 I resisted as long as I could – partially because my understanding of it was somewhere around zero, and partly – okay mostly, because I thought it was going to be a waste of my time.
I was wrong. Way wrong. Way, way wrong.
After a brief, but intensive education by my friend Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do?, and continued prodding by Kadro Solutions CEO Rick Johnson, I completely changed by opinion. And made a plan of action.
I registered. I obtained my name (Gitomer). And I tweeted three times in the first 24 hours. At the end of the first day I had more than 300 followers. At the end of the first month I have almost 5,000 followers. At the end one year I hope to have 100,000 followers.
And I’m doing it without gimmicks, spam, or reporting news (other than mine). I have a Twitter strategy and philosophy.
I bought the website, www.itweetthereforeiam.com, and immediately posted a picture of me, Tweety Bird (the original tweeter), and a few of my fellow staff members in full “Tweety” pose.
It also has a link to my Twitter page. It’s for fun, and attraction. Everything else I do has a link to my Twitter page.
I intend to use Twitter to provide readers and followers with thoughts, help, answers, and information they will find both useful and profitable. Useful and profitable enough to re-tweet to their followers.
Here are a few examples of my tweets so far:
• The strongest salesman on your team is a testimonial from a loyal customer. Testimonials are proof. Gitomer
• It costs no extra money to be friendly. How friendly are you? Gitomer
• The importance of asking the right questions lies somewhere between sale and no sale. What are you asking? Gitomer
• There's no prize for second place in sales. It's gold, or go home. Gitomer
• The two BEST places for a sales appointment: Breakfast and lunch. Relaxed atmosphere and no interruptions. Gitomer
• You will succeed far greater at something you love to do. What do you really love? Is that what you're doing? Gitomer
• Prepare to win, or lose to someone who is. Gitomer
• Don't set goals, set intentions. Whatever you intend to do will happen. Without intention, goals go unachieved. Gitomer
• If you are consistently blaming other people, guess what Bubba - it ain't them. Gitomer
• If you believe in your company, If you believe in your product, If you believe in yourself. You will march to success. Gitomer
• Failure is not about insecurity, or bad luck. It's about lack of proper execution. Gitomer
• You control the most important tool in selling, your mind. Gitomer
• Friday is the least productive workday. Most people slack off eying the weekend, and then complain about a lack of money. Gitomer
On Mother’s Day I tweeted: “If you have nothing nice to say about someone, say nothing.” said by your mother. Honor her today, She was right. Gitomer
Notice my name is at the end of each tweet. That’s because those quotes are mine. I wrote them. I don’t quote other people. I quote myself. When I get re-tweeted I build my own brand and awareness, and gain new followers.
Here are a few of my ideas for future tweets: (Feel free to use them, or alter the strategy to suit your situation.)
• Post a daily sales tip.
• Give information as to my travels and where people can register for my public events and see my live seminars.
• Post information regarding...
Read the rest of this article
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Jeffrey Gitomer's 2009 Boot Camp
DEC 10-13 in St. Pete Beach, Florida
An intensive 4-day sales and personal
development training with Jeffrey and his
line-up of top-achievers Jeff Jarvis, Victoria Labalme,
Marc Ostrofsky, and Steve Rizzo.
Click here for Complete Seminar details.
Want to reach my public seminar audiences of 500+ LOCAL business people in your community? Would you like your company to receive additional sales training from me while I’m in your city? Contact Sara or Heather at 800-242-5388 or email publicseminars@gitomer.com for information.
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Jeffrey,
I am in manufacturing In Ohio and business STINKS. It is all I have ever done. I did not like it when I started and still do not like it. HELP! I keep hearing if you don't like what you do, do something else. How do I do that when my whole life has been invested in this place and every time I think of some thing else to do I don't get much support?
Alan
Alan
If you’re determined to stick at what you’re doing, then you have to look to the Internet for new customers – and look to your existing customers for either more business or referrals. I appreciate and respect your love, dedication, and investment, but now is the time to be pragmatic moving forward. Don’t think “What else?” Rather, think maximize what I have.
Best regards,
Jeffrey
Jeffrey,
I saw a question in this week’s Sales Caffeine that made me question myself. It was the question about telling the price before someone asks. I run an online wedding vendor directory. I’ve been encouraging some vendors (recently a horse drawn carriage company) to include a price range in their listing text to help a bride see that it doesn’t cost as much as she thinks it might. Your answer to the question tells me that vendors should not be sharing their prices outright. (Personally, that drives me crazy when I’m trying to buy something.) But I’ve also encouraged people to do this to save brides a step in not having to pick up the phone. It seems that this generation of brides is all about the quick answers and avoiding personal contact until it’s necessary. I have two questions:
1. Should vendors be including a price range in their text?
2. How can I help vendors write better text for their listing so that they get brides to click through to the vendor’s website or make a phone call?
Kerri
Kerri
1. I think you give a price range – a beginning price and a high-end price. Amazon.com does not make you guess their price, and they’re pretty successful. It’s a good model to follow.
2. You don’t need to help vendors write better text – you need to post vendor testimonials so that people can see what actually happened after the bride bought.
Best regards,
Jeffrey
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Are people excited to meet with you?
By Frank Rumbauskas
Wait a minute, I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture: Do people even know who you are?
You see, only about ten years ago, it was more than enough to be a good salesperson. If you knew how to generate hot leads, and how to determine a prospect’s true needs and demonstrate value, people would simply buy from you without any selling required on your part (assuming you’re really addressing their needs and not trying to push crap on them that they don’t want).
That strategy still works today. Very well. Except now there’s a catch: This little thing called the Internet has sprung up, and it gives prospects a level of power they never had before.
So, going back to my original question, are people excited to meet with you? Why would they be if they don’t even know who you are?
I hate to break it to you, but informed prospects today are Googling you before you show up in their office - or maybe before they’ve even decided if they want to meet with you to begin with. In many cases, they’re looking for negative information - they want to make sure you’re not a scam artist who’s going to wrong them. Maybe just as frequently, they want to know if you are somebody and not just another rookie salesman who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
As I’ve explained in my previous books, prospects aren’t necessarily looking for the lowest price. (If they’re smart like me, they avoid low-cost providers like the plague.) What they are looking for, however, is value - and they want to know if you’re capable of providing that value.
Value comes in many forms. In this particular example, it comes in the reputation, knowledge, and experience of the salesperson. That’d be you. And your reputation and knowledge needs to be verifiable.
That’s where good old Google comes in.
What do prospects see when they Google your name? If they see nothing, you’re in trouble. If they see complaints, you’re in even bigger trouble.
If they see positive feedback, such as articles by you, press releases talking about you, quotes or interviews in trade journals, and best of all, rave reviews from actual customers, you’re got the sale in the bag.
The bad news is you need that positive information on the Internet if you want to be an elite top producer today. The great news, though, is that it’s easy to place it there, and create a stellar online reputation that makes you look like the expert of experts in your niche!
Taking it a step further, we’ve all dealt with jerk customers. I had my share as a salesperson, and I encounter one every now and then as a business owner. You know the type: They’ll lie, cheat, steal, and say anything bad about you in order to get something free.
These people are more dangerous than ever because, with a few strokes of the keyboard, they can really hurt your reputation online. Some of these people are real whack-jobs who will always be convinced that you wronged them, no matter how far you go out of your way to please them. And that’s why you need to create and manage that reputation and flood the Internet with so much positive information about you that no one will ever see the bogus negative stuff the occasional jerk will post online.
Get started on creating your online reputation. Your competitors won’t stand a chance when your name turns up pages of positive feedback while their names turn up nothing!
Frank Rumbauskas is the author of the NY Times best-seller, “Never Cold Call Again.” Click here to check out his latest, “The Never Cold Call Again Online Playbook: The Definitive Guide To Internet Marketing Success” at NeverColdCallBook.com and grab a bunch of cool, free bonuses & downloads while you’re there!
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“No dawgin' it in this economy! I've invested in an arsenal of Little Books and have The Sales Bible on my nightstand to keep from being a sales dawg...” -John
If you see Jeffrey or Jeffrey’s books
SEND YOUR PHOTO to ezine@gitomer.com.
If it’s posted, you’ll receive an e-book!
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All enduring success is founded upon harmonious human relationships.
Most of us are incapable of "going it alone." Whether it is in our careers, our personal relationships, or in life, we all need others if we are to achieve the level of success we desire. Besides, what’s the point of having it all if we have no one we care about to share it? You may choose to work with others, you may ignore them, or you may choose to work against them, but the greatest successes in life come to those who work harmoniously with others. When your personal goals coincide with those of another, not only does the power of your combined labors benefit you, but such cooperation also creates a synergistic effect that allows you to achieve far more than the simple sum of your individual efforts. Know that friendship freely given and gratefully received is one of life’s greatest gifts.
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“Frank Rumbauskas is a 21st century salesperson and marketer. His wisdom will help you for the next 10 years to eliminate what marginally worked over the past 10 years. If you don’t like to cold call, or if being rejected 99 out of 100 times is not your cup of tea, Frank’s online program is a small investment that will pay large dividends - not just in sales, but in Internet reputation, personal branding, and Google ranking.” - Jeffrey Gitomer, Author of Little Red Book of Selling
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Jeffrey's Sales Rant is a clip from his online training video library.
watch the rant now
(you need it)
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 Over the next two-and-a-half months I will be overseeing the SUCCESS Sales Challenge and coaching you on how to connect with your customers and, ultimately, increase revenue. The challenge began October 12th and will continue for 10-weeks through December 14th. I will be posting video, audio, text, and other resources every Monday to offer guidance, respond to your comments, answer your questions, and share about your successes as you implement key points and meet the challenges I set for you—and that you set for yourselves.
Register here today and I’ll keep you updated with tips and other resources to help spur you on.
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“If you're concerned with the state of THE economy, don’t be. Be concerned and focused on the state of YOUR economy.”
-Jeffrey Gitomer, www.twitter.com/gitomer
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“TrainOne has provided tremendous value to our company. Our sales have increased 200% since adopting TrainOne. The content makes it easy for me to deliver a high quality meeting.”
– Brian
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No Problem Here
by Stephanie Melish
When was the last time you had an “AHA” moment while listening to a story?
I had one, not too long ago, while sitting and having wine with my neighbors. We were talking about a bad storm that had passed through earlier in the week and the aftermath of problems it left when our section of town-homes were struck by lightning. Many electrical appliances were fried: televisions, laptops, receivers, Direct TV boxes, etc.
The morning after the storm, Tim, from Home Specialties, was scheduled to come set up the universal remote for our home. And he did, but I didn’t find out what he did before he came to the appointment until after talking with my neighbor Kirk.
Kirk told me that he was working in his office upstairs when he saw a truck pull into the driveway. He wasn’t expecting anyone, so he went down to check it out. In the driveway was Tim.
Their conversation went something like this:
Kirk (Potential Customer): “Hi, Can I help you?”
Tim (Sales Guy): “I’m sorry, I think I am at the wrong house. That was a bad storm that came through last night. Is everything OK here?”
Kirk (Potential Customer): “Well, a few things were ruined, our two computers and a garage door opener.”
Tim (Sales Guy): “You know, I’m from Home Specialties, and I worked on your home and did all of the wiring. I could take a look and see if I can help.”
Kirk (Potential Customer): “Wow, that’s very nice. I would appreciate that.”
You can imagine how this ends, or maybe you don’t. Kirk is now one of Tim’s Home Specialties alarm system customers.
After recounting the story, Kirk told me, “Tim really reminded me about the importance of customer service because in sales, there are no such things as problems, only opportunities to make relationships.”
AHA! Now that’s something worth repeating.
In sales, there are no such things as problems, only opportunities to make relationships.
When was the last time you took that approach?
Tim went to the wrong house. He could have easily said “Sorry” and left it at that. But he didn’t. He saw his mistake as an opportunity to get to know Kirk. He was successful in making a sale because:
1. He had a YES! Attitude
2. He was able to see an opportunity, not a problem
3. He was willing to help
4. He built rapport with the customer
5. He backed it up with knowledge and was able to become a trusted advisor
I challenge you to use Tim as an example for yourself. Next time you make a mistake or have a problem, seize the opportunity to make a relationship. A sale will follow.
Want to know the best way to build a great client relationship? Send me an email (stephanie@trainone.com) with the subject line RELATIONSHIP to receive my espresso single-shot tip on how to best build your client relationships.
I’m your Double-Tall, Non-Fat, No-Whip Sales Barista. How may I help you help yourself?
Stephanie Melish, one of the few, hand-selected, Gitomer-Certified Speakers is the only Double-Tall, Non-Fat, No-Whip Sales Barista in the world! Stephanie trains, sells, and speaks to companies and associations all over the country. To book Stephanie for your next event, please visit www.GitomerCertified.com or contact the friendly folks at Buy Gitomer at 704-333-1112.
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Speaking and training worldwide more than 150 times a year, Jeffrey provides answers, informs, challenges, and inspires sales forces and upper management for hundreds of the largest and most successful companies. You and your people want someone who can make a difference. The difference is Gitomer.Click here to hire Jeffrey for your next event.
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Your Success Strategies.
I work in ad sales for a large ethnic media outlet. I was struggling with breaking down walls with a very lucrative but notoriously bureaucratic prospect - a University. I kept getting repetitive and discouraging answers from the ad agencies and university PR people, “No, send more information. We’re still considering,” and tons of voicemail. But I have a secret weapon now - I just read your Little Red Book of Selling and internalized your idea about going to the real decision makers, the ones who make the budgets, recognize the value, and don’t think in numbers but rather in potential. So, instead of going back to the same old ad agency, a group of “yes/no” people, I went to the individuals who really make the decisions - the deans, chairpersons, and directors. Well, that worked wonders - I got the deans and chairs excited about our audience (because it made sense to them without budget blocking the deal - they are smart people after all!) and they decided to start a major campaign with us. Even better, the sales manager asked me to make a presentation to my sales colleagues about my success, tactics, and work ethic, helping me build respect within my company and position myself as a sales resource. I owe you one, Jeffrey!
- Isaac
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Each week, we feature a salesperson's success story. Please send your stories to gill@gitomer.com. If your story is published, we'll send you a free e-Book!
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Central Jersey
Managers 12/03/09
Central Jersey 12/04/09
Tampa Bay
Managers 12/09/09
Tampa Bay, FL 12/10/09
Jeffrey Gitomer's
Sales Boot Camp 12/10/09 –
12/13/09
Oklahoma City, OK 01/15/10
West Palm Beach
Managers 01/21/10
West Palm Beach, FL 01/22/10
Real Estate Revival
Atlanta, GA 02/10/10
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Managers 02/11/10
Atlanta, GA 02/12/10
Charleston
Managers 03/11/10
Charleston, WV 03/12/10
Pittsburgh
Managers 03/18/10
Pittsburgh, PA 03/19/10
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