From Random Strangers to Raving Fans workshop
I’m excited to be team-teaching a course with my sales coach, Matt Nettleton of Sandler Training Trustpointe. The class is called “From Random Strangers to Raving Fans: Using a system to create the right messages for the right people at the right time.”
We’re going to talk about how important it is that your sales and marketing support each other. After all, the best marketing plan in the world won’t help you if you can’t seal the deal, and the best sales strategy won’t help you if you don’t have leads in the first place!
Check out the details below. Hope to see you there!
March 25, 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Sandler Training Trustpointe Offices, 6666 East 75th Street, Indianapolis
Fee: $29.99 Seating is limited, so be sure to register soon. Click here
Episode 21 – Finding Your Ideal Customer
With Matt Nettleton
This blog has been very focused on business planning for the last two weeks. I think it is time to change it up just a little. Today I want to share an interview with sales professional Matt Nettleton.
I am an active participant in a Sales Training Class with Matt Nettleton of Trustpointe. I love his direct, no nonsense appraoch to building my business.
One of the things we have focused attention on lately is the difference between my average customer and my ideal customer.
The average customer, are the clients I attract now. But the ideal, are the clients I want to do business with. Doing business with these companies will help me grow my business over time.
Want to learn more about the difference? Take a moment, and listen to the interview with Matt
Free Consulting?
I am currently enrolled in the Sandler Training program; through Trustepoint I am really enjoying the program, because it is forcing me to rethink my long standing beliefs on the sales process.
One of the important elements of the program is the notion of not giving away “free consulting” as a way to make a sale. The folks at Sandler don’t believe this really works, and they are starting to get me to believe it too.
Then I read this post by Seth Godin about the “first transaction. In it he advocates, that the first time we “transact, it is ludicrous for me to expect there will be money involved. Is he really saying the opposite of Sandler?
Not really, he suggests:
Digital transactions are essentially free for you to provide. I can give you permission to teach me something. I can watch a video. I can engage in a conversation. We can connect, transfer knowledge, engage in a way that builds trust… all of these things make it more likely that I’ll trust you enough to send you some money one day.
This feels like “free consulting to the prospect, but not to me. There is nothing lost when I share what I have done with others, or what I know through books, blog posts and video. The trick is to find the balance, build trust and credibility, without giving up what I get paid for.
I am still learning to find where the line is, so I guess I will continue to spend time with my sales coach, Matt Nettleton, who by they way, looks a lot like Seth Godin.
At least when they are sitting down 
How Women Do Big Deals
Today’s post is written by Barbara Weaver Smith. I met Barbara through Twitter, and have had a chance to connect F2F as well. She is as much fun in person as she is on Twitter. I am delighted to share her post today. This is her second visit to Roundpeg, and it won’t be her last!
My new eBook, Whale Hunting Women, is about how women do big deals in business and community. What do women do instinctively that makes us good whale hunters?
Women learn early to practice certain habits that are good for sales—habits of listening, learning, mentoring, empathizing, and teambuilding. These are behaviors for which we are rewarded and may also be natural preferences that we’re born with. In the 20th century economy, which in the west was built on ruthless competition, women were encouraged to “unlearn” those habits and become more aggressive and self-promoting in order to succeed in the business world.
It didn’t work for women then, and it doesn’t work for anyone now. Today we work in a global, information-based economy that thrives on collaboration and cooperative deal-making. Women need to know this and allow our socialized skills and preferences to make us successful.
Big companies, which I define as “whales,” do not often buy from a single salesperson. Anything of substance that they buy involves the concurrence of a team of inside buyers—the procurement agent, the financial person, the IT leader, as well as the end users of marketing or software or legal or customer service or HR services, for example, or those involved in using manufactured products of all kinds.
Today the sale is not a good-old-boy back-slapping kind of sale. It is a serious, professional, somewhat distanced interaction. Buyers want to meet and interact with the people who will actually deliver services to them, not only the sales reps. So the nature of how the whales buy means that companies need to sell as a team. They need to involve subject matter experts in the sale. They need a salesperson who is a teacher and team choreographer, not a rock star.
In my work with entrepreneurs, I have found that women leaders are often especially devoted to (and good at) empowering their team, mentoring others to step up to new responsibilities, and orchestrating rather than commanding. Those practices come naturally to us, and we have come into a time where new business rules favor the so-called “soft skills” that women bring to their work. So let’s work that advantage and do some bigger deals!
Excerpts, reviews, and download link on Whale Hunting Women at http://www.thewhalehunters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17. Special price during my virtual blog tour May/June 2009
Author: Barbara Weaver Smith, Ph.D.
President and CEO, The Whale Hunters
To learn about Whale Hunting Women & to order your copy today, visit http://cli.gs/WHWEbook
Thank you for visiting this post about Barbara Weaver Smith and Whale Hunting Women. Two people who comment during the tour will be entered a giveaway – post a comment on any post about the tour and you will be entered. The winners will win a three-volume audio set of Whale Hunters Wisdom. Volumes include I: Mind of a Hunter, II: The Hunt, and III: The Whale Hunting Culture ($90 value). Barbara Weaver Smith’s website – http://www.thewhalehunters.com
Barbara Weaver Smith’s blog – http://blog.thewhalehunters.com
Order your copy of Whale Hunting Women – http://cli.gs/WHWEbook
To see the tour schedule visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/04/whale-hunting-with-barbara-weaver-smith.html
Whale Hunting!
Today’s post is written by Barbara Weaver Smith. I met Barbara through Twitter, and have had a chance to connect F2F as well. She is as much fun in person as she is on Twitter. I am delighted to share her post today.
Do you ever feel like a minnow who can’t possibly go hunting a whale? The “minnow mindset” hits most small business owners at times. It’s the feeling that you have to match your expectations to your current size and capacity, maybe dreaming big but not actively planning to land an account ten times or twenty times your current average account.
I could say “be more confident” but that wouldn’t help. What helps is to develop a disciplined process that will build your confidence because you will be successful.
Small businesses have lots to offer to really big customers—focused attention, agility, innovation, and leading edge products and services. The problem is that we scare the whales. They are afraid that we don’t have the cash flow to work with them, cannot ramp up easily, may not be here next y ear, or may crumble under the pressure they exert. So their safest choice is to go with a tried and true provider.
How can you combat the whale’s fear of you?
- · Understand it. Know that it’s real and confront it directly, both internally and with the whale’s team. Take your team through an exercise of identifying all of the ways that your company might scare a whale and keep those things top of mind in every presentation.
- · Counteract it. Gather or create a set of “fear busters”—internal process documents, charts, pictures, testimonials, white papers, financials, analytics, etc. Lead with these tools in all of your conversations and presentations.
- · Manage it. In all your dealings with whales, control the lens through which they see you. Present yourself as the professional, organized, stable entity that you know yourself to be.
If you understand that the whale is scared of you, you can get over feeling like a minnow. Instead, you can feel like a confident whale hunter!
Thank you for visiting this post about Barbara Weaver Smith and Whale Hunting Women. We are offering a free giveaway to two people who comment during the tour and to the hosts where they posted. It is simple to be entered in the giveaway – just post a comment on any post about the tour and you will be entered. But, an interesting post is more likely to get our attention.
The host on the site where the winning comments are posted will also win a three-volume set of Whale Hunters Wisdom in audio format. Volumes include I: Mind of a Hunter, II: The Hunt, and III: The Whale Hunting Culture. This is a $90 value. To see the tour schedule visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/04/whale-hunting-with-barbara-weaver-smith.html
Barbara Weaver Smith’s website – http://www.thewhalehunters.com
Barbara Weaver Smith’s blog – http://blog.thewhalehunters.com
Order your copy of Whale Hunting Women – http://cli.gs/WHWEbook
Marketing Organization Chart – A Closer Look at Lead Conversion
In this version of a marketing organization chart, there are four elements: Strategy, Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Customer Service. In a series of posts I have been exploring each of the elements in more detail. Today I am taking a closer look at Lead Conversion
There are three main elements of Lead Conversion: 
- Sales
- Nurturing
- Transaction
All of the time, money and effort invested in generating leads can be wasted if you don’t have a good process for lead conversion – transforming a prospect into a customer.
SALES
What is your sales process like? How effective are you when you are in front of a customer. I rarely bring presentation materials with me to a sales call. I prefer to listen to the client and follow up with relevant information, followup notes and a quote. Although often built from a template, I always personalize the quote to include specific elements we discussed.
NURTURING
How long do you wait before you send a follow-up note or make a call? I date all my proposals, and place a reminder on my calendar, so it pings me on the appropriate date. My goal is to move prospects to clients or to “No”. I am ok with a “No”. I don’t want to continue to chase business which really isn’t there. I work hard to make clients comfortable telling me the project isn’t going to happen.
TRANSACTION
What do you do when you close the deal? I think it depends on the size of the project or sale. For many companies, even fairly small ones, the Transaction is also the Transition point. I make the sale, but then had the project to my design team. It is important to manage the process so the client does not feel as if you are dumping and running!
What are your tips for maximizing conversion?
Turbo Charge Sales in Turbulent Times
One of my favorite RSS feeds is the Harvard Business Publishing. With topics ranging from Sales and Marketing to Management and Economics, there is always something interesting to read. And the wide variety of writers creates a fascinating and unpredictable voice for this blog. Recently Darrell Rigby wrote a great piece on How to Turbo charge Sales in Turbulent Times. The tips make good sense for small businesses and larger businesses. He says:
When companies are hit with declining sales and shrinking margins, the options can start to look bleak. Attacking one challenge–by raising or lowering prices, for example–can make the other worse. But one powerful way to shore up both sales and margins in a downturn is to make your sales force more effective.
He has several smart suggestions on how to do that. Including:
- Target your offering. Look at what appealed to your best customers and do more of that. This is not a time to try to expand outside your core segments. Play to your strengths, do what you do, – just do it better.
- Optimize tools and procedures. Whether you have a huge sales force or you are managing sales yourself, formalizing the process will make you more productive. So what is your strategy? How do you keep up with leads and proposals. What type of routine followup techniques do you use to stay in touch with prospects?
Sell More
Have you ever noticed there is always a coupon on the Pizza box? Why, because these savvy marketers know, once they have your attention, it is easier to sell you something else. This is especially true, if they liked the first product!
Do you use this strategy in your business? When you make a sale do you include an offer for another product or service in the same package? If not, you are missing a great opportunity for repeat business.
Sell More
When I wrote my third book, I realized I still needed to sell the first two. And so, I included an order form, with a description of all three of my books in each package. The result – -I sold more books! Don’t forget about your invoices. If you are spending postage to mail an invoice or statement, make sure there is an offer included. Or consider including a brief message directly on the bill or statement.
Team with Partners
If you have strategic partners who routinely sell to your same target audience they should have copies of your brochure or catalogue to include in customer communication. It might even be worth paying for the mailing yourself to have your message distributed to their clients.
Electronic Offers
This strategy is so easy to execute with on-line products, I am always amazed when companies fail to follow-up for add-on sales. If you sell your products on-line, consider offering an upgrade, additional product or partner’s product with the order confirmation, and again when the product is shipped.
Customer’s For Life
Consider each sale an opportunity to create a customer for life, someone who will be interested in buying from you again and again, if you simply make it easy!
Don’t Make Naked Sales Calls!
Sales expert Jeff Gitomer has written a terrific post about what to “wear” to a sales call. He is not referring to your suit or your tie, but what you take with you, how you prepare. On his “fashion list”: information from their website which includes:
- Things your product or service will impact
- Identifies leaders and decision makers
- Information you don’t understand, so you can ask good questions.
Win Small Victories – Lose Customers!
Seth Godin’s Post today is an excellent add on the yesterday’s notes about keeping customers. The popular practice of lowering your base price, and charging for every add – on is beginning to backfire.
Spending hours shopping for the lowest air fair, only to discover it will cost more to carry on your luggage is a perfect example. Customers feel cheated, and at every ring of the cash register, their satisfaction fails.
Seth’s suggestion, waive the fees often. It is a pretty good strategy, as customers feel they are geeting a deal. Another thought, raise your price, and include all the charges. Flat fee, one number. No confusion, and then sell the hell out of your value bundle.
