I’m in sales (technically, I sell my services that show you how to blog/use social media better 
. Who isn’t in some way? You have to sell yourself to get into college. You have to sell yourself to find a career when you get out. You get inundated with ideas and names and companies that it’s sometimes hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel but Manta.com at least gives you the directions to get you to that light. It’s up to you to make use of it.
I used to have a problem with organizing and moving my prospects, whether they be sales prospects or job prospects through a pipeline with whatever tools I have on my own computer until I found Manta.com. Continue reading
Push it. Push it real good.
Let’s face it,
We’ve all slipped into it. A lot of us are there now because of our crap-outlook on this economy. I know a lot of organizations have been working very hard to get out of it and we’d all be screwed if we’re stuck forever in this Sales Depression. I think we all know there is a direct correlation between your personal economic situation and your performance in the field.
The only remedy: get out there. Get smiling and get exchanging cards… or get out.
“But I don’t have the time…” Yes you can. There are easier, less time-consuming ways to go about exchanging corporate information; what I call “Internetworking.” If you’re not savvy, I’ll key you in: this is a type of social networking happens online. Like-minded (or unlike-minded) individuals come together and share ideas, information and create buzz about what it is they sell.
…But the only way for this to work is by each person doing their part. Pick up the phone and act upon a lead or referral, as big or as small as you feel it may be. It could lead to your whale. Don’t wait for people to call you. They won’t. Your competition is already calling them and trying to win them over because they found out about their need via Web 2.0.
Your competition (and you if you cared or knew any better) has access to the greatest “book of business” and it’s called the Internet. Your competition is taking advantage—no OPPORTUNITY—of your client’s core values, and creating a personal relationship just by learning about them on their personal or business website or through what I’d like to call “3rd-party sites:” LinkedIn, Facebook, Manta, etc. or even more so from an infinity of blogs or reviews. The fact is, you can do the same thing; you just have to be smart about it.
First, before you’ve conquered the Internet, GET ON THE PHONE and do what you supposed to be a pro at doing which is making appointments and closing a few deals in person.
Secondly, when that pipeline runs dry or you become weary of the phone and you’re getting consistent “no’s,” create or forward those LinkedIn-Introductions like you’re supposed to. That’s how LinkedIn works and if you don’t do your part, the “get in touch with decision-maker” scenario fails.
Third, make nice with all of your old clients from your fill in the blank days at your job 5 years ago. They might be able to pull a referral out of a crevice for you 
Next, start writing. Write down your ideas, good, great or meh. Keep a pad and pen available. If you want one, I have plenty; schedule an appointment with me and I’ll make up a personalized one for you. Be personal. I’ve found out firsthand that mass emailings to reach out for the first instance after a long epoch between conversations only works about 2% of the time. Although I still do it. I’m technically doing it right now in blog-form.
Your choice is to write back. Ask me questions about what I’m doing and tell me what a good referral for you might be. You can even reply straight to this post so that everybody else who reads it can find out more about you. I know a few people… I may be able to help you out. Need a legal document written?Accounts receivables factored? Collection company to help collect $$? How about a fabric that you can wet, wring out and snap that amazingly becomes 30 degrees cooler than ambient temperature within 3 minutes? Who knows, this may be the re-beginning to a beautiful relationship. You could have hundreds, if not thousands of allies if you just reach out to them. Add me www.kristenhaley.com
Happy Internetworking,
Kristen Haley
Entrepreneur
(Fortune Magazine) — Nearly every businessperson over 30 has done it: sat in his office after a staff meeting and – reflecting upon the 25-year-old colleague with two tattoos, a piercing, no watch and a shameless propensity for chatting up the boss – wondered, What is with that guy?!
We all know the type: He’s a sartorial Ryan Seacrest, a developmental Ferris Bueller, a professional Carlton Banks. (Not up on twentysomethings’ media icons? That’s the “American Idol” host, the truant Matthew Broderick movie hero, and the overeager Will Smith sidekick in “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”)
 |
| Designer Johnny Cooper, 23, organized a big fundraiser in his second year at J.C. Penney. |
 |
| Assurance associate Sheryl Walker, 24, is happy to be living at home. |
|
|
At once a hipster and a climber, he is all nonchalance and expectation. He is new, he is annoying, and he and his female counterparts are invading corporate offices across America.
Generation Y: Its members are different in many respects, from their upbringing to their politics. But it might be their effect on the workplace that makes them truly noteworthy – more so than other generations of twentysomethings that writers have been collectively profiling since time immemorial.
They’re ambitious, they’re demanding and they question everything, so if there isn’t a good reason for that long commute or late night, don’t expect them to do it. When it comes to loyalty, the companies they work for are last on their list – behind their families, their friends, their communities, their co-workers and, of course, themselves.
But there are a whole lot of them. And as the baby-boomers begin to retire, triggering a ballyhooed worker shortage, businesses are realizing that they may have no choice but to accommodate these curious Gen Y creatures. Especially because if they don’t, the creatures will simply go home to their parents, who in all likelihood will welcome them back.
Some 64 million skilled workers will be able to retire by the end of this decade, according to the Conference Board, and companies will need to go the extra mile to replace them, even if it means putting up with some outsized expectations. There is a precedent for this: In April 1969, Fortune wrote, “Because the demand for their services so greatly exceeds the supply, young graduates are in a strong position to dictate terms to their prospective employers. Young employees are demanding that they be given productive tasks to do from the first day of work, and that the people they work for notice and react to their performance.”
Those were the early baby-boomers, and – with their ’60s sensibility and navel-gazing – they left their mark on just about every institution they passed through. Now come their children, to confound them. The kids – self-absorbed, gregarious, multitasking, loud, optimistic, pierced – are exactly what the boomers raised them to be, and now they’re being themselves all over the business world.
It’s going to be great.
“This is the most high-maintenance workforce in the history of the world,” says Bruce Tulgan, the founder of leading generational-research firm RainmakerThinking. “The good news is they’re also going to be the most high-performing workforce in the history of the world. They walk in with more information in their heads, more information at their fingertips – and, sure, they have high expectations, but they have the highest expectations first and foremost for themselves.”
So just who is this fair bird?
The creature in the wild: Joshua Butler, audit associate, KPMG
With his broad networker’s smile, stiff white collar, and polished onyx cuff links, Joshua Butler has the accouterments of an accountant. Even so, he looks a little out of place in a KPMG conference room. At 22, he’s 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, with a body made for gladiator movies. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Butler chose accounting after graduating from Howard University because he wanted “transferable skills.”
At KPMG he’s getting them – and more: The firm has let him arrange his schedule to train for a bodybuilding competition, and he’s on its tennis team. Even before that, KPMG got his attention when it agreed to move him to New York, his chosen city. “It made me say, ‘You know what? This firm has shown a commitment to me. Let me in turn show some commitment to the firm.’” He pauses, a twinkle in his eye. “So this is a merger, if you will – Josh and KPMG.”
Boomers, know this: You are outnumbered. There are 78.5 million of you, according to Census Bureau figures, and 79.8 million members of Gen Y (for our purposes, those born between 1977 and 1995). And the new generation shares more than just an age bracket.
While it may be crass to “define” such a group, any Times Square tourist could probably do so with one finger – pointed at the MTV Networks building. Gen Y sometimes seems to share one overstimulated brain, and it’s often tuned to something featuring Lindsay Lohan. Add to that the speed with which Yers can find Lindsay Lohan – day or night, video or audio – in these technology-rich times, and it’s suddenly not so strange that Gen Y has developed such a distinct profile.
And what a profile it is. As the rest of the nation agonizes over obesity, Gen Yers always seem to be at the gym. More than a third of 18- to 25-year-olds surveyed by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press have a tattoo, and 30 percent have a piercing somewhere besides their earlobe. But those are considered stylish, not rebellious.
And speaking of fashion, this isn’t a group you’ll catch in flannel. They’re all about quiet kitsch – a funky T-shirt under a blazer, artsy jewelry, silly socks – small statements that won’t cause trouble. The most important decorations, though, are electronic – iPods, BlackBerrys, laptops – and they’re like extra limbs. Nothing is more hilarious than catching a Gen Yer in public without one of those essentials. Let’s just say most wouldn’t have lasted long on Walden Pond.
When it comes to Gen Y’s intangible characteristics, the lexicon is less than flattering. Try “needy,” “entitled.” Despite a consensus that they’re not slackers, there is a suspicion that they’ve avoided that moniker only by creating enough commotion to distract from the fact that they’re really not that into “work.”
Never mind that they often need an entire team – and a couple of cheerleaders – to do anything. For some of them the concept “work ethic” needs rethinking. “I had a conversation with the CFO of a big company in New York,” says Tamara Erickson, co-author of the 2006 book “Workforce Crisis,” “and he said, ‘I can’t find anyone to hire who’s willing to work 60 hours a week. Can you talk to them?’ And I said, ‘Why don’t I start by talking to you? What they’re really telling you is that they’re sorry it takes you so long to get your work done.’”
That isn’t the only rethinking Gen Yers have done. Their widespread consumption of uniform media has had some positive effects. Girls watch sports and play videogames, and no one thinks twice about it. And boys can admit to loving “The Real World” with impunity.
Race is even less of an issue for Gen Yers, not just because they’re generally accustomed to diversity, but because on any given night they can watch successful mainstream shows featuring everyone from the Oscar-winning rap group Three 6 Mafia to wrestler Hulk Hogan. It all makes for a universe where anything – such as, say, being a bodybuilding accountant – seems possible.
Of course, Gen Yers have been told since they were toddlers that they can be anything they can imagine. It’s an idea they clung to as they grew up and as their outlook was shaken by the Columbine shootings and 9/11. More than the nuclear threat of their parents’ day, those attacks were immediate, potentially personal, and completely unpredictable. And each new clip of Al Gore spreading inconvenient truths or of polar bears drowning from lack of ice told Gen Yers they were not promised a healthy, happy tomorrow. So they’re determined to live their best lives now.
Myspace is a great way for loan officers to market themselves. It’s also now Rocking the Vote. I found an article from BizReport here regarding retail sales (think outside the box) and how you can sell on Myspace.
Craigslist is a great site to post your ads–you can use HTML here too to link to your site or email. You can reach a national audience if you just click each of the areas on the right side of the page. If you need a good HTML tutorial, I use this page. Very comprehensive and you can copy the code.
The newest site I’ve found to be of assistance to myself and my clients is the new Base Google Housing Search site. It’s really sweet.. you can create your own Base Google Search with their quick tutorial if you’re in a different market. I search for For Sale By Owners in my area. You can use it as a supplement to my FSBO program…
Signing out!
/k
Our BNI in New Bedford, MA is looking for a few great networkers. Please get in touch with me if you are interested and your designation is not taken yet.
Cheers,
Kristen
Sales is not taught. It is inherent… but you do need to tweak your capacities periodically to find more ways to effectively make more sales.
Gitomer.com is a good site to register on to receive weekly emails about different sales “jolts.”
Also, If you have AOL, he is a coach. You can find more information here.
Swedish Greys - a WordPress theme from Nordic Themepark.
