June 30, 2014

3 Social Selling Myths Busted [these are making you loose sales]

By JaneFrankland | Marketing, New business, Selling, social media | No Comments

Irrespective of the fact that you may or may not be practising social selling, in my world, winning sales starts by having conversations.

And, every good salesperson knows that in order to get people (or more specifically influencers and buyers) to talk to you, you've got to:

Look the part so you can be taken seriously and heard amongst the increasing noise.
Have the right story so you can convince your prospects to change and use you.
Have the right skills so you can deliver your story with impact and articulate value.

Furthermore, that to pull this off in the digital era you've got to have marketing and sales aligned.

For B2B companies, being able to execute your company’s growth strategies, including new product or service launches, go-to-market campaigns or even merger or acquisition deals, comes down to one thing:

Great conversations that go on between your salespeople, prospects and clients.

Ensuring your company delivers great conversations is therefore of major importance. And, in a rapidly changing technology driven environment it's based on three critical activities:

1. Building influence. You've got to get dressed for being online, and present yourself as a key person of influence. It's imperative that you become the signal and not the noise in cyberspace so you're heard or sought out by your prospects and clients.

2. Creating the right stories. Your sales messages and tools have to communicate enough value to break through your prospects’ current situation and differentiate yourself from competitors.

3. Enabling the right skills. Your stories must be delivered with power and impact. They need to create value, convince sceptical executives, and protect your profitability.

Listed below are three popular sales and marketing myths (the two these days are joined at the hip) that I’m going to bust. Unfortunately, these might have been leading you astray when it comes to developing and delivering your messaging. However, discovering the truth behind these myths and embracing their alternatives will serve to empower you AND convince your clients to say “yes” to change, and “yes” to you!

So let’s get on with it!

June 22, 2014

How to implement a social selling plan that really works

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

Social selling, what's all the fuss about? Has social media really ripped up the rulebook on marketing so that we need to rethink everything? Is broadcast marketing dead? Is it all about communication, involvement and feedback – a place for people to talk about things they care about?

YES!

In a world that’s disconnected, we now seek to belong and build communities. So we follow, like, link, subscribe and make friends. We work at speed – networking, connecting, sharing, contributing and supporting.

As a result business is changing. It's becoming more transparent, agile and authentic than ever and social is the catalyst.

So, as someone who’s required to sell your tactics have to change.

In order to win in business now you have to understand exactly what motivates your prospects so you can add value. You need more influence in your market and you have be more engaging so you can cut through the Internet “noise” and connect with your buyers.

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!

April 13, 2014

5 Lies about social media and social selling

By JaneFrankland | Marketing, Selling, social media | One Comment

Whether you're using social media for social selling, marketing, reputation management, customer service, recruitment or even business continuity there’s no denying this fact:

Social media is a force to be reckoned with. It is going on with or without your buy in.

And that’s a fact!

Now whilst many do get it, there are still many who don't. And the challenge of getting others to buy into it is often a struggle. So, to help you out I've compiled a list of the 5 common challenges faced when trying to get buy-in for both social selling and social media marketing.

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.

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.

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.