Happy New Year everyone!

I hope 2016 is off to a great start for you!

You’re probably thinking that this blog post is about how sales prospecting should be a priority this year.

Well, it’s not! Got you! We all know sales prospecting should be a priority.

I read David Newman’s book recently titled “Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits, and Crush Your Competition”

One of the chapters talked about follow up and how it can be tedious, yet necessary.

To get your prospects to a quick “yes” or “no” on whether they should schedule a meeting with you, ask them a question about their priorities.

Examples:

Is using walkthrough data for instructional improvement a priority this year?

Is adding a mobile app to expand your audience reach and increase your advertising revenue a priority this year?

Mine: Is getting your sales team in front of more qualified prospects a priority this year?

It’s a yes or no question. If their answer is no, move on because no amount of arm twisting is going to work because companies and businesses have many competing priorities.

If their answer is yes, get them to expound: How so? Tell me more? How long have you had this problem?

Get them to verbally throw up on the table! Hope this tip helps!

I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000. Wishing you a prosperous 2016!

Happy Monday Everyone!

As may or may not know, Connect 5000 is primarily an inside sales organization. I have clients I’ve never met in person before. It’s part of the way business is conducted in today’s economy and I’m okay with it.

For outside sales reps who meet with their clients or prospects face to face or in person, they can take these executives out to dinner, hit the golf course, or take them to an entertainment event.

Not so much for B2B sales reps. Read more

Good morning everyone!

Recently my credit card expired and the bank issued me a new one.

I have a few monthly company bills on the credit card where vendors bill me automatically.

I happened to open a monthly statement that looked higher than normal. They charged me a late fee of $20. I called them up and asked why. They said my credit card declined and assessed a fee. I gave them my new expiration date and decided to ask them to waive the late fee since they didn’t notify me that my credit card expired.

Would I have stopped using them if they said “no”? Of course not.

I figured I had nothing to lose.

The customer service rep waived my fee and billed my card for the appropriate amount.

Key takeaway:

1. It’s okay to tell customers no when they request a discount.

2. Too many buyers are trained to ask for  discount but aren’t necessarily price driven. They too figure they have nothing to lose.

3. Even if you tell them no to a discount, that doesn’t always mean they’ll take their business elsewhere. It’s a buyers market and people are taking advantage of this. Of course if the amount is higher than $20, that’s a completely different story.

I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000. Hope you have a great week!

Hi everyone!

At Connect 5000, we use Salesforce.com as our CRM. I’ve been going through the CRM and have been purging executives no longer at their prospective company, companies who’ve gotten acquired or who are no longer in business, etc.

It’s interesting how many people I’ve eliminated from Salesforce.com.

I came across this company who I reached out to a while back. I called the VP of Business Development and we chatted several times and eventually he said our service was not a priority. I assumed incorrectly that he had authority and influence to make decisions. Read more

Using sales and marketing emails is one tool we use to engage and open dialogue with potential prospects for both Connect 5000 and our clients.

The telephone is another.

I’ve had several people ask me what the subject line should be for emails.

Below are several that I’ve used as well as others have used to get me to open their email.

The criteria should be short, sweet, and arouses curiosity to open the email.

Again, I didn’t not come up with all these on my own: Read more