1. Archives from My Sales and
Marketing blogpart two
By Dan Galante
Articles
The Best Day & Time to Execute an Email Campaign
10 Things a Sales Leader Needs to Do or Have to Be Successful
What the New York Auto Show Can Teach Us About Trade Show Marketing
How to Deal with Difficult Customers
How to Qualify and Close Leads
How to Generate Leads for Your Business
How to Build Your Business & Brand Using Facebook Pages
Personal Branding on Facebook: The Basics
Build your Brand and Spread Ideas Using @Twitter
Building your Personal & Corporate Brand using LinkedIn
How to Earn Customer Referrals and Testimonials
How to Get Customers to Pay On Time While Keeping their Business

2. The Best Day & Time to Execute an Email Campaign
Many people ask, what is the best day and time to execute an email campaign?
Instead of trying to get the best day and time to execute an email marketing campaign, I would instead
focus on the content. I would ask the following questions:
1) What message do I want to send?
2) What action do I want my customers and prospects to take?
3) Is the content of my message relevant to my customers?
4) Will customers see the email campaign as a value message or just another solicitation?
For example, I write a blog on the topics of sales, marketing and social media. My readers can choose to
follow me through my RSS feed, through email, Wordpress, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook. I use my
blog to do my email marketing. As you can see my blog is seen by those whore receive it through email
and the other ways I mentioned as a value message. In fact, when you enter your email address to
subscribe to my blog, you will receive a confirmation email. This is known as an opt-in.
It is important to note that when building an email list that you get the recipients consent through an
opt-in. If you are building a list from your website you can use services such as Constant Contact. When
executing an email campaign, make sure to protect the privacy your customers by blind copying them.
When the customer receives the email, it should say sent to undisclosed recipients.
To answer the original question, I would say that any day and time is a great day to engage consumers
through email marketing; especially in today’s digital world. Consumers are on different schedules and
have different needs so it is hard to predict which day would be best to send out emails. If you wanted
to obtain concrete data on which day would be best to email consumers. You would need to develop
and implement a survey that asks consumers what day they opened and received your messages.
Services such as SurveyMonkey can be used to create the surveys. I use a widget on my site to obtain
feedback what content people want to see from me. . This information could then be compared with
the customer’s date of purchase to see how long it took them act on your message. (The sales cycle)
If at first you get a low response rate to your survey, you may need to offer an incentive like a gift card
for each completed survey or a chance to win a gift card in a drawing; this would be dependent on your
budget.

3. 10 Things a Sales Leader Needs to Do or Have to Be Successful
Deciding to go into sales management is a very big step for a sales person. Recently, I received an offer
to serve as a sales trainer or de-facto sales manager; based on my time in field sales and my blog.
What are a VP of Sales, Sales Director and Sales Manager?
Well they are leaders.
The first thing that a sales manager needs to do to be successful is to lead people and serve as an
example. During my time in sales, especially during training, I went to these sales leaders when I had
questions and needed help. (Before taking the position, you should make sure that you can believe in
the product and that you can sell it yourself because when the sales team cannot do it they will look
to you for help!)
The second thing that a sales leader needs to have to be successful is a successful track record as a sales
person. Did you notice that I said successful and not a rock star? This will take us to the next thing a
sales manager needs to have to be successful.
The third thing that a sales manager needs to have is empathy and patience. This comes into play when
training new sales people. They may go into the field and get shot down or they might be developing
slower than you would like. The easy thing to do would be to say deal with it. Another easy thing to do
would be to fire them. This is the wrong thing to do. (At least the in the beginning.) The sales manager
needs to support their sales people by debriefing with them and communicating with them. (Think, Babe
Ruth was never a manager in baseball even though he was a star; he lacked the patience to do the job.)
The fourth thing that a sales manager needs to do is to go around with their sales people to meet
customers. The sales manager needs to do this directly when possible. Delegating this task sends the
wrong message to the new person.It says that the sales person is not important. If you must delegate
this task, make sure the sales rep goes out with a seasoned sales rep that is successful so they can pick
up their positive habits.
The fifththing a sales manager needs to do is to teach sales people the following: sales planning, how to
make a cold call and how to handle sales objections.
The sixththing that a sales manager needs to do is to make sure that their sales people have knowledge
of: the company’s products, how to provide customer service, how to keep customers paying on time,
develop relationships with customers, how to up-sell and cross-sell, how to demonstrate value, not
selling on price and how to handle difficult customers.
The seventh thing the sales manager needs to do is to make sure that the team knows how to develop
and deliver a sales presentation that answers customer’s questions and objections.
The eighth thing that the sales manager needs to do is to let the sales people to know its ok to ask for
the order after they make their presentation. The sales manager also needs to teach the sales people

4. the following: to generate leads, to convert these leads into sales, to follow-up on sales, earn referrals
and testimonials and to make the quota. Only if the sales team makes their quota will the sales manager
make theirs. The sales manager can motivate their team to sell with sales contests. This a great way to
promote healthy competition among the sales team. (A side note, touch base with your team on a
weekly basis. However, reduce the amount of sales meetings that you have. Especially if your team
has to travel long distances to attend. The last thing that you want to do is take money away from
yourself and your team by keeping them out of their territories. I would recommend one to two
meetings team meetings a month. The rest of the meetings can be handled via conference call, email
and co-traveling. Sites such as GoToMeeting can facilitate meetings.
The ninth thing to do is to assess your team’s strengths’ and weaknesses’; working with the team to
correct them.
The tenth and last thing that a sales manager needs to be successful is be able to repeat steps one to
nine multiple times as sales people are promoted, fired and leave to go work for another company.
When firing someone make sure to meet with them face to face and explain the situation. No one likes
to hear this news over the phone or via email. You will need to learn how to interview and recruit
people as well.
These are the 10 things that a sales leader needs to do or have to be successful.

5. What the New York Auto Show Can Teach Us About Trade Show Marketing
Trade show marketing is important for companies to build brand awareness. The purpose for trade
shows is to drive sales. As a Dental Sales Rep, I worked the Greater New York Dental meeting. This is a
show where Dental Manufacturers and distributors show off current and new products they have to
offer. Today, I am going to discuss how companies can drive sales at trade shows. I am also going to use
the New York Auto show to offer examples of best practices for trade show marketing.
When planning for a trade show it is important to decide on the size of your booth. Also you need to
decide on your message and theme. Are you going to offer free product demonstrations? How are you
going to get customers? How are you going to mobilize your staff? What is the reason you are attending
the show. Are you looking to build brand awareness? Are you looking to increase sales? What is your
budget for the show? Also how much time do you need to set up your display?
All of these questions should be handled before you can go ahead. Also it is imperative that you get the
word out that you are attending the event. Let your customers’ know what your booth number is and
where to find you. You can do this by delivering literature to customers during sales calls. I have done
this many times in the past. Make sure to share postings on social media sites such as Facebook,
Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn. Advertise in your industry trade magazine and on industry related web
sites. The organizers of the trade show will do this as well but you as companies need to do your part.
Make sure your displays’ dazzles your audience. All presentations need to be top-notch!
The Automotive industry really does a great job with trade show marketing. I recently covered the New
York Auto show as a member of the press. The show is going on through Sunday, 4/15/12 so I suggest
you head down there to check it out. At this show, I saw some amazing unveils of the Chevy Impala,
Mercedes, BMW M6’s, Lexus ES350, Nissan Altima and the Dodge Viper which was my personal favorite.
I saw a stunt driver burn rubber with the Viper! Ford also had an amazing display as well. The Ford
Mustangs have their own place downstairs away from the main display. The auto show is shared on
Facebook, and Twitter. The automotive manufactures also promote the show on their own social media
channels. Many of the unveils were broadcast live on social media channels.
What made these unveils so exciting was the showmanship of the executives along with the videos and
in the case of the Mercedes display; a live band. You saw the cars on the TV screen then the executives
would drive up with the cars. They engaged the audience! Every car had a story and you felt like you
wanted to buy it. Every trade show could be enhanced by watching the techniques employed at this
show.
On the public days, professional spokespeople present the cars and trucks to the crowds. But don’t take
my word for it, go out and see the show. Still not convinced? Here are the pictures!

6. How to Deal with Difficult Customers
In sales, we all have to deal with difficult customers. Today, I am going discuss how to deal with difficult
customers. In a previous post, I discussed how to get customers to pay on time. Before I can discuss how
to handle difficult customers, the situation needs to be put in context. In other words, why were the
customers being difficult? Were they being difficult because you screwed up their order or service call?
Are they just miserable people? Does the customer constantly cancel their orders? What kind of
relationship do you have with this customer? How important is your customer to your bottom line or
monthly quota.
Now I know that the first thing you want to do with a nasty customer is to tell them off and fire them.
My answer is to resist this urge. You need to remain calm in order to figure out what is causing the
customers hostility. If the customer is being hostile because you and your company screwed up, take
responsibility and fix the situation. I always did this during my time in outside sales. If you have a
customer who constantly wastes your time having you order items only to cancel these orders, I suggest
having a discussion with the customer to try and settle the issue at hand. If this goes nowhere then fire
the customer! (Provided they do a small amount of business with you.)
Should you have a customer that is nasty who has a long standing relationship with the company, with
you and is crucial to you bottom line/ making your sales quota, I suggest that you suck it up and find a
way to keep this customer happy. You do not want to cut your nose to spite you face.
Handling collections can also create difficulty between you and your customer. However, this does not
have to be the case. Customers will usually not pay an invoice because of the following reasons: the
product you sold them did not work, they lost their invoice, they are having cash flow problems, or the
sales rep was too lazy to follow up with the customers. If the product you sold them does not work, fix
the issue immediately. If the customer lost their invoice, provide them with another copy and follow up.
If the customer is having cash flow problems work out a payment plan. If you are the sales rep follow up.
If you’re the sales manager, lean on the rep. Remember to be respectful to the customer. It is important
to keep in mind that you want to sell this customer items in the future; not just collect a debt. (I discuss
getting customers to pay on time in a previous post.)
Many difficult customers can be managed with great customer service and follow through. However,
some cannot be dealt with and need to be fired. Firing customers should be a last resort.

7. How to Qualify and Close Leads
In my last post, I wrote about the various ways businesses can get leads. Now that you have collected all
these leads, what do you do with them? In this post, I will discuss how to qualify and close the leads you
get.
Prior to calling on the leads you need to do the following:
1 Read the business cards looking for notes you jotted down about where you met the contact and
something about them. (A phrase or keyword)
2 Enter this information into your CRM software.
3 Do this for all the leads you receive.
Next you need to plan a form of action. You need to decide your method of contact. Are you going to
call the people on the phone, email to follow-up, market to them through direct mail or make a cold call
in person disclosing that the prospect contacted you about your product and services? The method that
you choose will depend on the kinds of product you sell and the size of your business/territory.
I am going to focus on the email follow-up and the in person cold calls.
Following-up via email
You should write the following:
Dear Mr. Smith:
Hi it’s Dan Galante. I hope you are doing well.
We met at XYZ. You saw a demo of product xyz. /We discussed__________.
I would like to speak with to know your thoughts. If you are interested or have any questions email me
at Dan@dangalante.com or call 1-555-555-5555.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Dan
Dan Galante.
This letter asks for feedback from the prospect without being too pushy.
Based on the reception you get from this letter, you can qualify the prospect as a Cold, Warm or Hot
lead. This activity needs to be logged in your CRM software. This letter could be followed-up with a
phone call or an in person cold call.

8. Making an in person cold call
I spoke about how to make a cold call in an earlier post.
To do this successfully you would need to the following:
1 Make friends with the Gate-keeper.
2 Ask to speak with the decision maker.
Being that you are following-up on a lead; you already know the decision maker and can ask for them by
name. When the gate-keeper asks why you are here to see the decision maker you should say that they
contacted you about your product.
If you get to speak the decision maker; build rapport and be ready to deliver your sales presentation.
Make sure to ask for the sale. Also be sure to qualify their objections.
If the decision maker is not around; try to get an appointment.
Whether or not you make the sale, make sure to log this activity in your CRM software.
It is important to follow-up on all your sales activities and to keep records!
This is how to qualify and close leads.
Until next time, thank you for reading.

9. How to Generate Leads for Your Business
Lead Generation is an essential building block for businesses to find potential buyers who are interested
in their products and services. In previous posts, I discussed how to prospect and identify your target
market. In this post, I will discuss how businesses can find leads and what mediums can be used to
obtain leads.
Many mediums can be used to obtain leads. These mediums include: Direct mail, Email, Marketing,
Surveys, Advertising, Social Media, referrals from current customers, business networking, trade show
marketing.
You have to see what strategies will work for you. Your product and budget will help to determine how
you go about obtaining leads.
Direct Mail
Direct mail can be a great way to find prospects. You can create a message with pictures and compelling
copy. The idea is to piqué the interest of your prospect and include a card with paid postage that they
can send back requesting more information. You can use CRM software to track your results and fine
tune who to target.
Email Marketing
Email lists can be purchased from a list broker or self-generated from your address book. You can also
use services like Constant Contact that allows people to enter their email addresses if they want email
from your business. This is known as allowing them to opt in. Before proceeding with an Email
campaign make sure to get permission from people through an opt-in email. If you do not get peoples’
permission to send them email it can be considered spam. Email is a cheaper item than mail. You can
have a wider reach to your customers. I would suggest creating a message that is compelling. Make sure
to use pictures and colors that look appealing.
Surveys
Surveys can be a great way to get information about prospects and customers. You can ask specific
questions that can provide information on what the prospect is looking for. Also you can ask questions
about when the prospect is looking to make a purchase. This information can be stored in CRM
software. Surveys can be done through direct mail, email or online through internet polls.
Advertising
Businesses can advertise their products and services. The advertising can be a spot on the radio,
television, Social Media, print and billboards. Television ads can be short commercials that appear on TV
shows or they can take the form Infomercials which are at least a half hour in length. Television has
been a preferred method of advertising for years because television has a massive audience. The
internet is also a great way to advertise. You can use pay-per-click advertising on LinkedIn, Facebook and

10. Google. (LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, Google AdWords) This is an effective method because you can
specify who you want to see your ad by different demographics such as Geography, Age, and Profession.
You can also use keywords to trigger your ads.
Social Media
Social Media is a great tool to get leads; specifically LinkedIn. You can explore the questions and answer
section to look for potential customers. The questions and answers section is a great way to ask people
for information or to answer questions. Answering questions can allow you to position yourself as an
expert on a topic. Members who ask questions are allowed to choose which answers they think are
good and which one they think is the best. I was named a Sales and Marketing Expert in the areas of
Lead Generation, Sales Techniques, and Direct Marketing by members whose questions I answered.
Print
Placing ads in newspapers can also help your business because newspapers have many readers.
Newspapers are usually in print and online. Your advertising on this platform could take the form of a
classified ad or article marketing. Industry trade magazines also fall into this category. Billboards can
also help your businesses visibility.
Referrals/Testimonials from Customers
Referrals and testimonials from your customers is one of the best ways to get leads because they
remove doubt from the prospects mind about your capabilities to perform. Referrals could take the
form of a video, a recommendation on LinkedIn or a Slideshare presentation. I have the last two that I
listed. Referrals and Testimonials should speak to the quality of your work.
Business Networking
Attending networking events at your local chamber of commerce or at a professional association can be
a great way to meet potential prospects and to generate leads. At these events you can talk informally
and exchange business cards. You can briefly discuss who you are and what you do then move on;
remember you want to network with as many people as possible.
Trade show Marketing
It is important to attend industry trade shows either as an exhibitor or an attendee. Trade shows are a
great way to keep up to date with trends in your industry. This will allow you to hone your expertise
which your customers pay for. Trade shows are a great place for you to get leads because customers go
to them looking to make purchases either at the show or soon after. If you are an exhibitor, require
attendees to give you their contact information to see a demonstration of your product. This can be the
start of an informal conversation which you can follow-up on later.
I have listed a variety of ways that businesses can get leads. The methods you choose depend on your
product and budget. You have to see which methods will work for you.

11. Next time, I will discuss how to qualify leads and convert them into sales.
Until next time, thank you for reading.

12. How to Build Your Business & Brand Using Facebook Pages
In my last post, I discussed about how to build your personal brand on Facebook. Today I am going to
discuss how to brand your business using Facebook pages. Remember Facebook is the largest Social
networking site which means that your customers and prospects are on the site. Your job as a business
and a brand is to engage with fans, prospects and customers. The goal is to convert this engagement
(marketing) to product sales. Facebook pages are a great way to do this.
Facebook has greatly increased the kinds of pages that people and brands can create. Currently there
are six types of pages. These pages include: a Local Business or place page, a Company page, a Brand or
Product page, an Artist, Fan or Public Figures page, an Entertainment page and a Causes or Community
page. Each of these pages has their own benefits. However in this post, I am going to focus on the public
figure and the Company pages; using my public figure and company pages as an example.
The first thing that you need to do before setting up a Facebook business page is to set up a Facebook
account. The steps to set up a Facebook account addressed in my last post. Once you create an account
you need to do the following:
1 Log in to your account
2 Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the create a page link
3 Once you click on the link, a page will come up that will list all six types of Facebook pages. (For this
post we will focus on the Public Figure and Company pages.)
4 Choose the type of page you would like which in our case is the Public Figure and Company pages.
5 Once you choose the type of page you would like, you will be asked to select the category your page
falls into.
6 The next step will be to name your page. For the public figure page use your name or your band’s
name if you have one. Use your company name for your company page. I started with a public figure
page and added a company page later.
7 Agree to Facebook’s terms and click the get started button.
Getting Started
I will start by discussing how to set up a public figure page. The first thing you will need to do is to fill in
the basic information section of the public figure page. The basic information section asks for the
following:
1 The category of the page, the type of person you are public figure, journalist etc…
2 Your name
3 Your Address (This is optional for public figure and company pages)

13. 4 Your affiliation
5 Your date of birth
6 An about headline which is similar to the headline feature on LinkedIn except you need to provide the
content, where LinkedIn will let you use your job title and company as a default. I would use this space
to briefly sell who you are and what you do. You should be brief. My headline is: Sales & Marketing
Maven who is available to meet your sales & marketing needs Contact me for a free consultation Read
my Sales & Marketing Blog http://www.dangalante.me . As you can see my headline is short and to the
point. You can elaborate on the headline in the Biography section.
7 Use the biography section to expand on the headline. This is the place to describe yourself, your
credentials and what you have to offer potential customers. Here is an example of my biography
section: I am Dan Galante, President, CEO, CMO, Sales and Marketing Consultant at Trend Setting Sales
and Marketing. Trend Setting Sales and Marketing provides Sales, Marketing and Advertising services to
clients across multiple mediums. Prior to my current role, I ran the New York City sales territory for
Diversified Dental Sales Inc. During my time in this position, I called on Dental Professionals, selling them
my company’s products and services. I helped build my company’s brand by educating Dental
professionals who were previously unfamiliar with our offerings. I also hold a Master’s Degree in
Education. My knowledge of Sales, Marketing and Education, gives me the expertise to teach business
ways they can produce more. My objective is to use my sales, marketing and education experience to
provide clients with sales and marketing consulting services. I am also interested in obtaining traditional
sales and marketing positions in New York City. I author a sales and marketing blog. Also, I publish
several online newspapers which focus on the topics of: Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Technology, the
automotive industry and Dentistry serving as Editor in Chief of each.
Specialties:
Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Direct Marketing, Online Marketing, B2B Marketing, B2B Sales, Territory
Sales, Sales Techniques, Lead Generation, Route Sales, Dental Equipment Sales, Dental Sales, Dental
Marketing, Outside Sales, Prospecting, Cold Calling, Cold Canvassing, Cross Selling, Brand Building,
Business Development, Account Management, Customer Service, Customer Loyalty, Customer
Retention, Mediation, Social Media Marketing, Spokesperson, Trade show marketing, Event Marketing,
Education
As you can see I offer a professional summary along with my specialties. Listing your specialties is a great
place to list what you have done along with what you would like to do.
8 There is a section for awards, gender, personal information, personal interests, phone number and
websites. I definitely would make use of the personal interests, and websites section to make your page
come alive.
Setting Up Your Pages Visibility

14. The next thing that you need to is to decide who will see your page. Facebook allows you to decide what
countries are allowed to view your pages. You can get access to this setting by clicking the permissions
tab. Depending on your content; you can set an age restriction. Facebook also allows you to decide the
following: if you want people to tag you in photos and videos, if you want people to write and post
content on your wall and if you want to block certain people from posting on your wall. Facebook also
lets you block profanity from being posted on your wall. I recommend that you allow people to tag your
photos and post comments on content you post. Also, I recommend that you allow others to share
content on your wall. I recommend this because this will give you the opportunity to engage with your
fans. Once you reach 25 likes, Facebook allows you to set a custom URL to your pages. I recommend
doing this because it will be easier for people to find your page and it will be easier for search engines to
index your page. Here are my custom URL’s.
http://www.facebook.com/djgalantehttp://www.facebook.com/trendsettingsm I picked one name that
was my name and one that is a shortened version of my company name Trend Setting Sales and
Marketing. You should pick names related to yourself and/or your business so people will find your page
quickly and easily.
Facebook also allows you to use insights to see who is talking about your page and who likes your page.
Also make sure to upload a professional photo of yourself.
Another thing you can do is to choose an administrator for your page. I would recommend doing this
yourself unless you have a professional moderator for your page because the administrator will have full
access to your page. You can also post your tweets to Facebook using the Twitter plug-in the under the
resources tab.
Getting Likes
Once your pages are complete, you want to get people to like your page. For a long time Facebook likes
have been Facebook’s social currency. Likes symbolize social approval from friends and fans. In order to
get likes, you should do the following:
1 Provide compelling content that engages Fans. (I share my blog posts with my fans.) Encourage them
to share their stories using your product and services. This could be done through wall posts or videos
2 Promote your page by inviting your Facebook friends and sending email invitations to people who are
not directly connected with you.
3 Use Facebook ads to get people to like and interact with your page. (I will discuss this at a later time)
4 Post content from your Facebook page. (Facebook allows users to switch between their personal
accounts and their Facebook page.)
Remember that this takes work and it is an ongoing process.
The company page on Facebook is similar to the Public figure page. The Company page is good to
promote your business if you have employees. It is also good if you want to promote your company as a

15. brand. If you are a band or working by yourself, I would use the public figure page. I use both pages
because I am looking to get customers and I would like to grow my idea into a large business. The
difference with the Company page is that you will not have to provide a date of birth. However, you will
have to provide a company description instead of a personal description. (About me) Also you can
provide a mission statement and describe your offerings in the products box. These are the key
differences between the pages.
Promoting your Facebook page on other Social Networks and other Platforms
1 Share your Facebook page on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google plus by sharing your pages URL on these
sites; inviting your connections/followers to join you.
2 Include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature
3 Include Facebook plugins on your website and blog
4 Include your Facebook page on any printed materials that you give customers and prospects
5 Include your page in any TV, Radio or print advertisements that you engage in.
This is how to successfully build and promote a public figure and company page on Facebook.
Until next time, thank you for reading!

16. Personal Branding on Facebook:The Basics
Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world. Facebook has about 650 million users
worldwide. Almost everyone is on Facebook. From teenagers to baby boomers, people from all walks of
life are using Facebook. In this post, I am going to discuss the basics of personal branding on Facebook.
To sign up for an individual account you need to do the following:
1 Provide your first and last name.
2 Enter a valid email twice.
3 Create a password
4 Provide your date of birth to verify your age.
To get started, you need to fill out the basic information section which includes the following
information: your birthday, your sex, your relationship status and if you prefer men or women.
The next step is to fill out your contact information. In this section, you can include links to your
websites, blogs, and other social networks.
Facebook also allows you to share your education and work experience. This is a great way to make your
profile professional. To tell your story, make sure to fill out Facebook’s about you section. This is a great
place to tell your story. You can sell who you are and what you do.
You can also create a timeline to tell your story. This is a new feature on Facebook. Make sure to upload
a professional photo of yourself. Facebook also allows you to create photo albums. Make sure to upload
photos that contain nothing embarrassing such as drinking or nudity. Remember you are trying to build
your image here. Here is the link to my Facebook profile for you to see an example of what I have
discussed so far. http://facebook.com/dgalantenyc Facebook allows you to pick a custom URL to make it
easier to find your profile.
Now that your profile is set up, your next goal is to add friends to your Facebook account. You can do
this as follows:
1 Do a manual search for your friends.
2 Upload your address book to see which of your contacts are on Facebook
3 Send email invitations to people who are not on Facebook.
When you find a contacts profile, click on the add friend button. When you click the add friend button.
Facebook allows you to specify how you are connected with the person. I would also include a message
with your friend request. Try to connect with people who you know well because if too many of your
requests go unanswered, you will be blocked from adding friends. Also if people flag your request as
spam, you will be blocked from sending messages. If you want to add more people, make sure that you

17. share an interest with them. You can also subscribe to people’s updates even if you are not friends with
them.
Now that you have friends on Facebook, the next step is to post status updates. I would recommend
posting interesting content you come across. This is also a great way to share your own content. Next, I
would use your Facebook wall. The Facebook wall allows people to publically communicate on Facebook
with one another. Also if you approve of a status update or comment, you can like them. Likes on
Facebook serve as a social endorsement. You can look at my profile to see examples of my likes and
people who have liked my content. http://www.facebook.com/dgalantenyc .
Facebook pages are also a great way for people and brands to promote their products and services.
In my next post, I will cover likes, status updates and Facebook pages in more detail.
Until then, thank you for reading.

18. Build your Brand and Spread Ideas Using @Twitter
Twitter is a great social networking site for people and brands to spread ideas quickly. Twitter is also a
great marketing tool for brands to promote products and services. Twitter has a few hundred million
users worldwide. Getting started with Twitter is quick and easy. To get started using Twitter you need to
do the following:
1 Click on the join link.
2 Provide your first and last name.
3 Provide a valid email address.
Once you join, you will need to choose a name for your account. I would recommend using your name
or your business name. You can also choose a name that relates to what you do. I have two Twitter
accounts @DanGalante and @TrendSettingSM. The former is my name and the latter is an abbreviation
of my company name Trend Setting Sales and Marketing.
Now that you have an account, you should fill in the bio section. Twitter gives you 160 characters to
describe yourself. I would suggest using the space to briefly sell who you are and what you do. Make
sure to leave space to include a link to your website or blog. Although Twitter provides a place for a web
link, two links are better than one.
The next step is to upload a photo of you. Make sure that the photo that you choose is professional and
clearly visible to members. Remember, this is your image that you are sharing. Twitter provides users
with an option of uploading a custom background. To do this, click on the settings button and click
design. Here you can upload a picture from your computer or view different Twitter backgrounds.
Now you are ready to tweet. However before you start tweeting away, you need know the following:
1 Tweets are limited to 140 characters. At first, this may seem annoying, but this is a great exercise for
your creativity.
2 Make sure you have something of value to say, nothing will turn people off faster than nonsense.
3 Make sure to share articles and content that you create in your Tweets by including links. Doing this
will help you gain followers. Twitter also allows you to share videos and photos in tweets. This can be a
great way to share experiences, ideas and to promote a business or a brand.
4 Do not be afraid to make a mistake. Twitter provides a delete button with an icon that is a trash can.
This is great if you make a typographical error.
5 Make sure to change-up your message. No one likes the same message over and over.
6 Leave 10 to 20 characters for your tweets to be retweeted.
Once you start tweeting, your goals are to:

19. 1 Get other users to share your content.
2 Build a following
3 Follow other users who interest you.
The Retweet and The Mention
When a Twitter user shares a message from another user, this is called a Retweet. Retweets are sought
after because the more your content is shared, the higher your influence is perceived.
Mentions are when a Twitter user references or quotes you in on of their tweets. Some users may use
this instead of simply retweeting because a mention shows up quicker than a retweet does in a user’s
timeline.
Retweets and mentions show up in the interactions and mentions section of the Twitter account.
The Direct Message or DM
The Direct Message or DM as it is referred to, allows Twitter users to send messages to other users. I
waited to mention this feature until now because Twitter only allows users to send messages to users
who follow them. This is a great way to send a private message to users on the site.
Sharing Tweets with More than Just Twitter Followers
In order for users to share tweets with more than their followers, users need to use hash-tags. Hash-tags
are a number bracket next to a word. For example, #business is a hash-tag. Hash-tags create an index of
information on a specific topic. A hash-tag reaches more people than a regular tweet or just getting a
few retweets. Hash-tags are a great way for users to earn new followers. Follow Friday (better known as
#FF or #FollowFriday on Twitter), is a way for Twitter users to promote other users they like. Job
searchers also use #hire #hireme or #hirefriday to try to get their resume in front of potential
employers.
Integrating Twitter with other Social Networks
Various third-party applications exist that allow users to share their Tweets on LinkedIn, Facebook, a
website and a blog. Users will need to click on the application settings tab to do this. Twitter members
will have to authorize these applications on LinkedIn as Facebook as well. I have included a link to my
website to show you how I integrate twitter with my site. http://www.dangalante.com/. (You will need
to log in to see my tweets on LinkedIn and Facebook.) Integrating Twitter with other social networks can
give users a larger reach than using Twitter alone. Users will also get more followers from Facebook and
LinkedIn. This has worked for me.
Twitter has unveiled company branded pages to certain companies. This is similar to what Google+ and
Facebook are doing.As you can see, Twitter is a great way for people and brands to share ideas

20. quickly.Brands can influence a large audience all around the world.This is how people and brands can
use Twitter.

21. Building your Personal & Corporate Brand using LinkedIn
Use of social media is essential in personal and corporate branding. The networks that brands should be
on are LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+. Writing blogs and having websites are also
essential for building a brand. Today I am going to discuss how to build your brand using LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a professional networking site that allows people to search for jobs and connect with people
they know. You can also make new connections on the site. Right now, 135 million people around the
world are using LinkedIn.
The Basics
LinkedIn allows users to sign up for free. To get started you need to do the following.
1 Click on the join today tab.
2 Enter a first and last name.
3 Enter a valid email address.
4 Create a password.
Creating a profile
Once you have created a password you, will need to identify your geographic location and provide
information about your employment status. LinkedIn asks you to provide your employment history
along with your educational history. The amount of information you provide is up to you but the more
relevant information you supply the better. This is because a complete LinkedIn profile shows up better
in search results. The LinkedIn profile is the digital resume.
So what elements do I need to complete a profile?
1 Provide information on your current position. If you do not have a position, create one on your ideal
career or position. There is no excuse to leave this blank if you are unemployed.
2 Provide information on your previous two positions.
3 Write a professional summary that provides information that describes past accomplishments along
with what you can do for potential clients and employers. You should also describe what type of
position or client you are seeking.
4 Upload a professional picture that will make your profile look more attractive.
5 Create a professional headline in 160 characters or less. If you leave this blank, LinkedIn populates this
with your latest position. My advice is to create your own catchy headline to captivate readers to read
your profile; unless you have a great position and have achieved your career goals. The professional
headline provides you with an opportunity to quickly sell and market who you are and what you do.

22. 6 Fill out the specialties section with keywords related to what you do. Your idea is to use keywords to
optimize your LinkedIn profile to come up in searches on LinkedIn. Also fill out the skills section and
interests section.
7 Connect with customers, colleagues, bosses and professors. To do this quickly, upload your address
book from your email account into LinkedIn. LinkedIn will identify which members in your address book
are already members. You can then decide which members you want to invite to join your network.
LinkedIn is based on a network of first, second and third degree connections. First degree connections
are direct connection. Second degree connections are a connection of a connection or a friend of a
friend. Third degree connections are friends of second degree connections. You can connect with people
by entering an email address for them, indicating that you share a group with them, stating that they are
a colleague, stating that you have done business, together or by stating that you were classmates. Make
sure not to abuse the contact form otherwise you will have to enter email addresses every time that you
connect with someone. Inmails are a premium feature that allows you to contact people anyone on
LinkedIn. This is good if you are not able to reach a person through traditional means. Basic accounts on
LinkedIn also provide a feature called introductions. Basic accounts allow five introductions. This feature
allows you ask one of your connections to connect you with one of your connections.
8 Get recommendations. Once you have first degree connections, you can ask them to recommend your
work. To do this, click on the profile tab and click on the recommendations link in the drop down menu.
This will allow you to choose the position you want to be recommended for. Once you have identified
this position you then can send out a request to your connection for a recommendation.
Recommendations are social proof and are a great way to boost your credibility online. LinkedIn
requires three recommendations for your profile to be considered complete. For recommendations
from non LinkedIn members, use the Slideshare and Box plugins.
9 Use the three profile links LinkedIn provides in the website section of your profile. I would include the
following links, your website, your blog, your Facebook page, your YouTube channel and your Google
plus page. The sites you choose are up to you. LinkedIn also provides users with two additional Links for
Twitter accounts. In other words, LinkedIn provides you with up to five touch points to connect with
people and to showcase your work.
10 Make sure to make your profile public. LinkedIn allows users to create a custom URL to make it easier
for users to find them. I would make the address one that easily identifies you. My public profile URL is
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dangalante .
These are the 10 steps to create a complete LinkedIn profile that will be optimized for search on
LinkedIn. Also public profiles are indexed in search engines such as Bing, Google, and Yahoo. It is
important to know that you can determine what activity that you share. You also have the option to
hide your connections from your 1st Degree connections. The settings tab will allow you choose options.
Make sure to share content and status updates with your network to engage them. LinkedIn allows
people to like and comment on posts. Status updates can be shared on Twitter, with groups and with
individuals. Another thing that you can do to build your brand on LinkedIn is to join groups. LinkedIn

23. allows members to join up to 50 groups. I would target industry groups or groups that match your
interests. Groups are great places to facilitate discussions. I would also recommend creating a group.
This is easy to do. I have provided a link to my sales and marketing group to give you an example.
Groups are a great way to make connections and to share and start discussions. You can also post jobs in
groups as well.
Companies can also take advantage of LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows companies to create pages. On these
pages, companies can post jobs which are a premium feature. Recently, LinkedIn added the status
update feature for company pages. This is great to provide updates about your company along with
promoting your products and service. I have included a link to my company page as an example.
As you can see, LinkedIn is a great place for personal and corporate branding.

24. How to Earn Customer Referrals and Testimonials
Once you have made a sale to a customer, it is important to follow-up with a customer. As a Sales
person it is important to deliver on the promises you make to customers. This means checking in with
the customer throughout the implementation of your product or service and staying in touch with the
customer after the sale. In this post, I am going to discuss how to earn referrals and testimonials.
During my time as an outside sales representative in New York City, making sales was the highlight of my
day. Once I made a sale, I was itching to ask for a referral or a testimonial. In other words, I wanted to
ask the customer the question Do you know of anyone who could benefit from my product and
services? However, once I made the sale my inner voice told me not to ask for a referral. Now many
people would want to ask because they feel that the customer bought their products or services and this
shows a sign of trust. But what did the customer really buy? Yes the customer bought you and your
products but the main thing that they bought was your promise to deliver value through your offering.
How can you ask someone to put their credibility on the line when you and your solution are unproven?
Yet many people do.
Asking for a referral right after the sale is a mistake because you have not delivered on your promise and
you will seem ungrateful. The customer will think that you are not interested in building a relationship
and that you just want to make a commission. Remember your job as a Sales person is to build
relationships with customers and to make sales by demonstrating your products value to the customer.
Once the sale is complete, it is your job to deliver on the promises that you make to your customer.
Now you are thinking well this is great but when do I ask for a referral? How do I ask for a referral?
I would ask the customer for a referral when you know the customer is happy with the implementation
of your product or service. In other words, ask when you have delivered on your promise. If you offer
more than one product or service try to cross sell or up sell the customer first. See if the customer will
use more of your products or services or if the customer purchases more expensive offerings from you.
Once the customer purchases more items from you, the customer is demonstrating that they like and
trust you. This is the time to ask for a referral. I usually waited until this point to ask for a referral.
I would ask the customer for a referral by first thanking them for the business that they have provided
and trusted me with. Then I would ask if they knew of anyone like themselves that would benefit from
my offering. My experience has taught me that the customers were always willing to offer themselves as
a reference. Customers who offered me a referral would let me use their names with other clients or
pass my name along to their peers.
Testimonials are like referrals. Testimonials can come in a variety of forms. There is a testimonial letter
and a testimonial video. The testimonial letter is when a customer writes a letter stating that you did a
wonderful job for them and endorses you. The digital version of this letter is the recommendation
feature on LinkedIn. The testimonial video is when a client speaks of your performance in a short video
segment. When asking for a testimonial, offer the customer the option to choose the option they feel
comfortable with. Also be sure to tell them what specific aspect of your service you want them to focus

25. on. Once you receive a referral and/or testimonial, make sure to thank your customer. Should you get
new business through a referral, provide great service otherwise your customer will not give you
anymore! Keep your customer informed on the status of the relationship with the referral.
This is how to earn a referral and testimonial in a nutshell.

26. How to Get Customers to Pay On Time While Keeping their Business
When we deal with customers, it is important to get them to pay their invoices in a timely manner. What
a timely manner means is dependent on your company’s payment policy. Are these customers C.O.D or
are they net 30, net 60, net 90 or longer? This payment structure is based on the length of the sales
cycle.
What can we do to make sure that customers pay their invoices on time?
Develop and nurture the relationship with your customer.
Do the following:
1 When you complete the sale, put all details in writing. Agree on a method of payment with your
customer.
2 Follow through with the implementation of the sale and check in with your customer to make sure
they a happy with their purchase.
3 If the customer voices concerns or has an issue with your product, address it immediately.
4 Make sure that you honor the warranty and be willing to look up the invoice for the customer if they
do not have this.
If you do these four things, your customers will pay 95 %percent of the time.
I did these things but the customer will not pay?
In a large organization, the accounts receivable manager will handle the customer by sending past due
notices and charging penalties. However if you work for a small company as I did, this will be entirely on
your shoulders.
In any case, you as the sales representative should call and/or visit the customer. When you follow-up
with the customer, you should speak to the customer to try to work out a solution to the get the invoice
paid. Remember before you go in with guns blazing that you want to keep this customer doing business
with you. It is important to be polite and never raise your voice or swear. Should the customer get nasty
and state that they are not going to pay, you should state the following: It is my job to get the company
off your back. I am the last nice guy they plan to send. Take care. After you deliver this line, head for the
door. This is a tip that I learned from Jim Cathcart and it works every time! I have used this as an outside
sales representative and the customer would say hold on what do you mean? I would answer well after
me, my manager has to get involved and he charged fees and refers this to collection and credit
agencies. If my manager has to get involved it will get ugly. You are nice people and I would hate to see
that happen. So what could we do about this? Many would pay that day or within a week. In many
instances, I was also able to keep customer doing business with the company. You should not be afraid
to ask customers for money that you are entitled to. Your landlord and suppliers demands payment for
services rendered and so should you!

27. As a result of my efforts implementing the strategies above, my receivables (open invoices) were the
lowest in the company! This allowed me to earn more commissions, make more sales and develop great
relationships with my customers.

28. Customer Service Rules in the Digital Age
In my post Building the Brands of Tomorrow, I stated that one of the things that companies needed to
do to build the brand of the future is to listen to their customers. This means handling customer
complaints promptly. We are in the digital age. In this age, social networks are the wave of the future.
Today’s consumer is an empowered consumer. A customer can quickly share their thoughts about a
product or an experience on Facebook, Twitter, Google and many other networks. Brands need to be
present on social networks to interact and engage with the empowered consumer. More and more
consumers are consulting their social networks for product recommendations.
Many companies are not fielding the empowered consumers’ complaints on social networks. In other
words they are not providing customer service on social networks. Whenever we have an issue with a
product, we have to call an 800 number which makes you listen to prompt after prompt. When you
finally do get a person, you have to relay to them all of your information. Once you do this, they in turn
transfer you another person who is either a specialist or the next person up the chain of command. It
seems that no one can handle your issue. Heaven forbid you are waiting for 20 minutes or more; there is
a good chance that you would be disconnected. This practice is wrong because it frustrates customers
and they tell every one of their horrible experience with your brand. More and more consumers are
venting their frustrations on social networks. As I discussed before, local word of mouth marketing has
become global marketing. A message shared on a social network can spread all around the world within
a matter of hours. Ignoring customer complaints is just bad for business and will destroy your brands
reputation.
A Product’s quality needs to be top-notch to cut the need for customer service. However, we know that
with even the best products; issues arise. Customer service needs to be transformed. This
transformation has to take place at the corporate level because as I stated before, people see brands as
one unit and as a result; companies need to take each one of their brands and create a task force. This
task force should consist of members from top management, brand managers and members of the sales
and marketing departments. Customer complaints need to be fielded in real-time on social media sites
such as Facebook and Twitter. Waiting time for customers on 800 numbers also needs to be reduced.
Remember that meeting the needs of your customers is critical to keeping them buying your product. It
costs more to earn new business that to keep the business your current customer base generates today.
Resolving customer’s issues can lead to up selling or cross selling of products and services during the
exchange! By providing a customer service experience that makes a customer sit up and take notice, you
help to improve your reputation in this new digital age. As a brand, don’t you want to reap the benefits
or local word of mouth marketing or global marketing?

29. Contact Info
Like what you have seen here. Feel free to subscribe!
Blog:http://www.dangalante.me/
Tumblr: http://dangalante.tumblr.com/
Email:Dan@dangalante.com
Web address:http://dangalante.com/
LinkedIn: http://linkedIn.com/in/dangalante
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dangalante @DanGalante
Facebook: http://facebook.com/djgalante