Sales & Marketing Consultant, Bestselling Author & Sales Conference Speaker

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5 Tips To Increase Sales

Have your say: Leave a comment!June 12, 2012

As we approach the summer, which is considered one of the slowest times for sales professionals in many fields, what can you do to maximize your efforts to make sure you are bringing home the bacon? Sometimes we get caught up in business strategy books and sales theory and forget that some of the best tips to increase sales are extremely quick and easy. So get out your index cards (if you are old school) or your iPad (if you are all about fun tech gadgets) and take some notes. Here are 5 quick tips to help you increase your sales.

1.Make one more phone call. If you haven’t heard this before today, this is a MUST! Before you call it a day, when you are checking off the last of your to-dos, make one last phone call. Call the hardest or coldest lead you have and then you can call it a day. Once you take care of that hardest or coldest lead, you can start tomorrow off fresh.

2.Don’t let your lead waste your time. Sales professionals often worry that they are wasting the time of their potential customers. We place so much value on their time that we often forget about the value of our time. If your lead isn’t willing to provide you with some type of beneficial information, end the call quickly. This allows you to move through the coldest of leads quickly.

3.Confirm and verify. When a sale is made where you haven’t had ‘talk’ time with the customer, always follow-up with a phone call to confirm the purchase. This does two things, it shows the customer that you care about that personal touch and it opens the door to suggest an additional item or service.

4.Comb through your invoices. Have you contacted every individual that you have sold something to in the past? If you haven’t heard from your customers in a certain amount of time (use your judgment based on the product you sell/ if this product need replaced or maintained etc.) then call them. See if they are in need of anything and how their purchase is working for them. This also allows you to tell them about new products and services that they may be interested in. A customer that has bought once has a greater chance of purchasing again; so don’t let these numbers get cold!

5.Know the best time to call. When is the best time to reach your target demographic? For some, it’s around 8:00am, but for others, it may be after 6:00pm. Know the ideal time to call and maximize those prime calling hours.

In truth there should never be a ‘slow’ sales time. Every day is the perfect day and every season is the perfect season to make money!

Thank You!
Sean
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Sean McPheat

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3 Must-Do Sales Tips

Have your say: Leave a comment!May 24, 2012

All astute sales and marketing professionals spend a portion of their time with professional development. There are many of you that may be reading this blog post as part of keeping up to date with the skills you need in order to become more successful. There are tons of resources out there and top tips that can be utilized to help you succeed, but the following 3 must-do sales tips are a great way to reinforce your foundation. By either adding these tips to your sales and marketing toolkit or if you are simply reinforcing attributes that you think you have, these are three essentials.

Break The Rules
How often have you encountered specific sales tips that simply don’t work for you and your business? A key attribute for all professionals in the sales and marketing fields is the ability to be nimble. You must be quick on your feet and able to adjust on the fly. Being flexible allows you to react to any given situation. You can adjust your approach with a potential customer and implement new strategies when you discover that what you are doing simply isn’t working.

Stay On Course
Do you have a specific game plan for your business? What are your goals? Have you written down achievable milestones that you can track? You should take the time to answer all three of these questions. When we put our goals in writing, we are more apt to achieve them. The process of writing things down not only keeps us focused and on track, but it reminds us of what we are working towards. We can revisit our goals and evaluate if our current strategies and methods are working for us. By keeping our eye on the ultimate goal, we can quickly achieve the measurable milestones that will get us there.

Never Stop Learning
By taking the time to read this post you are already on the right track! Never stop the learning process. By keeping on top of relevant blogs, news feeds, articles and books you are keeping your brain agile. Even if what you read is something that you already know, you are reinforcing your sales and marketing skills. The same applies if you read something you don’t agree with. In those cases, you are reaffirming the thought that you are an expert in your field. Most of the time you will learn something new, and that’s always exciting.

All marketing and sales professionals need to stay at the top of their game. This requires being flexible, knowing your goals and staying informed.

Happy Marketing!
Sean
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Sean McPheat

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How To Keep Your Eye On The Prize

Have your say: Leave a comment!May 17, 2012

Losing focus happens to us all. The field of sales and marketing is fast paced. With the benefit of being on social media networks, networking in person, contacting new leads and following up with current customers can quickly become overwhelming. There are times that a whole week will fly by and you have been caught up in everything but your overall objective. With all of these moving parts, how can you stay focused?

Make A List
Do you have a list of the specific goals that you want to accomplish in a certain amount of time? If you have clear cut objectives for the month, the quarter or the year, you need to have those written down. Keep this list of goals in a place that is easily accessible. For some, it’s a hand written note. For others, this list is kept online for easy access. Regardless of how you keep track of your goals, keep them written down. This allows you to reflect on the goals that you have achieved. This also allows you to evaluate what strategies and methods are working and which ones need to be changed up to see optimal results. Make a list and check it twice.

Keep A Tight Schedule
It is impossible to keep your schedule or calendar organized in your mind. If you are depending on your memory alone to keep your details straight, you can guarantee that things will slip through the cracks. Therefore, you must have a system for your schedule. Google calendar is a great way to keep track of everything on your daily to-do list. Google calendar also sends you a reminder to let you know when an appointment or deadline is approaching. If you prefer to keep your calendar in a hard copy format, make sure the system works for you. Before you call it a day, make a note of the first few things that are on your agenda for the next day. This will mentally prepare you for the day, giving your brain a chance to get a jump start on being focused and productive.

Third Party Objective
When we are immersed in our business, our viewpoint becomes similar to that of being in a fishbowl. We don’t always see things in an objective manner. By asking someone outside of our business to give us their observations, we are given a well-rounded view of our business. This shows us what is working and what is not working. We may not see our marketing efforts as being too aggressive, but an outside view may show that we are being too aggressive. This is a great way to see your business as a whole.

Maintaining focus is critical for all sales professionals. By keeping a list of our goals/objectives, having a great calendar system and getting outside observations, we will be able to remain focused.

Happy Marketing!
Sean
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Sean McPheat

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