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22 CRAZY SALES TIPS THAT ACTUALLY

WORK!!

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$Introduction

Sometimes the best advice isn’t the normal, common advice we often get. Sometimes, it’s those unique perspectives that decode the challenge and create momentum where we least expect it.

In an effort to help you get an edge, we interviewed 21 of the world's best sales thought leaders and asked them what their craziest sales hacks were, why they did them and why they worked.

What we got surprised us. We we’re blown away by the uniqueness of many of the ideas; from mining out-of-office notifications and voicemail messages to LinkedIN visualizations, these experts provide some of the most unique and crazy sales hacks you’ve ever read.

If you’re looking for an edge, you may just find it in these pages.

Enjoy!

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$ Tim Ohai

Never offer a single option. Ever. When you are presenting a formal offer, a decision to make, or even

a simple idea to consider, always present two-three options. This does a couple of things. First, it taps into your customer’s brain.

Everyone is wired to think critically when given more than one option. You want that slower, more critical thinking because - if you are truly offering the best value - it will disrupt automatic commitment to the status quo. Two, it will allow you to see what matters most to your customer. What they define as valuable/not valuable will become very apparent as they select one option over another. This information is invaluable as you move through the buying/selling experience - especially when you have to differentiate yourself. Three, it avoids “no” as ananswer - and conversation ender. Instead, options open up the conversation,allowing you to hopefully demonstrate your value as a trusted advisor throughthat dialogue.

Tim Hurson

One of my favorites is to think of the sales meeting as a threeact structure, like a play. Act I is where you earn the right to

ask tough questions. Act II is where you ask them. Act II is where you pour out your ideas and benefits.

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The names of other buying influences. Not only their names, but their titles, emails and phone numbers sometimes. They are telling you who to contact while they are gone and many times they are sharing the names of other decision makers, not just an admin (although admins can be very helpful). Get those names and do some research. Start interacting with them on social media (Click like, Comment and Share) then maybe connect and start building a relationship.

Something interesting about them. They may be out of the office on business but they may also be on vacation and sometimes they share where. Sometimes they are out for a wedding or birth off a baby and state that. Now it’s time to use that info to send a card in the mail or even a gift if appropriate. You can often check facebook for more details (who says facebook isn’t for B2B sales).

May sound crazy but those Out of Office messages can be a fountain of useful information to help develop a relationship and move a sale forward.

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Alice Heiman

Mining your out-of-office messages.Don’t delete them. That’s right, read

them first. Do you hate getting out of office messages in your inbox, especially after you send out an email blast. Stop hating them and start mining them. I

discovered that there is a lot of information in those

out-of-office messages. Take a minute and read each one. Some of them don’t have anything in them so you can quickly delete them. But take a closer look. Here are some of the great things I have found in out of office messages.

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$ Ken Thoreson

I recommend to my clients that before they perform any kind of prospecting

programs, either marketing or salesperson driven, they test the messaging with a select group of 10 clients to gain their reactions. In addition each salesperson must call the sales manager and “leave” their prospecting message on the Sales Managers voice mail. The entire sales team will

then listen to everyone’s messages and discuss the nuances of the voice mails.

In both cases training, feedback and refinement helps to increase the odds of finding new leads for your pipeline.

Matt Heinz

When offering a white paper or offer via social, invite themto DM their email vs. clicking on a link. We A/B tested links

vs. “just reply” and got a 5X increase in response. We’re currently getting 12-15 leads PER DAY using Socedo on Twitter with this tactic.

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$The Golden Rule is “do unto othersas you would have others do unto you.”

Taking it up a notch is the Platinum Rule: “do unto others what they would like to have done (not what you’d like!).”

That’s a tough standard. Because how are you supposed to

know what others want done? When you’re cold calling, that

would be impossible, right?

Until recently, maybe so..... But then along came Crystal. Personality detection software CrystalKnows, that is.

Crystal uses online patterns and tone from social media posts to assess the personality and preferences of others, even complete strangers. Then, as you craft an email, CrystalKnows coaches you through it with tips like “be more direct” or “add more positive language.”

With Crystal, you write customized emails that “speak the same language” as the person receiving them. Emails that will really resonate with them. Of course, the coaching report from Crystal also prepares you for conversations with prospects, customers, co-workers and just about anyone.

Crystal is a free Chrome extension that gives you a personality report. There’s also a premium version that opens the email functionality. It takes all the guesswork out of cold emailing and cold calling.

And, yes, Crystal is very accurate. A little spooky in just how accurate she really is. Give Crystal a test drive by entering your own name -- you’ll be shocked at just how much she knows based on your social media engagements.

Deb Calvert 6

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$So I have a resume up on Monster and other job boards, not because I

am looking for a job, but because when you have a resume on those boards, you can create search agents. This means every time a company posts a search for a sales person, I get an e-mail notification. This allows me to reach out and engage before they even hire. I get the e-mail, they get a call, “Do you have a specific plan for

accelerating the time for the new hire to be productive and not only have an earlier payback, but ensure success?” I get gigs like this, and there is no reason this can’t be used by any sales person selling to a specific role.

Irreverent Sales Girl Dianna Geairn

I got FOUR calls back from my cold call voice message last week. k What was different?

Before each call, I pulled up the person’s LinkedIn profile. I took a minute to think about the prospect as a whole other human being over there who has real needs and concerns.

I know that what I offer helps with their needs and concerns!

Then, I picked up the phone and looked at the person’s picture as I left my message – as if I were speaking directly to them. Perhaps they could sense that and the connection was compelling enough for the prospect to call me back.

Or, perhaps it’s just back-to-school season and people are ready to do business again. :)

7 Tibor Shanto

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$ Barbara Weaver Smith

Before you meet with any public company, find their most recent SEC

Form 10-K Annual Report and read the section MD&A, Management’s Discussion & Analysis. Every company files one in Q1 for the preceding year; just Google, e.g. “GE Form 10-K 2015” and you’ll find it.

Much deeper and more accurate than the glossy Annual Report on the website, this document is your priceless guide to the company’s strategic direction, its opportunities, its detailed risk analysis and complete financial performance.

Now you can meet with a company executive or team, armed with boardroom knowledge about their business and competitive environment. Don’t assume you know it all; just develop a context for informed questions and knowledgeable conversation. You will differentiate yourself, and most likely be invited back.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Snote to a client or even a congratulations note when you learn about an achievement. Include the first name and then add two or three sentences. Short and sweet. Do not use a pre-printed mailing label as that defeats the emotional reaction you are seeking because people buy first on emotion; justified by logic.

Purchase the notes at the local dollar store, mix them up. Yes they work because people still love to open up cards and you are indeed the Red Jacket in the Sales Sea of Gray Suits.

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10ometimes simple still is crazy. Send a short "glad we met note" after meeting a sales lead, an unexpected thank you

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$ Sam Richter

Research using www.yougotsocial.com. Click on the Power search link and follow

the directions for getting someone’s unique Facebook ID and then spy on the person you are going to call. Warning: this site is addicting.

Anthony Iannarino

When taking notes in a client meeting, write down as fewwords as you need with a ? next to it for questions you

need to ask when your client finishes speaking, so you don’t have to try to remember it, and so you can give your client you full attention. Write down an ! mark and a couple words to remind you of anything they describe as being important to

them, so you have a record of important issues and ideas. Use an * for anything you want to say, like proof providing stories, ideas, or explanations that add to the conversation. Once you take a very short note and you are sure not to forget, your mind can let go and you can focus.

Mark Hunter

Have a “company referral blitz” with all of your customers. You call and say your company is have a referral blitz so I’m

calling all of my customers to get referrals. Everybody doing it creates energy and customers love to help out when they know it will help the salesperson they worked with.

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$ Elinor Stutz

My favorite system is to save 10minutes after finishing a meal to

review who has retweeted my tweets. The phone app is far more efficient than the desktop. Anything catching my eye is retweeted; if there is consistency with the person, I message them. If they respond, I go to LinkedIn to review their profile. From there we have a

conversation and then possibilities blossom. That’s how I’ve rebuilt my business the past year. It’s easy, fun and it works well.

Jill Konrath

After you ask a good question, count to ten (silently).The average person can only wait 2-3 seconds before

jumping in and talking again. Yet, if someone is asked a good question, it can take 8-10 seconds to formulate an answer.

By waiting silently, you give people time to think and respond — which means you learn more about what really matters to them.

Trish Bertuzzi

Closing deals tip.... ask this question as a soft close... Keenan, on a scale of 1 to 4 with 4 being highly likely,

how likely is it that we can bring this deal to closure?

Anything other than 4 and you get to ask why they gave you

that number and what needs to happen to make it a 4.

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$ James Muir:

When doing a web meeting or demo with multiple parties on the

other end, it can be challenging to keep track of who is on the other side. And yet it’s important that we know who is there, what their role is, what their interests are and what constitutes a win for them.

A trick I’ve used for years to aid this scenario is to adapt something I often do in face to face meetings. Welcome the client or prospect to the conference call or web meeting then introduce who you have on your team in attendance. Tell them you are prepared to discuss some important things but to tailor things you’d like to hear from everyone on their side. Then ask the folks on the other end to introduce themselves including their name, title/role and what they’d be most interested in covering.

Take out a piece of paper and on it draw an oval to represent a virtual conference room table. As each attendee on the other end introduces themselves, give them a place at the conference room table on your drawing. Write their name, title/role and interests next to their names.

This will give you a much better understanding of the dynamic in the room on the other side and you’ll find this makes it much easier to engage them. By addressing each one by name and each of their interests directly you can make your virtual meeting 10X more effective.

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$ Lynn Hidy

IPart 1: the initial voicemail This helps to very quickly be able to mirror the prospect and make them feel comfortable as they listen to the message.

They feel a spark of connection prior to even speaking with each other.

Part 2: the first conversation

Picking up on the prospect's social and personality queues that they demonstrate in their outbound voice mail message allows me to phrase my value proposition in a way that is easier for them to connect with.

* Down home Texas drawl doesn’t connect easily with fast talking New Yorkbusiness people

* MBA language doesn’t help articulate a point to a construction supervisor

* Standing on ceremony will not sit well with an informal organization

Plus, going in with an intention to listen allows space for the prospect to consider, think, and share what is on their mind. That sharing gives all the cues needed to hear business opportunity and know what topics will interest the prospect enough to move forward to committing to an appointment/next step.

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start listening to the prospect's voice mail greeting and use what I hear in my message - my top 3 being: pace, word choice, and level of formality.

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$ Nancy Nardin

Download the Capture browserplugin by RingLead. Go to LinkedIn

and do a search for people that meet your prospecting criteria. Open each one in a new browser window so that they see you looked at their profile (that often gets them curious to want to look at yours). Then, for each one, click on the Capture button icon. That will capture all their details and append missing information

like email and phone into the Capture panel. Then… with one button, you can add them to Salesforce. By the way, this works with other sites too, not just LinkedIn. You might see a list of people on a conference website. You can capture the entire web page and Capture will find all the details. Or, you can be on a company’s website, same thing.

Lee Salz

When I managed sales teams, I encouraged mysalespeople to create what I call a “network

neighborhood.” This is a group that includes a salesperson’s clients and hot prospects. Every other week, the salesperson sends an email to this group with some piece of information that would be helpful to the reader. It could be updating them on a new regulation, a new industry

trend, an intriguing blog post, etc. What the salesperson does not do in this email is ask for business. No selling is to be done here. The “network neighborhood” is a creative way to stay in front of buyers and demonstrate personal value in the relationship. Existing clients appreciate your keeping them apprised. Prospects are impressed by the personal value you bring to the table. It’s easy to do, takes very little time, and can differentiate you from the pack.

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$ David Brock

Focus on disqualifying! One of thebiggest problems is sales people

loading up their pipelines with bad deals. Working these deals wastes both your and the customers’ time—and you aren’t going to close them anyway, regardless of how much wishful thinking and rationalization you may be doing. You do this, by knowing your sweet spot! What are the problems you are the best in the world at solving

and who has those problems? Anything out of that sweet spot represents a very low probability opportunity for you. It may be good for someone else, but it’s not good for you.

Jack Kosakowski

Always set an expectation of time when you are on a firstsales call and cut the time short.

For example, if I start a sales call… I start the conversation by saying I have this call scheduled to go about 30 minutes and then I have another meeting…

Prospects need to know that you are busy… The more available you are… The more desperate you look.

I do it because it stops calls from dragging on and allows me to get to the point with the buyer and see if they really have skin in the game or if they see value.

It works because buyers respect that there is a mutual agreement on time expectations, and it gives me enough time to make sure they are qualified and make sure I’m not wasting my time with non DM’s. It’s a checks and balance to the sales process.

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A Sales Guy is an international sales consulting and recruiting firm helping companies accelerate sales in the 21st Century.

Named Top Sales and Marketing Influencer 5 years in a row. Mentioned in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, and more.