Raintoday's Sales Tips & Techniques Podcast

The market for automated marketing and sales tools is expanding, and their costs are dropping. It's easier than ever to take advantage of them to generate and nurture leads. And companies that use those tools will have a significant advantage over—and will grow more than—firms that do not. Listen as Mike Schultz, co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, discusses sales and marketing trends firms should be aware of and how to adjust to them and grow revenue in 2012.

Professional services firms face plenty of challenges these days. Unfortunately, however, many are so busy working in their business to work on their business, according to a new survey conducted by Lisa Nirell at EnergizeGrowth. Not only that, but 66% of the people who say that also say they're unwilling to invest in or don't know where to invest to resolve the problem. Listen as Lisa Nirell discusses the top three challenges facing B2B firms and what they should do to address them.

Trade shows today are more than handing out brochures and hoping someone stops by your booth so you can get their email address. If that's your strategy, you're setting yourself up for failure. These days you have to make a concerted effort to connect with people who have a true interest in what you offer. Listen as Todd Schnick, founder of marketing and consulting firm The Intrepid Group, discusses how to improve your trade show strategy and develop quality leads.

When it comes to sales success, attitude is everything. But as you achieve success, you have to be careful not to let arrogance creep in, for it will ultimately be your undoing, says Harvey Mackay, author of The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World and Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive. Listen as Mackay discusses how arrogance can cause salespeople to fail, the need to humanize the sales process, and how social media has become the new mega center for sales.

Before you give a presentation—before you even think about launching PowerPoint—you must know three essential things: audience, result, and message (ARM). Listen as communications coach Tom Kennedy explains those elements, as well as the biggest mistakes people make when giving presentations.

Aaron Shapiro, author of Users Not Customers: Who Really Determines the Success of Your Business, discusses how B2B services firms are growing their business via a user-focused approach in the digital online space.

If you think marketing professional services is challenging, consider what it was like more than 30 years ago when firms were just learning to do it. Partners in firms didn't know how to do it, and they fought against ideas marketers presented to them. But marketers persevered, and the methods they came up with are alive and thriving. Listen as Bruce Marcus, author of Professional Services Marketing 3.0, discusses the evolution of professional services marketing and what firms must do today in order to succeed.

You know you have to understand your client's needs in order to give them the best solution to their problem. But are you digging deep enough to uncover the real issues? When you do that, you can present your solution in the context of what you discover, create urgency, and increase the likelihood of their buying from you. Listen as John Doerr, co-president of RAIN Group, explains how to use needs discovery techniques to get to the root of your client's problems.

Have you ever found yourself exhausted at the end of the day, but you haven't made a dent in your work? You aren't alone. Every day we are bombarded with distractions and pulled away from the important things we should do. In this interview Peter Bregman, author of 18 Minutes, discusses the biggest distraction that prevents us from being productive and what you can do to ensure you stay focused on the things that matter most.

Ninety percent of sales training fails. When you consider how much a company spends per person on sales training, a company can lose as much as $500,000 a year on failed sales training. Those are frightening figures, but companies can improve them, says John Doerr, Co-President of RAIN Group and co-author of the new report Why Sales Training Fails. Listen as Doerr discusses why sales training fails for so many companies and what they can do to fix that and start generating more money, not lose it.

Want to get prospects to pay attention to you and trust you? Then you need to create marketing that isn't perceived as marketing. You need to create content that helps people solve a problem, says Michael Stelzner, author of Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition. Listen as Stelzner discusses why content marketing is the better strategy and what you can do—no matter how large your firm—to create content and grow your business.

Generating leads online can be challenging, especially when SEO rules frequently change. But if you know who your idea client is, know what websites and blogs they visit, and produce content that they want and need, you can better target them and drive traffic to your site. Listen as Duct Tape Marketing's John Jantsch discusses how B2B firms can best use online advertising, SEO, SEM, and social media to increase lead generation

Being likeable helped Sally Field win an Oscar ("You like me! You Really Like me!"), and it can help you win more sales. That's because people buy from people and businesses they like. You might provide the best service, but unless prospects and clients connect with you, you will not win their business. Listen as Michelle Tillis Lederman, author of The 11 Laws of Likability, explains how to increase your likability, strong client relationships, and win more sales.

For many, including service professionals, thoughts about sales conjure up an image of the typical bad salesperson. That combined with self-limiting thoughts such as "I hate sales" can severely hinder your sales efforts.  As much as you like doing your services work, you need to like doing sales. Listen as John Doerr explains how to get over your reluctance to selling, as well as best practices that generate new business.

Do you ever think, "All prospects are skeptical," "I'm afraid I'll be rejected" or simply "This day is going to suck." If you do, you have what Randy Gage calls a mind virus—a bad one that can destroy your sales efforts. The good news is you can eliminate such bad viruses and create good ones. Listen as Gage, a prosperity expert, explains how, as well as discusses how to remain positive when prospects reject you and how to grow your firm into a prosperous business.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no one way to sell. In fact, the best way to sell professional services is your way.  Use your individual strengths and talents to succeed, says Tony Rutigliano, co-author of Strengths Based Selling. Listen as Rutigliano explains how people with different talents, including those not considered strong sales traits, are succeeding in sales.

Often salespeople think they have to convince prospect to buy their services, and they won't let up until they finally say yes and they get their money. That is not how you develop longtime clients that sustain your business over the years. You want to influence them: ask questions, make recommendations, and take them on an emotional journey where they see how their lives will be better if they work with you, says RAIN Group co-president John Doerr.

When it comes to networking with buyers, service professionals make two common mistakes. They either talk only about themselves while trying to get things from other people or they do the opposite and are afraid to toot their own horn. What they need to do is teach people about themselves and listen generously so they can give to other people, says Lynne Waymon, co-author of Make Your Contacts Count.

Sales are not made financially; they're made emotionally. So, if you win the heart of the CEO, his emotional investment can temper any pessimistic financial opinions that might be brought to the table. The key is to be perceived as a peer to the chief executive and provide valuable guidance and advice, says Adrian Davis, CEO of Whetstone, Inc.

The kiss of death when asking a referral or a testimonial is to ask an open-ended question. Asking, "Do you have any referrals for me?" or "Who else do you know?" will only make the client resent you.  It will not lead to an introduction to a quality prospect because you're asking the client to do too much work. Listen as Colleen Francis explains the best way to ask for a referral.