Salespeople often talk about
‘filling the funnel’,
ensuring that they have
active leads at all stages.

It is a funnel
because in order to get one sale,
you need many, many prospects.
In other words,
you’ll get more rejections
than you do sales.

And the funnel helps you
maintain the optimism
you need
in order to sell.

For example…
Last week
I received a rejection
on one of my manuscripts.
One of my manuscripts
went to the next level of consideration.
One of my manuscripts
was contracted.
I had even more stories submitted.

If I had only the first story
in the funnel,
the rejection would have hit me hard.
I would have moaned and groaned
and wasted precious writing time.

As I had many stories in the funnel,
I shrugged the rejection off.
I was able to maintain the optimism
I need to write happy, happy love stories.

Is your sales funnel full?
Are you nurturing new leads?

During the lighting of the flame
at the Olympic Games opening ceremonies,
there was a mechanical failure.

That failure resulted in
a two minute delay.

Two minutes.
One hundred and twenty seconds.
Yet it is being billed as a ‘disaster.’
That is how impatient tv audiences are.

Do you have two minutes of dead air
in your sales presentations?
If your projector broke down,
could you seamlessly switch
to manual
within two minutes?

Because corporate executives
are part of that tv watching demographic also.
They have zero tolerance for dead air.

Scary… I know.

One thing I’ve learned
after three years of being
a published author
is that people will complain
about everything.

I’ve heard complaints
about character names,
about character beverage preference
(one hero likes orange juice
but the reader felt
he should be drinking apple juice),
and,
of course,
about typos.

There are complaints that I listen to.
U.S. readers have complained
about the use of foreign words.
I now severely limit those.

There are complaints that I ignore.
I cannot change a character’s name
after the book has been published.

I don’t read complaints
while in the product development creative space
(i.e. writing).
Nothing kills creativity like criticism.

I also know that
a reader receiving a book for free
is MORE likely to complain
than a reader buying a book.
I keep that in mind
when I give books away.

Complaints can be a wonderful source
of improvement
and future products
but they should be managed properly.
They should assist you in DOING,
not prevent you from taking action.

As Arvee at Persuasive.net explains
asking a question
at the beginning of a presentation
is a great way to get an audience involved
(involved audiences listen,
involved audiences buy).

She suggests asking two questions,
with each yes/no question aimed
to get the majority of the audience
raising their hand to agree.
Questions like…
How many people here want more sales in 2010?
Or
How many people need more hours in the day?

Ask a question with no wrong answers.
At a past presentation I attended,
the presenter asked a question,
the majority answered ‘yes’
and he then told them they were all wrong.
Heads in the audience reared back
as though he slapped them.
Some people walked out.
Others argued.
I don’t think he made a single sale.

As you ask the question,
you raise your own hand.
This prompt drives more response.
Of course, you should practice this
as you practice your presentation.
You should also practice this
in the outfit you’ll be wearing
in front of a mirror
or with a trusted business partner.
The audience’s first impression
shouldn’t be a sweaty armpit.
(I’ve seen a few of those in my life)

If asking questions isn’t for you,
Arvee has two more classic openers.

Last year,
I received clothes and business books
for the holidays.

This year,
I received writing books,
romance novels, and promotional supplies.

What does this tell me?

That last year,
I either wasn’t serious about my writing
or I didn’t communicate effectively
that I was serious.

This year,
my loved ones know I AM serious.

What you are given
represents what your loved ones
think is important to you
(on average,
there are always a few wacky present givers).

If you’re not happy with what you received,
the fault isn’t with your loved ones.
It is with your communication
OR it is with your priorities.

Mary Schmidt points out
“How many engineers
(or research scientists or software developers)
do you know who are also killer salespeople?”

I know of one
and he has job security for life
(not necessarily with his current company).

The best in the business
are usually salespeople plus.

I do well because
I’m a finance gal
and I can sell.
I can sell myself as a project manager.
I can sell my projects in to management.
I can sell the best in the company
into working with me.
All this makes succeeding easier.

If you have one resolution to make in 2010,
consider making it
learning how to sell.

I enjoyed Tim Sanders’ post
on making a great second impression.

The most important
of the five points
is to remember the details
of the first meeting.

You’ve been invited back
because you made a great first impression.
Your prospect should feel
that they made an even better
first impression on YOU.

I have a horrible memory
so what I do is make notes on any key meetings.
I note EVERYTHING.
How they took their coffee,
the color clothes they were wearing
(those are the colors they like
so I tend to use them in presentations),
EVERYTHING.

Then,
before I meet with the participants involved again,
I review these notes.
It shows that I care.
It shows that I pay attention.
It shows that they’re important.

All this helps with relationship building.

A loved one booked a cruise
with Carnival yesterday.
He wanted to,
at the same time,
reserve a table for two in the restaurant
and ensure that
the two twin beds were pushed together.

No can do.
It is not possible
to make these ’special requests’ in advance.

Except that with on land competitors,
these are not ’special requests.’
When you book a table at a restaurant,
you can specify how many people sit at that table.
When you reserve a hotel room,
you can ask for the bed size.

As the request seemed simple,
it was aggravating that
it couldn’t be accommodated.

Why couldn’t it be accommodated?
I assume because there was no field
to enter the information in.

If you plan on keeping your reservation/order system
for decades,
ensure that it has the flexibility
to add fields
or, at the very least,
a special request/miscellaneous field.

Customer needs change.
Your system should be able to change also.

Yesterday I hunted for an hour
for shimmer lotion.

Shimmer lotion was popular
a few years ago.
This moisturizer with sparkles in it
(a simple twist on an existing product)
was a seasonal (Christmas) fad.

That fad is back.

I tease a 37 year old loved one
about being my Edward.
I wanted to give him shimmer lotion
as a joke present
so he could sparkle like that Twilight vampire.

Very few stores had it.
Not one store made the connection
to Twilight/vampires.
Sure, no one wants to pay
licensing fees
but there are ways to market
a product
without smacking the Twilight name on it.

It is a wasted opportunity.
The product exists,
it simply has to be brought back
from the dead
(pun intended)
and marketed.

Keep a database
(the database sometimes resides
in the brain of a long time employee)
of existing and dead products.
Re-use these already developed products
as much as possible.

Harlequin Enterprises has launched
an eBook only division,
Carina Press.

Some authors are in a tizzy
about the royalty rate
Carina will be offering,
‘outraged’
that it may only be 30% of selling price
compared to 35 or 40%
offered by some other eBook publishers.

Without knowing volume or selling price,
this is foolishness.
If Carina sells double the volume of books
at the same price,
I’ll happily take a 10% decrease
in my royalty rates.

Sales should be compared
on total profitability,
not on components.

Know how you’re getting paid.