Dale Rothenberger, VP of The Winters Group & Associates

Today I heard the news that Ben and Jerry’s (you know, the ice cream guys) is abandoning its e-mail marketing initiatives to focus exclusively on social media advertising. Customers provided feedback that the majority of them would prefer to be contacted on social media sites. Going forward, it will send one e-mail update each year to customers, and focus on using its Facebook and Twitter profiles to engage regularly.

Last week, Ford announced it was skipping the 2011 model Auto Show, choosing instead to unveil the newly designed Ford Explorer on Facebook. Obviously, Ford’s success of its purely digital Ford Fiesta Movement, has proven you can rely on the digital (and social) channel to build interest in selling cars.

Starbucks, became the world’s first consumer brand to achieve 10 million fans on Facebook. And on July 21st Facebook announced that it has passed the 500 million member mark – in just six short years.

Is it safe to say that the mobile advertising equation is beginning to add up? According to Nielson, there are now 63 million mobile web users in the US alone, and global mobile advertising will grow 19 percent to $3.3 Billion by end of this year.

This is really good news for our industry.

Customers are now in control – they have to raise their hands to ask for details. Using today’s print technology to capture and nurture a prospect until they are ready to buy uses every communication channel, and who knows better on how to collect and segment data once collected?

Today’s smart Purl’s and QR codes offer the customer benefits they do not have otherwise in this social communication environment. The customer can pick up targeted information and offer feedback. In fact message relevancy has been shown to increase conversion rates by as much as 20X compared to the traditional method of one-size fits all messaging.

What are you doing to keep up with technology in this social space? Have you opened a corporate account on Facebook? Do you have a blog on your site? Are you using video as part of your messaging? Are your videos findable on Utube?

This is the year for companies to jump into social media. Search Facebook for your competitors. Set up a business account on Twitter. Participate on blogs and LinkedIn postings. Find out what your customers are experiencing so you can better recommend and be an active partner with them as social media evolves.

It’s no longer marketing as “eyeballs and ears” but rather “hearts and minds”.

Noah Knoble, Account Executive, Conley Printing

How much do you know about your prospect? If you are doing your homework I am sure you know what book they are reading, where they may have traveled to recently, maybe right down to their birthday and whether or not they are married before you even make the phone call (in addition to the knowledge you should already possess in regards to their business). Now ask yourself, “What do I know about the gatekeeper?” A gatekeeper is a definition us sales people have coined for someone we have to get through in order to get to the decision maker. I am sure we all have gatekeepers that we just can’t seem to get past. If you are all too familiar with the situation regarding the gatekeeper, quickly ask yourself what you have tried to get through. Do you know their first name? Do you know their last name or even the title of their position?

So how do you get through the gatekeeper and to the prospect? Empower them. Empowering someone is the greatest gift you can give a person. Utilize the gatekeeper to make them feel like they play an important role in the decision process. Use tools such as LinkedIn to seek them out. Once you have earned their trust, ask them to introduce you to the decision maker via LinkedIn or over the phone. If they are on Twitter, follow them and get to know who they follow. There is not a more important fan or cheerleader to have than the gatekeeper. Think about it, they see the decision maker every day, they field calls for them, and probably set their schedules too. The gatekeeper plays one of the most important roles for the decision maker, so naturally this person is the one your prospect is likely to trust the most. Make a friend and a fan out of them, ask them to help you, because if you have earned their trust… they will. Finally, you never know when the gatekeeper might just become the decision maker. Next time you are about to call that prospect you just can’t seem to get a hold of, shift your focus a bit, and make the call about getting to know the gatekeeper. If you act as if they are the one you are calling to talk to soon they will become your greatest asset.

So Red Rover Red Rover send the Gatekeeper over.

Brian Sullivan, President of PRECISE Selling

Think of somebody new who you recently met who you now call friend. Why did you like them when you met them? How did they communicate with you? Chances are, you connected with them because they showed more interest in YOU than themselves. Before they started telling you all about their job, family and favorite hobby, they first asked you about yours. And they REALLY cared about the answer. They didn’t ask the question then look down to their iPhone to see who just Twittered or texted.

So the formula is simple. If you want more friends, customers and more rewarding relationships, begin every conversation this week with a question. Replace the “I think…” with “What do you think?” When selling, remove the “My product will make your life easier by…” and replace it with, “How do you think that feature will help you?” (even if you know the answer) By replacing your statements with questions, you will learn, solve, sell, lead and connect with more people than ever. And those relationships you create will become your most valued and precious asset.

To download Brian’s FREE iPhone Application of his popular sales book, 20 Days to the Top, go to www.preciseselling.com.

Peter Ebner, The printing industry’s leading sales trainer

When prospecting for new business are prospects always saying “I’m not interested, I’m happy with my printer”? If so, it’s because you’re making a common prospecting mistake. Here’s how to eliminate this objection forever.

Click here to hear Peter’s weekly tip.

For more information on Peter Ebner and Ebner seminars, visit www.ebnerseminars.com.

Craig McConnell, President PrintGrowPro, Inc.

You’ve developed and adhered to your prospecting plan religiously. You’ve worked your way through the gate keeper. You’ve avoided voice mail hell. You’ve actually gotten the prospect on the phone, established some rapport, qualified him, gotten some personal information, uncovered some pain and he has indicated a willingness to take some time to talk with you. You’ve successfully set up that all important ‘face to face’ meeting. You’ve brushed your teeth, shined your shoes, brushed the lint off your shoulders, checked your ’gig’ line, made sure you have business cards, and you’re sitting down in front of the prospect.

Now what???????????

When you are in these early stages of the relationship you’ve got to have 10-15 good questions prepared, written down, and ready to go. The quality of your questions will dictate the quality of the relationship.

You’re looking for pain and problems.

All great sales people are smart, and smart sales people ask smart questions. In an ideal situation, they ask questions a prospect has never been asked before.

I try hard to do that in my business. Here are some of the questions I ask; the goal being to get my prospects to think about their current situations and perhaps uncover some pain.

*How successful is your sales team in converting cold calls into face to face meetings? How do you measure?
*What are you doing to insure the professional development of your sales team? How do you measure their progress?
*What percentage of your sales team made their numbers in 2009? How much new business did they develop?
*Are there things you are doing differently in 2010?

Just for kicks, I went on line to see if I could find any examples of what might be considered ‘bad’ (dumb?) qualifying questions. A few of the ’best’ are attached below. Hopefully, you’ve ever used any of them. What kind of answers might they generate?

*Would you like some information on our company and what we do?
*If you thought our company could help you improve efficiency and quality at the same time, would you want to know more?
*Can you tell me a little bit about your business?
*Can I quote on some of your upcoming projects?

Always put yourself in the prospects shoes. If you heard one of these questions would you open up (“WOW, I glad you asked; I was hoping to take the time to share this kind of information with someone that I am meeting for the very first time.”), or, would you very politely move to terminate the meeting?

If you don’t already have them, start making your list of SMART questions today; questions that find pain, get personal data, identify needs, and differentiate you from the competitors.

Have a great week, go sell something and remember, the answer to any question you never as is always going to be ‘no’.

For more information on PrintGrowPro, Inc. please visit www.printgrowpro.com.

Linda Bishop, President and Founder of Thought Transformation

What separates “best of the best” salespeople from the rest of the pack? It’s how they chose to use their time! Eliminate these time wasters and sell more.

• Stop calling on accounts with teeny-tiny payoffs. You know who I mean. That’s likable Bob. He’s the part-time designer who works out of his basement and still hasn’t upgraded from the original version of InDesign! He’s also the guy who has ten alternates on the business card job and needs sixteen papers samples—cut to size and dummied up—and after all that will tell you with great regret that he bought the job on VistaPrint because they were cheaper.

• Stop looking for leads from 8AM to 5PM, Monday to Friday. Those are prime selling hours. Use them to sell. If you need leads, look for them on the weekend or after hours.

• Stop spending hours on useless research. By useless, I mean stuff that is interesting to know, but won’t help you get an appointment or make a sale. To become a better researcher, write down the specific question you need answered in order to take the next specific step.

• Stop calling people 100 times without leaving a message. You have to call five to eight times before people believe you’re relentless. The faster you prove that by leaving a message, the faster they pick up the phone.

• Stop calling people who demonstrate by their actions they are satisfied with their current solution. If you have called a prospect twelve times in 90 days, mailed three times and sent five emails—TAKE THE HINT! They’re not interested. Let them go. Move on. You’ll sell more in the long run when you stop wasting time on people who obviously don’t want to buy.

Want to read more from Linda? Visit her blog by clicking here!

Dale Rothenberger, VP of The Winters Group & Associates

The impact of social media to our marketing and sales channels has created an atmosphere where people will gladly tell us things about themselves and their business; while at the same time has made sales more difficult because we have lost that personal connection.

Maybe it was my Dale Carnegie training, or just that I like to talk to strangers and learn about them ……. Whatever the cause, I am routinely getting into conversations anywhere I go. (In my 2-1/2 hour flight this afternoon, I discovered that my seatmate is in the mail and fulfillment business, and now he knows all about the Winters Group & Assoc. and we’ve agreed to talk again next week.)

Ok, so I’m outgoing (and inquisitive). But I also have a habit of wearing a name badge in most business settings. I find that it makes me approachable and it breaks down barriers. Being approachable is priceless.

But you don’t need to have a nametag to walk into a room and tell people who you are. By the same token, everyone I talk to gets a business card from me. (And if I think they are connected to someone who might be a “likely prospect” I will give them two cards and ask them to pass the second on to that person.)

It’s all about getting to know who your customers are before you can sell to them. (Or is it that they are buying, we are not selling at all).

One rule remains unchanged: If the salesperson invests more time uncovering his prospect’s process and timeframe for taking action in the early stages of the selling cycle, he’ll spend less time later trying to solve “problems” that don’t need solving.

In today’s world, every lead needs to be qualified. Just as important, every prospect needs to be nurtured to the point of when ready to buy, we’ve gained top of mind position.

For more information on The Winters Group and Associates, visit www.wintersmg.com.

Brian Sullivan, President of PRECISE Selling

You can’t do that. You are out of your league. They are going to think you are stupid. It’s not your place. Leave well enough alone. There is nothing wrong with playing it safe! No doubt we have all heard words like this at times in our life. But I have realized something about top performers like explorer Gary Guller. They have a way of simply ignoring those who doubt themselves and doubt others. They will NOT let the negative influence of others affect their rise to the top. And I have noticed another thing about top performers. While getting to the top is fun for them, often the real blast comes from helping others reach beyond their perceived potential.

For example, on May 30 2003, one armed climber Gary Guller reached the summit of Mt. Everest, dropped to his knees and cried, realizing he just made history. But perhaps an even greater moment in his life came just seven weeks earlier when he, despite the odds, led a team of disabled explorers to Everest Base Camp at 17,500 ft. And here is something most folks don’t know. Only 1 in 10 climbers ever reach the base camp of Mount Everest…and these people did it in wheelchairs, with prosthetic limbs and a host of other disabilities.

So what’s the point? Well no doubt Gary and his team of very “abled” explorers heard the naysayers say there was no way it was possible. They can’t do that. They are out of their league. But Gary would tell you this. Don’t believe it when others tell you that you are not capable. They are WRONG. How does he know? Because he saw the tears of thanks in the eyes of the disabled friends he led. He stood on the top of the world, witnessed the greatness of the human spirit and looked down at a world full of potential. The potential that is in YOU right now. So this week, as your own doubtful mind or the cynical minds of others tells you how so many things are impossible, fight back! Because this is the year you will turn your potential into amazing possibility. See you at the TOP!

Brian Sullivan is the author of the book 20 Days to the Top. To learn more, go to www.preciseselling.com.

Peter Ebner, Founder of Ebner Seminars

If you expect to be successful in print sales you must deal with a decision maker. So makes someone a decision maker? The decision maker is not the individual that can give you the order, nor is it the person that can sign the check. The decision maker is the individual that has ….

To listen to Peter Ebner’s sales tip of the week, click here.

Craig McConnell, President and Founder of PrintGrowPro, Inc.

I received quite a number of email responses to my March 28 blog that dealt with the concept of going ‘cold turkey’ with your communication devices for some period of time — an hour, two hours, a day? My suggestion was that this ‘found’ time could be used to think, to plan, to prioritize, or to review your goals. I am a firm believer that this exercise will greatly increase a sales reps long term productivity (think Stephen Covey’s thoughts about ‘sharpening the saw”) and income. However, most of the comments were of a similar vein: “no way; not going to happen; can’t risk it.”

Our tendency as sales people is to buy into society’s need for instantaneous, non-stop communications (think Blackberry, Ipad, Iphone, Internet – wired and wireless, cell phone, Facebook, MySpace, LINKEDIN, PDAs, CRMs, etc.), can be physically and mentally exhausting. It can also actually be a ‘crutch’ that keeps you from doing things that might actually grow your business.

By the way, as an aside, it is also dumb and dangerous: texting in the car? Reading emails while driving? Think those actions through the next time you get behind the wheel (Go Oprah!!!!)

Ask yourself if you’ve become a slave to technology. What is the first thing you do every morning? Read something motivational? Meditate? Exercise? Are addicted to your communication device? The receipt of an email does not mandate an immediate reply; it may not mandate a reply ever.

My brother, who is the assistant principal at an elementary school in Tampa, recently shared with me his frustration with parents who drop their kids off at school in the morning talking on the phone (there is no “have a great day”, “learn something new”, “I love you”, “be safe”) and pick them up in the afternoon still talking on the phone (there is no ‘how was your day?’, “tell me about school“, “great to see you”, etc.). Continuous, non-stop contact and communication is not essential – especially in this situation.

Have a great day and go sell something!

To read more from Craig McConnell or for more information on PrintGrowPro, Inc. please visit http://www.printgrowpro.com/.