- 13 Sales Tips To Help You Survive In The Payroll Service Industry
- 5 Tips To Help You Write A Money-Making e-Mail Campaign
- 7 Reasons Why Your e-Mail Campaigns Aren't Working At Your Payroll Service
- 6 Tips For Hiring A Payroll Salesperson
- 6 Steps To Developing An E-mail Marketing Strategy For A Payroll Service Bureau
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Friday, July 26 2013
5 Tips To Creating A Payroll Service Bureau Newsletter
Back in the day, publishing a newsletter for a payroll service bureau required buying and maintaining a mailing list, purchasing a graphic design software program, printing hundreds of newsletters and then affixing a mailing label and stamp on each and every piece.
Now that e-mail marketing services like Constant Contact are available, it is easy to write and publish a professional newsletter for your business. However, there are a few key elements to creating an informative e-mail marketing newsletter that you need to know. Tip #1: Your Content Is All About Your Target Audience, NOT YOU.
The first thing you need to know is that an e-mail marketing newsletter is all about your subscribers. When writing a newsletter, ask yourself these questions: · Will the content be informative to the reader? · Will the reader what to share the content with his or her coworker? · Will it help the reader with their job or task at hand?
Tip #2: 60% Of Your Open Rate = Your Subject Line AND Sender's Name.
60% of your e-mail's open rate hinges on your subject line and the sender's name (are they are trusted source). Don't forget to keep your subject lines catchy, short and specific. You also want to avoid using characters like an exclamation mark as it can trigger certain spam filters.
Tip #3: Subject Line Examples.
One of the key elements we coach our payroll service clients on is to focus their subject line/content on the reader. This could be subject lines/articles like: · 10 Tips To Save A Business Owner Money · How To Improve Your Time Management Skills · 5 Interview Questions You Want To Ask Every New Candidate · The Top 10 Payroll Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
Tip #4: Provide Subscribers A Risk-Free Offer.
If you want to generate a sales leads from your newsletter, add a risk-free offer box to the bottom of it. Although you may have a risk-free offer in mind, the key to a really successful offer is to make it completely irresistible to your target audience.
Examples include:
1. Try Us Completely FREE For XX Days 2. Free Payroll And HR Audit ($X Value) 3. FREE Employee Background Check ($X Value) Tip #5: Newsletters Are Only One Component Of Your e-Mail Marketing Strategy.
Many owners in the payroll service industry think that sending out a "newsletter" is all they need to do when it comes to their e-mail marketing strategy.
The key to your success is providing timely and relevant information that is easy to read for the subscriber. Here are other examples of campaigns: · Sales Letters · Customer/Prospect Surveys · Press Releases · · Articles From A Third Party Source · Ancillary Service Promotion\ · Special Office Hours · Grand Opening/Anniversary Special
Executive Summary: If you want to make your next newsletter a winner, concentrate on the following: · Don't load your newsletter with tons of "sales promotions" for an ancillary service(s). · Keep the formatting simple and easy to read. · Make sure the sender of the newsletter is your company (not a person). · Make sure your article is about the reader's interest, not yours. · Use an eye-catching subject line. · Make sure you have a web-based version so someone can read it on his or her smartphone or tablet. · Make sure you have a button for someone to share it on his or her LinkedIn page. Wednesday, June 05 2013
 Most payroll service companies haven't trained their sales reps on what to say when giving a presentation to a group or prospect. Because of this, then end up looking like a "me too" payroll service.
At a recent chamber networking event, I personally saw a payroll salesperson stand up and say this: "My name is _____ from _______. We do payroll better that anyone else. I'm your sales rep and we've been in business for almost 20 years." So answer this; did he make you want to drop your current payroll service and sign up with his company? Of course not.
Words such as better, been in business since ______, largest, biggest, smartest and best are examples of platitudes. What is a platitude? They are words or statements that are spoken as if it were meaningful or important (when in fact, it doesn't mean anything).
Messages full of platitudes don't allow people to make a logical choice about your business. Human nature dictates that all people want to make the best purchasing decision possible. The only way to effectively accomplish this is by educating your prospects with specific, concrete, compelling reasons why they should do business with your company. Something a powerful unique selling proposition (USP) will do for any size payroll service.
Elements of a Winning Marketing Message.
There are six steps to creating a winning marketing message (which are the building blocks to your USP):
Final Thoughts On Your USP.
You don't have to a 20-page document to outline your USP, as most businesses can create one in one to two pages. Once your unique message has been created, you message should be used in all your marketing communications including your sales brochures, website, direct mail pieces, yellow page ads, sales scripts and radio ads. But more importantly, train your salespeople on how to use it when they are communicating to a prospective buyer. Wednesday, January 30 2013
· Hint #1: It makes it possible for you or your sales team to have an in-depth, one-on-one conversation with a prospect in real-time.
· Hint #2: It enables you or your sales team to have in a matter of few hours to create leads that would otherwise go to your competition.
· Hint #3: It enables you or your sales team to fill your sales pipeline with referrals when your e-mails and direct mail campaigns are not getting a response?
Your Telephone AND Today's New Prospecting Strategies.
The sales process is a lot tougher these days; your payroll prospects have lower budgets, have more choices than ever before and are doing more work with fewer resources. What does this mean for you and your sales team? It means that you need to break through all this clutter with attention grabbing information. Period. Before You Can Have A Real-Time Conversation With A Prospect, You Need To Get Their Attention. If you want to be more successful in landing a one-on-one conversation with a prospect, you need to develop a sales and marketing strategy; one that gets a prospect's attention. To get the attention of a prospect, here is what we suggest:
1. Send a series of educational e-mail marketing campaigns to your database of prospects.
2. Send a sales themed e-mail to this same database (don't forget to add a low-risk invitational offer); then download all the people that opened/clicked through the hyperlinks on this e-mail. Alternatively, send a lumpy mail marketing campaign (this is great when you are targeting the "C" level at larger companies.
3. Call the list of people above (within 36 - 48 hours of receiving campaign from item #2).
The Devil Is Now In The Details:
We know that the three steps above seem rather obvious. But here is what successful sales leaders do.
· Set up a time when 100% of their salespeople come into the office and make their "oh by the way" follow-up calls.
· Provide their salespeople a sales script for talking with a live prospect.
· Provide their salespeople a voicemail script when leaving a message.
· Provide their salespeople a follow-up e-mail campaign to send immediately after leaving a voicemail (one that contains a pdf attachment, i.e., overview sheet with a risk-free invitational offer on it).
· Provide their salespeople a number of sales tools they can send to a prospect (when talking live on the phone).
· Train their salespeople on how to use their website (to help create interest by solving particular problems).
Executive Summary: Most salespeople dislike making cold calls. It's a fact of life if you are a business owner or sales leader.
To ensure that your salespeople are picking up the phone, set a specific day/time when they come into the office to make them. Do not accept ANY excuses as to why they can't come into the office. If you want to see your sales increase, set up a sales process for your salespeople to follow. Do this, and you will see sales magic happen.
Friday, January 18 2013
How Do You Define A Cold Call?
To a lot of sales leaders and sales professionals, cold calling is defined as "calling someone that you want to sell something to." The "someone" is defined as:
· A current or past customer.
· A prospect/suspect that you never spoke with before.
· A referral partner (active or passive) that you want to say hello to (and yes, they know you are calling to remind them to send you a lead).
· Someone you want as a referral partner.
· A person (AKA a lead) that has expressed interest in what you are selling.
Why Do Salespeople Fail At Cold Calling (Which Is The Reason Why Many Hate It).
As mentioned above, many salespeople dread cold calling; unfortunately, it is a necessary job function if you want to succeed. And why do they dislike making these calls? Looking back at our 10 years of consulting, it comes down to these primary areas.
1. They lack a sales process.
2. They don't have a marketing system to support them or a sales leader doesn't have any idea how to do this.
3. They get frustrated over the number of voicemail messages/messages they need to leave.
4. They don't like and/or are not confident in what they are selling.
5. They don't belong in sales.
Who Should You Cold Call First And Why.
Let's look at the list above and determine whom a salesperson should call first and why.
1. Lead - This is someone who has contacted you and is interested in what you are selling.
2. Current Or Past Customers - It is a lot easier to sell something to someone that has bought from you. Additionally, they are a great referral source for you too.
3. Referral Partners (Active Or Passive) - This person already knows who you are and the value your business can provide. And yes, just calling to say hello is still cold calling.
4. Possible Referral Partners - Since referral partners make selling easier, you should spend your time calling them.
5. Prospects Or Suspects - Calling someone who doesn't know you is the toughest sell a salesperson can make.
The Key To Cold Calling Is This: Develop A Sales AND Marketing System For Your Salespeople.
Salespeople do their best when they are plugged into a sales and marketing system. This means that the sales leader needs to take a proactive approach developing one for his or her sales team. A sales and marketing system contains the following elements:
· An up-to-date database to call (consider a niche market)
· Sales tools (articles, whitepapers, sell sheets, etc.)
· Objection handing training
· Printed or electronic marketing material to send/hand out
· Development/training on sales call scripts and voicemail scripts
· Questions to ask a prospect or referral partner (and training on how to use)
· Prospect presentation kit (and training on how to use)
· Referral partner presentation kit (and training on how to use)
· Marketing campaigns (print and electronic)
· And yes, there are things like product training, sales training, etc. to consider as well.
Some Marketing Campaigns To Send Before A Cold Call Is Made.
Want to have greater success when cold calling? If you do, then send a marketing campaign to someone BEFORE picking up the phone.
Some marketing campaign ideas are: 1. Customer surveys
2. Lumpy mail campaigns
3. Press Releases
4. Meeting Request Sales Letters
Executive Summary: If you are a sales leader, don't be cheap this year. Spend some money (and time) developing a sales and marketing system for your salespeople. Do this, and it will be a lot easier for your sales team to make a cold call. In fact, your good salespeople will love you for it.
If you are in sales, print this tip and hand it to your sales leader/owner. Then tell them to create a sales and marketing system for their payroll service (psst...need to outline how this system will lower employee turnover and create greater top-line sales).
Posted by: Glenn Fallavollita, CEO of Drip Marketing, Inc. AT 03:41 pm
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Saturday, January 12 2013
Want to increase the number of payroll prospects and/or referral partners that call or e-mail you when they are ready to buy?
If you do, then always include a risk-free invitational offer on a marketing campaign.What is a risk-free invitational offer? It is an offer that gives a prospective buyer (the Immediate Buyers and the Tire Kickers) a path to take they can either learn more about your products or services or an incentive to make an immediate purchase from you.
The Wording You Use On A Risk-Free Invitational Offer Helps A Great Deal.
The wording of your risk-free invitational offer will have an impact on its success. To give you an idea of how a slight word change can lead to a stronger and more effective offer, we have listed below three headlines to review.
As you can see, there are slight differences between each headline - differences that can and will make all the difference in the world.
Your Risk-Free Invitational Offer Will Depend On The Group You Are Targeting.
If you are targeting the Immediate Buyers in your database, consider risk-free invitational offers with a high value and a high risk:
If you are targeting the Tire Kickers in your database, consider risk-free invitational offers with a high value and a low risk:
Increase Your Offer's Success By Doing This:
If you want to increase the percentage of people who take advantage of a particular offer, pick up the phone and make an "Oh By The Way" call to anyone who received the offer. Remember, people are busier than ever these days; and they sometimes need a few reminders to take the next step in the buying process.
Executive Summary: As you review your next marketing campaign, spend time reviewing your risk-free invitational offer. If the offer provides little value and a high risk, consider using a different offer. Once you settle on a risk-free invitational offer, develop a strategy to proactively follow-up on the campaign within 24 to 72 hours of the offer hitting a prospect's desk/inbox. If you do this, you will see sales magic start to happen.
Wednesday, January 09 2013
To be successful in growing your 2013 sales, it comes down to a number of things. From consistent marketing, creating marketing messages that resonate with your target audience, building a marketing database, prospecting for new business to honing your (or your salespeople's) closing and follow-up skills.
And yes, hope is not a strategy for increasing your payroll service's sales.
5 Mistakes Most Payroll Services Will Make In 2013. Will Yours Be One Of Them?
After 10 years and 20,000 hours of helping hundreds of payroll services, we have noticed many core areas they fall short on - see if you can relate from the list below.
To help you and your business gain greater sales success in 2013, we have listed below a number of steps to help grow your business this year.
5 Steps For Greater Sales & Marketing Success In 2013:
Step #1. Start updating and growing your database of clients, prospects and referral partners: The key to your success comes down to having an accurate and manageable database of prospective buyers. If you are not growing your database of prospective buyers (both their e-mail and direct mail addresses), you are missing the #1 thing you can do to grow your business in 2013.
Step #2. Know Your USP: Ask yourself these questions: "What motivated the last 3 - 5 prospects to buy from us? Why do our clients keep on buying from us? After you have answered these questions, survey the last 3 - 5 prospects and your clients. What they tell you will help you construct a series of GREAT marketing messages.
Step #3. Create a marketing budget/ 12-month drip marketing calendar of events: Consistent marketing is critical to your business. Why? Because 80% of what you tell someone will be forgotten by them within 24 - 48 hours. Don't believe me? Ask your salespeople if a client every told them this: "I didn't know you did that?" That said, create a budget and calendar of events to ensure your marketing gets done.
Step #4. Not having a proactive sales follow-up strategy: Want to increase sales immediately and generate a huge ROI on your marketing investment? If you do, create a follow-up schedule for your salespeople to use. BTW, if you leave it up to your salespeople to do, they won't; therefore, the sales leader needs ensure this gets done.
Some of best campaigns you can send and follow-up on are:
Step #5: Not knowing how to write a motivating and effective marketing message. If you want to generate more leads and interest in what you sell, determine (see step 2) why people buy from you. Once you know this, write an effective headline, keep your copy crisp and concise and then add a risk-free offer to the campaign.
Executive Summary: If you want to maximize your sales marketing efforts this year, take the time and develop a plan of action. By developing a plan, you will greatly reduce the odds of NOT meeting your objectives.
© Drip Marketing, Inc. All Rights Reserved & May Not Be Used Without Written Permission
Wednesday, January 09 2013
To increase your payroll service's sales 20% - 50% in 2013 is a lot easier than you think. However, it requires you to focus on four core areas of your sales and marketing efforts. If not, you are doomed to repeat 2012's sales results.
4 Proven Tips All Business Owners, Sales Leaders and Salespeople Need To Read -- Twice.
Tip #1: Increase The Size/Accuracy Of Your e-Mail And Direct Database Of Customers, Prospects And Referral Partners. Fact: 80% of your sales success will come from having an up-to-date database of customers, prospects and referral partners. This means that you need to make sure your database(s) are increasing in size - and one that includes someone's e-mail and direct mail address.
Hint: All sales leaders need to monitor the growth of each salesperson's database on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Additionally, run a report on how many names have an e-mail address and a mailing address associated with it.
Tip #2: E-Mail A Consistent Series Of Marketing Campaigns. If you are not sending a series of educational, sales and informational themed e-mail marketing campaigns to your databases, you are missing a huge opportunity. However, don't think for one minute that you can just send an e-newsletter once a month and the phone will start ringing. Although it is a good start, you need to create a defined e-mail marketing strategy for your business.
Tip #3: Send A Consistent Series Of Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns. That's right, snail mail is still an effective marketing tool for a payroll service. Remember, e-mail marketing is great, low-cost marketing tool; however, only ~20% of the time someone will open it. Add a mix of direct mail (and a sales follow-up system) to compliment your e-mail marketing efforts and you will see sales magic start to happen.
Tip #4: Create A Sales Follow-up System For Your Salespeople. Winning salespeople and smart business owners know the value of systematizing their sales and marketing efforts. So what they do is this: They motivate their salespeople to pick up the and start calling by having phone blitz sessions. Plus, they train their salespeople how to leave voicemail messages, when to call their list of prospects, closing techniques and how to ask business related sales questions to uncover a particular problem, etc. to help them become more a more effective salesperson.
Executive Summary: With 2012 coming to an end, this is the perfect time to reflect on your sales and marketing efforts. If you are not happy with the sales results from your sales team, it is time for you to reflect on the four tips listed above.
© Drip Marketing, Inc. All Rights Reserved & May Not Be Used Without Written Permission
Wednesday, January 09 2013
If you are responsible for increasing sales at your payroll service, we both know that leaving a voicemail message happens more times than not. And statistically speaking, you will leave a voicemail message 75% to 80% of the time.
Often times salespeople are frustrated over the lack of a return phone call after leaving a voicemail message. If you are as well, then you might find the list below of particular interest.
8 Reasons Why Someone Won't Call You Back After Leaving Them A Voicemail Message.
Executive Summary: The majority of your prospects are letting their phone calls go right into voicemail. That said, you will leave a voicemail (or message with someone) about 8 out-of 10 phone calls. Now that you know this staggering statistic, don't you think it's in your best interest to have a voicemail script ready when calling someone? Of course it is.
© Drip Marketing, Inc. All Rights Reserved & May Not Be Used Without Written Permission
Wednesday, January 09 2013
Successful payroll services share many components - in addition to a successful product line or corporate culture, these businesses keep ahead of their competition.
5 Tips To Keep Your Payroll Service More Competitive:
Tip #2: Use The Most Up-To-Date Technology - Using technology is integral to business success. While you don't want to spend your entire budget on upgrades, it's important to evaluate new technology that can help your business run more efficiently - technology that will help your team members become more efficient and deliver better quality.
Executive Summary: Stay ahead of your competition with consistent customer contact and follow-up calls. Additionally, keep track of the competitions' offering or acquisitions. If you can do this consistently, you will gain a great foothold in the market.
© Drip Marketing, Inc. All Rights Reserved & May Not Be Used Without Written Permission
Wednesday, January 09 2013
Face it: cold calling is an unpleasant reality for many people in sales. They don't like it for many reasons. However, if you are in sales, it is a necessary job function - especially when starting a new sales job.
There are a number of reasons as to why a salesperson fails at cold calling. But after you strip away the fact that most salespeople don't want to do it, you are left with a number of core reasons as to why (see below).
The Key To Your Success Will Be The Database(s) That You Or Your Salespeople Call.
Before you or your salespeople start making a bunch of cold calls, you need to first look at the databases you are calling. In fact, 60% or more of your sales team's success will be directly related to the SIZE and QUALITY of their prospective buyer database, i.e., customers, past customers, prospects and referral partners.
Break Your Databases Into The Following Groups.
Cold Calling Will Increase Your Sales. . . If Done Correctly.
Although you and some of your salespeople might loathe cold calling, it can be a very effective way to increase your sales - if it is done correctly. In fact, I have listed below the best and worst cold calling techniques for most business owners, sales leaders and salespeople reading this e-tip.
The Best To Worst Cold Calling Techniques.
The best to worst cold calling techniques for most salespeople to use:
Executive Summary: Sure, there are many other sales activities/events you can do to motivate a prospective buyer to reach out to you. However, it cannot be relied upon as your sole source of lead generation. The key to your cold calling success is to have a sound strategy. Once it is developed, pick up the phone and start calling. Do this and you WILL SEE sales magic happen.
P.S. It's NOT about standing over your salespeople and measuring the number of cold calls they make (although it is important); it is about developing a marketing strategy, creating a database to call and then ensuring a salesperson are following-up on a marketing campaign.
© Drip Marketing, Inc. All Rights Reserved & May Not Be Used Without Written Permission
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Read What This Payroll Service Salesperson Said When He Stood Up At A Chamber Networking Event. . . 
To help your payroll service become a more successful (and profitable) business, we have listed below five tips (and yes, there are many others) for you and your team members to discuss.
Why Salespeople Fail At Cold Calling.
