5 Ways to Shake Up Your Webinars and Wake Up Your Students

Remember your favorite teacher or professor? How they captivated the class with their personality and flare for memorable presentations? How they got you to learn things without even trying?

Well, style is just as important in today’s virtual classroom. If webinars are an important training tool in your work, here’s how to make sure you’re one of those unforgettable instructors who can shake up a webinar and wake up their students.

Read the top 5 ways to improve your webinars here.

Opening Statement Sales Script That Advances the Sales Call

Sales Managers: Help Eliminate Your Teams Sales Call Failures

Learn how to develop an opening statement (what you say after, "Hello, my name is...") that will create interest and not resistance from prospects, influence gatekeepers and spike voice mail call backs.

This 50 minute session is on January 5th from 11 am till 11:50 am eastern time and you and your entire inside sales team is invited to join us for free online. Start 2010 off right by attending this free "Eliminate Sales Call Failure" workshop by SalesBuzz.com.

Join here.

Tommy Lee and Michael Pedone

Ok I know it isn't "sales" related but just want to share with everyone another side to me besides sales.

Tommy Lee from Motley Crue starting a side project Methods of Mayhem. He’s allowing musicians to download his tracks and then add to them. The very best contributors will be invited to perform with Tommy at the record release concert in Los Angeles.

You can listen to the song and the guitar tracks and licks that I laid down here.

My Top 5 Ways To Rock Our Audience When Training Online

(This was my response to another member that asked about Training Webinars and how to make them useful, so I thought I'd post it here too)

1) Have useful helpful content. The attendees should leave the webinar feeling like they are better now than before they started.

2) So far, webinars under an hour seem to be more appealing. If your content goes beyond that, may I suggest you spread them out or break them up into a mini series?

3) Invest in quality PPT images. Your audience will know the difference and it separates you from all the others.

4) Use live video when possible. It's just too cool! (WebEx can, GoToWebinar can't... which is a bummer because WebEx is more expensive but hey, our clients are worth it and I'm sure yours are too!)

5) Use the Polls! When you combine everything else above, it makes for a fun learning environment.

Price Objection in a New Economy

Today's price objection is different then yesterday's price objections. With the new economy, businesses and consumers will be more careful about how they spend or invest their cash. There are plenty of sales trainers out there that will "sell" you on "how to gain new business without cutting price in today's economy" however I believe that is just a crafty hook to lure desperate business owners in.

It's my belief that the new price objection can not be handled the same as it has been in the past. The reason for the price objection is different than what it used to be. Businesses will need to find ways to make / offer their products / services better while reducing their overhead as well as possibly finding new creative ways to do business while being more profitable even if they also have to lower price.

So I agree, simply cutting price is "weak". However those with smart business sense will realize that today's "new" economy calls for new creative ways to offer your products / services at a higher profit margin even if you lower your price.

Sales Training: Avoiding the "Stall" Objection

YouTube Sales Buzz Training Program Videos

We will be releasing new phone sales tips and techniques via youtube very shorty. Stay tuned!!

Define "Cold Call"

How Does Your Sales Team Define What a "Cold Call" is? (Post your comments)

Can sales training help your team be more successful at it?

Starting 2010 Sales Off on the Right Track

We know that most sales people will not invest in themselves (and the ones that do eventually go on to become their own boss in due time)

However we also know that a majority of those that aren't willing to pay for their own training will still excel when "free" training is offered by their employer....(read the rest here).

When Should a Sales Person STOP investing in Improving their Sales Skills?

How Much Should a Sales Person Earn?

In another post, I mentioned seeing a lot of companies starting to offer straight commission only compensation plans. Most sales people responded that, "you get what you pay for" or "straight commission is a bad idea" etc... So how much should a sales person earn?

Are Straight Commission Sales Jobs the New Standard?

I've recently been contacted by several organizations saying they are in need of hiring a true commissioned sales person. If this trend becomes the new standard for hiring sales reps, how will that effect your paycheck?

Rally About to End?

If the trees don't sprout new low hanging fruit, are you prepared to out-climb your competitors?

Sales Scripts Best Practices

I see a lot posts that are not in favor of using a sales script and I can't help but think that maybe the definition of a sales script should be defined a little. Early on in my sales career I was given a sales script along with heavy training to make it work. And work it did.

Maybe we should develop a "best practices" for developing / using a sales script....

Best Practice 1: Set Objectives First - know what you want to accomplish.

Best Practice 2: Build a Roadmap (Script) to Complete Objectives - make sure each phase of the script is leading you towards your objectives.

Best Practice 3: Be Transparent to Win Customers - practice your script / role play and get it sounding smooth and natural. Record yourself, role play with colleagues etc. You shouldn't have to read it word for word. If you do, it just means you haven't put the time in yet.

Best Practices 4: Listen and Adapt to Each Individual Prospect - A script is a guide, not the gospel. When you combine a solid script with your sales skills / talent, its a winning combination.

Best Practice 5: Measure and Adjust - Nothing ever stays the same. The more calls you make, the more you'll learn from them and you can make adjustments to your words and tone.

He who has ears let them hear

I was recently asked "How can you show sales reps that by paying on their own that their investment will pay back to make it worth it?"

My reply:

It has been said that "he who has ears let them hear". Now of course the subject matter being discussed when that quote was spoken was a lot more serious then what we are talking about however the principle still holds true.

Personally, our fees are affordable for individual sales people ($199 for a 4 week live training course online...and we do have individuals signing up every month) however the reality is, it's the "companies" that hire us more than individuals do and there's nothing wrong with that.

It's when the sales persons mindset is "it's the companies responsibility to make sure I'm motivated and to improve my skills" is when the problems creep in.

When can any positive effort into improving yourself have a negative effect?

Adversely, how can "waiting around" for someone else to make you a peak performer ever be considered a positive?

Is it the Company or the Sales Persons Responsibility to Pay for Training?

I've posted this question to numerous LinkedIn Groups that I am apart of and based on the replies, it seems like a 60/40 split. 60% feel the company should pay, 40% feel the sales person should pay.

100% however believe that the other will benefit from continued education in sales training.

I've worked with companies that had excellent product / service training on what we were to sell and I've worked for companies that simply said "here's your phone and a sheet of names/numbers... start dialing"

Most companies it seems are somewhere in the middle of those two scenarios. Most organizations have some form of training (usually a week or two) before they let new hires hit the phones.

Almost none these days offer a continued education / sales skills development program for their staff.... however almost all agree that they should.

It reminds me of the lion / gazelle story:

"Every morning the lion and the gazelle wake up running. The lion, to eat. The gazelle, to avoid being eaten. Either way, when you wake up, you'd better be running!"

My personal experience is this... those that aren't afraid to invest in themselves far out earn their colleagues who wait around for the company.

Companies that are willing to continuously invest (say once a quarter or bi-annually) come out ahead of their competition.

Next SalesBuzz Workshop Registration Info

To all Sales Buzz members, our next online sales training workshop (How to Develop Sales Questions that Unlock Your Prospect) is on Thu, Sep 8th, 2009 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM EDT.

If you plan on attending, please register here.

Creating an Effective Call Opener (What you say after: "Hello, My name is...)

Here's a tip we discussed in yesterday's online sales training workshop for inside sales professionals:

When creating an effective opener (What you say after, "Hello, my name is...") it's important to remember that: "People don't buy things, they buy solutions to problems".

So ask yourself.... What problems does your prospect have that your product or service can solve?

I've included some quotes that may help set your thinking down the right path:

Charles Revlon: 'In the factory we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope.'

Leo McGinneva on why people buy quarter-inch drill bits: 'They don't want quarter-inch bits. They want quarter-inch holes.'

Think of the problems your prospect probably has that you know your product or service can solve and then mention that problem/s in your opener in order to create interest and not resistance.

If you missed the class and want to know when we will have another, visit: http://www.salesbuzz.com/free-demo/sign-up.aspx

Why Phone Sales Reps Sell Half of What They Could

... And What To Do About It...

There are two main reasons why most inside sales people only make half the sales they are capable of...

Listen to the sales podcast in its entirety.

Sales Buzz Workshop Training Schedule

SalesBuzz.com's new online training and workshop schedule is now available.

All current SalesBuzz members are allowed to attend any and all workshops.

If you are currently not a member but are interested in obtaining membership info, please contact us.

Do you have a system in place that maximizes your time on the phone?

Time management skills are crucial for commissioned based phone sales professionals. Do you have a system in place that has helped you reach a higher level of success? If so, what specific techniques are you able to share? If you don't have a system, what is preventing you from developing one?

How to Increase Sales without Increasing Your Ad Budget

Want to sell more without spending more? Start with better follow-up.

By Michael Pedone
SalesBuzz.com

In the current economy, most company’s sales numbers are down. Salespeople blame this on lower quality leads and poor results from cold calling. Fair enough.

But with marketing budgets unlikely to increase anytime soon, sales teams today have to be more relentless in their follow-up process. In short, they need a follow-up plan and the skills to carry it out – something they may have slid by without during fat times.

Leads follow-up: How NOT to do it

Here’s an example of what I’d call weak follow up. These are actual time stamps from a new SalesBuzz.com client – printed here with permission.

New Inbound Internet Lead: 7/2/2009 12:37 PM

First Contact Attempt: 7/2/2009 2:30 PM
Type: Call
Result: Left Voice Mail

Second Contact Attempt: 7/2/2009 5:08 PM
Type: Email
Result: None

Third Contact Attempt: 7/8/2009 3:21 PM
Type: Email (Same content as previous email sent a week earlier)
Result: None

Fourth Contact Attempt: NONE

In case it isn’t obvious, salespeople who make mediocre, half-hearted attempts to land new business are likely to be severely disappointed.

The best way to get the most out of sales reps is to give them a proven game plan that’s easy to follow and yields immediate positive results. And this is true when teaching them follow-up or any other skills. You wouldn’t have a rep start a sales call without a process to follow. Well, they need the same structure and guidance for follow-ups too.

Leads follow-up: A better approach

Starting with the example above, here’s what an effective follow-up process might look like:

New Inbound Internet Lead: 7/2/2009 12:37 PM

First Contact Attempt: 7/2/2009 2:30 PM
Type: Call
Result:

• Got voicemail. Left voice message and hit 0 for operator.
• Spoke with Gatekeeper. Got some background info on (Lead Name), what they do there and why they may need our service.
• Asked Gatekeeper to page (Lead Name). No answer. Asked Gatekeeper if she would be kind enough to give (Lead Name) a hand written note regarding (message that creates interest and not resistance).
• Also fired off an email with an enticing reason to email/call me back.
  

Second Contact Attempt: 7/2/2009 3:38 PM
Type: Call
Result:

• Got voicemail again. Did not leave message. Hit 0 for operator.
• Let Gatekeeper know I know she is super busy and was really grateful for her time and asked her to try and hand (Lead Name) a note.
• She wasn’t successful as she had not seen (lead name) yet but promised she would keep an eye out.
  

Third Contact Attempt: 7/2/2009 5:28 PM
Type: Call
Result:

• (Lead Name) answered phone.
• She had received email and note from Gatekeeper.
• Was able to qualify and convert to an opportunity and is now in the pipeline.
  

Having a process in place – one that’s easy to follow and known to work – makes a huge difference. The reality of today’s market is that salespeople are going to have to work smarter just to make what they used to earn back on easy street.

But the good news is, for those sales teams that learn and develop better sales habits now, when the economy improves, their sales will skyrocket!

Michael Pedone is the president and CEO of SalesBuzz.com, an online telesales training service that develops customized sales training programs for sales teams. For more information contact info@SalesBuzz.com.

How to "Make something of yourself" advice from Ari Gold.

What are you willing to do to "make something of yourself"?

What's your game plan for becoming a top sales person?

Are you surrounding yourself with self-help books, tapes, seminars and webinars?

Do you have mentors to pull from?

Are you constantly working to become better or are you one of the 99% Captain Wing Its in the field

Check out this video.

I hope it fires you up as much as it did me.

Appointment Setting Killers

I've had one too many incoming sales calls recently where sales people would try and set an appointment with using a line similar to this: "....I'd like to set up an appointment with you so I can learn a little bit about you and your company to see if there is anything we do that might be of benefit to you..."

OMG! If you are using a similar opening line when you are making your prospecting calls, STOP!

There's this thing called the Internet - and on the Internet there are "websites" that will tell you about me, my company and from there, you should predetermine what it is that you MAY be able to do for me before ever calling me.

Why on earth would I set an appointment with someone I've never met, don't know just so they can drill me with probing questions in hope that they might find something that they can sell me?

A far better way is to do your pre-call planning and then create an opening statement that creates interest, and not resistance. Your appointment setting success rate would double easily. Ok. I'm done ranting now.

Do your prospects say "Not Interested" more often than you'd like?

Do your prospects say "Not Interested" more often than you'd like?

Then you may want to take a look at a great thread running over on SalesBlogCast LinkedIn Group about what to do when your prospects give you the brush off.

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE SALES TEAM TRAINING

No matter what business you're in, if your job involves selling or managing a sales team, you've noticed that the world has changed over the last year - and not for the better.

Previously, it was boom times. Making a sale was like shooting fish in a barrel. It didn't take a lot of time, or talent - or sales training.

Everything was seat of the pants. Consequently, there are a lot of sales people out there today (some of them may work for you) who have no selling skills and nothing to fall back on.

And in today's economic climate, no skills just isn't good enough anymore...

So how do you turn ordinary sales people into top producers?

Review a free white paper on affordable sales training alternatives to help turn your sales team around.