Mistakes That Hinder Sales

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They say it’s the little things in life that matter. This principle applies to sales representatives if they want to be successful in their career.

As salespeople, we often get caught up in the things that stare us right in the face. We focus on quarterly goals, the weekly conference calls, and the ever-looming concern over what this year’s bonus will be – all the while overlooking ideas that keep us on top of our game. Some of the mistakes we make are obvious, such as failing to make enough calls, lacking product knowledge, and not asking a client to buy. But it’s those deeper neglected areas that cause us to slowly lose our edge or superiority.

In my view, there are three common pitfalls salespeople must avoid to insure maximum results regardless of where they are in their career.

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About the Author

Allen Guy, Senior Vice President of Business Services, State Bank and Trust CompanyAllen Guy is the author of Playing to Win: The Sport of Selling and How You Can Win the Game. A veteran sales representative and manager with experience that spans more than twenty-five years and multiple industries, he is currently senior vice president of business services for State Bank and Trust Company in Mississippi.

Playing to Win is a convergence of sports analogies and practical business skills to educate and entertain readers as they further develop their sales abilities. It provides applicable advice that can easily be remembered and put into practice.

What do you do EVERY DAY to build attraction and brand?

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PERSONAL REALITY: You wake up, shower, shave (M), put on makeup (F), brush your teeth, and comb/fix your hair (if you have any). Every day like clockwork.

Those are personal habits. Rarely (if ever) missed.
What about business habits? Personal, business habits?

BUSINESS REALITY: Do you have the same consistency in your daily business habits? And I wonder how many of your daily habits take the long-term view. Or are you just trying to make sales to make quota? Big mistake.

I want to talk about one element of your personal business habits: Your personal outreach, your daily outreach, that builds attraction, personal brand, authority, known expertise, recognition, position in your industry, Google rank, social media presence, top of mind awareness, and reputation. Oh, that.

Sounds like a LOT of work. But actually it takes LESS time than your morning bathroom routine once you’re set up and rolling. And these are habits that create attraction. Real attraction.

The cool part is it costs (almost) nothing. All you have to do is allocate the time, and (most important) commit to DAILY OUTREACH.

Here’s the master list of available resources that you must employ and deploy:

  • LinkedIn. Your prime professional outlet for finding, attracting, building, and staying in touch with business connections. OUTREACH: Be personal and creative. Don’t use the lines and messages provided by LinkedIn – use your own words. Post something of value, and ask your connections to share it with THEIR connections.
  • Facebook. A place to create one-on-one dialog with customers – especially by responding to their praise and concerns. OUTREACH: Post positive service stories and videos. Respond to issues within two hours.
  • Twitter. 140 characters that put your character on public display. Make every character count. Have something profound to say that your followers would be compelled to send to THEIR followers. OUTREACH: Tweet a value message at least twice a day. One that your followers would find interesting enough to re-tweet to THEIR followers. The object of Twitter is to be re-tweeted by your followers, thereby exposing you to new people (customers).
  • Blog or personal website. A starting place, a landing place, and a jumping off place for stories, ideas, opinions, photos, videos, training, and anything else your customers or followers would find BOTH interesting and valuable. On a blog you can mix business and personal, as long as it’s not offensive. Your posts can be subscribed to and delivered by email. OUTREACH: Blog with a minimum of a weekly, if not daily, post. You have unlimited space for text, photos, and videos. Your blog is an opportunity for people to realize both your intellect and your passion.
  • YouTube. Video is the new black. This is a chance to convey messages, training, subject matter expertise, testimonials, and offers of value. Your viewers can subscribe, and your posts can be cross-pollinated on your blog, your Facebook page, and your LinkedIn profile. All for the low, low price of: FREE.
  • E-zine. A weekly, informational piece that can contain SOME promotional material, but MUST have mostly helpful information. If you need an inexpensive template and delivery platform, go to www.aceofsales.com.
  • Group text messaging. A newer form of communicating to customers and prospects that hasn’t quite found its way. But like all forms of connection, branding, and selling, it will soon emerge as a powerful method of ‘instant offer’ and ‘instant information’ that, unlike other forms of outreach, commands instant viewing.

I’m offering myself an example of what to do. Everything in this outreach formula is based on what I do personally. Study me. Emulate me. My outreach is based on value. My outreach is working.

MY PERSONAL EXAMPLES: On twitter I am @gitomer. On Facebook I am Facebook.com/jeffreygitomer. My blog is salesblog.com. My youtube channel is youtube.com/buygitomer. On LinkedIn search my name: Jeffrey Gitomer. My ezine is published on salescaffeine.com. My website is gitomer.com.

JUST DO IT: You’d think that with all these career building, low-cost or free opportunities, benefits, and life building assets, that every salesperson on the planet would be the MASTER of these outlets – and you would be wrong – drastically wrong – and most likely, PERSONALLY wrong.

MOTHER GOOGLE: All of your ‘outreach’ builds your Google search-ability, ranking, and visibility. The foundation and fulcrum point of your reputation rests on Google. Most of the time Mother Google is the perfect platform and reference point, UNLESS you try to fool her by manipulating your status.

NOTE WELL: Outreach is a lifetime process. When done well, it builds every aspect of your brand and reputation. And over time it creates the real law of attraction – a law based on value offerings, in spite of what you may have read or heard elsewhere.

Yes, my friend, there is also a face-to-face aspect of outreach. That will be covered next week!

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

About the Author

Jeffrey 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].

Salespeople have questions, Jeffrey has answers.

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I get a ton of emails from people seeking insight or asking me to solve their sales dilemmas. Here are a few that may relate to your job, your life, and (most important) your sales thought process right now.

Dear Jeffrey, I have cold called in the past and didn’t have a problem with it. But now I am having a hard time getting people to even hear me out. What is the best way to handle cold calls about a free hearing screening for senior citizens and follow up on a direct mailing? Sherri

Sherri, Cold calling sucks. It’s for people that have no other way of marketing. Senior citizens meet in groups. They have conclaves. They have bridge parties. They have mahjong parties. They have bingo parties. Go to the parties. Stop cold calling people. It’s a waste of time.

What you need to do is sit in a room and in a normal voice and say, “How many people can’t hear me? Well, I guess you’re not raising your hands because you can’t hear me.” And then talk about your free test and ask, “Who would like to take it?” Maybe bring the test to the group. Go to a Kiwanis or Rotary meeting. There are both retired and older people there. Your job is to figure out smarter, better ways to eliminate the cold call.

If you’re gonna use direct mail (goodness gracious!), it’s okay, but its passé. Everyone knows it’s passé. The bottom line is if you get a response from it, then figure out a better way to communicate with those who are interested. Often, the senior citizen will have an email account. Often, the senior citizen will have a Facebook account because they are communicating with their grandchildren. Figure that out. Then make the call. Best regards, Jeffrey

Dear Jeffrey, How do you advertise and get customers to your business with no money? Jamie

Jamie, Actually, it’s easier than you think. If you have some customers, get them to start advertising. Get them to post a little bit of a testimonial for you on their Facebook page and your Facebook page. Start LinkedIn. Start Twitter. And start to use social media to build your business and build your reputation. It’s free. You don’t have to worry about the cost of an ad, which may not bring you the results you’re hoping for anyway. Advertising is more free than it has ever been. Your job is to figure out a way to take advantage of it using existing customers and social media. Best regards, Jeffrey

Jeffrey, I work in the agriculture industry. Most of my customers wear blue jeans and cowboy boots. Everything I read about sales says dress up. When I do, some of my customers make comments about being a city boy, or they say I look like their banker (even though I usually wear dress slacks and a long sleeve shirt with polished shoes). In your opinion, how should I dress? Doug

Doug, Wear what you like. Wear what makes you feel comfortable. If you’re uncomfortable wearing city boy clothes in front of cowboys, then stop doing it. Wear nice, fashionable cowboy clothes. Make certain that if you’re going to wear boots, that they’re polished and have some nice brand name to them. The goal is that your customers will say, “Nice boots!” or “Nice belt!” or “Where did you get that shirt?” That’s what you want. You want one of a kind stuff. Wear vintage stuff. There’s plenty of vintage cowboy stuff out there. Make certain your look, even though casual, is one notch better than the customer would wear when you’re in that meeting with them so the clothes become a positive discussion rather than a drawback. Jeffrey

Jeffrey, I have recently started in sales at a radio station. I have read a few of your books and we follow all of your suggestions as far as selling. I am right out of college and I look it, if not younger! I’m afraid if I try to make appointments in person I will be turned down right away because of my age. How would you suggest I overcome this? Sarah

Sarah, First of all, stop believing that your age is a barrier. Second of all, pre-prepare a 30-second commercial (of around ninety words or less) about the customer before you ever walk in the door. Record it. Walk in and say, “Hey, I just did a commercial for you. Would you like to hear it?”

If the commercial is cool, creative, maybe a little bit edgy, and has a little music in the background they will listen to that commercial and call other people in to hear it.

No one will care about your age if you prepare in terms of the customer. Best regards, Jeffrey

Jeffrey, I recently joined a business broker who has been successful for six years. I am the new boy. It appears revenue is generated from listing fees and commission on sales. Listings are obtained from direct mail, drop ins, and customers seeing our website. Lots of groundwork has to be done to build up listings from zero in my case. Purchasers are coming all the time, and converting them to sales doesn’t appear to be a problem. It only takes one purchaser and the commission is good. What concerns me is we seem to be using old methods to get listings. Snail mail and cold calling. Do you have any suggestions on what you would do to fast track the listing process? David

David, When you start in a job, there is no “fast track.” There’s only what has been done successfully before. Start there. And when you do start there, you’ll be seen as “fitting in” and “part of the team” or “part of the process.” Yes, you’re on your own. Yes, you make your own commissions. You know what? You can’t come in and fight traffic from the first day. What you need to do is harmonize with what’s happening in your place of business. Do it the old way first and then figure out a new way on your own. If it were me, I’d be using social media. I’d be using testimonials. I’d be using every new strategy I possibly could, but not until you’ve made a few sales with the old way. Start there. Best regards, Jeffrey

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

About the Author

Jeffrey 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].

LinkedIn is great for business – er, I mean SMART business.

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I am NOT a LinkedIn expert, but I do have more than 15,000 LinkedIn connections. Do you?

I may have more visibility and notoriety than you do, but we are equal in exposure and linking possibilities. And 98.5% of my LinkedIn connections are the result of people wanting to connect with me.

I do not accept everyone. I click on everyone’s profile before connection. Many are impressive. Most are average or less. Some are pathetic.

How’s yours? How many connections do you have? How are you communicating with your connections? How are your connections helping your sales or your career?

Your LinkedIn profile is one more social media image. And you choose exactly what it is. When others search for you on Google, LinkedIn is one of the first links they click on. You have a chance to make a positive business and social impression.

THE GOOD: When I realized the business significance of LinkedIn, I immediately sought professional help. I hired Joe Soto at One Social Media to help me with the keywords, layout, and what to include on my profile page. He also recommended what and how to post.

It must be working. In the two years since I hired him, I have added more than 9,000 organic connections. Or should I say, more than 9,000 potential customers. Huge opportunity. At an acquisition cost of ZERO.

REALITY OF LINKEDIN: I receive requests to link and I also get messages. Some are very nice, some are self-serving, some are insincere, and some are stupid (very stupid). And ALL messages are a reflection of the person sending them. That would be you.

Here are some THINGS about LinkedIn to make you think, re-think, and act:

  • Your picture is NOT an option. Show a professional, but approachable, image. Be proud of who you are.
  • Have a LinkedIn profile that gives me insight, not just history. Not just what you’ve done, but also who you are. Your profile is your pathway to connection.
  • DANGER: DO NOT USE stock LinkedIn messages. It shows your laziness, lack of creativity, and overall lack of professionalism. Standard LinkedIn messages need to be replaced with your own. EVERY TIME.
  • If you’re looking for a job, or working a lead, tell me WHY I should connect. (Where’s the value?)
  • If you’re looking for leads, use the keyword feature (rather than the job title option) in the ‘advanced search’ link to the right of the search box. It’s free, and you’ll find hundreds of people in your industry or in your backyard that you never knew existed.
  • • Why are sending me an e-card on Easter? I’m Jewish, not a good move. Three words to ask yourself with any message you send or post: WHERE’S THE VALUE? E-cards are a total waste, unless it’s family.
  • If you’re asking me (or people) to join your group, TELL ME WHY I SHOULD.
  • If you’re asking me to connect you with a 2nd level connection, DON’T. The only way to ask is from 1st to 1st. And tell me in a sentence or two WHY you want to connect.
  • Asking for a recommendation or endorsement is BAD. If you’re asking your connections for a recommendation: DON’T. It is perhaps the dumbest, rudest thing on LinkedIn. Think about it, you’re asking people to “please stop what you’re doing and tell me about ME.” Two words: GO AWAY. If you have to ask, it’s probably because you don’t deserve. Think about that.
  • Don’t tell me you “found something interesting” in your group message, especially if the link is to join your MLM down-line or attend your ‘free’ webinar.
  • Allocate 30-60 minutes a day to utilize this vital business social media asset.

THE BAD and THE UGLY: Here are some examples of MESSAGES and INVITES I have received on LinkedIn. Hopefully they’ll make you think, re-think, and act…

BAD: Hi Jeffrey, My name is — with —, a leading — provider that helps organizations connect with their customers through email, mobile, and social networks. I would like to connect about a potential partnership to help Buy Gitomer, Inc. increase their interactive marketing ROI.
This is a typical self-serving (and deleted) message. Why not give me a tip, and ask if I’d like more like it? And stop using dead sales words like ‘ROI,’ and ‘helps organizations.’ Help me, don’t sell me.

DUMB: Hi All, As I continue to work on building my network, can I ask that you do me a huge favor and endorse me here on LinkedIn? I would be more than happy to return the favor and endorse you as well. Thank you for your support! (name withheld to avoid public embarrassment)
Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Give me a break. Spare me. Beg someone else.

BAD AND DUMB: I got this in my message box (I get a few like this every week)
(subject line) Your Opinion please. (name withheld) Supplier Business Executive
If you’re hoping for an endorsement or a recommendation on LinkedIn, or anywhere, here’s the two-word mantra: EARN IT!

LinkedIn is the business social media site of today AND tomorrow. Harness its power, do notabuse its options, and you will reap its rewards.

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

About the Author

Jeffrey 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 Twitter you may not know. But should.

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What’s in a tweet? For most people it’s a post and a prayer.

For me, it’s value, information others can use, followers, reputation, image, re-tweets, customers, referrals, sales, and money. Is that enough?

Twitter has the power to generate awareness, create value attraction, keep you or your brand at top-of-mind status, and build relationships. Is that enough to get you to participate?

I want to share some advice about twitter: I am NOT passing myself off as an “expert,” and there is nothing to buy, and no free webinar to attend. These are just my observations and successes based on the past four years of my participation.

Here are my stats as of this writing:

  • My twitter handle is my name: @gitomer
  • Followers – 60,580
  • Following – 17,109
  • Tweets – 3,127
  • Average tweets per day – 4
  • Average links to view a video or an offer – 1 per day
  • Average number of re-tweets/favorites per day – 25-75 per tweet
  • New followers per day – 30-50

Here are 3.5 things I recommend you do in order to really benefit from Twitter:
1. Have an objective and a strategy. Twitter is intended for you to inform with value, influence, brand, and (on occasion) to converse or respond, not chit-chat. The value of your tweets will determine who stays with you and re-tweets you. When I see someone with 14,500 tweets and 285 followers, two words come to mind: NO VALUE. I often use the direct message feature to respond, rather than an open tweet – that’s meaningless to everyone else.
2. Create a list of value-based tweets and subjects you intend to tweet about. Be prepared at least a week in advance. Keep a Twitter file that documents ideas and possible tweets. Itweet quotes from my books, and thoughts that come to me during the day (ornight). You can also re-tweet others if you believe it helps your followers.
NOTE: I try to leave at least 10 characters open, so that others can easily re-tweet me.
NOTE: If you re-tweet me or favor me, I’ll follow you as a courtesy.
3. Approach followers of strategic value. You have an email list. INVITE each person to follow you PERSONALLY. In an email, tell each person about your twitter participation, LIST A FEW OF YOUR TWEETS, and ask them to follow you by clicking a link and the follow button. If you have 1,000 people on your list, and 250 follow you, it’s a GREAT start. Continue to send your tweets out weekly to the rest of the list, and re-ask them to follow you. This will take time, but the earning potential exceeds the stupid TV show you’re watching.
3.5 Be consistent. Tweet every day, at least once a day.

Don’t DM (direct message) me saying “Thanks for the follow.” It’s an annoying waste of my time and yours. Instead, how about sending me the same kind of message I sent you – ONE OF VALUE. A message to make me think, make me smile, or make me money. Insincere politeness and phony thanks makes you sound like a bad flight attendant, reading from a script, into a bad microphone, behind a wall.

Don’t re-tweet the news. You are not the source. Originality counts – especially if it’s valuable or thought provoking to your customers.

Your twitter outreach is not going anywhere if:

  • You talk with other people in superficial chatter more than 10% of your tweets.
  • You re-tweet others more than 50% of the time.
  • You fail to tweet your own thoughts.
  • You have nothing but sales messages with a link to buy something.
  • You’re only trying to get people to ‘go here’ to ‘read this’ and ‘see my blog post’ or ‘watch this video.’
  • Your tweet to follower ratio is out of proportion. You should have a MAXIMUM of one tweet for every 10 followers. 100 tweets = 1,000 followers. The lower the ratio, the better.

Here are the MAJORS:
MAJOR CLUE: Being re-tweeted is the key. My goal is 100 re-tweets a day
MAJOR OPPORTUNITY: Photo and video is becoming commonplace. Do not abuse it. Show value, not your backyard BBQ.
MAJOR FAUX PAS: Your links better work – especially if they’re to your website, your blog, or other social media like LinkedIn.
MAJOR IDIOCY: Please don’t offer advice for sale, or call yourself an expert, if you don’t have AT LEAST 50,000 followers.

I am amazed at how few sales professionals and sales leaders are not taking advantage of Twitter. It’s a resource, it’s a broadcast medium, it’s a vital recognition tool, it’s a reputation builder, and it’s free.

Tweet that. I just did. At 7:30am. In less than two hours I had 9 new followers, and 43 re-tweets or favorites that reached (influenced) MORE than 75,000 people. For free.

How’s your morning going?

What a list of my most powerful tweets? Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor and enter the word TWITTER in the GitBit box.

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

About the Author

Jeffrey 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].