There seems to be a fair amount of desperation out there in the marketplace these days. I’ve had it with the SPAM sales pitches, and if they are being used on me, a small business owner, I’m confident these same salespeople are using these tactics with larger companies too. The only difference is that the “big fish” are probably receiving 10 to 20 times the garbage that I do, because after all, they’ve got bigger bucks to spend and their company name grabs more attention on the client list. If it is a problem for me and it drives me nuts, what do you think these corporate execs you are trying to reach are thinking?

Let me paint a picture for you…

I’m imagining that I’m a key decision maker in the division of a larger company. As I sift through emails in my already over saturated email account, I have to wade through the lame, inarticulate, uncreative; boilerplate sales spam being cranked out over email and through my social networks. I’m thinking…geez, really? This is an embarrassment to the sales profession. I’m thinking that this is why I don’t like dealing with salespeople. You, Mr. or Ms. Salesperson are probably congratulating yourself for all the emails you’ve sent out. You’re confident that something will stick and you’ll book a few appointments. Me, I’m your prospect, and I’m saying to myself…no way that I would ever buy from you.

Salespeople and their managers need to grasp one fundamental concept that is often overlooked. Here it is…buyers today approach the sales process differently. They often start without you! The problem is that far too many salespeople are not adapting, which is simply a recipe for losing out on sales opportunities. As Einstein so aptly put it, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.”

Over the course of the next week, I’m going to talk about 7 critical elements that salespeople need to be thinking about if they hope to achieve quota – month in and month out – in this new world called social selling. That means unlearning most of what you have been taught about how to sell successfully to this point in your sales career. I’m not going to be popular with companies who’ve made their living teaching transactional sales approaches, but I’m not Barbie here to win a popularity contest. I want you to succeed and that is exactly why I wrote a book to bring it all home. Bottom line…I want you to blow the doors off your sales quota and rake in those big fat commission checks!

Here’s what I know…

I’ve been selling professionally (and very successfully) for almost 30 years. For the past 10 years, I’ve consulted with sales organizations of all sizes to help them increase their sales utilizing great sales skills and technology to stomp their competition. I know that sales success in this new world of “information at your fingertips” isn’t about slinging sales hash on the wall and hoping that a few people will talk to you. Nope, your sales success requires that you adapt your approach for each prospect; it requires that you do your homework, and it absolutely requires that you customize your message before hitting the send button.

Yes, you can send 250 random emails and delude yourself into thinking that you are doing a good job. Or, you could actually do your job as a salesperson and target your prospects and craft your messages to suit their needs not yours!

Barb Giamanco and her team consults, trains and coaches sales teams to higher levels of super star sales. For more information on how you can work with Barb call 404-647-4925.

Today marks seven years since I first began using LinkedIn. As a raving fan, I use the networking tool daily for making connections, sharing referrals, prospecting, conducting pre-sales call research and more. It is an amazing sales tool with power far greater than what most people realize, which is why salespeople need to to invest the time to learn how to use LinkedIn effectively.

Making and accepting invitations is the first step in building your network, so I’d like to share 3 brief tips about how to do it the right way. Before I do, I need to tell you that I do not subscribe to the “open networker” philosophy, and I do not say yes to everyone who asks me to connect with them. Our networks are business assets and should be treated as such. If I’m going to allow someone access to my connections, I need to know that I can trust them to behave professionally. I’m about the quality of connections not the sheer number of them.

Ok, now that I’ve set the stage with my feelings about building my network, here are 3 tips for making and accepting LinkedIn invitations.

1. Invite people that you know. LinkedIn’s official policy is that you connect with people that you know. Daily, I receive invitations from people that I’ve never heard of, never met and never conversed with in a LinkedIn group. These invitations usually indicate that we are friends when we aren’t. Or, they suggest that we’ve done business together, which we haven’t. I keep an open mind about connecting with people that I do not know yet, but you have to give me a compelling reason to do so. What’s the benefit to me? That leads me to point number two.

2. Personalize your invitations. I’m pretty much over the standard “I’d like to add you to my LinkedIn network.” Really, why? Why am I a good connection for you and vice versa? The “you are a person that I trust” message also gets under my skin. These invitations are especially irritating when I have no idea who you are. How do you know that you can trust me? The way I see it, if the connection is important to you – stop and take a moment to customize your message. Guess what, I don’t have the time to look up your profile and figure out if we’d be good connections for each other. Other people don’t either. Your job is to make it clear why connecting makes sense for both parties.

3. When you accept a connection, send a personalized message saying “thank you”. It’s a small, but very important way to stand out. In fact, I conducted social media training for a group of salespeople on Wednesday, and one gal in the room said that it bugged her when people never responded to her after connecting. All it takes is a minute to click on “send a message” once you’ve accepted the invite. It lets the other person know that you actually care about being connected.

People buy from people that they know, like and trust. Sales referrals are shared with other professionals for the same reasons. Relationships matter. Remembering that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, make your first LinkedIn interaction count!

If you’ve ever read a blog post of mine, heard me speak or follow some of my musings on LinkedIn and Twitter, you know that I really hate it when I receive sales spam in my email and/or LinkedIn inbox from people that I do not know. Whether it is a cold call or a cold email, it is still cold.

The effective use of technology presents huge opportunities for the savvy salespeople who get it. These rock stars know that using social media gives them an avenue for building relationships and demonstrating expert credibility BEFORE sales opportunities present themselves. There are however, too many salespeople using technology as a way to send the same boring, boilerplate sales spam to anyone with an email address.

Aside from the fact that the emails are unsolicited junk, they also violate the email marketing CANN-SPAM act, which requires that you give people an easy way to “opt out”. Sending email means I can only get off your list if I block your email. Random emails like random sales phone calls aren’t likely to net you anything of much value. Yes, I know there are raving fans and believers of cold calling who also think there isn’t a thing wrong with slamming out random emails to people that don’t know them. Maybe I won’t change your mind, but over time, when you realize that your sales efforts could be put to better use, maybe you’ll try a different tact.

I thought that I would share a few of the recent emails that have shown up in my inbox lately. Included with each one are my thoughts about the message and approach. Since I’m a professional, I am not including the individuals name and company, though I’ll admit, I’m tempted. But I don’t want to be a jerk about it; I just want to show people that this is NOT the way to sell. I’d love to hear your comments!

Sales Spam Message # 1

Subject Line: Can We Meet Next Week?

Hello Barbara,

I know your time is valuable so I will make this quick.  I provide quality custom clothing for ready-made prices.

My suits start at $295, trousers at $169 and shirts at $88.  No company around is like us and if you’re interested, I would like to meet you.  Please visit our website (link below) at your convenience.  It will answer some immediate questions you may have.

Do you have any free time to meet at your office next week?  Do you need clothes for the summer or have issues with your wardrobe?  Please contact me to schedule an appointment.

Sincerely,
XYZ Salesperson

Barb’s comments: If you know my time is valuable then why are you wasting it sending me unsolicited email? I took a minute to browse the website referenced and frankly, I was not impressed. It looks male oriented and even though they say they have a line of executive suits for women, there is not a single testimonial from a female client. Message to said male salesperson…clothing is uniquely personal. Dude, you are a stranger. Do you really think I’m going to allow you to show up at my office and take my clothing measurements? What are you thinking? Biased perhaps, but that’s how it is.

Sales Spam Message # 2

Subject Line: Unbeatable Business Phone Service – Summer Sales

Hello Barbara,

I wanted to let you know about the unbeatable business phone service offer available during 8×8 Summer Sizzle Sale, which starts now!

There has never been a better time to sign up for new business phone service.

Check out the details of this offer:

- Unlimited calling for the unbeatable monthly price as low as $19.99 / extension

- Free account setup

- Free shipping

- Free first month of service

Call today to take advantage of this great offer! Offer expires at midnight June 30th, 2011.

Thank you,
XYZ Salesperson

Barb’s comments: There is nothing here that tells me why I’d want to do business with this person or this company. What does she know about my business? I guess this sales gal thinks “cheap” is all it takes. Why is the service unbeatable? If price is the sole sales strategy then it’s going to be a bumpy ride for her during her sales career. Well, that’s if it lasts at all. Seriously, you can’t do any better with your sales proposition? How do I know that this deal is the best for me? Have you analyzed my business needs? Do you know what telephony tools I use today? Nope, because if you did, you would know that I use Google Voice, which is FREE and includes a voicemail box and a transcription service. All of my voicemails are transcribed and sent via text to my mobile phone. Hard to beat free missy!

Spam Message #3

Subject Line: Fw: Linkedin Groups – The Psychometric Froum

Many contributors to this forum have now criticized aspects of psychometric methodology and have referred to authors that have done so for the past 60 years or more.

Yet common practice still entails the use of limited experimental designs, mostly random controlled trials, weak quantification, weaker assessment methodologies, causal inference based on correlational models …etc. We end up with a rigid theoretical structure and measurements that filter out some of the critical aspects of what we are interested in. But still many psychometrists, statisticians in the field and test designers happily apply their linear approach… Blah, blah, blah… it is a lengthy psycho-babble diatribe that would have just taken up too much space in this post.

Barb’s comments: This is spam, but this time the woman wasn’t selling me anything. I’m including it because it just annoys me. This gal got my name from a coaching website about 18 months ago. Though I have repeatedly said that I’m not interested in her assessments – I sell my own! – she still sends me random crap. For starters, if I was interested in this LinkedIn group, I would have joined myself. What really bugs me is that I don’t know why she is sending me this information at all. What does this have to do with me? Why do I care? No opening comments defining the purpose…she just simply forwarded me the post. I did send an email asking AGAIN that she stop sending me this kind of thing. Her response…”Sorry you feel that way, but I haven’t sent anything all year.” Clueless just got junked!

What’s my point?

For decades, the sales profession has gotten a bad rap. It is unfair, but totally understandable when you encounter people who are completely ignorant to the principles of great selling. I don’t know about you, but I’m not buying from a stranger who sends me an email with today’s “great deal” out of the blue. If you are in sales and feel compelled to send an unsolicited sales pitch to someone, perhaps it might be prudent to stop for a minute and think about what you are doing before you actually hit send.

LinkedIn is one heck of a business networking, sales prospecting, sales research goldmine of information. The problem is that many salespeople still aren’t leveraging it to its fullest capacity.

Beyond the value of connecting with people and networking, LinkedIn provides an incredible opportunity to “build your branded presence”, which is pretty important if you expect to be found when buyers are searching for information about the products and services you sell. While there is still a fair amount of resistance in the sales community about the value of social media, the reality is that buyers are buying differently. If salespeople don’t embrace this change and adapt their sales approach to it, they can expect that the savvy social sales competitor is poised to kick their butt.

How do you build your brand?

Simply put – great content. Content can include blog posts, status updates, group discussion contributions and more. It also includes the ability to leverage LinkedIn applications to further build buzz for what you are about. The beauty of using applications is that if you keep the content fresh and changing, your name and face is more visible to your LinkedIn network. Aside from the great visibility inside the LinkedIn world, you’ll also be creating some great personal SEO (search engine optimization) for yourself out on the worldwide web.

We have an app for that!

You might be thinking, what’s the big deal if I do not have content and applications on my LinkedIn profile that’s compelling. Consider what your prospect thinks when they come across your profile.

Does your summary SCREAM expert in your field? Is there enough information there to give him or her some reason to want to contact you? Come on, be honest with yourself. If your summary is barely there and you’ve not completed the experience areas, you have no white papers or case studies to share and no presentation to showcase your product/service capabilities, why would your prospect bother?

There are a host of LinkedIn applications to fit your needs – everything from creating polls, sharing your travel schedule, posting your blog posts, suggesting a business book worth reading, sharing presentations or rating lawyers.

For the sales professional looking to build their brand, here are 6 applications that I use and recommend. They are all free by the way and just waiting for you to take advantage of what they offer.

• SlideShare – Use the SlideShare app to host up to 4 presentations on your LinkedIn profile You can upload far more presentations than that to your SlideShare account, but 4 is the most you can show on your profile at any one time. Post a corporate presentation about your product and service capabilities. Share a presentation you delivered at last week’s conference or post an informational presentation about your business topics. For me, that might be sales coaching. You can post PowerPoint or PDF files.

 

• Google Presentations – you can use this app to host presentations as well. I just happen to have started with SlideShare and really like it. What I do love about Google Presentations is that it allows me to host my video, which can be played right from my LinkedIn profile. Video is one of THE most engaging ways to capture someone’s interest. Since posting my video, I have closed 4 pieces of new business and in addition to telling me that my profile rocked the competitors, they all mentioned the video.

 

• WordPress – If you blog, making sure that your blog post shows up on your LinkedIn profile is a must. I happen to use WordPress, but the Blog Link app lets you connect other blog platforms to your profile as well. Every time you blog, you profile is updated and your network knows that you’ve added new content.

 

• Amazon Book List – A key part of my visibility strategy is speaking at meetings and conferences. As an avid reader, I typically reference statistics and information from books that I’ve read. Adds to my credibility (hopefully) in terms of staying on top of my industry. People used to ask me to provide a book list after the event. Now, I send them to my LinkedIn profile to check out my list. You can add your comments about books you like and recommend them to others. Oh, and you can follow the book’s lists of others and they can follow yours.

 

• Twitter – Even if you don’t want to get into using Twitter per se, you should still set up an account, set up your profile and then use the Twitter LinkedIn application to share your Linkedin status updates. If you believe what I tell you – that being as visible as possible on the web to potential prospects is important – then you want to leverage the Twitter platform as another vehicle for being seen. Mind you, some companies might allow it, so check your corporate policies to be sure that this is OK. If it is – go for it. Post once and get twice the visibility.

 

• Events – hosting a business event? Be sure to use the Events application to promote your event. It is easy to set up and you can then share with people in your network. Use your event URL to post as a status update so that more people see it. You’ll want to be sure that the event is included on your profile, so when you set up the app simply check the box to make this happen.

Today’s buyer often starts the sales process without you! When they have business problems, they turn to the web for answers. Smart salespeople will leverage multiple platforms to stand out from the competition. If you are in B2B sales and are not utilizing LinkedIn applications to create a more compelling profile that sets you apart from your competition, I hope I just motivated you to get moving!

As a general rule, I don’t run into many jerks in groups on LinkedIn. Until…

Day before yesterday, I responded to a question posed about social selling. I have my opinion about the topic and it’s just that – my opinion. Wouldn’t you know it, an arrogant, self-serving bozo with a sales agenda found it necessary to try and tear me down.

Innocently, I said that I respectfully disagreed with his perspective. That didn’t go over well, because judging from his subsequent comments, I imagine him staring at my words saying..game on sista…I’m going to prove that you’re wrong and I’m right.

Why the beef? Well, this gentleman ( I use the term loosely) took exception with my belief that the buying process has changed. He felt it necessary to tear down “my argument”…I wasn’t arguing but he certainly was. Perhaps a better way to have phrased my comment was to say that in the minds of buyers and executive decision makers today, the process has changed. The internet and social media has totally changed the game. Buyers are better informed, expect more and have no time for sales people who blather on about themselves without considering what’s best for the person they are trying to sell too. But for those delusional sales folks still living in the land of Glengarry Glen Ross, they believe that yesterday’s sales approach is still as successful as it ever was. But even Alex Baldwin’s character, Blake, the hot-shot sales strategist brought in by Mitch and Murray to “motivate” the discouraged salesmen advocated warm calls. Gee, I wonder why. As sales people, any time that we can connect with people based on experiences or people that we have in common, it makes our initial interactions and beyond so much more powerful.

While technically the “process” of how a sale moves through the funnel is the same, it is how the buyer sources information (often without sales reps being involved) and decides to engage with companies and their sales people is what has changed. Expectations are also higher. For years, solution selling or a consultative sales approach has been advocated as a more effective way to engage prospects. I agree. But here’s the problem…a large majority of sales people are not following that approach.

The point is that buyers expect that sales people have evolved their approach. They want trusted advisors who understand their business issues and focus their attention on making sure that they can help solve them. Today’s savvy buyers do not need a sales rep who merely recites the same ole blah, blah, blah from their spec sheet.

I guess I should have used words like evolved or said that buyers think differently, but I don’t think that would have mattered to Mr. I’m a Smarter Sales Professional Than You Are. After I responded to his first surly post smacking me down, which then led to him becoming an even bigger jerk, my final comment was “you gotta love diversity of thinking”.

The morale of the story. Arguing gets you nowhere and hurts your professional reputation and brand to boot. Yes, I responded to his first nasty backlash…keeping it professional mind you, but when it became obvious that he just wanted to win, I let it go. Funny thing happened though…others in the group rose up to support me and the dude never said another word.