Ten Top Sales Tips for Sales Success

The following tips are tried and true … proven to be effective for companies across a wide diversity of industries and in many different geographic areas. Often, the key to success is being flexible and open-minded about trying something new. If you already have these tips in your arsenal of tricks, then consider this a refresher, akin to spring training in which the baseball pros reinforce and perfect already existing skills. Here goes:

1. Don’t do the bulk of your business prospecting during prime business hours. Often the call that is placed at 8AM or 6PM will be received by a decision-maker that has more time to talk. And don’t under-estimate the value of leaving voice mail messages at night. These will be the very first messages that your prospect will hear in the morning, thereby increasing the odds of them placing a returned call.
2. If you want to present products and services that are of value to the prospect and that meet their needs, you have to ASK questions. Ask the right questions and the prospect will tell you what they want and how they need to be sold.
3. Too many sales reps launch into a conversation by discussing the features of their products and services. Features never sold anyone. The only thing that a prospect cares about is what these features will do for them. In other words, speak in terms of benefits and your prospect will be more pre-disposed to listening to your presentation.
4. There’s no magic bullet. Prospecting takes time and if your sales pipeline isn’t always filled with prospects in various stages of being worked, then you are in for a future sales slump.
5. Don’t underestimate the power of faxes. In these days of email, faxes have taken a back seat. Because of that, faxes get noticed. Carefully position faxes as part of your prospecting efforts.
6. Follow-up and follow-through are keys to prospecting success. Just like gardening, if you don’t water the seeds, the garden will languish. And so it is with prospecting… if you don’t remain in contact, you will never break through.
7. Give a prospect something for nothing. An article that would be of interest and value, information that you received online etc. and transferred to the prospect with a note “just thought you might be interested in this” indicates that you are thinking of them and wish to be a resource.
8. Periodically tape-record a random sampling of your cold calls. Listen to the tape and assess your tone and voice. How did you sound? Would you want to speak with a person who sounds like you? What about your words? Were they clear and benefits oriented. Taping gives you the opportunity to self-correct your presentation.
9. Pace yourself. Prospecting is a very time-consuming and arduous task. Allocate a specific amount of time each day (week?) and keep to the schedule. It is always easy to put something ahead of the prospecting activity but make an appointment with yourself and don’t break it.
10. Last but definitely not least, maintain a good sense of humor. Make the prospect smile and you’re halfway there!

via Ten Top Sales Tips for Sales Success
by Adrian Miller

Writing a Thesis? This Book Might Help!

Are you writing your thesis?  I am and have found this book to be very helpful.  It’s available in Finnish and English.  The English translations were done by Marietta Gates.  You might know her as she used to be head of IB.  This book is very informative about types of research and validity of results and also gives hints on a sensible layout to help you organize your thoughts.  If you don’t know where to start and the thesis feels like an impossible task this book just might get you over that first hurdle.  The official description is below as well as a link to where it can be purchased.

Rafting Through the Thesis Process
Step by Step Guide to Thesis Process.

Publications of JAMK University of Applied Sciences 114/2011
Author(s): Jorma Kananen

Publication info

This book is a practical step-by-step guide for thesis writers. It explains research concepts and techniques in simple layman’s terms and helps you raft through the thesis process without hitting the worst rocks.

The book covers both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Special emphasis is on the criteria of scientific research, reliability and validity, as well as presentation of quantitative material.

The thesis is often seen as an insurmountable challenge. Thesis research is, however, no rocket science – except for rocket scientists. Scientific work proceeds according to certain rules, just like any other work that aims at a good end result. This book will help you reach that result.

Jorma Kananen is Principal Lecturer in Business Research and Development at JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland, and has a long career as a market researcher and teacher of scientific research.

Publication series: Publications of JAMK University of Applied Sciences
ISSN: 1456-2332
ISBN 978-951-830-184-7
Published: 2011
Pages: 158
Price: 30 €

More information and purchasing possibilities from: http://www.jamk.fi/kirjasto/julkaisut/julkaisuja/2/0/114_2011_rafting_through_the_thesis_process

Don’t Panic. It’s Just a New Theme

I’m playing around with new blog theme’s that might make the overall blog function more smoothly.  The content is still the same the look is just sexier .  Feel free to comment on the look and feel!

5 Must Read Google+ Infographics

Are you considering using Google+ or recently started using it?  I have and I have to say that I’m a big confused about it and I’m really not sure of the benefits just yet.  Let’s say I’m using it tentatively and will make my conclusions after testing.  For me, it’s not as intuitive as I’d like it to be.

I tripped upon an article by Sunil Jain about Google+ that contains some good info on Google+ compared to Facebook and ways to manage your privacy.  Have a look and decide for yourself.

http://tech18.com/google-infographics.html

What Social Media Category Do You Belong To?

Building a social network for your customers or clients? According to Forrester Research there are 6 different kinds of social media users.  Click the link below.  It will open in a new window.  Choose the area and age of your desired demographics and see what kind of audience you’re playing to.

http://www.forrester.com/groundswell/b2c_profile_tool/b2c

1. Creators – Socially active people who create blogs, videos, wikis, forums, and so on.
2. Critics – Comment on blogs, writing reviews about products or services, and responding to threads in forums.
3. Collectors – Collectors love to find and share things on the Internet.  They collect bookmarks and submit them to social news sites.  These guys are usually dedicated to bookmarking sites such as Delicious, or submitting stories to Digg or Stumbleupon.
4. Joiners – Interact in places like facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn or forums.  Joiners want to feel like they belong to something
5. Spectators – Love to sit back and watch.  They are avid blog readers and most likely have a feed reader. They also read reviews and come to a conclusion based on those reviews.  A spectator is someone you will always have in your audience in some form.
6. Inactives – These folks are on the net but are not yet participating in social media.

If social media interests you and you want to build a marketing plan using social media you might want to check out the following book.  “Social Media Marketing – Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media” by Liana “Li” Evans.