Here's Your Magic Pill For Business Success Tips

“Nobody realizes that

I work 18 hours a day

for a solid month to

make that hour of TV

look like it’s never been rehearsed.”

- Jimmy Durante

For over 20 years I’ve been searching, seeking, researching, finding, testing, delivering and tweaking business success tips and here is the SECRET:

Hard Ass Work.

I’ve been given behind-the-scenes access to the inner-workings of “best sellers,” coaches, consultants, direct marketers, magicians, singers, hypnotists, comedians, franchises, Inc. 500 and Fortune 50 firms and every single solitary one of them have practiced, drilled, rehearsed and choreographed their pitches, presentations and performances to the tiniest of details.

There is no “Miracle-Gro®” for sales success. (If there was you couldn’t afford it.)

There is no plastic surgery to remove the fat from your business overnight.

But do you want to know the greatest secret I have learned from all of this study and review? Nobody; no one; not a single soul I’ve met who is at the top of their game is exceptionally smart or gifted or talented save for one trait:

They saw an opportunity and jumped in with both feet and worked their asses off to make it a huge success.

So get to work and don’t stop until you get there, wherever “there” is for you.

If you don’t know what to do find someone who does and pay them whatever they charge to help you master the skills you need to reach your goals. And find others to do the things you don’t want to do or can’t do well so you can focus on those things that bring you joy and the most income.

You now have the prescription for business success tips. Will you follow the sales doctor’s orders and take the whole bottle? You’ll be a healthier business owner if you do.

To Your Good Selling Health,

~Wes

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Throw down some graffiti below along with your thoughts, comments, experiences and suggestions.

Wes Schaeffer is founder and owner of “The Sales Whisperer®,” the best dang sales training, social media marketing, copy writing and Infusionsoft Small Business CRM consultant this side of the Mason Dixon Line. He has traveled the world serving his country, selling high tech gizmos and gadgets and training business owners, entrepreneurs and professional sales people how to sell more, faster, at higher margin, with less stress and more fun. He even has a “Double Your Sales in 12 Months” guarantee. Contact him here today to start doubling your sales by tomorrow. When you’re done you can subscribe to his podcast on iTunes here.

How often do you hear,”Just send us a quote”?

Makes you nuts, right? I feel like saying, “What am I, a quote monkey?”

People just looking for quotes either don’t value what you sell, don’t know the value you offer (you do offer value beyond the item, right) or they already know what they want and from whom they will acquire it so they just want a second or third bid to give to pass “upstairs” to “prove” they got the best price.

Here’s what you tell them when that happens:

“Sounds like you’re looking for a peddler of products. Let me give you the name of my competitor. He’s cheap and proud of it.”

Harsh? A little. But so are they when they just call and ask you to dance like a chicken in a circus.

Seek to add value. Strive to prove it in everything you do.

If push comes to shove and you know your arch nemesis is in on the deal and you want to either make them drop their prices even more or you want to buy the business (sometimes it makes sense) then go in really low. It does you no good to be second-cheapest. Go low and hurt the competition.

How you protect yourself and leverage that sale for future profits is the subject of another post.
Good Selling,

~Wes

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Throw down some graffiti below along with your thoughts, comments, experiences and suggestions.

Wes Schaeffer is founder and owner of “The Sales Whisperer®,” the best dang sales training, social media marketing, copy writing and Infusionsoft Small Business CRM consultant this side of the Mason Dixon Line. He has traveled the world serving his country, selling high tech gizmos and gadgets and training business owners, entrepreneurs and professional sales people how to sell more, faster, at higher margin, with less stress and more fun. He even has a “Double Your Sales in 12 Months” guarantee. Contact him here today to start doubling your sales by tomorrow. When you’re done you can subscribe to his podcast on iTunes here.

Infusionsoft Help Shortcut Icons Are Visible On Every Page

When it comes to getting Infusionsoft Help fast, let’s take a closer look at the Dashboard including the layout options and the actual screen. To access the Infusionsoft Dashboard simply hover over the Home icon in the top right and select “Dashboard” from the Tools menu that appears.

How to access the Infusionsoft Dashboard from any page.

Like it sounds, the Infusionsoft Dashboard is a place where you can view all of your most critical information that pertains to the health and wellness of your business including:

• Active Opportunities
• Appointments
• Little Box o’ Stats
• Tagging Activity
• This Month’s Orders
• Invoices with Failed Payments
• And more with the Saved Search or Saved Report feature
• Email Stats
• Fulfillment Jobs
• Activity Feed
• RSS Feed
• Usage Stats
• Campaign Stats

Here’s how I have chosen to layout my Infusionsoft Dashboard:

Infusionsoft Dashboard Full Screen

When it comes to the layout of your Infusionsoft Dashboard there is no right or wrong. That is why it is customizable. Experiment with it. Make it your own. Then go forth and prosper.

Good Selling,

~Wes

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Throw down some graffiti below along with your thoughts, comments, experiences and suggestions.

Wes Schaeffer is founder and owner of “The Sales Whisperer®,” the best dang sales training, social media marketing, copy writing and Infusionsoft Small Business CRM consultant this side of the Mason Dixon Line. He has traveled the world serving his country, selling high tech gizmos and gadgets and training business owners, entrepreneurs and professional sales people how to sell more, faster, at higher margin, with less stress and more fun. He even has a “Double Your Sales in 12 Months” guarantee. Contact him here today to start doubling your sales by tomorrow. When you’re done you can subscribe to his podcast on iTunes here.

Strategic Selling Tip - Leading With Methods Is Like Leading With Your Chin In Boxing

There are four things in this world that don’t last long:

• Dogs that chase parked cars.
• Pro golfers with 6 foot putts for par.
• Boxers that lead with their chin.
• Sales people that focus on “methods” instead of results.

A boxer’s chin is the weakest part of his body. Therefore, if he wants to win the boxing match he must protect his chin at all costs.

How you do what you do is the weakest part of your sales presentation with a prospect. It’s not sexy, it’s probably boring and it’s also probably similar to what your competitors do, which means it’s easy for your prospect to compare apples to apples. (When’s the last time you asked a surgeon what size scalpel he would use to make the initial incision or the size of thread he’d use to patch you back up after the operation?)

That is why you must get the prospect talking about their goals, their business issues, their desired outcomes. Then get them to put a cost or revenue goal on those results.

For example: I recently met with a business owner that has 4 sales people, multiple technicians and other staff that, among other things, offers a $2,000 training course that runs for two days and typically has 5-6 attendees per class. His goal is to conduct a class every week but he can’t always get enough to justify it.

If I can help him get 5 people every week or 6-7 people in every class every week that would add $100,000 to $200,000 to his bottom line every year for the rest of his life. (He has been in business 14 years so this is worth $1.4 to $2.8 million if he’s in business another 14 years!!)

In light of those numbers offering a $20,000 consulting package for 90 days of assistance is NOTHING. ($20,000 / $2,800,000 = .7% [that's 7/10ths of 1 percent!]).

Ok, I know. 20 grand isn’t chump change and he may not have it stuffed in the cushions of his couch but if just one of his offerings is generating that type of revenue – I haven’t even mentioned the other 20 things he does to make money – then you know paying $6 – $7k per month for three months won’t put him in the poorhouse.

But I wouldn’t have known this information if I had shown up and merely discussed my “methods” to help him grow sales.

When people ask me “can you help me?” my honest answer is always “I don’t know. Tell me about you; your people; your goals; your issues.”

Once I have those answers I can then address whether or not I can help them. Until they answer those questions I’m just tooting my own horn to a person that may be tone deaf.

So tuck your chin in behind your gloves and ask better questions up front. When done correctly your prospects will tell you what they want to buy, how they’d like to pay for it and when they can buy it from you.

Good Selling,

~Wes

P.S. He also paid me $300 to meet with him to ask him these questions. It took a little more work up front over the phone but wouldn’t you rather spend three hours on a paid sales call instead of three hours hoping your prospect might like what your offering?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Throw down some graffiti below along with your thoughts, comments, experiences and suggestions.

Wes Schaeffer is founder and owner of “The Sales Whisperer®,” the best dang sales training, social media marketing, copy writing and Infusionsoft Small Business CRM consultant this side of the Mason Dixon Line. He has traveled the world serving his country, selling high tech gizmos and gadgets and training business owners, entrepreneurs and professional sales people how to sell more, faster, at higher margin, with less stress and more fun. He even has a “Double Your Sales in 12 Months” guarantee. Contact him here today to start doubling your sales by tomorrow. When you’re done you can subscribe to his podcast on iTunes here.

Infusionsoft Help Shortcut Icons Are Visible On Every Page

Wherever you go there is your Infusionsoft help!

On the top right of every page are six icons that will become your best friend.

1. Home icon (Tools)
1. Dashboard
2. Inbox
3. Tasks
4. Calendar
5. Files

6. 

   Infusionsoft Tools or "Home" Icon

2. Recently Viewed
3. Your Favorites
4. Hi, You
1. Edit My Profile
2. Logout
5. Help
1. Old-New Guide
2. Page Help
3. Video Library
4. Submit a Support Case
5. Marketplace
6. User Community
7. Support Chat
6. Infusionsoft Search (enter the wildcard * then a space and the name or the name then a space then the wildcard *)
1. Contact
2. Company
3. Task/Appt/Note
4. Order
5. Subscription
6. Referral Partner
7. Opportunity

Your Infusionsoft Help Menu Options

Infusionsoft Search Options

Like the old saying “Wherever you go, there you are.” It’s true with the Infusionsoft Help menu that follows you from page to page helping you be more efficient, effective and profitable.

Good selling.

Wes

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Throw down some graffiti below along with your thoughts, comments, experiences and suggestions.

Wes Schaeffer is founder and owner of “The Sales Whisperer®,” the best dang sales training, social media marketing, copy writing and Infusionsoft Small Business CRM consultant this side of the Mason Dixon Line. He has traveled the world serving his country, selling high tech gizmos and gadgets and training business owners, entrepreneurs and professional sales people how to sell more, faster, at higher margin, with less stress and more fun. He even has a “Double Your Sales in 12 Months” guarantee. Contact him here today to start doubling your sales by tomorrow. When you’re done you can subscribe to his podcast on iTunes here.

(Hint: We were taught the most persuasive techniques in the Bible.)

Give To Receive

In my sales training classes people always ask:

• “How can I be more persuasive?”
• “How can I overcome objections?”
• “How can I close more sales?”
• “How can I fight better during the negotiation stage?”

To which I answer, “Read the Bible.” (Not exactly what they were looking for.)

Jesus told stories. Jesus gave freely of himself. He focused on others. It was never about himself. He had “mad” persuasive skills. (As Randy Jackson might say.)

Are you holding on too tightly?

Are you approaching your prospects and your life with an attitude of scarcity?

Are you viewing (and treating) your prospects as “marks” with dollar signs in your eyes and on their foreheads?

In sales and in life it is truly better to give than to receive.

Selling is a calling. Serving is its purpose. Questioning is the process. And in the end, a sale may be the solution.

To improve your persuasive skills, which is a must in today’s world, start giving.

Good Selling.

P.S. Tell me what you think below in the Comments. Getting a little lively dialogue helps us all improve our persuasive skills.

AWeber vs Infusionsoft. Simple Email Auto Responder vs All-In-One Business-Builder.

I’ve been helping a friend that owns a local restaurant get proactive about marketing her restaurant, which means building a list, so I helped her decide AWeber vs Infusionsoft.

Since she is new to all of this we started updating her Facebook Fan Page and I recommended she create a Birthday Club to capture the pertinent info for her visitors:

• First name
• Last name
• Address
• Phone
• Birthday
• Anniversary
• Favorite meal
• Additional interests such as their catering, eating contests, daily deals, etc.

As you all know I’m a big user / promoter / supporter / trainer / consultant of Infusionsoft and have been since 2008. However, it is not for newbies so I gladly help clients get started with list building and email marketing with AWeber. AWeber lets you start for $1 and you only pay $19.95/mo until you get up to 500 names on your list so you won’t pay much to begin your email marketing efforts.

Cool Thing #1 About AWeber: Saturday Support via Chat! Infusionsoft has 24×7 chat during the week but not the weekends.

Bummer Thing #1 About AWeber: Naming Lists. Limited naming options for lists. I’m building a “birthday list” for my client so logic would dictate that I name the list….Birthday! Not with Aweber because some dude in Alberta or Tokyo or Riverside already has that name. (WTH?) Aweber has just one big database so if someone takes the name you are hosed. So now I have to name the list like an AOL username – birthday_102!@#$_money_list_with_a_happy_face. (Nice, huh?)

The AWeber tech support dude – who was very nice and prompt and knowledgeable, by the way – tells me:

Support: [10:18:03 AM] It needs to be a name that has not already be used by another customer.
Wes: [10:18:29 AM] What?
[10:18:35 AM] In the entire world?
Support: [10:19:40 AM] In our database.
Wes: [10:20:30 AM] So I can’t name my list of people that fill out my birthday form “Birthday” because some dude in Alberta Canada named his list Birthday first?
Support: [10:21:13 AM] It has to be a unique list name that has not be taken.
Wes: [10:21:37 AM] that’s the craziest thing i ever heard.
[10:21:38 AM] oh well
Support: [10:22:55 AM] The list names are specific an pertain directly to your campaign. If 1,000 people had the list name “birthday”, then a subscriber could not directly unsubscribe from your specific list because there are so many other lists with that name.
Wes: [10:24:26 AM] I’ve used Infusionsoft for 4 years and we name the list whatever we want. I only have one Birthday list. Who cares if Bubba in Montana has a birthday list? Amy Smith in Mississippi is not subscribed to Bubba’s birthday list. She’s subscribed to mine, therefore, she can unsub from mine.

Here is a little webinar marketing best practices tip for you. If you’ve ever tried conducting a GoToWebinar or GoToMeeting session using a Apple’s Keynote presentation tool and were frustrated with the inability to go into full screen mode try this.

Apple Keynote Preferences

From Keynote go to Preferences then Slideshow then make sure “Allow Expose, Dashboard and others to use screen” is selected. Then hit play and you are good to go!

Apple Keynote Slideshow "Allow Expose..."

Infusioncon 2012. You should be here to grow your business. Automate. Integrate. Dominate. Celebrate.

Will you be here for Infusioncon 2013?

All entrepreneurial roads lead to Infusioncon 2012. On Monday, April 2, 2012 the wise and the motivated will be heading north, south, east and west to arrive at the Biltmore for 3 days of brainstorming, networking, education and motivation.

Follow this link to register for Infusionscon 2012

Infusioncon 2012. Meet Infusionsoft Services Pros & Grow

Get the most out of Infusioncon 2012 (cont’d)

At 9:45 am on Day 1 you’ll get to see how two of the top marketers in the world use Infusionsoft to grow their businesses.

Infusionsoft users from around the world submit their ideas and examples of how they grow with Infusionsoft and the executives at Infusionsoft look through all of the submissions and choose the four best to present to everyone attending Infusioncon 2012.

Then the attendees pick the winner who gets a nice check and some priceless recognition to accelerate their growth.

As a longtime Infusionsoft Certified Consultant I’ve been fortunate enough to meet and brainstorm with most of the 12 prior finalists and in this, my fourth Infusioncon, you can bet I’ll be paying attention and kicking around ideas with this year’s four finalists as well.

What should you do next?

Here Is What You Need To Do Next

Education without action is worthless. A good plan executed today beats a perfect plan scheduled to be executed next week. The choice is yours.

If you’re an action taker—and are since you’re reading The Weekly Whisper—here’s what I encourage you to do next:

1. I want you to brainstorm how you can automate your sales and marketing efforts and write them down.
2. Whatever it is you want to automate but don’t know how to yet, commit to getting those questions answered at Infusioncon 2012.
3. Whatever cool thing you currently automate and/or want to learn how to automate at Infusioncon 2012, leave a comment and tell me about it below. I’ll do my best to help you here on the blog and I’ll also help you at no charge if you look me up at Infusioncon 2012.
4. Finally, if you haven’t subscribed to The Weekly Whisper, please do that now. I’ve got a new issue coming soon, and if you’re not subscribed you may miss it. And trust me, you don’t want to miss this one. It may be the best one yet.