A Sales Compass – A Blog by B2B Sales Connections

Most often when someone decides to become their own boss they only consider the two most common ways of getting into business for themselves.

1. Start your own business

2. Buy a franchise business

Starting your own business burdens you with a 98% chance of failure within three years plus all the inevitable growing pains, expenses, financial hardships and long hours. The second option of buying an “off the shelf” franchise provides a better opportunity for success but most owners have to invest a huge amount of startup capital in the business and hope to not only recoup their initial investment quickly but also grow to a profitable size before the franchisor opens another location close by.

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I am very pleased to announce that B2B Sales Connections has received two awards for our online marketing efforts. In addition to this blog, A Sales Compass, being recognized by Proteus B2B Marketing as “One of the Top B2B Blogs on the net”, we have also been chosen as a 2010 Constant Contact All Star Award Winner.

This shows that not only does our online content bring real value to our website visitors, but also recognizes we adhere to all email marketing best practices and ethics, while still achieving better than average open and click through rates.  (more…)

Here is some great information from Chris Chariton, Vice President of Supplier Marketing and Marketing Services for GlobalSpec about business to business marketing trends for the  upcoming year.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

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Recently, Susan posted  a blog that generated a lot of discussion on the merits of leaving a voice mail. There were numerous comments left debating both sides of the issue. I would like to relay a quick voice mail story that happened at one of my clients this past week.

The clients sales team had long debated the pros and cons of leaving a voice mail message and a few of the sales people decided they were going to start  leaving a well crafted voice mail and see if they would be successful.

Two days later one of the rep’s called me up so excited they were almost coming through the phone. He had left a voice mail for a prospect who he had never spoken to at a company on his target list.  Twenty minutes after he left the voice mail the contact from the prospects company called him back to find out more about the product he was selling.

Instead of launching into a ‘pitch’ about his product he asked the prospect what prompted them to call. It turns out the client had just been told by a major supplier they would not be renewing their contract and shipments of the products would stop. The prospect pegged the value of the contract at over $3 million and asked for a meeting immediately to disuss the opportunity.  Not bad for a 20 second voice mail.

By the way, all the sales team has started to leave voice mails.

AIM HIGHER

Robert J. Weese

Managing Partner

www.b2bsalesconnections.com

As sales professionals we’ve all most likely had this problem with a prospect at one time or another.  They were a hot prospect sending you all the right buying signals and then all of the sudden they switched off.  Now they don’t return your calls.  They are unresponsive to your emails and you are left in sales limbo.

Do you keep calling? After all when you last spoke they were set to proceed. Now they are missing in action.  What can you do?

I would like to share a quick little tip that works well.  If you had a good relationship with the prospect and you are willing to take a last shot to see if the person is still engaged, send them an email that says you are going to “close their file”. 

Simply state that you have tried to reach them by phone and email and since they are not responding you would like to close the file.  Let them know if their situation has changed and they are no longer in the market for your product/service it would be best to close the file and move on.

To see an email template example, download EMAIL TEMPLATE TO RESTART STALLED PROSPECTS from the B2B Sales Connections Free Download Centre 

You will be amazed at how many times you get a message back almost immediately apologizing for their lack of communication and telling you the project is still a go but they were caught up in a more urgent internal problem.

 Lets face it in the world of sales you can get  “yes”, “no” and “maybe”.  I want to hear yes, or no because they are answers that give me a clear next step.   Getting tied up with the clients who are a maybe can drain you and waste a lot of valuable selling time.

By taking a minute and offering to close the file, no questions asked you will be surprised how many valid prospects let you know they are still interested but not ready at this moment. Most often the person will tell me their new time frame or suggest we reconnect. Armed with their permission to proceed I will reconnect with them when the time is right and advance the sales process. 

AIM HIGHER

Robert J. Weese

B2B Sales Connections

www.b2bsalesconnections.com

In the last few weeks my email in box has been experiencing a new trend. International companies have been contacting me looking for Canadian businesses partner who can import, sell and distribute their products. 

These international business people have been watching the recovery of the Canadian marketplace and see it as a great opportunity to expand their product distribution into a country that is not still bogged down in recession. 

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I ran out of my communication record forms the other day and had to reorder more from the supplier. I have been using  them for over 15 years and still find it a great method of tracking conversations and follow-ups that will be entered into my electronic CRM. 

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Technology is creating a new generation of teens and adults who believe the only effective communication is Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, & text messages. 

I will be the first to admit you need to know how to use these technologies if you want to grow your business  but even major online social forums are incorporating the use of “in person” networking events because of the advantages and power of  in face to face communication.

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There is a growing movement in small and mid-sized Canadian companies that are searching for ways to connect with recently retired or semi retired business professionals. They are in need of people who can provide knowledge and experience in areas their own management team is lacking. 

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Look for Unrecognized Problems & Unanticipated Solutions

One of the best sales questioning techniques I ever learned was from a former boss & mentor.  He delivered a training session that taught us when a customer gave a key requirement statement we had to take a moment and ask ourselves “which means”?   The key was to never assume you know what the customer actually meant; you had to pose further questions which would dig deeper to find the unrecognized problem.  This would help the customer fully explain the reason for the need and the implication for their operation if they did not meet the requirement.

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