Is Your Sales Force a Sales Farce? - The 5 Steps to Sales Success

When was the last time you purchased a product based on the charm, professionalism, sincerity, and effectiveness of the sales person? These types of sales people are rare, comprising nearly 2% of the "best of the best", in the selling profession. They are the real force of their sales organizations. The rest are average sales people - mostly "order takers", who do not know how to articulate value and solve their client's business problem. And of course, there are sales people that are actually a disgrace to the profession of professional selling, doing precious little.

It is somewhat ironic that organizations spend a considerable portion of their earnings in developing a sales force for their businesses but many do not get proportionate returns. Habituated to working on auto-pilot sales systems, non performing sales people find the going gets tough when the system doesn't work in the normal way. Despite having an apparently well qualified and experienced sales team as well as having good sales practices and processes in place, organizations struggle. Their so called sales force actually present a picture that's close to a farce. You can avoid this and set your sales team on a path of success.

Here is how to go about it.

1 - The importance of sales leadership in an organization

You need to have sales heroes in your organization, at least one. There should be one sales hero, a leader that can lead from the front. Sales leaders are master salesmen, experts in timing their sales calls, flawless in their presentations, careful in their choice of words, and sensitive to the need of the customers. They do not buckle under pressure. They also have the capacity to inspire others with their hard and intelligent work. Such leadership talents are vital for an sales organization thrive and prosper.

They are ever vigilant and tread on new paths believing in the saying of Abraham Lincoln, "Things may come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle".

2 - Let go of the sales people that should not be in sales

Some people are really not cut out for the sales profession. They don't believe in hard work, don't like going out of their way to meet clients and discuss their requirements, and are constantly worrying about their monthly sales numbers. They participate in sales training workshops but learn little. They don't like meeting clients and understanding their problems. How can they sell? Remember that sales is the highest paying hard work and the lowest paying easy work.

The sales profession demands that sales persons should be extroverts and out going people interested in meeting people, solving client's problems with one-size-fits-one solutions. They should have healthy sense of self and self-esteem. Sales people should exude warmth, friendliness, and an eagerness to offer solutions to the client's problems. They also should like their job and the products and services they are selling. If not they should not be in sales and can utilize their talents in other professions.

3 - Motivation as a key to sales direction and success

The profession of sales is not a normal 9-5 job with a desk, a personal computer, a phone, and a cubicle. In fact, the most productive and highest paid professional sales reps do ALL non-sales related activities, reports, power point presentations, etc, between 6-8AM and 6-8PM. The sales day, prime selling time of 8AM-5PM is devoted to getting "belly to belly" with decision makers. A decision maker is defined as a prospect, not a suspect that has need, desire, financial capacity and authority. If the sales person doesn't create prospects there is no work for him. Unless there are the required numbers of sales he will not keep his job for long.

To keep doing this 5 days a week all through the year a sales person needs motivation. When the market conditions are tough and the internal conditions are far from perfect a sales person will require more motivation than normal to keep going. Some have the knack of motivating themselves. Others rely on their sales managers or professional motivational sales trainers.

4 - The sales rep who solves the clients problems and adds value succeeds

Each sales person brings his own unique personality traits in to sales. Some are sincere, some are thorough with technical details, others are helpful with after sales service.

There are sales people that are good listeners. They listen to the client thoroughly and understand the client's problems and offer solutions. By bringing a little effort they add value to the service offered to the client as well as the organization.

5 - Successful sales people like to make money

The profession of sales is a wonderful one where at the one end of the spectrum there lies the possibility of job loss for non performance. At the other end of the spectrum lies the possibility of making a good living, earning respect you're your clients and peers, and gaining a good reputation among colleagues. Successful sales people are driven by the zeal to solve client's business problems, articulate value and a by-product of that hard work is a healthy income stream and job security. That's quite healthy if ethical practices are followed to achieve the aims.

Check out if your sales team has the above mentioned characteristics. If the answer is no, find out what is stopping you from incorporating them? Save your sales organization from becoming a sales farce and turn them in to a potent sales force.

Doug Dvorak is the CEO of DMG Inc., a worldwide organization that assists clients with productivity training, corporate humor and workshops, as well as other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak's clients are characterized as Fortune 1000 companies, small to medium businesses, civic organizations and service businesses. Mr. Dvorak has earned an international reputation for his powerful educational methods and motivational techniques, as well as his experience in all levels of business, corporate education and success training. http://www.dougdvorak.com

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5 Steps to a Robust Sales Pipeline

Whether or not the sales team follows the rules of the sales process, every company has a sales process in place as this is a prerequisite for a sales department. Even when you're not sticking to the company's sales process, sales executives follow some of sales process. In every sales process there are a few well coordinated steps:

1. Generating leads

2. Qualifying prospects

3. Sales presentations

4. Handling objections

5. Closing deals

6. Referral sales

There are potential/confirmed customers at various levels of the sales process. Usually their number tapers off from lead generation to the final step of referral sales. If a hundred leads are generated it may lead to 20 qualified prospects and three or four deals. If the sales person is talented enough or lucky, the number of qualified prospects and ultimately the deals may increase. Though there is no fixed method to predict the number of deals, this is a rough measure of leads to deals predictions. The Pareto principle of 80:20 works well here. Eighty percent of the leads qualify as prospects and eighty percent of the sales deals are generated by twenty percent of the qualified prospects. There may be a small percentage of difference here and there, but generally this is the rule.

The generation of leads, qualified prospects, deals, and referral sales is known as the sales pipeline. It is in the best interest of a sales person to have a robust sales funnel at every stage of the sales pipeline. This is the best way to maximize sales. The healthier the sales pipeline, the better the chance of achieving sales. It is the responsibility of the sales executive to maintain a robust sales pipeline. Here are the five steps how it can be done.

A strong Foundation through Good Lead Generation and Qualification

Explore all the expected sources for leads. Your company definitely creates leads by way of advertisements and publicity. Check if the lead data bank your office uses is up-to-date. You should have your own methods of lead generation too. Fresh leads can be obtained from the latest yellow pages, the Internet, networking, and referrals. There are some services like postmaster.com that have interested people signed up to receive newsletters and emails from sellers. You can probe for sales by sending newsletters (without spamming) to the listed people with postmaster.com.

Apart from the expected sources, leads appear from unexpected quarters if a sales person keeps his eyes and ears open. If you are on your way out of the customer's office after having concluded a deal there is no harm in stopping by and having a small talk with any of the office staff. Thank people from the organization that have helped you in reaching the right person and making a sale. Some of their friends or spouses may be running businesses and may have a requirement of your products. Usually as a sales person you will be in your element after making a sale. This is the best time to explore more possibilities. If not immediately, the office staff may get interested in your product later after they see how it works in their office. They wouldn't require any further proof of quality.

When it comes to qualifying prospects for your product or service be sure to ask open-ended questions - who, what when, where & why to determine that they are prospects and not suspects. Wisdom lies in grading qualified prospects and allotting time according to their importance. High caliber sales professionals spend more quality time with top prospects.

Be Creative in Contacting

Senior executives that have the power to make buying decisions do have hobbies and are often found in gyms, tennis clubs, resorts, and golf courses. They would be pleasantly surprised and appreciate it when you try to meet them there. Keep the meeting as brief as possible and only as a primer to a real official meeting. This is the time when they are in a relaxed mood and would give you a chance for a meeting or a demonstration. Also ascertain as to what time the senior executive in a relaxed mood while in the office. That's the best time to schedule a meeting.

Probe and Talk about the Customer's Need

When you have an audience with the potential customer, don't bore him with the prattle about your product. Even if it's the best product in the whole world it means little to him. You have to first explore the needs of the organization, understand the needs, and confirm the needs. Then you will have the attention of the customer when you describe how your product can cater to their requirements and all the positive points about your product will suddenly become matters of interest to him. Let the customer do the talking about his needs first.

Solid Presentation, Pleasant Objection Handling, and Swift Closing

Now this is your chance. You have come this far. Make the most of it by giving a solid presentation. The best way to do that is to pepper your presentation with humor. Be confident and assertive. Come prepared to handle objections and remove objections pleasantly. Most importantly know when to close the deal. Close the deal swiftly with correct timing.

Closing a Deal is Just the Beginning

Closing the deal is just the beginning of more sales from the customer (repeat orders) and referrals earned through them. Yes, referrals have to be earned. When you treat your customers well with the right service they may refer others voluntarily. They may come forward to refer others when you ask them. Many sales people overlook the opportunity for repeat or referral sales just by not asking.

Sales people can have a large number of leads, prospects, and customers if they follow the above five steps. The flow of leads and customers would be steady and the sales pipeline will be robust as well as fully functional.

Doug Dvorak is the CEO of DMG Inc., a worldwide organization that assists clients with productivity training, corporate humor and workshops, as well as other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak's clients are characterized as Fortune 1000 companies, small to medium businesses, civic organizations and service businesses. Mr. Dvorak has earned an international reputation for his powerful educational methods and motivational techniques, as well as his experience in all levels of business, corporate education and success training. http://www.dougdvorak.com

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How to Find and Hire Great Sales People - 5 Steps For Staffing Success

Riding on a wave of an advertising and marketing blitzkrieg, anybody can sell a good product or service. True "salesmanship" lies in selling an unknown or lesser known product that has an average or non-existent brand name. Only a few possess this talent. Sales staffing should be aimed at hiring the best, brightest, and most talented sales professionals.

Sales success for an organization hinges largely on the proper selection of the sales people. Paying enough attention to the selection of sales staff takes care of more than half of the sales job. Smart sales people are adept at highlighting the strengths of the product or service. Sales Professionals are experts in spotting prospects and swift in overcoming objections. They can sell well even in the face of adversity and cut throat competition. Also, efficient sales people have the internal drive to succeed, a great sense of urgency to get the job done and achieve their sales objectives, even when the conditions are tough. So how do you spot such sales winners?

Search at the Right Places

Depending on the type of the organization and their sales focus, advertisements for sales staff should be strategically placed. Newspapers are the obvious first choice in placing ads for sales staffing requirements. But the selection of newspapers for sales vacancies should be correct. Sales people working in the financial field read different newspapers and industry publications than sales people working in the automobile industry. Senior sales executives prefer reading industry specific magazines and journals.

If raw recruits are what you want, campus selection could be a workable alternative. Encouraging your sales staff to poll their contacts and friends from other organizations works well too if you are looking for sales people with some experience. Networking is an excellent way of getting to know senior sales executives working for other organizations. Their current salary, benefits and pay expectations can be determined through networking.

Look for Passion

It does not matter if the sales candidate you are considering is a "rookie" or a seasoned sales professional, everybody on your sales team should have that spark. The "fire in the belly" should be felt through the eyes of the candidates. Selling is a dynamic and competitive job and it has no place for sluggish sales people who can't deal with rejection and the stress the profession has. Active and self-motivated people make good sales people. Most importantly, they should have a passion for sales and a desire to meet new prospects and solve client's problem through creatively crafting their sales solution.

Sales people should love their profession. Apart from the resume, their body language will speak volumes about their interest for the job. Arrange for more than one round of interviews to scan candidates. This will weed out the least motivated sales people from the aggressive and motivated sales people.

Real Experience

A young hire can be a smart choice. But certain sales functions cannot be handled by young and inexperienced sales people. They are the domains of experienced sales people. Screening candidates on the basis of years of service alone is a dangerous practice. Many sales people have 10, 15, or 20 years of experience which could actually mean 1 year of real experience multiplied over 10, 15, or 20 times. Working in more than one organization in various capacities dealing with a range of products leads to a bank of knowledge that is diverse. A sales professional in the telecommunication industry is better positioned if he has worked with landlines and mobile phones in comparison to one that has worked only for a mobile phone sales organization.

Do Qualifications Matter

Yes it does if you are considering hiring new candidates. Candidates with little or no actual sales experience, but who possess a professional degree in sales and marketing are preferable to candidates without the aforementioned. But, if you are hiring experienced sales people then qualification can be overlooked. There are many qualified sales people that are just average performers as there are an equal number of unqualified super sales performers. Talent, achievements, and passion can take precedence over qualifications when hiring experienced candidates.

Adaptability

Probe deeply as to whether the candidate can adapt to your sales organization and culture. This requires honestly matching the candidate's expectations and career goals to the kind of compensation and career advancement that you can offer. Candidates with a strong and independent streak are more likely to desire a sales culture that fosters and engenders a sales culture of independence and freedom. They may be good performers, but there is a chance that they will quit sooner or later if their sales personalities and desires are not met. Similarly frequent "job changers" jump from job to job at unhealthy intervals. They should be avoided.

Some sales candidates are so set in their sales skills and behaviors from their last organization that it becomes hard for them to shed old habits and adapt to a new sales organization and culture. This may cause unnecessary friction. Make this clear from the beginning - which they may have to adapt and change if they are to be successful and enjoy their sales career.

In summary, when selecting a superior sales candidate for your organization you should have a clear picture of the type of sales people you want to hire. You and your current sales team should be prepared to ask some tough pertinent questions of the candidates to determine who best to hire for the position. Candidness and a professional attitude on your part would make the selection process a truly fruitful and enjoyable one for you and the sales candidate.

Doug Dvorak is the CEO of DMG Inc., a worldwide organization that assists clients with productivity training, corporate humor and workshops, as well as other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak's clients are characterized as Fortune 1000 companies, small to medium businesses, civic organizations and service businesses. Mr. Dvorak has earned an international reputation for his powerful educational methods and motivational techniques, as well as his experience in all levels of business, corporate education and success training. http://www.dougdvorak.com

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5 Steps For CEO's to Increase Sales During Downturns and Recessions

Since more sales would make your management life a lot better, take action with your sales force now. Do not wait another minute hoping something will happen. Don't depend on conditions to get better. They may get better, but they could also get worse. Focus your attention on your selling team, and selling productivity vs. selling expenses. Sales may not be your expertise, but sales is your life blood so get involved and start applying pressure. Here are some tips that can help.

1. Do not do sales training. Not that you'd spend the money now anyhow, but because it won't work for what you need right now. You've heard all the good arguments about investing when the market is down so you can be tougher against competition and in position when conditions improve. But this is not real estate. You need results now. Besides you're sales people don't believe they need training and you can't afford time out of the field.

What you need now is performers - sales people with relationships who can get to the top people, who are motivated, who can beat the competition.

More importantly you need sales managers who can train, coach, mentor, motivate, recruit and hold their sales people accountable. You do not need sales managers that can sell, yet this is what most sales mangers default to during sales downturns.

Therefore you've got to slash the weak, burn a hole in your sales managers' bottoms, and bring in the Special Forces. This is no time for a pump you up event. It's time for results or a ticket to the front door.

2. Fire sales people and hire sales people. You know you'll keep your top producers but you'll have to get rid of the poor and mediocre. Now here is what will make you sales team leaner, but delivering more sales. Eliminate more sales people and managers than you have to so that you can hire some really good ones that your competitors have already let go. However, don't pick who goes on your gut feel or hunches and don't hire using the same. a. Evaluate your selling team analytically (sales people and managers), using a tool designed for sales people and sales managers - not personalities or behaviors. Even the Boston Red Sox manage the team analytically and that's how they won 2 World Series after 80 years. see this website............. b. Hire new sales people and managers using screening tools designed for sales that will predict someone's' selling and managing success in your company. The one I recommend is highly validated, EEOC compliant and 96% accurate over 19 years. It provides a recommendation, the candidate's critical strengths and major weaknesses for selling success.

These evaluations will cost a few hundred dollars per person and the screens can cost tens of dollars, but they will be extremely valuable and guarantee selling success. Besides they cost less than a sales call, a customer dinner, or a flight to anywhere. They are worth it so cut some other expenditure to fit these in.

3. Get help for your sales managers. Face it; your managers are as good as they will be. I'm sure they are giving it their all are not holding back. Bottom line they won't get better without help and if they stay the same, today's sales level is all you'll get unless condition get worse. You sales / market share will not move ahead until the economy gets better. Can your company handle this? Are your bosses, directors and shareholders will to wait?

You sales managers are the drivers who have to provide the coaching and motivation to their sales people to get them to the next skill level. You know your competitors are throwing everything they have at stealing your customer or capturing anything out there. Your sales people must be better than theirs and the only way that will happen is if the sales manager shows the sales people how to sell in tough times and holds them accountable to do it. Again, if the managers knew how to do it, they'd be doing it already.

So buy some coaching for your managers. It can be inexpensive and can happen remotely or on-site. This will pay-off quickly and be the trigger to move you beyond your competitors. See

4. Bring in people outsider - consultants, directors, customers to help. As with your sales managers, all your internal resources and ideas have been tapped. You need fresh eyes. I know it is tough to spend overhead, but it has to be done. Times are different and while you've been focused on running the business new perspectives have developed and taken hold. You need to hear about them, and then determine if and how they might fit into your go to market strategies.

If you're really worried about cash flow, cut performance deals with the outsiders. Consultants that know they can deliver will be open to this idea. However, if you do offer performance incentives in lieu of fees, don't be stingy on the upside or you won't get anyone worthwhile to participate.

5. Get involved. I'm not recommending micro management, but you need to be asking tough questions and getting honest answers. The more you're people tell you "I don't know?" the more you'll know they are in control. Here's why. If one knows s/he doesn't know, that person can now dig-in to find answers. If you hear a lot of good news or "Everything is OK boss," you will know that person is out of control. S/he doesn't know what s/he doesn't know and that's when the unexpected (usually bad) happens.

Encourage "Don't Know's," but be sure to follow them up with "What are you going to do about it, and by when?" Then check-up and hold them accountable. The more you follow-up and present consequences for not getting what they said they'd give you, the more you'll get them to perform at higher levels. Be careful however, manage their game plans and schedules, not their activities. It's a lot easier and less frustrating for you to let them manage their time and to-do's and far more productive for everybody.

And now I invite you to learn more.

Bonus Tip: FREE E-Book "Getting Past Gatekeepers and Handling Blockers". Just click this C-Level Relationship Selling Link Sam Manfer makes it easy for any sales person to be effective and feel comfortable connecting with and relationship selling C-Level leaders.

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Sales Management Training - Protect Your Company From (Sales) Identity Theft In 3 Simple Steps

Business Development Officer? Business Procurement Specialist? Did you know these types of titles for salespeople can ultimately rob your organization?

As a Sales Management Training Consultant, I often notice business cards from salespeople with titles that require some effort to decipher. As I inquire further about their role, eventually it pops out - "I'm in sales". It makes me wonder, when did "Sales" become a five letter word that can no longer show up on one's business card? It gets deeper...

Building high performance sales organizations is my specialty. Much of my success is a result of a startling discovery made years ago - there is no proven correlation between Personality and Sales Productivity. This discovery enabled me to lead a team that transformed a $40B business unit into a $60B business unit in 18 months for a Fortune Global 500 company. How? We recognized anyone can succeed in sales despite personality. Sales is simple if you learn how to master sales behavior intelligence and develop your salespeople accordingly. Sales is about behavior and our proven sales system is built on the 25 behaviors that is proven to impact sales productivity - Sales Identity> is one of the behaviors we measure.

What is Sales Identity?

Sales Identity
measures a salesperson's pride of the sales profession. If a person views selling as noble, they are considered to have a strong Sales Identity. The opposite is true for those who view a sales position as something to be ashamed of, they are considered to have a weak Sales Identity.

Selling is noble, we all sell everyday whether we realize it or not. However, selling is often perceived negatively because of bad experiences. To some degree, society tends to cast a negative light on people in the sales profession. Due to the strength of society's misguided views, some sales professionals feel shame and are compelled to hide their sales position and adopt deflected titles such as, "Business Development Officers" or "Procurement Specialists". Such behavior is proven to be costly, read on...

Some people refuse to accept the notion of selling altogether, even though they are in fact trying to close a deal. A classic example...

Recently I was on a flight to a sales conference in Atlanta and I struck up a conversation with the gentleman next to me. Our idle chit chat led into a careers conversation. He shared with me how he worked for a major home improvement company in charge of the distribution centers in 4 states in the South and Southwest. After explaining my role as a Sales Management Training Consultant and how I help sales teams and salespeople. He immediately responded with "I could never be a salesperson!" We continued our conversation and he explained to me that he was preparing for a major presentation with the Executive Team of the company because he felt he needed an additional $3 Million allocated to his budget for the following year. He went on to demonstrate to me how the organization "would ultimately benefit from the additional spend with a better Return on Investment (ROI)..."

As he was explaining this to me, I began to smile and chuckle. Initially, he probably thought I was being rude. Then I asked him "So, you are trying to convince the Executive Team to give you an additional $3 million for your budget, correct?" "Yes." He replied. I then added "And you can support the benefits of doing so, correct?" "Yes" he replied again. "Are you sure you're not a salesperson?" He sat back in his chair and smiled, I could see the light bulb turn on. My point dawned on him. I eventually gave him some coaching on how to think more like a salesperson and improve his sales presentation.

Why Measure Sales Identity?

Measuring Sales Identity can ultimately save your organization a substantial amount of money long term. How?

Organizations all over the globe are challenged to hire high performance salespeople, not doing so can be costly in terms of sales results, hiring and training costs. Recent studies show, the average cost of hiring a poor performing salesperson has swelled to over $100,000/year. Think about it, how much are hiring mistakes costing you?

Research shows - salespeople with weak Sales Identity will under perform within 6 months of joining an organization and ultimately "self select" out of the sales profession within 18 - 24 months. In fact, we found people with weak Sales Identity prefer to apply for "sales" positions with deflected titles because they insinuate less sales accountability.

Unless detected, salespeople with weak Sales Identity will struggle and steal valuable resources from your organization via increased turnover, higher training costs and poor sales results. Here are 3 simple steps to protect your organization going forward:

Step 1: Remove the Identity Crisis

A surefire way to jeopardize long term sales productivity is to have your organization struggle through a sales identity crisis. If the role is a sales role - title it as such. Top performing salespeople absolutely love sales and prefer to be called - Sales Representatives. Having deflected titles attracts weaker performers who will struggle to get out of the ranks of mediocrity long term.

Step 2: Monitor Your "Motivational" Costs with Sales Reps

If you find your sales organization spending more time on motivating sales reps within the 6 - 24 month window of being hired, you may have a Sales Identity issue. Depending upon the severity, there may be hope.

Step 3: Know What You're Hiring, Prior to Making the Offer

Hiring mistakes pertaining to sales positions can be costly! Use an assessment tool that measures the Sales Identity of your candidates prior to hire.

Rod McKinnis, Founder of The McKinnis Consulting Group is a highly sought after Sales Management Training Consultant, specializing in doubling sales results in a matter of months. To learn more or to schedule Rod for your next sales event visit www.SalesisSimple.com.

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Six Steps To Sales Performance Management

In today's day and age a lot of senior managers and sales managers struggle with maintaining their top line growth performance because they neglect their fundamental duties when it comes to managing the performance of their sales team.

If you want to take your team to the next level, consider developing a sales performance management system that includes the following elements;

First of all, assess your current sales team to understand the performance of your individuals and objectively analyze which of your people are capable of producing their numbers and which aren't, and then prune and tune that existing organization to make sure that you weed out poor performers and take corrective action of those who do have a chance of performing well.

Second, learn how to hire and recruit "A" players for your sales team. This requires a rigorous attention to detail as it relates to specifying your job description, developing a recruiting process, broadcasting your job postings to available candidates and then going through a very rigorous interviewing, screening and reference checking methodology.

The third element in effective sales performance management system is to establish good measurements and to measure and monitor the performance of your sales teams. With today's CRM tools and sales force automation tools it's very easy for you to get clear and concise activity and pipeline metrics that you can evaluate on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Developing those measurements and then integrating them into regular meetings with your sales teams, both collectively and individually will help you to develop a sales performance management expectation with your employees and a culture of accountability.

Fourth, work on developing a standard corrective action plan for under-performers on your sales team. A corrective action plan should be a standard approach to correcting sales performance that is well understood and documented and accepted by everybody on your team. Sales people should know that when they fail to hit their numbers or achieve their sales quotas for a defined period that they will be put on corrective action, which will define a series of steps that are required in order to improve performance within a finite period of time, with a clear understanding of what the consequences are for not improving sales performance.

Fifth, make sure that you have the proper investments going on in sales training both product as well as sales technique. Also, make sure that you have a sales training system that is systematic and ongoing with your sales team.

Sixth, make sure that you understand the importance of coaching your sales team to success. The CEO or sales manager's job is to develop a coaching system to make sure that sales people are well attuned to. It is important that the CEO or sales manager has an engaged active relationship with each team member and that each team member receives regular honest open feedback on their performance, and suggestions on how to improve. Sales people need attention just like anybody else on your company's team, and so part of your sales performance management system should focus on coaching your people and making sure that they understand where they stand in your organization.

Finally, a good sales performance management system includes incentives and rewards; those include commission / bonuses, financial incentives as well as recognition programs. Many companies fail to recognize the power of non-cash incentives when it comes to motivating their sales team. Sales people come to work just like everybody else, for both financial wages as well as psychic wages. It's important to recognize the non-cash component when it comes to recognition. It's easy to recognize the efforts of your sales team through contests, awards, atta-boy's, regular hi-fives with people who've just closed deals, recognition in front of company meetings, all of those things can add a powerful component of recognition and incentives to your overall incentive program. So, if your company is interested in accelerating its sales and taking its sales team's performance to the next level, consider building a formalized sales performance management system that includes all of the elements that I've just mentioned about.

Cube Management helps companies accelerate their sales, by providing the Sales & Marketing talent they need to grow their business. Cube is a leading recruiting and consulting partner to mid-market and emerging growth companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. We work across the spectrum of Sales, Marketing and Business Development, providing holistic solutions that drive revenue and profit success. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process and People, to produce great results. Download the Cube Management Recruiting Guide and the Cube Management Inside Sales Guide.

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Sales Success: Four Critical Steps

It's been said often, "Some folks can't seem to see the forest for the trees." Perhaps that's true in any arena, but it seems that it's rampant in sales, especially when sales are down. Time after time, when sales start to fall we find sales people becoming so caught up in the "slump" that they fail to focus on the four critical steps to consistent sales success.

Motivational speaking is a multi-million dollar a year business and, in large part, it is attended by those who need that inspirational reminder of what they already know. Not that speaking for a living is bad. I do that. The audience, however, through years of experience already knows the answer. They just need to be reminded.

Sales people tend to be motivated by immediate gratification. Those who have been in sales successfully for years understand that seeds planted today come to fruition later. Although there are moments of immediate gratification, frequently the fruition will take time. Motivational speeches are, perhaps, that little nudge to focus them not on the slump, but on the outcome.

Let's define the four critical steps to sales success, in order to re-establish successful habits. Mind you now, once you read this you'll know just how simple sales success can be, if only you'll focus on these four items and ignore all other distractions.

Question One: If your income comes from sales, are you making as much as you want or need?

If you answered, yes - Stop reading! You obviously are practicing the fundamental principles that create success and reading further is a distraction. Go back to doing what you do best.

If, on the other hand, you answered No - then you don't have enough sales. Sales create income and not enough income equals not enough sales. Solution - go get more sales.

Now, I know from making hundreds of presentations to countless sales professionals, some of you are a bit perplexed at my simplistic approach. How, you say, do we just go get more sales? We'll get to that, but for now stick with me. The first step is increasing your sales volume. Simple. There is nothing hard about this concept. It is critical to grasp, however, because the solution is always to the left. That statement will make sense a bit later.

Question Two: If you don't have enough sales to support your income needs, then aren't you lacking in enough people to see - enough presentations or appointments?

This one seems obvious. If you are not generating enough sales volume either you lack people to see (enough appointments) or your closing skills need improvement. More times than not, the issue isn't just closing skills, it's people to present to and close.

Let's look at this two ways: (1) if you are having trouble setting appointments from your leads (which, by the way is closing), then you will have more trouble closing the sale when you do make a presentation; and (2) inadequate presentations will always result in inadequate sales.

So let's look at our matrix thus far. Remember the solution is always to the left!

PRESENTATIONS = SALES = YOUR INCOME

O.K., so you get it? The solution is always to the left. If you don't have enough presentations you won't have enough sales. So what now?

Question Three: If I don't have enough presentations, then how many leads do you have in your pipeline?

Well, I don't know. Probably enough! Really? Ask yourself this question; do you suspect that highly successful business people guess at their income or assets? Better still, if you were having surgery tomorrow would you want the person administering the anesthesia to guess at the amount? Of course not! Then, why would you guess about your leads?

If you don't know how many leads you have, then you don't have a finger on the pulse of your lifeline. For sales professionals, lead acquisition and management is critical. You can take it to the bank, if you lack presentations, you lack a sufficient number of leads to support your sales efforts.

Let's go back...remember the solution is always to the left. Look at the matrix again.

LEADS = PRESENTATIONS = SALES = YOUR INCOME

The point is - you have to have leads in order to make presentations and enough presentations equal sales and that creates your income...right?

So are those the four things?

No - those are three things that help to generate your income. Your income is the outcome and we've just identified three of the four critical steps to success. So what is the fourth?

Question Four: Since you've identified that lead deficiency is a problem, what's the solution?

Good question! Any building built on a weak foundation is subject to crumble. Likewise, any sales professional who misses the foundation of sales success will struggle and, likely fail. This foundation is prospecting.

One of my dear friends and a great professional speaker, Gary O'Sullivan (www.garyosullivan.com) states in his book "Principle Power" the following: "Every day you don't prospect, the next day you must settle for a lesser degree of performance!" Ladies and Gentlemen...that statement is a fact. The foundation of consistent sales performance is prospecting on a consistent basis.

How many times have I heard someone say to me in a job interview, "You hand me a lead and I'll close 'em. I'm a closer." Well, let me say, I didn't hire those folks because they were applying for a sales position and closing is just a part of the process. True sales professionals do four things: (1) prospect for leads; (2) develop the leads they identify; (2) make sales presentations; and (4) close sales. Each of those represents the four critical steps to sales success.

Remember the solution is always to the left!

PROSPECTING = LEADS = PRESENTATIONS = SALES = YOUR INCOME!

Sales success requires constant attention to the four critical steps to success. For presentations to your sales organization to help them refocus or remind them of what they already know (but need to hear from a professional) contact Chuck Gallagher at http://www.chuckgallagher.com.

On a crisp October day in 1995, Chuck Gallagher took 23 physical steps? opened a door? and began a new experience that was life-changing. Gallagher explores that experience and the success that followed? while involving the reader in ways that could be life-altering for them. Gallagher captures the heart of the audience in an honest way that deals with human emotion. For information on Chuck?s keynotes and workshops go to http://www.chuckgallagher.com or for a free ezine on Ethical Choices contact Chuck at chuck@chuckgallagher.com.

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Sales Excellence - Key Steps

The heart of any successful business is a successful sales force. You can have the best innovation, technology, product, marketing, operations and customer services, but if you do not have an excellent sales force, all the rest quickly becomes overhead. While every sales force organization is different, there are certain key elements that different the average sales teams - no matter how small or how big - from the excellent ones.

Training. The best sales forces spend considerable time training new people. They must know more about the product they are selling than anyone in the organization. They must be able to answer any question. And training is not just up front for the new people. Training is on-going. No just with new products and offers, but in sales skills, all aspects of your company and about the competition (more on that later). Training is essential to sales excellence.

Territory. There is no one right answer to how sales forces should be organized and what territory model works best. By industry? By geography? By account? The bigger the company, the more complex the territory models are. The model that seems to work best is that small and medium sized accounts are split on a geographic basis. Then the largest (or named) accounts are on a national or even global basis. In that the largest accounts require the most "hand holding" and have the longest sales cycles, it does not make sense to align these accounts geographically.

Sales force retention. This point is a bit of chicken and egg. Successful sales people should be compensated in such a way that they will next want to move on or quit what they are doing for a company. Low turnover of the top sales people is essential. But low turnover is essential for all accounts. Most sales are based on relationships and knowledge of the product or offer. New sales people may not have the relationships or the knowledge of the company's specific products and offers. Clearly, poor performer must go. But the successful sales people - and even those who are not at the top but achieve their quotas are essential to retain.

Face time. The value of a sales person is on the phone or face to face with customers. The more time a sales person is doing paperwork or involved in back office processes not related to either training or customers is sales time wasted. Sales people need to spend the great majority of their time either interacting with a potential customer, a current customer or in training to have sales excellence.

Easy to do business. It is amazing how companies make it nearly impossible for sales people to do their jobs. To achieve sales excellence, a company must develop processes that make it as easy for sales people to turn their relationship into a sales through a contract and then for that to be fulfilled through an efficient order process. The more paperwork the sales person has to do, the less effective they will be. Additionally, the more support the sales person has to provide back into the company on behalf of the customer for the contract or order fulfillment, the less time they are spending generating more sales and revenue. Think about the value of the sales people in your organization and how they are actually spending their time.

Sales centric model. Businesses that do all they can across the organization to support the success of the sales people generate more revenue and grow. Whether it is R&D, product management, marketing or customer service, all functions should be aware that nothing is more important that to make the sales team successful. And this should be tied into their individual and team objectives too.

Leadership. There is an old adage about the best sales people not making the best sales managers. This is often true. But the fact is that the first choice for sales management should be people who have been effective in sales. This may not be the number one sales person. But having the combination of sales experience plus leadership and management skills are combinations that are critical for sales team success.

Business intelligence. Whether it exists in marketing or elsewhere in a company, someone should be responsible for business intelligence. Just as in the military and the government there is need to keep an eye on the enemy and know everything you can about them, the same holds true in business. This function needs to know and provide the sales force and management with the latest on: top competitors strategy and tactics including products, technology, marketing and pricing, big wins, big losses and any other facts that can be useful in building and winning sales.

Compensation. Sales compensation needs to be at least competitive for the industry and geography the company operates in. Most sales people are on a combination of base salary and commission. The best sales people want a higher percentage of commission. The more successful they are the more they can earn. A couple of points on this. Sales people should be on at least 50% commission. There should be no cap on what they can earn based on their quotas. Finally, find a sales compensation plan that works and stick with it. Changing the sales compensation plan every year will only guarantee confusion and discontent among the sales force.

Sales excellence is often thought to be as much of an art as a science. This may be true. But successful sales people need specific support and infrastructure to be successful. Following the points outlined above, combined with smart and aggressive sales people will insure sales excellence in any business or organization.

George F. Franks, III is the President of Franks Consulting Group, a Bethesda, Maryland based management consulting and leadership coaching practice. Franks Consulting Group's clients include businesses, non-profit organizations and individual leaders. You can contact Franks Consulting Group at: franksconsultinggroup@gmail.com
Franks Consulting Group is on the web at: http://franksconsultinggroup.com
George's weblog is: http://consultingandcoaching.blogspot.com

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Sales Managers - The 6 Steps to Become a Great Sales Coach

Although a salesperson's professional development is limited when it centres only on classroom learning many organisations still persist with it. At the risk of upsetting those in the learning and development field it has to be said that classroom learning has minimal impact in the medium to long term and by every measure the return on investment for the company is poor. At best the retention for the salesperson is 30% if active learning such as role play is part of the skills development and considerably lower at 5% if it is passive when the facilitator talks most of the time. When infield sales coaching becomes integral to the sales person's development this figure can escalate to a staggering 90%. With up to 70% of top sales performers leaving because of dissatisfaction with their manager relationship sales coaching provides an opportunity to forge close working ties.

So why doesn't every sales manager incorporate sales coaching for their salespeople?

Based on our research the reasons are:

1) They don't know how

Many of you reading this may relate to this category. You were a very successful salesperson and so promoted to sales management with inadequate or no training for the role. You were not aware of infield sales coaching because it wasn't part of the company's culture

2) They don't have a sales background

The sales manager came from another department within the company such as administration or operations. This is seen as a good career move and endorsed by senior management and is for a limited time of 2-3 years before the person moves onto another role. Because such an individual lacks sales experience they feel uncomfortable and incompetent in front of clients and prospects so avoid being in that position. A credibility issue with their sales team also becomes a problem

3) They don't have the time

The sales manager becomes tied up with administration and other internal matters. They try to manage their sales team from their desk. To illustrate how serious a problem this is: one large national company with a network of business throughout Australia had each business unit manager also in a sales management role. Not 1 hour was invested in the field with one sales person over the previous12 month period.

Sales coaching needs to become part of a company's sales culture just like coaching in sport is a part of the sporting culture. In fact to be effective sales managers need to spend at least 25% of their time with their salespeople in the field coaching.

Sales coaching is the key to achieving lasting sales improvement and is suitable for new people to sales through to sales veterans to reinforce knowledge and skills already known but not used effectively.

Sales coaching consist of 3 components:

1. Knowledge and skills

A common sales criticism of classroom learning is that it's theoretical and won't work in the 'real world.' However, when sales coaching becomes part of their development program the classroom theory is converted into practical know how. In fact when a specific skill is applied by the sales manager and then later duplicated by the salesperson, behaviour change and motivation are immediate

2. Objective sales competency levels.

When salespeople are measured against the 6 competency levels their true competency level can be identified. For the sales person to progress to a higher level the sales manager needs to use every teaching method available from seeing, hearing and demonstration to clarifying what to do and why.

3. An evaluation methodology to measure the outcomes.

A competency based training and development format is one of the best ways to measure skills performance.

The Curb Side Conference

This is the term used to describe how the previous sales call is reviewed for the purpose of developing or refining the sales person's selling skills. The 6 step sales coaching process is used to achieve this outcome:

1) Briefly recap the sales objectives.

The objective/s for the sales call should have been set before the call. Recapping at the beginning of the curb side conference helps the salesperson to focus on the discussion at hand.

2) Provide a critique of the selling skills that were competently applied.

Use your sales process as the guiding template and leave out those selling skills that were incompetently or not applied. This is because you want to acknowledge and compliment the skills that demonstrated sales competence. For example "Mary let's go over the last sales call and if it's okay with you I'd like to give you feedback on the skills you applied competently." The salesperson may want to interrupt and highlight the skills they didn't apply or applied inadequately. When this happens you need to stop them and let them know they will have their turn soon. For example "I appreciate your concerns and we will deal with them shortly." Emotionally you need to come from a place of caring and support which will then be reflected in your vocal tone. Sounding judgmental or frustrated could destroy your relationship with your salesperson.

3) Ask the salesperson to self critique their sales call.

Suggest to your salesperson to also use the sales process which will assist them to critique their own sales performance in a logical manner and then it's your role to actively listen. They may focus too much on what they didn't do or did incompetently so watch for this tendency. You may need to ask them to give you a balanced view. Actively listen for any skills they omitted or believe they applied well when in reality they didn't do so. On conclusion of their self critique compliment them and move to the next step. For example "Mary you obviously have a great understanding of the sales process and I agree with your self assessment. Let me ask you, if you had the opportunity to..."

4) Ask the salesperson if they had the opportunity to do the sales call again what they would do differently?

This gives the salesperson the opportunity to uncover anything additional they may have previously missed and drawing on what they had learnt in step 2 will reaffirm those competencies.

5) Use the sales process and provide a summary critique of the salesperson's selling skills.

When you go through the summary ensure it is weighted 3:1 in favour of the positive behaviours and skills that were competently applied. This will also build their sense of self worth as well as the learning experience.

6) Finish on a positive note and set the next sales call objective.

This has to be done from the heart and for example could be expressing how impressed you were with how the salesperson qualified the prospect. When planning the next sales call objectives one needs to be a skill development objective from step 3 or 4. Caution: whilst there may be many skills needing attention focus on one which you consider to be the most important. Overloading the salesperson with too much is counterproductive and isn't the way we learn.

A last word or two...

• Curb side conference those sales calls where the learning will be the greatest

• Schedule regular monthly sales coaching even if it is as little as half a day and avoid cancelling. It will pay dividends. Staying in the office doesn't create revenue but developing a salesperson's selling ability does

• Ask your salespeople for feedback on your coaching. What could you do better?

• Sales coaching provides you with the opportunity to show sales leadership

If sales coaching is new to you or you are dissatisfied with current sales coaching practices contact Sales Consultants.

Kurt Newman is the co-founder of Sales Consultants Pty Ltd a firm that works with companies to increase sales and reduce the cost of selling. http://www.salesconsultants.com.au

Kurt's expertise is in sales strategy, sales management development; group structured sales training and infield sales coaching. As a sales person he has successfully sold products and services in 4 major market/product segments: new product sales, consultative sales, relationship sales and retail. During his selling career he created sales records for three companies in two industries and won many other sales awards for outstanding performance.

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How To Set Up Chapter 2 in Your Dissertation: The Review of Literature In 5 Easy Steps

It has been my experience that many students ask for dissertation help only after they have lost up to a year of time while working on their dissertation Chapter 2, the Review of the Literature. Why? Because in writing a doctoral dissertation, any interesting subject has multiple sub topics, each of which is equally interesting. The branches can seem endless. The difficult challenge is that at the end of the writing not all of them will lead where they need to go - to directly and explicitly back up their research study as proposed in Chapter 3. Here's the way you could accomplish writing chapter 2 in a mere 5 easy steps.

Step 1. There is no way to get around it, you have to do a lot of reading to finish a lit review. Most universities will require at least 75 peer-reviewed articles and books of primary sources to support this chapter alone. The important time saver will be to take good notes in reference software such as EndNote as you read. Be sure to watch for topics that are relevant to what you want to study, as these become your chapter subheadings. For instance if your dissertation is on change management in business, your subtopics might include: organizational development, transition processes, complexity theory, management strategies in crisis, etc. That is really crucial since at the end of your reading you will need to re-sort what you have read into these subtopics. Unless you do this step, you may be faced with re reading or remembering everything before you are ready to write.

Step 2. Once you have your reading done (and you know that you have finished when everything you read tells you something you have heard before), then you are ready to start your paper or chapter. If you are writing a dissertation then sample headings can be found at: DoctoralNet.com. It's also wise to look at published documents and see what subheadings those authors used. This will give you a solid overview of where you are going with this writing. This is usually a crucial step that needs your full attention. Do it in this way: Look up sample headings and incorporate them in the outline you are establishing for your writing. Merge, rewrite or shift them around as suits your topic. The reason why is that if you do not| plot all that is required by this chapter you are likely to leave something out.

Step 3. Start to write by opening up your reference software and reviewing ONLY those articles stashed under the subheading you are writing to. Write to one subtopic at a time, merging what all the authors said into one coherent whole and then going back and citing the specific thoughts that came from one author. The rest of the merged ideas you should attribute to a group citation that includes authors that contributed to the ideas within this section. What we are doing here is to move beyond the preliminary style of lit review that is more like a book report. This author said... but this other author said... is a style that will put readers to sleep. Additionally, it is to cite and reference all the authors that are contributing to your ideas whenever possible.

Step 4. I personally recommend that one of your sections outlines your thinking and the literature that has led to your selection of methodology for your research. While you will clarify this further in a dissertation in chapter 3, in the lit review you set the stage for how this set of methods and the theoretical constructs behind it will contribute to a study on this topic. To elaborate on that a little bit, It saves you time and energy in chapter 3 to bring up the experts that recommend these methods in chapter 2.

Step 5. Write it all out. Let it sit for a few days and then go back and edit for grammar and content. One other suggestion, go back after the chapter is done and take out any and all sections that do not correlate 1:1 with topics contained within your actual research as discussed in chapter 3. The purpose of Chapter 2 is to set up the logic and background for Chapter 3 - there must be a direct correlation between them or you will only confuse your readers, and delay your defense.

E. Alana James, Ed.D. facilitates life reinventing itself! http://www.reinventinglife.org is her webhome, and there you will find resources for intercultural living, social entrepreneurship, and doctoral work. Dr. James' international work in education includes the Future(s) Project: http://www.futureofeducationproject.net where participatory teams discuss how to best redesign education to prepare our children for the world they will inherit. Visit both sites for provocative ideas and "how to" processes aimed at helping all of us move past the complex issues we face and onto the world we want to create.

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Teaching Tone and Mood in Literature - 5 Basic Steps to Consider

Teaching tone and mood in literature can be an interesting task for those who love to teach literature. The main focus is be on identifying the tone and mood in major literary works which can be a crucial step towards helping the students enjoy, analyze, and do their own creative writing.

Tone is nothing but the narrative voice, or something by which the story is told or narrated. It is often used for conveying mood, or feelings or emotions threading throughout a piece of literature. Simply we can put that tone is the technique whereas mood is the result attained by the technique. In other words, both go side by side!

Where will you learn tone and mood from? There are several lesson plans are available online that can help you understand and teach tone and mood. If you explore the internet, you will see that horror or fantastic literature are some of the areas where tone and mood are the most obvious. You can also choose creative techniques like art and activities that can help you understand these two concepts.

Basic Step to Consider for Teaching Tone and Mood:

The internet is one of the best resources available for creating your own lesson plan. There are certain basic steps and tips you can consider when it comes to preparing your own lesson plan focusing on teaching tone and mood in literature:

1. The best thing is to choose a work of literature in which tone and mood are obvious and for that reason most teachers opt for fantastic literature, for example the works of Poe and Shirley Jackson.

2. You need to make it easier for students to understand tone and mood and nothing better than introducing the theme with the help of music or certain visual arts just such painting.

3. It will be very effective if you create a list of words something like "feeling words." Students can easily pick up a word from the list to affix a feeling work label to literature, music or any sort of work of art.

4. As you complete your discussions regarding the tone and mood of different works of literature or art that you have chosen ask your students to create their own narrative or poem conveying a particular tone or mood.

5. Feedback is a fine idea that lets you realize whether your students have truly understood the concept or not. Students will not be in a position to reflect the concept of tone or mood in their creative act unless they really understand.

However, you may find some students for whom mood and tone may be difficult to understand. In such cases, computer-based activities can help the students recognize the emotional 'cues' which are associated with feeling words.

Rakesh Patel is an aspiring poet, freelance writer, self-published author and teacher. Read his blogs about types of poetry, and English literature.

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What Are the Steps in Writing a Literature Review?

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review basically is the collating of a body of information derived from secondary sources such as books, newspapers, magazines and other appropriate sources. This information is content specific and usually revolves around a specific theme or issue. It represents a careful selection of ideas gleaned from other people's findings of a particular topic or set of topics deemed to be related in some way. Sources selected should be authoritative and be well written in good English and should shed light on the study to be undertaken. The main goal of the literature review is to set the tone for the rest of an academic paper as insights can be made into the theoretical and methodological positions adopted by past researchers of a similar ilk. The use of subheadings can act as sign posts that guide the writer so that he/she keeps on track.

Length of a Literature Review

Students are frequently concerned about the length of the review. However, there are no hard rules about this. It all depends on the way the academic faculties within which students operate weigh it. It depends too on the specific details required to provide a comprehensive coverage of previous researches. In short there is no magic formula or algorithm here.

Types of Literature Review

Two well known styles of literature review exist: the traditional or narrative and the systematic. The traditional style involves the production of a summary of the literature. Arguments are narrative or descriptive as all they do is inform the reader of the major arguments and debates raised thus far within a specific topic or field of inquiry. Points are organized in some predetermined order which provides a truthful synthesis of the topic or social problem. The systematic style is different from the narrative since it goes a step further than mere narrative reproduction of text. In essence it is a creative presentation of the topic. The writer goes about looking for new ways of presenting old information often providing a balanced (or close to balanced) evaluation or assessment of the arguments. It can also suggest that there is an impasse in the field which could possibly be resolved only if new research is undertaken.

Steps in Writing a Literature Review in Academic Research

These basic steps form part of what can be deemed the literature review cycle. The term cycle is appropriate because there is always need for constant monitoring of the work in progress and careful assessment of the research objectives to determine whether the writer is able to inform his/her audience about similar preceding works. These steps are locating, selecting, note-taking, reviewing and collating.

1. Locating involves finding suitable data or information relevant to the topic of interest. This is almost a never-ending process. However, it may be best that writers set limits on the search for information to justify their cause. This averts the difficulty of having too much information to process at any one time.

2. Selecting means identifying the most suitable data or studies that will enhance one's research focus. It calls for rational decision making on the writer's part,;taking into consideration his/her main objectives. A good practice is to note all bibliographic details of written material. This allows for easy reference of previous works..

3. Note-taking entails reducing a large quantity of written material into smaller chunks so that they fit one's purpose. Additionally, it involves reducing large amounts of written information into smaller more coherent portions that are most appropriate for the writer's objectives.

4. Reviewing is the summarizing, evaluating and assessing of the information in terms of its quality and worth as well as its appropriateness for the writer's purpose. He/she should keep the overall research objectives in mind when doing this.

5. Synthesizing is ordering the reviewed information in the most logical manner so as to create a new product that meets the writer's intentions, objectives and standards. Of course the use of discipline specific language is advisable since most research projects are usually geared toward informing a particular audience despite the need for general appeal.

The cycle continues until the writer is confident that the supply of relevant material has been exhausted and there is nothing else that can be done to enhance the quality and quantity of the review.

These steps are intended to act as a basic guide for the graduate student who may feel overwhelmed by the fact that a deadline date may be set by which time the review should be turned in to the Faculty or academic supervisor.

Some students do not quite grasp the nature of a literature review and often fail to perceive it as a dynamic and creative attempt to re-construct information using sources that already exist. There are no definitive rules about the literature review save for the fact that it should enhance the quality of one's paper. Issues such as relevance, credibility and creativity are critical guiding principles. I recommend that writing the literature review should be one of the early steps in academic research since it often provides a gateway to the other aspects of an academic report.

In this article I have attempted to define a literature review and explain the nature and purpose of the literature review. In addition, I have outlined (briefly) at that two main styles of review and examined a five step cyclical process of literature review writing. Once these are followed the writer should be able to master the process and provide a neat summation of the main issues in a particular type of academic discourse.

Bennie Berkeley has attained a PhD in Sociology with high commendation from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. At present he lectures Sociology courses namely Introduction to Sociology and Caribbean Social Structure. Additionally, he conducts methodology seminars for graduate students about to embark upon their research projects in Social Work and Sociology. He supervises a number of students from a cross section of the Social Sciences including Sociology (Criminology), Social Work and Mediation Studies.

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5 Easy Steps How to Connect Your Twitter Account to Your Facebook Status

Connecting Twitter to Facebook

If you enjoy using Social Media Websites chances are that you would have a Facebook account as well as a Twitter account. Both of these allow you to make updates to your status. By creating a connection between these two accounts you only need to write your message once as it will be posted to the other one automatically.

There are two ways of creating the connection between Facebook and Twitter. You can link your Twitter account to your personal Facebook account; or you can link your Facebook Page to your Twitter account. In the first option the message goes from Twitter to Facebook and in the second option it goes from Facebook to Twitter. For instance if you use Twitter regularly just write your message on your Twitter account and it will be posted automatically on your Facebook account. You will see it on your Facebook profile page and it will appear on the Facebook News Feed. Here is how you can do that in just a few simple steps.

Connecting Your Twitter Account to Your Personal Facebook Account

In this connection when you write a message on your Twitter account it gets automatically posted into your Facebook status and Wall. Here are 5 simple steps how you can make that connection. You need to be logged into your Facebook account in order to do this.

Step 1 - Locate the Twitter Application

The Twitter application as well as many other cool applications are stored in the Facebook Applications area. You can access it directly at the following URL (just copy and paste into your browser): http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2231777543

Once you have located the application click the blue 'Go to Application' -button.

Step2 - Allow Access

By clicking the 'Allow' -button you will authorise Twitter and Facebook create the connection needed. Go ahead and... click.

Step 3 - Log on to Twitter

Next you will need to log in to your Twitter account to make the connection happen. Since we are creating a connection to your personal Facebook account you should use your personal Twitter account here as well.

Step 4 - Allow Twitter updates

In order to get the automatic update from your Twitter account to show up on your Facebook status you need to click the '+ Allow Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status' -button. This enables the connection and sends you to the next screen.

Step 5 - Authorization

This is a bit unnecessary step but you need to click the blue 'Allow Status Updates' -button to finalise the operation. The only good thing about this page is that it gives you the page URL where you can change the settings of this Twitter application as well as your other Facebook applications.

Once you click the button you will be back on the previous screen. From this screen you can also update your Facebook status. This will be posted automatically to you Twitter account as well. Please note that when you update your status on your Facebook profile page as you would do normally, it does not post to your Twitter account... and you're done! You have now connected your Twitter account with your personal Facebook account. Every time you write a new Twitter post it will now automatically show up on your Facebook Profile.

This article is Part 2 of the illustrated bonus guide 'Linking Facebook and Twitter' which you can get free by ordering the Facebook Advertising Guide.

Kris Olin is a Web Designer with a Masters degree in marketing. Kris is specialised in Web 2.0, SEO, Digital Publishing, Social Media Marketing, Facebook Advertising and Internet Promotion Strategies. He also consults with companies on their online marketing and provide training and website hosting solutions. Kris has a Masters degree in marketing from Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration and has studied design and advertising at the University of Columbia, U.S.A. Kris is currently living in Brisbane with his family.

Facebook Advertising | Social Media Marketing Blog: http://facebook-advertising-marketing.com

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7 Steps to Making a Great Landing Page for PPC

Landing pages are heavily used to attract customers to where you want them on your website: the sales payment page being the ultimate objective for most ebusinesses.  Like everything else in life, there are right ways to go about creating a landing page and a million wrong ways.  Creating a good landing page is vital because this is what many first time users are going to see of your web presence, and you cannot afford for it to be the last they see of you!

Here is our simple, 7 –step program to creating a landing page which works:

Step One: Identify the USP

Every business and product will have a USP – Unique Selling Point.  Your USP may be you are the cheapest company in your zip code for your product or service, provide the tastiest food, the coldest beer, the fastest, the cleanest, the loudest, the closest, the “whatever” you do which sets you apart from the rest of the competition.

A USP will usually be combined in your primary headline, but it may be relegated to a secondary headline where you already have a short and sweet headline.  A good example is this one from Amazon:

“Earth’s Biggest Bookstore”

Step Two: Briefly Outline Benefits

Your USP headline attracts attention, but now you have to satisfy the customer’s initial curiosity.  You should have ONE paragraph, using BULLET POINTS to answer this question from your customer, “Why do I care this product or service?”

You are outlining benefits here – what will this product do for your customer.  For example:

• We are the cheapest which means you save money – GUARANTEED!


• You get the best quality – GUARANTEED!


• We deliver next day nationwide which means you don’t have to wait – GUARANTEED!

Go back and edit this paragraph continuously until you have just bare bones, so taking line one:

• We’re the cheapest so you save money – GUARANTEED!

Step Three: Use a Picture

This is known as the “Hero Shot”; think the cowboy in the Marlboro ads or the hunk in an aftershave campaign or the smiling couples for Viagra commercials.  They show the product in use, giving context which either forms an empathetic connection with the customer or appeals to their aspirations.

Typically, the hero shot will be a photo, but it can also be diagram showing where the product fits into an existing problem which is typically experienced by your target market readership, or it may be a chart showing where you rank with the competition (top!) or a simple graphic selling a number, e.g.” 50% OFF!”

Step Four: Set the Context of Use

Context of use is important, and this is closely related to step 3 and the Hero Shot.  Context of use provides the user with “real life” application; for instance, if you are selling a beverage, show it being drunk – if its beer, show it being drunk in a bar; if it’s champagne, show it being drunk on a yacht on a blue sea.

Obviously photographic imagery and video are excellent for doing this, but you can also invoke context of use by displaying a client list or by using testimonials.

Step Five: Get the Customer’s Information

Ask for the user’s email and/or contact information – this is extremely important for all landing pages, but it is especially vital for landing pages selling to other businesses (B2B).  In this instance, a landing page’s primary objective will probably be lead generation and unless you gain the contact information, you fail!

The best way to get contact information is to ask for it, typically providing some freebie or promotional pricing for a limited period.  Use a privacy statement too – this enhances your professionalism.

Step Six: Provide a 2^nd Chance Safety Net

Not every visitor will turn into a converted lead or sale and you will experience a substantial number of users who are interested in you but not ready to buy now.  Provide them with a second chance to do business with you, known as a safety net, and this can take many different forms:

• Add a button for the user to subscribe to your Facebook profile, Twitter feed or other social media presence you maintain;


• Offer to email a reminder;


• Offer a freebie download such as a whitepaper; or


• Bookmark the page.

Step Seven: The Call to Action

This is the ultimate purpose of the landing page – the final act you want the user to perform and at some point you have to ask them to do it.  The call to action may be to buy your product, it may be to complete a survey, to navigate through to a sales page, to pick up a phone and call your sales team, to add themselves to your email bulletin…whatever it is that you want the user to do before they leave the landing page.

Examples include:

“Meet the World’s Best Browser” and immediately below is the download box for the Firefox browser

“Things Mac” placed immediately above a download box and a “Purchase: Buy things Mac now” box

“NCover helps .NET teams all around the world deploy applications with fewer bugs” and placed below is a download box with an offer in it, “Download NCover – 21-Day Free Trial

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