Source: Business2Community

Just because you are a small business doesn’t mean you lack the resources to integrate email campaign tactics that are deployed by large organizations into your marketing strategy. Email service providers are now making it easier for companies to automate their emails and implement nurturing campaigns, despite having a one person marketing team. All it takes is a little time and patience to outline a strategy, set your campaigns and analyze your results.

To read the rest of the article, go to the source.

And, while this is a good article, we have a different take on “grow your list.” While it’s great to have a list of all your current clients for email campaigns, that’s not the way to procure new clients. To do that, you may need to step outside your comfort zone and purchase a list of targeted contacts. The ROI on these types of lists has a proven track record, and it can put a small business on the level with large companies.

To find out more information about buying a targeted list yourself, shoot us an email at sales@prospectdb.com

Source: Karr Associates, Inc

If you really want to sell more in less time, stop wasting your time on writing proposals that are unqualified and unnecessary.

Appropriate need is not identified
Customer is not really interested in your solution
Customer tells you to please send proposal (many times done to get rid of the salesperson)

To read the rest, go to the source.

Source: Freelance Switch

Like many other freelancers, I have a hard time selling myself. It’s something I know I have to work on this year. But as a freelancer, we don’t have someone else out there selling our services for us. It’s up to us to land our own jobs.

I don’t shop for a new car the same way I shop for a new sweater, so this advice hit home for me. Here are some tips from the article that I thought were very helpful.

To read more details about shifting your pitch based on your client, go to the source.

Do you play the part of different sales people, based on who you are selling to? Is it something you were trained to do, or did it come naturally?

Source: Tele Sales Master

When you do things for your Luck List there is a tendency for them to want to reciprocate; to even up the balance. In sales, if you`ve done a little extra for a client that goes above and beyond the call of duty, most of them remember that. They reciprocate by giving the last look at a quote or they call you first in an emergency or the cut a few points with your pricing. They`ll act as strong references and give testimonials. Often they`ll pass your name on to associates.

To read more about creating a luck list and using it to your advantage, go to the source.

Do you make your own luck? Do you have a “lucky” sales person in your office? What are they doing differently? Do they consider themselves lucky?

Source: Business 2 Community

Let’s talk about goals first and then we will raise some important questions that you will need to answer in order to formulate your plan. As a B2B salesperson, your goals should be to …

Expand your network
Promote your existing products or services and introduce new ones
Establish your expertise
Find and create strategic alliances
Find new revenue sources
Uncover new opportunities and convert those to sales
Get more referrals from both clients and contacts
Build closer relationships with your existing clients and develop relationships with new ones
Learn more about who your clients are connected to
Seek advice from others and that includes your clients
Provide better customer service
Monitor and protect your brand
Keep your pipeline full and increase your closing ratios
Track key-contact career movements

With those goals in mind, head to the source to read about making a plan.

Do you agree with these goals? What is your B2B sales plan?

Source: Salesopedia.com

What’s in store for B2B tele-sales departments in 2012? This Special Report provides you with an abbreviated ‘executive summary’ of 10 trends that are impacting the world of telephone sales.

Tele-Trend #1: Telephone Selling Growth Spurt -Again

B2B tele-sales is growing at a rate of 7.5% compared to field sales at only .5%. Clearly more companies are jumping on the telephone band wagon. Telephone selling applications are also growing in complexity and sophistication thanks in part to technology and the internet and thanks in part to a newer generation of buyer who is relatively comfortable with less face to face interaction. However, growth means more competition and more options. Smart telephone executives will emphasize the quality of the sales call to give themselves a distinct, competitive advantage.

Tele-Trend #2: The Decline of the Cold Call

Cold call to closed call ratios with drop like a stone which means it will take more dials and connects to achieve the same results. With so many companies turning to the phone your buyer has more options. Savvy companies will look for ways to become more effective with the smart use of the internet (see below) combined with a higher quality call. More emphasis will be placed on ‘smart dialing” (more skills, finesse and expertise) and less on ‘hard dialling’ (cranking out more phone calls).

Tele-Trend #3: The Growth of Visual ‘Calls’

‘Visual prospecting’ is the intelligent use of e-mail to prospect because today’s buyer is linked to visual messages through their smart phones at work in meetings, commuting, at home, at leisure, on the weekends, 24-7. Smart, 1-to-1 e-prospecting customized to the individual prospect and integrated with a well planned voice follow up campaign will change the telephone prospecting landscape.

To read the rest of the article, go to the source.

All borrowed from Work Fails.

Source: Business2Community.com

The Super Bowl draws big crowds, big egos, big hype and, of course, big budgets for ads. So why do so many of them, well, fail? Here’s my take on Super Bowl XLVI marketing failures.

Wardrobe Malfunction?

Madonna remained fully clothed during her halftime show, but I’m sorry I can’t say the same for the women in GoDaddy’s ads. Their propensity for using scantily clad (or was that naked) women in their Superbowl ads has now become all too expected. Really? Do we need to worry about our kids watching advertising for domain names and hosting plans? My favorite tweet about the ads: “Maybe Danika needs the money in order to sell out her entire gender.” GoDaddy, you can do better. The sad thing is, their customer service and products are excellent, and I use them despite their advertising. What I don’t understand is, why spend all that money to alienate half your potential audience? Fail.

Weird QR Code Placement

GoDaddy again. Did any of you notice during the second GoDaddy commercial that a QR code popped up in the left lower corner? Since I generally watch TV with my QR app ready to go (sarcasm intended) I wasn’t taken by surprise. Seriously though, while QR codes can be a great way to drive traffic to your landing page, Facebook page or any place else you’d like to send visitors for information and connection, there are places where they aren’t appropriate. Let me list a few here:

Billboards
Websites ( people, use a a link please)
TV commercials
Maybe this particular QR code takes you to a page where you can complain about the offensive use of women in their ads? Doubt it.

To read the rest of the article, go to the source.

What marketing fails did you see during the Super Bowl?

Source: Business2Community.com

A couple weeks ago, I searched for “2012 Superbowl Commericals” and was quite surprised to see how many were already posted. Not only were they posted but longer versions were available and buzz was already spreading by bloggers, consumer word of mouth and general comments posted on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. Smart marketers understand the power of Inbound Marketing and that people simply search for what they’re interested in. Face it, if advertisers are spending $3.5 million per :30 sec. spot, they better be smart about getting people to see their content.

Are these online ads really Inbound Marketing at work? Absolutely! Here’s how:

1. They’re searchable – a simple Google search for “2012 Superbowl Commercials” quickly highlights the newest available content.

2. They’re attractable – targets and prospects (in this case, viewers) are not only entertained by these great spots but they’re exposed to the brands’ content and sales message.

3. They encourage conversion – interestingly, many of this year’s spots contain very little product “sell”, they are strictly designed to drive viewers to the brands’ websites. While offers are not necessarily embedded in the creative, any web viewer visiting the primary website is treated to a host of benefit content, online discounts, coupons, recipes and even Superbowl party tips.

4. They create buzz – social media channels have been buzzing about these spots for weeks. While the actual spots during the game may not be so exciting since they’ve already been viewed, they do let game watchers point out their favorities to the crowd (I made everybody hush for Volkswagen’s barking dogs). Spots posted well before the game had MILLIONS of views before they even aired! I wonder how many repeat views of Honda’s Ferris Bueller spot occurred by the simple question “How many references did you spot” – by the way, I saw 19/24 after three views.

To read the rest of the article, go to the source.

What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial? Do you think they’re worth the money? Have they gotten better or worse in the last few years?