The Art of Asking Questions that Close Sales Today’s podcast is about how to use questions to close the deal. It’s not about gimmicky questions or easy closing techniques, it’s actually about using needs analysis selling to build rapport, deepen understanding from both parties and establishing genuine trust. While many “disruptive” sales techniques today want to show you how to hack your way to sales success the art of asking questions is still a very high paid sales skill that will still be...

I had the opportunity to interview Anthony Iannarino on his new book “The Only Sales Guide You Will Ever Need,” we can even cover how he went from Metal Band rock band artist so top producing sales leader and author. Anthony is also the founder of “The Sales Blog,” one of the world’s top ranked sales blogs in the world. Some of the topics we cover in the interview include: * Sales management * Sales coaching * Sales automation * Social selling * Sales process * Sales leadership and...

Today’s podcast guest is Debra Jason author of Millionaire Marketing on a Shoestring Budget. I met Debra at the Guerrilla Marketing Global Summit last year and have been following her updates and insights ever since. In this interview we talk about low budget yet highly effective approaches to marketing you and your business. Some of the key areas we focus on in the interview with Debra are: * Social media marketing * Press Releases * Public Speaking and Seminar Selling * Copy...

Last month I released my new ebook “12 Apps and Hacks for Sales and Social Selling” and have now decided to also publish the audio version as a free podcast. My hacks and apps for sales and social selling include: * Nimble CRM * Socedo * Twitter Video * Blab * Google Hangouts and Zoom * Click Funnels and Unbounce * Sidekick and Yesware * Camtasia and Screenflow * Slideshare * IFTTT (If This Then That) * Slack (public channels) * IRL If you want the full ebook for free just...

Today’s podcast is an interview with Sanjay Mehta, Joint CEO of Mirum India. The digital space in India represents over 300 million connected citizens and 100 million active social media accounts. In 2012 when I was in India speaking at the World Brand Congress I met Sanjay Mehta who at the time was CEO and Co-founder of Social Wavelength. Since then they have grown to over 170 staff and were recently acquired by Mirum (becoming Mirum India). As a social media trail blazer and digital...

Do you ever wonder if you’re missing some of the insights around success in today’s very digital and social business climate? This week’s guest Jim Keenan claims if you’re over 30 there are many things you have likely not been taught about the new rules of success and prosperity. Jim is one of my favourite social selling thought leaders and long time friends in the business – although we have yet to meet in person! I had an opportunity to read Jim’s new book “Not Taught – What It Takes to be...

Today’s blog post and podcast is about the 9 C’s of Social Sales Success. Their are many attributes, attitudes and strategies required to effectively harness the power of online social networks for sales and relationship building. I have taken them and broken them down under 9 core areas that start with the letter C. Following are the 9 C’s of Social Sales Success: 1) Curiosity Those that are successful in social sales are always looking for new ways to succeed and improve. They see...

Today’s podcast (download here) is focused on why Influencer Engagement programs are vital and how to run one effectively in the B2B sales and marketing space. Following is  brief abridged version of what I cover in the podcast: In a recent study (by Augure) of over 600 B2B marketing professionals 93% of them stated that they considered influencer engagement as an effective strategy to build brand awareness. 75% cited influencer engagement as an effective in lead generation. In my opinion...

Today’s sales funnel and sales process has changed. Sales for many of us is now more about getting buy-in versus pitching our wares. This 15 minute sales and social selling podcast introduces the new sales funnel “The 5 Stages of Consent” and also dives into how content creation is not enough to get noticed – you need to have a thought leadership strategy to truly fill the new sales funnel. The success strategies covered in this sales podcast include: * How to move your prospects from...

Social CRM and social selling are two terms which I have seen go from obscurity to mainstream business topics in the past 24 months. Jon Ferrara CEO and Founder of Nimble, an early innovator in social CRM and social selling technology, took time out of his schedule to share with us the latest innovations in the space. “Social selling is about inspiring and educating the customer as a trusted advisor.” – Jon Ferrara, CEO and Founder of Nimble In this podcast Jon Ferrara talks about his new...

Edgy Conversations – How Ordinary People Can Achieve Outrageous Success is an awesome book that once I picked up I pretty well read the whole thing. I asked Dan Waldschmidt, author of the book to do a podcast interview. In this podcast we really got to dig onto his methodologies and principles of creating a great life and a successful business. Dan interviewed and researched over 1000 successful people from all walks of life and has managed to distill it down to four key attributes or...

Todays social media podcast is focused on sharing and creating. Too often we hold back, hide our voice or just never start the process of being creative. We all have something to share. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, an artist or in charge of a social content strategy it all starts with getting in-the-flow of creating and sharing as a discipline and habit. In this podcast we cover following: * Strategies on becoming creative * The role sharing plays in successful social media...

Today’s Podcast is on the power of intent in sales, leadership and marketing. We are being constantly told that what we focus is on is vital, yet the intention behind that focus determines the quality of our results. In his life-long study of Micro-Expressions  Paul Ekman, Ph.D has proven that whether we realize it our not we are constantly telegraphing our intent and emotional state to those around us. In this podcast I will also talk about the 6 ways you can fine-tune and direct your...

Have you ever pondered about the negative effects of social media? Today’s podcast is in on the toxic effects of social media use and what you can do to make sure that’s only having a positive impact on your life. It starts with the odd comment from your spouse about your love affair with your Samsung, or possibly it’s the realization that you tuned out for an entire hour during a board room meeting. For others it’s worse – an overwhelming feeling of guilt or anxiety for not being social...

  Social Media ROI (Return on Investment), is supposedly a hard thing to prove or measure. The problem isn’t the value of social media, or in many cases our approach to getting results – it’s about commitment – a good old fashion work ethic and focus on the longterm. Today’s social business podcast discusses the dilema and the needed shift in consciousness required of leaders to win in the social media space. Social Media ROI takes time and most people – even really smart people in...

Marketing events using social media and amplifying events using social media are two powerful ways to maximize our online and off-line marketing results. In our book Sociable! Stephen Jagger and I talk about the importance of using social media to get off of the internet and build relationships. At Socialized Communications we have developed an entire system and process to do this effectively. We have mapped out the key steps in this social media infographic and podcast to help you succeed at...

This week I had the great opportunity to interview Danny Brown on his new book co-authored with Sam Fiorella called Influence Marketing. Danny in my opinion is a Thought Leaders’ Though Leader – an awesome no BS resource for what really works in social media marketing. The book launched yesterday globally and you can get it on Amazon in hardcover or Kindle format. According to HubSpot Danny Brown’s blog (DannyBrown.me) is the #1 Marketing Blog on the planet. Danny and I have been Tweeting...

Community in social media is still number one. I posted the following tweet a couple days ago on Twitter and it received quite a bit of feedback and a few retweets: Social Media Tip: social media scales through community, community grows by relationship building. Focus on people. I then realized that I needed to expand on the topic. Here’s the basic outline of what I cover in todays podcast: * Why community is vital if you want to leverage your social media marketing efforts and get...

Most social media failures aren’t big public train-wrecks on the internet. They’re silent failures, people and brands that never rise above the noise and get noticed. Today’s podcast focuses on 6 reasons you may be silently failing and what you can do to turn things around. The 6 Reasons You’re Silently Failing in Social Media: 1)  Your content strategy is too safe 2)  Your reach is minimal 3)  Your conversation strategy is weak 4)  The right people don’t know who you are or they don’t...

At Socialized! our Social Media Agency we have had some incredible opportunities over the past year to work with brands such as the Ford Dealers Association of BC and Alberta, the Certified Management Accounts, CGA BC, CGA Canada and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. However…even producing the week long event “Social Media Week Vancouver” did not prepare us for the passionate, loyal and often opinionated fans at Wizard World Comic Cons. This is a relatively new adventure for us but this podcast...

Social Media Podcast: Ford dealers across North America are executing some amazing social media strategies. While catching up on my reading and best-practices I stumbled across a great case study on how Lebanon Ford (Ohio) has had some incredible success. They don’t just have a great social media team, they have built a truly social culture in their dealership that has resulted in a 260% year-on-year increase in Internet sales of vehicles and a significant increase in walk-ins and revenues...

Today’s podcast is about 10 social media myths that are commonplace in the companies and organizations that we work with at Socialized! Agency. Many of these misconceptions stop organizations from truly realizing the potential of social media (or even starting). Below I have listed the myths. Have a listen to the podcast and let me know what you think.

Today’s podcast is on 11 Social Media Trends for 2012. Here’s the outline for my podcast – I would love your feedback and thoughts:  Key trends * How not if * TV on everything and social on everything (Major adjustments for broadband providers will need to be made to keep pace with this multi-screen universe) * Location based marketing will continue to grow * Social cultures will evolve out of social use * Social CRM will move mainstream * India is rising * A return to engagement *...

Hiring a social media manager, social media coordinator, chief tweeter or whatever you might call it is a challenging endeavor. There are many brands which have experienced great success and many who have also shot the foot off of their brand on the internet. Social media is not a department or a cubicle, it represents the most powerful word of mouth (or word of mouse) channels that have ever existed. Too many organizations aren’t strategic about who they hire internally or how they intend on...

Today’s podcast and blog post are a result of some great dialogue, ideas and amazing research findings that were unearthed at yesterday’s panel at the ERDI conference here in Calgary, Alberta. The panel I sat on was on “Technology Implementation over the last 20 years in our schools. The panelists were: Michael Goldberg, Economist, Marty Keast, President of the School Division for Pearson Education, Linda Fabi, Director of Education for the Waterloo District School Board and the panel was...