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Social BOOM! How to Master Business Social Media
Want to have a great reputation? Earn it!
January 24, 2013 by 1 Comment
Your reputation precedes you.
Your reputation creates or destroys sales.
What’s yours?
1. Become known for doing everything you said you would do – on time or sooner. To have any prayer for a reputation you must be known as a person who does, and delivers, what you promise. Without this fundamental element, don’t bother to read the rest.
2. Become known for being easy to do business with, and be friendly while you are doing it. Customers expect everything and they expect it when they need it – not just when you can offer it. You have to be friendly when you are there and friendly when you are not there. This means easily accessible by telephone and easy accessible by Internet.
3. Become known for being proactively remarkable. When you stand out from other vendors, you will be talked about, and earning a reputation (and a testimonial) will be simple. Being remarkable means going the extra mile and making service the forefront of your business, not an add on.
4. Become known for providing consistent help. If you get my weekly email magazine, Sales Caffeine, you know it is all about sales help. Each week I provide my customers information of value – information that helps them learn and grow. And I do it for free. As a result, my customers and followers are loyal, they think of me often in a positive way, and they proactively send me referrals on a regular basis.
4.5 Become known as someone who gets business for customers. While this is not always possible, I can assure you it is the single most valuable thing you can do to secure loyal relationships, referrals, an incredible reputation, and testimonials that will flow like Niagara Falls. Figure out a way to help your customer by providing them leads, referrals, and networking opportunities so they have an opportunity to get new business.
RESULT: The most incredible reputation will come your way.
Here are a few more things you can do to create and build reputation:
- Create internal WOW! moments for customers. Establish WOW! empowerment for employees who face customer concerns and complaints. Give them specific things they can do. (offer free products, free gifts, gift certificates, free shipping)
- Select a random “customer of the day” from people who call in. Then post it with a photo on your business Facebook page.
- Create a Wikipedia page that boasts of your accomplishments and generates more key words.
- Design and post a YouTube channel filled with testimonials. Make sure the titles are searchable and always contain the word “testimonial.”
- Start with YES! Train all people in your company to tell customers what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T do.
- Write an article that contains several examples of what you’re doing to build your reputation. Post it on your Facebook page and blog it.
- Encourage your customers to post their opinion of a transaction or interaction.
When you let your positive words and actions speak for themselves, your reputation rises in the process.
What should I tweet, what should I post, how should I link?
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
TODAY’S REALITY: Do everything you can to use business social media to build brand, image, reputation, and perceived value with your customers and your business community.
YOUR CHALLENGE: Send messages that your customers perceive as valuable to them. Messages so valuable that they will tell others.
BUSINESS SOCIAL MEDIA REALITY: It’s not about tweeting; it’s about being re-tweeted. It’s not about finding someone on LinkedIn; it’s about them finding you, and wanting to connect. It’s not about searching out someone on Facebook; it’s about someone finding your business Facebook Page and “liking” it. It’s not about posting a video on YouTube; it’s about someone sending your video to someone else.
“But Jeffrey,” you whine, “How do I know what’s most important or most valuable to MY customers?”
THINK: What will help your customers produce more, profit more, understand what’s brand new in the market, improve morale, improve attitude, and/or improve their life. Then write about it, tweet about it, and post on Facebook about it.
MAJOR CLUE: Many people tweet or post something someone else said. WRONG. It’s not what somebody else says that is meaningful to your position as a person of value in business social media; it’s what you say, what you think, what you have experienced, and what you believe to be true.
MAJOR CLUE: Quote yourself, not Benjamin Franklin. It’s tempting to quote Benjamin Franklin, but it will not build your value in the eyes of your customer.
DO THIS: If you sell toilets, then you have to talk about plumbing. If you sell insurance, then you have to talk about protection, or peace of mind. If you sell clothing, then you have to talk about fit and fashion. If you sell automobiles, then you have to talk about vacations and auto safety. If you sell real estate, then you have to talk about building equity, home repair, and front yard safety.
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It’s A New Year!
January 2, 2013 by 2 Comments
Here are a couple things you should resolve to do in the coming year that will allow you (and me) to over succeed and over achieve:
1. Allocate your time in 30-minute segments. This gives you a full understanding of whether your time is being “spent” or “invested.
2. Take at least two of your allocated segments (one hour) and dedicate them to writing each day. Writing will clarify your thoughts, and help you find and solidify a clear (or clearer) direction.
3. Learn to use business social media by becoming actively involved. Build your reputation AND your personal brand.
4. Visit your top 10 customers before the month of January is over, and talk to them about why they do business with you, and what they’re looking to achieve in the coming year. Ask for (earn) business in January.
5. Make a secret list of the big things you are looking to accomplish over the next few years, not necessarily just this year. Maybe it’s to write a book, maybe travel to certain places, or maybe to get a bigger house. Whatever it is, write it down. Somehow written things become more solid in your mind that just thoughts.
5.5 Make plans to celebrate, not just achieve. I have found that celebrating an achievement confirms and affirms the reward in your mind. Not just “I did it,” but also, “I’m proud that I did it.” That celebration will lead you to the next.
So here we are, the day after New Years, and you are thinking, “Why is Gitomer giving me a cold slap in the face my first day back on the job?”
ANSWER: Someone has to…otherwise you may wait until February or March. (Further (gentle) slaps in the face will be available weekly in this publication or my weekly email magazine, Sales Caffeine.)
But between now, and then, and every day, I thank you for being my customer, and for your continued loyalty. Happy, healthy, wealthy New Year!
20.5 Attitude Gems For You To Read And Study
August 30, 2012 by 3 Comments
Here are 20.5 attitude gems (mental snacks to chew on and digest) I’ve picked up along the way that I recommend you read, copy, share with others, post on your wall, and study in a way that you can implement then into your “thought and expression” process:
1. Change your input to change your attitude. If you seek a positive mind and a positive attitude, you MUST expose yourself to positive information and hang around positive people. If you want to achieve positive, you have to surround yourself with it and live with it.
2. You were born to win. But, “You must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” (A famous Zig Ziglar quote.)
3. “The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win.” (A [famous coach] Vince Lombardi quote.)
4. You will get whatever you want if you help enough people get whatever they want. A quote that many claim to have said. It doesn’t matter who said it – just live it.
5. Make every day as productive as the day before you go on vacation. That’s a day that EVERYTHING gets done.
6. Ignore people who tell you, “You can’t.” (Except your boss.) People will try to discourage you for feae that you will pass them. Don’t let it happen.
7. “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.” (A famous quote said by your mother.)
8. Don’t dwell on (whine about) the problem; concentrate on the solution. Resolve how you can; don’t lament why you can’t.
9. Forgive and go forward. Grudge blocks positive. Until you clear the past, you are destined to repeat it.
10. Self-talk equals self-performance. Look at any athlete. Self-talk is a crucial part of expected positive performance.
11. What is the picture you have of yourself? That is what you will become. Spend 15 minutes a day focusing on a positive picture.
12. You will hear the word “No” 116,000 times in your lifetime. (Maybe more.) Try converting to just 1,000 of them to “Yes!” and the world is your oyster.
13. What you do off the job determines what you are likely to do on the job. Uh oh.
14. Strengthen your weaknesses and strengthen your strengths at the same time. Combine positive with negative for better personal development results.
15. Failure is an event, not a person. Think of failure as “it,” not “me.”
16. It’s not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you. Sound familiar? Attitude manifests itself in your RESPONSE to events.
17. Every obstacle presents an opportunity, if you’re looking for it. “Revel” and “lament” are choices. Your choices.
18. Hard work makes luck. Nothing affects positive circumstance and results more than hard work.
19. How many of your problems are cured with ten grand? (A question a famous father [my dad] once asked me as I lamented my problems.) If money makes your problems go away, attitude can make them go away as well.
20. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. The tone of your verbiage determines the atmosphere of your environment.
20.5 Resign your position as general manager of the universe. Don’t try to solve (butt into) other people’s problems until YOU are problem free.
Attitude gems lead to attitude AHA!s – those single moments in time where something happens, or someone says something, and suddenly you get it – suddenly you scream AHA!
23.5 Characteristics of Trusted and Trustworthy People
August 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
From my personal life experiences, here are 23.5 characteristics that I have discovered in other people that have led me to trust them:
1. To get trust, first give trust.
2. Surprise (genuine) helps leads to trust.
3. Trust grows slowly over time.
4. Giving value first leads to trust.
5. Questions that differentiate, especially in matters of money, lead to trust.
6. Competency and superior skill leads to trust.
7. Straight-forward truth leads to trust.
8. Creativity leads to trust.
9. WOW! leads to trust.
10. Giving trust leads to getting trust.
11. Superior knowledge and genuine help lead to trust.
12. Superior service leads to trust.
13. Understanding leads to trust.
14. Willingness to help leads to trust.
15. Truth and honest dealings lead to trust.
16. Respect and reliability lead to trust.
17. Desire to serve with a grateful heart leads to trust.
18. Dedication to serving and enlightening others based on heartfelt belief leads to trust.
19. Random acts of kindness and the desire to do the best job possible lead to trust.
20. Accurate advice over time and friendship without condition or expectation lead to trust.
21. Superior performance with passion over time leads to trust.
22. Dedication to personal excellence and mastery of a craft leads to trust.
23. Friendship based on respect, mutual admiration, truth, and fun leads to trust.
23.5 I trust myself first.
Study this list, and add to it. I hope it helps you become a more trustworthy person, and helps you find trustworthy people to connect with in life.
10.5 Attitude Buster Remedies
August 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Once you discover what your attitude is, or isn’t, you’ll have a starting point and an understanding of how to move forward.
Here is a list of attitude busters, with actions (remedies) you can take to overcome them:
1. Someone has done me wrong. Do your best to make it right, and then forgive them. No vengeance. Ever.
2. I need more money than I have. Make more sales.
3. Outside influences are affecting me. This requires concentration and a change of scenery. Get away from the influencers and the influences. If you don’t, you’ll go down.
4. Outside pressures are affecting me. Don’t give in, even if your ass falls off. Get to safe ground and stay there.
5. I have bad luck. Hard work makes luck.
6. I don’t like where I live. Move.
7. I don’t like my spouse. Make peace. Remember why you got married in the first place. Renew vows. Or if all else fails, get a new one.
8. I don’t like my boss. Get a new one.
9. I don’t like my co-workers. Get a new job. NOTE: If you don’t like all of them, the problem may be you.
10. I don’t like my job. Get a new one. Do something you LOVE. Life’s too short to do anything else.
10.5 I don’t like myself. List your best qualities. You’ll be surprised how much there is to love.
I have just given you the “tip-of-the-iceberg” answers (actions). There are many more. Why not take some personal time, get introspective, and discover what they really are for you?
Sign Up For My ‘Presentation Domination’ Webinar: Wednesday, July 25th
July 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Pitches and presentations are the fastest way to turn off a potential customer from wanting to buy, unless you learn how to convey true value. It never ceases to amaze me how many salespeople only present a contrived sales pitch or worse, forget to focus on the message that matters: how the customer will profit from doing business with you.
Presentation Domination is all about engaging and persuading in a compelling manner that will make it easy for your customers to write you a check!
In this one-of-a-kind webinar, you will learn:
- What to say and how to say it
- How to connect your dialogue with your slideshow
- To eliminate your boring sales pitch and replace it with a presentation conversation
- Why speaking in value, profit, and differentiation terms leads to more sales
Sign up now → → → http://bit.ly/GitomerWebinars.
Webinars: Sizzlin Summer Special!
July 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Summer is HOT! Make your sales hot too. Grab my Webinar Sizzlin Summer Special while your competition is losing ground on vacation.
- Two Webinars – “Presentation Domination” & “If you want to Sell, Show don’t Tell”
- Two Wednesdays – July 25 and August 1 (Spaces are limited - Don’t Wait!)
- One Price – $49
- BONUS: extended recording access for 30 days
Join Now → → → http://bit.ly/GitomerWebinars.
