Sales Therapy 101: Breaking Your Fear of Cold Calling
July 31, 2010
Almost every day, visitors to my Unlock The Game? website click on my live instant-messenger chat button, which invites them to “Ask Ari a selling question.”
And do you know what their most common question is?
Yes, you guessed it: “Is there any way I can break through or overcome my fear of cold calling?”
Most of us have at least some resistance to cold calling, and some people I talk with have such a paralyzing visceral and emotional fear of cold calling that they can’t even consider doing it.
In some ways, the fear of cold calling is practically an epidemic — but not the kind of epidemic that gets publicized on TV or in newspapers.
It’s a silent and personal one, a psychological struggle that happens in our own hearts and minds.
The fear of cold calling is a painful, daily struggle for many entrepreneurs and salespeople who have been trained in traditional selling techniques.
Traditional sales trainers answer questions about cold calling this way:
“All you have to do is make more phone calls.”
“All you have to do is think more positive thoughts.”
Prioritise Your Day - Keep Focus - Win!
July 30, 2010
Whether you run your own business or manage a team, there are times when things don’t go to plan. Like:-
- Your key people don’t show up.
- A deadline shifts.
- Your boss turns up unexpectedly.
- You get really busy beyond expectations.
- …and more.
How do you get clear on the priority of the day?Value it - that’s how!So, if you run any sort of business, consider what the most important thing would be to your business, if you were down to the barest of bones in personnel numbers, for just one day, what would you do?Here are some thoughts…
Are You Overlooking Your Hidden Profit Centers?
July 29, 2010
There are other names given to “Back-End Selling”. You may think of it as follow through, or maybe VALUE added. Both are good terms. Let’s take a quick look and see just how you can profit from this idea.
For our purpose today, let’s just key in on the benefits of “Back-End Selling”. “Back-End Selling” is simply the SELLING you do AFTER the first sale. Your profits come primarily from repeat business rather than from the initial (first order) sale of your product or service.
Your greatest COST (accumulated expenses) is in the FIRST sale. This is certainly true in most cases. How long did you have to work before that first sale? Did it take you ten minutes or ten years? All the time this customer was NOT buying from you there was still the overhead to shell out.
Obviously, some high-ticket items can absorb the cost and still be profitable. You only need the one sale from a customer. However, we could probably agree that most items that we sell or buy are of a more moderate dollar value. Meaning the profit return comes from the repeat customer.
How To Create Splash-Pages For Affiliate Programs
July 28, 2010
How To Create Splash-Pages For Affiliate Programs
by: Mirko Davidovic
Majority of the affiliate programs have built-in type of advertising that they recommend. You join their program, start with their banners, e-mails and traditional style of advertising. Before you know it, there are thousands of affiliates using the same material and the competition becomes overwhelming.
The need to stand out from the crowd is obvious.
Splash pages are the solution. Splash page is a condensed version of the affiliate program with your magical twist.
Usually a single html page.
Here you can express yourself with different designs, such as graphics, layout, content, sound etc. This is where you can add your personality as well as target different audience for various types of promotions for the same program.
Summarize the program in short yet effective marketing material without too much hype. Copy the “key” points of the program with some of their graphics and colors too match.
To build a splash page decide the type of audience you are after. Let say for example you are after the traffic exchanges.
When All Is Not Well With Work
July 28, 2010
When all is not well with work, what do you do? Do you quickly get frustrated and feel discontent? Do you look at each situation as a tiresome challenge or as an opportunity to learn something new? Have you ever considered looking at work problems from a spiritual point of view?
When you look at work from a spiritual perspective, you will see that there are lessons for you to learn. Let’s look at a couple of situations that you or someone you know may have encountered. We will look at each scenario from a typical perspective and from a spiritual perspective.
Difficulty with Boss or Co-Worker
Normally, we think that a difficult boss is just that, difficult. By all means, you are probably not the first person who didn’t get along with them. Therefore, it can’t be you who needs to change and instead the boss needs to change.
From a spiritual way of thinking, you should ask yourself, "What is this person trying to teach me?" (And we’re not talking about job tasks.) Think for a moment, what is it about this person that really aggravates you? Make a list of all of their annoying attributes. How does this person make you feel? What bothers you the most? Compare the boss’s or co-worker’s list of attributes to your own behaviors. What characteristics do you have in common?
The Sweet Aroma of Highly Effective Marketing
July 27, 2010
Highly effective marketing is accomplished when your marketing materials and marketing strategy work together to reliably move your prospects through your sales process.
Have you ever caught a whiff of a tantalizing aroma wafting through the air as you walked down the street? With your senses suddenly alerted to something tasty nearby you notice the bakery on the corner. As you draw closer you see the storekeeper handing out free samples of the cake you smell. You happily try the sample and before you know it your standing on line waiting to buy a whole cake.
How did this happen? How did you go from going about your business to buying a cake you had no intention of buying when you left your house? The fact that you ended up waiting on a line to buy a cake is no accident. The proprietor of the bakery from which you bought your cake knows something about highly effective marketing.
Just what does he know?
One Simple Persuasion Secret That Will Blow The Roof Off Your Sales
July 26, 2010
The next time you’re shopping for clothes in a department store, take a closer look at the price tags. You’ll probably notice that each price tag starts with one price, but then counters with another. They say, "Was $60, Now $30," or, "Regular Price $69.99, Our Price $49.99."
These stores are taking advantage of an incredibly effective persuasion technique called "psychological sequencing." By sequencing the order in which offers are presented, psychologists have found that marketing and salespeople can get customers to purchase more products at a faster rate.
You can use the same process to make a huge impact on your sales. This article focuses on exactly how to do it.
The Psychology of Sequencing Have you ever put your finger into freezing cold water and then put the same finger into slightly cool water? What happens? After putting your finger into the freezing cold water, it provides a "sequencing effect," and the slightly cool water actually feels warm. Your perception has changed.
You can use a similar process to make more money. Infomercials, for example, tell us, "You’d think that this wonderful product would cost $200 or $300, but we’re offering it to you today for only $29.99."
Leader is Not a Title
July 25, 2010
There is a steady flow of information in the form of books, articles, white papers and training all in the context of [ “what is leadership” or “how to develop a leader”]?. In this issue, I will avoid those two questions and write about two others that I believe might be on the minds of a lot you readers and they are:
Why does better leadership make a difference? and
How does better leadership achieve those differences?
If you ask yourself and others the first question, why does better leadership make a difference? the answer will most likely be because better leadership creates high performing teams with strong sense of personal and collective power. Better leadership makes a difference because it creates a workplace where morale is high, employees are satisfied and committed to high standards of productivity resulting in high profits.
Imagine a utopia for a workplace where everyone is working together in harmony, and the spirits are high. A place where everyone is satisfied, focused and committed to do their best. Now ask yourself what would the consequences be? The consequences would be high productivity, higher profits and satisfied and loyal employees.
Resolving Needs - What Your Employees Wish For!
July 24, 2010
For your people, they want to do a great job - no, really, despite your experiences, they do. And what might seem to ‘the management’ the important things, just don’t stack in the day-to-day reality of the workplace. Here’s why.
Your people want to focus on looking after their customers, yet there are many things, often just little things, that get in their way. Removing these little things they are having to tolerate, allows them to deliver the very best service to their customers. Yet they are reluctant to get this clear. For some reason. You need to find out. So. Ask them!Yet why is this so difficult for some managers? Partly to do with not wishing to open challenging dialogue; not even thinking there might be issues or to dismissing needs of their people as irrelevant, amongst others. These issues, so vital to the well-being of their people and therefore their relationships with their customers, get missed.So, how do managers get around this.EasyThey just ASK. They ask in ways that work, but basically, they just ASK.There are a many ways to do this. Ongoing dialogue; focus groups; feedback; 360’s. But a really simple way to get to the bottom of what is bothering your people is, one-on-one to simply ask them this simple question:-“If you had three wishes in your job, what would they be?”So why do we ask for three wishes? Because often there are one or two issues that are ‘givens’. Like more staff, more pay etc. Three wishes gives a bit of scope in the replies. If you can, allow your people to personalise the returns, but only if they want to. Once you’ve got your people being constructive around changes - and you let them tell you, you can respond, often very quickly and make things a lot better.Understanding the little things, makes a big difference to the people who are vital to your success - who create the business for you. Don’t miss the chance.
How to write a Killer Ad?
July 23, 2010
How to write a Killer Ad?
by: Pradeep Aggarwal
Copywriting is an essential element in the marketing of any product.
More so, in a shrunken global village. Whether it’s online
advertising or Offline advertising. A good ad could mean the
difference between success and failure of a product. The tips
mentioned below will give an insight to a write a good Ad.
Writing a powerful Ads is the key to maximum sales. What is good
copy writing? and How to write a good Ad?. Let’s see some basics of good copy writing.
Understand Customer:
It is important to understand the intent of the customer and
his/her business background. A good understanding helps to find
more about the customer’s target audience.
The Product:
Complete understanding of the product for writing a copy or ad is
very essential from the marketing or advertising point of view.
Questions like - What is the product, the benefits, the objectives,
the target audience, the medium of advertising, what the surveys
talk about, the price and the region of advertising. All these
