Archive: ‘Sales & Marketing’
Cure for the Common Cold Call: Achooooooooo!
There is a cure for the common cold call. Don’t do it. It’s not that it can’t work but rather that it is a very inefficient method (produces minimum results for maximum effort) that should be used only as a last resort.
Here are some ideas about how to approach an important decision-maker in a manner that has a much better probability of getting a meeting:
- Do research on them to learn about their business and personal goals, interests and experience. The more you know before you contact them, the greater the potential outcome of your interaction.
- Reach out to them through a common connection. This may be through the staff on an Association they belong to, one of their colleagues whom you know or somebody who knows them personally. If you don’t have a common connection, create one.
- Start the relationship in “learn” mode, not “sell” mode. If they want to buy from you, that can be determined after communication begins so don’t assume it. If it turns out that they are not a candidate to purchase from you but they like you (partially because you didn’t try to sell them), they may make a valuable introduction to somebody else.
- Develop a keen understanding of their concerns, which are often shaped by conditions in their industry so that you can speak intelligently with them about their perceived needs
- Email blast short messages with very appealing titles that indicate strong subject matter understanding of their industry, market and needs. If the title is right, the percentage of recipients who read it is dramatically higher.
- Create a new email blast campaign every Quarter and follow up every single email sent with a series of 5 phone calls that span the Quarter: 1 a week later, 2 & 3 spaced a week apart and 4 and 5 spaced a month apart.
- Be active in Associations where your target prospects congregate. Help bring in Members, with Events and make friends with the staff and with Board Members. They know the members and can open doors after you’ve contributed.
Achieveeeeeee!
FLAT
Yesterday was incredible. It was all high energy, getting important things figured out with advisory Clients and moving on to the next meeting. A full and very satisfying day… and exhausting.
I woke up showing the after effects of a long hard day. FLAT. The desire wanes, the ambition subsides and the creativity just won’t kick in. Flat, that’s how it feels. BLAH, sort of numb, you get the picture. Yes, I’m in just such a mood as I look out the window of my small comfortable home office on this DREARY morning (dreary, of course, is not a fact but what I project onto what I see). And my first reaction to this is to think that it’s a bad thing. “Come on man, get going & create something,” I say to myself. So, I fire up the computer, open up Word and stare at the blank screen. And listen….. and wait…. and smile, because….
I remember that these flat periods are an important part of the creative and productive process. You can’t stay “up” all the time. PAUSE is a good thing. Let your system recover a little. Let your mind not create…. for just a little bit anyway.
RELIEVED of the pressure to produce right at this minute, a feeling of well- being moves in. I know that I’m recovering from the intense exhilaration of yesterday when a series of meetings had better-than-normal outcomes.
As I RECOVER my energy, the zip returns. An old idea that’s been tapping on my shoulder for a while asks permission to have a discussion. A new, really wacky idea occurs to me at which I shake my head and say to myself “won’t work but it would be fun to try.”
“Good Enough” Products (& Services) are Kicking Butt
A Company with only a GOOD product but GREAT sales, marketing & service will be more financially successful than a competitor with a GREAT product and GOOD sales, marketing & service almost every time. On the surface, it doesn’t seem right, does it? You would think that buyers, over time, would prefer superior technical performance. But there is no question that “Good Enough” Products are kicking butt.
WHY does this happen? Simple, the great marketers first of all make greater investments in time, money and resources to ensure that prospective buyers are aware that they exist. They Plan to spend appropriately to achieve the sales results they want. Then, they HOOK buyers with a superior brand promise, competitive positioning and key messages that resonate well by tapping a strong need, desire, fear, uncertainty or doubt (FUD) and then RETAIN them with superior Customer experience by caring, communicating, working proactively and responding nimbly to solve problems as they occur. Your product or service is better? Well, the Customer won’t easily let go because they’re reasonably happy or at least not seriously dissatisfied enough to do something about it. If you’re 10-20% better, yawn. 40-60% or more? Maybe…
A Lucky Strike cigarette commercial from the 1960′s said it well:
“I’d rather fight than switch.” The law of Inertia (as applied to human buying behavior) means unless it’s really important, I’m not gonna switch!
What actionable steps for entrepreneurs does this imply?
- Make a Strategic Decision: you have a dramatically superior product and will live or die by that OR you have a really good product and need to dramatically improve your marketing, sales and service. Which is it? Your resources are limited. Don’t sit in the middle – CHOOSE!
- If you choose to be a “best product” play, then your highest priority is to locate and start a conversation with buyers whose #1 criteria for purchase is already technical superiority, provide data that “proves” your superiority and capture external validation/testimonials from technical experts whose opinions matter to the target market
- If you choose to be “Good Enough Product” play, then you want to find a niche where you can dominate or you’ll never go far
- Research your Competition so that you know what they are promising and to whom so that you can create a messaging platform that is superior to your competitors for a specific niche (subset) of prospective Clients. Don’t go head to head against an 800 pound gorilla unless you have high confidence that your “counter offer” to the niche they dominate will resonate well
- Determine the essential Marketing and Sales activities that you must invest in to meet the Goals you’ve determined… and then make those investments.
- This may mean diverting funds away from product development to capturing sales
- This may mean investing in a salesperson or outside business development resource even knowing that it could be a year before you break-even on that investment
Singer Sheryl Crowe posed a question in one of her ballads: “Are You Strong Enough to be my Man?”
My question is: “Are you Good Enough to be my Product?”
What’s Your 2010 Business Development Strategy?
Did your 2009 business development strategy work like you hoped? Will you use the same strategies in 2010, or are you going to analyze, learn from your failures (and victories), and adapt?
Learning and adapting is usually a good idea, particularly if your results weren’t as you expected. But what are the best ways to learn from your mistakes, plan, and adapt to a new market condition?
This post explores how some of the smartest small companies in the Baltimore, Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia markets are planning their 2010 business development strategies.
The tried and true. There are certain business development strategies that just plain work and I’ll go over some of them below. More »
3 Proven Small Service Business Marketing Strategies
There are a few small service business marketing strategies that not many companies are fully taking advantage of. These strategies are not only very effective, but most of them are affordable as well.
If done right, implementing these strategies into your daily business practices (Disclosure: that’s not the easiest thing to do) can make a great impact on your top and bottom lines.
So grab a drink, sit back and explore our Top 7 Powerful Small Service Business Marketing Strategies
Does Your Business Need A Sales Growth Consultant
Have you ever thought about hiring a sales growth consultant?
- Is your business slowly dropping sales and losing profit?
- Are you looking for a long-term strategic plan that will help your business earn higher profits?
- Are you a young company looking for a stable foundation?
- Or maybe you’re an established business looking to take your business to the next level.
Profit growth and projections are clearly important to the growth of a company. If your business is not “lighting up the boards” – that is, making a bunch of sales, then hiring a sales growth consultant might be one of the best decisions you can make for your business.
Especially in a recession.
But can we afford it?
The bottom line is that any sales consultant worth their salt will not cost you money. They may be an expense in the short-run, but the beauty of sales growth consultants is that they quickly produce returns on the money you invest with them.
Not only will a good sales consultant reinvigorate you and your sales force, but they will give you actionable, proven ways to increase your sales NOW! Not to mention help with training new sales people.
There are many different strategies and techniques a growth consultant could use to help your business, which ones will work for your company?
Choosing the ideal sales consultant
When looking for a sales growth consultant you should consider the background of the specialist and their past credentials.
- Have they helped companies like yours before?
- Do they have references you can talk to?
- What was their career before they started consulting?
- Do they have a good reputation in the area?
- Have their techniques had demonstrated success in improving company revenues and profitability?
Where can I find a consultant like that?
Jacoby is a Business Growth Consulting firm specializing in sales growth that’s located physically near Baltimore, Maryland. But we have clients are from all over the country, from California to Texas to Boston.
In addition to decades of combined experience, the reason that our clients excel is because of our passion for helping clients, and seeing them succeed.
Aside from sales growth consulting, we have the expertise and know-how to solve complex business problems that can help your company prosper.
Christopher Simpson, CEO, Simpson Scarborough
If you think you or your company can benefit from sales growth, contact Jacoby today!
Call 410-744-3900 or fill in this contact form to get started.
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Go back to the Sales & Marketing category
Creating Training Programs for Sales People
Designing and creating training programs for sales people can be one of the most difficult (yet important) activities that business owners or C-Level executives ever have to partake in.
This post will examine some of the most common mistakes executives make when creating sales training programs, along with some “DO’s” and “DONT’s” you should keep in mind to ensure the success of your future sales team.
DON’T Get Overwhelmed. It’s easy to start feeling like there is so much to do with not enough time. Realize that the creation of this sales program does not have to be finished in a day or a week.
DON’T Reinvent The Wheel. There are thousands of companies that have already created training programs for sales people with phenomenal success. Why start from scratch when you can easily leverage the work already completed by sales masters?
DO Read! Why not pick up some Zig Ziglar? Or take another look at the legendary “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie? There is a gigantic wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, especially in this digital age. Harness the resources available to you.
DO Consult. As you’re designing your training program for sales people, take a lesson from the most successful sales organizations in the world, and create consultative sellers. What does it mean to be consultative? In a nutshell, it means asking meaningful, relevant questions, and listening more than you talk.
There’s a reason we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth.
DO Tweak. Just as it’s not possible to create a sales training program for your company overnight, it’s not going to be possible to absolutely nail it on the first time, either. We live in a world of hyper-fast change. Your business is changing at light speed as is that of your customers. This hyper change is inherently going to present itself in your company’s sales training.
DO Embrace Change. Realize that if you neglect to change, or if it has been a long time since your company has changed, you’re probably falling behind. Because the competition is changing so quickly, if you’re doing the same things that you were doing ten years ago, you can’t possibly expect the same results. Know that success comes to those who are most willing to embrace change.
These are some of the many lessons I’ve learned over the past 20 years I’ve been selling professionally. We will be releasing our complete “Sales Optimizer System” which will be tremendously valuable for anybody tasked with creating training programs for sales people.
If you’d like a free copy of the system to preview before its official release, or if you’d like help coming up with your company’s sales training program, contact us here and let us know what’s on your mind.
Other things you may be interested in:
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Business consultant prices and how much you should be willing to pay
Using growth consultants to devise plans to grow
An overview of corporate growth strategies
Go back to the Business Growth Consultant homepage
Beyond Marketing and Sales Seminars
There are hundreds of free and paid marketing and sales seminars available online and offline. Most are not particularly valuable. So, how do you choose?
Welcome to the World of Marketing Seminars
“Buzz word, buzz word, buzz word!! Trendy, Trendy, trendy!! Learn it here and make lots of money!” Welcome to global marketing and sales pollution.
Common sense, business basics and hard work trump trendy marketing buzz words every time. Much of what’s presented as state-of-the-art marketing is either worthless drivel or plagiarism of concepts that have been around for years. If it looks too good to be true…Well, you know. More »
Get More From Individual Sales Coaching
As a career business growth consultant, I’ve provided individual sales coaching to more than 300 small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) around the U.S. It may not be a surprise to you that the vast majority of salespeople I’ve met do not excel at sales, don’t know what to do to improve, and yet do not seek individual sales coaching.
That’s a mistake. More »
