The Salesby5 Blog

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.)

There are too many meeting facilitators that claim a meeting is all about the participants and not about them. I recently had a small group meeting with an expensive hired facilitator that told us it was all about us, the participants. He then went on for over four hours of stories about himself before any benefit to the audience was presented, and continued referencing himself during the following hours. I now know more about this person than I did about the U.S. Presidential candidates and none of the content was of any value to me. This leader did not know how to offer a benefit to the meeting’s participants, and ultimately wasted our time. Many influencers of sales, marketing and other industries sell when there are no buyers or prospective buyers. Knowing what to sell and to whom, or knowing when to sell can separate you from the sales people and the sales winners.

A few tips:

If it is “not about you”, make no references to yourself.

If it is a great service, how will it benefit me?

If it is a great product, what will it do to relieve my pains?

Today, we built, ran and executed a complete rebranding of a company in Alpine, Texas. It was special that with this 40+ year old company, with many employees that have been there over 20 years, we built a brand that was able to sell them on the future of the company. The response from 60+ employees was incredible and warms our hearts. They see the future and want to embrace it. Best of all—Carlos, who has been with the company for 28 years, said “It is time; it is time for the change. We are changing and it was time.”

What needs an update or a change in your company or organization? Is it time and you’re the only one that doesn’t know it? The big response we hear from most is “what took so long?”

 BEFORE

 AFTER

Do you know what your customers need, or only what they want?  We make sure we sell what is needed, provide what is wanted and focus on the future. I was in a meeting where I gave a creative company a concept that was future focused for a client.  Their number one question was “are your customers asking for this?”  It’s more valuable to focus on what your customers will need tomorrow and one year from now and not what was popular two years ago. You should be learning at a pace that you never imagined or you will fall behind.  We interview college graduates that are behind.  We interview MBA students that are behind!  How well do you think the people are doing that have been out of college for 20 years?  If you want the best of the best education, and not the simple seminar that teaches cool tricks from 1997, send us an e-mail to increasedsales AT salesby5 DOT com and we will get you connected with the to the top minds in North America!

photo by Vermin Inc

I was at TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas Monday for a video and photo shoot. I attended part of their chapel and a few meetings after interviewing students on why they are in the residential life program. It, once again, blew me away and makes me want to send my kids there as soon as possible. Watching the students after chapel was enough to really fire me up! The looks on their faces and their attitudes were incredible. It is truly an exception to what you’d expect. The environment, campus, and people, can sell when you least expect it, let alone when you are already sold! Are you keeping a great environment at your company where your clients and prospects get sold every time they interact with you?

Have you ever typed in a website and gotten a 404 error telling you that the “page no longer exists or has been moved?”  These things are going to happen to you and to others.  You have an excellent opportunity to make even the most mundane experience pleasant.  How about sprucing it up with something more memorable?  Check out our 404 error page; it uses a touch of humor (we like to have fun) and it points people in the right direction, too!  What other changes can you make to the boring things in your business so that your customers will remark and want to show their friends?

404 photo by smashingmagazine.com

Do you think attorneys are pleased with LegalZoom.com, where you can get many (sometimes boilerplate) legal documents for a bargain?  How do you think designers feel about CrowdSpring.com, where you pay a deposit then designers compete to get paid?  I bet they feel similar to the way brokers felt when E*Trade came along - nervous and annoyed.  Some say it cheapens the value of their work.  I suggest that these people just need to do a better job telling a compelling story.  A custom designer is going to be able to give you a tighter look and feel to the heart of your company than a crowdsourced designer.  A personal attorney will be able to write tighter documents for your personal situation than a computer program.  Not only does this need to happen, but these people need to be able to clearly articulate their benefit.  What do you think?  Tell us in the comments!

Yesterday, we were in the airport on the way to Atlanta.  Starbucks, as usual, was packed, selling their $5 cups of coffee.  Then, Kevin, from Imagine Fellowship, chose to go to Dunkin’ Donuts and ordered a cup of coffee and two donuts.  Having been conditioned by Starbucks, he pulled out $10, but the bill for the order was $3.54.  Inexpensive, especially considering the standard airport abuse rates.  Kevin was in disbelief.  Having done this, Dunkin’ Donuts told a story, as we all do with our prices - “we are the low cost alternative!”  Starbucks, on the other hand, with a $5 cup of coffee was continuing to tell it’s story - “we are your place for escape.”  When you charge for your service, you are telling a story.  What are your prices telling your customers?

Last Friday, our client, Imagine Fellowship, was written up by the San Antonio Express News for the use of Twitter during and after church services.  Pastor Kevin Joyce has made it a mission to institute The Relational Web, where the church population connects intentionally with one another.  Twitter has been a great way for people to interact during the service and comment on what they see and feel.  This is followed by the use of Twitter to connect throughout the week, where members and church visitors have been known to “tweet” (post a message to twitter) to get a bite to eat together and even help one another move.  Has this caused growth for the church?  Absolutely!  After only five short months, Imagine has grown from meeting in a home to having more than 100 people attending the service at the Palladium theatre.  To put this into perspective, 59% of the churches in America have between 7-99 members.  Imagine’s commitment to people is paying off quickly.

When you become intentional about communicating and connecting with your customers, it gives them the opportunity to interact with you and other like-minded people.  Creating an open line of communication is beneficial in the for-profit and non-profit worlds.  Do you want to get started using Twitter to begin having genuine conversations with potential clients?  Drop us a line and we’ll show you how to get started.

Today, I (Erik) speak at NAWBO - National Association of Women Business Owners. One of the key points is the integration of Sales and Marketing. Here is the biggest simple tip I can give you today.

Many companies with 30+ in staff have a sales department and a marketing department.  The two often are distant friends or close enemies.  If the two departments spent hour a week together, you could increase sales.  The format for the meeting can start this simple, but keep in mind, you must have an agenda and the agenda should not change in format each week.  If there is no time for a meeting, there is no time for success.  The format always starts with news.  This is intelligence from Sales on what they hear, what they see, and what pictures they have, to show Marketing what a competitor is doing or what large problems the customer might have.  It gives Marketing the real pains of the customer so they can get a grasp on what really matters and stop worrying about pretty designs.  Next are hurdles that Sales is having, and dialogue from everyone on overcoming these via marketing.  You may not solve all the issues, but keeping it active is most important.  Finish with what is in the pipeline regarding marketing, prospective clients, sales pitches from Sales and end with what we need to stop doing. Why that?  It tends to be the most productive thing a company can implement: what can we stop doing, so that we can focus on what’s important?

Does this agenda sound too short or simple? If so, good!  That’s the point.  If it goes past an hour, someone is talking too much and if it lasts less than an hour and it was a good or great meeting, you are doing it right. The key: developing habits takes time, and this habit is crucial for success for companies who have mastered excellent sales and excellent marketing.