Category: Sales & Marketing

Article Contributed Joanne Black

We’ve been told that getting more sales is all about your “activity,” but is it?

Our job as salespeople is to move as many qualified prospects through the sales funnel as quickly as possible—leading to more sales, better clients, and more income.

The traditional sales funnel to attract new business has maintained the same structure for years. There’s a wide opening at the top and a skinny tube at the bottom. The traditional prospecting method crams as many prospects into the top of the funnel as possible, hoping that new clients will magically pop out of the other end. The only thing that mattered was sheer activity.

Today, I’m going to debunk the myth that sheer activity is the ONLY thing that matters along with two other myths that are holding you back from getting more clients now.

3 Sales Lead Generation Myths That Will Hold You Back From Closing More Sales

Myth #1 Sheer Activity is the Only Thing That Matters in Sales

Wrong! Of course, activity is still important, but what really matters is that you feed the right people into the funnel in the first place and nurture those prospects who have been referred to you. Then hasten their passage through the sales funnel. This will decrease the amount of time it takes to you close your sale.

Picture the funnel from the traditional “olden” days. If you just stuff as much as you can into the top of the funnel, it’s more likely that weeds, rocks, sand, and other debris will clog the opening and prevent the steady entry and flow of good business. Try pouring water in a funnel that is filled with debris. The water backs up and nothing moves through. Not a pleasing picture, and not functional business model. It’s certainly not one that fosters an environment for attracting new business.

Myth #2 Sales 2.0 Leads are Qualified

There’s so much that’s wrong about the traditional sales funnel, and it’s gotten worse in the Sales 2.0 world. It’s not a referral-marketing funnel. In the past, we were schooled to throw as many prospects in the funnel as we could find. For example, we were taught to get so-called leads from mailings, trade shows, advertising, networking, newsletters, and speaking. Now in the 2.0 world, we are taught to get so-called leads from blogging, videos, eBooks, free reports, press releases, eZines, affiliate traffic, RSS feeds, and email lists. We can now choose to waste our time by following up on these so-called leads.

I call the leads above “So-called leads” because these aren’t really leads.

They’re inquiries, possibly names—or people just interested in free stuff. Everyone likes free stuff. If we take the time to weed through all this trash, we might actually find a prospect. These people are just prospects. They’re not business referrals. And, they’re still not leads.

Myth #3 It’s Important to Sort “Leads”

We have to change how we talk about leads. Inquiries are not leads. People wanting free stuff are not leads. Neither are those “coveted” lists or files of names. Calling these “leads” borders on insulting.

Leads are people who:

• Are truly interested in talking directly to you about your products and services to see how you can help them
• Match the profile of your ideal client
• Have a budget
• Have a need that you can fulfill
• Are open to pursuing how you can help them attract new business.

Now that’s a qualified business referral.

The best leads are those you have received through a referral. When you receive a qualified referral, you are pre-sold. You have credibility and trust. Your sales time shortens. And, you ace out the competition. When you’ve been referred, you get a new client more than 50 percent of the time. Get more referrals and get these results.

So stop calling everyone and everything a lead. It’s is a waste of your valuable sales time. I’m not just splitting hairs over terminology. It is downright misrepresentation when companies position themselves as lead-generation experts. It sounds so good (so easy), so we jump. And that’s when we get our sales funnel clogged with trash instead of getting more referrals.

In this lagging and volatile economy, it’s easy to be lured by business which clogs our sales funnel. We can’t afford to attract the wrong kind of clients to our business. It’s like dumping trash in our sales funnel. A full funnel is only valuable if it’s filled with the kind of clients that are right for you – clients that are qualified and referred.

Think about it: What’s in your sales funnel?

About the Author:

America’s leading authority on referral selling and founder of No More Cold Calling, Joanne Black helps salespeople, sales teams, and business owners get more referrals and attract more business fast without increasing costs. Now, discover how to turn prospects into clients more than 50 percent of the time even during a down economy at http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com

Article Contributed by Guy Kingston
It might seem crazy to be talking about hiring – yes, hiring – more staff in a recession. Most companies are worrying about having to lay people off.
It might seem doubly insane, in one sense at least, to be talking of hiring in the sales department of all places. After all, when you have to make cuts, you must make them first of all in the variable costs rather than the fixed costs of a business – and a properly run sales department should be the ideal example of a variable cost. It should cost more when sales are high and less when they are low. Indeed, in theory, the perfect sales department would be based entirely on commission so that it would cost nothing if there were no sales, and expenditure would rise in direct proportion with income.
The reality is that sales demand some prior investment. Even the best salesmen are reluctant to rely entirely on commission. They know their value to a business and are usually confident enough to demand a basic salary up front. The only people prepared to work for commission only are the desperate. It is therefore one of several paradoxes in sales that those who are most likely to be able to live on commission alone are the very people who are most likely to demand more than just commission.
Since you do not want your business to be represented by losers – even losers who cost nothing up front – you need to reconcile yourself to paying a basic salary to your sales staff before they sell anything.
So, in practice, the sales department is not the variable cost that it should be in theory.
Yet it is still a cost, and in a recession, one should cut costs – right?
Not necessarily. A business should always be looking for opportunities to cut surplus expenditure in order to maximise its cost effectiveness, and its competitiveness in terms of price. This should be a constant discipline and it is obviously particularly important in time of recession.
However, it should be equally obvious that it is false economy to cut expenditure that is necessary for the proper operation of the business. After all, the only business with zero expenditure is a business that is not doing business.
So simply reducing costs is not the correct response to a recession. It may be necessary in the short term, but in the longer term it can only lead to oblivion.
The alternative to decreasing costs is increasing income. In fact, a good recession strategy will contain elements of both.
Increasing income means investing more in sales. This may sound risky but it is actually more risky to do nothing. In a recession competition becomes tighter. You must fight harder for every customer. As business becomes ever more ruthless, you must fight to keep your customers and to pick up any new customers who might still have money to spend. To invest less in sales at such a time means losing customers to those who invest more.
Remember that there are new customers to be found even in a recession. When a company goes bust, its customers do not die suddenly of neglect. Most are still alive, still solvent, and still spending. They will probably be looking for a new supplier of whatever the fallen company provided. That is an opportunity for its competitors.
On the supply side, recession is also an excellent time to pick up experienced sales staff from bankrupt competitors. Such people usually bring with them address books full of former customers and other useful contacts.
Of course, spending more money on sales staff in a recession is a risk. Yet all investment in business is a risk. Recessions do not alter the rules of the game. They simply makes the odds tighter. Competitors become more competitive, and the chances of failure increase – but so do the rewards of success for those who keep their nerve.
About the Author
Guy Kingston produces and presents the Mind Your Own Business podcast, offering free business advice to entrepreneurs and business owners. As well as audio podcasts there are more articles like this, compelling videos and a must-read blog. All at www.myobpod.com or you can network and join in discussions on the MYOB Facebook group.

Article contributed by Joanne Black
It’s hard enough to get more prospects and new clients during a booming economy when people have money to spend. When the global economy takes a nosedive and freefalls fast, it’s 100 times harder to get prospect to talk to us.
So, how can you get more referrals and more NEW clients in a lagging economy?
It’s straightforward: The answer to getting more referrals and more new clients during any economic situation is to ask.
How many of your clients have you asked for referrals? When I ask this question to salespeople, the usual answer is “not many” or “hardly any.”
For example, I was working with the president of a consulting firm. I asked him how many clients he had—counting all the people he worked with, not just the number of companies. He told me 295. Then I asked him: with how many of the 295 did he have excellent relationships.
His answer: 60.
I then asked him how many of the 60 he had asked for referrals.
Silence.
Sixty of his best, most valued clients were just sitting there. These clients were an underleveraged source of referrals that could be bringing in more clients.
If you’re not inviting your current clients to be part of your sales team, you’re leaving money on the table – every single day. If you ask them, they’ll be happy to refer you. But, you have to ask.
If you’re a good salesperson, you probably have at least 100 people on your prime contact list. These are people you could phone, and they would return your call. If only 20 percent referred you, you’d have 20 new prospects to satisfy. Once you satisfy them and once you actively cultivated relationships with them, they can become part of your “sales team.”
Can you see where this could lead, and how much business that could generate?
Real Proof Why You Should Ask Your Clients for More Referrals
In a survey of its best clients, a major brokerage firm asked: Would you be willing to refer your stockbroker?
The survey results: A whopping 84 percent of its best clients would be willing to refer their stockbroker. Eighty-four percent.
The firm asked brokers: What percent of the time are you asking your clients for referrals?
The answer: Only 15 percent.
Their clients were absolutely willing to refer them, but the brokers were not asking.
You can easily see how a fabulous opportunity was overlooked. Think about how much money the brokers were leaving on the table. Those referrals could easily have generated millions of dollars in revenue for the firm, if they’d been maximized.
The Hard Fact: Your Clients Will Help You Get More Prospects and New Clients – But You Need to Ask
The hard fact is most clients think of us only when they need us. It’s up to you to get them thinking about you between orders. Your clients are not going to automatically refer you. You must constantly remind them that you exist, so when a referral opportunity arises, you’re the one who gets it.
The clients you serve well – the ones who know you, like you, and trust you -truly want you to be successful. After all, they know what you do and they’ve received measurable business results from your solutions. Referring you will make them look good to their customers and business partners.
So are you now ready to get more referrals, prospects and clients right now?
Top 5 Tips to Help You Get More Referrals During a Global Economic Slowdown
1. Review your database and gather information about your current clients. Find out:
– What percent of your current clients were referred?
– How profitable are your current clients?
– Have they bought additional products from you?
– How often have you contacted them?
– How many have referred you to other clients?
2. Put a plan in place to check in with your clients and find out what they need.
3. Make a note about why they like working with you.
4. Ask for ways to improve.
5. Invite them to help you build your business through referrals and ask them to refer you.
Your current clients are going to be your best source of referrals. They’re just waiting for you to ask.
It’s time to ask. What are you waiting for?
About the Author:
America’s leading authority on referral selling and founder of No More Cold Calling, Joanne Black, helps salespeople, sales teams, and business owners get more referrals and attract more business fast without increasing costs. Discover how to turn prospects into clients more than 50 percent of the time, even during a down economy, with her Recession-Proof Your Business Emergency Kit at: http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/products.html

Young Go Getter by Eric Brantner: Are you still waiting to see if social media marketing is worth your time? It’s understandable to be hesitant of this new style of marketing, but entrepreneurs in particular have a lot to gain from getting involved with social media. It’s a free way to get in touch with your target audience and other leading figures in your industry. Even if your contacts don’t go on to become paying customers, you still get direct insight into your target audience’s mindset.
Still not convinced? Here are 7 companies making big strides through social media marketing.
Note: Thousands of companies use social media. Don’t think of this as a “Top 7” list, but rather as a sampling of companies from all industries and of all sizes making social media work for their unique needs.
1. Whiteflash– Whiteflash.com is an online diamond jewelry retailer. The owners of this company believe that buying a diamond is an interactive experience. That’s why they focused on social marketing techniques to engage potential customers. With live chatting on their website and numerous relationships with top bloggers, the company has increased their revenue by 15 percent, and most recently, they were featured in Entrepreneur magazine for their social marketing success.
2. Eastern Isles– Eastern Isles Teas and Tonics is a company headed up by two twenty-something young adults with a strong sense of Internet marketing. A key part of their marketing strategy is social media marketing. Through sites like Facebook and MySpace, the company generates about 30,000 unique visitors to their site each month.
3. Dell– Long gone are the days of the stoner gracing our television screens with “Dude, you’re getting a Dell.” Today, Dell is taking full advantage of social media marketing. In addition to over 20 Twitter accounts, they also have several company blogs that attract millions of visitors each month. However, most impressive to me is their Ideastorm website. This interactive community allows users to submit and vote on ideas. Well over 10,000 ideas have been created here. A truly great idea in and of itself.
4. Doritos– Dell isn’t the only company getting its users involved in the process. Remember the Super Bowl promotion that Doritos ran earlier this year (and last year, too)? Fans were allowed to create and vote on ads to appear during the Super Bowl. Thousands of submissions and millions of video views were generated by this overwhelmingly successful promotion.
5. Zappos– This online shoe retailer is always one of the first companies mentioned when it comes to social media. While they have a host of blogs and video blogs, what has really captured consumer interest is their Twitter presence. 198 Zappos employees maintain active Twitter profiles, and a page on their website is devoted just to this. By enticing the public to “See what Zappos employees are doing right now” the company generates tons of interest in their Twitter campaign.
6. Crafty Chica– “Crafty” is the perfect word to describe site owner Kathy Cano-Murillo’s marketing strategy. When her book Art de la Soul was coming out, she used MySpace to connect directly with her target audience. By staying committed and being social, she was able to get nearly 2 million visitors to her website each month.
7. MTV– Hate them all you want for not showing music videos anymore (it’s not like the ones they played were good anyway), but you have to give MTV credit for knowing its target demographic. In addition to their widgets and blogs, MTV also promotes The Hills (gag) in Second Life. Furthermore, you can connect with their “reality” stars through the MTV website. 14 year old girls throughout the world are rejoicing!
7 Companies Getting the Most out of Social Media [Young Go Getter]

Article Contributed by Mark S.
Business owners are pressed for time, pressed for funds and most importantly pressed for survival in this competitive world. It becomes very crucial to deploy the limited resources available in the best possible manner to ensure continued and successful survival and growth of business. Marketing is a very wide arena helping businessmen to achieve this, and online marketing has become the key to reach wider audience at much cheaper rates.
For those who have decided to take the plunge and go for online marketing, you will be faced with this very important question: Which strategy is better SEO or PPC?
Let’s just briefly skim over what these 2 very important terms under online marketing mean:
“Organic” or “Natural” search engine optimization (SEO) consists of optimizing web pages to enhance their position in the naturally occurring search results. Organic SEO consists of On-page and Off-page optimization tactics which is generally undertaken by a professional SEO firm or experienced SEO consultant.
When you purchase visitors or “clicks” from a search engine, it is called “pay-per-click” (PPC) search engine advertising (or PPCSE). One of the highest recognized PPCSE is Google Adwords. Pay-per-click search engine advertising allows to quickly leverage search engine traffic by “bidding” (paying) for high-value keywords related to particular product or service.
As you can see organic SEO is a free service in monetary terms although investments is required in terms of time and resources whereas PPC is a paid service. At the first glance, one would definitely get attracted to the free services of organic SEO and benefits garnered from it. But the latest statistics show a different picture as shown below:
SEO drives 75%+ of all search traffic, yet garners less than 15% of marketing budgets for SEM campaigns. PPC receives less than 25% of all search traffic, yet earns 80%+ of SEM campaign budgets.
Surprised?
One of the major reasons for quick adoption of PPC strategy is that it is very similar to traditional paid advertisement strategy and business owners can manage such campaign on their own. Whereas SEO requires a pre-requisite set of skills to ensure your website reaches the top rankings on search engine search through various on-site optimizations and off-site organic search engine optimization strategies. Another reason why businesses, prefer PPC is that they have better control over the entire program and they know exactly how and where their dollar is spent and results for each dollar spent, can be seen through subsequent Ad words report. They also do not have to change their tactics each time the search engines change their algorithms, which can prove a real headache, especially for those who are only interested in quick, short term results. Organic SEO might seem like too much of work, with absolutely no guaranteed results for short term goal seekers.
While a PPC campaign can deliver leads with relative ease, it can be a big money drain and has no real longevity — once you stop shelling out the cash, the website traffic goes away. SEO and link building require a lot more creative effort, but can have more sustainable results. It also allows a business to target a larger base of users, as most studies reveal that 75 – 80% of searchers click on organic listings as opposed to paid listings. As time goes on, web surfers are less prone to clicking PPC links on the right side of Google’s results or in the top sponsored links section. Why? In the past web surfers didn’t understand the difference between sponsored and non-sponsored links. Now web surfers are much more net savvy. The result is that a growing number of web surfers will click on non-sponsored links on the first page of results because they think: if that site made it into the top ten without paying for it, they must really be the best sites.
Just like planting seeds Organic SEO as an internet marketing strategy requires patience, but the rewards when reaped are plentiful. Although organic optimization is not the first choice for many (depending on the brand and business model) organic search does have inherent benefits that are unparalleled by sponsored or paid advertising tactics. The benefits and results last for longer period.
Generally you can go for Organic SEO if you;
ü Have a product that you can dedicate 300-750 words to describe its value.
ü Can exhibit supporting materials images, references and materials that emphasize the products benefits.
ü If you can shroud it in essentially keywords consumers might use to find it in enough frequency, that it can leverage a high-ranking organic search result.
ü This is a good strategy to adopt for lasting results, if you have the patience to hold out for 2-4 months or more depending on your industry & competition, for the benefits to start pouring to your website.
Besides, if you have a product that has a high price point, where there is some room for how much you are willing to spend to keep the cost per sale within bounds, then by all means pay per click advertising is a viable solution.
During tight credit crunch it is advisable to increase reliance on free organic SEO strategies rather than PPC. A hybrid plan (combination of SEO +PPC) is another alternative for those who seek quick results and suffer from very poor rankings, as SEO will ensure with time regular traffic builds for your site, while PPC will bring serious buyers to your site through banner ads, to get the ball rolling for your business. Once SEO tactics picks up, the budget spent on PPC can be minimized and then totally withdrawn, if required.
At the end of the day, decision on any kind of marketing strategy depends on the end results you expect from your online marketing strategy and the budget restrictions you face. Be sure you spell out exactly what you expect from your online marketing strategy before undertaking any plans. Flexibility & Control on your marketing budget is what you will gain from your online marketing strategies, which is very unlikely from traditional marketing techniques.
About the Author:
Mark S. is a qualified SEO Expert working with Analtyix Solutions which is a fast growing back-office service company for Finance and Accounting, IT, Marketing and Operational services. Analytix has been doing SEO for websites from various industry verticals like business brokerage firms, outsourcing firms, IT firms, dentists to e-commerce industry. To receive a free SEO analysis of your site contact Mark at mark@analytixsolutions.net