Telecom Consultants: 5 Tradeshow Best Practices

Posted on by Cameron Bell

With several trade shows on the horizon for telecom agents, we wanted to share some insights into taking full advantage of them. As you know, tradeshows are an investment in your business (sometimes a BIG investment), so having these points in mind will help you have the best experience possible.

1) Be prepared!

Plan your trade show strategy in advance to make the most of your experience. Coordinate with your team to make sure you clearly understand the show schedule and who needs to be where at each given time. You may want to “divide and conquer” having different people attend sessions while others walk the trade show floor. If you attend by yourself, make sure to divide your time to meet the most people. And of course, make sure you have plenty of business cards, brochures, or anything else you may want to hand out to potential prospects and partners.

2) Begin working the tradeshow in advance.

Check the website of the trade show to determine what companies are exhibiting, and join the LinkedIn group for the show if available to see who will be attending. Begin networking and planning meetings in advance so you don’t walk into the trade show “cold.” The most effective shows are often the ones where you are continuously tied up in meetings with actual partners or potential partners.

3) Leverage your current network.

Let people know you will be attending the trade show, and ask them to connect you with people who might be a good fit for you. They say there are “six degrees of separation” between people, but at a trade show it’s more likely to be one or two. Here are some ways to let people know you’re attending:

• Register early

• Take advantage of any online groups the show may offer (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)

• Include an announcement in your regular newsletter

• Update your website to include an announcement

• Write a blog about why you’re attending the show and who you’d like to meet

• Reach out to your current customers and partners by phone or email

4) Get out of your comfort zone!

Some conferences and trade shows can be somewhat daunting. There is so much going on and so many people to meet. It can sometimes be tempting to stick with the people and activities you already know and are comfortable with. To make the most of your time at a trade show, take some risks and step out of the proverbial box. Introduce yourself to strangers, attend workshops you wouldn’t normally be interested in, and make sure to attend the mixers, parties and other social functions. You will be surprised at how open people are to making new connections, and that amazing new opportunity may be hiding where you least expect it!

5) Take notes.

There’s nothing worse than returning from an amazing trade show only to stare at a large stack of business cards and wonder who was who. To avoid this, you may want to develop an easy system for marking the cards you receive (“1” for hot leads, “2” for longer term leads, “P” for potential partners, etc.). Just make sure you discreetly mark every card so your follow-up will be fast and effective.

Power Tip: Check out Field Notes for a new, simple, and discrete method to take notes at the tradeshow. Look at field notes here.

Tell us: what other strategies do you use when attending trade shows? What shows are you planning on attending this spring? We would love to hear your feedback in the comments.

The One Book That Serious Telecom Sales Agents Must Read Right Now

Posted on by Cameron Bell

Have you ever lost a big deal to another sales person who doesn’t provide half the value that your company does? Have you ever clearly shown a client every logical reason to use your company services, only to lose out to another sales person with half the ability to deliver? Has this ever happened multiple times in your career?

Of course it has. It’s happened to all of us!

You’re already a pretty good sales person if you’re in this telecom channel for the long haul. And you’ve probably heard every sales technique and tip out there. I have too…until I read one book recently, because it blew me away. Because it goes against everything we’ve ever been taught, and is backed up by mounds of scientific research, as well as numerous real world examples.

I literally had goosebumps after reading this book…and I read a lot. In fact, I read this book clear through the night because I couldn’t put it down.

We’ve all had to deal with decision-makers with enormous egos that get in their own way and we’ve all dealt with decision-makers who are overly analytical (“Just give me the numbers Bob”). And we’ve all enviously observed how some sales personalities can manage these types consistently, and some that just get blown out.

Pitch Anything, by Oren D. Klaff, goes deep wide as to why some sales people own the room, and others get sucked up by it. Some sales people think they have to supplicate in order to get the deal. Some people get out-alpha’d by the alpha-male or female at the other end of the table, and some sales people can respectfully put them in their place. And as a result, they get the deal.

Mr. Klaff is a very accomplished venture capitalist who has come up with a simple formula that has consistently landed him multi-million dollar deals (Google, Yahoo, Qualcomm), against companies he should not be winning against. He goes deep into the psychology of the evolution of the human brain. He helps the reader discover how the oldest and most basic portion of the brain, which he refers to as the crocodile brain, is the part that makes all of our buying decisions. Not coincidentally, this is the part of the brain in charge of fight or flight.

Bottom line…if you are speaking logically to the logical part of the brain, and not the crocodile brain, you’re fighting a losing battle. If you speak (verbally or more importantly, non-verbally) to the crocodile brain, your chances of winning improve dramatically.

Pitch Anything talks first about theory:

Description of the crocodile brain
Unconscious Frames that humans impose on each other in every interaction
Frame busters to deal with these frames
Beta Traps: Institutionalized traps designed to turn you into a beta-male or female when you enter a building
The importance of status in a sales interaction

Then he talks about his process for addressing all of these issues in any sales interaction.

Frame busters,
Time constraints,
Structure of “Why now”,
The idea introduction pattern,
Dopamine boosters,
The importance of tension (why nice guys don’t always win). And supplication rarely gets you the best deals.
Push/pull,
The secret sauce,
And finally…the pitch.

600 words simply can’t do this book justice in reframing how telecom sales agents pitch their services to business owners and managers – especially the big fish.

You can read the first few pages of the book here to see if it fits your style: Google Books

Or you can buy the book on Amazon.com for $15 in physical copy or in Kindle copy (which I read on my Mac) here: Pitch Anything on Amazon.com

As the book’s title implies, these systems are not just for pitching venture capitalists. You can pitch anything with these tactics. I haven’t referred this book to anyone, that makes a living by pitching their services, who wasn’t completely blown away by this book. And I’ve personally implemented many of these strategies and THEY WORK!

So if you’re looking to take your sale pitch to the next level, take a look and tell us what you think?

Read the first few pages: http://bit.ly/xLPJP1

Get the book: http://amzn.to/yV9WP4

Get the free Kindle App for your Mac and begin reading it right now: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle/id405399194?mt=12

Happiness for Entrepreneurial Telecom Agents: Is It Really This Simple?

Posted on by Cameron Bell

There’s plenty of money to be made in the channel. But is there happiness to be found after making money in the channel? For many agents I know, the answer seems to be a resounding "NO". Others give a quick and unapologetic, "Yes". What’s the difference between the two agents.

And how can you be the "yes" group? The answer may surprise you in its simplicity.

I attended a conference last weekend for entrepreneurs and other successful business professionals. It was an amazing event – great networking, great content, and most importantly, great food!

All the speakers were fantastic, but the one that stood out the most to me was Dan Sullivan, who is a strategic coach for entrepreneurs. If you’ve ever had that experience where you feel like a speaker knows you intimately and is talking specifically to you, you’ll have an idea of what I was feeling.

He shared his thoughts on happiness, and a very simple formula on how to achieve it. And when I heard it, it was like flipping a switch. I knew I had to share it with you, our community of telecom agent, since many of you could benefit from this as well.

You see, Dan explained there are two kinds of successful entrepreneurs: those who are exquisitely happy and those who are wildly miserable. Surprisingly, both groups are very high achievers. The miserable group suffers from low confidence, frustration, and even depression, and many of them feel this is all part of the "price they pay" for being an entrepreneur or business owner.

Not necessary, says Dan. Over the years he’s worked with thousands of people, and he’s discovered the key to happiness is in one simple thought pattern. The main problem with the miserable group is that they are constantly comparing themselves to an "ideal" in their mind. Their unhappiness is caused by the never-ending distance between where they are now, and where their ideal goal is. He refers to this distance as, "The GAP".

The Gap is never ending and can never be closed upon. It’s like going on a hiking excursion to reach the horizon (where land meets the sky), only to find out that the further you get, the further it moves away. It can’t be reached. The "Ideal" is the time dimension’s equivalent to the space dimension’s Horizon. An entrepreneur’s attempts at reaching his ideal will leave him constantly frustrated, unhappy, and with lowered confidence and energy.

Because of this, nothing is ever good enough, and just as the horizon continues to move as we move forward, so does the image of the ideal life or business or whatever.

Sound familiar? Now, ideals ARE important in order to set goals. They keep us motivated and moving in the right direction. But using the ideal as our daily measuring stick only leads to the road of unhappiness.

The happy group, on the other hand, looks backwards and says, "Look how far we’ve come." They celebrate every victory, large or small. And they take the time to recognize all the things that are going right.

Sounds simple, I know, but it’s also profound. When I heard this info, I instantly thought of all the times I have been complimented with something, only to reply with, "Yes, well I could have done much better." Constantly comparing myself to an ideal? Yes, guilty as charged!

Here are some simple tips Dan shared for living a happy and more fulfilled life as an entrepreneur:

Focus on the aspects of your business that give you the most joy and delegate the rest if you can
Each morning, choose the THREE most important things that deserve your time that day. When you are done with those three things, you are done working! Anything additional you do is gravy. This requires you to be thoughtful about those three things, and also prevents you from guilt over not completing your long list of tasks.
Whatever you’re doing at the moment, give it your full time, attention and passion.
At the end of each day, take a few minutes to think about the great things you did during the day. Congratulate yourself and think about how you can further your efforts tomorrow. You’ll wake up feeling confident and ready to take on the world!

I’ve already begun to apply these principles, and they are making a big difference! Do you have any tips you’d like to share? How do you maintain your sanity and happiness amid your chaotic schedule?