E-mail Tips

Today, a lot of us communicate via e-mail with both current and prospective clients. Especially when it comes to e-mailing prospects, there are a few important tips you should follow:

• According to HubSpot, Tuesday at 11am is one of the worst possible times to send e-mail messages/campaigns.
• E-mail subject lines should be no longer than 50 characters. Statistics show that if you can get your count down to 48 or 49 characters, the success rate of e-mails opened is even higher.
• The recommended length for emails is 3-5 short paragraphs.
• It’s important to avoid common spam words like free, click here or click below, Dear Friend or Dear another generic term, call or dial or toll free used with 800 or 888 or 877 or 866 or 855 or 844 or 833 or 822, Risk Free or no risk, Save $$$ or Save Millions or Save up to or Save Thousands or Save Money, Free offer or Special offer or Trial offer.

Good Selling!

Word of Mouth

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Pick up your copy today on TTBooks.

KeFactors Friday: Demanding Boss—or Bully?

Very often in my classes, I see individuals who prefer to believe they work for bullies when in fact they’re resisting demands placed by a more exacting boss—eg, more appropriate work apparel, more reliable work hours, and higher standards for performance.

Over 75% of workplace bullies are bosses, so it’s easy to assume all bosses are bullies. The majority is also male, so it’s easy to assume all bullies are men, especially as female bullying behaviors tend to be less tangible and more covert.

Take a look at this criteria:

• There should be clarity and consistency in what’s expected of you. A conscientious but anal-retentive manager may be a stickler for meeting performance goals, but a bully boss will cherry-pick and manufacture issues to make your life really miserable.

• When you make an honest mistake, your boss should be able to state clearly how it needs to be corrected and prevented from happening again, even if it entails an unhappy conversation between the two of you with notes to your file. Bully bosses tend to inflate mistakes to personally humiliate you; but are just as likely to overlook and forgive them in pursuit of other targets or intentions.

• Feedback from a demanding boss will focus on work and performance issues. A bully boss will personalize it, either by citing herself as “your model for success” or focusing on details of your life and personality irrelevant to work. You should also receive balanced appraisals, both positive and corrective.

Demanding bosses are human, after all, and will make errors in judgment if they’re under pressure or misunderstand your intentions. Consider keeping a “daybook” that logs any behaviors you think may be bullying, because if they’re good at anything, bullies are at least consistent in their inhumanity.

Guest Blogger: Kevin Shaffer – Identifying Exceptional Sales People; Separating Dabblers from the Disciplined

As the Director of Sales for an International Human Resources Consulting Firm, I've learned that sales people fall into two categories - Group A and Group B. If you're a salesperson, which category do you fall in to? If you're an employer, which category do your employees fall in to?

“Group A” are the people that get it and are disciplined and fully engaged. These people have very specific traits:

Group A - Disciplined

· They plan everything in advance and don’t assume anything

· They organize their day to achieve maximum outcomes

· They look to maximize every moment during peak business hours

· They always ask better questions, they listen and they know when to stop talking – no exceptions

These people tend to command attention when they enter a room. They are effortlessly engaging and they make you feel good about them and they even make you feel good about you. They follow the system and are money driven, but they understand work hard and focus pays off. They don’t chase money, it simply comes in.

Then you have “Group B”. These people would most likely get out of sales as soon as they get the chance. They got into sales because they thought the money was something they deserved, but once given the chance to sell they realized they do not have what it takes. These people tend to have the following traits:

Group B - Dabbling

· They never have a plan and seem to perform sales tasks for appearances sake, everything is a chore

· They are looking for every outside variable to blame for less than exceptional, mediocre performance

· These sales people want a better territory, better delivery times, better products, lower prices, more marketing, more training, better admin staff, accounting hates them, their computer never works, and on, and on, and on. Simply put, they are typically in the squeaky wheel club and functioning at 50%.

Stop for a moment. Think. Do you know anyone in Group A? Group B? If you took the people you know from both groups and put them in a room, could your direct report successfully put those people in the right group? Be careful, even weak sales people can sell themselves well. So, how do you find these “Group A” sales people?

It’s simple. First, you need to take your time and ignore your gut feeling. Performers perform and they know it. As a result, they are ready to share their accomplishments and they usually have documentation to support their claims of greatness. Here is the most important part… and it’s quite simple also. Listen. Listen to what is happening in the interview. If they are doing all the talking, let them walk away, I don’t care how good they are. If you are doing all the talking, get excited because you may have a star sitting in front of you. If you are doing all the taking and enjoying the conversation, you need to realize what is you have. Excellent sales people ask great questions and are exceptional listeners. They don’t waste your time with conjecture you don’t care to hear. If you reach this point, do any assessments you have or behavior trait measuring. This person is worth it.

Kevin Shaffer is the Director of National Sales for Kushner & Company, an International Human Resources Consulting Firm and Benefits Administration company located in Portage, Michigan. Kevin has trained, managed and strategically influenced sales teams for local companies resulting in millions of dollars in additional revenue. He has served as Board President in the not for profit arena and has had extensive experience working directly with sales professionals and executive management teams. Kevin was a key contributor in designing the territory management concept “Areas of Concentration”, and has also been a key contributor in designing and implementing “Salesforce.com” specifications and workflow solutions for multiple organizations. If you'd like to speak with Kevin about this article, or any of his contributions and sales concepts, please e-mail him at kevin.shaffer@kushnerco.com.

What are you working to achieve in 2011?

Last week, I sent distributed my free monthly newsletter, Self-Taught Sales, to those who are on my distribution list. Here's what was included in the newsletter:

It's a new year with new opportunities. 2011 will be a money-maker for you when you help customers reach their goals. Learn how you can be of service by scheduling a meeting, either on the phone or in-person. Open a dialogue and ask clients, "What are you working to achieve in 2011?"

Listen to the answer and figure out how you fit in.

Other smart questions to ask in January . . .

-Was 2010 a good year, a great one, or the year the client wants to forget?
-What plans does the client have in the works for 2011?
-What obstacles do they anticipate?
-What idea/program/strategy worked well in 2010?
-What didn't work as well as they had hoped?

These questions help you identify customer pain points and revenue generating activities. And January is the right time for a conversation because buyers have a natural inclination to seek out fresh thinking as a new year starts.

2011 will be the best year ever for sales pros who work hard and work smart, and who are well-prepared to outsell the competition. And that sales professional is YOU.

Are you interested in having Self-Taught Sales delivered to your inbox once a month? E-mail melissa@thoughttransformation.com if you'd like to be added to the distribution list.

KeFactors Friday: T. A. S. K. Your E-mails

If you’re like me, you get dozens of e-mails per week about a variety of issues. And a trend I’ve noticed among my clients’ staff is the troubling frequency with which e-mailed instructions are lost through the cracks.

One thing’s for sure: the business world is not going to stop using e-mail. But that doesn’t mean you should let this unwieldy communications tool quash your ability to be efficient and effective. There are a couple simple things you can do to become more productive.

Immediately print out any e-mail that carries a task, an instruction, or time-sensitive info. You can follow the TASK guideline:

T = The email carries info that is time-sensitive.

A = Accuracy is crucial (you may need to use client language verbatim)

S = The info has to be shared with several team members

K = Keep this to document decisions, changes in direction, and for future reference

Why print out hard copies? For example, merely forwarding a client’s instruction to a colleague does not ensure that immediate action will be taken: you may need to walk across the plant to get the colleague’s attention and show the e-mail to underscore its details or importance.

Also, keep a notepad on hand for noting to-do items that may be evident to you but not explicit in the emails — eg, a client request like “Will you call me when the samples are ready?”

E-mail’s been around long enough now. Don’t join the ranks of those who constantly make excuses (“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought I sent that back to you!” or “I did see that e-mail but it must’ve been deleted by the system. Can you repeat what you said or re-send?”)