Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Tue, Jan 29, 2008 @ 08:33 AM
I found this article on
www.justsell.com about a year ago and have kept it ever since. I think it is great advice for all those Inside Sales reps who are chomping at the bit to get to the next level in their careers.
"Where do you want to be at this time next year? Five years from now? Not just dollars, but big picture… professionally. Management? Executive-level management? Team leader? Is your plan in place (written)? Are you working your plan? Whatever your next desired career steps are, it's your current actions that'll get you there. But the move into a leadership role requires leadership activities in advance-- before you get paid for the part. A leader takes on the additional tasks, continually contributes to and supports the overall team/ department/ corporate goal or initiative, helps others become better at their work, stays ahead of product and industry knowledge, and anticipates needs of colleagues & customers... If serving in a leadership role is a goal on your career path (for the first time or the next leadership step), start thinking and acting now like the leader you want to be. With authentic commitment & confident patience, it guarantees a rise to the position." |
What great advice! Have any to add? Then post a comment
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Mon, Jan 28, 2008 @ 08:59 AM
Whether we like it or not, voice mail has become the first step in the sales process. There is quite a bit of debate surrounding whether to leave voice mail messages or whether to just keep dialing a number in the hope that the prospect will answer the phone. We vote for leaving voice messages....why miss an opportunity to create an impression?
Voice mail can be one of the greatest sales tools ever created if you know how to use it. The first fact you have to embrace is that, on average, only 5% of the voice mail messages you leave will result in a return call. Depressed about that? Well, don't be. Your voice mail message can and does serve more than one purpose. Of course it is fantastic when a prospect returns your call but even if they don't, you still have laid the groundwork for effective communication of your value proposition.
Think of your voice mail messages as value proposition building blocks. How effective they are in this strategy is predicated on integrating the technique into an effective outbound call methodology - more about that in a future posting. Let's focus for now on the Do's and Don'ts of Voice Mail Messaging.
Don't
- Refer to your company as the industry leader
- Spew your company history or name drop more than 2 relevant customers
- Reference the fact that they recently attended a trade show or downloaded a white paper
- Ask for a commitment of their time before you have established credability
- Leave your email or web address in your voice mail message
Do
- Be concise, outline what you want to say before you make the call
- Limit yourself to 90 words or less - it will force you to focus on the message and not the fluff
- Provide a compelling reason for them to call you back
- Use vocal variety, people will hear the passion in your voice much more than they will hear the actual words
- Ask them to call you back "today" - convey a sense of urgency
If you view each voice mail message as a mini commercial for your product or service and invest some time in developing these actionable sound bites, when you do get in touch with your prospect, they will have a basic understanding of your value proposition and you will be that much more ahead of the curve.
Feel free to share any tips or techniques you have learned about voice mail. Let's learn from each other!
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Wed, Jan 16, 2008 @ 12:31 PM
I was on LinkedIn the other day and
found a post that asked people to recommend books on the art of selling. I thought this would be a good forum in which to share the information. I don't claim to have read them all but here are the books that were mentioned more than once....
- Endless Referrals by Bob Burg
- The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeff Gittomer
- The Little Red Book of Sales Answers
- Red Hot Cold Call Selling by Paul Goldner
- Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath
- You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar by David Sandler
This is a good start. If you have any others to add to the list, please feel free to post a comment! Let's learn from each other!
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Mon, Jan 07, 2008 @ 07:56 AM
The use of third party vendors for lead qualification is always a hot topic! I am hoping I can shed some light on it for you.
There are literally dozens of vendors in this space both domestically as well as off shore. Before you engage with them, you must clearly define your objectives and requirements. So many companies let the vendor implement a "vanilla" model and process that treats every client the same and then wonder why they are not getting the results they desire.
Let me list just a few of the questions you should ask a vendor:
- How many years have you been in business?
- How many employees do you have?
- What is your attrition rate?
- Who are your 4 largest clients and what is their size and the number of employees you have dedicated to their project?
- What is your supervisor to representative ratio?
- Do you provide remote monitoring capabilities?
- Do you provide web based reporting?
You get where I am going...you have to ask them as many questions about their business as they should ask you about yours.
If you are not getting the results you desire, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Did I clearly define my Ideal Customer for the vendor?
- Did I provide them with a list that targets that Ideal Customer?
- Did I provide them with a succinct elevator pitch?
- Did I provide them with sales tools in the form of must have and nice to have questions?
- Was the training provided appropriate for the program?
- How much remote monitoring and coaching have I done?
- Are the objectives of the program realistic?
In summary, if you choose to out source your lead qualification, understand that you must do so wisely and invest time, effort and energy in making it successful.
We would love to hear about the results you received from out sourced projects and what you learned along the way so feel free to post comments!
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Fri, Jan 04, 2008 @ 01:56 PM
What a great time of year for a refresher course in Sales 101! No matter how long you have been in the game, you need to reinforce the basics a few times a year.
Check out this short Power Tips article written by Michael D. Johnson. Michael is the Editor & Publisher of "Top Dog Sales Secrets", the best-selling sales book featuring advice from 50 renowned sales experts. He is also the Founder and Publisher of SalesDog.com, an education resource for sales professionals.
What tips did you find the most interesting? What tips would you add to the list? Let's share our thoughts and learn together!