Category: Sales & Marketing

Can being in sales be a true spiritual approach to business and life?

Jim Cartcart was recently on our radio program (WELW.com every Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 PM EST) and he gave a definition of selling that transformed my view on sales, how I sell and the contribution I make on the lives of others.

Jim Carthcart’s definition of sales is “Changing the lives of others – profitably.”

When I sell the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker program I no longer feel as if I am selling. I know the material I teach will change their lives of people who participate and I am proud to call myself a sales professional. I feel good asking to be paid because of the value I am providing.

But is sales a spiritual approach to life?

Why would I say that?

Most people don’t get into sales because they want to be in sales. They get into sales to help solve a problem and being in sales is a byproduct of accomplishing a larger goal, a higher purpose.

I started looking at doctors, teachers, priests, and other helping professions and I realized I am doing the same things they do: solving a problem to make a persons’ life better.

I like to think of what we teach as using sales skills that you will use in every area of your life. These skills will work with friends, family, children and significant others and you will be a better person for it as I feel I am a better person for teaching it.

If you are a small business owner who is struggling with sales, give me a call. The first thing we will do is help you understand how you can use your product or service to change someone’s life for the better. This is a great first step in realizing the meaning and purpose in what you do.

When I wake up in the morning and I know I am having a positive impact on the lives of others, I am inspired, motivated and compelled to work harder because I know I am making life better for others.

In the business growth experience here is what we do: We tell people to stop selling and teach others to buy. We do that by combining sales and marketing so that our clients know more about their customer then the customers know about themselves. Then we teach them to sell the way the customer wants to buy. That way the product sells itself. When you master this process life gets easier, sales is fun and life is more rewarding.

To a more spiritual approach to selling!

Thanks Jim Cathcart. You changed another life!

Services like Facebook and Twitter can seem complicated if you’re not familiar with them. And even if you use them in your personal life, this doesn’t necessarily prepare you to use them for marketing purposes. Facebook Pages-which most social-savvy businesses use-are different from personal profiles and have a whole different set of tools. So even though having some experience with Facebook is good, every small-business owner faces a learning curve when getting into Facebook marketing.

Instead of being intimidated, think of it this way: Facebook is free. Sure, you have to put some time into it if you want to use it well, but it’s definitely cheaper than many other types of marketing. Ready to get started? Here’s what to do.

Step 1: Set up your Page

Setting up your Facebook Page is easy. Just search “Facebook Page” on Google and click the official result from Facebook. This will take you through the step-by-step process. The initial setup only takes a few minutes, but you might want to take some more time to build your page before beginning to promote it. Upload photos, fill out all the information, and optimize the settings for your needs.

Step 2: Invite people to follow you

When it comes to Facebook Pages, people follow you by clicking either “like” on the left side of your Page or an off-site Like button (which we’ll get to in a moment). Once your Page is set up, invite people in your social and business circles to like you. You can also visit others’ Facebook pages and profiles and like or friend them, and leave it to them to decide whether they will like you back. If you have a blog on your website, send out a quick blog post inviting people to follow you on Facebook.

Step 3: Use like buttons

Place a Facebook Like button on all the pages of your website. But keep in mind that there are two types of Like buttons. First, there are Like buttons that cause people to like your Facebook Page and follow you. And second, there are Like buttons placed on individual content pages of your website. People use these to share interesting blog posts and articles with their Facebook friends. Both types of Likes can be set up through the official Facebook Like button setup page.

Step 4: Cross-link

Set up your site so that it posts a note to your Facebook page every time you upload a new blog post, and make sure it is clear to all your website users that they can find you on Facebook. And of course, your Facebook page should link back to your site, since that’s where your business actually happens.

Step 5: Promote and maintain your Page

Use Facebook to update your followers on new developments in your business, to inform them of new blog posts, to share coupons and special deals, or to fill people in on interesting news or anecdotes relating to your business. Be as creative as you want, and try different things. There’s no rush. Allow time for the Likes to build. And if they don’t come, consider Facebook advertising.

Step 6: Respond and Interact

You wouldn’t go to a networking event or a cocktail party and ignore the person standing next to you when they speak to you.  Don’t do it online either. Be sure to respond to every post and comment on your Facebook wall (and on your blog too).

Email newsletters are becoming more and more prevalent these days, and their popularity can be both a plus and a negative. On the positive side, newsletters are easier to create than they were just six months ago. Drag and drop formats, pre-designed templates; it’s so easy to make and distribute them that more and more companies are using newsletters to keep in touch with their customer base – and that’s also the down side. In a sea of newsletters popping up in inboxes, how do you instantly hook your readers’ attention and avoid the dreaded “delete” button?

A good newsletter is ultimately based on four tried and true principles: be interesting and engaging, keep it simple, don’t overwhelm yourself or your readers, and keep your deadlines.

1. Engage and interest

Even though I’m not in the market for a new home, I still look forward to a weekly newsletter from a local real estate company. Several of the homes they have for sale are listed at the bottom of the letter and I usually wind up flipping through them, but the reason I read their publication is because of the headlining story. These features might be about a celebrity home for sale or a house with a storied history, with titles such as “Fired bullets found in Billy the Kid’s ranch home, on the market since 2007” or “Famous bootlegger’s home for sale in Chicago.” Of course, the homes for sale aren’t in their portfolio, but the stories are relevant to their industry and they instantly grab their readers’ interest. And if I ever consider putting my own home up for sale, I’ll definitely be in touch with them because I know their newsletter is being read.

How can you think outside of the box with your company newsletter? Your stories don’t have to be about your specific company or even your immediate industry – how can you hook your readers with an interesting story that builds them up to learn more about your business?

Even if you have a bunch of interesting articles, however, your audience may quickly lose interest if you’re not engaging them in the stories. If the articles are poorly written, uncomfortable to read, or full of loud, obnoxious marketing language, your newsletter is almost as good as deleted – and it’s hard for readers to come back from a bad reading experience.

2. Be engaging

“Being engaging” means drawing your readers in to the story by making them feel like they’re a part of it.Write as though you are holding a conversation. For example, instead of bragging about a new award your company received, tell a little bit about the ceremony itself. Maybe the stuffed peppers were just terrific — include a picture! Think about how you can make your readers feel more involved with your company through both your stories and your tone.

1. Simplify, simplify

This phrase should be old hat if you’re a business owner, but it always bears repeating: keep it simple! Readers don’t want to slog through paragraphs of rambling rhetoric before they get to the point of your story. Keep it concise and keep it simple. A good idea for a section in your newsletter might be a “news bites” section, with little facts about some aspect of your business that readers might think are interesting. For example, if you own a stationary store, you could have a section called “from the blotter” with tips on how to learn simple calligraphy. Or if you have a landscaping company, a section called “dirty business” could advise readers on the best types of fertilizer for popular plants currently in season. Be creative! What interesting information can you share about your business? Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box.

2. Don’t overwhelm yourself

As an entrepreneur, you already know that you’re a strong and ambitious person, but think about setting some of those strong ambitions aside as you build your very first newsletter. While you may want to have sections for anything and everything, remember that these are all sections that you’ll need to keep up with in the future. Additionally, readers don’t want pages and pages of information. Rather, a couple relevant articles, some fun facts, and some interesting information about your company is more than enough to draw in your readers, engage them, and leave them feeling like they not only learned something, but that your company is a good source for that type of information. Remember that you will need to put this together on a regular basis, too, so make sure your newsletter is a comfortable size that you can keep up with. Which leads us to the last point…

3. Keep your deadlines

Even if you have the best stories in the world, readers will lose confidence with you and your company if you can’t keep deadlines. If you schedule your newsletter for release at 5 p.m. every Thursday, make sure you keep it! Regardless of how busy it is at work, always set aside the time to ensure your newsletter will be ready for distribution by a set deadline. This will not only grow the readers’ confidence in you and your reliability, it will grow their confidence in your company.

So the next time you’re working on your newsletter, or building your first one, think about these five basic principles: be interesting, be engaging, keep it simple, don’t overwhelm yourself, and keep your deadlines. If you do, you’ll begin gathering a loyal and expanding readership in no time.

About the Author:

Industry veteran Anita Brady is the President of 123Print.com, a leading provider of high quality customizable items like customizable business cards, letterhead and other materials for small businesses and solo practitioners.

For self-employed professionals and small business owners, it’s essential to periodically assess what is and isn’t working in your business, and then to make the necessary adjustments. Because small businesses often don’t have the flexibility of larger firms, this periodic evaluation is even more important for you than it is for larger companies.

A while ago, I realized it was time for me to evaluate which aspects of my sales and marketing funnels were working and which weren’t. I checked my metrics (which I know sounds scary, but metrics can be easy, I promise), and I found out that there were a few points in my funnels where things weren’t going smoothly, and I noticed a few places where my follow-up wasn’t as strong as it should be. What did these shortcomings mean for me and my business? Fewer clients, and less income. So I made adjustments.

Simply being aware of the ineffective parts of your sales and marketing funnels is the first step. After that, it’s time to implement the simple changes that are needed to help get your business on a better track.

Understanding the shortcomings in your sales and marketing funnels is important, but you still have to be able to get out of your own way. This is hard for many small business owners. It’s difficult to step back and view your own business objectively, to be able to tell yourself that the funnel you’ve worked so hard on isn’t working in some areas. It’s easy to see these shortcomings as personal failures, rather than as chances to learn and get better. What you have to keep in mind is that being honest with yourself and recognizing problems is great in the long run. It enables you to take important action, which will make your business much more profitable.

In my work, I’ve noticed that there are two main reasons why business owners fail to examine and implement changes to their marketing and sales funnels:

• Fear: People fear making mistakes. They fear failure, they fear admitting miscalculations, and they fear the embarrassment that goes along with acknowledging mistakes.
• Lack of know-how: Being confronted with a difficult problem is a huge blow to one’s confidence. Pretending problems don’t exist is much easier than educating yourself (or receiving education) with regard to the tools that can help you improve your business.

Giving in to fear is dangerous for any small business owner. It prevents action, it stops you from trying new ideas, and it prevents you from making necessary changes to your marketing and sales funnels. As a result, business owners who suffer from fear never give themselves the chance to turn their disappointing results into fantastic profits. Fear prevents action, and the ability to take action is the most important character trait of successful people.

Lack of know-how, on the other hand, is relatively easy to overcome. If you can get past your fear, you’re well on your way. All you need is to solicit the aid of mentors and coaches who can help you figure out how to create and analyze your marketing metrics. Working with an expert is one of the most valuable things you can do for your business. After all, it’s important to realize that we can’t know everything. Even the most successful people hire coaches and advisers to help them deal with the difficult complexities of running a business. Investing in outside help is an investment in yourself.