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Can't Buy Me Love or Happiness
2 hours ago
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Q & A
Words of Wisdom from Harvey:
Top techniques for answering questions
Talk about getting the answers you need—I recently wrote in this column about the best way to ask questions to get the most out of answers. It triggered several responses, including another question: Do you have any advice about the best way to answer questions?
I have to ask questions every day, in sales presentations, management meetings, interviews, preparing for speeches, and the usual things we all need to do. I like to receive answers that are complete but not overloaded with useless information, that are clear, or that are honest in admitting the respondent doesn't know.
I also have to give answers to customers, readers, employees, my accountant, inspectors and assorted others. Their questions are generally focused and necessary. My answers need to be straightforward and helpful.
The late management guru Peter Drucker said, "My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions." I only hope the folks who had to respond knew that Mr. Drucker likely had the answers already, and had the presence of mind to ask him a few questions of their own.
You don't have to be an oracle when it comes to answering people's questions on the job. Just give each inquiry—whether from a boss, co-worker or client—your best reply. Follow these tips to giving your best answer each time:
- Understand the question. Miscommunication often occurs when you don't pay close attention to what is being discussed. Make sure you understand what you're being asked, and clarify the question if you're confused. Ask the questioner to repeat or rephrase if you aren't sure what they're asking.
- Don't babble. If you know the answer to what is being asked, provide it quickly and succinctly rather than spending a lot of time discussing irrelevant information. My advice is to start short, and let the questioner request additional information. Giving too much information often results in the good stuff getting lost in the mix. Of course, be prepared to provide more detail or a longer answer if necessary.
- Remember that you're the expert. Don't be intimidated when a manager who has more responsibilities (but less knowledge of the daily workings of your position) asks you a question. Back your answer up with relevant facts and details, written and otherwise. Keep your attitude in check, and make sure you share the information in a way that benefits the person asking the question.
- Keep your opinions to yourself. If you're asked for a personal viewpoint, give it. Otherwise, stick to the facts. Refrain from adding anecdotal observations to your answer. In the workplace, measuring your words can save you plenty of problems later on.
- Don't wing it. If you can't immediately answer a question, let the questioner know how soon you can get back to him or her (the sooner the better). Trust me; you'll get busted eventually if you try to bluff your way through. That can translate into a loss of confidence, or at the very least, humiliation. As the saying goes, better to let them just think you're ignorant than to open your mouth and prove it.
- Don't be critical. Never answer a question with a condescending remark like, "You don't know that?" Would they have asked if they did?
- Admit when you don't know the answer. Say so when you don't know, but make an extra effort to refer the questioner to sources you know can be of better help. You'll be respected if you're honest.
The power of a good, well-understood answer is illustrated in the story of the carpenter who entered a doctor's office. The receptionist asked him why he was there.
"I have shingles," the carpenter replied. And so a nurse was summoned.
"Why are you here today?" she asked the carpenter.
"I have shingles," was the answer.
She took his blood pressure, temperature, height, weight, and told him to change into a gown and wait for the doctor.
When the doctor came in, the carpenter told him again, "I have shingles."
"Where?" the doctor asked.
By now, the carpenter was losing his patience. "Where do you think? Outside, in my truck."
Mackay's Moral: You'll never go wrong if you give the right answer.
Social Media for Sales People
from the MarketingTech Blog:
Met with a client today who understood the basics of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and I wanted to provide them some feedback on beginning to utilize social media effectively. The client was a sales professional and wanted to begin taking advantage of the medium but wasn’t quite sure how he was going to balance his job requirements while ramping up a social media strategy.
That’s a common problem. Social networking online isn’t unlike networking offline. You meet people, identify connectors, and find and build relationships with influencers and prospects. You can’t simply step into the first Rainmakers event and do this (Rainmakers is a regional networking group that has explosive growth). It takes time, requires some digging, and ultimately momentum to begin profiting from your network. This is as true online as it is offline.
5 Steps to Successfully Utilizing Social Networking to Drive Sales
- Get online: Build your LinkedIn profile, open a Twitter account, and if you want to speed up the process (and invest more time), begin writing a blog on your industry. If you don’t have a blog, then find other blogs you can contribute to.
- Identify Connectors: One quick way to find the connectors in your group is to join an online network such as One Degree Connected. ODC builds an online network and allows you to prospect much easier by connecting your address book to everyone else’s. Connectors are also Twitter users with large followers, or bloggers with a large following.
On Twitter, you can do this by researching hashtags and finding the people behind those industry tweets. Advanced tools such as Radian6 can also help here!
For Blogs, the latest changes to Technorati can really help you narrow down your targets. Doing a blog search for a term like CRM can provide you with a list of blogs, in order of popularity! Add these feeds to your favorite feed reader!
- Build Relationships: Once you identify connectors, begin adding value to their content by adding relevant contributions to via comments and tweets. Don’t self-promote… these aren’t the folks buying your products, they’re the ones who will talk about your products and services.
- Attract a Following: By contributing to the conversation and building authority in your industry – connectors will talk about you and influencers will begin following you. The key here is to give, give, give… you can’t give enough. If you’re worried about people simply stealing your information and using it without paying you… don’t! Those folks were never going to pay you, anyways. The ones who would pay are the ones who still will.
- Provide a Path to Engagement: This is where a blog really comes in handy! Now that you’ve got folks’ attention, you need to bring them back somewhere to do business with you. For a blog, it can be a call-to-action in your sidebar or a contact form. Provide some registration pages for downloads or webinars. If nothing else, offer your LinkedIn profile to connect with them. Whatever you decide, just be sure it’s very easy to find… the easier it is to connect with you, the more people will.
Social networking for producing sales isn’t difficult but it may take a long time. Just as putting sales goals down for the number of calls you’re making, number of meetings you’re attending and number of closes you’re making… begin putting down some goals on the number of industry folks you’re finding, the number you’re following, connecting with, and contributing to. Once you get your game on, volunteer for a guest post or have those connectors or influencers guest post on your blog. Trading audiences is a great way to expand your network.
As you continue to work your network and build relationships with connectors and influencers, you’ll gain their respect and open yourself to opportunities you never knew existed. I’m consulting daily now, speaking regularly, writing a book and have a growing business – all built from an effective social networking strategy. It took years to get here – but it was well worth it! Hang in there!
This post was written by Douglas Karr
Douglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in social media, blogging and search engine optimization.
Sphere: Related ContentHello?
The 4th of 4 in a row from SalesDog.com:
No Reply
by C.J. Hayden
Never assume that a prospect received, saw, or heard your message. When prospects don't respond, instead of feeling rejected or wondering what you did wrong, it's much more productive to ask yourself, "What should I try next?"
Don't let your self-doubt get the best of you. A prospect's lack of response has no meaning unless you give it one. There's no way for you to know why you didn't get a reply; it may have nothing to do with you at all.
C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!™ Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at www.GetClientsNow.com.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday night Catch Up
One of the emails I get everyday is from MarketingCharts.com, based in the Green Mountain State of Vermont.
Every once in awhile, I'll post on the Collective Wisdom site some of their work, but they even get too busy to post everything.
So on Friday's they send this:
Behind the Curve: Week Ended Nov. 13, 2009
Below are some links to recent research news, studies and lists from the collection of items that MarketingCharts didn’t get to writing up this week, but still may be worth a peek:
Male Gamers Earn Less than Non-Gamers
High-Carb Diets May Put Dieters in Better Moods
NBCU Study Shows Shift in Women’s Spending Habits
Usage of The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 Show Strong Loyalty to the Music Game Genre
Car Shoppers Looking for Pet-Friendly Car Increase 67%
Q4 Shows Some Improvement for Some Magazines; Ad Pages Fall 22% in 2009
Consumer Reports Index Shows Stability
Private-Label Edge in CPG Lessens
Different Marketing Preferences Among Insurance Agents
Sales of Ethnic Foods in US to Grow 20% by 2014
Verizon Sold 100,000 Droids Over First Weekend
Nielsen BookScan to Produce Bestseller Book Charts for The Wall Street Journal
CareerBuilder: Most Unusual Employee Requests of Hiring Managers
A Fishing Lesson
It's a proven fact that you can't catch lobster in Lake Erie.
Why? There are no lobsters in Lake Erie!
Check out this piece from the DysonTech blog, it applies to ALL your marketing, online and offline:
What Purple Rain Can Teach You About Effective Online Marketing
Ever had an idea that couldn’t miss?
You took immediate action, created the perfect warm-up content, the best launch strategy, and the perfect offer . . . .
And then it totally failed.
So yeah, the film Purple Rain contains the consummate lesson on this one.
No, really.
The Lesson of Lake Minnetonka
Upon mature reflection, the album Purple Rain is a work of genius, while the film . . . not so much. But any true Prince fan loves it anyway.
And as a teenage boy in 1985, the fact that a diminutive man sporting a jerry curl and a ruffled shirt could score with gorgeous women was rather encouraging, you know?
One memorable scene involves Prince giving bombshell Appolonia Kotero a motorcycle ride through rural Minnesota. As he pulls up to the shoreline, Prince lets her know she has to prove herself.
“You have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka,” Prince says mysteriously. Then he says it again.
Next, fulfilling every teenage boy’s as yet unimagined wish, Appolonia strips down to her thong and jumps in the lake.
The freezing water provides an immediate shock. But the cruel surprise comes from a half-apologetic Prince.
“That ain’t Lake Minnetonka.”
Did You Jump in the Wrong Lake?
Often, you do everything right, except for the first thing.
You start with an otherwise great product and mistakenly try to sell it to the wrong people.
This isn’t always fatal, but it’s definitely frustrating. And it’s because you focused on what you want rather than who you’re trying to serve. You jumped right in without understanding all the critical facts.
While it may sound a bit kumbaya, understanding who you can help helps you. It’s the key to the kind of outstanding success that alludes those who don’t understand why the take, take, take strategy doesn’t work.
It’s really give, give, give to win. But only if you give the right things to the right people.
Missing the true needs and desires of your market is like jumping in the wrong lake.
You simply end up like Appolonia — cold, wet, and disappointed.
Start With the People, Not the Product
So where do online marketers go wrong?
There’s an old saying . . . start with the prospect, not the product. It keeps you from trying to sell stuff to the wrong people.
Even better, it keeps you from selling stuff nobody wants.
That truly unfortunate event happens when someone has an idea they think, for example, every small business owner should embrace. But it isn’t something the small business market wants to embrace.
It’s like trying to sell asparagus to kids because it’s good for them. If you’re competing against the jingle of the ice cream truck down the street, you’re not likely to get the results you want, because there’s simply no market for your offer.
In this sad case, the analogy is more Matrix than Purple Rain:
Do not think that the lake is cold . . . that’s impossible.
The truth is, there is no lake.
Ouch.
It’s About Them, Silly
You’ve heard it all before. But do you get it?
Wealthy entrepreneurs are essentially highly-compensated servants to their chosen market. And yet the benefits are way better than the numerable perks Alfred gets from the bat cave.
Wow, three film references in one post . . . did it work?
If you’re trying to make a match between your market and the right offer, subscribe to Copyblogger’s free newsletter on Internet Marketing. It starts with a 20-lesson tutorial on the four keys to building a sustainable business (one of which is finding the right product or service for your people).
About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter. Sphere: Related ContentGen Y & Social Media
Here's today's Social Media Update:
Social influence on Gen Y trendsetters
Generation Y females have redefined the idea of “peer group” to encompass online friends, bloggers and anonymous reviewers, according to the “Why Y Women?” report from PopSugar and Radar Research.
Looking to this expansive group of peers, rather than experts or celebrities, Gen Y women are particularly influenced by social media.
Younger women are nearly twice as likely as their Gen X counterparts to say they had discovered a new brand or product when a friend mentioned it in an online status update. They are also significantly more influenced by blogs, by both professionals and especially by “someone like me.”
Telling friends in person or on the phone is still by far the most common way for Gen Y women to spread the word about products or brands they love. But they post about products and brands on social networking sites or online forums nearly twice as much as older women. Gen X women, on the other hand, are more likely than younger females to share information via e-mail.
Further, with even two-thirds of Gen X women considering their younger counterparts trendsetters, according to the survey, the potential pop culture influence of social marketing is multiplied.
Mr Youth, which has studied “millennial moms”—mothers around the same age as PopSugar’s Gen Y women—has also found the peer group an important influencer.
“With moms it is even a stronger source, as moms have always found it important to ask other moms before making important decisions that affect their families and kids,” Brandon Evans, managing partner and chief strategy officer at Mr Youth, told Media Life magazine. “With social media, it became much easier for them to seek out advice on a variety of topics from a wider net of people, so it quickly gained in influence.”
Keep up on the latest digital trends. Learn more about an eMarketer Total Access subscription, today.
Sphere: Related Content3 Words
another tip from SalesDog:
3 Power Words for Selling
by Tim Smith
There are three words that, when used properly, carry tremendous influence, no matter the situation, regardless of the industry and irrespective of the type of person you are talking with. They are:
Because
This is probably the most powerful word you can use. From an early age, we have been programmed to accept this triggering word. Remember when you asked your parents why you couldn't do a certain thing and they responded, "Because I said so." Not the best answer, but we learn to accept it. The same is true as adults.
There has been direct research demonstrating this word alone is powerful enough to cause people to allow you an appointment, maintain your price and successfully negotiate. One study showed that people were willing to allow others to cut in line at a copy machine with the statement, "I need to cut in line because I need to make some copies."
Recommend
This word is great for presenting your solution, but it can also be used in many other areas. In my own sales consultations I often say, "Based on what you told me, I recommend..." or "I recommend we set up a time next week to review our solution." Whatever the situation, the word "recommend" positions you properly and allows you to be viewed as an expert endorsing valuable solutions, as opposed to a product-pushing salesperson.
Instantly
When applied conservatively and accurately, the word "instantly" is excellent to use in your sales letters, marketing collateral, and presentations. The reason it works is because we live in a society, which, to some extent, has conditioned many people to expect immediate results. We have microwaves, fast food, video-on-demand and drive-thru oil change facilities. We expect instant gratification instead of waiting for long-term results or gain. Prospects and customers want to solve their problems instantly.
We must always pay attention to the words we use and seek to understand why certain words work or do not work in the context of our day-to-day selling. I believe these words will help any salesperson sell more and secure more appointments.
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