Since PR is apparently passe (link found on Burningbird) and marketing is a dirty word, I figured I go for broke today and write about the third topic area of this blog, sales. Because, hey, sales is probably the only corporate function that gets dumped on more than PR and marketing 🙂 As they say, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Right now, I am working on the first issue of a newsletter of sales/marketing tips for my client GuideMark. GuideMark specializes in CRM for banks. Central to the value proposition for CRM is that it will help the bank improve its sales process. The newsletter is an additional tool in the toolkit (or weapon in the arsenal if you prefer the Art of War metaphor). It will be distributed to our clients’ sales people as well as prospects and anyone else who chooses to sign up on the Website.
The newsletter is written for the line of business sales person. It must be short, so they’ll read the first issue, and value laden, so they’ll read the second. Sales people are busy folks — on the road, meeting prospects, solving customer problems, closing business. They don’t have a lot of time to spare for business reading unless it directly helps them get the job done.
It also looks like they don’t spend too much time writing blogs either. A Technorati search on the tag ‘sales’ delivers mostly marketing and PR blogs, including this one in 8th place. Now, I’m barely a Technorati blip in my main business areas of marketing and PR. There are lots and lots of marketing and PR bloggers, and since I don’t worry too much about my ranking, I don’t expect to be terribly high.**
The fact that this blog ranks that highly for ‘sales’ is a clear indication (to me) that there are not too many folks blogging about sales issues. Lots of Websites selling sales training and professional development but not many blogs. Combining this little bit of data with what I already know about the sales process, I will guess that there aren’t too many sales folks reading business blogs either. But there is a lot of information in blogs that really could help our mortgage account executive and small business banker clients. So we are going to have a regular feature that covers valuable free online resources. And rather than just a list of resources, or a blog description, we are going to link the reader directly to a specific post or page that will provide immediate value.
Here’s the first article:
Online Resources that Help You Sell
Let’s face it. There is a lot of sales “stuff” online, and much of it isn’t worth the time it takes to read it. Or it is just trying to sell you something, and you don’t have time for that. You need to be on the phone, on the road, talking to customers, closing business.
So we’ll help you cut through the clutter. Every issue, we will introduce you to some online resources worth your time. And if you have a site or a blog that you find useful, please send it our way.
This issue, we have two blogs to tell you about:
Guy Kawasaki’s Bona tempura volvantur. One of the original Apple evangelists, Kawasaki is now a venture capitalist and author of a number of well known business books. His blog is fairly new, and chock full of advice, some taken from his previously published works, some new. All useful. One recent post worth checking out: The Art of Sucking Down. How to get people on your side, for the reservation, the upgrade, the access to your prospect. Follow his advice and your life will get easier.
Selling to Big Companies blog, by Jill Konrath. Even though Konrath’s focus is on the high ticket sale, her advice is good for most B2B sales situations. One of her most useful posts, from last December is Why this voicemail failed. She gives some great tips on how to leave a voice mail that just might get a call back.
And on the topic of voicemail, if there is a decent chance that the person you are calling might actually remember you, leave your phone number in the very beginning part of the message. “Hi, this is Susan Getgood from GuideMark 978-555-1212…” and then proceed with the rest of the message. That way, if the person is busy and doesn’t have time to listen to your whole message, she quickly has your callback number and can delete the message.
I’d love your feedback on this feature as well as any recommendations for blogs we should cover.
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** Special note to my readers and commenters: I may not have quantity in my readership, but you guys are definitely quality. Thanks!
Tags: sales, sales management, CRM, GuideMark, bank marketing, sales blogs, blogging, newsletter, sales tips, marketing tips
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