Colleen’s Blog

A few weeks ago, I ran a Facebook Live video and we talked specifically about tactics and strategies to sell in a crowded marketplace. One strategy that came up that was so important to anyone who was watching was the concept of frequency and reach.

It’s the worst question in sales and marketing today: How do I get better at cold calling? Spoiler alert: Cold calling is dead. Stop wasting your time with it.

Last week, we talked about being nice, staying focused and getting to work and I mentioned that being nice was so important because people do business with people that are motivated, successful and happy. One of the ways that we can show that in our business is to be confident.

This week, I had the pleasure of addressing 400 top Financial Services professionals at a national sales conference in Las Vegas. In fact, the image embedded to this blog post is the "backstage" view I had before the audience starting piling into the room. Here are the top 10 points from my keynote, they're the strategies that work today:

Are you actively seeking referrals from your current client base? According to recent studies, 78% of happy clients want to give out referrals. Yet only 8% of salespeople actually ask for them. Can you see the disconnect? It doesn't take a math genius to figure out that many salespeople are missing out on key opportunities to increase their sales and grow their businesses. I understand the intimidation factor, but the truth is in order to achieve and maintain any kind of success in sales, you have to push through the intimidation and ask for referrals anyway. They are such a powerful tool to grow your customer base, and not asking for them often enough is doing a huge disservice to yourself and your business.