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.

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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.

February 8, 2014

Marie Forleo B-School Review

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

Marie Forleo's B-School 2014 has launched!

Marie Forleo has launched B-School 2014 and this is exciting! Why? Well for three reasons. Firstly Marie Forleo's B-School is one of my favourite online marketing programs as it offers a tonne of value for those of you who are ready to start a new business or take an existing one to a higher level. Secondly, it's one of the very few I recommend and thirdly it only happens once a year!

If you've never come across Marie Forleo or her flagship training program, B-School, don't panic. I hadn't, until a couple of years ago. When I did though, I was hooked. Here was another full-on woman, who was communicating professionally and marketing ethically (just like me)! And I knew instinctively that I could learn a lot from her!

Now if you've come across Marie Forleo and B-School then you'll know exactly what I mean. The woman is a class act and changes lives! Just watch her in action promoting Marie Forleo's B-School.

If you've not, here's a little about her.

A little about Marie Forleo

Marie Forleo is a best-selling American author, web TV host, and trainer in personal development. With loving yet wisecracking advice, she reaches over 200,000 readers in 191 countries worldwide and leads dynamic training programs that teach individuals to succeed in business and life. She's been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, Glamour Magazine, Self Magazine, Forbes.com and The New York Times among others. She's also been interviewed by Tony Robbins and Oprah as a thought leader for the next generation, and mentored young business owners at Richard Branson’s Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa. Her best-selling book, Make Every Man Want You: How To Be So Irresistible You’ll Barely Keep from Dating Yourself is published in 13 languages. Her mission is to help you realize your greatest potential and use your unique talents to change the world.

So there you have it!

Let's dive into Marie Forleo's B-School launch

Now that we've established who Marie Forleo is, I want to dive straight in and tell you what you're going to get before you even consider enrolling on B-School.

You see Marie Forleo has very generously created a series of 3 videos that give you a chance to learn much more about her program and online marketing. Here's a quick snapshot.

She goes through:

The Six Pillars to building a highly profitable business online; why big hearted, nice people (obviously like you and me) are wired to succeed in this digital era; and why it’s critical that you get the online aspect of your business handled right now.
The major changes coming in the next 5 -10 years that are really important to understand and why it’s vital that you up your online game now, before these changes happen.
What you must know, what you must understand, and the sequence you have to follow if you want to use this incredible gift we have – the Internet – to do what you love and get paid for it.

She's also built in implementation weeks, so you don’t have to feel like you’re drinking from a water hose of information. This gives you a chance to put into practice everything you’re learning so that you can begin to reap the benefits even before the course is over.

You can watch Marie Forleo's B-School launch video 1 here.

So it sounds good doesn't it? Well that's what I thought too BUT I did had some questions about Marie Forleo and B-School before jumping in.

FAQs about Marie Forleo's B-School:

So you're probably going to be thinking:

Is it worth the money?
Is it any good?
What are other women entrepreneurs raving about?
Is it just for women or are men welcome too?
What if I don't have a business idea, is it worth joining?
What if I'm not that technical?
Will I need to be a technical wizz kid to keep up?
How many hours does it take in order to complete the online program?

Or may be you're thinking of holding back as the voices in your head are whispering “maybe next year,” or “that's such a lot of money.” If this is you, I hear you!

Like most people who enrol, I had doubts before making that final financial commitment, but I took a leap of faith and trusted myself and Marie Forleo. I was not disappointed and I'm now a raving fan of her Marie Forleo and B-School!

In the video below, I'm answering the questions above and providing you with independent advice on Marie Forleo's B-School. The video was done straight after I attended B-School in 2012.

Lets make money and change the world

So you've got this far. Great!

Marie Forleo's B-school is a business and life changing program – JUST ASK AROUND! As someone who's built a million dollar business before, turned one around and still works with multi million dollar organizations I don't make that claim lightly. The content is simply world-class and the support from the charged Marie Forleo B-School community is second to none.

During the 8-week online course you're going to learn everything you need to know to really take your business to the next level. As it's an investment not to be taken lightly, and really requires support, I've come up with a way to help you get the best out of it – throughout it's entirety.

Work with me during Marie Forleo's B-School

B-School registration opens on February 19th, 2014.

Every year I put together a supplementary program to help you get the most out of B-school. This year is no different. When you sign up for Marie Forleo's B-School through my affiliate link, you'll have access to me via email throughout the entire course so it'll be a bit like one-to-one coaching.

I'll be defining exactly what my supplementary program is very soon so be sure to keep in the loop if you're interested.

In the meantime, I want you to do this…..

Take the next step and sign up here

If you're looking to sign up for Marie Forleo‘s B-school, and you want some private coaching from an established 7-figure entrepreneur – to really help you apply this phenomenal course to your business, just drop me an email and let me know.

Finally, thank you, as always for being here. If you found this useful, and want to share it with your friends, please be my guest!

With love and gratitude – as always,

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
Find me on Google+

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.

November 3, 2013

Mercedes Maidana on manifesting your dreams

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Lifestyle, Mindset | No Comments

An interview with Mercedes Maidana

Mercedes Maidana is a force to be reckoned with. If you've never heard of her, let me explain. Mercedes Maidana helps people live their dreams and an abundant life. By abundant, she means: happy, joyful, passionate and fulfilled. You see she believes (and can prove) that once you fill yourself from the inside out, all areas of your life will be aligned into more abundance.

Without giving too much away, her story can be told as follows…

Raised as a city girl in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she travelled to Brazil after having her heart broken by the man she loved. There she discovered surfing and a new passion arose.

At age 26, five years after having started surfing, she decided she wanted to go for her next big dream: to become one of the best female big wave surfers in the world and to get paid to travel by chasing huge waves. And yes, you guessed it, she pulled it off….and more!

Mercedes Maidana uses all the manifesting techniques that she's learned throughout the years, and today she's living her dream!

Here are some of her achievements through manifestations:

Sponsorship with the kick ass clothing company Patagonia.
Travels the world surfing big and small waves, whenever she wants, wherever she wants.
Six years after she started surfing she was nominated at the XXL Big Wave Awards as one of the three best women big wave surfers in the world.
Nominated again in 2010 and 2011. If you know anything about big wave surfing you'll know this is extraordinary!
Lives in her dream home on the beach in what she considers the best place in the world: the North Shore of Oahu.

In the interview Mercedes Maidana answers these five questions:

1. How did it all start?
2. How do you distinguish fear from intuition?
3. How do you bring joy into your business?
4. What tips can you give us on abundance?
5. What are Hell Yeahs & how did they come about?

Watch the video now

If you're interested in:

Making lots of money
Finding true love and obtaining loving relationships
Having your health aligned with your self worth
Having a career that's joyful and creative
Having solid spiritual foundations to live on

..then you need to seek Mercedes out! To work with Mercedes Maidana, please visit her website and mention you came through me.

Now I want to hear from you…

Tell me if you've used manifestations as recommended by Mercedes Maidana to attract abundance and realise your dreams. If so, what's your biggest tip and how has your life transformed? 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 Mercedes Maidana 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 more about how to get more client, sell without selling plus more time management tips, then my brand new program, TheDailyWins is closing at midnight 3 November. Get on the list if you want in on the action.

October 13, 2013

Time management tips [this tip rules them all]

By JaneFrankland | Established business, Mindset, New business | No Comments

The mother of all time management tips

Got time? Bah! No one has enough of it. Right?

We're all too busy.

So when it comes to getting productive with our days, and getting stuff done (let alone epic shit done) we all struggle.

And, whilst there are a million time management tips for you to access over the Internet, plus a tonne of time management books to read, and course after course, and system after system for you to join and implement, there's really only one time management tip that you need to pay attention to. And, this one simply rules them all.

Now I learnt this tip from my daughter and that's why in today's Jane Frankland TV you're going to learn the ‘mother of all time management tips' from her. She's only 11 years old but is extremely wise. As she gave it to me, she begged me to allow her to do this for you! 😉

Video break

So doing one thing at a time is a good rule to adopt if you want to get more done in your day AND be happier. Now I know from experience that women struggle with this more than men do and I'm not going to get into a debate about that in this week's post. However, I'm going to give you some research to prove the effectiveness of applying it (for both men and women)!

To elaborate, research conducted by Dr Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King’s College London University monitored the impact of multitasking on workers’ performances. The results showed that when test participants were interrupted by lots of emails and phone calls whilst trying to work on other things, their IQ dropped by 10 points. Alarmingly, this equals the effect of missing a whole night’s sleep and more than doubles that of smoking marijuana!

OMG!

If you're interested you can read more about it here, and whether women are better at multi-tasking than men.

Anyway, if you're struggling to get things done, remember this mother of all time management tips. If you want, you can do as I do and remind yourself of it every day. I have it as a voice memo on my iPhone and I find by listening to it once a day it keeps me focused.

[box]”Work while you work, and play while you play. That is the way to be happy each day” – Jane Frankland TWEET THIS[/box]

Here's the full poem:

“Work while you work; play while you play. That is the way to be cheerful all day.

All that you do, do with your might. Things done by halves are never done right.

One thing each time and that done well, is a very good rule as many can tell.

Moments are useless trifled away; so work while you work and play while you play.” ~M.A. Stodart

Now I want to hear from you…

Tell me your time management tips. Which one is your favourite? 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.

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P.P. S.

If you want to learn more about how to get more client, sell without selling plus more time management tips, then my brand new program, The Daily Wins is launching this month, 18th October. Get on the list if you want in on the action.

October 4, 2013

How to sell with a sales framework [don’t use this if you’re happy losing sales]

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

How to sell vs. how to lose clients

Ok, so not only do you not know how to sell, but you don't feel good about selling either. There's a surprise!

Let me guess. It feels icky, sleazy and every single time you attempt to “sell” you're reminded of that pushy, manipulative car salesperson you once met in your nightmares! Euw!

And there's no way in hell you want to be like that. Being a salesperson is not something you've ever aspired to be. You're a creative or a techie [wink, wink].

Well I've got news for you sister (or brother)….I've yet to meet a top performing sales person who's ever aspired to be in sales. Yes, seriously. Most of them (me included) just fell into it somehow.

Here's the thing too. No one is born a sales person. No one! Sales is a learnt skill. There's an art to it, or if you want to get formulaic – a framework and methodology. All the pros use one, although you'd never be able to tell. Furthermore, when they sell to you, you'd never really realize you're being sold to. You see, sales is just a conversation. That's what I was taught many years ago and it's what I teach my students in my sales program, The Daily Wins, and when I coach.

So if you're struggling to find a way to sell that feels authentic and integral, whether on the phone, Skype or in person, don't despair. I've got a sales framework you can use to teach you how to sell. AND [insert nominated swear word] me, it works! 😉 You don't sell over 7-figures/ year, year-on-year, in services using something that doesn't!

The ‘how-to-sell' sales framework

Now I want to hear from you…

Tell me your how to sell to prospect stories. Do you use a framework or methodology? What's working for you? 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.

Read more
Find me on Google+

P.P. S.

If you want to learn more about how to sell, then my brand new sales program, The Daily Wins is launching this month, 18th October. Get on the list if you want in on the action.

September 26, 2013

How to sell more [revealing the secret no one tells you about]

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

How to sell more and high fives!

Last week I wrote about how to sell more by leveraging off your internal team and/ suppliers – how to sell more: the sales pitch everyone misses. High five if you've implemented that already. This week I've got another group for you to leverage off and once again you won't have to incentivize them or pay them commission. Gosh it sounds like I'm about to make the sales team redundant, but that's not the case!

Before I tell you more, I’ve got two questions for you.

Here’s the first. If you could make one simple tweak to your company that would give you an immediate sales increase would you do it?

Of course you would! Who doesn’t want to make more sales?

Ok, next question. When a buyer is on your website what do they want? This answer is really going to surprise you.

They want to discount you. They’re looking for reasons not to buy from you. They’re making a short-list of suppliers, whether that’s at a conscious or subconscious level. They’re looking for signs that will put them off from buying from you.

And no one teaches you this! I go into all these buying behaviour patterns in my sales program which is coming soon.

So how do you stop them leaving your website without contacting you? Well, there are many ways, but in this post I’m only going to concentrate on just one of them.

Do it the sizzle and steak way (story time)

Imagine you’re in a restaurant. You’ve never been there before and you’re wondering whether it’s any good. You’re looking for some reassurance, so you ask the waiter some questions. To your surprise he responds with a question. He asks you, “If you were eating here tonight what would you pick from the menu?” He hands you the menu. You see the steak and answer, “I’d pick the steak.” He continues the conversation by telling you how wonderful their steak is, how it’s sourced, and how it really sizzles. You’re interested but still not convinced. He then says, “Look, let me show you.” He then calls over a waiter who's about to deliver a sizzling steak to a customer. You can see it now for yourself and it really does look good. He then introduces you to several regular customers who tell you at first hand their experience of the restaurant. By now you’re convinced so you ask for a table and the transaction is made.

The moral of the story is this:

[box]”If you want to sell more don’t just talk about the sizzle, show the whole steak” – Jane Frankland TWEET THIS[/box]

When a buyer lands on your website, you’re obviously not there, so you can’t help influence their buying decision. You can’t allay their fears or convince them that you're the right supplier. So, that means you’ve got to go the extra mile.

And, that's where testimonials come in. They back up what you say or as Robert B. Cialdini (noted psychologist) calls social proof. You see testimonials hold strong persuasive powers as they touch on both fact-based and emotion-based motivators that drive people to buy things. They reaffirm that your claims are credible and that your services are the real deal. They validate the feelings that a prospective buyer has for you too, and when done right, the message that typically comes across is authentic, sincere and extremely convincing.

5 tips to make sure your testimonials sell for you

Watch the video, or skip if you prefer to read the text below.

Tip #1. Get result-orientated testimonials. These are the most effective of all. When you help your clients or customers achieve something then you must show the value. Show numbers, currency, amounts and percentages. This will get your prospects attention and dramatically increase their response. Here’s are 2 examples: A) “The Daily Wins program is a great sales training program.” B) “Thanks to the powerful strategies I learnt on The Daily Wins sales program I made $15,000 in 2 days. I’ll easily quadruple my revenues this year. Thank you.” Which one do you think is more compelling and converts more sales?

Tip #2. Include full information on the client or customer who’s giving your testimonial. The more information you provide, the more believable the testimonials are.

Tip #3. Use photos, written responses, screen shots of emails or social media messages that you’ve been sent. Remember that saying, ‘a picture paints a thousand words?’ Well it’s true. We think in pictures so we retain information better if it’s presented this way. So paint the picture – literally.

Tip #4. Use audio and video to add even more credibility.

Tip #5. Story tell. This really steps social proof up a gear. You can do this through video or via case studies, success stories or interviews.

The 3 B rule for getting testimonials

If you’ve trouble getting testimonials don’t get mad. Instead, adopt the 3 B rule – bug, then brag, then bribe!

Make a list of clients who’ve got great results. Ask if they can write up a testimonial. 99% of the time they’ll be delighted to do this. Unfortunately though, they’ll probably forget or be so busy that they won’t have time to do it and as a result you’ll not receive it. If this happens simply offer to write the testimonial for them and then send it to them for approval.

Sometimes as a last resort you’ll have to make this exciting to them. One way to do this is by offering an ethical bribe. For example you could run a contest and offer a free prize or discount to whoever writes the best testimonial for you.

If you’re just starting out and don’t have any success stories, approach leaders in your industry and ask them for endorsements. Send them an example of your work and remember to include a WIIFM (a what’s in it for me) statement or plea in your email.

Finally as an ideal, have a mixture of testimonials – some from industry leaders and some regular Joes. Prospects buy from those who they can either relate to or aspire to being.

Now I want to hear from you…

Tell me your how to sell more stories. Do you use testimonials and case studies to increase your sales. What's working for you? 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,