Well I certainly got more than I had planned from the Sydney Hills Chamber Annual Sales and Marketing Boot Camp. I expected to leave with a list of action items to help me with lead generation and conversion tactics – but this years event went over and above my imagination.
Your Business - Your Choice
The day started out with an inspiring presentation from Brett Kelly, CEO Kelly and Partners. His focus was on developing the person, self-development. Grow you to grow your biz.
As a business owner this is often the last area we focus on, spending too much time working in the business. There’s always something urgent and more important like; inquiries, invoicing and employees. Brett challenged us to be conscious and intentional in our lives. He went on to mention the 10,000 hour idea, a concept Malcolm Gladwell popularised in his book the Outliers. Claiming if you spend a minimum of 10,000 hours practicing/studying something it will lead to proficiency in that particular area of study.
My mother used to say to me the time is going to pass anyway, so you may as well do something worthwhile with it. So for those of you busy, or for those who think 10,000 hours will take too long – where do you want to be in 10 years? The time will pass anyway so be conscious and intentional in your choices.
To wrap up a very inspiring presentation here are my top 2 takeaways from Brett:
- Be deliberate and conscious in your approach to life.
- Grow yourself to grow your business - Find time each week, even 2 hours per week will make a difference if its consistent, to develop and grow yourself.
Check out Brett's latest book, Business Owners Wisdom here: www.businessownerswisdom.com.au
The Secrets of Marketing Experts Exposed
Next up was Michelle Gamble from Marketing Angels. Wow she managed to cover such a wide range of marketing including; branding, search, email, content, social media, online advertising, and traditional off line marketing like signage and radio.
There was certainly a lot to take in, and Michelle definitely knows her marketing stuff. To be honest, as I look through my extensive notes from Michelle’s presentation there’s just so many great ideas, insights and tips to succeed at marketing.
To wrap up Michelle's amazing marketing insight, here are my top 2 takeways:
- Don’t be scared to spend on marketing because you think its costly. Choose one or two areas and do it well. Commit to something.
- Set goals like: reach, reviews, online bookings, followers.
Please take the time to connect with Michelle and subscribe to her newsletter at: www.marketingangels.com.au.
Turning Ideas into Action
The third speaker of the day was Rod Matthews a personal development expert. He was very entertaining, animated and funny, and above all – shared some great tactics for improving attitude and behaviour.
The first thing he shared was about triggers in life that influence our attitude, and how our attitude determines our behaviour. In other words; when stuff (technical word) happens its what we say to ourselves that will determine how we respond.
I found it very interesting to see the comparison of a pessimist versus an optimist. For example if something negative happens to a pessimist its; permanent, global and internal. “This bad luck always happens to me”. The optimist when something negative happens can keep it in perspective – it’s temporary, specific and external. “It’s a shame this bad luck happened today.” Do you see the difference?
It’s amazing how powerful words are, and especially the words we say to ourselves when no one else is listening.
My top 2, life changing, takeaways from Rod are:
- Pay attention to your tone and how it relates to results. A different tone can yield a different result. Tone is made up of; speed, pitch and volume.
- Pay attention to, and control your internal dialogue. Keep negative situations in perspective.
And I’ll end on Rod’s spin on the Serenity prayer: Change what you can, live with what you can’t and have the wisdom to know the difference.
To learn more about Rod’s here: www.rodmatthews.com
Social Media Marketing for Business
Toby Marshall, from Lead Creation, shared his wealth of marketing and social media marketing expertise to reveal the key tactics to leveraging LinkedIn for lead generation and customer conversion.
In essence, his methodology is:
• Identify your VIPs. Very Important Prospects.
• Then gather – building connections with your VIPs.
• Next engage – with your connections.
• And finally sell – Toby’s recommendation is to take the sales process offline.
Toby’s not the first person to recommend not selling on social media, Michelle from Marketing Angels supports this view, as do I.
Here are my top 2 lead generation takeaways from Toby:
- Set a goal of 10 new VIPs each week.
- Engage with your VIPs by sharing helpful advice and knowledge, not selling.
Toby went onto share specific tactics on how to; identify VIPs, gather, engage and sell – which you can learn more about here: www.leadcreation.com.au
How To Create Demand and "Make Sales" In the 2nd Gap
The final speaker of the day, and by far the most entertaining – I spent the last 2 hours laughing so hard I was crying - was John Lees. With a focus on understanding sales he shared the keys to creating a demand, and making sales, in what he refers to as the ‘2nd gap.’
The best way I can describe this is by saying selling in the second gap is to help your customer succeed. Often it’s asking questions that go beyond what you’re selling or what your customers think they need.
One of the examples John shared was about superannuation. Everyone has it, so if your approach is just to sell superannuation you’ll get a lot of push back because people already have it. In this example the 2nd gap is helping the customer succeed – so more than just having super – are they achieving their goals with the way their super is set up?
To be successful you need to do more than just sell a service or product that meets customers’ needs. That is what they’re paying for, that is what they’re expecting. Give the client more than what they’re paying for. As a sales person your focus should be on understanding the customer’s need, and helping them succeed. Not the other way around.
My top 2 takeaways from John are:
- Success is when the customer leaves and they are successful.
- Give your clients more than what they’re paying for.
John has written 11 books - you can view them, and learn more about John here: www.johnlees.com.au.
In summary - this day was well worth it. From motivation, to inspiration with practical tactics that yield tangible results I'm pumped to see what I can achieve from both a personal and business perspective for the rest of 2013.
Did you go to the Sydney Chamber Sales and Marketing Bootcamp? If so, what did you learn - please share in comments below. If not, what questions regarding sales and marketing do you have?
Additional Resources
Click on the links below to help you implement effective marketing and sales, strategies and tacics:
Learn How To Create Successful Marketing Strategies With The Right Philosophy
How Marketers Can Adapt To Digital Marketing Successfully
7 Steps To Increase Conversions With The Inbound Marketing Methodology
Is Your Marketing Building A Brand That People Love or Hate?