Social Skills 101

You Can’t Scream Loud Enough

You Can’t Scream Loud Enough

I can’t help but be reminded of Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, every time I speak with a salesperson or professional who is complaining about the ineffectiveness of their marketing.

In the painting, Munch places a man on a bridge, hands to mouth, screaming as loudly as he can. Behind him, the land, river, and sky are painted with undulating and swirling strokes evoking the feeling of motion. On the bridge behind the man a couple are walking, seemingly without the least interest in the screaming man in front of them. Munch uses dark colors throughout the painting—red sky, dark blue river, brown and blue unwelcoming land. One gets the feeling the man isn’t yelling at a particular someone, rather he is screaming to be heard by anyone. And you come away with the distinct impression his effort is futile. He screams his head off; yet not a soul hears.

Who would have thought at the time Munch finished his painting in the late 19th century that he was such a Nostradamian visionary that he was actually painting a portrait of a 21st century salesperson?

Marketing for most salespeople has become nothing more than a futile attempt to get someone—anyone–to hear over all the marketing noise created by the millions of other salespeople screaming just as loudly—and futilely, as themselves.

For most salespeople marketing is nothing more than a desperate attempt to scream louder than anyone else.

Salespeople and companies seek to strengthen their voice by doing more of what they’re doing. Need more business? Up the cold calls. Not enough response? Fax that flier to more companies. Can’t be heard? Triple the number of unsolicited emails you’re sending (SPAM when we receive it, “important information” when we’re the one sending it).

The issue isn’t the number of cold calls or how many unsolicited emails you can get out in the course of a day. It isn’t a matter that salespeople aren’t trying to be heard; most are working their tails off. And it isn’t a matter of salespeople not targeting the right prospects. Many salespeople have narrowed they target list to only prospects who fit well within the salesperson’s ideal prospect profile.

The issue is prospects don’t want to hear. They’ve developed their own White Noise to block out the constant, unrelenting racket of the marketing messages. A growing number of consumers, both individuals and businesses, are consciously choosing to ignore salespeople. They’ve developed their own mental Bose noise-canceling headset that allows them to block out any incoming marketing message.

Consumers have learned they no longer need salespeople to supply product and service information or for purchasing guidance. Salespeople, with their biased, commission-influenced sales spiel need no longer be tolerated.

Obviously, these consumers know they need information. They know they need guidance and help in making their purchasing decisions. However, a rapidly growing number want what they believe to be objective, unbiased information on which to base their decisions. Whether they are looking for an electronic gadget or the most sophisticated financial product, service, or strategy, these consumers want real information, not a sales pitch. They want to be educated on their options and possible strategies, not sold a product or service.

Yet, salespeople by the millions are still trying to sell. While these prospects are searching the internet, reading articles and books, listening to cable TV and talk radio shows about how to analyze and solve their problems or meet their needs, salespeople are still trying to gain their attention through an unwelcome cold call or a pitch on a direct mail piece.

We now live in a world dominated by information. Quality, expert generated information is everywhere. Experts are on TV and radio daily pontificating on everything from the most mundane consumer need to the most complex business problem. Experts write articles for thousands of on-line and print publications and publish books that address virtually every interest, need, or problem an individual or business consumer could ever possibly face. They present at seminars and workshops sponsored by known, respected, objective organizations and associations, educating those in attendance on even the most obscure issues. And they write non-sales or marketing oriented blogs and whitepapers, both free to anyone who wants to read them. And if you somehow manage to miss them in these media, they are quoted as authorities in news reports.

While prospects are doing their homework, many salespeople aren’t. While prospects are listening to those they perceive to be experts, salespeople are screaming into thin air. While prospects are buying, salespeople aren’t selling because they can’t catch the attention of anyone to sell to.

Nevertheless, there are individual salespeople in every industry selling more today than they have ever sold before. They’ve broken through the White Noise barrier and have found ways to actually communicate with prospective buyers. They’ve learned to communicate with prospects in a manner prospects will accept. They’ve learned to take selling and turn it into education, which eventually comes back as a sale.

These men and women who have moved beyond the worn out clichés of personal marketing such as cold calling, faxing fliers, and sending unwanted emails, have chosen to embrace and participate in providing the educational information consumers are thirsting for. They thus remove themselves from the ranks of salespeople–who prospects believe are to be avoided, and have moved into the realm of the expert–who prospects embrace as an honest and unbiased provider of information and guidance.

By moving their marketing from a “sales” format, to an education, real information, expert authority platform, these salespeople have rediscovered the ability to be heard by the prospects they want to reach. They’ve discovered how to regain the client’s interest and attention by providing the prospect with what they want in a format they accept and eliminating what the prospect distrusts and hates.

If you want to build a top producing sales business, sounding and acting like every other salesperson isn’t the way to do it. Consumers aren’t influenced by the proclamation that you’re the best, you offer the best value, or that you take care of your customers better than anyone else. They aren’t influenced because they hear the exact same message from every other salesperson. Slightly different words–same message.

The top producers who are reaching their target prospects and influencing them are doing so by using the same media as the experts. They are writing articles. They are standing in front of groups of prospects giving talks–in the role of the expert. They are writing blogs and whitepapers devoid of a sales pitch. They are working diligently to get the news quotes and interviews.

Effective marketing today isn’t about how loudly or how often you can scream. Rather, effective marketing today is how well you can communicate with a prospect in a format the prospect accepts.

If you want to move from the middle of the pack, you must break out of the pack. If you cold call, spend a small fortune on direct mail, stick cheap signs on every street corner, stick fliers under the windshield of every car in the WalMart parking lot, and the other “core” methods of personal marketing used by the millions of other salespeople screaming as loudly as you, you’re destined to stay where you are—standing on the bridge screaming your lungs out; yet unseen, unheard.

Popularity: 2%

Tags: can't, Enough, Loud, Scream

Executive Recruiter Tip: They Don’t Work For YOU!

Executive Recruiter Tip: They Don’t Work For YOU!

Changing jobs at the senior level?

We’d all like someone out there doing the hard work for us. And we’d like to believe that recruiters are there for us . . . on the lookout for job opportunities for us . . . opening doors for us . . . giving us the inside track to high-paying employment opportunities.

NOT!

Executive recruiters do not work for you. They are retained by a company to find someone to fill a slot. They are paid by the company. And that’s where their loyalty is.

They are matchmakers who may have an interest in you. Here are three qualifications they are looking for in a candidate.

1. You’re easy to sell to their clients. You have the capabilities, strengths, assets and education that match the recruiter’s specialty.

2. Your work function, geographic location and industry experience match the client’s specifications.

3. You’re a perfect fit for the position that’s open right now.

Recruiters aren’t career counselors. They’re not going to take the time to write your resume. They won’t teach you how to interview effectively . . . and they’re not going to hold your hand during the process.

Corporations retain executive recruiter for several reasons. They expect a recruiter to be knowledgeable in certain specialties or sectors so they can provide quick access to qualified candidates. Or a corporation may have the need for absolute discretion. Sometimes the company has particular time constraints.

So here’s an important executive recruiter tip follow-up:

Don’t place a lot of job campaign emphasis on recruiters. They play a very limited role in your search.

The good news is there’s a formidable plan that can get you guaranteed results in as little as 14 days! Spending your time and energy getting truly impressive results makes a lot more sense. What’s more, it can put you in the driver’s seat rather than passively waiting for some recruiter to give you a phone call.

In other word, you can turn your job search into the career adventure of a lifetime!

Popularity: 2%

Tags: Don't, Executive, Recruiter, They, Work

How to Measure Customer Satisfaction

How to Measure Customer Satisfaction

In every sales management training course I have ever gone to the subject of getting the sales force to identify the client’s needs and then meeting these is, rightly, covered. It is a key subject, which is why customer satisfaction features at the top of most sales manager’s list of goals. After all ensuring your clients are completely satisfied with the products and services you supply is critical to the on-going success of your organisation.

Despite this, how many companies really know how satisfied their clients are? Often the managers in charge shy away from exploring client satisfaction as a result of prejudices against satisfaction analyses.

Only 28% of companies regularly assess the satisfaction of their clients according to a study carried out by the WHU in Koblenz under the supervision of Professor Christian Homburg.

The survey involved 1,000 marketing and sales managers from industrial goods companies. The survey not only provides information about the current state of client satisfaction assessment. It also shows the uses client satisfaction surveys offer and provides recommendations which can be implemented in practice.

Which client groups are targeted in client satisfaction assessments? Most companies limit themselves to asking existing clients. Potential clients, on the other hand, are seldom asked. This selection appears completely sensible, bearing in mind that new client acquisition is considerably more expensive than caring for existing clients. Therefore the key priority is to ensure existing customers are happy.

Who is asked? Product users or decision makers are generally asked. Unfortunately most companies tend to limit themselves to asking only one person.

You should take into account, however, that one person can reasonably assess just one part of a supplier’s performance, not the whole. It is therefore important to ask several people from different areas within the client’s company to get the whole picture.

What do companies ask? As the data for the following question shows, client satisfaction analyses tend to concentrate on the technical service side and the product.

Companies should bear in mind the fact that other processes in order processing/logistics, quality of client care by the sales department and delivery times are comparatively seldom investigated.

Which performance criteria are assessed? Technical service 90%; Product 84%; Company (in general) 74%; Order processing/logistics 68%; Sales department client care 66%; Comparison with competitors 58%; Delivery times 55%; Other 13%.

Note: It is precisely in these “other” areas that gaps in performance lie.

Substantial amounts of important information regarding client satisfaction is lost by companies who limit themselves to assessing only technical and product satisfaction.

How and how often are clients questioned? Approximately 68% of the companies asked said that they assess client satisfaction through personal questionnaires. In more than half the companies asked (58%) this is carried out by their own salespeople. Herein lies one of the critical points of satisfaction analyses. What clients say about their satisfaction is usually distorted by the presence of an interviewer, especially if this is one of the company’s own salespeople (this is known as “the interviewer effect”).

Trying to collect objective information in this way is, according to the experts, illusory. The only way to collect reliable information is to have a written questionnaire.

Also unsatisfactory are the results showing how regularly assements on customer satisfaction are performed. Only 11% of the companies asked carry out annual assessments.

What prejudices do companies have against client satisfaction assessments? The problems of client satisfaction analyses are generally overestimated. Oft-quoted problems of resources (time, personnel, cost intensity) and uncertainty about know-how are over-rated.

It can be concluded from the experiences of organisations that carry out customer satisfaction analysis: The problems which arise during client satisfaction analyses are relatively minor.

90% of the companies asked believe that the use of carrying out such an analysis, on the other hand, is high to very high.

A dangerous misapprehension is the assumption that companies can form an opinion about client satisfaction by purely looking at complaint statistics. Surveys have shown that only 15% of unsatisfied clients make complaints. According to the leader of the WHU study, Professor Christian Homburg, “Any company which limits itself to complaint statistics is only concentrating on the tip of the iceberg.”

What recommendations can we draw from the survey results for assessing client satisfaction that can be fed back as good practice to the sales managers responsible for measuring customer satisfaction via management training?

1. Assess client satisfaction on a permanent basis and systematically. This is the only way of being able to draw comparisons and it is the only way to make mistakes visible.

2. Do not make the common mistake of believing that internal surveys and complaint statistics are sufficient indicators of client satisfaction.Only a minority make complaints.

3. Use external know-how, rather than making the wrong decisions as a result of incorrect internal surveys.

4. Bear in mind the complex decision-making structures in your clients’ companies. Your analyses should therefore not concentrate only on one person, otherwise you will miss vital information.

5. Do not be put off by potential problems. Many problems are over-rated and the uses that you can gain from client satisfaction analyses are considerably greater than any obstacles.

6. And last, but not least: do not sweep the results of your client satisfaction analysis under the carpet. Use the information that you have acquired and implement the requisite measures in your company to increase client satisfaction. Your management training sessions should include the results so that the awareness of all managers on what they need to do in their departments to improve customer care is increased.

Popularity: 2%

Tags: Customer, Measure, Satisfaction

Job Interview System.

A few how to be interviewed effectively products I can recommend:

Job Interview System.
New! – Earn 70%. High Converting Quality Job Interview System Helping People Find And Land Great Jobs.
Job Interview System.

Pharmaceutical Sales Interview Tools.
Pharmaceutical Sales Recruiter Reveals All Secrets..Interview Questions & Answers, Resume Tips, Networking, Job, Career.
Pharmaceutical Sales Interview Tools.

Popularity: 2%

Tags: Interview, System

Women’s Career Advancement – How You Can Truly Succeed

Women’s Career Advancement – How You Can Truly Succeed

Modern women are ambitious and tough in all facets of their lives including careers, so when it comes to women and career advancement you’ll find that many corporate females fail to advance in their career due to the fact that they simply don’t trust their abilities and undervalue their worth. They seem to have no idea of how they can use their accomplishments and skills to their advantage. Corporate women practicing in the healthcare field who are quite ambitious and determined in advancing their careers to higher levels, need to create a strategy and plan to ensure that they achieve their aspirations. This will also help them beat competition by staying ahead of colleagues and peers. They have to make their boss acknowledge their unique contribution in terms of talent, strengths and overall worth in the healthcare industry. There are a number of ways for women careerists to advance their chances of success.

Many women fail to focus on their personal talents, strengths, skills, accomplishments, and individual worth in particular areas, they instead focus their energies trying to improve areas they feel need more attention. For a woman to advance her career and chances of success, she has to identify her strengths, unique talents, center her concentration there and play those positive strong points. Try to be a star in the office by seeking solutions to problems other than just pointing to problems and playing a blame game. Look after issues in the office that require to be addressed and find ways than your team and you can fix it out.

Good, factual and focused communication skills greatly assist women and chances of career advancement increase and also become realizable. Effective communication not only helps in career advancement chances but greatly assist in facing job interviews. Effective communication helps people develop powerful resumes and cover letters that speak volumes and this greatly increases their chances of getting a job. Superb communication skills will help you sell yourself effectively in the job interview, because of your clear, concise manner. Good communication skills need to be backed by other skills to increase a woman’s career advancement potential. So, continues training is a plus factor here.

The dress code is also a thing that speaks volumes about a person. Therefore appropriate and professional dressing will probably increase a woman’s career advancement success potential. Having a polished image could make a significant difference between the hiring firms overlooking you or giving you the job. Women need to dress professionally so as to give positive impressions in the workplace; this is a reality even if the company hiring you has a casual dress code. Ensure that your business wear represents the image you want portrayed. You will never go wrong with modest and decent business attires that present a corporate look. Who wants to appear overdressed or the opposite. Ensure that you go for quality attires when shopping for the workplace wardrobe, go for clothes that coordinate well and portrays a professional look. The feet too can’t be ignored and your shoes ought to complement your outfit by ll means, they just must be stylish but not fancy, you ain’t a hooker REMEMBER. Go for something that wont hurt your feet, it has to be comfortable enough.

Career advancement and success for a woman means being punctual, committed, dependable and obedient to your superiors. Most firms will overlook you if you are a notorious latecomer and will never consider you for career advancement opportunities.

More How To Be Interviewed Effectively Articles

Popularity: 2%

Tags: Advancement, Career, Succeed, truly, Women's