The Cool Projects I Worked For (Part 5 – Online Reputation) – Rodric Leerling

From publishing SuperBrands and CoolBrands to Online Reputation – CoolBrands People @coolbrandspeople @aroundtheworldin80brands

The Cool Projects I Worked For (Part 4 – Consumer Research)- Rodric Leerling

Having worked as a freelancer for several years now, one tends to forget how it all started and how my career choice in 2004 has defined where I am today.

MinutePoll, CoolBrands, SuperBrands, TrendBox

“What to do When Elevator Pitches don’t Work Anylonger?” – Rodric Leerling

As most people know, the fancy term ‘elevator pitch’ stems from the use of elevators in the US. Tall buildings with sometimes 50+ stories where people huddle together to get to their office floors. Imagine you would literally bump into the person you are desperately trying to contact? Could you give him or her your pitch in 1 minute while going up?

Lots of sales trainings are gearing toward that 1 minute pitch. Also handy to use for cold calls on the phone: “Can I have one minute of your time?” Who would deny you that 1 minute? But first you need to get your prospect actually pick up the phone. Voicemails are mostly dead-ends and don’t forget those gatekeepers telling you ‘he is in a meeting’. Meaning, he doesn’t have time to talk to you because he doesn’t  know you. ‘First send us an email what it’s all about’. You know that won’t work either, but what are your alternatives as sales rep these days?

Traditional sales people are struggling to generate new leads in order to get meetings for a demo, qualify leads and start sales conversations. All traditional roads seem to be closing for them. My advice: in stead of cold calling, start meeting your prospects where they gather and start getting used to Social Selling. It might take more than 1 minute though.

Your prospects are all using social media to gather information online. So, make sure you find them where they are searching. Offer them good pieces of advice, cheat sheets, white papers, case studies etc. It’s already been researched and clearly showing that sales reps using social networks are simply selling more.

Let’s explore the best social media platforms in another blog. Stay tuned!

 

“I’m introducing video to support referee mentoring” – Rodric Leerling

Rodric Leerling, Leerling.biz, Sales Power Provider, RefRod, CoolBrandsPeople, Sportief Westfriesland

This weekend, the 2nd part of the football youth competition is supposed to start in the Netherlands. Since this week though, half of the nation is covered in snow and temps expected to stay below zero degrees Celsius. That part of Holland won’t play any football, that’s for sure.

But in my part, the western half, it’s frosty and snowy as well, but not all games have been cancelled yet. On the roster for tomorrow is a another new ref to accompany. It’s been a great experience ever since I finished the ref mentoring course. All the negative associations of a ref assessor don’t apply as I’m allowed to meet the ref before and afterwards. One is allowed to discuss his performance, hint on things during half time and I have even started sending video clips afterwards, showing the rookie ref what I meant in my written report.

Last week, I accompanied a relative experienced new ref – he already started five years ago – who needed a last push towards promotion. Somehow he had been neglected (his words) by the Football Assoc. I thought he did pretty well but should work on his condition and try to avoid long talks with players and coaches. I actually shot a video clip of how he took a player apart towards the end of the game, who should have been booked with a yellow card. Instead, he took him apart and said something (no gestures) and walked back slowly to the free kick spot, where the fouled team was waiting for the restart. Who’s time was being wasted here?

He was very grateful, not only for the positive report, but more so for the practical tips and, of course a novelty, receiving actual video proof of his performance and items to work on. I hope more mentors will start using their phones, not only to record your thoughts, but also to shoot quick clips.

 

“Living Billboard” – Rodric Leerling

On my way to a football match last weekend, I passed a huge new digital double sided billboard on the A5. It’s erected along the new road between the notorious Coentunnel (a recently solved bottle neck) and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. From a distance you could see the message, clear and colourful. On the Clear Channel website the outdoor company calls it a “Double Digital” with 160m2 digital surface – available for commercial messages. If I had the money and mass audience as my target, I would sign up today.

It reminded me of the living billboard I met this summer during our holiday on a Dutch lake. The tall guy had a clear voice, greeted everyone his eyes met en walked and talked like a sailor. He had to, as he was the sailschool’s head instructor. Every morning he got his gear organised on time, ready for the kids to assemble on the lake side. Even when you were not taking lessons, he still greeted you and wished you a good morning, afternoon or evening. Always cheerful, friendly and ready to help when someone’s boat was not working.

I was impressed. Living billboards do exist! Colourful, friendly, inviting and with a clear message: join my sailboat lesson, enjoy sailing, come back next year. My girls are still talking about him. After years of hinting a week of sailing lessons and learning this great watersport skill, suddenly they got interested. The free evening activities, using the canoes, peddle boards and sailing boats, worked miracles. They decided they want to come back next year and take lessons. I wrote about this positive experience on their website and gave them high scores on the independent travel site we used to check them out. Advertising works as long as you are using the right tools to reach your target audience!