Btb Guest Author

Zeke Camusio

Twitter looks like a foreign language and Facebook intimidates you with its features. You signed up for these social networking sites but you are stumped – how can these sites actually help your company?

Social networking sites are easy to navigate, yet they look confusing to new account users. The following tricks will take the mystery out of how to use popular social networking sites to promote your company.

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/
Fill out your business contact information in your profile. Make sure you include your real name and company name. Set up a “business page.” If you have multiple companies or branches, set up multiple pages. Include hours of operation, phone numbers, emails, etc. This is important because search engines will pick up these business pages. Facebook allows you to send out messages to your friends list to become “fans” of your business page. You can also add company events to your profile—another great promotional tool.

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/
Twitter is the hottest and fastest growing micro-blogging platform on the Internet. Twitter boasts 5 million users and has been touted by companies as a high-profile branding tool. Twitter acts like an instant messaging program. The best way to take advantage of Twitter is to follow the RIGHT people. Promote important company news and links in your tweets (message updates). These are helpful applications which make it easy for you to update tweets: TwitterFox ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5081 ) and TweetLater ( http://www.tweetlater.com/ ).

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/
If you want high visibility, add professional pictures to your profile. Photos are a great way to attract people to your MySpace page. MySpace also allows you to write a catchy headline for your page– keep it simple and make sure you include your company’s website link. Stand out as an expert in your field, and use the copywriting trick of “call to action” (invite them to your website or blog).

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/
LinkedIn is one of the most effective business social networking sites. Tailor your profile accordingly to your specific industry. A great tool is the email import feature – you can invite business colleagues and clients via your email account. One of the fastest ways to get your company name out there is to join professional groups. These groups allow you to easily connect with potential clients and colleagues. You can also add comments and interact on group forums. Update your profile on a regular basis and make your profile public (or no one will see you!)

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/
The largest free video hosting site on the Internet, YouTube allows you to promote company videos to a mass audience – over 100 million U.S. viewers per month. If you represent sports and fitness industries, demonstration videos (i.e. yoga, weight training, etc.) are an effective promotional tool. Become active in the YouTube community and subscribe to other channels that target your industry. Add keywords to your video descriptions and account profile – search engines will pick up your video and company profiles.

Zeke Camusio is CEO of the Outsourcing Company, an online marketing agency with offices in Aspen, Colorado and New York. The Outsourcing Company is Zeke’s sixth company. His ultimate goal is to start an entrepreneurship school to give people the tools they need to make the world a better place to live.

Over at TSE

The new TSE international eBook featuring articles from a host of the TSE experts is being downloaded @ a rate of one a minute - To get your FREE Copy, click the banner.

There are HUGE amount of people that are prepared to help you to be SUCCESSFUL, that will make you feel IMPORTANT and that will help you to GROW your business.

They will even help you and your business in ways that you are yet to COMPREHEND and guess what - they will do it for free, that’s right for FREE.

Take a moment, DIGEST!

Sounds too good to be TRUE, it’s not, In fact, it’s the only TRUTH you need to CONSIDER right now.

You can choose to Ignore it, you can choose to try and fight it, but DON’T because its MOMENTUM is so great, its FORCE is so strong, that it will wash over you.

But not like a wave, more like a tidal wave. It’s an AVALANCHE sent to level the playing field. It will make superstars out of individuals, but only those that choose to work for the benefit of the COLLECTIVE.

Some would have you believe that it is an out with the old; rubbish, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

It’s a return to the most BASIC of our instincts, to a time when we brought down great mammoths with nothing but sticks and stones.

It’s a return to the SOCIAL INSTINCT, a time for your neighbour, a time when working together meant for the good of the tribe.

Only this time, it is on a GRAND scale and our tools are infinitely more SOPHISTICATED. The neighbourhood is in the hundreds of thousands and the tribe is the WORLD. The potential is EXPONENTIAL, but BE warned; it can destroy as well as create.

Big businesses, politicians, don’t be a woolly mammoth because you won’t stand a chance - now is the time to GET IT, the race is over - nobody won.

Some say 2012 is the end of the world; Nostradamus predicted it so, if you are inclined to believe. Perhaps there might be some truth to what to old grey beard had to say - It’s just a matter of interpretation.

Perhaps 2012, it when we eventually COP ON that we are all in this together, and it is only working together and for each other that we can SOLVE our big problems and RESOLVE our puny differences.

If you really want to compete, reach out and COLLABORATE.

Btb Guest Author

Ian Brodie

A topic I’ve blogged about frequently is the importance of good follow-up and of nurturing relationships over time.

In The Importance of Good Follow-Up I highlighted the futility of the “Nice to meet you, if you ever need our services…” email follow-up to networking meetings and suggested a number of value-adding alternatives.

One trend I’ve noticed recently is the increasing use of email newsletters as a follow-up mechanism. The price-point and ease of use have reached a level nowadays that even the smallest of businesses can have their own regular newsletter delivered to clients and prospects.

But just because something is easy doesn’t mean you should do it.

On at least half a dozen occasions recently I’ve found myself subscribed to email newsletters from people and companies who I’ve met briefly at networking meetings. I’ve given them my business card and they’ve plugged it straight into their email distribution list.

This is a follow-up mechanism that has the potential to add value if the newsletter is of high quality and relevant to me. But how does it make me feel to have my details “harvested” in this way?

To be honest, not great.

It feels impersonal. I’ve not had an email or call from them. Nothing mentioning any connection we made at the event and no thought from them on tailoring the message to my specific needs. I’ve just been fed into their email marketing machine.

I wondered whether I was the only one who felt this way, so I posed the question on Twitter to see how others felt:

As you can see from this sample of responses, people’s feelings are almost universally negative. They range from “I want to *smack* them!” and “it sucks!” to at best, “my junk filtering can soon take care of them if they fail to send me anything interesting or useful”. And remember, these negative responses are to something as seemingly innocent as adding someone’s name to an email distribution list after meeting them. For me, Kneale Mann summed up the sentiment best best when he replied: “A handshake does not make you a customer”.

Obviously, Twitter followers are not a sample that’s representative of the public at large. But I do believe they represent an important and growing sensitivity to the appropriate use of information.

So what’s the alternative?

Well, since you are interacting face to face with them, there should be ample opportunity to offer to send the newsletter and get their permission.

If the time isn’t right when you meet them, then send them an email afterwards with a sample copy of the newsletter suggesting it might be of interest and giving a link to sign-up if they are. Personalise the emails – recalling topics you discussed or better still – add value by suggesting ideas for questions they posed or challenges they highlighted when you were talkign with them.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is my opinion as to what you should do rather than something that is proven to have better results. I haven’t done any testing to see what results in better long-term subscriptions, click throughs on the newsletter or eventually sales.

But for me that doesn’t matter. If you want to establish a reputation as someone who can be trusted then you mustn’t do anything early on in the relationship to suggest an abuse of trust. Auto-subscribing people to your newsletter without asking is hardly the crime of the century – but to many people it suggests that you will not treat them as individuals with their best interests at heart.

Personally, I’d rather lose potential newsletter subscribers than lose that reputation of trust.

Ian Brodie has been helping some of the world’s leading organisations with their marketing and sales challenges for over 16 years. He has been interviewed on industry and business issues by the BBC and Business Week magazine. Ian is the editor of Rainmaker Resources – the leading internet portal for partners, businesses developers and marketers in Professional Service Firms – featuring reviews, feeds and links to the leading Professional Services business development resources on the web. He also run the Rainmaker Network – the Linkedin Group for professional service business developers. You can contact Ian on ian@ianbrodie.com or through his website www.ianbrodie.com

In the News

The voting has nearly ended over at Top 10 Sales Articles - if you haven’t voted yet, you can still register your support for your favourite article here

Sales Leadership Ireland continues to go from strength to strength. We now have three further subgroups which are:

INTERNATIONAL SALES

SALES TEAM MANAGEMENT

OWNER MANAGER SALES

Updated 17/09/09

I have been effectively using LinkedIn for about 3-4 months; it’s a super networking and business development tool. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile - well you should have? Here is a list of some of the Irish LinkedIn groups that I am a member of - to join a group, just click on the name.

If you are a founder or member of a group that you feel should be included – please let me know @ nialldevitt[at]btbtraining.com

Sales Leadership Ireland

This is the group I founded and you guessed it - its focus is selling in Ireland. Sales Leadership Ireland is a new group that aims to help Irish B2B sales people network and discuss all things related to “selling in Ireland”

SOCIAL MEDIA IRELAND

The second group I manage on LinkedIn. it’s for anyone that is interested in learning about using social media tools to effectively and organically grow business -
Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn etc

Irish Software CEOs

This group is for Irish Software CEOs with experience to share and have high-growth aspirations for their businesses. From early stage to global domination, how does a software company grow through the stages. How can Enterprise Ireland / IDA help? What are they good at and what should people expect?

Paddytech

Paddytech is a new group on that aims to connect Irish ICT executives within Ireland and those overseas interested in keeping abreast of the Irish marketplace

OpenCoffee Ireland

Self-organising business meet-up group with members in all major Irish cities such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford.

Ireland Business and Professional Network

Ireland Business and Professional Network is the leading business and professional network in Ireland, bringing together experienced, sophisticated private investors and professionals with exciting, early-stage, high growth companies.

121 Marketing Network Ireland

This is a group for Ireland-based Marketing professionals to discuss marketing ideas, industry trends and help people find other marketing experts. Connect with friends, colleagues, alumni, and develop new marketing contacts. Check the notice board for 121 Marketing Network Ireland associated marketing events in your area and meet up with other like-minded professionals.

121 Business Network Ireland

This group is for Ireland-based business professionals to discuss ideas, industry trends & help people find other experts. Connect with friends, colleagues, alumni & develop new business contacts. This is a platform to interact with your peers.

Irish American Business Network

The IABN is founded on the cultural and historical contributions Irish descendents throughout North America. Using a light hearted approach, we seek to use our collective experiences and insights to further our social, professional, and individual pursuits.

Irish Executives

Networking group for Irish business people abroad with close ties to Ireland and want to see it continue to thrive. The aim of the group is to share business connections, ideas, job or consulting opportunities with Irish folks first.

Irish Business Association

The Irish Business Association is a group of professionals and business owners committed to promoting business relationships and personal interaction within the Irish-American business community based upon a shared heritage.

IT Ireland

Group of IT Irish professionals and people working in IT in Ireland.

Freelance Ireland

Brand new LinkedIn group dedicated to freelancers based in Ireland (and anyone looking for freelancers). Find Job postings, participate in discussions, read news and reviews, show your work and expand your professional contacts.

SME Links Ireland

This Group is for Owner-managers / Senior managers of irish SMEs and specialist consultants working within the SME space. Its intention is to allow members to share ideas, gather information, express opinions and concerns, and to make contacts. It is an opportunity to discuss issues, explore opportunities and learn from best practice.

HR Ireland

HR Ireland - HR Network Group run by HR Professionals for HR Professionals in Ireland and Europe. Network of HR Professionals in Ireland and Europe to share and discuss people topics.

Mise Éire (I am Ireland)

Ok, so not a strictly business focused group but well worth a mention not the less. Mise Eire is a varied group of Irish and Irish diaspora. The topics of discussion include politics of all kinds, ancestry, history, music, recipes, humor… and there’s even a virtual pub that’s just shoy of having 15,000 posts in just the past four months! A great bunch, and great craic!

Irish Twitter User Group

Irish Twitter Users on LinkedIn

The Btb Interview

Daniel McVicker is director of client services for StrathMadigan , which is a professional services and business consulting firm. Their focus is on developing long lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships with clients by providing straightforward and Consultative advice. The firm is tasked with delivering genuine added value with a measurable return on investment through the provision of highly experienced and industry specific professional business consultants. StrathMadigan provide 2 distinct services across all disciplines. They can provide an entire Outsourced function for a division of your business or provide Project Staff and Interim Managers to address specific critical issues.

Me: Cost is the big issue now, is price cutting a good way to hold on to existing customers?

Daniel: Don’t lower your prices. Tempting though it is under the premise that it may increase sales, I believe that although in the short term it may generate revenue - it could have a potentially serious damaging effect on the longevity of your business.

If you cut prices now, when the upturn comes as surely it will, how will you then justify increasing your prices.

Me: So how then can you deal effectively with customers who want cheaper prices?

Daniel: Address pricing issues with guarantees. By giving a guarantee to your customers it says that you are confident in your product or service and it is also ethical. Be prepared to give generous guarantees, customers will see through guarantees which are weighted in your favour.

Me: Salespeople and business owners tell me that motivation is very difficult, as someone who is continuing to successfully grow business - what would you say to these people?

Daniel: Knowledge and ability mean nothing without action. With the credit crunch and the recession biting hard, sales people and business owners alike are becoming increasingly despondent and shying away from picking up the phone to customers for fear of hearing another no.

Now is the time to pick up the phone and stay close to your customers. The companies which are weathering the storm best at present have one thing in common, they are taking Action!

They are increasing their marketing, increasing their customer contact, whilst all the time stealing and increasing market share!

Me: So how do you know what actions you should take and when you should take them?

Daniel: There are 4 important factors in taking action:

(i) “All Encompassing Action”: taking action in all the areas of your business which require it. It is easy to fall into the trap of taking successive steps action, ie: I’ll do a leaflet drop this month; I’ll update the Website next month etc.

(ii) “Habit” Once you begin to take action makes it a continual habit, not sporadic. Successful people generally have similar habits but beyond that they have a structured plan and one that they follow religiously.

(iii)“Focus and Measurement” On taking action, make sure it is the right action, it is easy to become a busy fool taking the easy options or doing the tasks we enjoy. For every Action we take it should be measured to ensure that it is an effective use of our time.

(iv)Be positive about taking action. Taking action and making change can be difficult; it takes us out of our comfort zones. A positive attitude and a realisation that your business will benefit as a result will increase the likelihood of your actions having the desired outcome.

Me: Are we perhaps paying too much attention to the problems and not enough attention to the solutions?

Daniel: Stop talking about the credit crunch. Talking about the economy won’t change it, taking action, speaking to customers and selling will.

Over at TSE

Tuesday, June 23rd 2009 at 6PM GMT (1:00PM EASTERN)

Join Danita Bye, Jonathan London, Steve Martinez, Craig Klein and Jonathan Farrington for our latest TSE Roundtable:“The Power Of Sales Process”

Take the tour above.

Btb Guest Author

Jonathan Farrington

Micro-blogging service Twitter remains the preserve of a few, despite the hype surrounding it, according to research.

Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found.

Estimates suggest it now has more than 10 million users and is growing faster than any other social network.

However, the Harvard team found that more than half of all people using Twitter update their page less than once every 74 days.

And most people only ever “tweet” once during their lifetime, the researchers found.

“Based on the numbers, Twitter is certainly not a service where everyone has seen it has instantly loved it,” said Bill Heil, a graduate from Harvard Business School who carried out the work.

On a typical online social network, he said, the top 10% of users account for 30% of all production.

“This implies that Twitter’s resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network,” the team wrote in a blog post.

Silent crowds

Twitter is a social networking website where people can post messages of 140 up to characters - known as “tweets” - that can be seen by other users who subscribe to their feed.

Its growth has been described as “explosive” and has become the poster child of social networking sites, particularly amongst media companies.

Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than an intimate conversation with friends.

Recent figures from research firm Nielsen Online show that visitors to the site increased by 1,382%, from 475,000 to seven million, between February 2008 and February 2009. It is thought to have grown beyond 10 million in the last 4 months.

By comparison, Facebook - one of the most popular social networking sites by number of visitors - has 200 million active users and grew by 228% during the same period.

Research by Nielsen also suggests that many people give the service a try, but rarely or never return.

Earlier this year, the firm found that more than 60% of US Twitter users fail to return the following month.

“The Harvard data says very, very few people tweet and the Nielsen data says very, very few people listen consistently,” Mr Heil told BBC News.

‘Super user’

The Harvard study took a snapshot of 300,542 users in May 2009. As well as usage patterns it looked in detail at gender differences.

For example, it found that men have 15% more followers than women despite there being slightly more females users of Twitter than males.

It also showed that an average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman, despite the reverse being true on other social networks.

“The sort of content that drives men to look at women on other social networks does not exist on Twitter,” said Mr Heil. “By that I mean pictures, extended articles and biographical information.”

However, said Mr Heil, the most striking result was that so few people used the service to publish information, preferring instead to be passive consumers.

For example, the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one.

“Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than an intimate conversation with friends,” he said. “It looks like a few people are creating content for a few people to read and share.”

Some “super users” can have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of followers.

Currently, the most popular person to follow on Twitter is the movie star Ashton Kutcher who has over two million followers.

However, the service bills itself as a way to “communicate and stay connected” with “friends, family and co-workers”.

“The Twitter management need to decide if this is a problem,” said Mr Heil. “And if they decide it is, how they will tweak Twitter to become more acceptable to the average user?”

Very interesting!!

Thanks to BBC News.

Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, and consultant, who has guided hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels.  He has authored in excess of three hundred skills development programmes, designed a range of unique and innovative process tools and has been published extensively on a wide range of business topics including organizational and sales team development, leadership and the customer imperative.  Jonathan’s first book, “Tougher At The Top” will be published early in 2009.  Visit his website @ www.jonathanfarrington.com

In the News

Here is a second very interesting post from Jonathan called “Dear Customer, Meet Me On Twitter. Dear Vendor, Why Should I Do That? “

“We all know that a vitally important sales activity is that of managing existing customer accounts, to consolidate and grow the relationship. Yet unfortunately, when compared over time, the customers’ interest levels increase while salespeople’s interest levels tend to decrease. This creates a “relationship gap” and is due entirely to complacency. I happen to believe that “complacency levels” are increasing alarmingly, and this goes some way to explaining declining levels of sales achievement”

Jonathan highlights why increasing dependence on Sales 2.0 tools may end up decreasing the levels of time and activities spent managing existing accounts and relationships. I think he makes a very strong case why salespeople should proceed with caution.

Staying with the Twitter theme, Jordan McCollum tells us that to”Breathe into a paper bag. Put your head between your knees” because Twitter traffic is now at best flat or maybe even declining.I guess I may have to start looking for another replacement addiction

Over at TSE

TSE Masterclass Schedule

Today @ 6pm

“Engage More…Sell More” presented by Skip Anderson

Thursday @ 6pm

“Cold Calling in the 21st Century: The New Rules” presented by Wendy Weiss

Thursday June 25th

“Mom Was Right! Honesty is the best policy and, in today’s tough selling market, a very profitable one” presented by Colleen Francis

Tuesday June 30th

“The Incredible Value Of Sales Team Audits” presented by Kendra Lee and Jonathan Farrington

Remember each masterclass is $59.50 on it’s own, but if you join through my blog as a VIP member - you get all this and more, much MORE for $25 so why not:

Take the tour

Download a FREE copy of our summer eBook (normally $19.95)

Just click through on the two banners above.

This is my article from the new Summer eBook from Top Sales Experts International.

It’s 147 pages and includes articles from some of the foremost sales experts in the world. People like Dan Adams, Keith Rosen, Wendy Weiss , Nancy D. Solomon, Joanne Black, Jonthan Farrington, Paul McCord , Cindy King and Kelly Robertson to name but a few.

It will be on sale for $19.95, but you can grap a copy for FREE here. To download your copy - just click on the widget on the right.

————————————————————————————–

A person’s likeability factor is often referred to by people such as Simon Cowell when assessing contestants for TV shows like Pop Idol. While it might be a commonly used term, how many of us really understand what it means? How can you use your own L-factor to improve your sales performance?

Definitions of “likeable” can be vague. Terms such as “Easy to like”, “attractive” or “appealing” are just some of the descriptions that are often used. In the book “The Likeability Factor” author Tim Saunders tells us that it is only when we enter the fields of psychology, physiology, and personality that a more concise description of likeably can be found.

Tim defines our likeability as, “An ability to create positive attitudes in other people through the delivery of emotional and physical benefits” He identifies four key factors that go to make up each individual’s L-Factor, they are:

● Friendliness: your ability to communicate liking and openness to others.

● Relevance: your capacity to connect with others’ interests, wants, and needs.

● Empathy: your ability to recognize, acknowledge, and experience other people’s feelings.

● Realness: the integrity that stands behind your likeability and guarantees its authenticity.

We refer to actions in sales, where both the prospect and the salesperson benefit, as win-win. Improving your L-factor is also win-win, because not only do those who know you benefit, but as Tim points out - you also benefit. You win more of “the popularity contests” that define your life.

In sales, your likeability is vital in creating good first impressions, building rapport and allowing the prospect to trust you. These are critical building blocks to creating strong relationships with customers.

Likewise, in a competitive situation where two solutions are evenly matched, the salesperson’s L-factor could quite easily become decisive. So what are some practical steps you can take to increase your own Lfactor with your customers?

————————————————————————————–

1. Friendliness - Be more open to creating a lasting Impression with your Customers.

One of the first ways that you convey friendliness to prospects is through non-verbal communication.

● An open posture
● Using open gestures
● Maintaining eye contact
● Interested facial expressions
● Smiling
● Laughing

Note: Remember that later evidence is only interpreted by customers in light of their first impressions of you.

————————————————————————————–

2. Relevance - Let your Customers know you are listening to what they want.

Active listening is how you communicate your listening to customers. This means nodding, conveying expression in your face and making good eye contact. Also important are not interrupting, asking the customer checking questions and taking notes. Remember, it’s how you dramatise and convey you’re listening that really matters.

————————————————————————————–

3. Empathy - To better know your customers, first get to know how they are feeling.

Developing empathy with your customers requires that you manage your responses to:

a. Your customers and their circumstances.
b. Your customer’s reactions to you.

● Be careful not to pre-judge an emotional state, tone or reaction, as there are nearly always circumstances beyond your knowledge.

● Rather pose questions to better understand where the particular emotion (good or bad) is coming from.

● The best way to develop empathy with customers is to ALWAYS try to look at things from their perspective.

● Remember, the first step in getting customers to feel strongly about you is to first understand what they already feel strongly about.

————————————————————————————–

4. Realness - Guarantee your Customers nothing but the Truth (even when it hurts).

Honesty is an integral part of sales. Without it, there cannot be trust and without trust, there cannot be a relationship. The ability to develop strong relationships is the critical aspect of a successful outcome in sales - which in turn makes honesty so vital.

Remember (Honesty ● Trust ● Relationship ● Sales)

Most salespeople are never intentionally dishonest, but there are times when pressure or temptation creates traps that we can fall into. These sometimes result in salespeople venturing into grey areas and telling customers white lies.

Traps to be very careful of:

● When a customers asks a question where you don’t know the answer to or only know some of the answer. Not wanting to appear foolish - the temptation here can be to bluff - don’t do it!

● When a solution only partially meets a customer’s needs, but they continue to be interested - the temptation can be to fail to highlight that the solution will not meet all of their needs - don’t do it!

● When a competitor makes very ambitious claims - the temptation can be to follow suit - don’t do it!

● Where a customer is still struggling to grasp how a solution will work, but still wants to buy - the temptation can be to choose to explain after the deal is done - don’t do it!

The easy rule to apply to any circumstances is, if in doubt - DON’T do it!

————————————————————————————–

Getting prospects and customers to like us more is by no means easy. The challenge to building great person to person relationships, very often comes down to our understanding and acceptance of the individual’s uniqueness (warts and all). The skill is in finding the common ground.

There are certain traits that we all find appealing in others - business and sales are no different in that regard. Becoming a better salesperson may require that you become a better person.

Applying these 4 simple, yet effective, principles in both your personal and professional life will help.

Oh yeah! And your customers will trust, respect and LIKE YOU MORE for it.

I had intended that our interviews would happen once a month, however based on the amount of interest, I have decided to make it weekly for the foreseeable future. If you are interested - please let me know @ nialldevitt[at]btbtraining.com

The Btb Interview

Joseph Kelly is CEO of the Loopthing, the newly launched social business network, ww.loopthing.com The service provides any business or self employed person with the opportunity to create an interactive profile in addition to forming and joining networks that relate to their area of business. Together with the open application environment that is being created, Loopthing is starting to push the boundaries of business communication and interaction on the web.

Me: As an Irish based start-up looking to grow the Loopthing network both here and internationally how are you finding current market conditions?

Joseph: It is definitely fair to say that current conditions are by far more stable than Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. Towards the end of last year it was extremely difficult for organisations to see over the business horizon, which made forecasting future profitability and even basic inventory requirements very hard.

Within the ICT sector there are some very innovative products and services in development, and it is essential that we as an entrepreneurial nation capitalise upon opportunities that are being created in current market conditions, especially on an international level. Our only concern would be the support available to SME businesses in the current environment. Speaking from our company’s personal experience it has been very hard to gain any level of concrete support from the country’s enterprise support networks.

Me: “Increasing brand awareness through the web” – Discuss?

Joseph: We believe in today’s business environment every single business, no matter what industry they operate in should be in complete control of their web presence.  It’s basically all about communicating with the widest possible audience and if you’re missing a trick on the net, you’re basically ignoring a large potential customer base. Check out our blog on what steps you should take - http://blog.loopthing.com/?p=351

Me: What advice would you give to increase sales in the current market environment?

Joseph: To improve sales in any downswing is obviously a very hard task, but our belief is that if you can dramatically increase the information surrounding your products and services, your business will stand much more of a chance of attracting those vitally needed sales leads.  Given the product and service is satisfactory, improving the information and transparency associated with your business, in our view carries a high correlation with sales generation. http://blog.loopthing.com/?p=95

In the News

Hi Niall,

We just posted an article, Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills?. I thought I’d bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting. I am happy to let you know that your site has been included in this list.

Thanks for your time!

Suzane Smith

Top Sales Experts International have just released their very latest ebook.

It’s 147 pages, packed with articles from some of the foremost sales experts in the world. It will be on sale for $19.95, but you can grap a copy for free, that’s right for FREE here.

I haven’t got around to reading all the articles yet, but I have already found some gems in there:

Business Consultants, Strategic Orchestrators & Long-Term Allies
By Jonathan Farrington

A “Big Picture” View Blurs The Vision…..
By Christian Maurer

Don’t Get Referrals, Get Introductions
By Paul McCord

Are You Missing These Buying Signals?
By Skip Anderson

Recruiting A Sales Force That Sells
By Colly Graham

How To Successfully Cold Call For New Business
By Steve Martinez

Time Well Served!
By Tibor Shanto

Sociable! Selling Integrating Social Media Into Your Sales Process
By Shane Gibson

The Secret To Getting More Done And Making More Money
Aligning Your Activity With Your Objectives
By Karl Goldfield

Stop Blaming The Economy! Three Tough Questions
For Winning More Business In Today’s Soft Market
By Tim Wackel

To download this super ebook for FREE - just click on the widget below

Oh! and by the way, my own article is on page 109. Its called “Are You Selling Your L-Factor?” - Make sure to check it out

I have been involved in a number of interested and heated discussions over at the www.salesjobs.ie sales forum. One in particular, sticks out where one Irish sales trainer criticised me heavily as to how I dealt with an enquiry. I choose to qualify early so not as to waste mine or indeed the prospects time.

Based of the 2 footedness of his initial comments, I imagine this gent may have been motivated by attempting to make a bit of a name for him. To be fair to the guy, there was some merit in what he was saying. I could easily have taken a different approach. This could have let to a different outcome??

However, what this so called expert failed to grasp or indeed ask “was this the right thing to do?” based on the available evidence. Had he done this, the answer would have been no. One reason for this is that his training approach, and therefore his sales approach only goes so far as to consider actions. Simply put, it’s an act now, think later methodology.  He believes that he can sell anything to everyone.

When I explained for him, why I believed under these circumstances, taking his advice would lead to a salesperson “wasting their time”, he got cross and accused me on been “ambiguous”. He may even have felt that I had trapped him - I am not sure.

Again, I understand why he might feel this way - his training is based in a world where prospects say, do and mean in the “black and white”. Unfortunately, for salespeople, the real world is not like that and prospects are very often ambiguous.

Salespeople are all the time having to make decisions where they lack 100% of the facts. In my opinion, a big BIG part of effective selling is making great decisions with less than all the facts.

You see the net result of listening to these “chase at all costs” preachers is just that - It’s all cost. It will cost you time, it will cost you your resource and it WILL cost you sales.

Now, more than ever salespeople need to be more strategic in their approach. You cannot consider sales without considering the strategy of selling - you cannot sell without THINKING FIRST.

In the News

We are launching the latest TSE ebook- 147 pages, packed with articles from most of the Top Sales Experts including yours truly - Ill keep you posted.

Btb Guest Author

Jerry Kennedy

This is an new venture for us. Once every month I will attempt to talk to a person in the know about selling or business. If you are interested - please let me know @ nialldevitt[at]btbtraining.com

The Btb Monthly Interview

Anne Perret is a Psychologist, Marketeer, Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming and a director of Calyx Communications Limited, www.calyxcomms.co.uk, which provides specialist skills in bid management, sales management, bid writing, tender preparation, competitive tendering and responses to tenders

Me: Anne, is bidding selling?

Anne: You can tell what an organisation’s answer to this question is by how it manages its bids, tenders, proposals and responses to Invitations To Tender and Requests For Proposals (ITTs/RFPs). And by its win rate.

Those with a low win rate see bids as back office activity. Often bids are put together late because they are an add-on to the day job. Or it’s the job of a young graduate to write the bids. Sales people should be out on the road selling, not in the office writing. And a 20% win rate is the norm in their industry.

Me: How do the more successful organisations see things differently?

Anne: Organisations with high win rates see things differently. They regard responding to formal procurements as part of their sales function. And they take the business of bidding very seriously indeed.

Me: How involved should salespeople be in the process?

Anne: Their sales people are involved in bids, ensuring that every last piece of customer knowledge is fed into the bid strategy. And they are heavily involved in writing tender responses and presentations.

Me: Does the sales department always need to be involved in bidding or are there some exceptions?

Anne: Bidding brilliantly is part of a salesman’s job when that’s what customers require. It’s not an option or an add on – it’s an essential part of the selling toolkit.

Me: Thank you Anne, you re-confirmed what I have always believed.

In the News

Jonathan Farrington, our captain at TSE is confused, he thinks it’s Christmas and is giving away free places to TSE Masterclasses at his blog. - Make sure to keep an eye out, it’s on a first come first serve basis.

SLI (linkedIn)

We had our first Sales Leadership Ireland meet up yesterday in the Burlington. By all accounts, it was a success and the feedback has been excellent.  What surprised me, was not just the number of people that showed up - but the quality of these same people. I will be publishing a report of what transpired shortly.

We will be running another event soon, To join click here.