Business Development

Everybody has bad days, but when it is selling time you must put your “game face” on and commit to providing your customers and clients with the very best experience possible.

Selling in today’s market is a completely different than any other time in world history, but some things never change. Maintaining a positive and active attitude can make a world of difference in the way that you do business and how people respond to you. Professionalism, positivity, and individuality are three of things that must be present at every interaction that could result in making a sale.

Let’s put this into perspective: You are at a restaurant, and your server is less than desirable. Their greeting is lack-luster, they don’t check back with you, they don’t offer dessert, and they treat you like a burden. Are you going to tip very much? Are you going to be in any hurry to come back to the restaurant? Now, think of the same restaurant, except with a great server that performs wonderfully and appreciates you and your business. Likely, the tip will increase and you might even tell your friends about what a good experience you had there.

Restaurants and servers are a great micro-view to how greater sales fundamentally work. Providing a good experience, great customer service, and a positive attitude make a difference in the likelihood of closing big sales. The experience of the customer is often just as important as the product itself.

Smeester & Associates offers solutions to take your sales force from okay to outstanding. Sales are the cornerstone of business and we offer systems and products that are proven to increase sales effectiveness.

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Common Problems with Sales Teams

Apr 29th

If you knew what was wrong, would you
be able to fix it? I’ll bet YOU can!

True of False…

Your salespeople are capable of selling our products/services at higher margins.
Not sure how to get my salespeople to sell at higher margins.
Not doing a good job of competing against the industry giants.
Not consistently hiring salespeople that can (and will) sell.
Salespeople aren’t doing the necessary activities to succeed.
A low percentage of hires actually become sales stars.
I don’t really have a consistent methodology of recruiting.
My salespeople don’t close enough business to justify their base salary.
If my top salesperson resigned, not sure how to replace him/her.
I don’t know how much it costs to keep non-producers on staff.
Not sure the cost of hiring a salesperson and getting them up to speed.
Don’t know how much ex-non-producers are devaluing my company.
Don’t know how much it costs for each sales call.
Don’t know each salesperson’s individual weakness.
Not getting enough quality leads to my salespeople.
If I had a 90% chance of hiring a star, I would do it.
No using social networking to benefit my company.
Our salespeople “wing” it, not following a consistent, reliable sales system.

Smeester & Associates specializes in recruiting and hiring sales teams. For help with your sales team expansion and/or performance issues, contact us.

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Note to Self: Leverage Telemarketing Calls

Apr 28th

Scott, don’t forget that you can practice your listening and questioning skills – i.e. become a better salesperson – by actually doing something as simple as receiving those telemarketing calls and talking to the salesperson.

Note to Self: Use Telemarketing Calls to Practice Sales Skills from Scott Smeester on Vimeo.

better sales, better sales calls, professional sales

Less Than 10 Minutes To Change The Way You Do Business!

Apr 27th

Evan Carmichael Blog Network

Staying informed has evolved beyond the daily newspaper. Finding and following (at least) 2 legitimate blogs can make substantial changes to the way you view and do business.

Blogs are the new news articles; it is a fact. Newspaper circulation is down, and blog reading is up. Blogs allow authors to interject opinion, philosophy, feelings, and more into their text, while promoting ideas, practices, and news. With RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and programs like google/reader, it is easier now to “subscribe” to great content that is almost always free.

In 10 minutes, most readers will be able to “scan” at least four blog posts or actually read two. Following (at least) five people that regularly create remarkable content can keep you informed about trending business topics, new technologies, and more. If you haven’t yet, then you should start right now. Start a google account, utilize reader, and find some remarkable content.

Fun-facts about blog reading

50% of Americans can read 110 words per minute
The average blog reader spends 96 seconds “reading” a blog post.
53% of blogs are 100-249 words
Most readers will only read 176 words of a blog

A few great blogs that we like

Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
Michael Michalowicz has a great approach! He is fun, entertaining, and (most importantly) right on!

Seth Godin
Seth Godin’s blog was ranked the best business blog of 2009. His content is consistently remarkable and it challenges his audience to do business better.

Business Week – Small Business
Businessweek is one of the most read and identified magazines in the business world. The small business section offers regular articles about creating and cultivating your successful business.

Tech Crunch
This website can keep you posted in technology, digital trends, and what is the next big thing.

INC Magazine
INC utilizes several authors to keep a steady stream of remarkable content – expect several good pieces per day.

FADS (Fight Against Destructive Spin)
We just “stumbled” on to this a few weeks ago, and it constantly impresses with useful and helpful information.

Websites with links to other great blogs

Best Business Blogs Of 2009

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Shifting Demographics Can Help Business

Apr 26th

Sometimes you may find your demographics evolving naturally – embrace the change and capitalize on it.

Business experts advocate clearly knowing your business’ target demographic – knowing who you want to buy your products simply makes sense. Companies that understand what kind of people are primarily buying the products and service will excel even more if/when they begin focusing marketing to that demographic.

Even global companies can find that their target demographic might not be “who” is buying their product. A great example of this phenomenon (on a massive level) is Old Spice – a leading company known for male hygiene and toiletries products. Old Spice found that, though their products are for men, women do most of the buying when it comes to their product – this statistic inspired the February 2010 advertisement, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” The campaign depicts a handsome man speaking directly to women about how their male counterpart could (at least) smell like man in the advertisement. Old Spice learned from their market research and adjusted accordingly.

Unfortunately, not all business can afford official market research, but you can pay close attention to trends with your business. Through our social media interactions (predominantly Twitter), Smeester & Associates is finding that 78% of our “buzz” is coming from women over the last 30 days. This is great news for us for several reasons, most importantly because we enjoy and value working with women in business. This information will result in an increase in our marketing and interactions focusing on an even more targeted demographic than it has been before.

Business owners that are not effectively tracking their clients, sales, and interactions should start immediately. Keeping a close eye on who is talking about you can provide clear and invaluable information that can help business. Above all, it is wise to know who you want to do business with and who you actually are doing business with.

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Note to Self: The Path to the Promise Land

Apr 26th

I see with my own eyes how the average Joe – me – ended up at a video conferencing guru’s website (becoming a potential). What was the path? What was the decision making process? It is further evidence that participating does work.

Note to Self: The Path to the Promise Land from Scott Smeester on Vimeo.

Find and Work with the Great Talent NOW

Apr 22nd

I have a feeling that things are going to start moving very fast for the people who really get and know how to leverage social media. Before the ‘Great Economy Recovery (what I’m calling it anyway), secure relationships with the top available talent that usually get snatched up when all is well.

Social Media Marketing 101: Blogging In Theory And Practice [5 reasons why you need to start blogging]

Apr 22nd

For social media users, blogging is the most important tool for creating relationships with your clients and customers.

Spread the good news of your business with blogging

1) Share who you are

With information readily available about you and your company, people naturally want to do their business with companies that have a face – the human element is returning to business. Blogging allows you a forum to share who you are with your audience. The most recognizable bloggers and social media experts all agree that blogging is about authenticity and promoting remarkable content.
For so long being professional has superseded being yourself in the business world, and now (with social media) individuals and businesses are being encouraged to let their authentic personality shine through. There is still the need to monitor the message being sent, but presenting your thoughts, beliefs, and values is an absolute must.

2) Give people a reason to come back
Keep up with your blog! Maintaining regularly generated new content gives readers an opportunity to come back. When readers come back, the relationship begins to develop; that relationship can turn into business. Posting (at least) three times per week encourages readers to “stay tuned” if they find your content to be accurate, credible, and helpful.
With tools like google reader, people can “subscribe” to your RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed and get updates when new content is posted. This also means that you should definitely make a link on your web page to your RSS feed so that users can follow your great content.

3) Expand your digital real estate
Each blog post that you create adds another page to your digital network, and thus expands the potential sales net. The more opportunities people have actually find you, the more likely you are to naturally be found. As you create diverse content that illustrates your business, more traffic can find its way to your website.

Most blogging websites also offer SEO (Search Engine Optimization) packages. When maximizing your blogs SEO, make sure to put in appropriate keywords to your website, business, and blog topic. Organic traffic through search engines is some of the BEST traffic that sites can get.

4) Maximize your credibility
Maintaining credibility can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be. Credibility will come through showing your audience your expertise. If you know that you are one of the best resources of information available for people – let that knowledge shine on your blog. Create a schedule of topics that you want to write about based on your existing expertise and skill set.

5) Share your passion
The primary value of blogging is in the opportunity for you, the writer, to get excited. If you are discussing relevant topics to your business, shouldn’t you naturally get excited about your passions? Letting your passion shine through will push your credibility through the roof, because people get behind and support passion and excitement.

Blogging is a critical piece of the social media marketing puzzle. Now is the time to start if you haven’t already, and to recharge your blog if you have been working on it for a while.

Social media marketing leads to sales, and sales research and development is part of what Smeester & Associates does. Contact us for more information about how to recharge your business and increase revenue.

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6 Quick Tips For Overcoming Blogcentric Writer’s Block

Apr 15th

“Curtis, can you… maybe… I don’t know… write me a blog today?” – Scott Smeester. Why yes, of course I can!

Blogging is a crucial part of developing your digital identity; it provides an opportunity for you to share your thoughts, beliefs, practices, ideas, and more with the public. For businesses, creating a steady stream of blogs expands digital real estate, creates more opportunities to be found, and is an all-in-all better business practice to increase the human-element of business. However, maintaining good and remarkable content can be a bit strenuous.

Six easy things for overcoming blogcentric writer’s block:

1) Make a schedule

At least once a month create a schedule of when blog posts are to be published. Creating a list of keywords can generate a list of topics in advance, which will also provide more structure; maintaining a cohesive thought process naturally increases your potential subscribers. When the title of a blog includes “part 4 of 5,” people tend to wonder what happened in the previous three posts and what comes out next.

2) Talk about what is happening NOW

Important and remarkable things happen to you and your business every single day. Write about and reflect upon the powerful things that come up. For example: If you have a great sales call that leaves you with some interesting points to review, then get them written down! One of the greatest values of blogging is the ability to share these experiences and what you have learned with people.

3) Conduct an interview

There are people that you know, right now, with a great story to be told. Finding and interviewing a person relating to your niche can be a wonderful opportunity to create some serious content and revitalize you with new ideas to write about. Interviewing professionals can also help boost some natural traffic to your blog and website.

4) Make a list

Practicing what I preach… right now. Clearly, you have methodologies, systems, and information that makes your life easier – group some of these things together and construct a list of helpful tips, tools, and/or resources to help others. If that doesn’t work for you, then maybe make a list of the top 10 professionals in your field and why you think they are absolutely crushing it right now.

5) Write a follow-up

Remember that great blog you wrote a few days/weeks/months ago? Try critically analyzing some of the feedback that you received from a buzzworthy piece you did in the past; create a secondary piece on the same subject that revisits the topic and includes new information.

6) Ask yourself and/or your audience a question

The content for one of our most read blogs came from posting the question, “What is selling right now?” Honestly, we barely had to write the response due to the incredible volume of responses.

What is something that I learned today?
Where do I want to be in 6 months, and how am I going to get there?
What makes me the very best at what I do?
What is the most important thing to me and my business?

Even the most passionate and articulate people can have moments, even days, when great content doesn’t pour out of them, so don’t get too distressed. The most important thing that you can do when facing a mental block is to START; just relax, get something written or recorded, and the rest will likely fall into place.

Smeester & Associates offers strategic growth planning and social media marketing solutions. Contact us for more information regarding solutions that can change the way that you do business.

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The Changing Landscape of Sales Teams

Apr 15th