Have you ever wondered how companies get on the “Top” lists.  I recently made Evan Carmicheal’s Top 100 Sales Experts to Watch on Twitter.  He publishes this every month.  In April I was #77 .  Pretty exciting, I think.  How did I get on this list?  And what does it mean?  Does it get me any business?

One of the things it means is that I am showing up and someone is noticing.  Are you showing up and is anyone noticing?  And really not just anyone, but your ideal customers.  The game is to get noticed by them and have them contact you. Social media is certainly one of the ways to get noticed, along with traditional media and great customer service that turns your customers into a walking advertisement.

The real question is are you at the top of your customer’s list.  Do they think of your first. I’d like to think so, but I make sure.  I use social media, email marketing, networking, one to one calls and visits, handwritten notes, fun gifts, this blog and anything else I can think of to stay there.

On Saturday night, I had the great pleasure of emceeing the Summit Awards.  NAIOP, CCIM and CREW, all commercial real estate organizations, give these awards annually to brokers, developers and construction companies.  It’s great for businesses to win awards for many reasons.  Once you have won an award you can position your company as “Award Winning” company. So how do you get that notoriety for your company? Every company should apply for awards.  There are so many different ones out there you can win.  Start by looking in your industry for organizations that give out awards and start applying.  If you think that is conceited or self promoting, guess what, the only way you can win most awards is by applying or asking someone to nominate you.  Awards are just another way to celebrate your accomplishments. Companies don’t spend enough time celebrating what they do right, awards give you a great opportunity to do that.  Take advantage and apply for an award today.  I’ve given you some places to start below.

The Addy Awards – given by the America Advertising Federation for great ideas.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blue Ribbon Awards - 75 small businesses are selected for their innovative business practices and strong contributions to their communities. (I’ve won this award twice.)

The Stevie Awards – The world’s premier business award competition.

These are national awards.  You can find local and regional awards to apply for as well.  I am sure your local chamber gives out awards.  I won the Community Spirit Award from my chamber a few years back and yes, I asked people to nominate me. Is it shameless self promotion, maybe. But I really do a lot for my community and it is nice to be recognized. I also won Marketer of the Year from the Reno-Tahoe AMA, that one I didn’t have to apply for but that is unusual.   Our community also gives awards for the best places to work.  I bet your community does that too.  Your employees can nominate your company.  Your company deserves to be recognized for all it does.  If you don’t want to apply for awards you can still use the idea and develop an awards program within your company to recognize people and teams.  Hold an annual event and give out awards to your customers.  What a great way to appreciate them and keep them engaged.  Once you have given your awards you can do some PR and send info on the winners to your local media outlets and post on social media.

Let me know of awards you have won and your ideas about how you can use awards to help your company build it’s brand and promote itself or it’s employees.

P.S.  I am launching my newsletter, watch for it and tell me what you think.

Wow, what a week.  Monday, we filmed an episode of Plush Life and then I spent the rest of the day with clients.  Most of Tuesday was preparing for Wednesday’s presentation for WOW – no not World of Warcraft, but Weddings of the West.  I was a keynote speaker, followed by a break out session, and then the afternoon with clients.  Thursday training CCIM and NAIOP members to use LinkedIn to generate leads, followed by meetings with clients. Friday, I was a keynote for the PRSSA Region 1 conference-followed by a break out session. In between I volunteered at The Discovery for an hour, and then after the afternoon break out, one more client meeting followed by a dinner at my home with friends.  Not to mention the phone calls and email handled in between and the sad news from two friends. Did you follow all of that? I should be exhausted right now, and I am, but I am exhilarated at the same time.

As business people we all have too much to do.  There is a never ending flood of information and requests coming at us.   It can be overwhelming at times.  How do I do it you ask?  Some weeks better than others. This week I had a melt down but it only lasted about an hour.  I got over it and got going.  Here are some of the things I do to keep my sanity and I hope by mentioning them it will help you keep your sanity too.

1. Exercise - Can’t say it enough times, indoors or out, get some exercise, get your heart rate up and get your mind off your business.

2. Call a friend - and just scream if you have to.  Ask them to just listen and say they understand.

3. Count your blessings – As bad as it gets, I look around and see someone who has it worse.  My life is wonderful and I need to stay focused on all the good things and my opportunities and keep the tough things in check.

4. Stay focused on the high pay-off activities – As my business coach always reminds me, I need to prioritize my activities so that I do the high payoff activities first.

5. Its not forever, it’s just for now - This helps when I have to temporarily stop doing something I want to do, but just can’t fit in and when I have to do things I don’t enjoy.

6. Plan - I take time each day, each week and each month to plan and schedule.  Each year I do a full blown strategic plan and review it periodically.  I’d be off my rocker by now if I didn’t.

7. Stay focused on sales – You can’t run a business if you don’t have sales.  Cash flow is critical for any business.  Make sure the sales keep coming in. During that planning time I always make sure I have time for lead generation, follow up, sales meetings and closing deals.

I hope this helps you and if you would like to share some of the ways you stay sane in this crazy, busy and not always easy world, please comment below.

P.S.  This blog post is different than most of my previous posts.  I am trying a new idea.  Yes, amidst everything else I am working on my marketing.  I have decided to try making my blog more personal. I will write about revelations I am having with my business. I am also re-starting my e-newsletter, I will post the how-to stuff there.  Keep your eye on me if you want to know how things shape up.

What’s your networking strategy?

How many hours do you spend preparing , driving , and attending networking events that feel like a waste of time?  If your feeling is  “There is no one there I want to meet,” or “These never result in business,” then it is time to rethink your networking strategy.  Yes, you need a networking strategy.

If your purpose in networking is to generate leads, referrals, and sales, you need to start by making sure you are in the right place.   If you do all the right things in the wrong place, you will leave without the results you are looking for.  There are so many  places to network,  it can be difficult to know where to start.

• Which events are worth your time?
•  Which ones are most likely to result in business?

With any marketing campaign, you need to know your target market .  Don’t take that the wrong way.   I know you know your target market; your ideal customer – right?  We better take a second here and double check that . . .

• First write down the characteristics that describe the customers that buy from you, or you think would buy from you if they knew about you.
•  How would you describe them demographically?
• What size, what revenue, how many employees, location, privately held.
• Who buys from you?

Until you do that, your networking efforts are going to be pretty much wasted. So I will wait for you.  When you get that figured out, I will be right here…….

OK, so now you know who your target audience is for your product or service.  Then ask yourself -  is that your target market for your networking effort?  The answer is yes, and no.

• Yes, you absolutely want to network in places where your potential  customers will be.  You also want to network in places where there are credible people who can refer business to you.  Your mission is to figure out where those two groups of people are, and be there.

Where are you currently networking?  Who goes to them?  Can they either buy from you, or refer you to people who can buy from you?  If not, then you aren’t networking to develop new business.

So, where are the people you want to network with?  Would you be better off doing one networking meeting a year with people who can actually help you build your business, than 5 networking meetings a month with people who can’t?  Probably.  You wouldn’t send out marketing letters to people in your neighborhood, if who you really needed to reach were CEO’s of fortune 500 companies (well, not my neighborhood anyway).  So, you aren’t going to attend your local Chamber of Commerce Meeting if your target market is doctors.

Take the time to create a Networking Strategy that will help you reach people who will help you build your business, and then follow it.  Choose organizations, trade shows, conferences and social groups where the people you need to meet gather.  Look for places both online and off where you can build relationships with the people you need to meet.

I’d be happy to brainstorm with you and help you set your strategy.  Mention this blog post and get a special networking strategy session for $97.

For more on networking read my most recent articles in Connect , and Rejuvenate.  Also read my related articles and  go to my website to request my free e-book Connecting Your Way To New Business.

Related articles

• Pre-event Preparations for Networking Success (smartsalestips.com)

We have all been asked a million times, “What do you do?”  How do you answer the question?  Do you launch into a long winded explanation, or do you say something boring like, “I’m in sales at ABC Company.”  Your answer can make or break the conversation. It can help you engage or repel the person you are talking to,  and yet, so many people spend little or no time determining what to say and actually practicing it.

My initial response used to be: “I’m a sales consultant and what I do is work with  senior management to do a gap analysis and figure out what they need to do to get them from where they are  to where they want to be. ”  I have watched eyes glaze over and hear the word, “Oh” come out of their mouth.  I was stuck there.  When they said “Oh” I would immediately ask, “What do you do?” and switch the attention to them.

It took time, but I worked on a (short) interesting answer that prompted, “How do you do that?”  I finally ended up with, “I help companies increase sales.”  When they ask how I do that, I have a few short stories prepared that I can tell, or if it’s the appropriate situation I’ll offer examples for their own company. If the situation allows, feel empowered to tailor to the person you are speaking to.

• Your goal: to engage the people you are conversing with and prompt more interest. Once you reach that point, you can give your “elevator pitch.”

The idea of an “elevator pitch” is that if you had a one minute elevator ride and someone asked you, “What do you do?” you could tell them in that time a way that catches their interest. I suggest having a couple different lengths, as sometimes 30 seconds is all you have. Here are some examples:

• Instead of, “I’m a Realtor and I am looking for anyone who wants to buy a home.”   This doesn’t help you stand out and it’s not engaging,  you are one of thousands. But if you said, “I help first time home buyers find their dream home.  I specialize in homes under $200,000 in the Reno area, and I would love to meet people you know that are looking for their first home.” Not only would people be more engaged, they would know exactly what kind of lead to send your way and might even know someone who fits your description.
• Instead of , “I’m a tax accountant.”  Say something like, “I like to help business owners keep their money in their pockets.  I specialize in preparing taxes for companies with revenues under $10 million and I am looking for business owners who believe they should be paying less to the IRS.”

Those sentences convey clearly what you do and who you do it for.  It tells the listener an idea of who to refer to you, all in 15 seconds.  If needed you could probably add 2 or 3 more sentences.  I recommend brainstorming some things you can say, write them down, rework them and then practice saying them until it becomes second nature. Then practice, practice, practice.

Need help crafting your answer to “What do you do”?  Call me for a special session for only $97,  if you mention this blog post.

For more on networking, read my most recent article in Connect and my related articles or go to my website and request my free e-book Connecting Your Way To New Business.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Working the Room: Network for Success (smartsalestips.com)
• Networking is not Selling (smartsalestips.com)

Networking is one of the easiest and most effective ways to generate leads and increase sales.  This being said,  I often hear people say they attend a lot of networking events but don‘t get any business from them.   I then ask them a series of questions:

• How do you choose which events to attend?
• What do you do at these events?
• What do you do after the event?

Through my training, I teach my clients how to approach people by asking questions instead of walking up and trying to sell.   I  teach them what to say in 30 seconds that tells people what they do.  I also teach them to ask directly for the type of business they want, and most importantly, what to do after an event.

The biggest problem seems to be follow up.  They rarely do what it would take to turn those contacts into business.  In last week’s article,  “Working the Room – Network for Success”,  I showed you four simple steps to turn a networking event from social hour into a successful evening of  new sales and business partners.  Now let’s talk about what to do after the event:

• What do I do after the event

Immediately enter the business cards you collected into your database.

Be sure to add any notes you made on the cards during the event. I always add the name of the event and the date so I can remember where we met.  If you don’t enter them in your database throw them out!  Yes, it is okay to throw out a business card.  If you’re not sure, band the cards from a specific event together, and if you don’t touch them in a month or two, toss them.  If I send an email or a card,  I make a note of that also.

•  If you say, “Let’s get together for coffee or lunch,” then make that happen.

It shouldn’t be something you just say to make conversation. You need to call, email or connect on social media after the event to set it up. A handwritten note is also a nice touch.  You should send it within 48 hours after the event.

•  Decide how you plan to keep in contact on a regular basis.

Once you have made the connection, interact with them. Read their posts and comment. Watch the media for the people you are interested in. If you see an article about them, clip it and send it to them with a note about doing business together. If you read an article that would interest them, send it.  If they are not a potential customer build a relationship that could lead to referrals or a potential collaboration by referring people to them. If they are a potential customer, learn as much as you can about their business and the ways you might help them.

Everyone can learn to network. Salespeople and entrepreneurs need to become expert at it.   Develop your networking strategy. Choose carefully the events you attend and follow your strategy to turn all the time, money and effort spent  networking  into business.

For more on networking read my most recent article in Connect and my related articles or go to my website and request my free e-book Connecting Your Way To New Business.

Related articles

• Working the Room: Network for Success (smartsalestips.com)
• Networking is not Selling (smartsalestips.com)

It doesn’t  seem to matter how many times I say it,  there are still people out there who are selling at networking events. They are anxious to get their business card in as many hands as possible and with each conversation they are trying to sell you their product or service. We all want to run from these people as fast as humanly possible. It’s no wonder business owners don’t attend networking events.

Gotta love twitter – it is the place where I get most of the news that keeps me current with what’s going on in sales and social media as well as the world. I learned today about BMWs that can drive themselves and got an update on the Planned Parenthood – Susan G. Koman debacle.  I also looked at a graphic that showed the difference between conservative and liberal presidents and  how that effects the voters.  There is no end to the information you can get to quickly through twitter depending on who you are following.

In monitoring twitter today I came across this excellent article describing further some of the things I posted yesterday. “Twitter says more than 200 million tweets are sent each day, yet most users get little feedback about the messages they send besides occasional retweets, or when followers opt to stop following them.” This speaks directly to my point that your opportunity on twitter exists in engaging followers not just sending out messages. “A well-received tweet is not all that common,” Bernstein said. “A significant amount of content is considered not worth reading, for a variety of reasons.”

Is your content worth reading? More importantly is it worth commenting on? Are you just retweeting or are you commenting on the tweets. Try interacting more and see what happens.

The article shares nine lessons for improving tweet content.

Thanks to the researchers at Carnegie Mellon, MIT and Georgia Tech for caring enough about this great communication platform to give us this feedback.

Why does everyone stop work this time of year?

My good friend Caryn Kopp wrote a great article on why it is so important for salespeople to keep working during November and December.   I have started with several new clients this month and I am doing lots of follow up to move sales through my funnel. Caryn outlines 5 reasons to keep prospecting in December.

Fill Your Pipeline In December

Why spend the last two weeks of December cleaning out files when you could be filling next year’s pipeline with new business?  Most business owners and salespeople believe that trying to reach prospects at year-end is pointless and instead spend time getting organized for the coming year.   In doing this, they miss out on one of the best times of the year to reach decision makers live.  Here’s what we’ve learned about prospecting in December…

1. Companies have fewer internal meetings during the last two weeks of the year due to employee vacations and mid-day holiday parties.  This means decision makers are more likely to be working at their desks and available when you call.
2. Many assistants take year-end time off (especially if they have school-age children), leaving decision makers to answer their own phones…without gatekeepers.
3. Decision makers who are in their offices at this time of year are more relaxed and chatty.
4. Your competitors don’t think this way.  They usually stop calling prospects the 2nd week of  December.  Your “share of voice” when leaving voicemails and reaching prospects live will be higher and you will get more accomplished with each call.
5. Decision makers will typically not accept a meeting from mid to end of December. However, if you request a date to meet NEXT year (which is just days away), their  calendars are usually wide open.  Ask for a meeting in early January and watch your calendar fill up.

This works especially well with hard-to-reach and senior level decision makers.  Connecting with prospect decision makers is just the first step in getting the door open.  Once you have a prospect on the phone you will need to deliver a content-rich message that is so relevant and compelling your prospect will invite you in for a meeting.  Does the message you are using now accomplish this for you?  Of course you must also be prepared to answer the objections that will inevitably come your way.  How much time have you spent pre-thinking answers that will get you past the objections you face?  Don’t forget to couple your objection response with a request for a next step.  How often do you do this?  What are you planning to do to develop new business this December?

About the author…Caryn Kopp, is the Managing Director and Chief Door Opener® of Kopp Consulting, LLC., a nationwide company which helps its clients secure initial meetings with high level, hard to reach, decision makers.  This program is called the Door Opener® Service.  Caryn is the author of The Path To The Cash! ®  The Words You NEED To Bypass Those Darned Prospect Objections!  This is the go-to book for getting in the door with prospects.  For more information go to www.koppconsultingusa.com.  

(In an earlier post, I discussed whether or not you should be on LinkedIn. If you’re new to LinkedIn, you’ll want to read that article first to learn how to build a strong network.)

There is lots of talk about the new LinkedIn company pages. For some it is just another place on the internet they need to keep current. It can seem daunting at times. I currently have business pages on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google +, and Youtube that I need to update regularly, along with all of my personal profiles. Not to mention this blog that needs new content weekly. It does take a lot of time, but so does any sales and marketing plan. The better you get at it the faster it is and the more results you get. That said, it is a lot to keep up with and it is constantly changing, so I do recommend you train someone at your company to help you or hire and train an intern.

There is plenty of good information out there on how to put up your company page and I have linked to those at the end of this article. What’s missing is what to do once you complete your company profile. It’s like any other social media, if you are posting things and no one is watching you don’t get results. So here are 5 things I am doing to get people to follow my company page. First and foremost, I let them know I have one and share the link in the following ways:

1. Add a LinkedIn button to your website – when clicked it will take them to your company page.

2. Follow your clients. When they see you follow them, they may follow you.

3. Post an update on your personal profile and include the link to your company page. (See example below.)

4. Get the url for your company page (like this http://www.linkedin.com/company/alice-heiman-llc) and put it at the end of your LinkedIn email messages.

5. Add a link to your LinkedIn Company page in the signature of your email (see below) and have it link to your company page. If you need to know how to do this, watch this screenr.

But don’t forget, once you have followers, you have to add value. So make a plan on what you will post and when. Then go back and check frequently to see if people are interacting and be sure to connect with them.

Below are some other resources to help you with LinkedIn Company Pages:

• Social Media Examiner - 5 Tips for Using The New LinkedIn Company Pages
• HubSpot’s ebook - How to Use LinkedIn for Business
• HubSpot - 11 Reasons Your LinkedIn Company Page Sucks 

If you’d like to learn more about how to use LinkedIn I’d be happy to provide training for you and your sales team online or in person.  Just call 775-852-5020 or visit www.aliceheiman.com.