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The Foundation For All Sales Success

12/27/2011 by
Sales Prospecting

The art of prospecting is not gone.

Call it what you want… lead generation, business development, canvassing, door to door, talking with referrals, follow up from a networking event, asking for referrals or even making the “Dreaded Cold Call.” You can disguise it anyway you want. You are prospecting!

The bottom line with any of these activities is that you are prospecting for new customers or new business from existing customers. There, I said it. Let me say it again. You are prospecting!

Prospects may come from a variety of sources that include your warm or natural market. You may also receive a steady flow of prospects from centers of influence, such as attorneys, doctors, accountants or VIPs  in your community. What about referrals from clients or friends? You can even advertise or belong to associations and business networking groups. You may even receive prospects through social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter (compliance permitting).

Skeptics say that prospecting is dead. It’s not. And it never will be. The decision to prospect is yours alone.

True, the old way of selling is dead and gone forever, but prospecting continues to be the foundation of all successful businesses and salespeople. So what is prospecting?

Prospecting is defined as “in search of” or “to labor for”. What are we all searching for? We should be prospecting for (or searching for) new customers, or new business from our existing customers. It’s that simple.

Think about it for a minute. Let’s go back to the mid 1800′s. Prospectors were in search of gold. When they found a gold nugget did they stop prospecting? No. They continued to search for more. What happened when the gold mine dried up? Did they stop searching? No. What did they do? They loaded up their tools, looked for another mine and began the process all over again. They continued to prospect. They did not give up.

Today prospecting is the art of putting new potential clients, or new business from existing customers into our sales pipeline. Since 1980 I have observed thousands of salespeople fail. The thing they all had in common is they stopped prospecting.

Question – If you had the cure for cancer, how many cancer patients would you approach each day? Of course you would approach as many as you could. Make sense?

Why then, do we stop prospecting? The simple answer is that it is hard work. We get lazy and complacent. After all, it’s easier to check your voicemail or email isn’t it? Voicemail can’t object, email doesn’t challenge our value. We get caught up in all the stuff that really doesn’t matter. I love this quote from one of my favorite motivational speakers, Les Brown, “We give our distractions more attention than our destination.” How distracted are you, what’s your destination?

In closing: The following quote from Frank Bettger’s book ‘How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success” says it straight out, “You can’t make a sale, until you write some business; You can’t write some business, until you have had a conversation; And you can’t have a conversation until you make the call!”

Are you ready to have more conversations, write more business, and make more sales? The decision is yours and yours alone.

Steve KloydaABOUT STEVE: For more than 30 years, Steve Kloyda has been creating unique selling experiences that transform the lives of salespeople, prospects and customers. As Founder of The Prospecting Expert and The Producer’s Toolbox, Steve helps his clients attract more prospects, retain more clients, and drive more sales Email Steve at steve@theprospectingexpert.com. Visit his blog at www.theprospectingexpert.com.

Filed Under: Contributors, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 things America’s Next Top Model can teach us about Social Media Success!

08/03/2011 by

Tyra Banks, ANTM

Top 10 things America’s Next Top Model can teach us about Social Media Success!

  1. Be Fierce! (Tyra)

    To be top you have to be confident. You have to be strong. You have to have a presence. To set yourself apart in social media you need to have a unique voice. Be yourself. Be the best. Be unique. Be Fierce!

  2. Smize- Smile with your eyes.  (Tyra)

    Did someone make you angry?  Do you have troll on your blog or in your Twitter stream?  Don’t respond with emotion because it will come off aggressive and mean. Check your emotion a the curb. Even when you are fierce you can still be friendly.

  3. Model from your head to your tippy toes! (Tyra)

    Commit! Don’t do anything half way. Don’t let the details fall away. If you are going to do it, then do it all the way! Many people wonder why their Facebook or Twitter is not pulling int he traffic or engagement they expected. More than half the time it is due to inconsistency. You have to commit to a schedule, and one that meets the needs of the platform not your needs. Twitter is a daily activity. Actually it is a multiple times a day activity. If you cannot get on and tweet with people at least once or twice a day, then don’t do it.

  4. Perfect is boring, human is beautiful. (Tyra)

    Being perfect is not interesting.  Write as yourself. Tweet as yourself.  Don’t be afraid to mess up or put your foot in your mouth. It allows people to relate to you. It makes you accessible. Mistakes will open up more conversation than perfection.

  5. Never dull your shine for someone else. (Tyra)

    Always be who you are.  If you are a shooting star then let your star shine! It is hard when you are going on your own and start to find success. You have been working hard and deserve it. But that doesn’t mean that other people will not be envious or view your success as “overnight” or undeserved. Be proud of what you have accomplished. Never let your success be dulled by someone who is not as successful. Let them find inspiration with you.

  6. You have to be strong and confident everyday, because everyday is a challenge. (Natasha Ivanova, model contestant)

    Everyday is something new.  We all have days when we feel less than 100%. I have had many days where I feel defeated or just simply uninspired. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and approach the day with confidence.

  7. Walk like it’s for sale and the rent is due tonight. (J. Alexander)

    Every day is a sale.  Every day is an opportunity to do business. Make sure that you pursue every opportunity with vigor, like your life depends on it. That is how you find success!

  8. YOU can’t cry because WE don’t have time to fix your makeup (Jay Manuel)

    We all take hits. Business deals gone bad. Blogs poorly received. Tweets misunderstood.  Don’t wallow in your mistakes. Don’t let fear get the best of you. We all make them, but if you want to be successful you cannot waste time focusing on mistakes.  Accept them, learn from them, put your fear behind you and keep moving forward.

  9. If you feel it, you will be it! (Tyra)

    Feel like the successful person you are trying to be and you will become that person.  If you feel like a failure, you will become a failure. Make sure your energy is focused on realizing your dreams, not defeating your dreams. This will affect the way you approach your business, your clients and your whole life. Make sure you manifest the positive.

  10. I was never a courtesan in a renaissance castle! But for that day I was. (Tyra)

    Essentially fake it till you make it! Someone might ask you to be something or someone, or do something that is not you. It might not be in your normal skill sets, but that does not mean you cannot do it. Just because you are not comfortable does not mean you can’t do a good job. Often times working outside our comfort zone is the best way to grow. We learn the most and learn about what we can do. It is scary at first, but it will build confidence in your abilities to take on new challenges. Commit to the role you are filling, even if it is outside your comfort zone.

    ….and one to grow on:

  11. Do you want to be on top?

    Do you have the drive? the commitment? the perseverance? Do you have what it takes to make it to the top? I bet you do!

Filed Under: SM3, Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whose ideal are you? Everyone is someone’s inspiration.

11/22/2010 by

A woman stading on Sandia Peake

When we focus on our business and professional development, it is easy to get caught up in where we are going. We focus on our next goal and where we want to be.  This is actually a good thing.  To invoke some sports analogies: see the goal line, be the ball, make the shot.  Keep your goals in view and make sure that you are working toward them every day.

However, we may get so involved looking ahead that we forget to appreciate where we are now.

Speaking to someone the other day, I was hit by a realization about appreciation and perspective.  I was quite taken aback by this metaphorical slap.  I was in a dialogue with a young woman who is highly ambitious and has been culturally successful in her artistic ventures, though not yet monetarily successful. She expressed her admiration for my professional success. She said she wanted to be like me and wanted to attain the success that I have reached.

I was so honored by what she said.  I realized that we spend so much time looking at where we are going, or trying to go, that we often forget to acknowledge where we are.  But even that is not necessarily enough to give us the feeling of accomplishment that we sometimes need. We can even consider where we have come from and see our growth and progression, and still not have a feeling of accomplishment because we are always gauging our success on our goalS.

Sometimes it is important to realize that you may be someone else’s ideal. In their eyes you are the person they aspire to be. Just as you may have someone in your circle who is your role model, your work and accomplishments may represent that for someone else.

I was given a great gift by being made aware of this.

Who are you inspiring?

Filed Under: Success, TEQ Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

My Business IS Personal: Emotional Involvement and Success

11/06/2010 by

A woman with her arms in the air feeding seagullsNew business ventures are extremely personal. It doesn’t really matter what your business is, because in the beginning it is all you. The success or failure of any enterprise is dependent on what you do.

When we start something, be it a big project, a company, a new division or a partnership, it is very exciting. In part what makes it so exhilarating is that it is so close to us. People joke about the term “brain child” but this could not be closer to the truth.

Once you decide to let your venture take form and become more than thoughts and ideas, it becomes susceptible to the critiques, opinions and influences of the outside world. As it takes form you clarify your vision; you begin to define it and refine it. But the refining process has to happen out in the open. You have to begin working on it before you are able to truly see all the steps and developments that are needed. This means that your growing pains are happening in public view.

For some the next scary step is taking this brain baby that is still fresh and not fully developed to a financier and essentially asking, do you find me worthy? If they do then they give you the money necessary to grow your venture into something with real potential. Or at least that is how we feel about it. We internalize such things as financial investment as a judgment on the worthiness of ourselves and our ideas.

The first investment in your business is an emotional one. The first successes raise you up –  your work is validated and you feel the elation of being on the right path. But criticisms can send you down to a new level of feeling bad. You question what you are doing. Question how and why you are doing it.  This whole process is an emotional roller coaster where the highs are amazing and the lows are devastating.

The emotional involvement we have in our ventures is what gives us the drive to work crazy hours and commit 200% to make something work. However,  that same emotional enngagement can also hold us back.  What feeds our drive and passion gives us doubt and insecurity on the flip side.

At the beginning our emotional attachments are central to our drive, but at some point they can become detrimental.  Once you truly make the commitment, though, there is no point in questioning the decision. Honestly, it is more than just saying, “I’m doing this!” It’s saying, “I’m doing this, and signing this, and certifying this.” Essentially you are in it. Embrace it.

The challenge is to use this energy to drive you forward, but recognize that at the beginning you have no emotional separation between yourself and your venture. Every reaction, judgment, success and pitfall gets internalized as a comment on you and your ability to achieve your goals. To be successful we need our emotional drive, but we also have to be able to separate ourselves when the time is right.  This is your business, not an economic-based effigy of yourself. Ultimately, your self worth is not contingent on the success of your ventures.

For me, understanding this makes creating that separation easier.

Filed Under: Success, TEQ Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why your business isn’t growing: What does your fear look like?

10/29/2010 by
Lauren MacEwen dressed as a demon demonstrating fear of change

What does your fear look like?

Yesterday I talked about the Status Quo. So now that you  have decided that you don’t want to live there, what is stopping you from moving forward?

Fear of Change

I was recently at a seminar by Mari Smith at Blogworld Expo 2010.  She talked about fear.  Fear is the biggest enemy to growth.  It causes us to doubt ourselves and feel uncertain –  about our ability to do something, to truly be the same person we are when we present ourselves professionally, to value our skills or our knowledge.

A lack of certainty paralyses people, which is a primary form of procrastination.

So what are you afraid of?  The mother of all fear is that we won’t be able to handle it.  So stop taking it all in as a whole picture.  If you look at everything you need to do to get from A to Z, of course you will be overwhelmed. Of course you will be convinced that it is too much.  So stop looking at it like that. Identify what you need to do, step by step.

  1. What do I need to do right now?
  2. What makes me money today?
  3. What makes me money tomorrow?
  4. What makes me money next week?
  5. Do I need help?

You probably want to have a wildly successful blog that creates multiple sources of income and feeds your value as an expert in your field.  Of course you haven’t even created your blog yet.  Yeah, I would be freaked out too.

Lets break this down, because you don’t go from deciding to start a blog to being Brian Clark over night. So what do you have to do?

  1. Decide a host for your blog. wordpress? blogger?
  2. Set up your blog.
  3. Write something

Ok, so you are done!  Well, kind of.  You are done being started, but that is still a huge step. Now what?

  1. How many times a week are you going to write?
  2. Write some more
  3. Start promoting your blog on sites like twitter, digg and technorati

You will start to draw readers. Engage them. Talk to them.  Build an audience.  Before you know it you will be the next ProBlogger!

Just remember that everything starts with a single step.  Sometimes it is not good to look at the big picture because the big picture can overwhelm us. Create a list of 5 things. Small steps. As small as you wish to make them. Any movement forward is progress. What do you have to do first?  Now do it. Then go for #2.

Just be sure to make #5 on your list “write the next list”!

Filed Under: Blogging, Conferences, Technology, TEQ Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,