Keeping Confidence Up Even When Sales Are Down

Your state of mind has a major effect on your success in sales (or lack thereof). Developing an emotional bond of sorts with your prospects is a huge part of selling. If you're feeling anxious or you're convinced you're going to fail, prospects will notice it no matter how hard you try to fake an upbeat mood. So building confidence in yourself and keeping that confidence going even when sales are slow will have a major impact on your sales.

Find the Fun
Sales works best when you treat it as a game. Treat each stage of each sale as a challenge that brings you closer to winning and you'll find a lot more fun in your work. Setting up a bunch of appointments or sinking your teeth into a juicy new lead list are just as important to the game as the final, closing stages, so don't fixate on your closing numbers alone. Remember, if you're enjoying yourself, your prospects will notice and appreciate it.

Treat Yourself
Set a few reasonable, attainable goals for yourself and decide on appropriate rewards. For instance, you might set a goal of 200 cold calls this week and treat yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant if you make them all. Always choose goals that are within your control, not ones that depend on someone else's actions. In other words, deciding to spend five hours a week doing door-to-door calls or sending 10 emails a day to existing customers are controllable goals. Deciding to close five sales a week is not, because closing sales is dependent on the prospect's decisions and isn't something you can control. If you setsmart goals for your activities. and achieve them, the sales will come.

Learn to Love “No”
Salespeople hear the word “no” a lot. If you take them personally, you will burn out fast. When a prospect turns you down it often has nothing to do with you! He might be having a bad day, or he just bought a similar product from a competitor, or he can't afford your product, or he's just not a good fit. None of these things are your doing and they will happen regularly to every salesperson regardless of skill. So every time a prospect says “no” just remind yourself that they're rejecting your product offering, not you.

Don't Skimp on Preparation
Feeling nervous before a big presentation? Putting in some prep time beforehand can really ease your stage fright. The more research and preparation you do, the better you'll feel heading into a meeting. Preparation is most important before a sales pitch, but it can help with every stage of sales – for example, having a list of common objections and your best responses in front of you while you cold call can make you feel better armed to get the appointment.

Take Risks
It may sound crazy to talk about taking risks when you're trying to build up confidence in yourself, but it works surprisingly well. When you operate outside your comfort zone, you stretch your mind and learn new things. If you try a new sales tactic – like selling via social media or reaching out to a new type of prospect – you'll win every time. If you don't succeed in making sales, you won't feel too bad because, after all, it's your first time trying. And if you do succeed right off the bat, you'll feel terrific. In either case, once you return to your regular sales techniques you'll find them much easier in comparison to the new methods you just attempted.

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Vinny the Marketer

COLD CALLING - IDIOTS GUIDE

Here's a little known secret that the top salespeople are aware of. They never have to "close" again. You will never have to worry about sounding like you are "selling" (as in pushing) a prospect again. The alternative action that I'm suggesting results in more profitable sales with less effort.

Many salespeople believe that their product or service should speak for itself. Once they encounter any resistance, they are quick to ask for a time best suited for a follow-up call. Unfortunately, this "dead time" is when many selling opportunities are lost.

The word "closing" has certainly gotten a bad rap because of the negative connotation associated with it. After all, look at the root of the word, "close" which is synonymous with shutting, locking, finishing, final, and end.

Instead of closing, create a new opening without having to close. You can accomplish this in a simple conversation that does not threaten your integrity by sounding too "pushy."

The word "closing" is really the wrong title for this phase in the selling process. This phase should be considered the "agreement phase" or "opening phase." As opposed to closing the opportunity for a sale to occur, you are opening up the possibility to work with that particular prospect by agreeing to move the sales process further along and explore other solutions. It is at this time when you are suggesting an alternative option in the form of a question for your prospect to consider that might better suit his or her needs.

Here are the most generic and common obstacles to selling: "I need to think about it, the price is too high, I want to shop around, I need more information, the monthly installment is too much, I'm already working with another vendor, I'm not the only decision maker, we have no budget, I'm not interested, this is a bad time, and so on." How can you create a new opening that can overcome these concerns?

Here's a friendly reminder of the definition of an objection. It's a sign of interest; a request for more information or a prospect's concern or fear that needs to be satisfied in order to continue guiding the prospect through your sales process and to its natural conclusion. Therefore, what the prospect is not saying in the prior examples is "No, I don't want to and never will use your product or service." What they are really saying is, "I'm saying 'No' or a form of 'No' because you haven't given me enough of a compelling reason to explore what you have in more detail."

In other words, instead of fearing objections, embrace them. Every objection provides you with a new opportunity to share the right information with a prospect that can move them into the next step in your sales process.

Defusing an Initial Objection

If you refer back to the list of common objections I shared with you earlier, here are several examples of how you can respond to the objection, "We don't have a budget for this. (We can't afford this.)"

The intention behind the following responses is to first ensure that you are, in fact dealing with an actual objection rather than a smokescreen. Therefore, isolate the objection down to its core to see if the initial objection they shared with you is really the truth or if it's something else.

The "something else" could be that they don't believe you, don't trust you yet, don't believe you or your product can help them, they may not be the decision maker, they have been burned before, they are having a bad day and you are their new target, they are not the best prospect for you, and so on.

Rather than react to an objection with a statement that creates an adversarial posture between you and the prospect (Example: defending your position, service, or product) respond to the objections you hear with a question. Here's how.

Prospect: "We don't have a budget for this."

You: "Mr. Prospect, I certainly understand that. It seems as if everyone today is more sensitive about operating within their limited budget, only making investments into proven (products, services, strategies, processes) that they know are going to work."

What follows are some responsive questions you can ask in this situation:

1. "May I ask, is it that you have no budget now, or no budget ever?"2. "May I ask, is it that you don't have a budget at all or is it more about the hesitation to try something new and different that has not yet been proven to work for you?"3. "How much do you think my product would cost that would cause you to feel that there's no budget available for this?"4. "Has the budget been cut altogether or has it been dramatically reduced?"5. "Is it a budgetary concern or are you more concerned about the value you will receive?"6. "May I ask what factors you consider when choosing where to invest your (printing, travel, marketing, training) budget?" ("How do you make that decision?)"7. "So, if you don't have the money right now, who in your company does?"

After using these types of questions, you should be able to confirm whether the objection they shared is the core objection or if the real objection is actually something else. These questions will enable you to expose what their primary concern actually is.

Get Permission

Now that you've smoked out the real objection, it's time to offer a solution. However, the key for this conversation to work without you sounding like a high pressure or "cheesy" salesperson is to first get permission. You can create a new opening to overcome a prospect's concern by asking for permission to do so.

Before offering a response, a solution or a new possibility that would defuse their objection, now is the time for you to get permission to discuss a solution to their concern. This way, you will quickly learn whether or not this person is truly a qualified prospect who is looking for a better solution, someone who you are better off without or if the objection they stated is, in fact, the only true obstacle to the sale. Here are some examples.

1. "Mr. Prospect, at this point, I'm not sure if we can provide you with the ROI that my other customers have experienced. However, if it was possible for me to demonstrate a rapid ROI so that you can start profiting from (realizing the advantages of) our service within one month, is that something you would be interested in talking about?"

2. "Mr. Prospect, if budget was no longer an issue for you, would you be open to exploring this in more detail?" I love using "if" questions. All I did here was reverse or take away the objection to determine if "not having a budget" is the only thing that's truly getting in the way.

Now that I've hypothetically removed this objection, their response should be a "yes." If not, then there's still something else going on or another obstacle that they haven't shared with you yet. So, keep digging!

3. "Mr. Prospect, if I can demonstrate to you in just three minutes how the value you receive will far outweigh the manageable investment amount that I would propose, would you be open to hearing more about how you can achieve this?"

Notice how I include a timeline of 3 minutes to let the prospect know that this will not take up all of their precious time. Just make sure that you can accomplish what you are proposing in the timeline you stipulate.

If they say "Yes," to any of these examples, you now have a prospect who is interested in hearing more about the solutions you can offer. So, go for the appointment (sale, demo, or whatever is the next step in your sales process)! Since you have gained permission to explore other options, the prospect is now willing to listen to your suggestions. If you fail to ask permission, and instead dump alternative solutions or more information on them even before you have a true understanding of what their primary objection is, you are running the risk of sounding too pushy, which causes a prospect to put up their defensive wall that prevents you from making a sale.

The next time you run into an objection, defuse it by getting permission to continue with the conversation. The result will be more sales with less resistance.

Remember, like all selling strategies, there are no absolutes. When some prospects say "No" they actually mean it! However, if you can convert even 35 percent of the "No's" you hear into selling opportunities, then this process would be considered wildly successful.

The key point here is this; salespeople don't overcome objections, prospects do. The only person who can truly overcome an objection is the prospect. Salespeople create the opportunity for this to occur through their effective use of questions. Selling is therefore the art of asking questions, listening openly and intentionally, and gaining information; not giving it.

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Vinny the Marketer

Excerpt from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling" by Keith Rosen.

6 Tips for Voice During a Business Call

6 Tips for Your Voice

1. Enthusiasm matters!!

Please DO NOT sound tired, boring, unexcited, or unknowledgeable

You MUST sound exciting, interesting, and knowledgeable… KNOW YOUR PRODUCT

2. Voice Inflection

MATCH your patron’s voice inflection… What does this mean?

Best way to describe is by example

• If your patron is bouncy, fast-talking with a higher pitch in his/her voice, you must match this energy!! Speak faster and use more energy in your voice.
• If your patron is talking lower and slower, you must match this energy!! Slow down and relax a little bit.

Why is this necessary?

• Psychologically, more people will be willing to trust someone who is similar to themselves.
• Matching their vocal inflection will help you earn their trust from the onset of the call.

3. Confidence vs. Cockiness

Confidence is key!!

• A confident caller does not hesitate with uh’s and um’s.
• A confident caller knows his/her product.
• A confident caller understands how to properly and professionally interact with their patron

Cockiness is the end of your sales!!

• Cockiness is insulting to the patron.
• Cockiness may do more damage than good, by causing customer service issues and possibly costing you your job.
• Cockiness will lose sales.

4. How friendly should we be???

Your patron is not your best friend, so please do not speak to him/her as such.

• Your job is to sell and they know this.
• Be friendly in a professional manner and relate to them.
• DO NOT be so friendly that you end up hindering yourself in the end.

(What this means… Do not put yourself in a situation that you feel buddy-buddy with the patrons. More times than not, you will begin to “feel” for the patron and their objections. This will cause you to back off on overcoming any objections and going for the sale.)

5. POWER Words

Use POWER words!! They are absolutely AMAZING!!

• What is a power word?
  • Super-positive adjectives that you can use to describe the product in a way that will entice your patron into purchasing
    • Examples
  • Great
  • Fantastic
  • Fabulous
  • Amazing
  • Excellent
  • Outstanding
  • Incredible
  • Remarkable
  • Stellar
  • Unbelievable
  • BEST THING SINCE MOM’S ABLE PIE!!!!
  • BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD!!!!

6. Suggestive Selling

Suggest the sale, assume the close!!!

• Literal suggestion
  • Mr./Mrs. Smith I suggest that you take advantage of our great concerts and experience by becoming a subscriber right now and here’s why!
  • Note: After suggesting, it is good to compliment with the benefits of becoming a subscriber.
• Assume the close
  • Have it in your mind that your patron will buy.
  • You have gone through your pitch, you have made your suggestion, and you have overcome every objection. All you need to do is verify their address and ask for the credit card!!

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Vinny the Marketer

11 SEO Tips for Writing Meta Descriptions That Get More Clicks

You’ve done a thorough job optimizing your website for search engines. Your site’s crazy-fast, images look great, and content is tagged for easier scanning. Now it’s time to pay attention to those 155 characters (or less) that will hook users.

Below is what your page’s and post’s meta description looks like in search. There’s just a tiny bit of space under the meta title and URL—and a bunch of distracting competitors surrounding it—to sell your site. The search engines aren’t giving you much room to work with, right? You’d be surprised though at how much you can accomplish within just that limited amount of space.

An example of a meta description in Google search results.

The search engines may have enough faith in your site to boost your rankings, but you need to get users on board now, too. If you’ve gone to the trouble of improving your site’s ranking in search, then you need to show the same care for your meta descriptions.

Read on for some tips and tools to help you master the art of crafting a killer meta description for your content.

Crafting a Click-Worthy Meta Description

I like to think of the meta description like I do a really well-crafted tweet. It should be succinct, catchy, and containing keywords my audience is already talking about.

In order to merge this idealized version of the meta description with reality, here are 11 tips to use when you’re ready to set about optimizing your website’s metadata.

Tip #1: Don’t Leave It Up to Chance

Don’t leave it up to the search engines to create a meta description for you. They may just use the first sentence from the page, they may use another snippet of text that they believe is more relevant, or it could be a hodgepodge of header tags and keywords. This is your content; you know what the page is about and what will be the biggest draw for your audience to this page.

Tip #2: Cut it Out with the Copy and Paste

Don’t copy a sentence or two from your web page and call it a day. On-page content is typically written with the purpose of telling a story and guiding visitors through that story, step-by-step. Unless it’s a sales-heavy landing page, that copy isn’t optimized for placement in a meta description. So, take the time to craft a unique description that sums up the entire page or post.

Tip #3: Know Your Limits

Stay within the character limit.

www.thirteen.red

Failure to observe character limits means cut-off descriptions.

See that ellipsis there? That’s no good. It implies a lack of care or sloppiness. If people are going to be picky about how your website looks or how well-crafted the content is (in a matter of seconds, mind you), how do you think they’ll feel about a carelessly composed meta description that doesn’t help them see the value in your page?

Tip #4: Mind Your Keywords

While on-site keywording is important to your SEO efforts, so is meta description keywording. For every page and post on your site, you’ll want to have a “focus” keyword around which all your content revolves. This keyword should be present not only within the page content, but also within the meta description.

www.thirteen.red

Using keywords in your meta descriptions is important.

Users searching for those keywords might not notice the bolded keywords, but the search engines will.

www.thirteen.red

EmTip #5: Be Upfront

As with anything you publish to your website, be honest with your audience. If you try to optimize your content, keywords, and metadata around a term that’s sure to get you traffic but is completely irrelevant to what you do, it will backfire. Remember that it’s not just about getting higher numbers of visitors. It’s about attracting an audience that’s interested and wants to learn more. High bounce rates are sure to get you noticed by the search engines, and not in a good way.

Tip #6: Capture Your USP

When writing a meta description, be sure to encapsulate your unique selling proposition (USP). Tell readers right away why clicking on your search engine result page (SERP) entry will benefit them over any of the other results that appeared. It’s not a lot of space to work with, but you should be able to quickly explain what their pain is and how this page will relieve it.

Tip #7: Be Direct

Write your description directly to the user. You don’t have much room to describe your business, services, or products within those 155 characters, so don’t waste it. Speak to “you” whenever possible and let them know why exactly this page should matter to them.

Tip #8: Write for the User

Although paid posts do occupy prime real estate on SERPs, they’re typically not written with the user in mind. For instance:

www.thirteen.red

Sales-heavy jargon won’t necessarily win.

These descriptions don’t say anything really. It’s just a bunch of sales-heavy taglines. If you’re going to pay to play, that might make sense. But in terms of helping people find your relevant services or products, you’ll want to craft something clear, concise, and complete.

Tip #9: Conduct Tests

If you’ve done all this and still find that organic search traffic isn’t finding your page, try testing a new description. Do a search yourself for the keyword you want to rank for. See if you can spot any trends with websites that rank on the first page of results. Then rewrite yours accordingly.

Tip #10: Use a Plugin

For more control over your pages’ meta descriptions, take advantage of one of the high-quality SEO plugins available within WordPress.

A plugin worth checking out is All in One SEO plugin, which provides you with all the metadata fields you’ll need to populate on each page, including the meta description. There’s also a character counter, so you’ll know if you’ve exceeded the maximum number of characters allowed in search.

Tip #11: Don’t Forget Social Media

As search engines put more emphasis on social media, it’s important to optimize your meta descriptions for social too. The WPSSO plugin enables you to create completely unique meta descriptions to be used whenever your posts or pages are shared on major social media platforms like Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Wrapping Up

Optimization doesn’t end once you’ve developed a website and put the pages in place. Give your website one more chance to grab the attention of users and optimize each page and post with a click-worthy meta description.

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Vinny the Marketer

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