Sales and Sales Management Blog

December 28, 2009

Free Webinar, Jan 21: 4 Quick Steps to Triple Your Client Referrals

Filed under: lead generation,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,sales training,selling — Paul McCord @ 2:10 pm
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Free Webinar: 4 Quick Steps to Triple Your Client Referrals

Thursday, January 21  2PM Central Daylight Time

LIMITED SEATING so register early

Few sellers generate enough high quality referrals to seriously impact their sales and income because few have been taught how to work with their clients to generate high quality referrals. 

Most sellers have been “taught” that all you need to do is ask a satisfied client for referrals and they’ll give them.  Most find that asking doesn’t work.  Sure, there are a few clients who willing give “referrals,” but most won’t.  And even the “referrals” most sellers do get are nothing more than worthless names and phone numbers of people who have no interest in or need for their product or service.

Asking for referrals won’t get you where you want to go.

You must learn to work with your client to generate introductions to prospects who want and/or need your products and services.

That takes far more than asking some silly question such as “Ms. Client, do you know of anyone else that might be able to use my products or services?”

On January 21 we’ll focus on 4 easy to implement actions that will dramatically increase the number and quality of referrals you receive from each of your clients.

During this Hour You’ll Learn:

  • Why asking for referrals is a total waste of time
  • How to make your client comfortable and confident in giving high quality referrals
  • How to get your client to willing agree to give you multiple high quality referrals
  • How to get 3, 4, or more high quality referrals from your client—even if they say they have none to give you
  • How to nail down appoints with your referred prospects

The mega-producers don’t ask for referrals–but most have built their business on referrals.  Learn why you need to forget everything you’ve been taught about referrals—and learn how to generate them the same way the mega-producers do.

Start 2010 off right by learning how to fill your pipeline with great prospects.

LIMITED SEATING

Register HERE

November 24, 2009

Using Incentives to Get Referrals

Filed under: business,lead generation,marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 12:01 pm
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I’m often asked why I don’t advocate using incentives to influence clients and prospects to give referrals.  My reasoning is two fold:  first, if your referral generation process is effective and you execute it correctly, you don’t need to give incentives; and second, if done correctly, incentives can be very effective—but most salespeople find giving effective incentives to be cumbersome and time consuming.

Let me explain.

I coach and train clients who use incentives very effectively.  They are a key part of their referral generation process.  They follow the PWWR Referral Generation System™ to the letter—with the exception of their explanation of why it is in the client’s best interest to give them referrals.  Instead of explaining to the client how their being referral-based is an asset to the client and why giving referrals insures the client receives the purchasing experience they want, these salespeople prefer giving incentives.

The difference between the incentives they give and those most salespeople give is the secret to why their incentive program is so successful—and why it is so cumbersome.

Typically, salespeople will make one of three mistakes when giving incentives:

  • The incentive is not an incentive, it’s a bribe—a sizable chunk of money, at least in relation to the cost/value of their product or service, in the hopes of getting referrals.
  • The incentive is not an incentive, it’s a come-on—it is nothing more than a discount for their own products or services which many clients see as nothing more than another way for the salesperson to get more business from the client.
  • The incentive has limited appeal.  For instance, they’ll give a $10 gift card to Starbucks or coupon for a car wash.  That is, an incentive given to everyone but with limited appeal.

Incentives need to be just that—an incentive, something that encourages people to give referrals, not a reward, not a bounty. 

What does an effective and reasonable incentive look like?

Let me give an example from one of my clients.

I have a small IT client who uses incentives very effectively.  As a matter of fact, prior to working with me, they gave cash incentives believing money would motivate clients.  Although they initially resisted changing their incentive program, since changing they’ve increased their referrals by over 1,700%.  Much of that change is due to implementing the PWWR Referral Generation System, but the incentive they provide is their reason referrals are in their client’s best interest to give.  Not only have they saved a small fortune by not giving large cash incentives, the incentive itself is far more effective.

They focus mainly on installation and service work for small to mid-size companies.  They, of course, are constantly looking for other small to mid-size companies that don’t have an IT department that they can help with both their installation and performance issues. 

They use incentives as their reason that it is in their client’s best interest to give referrals.  But their incentive isn’t a discount nor is it dollars.  Rather, they get to know their clients very, very well.  They get to know their clients so well that they can focus their incentive to meet that individual client’s personality and interests. 

For instance, one of their clients is a small publishing company.  The company publishes cookbooks.  The owner of the company collects antique and rare cookbooks.  Although her collection is quite large, she is still constantly looking to add to her collection.  Every time she refers someone to her IT service company, they go to a used and rare bookstore and purchase her—you guessed it, an antique cookbook.

They never spend more than 25 or 35 dollars.  The incentive is small—nothing compared to what she will spend with them over the course of the year—or what they would have given her in the past.  But she will kill to find new referrals that she can make because she appreciates the attention they give her.  Obviously, they aren’t giving every client who refers someone to them a cookbook.  They go out of their way to show their appreciation to her by doing something unique just for her.

Another of their clients is a minor league baseball team.  This team has been around since the 50’s.  Over the years, they’ve had hundreds of players come through their team and eventually go on to the majors, some for only a few days, others have become stars.  What do they do for this client?  Every time the team gives them a referral they find and purchase a baseball artifact associated with one of the players that had played for the team who eventually went on to the majors.  The team has started a “museum” (read trophy case) based on the artifacts they’ve received from their referrals.  Again, they only spend a few dollars on each item.  The dollars they spend isn’t what gets the client’s attention—it’s the attention to detail and the uniquely personal nature of the incentive.  Like the publisher above, the baseball team is always looking for referrals to give—and new artifacts to include in their display.

Obviously, this incentive system requires getting to know the client well.  That’s actually the easy part.  The tough part is finding the incentive item.  The IT company above may spend weeks looking for the appropriate incentive gift for their minor league client.  Instead of investing money in the client’s incentive, they invest their time, their effort, and their creativity.  Most importantly, they invest their attention and their sincere interest in the client.

Using incentives can be very effective and need not be costly if done correctly.  Avoid costly bribes.  Don’t give money; give personal attention.  Certainly, don’t give a discount coupon or any other “incentive” to spend more money with you.  And avoid blanket incentives that are easy to give and have little impact.

The key to an effective incentive program isn’t the dollar value—it’s the personal value.

November 11, 2009

Not Getting Enough Quality Referrals? Here’s Why

Filed under: Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 10:43 am
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Virtually every seller has been taught that generating referrals from clients and prospects is the way to sales success; but less than 15% generate enough referrals to significantly impact their business.  Most of the time, the problems sellers have generating referrals is due to the training—or lack thereof–they have received, rather than with their performance.  The traditional referral training has been to “do a good job and ask for referrals.”  Yet, it has been obvious for decades that it really does not work very well.  Using the traditional approach, the typical seller will get an occasional name and phone number or two from their clients but seldom do these names and phone numbers result in a sale.  Certainly, on occasion, these referrals become clients, but the close ratio tends to be quite poor.

The failure to generate a large number of high quality referrals actually lies in the traditional method’s approach to the client.  The traditional “do a good job and ask for referrals” approach creates several roadblocks to getting referrals.

First, by waiting until the sale is complete and then asking for referrals, your client has not had the opportunity to prepare for your request.  To the client, the request comes from out of the blue.  When you approach your client with your request without giving them an opportunity to think about it, you have put them on the spot.  You are only giving them a few seconds to go through their mental file cabinet to come up with quality referrals and that isn’t realistic.  More than likely in this situation, they will not be able to immediately produce the number or the quality of referrals you want.

Second, even if your client takes a few seconds to think about it, they really do not know what you want.  It may seem obvious to you, but your client really has not a clue what a good referral for you is.  This may seem a little difficult to accept, but it is true.  You assume that because you sell a whole array of financial products and services, your customer is immediately going to think, “Who do I know who needs or uses any type of financial advice, guidance or products?”  Wrong assumption.  What they actually think is “what does this person want from me?”  Or, more likely, “how can I get out of answering this?”  Without having defined for your client exactly what a quality referral for you is, you stand very little chance of getting quality referrals.

Third, the traditional method of “do a good job and ask for referrals” does not give your client a reason to give you referrals.  We make the assumption that if we have done a good job, the client will like and respect us and be willing to give us referrals.  Again, this is far from the case.  Although a small percentage of clients will, most clients will not give good, quality referrals just because they like you or because you have done a good job for them.  You must give them a reason to give you referrals.  We spend a great deal of time in the sales making sure the client understands the “What’s In It For Me,” but when we get to referrals all of the sudden we think WIIFM doesn’t matter?  They need to understand why it is in their best interest to give you referrals—and after the sale is complete, it is too late to try to explain how giving you referrals benefits them.  Clients assume that whomever they refer you to will be more demanding and critical they have been.  When a client gives a referral, they are putting their reputation and image on the line with the person to whom they are referring you.  They are concerned about what their friend or acquaintance is going to think of them, particularly if you mess up.  Consequently, you must give them a good reason why they should go out on the limb for you.

Fourth, the traditional referral generation method does not give the client an objective standard by which to measure the quality of your performance.  You and your client may “feel” you have done a good job, but when you ask for referrals, they begin to think back over the sales process more critically and question whether you have really performed up to standard.  If the two of you agree up-front on exactly what you need to do in order to “do a good job,” they will have an objective basis to decide if they trust you enough and if you have earned the right to be sent to the people they really know and respect.

And finally, although not a direct result of the traditional referral generation method, an equally serious issue is studies show that the majority of the times advisors do not really ask for referrals—rather they suggest referrals.  Instead of asking a direct question seeking referrals such as “John, which of your friends, family members or acquaintances do you know that I may be able help solve some crucial issues?” the typical seller will make a weak request such as “John, if you happen to know someone I can help would you mind letting me know?”  Or, “John, if you run across someone who could use my services would mind giving them my card?”  Rather than a request for referrals, these are throwaway sentences, quickly forgotten by most clients.

Traditional referral training is inherently unfair to you and your client.  It does not give you the tools needed to successfully work with your client to generate quality referrals, and it does not give your client a reason to give referrals, nor does it give them a chance to become comfortable giving you referrals.

Yet, it is possible to generate a very large number of high quality referrals from your clients.  You need to make sure that your interaction with your client eliminates these shortcomings.  Preparing your client during the sales process to give referrals by informing them up-front that your business is referral-based; defining for your client exactly what a quality referral for you is; educating your client on why it is in their best interest to give you referrals; and then coming to an agreement with your client on exactly what you must do during the course of the sale to earn their referrals will quickly give you a large pipeline of quality referrals. 

By recognizing and resolving the problems of the traditional referral generation method, you can turn these issues into your strengths, generating a large number of high quality referrals from almost every one of your clients and prospects.

November 9, 2009

Got Referrals? Great, Now Earn Even More from Your Client

Filed under: Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 9:17 am
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Congratulations, you’ve just received several referrals from one of your clients.  Great job!  But hold on, you’re work has just started.  No, I’m not talking about contacting and selling the referred prospect, I’m talking about keeping your client in the loop.

One of the primary reasons clients are hesitant to give referrals is that they are afraid of being embarrassed in front of a friend, relative, acquaintance or co-worker by you not performing as you should.  So, when they do give a referral, they have a vested interest in what’s going on between you and the prospect.  Not in the sense of whether or not the prospect purchases, but in how the prospect perceives you and the value being referred by the client.

When a client gives you a referral, you learn a number of things:

  1. The client will give referrals.  Obviously, you just received one or more.
  2. How well the client understands what you do.  The quality of the referral will let you know how well your client understands what you do and who is a good referral for you.  The better the referral, the more the client understands.  The poorer the referral, the more work you must do to educate them for future referrals (and future sales to them for that matter).
  3. How much they trust you.  Generally, the stronger the trust relationship between the client and the referred prospect, the more the client trusts you. 
  4. They have more referrals to give.  Seldom will a client give you all of the referrals they can make at one time.  If a client gives referrals, you can almost bet they have more to give—if you keep earning them.

How do you get those additional referrals?  Additional referrals are earned, just as the original referrals were earned.  You earn those additional referrals by:

  1. Giving your client the assurance that you’re trustworthy with referrals.  You must show through your actions that their trust in giving you a referral was well placed by making sure that the referred prospect has an exceptional experience with you.
  2. By keeping your client fully informed of everything that is occurring with the referred prospect.
  3. By continuing to deliver superior service to your client.

Do the above mean that you must perform perfectly with the referred prospect?  What if there was an honest mistake or miscommunication?  What if something out of your control happened during the course of the sale?  Will these incidents destroy any possibility of acquiring additional referrals?

No, not at all.

The keys to gaining additional referrals from a client are to treat the referred prospect exactly in the same manner you treated the client and to keep your client informed of what is transpiring between yourself and the referred prospect.

Your client gave you referrals because they understood that giving referrals was in their own best interests and because you earned them through the service you gave them.  You must now demonstrate that same level of service for the referral they have given you.  They expect—actually demand—you perform at the same level—or higher—for those they refer you to as you did for them.  That level of service you gave them was what demonstrated to them that they could trust you with a referral.  Anything short of that and they will reevaluate whether you should be trusted with additional referrals.

That having been said, clients understand that mistakes, miscommunications, and problems arise in business.  A single issue during the course of the sale to a referred prospect, even a major issue, will not sever your ability to gain additional referrals from your client if you address and resolve the issue in an exceptional manner.

Clients don’t expect perfection, they expect exceptional service—both for themselves and for those they refer you to.  How well or poorly you handle the issues will be a major factor in determining your future refer-ability.

Keeping your client informed of the progress of the sale with the referred prospect reassures them that you’re doing your job—and that all is well.  It is also your source of informing them if there have been problems and how they were resolved. 

It is critical that you let your client know of issues involved with sales to prospects they have referred you to before the prospect has a chance to relate the incident.  You can relate the circumstances and the resolution in the most favorable light—the prospect may not.  This doesn’t mean that you can lie or gloss over it, just that you can give the background and the full resolution without the emotional involvement the prospect will have.  Of course, if you’ve done an exceptional job of resolving the issue, the tale told by the prospect should also be impressive.  However, you always want problems to be related to your client by you—you don’t want to get a phone call from the client asking what happened.

Keeping your client informed doesn’t mean bombarding them with emails, phone calls, and notes.  A simple “thank you for the referral” card immediately after receiving the referral and the occasional call or email will suffice.  The object is to keep them in the loop and to reassure them that their referral was well made for both you and the prospect.  Even better than the occasional call or email is to explicitly ask the client how and how often they would like to be informed of the progress.

Clients are interested in what’s going on with the referrals they make.  They want to know the prospect is being taken care of in the manner the client expected, and they enjoy knowing that they have provided you with a quality referral.  More importantly, they want to know that they haven’t embarrassed themselves in front of a friend, family member, co-worker, or acquaintance.

Simple actions will earn those additional referrals your clients have—you just have to earn them.

Subscribe to Newsletter:

Are you a subscriber to my POWER SELLING newsletter?  If not, I encourage you to email me at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com with the work “Subscribe” in the subject line and I’ll get you subscribed–free, of course. 

Twice each month on the 1st and 15th you’ll receive your copy of the newsletter delivered straight to your emailbox.  Each issue features two full lenght articles designed to help sellers and sales leaders increase their sales and income.  One article is written by me and the other by one of my guest authors such as Jill Konrath, Charles Green, Dave Brock, Dave Kahle, Dave Anderson, Randy Pennington, and many others.

And I hate spam just as you do so I’ll never sell, lease, give, or rent your information to anyone–EVER!

You can also follow me on Twitter a http://www.twitter.com/paul_mccord

August 14, 2009

Recession Buster Webinar

Filed under: business,cold calling,developing expert reputation,lead generation,marketing,Networking,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,sales training,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 9:08 am
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Recession Buster Webinar

4  Tremendously Powerful Strategies

4  One and half hour Sessions

1  Session Everyday for 4 Days

Monday, September 28 through Thursday, October 1

Each day from 3 PM to 4:30 PM Central Time (4PM to 5:30 PM Eastern; 2PM to 3:30 PM Mountain: 1PM to 2:30PM Pacific)

4 of the Most Powerful Strategies to Find and Connect with Quality Prospects:

Monday, September 28
The PWWR Referral Generation System

You’ll Learn:

^ Why what you’ve been taught about referrals doesn’t work
^ How to work with your client to generate a large number of great referrals
^ How to guarantee you get at least four great referrals from every client
^ How to continue to get great referrals from every client every year

 

Tuesday, September 29
The Best Damn Networking Process There Is, Period

You’ll Learn:

^ Why networking at the Chamber meeting or at the leads breakfast group never
seems to pay off
^ Where to spend you time that will really pay off
^ How to create and execute a realistic, profitable, business producing networking strategy
^ How to work a networking room to maximize your time and create relationships with prospects fast
^ How to set a telephone or in-person meeting with every person you want at a networking event

 

Wednesday, September 30
Never a Cold Call, Always an Introduction

You’ll Learn:

^ Why decision makers hate cold calls
^ Why calling and fishing for a reason to meet with a prospect will get you nowhere
^ How to discover REAL issues your prospect has that you KNOW you can help solve
^ How to guarantee you get past gatekeepers and get voice mails returned without being deceptive, evasive, or lying
^ How to make using the phone to prospect far more enjoyable and productive for both you and your prospects
^ How to make more money by spending less time on the phone

 

Thursday, October 1
Get the Phone to Ring: Become the Expert

You’ll Learn:

^ Why if you don’t have the reputation and image of an expert you’re losing and will continue to lose in the marketplace
^ What it means to be an expert
^ How to use the tools at your disposal to CREATE your image and reputation as an expert in your field targeted to your specific market
^ How to totally eliminate price as an issue
^ How to get your phone to ring with people who want to work with you and only you

 Who Should Attend?

The Recession Buster webinar is designed for anyone who sells in a relationship driven environment such as:

^ Business to Business sellers

^ Professionals: attorney, accountants, architects, financial planners, consultants

^ Business to consumer services such as financial services, personal services, realtors, travel agents, etc.

Whether you are struggling to establish your sales practice or you’re established and simply seek to add more business–or maybe the recession has really devastated your current client base, this webinar will help drive your business to new heights.

These aren’t the same old worn out “strategies” you expect to hear. You’re not going to hear some worthless drivel like “ask for referrals,” or “tell everyone you meet what you do,” or “set a goal to make 50 dials a day and you’ll succeed.”

You know and I know, that’s crap. That’s the same old junk you hear from every “trainer” who doesn’t have anything of value to say.

You don’t need some worn-out, worthless piece of advice, you need real, workable, proven strategies to find and connect with quality clients.

That’s what you get in the Recession Buster webinar.

Four real strategies that work. That produce results. That will get you business.

Why four strategies over four days? Wouldn’t it be easier to just lay out the one best strategy in one session?

It would certainly be easier on everybody involved. It takes commitment to take time out four days in a row.

True. But there isn’t one single “best way” to generate business. We have to have a business building matrix that gives us several avenues with which to connect with prospects. And in today’s marketplace where more and more prospects are rejecting the traditional methods sellers have used to connect with them, we need several ways to find and connect with them that they’ll accept, respect, and respond to.

That’s the power of the Recession Buster webinar
 

Early Registration Until September 10

1 to 4 attendees only $199.00 per person

5 or more attendees only $159.00 per person

Register HERE

Afraid you can’t make the session each day? 
Don’t worry.  Each session will be recorded and within 24 hours of the end of the session each attendee will receive a link to the recording.  Whether you missed the session or just want to hear it again, you’ve got it at your fingertips to listen to when you want.

July 10, 2009

Boost Your Sales: “What Do Your Communications Say About You?” by Paul McCord

Filed under: Client Relationships,Communication,marketing,Personal Marketing,sales,selling,trust — Paul McCord @ 7:42 am
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What Do Your Communications Say About You?
by Paul McCord

What are you doing with those prospects that are in your database that aren’t ready to purchase yet?  Are you in the process of establishing trust and good will—or are you demonstrating that you aren’t trustworthy or that you really don’t have anything of value to offer?

Or what about your existing clients?  Are you teaching them to pay attention to you because your communications bring value, or are you teaching them to ignore you because you simply waste their time with worthless, self-serving junk?

Whether you’ve considered it or not, everything you send to a prospect communicates your value—or non-value and your trustworthiness.  Everything you send.  No matter how small.

Most salespeople, professionals, and companies will put their long-term prospects into a database and keep in touch with them on a semi-regular basis.  They’ll send a monthly or quarterly newsletter, a “how ya doin, ya ready to buy yet?” email or letter on occasion, and make a phone call once in a blue moon.  Some will inundate the prospect with so much junk mail and junk email that the prospect wonders how to get rid of them.

Either way, the prospect is learning about the salesperson or company.  The question is what are they learning?

Let’s look at the three most common negative messages prospects get from salesperson and company communications:

You Aren’t Reliable:
Reliability is a major trust factor and what you send and when you send materials to your prospects will communicate to some extent whether or not you are reliable.  If you promise to send information, do you send exactly what you promised, when you promised?  If not, why should a prospect trust you?

Do you send a monthly or quarterly newsletter?  Is it on time, every time?  If the date on your newsletter is May and it arrives in June because you were too busy to get it out, what message does that send?  Think people won’t notice?  I received the Jan/Feb newsletter from an interior decorator—in April.  Is that how she handles all of her commitments?

You Don’t Value My Time
Are the items you send of real value to the prospect?  If it isn’t of value, why do you send it?

What people will send is amazing.  I get newsletters with recipes, gardening tips, and other information that might be appropriate for some salespeople, but not from the people who are sending it.  Recipes, gardening tips, household tips, etc. might be appropriate in a REALTOR’S newsletter, but not an accountant’s, or financial planner’s, or insurance agent’s, or from an auto repair shop.  If I get something from an accountant, I expect it to have some relevance to my financial needs.  If I get something from an auto repair shop, I expect it have something to do with automobiles.  I don’t expect an attorney to send me an article on how to give a massage (yep, got one). 

What can you send of value?  There is a ton of stuff.  Articles relating to the area you address; special offers; new services and/or products; major company news; and other pertinent information.  All of these items are likely to be of interest to a majority of your prospects.

The key is not to waste your prospect’s time.  Of course, not everything you send is going to be of interest to every one of your prospects.  But if your information is good, all of your prospects will find value in your communications—just not every prospect for every communication.  I get a number of emails after each edition of my newsletter.  Many praise a particular issue; others are indifferent.  But some of those who were indifferent to one issue may email me an issue or two later raving about the latest issue, while the one who was enthused about the first issue emails me to let me know I missed the mark with them on the last issue.  I, like you, have to aim to bring lots of great material to the table, knowing that each reader is at a different place in their careers.  What appeals to one, may not appeal to another.  However, if I bring enough diversity to the newsletter, I can hit everyone’s needs, just not in every issue.  You must aim for the same goal—bring substance to the table, and overtime, you’ll feed the lot.

Every time you communicate with a prospect or client, even with your mass communications, you are teaching them to pay attention to you because you value their time and give them value—or you are teaching them to ignore you because you are nothing but a time waster.

You Don’t Know Your Business
Sending out-dated or erroneous information also will be noticed by many prospects.  If you fail to review and carefully examine your information to make sure that it is up-to-date and accurate, you run a serious risk of convincing your prospect that you simply don’t know what you’re talking about.

The articles and other materials you send, whether written by you or others, must contain current, accurate and trustworthy information.  Never assume that yours is the only information the prospect is receiving about your subject.  Your object is to inform, not confuse.  Your goal is to impress, not show your ignorance or laziness.  Errors are especially easy to miss when dealing with statistics and factual matters of record.

This isn’t to say that you can’t send items that may challenge conventional wisdom.  You certainly can—and if you can back your information up, these may be your most potent communications.  For instance, I work obviously in the areas of sales and sales management.  Most salespeople and managers know there are a great variety of training methods and theories.  Controversy and going against convention isn’t an issue in this industry.  As a matter of fact, many are well aware that many conventional ways of doing things simply don’t work that well.  Consequently, going against convention and finding better ways is welcomed. 

But in other industries, for example, many sectors of the financial services industry, bucking convention many not only raise many eyebrows, but your very competence may be questioned if your ideas are not well documented by independent sources.  Does this mean that you can’t present non-traditional ideas in these industries?  No.  It simply means that you must go out of your way to document their validity because you know upfront that you’re dealing with a subject where innovation is going to be questioned—not just by peers, but by many prospects also.

In addition to sloppy work, overstatements and exaggerations are another red flag for prospects.  It is perfectly permissible to make strong statements about your products and services as long as you are not the author of those statements and you can identify for your prospects exactly who made the claims about your product or service. 

If you use superlatives about yourself, your product/service, or your company, they cannot be from you and you must fully identify the person who made them—meaning they can be checked out.  If you make the claim yourself, you lose credibility.  If you attribute the superlative to someone who is not fully identified, you lose credibility.  If you use an authority in your particular field and give full identification, you gain credibility.  If you use an everyday customer with full disclosure, you gain credibility.

Examine your prospect communications in light of these three most common mistakes.  Don’t allow yourself to lose credibility while trying to build credibility.  Every communication you have with a prospect or client is just as important as your initial communication with them.  You’ve worked hard to gain their trust and respect.  Don’t blow it by teaching them that you’re nothing but a time waster.

 

Paul McCord, a leading Business Development Strategist and president of McCord Training, works with companies and sales leaders to help them increase sales and profits by finding and connecting with high quality prospects in ways prospects respect and respond to.  An internationally recognized author, speaker, trainer and consultant, Paul’s clients range from giants such as Chase, New York Life, Siemens, and GE, to small and mid-size firms, as well as individual sales leaders.  He is the author of the popular Sales and Sales Management Blog (http://salesandmanagementblog.com). 

June 26, 2009

Boost Your Sales series: “As a Seller, Is Social Media Just Hype or Is There Real Value In It?” by Paul McCord

Filed under: business,marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,sales,Sales 2.0,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 8:04 am

As a Seller, Is Social Media Just Hype or Is There Real Value In It?
by Paul McCord

On Monday Nigel Edelshain discussed how important embracing social media will be for sellers of the future.  And by future, Nigel wasn’t speaking of the distant future; he was referring to the relatively immediate future.  His contention is that those sellers who don’t embrace social media and learn how to connect with their prospects via these technologies will be left in the cold.

I agree.

Sorta.

With lots of caveats and admonitions to not neglect the traditional methods of engaging prospects and clients.

Although embracing social media is the rage—if you’re not hip on Sales 2.0, you’re so 20th century it ain’t funny–and the number of social media experts willing to guide you through the jungle of the new medium grows exponentially daily, for most of us the vast majority of our prospects are not going to be found via social media for some time to come.  Most of our existing clients and our near prospects won’t be engaging us via social media either, at least for the foreseeable future.

This is near sacrilege to many; out and out heresy to a great many more.   Just read the White Papers promoted on various companies blogs, listen to the conversations on Twitter and Facebook, read the discussions in the various sales forums and on the various sales blogs.  They’ll tell you in no uncertain terms that social media is THE force to be reckoned with.

And they have proof.  All they have to do is point to all the downloads of the White Papers, all the interactions on the forums and blogs, and all the tweets on Twitter that prove their point.  There are so many they must be reaching a huge audience. 

And I agree.  Many are reaching a huge audience.  The social media audience is large.  It’s you and me and millions upon millions of others.  And it’s growing every day.  It’s the audience reading this post on this blog—people who in one form or another use social media. 

A large audience, yes.  The majority of people?  Not even close.

For most of us it isn’t where we’re going to engage the majority of our prospects.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve taken a very informal poll of the people I’ve spoken to.  Didn’t matter where they lived or what they did for a living, nor did it matter whether I spoke to them over the phone or in person.  Virtually every person I had an opportunity to speak with I asked two questions:

  1.  Do you or your company use social media to engage customers or prospects
  2. As a buyer (business or individual), do you use social media to connect with or engage salespeople or companies or to research products or services.

Almost 40% of those I asked indicated that their company uses some form of social media to try to connect with customers and prospects (I suspect next year at this time this number will be closing in on 70% or more).  Less than 30% said that as buyers they have ever used any form of social media to find or engage a company or salesperson or to research a product or service. (NOTE: This does not mean they didn’t use the Internet to research or purchase, it simply means they didn’t use blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook, or other forms of ‘social media.’)

So what does this mean for us sellers and our companies?  Do we simply ignore social media until it becomes a more dynamic place to find and engage prospects?

Well, we’re back to Nigel’s article.  As I said, I agree with him.  Social media will continue to expand, to develop, to mature.  And as it does more and more of our prospects and customers will use it.  The few prospects and clients we can engage through social media today will steadily increase over time.

If we want to grow, we’ll have to be prepared to engage these prospects on their terms.  Just as today we have to find ways to find and engage prospects outside the world of the internet, we’ll increasingly have to be able to find and engage them within the world of the internet in the future.  If we can’t or if we choose not to, we’ll find ourselves struggling to find business.

This isn’t to say that social media isn’t of value today, because it is.  However, for most of us it shouldn’t be the primary focus of our prospecting and business development strategy since the majority of our business is still going to come from traditional prospecting and marketing strategies. 

But just because it isn’t our primary focus doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a part of our portfolio.  The majority of our prospect contacts may not be made through social media, but that doesn’t mean that none are.  There is business to be developed through social media and as mentioned above, that business will grow over the coming months and years.

Furthermore, social media is in many ways a different animal than what we are used to dealing with.  We have to learn how to effectively use it.  More basic than how to use it, we have to experiment to learn what to use. 

  • Do you invest your time in starting and developing a blog? 
  • Which, if any, forums should you participate in? 
  • Is Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook worth the time and effort for you?
  • What are your alternatives if one of the medias you heavily invest in such as Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube doesn’t make it?  Where do you go from there?
  • Based on your ideal prospect, what social media would they likely use?

Right now we all have the opportunity to learn how to use the new social media platforms.  Yes, we can find and engage some prospects, but more importantly, we can prepare for the coming transition as more and more of our prospects and clients begin to utilize these media.  We can screw up, figure out successful strategies, and experiment with the various options now while the stakes are relatively low instead of later when the consequences of making mistakes may be far more serious.

And despite some of the hype about social media, it will never fully replace your non-internet based prospecting and marketing.  Yes, there are a few who have chosen to eliminate the entire non-internet based world as potential customers by investing their entire business in a virtual world.  They are few and far between and success stories are even more difficult to find.

If you haven’t ventured into social media, do so.  Begin to figure out how you’re going to use it as a serious part of your prospecting and marketing strategy.  Don’t judge it based on traditional sales metrics today as you will probably conclude that it’s a waste of time and effort.  Instead, rejoice in any new business gained from your efforts and take heart in knowing that you’re developing a long-term strategy that will come into its own over time, and that by investing the time and effort today, you’ll have a significant competitive advantage over a good deal of your competition as social media becomes an ever increasingly more important tool to find and engage new business.  

I think Nigel is too optimistic in his timeframe of social media’s impact on sellers, but he is spot on in terms of the ultimate importance of having developed the skills and tools to use it to find and engage prospects.  Ignore social media at your own peril, but invest in it too heavily today and you’ll also be risking losing significant business by spending too much time chasing too few prospects. 

Paul McCord, a leading Business Development Strategist and president of McCord Training, works with companies and sales leaders to help them increase sales and profits by finding and connecting with high quality prospects in ways prospects respect and respond to.  An internationally recognized author, speaker, trainer and consultant, Paul’s clients range from giants such as Chase, New York Life, Siemens, and GE, to small and mid-size firms, as well as individual sales leaders.  He is the author of the popular Sales and Sales Management Blog (http://salesandmanagementblog.com

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June 16, 2009

Boost Your Sales series: “Make Sure You Get One GREAT Referral,” by Bill Cates

Filed under: Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 6:07 am
Tags: , , , , ,

It’s Referrals and Word of Mouth week at the Boost Your Sales blog series. 

Today it’s Bill Cates

Tomorrow Joanne Black is here with “There’s No Such Thing as a Warm Sales Call”

Thursday Dr. Martin Russell discusses “Marketing Is What You Do When Your Product Is No Good”

and finally, on Friday I up with “Your Connections are Your Key to Your Success”

Stay tuned in next week as a great list of experts—Jeb Blount, Nigel Edelshain, Cindy King and Ardath Albee give great guidance on “Prospecting and Social Media”

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Make Sure You Get One GREAT Referral
By Bill Cates

One of the questions I always get is “How many names do you try to get in one sitting?”  My answer to this is “it depends.” It depends on how open your referral source is to the process; how much time and energy they feel like devoting. My personal record is 17 names in one phone call, and I’ve gotten 10-11 on several occasions. But NOT because I pushed my clients into this. I was ready to move on to another subject several times, but they kept on going, and going, and going (like the Eveready Energizer Bunny.)

 At a recent referral boot camp, an advisor told me his method. He told me that he doesn’t “brainstorm” for a lot of names. He says this to his clients, “I’m glad you really see the importance and value of the work we’ve done together. Who is one person that you know, who you think should really know about the work I do?”   He only asks for one referral each time, but the one he gets is always a good one – a high-trust referral.

Now, it must be said that this advisor is extremely successful and doesn’t need the quantity that some advisors need.  If you need more than just one great referral, do what I usually teach – come prepared to suggest several places (names, categories, target lists, etc.) and brainstorm with your client.  You can use this method as part of the overall brainstorming.

Remember, if you ask, they can always say, “no.”  If you don’t ask, the answers is always “no.”  Don’t run your career afraid of the word “no.” They won’t stop being your client, for goodness sakes.

Bill Cates is the author of Get More Referrals Now! and Don’t Keep Me a Secret! To receive Bill’s complimentary newsletter and to learn more about how his boot camps, coaching, books and other referral tools can help you acquire more and better clients through referrals, go to www.ReferralCoach.com (301-497-2200)

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June 15, 2009

Boost Your Sales series: “Laying the Foundation for Referrals,” by Ian Brodie

Filed under: marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling,Word of Mouth Marketing — Paul McCord @ 6:28 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,

It’s Referrals and Word of Mouth week at the Boost Your Sales blog series. 

We start off with Ian Brodie’s advice on how to prepare your clients to give quality referrals

Tuesday it’s Bill Cates with “Make Sure You Get One Great Referral”

Wednesday Joanne Black is here with “There’s No Such Thing as a Warm Sales Call”

Thursday Dr. Martin Russell discusses “Marketing Is What You Do When Your Product Is No Good”

and finally, on Friday I up with “Your Connections are Your Key to Your Success”

 

Stay tuned in next week as a great list of experts—Jeb Blount, Nigel Edelshain, Cindy King and Ardath Albee give great guidance on “Prospecting and Social Media”

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Laying the Foundations for Referrals
by Ian Brodie

A lot of what’s been written on Referrals over the years has been on the practical strategies and methods for getting them. And there’s no better source for the best thinking on these topics than Paul’s book: Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (Wiley: 2007).

But I want to take a slightly different slant in this post. Assuming you know how to prepare and ask your clients and business partners for referrals in an effective way – how can you increase your chances of a strong referral occuring?

I’m going to cover three topics: 1) What motivates people to give referrals in the first place? 2) How you can help your referrers get better at giving referrals and 3) How to attract referrals without having to ask for them.

Motivating Referrers
What motivates someone to actually give a referral? What’s in it for them?

In my experience across multiple professions, I’ve found that clients and business partners are actually very generous when it comes to giving referrals. Their main concern is less one of self interest, and more one of helping their own clients, colleagues and friends.

But what they are concerned about is risk. They will want to be absolutely sure you will do a good job before they refer you to people whose relationship they value. They simply can’t afford to take the risk of you doing a bad job and their reputation and relationship suffering.

Your current and recent clients should have the confidence in you to know this won’t happen. But for business partners (and also perhaps for ex-clients from a while back) you will need to invest time to make sure they are fully confident in your capabilities and your intent to do a great job for whoever they refer you to. And you must be able to demonstrate this – not just claim it. Far better to invite a referral partner to a seminar you are running where you showcase your expertise than to simply tell them you have it.

The other risk for business partners is that you may attempt to “steal” the relationship from them (perhaps unintentionally in some cases). It’s advisable to set out clearly how you would proceed should they refer you – and emphasize that you would ensure they retained the primary relationship.

After these risks have been dealt with, you can increase the urgency and dedication with which your referral partners go about referring you. The prospect of reciprocation (if genuine) can obviously help. But sometimes referral relationships are by nature one-sided.  Accountants, in particular, are often able to give more referrals to lawyers than they get – simply by nature of the number of long-term business relationships they have. So making sure you are “going the extra mile” and visibly doing whatever you can to get high quality referrals back to them helps. In addition, you may be able to help them in other ways: introducing them to wider circles of contacts, giving them specialist advice on their own affairs, allowing them to showcase their expertise as guest presenters at your events.

Helping Your Referrers Get Better at Giving Referrals
In some cases your contacts would like to give referrals to you – but are simply not good at spotting referral situations and making the initial contact. Sometimes they just need a little help.

This is particularly important when the need for your services is not immediately apparent from outside. Companies contemplating layoffs and in need of employment advice don’t often advertise the fact in advance, for example. A close confidante may be privy to discussions that would alert them to these sorts of needs – but often most people don’t see the signs until it’s too late to act.

One method to help referrers identify situations where your services would be of value is to educate them about the externally visible “trigger events” which cause a need for your services. An obvious example would be the hiring of a new general counsel – often presaging a change in retained law firm. News of a potential new product may break well in advance of hiring a marketing consultant to help with the launch.

By thinking through (preferably with the aid of some of your clients themselves) the events that triggered the need for your services you can compile a simple list of “things to look for” which can help you and your referrers steal a march on your competitors.

In other situations, it may be that the referrer can spot the need – but struggles to find the words to discuss it with the potential client. In the case of divorce law for example, it may be very clear to your referral partner that someone needs professional advice – but they may be too embarrassed or uncomfortable to broach the subject with the person they are trying to help.

In this case, you need to help them by firstly educating them about the right time to intervene in the person’s best interest – and giving them some examples of words they can use to gently introduce the subject without the risk of damaging their relationship.

Becoming a “Referral Magnet” – How to Attract Referrals Without needing to Ask for Them.
Most of our discussion so far has focused on how to get more and better “outbound referrals”. In other words, referrals where the referrer reaches out to the prospect to recommend you.

However, the same lessons apply to “inbound referrals” – where the prospect themselves contact your referrer and ask for a recommendation. These types of referral can be incredibly valuable – as they are to highly qualified prospects – ones who are essentially saying “I have a need and I need help now”. Being able to attract these sorts of referrals will pay huge dividends.

The challenge here is that since needs for many products and services arise fairly infrequently, by the time your referrer is contacted by the prospect you won’t necessarily be “front of mind”. So they may not give you a particularly strong referral. After all, how many other lawyers does that accountant you count as a partner know and refer to? How many other printers does that consultant you met at the chamber of commerce pass referrals to already? Usually quite a few.

In order to get these referrals – often the most valuable ones – you must be front of mind with your referral partners when they receive the call.

Now, if they are a current or recent client you have done great work for then the chances are that you will be the only one referred. Or if you are part of a “leads group” then members of that group will automatically refer to you. But these situations are in the minority for most referral situations for most people. In order to maximize the number of referrals you get, you need a wide network of high potential referral partners, and you must be front of mind with them despite them not being recent clients or part of a “club” with you.

How do you do this? In the same way you stay front of mind with high potential clients. You invest in and nurture the relationship. You may not be able to work with them daily or meet them every week – but you can keep in touch and you can add value to them with every interaction.

It’s exactly the approach you would take with a high potential client: you would log them on your contact management system. You would invest in the relationship to secure future business. You would schedule regular events with them, send them clippings or news items of interest, proactively offer advice and guidance for free. Doing the same thing with high potential referral partners can have just as high a payoff. If they are regularly being contacted to give recommendations in your field then you must make sure you have a plan to stay front of mind with them.

You can’t do this with all your potential referrers – but you should be able to identify who are the ones with the most potential to refer business to you and to focus on them.

At minimum, you should be reviewing the list of your top referral sources weekly and your next tier monthly, in order to keep them front of mind for you and ensure that during the week you are awake to possible ideas and resources that might help them. Connect with them on Linkedin and monitor their status updates. Track them and their company via Google Alerts or other tracking methods.  Make sure you keep in touch and maintain your relationship by phone and face to face, not just by email.

Above all, if you are genuinely interested and concerned for them as human beings, then the right sort of nurturing behavior will follow.

Ian Brodie works with professional service firms – consultants, lawyers, accountants, surveyors, architects and coaches – to help them attract more clients and win more new business.  Ian has just launched the Rainmaker Network which is a worldwide free to join network focused on helping partners, marketers and business developers in Professional Service Firms to attract new clients and win new business.

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Do You Like the Sales and Sales Management Blog?

Then you’ll love my POWER SELLING newsletter.  Twice each month you’ll get my newsletter that focuses on real solutions to real sales and sales leadership issues with ACTIONABLE guidance, not grand but worthless theory.

Simply shoot an email to me at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com with “Subscribe” in the subject line and your name and email address and I’ll get you subscribed.

And by the way, we hate SPAM also, so we’ll never sell, lease, rent or give your information to anyone—EVER!

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June 12, 2009

Boost Your Sales series: “The Most Effective Networking Process There Is,” by Paul McCord

Filed under: Networking,Personal Marketing,prospecting,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 7:45 am
Tags: , , , , , ,

Yesterday Will Kintish told you how to approach the various combinations of people you’ll find at a networking event, today we’ll finish the Successful Networking week with my discussion of how to turn networking at an event into a disciplined process that will allow you to indenify real prospects and begin building long-term relationships with them.

NEXT WEEK we’ll bring in Ian Brodie, Bill Cates, Joanne Black,and Dr. Martin Russell to help you gain more referrals and Word of Mouth exposure.

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The Most Effective Networking Process There Is
by Paul McCord

Are you one of the millions of small business owners, salespeople, and professionals who have attended networking events held by the chamber of commerce or a business organization and found the experience to be far less than what you had hoped?  Attending networking events requires more than simply showing up—it requires a disciplined approach.   

Typically, the frustrations and wasted time arise from two fundamental issues:

  • overblown expectations
  • not having a plan of attack

Networking events, especially those of a general nature organized by the chamber or a general business organization, will not provide you with a plate full of potential prospects.  If you can walk out of a networking event with three or four good potential contacts, you have done well.

Unfortunately, many, especially those who are not networking junkies, attend these functions with the hope of leaving the event with a whole stack of business cards of great prospects.  When their expectations are not met, they conclude that networking isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and decide their time is better spent elsewhere.

Besides unrealistic expectations about the number of prospects they’ll meet, a great many attend networking events without thinking through wha their real goal is.  Unless you are selling a relatively common consumer or business commodity, you’re not going to sell at these events.  And since you can’t sell, what should be your primary goal?  Mine, when I attend these events, is not to talk about myself and what I do but to listen and ask questions, to learn as much as I can about the other person in order to qualify them, to begin building a relationship with them, and to have them tell me what issues and problems of theirs I’m going to address when we do get around to discussing who I am and what I do (which, by the way, won’t be at the event).

In addition, most attendees waste the majority of their networking time.  Rather than an organized plan to maximize their benefit from the event, they simply attend hoping to “run into” prospects.

Yet, if you attend regularly and with realistic expectations, networking can eventually pay great dividends.  There are three “secrets” to making networking pay:

1,  Know Where You’re Going

Knowing who is likely to attend the event you are considering is as important as attending the event.  If you are considering going to an event you have never attended before, try to get a copy of the host organization’s member roster.  By examining the membership directory, you can get a fairly good idea of the type of people you can expect to meet.  If it appears there are a reasonable number of people and businesses of interest, plan on attending.  If you can’t get a copy of their member directory, call the organization and ask—most won’t mind the inquiry and will be happy to give you as much information as they can.

2,  Know Why You’re Going

Go with a definite number of contacts you want to make.  Determine how many good contacts you will need in order to make the investment of time worthwhile.  Depending on your particular product or service, that number may be only one or two—or may be much higher at five or six.  By establishing realistic, objective criteria, you can easily determine whether or not your time was well spent and whether or not you want to attend the event again in the future.

3.  Have a System for Working the Event

For most business owners and salespeople, the real networking event killer isn’t so much who is in attendance or even their own unrealistic expectations, but rather the time they waste during the event. 

Working a networking room requires planning and a clear vision of how you will spend your time.  I and many of my clients that I’ve taught the following networking method have found it to be easy and very effective.  The goal of this process is to spend the time identifying quality prospects, learning as much about them as possible in a short amount of time, and once you believe you have a viable prospect, setting a phone or lunch meeting with them.

Arrive about 15 minutes before the official event start time.  Wear a large, easy to read, high quality, permanent nametag that features your first and last name, not just your first name.  Of course, have lots of business cards.  Business cards should be blank on the back.  Wear clothing with two easy to reach pockets.

Station yourself close to the entry door—close enough that people might mistake you for one of the hosts.  Greet each person as he or she enters.  Nothing more than a greeting—and, hopefully, noticing their company name.  All you want is to hear a name, put a name to a face and to make a quick judgment as to whether they might be a prospect.

When arrivals begin to slow, begin your progression around the room.  Move in one direction—left or right.  Greet the first person or group of people you meet.  This round of conversations should be short—two to three minutes at most.  Your goal is to introduce yourself and learn as much as you can in a very short span of time about the person or persons you’ve just met.  Don’t clutter the conversation with information about yourself—keep everything focused on the person or the persons you are speaking with.  Your goal at this event isn’t to sell, it’s to qualify prospects.  This will be your second meeting with many of these people, although you will not remember their names.  Two meetings, two opportunities to put a name with a face. 

Since many, if not most, will offer you a business card, you will begin to segregate cards into an interest stack and a non-interest stack.  When you meet someone you believe you’d like to get to know better—a potential prospect, put their business card in your right-hand pocket.  Those you don’t believe are prospects, put in your left-hand pocket.  This system allows you to immediately find the cards of those you want to reconnect with during the event without having to try to remember their name.  Simple: Right pocket card=reconnect; left pocket=don’t reconnect with today.

If you meet someone you would like to get to know better, before moving on to another group let them know of your interest in learning more about their business and ask their permission to contact them via phone at a later date.  Once they agree, take one of your business cards and on the blank reverse side, write the day and an hour span of time during which you will call:  “Thursday, March 12 between 10:30-11:30.”  This day and time will be the same for everyone you meet that you want to call.  It keeps you from having to remember when you will call, but because it is an hour span, you’ll have time to make several calls without concern that you won’t keep your appointment.

Now, move to the next group and continue in this manner for the majority of the event.  About 30 to 45 minutes prior to the end of the event, go into your last phase.  The last phase is taking the few cards in your right-hand pocket and seeking to reconnect with those people.  This will be your third chance to meet them and to put a name and face together.  In addition, since it will be your third meeting, they’ll begin to feel like they know you and they will probably greet you as a friend rather than as new acquaintance.  Just as you are implanting their name and face in your mind through multiple meetings with them during the event, you’re planting your name and face in their mind.

This conversation will be a little more in-depth, but, again, keep the focus on the other person.  During this conversation move the conversation to the point that instead of a phone call on Thursday, you can invite them to lunch.  If you can’t, prior to moving to the next person, again reiterate the phone call on Thursday and give them another business card with the same information written on the back.

On Thursday, make your phone calls and close for a get to know one another meeting.

This structure allows you to “meet” a prospect three times during the course of the event, set up a definite telephone conversation—and very possibly a lunch meeting–and help both you and the prospect quickly move from the “just met” stage to acquaintance stage very quickly.  All without having to remember any details during the course of the event.

The goal of the conversations is to learn as much as you can about the person you are meeting, not to talk about yourself.  You’re there to learn and to qualify.  You can’t sell at a short networking event unless you’re selling a commodity, but you can sure learn a great deal and identify new prospects.  But to do that you have to listen a great deal more than talk. 

Since people love to talk about themselves and if you get them talking about themselves and their company you can learn how to lazer focus the conversation when it does get around to what you do, give them the freedom to open up as much as possible. In addition, never finish a conversation with a real prospect.  Intentionally leave the conversation hanging—and then invite a further phone or lunch conversation.  I never really talk about what I do until the lunch meeting.  By that time I’ve learned a great deal about the other person and I can tailor my discussion of what I do to the exact issues they’ve disclosed.  Instead of some weak, general elevator speech, I give a pointed response to their needs.

If you keep your expectations reasonable and focus you time during the event on the few true prospects you meet, you’ll find your time at networking events to be both more enjoyable and profitable.

Paul McCord, a leading Business Development Strategist and president of McCord Training, works with companies and sales leaders to help them increase sales and profits by finding and connecting with high quality prospects in ways prospects respect and respond to.  An internationally recognized author, speaker, trainer and consultant, Paul’s clients range from giants such as Chase, New York Life, Siemens, and GE, to small and mid-size firms, as well as individual sales leaders.  He is the author of the popular Sales and Sales Management Blog (http://salesandmanagementblog.com). 

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