4 Tips To Position Your Business
For An Upswing In The Economy

By Glenn Fallavollita, CEO – SellMorePayroll.com | Author | Keynote Speaker

• Word Count: 619
• Time To Read: 2.5 Minutes [Based on 250 Per Minute]

Since the beginning of the year, many businesses have told us they have started to see more and more sales activity. While no one is saying the recession is over, there is a good chance you will start to see more sales opportunities at your business; therefore, you do need to prepare yourself to take advantage of them.

Are You Positioning Yourself To Be Ready?

First and foremost, you need a sales and marketing plan - a plan that outlines your business as the go-to company for your target audience. As a good starting point, we have listed below 4 tips to help you be a few steps ahead of your competition.

4 Tips To Position Your Business As The "Go-To" Company.

Tip #1: Send The Right Marketing Message To Your Target Audience. All too often many people in sales and marketing tend to say too much and/or not the right things when writing a marketing message.

The key to a successful marketing message is writing about the elements that clearly differentiate your business from the competition. In addition, provide a risk-free invitational offer to help someone take the next step in the buying process. Nonetheless, if your marketing messages are not leaving them with a memorable and positive impression, plan on a lackluster sales pipeline for the next 6 to 12 months.

Tip #2: Send A Series Of Cost-Effective Campaigns. The reality is that 99% of all salespeople stop calling a prospective buyer after their third unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward. More importantly, they place a subjective moment in time to call someone back during their follow-up efforts. Knowing that this will not change, you should consider sending a series of e-mail and direct mail campaigns to stay in touch with your prospects during this time. A good rule of thumb to live by is this: Send a direct mail campaign every 4 to 6 weeks and a mass e-mail marketing campaign every 7 days.

Tip #3: Create A Sales And Marketing Plan For The Next 90 Days. The key is making a sales and marketing plan on a quarterly basis; if not, all experts agree that you are setting yourself up to fail. The key to a successful sales and marketing plan outlines:

1. Your target audience.
2. How often you are sending something.
3. What you plan on sending out.
4. What type of message you are sending (is it a sales, informational or educational message)?
5. How much your campaigns will cost you.

After your plan is done, make sure you budget accordingly. Like anything, the key is to consistently drip your target audience with a motivating marketing message.

Tip #4: Give People A Risk-Free Offer To Learn Or Buy From You. Whenever you send off a marketing campaign, remember to add some type of risk-free offer in the campaign to help people take the next step in the buying process. An offer could be a special discount, a free product sample, a free analysis, etc. The key to a successful offer is that it needs to be highly visible and of value to your target audience.

Executive Summary: You need to first make the decision to stay in touch with your target audience as salespeople cannot do this for you. No matter how good a salesperson is, this will not happen; therefore, it is up to the business to stay in continuous contact with everyone's target audience. In addition, many of your competitors have cut back their marketing budget, which leaves the door open for you to step in and grab a larger piece of the market. That is if you are ready to make a plan and fund a plan.

About The Author

Glenn Fallavollita is the President of SellMorePayroll.com, a Division of Drip Marketing, Inc.  He founded Drip Marketing, Inc. in 2002, and serves as CEO, lead copywriter and strategist.  He is also instrumental in developing the curriculum, format and expansion of Drip University - the training arm of Drip Marketing, Inc. and SellMorePayroll.com.  His work, insight and creative talent has been the catalyst for the delivery of more than 35 million e-mail campaigns on behalf of his clients.

To learn how we can help your payroll service increase its sales with our payroll marketing system, visit us on the web at www.SellMorePayroll.com or call us directly at (856) 401-9577. 

The #1 Cold-Calling Mistake

By Glenn Fallavollita, CEO – SellMorePayroll.com | Author | Keynote Speaker

• Word Count: 608
• Time To Read: 2.4 Minutes [Based on 250 Per Minute]

If you are responsible for sales at your organization, you have probably noticed that cold calling a prospect has gotten a lot tougher -- not only are you leaving a voicemail message 80% of the time, but people are no longer receptive to what you are saying.

First, and foremost, you need to know that cold calling isn't for everybody. However, if you do decide to give it a go, make sure you avoid the #1 mistake most people make when cold calling.

Before we share with you the #1 mistake, you first need to know that your goal isn't to sell someone on your initial call. It is to move the sales process forward by uncovering (or exposing) the pain that person is in or could be in. That's right; your job is to move the sales process forward by asking certain questions. Do this, and you will find that it will do wonders on getting a face-to-face meeting, having someone attend a webinar, workshop, demo, etc.

This Is The #1 Mistake Most People Make When Cold Calling.

Over the years, I have made 50,000+ cold calls. And one mistake that I have seen many salespeople do (including me) is pick up the phone and start calling without any game plan or objective.

To make things easier for anyone in sales who is faced with cold calling, I recommend sending a marketing campaign to your list of targets BEFORE calling them. This could be a lumpy mail campaign (which is awesome for its interruption value - see page 145 in my book), e-mail marketing campaign or a direct mail campaign. The reason for doing this is to allow your target audience to get a snapshot of what you do but more importantly, give you a solid reason to call them. Trust me when I tell you that it is much easier to say, "Hi this is ____ calling from ____ and I quickly following up the _____ we sent to you a few days ago."

Staggering Cold Calling Facts:

Additionally, you need to know that it takes many calls to reach that one person who will have an interest in what you are selling. Check out these stats:

1. You will leave a voicemail message (or message) 80% of the time.
2. 75% to 85% of the people you are calling have no interest in what you are selling.
3. 8% to 15% of the people you are calling are actively or passively investigating what you are selling.
4. .5% to 3% of the people you are calling are an immediate buyer of what you are selling.

Know That You Only Have 10 to 20 Seconds -- Not 60 seconds -- To Pique Someone's Interest.

When cold calling (following-up on a marketing campaign), you need to know that you only have 10 to 20 seconds to pique someone's interest before they disconnect from what you are saying (mentally and physically). That said, what are you going to say or better yet, what questions are you planning to ask someone to get them to become engaged in what you are selling? Is it an open-ended or closed-ended question? Are you leading with price or some other feature of your product or service? Nonetheless, you need a game plan before you pick up the phone.

Executive Summary: The key to cold calling is sending out a marketing campaign prior to dialing. And just as important, have a game plan when making your calls - from having a define objective to having a script in front of you. Do these things and you will start to see magic happen.

About The Author

Glenn Fallavollita is the President of SellMorePayroll.com, a Division of Drip Marketing, Inc.  He founded Drip Marketing, Inc. in 2002, and serves as CEO, lead copywriter and strategist.  He is also instrumental in developing the curriculum, format and expansion of Drip University - the training arm of Drip Marketing, Inc. and SellMorePayroll.com.  His work, insight and creative talent has been the catalyst for the delivery of more than 35 million e-mail campaigns on behalf of his clients.

To learn how we can help your payroll service increase its sales with our payroll marketing system, visit us on the web at www.SellMorePayroll.com or call us directly at (856) 401-9577.

13 Telephone Training Tips
To Help You Increase Sales

By Glenn Fallavollita, CEO – SellMorePayroll.com | Author | Keynote Speaker

• Word Count: 867
• Time To Read: 3.5 Minutes [Based on 250 Per Minute]

Many salespeople want to increase their sales this year.  Unfortunately, they typically don't know where to start or, for that matter, what they need to do. 

Telephone Skills Should Be A Salesperson's #1 Area Of Focus

When most salespeople initiate their first verbal communication with a prospect, it is typically done over the phone.  That said, don't you think this should be an area of focus for your sales training?  If your answer is yes, then you might not only find today's e-tip of particular interest, but also one that can make you and/or your business more money. 

13 Telephone Training Tips For ALL Salespeople To Review.

1. Avoid All Background Noises: When making your calls, always keep background noises to a minimum.  If you are a sales leader, make sure your salespeople have a quiet "sanctuary" to use at your office - this will help them tremendously when making their prospecting calls.  If not, your salespeople will avoid making calls altogether.
2. Avoid Negotiations On The Phone: If you sell in a local or regional area, drive to the person's location - it will be to your advantage due to being able to judge his/her body language. 
3. Avoid The "Price" Discussion On Your Initial Call: A lot of times people will ask you about "the prices you charge" on the initial call, especially if you are selling a commodity product or service.  The best way to handle this is to give them a low and high price for what you are selling and then immediately explain that so much depends on X, Y and Z. Now the key to this technique is to immediately ask the prospect to take the next step in the sales process, i.e., face-to-face meeting or webinar.
4. Don't Look At Your Cell Phone Or e-Mail: It is easy to get distracted by our cell phones or e-mails; therefore, turn them completely off when making your calls.  If not, you run the risk of being distracted or projecting the wrong impression by not giving someone your undivided attention.
5. Keep The Person's Name/Company Name In Front Of You: If you are making a lot of phone calls at one sitting, it can be confusing at times.  To help you avoid using the person's wrong name or company name, use a CRM program like ACT! and have the person's name in front of you.  Not only is it embarrassing to use the person's wrong name, but it also projects a poor image of you; two things you want to avoid. 
6. Know Your Objective When Calling Someone: When making a call to someone, you need to have an objective, i.e., appointment or a webinar.  No matter what, keep this in mind as you make your call.  Doing so will not only keep you focused, but also keep your eyes on what you are really saying. 
7. Paint a Mental Picture: It will help you tremendously when you are able to create a mental picture for a person.  
8. Think Everyone Who Answers The Phone Is An Owner: The person who answers the phone is not just the receptionist.  It could be the owner or a decision maker for buying what you sell.  In fact, it is always good practice to assume this on every phone call.
9. Use A Headset:  High performance telephone users know the value of a headset, because it allows them to 1.) Take notes using both hands (great when using a CRM tool), 2.) Talk with their hands, 3.) Walk around or 4.) Make changes to a document or 5.) Send off an e-mail to the person you are talking with. 
10. Use A High Quality Connection:  There is nothing worse than being on a poor connection with someone. This is why you should be making your calls on a wired line or on a cell phone that has a "5 bar" connection.
11. Use Open-ended Questions: Asking someone an open-ended question will help keep the conversation flowing versus a closed question.  Case in point: Are you happy with your present source of X, Y or Z?  If you could wave a magic wand over your present source of X, Y or Z, what would you change?  See the difference in potential answers!
12. Use The Person's Name In A Sentence: People like hearing their name, so use it.  In most phone calls, experts all agree to use the person's name three times.
13. Your Tone Matters:  The tone of your voice matters - and more than you think. If your tone lacks enthusiasm, people know this and will react negatively. 

Executive Summary:  The key to your phone success hinges on many elements - elements that can be learned.  So if you are the sales leader, spend some time just listening to your sales team make their calls.  Not only is this a great exercise for you and your salespeople, but also one that keeps everyone focused on great phone skills.  Because, if you don't have great phone skills, you run the risk of poor sales production.  Don't believe me? Go and listen to your top producer on the phone, and then listen to your less successful salespeople. 

About The Author

Glenn Fallavollita is the President of SellMorePayroll.com, a Division of Drip Marketing, Inc.  He founded Drip Marketing, Inc. in 2002, and serves as CEO, lead copywriter and strategist.  He is also instrumental in developing the curriculum, format and expansion of Drip University - the training arm of Drip Marketing, Inc. and SellMorePayroll.com.  His work, insight and creative talent has been the catalyst for the delivery of more than 35 million e-mail campaigns on behalf of his clients.

To learn how we can help your payroll service increase its sales with our payroll marketing system, visit us on the web at www.SellMorePayroll.com or call us directly at (856) 401-9577.