'Super Bowl 2010 - The Ads We Will See'

'Super Bowl 2010 - The Ads We Will See'

January 21 Sales & Growth Workshop

On Thursday, January 21, I will host an interactive sales and professional growth workshop at the Courtyard Marriott in Newburgh, NY from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. This workshop will be divided into three sections: SHARP Sales training, Goal Accountability (BYO Lunch), and National Professional Women’s Mastermind Group. The SHARP Sales training is a series of five workshops held the third Thursday of each month focused on improving your selling image. Beginning at 9:30 a.m., the first class in the series has participants defining business strategies that parallel their own personal and professional goals and objectives. The Goal Accountability BYO (Bring Your Own) Lunch workshop will be from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. This is a casual but productive session designed for busy individuals who want to create consistent activity to achieve their goals. From 2:30 - 5:30 p.m. the final workshop of the day will be the National Professional Women’s Mastermind Group. This women’s only workshop is a group that focuses on improving professional performance and growth. Workshops are a la carte – so you can choose which workshop best fits your needs. The SHARP Sales training is $299 for a series of five workshops held the third Thursday of each month, beginning on January 21. The hour-long Goal Accountability BYO Lunch session costs $5 to participate, and the National Professional Women’s Mastermind Group annual fee is $450 with a 10% discount when you pay in full, or $37.50 for monthly membership. For additional workshop information and registration, visit www.dpsalespro.com/workshopregistration.

Develop a strong value proposition statement: Make every contact count

To sell effectively, you must first establish and demonstrate value. Only then should you begin delineating features and benefits of your product and/or service. Traditionally, sales and marketing practices focused solely on their features and benefits. Organizations and their account executives heavily promoted attributes without first questioning and qualifying. Features and benefits are, and will continue to be an important part of the selling process; they are the "bread and butter" of what sells. However, to succeed in today's challenging marketplace, organizations realize that their corporate sales philosophy requires a significant culture-changing shift. Instead of focusing on and being satisfied with the sales closed today, they realize that planting the seeds for future sales is essential for long-term success. These future sales are greatly dependent on strong customer loyalty. To develop solid loyalty, sales professionals must be sure to develop effective customer relationships. This is based upon more than just the product or service; it ties into effective communication. Your customers want to know that you understand their needs and how to custom tailor the features and benefits into a business solution that targets their particular needs. All too often both sales professionals, as well as small business owners wearing the hat of a sales professional, inundate the prospect with the features and benefits of their product and/or service before asking qualifying questions. As a result, they come across as foolish, aggressive, uninformed and unprofessional. Customers insist on, and deserve, professionalism and expertise. Not only must your product work for them, they need to feel that you understand how it will specifically translate into business value for them. Understanding their needs and how your product or service fits will cre-ate a strong differentiation between you and your competition. To determine this and be able to provide convincing advice, you need to take the time to understand your prospective customer. Providing solutions is key to selling a product or service. Business people today are more demanding. They can easily access information and educate them-selves. Sometimes, so much information about so many products and services is available; it takes a concerted effort to differentiate your product and service. Selling actually requires the added element of explaining how benefits and features provide solutions and meet your customers' needs. By asking carefully structured questions and listening to the responses, you will are better able to explain exactly product or service will what value your service will provide. To sell effectively, show the real value first, and then delineate the features and benefits. Talk about how your customers' needs will be met and how what you are offering is unique. Use value driven words to begin statements. Words such as increase, avoid, reduce, strengthen, and enhance. The words you use must capture the attention of your prospects and inspire them to take action. This should be underscored in all of your ongoing communications, whether face-to-face, by phone, letter, e-mail or voicemail.

Entrepreneurs & Small Business Fears

Entrepreneurs - An interesting and eclectic group of individuals. Driven, self-motivated, focused and goal oriented professionals choosing to follow their passions, realize their dreams and forge their personal trail to success. Through 100's of networking events, conferences, workshops and business dinners, I have had the priviledge of conversing with amazing individuals and am constantly impressed with their intelligence, willingness to offer insights, as well as their openness in talking about the challenges and concerns they face. The topics of these conversations ran the gammut from marketing and branding strategies to hiring and managing a sales team. Cash flow, hr issues, insurance, liabilities, overhead, vendors, creditors, competitors, internal issues, politics and the economy - the numerous issues they face on a day to day basis is unending. Whether they have been in business for several years or have just recently begun, each has a wealth of experience to draw from with insights to share. The opportunities before them are limitless, curbed only by their own imagination, energy and time constraints. They run their businesses any way they choose, build relationships, partnerships, and most have employees to support their efforts. There is a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and pride that these entrepreneurs enjoy in the knowledge that they created their universe, they did it. Oh, there are headaches - small inconveniences, tougher challenges and the fear of failure that runs through the mind of these entrepreneurs. For each victory, every client satisfied, each project completed that exceeds expectations - there is also adversity. Maintaining a balancing act whose proportions seem to grow more strenuous as their business grows is constant. Donny Deutsch (host of The Big Idea) once asked a guest "...do you believe you have to be a mean person to be successful?" He wondered if it was possible to be a "nice guy" and be successful... Perhaps editing the question to be more specific would work better... "...do you believe you have to be a focused, goal oriented individual with unlimited energy and drive who is able to maintain an even temper and make tough decisions while providing a motivating environment in which employees are empowered to do their jobs to the best of their ability is important to becoming a successful business owner?" You can't possibly make everyone happy - it can't realistically happen and you shouldn't bother attempting it. Not every client is going to give you rave reviews and not every employee is going to take ownership and pride in their jobs. The best any entrepreneur can do is their best. The top four issues on the minds of these entreprenuers included whether or not to provide 401K plans; union headaches; insurance reform; and taxes. I searched the internet for an informative article that covered each topic and found the following for your information: http://bit.ly/13sehJ http://bit.ly/6K6b9 http://bit.ly/2uIe4 http://bit.ly/aihG5 To our continued success - Debra

10 Key Steps to Maintaining A Motivated Sales Team

You placed the classified (or Craig's list) ad and conducted the initial phone screen. The face-2-face interview went well - the candidate was able to sell you your own pen - so, you made the offer. Congratulation's! You've just hired a sales professional. Now What? Many business owners tend to make the mistake of believing that all they need to do is hire the sales professional and overnight their business will grow exponentially. Unfortunately this could not be further from the truth. 10 Key Steps are at the heart of building a successful, revenue generating and cohesive sales team. These are just the most vital components that business owners should consider, to learn more about the 'How To' involved, please contact DP Sales Pro at Info@DPSalesPro.com or visit our website http://www.dpsalespro.com/. 10 Key Steps:

1. Establish a Clear, Concise and Focused Job Description. What are the expectations of the position? Paperwork to be turned in? CRM tools to be utilized?
2. Provide Easily Accessible and Updated Marketing Tools and Support Documents. Brochures, business cards, online demo capability - make it easy for the reps to conduct value-driven sales presentations.
3. Maintain Open Lines of Communication. Provide updated information - price changes, discount programs, marketing blitz, new or discontinued product information in a timely manner. It is best to advise the sales team of these items before they go into effect.
4. Provide Leadership and Support. Sales professionals need access to a 'point person' or mentor, especially at the onset of their career with your organization. Ensure sales opportunities are not lost due to unanswered questions or incomplete paperwork.
5. Establish Opportunities for Networking. Your organization should hold memberships at local chambers, networking groups and community groups and your sales reps should be encouraged (or made part of their job description) to attend a minimum number of meetings per month.
6. Provide In-Depth Product Knowledge Training. If your sales reps don't know the product they are selling, how can provide customized solutions to their prospects?
7. Provide Sales Training and Coaching. Train your sales reps to be consultants, problem solvers and relationship builders. Teach them the verbiage you would use yourself.
8. Provide Weekly Sales Coaching and Training Sessions. Weekly one-on-one meetings should be conducted in addition to weekly sales meetings. These meetings typically take about 30 minutes and focus on the individuals performance and areas in need of strengthening. For more info on how to conduct these sessions in motivating and success oriented manner, contact DP Sales Pro at Info@DPSalesPro.com.
9. Develop Goals and Minimum Performance Standards. Sales goals should be specific, measurable and realistic or SMART. What are your expectations during the reps ramp up period? The first 6 months? Year? What is the very least you expect in return for the base/commission you are paying them?
10. DEVELOP A REALISTIC PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLAN (PIP) AND LET THE REP GO WHO NEEDS TO GO. An under performing sales rep needs help. Either they are a Can't or a Won't. A Can't is a rep who should be placed on a PIP and coached to see improvement within a specific time frame. A Won't should be let go - immediately. All the Won'ts do is bring the moral down for the rest of your sales team.

HAPPY SELLING!!!!

"Thriller"... with Legos

This is an extremely well-done lego version of the original music video. You have to see it to believe it!

Insurance & Financial Industries Can Use Social Media

The insurance and financial industries have compliance issues and regulations they must adhere to in regards to communicating with their clients and prospects. They must be careful not to cross the lines established by both their industry and the individual organization they represent. Obviously they cannot (and should not) give any type of investment advice until they know how they can support specific needs. What they can do, and should do, is share public knowledge that their clients and prospects may not already be aware of. Articles that effect the industry as a whole; articles that have already passed through compliance; and, articles that are specific to the industry in which their client and prospect may be involved. There are ways in which an agent and/or broker may grow their business. There are also methods that will allow them to maintain their current client base satisfactorily while growing their business for the future. How? Easy. Be creative and think out of the box. Utilize the free systems and tools available without selling - use them to build relationships. After speaking for the NAIFA NY Annual Conference yesterday, participants learned that a myriad of tolls are available to them through Social Media networking. We discussed Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Some attendees will utilize all or at least a few of the tips shared; others might begin by reviewing how their colleagues are utilizing these tools before dipping their toes in the water - but, all of them left encouraged by the fact that they do have options. Opportunities do exist for meeting their financial goals by maintaining a positive attitude and putting a little more grease on their wheels. I am a sales trainer. I help sales people become sales professionals. My training is based on the philosophy that building relationships is vital. By focusing on the clients' needs, you can better serve them. The difference between a sales person and a sales professional is their main focus. Sales people are focused strictly on their sales goals, the money they can make and where they are getting their next sale. Sales Professionals focus on the needs of the client. They take the time to research their client; google them and/or their company; ask questions regarding the problems to be solved; and, find the solutions that best meet the needs of the client - not the solutions that best serve themselves. My training teaches how to incorporate sales goals and quotas into this philosophy without losing sight of the client. To your success! Debra