April 15, 2009 at 10:23 am | Posted in Business Development, Linkedin, Marketing, Networking, Sales Methodologies, Sponsorship, Sports Marketing | 3 Comments
Tags: Sales Training, Social Media, Social Networks, Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Social media and sports marketing are a perfect fit.
I was very pleased to read Pat Coyle’s article from the Sports Business Journal about social networking and fans (SBJ is subscription based, so the article link is on Pat’s Sports Marketing 2.0 site).
Over the past several months, I’ve been reading a lot of Pat’s blog and info posted on his Linkedin Group – and it was great to see the similar content and thinking we have in why sports teams/leagues should care about social media and social networks.
Definitely take a minute a read Pat’s article, but here’s the high level take-aways:
- Social media isn’t about technology, it’s about fans
- Build online fan communities to allow them to connect with one another, and in turn – to the team
- Leverage community #’s to make $ via e-commerce
- Sponsorship opportunities present themselves by increasing visits to team sites
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And I’d like to personally add – through social media sites themselves
This is all relatively new for many teams – and building/managing fan generated content and opening up sponsorship opportunities is the task that many teams are uncertain about how to proceed with…
The other part of the story that I like to bring to this topic is integrating social networks into sales training. When it comes to ticket sales or sponsorships, the consistency of use in social media platforms not only goes a long way from a sales methodology perspective, but the simple fact that social networking tools get results for sellers is key.
April 2, 2009 at 7:03 pm | Posted in Business Development, Getting Started, Networking, Sales Methodologies, Sales Tips, Social Media | 1 Comment
Tags: Sales, Sales Tips, Sales Training, Social Media, Social Networking
How has social media changed my approach to sales training?
I consider social networks an essential sales tool. Many sales people wish that social media will make cold calling go away – it won’t, but effective social networking skills are increasingly important. Here is why…
Reason #1: Voicemail
- Sellers have made the telephone a tough way to accomplish business development efforts. Too many calls from too many sellers.
- Buyers have turned their phones off (more or less) and allowed voicemail to act as their gatekeeper. Many sellers have not adapted to this yet – and continue to pound the phones looking for the needle in the haystack.
- Sellers need to incorporate a voicemail marketing strategy. Embrace vm, it is not going away and will not be overcome by endless calling.
Reason #2: The Internet
The role of the seller has changed because buyers can leverage the Internet to find out much of what they need about a vendor, product or service without speaking to a rep. Therefore…
- Sellers who focus on product will struggle vs. sellers who focus on business requirements.
- Product knowlege is important, but consulting skills are what is needed to get the job done nowadays.
- Sellers are valued by buyers when they help find better, unanticipated answers to challenges – better than buyers would have arrived at on their own.
Sellers Need Social Networks
The phones won’t get the job done like they used to and your market initiates buying cycles through information available via the internet – so sellers need to be online too. Sellers need to be available and able to respond when a buyer reaches out.
Your market is already there online – this is the point I reiterate with brands as well. Just like any brand, sellers need to be participating, observing and engaging in these communities. The role of the Seller has changed – from product focus to business analyst. Similarly, sellers need to change their business development activities – from prospecting to networking.
Here’s How:
February 9, 2009 at 10:09 pm | Posted in Business Development, Sales Tips, Voicemail | 4 Comments
Tags: Busine, Sales Tips, Voicemail
Sellers are continually frustrated by voicemail.
It’s one of the main reasons why sales people dislike cold calling. Call – voicemail – hang up… Call – voicemail – hang up…
Cold calling is essentially marketing – and sellers should embrace VM as a marketing tool. We readily accept direct mail as a viable marketing strategy and the results of which are very comparable to cold calling – around a 1% or 2% response rate. So why should VM be any different? VM Marketing has many advantages over direct mail:
- It’s very inexpensive
- It’s results are easily measurable
- You can launch a campaign any time, any day
- The returns immediate/short term
Build a VM Marketing Strategy in 3 Steps
- Create Attention – Craft a brief message, 10-15 seconds. Make sure to leave a strong value prop that addresses a specific target market and need (EG: “Small businesses in a recession need…”)
- Set Expectations – Plan VM Marketing for a determined amount of time, perhaps 1 hour. Expect to leave a VM on every call, but be ready for a live person to pick up too…
- Measure and Adapt – If you do not receive a call back, adjust your message… Reconsider your target market… Try another value prop. Track your call backs.
Today, voicemail is the real gatekeeper. It has to be – especially in the current economy, there often just aren’t resources available for businesses to answer phones and keep sellers away. But with voicemail, sellers need to consider that every voicemail presents an opportunity to deliver a message; it is a marketing opportunity. A seller can spend hours cold calling with nothing to show for it – but if the seller takes advantage of the opportunity to view VM as a marketing opportunity, there is the possibility for engagement.
So don’t call it cold calling – this is VM Marketing. Launch a campaign, measure it and adjust it. Try it again. Change it again. Stick with what works. VM is not going away anytime soon, so it’s time to stop complaining about it and leveraging it for what it can do for you.
January 28, 2009 at 1:24 pm | Posted in Business Development, Linkedin, Networking, Productivity, Sales Methodologies, Sales Tips, Social Media | 2 Comments
Tags: Brightkite, Business Development, Linkedin, Networking, RSS, Social Media
Here are 3 great social media tools for B2B sellers:
- Linkedin
- Brightkite
- RSS
Linkedin
Ok – no real need for a deep analysis here – Linkedin is a place you need to be if you are engaged in social networking for business. If you use nothing else – use this. Some tips for use:
- Use your LI profile as your core – drive your network here
- Get a good photo of yourself
- Get some recommendations up there from both colleagues and clients
- Connect with all your top prospects and current customers
- Don’t “sell” through your profile
If you concentrate on building a powerful network (that means your contacts are active and that they know you), and focus on positioning yourself as someone who brings value to their network and who provides expertise in their field – buyers will seek you out. At the same time, you are always available and reaching out…
BrightKite
Brightkite allows you to “check in” or post your position on a map so your network (or Sales Manager!) will be able to see where you are at any given moment. If a contact can see that you are out on the road – they may reach out to you to leverage your proximity. If your network is using Brightkite, you will be able to see what they are up to as well on any given day which can allow you to meet up. All this is done via your handheld/mobile device. Brightkite increases and promotes your visibility, it helps people find you if they want/need to. Who knows who may be at the same baseball game, or conference, or stuck in traffic…
You can also benefit from using Brightkite with internal resources as well.
RSS
Nothing could be easier and bring more value to your network than RSS feeds. What is RSS? Click here to see a brief explanation of what RSS is and does.
Get yourself a Reader (I use Google) and start subscribing to feeds – things that your network will care about. Things like their industry or your industry, things about their company or your company, things that are important to you in your role. Beyond providing some great background and building your knowledge – you can share this info with your network. Don’t sell… provide something that your network will care about – give them something they can actually use.
You can further leverage your RSS feeds by using other tools like Twitter, Facebook or Delicious to promote and share info with your network. No matter what the platform is – keep finding interesting, informative and valuable information to push out.
In Closing…
In the world of Sales 2.0 there is no “Prospecting” or “Following Up” – it is simply networking. In the Sales 1.0 world there was your “network” – a group of people who gave you tips and referrals and there was your “prospects/customers” – the group of people you sold to and who bought from you. It doesn’t work like that anymore…
Now – there is just 1 network. Some are people who will buy from you, some never will. Some will refer you business, others will receive your referrals. Some are your friends and family. Some are on multiple platforms (like Facebook or Twitter). Some are colleagues and some are clients.
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