Sales/Marketing Tips From The Front Lines

Successfully using open-ended questions to power your sales process……

ndtii95 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:40:34 +0000

If you want a successful career in sales, you need to master the art of the open-ended question. We’ll start by taking a look at several keys that you need to remember about questioning throughout your sales process, which are especially applicable to the open-ended questions you’ll use during the investigation step of the process.

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Start your investigation - the three types of questions

ndtii95 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:13:43 +0000

Speaking in general terms, there are three types of questions that come into play during your sales process - yes/no questions, either/or questions, and open-ended questions. Each has their own specific value during the time you spend with your prospect - and each also has their own potential downfalls. Here’s a bit closer look at how we will - and won’t - use each type:

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The Process - Investigation

ndtii95 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:47:54 +0000

The second step in our sales process is the investigation. “Investigation” sounds kind of hardcore……..but calling it “the step where we ask lots and lots of questions of varying types” seemed a bit unwieldy.

Basically, in this step, we’re going to create our “roadmap” to the sale. Good questioning skills are the key to the sales process - not only will you be able to piece together the prospects needs, wants and buying motives, you’ll also be able to demonstrate an empathetic and caring nature……..and as sales legend Zig Ziglar is fond of saying, (more…)

The Sales Process - Opening

ndtii95 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:17:47 +0000

We’ve discussed opening at length earlier in our journey together. Here are the links to the posts so you can review them if you wish:

http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/01/09/start-from-the-start/

http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/01/10/lets-go-win-game-1/

Basically, the opening is three main steps - the greeting, introduction, and transition to investigation.

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The process……..an overview…….

ndtii95 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:07:39 +0000

I hope all that celebrate the holiday enjoyed their Easter. Now back to work.

Just like when working the phones, a solid, repeatable system is required to keep the sales process on the right track. But unlike the phones, the key here isn’t a repeatable script, it’s simply following the steps to the sale in the proper order (or at least pretty close), and not taking shortcuts.

Now, I’ve seen systems that break down the process into 11 or 13 or 20 steps. We’re not going there……..all that does is make it harder to remember. The system we will discuss has 6 elements that need to be accomplished before the prospect becomes a customer:

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Put on your ‘Press’ hat……..

ndtii95 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:09:49 +0000

How do you find out what’s going on in the world?

Daily paper? Internet? TV? Gossip?

Well, gossip usually isn’t the most effective, but the other three have tremendous value, of course. And they have one thing in common.

News.

Whatever the format, you’re getting your information from a news source.

So……how will your customers find out what’s going on in YOUR world, and the world of your company?

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Better buy some pens……….

ndtii95 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:53:04 +0000

3. Special occasion notes - In our last post we discussed the power of a handwritten thank you note when it comes to differentiating yourself from your competition.

Don’t put the pen away though. Handwritten notes aren’t just for thank you.

Fill out handwritten cards at holidays. Not just the obvious Christmas. Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, St. Patrick’s Day…….you get the picture. Any holiday is a good excuse to drop your name in front of a customer or prospect.

The key is the ‘handwritten’ part. Many companies will send out pre-printed cards and notes and such. Not good enough. There’s no personal touch to that - no opportunity to show your customers and prospects why you’re different and better than the guy down the street.

NEXT POST: Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Now go sell something!

More ‘thank you’ power!

ndtii95 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:48:54 +0000

2. Thank you notes - Back when we talked about prospecting, we discussed the power of the thank you note here . But that’s not the only value of regularly sending thank you notes.

Of course, as we remember, ALL thank you notes are to be hand-written. Even if your company has some sort of CRM system that automatically generates a note, you send out a separate hand-written note. Send thank you notes to customers who purchase, persons who refer prospects to you, prospects who take their time to speak to you - anything you can think of to thank people for.

Image from http://img4.realsimple.com/

Every one of those notes is a mini-billboard, shouting out to the recipient that you are different from the competition. Most salespeople are too “busy” (translation, LAZY) to take this kind of effort. Your personal touch stands out from the crowd, and shows that you genuinely care about your customers. It makes you memorable.

And that’s what personal marketing is all about.

NEXT POST: Handwritten notes…….they’re not just for ‘thank you’ anymore!

Now go sell something!

An off topic post…..albeit slightly on topic at the same time.

ndtii95 — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:00:30 +0000

The host site for this blog, Today.com, has instituted an advertising program. At the same time that we are discussing marketing. How convenient!

Now, we are of course continuing with our discussion on personal marketing. I don’t neccessarily recommend a spot on this blog for that purpose - a blog of your own might be a better way to go in that sense.

But an ad here could be an inexpensive way to get your company’s name in front of people. The prices vary based on the monthly traffic a particular blog gets, making my blog attractive because it’s still growing - when you buy an ad, it locks you in at the current price until you decide to stop advertising. Thus, you catch a blog on the way up, and get a tremendous value for your dollar.

“But Mr. Blog-Man, your site doesn’t really fit very well with my product/service.”

Not a problem - there are thousands of different blogs on Today.com to choose from, so you’re sure to find one that fits your needs in both budget and target audience. And even if you advertise on a different blog for whatever reason, you’ll still be sponsoring this blog to help it continue to grow. A total win-win situation if you ask me.

Click on the banner below for more information!

Begin your campaign - no $100,000 a plate dinners required…….

ndtii95 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:52:15 +0000

OK, so you’ve done plenty of soul-searching and created the perfect mission statement. Now you know the type of message you want to send.

So how do we send it?

Let us start to count the ways:

1. Personal website/blog - In our current age of instant information, a personal website or blog might be the best possible external way to market yourself. (We’ll discuss what I mean by external in a couple of posts.) I prefer the blog method, for three reasons…….quick and easy updates, generally no cost to publish, and RSS feeds.

A blog takes literaly minutes to update - no specialized coding, no host to log into……just type, click and go. Plus, the availability of RSS feeds means that people who subscribe will receive constant updates without having to actually take the effort to visit your website - it will get lumped in with all the other blogs they read. And most blog host sites are free to use -it’s just up to you to promote once you’ve begun the blog.

But, a website does have it’s advantages, such as a much larger format to share far more information at once, and more options for prospects/customers to interact with you. There is a cost involved, but there are low-cost hosting options to choose that would minimize your investment.

Personal preference reigns supreme on this - work with the medium that makes you most comfortable. But don’t ignore this marketing method - you’ll be hard pressed to find more bang for your buck and effort from any other method.

NEXT POST: The power of the thank you note, redux………

Now go sell something!