Try Marketing

Writing by Nick Stamoulis

I’m amazed at how many people get so fixated on seeking high search engine optimization Google rankings that they completely forget about Yahoo!, MSN Live, or Ask.com. Or even one of the thousands of other smaller search engines.

I’ve seen healthy traffic come from places like Dogpile or some obscure search engine that I’d never heard of and didn’t exist (and have often wondered how I got listed there in the first place).

Don’t get me wrong, Google will likely be your main source of traffic (if you do your SEO right). But there’s no rational reason to not attempt to get listed and ranked everywhere you can. You can still pick up a good 20% increase in search traffic just by having moderate to high rankings in the next three highest traffic search engines - Yahoo!, MSN Live, and Ask.com.

Search engine marketing and optimization is not an exact science. You can target one search engine and still find yourself listed higher in another. Be vigilant about checking your rankings in all the search engines and if you don’t see your website listed in a certain search engine after awhile

Take some time to submit your site to that search engine or find out what it takes to get crawled by its robots. Don’t get so fixated on Google that you forget everything else.

1.    Make the Telephone My Best Friend – If you want to succeed in sales, there is no getting around it.  The phone is your number one productivity tool.  That’s why there are 10 Things I Love About Cold Calling!

2.    Use My CRM to Work and Track All of My Leads – Effective use of your CRM ensures that you are touching every prospect and client with purpose and at the right time.  If you are not using your CRM, start today.  If you Want Long Term Success… Build Your Pipeline!

3.    Become a Master at Following Up With Prospects – This is where great sales professionals separate themselves from the pack.  There is a basic principle for winning… Just Follow Up!

4.    Develop My Ability to Ask Great Questions – Questions are the basis for uncovering needs and building value.  Have you given your prospects a High Five lately?

5.    Focus On Being an Excellent Listener – Great questions are supported by an ability to listen effectively.  You have to Listen Like a Detective.

6.    Only Talk About the Things That Are Important to My Prospects/Clients – If you spend time talking about anything else, you are wasting precious time.  Try to look at things from the other person’s perspective.

7.    Be “Coachable” and Follow Through With Direction I Receive From My Boss – Why do so many people have a problem with authority?  Your boss has your best interest in mind.  Your number one business relationship should be with your manager.

8.    Be a Positive Force and Leader On My Team – The Shield says it all

9.    Exceed My Goals Every Single Month… Quarter… Year – Sometimes the simple statements make the biggest impact.  After a recent layoff, I once heard an executive say, “People can’t be in a sales job and not sell anything.”  If you are in a rut, revisit the suggestions for How to Beat a Sales Slump.

10.   Use the Power of Self-Reflection to Get Better – Most sales people do a lot of driving.  There is no better time to think of ways to keep improving.  Develop a system for Perfect Selling.

What other tips can we add to this list?