Professional Sales Training on Techniques to Build an Introduction in 3 Easy Stages

Step 1: Introduce you and your business or product

Start with your name and hand the prospect your business card. A good sales technique at this stage is to add something about you that could be of benefit to the customer. Don't just call yourself a sales representative as that offers no benefit to the buyer and may make them defensive. You want something about you that supports your objective of closing a sale. This could be your position in the company, especially if it is your own small business. Maybe you have a technical qualification or a title that will give the customer confidence in you and what you present to them. This can be a really effective selling technique if you use an advisory sales style or sell a technical product.

Now follow your name with either your company or product details. This is a good professional sales training technique. You are looking to give the buyer points of reference. This is how we navigate through new situations. We look for information we are familiar with. So give your customer clear words and phrases that allow them to quickly find something similar to what you do in their memory and experiences. Many sales people make a common mistake here and use technical jargon. The best sales techniques to use here are to keep it simple and let the buyer find familiar territory. If the buyer will recognise your company name and know instantly what you supply, then use it. If your products, or types of products, will be more familiar then include them. If the buyer will not have heard of either then relate your products to something they will know, such as what your product will replace, or the main competitor.  

Step 2: Your main selling point

Step 2 of this professional sales training on building a sales introduction is to start grabbing the buyer's attention. In step 1 you have used just a few quick lines to introduce you and your company or product. Now tell them what your main sales point is. In years gone by this used to be called your unique selling point, or USP. Nowadays it is very unlikely you will have a unique selling point because as soon as a company gets one it is soon copied by the competition.

Your main selling point can be related to your company's image. It could be the high quality service you offer, your history in the market, specific benefits you offer to customers, or many others. This can often be a sales technique where many small business sales people have an advantage over the large corporations. They can have a more unique main selling point that differentiates them from the rest. A good professional sales training tip is to start thinking about your company's sales angle. Are you priced focus and offer the cheapest prices. Do you have excellent customer service, or are your products unique in some way. Find that sales angle and add it into your sales introduction stage of your sales process.

Step 3: The reason you are there

Step 3 is the most important line of your sale. It's the reason why you are there, and the reason why the customer should carry on listening to you. This is a professional sales training must do action. If you want to be successful in sales you must become fully competent at using this sales technique. Start by putting yourself in the buyer's position and think what you would want to hear that would grab your attention and retain your interest. Start with the phrase, I'm here today because, and see what naturally follows. The reason you are there must be a big possible benefit for the customer. You are not there to see if you can sell them something. Be creative, think in terms of benefits, and write a list of possible gains the customer could get from listening to what you have to say. Here are some examples I have recently used while coaching field sales people:

I've asked to meet with you today because: We are specialist in supplying your industry. We have improved productivity for many companies like yours. I have a new product to show you that will... Our products can give you... I recently met with... and they said you might benefit from...

That's just a few ideas to get you started. Now write your own list and make it specific to your company and your products. Build up the possible benefits for your customers, and make yourself stand out from the rest. Use this professional sales training and you can quickly build an effective sales introduction stage for your sales.

I'm Stephen Craine, a working sales manager and trainer. The professional sales training above comes from the training and coaching I give to my working sales teams. We rely on these sales techniques to achieve targets and keep our jobs. This is not classroom training that only works in role play situations, this is real sales training developed in live sales situations with real customers. You can see more free sales training on building a stunning sales introduction, and free sales training on the other stages of the sale, on my website at http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/sales-techniques.html

The website is packed with free sales training, sales tips, and if you really want to know how to increase sales there are workbook training courses you can download and start using today. To visit the site and click around the pages, open http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com and get real sales training proven by working sales professionals.

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Motivation Techniques on How to Motivate Employees Using Sales Team Training and Free Web Resources

Motivation techniques and how to motivate employees is an area many sales managers find difficult and time consuming. They find it easy to present and supply sales team training on selling skills, but what about motivation techniques. To motivate a sales person you need to offer a regular boost of self motivation. It can take time to constantly find new and refreshing ideas, and give different angles and perspectives on how to get into the most effective selling state. The sales motivation techniques offered here will give you a sales training and motivation program for your sales team using a minimum amount of time. It uses the free resources available on the Internet and it won't cost you a penny. It also gets your team involved from the start and asks them to contribute as the idea grows in size and benefits. 

How it worked for my sales teams

The objective is to build a list of free online sales training and motivation resources available on the Internet and use them in an ongoing motivation program. You probably have some links saved in your favourites list. Your sales team will have some as well.  As a starting point imagine if you had a list of links to all those sales and motivation websites you already know about, all in one easy to access place. This is how I started when looking at how to motivate employees in my sales teams. Then we added all the other sites we came across that had effective sales training or good motivation techniques.

How to put these motivation technique sinto action today

Here's how to put this sales team training into action with your sales teams. First, build the list of good quality links to websites. Present the idea of building an Internet based training and motivation resource to your sales team. Show them a few examples of websites that you use for sales training and information. Ask them to submit their own. Get them to go through their favourites list on their PC's, log into their search history, and ask them to click around the Internet to find new and interesting websites. Get them involved, show them the benefits, and ask for their feedback.

Decide where to keep the list of links

Decide upon the best place to keep your list of sales and motivation websites. You want somewhere that is easy to access, will be remembered, and is accessible by all the sales team. It must also be somewhere that the information and new links can be added regularly. If your organisation has a company intranet then that may be a good place to start building your sales training resource. Shared drives and folders are another good place to park the list of links. You might think of other ideas such as sending it out in a company newsletter, or simply emailing the list to your sales team on a regular basis.

Add some information to each link

To make this list of sales team training and motivation links effective, add a brief description to each link. It only needs a few comments to indicate if the link is about motivation techniques, sales training, or product and industry knowledge. Ask your team to add these comments when they submit a new link to be added to the list. You could take this further and add a rating system from 1 to 5 on how effective and useful they think the website is.

Keep the list updated

Keep the list updated and over time you will build an enormous resource of sales training and motivation techniques. The more comprehensive the descriptions and comments about the website are the more effective and useful your list will be. Think what could happen if you expand and develop the use of this free resource. What if you included more people within your organisation and expanded the topics covered by this list of websites. As long as the list is separated into categories for each topic, and perhaps even a contents page written, it will remain useful and effective.

Add a motivation training schedule

Once we brought all these great website links together we set certain times of the week to make the best use of these motivation techniques. Motivation training works best in short bursts with specific objectives. There a certain times of the week when a quick burst of motivation, a new sales training idea, or examples of proven marketing techniques, are most effective.

Monday morning after a weekend break 15 minutes on a good website, with short sharp self motivation techniques, can get you into a selling state. Friday morning we have found clicking on websites with time management, or prospecting tips, which can be used the following week, can have a great effect. When you have a tough day facing difficult objections and can't close sales, then a sales training site is a good way to finish the day. These are examples of how we use these sales team training motivation techniques. You can adapt them, develop them, and find how to motivate your employees using a list of good Internet links. The sales team have bought into the idea because they helped to build the list. 

I'm Stephen Craine, a working sales manager and trainer. If you like the motivation training techniques offered here then my advice is to take that first action today. You know what will happen if you put it off and leave it for later, it just will not get done and you'll miss out on the benefits of these techniques. Take one step towards creating your list now, and also think about where you are going to store it. It only takes one person to start this list rolling and others will soon join in and want to share the resource. So let me offer you these first links and descriptions to start your sales team training and motivation list of web pages and free resources on the Internet.
http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com

The home page of my sales training website for all sales people, self employed and small business owners, and sales managers.
http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/sales-training-free.html

Free sales training that you can use today and start using to increase your sales results. Sales training on: Basic sales training for people new to sales. Sales training on using a sales process. How to make sales appointments. Simply copy and paste the above links and descriptions and you have started your list of sales training and motivation techniques for you and your sales team. Mail these first 2 links out to your team and let them know about the free training resource you are starting. Add the links to your company intranet, shared drives or folders, or send out a regular update by email. This could be the start of something big and you will get the credit.

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NLP Sales Negotiation Techniques That Work on the Customer's Internal Map of Reality

Sales negotiations work in two ways. In the external real world, and in the customer's internal world where they make pictures, listen to self talk, and create feelings and emotions. Most sales people know how to negotiate in the real world, but how many can use powerful NLP sales negotiation techniques to negotiate in the internal world of the buyer's mind.

Negotiation techniques are used when there is a discussion between two or more people with separate objectives for a common situation. This happens all the time as you try and close a sale. Imagine what an advantage you would have if you focused on what the buyer's real objectives are, and how they arrived at them.

Internal and external negotiation techniques

There are two negotiations going on at the same time. One is in the real world. The other is in the internal world of the buyer's mind.

Your objective is for you and the customer to see the sale from the same viewpoint. For example the customer won't agree to the price you are asking. If you drop your price you have moved to where they are in the external world. This is using external negotiating techniques, and it's cost you money.

In the same situation you might stick to your sales price but build the value of your product by changing the internal viewpoint the customer has on the value of the product. What the benefits of the product are worth to them. Nothing has happened in the external world. It's the same product at the same price. This is sales negotiation techniques used in the internal world, and it hasn't cost you a penny. External negotiation moves usually cost you money or time. Internal negotiating skills help you avoid giving discounts and making concessions. So which do you want to use?

Sales negotiation starting points

The buyer enters the negotiation stage of the sale with a viewpoint, and a set of beliefs and ideas. To negotiate in their world you want to find out where and how this starting point was formed. This will lead to you understanding their motivators and drivers. You will be able to relate to the reference points they are using to form their starting position on their map of reality.

For example, when a buyer says the price is expensive, you should first ask how they arrived at that belief. Are they comparing your price to a competitor's offer? They may not see the value they will get from the benefits you have presented. The buyer could be comparing your price against a price they presumed they would be paying. What evidence have they used to create that belief? This is one simple viewpoint that the buyer has. It has been formed by taking in information. That information could be correct or false. They could have distorted it, made generalizations, or misunderstood parts of it.

During the sales process enter their map of the world. Question their beliefs. Find out what they think they know about the product, your competitors, the cost, the value, the market. Are they basing their ideas of what the cost should be on a purchase they made five years ago? As early as the introduction and questioning stage of the sales process you can start to change their viewpoint, and stop sales objections coming up in the negotiation stage.

Now you can start negotiating

You understand the starting point and what's going on in the internal world of your customer. Now you can use internal sales negotiation techniques to move the buyer closer to agreeing a sale with you. This is where many sales people make the most common mistake when negotiating. They focus on the differences between their position and the buyer's. This just highlights the obstacles and does nothing to build a relationship on which agreements can be formed.

If you want to know how to negotiate to get the best possible outcome, start by confirming with the customer on what you agree on. What do the two starting points have in common? This is solid ground to build upon. Then move to the areas of the negotiation where you are close to an agreement. Question the buyer's position and how they formed it internally. When you know how a belief was formed you can change it.

For example, the buyer wants the product delivering this month and you can't get it to them for 2 months. Question why they want it this month. What is their motivator for wanting the delivery this month? What beliefs do they hold that make this a need on their map of the world? Now take the motivators and the beliefs, and the other information you have, and use it to negotiate on their map of reality. Find alternative ways to fit with their beliefs, or change them. Look at how you can satisfy their motivators and still get what you want from the negotiation. Is their a way to pacify the needs the buyer believes they have? Can you change their reasons behind their needs so they fit closer to what you can provide? If the buyer wants an early delivery date because they have been let down in the past, then you can change their belief about your promise rather than a physical concession in the real world.

Overcoming the major differences

When you have moved positions on the points you and the buyer were close to agreeing, but had some differences, you can work on negotiating the points you are farthest away from agreeing.

Look at what you've achieved up to this point with your negotiation techniques. You've confirmed what you had in common at the start of the negotiations. Using negotiating skills you have moved the buyer's position on some points. This has built a solid relationship that will help you with the next stages of the negotiation. You have also created a pathway for agreement. A process that has worked towards closing the deal, and will continue to work. When you summarise how much you and the buyer have come together it will make the remaining points to be discussed look small in comparison. You have achieved so much that neither you nor the buyer wants to lose what you have.

Use the same process of finding where the buyer's beliefs have come from. How they were formed, what evidence they are based on, and what the buyer really needs from them. Change the beliefs that you can, and find alternative ways to achieve the same objective for the buyer with the others. When you have used all the internal negotiation techniques you may still be left with differences that prevent the sale going ahead. This is when you start negotiating in the real world. You achieve your objectives by giving to the buyer, but always getting something in return. Each discount or concession you make should result in a step closer to closing the deal.

The sales negotiation process

You begin by understanding the buyer's starting position and how it was formed. You question their beliefs and their viewpoints. You understand their motivators, what they want from the negotiation.

The next stage is to confirm the common ground. Agree what you agree on. This forms the foundation of the negotiation relationship, and gives you both something that is worth building upon.

Now work on the negotiation points where your differences are smallest. This creates an agreement habit. It helps form a process that will be useful when you face the points of major difference. The more you agree upon, the more your customer will not want to waste what they have achieved so far.

All that remains are the points on which you have the most distance apart. But by now you have agreed so much that these points will look small on the buyer's internal map of the discussions. This is where you can start using negotiation techniques in the real external world. If you had made the common mistake of starting with these major challenges you would be facing a huge obstacle.

For more information on sales training focused on Negotiation Techniques go to http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/negotiation-techniques.html

Stephen Craine is a working sales manager and trainer for a major UK company. He uses his experience of sales, motivation training, NLP, and personal development coaching, to achieve results for himself through the achievements of others in a sales environment.

All the sales training presented here, and on the website, has been tested and proved by working sales people in real sales situations. There are no acronyms, buzz words, or complicated techniques to market training courses. The focus is on practical sales training that achieves results.

Stephen has recently teamed up with a successful clicnical hypnotherapist in Manchester uk to offer sales and career coaching to private clients and small businesses. Combining the power of hypnosis to make personal changes and overcome obstacles, with the practical experience of a professional sales coach, offers a unique training resource.

The aim is to help anyone looking to increase sales results, develop their career, or prepare for job interviews. The coachng program can also be tailored for small businesses to give them access to resources usually only avialable to large organisations.

For more free sales training and sales skills information, and to see what else might be of interest to you or your company, visit the website at http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com

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Sales Questioning Techniques and How to Use Them to Close a Sale

Do you use effective questioning techniques that discover the buyer's needs, wants, and desires, or do your customers feel bullied and interrogated? Can you get buyer's talking freely, or do they give you short answers with little content? Learn to question your buyers with effective sales skills that lead you to the benefits the buyer wants, and help you to close the sale at the same time.

Many sales courses tell the delegates to start with open questions that begin with who, what, where, when, how, and why. Think of a question about your product that starts with one of the above words. Could the question be answered with one word or just a very short sentence? Many questions starting with these words can be answered very briefly. They do not encourage the buyer to talk. A low reactor type customer will not open up when asked this style of question.

So how do you get your prospect talking and telling you about themselves, and their wants, needs, and desires. It's easy, just do what you would in casual conversation with friends. Use a question that encourages the buyer to open up and give you more than just a short answer. This is a great sales skill to have that will help you close more sales. Start your questions with, tell me about, or, give me an idea. Ask them to, build you a picture, or, describe for you. How about, explain to me, and, bring me up to speed. Think of a question about your product that starts with one of the above phrases. It should be difficult to answer with a short sentence or just one word?

The key is to get the prospect talking and then give them direction. You don't want a stop-start process that interrupts the flow of the conversation. Once you have them opening up to you, use questioning techniques that guide them to where you want them to go. Move them towards describing their needs, wants, desires, and what they are currently dissatisfied with.

The next questions to use in the sales process will give the conversation direction. These are the who, what, where, how, and when questions. They elicit more detail and give direction to the now flowing conversation. And remember, this is a conversation, not an interrogation. These sales questions should be open ended and will give you information on the more general topics brought out by the opening questions. For example, what are you looking for, when do you do that, how important is that. All in response to, and focused on, the areas raised by the prospect.

Now you want more detail on the benefits the buyer is looking for. You want to ask open sales questions, on specific subjects, to start narrowing down the information. Think of the sales questioning process like a funnel. You have started with a wide open, conversation provoking question. Then narrowed the possible answers slightly with the where, what, how, type questions. Now you close the funnel a little more and look for tighter specifics. You ask questions such as, what size, how many, who else uses it.

You can now get to the real specifics, and fill in the gaps in the information you have. Ask alternative questions like, red or blue, Monday or Wednesday. Offer specific suggestions and ideas and look for their responses. Use direct questions that require yes or no answers. When you think you have all the information on one particular subject you can check your understanding of their needs. Then summarise and look for approval and agreement.

You may have only covered one area of the needs that they gave you in response to your opening question. Think of this as one funnel that you have completed. If there are more needs areas go back and start another funnel. Do this until you have covered all the topics related to the benefits they want that your opening questions brought out. After each funnel check your understanding of what they want. When you have exhausted all the benefits and needs topics, summarise and check your understanding of all the needs, wants, and desires that you have discovered.

This also helps towards the closing of the sale. You are gaining agreement that this is what the customer wants. Depending upon your product and your market you can gain agreement from the buyer. You can ask, in your own words, that if you can provide the needs you have just summarised are they in a position to buy from you. In a market where it is appropriate, you can ask the, If I Can question. If I can provide all these benefits will you buy from me today. But only if it is suitable for your product and your marketplace. Gaining this level of commitment throughout the sale makes closing the sale so much easier. This is how top sales professionals make selling look so simple, and why they close so many sales.

The above sales questioning techniques make the sales process more pleasant for the buyer. Compare the smooth style of communication, and letting the customer talk as you guide them, with the short sharp questioning techniques used by many inexperienced sales people. When you ask a sales question that needs only a short answer you get the stop-start sales meeting. Pauses and silences, no real communication. The buyer will feel like they are being interrogated, or completing a questionnaire. When you ask several individual questions in succession the customer will feel stressed. This is because they are having to think before each answer. They feel like they are on a high pressure quiz show. When you use conversation style sales skills the customer feels relaxed, as they would in an informal setting. When you talk in a flow of communication about one topic, down one funnel at a time, there is no stress. Just an exchange of information, gently brought out using an effective sales questioning process.

For more sales training and sales tips focused on how to use sales questioning techniques go to http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com/questioning-techniques.html

Stephen Craine is a working sales manager and trainer for a major UK company. He uses his experience of sales, motivation training, NLP, and personal development coaching to achieve results for himself through the achievements of others in a sales environment.

All the sales training presented here, and on the website, has been tested and proved by working sales people in real sales situations. There are no acronyms, buzz words, or complicated techniques to market training courses. The focus is on practical sales training that achieves results in the real world.

Stephen has recently teamed up with a successful clinical hypnotherapist in Manchester uk to offer sales and career coaching to private clients and businesses. Combining the power of hypnosis to make personal changes and overcome obstacles, with the practical experience of a professional sales coach and trainer offers a unique training resource.

The aim is to help anyone looking to increase sales results, develop their career, or prepare for job interviews. The coaching program can also be tailored for businesses to give them access to resources usually only available to large organisations.

For more free sales training and sales skills information, and to see what else might be of interest to you or your company, visit the website at http://www.sales-training-sales-tips.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Sales Lead Generation: 8 Powerful B2B Sales Lead Generation Techniques To Help You Reach Your Sales

Most of the fastest growing B2B companies do not rely solely on just one sales lead generation method. They have a complete arsenal of sales lead generation tools at their fingertips, that they can use at any given time.

Here are my eight proven B2B sales leads generation techniques gleaned from helping over 170 B2B companies reach their sales prospects:

1. Sales lead generation using relationship marketing

Relationship Marketing is the approach underlying all of the "sales-lead-generation-success" methods. Relationship marketing simply refers to cultivating a personal, sales-winning relationship with your prospects. It's about developing longer-term relationships with customers rather than individual transactions.

During my 20+ years of experience in B2B sales lead generation, I've discovered the key to picking up sales others leave on the table is to keep in touch with your prospects via a series of ongoing communications and offers throughout your prospective customers' consideration processes.

2. Sales lead generation through complementary partner referrals

By joining forces with complementary partners, you can instantly multiply your sales lead generation pool and make it easier for companies to engage in doing business with you. Out of all the sales lead generation programs available to you, complementary partner referral programs can generate the highest qualified B2B sales leads.

3. Sale lead generation using search engine optimization and Internet marketing strategies

Business buyers are more sophisticated and getting harder to reach than ever. Studies show that about 90% of business buyers start with research on the Internet, therefore it's critical to have a well-tuned sales lead generation program that includes search engine optimization (SEO)/Internet marketing strategies to attract prospects at the beginning of their buying cycle.

4. Sales lead generation via telemarketing

Even though many people despise the thought of telemarketing, when executed properly it is a very effective sales lead generation tool. Telemarketing is a personal marketing and sales lead generation technique that offers a cost-effective, efficient alternative to field selling. However, it can be significantly more expensive than direct mail or email.

By including telemarketing in your B2B sales lead generation marketing plan, you can reach up to thirty decision-makers a day at a cost of $15 to $20 per contact. In contrast, with field sales you can reach only four or five decision-makers a day at an average cost of $392 or more per contact. Direct mail may cost as little as a dollar, and email is often much less. However, if you consistently prospect and nurture leads via phone, you will consistently generate qualified sales leads.

5. Sales lead generation with email publications

By creating your own email newsletter, you could send out industry news and tips to suspects in your market. Since you will be on your prospects' minds more often than your competition, eventually, your sales leads will turn into actual sales.

If you subscribe to my e-newsletter, Sales Lead Report, you will see an example of an email publication that keeps my name and business in front of over 8,000 people every month.

6. Sales Lead Generation With Direct Mail

There is an entire industry of people like Dan Kennedy, Bob Bly, and Bill Glazer who are dedicated to business-to-business selling through direct marketing. Sales letters can be an excellent sales lead generation method. But, most sales and business professionals do not know how to use this lead generation technique effectively and efficiently.

The complaint is a common one among B2B companies that depend on direct mail and direct response marketing as their only sales lead generation program: "I'm sick of spending a fortune to send out thousands of full-color catalogs and direct-mail pieces only to get a measly 1% response rate. How can I cut costs and find a more practical way to get my target market to respond to my direct mail or catalogs?"

My clients have found that the best place to start revamping their direct response marketing is by determining who their best customers are, then trying to target their database marketing efforts at companies and individuals who are similar in nature.

7. Sales Lead Generation Using Print Advertising

When done correctly, print advertising can be a highly effective sales lead generation activity. When using print advertising as your B2B sales leads generation method, you must remember to focus your advertising's message on the benefits and applications of your products or services. Then let the layout and design of your ads enhance your company's image. And, don't forget to only use publications that deliver messages directly to your targeted audience.

8. Sales Lead generation via Event Marketing

Whether you do it live, through the telephone (teleseminars) or via the Web (webinars), seminars and workshops are a great sales lead generation tool. People who attend your seminar have an interest in the information you are presenting and a need for your product or service.

The goal: Connect with customers in a meaningful way

By using these eight proven B2B sales leads generation methods gleaned from helping over 170 B2B companies reach their prospects, you will capture more sales-ready opportunities for your salespeople to turn into new business, meaning greater sales revenue and profits for your company.

As one of today?s leading business-to-business marketing consultants, M. H. ?Mac? McIntosh uses the latest in lead-multiplying tactics and strategies that are working NOW to drive up leads and sales. As an expert on the subject of B2B lead generation, he can help you increase your bottom line by converting more sales leads into actual sales. Get his Free Sales Lead Report® newsletter at http://www.sales-lead-experts.com

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Sales Management Techniques That Can Bring Results And Keep A Sales Manager Focused

The position of sales manager often comes with multiple responsibilities. Each of which has a direct affect on the success of the organization.

The sales manager is frequently an active sales person, as well as an administrator. He or she must make sure quotas are being met, margins are in line, pipelines are full, salespersons are making their calls and individuals are realistically matched to their positions and territories.

An effective sales manager realizes that a person's behavior is the key to success.

How a salesperson behaves towards his or her responsibilities has a direct link to results.

The individual who constantly complains about the state of the market, lack of leads and referrals, inability to get to the decision maker, etc. is usually better at making excuses than making sales.

The quandary for the sales manager is...how long should he or she put up with ineffective behavior?

In order to answer that question, the sales manager must first look at the reporting structure that he or she has put in place for the entire sales team.

All sales teams should meet at least twice a month. I prefer once a week. And each sales person must be ready to report his or her results to everyone in the room (or on the conference call). One easy way to hold each person accountable, while enabling them to communicate weekly progress efficiently, is to use that good old stand-by...paper.

At the weekly meeting each person should present his or her weekly "cookbook" or call sheet for the previous week. The sheet is broken into two different categories, one is titled Prospects and the other is titled Existing Clients. The two large categories are then sub-divided into smaller areas. Under Prospects, the column headings may read:

Calls/Contacts (which would include telephone calls, e-mails, etc.), Conversations (this measures how many calls and contacts actually turned into discussions, either on the phone, through e-mail, or one-on-one conversations), Appointments, Meetings Held, Networking Events Attended and Sales Closed. Under the Existing Clients category the headings may read the same with a few twists, such as, Reorders, Stop-by Visits, etc. Each column is then divided into rows, one for each day of the week.

These "cookbooks" instruct the salesperson to list his or her goals for the week at the top of each column heading. During the week the salesperson puts a hash mark for each call, appointment, meeting, etc. that they have accomplished. The sales closed category, however, has the dollar figure for each particular sale. I also advise clients to keep a separate sheet for each day of the week, in order to list the names of the individuals called or contacted and with whom the salesperson had conversations.

At the sales meeting, each person photocopies and hands out his or her sheet to the others in attendance. This leads to accountability by one's peers and allows each individual to measure his or her results against those of the others in the group. It is vitally important that everyone is non-judgmental. The sales manager ultimately holds judgment, however at the weekly sales meetings people should be able to ask for help, find out how those who are consistently producing do so, and learn techniques to improve the production.

It is also important that attendees understand that communication is not limited to the weekly meetings, but that help is available, in fact encouraged at all times.

In addition to paper "cookbooks" the use of Customer Relations Software should also be used to add depth to the interactive salesperson/client/prospect relationship.

All customer or prospect conversations, sales, and other interactions with anyone within your organization's sales or customer service process should be entered and summarized to enable the sales team, including inside salespeople, sales managers, new salespersons, customer service representatives and others within the company to have a complete understanding as to the current situation with every client or prospect. This includes specific problems, new orders, satisfactory comments, etc.

Besides the "cookbook" another effective tool is the "pipeline" sheet. This paper is used to report what prospects are in the salesperson's revenue pipeline. The headings on this sheet may read, Company (or individual), Potential Sale (in dollars), Possibility of Sale (in percentages), Contact Person, Last Contact Date, and Next Step.

This weekly sheet should also be photocopied and distributed by each salesperson to the others on the team. The "pipeline" sheet gives a snapshot of potential revenues and new clients. It is also a valuable tool in easing potential rough spots that a salesperson may be encountering. By laying out prospective companies and contacts one salesperson may find that another team member may have an alternate means of securing the sale.

These two sheets are also concise measuring devices for the sales manager. They permit a clear view of a salesperson's behavior as it applies to his or her consistency at following the techniques necessary in order to build a solid business.

While the revenue results may vary, the sales manager can see how new salespeople are performing on his or her way to growth and greater revenues and how longer tenured salespeople are performing in and out of his or her comfort zone.

With the weekly "cookbook" and "pipeline" sheets a sales manager will, over a defined period of time, be able to see who is, or has, the potential to produce, and who doesn't.

These results and results indicator tools can then be used to decide which salespeople to terminate and which salespeople to keep and grow with.

A sales manager's greatest tools are the ability to motivate, communicate with and support his or her team members, as well as measure the results of the salespeople under his or her guidance and the ability to construct a timeline for the success the team and its members. Once processes are put in place, so that decisions can be quantified and qualified, the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article becomes easy.

How long should a sales manager put up with ineffective behavior?

As long as the results and the behavior associated with them, within the timeline allotted, indicate it's time to let the person go.

One last thought. If you are a one-person organization, the tools mentioned in this article work equally as well to measure your own productivity, goals desired and achieved, prospects to contact, sales made, etc. You are your own sales manager and while you're not apt to fire yourself you may find that you need help in the form of adding another person, finding a partner, creating a symbiotic relationship with another firm, or getting coaching or training to overcome your weaknesses and increase you strengths.

The best thing is...it's all there in black and white!

Dan Goldberg, MBA, is President of Dan Goldberg Consulting L.L.C. a training, coaching and business development firm located in the Philadelphia, PA area. He is the founder and former owner of "For Eyes" the highly successful international optical company and an internationally recognized keynote speaker. Dan is the author of the book "Stand Back A Second, Just don't fall off the edge," and of "The Six Steps To Solid Sales Success" and "The Seven Elements Of Successful Management" programs. He is Executive-In-Residence at Kutztown University and has been the subject of stories in Newsweek, Business Week, Playboy, Successful Business, Investor?s Business Daily, major newspapers in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, Baltimore, Miami, San Francisco, Oakland, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles and many other national and local publications. In addition, Dan has appeared on Good Morning America and other national and local television and radio programs. You can contact him at dg@dangoldberg.com, visit his website at http://www.dangoldberg.com or reach him at (215) 233-5352

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Turning Sales Techniques Into Sales Success!

The goal of all sales training is not just to teach solid selling principles and techniques, but to actually help participants increase the number of new accounts (products and/or services) they sell and improve their multiple sales ratios. Unfortunately, many sales and service industry professionals gain an intellectual awareness of the methods of selling from the sales training they receive, yet fail to improve their bottom line sales results by systematically using the concepts in their daily transactions. See my article, The Processionary Caterpillar Syndrome Costs You Sales?

There are a number of methods you can use to move beyond an intellectual awareness of sound sales techniques. By applying some of these ideas, you can begin to see a steady improvement in the number and scope of your sales transactions. These concepts can help any sales professional drill-for-skill the vital selling principles needed to become a sales leader. Really all it takes to be successful in sales is just a little practice and perseverance.

Give Yourself Permission To Succeed

To become a sales leader in any kind of business only requires that you give yourself permission to succeed. In sales, as in every endeavor in life, it is your attitude not your attributes that count. There is no reason you can not be extremely successful at selling your company's products and services, if you make up your mind to do the job.

William James, a Harvard Professor and the man many view as the father of American Psychology, wrote in 1895:

"The greatest discovery of my generation is, that a human being can alter his circumstances in life by altering his attitude of mind."

James also gave people a formula for achieving an altered attitude of mind. He simply told them to "act as if" they were already successful and this act alone could make them successful. If you act as if you have changed or act like a different person, according to James, you must change or become a different person. If a sales professional acts as if she can sell, her sales ratios and product account closings can do nothing but improve.

By releasing your "inner brakes" and seeing yourself using the sales and customer service techniques you have learned, you can become extremely successful in your efforts to sell your company's products and services. If you want to consistently produce multiple sales transactions, just let yourself go and you will start to see the success you are seeking. You have the right to be successful. The only thing that can stop your improvement and ultimate success is yourself. Tell yourself that it is all right to produce outstanding sales results; and then, begin envisioning the success you expect to achieve.

Use Affirmations To Produce Success

To help you consistently execute the sales techniques you have learned, use affirmations to change the way you think and perform. Affirmations can also help release your internal breaking system.

We gravitate to our dominant thought patterns. By using affirmations ("I can," "I am," etc.), you can create dominant thoughts about specific sales methods that will help you to move away from your fears (the fear of failure or of looking foolish) toward successful sales transactions. Write down a series of positive affirmations about the sales process or a specific technique. Then read them over until you create the dominant thought patterns that produce success.

As we teach in all of our Sales Success workshops and discuss in detail in our published training material, it is vital to your sales success that you regularly affirm your selling skills and visualize successful transactions using the techniques you have learned. To succeed you must see yourself as one of your company's top sales producers by regularly performing mental dress rehearsals for the position.

Repeat The Technique Until It Is Yours

As you are taught new sales techniques you need to practice them on the job as well as in your mind, until you can use them in each transaction without even thinking about their use. We call this level of sales proficiency "unconscious competence."

Many sales professionals, try a new sales approach only once or twice before rejecting it out of hand or deciding that it will not work for them. True professionals; however, diligently practice a new sales concept until they can execute it without even thinking about it. This approach (going beyond an intellectual knowledge of a sales method) sets top producers apart and can be seen in their extraordinary closing and multiple sales success. It is also quite noticeable in their pay checks as well!

Role-playing at each new sales technique with a co-worker is a powerful way to gain the ability to consistently use these concepts on the job. Remember; however, that practice does not make perfect. Only "perfect practice" makes perfect. So as you practice with other employees, try to be as accurate as you can in the execution of a given sales concept.

Set aside some time each working day to drill in the sales concepts you have been taught. Take them one at a time and master each one. It might surprise you how much more you will enjoy coming to work when you become truly proficient in building sales and long term customer relationships for your company.

Saturate Your Mind

Saturate your mind with sales and motivational materials. As you do this, you will move from an intellectual understanding of the sales techniques to a daily working knowledge of the methods you need to succeed, and you will have more than just an occasional thought about what you are trying to accomplish. What is needed to help you change your behavior is a constant positive saturation of your mind by reading over the materials you have been given or the notes you have taken on the subject.

In his tapes, The Psychology of Selling, Brian Tracy tells his listeners that one of the best methods to increase sales success is to read then reread one of the best books on sales for 30 minutes each day. He feels this type of saturation will have a tremendous impact on the sales activity of an individual. Research from Stanford University indicates that you can learn more from reading the same book six times than you can from reading 40 books on the same subject.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Outstanding sales results come to those sales professionals who correctly follow and apply sound sales principles. They won't do the work for you but they will lighten your load and give you an edge. All it takes to be successful at selling your company's products is to want to improve the way you perform, see yourself using new selling techniques, give yourself permission to use the concepts and regularly practice them until they become second nature.

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by the Thompson Learning, Crisp Learning division. He has also authored a Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides. Check them out at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/Book1.htm.

Virden teaches for the Center For Professional Development, Texas Tech University at Lubbock, Texas and in the School Of Entrepreneurship, J. Willard And Alice S. Marriott School Of Management at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. You can contact Virden at: Virden@TheSellingEdge.com. or learn more about him at: http://TheSellingEdge.com

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SMM 2-3 Proven Sales Management Techniques to Establish Trust With Your Salespeople

On this week's episode of Sales Management Mastery we're going to talk about what's in it for you to placing deposits in the trust account, plus three proven methods to establish trust with your salespeople so that you can drive your company's sales revenues.

Today we're going to talk to you about the shear importance of why this is such a critical part of your overall sales management strategy. Whether or not you are a new sales manager, a tenured sales manager, a business owner listening to this, who has a bunch of sales managers that report to you, VP of Sales, CEO, establishing trust with your front line salespeople is important with your front line sales people is a part of good sales leadership but also great sales motivation, and everything sort of flows from it. And it's the first thing that you need to do is establish that trust or re-establish it. On this show we are going to give you three proven techniques that will allow you not only to re-establish or establish trust so that you can drive your company's sales revenue.

And our real goal here is to give you some honest, straight forward techniques and strategies that really do work. Everything that we're really going to be talking about on this show really comes back to this basic foundation of trust. And think about it as you are building a house. Trust is the foundation. You can't really build the house, and start putting up walls, or doing any other work on the house, unless you have a strong foundation first. So you have to dig it out, pour the foundation, and that's really what the trust account is all about.

Today we're going to give you 3 tactics to use in order to establishing that trust.
Whether you're an old sales manager or a new sales manager or any other person involved in a sales organization, it's extremely critical for you to establish that trust so that they don't tune you out, and tune into your sales message.

You've probably been asking yourself, "What are these trust accounts going to do for me?" at least for right now. And that's quite alright because when I first learned this concept, and then refined it through years of being a sales manager is that it was a relatively new concept because I had I thought that as soon as I became a Sales Manager that all I'd need to do start dictating and telling people would do. And I failed miserably, and it was the worst six months of my life because I realized that people don't listen to because of what you tell them, they listen to you because of how it resonates with them.

That message that you're given to your sales reps whether it is a leadership message, a motivational message, a management message; only resonates with them if they trust you enough to tune into you.

And we're going to talk about tuning into the right frequency with your sales people and those sorts of things in later shows. But it turns out that producing great sales results has everything to do with trust.

What stands out to you most when you mention "trust account"? It's that first word: trust. And trust is that one sole element that just can't be absent in a relationship between anyone, whether in your personal or professional life.

But especially between a sales manager and a sales rep because sales reps, if you've been a sales rep, and have worked your way through the ranks, you know that you wanted to do things on your own, in your own way. And you always felt like you had the best answers to most of the questions. The best sales reps are open to suggestions, but in order to be open to those suggestions, they have to come from a credible and trustworthy source and that's what we're trying to establish.

As the saying goes: trust is the glue that binds people together in groups because it's that thing that holds us together. If you ever had friends, or business associates that you couldn't trust or they breached your trust you either didn't want to do business with them, or you started to tune them out.

So it's sort of a fragile balance as a sales manager, and as a management professional to make sure that you are always putting deposits in the trust account.

Because trust is hard to earn, it's easy to lose, and when it's lost it's nearly impossible to regain. And that's the reality of human interaction. So we have to be careful not to make large withdrawals from that trust account, and constantly make steady deposits instead.

Forming a relationship built on trust allows your sales reps to act so that the rules of the game aren't constantly changing.

Then they know that your message is going to be consistent and that they trust what you're saying then they know that there's some stability in what you're saying and what you're doing. They know that your actions are consistent and congruent to what your words are. And if those to things are off, if your actions are different from what you're saying, then you end up losing trust.

And when you have consistent actions with consistent words that you are dictating to your sales people, it encourages peace of mind. And when your sales reps have peace of mind, they become willing to exert extra effort and place themselves on the line for you, and the team, and the organization in general. Peace of mind is very, very important and that's why establishing trust is so critical.

First establish trust then reinforce that trust by looking for the smallest opportunities to make deposits into those trust accounts. There are lots of ways to do it such as praising them for job well done is one way to do it. But there are many, many ways that you can do this.
And the beauty of it is that when you are making deposits in the trust account you are also motivating. We are going to talk a lot about motivating in this pod cast, but specifically trust has a foundation of motivation. If your sales reps don't trust you, and you are constantly taking withdrawals from the trust account, then your motivational powers are significantly reduced.

If you are consistently enhancing that trust, then your motivational powers as a leader are greatly enhanced. So it really is a parallel concept in motivation.

Another thing to keep in mind when you're talking about establishing trust is to always treat your sales rep as the end unto themselves. And what this is separates the men from the boys. Never treat them as a means to an end. They are not just a tool for you to get what you want. They are the journey; they are not the end point or the destination. So treat them as an end unto themselves. When you start to use your sales reps, then the sales reps will start tuning those sales managers out. So creating trust is very important, it encourages peace of mind, and it is a very critical way to motivate and lead your team to where you need them to be.

Let's get into 3 proven methods to establishing trust with your sales team.

The first is to evoke the law of reciprocity. The law of reciprocity is a rule that states this:

If you do something nice for someone, then human nature dictates that the recipient will feel compelled to do something nice for you in return. It is in essence, you reap what you sow. And this is an irrefutable law that you should teach your sales people as a sales technique. It's particularly effective because human nature dictates that at the precise moment that you do something nice for someone, the other person feels compelled to return the favor. This is just a law of human nature,

If you do something for them, then they do something nice for you in return.
I had a neighbor the other day take in my trash barrels because I was late getting home. And you know what I am going to do next week? I am going to take in his trash barrels. That's the law of reciprocity. We are using this principal in order to establish trust, with the goal of driving sales.

So, we aren't manipulating this rule, we are just using it to our advantage. And that's really what this whole show is about, it's talking about the laws of human psychology and how we can use them to get what we want which is success for your organization.

So be careful on this one, however, not to call this out as soon as you do it. There's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. You can't say, now that I've done this for you, what are you going to do for me! I know people that do that, unfortunately, and it's really annoying. And it makes you not want to do anything for them again because it isn't a win-win situation, you just keep giving.

You will eventually get more in return. Don't keep tabs, don't keep score because its really important not to do that because when the time is right they will repay you, you don't have to ask for it or keep score, this is what the law of reciprocity is all about.

So the idea is to do something that allows them to feel that they must do something for you in return, so be subtle and don't dictate. You can do this all the time with your sales people. The most important part of this law is to remember that reciprocity is implicit, meaning that it is implied, it's not something you should call out on.

If my neighbor said, "Gee, I brought in your barrels they other day, what are you going to do for me?", then that's not reciprocity, that is negotiation. That is not what we are talking about. We are talking about doing things for people that will help them, because usually it comes back to you and usually it comes back even more than what you've given.

If you've ever read the book the "The Go Giver", I highly recommend you picking it up, by Bob Berg and John David Mann, it is a tremendous book about the Law of Reciprocity in essence. In this particular case we are using this law to get the best out of our sales people or for your sales managers to use this law to get the best out of their sales reps.

So number 2 in our proven methods to establishing trust is:

Let the Sales Rep take all of the credit for all of the good stuff.

Harry Truman said, "People always perform well if you don't worry about who takes the credit". You as a sales manager, have to make sure your sales managers understand this, if a sales rep goes out and makes a sale and the sales manager is out on the call, and comes back to the office and tells everyone how HE made the sale, how great do you think the initiative and motivation will be for that sales rep to go out and do the same? If he's a very good sales person he'll continue to go out and do the same.

But, is he really motivated to start telling people and makes himself feel good about what he's done when he knows that the sales manager is trying to take the credit?

So don't worry about who takes the credit. Your sales managers get paid for how well the sales people do. In most organizations there is a tie in to bonuses and incentive compensation.

Never take the credit for the good work of the sales people. Remember, one time in your career, you were probably a pretty good sales person, maybe you're an entrepreneur and your built your business, you got promoted into management, you brought in new business, maybe you won a bunch of awards, and you had lots of individual glory. But they way to get the best out of as a sales manager, is not to put yourself in the spotlight. It is to put the sales person in the spotlight, and even give them undue credit for things. We will talk about how to lead and coach.

The time for individual glory really has passed. Your role is to look good by helping others get results for themselves.

Your job, getting results through others, is not getting direct results on your own. Unless your structure is completely different, but in 99% of the cases, and the members to our Academy Program, the sales managers lead, and the pay and compensation and bonus is tied into how effective the sales person is.

The glory for you comes as the proud manager or the proud business owner, who watches from the sidelines when sales people go out and do it on their own. Sales people need a lot of ego gratification, because there's a lot of crap that they are dealing with out there, so give them the credit for the good stuff, it will just help establish more trust in that trust account, and it also motivates them at the same time. Motivating and trust account depositing are very much intertwined.

The better your sales people perform, and the more they do it own their own, the better you and your company look. If you're a new sales manager this is probably really hard to change. I really do think that sales is an ego driven vocation, without question. Have confidence in your own competence to perform as a great sales manager on your own, don't feel insecure or threatened by the work of your people, because the better they look, you are going to look more and more brilliant because they are bringing in more business under your tutelage.

Let them take all the glory, and when you do you're putting more deposits in the trust account. In the end your trust account balance will be overflowing. The biggest balance at the end of the day wins because that's the sales manager with the biggest balance has the most motivated sales people.

Number 3 in our proven methods to establish trust with your sales people:

No one likes to be told what to do, but suggest instead.

I've never known anyone, and personally for myself I hate to be told what to do, that's why I started my own business, and became an entrepreneur is because I couldn't take direction very well. I was a sales person for many years and didn't like to be told what to do. My wife is in sales too and she doesn't like to be told what to do, especially by me. People love to thing that they are in control, they love to think that are in control at all times.

If they are being told what to do all the time;

They'll be plenty of times that you'll have to tell your sales people, no question about it in not uncertain terms, what they need to do in a give situation. There will be times for it. How you say it, is the most important part, and it's not the fact that you have to tell them what to do, because you are going to have to tell them sometimes, but How are you going to do it? That's how you can put more in the trust account and motivate them at the same time.

Ben Franklin once said, he's one of the greatest statesmen of the modern era, and proven sales man, having built many business and retired a very wealthy man, would advocate, "When at all possible, avoid giving direct orders."

If you're a new sales manager, this is going to be tough to do, because you going to want to tell everybody what to do, but avoid giving direct orders when at all possible.
Never dictate, or decree, instead imply or make suggestions. This is a great way to put more deposits in trust account, and motivate and empower your sales people too. Remember, one of the things that we want to do is create a high performance, low maintenance sales team.

You want to be off doing other things; planning strategy, helping yourself get promoted, you want to be looking at the thirty thousand foot view; you don't want to have to do the job of your sales people especially if you're running a big company and all of those sales people report to you.

Instead of telling them what to do, request, imply or make suggestions.

Instead of saying, I want you to go to the O'Neil account and tell them x,y, z."

Change that slightly and say, "It might be a good idea if you went to the O'Neil account and..."

Or maybe say something like this, "If I were you I would do this at the O'Neil account..."

Or another one, "You may want to consider talking to the O'Neil account and saying this..."

The sales rep listens to that and says, okay, he's not dictating to me what to do, but he's giving me a suggestion and I'm going to decide whether it is the right thing to do.

You want to empower these people, and motivate them and lead them, and coach them and establish trust with them by doing little things like this. It's not in what you say; it's in how you say it.

Here's another great suggestion, if circumstances call for you to absolutely make a suggestion instead of telling them what to do, or correcting them immediately, replace your normal response with just an answer to, "okay, can I make a suggestion?" or "May I make a suggestion", this just softens them up the dictating part of telling them what to do part of your job.

This method is far more effective, and less dictatorial than saying, "No no no...what you need to do is this..."

Now if the sales rep is brand new, and they don't know what they don't know, they just came out of training, yes, you have to tell them what to do. But gradually over time, you're going to wean them off of that, your not going to tell them as much. Remember high performance, low maintenance sales people is what you want to have. Then you as a sales manager, you as a GM, sales become more and more on auto pilot because your sales people are doing things automatically.

Once you actually make a suggestion, then if they don't do it, then you could always come back to that after and say, "hey I thought we agreed that you would do this". So the key word in the sentence is "we" decision instead of a "you" did this decision, the sales person memory is refreshed with that interaction that you have come to this point together, not just you as their boss. So they feel far more empowered, and they've taken ownership of the decision. Taking ownership is a very, very powerful technique in producing high performance low maintenance sales people.

So just as a review.

1. Evoke the law of reciprocity
2. Let the sales rep take all the credit for the good stuff
3. No one likes to be told what to do, suggest instead

To learn more about sales management training courses, click here to get your choice of free sales management training.

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Sales Techniques - Know What to Do to Increase Sales When Sending Literature

When you send sales literature in the post your job is only just starting not ending. Make sure you know how to develop this to make the sale. 

All too frequently sales people spend an inordinate amount of time posting out literature to prospective clients and customers. Generally it is because they do not know how to deal with the sales objection "put something in the post". See my recent article here to find out the best ways to deal with that. Even when the other person is really interested in receiving your information, do not kid yourself they will be sat eagerly waiting for it to drop through the door the next day.

The trouble is, life and business have a habit of taking over and getting in the way. Between speaking to you on the phone a hundred things could sabotage your chances of your information being read. The other persons PA could have resigned, the company could have just won/lost a big contract, there could have been a whole stack of inter company reports land on their desk - you get the idea!

So what should you do?

Firstly, ensure that they really wanted the information in the first place by asking a few questions around the relevance to them and their business. Once you have done this you can then put a yellow/orange post it note on the cover of the literature which reads something like:

"Jane, based on our discussion, I think you should jump right into pages 3, 6 and 9. They should show you the way that other have solved the challenge you are facing"

Never, ever, ever ring up to ask "I'm just checking you have received the information!". This is a horrible waste of your time and more importantly the time of your prospective client. It is as bad as opening with "Jane, I'm desperate for the commission - you buying yet!"

So what can you do to follow up?

Here is one that I have used successfully. Send something in the literature that you have not discussed and that is highly relevant to them. It could be a free report,some technical information or some case studies. This gives you a reason to call back like this:

"Hi Jane, I just wanted to make sure I explained why I added the extra information in because I thought it was relevant in this area......... If you have 30 secs  I can point it out. Why don't you grab it and I will walk you through it"

This is natural and serves to continue the relationship. The other side benefit is that it gets your information from inside the pile of other information on your prospects desk and in their hands. When you finish your conversation it will end up back on the pile - but at the top.

There are more top sales tips like this in every issue of my our sales newsletter. Sign up below.

Why not sign Up for '21st Century Selling' - The Bi-weekly Sales and Marketing Newsletter. It's easy to sign up for and it's jam packed with Information to help you make more sales. Use the Easy Sign Up box at Sales Training Also - Have a look at the latest Sales Videos, Techniques and Ideas at the Sales DNA Blog - Sales Blog

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Easy link building techniques

If you spend more than twenty minutes on any of the large webmaster forums, you are likely to find a lot of posts and threads related to link building since this is a great way to improve a site’s search engine placement. Of course, link building is only one part of a successful SEO strategy, but typically gaining a lot of quality backlinks doesn’t cost a penny and requires only time and perseverance.

How can you build backlinks and increase your website traffic for free?

Write an e-book: believe it or not, you don’t have to be a professional writer in order to write a quality e-book that other people would find informative and useful. Almost everyone is an expert in one field or another: find a topic that you know about and that you are passionate about, find what most people want to know about this topic, take the time to do some research, and finally put together an e-book. Make sure that you link to your main site or a few of its pages from within the text and as long as your e-book is of good value, you will soon discover other people linking to your site from their own blogs or forums. You may also submit your eBook to sites like clickbank. That way you do not only increase income potential, but the affiliates will also have to link to your site when they direct their traffic to your money page. This will, of course, strengthen your website in the search engines resulting in even more traffic and customers.

Write articles and submit them to the article directories: there must be thousands of article directories out there that will gladly publish your well-written articles. It is up to you to narrow down the list to a manageable size, then write articles, submit them, and use this as part of your link building and SEO long-term strategy. The top article directories also rank very well on the search engines and if one of your articles starts receiving good amount of search engine traffic, at least some of the people that read it are likely to visit your site as well. Most internet marketers know about do-follow article directories like ezinearticles, articlesbase and isnare which are among the best article sites out there, but too few publish their content on Buzzle. In my experience Buzzle and ezinearticles are the two strongest article directories in terms of ranking the best in Google.

Offer quality content on your own website: the majority of people are getting online when they need to search for information, for a product to buy, or to entertain themselves. No matter what your site is all about, quality content is likely to keep people coming back, but is also a great way of link building: if you have a computer-related blog, write detailed and up-to date article on anti-virus protection, include a few links to the best anti-virus protection software, and you are likely to get dozens if not hundreds of links from various computer forums, blogs, and websites. Search engines are becoming smarter and smarter and if you browse the net you will probably notice that sites with good quality content rank better in the SERPs. As an example there are thousands of article directories on the net, but those that rank the best, like Ezinearticles and Buzzle, are those with the highest quality criteria. Those sites will manually approve your content and proper English is a requirement.

Submit your website link to directories and social bookmarking sites: you might hear people saying that this is an outdated link building technique, but they are wrong. Of course, the search engines give less weight to such links compared to a few years ago, but this is still an easy way of getting quality links and getting direct traffic as well. Don’t get lured by the services that offer sending your link to thousands of directories for just a few dollars: out of these thousands of directories, only a few dozen are actually worth submitting to and you can easily create your own list. Here are a few quality social bookmarking sites I use: stumbleupon.com, digg.com, propeller.com, del.icio.us, reddit.com, folkd.com, diigo.com, mixx.com and newsvine.com.

RSS feed directories: Although utilized by many link builders, it is not commonly known that submitting your site to RSS feed directories is an actual link building technique. Submitting your site to those will indeed help your new post get noticed by the search engines, but many of them actually creates a valid back link too. Sites like feedage.com, rssmountain.com and feedagg.com are high page rank sites willing to link directly to your site.

Link building, however, is more than just knowing how and where to build links it is also important to actually do it the right way. Timing is the keyword. You need links from a variety of sites like directories, blogs, social bookmarking, article sites etc. otherwise big G will regard your efforts as manipulation of SERPs. What I usually do is to build links slow but steady starting with a few social bookmarkings, then a few link directories. Do never use any software to make your job an easier task. Google will know if you have been using software like Onlywire.com. You WILL need to write unique title and descriptions for all your social bookmarks and link directories. If you use blog commenting make sure that the blogs are relevant. The next step is to create blogs and publish articles together with press releases. This technique has the greatest effects if used long term. Do not suddenly stop creating blog / web 2.0 networks, it will seem suspicious in the eyes of Google. Instead slow down your activity for a while before quitting. Here are some do-follow web 2.0 sites I use with high page rank: WordPress.com, Weebly.com, Squidoo.com, Hubpages.com, Blogger.com, Livejournal.com, Vox.com, Quizilla.com and Blinkweb.com. I have also found Yola.com sites to rank pretty well.

SEO strategies change constantly, but this shouldn’t discourage you from looking for new and better ways to build true backlinks to your site and it is almost certain that persistence and hard work will pay off sooner or later.

Guest post by Ronni Rebsdorf

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