June 29, 2011

Everybody should have a Louise…

Filed under: Blog,Techniques,The Team — Rachel @ 12:27 pm

Marketing planning and management

Effective marketing starts with a good plan and ends with results.  We can help you achieve these (and every stage in between) with our cradle to grave marketing planning and management service.

Who Are You Talking To?

Meetings and sales conversations will improve if you have an understanding of your prospect’s buying persona. Everyone is different and therefore has a different way in which they shop and buy. The key is to understand their way of thinking, once you are able to do this you will be better placed to work with them. All of this takes time! If like many businesses out there you have realised that you need to be doing something different to making initial contact with your potential buyer, and this is before you even know that they are your potential buyer. Perhaps you know that your competitors are thriving but can’t quite figure out why? The services you provide are very similar. I know of at least three businesses that will close within the next year simply because they are not in a position financially to engage a marketing team. It can be a huge drain on resources if that team get it wrong!

We are now able to offer you Louise. Everyone should have one (even if just for a short while)…

This service encompasses everything from devising your company’s marketing plan and setting up a day-to-day marketing function, through to ‘making it happen’ , project delivery and measuring the results.

Your prospects don’t want to hear you say, “Let me educate you!” We don’t want to educate you. We want to be able to ease some of the pressure you might be experiencing due to not reaching your target audience. Louise is able to offer her services to you on an ad-hoc basis, maybe an interim period whilst you are recruiting, possibly maternity cover or more importantly if you have no marketing structure within your business at all and your competitors are steaming ahead of you on the path to success.

Your first step is a call: 0333 2000 113 or 07757519763

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June 17, 2011

Sales Call Metrics

Filed under: Blog,Useful Info — Rachel @ 7:48 pm

Take a look at this (and some of the others)… A mistake Sales Managers make over and over again!

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June 10, 2011

Social Media – Are you a giver or a taker?

Filed under: Blog,Techniques — Rachel @ 3:08 pm

Most people have had social media training, be it a sit down workshop, a seminar, a colleague showing you how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

One thing that is very clear is that people of today are that wrapped up in their own lives and self importance (which we all are, I’m not disputing that and that isn’t my gripe – My biggest bug is people wasting opportunities) are missing a HUGE relationship building opportunity:

When someone posts something on Facebook: you comment, add your input/opinions/guidance or whatever. A day goes by, possibly two and you hear absolutely nothing back. Was there really any point in that person posting their update/event or question in the first place? If you are a business and completely ignore those people that interact with you then you may as well be sat on the toilet for the whole time you dedicate to your social media strategy!

If someone shares your events or work and actively promotes what you do through their own networks then they are clearly someone you should be focusing some attention on. They are a conduit to your potential clients and should not be ignored. If you never return the favour or acknowledge their effort they WILL stop doing it for you.

Social Media trainers tell you how to use social media. Maybe they make the assumption that people out there have manners???

There is a social media etiquette and it is being ignored constantly by people only promoting their own products/services and never saying please or thank you.

There is more satisfaction in giving than receiving.

Thank you for reading

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June 7, 2011

Lament of a Telesales Team – by Rachel Brown

Filed under: Blog — Rachel @ 1:17 pm
  1. If we spend half of our time putting your data into a workable order then that IS half of your call time gone.
  2. If we make an appointment from your data that is not with someone you want to meet then WHY was that data record in our calling queue?
  3. If, when calling from your database we confirm a delegate to attend your seminar that doesn’t fit the criteria of your customer profile then WHY are they on YOUR database?
  4. When putting a sales training plan together do you factor in the willingness to learn of your team when building your success measurement tool?
  5. If, during the day you ask us for a full update, this is the time when we would be making your calls.
  6. If, booking for an event, the confirmed attendees outcome will be based upon the quality of YOUR proposition:
  7. The follow-up success of the aforementioned event will also be based upon your ability to deliver what was previously sold to that attendee.
  8. If you provide us with data for a calling campaign without telephone numbers, it is YOUR call time that will be used to source that information and NOT our personal time or the time that our other clients have paid for!
  9. Work will NOT commence until cleared funds are showing e.g. If your payment was due to be made on the 1st of May but is made on the 10th of May then your months work starts on the 10th of May therefore the targets apply from the 10th of May and NOT the 1st of May.
  10. We are, despite what you may think, real people and if you attend an appointment that we have generated for you it would be nice to be given feedback on that appointment.

One of the best projects we have worked on and had the most success with was strategically planned from start to finish. Target audience was identified, carefully selected records provided, all data complete and as current as possible prior to it being given to us, times were blocked out for calling AND reporting, diaries were synchronized, a dedicated contact for our questions during those call times was available. An outline of the identified needs were provided pre-appointment and feedback was provided after every appointment.

£178,000.00 was generated from the first 14 appointments that we made for them? It’s not difficult to see where the investment should be!

Irrespective of what any telesales organisation or person says, they have not got some secret ingredient OR a magic wand that would mysteriously create perfectly qualified prospects for you without a serious amount of groundwork being laid down at the very beginning of the project!

For ALL telesales people out there you have my utmost respect. You are doing a job, day-in and day-out that most people CAN’T do, never mind want to. Always remember that without you guys businesses wouldn’t have a pipeline of work, they would have very few new customers and would almost certainly be overtaken in the marketplace by the forward thinking companies that keep on top of their sales training, provide adequate support and decent prospect data.

  • Most business owners and senior managers are unable to cope with the constant rejection on the end of the phone.
  • Most haven’t got the mental state to be able to sit and make the same (or very similar) phone call over and over again.
  • Some have got the inclination but struggle for time. Those that have the time usually wouldn’t know how to make an engaging phone call (COLD).
  • Most business owners view cold calling as intrusive so wouldn’t want to do it.
  • They will always find something else that they would rather be doing.
  • They are asking us to do it because it is bloody difficult and they know it!

Keep up the good work and KEEP STRONG!

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