Does Technology Have A Place In Sales?
January 18th, 2010
Does technology have a place in sales? The answer? Yes, but it’s place in YOUR sales efforts depends on you. In essence, you get what you put in.
I cannot tell you how many people have considered me to be a “computer person” since I was twelve. The truth is that while I have been using computers to perform better at my job throughout my career, I have yet to build a computer or program one element of software.
True, my experience has helped me to learn software for web site design, graphic design and Flash animation. And yes, I have learned how to utilize tools that help with internet marketing, usability and drafting technology solutions, but I still had to learn to use the more available tools that have helped me to generate business and increase exposure the same as anyone else.
I know, it can be overwhelming to learn the ins and outs of all of these different technological sales tools. I can relate and believe I will never stop learning. But I can tell you that it is worth it. After learning how to utilize a blog, build an online network using social media, create and implement an email marketing program and configure a customer relationship management software to help me stay on top of my sales efforts, I can say I have generated sales I would otherwise not have generated, created a much larger audience than I ever could have in person and have landed a position with Realistiq out of Las Vegas, marketing and selling a comprehensive set of technological sales tools for Real Estate Professionals. The proof is in the pudding.
I understand that sometimes a certain tool may not fit into your approach due to industry specifics or some other obstacle may prevent you from utilizing a certain tool, but generally a company or individual must look at the capital and time invested into these tools as an investment that will yield large benefits in the long run–and often (as in my case) various levels of benefit in the short run. You will not learn all of the available tools overnight. You certainly won’t master them. But good luck even keeping up with your competitors without learning them at all. And better luck staying in front of your competitors without a holistic approach to utilizing technology in your sales efforts.
You don’t have to take MY word for it. Visit www.passivepipeline.com and download sellsmarter2009.pdf from there. I am completely independent from this publication and hope you will find it useful as a second reference. Of course, if you are in the real estate industry and would like to learn more about how our tools can better help your or your agents’ sales efforts, please feel free to contact me. Either way, while technology cannot replace a handshake, it plays an integral role in the success of many sales professionals today and will do the same for even more sales professionals in the future. The same goes for most industries. Don’t get left behind.
Computer Maintenance - How Computer Performance Effects It Has In The Work Place
July 9th, 2009
Many of you know that I am now managing business development for Geeks For Less. My experience with Geeks For Less as well as my own personal experience has forced me to look in the mirror. It’s time for me to upgrade my system for many reasons.
Yeah, it would be less frustrating for my windows to snap up while working with high end web design and development programs, photo and illustration programs meanwhile social networking on Facebook and working with my email client to communicate via the internet—all at the same time. But performance is more than a luxury. It’s an investment that you and your clients will appreciate collectively.
I typically work on fixed quotes when providing web design and internet marketing oriented services, because most people prefer to know what they are going to pay. Yeah, I base those quotes on an hourly rate, but the less efficient I am the less I make per hour. Well, I am self employed. But if you are an employer, you should listen to what I am saying. Regardless of your type of business, production is costing instead of making you money by not keeping your systems upgraded, and the more employees you have using insufficient systems the more money you are losing.
The good news is that you can invest in a little computer repair or maintenance, do not necessarily have to go and buy a new system for every employee in order to operate more efficiently and can have less frustration in the work place. A PC tuneup is a very small fraction of the price and will typically increase a system’s performance dramatically and can be completed within an hour. A good technician should know what I am speaking of and will most likely agree unless they have an agenda that differs from yours or are not as good as you think they are. There are bells and whistles that can be turned on and off, hard drives that can be defragmented, spyware and viruses detected, software installed or uninstalled and much more to help a computer run more efficiently.
So, if you are an employee and work on a slow computer, or you are an employer and know you haven’t addressed your technological standards in a while, I suggest looking at computer repair as a business investment as opposed to a cost. Mention it to your boss or make the investment yourself and start making more money. It makes sense and that’s all it does.
Geeks For Less is in Nashville, TN (615.202.1544), Knoxville, TN (865.805.3051) and soon will be coming to Buffalo, NY and Chattanooga, TN. For more information, please contact info@geeks-forless.com.
The Meta Tag Myth — IT’S NOT SO
July 6th, 2009
OK, it has been said to me far too many times that “meta tags aren’t important anymore.” NOT TRUE. They are extremely important as is the description of your site. In fact they are even more important than they were in my opinion as they set the bar for what the content on that PAGE should entail. This is called keyword relevancy. While keyword relevancy is specific to the page itself, maintaining consistent keyword relevancy between each page’s content and it’s meta keywords is vital to a domains organic listings. And in addition, it is vital to the success of your web site conversion rate, as Google is better pairing your viewers with the appropriate content.
Start Up Companies’ Most Common Web & Branding Needs
May 3rd, 2009
Before we go any further, let’s just say there are obvious exceptions to what I am about to say, but my opinion is based on facts that I have gathered in my ten years experience as an Internet Professional in the small business arena. I have found the following to be true in most of my encounters. If you have found your experience to be different, then GREAT. Please comment at will. It is my hope that this blog is as educational as possible.
With that being said, it seems most start up businesses have limited budgets. Even if a start up has more access to funds than average, initial investment is vital, and in my opinion, it’s better to be safer than sorry. There is only one shot to invest your start up dollars. If there is no R.O.I., then there is zero percent of a chance to reinvest.
You also only get one chance to make a first impression. So, obviously it is VERY important to do everything you can within reason to make it a good one. How does a company do this? It’s actually very simple. Below are a few suggestions that I encourage all of my start up clients to consider.
Invest in a professionally designed logo and stationery package.
No offense. But unless you have experience with company identity and branding or know someone who does, do not try to design your logo yourself or have your cousin’s nephew do it because he is taking some art classes in high school or even college for that matter. It takes a thorough understanding of marketing and communications concepts as well as a well seasoned aesthetic sense to design a logo. Get it done by a professional along with a simple stationery package and give your brand the attention and integrity it deserves.
As far as marketing collateral beyond a web site goes, I would suggest being well informed as to what method is most effective with regard to your industry. It will vary from industry to industry, and that is why I do not have a standard print collateral or other non-web collateral element included in my start up packages. Many businesses really don’t need collateral in the beginning for a number of varying reasons. For example, most businesses don’t have the infrastructure to support a surge generated by a direct mail campaign. Remember the statement made earlier about only having one opportunity to make a good first impression? The last thing a company wants to do is be unprepared to handle business.
Keep your web site simple.
You will want to do this for several reasons. One, it will be much more expensive to have a large web site designed professionally. But even if you have the capital, consider this. Your customers are just trying to get to know your business. Providing them with short and concise information will only not eliminate the demand for a serious retention level of your customers (as your company will most likely not be the only company they are researching for your product or service), but it will also help you maintain a consistent message and focus for developing a solid foundation to build your business on. If done effectively, your clients will notice, if at least subliminally, and they will certainly understand your mission and what you do much more easily.
Some tips to creating an effective, yet simple web site are:
- No clutter
- Minimal Flash
- Professional photography (Stock photography is OK, depending on the selection)
- Consistent message and tone.
- Stay informative and avoid sales jargon
- Contact information highly visible on all pages
- Professional logo
- Include some company background information and let your audience get to know you
- Talk about your product and service (again, informative versus sales jargon)
- Have a contact us page (Provide both a form and an email address which can be truncated to avoid spam bots)
- Quality overall design
Again, there are exceptions to most rules, but I have found the above information to be true and hope it will be helpful to business owners and other service providers in my industry. Sure, the KISS theory (Keep It Simple Stupid) may be a cliche. But cliches are what they are for a reason and that is because they are usually true. Still, consult an experienced Internet and Branding Professional to make sure your business does not need a little something extra to give it a boost, as you could always be that exception to the rule.
Written by Jesse Olive, Owner of Pixel. Paper. Plus.
Update All Your Social Networking Media with Ping.FM
April 12th, 2009
Ping.FM at www.ping.fm has been discussed in some of the other postings, but I want to take the time to address it on its own. Ping.FM is a great tool for conducting business online, in my opinion because it saves the user time in updating their status/tweets and it also provides for a more synergistic and consistent message. You know what they say, time is money and a key to establishing a successful brand is establishing a consistent message and tone.
Written by Jesse Olive, Owner of Pixel. Paper. Plus.
What is a PCUBE?
April 6th, 2009
If you are familiar with a passive pipeline, then you are one step ahead. But let’s stop there and back up for those who do not know. A passive pipeline is a term, well I am not sure who coined the term, but brought to my attention by a colleague of mine. If you stop and think about it, the meaning will most likely surface. But I will save you some brain energy and time. The phrase pipeline simply refers to a salesperson’s or business’ list of potential clients, or “leads”. A pipeline is a pipeline. The difference here is how is it was developed?
I am sure, even if you are one of these people, that you or someone you know has been approached by a door-to-door salesman or have received a cold call. This approach to sales is still widely used today. It causes people to feel uncomfortable for a variety of reasons and has given the sales person a bad name. Even the car salesman will come and ask you if you need help without you inviting him down to talk to you. Well there is an alternative, passive approach that can actually yield more results if the sales person implements their system correctly. I call this “system” a Passive Pipeline Platform, AKA P3 or PCUBED. So, there is where I get the term PCUBE from. As it is a multi-dimensional tool that can work wonders for a sales person.
How does it work? Well, that is wherre I will pass you off to Justyn Howard’s www.passivepipeline.com. He will give you all the ins and outs of how this system works. I have already started experimenting with this sales strategy in mind and am very confident it is going to work for me as it has for my colleague who referred Justyn’s web site to me. Go to the site and sign up for free. I have not received one spam email since I have signed up for his site. Once you log in with your new account, you can download a publication called SellSmarter2009 from the main menu. The resource is free and I recommend you read it if sales pertains to you directly or indirectly.
Justyn gives you all the necessary tools. Some which are free, and there is no one way that applies to all. That was the fun part for me. Taking his great advice, assessing it and applying his philosophies to my own career and then developing my own PCUBE based on the principles and tools outlined in his publication.
Written by Jesse Olive, Owner of Pixel. Paper. Plus.
Flash Tip: Search Engine Friendly Flash
April 1st, 2009
If you are a web guru, you may be just waiting to pounce on me. If you are a marketing director, business owner or any non technical person looking to invest in a web site, you may be wondering why this article is important to you. I invite an open mind by all, as you may pull something from this post. I have talked with many novice to expert level developers and designers who still seem to support the blanketed idea that Flash simply is not search engine friendly. Not necessarily, and this article could be important to them for obvious reasons. For those that do not understand code but are interested in how this applies to a business at a high level, it simply means that you do not have to sacrifice aesthetic quality in order to gain performance. That has been a myth for too long and it is my goal to put an end to that idea with this article.
How can Flash be integrated as part of a search engine friendly web site?
First of all let’s go ahead and get it out there and say that Google can index Flash content. However, I believe that a site programmed in 100% Flash will struggle in rankings, given the same case scenario. To me, an integrated approach, utilizing HTML/CSS/Flash/JavaScript is the best approach if SEO plays a large roll in the success of your search engine rankings and you are not utilizing a blog (such as this one). I especially recommend this approach if your site holds a large amount of content. Your site will load much quicker and you will still have elegant, interactive or animated elements to accentuate your site.
Speaking of images, I hear often web site designers and web programmers say that even with an integrated approach, it is better to use an image in a web page, because the image code is cleaner than the mess of code Flash generates when importing the file directly into the HTML document. That’s what the JavaScript method is for. All this requires is calling in an external .js file via a simple command below the </head> tag of the document and then in the appropriate place in the body. For an example, view the source at this site. The code is very clean and you get all the benefits of Flash.
Navigation in Flash is OK as long as it is utilized in a sub-navigational sort of nature as a part of an integrated approach as mentioned above. The utilization of Flash movies to call out sections of your site is a great alternative to static images for driving users further into your web site or calling them to action. Stick to HTML/CSS driven menus at the top and bottom of your document. Use keyword oriented text links throughout your content.
To summarize, utilize JavaScript and CSS to create a cleaner document structure, don’t use Flash for tier one navigation without having it some where else on the page (preferably the top) and use Flash in place of images to drive users further into your site or call them to a specific action. Your site will perform even better on the search engines, as Google will realize the value of the content within your Flash files that are nonexistent in images, as it easily spiders through the rest of your well written HTML document.
Written by Jesse Olive, Owner of Pixel. Paper. Plus.
Review of SellSmarter2009.PDF — PassivePipline.com
April 1st, 2009
PassivePipline.com offers a sales 2.0 book called SellSmarter2009 written by Justyn Howard. It is one of the most valuable resources shared with me to date. It offers an incredible integrated approach to creating a passive pipeline. This publication includes tips, tools and the author’s philosophy based on his own success stories and proven methodologies.
There is one element in this book I believe should be reconsidered, however. Justyn believes each social media tool should be utilized to serve a separate function, given he stresses a consistent and polished tone that is essential in establishing a successful brand. I believe that with the new web tool, www.Ping.FM, one can work more efficiently while eliminating chance for neglecting a social media tool or risk of broken or inconsistent messages.
Ping.FM works much like twitter (and works with twitter), but allows for the ability to update one’s status across all of their social media. However, it does not have the community base Twitter has. It also offers other features, that I believe are for more personal use. Other than this particular point, I agreed with most of what was said throughout the easy 210 page read.
SellSmarter2009 presents the best integrated approach to sales and marketing I have come across to date, as it makes sense of the impersonal element in sales (technology) without discounting the human element. The sales professional will learn how to create a passive pipeline through the utilization of existing sales and marketing tools. Not only does Justyn deliver the how, he illustrates the why, as a passive pipeline allows for a more personable relationship
between sales professionals and their prospects, before human contact is ever initiated. Simply beautiful.
Written by Jesse Olive, Owner of Pixel. Paper. Plus.
