The Meetups of all Meetups Vancouver Networking June
This is it! In December 2008 we had a combined Meetup event with hundreds of people showing up during a snow storm to network, share insights and meet some of their virtual friends in person. It was a combined effort from four major Meetup’s here in Vancouver (Third Tuesday, Sales, Real Estate Tech and Young Professionals).
On June the 23rd we’re doing it again with 7 groups and we don’t expect snow, we expect a full house.
This is the Meetup of all Meetups that we are associated with here in Vancouver. We have joined forces with the likes of the Third Tuesday Meetup then Vancouver Blogger’s Meetup the Real Estate Technology Meetup and the Young Professionals Meetup for one big summer social mixer. New Additions to the Meetup of Meetups is the Wordpress Meetup and the Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup Group.
Door prizes valued up to $500.00 donated by Ceilis Irish Pub, Reachd, and Ubertor. Other prizes include an iPod speaker system from EcoSmart Automation and advance copies of Shane Gibson and Stephen Jagger’s new book Sociable!
This is an opportunity to expand your network, connect, and have fun in a casual atmosphere.
Cost: Free (Sponsored by Ceilis) but we would like to suggest a $5 donation (or more) for the Food Bank if you can. Cheques and Cash.
Schedule:
6:00 pm Arrive, grab a drink ticket and your Meetup Badge
6:30 pm 5 minute welcome and thanks to the sponsors
6:35 pm til late: Positive community building and networking anarchy! Have fun
8:30 pm prize draws and twitpic of the night award.
Important Notes:
Ceilis will also be offering a couple food specials at the event.
If you’re doing to drink please arrange a drive home with a designated driver or taxi
Drinking and twittering or updating facebook should be done while seated or leaning against a bar to avoid shaky photo syndrome.
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3 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets
Last week I posted Guerrilla Social Media Marketing secrets 1,2 and 3. There are 19 Guerrilla Marketing secrets and after chatting with Jay Levinson he gave me the go ahead to share a few more. So here’s secrets 4,5 and 6 based upon my interpretation of Jay’s 19 secrets:
3. Consistent – Don’t change your identity. Brands, relationships, trust, and technology all take time for adoption and acceptance. Be consistent with your message and on-line social media identity.
4. Confident – You must be confident and instill confidence in the customer. Use social media to listen to your customers. Jay says, “Service is anything the customer wants it to be.” Listen! He goes on to say, “Quality is what customers get out of your product. “ This is great information that can help you provide specific, on topic, brilliant solutions to your target market’s pains.
5. Patient – Be patient. Be patient with yourself, it will take you time to master the Guerilla Marketing “Weapons of Social Media.” Be patient as you build a community online, build roots and a foundation that will be un-shakable. Be patient with your target market, they will rush in to use and engage in social media, but they will do it in their time-frame.
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28 Days to Better Selling Starts May 18th 2009
This program is my way of giving back to the sales and social media community that has helped me build my blog, business network and knowledge base through your great insight, twitter updates, attendance at events and overall enthusiasm to learn and connect.
A number of you have asked for more information on the program. Here are the major topic areas that will be addressed in the 28-day program:
- The ABC’s of Targeting – How to fine tune and focus your sales process
- Master Prospecting Strategies – How to develop a step by step prospecting plan using offline, online and social media tools and processes
- Rapport – Tips, strategies and tactics for developing instant rapport
- Selling with Style – how to read and adapt to different types of buyers for maximum effectiveness.
- Social Selling – Social media and networking strategies to help you engage and develop business, using tools like blogging, twitter, FaceBook and video.
- Needs Analysis Selling – Using questioning to establish rapport, identify client pains and develop easy to sell solutions.
- Key Account Management – Approached to landing, retaining and growing high value clients
- Life Time Client Strategies – Using personal branding, social media leadership, relationship development, and pro-active service strategies to create a loyal customer base.
Each day participants will have the opportunity to share their success, applications and challenges with each other. I expect this to also be a good networking opportunity. (All this will happen at http://closingbigger.net)
If you are not already registered for the program you can do so below. (There’s no fee, no advertising, and you can start or quit at anytime).
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Marketing and Sales Has Changed Have You?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Today’s Reality:
Today’s consumer has a lot of choice. They also have access to many points in the distribution chain that they never had before. This poses many opportunities for entrepreneurs, sales professionals, and anyone else involved in the value chain.
Marketing and sales has changed.
This is a positive thing for progressive marketers and sales people, but it also offers up many challenges for those who are selling like it was 1999. Have a listen to today’s sales podcast to find out the three key skills and tools necessary to engage today’s consumer and client:
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Special event:
28 Days to Better Selling Launches May 18th 2009:
Here’s how 28 Days to Better Selling Works:
1) A daily task that you can easily implement to improve your sales and business
2) A succinct daily lesson to help you make the improvementBy the end of the 28 days you will have looked at 28 ways to fine tune and improve your sales process and business. The daily lessons will be in written, video or audio format and will take less than 10 minutes each to review. There is no charge for this event and program.
To Register for the program please enter your e-mail address below:
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28 Days to Better Selling with Shane Gibson
Launches May 18th 2009
If you want to improve your sales and have been too busy to put a plan into place you’re not alone.
I have had many people in the sales community including sales professionals, senior executives and high tech entrepreneurs and bloggers who are all looking for ways to convert connections into long-term clients and relationships.
Their challenge is that most resources available are either one time training opportunities, or extensive and over whelming programs that are tough to implement. This program takes care of all of this.
The 28 Days to Better Selling program is completely free and is 100% content and 0% advertising or promotions. All content focused on helping you.
This concept was inspired by a 31 Days to Build a Better Blog program that Problogger.com put on for 12,000 other bloggers. As a participant it was very helpful for me. The concept is simple:
Here’s how 28 Days to Better Selling Works:
1) A daily task that you can easily implement to improve your sales and business
2) A succinct daily lesson to help you make the improvement
By the end of the 28 days you will have looked at 28 ways to fine tune and improve your sales process and business. The daily lessons will be in written, video or audio format and will take less than 10 minutes each to review.
To Register for the program please enter your e-mail address below:
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Jay Levinson Guerrilla Marketing Video Interview With Shane Gibson
My wife Wannapan and I had the fantastic opportunity to spend several days with Jay Levinson (twitter) and his wife Jeannie while we were in Santiago Chile this week. Jay and I both spoke at the Annual Sales and Marketing conference put together by Seminarium, the leading provider of executive business education in South America.
Jay Levinson has sold over 20 million books on Guerrilla Marketing making him one of the top selling marketing authors in history. Following is a brief video interview I did with Jay on Guerrilla Marketing.
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Sociable! Wow we wrote the book in less than 90 days
I’m pretty fired up. Stephen Jagger and I managed to hit our goal of writing our book “Sociable!” in 90 days. Now for our next goal which is to produce and launch it in 60 days. That means going over it with our editor, finalizing our book cover design and approaching the three people we have narrowed down that we would like to write the foreword. One in particular I’m waiting until the editor is done before showing him the book/draft.
Sociable! Is about “How social media and social networking are turning sales and marketing up-side down.” This book idea really began as a discussion shortly after I interviewed Stephen Jagger for my sales podcast on “Twitter and GrandCentral.com.” Then in January I shared with Steve my goal to write three more books this year and when the topic of Social Media for Sales People and Entrepreneurs came up we quickly decided that we should do it together. We will also be sharing with our readers how we have managed to write a book in 90 days at some point in the future.
Based upon my experience and the collective experience of the team at Knowledge Brokers International we have seen sales evolve to a true profession. With that said I also feel that sales is broken, a lot of the old approaches such as cold calling or marketing at people versus engaging them are becoming less and less effective (this prompted my podcast last week on “how to avoid cold calling“).
The bare bones pre-launch website for Sociable! is up and you can sign up to hear more about upcoming seminars, events (usually involving beer and social media sales types), at the site. We will also be selecting about a dozen people to review the book in a protected blog where you will be able to make comments and add your thoughts. Some of those will be included in the comments section at the end of each chapter.
After spending 8 hours today finishing these Chapters off, I’m done writing for a while.
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Hey Clueless Networker Maybe They’re Just Not Into You Anyway!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Today’s podcast is possibly about why your prospects aren’t calling you back. I’ve created a bit of a monster, several events here in Vancouver and abroad where I have been telling people that attending events like The Vancouver Sales Performance Meetup, various Vancouver Board of Trade Functions, Tweetups and industry functions is how to grow business. This is not true. It only works if you’re doing it the right way.
Some once said part of success is just showing up. To add to this it’s about HOW YOU SHOW UP. Have a listen (Be warned this one may offend those who don’t enjoy sarcasm):
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Sociable! By Stephen Jagger and Shane Gibson
Yesterday was the first day Stephen Jagger and I officially announced our new book Sociable! A book on how social media is turning sales and marketing up-side down. We did a 30 minute presentation and 25 minute Q&A at the Massive Technology Show in Vancouver. (We will be in Toronto on May7th as well) The feedback from the seminar was positive and the big question has been when is the book being released?
Based upon feedback from the publisher / printer we’re looking at early June as the soft launch of the book. We will be announcing a series of events around the book in the coming weeks and how you can get advance copies for review.
If you want to be kept up to date on this you can get on our list here:
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Professional Sales Diploma Program Launched in Partnership with The Academy of Learning
I have been working with the Academy of Learning for over a year to launch this program and it is now available through their network of 145 locations across Canada.
New Program Trains Sales Professionals Who Meet the Demands of Today’s Business World
Academy of Learning is pleased to announce the new Sales Professional Diploma program“ said Derek Hamill, President of LaunchLife International Inc., the franchisor of Academy of Learning. “Without sales there is no business. Academy of Learning wanted to deliver a first rate diploma program to guide and prepare graduates for top notch sales opportunities, and that’s what we did.
Academy of Learning, along with speaker, author and global entrepreneur, Shane Gibson, President of Knowledge Brokers International (KBI), designed the Sales Professional Diploma program with the goal to ensure that every student has the necessary sales knowledge and practical tools to succeed in a sales career.
This program is based upon KBI’s methodologies that have been implemented and used by leading business organizations such as SIEMENS, Old Mutual, The Certified Management Accountants of Canada, the Vancouver Board of Trade and dozens of manufacturers and leading financial services companies. Over 100,000 people in the last 10 years have attended KBI’s programs in Canada, USA, Southern Africa, South East Asia, the Middle East and South America.
This program will prepare graduates with the right skills to excel as a sales professional.
Some of the key courses and areas of focus in the program include: Principles of Selling, Business Presentations, Professional Selling, Business Negotiations & Contracts, and Business Law and Ethics. Graduates will be prepared with the right tools for lucrative sales careers in disciplines such as inside sales, outside sales, key account management, retail and large business to business sales careers. This program is ideal for individuals entering the workplace for the first time, re-entering the workplace, or current jobholders who want to upgrade or get formal recognition as a sales professional.
Labour conditions for the sales profession have remained consistent. Jobfutures.ca indicates that there is a broad variety of career opportunities in sales in fields such as advertising, wholesale, publications, hospitality, entertainment, travel, as well as in the telecommunication industry. Companies need to be competitive and that means having the right sales person who knows how to win accounts and maintain business relationships.
A labour analysis conducted by Academy of Learning shows sales positions are still key requirements in the workforce. Additional research relating specifically to the sales profession research found that:
- Graduates of sales related programs can expect a salary at a mid to slightly higher than average annual salary.
- The employment outlook in sales is at a good level for the coming year.
- The Globe and Mail newspaper stated that employers are having difficulty filling Sales Representatives positions.
- 72% of those with previous work experience found a job within one month of graduation.
- 45% of respondents in the Canadian Professional Sales Association study on “The State of the Sales Nation” stated that finding good sales people was very challenging.
According to Rob Simas, Director, Academic Division at LaunchLife International, “the labour market findings allowed us to develop a comprehensive and focused Sales Professional Diploma program, designed to meet the outcomes and objectives of program standards used by many of the community colleges, without sacrificing vocation and integrity.”
Mr. Simas concluded by saying, “We are pleased to provide a program to individuals looking for a well-rounded introduction to sales. We are confident that this program will open the door to entry-level positions within the exciting and rewarding field of sales.”
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