What do salespeople do that's BEST? What do you do?

Last Fall, I created a giveaway on my Facebook fan page. I offered a prize of several autographed books for the person who submitted the best sales tip.

I received more than 260 responses, and thought it might be a good idea to share with you how your fellow brothers and sisters in the sales profession are thinking.

Here are a few of the tips - I hope they inspire you to think and take some new (better) actions:

• If YOU don't care, neither will your client.

• I find that being curious and genuinely interested in people has helped me grow my business and develop stronger relationships. It has also helped me to expand my professional networks.

• Sales is not about selling. It is about relationships.

• Make The Call!

• Always tell the TRUTH.

• Alter the way you interact with each and every person, but never change who you are!

• My 2nd favorite 4-letter word is SOLD... my 1st is PAID.

• Make doing business with you EASY... No Non-sense... No Rules...

• Just do what you say you are going to do.

• Don't sell anything you wouldn't buy yourself.

• Do It Now... Not Tomorrow, Not Later, Not After Your Coffee, Not After You Check Email... Do It Now. Be Known For Your Superfast Response.

• My best sales tip is "protect the base" - after I've met a prospective or current existing client, I've been writing a handwritten note expressing my gratitude indicating that I realize they have a choice in buying supplies, but I thank them for choosing my company. Call me old fashioned, but it separates me from the rest...

• My motto - NO PROBLEM! - no matter what! People do not want to know why something cannot be done, they just want it fixed - repaired - made like new - without any excuses - period. The better, faster, and with understanding of there point of view, the stronger your relationships with your customers will be.

• SMILE and mean it!!!!!!!

• When you work hard consistently, the numbers will take care of themselves.

• Be Prepared! Know your client and their competition!

• Never get complacent. Challenge yourself to be better. I asked my top salesperson after a really successful week if she was happy with the results. She said "no". That is why she is my top salesperson.

• My best sales tip is to approach sales the way you desire to be approached.

• Loose lips sink ships. I've seen more salespeople talk themselves OUT of a sale then into one.

• I work in the hotel industry and my competition is all around me. What sets me apart from people is that I LOVE MY JOB!

• It's all about the customer, stupid.

• Speak THEIR language and you will get far!

• I say to each client, "I am here to give you as much information as you need in order for you to make a completely informed decision."

• Confidence speaks louder than words.

• Sales is a simple concept: help people like you would want to be helped.

• I don't bring any of my tools, bags, computers, etc. to the door when talking to my customers. This forces me to build a rapport, and ask questions, with the customer, and takes away the "crutch" that I have in my bag. It's proving to be an excellent way to gain sales, because it allows me to build the trust that is needed before I get into the details of the sale.

• Do your homework to EARN the right to have a conversation.

• It's difficult to take back a first impression!

• Create a following by never following.

• Print out your client list/call list, then turn your computer off and pick up the phone. No email you send is going to be as good as the call I am going to make.

Pretty good? These are regular "hit the phone and the pavement" salespeople who are out in their market or their community, making it happen. I applaud them.

BUT the winner? Bill Atkins. He owns Red Bank Limo in New Jersey. His tip was: Each day, pick two customers at random. It doesn't have to be your biggest or newest customer. Tell them you don't have any agenda for the call, but just called to see how they are doing. No sales pitches allowed. Focus on the long-term relationship you are building not the sale.

Good advice from EVERYONE – for EVERYONE.

"The two words 'information' and 'communication' are often used interchangeably, but the signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through."

Sydney J. Harris

How to Double Any Company's Revenues in 12 Months
By Clayton Makepeace

Pretentious headline, right?

A little "hypey," no?

Actually, no. Not at all.

See, all you have to do to double your revenues is...

(1) Bring in more new customers...

(2) Compel customers to come back to you more often...

(3) Consistently increase the amount of money each customer is willing to spend with you on each purchase, and...

(4) Keep each customer with you longer.

Now I'm no good at math, so you're going to have to help me here.

But if, by sharpening your media selection, sales copy, and offer, you can...

• Cause 30 percent more new customers to make their first purchase from you this year...

• Cause existing customers to buy from you 30 percent more often...

• Cause customers to spend just 30 percent more on each new order than they've spent in the past, and...

• And cause customers to stay with you 30 percent longer...

Wouldn't you increase revenues by at least 100 percent in a single year?

Sure you would. You'd double your revenues.

That's why every promotion designed for existing customers must accomplish two critical objectives...

FIRST, it must produce a sale.

DUH, right? Every promotion is designed to make sales. But when you're talking about promotions for your customer list, they do more:

The number of promotions you send to your customers -- and, equally important, the quality of the copy in those promotions -- increases the number of times each customer will order from you this year.

So how many times should you contact existing customers?

Great question!

Well, back in the bad old days before the Web, nearly all of our contacts were through the mail. My theory was, "Out of sight, out of mind" -- so I made sure my customers had something from me in their mailboxes every blessed week.

First, we mailed to them only on the first of each month. When we added a mailing on the 15th, response and average sale notched higher and cancellations dropped.

When we added a third mailing -- more improvement in ROI and longevity. Finally, we went to a weekly mailing schedule and, once again, all our numbers improved.

Put simply, by quadrupling the number of times each customer heard from us, we more than quadrupled our orders and revenues -- AND, miraculously, our cancellation rates declined.

Why? I'll get to that next. First, I should mention that we had a high average sale and good margins, so we could afford to spend a fortune on printing and postage in those days. But today, with e-mail that costs you nothing, there's simply no excuse not to talk to your customers every week.

Heck. You're a Early to Rise subscriber. And ETR e-mails you nearly every day!

"But wait," you say. "ETR doesn't send me promotions every day! They only send me promotional e-mails a couple of times a week."

Ah... good point. About 70 percent of the e-mails you get from ETR are the free issues of this newsletter.

Which leads me to...

The SECOND objective of every contact you have with your existing customers:

It must make them feel closer to you...
intensify their loyalty to you...
and make them eager to hear from you again.

We call it "bonding" -- and it's a major part of the strategy in every promotion my agency creates for our clients. It's also a big part of my own online publication, The Total Package.

Six days out of seven, some of the sharpest minds around deliver valuable advice and ideas to our readers in The Total Package. For free.

Plus, every chance we get, we deliver more free stuff that has tremendous value to them. Like the 908 mind-blowing back issues -- each one a goldmine of response-boosting ideas -- in our archives.

So tell me: How do you think all this makes our readers feel about us?

Doesn't it separate us from the vast armies of online pitchmen who only want to sell them something -- whether it helps them or not?

Doesn't it prove we're sincere in our desire to help them get ahead?

And since we really do have their interests at heart... and since we give them so much for free... don't you think it makes them wonder if the products in our Online Store just might be worth checking out?

There's a supremely valuable principle here, and it can be applied to every kind of business you can name:

Do everything in your power to be a friend to your customers, and they'll return the favor by becoming the best friends you ever had.

That said, here are my four rules for creating maximum-response promotions to your customer file:

RULE #1: Provide value with every contact -- something that brings value to your customer's life, whether he makes a purchase from you OR NOT.

When planning campaigns to my clients' customer files, I try to make sure that the e-mailed and snail-mailed letters contain valuable, actionable information -- and in some cases, three-dimensional gifts -- to reward the customers just for reading the promotion.

One of my clients -- a financial publisher -- consistently invites his customers to free online video conferences, webinars, and teleseminars to help sharpen their investment skills.

And, of course, all of my clients give away valuable, content-rich e-letters, e-books, and even printed special reports.

Why? Because it works! The cost of adding a value component to our promotions increases our open rates, raises response and ROI, drives customer loyalty through the roof, and keeps our customers with us much, much longer.

RULE #2: Be a real, three-dimensional person with your customers. To make a friend, first show that you're willing to be a friend.

See, people don't bond with corporations. They bond with other people.

That means we want to connect a face with the companies we're dealing with.

And that face should have a personality.

It should have passion, principles, a fiercely pro-customer viewpoint -- and yes, even a sense of humor.

Show your affection and passion and concern for your customers at every contact. Share little stories with them... empathize with them... take them into your confidence and reveal your little non-fatal flaws to them. You'll be amazed at how much more positively your customers will respond to you.

RULE #3: Create drama.

Okay -- so you're contacting your buyers often... you're including something of value in most of the e-mails and snail-mail pieces you send them... and you're making sure your spokesperson seems like a real person, not a cardboard cut-out.

Now, what is the result of doing all of that? Well, for one thing, you're creating kind of an ongoing story line that engages your customers and keeps them reading what you send them.

This is a valuable concept. I always think about what the customer has experienced with us over the last few weeks before beginning to write a promotion.

What have we been telling them? Where did we leave them when last we spoke? What has happened in the news relative to our area of interest? I use that as a springboard -- then sit back and watch as readership and response rise.

RULE #4: Make sure every purchase makes the next sale easier.

It goes without saying that it's critical to make sure your copy never raises false expectations -- and that your product delivers everything you promise, and more.

You don't need to be a PhD to figure out that if your product disappoints, you may have lost a customer for life. Or that losing customers isn't exactly a good idea if your goal is to increase customer lifetime value.

Conversely, if your product over-delivers, you not only create greater customer loyalty -- you make it much more likely that your customers will buy again... and soon.

And over time, that naturally increases your response rates, average sale, ROI, and customer lifetime value.

Lots to think about...

Leveraging Social Media for Leads, Sales, and More!
By Wendy Montes de Oca

Although many marketers still don't understand how to take advantage of social media, I'm here to tell you that it's a crucial strategy.

It's a key element of my marketing plans. And it deserves a lot of credit for the six figures in revenue that my consulting business was bringing in -- only 10 months after I got started.

I have fully utilized social media -- for myself and for my clients -- with sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, FaceBook, and more. It's cost effective and casts a wide net. Where else can you get your message out to the masses for zero advertising dollars? These "communities" are filled with like-minded individuals who crave information. Your job is to target those communities and release your message.

To promote my consulting business, I've had the most success with LinkedIn, a professional networking community, as well as doing press releases that got republished by bloggers, social pages, and online news aggregators like Yahoo and Google News.

On LinkedIn, I simply joined several "marketing and small business groups" where my target clients would be. I then repurposed relevant, useful articles from my blog and uploaded it as "News" or "Discussions." This is a great platform to create awareness, build expert credibility, drive website traffic and generate leads.

Disseminating that repurposed content through LinkedIn -- which took less than an hour per week -- generated an average of 25 qualified consulting leads for me per week. It cost me absolutely nothing to get those leads -- and when you consider my minimum 3-month retainer fee, we're talking a profit margin of more than $10,000 for each lead that turned into a client.

For my clients, especially those with little to no advertising budget, I've made social media tactics a staple in their marketing strategies. By leveraging social media, I helped one client, for example, a best-selling author and well-known anti-aging nutritionist, increase website traffic and signups to his newsletter. In just four months, we collected nearly 5,000 e-mail addresses at $0/CPL (cost per lead). In addition, his revenues increased year-over-year by nearly 40 percent.

If you learn to think outside the box and harness the power of social media marketing -- before you know it, what started out as a "hobby" or side job, just may turn out to be your cash cow.

In Tough Economic Times:

Market Smarter, Not Harder

By MaryEllen Tribby

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is a motto your more resilient and clever CEO's and marketing professionals adopt while their meek counterparts tend to bury their heads in the sand during these tough economic times.

Yes, times are still tough, and people are still scared regardless of their current income level.

And rightly so, many people who are in decision-making jobs feel a sense of responsibility to their employers, their colleagues and their staff. Very often these folks have a knee-jerk reaction and cut marketing dollars before weighing the consequences.

In reality, cutting your marketing budget in a bad economy is the last thing you should do. This is not the time to focus less on marketing ... rather the opposite. The beauty of marketing in the 21st century is that many of the marketing channels available to you are cheap, easy and fast to execute.

The cost of entry has never been lower (and I am not just talking email marketing), there has never been more niche markets available and it has never been easier with today's technology to accurately measure the impact of your marketing efforts and make educated decisions about going forward to plan cohesive multi-channeled marketing campaigns.

Smart companies that continue to grow and prosper during hard economic times understand the value of multi-channel marketing:

Create strong customer relationships. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of multi-channel marketing is that it provides great customer relationship building opportunities. Direct mail and email allow you to stay in front of your customers while letting the customer learn about your product on their own schedule. Telemarketing allows you to provide additional information and answer questions your customers may have.

Regardless of which channels you use you should never promise anything that you aren't going to be able to deliver. In fact, you should always be over delivering on the promises you make in your marketing copy. Remember that integrity is the key.

Choose efforts that help you pick the low hanging fruit. Never forget to market most often and most strongly to those loyal customers who buy from you. Direct email marketing, well written and based on a compelling offer, is critical. It is easy to implement and extremely cost effective --- allowing you to communicate with your customers as much as you (and they) want. It also gives you the ability to test, see what's working, and quickly react to generate more sales. It allows you to make your message as timely and relevant as possible.

For the most part, direct e-marketing is a two-step process. The first process is to develop a list of people who will accept your promotional messages. This list is built through the use of banner ads, insert ads and asking for your customers' email addresses. The second step is to send them your direct response promotions. These are usually longer sales letters, much like direct mail.

Some forms of marketing don't cost you a dime. You can create online buzz about your product through social media. This can take on many forms: online forums, message boards, blogs, video blogs, and social networks (such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc.). Use social media methods to stimulate conversation about you, your business, and your products. The key is to be genuine. To ensure the buzz is positive, you have to promote yourself gradually and organically by developing real relationships with your desired audience on targeted social media sites.

It is also imperative that you are involved in the conversation on your own site. To ignore your own customers (on your website or others) is an unforgivable mistake in today's interconnected world. You must always be answering their questions, responding to their complaints, exploring opportunities, announcing new products, listing upcoming events, reminding them of deadlines. The list is endless.

Want to drum up great PR? Get to know the media. Of the many channels of marketing, public relations is one that every business should embrace. That's because it is nearly free. If you have a good writer on staff, your only cost will be the event you are publicizing and the small amount it takes to mail or email out your own press release. When it works, it really works, going from regional to national to international faster than it takes to write up a conventional advertising campaign. The trick is creating successful, newsworthy stories.

It's very important to target your press releases to specific publications and media outlets whose customers you want to reach. Rather than sending out 1,000 general press releases about a story that has general appeal, it's much more effective to send out a dozen or so targeted press releases containing stories that are exactly right for the intended audiences. It's simply quality vs. quantity.

Don't go it alone. Many small businesses balk at the idea of joint ventures. They don't like the idea of splitting revenues. They like selling their own products because they keep 100% of the revenues. This is the kind of thinking that destroys a business. When a joint venture is executed properly, it doesn't subtract from the business it adds to the business. There are many ways to do joint ventures and the best ones are those that pair up businesses with asymmetrical resources and skills.

To find your joint venture "soul mate" think about the major players in your marketplace. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each. Ask yourself how you might benefit from working with them. Make a list of potential partners and develop a strategy to approach them and show them how they could benefit from doing business with you. The idea is to develop joint venture relationships that are easy to maintain, financially profitable, intellectually rewarding, and long lasting.

Regardless of how many channels you use and which ones they are, smart companies understand ROI (return on investment).

If you see a company, perhaps one of your competitors advertising often and in multiple channels -- chances are it is a healthy company. Study that company, is there something they are doing that you can implement?

If you are interested in expanding your company's reach, try incorporating multi-channel marketing campaigns into your business model.