Never.
If you do get your prospect's attention and the response is negative, ask for forgiveness and a favor.
Yes, a favor.
Let them vent, first and all the way, the angrier the better, as long as they don't hang up or leave.
Why? Do yourself a favor: Try it until it works, then post a comment asking why.
Photo credit: Do me a favor and let me in... Beatlesgirl7
Part 1 or a 4-part tele-workshop series
Free Tele-workshop for Sales and Marketing Professionals, Sales Managers, Business Owners and Solo-preneurs
• When you’re asked, “what do you do?” at a business-networking event, how often do you leverage your answer into an appointment immediately?
• How often do people contact you to ask about your services after the event?
• During these financially challenging times, what do you say to drive more meetings with prospects who need you?
• Do you know exactly what you must say to capture immediate attention, interest and desire in order to thrive in any economy?
If you are worried about how you are going to grow your business in the coming months, then you MUST be on this call:
“What Do You Do?” -- Attend the Whadayadoo Tele-workshop
The first call is absolutely FREE.
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
10:15 AM Pacific / 12:15 PM Central / 1:15 PM Eastern
During this first call, you will:
1. Develop powerful, customized language to command attention and compel the interest of your listener
2. Learn what NOT to say when asked, “what do you do?”
3. Network and meet potential strategic partners within the workshop
4. Understand the power of Specialization
5. Decide on exactly who you want to help
6. Discover a powerful system to inspire 4 out of every 5 participants you talk with to commit to follow-up
Register TODAY for this valuable call at NO CHARGE!
In order to receive the telephone number and bridge code, you must register at http://whadayadoo.eventbrite.com/
Others have misused the words: Collaborative Selling, Partner Selling... I call it Alliance Selling
Social Selling is more than "word of mouth," more than "accidental spokespersons," more than promotion via social networks and social media. Call it Advisory Selling, Collective Selling, Community Selling, Group Selling, Connection Selling -- you get the point (I hope).
Specifically: Where professional salespeople or spokespersons or marketers consistently and collectively SELL each other's services and products through the mechanism of consultative sales process .
It starts with your own ability to establish credibility as an Advisor established in your Initial Consultation with a prospect. During your Needs Analysis phase, you uncover the needs for other services and products available from your partners. Through proper matching and recommendation, you don't just "refer" your prospect -- you set the appointment.
Through collaboration with other trust Advisor Alliance Partners, you will build your business 200% and 300% faster and more effectively.
It's easy.
So, why aren't you doing it?
What's the difference between Selling and Negotiating?
What are you better at, selling or negotiating?
Writers do it; Actors do it; Radio hosts do it -- Are you doing it?
Many thanks for the gift and inspiration of Li Evans, who interviewed a produced content for guests of Blog Potomac, Washington DC's first blogger round-up and unconference.
Whether you're and account manager, inside sales, part of sales team, or sales support, your company will benefit from the power of your personal brand.
What are you doing to build your credibility, visibility and even celebrity using the communication tools available on the world wide web, today?
How long do you wait before you next contact a prospect, business partner or acquaintance and how?
Sounds like the question, "how long do you wait to call after the first date?" In a way, it's the same question, although if you're properly controlling the process, before you leave the meeting, you agree to a specific next step and never a "think about it."
More specifically, when is the optimal time to communicate, "thank you"?
10 minutes after you meet.
Yep, 10 minutes. It's especially important after you've met with prospects or clients. The fact is, right after you meet with a service provider is when you have questions or concerns. Doubt it? Pay attention to what you're thinking about just after a meeting and write down the questions you're asking. This is happening with your customers, too.
The good news is you have a few ways to communicate this. The best way to know the best and easiest way to say thank you is to ask during your consultation, "which communication medium do you prefer; email, telephone, mail?" Make sure you have their cell phone, text them if they prefer email; call them if they like the telephone.
Bonus practice:
During your consultation assure your prospect that, "there's no dumb questions." Now, when you call within 10 minutes of parting, you can say, "Just a quick call to thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I'm looking forward to working with you. Is there any question I can answer which you may have just thought of since we left each other? Remember, there's no dumb questions."
This is especially important if you've met with more than one person. There's always a conversation just after a meeting. There's always questions.
An immediate, "thank you," impresses new networking partners, too. And don't forget the power of the hand addressed, hand written, personal note card. It always gets opened and read.
What's your best practice on follow-up?
Photo credit: Todd Hryckowian
Inspired by the picture of what Jason Womack's reading, here's a picutre of the stack of books currently on my bed-side table.
What are you learning?
More importantly, how is it influencing your selling behaviors?
Potomac Blog was the Washington DC, Metropolitan area's first collective attempt to bring Social Media experts under one roof for an unconference.
Initiator, organizer, champion and MC, Geoff Livingston, proudly announces Blog Potomac a success, as I agree. Largely an audience of marketing professionals with a healthy attendance of PR and communications professionals, the event was an excellent inside look at how the "other" communication disciplines -- PR, Advertising, Marketing, Branding -- use New Media to create dialog with the prospect and customer. As a representative from the Sales camp, I walked away with the question, "aside from having a social networking account, how much does the focused field rep need to understand and use the plethora of Web 2.0 communication and media organizational tools becoming available every day? Here's a small sampling of the techie tools post-lunch keynote, Frank Gruber, professed to love and often uses:
Gmail - AOL Mail - Remember the Milk - AIM Instant Messenger - AwayFind - AwayFind details
Facebook - Twitter
- Flickr - TubeMogul - Viddler - Blip.tv - YouTube - eyespot
- Typepad - WordPress - Tumblr - Evernote - Mixx - Digg -Delicious - StumbleUpon - Shareaholic - SiteMeter - FeedBurner - Google Analytics - myAOL - FeedHub - AideRSS - Summize - Google Alerts - Filtrbox - Lijit - SocialThing - MyBlogLog - FriendFeed - TwitterFeed - Dopplr - Tripit - Basecamp -Quicken Online
If you're a committed Sales Professional, you are accountable for public relations, branding, marketing, advertising and customer service, whether or not they are another's responsibility.
Social media tools are about engaging in the conversation with your public. They're having it with or without you.
Yes, it can be overwhelming. So, to get started, here's a couple of suggestions, opinions and observable options:
If you're not growing as a sales professional, you're dying. The worse part -- you won't know it until you're dust.
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