Fill the Funnel

Advanced LinkedIn Tips, Tools and Techniques

Miles Austin — Wed, 29 May 2013 15:39:54 +0000

Original article: Advanced LinkedIn Tips, Tools and Techniques

LinkedIn Contacts Resources and Webinar Replay

Miles Austin — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:13:00 +0000

Viveka and I want to say thank you for registering for this webinar and hope that we delivered the value and information that you had hoped for.

As promised, we are making available the following links for your benefit:

Webinar Replay: http://bit.ly/13iLsxf

SlideDeck:http://slidesha.re/10s6YQM

Additional Resource Listing: http://bit.ly/170Pm13

De-Dupe Resources and tools:

www.nomoredupes.com
www.duplicate-remover.com
http://bit.ly/11TJzEq
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXXtM55ISSA

You will be receiving information about our Advanced LinkedIn Webinar training in the next few days.

Please let us know your comments, tweet this, share it in your LinkedIn updates, and even Google + or Facebook it if you are so inclined.

Original article: LinkedIn Contacts Resources and Webinar Replay

LinkedIn Contacts: The Next (R)evolution

Miles Austin — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:21:19 +0000

There is quite a bit of buzz about a new feature of LinkedIn that most likely is not even available in your Profile as of yet. It is called LinkedIn Contacts and it is worth taking a strong interest in.

Most informed sales pros get the social selling concept. They are embracing the strategies, tactics and tools that are driving new revenue and new customer acquisition. One of the primary challenges has become managing the activities and information flowing from various platforms and tools that are used in the selling process. There is a lot to manage if you are actively using available tools. LinkedIn Contact is a welcome solution to the challenge by seamlessly integrating your Linkedin Connections, your Outlook contacts or other contact manager, your calendar, your emails and many of your other social activities into your screen whether on your desktop, laptop or mobile device.

There is a lot to get excited about LinkedIn Contacts for. It is being rolled out now, to US customers first, and is expected to be fully deployed in that market by August. The good news with this rollout schedule is you should be able to attend some training and get prepared to use it effectively before it hits your profile.

Join Us For a Webinar to Learn More about LinkedIn Contacts

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/378315953

Connection Management, Engagement and Lead Generation with LinkedIn’s New Contacts Feature.

Join Viveka von Rosen, Author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day and Miles Austin on May 7th, 9 AM PST to find out:

Why LinkedIn’s New Contacts Feature is Such a Big Deal
What it Can Do For You
How to Optimally Use It to Build Your Business and Stay Top of Mind
How to prepare for Contacts before it arrives in your LinkedIn Profile

Part of the power of LinkedIn is the network itself; over 225 million potential connection, leads, and prospects. But those are just numbers. It’s highly unlikely that we can, or even want to do business with 225 million people. Instead we should focus on staying top of mind with the people who already know, like and trust us and are willing to refer us. And that’s where LinkedIn’s new Contacts Feature is so very powerful.

By linking with your existing LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google and other contact bases, Contacts allows us to manage, reference, connect and engage in a much more efficient manner than ever before, while giving us access to all the profoundly integral data on our connections’ profiles, and their interactions with us. Are you as excited about this new evolution in LinkedIn’s Contacts as we are?

Viveka and Miles will share not only the features but how to use this new LinkedIn feature to make a difference in your professional life.

Title: LinkedIn Contacts: The Next (R)evolution

Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Time: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM PDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Do you have the contacts feature in your profile yet? Let me know in the comments below.

If you do have it, what are your impressions?

Original article: LinkedIn Contacts: The Next (R)evolution

Alternative for Google Alerts

Miles Austin — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:19:22 +0000

The demise of Google Reader has gotten all the attention over the last two weeks but for those in sales and marketing, another favorite web tool also appears to be on it last legs – Google Alerts. Users have relied on Google Alerts to notify them every time new information from search results appear on the web for specific keywords important to them.

Updates for the popular program have all but stopped. Many active users are reporting that the frequency has dropped and some are even saying that they are not receiving Alerts at all. This created the observation that Google Alerts might be the next to be shut down, in the same way that Google Reader was dumped recently.

I have counted on Google Alerts to monitor all the keywords that are important to me for many years. It has become an entrenched part of my daily sales process. With each new notification in my inbox, I have been able to stay aware of mentions of my company name, stay current on competitors activities and most importantly for my purposes, monitor information about each of my key customers and prospects. It has always been fresh and relevant reason to contact my customer or prospect about the info. It is not uncommon to have them respond with “I hadn’t heard that yet, how did you know?”, serving as a productive way to establish and build credibility with them.

In my search for worthy alternative I discovered a tool called Mention. Mention allows you to create alerts for your brand, your industry, your company, your name or your competitors and be informed in real-time about any mentions on the web and social web. Sound familiar.

As with most worthy web tools, they offer both a free and a premium version for individuals at $19.99/month and a team version for group use. They also offer multiple versions including a PC and Mac desktop, Chrome add-on, and both Apple and Android versions for your smartphone.

Mention provides much richer, deeper capabilities than Google Alerts. You can do all of this right from your phone or desktop:

Media and Social Monitoring - Monitor millions of sources in 42 languages and don’t miss anything published on social networks, news sites, forums, blog or any web page.
Anti-Noise Technology - Remove the noise coming from homonyms and spam by using their in-house technology that learns from your behavior.
Team Work - Share your alerts with any user and assign tasks to your team members, in real-time right from your smartphone or desktop. Leverage the power of your team.
Live Alerts - Get alerted in real-time via email and push notifications of new mentions. Don’t waste any time. React quickly and efficiently.
All Devices - Access mention from anywhere. Use the web app, Chrome app, desktop version for PC, Mac or Linux or mobile version with the iPhone or Android app.
Smart Actions - You can react to any mention the smart way. Retweet a mention, share positive mentions directly on your Facebook page….
Priority mentions - Most important mentions are flagged according to several criteria : influence and authority of the source and latest interactions you had with them.
Statistics & data Export tool - Get an overview of your mentions by source, language, over selected period of time, generate PDF reports or export data in CSV format to analyze them your own way.

I especially like the Smart Actions capability, being able to respond with a tweet or mention using the social platform that I know my customer is monitoring.

The statistics and data export capabilities for those of you who enjoy digging into the details of your actions.

Google Alerts is still functioning for some, especially those with five or fewer alerts, but if you are an active user that is dependant on getting this type of information to perform your job well, check out Mention.

Three questions that I would like your responses to:

Is Google Alerts still working for you?
Have you noticed any slowdown?
Have you found any other alternatives that are working for you?

Original article: Alternative for Google Alerts

LinkedIn Fans Experience New Look With A New Profile Update

Miles Austin — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:21:33 +0000

LinkedIn is rolling out yet another round of changes to your Profile and interface. As usual, it is being rolled out over time, and I have no idea what criteria they use to do this. If you are reading this and notice that you are the recipient of this new change, I would love to talk with you to learn what you think of the changes. I have not been affected as of yet, so I am embedding a helpful video step-through from my good friend and LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day author Viveka von Rosen who found a client that has received the new layout.

So, keep an eye out for this to hit your account. Be prepared to spend some time learning and exploring the new layout and structure. When you do get the update, please share your thoughts and comments below. Share this post with your friends so they don’t get caught by surprise.

Original article: LinkedIn Fans Experience New Look With A New Profile Update

Do You Need a Paid LinkedIn Account?

Miles Austin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:18:51 +0000

Sales people and businesses who are serious about using their online presence to sell and make money don’t have sites that look like an amateur is behind them. They have invested in themselves and their online presence and continually use a critical eye to make sure it is presenting the desired image and information. They do not waste their time chasing shiny objects that add no value to their message or image.

Several times a week a hear from someone who wants to add a new widget to their site, a new plugin that pops up, twirls and then shoots sparks to get the attention of the reader yet they do not have a completed LinkedIn profile.

Are you suffering from what you don’t know that you don’t know? Is your current online presence effective? Is it complete and generating the results you expect? Most importantly, do you have a written, clearly defined goal for your online presence?

If not, it is time to take a step back and think this through. Social media and your online presence should not be this difficult. It is the chasing of shiny objects that gets many of us in trouble. You hear of a new must-do social site that is the next big thing and off you go.

For anyone in sales, it is much better to have a thorough, complete LinkedIn profile than to be dabbling on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and an ever-growing number of others. For many, just making the decision to invest into a paid account with LinkedIn will deliver more results, more consistently than the rest of your online activities combined. The simple act of paying a monthly fee helps keep us focused because that is where our money is going.

In every presentation I give about LinkedIn I can count on one question: “Should I have a paid account?”

I always answer the same way,

“If your Profile is not complete and rock solid, then no. Work on getting that completed. Then when that is done, yes, invest in the appropriate premium plan that fits your need.”

Here is a comparison chart of Premium Plans for general use:

Here is a comparison of the Premium Plans specifically designed for Sales Professionals:

There are other custom plans for job seekers and recruiters as well.

Worried about the cost? Stop thinking about how much it costs. Start thinking about how much money you are losing every day by not getting the full benefits and you will discover that investing in your business pays for itself many times over.

Are you ready to be successful and grow your business in 2013? Now is the time to start. Find the plan that is best for you and get started.

For those that get the message, share your results in the comments below. Your story can help others break through.

If you would like to read more about how the top performing reps are using LinkedIn compared to everyone else, here is a link to a report from Jill Konrath and Ardeth Albee titled Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code.

Original article: Do You Need a Paid LinkedIn Account?

ToutApp Webinar Replay – How To Solve the Top Problems With Sales Emails

Miles Austin — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:27:19 +0000

Originally presented on February 20, 2013. To learn more, visit ToutApp

Original article: ToutApp Webinar Replay – How To Solve the Top Problems With Sales Emails

How To Solve The Top Problems With Your Sales Emails

Miles Austin — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:46:06 +0000

Wednesday, Feb. 20th
10:00 AM PST / 1:00 PM EST

REGISTER

Tuesday, Feb. 26th
10:00 AM PST / 1:00 PM EST

REGISTER

Effective sales emails are more challenging every day. Identifying what the top problems with getting your email into the hands of your prospects and customer is more important than ever. That is where an innovative new sales web tool called ToutApp comes in to play.

During this webinar attendees will learn how ToutApp solves these common sales email problems:

My emails fall into a black hole and I never get responses.
I’m sending the same emails over and over and over.
I have no real strategy or understanding around when is the best time to cold-call a person.
There are way too many tools out there, and they ALL say they’re going to help me with my emails. Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, and now Sales Communications? How do I make these cutting edge tools work together?
As a manager, I don’t know what my teams’ emails look like and if they’re successful.

Register now to attend this information filled session with the Founder & CEO of Tout, along with several from his team. You will see the power and the value of one of the most innovative sales web tools in some time.

Don’t settle for naked email lists! Contact Ready adds fresh demographic and social data to your customer lists to help you increase sales.You can never know enough about your customers and prospects!

During this webinar attendees will learn how Contact Ready delivers customer information unheard of just a short time ago:

Discover who is on your email list.
Prioritize which customers you target.
Get more sales with improved customer knowledge
Sort, rank and make decisions based on customers Klout scores
Customize and personalize communications more effectively.

Register now to attend this information filled session with the Co-Founder of Contact Ready. This web tool has been in beta release and is now offered to readers and customers of Fill the Funnel.

REMEMBER: By registering for the webinar, you will receive a replay of the event and any special offers that may be offered to attendees.

If you want to know about these events before everyone else does, join our subscriber list and be notified a week in advance for all public and private events.

Original article: How To Solve The Top Problems With Your Sales Emails

Big Data, CRM, and Valentine’s Day

Miles Austin — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:07:19 +0000

Struggling with CRM and/or Big Data?

Click the Play arrow to watch this 2 minute video.

Anyone that has ever installed or used Salesforce.com or any other CRM will immediately connect to the many messages in this video. I hope you enjoy it and share it with all of those that you work with that use these tools every day.

Special thanks to Tal Raviv, CTO from ecquire.com for sharing this creative piece with me. I will be sharing more about what his team at ecquire.com is up to in coming weeks.

Share this one and bring a smile to your colleagues faces.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Original article: Big Data, CRM, and Valentine’s Day

BYOT Improves Your Chances of Success

Miles Austin — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:02:49 +0000

BYOT – Bring Your Own Tools is a practice that sales leaders and individual sales people themselves have been slow to embrace. Tibor Shanto wrote an excellent post titled “Sales Tools Don’t Fail” in which he writes:

“What’s ironic is that sales people have traditionally been early adopters of technology and tools that help them with any or all three of the things above; they were early users of the web, e-mail, and mobile phones.”

I differ from Shanto in that I do not see sales reps deploying many of the powerful new generation of sales tools in any significant number on their own. They say that they are waiting for their company to select and pay for these tools. How many sales people in any sales organization are paying for their own premium LinkedIn Sales Navigator account or utilizing the power of email intelligence web tools like Toutapp? Very few in my experience. Those that do are typically the ‘eagles’, those that are self-confident and at the top of their game. They are the ones that others watch with amazement, wondering how are always a step ahead of the competition and so in tune with their customers.

Lars Nilsson, CEO of SalesSource has participated in this first hand while leading inside sales teams at HP, ArcSight and others. He has experienced first-hand the power of turning the sales team loose with sales web tools:

“The best sales reps are the ones that have their own set of best practices and their own tools and they go and do it. Before we had some of these tools, we had to make that brutal call into someone we really didn’t know and we didn’t know what pains and challenges they were experiencing. The coolest thing that happened when services like Jigsaw came out was the importance of learning about the one person who has that pain that you have a solution for, but all the other people who have a stake in resolving their pain. It is never just the CIO; we also discovered an average of seven other people within the company that are also involved in deciding this resolution and this tool provided insight into who they were. The reps were using Jigsaw on their own.”

In my own experience in a day to day sales role, I paid for and used three key tools that gave me significant advantages over my competition. I called them my Big 3 and I had each of them open all the time as separate windows. They were:

Jigsaw – to capture the email and phone number of the prospects in my territory
InsideView – to monitor the activity and changes within each of my prospect companies
LinkedIn – to complete both the Buyer Profile and the Company Profile of all of my prospects and customer.

Each was a paid account, each continues to this day, and combined in my own sales and prospecting approach continues to yield the results I need to grow and succeed. I started and still start every day with a look at the info from my Big 3 tools. There are many more web tools that I now use on a daily and/or weekly basis. They have allowed me to automate most every “Best Practice” that I know is needed to succeed in a big way.

What can I say to encourage leaders to acquire these new tools?

Here is a roadmap that has proven helpful to sales teams across North America in my consulting work:

Establish a current baseline on your current success.
Identify one specific area that you want to see improvement in at the individual sales rep level.
Provide a funding pool that will reimburse or pay for sales web tools that your reps feel will be of help.
Turn your reps loose to select and use the tool(s) that they think will get them the results they need.
Measure the progress in results over a 30 and 90 day cycle
Report to the senior leaders the results experienced.
Fund permanently those web tools that have achieved positive results.

Let your reps decide which tools they want to use. They have a much greater awareness of what is available in the market than you imagine. Encourage them to bring newly discovered tools to the conversation. I encourage you to add a few minutes in your sales meeting to talk about sales web tools.

Be a leader that listens, measures and then acts on the lessons that your sales team will experience.

As Lars Nilsson said in a recent phone conversation:

“Give them the freedom to explore and share what is working for them. Provide a monthly allowance to fund them and then move those that are working well to a company wide solution that is funded by the company.”

Please note that the steps above are not recommended when selecting what I refer to as “platform” decisions. CRM platforms and Marketing Automation platforms are examples that require a different approach.

Invest in your career, measure the results of what you are trying and fund those that are making a difference.

If you are a sales person, take the step to invest in a premium web tool and see your results improve. Forward this post to your sales leaders and ask them to get on board.

Three questions to think about:

Why not embrace BYOT in your company and watch your results start to climb?
How are you encouraging Sales Rep’s use of sales web tools?
Are you funding or reimbursing your reps for the premium tools?

More information about these concepts can be found here:

The 2 Biggest Reasons Sales Tools Fail

Can Your SMB Grow Sales Without Disruptive New Tools?

Original article: BYOT Improves Your Chances of Success