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SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

In sales, there are many limitations to sustainable sales success. What I have discovered through years of experience reinforced by actual data from the Attribute Index, there are four somewhat hidden limitations that restrict sales success as well as in life in general. Sales Success Limitations. Self Esteem (Self-Acceptance) – How do you appreciate your own unique self worth?

Face-to-face 106

Face-to-face Facebook Sales Positioning 106

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AUGUST 29, 2017

Most salespeople truly believe in their sales solutions especially entrepreneurs and single office/home office small business owners. They want their sales conversations to be full of inspiration and yet sometimes just the opposite happens. We have all heard about pushy salespeople. These are the folks who make their sales pitches within a few moments after shaking your hand.

Conversion 124

Conversion Small Business Small Business Facebook 124

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JULY 12, 2017

Yesterday I heard another sales and marketing expert misspeak about mission statements. His webinar probably drew thousands and hence now thousand more salespeople, SMB owners and entrepreneurs potentially will fail in their quest to increase sales and grow their businesses. What this expert did as many other so called experts have done is confuse mission with vision. .

Webinar Metrics 109

Webinar Metrics Loyalty Direct Response Facebook 109

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JULY 11, 2017

Over the years I am continually surprised by the realtors who fail to leverage LinkedIn to increase sales. This is especially true for those selling higher value residential real estate to professional executives. Now many realtors will tout the marketing advantage of Facebook to increase sales. Yet when it comes to sending traffic to your home page, LinkedIn substantially outperforms Facebook and Twitter.

Ideal Customer Profile 88

Ideal Customer Profile Real Estate LinkedIn Demographics 88

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JULY 8, 2017

Isn’t it funny that we fail to recognize the abundance within our lives? We have so much and yet many feel they have so little. I was watching a video about a young person who was born with limited height, with no arms, with no fingers, abandoned at birth and in spite of this scarcity she learned to play the piano with her toes and use her voice to sing.

Lead Rank 111

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Facebook Video 111

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JUNE 17, 2017

One of my most favorite people, Michael Sleppin (who is now retired) saw strangers as a sales prospecting opportunity. Michael would talk to anyone and by being so open he made incredible contacts. Yet we as children are conditioned not to talk to strangers. To overcome this negative yet protective childhood conditioning requires us to leave our comfort zones and to accept that our FEAR of talking to strangers is F alse E vidence A ppearing R eal.

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Prospecting Cold Calling Face-to-face Facebook 126

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JUNE 13, 2017

A LinkedIn post by Tibor Shanto entitled Brother Can You Spare a Sale made a connection with me regarding all the unsolicited requests I receive to submit articles for this blog. These complete strangers want me to spare a posting so they can get their marketing message out. Really? People buy from people they know and trust. This is the first sales buying rule my father taught me years ago.

Real Estate 141

Real Estate Social Media LinkedIn Twitter 141

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JUNE 12, 2017

Nowadays, more so than ever before, there appears to be a rush to sell. We experience this with unsolicited emails to outreaches within social media challenges especially LinkedIn. This desire to increase sales is natural because for salespeople increase sales means job security. The ability to increase sales may also increase the salesperson’s personal wealth.

Social Media 78

Social Media B2C ACT Influencer 78

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MAY 19, 2017

Let’s stop with the Naked Emperor and speak the truth about social selling. It isn’t selling. I repeat it isn’t selling. Now for some this is considered heresy. Credit www.gratisography.com. Social selling or social media selling whatever you want to call it is marketing using social media channels to deliver the message. This entire get on the band wagon for social whatever is sales quick sales fix for some and a quick opportunity to make fast bucks for others.

Social Selling 114

Social Selling Ideal Customer Profile Social Media Media 114

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MAY 16, 2017

President Truman said “The buck stops here.” I guess that does not apply when receiving a bad email. Yesterday I wrote about how a poorly written email headline may send the wrong message as well as giving my brief analysis about the marketing message. I responded to this email and then received an answer from the person who allegedly sent the email. “Hi, Leanne, Your first line cracked me up.

Advertising 102

Advertising Advertising Email Marketing Analysis 102

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MAY 15, 2017

Today I received this email headline “You’re breaking my heart.” First thought was “Great, now I am on a porn or foreign dating service distribution site” and my second thought was “Why didn’t my spam program catch this?” So curiosity had me open the email given it did not have a virus. The email was from a digital firm marketing their social media analytics product.

Leads 109

Leads Marketing Qualified Lead Marketing Analysis 109

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APRIL 19, 2017

Each day in my email inbox, I receive many unsolicited emails from SMBs and organizations that do not interest me. These entities obviously ignore permission based marketing and rely on buying lists from other unethical firms. When I first started developing my email lists over 10 years ago, I signed up with AWeber. At that time AWeber recommended the double opt in option so that people would know they had signed up for being on one of my email lists.

Marketing 86

Marketing Government Social Media Policies 86

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APRIL 14, 2017

As part of my overall social selling efforts, I regularly ask those who wish to connect with me on LinkedIn what prompted their LinkedIn invitations. A more recent response was the following: “I just thought that it would boost my business so that’s why I joined hope you having a great day thank you.” This struggling entrepreneur (yes I am presuming he or she is struggling) is engaged in the all too common spray and pray marketing behaviors.

Social Selling 110

Social Selling Social Media LinkedIn Media 110

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MARCH 17, 2017

Just this morning in my news feed, I read a content marketing and sales headline “These are the skills you need to have.” The following thoughts quickly surfaced in my mind: Really, I need to have these skills of (leadership, sales, management, etc.)? What if I don’t have these skills? Will I be less successful without these skills?

Conversion 78

Conversion Marketing Facebook Training 78

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MARCH 13, 2017

When will customer service people from wait staff to store clerks to everyone else in between realize lies do not inspire customer service loyalty. No lies do exactly the opposite. Lies build distrust and turn existing loyal customers into finding other solution providers. Recently we had breakfast at a national chain that features home cooking. When the waitress took my order, I asked for extra syrup.

Loyalty 91

Loyalty Customer Customer Service B2C 91

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FEBRUARY 9, 2017

Most sales training programs look to the sales fact finding process. This process usually involves asking open ended questions as well as doing some research before actually meeting with the sales lead or prospect. Today through the Internet, there is a wealth of information available to assist salespeople in this fact finding research. Yet one area that is often overlook is the “social history” of the prospect’s organization.

Microsoft 70

Microsoft Construction Facebook Lead Rank 70

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FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Yesterday I heard Nikolaus Kimla, CEO of Pipeliner CRM , make this very insightful statement: “Recommendations are the sales currency of the future.” He is so right in that people buy from people they know and trust. Recommendations or testimonials reaffirm that trust bridge between the buyer and the seller. Just recently in working with a sales coaching client, one of the salespeople said the reason a new patient came to their office was because of the written along with the video

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Referrals Sales Coaching Coaching LinkedIn 70

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JANUARY 16, 2017

The marketplace is filled to the brim with sales training, sales books to sales coaches. Yet at the end of the day, what is sales truly about? Credit www. pixabay.com. My father taught me sales was about buying. You as the salesperson had to build a relationships between you and the prospective buyer or even center of influence to be successful. He believed focusing on selling was a big error and allowed the ego to interfere in the buying/selling bridge.

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Facebook Sales Coaching Objections Buyer 70

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JANUARY 15, 2017

So what makes individuals top sales performers? There are specific aspects as identified within the 5 Point Sales Leadership Model and yet I believe it goes way beyond that to the attitudes of these individuals. The “Ations” Attitudes of Top Sales Performers. Aspiration – Wants to continued to achieve, to look forward to the future, to always be better.

Lead Rank 70

Lead Rank Sales Leadership Facebook Motivation 70

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JANUARY 14, 2017

Good sales skills are essential. Yet with all the emphasis on the more technical skills like discovering wants and needs; asking open ended questions or turning stalls into objections, I sometimes believe we are forgetting the two fold purpose of these skills: Communication. Engagement. I just finished reading a well written and very results driven article by Tony Hughes about the secrets in how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator more effectively.

Lead Rank 70

Lead Rank Sales Leadership LinkedIn Facebook 70

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DECEMBER 22, 2016

One of my most favorite quotes is in the movie The Patriot where the father reminds his sons to “aim small, miss small.” I only wish those seeking to increase 2017 sales would heed this advice. Credit www.pixabay.com. When salespeople have crystal clarity as to: Ideal customer (role, demographics, psychographics). Ideal target market (industry).

Referrals 70

Referrals Demographics Sales Goal Maximizer 70

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DECEMBER 16, 2016

Social media is one of the primary reasons for the increase in sales pitches. All these usually free social media channels now have conditioned sales leads to be very wary of any inbound marketing messages. What has really transpired is all these prospecting activities have put the sales lead’s reticular activator on high alert. Credit www.pixabay.com.

Social Media 70

Social Media Education Influencer LinkedIn 70

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NOVEMBER 15, 2016

With the end of the year quickly coming to a close, my sense is for many salespeople, sales frustration is growing. Sales goals, sales quotas and sales revenues are still short. Sales management and executives continue to push sales teams. All of this pushing is not helping to increase sales, but truly limiting sales results. Credit www.gratisography.com.

Lead Rank 70

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Goal Facebook 70

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NOVEMBER 14, 2016

SMART goals have been with SMB sales professionals and owners for over 50 years. Yet how many executive leaders and salespeople consistently fail to achieve both professional and personal goals? As SMB has evolved, now is the time for SMART goals to evolve as well. In the past, the SMART acronym was: Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistically set high.

Motivation 70

Motivation ACT Facebook Research 70

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NOVEMBER 10, 2016

For the last several months we have been hearing about leadership temperament. In working with executive coaching and sales coaching clients, I hear considerable questions regarding sales temperament. Sometimes people believe leadership and sales temperaments are mutually exclusive. No the reality is they are mutually inclusive. Credit www.gratisography.com.

Sales Coaching 146

Sales Coaching Coaching Analytics ACT 146

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NOVEMBER 9, 2016

Life is hard. Sales is hard. A clip from a Sylvester Stallone movie sums up what we must do: Credit www.PicJumbo.com. Keep moving forward. How often do we stop being who we are because we are unhappy with our results? How often do we look to blame others for our inability to move forward? How often are beaten down to our knees thinking we can never get up?

Facebook 171

Facebook Course Sales 171

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NOVEMBER 8, 2016

A colleague of mine, Elinor Stutz, shared an article on LinkedIn Pulse in which she discussed a sales tip about commitment. She then went on to articulate numerous actions to ensure commitment. I added in my comments that having faith in sales is also important. Faith in sales means you first have faith in your overall sales process. Have you invested the time to hone your process including marketing, selling and keeping?

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Hiring LinkedIn Facebook Up-Sell 140

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OCTOBER 14, 2016

Executive coaching is becoming a recognized sustainable solution to improve the business leadership performance of individuals. Yet, how often are people asked to explain the essence of this powerful solution? Here is a statement that I make somewhere during the sales conversation with potential ideal customers or clients: “Coaching be it executive, business or sales is about clarity through tools and processes beginning with assessments.

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Coaching Facebook Sales Coaching Tools 70

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OCTOBER 13, 2016

Funny think about sales, many people lack crystal clear clarity. These are the salespeople that scurry around B2B networking events, who stumble when ask what they do, and who complain about the inability to increase sales. Many salespeople as well as SMB owners think they lack the tools, the skills, the leads, the network of connections. Never do they recognize what is limiting their business growth, their professional growth and their personal growth is crystal clear clarity.

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Hiring Networking Facebook B2B 70

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OCTOBER 10, 2016

Securing those necessary sales meetings with clients, sales leads and even colleagues is becoming increasingly difficult. The reason is the “contingency effect.” Just as people buy houses on contingency, so it appears buying time to meet on another person’s calendar is also on contingency. People in business are indeed crazy busy.

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Sales Meeting Meeting Top of Funnel Cancellation 70

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SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

When meeting with a new sales lead, we as salespeople must be extremely careful about our sales behaviors. How we interact with the potential ideal customer is the first step in building trust and demonstrating our knowledge. Credit www.funnysalescartoons.com. Cliche Rapport Building. Your sales leads are busy people just like you. Wasting their time with cliche rapport building questions or comments does not strengthen the trust and knowledge factors.

Lead Rank 70

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Facebook Education 70

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SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

Isn’t it amazing with all the resources at the disposal of B2B and B2C salespeople, so many still fail to do any to adequate research on incoming sales leads or sales referrals? This research allows them to tailor their sales message. Doing the research is another sales behavior shared by top sales performers. By investing the time to do the research about the sales lead, his or her company, the salesperson can discover any miss steps in her or his sales message.

Real Estate 70

Real Estate Referrals Decision Maker B2C 70

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SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Yesterday my husband and I heard another sales presentation by a very professional real estate broker. During his sales message, he misspoke a couple of times. Probably a less educated buyer would not have picked up on these inconsistencies. He is not the first salesperson I have encountered in the last nearly 40 years who has said the wrong thing.

Real Estate 70

Real Estate Hotels Lead Rank Commission 70

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AUGUST 6, 2016

Talk to or listen to most top sales performers and you will here “The Want.” They realize sustainable sales success is directly tied to their want to increase sales. These individuals not only are fanatical prospectors as Jeb Blount writes, but realize people buy from other people just like them. They continually work to improve their own revenue as well as to improve themselves.

Infusion 70

Infusion Lead Rank Lead Scoring Facebook 70

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AUGUST 5, 2016

Top sales performers know sales is about taking advantage of all opportunities. As Jeb Blount notes in his book, Fanatical Prospecting , they are fanatical about prospecting. These individuals know their ideal customer or customers. They are always looking for both the low hanging fruit as well as the fruit higher up on the tree. They are not in the business of losing sales.

Real Estate 70

Real Estate Commission B2C Face-to-face 70

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AUGUST 3, 2016

The “Where’s the beef?” question further branded Wendy’s quality as noted in yesterday’s posting. Yet if we change our perspective, this question also can imply problems or a complaint. In sales there numerous opportunities for problems as well as complaints. Credit: www.gratisography.com. Have you ever had a sales lead be unreasonable in your opinion?

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Face-to-face Facebook Sales Buyer 70

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AUGUST 2, 2016

In 2001, Wendy’s had a series of commercials asking “Where’s the beef?” These commercials highlighted the quality of Wendy’s hamburgers and to differentiate their hamburgers from their competitors. Today in sales, quality and differentiation are even more important. Credit: www.gratisography.com. Within your solutions (products or services) where is your quality and how does your quality differ from your competitors is essential to know.

Lead Rank 70

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Face-to-face Facebook 70