How to Get the Most Out of Your Sales Team Without Buying Expensive Training

Is sales training an expense or an investment?

In most cases, it’s an expense that does your company almost no good at all. Tom Bird and Jeremy Cassell, authors of the Financial Times Guide to Business Training bluntly say:

Business training doesn’t work.

And that umbrella term includes sales training!

For the most part, they note, it ends up being a fun trip to a hotel. At best, employees learn how to do some tasks better. At worst, it’s more of a vacation than anything else.

So yeah, in most cases, sales training ends up costing your business money without giving you any good return on value.

What Do You Do Instead to Boost Sales Performance?

Just follow these tips:

1. Train Your Employees, and Use a System for Making Sure they Use Their New Skills

The problem with most sales training is that it’s a one-time event. Your employees do learn new skills. But after 2 weeks, they forget them all and go right back to their old behaviors.

To learn a new behavior and keep it in place permanently, people need to keep practicing it. If you have a successful sales team member or manager, have them teach their techniques…and even coach other team members on a weekly (ideally daily) basis.

The key is that whatever you do, it has to be regular and ongoing. Otherwise, the change slowly falls to the wayside.

2. Don’t Play the Blame Game!

Blaming is the easiest (and worst) way to deal with any problem. If you simply blame someone or a group of people that don’t perform, then you avoid the real problem in most cases.

The real issue could be they’re a good sales person, but maybe they freeze up a little when closing. There’s many other problems out there. See where your sales team struggles and implement a systematic process to correct the problem.

3. Have Case Studies with Precision Facts Ready

“Facts tell and stories sell,” say successful marketers. When you tell your prospects a believable story of how you solved a problem similar to theirs for another customer, that boosts your credibility a ton.

As you tell the story in excruciatingly explicit detail, they’ll realize similar hurdles they face now and recognize you have the expertise to help them.

The results at the end of the story are just a nice bonus that add a touch more of credibility.

Better yet…have 2-3 stories ready.

4.  Celebrate Successes

In any business and profession, the majority of the communication that goes on is constructive criticism. Doesn’t that get stressful and draining after a while?

You do have to address the big issues with constructive criticism. But after you address the big ones, keep the majority of your communication positive and upbeat.

That energizes your sales team, and you’ll get better performance.

Change Doesn’t Come Easy…

But if you commit to doing it day in and day out, your sales team’s performance will improve. It’s only a matter of time.

Private: Voicemails and How to Leave Them – by Liz Donehue

I currently have 16 voicemails in my mailbox, most of which are from my mom who is trying to establish that I received her previous seven voicemails. As I listen to these voicemails, it’s easy to decipher which voicemails I can immediately delete. Yes, mom. Starbucks sounded great. I’m sorry the woman in front of you took so long to order her latte and had a thousand questions about which milk came from which organic-certified animal.

The point being is that if I’m not immediately intrigued by the voicemail, it’s getting deleted into an abysmal black hole, never to be retrieved (I’m aware that the iOS8 update allows me to retrieve my deleted voicemails, but who has the time for that, she wrote while rebooting a Netflix comedy special seen over six times).

When you leave a voicemail for a prospect or a distant client you wish to conduct business with, you have under 10 seconds to deliver an impression to intrigue the client into returning your call.

“Hey Stan hi it’s Gary. It’s a beautiful morning here in Fresno (sorry, I know that’s reaching), and we’re really looking forward to the upcoming holiday that most of us will be celebrating. Anywho, those of us at XYZ Company wanted to touch base before the end of 2014. I’m not sure what you’re upcoming plans are for the new year regarding your commercial cleaning needs, but we would love to partner up with you. Please call me back at this really phony phone number, 222-555-1000.”

Gary’s voicemails could be stronger (partly my fault). Why is he calling a prospect to convey a meteorological update in central California? Why is he dancing around vague holidays with speech that could essentially be hurtful? While he has some lighter points that are very appropriate, the timing is wrong. See the same voicemail in reverse:

“Hi Stan, it’s Gary with XYZ Company. I wanted to touch base with you before the end of 2014. I would love to reevaluate your commercial cleaning needs. Please give me a call back at your convenience at 222-555-1000.”

On paper or screen, the second rendition of the voicemail is a few lines shorter, and states the point of the call before getting into small talk and/or rapport. Small talk is to be reserved for an actual dialogue between you and your prospect, unless you have a pair of insane tickets for the upcoming Minnesota Wild game, or want to add a personal anecdote or congratulations on a marriage or new baby. Save the topic of the newest addition of baby Braydenne (thanks, distant Facebook acquaintance) for your real conversation instead of the wasteful voicemail destined for the abyss. First and foremost, state your business, and follow up with rapport to boost future business opportunities. I would elaborate further but my mom is calling me.

Liz Donehue
Prospectr Marketing
https://www.prospectrmarketing.com/blog

What’s Your Unique Selling Proposition?

You do have a “unique selling proposition,” don’t you?

In one line, it’s what makes you so awesome to work with – why you’re so different than anyone else – that it’s stupid NOT to buy from you.

Now unfortunately, many businesses think they have a USP when they really don’t. For example, some companies think being “full-service” is a USP.

It’s not enough!

Yes, it differentiates and adds convenience. That’s nice…but you don’t do anything truly unique in your industry with that. Think about it – there’s probably 100 other companies that do the same!

So you need something more than that.

1. Check out a Case Example

I love to use Voodoo Doughnuts as a great example of a company with a USP. They sell a product, though, so theirs isn’t written.

Think of your favorite type of doughnut. It could be a long john doughnut, cream-filled, or one with sprinkles. Every gas station and grocery store in the nation has those, so you have no good reason to buy doughnuts from one versus the others.

But with Voodoo Doughnuts, you get the same old thing in a new way – crazy ghosts and ghouls, doughnuts with “bacon” on top, ones with eyeballs, and others loaded with Fruit Loops.

This company has people standing outside its doors until 2 a.m.

How can you position your business as being unique in your industry?

2. Target a Pain-Point in Your Industry

A great USP focuses on something that’s really aggravating to your customers in your industry. For example, if you’re a contractor of any kind, people usually get angry when contractors don’t show up on time.

So you create a USP guaranteeing on-time service, or you refund your customers $1 for each minute your late.

Another idea would be if you ran an insurance company. Often they are known for their dense language and bureaucracy, and you could sell yours based on transparency, ease, and straightforward pricing.

3. Think of What Everyone Else Does, and Up the Standard Dramatically

For example, every business claims to offer “excellent customer service.” You could aim for “legendary customer service.” If a customer needs your product or service faster than you can provide it, go to great lengths to give it to them anyway.

Then, you also have an awesome story to tell in your marketing. The online retailer Zappos, for example, goes to absurd lengths to make its customers happy.

  1. One man without wedding shoes got a pair overnighted to him for free!
  2. Zappos was out of stock with a particular shoe a customer urgently needed, so they physically went to a rival shoe store, bought the shoes, and delivered them in-person – all at no charge

Wow! When you call customer service these days, you usually talk to someone in India or the Philippines…

The bottom line:

When you find your “USP,” business becomes 10 times easier. People happily give you the opportunity to serve them. And as you prove true on your promise, you get droves of lifelong customers.

Are your testimonials doing more harm than good?

Testimonials can amplify your value proposition ten-fold; a person speaking directly about your brand and your product provides a source of assurance and experience to your target market. But is there a right and wrong way to feature testimonials in your creative and your website?

The best testimonials come from clients and customers who experienced a transformation with your company. Essentially, they achieved an overall positive change from where they were before to where they are now. 

Example: “Before we found XYZ Company, our commercial cleaning company was in complete disarray. Jobs were left uncompleted and we lost so much time managing their teams for the simplest of tasks. XYZ Company took charge of all of our janitorial needs, everything from parking lot maintenance to supply stocking. John Smith and his team were extremely helpful in listening to our needs. It’s really nice to come into a safe and clean work environment every day!” – Jody Brown, President of ABC Center 

The testimonial above simply states before and after instances that speak to the improvements Jody Brown has experienced. While Jody Brown is no such person at ABC Center, having her name and position also provide veracity to her testimonial. For instance, someone may want to follow up with Jody regarding XYZ Company and the experience she had with their services. Now that Google is the crystal ball of the internet, a simple search for Jody might be completed, and ultimately XYZ Company may get a new lead based on her testimonial.

Jody Brown’s testimonial is concise, yet hooks a consumer with enough information to prompt possible follow up. But one path businesses are taking is showcasing many short testimonials.

Examples:

“Nice work. Will XYZ Company again.” – Kevin Johnson, Account Manager at Things n Stuff 

“Great job, nice people.” – Sally Meyer, Manager at Lots of Things

“I like XYZ Company!” – Gary White, President of Tons of Stuff

Things n Stuff, Lots of Things, and Tons of Stuff may not sound like the most intriguing of businesses. But using short testimonials that do not speak directly to the services of XYZ Company can be more damaging than helpful.

These testimonials are polite; we know the people are nice, and a degree of good to great work is being done. But why is Kevin Johnson going to use XYZ Company again? Why does Gary White like XYZ Company? What does “great job” actually imply for Sally Meyer? All three of these short testimonials lack the necessary hook to draw in a potential lead. Testimonials aren’t supposed to be blurbs on the back of a New York Times Bestseller, or a short comment on a movie trailer destined to go straight to an online streaming site.

But a testimonial isn’t supposed to be an entire plot summary. The only thing worse than a short testimonial is a testimonial that reads like the operations manual for Air Force One. Length is crucial for testimonials to be effective; the average online reader has an attention span for no longer than 15 seconds, and if you have a long testimonial, those 15 seconds add up quickly and could be a loss of potential business for you.

Provide useful, positive testimonials for the consumer and not long winded, lengthy speeches meant to be delivered from behind a podium. The fine line of testimonials lies somewhere between a short text message and that family newsletter you receive from your family member, or friend detailing the entire year every Christmas. After all, the right amount of words could develop into a deeper conversation, manifesting into growth of your business.

Are your Marketing Messages/Campaigns Hitting the Target??

Have you ever been asked if you need Baseball equipment… before being asked if you even play the game?

I was at a restaurant recently when the waiter asked if I would be interested in a chocolate fudge brownie with ice cream. Now we’re talking, right? Well…although this sounds delectable, my intolerance to lactose would far outweigh any short-term happiness from this dessert. If this waiter were a friend of mine, I might even be a little offended or assume it’s a joke.

I say this because I have been on the waiter’s side before, eager to share something of value with a prospect or customer. But if I skip asking important questions, I run the risk of wasting everybody’s time and offending others. So, how does this apply to marketing, and specifically email marketing?

 1.  We need to determine our primary target market and focus our resources there. It doesn’t take a fancy statistic to know email is growing rapidly and email marketing is a viable option, but I will        include one anyway.  Did you know that email ad revenue reached $156 million in 2012 (Interactive Advertising Bureau via Salesforce.com)?

2. Now that we know our target audience, how will we effectively deliver the message so that it is received? We know that people are very busy, and we only have a few seconds to grab a prospects attention. An effective strategy is to keep subject lines short and sweet. Subject lines of fewer than 10 characters long had an open rate of 58% (Adestra July 2012 Report).

3. Part of knowing your Target Market is knowing how they think and how they access their email. 64% of decision makers read their email via mobile devices (TopRankBlog). With this in mind, email marketing strategies must include appropriate text versions as well as HTML versions.

  1. When marketing your company/services, one must remember that listening, asking questions, and getting to know our target market is far more important
    than simply offering a chocolate fudge brownie with ice-cream. Your prospect may prefer these:

Check out the recipe at :YUM

How Qualified is Your Sales Lead?

How many times have you talked to a lead, had all the signs look good, and then you ask for the sale, and the lead’s jaw drops?

It happens.

And congratulations, you just wasted hours dancing with the client and writing a fancy proposal!

What went on?

Many things could be happening, but one stands out from all others as a time-saver: you didn’t do enough to qualify the lead.

With all the different marketing channels available to you these days, it’s hard to determine lead quality. You get some from LinkedIn, and most of those are probably awfully good.

You get some from e-mail outreach, and those work pretty well too.

Then, you have Adwords campaigns, organic SEO, and in-person networking all going on too.

So how do you figure out which leads work best? A few tips:

1. What’s Their Company Role?

The most successful sales processes begin right at the top with the CEO. Talking to the secretary? The company probably doesn’t value what you sell.

Find a way to get to a decision maker.

2. Find Out What Your Lead Already Has

Whatever your product or service is, figure out what your lead already has in place. If they have something similar, you have to learn everything you can about it.

If they don’t, you have to learn your lead’s current needs and whether what you have to offer makes any sense for them.

3. Focus on the Long-Term Value You Offer Your Lead

When you get a new lead in the door, it’s easy to get excited. And if they show an interest in some of your more profitable services, that gets you even more wound up.

For now, stay calm until you know more.

Try IBM’s BANT sales approach:

  • Budget
  • Authority
  • Need
  • Timeline

And if you find your product/service isn’t quite a good fit for your lead, turn them down. What happens otherwise is you make the sale, but then lose the commission/profit later on when they realize what they get from you doesn’t offer value.

4. Score Your Leads

This requires a little bit of extra work on your part. But once you have the system in place, you save a ton of time because you only follow up with the better quality leads.

You need to have demographic information about your leads and behavioral information. If you’re trying to track leads through your website, KISSmetrics is a good tool for the demographic info, while Google Analytics (free) works for tracking their behavior.

Crazy Egg also gives you a heat map for even more detailed behavior information.

If your leads come over the phone or in-person, find ways you can score those too.

Follow That and You’ll Do Just Fine!

Your business saves a ton of time and money when you figure out how to qualify your leads. And it gets more stable too because you won’t churn clients as much.

Whatever you can do to qualify your leads, take those steps right now. It’s one of the best long-term moves your company can make.

Presentation Matters

The scene is set. The newlyweds are celebrating their first Valentines day and he is out to impress.  A romantic dinner complete with roses, wine and candlelight. Some may argue that a surf n’ turf dinner like the one above could be presented in a sloppy, unprofessional way and still satisfy. Well fellas, presentation mattersTrust me, I’ve learned. Imagine serving this meal on paper plates with plastic silverware. Even though it still would probably taste great, she would most likely be ticked.

Presentation shows thought, care, and attention to detail. This will go a long way with one’s significant other, and also will catch attention when planning a marketing campaign.

For example, if your company has launched an email marketing campaign one must understand the presentation from the recipient’s perspective. Is it easily understood? Is it sloppy or too lengthy?

More and more executives are utilizing mobile devices to check email. This fact must be addressed to maximize positive responses. The professionals at Prospectr Marketing have the experience, strategic knowledge, and attention to detail to launch a meaningful, engaging, and thoughtfully presented email campaign to drive qualified prospects to your doorstep.

An engaging, relevant message is essential. But presentation ultimately is the icing on the cake that will catch and hold the attention of potential, qualified leads. We at Prospectr Marketing would appreciate the opportunity to earn your trust in these areas and help deliver qualified leads to your sales funnel. Give us a call or check out our website HERE: MORE BUSINESS

How to Never Lose a Sales Lead’s Information Ever Again!

Wow…that had to be the best conversation you’ve ever had with a client!

So you store their information like you always do.

A few weeks later, when you’re ready to follow up, you look all over and can’t find it!

Urgghhh! So frustrating…that could have been the client that made your business much more stable.

Live and learn in this case, I guess.

Now that you know you must have an awesome system for tracking lead information, here are some tips to consider:

1. Use The Good Ol’ Excel Spreadsheet (Sigh)

The only reason you really use a spreadsheet is because you’re very small and it makes no financial sense to invest in a fancier app. You only need the bare basics to get by until you hit the next revenue level.

It takes a lot of manual labor though, so get rid of it as soon as you can.

2. Enter & Act on Your Data Immediately

Don’t wait around for an hour, 2 hours, or maybe the entire afternoon before entering in data about your lead. When you have a high volume of leads coming in, and even when you don’t, it’s easy to forget the information and leave it floating around in your head somewhere.

3. Don’t Track Any Unnecessary Information

Use whatever cliche you want here. “Less is more,” comes to mind as appropriate. The more you have, that’s not necessarily better. Only collect and keep the information you need about each lead.

That way, there’s less to confuse or lose.

4. As Soon as They’re Done, Archive

Did they say “no?” Did you go through your methods for overcoming objections? If it looks like you’re not going to make any headway, then archive the lead ASAP.

Have you ever seen people with PCs that have desktops littered with hundreds of icons they don’t need? What a nightmare it is to dig through all of that so they find what they actually need!

5. Spend Time Every Day Organizing

It’s not easy to stay organized – it takes ongoing work. But if you keep a commitment to doing it every day, you will stay organized.

And guess what?

You’ll work faster and more efficiently when you do.

Best of all, you’ll close more sales because you’ll know who wants what and why, and you never lose track of anyone’s information.

Keeping track of lead information is simple. But committing on a daily basis to the task of keeping it all organized?

That’s hard.

But hopefully this information makes it a little easier.

4 Dumb Sales Mistakes You Can Make (And What to Do Instead)

Do you like to be seen as dumb?

You work so hard and come so far to finally talk with your prospect…

And then you do one of these stupid things (fortunately we’ll tell you what to do instead):

1. You Talk More Than You Listen

What you do: Aren’t you supposed to look like the expert? What better way to do that than by talking about everything you know, and spouting all these insane statistics and jargon terms?

How your prospect reacts: They think you’re full of yourself and don’t care about them. They don’t give you their business.

What to do instead: Ask questions and listen. As you gain sales experience, you learn more of the right questions to ask so you can properly identify what your prospect needs from you.

2. Letting the Meeting Go Off-Topic…Too Far Off-Topic

What you do: The client starts talking on and on about various things. One thing reminds them of something else, and that reminds them of another story… You just sit there and listen.

How your prospect reacts: They’re confused as to why you’re even there. They think you’re unassertive because you say nothing.

What to do instead: Start the meeting with a brief agenda of what you’ll discuss – that prevents a lot of going off on tangents. If your client keeps going too far off the road, gently redirect them to the right track.

3. Talking Your Client into Buying Something

What you do: Your client doesn’t seem convinced they need to buy anything from you at first. So you keep pushing inside, trying to convince them why they must buy from you.

How your prospect reacts: They get annoyed, angry, or even defensive. They can feel you trying to “get” them to do something they’re not ready to do. You lose the relationship and the sale.

What to do instead: Again, ask questions and listen. Let the client do the talking. They’ll reveal their needs to you. When they do, then it’s easy to sell.

4. Not Enough Urgency

What you do: You don’t want to “be pushy,” so you politely ask for the sale once.

How your prospect reacts: When your prospect hesitates, you just let them do it. You lose the sale.

What to do instead: The goal here isn’t to be pushy. But if it’s genuinely in your client’s best interest to act now, then it’s okay to give them reason to do so. If they hesitate, remind them of the potential negative consequences of not acting now. And, show them the benefits of acting sooner rather than later.

You could also throw in a freebie or two for a limited time to increase the urgency. Don’t do it just to close the sale though. Do it when you know it’s in your prospect’s best interest.

Please, avoid those sales mistakes at all costs! Your bottom line will thank you for it.

Do This to Leave Voicemails that Get More Callbacks

“Hey John. This is Steve. Just checking in to see the status of your thoughts on our proposal.”

Nice job – you followed through! That shows great commitment and reliability, doesn’t it?

It does, but here’s the problem with leaving a voicemail that way:

To your customers, it sounds like you have more interest in what’s in it for you, versus what’s in it for them.

So, you get some responses, but in general a very low conversion rate when using this approach.

Plus, do you know how many times business owners hear that exact same message, or one similar to it?

If they hear you say the same thing repeatedly, they tune out and ignore your message.

So how do  you leave compelling voicemails your prospects actually return?

Just like this:

1. Show You Researched Your Prospect and Their Needs

How you do this is up to you. It requires creativity. But because you show your clients you’ve already done some research, that makes them feel important to you (not like just another “cold call”).

In your voicemail, include something like, “I see you’re opening a new office in Dallas next week. We have several clients in your area, including (client’s names if you have permission to use them), and we have a few services that will help your new location get (benefit relevant to your prospect).”

At the end there, you also slide in a little value proposition for your prospect – very helpful.

2. Be Confident and Clear

If you find yourself using language that minimizes (like “just” or “would”), you’re probably not being confident, clear, or succinct. Rehearse your voicemail script until you feel natural saying the words (rather than like you’re reciting them). Write it out if you have to.

Go with something like this, “Hi Linda. The reason I’m calling you is (state your reason/value proposition). To learn more, call (your number), and ask for Jack.”

It gets right to the point – exactly what business owners want.

3. A Good Idea for a Follow-Up to A Previous Sales Call

For this to work, you must have uncovered a need in a previous sales call. “Hey Bill. This is Dan getting back with you. Did you know we recently (added a new big-name client, cut prices by 10%, or added a new service)?

I know that based on our last call, (describe their need), you’ll have an even easier time (describe how they get a benefit that fits the need you discovered).

Please call me back at (your number).  That’s (your number).

Looking forward to helping you get (name the benefit). Thanks,

John”

Just try those tactics and make sure you track your conversion rates. These tips will help you get a landslide of callbacks (and sales).