December 2011

As you may remember if you follow us Brandwise created a free logo giveaway contest in September. Due to the end of the year craziness and being much busier than we thought for the end of the year, we dropped the ball on this contest and we left the prospects hanging. For this we have decided to make things right. In order to do right by this group we have decided to offer a free logo to the top 8 contenders. This is our Christmas gift to the top 8 companies who made the first cut.

We want to thank Chris Stone for picking up yesterdays webinar. It made the front page of The Inbound-Marketing Daily and it was above the fold, woo-hooo. I feel like “We’re a-movin’ on up, to the top. I finally got a piece of the piiiie”. Not sure if you got that Jefferson’s reference there, but it was pretty cool to not only make the front page, but also in a promenent area of the site. Pretty cool! Thanks Chris!

For years I not only thought this, but said it on a regular basis. I knew this was one of the weakest ares of my business. I looked for a solution for years. I read many books, joined business development classes & groups with little luck. If you have ever thought or said to yourself “I suck at sales” then maybe you have seen similar issues.

There is always that one person that is a last minute shopper. Maybe life just gets in the way or they are waiting for a deal or whatever. Maybe if it is a business they could have a budget that needs to be spent by years end or they loose the money. Or it could be that your perspective buyer’s time is freeing up in the holiday season so they are able to shop around and look for solutions for 2012.

Time management is one of those really challenging areas for most people. I find that if I do not have a process in place for things that I slide into Put Out The Fire mode instead of get the big things accomplished mode. I know and talk to a lot of CEOs and it sounds very common to struggle with time management when it comes to sales. I hear all the time about how their companies do not have a real sales system.

It is funny how easy it is to slide in to Christmas Mode. You know when we start planning events with family and friends. It is especially bad for me because I have a close friend, my own, my father’s, my mother-in-law’s and my nephew’s birthday all within a 3 week period over the Christmas season. So I can relate with loosing your mind and wanting to be festive with friends and family.

I have a challenge for you. If you are looking to boost sales why not try to apply some new tips. I have set a challenge for myself. I am going to land 3 new clients by years end. How’m I going to pull this off with the holidays slowing things down? Well I got three weeks to figure things out.

Strategic blogging is an interesting science. If you have ever seen any of Dan Zarrella’s work or webinars, you know he is a genius at this stuff. Is it important to be this strategic? Maybe not, but is it helpful if you want to beat out your competition? You bet!