Here’s 3 Google site search tips to help you.

Tip #1: Use Google’s site search to search LinkedIn’s public profiles for a particular person by name.

How? Google the person’s name plus the parameter “site:linkedin.com”. To see how this works, let’s Google someone who’s likely to be active on LinkedIn such as sales expert, Jill Konrath. Google: Jill Konrath site:linkedin.com

Try searching Jill’s activity on LinkedIn with Google by clicking here! (Let Me Google That 4 U)

The cool thing about using Google to look up Jill this way on LinkedIn is that Google will return links to her profile PLUS any events, answers and comments in groups she’s posted, giving you even more insights into her expertise and interests.

Tip #2: Use Google’s site search—plus advanced search qualifiers—to find the names (and profiles) of people with particular titles at a company.

Let’s suppose I wanted to find the names of any Directors or VPs working on Pitney Bowes digital email delivery service called Volly™. I can Google: “Volly” (dir OR vp OR vice) pitney bowes site:linkedin.com

Try searching LinkedIn with Google by clicking here! (Let Me Google That 4 U)

Try searching Pitney Bowes site as well (Let Me Google That 4 U)

Tip #3: Use Google’s site search to find specific information you want from a busy company web site.

Now that I’ve searched LinkedIn to identify executives at Pitney Bowes working on Volly, I want to bone up on Volly before contacting them. But when I go to Pitney Bowes web site, I’m overwhelmed with all the other offerings. I can laser-search for info only on Volly by Googling (gotta love proper nouns that become verbs!): volly site:pb.com

Try searching Pitney Bowes site with Google for a specific product by Clicking here! (Let Me Google That 4 U)

Use Google’s site search feature to swiftly gather the precise info you need to personalize your communications.

P.S. Just for fun, here’s a non sequitur and entertaining Google gimmick to try. Even if you’ve already seen it, it’ll still bring a smile to your face—especially if you’re missing snow like some are here in Boston. From a fresh Google search screen in Firefox or Google Chrome, Google: let it snow. You’ll soon enjoy snowflakes softly falling—ones you don’t have to shovel—and a frosty pane to write on using your mouse.

SNOW… (Let me Google That 4 U)

(Clicking Defrost returns your screen to normal. Happy 2012!)

1. A pleasant hello (Subject Line)
2. One simple concept that someone wants to understand (Body)
3. A non-threatening way for someone to learn more (Additional Content via link or attachment)

Just like in the real-world, there are subtleties in the approach and execution of each of these that can lead to great success or complete failure.

SUBJECT LINES

Creating email subject lines can be intimidating. However, it need not be if you follow four guiding principles:

#1: Start your conversation in the subject line.
#2: Be personal.
#3: Offer something of value.
#4: Make the reader curious to learn more.

See our full blog post on subject lines.

EMAIL BODIES

Most email bodies at the top of the funnel fail because they include too much marketing gobbledygook and they assume that your prospect cares about you or your offering. They don’t. They simply care about meeting their own goals and learning more about their areas of interest. Here are the key things you should do here:

#1: Pick one concept to share
#2: Convey it simply and clearly
#3: Plant a seed with a 1 sentence value proposition
#4: Be brutal when editing (based on an honest assessment from an external source)

Of the above items, the most important is the last one. Listen to someone you trust answer the question “How would you react to this?” or use one of the tools from a market-leader, like:

• David Meerman Scott’s Gobbledygook Grader – http://gobbledygook.grader.com/
• Jill Konrath’s Value Proposition Generator – http://snapselling.com/resources/

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

When it comes to additional content, it’s hard to predict what the prospect really wants and how much time they really want to invest. The best approach is to combine:

• One short and focused item that you link to or attach that is an extension of the concept from the email body
• Within that one shared item (not in your email), you can also provide a few other links to other items that might pique their interest.

Think of it like the tasty morsel you are offered while wandering in the food court—you want them to take a bite and then take a look at other things that might be of interest. Patience here is critical—push too hard and they are gone.

Emails are more engaging when your message succinctly offers value, is conversational in tone and piques their interest with additional supporting content references.

Without thinking about it, I floss my teeth every night as part of my bedtime routine. I exercise regularly because I love how swimming energizes me. But there are plenty of other should-do’s I keep putting off. One of them is to use social media to build my professional reputation and relationships.

Social media has radically changed the way we communicate and connect with others. What I still think of as a should-do, younger workers—in addition to my early adopter peers—just do.

Don’t get me wrong—I use social media, but mostly to research and listen. If there was the equivalent of a Klout influence score for lurking, mine would be right up there! I am an introvert online. I join LinkedIn groups, but observe from the sidelines. I feel awkward—like I’m back in middle school and not sure where to sit at the lunch table.

It’s high-time for me—and maybe you too—to get over it. I realized I’m not the only one who feels this way when within hours of promoting our webinar, Using LinkedIn to Sell, we got 300 signups. Lots of extroverted salespeople are eager to move their selling skills online to engage with prospects. Like me, they know it’s something they should do and are looking for guidance getting started. They also want to be convinced they’ll realize a return from their investment of time and effort. I bet they’re struggling a bit to find their voices, too.

If becoming more ‘social’ is on your should-do list as a salesperson, I encourage you to check out this webinar. We invited David Kalstrom from Outbound Excellence to speak alongside our very own Cliff Pollan. David shares practical how-to tips from his social sales system. David’s system has been proven successful and reinforces what we at VisibleGains already know to be true: salespeople who engage more personally with prospects by sharing relevant information (via a tweet, participation in a LinkedIn group, direct email or whatever) build reputations and relationships that generate more sales and referrals over time. 

CLICK HERE to watch the webinar recording, Using LinkedIn to Sell.

Remember, it takes practice, practice, practice to transform should-do’s to behaviors we do do.
Are you committed to making ‘posting daily’ as habitual as flossing?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Santa.
Santa who?
Santa email but you never opened it.

Does your email stand out in your prospect’s Inbox with a clear, attention-grabbing subject line?  If not, your killer email won’t ever be opened, never mind read. Your prospects are crazy-busy, says sales expert Jill Konrath. They’ll likely spend 2.7 seconds—tops—evaluating your email. Make sure your subject line instantly conveys the value of your message to the reader.

Creating email subject lines can be intimidating. However, it need not be if you follow four guiding principles.

Guiding Principle #1: Start your conversation in the subject line.

Treat your email subject line more like a conversation starter than an article headline. Ask yourself, what is the first sentence I would say to this person if I were meeting him or her in person?

If this is the first time you sent email to the prospect, identify who you are in the subject line by stating your connection upfront. If you’re connecting through a mutual contact, be sure to state the person’s name in the subject line.

Examples:

• Subject: Saw this blog post and thought of you
• Subject: Enjoyed meeting you at Sales 2.0
• Subject: Bumped into Sue Johnson…

Guiding Principle #2: Be personal.

Subject lines are instantly more personal simply by keeping the tone casual and including the pronoun “you”. Be conversational—don’t capitalize each word like you might for the title of a paper.

Examples:

• Subject: You asked an interesting question
• Subject: Your ears should be ringing

Guiding Principle #3: Offer something of value.

Sharing timely, relevant information helps prospects want to engage with you. If a web site visitor converts after downloading a white paper, for example, seize the opportunity to offer your insights into the business issues likely inspiring the prospect to download the white paper in the first place.

Note: People generally do value “free” and you can use the word in subject lines without triggering spam filters as long as it’s not capitalized, the first word or used in conjunction with an exclamation point.

Examples:

• Subject: Here’s my aha after reading the GIS report
• Subject: Determine your co’s readiness using free assessment

Guiding Principle #4: Make the reader curious to learn more.

Clever subject lines pique interest and so does compelling content. Ideally, your email is comprised of both. However, rather than getting stuck striving to be oh-so clever in the 50-60 characters of most subject lines, focus your efforts on being relevant. Appeal to your prospect’s natural curiosity about content:

• they’ve expressed interest in
• aligned with their business objectives
• linked to a current frustration or common industry challenge
• educating them to work smarter and faster (How-to’s)
• keeping them current with trending topics
• providing perspective for reflection

Examples:

• Subject: What your peers are saying about the GIS report
• Subject: New benchmarking data to plan 2012
• Subject: How to turn social media into sales
• Subject: Your competition is in the news
• Subject: Metrics to optimize your supply chain

Writing email subject lines that open doors requires doing the homework a good salesperson must always do to earn the first meeting. Your email subject lines will open doors when you convey to the reader you know their personal interests; understand their pain points, tune into their specific business priorities; want them to succeed; are in-the-know; and offer a balanced viewpoint.

Bottom line: Pay attention to the subject lines of emails your prospects open and those they don’t. Experiment over time and you’ll improve your “door-opening” and email-opening rate.

Ever wonder why your email wasn’t opened? Take a second look at the subject line.

P. S. Email subject lines must pass through your crazy-busy prospect’s relevance-for-me filter AND also through software filters—or they won’t even land in your prospect’s Inbox. It’s worth the extra minute or two it takes to test your subject lines using free analyzers available on the web that check for clarity, wordiness and likelihood of triggering spam filters. Testing programs aren’t perfect; use their feedback to make quick tweaks. For example, we choose to override suggestions to omit personal pronouns like “you” in subject lines because using “you” feels…well, personal.

Here’s one free testing program you can try: Free Lyris ContentChecker for Email

We concur with the Infographic’s conclusion—email is here to stay. However, email is not always the most effective way to transmit your message. New(er) technologies—like Facebook and Twitter—introduce additional ways for humans to communicate. Think about what you’re trying to accomplish and select the best media available to you.

Email gets a deserved bad rap from marketing campaigns and spammers pushing unwanted messages that ignore communication fundamentals—such as this basic truth: the receiver must want to receive the message sent!

When your emails are written to be personal, with timely, relevant information the receiver really wants, they can help you build relationships one-to-one. Make your emails better and create relationships using VisibleGains.

Click to download .PDF version

Embed this image on your site:
<a href=”http://www.visiblegains.com/is-email-dead” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.visiblegains.com/Portals/54582/Infographics/visiblegains-emaildead.png” alt=”Is Email Dead? [Infographic]” width=”550″ border=”0″></a><BR><div> courtesy of <a href=”http://www.visiblegains.com/”>Visible Gains</a></div>

5 Steps to use Outlook’s signature function for creating email message templates

Step One: Click New E-mail

Step Two: Click Insert, then click Signature

Step Three: From drop-down menu, click “Signatures…”

Step Four: Click “New”. Enter a name, as well as text, for a complete email message. (Remember to also include an email signature in this “Signature” template entry!)

Step Five: Select the appropriate standardized message by “Signature” name each time you want to send similar text in a new email. Don’t forget to add a subject line and the first name of the person to whom you’re sending the message in the message body. Also, modify the templated text appropriately to ensure it’s relevant to the individual receiving it.

This shortcut saves me time when I want to repetitively send only slightly different emails over and over again–such as a follow-up to a hands-on product demo I’ve just given. Let me know how this shortcut works for you.

Got any Outlook tips to share with us?

We’ve referenced before Gutenberg’s printing press and the sea change its introduction created. The ability to print in quantity created a new channel for communicating information to the general public. And, as the printing press became commoditized, it wasn’t just the rich producing content. Streamlined processes and lower production costs increased the diversity of subject matter communicated. For the first time, regular folks could share their ideas to persuade the masses. Leveraging the new technology, “crazy” ideas could easily spread and plant seeds for other “crazy” ideas–aka innovations. The same thing happened with the introduction of TV and subsequently the Internet.

Sometimes everything just comes (or is coming) together…

It’s not like the tablet just got invented yesterday. Steve Jobs was superb at making it work very simply for the user in the form of the iPad. I’m pretty sure Amazon’s Kindle Fire (suspiciously familiar to the Blackberry Playbook) wouldn’t exist today if Mr. Jobs hadn’t been as successful at widespread adoption as he was. That’s not the interesting part. What’s next is the INTERESTING PART.

Click below to hear David Meerman Scott talk about why he wrote his newly launched eBook Newsjacking, specifically for the Kindle Fire.

Text no longer exists statically in black and white on paper–it’s colorful, blinks and moves–opening us up to a whole new way of thinking about how we consume and interact with information. The iPad truly started us down the tablet path and Amazon’s Kindle Fire takes us a step further.  The Kindle Fire will be more accessible at its significantly cheaper price point and it will allow me to self-publish my thoughts beyond the blogoshpere. Amazon provides you the opportunity to elevate your credibility and bring interactive content to the masses; the iPad doesn’t seem to be going this way.

Can you imagine if all 48 pages of Common Sense written by Thomas Paine had an interactive community around it citing sources? Could King George have jumped in and had a counter argument disputing each point from its original anonymous “Written by an Englishman” author? Would support for the American Revolution been secured faster? What similar e-documents were used to aid Egypt in their efforts for independence? Did mobile texting networks, the blogosphere or Twitterverse speed up the democratization process? I’d argue it did.

Compelling content exists today in unfathomable quantities and we hungrily consume and produce more of it every day. Whether paid or not, people take the time to post 900,000 blogs per day. There are roughly 70 million videos on YouTube and 2 Billion searches conducted via Google.

I engage (and expect to engage) with online content much differently than I do when I read a printed book. I choose to explore related resources when they are conveniently presented to me, only a click away. Dispute a fact. Research a related thought. Ague a point. Post a comment. Buy a product right now. Have a concern about a company– ask your friends about it right now. Granted, I have a bias towards action (in fact, my twitter handle is biasforaction), but I don’t think I’m unique.

Maybe I’m giving them more credit than they’re due, but I’d like to think that Amazon with its Kindle Fire is deliberately breaking new ground. Amazon could become a broker of communities formed around common interests and original content. I realize may be way off-base as I don’t even have a Kindle Fire yet. Still, I’m excited at the possibilities and the technology revolving around “me” right now.

What do you think? Is Amazon up to the task of advancing our level of engagement with new ideas (and each other) through interactive content? Is Kindle Fire the platform to change the way the masses communicate and consume information?

Really? No, really?!

At the time, DISH Network was actively recruiting subscribers and I was truly confused by the service rep’s indifferent response. Guess what I did? I switched to Verizon for FIOS TV, of course.

We’ve all seen statistics on customer retention versus acquisition. Lots of really smart Ph.D’s have explained the concept of Customers Lifetime Value (CLV). In the simplest of terms, it’s a lot cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one—common sense without the fancy TLA (Three Letter Acronym). Within the past few years, I’ve noticed CLV has been modified to CCLV (Connected Customers Lifetime Value) and CEV (Customer Engagement Value).

Basically, anyone selling anything should expand their thinking beyond their existing customers to their customers’ network and sphere of influence.

Product marketing sometimes casts customer retention in terms of switching costs. Think about what a pain it is to switch cell phone carriers. The Cell Carrier Lobbyists fought tooth and nail against LNP (Local Number Portability) until they could figure out ways to lock up customers. There’s really no reason to have specific phones for specific carriers. Europe doesn’t. Instead of focusing on change penalties, how about improving the value of the services delivered by understanding my needs and what makes me choose to be a loyal customer and refer my friends?

Airlines attracted and successfully retained loyal customers for a while with frequent flyer programs. I know—I booked most of my flights on United even though there weren’t always direct flights to where I was going. But then United and other airlines blew it by instituting too many restrictions.

Most businesses truly do strive to please their customers. Most business people appreciate the power of referral marketing and naturally hope through careful management of customer relationships, we’ll gain new customers via referrals.

I invite you to pause now and honestly ask yourself: when was the last time you reached out to your customers individually? I don’t mean sending a newsletter or some marketing automated message, but making a direct one-to-one connection. And, not when there’s a problem, but when there isn’t—simply as a way to listen, learn and share information.

Connecting genuinely on a more personal level—one-to-one—is a powerful way to cultivate happy customers, and, hopefully, referrals. Here are several tips to help you get started:

• Tweet a congratulatory note or comments to new customers who use Twitter accounts.
• Actively participate in LinkedIn groups around conversations you care about.
• Reward your customers with information that helps them stay on top of their game—even if the data you share has nothing to do with what you’re selling.
• Offer favors, connections and networking opportunities to advance your customers’ careers.
• Find out what makes each customer tick—what they’re passionate about. Do this to find common interests you share and can connect through.

Having said all that, my hope is to personally connect with more of our customers. Please DM me @biasforaction or give me an old-fashioned phone call to chat. My direct phone number is 781-350-3416, extension 113. My email is bcarney at VisibleGains dot com (so the SPAM bots won’t pick me up).

Inside Sales Strategist Trish Bertuzzi from The Bridge Group, Inc. urges companies to consider salespeople as valuable members of the content team.

“The salesperson needs to be viewed as the thought leader, not just the company.”  

Instead of calling your prospect with the standard check-in call, Trish suggests trying this: “Hey I’m going to send you an article with some data I think you’ll find interesting. I would love to chat with you about it—give me call when you have a moment.”

Your role here is to keep a laser focus on the topics of interest to your prospect. Done properly, the very act of sharing a great blog post, industry research paper or white paper from Marketing is a service, providing additional touch points while at the same time building your reputation as an expert who can help.

B2B Marketing Strategiest, Ardath Albee agrees, “The net is credibility and trust for your company AND your salespeople. That’s what wins complex sales in today’s market.”

She goes a step further and suggests that salespeople should not only share content, but their voice should also be reflected in the content. She offers some terrific tips for how marketers can access salespeople’s knowledge and front-line experiences and get it into print. For example, “interview them” and “find out what they’re passionate about”.

As your content-sharing relationship grows with your client, you may decide that it would be helpful to scribe your personal experiences and opinions. What are your reflections on the article you just sent to your prospect? How about commenting on that? Or, writing your own blog about your sales experiences. What’s important is that whatever you do share is genuine. You could even write about how your personal experiences as a buyer inform your professional sales approach.

You may find that this “more personal” style of content sharing is a “win-win”. Your expertise and trustworthiness are much easier to showcase when you are the creator of information and not just the pusher. You are building a genuine relationship, demonstrating you are actively engaged and curious about your prospect’s perspectives and that you “get it”. Your prospect may reciprocate by being more open and honest with you, and, ultimately, become more comfortable making a decision about buying your product or service.

What topic might you write about and share with a prospect?

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.

Photo Credit: ElvertBarnes’ Flickr photostream

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.