Small Business Sales and Marketing Magic

Despite all you may have heard, sales and marketing success is NOT magic. Instead, it’s based on a series of techniques just like any other used in running your business, techniques that must be mastered in order to find success. While larger companies can simply hire sales and marketing professionals, the small business owner must often wear this hat too along with supervising the core product or service being marketed or sold. We’ ll look at some of these techniques below to see how you can work your own magic with sales and marketing today.

New Approaches

Marketing judgement day. Only a few days have passed since a highly publicized apocalypsedidn’ttake place. Seth Godin takes a look at how doomsday prophets sell their patented brand of end-of-the-world mania. And at what the apocalypse and the iPad have in common. It’s a unique look at marketing and the best way to achieve great results. But please find something better to market than Armageddon, OK? Seth Godin’s Blog

What the late Chris Farley could teach you about sales. Before his death on Dec. 18, 1997, Chris Farley, fresh from a successful five year stint on Saturday Night Live, was a comic icon at the height of his powers. But could he have been a master salesman too? In this post, Garrett Moon looks at Farley’s filmTommy Boyabout a lovable loser struggling to find his inner salesman and what it can teach us today.todaymade

Tips& Techniques

How to stop loosing prospects. No kidding! If a lot of sales you seem to have sown up suddenly go south, it may not be your product, service or pricing. It might be simply your sales process. So what went wrong? Where did you loose them? Or is it just the way you followed up in the sales process that didn’t work? You may be surprised at this suggestion about changing your approach and increasing your conversions.copywritematters

Marketing with your Website.Your small business Website must be your number one marketing tool online. It is often the first impression anyone gets of your business so it is critical to get it right. More than just a means of boosting your brand and business, your Website should even convert visitors to customers, if you have something on your site to sell. You can see some small business Websites critiqued in the link above.You’re the Boss

Old Standbys

Techniques for better phone selling. Despite the explosion of sales over the Internet, on many occasions the phone is still the best way to chase down leads, get answers from prospects and maybe even close deals. So what techniques can you use to be more effective selling your products or services by phone?Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Using social media to keep in touch. Here’s a unique concept in social media marketing used by an employee of Nordstrom. The approach worked so well that it inspired marketing strategist David Meerman Scott to blog about it. Can you imagine your favorite store tweeting you every time they have a product they think you may like? Move over Google and e-commerce. There’s still room for the human touch.Web Ink Now

Self-development

Becoming a sales super hero. S. Anthony Iannarino shows us how to slip into a phone booth, take off our glasses and business suit and transform into our alter ego, a sales superhero. This is particularly true for small business owners who, out of necessity, must wear many hats including the head of sales and marketing (or maybe the entire sales and marketing department?) This post shows you how.The Sales Blog

Your customer is Mr. Know-it-all. There’s a subtle change that’s taken place fueled by the Internet and an increased availability of information in general. It’s in the process of changing everything about the relationship between you and your client or customer and it will change the way you market and sell to them in the future. Ian Brodie has these thoughts on a customer’s revolution.The Pipeline

Brands

What is the face of your company? Many marketing gurus have recommendations about the creation of an effective brand. But in the end, choosing a brand and a logo may be more art than science. And using a sense of humor can sometimes help too. Check out the solution the CEO of a company marketing MacBook sleeves and other accessories has chosen. You’ll think we’ve really gone to the dogs. Read on.Web Ink Now

Taxes

Changes in home office deductions. In a subject not directly related to sales or marketing but very important to small business owners here in the U.S., new legislation may make deductions for your small business home office“simpler.” According to some small business advocates, the complexity of current rules stop many small business owners from trying to claim the deduction even if they do qualify. The simplification should make this process easier, supporters say.BusinessNewsDaily

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Slow Down, Sell Faster: A Review

There must be something in the air that has created a flurry of books about how to sell by understanding how customers buy.  In  Selling to the C-Suitewe learned that to sell to the C-level executive, you have to do your homework, gathering information and understanding what it is that executives need so that they can choose you.

The next book I received for review with the same focus on how customers buy wasSlow Down, Sell Faster: Understand Your Customers’ Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales.  The author,Kevin Davis(@toplineleaderon Twitter)  has over 30 years’ experience in sales and wroteGetting Into Your Customer’s Headback in 1996, so you know that he’s been drinking this lemonade for a long time.

What’s Inside the Book

Davis combines academic research and practical experience to generate a sales system you can use to not just improve your top line, but your bottom line as well.

Part I of the book is devoted to the actual sales system. One thing I really like about this book is that it is actually written for an industrial or complex buying process.  Davis references established experts Webster and Wind, who have studied how bigger organizations make decisions to select a supplier.  And he uses decades of research and melds itwith practical, real-life ways that business-to-business purchases are made.

Part II expands on the selling system by introducing what Davis calls the eight roles that you have to play in the customer’s buying process:

1. Student:Use Knowledge to Gain the Edge
2. Doctor:Diagnose Small Problems, Define Big Needs
3. Architect:Design Customer-Focused Solutions
4. Coach:Make a Plan to Defeat the Competition
5. Therapist:Understand and Resolve a Buyer’s Fears
6. Negotiator:Reach a Mutual Commitment
7. The Teacher:Teach Customers to Achieve Maximum Value
8. The Farmer:Cultivate Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Part II contains one chapter on coaching to the eight roles.  It’s written for sales managers and the people who work for them.  It provides a series of cheat sheets and troubleshooting tables to help sales managers and sales reps debrief sales calls.

If you’ve had any professional sales training, you will recognize many of the principles and techniques represented in this book.  For example, I’ve had Sandler Sales Training, and I easily recognized what I call the 10-point scale technique.  Simply ask your customer to rate the solution you’ve come up with like this: “On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is‘not at all what I want’ and 10 is‘this is the perfect solution,’ how would you rate the solution we’ve discussed?” If they answer anything less than an 8, ask, “What would you need to see to bring that to a 10?”

The book is full of strategies, tips and hints at every level and at every point of the selling process.  Davis uses a layered approach where he introduces the selling system, then overlays the roles of the salesperson through the buying process and guides the reader to success.

Here are just a few examples of some of my favorite pieces of information:

The Decision-Making Hierarchy:This is perhapsthe simplest and bestdescription of what’s important to each level of the organization and how you should structure your message:

• CEOs– They are at the top of the pyramid, andprofitabilityis what you should focus on when talking to them.
• Mid-Level Managers– The middle or core of the pyramid.  These people are most concerned about solvingoperational problems.  The departments typically represented here include marketing, operations and customer service.
• Support– This is the base of the pyramid and includes accounting, purchasing, training and legal departments.

While most books tell you to aim straight for the top of the pyramid,Slow Down, Sell Fasterreveals the truth that most salespeople don’t have anything of substance to say to C-level execs until they’ve gotten their feet wet a little further down the pyramid.

Slow Down Sell FasterIs a Serious Sales Book Focused on Sales Training and Improvement

This is a fantastic book for any business-to-business, technical or industrial CEO with full-time, direct salespeople who sell high-priced, high-involvement products and services to companies where more than one person is involved in the decision.

Don’t expect to readSlow Down, Sell Fasterin one sitting and then see immediate results.  This is a comprehensive, detailed and perceptive book about complicated sales situations.  You’ll want to read this book section by section and then take the time to implement and practice specific strategies.  I’d recommend that you visit theSlow Down, Sell Fastersection of Kevin Davis’ website where you can download Chapter 1,“Why Slower is Faster,” and experience the book for yourself.

Overall, this is an extremely powerful book that will challenge your thinking and your sales process.  And like a good workout and diet, I think you’ll find the results well worth the effort.

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The Top 100 Small Business Podcasts of 2011

“It is great to learn from in-depth interviews in a business-casual style.”– Martin Lindeskog, in a recent interview with me, regarding the Top 100 Small Business Podcasts of 2011

When I say“business casual” I’m talking about fashion,  but when our community member Martin Lindeskog says it, he is talking about the way we consume small business information.  Of course, we can read it sitting at our desk, watch it on our computer screens, experience it in a live class setting orlisten to it while we do just about anything, because the podcast travels well.

For the past four years,Small Business Trends Radiohas compiled an annual list of the top small business podcasts. And for the second year in a row Martin, who hails from Sweden, has spearheaded the effort and taken the time to get a feel for all the shows on the list. As he said in his interview with me (which was funny for me because my nighttime was his daybreak),“The podcasts {on our list} should be related to {small} business in one way or another.”So we can trust that these top 100 shows understand our needs.

Martin also told me,“It is very convenient to listen to a podcast during a long walk.”He enjoys them because“you can‘consume’ the material when you have time.”

I like podcasts too. Audio training can eliminate uneventful downtimes like long drives to meetings or the time it takes to do all kinds of tasks that I would rather not do, but need to do, whether it’s switching out my clothes for the new season or cleaning up the office at the end of the day (after the serious work is over). Podcasts allow us to consume new business information in a casual setting.

You can check out the full list of theTop 100 Small Business Podcasts of 2011.It’s divided into categories, so it’s easy to find what you need, when you need it.

The categories are:

• Leadership and Management
• Marketing and Sales
• Operating a Small Business
• Tax and Finance
• Startups and Starting a Business
• Home Based Business
• Small Business Technology
• Business Opportunities and Franchises
• “All Around” Small Business Podcasts
• Business News and the Big Picture

And this is not a category, but for 2011, the list includes two videocasts in the“All Around Small Business Podcasts” category, The Rise to the Topand Jaffe Juice TV.  Martin expects “you will find more and more videocasts in the near future.” With the rise of YouTube and video marketing, that makes sense.

Happy ironing, walking or whatever you do while you listen to your favorite small business podcasts.Enjoy!

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Small Business Ideas and Tips for Our Community

Ideas and tips abound for small business owners today, but remember there are dangers too. We’ve included a brief overview that will help you be on the lookout for fraud, a growing problem for small businesses today, according to sources. Meanwhile there are some truly inspiring tips and ideas to get your next venture rolling. Please share the resources below with a friend.

News

Neutralizing the risk of e-commerce credit card fraud. Small business owners running successful e-commerce Websites know the benefits of the business model. Customers know the pluses of shopping online too. Unfortunately, credit card fraudsters have also discovered“opportunities” in  the world of e-commerce. Make protecting your e-commerce site a part of your business model, or fraudsters may make your site a part of theirs.Virtuosi Media

More on protecting your business from fraud. The reality is that small businesses continue to be a target for such behavior. In fact, according to a recent report, small business owners suffered an estimated $8 billion in fraud related losses in 2010. Don’t let your small business become one of the statistics. Learn more about the dangers of fraud to your company today.Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Strategy

How to turn your artistic talent into a small business. Sprayground is much more than just an entrepreneurial venture. For Co-Founder and Creative Director David Ben-David, it’s a work of art…literally! Learn more about this effort to turn art into small business. Do you have an artistic talent that could translate to a business start-up?Entrepreneurship Interviews

How expert knowledge will help your small business thrive. What’s the difference between your most successful competitors and your small business? Do they have some secret that gives them the edge? Well, maybe not just one. Expert knowledge can make a huge difference in marketing your products or services or even in deciding on the right niche to fit your own particular talents. Leveraging that knowledge can be the difference between success and failure. Here’s why. Site Prebuilder

Marketing

Marketing with your mobile phone. Some experts claim that the emerging field of cell phone or mobile marketing is largely generational with younger consumers being far more likely to respond to text and similar mobile campaigns than their older counterparts. But mobile like other technology may defy these generational divides. What is your experience with mobile marketing campaigns and what, if any, success have you seen?Grow Smart Biz

Could narrower social sites lead to super niche marketing/networking? What if your Facebook account was limited to just 50 friends? While many debates rage over the best size of your social network, newer social media sites seem to be aiming at the extreme low end of the range. As with most tech trends, the question for small business owners may be, what could these narrower social media platforms mean when marketing and networking to an increasingly niche audience in the future?Yahoo! Finance

Self-development

Spam as an effective marketing technique? When choosing the best approach to deal with customers, clients and prospects, cutting corners may lead to short-term rewards. But long-term your chances of a lasting relationship really have to do with the choices you make. If the only question is whether unethical or just plain annoying or sleazy approaches“work”, well, they do. But it’s their cost in the long run not their short-term effectiveness that should raise any small business’s concern.Partners in Excellence

How the world of work and your business are changing. Planning for the future with your small business may require understanding where business and work are really headed. Inspired by a similar post by Chris Brogan, Frank Bradley gives his impressions of what the future may hold for all of us and for the future of our ventures too.Workplace Prosperity

Trends

Crowdsourcing your business design. It’s a trend that contiues to have traction but could it lend better results at a lower price too? Design is one of many services you may need as a small business owner, and getting the best results at the lowest cost is important in everything you do to keep competitive and keep overhead down. How can crowdsourcing deliver for you?Buzz

Why some outsourcing may never be the same again. Does your small business outsource services, particularly services like call centers or other activities that involve sharing of sensitive private information overseas? Well, if those services are outsourced to India or China in particular you may have a surprise coming. Changing laws in both countries may soon make such outsourcing much more challenging, but is this a problem or an opportunity for small businesses seeking to provide similar services elsewhere?Inc.com

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How Social Media Lets SMBs Work Faster

When talking to small business owners about social media, the argument I hear most often for their lack of involvement is they“don’t have time.” SMB owners are notoriously busy, known for wearing multiple hats, juggling responsibilities and working long hours. I understand that. And that’s exactly whyyou should be investing in social media. Because social media can help you perform tasks vital to the growth and success of your businessfasterandbetterthan traditional means.

What am I talking about? Below are five common stressors for SMBs that they can accomplish faster and better through social media than without it.

1. Building Awareness

Everything starts here for a small business. Bigger brands already have this. People know they exist. Sometimes their names are even synonymous with the product they sell (right, Kleenex?). But that’s not the case for a small business owner. We have to build awareness before we can cash in on it. In the past, that meant running a lot of expensive promotions, it meant giving away a lot of free products and, even worse, it meant a lot of time being ignored. With social media, the playing field gets just a bit more level. Armed with tools like Twitter Search, Twellow, We Follow, Tweepz and others, you can find your audience without waiting for them to find you. You can be proactive about your marketing, connect with the people who should know about your business, and put yourself on their radar. Now the ball is firmly in your court.

2. Customer Support

When you have your ear to the ground it allows you to react quickly, and nowhere is this more important than in customer service. Business owners spend a lot of time on the phone or in email responding to disgruntled customers and dealing with support issues— often thesameissues over and over. By engaging in social media you give yourself the opportunity to reactfaster, before a small problem becomes a big one, and to easily point people to resources designed to quickly resolve their problems. Social media also puts you into the conversation at an earlier stage and lets others see how committed you are to making things right.

3. Staying Top of Mind

Businesses are always trying to stay top of mind for customers. We want them to remember us when they’re on the hunt for services. And that’s where social media comes in.  Interacting with customers via social media helps them remember you exist. It doesn’t matter if you’re specifically talking about a deal you’re running or if you’re just sharing what you’re up to. Seeing your face, your product or your logo keeps your brand in the forefront of their brains and helps them remember it’s been too long since they visited your restaurant for dinner. The simple act of engaging, regardless of what you’re saying, can give customers a reason to come check you out.

4. Competitor Research

To stay competitive, small business owners need to always keep an eye on what their competitors are doing. Staying abreast of the competition’s movements will help you spot trends, pinpoint new opportunities and clue you in to what other people in your industry are doing or looking at. In the past, this required a lot of listening in, eavesdropping and guesswork. Now? Now it meansdoing some twit-stalking, blog-stalking and monitoring conversations about your industry and your biggest competition. By following conversations happening about your competitors, you can put down that rusty tin can on a string and listen from the comfort of your own home.

5. Networking With Colleagues

If it takes a village to raise a child, it at least takes a small town to grow a business. And social media makes that town seem just a bit more intimate by connecting you with the people who can really help your business. Through my own personal social media use, I’ve interacted with future business partners, found guest blogging opportunities, and been introduced to some really interesting people and companies. This connection is something many small business owners never had before. They’re not left feeling as fragmented and disconnected as they once were, thanks to not only places like Twitter, but also communities likeBizSugar.

If you’re a business owner who has always felt like you didn’t have time for social media, I’d ask you to turn that statement around. It’s not about finding the time to add something else into your day, it’s about using a new tool to do what you’ve always done, only faster.

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Small Business Events, News, Resources

It’s Small Business Week and we begin with news related to this celebration of the most important part of our economy. We then move on to resources with some important links we hope readers will find useful. Please bookmark and share our roundup and enjoy the benefits of an enhanced and expanding network. Enjoy!

Events

President Obama announces Small Business Week. We have the full press release and you can read it here. In it, Obama said,“Our country started as an idea, and it took hard-working, dedicated, and visionary patriots to make it a reality. A successful business starts much the same way—ideas realized by entrepreneurs who dream of a better world and work until they see it through.”Small Business Trends

An agenda of small business week events. An agenda involving some small business listening sessions has been laid out for the week by U.S. House of Representatives members. Here’s a look at the entire schedule for the week including what’s happened thus far. There is also other important information on the committee and how small business owners can get in touch.House Committee on Small Business

Policy

Politics continues to interfere. Of course, while events like National Small Business Week are intended to show Washington’s support, political wrangling continues to cause interference even with bills both sides seem to agree will benefit small businesses in the long-run. Do you feel Washington should pay more than just lip service to small business in the U.S.? Why not let your legislator know? You’re the Boss

White House releases report on small business aid. But candidly admits its efforts haven’t been sufficient. While clearly timed to coincide with the beginning of National Small Business Week, the document is another reminder of how policy has not improved the prospects of small business in the U.S. Do small business owners have a better perspective on what policy makers could really do to help?Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Read the full report here. The Small Business Administration has posted a complete copy of the report by the National Economic Council under the optimistic banner“The Small Business Agenda: Growing America’s Small Businesses to Win the Future,” but some say the document is hardly a cataloging of success in any government policy so far.SBA.gov

Resources

10 ways to build a small business that lasts.Small Business Trendsco-founder Anita Campbell will host an exciting Twitter chat in honor of National Small Business Week. The event is planned for today (May 18) from 8 -9 pm Eastern US time. You can join in or follow along using the hashtag #smallbizchat to participate.Anita Campbell on Twitter

Win an iPad and follow guests for National Small Business Week. You can do it all in one place. John Jantsch has asked a group of small business bloggers (including our own Anita Campbell) to contribute a week’s worth of content on the subject and you’ll be able to access it all as it is published. You can also check out John’s tech giveaway contest at the same link above.Duct Tape Marketing

Get a free business valuation while supplies last. In addition to a free iPad, how about a free business valuation? One business-for-sale Website is giving 250 away free on a first come first serve basis. The offer is being made to coincide with National Small Business Week and can be used to establish a fair value for your business using other similar recently sold businesses for comparison.BizBuySell.com

Tech

Small Business Week sees new innovations. New features in accounting and payment software will revolutionize the way small businesses, particularly small contractors, will operate moving into the future. Can you imagine accounting software that helps you more closely monitor profits and make smarter decisions? How about technology that allows payments to be made through a cell phone with no credit card required? If you can dream it, someone may be designing a new feature for you.Constructech

FCC launches new Website for small business security. Citing data suggesting that small businesses loose billions annually and that a high percentage have reported falling victim to cyber attacks, the federal agency announced resources Monday that will help small businesses cope. The announcement was made in conjunction with the beginning of National Small Business Week. A variety of resources are suggested to help small businesses limit their security exposure online. Read more.BusinessNewsDaily

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PowerPoint Slide Needs Work

A while back I was asked to give a presentation about cartooning and I had to learn PowerPoint.

You see I went through school before PowerPoint became commonplace, and most of my later sales jobs were in decidedly low tech fields. And now, despite earning a living selling cartoons to make boring presentations bearable, I’d never actually opened the program a single time.

So I spent a good week researching ideas, looking at techniques, and watching video. After some practice, I performed my talk for my wife who noted that I had a few slides that needed work, including one that was an incomplete continuation of several previous slides that read simply“more goes here.”

The above cartoon came pretty soon afterward.

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