Sales or people - which do you focus on?

Are you in business to make money? Strange question perhaps - of course people are in business to make money. But bear with me for just a second.

If you are in "business to make money" first and foremost do you struggle to gain enough prospects? Have you tried every sales technique in the world and still have trouble making the sale? Do you have your pitch worked out, do you know all the features of why this widget is so good compared to its competitors? Do people make excuses when you go to networking events because they know they're going to get the "pitch?"

Do you use the online social networking tools in the same way as you've leveraged first the Direct Marketing and then Email to try and get more business? A couple of times this last week I have received emails from people who tell me they are Search Engine Optimisation specialists - they tell me in the first sentence they've noticed something wrong about my website and how they can fix it. I usually ignore these messages. But one guy decided to get antsy - "look I emailed you before do you want to do business with me or not." And yes they were his exact words.

So I replied "I never respond to messages I deem to be SP*M. I also think you need to rethink your sales strategy - you never tell someone how crap their website is, especially when if you look properly - it ranks at number 1 for all the specified keywords, just so you can sell them some overpriced "solution" - I then recommended a book to him and I hope he takes the time to read it, but he probably won't.

Unfortunately some people never learn - but would you like to do better in the sales arena?

If you said yes - then you need to stop focusing on you, your product, your business and your bottom line and focus on other people for a change.

Excuse me?

You heard me correctly - no-one's interested in you, they're interested in themselves.

Have you heard of Twitter? (http://www.twitter.com) Twitter is one of the phenomena's of the social networking world. I love twitter, I love hearing about other people's goings on (and all in 140 characters or less).

What I really enjoy though are the people who truly understand why and how important twitter is - especially those people who are in the people business as opposed to the sales business. The difference between those who are in the people business and those who are in business to make money comes down to a single point (IMO). Those people in the "people business" are always looking at ways to add value to their followers. They offer interesting insights and links to articles they might be interested in. They make recommendations of other people who may also be able to help them and they rarely (if ever) make a single comment about themselves or their products. The products are all there, sometimes in the discussions, and definitely in the profile pages, but there is never a direct sell, ok there is the occassional subtle comment, but it's not offensive, and those who do, tend to get the short shrift. Like the obnoxious sales person - we know we are being sold to and usually we don't want or need whatever it is they are trying to sell. In the Twitterverse it's easy we just unfollow them, it's a little harder in a face to face situation. Do these people make money via Twitter? I'm sure a lot of them do, and its not because they've asked for the sale, they don't need to - when they've added value to their messages, people know where to go and who to buy from.

For those of you in business and using networking events to talk about you and your needs, do yourself a favour - next time, turn it around and listen for a change - who knows you might hear something important.

With many thoughts
Elle

P.S.: If you've enjoyed this newsletter and have found it to be valuable, would do me the favour and forward it to your friends, family and associates, it would be very much appreciated. And if they would like to subscribe, they just need to visit http://www.motivateme.info for easy and convenient sign-up.

P.P.S And the book I recommended? Bob Burg and John David Mann's "Go givers sell more"

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Motivational Tip: Exercise
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If you want to get more out of your walking as exercise routine, then walk as if you are late for an appointment. You know that slightly out of breath feeling we get when we know we're going to be late. It gets us into the fat burning zone much faster, and of course walking faster for a long period is a great way to boost your overall fitness levels and get a toned butt and legs as well. If you swing your arms you add an upper body workout to the plan, or why not try carrying a backpack – add a litre of water and use it to strengthen backs and shoulders at the same time.