So ironic!  I am a psychologist writing a blog about the danger of overwhelming sales prospects by information overload, via the web or constant emails.  And I am now feeling very personally overwhelmed, trying to take in ALL the research “relevant” to this blog.  So I am going to stop researching and start writing.  Let’s see how it goes.

First thought: 

Calm down and remember how I got started with this blog idea.

My goal has been to write  about how to help sales people  best communicate one to one  with their prospects in an attempt to nurture them through a successful sales process.  Lots of tips about choosing relevant content and using personal pages or landing pages as a way of delivering a more targeted and relevant message.

How I got the idea:

I watched Barry Schwartz’ TedTalk on “Paradox of Choice”.

What’s the point:

This is perfect -I thought!  This talk dramatizes what happens when mortals are exposed to too many choices, too much information: they get confused , they have a less satisfying experience,  and instead of being nurtured, they become paralyzed!

How does this relate to the sales process?

Schwartz explains a critical psychological fact that every salesperson should understand.  People will derive much less satisfaction from any given product (or specific feature) when they are given too many choices.  And paralysis- this is not what the sales manager had hoped for!

“Everybody needs a fishbowl,” says Schwartz.  “In the absence…a recipe for misery, and I suspect, disaster.”    Converting to sales speak, prospects need tailor fit content presented to them over time, organized in a simple easy to comprehend fashion , a bodega as opposed to an overwhelming one stop mega superstore (think Walmart) website.

Here are five takeaway tips:

Note:   These tips helped me to avoid “paralysis” during this research and writing journey. -so I would have energy left to share something with you:

1.  Present  your message and your product  in simple, uncluttered ways.  Learn a lesson from Steve Jobs: “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”
2. Don’t do a “data dump”.  An example of information overload for me was watching this lengthy video on using LinkedIn to generate sales.   Great ideas but way too much information all at once.  I got a headache, and more concerning, I have not even looked at my LinkedIn page for days…paralysis???  Suggestion -  Tell me that I should do these over a 60 day period and indicate what to do every third day.
3. Help your prospect to be oriented:  A fascinating psychological study of how people absorb information on the web found that people spend so much of their energy just getting oriented on the web that they have little cognitive steam left to learn and make decisions from the information.   Make  your communications visually easy to follow so that your prospect can best use their attention and energy to learn from your thought leadership and product value.
4.  Given that attention is such a scarce commodity in this age of information overload, be creative and do something unexpected.  A great example was at the  Inbound Marketing Summit  when Hubspot employees dressed up in orange suits to make a splash!
5.  Make sure your content  and social media conversations are relevant and add value.  Pam Moore does a nice job summarizing this tip in her “social-media-a-little-less-talk-a-lot-more-action-please” blog.

Are your sales prospects suffering from information overload? Are you selling to them from a “Bodega” or a “Superstore”?

Peggy Kriss, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in Newton, Massachusetts and a consultant to VisibleGains. Stay tuned for more psychology informed blogs by Dr. Kriss.

Is “prospect” a dirty word in our changing culture of commerce? I propose that salespeople will be much more successful if they work to create “prospect communities”- the goal being for prospects to feel excited, involved, informed, engaged in discussions and interacting in the eco-system surrounding their companies.  This community approach will dramatically increase the motivation of the prospect to make the transition to customer.  Why? Because being part of a community increases trust, sense of value, reduces resistance, identifies needs, reduces fear, and makes people feel really good.

Chris Brogan said in his recent blog “I am not a customer. I am not a user. I might be a client. I might be a member. I may even be a loyalist. But don’t call me a customer. ‘Customer’ is a dirty word.”

Twitter expert, Laura  “@pistachio” Fitton  expresses this sentiment in her “4 enchanting ways to improve your inbound marketing” blog post where  she talks about the importance of building an “enchantment ecosystem” so your customer has lots of ways to feel valued, be part of a community, actively giving and receiving and overall having lots of opportunities to interact and feel positively about the  company.

Let’s extrapolate from what we are learning about the changing customer and apply it to the prospect.  Look at LinkedIn Groups or a Tribe as Seth Godin puts it.  Using groups creates multiple opportunities to engage prospects and customers alike.  If they are active participants in a group or tribe you can rest assured that they are passionate about a specific topic and have come together because they care. A post from triplepundit explains it this way: “think of success as the strength of the relationships your stakeholders will walk away with”.

What’s the worst thing you can do as a member of these groups?  Sell Stuff.  You run the risk of alienating the group and groups tend to stand up and force selfish people out. You will undermine trust, reduce your perceived value, increase resistance, distract them from the important task of focusing on their own needs and fears, and foster unhappy feelings.

Here are 7 tips for creating a “prospect community”:

1. Make your first contact remarkable:  clear message, value focused and delivered to match the stage and readiness level of the prospect.
2. Be thoughtful about what content is shared. Don’t overwhelm people with content.  Send information that will be valuable and relevant to the needs of each receiver.
3. Create an organized system for your content (both self-created and curated) that makes it easy for your sales team to send out tailor-fit content, as a way of building trust, and facilitating an on-going dialogue.  Consider a landing page that is less cluttered than what is found on your website.
4. Use multiple channels to interact with your prospects:  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, newsletters, phone calls, surveys, or perhaps your local Starbucks.  Share your exceptional content, compelling testimonials, and constant visceral and tangible reminders of the value that comes from interacting with your company.  Ask them for feedback on their needs, dreams and their experiences as a prospect with your company.  Don’t wait; be proactive and curious.
5. Create an outstanding customer referral system. Check out my recent blog for four tips for fueling your “referral engine”
6. Create events both on the phone and live in your office, thought leadership or product oriented. Mix it up and have some events for both prospects and clients:  conference calls, an invited speaker event, birds of a feather or round-table discussions.
7. Create regular community building opportunities for your own employees:  How about holding weekly Friday bag lunch discussions to ask questions, celebrate successes, and learn from each other’s interactions with the outside world.

Are you just selling stuff or are you passionate about it and willing to contribute to the community?

Peggy Kriss, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in Newton Massachusetts and a consultant to VisibleGains.  Stay tuned for more psychology informed blogs by Dr. Kriss.

In my previous blog, Refer or Die, Sales Use of Social Media, I highlighted the New York Times Study (Click to Open the Download Link) on “The Psychology of Sharing:  Why Do People Share Online?” described as “A first-of-a-kind inquiry into the motivations behind why we share.”

I am talking about the study a lot these days and its results permeate many of my conversations.  “Do your endorphins surge when you share a cherished product with a friend?”  Great ice breaker.

At a women’s entrepreneurial networking meeting sponsored by the Wellesley Pod for BIG, I asked our speaker, the very successful career and life  coach and radio personality Mel Robbins to remind her audience not to be afraid to ask your network for help with growing your business-because, I explained,  “research shows that people share because it feels good, it gets their endorphins going.”

“Yes,” Mel replied, “BUT you must be very specific in what you want them to do for you.  If the request is too general, they will forget about it and not respond.”

John Jantsch gives similar advice in “The Referral Engine”.  “We rate and refer as a form of survival,” he explains.  But, here is his “BUT” in terms of getting customers to refer to you:

“You simply need to stay top of mind and make it easy for them to do.  Hint: Ask and remind!”

Here are four tips for fueling your “referral engine”:

1. Write for them –  Send  an email to your referral agent that they can quickly and easily forward with a short note to the person they are connecting you with.  Don’t leave the work on writing and assembling materials to them.
2. Use share buttons –  On your website and blog, include share buttons that allow them to grab information that they can share to make the introduction.
3. In person event/networking –  hold an event with the right agenda where your referral agent can invite connections you want to include in your network.
4. Identify people –  Use LinkedIn to identify specific people and groups you may have in common you want to meet through your referrer – the more connections the better.  Don’t exclusively leave it to them to identify people.

For any business, customers are its single most important asset.   Customers represent the lifeblood of the company, a source of revenue, new growth and ideas for future opportunities.  But we often forget that it is also the best source to find new clients.

Here is a customer case example that I stumbled upon in the Q&A section of a webinar that CSO Insights held:

An example was a software firm we benchmarked. They showed us a report from their LMS system that showed quantity of leads per various lead sources. Top on their list was tradeshows, which accounted for 42% of their total lead flow. Last on the list was a source titled, DebbieC which was responsible for .05% of the leads for the previous twelve months.

…. DebbieC turned out to be the name of a customer who regularly sent referrals to the company. On an annual basis she sent 56 referrals. When they started tracking leads through their sales cycle in their CRM system, they found that 46 of those leads turned into opportunities that closed!

That insight prompted them to reallocate some of their lead generation funds to start a formal referral management program, which while generating small numbers of leads, is way out performing any other program for deals that close.

It is interesting that many B2B companies do not have programs to help them get referrals.  I think that is because marketing focuses on getting new names through other vehicles and account managers most often are responsible for current client relationships and see their role as having these clients succeed.

Account managers do not see or are not incented for the broader goal of getting referrals to help generate new revenue from new accounts.

John Jantsch has done a great job of evangelizing this opportunity.  His book “The Referral Engine” is worth reading, as it provides a blueprint for a holistic approach.

What are you doing to drive referrals?

I encourage you to take a look at the New York Times  psychology study on “The Psychology of Sharing:  Why Do People Share Online?”, described as “A first-of-a-kind inquiry into the motivations behind why we share”.  The audience for this study appears to be marketers-    “Understanding the motivational forces behind the act of sharing will help marketers get their content shared.”  Identifying “distinct personalities with different motivations” is a highlight of their study.

It is visually very engaging.  But, what excites me the most is we have all been reading, writing and living the realities of social media marketing-but rarely have we gotten some real live data on why this tsunami has taken such a hold on our shared universe.

I am currently reading “The Referral Engine” by John Jantsch. His focus is to leverage knowledge about the  sharing phenomenon to positively impact the sales process. Understanding sharing is the central thesis of his work; people who refer are driven to share.  As I read it (every time I see the word “refer”, I think “share”), I say to myself, yes this makes sense, this so applies to my business.  Some key quotes from Jantsch that have stayed with me are:

There is a tiny part of the brain, the hypothalamus, that-among other things-helps regulate sexual urges, thirst and hunger, maternal behavior, aggression, pleasure, and, to some degree, your propensity to refer. …

“We rate and refer as a form of survival.”

So, when I saw the data in the Times study, I thought:  yes John Jantsch is correct.  People actually reported in the study that they were motivated to connect.  This may sound so obvious now, but it is so critical for us to not get so carried away in the tsunami that we do not stop and take note of what is going on and why, and what sales can do with it.  This is particularly important because our efforts going forward are SO intertwined with the power of this earth changing movement.  We need data to confirm our hypotheses so that we can better harness this fast moving phenomenon.  We have an opportunity right now to use the power of social media to fuel our economy (read sales) and our sense of well-being (read survival) if we make sure we truly understand what is going on with your potential clients.  If we just make assumptions about why we think the social media movement is upon us, and do not use the scientific method to go deeper, we are missing a huge opportunity…

What are some of your assumptions about this sharing revolution?  What questions would you like to see tested?

Dr. Peggy Kriss, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in Newton Massachusetts and a consultant to VisibleGains.  Stay tuned for more psychology informed blogs by Dr. Kriss.

There is a Dakota Sioux Native American saying that goes something like …”when riding a dead horse, dismount”.  I’ve always thought the saying to be funny as it’s a little bit more than obvious.  Sometimes things can be blurred in the sales process and it’s not often clear if you should “dismount”.

Most successful sales reps depend upon a variety of components which they may or may not use during an engagement with a prospect.   These reps can only control the things which are under their power at any given moment and they mitigate factors which are out of their control that can disrupt the flow.  One common flow disruption is falling into the “dead zone”.  Sometimes sales reps will “dismount” without checking to see if the horse is dead.  Though the horse may not be responding – it might still be alive.

To dismount or not to dismount

Imagine that you’ve just met an ideal customer that fits your high probability profile.  You’ve had the first discussion or meeting and closed it out with several follow-up items you need to get done.  In order to make a good impression you scramble to make your commitments complete and send a note off with your deliverables.  Then nothing, no answered calls, no responded emails, no pulse.  Your manager keeps asking you for a status update and you’ve got nothing to give.  The meeting was great – what happened?

We’ll assume it truly was a great meeting and that you didn’t just hear what you wanted.  I guarantee you shouldn’t take it personal (if you do – you shouldn’t be in sales).  Jill Konrath calls these “crazy-busy prospects” and provides some tips for getting and keeping their attention. There are many statistics floating around which indicate it’s now harder than ever to get engaged with a prospect.  You may have a routine that has worked for you with your prospects in the past but you may also have come across a “dead zone” once and a while. While it’s ok to stick with content that addresses similar concerns of a prospect you should strive to keep it from feeling routine – they are different.

A few quick ways to check your horse

• Check to see how many touches you’ve made – are you being impatient?
• Start a process of re-discovery to determine if there is a fit
• Check your content – are sending and communicating the right message?
• Change up your materials – send them current content that fits your previous discussions.
• Make sure your communicating directly – one to one with specific and relevant materials.
• Call their direct telephone at 10 minutes before the hour (they’ll be getting ready for their next meeting)
• Call late/early and pay attention to time zones
• Send an image or personalized video link inside the email – they get a higher click through rate
• Send a note on Saturday (Hubspot  New Data: Emails Sent on Saturdays Have Higher CTRs and Lower Unsub Rates)
• Check to see what materials (if any) they have opened and read in your CRM or on the website
• Check Linked in to see if there have been any changes.
• Send an industry article with a thought you might be interested note

Sales is my client

As a Marketing guy and at the end of every day – Sales is my client. Since the data in Salesforce.com can sometimes be a bit off, I’ve created little tricks that my clients seem to love as it makes their life easier. This one came about from watching an inside rep I was working with.  This also makes complete sense as Salesforce.com should be configured to only include people that have scored a certain number of points and or raised their hands for specific content/inclusion.

The rep had two screens open while they were making calls. They were cutting the name out of Salesforce and pasting it into Linked in as the data inside Linked in appeared to be current and they could see groups, comments, and other people within the company for circle of influence selling and finding a referral within their network. It seemed like a lot of work and was slowing their productivity proven by their daily activity log (Even though the data in Linked in helped them achieve their quota every month).

Create a Linked In Button

I created a very simple Salesforce.com button mash-up which when clicked will open a Linked in page and deposit Lead, Contact or Account Data into the appropriate fields and look for that person who is currently employed at the company. This simple button helped the rep exceed their quota the very next month.

To get it done you’ve got to be an Administrator and follow the below steps:

1. GOTO > Your Name > Setup > Customize > Leads > Buttons and Links > Custom Buttons and Links > New
2. For a Label call it “Linkedin Search” or whatever else you want
3. For a Display Type click the radio button > Detail Page Button
4. For Behavior Select > Display in New Window from the drop down list
5. For Content Source Select > URL from the drop down list
6. In the large box cut and paste the below text:

http://www.linkedin.com/search/fpsearch?fname=

{!Lead.FirstName}&
lname={!Lead.LastName}&company={!Lead.Company}&
currentCompany=C&searchLocationType=I&
countryCode=us&keepFacets=keepFacets&page_num=1&ppl
SearchOrigin=ADVS&viewCriteria=2&sortCriteria=R&redir=redir

Remember the button will not be shown unless you GOTO > Your Name > Setup > Customize > Leads > Page Layout > Edit

Then Click “Buttons” and drag and drop “Linked in Search” into the custom buttons box at the top of the Lead Sample. Saving your work afterwards.

That’s it…Most Sales reps will call you a hero for doing it. Give us a call if you have any difficulty.

Never forget that you’re selling to people.

Sales are the backbone of every successful company and it’s always a good idea to study up on how to improve your sales ability through one to one communication.  In order to thrive, sales must engage personally though not necessarily in person – this concept is not always easy to grasp.  You can create personal engagements with the use of specific content that is relevant to the folks your sending it to.  This information could be in an email, tweet, landing page, text, or phone call.  Your not communicating to a company, your conversing with a person who has their own fears and concerns that you need to address.  Just because they aren’t sitting across from you doesn’t make the fear disappear.  It’s in you best interest to find out what their concerns are so take the time to do so.

Learn to say no

All leads are not created equal – not every customer is a fit. The sooner that you learn this and put it into practice, the quicker you will be able to move on to clients that are going to help you produce references and generate flows of revenue. Marketing will qualify through lead scoring in an attempt to let you know which targets have higher probability for you. Actionable insight is key for one to one sales communication. You need to learn to decipher who is a prospect in the market to buy your product and who will just waste your time. Look for the trigger event.  Just because they downloaded a paper does not make them a lead. It might sound harsh but time is money and yours does matter. Do not get clogged up with prospects you know cannot or will not be interested in your product.

Close the Right Thing

Have you ever been asked for a commitment way to early in the process?  I always think of car sales asking me – “how can I get you to buy today?”.  Instead of using a static tactic, try getting a smaller commitment instead. Not a commitment to buy, but a commitment for more of your prospects time for one to one communication, in return you give the prospect more of your time. Use this time in a persistent manner to show them more of your value, customer successes, or examples of your services that they care about. The less pressure you put on them, the more likely they are to want your services. There is no excuse to not ask for a commitment – just make sure its the right one.

Timing is Everything

They may be the right prospect however they are not primed to buy. You may think it’s a bad idea to push them back to Marketing to include them in a nurturing campaign and that you need to control the flow. Talk yourself out of it, control is an illusion and the prospect is already searching the web for data points.   You (may) run no risk at this stage of pushing back to Marketing with a request to nurture. I always felt its worth the risk as you need to be focused on time management.  You have prospects that are primed to buy and you need to be talking to them.  This point is VERY specific to the prospect and you need to be very conscious of what you are doing. Marketing groups will electronically communicate with the prospects until they pop up again with a more specific interest that you can personally address.

Skip the Company History

Prospects do not necessarily care about how your company was founded and how much of a profit you made last year. Keep your presentations relevant to the them and their concerns. Get the prospect emotionally involved with personal stories relating to the benefits of your products of services. Mention their competitors and or friends on Linked In that are using your products. Make your prospect feel like they have to have your product or they will be left out. It’s about them – not your company.

Give Them a Laugh

No one wants to buy a product from someone who is not excited or enthused about what they are trying to sell. People can tell when you’re passionate – it’s hard to fake – so relax with them. Do not focus on how you are going to sell your prospect, but instead focus on the value you are delivering and how you can motivate them to understand your services and the fit between you both – one to one.

Sales One on One Communication

Most people want to feel like they are special and indeed, every prospect is unique and special in their own way. Let them know how you can provide one on one personal service through tailored messages based entirely upon their requirements and interest characteristics.

Building Trust through Content

Before you can sell your services to a customer, you need to build a relationship. In business, the relationship between the salesperson and the customer is based on a foundation of trust.

One of the easiest ways to generate profitable publicity and to build a foundation of trust is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. The point is to create a reputation as being the source for information about your product or service. – and the best way to provide information is via content.

Here’s six ways to use content to increase sales:

Be the Expert

First impressions are everything, and chances are your customer will first ‘meet’ you on your website. In a study by FOCUS two-thirds of a prospects mind is made up prior to engaging a sales rep. So be sure to fill your site with content that establishes you as a well-informed authority on your product or service. Your website should not be a supermarket of content with relevant  information buried under layers of lingo and buzz words.  Creating landing pages which are specific to the individuals you are trying to converse with is important.  This is the cornerstone of trust.

Don’t Sell, Teach

People love to buy stuff, but they hate to feel sold. Avoid this turnoff and focus your content as providing information. Fill your website with educational, tutorial-style content that will decrease sales resistance. Create content that allows the viewer to self direct their education. Consider using Video, PDF’s, Slides, Pictures, Lists and anything else that will speak to them about their concerns.

Don’t Just Tell, Show

Video is an excellent way to provide engaging content to your potential clients in a unique format. Consider making a how-to video. If you make a demonstration video, the content should focus on the benefits of the product or service.  Video does not have to be overly produced consider – business casual video.  Clean and clear recordings with good audio conveys and honest and direct approach which will be appreciated.

Engage

Follow blogs and social media sites that deal with your product or service to see what customers are talking about. And then engage with them in a conversation by offering pointers, answers and advice.

Write for Others

Chances are there’s a trade publication, blog or site dealing with your sector. Why not write a guest article for it? Just make sure the article doesn’t preach but provides valuable information to the reader.

Don’t Forget SEO

When writing your content, don’t forget to make sure it’s search engine optimized. Customers will only find you if you show up on the search engine results!

Customer testimonials are typically hard to get. I thought I’d list a quick way that I have gotten video testimonials from customers in the past using flip cameras and dropbox.

1. Step one buy some video cameras Kodak Playtouch ($179) or Flip Cameras ($80) with your loaded logo (as of today you still can) – see picture to the right.
2. Step two send the cameras to your clients with an email & document asking them to find a quiet room that’s well lit.
3. Step three ask them to turn the camera on, sit in front and read the questions aloud and then answer (its also helpful to send a “best practices how to record”).
4. Step four ask them to upload the raw footage to your dropbox folder you have just shared with them – or ship the camera back.
5. Step five edit the video down to under 1:00 in total time.
6. Step six load the content to your site with appropriate tracking codes to see who watches and what they do next (don’t forget a call to action).
7. Step seven ask for their final approval and tell them to keep the flip as a gift.

Marketing should exploit the immediate connection and effectiveness of using video in their referral process. Video is an effective and simple way to make a connection. These types of clean videos come across as very honest as there is very little “production”. I’ve gotten five testimonials completed in 30 days using this method.

It might be obvious to some but the web is becoming a broadcast system. People love consuming content this way and it really has an impact. You don’t need large budgets or time to enable this component of your demand generation marketing engine.