The Clever Apprentice

In essence affliliate marketing is a lot like an auction house. Your website promotes merchandise and for all your effort, every lead gets you a percentage. There’s less work, very low overheads, it works twenty-four hours a day, and what’s even better, it’s relatively easy to master. First of all, you have to make a choice as to what products or area best suits your business style. To do this, you need to find out what specific solutions to a given problem a particular group of customers are expecting, and find out a means to resolve those issues. One of the best ways to find this is looking for unique sets of extremely targeted words and phrases; more often than not customers search for these less frequently, nevertheless many more of these convert.

To discover these lucrative words and phrases, it is recommended that you use Micro Niche Finder. Info collected by Micro Niche Finder or other applications and software packages can give you related terminology in a list format allowing you to achieve a good ranking in an internet search and bring in a high number of hits.

Micro Niche Finder will in addition calculate how many searches each one gets, the number of other sites using the particular word or phrase, and details on the competition as well. Lastly, Micro Niche Finder data will help in getting the best domain, aid you in putting together your site, and draw attention to suitable merchandise to market. Constructing a site is next; but you will plainly have to do a bit more than simply that. It’s important to fine-tune your web site for the search engines. Applications such as SEO Elite can make this simple. This program analyzes competing internet sites and helps you by stating exactly what you should do in order to receive a good placing in the search engine results. With SEO Elite the info produced by the application suggests where to get links, the best keywords, and a list of sites to submit articles for reference. Concisely, Seo Elite information is the same kind of advice that an SEO specialist might provide. Once you have discovered what niche you’d like to sell in, have your product ads, and your site has been constructed, then it is time to easily increase your search results. The profits will roll in on weekly basis and you will question why you didn’t think of this earlier!

Get Wholesale Anvil Tee at Salehoo wholesale directories and help your online and offline business. Another thing to remember is that it may not be good to go off building a web site and setting up your business until you are fully prepared and have a comprehensive business plan that gives you a definite strategy for surviving against the competition. Read on about Wholesale Anvil Tee, England Uk Where To Buy Spices Wholesale and how Salehoo Wholesalers can help. As do many distributors wholesalers and liquidation centers. More on Wholesale Anvil Tee and England Uk Where To Buy Spices Wholesale at Salehoo wholesalers. Also see Wholesale Supplies

The demand for the various fast moving products from a cross section of internet marketing community has triggered the birth of many whole sale distribution companies offering products at varying and competitive discounts to be resold to the online consumers. Read on about Wholesale Anvil Tee and England Uk Where To Buy Spices Wholesale. Most of these wholesale directories also offer extensive and useful information on leading source directory of top Internet wholesalers manufacturers and liquidators. More on Wholesale Anvil Tee and England Uk Where To Buy Spices Wholesale at our Wholesale Review website. Find out more about Wholesale Anvil Tee and how Salehoo directory can help you start your own business from home. Wholesale Anvil Tee, One of the most popular metals sterling silver has a wide range of uses jewelry being one of the most popular.

Get: Wholesale Anvil Tee at Salehoo wholesale directories, and get a head start in your own startup business. The only way to thrive in your startup business is to get quality products cheaply, and from 100%, weekly verified wholesale suppliers from all over the world.
100% Endorsed by CNN Networks, Forbes, Business Networks and Many other TOP Business Journals!

Leads: Salespeople need them, and Marketing Departments (theoretically) generate them. In a perfect world, the salesperson’s challenge would be to keep up with the flood of qualified prospects that Marketing funnels out to them.

In reality, however, the Marketing-Sales lead scenario often plays out like this:

“We work our tails to the bone getting the salespeople leads, but they hardly ever follow-up with the prospects, and we never hear about it if they do,” lamented Andy, the Marketing Manager, during a recent training program.

“They give us loads of leads,” agreed salesperson Bert, “but they’re no damn good. Then, they want a full report on each of them about what transpired within a week after we get the leads. I’d rather do without leads than do all of that useless work.”

What’s going on here? Who’s right - Bert, or Andy - Sales, or Marketing?

In many companies, the Marketing and Sales departments work at cross purposes, rather than bolstering each other’s efforts. Each department is communicating different messages to different people.

The result? When Bert follows up on Marketing Department-generated leads, “…almost all of them indicate that they don’t know if they will ever be genuine prospects,” said Bert. “Yet, some of them try to get me to visit them, because they are ‘really interested’ in our products. If I waste time on low probability prospects, I won’t be able to spend my time with prospects that are ready to buy or specify our products now.”

Bert knows that a real prospect is someone who is ready, able, and willing to buy his capital equipment product- now. Following up with ‘interested’ prospects would be a waste of time. The need to justify his reluctance to pursue low probability prospects to Marketing, and his manager, wastes yet more time and causes unnecessary friction.

Marketing and Sales should be working together towards a common defined objective. Marketing creates Brand Awareness and communicates Product Knowledge to the market, generating Acceptance among target companies. Sales contacts the individuals at targeted companies responsible for Specifying and Buying its products.

The breakdown between Marketing and Sales occurs when the Sales cycle is left out of the equation. Sales should be consulted before marketing communications are sent out: Messages need to be targeted appropriately to different levels of Decision Makers who are at different stages in the Sales Cycle. Lead generation needs to qualify the prospects, and those not ready to buy should be entered into the Company database and receive continuous marketing messages.

Ideally, Andy and Bert would be working together to define and refine the Company’s target markets and target Companies. They would work together to develop a detailed database of individuals at target companies who influence, specify, and authorize Buying for their products and services. Andy’s Marketing Department would generate the universe of prospects, and Bert wouldn’t be expected to contact a prospect until Marketing had determined that the targeted company had entered the Specifying or Buying mode.

When good things happen, Sales and Marketing should both be able to rightfully claim that it was due to their efforts and expertise. That’s the Power of 2.

©Jacques Werth, High Probability® Selling - All rights reserved.

Jacques Werth, author of “High Probability Selling,” is an internationally respected Sales Trainer and Sales Consultant. HPS graduates are excelling as Top Producers in over 70 industries. Visit http://www.highprobsell.com to read more articles, preview the book, and learn more about High Probability Selling.

Do you confirm every prospect appointment before you head out the door?

Or…

Do you not confirm, believing that it gives your prospect an “out?”

Far too many coaching clients, workshop participants and readers have said to me, “If I confirm the appointment it gives them a chance to get out of it.” Let’s examine this statement and the beliefs that go with it.

The above statement implies that the scheduled appointment is something that, given a choice, your prospect would avoid. This must mean, therefore, that you somehow tricked or manipulated your prospect into agreeing to the appointment in the first place. Now on reflection, your prospect could only want to bolt.

If you had to trick your prospect to schedule the meeting, the meeting itself must not have any real value. It logically follows then, that the agenda for the meeting, your products or services, you and your time also have no value!

Well, that’s demoralizing!

If, however, you truly believe that your product or service has value, if you have done your homework, targeted your market and are calling on qualified prospects then there is no reason that a prospect should want to avoid meeting with you. It is time to change some of your beliefs about the meeting. If a prospect schedules an appointment with you, that means they are interested in talking about what you have to offer!

And here’s another thought: Do you really want to spend your time racing around your territory to meetings with prospects who don’t show?

I’ve had some sales professionals tell me that when a prospect stands them up, they like it, because the prospect then feels guilty and “owes them.” These sales professionals believe that their prospects will meet with them because of that sense of guilt. And perhaps some do. But barring a last minute emergency that takes a prospect away unexpectedly, someone who stands you up once, will more than likely have no qualms about standing you up again. This “guilt” approach goes hand-in-hand with the belief that prospects must be tricked or manipulated into meetings.

So here’s a better approach: Change the way you think about prospect meetings and confirm them! Call your prospect the day before or early the morning of the appointment. Try to reach the prospect directly. Say:

“I’m calling to confirm our brief meeting tomorrow (or later today) at (fill in the time.)”

(The use of any of the following sentences is optional.) “I’ve put together those samples we discussed.”

“I’ve given a lot of thought to your situation.”

“I have some very interesting ideas to share with you.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting you.”

If your prospect says the agreed upon meeting time no longer works, reschedule immediately! Otherwise, you now know that when you show up tomorrow or later the same day, your prospect will actually be there! (Do make sure that your prospect has your phone number so that they can reach you if something unexpected does happen.)

If you are not able to reach your prospect directly, and if your prospect has a secretary, ask her if she keeps the prospect’s calendar. If she does, you can confirm with her. If she does not, deputize her. Give her your name and phone number and say: “I’m calling to confirm my brief meeting tomorrow at (fill in the time) with Ms. Prospect.” Ask her to speak with the prospect for you and then call you back to let you know that the meeting is on.

If you are not able to reach a human being leave the following message on your prospect’s voice mail:

“Hello, Ms. Prospect. This is (fill in your name) from (fill in your company name.) My phone number is (your phone number goes here.)”

“I’m calling to confirm our brief meeting tomorrow at (fill in the time.)”

(The use of any of the following sentences is optional.) “I’ve put together those samples we discussed.”

“I’ve given a lot of thought to your situation.”

“I have some very interesting ideas to share with you.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting you.”

Please be good enough, to give me a call back and let me know that tomorrow at (fill in the time.) still works for you.”

“And again, this is (fill in your name) from (fill in your company name.) My phone number is (your phone number goes here.)”

Most prospects will call you back, either to confirm or to reschedule.

Over the past years, many, many coaching clients, workshop participants and readers have asked me about differentiating themselves from the competition. This is one way to do it. By confirming your appointments you are setting yourself up to be viewed by your prospects and customers as an expert and a professional. You are a consultant, like any consultant your time is valuable and your prospects will see that if you conduct yourself in that manner. Far too many sales professionals allow themselves to be treated poorly, feeling perhaps, that it comes with the territory. It doesn’t have to.

Confirming appointments is a far better use of your selling time. A prospect who will not meet with you, is not a qualified prospect! Those prospects who do cancel and are unwilling, for whatever reason, to reschedule are doing you a favor. They are saving you the time and energy you would have spent going to see them, following up with them and then not selling anything!

© 2005 Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success,” is a sales trainer, author, and sales coach. Her recently released program, “Cold Calling College”, and/or her book, “Cold Calling for Women”, can be ordered by visiting http://www.wendyweiss.com Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy’s free e-zine at www.wendyweiss.com

My experience has taught me that people want to buy from sales
people who are confident in their abilities. Taking control of
the circumstances and situations around you will develop your
self-confidence. When you consider the amount of rejection that
many sales people encounter, the fact that many salespeople lack
self-confidence is not surprising. Top performing people in any
industry typically possess a high level of self-confidence. They
may not necessarily possess this confidence all their lives. I
have not always have a lot of self-confidence. Outwardly I was
Mr. Confident while on the inside I seriously doubted my
abilities. I had to wrestle with my own mental baggage for years
before I became internally confident. Learning to deal with this
begins with letting go of your personal baggage. Mental baggage
is a collection of all the situations we have experienced or
encountered during our lifetimes. We carry all this baggage
around in our heads and draw from it when appropriate situations
present themselves. Perhaps you tried to join a school sports
team when you were a child. Your athletic abilities in that
particular sport were average; for that reason you were unable
to make the team. You filed away this experience in your
subconscious until a similar situation to it came along. You
immediately recalled the previous performance and outcome, and
told yourself that you were not capable of successfully meeting
the current challenge. Consequently, you did not make the effort
required to meet it. We all carry around this mental baggage. It
influences us in everything we do, both in our business and
personal lives. How it affects us when we sell is very simple.
Mental baggage may consist of customers who have been rude,
abrupt, or angry toward you. Baggage can include situations from
earlier in our work careers or even from our childhoods. As time
progresses, this mental baggage weighs heavier and heavier. Yet
we continue to drag it around with us into every sales
situation. Over time our attitude turns sour, we become
pessimistic and jaded, and we get frustrated with challenging
customers and prospects. Our productivity drops, our performance
slides, and our job security may even be threatened. We become
increasingly bitter toward our chosen occupation, the customers
we serve, and life in general. Our mental baggage is a weight on
our shoulders. How do we prevent this from happening? First,
carrying around mental baggage is a natural part of being a
human being. It is the way we view and deal with our baggage
that makes the real difference in our lives. If we look at each
experience and consider how we can learn from it, our baggage
will have less hold over us. I recall the first paid keynote
presentation I gave. I was well prepared, but not in the
appropriate manner. The room was an awkward shape and the stage
was positioned quite high, something I had never dealt with
previously. I was uncomfortable during my presentation and I
knew my delivery was affected. Instead of focusing on this after
my session, I chose to concentrate on what I learned from the
experience. When you encounter a sales situation that does not
turn out favorably, rather than focus on the negatives and
beating yourself up over it, ask yourself three questions:
1.What did I do well? 2.What did I miss or forget to do? 3.What
will I do differently if faced with a similar situation in the
future? These three questions will help you learn and grow from
each situation and will help improve your future results. Plus,
by first focusing on the positive aspects of the sales
interaction, you will give yourself a mental boost. You must
also recognize that some of our baggage is outdated. We may be
relying on information that is several years old. This happened
to me at the beginning of my career. When I was twenty-three I
was working for a restaurant chain as an assistant manager. I
was promoted to general manager and lasted less than a year
before I was demoted back to an assistant manager. I had proved
unable to perform to the company’s expectations. I ended up
leaving the company shortly afterwards. For five years I
hesitated any time an opportunity for a promotion presented
itself; I had not been sure I could do it. Finally it dawned on
me exactly what I had learned from that experience. I was not
the only person responsible for that particular failure, and my
leadership and managerial skills had developed since then.
Nevertheless, it took me five years to realize it! Let go of
your mental baggage and work on developing your personal
confidence. Pay attention to your successes and use these to
help you improve your results. © 2005 Kelley Robertson, All
rights reserved.

Have you ever wondered why some people make more sales than you?

There really is no difference between you and them.

They use a proven method that works while making their sales presentation.

There is an easy way to increase your sales and earn more money.

You have the potential to be the “$ales-$uperstar” that you have dreamed of being.

A 12 Step Method for creating more sales

1- Immediately get there attention in any way that you can.

2- Start building a strong sales foundation by asking questions.

3- Grab their emotions with powerful/interesting stories.

4- Pile on facts, features and benefits but stress the powerful benefits of owning.

5- Answer any questions that they may come up with in your presentation.

6- Have testimonials and satisfied customer information available.

7- Ask leading questions and respond quickly to answer any additional questions.

8- Have your outcome (the sale) in mind and ask for it. (the order)

9- Answer any objections in your closing sales question.

10- Ask for the order, again. If there are still objections, repeat number 9.

11- Get the sale. You have created the environment for a successful “Close”.

12- Finally Ask: Do they know anyone else who would be interested in your product?

Now, leave the account immediately.

You have the order, you have completed your outcome and you have made the sale.

You also have some new leads and prospects to call. Get right on it and start calling them immediately. Tell them that they were recommended by your last customer. Ask for an appointment next Tuesday or Thursday (or whatever days you are available) and always give them a choice of two days or times.

You are now on your way to making more sales and living the life of the successful sales professional that you are.

Frank Gasiorowski or as his is known on the internet as “Mr. 90 Day Goals”, has been teaching since 1973 and his current mission is to provide easy and effective ways for individuals to achieve their true potential through, http://www.90DayGoals.com and http://www.TotalSelfMastery.com coaching programs.

Email Frank@90DayGoals.com for a FR*EE Moving Forward Daily 90DayGoals list.

Faulty Sales Technique

Salespeople are both a blessing and a bane to every industry.
You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them.

“How are you tonight, Mr. Smith?”

“Fine.”

“Glad to hear it! Mr. Smith, my name is Phil, and I’m calling…”
Click.

Salespeople are always people people. People have to love people
to do sales because the life of a sales person is filled with
people. Most sales people are natural people people before they
enter the sales market. That’s why they go into sales!

Then comes sales training, and the natural people person gets
canned. No, she don’t lose her job. Rather, he is forced to
learn and use a canned sales spiel and proven sales techniques.
Much has been written about sales. And a lot of it is great, but
a different lot of it isn’t.

Sales Training Contradiction The other night I stumbled across a
blaring contradiction in the literature that puts sales people
in an impossible bind. Every sales person is taught two
fundamental sales techniques that are in stark opposition to
each other, and few people seem to be aware of it not even the
sales people who use them. Perhaps this contradiction
contributes to the fact that sales people generally have a poor
reputation. This contradiction may help explain why identifying
one’s self as a sales person so often engenders a smirk.

The Art of Listening The first of these contradictory techniques
involves the art of listening. Sales people must listen to
customers in order to understand their needs, so that they can
shape their sales approach to fit the needs of the customer. The
sale must be tailored to the needs of the customer.

The customer is supposed to be king. Customer service is all the
rage. The customer is the boss. Thus, listening to customers is
good. Everyone could benefit from listening more and from
listening better. People often talk past one another, each
person fully committed to the sound of his or her own voice.
Things gets said, but not much is heard.

The Problem of Hearing Listening is essential. A sales person
who doesn’t listen is a pain below the belt. But so is hearing.
The difference between listening and hearing is crucial.
Listening to someone means that you understand what he has said.
But hearing someone means that what she has said has caused a
change or adjustment in your thought process, or even your life.
To hear something is allow what you hear to change you.

“Billy, please clean your room! Are you listening to me, Billy?”

“Yes, mom I’m listening.”

But the next morning reveals that Billy did not clean his room.
He was listening, but he didn’t hear the message. It didn’t
register in a significant enough way for him to remember it, and
take action upon it. Mom expressed herself and Billy listened,
but he didn’t hear her.

Overcoming Objections Sales training literature often speaks of
overcoming objections. Sales people are taught various
techniques for overcoming the customer’s resistance to buying
the product or service now. And herein lies the rub. The sales
person is taught to listen to the customer, except when he says
that he doesn’t want to buy the product or service now.

Too often, sales people take a short-sighted view of the sales
process and press to overcome the customer’s objections by
pestering the customer to change his mind. He wants the sale
today. But pressing to overcome objections requires the
abandonment of the listening process at the point that listening
is most critical.

While it is true that overcoming objections requires careful
listening, it is also true that such the effort to overcome
objections refuses to hear the essential fact that the customer
doesn’t want to buy now. To press to overcome objections
requires not listening, but manipulationand people don’t like
to be manipulated.

Back off, Dude! So, what is the sales person to do when
confronted with objections? He should back off the sale and work
to develop a genuine personal relationship or friendship with
the customer. And short of that, he should find someone who
doesn’t object to buying his product or service, and not waste
any more of his timeor theirs!

There will be another day. If there isn’t, he has not only lost
the sale, he has lost the customer.

©2003 Phillip A. Ross