Communication Is Key but Knowing When to Stop Is Paramount

Great sales professionals with good reputations will have excellent communication skills. However, the key to their success will not all be in their talking abilities, as knowing when not to communicate can be just as important. Ask sales recruitment agencies in Warwickshire what they look for in candidates and effective communications will be high on their list. There are many attributes that successful sales professionals posses and which sales recruitment agencies in Warwickshire will be looking for, and being persistent is just one of them. If sales people stopped their interactions with a potential client on the first sign of a ‘no’, then they wouldn’t make it very far in their profession. However, continuing to contact prospects after they have categorically requested that you stop will not bring you any closer to a sale. It will bring you much closer to having a bad reputation as a nuisance and a pest. The skill is in listening to your contact, understanding the motives behind their decisions and acting, responding or following up accordingly. If you genuinely feel that you have just caught the contact at a bad time and you get a brush-off, but you feel that they really could benefit from what you have to offer, then ask them politely when might be a better time to call to explain how your product could benefit them. However they respond, it is important to respect it. If they are unwilling to give you a time frame, then make a suggestion which allows a long enough cool-down period. It might result in them being more receptive next time you call. But if you say in a month’s time, make sure it is just that. You will at least earn the respect that you can keep to your word. The key to great communications is not simply to deliver your messages clearly. More importantly, it is to listen carefully and understand what is communicated to you. The objective for all parties engaged in communications, sales-related or otherwise, is to understand that you have been understood. If different parties in a communication go away with different interpretations of what has been discussed, then the communication has effectively failed. If you feel that you have been unsuccessful with your phone calls, which can be particularly difficult, then follow up with a written communication thanking the prospect for the time they have spent talking to you. You will at least get the chance to enclose further information about your product.

First Get It Down, Then Get It Right

Even for the best writers, it is rarely the case that they will get what they want to write right first time. So if you are tasked with copywriting for your marketing materials and you know it really needs to pack a punch, don’t be down-hearted if the copy isn’t flowing easily. You might have lots of ideas flowing round in your mind, but it can be a common mistake to waste time trying to get the wording or phrasing exactly right for your opening line. It is all too easy to forget those great ideas while you struggle over a few words. Don’t worry about what order your ideas come in — just get them written down and you can go back later to craft them into the right order and structure. Start with a brain dump of all the ideas you think are relevant for content, regardless of how poorly formed they are at this stage. Make a note of any market messages that you should be using and consider what medium the content is going to be used for. Web copy, sales brochures and adverts all need very different styles if they are going to have the right impact. If your copy is being added to a body of content already in use, then make sure you familiarise yourself with the style and voice. It can be hard starting with a blank page and attempting to get to the perfect final document when you are writing in isolation. So don’t. Always get a second pair of eyes to review your work. You can either do this at first-draft stage to check you are heading along the right lines, or you can submit what you might feel is the best you can do. Whichever approach you take, don’t be disappointed to get comments, corrections or suggestions back. This is exactly what you need to get you to the final piece. You will soon see if you return the favour that it is much easier to improve on someone else’s work than it is to start with a blank page and create new copy. You will also need a second pair of eyes for proofreading, as you may find it difficult to proof your own work. Because you have written it yourself, you already know the content so your brain will read what it expects to see and not always what is actually there. This makes it difficult to spot mistakes. When there is no one to proofread for you, you could try reading your content backwards as this is an easier way to spot technical errors and typos. If you haven’t got the right talent to effectively manage your copywriting requirements in house, then it might be time to think about hiring in specific resource. Good marketing recruitment agencies in Coventry will be able to find you the ideal candidates for your vacancy. Whether you need an individual who specialises purely in copywriting or someone who has this amongst their skills but who can also turn their hand to other marketing tasks, marketing recruitment agencies in Coventry will find the right fit for you.

Is Wining and Dining Still the Way to Go?

Corporate hospitality is one thing, but the perception of bribery is quite another. So how can you get to spend quality time getting to know a prospect and finding out what you might be able to do for them if you can’t offer to take them to dinner? It is, after all, only a courteous gesture, isn’t it? As a sales professional, you only need to look at the role profiles being advertised by sales recruitment agencies in the West Midlands to see that the ability to build new relationships with potential clients is a key competency required. In order to be able to do that, there are going to be times when you need to meet one to one in order to get any quality time to talk. However, the contacts you need to be building relationships with are the decision makers and the purchasers, who will be very busy people. You may find that the only time you can get a moment with them is when they need to stop to eat. So it is only natural if you want to take some of that time from them, then you would offer to buy them lunch or dinner. While you are researching companies and the contacts you want to make, you should also research what the company’s policies are regarding the acceptance of gifts. You will want to courteous if you are asking for someone to give you their valuable time by offering to pay for the lunch. However, you will not want to put yourself or your client in a compromising position by enticing them to a meeting with an offer they can’t refuse or winning their favour with generous gifts. Don’t be afraid to be open about your activities and even ask the company in question if your chosen approach fits with their ethos and working practices. Always make sure you know what the guidelines are and don’t break them. You may find that it is mostly public-sector bodies that have the strictest guidelines, but never assume that private companies are not operating with the same processes. Reputation is important in the modern world, so you will find more companies being protective of their image, which includes public perceptions of how they do business. To learn a company’s approach to supplier engagement, look at how they advertise their supplier opportunities. Holding open and public procurement processes, where suppliers submit bids, can be an indication that the company wants to be seen to be fair and equitable in its approach to selecting suppliers. The goal is to ensure that contracts have been awarded to the supplier best able to do the work and not to hand out work on the basis of who you know or who has promised something. If you are looking for your next sales role and don’t want to worry that your genuine approaches for relationship building may be seen as compromising, then speak to sales recruitment agencies in the West Midlands. They will be able to help you choose a sector to work within where corporate hospitality is welcomed, and indeed is appreciated, as the way business is done.

Advancing Your Marketing Career Might Bring Unexpected Responsibilities

So you have done your time in administrative and supporting marketing roles, and you have thoroughly learned your craft. Now you feel it is time to move into a position where you get to make decisions and help drive the marketing strategy forward. The prospect of taking on more marketing responsibility and playing a part in decision making can be an exciting time. But before you head along this road of career progression, take some time to consider what it will involve and what jobs will be right for you. Moving from supporting or delivery roles into management can bring with it a whole host of personnel-related responsibilities if your step up the career ladder involves line management. Responsibilities could involve standard HR issues and processes which are not specific to your industry and which might demand skills and competencies you have yet to use or learn in your current job. As a line manager you can be expected to manage performance, attendance, sickness, disciplinary and capability processes as well as managing recruitment to your area or team. While most companies will offer some HR support in these areas, it is wise to find out to what degree you will be responsible for the day-to-day aspects of these processes. If you are to be wholly responsible and you are looking for promotion within a company, then you should expect training. But whether you are trained or not, you will soon learn whether these aspects of work are for you or if they detract too much from doing the marketing job you love. If line management isn’t for you, then read job descriptions and role responsibilities closely before considering an application. When job searching with the help of marketing recruitment agencies in Wolverhampton, make sure the agency knows what you want and do not want to do. All is not lost, as there will be management level jobs which have no line management responsibilities and where you are responsible for managing and delivering a discrete area of work about which you make the decisions. Let marketing recruitment agencies in Wolverhampton know what you are keen to specialise in to help aid the search for your perfect job. Other options for avoiding personnel management while still progressing to more responsible marketing positions might involve moving from in-house to agency marketing work, where you will deal with clients rather than staff and get to focus your skills on developing strategies and campaigns. Or you could set yourself up as a marketing consultant. This is a very big decision to make and not one for the faint-hearted. As well as some kind of financial backing or security to carry you through the build-up of your business, you will also need to make sure you have had sufficient experience and qualifications to present a credible option to clients. You may find that you have to do your stint in the in-house management roles to get the right level of experience under your belt before heading down this route.

Making the Right Connections

Generating new leads, making contacts and building your network are all important parts of the sales process, but could you be wasting your time? The key to successful sales is to get through to the right person — the decision maker. It is true that you might have to meet a lot of people along the way before reaching the people with purchasing power, but that is only really worthwhile if you are making the right connections to get you nearer your goal. Expending too much energy with individuals who are never going to make the purchase and who cannot help you make the next connection can be a huge waste of time. What might be difficult at first is learning who will or won’t be able to help you make connections. It is always a good idea to befriend receptionists or PAs. While they won’t necessarily be in positions to introduce you to the right people, you may get the next best thing, which is access to direct contact. They may either be persuaded to put your call through to your identified contact, or they may be helpful in advising you on who the most appropriate contact would be in their organisation, whether or not they deign to direct your enquiry straight to them. Building your contacts is about quality rather than quantity. You will need to be able to research the market and the organisations of target prospects within it. In order to make the right connections, you will need to be knowledgeable about staffing structures and lines of responsibility within an organisation. Learn who has the power to make decisions or who is controlling the purse strings before you start making your advances. Time can be wasted if you choose to start off blindly just to see where it might lead. A one-off gamble might be worth it, but it is not sustainable when you have targets to achieve. Imagine you are looking for a new job and you know that one of the many sales recruitment agencies in Birmingham is dealing with the employer you would most like to work for. It makes sense that you would introduce yourself to that particular agency. Look at your sales approach in this way and you will stop pursuing hopeless leads and start researching your prospects more effectively. If you were actually looking for a new job, being knowledgeable about sales recruitment agencies in Birmingham will put you in a good position and mark you out as someone capable of doing their homework.

What’s Cooking in Shropshire’s Economy?

The current return to form for the housing market is having great effects on the Shropshire economy. Aga Rangemaster, which has a finishing factory in Telford, has reported an increase of approximately 25% in the sales of electric ovens. The sales are the result of both the build of new houses and the increase in the number of existing home owners making improvements to their own properties. It is an interesting reminder of how interlinked different industries can be and how the performance of one sector can so directly affect the fortunes of another. Further good news for the Shropshire economy came with the announcements from Stadco and Heinz. Stadco, which is a firm that makes car parts, announced a number of new jobs as part of the company’s expansion in Shrewsbury and Telford. The famous food brand Heinz is also planning to expand its local factory, creating around 80 new jobs for the area. Taking on additional staff is a clear indication that a company’s performance is strong enough to cope with the additional staffing costs, and also that there is sufficient optimism about the market and future orders that the additional output from the increased workforce will be taken up. All this is good news for sales and marketing teams. During the recession, it was often the case that the first jobs to go when companies needed to cut back were from the marketing and training departments. Rightly or wrongly, many companies saw marketing as an expense rather than an investment during the recession so would have cut costs in this area. Hopefully, the re-emergence of the economy from the recession will mean a return to more permanent in-house roles for marketing professionals where companies once had to manage with ad hoc support from outsourced services. The recent boosts to the economy might have positive knock-on effects for marketing recruitment agencies in Shropshire as businesses look to build on the growing sales opportunities. If you are looking for a change in your career, this could be a good time to send your CV to local marketing recruitment agencies in Shropshire. You can also always take the initiative and apply directly with speculative applications presenting what you can bring to the company should they be looking to hire. If you are to choose this approach, then keep a close eye on what’s happening in the local economy to see which firms are most likely to be hiring.