Salestrakr Blog

The Sales Meeting: Waste of Time or Advancing Your Strategy?

I read this article by Joe Calloway (writing on Jeffrey's Gitomer's site.  The items in this article should not be read as "hard and fast".  But, in a world of too many things to do, these can help you ensure you don't waste your time or someone else's.  Of course, using Salestrakr as your CRM is key!

Here are some good do's and don'ts related to sales meetings (per Mr. Calloway).

1. Only have a meeting if it advances your strategy.
2. Don't meet for the meeting's sake.  ONLY if it advances your strategy.
3. Make your meeting simple and accountable.  The meeting is an asset.  Don't waste it.

Joe goes on to illustrate how best to have great meetings by listing meeting mistakes:

1. Having a meeting just because you always have a meeting. 
2. Going into the meeting without stated objectives and a clearly defined outcome 
3. Putting more focus on what leadership wants to say rather than what the team needs to hear. 
4. Overloading the agenda without giving participants time to network, process what they’re hearing, and discuss action steps.
5. Focusing on only one mode of communicating (i.e. a podium parade of talking heads) as opposed to looking at multiple ways to communicate and engage the audience. 
6. Poor coordination and communication between/among speakers, resulting in conflicting messages or unnecessary repetition. 
7. Making no provision for building on the meeting’s objectives and goals after the event. Structuring the meeting so that the audience is completely passive, not allowing them to interact and affect the meeting and its content.  

If you want to know more about Joe Calloway and his company Engage, please visit them here.

Corporate Files Feature March 2010

New Feature for March of 2010

Trying out a New Service

I've been trying out a new service here at Salestrakr.  It's called Edocr.  Edocr takes your marketing materials (ones your provide), coverts them to "Flashpaper" and notifies Google and other search engines.  It also "tweets" their availability using your own Twitter account.  It also provides embed code so you can easily make the Flashpaper version available on your blog.  So, here goes.  Take a look at the brochure below.

http://www.edocr.com/doc/5519/salestrakr-simple-powerful 

http://swf.edocr.com/a83a814b92111859eed9eff1be21bb4445aba65c.swf

Can You Apply Gitomer's 12.5 Steps To CRM?

I read this blog by Jeffrey Gitomer today where he talks about commitments and 12.5 points to live up to them.  He's concerned that his 6 foot tall frame has gone from weighing 135 pounds early in his early years to just over 200 pounds today.  I thought I was reading a blog post I may have written.  I am that tall and did weigh 135 and now find myself at 200.  Just like Jeffrey, I want to weigh less than 180.

In reality though, Jeffrey is a Sales Coach extraordinaire.  His 12.5 points are really for how you can improve your business and sales performance.  Here are his 12.5 points:

1. Today, not tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes, especially where change or breaking a habit is concerned.
2. Develop a passion or an anger about your present situation. The only way to make the goal a reality is to get determined and create the inner energy.
3. Do it for the most important person in the world…YOU! Don’t do this for or against anyone but yourself.
4. Write down your exact plan. Detail both the actions you must take, and the rewards for achievement.
5. Set a time frame. The end is as important as the beginning.
6. Determine the daily dose. Just figure out what you need to achieve each day, and do that.
7. Look for substitutes (placebos or pacifiers). If you have to quit something, get a diversion to take your mind off of temptation.
8. Don’t quit just because you slip. If you fall off the (achievement) wagon, get back on.
9. Post your goals and achievements. Post-it note your goals on your bathroom mirror. After you achieve them, take them down and post them on your bedroom mirror. Look at your success every day.
10. It’s a day-by-day process. And if you do your daily bit-of-achievement, the passing weeks will bring you the prize.
11. Change other habits, so that one is not overpowering the other. Goals require change. Take the opportunity to make a few more.
12. Celebrate your victory. Ring bells, drink champagne from the winners cup, PARTY!
12.5 Grim reality is having a crisis occur that forces the commitment to be made. This can be anywhere from bombing the World Trade Center, to having a massive heart attack. Where crisis is not the best place to have commitment occur, it is certainly the best place to show how to take immediate action.

You need to interact with your CRM application searching for contacts, reviewing your sales opportunities, logging calls and assigning key tasks.  Don't sit on the real value of your business as 2010 approaches.  

Read it all at http://bit.ly/8HsseU.

Do Your Business Anywhere

I've written before about the usefulness of a Skype subscription.  I have a Skype World subscription and can call both land and mobile lines anywhere in the US, Canada, China, Singapore and Thailand.  Plus, I can call landlines in 38 other countries at no additional charge.  Not bad for $12.95 to Skype each month.  Of course, using Salestrakr with Skype on my laptop is the perfect combination.  I find who I want to speak with in Salestrakr, click on their phone number, slide on my digital headset and make a phone call. 

Even more interesting though are the places I can setup shop.  Salestrakr is completely online.  So, no need to ensure my contacts are synchronized.  I can setup wherever I can find internet access and do business.  Here are some of the places, other than my office, that I operate Salestrakr and reach my clients and prospects:

• Starbucks.  I have a T-Mobile HotSpot account that works at almost 7,000 Starbucks.  If you have AT&T Internet Access at home, you can use wifi at no additional charge at Starbucks.
• Caribou Coffee.  Wifi is free at Caribou
• McDonalds.  Starting in 2010, wifi at over 11,000 McDonalds will be FREE.  It's already free at the McCafe store near my house.
• Hilton Garden Inns.  Free access in the lobby.

There are though some new concepts that are better for business people

• Roam Atlanta.  Think of a Starbucks without the kids, the coffee grinders and cool music.  Roam has offices you can use either for a fee or for free if you have a "subscription".  I wish these were all over.  Offices have back lit glass whiteboards and LCD televisions with VGA cables for presentations from your laptop.  Include a full kitchen and the ability to host functions (with a full bar) and you've got a place for business people to work.  Just need them all over the US.  http://www.roamatlanta.com/
• Regus Business Lounges.  Not quite as full featured as Roam, but definitely with great facilities, good Internet access and over 1,000 locations worldwide.  http://www.regus.com/businessworld/businesslounges.html

Referral Marketing, How to Shorten Sales Cycles

Attached is an article by Tony Rushin at Harvest Business Advisors.  In it are some key ways you can shorted your sales cycle by employing referral marketing techniques.  Having sold technology products for a long time, I always prefer to speak with someone who already knows about what I'm selling, knows why it's good for them and likes someone I know.  

Referral Marketing Article