How To Write Great Content For
Your Payroll eMail Newsletter
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com

• Word Count: 496
• Read Time: 2.0 Minutes

As the payroll industry continues to grow and evolve, it is essential for clients, prospects, and referral partners to stay informed about the latest developments, HCM trends, government / IRS regulations, and new technology. And because of this, sending them a newsletter can be an excellent tool for keeping them up-to-date with important news and best practices.

However, creating engaging content is not always easy. In this article, I will provide you with some tips, ideas, and guidelines for writing compelling and informative content for your payroll service newsletter.

• Identify Your Audience  - The first step in creating great content for your payroll service newsletter is to identify your audience. Who are you writing for? Are you targeting business owners, CFOs, and HR pros with less than 20 or more than 250 employees? Understanding your audience will help you create content that is timely, relevant, useful, and engaging.

• Keep Your Content Concise - Payroll is a complex and technical field, but your content should be easy to read and understand. Avoid using jargon and technical terms that may confuse your readers. Keep your sentences short and to the point, and use bullet points and subheadings to break up long paragraphs.

• Be A Fountain Of Knowledge - Informative content is king. Share insights, best practices, and tips that can help your readers improve their payroll processes or stay informed about the latest industry trends. Make sure your content is up-to-date and accurate.

• Use Real-Life Examples - One of the best ways to make your content more engaging is to use real-life examples. Share stories about how other businesses have tackled payroll challenges or improved their processes. Use case studies and testimonials to show how your readers can benefit from your advice.

• Include Visual Testimonials/Stories - Visuals can make your content more engaging and help your readers understand complex topics. Use videos for charts, graphs, and infographics to help illustrate your point. Use images and videos to break up text-heavy content and make it more visually appealing.

• Engage With Your Audience - Encourage your audience to share their feedback and insights. Ask for comments and questions, and respond to them in a timely manner. Use social media to engage with your readers and share your content. Use polls and surveys to gather feedback and insights from your audience.

• Develop A Drip Marketing Plan - Consistency is key when it comes to creating great content for your payroll service newsletter. Set a schedule for publishing your content and stick to it. Make sure your content is consistently high-quality and relevant to your audience.

In summary, creating great content for your payroll service newsletter requires a clear understanding of your audience, concise writing, informative content, real-life examples, visuals, engagement, and consistency. By following our guidelines, you can create a newsletter that is both informative and engaging, and that helps your readers to stay up-to-date with the latest government regs, compliant with HR-related laws, etc.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a highly acclaimed keynote speaker renowned for delivering invaluable sales and marketing advice to business owners and sales leaders, enabling them to win more payroll sales and produce more referrals from their database of clients and referral partners.

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 Tips To Read Before
You Sell Your Payroll Service
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com

• Word Count: 405
• Read Time: 1.6 Minutes

Selling a payroll service business can be a complex process, but here are some steps to consider:

#1: Determine the value of your business: You should start by valuing your payroll business by talking with an independent broker and other owners who have sold their payroll business in the last 12 months. Factors that will affect your value: The number of clients on file, what services you sell to each client, pricing, each client's annual revenue, if a small percentage of clients generate a large portion of your annual sales, etc.

#2: Prepare your financial records: Your financial records should be in order, including your P/L statements, balance sheets, and tax returns.

#3: Find potential buyers: There are several ways to find potential buyers, including talking with a broker, your network, employee(s), back office license holder, and your industry colleagues who have sold their payroll business in the past 12 months.

#4: Interview potential buyers: You should interview potential buyers to ensure they have the financial means to purchase your business and have the expertise to operate it. You also need to determine what will happen to your staff, i.e., being part of the purchase or they need to find new employment.

#5: Negotiate the Letter of Intent (LOI): Once you have identified a buyer(s), you will need to negotiate a letter of intent (LOI). As I tell my brokerage clients, the best deal is when the owner thought they didn't get enough AND the seller thought they paid too much.

#6: Finalize the sale: After negotiating your LOI, you will need to finalize the sale with the new owner. Unfortunately, this is where many deals go sideways, as the buyer starts to add new terms to the agreement, i.e., working capital in a checking account, defining when a client becomes their "client, capping the purchase price, etc.

Important Points To Read:

• During the 'purchase of sale' agreement process, a buyer will start to nibble at your multiple by adding extra costs for you to absorb or capping the 'purchase price,' etc. When you see me at the TPG Conference May 8th - 10th in Orlando, FL, ask me how I know!
• Selling a payroll service will always be an emotional process for an owner(s). And if an owner(s) isn't careful, they could leave a lot of money on the table. Again, ask me how I know!
• It is important to seek professional advice from a business broker AND attorney to help guide you through this process.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a highly acclaimed keynote speaker renowned for delivering invaluable sales and marketing advice to business owners and sales leaders, enabling them to win more payroll sales and produce more referrals from their database of clients and referral partners.

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 Stop Looking Like A
"Small, Me-Too” Payroll Service
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 403
• Time To Read: 1.6 Minutes

Are you tired and looking like a small "me-too" payroll service? If you are, you're not alone, as many payroll pros use the same tired old lines in their marketing messaging - which can make it difficult to stand out from the competition. Some common marketing/sales phrases include:

• We offer great customer service.
• Our payroll experts are here to help you.
• We do more than payroll; we have a great workforce management system.
• We’re cheaper than your current payroll service.
• We’ve been in business since XXXX.
• You’ll get a dedicated payroll specialist.

You Have .5 To 1.5 Seconds To Capture A Payroll Prospect’s Attention.

Your marketing messages must resonate with your target audience; if not, they will skip over your e-mail campaign, stop reading your website, or only look at price as the key differentiator. 

Get In The Mind Of A Prospect Before Writing Your Next Campaign.

Research has proven that the average person will spend less than 15 reading your website or .5 seconds reading a subject line in their inbox. And during this time, their brain will process some of the questions listed below to determine if they should continue reading to learn more or open your e-mail message:

• Are they saying things that are important to me?
• What makes this payroll service any better or different from the one I am using now?
• Why should I consider their offer of X, Y, or Z?
• Do I know this company?
• Do I need a new payroll service / HCM system?
• Should I compare my current payroll service to theirs?
• What is this company selling?

Every prospect/referral partner is just like you; they have limited time to learn about your payroll service as they are trying to do more work with fewer resources. And the more in sync your messages are with someone's problems, frustrations, annoyances, and needs, the quicker you will get their attention. Period. 

Executive Summary: With the average person exposed to thousands of marketing messages daily, what are your plans to change what you are saying? 

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

• Word Count: 473
• Time To Read: 1.9 Minutes

If you want to jump-start your sales, I have listed below some key selling tips for all owners, sales leaders, and sales pros to read.   

#1: Build A Massive e-Mail Database - If you want to see an immediate increase in sales, work on building a massive e-mail database of clients, prospects, and referral partners. If you don’t have enough e-mail addresses, call or e-mail me, as we have an e-mail address acquisition service.

Click Here To Learn More About Our e-Mail Address Acquisition Service.

#2: Connect With Your Payroll Clients - Satisfied clients are the lifeblood of any business. That said, here are a few ideas to help generate more referrals from your database of clients:

• Say "thank you" to your clients for being a customer.
• Ask your clients to proactively recommend your business to someone they know.
• Survey your database of clients to determine how well you are performing (see point #5 below). 

#3: Develop A Drip Marketing Strategy - To market your business cost-effectively, I recommend sending a consistent series of bite-size marketing campaigns versus taking the start-then-stop approach to marketing your business.

#4: Write Relevant Content To A Reader – The first step you need to take is to develop a database of clients, prospects, and referral partners. After that, start sending relevant messages to each group on file.

#5: Pick Up The Phone To Follow Up - Once a drip marketing campaign has been sent, make sure your salespeople call to follow up a campaign. By the way, this is the best way to shake the prospect tree if you want more sales leads and referrals.

To help you sound more professional on the phone, I have outlined two voicemail scripts to consider:

1. Hi _______this is ______ from ______________. I’m just quickly following up on an e-mail we sent to you about our free _______ offer.  If you would like to find out how our ____________ can reduce employee lawsuits, call me at (800) 555-1212, again, (800) 555-1212.
2. Hi _______this is ______ from ______________. I’m just quickly following up on an e-mail we sent you about our free ________ demo.  If you would like to find out how we can reduce your ______ by XX% in 21 days or less, call me at (800) 555-1212, again, (800) 555-1212.

#6: Survey Your Clients - A client survey can provide you with a tremendous amount of feedback. Specifically:

• How well your business is performing.
• Generate more referrals (we show our clients this all the time).
• Determine if a client needs a particular product or service.

Executive Summary: Bringing on new clients is the lifeblood of any payroll service. And if you want to see an increase in new business, you need to TAKE ACTION today, not tomorrow. 

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a highly acclaimed keynote speaker renowned for delivering invaluable sales and marketing advice to business owners and sales leaders, enabling them to win more payroll sales and produce more referrals from their database of clients and referral partners.

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 Increase Your e-Mail
Open Rates By 20%, 33%, Or More
(PRINT AND USE AT YOUR NEXT SALES MEETING)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc

• Word Count: 389
• Time To Read: 1.6 Minutes

Are you concerned that your e-mail marketing campaigns aren’t being opened by your database of payroll prospects and/or referral partners? If you are, you will find the strategies I have below of tremendous value.

Factors Affecting E-mail Open Rates.

Many factors will influence the open rate of an e-mail campaign. They are:

• Content relevance from past e-mail campaigns.
• Database being used, i.e., client vs. prospect database.
• Day of the week the campaign was sent.
• Frequency/recency of past e-mails sent.
• Subject line used.
• The name in the “From” field.
• Time of day.
• Word count from past e-mail campaigns.

7 Subject Line Tips:

1. Use A Subject Lines That Generates Curiosity: Curiosity is basic human nature. When your subject line strikes one’s curiosity chord, it will trigger them to open your e-mail.
2. Use A Personalized Subject Line: Personalizing your e-mail subject line helps foster familiarity with a reader, therefore, increases their sense of trust in you/your business.
3. Announce A Free Offer In The Subject Line: Freebies; who doesn’t love them as they act as incentives to help someone take the next step in the buying process.
4. Use A Humorous Subject Line: Humorous subject lines will stick out in your readers’ inboxes and trigger them to smile; therefore, open your e-mail.
5. Use A Shocking Subject Line: A good way to grab a reader’s attention is to state something unexpected.
6. Ask A Question: Asking a question in the subject line makes someone think, i.e., Do you hate your payroll service? or Do you need a new payroll service in 202X?
7. Fear Of Missing Out: You can use fear in your subject lines by adding 1. an element of shortage (limited availability) or 2. Urgency (offer end date).

How To Do An A/B Test:

• Sort your e-mail database by e-mail address.
• Create two lists (of equal size) from the abovementioned sort.
• Create two identical e-mails.
• Write two different subject lines for each campaign.
• Send the campaigns out on the same day/time. 

If you are unhappy with your e-mail open rates, take a moment to change things up. Conversely, if you are happy with your e-mail open rates, you can always do better.

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.

Copyright © 2022

5-Steps To Help You Close
More Payroll Proposals
(PRINT AND USE AT YOUR NEXT SALES MEETING)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc

• Word Count: 389
• Time To Read: 1.6 Minutes

Most payroll salespeople stop following up on a proposal after one or two attempts at moving the sales process forward. Therefore, if you are a sales leader for your payroll service, it would be in your best interest to train your sales team on the steps below, especially when you consider the staggering statistics below.

How Many Contacts Does It Take To Close A Sale?

• 2% are made on the 1st contact.
• 3% are made on the 2nd contact.
• 5% are made on the 3rd contact.
• 10% are made on the 4th contact.
• 80% are made on the 5th to 12th contact.

Try This 5-Step Proposal Closing Process:

If you are in sales (or a sales leader), you might find the 6-step process I have outlined below of value:

• Step #1: Proof Every Proposal - A second person should proof all proposals.
• Step 2: Log The Proposal - A salesperson needs to track every proposal to their proposal tracking report.
• Step 3: Proposal Review Call Time - Before a proposal is sent to a prospect, the salesperson sets up a proposal review time with a decision maker. 
• Step 4: Executive Follow-Up Call - The owner/sales leader calls the prospect to thank the person for the opportunity to earn their business and do a trial close, i.e., “When did you want to run your first payroll with us?”
• Step 5: Thank You Note - The salesperson sends a handwritten "thank you for your time" greeting card via the USPS.

Other Steps (For Sales Leaders):

• Set up a sequence of phone calls (or meetings) to follow up on the proposal.
• Develop an educational e-mail follow-up campaign/s (see sample below).

Click here for a sample "Thank You" greeting card via Amazon.com.

Send This e-Mail Within 24-Hours Of Delivering A Proposal.

Dear (first name),

Thank you for the opportunity to earn your business this week.  By the way, I have attached a few items you might want to read:

• An article/whitepaper on X, Y, and Z.
• Some recent client testimonials about our X, Y, and Z.

Again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to earn your business!

Warmest Regards,

(Your name, title, etc.)

Executive Summary: During your next one-on-one meeting with your salespeople, ask each person to give you their proposal pipeline report. Now, ask each salesperson these two questions:

1. “When will this company make a buying decision?”
2. “What is your follow-up plan for every proposal that hasn’t been closed?”

After listening to their answers, this e-mail will make complete sense to you.

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.

 Copyright © 2022

3 Tips To Get More Payroll Prospects
To Open Your Next e-Mail Campaign
(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com

• Word Count: 371
• Read Time: 90 Seconds

The people who buy what you sell spend 40% - 50% of their day dealing with their inboxes. That being said, e-mail marketing is a great way to reach your database of prospects, clients, and referral partners, i.e., CPAs.

To help your business get more people to open your next e-mail marketing campaign, I have listed below a few tips you might want to read and share.

Tip #1: Segment Your List - The first thing you need to do is segment your list by the target audience, as this will help you deliver messages that are more relevant to a reader. Plus, it will make it easier to track the success of your campaigns and identify which groups are most interested in your products or services.

Here are a few ways to segment your e-mail databases:

• Prospects – X Industry Association Members
• Prospects – Sales Rep #1
• Prospects - Received a Proposal In 20XX
• Prospects – Uses A 3rd Party Payroll Service
   
• Referral Partners – Enrolled Agents
• Referral Partners – CPAs
• Referral Partners – Bookkeepers
   
• Clients - Active
• Clients - Inactive

Tip #2: Send e-Mails At The Right Time - The day and time that you send an e-mail campaign has a direct correlation to its open rate. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to use a tool to help you send a campaign between 8:00 am to 9:00 am or 2:45 pm.

IMPORTANT: We’ve had the most success sending our clients’ campaigns on a Tuesday with a follow-up campaign to the subscribers who didn’t open the original campaign on a Friday. Sure, there are exceptions to this rule, but after sending 131 million e-mail messages, I am sharing what works for our clients.

Tip #3: Use A Great Subject Line - A subject line is a headline for the reader; therefore, it’s crucial to write a subject line that will get someone's attention. Here are some tips for your next subject line:

• Personalize a subject line with the person’s name or company name.
• Make your subject line relevant to the majority of readers.
• Consider using a subject line that is either negative or positive. 

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help 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.

To hire Glenn for your next conference, visit DripMarketingSpeaker.com.

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

Why Your Payroll Service Needs
More Than A Newsletter Blast
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com | Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 189
• Time To Read: 45 Seconds 

Blasting a generic one-size-fits-all newsletter and placing an ad in the yellow pages was cutting-edge marketing 15 years ago. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in today's information-overloaded society. Owners, marketing pros, and sales leaders at fast-growing payroll services go beyond a newsletter blast to win new payroll clients and referral partners.

5 Types Of e-Mail Campaigns.

1. Sales-Based Newsletters: My team and I pioneered a sales-based newsletter to help trigger a prospect and/or CPA to take the next step in the buying process.

2. Information-Based e-Mails: These e-mails deliver specific information about a new product/service to essential updates such as changes in the company.

3. Education-Based e-Mails: Education-based e-mails are a great way to position your payroll service as a subject matter expert, which is the foundation of building trust, credibility, and brand recognition in the marketplace.

4. Announcement-Based e-Mails: Announcement-based emails usually contain an important upgrade, new hire, or capital improvement to letting your clients know about a new cost-saving service.

5. Feel Good-Based e-Mails: Feel Good-based e-mails do nothing more than tell someone how much you appreciate their business or enjoy an upcoming holiday.

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.

To hire Glenn for your next conference, visit DripMarketingSpeaker.com.

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

e-Mail Marketing: Why It's A
Great Marketing Tool For Your Payroll Service
By Glenn Fallavollita, President of SellMorePayroll.com | Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 196
• Time To Read: 48 Seconds

A proactive e-mail marketing strategy has proved to be more cost-effective than social media marketing.

Don’t get me wrong; social media is still a great way to connect with your audience; however, e-mail marketing remains on top when it comes to the positioning of you / your payroll service as a subject matter expert.

5 Benefits To e-Mail Marketing.

• 1. It’s Cost-Efficient: e-Mail marketing is the best when you look at the cost of acquisition. 
• 2. Customize Your Messages: Unlike the one size fits all social media ad, e-mail marketing allows you to customize the relevant message, i.e., chamber member, association member, CPA, etc.
• 3. Everyone Checks Their Inbox: Your target audience checks their inbox 5 - 6 times a day; therefore, you will have a greater chance to be noticed than a pop-up or banner ad. 
• 4. It’s Measurable: With e-mail hosting services like Constant Contact, you can measure trends with just a few keystrokes. 
• 5. Helps Your Salespeople BIGTIME: You can give a list of people who received, opened, or clicked on a link and then call them with an "Oh, by the way" call within 4 – 36 hours of receiving a campaign.

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.

To hire Glenn for your next conference, visit DripMarketingSpeaker.com.

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

Why Your Payroll Company’s VP of Sales
Needs To Be A Great Salesperson
(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com & Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word Count: 563
• Time To Read: 2.1 Minutes

When hiring a sales leader for your payroll service, you want to ensure your VP of Sales is a great salesperson. If not, there is a good chance they won’t perform well for you.

“But Glenn, Aren’t All VP of Sales Great At Selling?”

No! Here’s why: Let’s say you are interviewing 10 candidates who claim they have increased sales tenfold at XYZ company.  What they aren’t telling you is this: They worked for a larger, more well-established payroll, HR, PEO, or tech company that had a large client base and a loyal referral partner base (AKA sales lead machine).

Unfortunately, if you are a smaller payroll/HCM business with only a handful of salespeople, you want to avoid hiring a sales leader that can’t sell, no matter how strong their resume or LinkedIn profile looks. Trust me when I say, “small payroll services are not like Fortune 1,000 businesses or companies with a large client/referral base.”

If Your VP of Sales Can’t Sell, Here Is What Will Happen.

• They are poor sales trainers.
• They don’t know how to create a competitive sales team.
• They don’t know how to create sales tools and marketing messages that will resonate with your target audience.
• They don’t know what top talent looks like.
• They focus on non-revenue producing reports, i.e., how many calls a salesperson is making.
• They won’t be able to dissect a sales call to help improve a salesperson’s sales skills. 
• They won’t be able to land the bigger deals or be brought in on deals with their salespeople (now read the next bullet point).
• They won’t gain the respect of their salespeople.

8 Tips When Hiring A VP of Sales:

1. Ask for three customer/client references. 
2. Ask them to give you an elevator pitch on what they are currently selling.
3. Ask them to make a PowerPoint presentation on what their current employer sells.
4. Ask them to role play with you (with you being a prospect for what they are selling).
5. Ask to talk with a past owner (as a reference).
6. Ask to talk with three salespeople they hired.
7. Don’t hire a VP of Sales who is also responsible for marketing your business.
8. Ask the candidate what they would do in their first 60-days on the job.

What Their Answer Should Be On Question #8:

• Develop a client survey, client referral program, CPA referral program, and a lead nurturing (drip marketing) system.
• Get in the field to determine the salespeople who can sell.
• Go talk with your clients and referral partner.
• Learn your payroll/HCM platform.
• Review your marketing campaigns to determine if the messaging is based on the buying triggers of your target audience.
• Review your sales staff’s compensation plan.
• Set up a sales pipeline report for each salesperson.

Summary:  Sales leaders who aren’t great salespeople tend to be a costly endeavor for the smaller payroll service bureaus – and blame the poor sales on their sales staff and how nobody knows who your company is.  Conversely, the VP of Sales who is both a great manager and a solid salesperson will figure out your problems fast and correct your revenue problems. 

P.S. Be careful of hiring a VP of Sales who only worked at a large company with a larger client/referral partner database. Although they are good for many things, they just won't be good for 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.