Posts Tagged ‘Closing’
In April of 2008, Steve Keating, Manager of Selling Skills at the Toro Company, heard me speak about using social media to build one’s sales. Already involved with Twitter, Steve had at the time a few hundred followers. After hearing the presentation, he decided to make it a key strategy in building both his personal brand and enhancing the value proposition of Toro.
Today, Steve enjoys a following of over 65,000 people! His twitter ID is @LeadToday. In building his list of followers, Steve employed 3 simple tactics:
1. Provide valuable ideas on how to be an effective leader
2. Re-tweet valuable ideas from others thereby expanding his network and leveraging other people’s wise thoughts
3. Show appreciation by thanking those who have re-tweeted his ideas and thoughts
This was a process that Steve has nurtured on a consistent and disciplined basis.
So how did Steve and Toro benefit from getting 65,000 followers? For one, it strengthened the relationships with dealers and distributors by providing ideas on how to grow their businesses. This resulted in Toro enhancing its overall value proposition and keeping its competitors at bay.
In addition, the brand of Toro was also enhanced. Imagine having 65,000 people interested in leadership reading Steve’s daily tweets on a consistent basis. How much would it cost Toro to get this kind of exposure on a daily basis using other media outlets? With Twitter the total cost can be rounded to the grand sum total of zero dollars. Add to this the flexibility of customizing messages to events happening real time. This by itself makes Toro and Steve more relevant to the market place.
Finally, the connections Steve has made around the world with other leadership experts exposes him to additional ideas and concepts he can easily import into his organization thereby making him more valuable to Toro’s success and enhancing his own personal brand.
This is the power of Twitter. Notice how Steve does not sell his products in his tweets. He simply builds value which in turn creates buzz that generates business.
Congratulations Steve. And thank you for recommending Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way to your list.
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Public Sales Seminar, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, teamwork, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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Retailers like Sam’s Club and CVS have figured out that huge profits come from customization. Using discounts to track results, Sam’s Club achieved a 1-2 percent acceptance of generic discounted offers.
Realizing it had a trove of information regarding buying habits and the purchasing history of each customer, it developed a new program called eValues. It gives each buyer discounts on the items they normally purchase. This customization has led to an acceptance rate of discounts between 20-30%, a dramatic increase from the generic discounts’ acceptance rate.
Customers want and expect vendors to know their wants and needs. In sales, this means asking the right questions, doing the right research and listening.
If you conduct sales using the old school method of talking too much about the features you have to offer, you are going to lose the deal. Find out the outcomes they are after and then only talk about the features they are interested in. Customize the solution so they will accept your offer. This strategy is crucial to being competitive and closing more business in less time.
To learn more about this subject, please join me on Monday, October 3rd at 2pm ET for a free webinar where we will show you how to engage alliances as well as other strategies to immediately grow your sales. Click here to reserve your free seat now!
Check Out the November Sales Success Summit ’11 in Orlando Florida, an event destined to dramatically increase your sales success. Spend two days with me and I will personally customize ideas that have generated millions of dollars for my clients to your selling environment. This is a small group. Two days of personalized attention. Reserve your seat today by clicking here!
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Increase Profits, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Retail Sales, Retail Success, Sales, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, Sales Training Program, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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In the gym of my daughter’s high school (Northern Valley Old Tappan-NVOT), there is a banner that reads-
Welcome to NVOT-Where sportsmanship is an expectation. So please let the players play. Let the coaches coach. Let the officials officiate. Let the spectators be positive.
This sign caught my eye because all too often I see people in leadership roles who don’t understand what they are supposed to be doing. For example, sales mgrs often travel with sales reps and usually take over the call under the guise of trying to get the deal. I know we must close the business. However, the true role of the sales manager is not only to come in and save the day, but to also coach his people on how to effectively sell. That means letting the salesperson do the talking so you can see where the gaps are. Then, once the call is over, the mgr should review the call, identify the gaps and provide guidance. Then go on to the next call and do the same process.
This is critical because if the sales manager always closes the deal, then the salesperson never really gets trained on how to do it and will not be able to do it when the sales manager is not there.
Bottom line. Are people in your organization really doing the things they are supposed to be doing. If not, the growth of the business is at stake. Like the sign says- Let the players play, let the coaches coach, etc.
If you want to give your salespeople a great education on how to double, triple or quadruple their sales, check out Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way and our Two Day Sales Boot Camp Happening in Two Weeks!
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Increase Profits, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, Negotiations, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, sales leader, sales motivation, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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You know the old saying “if you have nothing nice to say about somebody then say nothing at all”! Well, here’s a new saying: “If you don’t have your facts in order, don’t bother marketing to your audience”! Just like saying something bad can turn people off, so can saying something stupid and untrue in your marketing pieces. It will kill your brand!
Last night I got a letter addressed to me. First problem is it was addressed to my full name which is Ronald. I never use it in business, social or in any settings. On the cover of my book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way it says Ron Karr. Right there, they lost me because this letter smelled of being a rotten form letter where the sender knew nothing about me.
But Wait! It gets better. The sender of this letter is the sales rep who sold me my Audi Q7 in 2007. There is a huge punch line here so you’ll want to keep reading. I promise you are going to like this!
In his letter, the sales rep starts with “Happy Anniversary! It’s been three years and no doubt many long and winding roads since you drove away from our dealership in your AUDI Q7. We sincerely hope you are enjoying every stretch of asphalt, every twist and turn in this remarkable vehicle.” The letter goes on to ask for referrals and to let him know of if he can be of service to me.
The letter was dated May 3rd!
Here’s the punch line! I turned in my AUDI Q7 on April 16th to this very same sales rep. He took the car in and sent the papers to the leasing company. He knows I bought a competitor’s car. And yet on May 3rd he sends me a letter hoping I am still enjoying the AUDI experience!
Maybe this is a clue on why I left AUDI to begin with. Their customer service experience in the service dept did not justify the value of high prices. Obviously the sales experience was equally pathetic.
What we have here is someone who learned a marketing tactic of sending letters with the customer’s name on it to appear they are customized to the client. This is a useless tactic if you know nothing about your customer to begin with. Especially your existing customers! With this vain attempt in showing he cared about me he has literally destroyed any value I had left for the AUDI Brand and for his own personal brand.
Many of you reading this probably would never do such a stupid and senseless act. But are you doing minor things that in the end are going against the brand image you are trying to build and market?
Yesterday I had lunch with a client at a restaurant that is doing great but in a spot the last 4 owners failed miserably. I wondered why this guy was so successful. My client responded that any restaurant is only as good as the last meal served. In other words, each and every interaction has to be supportive of the brand you are building. If not, your customers will not come back again.
Now, please forgive me for a brief commercial. But we are ecstatic about announcing our all new Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way Sales Boot Camp in June. It will provide you with the tactics and strategies on how you can Double, Triple and Quadruple both your Top Line Revenues and Bottom Line Profits! Click here for more info! This program will ensure your customers keep coming back to you and buying more stuff! That is my promise and guarantee to you!
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, employees, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, Negotiations, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales training, sell effectively, Success
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Instead of concentrating on being more successful, work on increasing the velocity in your efforts on a daily basis. What is velocity? It is the ability to get more done in less time. It is about gaining speed, power and momentum in your actions to achieve your goals in less time than originally anticipated.
Granted this is what we all want. But how many times do we let the small things in life mess with our velocity. Things like false assumptions. Too often we take people’s words and create our own stories as to what we think they are saying. Then our actions are based on these stories we have created and often miss the mark. It happens in sales and leadership all the time. And we wonder why we don’t get the sales or move the organization forward in a timely manner. There goes your velocity!
How about when you don’t think things through clearly and you operate out of a task mentality vs. purpose mentality. Yes, you may be busy. But are you doing the necessary work that needs to be done so you can achieve your goals? If you are letting your tasks drive you vs. your purpose, there goes your velocity!
How about when we try to influence others based on what we need vs. what they want and need? Are your recommendations truly being heard and acted upon? Or are they being received as some pushy sales pitch or order that is less likely to be accepted? There are two types of actions in this world: The limited action necessary to keep one happy and pretend you are doing your job, and the action of being all-in; where you are doing whatever it takes to get the job done. If you want people to accept your ideas, support you and be all-in, make sure you’re positioning them in the context of how they are going to benefit. Not because you need it. If you don’t change your context, there goes your velocity!
Velocity is the key to success in sales, leadership, negotiations, customer service and just about anything else in life. Ask yourself, what can I do today in my conversations and actions that will add velocity to my life and help me achieve my goals quickly? Here’s the funny thing. Your answer, if you think this through clearly, has more to do with how you can help others succeed vs. your own success. This is what generates true velocity!
Velocity is the key theme woven throughout the entire book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way!
Tags: Business Development, CBS, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, employees, Increase Profits, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, Motivational Speaker, Retail Sales, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, Sales, sales coaching, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales strategies, sales trainer, sales training, sell effectively, Success, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, value added sales
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Why did Steve Teel of Teel’s Baseball (academy softball and baseball) bring me in to speak with their coaches on sales skills? The answer is simple. Coaches need to know how to communicate to all of the buying influences if they are going to grow their business.
Steve Teel is a smart business owner. He knows there are several buyers in any sale. In his market, you have the kid taking the lessons. Let’s call him or her the end user. You also have the parents who sign the checks. They usually have a different set of needs and desires than the kids do. And then you have the area coaches who can act as a great source of referrals.
Steve realized that if his coaches do not spend time with the parents asking about their expectations, they will feel neglected and the possibility will exist that the coaches will fall short in certain areas. Steve understands that his coaches need the same set of skills a professional sales person uses. Afterall, any coach at any level has to sell their ideas to their students or clients. Therefore, you need to know how to ask the right questions, how to present the ideas so they are acted on and how to listen to your customers.
After spending an hour with his coaches, the results were dramatic. Some coaches left with a renewed sense of purpose regarding the tremendous impacts they have on the lives of their young clients. All of the coaches now have a greater appreciation of the role the parents play in the success of their lessons and are now making them an active part of the process.
Bottom line, referrals have increased as have revenues from satisfied clients.
By the way, Teel’s Baseball was very successful before they brought me in. Like all successful companies, they realized there were things they needed to pay attention to if they were going to stay at the top.
What things do your sales people need to pay attention to in order to get to the top or stay at the top? What increases are you looking for in your sales career and life? If you are looking to increase your sales and earnings, then get your copy of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way today! This is the book I used for the presentation to Teel’s.
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, Customer Loyalty, customers, employees, Leadership, leadership speaker, leadersship expert, leadrship, marketing, Motivational Speaker, Negotiation, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Retail Sales, Retail Success, ronkarr.com Larry O'Donnell, sales leader, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales process, sales speaker, sales trainer, sales training, sell effectively, Success, SuperBowl, teamwork, Telemarketing, value added sales, Waste Management
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Did you ever call someone with today’s technology and simply hang up if they did not answer?
If so, consider whether or not it is a wise move on your part – especially in a business setting. Here’s why!
Regardless if you left a message or not, with Caller ID, they know you’ve called!
If calling your spouse, friend, relative or someone you know very well, the act of hanging up can merely act as a silent code between the two of you that says “Hey, it’s me. Call me back”.
If calling a prospect, customer or someone you don’t know well at all, hanging up is simply too risky. For one thing, they have not established that silent code with you. Secondly, people hang up thinking “if I don’t leave a message, they will never know I called.” Hello! Is anyone home in your mind? Of course they know you called!
In fact, because the relationship is not all that strong, you have now given that person carte blanche to come up with their own reason as to why you did not leave a message and create their own message. Messages that often lead to false assumptions, emotions and actions based on those false assumptions.
People find it irritating me when others call and don’t leave a message. If you didn’t feel your call was worth a message, why would they want to waste any effort in calling you back? Or, ask yourself this question. How many business contacts are calling you back after you simply hung up without leaving a message?
If you are going to call a business contact, you need to act as if you really wanted to speak to that person! In other words, be prepared to talk.
Sometimes people don’t leave messages simply because they feel they have already called too many times and don’t want to bother the other person. If you don’t want to bother the other person, then don’t call them. Forcing them to think who belongs to your telephone number and making them create the message you were going to leave is more of a bother than simply leaving a boring message.
If you think you have called too many times and can’t understand why you didn’t get a return call, then maybe you need to re-evaluate the boring messages you are leaving. Change your message if it’s not working. Your market is sending you a message. It’s time you finally heard it.
Here’s the problem with most voice mail messages and why they don’t generate call backs. They are self focused vs. customer focused. Every time you hear a message, you make the mental decision as to whether or not that caller deserves more of an investment of your time. Leaving messages that record your name, company name and the request to call you back simply does not motivate many people to call you, especially if you are someone they don’t know. Leaving messages with the above and talking about a product or service will not get a call back either.
So how do you get call backs? Simply change your message from being self focused to being customer focused by putting an outcome in the message. A result the person will get from calling you back that will benefit them.
A client of mine was selling x-ray technology that converted paper x-rays into digital form. Getting frustrated that the radiologists were not calling her back, she changed to message to: Please call me if you want to put an end to the irate calls you are getting from the Docs because of lost films. She claims to have gotten 70% of her calls returned. Would you appreciate 70% of your voice mails being returned?
Bottom line, if you want your voice mail messages returned, then give the receiver a good enough reason to do so.
Want to learn more on how to get your calls returned and more importantly how to get people to buy off on your ideas? Then make the investment and get the book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way. If you found gold in this short blog, imagine the wealth you will create from reading the whole book. Scott McKain, Author of Collapse of Distinction, calls Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way the most concise and powerful sales book he has ever read.
Watch this interview on Fox News in Providence on How To Sell Your Big Idea
Tags: Business Development, Closing, Closing sales, cold calling, cold calling techniques, leadership speaker, leadrship, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, negotiation speaker, Negotiations, Sales, sales leadership, sales motivation, sales speaker, sales trainer, sales training, Telemarketing, Telemarketing sales, voice mail
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Do you agree this is the biggest mistake salespeople make? Let us know your thoughts. 
Tell us the biggest mistake you see salespeople making. Let’s start a great conversation!
Ron Karr is the author of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way. Find out more about his Engaging Presentations, In-demand Consulting, Rewarding Resources — Real Business Transformation Results
Tags: Closing, Customer Loyalty, Leadership, Negotiation, Sales, sales strategies
Posted in Video Lead/Sell Tips |
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