This blog post is about three things:

• My Trigger Event Selling™ session at the Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston on June 28^th
• The upcoming book launch for the Trigger Event Selling™ book SHiFT!
• A three-part,  no-charge, webinar series on how to harness Trigger Events to turn prospects into customers

Boston

I will be speaking at the Sales 2.0 Conference East on June 28^th in the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

I speak from 3:15 to 4:15 on how to Find Hidden Opportunities & Shorten Sales Cycles by Harnessing Triggers Events.

During that session I will:

1. Detail some of my latest Trigger Event Selling™ strategies
2. Provide information on a number of creative Trigger Event alert options
3. Give away 80 copies of the preview version of my upcoming Trigger Event Selling™ book SHiFT! Harness The Trigger Events That TURN PROSPECTS INTO CUSTOMERS
4. Share information of my upcoming three-part,  no-charge, webinar series with Tibor Shanto, the co-author of my book.

Call or text my cell phone number (+1.403.874.2998) if you are attending the Sales 2.0 Conference and would like to connect in person at the conference.

Book Launch

Now that my Trigger Event book SHiFT! has gone through the final approval processes with the publisher and the logistics company, it should be added to all the major online and offline book stores by late August or early September.

With endorsements from Steven M.R. Covey, Keith Ferrazzi, Dr. Ivan Misner, Gerhard Gschwandtner, Tim Draper we look forward to helping forward thinking sales and marketing professionals grow sales faster by harnessing Trigger Events to get in front of highly motivated decision makers at EXACTLY the right time.

Not wanting to wait until September to launch the book, 80 copies of the preview version of the book will be available to participants of the Trigger Event session at the Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston and the first five people who call and share a success story about how they used Trigger Events to close a big sale. If you get my voice mail be sure to leave a message.

Three Part Webinar Series

On Tuesday July 13^th Tibor Shanto and I will be delivering the first of three webinars (one each on the three major types of Business-To-Business Trigger Events).

The first webinar “Exploiting Untapped Opportunities: 3 Strategies for Using Executive Sales Triggers” will share insights into the many Business-To-Business sales opportunities created by a single executive change and discuss unique strategies to gain an unfair advantage over your competition when executive changes happen.

Each one-hour webinar starts at 1:00PM Eastern / 10:00AM Pacific on the 2nd Tuesday of every month – July 13^th, August 10^th, September 14^th.

Stay tuned for registration links for the other two on webinars.

Have an Eventful week!

Craig

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There has been a ton of hype about why everyone should be using Social Media and Sales 2.0 tools to sell more. What I think is lacking is ideas and examples on how everyone could be using social media and sales 2.0 tools to sell more .

I believe that using social media is one way to harness the Trigger Events that turn prospects into customers so I’m going to list what I believe are the “Top Seven Ways to Sell More Using Social Media”.

As I did with the Top Seven Mistakes That Sales People Make, I’ll be going this David Letterman style – Starting with #7 and working my way to #1. Once this list is done I’ll be doing the list of Top Seven Ways to Sell More Using Sales 2.0 Tools.

The intent of making this list is not to tell you how social media can make a difference but to have you start ‘seeing’ the different ways that Trigger Events combined with social media can TURN PROSPECTS INTO CUSTOMERS.

So starting next Tuesday and then the first Tuesday of every month I’ll post one of the Top Seven Ways To Use Social Media To Sell More.

Every post will offer readers the opportunity to win $1,500 worth of Trigger Event services by submitting either a great example of, or great idea on, using the social media I list to harness Trigger Events and turn prospects into customers.

The last Tuesday of every month I’ll announce the winner of the $1,500 worth of Trigger Event Services.

So if you have a sales team that you want to benefit from Trigger Event Selling but you don’t have the budget at this time, get members of your sales team to submit ideas and then get votes for their submissions.

Submissions are voted on by clicking on the button that appears at the end of each submission.

I suggest people Tweet, Stumble!, Digg, and email their friends and co-workers because the voting system I use does not allow anyone to vote for their own answers.

Have an EVENTFUL week!

Craig

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The number one mistake sales people make is… they make it too hard to become a customer.

Think of all the sales opportunities that started out strong only to have the prospect decide to stay with their current supplier. The #1 reason they stayed with their current supplier is: it was not worth the effort of becoming your customer.

One of the keys to turning prospects into customers understanding the level of emotion a decision maker has and matching the effort of becoming your customer to this level of emotion.

When you get to decision makers after they experience a Trigger Event they have a certain amount of emotion related to solving the problem. As long as the level of effort required to become your customer is less than the level of emotion they have they are likely to become your customer.

BUT when decision maker’s perceive it to be too much effort to become your customer they typically stay with their current solution/supplier – aka the Status Quo.

Here is a personal example… I am a customer of ActiveConversion.com – a Sales 2.0 service that lets you know who visits your site and how often they visit – and I recently became aware of their autoresponder offering, for those who fill in a form on my web site. An autoresponder allows me to set up a number of emails that go out a specified number of days, weeks, or months after a form has been completed.

The reason I want an autoresponder system, beyond the traditional reason of drip/nurture marketing, is that I want to know when a prospect’s/customer’s email address starts to bounce. This signals the Trigger Event of a change in decision makers and typically means three opportunities:

1. The person who left where did they go?
2. Who took their place?
3. The person who took their place where did they come from?

After doing some initial investigation I learned that I needed an account with VerticalResponse.com in order for my autoresponder emails to go out.

Because I am currently satisfied with my current email marketing solution, if Vertical Response had only sold a monthly subscription plan, based upon how many people are on my mailing list, I would have stayed with the Status Quo – no auto responders. BUT Vertical Response has a pay as you go plan that I could take advantage of.  For as little as $15 I could buy 1,000 autoresponder emails that can be used any time and keep my current email marketing solution.

Because the level of effort of becoming a customer was less than the amount of emotion I had about solving the problem I spent $15 and bought the 1,000 autoresponder email, package.

Now Vertical Response has me as a customer and I am learning how to use their systems. When I experience a Trigger Event and become dissatisfied with my current email marketing solution who do you think I am most likely to buy from. You guessed it Vertical Response.

Too often sales people are so focused on getting the big sale that they miss the opportunity to make a smaller initial sale with those who recently experienced a Trigger Event and then harness the future Trigger Events that create larger follow-on opportunities in the same account.

My question, to be answered by commenting below, is “What can you do to match the effort it takes to become your customer to the level of emotion the prospect has?”

Win $1,500 worth of Trigger Event services by getting the most votes for your answer.

Answers are voted on by clicking on the button that appears at the end of each answer and voting ends on Monday June 29^th.

Answers/Comments need to be approved – to avoid spam – which typically takes just a few minutes. Contact me by phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype me (Craig.Elias), or this contact form, if you don’t see your comment approved within a few minutes of posting it.

Stumble!, Digg, Tweet, and email your friends so you get the most votes, because the voting system I use does not allow you to vote for your own answers.

Have an EVENTFUL week!

Craig

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One of the Sales 2.0 services I am a real believer in is JigSaw. “Trigger Events tell you when to talk to buyers, Jigsaw will tell you which buyers to talk to.”

With their new open data initiative you can download complete and accurate company records in seconds, at no charge.

Below are some popular searches to get you started:

• Fortune 1000
• US Public Companies
• Software & Internet
• Healthcare & Pharmaceutical

See the complete list of currently saved searches.

If you are not already a member of JigSaw, get 20 bonus contacts by using this link when you join.

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Have you ever noticed that as soon as you buy a new car you see it all over the road?

When women get pregnant, suddenly they start seeing other pregnant women everywhere. When couples give birth of to their first child, they stop noticing pregnant women and now start seeing babies around every corner. This is called selective perception. We tend to see the things that reinforce what we believe, or the things we can relate to. The rest we usually disregard.

The Trigger Events we experience change what we see. Every time we experience a Trigger Event a new version of selective perception is created. We begin to notice things that were always there. We just did not ‘see’ them.

Why is this important? By focusing your marketing on those who recently experienced a Trigger Event ( aka Trigger Event Marketing) you can use the words, visuals, or scenarios, that are highly likely to resonate with them. In sales, that means saying the words that will capture your prospects attention. In marketing, that means using the words or visuals that will make your advertising jump out of the page and get noticed by those readers who recently experience a Trigger Event and are most likely to become your customers.

The next time you are crafting a message, harness the power of Trigger Event Marketing to focus on the audience that recently experienced a Trigger Event. Remember to use a call to action so that when they see it, they will take that most important step to becoming your customer – phoning you.

Other Trigger Event Resources to Consider

I scour the Internet searching for ideas, resources, articles, and success stories about leveraging Trigger Events to outsell the competition. This time I want to share with you an article by Frank Filippo, of Dow Jones’ Factiva SalesWorks, called Sales Triggers for Advantage. In his article Frank shares his thoughts on the different types of Trigger Events you can find in the news.

I encourage you to get together with others and brainstorm on ways to capitalize on Trigger Events to outsell your competition. Contact me when you have ideas, resources, or success stories about leveraging Trigger Events that you want to share with the over 2,000 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.

Have an eventful week!

Craig

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