Memories: Are you Making Them With Clients?

Did you ever wonder why the phone does not ring? Do you ever panic when prospective individuals ask you what you do and your struggle with your delivery? There are reasons why many struggle with what to say to prospective clients:

They are uncertain what to say
They have not practiced the proper approach
They try to say something different each time
There is no consistency with the brand

There is a solution to this issue and it is called the MEME (sounds like team). So what is this incredible tool?

A meme is an idea, behavior, style or message else that enters into your community and creates additional community and interest. Different from the way it is spelled a MEME does not create anything about you, however it does create output based messages that illustrate the value and benefits clients get from doing business with you.

If you follow a template I will share with you, you can use it to generate eye opening and memorable methods for clients to become attracted to you.

A meme can be used for:
Introduction to verbal conversations
Developed into a value proposition for your website
Developed into a tagline for marketing collateral
Used to introduce products and services
Incorporated into presentations and articles/tip sheets

Because your MEME illustrates the value you will need to use it to help communicate your brand and create the allure you desire for your business. Yet the best part of this is once it is developed you can use it throughout your integrated marketing communications.

So what does a MEME sound like?

Here is a MEME from one of my clients. “Hi nice to meet you. I am Dr. Ron and I work with men and women aged 37 to 55 who suffer from the ill effects of stress. I provide a unique process that reduces stress and provides increased mobility and flexibility!” Naturally the next statement you will hear is, “My Gosh how do you do that?”

Now how does that sound versus the rote, “Hi I’m Ron, I’m A Doctor.” Or , “Hi I’m Ron, I’m in Insurance.” Or , “Hi I’m Ron. I’m and Electrician.” Not to say there is anything wrong with these professions but there is something wrong in the delivery. One they’re boring. Two you sound like everyone else. Three it is stereotyped so that people instantly dismiss you and four, it is inward focused and says nothing of what you provide to the client.

Here are 7 things you can to do help develop a MEME:

Focus on the clients you want to provide and most importantly your perfect client. Who is the demographic and what do they value and benefit from? What are the solutions that you provide congruent with those desires.
Write down a list of benefits that you provide clients. Think about how you help them. Review your testimonials to help you here. When you come up with the list prioritize it so that you develop the best one.
Think of the three to four issues your clients have to say before you helped them. What do you typically hear before you develop solutions.
When you work with clients what are you processes, methods, steps etc that can be used to explain how you help. For example do you have a 7 step strategy or a 4 step proprietary choke hold, you get the picture.
Now look at your notes and write out your statement using the following, Target Demographic + Issue + Solution. Develop a few drafts so that eventually it rolls of your tongue. And to assist you make it two to three short sentences.
Practice this on friends and family as well as some other clients to see what they have to say.
Once you have this developed then I want you to think about two things 1) what you will say after they say tell me more and 2) develop a call to action.

I like to teach by example, so let me my MEME and others I have created. Contact me for a FREE NO OBLIGATION MEME session and in 30 minutes we will create a message that drops most jaws.

Creating a compelling a MEME is a vital part of the Business Acceleration System. How is yours coming along?

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One of the Top 50 Sales Management Bloggers in the World as Ranked by Blog Rank and Sales Crunch

Sales Difficulty – Return to Fundamentals

During my high school and collegiate days I ran track. I recall the numerous times I attempted new goals and failed to reach them. Or there were times when competing that required some changes. In both instances I returned to fundamentals,

Similar issues happen to those selling, Sales professionals compete each day with some days going great and others not so much. Sometimes no matter how hard you attempt to meet new prospects or close new deals it is similar to running up a mountain on a hot day with a 30 pound sack.

Rather than continuing on the path with no results it is best to review some fundamentals to center your efforts and reclaim your confidence.

To assist you here are seven of 25 aspects:

Preparation – Never say hello without conducting complete research on your prospective buyer. Review annual reports, proxy statements, current news, and the company website so that you can engage in healthy conversations.
Questions – Many keynote speakers use notes to guide their presentations. Therefore prepare a series of provocative questions based on objectives, measurements and returns clients desire. Do not think on your feet when you can prepare questions that lead clients on a path.
Stop Prescribing – Clients desire value therefore your conversations must be value based. Stop sounding like other sales agents. Base discussions on results and outcomes. Stop telling information and listen to what they need.
Value – Engage clients with a value proposition. End the features and facts discussion. If you desire a template on a value proposition contact me.
Start Listening – A former mentor Norm Strauss had a wonderful ability to ask questions with a question. Sales representatives do not get information when they speak they do so when they ask questions. Be in control of every call by forming the discussion with purposeful questions.
Evaluate – Every athlete always reviews strengths and limitations of competition, why not selling professionals? Conduct a quick SWOT and make your next client call better.
Seek Council – Unfortunately when sales people reach out for aid they believe it is a sign of weakness; not true. Mentorship is a sign of power as individuals seek supremacy of their craft. Never be afraid to ask for help.

What fundamental practices do you use that aid you during difficult times? Place your best practices in the comment area below.

Marketing & Sales Alignment Best Practices

In How Sales Executives Can Improve Marketing and Sales Alignment in 2011, ExecSense examines easy-to-implement strategies and best practices used by leading sales executives to build alignment between their sales and marketing teams. Take the 60 minutes to view this webinar (on your computer, mobile phone, iPad, Kindle or printed out) and learn valuable tips and techniques to improve marketing and sales alignment in order to build a single, integrated revenue pipeline and generate and close more leads this year.

If you cannot call-in to attend the webinar and view the presentation at 4:30 EST, Friday, March 18th, ExecSense will email you the PowerPoint, audio and supplementary files by the next day for viewing at your convenience during your next commute, business trip, flight, lunch, or free hour in your schedule (you simply need to register before the webinar occurs). If you would like to ask an anonymous question or request a specific topic to be covered during the webinar, please email the moderator at lauraj@execsense.com after you have registered to attend and we guarantee your question/topic will be covered.

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Sales Management Blog Voted in the Top 50

SalesCrunch releaes its Top 50 Sales Blogs.

The list is generated according to the “Grade” in Blog Grader and is updated daily so the list is always accurate and up to date. Stevens Consulting is ranked number 17 of the top 50 sales blogs. Thanks go to Kevin Vecchione and Tom O’Leary for their infinite wisdom and to Samantha Hartley for her power of repositioning and branding.

Please return often to read our valuable content on sales manager training and development.

Overcoming Sales Hurdles

Through trial and error we understand that the more issues remain the same the more they must change. Research in a myriad of periodicals mentions numerous challenges for organizations especially in the selling process. New issues abound daily impacting how selling professionals meet buyer’s needs.

What we know are the following:

➢ Decision Makers are hard to find. There are so many responsibilities for people that trying to find the time for discussion is difficult. Additionally, since organizations tend to focus on lean, more people are making decisions rather than management. A recent Wall Street Journal Report states that personnel without authority to purchase a laptop can plan a regional meeting with a budget of $500,000!
➢ Competitive Neutrality. The proliferation of the Internet and information is challenging. Buyers comprehend more of your organization than your own sales force!
➢ Organizational labyrinthine. Globalization, rightsizing, mergers and multitudes of organizational transformation are as perplexing as discovering the DaVinci Code. Reporting lines and decision processes are difficult.
➢ Financial Planning. The one constant is decreasing divisional funds. Agreement is reached only to discover the unavailability of funds.
➢ The best defense is unclear. 15 years ago, training your sales force was mandatory. With tightening budgets and productivity issues, selling professionals are sent into battle without armaments.
➢ CRM. The sales tool offered to assist selling professionals is underutilized and mis-understood.
➢ No Teamwork. Sales require more collaboration with the marketing department.

With over 27 years of research and analysis with numerous organizations we constantly hear about sales excuses- no return calls to numerous voice mails. I have made return calls to interested parties only to never hear from them again. The world has become more complex and navigationally difficult.

Read any present newspaper or periodical and you will begin to acquire the phraseology of the “knowledge economy”. This is defined as an economy based on creating, evaluating, and trading knowledge. In a knowledge economy, labor costs become progressively less important as opposed to the amount of knowledge acquired by individuals and organizations to become more effective. Simply put, the more information one has the more knowledge one gains. Content is king! This is the key differentiator.

Selling professionals similar to your clients must be content experts. Clients desire trust and respect and they desire intellectual conversation. Drop the features and benefit discussion- these left when public seminars did. Your clients crave illustrious council. Selling professionals must be advisors, consultants and experts. This is vital to your business success.

There are some rules about sales:

1. There are simply four techniques of selling that are vital. One does not need numerous methods and training. Learn the four simple steps and you will sell more than you realize.
2. There is no basic selling rule or principle that has been discovered in the last hundred years.
3. One needs to take these principles and use them daily. Practicing these rules and making them a habit in your daily life will make you better.
4. Do not rush learning. Rome was not built in a day. You must learn daily and practice daily but without haste and impatience.
5. Evaluate yourself. Be critical and learn by what you are doing and not doing to become better. Be honest in your assessment.

The one issue of selling never expressed in training or research is that it is not event based or linear. Selling is a process, it takes time, it takes effort and it takes patience!

Original sales article published here.

What Holds you Back?

One of the worst things that hurt individuals is the inability to grow. We all have skeletons that haunt our past- if we let them. Previous issues, phobias and concerns can be like anchors on boat, they can continually drag you down until you reach the bottom; and they can sink you.

If you feel you are held back, it just might be past ghosts. The focus must be on the present and the future- not the past. You cannot alter the past; you can only impact your future.

I learned this imperative life lesson many years ago as a survivor of child abuse. After many years of physical and mental anguish I was forced to mature quickly while making many life-altering decisions. Now as a professional entrepreneur and more importantly a joyful father and husband I understand the power of focus and future. Life from time to has been volatile but if you remain focused and positive you can create the future you desire. Here is what I have learned along the journey:

1. It is imperative to have goals and to write them down. When the mind views something on paper there is an implicit contract that gets committed to memory. Additionally, focus on time frames so issues you desire remain in reach.
2. Dreams are those visuals that instigate and instill our desires. Never let anyone tell you dreams are folly. Those that do are stuck in their own hubris.
3. Guilt is negative thoughts derived and devoured by self-deprecation. The “pity pot” cements us. Positive thoughts instill better outcomes.
4. Franklin Roosevelt once stated, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” This is not a trite statement but very true. Fear similar to guilt stops you. Fear derails you. Fear stops growth. The best attitude against fear is risk. Higher risk means a greater opportunity for high returns.
5. Similar to fear, procrastination when manifested will derail future growth. Procrastination is the resultant of both fear and guilt. To stop procrastination, one must create motion. Motion creates energy and with it the more speed to get more accomplished.
6. Stop engaging with negative individuals, they only sink you. You are the summation of the individuals you associate with. If those around you do not love you unconditionally then you need to find new people. Altering your associations will bring significant changes in attitude and behavior.
7. Never lose hope and never lose faith. Life has some hurdles and it is how you operate through and around them not avoiding them. Hurdles are unavoidable but can be speed bumps with the right attitude.
8. No matter what God you believe in, never lose faith. God does not want anyone to fail and is always with us in the shadows walking right behind or beside us.

Drew Stevens is one of the world’s leading authorities on business development and sales. Drew is the author of the successful sales process book Split Second Selling. He is also the creator of the Sales Leadership Certificate one of only 14 programs in the United States offering an accredited degree in the profession of selling and has a top ranked podcast called Sales Fitness. To discover how Dr. Drew can assist your organization to increase their business development skills visit him at www.stevensconsultinggroup.com

Warm Up those Cold Calls

One of the most difficult responsibilities for any selling professional is lead generation. And one of the oldest methods of generating leads is through cold calling. With little preparation and a lot of angst, selling professionals are sent adrift to call countless individuals in pursuit of income.

Click here for more:

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/sales-selling/14422985-1.html

Overcoming Adversity

Has life been a struggle? Do you continue to either procrastinate or morph on self pity? Listen to Overcome Adversity the new Sales Fitness Podcast and accelerate your successes both on and off the field of play.

Click Here to Play Podcast

Cold Calling Secrets Revealed

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/sales-selling/14422985-1.html

Creating Sales Luck

I am oftentimes amazed at selling professionals that lament about how others are more lucky or fortunate than they. As John Gough once stated, “If you want to succeed, you must make your own opportunities to do so”. If selling professionals desire to make more money and subsequently close more business then consider the following:

Stop the procrastination, pick up the telephone, and call a client you have not spoken to in a while.
Frequently seek referrals from you clients. There is strength in numbers; the more clients called the more referrals. Alternatively you might ask for one referral per client.
Always seek opportunities; have business cards with you wherever you go and never fear announcing your value proposition to others.
Continually network; being a desk potato does not help to grow business.
Use slow times for self-development and enhanced learning. It is not your company’s responsibility to invest in your educational future.
Defy the law of attraction. Negative people bring on additional negativity. Network with those that strengthen you.
Read voraciously. Reviewing newspapers and other periodicals allow you to discover new methods to service clients.

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