CREATING AND MANAGING EFFECTIVE TEAMS: I Am Real - Are You?

Creating and Managing Effective Teams with David Muraco

The Bottom line is this. When going after what you want you must ask two questions:

• How badly do you want it?

• What are you willing to do to get it?

'I am real' is a framework I created a while back to help give my clients a greater awareness on how to make changes in their life. Not just changes, but lasting changes. We all change something about ourselves for a minute, an hour, or even several days. But how often do we commit to lasting change? 'I am real' allows you to ask yourself some really great questions to move you toward your goals or dreams.

• I = Ideas

• A = Actions

• M = Momentum

• Real = Reality

The question that is asked when it comes to ideas is: What is it that you want? Then after you ask that question, you must also ask yourself: What is it that I really want? Because all too often we think we know what we want, but we really need to dig down deep to pull it out. Then, actions bring about questions like: What are you willing to do to make it happen? And again, you must drill down and ask: What are you truly willing to do to make it happen? So often we say we are not going to stop until we reach our goal, but the moment something tries to block us, we stop. The greatest accomplishments in life come shortly after the greatest challenges in our lives. Momentum will bring you to the place where your greatest change takes place so the best question here is: What needs to be done now to keep it going? Many times when we reach this place we take our foot off the gas. That is what kills our chances of reaching that lasting change we are looking for. Finally, is reality: What would your life be like when you reach your goals? Or what would your life be like if you knew you couldn't fail?

The lesson that should be taken away from this article is simply this: No one person, book, teacher, coach or mentor has all the answers. But they will help you open doors you never knew existed before. The truth is... nothing changes until you change, nothing happens until you get moving. We all think that it takes too much time to make change happen, what we don't realize is, that by the time we finish reading this article someone or something in this world has changed. I am real.... are you?

Remember, be positive, be real and live your life In The Zone.


For more information, please visit David's TNNWC Bio.

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Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
Resources for Business Planning, Development, Capital and Growth

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CREATING AND MANAGING EFFECTIVE TEAMS: I Am Real - Are You?

THE COLD HARD TRUTH: Prospecting 101, Part 8

The Cold, Hard Truth with Gabriel Siegel

THE BOTTOM LINE: The ability to ask the RIGHT types of questions will differentiate your product or service from your competition and reduce the chance that your offering will be “commoditized”. Proper questioning, a learned skill, offers significant advantages:

• You get your prospect involved in the sales process while you maintain control of the interview.
• You will know what your prospect has to hear to make a decision.
• You address objections before they arise.
• You’re not perceived as a salesperson but as a problem solver.

At the end of this article, I share a series of questions which the writer has found to be most effective and will allow you to present yourself as professional and knowledgeable.

“SEND ME A PROPOSAL” DEBUNKED

Judging from the number of E mails, many of our readers have come to the realization that prospecting and old fashioned “salesmanship” are the keys to survival. For some, that may a harsh reality, but such is the world of the entrepreneur. Rewarding but difficult!

A great number of respondents asked about proposals. Before addressing that subject, I would like to share this E mail from one of our readers. He never mentioned the type of business, but we all face a similar dilemma: we need to get more clients.

“Dear Gabriel:

My wife and I would like to thank you and The National Networker for offering a great series of articles on a subject that is absolutely necessary for “survival of the species”, the entrepreneur.

We’ve gone the networking route, the Twitter route and even joined our local Chamber of Commerce. We can count on one hand the number of new clients this generated. We were even at the point where we felt we might have to hire a professional salesperson to help us out which for our fledgling enterprise was a major budget buster. We decided instead to go it alone. Following your suggestions, we started to role play cold calling with each other. We then “just did it”. It was hard at first. But after a day or so, we got used to the hang ups, objections and rejections, realizing it’s not personal, and I’m glad to report that we were able to get a few appointments.

This is survival, but as you suggest in your articles, it is probably the most effective, and often, the only option. We’re looking forward to attending a Prospecting Roundtable when you come to our city”.

Name and City Withheld

ON TO PROPOSALS

When dealing with a municipality or a Fortune 500 company, a proposal may often be the only option. However, when a small or medium size business owner says “Send me a proposal” you can bet there are only three reasons why you were asked for that proposal. (We share those reasons at our PROSPECTING ROUNDTABLE).

In a recent PROSPECTING ROUNDTABLE, a participant presented an interesting and often too common “roadblock” to a sale. He cold-called a prospect and made an appointment to see the owner of a janitorial supply company. At the appointed time, he was told by the owner to speak to his secretary who would then relay the information. Our participant, who sells off-site bookkeeping services to small companies, told us he immediately launched into his presentation. He had no idea why the owner invited him in and of course neither did the secretary. He proceeded to present his company’s services. The secretary then asked for a proposal.

When he called back a week later, he received a curt “not interested” – click. What went wrong? Everything! As many of your E mails suggest, precious little business ever comes from proposals. It is a great way to “blow you off” and to detract from what should be your primary objective: getting new clients.

The participants in the PROSPECTING ROUNDTABLE, many of whom have been in a similar situation, said that he should have rescheduled the appointment. Here’s my cardinal rule: ONLY PRESENT TO DECISION MAKER(S) – THE PERSON(S) SIGNING THE CHECK.

Could this sale have been salvaged? We’ll never know. However, our participant might have said something like this:

“Mr. Prospect. You did invite me in so is it fair to say that I might have something in which you’re interested? (Wait for response). I would really need to talk to you directly; because until I do so, there is no way I can tell if I can help you. I may be able to offer you something you need and are possibly not getting from your present provider. But we really need to talk. (Immediately offer an alternate time and date).

You have nothing to lose. If he says no move on.

Another problem I’ve come across with some entrepreneurs will often cause the prospect to say “give me a proposal”. In one of my early articles, I pointed out the difficulties and problems in using buzzwords or industry specific terminology. (Remember the story of the hardware store owner). Your prospect, being human, is reluctant to admit to not understanding you. He’ll be more impressed by your questioning (indicating your interest in helping him) than by buzz words. Keep it simple! Your ability to address his concerns becomes your proposal.

Another topic that generated a fair amount of E mails asked my feelings about buying leads. One reader wrote: “I’m in the insurance business and our agency buys leads from a reputable company. As independent agents, we’re expected to pay for the use of the leads. My closing rate with leads is no greater than my cold calling and far less than referrals. What are your thoughts?”

A lead is still a cold call, albeit ostensibly more qualified. It’s the quality of your cold call opening that will determine your success with leads. If you refer to my earlier articles, we dwelt at length on developing opening statements for a cold call. Our PROSPECTING ROUNDTABLES are designed to help you refine your approaches when making unsolicited calls. If you need more help, or would like some of our readers’ insights into the issue of leads, feel free to E mail me.

OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS

We’ll be spending a lot of time on objections because it is one of the major obstacles to successfully consummating a sale. Why? Sales trainers, my personal experience and your own E mails offer some insights but these two dominate:

1) We fail to qualify prospects by not asking questions.

2) We assume a prospect thinks our service is unique, because we think it’s unique, when in reality virtually all services are commodities.

Every successful salesperson knows to anticipate objections. What he doesn’t know is what the objection will be. More often than not, you’re being told, politely, “Your service/product is no different than anyone else”. Only by asking questions can you position your service as something the prospect feels he needs and will be willing to pay for.

One critical key to a successful sale is to get your prospect involved. Here are some questions and/or statements you may want to consider using in the sales process:

“Thank you for inviting me. Before I can help you I need to learn some more about your company. We’ll both know if my service works for you”.

“What was it that you were hoping I could do for you?”

“Off the record, is there something you’re not getting from your present provider?”

“Have you given any thought to a budget” or “Have you given any thought to what this might cost? Would you mind sharing that with me – just in round numbers?”

The phrase “off the record” can be quite potent. Don’t be afraid to use it!

I’m involved with a group of “angel investors” looking to finance emerging enterprises in a specialized field. When interviewing a prospective recipient, we ask three questions:

• How does your product/service make money?
• How does your product/service save money?
• How are you getting clients?

In my next article, I will share with you why the use of questions has a special value. Feel free to use them. I will also address a number of issues from your E mails, such as:

• Additional questioning strategies
• Cold calling vs. networking and social media
• Referrals; How to get them

For anyone wishing to share thoughts or comments, the writer can be reached at guitarman1811@aol.com. I respond to E mails quicker and more thoughtfully than I do when contacted on social networking sites.

For more information, please visit Gabriel's TNNWC Bio.

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Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
Resources for Business Planning, Development, Capital and Growth

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THE COLD HARD TRUTH: Prospecting 101, Part 8

INTERNET MARKETING: Don't Hire a Social Media Manager Until You First Know What to Ask...

Internet Marketing with Joyanne Sloan

Top 5 questions you must ask before hiring a social media manager

Due to the significant challenges related to a global economic restructuring, businesses large and small are being forced to adapt or perish. Unfortunately, far too many of these businesses are reducing or even eliminating their marketing budgets. But when things are tight, is absolutely the wrong time to be cutting off your lead generating efforts. Thankfully, the world of social media marketing has introduced a very powerful, and yet very low cost, method of building your brand and your business.

As a relatively new phenomenon in the world of Internet marketing, social media marketing is truly a new frontier. As such, many business owners simply don't understand, and therefore, cannot embrace the opportunity presented by the collective audiences of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

If in an effort not to be left behind, you've decided to hire a social media manager (or outsource the work to a social media management company), there are few questions you should know before conducting interviews.

1. How much marketing experience do you have?
The technology that drives social media was designed for the masses such that it's fairly straightforward and relatively easy to use. While creating a Facebook fan page or sending out updates to your Twitter followers does not require any advanced skills, it's essential to remember that your involvement on social media platforms is not merely to network with others but to effectively market your products and services.

The point is that even if your son-in-law spends all his spare time on Facebook, that doesn't make him necessarily equipped to produce results where your social media marketing is concerned. On that same note, because social media marketing is such a newcomer, don't rely upon the candidate's history with social media as a reliable barometer of whether or not they can get the job done. The 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report indicates that fully 65% of marketing managers who use social media have been doing so for only a few months or less.

2. What is your plan for marketing my business using social media?
It's important to understand that social media marketing is simply one of myriad marketing tactics available to promote your business. A tactic is a hands-on, action-oriented implementation of your overall marketing strategy. A strategy is a plan; a series of deliberate tactical activities conducted over time toward reaching your professional goals.

Arriving at an effective social media strategy means having a comprehensive understanding of the thousand piece puzzle that is marketing. You'll want to make sure that your social media manager is sufficiently experienced with general marketing principles so that they are able to provide you with a true social media strategy and not merely a bunch of disconnected tactical efforts.

3. How will I know if social media marketing has been effective?
The Internet is full of articles and buzz concerning the return on investment of social media marketing. In truth, the efficacy of your business efforts in this arena depend squarely upon how consistently you utilize social media tools. It's unrealistic to expect immediate results simply because you've put up your Facebook fan page.

After all, social media marketing is just that … social. It's truly a relationship-based solution and, as such, should not be measured by dollars alone. At the outset, consider your social media campaigns a success if you have either increased your brand awareness or built an audience of potential customers for your business.

Statistically, 85% of businesses marketing themselves through social media report that it generated greater exposure for their business. 52% say that social media generated qualified leads and 40% said it helped them close new business. Bear in mind that if your social media manager does nothing more than maintain your presence on these networks, it's unlikely that you'll see a measurable return from their efforts. Maintenance is simply maintenance rather than a sales-driven campaign. When your gardener maintains the lawn at your house, you wouldn't expect a return on the money you paid him to mow it.

4. What can I read about what you do and how you do it?
Social media marketing is essentially a new way of communicating with your prospects on THEIR terms. It's essential that you remember that social media networks provide for two-way communication. Because your social media manager will act as the virtual voice of your business, it's very important that they demonstrate professionalism as well as superior writing and communication skills.

By requesting writing samples of anyone you're considering hiring, you'll get a good sense of whether or not they understand the mechanics of social media marketing in particular and Internet marketing in general.

5. What can I expect from your service?
Because social media marketing is really in its infancy, chances are good that your company doesn't have a social media plan or policy in place. If you're really starting at the beginning, be certain to clearly document what it is that you want to achieve through social media. Ask any potential hires to provide you with a set of actions broken down into specific, methodical steps including the frequency and duration of each step. By establishing clear expectations at the outset, you'll improve the likelihood that those expectations will either be met or exceeded. Do remember that social media is a changing landscape and flexibility is warranted.

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Joyanne Sloan is a strategic marketing expert sharing insights on effective Internet marketing for low-tech entrepreneurs. Her articles and information products provide practical, plain-English marketing solutions that get real results. For private consulting or social media management services, you may reach her at 206.388.3882 or by e-mail at synergyseattle@gmail.com

For more information, please visit Joyanne's TNNWC Bio.

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Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
Resources for Business Planning, Development, Capital and Growth

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

INTERNET MARKETING: Don't Hire a Social Media Manager Until You First Know What to Ask...