An Interview with Melissa Nay

Melissa Nay is currently a Key Account Sales Representative at LSJMedia. I had the pleasure of interviewing her about her year of being a Sales Manager for LSJMedia for my Sales Management class. We talked not only about the importance of excellent customer service but what it really means to be a sales manager and a sales representative.

What do you think are the most important characteristics of a sales manager/ Salesperson?

In a sales manager-patience, organization, having an open-mind, and attention to details.

In a sales person-excellent customer service, attention to detail, and being organized

What do you wish you had time for from a sales & sales management standpoint?

To go out with the sales people on sales calls instead of staying in and working on reports

How do you manage your sales force?

I managed 5 sales reps very carefully with one-on-one weekly meetings and team meetings. I had an open door policy with my sales force. I also would work on different strategies  with them, showing them here is where you are and these are the steps you need to do to get here.

Doyle: How do you manage your business from a sales standpoint?

I was good at motivating my sales team. If goals were met, I would take my team out to lunch. I would keep a bowl of chocolate on my desk; give out praises of a job well done and thank you cards. I knew how to adapt to how each individual sales representative responded to motivation and used that to learn the best way to encourage them.

What’s most valuable when dealing with Customers?

Customer service is the most valuable. She mentioned that she would call back right away if a client called, and answer the same question fifty times with the same answer if they asked.

Melissa continued to tell me how technology has affected how she communicated with her sales reps when she was a manager. Melissa craved the interaction with the clients which is why she chose to go back to being a Key Account Sales Representative. She also keeps busy with different organizations such as serving as the Co-Chair of the Community Relations Committee for Delta Waverly Rotary Club.

The Social Media Breakdown

Have you ever wondered what social media site would work best for you? The business consultant network Zintro has researched this question and developed a very helpful infographic to show what network is the right fit for you and your business! Which network do you prefer?

Source Zintro

Print Media and Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

Most people believe that print media is going out the window but they are wrong! There are some great ways of integrating a print campaign along with a social media campaign. 

• Targeting-using the social media statistics to better target the print media campaigns
• Feedback-online offers an outlet to give feedback. Giving a call to action for feedback in the print ad offers two or more impressions of your campaign and the greater possibility for feedback.
• Creative -having a tangible print ad allows for a greater variety of creativity that could coincide with the online campaign
• Cross Promotion-the print ad allows for a call to the online ad, especially for those markets that aren’t online. Both online and print complement each other. Links should be given in print media to allow for the customer up to date news.
• QR (quick response) Codes-a fairly new concept but if done right with the proper call to action, allows for easy access to information via a smart phone.

Information Seekers are the New Consumers

There are many types of consumers, but recently the information seeking consumer has been on the radar of marketers. These consumers rely on the Internet, especially consumer reviews and blogs to find information regarding the product they want to buy. Here is an [infographic] on what mediums are used during the different stages of the buying cycle.

Source: Eloqua

LSJMedia is aware of the importance of the Internet for making the proper buying decision and strives to use Yahoo!’s extensive digital reach and audience targeting capabilities to target the proper consumer to ease the buying decision.

Social Shopping with the Introduction of Timeline for Businesses

With the introduction of Timeline for Business pages on Facebook, consumers are given another form of e-commerce via the businesses pages themselves

Source: VoucherCodes.co.uk and Visual.ly via Econsultancy

NewsNotes: Reminding Your Consumer

If you’re sitting at your desk and you need to remember to do something, what is the first thing you do? I think most of us would answer, write it on a sticky note. In fact, I have two sticky notes hanging from my screen right now. Imagine if you could hand a sticky note to all of your consumers as a reminder of your business. You Can!

Mobile Sites for Small Businesses

As we’ve talked about before, the presence of a mobile site is becoming increasingly important. The importance is even stronger among small and local businesses. The mobile web is exploding with more and more user content everyday. Google estimates that by 2015, more Americans will access the web via mobile than desktop. They also estimate that mobile sites produce an average of 75% higher rates of engagement per visit for mobile users.

So now your probably asking how to get started, right? We recommend you check out this case study by Google that the previous information was pulled from. The case study teaches you three ways a mobile site can benefit your small business and the 10 best practices for building your mobile site.

 View the case study here.

Five Tips for Branding Your Blog

This blog provides insight on the five main points to starting a successful blog. If you have any comments be sure to let us know in the comments section, or find us on our social media accounts.

 1. Your Social Media Handle

As you start your venture into the blogging world, the first thing you need to do is choose a social media handle. This handle needs to remain consistent across all of your social media platform, so if you already have one that is relevant to your blog use it.If you were cool in highschool and your social media handle is something like bsktballluvr08then you may want to consider switching it up to something more relevent and professional.  Keep these points in mind when choosing your handle.

A good brand name is Simple, Emotional, Describes the product benefits, Memorable, Distinctive, Positive, Fits with the company image, and is Suitable internationally.

 Expert Tip - Go to namechk.com and see if your social media handle is taken  and on what sites.

A Social Media Cheet Sheet for Small Businesses [Infographic]

Do you work for a small business? How do you know what service to use for marketing? Learn the basics! Companies no longer rely on just a website to market their products — they also engage in social media. This helpful infographic designed by Flowtown, explains social media in it’s simplest terms.

Source: Flowtown

LinkedIn Company Follow Button

Company Pages

The world of LinkedIn has many different components including personal profiles, jobs searches, and company pages. A company page is a page displaying information about your company including a company overview, careers, products & services, and the page statistics. Having a company profile is a great way to spread the word about your company and allow your employees to associate and align your brand with their personal brand.

Following Companies

LinkedIn has a few different ways you can follow a company. These ways include following the company from the company page, from search results, from a personal profile, and most recently the LinkedIn Company Follow Button!

This button is a simple and easy way for people to start following your company on LinkedIn. Place it on your website or personal web page for consumers and fans alike to easily follow you. If the user is already signed in on their LinkedIn, all they need to do is push the button. If they aren’t signed in, a window will appear asking them to sign in, and then they’re set to follow you.