Tag: Sales

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Entrepreneurship Sales

9 Quick Business Networking Tips

business networking tips

 

Networking for business purposes takes various amounts strategy and intention, in terms of how you proceed in interacting with potential business prospects. Whether you want to make a connection with someone for sales reasons or to build up your business network in general, the following business networking tips will assist you in accomplishing your goals.

1. Business Networking Tips for Business Cards.

Business cards may seem old fashioned, but they help to make connections and provide easy to access contact information. Many companies offer professional quality,  inexpensive business cards. Even if you have a business card for your fulltime job, consider making one that highlights you and your skills individually.

2. Business Networking Tips for LinkedIn.

If you’re short on business cards, LinkedIn is a good option if you have a smartphone. Download the LinkedIn app and when you make a new connection in real life, you can ask that person to become a connection on LinkedIn while you’re still talking to them. Just remember to follow up on LinkedIn after the connection is made.

3. Business Networking Tips for LinkedIn Part 2.

The right headline on LinkedIn can make building your network easier. LinkedIn creates a default heading for you based on your current job title, but often times that mean your headline is something vague like “Manager.” Use keywords to build the right headline, like “Marketing Content Manager Interested in Digital Sales” now you’ve got four keywords in your title that is much for informative.

4. Business Networking Tips for Online.

Making connections online can be easy. LinkedIn provides suggested connections while Facebook and Twitter have features that let’s you see other people who are posting about things of interest to you. SImply reach out to these people on these networks or by email if possible and introduce yourself and your reason for reaching out. You’re on your way to a new connection.

5. Business Networking Tips for Offline.

Reach out to your local chamber of commerce or ask online connections for recommendations for in person events. If you can name your industry, chances are you can find a conference or gathering around it. If you can’t afford to travel to a conference specific to your industry, look for a general business networking conference close to your home.

6. Business Networking Tips for Introductions.

As you build your network, don’t be afraid to ask for introductions. People in your network all have their own personal network that could be a of value to you. Services like LinkedIn allow you to see how someone else’s network might connect you to someone who could be helpful to you. Don’t hesitate to reach out.

7. Business Networking Tips for How to Stay in Touch.

After you make your first connection with someone, set a reminder in your calendar to reach out to them monthly or semi-monthly. This way you will build a genuine relationship with your new connection and be able to identify how you can best assist each other.

8. Business Networking Tips for How to Offer Help.

How can you help your new connection? This should be your first thought when meeting someone. Ideally a connection will help you build your business, but you need to offer help to be deserving of their assistance. Help someone out first and they will be more likely to help you down the line.

9. Business Networking Tips for How to Offer Connections.

Just like you may want an introduction to someone new, offer introductions to your new contact. Do you know someone who might be helpful for the or have work for them? Send an email to introduce them. This helps to solidify your connection and keep you top of mind for how they can help you.

 

 

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Sales

How to Follow up with Leads After the Business Card Exchange

How to Follow up with leads

 

So you’ve gone to a networking event and connected with a few people. Good job! But what do you do next? Read on to find out how to follow up with leads and the dos and don’ts of maintaining and building connections after that first exchange.

Don’t immediately ask for a favor.

Networking is important because often those connections you make can be a benefit to you at some point. However, theses connections are in fact relationships and require a two way effort to thrive. That means you don’t just make a connection to get something, you need to give a little too. Asking for a favor or what your new connection can do for you right away is a bad choice and can result in you fracturing your new relationship.

Do check in.

After your first meeting, consider sending a short note or email to your new connection and mention how great it was to meet them as well as some of the things you talked about. Ask your connection about their business and how things are going for them. This reminds your connection of who you are and lets them know that you’re not just looking for a favor.

Don’t ask first.

So you’ve sent your note and heard back from your connection, is it OK to ask for a favor now? If you can hold off asking for something do so. See how you can help your connection first. Try to reach out to your connection several times and develop the relationship before you ask for something. Better yet, build your connection before you need something, that way you build meaningful relationships and when you do need a favor you’ll feel more comfortable asking and your connection will be more likely to assist you.

Do ask what you can do.

It’s never too early to ask what you can do for a new connection or offer ways to help them. As you reach out regularly offer your connection some sort of help. This can be as simple as a link to a news article you found helpful or letting them know of some new opportunities in their field. The more you help your connection, the more likely they will help you.

Don’t look for better connections.

Networking is called so because you are building a network of people, not a connection with just one. With some networking, the person who can help you most in your business may not be your new connection, but one of their connections. Don’t make the mistake of asking a new connection for an introduction right away. This may make your new connection feel uncomfortable and be difficult for them as they don’t know you well just yet.

Do expand connections in a logical way.

As you establish relationships with your new connection, the introductions will come. As you get to know people in your network, they may think to themselves that they know someone who might be good for you to meet. Let connections develop and work on them and you will see be given the chance to expand your network even more.

 

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Affiliate Marketing Marketing

The Best B2B Sales Technique You’re Not Using

B2B Networking

 

One thing many B2B sales people seem to forget when pursuing a lead is to stop being a sales person and start being a human. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes. Would you want to be continually hounded and repeatedly told the benefits of a product that have nothing to do with why you may be interested in using it? You are not a nameless online shopper filling your e-cart with goods. You are a potential client or customer of the business, using the product or service for your business. So, here it is: the best B2B (or business to business) sales technique you’re not using is the delicate process of getting to know your prospect on a genuine level, listening, engaging, and crafting your sales pitch around that specific person’s motivations to buy.

Invite them to participate.

Whether you’re the owner of a marketing agency looking to close a client, or an affiliate marketer looking to close a new member of the team, one of the advantages of trying to close a B2B deal is that it is much more personal and on more of a peer-level than B2C customers. Invite your prospect to grab coffee or even play some golf. Get tickets to a sports game or a concert and invite your potential lead along to enjoy. The type of activity will depend on the value of the lead being closed, but the idea is to get some face-to-face time alone with this prospect.

Ask them questions about themselves.

The number one priority of this “get together” is to genuinely learn about this prospect and what makes them tick. What inspires this person or drives them to work hard? What is their personality type and what do they enjoy doing? By asking people about themselves, even family and general questions that are unrelated to your business will get them to loosen up, trust you a little bit more, and think of you on a more friendly, less “salesy” level.

Practice engaged listening.

Don’t just ask questions and forget to listen to the answers or respond with follow up questions that show you are interested. By sharing openly with you, your prospect will be giving you valuable insight into the kind of person they are, why they may or may not be looking for your services, and what kind of tactics you should be using to close them. Once you listen and learn from them, you will know what may motivate them to sign on the dotted line. For example, let’s say you are a member of the Domain Cost Club, and part of their affiliate marketing program. After speaking with a prospect in depth, you come to realize that the wholesale domain prices are much more important to this person who is constantly purchasing top-level domains than the affiliate program itself. In this case, you will know to change your sales approach.

Perfect the “soft sell.”

The word “sell” should be used extremely lightly in this post, as the whole idea is to listen and engage, instead of sell. Once you have gotten to know your prospect and learned valuable insights as to why they are interested in your product or service, you can begin to describe the benefits as they relate specifically to this person. Give concrete examples based on information they have told you as to why this product or service will work for them, or how much they stand to gain based on what they told you they were looking for, specifically. Relate all information back to the prospect personally and back to how you, yourself found value from this product or service. Whatever you do, do not push yourself or what you are selling on this person in the first meeting. Simply explain the benefits and allow them to reach back out with specific questions.

Check back in.

You will want to re-engage your lead multiple times throughout this process. First, make sure to thank them for their time and follow up with some anecdotal stories you enjoyed speaking about. Or, perhaps you discussed something else you could help them with or that you could do together. Make sure to keep your word and follow-up with any necessary details. After a week or so, you will want to check back in regarding your product or service. Ask your prospect if they need any further information and/or reading material to help them in their decision. Offer to set them up with a current or previous customer that could give them an unbiased opinion.

Create urgency.

At the end of the day, people respond better to making decisions if they feel there is a time constraint attached. If your prospect still hasn’t signed, offer some kind of special deal or discounted membership for one week only. Of course, do not be pushy with this approach, simply let them know you are reaching out in regards to this special, because you know they were interested and this would give them a significant discount (or whatever deal you have offered them.) These kinds of activities will passively encourage the prospect to make the choice and close the deal.

Remember, this approach should continue even after the sale is closed. It is just as important to keep the client or customer once you have closed them. Provide continued support and a consistent communication stream. Your client lists should have a “check-in” calendar in which you take into account the satisfaction level they have in regards to the product or service. This will aid in a high retention rate for your business.

You may think this is an extremely time-consuming process to complete, and you’re right – it is. However, you will close more leads with this approach than you ever will with a “one size fits all,” “throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks” approach. Time and effort are the marks of a truly successful sales person.

 

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Landing Pages Marketing

These Thank You Page Best Practices Will Help You Move Leads Down the Funnel

lead funnel

In our last post, we discussed best practices for a landing page that will successfully convert leads. Once your leads click on your ad and submit your form to receive whatever offer you’ve advertised, they should be directed to a well-designed thank you page.  A thank you page let’s the lead know their request has been received and allows your brand to have another opportunity for conversion.

The following are best practices for content to be included on your thank you page:

1. Clean Design

Just as you should have done in your original landing page, make sure your thank you page is clean and easy to navigate. Your visitor should not be confused on what their follow-up options are. Also make sure the branding and design matches that of the original landing page. The ad to the landing page to the thank you page should all read like a story.

2. Remove Distractions

Once your lead has converted and been directed to the thank you page, you want them to take some other action that will force them to continue to interact with your brand. Take out links to the homepage, or the like, which will not do anything to assist you in converting the lead in any other way.

3. Confirm the Submission

Make sure the user knows that your business has received their form and you are taking the next action, whatever that might be. Let them know the form has been submitted and either they will be contacted, their order will be shipped, or some follow-up will occur after this.

4. Include a Relevant Offer

Think of your thank you page as another landing page, and another opportunity to make a conversion, as mentioned above. If you are an affiliate marketing company and your original offer was a discount on signing up, you should include a link or on-page ad to a “refer a friend” commission, or something else that would be relevant to the offer they just acted on. Other ideas for additional offers include webinars or coupon codes for other products.

5. Tell Them Why to Follow Your Social Accounts

It’s all well and good to include links to your social accounts and hope that people click, but why not give a little push to increase your chances of gaining likes and followers? By including larger social icons with blurbs that mention why they should follow you on social and what kind of content they will see from you, they may be more inclined to click. For example, if you are a domain registrar and this lead just converted on an offer for a discounted domain name, they may be interested in how to design their website or want to learn about simple social media tips to increase traffic to their new site. Letting them know that this is the kind of content you post about on social will be much more likely to get them to follow than simply placing a link to your twitter account.

6. Include Value Added Blog Content

The same concept from above applies to this best practice. Offering free content on subject matter that would interest your lead will allow them to get to know and trust your brand more. If your social accounts post about various categories this lead cares about, they will most likely also care about the original content being created and posted on your blog. Choose to include a blog post that is, again, relevant to your initial offer – make your story continue.

7. Ask them to Subscribe

Let the lead know what kind of content they can expect to receive if they sign up for your email newsletter and provide a simple email submission form to close the deal. From your end, you make sure your drip marketing campaigns provide interesting, trustworthy content that would apply to your leads, no matter where they are in the funnel. Remember, you should use your email marketing to push leads like this down the funnel to make them a customer.

8. Try Including a Video

Videos generally get very high click rates on thank you pages. At this point we can assume the lead is interested in your brand or type of product based on the fact that they submitted your form to receive your offer. This lead is most likely interested in learning more about your brand, how your products work, more details on the offer, or something in that realm. Remember, the idea is to keep this lead engaged with your brand for as long after conversion as possible.

9. Show Off Your Social Proof

Including reviews from current and previous customers, bloggers, reliable news or online sources is an awesome way to seal the deal with your lead and increase their trust with your brand. People like to know how others like using a product or service and will often be more likely to complete a purchase if they see the product got great reviews from others that used the product or service. “As seen on” images, such as “As Seen on The Today Show,” or “Dr. OZ,” also work as wonderful social proof on a landing page.

10. Let Them Share

Ask visitors to share the offer on their personal social channels or via email. Using the same concept from above, but to an even higher degree, someone will be more likely to make a purchase if someone they know personally has actually emailed them an offer with the assumption that the person they are sending to would be interested in it.

BONUS: Send an Auto Confirmation Email

Make sure you set up an auto-responder email to confirm submission of a form and thank the lead for their interest. This email is an entirely new blank canvas with even more chances to convert a lead in different ways. Include any of the best practices above that you didn’t have room for on the original thank you page, or include the same best practices with different content! The point is not to waste an opportunity to touch a lead an additional time and get them to engage with your brand further.

Remember to keep your design clean and your paths to conversion easy for your user to understand. In other words, you probably won’t be able to use every single best practice on every thank you page. Choose the ones that are most relevant to the original ad and landing page, and whichever ones align with your most important conversion goals at the time. It’s also a good idea to test different thank you pages to see which content resonates better with your leads.

What did we miss? What is you “must have” piece of content on your thank you page? Let us know in the comment section…

 

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Entrepreneurship

10 Books Every Entrepreneur Must Read in 2015

best entrepreneur books

An entrepreneur can be considered anyone who identifies a need, and fills it. This person will organize and run a business based on their instincts, and is willing to risk a substantial amount to do so. Whether the business is large or small, run out of a skyscraper or a work from home business – it’s not what the business is, or how it’s run that makes the entrepreneur. It’s the spirit inside them.

The most important ways to learn, grow, and progress along your journey as an entrepreneur is to read and listen. Read articles and read books. Listen to speeches and listen to podcasts. Just keep learning.

Here are 10 books every entrepreneur should read this year:

1. The E-Myth Revisited – Michael E. Gerber

An updated version of the widely popular The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, this book details the common myths surrounding starting your own business and how to avoid them to ensure success.

2. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

Learn how to win people over, make them see and agree with your point of view, and influence them to make the decisions you want to make. This book is the holy grail of communicating with people successfully for business purposes.

3. The 4-Hour Workweek – Timothy Ferris

Work less, play more – that’s the theory of this author. Learn how to live luxuriously by increasing efficiency, outsourcing responsibility, and changing your mindset in order to work only 4 hours per week, while still building your fortune.

4. Rework – Jason Fried and David Hansson

Accelerate your success in business with this fast-paced approach to entrepreneurship. This book encourages the reader to learn by experience and take more action, instead of spending endless amounts of time planning.

5. Cold Calling Techniques – Stephen Schiffman

The most important part of business is sales; if you can’t sell your product or service, you’re done. This book will break down tried and true sales techniques that will ensure you close the deal.

6. The Lean Startup – Eric Ries

Grow your business faster and ensure your startup isn’t in the majority of failures with these developmental business tips. The lessons in this book are inspired by “validated learning,” and many components of lean manufacturing.

7. The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand

A less direct focus on business and entrepreneurship, this novel inspires the reader’s individualism and should motivate them to create their own path. Taking risks and accepting the consequences are something every entrepreneur should be prepared for.

8. Losing My Virginity – Richard Branson

An autobiographical adventure of one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs of the century. Branson details his business philosophies that he credits his success to.

9. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook – Gary Vaynerchuck

This book is a straight to the point blueprint on how to cut through the noise to reach your customers and beat out your competition in doing so. Written by a social media expert, this book offers tangible takeaways on how to tell your brand’s story.

10. The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career – Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

Co-authored by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, this book inspires the readers to accelerate their career by treating it like a startup business. Advice from some of Silicon Valley’s most successful entrepreneurs is bound to inspire action.

Force yourself to gain some advice and inspiration on your entrepreneurial journey. There is no reason to go it alone. These books are bound to spark something inside you to get motivated and just do it – whatever it may be.

 

 

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Affiliate Marketing Uncategorized

7 Tips to Boost Your Affiliate Marketing Sales

increase affiliate marketing sales

Online affiliate marketing can be an incredible way to make money while working from home, simply by building and utilizing your network. However, affiliate marketing requires research, focus and commitment in order to be truly successful.

The following tips will help you hone your affiliate networking craft and starting making sales and earning income more quickly!

1. Build Relationships

Relationships are key to affiliate marketing. Constantly networking, having conversations, and finding ways to help others will be extremely beneficial to you. The more contacts you have, the better. No matter where you are, there is always time to meet someone new, strike up a conversation and build a new contact. Even if the person is not interested in your product, perhaps they know someone that is.

2. Solve a Problem

Is the product you’re selling useful? Does it actually help the customer in some way? Does it save them money or help them in their daily life? Affiliate marketers for Domain Cost Club can use the discounted prices of domains and enormous variety of new TLDs (or Top Level Domains) as one of their top selling points for the product. Purchasing domains from Domain Cost Club will save the customer money. Period.

3. Use Quality Content

Make sure anything you post on website, blog, social media, etc. is quality and can stand the test of time. Don’t post or write about things that don’t matter or will be outdated within a few months. This tip is especially important if you are an affiliate marketer for multiple products. Make sure you are conveying the most important, useful information regarding your products or that you are providing information helpful to your audience.

4. Use the Product

As an affiliate marketer, it’s easy to get a bad rap in the online world – simply by the nature of the business. Make sure you have actually tried and like the product you are selling. People can easily see through a disingenuous sales pitch and will not buy from someone who they don’t trust.

5. Be Honest

Transparency is key in gaining the trust of potential customers. Make sure you mention that you are an affiliate marketer of the product, and give details about how that actually works. Make sure your audience knows that you have indeed used the product, and that you would never endorse something you wouldn’t use yourself.

6. Set Specific Goals

Beginning an affiliate marketing journey without actually sitting down and writing out tangible goals will get you no where. It’s too easy to avoid hitting vague goals or let yourself off the hook if you don’t have real numbers written down. Talk with peers to evaluate realistic, yet challenging goals. Then create a road map to hitting them. You will accomplish more by knowing what it is you have set out to do from the beginning.

7. Be Patient

As mentioned above, success with affiliate marketing doesn’t happen over night. Extensive research regarding the product you are selling is essential. You need to be an authority figure on the subject. Not to mention the long process of building up your network, gaining their trust, and actually closing a deal. However, if you commit to following through, you will no doubt reap the rewards!

Implementing these tips into your daily affiliate marketing routine is sure to help you close more sales and achieve your goals. Make sure you build upon these guidelines each day to get the most out of your experience.

What did we miss? Do you have any top affiliate marketing tips to live by? Let us know in the comment section!

 

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Sales

6 Sales Practices You Must Continuously Make Time For

Sales Techniques Growth

Working in sales, there are a number of activities which should never be considered “complete”, and should be continuously worked on. The following practices will help you grow and perfect your talent in sales, and in turn close more deals. Putting time and effort into lifelong skill sets will garner you lifelong returns – no matter what it is you are selling.

Are you consistently working on these practices in order to increase your effectiveness?

1. Networking

The most important parts of sales are talking, making connections, and building relationships. Whether you’re selling a product or service, promoting a business, building up an affiliate network, or the like, having a large network of friends, acquaintances and business associates will always benefit you.

2. Building Your Pipeline

Researching exactly who you target audience is, where they are, and what has been working in the past in order to turn prospects into clients or customers is step one in keeping your sales funnel full. Once you know whom you are going after, and what has worked on similar prospects, you can begin to target those in your network that may have interest in your product. Remember, sales cycles vary extensively. Depending on your sales proposition, someone may need to be in the pipeline for two years. So, continuously moving people from stage to stage through the pipeline, and getting new prospects into the pipeline will ensure you always have a target to be working on.

Providing Value3. Providing Value

You can’t continue selling the same thing for years, to the same people, and never make any changes to the value they are getting out of it. Figure out how exactly your product or service actually benefits people, and think of ways to add onto or augment that. Is what you’re selling going to earn that person more money? Is it going to make their life easier in some way? Keep your business relationships strong by making sure your product continues to benefit your customers, and creates value for new customers.

4. Educating

This practice refers to educating yourself and educating others. Never stop reading, observing, and listening to information regarding your industry, customers, and product or service. Learn from those around you who are having success in your business. Depending on what you are selling, make sure your customer understands the product, and continues to learn about that product, and new products your business may develop. Perhaps your product or service has some difficult to understand features, or financial intricacies – blogs and videos are a fantastic way to educate your audience.

5. Honing Your Pitch

Every time you complete a pitch, you should be making notes on what resonated with your audience, how that audience may have been different than another, and what changes you should make. The more times you practice and give your pitch, the more natural it will become. Sometimes however, your pitch should be altered to be more of a networking conversation than the quintessential “elevator pitch” to a customer or investor. Work on different ways to get your point across to various audiences. Over time you will become a master of owning the room, and winning someone over no matter what their starting viewpoint.

6. Garnering Feedback

You can’t always rely on yourself alone to figure out what went right and what went wrong during a pitch. Ask your family, friends, customers or clients that are now advocates what it was that reeled them in, and what almost lost them! Simple tips here and there from peers, your role models in the industry, and even friends and family will help you perfect your sales techniques.

After reading through the tips, it should make total sense why these activities should be ongoing for your entire sales career. There will never be a time that you have finished learning or networking, for example. The more focus and emphasis you put on these activities, the more you will see the benefits of them.

Did we miss anything? What are some sales practices that you continue to build upon day after day and year after year in order to make you a better salesman? Share in the comment section!

 

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