Tag Archives: Prospecting

You May Be An Order Taker If…

If you’re having trouble hitting your numbers, you may be an order-taker!

What do I mean by Order-Taker?

An order-taker is a salesperson who is  so knee-deep in the accounts they are working  and the inbound requests they are responding to that they stop prospecting.

Don’t get me wrong. This can be a great cushy life – but, if you’re not consistently taking some actions to fill your pipeline with new, fresh opportunities (hunting), then I promise that your savvy sales chops are getting rusty – and you are running the risk of a pipeline that dries up!

Watch the Order-Episode of The SellOut Show! 

It gets worse! Order takers often become so reactive to the urgency that is right in front of them that they don’t even grow and service their existing accounts to their maximum value.

It’s a trap!

Continue reading You May Be An Order Taker If…

The Visual Economy of Sales – Don’t Get Left Behind

“A picture paints a thousand words” We all know it to be true. But, as we move into the Visual Economy of Sales, understanding this truth is vital for the salesperson to compete and earn business in the future.

Marketers have known this for years. Look at TV, billboards, posters, magazine ads, website banners. All visual. All ways to capture your attention to help you buy.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Cavemen knew it. The best way to tell a story is to put pictures on the wall.

Now, more than ever before, salespeople need to be learning, exploring, experimenting, and educating themselves on how to incorporate visual cues into their sales messages. Or, they will get left behind.

What is the Visual Economy of Sales?

The Visual Economy of Sales is a simple concept.

The sales pros who learn how to use visual economy will earn more of their prospects’ mindshare as well as their wallet share – which means more closed deals. Which means more money in their own bank account.

“Economy” has a delightful two-sided meaning that solidly backs up the idea.

First, “economy” can refer to using time and space well. If you tell your sales story in a picture, it means your buyer takes less time to consume the information, or –  economy of time. And, if 1 picture = 1,000 words (almost the length of this article), you have achieved economy of space, too.

Second, “economy” also refers to transactions in a marketplace. More transactions in your market leads to more dollars in your pocket.

Get the picture? (hee hee, See what I did there?)

How do I know this is true?

Look for yourself. Do your prospects respond to your emails more or less often?  “Less”, right?

(If your answer is “more”, don’t be lulled to sleep by your current success. The Visual Economy will soon apply to you, too.)

The brain science

OK. I did that to get your attention. I’m not a brain scientist, but everything I read says that:

  1. My prospect gets a rush of dopamine every time he deletes my email or voicemail
  2. My prospect gets a rush of good feelings when he fills in the blanks on a puzzle, sees an image that engages him, or is tickled pink by a positive image.

So, why are you spending your precious time writing brilliant email messages and leaving fabulous voice mails? Just to give your prospects the joy of deleting?

What a waste of your genius!

Why not find ways to communicate your message that is visually engaging, distracting, and irresistible?

The proof is all around us

Marketers tell us that people engage more frequently with infographics and checklists today than they do with white papers and eBooks.

Snapchat’s got the 25 – 35-year-olds rapt.

Instagram and Pinterest are still fast growing social channels.

YouTube is the most popular search engine.

People who use emojis when they text are more likely to have happy relationships.

It goes on and on.

What to do about it?

I don’t know!

But, we’re about to find out. It’s time to start researching and experimenting. Here are some thoughts:

  • What happens if you include a GIF of your product doing its thing in your next email message?
  • How about using a video service that turns your email into a personal 10 second video?
  • Can you express all the data you want to share with your clients in an infographic? (It costs about $5 to get one made from Fiverr or UpWork).
  • Can you share a bunch of logos of your current customers instead of a laundry list?
  • Can you create a checklist of the pain points your typical customer encounters and send that instead?
  • Send it on Facebook, send it on LinkedIn, send it on text, send it on Snapchat! (Soon, the people who control big budgets will be the same ones who are accustomed to engaging on these platforms).

Join the experiment!

Let’s discover how to get our prospects’ attention visually! Let’s make it personal, engaging, irresistible. Let’s get NOTICED!

I would love to hear the sales wins you are experiencing as you use visuals to outpace your competition. And, I’ll share mine, too.

And, don’t EVER forget to…

Love ‘em ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

(By the way, the irony is not lost on me. This blog post is in writing and not pictures. Give me a break! We’re just getting started!)

#TBT – WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!

As we conclude the week of “Gatekeeper Relations/Ethics/Methods”, Thanks to Tom Tenseth @smgamesafari https://twitter.com/smgamesafari/status/780440816602845184 – I want to re-publish one of my very favorite articles – this is probably the third time I have re-published! I like it that much!

This one is from June of 2013. Enjoy!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

I was giving a cold-calling training yesterday and my participant told me that her boss wants her to come up with two scripts….one for talking to a GATEKEEPER and the other for talking to the DECISION MAKER.

Oh, those words he is using! Gatekeeper? Decision Maker? Seriously?

Let’s talk about Star Wars for a second.

Remember those Storm Troopers – dressed from head to toe in armor and tinted face masks? (If you don’t – be sure to Google the image, you’ll see what I mean).

Know why they dressed them this way? What I’ve HEARD is so that the audience doesn’t HUMANIZE them. So, it was OK to kill them. No one would feel a shred of conscience about rooting for the Rebellion to take them all out! Dead!

 Now look.

What does this have to do with my revulsion to the words GATEKEEPER and DECISION MAKER? 

Yup! It takes the HUMAN out of the mix. So, NOW, when you are talking with one of these people, you sound like a GREAT BIG DORK, because the foul language you are using automatically puts you at cross purposes with the HUMAN on the other end of the phone.

Continue reading #TBT – WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!

My Three Favorite Articles (So Far) About Sales Gatekeepers

Dear Tom Tenseth (@smgamesafari)

This week’s for you!

A couple of weeks ago – you asked for more information in dealing with Gatekeepers – you said it is your biggest challenge and struggle.

While I have a lot of opinions about working with gatekeepers – which I will share in Wednesday and Thursday’s blog articles, I thought I’d do a bit of research before I weighed in.

DISCLAIMER: If you’re familiar with my stuff, you know I hate the word “gatekeeper”! Why put yourself in an adversarial position from the get-go? That said, I promised a week of articles related to the topic, so here we go!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

In my research, I found some articles I really liked:

  1. Interview with a Gatekeeper

This interview with “Alice the Gatekeeper” is quite informative. She is brutally honest about what she does and doesn’t like about dealing with salespeople on the phone. My favorite observations include:

“I like helping people, I really do.”  and “…I am a warm soul-filled person. Let’s have a real conversation and then be done.”

Want to get into the “gatekeepers” head? Read this one.

http://www.cobizmag.com/Articles/An-interview-with-Alice-the-gatekeeper/

Continue reading My Three Favorite Articles (So Far) About Sales Gatekeepers

Four Cold Calls Called Me Back!

How fun is that?

Maybe you’re way better than I am, but I find that it’s pretty tricky to get people to call you back from leaving a cold voice mail. Right?

telephone-586268

Now! That does NOT mean that voice messages aren’t important. They are!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Voice messages are an opportunity to share your style. Your voice. Make a connection. Demonstrate who you are and that you care.

As Anthony Iannarino says, calling on a person and hanging up if they don’t answer is a bit like ringing someone’s doorbell and running away. Why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to give them a flavor of who you are – so that they remember you when you email them or get them on the phone?

At any rate, I was curious about this success.  What was new? What worked so well?

Continue reading Four Cold Calls Called Me Back!

#TBT – THIS ARTICLE COST ME A JOB OFFER

phone-1209230About a year ago, I was testing the waters. Should I go work for another company as a rock start salesperson, or should I heed the call to go full-time as The Irreverent Sales Girl?

In some ways, this article helped me with that decision. I was deep into an interviewing process and about one minute away from a job offer, when the Global VP of Sales called me and asked if I really believed what I had written in this article.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

By all means! In fact, I’m pretty sure this exact kind of outlook has made me a top producer for nearly 20 years of selling.

“Well, it won’t work here. We don’t allow cold-calling. Only social selling – you can set an appointment and talk on the phone with a prospect, but you can’t pick up the phone cold and reach out to them.

WOW! Would I love to work for his competition! While I’m walking in the door with an appointment I’ve set with the CRO, ready to do business with me, his guys are going to be knocking themselves out trying to get someone to connect with them on social media!

Needless to say, a year later and beyond happy in my business. And, I owe much of the success I’ve had this year to this article.

Love it UP!

Continue reading #TBT – THIS ARTICLE COST ME A JOB OFFER

Your Jump-Start 90-day Prospecting Plan

success-1237378Since the whole week has been dedicated to one of my very favorite subjects, Prospecting, I thought you might enjoy a little formula that I’ve used with people to get their business jump-started again and get them back into the practice of prospecting regularly.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Feel free to use it or modify it to meet your own needs and your own style. Then, make sure to tell me how it went!

If your business has been stagnant, and you feel like that phone is too hard to pick up, here is my recommended 90 Day Prospecting Plan to get you moving again!

The first part of the 90-Day Plan is really quite fun and SURPRISINGLY rewarding!

Step #1: Ask the Magical Question

A) Find 15 people each month in your professional sphere to reach out to out of the blue. Ask them to set aside 20 minutes with you to catch up.

On this call, find out what they are up to. What’s new? What are they working on?

They are likely to ask you the same kind of questions. Be ready to share some recent client victories and let them know that you are now focusing on growing your business and looking for customers who are looking to accomplish exactly what your other customers are accomplishing. Don’t ask for referrals. Just let them know.

THEN, ask the Magical Question:

Continue reading Your Jump-Start 90-day Prospecting Plan

Has this ever happened to you? The Bizarre Nature of Sales

customer-magnet-1019871You’re a smart person and I seem to see this phenomenon all over the place, but I haven’t yet been able to explain it. Got any ideas?

So, I’ve been working with a really great guy the last few weeks. His name is Scott Rabinowitz and he runs an absolutely phenomenal business.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

He is the consummate pro and a huge value to his customers.

Business is good, but he’s interested in growing it 10x the size it is now.

So, he got in touch with me to see if I could help. He knew he should be prospecting more, but wanted some ideas about professional approaches to reaching out for new customers.

Together, we brainstormed (actually, don’t tell him, but he did most of the hard work) and came up with an outreach approach that he could really get behind.

After one week of trying his new approach, I phoned him up to see how it was going.

He said, “Well, it was going fine, but then I got behind on my prospecting activities because the most BIZARRE thing started to happen.”

“Oh,” said I. “Do tell.”

Continue reading Has this ever happened to you? The Bizarre Nature of Sales

Five Ways We Fool Ourselves Into Failure

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Didja ever notice how some people are reliable to produce results while others simply can’t seem to get what they want?

I see it all the time in sales. MY sales.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

I have DEVOTED myself to studying and learning to be reliable to produce results. And, it’s not by lowering the bar. It is by being on a MISSION to find the ways that I have fooled myself into failure. Hopefully, you can just learn these from me and you don’t have to make all these mistakes yourself.

#1 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:

Thinking that email is the same as having a conversation or making a real request.

Email is an excellent vehicle for transmitting data, getting information, and exchanging ideas. Sometimes you can get people to agree to act through email, especially if it is a personal email.

But, if you think that you are going to fill your seminar, or get a babysitter for your children, or set a meeting with a prospect simply by sending out a blanket email, you are fooling yourself.

When the stakes are high, you’ve got to make SURE that you reach the other person, get their buy-in, and that they are willing and able to act on your request.

Many salespeople think that because they sent out 500 emails that they have accomplished something.

Not until someone responds to you with the favorable outcome you were hoping for have you achieved anything. Counting that email as a true sales activity is fooling yourself into failure.

 #2 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:

Continue reading Five Ways We Fool Ourselves Into Failure

Didja ever think about THIS referral source?

I was at a CEB conference in June geared toward Small Medium Businesses and I heard a most provocative idea. Since data is CEB’s “THING”, I found it especially compelling!

They talked about how important it is to ask for referrals when you are growing your business. Nothing new here.

They talked about how much more effective we are when we’re selling to someone who was referred to us – rather than us reaching out to them cold – Yep!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

They talked about how to go about the business of asking your clients for referrals. Need help with this? Google is your friend. “How to ask a customer for a referral”.

But, then they said something that really got my attention!

They showed that your absolute best referrals come from sources you might not be thinking about. In fact, these people are the best influencers in your marketplace:

  • Supplier Reps
  • Other Business Owners

Huh!

Continue reading Didja ever think about THIS referral source?