Around the world there are hundreds of sales companies hiring and training salespeople to sell search and internet products to small and medium-sized business owners. Going back just a few years ago, some of these companies made money solely by reselling search solutions, such as Google AdWords (and possibly Yahoo! and MSN paid ad solutions). Today, many of these same companies are offering more and more internet advertising solutions. Some are now offering social networking solutions (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.), mobile solutions, directory solutions, print solutions, and the list goes on and on depending upon the sales company. In short, many of today’s sales reps are mini-ad agencies and are struggling with trying to both understand how all of these potential internet solutions work, as well as which products to offer to which advertisers in which situations. Read more…

At a search engine marketing (SEM) conference not too long ago, someone said, “It’s a land grab out there. The company that gets to the small business owner first and signs them up with any type of search engine marketing program…wins!”

Since that time many other companies that sell SEM packages to small business owners have used the same strategy. The main emphasis for many of these companies has been speed. Call on as many businesses as you can, sign up as many as possible, and the more productive the sales force is the more successful the SEM reseller company will be. Read more…

Recently, The Kelsey Group posted an interesting article, Is the Sales Approach Part of the Yellow Pages’ Woes? In the article they site “the 2009 sales results definitely highlight the need for a sales approach revolution.” They go on to say, “if we take the time to listen to the needs of the small business, I think a different story of why directories are losing revenues might emerge.”

There were many excellent points mentioned in this article. One of the contributing factors to the sales rep’s struggle to take the time to listen to the needs of the small business may be not knowing what questions to ask (which we have observed first hand). This article may be able to offer some quick training tips. Read more…

Many times when sales reps are hired to sell Google AdWords, or Yahoo, MSN, or other SEM (search engine marketing) solutions, they are trained to go out and tell the small business owner why their companies’ SEM solution is superior to their competitors…and they tell the same “value story” the same way to every business owner. One of the reasons companies who hire sales reps to sell SEM take this approach, is that it’s easy to teach, and it can be repeated over and over with every sales interaction. It then becomes a numbers game. Make lots and lots of sales calls and a certain percentage will buy. The problem with this approach is that small business owners have become very skeptical with sales reps who call them on the phone or show up at their location and make promises about the how well their solution will work…and they don’t know anything about that individual business owner’s current situation or anything about their industry.  In many cases, the reason this approach doesn’t work is due to a lack of trust and credibility.
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If you want to be the online directory that succeeds in the long run, train your sales reps to make the “Right Sale”…not just any sale. When your sales rep returns to the office and proudly announces, “I just made another sale”, how do you react? Do you shake their hand, congratulate them, and then tell them to go get two more? Or, before showering them with praise and encouraging them to make another sale, do you ask them for details about that sales interaction? Are you interested in how that sale was made, or more importantly…if it was the right sale? Making a sale is the goal of any sales interaction. It’s a great feeling for both the sales rep and the sales manager, but there are consequences when a sale is made and not sold correctly.

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