9 Factors That Will Affect Your Payroll Service’s e-Mail Open Rates
(Print And Share With Your Marketing Team And Sales Leader)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 206
• Read Time: 48 Seconds

After sending more than 100 million e-mail marketing campaigns here are some of the factors that can have a dramatic impact on an e-mail campaign’s open rate.

1. Apple’s e-mail privacy policy.
2. Time of the day.
3. Day of the week.
4. Subject line used.
5. The name used in the “from” field.
6. Database receiving the campaign:
   • New prospect list?
   • Existing client/past client list?
   • An existing list?
7. The frequency of past campaigns.
8. The “age” of the database and when was the last time an e-mail campaign was sent to it.
9. Past reader’s engagement level; was the campaign sent to the people who opened (or did not open) a previous campaign(s).

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are sending a mass e-mail marketing campaign to a B2B “non-client” database, avoid Mondays altogether as it is notoriously a bad day for mass e-mail marketing campaigns.

Best days and times To Send An e-Mail Campaign:

• Tuesdays – Thursdays from 8:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m., 12:55 p.m., or @ 2:45 p.m.
• Fridays from 8:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

By the way, ~50% of the people who open an e-mail marketing campaign, will open it in the first 90-minutes.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

10 Proven Tips That Will Jump-Start Your Payroll Sales

(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 170
• Read Time: 42 Seconds

If you want to improve your sales performance and ensure your survival in today’s competitive payroll sales environment, I have listed several tips below (in no particular order) to help you master the sales profession.

The 10 Tips Are:

1. Set goals for yourself.
2. Keep a weekly score of your sales activities/proposals.
3. Create a massive e-mail database of customers, prospects, dealers, past customers, referral partners, etc.
4. Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) statement (AKA your Elevator Pitch).
5. Become better at asking questions during a sales call.
6. Know your competition cold.
7. Focus on the correct type of prospects and/or referral partners.
8. Improve your prospecting and networking skills.
9. Make more phone calls to your database of prospects and referral partners.
10. Build a Business Development Center for yourself.

The payroll sales environment moves in the blink of an eye, from new competitors emerging, competitors lowering the price of similar products and services you sell, a new technology that makes your solution look obsolete, to a competitor receiving a large sum of capital from an investor.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

Payroll Sales Leaders: 3 "Must-Read" Sales Studies
(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 345
• Read Time: 93 Seconds

Here are three studies all payroll sales leaders and owners need to read: 

Study #1: Cahners Publishing did a study of 40,000 sales inquiries. Here are the results:

• 11% bought within 90 days after their initial inquiry date.
• 17% bought between 4 to 6 months after their inquiry date.
• 24% bought 6 to 12 months after inquiry.
• 49% took a year to make a purchase.

Study #2: According to an article by Work-Learning Research, Sadly, People forget 50% to 80% after one day. What’s worse is this: A prospect will forget 80% of what you tell them on the phone within 60 minutes!

Study #3: I did a formal study of 250+ payroll services; here is what I found: 

Follow-Up Calls Are NOT Being Made: 

• ~50% of all salespeople stop calling or sending information to a prospect for at least 9 to 12 months or altogether, after their 1st unsuccessful attempt at getting the sales process started or moved forward.
• ~80%  stop calling after their 2nd unsuccessful attempt.
• ~98% stop calling after their 3rd unsuccessful attempt.

Sales Staff Turnover: 

• 66% of all newly hired payroll salespeople* quit or get fired within 9 to 12 months of employment.

*At privately-held payroll services.

What Do These 3 Studies Mean For Your Payroll Service?

Your database of longer-term prospects offers your payroll service 4X more sales opportunities than short-term prospects. Therefore, you need to develop both a short-term AND long-term drip marketing strategy - a strategy that should include a combination of:

• Follow-up phone calls.
• Personal and mass e-mail campaigns.
• Social media connections and posts.
• Direct mail or lumpy mail campaigns.
• Drop-off kits/packages.

Summary Points:

1. It's up to your business to maintain contact with your database of prospects and referral partners since the likelihood of a salesperson doing this, statistically speaking, is not being done. 
2. A steady cadence of messages, phone calls, etc., will go a long way in building goodwill, trust, credibility, and brand recognition in the mind’s eye of a potential new payroll client or referral partner.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

5 Ideas To Help Generate More Payroll Sales Leads
(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 253
• Read Time: 60 Seconds

Many sales leaders, owners, and salespeople in the payroll service industry are hoping for a robust year of sales. Unfortunately, hope isn't a great sales strategy.

5 Money-Making Ideas To Help You Generate More Sales Leads And Referrals.

1. Phone Blitz Sessions - Schedule mandatory phone blitz sessions for your salespeople. Here's why:  Payroll salespeople loathe making outbound calls and will delay this activity. 
2. Ask, And You Shall Receive - Ask your clients and referral partners for a referral (if you don't ask, the answer is "no") - now re-read bullet #1.
3. e-Mail Database - Build a massive e-mail database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.
4. Drip Marketing Campaigns - Create a series of e-mail drip marketing sales letters, press releases, newsletters, service spotlights, etc., that promote the things that make your payroll service unique in the marketplace.
5. Drop-Off Campaigns - Since in-person sales meetings are few-and-far-between, you can still do a cookie/donut/pizza "drop-off" package at a referral partner's and key prospect's office. Don't forget to buy a roll of labels with your logo and tagline "Thank You For Your Support" printed on it.

ADP And Paychex Are Aggressively Going After New Business.

That's right; ADP and Paychex are looking to replace their lost clients (and so should you). To view their latest offer, click on the links below.

• Paychex's 3-Month Offer
• ADP's And BOA's Partnership 3-Month Offer

If hope is your sales and marketing strategy, you need to contact us to help you put our proven drip marketing system installed at your business.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

How To Generate More Referrals From Your Database Of CPAs
(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 383
• Time To Read: 1.5 Minutes

CPAs are one of the most trusted advisors for a business owner; therefore, tax season is the perfect time to develop a formal CPA strategy to help augment your sales.

Read What Other Payroll Services* Are Doing.

Click on each link* below to learn how these payroll services are partnering with the CPA community.

• ADP’s Revenue Share Overview
• ADP's Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement
• ADP's MAJOR ACCOUNTS SERVICES - MASTER SERVICES AGREEMENT
• Paychex CPA.com Partnership Program Brochure
• SurePayroll's Pricing Brochure For CPAs
• Paychex Major Market Services Agreement
• Paychex’s Partner Program For CPAs
• Fidelis Payroll’s Partner Program
• Gusto’s CPA Program
• Surepayroll’s CPA program
• Escalon Payroll Solutions CPA Program
• Capital Payroll’s CPA Program
• Payday Payroll’s CPA Program
• Cirrus Payroll’s CPA Program
• Resolution Payroll’s CPA Program
• CPA Partner Payroll’s CPA Program
• Entrust's CPA Partnership Program
• Journey Payroll's CPA Partnership Program
• Paychex's AICPA Partnership Program
• Paycor's CPA Partnership Program
• Pacific Payroll Group's CPA Partnership Program

*Click on the links above before the URLs are disabled.

The 5 Do's Of Working With A CPA.

#1. Do tell a CPA the things that make your payroll service unique in the marketplace.

#2. Do tell a CPA how you can reciprocate with referrals.

#3. Do tell a CPA about your revenue-share program (if appropriate).

#4: Do tell a CPA about easy access to their clients’ reports.

#5: Do share written testimonials from other CPAs in the area.

The 4 Don’ts Of Working With A CPA.

#1. You don’t want to compete with a CPA for accounting or bookkeeping services. If you do, it needs to be addressed with a formal non-compete agreement.

#2. You don’t want to be a nuisance (with phone calls) during tax season.

#3. You don’t want to expect a referral overnight as it takes weeks/months to gain a CPA's trust.

#4. Don't assume your salespeople are staying in contact with your database of referral partners as most salespeople give up way too early in the sales process.

Executive Summary: If you are an owner or a sales leader take a moment from your day and do the following:

1. Develop a written sales/marketing plan AND budget that targets the CPA community.
2. Create a series of metrics/reports to monitor your CPA/referral partners' success. Remember, the troops do what the company commander monitors.
3. Hold yourself AND your salespeople accountable for hitting targeted sales goals.

P.S. #1: A CPA has the power to recommend you/your payroll service to dozens, if not hundreds, of business clients.

P.S. #2: The proposal close rate from a CPA referral is north of 75%; that's right 75%!

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

Sales Metrics: What A Payroll Salesperson Should Track
(Print And Share With Your Sales Leader)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 244
• Read Time: 59 Seconds

Do you want to see an immediate increase in your sales? If you do, one of the best things you can do is to start tracking your sales activities (see below):

• How Many Proposals Sent And Closed – I recommend creating a Proposal Tracking Report via Excel. As archaic as this may sound to you CRM gurus, you don’t know what you don’t know. Remember, salespeople want things simple.
• How Many Outbound Calls Made – The number of outgoing calls you make each day/week is directly related to your sales performance.
• How Many Zoom Meetings/Appointments/Meetings Set – This report keeps track of the number of First Time Appointments (FTA) you have made each week with either a new prospect and/or a center-of-influence AKA referral partner.
• How Many People Are In Your e-Mail Database - I also recommend tracking the size of the following databases:

1. Prospects
   • How many are in your database?
   • How many have an e-mail address associated with their name?
2. Referral Partners
   • How many have an e-mail address associated with their name?
   • How many are in your database?
3. Past Customers/Active Customers
   • How many have an e-mail address associated with their name?
   • How many are in your database?

Now Read This!

You need to keep track of what you are doing; if you don’t, you won’t know what is working (or not working). Remember, if you don’t change what you are doing, your sales results will NOT change either.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

8 Tips For Payroll Salespeople
Who Are Working From Home
(Please Forward To Your Friends And Co-Workers)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 406
• Time To Read: 96 Seconds 

Working from home is the new norm for many payroll salespeople. And to be successful in this environment, it requires a lot of discipline on your end. To help you (or someone you know) stay focused, I have listed a few essential tips below.

#1: Manage Your Distractions - Home office distractions can and will impede your productivity. That said, I recommend finding a quiet place in your home to help stay focused. If your children are young, try and hire a local babysitter to keep them from interrupting you.

#2: Talk With Your Manager - There is a good possibility that your manager is also working from home; therefore, maintain communication via phone, e-mail, or text. Additionally, communicate the status of your projects with new clients or sales opportunities you are working on.

#3: Build Your e-Mail Database Of Prospects & Referral Partners  - You need to work on increasing the size and quality of your e-mail marketing database.  Whenever I speak at a conference, I start my workshop off with this line: Show me your prospect and referral partner databases, and I will show you your sales future. 

#4: Upgrade Your Office Technology - It is in your best interest to work on a PC (vs. laptop) as you can have two to three monitors running at the same time. And if your PC is as old as dirt, spend the $500 - $600 on a new, and faster machine.  

#5: Track Your Proposals – Your sales pipeline is your life! In order to keep track of your proposals, create an Excel sheet that tracks proposals by month.

#6: Be Prepared When Making Cold Calls - In most first-time phone calls, a prospect will give two to three minutes. Because of this, you need to have an engaging opening line. Please note this: Many people are not looking to hire a new payroll service or HCM business; therefore, you need to take a more educational spin on selling.

#7: Google Your Competition - Go online to see what your primary competitors are doing to attract new business. Share what you found with your sales/marketing leader and then come up with a better offer. 

#8: Don’t Get Discouraged - Working from home is tough for most people as rejection is amplified when working alone. Because of this, call your co-workers to see what they are doing. Also, don’t forget to stay connected with your manager. 

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

Generate 50% More Payroll Sales At 33% Lower Cost
(Print And Share With Your Sales Leader)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc

• Word Count: 356
• Time To Read: 96 Seconds

According to Forrester Research, "Companies that nurture their database of leads make 50% more sales at a cost 33% less than non-nurtured leads." Therefore, it is imperative to set up a drip marketing system to help nurture your database of payroll prospects and referral partners with educational building payroll content. 

Read These Sales And Marketing Statistics.

Before I wrote my book Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You, I studied how 1,000+ businesses and salespeople go about sales and marketing. Here is what I found:

• Salespeople Give Up Way Too Early - 50% of all salespeople stopped calling or sending information for at least 9 to 12 months or altogether to a prospective buyer after their first unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward. A number that skyrockets to 98% after their third unsuccessful attempt.
• 66% Of All Newly Hired Payroll Salespeople Don't Last – Close to 66% of all newly hired payroll salespeople quit or get released after 9 to 12 months of employment.
• Salespeople Can’t Predict A Prospect’s Close Date - 95% of all salespeople could not predict the actual close date of a sale with any degree of accuracy when given a 4- to 8-week “prospect close date."
• First-Time Appointments Or Events - 75% of all first-time appointments or events with a prospective buyer or referral source happen after a salesperson’s 4th phone call, e-mail, or face-to-face contact. 
• It Takes 15 – 30 Conventional Touches - In a medium- to high-value business-to-business sale, it takes 15 to 30 conventional touches by a salesperson (phone conversations, face-to-face meetings, voicemail messages, personal e-mails, letters, and so on) before a cold prospect or referral source is defined as being “sold or closed.”
• Few Payroll Services Train Their Salespeople - 90% of all small- to medium-sized businesses did not conduct any consistent sales training for their payroll sales staff.

Lead conversion is critical for all sized payroll services, including yours. Therefore, a sales leader needs to:

1. Be consistent in their lead nurturing activities, i.e., drip marketing campaigns.
2. Actively help their salespeople follow-up sales opportunities AND prospect for new business and referrals. 

Bottom line: If your payroll service isn’t top-of-mind when someone is ACTIVELY seeking a new payroll or timeclock solution, a sale will go to another payroll service and NOT yours. Yes, it's that simple; which is the #1 reason you need to have an active drip marketing system running at your payroll service.  

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

9 Questions All Payroll Sales Leaders Need To Ask (Themselves)
(Your Answers Will Be An Eye-Opener)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc

• Word Count: 291
• Time To Read: 72 Seconds

Most payroll sales leaders (and owners) hope their sales issues will disappear or turn around. But, unfortunately, they don't as the only way they can improve their sales problem is this: Take action by doing something different. 

9 Questions All Payroll Sales Leaders Need To Ask Themselves: 

#1: How many of my salespeople are not meeting their quota? Now, ask yourself this: What are my plans to help them generate more sales?

#2: What percentage of our clients, prospects, and referral partners have an e-mail address associated with their record? If it's not 100%, ask yourself why.

#3: What are our e-mail marketing and social media strategies?

#4: What is our strategy to ensure our salespeople are following up on an e-mail marketing campaign, past proposals, etc.? 

#5: How many formal/scheduled phone-blitz sessions do we have each week? Now, re-read question #1. 

#6: What type of marketing collateral do we use on a sales call to help reduce price as a focal point or sales objection?

#7: How many times a month am I training the sales staff to improve their sales performance?

#8: How often do we connect with our database of payroll clients to:

• Cross-sell them with other products or services?
• Ask for a referral?
• Survey them to determine their future needs?
• Ask them their accountant's name?

#9: What am I using to track my sales team's proposals, proposal close ratio, and call-in leads? 

Are You Happy With Your Answers? 

If not, you should seek a professional like me who can help you create or fine-tune your sales and marketing strategies. By the way, don’t put marketing on your sales team’s shoulders, as research has proven salespeople are notoriously bad writers, and worse, do marketing that tarnishes a brand. 

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

6 Reasons Why Your Database Of
Payroll Prospects Have Already Forgotten About You
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc

• Word Count: 413
• Time To Read: 97 Seconds

Right now, a prospect that you or your sales team met in the past is looking to hire a new HCM firm or payroll service. Unfortunately, if they don't remember your business, the sale will go to one of your competitors and not you. 

6 Reasons Why Your Payroll Service Has Already Been Forgotten.

• Reason #1: People Forget Stuff - 80% of what you tell a prospect on the phone is forgotten within 60-minutes. 
• Reason #2: Your Salespeople Are Disengaged - 70% of your salespeople are either disengaged or completely disengaged; therefore, how passionate do you think they are about telling someone about the value your payroll service/HCM company can provide them? 
• Reason #3: Salespeople Stop Calling Prospects And CPAs - 50% of all salespeople stop calling a prospect/CPA, for 9 to 12 months or altogether, after their FIRST unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward. This percentage skyrockets to 99% after their third attempt.
• Reason #4: Passive Sales Leaders - Most sales leaders let their salespeople do their own "marketing." Now re-read point #3. 
• Reason #5: Salespeople Turnover - 50% to 66% of all newly hired payroll salespeople* quit or get fired in their first 9 months of employment.

Attention All Sales Leaders: Read Reason #6: 

• Reason #6: Salespeople Hate Prospecting For New Business - 40% of all salespeople feel that prospecting is one of the most challenging aspects of their job; therefore, they flat-out ignore this activity.

How To Automatically Keep Your Payroll Service Top-Of-Mind (PRINT THIS LIST):

To help you and your sales team stay top-of-mind in the marketplace, I have listed below some time-tested campaigns below: 

• #1: Prospects - e-Mail your database of prospects a "meeting request" letter.

• #2: Clients - e-Mail a survey to your clients (ask for a referral within the survey).

• #3: Everyone On File - e-Mail a press release on a new referral partner, product, or service.

• #4: Everyone On File - e-Mail a product or service spotlight campaign.

• #5: Everyone On File - e-Mail a bundle "deal" to your database of prospects, CPA network, and past clients. 

• #6: Everyone On File - e-Mail an educational newsletter, i.e., PPP News, IRS updates, work from home tip, etc.

Summary: If you want to kick your sales into high gear, consider the following tips:

1. Develop a one-page sales and marketing strategy for your business. 
2. Implement the campaigns listed above.
3. Have phone blitz days for your sales team to follow up on the campaigns listed above (this is HUGE).

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

6 Types Of Discovery Questions
Winning Payroll Salespeople Use
 (PRINT AND USE AT YOUR NEXT SALES MEETING)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 274
• Time To Read: 66 Seconds

One thing successful payroll salespeople have in common is their ability to ask the right type of discovery questions during the sales process – questions that relate to someone’s problems, needs, desires, wants, likes, and dislikes.

The 6 Types Of Discovery Questions Winning Salespeople Use.

To help you get better at asking discovery questions during the sales process, I have listed below a group of questions to ask a prospective buyer:

1. Current Situation Questions – At the start of the call, successful salespeople ask data-gathering questions about facts and background. Hint: Keep Current Situation Questions to a minimum during your data gathering process, as these types of questions will frustrate decision-makers.
2. Current Problem-Related Questions – After getting the necessary background questions out of the way, it is now time to explore all the problems (issues, difficulties, and dissatisfactions) this person has with their current situation. It’s been my experience that inexperienced salespeople don’t ask enough Problem-Related Questions.
3. Financial Questions – After getting a handle on someone’s problems, it is now time to quantify these problems to a dollar value. Additionally, this will help quantify the seriousness of a prospect’s problem as well.
4. Pain Solving Questions – This is where you get a prospect to tell you the benefits they would see if you were able to solve their pain/problem(s).
5. Closing Questions – This is where you ask a prospect questions to finalize the selling process, e.g., moving forward with a “yes” or “no” decision.
6. Overcoming Objection Statement/Questions – Should a prospect be on the fence about moving forward, this is where you need to address each issue a person may have with a buying decision.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

5 Tips To Follow-Up An e-Mail Campaign
(And Generate More Payroll Leads And Referrals For You
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - Drip Marketing, Inc. & SellMorePayroll.com

• Word Count: 259
• Time To Read: 60 Seconds

To maximize sales leads and payroll client / CPA referrals from an e-mail marketing campaign, it is imperative to make a follow-up call. To help you do this effectively, check out my five-step follow-up strategy:

1. Create an e-mail campaign (include a low-risk offer).
2. Create two scripts: One for talking with a live person and one for leaving a voicemail.
3. Send your campaign on a Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
4. After sending the campaign, wait 2.5 hours and download a list of people who opened the e-mail. Sort the list by company and then by e-mail address. After this is done, start calling everyone.
5. After you leave a voicemail message, send the e-mail below.

Send This e-Mail After Your Voicemail Message.

First Name: I just called and left you a message as I wanted to follow up on an e-mail we sent you today about our ____________.

If you want to learn how we can (reduce, save, mitigate, increase your ___________), I have a few ideas that will help your business – just return my call or send me off a quick e-mail on the best time(s) for us to talk.

I look forward to connecting with you!

Name
Company Name
Phone
e-Mail Address

P.S. If you want to read what some of our clients are saying about our ____________, I have attached a few client testimonials for you.

What To Do On Friday Morning (My 2/4 Call Strategy).

On Friday morning, make a second and final call to the people who didn’t call you back or respond to the e-mail above.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

Hiring A Payroll Salesperson?
8 Tips To Help You Avoid A Bad Hire
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - Drip Marketing, Inc. & SellMorePayroll.com

• Word Count: 521
• Time To Read: 2.1 Minutes

Did you know that 50% to 66% of all newly hired payroll salespeople* quit or get fired in their first 4- to 12-months of employment. That’s right; almost 66% of all newly hired salespeople won't last longer than 12 months!

This One Payroll Service Lost $200,000 With 5 Bad Hires.

I recently spoke with an owner of a payroll service who hired and fired one sales leader and four salespeople in 18 months - all of who lasted, on average, 6.4 months. By the way, his out-of-pocket expense for these bad hires exceeded $200,000. Yes, $200,000. What’s worse is this: The five hires above generated less than $15,000 in new sales for the $200,000 spent. 

8 Tips To Help Avoid A Poor Hiring Decision.

Tip #1: Don’t Rush The Hiring Process - While you may want a salesperson on your staff, keep in mind the cost of hiring the wrong person; therefore, take a careful look at your interviewing, reference checking, and onboarding process.

Tip #2: Pay A Bounty - Go to your staff, database of contacts, and vendors and say, “I’ll pay you $5,000 in cash if you can help me recruit a successful salesperson.” What you need to do next is hand each person a one-page overview of whom you are looking for and how the $5,000 is paid. By the way, you will only pay the $5,000 if the salesperson produces $X in revenue in their first 12-months of employment.

Tip #3: Check References As Salespeople Will “Embellish” Their Success - References are the best chance you have at gauging whether someone can perform a sales job at your company. By the way, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com, the most common lies of a resume relate to:

• Embellished skill set – 57%
• Embellished responsibilities – 55%
• Dates of employment – 42%
• Job title – 34%
• Academic degree – 33%
• Companies worked for – 26%
• Accolades/awards – 18%

Tip #4: Ask Past Employers This Question - “If you had the chance, would you hire <first name> again?” Their response, or lack of an answer, will be eye-opening.

Tip #5: Look Deep Into Your Rolodex, LinkedIn Contacts, And Vendors - When you have an open sales position, reach out to your contacts to see if they know of anyone (or maybe themselves) who might be interested in a sales position at your company.

Tip #6: Test Them On The Computer - The days of not being computer savvy are over for a salesperson. Because of this, test every candidate on their ability to use a CRM program and Outlook BEFORE you hire them. 

Tip #7: Don’t Hire Salespeople Who Will Work From Home - If you can avoid it, hire a salesperson within a reasonable driving distance from your office. I've seen more salespeople who work from home fail - especially when they didn't have a full-time sales manager.

Tip #8: Make Sure You Are Ready - BEFORE you consider hiring your next salesperson, make sure you are ready (sales training manual, sales tracking reports, prospecting databases, sales scripts, etc.). 

Executive Summary: Before you hire a salesperson, ask them to role-play on these two things:

1. Their discovery process when talking with a prospect.
2. A PowerPoint presentation on what they are currently selling. Wow, what a novel idea!

*Hired by an independent payroll service.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

Why You Need To Send More Than A Newsletter
To Help Market Your Payroll Service Or HCM BiZ
(Print And Share With Your Sales Team And Sales Leader)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 239
• Read Time: 57 Seconds

Some payroll owners and sales leaders feel that blasting a one-size-fits-all newsletter to everyone in their e-mail database once or twice a month is “marketing” their payroll or HCM business. And if you feel this way too, you are also losing tons of sales leads AND referrals.

Here’s why…

85% To 90% Of Your Prospects (And Referral Partners) Are NOT Reading Your Payroll Newsletter!

That’s right; 85% to 90% of your prospects and referral partners are NOT reading your newsletter. And those that do:

• Only spend 10 - 12 seconds skimming your newsletter.
• Of those that "open" your campaign, ONLY 1.5% to 2% will click on your “read more” link.
• Apple's new "Mail Privacy" policy and other anti-virus software programs are giving you false positive open and click-through rates. 

Think about it, a massive 85% - 90% of your PROSPECTS and REFERRAL PARTNERS are NOT reading your newsletter. So let me ask you; "Is this acceptable to you?" If it isn't, call me ASAP as our payroll industry Drip Marketing System 10.0 will deliver better results for you!

Click Here To Read How We Doubled This Payroll Service's Open Rate.

10 Tips To Get More People To Open Your Next e-Mail Campaign(s).

1. Segment your databases, i.e., clients, prospects, and referral partners. Then write content relevant to them!
2. Add new e-mail addresses to your databases.
3. Send e-mail campaigns that go beyond a newsletter, i.e., press release, employee or CPA spotlight, product upgrade/enhancement, etc.
4. Personalize your e-mails, i.e., Hello [first name].
5. Avoid writing a wall of text.
6. Write better subject lines.
7. Send a reminder e-mail to everyone who DID NOT open your initial campaign.
8. Write better headlines and subheadlines.
9. Add a highly visible call-to-action or low-risk offer.
10. Call the prospects and CPAs who open your e-mail campaign (use my 2/4 call strategy).

Summary: In today’s work-from-home environment, your database of payroll prospects, referral partners, and clients are spending more time in their inboxes. And if you want to capture someone’s attention, so they read your next e-mail campaign, consider the tips I have listed above!

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

Apple’s New e-Mail Privacy Policy: And How It Will
Affect A Payroll Service’s e-Mail Results
(Print And Share With Your Marketing Team And Sales Leader)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 244
• Read Time: 58 Seconds

Have you seen an increase in your e-mail open rates in Q4 2021/Q1 2022? If you have, it is due to Apple's new "Mail Privacy Protection" policy - a new policy that prevents e-mail marketers from using invisible pixels to collect information from recipients.

The feature is now available for users of Apple’s Mail app for:

• iPhone
• iPad
• Mac Computers
• Apple Watch

What does this new policy do? It allows an Apple device user to mask...

• When and where they open an e-mail.
• What device is used to open an e-mail.
• Other online activity linked to that device.

Fast Facts From CNBC's Article: How Apple’s upcoming e-mail privacy update could change what’s in your inbox.

• In the past, data from an e-mail was loaded only when the recipient opened the e-mail and downloaded the e-mail’s images, which happened automatically in most cases.
• This data included a pixel, which allowed your e-mail provider to detect that the e-mail was opened, what device was used, and sometimes where the subscriber was located when they opened the e-mail.
• With Mail Privacy Protection, Apple Mail preloads images and content of e-mails you send — including the tracking pixel — regardless of if the recipient actually opened the e-mail or not. 

Other Key Points:

• Apple’s new e-Mail Privacy Protection policy is now forcing marketers and publishers who use e-mail to reach their subscriber base to rethink some of the ways they’ve measured, monetized, or used e-mail.
• Consumers might eventually notice a difference in the marketing e-mails they are getting — and may see brands reaching them in other ways outside the inbox, like texting. 

Click Here To CNBC’s Article: How Apple’s upcoming e-mail privacy update could change what’s in your inbox.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

641 Words Of Tough Love For All
Payroll Salespeople To Read
(Print And Share With Your Sales Team And Sales Leader)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 641
• Read Time: 2.6 Minutes

Are you a payroll salesperson who wants to upgrade their sales results? How about a sales leader who wants to jump-start their sales team's sales? If you are, take a moment to read the list below (print and share with your sales team/sales leader).

1. Stop Your Whining: It’s time you stopped whining about your sales dilemma, as it will only prolong the issue.
2. Deliver Every Payroll Proposal In Person Or Via A Webinar: When giving a proposal for what you are selling, provide a prospect two to three options either in person or via a screen share program.
3. Don’t Give Up: ~50% of all salespeople stop calling a prospect for at least 9- to 12-months or altogether after their first unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward. Remember, decision-makers change, and your competition is never perfect.
4. e-Mail More Than An Newsletter To Help Market Your Payroll Service Or HCM Biz: If you are only blasting a generic, one-size-fits-all e-newsletter to everyone in your e-mail database, you are committing e-mail marketing suicide. 
5. Give 100% Because 99% Or Less Won’t Cut It: If you are giving anything less than 100%, the sales profession (and your sales leader) will eat you up.
6. Go Old School: If you read something of interest in a magazine, scan it/take a picture of it and e-mail it to the people you have in your database.
7. Invest In Yourself Because No One Else Will: Since no one will care more about your sales success than you, I recommend that you take a few sales training classes and read as many books on the subject of sales and marketing as possible.
8. Keep Score Of Your Sales Results AND Sales Activities: Once you start keeping score, you will see what is/isn’t working.
9. Look At What Your Company’s #1 Salesperson Is Doing: If you want to become better at what you sell, blueprint what your company’s top salesperson (which is frequently the business owner) is doing, what they say, whom they say it to and how often they say it.
10. Make The Commitment To Increasing Your Sales: The first step to increasing your sales is the commitment to taking action.
11. Power Off Your Smartphone: You and I both know that your smartphone is a massive distraction to you.
12. Schedule Phone Blitz Sessions Each Week: Start scheduling time each week to have 90- to 120-minute phone blitz sessions.
13. Start Calling More People: One of the top ways to increase your sales is to make more phone calls to your database of contacts.
14. Stop Being A Mind Reader: You cannot look at a prospect’s name and say, “I’m not going to call this person as they’re probably not interested in buying what I am selling.”
15. Stop Playing The Sales Stalking Game: Most salespeople play the “let’s see who I can call” sales stalking game with little to no strategy on who to call. Avoid this type of following-up.
16. Work Continuously On Building Your Database: Your marketing database(s) represents 50% to 60% of your sales success; therefore, make it a priority to build and update your CRM databases.
17. Write Down Your Sales Goals: Doing better is the result of taking action on that decision.
18. Your Sales Pipeline Is YOUR Life: Starting today, you will fill your sales pipeline with more sales opportunities.

My Last Two Pieces Of Advice.

#1: Start Taking Action Today: If you want to win more sales, start improving your sales and marketing skills today, not tomorrow. Successful salespeople don’t wait until their selling season starts to take action.

#2: It’s Called “Selling” For A Reason: Unfortunately, many underperforming salespeople lie to their sales leader about the number of sales calls they had each week, how robust their sales pipeline activity is to even where they were on a particular day. Today is the day you will start taking ownership of your sales pipeline/results and your time management skills.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.