Why I love Teambox

Just a quick not to anyone still reading this blog. I am in love with Teambox. It is the best software for online collaboration ever. Why?

1. The activity stream makes is super easy to stay on top of teams and projects.

2. The task management is easier than anything I have ever used.

3. @Notifications make it fast and easy to include people in conversations.

4. CONVERT TO TASK! I can take any conversation and make it actionable.

5. Pages are the easiest way to share content EVER!

6. Google docs integration.

The list keeps going, but hey you get the picture. If not here is a cool one:

And this is me telling Scoble about it!

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We did it! We wrote 40 pages on how to sell more by reducing risk.

The book is free and helps you by sharing nine perspectives on the topic.

Want to have a great Q1 in 2009, get some tips on how to improve your sales for FREE!!!

Not familiar with the Union?

The Sales bloggers Union (www. salesbloggers.com), is nine of the world’s leading sales bloggers.

The Union started in June of 2008 in an effort to share ideas and improve the sales trainings and offerings of the group. Through blogging and commenting they share ideas with the sales community and work towards improving the reputation sales people have with potential buyers. The new website offers a central repository for their thoughts and an accessible place to help sales people hone their skills.

Members of the Sales Bloggers Union are:

Brad Trnavsky, Founder of Sales Management 2.0
Colin Wilson, Managing Director of First Border
Ian Brodie, Founder of Lighthouse Business Consulting
Karl Goldfield, The Startup Sales Mentor
Nesh Thompson,Sales System Developer at Symvolli
Skip Anderson, Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training
Tibor Shanto Principal at Renbor Sales Solutions, Inc.
Tim Rohrer, The Sales and Marketing Loudmouth
Will Fultz, Top Sales Blog “

Book review: A quickie on a decent read, an apology, and another promise

First of all please forgive me for the long absence from words on screen. The workload is getting ever more complex and interesting. As many of you know, in startups, sales, mentoring, and execution, success breeds more work. With all of my client efforts thriving, my own efforts have had to take a backseat for a short period of time. No offense, but it was you or the kids, and well they are really cute. Still I am truly sorry.

Now on to the  promise; I will deliver fresh content EVERY WEEK DAY in OCTOBER; share several surprises and announcements, answer 2 ask the coach questions, offer some give aways, and much much more. For now, just know the TV show will launch in January, and the book is on track for summer.

Now, on to the review:

Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill. Yes that is really his name, and frankly I find it a great name for a marketing wizard. Talk about a quick grab and a talking piece. No offense to my makers but Karl Goldfield does not have a story of prime minister proportions behind it. At best a couple of stories whispered in the back of a seedy bar from my exploits in my 20’s.

Anyways, this was an exceptionally quick read that took about three of my four hours. Since it was so easy to digest I will skip my usual reviewing style and just share some basics. Winton does a a great job spelling out just that:

1. A simple explanation to the less savvy on the benefits of email marketing.

2. A basic philosophy to deliver value and get people to want to work with you.

3. Strong advice as to how this can cmpliment your sales efforts.

4. A defined theory and the application to make it work.

5. Value, this book is a steal considering he shares a lot.

Now, as is my custom, I will share the minor things I had a problem with. As in most books on sales and marketing, Winton has a habit of justifying the content. I wish as an author he would just let his content speak for itself instead of sharing why you have to believe in it. This book is also for the early marketer, and while I try to review through the average readers mind, there is nothing new here for those already focused on email marketing strategies. Considering I am running Message Slinger there is not much here for me but a bit of a strategic refresher. For those of you that are not accustomed to generating leads through email marketing, buy this book.

A parting thought; Winton is very good at spelling things out in conversational prose. With the reading of our modern society moving to the casual comunications of the blogosphere, he has a great written voice. Again, it was a quick read, between a Chivas and a plane landing in Dallas. If you need to get some leads going for a low cost with high return, it is worth every penny.

Messaging: A rant about sales rants – prep and deliver

So my last sales message, sales preach, sales training, whatever you want to call it. My last delivery on the typical sales trainer and their myriad of suggestions on how to illicit information while sharing little. My diatribe on how you need to deliver especially when evangelizing the new, now must be tempered. The hand of discipline that thrusts down with vigor is called PREPARATION!

If you want to explain the value of what you offer, then invest as much time in crafting that message as you do in finding people to share it with. This will be a short post, and one that is right to the point. Why? I have read and reread this post aloud. To my daughter in an effort to make her chuckle. To myself in an effort to edit and heighten the message. If you are not getting the message at this point, then no love lost, but move on, I do not think you are ready to be my customer.

A Messaging Rant: You can not only ask questions, you have to tell them something

Every sales training I have every been a party to attending focused predominately on the right questions to ask and how to build strategies around the answers. Whether it is how to avoid objections, understand objectives, learn processes, they just assume that people will want to talk to you once you get them on the phone. Sales trainer after sales trainer seem to have yet another clever way to get people to open up and share with you without you sharing much with them.

No offense to my colleagues and cohorts in sales education, but what a crock! We preach this stuff, but everyone of us has crafted an amazong entry statement, several two sentence case studies, and several value statements that carry the weight of our reputation on them. When we place a call, or meet someone at an event we share this with them. Example one:

“I help startups in emerging sectors get to revenue generation.”

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