Tip for June 1, 2006

Don't stop learning Big companies have marketing departments where they actually pay people to continually learn as much as they can about marketing. You probably don't have time to read everything you'd like to read about online marketing, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't read anything at all. Getting this daily tip is a start, but with a few more minutes each day you can do much more.

Tip for June 2, 2006

Controlling yourself - another key to success. How many hours of selling time do you spend in the office every day? It's easy to get caught up in paperwork or conversation when you should be out selling. Prioritize and control your time. How you spend your time will determine how successful you will be. It's very easy for a salesperson to be "busy", but you must prioritize your daily tasks and follow through to be successful

Tip for June 3, 2006

98% of worrying time is wasted because 40% is about things that never happen, 35% is about things that can't be changed, 15% is about things that turn out better than expected, and 8% is useless and petty to begin with.

Tip for June 4, 2006

Everything you do online is marketing Most business owners spend too little time marketing. True guerrillas are marketing all the time. When you're online, everything you do is marketing, because every word you post or send either adds to or detracts from your reputation and credibility. Time is precious online, so make sure all your communications reflect not only your key marketing messages, but also demonstrate your professional standards of accuracy, honesty, and respect for the customer's needs.

Tip for June 5, 2006

One formula for success in sales is very simple: "Get out of the office early. Make sales call after sales call. Return to the office after 4:00 p.m. Send out follow-up thank you notes. Complete other paper work after 5:00 p.m. and do the same thing tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Controlling your time consistently is another key to a successful career in sales

Tip for June 6, 2006

New on the marketing scene: adventure marketing, which is the term for sponsoring expeditions and competitive sports designed for the physically fearless. You may get coverage, showing your logo, worth one million for an investment of only ten thousand.

Tip for June 7, 2006

Enthusiasm sells When you're enthusiastic about your product or service, your customers become enthusiastic, too. Whether you're doing business from an e-mail address or a storefront, you can convey enthusiasm online by: * responding quickly and accurately to inquiries or orders; * using lively, evocative writing in your web pages, brochures, e-mail, articles, or discussion group postings; and * using color or small graphics to jazz up your web site.

Tip for June 8, 2006

Four ways to expand your selling skills. 1) An excellent way to improve your questioning skills is to take how many questions you can ask of a prospect in a role-playing situation without making a statement. 2) Are giving enough "real life" examples - are you painting "word pictures" that a prospect can visualize and relate to? Be a storyteller and get your prospect involved. 3) How do you sound to the prospect? There is a time for measuring your words, slowing or speeding up your delivery, raising or lowering your voice to make a point. 4) Are you able to gain the prospect's attention? Is he/she really listening or just wishing you would finish and leave? Are talking too much and not asking enough questions?

Tip for June 9, 2006

Just 17 retail companies account for 54 percent of U.S. sales of general merchandise, apparel and furniture. Think Wal-Mart, The Gap, Home Depot.

Tip for June 10, 2006

Do you have a stand-in? Nobody likes to be ignored, but everyone needs a vacation. To continue serving your online customers while you take a break, make sure someone else can check and respond to your e-mail and fill online orders while you're on holiday. Even if you don't trust anyone else to conduct your business for you, you can still find someone to check your messages and respond that you'll get back to them in a week or so.

Tip for June 11, 2006

An invitation that will please your prospects. If you're active in a civic or a business association, that's great! If not - join one and participate. One of the best positions to hold in any organization or association is membership chairman. You can solicit many new members with this approach, as well as develop a solid relationship with prospects and open many new accounts

Tip for June 12, 2006

Novelty items work! Try adding novelty items to your direct mailings. Instead of one item, send a collection, one piece per week or one per month. This gives a feeling of continuity to your company. Watch the response rate soar.

Tip for June 13, 2006

Set discussion standards Everyone in your company who has an e-mail address or participates in online discussions has the potential to affect your company's reputation. Don't find this out the hard way. Ask every employee to remain a professional during all online communications, and to post a disclaimer like this when appropriate: "The preceding opinions are mine, and should not be attributed to my employer."

Tip for June 14, 2006

To discount or not to discount. Sell your services. Don't sell low-ball products. "There will always be some competitor who will do it for less, but it does not have to be you." Sell quality not price! Discounts should be based on volume usage. To gain a customer's business, promise quality service and then you are in a position (if you wish to do so), to thank them with a volume discount. It takes guts to stand firm on a fair price if competition is price cutting. If all the prospect wants is for you to undercut their present supplier, it's probably time to say good-bye and call on the prospect who's next door

Tip for June 15, 2006

Babies are the BMWs of the nineties, resulting in a huge growth spurt for the $23 billion baubles-for-babies business.

Tip for June 16, 2006

Have you done a reality check? Lots of online businesses are considered failures only because they're not living up to the lofty expectations of their owners. Network newbies frequently think that taking a business online is a guarantee of success, since it provides access to millions of other people. But the Net isn't a vast new market; it's a vastly more efficient way of reaching a market. The people on the other sides of those computer screens out there are the same people who go to stores or shop by mail. So when you go online, think in terms of reaching your customers more efficiently or less expensively, rather than assuming your product will suddenly become attractive to people who wouldn't be interested in it otherwise.

Tip for June 17, 2006

What does you customer want to buy? Questions to ask your customers: What would make our service more useful to you? How can we improve the support functions of our service?" Jay Levinson, noted author and Guerrilla marketing expert, defines the basic rule in selling as follows: "Find out what your customer wants to buy - and give it to him." You can't go wrong with this approach, but how many salespeople assume they know what the customer wants without asking? What about you? Have you asked your customers if they would consider outsourcing a mail room or other department or are you waiting until your competition asks the question and gets the business? Ask - ask- ask!

Tip for June 18, 2006

Be on the lookout for more and more 888 toll-free numbers as the 800 numbers are all being used up. Think you can benefit from knowing this?

Tip for June 19, 2006

Shake it up After several months exploring the online market and settling into a marketing routine, you may feel a little stale. To rekindle your enthusiasm and stir your creative juices, try switching your routine. Vary the order of your daily tasks; take a walk or a drive in the middle of the day; read a book about something other than business, marketing, or computer technology. Some of your best ideas may come when you're completely disengaged from your daily business, but to get them, you sometimes have to deliberately disengage.

Tip for June 20, 2006

When did you... The best salespeople are always working toward self improvement. When did you read your last book on sales? The common reply is: "I'm too busy," Too busy to pick up a tip that could impact dramatically on your sales growth? And, it doesn't always have to be something new. It may be something you have stopped doing that you have to be reminded of to begin anew. Don't stagnate! Read a book, a magazine, listen to a tape at least once a month. Improve and continue to improve

Tip for June 21, 2006

One of the top ten jobs to get into during the next decade is Interactive Advertising Executive. Cyberspace will be a full-employment possibility for the advertising business. Starting salaries are pegged at $25,000 with $60,000 coming after five years and the potential salary up at the $250,000 level. Employment is rated high on the coolness scale, low on the burnout scale.

Tip for June 22, 2006

Got a confusing domain name? Trade links! If your Net domain name is very similar to that of another site, anticipate potential visitors' confusion by asking the other site to trade links with you. For example, if your domain is "philip.com" and another site's is "phillip.com," you could each trade links. On your page, you would have a notice and link that said, "If you were looking for 'phillip.com,' click here." To see if you have potential domain name conflicts, try searching for slight variations of your domain name with a web search engine.

Tip for June 23, 2006

Essential ingredients of a top salesperson. "If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet." Think Positive! A positive attitude and focus are always a part of the make-up of successful salespeople. These people make things happen! A Salesperson can learn sales techniques and engage in a flawless sales interview with a prospect and still not open the account. People buy from salespeople who are concerned about their needs. People buy from salespeople who are sold on what they are selling. A positive attitude, enthusiasm and a genuine desire to help the prospect, make up for deficiencies in sales techniques

Tip for June 24, 2006

With all the talk about interactive buying and the Internet, guerrillas never forget that marketing is marketing, selling is selling, customer are customers and the basics always will apply: value, service, and a competitive edge.

Tip for June 25, 2006

Watch the bells & whistles If you're programming a web site or offering information on the Net in other ways, make sure your method of presentation is accessible to your target audience. You may think an audio greeting adds pizzazz to your web site, for example, but if most of the people likely to visit your site don't have an audio player, that greeting will just be a frustrating barrier for them. It's fine to add excitement through new Net technologies, but making use of the new technologies shouldn't require any extra work from your customers or prospects.

Tip for June 26, 2006

What are you doing right? What are you doing wrong? What worked and what didn't. One sales rep says: "After making each sales presentation, I write down what I did right and wrong - why I made the sale or why I didn't make the sale." Try it! Don't make the same mistakes over and over. If you've been selling using the same approach and things are going fairly well - but could be better - shake it up! It's time to try something new. It could simply be a question you haven't tried before. "Mr. Prospect, you probably have a number of sales people calling on you all the time. And, you're wondering what I'm going to tell you that makes my company different. My question is, What do you want to hear that my company is offering that you're not getting now?

Tip for June 27, 2006

Celebrity endorsements have the lowest credibility ratings they have had since l988. 55% of people believe celebrities endorse things just for the money.

Tip for June 28, 2006

Can't find a discussion? Start one! If you've scoured the Net and online services for a discussion that perfectly suits your marketing purposes and you haven't found one, start one of your own. Depending on the amount of time you want to put into the effort, you can propose a new forum on a major online service, start a new newsgroup, or start a mailing list discussion that works via e-mail. For a new newsgroup, ask your service provider to start one, and then announce it in all groups that are related to the topic, and on newsgroups such as news.announce.newgroups. You can also get your service provider to help you set up a mailing list discussion, and then promote it as you would a newsgroup. And, since online services are well integrated into the Net now, don't forget to announce your new discussion in related forums or interest groups on the online services.

Tip for June 29, 2006

How to be among the top sales achievers. Every morning, write the five most important things you want to accomplish that day and get them done. At the very least, working to achieve the five most important things you want to accomplish every day, sets you out front, with the minority, "the successful people in sales positions." If you wish to really be in a minority, the top achievers also set major goals for the year along with a plan that will keep you on track to meet your goals. 1) Set a specific target to reach. EXAMPLE; I want to bring in 2,000 new accounts in 1998. 2) Make a commitment to work to achieve your goals. 3) Write down what you must do throughout the year to reach your goal of 2,000 new accounts. EXAMPLE; How many new accounts you must open each month and what the billable costs will be for these accounts per week

Tip for June 30, 2006

Hints for preparing your infomercial: The format must be appropriate for the product; celebrities won't be able to sell a bad product so don't use one unless you have a good product; make a two for one offer if you can; the product should not be available by retail; products should be marked up 300%-500%.

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