There are some real benefits to purging your vast sums of emails every now and again, mostly for your own sense of organisation and control. Not only can your important emails end up being lost in the vast sea of contact you’re holding on to, but you may also end up becoming backdated when trying to respond to all of the contact you receive every day. Starting afresh can help refocus your efforts and ensure that your email account doesn’t simply become a filing cabinet for every last email you have ever sent or received.

There are two ways you can declare email bankruptcy. One is to close the account in question entirely and open a new one, whilst the other way is to simply delete everything up until a certain date. Closing your account entirely and starting again takes far less time and hassle, but this may not be possible for some – so clearing the account up to a certain point is a great way of spring cleaning your emails and regaining some structure and organisation.

If you think you have reached a point where you need to purge all your emails and start again, then here are a few issues to consider before you press the almighty “Delete All” button and dismiss them all for good. 

It may be worth considering going through your account and moving any important emails into a safe folder – although this is completely dependent on the amount of emails you have been hording and how much time you have to dedicate to this. Usually this will be something you do as you go along, but it’s possible you may have missed something so double check if you can. 

A great way to look for important information is to search by name. You should be aware of who your most important conversations are held with in general and this should help you find any vital emails quickly without having to wade through them all.

It’s also worthwhile sending out an email to all of your contacts, explaining that their emails have been deleted and asking them to contact you again if they are still waiting for a response. Hopefully, you’ll have managed to respond to the majority, but in case you have missed anything important this should help you catch it the second time around.

When you feel like you’ve done all you can to ensure that you haven’t lost any important communications, it’s time to press “Delete All” and wipe the slate clean. Now, doesn’t that feel better?

Once you’ve cleared your account of all unnecessary items, you need to start to reorganise your email system so that this doesn’t have to be a monthly occurrence. A great tip for gaining more control over your email account is to immediately set up separate folders alongside you inbox, such as Colleagues, Clients, Leads, Important Info etc.

Then, when you start receiving emails again you can begin to file the important ones away into relevant categories – leaving all the irrelevant correspondence in you inbox to be deleted at the end of every week. Make it a ritual on a Friday afternoon, before you power down and leave the office, to file the important emails and cleanse the rest. These five minutes a week will save you having to shut down and start again several times a year.         

Remember, the “Delete All” button is a last resort to help you reorganise your workload, so in future make it easier on yourself to keep on top of things and prevent the necessity for declaring email bankruptcy at all.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

(Image by Nokhoog Buchachon)

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

The best way to do this is with an end-of-year marketing analysis and report. Don’t worry, you’re not giving the report to anyone other than yourself!

Identify Three Successes

It’s always easier to take criticism when you start with the positives. To this end, identify 3 things that’s you’ve done successfully with your marketing this year. And I don’t just mean that you should say “I worked harder this year.” Look for:

• Measurable improvements over 2010 (click-through rates, ROI on campaigns, etc.).
• Successful new campaigns implemented.
• Higher sales volume, new clients won, or costs lowered.

Look for the things that you did best in 2011. Now, the key is to identify what you did to achieve your greatest successes in 2011, and then try to repeat them for 2012.

Identify Three Failures

This can be a lot more difficult than identifying the three successes. Look for things that you did, which didn’t work out as well as you had hoped, or actions that you didn’t take, which would have been good in hindsight. Consider:

• Moves that you didn’t make, or delayed on (making your site mobile-friendly, kick-starting your social media campaign).
• Clients that you lost, or more importantly, existing client relationships that you let stagnate.
• Unsuccessful marketing moves (failed campaigns, ill-advised advertisements).

It’s always said that a mistake is an opportunity to learn. So don’t just dwell on your mistakes from the past year. The purpose of identifying them is so that you can make sure you don’t repeat them.

Identify Where you Want to Be Next Year

This is the most important part of the analysis. Taking your successes and your failures from the past year, identify where you want to be at this time next year. Put these in concrete terms, and make a plan for how you’re going to get there.

So rather than telling yourself that you want to have a considerable social media presence, tell yourself that by this time next year you’ll have 500 fans on your Facebook page, 5,000 followers on Twitter, and at least 5 highly-rated videos on YouTube.

Happy New Year, and make sure that 2012 is your most productive year ever!

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Sean’s kindly let me take over the blog for today, as I couldn’t wait to tell you about Sean’s most recent performance as a public speaker. After many successful experiences keynoting at other people’s events Sean and the team decided to host our own Sales Summit for you all – and what an event it was!

Sean McPheat’s Sales Summit 2011 was held on Thursday 17^th November at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel in Heathrow. Over 100 sales professionals from across the UK attended, and we even had a fair few fans of Sean who had travelled from all over the world to attend his event.   

The day consisted of a series of thought provoking and engaging talks from 3 fantastic speakers who presented four sessions on every topic from prospecting, networking, building value, negotiating and communicating with potential customers. Sean, of course, hosted two sessions to kick off and wrap up the Sales Summit – well, it was his event after all!

Sean’s first session was entitled “The Ultimate Sales Audit”, in which he entertained and enlightened his audience by presenting them with an unusual take on the selling process where he thoroughly ripped their sales approach to pieces!

Sean showed his guests how to analyse their figures in the right way, encouraged them to make the most of their sales interactions and gave great direction on how to pre-sell their products.

Following this, international public speaker Simon Hazeldine – who is also a bestselling author and holds a Masters Degree in Performance Psychology – had our guests rolling with laughter during his fantastic session on “Bare Knuckle Negotiating”, in which he took our delegates on a journey through the negotiation process; exposing the strategies, tricks and tactics they need to survive and thrive.  

Simon also revealed the 5 stages of negotiation, exposed the essential LIM model for getting what you want and the common negotiation mistakes to avoid. Guests were shown how to deal with power ploys, how to become a powerful negotiator and how to guard themselves against dirty negotiating tactics – with a whole heap of comic anecdotes and good humour thrown in for good measure!

Following a networking lunch, guests once again took their seats as Sean McPheat returned to the stage to present his ever-popular session on eselling®. Sean has developed an alternative sales approach known as eselling®, which can help businesses of all shapes and sizes to prospect and sell online – so you can understand why this was the session all of our guests were so eager to see.

During this session Sean showed his guests how they can use the internet to network with key decision makers, listen for leads, position themselves as an industry expert and improve the quality of their content. Delegates were also taught how to use the internet to prospect, research their market and competitors, and boost their personal branding.

The main focus of the eselling® session, however, was to teach guests how to use social media within their business… but in the right way. Many businesses already use social media sites to enhance their online visibility, but many go about this in completely the wrong way and end up wasting their time so this was a subject Sean addressed in some detail – and even pre-recorded a 20 minute LinkedIn video tutorial, in which he gave his guests a guided tour of the features and benefits of using LinkedIn as a business tool and gave them tips on how to do apply these techniques effectively once back in the work place.   

The final session of the day was hosted by Sean’s number one Sales Trainer Mark Williams. Mark presented a session on The New ROI, in which he showed guests how to get a return on influence. In this very engaging and practical session Mark donned his “Derren Brown” powers to take our guests into a world of magical influence and advanced mastery!

Mark taught guests how to better understand their clients, how to get clients on their side and how to influence people on a subconscious level – he even turned four grown men into a human table, which just goes to show how influential the techniques that Mark covered can be when put into practice.

Following the event, both Sean and the rest of team have received some fantastic feedback from our guests on the line up and choice of content for the day. Just have a look at these comments:

“Sean delivers an excellent approach to selling that has helped me tremendously with my sales techniques. The conference he set up was great and I would recommend attending it to expand your abilities as a salesman.” – Andy Naisbitt, Business Development Manager at Gen3 Kinematics

“Sean is an inspiring and well prepared presenter. His ideas on today’s buyer are clearly well researched and his modern day sales concepts are backed up with practical examples and his own living proof that they work – Sean “walks his talk”. An expert in his field, Sean is also down to earth, personable and appreciative of his audience. Thanks, Sean for an enlightening day!” - Stephanie Keller, Sales Coach and Consultant at S2 Strategic Skills

“A fantastic and informative Sales Summit day, full of brand new content. I have learned more than in any other course I have attended in the past, the event was well organised and the speakers were amazing. I really look forward to attending some other courses with MTD Sales Training and thank you very much for your on-going email support which I highly appreciate and respect.” Kubilay Tunc, The Cumberland Hotel

Sean and the whole team are just delighted with the feedback we have had from our guests and we are now looking forward to next year’s event – here’s to Sean’s 2012 Sales Summit!

Happy Marketing,

Louise Denny

Marketing Manager

MTD Sales Training

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

My 2011 Sales Summit is being held on Thursday 17^th November at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow – and what a jam packed day we have for our guests!

We have 3 fantastic speakers presenting four must-see sessions throughout the day. I, of course, will be presenting two sessions to kick off and wrap up the Sales Summit – well, it is my event after all!

My first session is The Ultimate Sales Audit, in which I hope to entertain and enlighten my audience by presenting them with an unusual take on the selling process where I will rip their sales approach to pieces. This will allow my guests to thoroughly analyse their techniques and understand the dynamics at play.

I will be showing guests how to analyse their figures in the right way and reduce their “Sales Velocity”. I will also show my guests how to make the most of their sales interactions and how to pre-sell their products.

I will be wrapping up the event by hosting my ever-popular session on eselling®. As many of you will know I have developed an alternative sales approach which can help businesses of all shapes and sizes to prospect and sell online. The approach is called eselling® and when the book was launched in July 2011 it immediately became a #1 Amazon bestseller in the Sales and Marketing category due to its eagerly anticipated release.

During this session I will show my guests how they can use the internet to network with key decision makers, listen for leads, position themselves as an industry expert and improve the quality of their content. They will also learn how to use the internet to prospect, research their market and competitors, and boost their personal branding.

One of the main features of the eselling® session is to teach my guests how to use social media within their business… but in the right way. Many businesses already use social media sites to enhance their online visibility, but many go about this in completely the wrong way and end up wasting their time so this is an issue I will be addressing during the final session of the day.

Presenting alongside myself I have two fantastic speakers which I’d like to introduce you to. The second session at the Sales Summit will be held by international public speaker Simon Hazeldine, who is also a bestselling author and holds a Masters Degree in Performance Psychology.

Simon will be presenting a session on Bare Knuckle Negotiating, where Simon will take guests on a journey through the negotiation process; exposing the strategies, tricks and tactics they need to survive and thrive.  

Simon will be teaching my guests about the 5 stages of negotiation, the essential LIM model for getting what they want and the common negotiation mistakes to avoid. Guests will also find out how to deal with power ploys, how to become a powerful negotiator and how to guard themselves against dirty negotiating tactics.

But that is not all…I have a third and final speaker presenting on the day. He is none other than my number one Sales Trainer Mark Williams. Mark specialises in the design and delivery of sales training courses and on-going sales development programmes. As a sales improvement specialist, Mark is always in great demand and he has managed programmes across the UK, Europe, Japan, China and the Middle East.

Mark will be presenting a session on The New RIO, in which he will be showing guests how to get return on influence. In this very engaging and practical session Mark will don his “Derren Brown” powers to take guests into a world of magical influence and advanced mastery!

Mark will be showing my guests how to better understand their clients, how to get clients on their side and how to influence people on a subconscious level.

As well as all gaining access to all of these brilliant sessions guests will also enjoy a sit down networking lunch, free refreshments throughout the day, free parking, pre-arranged networking opportunities with the people who they want to meet, pre-programme objectives where they can specifically tell us their issues or needs and we will factor that into our sessions, the satisfaction of contributing to a charity and some surprises that I know they’ll just love!

But I should warn you, the clock is ticking and its last orders! So if you want to be part of this unique event then please visit www.salessummit2011.com and reserve your seat before Friday 4th November as that is deadline day.

I’m really looking forward to meeting you all at the event as I know my Sales Summit will be one event you won’t forget in a hurry!

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

I had a fantastic time at the ISMM’s annual Successful Selling Conference yesterday, where a league of sales professionals from across the country descended on the Ricoh Arena in Coventry for the coveted event.  

I had been asked to keynote at this year’s conference (held on 20th October), along with seven other expert speakers including Don Hutson, Dr. Graeme Codrington, Sharon Drew Morgen, Michael Portilio, Gavin Ingram, Alice Beer and Guy Browning.

The two speakers that stood out for me were Dr. Graeme Codrington – who presented a session on Values-based Selling and discussed the ways that you should sell to people from different generations based upon their values and Gavin Ingham, who had the infamous afternoon graveyard shift but who brought the conference back to life with his session on how to wow clients through upbeat sales presentations.  

I was last on and presented my session on eselling®, in which I showed conference-goers how they could prospect, network, build their personal branding, position themselves as an industry expert and engage with key decision makers online through social media and other internet-based resources. I had a fantastic response to my presentation, with lots of attendees tweeting about their newfound enthusiasm for social media and many sending me a LinkedIn recommendation saying how great they thought my session was.

As well as keynoting at the event, my company MTD Sales Training were also exhibiting at the conference’s Sales Expo for the day, where we got to meet and network with the ISMM delegates and other exhibitors. It was a brilliant networking opportunity and my team and I had some very interesting discussions with conference-goers from all sides of the industry.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

It’s not Sean here today; instead you have MTD’s Marketing Manager Louise Denny keeping you up to date.

Yesterday some of the MTD team attended the 2011 Synaxon UK Conference in Cheshire, where over 150 Synaxon reseller members met for a series of talks and exhibitions by industry professionals and big name companies on the latest trends and technologies in business.

Sean was the keynote speaker for the conference and presented a fantastic session on the concept of eselling®, where he discussed his ideas on the modern buyer, the problems you will face when trying to sell to the modern buyer and how you can overcome these issues and close more sales with the help of social media and successful internet marketing.

The session went down a storm with a very captive audience, where most people were tweeting and blogging about the ideas Sean presented as he revealed them – with many conference-goers commenting on his energetic style of deliverance and his easy-to-implement techniques.

Sean’s tips on how to use social media in order to improve your personal branding, successfully market and network and build strong leads online went down a storm, and it wasn’t long before people were snapping up copies of Sean’s #1 Amazon bestselling book eselling®, excited to know more about modern day prospecting online and how they could make money through the internet.

MTD were exhibiting at the event, and as soon as the talks were over our stand was inundated with curious professionals, all keen to know more about the courses MTD Sales Training provides – the eselling® Skills course, in particular, had caught everyone’s attention and conference-goers were very keen to learn more about what MTD Sales Training could do for them and their businesses.

After a jam-packed afternoon of questions and queries from intrigued business professionals on the thought provoking topics he had raised, Sean took to the stage once again to give away 4 free sales courses to some very lucky Synaxon members who has entered MTD’s business card prize draw.

Following the conference, the MTD team stuck around to chat and network with the other exhibitors and Synaxon members. Sean was a very popular chap, with hoards of conference-goers queuing up to speak to him about his ideas and to congratulate him on his stirring presentation on how to make business easy.  

The whole day was a huge success and the Synaxon members were a fantastic group to meet with. Sean and the rest of the MTD team had a brilliant time and we will certainly keep in touch with our new connections following the conference.

Happy Marketing,

Louise Denny

Marketing Manager

MTD Sales Training

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

A cell phone was seen as “THE” status symbol.

This video just cracks me up and could have happened to any of us!

Just look at the size of the handset!

If nothing else you could hit robbers over the head with it!

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert – Motivational Speaker

At Stockholm subway the majority of people use the escalator but they wanted to see if they could make people use the stairs instead by making it fun!

There’s a good lesson to be had here!

All the best

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant - Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Here’s a great piece of free publicity and marketing.

20 year old student Nathan Wybur made a lasagne to look like Engalnd World Cup Boss Fabio Capello.

Now he might not have done this on purpose to get free publicity but he certainly got it!

To get free publicity you need to have an angle that the press, social media sites and people pick up on.

With this example the story was:

TOPICAL – everyone’s talking about the world cup at the moment!

UNUSUAL – whoever makes a lasagne to look like someone’s face!

CELEBRITY – ……and the face was that of Fabio Capello – Englands manager! So that’s a double whammy!

LIKEABLE - Nathan’s just a down to earth, 20 year old student

VIRAL FACTOR – people are talking about it

Add all of those 5 factors together and you’ve got a great story.

So what can you do along these lines for your business?

Sometimes the best ideas are very simple, topical and unusual. The press pick up on the them and then you’ve just created yourself a whole load of free publicity!

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker - Internet Marketing Consultant

In this video they showcase some of their favourites.

I like the hands free controller for your video games and thermostat that is a neat little device that tells you how much energy you are using in your house.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant & Motivational Speaker