Symptoms include sweaty palms, procrastination, busy work, excuses, anxiety and lack of enthusiasm, which all leads to just not wanting to do Cold Calling.

Recently, Culpepper conducted a study on Cold Calling and determined that 85% of Sales Professionals suffer from this infectious disease!

We all know Cold Calling is key to sales success and the phone is the most critical tool. But since very few people actually enjoy Cold Calling, how can we make this activity more fun?
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Try these five prescriptions to help you cure your Call Reluctance.
#1- Make your first call to a friend or family member to put yourself in a good mood.

#2- Set goals for yourself and reward yourself when you meet them. For example; “If I can do Cold Calling for sixty minutes straight, I can afford to call it an early day and go to my child’s soccer game.”

#3- Eliminate distractions such as e-mail, texting, personal calls and co-workers. SHUT YOUR OFFICE DOOR.

#4- Block out a consistent day-to-day schedule for phone time and hold yourself accountable. NO EXCUSES.

#5- Have fun and play a game. Here’s an idea; give yourself $5.00 for each call. If you make 20 calls in an hour you just made $100.00. I bet you will make more than that long term with your commissions.

Thanks for reading.

Are you curious if social media works? You should be! Within the last 60 days Facebook has grown to over 480 million people making it the 3rd largest country in the world. LinkedIn has grown to over 70 million. Twitter is over 120 million.
So you are on the fence, thinking and thinking instead of doing!

Here are 4 reasons to get started:

Referrals: YES! I just conducted a seminar yesterday on social media and I surveyed the room over 40% stated they were forwarded a post on social media from a friend to attend my seminar; that is a referral in my mind.

Social media defense: Protecting your brand and listening is one of the best ways to protect your brand. Use tools such as Google Alerts and Alterian to help protect your brand.

Competitive intelligence: Monitoring your competition is critical in business using tools such as Hootsuite you can register your competitors name and monitor their activity.

Fan page: Facebook offers you the opportunity to build and develop a following and have your followers engage in conversations to increase sales.

Get started today!

Good Luck on Your Next Sales Call,

Mike
Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives CEO’s VP of Sales and Sales Professionals stellar sales results they want by implementing the tactics, tools and high performance strategies they need.

Answer: Immediately.

In the last couple of weeks I have requested a great deal of quotes from people. I would have to say on average they failed. Why? Answer Follow up! And when they did it was awful.

Here is an example of what NOT to do, I have deleted their names to protect the innocent.

Mr. Krause,

Thank you for responding. I will have that scheduled in my calendar Sir. I also would like you to know that the reason why I would like to talk to you today is because we are giving out packages at 50% off and this is the biggest thing that could happen. Just in case you would be interested, you can always call me back at 1-888 extension 1234. This offer ends today.

I will definitely call you up on Tuesday.

I look forward to hear from you soon.

Sincerely

The person above has NOT even talked to me and is offering a discount? How bad is this? Jumping to price is for the novice and weak.

Start following up immediately when the lead comes in, pick the phone up! I know that is a foreign concept to some, do not send a text or canned email. The lead does not get any hotter than in the beginning of the process.

The faster you follow up the better in my mind you have a chance to win the sales. Call them and ask questions, do not jump into price and offer discounts.

Good luck on your next sales call,

Mike

Join me on my new show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/salessense

PS Still has not followed up after this email and I am waiting on some for 8 weeks……WOW!

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives CEO’s VP of Sales and Sales Professionals stellar sales results they want by implementing the tactics, tools and high performance strategies they need.

Invest a day or a session with your laptop and professional instruction on how to setup and develop a social media strategy for your business.

Have you heard about recent Lead Gen success stories in social media? Do you know the smart tactics companies are applying to increase sales and find qualified leads? Do you want to know how you can do this for your brand? Discover the social media strategies of companies like Dell, Jetblue, and American Express that can improve your own lead generation activities.

Attend this seminar to increase leads for your sales team by listening to the social web, identifying brand champions and potential leads, and employing social savvy when you engage with potential customers.

• Listen: A review of platforms to monitor social media
• Benchmark: Determine what is being said, and who is saying it
• Identify: Find your fans, brand advocates and champions
• Engage: Using social media to respond and interact
• Measure: How to best seed your content to track it via your listening platform

Secure your spot today!
Register Here http://rochestesocialmediabeginnertoadvanced.eventbrite.com/

End of the day Results:

· Your step-by-step guide to Social Networking

· How to use Sales 2:0 to increase Revenue for Your business

· Find out Insider Secrets of Twitter Power!

· Results-driven strategies you can use in your marketing plan

· The top resources that will automate your efforts and save hours of time.

· Capture your readers with snappy tweets and status updates

Seminar is Designed to Help Businesses, Brands, Marketers, Entrepreneurs and Professionals Leverage the Power That is Inherent With Twitter , Facebook , LinkedIn by Exposing Best Practices, Practical Guidance and Examples So That Savvy Businesses Can Quickly Create Value.

Register Here http://rochestesocialmediabeginnertoadvanced.eventbrite.com/

Schedule for the day:

1. Beginner Social Media Success Session: A High Level Overview of Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn 7:30 AM-9:00AM $49.00 Walk away with the tools to set up your social media accounts. (no social media account necessary to be set up in advance a power point will be provided at end of session to set up all of your social media on your own)

2. Intermediate Social Media Success Session: High impact hands on all about Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter how to create, develop and market your business. 9:00-12:00 $49.00 Walk away with how to use social media and navigate through the maze. (social media accounts need to be set up in advance to maximize results, please bring logo, photo, resume and unique selling proposition)

Lunch provided by Lovin’ Cup 12:00-1:00 PM

3. Advanced Social Media Success Session: High impact hands on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter & Four Square. Take the morning advice and now develop a strategy to obtain new business 1:00-5:00 PM $49.00 Walk away with a clear/concise strategy to maximize your exposure and increase sales! (social media accounts need to be set up in advance and completed to 100%)

Best deal entire day for $119.00 attend all three sessions and become a master of social media.

What previous attendess are saying:

Mike,

Thank you very much for the presentation. Your class was very helpful
and we walked away with some great ideas. JE

Overall, very well done. Started and stopped on time. Full day’s worth
of content. Excellent value for time and money. HK

Invite your friends and colleagues, thank you!

Article social-media-5-reasons-why-it-will-increase-your-sales

As scene on Channel 8

Your instructor Michael Krause from Sales Sense Solutions, Inc.

Please call 585-704-6453 with any questions.
Register Here http://rochestesocialmediabeginnertoadvanced.eventbrite.com/

Last one sold out! Only 30 tickets will be sold. Register Early.

See you on June 29th.

Our Best,

Mike & Amy

Connecting the best businesses with the best people. Get on the list!

http://www.rochesteralist.com/

By Mike Krause “Giving You 110%”

It still amazes me after listening to a 3 minute voicemail and life story of the person leaving the message they DO NOT leave their phone number? People are way too busy to search for your number and they will not return your call.

Sample script and some tips for you:

Hello <Prospect>. This is ­­________with ­­­_________ my direct number is ­­_______I wanted to introduce my company and learn more about your needs at ___________.  We can handle your ______________

Please call me when you get back to your desk directly to ____________thank you!

1. Phone number is left twice

2. Purpose of call

3. Be in silence no back ground noise or babies

4. You are curious about their business

5. You are to the point

6. You are clear in your message

7. It is not all about you

8. Point of action

9. You are offering a win/win

10. You are not going on and on and on.

11. Mike’s AH HAH! Your message is short and to the point, you leave your phone number twice so the prospect does not have to listen to your message in its entirety again.

To Your Sales Success,

Mike

“Giving You 110%”

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives CEO’s VP of Sales and Sales Professionals  stellar sales results  they want by implementing the tactics, tools and high performance strategies they need.

By Mike Krause “Giving You 110%”

The other day I received a call from a Sales Professional I admire and she asked me for some help preparing for an interview. I was honored that she thought of me and was happy to help her prepare.

I have interviewed/screened over 1,000 Sales Professionals in my time and wanted to share with you my top 11 tips:

1. Prompt! It still amazes me how many do not show up on time. Let’s think! Do you think the hiring Manager wants to put up with you already? DELETE!

2. Dress for success. My Grand Mother has always told me “you can tell a lot about a man from his shoes” Shine your shoes, dry clean your clothes, hair cut, manicure etc…

3. Three copies of your resume.  Dah! When a job ad is posted there are hundreds or even 1000’s of resumes that come in. Most of the time the first time a hiring Manager sees your resume is when they meet with you. Do not assume they have read or even seen your resume. Here is why three resumes; if they like you they will send you up the ladder that day and you will meet more Executives.

4. Bring your brag book, if you do not know what this is maybe sales is not for you. My brag book is 150 pages with accolades, color copies of awards, rankings and a copy of my W-2’s. I always ask for a copy of a W-2 if the candidate states they made $150,000 a year, so I ask for a copy. In 15 years I have NEVER seen a copy from a candidate that made up a number. If you have made the income be proud and show it!

5.  Prepare, Google the company and find out as much as you can about them the good and the bad. Do NOT be afraid to ask about pending lawsuits etc… As a Sales Professional you will be the spokes person for the company and you will have to defend the company’s reputation. Bring printed copies of the web pages in a separate manila folder. Bring 10 great questions to ask have them written down and interview the person back, remember you are ‘selling them on you”

6. Competition, as a Sales Professional you will need to know your competition, research and bring questions to discuss with the Manager.

7. Professional, act professional at all times, remain calm, cool and collected. Never talk bad about your previous employer (yes some people do in an interview)

8. Consistent, be yourself throughout the process, be friendly to ALL employees. The Gate Keeper sometimes has the final approval. Treat everyone with respect and you will be respected.

9. Communication, critical to keep ALL parties in the loop. If you are using a recruiter keep them informed of each step, they have the ear of the employer and can help you or hurt you. Follow up is key, send a hand written thank you notes after each meeting. I usually brought one with me to the interview filled it out and left it at the front desk, show excitement and demonstrate by operating in the now!

10. CLOSE, they are hiring you to sell for them. If you do not close the interviewer, how are you going to close a sale? Ask do you see any reason that I cannot move on in the process? Handle the objections in person. Ask what is the next step? Close them on a date and time to follow up and follow it up.

11. Mike’s AH HAH. When writing this article I have remembered all of the sales reps I have hired and it has always been the one that hunts me down and is hungry for the job.

To Your Sales Success,

Mike

“Giving You 110%”

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives CEO’s VP of Sales and Sales Professionals  stellar sales results  they want by implementing the tactics, tools and high performance strategies they need.

Spell check is a standard application that helps prevent you from sending out communications with spelling errors. A sales cycle is the sequence of stages a person goes through when going from prospect to customer.

So why is spell check important in the sales cycle? Every stage of your sales cycle should be strong, fluid and error-free. Nothing illustrates this better than a true story.

I’m Ready to Buy….

Let’s talk cars. For most people cars are a major investment. In this scenario, after thoroughly researching the product a prospect has decided she’s ready to purchase. She went to Ford’s website and reserved a Fiesta for purchase. At this point a representative contacted her through email.

Before moving further there are three important details you need to notice here.

1. The customer never called a dealership and never spoke to a representative: all of her product research was done on her own using the customer education and communication tools available to her online. How many potential prospects do you miss because your company is not providing information at this critical awareness stage?
2. Ford did a good job making the information she needed available. As a result, their company made a favorable and memorable impression.
3. Their website gave her an option that worked for her.

…Or I Was

A reserved car and email communication with a representative–so far so good. Now, all Ford has to do is maintain this positive momentum in order to secure the final sale. Their representative brings a brick-and-mortar dealership into the relationship so the customer can go down and make the actual purchase.

This is a hand-off point…where one level of the organization hands the process over to a final salesperson. There is much more at stake than a car. The salesperson represents the company, the Ford experience, the entire Ford brand in the eyes of the customer is now in the hands of the salesperson.

Do you have a similar “hand-off” in your organization? If prospect calls customer service are they being treated with care? Does your sales staff embrace the same ideals and level of knowledge as other departments in your organization?

Let’s see what happens between Ford and our prospect. The representative copied the salesperson from the brick-and-mortar dealership onto the email with the prospect. This allowed the representative to introduce the prospect to the salesperson and complete the hand-off.

The salesperson sends the prospect an email (names have been changed and some parts have been deleted for privacy purposes):
Subject: YOUR NEW FORD FIESTA!!!!!!

GOOD DAY JANE…
JUST WANTER TO TAKE A MOMENT TO INVITE YOU TO STOP BY TO ORDER YOUR FIESTA.PLEASE GIVE US A CALL TO SET UP A DATE AND TIME THAT IS GOOD FOR YOU TO STOP BY TO COMPLEAT YOUR ORDER.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VALUABLE TIME,
MR. GREAT SALES MGR
FORD LINCOLN DEALERSHIP

Here is where spell check along with a few other lessons in email etiquette would be helpful.

• The excessive use of exclamation points in the greeting makes the prospect feels smothered.
• Writing in capital letters is the equivalent of screaming. After reading this the prospect’s ears are probably ringing! (Note the single exclamation point.)
• “Compleat” is completely misspelled. The ellipsis points are misused. There is no space between the two sentences that make up the body of the letter. Evidently, despite Mr. Great’s enthusiasm, he felt making a good first impression with this prospect wasn’t important enough to merit a simple spell- or grammar-check.

Wondering what the prospect is thinking after this email? Here are her words, “So do you think he’s enthusiastic enough? This email makes me not want to buy the car from them. But (sigh), no other options for Ford around here.”

Ouch.

Ford made the sale but at what expense? Incidentally, what do you think this process looked like from Ford’s perspective? Probably flawless. Think about that.

The Takeaway: every stage in a sales cycle must be checked for details, accuracy, and sensitivity to your potential customers. Your thoughts?

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives business owners the stellar sales they want by implementing the tools, tactics, and high performance strategies they need.

Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of None.

This tired cliché is still around because it’s true. Here’s a real story of how a using a generalist provided short-term gain but cost more in loss of time and frustration.

I follow my dreams. Not in a fluffy, wandering sort of way–I plan a course of action and make it happen. I find that actively achieving personal goals establishes a pattern of behavior for business. One success inspires another.

A Story from the Street

This is why late last year I sent in an application for a US Coast Guard Captain’s license. I love boating and wanted to increase my skill level to be a better mariner. It’s a rigorous application process. In addition to an extended period of studying and testing I had to 1) apply for a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, 2) prove my boat handling abilities, and 3) be subjected to a series of physical and background checks.

Decision Time

After smoothly sailing through the process all that remained was the physical. As you know a physical has multiple components. One of these is the hearing test. I was faced with a decision. I could get my hearing tested by my general practitioner or go to an audiologist. Of course I went with the convenient, less expensive solution. The general practitioner conducted the hearing test in his office along with the rest of the physical.

A few days later the test results came back: I was 85 percent deaf in my right ear. What!? (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) I called the exam administrator who explained that no test is completely accurate and there is room for a margin of error. Great! I asked to take the test again. She refused explaining the machine was recently calibrated (I later found out that “recent” meant a year ago). I asked the physician and he said it was easy to compensate in regards to the Coast Guard license because I could simply turn my head further and listen with my good ear.

It sounded questionable but believing the physician was the expert I went ahead and submitted the physical for the application. It came back denied. I had become the customer who was getting kicked around and being denied honest answers. My needs didn’t matter to the service provider and worse…they gave me false information to assuage my fears. I was angry.

A Specialist to the Rescue

Soon the anger turned into genuine concern for my health. Having never experienced any hearing related problems I decided to get a second opinion. This time I went to a hearing specialist: an audiologist.

As it turns out the audiologist didn’t even need to test me. She took one look at my paperwork and pointed out the results were impossible. According to the generalist’s finely-calibrated hearing machine I could hear everything in the high and low range but nothing in the middle. This was physically impossible. The error was so obvious the audiologist couldn’t believe the general practitioner didn’t notice it. In fact, she asked for a copy of the test to share with her colleagues for a good laugh. (Ouch for the general practitioner!)

Eventually, we were able to clear up the error and I have my Coast Guard Captain’s license.

Choosing a generalist cost me 3.5 frustrating months.

How many times do we look for the all-in-one or quick fix solution for our business? Does short-term convenience really save you money or time? Does it really truly simplify your systems?

Moral of the story: If you are having a problem with your business, find a specialist, not a jack-of-all-trades consultant. Here’s some advice to help you recognize three signs to help you recognize the generalist.

1) They don’t provide a focused skill set.

Generalist: I provide strategic solutions for your business needs.

Specialist: I provide strategic solutions targeting your flat sales numbers.

2) They won’t provide a specific set of deliverables.

Generalist: I will help your staff work as a team.

Specialist: Using a series of workshops accompanied with one-on-one training, I will give your staff sales skills that will improve their sales conversions and numbers resulting in improved confidence, morale, and ability to work towards a definitive common goal.

3) They won’t provide measurable results.

Generalist: My trademarked system will improve your bottom line and streamline your business systems for improved bottom-line results.

Specialist: I’ll start by measuring and benchmarking your staff so when I’m done you can see exactly how they make 30 percent more phone calls each hour and convert 20 percent more leads into actual sales.

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives business owners the stellar sales they want by implementing the tools, tactics, and high performance strategies they need.

I often wonder if people realize that what they do is louder than what they intended to do?

The Story From The Street
Last week, while waiting in my doctor’s office for an appointment a gentleman was standing near the sample area. I thought he must be a pharmaceutical representative (rep) waiting to speak to my doctor. The gentleman left.

A few minutes later I was chatting with some of the staff when my doctor came over and said, “you won’t believe this,” and handed me a business card from a large financial company. Turns out the pharmaceutical rep was actually a financial advisor making a cold call office solicitation under a false identity!

That took some serious cajones. Here’s why it was such an underhanded way of approaching a prospect. Turns out the gentlemen was a pharmaceutical rep but he’s currently a financial advisor. He used the trust he built with the staff as a pharmaceutical rep as an open door to make a pitch for his financial advisor business.

A medical staff is extremely busy. They are focused on privacy issues, patients welfare, disease management, scheduling appointments, etc. Pharmaceutical reps are welcomed into the office because what they sell is relevant to the medical field. So for a salesperson to assume one identity to pitch an entirely different product looks unethical and sleazy.

Seriously. Is this the environmental where a physician is going to take the time to share personal information for discussing personal financial investments?

The Takeaway Lesson
Approach is everything! Let’s use an airplane as an analogy. When a pilot starts a decent he or she must start thinking about the landing well in advance before it actually happens. Wind direction, velocity, visibility–all these contribute to a successful landing.

In this situation our gentlemen-financial-advisor-sales-rep had plenty of time to think through the entire situation. First, he should recognize that a medical office is not an ideal place to go prospecting. However, we can all appreciate his desire to leverage the relationships he’s built as a pharmaceutical rep. Given this reality, what might he have done differently to prepare for this situation?

1. Write a brief letter introducing himself in his new role.
2. Walk into the office and quickly say, “I’m not here as a pharmaceutical rep but I know first-hand how busy you are. Please read this when you have a spare moment.
3. Make sure the letter is personalized to the needs of the medical staff in the context of the former relationship. (I.e. “As a pharmaceutical rep I earned your trust by introducing you to helpful products that improved your patients’ health. Now that I’m a financial advisor I can still continue our relationship with products that will stabilize your financial vital signs for good health.”)
4. Say thank you, have a nice day, and walk away.

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he gives business owners the stellar sales they want by implementing the tools, tactics, and high performance strategies they need.

By Mike Krause

If you’re rolling your eye at yet another claim to “a secret” or the “magic pill” to gain business success this post is for you. It turns out there really is a key to superior business performance and the intelligent minds at Harvard Business School have found it.

Over the years management ideas, tools and techniques have come and gone. Different approaches and theories have been implemented sometimes to the success of the user, other times…not so much. Harvard Business School wanted to know which management practices really work? They carefully examined more than 200 well-established management practices as they were employed over a 10-year period by 160 companies. The study was dubbed The Evergreen Project and the results surprised them in a big way.

Turns out it really doesn’t matter what you do. Read that again. There is no causal relationship to any specific technique to the outcome of business success. What does matter is a company’s grasp and ability to use the business basics. The study found that without exception the winning companies had a firm grasp on four management practices:

1. Strategy. Your product must be sharply defined, clearly communicated, and well-understood by employees, customers, partners and investors.
2. Execution. Develop and maintain flawless operational execution.
3. Culture. Holding and nurturing high expectations matters most.
4. Structure. Reduce bureaucracy and simplify work.

In addition to these four basics they had a mastery of any two out of the four secondary management practices:

1. Talent. Hold on to talented employees and develop more.
2. Innovation. An agile company turns out innovative products and services and anticipates disruptive events in an industry rather than reacting when it may already be too late.
3. Leadership. Great leadership can raise performance significantly.
4. Mergers and Partnerships. Some winning companies mastered mergers.

Winner, loser, climber or tumbler–the level of your success is defined by your grasp of the basic four plus mastery in two of the secondary practices, hence: 4 + 2.

So now you know the secret code to superior business success. And now you know why we at Sales Sense Solutions are so persistent when it comes to strategic planning. Strategic planning is not a gimmick. It’s not something reserved for the upper echelon of the Fortune 500. Strategic planning is for you, the small business owner and it’s what determines if you will be a winner, loser, climber or tumbler.

A Strategic Growth Kit

We assembled our series of articles on strategic planning for the small business owner. Think of each of these articles as a tool. Together they make a strategic growth kit full of the tactics and practical applications you need to achieve mastery of the 4 + 2. These articles will take you through the each step to measuring, establishing and implementing a strong, flexible strategic plan.

1. Strategic Planning Questionnaire: Step One for Strong Growth and Sales

Answer these questions for a current snapshot of your strategic plan.

2. How to Conquer the Strategic Growth Ghost

This is a basic approach to establishing a strategic growth plan–specifically how to identify your unique selling proposition and a unique value proposition. This is particularly important for consultants and small businesses; you can’t afford to be a generic commodity!

3. Your 5 Competitive Threats: Are You Digging Deep Enough?

This gives you the questions you need to ask to assess your assets, strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities.

4. Street Talk: Internal Capabilities

Here’s how to objectively evaluate and pinpoint your internal capabilities and resources. These are a must-have to maintain a competitive advantage and survive as a winner or climber.

5. 20 Ways to Recognize Your Star Clients

Identify these clients and improve your operational execution, structure. Side benefits include an increased bottom line and vibrant company culture.

6. Cash Is King

Financial issues are a reality. Here is a collection of smart ideas to stretch your cash.

7. Balanced Scorecard

Here is how you manage your strategic plan so you can remain a winner and climber. Unbalanced companies are tumbling or losing.

Mike Krause is the Chief Sales Architect and owner of Sales Sense Solutions where he helps business owners stay ahead of the competition with stellar sales and high performance sales assessments, strategies, tactics and tools. Call him at (585) 704-6453 if you need help with any of these tools or want the strategic growth kit for your winning business.