Today's sales relationships are all about "BrandYOU".

Getting on your prospect's "radar" is one of the first steps inside sales reps need to accomplish in order to have a chance at taking the sale to the next level.

If you target the right audience and get them to notice and view you as an expert in your field (read: value added resource) you'll have a much easier time getting past gatekeepers, setting appointments or having prospects return your voice mail.

When you "Follow" a prospect on Twitter they'll get a notification email. In that email will be a link back to your Twitter page. In turn, there's a high probability they will take a quick peak at your short Twitter BIO and view your website. And if your Twitter page is set up right, they may just start to follow YOU and your tweets and start calling you instead!

SalesBuzz Tweet Tip: For best results (and those new to tweeting), one to three "value add tweets" (Meaning: No: "Hey, take a look at our product / service" tweets) per week are best.

Sincerely,
 
Michael Pedone
President/CEO
SalesBuzz.com
(888) 264-0562 Ext. 1

(Note: How to start profitable sales relationships and generate inbound leads with Twitter is part of SalesBuzz.com's 12-week online sales training and reinforcement program)

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Let’s play a game… How many cold call mistakes can you find with this outbound opening "value" statement?


Let’s break it down step-by-step:

Cold Calling Mistake 1: "Hello prospect, I'm from XYZ, purpose of the call is to introduce our company to you." They don't give a rats you know what about your company and don't want an introduction. You've already wasted precious seconds with this opening and have raised the prospects defenses.

Cold Calling Mistake 2: "Others have benefited by using our ABC service." Well good for them. But you haven't said anything about why I would care or what you could do for me, specifically.

Cold Calling Mistake 3: "I'd like to schedule a time to meet with you and explore the difference we can make for you. Are you available next Tuesday at 2 PM?" Ummm, NO. You haven't given me any reason why I should take the time to meet with you.

When cold calling, your opening value statement’s objective is to pique interest, lower resistance and gain permission to continue the call. You can't do that when using the same "over used / under performing" opening statement script that makes you sound like the previous 10,000 sales calls your prospect received.
 
If you’re concerned your opening statement lacks “value” and might be making some of the same mistakes as the example above, join me in our next live online training and skill building workshop series and let’s build a wining opening value statement together.

Sincerely,
 
Michael Pedone
President/CEO
SalesBuzz.com
(888) 264-0562 Ext. 1

It's Time for Goals and Accountability to Make a Comeback.

Another Missed Sales Quota? Weak Commission Check? Job on the Line?

When was the last time you set and held yourself accountable on a daily basis for these tried and true sales goals:

• Number of Dials per Day?
• Number of Qualifications per Day?
• Number of Presentations per Day?
• Number of Proposals per Day?
• Number of Closes / Attempts per Day?
• Number of New Prospected Accounts per Day?

I'm not saying we need to go back to doing 100 or more dials per day...

Those days should be long gone because today's smart sales person is doing a little pre-call research first instead of just "smiling and dialing". However, I think most sales reps have gone too far in the opposite direction, spending too much time online and not enough time on the phone.

By swinging things back towards the middle and setting the proper sales goals while holding yourself accountable is where a struggling sales rep will find a winning sales solution to help get back on track.

Sincerely,
 
Michael Pedone
President/CEO
SalesBuzz.com
(888) 264-0562 Ext. 1

The following question was recently posted by Sylvia MacSpadyen on LinkedIn for sales professionals to answer:

"What did you experience in a sales training program, that was most valuable for you in your career?"

Here's my answer:

"Reflecting on all the training I've had in my sales career to try and answer this question, I realized that there was never "one" specific experience that lead to my success other than constantly learning from those who had already achieved the success that I was after.

That came from books, tapes (those things before ipods) vhs videos (that thing before youtube) live paid seminars, buying lunch for whoever was the top sales rep at a new company I started at and picking their brain, developing a group of mentors to learn from, coming in early and role-playing and recording my sales calls so I can self train by analyzing what I said, how I said it and to hear what buying signals I missed etc.

Today's self-motivated sales reps HAVE IT MADE. There are newsletters, blogs, youtube, live and on-demand webinars and tweets all at their finger tips.

You no longer have to wait for your mentor to come rolling into town for a 1/2 seminar... chances are there's an on-demand catalog of webinar to access or a live virtual webinar / session just around the corner."

Bottom line - If you aren't improving, you're falling behind.

Sincerely,
 
Michael Pedone
President/CEO
SalesBuzz.com
(888) 264-0562 Ext. 1