Jill Konrath's Blog, page 19

How to Know if Your Prospecting Email Message is Effective

Salespeople spend an inordinate amount of time developing cold call emails, hoping they'll create the perfect message that will get prospects to say, "Yes! I want to meet with you immediately."

That would be great, but it takes a lot of practice to find the best way to pique your prospects' interest. Here are 3 ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your prospecting email: 

Is Your Prospecting Email Spam – or Not?

Is it spam to send a prospecting email to someone you don't know? I get asked about that a lot. Nobody wants to be seen as a spammer. So, let me give you some guidelines.

Officially, an email is spam when you're blasting a huge number of people with the same message. It's also spam if your email lacks official contact information or people can't unsubscribe from these massive blasts.

Selling at Trade Shows: A Lesson From a Hot Shot High Tech Company

Last year I spoke at Dreamforce with my client DiscoverOrg.com. (If you sell into the IT area, check them out.) Over 130,000 Salesforce.com customers, developers and partners were there.

After our talk, I went to DiscoverOrg’s booth for a book signing. The exhibit hall was a zoo.

When all my books were gone, I spent time observing their salespeople in action. It was fascinating.

Dealing With the "Current Vendor" Sales Objection

Here's a typical exchange between a prospect and a salesperson when this common sales objection is raised:

Prospect: "We're already working with xyz firm."
Seller: "Oh. How are they doing for you?"  
Prospect: "They're okay."
Seller: "What will it take to get you to switch?"
Prospect: "We're not interested." Click!

Clearly, that's not working.

How to Avoid a Stagnant Sales Career

Last Friday, I was on the edge. Literally. I was speaking to a group of sales professionals. Some were new to sales; most were experienced pros.

I was doing a totally new keynote on AGILE SELLING, sharing strategies on how to quickly learn new things so you could stay at the top of your game – or to get there.

Now, you probably don't think of me being nervous about doing new things, but I am. I want my keynotes and workshops to be awesome experiences for everyone who's there. 

It took me a long time to prepare.

What to Say to Get Prospects to think "That's Really Interesting!"

I'm often asked, "Which is better – an elevator speech, unique selling proposition or value proposition?" All are effective at different times, but there is one clear winner for piquing prospects' interest in your offering.

Don't Fall Into the "Tell Me About Your Stuff" Trap

How should you respond when a prospect asks you to tell them about your stuff? Most of us get excited because we think they're really interested in what we're offering, but the truth is they're really looking for a way to dismiss us.

Beware -- if you talk about your stuff, you'll be brushed off in moments!

[Video] Biggest PowerPoint Mistakes Salespeople Make

What are the biggest mistakes salespeople make with PowerPoint presentations? 

Too Product / Service Oriented and Too Many Slides

Most salespeople totally miss the point of their presentation, thinking that the more they can cover about their company and its products and services, the better they'll be. As a result, their presentations have ballooned to 40 – 60 slides.

And then what happens when they meet with their prospect? They feel compelled to cover ever single one in excruciating detail. If the hour ends and they've covered everything, they're happy.

If that's what you do, you're not helping yourself get the business. Your prospect has been bored to tears. They see you as another self-serving salesperson who's doing her pitch. You don't stand out from the crowd at all.

6 Strategies to Quickly Improve Your Sales Skills

This article contains an excerpt from my new book, AGILE SELLING. 

Sales has now officially become a thinking-intensive profession. We're constantly bombarded with new information: new products, services, bosses, priorities, processes, technology...the list goes on and on.

It’s impossible to stay on top of it all. So much to learn in so little time. And it just keeps coming at you. As soon as you think you’ve got it all figured out -- BAM! -- more change and you’re scrambling again.

Successful sellers need to learn a lot fast, and figure out how to best integrate that new knowledge into customer interactions. 

Developing your learning agility enables you to be resourceful, adaptable and proactive, ready to tackle your customers’ biggest challenges and help them succeed. It means you’re a skilled communicator because you’ve learned to think from other peoples' perspectives. You’re fast and flexible in the ideas you generate, and are able to come up with lots of ways to achieve your goals.

AGILE SELLING: Helping Salespeople Deal With Overwhelm

Shortly after SNAP Selling came out, tons of salespeople said to me, “This is great info on selling to today’s crazy-busy prospects. But I’m frazzled too. How can you help me?”

Initially, I thought it was a time management problem. But, after pondering things for a while, I realized it was a bigger issue.

Too much was changing: products, buying cycles, the economy, technology, competitors.
Customers expected more. They wanted you to continually bring them ideas, insights and information to help them be more successful.
To stay at the top of your game, you needed to always be learning – but when? Your calendar is already full.