The key to a good introduction is to get the audience’s attention and have a specific message about your company prepared that describes the benefits of your services. Plan ahead and you won’t get rattled.
Share an interesting fact or experience that will get their attention.
- If you are in security, give the latest crime statistics in the area or describe trends.
- A home insurance agent said at a recent meeting that washing machine water hose leaks were the greatest source of claims so he gave away a new water hose as a raffle prize - very clever and practical!
- I sometimes mention that sales usually happen on the fifth to seventh call but most sales people stop after two of three calls. I offer to help them develop a more systematic sales follow-up process.
Practice what you are going to say in advance while you are driving or in front of the mirror. Write it down. Sometimes it helps to use alliteration such as “my clients range from rice and robotics to real estate.” State the benefit of your services from the customers’ perspective, “Clients tell us that they appreciate ….” Say your name and your company at the beginning and the end. You can add, “find out more at your web site name.” Don’t forget to smile and look at the audience.
Be sure to watch other speakers to figure out what distance to hold the microphone from your mouth to project your voice most effectively. If they can’t hear you, they won’t know what you can do to help them.
Go to your next networking prepared and you won’t get rattled.
Last week, Soroptimist of Loomis Basin held an introductory event for women in Rocklin who are interested in community service. Members described the programs they support as well as the plans to charter a Rocklin Soroptimist club. Read more at Placer Herald Soroptimist invites Rocklin.
To learn more, see a Soroptimist meeting in action this Wednesday, June 2 at 5:30 at Cha Cha’s in Rocklin, CA. See the attached flyer: Soroptimist Loomis Basin hosts Rocklin Mtg June 2
I think that Soroptimist is a wonderful way to contribute to your community in a meaningful way with incredible women. Soroptimist is an international volunteer service organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.
Congratulations to Sierra College for the acknowledgement at the Placer County Economic Development Summit held March 17, 2010 for leadership in economic development. Both the Sierra College Energy Technology Program and Sandra Scott, director of grant development and career technical education for Sierra College, received awards.
Marketing Action, Inc. is honored to work with both the Energy Technology Program and Sandra Scott who oversees Sierra College Training and Development for employers, the Sierra STEM grant promoting careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and the Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT).
Learn more about the awards: Sierra College Receives Awards at sierracollegetraining.com
By Karen Fraser-Middleton
|
Posted in Clients in the news
|
Tagged awards, CACT, Economic Development, employer training, Energy Technology, Placer County, Rocklin, Roseville, Sandra Scott, Sierra College, Sierra College Training & Development, Sierra STEM, Training & Development
|
Read about Soroptimist Loomis Basin in the Loomis News 4/29/10 Soroptimist Club donates supplies to KidsFirst
Soroptimist International of Loomis Basin has been making a difference in Placer County since 1974 and recently extended a helping hand to KidsFirst (kidsfirstnow.org) by donating over $1,700 in baby supplies.
KidsFirst, with centers in Auburn, Citrus Heights and Roseville, helped over 12,000 children and families last year and is dedicated to helping parents with difficult life circumstances before problems become overwhelming and a child is hurt. Soroptimist (soroptimist.org) is an international volunteer service organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.
In addition to welcoming new Loomis Basin members, the group is chartering a group in Rocklin and will host an introductory event on Tuesday, May 25 at Bistro 33 located at Mercedes-Benz of Rocklin, 4747 Granite Dr. in Rocklin from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. Call Terry Duarte, Keller Williams Realty, at 916-417-5741 to RSVP. To learn more or visit a Wednesday 8 AM weekly meeting, contact Brenda Newsom, Newsom Industries, at 916-303-6837.
March 27, 2010 – 12:30 pm
In the past few weeks, I’ve been asked by several people about getting professional portraits done.
A good picture can be used on your social media communication and can be submitted when you are speaking on a program or win an award. It should also be available for the media.
I’d recommend Simply Portraits in Loomis, CA. In addition to professional portraits, they do wonderful family portraits in beautiful foothills settings as well as in more formal settings.
Arrange to get your photo done now so you aren’t in a rush when suddenly you need a picture when you are featured at a conference or the newspaper asks for a head shot.
Last week, I met with a home improvement sales person. His presentation wore me down. He talked so much that it was hard to ask questions. He also didn’t leave a business card with me. So instead of calling him back, I went to the store to see more samples on my own. Unfortunately the store doesn’t carry the same samples as their sales people. This disconnect lost the sale.
So as a reminder, a more effective sales technique is to drill down with questions rather than wearing down a prospect with benefits that may not be important to him or her.
An effective presentation answers those questions and then finds out what else they’d want to know to be comfortable deciding to buy. Drill down to gain a deeper understanding of what is important to the buyer before offering benefits.
Listen readily to any concerns or objections. These are your guide to the person’s process for making decisions.
Also, the first few calls are most likely to be educational for both you and the prospect. And through sharing information, you develop the mutual respect that builds trusting relationships. It is the sales person who makes the 5th, 6th and 7th call who is the most successful.
Take the time to drill down to learn what is important to the prospect and uncover the problems you can help solve. Once you’ve invested in educating each other and identifying the mutual benefit of working together, the sale happens naturally.
February 16, 2010 – 9:29 pm
A few weeks ago, I noted more retail establishments than usual using people-powered sandwich boards to attract customers. It appears that this rather old fashioned tactic is making a coming back or business owners are determined to try anything for promotion.
Today, I saw a guy in a suit under a sandwich board promoting tax services. In my mind, going to get your taxes done is not an impulse buy. Seeing a signboard might make me contemplate having pizza for dinner, but taxes? Are there people driving around with receipts looking for a tax office?
The tax man with a sandwich board may, however, plant in my mind the geographic location of the tax office. But does it make sense? Track how your customers find you so you can see if your advertising is working. You can ask walk in customers, or set up different phone numbers or web pages so you can determine if the ad or sandwich board worked. The more you know about your customers, the better able you will be to target your marketing campaign.
Images.google.com has a variety of sandwich board images to entertain you.
February 10, 2010 – 6:17 pm
As a past-president of the American Marketing Association Sacramento Valley, I am always delighted when the organization brings speakers to the membership that enrich the marketing field. Today the speaker on Twitter was Alejandro Reyes, Social Marketing Consultant & CEO of SacramentoMarketingLabs.com.
I agree with his sentiment that Twitter, like any other marketing tactic — web site, sales materials, public relations and the rest, should be authentic, build your brand, provide value to customers and be used strategically to differentiate your products and services.
You can follow my tweets on the right column of this blog or on twitter at marketgal.
February 8, 2010 – 10:38 am
It has been easier to dash off a brief thought on twitter at marketgal than write something more substantial on my blog. That’s my excuse anyway. And, you can see my twitter posts from this blog in the right column.
Last year, I worked on the the Sierra College new Energy Technology Program that trains Solar Technicians. See my blog posts at http://www.sierraenergytech.com/?page_id=202
The key to a good introduction is to get the audience’s attention and have a specific message about your company prepared that describes the benefits of your services. Plan ahead and you won’t get rattled. 
