Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

The Bad Speaker Issue

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imagesI was at a luncheon recently and during the structured networking portion I ended up with the speaker in my group. As each person gave their elevator pitch the speaker kept looking away as if she was looking for someone and was clearly not interested in what we all had to say.

Having done some speaking in my life I know the most helpful thing before you speak is to learn about your audience, directly from your audience. Knowing your audience in advance means you can tweak your speech in the moment and make sure your audience gets what they need from you. Listening to your audience when you have the chance means they’re more likely to engage with you during your presentation, and buy your up-sell package at the end of the event.

Not paying attention while you have that chance means I’m writing this blog post while you’re speaking.

Chastising Coworkers

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On Friday morning I stopped in at the library to pick up a book I had on hold. It wasn’t on the shelf like usual so I went up to the desk to ask about it. The librarian looked around and couldn’t find it. Then another librarian came over and looked, and said “it’s inter-library loan, we got a memo you should have read about it.” and berated her in front of me. So, that’s where my tax dollars go, awesome.

I have had many co-workers I don’t care for, and I am sure I have handled situations with them about that well before. BUT, I shouldn’t. And neither should you. There are many establishments where rude employees, to me and to others, have left me with a sour taste in my mouth where I’ll never return.

The Lesson here: Don’t be a dick, it costs you business.

Ask Yellow Dog: Controlling Managers Expectations

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IMG_3101Last week at my PSBJ Workshop I got an email afterwards from someone asking me this: how do you control expectations that every contact will produce business immediately?

That’s a great question- long sales cycles in a short sales cycle-minded company are a challenge. This is why keeping the pipeline full and healthy is helpful so you’re always working on prospects. When I was at PSBJ I had a monthly sales goal, so I knew I had to get my speaking engagements booked a month in advance to have next month taken care of and work to fill the gaps, instead of reacting to the work all the time.

Communicate with your manager to discuss what is realistic. If it’s a new industry you’re in charge of, there may be no proven track record to know that one industry is longer or shorter than others. This is also a great time to reach out to your Referral Partners. Take some time with LinkedIn or even Facebook to reach out to friends and your referral partners (that’s why I think they’re so valuable!) and talk about what you need and connections you’re looking to make in the industry. As I mention often, I can’t help you if I don’t know what you need.

Send a quick note to a few people asking them to introduce you- a quick “I saw you know so and so on LinkedIn, would you mind introducing me?” most people say no problem, and if they don’t, there is usually a good reason (the person is a jerk, or they haven’t talked to them in 2 years so it wouldn’t be a good lead).

If you have a couple of clients that you are comfortable asking, you may want to reach out to them and get their feedback on the ‘sales cycle’ and when they felt comfortable saying yes to you. Bosses like concrete answers and data to back it up.