Archives from My Sales and Marketing blog part two By Dan Galante Articles The Best Day & Time to Execute an Email Campaign 10 Things a Sales Leader Needs to Do or Have to Be Successful What the New York Auto Show Can Teach Us About Trade Show Marketing How to Deal with Difficult Customers How to Qualify and Close Leads How to Generate Leads for Your Business How to Build Your Business & Brand Using Facebook Pages Personal Branding on Facebook: The Basics Build your Brand and Spread Ideas Using @Twitter Building your Personal & Corporate Brand using LinkedIn How to Earn Customer Referrals and Testimonials How to Get Customers to Pay On Time While Keeping their Business
Transcript
Archives from My Sales and Marketing blog part two
By Dan GalanteArticles The Best Day & Time to Execute an Email Campaign
10 Things a Sales Leader Needs to Do or Have to Be Successful
What the New York Auto Show Can Teach Us About Trade Show Marketing
How to Deal with Difficult Customers
How to Qualify and Close Leads
How to Generate Leads for Your Business
How to Build Your Business & Brand Using Facebook Pages
Personal Branding on Facebook: The Basics
Build your Brand and Spread Ideas Using @Twitter
Building your Personal & Corporate Brand using LinkedIn
How to Earn Customer Referrals and Testimonials
How to Get Customers to Pay On Time While Keeping their Business
The Best Day & Time to Execute an Email Campaign
Many people ask, what is the best day and time to execute an email campaign?
Instead of trying to get the best day and time to execute an email marketing campaign, I would instead focus on the content. I would ask the following questions:
1) What message do I want to send?
2) What action do I want my customers and prospects to take?
3) Is the content of my message relevant to my customers?
4) Will customers see the email campaign as a value message or just another solicitation?
For example, I write a blog on the topics of sales, marketing and social media. My readers can choose to follow me through my RSS feed, through email, Wordpress, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook. I use my blog to do my email marketing. As you can see my blog is seen by those whore receive it through email and the other ways I mentioned as a value message. In fact, when you enter your email address to subscribe to my blog, you will receive a confirmation email. This is known as an opt-in.
It is important to note that when building an email list that you get the recipients consent through an opt-in. If you are building a list from your website you can use services such as Constant Contact. When executing an email campaign, make sure to protect the privacy your customers by blind copying them. When the customer receives the email, it should say sent to undisclosed recipients.
To answer the original question, I would say that any day and time is a great day to engage consumers through email marketing; especially in today’s digital world. Consumers are on different schedules and have different needs so it is hard to predict which day would be best to send out emails. If you wanted to obtain concrete data on which day would be best to email consumers. You would need to develop and implement a survey that asks consumers what day they opened and received your messages. Services such as SurveyMonkey can be used to create the surveys. I use a widget on my site to obtain feedback what content people want to see from me. . This information could then be compared with the customer’s date of purchase to see how long it took them act on your message. (The sales cycle)
If at first you get a low response rate to your survey, you may need to offer an incentive like a gift card for each completed survey or a chance to win a gift card in a drawing; this would be dependent on your budget.
10 Things a Sales Leader Needs to Do or Have to Be Successful
Deciding to go into sales management is a very big step for a sales person. Recently, I received an offer to serve as a sales trainer or de-facto sales manager; based on my time in field sales and my blog.
What are a VP of Sales, Sales Director and Sales Manager?
Well they are leaders.
The first thing that a sales manager needs to do to be successful is to lead people and serve as an example. During my time in sales, especially during training, I went to these sales leaders when I had questions and needed help. (Before taking the position, you should make sure that you can believe in the product and that you can sell it yourself because when the sales team cannot do it they will look to you for help!)
The second thing that a sales leader needs to have to be successful is a successful track record as a sales person. Did you notice that I said successful and not a rock star? This will take us to the next thing a sales manager needs to have to be successful.
The third thing that a sales manager needs to have is empathy and patience. This comes into play when training new sales people. They may go into the field and get shot down or they might be developing slower than you would like. The easy thing to do would be to say deal with it. Another easy thing to do would be to fire them. This is the wrong thing to do. (At least the in the beginning.) The sales manager needs to support their sales people by debriefing with them and communicating with them. (Think, Babe Ruth was never a manager in baseball even though he was a star; he lacked the patience to do the job.)
The fourth thing that a sales manager needs to do is to go around with their sales people to meet customers. The sales manager needs to do this directly when possible. Delegating this task sends the wrong message to the new person. It says that the sales person is not important. If you must delegate this task, make sure the sales rep goes out with a seasoned sales rep that is successful so they can pick up their positive habits.
The fifth thing a sales manager needs to do is to teach sales people the following: sales planning, how to make a cold call and how to handle sales objections.
The sixth thing that a sales manager needs to do is to make sure that their sales people have knowledge of: the company’s products, how to provide customer service, how to keep customers paying on time, develop relationships with customers, how to up-sell and cross-sell, how to demonstrate value, not selling on price and how to handle difficult customers.
The seventh thing the sales manager needs to do is to make sure that the team knows how to develop and deliver a sales presentation that answers customer’s questions and objections.
The eighth thing that the sales manager needs to do is to let the sales people to know its ok to ask for the order after they make their presentation. The sales manager also needs to teach the sales people
the following: to generate leads, to convert these leads into sales, to follow-up on sales, earn referrals and testimonials and to make the quota. Only if the sales team makes their quota will the sales manager make theirs. The sales manager can motivate their team to sell with sales contests. This a great way to promote healthy competition among the sales team. (A side note, touch base with your team on a weekly basis. However, reduce the amount of sales meetings that you have. Especially if your team has to travel long distances to attend. The last thing that you want to do is take money away from yourself and your team by keeping them out of their territories. I would recommend one to two meetings team meetings a month. The rest of the meetings can be handled via conference call, email and co-traveling. Sites such as GoToMeeting can facilitate meetings.
The ninth thing to do is to assess your team’s strengths’ and weaknesses’; working with the team to correct them.
The tenth and last thing that a sales manager needs to be successful is be able to repeat steps one to nine multiple times as sales people are promoted, fired and leave to go work for another company. When firing someone make sure to meet with them face to face and explain the situation. No one likes to hear this news over the phone or via email. You will need to learn how to interview and recruit people as well.
These are the 10 things that a sales leader needs to do or have to be successful.
What the New York Auto Show Can Teach Us About Trade Show Marketing
Trade show marketing is important for companies to build brand awareness. The purpose for trade shows is to drive sales. As a Dental Sales Rep, I worked the Greater New York Dental meeting. This is a show where Dental Manufacturers and distributors show off current and new products they have to offer. Today, I am going to discuss how companies can drive sales at trade shows. I am also going to use the New York Auto show to offer examples of best practices for trade show marketing.
When planning for a trade show it is important to decide on the size of your booth. Also you need to decide on your message and theme. Are you going to offer free product demonstrations? How are you going to get customers? How are you going to mobilize your staff? What is the reason you are attending the show. Are you looking to build brand awareness? Are you looking to increase sales? What is your budget for the show? Also how much time do you need to set up your display?
All of these questions should be handled before you can go ahead. Also it is imperative that you get the word out that you are attending the event. Let your customers’ know what your booth number is and where to find you. You can do this by delivering literature to customers during sales calls. I have done this many times in the past. Make sure to share postings on social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn. Advertise in your industry trade magazine and on industry related web sites. The organizers of the trade show will do this as well but you as companies need to do your part. Make sure your displays’ dazzles your audience. All presentations need to be top-notch!
The Automotive industry really does a great job with trade show marketing. I recently covered the New York Auto show as a member of the press. The show is going on through Sunday, 4/15/12 so I suggest you head down there to check it out. At this show, I saw some amazing unveils of the Chevy Impala, Mercedes, BMW M6’s, Lexus ES350, Nissan Altima and the Dodge Viper which was my personal favorite. I saw a stunt driver burn rubber with the Viper! Ford also had an amazing display as well. The Ford Mustangs have their own place downstairs away from the main display. The auto show is shared on Facebook, and Twitter. The automotive manufactures also promote the show on their own social media channels. Many of the unveils were broadcast live on social media channels.
What made these unveils so exciting was the showmanship of the executives along with the videos and in the case of the Mercedes display; a live band. You saw the cars on the TV screen then the executives would drive up with the cars. They engaged the audience! Every car had a story and you felt like you wanted to buy it. Every trade show could be enhanced by watching the techniques employed at this show.
On the public days, professional spokespeople present the cars and trucks to the crowds. But don’t take my word for it, go out and see the show. Still not convinced? Here are the pictures!
In sales, we all have to deal with difficult customers. Today, I am going discuss how to deal with difficult customers. In a previous post, I discussed how to get customers to pay on time. Before I can discuss how to handle difficult customers, the situation needs to be put in context. In other words, why were the customers being difficult? Were they being difficult because you screwed up their order or service call? Are they just miserable people? Does the customer constantly cancel their orders? What kind of relationship do you have with this customer? How important is your customer to your bottom line or monthly quota.
Now I know that the first thing you want to do with a nasty customer is to tell them off and fire them. My answer is to resist this urge. You need to remain calm in order to figure out what is causing the customers hostility. If the customer is being hostile because you and your company screwed up, take responsibility and fix the situation. I always did this during my time in outside sales. If you have a customer who constantly wastes your time having you order items only to cancel these orders, I suggest having a discussion with the customer to try and settle the issue at hand. If this goes nowhere then fire the customer! (Provided they do a small amount of business with you.)
Should you have a customer that is nasty who has a long standing relationship with the company, with you and is crucial to you bottom line/ making your sales quota, I suggest that you suck it up and find a way to keep this customer happy. You do not want to cut your nose to spite you face.
Handling collections can also create difficulty between you and your customer. However, this does not have to be the case. Customers will usually not pay an invoice because of the following reasons: the product you sold them did not work, they lost their invoice, they are having cash flow problems, or the sales rep was too lazy to follow up with the customers. If the product you sold them does not work, fix the issue immediately. If the customer lost their invoice, provide them with another copy and follow up. If the customer is having cash flow problems work out a payment plan. If you are the sales rep follow up. If you’re the sales manager, lean on the rep. Remember to be respectful to the customer. It is important to keep in mind that you want to sell this customer items in the future; not just collect a debt. (I discuss getting customers to pay on time in a previous post.)
Many difficult customers can be managed with great customer service and follow through. However, some cannot be dealt with and need to be fired. Firing customers should be a last resort.
In my last post, I wrote about the various ways businesses can get leads. Now that you have collected all these leads, what do you do with them? In this post, I will discuss how to qualify and close the leads you get.
Prior to calling on the leads you need to do the following:
1 Read the business cards looking for notes you jotted down about where you met the contact and something about them. (A phrase or keyword)
2 Enter this information into your CRM software.
3 Do this for all the leads you receive.
Next you need to plan a form of action. You need to decide your method of contact. Are you going to call the people on the phone, email to follow-up, market to them through direct mail or make a cold call in person disclosing that the prospect contacted you about your product and services? The method that you choose will depend on the kinds of product you sell and the size of your business/territory.
I am going to focus on the email follow-up and the in person cold calls.
Following-up via email
You should write the following:
Dear Mr. Smith:
Hi it’s Dan Galante. I hope you are doing well.
We met at XYZ. You saw a demo of product xyz. /We discussed__________.
I would like to speak with to know your thoughts. If you are interested or have any questions email me at [email protected] or call 1-555-555-5555.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Dan
Dan Galante.
This letter asks for feedback from the prospect without being too pushy.
Based on the reception you get from this letter, you can qualify the prospect as a Cold, Warm or Hot lead. This activity needs to be logged in your CRM software. This letter could be followed-up with a phone call or an in person cold call.
I spoke about how to make a cold call in an earlier post.
To do this successfully you would need to the following:
1 Make friends with the Gate-keeper.
2 Ask to speak with the decision maker.
Being that you are following-up on a lead; you already know the decision maker and can ask for them by name. When the gate-keeper asks why you are here to see the decision maker you should say that they contacted you about your product.
If you get to speak the decision maker; build rapport and be ready to deliver your sales presentation. Make sure to ask for the sale. Also be sure to qualify their objections.
If the decision maker is not around; try to get an appointment.
Whether or not you make the sale, make sure to log this activity in your CRM software.
It is important to follow-up on all your sales activities and to keep records!
Lead Generation is an essential building block for businesses to find potential buyers who are interested in their products and services. In previous posts, I discussed how to prospect and identify your target market. In this post, I will discuss how businesses can find leads and what mediums can be used to obtain leads.
Many mediums can be used to obtain leads. These mediums include: Direct mail, Email, Marketing, Surveys, Advertising, Social Media, referrals from current customers, business networking, trade show marketing.
You have to see what strategies will work for you. Your product and budget will help to determine how you go about obtaining leads.
Direct Mail
Direct mail can be a great way to find prospects. You can create a message with pictures and compelling copy. The idea is to piqué the interest of your prospect and include a card with paid postage that they can send back requesting more information. You can use CRM software to track your results and fine tune who to target.
Email Marketing
Email lists can be purchased from a list broker or self-generated from your address book. You can also use services like Constant Contact that allows people to enter their email addresses if they want email from your business. This is known as allowing them to opt in. Before proceeding with an Email campaign make sure to get permission from people through an opt-in email. If you do not get peoples’ permission to send them email it can be considered spam. Email is a cheaper item than mail. You can have a wider reach to your customers. I would suggest creating a message that is compelling. Make sure to use pictures and colors that look appealing.
Surveys
Surveys can be a great way to get information about prospects and customers. You can ask specific questions that can provide information on what the prospect is looking for. Also you can ask questions about when the prospect is looking to make a purchase. This information can be stored in CRM software. Surveys can be done through direct mail, email or online through internet polls.
Advertising
Businesses can advertise their products and services. The advertising can be a spot on the radio, television, Social Media, print and billboards. Television ads can be short commercials that appear on TV shows or they can take the form Infomercials which are at least a half hour in length. Television has been a preferred method of advertising for years because television has a massive audience. The internet is also a great way to advertise. You can use pay-per-click advertising on LinkedIn, Facebook and
Google. (LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, Google AdWords) This is an effective method because you can specify who you want to see your ad by different demographics such as Geography, Age, and Profession. You can also use keywords to trigger your ads.
Social Media
Social Media is a great tool to get leads; specifically LinkedIn. You can explore the questions and answer section to look for potential customers. The questions and answers section is a great way to ask people for information or to answer questions. Answering questions can allow you to position yourself as an expert on a topic. Members who ask questions are allowed to choose which answers they think are good and which one they think is the best. I was named a Sales and Marketing Expert in the areas of Lead Generation, Sales Techniques, and Direct Marketing by members whose questions I answered.
Print
Placing ads in newspapers can also help your business because newspapers have many readers. Newspapers are usually in print and online. Your advertising on this platform could take the form of a classified ad or article marketing. Industry trade magazines also fall into this category. Billboards can also help your businesses visibility.
Referrals/Testimonials from Customers
Referrals and testimonials from your customers is one of the best ways to get leads because they remove doubt from the prospects mind about your capabilities to perform. Referrals could take the form of a video, a recommendation on LinkedIn or a Slideshare presentation. I have the last two that I listed. Referrals and Testimonials should speak to the quality of your work.
Business Networking
Attending networking events at your local chamber of commerce or at a professional association can be a great way to meet potential prospects and to generate leads. At these events you can talk informally and exchange business cards. You can briefly discuss who you are and what you do then move on; remember you want to network with as many people as possible.
Trade show Marketing
It is important to attend industry trade shows either as an exhibitor or an attendee. Trade shows are a great way to keep up to date with trends in your industry. This will allow you to hone your expertise which your customers pay for. Trade shows are a great place for you to get leads because customers go to them looking to make purchases either at the show or soon after. If you are an exhibitor, require attendees to give you their contact information to see a demonstration of your product. This can be the start of an informal conversation which you can follow-up on later.
I have listed a variety of ways that businesses can get leads. The methods you choose depend on your product and budget. You have to see which methods will work for you.
Next time, I will discuss how to qualify leads and convert them into sales.
Until next time, thank you for reading.
How to Build Your Business & Brand Using Facebook Pages
In my last post, I discussed about how to build your personal brand on Facebook. Today I am going to discuss how to brand your business using Facebook pages. Remember Facebook is the largest Social networking site which means that your customers and prospects are on the site. Your job as a business and a brand is to engage with fans, prospects and customers. The goal is to convert this engagement (marketing) to product sales. Facebook pages are a great way to do this.
Facebook has greatly increased the kinds of pages that people and brands can create. Currently there are six types of pages. These pages include: a Local Business or place page, a Company page, a Brand or Product page, an Artist, Fan or Public Figures page, an Entertainment page and a Causes or Community page. Each of these pages has their own benefits. However in this post, I am going to focus on the public figure and the Company pages; using my public figure and company pages as an example.
The first thing that you need to do before setting up a Facebook business page is to set up a Facebook account. The steps to set up a Facebook account addressed in my last post. Once you create an account you need to do the following:
1 Log in to your account
2 Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the create a page link
3 Once you click on the link, a page will come up that will list all six types of Facebook pages. (For this post we will focus on the Public Figure and Company pages.)
4 Choose the type of page you would like which in our case is the Public Figure and Company pages.
5 Once you choose the type of page you would like, you will be asked to select the category your page falls into.
6 The next step will be to name your page. For the public figure page use your name or your band’s name if you have one. Use your company name for your company page. I started with a public figure page and added a company page later.
7 Agree to Facebook’s terms and click the get started button.
Getting Started
I will start by discussing how to set up a public figure page. The first thing you will need to do is to fill in the basic information section of the public figure page. The basic information section asks for the following:
1 The category of the page, the type of person you are public figure, journalist etc…
2 Your name
3 Your Address (This is optional for public figure and company pages)
6 An about headline which is similar to the headline feature on LinkedIn except you need to provide the content, where LinkedIn will let you use your job title and company as a default. I would use this space to briefly sell who you are and what you do. You should be brief. My headline is: Sales & Marketing Maven who is available to meet your sales & marketing needs Contact me for a free consultation Read my Sales & Marketing Blog http://www.dangalante.me . As you can see my headline is short and to the point. You can elaborate on the headline in the Biography section.
7 Use the biography section to expand on the headline. This is the place to describe yourself, your credentials and what you have to offer potential customers. Here is an example of my biography section: I am Dan Galante, President, CEO, CMO, Sales and Marketing Consultant at Trend Setting Sales and Marketing. Trend Setting Sales and Marketing provides Sales, Marketing and Advertising services to clients across multiple mediums. Prior to my current role, I ran the New York City sales territory for Diversified Dental Sales Inc. During my time in this position, I called on Dental Professionals, selling them my company’s products and services. I helped build my company’s brand by educating Dental professionals who were previously unfamiliar with our offerings. I also hold a Master’s Degree in Education. My knowledge of Sales, Marketing and Education, gives me the expertise to teach business ways they can produce more. My objective is to use my sales, marketing and education experience to provide clients with sales and marketing consulting services. I am also interested in obtaining traditional sales and marketing positions in New York City. I author a sales and marketing blog. Also, I publish several online newspapers which focus on the topics of: Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Technology, the automotive industry and Dentistry serving as Editor in Chief of each.
Specialties:
Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Direct Marketing, Online Marketing, B2B Marketing, B2B Sales, Territory Sales, Sales Techniques, Lead Generation, Route Sales, Dental Equipment Sales, Dental Sales, Dental Marketing, Outside Sales, Prospecting, Cold Calling, Cold Canvassing, Cross Selling, Brand Building, Business Development, Account Management, Customer Service, Customer Loyalty, Customer Retention, Mediation, Social Media Marketing, Spokesperson, Trade show marketing, Event Marketing, Education
As you can see I offer a professional summary along with my specialties. Listing your specialties is a great place to list what you have done along with what you would like to do.
8 There is a section for awards, gender, personal information, personal interests, phone number and websites. I definitely would make use of the personal interests, and websites section to make your page come alive.
The next thing that you need to is to decide who will see your page. Facebook allows you to decide what countries are allowed to view your pages. You can get access to this setting by clicking the permissions tab. Depending on your content; you can set an age restriction. Facebook also allows you to decide the following: if you want people to tag you in photos and videos, if you want people to write and post content on your wall and if you want to block certain people from posting on your wall. Facebook also lets you block profanity from being posted on your wall. I recommend that you allow people to tag your photos and post comments on content you post. Also, I recommend that you allow others to share content on your wall. I recommend this because this will give you the opportunity to engage with your fans. Once you reach 25 likes, Facebook allows you to set a custom URL to your pages. I recommend doing this because it will be easier for people to find your page and it will be easier for search engines to index your page. Here are my custom URL’s. http://www.facebook.com/djgalante http://www.facebook.com/trendsettingsm I picked one name that was my name and one that is a shortened version of my company name Trend Setting Sales and Marketing. You should pick names related to yourself and/or your business so people will find your page quickly and easily.
Facebook also allows you to use insights to see who is talking about your page and who likes your page. Also make sure to upload a professional photo of yourself.
Another thing you can do is to choose an administrator for your page. I would recommend doing this yourself unless you have a professional moderator for your page because the administrator will have full access to your page. You can also post your tweets to Facebook using the Twitter plug-in the under the resources tab.
Getting Likes
Once your pages are complete, you want to get people to like your page. For a long time Facebook likes have been Facebook’s social currency. Likes symbolize social approval from friends and fans. In order to get likes, you should do the following:
1 Provide compelling content that engages Fans. (I share my blog posts with my fans.) Encourage them to share their stories using your product and services. This could be done through wall posts or videos
2 Promote your page by inviting your Facebook friends and sending email invitations to people who are not directly connected with you.
3 Use Facebook ads to get people to like and interact with your page. (I will discuss this at a later time)
4 Post content from your Facebook page. (Facebook allows users to switch between their personal accounts and their Facebook page.)
Remember that this takes work and it is an ongoing process.
The company page on Facebook is similar to the Public figure page. The Company page is good to promote your business if you have employees. It is also good if you want to promote your company as a brand. If you are a band or working by yourself, I would use the public figure page. I use both pages
because I am looking to get customers and I would like to grow my idea into a large business. The difference with the Company page is that you will not have to provide a date of birth. However, you will have to provide a company description instead of a personal description. (About me) Also you can provide a mission statement and describe your offerings in the products box. These are the key differences between the pages.
Promoting your Facebook page on other Social Networks and other Platforms
1 Share your Facebook page on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google plus by sharing your pages URL on these sites; inviting your connections/followers to join you.
2 Include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature
3 Include Facebook plugins on your website and blog
4 Include your Facebook page on any printed materials that you give customers and prospects
5 Include your page in any TV, Radio or print advertisements that you engage in.
This is how to successfully build and promote a public figure and company page on Facebook.
Until next time, thank you for reading!
Personal Branding on Facebook: The Basics
Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world. Facebook has about 650 million users worldwide. Almost everyone is on Facebook. From teenagers to baby boomers, people from all walks of life are using Facebook. In this post, I am going to discuss the basics of personal branding on Facebook.
To sign up for an individual account you need to do the following:
1 Provide your first and last name.
2 Enter a valid email twice.
3 Create a password
4 Provide your date of birth to verify your age.
To get started, you need to fill out the basic information section which includes the following information: your birthday, your sex, your relationship status and if you prefer men or women.
The next step is to fill out your contact information. In this section, you can include links to your websites, blogs, and other social networks.
Facebook also allows you to share your education and work experience. This is a great way to make your profile professional. To tell your story, make sure to fill out Facebook’s about you section. This is a great place to tell your story. You can sell who you are and what you do.
You can also create a timeline to tell your story. This is a new feature on Facebook. Make sure to upload a professional photo of yourself. Facebook also allows you to create photo albums. Make sure to upload photos that contain nothing embarrassing such as drinking or nudity. Remember you are trying to build your image here. Here is the link to my Facebook profile for you to see an example of what I have discussed so far. http://facebook.com/dgalantenyc Facebook allows you to pick a custom URL to make it easier to find your profile.
Now that your profile is set up, your next goal is to add friends to your Facebook account. You can do this as follows:
1 Do a manual search for your friends.
2 Upload your address book to see which of your contacts are on Facebook
3 Send email invitations to people who are not on Facebook.
When you find a contacts profile, click on the add friend button. When you click the add friend button. Facebook allows you to specify how you are connected with the person. I would also include a message with your friend request. Try to connect with people who you know well because if too many of your requests go unanswered, you will be blocked from adding friends. Also if people flag your request as spam, you will be blocked from sending messages. If you want to add more people, make sure that you
share an interest with them. You can also subscribe to people’s updates even if you are not friends with them.
Now that you have friends on Facebook, the next step is to post status updates. I would recommend posting interesting content you come across. This is also a great way to share your own content. Next, I would use your Facebook wall. The Facebook wall allows people to publically communicate on Facebook with one another. Also if you approve of a status update or comment, you can like them. Likes on Facebook serve as a social endorsement. You can look at my profile to see examples of my likes and people who have liked my content. http://www.facebook.com/dgalantenyc .
Facebook pages are also a great way for people and brands to promote their products and services.
In my next post, I will cover likes, status updates and Facebook pages in more detail.
Twitter is a great social networking site for people and brands to spread ideas quickly. Twitter is also a great marketing tool for brands to promote products and services. Twitter has a few hundred million users worldwide. Getting started with Twitter is quick and easy. To get started using Twitter you need to do the following:
1 Click on the join link.
2 Provide your first and last name.
3 Provide a valid email address.
Once you join, you will need to choose a name for your account. I would recommend using your name or your business name. You can also choose a name that relates to what you do. I have two Twitter accounts @DanGalante and @TrendSettingSM. The former is my name and the latter is an abbreviation of my company name Trend Setting Sales and Marketing.
Now that you have an account, you should fill in the bio section. Twitter gives you 160 characters to describe yourself. I would suggest using the space to briefly sell who you are and what you do. Make sure to leave space to include a link to your website or blog. Although Twitter provides a place for a web link, two links are better than one.
The next step is to upload a photo of you. Make sure that the photo that you choose is professional and clearly visible to members. Remember, this is your image that you are sharing. Twitter provides users with an option of uploading a custom background. To do this, click on the settings button and click design. Here you can upload a picture from your computer or view different Twitter backgrounds.
Now you are ready to tweet. However before you start tweeting away, you need know the following:
1 Tweets are limited to 140 characters. At first, this may seem annoying, but this is a great exercise for your creativity.
2 Make sure you have something of value to say, nothing will turn people off faster than nonsense.
3 Make sure to share articles and content that you create in your Tweets by including links. Doing this will help you gain followers. Twitter also allows you to share videos and photos in tweets. This can be a great way to share experiences, ideas and to promote a business or a brand.
4 Do not be afraid to make a mistake. Twitter provides a delete button with an icon that is a trash can. This is great if you make a typographical error.
5 Make sure to change-up your message. No one likes the same message over and over.
6 Leave 10 to 20 characters for your tweets to be retweeted.
When a Twitter user shares a message from another user, this is called a Retweet. Retweets are sought after because the more your content is shared, the higher your influence is perceived.
Mentions are when a Twitter user references or quotes you in on of their tweets. Some users may use this instead of simply retweeting because a mention shows up quicker than a retweet does in a user’s timeline.
Retweets and mentions show up in the interactions and mentions section of the Twitter account.
The Direct Message or DM
The Direct Message or DM as it is referred to, allows Twitter users to send messages to other users. I waited to mention this feature until now because Twitter only allows users to send messages to users who follow them. This is a great way to send a private message to users on the site.
Sharing Tweets with More than Just Twitter Followers
In order for users to share tweets with more than their followers, users need to use hash-tags. Hash-tags are a number bracket next to a word. For example, #business is a hash-tag. Hash-tags create an index of information on a specific topic. A hash-tag reaches more people than a regular tweet or just getting a few retweets. Hash-tags are a great way for users to earn new followers. Follow Friday (better known as #FF or #FollowFriday on Twitter), is a way for Twitter users to promote other users they like. Job searchers also use #hire #hireme or #hirefriday to try to get their resume in front of potential employers.
Integrating Twitter with other Social Networks
Various third-party applications exist that allow users to share their Tweets on LinkedIn, Facebook, a website and a blog. Users will need to click on the application settings tab to do this. Twitter members will have to authorize these applications on LinkedIn as Facebook as well. I have included a link to my website to show you how I integrate twitter with my site. http://www.dangalante.com/. (You will need to log in to see my tweets on LinkedIn and Facebook.) Integrating Twitter with other social networks can give users a larger reach than using Twitter alone. Users will also get more followers from Facebook and LinkedIn. This has worked for me.
Twitter has unveiled company branded pages to certain companies. This is similar to what Google+ and Facebook are doing. As you can see, Twitter is a great way for people and brands to share ideas quickly.
Brands can influence a large audience all around the world. This is how people and brands can use Twitter.
Building your Personal & Corporate Brand using LinkedIn
Use of social media is essential in personal and corporate branding. The networks that brands should be on are LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+. Writing blogs and having websites are also essential for building a brand. Today I am going to discuss how to build your brand using LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional networking site that allows people to search for jobs and connect with people they know. You can also make new connections on the site. Right now, 135 million people around the world are using LinkedIn.
The Basics
LinkedIn allows users to sign up for free. To get started you need to do the following.
1 Click on the join today tab.
2 Enter a first and last name.
3 Enter a valid email address.
4 Create a password.
Creating a profile
Once you have created a password you, will need to identify your geographic location and provide information about your employment status. LinkedIn asks you to provide your employment history along with your educational history. The amount of information you provide is up to you but the more relevant information you supply the better. This is because a complete LinkedIn profile shows up better in search results. The LinkedIn profile is the digital resume.
So what elements do I need to complete a profile?
1 Provide information on your current position. If you do not have a position, create one on your ideal career or position. There is no excuse to leave this blank if you are unemployed.
2 Provide information on your previous two positions.
3 Write a professional summary that provides information that describes past accomplishments along with what you can do for potential clients and employers. You should also describe what type of position or client you are seeking.
4 Upload a professional picture that will make your profile look more attractive.
5 Create a professional headline in 160 characters or less. If you leave this blank, LinkedIn populates this with your latest position. My advice is to create your own catchy headline to captivate readers to read your profile; unless you have a great position and have achieved your career goals. The professional headline provides you with an opportunity to quickly sell and market who you are and what you do.
6 Fill out the specialties section with keywords related to what you do. Your idea is to use keywords to optimize your LinkedIn profile to come up in searches on LinkedIn. Also fill out the skills section and interests section.
7 Connect with customers, colleagues, bosses and professors. To do this quickly, upload your address book from your email account into LinkedIn. LinkedIn will identify which members in your address book are already members. You can then decide which members you want to invite to join your network. LinkedIn is based on a network of first, second and third degree connections. First degree connections are direct connection. Second degree connections are a connection of a connection or a friend of a friend. Third degree connections are friends of second degree connections. You can connect with people by entering an email address for them, indicating that you share a group with them, stating that they are a colleague, stating that you have done business, together or by stating that you were classmates. Make sure not to abuse the contact form otherwise you will have to enter email addresses every time that you connect with someone. Inmails are a premium feature that allows you to contact people anyone on LinkedIn. This is good if you are not able to reach a person through traditional means. Basic accounts on LinkedIn also provide a feature called introductions. Basic accounts allow five introductions. This feature allows you ask one of your connections to connect you with one of your connections.
8 Get recommendations. Once you have first degree connections, you can ask them to recommend your work. To do this, click on the profile tab and click on the recommendations link in the drop down menu. This will allow you to choose the position you want to be recommended for. Once you have identified this position you then can send out a request to your connection for a recommendation. Recommendations are social proof and are a great way to boost your credibility online. LinkedIn requires three recommendations for your profile to be considered complete. For recommendations from non LinkedIn members, use the Slideshare and Box plugins.
9 Use the three profile links LinkedIn provides in the website section of your profile. I would include the following links, your website, your blog, your Facebook page, your YouTube channel and your Google plus page. The sites you choose are up to you. LinkedIn also provides users with two additional Links for Twitter accounts. In other words, LinkedIn provides you with up to five touch points to connect with people and to showcase your work.
10 Make sure to make your profile public. LinkedIn allows users to create a custom URL to make it easier for users to find them. I would make the address one that easily identifies you. My public profile URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/dangalante .
These are the 10 steps to create a complete LinkedIn profile that will be optimized for search on LinkedIn. Also public profiles are indexed in search engines such as Bing, Google, and Yahoo. It is important to know that you can determine what activity that you share. You also have the option to hide your connections from your 1st Degree connections. The settings tab will allow you choose options.
Make sure to share content and status updates with your network to engage them. LinkedIn allows people to like and comment on posts. Status updates can be shared on Twitter, with groups and with individuals. Another thing that you can do to build your brand on LinkedIn is to join groups. LinkedIn
allows members to join up to 50 groups. I would target industry groups or groups that match your interests. Groups are great places to facilitate discussions. I would also recommend creating a group. This is easy to do. I have provided a link to my sales and marketing group to give you an example. Groups are a great way to make connections and to share and start discussions. You can also post jobs in groups as well.
Companies can also take advantage of LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows companies to create pages. On these pages, companies can post jobs which are a premium feature. Recently, LinkedIn added the status update feature for company pages. This is great to provide updates about your company along with promoting your products and service. I have included a link to my company page as an example.
As you can see, LinkedIn is a great place for personal and corporate branding.
Once you have made a sale to a customer, it is important to follow-up with a customer. As a Sales person it is important to deliver on the promises you make to customers. This means checking in with the customer throughout the implementation of your product or service and staying in touch with the customer after the sale. In this post, I am going to discuss how to earn referrals and testimonials.
During my time as an outside sales representative in New York City, making sales was the highlight of my day. Once I made a sale, I was itching to ask for a referral or a testimonial. In other words, I wanted to ask the customer the question Do you know of anyone who could benefit from my product and services? However, once I made the sale my inner voice told me not to ask for a referral. Now many people would want to ask because they feel that the customer bought their products or services and this shows a sign of trust. But what did the customer really buy? Yes the customer bought you and your products but the main thing that they bought was your promise to deliver value through your offering. How can you ask someone to put their credibility on the line when you and your solution are unproven? Yet many people do.
Asking for a referral right after the sale is a mistake because you have not delivered on your promise and you will seem ungrateful. The customer will think that you are not interested in building a relationship and that you just want to make a commission. Remember your job as a Sales person is to build relationships with customers and to make sales by demonstrating your products value to the customer. Once the sale is complete, it is your job to deliver on the promises that you make to your customer.
Now you are thinking well this is great but when do I ask for a referral? How do I ask for a referral?
I would ask the customer for a referral when you know the customer is happy with the implementation of your product or service. In other words, ask when you have delivered on your promise. If you offer more than one product or service try to cross sell or up sell the customer first. See if the customer will use more of your products or services or if the customer purchases more expensive offerings from you. Once the customer purchases more items from you, the customer is demonstrating that they like and trust you. This is the time to ask for a referral. I usually waited until this point to ask for a referral.
I would ask the customer for a referral by first thanking them for the business that they have provided and trusted me with. Then I would ask if they knew of anyone like themselves that would benefit from my offering. My experience has taught me that the customers were always willing to offer themselves as a reference. Customers who offered me a referral would let me use their names with other clients or pass my name along to their peers.
Testimonials are like referrals. Testimonials can come in a variety of forms. There is a testimonial letter and a testimonial video. The testimonial letter is when a customer writes a letter stating that you did a wonderful job for them and endorses you. The digital version of this letter is the recommendation feature on LinkedIn. The testimonial video is when a client speaks of your performance in a short video segment. When asking for a testimonial, offer the customer the option to choose the option they feel comfortable with. Also be sure to tell them what specific aspect of your service you want them to focus
on. Once you receive a referral and/or testimonial, make sure to thank your customer. Should you get new business through a referral, provide great service otherwise your customer will not give you anymore! Keep your customer informed on the status of the relationship with the referral.
This is how to earn a referral and testimonial in a nutshell.
How to Get Customers to Pay On Time While Keeping their Business
When we deal with customers, it is important to get them to pay their invoices in a timely manner. What a timely manner means is dependent on your company’s payment policy. Are these customers C.O.D or are they net 30, net 60, net 90 or longer? This payment structure is based on the length of the sales cycle.
What can we do to make sure that customers pay their invoices on time?
Develop and nurture the relationship with your customer.
Do the following:
1 When you complete the sale, put all details in writing. Agree on a method of payment with your customer.
2 Follow through with the implementation of the sale and check in with your customer to make sure they a happy with their purchase.
3 If the customer voices concerns or has an issue with your product, address it immediately.
4 Make sure that you honor the warranty and be willing to look up the invoice for the customer if they do not have this.
If you do these four things, your customers will pay 95 %percent of the time.
I did these things but the customer will not pay?
In a large organization, the accounts receivable manager will handle the customer by sending past due notices and charging penalties. However if you work for a small company as I did, this will be entirely on your shoulders.
In any case, you as the sales representative should call and/or visit the customer. When you follow-up with the customer, you should speak to the customer to try to work out a solution to the get the invoice paid. Remember before you go in with guns blazing that you want to keep this customer doing business with you. It is important to be polite and never raise your voice or swear. Should the customer get nasty and state that they are not going to pay, you should state the following: It is my job to get the company off your back. I am the last nice guy they plan to send. Take care. After you deliver this line, head for the door. This is a tip that I learned from Jim Cathcart and it works every time! I have used this as an outside sales representative and the customer would say hold on what do you mean? I would answer well after me, my manager has to get involved and he charged fees and refers this to collection and credit agencies. If my manager has to get involved it will get ugly. You are nice people and I would hate to see that happen. So what could we do about this? Many would pay that day or within a week. In many instances, I was also able to keep customer doing business with the company. You should not be afraid to ask customers for money that you are entitled to. Your landlord and suppliers demands payment for services rendered and so should you!
As a result of my efforts implementing the strategies above, my receivables (open invoices) were the lowest in the company! This allowed me to earn more commissions, make more sales and develop great relationships with my customers.
Customer Service Rules in the Digital Age
In my post Building the Brands of Tomorrow, I stated that one of the things that companies needed to do to build the brand of the future is to listen to their customers. This means handling customer complaints promptly. We are in the digital age. In this age, social networks are the wave of the future. Today’s consumer is an empowered consumer. A customer can quickly share their thoughts about a product or an experience on Facebook, Twitter, Google and many other networks. Brands need to be present on social networks to interact and engage with the empowered consumer. More and more consumers are consulting their social networks for product recommendations.
Many companies are not fielding the empowered consumers’ complaints on social networks. In other words they are not providing customer service on social networks. Whenever we have an issue with a product, we have to call an 800 number which makes you listen to prompt after prompt. When you finally do get a person, you have to relay to them all of your information. Once you do this, they in turn transfer you another person who is either a specialist or the next person up the chain of command. It seems that no one can handle your issue. Heaven forbid you are waiting for 20 minutes or more; there is a good chance that you would be disconnected. This practice is wrong because it frustrates customers and they tell every one of their horrible experience with your brand. More and more consumers are venting their frustrations on social networks. As I discussed before, local word of mouth marketing has become global marketing. A message shared on a social network can spread all around the world within a matter of hours. Ignoring customer complaints is just bad for business and will destroy your brands reputation.
A Product’s quality needs to be top-notch to cut the need for customer service. However, we know that with even the best products; issues arise. Customer service needs to be transformed. This transformation has to take place at the corporate level because as I stated before, people see brands as one unit and as a result; companies need to take each one of their brands and create a task force. This task force should consist of members from top management, brand managers and members of the sales and marketing departments. Customer complaints need to be fielded in real-time on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Waiting time for customers on 800 numbers also needs to be reduced.
Remember that meeting the needs of your customers is critical to keeping them buying your product. It costs more to earn new business that to keep the business your current customer base generates today. Resolving customer’s issues can lead to up selling or cross selling of products and services during the exchange! By providing a customer service experience that makes a customer sit up and take notice, you help to improve your reputation in this new digital age. As a brand, don’t you want to reap the benefits or local word of mouth marketing or global marketing?
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