The Salesby5 Blog

Marketing staffs need to take action even with reduced budgets. There are things marketers can do to build brands, target media buys more efficiently, reinforce brand loyalty with customers, engage with prospects and, of course, drive sales.  What marketers do—or fail to do—right now will affect not only the next quarter’s results, but also the long-term position of their brands when happy days are here again.

- Geoffrey Ramsey

Economic downturns can actually be good times for launching new products, stealing market share or sharpening a brand’s image. While companies and people worry, freak out or downsize, what can you do to increase your sales in 24 hours or 24 days or the next 24 months?  Need Help?  Call (210) 403-3916, let’s talk.

Last year, we helped our commercial real estate client, Magi, draw a crowd with their tradeshow booth at the CCIM Symposium here in San Antonio.  While the competitors were giving away Tootsie Rolls, cheap pens and mini frisbees, we put together a huge board with the locations of the buildings around the city that people would shoot at with Nerf guns.  The prizes included an iPod Touch, iPod Nanos, and Bluetooth Speakerphones.  This year for the Symposium, we figured that since we had raised the bar last year, there would certainly be competition.  In response, we packed up a 40″ LCD TV, a Nintendo Wii and Wii Golf as the game of choice with the prizes including a Blu-Ray player, Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard/Mice combos and some beautiful wine decanters.  Again, our booth was a hit.  What did everyone else do?  The same thing they did last year.  Guess what, the results were the same – crowds filled our booth.

During these difficult times in the economy (and any other time for that matter) are you doing the same thing and expecting different results?  Or, are you striving for a dramatic difference, something that can truly set you apart from your competitors and move you to the front of the pack?  These differences don’t have to cost money, they can be as easy as molding your culture to have superior service thanks to your employee attitudes.  What can you do to stand out?

We are big fans of Verne Harnish and his daily huddles.  We do them everyday, because as Doug Harrison from The Scooter Store says, “If you want to win everyday, you have to do huddles everyday.”  At times, there are a number of us bouncing all over the country.  To help make our huddles a reality, regardless of time and place, we use Foonz.  Foonz is a free conference calling service that allows us to make this happen.  We are still able to complete our News, Priorities and Hurdles.  It works by one of us calling into the service, starting a conference, it sends out a text message to the rest of the team letting them know that it is time to call in.  Have you tried Foonz? Do you have a cool way of using it at your company or organization? Share with us in the comments.

Does your company maintain a culture open enough to lead upward?  Leading upward means that the people above you, whether in actual or perceived rank, allow you to lead them as well.  Not only does your culture need to be in proper form to allow this, but the leaders above you need to be at a stable enough level to allow you to speak freely.  This can often be a scary proposition, but if it is done with respect and compassion, both parties get stretched to a higher leadership level overall.  What would it take for this to be acceptable in your organization?  If you are at the top, are you allowing this type of leadership?  What is stopping you?  Please share with us in the comments.

photo by timabbott

As you may or may not know, I (Nan) was recently married.  Last week, we went on our honeymoon in St. Lucia.  The first day, there was a guy on the beach at our resort who kept yelling “Joe Knows!“  My new bride lit up and said “It’s Joe! We have to go, now.”  Apparently, during her planning of the trip she had read a number of reviews on tripadvisor.com about Joe.  Joe had his sales pitch down – his marketing physics were perfect.  He told us how he worked for Sandals as the top tour guide for 13 years before starting his own company (real reason to believe), his tour took you to the same places that Sandals would take you but for a fraction of the cost (dramatic difference) and you would see and experience the trip feeling like a local because you had the best guy (overt benefit), after all, Joe Knows!  Needless to say, we didn’t delay in signing up for his tour.

On the day of the tour, Joe took us to the volcano at St. Lucia, we hopped under a waterfall, ate lunch at a mom and pop eatery, saw the famous Pitons (twin peaks) and sampled 20 rums at a rum factory.  Throughout the day, Joe told us stories about the locals, customs, the struggles people endure and gave us anecdotes for life.  All much more than what we had bargained for.  Joe sold us with the value that he provided and impressed us with the passion he used to tell his story.  It felt like he was telling it for the first time.  Thanks Joe, you made me feel like a local in your country.

Joe Knows!

You have heard many days from Nan, our Chief Inspiration Officer at Salesby5.  He has shared lots of insight into how to sell more with less effort by 5pm, including through the use of technology.  Nan is a devout BlackBerry user, and has even won a recurring guest spot on BlackBerryCool.com.  Nan the Power User’s groom’s cake was featured in Friday’s Blackberry Cool blog post.  Nan’s passion for technology has carried his name into international territory!  BlackBerryCool.com celebrates his remarkable affection for the devices and the cake that proves it!  Search your passions today, and imagine where they could take you.  If you aren’t able to celebrate them, should you consider rearranging something?

A couple of weeks ago, I (Sarah) was shopping at La Cantera, a local mall in San Antonio. As I walked through various levels of retail, I realized that in this industry, you absolutely get what you pay for. At BCBG, I was offered wine as I walked through the door, and had multiple people approach me to offer their help. The store was perfectly organized and all of the employees were well dressed and professional. Then, at Forever 21, I fumbled through people and clothes just to get through the doorway. I couldn’t tell who was working there and who was shopping. There was a line to get into the dressing rooms, and seemingly no one to help get the line moving. I walked out with a headache and then realized that in shopping there, I was getting what I would be paying for; next to nothing.

This mall experience reminded me of a blog I had read by Seth Godin. He was relaying this “get what you pay for” message through hotel and restaurant service examples. Seth made the point that it might cost these industries more to offer better or kinder service, but in the business world, it barely costs us anything to treat our customers well. I learned that you get what you pay for in the retail world too, and we have the choice to sacrifice quality customer service or cash. Since it doesn’t cost us (in businesses) anything to treat our clients and vendors well, why don’t we always go above and beyond? One of Salesby5’s core values is to deliver more than what is promised. What can you do today to impress your customers?

Attending the Gazelles/Fortune Small Business Growth conferences for the past 4 years, I have noticed that the recent MBA’s there are always upset that they hadn’t already learned all of this content during their education.  For example, even Jim Collins’ Good to Great was missing from their required and suggested reading lists.  In working at a local University’s business school, I found that upon my suggestion, they started making that book part of the required reading.  My biggest surprise came last night when a current MBA student told me that his professor had not mentioned blogs or social networking when explaining marketing platforms. This student asked the professor if was aware of these tools, and he said yes. Then, the professor asked the student to please explain them to the class; what they are and how to use them. I am more and more concerned as we interview students with a public relations education, and find that they do not know anything about media relations, or students with marketing degrees that don’t know how to use Google.

The #1 way to increase creativity and learning in the majority of the population is stimulus. (For the top 4% of the highest IQ population, it is meditation).

What are you doing for you and your employees to keep them ahead or at the top?

We offer:

1. Strengths training that teaches dramatic team productivity, on the job happiness, and lower turnover.

2. Full company training on how not to de-motivate at all levels. (You can find this in the research from Jim Collins.)

3. The tools to sell more product or service with less effort by 5pm, daily. (Data and implementation from thousands of research papers with a future focus.)

Today, I read a great article in the San Antonio Express News. We watch “The Dog Whisperer” at our house, due to two small young dogs we have that are out of control most of the time. Mary Rauch wrote this article for the paper:  “‘Dog Whisperer’ is a Leadership Primer.”

The article summed up some great points about leadership! I like the way she made it easy to understand, as studies have proven that communication at a 5th grade reading level is best understood by the masses. My biggest takeaway was how much it has to do with sales. At the beginning of the article, she mentions that “fear of public speaking is nothing but an old habit.” For some in the sales industry, the fear of not getting the sale or the fear of dead air (no talking) can kill the deal. As much as this article was useful to leadership and sales, I also learned what the dogs do, and how they win over our hearts! Even though my two micro dogs have eaten or damaged thousands of dollars in carpets and items in the house, I love them. What kind of sales and leadership lessons can we learn from these sweet canines who are unconditionally dedicated to us, always happy to see us, and offer us forgiveness fast?

photo from wopico.blogspot.com