Key trends

1. How not if
2. TV on everything and social on everything
3. Location based marketing will continue to grow
4. Social cultures will evolve out of social use
5. Social CRM will move mainstream
6. India is rising
7. A return to engagement
8. Rewards versus contests
9. Filters will dampen the noise
10. Social networks will become more fluid and mobile
11. Corporate social intranets

Potential pitfalls

1. App overload
2. Lack of conversation management
3. No policy, training or identity management
4. Lack of true internal social culture
5. Domestic focus and culture
6. Competitors get better at local, mobile and intimacy
7. No follow-up after the contests (see engagement)
8. Hard push back for no engagement

If you’re a business leader, entrepreneur or business builder you need to read this book. It’s packed with usable real-world advice and success strategies.

We talked about how you can take one blog post and repurpose it in at least seven different ways.  Patrick shared with us a few simple tips, that can build a MASSIVE online identity while working less than most of our competitors competitors.

We also covered some important social media how-to’s:

1. Five places to get great content ideas.
2. Seven ways to repurpose your content online.
3. The reality behind blogs, content and getting found online.
4. The three-part “winning formula” for social media success.

For more information on Patrick’s book and a free gift visit http://www.80shortcuts.com/gifts

Here are the slides to go with the presentation:

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

Today’s podcast is a little different than most. It outlines the upcoming Social Media Week in Vancouver that my team and I at Socialized! are putting together (with some massive help from our community, sponsors and our advisory board). I will posting a full text outline of this as well on the Social Media Week Vancouver blog shortly. In the meantime, have a listen and if you’re anywhere near Vancouver we would really like to have you attend, sponsor or even speak.

“When mission is clear abundance will appear.”

This is a vital statement and principle. I discuss it in greater depth in my podcast today.

Today’s podcast was inspired by a couple of conversations I have had recently. The recurring issue is people and organizations revamping their websites (some spending thousands and thousands of dollars) and not having a social media strategy before doing so. Many sites are built by well meaning developers or agencies that haven’t considered what a truly social site and blog are.

I personally think organizations should have a plan, strategy and spec their sites to be social and easily adaptable to new social media tools and trends (and not cost huge amounts of money in the process). Have a listen to my podcast and let me know your thoughts on this.

Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years.  He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down.  When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.

Today I will talk about three things that will help you rise above the crowd:

1. Consistency
2. Niche and Nano-marketing
3. Connecting (Connection is King. Content is secondary)

This is day 5 of my 30 day podcasting challenge. I will be posting a new podcast everyday for the next 30 days. If you would like to contribute as a guest on the show e-mail me shane@socialized.me. Otherwise a comment, tweet or Facebook share would be greatly appreciated.

Here’s an excerpt from her bio:

Jessica Northey, SocialMediologist
(Social=Friendly, Media=Form of Communication, Ology=Study Of)

Tucson Native Jessica Northey is taking over Country Music and Radio one Tweet at a time. Specializing in, using Social Media when you ARE the brand, breaking new artists and strategic use of Social Media for Broadcasting; her optimization techniques are being implemented at top stations across the nation, and her writings/methods instructional material for various programs from Real Estate to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

She is a Social Media, Broadcasting, Country and Music Blogger/Writer, Nationally Recognized Speaker, On-Air Personality, Daily Columnist for AllAccess.com, the web’s largest radio and music industry community, who owns Social Media boutique firm Finger Candy Media, LLC.

Having a personal network of over 140,000 followers and a second order influence of over 4 million she is consistently ranked in the top 100 most influential people on Twitter (in the world) according to TwitterGrader.com and in the October Issue of Fast Company Magazine was shown as one of the most influential people on Social Media ranking at 109.

This is day 3 of my 30 day podcasting challenge. I will be posting a new podcast everyday for the next 30 days. If you would like to contribute as a guest on the show e-mail me shane@socialized.me. Otherwise a comment, tweet or Facebook share would be greatly appreciated.

I have had a number of inquiries from my tech and social media brethren about how to present on stage. Some are gentle questions like “how many slides should I have for a one hour presentation?” to outright pleas for help such as “I’m terrified of audiences over 20 people, how do I present our new iPhone app at this conference?”

Geeks (science or tech savvy and knowledgeable folks who get turned on by pixels, pings, microchips, biology, chemistry, APIs etc.) tend to struggle with presentations, yet if they master the art they can have a massive impact on their business and career (think Steve Jobs or David Suzuki).

Too many people think content is king. Connection is king. Unless you can connect with your audience and engage them effectively your geek speak will mean very little to them. Today’s podcast covers a few insights on better stage presentations.

[This is day one of my 30 day podcasting challenge, I will be posting a new podcast everyday for the next month, drop by, make a comment or share a link to the podcast you posted today).

I then looked at my roster of podcasts and realized that I have much more to share. The podcasting seems to happen after the client work, proposals, research, books etc. BUT it has been a major driving force in my business and I have been less than generous with my listeners. I should be giving you way more in the form of interviews, strategy and just sharing the things I’m learning everyday.

I decided to publicy make myself accountable and also ask for your help. Starting today I will be doing 30 podcasts over 30 days.  I would also like to challenge you to contribute in a few ways:

1. If you’re a podcaster – take the challenge with me. Start sharing more of your knowledge more often today.
2. If you are an author, subject matter expert or are having success using social media for business, community building or charity — reach out to me and lets get you on the show TODAY.
3. If you’re a listener, Twitter connection, LinkedIn associate or Facebook friend take a moment to listen to the podcasts, submit your questions, share what you like and let me know what you think. Heckle me if you feel like it!

That’s it. Thanks for coming along this journey with me. I hope you enjoy the show. (I am posting two podcasts today just to get a head start — come back in an hour!)

Shane Gibson
Chief Social Officer
Socialized! Ltd.
http://socialized.me
Blog: http://www.closingbigger.net
Got iTunes? Click here to subscribe our Podcast!: http://tinyurl.com/itunes-sales-podcast
Follow Shane on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shanegibson

Monitoring conversations is great – but getting involved in the conversation and being a thought leader is where the true opportunity is. Having a Social CRM strategy is vital, we need to help our sales team understand how to socialize online. Today’s podcast talks about some of the pro-active components that should be included in that strategy.

I first met Guy Kawasaki at an Olympic Tweetup here in Vancouver a little over a year. My co-author Jay Conrad Levinson had already filled me in on guy, and Jay may have even used the work “enchanting” when he described Guy. He seems to arrive and light up a room and make everyone around him feel at ease, when guy speaks about marketing and leadership business leaders listen. When Guerrilla Social Media Marketing was being written Guy was #1 on our list as the person to write the foreword, and we were absolutely honored to have him do so. He is a true guerrilla marketer and his use of Twitter and the creation of his site Alltop.com make him a social media thought leader and innovator. He also is an Apple Fellow and the driving force behind the creation of the Apple Fanboy many decades ago (a movement which is still in full force).

With Guy’s new book Enchantment being released today I responded to Guy’s announcement and asked him to do a podcast interview. In the interview we discuss:

• Enchanting brands
• Social media marketing
• Enchanting today’s worker
• How to resist enchantment
• and the difference between enchanting brands like Apple and Zappos and mainstream run-of-the-mill brands

Below is an “Enchantment Info Graphic” to accompany the podcast:

This is a process we developed working with our clients at Socialized! and it takes an inventory of the following:

1. Your existing website: Is it socialized with a blog, integrated with the major social networks and well optimized for search engines?
2. Your social profiles: Are you maximizing the use of the major social sites that are relevant to your audience. This entails not just creating content but having relevant conversations and engaging?
3. Social Media Policy: Do you have a personal or corporate social media policy that fosters a social culture and creates accountability?
4. Social Media Plan: Do you have a strategic plan for launching and sustaining focused social media communications.
5. Trained staff: Is your team trained in the rules of engagement and in the technical aspects of the tools they will use?
6. Integration: Silo? Online/Offline? Bi-directional?: What best describes your social media use. If only one person or one department is using it then you will be faced with bottlenecks and a one dimensional communications strategy.
7. Metrics, Monitoring and Measurement?: Are you using social media monitoring tools like Twitter Search, Post Rank, Google Alerts etc. to find business intelligence, identify stakeholders and get involved in the conversation.

Today’s Podcast is focused on part 1 of the assessment: Your Socialized Site or Blog and asks 12 major questions (covered in the podcast)

The most important thing to realize here is that most of the questions are focused on how you are using your blog and site. Some of it focuses on basic functionality but most is about the application. I will be posting Part 2 “Your Social Profiles Assessment” in the next few days.

Here’s what the book site says about the book:

Consumer Republic
Using brands to get what you want, make corporations behave, and maybe even save the world.

Consumer Republic is premised on the uncomfortable truth that brands give consumers power over the marketplace that is essentially political. Brands make corporations accountable for their actions and, especially now, they give those corporations something valuable to lose if they fail us. Consumer Republic faces consumers with that power, explains how we got it, and then shows how the choices we make at the cash register can change our own lives, the way that corporations go to market and, ultimately, our entire way of life. Just as an engaged citizen is essential to an effective democracy, so an engaged consumer is the key to a sustainable free market, says Consumer Republic. My new book is a challenge to all of us who consume to vote with our money… and to marketers to be ready for a future in which they will face their customers eye to eye.

 

5 reasons why you should not let your sales team publish content using social media:

1. You have hired idiots – even if you trained them they would just be motivated idiots.
2. You have so much profitable business that you couldn’t handle any more
3. Your product really sucks
4. Your company and culture really suck
5. You haven’t or will not equip them with
   – The rules of engagement and a social media policy
   – Training in the tools of engagement
   – Accountability in place – once engaged it’s game on – have a framework support and accountability.

10 reasons why you should let your sales team publish content using social media:

1. “It’s not marketing it’s talking to customers” – Scott Stratten of UnMarketing
2. It adds to value added frequency
3. It opens up new channels
4. It can save time
5. Load balance your branding
6. Social CRM is the next big thing – are you cruising or are you road kill (Social CRM Podcast)
7. Immediate data instead of compiled and stale data
8. It makes them almost as smart as your customer
9. You can see the activity
10. It builds a passive pipeline and makes projections easier “If you’re talking to unqualified prospects it’s not a sales problem, it’s a marketing problem” – Zero Rejection Prospecting (Michael J Durkin and Norbert Orlewicz)
11. It builds a fence around the customer
12. It creates joy
13. It elevates sales people above pitch artist to trusted advisor

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

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.

1. You need buy-in
2. It’s really about creating an opportunity culture
3. You need to reward people, that means everyone
4. “What gets inspected gets respected” – Trevor Greene
5. Move poor fits out quick, and hire the right people
6. Feed the monster – train and develop continually
7. Fix operations if they don’t support sales
8. Fix products and services that don’t meet needs or fulfill promises
9. It takes time, up to 18 months or longer before true leadership evolves

Four Types of Prospecting:

1. Face to Face
2. Extended Personal
3. Community and Network Prospecting
4. Media Marketing/Prospecting

Make a Plan:

1. Have the intent to meet people wherever you go, be aware and focus on rapport
2. Book time everyday for e-mail and phone calls
3. Book time everyday for prospecting on Linkedin and listening/monitoring the web
4. Attend two target rich events per month and one major conference per quarter
5. 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

Looking for a social media speaker for your next conference?

You can contact us or take a look at Shane Gibson’s bio.

Here’s some of the core thoughts

1. We no longer can broadcast, or niche market, we need to nano-cast to small groups of people, often smaller than the entire tribe.
2. Nano-casting isn’t enough, we need to employ Listening 2.0 strategies and have intimate conversations.
3. 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).

Photo Credit: Dr. X’s Vintage Photo Blog

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

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.

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.

Day1  The ABC’s of Targeting

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:

Social Media Speaker Shane Gibson on Social Media Etiquette

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

This is an important question.

It’s the most important question.

Why?

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

#1) They need to master the art of Rapport Building

#2) They need to get good at Needs Analysis Selling

#3) They need to understand how to sell what people buy, and it’s not features, price or technology

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

Twitter For Sales Part 1

Twitter For Sales Part 2

What the Heck is a Tweetup?

Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside Down

How Hard is it to Video Blog?

To Donate the the Vancouver Food Bank Click here or the image below. Every bit helps!

Blogathon 2009 for Vancouver Food Bank

1. Agree goals (Buy-in)
2. Pick your Platforms
3. Assess Resources and Allocate them
4. Social Media policy and guidelines
5. Listening strategy and tool implementation (includes analytics, alerts and social search)
6. Populate and customize build platforms
7. Content development and roll-out social media calendar (Think notes in a symphony)
8. Train and teach internal contributors
9. Recruit or connect with external contributors (Encourage conversation and contribution)
10. Train and develop external pro-active contributors
11. Marketing and exposure for social media destinations
12. Blogger and press outreach
13. Spin-off Marketing Stage

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1. Identify Your Goal
2. Identify Your Target Audience
3. Pick the Right Platforms
4. Map out Social Etiquette
5. Implement Listening and Engagement Strategy
6. Know Core Pains
7. Uniquely Communicate Pills Mixing Marketing and Community

Related posts:

22 Social Media Tips Under 140 Characters

Twitter for sales tutorial video Part 1 & Part 2

The Future of Sales and Marketing Social CRM

Here’s the Poll:

1.    Tools

2.    Measurement

3.    Processes and Knowledge

4.    Maximize Selling Time

5.    Support and Accountability Structure

After you listen to today’s podcast your assignment is to:

1. List the 5 headings for operationalizing sales discussed
2. Fill in under each heading what actions or steps you are going to take
3. Once mapped out make sure you assign a specific time to implement the steps
4. Find someone you can be accountable to in the process.

1. The Alternative Close
2. The Assumed Close
3. The Minor Decision Close
4. The Courtesy Close – “silent principle”
5. The Direct Close
6. The Urgency Close
7. The “Shut-up Principle” Close
8. The “Bonus” Close –
9. The Objection Close
10. The “Use of Terms” Close
11. The Third Party Close
12. The Summary Close
13. The Similar Situation Close
14. The Empathy Close
15. The Consultant Close

Energy management in sales is just as important as time management. Worry and anxiety can be big energy drainers.  Your assignment today is to implement as many of the strategies outlined in today’s podcast as possible.

The following are some ideas, strategies, and tips to proactively help reduce your worry and anxiety:

1. Set a Specific Time for Worry
2. Move to Action
3. Try Exercise
4. Get Out of Bed Quickly
5. Post Good News
6. Surround Yourself with Positive People
7. Make Meetings Productive with the Worry Chart
8. Time Limit on Hard Work
9. Know the Value of the Present
10. Laugh at Yourself
11. Give Yourself Special Treatment

Personal Brand of You
When selling intangible solutions, it really is about credibility and the relationship.  Because the solution is intangible, the purchase is largely based upon the believability of the salesperson.
Having a strong personal brand helps people understand who we are, what we are about, and it removes uncertainty.
Differentiation
People who are good at this type of sales often communicate what they do in a unique way. This means specializing and unique positioning is often necessary.
Passionate Evangelist/Industry Authority or Both
As an extension of our personal brand and our ability to differentiate, our passion and knowledge are critical in selling intangibles. Because the client cannot often experience the service or solution in a tangible way, their experience of you has to be credible and inspiring.
Clarity
“In communicating, your greatest enemy isn’t the noise around you – it’s the noise you create, un-wittingly” – Harry Beckwith, author of What Clients Love and Selling the Invisible.
Brevity and focus are key. If we focus on one or two core things we are good at and communicate those proficiencies really well, we can own a large portion of client mindshare and wallet share.
Value Builders
Because what we are selling cannot be seen, touched, or measured, we need to be good at building value. Your ability to articulate the real value in terms of return on investment is very important. Solutions must be presented in a way that solves a core client pain or challenge.

-

The kind of tangible results that appeal to them are:

Raising Revenues:
Show them how their overall volume can be increased; in other words, an increase in sales.

Increase Efficiency:
If they see that their employees, or their equipment, or other capital  will be more efficient, then the chance of their buy-in is higher.

Keeping Shareholders Happy:
Top level decision makers are the ones who have to answer to the Board of Directors and to the Shareholders in a large corporation. Keeping the Board or shareholders happy is their main priority.

Lowering Cost of Production:
Lower costs equal better margins and bigger profits.

Increasing Market Share:
They are interested in advertising, marketing and business development strategies, tactics and methods to increase market share.

Higher Return On Investment:
Can you show them how they will get a bigger return on their investment for the money they invest with your services, products, ideas and concepts?

Dealing With Market Changes:
If you come with solutions for  market changes that affect them, then they will  take the time to explore the possibilities with you.

Intangible Results:

The types of intangible results that appeal to top level decision makers are:

Lower the Risk And Worry:
Anything that you can do to lower or eliminate the risk makes them feel better.

Personal and Corporate Pride:
Senior executives and top level decision makers are at the top because they have personal pride and are proud of the business results that they achieve.

Image – Personally And Corporately:
Yes the car they drive reflects their success level. The suits, the shoes they wear, the house they live in, the office address, and the image their marketing material portrays are all examples of personal and/or corporate image.

Retaining And Attracting Good Employees Who Work Beyond The Norm:
The top level decision maker knows that you win when you have exceptional people working with you.

Your assignment today after listening to the podcast is to:

1) Look at how many of these results your products or services can achieve for your clients.

2) Develop a unique way to present these results you produce

3) Memorize and practice presenting those core results statements that you will use with senior decision makers.

-

This podcast is focused on the importance of connecting with and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. Who knows, maybe the marketing team wants to know who your ideal client is!

Today’s assignment after you listen to the podcast is as follows:
1)    Develop your own Edification sheet or elevator pitch for your team mates
2)    Get each of them to do that as well for you and then memorize each others “Edification Sheet”
3)    Develop a checklist for prepping for meetings that ensures that you:

a.    Know the key strengths and purpose of those people on your team
b.    Determine the meeting lead
c.    Warm everyone up for the call
d.    Debrief after the meeting  with the key questions:

- What went well?
- What didn’t go well?
- What could we do better?

`

After you listen to today’s podcast here is your assignment:

#1) Brainstorm all of the possible objections you could get in your typical sales call and either pre-empt them or memorize your answers

#2) Be prepared for the worst case scenario, map out what those could be and how you will handle them.

#3) Be prepared for the best case scenario, what will you need to close the deal or negotiate with a key prospect on the spot?

#4) Map out key research sources you can review and confirm before heading to the meeting

#5) Build a checklist for this process and go through before each meeting well in advance

-

Your assignment today is to listen to the podcast and then:

1) Brainstorm a list of all of the objections that you get on a regular basis.

2) List unspoken objections that people will not mention to you but you know are there.

3) Develop a way to preemptively handle each objection up-front and turn it into a selling point

Today’s podcast is about prioritzing client issues, focusing on your key competitive advantages and communicating in the terms of benefits and results to the client.

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?

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

The core take-aways for this lesson are:

1. Never sell during the needs analysis.
2. Don’t finish the prospect’s sentences, allow them to explore solutions and challenges in their own context.
3. Get permission to sell at the end of the needs analysis to maintain rapport and trust.
4. Always get a commitment for the next step in the sales process.

28 Days to Better Selling Archive can be found here

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.

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:

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:

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.

If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:

Your assignment today is to connect with three prospects through Linkedin.

Step 1: Search for an individual using targeted criteria

Step 2: Click through their profile and select get introduced through a connection

Step 3: Send a non-pitch short introduction to connect and learn more about each other.

It’s one the easiest ways to make connections but it is very underused. Good luck!

If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:

1) Make a list of all the possible lead and networking sources.
2) Pick the ones that have a high concentration of you’re A target or A referral sources
3) Join and or book yourself for some events
4) Book a morning once a month for the next 3 months to pre-plan your networking.
5) Get out there and start connecting

If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:

Here’s your assignment:

1) Listen to today’s podcast

2) Follow the CCIC formula (mentioned in the podcast) and make as many new connections as possible within 24 hours of the posting time of this blog/podcast.

3) Report back with how many people you met, and what you learned. The person who collects the most cards and/or has the best story wins. You can report back by video by clicking the seesmic icon near the comments box as well.

Good luck and happy prospecting!

If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:

Today’s assignment is:

1) Brainstorm all possible criteria for CIO and referral sources
2) Pick 5-7 top criteria
3) Make a list of existing and potential A category CIO’s and referrals
4) Book a meeting with at least 2 existing to say thank-you and share criteria
5) Share your thoughts and how you implemented this at http://closingbigger.net

If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:

Today’s topic is on “The ABC’s of Targeting.” Watch the video ( or direct download) here, and complete the 5 steps outlined below:

1. Make a list of all possible criteria
2. Pick the top 5 to 7 that are absolutes
3. Compare that to your last 10 business transactions
4. Answer the question: What could you do to better target or profile clients?
5. Visit http://closingbigger.net to share your thoughts in the comment section.

If you haven’t signed up for the program you can join at anytime by signing up below:

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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 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. 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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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:

Shamus Brown did a blog post called “Your Prospects are Human Lie Detectors.” It’s amazing that in this era of extreme transparency that sales professionals and business people still are missing this core lesson.

Simone Blum urged us to be Un Reasonable when it comes to business decisions and launching a new idea or product.

Alan Majer provided a great list of 21 things we can do to succeed in a carreer in selling.

The guys at Sales Roundup put together a good sales podcast on finding and prepping for a sales job.

The guys at the Advanced Selling Podcast did a great podcast on The Rules Tools and Attitudes needed to put more prospects into the sales funnel.

Brad Trnavsky at the Sales Bloggers Union did a good sales blog entry on The Primary Role of a Sales Manager.

Skip Anderson in his Selling to Consumers Podcast talked about the Essence of Selling. It’s all about helping the client make a decision according to Skip.

Lastly I found this sales cartoon from Count5.com and it reminded me of at least half of the sales people that call my office daily. Anyone else suffering from the same?

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.

#1) This is actually a live feed of multiple sales bloggers from around the globle. The World’s Top Sales Bloggers List is a great place to discover new sales bloggers and podcast producers.

#2) Dave Kurlan put together a great sales management checklist of must have attibutes for sales leaders and managers.

#3) Kevin Eikenberry posted a good list of 5 ways to do some spring cleaning to your life.  Good tips for those needing to refocus.

#4) Paul Espinosa talked about how critical it is for organizations to get good ar hiring good sales managers in his post on “Sales Managers – The Real Role.”

#5) The guys at the Sales Roundup Sales Podcast put together a great show on “How to price what you sell.”

#6) George Petri from Symvolli posted a sales podcast on “B2B Relationships Don’t Have To Be Lost – Continuous Contact Doesn’t Mean Customer Stalking.” Great stuff on creative follow-up.

#7) Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale put together a podcast on getting to and dealing with decision makers.

#8) Rick Cooper: The Fortune Is In the Follow Up was another podcast that I enjoyed.

Number one Sociable! and it’s principles are needed right now by most of our collective clients.  If we waited a year to release it, and went the traditional book publisher route we would be hypocrites for saying “the rules of business have changed but we are going to write, distribute, market and roll-out our book basically the same it has been done for years.”  So we broke a bunch of rules, and we also set some big aggressive goals that are going to create some real momentum.

Here’s what Mack had to say:

Undoubtebdly you guys are both experts, but a book in 90 days? As a consumer I am a lot less interested in the book as it seems like something rushed. For you to write three books in a year is a great achievement but as a reader I would prefer one Excellent book in a year instead of three that were quickly banged out.  Maybe my assessment is wrong, I’d love to hear why. (Original comment here)

I would side with Seth Godin on this when he said:

Blogs have eliminated the reason for most business books to exist. If you can say it in three blog posts and reach more people, then waiting a year and putting in all that effort seems sort of pointless. The chances that your effort will be rewarded with income in proportion to the time you put in are pretty low. (See the full post at Seth Godin’s Blog)

In order to create ROI for the writer and be relevant to the reader the way books are written, marketed and revised must change. Here’s my full response via video (please weigh in and add comments, I really want to know what my readers feel about this subject):

What I am talking about is real time, permission based data on clients that will have the potential to tell us everything from what time of day they are most likely to answer a twitter comment from us to what events they are attending and what brand of TV they prefer or “favorite.”

This data is available on most contacts you have if you are connected to them on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin but the challenge is managing the noise and the chaos to hone in on the events, preferences, and people that matter most to your sales, networking and community building efforts.

A comment made to me on Twitter just moments after recording this podcast was:

From: @Raize604 @shanegibson it’s also more high maintenance CRM which makes me wonder if its worth it” (He was referring to all the trouble with watching clients and prospects on multiple networks)

A properly engineered and formatted Social CRM can pull all of this data for you, filter it, help you focus on a target group and tell you when specific people or groups are most responsive to what messages in what mediums.  Here’s today’s sales podcast on Social CRM:

I picked up my copy of Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals today and it really got me thinking about how casual or loose most sales teams and organizations are. If I was to go into battle (so to speak) how many sales people that I know would I actually bring with me? Who could I count? Who can count on me?  Today’s podcast is about how sales management and sales professionals can learn from the leadership lessons of the Navy Seals.

Mike Desjardins (http://twitter.com/mikedesjardins) interviewed Shane Gibson on Mike’s Video Podcast on how CEO’s can effectively use Twitter.

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):

Chris Maurer did a great blog post on Social Media for B2B Sales, he talked about the importance of laying out a strong strategy for your sales team to use the tools effectively.

Jonathan Farrington said it well when he said “Successful ‘closers’ know that there is no need to use magic phrases or techniques because if they’ve effectively followed the sales process, closing the sale is the next step in a logical sequence.” in his great blog post on “Closing. It’s easy if…”

Neil Godin did a great blog entry in his Marketing Dangerously blog on “May I help you?” and how he was able to help a company double their customer conversion levels by shifting the way they great customers.

Wendy Weiss did a podcast that really talked about the difference between Amateurs versus Professionals in the art of cold calling.  “Fix Your Saggy Butt!”  (I’m glad I never have been a dancer or a model, sales sounds easy after her story).

Colleen Francis blogged about the importance of CRM for sales teams of any size.  The blog was answer to a blog reader’s question. I liked Colleen’s practical logical arguement for those that may still be sitting on the CRM fence.

Stephen Jagger founder of Reachd and Ubertor posted a great video of Vic Jang speaking on the Future of Real Estate Sales.

Skip Anderson posted some straightforward but often missed sales management tips for ramping up your effectiveness in “Sales Manager, How Are You Going to Spend Your Time Today?”

Ian Watt did a video blog titled “Don’t Become a Realtor for the Money, it Will Eat You Alive” (you can see all of his video blogs here). It’s great insight on loving what you do.

Another great resource for sales blogs and podcasts is the sales channel of Alltop.com

If you have any favorite posts or authors you like please share them in the comments section.

1. Become a constant prospector
2. Attend industry events twice a week
3. Blog everyday about solutions to client pains
4. Make new connections using Twitter
5. Ask for introductions through Linkedin
6. Share your ideal client profile with your entire network in the form of a distributed case study
7. Inform clients you’re looking for new business
8. Offer referral fees to non-competitive service or product supplier
9. Be newsworthy or launch a press release
10. Use seminar and webinar selling
11. (Bonus) Become a subject matter expert

Here’s today’s sales podcast on the topic:

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It’s an interesting question. Falling into being transactional when things are going well or when things are not going well is a bad long term sales and business strategy.  Non-transactional selling is relationship based, focused, purposeful and customized for your client and market. I answered his question via podcast. If you have a sales question you want answered follow me on Twitter.

Here’s today’s podcast:

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If you could pull together your sales team for three hours, give them just three things to implement that would increase their efficiency by even 5% your Return on Investment over the next 90 days would be worth much more than the 3 hours they spent out of the field. In addition to this, I found the blog entry to be another one of many coaching versus training blog entries. Why can’t we all just get along?

Organizations that really have their sales performance strategy together will be driving forward with both training and coaching working synergistically. Each plays and important role in maintaining competitiveness, motivation and retaining star players. Have a listen to my rant on this topic:

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Your thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated

This podcast talks about the difference between certification and qualification. It also talks about how we may want to select and mentor or coach in the future. If you like what I have to say or you disagree please comment, I would like your feedback.

I’ve heard many people (including myself) talk about the fact that the rules of business have changed.  In sales and marketing this is true.

What’s interesting is that the rules of leadership are universal. Offline and online networking and building social capital follow a very similar strategy. Today’s podcast addresses this challenge and opportunity.

Enjoy:

Symvolli has done a great podcast on this topic as well (I listened to it and thought I’d post a response via podcast). The key here is it’s better to “get real” about what we truly have for opportunities and then build a solid plan to help us get to where we want to go.  The alternative, pushing unqualified leads through the pipeline is exhausting and will have us show up short of quota at the end of the year.

Today’s podcast is an interview with Sarah Villeneuve Bundy Co-Founder of 49 Above Marketing a multilingual full service internet marketing firm with clients in Canada, USA and numerous other countries. Sarah was on the show today to share with us how to put together a comprehensive sales and recruiting strategy.  Some of the tools we discussed were Twitter, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) PPC ( pay-per-click campaigns ), blogging, and the power of “Long-Tail” keywords in attracting the right prospects.

About Mike Desjardins:

Mike is a graduate of UBC’s Sauder School of Business with a specialization in Marketing. Immediately prior to joining ViRTUS as the “Driver,” Mike was the President of Purity Water Treatment Products, a company which manufacturers and distributes hot tub and pool treatment products throughout North America with offices in Surrey, Oakville, and San Diego. Under Mike’s direction, Purity became the only Canadian based chemical company to have its entire product line registered for sale in the US, distributing to twenty-nine states.

Mike is a health and wellness fanatic, an avid downhill skier, beach volleyball player, and motorcycle enthusiast. His energy and enthusiasm are matched well to his desire to build relationships and help connect the right people together in his ever-expanding network.

Mike’s role as the Driver is to focus on strategy, growth, day-to-day operations, and the quest to continually improve every aspect of the experience customers have with ViRTUS.

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Five Minutes with VITO is a must read for those that are frustrated with long sales cycles, corporate dead-ends in the sales process, and pretty much anyone else who is serious about meeting their sales targets.  The book will not tell you where to find CEO prospects, nor will it talk much about key account management or “Closing the Deal.” Instead it focuses on the critical 5 minutes with THE senior executive in your sales process, and how to deal with this true decision maker during this “make-you-or-break-you” window of time.

Listen ot my full podcast review below:

Click the book to learn more…

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Direct MP3 Download Link

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You may be a business leader that’s transforming an industry, a teacher who does things differently in the classroom, or a blogger that pours your heart out for the world to see.

Today’s podcast is about you, and how you can tackle this challenge.

- Namaste

Direct File Link to Listen

We can forget the ultimate goal is happiness, and that happiness is routed in truth.  The biggest truth happens when we are authentic and in line with our own personal values.

In our values reside that which we love, and that which we are good at, our talents and our personal gifts are very close to those activities, people, and things that we value the most. You can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shanegibson.

Today’s Podcast is about identifying and searching for our deeper purpose in business, community and life.

Here’s today’s podcast on “Using Social Networking and Social Media to Succeed in Tough Times.”

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Here’s today’s show:

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Here’s today’s Episode:

This is blogathon entry number 46 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause.

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Become a CMA in British Columbia

Learn about the CMA Designation across Canada

Book Shane Gibson for your next conference

Title: The Career Maker – Relationship Development Skills

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The Board has helped me grow my personal network, increase my personal leadership capacity and even after several years as a  member I now see an endless flow of new business coming in from referrals and opportunities at the Board.

Fiona’s question is: “What qualities of a successful leader are also shared by successful sales people?”

Answer: Due to 18 hours of typing (my hands are a bit stiff) I will be answering this in audio or podcasting format! But here’s the coles notes version:

1. Vision
2. Influence
3. Networking Skills
4. Coaching and Mentoring Skills
5. Teaching and Training Skills

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This podcast is on how to run effective sales meetings.

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I have provided you with a brief 13 minute audio sales podcast of the topic discussed.

Sales Performance Meetup

The focus of the Complex Sales Training Podcast part 3 is on measuring and progressing our level of relationship development with our key accounts and understanding how that impacts our success in navigating large, complex and long sales cycle deals.

This program is now formatted and compatible for your iPhone!

Complex sales is about 90% preparation and 10% perspiration. It’s not just about a pitch in the boardroom, complex sales people, or simply put people who are masters at closing bigger deals strategically map out their process and the battle field (so to speak).

Please have a listen to my podcast and post any comments or questions so I can address them in Part 3 of the Complex Sales Podcast Series.

Complex Sales Training Podcast by Shane Gibson – Copyright 1999-2008 Knowledge Brokers International Ltd.

This complex sales podcast introduces you to the process by first defining what complex sales is and then moves into

part 1.  In Part 1 of the Complex Sales series we are introduced to the 6 major Power Players in a Complex Sale or complex business relationship: The Navigator, The Ruler, The User, The Protector, The Contributor and The Opposer.

Definition of Complex Sales (From Wikipedia):

Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) and requiring a proposal response from previously identified or interested suppliers. Complex sales involve long sales cycles with multiple decision makers. Multiple stakeholders and stakeholder groups contribute to every complex sale.

Any product or service may become a complex sale. In some instances a complex sale occurs when the market is mature and the stakes high enough to warrant attention from a variety of stakeholders in the buying organization. In other instances a complex sales process is needed when the buyer has never had experience with the vendor, technology being sold, or if the solution is business critical or impacts the buying organization on a strategic level. The series of filters, purchasing steps, and stakeholders involved are designed to reduce the risks associated with making the wrong buying decision…

…often the sales person is required to have a set of skills that are more in line with a subject matter expert or consultant than a traditional sales person. This type of sales person can often be referred to as a Key Account Executive or Complex Sales Executive. (Full Definition here.)

The next few podcasts will hopefully help you develop an understanding of what core skills and strategies will be required to navigate and close complex sales.