Archive for March, 2008

How to Create a Snazzy Name For Your Product or Service in 3 Easy Steps

A few weeks ago, I was in Wal Mart, on the prowl for some type of exfoliating cream. The winters in Texas aren’t bitter, but the dry heat inside can work a number on your skin. It’s been some time since I bought facial products at a store, but my usual facial remedies just weren’t doing the trick.

I stood in front of several shelves of products dressed up in all sorts of colors. What struck me were the names.

Clean and Clear, Anti-Dullness Face Wash, PorePerfect Pore Minimizing Wash, Easy Healthy Skin, Deep Clean Gentle Scrub

There are many ways to use names in your company. First, there’s your company name. The last 10 years, we’ve seen a surge of ‘non-definition’ company names in the marketplace. They are cool and non-evident on purpose. Xpedx, Activa, Red Hat, and others may be cool, but unless your brand takes off they don’t do much for helping your would-be customers find you.

Other names might include products or packages you offer clients. If you have a book, your title is a large part of what makes people want to buy it. If you have a seminar, the same rules apply. Even your newsletter’s name plays a role in your success.

Imagine me standing at Wal Mart looking at a bunch of bottles called Face Exfoliating Wash with the manufacturer’s name on it. How would I begin to choose? There is definitely something in a name.

But what is that something?

Here are three steps to creating a snazzy name that will be ever more attractive to your clients.

1. State what the item or company does in benefit terms. Increase profits, Boost revenue, Transform business, Turnaround services, Decrease risk.
2. State what the product is. Seminar, program, package, face wash, exfoliating scrub
3. State a way your client wants it. Fast-acting, Turbo-charged, Super-easy

Put these three together and viola! You have your super magnetic name that is easy for your ideal customers to spot and easy for your non-ideal customers to bypass.

I know you would like some examples, so here you go…

Some good ones (in my opinion):

• Company: The Sales Company
• Newsletter: Bookseller’s Sell More Books
• Product: Buns of Steel
• Book title: Damn, Why Didn’t I Write That? How Ordinary People are Raking in $100,000 or More Writing Niche Books and You Can Too
• Seminar title: Born to Win

Some that could be improved (again, in my opinion):

• Company: Slo*Fit (Who wants to get fit slowly? I visited the site to check it out after seeing this on a building – only a marketer would do this – and it is called Slo Fit because you only work out once for 30 minutes, but the first impression is counterintuitive.)
• Newsletter: Name of Company + Newsletter (Snnnzzzzz)
• Product: Poo Kiss (Believe it or not, this is something you eat.)
• Book title: Nothing But Words On Paper (Amazon Book Rank: #2,087,786)
• Seminar title: Association or Organization name + Seminar (Yaaaawwwnn)

Don’t be tempted to use a name that is too cutesy or off the beaten path. Do get creative and infuse your company’s personality into your names. There are many ways to brand your company and one of them is to get your names working together. Remember, the names need to make sense to your ideal clients. Keep that in mind! There are tons of examples in the world of names that don’t follow these rules – think big companies, big advertising dollars – Starbucks, Nike, Google – but then look at these companies again and you will see the consistency in the brand names!

If you have a winning name, send it to us and we’ll feature it in an upcoming Marketing Mojo with a bit about what you do and who you do it for!

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How to Build Free Backlinks for Your Site or BLOG

How to Build Free Backlinks for your Site (backlinks are links from other sites that can help increase your site’s popularity).

Although paid methods can help you get backlinks a lot faster, using these free methods can save you a lot of money. 

• Directory Submission. There are literally thousands of free web directories out there. This is one good way to build backlinks, although directory submission takes weeks to months to years to get approved because these are manually approved. Please make sure the directories have a Google PageRank value.
• Article Submission. To do this, first you need to have an article ready. Your article must be unique, well thought of, and related to the site link you want to place on Articles Directories. Articles on Article Directories are then copied to other sites along with your link, that means it helps in getting more backlinks for your site.
• Comment Posting. Akismet was created to prevent people from spamming blogs. To prevent your site from being banned, make your comments relevant and sensible and don’t place a link on your comment, but only on the URL field. Make sure these comments doesn’t have a nofollow on the link rel attribute.
• Write Quality Content. Quality content means original and interesting content that people will talk about and possibly post links from their site, talking about the post you made on your site. It is best that your content is current and the topics are widely talked about, even controversial topics are good link bait.
• Social Bookmaking. Got a good content that nobody knows? Share it with everybody. Social Bookmaking sites help increase your site visits and backlinks when people bookmark your site on their favorites list. Just make sure you don’t abuse by bookmaking all the pages of your site or you will be banned by them.
• Give something away for Free. Do you know how to create web templates? Build as many as you can and people will start using them, and along with it are your links. The number of backlinks generated are endless. But if you cant, you can still give away something for like free quote-of-the-day, etc. something like that.
• Contribute to Wikipedia. Are you an expert of something or have some good information you want to share? Post it in Wikipedia (sign in required) and along with it is a link to your site as the resource page of the information posted on the wiki. Make sure you don’t post all the time of they’ll ban you.
• Social Networking. MySpace, Friendster, FaceBook, and even YouTube can be called a Social Networking site. These sites are good sources of traffic, especially if you a lot of friends in the list or you have a funny and interesting content you have posted on your account page. Get connected and you can get links.
• Government and Education Sites. Government and Education sites are quality backlinks, meaning Search Engines value sites more if they are linked from these kind of sites. It’s very hard to get these kind of links but you can start by participating in their forums.
• Forum Posting. I admit. I have been doing these to spam sites, but not anymore . The right forum posting technique is to participate on sites that you are really interested in. This way you can enjoy posting on forums and you will be surprised you already have thousands of posts on forums with your links on your signature.
• Join Groups. Being an active member of several organizations can help you get backlinks as well. Most established organizations have good traffic and PR and if your site is linked there, your site can have a good backlink from this site as well as other members can link your site from their sites too.
• Participate to Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! Answers is a very popular section from Yahoo! and people visit there to ask questions and participate by posting the best answer. First, look for a question you think you can answer, post the answer on your site and finally post the Answer in Yahoo! Answers along with your link.
• Post on Craigslist. Most of the traffic this site gets are from the US. If you wish to get good traffic from Craigslist, make your post catchy and not spam. Craigslist is more of a traffic generating site than a source for backlink since a post expires after sometime. Make your links last by posting regularly.
• Know your Competitors’ Backlinks. Check out your competitors backlinks at BacklinkWatch.com.

Link to relevant sites / categories. If your site is about cars, link to pages related to cars only.
Link to sites with good Page Rank value.
Link to sites with good traffic.
MANY Backlinks are good for your site.
RELEVANT Backlinks are better than regular backlinks.
RELEVANT and HIGH PR Backlinks are better than relevant backlinks.
HIGH TRAFFIC, RELEVANT and HIGH PR Backlinks are the best backlinks every site needs.

Checklist for Creating a BIO That Stands Out

This form will help you develop a stylized bio that reflects your work ethic, your past successes and your desires for working with clients in the future.

When writing your BIO for the first time remember do not feel that these responses must be worded perfectly. Often, stream-of-consciousness answers give a true picture into your personality. Take at least 15 minutes to complete this form because your bio depends on the quality of this information.

Main Questions to Answer in Any BIO:

1. How long have you been in your field and what areas of specialization do you possess?

2. What are the unique difficulties, exciting changes your clients face within their specific industries? Include those you think are significant.

3. What do you enjoy most about the work you do for your clients? What gives you a sense of fulfillment?

4. Have you been recognized for any special accomplishments or honors? Please list these and the organizations responsible.

5. Describe one (or more) of your most successful outcomes – what were you able to do for the client? Include percentages (increasing profits 12 percent for example), timelines (within one year), ranges (took the company from $5M to $10M), etc.

Challenge:

Solution:

6. Where did you attend school? What degrees and certifications do you hold?

7. What organizations are you a member of? Please specify particular positions (committees, boards, etc.) you hold, if applicable.

8. When you work with clients, what is your desired outcome for them? We ask this to get the answer in your words.

9. Do you have any interesting information you would like to share that has not been covered?

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How to Evolve Beyond Networking into the Relationship Zone

Written by Debbie Mrazek

How to Evolve Beyond Networking into the “R Zone” Networking can be an exhausting, hit-or-miss process if all you’re doing is exchanging cards and asking for business. To make it effective and fun, move beyond mere networking to building relationships–operating in your “R Zone.”

So you’ve decided to do some networking. You attend an after-hours event, arriving early with a stack of business cards. By the end of the evening you’ve met a lot of people and exchanged a lot of business cards. On the way home, the faces are all a blur. You’re stressed out–all “networked out.”

A few days later, in a better frame of mind, you call each person you met, working your way through the stack of cards you collected. You ask each one if they need your product or service. Most say they do not. You’re exhausted again.

This could give networking a bad name.

But is this what networking is all about? Does it have to be a nerve-racking, enervating process that leaves you with an empty feeling? No, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be a fun, fulfilling process.

“Fun?” you ask. “Walking into a room full of strangers is your idea of fun?” Trust me, it can be fun, but first you’ll have to make a paradigm shift, move beyond networking into what I call the “R Zone”–the “R” stands for “relationships”–to a place where you’re not really networking so much as building relationships.

Here comes the simple, unadorned truth: One of the most effective ways to build a relationship is to help the other person get what he or she wants first.

This “give first” approach will turn everything you’ve ever known about networking on its ear.

And it’s very simple: Just go into a room full of strangers telling yourself, “All I’m here to do is to help each person I meet get what they want.” Obviously, that requires that you first find out what they’re looking for, and that you actively listen and ask questions that help you understand their needs. Also, that you be resourceful when it comes to coming up with contacts and possible options for your new contact.

When you’re in the “R Zone,” you’re not talking to people about high school reunions or past jobs. You’re not searching to find names of people you know in common. You’re not discussing current movies. You’re not even being witty. You’re focused on only two things: What the other person is looking for and how you’re going to help them find it. When you come up with the name of someone they can call–even if it’s only someone who can point them in the right direction–it’s amazing how they’ll warm to you.

There’s an old adage, “It’s not what you know, but who you know that counts.” While the statement is true, it also oversimplifies. For, as many will tell you, simply knowing an important or powerful person is no guarantee your calls will be returned. The other person must perceive you as worth knowing. That’s what gets calls returned. And, there’s no faster way to be perceived as someone worth knowing than to give first.

Here are some other thoughts that can guide you as you develop your ability to work in the “R Zone.”

• Do less better. One reason so many people finding networking exhausting: They get frantic. They feel obligated to meet everyone at a given meeting. They have to “work the room.” Leave working the room to the professionals. Go into a networking event with limited objectives. Just tell yourself, “I’ll count this as a good experience if I can have five quality conversations with five quality contacts.” And after you meet five, don’t feel obligated to hang around and meet more … unless you want to. Pace yourself and do less better.
• Speak with confidence. Don’t be shy when it comes to telling new contacts about what you can do for them. Speak with calm conviction. Project confidence. Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe what you’re saying, no one else will.
• Prepare a memorable introduction. In a quiet moment, reflect on why clients or customers like to do business with you. Then, write down what you would like to say that sets you or your business apart–the benefits more than the features. The introduction should begin with your name followed by your business name. Then it should tell them, from their point of view, why they should want to do business with you–in 20 seconds or less. Practice saying your “introduction” in front of a mirror. You don’t have to repeat it word for word each time. Feel comfortable with the general concepts and phrases. Then begin saying your introduction to new contacts.
• Join a contact group. Whether it be an industry association, a charitable organization’s board, or a religious group, make an effort to put yourself in situations where you meet new people.
• Tell people what you want. Although in this article I’ve focused mainly on helping other people get what they want, when building a relationship you should be clear about what you’re looking for, as well. When you give first, it’s amazing how quickly people look for ways to help you find what you need. An effective strategy is to tell people what you’re looking for right after your introduction–something like, “And this week I’m looking for someone who can introduce me to …” or “This week I’m looking for companies who need …” naming a specific person or need.
• Practice putting yourself in the R Zone. When meeting new people, make an effort to really listen to what they’re saying. As much as possible, find out what they want. Put yourself “at source” to help them find it.

Networking really isn’t enough because it’s not enough just to make contacts. To be effective, we must build relationships, something that sounds easier than it is. It takes genuine caring and listening skills that make you a valuable asset in any work situation. Don’t always assume that a person you meet at a networking event is looking for a new client or a job. The person may really be looking for a golf instructor, an electrician, a PC technician, a new car … or even a friend! Be there for them. And stay in the R Zone.

Secrets Of Success From Those Working With Standard Media

Understanding how the media works, what makes news and how to make the news can be valuable knowledge for any business. Favorable media exposure means recognition in the business community and a higher profile among potential investors and employees.

So here are some inside tips on the do’s and don’ts when it comes to gaining media attention for your business.

Choose the right media

Although all the media search out and welcome news stories, TV, radio and newspapers each have unique characteristics that will affect their likely interest in your story…

…Print

What makes the print media unique is its ability to provide in-depth commentary by way of longer news articles and the fact that newspapers and magazines have long shelf lives (compared to radio and TV). Business news with its financial results and long-term strategies make a nice fit with print media.

…Radio

Radio may not be the first choice when it comes to business coverage but when speed counts radio has the advantage of being able to produce and air a broadcast report minutes after news breaks. Also, morning drive-in shows and evening rush hour programming often have large followings and loyal listeners, though they are unlikely to be a strictly business audience.

…Television

Television’s strength is its ability to blend pictures with storytelling to create a compelling and visual broadcast that can leave an impression for a very long time (I.e. Gulf War, ’72 Munich Olympics hostages, O.J. Simpson trial). When it comes to business coverage, television is at a small disadvantage since most business stories are short on visual elements (pictures). Nevertheless, many special television programs, such as Venture, W5 and 60 Minutes have over the years aired strong and compelling business stories.

Understanding what makes news and knowing who cares!

Your business may have doubled in size this year but for some reason the national newspaper doesn’t care. It certainly can be a frustrating experience trying to sell your story to media outlets, but understanding what makes news can go a long way in breaking down the media barrier.

What makes news?

It has been said that news is what people are talking about. A nice simplification, but you need to know more. If you want a reporter to be interested in your story, you need to meet one of the following criteria.

Timeliness:

Nothing beats breaking news. Such news stories often command front page attention at newspapers and lead air time at radio and TV stations. Breaking news is immediate news about something that just happened and that matters to a defined audience, like the business community. This has to be news that people will talk about.

Proximity:

Most media are first and foremost interested in stories with a local angle. If you are in an area of the city, there may be a reporter that is dedicated solely to covering news in your area. Learn what these people write about by watching columns and articles in your local business journal and newspaper. Even if you are part of a national organization, your local media will want to know your involvement rather than the activities of the group nationally.

Conflict:

Like it or not, conflict, whether it involves people, companies or government makes news. What may seem to be a simple rivalry between two business competitors is often a good news story for the media. And don’t be fooled by those who say they don’t read negative stories – they do and news editors know it.

Eminence and Prominence

Some people are newsworthy simply because of their fame or their position of power.

Consequence and Impact

What may be a simple business decision to you may be of tremendous consequence to your neighbor. The more people affected, the bigger the story.

Human Interest

People are interested in people. It’s a fact and a strong element of news. Those who read, listen and watch the news like to learn about others. Though a business story at first glance may not seem to be about people, playing up personal elements in your story will make it more interesting to viewers and readers.

Other factors affecting what becomes “news”…

“News Holes”

Why is it that your competitor’s merger made the news last week but yours didn’t? Often, space limitations (a busier news day and more stories) will result in your big event being dropped from the paper.

“Focus of the medium”

The monthly e-commerce magazine has a different editorial mandate than the business section of the daily paper or the local TV station. Understanding what mandate each medium has is key to working effectively with the media.

Competition among media

No one wants to cover old news. An editor or reporter is far less likely to write about your business if the competition had the same story a week earlier. On the other hand they may be very likely to run your news story if you approach them with an “exclusive” and give them the chance to cover the story before anyone else gets it.

Approaching the media

Once you understand what makes news, its time to “pitch” your news story to the media.

Here are a few tips.

Know your media

As mentioned before, print, TV, and radio each have different requirements when it comes to deciding what makes news. Understanding what is “newsworthy” for each media outlet is key to pitching your news story. In simple words, TV needs pictures, radio needs voices and print needs quotes. Organizing a press conference with a product demonstration is good for TV. Having the CEO answer questions makes for good quotes in print. Some media also have different departments or sections. For example, your local Journal’s section on “business” might be interested in business processes and the ins and outs of growing a business. Your latest software product release is not likely to spark interest from the editor of this section, although the tech editor may want a shot at it. However, the retraining of the 50 engineers who worked on the product release may be a news story worthy of consideration. Trade publications often are product-oriented and more likely to be interested in the latest version of your award-winning software. Have a number of different story angles when calling various media and choose your targets knowledgeably.

Get to the point

Not only are you busy but so are reporters – so get to the point! Reporters face daily deadlines and between faxes, e-mails and telephone calls, they receive hundreds of story suggestions each week. Reporters have good news judgment and can often decide within a few minutes whether or not they are interested in your “pitch”. More than five minutes is too long. (NOTE: When leaving a phone message, leave your name, number, company name and a BRIEF description of the story idea). Remember, if they say NO, it means NO. So, say thank you and move on.

Don’t confuse advertising with editorial

Nothing upsets reporters more than the suggestion that buying an advertisement warrants a news story. Though on occasion the protocol is sometimes breached, the rule of thumb is that advertising is separate from editorial (news) content, like church and state. It is NOT a good idea to have someone from your advertising department phone an editor. Appoint someone who understands the editorial side of the media. If you have a good newsworthy story it should be able to stand on its own.

Call early but DON’T call often

If you are sending out a press release, it is important to follow-up with a media call as soon as possible. Be specific when calling. Ask if the reporter received your release and whether or not you could have two minutes of his or her time to explain the contents of the release. Don’t forget to tailor your pitch to the specific media. If the reporter says NO, more often than not it means NO. Thank them for their time and move on. If the reporter is interested, he or she will let you know. Then half the battle is won. If you are the media contact, be available for the media. There is no use putting your name on a press release if you are not willing or available to talk to reporters.

Be prepared to run around

If a reporter likes your story idea, then you are halfway to getting coverage. But you still have work to do. Reporters will often ask for background information and contact names – make sure you have them on hand. Media outlets with daily deadlines need information quickly, whether or not you have it available can decide whether the story runs or not.

Objectives and Unintended Consequences

Know from the outset what outcome you want in seeking media attention. Remember that once you attract media attention you can’t always control how it will turn out, what message will be communicated, what ‘spin’ a reporter will put on things, who else they might contact to verify information, or how far they might dig. Another thing that drives reporters crazy is when people ask if they can read the final piece. Do not do this! If you have submitted a guest column, the editor has the liberty of editing it. If you don’t feel comfortable with this, it might be better for you not to work with the media. There are strategies for working around the media so that your message ends up being as close as possible to the final word.

Only give information for the story you want to tell. When you prepare for the interview, be prepared for questions reporters may ask and be ready to give answers that direct them back to your angle. This is much like a job interview – you start with the end in mind.

Be excited about your story. Enthusiasm is contagious and reporters will delve into that which they find interesting. Why would they want to put a different spin on a story that is already interesting?

Be a good student of your target media. Whether it’s your local news or your local Journal, you can easily see what the medium believes is a good story. Make sure yours is up to the challenge.

Salary Survey Basics

A salary survey is a useful management tool. It can greatly simplify an organization’s human resource management. By comparing a company’s salary structure to its labor market, the business can be sure it is not under- or over-paying its employees. The internal equity of the company’s jobs is clarified when their external parity is measured. Timely surveys keep the organization’s salary structure up-to-date and competitive. An effective salary survey simplifies a company’s human resource management.

…helps avoid over- or under-paying company employees..

Labor dollars are the greatest drain on any company’s resources. As precious as they are, the organization should ensure that it is not paying more than the market demands for worker talent. By the same token, the company should avoid paying salaries that are appreciably lower than its labor markets. If the business scrimps on salaries, needed talent will be taken by those companies paying competitive salaries.

…clarifies external parity and internal equity..

Completing a salary survey provides data that clarify how particular jobs, and subsequently the entire salary structure, compare to the labor market. These data are vital to making salary administration decisions. Surveying the labor market can also help establish the relationship of positions (internal equity) within an organization. Once a survey is completed, the company can decide the degree to which salary levels should be adjusted; or whether they should be adjusted at all.

…keeps the salary structure up-to-date…

Labor markets change too quickly to allow too much time to pass between compensation reviews. If the company waits too long to compare itself to its labor markets, it may require too much money to “catch up” to the market. The organization’s expenditures of labor dollars should keep pace with the labor market. As a general rule, two years should not pass without a thorough salary survey. Regular surveys will provide the data needed by the organization to keep its salary structure current…and, therefore, competitive.

…simplifies human resource management.

Labor dollars are any organization’s greatest expense. Consistently comparing the company’s salary structure to its labor markets is an effective strategy; ensuring limited resources are appropriately applied to recruiting and retaining worker talent. Regular salary surveys can:

· Help avoid over/under-paying for worker talent;

· Clarify external parity and internal equity; and

· Keep the organization’s salary structure up-to-date.

Salary Survey Basic Steps

Identify benchmark jobs and survey participants.

1. Develop the survey questionnaire including brief descriptions of benchmark jobs.
2. Mail the survey instrument to survey participants.
3. Follow-up with participants via mail and telephone.
4. Statistically analyze the survey results and adjust the compensation system as necessary.

The Fastest Way to Increase Sales

Written by Debbie Mrazek

A small office building could probably be filled with all of the books available on improving sales communication. While it may be a topic that has gotten a lot of press, I can assure you that when it comes to sales professionals, there’s still a lot of room for improvement by the vast majority.

You might think that talking and listening is quite basic and elementary. But let me tell you that it isn’t. If it was, there would be more sales pros hitting those top numbers. Sadly, it isn’t.

To be successful in sales, you, as the professional salesperson must master three major components of communication:

1. Listening to customers, including watching for body language

2. Questioning and listening to find out what they want and what their concerns are

3. Establishing the connection between their needs and your products and services

Number one deals with really getting to know your customer. Are they being ‘polite’ and just listening for no reason? What are they really saying? What is their body language? Are they crossing their arms? Are they leaning in? Are they interacting? Are they not? Communication is what is spoken and also what is unspoken.

Number two is all about the customer. What do they want? What’s going on in their world? What do they really need? When you really listen and ask questions to seek first to understand your customers’ concerns and issues, then, and only then do you get the chance to sell. It’s not about muscling your way through the door and then blurting out your presentation as fast as you can. It’s about building a relationship that will pay you over and over again.

Finally, number three is about building a bridge between the customer and your company (and yourself). It’s about building upon a strong foundation of trust and earned respect. At this point, you aren’t just pitching a product and hoping it will stick, you are tying the needs to your prospective customer to what your company provides or offers. It is also about not pitching something that will not serve the prospect. Often, walking away from a sales opportunity will act like a boomerang to get another opportunity when that prospect refers you to another company that may be a better fit. Never be afraid of walking away from a deal that will not ultimately serve your prospective customer.

Sales communications begin with you, but it is not all about you. Sales communication is about hearing your customer. What is the customer’s biggest concern and fear? How can you help? You are there to begin to understand how that customer may be served by you and your company and to earn that opportunity. If you get this piece right, you will master one of the most important pieces of the sales pro puzzle.

Marketing Strategy Experts

How To Use Sales Power To Fuel Funding

Written by Debbie Mrazek

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? When it comes to raising venture capital, it’s hard to tell whether a companies sales lay the golden egg or are the golden egg. On the heels of a dot com slowdown, a tried and true business model is reemerging and offering an effective, proven way to approach investors.

It’s no secret that not so long ago investors, eager to cash in on an exploding Internet e-conomy, happily funded technology companies headed by strong teams offering futuristic wares. Some of those companies came to the table with a viable business plan and others hoped that funding could command their business model. It didn’t take investors long to learn the technology ropes. Now, high-tech companies looking for funds have to wow investors the old fashioned way – with an impressive product offering, savvy professional team, investment-worthy business plan and financial data worthy of securing the dough. Funding in the new millennium is hardly an undertaking for the faint of heart.

Next, enter sales. What if tech companies incorporated their Plan B into their Plan A? Ah, yes, now we are talking. Plan B, of course, is to start selling the product or service – just in case the VC doesn’t come through. Spin that idea around and marry it to Plan A and you have a tech formula for success.

Sales could be your key to the VC vault. Venture capitalists are looking for a revolutionary product or service that can offer them a handsome return on investment. If your company sales prove that your product has a market – we’re talking customers here – and you have the plan to take it successfully to that market, then you are that much closer to securing the funds you desire.

Powering up sales to ignite funding offers more than a safety net. In one instance, a company incorporating a sales plan with the path to funding found that company sales funded the business sufficiently enough that venture investment/funding was no longer needed. The team redirected more energy and effort into sales and increased the company’s return exponentially. If the company moved along the funding path, it could still be waiting for VC instead of running an explosively successful operation today.

So what does it take to put your sales vehicle in motion? You need to start with a plan. As critical as your business plan is to your venture, so too is your sales plan for your sales activities. Time is money and, as an emerging company, you have to maximize both. Unless you successfully have managed the sales process, it’s wise to spend the money and invest in a person or a company that has a track record in your industry for growing companies such as yours. Be sure that the sales pro knows how to work with the resources you have available.

When you meet with prospective sales consultants, be honest about your situation.

• How many people can focus on sales activities?
• What, realistically, is your sales budget and how long can you commit to the plan once it is developed?
• How much time can company leaders devote to tracking, follow up and redirection?

Next map out who, what, when and where.

• Who will develop the sales strategy and plan?
• Who will execute it?
• What is the process?
• What are the goals?
• When will you start? When will you review your results?
• Where will you begin your action plan?
• Where will you find the operating funds to keep the show afloat until you realize tangible results?

Then, put your plan on paper and commit to it. Set your weekly, monthly, semi-annual and annual sales goals. Execute and analyze. What’s working? What isn’t? What can you do better – smarter? What was a miss and why? Log all activity into your sales journal and tweak the process until you get it right.

Once you are on the sales track, reach out to mentors or others you know who have successfully grown their companies through increased sales. In sales, the goal is to work smarter, not harder. Tap into your true sales potential and you will be on your way to growing your company and securing funding – through VC or, at a minimum, your own sales power.

Top 7 Ways to Recession Proof Your Business

Written by Debbie Mrazek

Good companies and good products are in demand no matter what the economy is doing. Just because there is a recession, it doesn’t mean that everyone is experiencing the same effect from it.

The key to riding out the recession is to create a plan to address it. Simply planning ahead is one of the best strategies companies can use when experts begin to whisper recession.

Recession-proofing your sales begins with you, and being proactive is one of the best ways to ride high when others are crashing.

Put these seven easy strategies to work for you and you’ll soon find that recession or not your sales are soaring!

1. Lock in client loyalty. Remember, you aren’t the only one facing a possible recession. What can you do to serve your best clients? Call and ask.

2. Dig out lost proposals. You never know if those lost proposals went to another company that may not have been the perfect fit.

3. Make time for Face Time. It’s easy to slip into the habit of staying in the office and doing business by phone and email. Drop by or schedule a time to meet with clients. Listen for opportunities where you can offer a solution for their problems.

4. See a Need and Fill It. In a possible recession, sometimes luxuries are the first to go. However, if there’s a need, there’s usually money to pay for a solution. Can you create products or add-on items that fill a need?

5. Create package options. In hearty economic times, there’s more to go around. When companies face a possible recession, slashing expenses is one of the first things companies do. To stand out from others, create package deals that offer lots of value-add for the buck. This way you will stand out as a good deal.

6. Do more for less. We aren’t talking about giving away the farm. We are talking about doing just slightly more for the same amount. If you would normally tack on fees for an item, throw it in for free. Gifting ignites the law of reciprocity and loyalty follows.

7. Put systems, marketing campaigns, and people in place sooner than later. Businesses that take a proactive approach will feel less blind-sided. Create your plan now and implement it. And whatever you do, don’t cut back on sales and marketing initiatives!

Recessions are part of the economic landscape. They won’t be going away anytime soon. The best thing you can do is plan now instead of later. Determine a plan of action and work that prior to and through the tougher times.

Bagels and Books Sunrise Celebration with Author and Sales Guru, Debbie Mrazek

Join Debbie Mrazek this Thursday, March 6^th at 7:00 am for a book signing at Einstein’s Bagels in Plano, Texas. Debbie’s book has already leaped across continents and people have reported this is the must-have sales book for 2008! If you’ve been searching for a step-by-step winning formula for sales success, your search ends here.

If you are one of our clients, no worries, we’ve got you covered. You’ll be receiving your copy in the next week!

If you are an early bird, join us at Einstein’s Bagels in Plano (7000 Independence Parkway), next to Kroger’s. Hope to see you there!