Take a look at the BIZIT Blog over at MMJ Technology and catch up with me there.

If you are wondering how to get your organization’s blog up and running – take a look at this article from Mashable:
Mashable – How To: Create a Successful Company Blog

Do you ever wonder how things can be FREE?  Seth Godin’s got some perspective and insight for us all – especially important reading for those of us in sales and management.
Seth Godin – Open buying and open selling

For those of you interested in having an email address with your own domain name (i.e. jonathan@abccompany.com), Google has a free alternative if you can do with less than 50 separate mail boxes.
How to Set Up Google Mail Across a Small Company by Joe Moreno

If you have a blog and want to get people to notice your older posts – here is some good advice:
ProBlogger – 5 Tips for Getting Readers Viewing Your Old Blog Posts

Should you ever go back and edit/modify your old posts?  Here are some good thoughts on that:
ProBlogger – Why Update Old Blog Posts?

Take a moment and drop me a line or a comment and let me know if you like these reading lists.

Make it a great day!

Marketing Sherpa – Ask for permission, not forgiveness

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If you have a blog or website where you allow users to post comments, and you should, you are going to end up with some negative feedback at some point.  It’s not really a question of if you will get negative feedback, just when it will happen.  How you deal with it can have a significant impact on you and your organization.  Here are some good tips:

Mashable – Dealing with Negative Feedback

Mashable – HOW TO: Keep Your Facebook Updates Private

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A number of people have been asking about how to best utilize Facebook for their business; some people have been asking why it matter – realizing of course that it does.  Here’s a great guide to Facebook.  This is a worthwhile primer for anyone who is not intimately familiar with Facebook; well worth a few moments of your time.

Mashable – The Facebook Guidebook

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If you’ve set up your blog and are not sure what to do next, take a look at this post from ProBlogger

Problogger – Your First Week of Blogging – Write Compelling Content

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Whether you are writing for your own brand or for your companies, you need to ask yourself some relevant questions to help you be a more effective communicator – and sometimes just to help you figure out what to write about.  This is a longer article than I normally like, yet the questions posed are valueable and I think you will find value in taking the time to read this post and ask the questions posed.

Personal Branding Blog – 49 Branding Questions to Ask Yourself

Personal Branding Blog: 5 Questions To Ensure Your Writing Strengthens Your Personal Brand

ProBlogger: Top 10 Ways to Drive Traffic to your blog using Linkedin

When we get to the step that the prospect agrees to purchase from us it’s tempting to sit back and relax. Don’t fall into that trap. This is the time when you need to give your sales process one last push to ensure the highest likelihood of success. When the prospect says “Yes” you need to ask one more crucially important question:

“What could go wrong at this point that would stop us from doing working together?”

You may be thinking that I’m crazy. Why would you want to do that; after all you’ve just gotten the approval you’ve been working for. Right? WRONG!

When the prospect says “yes” you’re almost home, although not quite. This is likely the time when the prospect will be most open with you – after all they have decided to do business with you. It’s also the time for you to find out what “hidden” obstacles remain. Maybe the obstacle has something to do with accounting, purchasing, maybe it’s just a matter of paperwork. Regardless of the obstacle, you as a professional sales person need to be aware of it so that you can assist the prospect in dealing with that obstacle effectively.

An informed sales person is an effective one. As a professional sales person, take the time to understand the entire decision making process and subsequent approval process(es) that your prospect needs to work through in order to finalize the sale with you.

Good selling!

Jonathan Mast on Sales, Marketing and the Internet

I’m planning to post more regularly now that I have access to the internet – thanks for stopping by, check back soon for more.

1. The prospect needs to be a good fit for your firm (some clients aren’t worth having).
2. The prospect’s needs can to be served by your core competencies.
3. You have to have a verified budget from the prospect (no need to present a proposal if the prospect can’t afford it).
4. You have confirmed that the primary decision maker is going to be at the presentation.
5. You have an agreement with your prospect as to what the next steps are after you give your presentation or proposal. Never give a proposal to a prospect until you have gotten their agreement that there are no TIO’s (think it overs).

If you’ve completed the five steps listed above, you’re now ready to prepare your presentation/proposal. Make sure you focus on the prospect’s issues (which you uncovered in the last step of the sales process), and use the presentation/proposal to show the prospect how your solution will fix or address the pain that they are experiencing as a result of those issues. Use this opportunity to link the recommended solutions to your core competencies as well. Finally, while you’re preparing, give yourself enough time to get the proposal done right. It’s not worth providing a prospect with a ‘half-done’ presentation/proposal; after all, it is a direct reflection on you and your company.

When the day of the presentation arrives, ensure that you can present in person (see step 4). Remember it’s not worth ‘dropping off’ your presentation or proposal – you need to be there in person and assure that your agreed upon next steps are followed. Remember, if you drop the proposal off you can’t ask the prospect when you’re meeting with them again or what they need in order to be 100% comfortable making a commitment to you for the solution. Always present in person.

After your presentation, it will be time to determine the next step. Is the prospect prepared to commit to your solution? If not, exactly what else do they need in order to commit? This is not a time to be arrogant with the prospect, although it is a prime opportunity for you to set yourself apart from your competition by getting the prospect to tell you what it’s going to take to do business. Remember, when you walk out of this meeting – as with any other sales meeting – you need a clearly defined next step so that both you and the prospect know what’s happening next and within what time frame it is happening.

Ultimately, by following this process you will either close the sale or quickly learn that you won’t be able to do business with the prospect. Although we prefer to make the sale, getting a clear ‘NO’ from the prospect is far more valuable than having them string you along for weeks, months or even longer while you are of the belief that you still have a chance to make a sale with them.

Next time, what do we do after we get the prospect’s commitment?

Jonathan Mast

We begin this process by dealing with known issues first and then by uncovering unknown issues. To help the prospect identify unknown issues, I like to ask this question — “Imagine you have a magic wand and you can change any one thing in your operation. What would that look like?” Then sit back and listen carefully while the prospect elaborates. While the prospect is sharing with you their vision of a “better operation” it is up to you to identify the problems that your products and services can provide a solution to.

Assuming that the offerings I’m selling can present a solution to the problem being discussed, I then need to ask the following questions to cement the expectations for the next meeting. The answers will determine how I’m going to respond in order to earn the client’s business.

Question 2 (Q1 being the “magic wand”): What have you (or your company) done in the past to deal with this issue?
Question 3: If they’ve tried something in the past, what happened?
Question 4: How does this problem affect your business?
Question 5: What does that cost your business?
Question 6: How does this problem affect you? (or what happens to you if the problem isn’t fixed?)
Question 7: What were you hoping I could do for you?
Question 8: What would you need to see from me in order to be 100% confident that I (my company) can provide a solution to you (your company)?
Question 9: Assuming I can (do the answer to Q7 & Q8), what would our next step be?

As you can see, this is a very specific series of questions that brings the prospect to the point of telling you what they need, what they expect from you, and what you need to do in order to earn their business. As a follow up to Q9, I would recommend asking who else would need to be involved in the process before we could begin providing our solution. I would use the answer to determine who needs to be in the next meeting, or at a minimum, understand who the true decision makers are related to this opportunity.

At the conclusion of the meeting – after having identified as least one problem (perhaps more) you can solve for the prospect, it’s time for you to establish an agreement as to when the next meeting will take place, what you will be “proving” to the client in that meeting, and what the prospect’s next steps will be if you successfully “prove” that you have a solution that fits their needs. Be careful that in the midst of the excitement of having identified the problem and your solution that you don’t run off without a carefully crafted and agreed upon plan with the prospect. Clearly identifying the next steps in the process for both you and the prospect is critical to shortening your selling cycle and achieving success in your sales process with this prospect.

Finally at the conclusion of the meeting, just prior to thanking the prospect for their time and information, ask them once again if there is anything else that they would need from you, other than what you’ve already discussed, to move forward and make a commitment to your solution. You should have ample rapport with the prospect at this point in the meeting that you can be frank with them about your intentions and receive a frank response back from them. After all, you are there to solve a problem for them by selling them something. When you and the prospect are both in agreement on the next steps in the sales process you will both be more confident in working with each other.

Next time – your presentation, and why you should only do a presentation to the client when it’s time to close the sale.

Jonathan Mast