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The summer may have recently come to an end, but we’re still coming down from the excitement of Cydcor’s 2023 National Conferences (NatCon). In the space of three weeks in August, we held events in Round Rock, Texas and Montreal, Quebec for our retail, B2B/residential, and Canadian Conferences. Our theme, GAME ON!, kept the energy high at each 2-day event.
There were plenty of awards, thousands of attendees, and our itinerary was packed from start to finish–but the best thing about NatCon was the opportunity to connect with the ICLs in our industry to share, network, and grow together.
When we approached putting on this event, we had two goals in mind. First, we wanted to honor and celebrate the success that many of the entrepreneurs, business owners, and ICLs in our network have accomplished this past year. Second, we wanted to bring everyone’s thoughts, perspectives, and ideas together so that we can inspire and support the future growth of our industry.
We wanted to design an environment for professionals and entrepreneurs to network, make new connections, and learn from the industry's top minds.
This may have been a summer-ending bash, but the ICLs in our network are only getting started when it comes to success. Top sales producers were invited to share their knowledge in breakouts–and the Cydcor Leadership Team was also there to share insights with entrepreneurs looking to take their business to new heights. Our CEO Vera Quinn, CRO Rich Mangafas, and Executive Chairman Gary Polson all led their own breakouts to share their unique perspectives on business.
We believe that the ultimate success is to keep growing and leveling up one’s ability to serve the world through their career and entrepreneurial spirit. As we look ahead to the future, one thing is clear: it’s GAME ON!
We also believe that success is not a zero sum game–so by celebrating the achievements of outstanding individuals in our space, everyone can get a big picture view of the opportunities that are out there in the industry.
Powerful stories were shared, as top performers and consultants spoke about their journey and how they got to where they are today. Top female sales owners hosted a women in business breakout in which they shared tips and wisdom they’ve learned through their careers. A panel highlighting Black entrepreneurship was an integral point of NatCon, with leaders sharing their keys to success.
While there was lots of learning and networking going on–there’s always room for fun at Cydcor events. NatCon is our Superbowl–and the atmosphere at each event reflected this. We’re grateful to the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, Texas, for having us for our Retail and B2B/Residential Conferences; and to Hotel Bonaventure in Montreal, Quebec for hosting our Canadian event.
At each event, a cocktail reception gave way to the main event of NatCon: an awards ceremony that honored the success of the top performing office owners in our industry. These events are attended by highly motivated individuals–working for ICLs from across the nation–and this recognition of achievement brought lots of excitement and momentum.
Each of our three events came and went like a blur (we guess time really does move fast when you’re having fun!), but the spirit of NatCon 2023 lives on as we move to close out the final quarters of the year.
In closing, all attendees were left with a big question: “What does GAME ON mean to you?”
If NatCon 2023 was a celebration of what’s possible right now, we can’t wait to see the accomplishments that NatCon 2024 will be honoring.
For us, it’s time to get back to work! We’re people helping people–and we will spend the year building up to an event that even more entrepreneurs in our industry can be a meaningful part of.
We contract with companies that are owned and managed by entrepreneurs – these entrepreneurs all have proven track records in sales and are who we choose to outsource campaigns on behalf of our clients with. These independent companies are constantly executing on innovative ideas and driving change. This story comes from one such company: Trig Inc., which adopted satellite technology to succeed at PRIDE in Columbus, Ohio.
To succeed in entrepreneurship, you have to be open to change and be ready to innovate. Beyond that, you have to be willing to execute – as new technologies, approaches, and strategies only become useful once they’re acted upon.
We are always being inundated with stories of change, innovation, and execution – which inspire us to do the same thing within our own business.
One of these stories occurred recently, when business owner Adrienne Peddicord, President of Trig, Inc., and her team attended PRIDE in Columbus, Ohio, to work on a campaign. They had been there the year prior – and a turnout of 1.7 million people had put such a load on the cell towers that the entire area lost service.
Because the Trig Inc. team uses contactless enrollment, last year’s outage had deterred their efforts. This year, determined to succeed at 2023 PRIDE, Peddicord and her team sought to evolve their services.
Be Open to Change:
The network connectivity provided by cell towers works - most of the time. But those who create change and push the envelope as leaders and entrepreneurs, don’t just accept when something only works most of the time.
Elon Musk is one of those people - and Starlink, one of his many companies, continues to expand our understanding of how network connectivity can work.
Starlink offers internet, mostly in remote areas, using satellites flying in low orbit. With the ability to bring internet access to places where cell towers aren’t even present, surely the service could serve as a reliable backup in the likely event service went down at Columbus PRIDE.
This year’s event ended up drawing a whopping 2.3 million people from the LQBTQ+ and ally community - over half a million more than the crowd that had shut down service at the prior year’s PRIDE.
The first step is to be open to change - and while Starlink isn’t a widely adopted technology (and still needs work to rival the low latency of cellular), Peddicord and her team at Trig Inc., knew that they needed to do something different. They went into the PRIDE event ready to give the satellites a shot.
Be Ready to Innovate:
This openness to change paid off.
“As the parade came to an end,” Peddicord recalls, “so did our service - as people swarmed in. But despite the towers going down, we were still in business!”
But introducing a new way of doing things means bringing up a whole new set of problems. That’s why innovation requires a readiness to solve problems as they come up.
“There were two very small hiccups where we lost the satellite connection,” Peddicord says. When this happened, her team got in touch with us, via our Cydcor help desk.
The companies we contract with operate independently, but we are around to provide consultation related to our clients’ sales orders to help optimize the sales campaigns. The two times that the Trig Inc. team’s connection to the Starlink satellites went down, Cydcor’s support team were able to collaborate on a solution.
“Moments after opening a ticket,” Peddicord says, “Cydcor’s IT team reached back out and within minutes - both times - we were back up and running.”
Instead of being phased by curveballs, the Trig Inc. team kept problem solving. The result was a day of innovation.
Execute:
In the end, you can be open to change and ready to innovate, but if you’re not willing to execute - it’s all one big waste.
Entrepreneurship requires doing - and that’s what the Trig Inc. team did - for the entire Columbus pride event. It doesn’t matter if you have every satellite in space working for you - if there isn’t a team on the ground ready to put in the work of serving people, these innovations would be worthless.
All in all, the Trig Inc. team secured over 500 enrollments that day - furthering the reach of the client, bringing solutions to the client’s customers, and celebrating PRIDE along with the rest of the Columbus community.
“We came together and were able to pull off this success,” Peddicord says. “This wouldn't have been possible without everyone being so open minded to this new idea.”
We continue to be inspired by the independent businesses we contract - and the entrepreneurs behind them. Learning from this story, how will you be open to change, ready to innovate, and willing to execute?
It’s summer now – and you can probably look outside right now and see nature at its fullest. What was just some buds a few short months ago, are now plants in their complete brilliance.
In our last two blogs we’ve been focused on growth: both for people starting a new career and for those looking to expand on their current role in the workplace. If you’ve been following along, you may be wondering what the final form of this growth looks like.
Those eager to advance their career will no doubt be called upon to be a leader. This is the end result of growth – when a person takes what they’ve learned from their journey and builds on it by empowering those around them.
So how do we grow into leadership? Let’s explore.
Be Humble
It all starts with humility. If you have the experience necessary to start taking the lead at work, it can be difficult to remain modest about all you have accomplished. Yes, it is important to take pride in the road that got you to where you are today, but it’s important to keep yourself grounded.
Remember, you’re just getting started – and there is so much more you have left to achieve!
Humility won’t just allow your team to relate to you better (and make you an easier person to be around), it will help you remain open to the innovative ideas and perspectives that every single person has to offer (more on that later).
Staying modest will also help you avoid complacency. There is always room for your own improvement and there is always something new to learn. In living this out, you will be setting an excellent example of constant growth that your team can be inspired by.
Take Accountability
Being a leader means that if a member of your team has a problem, you have one, too. The buck stops with you – and you have to take responsibility for the success or failure of your department.
This is one of the more difficult lessons to learn as a leader – as there are factors that will be outside of your control. But instead of pointing fingers when something goes pear shaped, taking accountability for what has happened will have a great impact on your ability to lead. When your team sees that you have their back, they will grow more motivated to move forward with better diligence.
This accountability ties into our next tip for growing your leadership skills: start using the word “we.”
Use The Word “We”
We is a powerful word. Imagine someone who has just completed a successful project. Their colleagues have had some input into the process, but it’s them who has put in the heavy lifting.
When presenting the results, they can either say “look what I’ve accomplished,” or “look what we’ve accomplished.” See the difference? If you were sitting in on the presentation, which line would make you more inclined to do further work with and for that person?
Leaders invite everyone into the process and are the first to give credit (even when they are shining a light on small-yet-impactful contributions). If you want to start being viewed as a leader in your workplace and beyond, start paying attention to and being quick to praise.
That starts when you adopt the word “we” into your vocabulary. Individuals speak for themselves, whereas leaders speak for their teams.
Teach Others
No matter what setting you find them in, leaders are teachers and coaches. They have risen to a high standard in their field – and are now tasked with fostering the same growth in the team around them.
Growth is not a zero-sum game. Be generous with what you know. Someone who rises to the top then pulls the ladder up behind them is no leader. Instead, think of where you started, what you had to learn, and the challenges you used to face, and think of ways that you can create the best environment for your team to thrive.
This environment is created with mentorship, knowledge, and
The best leader is one who doesn’t hide behind their own glory, but instead knows that the greatest honor is watching their team win. With the right mentorship, someone can even exceed the accomplishments of their teacher. This – for a leader – is something to be proud of and celebrate.
Keep Growing
There’s a old joke that goes something like this:
Two people go duck hunting. They bring along the second person’s hunting dog.
As the afternoon goes on, the first person says to the second:
“I don’t get it. Your dog used to be the best hunting dog there ever was. You could shoot a duck and he’d have it back to you before you could even blink. Today, he’s just sat around and barked. What happened?”
The second hunter replies:
“I changed his name to manager.”
Just because you’ve become a leader, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have room to still be growing. As you challenge your team to work hard, expand their horizons, and continue learning, you should be sure to be setting an example and putting what you preach into practice.
As spring ends and summer begins — you can probably look outside and see the leaves growing back onto the trees. Just as nature changes with the seasons, our career and professional journey can transform, too – if you allow it to happen!
If you’re looking for a change in your career, either from unhappiness with your current job or a longing for something more fulfilling, now is a great time to do it. Just take some inspiration from the budding plants and follow this advice.
Plant Yourself in The Right Environment
A plant could thrive in one environment and die in another. Each one is unique and needs a different type of soil, amount of rain, and sunlight to grow tall and strong.
People are much like plants in this regard. If you’re unhappy with your current job, it’s likely because it’s not the right environment for you.
This can trip people up: it can be easy to think that it’s your fault that you aren’t growing where you are. You may see others finding great success – and wonder what’s wrong with you.
Before you dive into growing into a new career, it’s helpful to do some introspection and get to the heart of your wants and needs when it comes to work. Assessments, such as the Myers-Briggs Indicator or the 16 Personalities test, can be a useful and fun way to accomplish this.
These tests aren’t flawless – nor can any assessment perfectly capture the unique individual that is you – but they can provide new revelations about what will be the best environment for your success.
Are you extroverted? Time to find a job that involves working with new and interesting people on the daily. Do you have an analytical mind? Maybe a job that involves studying fascinating and impactful data is the right fit for you.
With these new insights into yourself, you’ll be able to find both a job and an employer that provides you with the best environment to grow. Remember, with the right soil and amount of sunlight, every plant can succeed!
Nurture Growth by Asking Questions
If a plant needs sunlight and water to grow – what are the nutrients we need to thrive in a new career. The answer is information!
Ask questions. This is one of the biggest pieces of advice we offer to new Cydcor employees (it applies to just about everything in life, too).
Coming into a new career can make you feel like you don’t know enough. Everyone else around has worked their way into being an expert on their job and how systems function at the specific company. Starting out, it can be tempting to avoid asking questions, so that you don’t stand out too much as “the new guy.”
But you can’t grow until you say “I don’t know.” Get curious – about just about everything. For those looking to create healthy work relationships with their new colleges, asking questions has a great impact.
People love to talk about themselves and what they do. When you ask questions, most people don’t think wow – how do they not know this? Instead, they’re likely thinking wow – this person is interested in me and what I do!
To go one step further, don’t just ask how to do things – ask why they’re done this way. This will teach you about the shared values and logic of the new company you’re working for and will help you problem solve in the future when you are given work that nobody else has figured out yet.
Learn To Appreciate Rain
Spring is a time for beautiful flowers and baby birds to emerge, yes, but this time of year also sees its fair share of thunderstorms.
If you’re diving into a new career, failure is unavoidable. Trying anything for the first time is challenging – this is perfectly normal and ok!
To grow, you need to have gratitude for every hiccup, mistake, or misunderstanding that you may run into. You’re learning and each failure comes with takeaways that you can use for the rest of your life.
We’re sure budding flowers don’t always find the rain comfortable, but it’s what helps them grow the most.
Continue to ask questions and seek valuable feedback (even criticism) from your peers and supervisors alike. Most employers aren’t looking for someone who’s perfect, they’re looking for people who are coachable.
When you trip up, remember that showers make way for flowers.
Keep Growing!
This advice is all useful for those growing into a new career – but they can apply to anyone! A tree can only grow so tall and certain flowers only last a season – but when it comes to your career, there are absolutely no limits to growth.
We wish you success, learning, and joy in your career journey – wherever it takes you!
People helping people – that’s essential to our culture as a business. But what happens when people help people help other people? Here are the results of our latest Philanthropy Challenge and powerful takeaways that will help you use collaboration to create positive change.
At Cydcor, one of the most cherished partnerships we have is with Liberty Children’s Home – an orphanage in the Central American country of Belize. Known as a sanctuary, Liberty provides love, safety, and growth to over forty children, many of whom have been previously abused, abandoned, and neglected.
To heighten our efforts to support this charity organization, we organized a Philanthropy Challenge. Kicking off at NatCon 2022, this initiative ran from September 12th, 2022 to April 30th, 2023. Independently owned and operated companies, or ICLs, from across our network, were invited to participate.
All in all, the wide array of teams involved were able to raise over $70,000! Our team is currently working with the people at Liberty to determine how the funds can best be used to support the children.
From our network of independent companies, 32 teams took on the Philanthropy Challenge. These teams came from locations across the country – and allowed this initiative to have a presence in a variety of different communities.
If we were to go into this effort alone, we would have been limited by the reach and perspective of Cydcor. Inviting these independent teams to join us gave us new angles to consider how to maximize our efforts. This made us all the more powerful, overnight.
If you’re trying to leave a positive impact on the world, this is the first thing to consider. Who are the people that can bring another element to your initiative? What are the communities that are eager and ready to help out (if only someone would reach out to get them involved).
It’s corny to say, but we really are stronger together!
Everyone has different talents. The Philanthropy Challenge wouldn’t have had the same impact if we didn’t get every brain in the game. We leaned on the creativity of organizers to design pins, t-shirts, organize opportunity drawings with donated prizes, and even put together a paddle raise at our last event. These creative talents aligned in collaboration with the interpersonal skills of the people who conducted outreach and raised the funds.
Whatever your talents are, there are opportunities to serve your community and beyond. The secret is to align with a diverse network of people to form a dovetail of skill sets that create the most change possible.
Healthy competition, or social motivation, has been shown in research to improve attention on sustained physical effort. Inside all of us there’s a competitor (though some people take this to a whole other level). When collaborating on a charity effort, some friendly competition is a great way to keep everyone motivated and push beyond what was once thought possible.
Cydcor, in alliance with a network of ICLs, has long enjoyed a good-old-fashioned competition. Creating metrics for success, curating an exciting collection of donated prizes, and sprinkling in a healthy dose of fun is one of our team’s favorite things to do.
For this Philanthropy Challenge, the big prize is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which also allows for the winners to continue to experience the joy of serving others. The top three winners will soon join Vera Quinn, our CEO, on her next trip to Belize. While there, they have the opportunity to volunteer at Liberty and meet the children the Challenge was created to serve.
Because collaboration is always the key to success, these winners will be inviting two team members to join them on this incredible journey of servant leadership.
Making it a competition created an atmosphere of growth. The success of one person would inspire another to push the envelope even further – and so on. This created a ripple effect of social motivation, making the astounding result of over $70,000 going to Liberty possible.
At Cydcor, we don’t believe in finish lines. So long as there are people on earth, there will be people in need of help. One day, we’ll be gone, and the next generation will be called on to provide support, service, and love to those in need.
With collaboration, we ensure that there will always be people ready, eager, and empowered to help people, because we create a movement that’s bigger than just us.
The success of the Philanthropy Challenge doesn’t just lie in Cydcor’s efforts, but also in those of the ICLs and the communities that they live and work in.
We’re committed to planning out even more ways to continue our support of Liberty Children’s Home, in addition to many more future initiatives that create positive impact in our community and beyond.
Collaboration will continue to be our greatest tool in accomplishing all this!
To learn more about the incredible work happening at Liberty Children’s Home, visit their website.
At Cydcor, we believe in constant growth – and we hope you do, too! In our last blog, we explored how to grow into a new career. Now, we’re going to focus on what to do when you’re established in your career and want to continue improving.
It’s not all about fancy job titles and bigger paychecks (though we’d be lying if we didn’t say these are great perks to growth). Building on what you’re already accomplishing in the workplace will increase your impact, open up new opportunities, and lead to a more fulfilling life.
Let’s keep growing!
First things first: growth comes to those who can manage it. Improving your position at work means taking on new (and larger) responsibilities. If you aren’t handling your current tasks with excellence – are you really able to take on more?
You can dream of that raise or promotion, but if there are areas to improve in your current role, your current role won’t be improving either.
If you can handle the little things, you will prove trustworthy for bigger responsibilities. So take pride in your current role – because it can build into something awesome!
Before you move to grow in your career, take stock. How could you improve what you're already doing? In order to move up, you’ll need to step out of your comfort zone, encounter challenges, and put in some hard work. This can start today – so get to it!
As we discussed in our last blog, most people are thrilled to share what they know with others. If you're aiming to grow in your career – the best thing to do is pick the brains of those who are accomplishing what you seek to achieve.
Start forging relationships with people at various levels of your company. It doesn’t just have to be the CEO, even the person who’s only slightly ahead of you in the process of growth has something to teach you.
Use this insight to start creating a plan for yourself. Looking at the top brass of your company, what do you think that your final goal can be? Learning from your coworker that just got a promotion, what are the steps you can start making today to get there?
Taking the experience of others and complementing it with your unique goals for life, you can come up with a vision for how you see your career going.
Having a clear vision is powerful in its own right, but everything is stronger together. The next question to ask: how can you align your vision with that of your company and your coworkers (who have their own dreams, too)?
Collaboration is one of humanity’s greatest tools, so think on the many ways your growth can impact and accelerate the improvement of your surrounding environment. With aligned goals, you will become someone that your work family can depend on. When you invest in the visions of others, they’ll be inspired to respond in kind.
Growth is not a zero-sum game. This is the philosophy that has helped Cydcor grow into what it is today – and it will help your career journey, too!
As we’ve previously mentioned, improving your position at work means taking on more responsibilities. Many of us fall into the trap of sitting around and waiting for that to happen. The people who grow the quickest are those who proactively seek out opportunities to expand their role.
Saying things like “that’s not my responsibility” or “that’s not in my job description” won’t lead to growth. To move forward in your career, you have to be looking for ways to constantly be expanding your job description – not allowing your current role to box you in.
Look around – everyone could use a hand. Whether it’s being ready to fill in when someone is away or indisposed, or it’s coming up with a solution to a problem that your office has deemed unfixable, there are always ways to proactively grow.
In helping others, you will help yourself. Opportunities are always available – but only to those who are ready and eager to take them on.
The idea of taking the lead can be scary – but you can’t keep growing in your career until you’re ready to lead those who are in your current position. That’s why it’s important to start fostering this skill now.
Leadership skill doesn’t come from a fancy title or a promotion. It comes from humility, a willingness to share what you’ve learned, and from taking accountability for now just your work, but the work of those around you.
For more on this topic, stay tuned for our next blog!
In the meantime, we encourage you to continue seeking growth in your career, finding new ways to build on what you’ve already accomplished. The future will be bright – and it’s you who will be shining!
What do you want the impact of your life to be? We would all like to leave the world a better place – so how can we use our careers to make a positive difference?
This may at first be a difficult question to answer. We can often think of our careers as separate from the legacy we’re leaving behind. But with the right mindset and approach to living out your values, you can find your place on a team that aligns with your mission to better your family, community, and world.
It’s 2023. Our world faces many challenges, from climate change to poverty. With so much work to be done to leave a better world behind, our careers must play a role in how we act out our higher values.
This isn’t just the right thing to do – this will enrich your life and help you reach your goals. When motivated by a mission bigger than yourself, you can experience a life of fulfillment, hold the joy of generosity, and form deeper connections with the community and world that surrounds you.
So, what does a career with positive impact look like? Let’s explore.
Most careers revolve around bringing a product, service, or solution to people who need it. Therein lies the first way that you can build a meaningful career that serves as a net benefit. If you can take pride in what you are offering clients and customers and the business that you work for, you’re on the right track.
For the entrepreneurs reading who either have or are soon to start their own businesses, thinking about what you offer is critical. Remember, sales is about leading people to the things that they need, so the best success comes when your first mission is to enrich the lives of your customer or client base.
As an example, we can develop the best methods for clean energy, but if there’s no business set up around making it available to people, it cannot have any impact. We tend to think that creating positive change is a job best left for charities, missionaries, and the like – but when we look at doing good in this light, we see that every career can have a positive impact.
Whether you’re in sales, marketing, accounting, or anything else, by aligning with brands that are bringing products and services that better the planet, your career can have a positive impact!
Success in your career means that you will find more opportunities to give back. Whatever you do, there are always ways that you can share the wealth of your hard work with others.
This is something that we at Cydcor hold very dear to us. We believe that you can make a career out of caring and we continue to discover philanthropic efforts that allow us to impact both our community and the world at-large.
In a past partnership, we were able to raise nearly $1 million to offer free cleft-lip and cleft palate surgeries to children in underserved regions across the globe. These are life-changing operations, which brought healing to nearly 4,000 smiles.
As of this blog, we are currently working with Liberty Children’s home, a Belize-based orphanage.
In addition, our Neighborhood Leader Program helps the independent sales companies in our network direct their passion and talents towards great causes in their local communities.
Philanthropy offers you many ways to take the gifts that your career has grown and share them with those who need a helping hand. This can help you find fulfillment and leave a meaningful legacy.
We’d do anything for our families. That’s why it’s important to consider the people in your life when creating a career of positive impact.
Building wealth that brings comfort, opportunity, and wellbeing for your spouse, children, and other dependents is likely a major reason why you show up to work. We want to provide for the ones we love. Keeping this at the forefront of your values is a surefire way to unlock motivation on even the most difficult of days.
But it’s not just wealth most people want to give their family and friends. Time is the most valuable thing of all! When building a career of positive change and fulfillment, remember to leave space for you to enjoy quality time with those who matter most.
Once you’ve found a way to offer something better, get involved with philanthropy, and support your family, what’s next? The positive impact your career can have does not stop there!
With a fulfilling and meaningful career established, next comes the beautiful opportunity to pass your knowledge, experience, and wisdom onto others – so that they too can create an impactful legacy through the work that they accomplish.
When you teach others, your positive impact multiplies. Knowing that the people you teach will then build on that knowledge and teach others – well, there’s no better or easier way to change the world than that!
Whether you’re just starting out your career, or are simply looking for something more, take some time to intentionally think about the legacy you can leave behind.
Let’s all commit to careers of positive impact!
All customers are unique with different interests, priorities, and points of view. To engage customers and build rapport effectively, you must understand and appeal to what’s most important to them and adjust your sales approach accordingly.All customers are unique with different interests, priorities, and points of view. To engage customers and build rapport effectively, you must understand and appeal to what’s most important to them and adjust your sales approach accordingly.CLICK TO TWEET
Here are the best sales approaches for three types of customers in the B2B, retail, and residential channels.
How to sell successfully to B2B customers
Busy businesspeople don’t have time for a lengthy or complicated sales process that takes their attention away from running their businesses. In some cases, the people with whom you’re meeting may need to consult with other stakeholders. Be informative, not pushy as you guide them through the buying process — answering questions, addressing concerns, adapting to their pace, and arming them with the right information to make a decision. You’ll earn their trust and their business by serving as a strategic consultant who offers high-impact solutions, rather than as just another salesperson who’s pitching products and services. The key to a winning sales approach with B2B customers is demonstrating the ways your solutions can drive results and add value to their business such as:
How to sell successfully to retail customers
Retail customers often go to the store to do something specific, so you may be interrupting their task when you approach them about an unrelated product or service. For these types of customers, rapport and positive energy are important to make the interaction as pleasant as possible. Be friendly and initiate a conversation quickly and effectively. If you have to, help them find what they’re looking for first, so they can focus on your message. Once you have their attention, ask the right questions, address any concerns, and present customized solutions that meet their needs. Also, remember you’re representing both the product or service brand and the store brand, so your professional demeanor should enhance their reputations. A successful retail sales approach is about making the shopping experience enjoyable, so keep the following in mind:
How to sell successfully to residential customers
Many residential customers may be familiar with your product or service but lack the information, initiative or incentive to take action. The door-to-door sales approach is an effective way of reaching these customers who haven’t responded to mainstream marketing efforts. When approaching people at home, respect their personal space, be genuine and trustworthy, actively listen, and make an emotional connection. Their decision is as much about emotion and brand appeal as it is about value, so show that you truly care about helping them and their family — not just making a sale. Through face-to-face communication, you can respond to questions, educate them on their options, and share the compelling benefits of your product or service. Ultimately, your role is to personalize their buying experience and present a solution that answers these fundamental questions:
Using these sales approaches, you can create positive buying and brand experiences tailored to the unique needs of different types of customers in the B2B, retail, and residential channels. When done right, face-to-face interactions can help attract, delight and retain customers who feel heard, valued, and well-served — boosting not only sales, but also brand loyalty.
When global crises arise, it is the most nimble and flexible businesses that are best positioned to weather the storm. Maximizing results for your business involves using innovative and adaptable marketing strategies to drive the results you’d like to see. While Cydcor is best-known for high success rates in face-to-face sales, our omnichannel strategy and capabilities allow us to generate additional success for our clients to ensure incremental sales, market share growth, and territory penetration, reaching customers wherever they are and however they choose to buy. In this blog post, we’ll cover what an omnichannel approach means and how our approach can catapult your business and enable you to pivot even when unexpected challenges arise.
An omnichannel strategy aims to reach and communicate with the customer at multiple touch points. Unlike multi-channel marketing approaches, an omnichannel approach uses information about the customer collected at one touchpoint to inform and improve the communication with the customer at the other touchpoints. By offering multiple channels, this approach improves efficiency and boosts results for customer acquisition and retention, as well as long-term growth.
Several of the benefits that come from implementing an omnichannel strategy include developing best practices, building awareness, and gathering quality leads for your business. When it comes to developing pitch, scripting, and best practices, the testing process, whether it is done through in-person, digital marketing, or telesales, can help inform and improve the language used to present the product to the customer. Moreover, through digital sales, the entire sales funnel can be tested, which can be a great way to discover if the sticking point is related to benefits, pricing, or the offer.
Helping build internal awareness of competitive services is another way an omnichannel strategy can be effective. Through one channel, the team can discover what other products and services customers are already using, considering and what their preferences might be. This information can be given to another team who can retarget the customer with selling points that address those competitive issues.
Finally, gathering quality leads becomes possible when companies can reach leads through their preferred initial point of contact. Whether or not a sale occurs, the brand/service has now engaged with the customer and is beginning to learn about them. These insights help inform the sales approach through other channels and may even provide the opportunity to acquire or upsell customers later.An omnichannel approach can allow your business to lean on one channel when others are handicapped by economic, environmental, or social forces outside of your control.CLICK TO TWEET
Ultimately, what is learned via one channel can help make another stronger. It can allow your business to lean on one channel when others are handicapped by economic, environmental, or social forces outside of your control. Taking on an omnichannel approach also provides a strategic opportunity to recognize strengths and opportunities issues in other channels, and allows your brand other opportunities to reach customers in other channels. With this knowledge, Cydcor’s omnichannel capabilities can help maximize results for your business!
As you map out your future and determine the actions that will lead you to your goals, you may wonder how much of it is really up to you. How much control do you really have when it comes to setting and achieving goals? Afterall, there are things in life that just come down to luck, aren’t there? To those who are wondering if they should leave it up to fate to decide their future, remember this: fortune favors the bold!
The people of ancient Rome used to worship gods and goddesses. One of the most revered goddesses was Fortuna, the goddess of luck. The phrase “Fortune favors the bold,” originates with Fortuna, so though she is known as the goddess of luck; she really awarded favor to those with strength of character, those who took action, and those who took risks. To truly get what we want, we must choose our own fortune.
Every single day we choose:
What am I going to focus on today?
What are my goals for this year?
What do I want my life to look like?
Based on our strength of character, our action, and our willingness to take risk, Fortuna either smiles on us, or she does not.
Here are 5 ways to guarantee Fortuna will smile on you:
Don’t expect the gods to decide what your destiny should be. Choose it for yourself. Know it will happen, literally, write it down, and then decide to achieve it. Being lucky is really about being in the driver’s seat; writing your own happy ending and turning it into a reality.
Creating bold goals shouldn’t be a one-time deal. Don’t just write down your dreams, then put them away in a drawer and never look at them again. Goal setting should be a daily habit, like washing your hair. To get what you want, take out your goals and look at them every single day. Choose what you will do that day to bring yourself one step closer to those goals. Setting and achieving goals a commitment to yourself you’ll have to revisit and remake again and again. Goal setting should be a daily habit, like washing your hair. To get what you want, take out your goals and look at them every single day.CLICK TO TWEET
Nothing great has ever come to anyone who kept their expectations low. Think big. Get outside of your comfort zone, and be willing to take risks. Set ambitious goals and ask a lot of yourself. Without the genuine possibility of failure, true success is not possible.
Risk taking alone can’t rewrite your fortune. We all know risk takers who fall on their faces at every turn. You must show strength of character to make your risk taking pay off. That means having self-discipline, dignity, and restraint. It means planning and having, at all times, a vision for how you will turn risk into reward.
Without action, nothing and no one can ever move forward. Doing the work may be the simplest, yet hardest piece of the puzzle, but in order to get what you want, you must first get moving. Don’t just sit back and wait to get lucky. You must play an active role in your own life if you ever expect to create the kind of game-changing results needed to rewrite your fortune.
In the end, luck has nothing to do with it. The potential to write your own fortune in life is inside of you at all times. When you’re setting goals, choose to believe in them. Be willing to take risks, and decide that you will take the actions necessary to make those risks pay off. True strength of character comes from trusting in yourself and knowing you have the power to make fortune smile on you. So be bold, and start turning those dreams into realities.
When the road gets bumpy, don’t retreat. Remember that every challenge is an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve. While never easy, facing and embracing adversity can lead to success, making us stronger, and better equipped for anything and everything that lies ahead.
‘Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again;
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again;
Then your courage should appear,
For if you will persevere,
You can conquer, never fear;
Try, Try again.
Remember this poem from childhood? It’s a simple yet profound message to keep pursuing your goals, even if at first you fail. It’s a reminder to embrace and learn from setbacks because eventually, facing adversity can lead to success. As we all struggle with our fair share of adversity, remember that staring down obstacles can provide powerful lessons on the journey to achievement.
In sales, hearing “no” more than “yes” is par for the course, so this timeless message offers good advice. Hardship, adversity, and even failure can lead to bigger successes if you show courage, persevere, and work hard to reach your dreams — no matter what stands in your way. Hardship, adversity, and even failure can lead to bigger successes if you show courage, persevere, and work hard to reach your dreams — no matter the obstacles. CLICK TO TWEET
Consider these five lessons on how embracing failure leads to success.
In the iconic 1997 Nike commercial, “Failure,” Michael Jordan reflects on all the times he missed a crucial shot or lost a game as he walks to the Chicago Bulls locker room:
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Today, Jordan is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. His admitted failures show that even the most successful people in the world have stumbled spectacularly. With the right attitude and perspective, failure can help you learn when you lose and get back up when you fall.
Whether you need to perfect your sales pitch, adjust your approach, or sharpen your skills, let each failure fuel your personal growth. Try these simple steps to take on challenges like a champion:
A 2018 survey of 160 business-to-business sales professionals by a leading sales training company finds that nearly half or more have a hard time on the job:
So, it’s no surprise that success in sales demands true grit. In her 2013 Ted Talk, Angela Duckworth, a psychologist and author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, calls this trait a winning mix of ambition, determination, discipline, and persistence:
“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
When things get tough, get tougher and grittier with these empowering strategies:
This moving story about Admiral James Stockdale brings this lesson home. Stockdale was the highest-ranking U.S. military officer held captive for eight years during the Vietnam War. Despite repeated torture, he rose above his grim situation to lead the POW resistance and survive unbroken:
“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great and numerous business and leadership books, calls this mindset the “Stockdale Paradox.” It describes how successful leaders achieve greatness by balancing optimism and positive thinking with realism and resilience in the face of adversity.
Applying this lesson, you can stay motivated and get out of even the deepest sales rut. Keep the following in mind to conquer a difficult challenge and prevail:
After the rocky, widely criticized launch of OWN, Oprah Winfrey recalls her pain and embarrassment over this public failure during the 2013 commencement address at Harvard. Humbled by the worst experience of her career, she shares how failure leads to success by showing you another way forward:
“Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. … It’s really okay to feel bad for a little while. Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost, but then here’s the key: Learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. And then figure out what is the next right move.”
As Oprah’s admits, failure hurts, no matter your previous successes. It can shake self-confidence and cause self-doubt. But don’t let failure throw you off track. Instead, accept it with humility in these ways:
Jeff Bezos is one of the richest people on the planet thanks to a risk he took when he was 30 years old. Betting on the Internet, he launched Amazon.com with the ambition to build “an everything store.” Today, Amazon is the largest Internet company in the world and ranked #5 on the Fortune 500 list.
Since then, Bezos has made even bolder bets, inventing wildly successful products and services that have offset countless failed experiments. According to Bezos, when you play it safe, you leave a lot of opportunity on the table. Taking risks can be scary, but trust in the payoff. He says in a 2014 interview:
“Experiments are, by their very nature, prone to failure. A few big successes compensate for dozens and dozens of things that didn’t work. Bold bets … that did work … pay for a lot of experiments. I’ve made billions of dollars of failures at Amazon.com. Literally billions of dollars of failures. … None of those things are fun. But they also don’t matter.”
You don’t have to be a billionaire like Bezos to make bold bets. Just think and act like an entrepreneur to seize opportunities that can help you reach greater heights of success:
As these five lessons show, how you respond to setbacks matters — whether you’re an elite athlete, a real-life hero, an influential celebrity, a successful entrepreneur, or just an ordinary person who wants to achieve extraordinary things. So, keep trying to be and do better. Have the grit and discipline to go the distance. Balance optimism with a healthy dose of realism to prevail in trying times. Be humble and teachable, but bold in your ambition and approach. By embracing these lessons on how failure leads to success, you can turn obstacles into opportunities, risks into rewards, and losses into wins.