Paul Lavoie's Blog

Nobody cares about you….

paullavoie — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:50:17 +0000

I was meeting with a client this morning and we were talking about Sales Strategy. Specifically, we were talking about getting appointments and how the game of “leaving voice mails” is not a fun game anymore. (It used to be fun when you could talk to a gatekeeper).

We discussed leaving voice mails messages that were all about the sales person and how that will lead to being ignored. We flipped it around and talked about leaving voice mail messages that had the best interests of your prospect in mind.

How can you help your prospect look good? Figure that out and you’ll get return calls. Cause….Nobody cares about you.

Make your contact and messages about them. You’ll be fine.

Your Commitment to Social Media

paullavoie — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:24:04 +0000

A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Expo. The subject was “LinkedIn for Business” and my role was to be the case study for how your build and grow your business using LinkedIn.

At the beginning of my presentation, I asked a question to the 60+ people in attendance. My question – How many people have their LinkedIn public profile name on their business card? The answer : ZERO. Everybody in the room was there to learn about how to use LinkedIn to generate leads, promote their business, etc., however, no one was really committed to using LinkedIn. Don’t you agree that if you were committed, you would have your name on your business card.

My LinkedIn public profile name is PaulSLavoie and yes, it has been on my card for almost 2 years…

http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulslavoie

Start today by putting your public profile name on LinkedIn and get connected!

What is the single most important skill of a salesperson?

paullavoie — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:14:07 +0000

Share your thought, please..

Would you hire this person?

paullavoie — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:36:11 +0000

As you know, I am a Partner at a Marketing Agency. We are growing and we are always looking for Account Executives. An Account Executive at Response Marketing is responsible for managing the day to day relationship with our clients. We are looking for someone with 2-3 years experience and a salary range of 35-38k. We are very clear in our advertising about our target.

So, we have a company philosophy that everybody that sends a resume gets a response. Some we invite to interview and some we don’t. Those we don’t invite to interview get a very polite e-mail. We think this is the right thing to do.

Below is that e-mail;

Thank you for your interest in Response Marketing and for sending your resume for the Account Executive position. We have reviewed your resume and we have decided to pursue other candidates for this position.

Good luck with your search.

Paul

Many people respond positively – thanks for letting me know, please keep me in mind, keep my resume on file, can you tell me why? etc. is the usual feedback.

UNTIL THIS WEEK.

Below is a response I received to my e-mail. This was sent on a Friday night at 10:00 pm. Read the response and then ask yourself “Would you hire this person”?
=====================================================
Dear Paul,

Thank you for the REJECTION note. I am so glad to have received it. The sting of it punctured my swollen head. And, I am again able to walk through doors normally. You see, I have been offered every other position I have applied for, and there have been many. I was beginning to think I could gain access to any company I chose. Well, now that I know that’s not true, I am hoping you will do me a favor. Will you tell me why I do not meet your criteria for the perfect Response Marketing account executive? And please, the more direct and insensitive the better… both barrels and when they are empty, reload.

I look forward to your response.

I didn’t respond.

Lessons from Shannon

paullavoie — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:07:40 +0000

Recently I visited my local ACE hardware store to get a few things for my weekend projects. I needed to have keys made, so the cashier, Shannon, asked me to wait by the counter while she finished with a few people in line. While waiting is not one of my favorite things to do, I was amazed watching Shannon work. Every customer was greeted with a smile, she asked them “did you find everything you were looking for” (The number one way for a retailer to increase sales – if the answer is yes, great, if no, you just increased your average sale!).

Then, she asked if they would like to become a member of their rewards club.

Every time. Every customer. With a smile. After she cut my keys, I told her what a great job she is doing….

Finally, she looks about high school age. The next time I hear someone say “kids these days, you can’t get them to do anything” my advice is to go hire a Shannon and train her well.

By the way, on my next visit, I was greeted the same way and saw the words “Did you find everything you are looking for?” taped on the monitor. Maybe they attended one of my workshops????

Congrats ACE – well done!

What should you really be afraid of?

paullavoie — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:48:40 +0000

The Back Story in Newsweek has a great article about Fear and what you really should be afraid of…

Here are some highlights..

Children abducted by strangers 115 (1999)
Children who drown in Pools 288 (2006)

Shark Attacks 28 (2009)
Dog Bites 4,500,000 (annual average)

Deaths by Allergic Reaction to Peanuts 50-100 Annual Average
Deaths by Unintentional Poisoning 27,531 (2006)

Fatal Airline Deaths 321 (2005)
Fatal Car Crashes 34,017 (2008)

Also, you are twice as likely to die than be audited by the IRS.

So, what are you afraid of?

Interesting Article…

Trade Show Behavior – Scarcity or Abundance?

paullavoie — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:35:49 +0000

A couple of interesting things happened this week. We have a client that is heading off to a trade show and the President of the company asked me to conduct a trade show training session for his team. While there were many details in the plan, I made sure highlight that all the giveaways they had bought for the trade show must be given out.

Here is why. Way back when, I was the VP of Sales for a company and we were at a trade show. Because our product feature was flexibility, we had several hundred “Gumby’s” made and I was giving them out to anyone that walked by. The VP of Marketing told me to stop giving out the Gumby’s (they had our name and phone number on them) because they were “expensive”. One thing I know is that in the hands of potential customers or in the box, they still cost the same.

Since then, my philosophy is to leave the trade show empty handed. Give out everything you brought so that you can get your name out there. If a potential customer has something with my name, web address and phone on it, I have a chance at a sale. If it sits in a drawer, I can guarantee that it will not lead to a sale.

This week, I participated in a trade show. Gave everything away and then watched a young girl (maybe 10 years old) who was helping out her father. She asked if she could give away all of their promotional items. Guess what he said. “No, we want to save them”. Glad the 10 year old got it and too bad the Dad didn’t.

Abundance works. Give stuff away and you will have the opportunity for people to remember you. The more you give, the more you get.

By the way, – the client – best trade show ever! Gave everything away and was swamped with prospects and calls.

Are you in the way of success?

paullavoie — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:39:11 +0000

I’ve often said that the only thing that stands between me and success is me. I just need to get out of the way.

I was talking to a friend recently and we were talking about how to grow a business. The conversation ended up at the fact that the reason for the lack of growth is the capability and ability of the owner. In other words, the company can only grow at the rate of the leadership…

So, what’s in your way? You? If so, change. Make the changes necessary to fuel your growth.

What’s holding you back…..

paullavoie — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:00:55 +0000

Was having a discussion with someone the other day. They said that they couldn’t recruit new hires because their office wasn’t painted. Reminds me of the time we acquired a company that was generating $8M in sales. When I met with the sales team, I asked them what they needed to take the company to the next level – their response – A color printer.

Wow – what excuses are you using to prevent you from succeeding? These are two gems. Share you story here….

Congruency – a great motivator…

paullavoie — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:38:16 +0000

So, I presented today at the Monroe Chamber of Commerce Annual Luncheon. My topic – A Starter Kit in Social Media. It was called – “When you twitter in my blog, you get linkedin to my facebook”.

So, I recommended that everybody start a blog. And to blog on a regular basis. And then I realized that I hadn’t blogged since November. Can be that busy, now can I?

So, congruency is a great motivator for me to get back to blogging…

I’m Back……….