Marketing your business with email is an art.
It's very easy to get accused of spamming nowadays.
Add to that the filters ISPs are using, and your message
may not get through.
If you do it right, email marketing can become a very
effective method of marketing your business.
Before you consider this method, there are three tools
I consider absolutely crucial to your success.
1. Educate yourself.
Get accused of spamming and you could destroy your
reputation forever.
Learn everything you can about email marketing and
implement those strategies in your marketing campaign.
Here are two sites you can use to educate yourself about
email marketing:
Email Results - http://www.emailresults.com/ - This site
offers a newsletter, a directory of lists, and plenty of articles.
Email Education - http://www.emaileducation.com - Also
offers articles to help you learn how to use email to market
your business. You'll also get information on the latest
trends in email marketing as well as the latest news.
2. Email Formatting Utility
Once you've written your email, you want to make sure it
looks professional.
Check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Make
sure it is easy to read.
You can use this utility to format your emails to the right
width. It's not perfect, but it will save you plenty of time
because you can format your text at different widths.
Overall, it does a very good job.
http://www.jbmckee.com/formatit/index.htm
3. Anti-Spam
Before you send your message out, you want to check to
make sure it can get past the filters frequently used by
ISPs.
There's a simple and easy way to check your message.
SiteSell.com has created a new feature called Spam Check.
Basically, you can send a your email as a test message and
find out how the filters rank it. Then, you can make changes to
your email before sending it to your list.
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com
Email marketing is a time consuming process. Done right, it
can be a very lucrative tool in your marketing arsenal.
These tools will help you make your email marketing efforts more
About the Author
Jinger Jarrett will show you "How to Really Start Your Business in
30 Days". Get her free ecourse now. http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com
Monday, 20 October 2008
Hiring the best people
As we know most developed countries are having a tough time selling their products. Now, more than ever, they are looking for talented Salespeople that will push their product forward above the competition like nothing else has. Basically, what these firms are looking for are Sales Heroes. A Sales Hero is that individual that does all the hard sales, contacts those clients that have never wanted to even listen to the Company and gets the sales closed. Finding a Sales Hero is not easy. A sales hero might be a hero for one firm but a complete waste of time on another. But still, they do exist. These people are very talented, above all things, in the art of speaking to people. They can become friendly in a very short space of time with just about anybody they meet. This friendliness results in sales. We would all rather buy from someone that we see as a friend than from a completely correct salesperson trying to impress us with a new product or service. But this rather unique individual has to be very motivated to start with. Most companies will not motivate them enough or just don't motivate them the way they should be motivated. It's good you offer a Sales Hero a brand new company car, but you must offer him other creature comforts so that he feels he is part of a team and notices company is going to take care of him whatever happens. It's not good he only feels you are giving him things while he brings money in, he must feel that you are doing it because you appreciate him. This might sound a bit weak but this is exactly the way he does his sales. So what you are doing is selling your company to the Sales Hero. Of course, this attitude must continue if you do manage to hire him. If you make him feel good and then a month later come up with only figures and sales reports he will see through you and know you are just like all the other companies that hired him before. What we can never be too sure about if it is really worth hiring a Sales Hero. If your company only contacts through this person with your clientele then, if he leaves, you can be pretty sure he will take his clients with him, or give them to your competitors. The Sales Hero type will always be offered new exciting job offers from other companies looking for a hero so it won't be hard to keep him with you for a lifetime. One of my other articles is precisely about how we should try to contact our clients directly, not only through the main Salesperson or, in this case, Sales Hero.
About the Author
John Kenzy works helping out in an Internet Marketing in Spain As a hobby he flies model helicopters and manages a Spanish hobby forum. Foro de helicopteros rc
About the Author
John Kenzy works helping out in an Internet Marketing in Spain As a hobby he flies model helicopters and manages a Spanish hobby forum. Foro de helicopteros rc
Sales and Marketing Training
We've done some study to help you understand how your sales prospects process information, how they will react to your personality, and how they will make decisions. We've outlined seven clearly identifiable personality types, and carefully analysed the three that you'll encounter most frequently. We call this summary the Thought Map, and it's one of the most advanced weapons in the sales guerrilla's bag of tricks.
Most of us adopt one of these phases as our primary personality genre, but we may shift from one phase to another, depending on the relationship, the environment, or stressors. Whenever people interact, they invariably do so from one of these phases.
Let's look at an example. A senior superannuation salesman, and a sales guerrilla at heart, was introducing a new superannuation plan to employees of a northern Queensland city, but he couldn't seem to generate much interest. The fund was good, and this sales professional had worked long and smart to get it approved by the local government.
During the enrollment period, he sat in a small room in the local government office waiting for the staff to come by to hear about the new plan and sign up for it. In the first week, only five people came to hear the offer.
The first employee was so shy she hardly said a word. She sat with legs crossed, hands folded in her lap, and listened to the presentation. She didn't ask a single question or even offer her name, let alone sign up. She seemed afraid of meeting any stranger. "My manager asked me to come over and pick up some brochures," she said as she left.
The next was aggressive and evasive. She asked pointed questions about dividends and rates of return, then stared out the window as he answered. She expressed concern at "being sold a bill of goods," but she was certain she knew how to deal with salespeople. "I'd look like an idiot," she said, "if I signed up for something like this without analysing it thoroughly." She took the brochures and left.
A third employee was polite and seemed to take a sincere interest, nodding his head in agreement with everything. He was a gentleman, agreeing that it was a good investment, and that he had a real need. He even showed the sales guerrilla pictures of his family, and talked about his plans for the future. He was very apologetic in the end, but he didn't sign up. From his objections and questions, it was obvious that he really hadn't heard half the pitch.
The fourth was direct and distant, as if the only reason he was there was that he'd been told to go. He wanted facts and figures, not the big picture of a comfortable retirement he was hearing. "How do I know that this is the best plan available? What guarantee do I have that your company will achieve this rate of return?" he asked. He challenged the company's track record and the salesperson's credibility.
The fifth employee was nice. She seemed confident, relaxed, and genuine. She asked relevant questions, listened attentively, and, to her ultimate benefit, she signed up. As she was filling out the application forms, the sales guerrilla wondered what made this person so unique.
He asked other employees about her. Everyone who worked with her talked about how good they feel when she was around. She's always fair, they said, and she cares about people and their work, and she shows it. She's always willing to do her fair share of the work, and more. The guerrilla was beginning to understand. With her view of the world, he could see why she was able to recognise the benefits of the new plan without feeling anxious about the salesperson's reaction.
The salesman decided to follow her example. If I were really committed to being fair, caring, and sharing, he wondered, what would be the fairest way to get this information to all the staff, to show them that we care about their quality of life after retirement?
That gave him an idea. It would be unfair, and perhaps even unlawful, if all the employees were not given an equal opportunity to learn about the plan and a chance to accept or reject it. He raised this question with the HR Manager. The HR Manager agreed, and issued a memo via e-mail to all employees.
Everyone would be required to attend a group meeting in a meeting room where they could hear the whole presentation and ask questions. After the meeting they could either sign up to the new plan or sign a waiver saying that they had heard a complete explanation and decided to decline.
With this new strategy, over 70 percent of eligible staff enrolled in three weeks. The salesman repeated this approach in other towns all over Queensland. His fair-for-all-concerned approach increased sales dramatically, rocketing him to top producer in his company.
By observing one of the principles by which guerrillas operate, this salesman was able to find an unorthodox way to deliver his message to a large number of prospects, and discovered greater personal and financial success. He started to wonder if there was a way to be more effective with prospects like the first four he had met.
About the Author
For sales training in Brisbane visit sales-training-australia.com. For SEO training, visit seo-training-australia.com. Mention this article and get a 15% discount.
Most of us adopt one of these phases as our primary personality genre, but we may shift from one phase to another, depending on the relationship, the environment, or stressors. Whenever people interact, they invariably do so from one of these phases.
Let's look at an example. A senior superannuation salesman, and a sales guerrilla at heart, was introducing a new superannuation plan to employees of a northern Queensland city, but he couldn't seem to generate much interest. The fund was good, and this sales professional had worked long and smart to get it approved by the local government.
During the enrollment period, he sat in a small room in the local government office waiting for the staff to come by to hear about the new plan and sign up for it. In the first week, only five people came to hear the offer.
The first employee was so shy she hardly said a word. She sat with legs crossed, hands folded in her lap, and listened to the presentation. She didn't ask a single question or even offer her name, let alone sign up. She seemed afraid of meeting any stranger. "My manager asked me to come over and pick up some brochures," she said as she left.
The next was aggressive and evasive. She asked pointed questions about dividends and rates of return, then stared out the window as he answered. She expressed concern at "being sold a bill of goods," but she was certain she knew how to deal with salespeople. "I'd look like an idiot," she said, "if I signed up for something like this without analysing it thoroughly." She took the brochures and left.
A third employee was polite and seemed to take a sincere interest, nodding his head in agreement with everything. He was a gentleman, agreeing that it was a good investment, and that he had a real need. He even showed the sales guerrilla pictures of his family, and talked about his plans for the future. He was very apologetic in the end, but he didn't sign up. From his objections and questions, it was obvious that he really hadn't heard half the pitch.
The fourth was direct and distant, as if the only reason he was there was that he'd been told to go. He wanted facts and figures, not the big picture of a comfortable retirement he was hearing. "How do I know that this is the best plan available? What guarantee do I have that your company will achieve this rate of return?" he asked. He challenged the company's track record and the salesperson's credibility.
The fifth employee was nice. She seemed confident, relaxed, and genuine. She asked relevant questions, listened attentively, and, to her ultimate benefit, she signed up. As she was filling out the application forms, the sales guerrilla wondered what made this person so unique.
He asked other employees about her. Everyone who worked with her talked about how good they feel when she was around. She's always fair, they said, and she cares about people and their work, and she shows it. She's always willing to do her fair share of the work, and more. The guerrilla was beginning to understand. With her view of the world, he could see why she was able to recognise the benefits of the new plan without feeling anxious about the salesperson's reaction.
The salesman decided to follow her example. If I were really committed to being fair, caring, and sharing, he wondered, what would be the fairest way to get this information to all the staff, to show them that we care about their quality of life after retirement?
That gave him an idea. It would be unfair, and perhaps even unlawful, if all the employees were not given an equal opportunity to learn about the plan and a chance to accept or reject it. He raised this question with the HR Manager. The HR Manager agreed, and issued a memo via e-mail to all employees.
Everyone would be required to attend a group meeting in a meeting room where they could hear the whole presentation and ask questions. After the meeting they could either sign up to the new plan or sign a waiver saying that they had heard a complete explanation and decided to decline.
With this new strategy, over 70 percent of eligible staff enrolled in three weeks. The salesman repeated this approach in other towns all over Queensland. His fair-for-all-concerned approach increased sales dramatically, rocketing him to top producer in his company.
By observing one of the principles by which guerrillas operate, this salesman was able to find an unorthodox way to deliver his message to a large number of prospects, and discovered greater personal and financial success. He started to wonder if there was a way to be more effective with prospects like the first four he had met.
About the Author
For sales training in Brisbane visit sales-training-australia.com. For SEO training, visit seo-training-australia.com. Mention this article and get a 15% discount.
Training in Sales & Marketing
While autos can go a day or sometimes more before a fill up is required, introverts who sell will discover accelerated sales results with a daily routine centered on three areas: release techniques, comfortable marketing activities and targeting those activities to identified prospects.
One area to fill up is your own beliefs about what success you want. Most of us, salespeople or not, have beliefs that hold us back from being all we want to be. We have an internal dialogue that is like a noisy clanking engine. Statements such as, "I'm not worthy, It doesn't matter that others are succeeding, I'm different," or any number of beliefs keep on ticking in our mind. You need to find a release technique to set your day up for success. Some most effective ones include the Sedona technique, Emotional Freedom Technique, meditation or even writing love letters. It doesn't matter what technique you use. What matters is that you use one daily.
Another fill up is to identify appropriate marketing activities. What's appropriate? First, select a mix of activities that satisfy short, medium and long term sales goals, then act upon the ones that you enjoy - the ones that you are most comfortable with. Let's say it's the fourth quarter of the year and you are quite close to making your sales goal. The priority, the emphasis, would be on short term activities that get you the fastest results. This would include activities like: follow up with all prospects, contact all current clients to cross sell, and asking for referrals from clients. The fourth quarter is not the prime time to be using speaking engagements or article writing to attract new prospects quickly. When you need fast results, select and act on low hanging fruit sales actions. Whatever activities you select, start with activities you like the most to keep your attitude high.
A third fill up activity is to constantly be defining your perfect client. Have you noticed when driving that if you take your eye of the road for just a second or two, you may tend to drift out of your lane? Well, when you take your thinking and talking about your perfect customer off in a different direction, you tend to drift away from your perfect clients. Part of your daily routine can include a fill up in your mind and talk about just who is your target client. The book, Attracting Perfect Customers, by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez, offers a strategic model for this. By achieving clarity on your perfect customer, wherever you are networking either in person or online, your message will be attractive to those you want to hear it. You won't drift out of your lane.
Extroverts tend to be energized by many activities going on at once, and a daily fill up may not be required, but extroverts would still benefit from a routine kind of attitudinal and marketing activity fill up.
If your tendency in selling is more toward introversion, then the three fill ups - releasing negative beliefs, acting on desirable marketing activities and focusing on your target client - are more important to use on a daily basis.
About the Author
from Pat Weber - America's Sales Accelerator Coach, specializing in Introverts and Shy people at http://www.prostrategies.com
One area to fill up is your own beliefs about what success you want. Most of us, salespeople or not, have beliefs that hold us back from being all we want to be. We have an internal dialogue that is like a noisy clanking engine. Statements such as, "I'm not worthy, It doesn't matter that others are succeeding, I'm different," or any number of beliefs keep on ticking in our mind. You need to find a release technique to set your day up for success. Some most effective ones include the Sedona technique, Emotional Freedom Technique, meditation or even writing love letters. It doesn't matter what technique you use. What matters is that you use one daily.
Another fill up is to identify appropriate marketing activities. What's appropriate? First, select a mix of activities that satisfy short, medium and long term sales goals, then act upon the ones that you enjoy - the ones that you are most comfortable with. Let's say it's the fourth quarter of the year and you are quite close to making your sales goal. The priority, the emphasis, would be on short term activities that get you the fastest results. This would include activities like: follow up with all prospects, contact all current clients to cross sell, and asking for referrals from clients. The fourth quarter is not the prime time to be using speaking engagements or article writing to attract new prospects quickly. When you need fast results, select and act on low hanging fruit sales actions. Whatever activities you select, start with activities you like the most to keep your attitude high.
A third fill up activity is to constantly be defining your perfect client. Have you noticed when driving that if you take your eye of the road for just a second or two, you may tend to drift out of your lane? Well, when you take your thinking and talking about your perfect customer off in a different direction, you tend to drift away from your perfect clients. Part of your daily routine can include a fill up in your mind and talk about just who is your target client. The book, Attracting Perfect Customers, by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez, offers a strategic model for this. By achieving clarity on your perfect customer, wherever you are networking either in person or online, your message will be attractive to those you want to hear it. You won't drift out of your lane.
Extroverts tend to be energized by many activities going on at once, and a daily fill up may not be required, but extroverts would still benefit from a routine kind of attitudinal and marketing activity fill up.
If your tendency in selling is more toward introversion, then the three fill ups - releasing negative beliefs, acting on desirable marketing activities and focusing on your target client - are more important to use on a daily basis.
About the Author
from Pat Weber - America's Sales Accelerator Coach, specializing in Introverts and Shy people at http://www.prostrategies.com
Successful Sales and Marketing
Do you exceed your sales target every month? Do you close nearly all your conversations? Are colleagues jealous of your commission? If not then you could benefit from Sales Training.
Here are 7 tips for successful selling which you can use to improve your sales figures right now.
1. Identify Potential Customers
You need to identify potential customers. This is the same whether selling in a shop or over the phone. Questions regarding how the product or service will work for the customer should be picked up on. Questions like "Will this printer work with my computer?", "Do you have them in blue?", "Can you deliver it tomorrow?" are all buying signals.
2. Preparation
Preparation is vital in sales, and the old saying "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" should be remembered. Product knowledge and an awareness of the market and competitors are essential.
3. Effective Communication
As a sales person, you need to communicate effectively by listening to the customer's needs, asking the right questions and looking for buying signals. Customers may not know the technical terms or latest product or brand names, but this doesn't mean that they don't know what they want.
4. How and why people buy
Knowing how and why people buy will ensure that you use the right sales techniques with the right sort of products and people. People buy out of desire or necessity. Your approach to selling a plasma TV to a young professional couple will differ from selling plumbing services to somebody with a flooded kitchen.
5. Establishing customer needs
Customers buy for different reasons. Some people need to have the latest products; others only buy when they can't repair or make do with what they have already. Just because somebody is not the typical buyer of the product, doesn't mean the product isn't right for them.
6. Objection handling
Objection handling is the process of dealing with potential customers who give reasons not to buy at this time. The product might not be what they want or need, the price is not right, or they might need to compare other products or suppliers before deciding. An objection can be a very strong buying signal - it is the only reason they are not buying right now.
More questioning to ensure that you have fully understood their product requirements or budget may be necessary. Perhaps the customer hasn't fully understood all the features and benefits of the product or service, or wants more information.
7. Closing the sale
Some sales people don't identify buying signals, and miss out on sales. Make sure you ask questions to encourage buying signals. "Would you like to order today?", "Do you prefer the red one or the blue one". However, trying to close too early on in the sales process can put a customer off.
As a successful sales person, especially in a retail or telesales environment you will need to be able to cross sell and upsell. Cross selling is selling items such as batteries for electrical devices, warranties, and accessories. Upselling involves convincing the buyer to spend a little bit more money to get a better or more suitable product.
If you are an employer why not offer sales training or telesales training to your sales team? If you are a sales person why not ask your boss for sales training to make you even more successful?
About the Author
Why not let SalesTrainingIntl.com help you design your own bespoke Sales Training Course tailor made to meet your needs? Whether you are involved in Retail Selling or Telephone Selling, let us design the training you need today.
Here are 7 tips for successful selling which you can use to improve your sales figures right now.
1. Identify Potential Customers
You need to identify potential customers. This is the same whether selling in a shop or over the phone. Questions regarding how the product or service will work for the customer should be picked up on. Questions like "Will this printer work with my computer?", "Do you have them in blue?", "Can you deliver it tomorrow?" are all buying signals.
2. Preparation
Preparation is vital in sales, and the old saying "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" should be remembered. Product knowledge and an awareness of the market and competitors are essential.
3. Effective Communication
As a sales person, you need to communicate effectively by listening to the customer's needs, asking the right questions and looking for buying signals. Customers may not know the technical terms or latest product or brand names, but this doesn't mean that they don't know what they want.
4. How and why people buy
Knowing how and why people buy will ensure that you use the right sales techniques with the right sort of products and people. People buy out of desire or necessity. Your approach to selling a plasma TV to a young professional couple will differ from selling plumbing services to somebody with a flooded kitchen.
5. Establishing customer needs
Customers buy for different reasons. Some people need to have the latest products; others only buy when they can't repair or make do with what they have already. Just because somebody is not the typical buyer of the product, doesn't mean the product isn't right for them.
6. Objection handling
Objection handling is the process of dealing with potential customers who give reasons not to buy at this time. The product might not be what they want or need, the price is not right, or they might need to compare other products or suppliers before deciding. An objection can be a very strong buying signal - it is the only reason they are not buying right now.
More questioning to ensure that you have fully understood their product requirements or budget may be necessary. Perhaps the customer hasn't fully understood all the features and benefits of the product or service, or wants more information.
7. Closing the sale
Some sales people don't identify buying signals, and miss out on sales. Make sure you ask questions to encourage buying signals. "Would you like to order today?", "Do you prefer the red one or the blue one". However, trying to close too early on in the sales process can put a customer off.
As a successful sales person, especially in a retail or telesales environment you will need to be able to cross sell and upsell. Cross selling is selling items such as batteries for electrical devices, warranties, and accessories. Upselling involves convincing the buyer to spend a little bit more money to get a better or more suitable product.
If you are an employer why not offer sales training or telesales training to your sales team? If you are a sales person why not ask your boss for sales training to make you even more successful?
About the Author
Why not let SalesTrainingIntl.com help you design your own bespoke Sales Training Course tailor made to meet your needs? Whether you are involved in Retail Selling or Telephone Selling, let us design the training you need today.
Tips on Selling & Relationship building
Selling a product properly is very important. It is a simply activity which is often complicated. Sales of a product mainly depend on the relationship of the buyer and the seller. Better the relationship, better the sales. And at no point of time should the buyer realize that money is the motive behind the sale of the product. Because once this happens, the sale for the product dies. But a proper attitude can go a long way in improving the sales. Exchanging ideas with the buyers and having a lively conversation with them will certainly help you match your business objectives. The most important secret behind effective sales is to know the buyer. Get into a conversation with the prospective buyer. Ask him general questions from the point of view of a friend and not a as sales person. Ask questions like married or not, for how many years, work involved in, position at work, etc. Ask the buyer to give a description of the company where he works. Such a friendly chat works magic in the true sense. The buyers will develop a bond and trust with you. You will be like a fresh breath of air in their life. And this positive attitude with the buyer will reflect in your sales as well. And an improved business will only give a further boost. Next, continue the relationship with the buyer. Show to him that you are not only interested in selling him your product but also want him to be your friend. Thus, follow your relationship with your buyer. Get to know his interests and the kind of stuff he is interested in. Also get to know about the people in his contact who might be interested in your product. Thus, try and expand your business chain in this way. Also, never forget or delay any follow-up promises made by you to the buyer. Such an incident will create unnecessary doubt in his mind and your hard built image in his eyes will start blurring. Proper follow up can make or break a sale. It can also help repeat business and get referrals and testimonials. Thank You is a word, if said from the heart, directly touches the art. Thank You is basically a word of appreciation which is always appreciated by the person you say it to. Thus, two words can make a huge difference between profit and loss. Always be grateful that a person has bought from you. It is this thankful nature which will reap you large dividends in the future. Also, provide the customer with some benefits in the form of discounts and gifts. This is a very good strategy which instantly pulls people towards your product. Although these discounts and gifts reduce your profit margin, they give a super-boost to your sales. So there are a few simple steps one needs to follow in order to make his sales full and perfect.
About the Author
Jon Elton owns and operates a Car Home Life Insurance Quotes website to help while making decision about insurance. He also operates a Cheap Car Auto Insurance site to help taking decision about auto Insurance.
About the Author
Jon Elton owns and operates a Car Home Life Insurance Quotes website to help while making decision about insurance. He also operates a Cheap Car Auto Insurance site to help taking decision about auto Insurance.
Branding Yourself For Marketing
I was at a career fair representing Ford recently, and one thing struck me: there's a lack of truly decent personal presentation skills out there.
For example, to any number of college seniors who said they were interested in getting into sales, I said: "Great. Sell yourself to me."
The reaction I got was a stunned look, followed immediately by a rambling choice of words that didn't really convince me of much. Well, maybe they convinced me of something, but it wasn't to hire them.
I had just made a presentation to Brand Camp University, so perhaps presentations and personal branding was on my mind, but it got me to thinking: there could be a number of people who might benefit from some suggestions.
I know I've got a lot of followers on Twitter and here on the blog who are college students (hello Golf Management program at Ferris State (what a cool major!); hello students of Barbara Nixon at GSU), so I thought I might help out with some specific suggestions to consider.
Before I get into the steps I recommend, here's the deck I presented. I hope to have the video of my presentation at a future date.
For example, to any number of college seniors who said they were interested in getting into sales, I said: "Great. Sell yourself to me."
The reaction I got was a stunned look, followed immediately by a rambling choice of words that didn't really convince me of much. Well, maybe they convinced me of something, but it wasn't to hire them.
I had just made a presentation to Brand Camp University, so perhaps presentations and personal branding was on my mind, but it got me to thinking: there could be a number of people who might benefit from some suggestions.
I know I've got a lot of followers on Twitter and here on the blog who are college students (hello Golf Management program at Ferris State (what a cool major!); hello students of Barbara Nixon at GSU), so I thought I might help out with some specific suggestions to consider.
Before I get into the steps I recommend, here's the deck I presented. I hope to have the video of my presentation at a future date.
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