Category: Grow Your Business

4 Sales Training Strategies To Build A Powerful Team

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Effective sales strategies starts with clear and outlined processes and ends with the right team member. What sales strategies are you using to build your sales team? After all, the sales team determines business growth and stability. They are the people in charge of building good relationships with your customers. You can’t close the sale until you first build trust. Often trust equates to the customer being confident you know what you’re talking about, thus what you are selling. As a result, your sales team is essential to business success.

The most practical way to build a powerful sales team is with consistent and ongoing training. Your training strategies should motivate nurturing relationships while advancing sales. The content of the training should enhance the sales experience, address challenges, increase team performance and create a thriving workplace culture. In addition, your sales team members should have foundational learning and be open to adopt new sales techniques.

As a result, the team will be equipped to drive sales and contribute to business growth. These four sales training strategies will help build a powerful sales team.

Sales Training Strategies

Four Sales Training Strategies To Building A Powerful Sales Team

1. Practice Contributes to Perfection

Practicing your sales techniques is a great way to improve the business experience. The first and most important sales training strategy is practice. This includes role playing, shadowing, self-assessment and more. This also allows the business owner to best understand their teams’ assets. The opportunity for self-assessment, question and answer and collaborative conversations are all aids to the team member. This allows your team member to stay present and up to date in their expertise.

2. Train In the Field

The knowledge acquired from sales training is golden. And applying that knowledge in the field, also known as real world experiences, is critical to team development. Much of what you learn as a salesperson focuses on your ability to listen, problem solve and offer solutions to your customer. As such, a consistent customer service approach, will prevent you from responding to emotion vs rational. Therefore, real world experiences strengthen professional expertise. Teaming up a new sales member with an experienced sales member is an avenue to creating additional techniques. Each party can shadow the other, collaborate to develop new ideas, discuss techniques and troubleshoot challenges. Other real time experiences include business meetings, conferences, call reviews and customer reviews all provide real time practice and feedback.

3. Motivate Your Team Through Success Stories

Be okay with showing the team what works and what doesn’t. With transparency and constructive criticism, you provide your team member as much value as training. It’s also helpful to provide reasoning with action.  Apart from teaching sales theories, sharing success stories can inspire and motivate your team. Let your team hear other experiences and the different methods others use to overcome challenges. These strategies should be broken into digestible lessons reps can implement. Allow the team to analyze business process and expose them to strategies behind every successful sale.

4. Collaborations With Thought Leaders

These are valuable lessons transmitted from years of industry experience. And there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Leaders in your industry and in your business should be invited to discuss and share their sales experience. Oftentimes, you can learn as much from an expert as you can in a training class. Your team members can discuss and review the shared lessons with people who have an in depth understanding of their goals. Thus meaningful patterns of information provide the team member and the business owner value.

Conclusion

If you are getting the sales training right, then your sales team is responding with more sales. Don’t be afraid to adopt a “think out loud” method in your meetings. And recognize that your sales teams are constantly evolving. Insight, information and discussion are invaluable. Invest in your sales department, empower your employees, and give them access to the best sales training technique and resources.As a result, your business and the team will grow.

Teach Them to Sell

This e-book helps you identify the reasons your team isn’t performing as well as they should be. It offers tried and tested sales strategies to help you build the most productive and profitable team.

Four Sales Training Strategies To Building A Powerful Sales Team

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Four Ways to Make Your Brand Stand Out

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There are over 28 million small-scale businesses across the United States of America, per recent study. Safe to say there are a ton of brands in the world. So, how do you get your brand to stand out? Even if a small portion of companies are brand competition, you still have a lot of competition. You want your brand to be noticed.

Brands are competing against each other for improved visibility by using innovative advertising and marketing campaigns. They produce creative content and intriguing stories specifically for their target audience. Allison Todd, Operations & Digital Growth Strategist and founder of SiMar –a leading digital business agency, explains that if you want to get noticed amid the competition, you do noteworthy things. A lot of people think this is complicated. Many times, they are just overthinking their audience. People want you to show up, daily. They want to be able to know, you – your brand, is there for them. That’s hard to believe when your audience can’t find you, doesn’t ever see your content and is still trying to figure out what you do! For these reasons, your brand must stand out.

Digital Engagement Package

The leading business coaching agency, SiMar, features a team of business experts who provide in-depth insight into the innovative ways to make your brand stand out.

Ways to Make Your Brand Stand

Here are some of the essential traits that you need to adopt as a brand to stay competitive:

Originality

Indeed, the first step is that your brand needs to be original. If you wish to mimic a brand from your competitor’s list; The target audience will not have a valid reason to trust your brand.

If your messaging lies in sales talk and clichés, it will not resonate with the respective customers. Therefore, you should aim to find an angle that has not been taken up by any other brand for developing an image.

Sincerity

Your brand should aim at demonstrating a sense of sincerity at the same time. If you respond to all the customers on different social media platforms with some type of copied template, people will feel something formal about your brand.

As such, they will never be able to develop an informal relationship with your brand. You should aim at investing in creating the “personality” of your brand. 

Understanding

Some of the most popular brands out there are known to understand the respective target audience effectively; This is demonstrated by creating customized messages that turn out relevant for a target niche. 

For instance, if your brand targets parents, you should mention some common parenting problems. Mentioning common parenting problems would instantly demonstrate the overall degree of sympathy while making it easier for the target audience to connect with your brand and would eventually lead to more traffic and conversions for your website.

Consistency 

If you have not defined the brand standards clearly, then you might end up alienating the audience. The ultimate goal is to retain customers and followers for as long as possible. Ensure that your marketing campaigns are well-executed and follow a consistent pattern.

Conclusion

For your brand to stand out, you should offer something unique to offer a personalized experience to the target customers. Make the most of high-end marketing strategies to ensure the best results for your brand.

Stand Alone Strategy Plan
Stand Alone Strategy Plan

How to Position Your Business for Survival During the Pandemic.

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The Coronavirus has hit the economy of the world hard, knocking a lot of businesses out totally. Large and small companies alike have felt the effect of the pandemic. With the world in a state of uncertainty and flux, making plans and projections for your business can be quite tricky. Now more than ever, the flexibility and dexterity of small and medium scale businesses is an advantage.

Leveraging this advantage is crucial to your survival in your industry. After the dust settles, a lot of business would be long gone, and only a few would survive. While this is a genuinely sad affair, it also translates to tremendous opportunities for the companies that manage to survive.
After a recession, there is a boom.

With both the demand and supply sides of the market shrinking to survive, the world’s economy is receding. However, a boom is coming, and your actions now would determine if you would miss it or ride it to success and growth.

How to position your business

Here are a few tips on keeping your business alive and in position for the incoming boom.

1. Go digital.

This is quickly becoming an obvious necessity. The need to reduce human contact to the barest minimum has shot up on the list of priorities of all serious-minded entrepreneurs.

Utilizing online and digital resources as much as possible now has the added advantage of keeping your staff and customers safe. Customers feel safer working with brands that they know are conscious of health and safety recommendations.

Right now, the best way to show your customers that you care is by reducing physical contact with them and looking out for their safety.

2. Digital Marketing

In a bid to reduce physical contact and keep your customers safe, you might end up alienating them. Looking out for your customer’s health and following all guidelines can keep your old customers and even attract new customers. Clients are bound to leave brands and firms that seem nonchalant about the risks of the pandemic.

However, maintaining a deep and individualized connection with your customers is still very important. Going digital isn’t an excuse to give your customers mechanized or robotic customer service.

Customer care and customer experience must always be at the forefront of all your customer relations activity.

This is where digital marketing comes in. Your marketing team must create quality and relatable content that would attract new customers and keep your old customers connected to your brand.

3. Keep your Staff Flexible.

Clearly, with a change in the business world, there would be a change in the workload. While some departments would be basically jobless, some departments would be overworked.

For example, your production department might be overstaffed right now as demand is significantly reduced. Meanwhile, your marketing team is struggling to keep up with the task of creating content and staying in touch with customers.

As entrepreneurs, keeping a flexible onboarded team is our watchword. Keep your team up to date with the firm’s current state and let them come up with ideas on how they can serve the firm better.

Do not shy away from encouraging your teammates to utilize their hidden talent for the business’s success. It is high time that the employee with excellent people’s skills leaves the production floor to handle the numerous messages from prospective clients.

4. Be Flexible and Informed.

There is a lot of information flying around. This adds more to panic and uncertainty. However, as entrepreneurs, we must keep our eyes and ears open for the latest and verified information in our market and industry. Large chunks of Data are available for your analysis.

Find reliable sources and utilize them. Notice the trends going on in the market and react accordingly. What are your customers asking for and what are your competitors doing right or wrong.

The goal of a business is to meet a need. With the pandemic changing the world, the needs of consumers are changing. Your ability to adjust to meet those needs would go a long way in determining your business’s survival and subsequent growth.

Get informed, analyze, and take action.

Conclusion

The pandemic is bound to leave some lasting effects on the business world. The way we transact and socialize is bound to change forever. During this transition phase, your ability to make timely and necessary adjustments to your business strategy would help secure your success in the business world. As an entrepreneur, you must be ready and willing to try new things. Be bold and flexible, and you would ride the coming boom to greatness.

Being Innovative and Creative: True Innovation

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Have you ever stumbled across an excellent business idea that makes you giddy with joy? You believe it is so profound and Innovative that no one has ever come up with it, so you make a quick search online to be sure. Two minutes surfing the web and your smile is upside down. Your unique idea isn’t so unique. Over 20 businesses are already doing the same thing, offering the same service, or producing the same good.

This can be very discouraging, especially if you have already started daydreaming. You might have subconsciously started to develop elaborate plans on how you would build your business to fill the hole left by the lack of your good or service.

You thought you have invented something new and special, only to realize that your new idea isn’t so new.

Let me get you in on a little secret. Your idea is still valid. The fact that it has been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be your innovation. Innovation is 20% idea and 80% execution. So what if your idea isn’t new and out of the blues, it doesn’t change the fact that it is profound and in demand.

Irrespective of the competition in your chosen field take your idea and own it. Innovate by improving on the basic concept and making it a better version of the generic.

Conclusion

There was already speech before the alphabets were invented and there were already phones before smartphones were developed. Imagine where we would be if Thomas Edison decided not to develop the light bulb because lamps were already lighting up the world.

Don’t discard that business idea. Own it by improving and executing it better than anyone in your industry. That is true innovation.

How to Position your Mind and Business for Profit

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To learn how to position your mind and business for profit, it’s essential to understand what to feed your mind. There are so many strategies and forums out there for entrepreneurs to take advantage of. From self-help books to digital online classes, the information and knowledge is out there. When it comes to gaining entrepreneurship knowledge and wisdom on , the available content is limitless.

The mind is a powerful place and what we feed it is bound to influence and shape our business. The question becomes, how do we choose what to empower our minds with? Digesting the wrong information or material adds noise you don’t want disrupting your path to success. How then do we choose the right thing to feed our minds with and ensure we are getting good content?

It is with this in mind that Allison Todd created and designed and set up Position to Profit. Being in the midst of other thriving entrepreneurs would ensure two things:

1.      Some of the most effective business methods would be revealed after connecting and brainstorming with business owners also position to profit group members.

2.      With the help and guidance of Allison Todd and her team, the premium content recommended and acquired are not just words but actionable plans that lead to results.

In the end, the best place to learn is with like minds who have goals like yours. Through the position to profit , you are sure to get access to strategies that have been tried and tested. With the company of fellow entrepreneurs and guidance from Allison Todd and her team, you can drown out the noise and listen to the unmistakable music of success. Position your mindset and ultimately, your business to profit by joining position2profit today.

 

Website Launch: My Pandemic Pivot

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Over the past few months, businesses have seen the effects of the global pandemic. They have faced closures and combat emotions of loss and lack. Now is the time to figure out the new normal now. Make your pandemic pivot! How many times have you heard that? Our immediate next steps are unknown. So, what can businesses do to stay ahead in the pandemic (and everything else in 2020)?

My Pandemic Pivot

People may be tired of hearing the “pandemic pivot” but I can attest, it’s a real thing. My decision to redesign my website and re-introduce my brand was not one made lightly. In December, 2019. I hired a coach to help me stay focused on the big picture. I planned some really cool events and more. As we began to make plans, I thought I had all the pieces in place. And then, the world changed.

One of the components of this plan was to redesign this website. I weighed the pros and cons with a focus on the budget. This is a time to stack, I thought, not a time for big purchases. It just didn’t seem like a smart decision. Many days, I would chuckle at my focus to plan growth goals instead of watch the news. Planning for moving forward, while it felt like time was standing still, what was I doing? Surprisingly, I think this is the “thing” that grounded me, amid chaos.

My message since March has been to remain focused and grounded. To keep going. Respect your feelings. Celebrate the wins. And, don’t forget to show yourself grace. For all these reasons, I had to figure out a workaround for the budget. Without many ideas, I reached out to a creative circle of friends. Whether they were cheering me on or lending their skill to get the job done, all were vital and needed.

Pivot, Position & Profit

If you haven’t guessed it, I’m here to share more about what I was working on (see blog title). And let me say, having my super friends support, was everything. I’m moved by their energy and expertise. They make me want to do more. I needed to do more. First, I created Position2Profit.com. This is a community for business owners to share and support while learning yours truly. And it’s in this community that I teach business lessons, share years of expertise and giveaway some goodies!

Next, I took 50% off some products in my shop. I want to build a community where business owners have support, accountability and motivation, like I do. That special circle of friends fueled me . They dedicated time and value to the redesign of allisontodd.com. As such, I hope to help and inspire others.

The energy, the late nights, the intricate details ….all the reasons I kept going on the many days when it felt easier to stare out of the window. The feeling of putting your heart into your vision, is unique and fulfilling. Creating something special and impactful is just what the doctor ordered.

What About the Team?

While wanting to stare out of that proverbial window, I wondered if it made sense to keep the team. Would I have enough work to keep them busy? They wanted to keep working. So, I figured out a way. And Team SiMar jumped all in. They managed work projects and collaborated with curiosity and creativity. I think working on the website and the new packages and products was a good dose of what all needed. Thankfully, my pivot project kept us busy and active.

During this time, I understood how crucial coaching and guidance is to entrepreneurship. I can’t help but wonder how many business owners need someone to help them find their reset button. How many more business owners needed to hear my message? How many needed superfriends in their life? Maybe 456 because that’s how many Position 2 Profit members we have so far. I want us all to win. Creating this website will help me to find more business owners with a story, untold.

The Keys to the Digital Door

With that, I snap the digital red ribbon and open the virtual doors to allisontodd.com. Today, August 16, 2020, I announce the relaunching of my website. My intentions are to ensure that I am more available in a digital space. To motivate and inspire business owners. To guide them in the positioning of their businesses and their brand. To assist them in building profitable teams. And to offer my expertise and information where it is needed.

I’m hopeful this site will help me reach a wider audience and solve more problems. Eagerly, I share my knowledge with brands and businesses. My goal to position businesses to profit and scale. I want to do my part to make the world of entrepreneurship a better place. In the meantime, I promised my twins I would move the launch up a day, today, their birthday. And here we are, let’s celebrate!

P.S. Please share your feedback. I would love to know what you think.

Coach Allison Todd Interviews Tee Thomas

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Every business owner has a different experience as they meet the challenges of COVID-19. Listen as Coach Allison Todd interviews Tee Thomas, Founder of Formation Salon & Spa.

Before the pandemic, Tee was working on the construction of her newly acquired location. As she prepared for her grand opening, she continued to make minor updates. Then she decided to hire a new business team. Many business owners understand the responsibilities Tee had to juggle both while safe at home and in order to reopen in June. However, she would need more than understanding to implement the necessary changes.

Like many, she had many things to consider. She redesigned one of her suites specifically for high risk and older clients. After days of cleaning and sanitation, there is still much to complete. During the interview, Tee shares more about why its her responsibility to press forward and be of service to others.

And now, not only is she prepared to open her business doors, she wants to position herself to lead others during these uncertain times. Tee says, “We’ve been delayed but not denied. We must press forward.”

https://youtu.be/6EplydVSZLk

Top 2020 Digital Marketing Hacks for Your Business

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Consumer habits keep changing. How can you identify the digital marketing hacks for your business in order to attract your consumer? In the past several years, there’s been a steep rise in the number of consumers going online to access products and services. It is estimated that the total global online retail sales are going to rise significantly to around $4.8 trillion by 2021. Allison Todd, Operations and Digital Growth Strategist, unfolds the top digital marketing hacks that businesses out there can leverage in the coming era.

If you want to scale your online business, it is imperative that you target your audience, in order to attract your consumer. Once you start targeting the audience, your online traffic increases. Eventually, your website clicks start increasing. Then, you begin to speak specifically to your consumer and your revenue begins to grow. Here are some of the top digital marketing hacks that you should crack, now:

Content is Still King

With the ever-increasing utilization of social media platforms, the delivery of high-quality content has never been more important. Your content will attract your target audience to your brand and core offerings. The delivery of top-class, high-quality content to the target audience goes a long way towards building brand loyalty and ensuring customer retention.

Voice Search Optimization

With the ever-increasing deployment of technology like Google Home and Alexa, businesses should work on content optimization including voice searches. The way in which the end users conduct searches online tend to differ significantly –whether they are typing or speaking.

Integration of Chatbots

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming one of the major implementations for delivering optimized & personalized user experiences. The use of chatbots or ‘chat robots’ help to automate and ensure communication with the end customers. The modern chatbot technology offers the assurance that customer interaction is taking place effectively while the customers are being provided with timely responses.

Update SEO

Every year, the major search engines out there like Bing, Yahoo, and Google keep update the respective search algorithms to improve the overall user experience. To comply with the algorithm changes, you should update the SEO for your website as well. By doing so, you can remain on point with the latest digital marketing trends as well as practices to yield the best results. Therefore, it becomes imperative for you to ensure that your website is updated with the latest changes in the search engine’s algorithm changes.

Repurpose Old Content

While most business owners are well-aware of the potential benefits of content for their business, they do not post updated, relevant content on their website. A comprehensive digital marketing strategy, includes the repurpose of old content on your website.

Make the most of the latest digital marketing hacks for your business! Learn more about the hacks we use and gain support from my community while you grow. Join us, here. And if you need some ideas specific to you and your business, contact Allison Todd.

Tech Tips That Make Business Easier

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Some benefits of incorporating technology in your business include efficiency, security, and reliability. As a smart entrepreneur, you have probably employed some level of technology into your business. However, to get the best out of your team and your tech, you should explore all avenues for business growth.

Other than the basic digitization of company records, there are some simple technological applications that most entrepreneurs tend to overlook.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing offers the ease of having your computer resources on demand, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. It is growing in popularity, however, many are not taking full advantage of its benefits. The ability to access digital storage capacity is major. We’ve all had bad experiences trying to update business records only to realize our storage is full. Or even worse, when the hard drive crashes and takes years of information down with it. Storing business records in the cloud is safe and it makes information accessible to all members of your team regardless of their location.

Data Analytics

There is a broad range of software designed for the analysis of your company’s data. This software has a wide range of applications from identifying the popularity of your brand to analyzing the productivity of your team. Data analysis is an invaluable tool that analyzes your raw data to find trends and answer questions. It can guide you in making optimum decisions for your business. Some of these data analysis software are very easy to set up and use. A short course on the basics would put you in a position to see a data-based picture of your company.

Productivity Software

The way we communicate and share information is changing. And the way we work and offer our services is bound to follow suit. Productivity software is at the forefront of this change. It influences the way employees complete their job tasks and how employers track their productivity. The days of walking around the office and looking for things are gone. Today, the smart entrepreneur employs productivity software to share information, stop time wasters and understand the time investment needed for success. It is advisable, now more than ever, that employers get ahead of the curve and begin using productivity software now.

The basic application of cloud computing, data analytics and productivity software can be done by you. However, to get the best out of today’s technology, agencies and consulting firms dedicated to infusing technology into businesses, is the best way to go. Many offer done for you, done with you or do it yourself services that will allow you to set your business up for success.

management skills

Two Major Online Business Services That Would Give Your Business a Boost

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There are many aspects crucial to the success of your business. Some of these aspects can’t be efficiently integrated into the rest of your company. A lot of these services are available online to help your business at affordable prices. The two major online business services that would give your business a boost are marketing and professional training. Contrary to popular opinion, these services can be outsourced. It’s one of the best ways to cut costs.

There is a long list of business services available online such as virtual assistant, social media manager, business coach, web designer, app developer, etc. However, when it comes to importance and priority, marketing and professional training takes the cake, even over some of the other services stated above.

Marketing

Marketing has always been an integral part of business success. However, the intricate process of advertising, getting feedback, and landing new clients is quite different from the process of production. Over the years, research has shown that hiring a marketing agency is more efficient than setting up a marketing department especially in the early stages of your business.

Today, marketing agencies are going over and beyond, offering a broad range of services from market analysis, market strategy, online adverts, ad tracking, etc. Their services and packages provide a distinct level of flexibility that makes them a very useful tool for an entrepreneur. Outsourcing the marketing of your business’s products and services is not only cost effective, it also frees up your time to concentrate on other aspects of your business.

Professional Coaching

Another online service that would give your business a huge boost is professional coaching or training. Putting your team in the right mindset and equipping them with up to date skills isn’t something you can take lightly or do on your own. 

There is a wide array of professional coaches with the necessary skills and expertise to up-level your team, ensure they are producing at their optimum level. Many coaches offer this service online, taking care of your team so you don’t have to worry about their performance needs. With your team well-coached and informed, they are prepared to adapt to change and position your business the way you envision.

Online agencies, like SiMar Inc., provide the services needed for your business to scale and grow. They offer a combination of services to handle all your outsourcing needs. It’s not only more cost effective but it’s also easier to manage. Although, you can hire more than one agency to assist with your projects, it could be an administrative nightmare, therefore you might want to give great consideration to your to an all in one type of package.

Position 2 Profit with Allison Todd is a great place to begin the small business conversation, identify your next steps and understand your business needs with a group of like minded micropreneurs .