If You Only Had One Sales Skill, You NEED This One

February 7, 2012 by 1 Comment

All things being equal, people like to do business with their friends, all things being not so equal, people STILL like to do business with their friends. ~ Jeffrey Gitomer

If you have ever watched a toddler try to “sell” an adult, you’ll notice one of two things – they’ll either turn the charm Friends sharing a cupcakeright on, or they’ll become incredibly persistent.

My children are reasonably skilled at the sales process; they’ll ask for something in their most cute, polite, appealing manner, and if Mum doesn’t respond immediately with their request, they’ll give me the opportunity to correct my obvious mistake.

They charm me. And they persist.

In order for you to make sales in your business or career, you have to possess these two particular skills. Likeability, and persistence. You see, people buy emotionally first – and this means that before they’ve made a decision to purchase your product, they’ve made a decision to purchase you.

Oftentimes, I’ve shopped around simply because I do not like the sales person, or the company doesn’t sit well with me. Oftentimes I’ve paid a higher price because I have found a salesperson who I like and enjoy doing business with.

Now, if you’ve embarked on a career in sales, It’s reasonably fair to say that you’ve got an extroverted personality, perhaps not loud and raucous, but you enjoy communicating and you enjoy people.

In order to be likeable, there are two things that you must do impeccably:

  1. Firstly, you must wholeheartedly believe that whatever you are selling will enhance the life and business of your probable purchaser.
  2. Secondly, you must genuinely like the person you’re selling to.

If you can’t do either, I suggest you find either another career, or another prospect who you can care about.

Sales books and training always chat about being genuine, and the new buzzword “Authenticity” which is all good and well – but it really just boils down to one thing: Being friends and caring.

Photo credit: Vu Bui

Filed Under: Relationship Marketing, Sales ·

The Power Of A Positive Word

January 25, 2012 by 2 Comments

Never underestimate the power of a positive word.

It sounds simple doesn’t it? It’s one of the more profound thoughts that I’ve had this week, so bare with me!

We’re taught in marketing to discover a customer’s pain, and agitate it. We’re taught in sales to find fear and pain and agitate it – however, sometimes the reaction we get from people is a direct result of them reacting to pain. Have a think about it. When you’re in pain, or scared, how do you respond?

Some of us might respond with aggression, some of us might respond with defence…

Not really a great start to a sales relationship is it?

What if, we recognised the customer’s pain, then approached them with the solution to it first. We can always point out the obvious pain of their plight a little later on.

Chances are however, that they’re already well aware of what’s happening, and might even be seeking out solutions – or not aware that the solution exists.

You then enter the customer relationship on the basis of positivity, with your probable purchaser thinking about the benefits of your service, and their focus being on what they’re going to solve, not the pain they’re experiencing.

 

Big difference isn’t it.

Never underestimate the power of a positive word

 

 

Image credit: http://www.thecupcakeblog.com/tag/heart-cupcake/

Filed Under: Awesome Service, Sales ·

A Simple Strategy For More Sales

January 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

Celebrate!!One of the first things I do each week before making my calls and attending my appointments, is to set my targets for the week.

I’m an incredibly competitive person (It’s not a competition, until I’m losing) and I pay very little heed to the targets that are set by the company – they’re arbitrary, and I know I’ll nail them anyway.

The person that I set out to compete against each week, is actually the fine looking lady in the bathroom mirror. I get up each day, with the sole intention of improving on yesterday’s performance. In fact, sometimes when I look in the bathroom mirror, I even give myself a bit of a pep talk – after all, as my biggest competitor, I’m also my biggest motivator!

But the key I have found for achieving more in sales is maintaining a state of peak motivation. I said I’m competitive, but I’m also human.

Motivation is a learned state for most people – it’s all about ditching the negative voice, and embracing the little ego who says “Hey good looking, you’re brilliant, you are awesome, and you’re going to CRUSH IT today!!”

I have my quota and targets set by the company each month – and obviously I have to meet to keep myself in the industry ;-)

However, what I do to motivate myself, and to challenge myself is this. I call it the “Three More Rule”

On my calls list, at the bottom of my targets for each day, I add three more prospects to secure an appointment with. Just three. It’s an achievable number – it’s an easy win, and when I hit it, it feels awesome to have gone above and beyond my targets.

Some days, when I’m absolutely on fire, I nail those three goals really quickly. So to stretch myself, I add three more….

When you think about it, if you simply added three more challenges to every activity you undertook each day, with the implicit intention of nailing your targets, imagine how much more you would achieve.

The key to setting and achieving these goals is to keep them motivational – and by that I mean, achievable, and rewarding when you nail them.

There is no better feeling for the professional sales person, than when they close a sale. It’s incredible, it’s inspiring, it’s rewarding, and it really gets you motivated to go out and do it again!!  So, my little strategy here, is a self fulfilling prophecy.

You make more sales, by making more sales!

 

photo credit: Betsssssy

Filed Under: Sales ·

The One Secret Key To Sales Without Being Salesey

January 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Have your cake and eat it!Every  time I set out to make a sales  call or appointment, I have carefully researched and selected my probable customer. Before i even make first contact with them I establish how I can help them.

But there’s more to it than that. Before I pick up the phone, I truly believe that I can assist them. I truly believe in what I am selling, to the extent that I actrually feel I have done my customer a dis-service by not selling to them.

I believe beyond all doubt that they will get amazing value from what I offer.

I believe that it will enrich their business. And I will not and do not approach any probably client unless their success is more than assured in my eyes.

So due to my care, preparation, and dilligence,when I do finally make the call, it is less of a sales calll and more of a mini-workshop in my area of expertise.

The wonderful thing about this is that I can carefully tailor my call just for my probable client. I know my business, I know my product, and I know my customer well enough to present myself as a knowledgeable expert in my field.

So as I ask the questions that establish need, build desire, qualify, and excite my customer, I am able to educate them to do a few things:

I point out the deficiencies in their current situation, gently, but obviously.

Then, I point out their strengths, and paint a compelling picture of how it would feel when they are owning and using my product.

At no point does it feel pushy, at no point do I feel fake – I am simply a sales person, with a wonderful product, that I know is going to help my probable client, and all I am doing is giving them the information to make what I feel is an obvious buying decision.

Now in this article I promised a secret. Here it is:

I could not achieve a single sale if I did not passionately care about each and every one of my clients. The trick to selling without being salesy, is to genuinely care about your clients, and genuinely be enthusiastic about your product helping them.

Simple, but powerful.

Filed Under: Sales ·

Why You’re Failing At Sales

January 5, 2012 by 2 Comments

Sales is about building relationships!In the past 6 months, I’ve had several businesses approach me for coaching, mentoring, and consulting about sales, networking and business relationships. ( I don’t take on mentoring clients  :-))

I’ve always told them that there are four magic keys to a successful sales career. Are you ready for them, I’m about to share them with you:

  • It’s about building relationships
  • It’s about offering value
  • It’s about passionately caring about your clients
  • It’s about being uber prepared.

All of which are true, so it always surprised me that when people hung up the phone from me, they didn’t go out and just make sales.

Then it hit me. There are magic ingredients to what I do, and they are what’s listed above – but what has been missing is all of the mundane stuff that I’ve taken for granted. (Isn’t it amazing when you’re good at something, you take the “boring stuff” for granted, and just expect it to be common sense…)

I’ve spent years learning about sales and learning about selling techniques. I’ve read a literal mountain of books on the subject, and I’ve come to realise a few things when I meet reluctant sellers.

Firstly, they’re afraid of rejection.

The simple solution to this is to get over it, and suck it up :) However, it can help to frame what a sales rejection is – generally it’s simply the prospect saying I don’t know enough to make a purchasing decision, keep convincing me.

Rejection is a part of sales. Not everyone, no matter how enthusiastic you are about your product, is going to buy from you. Get over it, move on to the next prospect!

They are afraid of starting!

I firmly believe that if you make 100 half hearted calls, you’re going to make more sales than if you make 0 calls! Doing SOMETHING is better than nothing.

Picking up the phone, with the yellow pages in front of you, WILL eventually get you results. No matter what script you use, no matter what you say – provided you passionately believe in what you’re selling.

You cannot be exuberantly enthusiastic about your products and services, and care passionately about your customers and not eventually make a sale. Sales is a transfer of enthusiasm. Eventually, you will get someone else as enthusiastic as you are, and they will whip out their credit card :)

They expect instantaneous results

In my experience, if you don’t have rapport and relationships with your client base, you have no chance of selling to them Sales is also a transfer of trust.

While some people will tell you you can close in one call, if you have a product that’s worth selling -there’s a whole process that has to happen beforehand. A process of getting to know, understand, and LIKE your prospect.

If you can close in one phone call: Excellent. I personally prefer to have that trust, rapport, and relationship built up first.

My sales process takes between 2-8 weeks, of research, appointments, and networking. In that time, I get to know my client as best as I possibly can – so as to offer them the best value I can.

They don’t have a system

I use the same system with every lead I generate, every prospect I approach and eventually convert into a client. Incidentally, it’s when I divert from my system that I lose sales.

Working and testing and measuring what works is invaluable to any sales professional. You’ve got to have a consistent system so you know exactly what you’re doing day in day out.

 

Sales itself is easy. Actually motivating yourself to get started and do it is the trickier bit. But if you’re not making sales, you’re not making money :) And we all need to eat!

 

Photo credit: Ana_Fuji

Filed Under: Sales ·

Humanizing Your Business

November 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The term humanizing is a bit of a buzz word in social media right now, and it really comes as no surprise to me.

In the past five years, our online interactions have seen us become more and more disconnected to real people.

Don’t be fooled by the term “social” in social media, its very easy to generate a database of fans, followers and subscribers, yet never meet the real people behind the numbers.

So, in direct response to our self inflicted isolation and disconnection, brands are deeply concerned with humanising their presence, and reconnecting with the people.

Humanization of your online interactions isn’t actually particularly difficult, it just involves a step back in time.

  • Pick up the phone and speak to your clients.
  • Directly talk to as many as you can via social media… Actually converse!
  • Allow your team to post as themselves, not just the brand.
  • Get out and MEET your fan base, hold an open day or an event.
  • And most of all, encourage the attitude that your social media subscribers are actually real people. Encourage them to connect with you, and your growing community.

Social media isn’t social unless there are people using it!

 

Photo credit: Tim Ebbs

Filed Under: Relationship Marketing ·

Do You Have The Courage To Go All In?

September 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Do you think you can possibly build something truly awesome if you sit on the fence and approach itCupcake with candle half heartedly?

The short answer is GIGO – garbage in Garbage out. If you put in a mediocre effort, you’re going to create mediocre results.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you go and quit your day job and throw everything at your business, it would be irresponsible of me to do so…. However, there is a certain type of person who does just that…

They wake up one morning unable to think of anything but their vision. They see a world where they have made their mark,where they have made a difference and nothing is going to sway them from creating that world.

I married one such person, although I didn’t realise it at the time. And I am one of these people myself. Anything that I have ever desired, I have  created.

Entrepreneur, I respect you.

I know the journey you travel is not always easy.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own.
And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” Dr Seuss

But I know you don’t do things by halves, you break through your fears and discover new levels of power you never thought you had.

I know what it’s like to feel the gut wrenching fear of taking a big risk. And I know the feeling of putting everything on the line, only to have it not turn out as planned.

Entrepreneur, I respect you.

I know what it feels like to lose it all, only to realise that losing doesn’t hurt as much as the fear of losing felt. I have discovered that fear truly is only False Expectations Appearing Real.

I know what it’s like to break through fear and realise that none of us have anything to lose, yet so much to gain and learn.

Entrepreneur I respect you.

I know that on your journey you will probably  define new levels of low, and it is in those moments where you will either forge your strength, or flail in your despair.

I know that when you forge your strength, you become unstoppable.  And you redefine what is success in your life, not just by your achievements, but by the imprint you leave on the world and  the lives that you touch.

Entrepreneur, I respect you.

I know that as you begin to soar, others will be inspired by you, and the ongoing effect of your life, though you may not realise it can touch thousands. You change communities, you change worlds. But most importantly, you change you.

Entrepreneur, I respect you.

If it is you who I speak to, and who my words resonate with, it is an honour to share this journey with you. It is my wish for you that you will discover the true power within you, as you face your fears, take new risks, and create new levels of success.

As entrepreneurs, we change worlds. Our own, and that of those around us. We have the creative power within us to do so much good, and much of the future of our planet lies within the hands of people just like us.

Entrepreneur, I respect you.

 

Photo Credit: edenpictures

Filed Under: Biz Dev ·

The Importance Of Sales In Your Startup

September 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Nothing Happens Until A Sale Is Made ~Jeffrey Gitomer

Sales while being the obvious key to business success are often the most overlooked and even undervalued activity in startups.

There are several reasons why this might be the case.Sell Some Cupcakes!

Too Product Orientated.

More the case in software startups, the perfect product is more often than not the first saleable product. Many companies waste countless hours where they could be selling, perfecting their software.

Too Much Focus On Hype And Advertising

It is a myth that if you build it they will come. Infact it’s usually a myth that you’ll receive that one “big break” exposure that will set your sales skyrocketing.

Lack Of Sales Training

Sales is a learned skill, and requires training to become truly confident. Sales people are not born, nor are they made overnight. Sales is a skill that is learnt, practised, and honed daily.

The bad news is, without sales, no amount of funding is going to save you from the inevitable, it will simply post-pone your crash and burn disaster. So what can you do to remedy sales fear, and get your sales performing….?

Action Step 1: Accept That Good Enough Is Good Enough

Get your product to market. It mightn’t have the bells and whistles features that your dream, finished product will have, but good enough is good enough .Getting something out there will allow you to test and tweak, and generate some cashflow to take the next development step.

Action Step 2: Learn About Sales

If you haven’t already begun to undertake sales training, when is NOW a good time to start?! There are some amazing resources, books and seminars you can invest in to learn how to sell. I recommend starting with anything by Jeffrey Gitomer.

Action Step 3: Scrap All Marketing That’s Not Generating Direct Results

There is plenty of time down the track to fluff about in marketing that generates “brand awareness” and “brand visibility” right now, while you’re starting out – cashflow is king. Focus on marketing that brings leads into your funnel, and converts them to sales. Which leads us to step 4.

Action Step 4: Set Up A Business Model That Moves Leads Through Your Sales Funnel.

As a general rule, the way to succeed in business, is to get qualified leads to see your stuff, then convert them to customers.

Depending on your product, a Freemium Model might be worth considering. Else, you’d better have compelling copy and conversion strategies in place to convert your leads into customers.

Many businesses I’ve worked with have got an untapped resource of first time clients, or free clients in their database who they’re not marketing to. These are your low hanging fruit when it comes to sales.

The other powerful strategy is to have a strong referrals programme in place. Nothing closes faster than an endorsed lead.

Action Step 5: Don’t Overlook Traditional Sales And Marketing

Just because you’re a tech startup doesn’t mean you’re allowed to hide behind your laptop. There is a lot of value to be gained from networking events, local chambers, and even tele-sales for your product.

 

Without sales, no amount of funding is going to save your dying business. You can only prolong the inevitable for so long. So get out there and sell something!!

 

 

Photo Credit: Dick Howe Jr

Filed Under: Biz Dev, Relationship Marketing, Sales ·

6 Lessons From A Lean Startup

September 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

QR Code CupcakesI spend a fair bit of time reading about start-ups that have been successful, and start-ups that have been epic failures. While I’ve never thought of our company as a lean start-up, we really have bootstrapped the beginnings of Binkd.

There are a few factors that I believe have been integral in getting us to ramen profitability and what I believe will determine the next level of our enterprise.

We have a powerful mix of skills  in our founding team

Our CEO Adam is an incredibly talented programmer, which is enough to build software. It isn’t enough to build a business. Thankfully, the other thing that Adam has always been incredibly good at, is planning and marketing. He intrinsically understands what people gravitate to – and communicates his message well.

I am a sales person. I can’t help myself. Even the arguments that Adam and I have usually end with a “Kiera, STOP closing me!!”

We each bring complimentary skills to the table, which means very few ego clashes, and a lot of synergy.

We recognised early on, that nothing happens until you sell something

I’ve seen many start-ups create amazing products, only to die horrible deaths because they were so focussed on the product they forgot to sell it.

Binkd could have easily fallen into that trap. You see, selling is simple, but not easy. It’s often the most overlooked activity in small business, with the owners and founders believing that they can “build it, and they will come”.

We recognised when to push through and when to pivot

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got…. Let me tell you now, I can rattle off at least 10 ways on how NOT to run a business. And probably another 10 on how to do it poorly. Sometimes you recognise that your business model isn’t a good fit for your market, or your lifestyle.

Binkd began as an information portal, then progressed to QR Code Software, before transforming completely into the awesome social media contest software.

The key to moving forward is recognising when what  you’re doing isn’t working, before it’s cost you all of your startup capital.

We realise it takes 10 years to become an overnight success…

Well, I hope it’s not quite 10…. I’ll be happy with three years of condense hard work and slogging it out!!  My point is that even the so-called overnight successes are usually people who’ve put one heck of a lot of work in in the background, before they hit that magical, illustrious, sought after hockey stick curve.

Adam, the king of statistics watches his metrics (hourly) for that moment when the curve gets more hockey shaped. But we set out expecting to work hard, with very little in return for the first few years at least.

The buck stops with our CEO

I’m deeply involved in the planning phase of our business, to the point where I refer to it as “our” company. However, my role in the company is as the sales person. The direction and final decisions in the company are the responsibility of our CEO.

Adam has a team of advisers who he can reach out to if he needs advice, or wants to bounce ideas around with, but final decisions regarding  the company lie in his hands.

This has been useful even at this early stage of our start-up, as there is no confusion as to the direction and vision of the company.

Our team is aligned, enrolled in, and inspired by the company vision

Pre-empting the day when we will be hiring more team members, we have a clear vision for where Binkd is going, what it looks like in 90 days, and what it looks like in 12 months.

Everything is documented with road maps, goals, both financial and personal. We have designed our company to serve not only our customers, but also the people driving it.

The small team of people who are assisting us build Binkd are all part of the vision.

 

Binkd is at the point now where the founders call it exciting, our customers call it “awesome” and random people go “wow”. I’m not by any means finished with it, frankly we’re just getting started.

 

 

Awesome QR Code Cupcakes by clevercupcakes

Filed Under: Biz Dev ·

How To Link Your Social Media Accounts Without Looking Like A Twit

August 25, 2011 by 7 Comments

OK, So I’m A Nerd

For those of you who’ve been in the  social media game since the days of MIRC (like how I dropped that in? I’ve been waiting to mention MIRC!!) you’ll understand that each social media platform has it’s own little syntax and native languages.

If  you haven’t been geekishly indulgent for that long, bear with me – it’s relatively simple. Each platform has it’s own little accepted way of communicating – Facebook’s is slightly different to Twitter’s which is different again to LinkedIn’s.

So You’ve Got A Message To Broadcast

This is fantastic, but what if you want to spread your message across multiple platforms? And what if, like most business owners you don’t have the time to individually update each platform?

I’m not really a fan of linking accounts, as I tend to have different audiences across platforms, however, it’s relatively simple to link your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts  so that your tweets and status updates are synchronised across each.

Connect Twitter to Facebook Here

Connect Twitter to LinkedIn Here

But Don’t Go Rushing Into It, You’ll Look Like A Twit!

The challenge lies in the native syntax for each platform, particularly twitter. For example – Twitter uses the commands D : direct message, RT: Re-tweet etc.  Neither Facebook nor LinkedIn use such syntax.

So if you’re posting a tweet like

KieraPedley: The Most Popular Jokes In Facebook Status Updates http://j.mp/r2EjYm -GREAT JOKES via  @AskAaronLee

It’s perfect for your Twitter followers, but it’s not going to make a lot of sense on Facebook or LinkedIn.

In fact, the reason it’s such a disjointed sentence is simply because Twitter only allow you 140 characters to spread your message, so most “Tweeple” are particularly effective in paraphrasing what they want to say!

Facebook and LinkedIn allow you a fair bit more space, so you could actually complete the sentence coherently.

Automation Is Cool, But This Is #Fail

As another example, an IT Consultant was posting a conversation from his twitter stream to his Facebook Page:

 

Why Is This Twit-Worthy?

What they’ve  done wrong here, is use  twitter syntax in Facebook –  it’s lost it’s context, as you can’t follow the  conversation (In Twitter, you’d be able to track back to the original tweet) and it’s using native  twitter Syntax – look at the RT, and the #tag

#tags are coming commonplace on Facebook, so that’s not  the big deal – but the way the tweet is structured has destroyed the message this particular tweet was conveying.

So Here’s How To Do It Without Looking Like A Twit!

A better way to do it would have been to:

  • Include a headline in your tweet as the message
  • Include a link
  • Rather than using “RT” at the beginning of the tweet, try something like “via @Username”
That way, when the tweet is displayed on any social media platform, it actually makes sense. You have the topic, the URL, and who the conversation is directed at.
If you’re going to directly link your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, it’s also a good idea to not link your replies, only your original tweets. As our twit above has proven, a lot is lost in the conversation.
Remember, you’re there to share content, engage your followers and provide a lot of value – there’s only so much you can automate, and sometimes it just pays to take the extra time to do it right.
Image Credit: Pretty Useful Stuff
Filed Under: Biz Dev ·
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