In this episode of The Bill Caskey Podcast, Bill wants you to account for your sales process.
Do you have a proven system that has been designed to be a) helpful to
the prospect, and b) helpful to you as you guide them from where
they are to where they want to be.
If you don’t, you might need help!
This is part 6 of our 10 part series on “How Do You Know If You Need Help?”
In this episode of The Bill Caskey Podcast, Bill asks the question, do you have a social media strategy that allows you to connect with your buyers/prospects?
If you don’t, it’s time to build one.
Your prospects should look to you as the solution, and the way you create that is through what your’e producing online.
This is part 5 of our 10 part series on “How Do You Know If You Need Help?”
On this week’s Bill Caskey Podcast, I am on the road. But that won’t stop from getting this podcast to you!
This topic from a recent call I had with my 2X Mastermind Group and one of the members was talking about how his territory was too large for him to get to everyone and he needed help.
I gave him some advice that I think really shocked him and that was he needed to shift his mind and action from his limited physical self to an unlimited DIGITAL self. He needed to start producing content online for his clients and prospects.
Maybe it’s time for you to do the same! I’ll give you some ways to get started right away.
Are you getting leads from your online content?
Most of the time the answer is no. Why is it so hard for most people to create content that generates market action?
On this week’s episode of The 2X Podcast, Bill gets in to the details of what is standing in our way of creating consistent content and why most people fail. He also gives some way to overcome those barriers.
Are you intimidated by the idea of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Are you looking for ways to make SEO more of a key part of your sales process?
In today’s episode, veteran sales trainers Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale talk with a longtime friend of the show, John Jantsch. John’s new book, SEO for Growth, is already helping make the principles of SEO accessible for everyone, not just the experts.
Are you struggling with lead generation?
Do you wish your marketing team was sending you higher quality leads?
In this episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast, John shares tips you can use to become your own content marketer and gives you his hit list of where to begin when you think about writing your own content. You may find a few things about SEO that surprise you in today’s show too. It’s not as scary as you may think.
Picture it: You walk into a prospect’s office, exchange introductions and say, “So tell me about your business?”
The prospect looks at you, sighs and begins to tell you the same biographical information they’ve shared with every other salesperson who has walked through their door.
Has this happened to you?
In today’s episode, veteran sales trainers Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale interview a digital marketing agency CEO to learn more about how to not turn off your prospects before you’ve even started the conversation. Michael Reynolds, CEO of SpinWeb, a digital agency based in Indianapolis, shares his tips to help you prove you’ve done your research in advance.
Are you assuming things about your prospect’s situation?
Do you know how to balance your questions with sincere comments that aren’t “tactics” or seen as “salesy?”
In this episode, Bill and Bryan engage Michael in an insightful conversation that will help you build a much warmer prospecting list. Who wouldn’t mind a few less cold calls?
Social Media Week at The Advanced Selling Podcast continues. Are you intimidated by using social media tools to help you sell? Today’s guest is breaking it down for you.
Veteran sales trainers Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale talk with successful entrepreneur and social junkie Nathan Latka about his favorite hacks to help you sell.
Do you think your customers aren’t on social media and therefore you don’t need to use it either?
How can your following on social media help you sell more?
In today’s episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill and Bryan learn some of Nathan’s best practices for not dropping the ball on follow-ups with clients, and thinking and acting like an entrepreneur. See the world of social media and digital tools through fresh eyes today and prepare to be afraid no more.
It’s Social Media Week at The Advanced Selling Podcast! Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Premium, LinkedIn Pulse… does it all make your head spin? Veteran sales trainers Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale go to the expert source today to learn the best strategies all salespeople need to know when using LinkedIn for sales.
What kind of connector are you?
Are you using customized news feeds to nurture your relationships on social media?
How much time should you really be spending prospecting on LinkedIn?
In this episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill and Bryan talk with Brynne Tillman, founder of Social Sales Link, to learn how to effectively use LinkedIn. Are you maximizing what LinkedIn can do for you as a salesperson? (Don’t miss Brynne’s incredible bonus for listeners in this episode too!).
The game is selling. But the rules have changed. Cold Calling is out. Social media is IN. Convincing and persuading is out. Community and attraction are in.
As your company sits in board rooms and talks sales strategy, then think about Social Media as one leg of execution.
Definition: ‘Social media’ (SM). SM is the interaction that people have online that creates conversations in which your company and/or products are centerpieces.
You, as a sales professional or sales manager, had best get hip to what’s happening online to your company/products/customers. And how to use this knowledge to grow your business. There are several vehicles in SM. Here they are, in no order.
Podcasts. You should have a podcast for your business (every business should have a podcast–and I challenge someone to convince me otherwise) if you have expertise about something. Your podcast will provide valuable information that your customers/prospects can use to see you as a resource for bigger problems. Talk to customers about problems you’ve solved for them. Record them and you have a podcast. Giving a speech at an industry event? Good, record it and now you have a podcast. Have a technical guru in the back room? Turn on the mic, interview him and now you have yet another podcast.
Don’t tell me you have nothing to talk about.
Plug: Check out The Advanced Selling Podcast, which is produced weekly. It’s 15-minutes long and takes us about 20 minutes to create/episode. We have about 12,000 listeners per month and it costs us about $100/month to produce and host. Where else can I speak to 12,000 people for $100?
Another Resource: Go to Podcast Tools to check out Paul Colligan’s podcast on podcasting. He does 5 minutes/week. Short but to the point.
Another Point: The iPhone will sell over 10,000,000 units in the next year. Go to your Apple store, or go to apple.com and watch the instructional video. Guess what a big part of the feature set is? Podcasting delivered directly to the phone!
Your selling strategy should be to educate your prospects to the pains/issues they have that they don’t know they have. Every selling process or procedure should do this. What better way to do this than through podcasting or internet audio where your sales strategy is to help them see their problems–and help them see YOU as a solution to them?
Blogs. While there are 40,000,000 blogs, most companies don’t see them for what they could be. If you have a website and not a blog, then you’re missing a great way to lead people to your website. But make your blog a rigorous conversation about the industry. DON’T make it about you and only you.
Ask questions. Pose opinions and ask for feedback. Create controversy by being honest. Blogs should be written by people–not by some faceless company PR person.
You can also use blogs to create Case Studies on ways you’ve solved problems for your customers. Have a new product? Take a pic of it and post about it. But be honest about it’s strengths and weaknesses. Don’t tell one side of the story. If you do, it’ll sound like it came from your marketing department–more blah-blah-blah.
Video Blogs. This includes the addition of Video to your blog site. If your value can be told easier through pictures/video, then this is a great application. Here is one that came from the Executive Learning Network. I have no idea who they are, but it looks like they have a new video blog site. I spent 15 minutes watching it. Not the meatiest content in the world, but well produced. Your ideas should be flowing by now.
RSS. This is a tough one. You’ve heard about it, but you may not undrestand it fully. Here is a link to Capture The Conversation, a blog written about new media. This post tells you what RSS is and how important it is for companies investing in the web.
Every sales person should know about RSS because it might just be the future of client communications. Period.
Conclusion
The idea is that your customers/prospects aren’t at chamber meetings anymore. They are online in their own conversations with people. If you’re a sales manager or top level sales person, then here are some questions you should address:
==’How can you meet your prospects where they are?’
==’How can you create some of those customer conversations by what you know–and educate them?’
==’How can you share your insights so your market comes begging for more–which consequently puts you in control of the sales process?
If you think your goal is to merely make cold calls and get referrals, then you are thinking in the old world. Good luck with new thinking.