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How to Find New Prospects for your Business by Leveraging your Network

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As a sales professional or business owner, you need to find prospects you can deliver your sales presentation to. My sales mentor, Eric Lofholm, calls this process lead generation.

One of the keys to lead generation is systems. You want to develop multiple lead generation systems.

Lead generation begins with a database. Do you have a database where you are entering leads? If not, then you might be leaving money on the table.

Lead generation begins with identifying your target market. Who is your ideal client? You need to find ways to connect with new prospects, whether through networking, phone calls, or email.

A POI is a Person of Influence!

Eric's number 1 lead generation idea is POI. A POI is a person of influence. Everyone has a network. A POI is a person who has a large network where a % of that network is your target market.

Another great strategy to prospect for new leads is through Top Down Selling. This is another way of describing a POI relationship. You influence the POI to refer you, recommend you, or endorse you to their network.

So, what can you do if you want to reach a POI in an organization? You can use an approach called Climb the Ladder Selling. This is where you know someone who knows the POI. You get the person you know to refer you to the POI.

Another strategy that many people know about, but that few do well is the Reciprocal Referral Relationship. This is where you find someone that you can refer business to and then can refer business back to you. An example would be a real estate agent and an insurance agent.

What are you doing to find new prospects? Select one new strategy to implement and you will be well on your way to finding new prospects.

Sell with Confidence,

Kevin Perkins
Sales Trainer, Eric Lofholm International

Kevin delivers training through conference calls and live training sessions.

Filed Under: Lead Generation, referrals, Sales Prospecting, Sales Systems, selling Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Publicity Expert Jill Lublin Shares Tips to Get Noticed

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Check out this Great Video from my Business Associate Jill Lublin:

Praised as a modern-day Dale Carnegie for how to be influential, Jill Lublin authored Get Noticed…Get Referrals: Build Your Client Base and Your Business by Making a Name for Yourself (McGraw-Hill, June 2008). She is also the coauthor of the national bestselling books, Networking Magic which rose to #1 on the Barnes and Noble charts for three weeks, and Guerrilla Publicity, the PR bible, which is also reached bestseller status. Jill is the founder of GoodNews Media, Inc. and hosts the TV program, Messages of Hope, and the nationally syndicated radio show, Do the Dream. In addition she has created two audio programs, three DVD training videos, and a workbook.

Jill is a popular international speaker who teaches powerful publicity, networking, and how to be influential techniques. As the CEO of the strategic consulting firm, Promising Promotion, Jill has trained companies in innovative techniques to improve bottom line results. In the past twenty years, she has worked with ABC, NBC, CBS, and other national media, and knows what the media wants.

Jill has been featured in The New York Times, Women’s Day, Fortune Small Business, Inc, and Entrepreneur Magazine, and on ABC and NBC radio and TV national affiliates.

Click here to visit Jill's website:

http://www.jilllublin.com/

Filed Under: Get Clients, Lead Generation, Publicity, Sales Systems, Videos Tagged With: , , , ,

7 Ways to Make More Sales Now!

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increase_salesLike most business owners, you're probably interested in strategies to make more sales. The world of business has changed over the last 18 months.  What always sells is value.  What people perceive as value has shifted.  In today’s blog post I will share 7 ways to make more sales now.

1.  Embrace Sales

Millions of business people have a resistance to selling.  The reason for this is there is a stigma about sales in our society.  Sales is viewed as a negative thing.  Because of this many people deliver their sales presentations and try to do so without being viewed as a salesperson.  This is like going to see the doctor and the doctor trying to hide the fact that he/she is a doctor.  Selling is an honorable profession.  I teach people how to sell by serving others and adding value to their prospect.

2.  Deliver a Great Sales Presentation

The fastest way to increase your sales results is to improve the quality of your sales presentation.  Always remember that when you wing your presentation you get wing it results.

3.  Focus on Opportunity

Many people are in a place of fear, panic, and worry.  I have learned from personal experience that fear, panic, and worry do not manifest sales.  Focus on opportunity.  Here is one of my primary questions I ask myself.  “Where are my best opportunities right now?”

4.  Meet People Where they are at

People need a hand up right now.  Do what you can to meet people where they are at.  Adjust your price points if you can to connect with what prospects can afford.  Make payment plans available if you can.  Not everyone can adjust price or offer payment plans.  If you can’t do this strategy focus on the other ideas I have shared.

5.  Strengthen Relationships

The strategy that is working the best for me right now is an idea I call a “Reciprocal Referral Relationship”.  The way it works is you look for people or companies that you can work in harmony with to help each other.  I have built one of these relationships with Jeff Combs.  Jeff is a trainer.  He has a large network like I do.  I refer Jeff to my clients and Jeff refers me to his clients.  We also look for other ways to help each other.  In the last 12 months I have picked up about 40 clients from referrals from Jeff.

6.  Massive Action

If there was ever a time to take massive action it is right now.  I was speaking with my friend and client Brian Traichel.  Brian told me he has been seeing me show up in many places on the internet.  Brian commented to me that he is observing that I am in massive action.  Action is a skill set.  This is not a time to slow down.  This is a time to speed up.  I will be in massive action until Christmas Eve.  Once the first day in January hits I will be back in massive action!

7.  Look for what is Great about the Economy

There are many great things about the economy.  One great thing to me is the economy has really motivated me.  It has also helped me reevaluate what is most important to me.  One of the great things about the economy is there is some tremendous talent available right now.  If you are looking to recruit or hire people the talent pool is very deep.  If you are looking for free lance people to help you with marketing, social media, website work, etc. there are many very talented people who are willing to help you at very fair rates.

Eric Lofholm
Master Sales Trainer and Coach

P.S. - SPECIAL BONUS - Would you like to learn how your sales can thrive in any economy? I invite you to purchase my new blockbuster book "How To Sell In The New Economy" for under $20 and I'll include over $398 in sales training bonuses for FREE!

Filed Under: featured, Lead Generation, Sales Goals, Sales Mindset, Sales Success, selling Tagged With: , , , , ,

Five Steps to Hot Leads from Your Online Social Network

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Twitter Facebook Online Social Network

If you’ve been developing your online social network via LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, you probably think your business should be seeing more results by now.

You may be missing some critical steps. Every business needs a reliable system for converting social marketing contacts into leads in your database.

I’ve found there are five steps to converting online contacts to leads. When you have all five in place, you can achieve the same kind of results as others who’ve used this system:

  • 9,000 new followers on Twitter
  • 63,000 new leads in database
  • 247 friends and followers recruited into two webinars to yield 39 new clients
  • 48 ideal prospects from Facebook fill a live event and yield $4,000 in sales

Your system will move your contacts to the top of your product funnel and into your database, where you can market to them. Finally, you’ll be one of the few for whom online networking has delivered on its promise to generate leads!

Step 1: Market with Leadership
Become a leader NOW because people follow leaders. Leaders believe in what they are doing. They innovate. They create new ideas. They add their unique spin to what’s happening and challenge the status quo.

To position yourself as a thought leader, identify your area of expertise, create a movement and get people engaged. As an expert, you know their problems and have solutions. Your followers will spread the story.

Step 2: Grab Attention with a Hot Topic
To lead with innovative new ideas, choose a fresh angle on a topic that your target market really cares about or pick a topic that connects your expertise to the news. As a thought leader you’ll need a fresh hot topic about every six weeks, so keep up with the news and concerns of your target market.

Step 3: Seed Awareness with Articles
Nothing establishes your credibility like articles. Learn the basic patterns—“How to,” “Interview,” “Tell a story,” “Product reviews,” and “Tips”—and start writing!

Be short and to the point. You need about 400 to 600 words with a strong angle, a hot title, passion, humor, and simple terms. Don’t forget the signature line that invites readers to visit your website and join your network.

Get your articles out to article directories where they’ll be indexed by search engines and disseminated by e-zine publishers. Maximize the effect by sending out an electronic press release, which search engines index even more quickly.

Step 4: Make Connections with Social Media Content
For more exposure, cover your hot topic in other kinds of social media, like a video on YouTube or postings on your blog.

Typically you need to publish 3 to 5 pieces of content relevant to your hot topic (articles go towards this count). Pepper your content with offers for your top-of-funnel product, and include a link to the page where readers can get it: typically your home or landing page.

Then start reaching out to your online network. Post links to your hot topic content in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and on discussion boards in your online groups.

Step 5: Capture Leads with Top-of-Funnel Products
Your top-of-funnel product is what you give away “free” when readers visit your site and give you their e-mail address: your special report, audio download or free webinar.

Once you have that address in your database, you can really begin to market—to take regular steps in building the rapport and trust that leads to sales and a long-term client relationship.

Chris Williams Online Social NetworkAbout Chris Williams:

Named the #1 saleswoman of the year in Sacramento, Chris is a dynamic business builder, sought-after speaker and results-producing business coach. After training more than 1,000 Xerox sales reps, she single-handedly built a $4 million per year Xerox distributorship of 13 sales people that grew 18% year over year. Today she leads interactive, high-energy and high-content programs whose participants report results like, "I increased my sales by 233%." "I closed 60 leads in 45 days." "I tripled my business in 90 days." Learn more about Chris at www.FreshBuzzTribe.com.

Free Teleseminar November 6th:

Social Networking: Create Leads Now!

Filed Under: featured, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Speak your Way to Wealth

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Public speaking is one of the best ways to generate leads, position yourself as an expert, and get one-on-one sales.

The event is hosted by Public Speaking Trainers Arvee Robinson and Lee Pound.

Here is a short video from last year.

Watch this video:

Filed Under: Lead Generation, Sales Mindset, Sales Strategy, Sales Success Tagged With: , , ,
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