Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today

Market Your Expertise with Paper.li

Blogging is a great way to establish and market yourself as an expert. However, there is only so much you can write on a topic in a time period. This is where content curation comes into play. Besides writing, experts share articles and opinion of others in their field. This can come in the form of a retweet on Twitter, like on Facebook, +1 on Google plus and various other forms of re-sharing. However, if you want to curate content from multiple sources, an online newspaper comes in handy. This is where Paper. li comes in.

I use Paper.li to share content on sales, marketing and technology. This is a great way for me to engage my followers with the content and opinions of others in my field. People who are included in my papers frequently retweet the paper and mention me on Twitter.

Paper .li is a great site to publish online newspapers on your area of expertise. The site allows you to sign up using your Twitter or Facebook account. Papers are generated from your Facebook or Twitter feed. Setting up is easy. Once you go on the site, you will be asked to login with Facebook or Twitter. When I started, I decided to sign up with my Twitter account. Once I granted Paper.li access to my Twitter account,,

I was prompted to create my newspaper. You will need to create a title and subtitle for the paper along with how often you want your paper published. Paper. li provides publishers with three options: daily, morning +evening and Weekly.

Once you decide on the paper you want to create, you have the options of choosing hashtags from Twitter, RSS feeds, certain Twitter top accounts in the news, business, entertainment, tech and science, sports and leisure categories.Once you create your paper, you can schedule the time you want it to be published to Twitter and Facebook.

Another great feature of Paper. li is the editor’s note. The editor’s note allows you to market your product and services. This feature also let’s you provide background about yourself. I share both text and links to my various websites and blogs.

Another feature that I like is the Twitter feed under the Editor’s note. This a great way for readers to follow and engage with you on Twitter.

You can also search for people and content on the site. Readers who really like your paper can subscribe to your paper by email as well. This is similar to blog subscriptions via email.

Paper.li also offers a premium service where you can publish newsletters.

I recommend that you give Paper. li a try. It’s free!

My Top 5 Articles from 2012

In my last post, I shared my top 10 articles of all time. As today is New Year’s Eve, I wanted to reflect on my top five articles of 2012.

#1 How to Deal with Difficult Customers

In sales, we all have to deal with difficult customers. Today, I am going discuss how to deal with difficult customers. In a previous post, I discussed how to get customers to pay on time. Before I can discuss how to handle difficult customers, the situation needs to be put in context. In other words, why were the customers being difficult? Were they being difficult because you screwed up their order or service call? Are they just miserable people? Does the customer constantly cancel their orders? What kind of relationship do you have with this customer? How important is your customer to your bottom line or monthly quota. …

#2 How to Build Your Business & Brand Using Facebook Pages

In my last post, I discussed about how to build your personal brand on Facebook. Today I am going to discuss how to brand your business using Facebook pages. Remember Facebook is the largest Social networking site which means that your customers and prospects are on the site. Your job as a business and a brand is to engage with fans, prospects and customers. The goal is to convert this engagement (marketing) to product sales. Facebook pages are a great way to do this. …

#3 10 Things a Sales Leader Needs to Do or Have to Be Successful

Deciding to go into sales management is a very big step for a sales person. Recently, I received an offer to serve as a sales trainer or de-facto sales manager; based on my time in field sales and my blog.

What are a VP of Sales, Sales Director and Sales Manager? …

#4 How to Handle the Objection: “call me after the holidays”

The holiday season is upon us. Everyone is in holiday shopping mode from Black Friday, Cyber Monday and many other things. Also, everyone is thinking about going to parties. So the last thing on your customers and prospects mind is to make a year-end purchase; unless they receive a year-end tax advantage. As a sales rep, you are under pressure to close deals so you can earn that bonus. Unless your customer is in a buying mood, you are going to …

#5 How to Generate Leads for Your Business

Lead Generation is an essential building block for businesses to find potential buyers who are interested in their products and services. In previous posts, I discussed how to prospect and identify your target market. In this post, I will discuss how businesses can find leads and what mediums can be used to obtain leads.

Many mediums can be used to obtain leads. These mediums include: Direct mail, Email, Marketing, Surveys, Advertising, Social Media, referrals from current customers, business networking, trade show marketing. …

Happy New Year! Thank you for reading my blog, I appreciate your support. There are more articles to come in the coming weeks. Feel free to send me your comments, questions and suggestions. Have a wonderful 2013.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 9,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 15 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

How to Handle the Objection: “call me after the holidays”

In prior articles, I have written how to get prospects and customers to buy. However, today’s focus is getting around the customers or prospects objection “call me after the holidays”. You have to attempt to get around this objection. If your offer is time sensitive or if you can provide a break on pricing or payment through a special promotion for example no payments for 3 months; make your customer aware of them. However, at this time of the year, you will get customers and prospects who just don’t want to deal with you and your offering. As a sales rep, it is your job to be able to tell if the customer and prospect is telling you the truth. In other words, you need to qualify their objections. This means following up with every customer and prospect even when things look bleak.

Should your customers and prospects insist that call you them after the holidays, I would find out which holiday they mean. Next, I would pin them down to a specific day and time to call back. I recommend sending your customers and prospects a holiday card with a little note reminding them about the appointment; stating how you look forward to speaking with them on the specific date and time. Once this time comes, I would hold them to their promise. Deliver your presentation and ask for the business.

This is how to deal with the objection “call me after the holidays”.

How the Romney and Obama Campaigns use Big Data to Market themselves to Voters

Today is Election Day in the United States. There are many candidates who are up for election. However, the most followed race is the Presidential race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. These candidates have been selling and marketing their vision for America for many months. These candidates have been doing everything they can to get elected. Their campaigns resemble those of consumer products. These candidates send out direct mailings. They make in person appeals for your vote along with commercials. Consumer product companies use these marketing techniques. Both candidates are using social media effectively. There is a big focus on which campaign is the most effective on social media. However, social media is a basic requirement for every marketer and politician to promote, sell and market their platform of ideas. Being that everyone is expected to be on Social Media channels, I think that big data and its use is a more interesting topic.

The Romney and Obama campaigns are using big data to reach out and market to voters. The candidates are using their websites to market to voters. According to a report that aired on Bloomberg West, Barack Obama’s site barackobama.com is placing 87 tracking cookies on people’s computers who access the site. Mitt Romney’s site mittromney.com is placing 48 tracking cookies on people’s computers. For those of you who don’t know, cookies are software that track what sites you visit online. Many marketing and retail companies use data obtained from cookies to market to their companies. So what are the campaigns doing with all of this data? Both campaigns are using the data obtained from these cookies to create targeted ads to voters according to a Bloomberg West report.

In a race that is neck and neck, each campaign needs to pull out all the stops to win. Big data that is obtained from these tracking cookies can help the candidates create messages to engage voters. Soon enough we will know who the winner is. No matter which candidate is your choice, remember to go out and vote!

Why you Should Reward your Customer’s for Providing Referrals and Testimonials

The easiest way to make sales is to earn referrals and testimonials from your customer’s. Customers are usually delighted to provide referrals and testimonials for companies and products that work. That being said, you need to show your appreciation to your customer’s who put their name and reputation on the line for you. If you want your customer’s to keep doing this for you, make sure you show your appreciation. How you show this appreciation could take many forms. You could bring them baked goods or take them out to dinner. Taking them to a sporting event or concert of their choice is a great way to build your relationship. Remember to do a good job for your new customer!

Another thing you could do is to show appreciation is to provide customers a coupon for 15 percent off any item that you sell once their referral has been converted to a sale. I would also provide a thank you note with the coupon. Also, I would develop a point and reward system that encourages your customers to provide you with more referrals. Credit card companies use a rewards and points system when customers make purchases. This can be a model you can copy and implement; depending on your budget. Gift-cards can also be an option.

Remember, word of mouth marketing is a great tool to earn new business. Taking the time to say thank you is well worth the time and effort. Your customer’s have more weight with your prospects than you do! Let your customers help you earn new business. Your existing customer’s are one best sources of new business.

This is why you should reward your customer’s for providing referrals and testimonials.

How to Get Your Letters Opened

Today we receive a lot of mail. Most of the time, a majority of the mail that I receive is a solicitation and/or junk mail. People are very busy; as a result they will skim their mail very quickly. They have to think that your message is compelling and relevant to them within the first 30 seconds. Otherwise, your mail will get tossed in the trash.

To make sure you get your mailing opened, you have to make sure that you are directing your message to the decision maker. The decision maker will be different depending on your product. It is important that your recipient see’s your message as valuable. In your mailing, I would ask catching questions in terms of the person you are trying to market to. For example, I would ask questions such as: Are you happy with your company’s current sales and marketing results?, Are you satisfied with your company’s standing in the marketplace?, Do you want to know how you can produce more?, If you lost ______ what would you do?, Do you have a backup plan in place if this happens? The insurance industry does this when they want to sell insurance policies. You have to customize the message for your product or service. This message will get the decision maker thinking because everyone wants to produce more. In other words, you need a message that drives people to act.

Another thing that you could do is to offer a free trial of your work. You could also offer a discount to new customers. For example, you could offer a free consultation. Also, if you are sending the mailing to existing customers, I would offer them rewards for referrals. Make sure to provide a direct response card with paid postage for them to mail back.

Besides the copy and content of the message, it is important to make your mailing visually appealing to your prospect. The copy should be clean, neat and easy to read. Use colors and images that are visually appealing in your message. Make sure that prospects are aware of your presence on social media sites by including badges with link addresses.

Make sure that your business address, phone number and website are included in each piece of the mailing. This is a good precaution to take in case any piece of your mailing gets lost.

This is how to get your letters opened.

Selling and Marketing Brand X

When you are selling and marketing a brand x product, there are many challenges that you face. These challenges range from questions on product reliability to a lack of brand recognition.

One of the first things that I would handle is product reliability. This comes from the product development and engineering side of your business. The product has to be developed and tested to insure that it works properly. Nothing will destroy your credibility like under delivering on promises that you make about your product.

In terms of addressing questions on product reliability, I would offer a free trial of your product to both the end users and industry experts. If your product delivers on its promises you should be able to earn testimonials and endorsements. This will not only address product reliability but will also go a long way toward creating brand recognition for your product. Remember one of the most important things that a brand can cultivate in its customers is trust and advocacy. It is your job as a brand to turn your customer base into advocates.

In terms of building brand recognition, I would create a story for your product. This story should demonstrate how the product helped to solve a problem. As I said earlier, using testimonials from industry experts and end users alike will help build trust and get people to take that first step to try your product. One of the most valuable marketing tools is word of mouth. Social Media channels such as blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Pinterest and others help to spread your products story to the masses. I would also have a company website that integrates all of these channels. Exhibiting at industry trade shows and conferences is also a great way to get the word out about your product.

I was an outside sales rep in the dental industry with an equipment distribution company. Many of the product lines that I carried were not name brand. In the beginning many people I called on were reluctant to try products that they did not know. They would waver and say things like “I don’t know, I have never heard of this product”. After assuring the customer that it was reliable and comparable to their name brand product; I took on the role of brand ambassador by convincing customers to try just one or two items. After these customers tried the product, they switched from a name brand product to my off brand product! I turned skeptics into believers. I was able to use these customers to tell the story about the off brand product through testimonials and referrals.

I had an impact at the distributor level. For a really big impact, all of this needs to be done by the manufacturer. Product development, engineering, Sales and Marketing teams needs to work together to make sure that the product launch and market adoption take place. If you work with distributors you need to provide them with support to help them succeed.

This is how to sell and market a brand x product.

Why you Should attend Pivot Conference 2012

This year I have the honor of serving as a Brand Ambassador for the Pivot Conference. Last year, at the conference we explored Social Media as it related to the Social Consumer, Marketing, engagement and Advertising. This year the conference focuses on Social Media 2.0. This year Social Consumerism is explored through the lens of commerce, customer service, product development and employee engagement. Pivot 2012 will focus on the rise of the Social Business.

If you are looking to the future of Social Media, the social consumer and the infrastructure of the Social Business, this conference is for you.

If you are a Social Media leader that gets it, this conference is for you!

The Conference is taking place on October 15-16TH in NYC which is just one week away!

Check out the Agenda.

Don’t miss out!

Attendee’s of Pivot 2012 will:

Meet the architects who are developing Social Businesses and the agencies and industry experts who are helping them define new models for consumer engagement.
Hear about unforeseen hurdles, how they broke through, how they secured buy-in, and how they started to bring together lines of business and functions that did not previously talk to one another.
Engage with the most creative minds helping Social Businesses connect with connected customers to influence behavior and outcomes.
Get inside the mind of the connected customer to learn how to influence decisions and become a trusted resource.
Convert activities and conversations into actionable insights that guide the creation of relevant product and services and inspire creative campaigns.
Measure the opportunities inherent in emerging and disruptive technologies to improve internal collaboration and customer engagement.
Define the customer journey pre-, during, and post-commerce to reinforce value, cultivate loyalty and foster advocacy.
Learn how Social Businesses are not only improving stakeholder engagement, but how marketing, sales, service, product development are adapting, improving efficiencies, and achieving business objectives through new methodologies.
Learn from the most effective strategies to successfully start the transformation.

If you sign up I can offer you a 20 percent discount. All you have to do is to enter the code VIP20.

I hope to see you there!

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