Unleash Your Lead Generation Machine

Lead generation is a funny thing. It’s the lifeblood of any growing business, yet many approach it in a casual manner at best.

Consistently generating leads for your business takes momentum and momentum takes energy.

In my experience, lead generation energy is best created by effectively approaching your very well defined target market from several angles, advances and mediums.

Your multi-pronged attack should come just short of making them feel that you and your business are everywhere they want to go.

One way to accomplish this is through the carefree spending of bucket loads of money on advertising. It’s an approach that has actually worked for some, but I don’t recommend it for most small business owners.

A more effective small business lead generation machine, one that generates the greatest return on investment, is best created through the blending of targeted advertising, consistent public relations and a systematic approach to referrals.

This three prong attack is the stuff that momentum is built on.

Advertising

For most small businesses, direct mail is one of the best ways to target specific markets. The key to making small business direct mail, or any form of advertising, work is to use your advertising to gain marketing permission, before you try to gain a sale.

In other words, focus your advertising message on creating a lead. Make them an offer of a free report, seminar, evaluation, newsletter, or other low cost or no cost education message and let them begin to get to know you through this two step process.

The fact is you can’t really expect a prospect to make a buying decision about your product or service from the 127 words you can cram onto a postcard. You can however, get their attention with a free report that offers them 5,000 words of your expertise. Once they have consumed that, they will be primed and ready for your follow-up sales message.

Public relations

PR is a big field but for the sake of this article, I’m talking about two things â€" Getting nice articles about your firm in publications read by your target market and placing expert articles, written by you, in publications read by your target market.

If you aren’t doing both of these as part of your lead generation strategy, you are missing the boat.

When a prospect reads an article in a newspaper or magazine it carries much more credibility than an ad. The fact that someone else (the publication) thinks that you are great is a very strong endorsement.

Target the publications you want to appear in and then start to market to them. Read them, send information and notes to writers on staff, find out what guidelines they have for guest authors and start creating some positive PR to go along with your advertising.

Here’s a quick tip. Ask your best clients what publications they read and rely on the most. This can be a great way to find the best publications to advertise in as well. Every industry has dozens of trade publications, but only a few are actually read.

Referrals

It’s a good bet that a large percentage of your business came to you by referral. Cousin Louie liked what you did for him, so he told two friends and the rest history.

Referrals are a great way to build a business. Leads that come to you by way of referral generally cost nothing. Clients that come to you by way of referral are often your best clients.

Most small businesses get this, but few approach lead generation by way of referral in a systematic way. And, asking a few people if they know anybody that needs what you do is not a systematic referral approach.

Here are the steps in the system:

Target a referral source â€" this could be your clients, but often the best referral sources are actually strategic partners that also serve your ideal target client

Educate your referral source â€" Create a one page document that your referral sources can use to introduce what you do, how you do it and why they should consider having you do it for them. The biggest potential pitfall of a shoddy referral approach is that you get tons of leads that aren’t right for you.

Communicate a creative referral marketing offer â€" If you can create a game out referral lead generation everyone will want to play. Reward your referral sources in creative ways. Co-brand powerful information products and show your strategic partners how to use them.

Creative referral offers also make great news stories for your PR program.

Are you starting to get a glimpse of how some of this works together, builds momentum and creates energy?

Copyright 2005 John Jantsch

About The Author John Jantsch is a marketing coach, author and creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System. You can get more information about the Duct Tape System and download your free copy of "How To Grow Your Small Business Like Crazy by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Jantsch

Selling from your Heart

Are you a Solopreneur, a Small Business Owner, a Helping Professional, or a Creative who is tired of trying to figure out how to sell yourself and your services without feeling uncomfortable or pushy? If so, you are not alone! Many of us have experienced manipulative and abrasive salespeople who have turned us off...made us cringe...and even stopped us entirely from pursuing a purchase we really wanted. If we ourselves have had poor experiences with salespeople, how can we be expected to enjoy becoming one? Well, let's look at the alternative. In order to bring our talents, our services, and our gifts to the world...we need to figure this out. What I know for sure is that we cannot grow our businesses without becoming comfortable with "selling"...so let's bite the bullet and master this "selling thing". "But we didn't sign on to be salespeople", you say. "We signed on to help people or to make a great product available or to express our creativity!" "We're ok with connecting with people, forming new relationships, and helping people to get what they need...but in a professional and non-threatening way." And so it is with "Selling from your Heart." "Selling from your Heart" is about forming connections with potential Clients, finding commonalities, enjoying conversations, figuring out what's missing, helping to clarify what's needed, and partnerning to find solutions. Is that something you're comfortable with? I thought so! So let's create a plan that will help you to embrace your professional selling self and, in so doing, enhance the very reputation of "selling". Step 1 Know Yourself. Who are you? What makes you special? What characteristics do you have that would attract someone to partner with you? What products or services do you have to offer them that is unique? Step 2 Get Clear On Who You Want to Attract. Who would you really like to work with? What qualities do these individuals have? What would it be like to have a relationship with these types of people? Create a "My Favorite Client" profile. Keep it in full sight. Step 3 Look for Your "Favorite Clients" Everywhere. It's like a treasure hunt. Where do they hang out? What do they read? What radio stations do they listen to? Where might you run into them? Step 4 Create an Image for these Individuals to See. How will you portray yourself to these potential Clients? What will you send them that will make you curious about you? Should you place a photo on your brochure? Should you pose a question in your copy that will make them say...Hmmm! What will make them reach out? Step 5 Imagine Yourself Conversing with Exactly the Type of Client you Seek. If you could talk with your Favorite Prospective Client, what would you like to find out about them? What would you like to share? How would you introduce yourself? What questions could you ask to put them at ease? Step 6 Be a Conversation Starter. Remember, people love to talk about themselves. Ask an "open-ended" question. Listen to the response. Listen some more. Come from curiosity. What does this person have to teach you? How might you two connect? What are the commonalities of experience? Is this someone you can help? Step 7 Move it Forward. Are you eager to share the "good news" about what you do with others? Are you excited about what you do? Are you comfortable in your own skin...even if it's new? Just be yourself. Share what turns you on. Tell a fun story. Move the relationship forward. Step 8 Watch for the "Magic Click". Are you feeling on the same wave length with this person? Does it just feel good to talk with them? Do you want to know more? Is the conversation "flowing"? Enjoy the connection! Step 9 Enjoy the New Relationship for What It Is Right Now. Be sure to be clear about what you do and why you love it. Invite your new acquaintances to "try you on"...through a sample or complimentary session. Nurture this new connection. Be there when they're ready to learn more. Step 10 Be Ready for Them When They're Ready for You. When the time is right for them, be easy to find. Congratulate your new Client on the choice they've made to better their life. Build on this wonderful, new relationship. Strengthen it with intimacy, caring, and skill. So this,my friends, is "Selling from your Heart". How much fun is this! You have opportunity after opportunity to connect with people, form new relationships, share your talents and skills and products, and help people to get what they need...exactly what you signed on for. And don't forget to keep the conversation going for a long, long time. Ask your new Clients to give you feedback on how the process or service or product feels to them. When they're delighted by the results, ask them to spread the good word through a Testimonial or other venue. If they forget, ask them again. Create a graceful ending when it is time for them to leave you. Keep in touch. Are you ready to make "Selling from your Heart" a goal in the new year? I hope so. Your reward will be a Client Base that is suited to exactly who you are who will help you to market your products and services for a long, long time to come. Happy selling!

Cold Calling Nightmare -- Turn the Nightmare into a Sales Success

Do you know that some of the greatest salesmen do it on the phone?

Yet, I keep hearing how cold calling is a nightmare, how they hate it, and how even some sales gurus say "cold calling is dead." Here are some of the reasons I’ve heard from my own sales trainees, at least in the beginning:

1) Rejectionâ€"All I got was No’s and the phone slammed in my ear.

2) All I got was voice mail jail and no one ever returns my calls.

And there are others, but most come back to the same thing: the obstacle you are facing isn’t out there in the cold cruel world. It resides right between your own two ears. Your own beliefs are the obstacle. It isn’t anywhere else.

For this article we’re going to deal with the “all” syndrome and rejection.

A client and I once developed a cold calling campaign plan. He was to make 200 cold calls in the next week. We developed the general idea of what he was going to say, who he was going to call, and how he was going to say it. Then we practiced it until he sounded natural.

When we got together the following week, I asked, So, how’d it go? “Horrible, all I got was phones slammed in my ear, P.O.’d people and No’s galore. It just didn’t work at all.”

How many calls did you make?

“30, and after all those No’s, I gave up.”

How many appointments did you get?”

“Only one.”

So, what was your success ratio? How many appointments for how many calls?

“Let’s see, I think that is….1 in 30, or 3%.”

And what was our original estimate. Wasn’t it 1 in 25? So, how can you say that it was a failure? You weren’t far off.

“…….but….but…all of those No’s, 29 out of 30. That was mostly failure!”

Let’s see, at 1-2 minutes per call for No’s, and maybe 5+ for the yes, how many minutes did you spend to get just one appointment? Isn’t that around 60 minutes to get an appointment? Not bad if you ask me. What would have happened if you had made all 200 calls?

“Maybe 6-7 appointments….Wait a minute, didn’t we target 8 appointments for the 200 calls?!?!”

How many calls were necessary to achieve your goal of 8 appointments a week? (This is probably THE MOST important question since it tells you clearly what you have to do to get the needed RESULTS).

Another thing would have happened if he had made the 200 calls: He’d have gotten better and better, gotten over his fear, and probably would have seen his call success improving toward the 1 in 25 calls, or even better.

I tell most of my clients that they need to make about 500 calls to get good at it. The trouble is that most never reach 500 calls, or if you do it takes them 2 years to do it, and by that time either the boss has eliminated you, or if you are a business owner your overhead costs have eliminated you.

It all started with the “all” syndrome. In other words our belief that

ALL we got was no’s, ALL we got were Voice Mails, and that NO ONE ever returned a call.

It’s the glass half full or half empty issue. That is a belief that in this case isn’t valid.

Use the Plan â€" Do â€" Improve/Optimize scenario.

Plan what you are going to do, Do it (make sure to measure the results so you know what works and what doesn’t), make changes (new plans), and Go back through that loop over and over.

Let’s apply that to the scenario above.

Develop what you are going to say, how you are going to say it and to who. Find the reasons why someone would even want to talk to you and develop it. Measure your success, measure how many successes you had out of how many calls. In most cases, it really isn’t as bad as everyone makes out. Now that you have the key measurementsâ€"fix them. That means, change what you say, how you say it, or who you say it to, and watch the numbers. Do they go up, or down? Capture what works, and learn from what doesn’t. You’ll see those numbers constantly moving up.

Learn the best way from the experts…get every book you can, go to training classes, hire a sales coach.

You are always in control. Don't be at the mercy of anything, someone else, the environment, the market place.

Sales Results -- not just Training

Typical results Leads -- up 5-10 times Sales closes -- up 4-5 times

Alan Boyer, The Leader's Perspective, LLC Reach Further Than You EVER Thought Possible...FASTER http://www.leaders-perspective.com

Psychology - the Magic Selling Ingredient

Basic psychology is about people's needs and their need to fulfil them. Most of us have a distinct priority at any given time, one problem that must be solved before all others, a "one thing at a time" mentality. You will be unlikely to interest a homeless man in a new car, until he's fulfilled his basic need for shelter first - unless he plans to live in the vehicle, I suppose. Understanding this principle and seeing how it applies to selling, will enhance your sales performance zillion-fold. Sell one thing at a time and concentrate on that. Sell other things as "back-end" once the immediate need is fulfilled. Don't confuse, don't stray from the point, do stick on the blinkers and keep to the target and the matter in hand. Don't overlook the obvious. Make sure you put the words "Click Here" on a banner. People respond to simple commands. Serve up testimonials next to your products or your newsletter sign-up form. People want to belong to groups: they'll want to belong to your "club" if it is seen to be a good one and endorsed by others. Use colours that convey the right image and incite the right actions. Want to be seen as an authority? Use black and yellow. Conservative and business-like? Dark blue, maybe a bit of grey. Business-like and money-orientated? Blue and green - which so many large corporate sites have adopted. Positioning of elements on a web page also makes a big difference. Apparently, whatever is at the top-right of the screen is what's most likely to get clicked. The average eye is drawn to that position - nothing to do with Windows' exit button being up there, I'm sure! This and 90% of the population being right-handed, to me, makes a strong case for right-hand navigation, with your best offer in pole position. Words: I could write tomes on what you can do with them! But I won't make an idiot of myself, instead read what great copywriters like David Garfinkel, who is the author of Killer Copy Tactics and widely acclaimed as "The World's Greatest Copywriting Coach" says. He uses psychology to great effect: http://www.roibot.com/kc.cgi The main point with words is to get to the emotions of your visitors. It has been said time and time again, but all anyone is interested in, is what your product or service will do for them. They do not care who you are or how many bells your widget has: they want to know if it will save them time or money, make them more desirable to the opposite sex or solve some problem they have. You need to show them the problem and how your offer solves it for them. Some of these things are seemingly very small, simple and insignificant, which is the beauty of them and, at the same time, the very reason why most people will overlook them. Using the right format in terms of colour, design and wording will have psychological influence on your visitors, which turns them into subscribers, buyers or whatever it is you desire. Great to have power, isn't it? I know, I know, it all sounds awfully manipulative and in the wrong hands, I'd tend to agree with you. But I am not talking about making people do something against their will. I am saying that this is nature and harnessing it: guiding people in the direction that they would naturally go, is a far more logical way of obtaining the result you require. Think about the rules of Judo or Karate, where you utilise your opponent's own strength to gain advantage. Pushing them further in the direction that they were already going will have them over a lot easier than it would have if you'd struggled to use your strength against them in the opposite direction. The same goes for mental engagements. People - that includes you and me, whether we wish to admit it or not - do react in almost predictable ways to these stimuli. It is our nature: instinct and it surely makes sense to work with that, rather than against it. Otherwise, you are fighting against people and nature: giving yourself an uphill struggle, creating an unnecessary battle and a hurdle to be overcome. Don't make it hard for yourself or your prospective clients. Know who they are and what they need, fulfil that and you are well on your way to success.

10 Important Things To Tell Your Prospects

10 Important Things To Tell Your Prospects by: William R. Nabaza of http://www.Nabaza.com 1. Tell your prospects that you offer free delivery. This may cost a little money, but, you will gain the extra customers to make up for it. 2. Tell your prospects that you offer a lower price. If you can't afford to offer a lower price you could always hold the occasional discount sale. 3. Tell your prospects that your product achieves results faster. People are becoming more and more impatient and want results fast. 4. Tell your prospects you've been in business for a longer period of time. People think if you've been in business longer you have more credibility. 5. Tell your prospects that your product tastes, smells sounds, looks, or feels better. When you target the senses you're triggering human appeal. 6. Tell your prospects your product is compact or light. People may want to take the product on a trip or don't have much room where they live. 7. Tell your prospects that your product lasts longer. People don't like to spend more money purchasing replacement products all the time. 8. Tell your prospects that your product is easy to use. People don't want to buy a product that they have to read a 100 page instruction manual. 9. Tell your prospects that your product has better safety features. People want to feel safe when they use your products. 10. Tell your prospects that you stand behind all your products. People want to know that you backup any claims you make about your product. ---- William Nabaza of http://www.Nabaza.com specializes in domains, webhosting, webmaster's tools, netpreneur's articles and resources. Stands out as a freebie provider, business opportunity provider and the like. Visit his site at http://www.nabaza.com or contact him directly at william@nabaza.com more free articles here: http://www.nabaza.com/resources.htm

The Critical Factor In Consistent Sales Success

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing.”

- Abraham Lincoln -

I have recognized for years that I could teach and then drill selling skills into a promising sales representative and could help my client to create a climate for self-motivation and yet some representatives with extremely high potential for success still would fail at the selling process. To combat this unpredictable failure, I often have counseled clients to hire two representatives to end up with one good one or three to get two. Even though I believed that a new sales person would do well as long as he had been given the right selling and prospecting tools and the motivation to spur him into action, often I saw perfectly capable employees leave the selling profession, simply because of a missing ingredient. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the elusive success component, but I did feel it had something to do with an individual’s achievement drive. That’s why I initially created our Getting An Edge workshop and self-administered reinforcement series (see http://thesellingedge.com/manual2.htm). After watching good people fail, I sensed that there was a missing factor in our sales training. Now research by Dr. Kevin Celuch, professor of Marketing at Illinois State University, has not only identified and clarified the critical ingredient to sales success, but he has made some vital suggestions on how to instill this factor into individual sales representatives.

Dr. Celuch’s has analyzed* 166 previous studies that had been completed on selling success. In his research he found that even with all of the vital selling skills in place and a motivational climate within a given company, a sales representative or service professional will often fail due to what Celuch refers to as “a vital mediating factor” between a sales person’s selling skills and motivation. This mediating factor, is a sales person’s own self-esteem. Celuch’s study shows an extremely low correlation between sales success on one hand and a sales representative’s aptitude, sales techniques, organizational skill and motivation factors on the other. Across a long list of diverse selling activities and abilities, the real indicator of selling success found in the Celuch study was a sales professional’s perceived self-efficacy. A “belief in oneself” was Dr. Celuch’s explanation for a salesperson’s behavior and performance levels. He found that self-belief was the critical intermediary between a sales representative’s knowledge and the professional’s behavior.

It is interesting that a gut feeling that I have had about sales success for the past 17 years has finally been proven by research. Achievement drive, the self-esteem that drives achievement, is critical to your company’s overall selling success. Those of you that use testing before hiring new sales associates should make certain that this critical factor is assessed by your tests and weighted heavily as you make decisions regarding those that you hire. For those sales representatives already in place, you need to assess your programs for helping the employees crucial to the overall success of your organization to maintain and consistently improve their feelings of self-worth. The manual listed in the first paragraph can help anyone to alter negative feelings and attain a personal belief levels that will produce consistent sales success.

* Source: Kevin Celuch, Illinois Stale University. Based on "Perceived Self-Efficacy and Salesperson Performance," presented to Pi Sigma Epsilon research fraternity convention.

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the “best selling” Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden's latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/

How To Pick The Right Direct Sales Company

I have people ask me all the time what direct sales company they should join. This may seem like a simple question, but unfortunately it isn’t that easy to answer. The short answer is “It depends”. Let me explain why and what you should look for in a direct sales company that is right for you. The ideal or best direct sales company for you should fulfill as many of the following criteria as possible.

Love The Product

The most important thing when picking a direct sales company is that you love the product. Don’t join a company because you think the product would be easy to sell, find one with a product that you actually use, find helpful and enjoy. Your passion for the product will come across as you tell others about it and make selling it much easier. Your potential customers will sense how much you like and enjoy the product. This can go a long way in earning their trust to spend their hard earned dollars with you. And no â€" you can’t fake that kind of passion for a product. Don’t even try.

Fair and Competitive Compensation

Keep in mind that you are in this to earn a living, even if your goal is only to make a couple hundred bucks a month. Take a look at what some of the other direct sales companies are paying, both in commission and bonuses. Make sure the companies you have narrowed it down to offer a fair and competitive compensation plan.

While you are looking at this, also keep in mind how much you will have to spend to join. How quickly can you expect to recoup your initial investment? I would be much rather inclined to give a company with a slightly lower compensation a try if it doesn’t cost me much to join.

Great Customer Service

Have you ordered something through the company? Do you know someone else who has ordered through them as a customer? How was the customer service experience? Part of your long-term strategy is to build up a customer base that will order through you over and over again. Bad customer service on the company end will make keeping your customers hard.

Training and Support For You

Last, but not least, you want to make sure the company offers you the training and support to help you grow your business. Do they have a training manual and ongoing meetings or classes? You should also discuss when and how you could contact your sponsor for support. Talk to other reps in the organization, or even better find someone who is no longer with the company and talk to them about their experiences dealing with the company as a rep.

Don’t just take your sponsor’s word for it. Remember, she may be sugar-coating things a little, since she will be compensated for recruiting you. Overall, take your time evaluating any direct-sales company you are considering joining. Don’t just jump in, do you homework and I am sure you will find the Direct Sales Company that is right for you.

For more direct sales business tips, advice, articles, and suggestions head over to http://www.mommysplace.net Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nell_Taliercio