James W. Obermayer, executive director of the Sales Lead Management Association said, “People who win are recognized by their peers as multi-dimensional sales and marketing experts. They have given unselfishly of their time as speakers, teachers, and writers on the deep multi-dimensional topic of sales lead management.”

The full list of 50 winners is available here:

http://salesleadmgmtassn.com/50most2011/top-50-sales-lead-management-2011.htm

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November 1, 2011 – Great news! I’ve been nominated as one of the Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management in 2011 by Sales Lead Management Association.

Voting is open until November 30; please vote for me only if you feel I am contributing to the sales community:

http://www.salesleadmgmtassn.com/50most2011/top50_vote.htm

Thank you for voting for me! is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Based on my recent experience, I will talk here about the dental industry which has seen success with employing the following direct mail strategies through dental newsletters and postcards.

The first step is to strategically target your direct mail campaign. There are many different ways to target. It can be done using a combination of geographic and demographic factors.

Targeting by location is also an effective tactic for dental marketing because many people choose a dentist based on proximity and convenience. Target more than 5,000 households in the area around an office, then move out to surrounding zip codes if the first mailing is successful and the demographics match your target new patient. Demographic targeting is a solid strategy. Healthcare industry research shows women make the majority of healthcare choices for a household, so targeting content to the female head of household may be valuable. If a practice’s services are high-end, it may want to target higher-income areas and neighborhoods.

In defining the target audience, consider some of the following points:

• Prospect’s trust must be earned, so regular and consistent communication is critical
• Experienced marketers know that in relation to performance there are three keys that will impact a successful direct mail campaign; in order:  the quality of your mailing list, your offer and your creative.
• Discount offers and deadlines create urgency to respond and can also support and highlight your unique competitive advantages

And finally your creative content must grab attention and focuses on an individual practice’s strengths. Appealing visuals can go a long way towards standing out in a stack of mail. Choose stock images that feature individuals with excellent teeth and attractive smiles, or for a more personalized – and effective feel – use images of the actual dental staff. Best practices say not to use images of people actually in the dentist chair.

The messaging will be different for each audience and mailing list. The message for senior denture care would be very different from the messaging about invisible braces for teenagers. The messaging should also highlight the practice strengths that set it apart from the competition. If an office has convenient appointment times, specializes in gentle procedures or has excellent pediatric dentistry, that message that should be front and center on the dental marketing piece. Customer testimonials also can help tell the story of a specialized dental practice.

A critical but often overlooked part of ensuring the success of a direct mail piece is checking all the contact information is correct.  It is important to confirm (and phone) the phone number, ensure the office address and any other contact information is accurate before approving. A small map of the office location are proven to be more far more effective, than an image of the practice, for example; to a dental postcard.

In the end, putting striking visuals and a clear message in the right mailbox can help boost client numbers and revenue for any dental practice.

Direct Mail Marketing with Targeted Postcards is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

The only thing you can accomplish is to lose a precious time chasing prospects who are not interested for your product, or they are not a fit for your products or services at all.

Many unsuccessful sales people spend their time with customers who are not even close to sales process and to buying, but poorly trained sales person still contact them regularly simply because they are in pipeline and they need to fill their day somehow. Talking to that kind of prospects is just a waste of your and their time.

When you are selling you need to differentiate and trigger events will make this possible. You will have tools to create the opportunity for you, and not just in the visible market where customers are actively looking for provider or supplier, but also in the invisible market – you put them in the market, you are making customers realize that they are on the market now. Without trigger events you can’t force customers to meet with you because you will be just one of many sales guys knocking on their door.

Here are two examples of trigger events:

• Your research shows some trigger events like hiring new 15-20 sales reps or changes in upper management levels: this clearly sends out messages that the company is in need of new office furniture or new computers with software, or maybe a new benefits plan for employees.
• Thousands of corporate turnarounds occur every year. You may have read about a few of them in your local newspaper, but that’s not enough. There are companies in a turnaround phase that affect sales in your area all the time. I suggest keeping abreast of the New York Times or other newspapers like that in your region. Their business page carries a number of turnaround events throughout the company along with web sites by the large accounting firms and graduate business colleges such as Wharton. Turnaround time means change time: new people, new products, new services, and new sales potential for you.

Customers will be positively shocked with your due diligence and fact-finding mission you accomplished with them. When you contact your prospects and on the first conversation you leave them with impression you know their situation very well — you care to help, and you can add value to them, trust me when I say you are much closer to signing a deal than anybody else.

After discovering trigger events, the next steps are to develop the customer’s perception of your unique value. What can you do for them? How your solution can actually create value to them?

Trigger events will give you the clue about the timing too.

More about Trigger Events here:

Selling in 21st Century

Hit or miss doesn’t work in selling

Get the book “Trigger Events”

Differentiate Prospects from Suspects is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

A woman walked up to a girl and asked: 

- “Do you handle ladies’ sunglasses?”

– “Yes,” she replied.

- “I would like to see some.”

- “All right. This pair costs $99; this one $249.”

She responded mechanically, pointing to sunglasses of various prices.  I stood and watched the transaction. The customer received absolutely no information regarding those sunglasses. I said to myself, “You can have a vending machine here – you can set up a box and put a credit card in and get the thing you came for, without any information. This is all wrong.”

As an experiment, I took that same young lady to the store manager and I said to him,

- “You are never going to sell much of those sunglasses so long as you put people out there who do not know how to sell. Until you employ salespeople who can talk intelligently, there will not be any increase in your revenue.”

- “How would you do it?”

- “This way: Go into the office and tell the girl everything you know about sunglasses, but don’t talk in technical terms. Don’t tell her how the manufacturing process works in producing a pair of shades. Tell her what it will do for the customer. “

I wanted to make an experiment and kept track of that girl’s sales. She sold 37 per cent more than the others. Pretty soon customers began to ask her questions because they found that she knew something about the merchandise.

Ask yourself – are you selling based on features of your product, or based on benefits your product will provide for your customer?

Remember – features tell but benefits sell.

Benefits Based Selling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Action Step

Find out all that you can about your customers before you make that call. Demonstrating an understanding of their business will give them confidence in your ability to sell them the right solution. Get your sales insurance policy in order and ensure that you are well-prepared before calling on your customers.

Answer These Questions:

• Are you quick to pick up the phone and start chatting to your customers without knowing anything about them? Sometimes just “winging it” isn’t enough to demonstrate your ability to provide the best solution to your clients’ needs.
• Do you conduct any process of discovery about your customers before making the call? Do you try to find out what it is they do, and what they might need, before you call?

Sales Tip: Start Selling Right is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Today I am sharing with you my Daily Sales Tip #28 titled: “Hit or miss does not work in selling.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7_pCalDZ7M

Hit or miss does not work in selling. Many sales are lost because salespeople assume they know what the customer wants. This does not mean you should not use your instincts and training well. But it does mean that your sales assumptions must be based in a finding of facts, not guesses.

Subscribe to my daily sales tips and you will receive a free ebook every 30 days, plus extra discounts on my books, CD’s, webinars and seminars. If you would like to stop receiving my tips, you can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribe today by filling the form on the right-hand side. Thanks!

Video: Daily Sales Tip #28 is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

No American can afford to treat salesmanship as a small matter. Why? Because the United States started out on a salesmanship basis for this reason: because only thirteen states were gained by war and all the others were gained by purchase and bargaining.

On five great historic occasions Uncle Sam went out with his money in his hand and bought more real estate. In 1803 he bought Louisiana from Napoleon for $15,000,000. Thomas Jefferson drove the bargain and actually picked up fourteen new States at a price of two and a half cents an acre. That was the greatest real estate transaction known to history. It doubled the size of the United States and gave Americans a huge territory.

In 1822 James Monroe bought Florida from Spain at a marked-down price of $5,000,000 less than the value of a handful of Google shares of today. Then, just after the Civil War and for no particular purpose, Uncle Sam bought Alaska. He paid $7,200,000 and got plenty of blame for throwing away good money for snow- drifts. For thirty years Alaska was generally regarded as a bad bargain, and then some half frozen trapper found the Klondike. In the best time of the gold-rush Alaska paid for itself, in gold, about once in every four months.

The fourth real estate purchase was the buying of the Philippines. As to just why they did it no one has ventured to tell, for US first thrashed Spain and then to salve her injured feelings, they gave her $20,000,000 for an archipelago off the coast of China.

This archipelago had not been advertised. It was not up-to-date or serviceable. There was no demand for it. But, as almost all other nations own a few antiques, US thought that they could afford a private collection.

The Panama Canal site was costing United States $40,000,000 to build; very nearly as much as all the others combined. Uncle Sam paid a million dollars a mile for a non-existent canal, which proves that Roosevelt was at least not as clever a bargainer as Thomas Jefferson. But they had to have it, and it is a source of national pride and marine shipping accomplishment.

So, it was buying and selling that gave Americans half of their territory; and it is also a fact, not usually recognized, that salesmanship played an important part in preserving the Union. While it was Lincoln and Grant who put down the Rebellion, it was Jay Cooke, the famous banker, who sold the bonds and brought in the money.

Jay Cooke was unquestionably the first to launch a national sales campaign. In 1864 he was appointed by Lincoln as Sales Manager of bonds, at a time when the Federal Government was at its wits’ end for money. At once Cooke sent out more than four thousand agents. He established a press bureau the first in the world, maybe. And he advertised the bonds in every worthwhile paper in the Northern States.

His fellow-bankers were shocked and astounded at his methods. They said he was no financier, nothing but a peddler of patent medicine. But Cooke only laughed at them and sent out another flood of hand-bills. He had a flaring advertisement hung in every Northern post-office. Such was his energy that in a few months the North went into a fit of bond-madness. After the noise and the shouting were over it was found that Cooke had sold bonds to the face value of $1,240,000,000.  TWELVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS!

Such was the result of the first national sales campaign in the United States.

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This is the excerpt from my e-book: How to Sell to Americans. If you want to learn how to break into the biggest and richest market in the world, this is the book for you. Get the e-book today and start selling to Americans tomorrow! Read more…

History of American Sales Culture is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

It’s a process of continuous improvement and the better you are at it the more you’re able to freely admit it. That’s not to say you can get away with being an arrogant braggart. You need to embrace an air of sophistication that spells quality – and still have that charm that ropes the customers in. You can swagger a little, and it definitely helps to flirt, but don’t put your clients off by being a loudmouth who’s too big for his boots. Be aware of setting yourself up for a dive into mediocrity. When you’re too good, and you know it, you may just become too comfortable with your performance and forget to improve on it. That’s when you’ll find yourself slipping and losing sales.

On the other hand, if you’re battling with selling, don’t ever think that it’s appropriate to place yourself at the mercy of the client in order to get a sale. You must always maintain a high standard of self-respect. There is never a need to compromise on your personal values just so that you can get the deal done. It’s also important to earn the client’s respect before he’ll earnestly take note of what you have to say. Throwing yourself at his mercy only creates the impression that you’ll do anything for the sale – that you’re desperate, you’re easy, you’re begging and pleading. He’ll think he can take advantage of you and negotiate a cheaper price without much of a fight from your side. You’ll simply get used, exploited and tossed aside. That’s not selling! Create an image that you can be proud of – put yourself on display, as if you’re a walking, living, breathing advert in your line of expertise.

If you’re passionate about your sales career you will naturally exude a contagious energy, a zeal for what you strive to accomplish each day. This will attract the attention of those who seek your advice and assistance.  You become successful while remaining professional and uncompromising in your values. If you’re more of a risqué type and you don’t mind being adventurous, you could imagine yourself virtually “seducing” the client… toying with him, teasing him, to attract his (or her) attention. To each his own – it’s about personal preference.

When you’re in sales, people don’t mind hearing you brag about what a success you’ve become and how you’ve managed to refine your skill. It’s not like bragging about sex; nobody’s going to roll their eyes. On the contrary, they may just be waiting for you to finish talking to your current customer so they can be next in line to benefit from your skill. How awesome to have clients lining up to spend time with you! Your reputation is out there flying like a flag for all the world to see and they’re watching it! When you’ve achieved a sales status like this, it’s perfectly acceptable to brag and say, “Yes! I’m that good!” and show off proof of that with a massive stack of new orders.

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The secret of being successful in selling is the ability to transmit your energy and your enthusiasm about your product or service. If you fail to do that, you will not sell. If you want to learn how to transfer your energy into sales enthusiasm to improve your career and life, get my book “Selling Is Better Than Sex” today!

www.SellingIsBetter.com

You Can Brag About It… is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Working month to month, just treading water in the hopes of staying afloat, does not make you a super-sales-hero. You need to plan ahead – take the long-term view and line up those deals to ensure you maintain your status. This is what makes you great – and able to achieve your fullest potential. Again, this is hard work and dedication – but it is fuelled by your passion for selling and your dream to achieve all that you can.

You must realize that customers are available for everyone, at any time and at any age. Not so when it comes to sex, right? No – even with a reputation as a serial womanizer, you can go for weeks or even months at a time without having a beautiful woman to accompany you to social gatherings. That’s the quickest way to dissolve your reputation! But the beauty of sales is that there will always be someone who needs something that you’ve got – you just need to find them and approach the sale in an appropriate way, depending on their needs.

And, with selling, buying leads is also a legitimate way to generate sales – it’s not against the law, either. So when you find that you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of customers and your pipeline is running dry, you can absolutely purchase a list of leads. However, when your sex life is becoming somewhat dull, or non-existent, paying for a “lead” is not exactly the way you want to go (nor is it legal – in most countries, anyway).

Cruising the internet in search of customers is perfectly acceptable too. You won’t find yourself in any moral or ethical dilemma when paying for leads. And you won’t get fired for typing “selling techniques” into a search engine at work. But wait and see what happens when you’re caught surfing the net for tips on “how to please…”

With all the technology that we have available to us today, the act of “cold-calling” is just about becoming a thing of the past. You can access so much information about a client before you even get to the first meeting. As a result, you will be better prepared than if you had just picked up the phone and dialed a random number in the hopes of charming yourself into another sale. With as much “pre-knowledge” of the customer as possible, you’re equipped to ask all of the right questions, and you’re able to listen to the client’s needs with a greater understanding.

If you’ve carried out your research thoroughly, half of the work is done. It can no longer be termed a “cold call” when you’re already warming up to the client and the operations of his business. Rather, you have the upper hand as you begin the call, knowing more about your client than he does about you. This means that you’re better prepared to approach him in an effective manner and better prepared to address the type of business that he has and the problems he might be encountering.

And besides, you don’t have to dial a “900” number to sell over the phone. If you want customers from faraway places, it’s not that difficult and not that expensive either. You just pick up the phone, send an e-mail, and use any modern technology that you have on hand. But try finding your dream woman from some faraway exotic place – you’ll pay a fortune in travelling costs and accommodation, and that’s before you’ve even taken her out to dinner.

Yet again we can prove that selling is better than sex – and far less risky too. Finding new customers won’t get you into trouble either. You can have as many customers as you want, and as many as you can handle!

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The secret of being successful in selling is the ability to transmit your energy and your enthusiasm about your product or service. If you fail to do that, you will not sell. If you want to learn how to transfer your energy into sales enthusiasm to improve your career and life, get my book “Selling Is Better Than Sex” today!

This book will provide you with more than 200 reasons why selling is even better than sex, and what you can do about it in order to improve your career and your life. This is not just another sales book – this is a revelation!

www.SellingIsBetter.com

Customers Are Available for Everyone, at Any Time is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

No-one can fake a purchase or lie to you about how great your pitch was. Customers aren’t concerned with stroking your ego just to pacify you so that they can make a quick escape. If you’re great at what you do, they buy your product. It’s as simple as that. And if you’ve really impressed them, they’ll keep coming back for more. And they’ll tell their family and friends about you and refer them to you for your excellent service.

That’s essentially what they talk about – how great you are at performing in the sales arena. They don’t care what kind of physical shape you’re in either. They don’t sit around and chat about your physique or snigger about your six-pack that’s been left abandoned for years. In fact, most of the best sales guys are usually out of shape. You don’t have to concern yourself with sweating it out at the gym.

As a successful sales guru, you’ve got the customers coming in already, in droves. Because you don’t have to be concerned about your fitness in order to be a brilliant salesperson, you don’t have to feel embarrassed by selling with the lights on! In fact, if you turned the lights off, most of your clients might start feeling a little concerned about their own safety and well being. Leave the lights on; forget about the gym; in sales you can be a success regardless of what shape you’re in.

As well, what makes all of this a lot easier is that a new sales job comes with an instruction manual – complete with graphs and pictures and everything that you might need to come to grips with the basics. Imagine how easy some things in life would be if everything came with a manual? Sure, some of us are blessed with a natural charm and an outgoing and vivacious personality (among other things), but there are still things to learn.

There aren’t too many of us that can be really successful without further enhancing our education. It’s not like a few tips from your Dad are all that you need to make a good go of it. No – we start with the manual and we progress from there to more extensive, specialized courses in skill and technique. And then it still takes practice to perfect the technique. At least, with selling, you don’t earn yourself a reputation for being promiscuous when you expose your sales pitch to a wide variety of customers.

Let’s face the facts here – as a salesperson you don’t have to pussy-foot around your clients and question them in subtle, tactful ways to find out if you were any good. If you were good, they bought your product. Your massive sales figures at the end of each day will show the world what a sensation you are, a market leader in your field. You have the magic touch – you know it and you can prove it!

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If you want to learn how to transfer the sex energy into sales enthusiasm to improve your career and life, and learn about other 200 reasons why selling is even better than sex, get my book “Selling Is Better Than Sex” today! www.SellingIsBetter.com

You Always Know How Good You Are is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer