Colleen’s Blog

According to Forbes.com and jobvite.com in 2012 42% of employers ban use of social media sites in the workplace This is a stupid idea for a number of reasons. Here are the first 5 that came to mind:

The future of successful businesses will be heavily dictated by their ability to build customer communities. You may have already noticed, with the emergence of Google and social media, the consumer is no longer a laid-back, passive individual who is waiting for salesmen to come knocking on their door. We now live in a world where active, information seeking consumers are trying to discover experts in certain industries. ← Click to Tweet

Far too often I hear a client say “That won’t work in our market, we are different. Trust me…I’ve tried it all.” Whether I hear this through e-mail, a podcast, a post on social media or an article, it never gets any easier for me to digest a statement like this.

With so many changes happening, including downsizing, explosive growth, new products to market, and buyers changing in such a short period of time, it’s never been a better time to close more deals. But only if you’re prepared to adapt to change while still emulating timeless approaches that work. As with most things, selling successfully is about balance.

Let's talk about customer loyalty, after all, you need a loyal customer first before you can up-sell and have them buy more, right? While customer loyalty does lead to repeat business and more sales, most people have the equation backwards. The truth is the more people buy from you, the stronger the loyalty. The top 10% of breakthrough companies are not rewarded with remarkable success because their closing ratios on net new busloyalty. The longer a customer is tied to you, the longer they will stay a loyal paying customer.