Do you have a prospective customer relationship that went dark on you?

Did you have a good conversation, perhaps did a demo, they responded favorably and then nothing else?

It is frustrating when this happens because it could indicate one of a number of things:

• They liked what you talked about but are back in the throes of their position with no time for you
  
• They responded favorably because it is the polite thing to do, but didn’t really see value.
• They have other priorities ahead of you closing a deal.

Unless something else happened, like a co-worker is out and they are taking on more work, or they took off on vacation, chances are they did not see ENOUGH VALUE to think about what you proposed.

So work to re-engage. Do this not by saying, “Did you get my last email?”

Do not do it by calling to say you are just “checking in” (please never say that, OK?)

Do so by adding value with content – insight which could help your buyer. It can be an article, blog post or white paper that ties in with the challenge they are facing. A simple e-mail could say:

John,

I have not heard back from you and know how busy you must be with the end of the quarter happening.

When I saw this post about how global companies can reduce expenses through a few smart ideas, I thought of you – especially the part about considering an outsourced solution for that. [send the link to the article or blog post as a hyperlink so that there are no attachments - you are more likely to get the email through successfully]

I’ll try you again in a week, or feel free to do a quick reply to let me know if this is still the priority you had thought it was.

thanks,

Lori

———————————–

According to Cliff Pollan, CEO of Visible Gains, buyers are demanding sellers bring more value to the table. Sellers need to think of ways to add helpful content to the process. Content can be:

• Industry reports on trends and new developments
• customer success stories
• ROI Calculators
• implementation guides
• analyst reports
• training materials
• webinar recordings
• eBooks
• blog posts
• videos
• slide decks
• images

Are you creating value for your buyers, or are you just re-hashing the same old messaging?

Work this week to find one or two new pieces of insight you can share with your more probable prospective buyers. Then share it, and see what the results are. You should find that they either were not as interested as you may have thought, or they will appreciate you furthering the conversation. Either way, it will be a good activity because if you are not working with as qualified an opportunity as you think,  you can stop bugging these folks and instead put them into a nurturing campaign. If they DO appreciate the insight, you’ll move forward on this opportunity.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2013″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Inside Sales Power Tip 118 – Share Insight appeared first on Score More Sales.

If I could give you a sales team of enthusiastic champions to build your visibility and ultimately your revenues without writing a check, would that be helpful?

That is exactly what happens through the powerful strategies of connecting to the right people for the right reasons. I am convinced that with the power of connection, nearly anything is possible.

Professionally, you can start today to grow your ties and strengthen them but it needs to be through a mindful approach. Mindful means that it is thought out, and planned for.

Most people know how to identify prospective customers or clients and they track them in a CRM system with next actions set. (Note: if you are NOT doing this, start immediately. There has never been a better time to find simple and even free tools to capture your prospective customers and all your connections)

Most people do not capture and track a list of people who could be considered strategic referral partners – those who like you and champion you and your business.

Additionally, few business professionals regularly seek out strategic referrers – they are busy looking for one customer here, and another customer there.

You can download our handy Winning Teammates e-book, free download click here, on growing your network in a planned manner, using a methodology of knowing who your referrers are and staying on top of those relationships.

Imagine that sales team I mentioned earlier. These are charismatic folks who turn up somewhere in the world that know and like you, plus they trust that you do quality work, and will do what you say They refer you to others. These people are the ones that you refer on an ongoing basis too.

No Dues Required

The best part is that instead of belonging to many leads or networking groups, you can do this from your desk, on your schedule, and on your own terms. The challenge though is that you need to incorporate a methodology for doing it, along with a process and on a regular schedule.

Begin by creating three lists that you should always be working off of to develop your business. This means that in your CRM system, you have tagged them so that at any time you can pull up a list of any of these three groups. By doing just this one activity, and regularly printing out or viewing on-screen your three groups, you will have more presence of mind about them and you will undoubtedly engage with them more frequently.

Prospects – always track your prospective buyers and set next actions with all of them.

Current and Past Customers – those who have done business with you or are currently doing business with you are great sources for more business and for referral business. Nurture this list and even when you and your customer are not trading dollars for services, consider them a customer and keep in touch.

Strategic Referral Partners – this is the third list you need to start keeping. I know that you know people who have referred business in the past, but what I’m asking you to do is be mindful and keep an actual list of referrers and champions of yours so that you can connect with them on an ongoing basis.

Use online and social tools to connect, such as through LinkedIn and Twitter. Don’t stop with social tools, though. Send an occasional handwritten note or give a quick call. Always ask what you can do for them, and then do it.

Some of the things I do with my lists are:

Look for  social activity of those on my lists through Hootsuite.

Write 3 handwritten notes per week – at least one to someone in each list.

When I see something they have promoted in Google+ or on LinkedIn or Twitter, I’ll often “plus” it or like it or forward it on.

I call my contacts – you should too. It is amazing what a 2 minute phone call can do for a relationship – especially if you are calling to ask how someone is doing and to see if there is anything you can do for them.

Helpful Resources

I wrote a review of Porter Gale’s new book Your Network is Your Net Worth and highly recommend that book for more on the power of connection.

Begin a planned method of connecting to your three lists, and I promise if you do it consistently, amazing doors will open and opportunities will appear.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2013″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post The Incredible Power of Connection Using Three Lists to Grow Business appeared first on Score More Sales.

The most successful sellers are open-minded to new ideas.

They accept that they may not know everything, and that they might learn a new idea today that could cause them to close some extra business this month or even this year.

That’s why I love the profession of selling.  No matter how many deals we close, we want to know WHY we lost that one that got away – or in some cases, a whole bunch that we did not properly identify, qualify, and bring to closure.  We want a better strategy or process to be more successful.

What if you could get literally dozens of new ideas THIS month? Join me on the largest virtual sales event ever on June 20th. Attend the  Inside Sales Virtual Summit with sessions by over 30 sales experts and authors.

The Summit is expected to be attended by over 15,000 C-level executives and sales leaders, in addition to individual contributors all looking for new strategies as well as the tried-and-true ones to grow your revenues.

Some of my favorite colleagues and smartest industry experts will be speaking, including

• Ken Krogue, President of Inside Sales
• Jill Konrath, best-selling author of SNAP Selling
• Guy Kawasaki, best-selling author, VC, speaker, and business adviser
• Trish Bertuzzi, my colleague at AA-ISP Boston and President of The Bridge Group, Inc.

Gain insights and walk away with new ideas.

Just think of how you might learn one twist to something you do now, but could do better to improve your close ratio or to close one extra deal this quarter, or two more next quarter.

Here is the link to sign up for June 20th. Many sessions run concurrently, so you can choose just what you’d like to learn. It’s like a full day conference, only from the comfort of your own office. It runs from 8AM Pacific/11AM Eastern until 3PM Pacific / 6PM Eastern.

Get all of your sales leaders signed up because then you can share ideas after the event. Block out time in your calendars and consider this day (or part of the day) where you invest in “Quadrant 2″ learning – it is not urgent, but important. This sort of time blocked out can help you hit your goals, or learn why your current goals may not be working.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Inside Sales Power Tip 117 – Learn to Grow appeared first on Score More Sales.

Are you leading a sales team, developing sales at your company, or an individual sales contributor in inside OR outside sales?

Do you look for new ideas and a refresh of some old ones that still help grow sales and close business?

Lists of people to follow and check out can be very helpful because they have been somewhat vetted for you. Instead of you spending hours and hours looking for WHO to follow, folks like Jonathan Farrington’s team at Top Sales World do the research and you can benefit. This is their second year in putting this list together, narrowing down from 150 names.

My suggestion is to find those who you resonate with, and then pull in their RSS feed for their blog, subscribe to their email newsletter and learn something new EVERY DAY.

We recommend a 1% improvement EVERY DAY. Compounded, this would give someone a huge advantage in learning new sales and communications strategies plus some new tools along the way.

Check out Top Sales World’s new list 2013 Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers – it is an honor to be in such amazing company as the others on this list. I am convinced that you can solve many simple sales issues between a handful of blogs from these folks who represent many of the best ideas in selling.  Although there are tens of thousands of sales leaders and “experts” in the world, what this group represents, I think, is a willingness to share through blogs and content-rich websites ideas that you can use even before discussing how you might hire them. That means you can learn many things on your own now, and even begin to solve challenges once only an “expert” could for you.

There is still a place for hiring sales trainers, consultants and coaches – but for the issues you can’t solve or the ones you don’t have time to research and figure out. I like that you can have more choices for improving sales.

While you are looking up amazing people, take a look at Nimble’s post this week on Great Saleswomen in History and the recognition of colleague Anneke Seley in the infographic. In the post there is a link to the women of Sales Shebang(R) – another 50 or so women who are B2B Sales and Marketing influencers (many are on the Top Sales World list above)

The post  shows the Twitter handles you can add right into your Twitter feed or to any of the Twitter tools, like Hootsuite .  Great infographic created by Nimble and Postwire.

A Few Suggestions for Ongoing Sales Education

The Top Sales World list has links to each of the influencer’s websites. Go through 5 or so of these at a time, looking for posts and content that resonates with you. As you do this, bookmark them or set up a group on Twitter – however you do it, find a way to capture your efforts so you do not need to re-do the list.

On the Nimble post, a list of Twitter handles are given for women sales and marketing experts, so you can create a list or just add them to your feed.

The main thing though is to take action!

What will you do TODAY to help give you new ideas and strategies to move stalled sales opportunities forward?

Who will you learn from to shorten your sales cycle and qualify leads better?

When will you start?

We’d love your input posted as a comment on ways that you “collect” sites and people to follow, as well as how it works for you. Is it simple or easy to look everyday at your bookmarked sites for inspiration?

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers for 2013″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Need Someone to Help Close Deals? appeared first on Score More Sales.

In a world where business people and sellers are working to stand out and make a difference, there are a lot more people telling then showing exactly how to do so.

It must have been fate that got me in front of new author Porter Gale at the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit held recently in Nashville. She gave a wonderful keynote talk on the main stage and then I listened to her talk at the IBM Superwomen’s Group Luncheon where she was a panelist. Later in the day, I was able to interview her one-on-one, and found that the three conversations – keynote, smaller group, and then direct gave a great overview of this important storyteller who is a beacon in a sea of business people needing help understanding the care, value, and potential of their networks.

Porter Gale just released Your Network is Your Net Worth – Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age. The book is endorsed by Sir Richard Branson (her former boss) and the foreword was written by Guy Kawasaki, which definitely caught my attention. Since the value of connection has been the foundation of  my business life, I was captivated by the book, the topic, and all the side conversations about networking since then.

From 2007 until 2011 Porter was VP of Marketing at Virgin America – which has to be anyone’s favorite airline if you’ve flown on a Virgin flight. In addition, she is an international speaker and successful business consultant.

Helping Others and Being Authentic Can Change Your Life – Porter Gale

A main takeaway from hearing Porter speak was her passion for the power of your connections – literally the subtitle of her book shares the benefits of how nurturing and adding value to your network offers you so much more than business. She asks if you really invest in your network, and how rich your life can be when you do. I fully agree with her and was thrilled to receive one of her first copies of the must-read book to dive into on the trip home.

Porter reminded us that everyone is just FOUR degrees of separation away – something I hadn’t thought about even though Facebook had sponsored research back in 2011 to see just how many degrees we are separated by now was in the digital age.  I was still focused on six degrees – so that was a reminder just how powerful connections have become.  She mentions PeopleBrowser research shows that within a niche, we are just THREE degrees apart. Think about that for a minute.

The new book is a must read for anyone who values business building or who needs to grow business because of the examples and stories which prove out Porter’s ideas. A long time Dale Carnegie fan, I loved how this book is described as a fresh take on the Carnegie classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”  This mindset is about creating a foundation of success built on quality relationships. How refreshing in a world where a recent study showed that adults are making eye contact half as much as they should to build trust and build relationships. Although I write about revenue growth and mid-market business, the personal implications of being in certain networks in life, as told in story after story in the book is truly uplifting.

Porter Gale divides up the networking journey into three parts in her new book:

Develop a Transformational Attitude

Of the dozens of networking books I’ve read and programs I’ve been to, never have I seen so much on building your inner foundation to really figure out what is holding you back. most networking programs assume you are “OK” and it is wonderful to read something that says if you are not feeling OK, here are some ideas before you reach out to your network. From there, Porter shares that it is the passions and purpose that fuel you and are the basis for growing the environment around you, which includes your connections.

Build a Values-Based Team

Connecting with collaborators for mutual innovation, inspiration, and support is the new way to build your business and life.  Utilize digital tools to find your community, build your brand, and connect with others.

Porter shares a wonderful story about how six high school students in an under-served area in Los Angeles ended up meeting Sir Richard Branson through clear messaging and connecting to influencers. That story, which Porter told me in our interview, was so inspiring that it caused me to think of all the small business owners and sales professionals who doubt the power of social in building their visibility and connections.

Cultivate Fields of Creativity

If you want to have authentic relationships, says Porter, you need to add value. This is particularly an area where marketers and sellers in SMB and mid-sized companies can go step-by-step to learn how to create content that shares your purpose and grows your reach. It takes an unconventional idea sometimes to grow beyond your line of sight. In other words, it takes a village.  This is where your network – the partners, collaborators and recipients of your support can be of support to you.

Porter talks about the Give, Give, Get philosophy: before you ask for something, make sure you have given of value to that person or community. In my experience it is quite often that the “get” often comes from somewhere other than where you “gave gave”. Those people keeping score are the ones losing out. This blog has talked in the past about people who say they referred someone to a person in their network, and that person did not reciprocate, so they are really down on the idea of referrals. Porter’s book will clear up this silly notion and much more, with exercises throughout which cause one to really think about the “why” of what you are doing.

Take Porter’s Funnel Test, go through the questions, and stretch your reach to build the network and connections of your dreams.

How is your network?

Have you thought about aligning your values, skills, and interests as you grow connections?

Comments on this topic greatly appreciated. Also, I love Porter Gale’s 13 Steps for Transformational Networking which you can download in return for giving your email on her site.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Invest in your Network to Build Sustainable Business appeared first on Score More Sales.

A common issue among newer remote (inside) sales pros is that we tend to latch on to one person within a company to call on. Oh, you might do a little research and maybe even call someone else in the prospect company, but we often stick with that one guy or gal who actually took our call or replied to our email.

That’s “your” guy. Or “your” gal. Right?

Even though you rationally know the importance of calling deep and wide in a prospective customer company – what’s funny is that you feel somewhat loyal to YOUR contact and eventually you think you’re going around them if, for example, they don’t return your call or reply to your email at some point in the evolving relationship.

This is one of the TOP issues I see when meeting with an inside sales team or with individual sellers.

One reason this happens is that they seem to like you, and you don’t want to stir things up by calling someone else in the company who might not be as fond of you as your other contact. You think they could even shut your efforts down. So, you stick with “your guy”.

A better alternative is that you start from the beginning knowing that a complex sale has multiple decision makers so it makes perfect sense to do some looking around and contacting more than one person. You can use the power of internal leverage and let prospects know that in addition to talking with them in IT, you are also calling on the COO and CFO, for example. With some internal leverage positioned correctly you are much more likely to get a response.

How To Do It:

I like to share with potential buyers that the way I work is to talk with a number of folks in their company for several reasons – one being that I’m collecting information from different points of view.  Ultimately if they would be a good key contact for the project I’m talking to them about, then I will work through them. The fact remains though, that it’s clear I’ll be contacting others there. They would not be surprised if they heard it from someone within their organization, and this is why setting their expectations is not just helpful, but critical for your success.

The main reason this works well is that they know that I am calling on others within their company and they won’t be surprised or feel that I’m going over their head.

It’s funny how territorial people can get at their job, isn’t it? I have been told by people that if I “go around them” I will  never get their company’s business, and you may have been told that too.

That won’t happen if you first let them know how you do business. You are professional, prompt, value-added, and you make connections with several people in their company because you  have learned over time this is the best approach for them and for your company.

A second reason you want to call deep and wide in an account is to prevent the all-too common scenario of your connection going dark – no reply from your one contact. It is much better to be able to call one of your OTHER contacts to see if your main contact is away or working on a big project. This is a great way to glean information and insight.

Setting expectations is helpful in other aspects of selling and we’ll be covering that in a future post.

Are you calling deep and wide into prospective customer accounts or are you sticking with your one contact in the company? Read the related post “30 Ways to Reach Prospects”

How is that working for you?

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post Inside Sales Power Tip 116 – Call Deep appeared first on Score More Sales.

It is time to review how a customer experiences your brand says IBM. The annual “State of Marketing” Global Survey of Marketers has again been completed, and results were announced at the Smarter Commerce Global Summit last week.

The biggest takeaway? A shocking statistic of $83B lost each year in poor customer experiences.

IBM again went to 500 marketing professionals in 15 industries to ask critical questions and uncover from a marketing standpoint to help us all improve marketing and sales results.

You can download the complete results from the IBM State of Marketing 2013 Global Survey. (basic info will be asked for – definitely worth downloading.)

According to IBM’s Jay Henderson, Strategy Program Director, they identified three traits that the leading marketers all have:

They know the customer and  the individual in context – applying technology accordingly. This means that the top marketers don’t keep sending you an invite for something you’ve already signed up for, among other things. They can adjust offers in real-time.

Top marketers act on insights and create a system of engagement.  They conduct analysis of customer insights. They monitor online transaction struggles.

Finally, they take a broader view of the customer experience, beyond just marketing.  That means that they do things like tracking commitments from service interactions and identifies execution gaps in brand promises.

That third characteristic is a big one – can you think of a time when a company did that for you? Perhaps you had a poor service interaction – was anyone outside of one or two people even aware of that? It reminds me of driving across the U.S. and having some car troubles. Initially the Ford dealer we stopped at treated us poorly, so we used Twitter to ask @Ford what to do. They sent us to another dealer, and they followed up with us because they know that their service departments everywhere reflect their brand. (I also found out that dealers can get in a lot of trouble if they treat you the way we were treated – lesson learned)

Financially it pays off for companies to do this. IBM’s study shows that companies who are considered “Top Marketers” enjoy 1.8 times Gross Profit growth and 2.4 times greater stock price.

The study identified five areas marketers need to be thinking about:

• Understanding and engaging with customers
• Evaluating and prioritizing channels
• Creating a consistent customer experience
• Coordinating and delivering across the enterprise
• Optimizing marketing performance

The top two marketing challenges are issues near and dear to the sales team as well:

1. Acquiring New Customers
2. Retaining existing customers and improving loyalty and customer satisfaction

These two areas are not new – and it is interesting to see all the gains in technology and social connection – we still have these top two concerns.

The Smarter Commerce Global Summit was full of customer satisfaction and brand building stories, held at the Gaylord OpryLand Resort in Nashville – a customer service mecca from my first time visitor experience.

If you are in a mid-sized, mid-market company, I wonder if you track the lifetime value of a customer? For those who do, it can be a startling exercise and a most valuable one. This is what top marketers do.

They also communicate with the whole company on behalf of the brand – this means that sales and marketing work closer together than in those companies not considered “top marketers”.

Do your marketing and sales teams work together? It’s not a suggestion anymore, it is a must do for financial success.

Do you have cross-channel web, social, and mobile integration? Top Marketers do.

One great next step offered from the survey was to establish a common data repository for all of your customer interactions. I love this, because it ties in with my strong belief that companies have not optimized CRM to do this – and yet the most successful companies have.

Lots to think about here, and definitely more to write about in future posts.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Lori Richardson is recognized as one of the “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012″ and one of “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012 and 2013″. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside and outbound sellers in technology and services companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

The post What is the State of Marketing in 2013 appeared first on Score More Sales.