Last week at the Engage summer party a client with a small 3 person sales team shared his latest sales contest with us.

“The team decided that we needed ipads so we made it into a contest”. At the end of July the rep with the lowest sales numbers had to buy the 3 ipads for everyone on the team.”

I thought this was an interesting twist on a typical sales contest. And a bit “Glengarry Glen Ross” in it’s style. Motivating with the stick rather than the carrot. The typical sales contest rewards the winner financially or with a prize. A trip, cash, a new car, socks. Don’t laugh! A cash strapped client of mine once successfully used tube socks as their weekly contest prize. These contests reward the winner but do not penalize. OK sure.  The loser is penalized with  being  the “loser” and  takes a blow to their ego but they do not suffer punitive financial damages.

I am a big fan of encouraging a competitive spirit in sales. I grew up in the insurance business in an office with a publicly displayed leader board, sales chart, and contests. These selling “aids” helped me succeed because I was always striving to be ahead of someone, or on top of the board.  Competitive spirits succeed in sales. For example new sales recruits who play competitive sports, run, play tennis, hockey etc almost always out perform those who do not. In our office for Lewis is a strong paintball contender and I enjoy the occasional 10k road race!

People always ask me about the value of a sales contest and my answer is “the best contest is that contest which motivates your team to sell more”  The goal is to push the team to perform a little better than they have previously and to prove to them that they can grow. As everyone is motivated differently you can’t create a contest in isolation. For example, a contest with a ski trip as its first prize would not motivate me but it would motivate my friend Derek who is an amazing and passionate skier!

I would love to have your opinions on sales contests and compensation. How are you pushing your sales teams in Q4? What does your 2011 compensation package look like? And, what do you think of the contest stated above? My bias is against punitive damages in a sales contest. Sure as the owner told me the “loser knew what he signed up for” but in the end I think you end up with more disgruntlement on the team than you do motivation. Just my initial thoughts of course…..I might be able to be convinced otherwise.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleeen

So you’ve gone through the effort… collecting testimonials and putting them onto every web page, right next to your page copy to provide that critical social proof. You’re all done, right?

Not so fast. Ask yourself: how do the testimonials look?

I don’t mean if they are compelling – how explicit are the result?. I don’t mean if they are current – are they recent testimonial that have recently been rotated through? I don’t mean if they are credible – is the source of testimonials viewed by the reader as their peer?

I mean literally, how does your testimonials look?

There was a fascinating study conducted by Mike Reining from MindValley Labs. In it, they tested how the appearance of a testimonial impacts click-through rates. Specifically, they compared a very boring, unstyled text testimonial versus the same testimonial dressed up with a punchy font and graphic treatment.

Something similar to this:

Plain Testimonial:

Your widget increased our sales by 100% in three months.

Styled Testimonial:

Your widget increased our sales by 100% in three months.

The results? The styled testimonial increased conversion rates by over 200%!

By making the testimonial more visually appearing, it increases the odds the reader will notice it. And once the reader notices it, the natural power of the testimonial to increase conversion rates kicks in…

If your testimonials don’t look that appealing – don’t worry. To help you, we’ve provided a couple of canned styles to help give some visual appeal to testimonials on your own web site. You can download them from the Testimonial Director support site (you don’t need to be a Testimonial Director customer to take advantage of these).

Get These Testimonial Styles and Increase Your Conversion Rates!!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Welcome to the Sales Quiz!

Test your sales knowledge with this Sales Quiz. Just answer the topical sales question below and have me give you her answer!

You should never agree to a sales presentation with a prospect until you know the client’s expectations for that meeting and…?

1. Who all will be attending the meeting and a bit about them
2. Whether the client is committed to buying from you or not
3. What level your own company will let you discount your prices too

Pick your answer and see how you do!

Happy Friday!

While some of you have sent your kids off to school and are winding down summer, I’m still looking forward to my summer vacation in a couple of weeks. When you live North you have to take advantage of every second of sunshine! Can you believe Chris and I found a cottage that has no Wi-Fi? In a pinch we can get free service at the marina 10 minutes away but secretly I am hoping that that “pinch” never happens. After all, everyone needs SOME time to unplug – literally and figuratively.

I’m so excited today because as you read this newsletter we are celebrating the start of our 10th year in business. Yesyerday we kicked off our 10th year with the Engage Summer party at our company party headquarters – our back yard! It’s been such a pleasure to work with sales professionals and business like you and be part of your success. Thanks for being part of our community and allowing us to be a part of your growth. If you missed the party be sure to check into the Engage Selling Facebook Fan Page for all the pictures later this week.

And, while I am feeling thankful… a BIG THANK YOU also to the over 500 of you who have registered for our Social Selling call. We had the first call this week and it was awesome to hear from our real life guest expert on how to use simple social selling tools for big profits! If you missed this week’s call, it’s not too late. You can register for the encore August 25th here: www.engagselling.com/social.

Social Selling has become as crucial to our success as professionals that we decided to add a complete morning Boot camp at the Sales Mastery Event this year. Our goal is to get you going and make you profitable easily, using just a few of the tools available. Don’t worry about being overwhelmed. I won’t let that happen to you ~ NAME~ !! I hope you consider joining us… Make sure you take advantage of our early bird savings at www.EngageSelling.com/mastery.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,
 

One of the most effective ways to maximize sales is to ask clients for referrals directly or indirectly.

A direct referral is when you ask your client for help introducing you to other prospects. An indirect referral is when you receive a call from a prospect who says that “others are talking about you” or that they “saw your information at an event / on your website / or in a publication”

Regardless of whether they are direct or indirect, referrals are the most profitable new leads you can attract to your business. Consider this; new “cold leads” close at a ratio of 75:1 on average whereas referred leads close on average 5:1. What a huge difference! Imagine making 5 calls and getting 1 sales vs. making 75 calls and getting 1 sale, That’s what referred leads can help you do.

Let’s start with direct referrals:

1. Ask your current customers for referrals. The key is to be as specific as possible. For example, don’t just adopt a generic, “do you know anyone who” approach. Instead, make a list of all the companies or people you’d like to meet, approach any existing customers who might have a contact at those new prospects, and then simply ask: “Mr. Customer, I’ve been trying to get hold of the VP of Marketing at ABC Corporation – you don’t happen to know them, do you?” If it’s one of their business partners or associates, or even just a firm that’s in the same industry or building, chances are your customer will know the person you want to meet, and will probably be only too happy to make the introduction.

2. Use success stories as part of your language. When you ask for a referral, you can also use the following approach. “Mr. Customer, our banking clients love the way we……. do you know any banks that might be interested I our X service”

3. Send thank-you notes and gifts. Send a thank-you note for every referral, and a gift for every referral that turns into business. Thank-you notes should be handwritten, on a note card or postcard that isn’t branded with your company advertising. Keep a supply of traditional, fun, theme and plain note cards handy for all occasions throughout the year. For a real treat, spoil yourself with a great fountain pen to make writing the notes something you really look forward to.

For gifts, don’t send the same old thing to everyone. Instead, take a minute to think about what your customer would really like. If they’re dedicated oenophiles, send wine. If they’re into sports, try tickets to a game. For gourmets or candy-o-holics (like myself), food baskets work wonders, and are available in almost any size, style and budget at the click of a mouse – some of my personal favorites are www.harryanddavid.com, www.elenis.com, www.candybouquet.com and www.baskits.com

One last thing – I implore you NEVER to send electronic greeting cards, no matter the occasion. E-cards look like you were too lazy or didn’t care enough to do the real leg work needed to honor your customer – and let’s face it, that’s not too far off the mark, is it?

Go the extra mile, and write a personalized note. That little extra effort is what will get you noticed – and get you more referrals. Yes, some of these ideas require you to know detailed information about your customers. But isn’t that what sales is all about?

Some ideas to attract indirect referrals include:

1. Bringing like minded people together. Create a top-of-the-class networking club. Make a list of those people in your city who you know to be well-connected, great networkers, then invite them all to come together with one catch – they have to bring someone that they think the rest of the group should meet. It’s likely this person will be a great networker, too. Ensure that your clients have a chance to talk to all the prospects in the room, that way they can sign your praises to the prospects and you will receive more inquires for your services!

When great networkers get together in the same room, the energy is unmistakable, and they share leads like there’s no tomorrow. Plus, because everyone in the room will be of the same caliber, there’ll be an even higher propensity to share, because everyone will feel like the giving and receiving is balanced.

2. Another approach that can help you develop a steady stream of referrals is to ask questions. One Engage customer doubled her referrals simply by asking the following client-focused question at the end of every client meeting:

“Our clients love the fact that we can connect them with other clients and partners, now… how can I help you?”

By putting the needs of her customers first, she demonstrates that she truly cares about them. When people sense that you care, they tend to want to return the favor. In fact, you may find that many of your customers are genuinely surprised by a question like this, because no one has ever asked them that before. And that’s why your follow-up question is equally indispensable:

“You’ve helped my business grow by becoming part of our family network. I’d like to help your business grow, too. So let me ask you – what type of people do you want to meet to help increase your revenue?”

At its most basic level, selling is relationship building. And to build a successful relationship, you have to know a few things about the other person who’s in the relationship with you. Think about it this way: if you don’t know this information about your customers, who does?

There are countless ways you can let your customers know you care and are thinking about them. Each has its pros and cons. Some work consistently but cost too much. Others are cheap and easy to implement, but don’t produce as many leads as you might want.

Try them all, and try them often, and I guarantee, you’ll start to see results – and more referrals – in no time.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen