by: Carson V. Heady

The challenges of learning and mastering a trade notwithstanding, it can also be a challenge to resurface, reapply and reinvent yourself on a regular basis.

Anything in life, if repeated numerous times, can get monotonous and mundane, even the high-octane world of sales and marketing. Keeping a few fundamentals near and dear to your heart can greatly ease the process.

First, recognize that you are going to be dealt your fair share of rejection. Baseball players are fortunate to get a hit one-out-of-three times they march to the plate and – it is likely – your conversion rate is far less. Hearing the word “no” over and over can be a blow to the ego (and, if you are a sales superstar, you likely have an inflated one). It is not personal and it is not uncommon. Just be able to look back on every visit or call and know (1) no one else could have closed that sale if you didn’t and (2) the specific reason why the customer did not believe your product or service would work for them. You can’t close them all, but, if you did that, you did your job.

Hark back to who you were on interview day. We lose sight of that a lot. We sold ourselves to the hiring manager that we would sign on to fulfill the duties of the position. We promised to deliver above and beyond. Chances are, we gave it our all for a while, settled into a groove and have gotten lazy about some components of the job. Always analyze yourself and your performance. Be your own toughest critic. If my name was next to a statistic, it was going to be great; never let anything that is not indicative of your skill level show up on a report with your name on it. Exude excellence in everything you do.

Keep your personal life outside the office – period. With all due respect, it’s very likely no one at work cares about your personal life anyhow. It is not because they are heartless, it is because everybody hurts (thank you, R.E.M.) sometimes. It is because we all have a job to do and we are not in the excuses business. Don’t make them. Ever. You will be branded as unreliable for the rest of your days. Persevere. People get a limited number of times they can call in sick, have an “emergency” (whether real or perceived) or complain about their marital woes or outside forces before someone is going to brand them as weak, whether it is deserved or not.

Find something that wakes you up and keeps you going. Working out in the morning, double-fisting a 44-ounce Diet Coke and a coffee, blaring “You’re the Best” from The Karate Kid on the way to work, and surrounding myself with 42 pictures of my 2-year old daughter in my office achieved these things for me. I had high energy, was surrounded by reasons why I wanted to be successful and the most important thing in my world – my baby girl – was always around to pick me up when I was down.

Lastly, don’t ever let anyone see you bleed. The food chain for you, whether you are the rep working with a customer, a manager with a rep or division manager working with a manager, you always have to be cool, calm and collected. Work through whatever is ailing you before you face the target of your presentations. Any false moves will diminish your credibility and upset the balance of future attempts.

To pick yourself up from every “no”, to bring yourself back to do a job day after day, you have to keep yourself grounded, remind yourself who you are and what you are after, and you have to always stay focused on the big picture. You may not be in your final incarnation as a salesperson just yet, but to get to the next one you have to show you can deal with anything.

All the best, and make it a great selling day!
Carson V. Heady, 31, was born in Cape Girardeau, MO and first put in front of a typewriter at age 3. At an early age, Carson was enraptured with writing short stories and entered and won numerous writing contests throughout the years. He entered the sales arena at age 22 and has found success at every level, from top-flight sales representative to a division leader over 200+ people. His devotion to the sales game occupied much of his time, but the desire to write never left his mind. Once Carson realized his aptitude in sales, he decided to write his first novel – Birth of a Salesman – which told the story of a young man who came into prominence in the sales arena and doubled as a self-help sales advice manual to guide others to the level of success he achieved. He is a profound public speaker, superior corporate leader and, in addition to having letters featured in prominent magazines and local newspapers, he wrote his own bi-weekly column for his department. Carson lives in St. Louis, MO, with his 3-year old daughter, Madison.

The author invites you to visit: http://www.carsonvheady.com

by: Daegan H. Smith

Having your own business can be exciting but daunting. You will need to know exactly what it is that you are familiar with, what you want to do, and how you are going to make your interests start earning you money. This can be exciting if you already have some knowledge of how to run a business, but for the first-time businessperson, putting up a business, managing a small staff, developing and testing products, advertising or marketing them, and finding a way to innovate constantly can be difficult, not to mention costly. If you are thinking of earning money through selling, perhaps you can start training yourself for the marketing portion by going into the best direct sales programs that you can find.

In direct sales marketing, you are the buyer of the goods and the seller: people can come directly to you to buy the things that they want, and because you can set a price on your goods, you earn income from their purchases. In a variant of direct sales, you buy the products from a main seller and place a price on them; when people buy the products from you, you get commissions; and when you can recruit these people to be part of your network, then the people that they recruit and who buy products from them will likewise contribute to your commissions pool. This variant is termed as network marketing, simply because you are earning money from people down the line from you, termed as your downlines.

What are the advantages of direct sales programs and network marketing? For one, direct sales programs can allow you to pick what products you would like to sell, giving you full control over your product line. You can pick what products you believe in, and what products you yourself use; this way, you can market the products better to your downlines, and you know what kinds of people would comprise your market, given the goods that you would like to sell. The more people there are in your network who match your products or your market composition, the more people you can sell to, and the higher your commissions.

One disadvantage of network marketing, however, is that it needs you to have a good personality ñ one that will win you sales through your enthusiasm, but with a tempered kind of enthusiasm that does not border on hard sell. Once you engage in hard selling techniques, you risk alienating potential customers, and you can end up losing a lot of sales. You will need to tread lightly as a seller, so this requires that you practice a lot: direct selling also means that you will need to do some marketing, so this can be a good way for you to practice your skills for your future home business.

So what are the best direct sales programs for you? They should allow you to earn a lot for as little input as possible, both in terms of effort and financially. Moreover, they should be legal, so always check with your local business bureau if you doubt the veracity of a network marketing schemeís claim.

These are only a few things to keep in mind as you go about looking for the best direct sales programs to meet your needs and budget. Soon, with more practice and with a lot of downlines, perhaps you will have the skills and money to put up your own business, as well as the network that will serve as your market. Happy selling, and happy learning!

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by: Jay Conners

by: Bill Broich

Directing your marketing to “everyone” but to “no one” as a target guarantees that your marketing will be ignored. Many insurance agents have failed to determine who their target market is, the demographics of their target market and how to reach them effectively and efficiently. The mistake of not selecting and marketing to a specified target market.

This is a critical part of any marketing effort, knowing who you are marketing to. By not setting target market guidelines for the marketing you will lose focus on the desired end result. Errors could be running vague and generic advertisements s in mass media, such as local newspapers, magazines, radio, television and internet web sites.

Your “hope” is that by presenting your “generic” message about your business to the largest number of people, the result will be the highest number of new clients. Wrong.

Effective marketing doesn’t work that way. The fact is only a small percentage of the those being advertized to will have a need and there will be no motivating factor to contact you. Some agents may have a hard time believing this but it’s true. Everyone does not need or want your product or your services. (annuities aren’t for everyone, remember that)

By not targeting your marketing to your logical prospects, you are wasting most of your marketing dollars on people who have little or no interest in your product or service. As an example if there are only 500 target marketed prospects for your insurance product out of 10,000 possible readers of a publication, why would you want to spend thousands of dollars presenting your message over and over to the 9,500 non qualified prospects? To me that is ineffective target marketing, that is wasteful marketing.

Select your target market and write a marketing plan directed at it.
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The author invites you to visit: http://annuityleads.ca

by: Silas Reed

This is an age of tough competition where every company wants to make sure they outdo the competition and rise to the top. The most important factor that decides whether a company or enterprise will rise to the top is marketing. Marketing is one of the most coveted fields to day, getting precedence even over finance. Unlike finance, marketing is such a field which requires you to use your creativity and come up with your own ideas to promote the product or service offered by the company. The promotion of a product is the main factor which ensures its success. With the right promotion, a company can beat all the competition in the market and soar to the number one position. Sales marketing is an aspect of marketing which is related to the sales promotion of a product. This involves the inception of new ideas to promote a product so that it stands out among other similar products.

Sales marketing is an emerging field which recruits youngsters readily in entry level or internship positions. If you are interested in sales marketing, then it is imperative that you get into an internship with a prominent company that will teach you all the ropes of the job. Marketing is more about aptitude that anything else. An internship lets you get the basic idea about exactly what a sales job entails. You can learn a lot in the few months that you spend as an intern and this experience will be valuable to you all your life.

When you are getting into a marketing internship, there are several things that you should not do. Avoiding a few common mistakes will ensure that you go far in this field in the future.

As a marketing intern, first things first, you need to be passionate about your work. A lack of enthusiasm and interest will create a bad impression that is virtually impossible to get rid of. The first thing that you are not to do is appear bored and interested with the work.

At first you may find the job too stressful. Even if you are having trouble do not let on that you are having difficulties coping. Chances are that with time you will get used to working around the clock and will start enjoying your work.

Being disorganized and scattered is a big no-no. When you start out as an intern you will be assigned to a project. Make your to-do list before hand and make sure that you completely all the tasks successfully. Forgetting something important or missing something obvious can be a major blunder.

When you are assigned to a project do not set yourself unachievable goals. Unrealistic goals will hold you back, stressing you out and keep you from performing your very best.

Do not miss deadlines. To be successful you need to work within your stipulated deadline. Meeting the target is one of the most vital aspects of a sales marketing job.
To learn more about finding sales marketing jobs, please visit http://www.marketingcrossing.com/jobs/q-Sales-jobs.html and sign up for a FREE trial to gain access to ALL of the many exclusive job listings we offer in the marketing profession. Silas Reed, Writer for MarketingCrossing, writes articles that inform and teach about different marketing job profiles and tips.

The author invites you to visit: http://www.marketingcrossing.com

by: Carl Hoffman