7 Habits of Highly Successful Sales Professionals
by: Maura Schreier-FlemingSuccessful salespeople are different. That’s what I’ve noticed. You may have noticed this in your company, too. These behaviors seem to work for them. Don’t you think they should work for you, too?
1. They have a huge Rolodex. Selling is finding customers who need or want what you have to sell. Successful salespeople find their customers differently than less successful salespeople. One sales manager found that salespeople were more successful when they had more people resources to tap into. It didn’t matter if salespeople had much sales experience or came from a non-sales area. If they had maintained contact with their mentors, peers and managers over the years they were able to use their contacts as a source of sales leads and information. They were also more successful. You can start by maintaining meaningful contact with your customers. What better people than satisfied homeowners to recommend you to new prospects?
2. They read fast. Customers value salespeople who possess knowledge and offer unique insights. To get these insights, you have to be current on a variety of topics. Business and non-business reading is essential. How do you process all that you need to? You’ve got to read fast. Taking a speed-reading course can increase your reading from 250 words a minute to almost 1000 words a minute. You’ll be able to acquire much more information that can be of use to your customers.
3. They apply technology. How do you use the information you acquire to serve your customers? Is it easy to access that information when you need it? Having the information and being unable to access it quickly is the same as not having it at all. Time spent looking for something is time that could be spent supporting your selling. Do you want to refer a past customer to a new client? The sales greats use technology to manage information. Their databases make it easy to retrieve information. With the data they can see where their sales are and what they need to do to meet their goals. They can quickly locate the information they need. They spend time selling with information, not looking for information.
4. They’re naturally curious. When they talk with customers and prospects, they use the word “why” a lot. They intuitively know when to ask “why” to get more information. They know that information is more powerful if the reason behind it is known. They don’t guess why a customer prefers a certain location. They ask why and find out from the customer’s point of view. In addition to why, they also ask great questions learning far more about their customers than less successful salespeople.
5. They love what they do. Ask a sales great what they love about selling and they say, “Everything.” Being around them is like being around an energy source. Their attitude of optimism and belief in the value of their work portrays this enthusiastic attitude to others. As one executive told me, “Passion is infectious. It’s more important than what you know. Maintaining the passion is the biggest challenge in business.” Great salespeople are able to maintain their passion.
6. They do the unexpected and more for their customers. Salespeople can go out of their way to do something special for their customers. Getting customers for your customers, creatively showing a home if you’re a realtor, or making personal introductions for prospects are what talented sales professionals do. They think it is their job, not something extra. In fact, most salespeople don’t make the extra effort.
7. They’re very creative. Being creative means the process of coming up with new ideas for business. Sales greats see possibilities where others give up. Getting told “no” by a worthwhile prospect is not the end for great salespeople; it’s just the beginning. Using their creativity they find news ways to get to “yes” with the prospects who are a challenge. Creativity is the foundation of selling. It’s useful for questioning, presenting and strategizing. Believing in your creativity is the first step to being creative.
You may have noticed these habits in other successful salespeople. When you adopt these seven habits, the success that others achieve can also be yours. read more
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New Intro Video With Updates
We have updated our homepage video to show what is coming next. We have been very busy over here at ProvenProspects, working on a National data roll-out, and a much upgraded system. The updates will offer a lot of added value to our existing customers at no additional cost. As well as expanding our services to many new territories and markets. Most updates are planned to be launched throughout the Fall. We also, added some new music by Kevin MacLeod. Please take a look and let us know what you think!http://www.youtube.com/user/ProvenProspects
You can even subscribe to our YouTube Channel while you’re at it. We will be posting a lot of videos demonstrating our new services and features.
Thanks so much for your contniung support.
The ProvenProspects Team!
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Reviving the Nobility of Sales
May 10, 2010
-By Mat Zucker
Gallup regularly ranks the most trusted professions and, year after year, near the bottom — below advertising practitioner — is the beleaguered car salesman. Admittedly, neither of us is as virtuous as nurses or police officers, but is this how we see what we do?
Sales, like advertising, is an easy profession to lampoon, but it’s a shame, especially now. Customers are overwhelmed with choices and brands need to do a better job guiding. A significant part of this is persuasion through the craft of sales. New tools and platforms are making it better for customers and salespeople alike to consider and connect over products. Social networks make it easier for peers to endorse a brand, databases can find patterns and tailor messages more intimately, ubiquitous and interactive video even updates the classic infomercial.
But for many of us in marketing who are supposed to be selling, there seems to be a reluctance to actually sell. It doesn’t sit well in our bellies, as if we’re doing something wrong. We as professionals — especially in direct marketing — must own up to what we actually do. And defend it.
Our agency founder, David Ogilvy, started as a salesman. He went door to door selling kitchen stoves, working on commission. “No sale, no commission. No commission, no eat,” he said. “That made an impression on me.” His relentless focus on sales was his crusade for us as an agency. “We sell, or else” is still our motto today.
Ogilvy had plenty of advice on selling. “You can’t bore people into buying your product,” he warned. “You can only interest them in buying it.” He also advocated the quality of one’s skill over the quantity of calls, and utter respect for the consumer. (”The customer is not a moron,” he said. “She is your wife.”). The principles of this wisdom are still true.
I believe we are all persuaders, wired to sell from the beginning. Growing up, we learn how to get a few minutes of someone’s attention, how to do our homework to find facts, how to turn no’s to maybe’s. We’re taught the value of a firm handshake, the politeness of maintaining eye contact and, hopefully, how to respect other people’s time and build a relationship that unlocks value over the years. Some people, of course, are far better than the rest of us. What do they know that we don’t? What does good salesmanship look like?
We certainly don’t know all the answers, but from our own experience and talks with experts, some guidance is emerging. Good salespeople know what makes their products special, but they start by listening. They focus on their customers’ successes — and how they can help them reach them. They prioritize creating value together rather than a quick yes. Sure, they try to make it easy for us to buy now, but they know better than anyone else that the most profitable and meaningful relationships are long term.
These are good lessons for us in marketing. There is much to learn from those who do it very well and much to celebrate about the value of good salesmanship together. If Gallup talked to customers of these great salespeople, I bet their ranking would be quite different. Ours too.
Mat Zucker, executive creative director at OgilvyOne Worldwide New York, is currently helping run the agency’s Search for the World’s Greatest Salesperson. He can be reached at mat.zucker@ogilvy.com and you can follow him at @matzucker.
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Don’t Ever Offer Great Service, Great Value Or A Great Product!
By: Barry A. DensaNot too long ago a mortgage broker in Texas asked if I’d write a lead generation package for his company-actually he just wanted me to write a letter.
I guess he didn’t need an envelope. More about that in a moment. So my first question was: who is your target market? Tell me a little about the clients you’re looking to attract.
“Anyone that needs to refinance an adjustable mortgage” he laughed.
Anyone? Now that’s a tightly defined demographic if I ever heard one.
So I politely educated this young grasshopper about why he needs to narrow his base of opportunities-just so he doesn’t mail 50 million letters to all homeowners in America with an adjustable rate mortgage.
I suggested, therefore, that he target a defined geographic area, and maybe homeowners with a house valued at over $300,000 and who refinanced or purchased their home more than two years ago.
“Sure, sure,” he said.
“Great. So what’s your offer?” I asked.
“You mean, how much I can pay you?”
“No,” I said, “what are you offering your prospects so they’ll immediately rush to the phone and call you?”
I heard then what I have heard SO many times before…
An impassioned trashing of the competition:
…They’ re only in it for the money; they don’t care about their customers; they don’t understand the products out there and how to use them, they got their license and immediately began selling-and then most of them are out of business in a year or two… So on and so forth. And then I heard the obligatory self-praise
oratory: That is… how much he cares about his clients; how many years he’s been in business; how much continuing-ed training he’s had; how much value he brings to the table; how much great service he provides. So on and so forth.
“Great, so what are you offering your prospects so they’ll immediately rush to the phone and call you?” I repeated.
“…What do you mean?”
“Well,” I asked, “why should Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner call you and not the other mortgage broker who is saying the exact same thing? After all, they all DO say the same thing-how much great service they provide; how much they care about their clients-don’t they?”
“Yeah but…” So he then repeated, with even more fervor, how much more he cares, how much better service, etc., etc.
“Let me ask you this,” I said, “How is your prospect to know that you’re better, that you’re the good guy and not the bad guy? Telling them that it’s so, won’t make them believe it-now will it? Somehow you’ve got to PROVE it.”
Then I told him about the importance of testimonials, third-party endorsements, accreditation, etc., etc.
“And all of that will help you prove to your prospects that you are who you say you are. But that’s still not enough. Because if the broker down the street has any marketing savvy, he can and will prove it too-quoting his track record, his honesty, his competence, blah, blah-in all of his marketing promotions.
“So you need a unique selling proposition, don’t you,” I said.
“Huh?”
“We’ve got to find something that’s unique about you; about the way you conduct business, how you reward your clients for their loyalty-how you will do something specific, measurable and desirable-so that these prospects will want to pick up the phone and call you.”
“Like what?”
“Offer them something that your competition doesn’t”
“Like what?”
“Well, certainly not good service, great value and a low interest rate. But it could be a guarantee of some sort, a gift related to home ownership, or a free report, like ‘The TOP 10 Mistakes Homeowners Make When Refinancing a Mortgage-that Always Costs Them THOUSANDS of DOLLARS!’”
“Something no other broker is offering-or saying-something that the prospect will find useful and of value.
“And, you must provide urgency or scarcity, or both. For example, make it a time or quantity limited offer, but explain why! And not only must it be believable-it must also be true!
“Finally, deliver your package in a way that will guarantee that it will be opened and read.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I can provide you with the best lead generation package ever written, with the best offer ever imagined-but if the envelope doesn’t get opened, what good will it do you?”
“So how can we guarantee that the envelope will be opened?”
“Now,” I said, “you’re thinking like a marketer!”
And so I gave him some ideas, of course. And I’ll tell you what they were… in a future post.
Till then… own your market.
About the Author:
Barry A. Densa is one of America”’s top freelance direct response copywriters. Visit www.WritingWithPersonality.com and see how Barry easily and quickly converts prospects into buyers using salesmanship in print”. And while there, sign up for his highly regarded FREE ezine: Marketing Wit & Wisdom!
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What the heck is DaaS? – (jigsaw data)
“DaaS – Data as a Service. This blog is all about DaaS, and how DaaS is going to transform the data model in exactly the same way that SaaS has transformed the software model.First, let’s get really clear on how SaaS changed our mindsets. Ten years ago companies that utilized software were in the business of procuring and managing software. Companies had to first buy the software, then install it on one’s own servers, and finally manage that software over time.
Many companies realized that procuring and managing software wasn’t a core competency – but ten years ago there was no other choice. Salesforce led the SaaS revolution by convincing companies that choosing to use software as a service was a better way to go. Interestingly, Larry Ellison is well known for both dissing SaaS as a model that will never make money, and at the same time proclaiming that Oracle will eventually dominate many SaaS offerings. My belief is that SaaS has fundamentally transformed the software model, and will continue to do so into the future. All the big enterprise software companies are making huge bets on SaaS.
Take a look at how most companies deal with data today. They spend a bunch of time and money buying lists, attending tradeshows, and having sales teams prospect for leads. After companies procure their records the data goes into its container (example: Salesforce) – and it usually just sits there and rots.
Most SMB companies perform zero maintenance on their databases. Large companies spend a ton of money on the maintenance of their data sets, as well as on procurement. For companies of all sizes their customer and prospecting database is the lifeblood of their business…” read more
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5 Basics of Lead Scoring
March 23rd, 2010 | By Barbra Gago: Barbra Gago (@barbragago) is the Inbound & Social Marketing Manager for Genius.com.” Lead scoring can be a very complex process, consider this article an introduction to some of the basic concepts of lead scoring, and how it is used to manage your prospective customers as they move through the funnel and their level of interest in the solutions to their problems that your company provides changes.
The main objective of lead scoring is to rank prospective customers numerically based on their level of interest in order to empower the sales department with better actionable information about theprospective customers they are, or plan to engage with.
1. What is lead scoring?
Lead scoring is a process that enables sales to identify more sales ready leads faster. It’s a qualification process of assigning a numeric value (or score) to leads to qualify or rank them according to their level of interest. Lead scoring allows sales to quickly identify promising prospects by simply checking their lead score.
2. What do I need before I start lead scoring?
It’s important that you have a universal “lead” definition that both Sales and Marketing agree on. There’s no sense in Marketing scoring leads to identify quality, if Marketing and Sales aren’t on the same page about what “quality” actually means.
3. Why should I score leads?
Assuming leads move through the funnel step-by-step, or even if they don’t you want to be able to track and adjust their lead quality as their behavior or interactions with your website and other content changes over time. With lead scoring, each action a lead takes can be counted differently, and ultimately add or subtract from their lead quality score, making them more or less promising as a prospect.
For example, when a prospect clicks through from a tweet to your blog do you want to assign them the same weight as a prospect that signs up for a recent webinar? Maybe do, maybe you don’t but either way, lead scoring will keep track of this behavior and keep score automatically.
4. What should I know?
Lead scoring is comprised of two parts: “explicit” and “implicit” information. While both types of data are equally important, implicit data tends to be more telling and thus may be worth more to the lead scorer. Explicit data is more of the “fit” of the prospect to your product, including attributes like; company, size, industry segment, job title, location, budget, authority and timing.
Implicit data on the other had is evident in the prospects digital body language; specific web pages visited, number of pages, recency of response, email activity, social media activity, or downloads of resources such as white papers or webinars.
5. What’s process like?
As each lead takes an action, their score changes (score will also change if lead is inactive). Marketing Automation can help here because it enables automatic re-scoring triggered by every action the prospect takes (that you’ve assigned a score to) otherwise you would have to do this manually.
For example, if A, B, or C defines “fit” with your buyer personas and 1, 2, 3, or 4 defines “engagement“, or digital body language, a combined score of A1 would be a prospect that has an ideal fit, and a maximum level of engagement. A prospect with a score of A4 might be the right fit, but has minimum engagement, and would be a good opportunity to funnel into a nurturing program until they have a higher engagement score. Prospects with scores more like C1 or D1 show very high engagement, but very low fit, this may be a prospect that is researching for a more senior decision maker, and worth your while to follow up with.
In the end, lead scoring can be highly effective at delivering sales with better qualified leads, but remember, if Marketing and Sales have not agreed on a “universal lead definition” true success is at risk. This process is highly effective when both Sales and Marketing have worked together to develop the definition of a qualified lead. So your first step is to start there. Find your sales counterpart, reach agreement, write it down, and begin your lead scoring project.” read more
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What’s Your Goal? More Leads or Better Leads? (Silverpop)
” In the latest study from Forrester Research, “Rethinking the B2B Tech Marketing Mix in the Digital Age,” more than 50 percent of marketers surveyed said generating more leads was their top challenge. That’s not at all surprising when you consider that gathering leads is the primary focus of most B2B marketing programs, but it’s important not to sacrifice quality for quantity. Unless you develop a process for managing leads, you’ll find it difficult to impact revenues.The first step to managing leads effectively is to analyze where they come from, what it takes to keep them interested and what additional information you need to give them to make the sale. Those kinds of critical insights are what puts a lead-management program a level or two above the rest and will be more likely to drive revenue results that will please you and your CEO.
Pushing leads into the top of the sales pipeline and then just letting them sit there is not going to get the results you’re seeking. Carlos Hidalgo, president of The Annuitas Group, noted: “I remember one client who told us that the 300-plus leads we had generated over a six-week period were no good. We implemented a ‘post campaign’ research project and identified that more than half of the leads never received any kind of follow-up. Of those, 90 percent ended up buying from our client’s competitors within a 90-day period. It’s hard to argue with statistics.”
The point is, you can drag all the suspects in the world into your pipeline, but unless you take the time to weed through them in a systematic manner and identify the hot ones from the cold, you’re only wasting your time, your marketing budget and the efforts of your sales team to track down opportunities.”
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Forrester Says Tech Recession Is Over: Increased spending on hardware and software will put an end to the IT downturn in 2010, analyst firm says.
U.S. and global spending on IT hardware and software will bounce back strongly in 2010, market watcher Forrester said Tuesday.The research firm is calling for tech spending in the U.S. to grow 6.6% this year, to $568 billion, after being down 8.2% in 2009. Worldwide spending will jump 8.1% to more than $1.6 trillion, following a decline of 8.9% last year..“All the pieces are in place for a 2010 tech spending rebound. In the U.S., the tech recovery will be much stronger than the overall economic recovery, with technology spending growing at more than twice the rate of gross domestic product this year,” said Bartels. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE: IT Hardware 2010
The 2010 New Year Checklist for Your Business, From Vertical Response
The 2010 New Year Checklist for Your Business
Every year here at VerticalResponse I make it a point to come up with a list of 10 things you need to be thinking about in the new year. They may be related to marketing, or running your business overall, and they’re usually something I relate to things I have to do in my own business.
1. Use “Cause Marketing” – This is the year that you should identify your business with a worthy cause and either donate a percentage of profits to it or contribute to it in some way. And if profits or hard cash don’t fit, consider donating employee time. Then in your email marketing campaigns, your marketing materials and sales pitches you should talk about what you’re doing and why it’s important to you. Your prospects and customers increasingly want to do business with a business that cares and has moral obligations, and they’re looking for you to let them know how you fit the bill.
2. Use Social Media with Email Marketing – Finally get your act together with social media this year. Start with Twitter and Facebook, it’s easy. Then set your goals on how many Twitter followers your business will get or how many Facebook fans you’ll attract. Make sure you tell your email marketing recipients to follow you when you send out a campaign. And don’t forget to post your links to your email campaigns in your Twitter account and Facebook pages and ask people to join your email list. All of these marketing vehicles work really well together and feed off of each other.
3. Nail Your Email Marketing – Your customers are your lifeblood in these economic times so make sure you put as much care as possible into how you communicate to them. One small yet important thing we all tend to overlook is the subject line, which is the most important part of your email. Whether you think about your subject line as the first order of business, or you write your email then come up with the subject line, take a moment and make sure it’s the right one. Here’s an idea the day before you send your campaign, take a small number of email recipients and split the list in two. Then send two different subject lines. If there is a clear winner, meaning one that has more clicks and opens, choose that one to roll out to your entire list the next day. If there isn’t a clear winner, then choose what your gut tells you to choose.
Test a different format or a different day to send your email campaign. Squeezing an extra few opens, clicks and sales can make a huge difference for your business all throughout the year.
Send regular surveys to your customers to find out how they rate your product, your company and customer service. Find out what you can be doing better, then tell your customers how you’re changing your ways in your next email newsletter because you’ve heard their message.
4. Make This the Year of Customer Service - People talk about companies that listen to them and that treat them well so you’ll want to go above and beyond with customer service this year. This is especially true since companies like Facebook and Twitter are taking off and becoming a platform for people to tell the world how they feel…about you. This might be the year you get your customer data all in one place so it’s easy to find a customer when they call. Then log all of their issues so you have it for next time. Try BigContacts, Zoho, ACT!, and Salesforce for low-priced options. Provide Support has an option for one operator for less than $10/month for a year. Also manage your incoming and outgoing customer service emails. Palo Alto Software has a great product called Email Center Pro where you can manage your incoming and outgoing emails from one central web location and it’s free for 2 users.
5. Cut Costs – Keep cutting costs because we’re still in the economic weeds. Look at your top spending categories and see if there’s money to be saved. Is your rent too high? If you’ve got a number of years left on it you might call your landlord and ask if you can renegotiate “stepped” payments. Ask for a discount this year and tell them in the future years you’re willing to pay at bit more per square foot. If you’re spending too much on shipping, start calling other providers to see if they’re competitive. Doing things like this in January will add up for the rest of the year and help you to profitability.
6. Listen to Your Customers - Listen and watch what your customers are saying about you. Sign up for Google Alerts with your company name as a keyword, but also with your competitor’s names so you can see what is being published about them as well. Sign up for a free TweetDeck account and do the same. You’ll see what people on Twitter are saying about your company, your competition and even your industry, up-to-the minute for an unlimited number of keywords. Then chime in to the conversation and address the issue or try to get a new customer. Word to the wise: make sure you’re transparent with who you are, you don’t want to “hide” as someone else, tell them you’re with your company and you want to help out or answer any questions.
7. Find New Customers, Inexpensively - Google is where people go these days to find businesses they’re looking for. So set up or build on your Google Adwords pay-per-click efforts. If you don’t know where to start with Google try Google Basics. Get started simple, choose keywords that make sense for your business and build on it from there. To find how many searches are happening on your keywords check out the Keyword Selector Tool to find out how many searches occur for your keywords. Note: although Google is the clear market leader, other search engines like Bing are gaining a bit of market share and can be less expensive. Word to the wise: take a deep breath and be patient, success doesn’t happen overnight but when you start to gain traction you’ll see that it does work and you can build on your success from there.
8. Build Your Email List - I’ve put together this blog post called 29 Ways to Collect Email Addresses for Your Business. Live it, learn it, love it.
9. Hire People Who Care – If you’re lucky enough to be hiring for your business, this should be the year where you have an ample choice of people who need to work to choose from, so it’s your pick. Make sure you select people who have the same passion as you do, and people that fit into your business culture like a glove. Make sure you ask the questions that count; you want someone who can handle situations, someone who can communicate and someone who you trust. Don’t settle for second best, your customers will notice.
10. Embrace Word of Mouth – At VerticalResponse over 50% of the people who sign up for our service select “Word of Mouth” as the source for where they heard about our company. In 2010 you’ll really need to take a good look at what you’re doing to spur word of mouth. As noted here, customer service is important, the quality of your product or service is important and the entire customer experience is important in order for word of mouth to start. But there are other remarkable things you can do for your customers that can start them talking about you.There are some great ideas on the VerticalResponse Blog as well as Andy Sernovitz’s Word of Mouth Marketing Blog to get you started.
2010 is poised to be a great year for growing your small business. Comment with your ideas for what you’ll do to get your growth on. Read Full Article Here
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10 Most Popular BtoB Technology Marketing Stories From 2009
From Cisco’s ‘Thrive’ campaign to Building24, these were the most popular stories featured in the Inside Technology Marketing newsletter.Cisco builds ‘Thrive’ site campaign in eight weeks
Last fall, Cisco Systems’ salespeople began reporting how customers were struggling in the difficult U.S. economy. In response, Cisco’s marketing team rapidly created a program..
Cisco’s marketing chief sits down with ITM
Marilyn Mersereau, senior VP-corporate marketing at Cisco Systems, recently spoke with Inside Technology Marketing about the changing role of sales and marketing within the technology company..
Carter on IBM’s social media push
Sandy Carter, VP-IBM Software Group Channels, recently spoke to ITM about social media and how it fits into the company’s overall marketing strategy.
What is building43—and should you want one?
If social media is about starting conversations, why not hire the best conversation starter you can find?
Pursuing government tech spending in 2009
This year, technology sales as a whole may be flat—CIOs plan increases of just 0.16%, according to a recent survey by Gartner Executive Programs.
EMC’s ‘uber-integration’ database marketing
Storage vendor EMC Corp. has 3 million leads in its database. While that’s an impressive number, it can be a burden—especially because that database contains leads from several companies EMC acquired.
Novell ‘hashes’ out new campaign
One of the challenges of social media marketing is that it really shouldn’t look like marketing at all.
SAP cultivates customer communities
As the software industry has consolidated and diversified, successful companies have increasingly been those that build an ecosystem of customers and partners who support each other and share customized programs.
Community marketing with an offbeat twist
Marti Konstant’s years in technology marketing have made one thing abundantly clear to her: Engineers aren’t like the rest of us.
Why Phoenix Integration outsourced its marketing
Phoenix Integration, a maker of process integration and design optimization software, is realizing efficiencies in the down economy by outsourcing almost its entire marketing function.
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