Bloggertone

Bloggertone are surely keeping us on our toes

What a great challenge, and great prizes also. I sincerely hope it encourages people to blog more, and especially for Bloggertone!

Well done guys!!

I’m in!

Looking forward to your posts Elaine & Tina

Facundo Villaveiran: This is a “sweet” contest!

Niall Devitt: I am glad to see the prizes. I remember you and I talked about companies like HP in our phone conversation some time ago. I look forward to talk to you soon again regarding your new project.

Thanks Martin! We’ll look into that

Great, I’m looking forward to this contest! If I don’t forget about it until the 30th, I might even submit an article

Wow! Great Prizes. I want to join! Thanks for the opportunity.

Congrats to Greg Fry & Frank Bradley who shared first prize.

Announcement to follow including most engaging comment.

A BIG thanks you to everyone that took part, all our participants & everyone that voted & commented on the posts.

Thanks again everybody,
Niall

u00a0Tell that to the Government.

I think it’s very important to ensure that call to actions are accounted for and by whom – and then followed up and reviewed. Certain meetings I attend; anything left undone stays on the agenda, others seem to just allow them to drop off as if they are not relevant at next meeting.

As Niall says, selling should be about the client/customers’ needs, not what is being “sold” and this needs to be emphasized in the meetings. I always view sales people as almost self-employed as they have to manage their clients and their day. The difference is they have a Manager to answer to and that Manager should be as supportive and encouraging as possible.

I have sat in Sales meetings where agents numbers have been projected on the wall for everyone to see – that can be degrading, and I always felt a 1-1 with the Manager would serve better to empower the agent and encourage them to change direction and be pro-active in trying new tactics.
A little competition is healthy and I agree to perhaps split a group into 2, thereby not singling out one person and helps to forge camaraderie and healthier relationships amongst the team.

Nice post Dave, thanks

Very pertinent points made around meetings. In a company I worked in previously, some novel approaches were to have everyone stand instead of sit during a meeting – focuses the mind and also has the inevitable effect of shortening meeting time! This can be especially effective when some meetings are held as much out of habit as anything else, or as an excuse to ‘catch up’, without a real need or benefit to actually having a meeting. 

Hi Tori, 

I started off my sales career as a cold caller and have managed to build a career around selling to this very day. Cold-calling may not be dead but sales people and sales trainers have for me it seems, done their very best to kill it! Ask prospects if they enjoy the process of being cold called, and I think it’s fair to say that the majority will say no, why: because cold-calling is usually a waste of their time and often just simply downright annoying. Prospects don’ care about your business, your products or your special offers. They care about their business, their products and their customers. So unless you’re in a position to have an intelligent conversation about what they actually care about, my advice is to not bother picking up that phone.We have to really understand that time is our greatest resource, both for our prospects and for ourselves. If you really want to make an impression and build a relationship, spend time wisely, researching your prospect, researching their business, researching their market and ensure that you have something of value to say when you pick up that phone.As an industry, and as sales leaders, we have to stop feeding young people in entry level sales roles,the drivel that passes for sales training/methodology. The majority of salespeople that enter into selling fail and the internet is now killing our industry slowly. The sales people that survive will be business experts and trusted advisers to their customers.    

Thanks Amber I love business development. It means I am always learning. Even leaning things like how different industries react to different BD methods. And immediate response is so valuable too thanks again for comment. Tori

That is so true Elish, I hate the term Cold-Calling, but actually love the task of doing it… I love connecting to people and sharing opportunities. I always smile when talking on the phone, an olden’ but golden rule
Social media has tried to take over that initial ‘cold call’ role but inevitably to take any relationship, business, customer, friendship or otherwise to a point of growing we must talk or meet.. I wish I could meet everyone I am connected to, maybe there is a tv programme there

Thank you for your comment T

Thanks Ruby,

My pleasure to share… Only way to let people know it works Tori

I love this post, and in fact had a very interesting conversation about this very topic at open coffee during the week. Both our consensus was that relationship building and nurturing, leads to better quality sales and longer lasting business relationships. Another word we used was trust – not the “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” kind but having prospected, conversed, building a relationship, and nurturing that relationship, that prospect may never actually buy, but they will trust you enough to recommend or refer.
Tori, Fantastic first post and a huge welcome to Bloggertone!

Oh wow, thank you Elaine *blushing*

Its so true, I have never viewed my work as prospecting, but always relationship building. Trust and nurturing is key. We have to be open, honest and as helpful as we can as sales people, it’s never just about the sales we make today but the sales in our future business. The initial stages of the relationship build the foundations for a strong future, once we trust the foundations are there we should always have lasting business and referrals.

Thank you again Elaine 

T

WOW, Thanks so much for your comment Larry,

I love your fish analogy, that’s it, the river is as important as the fish I am so glad my post has helped your plans.
It takes time and it’s not a process that will bring immediate results but it will bring firm results and good Business Relationships.

Good luck with your process, hope it goes well

Tori

I have always used a friendly and a genuine conversation to “explore” and common areas of “interest” and that has got many coffee meetings. I like the way you have put it in a more transitioning manner from the traditional cold calling to the new age business development discussions.

Tori, your post helps one regain their confidence on cold calling. The honest approach works and not all customers are irate, they would also like to listen to what is out there in the market. There should not be a restricted timeframe within which you would like to complete the cold calling activity. It should be an ongoing practice. I am sure there might be questions about Gatekeepers not allowing you to speak to the right contact, there are different timings when you can call the contact and also crisp emails do get the customers attention. This is a really good post.

Hi Tori, thanks for your perspective. I still see cold calling as important as well. It really is a good way of getting out there as long as you’re not being “COLD”.

I love this article and have posted on my FaceBook. Cold Calling is truly an OPPORTUNITY… a platinum opportunity to learn a great deal in a timely fashion. Thank you, Tori, for the GREAT article.
Francie