Interview about the Page Builder feature in Oprius

What follows is a quick interview I did with Jovan Harmuth, Product Manager at Oprius. In case you're not familiar with Oprius, it's a web based Sales and Contact Management Software.

Before I share the interview I do want to mention that I am on their Product Advisory Board (i.e. I and a few others offered input while it was being developed) -- so while I'm not directly involved in the company, I do use Oprius myself. Now that I've gotten that little disclaimer out of the way here's the interview where Jovan discusses one of Oprius' newest features...

Josh: Tell me a little bit about the latest feature you’ve added to Oprius and how it will help people make more sales.

Jovan Harmuth: Anyone who has used Oprius before knows that what it offers is a really simple way to manage your customers and leads. It helps you stay on task as you plan different sales and marketing activities with your contacts. These activities can include Tasks, Appointments, Phone Calls and Emails. Oprius has always been a great tool for working with your leads and customers, but now it can also be used to help you generate new leads.

We have just launched a Web Page Builder and included it in the regular subscription price. This feature allows you to create Lead Capture Pages or Landing Pages that you can use to tell your story, educate people about your products, build your own personal brand and gather contact information from new leads. The best part about this new feature is that it enables people with almost no technical skills to build and maintain their own Web Pages almost as simply as editing a Word document.

When you start building your first Web Page, you don’t start with a blank page; instead, choose from any of our professionally designed templates. From there you can easily add pictures, videos and even a form which visitors to your site can use to send you their contact information so that you can personally follow up with them.

Once a visitor has filled out the form they will be automatically added to your Oprius account. These leads can then begin having prewritten emails sent to them automatically, or follow-ups can be automatically scheduled for you.

To make everything really easy we even added Domain Registration so that your new Web Page can have its very own .com domain name. As with everything in Oprius there is no limit to the number of Lead Capture Pages you create and use.

We have always been really excited about the creative ways that our users have used the tools we’ve provided to build their businesses in ways we never would have thought of. The same has been true of the Lead Capture pages. It has been great to see people creating really professional looking pages and then advertising them in creative places to generate lots of traffic to their Pages and leads for their businesses.

You can learn more about Oprius as well as take a free 30-day trial if you'd like.

*brought to you by SalesTrainingAdvice.com

How to Read Your Prospect Like a Book! By John Boe

Top salespeople and the most successful managers recognize the importance of nonverbal communication in the selling process and have learned to "listen with their eyes." They understand that one of the easiest and most effective ways to close sales is to be aware of their prospect's "buy signals."

Are you aware that your body language reveals your deepest feelings and hidden thoughts to total strangers?

Body language is a mixture of movement, posture and tone of voice. It might surprise you to know that research indicates over 70 percent of our communication is done nonverbally. In fact, studies show that nonverbal communication has a much greater impact and reliability than the spoken word. Therefore, if your prospect's words are incongruent with his or her body language gestures, you would be wise to rely on their body language as a more accurate reflection of their true feelings.

Gain the Competitive Edge
Get started on the right foot. Research shows that we decide in the first few moments whether we like someone or not. Yes, we also judge a book by its cover too. There is absolutely no substitute for a positive first impression. Create a favorable first impression and build rapport quickly by using open body language.

In addition to smiling and making good eye contact, you should show the palms of your hands, keep your arms unfolded and your legs uncrossed.

Create harmony by "matching and mirroring" your prospect's body language gestures. Matching and mirroring is unconscious mimicry. It's a way of subconsciously telling another that you like them and agree with them.

The next time you are at a social event, notice how many people are subconsciously matching one another. Likewise, when people disagree, they subconsciously mismatch their body language gestures.

You can build trust and rapport by deliberately, but subtly, matching your prospect's body language in the first ten to fifteen minutes of the appointment. For example, if you notice that your prospect has crossed his or her arms, subtly cross your arms to match them. After you believe you have developed trust and rapport, verify it by uncrossing your arms and see if your prospect will match and mirror you as you move into a more open posture.

If you notice your prospect subconsciously matching your body language gestures, congratulations, because this indicates you have developed trust and rapport. Conversely, if you notice your prospect mismatching your body language gestures, you know trust and rapport has not been established and you need to continue matching and mirroring them.

Body Language Basics
Be mindful to evaluate the flow of "gesture clusters" rather than isolated gestures taken out of context. Listed below are some important body language gestures that will help you close more sales in less time.

Body Postures: There are two basic categories; Open/Closed and Forward/Back.

In an open and receptive body posture, arms are unfolded, legs uncrossed and palms are exposed. In a closed body posture, arms are folded, legs are crossed and the entire body is usually turned away.

* Leaning back and closed = Lack of interest

* Leaning back and open = Contemplation and cautious interest

* Leaning forward and closed = Potential aggressive behavior

* Leaning forward and open = Interest and agreement

Head Gestures

* Head neutral = Neutral and open attitude

* Tilted back = Superior attitude

* Tilted down = Negative and judgmental attitude

* Tilted to one side = Interest

Facial Gestures

* Eye rub = Deceit, "see no evil"

* Eye roll = Dismissive gesture that indicates superiority

* Looking over top of glasses = Scrutiny and a critical attitude

* Nose rub = Dislike of the subject

* Hand or fingers blocking mouth = Deceit, "speak no evil"

* Chin stroking = Making a decision

* Thumb under chin with index finger pointing vertically along the cheek = Negative attitude and critical judgment

Are you missing your prospect's buy signals? As a professional salesperson you must continuously monitor your prospect's body language and adjust your presentation accordingly. By knowing your prospect's body language gestures you will minimize perceived sales pressure and know when it's appropriate to close the sale!

Action Plan:

1. Keep this article handy and read it again just before your next client appointment.

2. Before you begin matching and mirroring the body language gestures of your prospects, first practice by matching and mirroring family members, friends or associates.

3. During your appointment, make a mental note of your client's three most frequently used gestures.

4. Identify your three most frequently used gestures and work on eliminating any negative or intimidating gestures.
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John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have John speak at your next event, visit www.JohnBoe.com or call 877 725-3750. John's free newsletter is available on his website.

Sponsor: Sales and Contact Management Software: Take a 30-day free trial and watch your sales results soar!

*brought to you by SalesTrainingAdvice.com

Powerful Questions That Will Increase Your Sales By Kelley Robertson

I recently wrote an article called, "Feeble Questions Can Kill Your Business". In the article, I stated that too many sales people get caught in the trap of asking low-quality questions instead of more powerful ones.

Many people contacted me and requested more information on what constitutes a great question. This article will address that issue.

First, the reason it is important to ask questions is to gain a thorough understanding of each customer's situation including their needs, wants, desired results, decision-making process as well as potential concerns and roadblocks.

Most salespeople understand this-at least at a fundamental level. In virtually every sales training workshop I conduct, participants nod when we discuss the importance of asking questions early in the sales process.

However, in real life, they often skip through this stage in order to present their product, or discuss a solution. It's only when the customer raises an objection, that many sales people backtrack and ask questions. Unfortunately, they have the process backward.

Powerful questions can help you demonstrate your expertise. Powerful questions demonstrate that you are not an average person selling a product, service or solution. And powerful questions help you determine the best way to present your solution. So what constitutes a powerful question?

Powerful questions are designed to make your customer think. The majority of salespeople I encounter are hesitant about asking deep, thought- provoking questions because they are afraid that their prospect will find them invasive.

However, the higher up in an organization you sell, the more important it is to ask these types of questions simply because executives are used to asking-and answering- tough questions. In fact, if you sell to senior level executives, it is essential to ask high-level questions. Here are a few examples;

- What goals are you striving to achieve this quarter?

- How do those targets compare to last year's results?

- What, if anything, is preventing you from achieving these goals?

However, do NOT start your conversation with questions like this because you have to earn the right to ask them, especially if you do not have an established relationship.

It is much better to begin by demonstrating your expertise, industry knowledge, and understanding of your prospect's business and/or company.

- We've noticed several trends occurring in the industry lately. The two that stand out the most are... How are these affecting you and your business?

- When I was doing some research, I noticed on your website that your company is.. What progress are you making on that initiative?

These questions are powerful because it shows that you have done some preliminary research or homework and executives appreciate that. In fact, many of them would like their own sales team to take this approach before calling on a new prospect. Questions like this also demonstrate that you know what is happening in business as well as your customer's industry.

It is critical to note that I am NOT suggesting that you spend fifteen minutes lecturing to your prospect trying to show them how smart you are. The goal is to be prepared and to demonstrate this preparation by asking key questions.

Assuming you have captured your prospect's attention you can move the sales process forward by asking other powerful questions that focus on an outcome.

It is critical to understand that most people, especially business people, do not make buying decisions based on your ability to spew out product specifications and information. Instead, they want to know what result they can expect. In other words, your prospect wants to know how your solution will affect their top line (sales) or bottom line (profits).

Will they make more money? Will they gain more market share? Will they increase brand recognition? Will they be able to compete more effectively? Will they save money? Improve morale? Increase productivity? Reduce costs in a specific area(s)?

That means you need to be prepared to ask questions that focus on the future. When I talk to new prospects about sales training, I usually ask what their current conversion ratio is. In other words, what percentage of sales do they close compared to the qualified leads they generate? Then I ask what ratio they would like to reach after the training.

Depending on my prospect's goals and objectives, we may also talk about the size and scope of each sale and what increase they would like to experience. This information then helps me position my solution and the positive financial impact training will have on their business. Consider these questions.

- What is the ideal outcome you would like to see or experience?

- How does this compare with your current results?

- You mentioned that you want to improve employee morale with this initiative. Can you tell me what that looks like?

- You have stated that increasing market awareness is one of your primary objectives. How will you know that you have succeeded?

Lastly, other powerful questions will help you determine the priority of this decision, how the decision will be made, and what potential roadblocks may prevent you from moving forward. Here are few examples.

- How does this project rank in priority compared to the others you are working on?

- Walk me through the process you follow when you consider decisions of this nature?

- Who else do you normally consult with on decisions like this?

- What potential roadblocks might prevent you from moving ahead with this?

- What concerns, if any, do you have about moving forward?

These may sound like difficult questions. But I have learned from experience that most people are willing to answer them if you have the courage to ask.
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Kelley Robertson is a professional speaker and trainer on sales, negotiating, customer service, and employee motivation. Receive a FREE copy of "100 Ways to Increase Your Sales" by subscribing to his free newsletter available at his website. Visit KelleyRobertson.com. He is also the author of "The Secrets of Power Selling" and "Stop, Ask & Listen-Proven Sales Techniques to Turn Browsers into Buyers." For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com.

Sponsor Link: Sales and Contact Management Software: Take a take a 30-day free trial and watch your sales results soar!

*brought to you by SalesTrainingAdvice.com

Move Out of Your Comfort Zone By Brian Tracy

Any change, or even an attempt to change anything you are doing, makes you uncomfortable. By attempting to change, you move out of your comfort zone. You feel increasingly uneasy. You experience stress and tension.

If the change is too extreme, your physical and mental health can be affected. You will experience sleeplessness, indigestion, or fatigue. You may react with impatience, irritability or anger. You will often feel as if you are on an emotional roller-coaster.

Raise Your Internal Standards...
So if you want to sell more and earn more, you must increase your self-concept level of income. You must increase the amount you believe yourself capable of earning.

You must raise your aspirations, set higher goals, and make detailed plans to achieve them. You must begin to see yourself and think about yourself as capable of being one of the highest earning salespeople in your field.

You must take charge of developing a new self-concept for sales and income that is more consistent with what you really want to accomplish.

Build Your Self-Concept Level of Income...
Your self-concept determines your levels of performance and effectiveness in everything you do. In sales, you have a series of mini-self-concepts that govern every activity of selling.

You have a self-concept for prospecting, for using the telephone, for cold calling, for making appointments, for qualifying, for presenting, for answering questions, for closing, for getting referrals, and for making follow-up sales.

You have a self-concept of your level of product knowledge, your personal management skills, your level of motivation and for the way that you relate to different types of customers. In every case, you will always perform in a manner consistent with your self-concept.

The Key to Peak Performance...
Wherever you have a high self-concept, you perform well. If you enjoy working on the telephone, you look forward eagerly to telephone prospecting and selling and you do it well.

If you have a high self-concept for making presentations or for closing sales, you feel comfortable and competent whenever you are doing them.

Wherever you feel tense or uneasy in selling, it means that you have a low self-concept in that area. You do not feel comfortable when you are engaged in that activity. You probably avoid that activity as much as possible.

This is normal and natural. The only question is, "What are you going to do about it?"

Action Exercises:

Here are two actions you can take immediately to get better results.

First, set a goal today to become one of the highest earning people in your field. Then, back your goal with action by committing to becoming very good in every area of selling.

Second, see yourself, imagine and visualize yourself as if you are already very good at what you do. Create within yourself the feeling of success and accomplishment.

Remember, as within, so without!
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Brian Tracy is a leading authority on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

*brought to you by SalesTrainingAdvice.com

When the Sale Doesn’t Happen By Lee B. Salz

In a perfect world, every buying process would conclude with an award of the business. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. There are lessons to be learned in sales gone awry.

In the 70’s and 80’s, there was a great television show called “Quincy.” This show revolved around a coroner who investigated deaths. Jack Klugman, a.k.a. Dr. Quincy, performed an autopsy on what appeared to be a death by natural causes and realized that the actual cause of death was murder. Once that determination was made, the rest of the show was focused on finding the bad guys and identifying the motive, not necessarily in that order.

Early in my career as a sales manager, I learned the importance of the education from lost sales. Where some err is that they use a lost sale as an opportunity to beat up a sales person. The sales person walks away defeated and angry. I never made losing a deal a habit, but it does happen. No one likes to talk about failure, but as Dr. Seuss says in The Places You’ll Go, “Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you”.

Three entities can learn important lessons from lost deals, in no particular order: the company, the sales manager, and the sales person. Inspired by the television show, I used the term “Quincy” as the process to conduct an autopsy on the sale that went awry.

Not to be overly morbid, but the process begins with the sales person completing a report titled the “Quincy Report” which provides an overview of the process, captures key data elements, and includes a narrative from the sales person’s perspective.

That report is then shared with a team, the Inquest team. This team, which is comprised of fellow sales people and other executives in the company, review the report and then participate in an Inquest conference call. During the call, the sales person presents the situation and fields questions from the team.

The spirit of the call is to create a learning environment for the aforementioned three entities. This is not a forum to criticize the sales person. If a critique is necessary, the sales manager handles that privately with their sales person.

Some of the information included in the report:

• How the lead was developed. Companies can learn by lead source where they are most and least effective. Sales managers can learn which sales people are best at handling particular types of leads.

• Length of buying process. Companies can learn the length of the cycle. Does the length of the process correspond to winning or losing the business? There is an old expression about time killing deals.

• Contact people with titles. Sales managers can see if the sales person was able to meet with the right level of contact for the sale.

• Description of the relationship with each contact person. While knowing who the sales person contacted is important, even more important is the relationship established with each. Sales managers can analyze the relationship aspects of the process.

The two areas to measure for each contact person is their level of influence in making the buying decision and their level of commitment to your solution being adopted. Heavily influential buyers that are not heavily committed to your solution being adopted and the converse scenario are two of the main reasons deals are lost.

• To whom the sale was lost. Companies, sales managers, and sales people are always looking for competitive intelligence. It is important to know who is eating your lunch. Is there a trend? What are they doing that you are not? If you don’t know a particular competitor is kicking sand in your face, you can’t develop a strategy to defeat them.

• Reason why the sale was lost. Does your message need tweaking? Is your price consistent with the market? Is the offering compelling? Did they elect to do nothing?

Many don’t necessarily think of electing to do nothing as a lost sale. However, losing to “status quo” is ubiquitous in sales. Everyone can relate to losing a sale to this powerhouse of a competitor. Much can be learned from this loss, but few dig into the reasons for it. Is the solution off the mark? Is price the issue? Or is it positioning? If every sales person could find a way to defeat status quo, every company would enjoy record revenues.

Getting to the real reason for the lost sale is not always easy to do. First, buyers don’t always tell sales people the reason for their decision. Second, sales people don’t necessarily volunteer that they didn’t do everything they could have in the process.

One effective way to get the real scoop is for the sales manager to contact the person who was most influential in the decision process. This is not a sales call, nor is it an attempt to reverse the decision. This call is positioned as the company’s desire to always improve itself. As such, the sales manager asks for a five minute phone call to best understand where his company fell short. You will be surprised how many buyers are willing to have that conversation under those circumstances.

Keep in mind, their company doesn’t always win the business either. The call also leaves a favorable impression on the buyer so that the next time they are looking for a provider, you may have a leg up.

Scientists fail countless times in their quest to develop the next great thing for the world. It is the process of learning from the failures that leads to the greatest of inventions. Just as Quincy learned from his autopsies, companies, sales managers, and sales people need to learn from theirs.
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Lee B. Salz is President of Sales Dodo, LLC and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” He specializes in helping companies and their sales organizations adapt and thrive in the ever-changing world of business. Lee is available for keynote speaking, business consulting, and sales training. He can be reached via email at lsalz@salesdodo.com, his website at www.SalesDodo.com or by phone at 763.416.4321.

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*brought to you by SalesTrainingAdvice.com

The Directive Close By Brian Tracy

A popular method of closing is the Directive Close. This is sometimes called the Assumption Close, or the Post-Closing Technique.

It is one of the most powerful closing techniques used by top sales professionals in every industry. It is used to change the focus of the customer's thinking away from the decision, "yes or no", to the ownership and enjoyment of the product.

Keep the Initiative ...
Its major virtue is that it allows you to keep the initiative, to maintain control of the selling process and to wrap it up at your own pace and speed. It is also very simple.

Ask for Lingering Objections ...
At the end of the sales conversation, you ask a trial closing question like, "How does this sound to you so far?" If the prospect agrees that is sounds pretty good, you say, "Well then, Mr. Prospect, the next step is..."

Describe the Plan of Action ...
You then go on to describe the plan of action, or what happens from this point forward. You get out your sales contract or order form and begin filling it in. You say something like, "The next step is that I get your authorization and a check and get it back to my company. We will be out in three days to begin the initial planning and we should have the entire process installed and working by the third week of next month."

Keep On Going ...
In this close, the customer can either say, "yes" and help you conclude the sale or he can ask any questions that he might still have. If for any reason the customer still objects, you answer the objection completely and then ask for the order again.

The Customer is Ready ...
A customer at the end of the sales process is very much like a pot of water boiling on the stove. It is as hot as it is going to get. If you take it off the stove, it will begin to cool. If you leave it off the stove for a few days, it will be stone cold, as though it were never heated up at all.

If you do not ask for the order at the end of the sales process, whether it is one call or several calls, you run the risk of the customer cooling down, changing his mind and even forgetting why it was that he was so eager to make the purchase in the first place.

Action Exercises:

Here is something you can do immediately to put this close into action.

Plan your words carefully in advance so you can ask for the order smoothly and without hesitation. Practice in front of a mirror if you want to. Be the best!
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Brian Tracy is a leading authority on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

* read more sales training advice from Brian Tracy ...
- Your Ideal Self and Life

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