Alliance Science

Who else is Selling your Service for you?

Are you leveraging all of your relationships to fullest value, even your harshest critics?

5 ways to leverage your way into selling your products or services:

• Customers and Prospects -- Create raving fans.  This is the strongest selling partner available -- a walking, talking billboard for your business.
• Strategic Partners -- If you're not qualifying and introducing other strategic selling partners or Advisor Alliance Partners to your customers and prospects on a consistent and routine basis and vice-versa, you're not taking advantage of the remarkable leverage available to you just for the asking and giving.
• Vendors -- Someone doing business with you should be more than willing to help you gain clients.  Make it prid pro quo and all the more powerful for them. 
• Competitors -- Not all competitors are equal.  Undoubtedly there are times that the other can better serve the prospect.  Keep your competitors close and refer appropriate business.
• Detractors -- What better way to win the loyalty of a prospect or customer than to WOW them into fan-hood.  Make sure you capture the testimony of your convert.

What other things do you do to leverage your clients and prospects into more appointments?

Photo Credit:  Allegr0

Each Sales Professional Must Promote Her Own Brand

Writers do it; Actors do it; Radio hosts do it -- Are you doing it?

Many thanks for the gift and inspiration of Li Evans, who interviewed a produced content for guests of Blog Potomac, Washington DC's first blogger round-up and unconference. 

Whether you're and account manager, inside sales, part of sales team, or sales support, your company will benefit from the power of your personal brand.

What are you doing to build your credibility, visibility and even celebrity using the communication tools available on the world wide web, today?

Four More Different Words

Create Powerful Client Networks

Sage Seth Godin says you or your company "have the opportunity to create value by connecting their clients to each other."  This idea is the most powerful underpinning of Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing.  In fact, in addition to value for your clients, you have the chance to create a sales phenomenon if you're excellent.

Your entire business to include product and service design AND marketing plan should be built with this directive in mind.  In fact, your customer service system should be be embedded with this philosophy.

Word-of-Mouth marketing and Social Media consultant Jeremy Epstein cements the point:

Create an environment (aka a platform) where folks can learn from each other and your position as Social Object is strengthened, which is exactly what you want.

Sales professionals (and/or their marketing colleagues) who believe referrals are the lifeblood of their business need to become Social Objects.  Yes, what you learned in high school is right -- it's a popularity contest and it's cool to be different.

Photo credit:  Gaping Void -- More thoughts on Social Objects

So how do you become a Social Object?

Besides the now obvious combination of traditional and Web 2.0 (there, I said it) vehicles such as write a book, write articles, hold a seminar, blog, exploit LinkedIn and Facebook, how can you create value for with your prospects or customers?

• Create a monthly or weekly public event featuring a different client each time. 
• Celebrate a personal victory or achievement for your client to which their friends, family members and clients are invited
• Hold a case study review of your top clients inviting their clients to participate
• Throw a surprise party for your client (How do you do that? Stay tuned)

So, please comment, how do you turn your client into a Social Object?

Which is More Important, Promotion or Belief?

Your biggest competitor isn't other companies.

Seth Godin makes the great observation that promotion misses the bullseye without personal belief and pride in the service or product.

80% of the mail and promotion I get (and 98% of the ads) fall into this category. The enthusiasm of commerce, not of belief and pride.

The Oxford American Dictionary defines promotion as, "activity that supports or provides active encouragement for the furtherance of a cause, venture or aim."

Have you ever said, "I can sell anything if I believe in it?"  Technique and activity are equally important but sterile without passionate conviction. 

• Do you believe that every one or every company and their decision makers who meet your target profile would be better with your product or service?
• Is everyone a prospect until they convince you through proper needs-matching that they aren't?
• Are you the best of breed, have great customer delivery and a product or service that is designed to deliver beyond expectations?

If you lack faith in your selling abilities or your company's services or products, what do you to bring forth the conviction which delivers the sale?

Need a prayer?  Discover The 10 Big Breakthroughs in a Salesperson's Life and learn what I know -- Automatic Appointments is the best to double your sales activities with ideal prospects. 

Photo credit:  JDillon

Referrals VS Appointments with Ideal Prospects

If client referrals are King, then personally prearranged appointments with ideal prospects are Queen.

Given that, in the game of chess, the king is all-important, the queen is all-powerful.  How far can a Queen move and in how many directions? 

Whereas a great client can refer you to, let's say, 8 prospects, not unlike the range to adjacent squares for a king, a great Advisor Alliance partner can personally introduce you to 27 ideal prospects and do it again in the following 2 weeks!  Of course, this is a visual analogy, and you get the point.

 

What's the difference between a referral from a customer and a personal introduction in the form of a scheduled appointment from a trusted Advisor Alliance partner? 

• Intention
• Reciprocity
• Ability
• Opportunity
• Consistency and reliability

Asking for and receiving client referrals should be automatic.  They are one of the highest form of advocacy when properly executed.  There are many blogs, companies and books on the subject of referral selling. 

There's only one way to learn how to automatically receive 8 to 12 automatically scheduled appointments with ideal prospects.  Email your Name, title, and business address to receive the FREE, unique report on, "The 10 Big Breakthroughs in a Salesperson's Life."  I highly advise it.

 

The Fastest Way to get Leads from Your Business Networking Group

You've joined a Business Networking Group or "Leads Group" and you want leads now.

The fastest way to a strong advocacy can make you or break you. 

Aside from Business Networking's Granddaddy, Ivan Misner, and his tips on finding the right networking partners, do business with the members.  Of course, there are two ways to accomplish this: 

• Become a client.  To really find out how your future partner is going to treat your referrals, put your money where your intentions are.  There's no stronger recommendation than a heartfelt advocacy from a client -- you. 
• Serve a client.  You should always profit from providing your service,  but what's the future value of providing your services to a future referral partner for free or a deep discount providing you don't lose money?  The opportunity costs of strategically placed seed money could prove to be the best investment in a solid business networking community, yet.

Now if you REALLY want to get powerful leads from your referral partners, learn about Automatic Appointments.  Imagine, 8 to 12 referrals a week.  If 3 or 4 referrals per month is good, isn't 30 to 50 better?  Is that what you want?

 

What can we Learn from Lipitor's Alliance with the Inventor of the Artificial Heart?

Today, as I watched for the first time, Lipitor's new endorsement of Dr. Robert Jarvik, "Inventor of the Artificial Heart," I understood at the bottom of my gut that I was watching history.  Medical ethicist and NPR commentator, Katie Watson, believes it's the first time a doctor has been paid to endorse a prescription drug in an ad.

More importantly, my head was observing an important lesson in strategic endorsement, an example of a powerful automatous response mechanism, social proof. 

The power of the Doctor's backstory, a prime example of the power of third party testimony, launched the multi-targeted message like a compound bow, amplifying the message to the prospective customers and the distribution channel, the doctors who prescribe it.

Like below-the-surface eddies, other strategies are being used in this credibility juggernaut:  a unique selling proposition, the multi-faceted campaign and a pre-requisite unbranded "educational" public awareness campaign as revealed by Brandweek.

So what?

What if your product or service was personally endorsed by a champion of an affinity group, your target prospect?

Find a CPA Trainer to endorse your Financial Planning services.  Tell your clients a story about how you, a lender, solved a problem for another client, a top-producing Realtor.  As a recruiting firm, get the endorsement of the top sales rep at a high-volume newspaper selling help-wanted classifieds.

Now, put that in a mirror. 

If you're a top-producing Realtor, offer to endorse your lenders.  (oh, no!).  Go ahead, advertisement account reps, you can celebrate, through word of mouth, or even well placed feature article, your recruiting firm clients.

"Oh, I don't know if I could do that," you say.  That's a whole nother topic of discussion.