Podcast Interview: What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School – Larry Chiang
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Photo Credit Terry Chay
Today’s podcast is an interview with Larry Chang author of What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School. Larry is also a seriously Sociable! guy and can be found organizing after parties at some of the biggest social media and cultural events from South by South West to conferences at major universities across North America. In fact Larry may be the 3rd best party guy and networker I have met. (Sociable! Book Launch Party). In this interview Larry and I talk about topics you don’t learn in business school such as Man Charm, how to land a super star mentor and sales skills.
Larry’s book sold out it’s first printing on Amazon but you can register for updates at Amazon by clicking on the book below:
What They Don't Teach You at Stanford Business School
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Podcast – Helping salespeople get smarter with digital assistants and technology
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Amacus
Today’s podcast is with sales technology thought leader John Cousineau who is President of Innovative Information the creators of Amacus. John and I have had a number of coffee chats and debates around why and how to use technology and social media to improve sales performance and customer experience. The nexus of sales and social media seems to be happening in the CRM and Social CRM space. The question is it happening fast enough and making things more efficient or is it just giving sales people more buttons and buzzwords to worry about.
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Creating a Sales Culture in Your Organization
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Many organizations want to create a sales culture but many also fail at doing so. Today’s podcast covers nine lessons around creating sales culture that I have learned while helping non-sales organizations create sales culture:
- You need buy-in
- It’s really about creating an opportunity culture
- You need to reward people, that means everyone
- “What gets inspected gets respected” – Trevor Greene
- Move poor fits out quick, and hire the right people
- Feed the monster – train and develop continually
- Fix operations if they don’t support sales
- Fix products and services that don’t meet needs or fulfill promises
- It takes time, up to 18 months or longer before true leadership evolves
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Prospecting is a Discipline
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Today’s podcast is on developing a prospecting discipline and why you need to plan it out and make it part of your sales and marketing strategy. Bullet points on the podcast:
Four Types of Prospecting:
- Face to Face
- Extended Personal
- Community and Network Prospecting
- Media Marketing/Prospecting
Make a Plan:
- Have the intent to meet people wherever you go, be aware and focus on rapport
- Book time everyday for e-mail and phone calls
- Book time everyday for prospecting on Linkedin and listening/monitoring the web
- Attend two target rich events per month and one major conference per quarter
- Budget a percentage of your projected income or revenues and spend it every month on media and press releases etc.
What’s your prospecting plan look like?
Subscribe in iTunes
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Serendipity and Intuition are Not Random
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Today’s podcast is on the connection between serendipity and discipline as well as the connection between training and intuition. I’m also going to talk about why very few people experience high levels of positive serendipity or tap into their intuition because they quit too soon. I’d love your feedback and thoughts on this topic. This applies to social media, sales, traditional marketing and even networking activities.
Looking for a social media speaker for your next conference?
You can contact us or take a look at Shane Gibson’s bio.
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Why You Need to Be a Nomadic Social Media Tribalist
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Today’s podcast is more about questions than answers, this is somewhat of a roughly formed thought at this point. Tribes by Seth Godin really resonated with me when I first read it a year ago. Jay Conrad Levinson’s concept of Nano-casting to small unique groups (often only parts of a tribe) has always intrigued me. On a recent trip to Florida Jay and I spent an evening talking about Nano-casting, nomadic tribalists and social media marketing.
Here’s some of the core thoughts
- We no longer can broadcast, or niche market, we need to nano-cast to small groups of people, often smaller than the entire tribe.
- Nano-casting isn’t enough, we need to employ Listening 2.0 strategies and have intimate conversations.
- You must be adept at being a nomadic social media tribalist, your ability to move from tribe to tribe and adapt as you market is vital.
I really would like your feedback on this concept. Make a comment below, Tweet me, or find me on Google Wave (closingbigger@googlewave.com).
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Listening 2.0 – Social Media Listening Strategy
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Listening is a core part of all strategy, military, personal relationships, sales and social media. Observing your competitors before forming strategy and taking action, or listening to your customer for the purpose of engagement, rapport and opportunity seeking. It all starts with listening. In marketing, as in battle it is often one bold stroke that wins, knowing when, where and how we hit our adversary. Today’s podcast is about Listening 2.0 and what it means to all of us. Listening 2.0 is about making others feel listened to and understood, it’s not just about nodding our virtual heads or tabulating comments in a social media sentiment report.
Photo Credit: Dr. X’s Vintage Photo Blog
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
3 Things You Must Know About Social Media
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I was recently asked to summarize the what marketers must know about social media marketing by Jay Levinson. I was about to answer him when he added a stipulation in, in 3 points, only 3 summarize what marketers must know about social media. I thought I would share with you what I shared with him:
- It’s a conversation – As marketers in the past we have been awarded based upon our ability to craft messages and broadcast to an audience, a niche or a market segment. People no longer want to be talked at. In fact their conversations with each other on Twitter, Facebook, or even the videos they post on YouTube impact and define major brands. As social media marketers we need to get involved in those conversations if we want to effectively brand and market online.
- It’s a listening tool – More than a conversation, social media marketing is about listening. We need to be listening for opportunities to engage with people that are talking about our brand. Social media gives us the opportunity to engage at the instant someone is talking about us (if we’re listening), and have relevant, personal and authentic conversations with our customers. Use tools like Twitter search, Google Alerts, and SocialMention.com to monitor those conversations.
- Social media belongs to everyone, which is good and bad, it forces you to be different to win – As a marketer you no longer have control or a monopoly on a medium. Social media tools are in everyone’s hands. This is great news for anyone who wants to create a brand and generate revenues online. This is also a bad thing, because it creates a lot of noise. You must have a distinctive message, offering and leadership style if you want to get noticed online. To win you must be more engaging, add more value, and be more creative than everyone else if you want to rise above the noise.
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
The End of Social Media
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The End of Social Media
Yes I have consumed the social media Kool-Aid. In fact I have opened my own roadside stand. Social media is an exciting disruptive technology. But the ride is almost over, the hype will die down after everyone has found everyone on Facebook and when even our dog has a blog. Marketers and the community at large will ask “Now What?”
Social media will come to an end. The ride is not over yet, we have a few good years ahead of us but the writing is one the wall. My podcast today is about the end of social media and what it means to marketers, bloggers, business owners and the community as a whole.
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
28 Ways to Improve Your Sales Results
I had a number of people (close to 300) complete the 28 Days to Better Selling Program I put on in May and June. Many of you were asking when I was going to do it again? My next one will be in the fall but it will be marketing focused. With that said, you can do the 28 Days to Better Selling Program at your own pace by following the links below.
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.
Day 2 Targeting the Right Referral Sources
Day 3 Prospecting in Person
Day 4 Networking Strategy
Day 5 LinkedIn Prospecting
Day 6 Investigative Prospecting
Day 7 Lead Nurturing
Day 8 Don’t Be A Boring Salesperson
Day 9 Listening in Sales
Day 10 Needs Analysis in Sales Part 1
Day 11 Needs Analysis In Sales Part 2
Day 12 Twitter for Sales Part 1
Day 13 Twitter for Sales Part 2
Day 14 Keeping Commitments
Day 15 Selling Benefits and Results
Day 16 Preemptive Objection Handling
Day 17 Sell the Price Different Not The Total Cost
Day 18 Vital Signs
Day 19 Preparing For a Sales Call
Day 20 Team Selling
Day 21 Just Thinking About You
Day 22 Team Players Make Efficient Sellers
Day 23 Day of Rest, Chill Out and Reflect 
Day 24 Influencing Top Level Decision Makers
Day 25 Key Skills and Strengths for Selling Intangibles
Day 26 Reducing Anxiety and Worry
Day 27 15 Ways to Close A Sale
Day 28 Operationalizing Your Sales Process
Want to Close Bigger Deals? Buy the Book:
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Video – Social Media Etiquette
Social Media Speaker Shane Gibson
Social Media Speaker Shane Gibson on Social Media Etiquette
Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter
Speaking and Training
Subscribe in iTunes
Buy Sociable! Now.
-
One of the Top Sales Sites On the Net!
