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Sales Dogs By Blair Singer

About 10 years ago I came across a terrific book called “Sales Dogs” by Blair Singer which helps you define your selling style in a creative and easy to recognise way…by comparing to a breed of dog.  It helps you identify what characteristics each breed has and how you can adopt characteristics of other breeds to improve your sales ability.

It is also a great book as a business owner that has sales people working for them and allows you to identify what characteristics your sales staff have and how you can empower them to do their job better.

I was reminded of this book and its easy message this morning while talking with a good friend and business owner this morning.  My friend is a ‘systems’ person and runs a business that is very systems/process oriented but interestingly she is also a animal behaviouralist.  Her business has sales staff but she is unsure how to motivate and train them in order to help them maximise their sales.

We discussed the different breeds of Sales Dogs – Pit Bull, Golden Retriever, Poodle, Chihuahua and Bassett Hound and quickly she was able to identify some characteristics of her sales staff.  See if you can quickly identify characteristics either in yourself or your sales staff from the brief description below:

Pit Bull – aggressive sales person – goes for the kill every time, sometimes scares people into the sale

Golden Retriever – outgoing, friendly, big bundles of love -  customer service is everything, they beg for the privilege of selling to you

Poodle — The schmoozer of the pack – they like to look good but are also intellectual and a bit high strung

Chihuahua — Don’t be fooled by their small stature, they have TEETH!

Basset hound — they look like they will roll over and take anything, what they are really doing is building long term, loyal relationships.  Persistence is their middle name.

and then… there are the BIG DOGS…..The Sales People who want the biggest stage, the brightest lights, the packed crowds and the FAST TRACK DEALS. They will put them
together, get the signature and for goodness sakes, get someone else to follow up….

Want to know more about what breed you or your staff are?  It could be very illuminating and may even help you increase your sales!

Which Breed Are You Quiz?

Have fun

Foursquare - Location-Based Social Network

I read an article recently that spoke about the downside of location-based social networks – and I have to say it really resonated with me.

First, let’s get the low-down on what is location-based social networking.  Basically it is a social network where you can “Check-In” to your favourite cafe, restaurant, hotel, resort or business for that matter, and by doing so advise others within your network where you are and what you are doing.

Some location-based social networks include Foursquare, Google Latitude, Dopplr, Gowalla, & WhereYouGonnaBe – each of these have different features but essentially allow you to communicate where you are and what you are doing to others.

From a marketing perspective I see great benefits for businesses like restaurants, cafes, shops and businesses to engage users of these programs.  For instance you can list your business on Foursquare and reward people who ‘check-in’ with a free drink or a discount on their bill.  They will then be encouraged to ‘check-in’ more regularly and therefore promote your business within their network.

Foursquare also adds a gaming element to their social network.  Users can achieve different ‘status-levels’ for checking in to a business a certain number of times and Foursquare then awards them “Mayor” of that particular location for instance.

The combination of playing a game (with rewards) and letting friends know that you are having a coffee at Expresso Hits The Spot so that if they are in the neighbourhood they can come and join you for a latte is very enticing to some people.  Savvy business owners who can engage people to visit their physical location via these social networks should take note.

But here’s the thing for me, even though I love social media, I have to admit that I am not ready to let go of my last bastion of privacy and tell the world where to find me.  Whilst I am happy to share some information, mostly professional, on social networks I am reluctant to divulge who I am meeting or where I am located.  Those who need to know this information can be contacted via sms, email or a good old phone call.

A friend recently expressed their concern at the number of people who use the “My Family” stickers on the back windscreen of their cars displaying effectively if they are married/partnered, kids, dogs or cats.  Just imaging if you will a young lady’s car I saw recently with a sticker of a lady and 3 cats.  From a personal safety point of view, this may make her a target for people who prey on unattached ladies…couldn’t they simply walk around the carpark at the local shopping centre and take note of these stickers and find the one that looks most vunerable?  Absolutely!

It is very easy for people to get a detailed snapshot of your life and habits, something you may want to think about.  So, be aware that when posting on social networks – whether that be Foursquare, Facebook or Twitter that you keep a measure of common sense and respect your privacy and safety.

On August 19, 2010, Facebook released ‘Facebook Places’ following in the wake of Foursquare and Gowalla – both location-based social networks.

It’s a simple idea really – tell your friends that you are at a particular location (called a check in) and get rewarded for doing so – yep, some check-in locations (like restaurants etc) will give you special offers, free drink or coupons to thank you for checking in.  Pretty cool really.

Recently when I was doing some work for a client building their customer Facebook Like Page, we found that there was a basic page already in Facebook on the system – all that was on the page was the name of the business and a Bing location map.  Both Facebook pages came up in the search results and was causing some confusion for clients trying to find the new Facebook Like page.

So after a bit of research I discovered that you can not only “Claim” the page for your business but you can then merge it with the official Like page that you created.

How?  Well, it gets a bit annoying at jumping through some hoops (however, I must confess that it will stop others trying to be fraudulent in pretending to be your business).

Here is what you need to do to “Claim” a Facebook Places page and link it to your Facebook Like page…

Step 1.  Log in to Facebook and find the Facebook Place page for your business.  Once you have found the Place page click on the link at the bottom to start the verification process.

Step 2.  You will then be asked to agree that you are the legitimate Place owner.

You may receive a phone call for the number associated with the Place page to verify you are the correct owner.

Step 3.  You will then be directed to fill in a sign-up form which must be completed.

Once you follow through with this, your Like page and Places page should merge.

Did you know that there are some great tools available that let you schedule your Tweets hours, days, and weeks ahead?

And there are other tools that let you post your status updates to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WordPress all at once – what a time-saver!!

Here is a list of some of the best Twitter tools I have found:  (in no particular order)

• www.HootSuite.com – allows you to schedule your Tweets and posts ahead of time as well as posting to multiple social media streams
• www.SocialOomph.com – this tool allows you to schedule your Tweets and much much more, check it out

• www.TwitResponse.com – another scheduling tool allowing you to set up unlimited Tweets ahead of time

Some other great Twitter tools include:

• www.TweetVolume.com – gives you an insight into how many Tweets are happening on a particular subject – great for market research
• www.Kurrently.com – another insight tool showing latest posts on a particular subject – this is a good listening tool to find out what is being said about a particular topic

Happy Tweeting Everyone!

So far we have looked at getting started on Twitter and understanding the lingo…now we’re up to making this work for your business.
That starts will growing your Twitter list or Followers and communicating with them.

Here are some good (and easy) ways to start:

• Click on the “Find People” tab on the top right side of your Twitter page – the page that comes up will give you options to find people, browse interests, find friends and invite people by email
• Search on Twitter and identify your niche then start following people in your niche area
• Add your Twitter URL to the bottom of all outbound emails – your URL should look like this https://twitter.com/JulieIncCom
• Email your clients and notify them that you now have a Twitter account and let them know that you will be posting great content via this service – perhaps even special offers only available to Twitter users
• Link your Twitter to your LinkedIn account
• Share with your Facebook list

The question that gets asked most often in relation to Twittering for business is “How often do I have to Tweet?”

And the answer is, “Well, that depends on how quickly you want to grow your business?”

Dainaz Illava of http://socialmediapowercoach.com suggests doing 6 to 8 tweets per day otherwise it will take ages to grow your following.

“What!!!!  I don’t have time for that!  And even if I did what am I going to tweet about?”

Well, in regards to not having time – remember, you are not writing an essay just a sentence.  Below are some of Dainaz’s tips on ways to create daily tweets…

1. Do the 70/30 rule – 70% talk about your industry/niche/service/product  and 30% talk about you (not what you ate for breakfast though)
2. Keep it relevant to your niche/industry/service/product
3. ReTweet often – in fact 75% initially
4. Ask questions
5. Value add and provide interesting and new information when you can
6. Share your unique thoughts and passion, your vision or mission
7. Post useful links to video/photos etc
8. Be responsive and answer tweets
9. Remember the art of sharing not selling
10. Acknowledge people with RT and acknowledge those who RT you – just say “Thanks for the RT”
11. Converse using the @username and recommend using the @username
12. Most of all have fun

The next post will be on handy tools to use with Twitter – making your Twitter experience easier.

Until then, have a great day!

I’m sure if you have looked at Twitter you will immediately notice that there seems to be a Twitter-lingo.  For the novice this can be a bit confusing but if you are planning on using Twitter for Business then it is really important that you get the hang of it because it can make a big difference to your marketing.

So lets go through the basics…

Tweet = a message posted on Twitter.  Publicly viewable.  Maximum 140 characters per Tweet.

@username = Usernames are communicated with the @ symbol located directly in front of the name.  When tweeted, this will automatically create a link to the user’s Twitter profile. For example, “@MattandLizRaad had a great workshop on business last weekend.”

Follower/Following = people who you are following on Twitter/people who are following you on Twitter.  Remember Twitter is a relationship building tool…users follow others that they find interesting.  If User A is following User B, then User B’s tweets will show up in User A’s timeline and on their homepage.  When using Twitter for business this is how you maximise your exposure.   By having many followers you will show up on many users homepage and timelines with your information and offers.

RT = ReTweet – often used where other individuals like a person’s post and want to share it with their followers.  This is done by clicking on the ReTweet sign underneath a post.

Hashtag or # symbol = by putting a # in front of keywords you help to categorise your tweets, for instance you may tweet “Learned some #social media strategies on #Twitter for business”.  If anyone searches on Twitter for Social Media, this post will then be categorised within the search results.  Business uses for hashtag can included:  product launch, event promotion, seminars, book launches etc etc.  Remember to use hashtags when you tweet to categorise your tweets and show up in the search results.

DM = Direct Message.  This allows private messages between tweeters generally only from followers or following.  Use this for passing private information like phone numbers, accounts or email addresses.

Twitter has other lingo associated with it but for the purpose of starting out, get familiar with the basics and what is important for you in business.

Some tips to doing business on Twitter are:

• Don’t SELL, SELL, SELL.  Twitter followers do not like being bombarded with sales pitches or advertisements.  They want to connect, share and learn, so provide valuable content such as free trials, education resources or helpful links
• Don’t use Twitter as a one-way connection.  Businesses will be more successful when they actively communicate with their followers.  Respond to followers tweets and retweet useful messages, this will encourage others to spread the businesses tweets as well
• Take time to listen…Twitter can be a valuable tool to find out what people are saying about the business including products and brand.  Conduct Twitter searches on your keywords and use the feedback (both positive and negative) to improve your service/product/brand
• Don’t get down…Twitter can take time to build up and it requires a serious daily commitment to engage with others.  But as your network grows, so too will the awareness of your business/product/service
• Finally, and most importantly – ensure transparency.  Don’t have someone that is not a company representative do the tweeting for you!   You and your staff are the best ones to answer questions and build relationships with your followers.  Be selective with who you choose within the staff – they must be good at customer service and competent in the business.  Twitter users do not like to be misled and can provide serious backlash to the business if transparency is not in place.  For a good example, see what happened to Hugh Jackman http://tinyurl.com/cnqnps

Again, thanks to Dainaz Illava for her great teaching at Social Media Meetup Brisbane and allowing me to share this content.

Next time I will be posting on How to Grow Your Twitter Following.

Are you having a hard time getting a handle on Twitter?

Seriously, with so much to learn about social media – facebook, myspace, foursquare, flickr, linkedin and the list goes on (and on, and on, and on), I had found that I really hadn’t paid attention to the impact of Twitter and how to use it effectively for business.

That is, until I went to hear Dainaz Illava of http://socialmediapowercoach.com/ spoke to the Social Media Meetup Group in Brisbane the other night.  There was so much great information that was covered, so I will break it into a few sections:  how to get started correctly, understanding the lingo used in Twitter and how to grow your list.

Here are some of Dainaz’s top Twitter tips for getting started.

• Twitter is search engine friendly so remember to use your keywords in your Username, in your Bio and in your tweets (for those who don’t know what a tweet is – it is the message you put on Twitter)
• Try to keep your Username short if possible so that it reduces the number of characters when people retweet your message (a retweet is where other people will share your message to their followers)
• Make sure you use the same photo/image across all the social media accounts you use – that way people will recognize you more readily
• Write a good Bio – make sure you use the keywords for your niche and mention what you do and include a link to your website
• Browse the “Top Tweets” and study their style
• Make your first post impactful about who you are – remember first impressions count (even on Twitter)

Dainaz spoke about how Dell added $7 million to their bottom line just by having one twitter account.  Dell have harnessed the power of Twitter to connect directly with their customer base and now have added many Twitter accounts, each account targeted to a specific part of their market.  If you would like to see how Dell are using Twitter for their business then go to http://twitter.com/DellSmBizOffers and study their customer service and marketing style.

Oh, and here’s a tip from me…don’t follow heaps of people to begin with as you will feel overwhelmed trying to follow everything that is going on.  Start small and grow stronger…remember, you want people to follow you – not for you to be following everyone.

Next time…Twitter Lingo and Design Tips.

LinkedIn is the #1 site for career/business/professional minded people to network.

Currently LinkedIn has over 70 million members and this number is growing weekly at a rate of 3 million members each week!

According to their website, a new member joins LinkedIn every second with about half of those outside of the United States.

Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

So how do you harness this social media and put it to good use for your business?

Well, you can use it for professional development, listing your qualifications, experience and expertise you can position yourself as an expert in your field.

You can use LinkedIn to find and be introduced to potential new clients or service providers that come recommended.  You might also find business partners or joint venture partners through introductions or private groups.

LinkedIn is a great resource for gaining insights and answers as well as a great forum for asking questions to like-minded people.

Lastly LinkedIn can be a great place to find the job of your dreams or to advertise employment within your company.

So, now that you have an understanding of what LinkedIn is and what it can do, lets discuss how you can benefit from this social media.

LinkedIn has some unwritten etiquette that needs your attention.  First of all, do not sell, sell, sell at every opportunity.  LinkedIn members are not interested in being told the company line – they are however, interested in connecting with individuals that will add value and are trustworthy.  Here are the steps to engage with others within LinkedIn:

Step 1:  Add Value.

If you join a discussion, make sure that you are contributing.  Answer questions without selling.  Post relevant news or topics to the groups you join. Use an abundant mindset and don’t be afraid to give generously without expectation.

Step 2:  Help Others

Post and answer questions – be brief, compelling, relevant and professional.  Again the principle of an abundant mindset comes into play – if you can help, then do so – perhaps that could be recommending someone else to fill a need, answering a question, providing some expertise…by providing help with no expectation, you will build trust.  Trust in the online (and offline) world is gold.

Step 3:  Engage in a conversation

Don’t be a wallflower – get to know other people – be polite and send them a message before asking to connect.  Introduce yourself.  If you have something of value that you can give for free, do so.  Let people discover who you are and what you do…try not to sell it though!

Step 4:  Connect

Remember step 3 and have a conversation before just inviting all and asunder to connect with you – you will most likely fail if you do that.  It is polite to send a personal message with your invite to connect – this also demonstrates that you are taking time to get to know the person further…hence more trust is built.

Step 5:  Law of Reciprocity

Sit back and be patient – all of the abundant mentality and giving that you do will come back to you – often much more than you expect.

Credit for the above information goes to Mr Nathan Kievman of LinkedIn Strategies group – I highly recommend that you join this online group if you want to learn more about how to use LinkedIn for your personal and business growth. Nathan also has a fantastic e-book on LinkedIn Strategies available at http://www.linkedstrategies.com/

Do you use LinkedIn to grow your business?  If so, what have you found most successful for you with LinkedIn?

Are you still running your business on word of mouth marketing?  Think social media is for people who need to get a life?

You may want to revisit your viewpoint after watching this video below.  See how social media is changing the world we live in and do business in….

So, do you still think that social media is not relevant to your business?

Watch this space. Over the coming weeks I will be showing you how to get started in the basics, so I hope you will join me. If you need reminding, just hit the orange subscribe button and the posts will go straight to your inbox.

Talk soon

Caught up with a friend I played squash with on the phone today.  He was telling me about his new business that he is starting up that helps schools and businesses reduce their IT costs by sharing one PC amoung a number of users.  This is called Desktop Virtualisation…just in case you wanted to know.  A bit of a new thing to sell and not much awareness out there in the general community, so I was intrigued at how business was going.

I asked him what his marketing strategy was and he gave me the usual run-down:  cold calling, email, etc.  As he works across the Pacific area he also incorporates Skype into his communication strategies.

Knowing that John is on LinkedIn but not on many of the other social media and social networking arenas, I suggested that he start using LinkedIn to his advantage.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that you can join groups that either have a common interest to you or are your target market…in John’s case that would be schools, government departments and the like.  By joining in the groups and participating in the discussions you start to network and grow your circle of contacts.  This also helps to promote your business.

John has started to look at using LinkedIn in an entirely new way and within minutes had started to utilize this social media to expand his business connections.

But remember, don’t sell, sell, sell all the time…remember to be generous and give lots of valuable information for free.  Build relationships and trust and that encourages people not only to do business with you but to recommend you to others.

John has started to look at using LinkedIn in an entirely new way and within minutes had started to utilize this social media to expand his business connections.  By the way, if you are looking to reduce your IT needs, John is just the fellow…check out his website at http://www.pcmerge.com.au

So, are you linking  in to your prospects?