Word of Mouth Marketing

How to Spread Word of Mouth by Doing the Right Thing

Enlightened self-interest is beautiful.  Anytime doing something good for others also helps the good guys win, I get a fabulous happy feeling. Word of Mouth Marketing Guru, Andy Sernovitz, posted a great piece called “How to spread word of mouth by doing the right thing” on his blog, Damn, I Wish.

He says, “Here’s the fantastic thing about word of mouth: The good guys win. The companies who earn our respect and recognition — the ones we tell everyone about — do it by doing truly wonderful things.”

Social media has stripped away the power from organizations who want to keep dark truths hidden. There’s no place for companies who do bad things to hide. Their customers will complain about their experiences and they will do it publicly. That’s the dark side of word of mouth.

The light side is that people will share their praise of those who are doing good. That’s where word-of-mouth-by-doing-the-right-thing comes in. People love to tell their friends and the world about companies who do great things. So, do something good, already. Need inspiration? Read Andy’s post for three awesome ideas.

In my post, “Corporate Social Responsibility – Do I Have to?”, I point out that people want to buy from companies who care about making the world a better place. Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey said it best, “What we need is a transformation [in] the way we think about business, what it’s based on. People want businesses to do good in the world. It’s that simple…. We need a deeper, fundamental reform in the essence of business.”

And brands who do good in the world will earn word of mouth because people love to share great stories. Do you have a great story to share? Click on the speech bubble next to this post’s headline and share away.

Learning and Development Trends You Don't Want to Miss

Learning and Development Trends for 2018 - VR is big.

Given that the half-life of a learned skill is a mere five years, change is happening faster than ever before. Companies are evolving their business models and development strategies to align their workforce with new customer demands. Learning and development trends reflect the rapidly changing skills required for current and future jobs.

After talking with many learning and development leaders and combing the blogs for emerging trends, I’ve assembled my list for the coming year. Following are the key learning and development trends. Love the list or don't, I welcome your comments.

Make finding and keeping talent a strategic business priority

According to an article in Training Magazine, 1/3 of companies are increasing their budget for learning and development over the next 12 months.

Offer leadership training and development to millennials

A recent article on Forbes.com provided 13 reasons why this is a smart initiative for organizations. The key takeaway? Adapt or die. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true.

Companies who invest the right mix of resources in developing the largest generation in our history will reap vast rewards. They will attract and retain more millennial employees, they will be among the companies who gain access to millennial record-breaking innovation. And they will cultivate strong leadership for the future.

Short single topic videos

Think YouTube. Brief, one topic video tutorials have become the norm and this pattern is driving learning and development trends in the same direction. Dubbed, “microlearning’, single topic videos sync with increased demand for value people have for media that vies for their attention.

Increasingly managers and employees will create their own quick training videos. As a matter of fact, I create brief screen share videos to train my employees on new tasks and I know I’m not the first.

Mobile learning

Training and development trends for mobile learning will take front and center stage. With people spending more time on their phones, it makes sense that mobile optimized eLearning will be essential. For example, in a webinar replay available for viewing on Talent & Development.org, the mobile focus came through loud and clear.

Not just for consuming learning and development content, but for creating, sharing and interacting. “The value of connecting content curation and big data to improve learning materials by measuring content effectiveness” is immense.

Make learning and development trends fun.

VR and AR aren’t new, but with the costs are coming down and technology improving, indicate a bright future in learning and development. Many people have kinesthetic eLearning styles and VR allows them to learn by doing.

The trend towards increased motivation and engagement with millennials workers is driving more development of gamified learning. In fact, millennials and generation Z employees enjoy playing games and engage more easily when the learning activity is fun. Gamification will continue to trend with learning and development for 2018 and beyond.

Social learning and sharing

An old saying in advertising applies here, “Go where the eyeballs are.” And the eyeballs of employees are on social media. Social sharing had become an integral part of 21st century life, so learning and development trends will too.

Organizations are moving towards omni-channel learning solutions. So, integrating all the different ways employees communicate with each other and their customers is the future. It’s not one solution, it’s a combination of several.

To get 6 specific tips for how to bridge the communication gap between generations, download my Ebook, "Teach Millennials Soft Skills".

Learning and Development Trends 2018 for millennials

Love these learning and development trends? Or hate ‘em and want to share your thoughts on these? Let me know with comments.

Mentoring is the answer to millennial soft skills gap

An open letter to everyone experiencing pain from the generational soft skills gap.

Millennial soft skills gap - the answer

Dear everyone who is Gen X or older,

I know you're tired of dealing with the Millennial, GenZ and A soft skills gap and the problems it causes. It's time consuming and frustrating. I get it. Ready for a solution? Let's try this.

Put the frustrations you have of these behaviors in a Tupperware container. Seal the lid and put the container on a shelf for a little while. You can get it back out and open the box to let those things out any time you want later.

Why do I ask you to do that? Because I know that we can inspire and coach millennials on soft skills. Interpersonal communications and relationship building skills are learnable and millennials love learning. They've been coached for everything their whole lives. Professional development is really important to them. And it’s in our best interest and theirs to take the time to teach millennials strong communication skills.

Complaining about this generation ensures failure of that goal. No one likes to be judged harshly. And no one likes being told they lack basic skills required for success either. That builds more conflict and barriers between generations, so let’s just hold off on that for the time being.

Millennial soft skills gap can be closed - by us

Next, I invite you to consider that every generation since Cain and Abel has rebelled against their parents in some way or another. Baby boomers railed against everything their parents’ generation stood for: music, social mores, military, business…the list goes on. Each generation must find its voice.

The voice of millennials includes key notes of work/life balance, a connected world and making earth a better place. Those are pretty good goals, don’t you think? Why wouldn’t we want to receive the excellent benefits that this generation can offer the world?

Finally, I suggest that we embrace this new generation for who they are. They aren’t going away, so we might as well make the most of having them here, right? Millennial expert, Jack Dorsey explained on the CBS Early Show, how much this generation has to offer. Their tech skills are extremely valuable, they are highly educated and share concerns for making the world a better place. Soft skills can be taught and this generation is quite willing to learn. Let’s coach them so we can all benefit. So, how does that sound?

Sincerely,

Margo

If you'd like some specific steps to help millennials improve their communication skills, download the free Ebook, "6 Actions to Take Now to Teach Millennials Soft Skills".

6 Actions to Take Now to Teach Millennials Soft Skills

Success Mindset Secrets About Referrals From Millionaires

Elinor Stutz-Smooth Sale, Success Mindset Expert

This is very special guest post from success mindset specialist, sales expert, author, speaker, top-rated influencer and founder of SmoothSale,  Elinor Stutz.  

Before Law of Attraction became popular, early positivity proponent Napoleon Hill talked about the importance of the success mindset. Later, Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins encouraged people to keep a positive attitude to attract more of what they wanted in life.  The highest paid salespeople know their success depends on surrounding themselves with excellence. And that includes their referral partners.

Here is a harsh reality: The referrals we receive reflect the ones we provide.  A top producing sales strategy is to understand your client’s perspective first, so that you may bridge it with yours to find common ground. And, so the real question is, are you providing the quality of referrals you would like to receive? Are you projecting the success mindset you want to attract?

The norm is for people to make introductions in the hope of making money on the back end.  An old saying heard in the IT field is,‘garbage in and garbage out.’ But what if an outstanding introduction comes your way, will you pay it forward?  Will you project the success you expect to have, even if the result comes much later? Let me share a story that illustrates the better type of connections and referrals.

Years ago, I met Linda at a conference. At the time, her expertise was in marketing and mine was in sales. Since then, we both expanded our knowledge, became authors, and have continued our friendship. We have also provide ongoing promotion of one another.  One day, Linda sent me an introduction to John.  I enjoyed an invigorating conversation with him. John then volunteered a referral to me of his own.

My success mindset of 'paying it forward' yielded a referral goldmine!

The pay it forward conversation was with Greg.  Our initial dialogue was in consideration of my being a guest on his podcast.  Greg then sent me a copy of his book to read. The subject matter was meaningful and motivated me to voluntarily provide a review of the book on Amazon. And I did have the opportunity to be interviewed on Greg’s podcast and share my story with his audience. The conversation was compelling. Afterward, we spoke about working on a potential project together. And I reciprocated the gift of his book by sending him a copy of mine.  The ‘pay it forward’ concept continued as I recommended another colleague as a guest for Greg’s podcast.

When we are in good company, appreciation for one another develops. Admiration brings about ideas for the better referrals and our success mindset expands. Over time, Linda and I became admirers of one another and came to recognize the people that may help each of us further.

Beware that the opposite of providing excellent referrals is that some contacts from our network may find us intimidating. Those of us who  continue to grow, may scare off others in our circles.  Accordingly, unpleasant remarks may come our way.  Take note, because the negativity can creep into all areas of our lives where we allow it.

Our success mindset is determined by the people we are around the most

Consider the type of people with whom you keep company.  Are your peers negative or positive minded people? If your answer is ‘negative,’ do you find these people holding you back or stalling achievement? And if you are among positive people, are you in the habit of promoting and referring one another? If the referral partners you have do possess a passion for excellence, perhaps a change is in order.

Concentrate on those friends and peers who share a success mindset, reciprocate and help one another achieve more. Strive to develop a dynamic network for the better opportunities to come forth.  When you do, you too will enjoy the chain of ‘pay it forward’ high quality referrals.  These lead to the Smooth Sale!

Success Mindset Sales Tips

1. Strive to be in the company of those who like to help

2. Reciprocate and volunteer help

3. Build a strong network of like-minded peers

4. Exchange ideas for promoting one another

5. Make introductions of the same success mindset caliber

6. Report back to the referring party on the merits of the conversation

7. Offer ideas for collaborative efforts to your peers and referrals

8. Share your personal story and vision for where you are today

9. Ask for the personal story of those you meet

10. Celebrate Success!

Success mindset and sales expert, Elinor Stutz

P.S. Send us your sales related questions to elinor@smoothsale.net.

Customer experience is the brand, so keep it warm and fuzzy

“Good real-time marketing doesn’t feel like marketing, but feels like a favor enhancing the relationship.” I like that. It sounds so…nice. All warm and cozy. Like a friendship I get to choose. And that’s the point, really. A great customer experience builds the know, like and trust factor. As a human being, I like to choose with whom I spend my time…and my money. I feel much happier and open to companies who provide a nice, warm, fuzzy customer experience. But, this is the competitive world of a global economy, so how do we measure ROI for customer relationship building efforts?  Ted Rubin’s post on Loyalty Lab blog, “Real-Time Marketing: 4 Best Practice Examples of Getting It Right at the Right Time“, highlights four executives who got this right. He said, “Customer loyalty programs that engage the proper context and allow customers to feel control over the message, leads to an emotional attachment between the customer and the brand. Wwhich is at the very core of a Return on Relationship.”

Create an easy Customer Experience (CX).

Make it simple for me to find what I’m looking for. And if you have a useful suggestion, as Amazon always does, I will consider it and feel grateful for your help. If you make me feel like I’m being pressured or pushed in a specific direction, I’ll leave and likely never return.

Make an emotional connection with me. Safe, happy and valued feelings make me much more likely to buy from your company. Building a warm connection with customers goes a long way towards building loyalty.

Crafting the right marketing message to me at the right time is crucial to earning my business. Because that's how you will earn my trust and my loyalty. Companies collect and analyze the big data generated by their customers online and in social media. Next, they use that information to understand what offers to make and to whom, and when to make them. And that’s real time marketing and it delivers real ROI.

The 4 selling tips small business owners must use to avoid failure

Which steps must you take or face business failure? This post includes the four selling tips small business owners need to follow so they can rock their success. Skip these at the risk of your own peril. Starting and running a business is challenging! Business owners wear so many hats and have so much to do every day. While it's essential for entrepreneurs to do many things well, I'll give you the bullet points for the sales essentials you need to use to ensure success.

(Interested in more sales tips for small business owners? Download this free ebook, “From Cold to Sold” and get 17 sales secrets.)

Download ebook

The selling tips small business owners are smartest to use are efficient and useful.

Have a selling plan

The importance of having a plan cannot be understated. And the good news is, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Without a plan, all the other selling tips for small business owners are wasted. Author Katherin Peterson famously said, “a dream wihout a plan is just a wish”.

SMB owners can keep the sales plan simple, for a start. Have one place where all leads and customer information is kept. This can be a CRM or an Excel spreadsheet. Create sales goals, even if you’re guestimating. 

Also, have an idea of how many opportunities you’ll need to close to reach this goal. Start with a specific target number of phone calls or in-person appointments. As you close sales, track how many prospects you contact for each sale. It's also helpful for seeing how much follow up is required to close the sale. This is highly valuable data you can use to continue refining your selling plan. 

Know your unique selling propostion

Most likely, you’re famliar with this term. But unique selling proposition (USP) is still too YOU-centric. Like it or not, humans are ME-centric, which means the best way to make your product appeal to your prospect is to make the USP about THEM. This comes down to what does your product or service do for your client? A “value proposition” is the customer-centric version of the USP. 

Don’t even pick up the phone until you have a clear understanding of what your service or product does FOR your customer. What pain does is alleviate? Which problem does it solve? How does it remove fear? Understanding the value your offering delivers to prospects is essential to grabbing and keeping attention. No one has any interest in hearing descriptions of a product when they see nothing in it for them.

Sales techniques that focus on the prospect

Listen to customer’s needs

Asking questions and listening is powerful for building rapport and for discovering your customer’s needs. More about how much about the prospect your selling process must be. And guess what? People love talking about themselves, so getting your customers talking is easier than you might think.

Listening to customer needs also serves to further qualify what’s important to them and how they want to communicate. Which provides invaluable insight for tailoring your offer specifically to what your potential client wants. Thus increasing your likelihood of closing this sale.

Ask for the sale

Sound ridiculous? You’d be surprised how often this doesn’t happen. A common challenge facing small business owners is fear of rejection. Actually, this is a common problem for even the most seasoned salespeople.  Toss that fear of rejection out the door. If you’ve done a good job of qualifying your prospect, then you know if they have a problem you can solve. Simply ask if they want you to help solve it for them.

These are the top 4 selling tips small business owners need to use to ensure success. The list of others sales and customer retention techniques and  is endless, but these are the most important ones, in my opinion.

Why a Lack of Good Corporate Social Responsibility Is Killing Your Business

Good Corporate Social Responsibility is no longer a nice-to-have. In fact, companies who want to grow MUST practice good Corporate Social Responsibility, aka, CSR. Those brands who don't face losing sales. Driven by millennials who prefer to do business with brands who have ethical and sustainable business standards, the recipe for sales and marketing success changed dramatically. So now, all generations have an increased expectation that companies who want to earn their business must practice sustainability. Is your brand adapting, or dying?

Millennials (and other generations too) are looking for four major qualities in socially responsible companies. Download the checklist here for free.

According to findings from the 2015 Cone Communications Millennial CSR Study, “More than nine-in-10 Millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause (91% vs. 85% U.S. average). Two-thirds use social media to engage around CSR (66% vs. 53% U.S. average).” Because of these factors, companies not yet engaging in good corporate social responsibility are losing sales.

Practicing Good Corporate Social Responsibility Is Great for Business

In 2015, Nielson published its annual Global Corporate Sustainability Report. It indicated that, globally, 66% of consumers are willing to spend more on a product if it comes from a sustainable brand. 73% of surveyed millennials indicating a similar preference. Additionally, 81% of millennials evexpect their favorite companies to make public declarations of their corporate citizenship."

As John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods puts it:

“The whole corporate social responsibility ideal is trying to graft something onto the old profit maximization model. Now more than ever, we need is a transformation [in] the way we think about business, what it’s based on. People want businesses to do good in the world. It’s that simple…. We now need a deeper, fundamental reform in the essence of business.”

So, traditional advertising won’t work with Millennials. Conveying CSR efforts to Millennials requires authenticity, and a unique approach. Since Millennials grew up with the Internet, they want their voices heard. And they expect a two-way, open dialogue with companies and their brands.

Millennials and many of the customers from other generations want to buy from companies who give back.  As a result, brands who want to attract more customers and keep existing ones need to have a good corporate social responsibility program.

13 powerful strategies to increase customer retention

Question: What is the source of highest profit sales? Most likely, it's your current and past customers. Next question: What is your customer retention process?

You've already attracted these customers to your brand, built the know, like and trust factor and earned a purchase from them. You successfully converted a lead to a paying customer. And it cost you money to do that. Maybe a lot of money. How much less expensive is it to keep good customers than acquire new ones?

Download the free Lifetime Total Customer Value calculator so you can get the maximum ROI from each customers this month.

Download now

A good customer retention plan has amazing ROI.

In an article posted on Entreprenuer.com, Eric Sui said,  "According to Bain & Company, it costs 7X more to attract new customers than it does to keep them. Additionally, if you retain just 5% of your customers annually, you can generate up to 125 percent more profits. Retention strategies truly pay off in the long run and help you build a sound business over time."

I've outlined 13 keys you must have for your customer retention funnel to be effective so you can score more sales.

1. Make retention a top priority.

Prioritize the highest ROI activity your company does, which is most likely customer retention.

2. Measure life time value of customers.

Determine the life time value (LTV) of your average customers. The additional purchases, upgrades, replacements and referrals they send to you add up to a much bigger dollar amount than just the first purchase they make. Download this free LTV calculator here.

3. Provide amazing customer service

Have you noticed that even the cable companies want to "delight customers"? They finally get the importance of keeping current customers happy because it's way less expensive to keep customers than to acquire new ones.

4. After the sale nurturing

Create a system for following up after the sale at regular intervals. Depending on your business, that may be a week after the sale or a month. Pay attention to how your customers are engaging with your brand, it's product and services. Respond quickly to customers. Always. A good customer retention funnel has as process that everyone who touches the customers uses to continue nurturing the relationship after the sale. Continue delivering high value content and service and you'll score more sales.

5. Budget for customer retention marketing

Since the ROI on keeping customers is so much higher than on acquiring new ones, it makes sense to assign some budget to marketing efforts aimed at retention.

6. CRM

Without a good CRM, your customers may be on the business end of an ill-timed phone call from an inside sales rep pitching an upsell, when that customer is currently threatening to leave if a dire problem isn't solved. Not a good customer retention play.

Since the beginning of CRM time, having a 360 degree view of the customer so that companies could avoid this type of mistake has been the goal. You can't manage an effective customer retention funnel without a good CRM.

7. Communicate frequently

Your customers want to feel valuable after they've spent money with you. Communicate with them frequently to show you care. Birthday greetings, holiday messages, news and updates are great ways to show them you care. Remember to only email customers who have opted into your email list.

8. Engage on social media

Social media is the equal opportunity soap box everyone can use to rave or complain about their experiences with a company. Monitor social media and quickly respond to any complaint. Also, quickly thank customers who sing your praises. You can also use social media to ask your customers about what's important to them and nurture relationships.

9. Convert complaints into opportunities

Everyone remembers the companies that handle their complaints with such concern for making the situation gone wrong into an experience that feels right. It's interesting that what's memorable is how great it felt to the customer that the brand went above and beyond to solve the problem, and not what went wrong in the first place. Be a hero to your customers when they complain and watch that same customer become your advocate.

10. Create a customer loyalty program

Rewarding customers for their patronage is a great way to develop their loyalty. Provide added value, special promos or offers that your customers want. The rewards need to be easy to earn and redeem. Keep things simple. Score more sales by rewarding your current customers and nurturing them to send referrals.

11. Host an event

Show your customer appreciation by hosting an event. An open house, after hours event or guest lectures can provide powerful incentives for your customers to spend more time with your company. Having fun and feeling valued has a way of bonding people tighter together. Events work whether they are virtual, like a podcast or live, like an open office social gathering.

12. Corporate social responsibility

Many customers choose to buy from brands that give back over brands that don’t. If your company already has a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, share progress and successes with your customers. If not, get one. Select a cause that is consistent with your brand and aligns with your customers’ values and interests.

13. Upsell and resell

Since you're paying attention to how your customers are using the products or services they purchased from your company, you'll know what's important to them. When the time is right, offer and upgrade or replacement product that has high value and will help your customer achieve their goals.

Email marketing with calls to action and free demos or trials, just like regular marketing campaigns. Incent the customer to try new add ons, upgrades and eventually replacement purchases, in some industries.

Why getting referrals is harder than ever - how to get them now

Getting referrals is harder than it used to be. If 87% of happy customers intend to refer, why don't they? What happened? Media changed, culture changed and how people interact has changed. We receive 105,000 words in 12 waking hours- 23 words per second! With 34 gigabytes a DAY coming in to us, our brains are full. People have a hard time remembering everything they need to do for their own business. So they can’t remember to do something for your business too. Like send you a referral. And this is the problem – Getting top of mind awareness is harder than ever. The solution is to have a simple process for asking for referrals - and use it.

Download my free 3-step plan for getting more referrals.

We are competing with more messages than ever. Even when people INTEND to refer, they often forget. Successful businesses use an easy to follow process to convert those good intentions into sales.

Getting referrals isn't just good for our business

Here's the thing about getting referrals - it's a way people give too. People love to help other people. And they love being a go-to resource for their friends. Who are we to deny them the joy of sending their friends to us?

People naturally enjoy connecting with others we know, like and trust. We rely on our relationships with others for referrals and recommendations. We feel good about ourselves when we help each other and when we are a resource others seek for recommendations.

In his blog post, "87% of your customers will give referral, if you just ask", Michael Boyett suggests asking "for a specific introduction. Example: 'Bill, I’ve wanted to connect with Martha Smith but haven’t had much success. You mentioned working with her. Would you be willing to introduce me to her?'

You know Bill knows Martha, so you are not wasting Bill’s time, but asking to connect. Think of the time and energy you’ll save."

Ask for the introduction and if it's appropriate, ask for the referral. Embed this into your customer experience and watch your business grow.

Whatever method you use for getting referrals, I encourage you to include these key elements:

• Commit to consistently executing the plan
• Hold yourself accountable
• Regularly evaluate your referral process and improve it

Entrepreneur Success Starts with Step 1 - Respect

Part 1 of 5 in the RAISE Sales System blog post series for entrepreneur success. Are you an entrepreneur who struggles with sales? If so, you're not alone. Entrepreneur success requires strong sales skills and this struggle is a common problem that many business owners have. Entrepreneurs wear a lot of different hats and for most, selling isn’t their strongest skillset.

One of the secrets to entrepreneur success is knowing how to ask for and close the sale. In this 5 part blog series, I’m going to share my signature sales system, RAISE.  I created this 5-step strategy RAISE from my 25+ years of experience across multiple industries and teach it in workshops and when doing sales coaching with clients. This is the sales process entrepreneurs and sales professionals use for dramatically increasing sales.

Download free ebook "17 Sales Hacks to Close More Sales"

RAISE is the word that is spelled out by the first letter of each of the steps in the system. This post is about the first step and each post in this series will reveal subsequent steps in the RAISE system.

The R in RAISE is for respect and I love starting with respect because this is where a relationship building begins. This is where developing the know, like and trust factors starts, so you can advance to asking for the sale.

Entrepreneur success secret #1 is Respect

You can’t close the sale if you’re no longer in the conversation. Respecting the prospect will keep you in the conversation longer than asking for the sale before they are ready to buy.

First of all, respecting where the customer actually is, and not where you wish they were in the buying process is vital to entrepreneurs success. It's super essential to be aware of where your prospect is where their heads at what they care about where they are in the sales or buying process.

Two Ears and One Mouth for a Reason

One example is at a networking event or a party. You have connected with somebody and they did most of talking, while you do a lot of listening. At the end of the conversation, they say, “You're a great conversationalist!” And you think to yourself, “I said so very little and you did all the talking!” There's a reason people say we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason:-)

Why is it that the person who did the listening is a great conversationalist? Because human beings love to feel heard. When we show consideration for people and actively listen to them, they FEEL respected and valued. Plus, we find out what is important to them and that knowledge fuels our own entrepreneur success. All of this goodness also allows us to build the know, like and trust factors.

Success Story Using Respect to Sell

Now I’ll share with you an example of how amazing the Respect step is for entrepreneurs to succeed. In the late 80s, I sold construction equipment in Florida, working for the only companies in the country that had female sales. I was calling on construction sites throughout Southwest Florida and I wasn't always welcomed. One general contractor was using the old-style, less cost effective and more dangerous scaffolding on a project that was a prime candidate for using a boomlift. He wasn’t interested in hearing about a new technology solution from a woman who he perceived didn't know anything about construction.

How I Cracked the Tough Prospect

If I was going to have any shot at selling this customer a boomlift, I knew I needed to get creative. I realized I needed to respect where he was, no where I wanted him to be.

Since I knew he felt competent as a general contractor, I asked him about the project. He was happy to talk about it. After listening, I offered to deliver the boomlift the next day at no charge to him. If at the end of the day, he found the equipment effective, he could keep it and pay only for the rental for the rest of the time he used it. If not, I’d pick it up and charge him nothing. No risk for him.

When I called this customer at the end of the day, he told me I could leave the boomlift.  I had the sale without ever asking for it. What is important to know, is that I respected where this customer this prospect was and stayed in the conversation. When building a relationship with a prospect, starting with respecting where they are and what they value is the best first step. R is for Respect and entrepreneur success depends upon it.

Download your free eBook "From Cold to Sold" and get the 17 secrets for converting more leads to customers.

What is the lack of soft skills in millennials costing us?

We hear it often. "Millennials make eye contact. They don't respect authority. They don't show up on time." Why? What happened? And how is this lack of soft skills impacting our culture and our businesses? Millennials who have great soft skills have a huge advantage over their peers who do not.  Studies, reports and articles emerge weekly about the severity of the challenges that employers have with hiring and managing a generation that lacks people skills. That means that members of the most tech savvy generation who have solid soft skills have a serious competitive advantage in the job market.

In his recent post, "Is Lack of Soft Skills Hindering Millennials' Careers?," Kevin Howell cited several studies that indicate the answer is "Yes".

Lack of soft skills is holding back Millennials in their careers

It's such a chronic and acute problem, that, according to a recent McKinsey study, "40 percent of employers said they have difficulty filling vacancies because younger workers lack soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, and punctuality. A PayScale survey found similar results, with managers highlighting leadership and ownership as skills that Millennials lack."

What's the cause of this lackluster skill set? Too much focus on STEM education and job? Maybe. Too much screen time? Perhaps. Some studies have shown that "social anxiety with face-to-face interaction increases with the amount of time spent online."

"Regardless of the reason young workers struggle with soft skills, companies have to deal with it. Addressing the skills shortfall in the workplace means tailoring training and development toward those needs."

And that means that soft skills training for millennials needs three things:

• To be valued by millennials
• Fun for them to learn
• Include a lot of practice

Changing behaviors is hard and humans resist it. Shifting the way millennials interact in person is not going to be easy. Success will require engaging training, practice and accountability along the way.

This generation grew up with digital media and video games and they like activities to be fun. Gamifying soft skills training is essential to hold their attention.

Practicing new skills and repeating them often is how people skills behavior will change.

How to accelerate lead nurturing and turn on the flow of referrals

Part 2 of the Secret Weapon: Referral partners can amplify your sales. You've asked, listened and begun nurturing those new contacts. Awesome! Want to learn what will speed the relationship developing process along faster so you can convert contacts into referral partners?

Here's how to crank up your list of referral partners: Follow up until they "Buy or Die"!

80% of sales require seven follow-ups (and that number keeps climbing)   [Source: Scripted] 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up  [Source: The Marketing Donut]

So, if you’re an entrepreneur looking to attract more clients, these numbers are eye-opening. This means it’s likely your competition won’t follow up as often as you will if you commit to five times. BOOM! Advantage, you!

Download the free 3 Step Plan to get more referral partners.

Download nw If you’re a job seeker, this underscores the importance of persistence. While no one wants to be a pest, it’s in your best interest to follow up multiple times. Some HR experts say, “Follow up until they buy or die.” People are just too busy to remember who they talked to and what action they promised. Those who rely on new contacts to do the follow-up are guaranteed disappointing results. Instead, proactive professionals who make a point to reconnect after introductions impress and succeed.

Staying connected is how you'll nurture and build this relationship, so call or email with a brief message about how much you enjoyed talking with them and that you'd like to stay in touch. Mention something specific they talked about. Ask what social media they prefer and connect with them on those channels. LinkedIn is a given for most professionals, but find out if they like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest also. Most people have a couple of go-to channels they like.

People are more likely to respond to social media than an email, so take advantage of that and meet them where they are. Showing social love to your contacts will accelerate you rapidly towards your goal of accumulating referral partners to grow your business. Public admiration and validation is pure gold!

Check out my post "5 ways to get free leads on LinkedIn" and "Promote Your Business with Instagram" for specific tips. You now have a platform for nurturing that new business relationship and expanding your network. Repost things they post, make comments (positive and insightful) and make sure you do it within the first week, and then every couple of weeks after that. Network like a pro and watch the job opportunities and sales flow in, right? There’s a little more to it than that, of course. Once you have the strong referral network in place, you need to know how to ask for the referrals.

When you're ready to build a full pipeline of referral partners, consider a the RAISE online sales course.

Learn more about RAISE online course

Referrals: the secret weapon used by the world's most successful business owners

Part 1 of 2 in a series.

Quick question: Which is more important for professional success? A) What you know B) Who you know

If you answered B), you already know a lot. But who you know isn’t much help for advancing your career or business if you don’t have skills. Having knowledge is far more likely to lead to success if other people realize you have it than if you secretly have them. So really, the answer is A) and B), in that order. Knowing people is great for building referral partnerships, but it won’t get you a job or sales leads without some talent and ability. And have amazing skills in a vacuum won't make you successful.

Do you find yourself stressed out when you think about making sales calls? Many people fee frustrated when they realize they need to build a strong network, have no idea where to begin. It can be a little like the “How do I get experience if I don’t have experience yet?” syndrome.

Download free ebook "From Cold to Sold" 17 secrets to getting more customers

Some people are naturally gifted in the art of networking and some are not. Guess what? That's totally ok! We are all different, which is what makes the world an interesting place. There's no reason to feel badly about yourself if you don't already have relationship building skills honed to a fine point. We can't all be ace at everything. (For example, don't ask me to file your taxes. Orange is definitely not my best color and I doubt it's yours.) If you aren’t the best at relationship and network building, don’t worry. Skills can be learned. So, what are the 3 steps you can take to build highly successful business relationships and bring referrals flowing into your business?

1. Ask. Be intensely curious about people. Ask a lot of questions about what they do, what they like to do, what success looks like for them, what their challenges and problems are. Ask what they enjoy most and least about their work. People love to talk about themselves, so this is easier than you might think.

Specifically ask them about their goals and concerns. Sample questions: What’s the most important goal you’re working towards right now? What’s your greatest challenge with achieving it? What keeps you up at night? Their answers will give you some insight to what they care about and the problems they are trying to solve. We’ll come back with what to do with the answers in tip 3.

To get 17 hacks for generating and converting leads, download my eBook, "From Cold to Sold" here.

Download Free eBook 2. Listen. Have you ever tried the experiment of listening more than you speak in a conversation? If you have, did the person you were "talking" with say, "You are so easy to talk to"? If not, try it out sometime. The results can be a fascinating illustration of how much value people place on sharing and feeling heard. It's not a bad thing that we like focusing on our own experiences and telling others about them. It's a human thing. When you're building a network of relationships with humans, understanding this quality is invaluable. We are wired to connect and share our thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences with people. And that happens to be awesome for networking.

3. Nurture. Once you've met someone and discovered what they value and established some rapport, the most important step to adding them to your network, is to follow-up with them. I cannot emphasize the importance of following-up enough. Have I mentioned how essential the follow up is?

Look for part 2 of this blog post next week and discover exactly what you can do to accelerate relationship nurturing and turn on the flow of referrals into your business.

Follow up is the gold - From cold to sold to convert leads to sales

Nice to meet you, now what. The steps you need to take to follow-up and convert those new contacts into customers produce the gold.

Well done. You went out there and connected with some new people. Networking can feel daunting and you did it anyway! And, now what? What's the secret to converting that new contact into a referral relationship or customer? Knowing what to say and how to say it without sounding cheesy can be a challenge too.

Download this free eBook to get more ideas on how the pros follow-up and get more customers. "From Cold to Sold" 17 sales secrets for converting more leads to customers.

If you need to repeat it, automate it, as they say. So here’s the 6 step process I use and can recommend for you.

Follow-up is SO valuable for converting sales

1. Always send a quick thank you email or text the same day or the next day at the latest. This shows respect for the other person’s time by prioritizing a follow up to the conversation right away. It is more important to send this quickly, rather than for it to be a comprehensive or long email.
2. Be yourself. Authenticity is always a good approach. To pretty much everything. So, it's not surprising that follow-up emails are no different. Since people feel good when you listen to them, include something key you heard the contact you just met say. Use your own “voice” and keep it professional. That doesn’t mean uptight, just respectful.
3. Make a positive observation about the person, company or project that this contact mentioned. For example, comment on how you can see this work achieving the goals or being successful. This is more good evidence of your effective listening skills and which creates the know, like and trust factors
4. Summarize the action items you agreed to do and include any you can in this email. So, if your follow-up action requires more time or a separate email, outline how and when you will complete it.
5. Thank your new contact for the action items they offered. Because appreciation is always smart and it can be a helpful reminder to busy people who’s intentions are good and who’s schedules are full. They feel valued. And that is more know like and trust development:-)
6. Connect with your new contact on LinkedIn, Twitter and perhaps Facebook. You’re building your network and broadening that connection to social media channels is too important to miss. 

Ready for more ideas on how to use follow-up to close more sales?

Need more customers? Download free! "From Cold to Sold", the ebook with 17 secrets for getting more customers.

Download now

Now that you know the 6 steps to turn your follow-up into gold, go out there and convert more sales!

Do you have suggestions for making the follow up after making a new connection even better? Bring it! I’d love to see it, so share your comments below.

Ready to give yourself a RAISE?Check out the 5-step system that is the blueprint for success.

Margo Wickersham enjoys assessing, creating custom sales strategies and coaching professionals on exactly how to get more customers, close more sales and increase revenue. Dramatically. Authentically. Consistently.

For women, negotiating for the fees can be difficult. Even when we know our market value, it can be hard to ask for the fees we deserve. Even Sheryl Sandberg says she sometimes suffers from the imposter syndrome. The key is not to beat ourselves up for experiencing this discomfort - it is to take the action required to get the income we deserve. Will it feel uncomfortable? It might. It'll feel a lot better when your bank account shows a beefy balance that you earned!

Schedule your FREE sales coaching session!

 Investing even 15 minutes in your success can have a massive impact on your business and your life. YOU are worth it!

Write Subject Lines That Get Your Emails Opened

Subject lines determine whether people click of don’t, so they matter. A lot! I recently created an email campaign for one of my clients and we saw very strong open rates, which has everything to do with great subject lines and brand name recognition. For this particular campaign, we were inviting the recipients to an event. Our  most effective subject line was: You're invited! [Company Name] [Event]

Subject Line Determines Email Open Rates

It's pretty important to find the optimal subject lines. Who cares how brilliant your email is if no one ever sees it? Test, test and test. Try different subject lines and track open rate performance. It's almost shocking what a difference the subject line makes!

Some good subject line formulas:

• Your Guide to [Industry-Related Topic]
• How To Get the Most Out of [Product/Service]
• 5 Tips to Extend the Life of Your [Product/Service]

Another technique that motivates readers to open emails is calling out the hot industry topics. Of course, any good marketer is creating content that address the issues that are top of mind for their prospects, so including those terms in the subject line should be automatic.

Read more on how to improve your open rates immediately with this post from Amelia Showalter, on CXL.  Once you’ve figured out the formula for fabulous subject lines, you may be interested in learning more about writing wonderful emails. Check out this post “Anatomy of an Awful Email” for a guide on what not to do.

Oh, and don’t forget to optimize the emails and landing pages for mobile. With mobile device use continuing to rise, demand generation efforts need to be responsive as well. You know the numbers: According to a Google Survey, 61% of site visitors using mobile device are likely to leave a site that’s not optimized for mobile. With a third or more emails being opened on tablets and smart phones, marketers can’t afford to not optimize.

Sales Tip of the Week - Active Listening

One of the most powerful ways to increase sales is to listen. Active listening means you ask your prospect questions and focus on hearing their answers. People love to be heard because it makes them feel respected and valued. Plus, active listening often reveals insights that help you determine how best to help them solve their problems or entertain them. This information helps you illustrate the value your product or service offers, which helps you close the sale.

Active Listening - Sales Tip of the Week

Try it out and let me know how it works for you. I coach and train sales teams and entrepreneurs how to increase their income by 20 to 80%. Active listening is one of the most effective methods I coach my clients on developing. For a limited time, I'm offering a FREE 15 minutes Sales Strategy Session! Click the button below to schedule your session now. Spots are limited, so get yours on the calendar while you can!

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Are You Losing Money Because of Your Sales Blindspot?

Your sales blindspot could be costing you money. A lot of money. You could be missing out on sales and not even realize it. But you can't fix a problem you can't see.

Wouldn't it be great if you buy a little sales blindspot mirror like you can for your car? That way you could see where you're missing opportunities to make more money and fix them. But sales blindspot quick-fixes aren't a thing...or are they?

Do you know what your sales blindspot is?

You may detest networking. Or maybe it's following up with leads that isn't your favorite thing to do. It could be you don't know how to ask for the sale. As America's #1 Master Confidence Strategist, Jan Goss-Gibson told me, "You can't read the label from inside the bottle." In other words, everyone has a blindspot, so don't feel badly.

The Solution - Identify the area of sales where you struggle the most

Get a qualified sales expert to show you what you can't see because you're inside the bottle trying to read the label. Click here to schedule a free 15 minutes session with me to discover your sales blindspot. The link takes you right to my TimeTrade scheduling app.

Once you see what you're not seeing, you can makes some shifts in your selling and reclaim that lost revenue.

Every business owner wants more sales.  What if you could discover a simple tip you could use that would get you more sales right away? Schedule a free session with me and I'll show you how to increase revenue right away. You may want to take advantage of this offer now, since the free session slots are filling up quickly.

Discovering and removing you sales blindspot leads to a major increase in income. What part of the sales process do you struggle with the most? Leave your answer to this question in the comments. I look forward to seeing your answers.

5 steps to get new customers on LinkedIn - FREE!

Finding new customers with LinkedIn is actually fairly easy, especially with the new user interface. This social media platform is an incredibly powerful tool. Because most of us don't know how to use the LinkedIn search tool, we miss out on finding and connecting with new prospects.

So, Here Are My Top 5 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Get New Customers on LinkedIn.

1 - Define Ideal Customer

Your your company's success depends on how well your understand your ideal customer. In order to communicate the value that your product or service delivers to your customers, it's essential to understand their pain points and how they seek to solve them. Sometimes this is called a persona or an avatar.

It doesn't really matter what you call it as long as you identify who you're targeting, so you know which prospects you're looking for on LinkedIn.

2 - Start with clicking in the "Search" field. For example, if you sell a service to videographers, type "videographer" in the search box. With no other qualifiers in the advanced search, over 100,000 results come up. Now, you can narrow your focus by adding specific locations, like cities, states and countries.

After focusing on a specific location, I recommend adding the connection qualifier to see who you and your contacts know who meet your ideal customer profile. Connections with people you already know are warmer and easier to nurture.

3 – Narrow results with additional qualifiers. You can narrow the results down by the location by typing in the area you want to search in the location field. Below that field, you'll see the check boxes for first, second, group and third and everyone else. You can further narrow the field of prospects by selecting these. Select third and everyone else for the broadest list of results. You can get more specific and with other details as well, like industry, past or current company, school and more.

4 – Create your hottest leads list. You can message first connections directly through LinkedIn. You can also access contact info for first connections. Often, they will have email, website and social media details listed.

You can connect with second degree contacts, so go ahead and click the "connect" button next to their names.

Sending an "Inmail" through LinkedIn is an option for reaching out to second connection. I find that it's not as efficient as some other ways to connect.

Insider's secret! #5! ---> You can connect directly with people who are in groups with you! That's right! You can connect with complete strangers if you share membership in th same LinkedIn group!. As of this post, LinkedIn allows membership in up to 50 groups. 

A quick message saying you look forward to hearing more about their business and would like to stay in touch is all you need. Finding something specific in the contacts profile or group discussion to mention will make your message stand out.

The easiest way to discover some interesting details, is to look at the contact's LinkedIn profile and review what they have posted recently, where they have worked the past few years, school they attended and even nonprofits they like. Using a bit of a personal connection goes a long way to begin the conversation and start a potential relationship. Other ideas are to watch videos, view SlideShare or samples of work to get some insight about the new contact. a look at any of these videos like this.

Connecting with the new contact on Twitter or other social networks can be really useful for starting a conversation. Approaching people them from multiple platforms can increase your success rate. and reach out to

Success tip! -->  Making a positive comment about a prospect's work or post can increase their response rate! Click here to download email templates that work great to connect with new prospects on LinkedIn.

"I deliver a service that helps videographers edit and deliver their videos quicker and more cost-effectively and wondered if you'd be interested in hearing more about this. "

"I'm a fellow Tarheel and wanted to reach out to you to talk about a tool that I've got that will help HR managers work more productively. I went to that Final Four basketball game and it was crazy!

As you can see, researching on LinkedIn can be very powerful! The amount of information you can discover takes a little bit of time but can be like uncovering gold. It's always good to know people who are successful, so it is extremely valuable to take your time to do your research to uncover the riches available to you on LinkedIn.

I'm looking for specific companies and want to find the contact I need to approach. I may find a contact of mine is connected to the person I'd like to reach out to. I could send him a message asking for an introduction. "I'd like to meet x and it looks like you and I are both connected to him or her. I'd love to talk to her about what it's like so you could I could have absolutely do that I could also i wanted to warm it up.

Some more I could look at the organizations and the groups and I could do all kinds of research on where people are what they're doing and find ways to reach out to them and connect with them

Now we've looked at different ways to use LinkedIn's advanced search to find prospects - people who meet your profile an ideal customer.

• Jobs
• Title
• Geography
• Group memberships
• Post and activity
• Company – past and current
• School