|
realwired!
Ask about our latest offering,
The perfect system for banks to lower the cost of ordering appraisals, managing 3rd party service providers and managing problem real estate loans. |
|
QuickConnect
QuickConnect+
ProjectWorkspaceCustom
Are you...
Tired of trying to email attachments and documents to clients just to get a "Delivery Failure" notice?
Paying overnight charges for large documents?
Ready to solve delivery delays and improve workflow and increase production?
|
No. 1 Selling Comp
Database Software
|
|
More than 5,000 of you love DataComp©. Now be the first to have EDGE©...the appraisal report generating software.
Contact us for special Introductory Pricing! |
|
For more information on realwired! Products and Services, please call (813) 349-2700 or email Sunda@realwired.com | |
|
|
|
TOP OF THE WEEK TO YOU!
(by realwired! CEO, Brenda Dohring)
Top of the Week to You! is designed to offer the inside scoop and latest of what's important in the world of technology as it relates to the commercial real estate industry. |
Outlook Avalanche
I think I jinxed things with my column last week...talking about old coats and it being it cold. What was I thinking? Local news said it might snow here. Really? Snow in Tampa, Florida? It happened before in the late 1970s. As I recall, there was just enough snow to make a height-impaired snowman (snow-dwarf). It wasn't an avalanche for sure, but my daily email sure is.
I know that's a pretty weak segue to managing your e-mail with Outlook. Give me a break, its cold. I've noticed that people handle their volumes of e-mail much differently. A friend of mine, a local business editor, gets 400 e-mails daily, most of which are valid. At some point the efficiency of email becomes just the opposite.
Avoid the "it will just take a second" addiction and only open Outlook at predetermined times each day. Let people know that, for example, you only read your e-mails first thing in the morning and at the end of the day. Do not read your email every 15 seconds; it will make you twitchy and hugely inefficient. It's almost like you're at your house and running out to the mailbox 68 times a day to see if the postman is there. The neighbors will notice your odd behavior.
Here's a few best practices.
- If your outbound email is more than two paragraphs, pick up the phone.
- Tell your outbound email reader if a response is necessary. Cut down on the response emails that you have to read like "Thanks", "Have a great day" or the ubiquitous "Received your email".
- Use Outlook's junk email feature (add Sender to blocked senders list).
- Create numerous Outlook folders (under folder list) with clearly labeled subfolders.
- Organize the multitude of emails by color. Click on Actions, Categorize and color code email by project, sender or whatever category is meaningful to you.
So stop your inefficient Outlook behavior and while you're at it, put a jacket on..it's cold out there. |
|
Sales/Marketing Tip
Hail to the Chief
"THERE ARE INDEED NO BAD SOLDIERS; ONLY BAD OFFICERS"
(General George Patton, 1942)
Owners often ask: Why can't I find great salespeople? For them it is as if salespeople are like truffles, there for the finding. And dinner requires little more than taking them home and cooking them.
Sales is a craft. It's not unlike sports or music. There are people who have talent who are worth developing as salespeople. But not everyone has talent and without proper education and training even people with talent won't realize the full benefits of their gifts.
Developing a winning sales team is a worthy project. Few companies succeed, not because it can't be done, but rather, because it takes time and effort. Most entrepreneurs and business executives have short attention spans. They focus on the quarter's financial results rather than on longer-term processes that drive those results. Developing a champion sales team is ongoing project. The steps are not many but they do require both effort and investment.
Embrace these principles:
1. Management must understand human purchasing behavior and decision biases and develop a systematic sales process. They need to identify key performance indicators, communicate them to the team and manage according to performance.
2. Management needs a rigorous and systematic recruiting program that weeds out undesirable sales candidates. 90% of people who apply for sales positions should never be hired. Hiring salespeople who never end up selling much is the single largest waste of money in business. Management usually has a whole set of unconscious biases that cause them to hire the wrong people. Until these are dealt with, sales recruiting will always result in losses.
3. Management needs to rigorously train salespeople in their craft (even, indeed, especially! those who already have experience). Training is part education and part practice. It is not enough to understand biases. One has to work hard to overcome them. It is one thing to be able to read music. It is a very different thing to be able to play it. Everyone over about sixteen is forgetting faster than they are learning. Most salespeople have a short productive window and then burn out. Ongoing training and education is not a luxury; it's required.
4. Management needs to provide a culture of support. The obstacles to success in sales are not physical, they are psychological. Doubt, fear and frustration are the true enemies of a strong top line. A strong sales force development program helps salespeople deal with these emotional issues. Sometimes just keeping good players in the game is what it takes to win.
Many companies succeed in driving away their best performers. Others let talent smolder and finally die. Most take the easy road and insist that sales performance is the problem of the salespeople. They tolerate consistent underachievement by those who could do so much better. Others run day care centers for salespeople who have retired on the job.
Sales is a craft and your team better be good at it. Without a strong top line no bottom line is possible. Mark Fitzgerald, Sales Training Institute, Inc., Tampa, Florida provides this column weekly. Mr. Fitzgerald provides both group and customized sales training for professionals and companies. For more information, please contact him by telephone at 813-831-5555, via email at mark@saleskills.com or visit www.saleskills.com. |
A.M.B. International trades as Claire Murray at 15 locations throughout FL, MA, MD, ME, RI, SC and VT. The stores, offering rugs and home accessories, occupy spaces of 2,000 sq.ft. in endcap spaces in specialty
centers, as well as freestanding locations. Growth opportunities are sought throughout the southern U.S. during the coming 18 months. For more information, contact Garrett Ames, A.M.B. International, PO Box 390, Ascutney, VT 05030; Web site: www.clairemurray.com
General Paint Corp. trades as General Paint at 80 locations throughout Canada. The paint stores occupy spaces of 4,000 sq.ft. in strip centers and freestanding locations. Growth opportunities are sought throughout Ontario, Canada during the coming 18 months. Typical leases run five years with one, five-year option. Preferred demographics include a population of 100,000 within a five-mile radius. For more information, contact Philip Jewell, General Paint Corp., 950 Raymur Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6A 3L5; Web site: www.generalpaint.com
Tuesday Morning, Inc. trades as Tuesday Morning at 854 locations nationwide. The stores, offering rugs, lamps, books, luggage, china, toys, bed and bath accessories, holiday decorations and accessories, garden accessories, stationery, women's accessories, dinnerware and fine art and frames, occupy spaces of 8,000 sq.ft. in entertainment, lifestyle, power, strip, tourist and value centers, malls, freestanding locations and urban/downtown locations. Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing market during the coming 18 months. Typical leases run five years with two, five-year options. A vanilla shell is required. Preferred demographics include a population of 100,000 within a five-mile radius. For more information, contact Melissa Dean, Tuesday Morning, Inc., 6250 LBJ Freeway, Dallas, TX 75240; Web site: www.tuesdaymorning.com
Retail Brand Alliance, Inc. trades as Brooks Brothers and Brooks Brothers Factory Stores at 200 locations nationwide. The men's apparel stores occupy spaces of 2,500 sq.ft. to 9,000 sq.ft. in lifestyle centers, malls and downtown areas. Growth opportunities are sought nationwide during the coming 18 months. The company prefers to locate in affluent markets.For more information, contact Sue Ayers, Retail Brand Alliance, Inc., 100 Phoenix Avenue, Enfield, CT 06082
Finish Line trades as Man Alive at 90 locations throughout AL, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX and VA. The stores, men's and women's offering streetwear and accessories, occupy spaces of 2,500 sq.ft. to 3,000 sq.ft. in malls. Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing markets during the coming 18 months. For more information, contact Chad Edmundson, Finish Line, 3308 North Mitthoeffer Road, Indianapolis, IN 46235; Web site: www.manalive.com
Chicago Franchise Systems, Inc. trades as Al's Italian Beef and Nancy's Pizzeria at 62 locations throughout GA, IL and IN. The restaurants occupy spaces of 1,200 sq.ft. to 6,000 sq.ft. in freestanding locations and strip centers. Growth opportunities are sought throughout AZ, CA, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, MI, OH and WI during the coming 18 months. Typical leases run 10 years with two, five-year options. For more information, contact Eileen Holly, Chicago Franchise Systems, Inc., 8200 185th Street, Suite J, Tinley Park, IL 60487; Web site: www.nancyspizza.com
Like these leads? Want more? Go to the Dealmakers website for a FREE Trial subscription to The Dealmakers, the nation's weekly news source on retail real estate. |
Featured Internet Site of the Week
You Convert It
Website that offers to convert files from one format to another. This website does that and more, it is a one stop conversion shop. www.youconverit.com | |
|
|
|
