Answer with confidence and reason and you’re more often than not able to maintain your margins. A poor answer, however, can immediately launch your prospect into “negotiation mode.”

David Newman, author of Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits, and Crush Your Competition (http://bit.ly/doitbook) has some great thoughts and ideas on how to answer the price question during your initial sales call.

 ————————————————————————————————————————————–

17 great answers to ‘How much do you charge?’

For professional services providers, entrepreneurs and thought-leading executives… the #1 dreaded question is, “How much do you charge?” Especially when it’s asked too early, out of context, and before you’ve established any sort of relationship with the prospect or any sort of value for the project…

In short, if you blow the answer, your prospect is gone.

Here are three things NOT to do:

1) Quote a random price out of thin air (unless you sell haircuts for $18 or oil changes for $34.95 or you do bookkeeping for $65/hr)

2) Act surprised or unprepared for the question (“Uhhh… what do you mean?”)

3) Get defensive or go on a rant about how “all people care about these days is price, price, price.”

Some of the answers you’re about to get are evergreen, some you can adapt to your own personality, and some you may want to keep in reserve until just the right moment with just the right prospect.

Here we go…

“How Much Do You Charge?”

1) A lot. Why do you ask?

2) I don’t think we’re there yet because I don’t know what you’re buying.

3) I’ll answer your question in a moment but to give you a more accurate answer, may I ask you three questions first?

4) Well, the friends and family rate might apply but we’re not friends yet – do you mind if I ask you a few friendly questions that will help us answer your pricing question together?

5) It’s nine million dollars until I know what you’re buying. Can we spend a few minutes narrowing that down to help you lower the price?

6) I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that you don’t have a $500,000 problem. The bad news is that you don’t have a $10,000 problem, either… if you can help me answer some key questions, we’ll both know a lot more about what your investment might look like.

7) If it works, it’s cheap. If it doesn’t, it’s expensive.

8) Let’s talk about what you’re trying to accomplish first and then we’ll work out some pricing options based on that.

9) Do you want the Ferrari version, the Lexus version, or the VW Bug?

10) A project like the one you’re asking about ranges from $X to $Y. Sometimes a little more. Not usually less. Is that what you were expecting to invest?

11) There’s no good answer to that question in a vacuum. Can we talk a little more about what you’re hoping we can do for you? Then I’ll give you some pricing options that make sense for your budget.

12) A project of this scope only makes sense if it’s already in your budget. Nobody wakes up one day and suddenly finds the money to solve these kinds of problems. If you can share the budget range you have set aside for this, I can tell you if it makes sense for us to talk any further.

13) I have a feeling that if I quote a random number right now, I’ll be dead in the water. Do you mind if I ask you some questions to get a better idea of what your goals are? Then the numbers we talk about will be specific to you and your situation.

14) Just like you need to make an educated decision about which partner or resource to hire, I need to give you an educated answer to your pricing question. And I’m feeling pretty dumb right now, since we just started talking. Mind if we have a 10-minute conversation about your situation? After that, I’ll have a much better idea of what you’re after and some different ways we can help.

15) Sounds like price is the most important factor to you. In my experience, everything is expensive until you want it. Can we talk about what you want and then work our way to the pricing options based on that?

16) It’s more than a cab ride to [local landmark, i.e. "the Empire State Building"] but less than [the landmark, i.e. "the building"]. If we can chat for 10 minutes about why you called, I can give you a much more specific answer. Do you have 10 minutes now or shall we look at our calendars?

17) Until I have a better idea of what you want – and whether or not we can even help – any number I give you is going to be too high. Would it be OK if we spend a few minutes discussing why you called? Then if we can help, I’ll get you the pricing options you need. And if we can’t, I’ll refer you to some other great resources that do things we don’t. Fair enough?

David Newman is a marketing expert, professional speaker and founder of Do It! Marketing, a marketing strategy firm dedicated to making thought-leading entrepreneurs and executives more successful. If you buy David’s book, Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits, and Crush Your Competition today, you’ll get more than $747 in marketing and business-building bonuses at http://bit.ly/doitbonus.  Free resources are available online at www.doitmarketing.com. Contact David directly at david@doitmarketing.com or call (610) 716-5984.

(Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout)

Have you ever conducted a Google search and when you click on the result, you got a page that said “Sorry, Site No Longer Appears?” What’s going on is at a certain date, Google did index–or vacuum up–the contents of a Web page. However, since the last time Google visited the page the page’s owner removed it from the Web server meaning the actual page is no longer on the Internet. Because the information is still in Google’s database, the result still appears yet because the Web page no longer exists, clicking on the link brings you to cyber-nothing.

The trick to seeing the original Web page was to click your browser’s back button and return to the search result list, hover your mouse cursor to the right of the result, open up the Page Preview window, and click the Cached link. The Cached link would pull up, in essence, a ‘picture’ of the Web page as it was when Google last indexed it.

But oh, oh…Google just decided to eliminate the Page Preview feature and thus, the Cached link also disappeared.

The good news is it didn’t permanently go away. Rather, it just moved locations.  So if you ever get “Sorry, Site No Longer Appears” you can access the Cached feature by following these steps:

1)  If you receive “Sorry, Site No Longer Appears,” click your browser’s back button and find the original Google search result.

2) Directly to the right of the result listing URL (website address) you’ll see an inverted triangle. Click on it.

3) In the drop-down menu you’ll see the Cached button/link. Click on it.

4) Google will now open up a window showing the Web page as it appeared when Google last indexed it.

Click the inverted triangle to the right of the search result to open Cache.

You’ll notice at the top of the screen that Google provides the date of its last index. If you use certain Web browsers (Chrome and Explorer and versions of other browsers), you’ll also notice that the words you originally searched for in Google are highlighted on the Cached page. This can be especially helpful when–even if the Web page does appear–it’s a page filled with text.

Google Cached provides the index date, and in some browsers, automatically highlights your search terms.

Instead of having to Control-F and find every word you’re searching for, go back to the original search result and using the steps above, find and click the Cached link. Now the page you’ll see is the exact same result yet now all the words you were searching for will be highlighted, each word/phrase in a corresponding different color. Meaning you can scroll the page and quickly find exactly what you want.

Now you too can have an unlimited supply of Cache, now that you Know More!

As my wife has taught me, there are many forms of ADD, with numerous symptoms. As a child in school, some of these symptoms can cause problems. As an adult in sales or as a business executive, some of these symptoms produce exceptional results. The ability to hyper-focus, multi-task, and have super-high energy are all ADD attributes that serve one well in business and sales.

One of the difficulties with the ADD mind, however, is that the details can sometimes be challenging. As I teach, doing one’s homework is imperative prior to any sales call. Steve Callender, The ADD Sales Coach, offers some great ideas in his post below to help the ADD/ADHD sales person prepare for every meeting, every time. You can also register Webinars Steve hosts on this very topic at: www.ADDSalesCoach.com

________________________________________________________________________________________

Many, many salespeople have ADD/ADHD. Sales is a job that ADD fits – it offers variety, excitement, opportunities to “save the day,” big rewards, autonomy, flexibility… And those who manage their ADD well are the very best salespeople.

But those so gifted do not often enjoy doing homework. “Homework” brings back some bad memories and reactions with many. Homework wasn’t our favorite part of school (recess was, of course!).

Doing the best homework tips the scales in your favor in sales. It’s easier to get in, to be taken seriously, to create deals that fit your customers’ wants, and to make a compelling value case. Knowing more gets better results – it wins.

So here are five tips to get your homework done, even if your ADD’s higher on the scale.

1)  Lay it out, then slice it up. Figure out what all the parts of the homework are, and lay them out visually. Some people like to use post-it notes for this part – just keep writing each little part of the homework job on notes, and then group them into small pieces. A list of 100 numbers to look up? Do 10 at a time. A 15-question form to fill out about a company? Chunk it into smaller tasks. It’s a mile between milestones, so inch-pebbles work better!

2)  Do it when you’re at your best – after an exercise break. Folks with ADD need exercise, and after a workout break, there’s an unusual calmness and clarity of mind.

3)  Reward yourself for completions. Finishing up an inch-pebble of your homework deserves reward – why defer it until the whole thing is complete? Small rewards to match small completions can keep you energized.

4)  Compete – with yourself! If your homework is to look up 10 key facts about each company you’ll be calling on this quarter, challenge yourself to do it a little faster AND a little better each time. Use a stopwatch or timer, and play “beat the clock” – it adds a little edge to it to challenge yourself to shave of 30 seconds on each search. And it can reduce the “space-out” time if you’re watching the clock.

5)  Picture it finished, and enjoy the picture. The best kind of homework is… finished. Feel the freedom and relief of not having it hanging over you. Enjoy how good walking into the meeting ready will feel. Picture the respect on the faces of your team when you’ve got it done. “Pre-experience” just how great having this finished will be – and then carry that good feeling back to the present to energize you for the task.

Steve Callender, The ADD Sales Coach, is on a mission to help 1,000 salespeople with ADD find new ways to manage & use their gifts to really shine at sales – to get back to having fun and making money, achieving durable and satisfying success.  Steve is offering a free teleseminar on 4/11/13 at noon Central “Using the GIFT of ADD to Improve Your Sales”  – Register through www.ADDSalesCoach.com

• “I don’t have time to research.”
• “I know my material and I deliver it perfectly.”
• “I’ve been very successful doing it my way.”
• “I have a script, and I have a quota; I do what I’m told.”

When you think about Sales Intelligence and the need to do your homework BEFORE picking up the phone, sending an email, or going to a meeting–if the above sounds familiar–might I recommend another comment you may soon want to memorize: “do you know anyone with a job opening?”

The world of selling has dramatically changed from the days where prospects would actually listen to your pitch. Prospects don’t have time to hear your story, nor do they care about you or your company. They do, however, dramatically care about themselves. So why not leverage what THEY care about into YOUR selling process?

A favorite sales expert, best-selling author, speaker, and person is Jill Konrath. Bottom line…Jill gets business and Jill knows how to sell. Jill also is a huge proponent of Sales Intelligence. Following is a recent article by Jill that sums up the “Why” of doing your homework and how it can help you craft a personalized opening statement.

________________________________________________________________________

No one I know wants to sound like a self-serving salesperson. So, as we prospect for new customers, we vow to never stoop as low as those product-pushing peddlers.

Instead, we decide to be paragons of professionalism. When we contact our prospects and get their voicemail instead, we’ll leave a message like this one:

Hi Pat. This is Jane Kerry calling. I’m with Big Deal Strategies, a leading marketing firm in the Minneapolis area. We offer a wide range of services, including branding, collateral development, as well as packaging and web design – one-stop shopping for all your marketing needs.

I’d love to set up a time to find out about your needs and tell you a bit about how we might help your company. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience. My number is 123-456-7890. I look forward to meeting you. Have a great day!

As we hang up the phone, we pride ourselves on how gracious we were. Not one bit pushy either. In short, perfect.

Well, guess what!  When your prospects hear that “nice” message, the first thing that pops into their head is, “Another self-serving salesperson!” Then they hit the Delete button as fast as they can. It happens with email too.

Or if you actually get a person on the phone, they’ll brush you off right away by saying, “We’re happy with our present vendor” or “We’re not interested.”

Why is this happening? It’s simple. Your non-salesy message is “salesy.” You may not think it is, but if you got dozens of near-identical, but very gracious messages each day from salespeople, you’d change your mind in a hurry.

In short, you have violated the #1 Paradoxical Sales Principle: To get more sales, stop selling.

When you talk about your own company, you’re selling – even if you do it nicely. You really cross the line if you use verbiage like one-stop shopping, industry leader, user-friendly, scalable, best-in-class, robust, or innovative.

In fact, if you say even one nice word about your company, you’re seen as a typical salesperson – despite all your best efforts to not be. So stop talking about yourself.

How about this for a fresh perspective: Focus on your customer instead. That’s the antidote to “selling.” In your next call on a prospect, think about how you can quickly:

• Demonstrate your knowledge of what’s happening in their firm or industry.
• Align your message with their issues, goals, objectives and concerns.
• Bring them ideas, insights and information about highly relevant topics.
• Sound like a colleague who’s been thinking about their business challenges.

That’s what it takes to capture your prospect’s attention today. Your “nice” spiel doesn’t work anymore. It just gets you d-e-l-e-t-e-d.

Try this instead.

Pat. Jane Kerry calling. 123-456-7890. If you’re like most marketers today, you’re probably under a ton of pressure to increase your lead generation effectiveness. One of our recent clients was able to increase their sales pipeline by 31% at the same time they decreased their marketing spend. Let’s set up a time to talk. Again, it’s Jane Kerry and my number is 123-456-7890.

Or, you could say this.

Pat, Jane Kerry calling. In researching your company, I saw that one of your prime initiatives this year is to drive sales of your new products. We’ve worked with lots of other high tech companies on this same challenge. I have some ideas on how to shorten ramp up time for your new product introduction. I think you’ll find them interesting. Let’s see if we can get some time on the calendar in the next week. My number is 123-456-7890. (repeat).

See the difference. It’s palpable. You’re a business peer. A real professional. A person who brings substantial value. Someone worth meeting. A person who cannot be ignored!

________________________________________________________________________

Jill Konrath is the author of SNAP Selling (#1 Amazon sales book) and Selling to Big Companies, a Fortune “must read” selection. She’s a frequent speaker at sales conferences and kick-off meetings.

Unfortunately there is no public records meta-search that is free and complete, meaning that you need to search for public records by the specific government entity and geography. Fortunately Black Book Online has a well-organized public records directory. The site features links to just about every available public records search resource.

When you first access the site, you will be tempted to type a name into the main search form. Don’t, because it won’t work. What the main search engine does is let you know the website where a particular public record might be located. So, for example, you can enter ‘driving records Ohio’ (do not use Boolean) into the search form and the results list will include third-party websites where you can access your information.

You’ll notice on the results page that each result contains a brief site description. It will also indicate whether the information is free or if you’ll have to pay for access. As a directory engine, Black Book Online features lists of links to its extensive resource database. You can choose by category or by state. You can also build your own custom search by clicking on the “Custom Search” link in the category section.

Black Book Online makes it easy to find a website where a public record might be located. However, once you access the site, finding the information you want might be more challenging. For example, if you want court records in Minnesota, you can use Black Book Online to easily find the various Minnesota court websites. However, navigating each site can be difficult as they are all different in the way they provide access to information.

Before diving into Black Book Online, make sure you have some time. The site can be addicting, and scary, when you realize what is publicly available on you and others. Public records are now a click away, now that you Know More!

Are people confused with how LinkedIn Endorsements work?

There are two parts to LinkedIn Endorsements. The first being how to endorse another person’s skills, and the second being making it easy for someone to endorse your skills. Let’s tackle endorsing others first.

A LinkedIn Endorsement is a service that LinkedIn offers that seems to be a reaction to Facebook “Likes.” When you view the profile of one of your first level LinkedIn connections, a number of words appear that are supposed to be skills that your connection possesses. (Note that this doesn’t always happen and I unfortunately cannot tell you why on some profiles this feature appears and on others it does not). You can endorse the skills associated with the person by clicking the “Endorse” button. You can even enter words and LinkedIn will suggest additional skills. However, whereby Facebook “likes” are rather intuitive and easy to use, I think a majority of LinkedIn users are confused by the endorsement feature.

For example, people who have heard me speak and who have even written a testimonial for my speaking programs, on LinkedIn, endorse me for “advertising” even though I’ve never done any advertising for that person. Yet they don’t endorse me for my speaking. I just doesn’t make logical sense.

The answer can most likely be found in how LinkedIn presents Endorsements. Again, if you view a first-level connection, at the top of your connection’s profile, a big and bold box appears with a large headline that states “Does XXXXXX have these skills or expertise?” In the box are the skill words.

The logical next step based on the headline question would be to click on the words corresponding with the skill you want to endorse. However, THE EXACT OPPOSITE HAPPENS. When you click on a skill word you are NOT endorsing that particular skill. Rather, you are removing that skill from the Endorsement list. Then when you click the “Endorse” button, the only skills you are endorsing are the ones that remain.This is completely non-intuitive.

So in my situation, I’m wondering if people are clicking the “Public Speaking” button thus removing it from the list, and when they click the “endorse” button, what I’m being endorsed for is the word(s) that remain, e.g., “advertising.”

Also note that when reviewing another person’s profile, you can scroll down and review all of the skill words that are associated with the profile. At this point, if you do click on a word, it does actually provide your endorsement for that skill. However, since most people come across endorsements when first viewing someone’s profile, this more intuitive way to provide a skill endorsement is largely missed.

So how can you control the skills that people endorse about you?

The good news is, it’s easy.

Once logged into your LinkedIn account, click the “Profile” tab on the upper navigation, and from the pull-down menu, choose “Edit Profile.” On your profile page, scroll down until you see the “Skills and Expertise” section. Click the small “Edit” link.

Once in the “Edit Skills & Expertise” section, you can delete skills that are not important to you to have endorsed, or add new skills. You can have a total of 50 skills. Unfortunately, there is no way to rank or prioritize your skills. Meaning, what shows up when someone looks at your profile is completely random, because only about a dozen of your chosen skills appear. So it may actually serve you better to limit the number of skills in your profile, so irrelevant ones don’t randomly appear.

For those who have read my book and/or attended my Know More! programs, you know I am a HUGE fan of LinkedIn. The Endorsement feature can be very powerful one, once you know how to effectively use it.

Now that you know how to correctly endorse someone on LinkedIn (and no, picture aside,…I will not be adding “lingerie model” to my LinkedIn profile anytime soon), I hope you take advantage of this cool service and promote those with whom you’ve had a positive business experience. And now that you know how to have some control on what others endorse about you, I hope your business contacts share their positive experiences. You can become a power endorser user…now that you Know More!

In addition, news articles are an excellent source of “triggering events,” which are the activities that occur inside a company or within an industry that might be a reason for a prospect to buy from you. For example, if you sell business technology solutions and you read an article where one of your prospects just purchased another company, it would be a great time for you to call your prospect as more than likely, the company will now have two office technology systems that need to be integrated.

So the value of Google News can be immense. However, if you conduct a Google search today, you’ll see that Google News has disappeared. It is no longer prominent along the left-hand side of the results page. Where did it go?

It looks like Google is getting back to its roots of having a simple and clean interface. This week, Google launched its new results interface and the links along the left side of the results page have vanished, including Google News. In fact, the page looks more like it did back in 2007, with the specialized search features somewhat hidden in the main navigation bar (check out what Google looked like in 2007 and notice the “More” link in the top navigation).

The good news is, Google News is still there, if you know where to look.

When you conduct a Google search, on the results page, notice the navigation bar above the search form that includes familiar options like images and maps. To access News and other Google search features…

1)  Click the “More” button and choose “News” from the drop down list.

2)  To sort your Google News by date and other options, once on the News page, find the navigation bar and click the “Search Tools” button.

3)  Click the “Any Time” button and you can sort your news results by date range and even input a custom range.

4)  Click “All News” and you can choose to only show news results from newspapers, press releases, etc. Or, you can choose to limit your search results to news items featured on blog posts.

Click the “Sorted By Relevance” button to sort your results by date—most recent first—or by relevance meaning the search terms you entered are more prominent in the news story.

I like that Google has visually simplified its interface so your eyes go right to the results. I find it unfortunate that accessing news is no longer intuitive and that news is hidden, only accessible with two or more clicks. Of course, it’s not hidden to you, now that you Know More!

To be effective in sales, you MUST be genuine, authentic, and care about the other person’s success. Even in the age of the Internet when just about anything can be bought online, from just about anywhere in the world, the role of the authentic salesperson is more important than ever. Especially in the business to business sale, people want to buy from people. People want to buy from people who they like; who they connect with on a personal level; who provide value in every interaction; who they trust.

Trust is one of the most important word in sales, in business, and I suppose in life.

The following article by my friend Dave Horsager highlights the importance of trust, and provides eight ideas to increase sales performance through trust. Dave has a great new book out, The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line, that you’ll definitely want to check out.

Build your sales funnel, deepen your existing client relationships, and grow your revenue and business through trust. You can do it, now that you Know More!

————————————————————————————————————————————

Eight Ways to Increase Sales in the Trust Crisis

By David Horsager

We are in a crisis, and it’s not the financial one. At the World Economic Forum in China, world leaders got it right when they declared that our biggest crisis is a lack of trust and confidence. We are in a trust crisis and few people really understand the bottom line implications.

Trust not only affects credit and government relations, but it also affects every relationship. And as we know, sales is all about relationships, and your primary currency is not money – it’s trust.

If you think trust is just a “soft skill,” consider the impact of Tiger Woods’ behavior off the golf course, which lost him millions of dollars in just a matter of weeks. One breach of trust at Penn State University could cost them $1 billion over the next decade. If you have a loan on your home, your mortgage payment is based on your credit score, which is essentially a trust score. The more the bank trusts you, the higher the score, the less you pay over the course of the loan. Trust impacts the bottom line.

Sales people can get caught up in seeking the newest sales tactic or closing tech­nique, but without trust, they won’t even get in the door. Without trust, you lose sales. But when individuals acquire what I call the trust edge—the competitive advantage you gain when others have a confident belief in you to do what is right, deliver what is promised, and to be the same every time, in spite of circumstances—it shows in every relationship, and eventually is demonstrated by increased sales.

Trust is the unique commonality of the most successful sales people. Obtaining this level of trust isn’t easy, so if you are looking for a quick fix, don’t look to trust. Trust is like a forest—it takes a long time to grow, and is easily burned down with a just touch of carelessness. The good news is that we can build this fundamental key to success by building and maintaining eight pillars of trust.

1. Consistency: In every area of life, it’s the little things—done consistently—that make the big difference. If I am overweight, it is because I have eaten too many calories over time, not because I ate too much yesterday. It is the same in business. The little things done consistently make for increased sales and retention, and a higher level of trust. The great sales people consistently do the small, but most important things first. They make that call and write that thank you note. Do the little things, consistently.

2. Clarity: People trust the clear and mistrust or distrust the ambiguous. Be clear about your mission, purpose, expectations, and daily activities. When a manager is clear in expectations, she will likely get what she wants. When we are clear about priorities on a daily basis, we become productive and effective. When a sales person is clear about the benefits, people buy.

3. Compassion: Think beyond yourself, and never underestimate the power of sincerely caring about another person. People are often skeptical about whether a sales person really their best interests in mind. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not just an old saying—it is a bottom line truth. If followed, you will build trust.

4. Character: Do what is right over what is easy. Sales people that have built this pillar consistently did what needed to be done when it needed to be done whether they felt like doing it or not. It is the work of life to do what is right over what is easy.

5. Contribution: Few things build trust quicker than actual results. At the end of the day, people need to see outcomes. You can have compassion and character, but without the results you promised, people won’t trust you. Be a contributor that delivers real results.

6. Competency: Staying fresh, relevant and capable builds trust. The humble and teachable person keeps learning new ways of doing things, and stays current on ideas and trends. According to one study the key competency of new MBA’s is not a specific skill, but rather the ability to learn amidst chaos. Arrogance and a “Been-there-done-that” attitude prevent you from growing, and they compromise others’ confidence in you. There is always more to learn, so make a habit of reading, learning, and listening to fresh information.

7. Connection: People want to follow, buy from, and be around friends – and being friends is all about building a connection. Trust is all about relationships, and relationships are best built by establishing genuine connection. Ask questions, listen, and above all, show gratitude—it’s the primary trait of truly talented connectors. Grateful people are not entitled, they do not complain, and they do not gossip. Develop the trait of gratitude and you will be a magnet.

8. Commitment: Stick with it through adversity. People trusted General Patton, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Jesus and George Washington because they saw commitment and sacrifice for the greater good. Commitment builds trust.

Building trust with prospects and clients in this suspicious environment does not start with the economy, government, or even your organization. It starts with YOU—you can build these pillars and enjoy greater relationships, revenue and results.

David Horsager, MA, CSP, is an award-winning speaker, author, producer, and business strategist who has researched and spoken on the bottom-line impact of trust across four continents. He is the author of The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line which gives the framework for building trust in at work or at home. Get free resources and more at www.DavidHorsager.com and www.TheTrustEdge.com.

Yet with no announcement or even a post on its website, LinkedIn recently made a major change to its service that for most people, significantly lowers its value. Users of LinkedIn’s free service no longer have access to view their 3rd level connection profiles. What this means is that unless you’re a premium subscriber, you just lost access to the largest portion of your LinkedIn database.

Unless you know the secret workaround.

Before I share the secret, let me state that I’m a big fan of LinkedIn; they offer a tremendous service, and they deserve to make money. If you’re someone who has a consistent need for creating lists and researching people, I highly recommend purchasing a premium LinkedIn account. You’ll be able to send more InMails to people (the emails you can send to others via LinkedIn); you can see all of the search results you run instead of being limited to 100 in a free account; and you can see the names and full profiles of your third-level connections and others in the LinkedIn database.

For those of us who don’t have a premium account, how can we access the names and profiles of our third-level connections? Here’s the secret:

1)  On the third-level connection’s profile page, highlight the job title.

2)  Right-mouse click and copy the job title.

3)  Write down the person’s first name.

4) Go to Google.com.

3) In the search form, enter the person’s first name and then paste the job title.

4) Make sure the job title is within quotation marks.

6) Add site:linkedin.com in the search form.

7) 90% of the time, the result list will show the person’s full name.

8) Copy the full name.

9) In LinkedIn’s People search form, paste the full name within quotation marks.

10) In the search form, add ‘at’ followed by the company name within quotations.

11) The LinkedIn result will show the full name, which you can click on to see the full profile.

If you’re conducting research on multiple third-level connections, it might be easiest to have two browser windows open simultaneously. Then, for example, in one browser you can keep your LinkedIn account open and in the other, Google. Then you can quickly copy/paste between the two browser windows.

Now you know how to continue to access your full LinkedIn database including your first, second and THIRD level connections…now that you Know More!

Following is a great article by Brandon that I wanted to share. It’s a super reminder of some of the little things we need to continually pay attention to if we want to maintain our sales edge. I think you’ll enjoy the article, and for more like it, make sure to check out Brandon’s new book, You Gotta Have Balls. Learn more about Brandon and his story via his book trailer video, and you can order it on Amazon right now.

Recognize Your Blind Spots by Brandon Steiner

When you’re in sales (and who of us isn’t selling something), it’s easy to slip into that dog-eat-dog mentality. Now more than ever before—when the internet and social networks show us who’s doing what, all over the world, in real time—it’s hard not to feel that if so-and-so is selling 100 widgets, you have to sell 1,000. If they can deliver it in three days, you have to cut your delivery time to three minutes. If they just redid their website, you need to hire Mark Zuckerberg away from Facebook to revamp your homepage. You have to do it bigger, and faster, and it has to come in more colors—otherwise you’re toast.

And the truth is that, well, there’s a lot of truth in all that.

But when you’re operating a mile a minute under that mentality, you also open up some blind spots. Because there are some important aspects of selling that are counterintuitive. That are antithetical to that bigger, faster, stronger mindset. Here, I want to explore five such issues. The following lessons are adapted from my book You Gotta Have Balls.

1. JUST AS NO ONE CAN HAVE IT ALL, NO ONE CAN DO IT ALL.

Some time in the late 90s, as my collectibles company Steiner Sports was beginning to really take off, I was in Orlando with Jim Kelly, Hall of Fame Buffalo Bills quarterback. I had accompanied Jim down there for two appearances he was doing at a big sports memorabilia trade show. One night he took me out to a local bar, and at around 2 AM, while Jim and I were chatting with some people, I felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning around, I recognized one of the top collectors at the show.

“Brandon,” he said. “I know you are starting to really grow, and I like what you’re doing. But remember. There are three pillars of business—price, quality, and service.” He paused. “And you can only excel at two.”

To this day, I try to run my company with service and quality as the main goals.

Think about it – can you name a major company that gives its customers all three of these things at once? One of them always has to be sacrificed.

Figure out which two you can excel at the most, and don’t let striving for the third interfere.

Because as Meat Loaf sang, “Two out of three ain’t bad.”

2.  NOT OVERSELLING IS AN UNDERRATED PART OF SELLING.

My buddy Cliff Savage and I have stayed friends ever since graduating high school. In the nineties, when I was starting Steiner Sports, Cliff became VP at Franklin Sporting Goods and was an invaluable asset to me. Through his connections at Franklin, Cliff knew in advance which sporting goods retailers were on the rise. He introduced me to people at stores like the Sports Authority and Herman’s. With Cliff’s help, I was able to get my business in on the ground floor of those stores before they became industry giants.

Though Cliff is a great salesman, his style is very different from mine. I’d try to sell a meat Popsicle to a vegan; Cliff goes with more of a “soft sell.” In that way, we’ve learned from each other.

My favorite sales lesson from Cliff is that “It’s not what you sell the customer; it’s what the customer has left.” In other words, don’t oversell.

If you convince someone to buy more than he needs, there’s a good chance his inventory will be overstocked the next time you call on him. He won’t buy from you on that call, and he might even look for a new sales rep—one who is more attuned to his needs. Better to sell the client just enough, or even a little less than that. Give him a chance to get that “It sold out!” feeling.

Not overselling is an underrated part of selling.                                                  

3.  MAKE THE SMART SELL, NOT JUST THE SOFT SELL.

Like I just said, I like to think of myself as a darn good salesman. Those of us in sales need that kind of confidence. There’s no other way to be successful at it.

But sales is also about knowing your customers’ needs, and sometimes the confidence that makes a good salesperson can also make them a blind one.

In 2005, after we finalized our Yankees-Steiner Collectibles partnership, I began looking for the next big alliance we could form. Eventually we settled on Notre Dame Football.

But there was a big problem: I’ve never been a Notre Dame fan. I watch them, and I respect them, but I bleed Syracuse orange, not Notre Dame green. I’d be lying if I pitched to Notre Dame and claimed to be passionate about the school (as opposed to the brand). And no matter how confident a salesman I could be, they’d see right through me. This couldn’t be a business deal that added up only on paper. It had to add up in the hearts and minds of the organization as well. I had to find a way to earn their trust.

It would all begin with the initial contact. I had to make sure that from the get-go, we showed Notre Dame the proper amount of reverence and respect. We had to execute a “smart sell” strategy.

My VP of Sales at the time was Pete Kelly. He was a Notre Dame lunatic — passionate about the team and the school. I knew he was going to be important here.

“Better to have a guy named Kelly call Notre Dame,” I told Pete, “than a guy named Steiner.”

Pete did some good legwork; eventually we got ourselves in front of the right people at Notre Dame. And after that, we engaged in a months-long pitch, which involved several other sales strategies. In the end, we got the deal done: Notre Dame Collectibles by Steiner.

But I’ll always feel strongly that it was all predicated on that initial call – on having Pete make that first contact, instead of me.

Like I said, I’m a confident sales guy. But for the first overture, I was not the right sales guy. By speaking to Notre Dame in the right language – through our in-house authentic Notre Dame fan – we set the tone for the rest of the sale. Are you being smart-  in addition to being confident – in how you sell?

4.  YOUR WORST DAYS CAN BE YOUR BEST DAYS

My mother, one of the sharpest entrepreneurs I’ve ever seen, ran a beauty salon in Brooklyn while I was growing up. One of the more important things she taught me was that you can use your best sales day to promote your worst day.

Beauty parlors were usually packed on Fridays and Saturdays, because women went out those nights. As a result, it was a struggle to get good business going earlier on in the week. So my mother offered a special price for a wash and set on Wednesdays and Thursdays. She never stopped coming up with all sorts of deals, trying to get the place busier during the slow parts of the week.

Decades later, when I managed the Sporting Club restaurant in New York, I utilized that lesson. Some of our weeknights were slow, so I hired celebrities to come in on those nights, to be guest bartenders. We promoted those appearances, gave some of the profits to charity, and some of our most hopping nights became random Tuesdays or Wednesdays, when a Wayne Gretzky or a Keith Hernandez would tend bar, as opposed to a Friday or Saturday.

Is there room in your business to leverage a good day against a bad day, and make them all strong?

5. BEING A GOOD SALESMAN IS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT BEING YOUR CLIENTS’ BEST FRIEND

Before I managed the Sporting Club, I managed the Hard Rock Café, back in the 80s, when it was on 57^th Street, and one of the most happening restaurants in New York.

The Hard Rock was immensely popular with musicians and celebrities in those days. There were always famous people there: Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Elton John, Jack Nicholson. Daryl Strawberry, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez. (The ’86 Mets were there all the time.) While the rest of the staff was fawning all over these beautiful people, I made sure they got impeccable service, and didn’t get taken advantage of if they were a little tipsy, or otherwise indisposed. I made sure they felt safe.

It didn’t go unnoticed.

The stars saw how hard I worked. They came to rely on me. In that way, I developed real relationships with some of them.

I probably had more interaction with Keith Hernandez than anyone else. He stopped by most nights to meet up with friends. He frequently invited me to parties he was going to after dinner, or to go to a Mets game as his guest. But I wasn’t as interested in being his friend as I was in being his favorite restaurant manager.

“How many times have I asked you to go to games?” Keith asked me one night at the restaurant.

“I wish I could go,” I said. “But I need to be here.”

He respected my answer.

I wasn’t Keith’s pal, but he saw me as a serious person. This came in handy later on, at the less-popular Sporting Club, when I relied on Keith coming to the bar to drive traffic, and later on when I started my marketing and collectibles business, when I relied on him as one of my first clients.

You don’t need to earn your clients’ friendship. You need to earn their trust and respect. That’s what makes them want to do business with you.

These are but five examples of aspects of selling that don’t seem obvious at first; there are countless more. The key is to look at all arms of your business and think: is this actually the most effective way of doing things? Or might I not be seeing something crucial? Am I just doing it this way out of habit?

Might the inverse strategy be best? Learn more with my new book, You Got to Have Balls.