Sex and the City Sales Lessons

The Sex and the City movie premieres nationwide today. Legions of female fans will likely throng to theaters to catch up with their TV BFFs. Kim Duke, The Sales Diva, shares some lessons we can all learn from this cultural phenomenon. These tips are best served with a Cosmopolitan - or, if you must, your morning cappuccino.

As Kim proudly proclaims, she was a die-hard fan from the very first season and spread the word about the show to everyone she knew, as did millions of other fans. The cultural phenomenon that is Sex and the City owes its success to its raving fans - and so should you!

Kim wants to know - Does your "Fan Club" ...

• help spread the word about your business for free?
• notice you're taking some chances and launching new products and services?
• supply you with ideas on how to grow your business?
• hear from you on a regular basis - via an e-zine, event, direct mail and the phone?
• buy everything (or almost everything) you put in front of them because they TRUST you so much?

"Creating a community of fans is the best thing you can do to grow your sales," says Duke. "It takes time, hard work and dedication to rise above the humdrum."

"Instead of putting all your time into cold calling strangers - how about speaking to the people who already love you? And then ask them to tell people about you - which they'll do anyway if they love what you do!"

Kim Duke is an unconventional, sassy and savvy sales expert who shows women small biz owners and entrepreneurs sizzling sales tips on how to increase sales in a fun, easy, stress-free way! Learn more and sign up for her free e-zine at www.salesdivas.com

Six Sure Tips for Selling in a Shaky Economy

Recession or no recession, the economy's not the best it's ever been. Instead of looking at the situation with terror, sales trainer and cold calling expert Wendy Weiss suggests you look at the new opportunities today's economy gives you - and start selling! Here are her tips for selling in a shaky economy:

1. Turn off your television and radio. Stop reading the paper. Above all, stop listening to the doom and gloom about the economy. The economy is what the economy is. If you spend all of your time listening to bad news, it gets more and more difficult to sell. Instead, take action. Call a prospect. Call a current customer and ask for more business. Call a current customer and ask for a referral. Call someone and sell something.

2. Stop thinking, "Recession" start thinking, "Opportunity." There is always opportunity when the market is shifting. Find it. Economic downturns can also be times when fortunes are made, so keep looking. This mind set will give you the power and energy to keep selling.

3. During difficult times vendor loyalty can be shaky. This is a great time to go after accounts that have previously been locked up and held tight by your competition. If you know your competition, you know their flaws. Where might they be susceptible? Go after those accounts.

4. Qualify your prospects. Far too many sales representatives spend far too much time chasing after prospects that will never buy. Don't be shy. Ask the hard questions that determine whether or not you're speaking with real prospects. Qualify your prospects out. Then, if you are not speaking with a real prospect, move on.

5. Focus on value. Make sure that your prospects understand the value that you represent. How will your product/service help your prospect? How will it help your prospect achieve their goals? How will it impact their bottom line? Your prospects will not figure it out for themselves. It's your job to help them understand. Ultimately, your customers want to know WIIFM, "What's in it for me?" Make sure that you help them understand.

6. Improve your sales skills. Selling is a communication skill. Skill combined with action results in sales.

Wendy Weiss, The Queen of Cold Calling, is an author, speaker, sales trainer, and sales coach. She is recognized as one of the leading authorities on lead generation, cold calling and new business development and she helps clients speed up their sales cycle, reach more prospects directly and generate more sales revenue. Learn more at www.wendyweiss.com

"I only need 15 minutes..."

"I hear it from sales reps all the time," says sales trainer Al Uszynski. "When asking for an appointment, they state how long the appointment will take. And often times, they cite insanely short times. 'I'd like to meet with you to discuss your corporate computer network firewall...it will only take 15 minutes.' Are you kidding me? How can you have a meaningful discussion about something so involved in 15 minutes?"

"If you sense the prospect is short on time," suggests Uszynski, "simply propose a 'short meeting' and assure them that you'll be respectful of their time. This way, you don't create impossible expectations and you have flexibility to extend the sales call when it's going well - without making it look like a shady bait-and-switch promise."

Al Uszynski is a results-focused sales trainer and professional speaker. His proven, quick-start sales training program, "15 Ways to Grow Your Sales Tomorrow," helps sales professionals ignite immediate sales growth. Learn more by visiting www.Uszynski.com

Thinking Inside the Box

Talk about an "Aha!" moment - that's exactly what I said when I read this post on Diane Helbig's blog:

"I was speaking with a business owner today who was lamenting the fact that his salesman isn't creative with the sales process. He can't look at a scenario and determine the best solution for the client. When I asked him how knowledgeable the salesman was about the industry, he admitted that the salesman had very little knowledge of the ins and outs of the product."

"My response was this - He can't think outside the box if he's never been inside it."

"Think about it," says Helbig. "It's hard to find creative answers when you don't have the knowledge base to begin with." Helbig goes on to offer suggestions for how sales managers can give their salespeople the tools they need to succeed - but if your manager hasn't done this, you need to take action and do it for yourself.

Get inside the box - talk with the successful salespeople in your company, ask your tech people for demos, check in with customer service to see how they handle problems, and learn everything you can about your company and industry. Armed with this experience, you'll be better equipped to move outside the box and make more sales!

Diane Helbig is a Professional Coach, and President of Seize This Day Coaching. She works one-on-one and in groups with business owners, entrepreneurs, and salespeople. Visit her website at http://www.seizethisdaycoaching.com

Sales Motivation and Summer Prospecting

Monday is Memorial Day in the U.S. - the official beginning of the summer season. While many people are thinking, "Vacation here I come!" there are still plenty of people working the entire work week. "Staying motivated to sell when everyone around you is taking time off can suck the life out of nearly anybody," agrees sales trainer Mark Hunter. On the other hand, "it's during those periods when so many people are starting to slack off that you can have your most productive prospecting time," says Hunter.

"I've always found making prospecting calls on the eve of a holiday, or the day after a holiday is a great time to reach people. First off, many people are not in their normal work mode and as a result, they'll be more open to receiving a phone call."

"I've also found that people are often extremely impressed that you're making prospecting calls when most people are vacationing - giving them a level of confidence about you."

Hunter continues, "As easy as it might be, don't slack off tomorrow, Friday, next Tuesday, or any Friday throughout the summer. Come fall, you'll thank yourself for the additional business you've done."

Mark Hunter, "The Sales Hunter," helps individuals and companies identify better prospects, close more sales, and profitably build more long-term customer relationships. Learn more at his website, www.thesaleshunter.com and check out his blog at www.thesaleshunter.com/blog/

A Sales Email that Gets Attention

Garth Moulton is the VP of Community and Co-founder of Jigsaw. His blog, Garth's World, is funny and offers up some great sales advice he's learned over the years. In this post he details an email conversation between a sales rep and Jim Fowler, Jigsaw's CEO. Read their correspondence and you'll see proof that a carefully crafted email message can reap big rewards!

From: [Search marketing sales guy]
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 12:57 PM
To: Jim Fowler
Subject: Short bullet point email

Jim,

I talked to one of your guys at Ad:Tech. I love your service.

Your Google search advertising leaves much to be desired. Here's why:

• You're paying too much per click (by 21% to 39%)
• Your ads are buried below your competition (screenshot enclosed)
• You're missing many of the latest optimization techniques

If you're open to a new progressive search marketing agency, when can we talk?

[First name and signature file]

From: Jim Fowler
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 1:15 PM
To: Sales Guy, Jigsaw Marketing Folks
Subject: RE: Short bullet point email

[Sales guy],


I'm thinking about using your email as a model for how to communicate with me. Way to listen and get my attention at the same time. Please forward this to your boss and tell him I suggest you get a raise. I've also cc'd our VP of Global Sales/BizDev, as we're always looking for great sales people.

The person who has complete budget and responsibility for SEM/SEO is [Jigsaw marketing director] (she's on Jigsaw). I've cc'd her here.

Note: we are coming off a nasty experience with [your competitor]. [our director] will likely be gun shy.

Best of luck.

Fowler

From: Jim Fowler
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 1:50 PM
To: Biz Dev; Sales (All); Marketing; Garth Moulton
Subject: FW: Short bullet point email

Team,

This is one of the best examples of a sales outreach email I've ever seen:

• He read and listened to my contact preferences/instructions
• Used the fact that he read the instructions to get my attention
• VERY crisp communication throughout the email - no extra blah, blah, blah.
• He complimented Jigsaw, which is like complimenting my kid. Makes me feel good.
• The bullet points have numbers (yes, they're probably BS, but who cares - got my attention)
• Attached an actual real-life example of what we can do to improve
• Provided a call to action at the end
• Notice the response I gave him. I provided extremely valuable data - something that will happen to you too, if you do it right like [sales guy].

REALLY impressive. I would be very pleased to see the quality of our outbound 1to1 emails from our sales team be of this quality. Please make it happen!

Fowler

Read more from Garth at his blog, http://www.jigsawsblog.com

Why Should I Buy from You?

It's early in the sales process when your prospect bluntly asks, "Why should I buy from you?" While this situation can be enough to leave many sales reps shaking in their boots, rattling off company facts, or simply running for the door, sales trainer Colleen Stanley suggests you simply say, "I don't know."

It sounds crazy, but read on to see how 'fessing up can land you the sale.

"If the prospect asks this question early in the sales process before you've had time to ask questions, tell the prospect you really don't know why they should buy from your company because you haven't had time to diagnose what's working, not working, and if the problem(s) are big enough to fix," says Stanley. "Get permission to continue asking questions to determine if there is a good reason, for both parties, to do business."

Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership, Inc., a business development consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training. The company provides programs in prospecting, referral strategies, consultative sales training, sales management training, and hiring/selection. Learn more at www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com