriendFeed
• Google Profiles
• Tumblr
• Ubertor (for Realtors)
• Meetup.com
7. Convenient - “Time is money is a lie. Time is life, don’t waste their time.” - Jay Levinson. This is critical, don’t make people work hard to find your information or consume the great content you create. Also don’t waste their time with 10 minute videos when you could say it in 3 minutes or even better, 3 Twitter tweets. Brevity is key in Guerilla Social Media Marketing
8. Subsequent – Always know what’s next, don’t write an e-book, write a series of e-books. Don’t just solve one customer pain, be in search of the next big thing that can help those who are connected with you.
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