2010 Sales Trends

Innovative concepts begin during times of dramatic change. The new year will provide interesting opportunities to an extent that sales professionals have not experienced since the 1980s, contends Drew Stevens, PhD, a leading sales expert and author of Split Second Selling. “We are moving toward a pre-boom economy, and selling professionals and managers will need to be more efficient and more productive next year,” he explains. Here are some of the areas that will be affected:

1. Lead generation. Although technology has helped with lead generation efforts, conversion rates have not increased. Selling professionals and marketing departments must collaborate for better target market optimization. Simply put, make every effort to convert more leads.

2. Customer service. Studies show that 45% of all customer interaction involves customer service, but customer service has been sacrificed in many organizations. Selling professionals must focus more on their most vital asset — the customer — to ensure business success.

3. Better hiring. The days of placing butts in seats to fill a void are gone. In the coming year, to help increase margins, more pressure will be placed on sales managers to find the right talent.

4. Preparation. Thanks to the Internet, customers have access to as much information as sales professionals. It’s vital that all sellers be prepared for every customer interaction. Reading annual reports, keeping up with the news, and having a prepared list of value questions will aid every call.

5. Value. We are in a knowledge economy. Selling professionals must provide value by converting the information they have into knowledge, for the benefit of the customer.

6. Process. Most selling professionals do not have a process to build customer relationships and close business. In 2010, it’s necessary for sellers to gain the knowledge necessary to build trust and close business more efficiently. Sales professionals must also be better prepared and better educated. The days of “anyone can sell” have ended.

7. Training. Gone are the days of sitting in a classroom for eight hours expecting a return on that investment. Managers and business professionals do not have the time and, quite frankly, event-based training doesn’t work. With the movement of selling as a profession, companies will remove themselves from education and desire that individuals take ownership of their job.

Are You Trustworthy?

To paraphrase Lt. Saavik in Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan: "Trust. It is a difficult concept. It is not logical."

Many people look at social media with disdain, others see it as a panacea. Wherever you are on that continuum, you need to be yourself and you need to be trustworthy, lest others view you with wariness.

Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and other social media channels, it’s nearly impossible to pretend to be someone you’re not. It’s also a lot tougher to win people’s trust, according to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, coauthors of the new book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. According to the authors, the qualities that make Web 2.0 attractive to “digital natives” — instant access to wide-ranging research, open invitations to join conversations, universal transparency, etc. — also make it difficult to reach out and do business with strangers.

So how can you get through to customers who no longer respond to typical advertisements, or win over clients who tend to be suspicious of expert claims? As Brogan and Smith have discovered, the Web’s best business communicators are people with a knack for building relationships. They offer these niche marketing tips for earning trust online:

• Crash the gate. Before you can make your own splash, you need to understand who “owns” your target market. These people and companies are the “gatekeepers.” Make a list of all the gatekeepers you can think of. Then, make a list of the upstarts, the “gatejumpers.” (For example, in the auction business, Sotheby’s was the gatekeeper and eBay is the gatejumper.) Identify the qualities that define each list. The exercise will help you determine who your gatekeepers are. Then, decide which rule you can break to make yourself a gatejumper.

• Be human. Before you can become “one of us” in the consumer’s mind, you need to be liked and accepted. Start by sharing a bit of yourself. Use your picture, not your logo, as your avatar on social sites. Promote others 12 times as often as you promote yourself. And always remember to ask about other people first. How are they doing? What are they doing?

• Understand the difference between a friend and prospect. Becoming “friends” on Facebook is liking saying hi at a party to someone you don’t exactly know. It’s a good start. Unless your connection is really a friend, consider being accepted as “friends” to mean that you can pay attention to what your network connection is doing and try to find a conversational entry point. Marketing to a new friend will almost always result in being “unfriended” — and possibly an angry blog post.

• Choose one thing you’d like your community to do. Try running a cause-related event. Simplify the act as much as possible (make the link to it on your site obvious, blog about it on the day of the event, etc.). If the cause stands behind something the community cares about, it will be more successful. Reach cause-related influencers and help them spread the word. Finally, create incentives for participating. Any event is bound to be more successful, more fun, and more meaningful if there’s a benefit for all involved.

Lt. Saavik could learn a little about trust from Brogan and Smith. Building trust is not based on the logical tasks that can be checked off your "to do" list. Rather, it is the consistent outreach and honest human concern for each other that builds the connection and eventually trust.

Where are you in that continuum?

Best to you,

Jim Herrera


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Communication is the Key

As I began to think about the new year (and it's inevitable resolutions), I came across the following quote:

Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people. - Jim Rohn



I'd like to think we're all great communicators and can convey our messages with clarity, brevity and impact. But I know that's not the case for me. It takes some hard work - i.e., practice. But as my Dad used to say, "Practice doesn't make 'perfect', perfect practice makes 'perfect' ".

So, take every opportunity to do some public speaking. I think it will help your business bottom line, but more importantly, will help your self-confidence.

Best to you,

Jim Herrera

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Cruisin' into 2010

Good day ... wherever you are!

Now that Christmas is over and all the presents have been opened, you might experience a let down of sorts. Others might think of this time as a time of rest - all the family activities are slowing down and many have the week off from work in this week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

But I'd like to suggest that we focus ourselves a little differently - C. S. Lewis once said: "Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours."

Take a moment to chew on that quote. It's one of those crazy paradoxes, isn't it? It says a lot about the control our possessions can have over us (How much did we spend for Christmas gifts this year?). But that's the negative side. Let's think about the positive side: Generosity is powerful—it releases us from the bondage of greed and selfishness.

Yes, I know that's a strong statement. However you may experience this "Post-Christmas" time, I'd like to offer a brief suggestion. The "Spirit" of Christmas still lives within us. It's still with us each day of the year.

Take this week to commit to some form of generosity. Meet some ordinary people who've experienced its power and then discover ways to release that power in your own heart and life.

As always, best to you.

Jim Herrera

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I'm awed by the number of wonderful products and services that help agents and brokers be more efficient. MLSL clients will love them!

8 steps to making your business more customer-centric

One of the biggest challenges of a brand strategy is building a loyal customer base. To do this, you have to know your customers’ wants and needs. Otherwise, your brand-building efforts will fall on deaf ears. In her book Customer Inspired Marketing: Change the Game and Become the Brand They Really Love, Aubyn Thomas reveals eight steps to make your brand-building strategy more customer-centric:

1. Have an inspired and informed view of your customer. Many companies fail to recognize loyal and potential customers because they’re focused solely on what people are buying, a false representation of consumer demographics. More accurate ways to classify your customers include occasion-based purchases, visitation frequency, and lifestyle or affinity.

2. Determine how your customer views you. Creating an emotional bond between your customers and your brand is a sure way to keep them coming back. Customer research can help you know what your buyers are looking for. Ask yourself: Do your customers know what’s in it for them? What are the differences between you and your competitors? Can you react to changes in the marketplace?

3. Know what your customers value in their relationship with you. To show you care about more than just profits, remember what is important to customers: simplicity, access, clarity, quality, and value. Focus on rewarding customers (which requires recognizing your loyal fans) instead of the short-term goal of driving sales.

4. Be proactive. State your intentions in a promise or manifesto to your customers. It is important that you know their wants and needs ahead of time to be sure you meet expectations. Make sure to account for all types of customer interactions.

5. Attack the root causes of mediocrity. When developing a customer-centric brand-building plan, avoid these pitfalls: allowing someone else to label you, ignoring business problems, a lack of communication, too many cooks, and budgeting carelessly.

6. Build and nurture a winning culture. Your employees must share the passion that you had in starting the company. If they know where you’re coming from, they will follow you anywhere. Be careful not to take on too many projects at once or the end goal will become murky.

7. Overcome the challenges of limited resources. Your goal is to connect with customers and form long-term relationships with them. One cost-effective way to do that is by asking for voluntary customer feedback. Set your goals, know your customers, and be passionate.

8. Celebrate and build for the future. “Now that you understand where, in pursuit of customer relationships, the sweet spot exists for both your company and your customer,” Thomas writes, “you are on your way to creating a passionate brand. So celebrate!”

I hope this helps you build your brand.

Best to you,

Jim Herrera

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Note: Special thanks to Ken Beaulieu of FuelNet for this post.