Posts Tagged ‘Teleclasses’
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Half of getting what you want is to ask for it. I learned this valuable lesson at my very first job out of college. I was a straight commission sales person for the bad country station in Pittsburgh, PA. Not the good country station, but the bad one; we had terrible ratings and the station was just not good. We had no listeners which made it tough to get advertisers on the air. 
Anyway to make a long story short I learned two things at the job. To think outside the box and to ask for what you want. I would meet with people and listen to what their needs were and then I would share with them how we could help them achieve a goal or reach a certain audience. And then…. I would ask for the business! I was listening and asking. And you know what? I started to get it. Do you ask for the business you want?
Attend our next Teleclass called “How To Sell Without Being Salesy” with Sales and Marketing Expert Helen Graves, and learn what to say if you hate to sell and selling techniques tips you can use right away. Click here for more info and to register.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Red Bench Program, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
In last week’s blog Are You Chasing Away Clients, I talked about the rule I learned in telemarketing training back in my college days, “three no’s and you go”. I discussed how in your third attempt to get in contact with a non-responsive client that you should define that you will not be following up with them again but that they can contact you.
But what if you are actually speaking to the client over and over again and you are not getting a “yes”? On our recent teleclass Relationship Marketing with Donna Smallin she shared with us that she called someone 7 times over two years before they agreed to have a meeting with her and then they hired her for a two year time period. Wow! The key to her success was persistence and permission. Each time she called this person she asked him “would it be okay if I check back with you in a couple of months?” Each time the prospect said “yes”. When you get permission to call someone back you don’t feel bad about calling them because they told you it was okay. In last weeks article Are You Chasing Away Clients, that situation pertains to a non-responsive client, or someone who you keep trying to contact and never can get through to them via phone or e-mail. In Donna’s example the situation pertains to a client you are actually speaking to who is telling you that they are not ready to use your services right now. These are two very different situations.
To sum it up, if you have a non-responsive client use the “three no’s and you go” rule of thumb or if you have a client who is not ready to commit you can use the “would it be okay if I check back with you in a couple of months?” technique.
Don’t forget, we’ll be learning more on How to Sell Without Being Salesy from Helen Graves on our August 3rd teleclass.
Do you have a favorite tip? We love to learn and share.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Audio recordings, Christa Wagner, Continuing Education of Professional Organizers, Donna Smallin, Helen Graves, Marketing, Professional Organizer Business, Red Bench Program, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses | 3 Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
I’m not saying, but I’m just saying that I believe we will be announcing some changes to our Teleclass Membership soon.
At A Red Bench we are all about having “conversations that matter” and we are making some enhancements to our programs based on specific feedback we have received from you. Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us – we take them very seriously.
We will be announcing very soon and if you want to be noticed right away join our mailing list by emailing us at info@aredbench.com.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Red Bench Program, Teleclass Membership, Teleclasses
Posted in Red Bench Members, Teleclasses | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
I’ve recently listened to several people speak on the topic of “selling” and one thing that keeps coming up is that you should not “chase” your prospective client. So what does that mean exactly? Of course you need to “ask for the business” and you have to follow up with your prospects. So what’s the right mix? How do you know if you are chasing a client?
It’s important to know your limits. How many times are you going to try to get in touch with the client before you stop? We get this question a lot! One rule of thumb to follow is: “three no’s and you go”. I translate this as: if you try to get in touch with someone three times and you never hear back from them it’s time to move on. But before you delete that prospect from your address list be sure you communicate your action with them. In your third and final e-mail or attempt to contact a non-responsive prospect be sure to say something like: “Because I know you are so busy I want to check in with you and be sure that you are still interested in… As a Professional Organizer the last thing I want to do is waste your time and clog up your inbox. If I don’t hear back from you within a week I will not follow up with you again. Or you can simply e-mail me back and let me know a time that we can speak or if you would like me to follow up with you in one month.”
Of course you would add greeting and closing remarks, but you get the idea. The main point is not to chase the client and to define the ending in a way that is sincere and let’s the prospect know the ball is now in their court. The chase has officially ended and you couldn’t sound more pleasant to work with. The chances are when the prospect is ready they will call you back.
I’ve also learned from many speakers that being able to sell is really about being yourself and building relationships and we are fortunately to be interviewing Helen Graves on August 3, 2009 who will help us understand this even more. This is going to be a great call! I love hearing different people’s perspectives on selling and then figuring out how to make them work for me. What works for you?
Tags: A Red Bench, Add new tag, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Sales, Teleclasses | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
People ask us all the time if they can get a hold of past teleclasses. All A Red Be
nch teleclass on available for purchase on our website. We recently had a fantastic call with fellow Organizer, author and relationship marketing guru Donna Smallin. It was fantastic. She is so willing to share information and is just a true giver. Her call was called Rise Above the Rest With Relationship Marketing and is now available for purchase.
On the call Donna give listeners the opportunity to trial Send Out Cards for Free.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Donna Smallin, Managing a business, Red Bench Program, Relationship Marketing, Teleclasses
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 6th, 2009
We are thrilled to announce that Helen Graves will be our August 3rd speaker. Christa and I had a call with Helen two weeks ago and in 45 short minutes Helen was able to offer us some fantastic advice! We put some of her tips into place immediately. Thanks Helen!
Helen is dubbed the Grand Poohbah of Crackerjack Online Marketing Strategy. She has a fun approach to sales and says “the most important belief to nurture is that marketing can be fun!” Now that is a shift in mind set! Have you been thinking that marketing is fun? Don’t miss this call to learn how you can make marketing and sales fun AND increase your business. Personally, I can’t wait!
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
We kicked off the second day of the Social Media TeleSummit with Facebook expert Shama Hyder of Click to Client, LLC. Her t
opic was Fruitful Facebooking: How to Leverage the Social Giant to Further your Biz and Brand.
I was really looking forward to this call, because as much as I resisted Facebook and was forced into using it, I really like it. I have gotten back in touch with so many friends from high school (North Allegheny, Pittsburgh, PA) and college (Indiana University, Bloomington, IN) and its been really fun. That said, I could spend hours on Facebook and I have a business (two of them actually) to run so I was anxious to learn how to more effectively use this powerful tool
Just learning how to automatically post my blog on Facebook was enough, but I learned so much more on this call. I learned some techniques to using Facebook in just 15 minutes each day and the difference between groups and fans. Very helpful for me!
Thanks Shama for a great call. You certainly understand the big and constantly changing world of the social media giant.
Continue to check our website and blog for more information regarding social media tools. If you missed the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit, be on the lookout for Nancy’s presentation available from A Red Bench.
Click here to follow me on Facebook.
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Facebook, Marketing using Facebook, Maximize your marketing, Red Bench Program, Shama Hyder, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Information Products, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | No Comments »
Monday, June 15th, 2009
Rise Above The Rest Using Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing helps people remember who you are and what you do. It sets you apart and lets your clients know you care about them. It helps you drive more repeat business and referrals, so you can spend more time doing what you love. Unlike traditional marketing, it’s easy to incorporate relationship marketing into your daily schedule. And it yields a high rate of return on your investment, which is little or nothing. To grow your business, you simply need to remember one thing: Everyone you meet wants and needs to be appreciated. Attend this teleclass, with expert organizer and author
Donna Smallin, and learn how to implement a simple strategy for staying connected with clients and prospects, how to maximize the impact of your current networking, advertising and sales activities and how to enjoy more repeat business and referrals. You may even have more fun marketing!
Click here for call details.
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Donna Smallin, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses | No Comments »
Monday, June 15th, 2009
For our fourth session, of eight on our Social Media TeleSummit, decided to shift gears a little bit. We interviewed Gillian Muessig of SEOmoz. Her topic was 
SEO Tips and & Tricks: Ideas so Juicy, You’ll Need a Napkin! I had met Gillian before and saw her on a panel at a CRAVE conference a while back. I knew her information would be awesome, but wow did she blow me away on the call yesterday. Man, can that woman talk about SEO. She is so passionate and so eloquent you just want to listen to more of what she has to say.
So what did I learn? I learned before I engage in any social media, I need to have a strategy in place to get my website at the top of the search page. Am I doing that? Probably not as well as I should. She asked if my website deserved to be on the top of the page? Implying had I done my homework? Have you? Great question. Gillian took us through using links and how we should structure our links to get the most benefits, we talked about keywords and incorporating this all with social media; it was invaluable information.
Thank you so much for being on the call Gillian. You are truly the Mom of SEO and that title is yours to keep. Continue to check our website and blog for more information regarding social media and SEO. If you missed the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit, be on the lookout for Gillian’s presentation available from A Red Bench.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Gillian Muessig, How to use SEO to drive traffic, Red Bench Program, SEO, social media, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Information Products, Marketing, social media | 1 Comment »
The first day of the