Greetings!
Welcome to summer! I spent the first official weekend of summer attending an advanced motorcycle riding course. WOW! Was it tough. Running through nothing but the basics; slow speed u-turns, left turns, right turns, emergency braking, evasive maneuvers (my favorite!) and how to "hit" (or ride over) largish objects in the middle of the road - think about the size of a skunk!. Yuck. As a biker it's an important course to take every once in a while because it forces me to brush up on my basics and challenge me to experience new riding situations. Over that weekend, I get uncomfortable on the bike, and it makes me a better, and safer rider. To be blunt, being too comfortable on a bike leads to distraction, sloppiness and death. And while in sales you might not die if you get too comfortable with your clients, you may lose them to your competition. In fact, studies show that 67% of all clients that leave you do so because they perceive you to be indifferent to them.
Now, I am not saying you ARE indifferent, just that some of your clients may think you are, and if they do, they will leave. Remember, the only perception that counts is the client's perception. This summer, make it a point to learn something new about your clients, try something new... make yourself a little uncomfortable again in sales and push yourself just a bit to stand out form the crowds of competition. While it may not save your life, it will make it a little richer.
Dedicated to increasing your sales,
P. S. For those sales executives and business owners who really want to push themselves this year you must check out our exclusive new workshop in November. The Sales Mastery Workshop. I promise it will be an event that pushes you into your uncomfort zone creating immediate results, lasting success and a permanent increase to your bottom line.
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The Most Useful and Most Under-Used Sales Tool, Ever!
The Amazing Power of Testimonials
By Colleen Francis
For any sales professional interested in selling more to more people in less time, testimonials
are an absolutely vital part of the formula for success. If you’re not using them in your
business right now, you are missing out on one of the most useful and under-used sales tools...ever!
I have some thoughts on why most people don’t use testimonials anywhere near to their full
potential. First, let’s talk about why testimonials are so effective. Consider the story
of legendary businessman W. Clement Stone. He built what would one day become a multi-billion
dollar empire by selling fire-insurance policies door-to-door during the Great Depression.
There’s no denying that Clem’s knack for people skills was big part of his success. And
he also had a little something extra—a binder overflowing with testimonials from his customers.
Legend has it that that binder never left his side when he was knocking on all those doors.
There was a good reason for that. It was chock full of stories—and not just happy accounts
from people who were satisfied. It also told painful stories about how people had lost houses,
husbands and wives to misfortune...and how relieved they were that, thanks to Clem,
they had signed on the dotted line long ago, and now were covered. Frankly, after reading
stories out of that binder, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could ever say no to
him!
That’s the amazing power of testimonials. They work because they reaffirm for others what
you already know is true.
Click here for entire article
and
discover the full power of testimonials!
Colleen Recommends...
Top Sales Experts Summer Edition 2008
Get Answers to Your Most Pressing Sales Questions - Today! Be among the first to gain access to superb articles from fifty of the world's leading sales gurus. Top Sales Experts (yes, I am one) just launched this quarter's FREE E-book. Download this amazing 144 page compilation and start putting the lessons to work right away.
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Mark the Date!
The Annual Engage Summer
Party!
There is no sign of snow and I've got the Harley out! It must almost be summer. I hope
you can join me for our annual Summer Party on July 24th, from 4 - 6pm. Food, fun and networking!
What could be better.
To RSVP, please drop Casey a quick note at
casey@engageselling.com and we'll get you all the details. Casey, Chris and Conrad (and me!)
hope to see you there! |
Time Management
“Don’t Count Time, Make Time Count!”
July Lead-Up! Web Class
In this program you will learn how to use time profitably from a sales pro who runs her own ventures successfully. Colleen’s staff and clients have dubbed her “freakishly productive” because she routinely gets 1 month worth of work completed in a week. Be warned, Colleen does NOT deal in clichéd, glib, pabulum solutions for time management or eye rolling techniques that you may have heard in the past. Colleen will take on cell phones, PDA’s faxes, emails, phone calls, meetings, and every form of communication device that pervade our business. You will learn when to embrace these tools, and when (and how) to give them the boot. With a fresh take on “time is money” Colleen will show you how to maximize your days by using a disciplined productivity strategy that will allow you to spend more time with clients, and prospective clients, bringing in more business.
Join us July 21st at 4:00 pm Eastern.
Click here for more information
on my Web Classes
Make Your Voice Heard!
Participate in Our Poll!
Participate in the poll and see what other sales professionals are saying. Last newsletter
we asked how many networking events you attend each month. Here are the results:
- 1 or less: 46%
- 2 - 3: 27%
- 4 - 6: 18%
- More than 6: 9%
Today's question:
Do you expect to hit or exceed your quota in July and August?
Register
Your Vote and See the Results!
Ignite the Top Sales Performer in You!
The week, we announced our Sales Mastery Workshop. Over three days in November, I’ll show you how to super-charge your sales with proven strategies that you can create and implement. You’ll leave armed with a plan and the tools to make an immediate and lasting impact to your business. The workshop will provide the most comprehensive, relentlessly detailed, hands-on training on what works in sales today!
If you need to get your prospects to call you back, grow your pipeline, counter new competitors, handle customer objections and close more business – then you need to be there.
Discover this Opportunity!
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Navigating the Voice Mail Jungle:
A Q&A with Colleen Francis
The following was adapted from an interview conducted by Dan Walker, host of
SalesRepRadio – a weekly podcast offering tips, best practices and expert advice for
sales professionals across North America and around the world.
Q: What is your position on voice mail?
No, not your voice mail. The voice mail of all those potential customers you’re
trying to reach. Nobody likes getting stuck in a voice mail black hole. The real question
is what can you do to get yourself out when it happens? Do you just hang up and keep trying
back until a real live human being answers?
The good news is, there are better and more effective ways for dealing with voice mail.
The President and Founder of Engage Selling Solutions, Colleen Francis, is here to help guide
us through them. Colleen, welcome back, and thanks for joining us once again.
Colleen Francis: Thanks for having me.
Q: Colleen, it happens to all of us. We pick up the phone to try to make
contact and end up getting somebody’s voice mail over and over again. Is this just something
we should learn to live with?
Colleen: Most sales reps probably think so. We’ve found that about 80 per
cent of the outbound calls we make end up in voice mail, which is an awful lot. So a lot
of staffing professionals end up trying to use e-mail or come up with some sort of trick
to get through to the person they want to reach. What we’ve discovered is that there are
several other options that can be both more effective and less time-consuming.
Q: Well, let’s hear ‘em, because I think a lot of us here are feeling like
we’re getting stuck all the time.
Click here for the Entire Article
and
Learn how to stop being blocked by voicemail!
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Ask Colleen
Hi Colleen, I am new to sales. What is your number one sales tip? Anna from Toronto
Hi Anna,
Congratulations on joining the best profession in the world! My goal has always been to never let a day go by without reaching out to at least one new potential customer and one current customer. I was thinking about this goal today because many of my coaching clients seem to go days, or weeks without doing anything to generate new business. If you are not continually looking for new people to talk to about what you sell… how can you grow your business? Top performers are disciplined. They do things everyday without fail that are focused on finding people to talk to, talking to them and converting them to customers. Prioritizing business development ie; business building everyday is THE BEST tip I can think of for sales people!
Do yourself a HUGE favour. Get into the habit of not leaving the office, or not going to bed, without completing at least one business development task. A letter, an email, a card or a voice mail. It doesn’t take much… and it will yield huge long-term profitable results. This is not rocket science. 3 simple tasks are all you need to focus on everyday in order to have your business soaring. The hard part is the discipline to do it everyday. To make it easier, and to ensure success, I suggest you do your business building activities first thing in your day. Our clients have shown that the morning is a more productive sales time because there are fewer distractions, both in your day and the prospects resulting in more “reaches” and conversations.
Best of Luck! Colleen |
