Finding more time is another tactic to increasing your sales.

If you can dedicate more time to building sales then it goes with out saying…right?  It’s all about managing your time.

Fresh out of university, starting my new job at the Bank my Branch Manager sat me down and gave me one piece of advice.  It went something like this:

Manager: Ron, See this piece of paper?

Me: Yes.

Manager: It represents everything that you do.

Me: OhhhKaaay?

Manager: Try and only touch it once…because every time you touch it you cost me 50 bucks

Translation….see Step 1

Step 1 – Touch it once

Don’t read any mail, email or anything for that matter unless you are prepared to deal with it that very moment.  Why?  The reality is, anyone who says they can multitask is delusional.  Case in point, there is a reason Provinces and States are banning cell phone talking while driving.  Studies have shown humans can not do both effectively at the same time.

You see, whenever you need to deal with something what do you do?  Pick it up, read it, understand it, form an opinion or idea, and then act on it.  Depending on the piece, it could take anywhere from 1-10 minutes.  So if you in the habit of shuffling things around imagine how much time you could save in a day by adopting the one touch idea.  Set a side 2 inboxes and filter according to “need to do now” and “get to it later”.

This one tip alone has helped me become a pretty efficient producer in everything I’ve done thus far in my career.  Heck, Mike Holmes (Holmes on Homes) has made a TV show out of this very idea…do it once and do it right the first time.

Step 2 – Make Lists of tasks

Make lists to help you stay on track of what needs to get done and prioritize them.  For example,  at one of my former clients there is a particular Franchisee that has an impeccable cleanliness standard.  Their formula was simple, the franchisor has standards in place for cleanliness.  Therefore, the franchisee implemented a checklist system…all items needed to be checked off before going home.  Their checklist was the franchisor’s inspection sheet for cleanliness.

It’s a great way to stay organised as you shorten the amount of time required to think about what to do next.

Step 3 – Plan Time for your tasks

The farther you can plan out the more efficient you will be.  I’ve worked and seen people that let their work dictate them….you can spot them from a mile a way.  They’re usually running around with their head cut off and are almost always running late.  Take the time allocate time to your tasks then see step 4, the end result is a less stressful mind and a a less stressed mind works much more efficiently.  The benefits are too many to list.

Step 4 – Allocate time

As part of Step 3, some tasks require more time than you can give in a day.  That’s ok, allot the time and move on.  You may need to make time for a particular task several days in a row till it’s complete.  The key thing to remember is to not try and do too many tasks in one day – between 4 and 6 tasks should be plenty and should not take more than 5 – 6 hours to complete.  Remember to allocate selling time….always.  The other 2-3 hours will be left for the unforeseen…you know things that pop up that need to be dealt with.

Step 5 – Prioritize

Of the 4 – 6 tasks you have for each day prioritize them according to the 80-20 rule.  In general, approximately 20 percent of your output generates 80 percent of the results.  So imagine what might happen if you kept on filtering and prioritizing your tasks by looking at what tasks will generate the most return.  One of my bosses would say “take care of the big rocks first then fill in with pebbles and sand later”.  Tip: try and get the big rock out of the way earlier in the day….for most it’s when you have the most energy.

Step 6 – Are you a pack rat?

Do you hang on to things that you think will need later?  Ask yourself 2 questions: if I toss this piece of information will it affect me in a negative way later? If the answer is NO – Toss.  If the answer is Yes, ask the next question could I find this information later?  If the answer is Yes – Toss.  A clear desk is a clear mind…and a clear mind works better.

Truth be told, I don’t have all 6 steps running perfectly…but I do employ most of these steps in one shape or form.  My barber always asks “so, you busy?” my reply is always – “I’m as busy as I want to be”.  Plus, by using your combination of the above six steps you will become more productive with less stress.  The key is to not over cram your day and set buffer time to allow for things that pop up out of the blue.  Try it for 60 days and let me know how it goes.

A great article posted by Casey Hibbard at Social Media Examiner.  A Case Review on how Cold Stone Creamery racked up the sales with the use of Facebook.  It’s a great read because I experienced good results by implementing some of these tactics with a client of mine.  The advantage with Social Media is that if it’s done right the ROI compared to traditional advertising mediums make the decision to do Social Media a no-brainer.

By Casey Hibbard
Published November 22, 2010

Ice cream has always been social. But Cold Stone Creamery has found a way to make it even more so—with Facebook.

The American ice cream retailer, known for pounding and slapping customized creations on a “cold stone,” has long been a favorite of ice cream lovers – enthusiasm that has helped churn out 1,459 locations in the U.S. and 16 countries.

Like many retailers, the company long relied on traditional advertising to spread the word. But a YouTube video contest in 2005 set the company on a social media course.

Today, Cold Stone continues to innovate outside the kitchen, recently releasing what may be the first eGift feature on Facebook, and running contests that get thousands engaged even more deeply with the brand.

The payoff goes well beyond greater customer engagement; Cold Stone’s promotions add to the bottom line by moving people from their computers to physical stores.

Organization: Cold Stone Creamery

Social Media Handles & Stats:

Website: ColdStoneCreamery.com

Twitter: 2,460 followers

Facebook: 830,478 fans

YouTube: 26,251 views since channel created in June

Highlights:

• A new eGift Facebook feature added $10,000 in incremental sales to franchisees in just a month and a half.
• With social media, Cold Stone averages a cost of about 39 cents per coupon redeemed compared to $3.60 per redemption with print advertising.
• The company added 66,000 new fans over about an 8-week period with a flavors contest.
• A Facebook coupon increased sales 1 to 1.2%.
• 14% redeemed the coupon compared to .02% in the past.

$10,000 from eGift Sales

If you’re on Facebook, you’ve likely either given or received a virtual “gift” or widget from a friend, an icon such as a birthday cake or heart. These virtual tokens of affection allow friends to express their care.

This July, Cold Stone made eGifting more tangible. Now you can send Facebook friends a code for an actual ice cream creation eGift, ranging from $5 to $7, right from the Cold Stone Facebook fan page for delivery via Facebook or email. Like a gift certificate, recipients can instantly redeem the gift at any of the retailer’s American locations by showing a printout or the code on their mobile phones.

Cold Stone’s eGift Social uniquely allows Facebook friends to send codes for tangible gifts.

For a viral effect, the eGift shows up in the recipient’s News Feed on Facebook, so all friends can see it.

One of the first brands to enable eGift Social, created by First Data Corporation, Cold Stone links its social media presence directly with sales.

“The strategy, and really our goal, for eGift was more for that everyday gift,” said Suzanne Schutz, vice president of marketing at Cold Stone Creamery. “So, Veronica is having a bad day. I see that she posted something on her Facebook status. Very easily from the office in 2 minutes, I can spend $5 and send her an ice cream, and it makes her day.”

So far, the results are impressive, delivering on Cold Stone’s goal of increasing revenue for its many franchisees.

“We’ve sold in just over a month and a half, about 2,000 eGifts and we’ve added roughly $10,000 in incremental sales to the franchisees,” Schutz said. “Franchisees love it because they don’t have to do anything. It’s no extra labor. It’s all done in the virtual world, if you will, and then they just watch the sales come in. So they love it. We love it. Our fans love it. It’s definitely a win-win.”

Coupon Boosts Sales More Than 1%

In direct response to Facebook fans’ requests, Cold Stone decided to run a 2-for-$5 coupon campaign. The retailer posted the offer on its Facebook page and notified contacts by email.

Just 3 weeks in, fans had printed more than 500,000 coupons, with more than 20,000 of those from Facebook. Clearly, the campaign went well beyond just pleasing customers.

“Since we launched the campaign, we’ve seen sales increase just about 1 to 1.2%,” Schutz said. “We’ve seen a redemption rate of over 14%. For me as an advertiser, that’s a great ROI. For traditional advertising we would have spent upwards of $500,000 and we would have seen less redemption. I think our average redemption was .02%. So far, it exceeds what traditional advertising and print do.”

Read the rest of this interesting post by clicking below:

Fans ‘Eat Up’ New Flavors Contest

To some extent to be successful in sales it’s a numbers game.  However, it also depends on what type of numbers.

Coming out of university with a degree in Economics and a Business Degree in Marketing and Finance I was excited to become a stock broker.  I had visions of living the good life just as Bud Fox did in the movie Wall Street – that is until he went to jail.

I had a few friends get into the investment business straight out of school.  They had to do one thing that I was uncomfortable with doing at the time – cold call people.  For me, I felt it was just a losing proposition.  I was 24 at the time and felt that people would not entrust their life savings to a kid with no experience.  And without contacts the only method known at the time was cold calling.  Ask any of my friends (who are still in the investment industry) if they would ever do it again – they would say NO! I couldn’t handle the rejection so I went into banking instead.  A place where there was a steady stream of lead flow traffic…a great place to hone your sales skills.

I have worked in two publicly traded companies.  The ultimate goal of most publicly traded companies is to increase shareholder value.  And how do you do that? Increase sales and increase profits – with more emphasis on the latter.  Needless to say, to keep your job you needed to produce sales.  Both companies generated some lead flow but it was certainly not enough to meet targets. Now I was fortunate enough that I didn’t have managers that followed the mantra of more cold calls would equate to more sales. For most of my career I was left alone (which was a good thing) as long as I made my sales targets.  How did I do this?  By employing a couple of concepts:

It’s not how many calls you make…it’s how many leads you get. Making cold calls is a brutal way to try and achieve sales results.  Why? because a large percentage of the people on the receiving end of that call are not in the buying cycle.  It’s purely an exercise in inefficiency.  With technology these days it’s much easier and cost efficient to develop lend generating systems.  Leads are much different than cold calls as leads are in the buying cycle.  Implement tactics that generate leads for you.  Then use the next concept.

Apply the 80/20 rule to everything you do. Which in a lot of cases, 80 percent of results are for the most part derived from the top 20 percent of activities.  So in the case of lead generating tactics, eliminate the tactics that generate minimal results but use up precious time.  For example, leads clubs…specifically one’s that require that you go to meetings.  Let’s say you go to one monthly meeting which typically lasts 1-2 hours…to get one lead.  Is that an efficient way of using your time?…maybe at the beginning if you’re starting with zero clients.  But, in 1-2 hours you would normally spend at a leads club I can think of at least 5 other things you could do that will generate more leads.

The point is, if your sales are slumping it’s time to analyze your activities.  Don’t wait till the new year to break bad habits…break them today!

We are enjoying an uncharacteristically warm November in Winnipeg.  But with the thought of plummeting temperatures and drifts of snow the idea of a warm vacation always comes to mind.

Over the past few years the travel game has changed a lot.  Discount websites like iTravel2000, SellOffVacations, Priceline and Hotwire have challenged the revenue streams of many local travel agencies.  Do your typical store front travel agents have a place in the business world?  For the time being, I think the answer is yes but not sure how long.  My interaction with this travel company was the inspiration to this post.

I called this travel company because my wife had booked with them last year.  Our primary reason? They double our points on our Visa card.  Since the agent we used last year provided some good information we call back again this year…warm lead initiated.

The call started ok but nosedived shortly thereafter.  Below is a post-mortem and hopefully you’ll increase your sales by plugging up your lead leaks.  I see the following 8 things occur on a regular basis all of which can vaporize your leads:

1. No Email Signature – especially a phone number.  The latest and greatest smartphones like Blackberry, Apple have the ability to dial the phone number in the email signature
2. How about giving multiple numbers like your office and cell number? I can’t buy from you if I can’t contact you
3. Lack of a personal sales page (Website, Blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc.) – keep me abreast of what’s good and not so good in the world you live and breath – that’s how you develop relationships.  And if I like ya – I’ll point more people in your direction. MORE WARM LEADS – wouldn’t that be great!
4. No contact info on personal sales page….see #2 above
5. Old or incorrect contact info on personal sales page
6. “Contact Us” link only on one page

If you are in the game of sales make it easy for me to buy from you. As I am ready to BUY but still have yet to book a vacation.

Need more help with Marketing Strategy that can lead to more sales? Email me at ron[at]naidacom.com.