Free sales! Free sales! Step right up and get your free sales!

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What are your social goals this year?

No, not who are you taking to the dance on Saturday night. What are your intentions to create more online social involvement that leads to attraction, engagement and sales. Social sales. Oh, that.

UPDATE: Social sales and social selling is the new black.

SET YOUR SALES COMPASS ON ‘SOCIAL’ AND THINK ABOUT THIS:

  • What are your social value offerings?
  • What are your social product offerings?
  • What is attractive about your social offerings?
  • Where is the perceived value in your social outreach?
  • Where is the perceived value in your social offerings?

These are painful questions – but I’m just getting started.

My good friend, and IBM’s social evangelist, Sandy Carter, asked me to comment on what’s next in the world of social selling for 2015.

Here are the Social Media and Social Selling Trends for 2015:

  • Social media and social selling are entering the next phase. It’s the “comfortable with” phase – big companies and previous naysayers in general are branching out and digging in. Everyone is realizing the unlimited power, and has some experience with the process and applications. Comfortable enough to BUY. Social Selling Challenge: Are your customers and prospects buying from your online offerings?
  • Will your social selling offers only bring sales? The discount offerings bring customers. The value offerings bring customers and PROFIT! Social Selling Challenge: How much profit are your online sales bringing in?
  • Every social media site is trying to do and be everything to everyone. Photos are now everywhere. Videos are now everywhere. The ‘likers’ are now everywhere.
    Social Selling Challenge: How current is your social presence? Are you gaining a following?
  • Kids will continue to abandon Facebook for Instagram – 300,000 million Instagram users – and don’t be misled by the word ‘kid’ – in 5 years they’re your new customer – and will probably be more social savvy than you are. Social Selling Challenge: What are your kids doing? What are they buying?
  • Smartphones will continue to be the social involvement device of choice. And the app will continue to dominate Internet use. Social Selling Challenge: Do you have a social selling app? What’s your plan to get one or improve the one you have?
  • ‘Social’ involvement is no longer an option – it’s an imperative. You no longer have a choice – it’s all in or be left out. Social Selling Challenge: Who is in charge of social sales and social selling in your company?
  • Social selling is becoming more prevalent and more sophisticated. Analytics is the new black. Data-driven selling is the new norm. Social Selling Challenge: do you know who your online customers are?
  • App developers are thriving to capacity. That should tell you the story all by itself. Social Selling Challenge: Partner with an app developer and make something happen.
  • Purchases are the final frontier. The more people buy online, the more social interaction becomes and stays relevant. Ratings by customers will outweigh all other forms of advertisements. Social Selling Challenge: What is your social selling volume? And what’s your plan to double it?

My business plan for 2015 has a heavy concentration on social selling. So much so that I am writing (like this), investing in infrastructure (website and apps), and intensifying my social presence with more value messages.

Oh, I am also learning. Social selling is more fluid than mercury. Changes occur by the hour. And game-changers appear daily. I study the marketplace and especially MY marketplace, daily.

Where is the attraction coming from and what’s happening once the attracted actually land someplace? Are they buying or are they flying (okay, clicking) away?

Social selling is on the rapid rise. And unless you’re Amazon or Apple, you’re way behind the eight ball in development and execution.

Hopefully your competition sucks worse than you do. And hopefully you’re doing something about it sooner than they do.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The risk of 9 to 5. And the reality of BEFORE and AFTER.

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95 percent of all salespeople try to fit their sales day into a normal workday. They want their day to be from 9 to 5, maybe from 8 to 5, maybe even from 8 to 6, but very little before that or after that.

The reality is, that 9 to 5 is the riskiest time and the worst time to make sales. Especially a new sale, a sales call, or a cold call to a prospect. People are busy doing THEIR stuff from 9 to 5.

NOTE WELL: If you have a solid relationship with your customer, and are doing ongoing business, you have a good chance of making a daytime appointment. But a new sale, or a new prospect, you have virtually zero 9 to 5 chance.

And salespeople continually beat their heads against the wall, and sales managers continually demand more activity, even as foolish as cold call, in order to get their numbers up, when in fact numbers do not go up from 9 to 5, unless they are with existing customers.

From 9 to 5, people are busy working, not buying. Real salespeople make sales from 7 to 9 in the morning, and from five until seven or eight in the evening, and at breakfast and lunch.

Only about 5 percent of sales people get this. The 5 percent that make all the sales.

My financial planner, Walter Putnam says, “The best thing to know is: the best time to have meaningful conversation. And the best way to find out is to ask the prospect or customer. And get a date at the same time.” In other words, when you ask the question, make the appointment.

This self-assessment will reveal your opportunities or missed opportunities:

  • How many hours a week are you working or networking BEFORE the workday starts? Five hours a week is a great number.
  • How many hours a week are you working or networking AFTER the workday is over? Five hours a week is a great number.
  • Who are you meeting for early morning coffee? Why not have a daily coffee with a customer?
  • Who are you meeting for breakfast? Why not have 2 business breakfasts a week?
  • Who are you meeting for lunch? Have lunch with an existing customer once a week and bring a prospect for them.
  • Where are you networking before 9 and after 5? At least two events or groups per week.
  • Are you a member of a business development group like BNI? At least one group.
  • Where are your face-to-face meetings occurring in order to maximize your exposure, and your sales opportunities? Where are your sales taking place?
  • Who is NOT returning your calls? WHY?
  • Who is NOT setting an appointment? WHY?

These are challenge questions to determine the productive use of time before and after normal work hours. From 9-5 you’re busy chasing people, leaving voice mails, and being frustrated by a consistent lack of progress. More than half of your time will be wasted (you just don’t know which half).

Sales require relationship building. Not just for loyalty of existing customer base, but also to earn referrals and testimonials. Early and late sales meetings net positive outcomes. And early-late prospecting is MUCH MORE relaxed.

What can you do? Here are 7.5 things to enhance your relationships and your sales results. CAUTION: They require WORK.

1. Establish a mutually agreeable game plan with EACH existing customer. Not just how to sell, but also how you will help them.

2. Discover and document ‘best times,’ ‘best topics,’ and ‘most important.’

3. Reach and engage customers and prospects socially.

4. Meet for early morning coffee every day if you can.

5. Send a weekly value message to everyone.

6. GIVE referrals.

7. Seek leadership positions in every group you join.

7.5 Study your struggles and your successes. Identify where your last ten sales came from, because it’s likely your next ten will come from the same places.

The key point of understanding is the difference between a job in sales, and a dedicated, relationship based sales career. Which do you have?

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

How’s your networking working? Better if you follow the rules.

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I went to a networking meeting last week hosted by a formal networking organization called Business Network International.

Many of you know this group. They have meetings all over the world. This particular chapter meeting was in New York City, and is populated by sophisticated business people who are on fire.

NOTE WELL: NYC business people, in general, take no prisoners. This BNI chapter takes no amateurs. And their meetings are exceptionally well structured.

I went as a guest – without an agenda – just to meet people and provide value.

HISTORY: I began my networking career more than 25 years ago, so I consider myself a relatively sophisticated meeting attendee. This particular meeting is a pure networking group, rather than a social networking event, like a Chamber of Commerce meeting or an association meting.

The group predominantly meets to give business and get business. My interest was to meet new people, and observe how the meeting was run.

Before we get too deep into BNI and the NYC group, I’d like to review some networking imperatives in case you’re about to go to one of these meetings.

NOTE WELL: Most people take networking for granted, and think of it more as a place to meet friends and clients rather than capture an opportunity. They also fail to realize that people, whether you know them or not, are cultivating an impression of you – not just about you look like, but also based on how you act and how you dress.

Your physical presence, your physiology, and your communication prowess can determine whether the outcome is business or no business.

These are my top 9.5 rules for achieving positive and profitable networking results:
1. I shake and look. When I shake someone’s hand, it’s a firm grasp and a direct look in the eye.
2. I smile. Even in New York City. I found that by giving smile, I get a smile.
3. I ask before I tell. Whether I ask for their name, or a simple “how are you?” I want to hear the other person before they hear me.
4. I give before I get. I have always tried to make connections for others before I ask for one myself.
5. I don’t make small talk. I make big talk. I don’t want to talk about the weather. I want to talk about life and business life.
6. I want to make certain that I take a ‘next step’ if the opportunity is there. Anything from a simple exchange of business cards, to a cup of coffee, to an office meeting, to an invite to a social event, I want to make sure that my objective is achieved before I leave to talk to the next person.
7. Known or unknown? That is the question. I prefer to invest the majority of my networking time with people that I do not know. The reason is that I tend to make small talk with people that I know, and bigger talk with people that I don’t know. My personal rule has always been, small talk leads to small business or no business, and big talk leads to big business, or the opportunity for big business.
8. I like everyone and qualify no one. If you like people, it’s likely they will like you back. If you try to qualify people (by asking them questions about money or circumstance), their guard will go up.
9. Every connection need not be a sale. Make friends, build rapport, and provide value to everyone without prejudging or qualifying them. I refer to it as: “the rule of you never know.” And “you never know” has no time limit. Sometimes “you never know” happens in a week, and sometimes it happens 5 years later. That’s why it’s called “you never know.”
9.5 I am brief. Time allocation at a networking event is not an option. If there are 60 people in the room and the meeting lasts for one hour, you have 1 minute per person if you want to meet everyone. If you take 5 minutes with each person, you can only meet 12 people. The choice is yours, but be aware of time.

I’ve just given you the parameters, the guidelines, and the rules that I have personally been following for 25 years. There are other rules and you can find them in my Little Black Book of Connections, but these are the major ones that will make connections, make appointments, build relationships, and ultimately make sales.

Next week I am going to talk about why the BNI meeting was incredible, and how you can learn from it. Stay tuned.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Is your weight loss tied to your sales gain?

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Everyone knows that as a nation we are somewhere between overweight and obese. This is not good.

I tell my audiences, “we are so overweight as a country, if we were invaded by enemies, we couldn’t even run away.”

The reason I’m writing is not to tell you what I plan on doing, rather it is to tell you what I have done, what I’m doing about it, and how I will continue this process.

For the past five years I’ve weighed somewhere between 205 and 209 pounds. That’s not good for a kid who weighed 160 in college. Granted that was some time ago, but it’s no excuse to be 50 pounds over college weight.

Much like you, I lamented it instead of doing anything about it. I wrote about, and bragged that I was on my way to losing weight. I never did. I bragged that I was sick and tired of being overweight, and I was going to go on a major weight loss program. I never did.

Loyal readers sent me messages of encouragement, diet plans, MLM pill plans, chocolate plans, coffee plans, and assorted health options. I never did any of them.

But silently and secretly, I began losing weight. Now that I’m down below 190 (almost a 20 pound loss), I can come out of the closet (or should I say come off of the scale), and begin to talk about it.

Besides the weight loss, I firmly believe that sales and health go hand-in-hand. I believe that my physical well-being will improve my sales well-being, while enhancing my mental well-being.

I also found that losing weight is not just about watching what you eat. It’s a combination of thinking healthy, eating healthy, and exercise.

Here is what I have found to be true to lose the first 20 pounds:

Thinking: you have to have a DAILY mindset, and a mental awareness of what you’re doing at all times. Especially about what you eat. Two keywords are: eat less. Two more keywords are: eat healthy. And the final keywords are: weigh yourself. Thinking leads to shrinking.

Eating: No secret formula or diet or pills here. Here’s what I did: I’ve switched to club soda or water. No other drink. When I drink club soda, I add a squeeze of fresh lemon and lime. I eat as much raw fruits and vegetables as I can. I limit bread and all other empty carbohydrates. That’s it. I sacrifice very little. And if I occasionally feel like having some kind of pastry or candy, I eat it, or should I say, I eat half of it. I learned that moderation is the key to weight loss. If I order something at a restaurant, I eat half, and push the rest away.

Exercising: Enter CYBEX. More than an exercise machine, it’s a healthy alternative to being a couch potato. I have a Cybex machine in my home. Exercising for 20 to 30 minutes three or four times a week has made me feel fit and firm. No, I don’t have a lot of muscle, but I do have a good feeling every time I finish (even though there are many days when I’m reluctant to start). For me, exercise is a bigger discipline than diet, but now that I’m actually losing weight, the desire to keep up the habit is nearing the stage of compelling.

I should also add losing weight at my age (68) is a hell of a lot harder than it is if you’re in your 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s.

Okay so I’m down almost 20 pounds. I’m a little more than halfway home. I intend to drop down to somewhere between 170 and 175 pounds. I believe that’s my healthiest weight, and also my best selling weight. And as a public speaker I believe it will increase my credibility significantly.

This will be my first in a series of articles about the importance of mental success and physical success. Every person who has ever written about anything having to do with human success and all personal development books at their core, stress the need to combine mental health and physical health. I will be no exception.

With 20 less pounds on me, everything is a bit easier. Even the mundane things like putting on your socks and tying your shoes are noticeably easier.

But the best part about having a few less pounds is how I feel about myself when I look in the mirror in the morning. Okay, I’m not the prettiest specimen in the world, but I love my new look. I also love weighing myself.

Some mornings I can’t believe how far I’ve come, but my incentive is to keep going until I reach my desired outcome.

Yes I have a support system, and yes I have an exercise machine of my own, but the key to my success has been my own self-discipline and my own desire to keep my healthy process moving forward.

And please be aware, I’m not bragging about what I’ve done. Rather I’m sharing information about how to get and stay healthy, and hopefully inspire you to do the same. Odds are you have 10 or 20 extra pounds on you that you wish you didn’t have. And you can’t will it away.

Come on dude, wake up and smell the pop-tarts – just don’t eat them.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The Importance of Great Web Design

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The Importance of Great Web Design
Photo courtesy of Jung-nam Nam

Many business owners we speak to shrug off the importance of web design. “They just make it look pretty, right?” Wrong. Great web design is integral to the growth and presence of your business. These days, your website is the central aspect of your business. It is the gravitational center of your web presence. Customers make instant decisions about your company based on your website. Do they feel comfortable? Do they understand the purpose? Do they know how to find what they want? In today’s post, we’ll look at exactly why great web design is so important.

User experience – As we said before, visitors to your site make an instant judgement based on design. Great web design makes visitors feel instantly at home on your page. The layout will be intuitive and instinctive. The layout will be familiar but with a personal touch. Web visitors scan internet pages in a very specific way. Good designers understand this process and know how to capitalise on it. They’ll take your visitors on the journey and make the experience seamless.

Branding – Branding has always been a vital part of the marketing process. They say that a customer needs to see your branding 20 times before they make a strong connection with it. Your website is a great way to solidify and strengthen that brand. We spoke to a web design company for some essential branding tips. They told us that the best designers incorporate the colours from your branding palette into the site. They use your logo in strategic places where the eye falls most often. These are just some of the many great tricks used by the experts.

Trust – This one may sound dubious, but it is backed up by strong data. 94% cite web design as a reason they don’t trust a company. Poor and thoughtless design is easy to spot and it tells the user everything they need to know. There are some ways you can improve trust through design. It’s all about reputation. Show off large social media numbers and highlight prominent clients.

Mobile consideration – In 2014, internet access on mobile devices overtook computer access. More people are using the web on their phones than their laptops now. For that reason, it’s essential that your design is adaptable for mobile use. Failing to do this means losing over half of your potential customer base. The best mobile sites are designed and built by experts, we suggest you use one.

Reach goals – Every website should have a prioritised list of goals. It could be as simple as increasing web traffic. It could be to increase online sales or to extend your community reach. Whatever your goals, good web design is built around these fundamentals. The best web designers shape the site to highlight and promote these aspects. Good web design will help you reach those goals faster.

Web design should be at the very core of your online marketing strategy. It will make or break your customer relationships. Good design will increase trust, awareness and profits. Take the time to get it right and don’t be scared to invest some money here. Think your site could do with sprucing up? What are you waiting for?