Successful Blog

Get More Sales and Better Revenue Numbers

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asaleeDoes your sales team enjoy your sales meetings? Or have you caught the telltale glazed eyes that let you know the stacks of work back at their desks are looking a lot more attractive than your meeting right now?

Done right, your sales meetings can boost your profits, help your team bond, and bring you the insights you need to drive your business forward. So what makes for a great sales team meeting?

Follow these five tips to turn your sales team meetings from boring to brilliant:

1. Keep Your Focus Narrow

As the article “Ideas For Sales Meetings – Sales Skills Development” points out, cramming too into too little time leads to dull meetings that drag on and bore your sales team.

By picking a focus for each meeting – such as a specific skill or product – you’ll make your meetings more effective.

Your team will have time to digest the new information and learn from it. You can’t cover multiple topics effectively, so narrow your focus.

2. Offer Something to Take Away

If you want your team to get something from your meetings – offer them something!

The goal of your sales team meetings isn’t to give your team an info dump and then send them back into the field. The goal is to make your meetings count, improving your sales and getting the most from your team.

To do that, add fun and interesting skill building exercises, team bonding activities, or even bring in an expert to teach something new.

Use your meeting time to strengthen your sales team and you’ll see the benefit in your business turnover.

3. Give Everyone the Floor

Being talked at for the duration of a meeting really makes it feel like a drag for your team.

Instead, get them engaged by making sure at least some of the meeting time is dedicated to giving everyone a chance to have their say.

Keep the conversation productive with direct questions and great time management to make sure everyone gets a chance to contribute without the discussion getting too far away from the key point.

If you make the conversation about everyone, your team will be more engaged.

4. Presentations? Make Them Pop

Presentations can be an engaging way to get your point across during sales meetings. Or they can be the point when your sales team starts surreptitiously checking their smartphones.

To make presentations work for you, keep them sharp and relevant. Try adding multimedia such as sound bites, video or images, and inject something new, unexpected, humorous or interesting to keep your team’s attention.

Make time in your presentation for interaction, such as questions or even a simple show of hands.

5. Make Time for Motivation

Adding motivation to your team meetings adds an element of fun and competition that encourages your team to do better.

You can offer rewards, for both a job well done, and for excelling at in-meeting activities. The rewards can be as simple or as impressive as you like. Don’t forget the simple act of thanking your team, praising the team as a whole and any particularly outstanding performers.

Make sure your team knows you appreciate them, and give them a reason to give you their best.

Your sales team meetings don’t have to be a chore.

Following these tips will help you build meetings that your team will benefit from, leaving them feeling valued, motivated, and with new skills ready to bring to the table.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a wide variety of topics, including social media, SEO, sales skills and team meetings.

How to Use the Mirroring Technique in Online Conversations

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In psychological circles, mirroring is a subconscious reaction between two people who are very close.

Basically, mirroring is when two people who are in conversation mimic one another’s body language, facial expressions, or conversational style. Have you ever looked up in a meeting and seen everyone on your side of the table with their hands folded in the exact same manner?

mirroring technique

Closeness and rapport is what we all want from our online efforts.

Mirroring happens naturally when rapport exists, but it can also be helped along by proactive mirroring. Ham-handed sales dudes have been using the “mirroring technique” for years, but we don’t have to resort to cheesy parroting of whole sentences.

Judicious use of the mirroring technique can enhance your online conversations

  • If you’re writing a blog post, reflect the topics that your readers express the most interest in.
  • If you’re a sales person, include the same language in your response that your prospects use in their inquiries.
  • If you’re in customer service, repeat the issue back to the customer so they know you understand their problem.
  • If you’re an entrepreneur seeking partners or investors, sync your tone with the individual with whom you’re speaking.
  • If you’re a marketing communications professional, use language that reflects the terms and phrases familiar to your audience or industry.

The key is to be natural, and not force it. Have you ever tried using mirroring to strengthen rapport with your customers, readers, or partners?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Talking Your Way to Success

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By Eric Nacul

John is addressing a group of his peers on how to offer better customer service, when one of his colleagues starts periodically tapping the chrome plunger of a service bell. Undaunted, he continues and is delivering what he considers the talk’s most powerful point when his audience cuts him off mid-sentence with clapping.

Far from being rude, however, the group is helping John become a more effective communicator at one of the more than 13,500 nonprofit Toastmasters International clubs worldwide. And with more than 40 percent of those clubs sponsored by corporate giants like State Farm, Bank of America, IBM, Boeing and a host of government agencies, Toastmaster membership might well be one of the best tools for success.

Toastmasters traces its roots to 1903 when Ralph Smedley, education director of a YMCA in Bloomington, IL, saw a need for speech training there. Smedley formed the first permanent club in Santa Ana, CA, in 1924.

Meetings are typically held weekly and aim to enhance communication skills as well as listening, evaluation, interpersonal and leadership skills. Membership also offers great networking opportunities. While they vary from club to club, dues and fees typically run about $200 annually.

Toastmasters is the epitome of learning by doing. While each club does have officers, the duties of running a meeting as Toastmaster of the Day rotates from member to member. The various responsibilities of a meeting rotate as well. Key responsibilities include:

  • The Ah Counter counts the times a speaker uses “ah,” “and” and other filler words and uses a bell, clicker or other audible device to alert the speaker each time one is used.
  • The Grammarian keeps track of grammar mistakes, awkward sentence structure, pronunciation and other errors.
  • The Time Keeper typically uses an electronic timer to track a speech’s time and warns speakers at pre-determined points.
  • An Evaluator is assigned each of the meetings speakers to note what the speaker did well and what he or she can improve upon.

Toastmasters meetings usually run 60-90 minutes. An hour-long meeting might include three speakers giving 5-7 minute speeches as well as three or four Table Topic speakers of 1-2 minutes each.

While those giving longer speeches typically know well in advance and can write and prepare for their speech, Table Topic speakers have no idea of what their topic will be and have no time to prepare. The Table Topics Master chooses a topic ranging from the silly to the profound and then chooses a member at random to speak on it. Next he chooses another topic and another member and then another. Each member has the time it takes to stand to prepare.

The longer speeches are typically prepared in advance, with beginning Toastmasters working through the Competent Communicator manual, a guide on how to organize, research and write a speech as well as lessons on body language and vocal tone in delivering a speeh. Also in the manual is information on effectively giving various types of talks such as a persuasive speech, an inspirational speech, an entertaining speech, etc.

Members who aspire to greater oratory heights also have a number of advanced levels they can achieve. Periodic speech contests are held as well with advancement to local, regional and national levels possible.

But being a better speaker is only part of being a better communicator and Toastmasters also helps hone its members listening and critiquing skills. Evaluators are assigned to each speaker to watch, listen and note what the speaker does well and what needs improvement. Constructive evaluations are given with evaluators first noting what was done well and then giving areas in which the speaker can grow.

Meetings themselves are structured so that members become proficient in conducting efficient and effective meetings. Responsibilities for conducting meetings rotates among members as do other meeting responsibilities in addition to those already mentioned. There’s also a General Evaluator who observes and reports on the overall quality of the meeting.

For most members, improvement in their communication skills is fairly quick. And improvements in confidence, quick thinking, listening and leadership well serve anyone wanting to succeed. To learn more about Toastmasters, visit toastmasters.org.

Author’s Bio: Eric Nacul is a freelance writer, graphic designer and tech enthusiast who contributes to a number of sites, including one of his favorites, bestfreeonline.net. You can find him on Twitter as @ericnacul.

On Being the Kind of Boss People Want to Work With

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By Stacey Thompson

More often than not, the average employee views management in a negative light. Feared, resented, or even reviled, bosses are seen as cruel, unfeeling taskmasters that care only for the bottom line and will readily sacrifice any of the rank and file to attain their objectives.

This culture of hating on the management can go two ways: either employees aspire for these positions in order to propagate the perceived cycle of tyranny, or they will not make the effort to become better workers, seeing that promotion will only turn them into the same monsters they so despise. Neither of these attitudes does justice to the employees, the management, or the company they work in, for that matter.

Are you a boss people like to work with?

In the case of companies, I firmly believe that the culture is propagated from the top down. This places the responsibility of maintaining a prosperous and positive work environment squarely on the shoulders of the managers and supervisors. Just as bad habits and mentalities spring from negative examples provided by the people on top, productive and motivational attitudes are spread by good bosses.

Many people have plenty of theories on what managers should be doing to keep their people motivated, happy, and productive. In my own experiences as both a subordinate and as a manager, I can summarize all these lessons into four pieces of advice:

Open Lines of Communication

No amount of mutual understanding and teamwork will happen if the boss doesn’t even talk with his/her subordinates. This isn’t limited to meetings or official office correspondence; the ability to be able to shoot the breeze with the troops at the water cooler is an important ability to have, if you want to be an exemplary manager of people. It will give you more insights on what motivates (and de-motivates) your people, and in turn, it will humanize you in their perceptions. You’ll cease to be a cruel monster in their eyes, and that can’t be all bad.

Try smiling a little more, too

Though you want to appear a tad more friendly and approachable, do not overdo this, either. Being too chummy with your subordinates will often result in them respecting you less, and your ability to reprimand or correct them will be severely hindered. This does make things lonelier at the top, but remember, this is for the sake of all of your livelihoods.

Give Them a Chance to Shine

You shouldn’t be taking all the glory and credit for yourself, either. This is probably one of the fastest ways to lose favor with your constituents. When they do something above and beyond the call of duty, or have stayed consistently productive and cooperative, give them due praise, and possibly even a material bonus. Let the entire team know when one or more of them have done well, and if your own boss recognizes your team’s accomplishments, let them know where the credit should go.

Allowing them to take the lead and enjoy the benefits of their own achievements will inspire them to work more effectively, and it will give them lessons that will be of use to them when they become managers and supervisors themselves.

Be The Final Word

The two previous bits of advice portray a softer, more yielding kind of management strategy. One cannot be a boss without putting one’s foot down, however. The final lesson on being the boss your people can respect involves being the authority within the team or organization. You are the go-to guy/gal when they want a decision made, the King Solomon that will decide who gets the baby, so to speak.

As a leader, it is on you to set clear goals for you and your team, and you have to be firm when it comes to these things. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to change your mind; it means that you will only do so if your colleagues make a strong enough case for an alternative, or if you yourself have evaluated the factors and have found that a course alteration is in order.

Are you an effective boss? What are your strategies for leadership?

Author’s Bio: Stacey Thompson (@RedHotStacey) is a professional writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and a lover of weird little animals. She is based in San Diego, California, and aspires for her own little company to grow successful enough for her to qualify in entering an elite CEO peer advisory group, one fine example being The Sage Executive Group.

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Five Lessons Small Businesses Can Learn From Liz Strauss

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By Shonali Burke

Like many bloggers in the PR and marketing realm, I’ve been in awe of Liz Strauss ever since I became aware of the “name bloggers” in my professional world. When I started my own blogging journey, four years ago, Successful Blog was one of the first to become a regular stop; always for inspiration, and sometimes as I asked myself the question, “Will I ever be able tolike that?”

I met Liz fleetingly a few years ago, when she spoke at a DC-area event. Our meeting was brief. She was standing outside the event venue and, spying her in a rare moment of solitude, I couldn’t help but go up to her and tell her how much I admired her. She didn’t know me from Eve (probably still doesn’t), but that didn’t stop her from graciously thanking me. Later, she was kind enough to connect with me on various social platforms, even though the benefit was certainly skewed towards me.

As Liz recuperates from her illness, I couldn’t help but think of five lessons small businesses could learn from Liz Strauss.

1. You’re only a stranger once.

This is the tagline of Successful Blog, but is applicable to your business if you approach your customers as people first. Sure, customers come and go. But a successful business will convert first-timers into repeat buyers, and repeat buyers into evangelists. I don’t care how large or small your business is, this is possible and applicable…if you treat them as people first.

How do you start doing this? By using today’s myriad two- and multi-way communication channels to build relationships instead of email lists.

2. Building relationships takes time.

Especially with the number of (how many? I don’t know! Too many to count!) social media/self-help/gurus shilling their wares, I am not surprised at how many small businesses that think the way to use social media is this:

The path to social media failure

After all, once you have a presence, the rest will fall into place, right?

Wrong.

Connecting – i.e. following/being followed back – on a social network does not automatically translate into a relationship. All that that first connection means is that a door has been (slightly) opened to you; how you now conduct yourself will determine whether that door opens more fully or slams shut in your face.

How do you start doing this? Be a human super-collider. Find out what makes the people you meet, whether they are customers, or prospects, or business professionals you come across at networking events, tick.

3. When you build relationships, your community steps up when you most need it to.

Look at the way this blog has been running for the past several months. Liz’ health situation was announced at the beginning of 2013. The last post I read, as I drafted my own, was dated May 10, 2013. That’s a full five months later.

Had Liz not spent several years genuinely building her community via real relationships, do you think she would have had people like Rosemary O’Neill step up to manage the blog in her absence?

No way, Don Juan.

How do you start doing this? Part of the answer is in #2 above, so first I will say, “Read above, lather, rinse, and repeat.”

4. Educate and empower your community.

The second part of the answer is to educate and empower your community. Tell them, as you engage with them over time, what’s important to you… and why (and if your business is community-centric, chances are it’s what’s important to them too).

How do you start doing this? As you continue to engage with them, find people who can become your de facto or de jure community managers, and empower them with enough know-how – such as your engagement goals and guidelines, and your content needs – so that they can step into the breach if and when they need to.

The great thing about this approach is that you may never need them to fill a void in your absence… but if you do, they are ready and willing to do so.

5. Focus on what works.

A recent Constant Contact survey reported that 66% of small business owners use mobile technology. Continue reading, though, and you’ll see: “… it’s important to note that, of the 34 percent not using any mobile device or solution for their business, a resounding 65 percent have no plans to do so in the future, mainly citing a lack of customer demand.”

I don’t think this 65% of the 34% is necessarily behind the times. Being a small business owner myself, I know the conflicting demands placed on small businesses.

What will you pay attention to? When? How? Who’s going to do it?

It isn’t a question of never paying attention to technological advances, it’s a question of being attuned to the technologies your customers are using or expect, and providing the appropriate platforms, while planning for the future. Just as Liz does here on Successful Blog, by maintaining a framework visitors are familiar with, but by keeping an eye on what’s to come.

How do you start doing this? Stay on top of technological and industry developments. But don’t jump on the bandwagon until your business can sustain and recoup the additional investment… and don’t let anyone pressure you into doing so either.

I’m sure there are many other lessons you have gleaned, on a business level, from Liz’ incredible contribution to the blogosphere and our time. Would you share what you have learned, so that we can salute her collectively?

Author’s Bio: Shonali Burke takes your business communications from corporate codswallop to community cool™. She also blogs, teaches, and cooks. You can find her on Twitter as @shonali.

Thanks for the shout-out, Shonali! I was honored to be able to give back a tiny bit to Liz, who has shown her generosity and kindness to so many over the years. She is the nougaty goodness at the center of this amazing community.

Rosemary

Devil’s Advocate or Guardian Angel?

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By Lindsay Bell

Why are people afraid of being challenged? I’m not talking about the “throw down the gauntlet”, back alley type of challenge, which of course would be unsettling.

I’m talking about healthy debate – defending your ideas, and being asked to think otherwise about a certain subject or path of action. Sure, I’m making a sweeping generalization, as there are loads of people who rise to a spirited exchange of ideas, but in my experience, there seem to be many these days who view it as a negative.

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE OR GUARDIAN ANGEL?

Being a proud devil’s advocate myself, when I stumbled upon an old post by Liz recently, where she dissects devil’s advocates and guardian angels in the workplace, it caught my eye.

Here’s what she had to say about them both:

The position of devil’s advocate is inherently negative. The role is to find holes in the proposed idea. Arguing for the sake of arguing easily can degrade into arguing for inconsequential details or arguing to show how clever the person presenting the argument can be.

The position of guardian angel is inherently positive. The role is to find and fill holes in the proposed idea. Arguing for the possibility of what might work, while checking for risk, leads to dialogue that builds and moulds ideas into useful realities.

FACING THE CHALLENGE

Religious imagery aside, I respectfully disagree.

If the devil’s advocate is looking for holes, it’s to stick a big ol’ red flag beside them so you don’t fall in! They are brainstorming, and looking to better an idea or proposed path. They are thinking of the company’s bottom line, and are trying to avoid the cost of cleaning up after something has gone wrong.

When I’m playing devil’s advocate, I always let people know: “Just playing devil’s advocate here…” – and the reason I do is to NOT insult whoever’s idea it is that I’m challenging. It’s my way of saying “Hey, I’m not asking this to be a jerk, I respect you, but let’s look at it from the other side. I don’t find it ‘inherently negative’. And I certainly don’t “argue for the sake of arguing”.

Granted, my career for the most part has been in journalism/television production. Trust me. You don’t even know what being challenged means until you’ve had your story/idea/interview flayed from top to bottom by a TV executive! But I look back on those formative years with appreciation.

Being challenged like that – daily – teaches you to think differently, it makes you always question “what else” or “what if”, and it forces you to always look at what you’re producing through the eyes of your audience – your community.

An employee fearful of speaking up or proffering an alternative thought is not a productive employee.

Fear creates a culture of complacency within an organization and its teams, and inevitably leads to miscommunication and needless extra work being done.

And yes, both sides of the spectrum need to take responsibility for opening the lines of communication.

Employees need to buck up, get a backbone, and not fear that their manager will think poorly of them if they bring up something that she/he doesn’t agree with. They also need to be prepared to argue their points, thoughts and ideas.

Management needs to ensure there are safe spaces where anyone can raise issues without consequences.

Let’s stop seeing devil’s advocates – who actually have the confidence, candor, and courage to speak up and challenge – as somehow negative.

They might be a little feistier and more fiery than your other employees, but if given the option, I would choose devil’s advocate over guardian angel any day.

And I sure as heck would want one on my team.

What do you think? Do you see the value in healthy debate and a good challenge, or do you immediately feel it’s a negative? Would you choose a Devil’s Advocate or a Guardian Angel? Would love to hear your comments! 

Author’s Bio: Lindsay Bell is the content director at Chicago-based strategic communications and online marketing firm Arment Dietrich, and works in Toronto. A former TV producer, she’s a strong advocate of three minutes or less of video content. She has a cool kid, a patient husband, two annoying cats, and just welcomed Hank, a Vizsla/Foxhound cross, into her home.Â