Sales Strategy – Page 4

F.I.V.E Questions with David McMenomey, Owner of Redemit 1

I’m excited to launch the “Find Insights Via Engaging™ (F.I.V.E) Questions with an Entrepreneur” series. The series will feature answers to 5 unique questions posed to an entrepreneur. Their answers will enable every reader to learn how they got started in their venture, discover how they mastered their unique set of skills, and gain from any piece of advice that has continued to deliver dividends. It will be fun, insightful, and inspiring. The goal is that you are able to take at least one actionable tip from each conversation.

My first conversation is with David McMenomey, Digital Strategist at Redemit One.

1. Briefly describe how you got started and what is the most exciting or rewarding aspect of what you do?

It was early 2012 and my very pregnant wife was at the store getting groceries for the week. I received a phone call that no one wants to get, the kind of call that stops your heart. “David, I am in the line to check out and none of our credit cards are working. Do you know what is going on?” You see at this point, I had been nursing along a startup that had zero revenue for 8 months, in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Every credit card was maxed and we had a baby on the way in a few short months. To say I was desperate would be an understatement…

The one thing I did right while starting my first company was I focused on the digital side of the business. I knew that growing a business online would be better than going door to door as I had done to start my career. So I started devouring Internet marketing training for hours on end, reprogramming the way I thought about marketing and scalability. The 2 trainers I had been listening to were Jeff Usner and Hans Johnson and you will never guess who called me just about a week after we hit rock bottom financially…Jeff Usner. I had met him a few times at some business training / personal development events but didn’t even know he remembered me. He offered me a job in Texas and I took it.

This was the start of my career in the Internet, but I started at the bottom making almost no money. To me it didn’t matter, anything was better than what I was making with what I was currently doing, and I would get to learn the skill I passionately wanted to learn, Internet Marketing.

I worked with Jeff for 3½ years and created multiple online products, marketing funnels, and web properties that made millions of dollars. I received hands on experience, and built valuable confidence and belief in my abilities to take an idea and bring it to life online.

In October of 2015 I was laid off from my work with Jeff’s company as they moved out of Texas and back east to Pennsylvania. After a few months of consulting for companies, I decided to launch my own agency, Redemit One. It was one consulting client who pushed me over the edge to go from floundering consultant, to full-fledged marketing agency. This client, Manny, was a non-profit who had a vision to help kids coping with cancer feel like rockstars for a day. Manny had some great material on coping with cancer, and wanted me to create a marketing funnel to promote it. So I sat down with him and created a lead generation funnel that could not only help more cancer patients, but also bring in new and reliable donors to fund his charity.

This is the type of work that keeps me going. I love taking an existing business and creating a way for them to have predictable, scalable revenue. There is so much misinformation out there about getting rich on the Internet, and I like going in implementing simple, proven strategies that drive revenue. That is what excites me. Creating something like this for a client, then handing them the keys to the system and letting them run with it. I don’t want to be the company that creates a system that is dependent on Redemit One. I want my clients to be able to walk away from me at any point and continue to grow their vision and company. As short-sighted as that may sound, my client’s businesses were never mine to start with, so why should I hold them ransom just because I help them grow revenue in a new area?

2. Flash back and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about mastering your unique set of skills and what advice do you have for others looking to learn a similar skill?

I think the most surprising part of looking back at my journey in this business is how simple what I do really is. With all of the complex training and courses out there, it is easy to get bogged down and never actually do anything online. The key to learning this skill set is something Jeff taught me, find what works and copy that. You always want to emulate success. There are other smarter, more patient people out there who have tested and perfected a business model Online, so find out what they are doing and do your best to copy that.

3. What is your unfair advantage?

My clients will tell you that my unfair advantage is that I have already been there. I have done it. I know how it looks to start with an idea and turn it into scalable revenue, so every project I take on, I have the end in mind for the client. I also never sell them on their own idea. Most new prospective client meetings are me telling them why their idea won’t work and how a few minor tweaks in their perspective will make all the difference. To me, if the idea doesn’t produce recurring revenue for the client, I will not take the project. It is not worth it for anyone…

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4. Describe the results a potential client could expect when they do business with you and how do you plan to WOW them?

The result a client will see when they work with Redemit One is a revenue machine will be created. They will get a completed mechanism that brings them new leads and converts those leads into money. Pretty simple really. I specialize in lead generation, and that really is the heartbeat of what makes clients happy. They are flooded with new leads who convert to cash. That will motivate any business owner to refer Redemit One. I think what wows clients is that I am not afraid to walk away from taking their business. If I can see at the start that the project is not going to produce results of the client, I am happy to walk away from the money upfront and point them in a different direction, or to a different company for the work. The only thing worse than no clients, is unsuccessful ones…

5. What is the best advice (or quote or insight) you received that gave you the confidence to launch your business?

The best insight I was given to launch my company came from 2 different clients on the same day. I was waffling between the idea of going back to work for a big company and continuing to hone my skills and the idea of staying on my own. Both clients challenged me and asked, “With the skill set that you have and all that you know how to do, how could you go back to work for anyone knowing they could never pay you what you are worth?” The advice I would give any entrepreneur looking to going out on their own is this, never let your ego get in the way of your journey. You have to be able to take an honest step back and evaluate whether you need to continue developing your skill by working for someone, or if you really have all the right pieces to be your own boss.

“Never let your ego get in the way of your journey.” – David McMenomey

Connect with David on LinkedIn.

39 Sir Alex Ferguson Quotes to Ignite the Champion in You

Growing up in Nigeria, you were either a Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool fan. Manchester United was my team back then, and still is. We consumed football for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When we were not glued to the TV screen cheering on our favorite teams, we were in the streets, often barefoot, practicing the skills we had witnessed.

Sir Alex Ferguson was the mastermind behind Manchester United’s successive years of dominance. In his 39 years at the helm, he led Manchester United to 2 Champions League titles, 17 Domestic League titles, 14 Domestic Cups, and 2 Other European titles. I had the pleasure of reading his book, Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United, and below are 39 inspiring quotes in honor of his 39 glory years as manager of Manchester United.

Listening

“If you are leading people, it helps to have a sense of who they are- the circumstances in which they were raised, the actions that will draw out the best in them, and the remarks that will cause them to be spooked. The only way to figure this out is by underrated activities: listening and watching.”

Watching

“It sounds simple to say you should believe what your eyes tell you, but it is very hard to do. It is astonishing how many biases and preconceived notions we carry around, and these influence what we see, or, more precisely, what we think we see.”

Discipline

“I always felt that our triumphs were an expression of the consistent application of discipline.”

Work Rate

“When winning becomes a way of life, true winners are relentless.”
“In a perfect world I would have filled every team-sheet with 11 men who had as much determination as talent. But life is not like that, and if I had to choose between someone who had great talent but was short on grit and desire, and another player who was good but had great determination and drive, I would always prefer the latter.”

Drive

“For me drive means a combination of a willingness to work hard, emotional fortitude, enormous powers of concentration and a refusal to admit defeat.”

Conviction

“I cannot imagine how anyone, without firm conviction and deep inner beliefs, can be an effective leader.”

Preparation

“…Preparation had a lot more to do with our success than a few fortunate breaks.”
“The way to win battles, wars and games is by attacking and overrunning the opposing side.”
“On our own team, the best players tended to be sticklers for preparation. That’s part of the reason why they were good or great.”

Mentorship

“There is a lot to be said for either picking, or being lucky enough to land, the right mentor. The best ones can change your life.”

Teamwork

“Each player has to understand the qualities and strengths of their team-mates.”

Excellence

“Part of the way you develop excellence in an organization is to be careful about the way you define success.”
“Winning anything requires a series of steps.”

Inspiring

“You don’t get the best out of people by hitting them with an iron rod. You do so by gaining their respect, getting them accustomed to triumphs and convincing them that they are capable of improving their performance.”
“Much of leadership is about extracting that extra 5 percent of performance that individuals did not know they possessed.”
“Unless you understand people, it is very hard to motivate them.”
“Another crucial ingredient of motivation is consistency. As a leader you can’t run from one side of the ship to the other. People need to feel that you have unshakeable confidence in a particular approach. If you can’t show this, you’ll lose the team very quickly.”
“Anyone who is in charge of a group of people has got to have a strong personality….a strong personality is an expression of inner strength and fortitude.”
“People perform best when they know they have earned the trust of their leader.”

Complacency

“Complacency is a disease, especially for individuals and organizations that have enjoyed success.”

Networking

“A network takes time to develop. Part comes through the passage of time, part from the way you treat others and part from reciprocity.”
“It’s easy to forget about the troubles of others but, if you take the time to remember, it goes a very long way.”

Time

“Don’t lie, don’t steal, and always be early.”

Distractions

“I have yet to encounter anyone who has achieved massive success without closing themselves off from the demands of others or forgoing pastimes.”
“If you have two people of equal talent it will be the way in which they marshal their ability that will determine their eventual success.”
“There’s only one way to enjoy a final and that’s to win it. Nobody ever remembers the losers.”

Failing

“At some point in my life the desire and need to win outstripped my fear of failure.”
“There’s some merit in getting defeated – even though I’d never want it to be a habit. Team members who are hungry for victory and take great pride in their performance will be eager to avenge defeat.”

Speaking

“Whether the audience is one person or 75,000, you need to assemble your thoughts, know what you want to emphasize and just say it.”

Boss

“The greatest bosses also take pride in making sure that if employees who have served them well choose to leave, they go on to greater and better things.”

Control

“I just don’t believe that you can get the most out of people if they are perpetually afraid of you.”

Delegation

“My job was to make everyone understand that the impossible was possible. That’s the difference between leadership and management”

Decision Making

“When you are in the football world, and I suspect in almost every other setting, you have to make decisions with the information at your disposal, rather than what you wish you might have.”

Salesmanship

“Any leader is a salesman – and he has to sell to the inside of his organization and to the outside. Anyone who aspires to be a great leader needs to excel at selling his ideas and aspirations to others.”

Compensation

“Bonuses get spent. Medals are forever.”

Negotiation

“If you need one person to change your destiny, then you have not built a very solid organization.”

Arriving

“If you want to build a winning organization, you have to be prepared to carry on building every day. You never stop building – if you do, you stagnate.”

Confidence

“It’s one thing to have confidence in your own abilities. It’s a completely different challenge to instill confidence in others.”

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One important resolution salespeople should consider

Spend more time this year with the people who have the power to say “Yes”.

Rejection is tough. I have yet to meet a salesperson that looks forward to rejection every morning. While rejection may be part of the job description, I would argue that it is a line item that few look forward to. It doesn’t matter how new or tenured you are in sales, rejection usually delivers a decent jab. On the other hand, rejection can be a good thing, when coming from the right person. Selling is a numbers game after all. Simple probability tells us that the more you hear “No”, the greater chances are of you eventually hearing a “Yes”. Yet if that is the case, why do some hear a “Yes” quicker and more consistently than others?

Focus on what you can control, influence what you cannot.

Early in my sales career I asked a similar question to top sellers and average performers, and as you can imagine, I got a colorful spectrum of answers. Many of the answers seemed like factors I could not control. One of my mentors advised that I focus on what I can control and influence what I cannot. So I dug deeper and a common denominator started to appear. What I discovered was that top sellers consistently spent more of their time, on average, cultivating relationships with the true decision makers within their target accounts. This focused time management approach equipped them with a unique advantage during the Close. In instances when they did not secure the business, they were able to uncover the real reasons for the rejection because it was coming from the right person.

If you’re going to get a No, at least get it from the “Yes” person.

When you spend more of your time with someone who only has the power to say No, they will more than likely exert that power because that’s the option they have at their disposal. No matter how compelling your presentation, confidence or price, the answer will still be “No”. Think of it as asking a professional plumber to perform open-heart surgery. The only sensible response would be a “No”. Clients have many ways to say “No” but only one way to say “Yes.” This is especially true when you ask the wrong person for the business. Some may quickly tell you the right people are not involved which is why the sale will not happen. But many, wanting to save face, may give you a long-winded answer as to why the answer is “No”. When the right people are involved, you know it because decisions are made faster.

Your time is precious currency, invest it wisely.

In 2015, prioritize enough time to understand who the true decision makers are within your target company. This due diligence is worth the effort. Asking the questions below could be a good start in uncovering the true decision makers.

Who all needs to be involved in this decision-making process and what role will each play in the decision-making process?
Would the price tag of the engagement require a committee approval?
Who is impacted the most if the project succeeds? If it fails, whose neck is on the line?

The challenge is that the true decision makers are most times the hardest to get a hold of. But top sellers welcome this challenge with a smile and a well thought out strategy which is why they continuously perform at a high level.

What other sales focused New Year resolutions are you prioritizing for 2015?

3 Valuable Lessons I Learned Cold Calling Door To Door

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

In my days at Cbeyond, cold calling small businesses door to door was an integral part of the daily grind. Below are three lessons I picked up along the way that continue to deliver results in my sales career today:

Understand your numbers then commit to go above and beyond them
Just because you have a steady stream of referrals doesn’t mean you should stop cold calling
Those who ask more for it (the close), get more of it (the sale)

1. Understand your numbers then commit to go above and beyond them. At Cbeyond, we were all assigned metrics – the number of doors to hit, phone calls to make, qualified leads to get, and appointments to set – that if met, gave us the best opportunity to succeed. Since selling in its simplest form is a numbers game, what separated the top sales associates from the average sales associates was their ability to crush their metrics. For instance, if the requirement is to knock on 50 doors a day to get five qualified leads and set two appointments, those who knock on five additional doors per day at the end of the week would have 2-3 more qualified leads and one extra appointment set. When I spoke to Brent Maropis, former VP at Cbeyond and current CEO of Rev.io, he mentioned that top salespeople have a bias towards taking massive action. The good news is that it doesn’t matter if you’re in sales to benefit from this concept. Whatever your profession, define your metrics then commit to go above and beyond them. If you do this consistently, success will be inevitable. #NumbersDontLie

2. Just because you have a steady stream of referrals doesn’t mean you should stop cold calling. Referrals were an excellent source of leads. Whether you are a sales hunter or farmer, there is immense value in incorporating customer referrals into your customer acquisition strategy. At Cbeyond, our customers and IT vendors made great referral partners. However, betting your quota for the month based strictly on referral leads was risky, and many sales associates fell into this trap (myself included). When the deals pushed, it put me under unnecessary pressure which led to desperation (not a good look!). The top sales associates excelled at getting qualified leads through various forms of cold calling (in person, phone, email) and working closely with partners and referrals. Someone that excelled at this was Sean Haq, who broke several sales records at Cbeyond and has continued to deliver amazing results in his sales career. #DiversifyYourHustle

3. Those who ask more for it (the close), get more of it (the sale). Asking for the sale was one of my biggest challenges when I started my sales career, and I’ve come to realize that this is one of the most important skills needed to be successful in sales. One of my most memorable moments at Cbeyond came when my bold ask resulted in my first Cold Call Close. A Cold Call Close is when you walk into an office unannounced, conduct your presentation with the final decision maker, and get a deal signed after your presentation. Here’s my story. It was 5:37 pm one hot summer day in San Jose and I really wanted to get back in my car and blast the A/C. I decided to knock on one more door. I approached the door, secretly hoping it would be locked so I could satisfy my conscience. To my surprise (and fear), the door was unlocked, so I walked in. I noticed the receptionist had left for the day so I continued walking down the hallway. A man who appeared to be the owner was seated at his desk in the corner office. At that moment, my nervousness made me clear my throat, and he looked up; this meant I had less than 20 seconds to pique his interest. There was a football (soccer, for Americans) game on – Real Madrid vs. Sevilla FC. I introduced myself and started to articulate my value proposition. But before I could finish, I interrupted myself and mentioned I was a huge football fan and asked if he didn’t mind me finishing the game with him since there was just 15 minutes left. He agreed (the first close). During those 15 minutes, we talked about the beauty of football and of course screamed at the TV when someone didn’t make a play we expected him to make. This rapport building session allowed me to be my authentic self and loosen up, so it built my confidence. When the game was over, he discussed some of the business challenges he was experiencing and explored how we could assist. An hour later, after overcoming his objections, I asked boldly for his signature, and he signed on to become a client. It’s uncomfortable at times asking for the sale, but that’s one skill you need to get comfortable nurturing to be successful in sales and business! #AlwaysBeClosing

Happy Selling!

Create a Sense of Urgency with This One Question

What does success look like for you in this meeting?

I’ve been fortunate to lead and participate in hundreds of sales meetings with executives and owners from Wall Street to Main Street. While many ended positively, others allowed for learning opportunities. In all of these meetings a common denominator exists: all parties come with an idea of what success looks like to them. For the salesperson it may be getting referred to a key decision maker, identifying all the criteria to win a bid, or confirming when the contract has been fully executed. For the client it may be negotiating a 20% reduction in the price of the quote, discovering the top 3 features of an application, or learning about the fastest-growing market segments.

Since both parties have different incentives, the best salespeople make a concerted effort to understand the client’s underlying motivations by getting them to paint the picture early on in the meeting. This approach ensures the salesperson is addressing the client’s most important needs at that very moment. In addition, the best salespeople not only get the client talking early, they also align their incentives with that of the client. If done effectively, the meeting is usually a success for both parties and urgency is placed on what is most important.

OK, what if I already have a preset agenda?

Having an agenda for your meeting is highly encouraged. It’s also professional to share the agenda with your client prior to the meeting and get their feedback. If you’re not doing this now, I highly encourage it. This practice allows your client to get involved in “structuring” the meeting flow and confirming their priorities prior to the meeting. Think of it as reducing the risk of having a disorganized meeting. Usually, the client’s idea of success validates the preset agenda. However, if the facts have changed for your client prior to the meeting, rather than be confined by the preset agenda, ask the client this question: what does success look like for you in this meeting?

OK, what if I am not prepared?

Rather than hang up the phone or pack up to leave, take time to understand the “why” behind their idea of a successful meeting. Listen, and take notes. By fully understanding the “why”, you put yourself in a position to uncover more opportunities to help and advise the client.