A friend of mine recently asked me to recommend some good books on sales and business. I thought it would be good to share that here. My list is far from perfect, and there may be many great books missing from the list – but these are the books that I helped me grow personally and professionally.

The following should be read by any salesperson or professional: Continue reading →

In the course of making cold calls, it’s inevitable to be asked to send your info via e-mail so that the prospect can look it over before making a decision. Although this can be frustrating to the telemarketer, who obviously prefers to make an immediate sale, this can be turned into an opportunity.

Rather than just send the e-mail and do the normal follow-up, why not compile all these e-mail leads, and use them for e-mail marketing? Add them to your monthly or quarterly e-mail newsletter list. E-mail marketing is extrememly effective, and some prospects may respond better to that medium. Plus, if they’re not ready to commit now, your e-mails will keep you on their mind and when they are ready, they will remember you and you will likely get the sale.

Remember, though – getting someone’s e-mail is not your goal on the phone – making a sale is. But when you have no choice but to get the e-mail, do not despair – send them your info, and then keep that e-mail on file for future use!

A few thoughts to follow up my entry about e-mail addiction – the reasons why I think e-mail addiction is so bad:

The obvious – e-mail addiction is a compulsion, and this is enough to drive you insane.

The less obvious – clients who receive extremely rapid e-mail responses from you will be conditioned to always expect this. This is problematic for 2 reasons: Continue reading →

Hi, my name is Amir and I’m an e-mail addict. Well, actually I’m a former addict. I was deeply entrenched in e-mail addiction – checking e-mails countless times throughout the day – clicking on Outlook’s Send/Receive button every few minutes, anxiously looking for new incoming mail. Those who sent me e-mails came to expect a quick response, and were even amazed at how quickly I got back to them.

My Blackberry kept me plugged in even when I left the office. I’d check it several times during lunch, not wanting to miss any important e-mails. The same pattern would continue in the evening. My family came to expect it and tolerated it, but I know my wife hated it – my mind was on work all the time. Not on any specific work or project, but on e-mails in general. These e-mails were often unimportant and could’ve waited until the next work day, but I felt the compulsion to always know what lay in my Inbox. Continue reading →

We all dread doing it. We make excuses not to do it, we procrastinate, delay, we put it off. We even consider paying someone else to do it. I refer, of course, to the dreaded cold call. Why do we fear it so much? Fear of the unknown, fear of rejection.

Most people tend to shy away from it because it’s often not a fun thing to do, since you have to hear “No” many times until you get a “Yes.” But there is no question that cold calling works, and is also one of the most cost-effective ways to get business. Continue reading →

One great way to get some good leads, many of which will turn into clients is to have an annual referral program or contest. I’ve done this regularly at Watt Media almost every year, and have had great results.

Here’s the basic idea: I send out e-mails and faxes to all of our clients, old and new, letting them know how much we appreciate their business over the years, and that if they send us 3 referrals, they will get something for it. Continue reading →

Your booth should be simple but effective. People should be able to tell what you do in 3 seconds, or you well lose them as they walk by. This has been particularly challenging for us in the on-hold business, since it’s not a service that everyone knows about.

Have a show special. Waive your start-up fee, give them a one month free trial – whatever – but give them an incentive to sign up right there at the show. Continue reading →

Do you have a list of things you need to do, but have been putting off? Have trouble getting organized? Here’s a little tip that may be helpful. It has worked wonders for me. Every morning, upon my arrival to my office (or sometimes the night before if my mind is racing and I need to clear it), I write a list on a sticky note of things that I need to do that day. Then, I put an asterisk next to the really important things. Continue reading →

This week, one of our main production computers went down, causing a bit of a hiccup in our normal operations, but things went a lot smoother than the last time this happened. Some planning and regularly backing up our data helped us immensely, and we even learned some new things this time around that will make the next computer-failure event go even smoother.

It’s a fact – computers go down. Hard drives crash. Data gets lost. What can you do for your business to ensure that when this happens (yes, when) you will have a seamless continuation of your operations? Continue reading →

Oh, no. Not the dreaded R-word! I refuse to even utter that word. Are we in one? Are we headed towards one? The economists have been arguing over this for the past few months, and will likely continue doing so. The reason I hate the R-word is not because of its effect on my business – actually, some of my best months have been during bad economic times – but because of the effect it could have on my psyche.

See, to me, the R-word seems to make people complacent. You’ve heard it before – “How’s business?” “Terrible! Sales are down…it’s the recession.” A recession (there, I’ve said it!) gives people something to blame – a reason for their slump. And it’s easy to get lazy and resign oneself to the idea that times are tough and any extra effort will likely be wasted.

So don’t give in to the R-word! Here’s what you can do to make your business immune to it:

Increase sales efforts. Hire more sales people. People are still buying, even in a down economy. It may take some more work to find them, that’s all.

Increase marketing. Become creative; it doesn’t need to cost a lot to be effective. E-mail marketing is extremely effective and inexpensive.

Increase networking. Join a chamber or local referral group. Get out there!

Find alliance partners. Seek businesses in complimentary industries that could be a good referral source for you, or vice versa. Partner with them and try to find a win-win situation, such as mutual referral-giving, or a referral fee for any referrals given that sign up as customers..

Make some more phone calls. Stay at work 10 minutes more each day and make a few more phone calls. Every little bit of effort adds up.

Do things you don’t normally do. Think outside the box. Make that phone call. Take a chance. You may have a record month!