What if you could expand your opportunities by expanding your interest in what’s going on all around you? Can you bring valuable, creative energy and solutions to people unexpectedly?

Can you tell me about this?

Asking the right questions, often of perfect strangers, leads to opportunities. How many stories have you heard about a seemingly random, happenstance meeting that led to something great? I’ve heard hundreds of such firsthand experiences and have a few of my own to share. I’m sure you do too.

Many years ago, I was curious about a sign I drove past that I hadn’t noticed before. I made a u-turn and pulled up to the building. I inquired about what the company did (thinking at first it was a bakery) and learned it was an industrial manufacturer of niche papermaking equipment. I got the President’s card from the receptionist and never made direct contact. I put his email address into my newsletter list and that was that. A full nine years later, I got a call out of the blue from the guy, and his company became one of my best clients for several years.

Did You Know…?

One day I was drinking a certain brand of tea in the office, and it dawned on me to call the brand’s headquarters in Connecticut. I got the VP of Marketing on the phone and told him about qualitative market research which he happened to be interested in. That serendipitous phone call led to millions in revenue for the company I worked at. I duplicated this tactic and landed business with a major coffee maker brand – Keurig – when it was first entering the commercial market. I have similar stories.

The big secret is that you can create chance meetings and opportune moments intentionally. Make it your intent to bring value to people by learning what they need and pointing them in the right direction to obtain it. This is done by asking questions, but you need to find the people to ask. Where are they? Everywhere – grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, churches, chambers of commerce, construction sites, town offices, BNI groups, coffee shops, hotel lobbies… you get the idea. Just go to these places armed with curiosity, approachability and ideas.

Creative Solutions Nuke Objections

There’s tremendous value in expanding your local presence beyond your traditional home turf. I did this early in my career by making a tiny mom & pop print shop in the North Country a significant competitor in Southern NH and Northern MA. This was unheard of at the time. Due to high demand, logistics and shipping costs, most commercial printers only competed regionally. But I found a way to do business successfully from a long distance. I became the territory rep of my small, faraway company and confidently dispatched objections about distance, turnaround time and logistics.

We didn’t have our own trucks and couriers like other printers, but we had a bus route passing near our shop. Most bus companies gladly accept parcel and freight business, and they run most routes several times a day. Did you know that? We did, and Concord Trailways became my local service equalizer for years! As a result, I more than tripled the company’s revenue by bringing business from the populated south to the rural and sleepy White Mountains region where we had our presses.

Value Driven Field Work

It’s easy enough to show up at places where opportunities may be found but simply asking questions of strangers can be awkward. However, if you have a valuable idea to offer, it’s just you trying to help with whatever situation you observe someone in.

Whatever your expertise, if you make a “cold call” in person or inquire from a stranger about a potential opportunity, be prepared to offer real, expert advice, and be objective about it. If you get back to the person with something of additional value, you’ll likely form a relationship. Create, build and maintain those relationships and more referrals will come your way.

The post Curiosity and Ideas – a Salesperson’s Best Friends appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

“Get out and sell!” was the mantra I would hear from the customer service reps I once worked with. They knew that their own job security depended on me and a few other guys hitting the streets every day to find new work for our voracious printing presses. Those were the glory days of the sales profession. We felt like unsung heroes as we rode back into the home office with production orders and requests for quotes. If it was late in the year and we were very busy, the office and production crews would start thinking about how big the Christmas bonus would be. Everyone in the company benefitted from the success of the outside sales force and many of them showed their appreciation for us.

The selling environment has changed a lot since the Internet began to connect everyone in real time. Even while outside sales work is done differently today, it’s still outside work.

This means you!

Everyone in the company benefits from the success of the outside sales force which should always include the CEO and most of the senior management team.  If you’re a company executive, even if sales isn’t expressly part of your job description, you are in a strong position to develop new business as a person who influences or makes decisions in your firm.

Clients want to work with people in authority who can speak with complete expertise and sway things if necessary on their behalf. If they work with a sales rep, they want someone in a senior position who is highly respected by management. When you’re negotiating a deal, you want to work with someone who makes decisions, not a staff member who can only submit requests. Meeting face to face with those decision makers usually happens in the field – at their office, at restaurants, coffee shops, conference centers, golf courses and maybe even on boats.

Working alone in your office, diligently executing a necessary task feels safe and comfortable. You’re getting work done, but are you actually making money? Could spending that time having lunch with a referral partner or giving an expert talk at a trade conference lead to a big new customer whose revenues will make a positive impact on you and your people? Of course!

One thing is certain: Not going to the event will guarantee that the new opportunities happening there will not be happening for you! And remember, those “necessary tasks” can always be delegated or rescheduled.

How do the top “rainmakers” spend most of their time? Making rain, which usually includes some kind of dance. It takes two to tango. Most prospective clients won’t be hanging out at your office waiting for you to finish a necessary task on your computer. You must go to them.

Participate with other business decision makers at various networking and civic events:

• Trade shows
• Chambers of commerce mixers
• Trade conferences
• Non-profit fundraisers
• BNI Groups
• Rotary Clubs
• Church Groups
• Toastmasters
• Your idea here…

The selling environment has changed a lot and unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as “Get out and sell!” anymore. Walking into a non-retail business without an appointment is shunned these days, so physically canvassing and cold calling an area for prospects doesn’t work very well. That’s why the bullet list above is so vitally important for business developers. You need to get out of the office, develop relationships and become a key player in the various places where business actually happens.

The post Success resides outside the office appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

“Not him again!”

They say “cold calling is dead” and they’re right from the traditional perspective; that is, calling a complete stranger, unexpectedly, for the sole reason that their company has money that you and your company need to operate.

Every business needs customers to sustain financial viability so the primary purpose of sales calls is to get customers. Having no warm leads to call and no inbound calls coming in, the traditional salesperson hits the directories and calls new prospects – a lot of them before he or she can find even one person interested in talking with them. Even then, they can only begin the first phase of a sales cycle that can easily end in no sale, for multiple reasons.

Look at “cold call” as first contact or first impression.

Salespeople have many communication modes beside their voice and telephone. Some of you may remember the “Marketing Mini-Me” article. Marketing people can teach salespeople a lot in this day and age.

Who says cold calling has to be done on the phone or strutting through a door?

Changing the idea of cold call to “first impression” helps us understand the selling dynamic much better. Advertising is one-way, one-sided sales communication. Content marketing is sales communication that begins with idea exploration and invites a two way conversation which attracts people already interested in what you’re selling.

“We need to call this guy!”

So you write a highly informed blog post that points out a common business problem and a proven, affordable solution. Then you share it all over your social channels, email it to your newsletter subscribers and post a short video testimonial on YouTube of a customer successfully using your solution. In essence, you just made a cold call (first impression) to every prospect to whom the post registers. For the average salesperson, this is dozens of people, probably hundreds, and for some, thousands!

At a bare minimum, you’ve left a brand impression with everyone who sees the post. For those who read the blog article or watch the video, you’ve given them the equivalent of a meet & greet over coffee, maybe better. It could be a “eureka moment” for someone struggling with that problem that you point out. It could generate a closed deal that a random cold call could potentially push away.

To be fair, marketers can be informed by salespeople of real problems in the field associated with products, prices and promotions. Salespeople see first hand what competitors are saying and doing to win business from their prospects.

Those same salespeople needn’t wait for marketing to improve the lead generating campaign. They can do it themselves using email, social media, networking and publishing. What else can you think of? Viral videos, public speaking, seminars, leading breakout sessions at trade shows, Chamber of Commerce ambassadorships… Nobody can truthfully claim “there aren’t enough opportunities for that stuff in my market.”

So go ahead and “cold call” like crazy. Just change the approach from interruption to invitation by thinking “first impression” instead of cold call. Everyone knows how important it is to make a good first impression!

The post First Impressions trump Cold Calls appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Marketing and selling on LinkedIn is a big deal for business today. Just about everyone in business is now on LinkedIn (over 300 million users) and most are staring at their screens thinking, “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Salespeople who have moved away from cold calling are turning to LinkedIn as a new opportunity for canvassing their markets. It’s a fine prospecting tool for certain, but LinkedIn will not work as a “target rich” environment to pick off prospects. People on LinkedIn are just like you. They want to sell, not get picked off!

I’ll offer you in this article what I’ve experienced using LinkedIn since about 2006. A visit to my profile will inform you of my content, connections and online resume. LinkedIn calls me an “All Star” for whatever that’s worth, and I only have a free account.

My professional network on LinkedIn is among my most precious business assets. I’m connected with most of my identifiable business prospects in my market. LinkedIn is the perfect searchable Rolodex, and when I need to contact someone for any business inquiry, that’s where I go. There’s tip number one! Make LinkedIn your interactive business connection database. Okay, but then what?

How do you grow your business and earn more money on LinkedIn? 

The answer is simply this: Use all of LinkedIn’s features for searching, connecting, networking, branding and publishing. Do you want some bullets? Here they are:

• Brand
• Profile depth
• Content value
• Connections – quality and volume
• Presence and interaction

LinkedIn does its job very well. In fact, it will continually prompt you to be a better user. The rest is up to you. How interesting are your messages to your connections?

Humans behave pretty much the same online, no matter where they are. For example what gets more likes, comments and shares on Facebook? It’s usually family and personal drama, controversial topics, frivolous musings, cool pictures and videos. That’s what gets them buzzing.

People want to be entertained no matter what, and on LinkedIn, some even want to be educated. These are your LinkedIn watchwords for post content: Wise, Fresh, New, Bold, Disruptive and Valuable.

Asking a timely and baffling question will get you more interaction than a technical blog post or sharing a typical business article.

Writing a controversial LinkedIn Pulse post will get people commenting and direct messaging you while sharing your latest newsletter will simply be another brand impression.

It’s fine to post something relevant to your business audience every day and those impressions will only fortify your personal and company branding. Don’t expect the floodgates to be opened, but rather a gradual rise to “top-of-mind” status within your LinkedIn network.

Use LinkedIn like I do and trust me, your messages will be seen and noticed by hundreds and potentially thousands every week! Your brand will be reinforced and you’ll be short listed by your connections when they have a requisition and budget for your services.

Your quality professional network will keep growing as long as you stay active on LinkedIn. You will begin to form relationships inside the minds and hearts of your wider online network without even knowing it.

There’s bad news for those thinking of LinkedIn as a replacement for the telephone which was once a fairly effective “dialing for dollars” machine. Social media including LinkedIn discourage spammy or unsolicited sales messages. Connecting socially and fostering relationships online is the purpose for LinkedIn and other social media.

Look at LinkedIn from the relationship, not sales perspective! Get acquainted with fellow professionals and make friends just as you would on Facebook. Just be authentic about it and remember to keep the tone professional, even when using humor.

LinkedIn is actually a very sociable platform. It’s just dressed for professional life instead of a back yard barbecue. Once you have someone in your network, it will be natural to contact them with relevant, valuable business information. An invitation to lunch through a LinkedIn direct message is more likely to be accepted than a meeting request from an unexpected phone call.

Continuous thoughtful updates and interactions with your LinkedIn Groups and Connections will improve your business development results, without question. It’s not a matter of IF it will work, it’s a matter of spending the time and doing the work to actually generate the results.

The post LinkedIn Does its Job. What about you? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Money is often the last thing that comes up in business dealings because many people are afraid of broaching the subject. Why? Because before price is discussed, eyes are wide open to opportunities. People are eager to talk about the mutual benefits of working together, or they can envision how a new product will perform for them. Potential customers usually have a price range in mind, even if they have no idea what it will actually cost. When the eventual price revelation is above the perceived range, tension or mutual disappointment enter the room.

Both seller and buyer fear the eventual price revelation because it can sometimes shatter expectations and render a hoped-for deal just a pipe dream. There are plenty of exceptions to this scenario, but anything of very high value comes with a high price. As long as others in the market pay the cost and show benefits from the investment, the product or service settles at the highest price point the market will bear. That is the only way that profits are sustainable in a competitive marketplace.

My point isn’t economics 101 but rather a solution the the price “objection.” This is really worth a further look!

I was struck by a recent post by Lee Salz. It had one of those must-read headlines. “Never encounter the price objection again, guaranteed!” If you or your company sell anything (all of you), you need to find out what he’s really getting at, don’t you?

After I read Lee’s piece, a number of successful business dealings ran through my head and I realized he was on to something, something big when it comes to sales.

Examine your own buying behavior. When you want something that can help your business, you naturally have concerns about shelling out the money. Could it be invested somewhere else? Will the value of this product or service actually work for you? Your concerns are completely legitimate. Very often you’ll “bite the bullet” and you’ll pay, maybe with reluctance at first. Eventually you’re glad you made the purchase decision as you reap benefits.

As a seller, you know there’s high value in your product and it’s worth the price. You can prove it by testimony and real data. Your confidence brims about dealing with price objections (concerns to the customer). Then, if you’re not careful, hubris overshadows your attitude and you attempt to counter the price objection. It becomes either a tense negotiation or worse, a conflict. Nobody wants to go there.

What if you approached price concerns with the same positive energy and enthusiasm that you and your potential customer had before price was broached? When price is the issue, try rolling up your sleeves and becoming a customer’s teammate instead of opponent. Make their concerns your concerns. In most businesses, there are delivery options; customized product configurations and service levels to provide for the customer’s needs and still make you money. Several of my good clients were won over by this approach and have given me referrals. I don’t know where my business would be without them.

Now please, let me offer you this concept concerning your purchased marketing services. Chuck Sink Link offers unique and customized service packages that deliver very high value at price levels that might surprise you – opposite of “sticker shock.” Maybe we leave money on the table, but that’s okay. My sales and marketing experience spans decades. My personal and company brand enjoy fine reputations and my clients are successful.

Some of you may be asking, what do you get from Chuck Sink Link? Working with a senior brand strategy consultant and master copywriter, your business will have new life breathed into its internal and external communications. Your marketing executions and public relations will be designed and written to resonate with your your exact target audience. For a fraction of the cost of an internal marketing director or fully staffed marketing agency, you will increase your brand equity and better support your selling efforts. You will enjoy having a partner who shares your business concerns and helps you achieve your growth goals. Let’s have a conversation.

The post Price: Are you giving what you’re paid for? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

According to the SBA, over 70 percent of registered American businesses are sole proprietorships. The vast majority of these businesses have one employee, the sole proprietor himself or herself. They are the self employed. The “one man band” industry is big, and more lucrative than many sales people may realize. It may be more accurate to refer to this group of small businesses as an economic sector, rather than an “industry.”

The variety of services and products this diverse set of entrepreneurs provides puts them in a class of business consumers that’s impossible to define narrowly. They fall into no vertical market category. The only common denominator among this group is the number 1. They work independently but not alone. They have dynamic organizational structure in the form of a network. Their relationships are necessarily strong for them to sustain their businesses.

Successful solopreneurs tend to be trusted advisors to their clients and therefore have significant influence in the market. Some examples:

• An independent management consultant could make recommendations that influence major industrial contract decisions. Winning his approval could be required to land a huge sale.
• A local real estate agent could be the connection you need to sell software to the largest mortgage company in the region.
• The busy carpenter you meet at a Chamber mixer could be your first bookkeeping or CPA client.
• A freelance writer working from home could bring you a couple of your largest website clients.
• The self-employed professional (with no recent pay stubs) could grow to become a solid commercial banking client.

The moral of these bullets is that you just never know who’s who until you find out whom they know and work with. There’s a type of customer referred to in old sales jargon as a “sleeper.” A business person you discover working from home or from a small office with no staff could be assumed to have no real budget behind their humble operation. While there are many struggling start up solopreneurs who seek freebies and might waste your time, you can’t tell by appearances alone whether they offer opportunity or not. You need to have a conversation and hear what they do. Check out their business network and work history before deciding whether it’s worthwhile to engage in business. A real “sleeper” could end up being your best customer or referral connection.

Small Power!

The solopreneur sector is growing out of the necessity of “the new normal” – the economic conditions that have stifled growth and permanently eliminated many corporate jobs. Highly talented and skilled people have, in record numbers, discovered they can put their ambition and talent to work in a newly frugal marketplace that welcomes smallness, simplicity, low overhead, nimbleness, cost effectiveness and independence.

When people suddenly get laid off without another job lined up, most of them file for unemployment compensation and start looking for a new job. There is a perceived dependency on steady income, healthcare benefits, vacation time and a regular work schedule. The organization feels like a safe and comfortable place to work and becomes almost like a parent provider for the family. The prospects of starting a business with no immediate income and predictable stream of paying customers is horrifying to most people with a mortgage, college loans and car payments. I know this feeling intimately because I’ve been there. The aspiring entrepreneur with high family expenses and no start up capital needs to believe it can be done. They need faith in something bigger than themselves because no unaided person can build an organization by himself.

Economic modesty is privately disparaged by some in the professional community. Nobody wants to admit they can’t afford to replace an old car or take a trip whenever they feel like it. It’s a cultural thing. Some people with means may perceive that those who haven’t yet turned the success corner probably never will and should be avoided as time wasters. Body language often conveys this attitude. Thankfully for entrepreneurs, there is usually a curious person with an open mind somewhere in just about any crowd.

An Untapped Niche?

I’ve personally seen distressed individuals lose jobs and take the leap to start a business. They came across as a bit needy at first. They persevered through the startup struggles during the first few years and now operate vibrant, growing businesses, buying all kinds of products and business services to keep running. A few of my compatriots fit this profile and we can tell you our stories.

For the start-up solopreneur, there is nothing more empowering than other solopreneurs or small businesses willing to mentor and provide affordable needed services. Here, relationships are better than cash. Money, once spent, can’t keep providing anything. Strong relationships and mutual collaboration are the wellsprings of business sustainability and growth.

Every bootstrap business founder in the world can look back to the early relationships that saved his butt and provided springboards to profitability; profitability that today is reinvested through the purchase of capital assets as well as operational supplies and services. Many of these business owners like to remain small, nimble and independent. They don’t usually have the visible trappings of other businesses but they do have money to spend and colleagues to recommend.

In some cases, it’s a good idea to help support the one-person startup business that has a need for your services by loosening firm prices, waiving tight credit terms or spending a little more time with him or her. As their company grows, so will your business as they remember who their real friends are.

The post Tapping the Business Network of One appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

You may not realize it but you are a brand manager. If you’ve experienced any kind of success in business and professional life it’s because you’ve managed your brands by  communicating with people in a way that supports what your business stands for and why it’s valuable to your customers. Your company brand, product brand and personal brand all work congruently in the market. People know you and your company the way you want them to know you. Your Brand is first in the Fortuitous Foursome.

Your LinkedIn profile is up to date and your online connections are growing. You regularly post comments, share links and participate in LinkedIn Group discussions. People in your network regularly see those posts and gain more awareness of your brand. As you develop more business relationships, you include more of those folks as Facebook Friends. You directly message someone in Facebook after you’ve had trouble reaching them by phone or email. The response is friendly and instantaneous. You start to notice that people are favoriting and retweeting your Twitter posts and you start getting business inquiries from around the country and the world. Your blog posts are increasing search visibility for your website and more quality traffic generates conversions and new business. Free Online Marketing is the third player in the Fortuitous Foursome.

The post The Fortuitous Foursome of Professional Success appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Engaging your audience is easy when you know what motivates them. You can grab their attention, hold it and then persuade them to take action with more ease if you use one or more of The Six E’s of Audience Action.

Way back during the dawn of social media marketing development (like around 2010) I worked for a marketing agency that talked about the “3 E’s of social media engagement.” They were Ego, Entertainment and Education. I knew there was more to it than those 3 things so I’ve been striving to come up with a short yet comprehensive list of motivators that would cover all or most of what moves us humans to take action, and maybe even buy things.

Striving for simplicity, so I can understand my own concepts, I wanted a simple guide or formula that could make business communications resonate with target audiences. I wanted a set of guiding principles which work across a broad spectrum of constituencies and media. Serendipitously, the 6 best keywords I considered happened to start with E. Therein is the simplicity of my new guide to audience engagement.

When you examine each of the motivating factors that move people to action, you’ll see that each one fulfills a strong human desire or need. Beyond basic survival (food, clothing, shelter) these motivators are all part of our instinctual nature. In a manner of speaking, we were born to respond to them, and so they are very effective when used for strategic communications. Let’s take a look at the 6 E’s:

Ego

Empathy

Education

Enrichment

Enthusiasm

Entertainment

These are not in any particular order other than making a word pyramid, but Ego being at the top is actually quite helpful. We all have an ego! To discount it’s power over the individual would be remiss. Everyone loves to be recognized and we love hearing our own name called out in a positive way.

So, let’s look briefly at all 6E’s of Audience Action:

1. Ego – You make it happen. Thank you!
2. Empathy – I totally identify with you and know exactly how you feel.
3. Education – Understanding this material is the key to your success.
4. Enrichment – This will bring you security, comfort, fun and enjoyment.
5. Enthusiasm – You are delighted by my energy and excitement.
6. Entertainment – You will enjoy passing the time this way for hours.

• Egos aren’t stroked by manipulation.
• Empathy can’t be faked. You have it or you don’t.
• Education should edify or it’s meaningless.
• Enrichment can’t be given if you don’t have value to offer.
• Enthusiasm can’t be put on or faked because it’s an internal gift.
• Entertainment is the result of real talent, creativity and skill.

The post Motivate Your Audience with E’s appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

The law of sowing and reaping is old, really old, and it won’t go away. The biblical metaphor of the farmer who persistently and patiently keeps sowing good seeds always reaps rewards, eventually, no matter what. The late Jim Rohn made a fortune telling this story many times as his own way of sowing, and his business grew internationally making him among the most respected (and richest) business motivators of the last century.

There are beaten paths, rocky roads, choking weeds and all manner of hazards, some of of our making, that interfere with the growth of the crop (business) we’re trying to plant and raise. It’s easy to plant the seeds of business development and then quit after the first few plantings fail to yield. We can easily be convinced the seeds are just no good or we’re not cut out for the business we happen to be in. Giving up too early is tragic when all that is needed for success is a patch of fertile soil, and the world is filled with such patches even if they’re temporarily hidden.

There is a lesson in persistence here but there is so much more to the parable – story – metaphor. There are many different kinds of thieves – some internal, some external – that rob us of faith and steal our motivation to press on. These thieves are cunning and baffling.

So often have I been experiencing direct success from a sales or marketing activity when at the same time someone is telling me they tried it and it doesn’t work. They signed up and made the team but quit when they missed their first shot on goal. It’s easy to be convinced it won’t work if it doesn’t succeed after one or two tries. Don’t fall for the lies of self deception and beware of the other naysayers out there!

The first quarter of 2014 is gone forever!

Now is the time! Spring is the season of rebirth and renewal, bla bla bla… See, there goes my little demon telling me that positive messages like this are trite; that I need toget my head out of the clouds and look more at scientific metrics. But you know what? I’m going to keep on keeping on: sowing seeds in the form of publishing newsletters, attending business events, public relations, sponsorships, social media networking, online marketing and, yes, even good old sales calls!

We have good seeds to sow and as we keep sowing, some is bound to land on fertile ground. If you know where that ground is, great! Stay there an nurture it. No matter what, keep sowing wherever you’re going. If you happen to find the seed of a good idea in any of our newsletter/blog content, would you please plant it in the mind of another?

The post The wealthy sower – so old he’s new! appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

On March 20, you can learn to save a ton of money for your business! Learn what free marketing is all about.

• Learn how to build a brand…
• Market a company…
• Increase sales…
• All using free tools and methods!

Come to the hands-on single day course: Social Media & Free Online Marketing at Manchester Community College on March 20th!

Register here with CRN # 20774 and Course # NCTD055.

If you have questions about how to register, reply to this email or call me at 603-345-7223.

The post Spend a day, then don’t spend another dime. appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.