Posts tagged better sales

After critically assessing specific questions regarding social media goals, it is time to take action and actually create them.

Creating tangible and realistic marketing goals can sometimes be difficult for businesses due to the nature of marketing, however this is an important step along the process of promoting your professional brand and (ultimately) closing sales. Here are a few examples of appropriate and manageable goals that can and should be a part of your social media marketing goals:

Increased Sales

For business owners this is the number 1 goal for most endeavors. Higher sales results in more money, and despite the best intentions money is important and provides more opportunities to do more business. Digital marketing is valuable to businesses because it is so easy to monitor demographics relating to your business. Using social media is a great and (often) low cost way to market which should result in higher sales. Through social media marketing companies can promote products, services, discounts, deals, and more.

Increased Traffic

Digital commerce flourishes based on traffic. Social media provides a strong outlet to drive traffic of relative and pertinent potential customers. Quality content, great products, positive experiences, and more all play into the numbers game of converting online traffic into sales. Increasing traffic to your company website should be a goal because better traffic simply results in higher conversions.

Increased Awareness

Brand recognition is one of the most important pieces in business, and it always has been. With brand recognition comes customer loyalty, and in the on-line world that we live in being recognized as a credible and rational source is a powerful tool. Brand recognition and digital identity are developed through creating strong and credible content; when people begin to recognize you and your company as top sources of information or quality product producers, sales increase.

Higher Search Rankings

With an ever-increasing amount of websites offering products and services that may be similar to what your business produces, it’s often a mystery of how people will actually be able to find your company website. Social media is currently the most effective way to affect the variables in search engine algorithms. Using social media expands your “digital real estate” which broadens the net to catch potential customers.

Monitoring “The Conversation”

Social media allows different interactive tools and applications to keep an eye out for what people are saying. Companies can watch what customers are saying about products and services; companies can monitor relative conversations about relative topics to their brand and products. Setting this as a goal allows for tracking the interactions that you have regarding conversations that are happening in real time about content that your company and expertise may assist.

Getting started in the world of social media can seem intimidating, but articulating the desired outcomes of your marketing strategy will assist in determining which social media vehicles are right for your business.

Smeester & Associates offers several solutions for social media marketing, including creating a social media marketing strategy. Contact us for more information.

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better sales, creating goals, creating marketing goals, credibility, higher digital traffic, higher search rankings, increased awareness, increased brand awareness, increased sales, increased traffic, marketing strategy, monitoring the conversation, relative products, SEO, setting goals, social media goals, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing strategy

Making Better Sales Calls For Your Business

May 10th

I can’t remember my last evening at home that I didn’t get a solicitor calling; all-too-often they are absolutely terrible at selling to me.

Sales calls don’t have to be a miserable experience for both parties. By assessing some of the worst parts to most sales call scenarios, you can review your company’s approach and increase the likelihood of closing deals. Here are a few imperative things to remember for your sales force…

Sales: Attitude Is Everything

May 5th

Everybody has bad days, but when it is selling time you must put your “game face” on and commit to providing your customers and clients with the very best experience possible.

Selling in today’s market is a completely different than any other time in world history, but some things never change. Maintaining a positive and active attitude can make a world of difference in the way that you do business and how people respond to you. Professionalism, positivity, and individuality are three of things that must be present at every interaction that could result in making a sale.

Let’s put this into perspective: You are at a restaurant, and your server is less than desirable. Their greeting is lack-luster, they don’t check back with you, they don’t offer dessert, and they treat you like a burden. Are you going to tip very much? Are you going to be in any hurry to come back to the restaurant? Now, think of the same restaurant, except with a great server that performs wonderfully and appreciates you and your business. Likely, the tip will increase and you might even tell your friends about what a good experience you had there.

Restaurants and servers are a great micro-view to how greater sales fundamentally work. Providing a good experience, great customer service, and a positive attitude make a difference in the likelihood of closing big sales. The experience of the customer is often just as important as the product itself.

Smeester & Associates offers solutions to take your sales force from okay to outstanding. Sales are the cornerstone of business and we offer systems and products that are proven to increase sales effectiveness.

better sales, great service, microsales, poor service, positivity, profesionalism, professional relationship, selling, selling attitude, tell your friends, the vest customer experience

Common Problems with Sales Teams

Apr 29th

Posted by Scott Smeester in Business Development

If you knew what was wrong, would you
be able to fix it? I’ll bet YOU can!

True of False…

Your salespeople are capable of selling our products/services at higher margins.
Not sure how to get my salespeople to sell at higher margins.
Not doing a good job of competing against the industry giants.
Not consistently hiring salespeople that can (and will) sell.
Salespeople aren’t doing the necessary activities to succeed.
A low percentage of hires actually become sales stars.
I don’t really have a consistent methodology of recruiting.
My salespeople don’t close enough business to justify their base salary.
If my top salesperson resigned, not sure how to replace him/her.
I don’t know how much it costs to keep non-producers on staff.
Not sure the cost of hiring a salesperson and getting them up to speed.
Don’t know how much ex-non-producers are devaluing my company.
Don’t know how much it costs for each sales call.
Don’t know each salesperson’s individual weakness.
Not getting enough quality leads to my salespeople.
If I had a 90% chance of hiring a star, I would do it.
No using social networking to benefit my company.
Our salespeople “wing” it, not following a consistent, reliable sales system.

Smeester & Associates specializes in recruiting and hiring sales teams. For help with your sales team expansion and/or performance issues, contact us.

better sales, problem sales, problem sales team, problems with sales, sales team weaknesses, salespeople

Note to Self: Leverage Telemarketing Calls

Apr 28th

Posted by Scott Smeester in Business Development

Scott, don’t forget that you can practice your listening and questioning skills – i.e. become a better salesperson – by actually doing something as simple as receiving those telemarketing calls and talking to the salesperson.

Note to Self: Use Telemarketing Calls to Practice Sales Skills from Scott Smeester on Vimeo.

better sales, better sales calls, professional sales

Social Media Marketing 101: Blogging In Theory And Practice [5 reasons why you need to start blogging]

Apr 22nd

For social media users, blogging is the most important tool for creating relationships with your clients and customers.

Spread the good news of your business with blogging

1) Share who you are

With information readily available about you and your company, people naturally want to do their business with companies that have a face – the human element is returning to business. Blogging allows you a forum to share who you are with your audience. The most recognizable bloggers and social media experts all agree that blogging is about authenticity and promoting remarkable content.
For so long being professional has superseded being yourself in the business world, and now (with social media) individuals and businesses are being encouraged to let their authentic personality shine through. There is still the need to monitor the message being sent, but presenting your thoughts, beliefs, and values is an absolute must.

2) Give people a reason to come back
Keep up with your blog! Maintaining regularly generated new content gives readers an opportunity to come back. When readers come back, the relationship begins to develop; that relationship can turn into business. Posting (at least) three times per week encourages readers to “stay tuned” if they find your content to be accurate, credible, and helpful.
With tools like google reader, people can “subscribe” to your RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed and get updates when new content is posted. This also means that you should definitely make a link on your web page to your RSS feed so that users can follow your great content.

3) Expand your digital real estate
Each blog post that you create adds another page to your digital network, and thus expands the potential sales net. The more opportunities people have actually find you, the more likely you are to naturally be found. As you create diverse content that illustrates your business, more traffic can find its way to your website.

Most blogging websites also offer SEO (Search Engine Optimization) packages. When maximizing your blogs SEO, make sure to put in appropriate keywords to your website, business, and blog topic. Organic traffic through search engines is some of the BEST traffic that sites can get.

4) Maximize your credibility
Maintaining credibility can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be. Credibility will come through showing your audience your expertise. If you know that you are one of the best resources of information available for people – let that knowledge shine on your blog. Create a schedule of topics that you want to write about based on your existing expertise and skill set.

5) Share your passion
The primary value of blogging is in the opportunity for you, the writer, to get excited. If you are discussing relevant topics to your business, shouldn’t you naturally get excited about your passions? Letting your passion shine through will push your credibility through the roof, because people get behind and support passion and excitement.

Blogging is a critical piece of the social media marketing puzzle. Now is the time to start if you haven’t already, and to recharge your blog if you have been working on it for a while.

Social media marketing leads to sales, and sales research and development is part of what Smeester & Associates does. Contact us for more information about how to recharge your business and increase revenue.

better sales, blogging, connect with audience, connect with clients, customer loyalty, more clients, more sales, share your passion, share your personality, sharing your excitement, sharing your passion, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Prospecting Not Necessary for New Sales Hires

Apr 12th

Posted by Scott Smeester in CEO Best Practices

1 comment

No more do you need to recruit salespeople who will bring “a book of business,” or “hunt,” or even “smile and dial.”

Due to the proliferation of social media marketing, prospecting is not as necessary.

You may have heard the phrase “cold calling is dead,” and it absolutely is (I know there is a salesperson/business owner/consultant out there rejoicing!). Why call somebody you don’t know* if you could have a bottomless supply of people to talk to who have (technically) filled out the dream form on your website – i.e. full name, all areas of interest, decision maker, what they admit they need help with, etc. We’re talking about leads who are asking for demonstrations and have given all the key indicators for a close. This happens everyday for all types of companies and businesses because, leveraged correctly, Internet technologies available on the market help build a river from many small streams of people you have attracted. Running this kind of marketing and sales system is a fraction of the cost you could pay a salesperson to “hunt”.

Assuming you hire salespeople correctly, if you provide the quality leads available you can scale down your sales team so it consists of nothing but closers (“coffee is for closers!”). These “closers” are people who are good at walking people through to a decision. Somebody patient. A nurturing salesperson. A listener.

Finding the right one is the only thing you have to do now.

* Yes, I did a TON of cold calling in my day

Photo by DSC1597

better sales, hiring sales people, increase sales, professional sales, sales recruitment, Social Media Marketing

Taking Your Sales Force From “OKAY” To OUTSTANDING

Mar 30th

Last week on Twitter we posted, “How many sales people would you hire if you knew they all would succeed?” We got a great series of responses and retweets about this simple question.

Better sales teams generate more sales, which makes you more money – it’s as simple as that. It seems like most business owners can relate to the experience of having some “dud” sales people, as well as a few really strong performing people. The hiring process can sometimes feel like a gamble; sometimes people that you think will turn out to be excellent performers end up totally and completely tanking. This is related to a few fundamental problems with the strategy and approach that many companies take with recruitment.

Taking your sales team from “okay” to outstanding is easier than you think! Here are a few little ideas that make a big difference when hiring, recruiting, and evaluating:

Raise Your Expectations

1) Use a system

Often when people perform truly amazing, they don’t know how they did it; everything just came together. Equally, people have a hard time understanding why they did poorly, and this limits the ability to fix the problem. Incorporating a structured hiring system and recruitment methodology that evolves with you and your business will allow you to consistently hire sales stars.

2) It’s okay to outsource

“Why would I pay somebody to do what I can do?” Well, very simply put: your time is valuable. If you look at the amount of time, energy, and (most importantly) money that you spend on hiring, it becomes pretty easy to establish a value to the process. You could just as easily dedicate a fraction of that value to hiring a great company that excels in the process to do it for you; just make sure you critically assess if one of these companies is a good fit for you. Great outsourcing recruitment companies will profile your business, share their systems, provide you with strong feedback about their recommendations, and most importantly confirm that each of their sales hires will be a strong and accurate “fit” for your company (see How to Hire Sales Stars Every Time).

3) Have high expectations

Too often companies “hope for” rather than “expect” great performance. Setting clear and concise expectations while at the beginning of the recruitment process, and then maintaining those throughout the tenure of your salespeople will optimize sales. Expect outstanding from the get-go and watch the quality of your legitimate candidates increase. Setting the bar too low prevents strong goal oriented people from reaching their full potential because they simply are not aiming high enough.

So last week when we posted, “How many sales people would you hire if you knew they all would succeed?” on Twitter; @FourFecta responded, “All of them!” The response was simple, and incredibly true. You can hire top performing sales stars that will succeed, and you should! Taking your sales team from “okay” to outstanding might feel like a challenging undertaking, but it is possible and can be so much less intimidating.

If you are interested in seeing your sales team become outstanding, Smeester and Associates specializes in How to Hire Sales Stars Every Time.

better sales, better sales hire, better sales hiring, building a better business, business best practices, increase sales, okay to outstanding, recruitment, sales hiring, sales recruitment, small business, small business development

Recruiting Sales Teams In This Economy

Mar 17th

You simply can’t afford another bad sales hire. A few ideas to help your business continue to grow in this struggling economy.

In today’s market it’s certainly easy to pack your sales staff with bodies, but how do you filter through the thousands of resumes to ensure that you are hiring the absolute BEST people to sell for your company? The trick is to stay on top of your recruitment before your need takes over your want, and maintain a continuous pro-active stance towards sales recruitment. Through keeping the recruitment doors open for positions you will have a continuous stream of actively interested candidates as well as “just looking” possibilities.

Put somebody in charge of recruiting and make that their primary responsibility. This might seem a little pricey up front, but compare one person’s salary to the incalculable price of a bad sales hire – and this person’s value is now worth their weight in gold. This person can focus on developing and cultivating relationships with potential new salespeople and streamline the process. Just like in sales, this will build the talent pipeline and allow your company to grow.
Utilize the available resources and technology. Currently there are seemingly countless online resources to screen and assess possible new members to your staff. Focusing on the word “screen” will make this process even more effective, and allow your Recruitment Director to sort through many people who might not “fit” in your market.
Save the interview for the end. It would be quite impractical to interview EVERYONE who sends a resume your way; instead, schedule 10 minute phone conversations with possible candidates to actively investigate more specific topics relating to their personality, skills, and ability to sell. If your sales recruitment process is effective, then the people that make it this far are already qualified, interested, and a likely match to your sales needs.

Remember that sales recruiting IS sales. Once somebody has made it through the screening and ‘weeding-out’ part of the sales recruiting process, it is finally time to schedule a face-to-face interview. This is the candidates chance to CLOSE you; if they can’t close a sale of themselves with you, then they might not be the best at closing a sale with a client. Remember, you are likely going to pay them tens of thousands of dollars over the next year to sell your product and/or services; like all other investments, you are the only one who can choose if this is the best opportunity for you to see a return.