May 11, 2014

The Top 3 Ways to Create a Personal Brand

By JaneFrankland | Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

Here’s an undisputed fact. The Internet has changed everything. Studies repeatedly show that right now more people are starting businesses than ever before. In fact some argue that there’s even an entrepreneur revolution going on.

So when you start a business one of the first things you have to decide upon is whether you create a personal brand or not. Once you’ve made that decision, the next is how to create your brand so it supports your sales activity.

Today's post is to help you understand how to build a powerful personal brand and it covers:

Packaging and positioning
How to be constantly in front of your target audience
Converting prospects into long term clients

April 26, 2014

How to Sell: 9 Stupidly Simple Steps to Boost Sales

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

How to sell without a hefty marketing spend to most could seem impossible. However, in today's world it’s not just sales that has got harder – marketing has too. B2B buyers and decision-makers are highly educated on the products and services they require. They’re hungry for information. Their appetite demands 24×7 consumption, whenever and wherever they can.

Forbes recently reported that 80% of B2B purchasing cycles are completed before the buyer considers contacting the vendor. You’re feeling this and know this to be the case.

So in order to get your prospects’ attention and differentiate yourself from your competitors, you need to satisfy them like never before. And that means that if you’re in sales or marketing you’ve got to pull together. You need to form a united front both in terms of knowledge and understanding when engaging, nurturing, and interacting with your prospects. In essence you need to become a team of superheroes who join forces for the greater good of your prospects and your company.

This blog has been written to help address these challenges. It has been broken down into the following 9-steps:

1. Calling a truce
2. Researching and creating an ideal client avatar or persona
3. Defining a sales-qualified lead and processes
4. Developing the most appropriate messaging strategies
5. Creating engaging content to attract and nurture prospects
6. Meeting prospects where they’re hanging out
7. Using the internal sales team for qualification
8. Obtaining more information from marketing
9. Measuring, assessing and reporting

Now, before we get started, I just want to stress that this blog is targeted at sales and marketing professionals, sales and marketing managers, and business owners. The aim of it is to help you get ahead in business, to get you thinking about sales and marketing integration and to help you get buy in if needed.

Now, let’s get started and go through how to sell!

March 22, 2014

Social media for C-levels: A threat or an opportunity?

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, social media | No Comments

Time and tide wait for no man. And, when it comes to social media for C-levels it is now no different. Social media is maturing. Gone are the hype days when it was simply a case of not understanding but having to join in if you happened to be in marketing. Today it’s in a production phase and revolutionizing brands. It’s empowering people, including staff, to have a voice and communicate their message.

And, whether you like it or not, social media is rapidly evolving into an essential leadership tool. With an expectation for company leaders to embrace it, which is being silently communicated, the pressure is now on for C-levels and ambitious executives to get involved and leverage off it. However, with so much at stake, the question that’s troubling everyone is…

…how to do this the right way!

And, it’s this lack of understanding that’s tending to make C-levels sceptical and reluctant participants, unrealistically fearful of making mistakes and in an uncomfortable position of learning whilst leading.

This e-Book (which you can get by sending me an email) has been written to help you, as a C-level, or aspiring one, understand how you can build a powerful C-level social media presence.

It covers:

Positioning
Messaging
Exposure

Before you delve into it, I’ll be setting the scene and looking at the challenges and opportunities. For example, how information can be deliberately leaked or unintentionally gleaned, how deals can be done and reputations built or ruined, all through social media portals.

The content contained within this e-Book will provide you with insight and help you get you started with creating a strong social media for C-levels presence. It’s here to help you get ahead in terms of your career and learn that when an effective social media presence is created, opportunities abound.

Now, before we get started, I just want to stress that this e-Book is meant for those who are fairly new to social media. If you’re an executive, Manager or Director, or a business owner, the content contained here will provide you with insight.

Now, let’s get started!

March 9, 2014

If you struggle to convert sales this is your solution

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales | No Comments

You're struggling to convert sales.

You're one social interaction away. One call away. One email away. One meeting away. One proposal away. One presentation away. One contract away.

Only one.

Sometimes you meet that one connection. You know you're right for them. They know they're right for you. It seems like a match made in heaven but for some reason you don't get the deal.

Sometimes business development and solution selling sucks!

Right?

And yes, even if you're chanting my sales mantra #22, “Rejection is God's protection.”

So, let's get real here and look at why.

March 2, 2014

Sales promotion: Do this & be seen as a rookie

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

Tired of not having enough sales?

When it comes to sales promotion, tell me…. How great would you feel if you could see an immediate result i.e. an increase in sales by applying 1 simple tweak to your business?

I know it's a silly question but humour me.

It'd feel great, wouldn't it?

Well If you want to see an increase in sales from your sales promotion you've got to get an edge on your competition. And, to create a truly competitive advantage you've got to understand 3 things inside out, namely:

Your market
Your competition
Your offerings

But, there's 1 more thing you need in addition to these 3 things AND it's vital. This is what I'm going to be going through today.

Story time

Now just to warn you, this is a video I was going to use for the How to Succeed in Business blog. However, I decided against it as I knew that there was too much to say and that's why it refers to business as usual. 😉

Moving on to the next stage

So you've watched the video and now you're shaping up quite well. You're saying, “We‘ve got a great service portfolio, fair prices, flexible lead times, superb customer service, and an informative website with up-to-date research and thought leadership.”

Right?

And, you're wondering whether you're now going to be inundated with calls or emails from ready buyers.

Yes?

The answer, in a word, is….

No!

Why? Sadly they won’t believe you.

Without proof, you're only going to sound like a lame marketer or rookie sales person.

Being the best isn’t enough. Being perceived as being the best isn't enough. Your buyers need to believe you’re the best option for them.

If you don’t prove your claims, your buyers are unlikely to really believe them. And, as a consequence your value proposition, which is essential for your sales promotion becomes about as useful as a chocolate fire guard.

So what's to be done?

Several things. For starters, you can use social proof. This will go a long way to substantiate your claims.

Basecamp uses social proof to validate their main claim of being the “World’s #1 Project Management App.” They use an image (as we all think and remember in pictures), plus 2 specific numbers to make the claim believable (“285,000 companies” and “2,000 projects”).

Now I'm sure you'll admit that this looks good, but if you want to see an increase in sales I've got to tell you that impressive numbers don’t always work.

Numbers can prove how popular you are, but when you’re positioning yourself as a “trusted advisor and expert,” saying, “1,000 people consider me an expert” won’t work.

You need something else.

And, this is where testimonials and case studies (or success stories) come in. A few well placed testimonials and case studies (on your website and social platforms) from those with influence in your market make the claim credible. They can even take away the need for you to make any claims yourself.

For example, instead of me telling you how wonderful my company is, I get others (my clients) to do this for me.

Here's an example of what I did for my last company. I used one of our clients – a sought after FTSE 100, William Hill, to make the claim alongside mine. The claim had added weight as testimonials in this particular sector were almost as rare for obtaining as finding a needle in a haystack.

Finally, there's one more thing you can do with testimonials.

You can craft them so that they take away the last doubt people might feel about your promises. Just include a statement that answers the doubt. I teach you how to do all of this in the courses and consulting I offer.

Now I want to hear from you…

Tell me what your thoughts are on sales promotion. Do you have any great tips? Please share your stories and experience here, and if you've got a question, just pop it down here.

Thanks for being a sport and participating!

With love and gratitude – as always,

P.S.

Finally, if you know someone who'd LOVE the insight from this sales promotion post, please send them a link. You’ll find solo entrepreneurs, consultants and yes, even sales and marketing managers who manage people who'll be interested to hear about this.

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February 15, 2014

Business As usual Warning! [make this mistake & suffer poor sales]

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, New business, Sales, Selling | No Comments

Business as usual: Your silent threat

Ever been hit by a bus?

Probably not. I hope not in fact.

Well, I have, but only figuratively speaking (of course)!

There I was, thinking about cyber security and business risk – an industry you know I work in – and then it hit me.

Bang! And it hurt.

By now you're probably thinking whatever is she going on about. Well, I'm talking about business as usual (or BAU) and why it's potentially a huge threat to your business.

Let me explain where I'm going with this. I'm going to spell it out, and I'm going to be brief because that's my style.

When you think about business as usual what do you think of?

Yes, you got it. Business as usual.

And therein lies your clue —- u-s-u-a-l!

Let's face it who wants the usual? Screw that. No one.

In order to make a lasting impression and secure long-term clients, who pay handsomely, you have to offer MORE. It's no longer enough just to do a good job, provide good customer service and deliver on-time. Those things aren't key differentiators or unique selling propositions (USPs). No they're not. So do me a favour. Please stop kidding yourself. And for that matter, those who work for you!

I've heard business owners declare lame USPs all too often and it's a thorn in my side. It risks your business and it loses you money.

If you're going to get an edge on your competition and maximize your revenue opportunities, you have to think more creatively than this. You have to offer more. You have to offer what your prospects and clients want. And nowadays … you have to offer an experience.

So how can you offer an experience?

Well obviously you can do this every time they engage with you – whether that's on social media, in email, on the phone, at your office, in your store, at your event, on your website, at your shopping cart, and so on. Apple, Virgin and Zappos do this so well. If you study them you'll see that they've mastered the art and convey their expertise, culture, attention to detail, passion, credibility, humanity as well as their products or services at every client or customer touch point.

Because of this they're able to stand out from the crowd, wow their targets and reap the financial rewards.

David Ogilvy once said, “There isn't any significant difference between the various brands of whiskey, or cigarettes, or beer. They are all about the same. And so are the cake mixes, the detergents and the margarines… The manufacturer who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit.”

Now I want to hear from you…

Tell me how are you differentiating your product or service from your competitors? Are you operating under a business as usual threat or are you building experiences? Please share your stories and experience here, and if you've got a question, just pop it down here.

Thanks for being a sport and participating!

With love and gratitude – as always,

P.S.

Finally, if you know someone who'd LOVE the insight from this Business As Usual post, please send them a link. You’ll find solo entrepreneurs, consultants and yes, even sales and marketing managers who manage people who'll be interested to hear about this.

Read more
Find me on Google+

P.P. S.

If you want to learn how to grow your business, then I'm promoting Marie Forleo's B-School right now, and as part of this I'm offering an exclusive bonus. The details will be revealed very soon. Click this link if you want in on the action.

December 1, 2013

Why some sell more and others sell less [use this to double your sales)

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Sales, Selling | No Comments

Want to know how to sell more?

When it comes to how to sell more, why not make it easy on yourself?

That's what top sales professionals do.

How do they do it?

Well they do 2 things.

First, they go after what we (in the trade) call “low hanging fruit.” In other words they do the simplest and easiest work first. They do the work that will yield them the most return, the fastest.

In sales, it means this…

They go after the products and services that are easier to sell.
They seek out the easiest clients to sell to.

Second, they pick their horses.

Stay with me, as all will become clear…

Story time

In 2002, when my IT company was about 5 years old, we niched our offering down and were just starting to sell a new service, called penetration testing.

You can lower those eyebrows now – it's nothing sexual – just purely a technical term in information security! 😉

I'd been championing this as I knew instinctively that it was the way to go. To begin with, we went to market by targeting our existing client base. We then adopted a more scattergun approach. We did a lot of evangelising and educating. And, whilst it was great fun, few sales resulted and much time was wasted.

So, with the devil riding our back in terms of cash-flow, we had to find a way to sell more – FASTER.

What did we do?

Well, we changed our approach and went after the low hanging fruit.

As penetration testing was a fairly new service to the market, few clients were ready to buy. However, there were a small minority – the early adopters – who were, and they'd pay handsomely for it. We looked at their traits, considered why they needed to buy the service, what would be the consequences of not buying it and looked at what our competitors were offering. We then worked on creating a strategy, which resulted in a new ideal target profile and communication plan.

Things became much easier after that. Although our market was tiny, it was easy to target. With a clear message, and a good service at the back-end I have to tell you we mopped up.

Now it would have been easy to stop there but we didn't.

We went after our competitors with a vengeance. We targeted who they'd educated on the value of the service and then made them a more competitive offer.

As I said, we'd studied our competition to find their weaknesses and while many of our prospects were loyal to their suppliers, if we found a way to get in front of them, it was only a matter of time before they converted. As soon as we got our foot in the door, we'd bring up a number of things that we knew were important to their business and that our competitors couldn't do.

I'd also follow up by saying, “Don't ask your suppliers (our competitors) if they can do this, because they'll tell you they can. Instead have them show you whether they can do it or not.”

I got the sale 9 times out of 10 because I concentrated on the few things that we could do that our competitors couldn't. Of course there were other things that they could do that we couldn't, but I chose to focus on our strengths, not our weaknesses.

Pick your horse

So, whether you find it admirable to really work a sale, and take someone from not wanting your offering to eventually making them a client is up to you. Personally I find it nonsensical and a waste of time!

The story I've just shared with you forced me to focus only on those who were ready to buy. I then focused my strategy on how to convert them to be my client.

Think about it.

How many times have you heard the saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink?” How often have you been frustrated because your sales efforts have not resulted in a sale? How often have you gone after the wrong clients? Why carry on doing this? I say…

[box]“Find a thirsty horse; lead it to water; watch it drink.” – Jane Frankland TWEET THIS[/box]

How easy is it to talk to ‘easy' clients – those who get what you're selling – those who are ready to buy? How easy is it to send information to qualified leads? How easy is it wait for the next call or email or social interaction?

It's easy, right?

These are just some of the things that I teach my students in The DailyWins, a tiered program that's focused on getting you more clients. If you're interested, just sign up here and I'll let you know when the next program starts.

Now I want to hear from you!

When it comes to how to sell more, have you ever gone after the most obvious opportunities because they're readily achievable and don't require a lot of effort? Tell me whether you found it resulted in more sales or not. Leave your story in the box below.

With love and gratitude – as always,

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November 26, 2013

10 Tips for building a blog that “sells”

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, New business, Sales, Selling | No Comments

How to build a business with blogging

How to build a business that pays your rent and fills your heart, without checking into the hospital for exhaustion. It sounds like mission impossible doesn't it? I'll answer that for you….

Yes!

Seriously, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about if you've ever tried to do it or are still trying to. Despite all of the challenges, I've got to tell you that it's worth the trade-offs and sacrifices you'll undoubtedly make along the way.

As you know, the other week I was lucky enough to interview the amazing abundance coach and big wave surfer, Mercedes Maidana. Give me a Hell Yeah! I hope you've watched the interview, as she shared some incredible tips to help you manifest more into your life.

This week, however, I’m excited and honoured that my friend Hilary Rushford from Dean Street Society has invited me to be a part of her Happy Hour Blog Tour, which is celebrating her new book launch The 4-Part Entrepreneur Cocktail. In her new book she tackles 4 main elements in business and blogging.

And, this is what I’ll be speaking to you about today. As one of 30 female bloggers and entrepreneurs from around the world, I’ve been asked to share my personal experiences around blogging, including both my struggles and successes.

Yay!

So this is exactly what I'll be tackling:

Why I started a blog and what motivated me.
How my blog has brought me joy and fulfilment.
How I've tackled the days/weeks/months when I didn’t feel like blogging.
What I'd encourage you to ask yourself before a) starting your blog; b) quitting your blog; c) taking it to the next level.

So here goes…

Why I started a blog?

When I started my blog a year last summer, it was purely to position myself as an authority in my niche. I'd just worked out what it was I wanted to do, having spent the past 16 years in IT, building a successful 7-figure information security consultancy. I was ready for my next challenge. I therefore wanted to build a platform that would enable me to connect with other like minded entrepreneurs who were starting out, and help them develop more business.

How my blog has developed

When I look back and see how my blog has developed I'm rather proud as I can see just how far I've come.

Interestingly, when I started blogging I was rather nervous. I actually felt like a caged animal and was afraid to “speak.” For a long time I'd written corporate copy for a very conservative, risk averse market, and I was genuinely wary of using my real voice and writing as me! I was worried about what my corporate peers may think, which was daft as they weren't the ones I was targeting. Once I opened the cage door, however, and tip-toed out, the beast was released…and it felt good. I was finally free – free to communicate on my terms. It was, and still is, incredibly empowering and a whole load of fun!

If you've followed me from the start you'll know that I began a blog with pure text, but that very quickly I added in video. I knew the benefits of doing so and despite my initial fears and hyper ventilation around being filmed, I soon found that I actually loved the medium. Furthermore, it got me more exposure. To date I've had more than 110,000 views, which is pretty good going for a newbie.

Whilst it is time consuming, I have to tell you that I've experienced the benefits. By using video I've been able to better connect with my audience, rapidly build trust and see conversions. On average it takes me about 3 hours to write and optimize a blog, but when I add in video, it doubles this.

How I've tackled the times I don't want to write

Often I'm asked what motivates me to be consistent with my blogging and it's this one thing. I don't want to let you – my audience – down. Out of all the months I've been blogging I'm happy to report that there have only been about 3 blogs that I've missed. Contrary to popular belief though, I'm not Superwoman, but I do try my best to impersonate her. She's pretty hot! 😉

Being serious for just a moment, as a single parent to 3 kids, I've got my hands full. Most of the time things get done, but every once in a while something slips.

How do I tackle the days when I don't feel inspired to write? Well that's simple….I don't write! I honour my creativity. Instead I wait for a moment or a day when I get the urge. Then I batch. Batching or chunking enables me to get more out of my time. I'll aim to write up 4 blogs in a day. That then takes care of the month's blogs. Easy peasy!

What I'd encourage you to ask yourself about blogging

Whether you're about to start, quit or take your blog to the next level ask yourself this one question….

What's your objective for your blog? Your answer will then determine your plan.

If you're like me and want to set yourself up as an authority in your niche and derive sales from a product and service, then I'd advise you to do the following:

1. State your objective. Write it down. Commit to it by telling others. This increases your chances. Ask yourself what does your blog specifically stand for; what do you want to achieve from it, and by when.

2. Make a plan. Ask yourself how often you're going to blog, whether you're going to use text, or video or a combination; who will blog – you or another or guest bloggers, will you be selling from your blog etc.

3. Determine your style of blog. Consider your voice and image. Research blogs that inspire you and consider making a blog board by using Pinterest. Remember to be yourself though – ALWAYS. When you're authentic with your voice and brand you'll stand out from the crowd. So many bloggers fail as they say the same thing as everyone else and people please, which is a total turn off. As Derek Halpern from Social Triggers says, get controversial….for what stands out gets remembered. He walks the talk!

So make your point and if your readers don't like it, consider it a good thing.

4. Build your list from day 1. Everyone advises you to have an opt-in (above the fold) and there's good reason. Quite simply, without a list you have no one to sell to! So create an e-Book, or a report, or a video series ,or some kind of offer to attract your target clients as soon as you can. Then use your autoresponder to keep in contact, add value and sell.

5. Make a list of all the blogs that you'd like to guest blog on. These are your new targets and will become as important to you as your clients and customers. Guest blogging is vital if you're serious about building a business from your blog. When you get this right it drives traffic (readers) to your blog like there's no tomorrow. So, figure out what sites you’d like to send you traffic. List your 1 dream blog that you'd love to get a link from. Then, list 5 other blogs that you'd also love to get a link from. Note, you can be ambitious and pick the biggest, but you don’t have to. Smaller sites that you think would serve your brand well will also do the job.

6. Make a list of all the guest bloggers you'd like for your blog. This can work in the same way as the point mentioned above if you chose your guest bloggers wisely. Ideally you want bloggers who have a reasonable readership so they can promote your site and send you traffic. You can check their ranking status on Alexa. Whilst this appears extremely strategic, guest bloggers have other benefits. They give you a breather from blogging, and they enable you to share valuable content, that compliments your services. This is always my favourite part – the value this adds to you.

7. Make a list of blog topics. Adopt the KISS (keep it simple stupid) rule by focusing on no more than 3. You'll then find that you have themes that stem from them. These tend to be the questions your target market asks the most. You can research these topics with your audience by asking them directly or alternatively go and do some competitive research. Sometimes you don't have to reinvent the wheel! Short cuts can be good!

8. Create and complete an editorial calendar. This enables you to get organised and to know what you need to write and by when.

9. Schedule times and dates for blogging and your blog broadcasts. This will help you stay committed to blogging. This has worked wonders for me as it's forced me to keep on track.

10. Be vigilant. Keep an eye out for comments on your blog. Having worked so hard, you don't ever want your readers to feel neglected at any point.

What 1 piece of blogging advice I wish I'd had

Although I started to build a list pretty quickly, as everyone advises, ironically, the one thing I wish I'd done sooner was promotion. Looking back I should have started to sell from my blog much earlier. You live and learn, euh?

Now I want to hear from you…

Tell me how you stay motivated to blog and what your biggest challenges and successes have been. Share your stories and experience here and if you've got a question, just pop it down here.

Thanks for participating!

With love and gratitude – as always,

P.S.

Finally, if you know someone who'd LOVE the insight from this post, please send them a link. You’ll find solo entrepreneurs, consultants and yes, even sales and marketing managers who manage people who'll be interested to hear about this.

Read more
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P.P.S.

If you want a few more tips or candid thoughts you can read what Michelle wrote about yesterday and catch Hayley from The Tiny Twig tomorrow, and all of the other bloggers here. I cannot rave about their work enough.

Category Archives: Sales

If you struggle to convert sales this is your solution

Business As usual Warning! [make this mistake & suffer poor sales]

Business as usual: Your silent threat

Now I want to hear from you…