Shake Firmly

Part of reaching your career goals is knowing how to present yourself and understand the messages that your body language can send.
If you want your employees, prospects and superiors to take you seriously, you need to pay attention. One of the first messages you send people when you meet them for a meeting or luncheon, is through your handshake.
A handshake is a social norm that is part of the business world, but how you do can say a lot about you. In Michael Dalton Johnson’s salesdog.com article, “The Fine Art of the Handshake,” he gives some pointers:
Avoid the power grip: A handshake should be firm, but not too forceful. Notice your tendency to pull the other person toward you as you shake – this can make you seem aggressive.
Nothing wimpy: Don’t offer up a weak handshake, this is a turn-off for many customers.
Eye contact: As you reach for the shake, establish eye contact and smile. A warm and sincere greeting won’t hurt.
Good grip: Don’t grasp their fingers, take their entire hand into yours.
Body language: What’s your posture like? Stand up tall, give the client full attention and keep your hands out of your pockets.

Make More Time In Your Day

You have a lot to do in one day and it’s easy to get over whelmed. Instead of getting frustrated that you didn’t get everything done, take a few moments to think about ways to make your day go better. How can you be more productive?
Here are some tips from the businessknowhow.com article, “Ten Tips to Help Create More Time in Your Day:”

1.Get Organized: Don’t waste time looking for papers, numbers or supplies. Keep your work area clean and functional.
2.Productive Time: What time of day are you the most alert? Do the most difficult tasks during this time.
3.“To Do” List: Make one the night before, so you can get started right away in the morning.
4.More Time: Need extra time? Try getting up an hour earlier to have your coffee and check emails.
5.Schedule It: Choose one task you will finish on each day of the week and stick with it.
6.Avoid “Day Wasters:” Limit the use of forums, television, surfing the web, talking on the phone, etc. These can be good tools, but they can waste a lot of time.
7.Household Chores: Keep your housework manageable by cleaning a little bit each day.
8.Double Duty: Try to multi-task whenever possible.
9.Say No: If you’re too busy with the work you’ve already taken on, don’t feel like you have to say “yes” to every additional task someone asks you to do.
10. Avoid Interruptions: Let the answering machine take calls when you’re busy and don’t spend all day checking email when you have other work to do.

Focus on the local market

As a sales manager, you should always be looking for ways to help your representatives sell more. You should keep on top of new strategies and ways to help the company bring in revenue, same as your employees are.
In the newspaper market, it’s important to not forget your local businesses – your paper can turn out to be a beneficial partner for them. The businessknowhow.com article “How to Target a Local Audience Online” provides strategies to help you:

1.Submit a business profile to the popular search engines: Searches on Google Maps or Yahoo Local provide lists of businesses in the area with links to profiles and Web sites, but only businesses that submit a profile are included in the results.

2.Optimize your Web site with words related to your location: You can attract more local customers to your site by using location-specific words. You’re more likely to rank highly in the results when location is relevant to the search.

3.Design promotions for local audience: If your business serves a local market, then focus your online promotions to them. For example, connect sales to local events or festivals.

4.Advertise on your local newspaper Web site: Local news sources still reign in terms of local news coverage – people are going to turn to them for weather reports and community news.

10 Leadership Questions for 2010

Even though the last year or two were difficult for many businesses, it’s time to start fresh with a new one. You need to think about what can be done differently and the “10 for ‘010 10 Smart Leadership Questions for 2010” from businessknowhow.com provides some questions to help you out:

1.What matters most?
Work with your co-workers and clarify your priorities for this year. Find ways to stay focused on the priorities.
2.What is one “problem” you can turn into an opportunity?
Look for opportunities in your issues and apply past success strategies to them.
3.What do employees need to hear from you?
Think from your employees’ point of view – if they don’t feel understood they won’t listen to you. Be careful about the messages you send people/
4.What is your customers’ greatest pain?
Be relentless about knowing and meeting that need. Skip surveys and pick up the phone to call your customers. Listen and understand them first, then worry about offering solutions.
5.What new business relationships will I pursue?
New opportunities come from new relationships. Inside and outside your industry, seek out opportunities where there is potential for mutual benefit, not just “what’s in it for me?”
6.How will I be more strategic?
Get serious about setting a direction and start with a big picture view of the possibilities. Resist the urge to discuss and deal with tactics until you know what you want to accomplish.
7.How can I make swift, yet smart decisions?
You can’t afford to overanalyze. Take your time during the planning process so you can make a faster and better choice later.
8.What leadership skill can and should I get better at?
Pick the leadership quality that needs the most attention – listening, coaching, or problem solving, and commit to improvement. Small changes can make a big difference.
9.How will you recognize success?
You won’t know if the business is on the right path if you haven’t determined indicators or a way to measure it.
10.What is your biggest fear and how will you face it?
Name it and deal with it. Don’t try to avoid it; that could end badly for you and your company.

It’s Okay To Be Different

Enjoy a preview of January's Creative Selling:

Some people don’t like to stand out in a crowd because the extra attention makes them nervous, but being different can be good.
Growing up, I had an Irish dancing teacher that is known to the Irish dance community as the lady with purple hair and “crazy” outfits involving shiny red boots and feathers. Because of her outfits, everyone knows who she is and where to find her. It pays to stand out, so look at the sales representatives around you and figure out what makes you different from them. Make yourself stand out so clients notice you.
In return, clients or possible prospects will start to seek you out, same as they do for my dance teacher. A dancer from another school told me that she looks for my teacher every year at regionals, which is a three-day competition, just to see what she was wearing.
Not only do people know my teacher because of her clothes, she is also known as the owner of a small dance school that puts out a high level of competition for the big schools. In addition, she teaches everyone from the four-year old beginners to the world championship dancers. Most dancers don’t meet the owner of their school until they reach championship level.
My teacher does everything differently than her competition and it works. She is always gaining new students and training dancers to qualify for the World Championships.
Follow her path. Be different from your peers and your competition –clients and prospects will notice for good reasons. As you take on this new year, start fresh with a new mentality.

Good luck,

Kaye Maloney
Editorial Intern

2010 is coming…

Whether we are ready for it or not, another year is ending and we have to prepare for a new one.
As December winds down, it’s time to start thinking about your goals for the coming year. What do you want to do different? What are your goals? What didn’t you accomplish last year and why?
If your goal is monetary related, the mrinsidesales.com article “How To Make 2010 Your Best Year Yet” provides business owners and sales representatives with two ideas to earn a larger profit than 2009:

1.Change the way you relate to money. Think about how much money you earn and if it is what you deserve to earn. According to the article, people will never earn more or less of the amount of money they feel they deserve unless if they change their thinking. You’ll continue to strive to earn what you feel you are worth, unless if you decide you deserve more.

2.Change your relationship with your prospects and clients. Earning a larger salary and turning a higher profit for the company starts with your prospects and clients. Your sales and income are going to be in direct proportion to your ability to build and nurture relationships, according to the article. Most sales representatives and companies are not good at this, even though it sounds easy. Often, they view sales as a transaction and once a sale is made, they move on to find the next one.

In the end, you can earn more money this year than you did last year. You can help yourself and your company by owning up to the fact that you deserve more. Take time to build relationships with clients and prospects and work hard to earn your paycheck.

How to motivate your employees

Managers try a variety of strategies to motivate their employees to work hard and succeed. However some of the most common tactics, like threatening to fire or offering promotions, don’t work and create a negative workplace.
According to Alexander Kjerulf’s positivesharing.com article “Why ‘Motivation by Pizza’ Doesn’t Work” intrinsic positive motivation works. In other words, this works because the manager isn’t the source of motivation; instead they help employees find their own source.
There are many factors that push employees to work hard, including:

• Being able to challenge yourself and accomplish new tasks.
• Having control over what you do.
• Cooperation to be able to work with and help others.
• Getting meaningful, positive recognition for your work.
• Liking your job and workplace.
• Trust in the people you work with.

Kjerulf says to avoid bribing employees to work hard with pizzas and promotions; instead they should help people find meaning in their work. He also added that by creating a positive work environment, people would be naturally motivated. They’ll motivate themselves and each other.

How to connect with your boss

Building a connection with your boss is important. Your boss should be there to help you and lead the company. Joe Takash’s book, Results Through Relationships: Building Trust, Performance, and Profit Through People, provides five ways for you to connect with your boss or manager:

1.Choose Good Timing: Find the best times to approach your boss by asking when you should come to them with questions. This can build credibility because of your consideration for their schedule.
2.Prepare and Plan: Think about your questions and possible solutions before you talk to your boss. They want to know that you have thought about the answers to the questions and see you’ve taken some initiative.
3.Align Understanding: If your boss doesn’t state his or her expectations or ask about yours, then ask them to be clear about what they need from you.
4.Follow-up/Follow-through: One of the most common barriers for positive change is lack of accountability. Hold yourself and your boss accountable by agreeing on times and dates to follow-up on every meeting you have.
5.Own Your Results: Ask for what you want and be prepared to state why and how you will benefit.

Connecting with your boss is only going to have positive benefits, whether it is now or in the future when you need a good reference or recommendation.

Gain More Customers With Marketing

Steps to make that happen

Price and results are not always connected in marketing. Unfortunately, you can pay the same price for poor results as you would for great ones. But you can find customers and utilize your marketing efforts if you take the time to plan before you implement.
In Kevin Stirtz’s businessknowhow.com article “Four Easy Steps to Getting More Customers,” he provides suggestions to consider when planning your marketing campaigns:

1.Understand your strengths. Ask yourself why people buy from you, what do you really do for your customers, how you are better than your competition and what skills or advantages you have. The answers to these questions are your strengths.
2. Identify your customers. To promote your business, focus on people who value what you do. Your strengths will help you focus on who will value your service or product.
3.Create a meaningful message. Deliver the right message to the right audience as often as you can. The message should tell your audience why they should do business with you.
4.Deliver your message often. Find and purchase the appropriate vehicles or media to send out your information. When planning which to use, consider setting a budget for the project, getting the most exposure possible and focus on the target group.

Find Customers

Steps to bringing new business through the door

For many new business owners, the hardest part to being successful is finding customers. Having a great product or service that many people will need is not enough to get a company started.
But, there are several steps business owners can take to gain customers. Janet Attard’s businessknowhow.com article, “Eleven Ways to Find Customers” provides these tips:
• Develop a plan. Know exactly who your ideal customer is and where they look for products. Find a way to put your information, or yourself, in their path.
• Realize there is no one path to success. Sales often happen because customers hear about your products or services in several different ways. The more often they hear about you, the more likely they are to consider doing business with you.
• Work your local newspapers. Daily and weekly newspapers are a source of contact information and leads to potential customers. Look for names of people who were promoted, won awards or opened a new business. Find ways to get in touch with them.
• Watch for events that may bring your potential market together. Contact event organizers and offer to give away your product or service as a prize during the event in exchange for having the group promote you in their promotions.
• Attend meetings and seminars that your prospects might attend. Look in the newspapers to see what other organizations hold events that your target market would attend.
• Follow up after meetings. Contact people you’ve met to see if they may be prospects. If they don’t need your services now, ask when a good time to call them back would be.
• Give a little bit to get a lot. Give away free samples of your product so recipients will tell their friends about you.
• Work your personal network. Ask your friends if they know of people who can use your services; offer friends and business associates a finder’s fee for referrals that turn into jobs.
• Study your competition. Advertise where they do. Promote yourself where your competition promotes themselves.
• Use multiple small ads instead of one big one. The repetition will build name recognition. Don’t expect to make a splash with one big ad.
• Ask for feedback when prospects don’t buy. Use what you learn to make changes and watch your sales start to grow.