(SALES) Top 40 Prospecting List of Do's and Don'ts

8-12-2013 

Here's a little "Liquid Fire" for your prospecting. Here are my Top 40 ?Hang on Your Wall? list of do?s and don?ts for successful prospecting. Never, ever stop prospecting! This list should hang right next to Luce's Top 40 Sales Tips.

1. Don?t take rejection personally. It's not always about you.
2. Don?t be afraid to meet a new prospect. Step out of your comfort zone.
3. Your eyes are a laser beam to your heart. Put a little heart in your prospecting!
4. Vibrate. Bounce high. No one wants to talk to someone who is having a bad day.
5. After an appointment, look to the left and right for more prospects.
6. After finding a new lead, record it, take a photo, or write it down. Contact the lead within 24 hours.
7. ?Seed? the account to make it more favorable when you call on them.
8. Master the smartphone. It improves efficiency.
9. Do some research before the first call. It's always better to know something about the prospect ahead of the call.
10. Always look your best. You can never get back that first impression.
11. Smile ? it's infectious!
12. Develop an ?inside coach.? An inside coach is more accessible to the prospect. Recruit them to your cause and let them ?get you in.?
13. Testimonials: written, recorded, and video. Use them to break the ice.
14. Community involvement. There is nothing like running into your prospect somewhere else.
15. Send in some dice with a note: ?You won?t be gambling when you advertise with [name].?
16. Guest speaker: Invite a prospect to address your next sales meeting and talk about their business and tips.
17. Send a two-minute video introducing yourself to a prospect. No other reps are doing it.
18. Referrals, referrals, referrals. Enough said.
19. PMR: a personal marketing resume. I have plenty of examples. E-mail me.
20. Potential cross-promotional partners. Approach a prospect with a potential partnership with one of your clients. Have your client make the initial call for you.
21. Use voicemail as your friend. Be focused and compelling. The first 10 seconds will get you another 30 seconds.
22. Focus your eyes on the prospect, not down at the ground.
23. Timing is everything. Instead of driving by, stop and go inside.
24. Align rank. If your prospect is a higher-up, use your owner, GM, SM, or a corporate executive to make the call.
25. Complete a needs analysis record: Send a completed customer marketing profile, showing needs uncovered from other buying influences, with a note and an idea!
26. Persistence. Most sellers give up when they are just one or two calls short of success.
27. Careful, don?t be too slick. Leave the cliches at home. Be real.
28. Study the membership list of the Chamber of Commerce. What start-up companies have recently joined?
29. Google it first. Easy!
30. Don?t be left speechless. Know how to overcome objections.
31. Non-traditional selling hours. Call on a restaurant on a Saturday. Your competition is not there.
32. ?I have an idea for you.?
33. Your voice. Clear and concise when speaking. Slow down a bit for clarity.
34. If nothing else: Have fun prospecting.
35. Stand up when you?re prospecting on the phone. You will have more oxygen flowing to your brain. It makes you sharper!
36. If your car is a wreck, park it around the corner from the business. I am speaking from experience here.
37. Don?t discuss the call until you exit the building, especially if you?re with someone.
38. Leave a business card with a little note on the back about something you noticed inside the business.
39. Never penetrate a person?s three feet of personal space when you first meet them. No back-slapping, either.
40. Fresh breath. Bad breath is the kiss of death!

Sean Luce is the Head International Instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com.

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(SOCIAL) 6 Important Don'ts Of Social Media For Radio

8-24-2012

With so much focus on what you should be doing in social media, every once in a while it is good to get a check-up so you know you are not actually doing things you shouldn?t.

1. Be social -- and by that I mean don?t over-market the radio station on social media. You know the kind of personality or station I mean:  Tons of me, me, me, me and very little focus on the listener. When they do social media, it is all about the station and listening and contesting. Make sure you have a true mixture of compelling content. For me, it is okay to have contesting on Facebook and Twitter. Of course. Just make sure it is a smaller percentage of your overall content (that should for the most part focus on listeners? wants/desires and how they can use your product more for THEIR purposes.

2. Don?t do a ton of posting content without pictures and/or video. If you want attention and true engagement, think about the visual and think about it often. Posting words can create compelling content, but leaving out the visuals will leave you flat in social media (and waste a lot of your time).

3. Don?t only post written content. Also make sure you comment and like listener posts. Engage listeners on their ground (by the way, Facebook, especially, is listener ground). Simply posting what you want to say is not engagement. Get in the fast lane and engage listeners on what they are talking about. Let them know you are IN their lives and care about them, too.

4. Don?t post online content that does not match your persona on-air and the lifestyle of the radio station you work for today. Believe it or not, this is a huge no-no. Think about who you are to listeners and make sure in your planning and in your execution that you ?represent.?  If you do things in social media that don?t match listener expectations, you could be setting yourself up for authenticity trouble that will create more long-term problems for you and your brand.

5. Don?t make your content look like a plan. It?s okay to have a plan (in fact, it is recommended; if you don?t have one, you?re likely flat out wasting time or, worse, in deep trouble because of your social media). However, your posts should not look like you are gaming listeners or that you are on a strategic path of manipulation.

6. Don?t make it work. I know, I know. Less people, more work in radio, right?  Here's the thing. We are still in a fun business and listeners want to be a part of that. Still, your engagement of listeners should be fun and should always lead back to your on-air brands. So, let go and enjoy! It will pay dividends.

If you?ve been reading my stuff on social media and radio for a while, you know I believe in developing your plan first. Think of what you want to accomplish. Social media is not advertising. Now, you can use it like advertising, but you will be disappointed in the results. At the same time, you should do more than show up. Developing a plan and making sure everyone knows the plan and their role in it will insure you climb up in social media and grow engagement (and listeners). Avoid the above ?don?ts? and truly enjoy social media for helping you engage listeners in their ?social? life. If you do that, you will be the winner.

Loyd Ford programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here: http://about.me/loydford. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE
Visit his Facebook radio social media page www.facebook.com/socialnetworking4radio

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