Category Archives: Inside Sales

10 Tips for Conducting Webinars

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how to conduct webinarsWith most of us working from our offices these days, we are relying more on conducting webinars to our clients. The days of the traveling salesperson are slowly disappearing. While some of us are still regularly traveling to trade shows, most companies are trying to cut costs by using online tours.

Tools like ClearSlide, Anymeeting, GoToWebinar are making it easier to do online demos.

But what are the most effective ways of conducting those presentations?

1). Pre-Qualify – If possible, try to pre-qualify your prospect before conducting the tour. This can be done with a short phone call conversation or questionnaire that the customer fills out online. Your goal is to make sure that your service or product will be a good fit. You should also try to find out why they are interested in your service or product now. Are they trying to solve an immediate problem, or are they just shopping for prices? And finally, try to find out if they have contacted any of your competitors. If they have already reviewed your competitor’s products or services, find out what they didn’t buy from them. This could give you an advantage of how you pitch your product during the presentation.

2). Research – Let’s say that you don’t have time to pre-qualify your prospect. The next best step is to do some research on your client’s company. With Google, LinkedIn and other search tools, this should be an easy process. You don’t have to spend hours doing research. Your goal is to learn enough about the company to determine if they will be a good fit for what you are offering.

3). Confirm the appointment – Cancellations or postponements happen. It’s a given in sales. But one of the best ways of reducing cancellations and postponements is to send a confirmation email the day before the tour. Sure, some clients will use it as an excuse not to view your presentation, but at least you will not be wasting your time. And hopefully, you can schedule another appointment during that time slot. However, I wouldn’t give up so easily on a cancellation. Try to reschedule it, or dig deeply into why they are not really interested in speaking with you. Maybe you need to do a better job of outlining the benefits of your service or product. Maybe you’re not speaking to the right person. Maybe it’s bad timing. Whatever the reason, don’t give up so easily.

4). Know the attendees – If more than one person is joining you on the online tour, try to find that out in advance. In fact, the more advanced information you have for all the attendees, the better. For example, if you know that your prospect’s boss is going to be joining the online tour, there may be some questions or comments that you don’t want to bring up during the presentation. This is especially true if your prospect is your advocate, but you know he has a lot of convincing to do with his boss. You don’t want to embarrass your advocate by making statements that could backfire on both of you.

5). Keep it short – Long webinars are boring as hell, no matter how exciting you think your product or service is. Keep it short. No more than 15 to 30 minutes at most. Unless the attendees are excited and are asking you a lot of questions (a good buying signal), better to cover the key points that interest your prospect, and then either schedule another more advanced online presentation, or a conference call to hash out the details. People are busy these days. If you tell them the online tour will be longer than 30 minutes, many will shy away from watching your presentation. The goal is to get the sale, not to be long-winded.

how to conduct a webinar6). Know your goal – is it to make a sale on the spot? Is it to move the sales process along? Is it to give a quick overview before scheduling a free trial period? Is it to find out more why the client is interested in buying your product or service?

7). Outline the ground rules – let the attendees know upfront what the ground rules of the presentation are. For example, is it OK to ask questions during the presentation or wait until after you are finished? Is it OK to record the presentation so that the people who couldn’t attend will be able to view it later (which could save you time from doing multiple presentations)?

8). Customize it – don’t use generic terms to title your presentation like “Password Security” or “Higher Ed” – instead, customize your presentation by using the client’s company’s name like “ABC Company Password Security Presentation” or “The University of Delaware Presentation.” Even if you are only copying the generic presentation and slapping your client’s name on it, you are still giving the impression that you spent time putting together the demo and showed some real effort.

9). After the presentation – when the tour is over, what’s next? Besides answering questions, make sure you schedule a follow-up phone call. Your goal is always to move the sales process forward until you get the sale.

10). Review it – if you recorded your presentation, have your manager or someone else review it. It’s always good to get feedback.

For more advice on how to conduct webinars, please check out these books –

Deliver Webinars Like a Pro: An Essential Guide for Business Owners. Tips and Strategies to Setting Up and Using Webinars Effectively for Sales Presentations, Marketing Campaigns and Online Training, by Melodie Rush and Carl Stearns

Webinar Authority: The Step-By-Step Guide On How To Prepare, Present, Host, And Execute a Successful Webinar (AMC Book 5301), by Saifuddin Indorewala

For more information on where to find webinar tools, please read –

“6 WebEx Alternatives for Hosting an Extraordinary Webinar,” by Caroline Malamut on the Capterra website.

“The 15 Best Webinar Software Products from Around the Web,” by Nathan B.Weller in Resources on the Elegant Themes, Inc. website.

If you like this post, please read my book Advice for New Salespeople: Tips to Help your Sales Career.

What Salespeople can Learn from American Horror Story: Coven

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Young Witch(Spoiler Alert: This post will have a lot of spoiler alerts from American Horror Story: Coven. If you haven’t seen this television program, I recommend that you stop reading right now, and return after you watch the show).

What can salespeople learn from watching American Horror Story: Coven?

Plenty.

If you are not familiar with the TV program, here is a quick summary –

It is a modern-day story of a group of witches living at Miss Robichaux’s Academy in New Orleans. The academy is a boarding school where bad or confused young witches are sent to learn how to effectively use their dark powers. They learn to accept themselves and avoid being detected by outsiders. Once they master their skills and don’t kill others (or themselves) in the process, they return to the real world and try to live normal lives.

The underlining theme of the 13-episode program is that Fiona Goode, the Coven’s “Supreme,” is running out of time. Fiona (played by Jessica Lange) is dying from cancer. To survive, she must find and kill the new Supreme. Powerful and selfish, she refuses to step aside and die with dignity. Rather than take the new Supreme under her arm and train her, Fiona hopes that by murdering the new Supreme she can return to her youth and cure herself.

But Fiona has a problem – she doesn’t know who the new Supreme will be. All she knows is that one of them is among the young witches living at the academy. So besides each witch vying for the prized position of being the new Supreme, each one of them must also watch their backs. Suspicion and fear take over. Loyalties change.

Let the story begin.

There are numerous subplots throughout the show, but for the sake of this blog, I will not discuss them.

Now, how can we learn to be better salespeople from watching the program?

1). Have a Clear line of succession:

History is filled with power struggles when it comes to succession. However, the sales department isn’t the place for that sort of drama. Every sales department should have a manager, an assistant manager, and some basic understanding of the line of succession. This avoids petty backstabbing and allows everyone to focus on doing what all sales teams should do best – sell.

In Coven, the young witches should be focusing on developing their skills and learning how to adjust to the outside world. They should prepare for the coming of the new Supreme and welcome her with open arms. Instead, they are distracted by fear of being knocked off by the Supreme who is hell-bent on maintaining control. In addition, some of the witches try to kill each other or refuse to revive a dead colleague, which only adds more anxiety and stress.

Letting go is difficult. I know that. But to grow and generate new ideas and perspectives, the old must step aside for the young.

Sales departments shouldn’t turn into medieval feuds, where various camps are pit against each other, fighting to determine the next sales manager.

Have a clear succession of leadership. If some people aren’t happy with the current or new leadership, they can always find new jobs.

2). Don’t underestimate your abilities:

To determine who will be the new Supreme, each witch must be tested to see who can master the “Seven Wonders of Witchcraft.” The tests include transmutation, where each witch must teleport from one place to another, and telekinesis, where each witch must move an object with magic.

During the tests, one middle-aged witch, Cordelia Foxx (played by Sarah Paulson), is encouraged to compete. At first, she is reluctant, because she doesn’t feel she has the same skill sets as the younger witches. Nevertheless, she accepts the challenge. After passing all the tests, she becomes the new Supreme.

The message is obvious – don’t underestimate your abilities. You know more than you think. Stretch your limits. Climb new heights. Don’t let self-doubt and fear discourage you from achieving your goals.

personal demons3). Overcome your personal demons:

As part of the test in the “Seven Wonders of Witchcraft,” each witch must send its spirit to hell and return by sunrise. If they don’t return, their bodies turn to dust and they are forever living in eternity in their own personal hell. All the witches pass the test except one. Misty Day (played by Lily Rabe) is forced to stay in a high school lab where she constantly revives and then dissects a frog, all the while being mocked by her fellow students and criticized by her teacher. Misty can’t let go of her personal demon. She is trapped in hell forever.

In sales, we all have to overcome our own personal demons. We all have self-doubts. We all are plagued by negative thoughts. We sometimes have bad attitudes. To become successful, we must break through our own hell through positive thinking, independent learning, and ongoing training.

4). Don’t be ashamed of your profession:

In the last episode of the season, the new Supreme decides to come out to the rest of the world. She holds a TV interview and encourages all young witches to join the Coven, where they can find a safe place to develop their skills.

Witches are no longer hiding in the shadows. They can now become part of regular society.

As salespeople, don’t we sometimes feel ashamed of our profession? When someone asks you what you do for a living, what do you tell them? Do you reply “I’m a new business development manager,” or a “consultant”, or an “account manager.”

Do you ever say – I’m a salesperson.

Like the witches in Coven, don’t be ashamed of who you are. Be proud of your profession. Embrace it.

Is your Sales Team Locked and Loaded?

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lock and load your sales teamIf you are a fan of the movie series Resident Evil, you may have heard the phrase “It’s time to lock and load” used right before the zombie’s attack.

Or if you are a fan of the film Sands of Iwo Jima, you may have heard John Wayne’s character say “Lock and load, boy, lock, and load.”

There is some disagreement of what the term means. But according to Wiktionary, the phrase is used right “before loading the ammunition clip into the rifle, the operating rod handle is pulled to the rear until the bolt is securely locked open. According to the M1 Garand Manual, loading the clip without first locking the bolt could result in an accidental discharge of a round.”

Regardless of the definition, can the term apply to sales?

Yes, it can.

Lock – are you locking your salespeople into a reasonable and fair compensation package so that you encourage them to stay, make a decent living and avoid high turnover? Are you locking them into a reasonable quota? Are you locking them into other incentives like cash bonuses or extra vacation?

Load – are you loading your salespeople up on qualified leads and relevant prospects so that their pipelines are constantly full? Without a fully “loaded” pipeline, your salespeople could become easily bored and start seeking better jobs. Are you working closely with your marketing department to increase your company’s branding and content offerings to help drive more traffic to your website?

training and coaching your sales teamI would also add this term –

Ready to go – which means are you giving your salespeople enough independence to spread their wings and seek new business opportunities without cramping their style, hurting their morale, and crippling their judgment. Are your coaching and training them on an ongoing basis to help sharpen their skills and increase their confidence?

There you have it. If you want a successful sales team, make sure everyone is “locked, loaded and ready to go.”

 

LeadFuze’s List of the Best Sales Blogs for 2017

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I’m honored that LeadFuze, a B2B lead generation software company, has added me to their list of the Best Sales Blogs for 2017.

I’m very familiar with many of the other blogs and read them often. While I like to think of myself as a sales expert, I always encourage professionals to seek advice from others, regardless of whether your sources are blogs, books, articles, videos or training programs.

The only way to grow is to constantly learn.

best sales blogs for 2017

Recommend: Tim Wackel, Sales Consultant & Trainer

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While attending the AA-ISP conference in Boston a couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of taking a session from Tim Wackel, sales consultant and trainer, on “Stop Pitching, Start Solving.”

(For some bad salespeople, I would have renamed the session, “Stop Bitching, Start Working.”)

Mr. Wackel’s presentation was one of the best sessions I attended during the conference. Everyone I spoke to after the session had the same opinion. My only regret was his session was only 30 minutes long. I wish they had scheduled more time for him. But fortunately for all of us, he did squeeze a lot of good information for us.

I’m not going to reveal too much detail of his session because I want to encourage you to ask your company or organization to hire him to train your sales team. Instead, I’m only going to offer you some sample nuggets.

One of the most surprising takeaways I got from his session is that the number one reason why most prospects buy from you isn’t because of price, product or the solution you are offering – it’s because of you. That’s right, you! The more effective you are as a salesperson, the better chance you have to increase your sales.

(Mr. Wackel obtained his information from Success Magazine).

Think about that for a second. How often have you heard prospects say they would love to buy your product or service, but the price is too high, or they need to check with their boss, or they will call you back when they are ready to purchase. Sure, some of the reasons are legitimate. But you know in your gut sometimes the reasons are none of the above – the real reason is that they just don’t trust or like you.

For example, in one of my previous jobs, I was working with a Florida hospital that was seeking a more robust password security program. The decision came down to me and a major competitor. My client was getting a lot of push-back from his boss and colleagues to purchase from the competitor. However, even though the competitor’s price was lower, my client bought from me.

Why? Because he trusted me. I went through several hoops to close the sale. For example, I quickly and honestly responded to all of his questions and concerns. I outlined some of the key differences between our products vs. the competitor. I did this without bad-mouthing our competitor.  At the client’s request, I conducted two separate online tours rather than one tour because I wanted to show our product not only to him but also to his colleagues.

After nearly four weeks, I closed the sale.

My client told me that the biggest reason he bought from me because I was willing to spend more time working with him than my competitor. He added that I showed more enthusiasm and willingness to work with him than most salespeople he had worked with in his career.

So what is the solution to get more sales? Mr. Wackel outlines four principles.

They are –

Principle #1 – Prescription before Diagnosis is Malpractice!

Principle #2 –Make Fewer Statements, Ask More Questions.

Do you want to know the next two principles? Do you want to learn more? Contact Mr. Wackel. Hire him. You will not regret it.

Here is his contact information:

3415 Westminster Ave. Ste. 207A
Dallas, Texas 75205
(214) 369-7722
tim@timwackel.com

Below is a video of “Who is Tim Wackel?” –

 

Is your Sales Department a Turkey?

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Is your sales department a turkey?With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this is a good time to remind ourselves what we should be thankful for. If you are working in a good sales department, be grateful. But if your sales department is a turkey, you better start seeking a new job.

Should you be thankful or gobble like a turkey?

You decide. Please review the list below of what makes a good sales department –

1). Customer relationship management (CRM) software – If you are using a good CRM software program, be thankful. There are still a lot of companies that are using outdated or lousy CRMs to manage their sales, customer interactions, and record keeping.

Need some reliable sources to find a first-class CRM?

Check out –

Capterra
Software Advice
PC Magazine

2). Sales Manager – if you have a sales manager who gives a damn about you, pray he doesn’t leave your company anytime soon. If he does leave your company, pray your employer hires the right replacement. One of the major reasons why salespeople leave their jobs isn’t because of money or status, but because of poor management.

Need some advice on what makes a superior sales manager?

Check out –

“How to Become a Great Sales Manager from 10 Sales Experts,” by Russ Henneberry
“The 4 Qualities New Sales Managers Need for Success,” by Lou Carlozo
“The 6 Traits Every Sales Manager Needs to Succeed,” by Phil Harrell

beware of back stabbers3). Co-workers – every sales department has their share of backstabbers and sharks. You know who I’m talking about – the ones who steal your leads or prospects, or sabotage your work. Eventually, they are weeded out, but not before they create a toxic environment that could lead to high turnover or added stress. (As if you don’t have enough stress at work already). If you work with colleagues that you trust, be very thankful.

Need advice on how to work better with your colleagues?

Check out –

“How to Create a Team Selling Environment,” by Irene A. Blake
“How to Handle a Toxic Work Environment,” by Alan Henry
“11 Tips for Staying Sane in a Toxic Work Environment,” by Kassy Scarcia

4). Marketing – while I think the on-again, off-again, love/hate relationship between sales and marketing is overrated, there is no doubt that without an effective marketing department, your sales would be mediocre at best. If you have a marketing department that’s providing you with great leads and prospects, be very thankful.

Need some advice on how to build a good marketing team?

Check out –

“How to Build a High Performance Marketing Team,” by Kevin Barber
“Tips and Tools for Building a Marketing Team,” by Tiffany Black
“7 Characteristics That Make Up the Best Marketing and Sales Teams,” by Ross Simmonds

5). Customers – Let’s face it, all the best sales and marketing strategies in the world are not going to do you a bit of good without having reliable and repeat customers. Do you want to earn and maintain a high commission? Take care of the ones who brung ya!

Need some advice on how to find and keep good customers?

Check out –

“The 80/20 Rule of Sales: How to Find your Best Customers” by Perry Marshall
“10 Ways to Make Customers Fall in Love with Your Business,” by Brian Honigman
“Four Simple Ways to Find Customers,” by Brad Sugars

But beyond business, most important of all, be thankful that you have family, friends and loves ones looking out for you. Life is too short to spend all of your time worrying about work. Enjoy the holiday and don’t eat too much turkey!