Then there was poor me. I worked my tail off to get new business and produced enough to be valued. I cold called like mad, set appointments and made pitches day after day. It was a constant struggle to sustain business growth as it ebbed and flowed in spite of my mighty selling efforts. But Richard just sat there on the phone discussing business and taking big, fat orders. Either that or he would meet his clients at the plant and entertain them as they brought him more projects.

Richard’s cup runneth over while mine was either half full or half empty, depending on my attitude.

The real kicker about Richard was this. Most of the new business inquiries calling in would ask for him even though he didn’t spend time prospecting. What did he have that the rest of us didn’t?

Never Compromise Quality

Richard understood quality and he never cut corners. While I was trying to figure out ways to lower costs or match competitive price quotes to “win” an order, Richard could smoothly negotiate price increases making sure to add value to the total package.

The primary value that Richard added was quality-assurance. Richard’s clients knew that if they worked with him, they would get the best quality products available. No shortcuts, no surprises; just predictable high quality at a fair, negotiated price.

I assumed price meant everything and I was wrong.

When Richard sensed cheapness or price challenge from a new business prospect, he would usually refer them to competing manufacturers whom he knew would cut profits to keep their machines running. Better they get the difficult clients.

Quality Fuels Word of Mouth

If you’re looking for more qualified sales leads, focus more on delivering premium quality to all your customers every single time you do business. Word of mouth referrals are the best inbound leads. Quality reputations can only be earned, and if you’ve earned yours, then go ahead and promote it!

Promote the one thing that separates your quality from the rest. If a prospect happens to see your company promotion and call you after also getting a referral, the sale is yours! And that was Richard’s secret to easygoing sales success. He promoted quality assurance and all his customers backed him up.

Best-in-class quality is the goal. Your marketing and sales efforts will work better as the quality seekers in your market find what they’re looking for in your brand.

The post Quality Promotes! appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

A “conversion” in marketing terms is any action a consumer does as a result of receiving your message. So if your message fails to generate conversions, your target audience may as well be you and your dog. And if your dog, like most, hasn’t the ability to make purchases, you’re out of business!

You could reach a thousand or a million members of your primary target audience and still fail to generate a single sale if your message isn’t clear and relevant. Your message must have value in it; a reward associated with taking a converting action like clicking a link, sending a text or picking up the phone. The value can be as little as satisfying a curiosity or as big as finding hidden treasure.

In sales, put the cart before the horse!

Who says a horse can’t be harnessed to push a cart full of goods instead of pull it? Before you spend too much money and time on developing the best media execution plan (the horse), make sure that the message delivered to your audience is deliciously enticing (the cart – full of perceived value). Push the cart yourself if you need to. It’s your message that converts people into believing they should “buy now, download or learn more.” Focus on what’s in the cart while you continually push, steer and course correct your trusted media workhorses.

What’s My Message?

Find out from every good customer what brought them to you. What first made them tune in and think, “I think this is the right fit?” What tipped the scale in your favor? What is it about your performance and delivery that keeps them with you? Do you enjoy doing your best work? Why?

The Media of Neighborhood

I was struck by the story of one business owner’s largest sale which catapulted him to “set-for-life” success. He received a call from the uncle of a teenage boy who used to wash his car. The kid happened to ask him what he did for work and the man took the time to engage the youth in a careful explanation of the exact nature of his business, even though he was running a bit late for an appointment. Thinking nothing of it, a few days later he got a call from the boy’s uncle who explained how his nephew described this man’s business as exactly the kind of service he had been searching for and couldn’t find until now. There was no media involved here, just a brief conversation with the car wash kid for the biggest sale ever!

Internalize Your Message to Externalize It

What about your company is truly world-class, i.e. best-in-class? Understand this deeply! Ours happens to be brand-directed content writing and creative production. Every sale I’ve made resulted from my message being understood by one person at a time. A few of my best clients are referrals from non-clients; people who read or heard my message and recommended me without knowing much about me or my background. They just liked what they heard and how it was presented, so they told someone.

Take the time to get your message straight and great! A great business message has the power to convert complete strangers into your best customers.

When ready, ramp up the horsepower!

When you have great messages that are proven to convert, by all means, develop a solid media plan to make a few good prospects aware of your value. And if some kid happens to be curious about your work, fully satisfy that curiosity and thank him for being interested.

The post Media channels don’t convert. Messages do! 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.

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.

The post Pay it forward or just pay it? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Goals are fine but I gave up traditional goal setting awhile ago. Then I started surpassing some of my goals. Similarly, I realized sales forecasting is no more than a snapshot of last year with a wish list on top.

Maybe you’ve heard, “When setting your goals, aim for the stars, and if you miss, you’ll at least hit the moon.” Are you setting the stars as your goal this year, hoping for the moon? Maybe you should allow yourself another 9 – 10 years because that’s what it actually took an entire country following JFK’s lofty national goal in 1961 of landing a man on the moon.

If your sales were $200,000 last year and you make your goal $1,000,000 this year with the same apparatus, your’re probably just seeing pie in the sky.

My opinion about business goal setting is that it’s overrated. Time spent on calculating goals, also known as “guestimating,” could be better spent executing a disciplined work process day by day, week by week. Valuable (billable) work leads to business goal achievement.

Here’s the raw deal with goals: They are attempts at predicting the future and controlling outcomes. Those of you who practice the habits of predicting and controlling know well the feelings of restlessness and discontent. You cannot control the motives and actions of others and we all need others to assist us in accomplishing our goals. Therefore, no matter how well you conceptualize, strategize, plan and execute, you may be just as likely to fall short of your goals as to achieve them. The whims of the marketplace and dynamic nature of the future will largely determine where you will be in the next couple of years.

As the future is unpredictable, so is everything that happens between the time a goal is set and it’s future deadline. There is a way to take advantage of this reality. Let one of your major goals be to positively participate in your market’s dynamics every day.

Let’s say you spent the day setting the precise numbers you want to achieve, conceiving a detailed picture of the exact tangible results you desire, setting and scheduling time limits, developing strategies and creating detailed master plans to accomplish your goals by the specified dates. Oh yeah, you would also need to spend some time on forecasting, planning and devising your key metrics. Then each week or month you took time to analyze your progress and adjust your strategy. I could spend that same day and the subsequent time actually performing work that generates revenue. At least for that day and those follow up times, I’d be advancing toward my goals while you were just thinking about them (even if writing it all down). I’d be taking advantage of and learning from the dynamics of the market while you were trying to formulate the future according to your desires (or your boss’s).

As you learn new things each day from participating in your business, you can use this information to make nimble adjustments that help your customers or allow you to touch more prospects. This process is known as a feedback loop and it can be very powerful.

What is your system for success? More emphasis should be placed on your system according to a leading fitness coach and personal trainer in Denver. Click to read a superb article on the subject.

Systems versus goals. What is your system for producing successful results? James Clear makes my points clear. In a recent article he explains the difference between goals and systems:

“What’s the difference between goals and systems?

• If you’re a coach, your goal is to win a championship. Your system is what your team does at practice each day.
• If you’re a writer, your goal is to write a book. Your system is the writing schedule that you follow each week.
• If you’re a runner, your goal is to run a marathon. Your system is your training schedule for the month.
• If you’re an entrepreneur, your goal is to build a million dollar business. Your system is your sales and marketing process.

“Now for the really interesting question: If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still get results? 

“For example, if you were a basketball coach and you ignored your goal to win a championship and focused only on what your team does at practice each day, would you still get results?  I think you would.”

Mr. Clear goes on in the article to explain how too much focus on goals can have negative consequences on one’s outlook and mood. Mr. Clean clearly agrees.

The post Mr. Clean and Mr. Clear agree on goals! 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.

3/27/14  |  11:45 AM – 1:00 PM

Eastpoint Executive Center, 264 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03113

Register FREE

Meet Kevin personally and hear him speak on how to sell more in today’s changing markets. Email me if you have questions chuck@chucksink.com

The post Learn to master sales in 2014 appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Business development is a hybrid profession that has evolved over the last couple of decades. The very term “business development” seems to me a response to a marketplace that became weary of so many salespeople parading through front doors, entering back doors and prying open every chink in the walls of companies with money to spend. “People love to buy but hate to be sold.” So measures have been put in place to make it hard for salespeople to simply call business people and sell their stuff.

Marketing and sales have become more interdependent and the trend is that these two functions are becoming intertwined. Sales is still where most of the glory is when it comes to impressing the boss. Sales rules business and always will because businesses live on cash flow and new business is lifeblood to organizations. But sales work has changed to business development (think relationships) and effective business development must utilize marketing principles and tactics to open doors to new business opportunities. Again, “people hate to be sold but they love to buy.” A salesperson must get his message out to prospects who are truly in the market to buy.

Every salesperson’s computer can now be a broadcasting and receiving station, i.e., a media outlet. And guess what? Airtime is free. Paying for a boost with advertising is always an option but one can reach thousands in a target audience by spending only time, learning and using the free tools: Social Media, email and networking. Many thriving businesses have been launched with no marketing budget. 

If you already have a computer, Internet connection, cell phone and car (and who doesn’t these days?) Then you have the infrastructure to effectively grow a business. The only thing else you need is time and willingness to work hard (Oh darn, we had to go there!). It’s really wonderful to implement an effective marketing campaign which makes business development efforts much easier (think warm inbound leads), all with no need to spend media dollars. Those dollars can be invested instead toward product and service improvements which will make your customers the best sales force you could want.

Do you or people you know want to learn how to build a brand, market a company and increase sales using totally 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 with CRN # 20774 and Course # NCTD055.

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

The post Free Marketing Tools – Big ROI appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.