If you've just started a business, you need sales, right? Trouble is, you may not be sure how to put together a sales approach. And, the truth is, there is no magic formula for sending your sales through the roof. So, stop looking.

Related: Close More Deals Faster Using This 5-Step Approach

Being a good steward of something means that you have a 1) sense of ownership, 2) you take responsibility for the entity that you are a steward of, 3) you are accountable for your actions as a steward, and 4) you are rewarded for getting it right.

We often talk about stewardship in terms of effectively managing our time, talent, and treasure.  The conversation usually comes up when your pastor needs help funding the new building fund.

That's not what I'm doing here.  I'm simply trying to stir a fire in your belly as it relates to our Chamber.  If you're reading this now and realizing how important stewardship of the North Phoenix Chamber is to you, we can help you find ways to apply your time and talent for the greater good of the Chamber.  Several committees need your help and our ambassador program can use a few inspired Chamber members, too.

Call the office at 602-482-3344 and ask for Tom. 

This article originally appeared on SmallBizTrends.com.  

​Sep 10, 2016 by Annie Pilon 

​Running a business is complicated, which means there are some factors or tasks that tend to get overlooked. From basic concepts to more involved processes, members of our small business community have plenty of tips for dealing with those sometimes overlooked business tasks. See the full list of tips below.

1. Be Sure to Spend Enough Time on Marketing
2. Learn the Difference Between User Experience and Customer Experience
3. Get Honest Feedback for Your Business Idea
4. Invest in LinkedIn Marketing
5. ​Determine Your Brand’s Social Media Persona
6. Pitch Your Online Content for the Right Audience
7. Use Tech Savvy Ways to Tell Your Brand Story
8. Improve Your Email Click-Through Rates
9. Build Customer Trust to Stand Out in a Crowd
10. Use SEO to Get Local Customers to Cling to Your Content

Read the full article here:
​http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/09/10-overlooked-elements-running-successful-business.html

Our Chamber's 2016 Fall Survey results are in.  ​Overwhelmingly, 92% of you said that more customers are a top priority for your business.  The good news is that our Chamber has tools specifically designed to drive more customers to you.  

Salespeople often make the fatal mistake of blaming other things, circumstances, and people for their own inability to create a buying atmosphere. And that mistake has double jeopardy. One, you're blaming the wrong party, and two, you issue blame instead of taking responsibility. You fail to see the urgent need for more self-improvement training. 

Jeffery Gitomer has identified 12.5 fatal flaws of selling. Real reasons why salespeople fail to make the sale. Painful as this exercise may be, he suggests rating yourself instead of just reading them. And for your maximum enjoyment and benefit, a one sentence "flawless" remedy or suggestion follows each flaw.

This article appeared on Hubspot's blog on July 20, 2016.

​The goal of the subject line is to get someone to check out the rest of your email. So you’ll want to intrigue and generate interest without saying too much. And you definitely don’t want to go with something that clearly says “Trying to sell you something. Click here to learn more.” (Obviously.)

When it comes to generating interest, humans react strongly to five things:

• Social proof: Do you seem like a credible person?
• Unanswered questions: Is the answer coming soon?
• Disrupted patterns: This is different than the other stuff I normally see!
• Self-interest: What’s in it for your prospect?
• Requests for help: This might seem like it contradicts self-interest, but many people do want to help when possible.

Keeping that in mind, you’ll want to craft subject lines that touch on at least one of these areas. Here are 13 examples of ... [read more]

A happy and engaged workforce is the result of an intentionally designed company culture. It's not something that you just let happen. In this post we explain how to intentionally design culture that engages individuals, teams and leadership to contribute their best work, and we give you a tool and approach to help you do it. 

This post originally appeared in Harvard Business Review.
​
Right now 7 out of 10 people in your organization are not actively engaged at work. Disengaged workforces are a global problem; and the costs are high. In the U.S. alone, companies are haemorrhaging $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity each year.

Companies try to motivate their people with incentives and unique perks like ping-pong rooms and free meals, but none of those approaches address the deeper issue of why employees are so disengaged.

We believe the answer is culture—the formal and informal values, behaviors, and beliefs practiced in an organization. Very few companies intentionally work on their culture—in fact, many companies just let culture happen.

XPLANE founder Dave Gray says that a company’s culture is like a garden. You can design culture but nature will still be a force. You can’t control everything about your culture but you can intentionally take it into your own hands. Culture will emerge through constant care and nurturing. [read full article]

Many of those who seek shared space and executive suite offices have struck out on their own. Be it freelance or starting their own company, they have gone solo to run their own show.

If you’re one of those entrepreneurs or freelancers, you’ve probably already taken on at least one of Michael Bloomberg’s Top 5 Tips … ​Here they are:

Curated from several sources, this blog post is themed around differentiating yourself from the competition.  I found several good sources while researching for this blog post and decided to pull them together into one curated post.

After just four weeks of our Tuesday morning brainstorming group, we've covered some pretty amazing ground.  We've talked about our sales presentations and ways to recognize buy signals, we've also covered how to ask the right questions to lead the prospect towards the closing.  

We've been following the wisdom and teachings of Jeffrey Gitomer.  In particular, we've been exploring the sales process and how to develop effective strategies.

We start each meeting with a quick recap of what we covered last week and how well we each implemented the lessons learned.

Ok, you really didn't think I'd give you all the checklists that we've covered, did you?  You'll have to show up Tuesday morning to get in on the specific details.  

So, join us at the Chamber offices on Tuesday mornings, 7am-8am, and breathe life into your sales process.