Getfugu, Inc. Launches Massive Business Sales Campaign Engaging Salesconx to Deliver $100 Million in Revenue
Press Release by Michael Selsman
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA, Feb 10, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Getfugu, Inc. (http://www.getfugu.com/) /quotes/comstock/11k!gfgu (GFGU 0.06, -0.01, -8.33%) , the next generation mobile search tool, announced today that it has contracted with Salesconx, a successful nationwide network for selling and business professionals, to recruit and deploy 20 sales teams across the country to deliver $5 million each in annual revenue. The Salesconx Selling Experts represent industries from business services, computer services and financing services covering over 40 industry segments across all 50 States and Canada.
Getfugu’s “See It, Say It, Get It” mobile search tool is now available on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Google phone, and J2ME smartphones, representing nearly 2 billion users around the world. Getfugu’s mobile search technology has been named as one of the “Top (Ten Plus) Best Coolest Free Apps for Android” by Wireless and Mobile News. The Getfugu application is now available for free download at http://www.getfugu.com.
Rich Jenkins, Getfugu’s co-founder, remarked, “Salesconx’s virtual sales force numbers in excess of 30,000 representatives, from which 20 regional teams are being created, covering North America, each led by experienced Vertical Leaders with an average selling experience of 8 years. These teams will focus on small- to medium-sized businesses, ranging from 50 to 500 employees, advertising agencies and SMS messaging companies. The sales teams will also run viral marketing utilizing community websites and direct telemarketing campaigns.”
Evan Sohn, founder and chief executive officer of Salesconx, said, “We are building out 20 sales teams throughout the United States with each team tasked to produce $5,000,000 in annual revenue. With 50 sales representatives per team, that revenue production requires only 84 clients per sales rep paying $99 per month. Based on our experience, this is a very attainable objective. We expect to be fully deployed within the first 6 months of the program and believe our efforts will result in closing $500,000 in recurring monthly revenue by the end of the first 90 days of sales.”
About Getfugu
Getfugu, Inc.’s revolutionary “See It, Say It, Get It” technology is the first carrier agnostic, platform agnostic mobile search platform. Getfugu will change the way people access the web with their mobile phones. It is designed to facilitate and encourage users by integrating the mobile phone’s core strengths — image, voice and location recognition — into a single customizable application. Additionally, Getfugu offers the only mobile ecommerce platform available worldwide today. The Getfugu platform will soon be available for 97% of the mobile phones available (over 3.3 billion handsets) worldwide.
For more information on Getfugu, please visit our website at: www.GetFugu.com.
About Salesconx, Inc.:
Salesconx, Inc. provides technology and services for on demand sales teams paid on performance. Launched in January of 2008, Salesconx’ sales platform has helped businesses and selling professionals across the country drive more business, adding more clients and customers in a broad range of industries and disciplines. The Salesconx Selling Experts, in excess of 35,000, represent industries from business services, computer services, financial services and over 40 industry segments across all 50 States and Canada. Salesconx is fueled by an extensive partner program consisting of over 50 companies and organizations from sales portals, small business portals, networking organizations, recruiters and business web sites. For more information about Salesconx, please visit http://www.salesconx.com.
Become a Salesconx Vertical Leader
The Salesconx nationwide network of sales professionals (over 45,000) delivers rapid and relevant results for a broad range of clients. Salesconx is managing over 50 sales teams and a pipeline in excess of $45m. Sales team programs range from lead generation to full sales cycle support. Sales team members earn commissions and performance fees for delivering results and revenue.
To help manage the teams and the network Salesconx is creating a team of Vertical Leaders. Vertical Leaders are entrepreneurial consultants who know their industry, the players in their industry and have successful track records selling into their industry. Each Vertical Leader is focused on a particular segment of our Practice Areas.
Vertical Leaders play a key role in client engagement as they lead the overall sales program for the On Demand Sales clients.
Salesconx provides the Vertical Leaders;
* Exciting opportunities from our clients that match their field of expertise
* A team of independent sales professionals working for them to deliver results and revenue.
* Exposure on our web site and marketing materials to our client base
Check out some of our current Vertical Leaders on our website: http://www.salesconx.com/leaders
Vertical Leaders earn an override on the performance of their sales team, additional performance incentives and are eligible for medical benefits and draws against commission (based on achieving targets and milestones). Contact leader@salesconx.com if you are interested in applying to be a Vertical Leader.
On The Road with Salesconx… An update from the CEO
“I love it when a plan comes together” (Hannibal Smith, A-Team). While it might sound a bit corny, it is truly exciting to witness the execution of one’s planning and strategy. We started building sales team at the beginning of 2009 in parallel to our successful introduction marketplace. Our teams are now taking a life of their own as our Vertical Leaders are delivering pipeline and revenue for our clients and commissions and fees for themselves. From small business financing, to a sales team for one of the best toner companies in the industry (and publicly held) and leading edge enterprise social media SaaS platforms – our vertical leaders are driving sales far faster than we projected.
Our small business finance team has 6 Vertical Leaders around the US managing nearly 100 sales professionals. The team is now handling 4 unique products in the financing space that these folks are introducing to their contacts on a daily basis. Not bad for a team launched at the end of 2009.
Looking for a business to get involved in – try imaging and toner. As the title of my weekly online seminar goes, “Every Business Prints”. This $30b industry is dripping with opportunity and our client is the BEST in the business. Let me know if you are interested.
I welcome the opportunity to speak with you regarding your experience and requirements and how Salesconx could be leveraged to drive revenue for you.
Please email me at Evan@salesconx.com
PS – Please join our LinkedIn Group for more frequent updates and the latest opportunities.
Deploying a Virtual Sales Team
Deploying a Virtual Sales Team is the ideal solution for augmenting your sales force and closing new business.
For most business owners, the concept of a perfect sales force is a moving target. With new product and service announcements, shifts in regional priorities, and evolving vertical market requirements, the result is an ongoing source of anxiety, and a drain on even the most efficient organization’s bottom line.
With On Demand Sales, a service of Salesconx, we remove this burden, and replace it with easy access to the best sales professionals in the country. They work for your company, selling your products and services, on a pay-for-performance basis. Our nationwide network of selling experts have a proven track record of success, and can be ramped up or down as your business requirements dictate. So you can forget about recruitment fees and the expense of in-house hiring. There are no administrative nightmares to toil over, and no huge overhead expenses to concern yourself with. It’s that simple.
Looking for results? Look no further than On Demand Sales. Visit us at www.salesconx.com.
Top Ten reasons for using a Salesconx virtual sales team
The virtual (OnDemand) sales teams provided by Salesconx are the ideal solution for many businesses and organizations. Here are the Top Ten reasons for using a Salesconx virtual sales team.
1. Best in Class– Most companies simply don’t have access to the top sales people. Our network of top-quality sales professionals could be selling for you.
2. Focused sales effort –There is no company politics, or office chit-chat to distract them.
3. Flexibility – With a Salesconx Virtual Sales Team you can quickly ramp a team to target a new product launch or focus on a specific territory or vertical.
4. Scalability – Sudden increases in activity are no problem in the ‘virtual model’.
5. Easy Budgeting – You’ll know the cost up front and can budget accordingly.
6. No Advertising or Recruitment Fees – hiring sales people is both time consuming and rather expensive.
7. Minimizes Risk – with a virtual sales person, performance is accountable.
8. No Administration – with in-house sales comes a host of employment issues that need looking after
9. No Overhead – virtual sales people won’t be sitting in your offices, using your phone and computer.
10. It’s becoming a big business trend – From small start-up companies to huge multi-national organizations, they are seeing the benefit of outsourcing all, or some, of their sales effort.
The math behind being a Rock God – Lead sourcing for overachievement
New article by Karl Goldfield
When Jimi Hendrix ripped down his guitar and sent a flurry of tones into the air, few people thought about the theory that made it so enjoyable. Even Jimi himself did this on instinct, not on review and analysis. He was an innovator and paved the way for new exploration into music.
Fifty years later, the music that achieves recognition and is enjoyed by the masses is structured and built on that same theory. The difference is that it is now dissected and delivered by people who have studied. This is the world we live in, and much like in music, in sales we have to accept that the days of lighting the world on fire with radical new ideas is more or less gone.
Does this mean there is no more room for creativity? Absolutely not! It means that to have the freedom to use this creativity we must first build a strong platform on which to perform. This is the topic of the 12th episode of Sales Evangelist TV (http://tv.salesevangelist.com) that aired last week, and I will share one of the secrets in this article.
What we will touch upon is the way to analyze a quota and break it down into the right mix of sales, opportunities, and leads. This exercise will empower us to spend the right amount of time working towards overachievement.
For the sake of this example we are going to begin with some assumptions. The first is that we are responsible for sourcing and cultivating our own leads. Some of this process can be circumvented if a marketing team delivers leads. The second assumption we are making is for the ease of the math. We are going to work from a $1m annual quota. If this quota is low or high, just adjust it as needed. The third assumption is that there are 2080 hours in a work year. This is the math used by recruitment agencies and it makes it easier if we are all thinking the same way. It equates to 52, 40 hour weeks. Yes we are ignoring vacation and PTO for the sake of this exercise. Yes we are ignoring the 60 hour work weeks we put in at the end of each quarter to make the number.
We are going to break down our quota in two ways. The first is to determine how much revenue we must generate for each month, week, day, and hour we spend working. This is as follows:
$1m/12 months = $83,333
$1m/52 weeks = $19,230
$1m/260 days = $3846
$1m/2080 hours = $481
When we break down our quota in this manner, what becomes apparent is the value of our time. A wasted hour means a loss in almost $500in revenue generation, a lost day is $1000s. This realization can be frightening and should really solidify why being at our most effective is absolute for sales success.
The next breakdown is an analysis of the ratio of big to medium to small sales we make annually and how this fits into our goals. If last year we closed 2 $100k deals, 10 $50k deals, and 30 $10k deals, then we know that we need 5 times as many medium and 15 times as many small deals as we do large deals. What this breakdown really does is help us uncover where to spend our time sourcing and cultivating leads.
If you look at this mix, we have to spend half of our time on the midsized deals. With ten deals in this mix, we can see that we can spend up to 104 hours on every $50k deal:
1040 hours (half of 2080)/10 = 104 hours per midsized deal
We will spend 20% of our time on the two big deals:
416 hours/2 = 208 hours per large deal
And the remaining 30% on smaller deals
624 hours/30 = 21 hours per small deal
This way of looking at things should bring some perspective to how to spend our time. With less than 3 days of effort allowed to close smaller deals, we have to become wary of chasing opportunities that do not carry a worthy price tag. 21 hours is not a lot of time, and unless we make it up somewhere else, meaning get a medium or large deal through the sales process faster, we have to stay aware of how much time is spent on these small deals. How often does a $50k+ deal just fly through the pipeline and onto the commission sheet?
The last piece of the puzzle and one that people tend to forget when doing this type of analysis is how to build the right lead mix to get the right mix of opportunities in the pipeline. We are going to make another assumption, but when we employ this exercise it is important that we do some research and plug in our own numbers.
The assumption we will make is that for every ten leads, no matter deal size, we get a sale. This would mean that we need to source:
20 large opportunity leads to make 2 sales
100 medium opportunity leads to make 10 sales and
300 small opportunity leads to make 30 sales
420 leads to make a $1m quota. This is the secret. This is what makes for true effectiveness. This is what empowers great reps to overachieve. It is proper lead sourcing and defining who we want to reach out to via research and strategy. If we can put together the right concept of who we want to contact, then it is necessary to contact far fewer potential clients. This is also when personal introductions to prequalified leads help greatly.
Try putting the efforts into the early stages of the sales cycle through analysis and research. This, along with finding creative new ways to source pre qualified leads, will save precious time later in the process.
Shut Up and Listen!
New article by Sales Guru Jeff Goldberg (http://www.jgsalespro.com) :
Let’s face it…we salespeople LOVE to talk. In fact, many of us think we get paid to talk but I don’t believe that’s true. While presenting is part of our job, and the part we seem to like best (Closing is almost like the icing on the cake compared to presenting for most salespeople) if you really want to make more money in sales you need to speak less and listen more. In fact, I firmly believe that if you ask the right questions and listen carefully to the responses you get, your prospects will tell you everything you need to know in order to help them choose to do business with you. That’s right, I just told you your prospects will help you sell them if you just shut up and listen!
Most salespeople believe that the two skills you need to be great at, in order to be successful in sales, are presenting and closing. While it’s true that being a good presenter and knowing how to properly close a sale are good skills to have, in my 35 years of studying selling the best salespeople are always three things:
1) The best interviewers (question askers)
2) The best listeners
3) The best storytellers
It turns out that the key to selling isn’t really in the presentation or the close; it lies in the questions you ask. Selling is all about asking the questions that help you uncover what makes sense to your prospect. Prospects, just like you and me, do everything we do because it makes sense to do so. For example…you’re reading this article right now because it makes sense to you read it. You dressed a certain way today, ate breakfast or didn’t, spoke with people or didn’t, etc… all because it made sense to you to do those things. Same thing with your prospects including buying. Your prospects invest in certain products and services because it makes sense to them. As sales professionals, we need to ask our prospects lots of questions about what they’re doing now with regards to what we offer because what they’re doing now makes sense to them. For example, I sell sales training and keynote speeches. When talking with the V.P. of Sales at a company regarding the possibility of using my services, I’m going to ask him or her questions like:
“How do you train your people now?”
“When someone new joins your team how do you handle the initial training?” “How do you train your average performers to increase their skills and effectiveness?”
“Have you ever used an outside consultant like me to train your team?”
Of course I ask many more but the answers to those questions help me to understand what makes sense to the person I’m trying to sell. If what they were doing now didn’t make sense to them, they’d be doing something else!
You should notice that what I’m doing is engaging in a conversation with my prospect that’s focuses on them. (The only thing they really care about – themselves) After I ask a question I do the hardest thing I can possibly do…Shut Up. I do that, even though it’s difficult, because when I shut up it gives my prospect the opportunity to talk and answer my questions. And when they answer my questions I discover what makes sense to them! I listen carefully, I look them in the eye, I nod my head and encourage them to tell me more and I take notes so they know that I consider what they’re saying to me important and because it helps me to remember what was said when I get back to my office and think about putting together a proposal.
It’s the questions I ask, as well as my careful listening to the answers, which allows me to put together a great presentation for my prospect. I base my presentation on what they’ve told me they’re doing now and after reviewing that with them I share ideas on how I can help them do it better. I’m always certain to include a V.P.S. (Verbal Proof Story) that tells them about a customer of mine who had a situation similar to theirs and how, by using my services, they lived “happily ever after.” The V.P.S. is a strong presentation tool and helps the prospect get past the fact that you’re a salesperson trying to sell them something. When you use a third party story it’s almost as if the third party is endorsing you and doing the selling for you. After making my presentation I simply ask for their business and, once again, shut up and listen carefully to their response. Sometimes you have to wait until the sweat is dripping down your armpits before they’ll talk, but let it drip! By asking the right questions and being silent you provide the space for your prospect to “open up” to you.
Practice shutting up and listening. You and your prospects will enjoy the sales process more. And, of yeah, you’ll make more money too.
Make It Happen!
Crowd Selling
We have learned a lot since launching last year. For one, we have different types of clients at Salesconx; those with simple offerings (‘lowering your telephone charges’) and those more complex (‘seeking heads of IT implementing disaster recovery solutions’). We have seen business list up on our site and selling experts without any intervention drive high quality introductions within 48 hours and others that go unnoticed.
We have found a more effective way to source leads and introductions for our clients. We call it Crowd Selling. Salesconx will build for you an independent sales team sourcing sales experts from our 7,000+ users and from our 50+ partners and affiliates. It may take a few days to get enough sellers involved in your opportunity. Once we reach the minimum team size (based on your desired introductions per month) we will begin to host a weekly sales team call.
We are building On Demand virtual sales teams today for a number of our clients and they the results have been excellent – on all sides. What company wouldn’t want an additional 10-20 independent sales representatives spreading the word about their product/service? Our selling experts like it as the value that they could bring to both parties is greatly enhanced through direct relationships with the Salesconx clients – not to mention the increased fees they could earn.
If you are interested in have Salesconx build you an On Demand pay-for-performance sales team or you are interested in joining one as a selling expert please contact me at evan@salesconx.com.
Ten Tips for Selling in a Challenging Economy
Some great points by Jeff Goldberg, (jgsalespro.com)
The economy stinks right now for most of us but there are still plenty of opportunities! You can give in to the gloom or you can dig in and do the things you need to do in order to survive, and thrive, no matter what the economic indicators tell us. Here are my thoughts on how to prosper now:
1) Prospect like there’s no tomorrow. For most, the “low-hanging” fruit has dried up but there are still prospects that need what you have to offer. You might need to double or triple your prospecting efforts but the prospects are out there. Invest your time in finding them. Some of the top salespeople I know spend almost 50% of their day prospecting. Do you?
2) Make it easy for your prospects to find you. While your competitors are cutting back, I suggest that now is the time to market and advertise more than ever before. Keep your name in front of your prospects and clients regularly. If you don’t make sure your prospects think of you when it’s time to buy, your competitors will take them away.
3) Understand why people buy. People tend to buy from people they like and trust. Under-promise and over-deliver, keep your word and go above & beyond the call of duty. In this environment it’s more important than ever to find ways that you can help your prospects succeed, even if helping them now doesn’t benefit you immediately.
4) Understand why people buy from you. Customers buy based on the relationship they have with you and the value that you bring to them, not price in most instances. Make sure your customer feels special, like they’re the most important person in the universe. (They are!) Be interested in them and their world. Did you ever notice that when someone is interested in you, they’re more interesting to you? Make sure you can clearly communicate the value that you bring to the table in a way that is readily apparent to those you sell to. Ask your best customers why they do business with you. The answers might be surprising and will help you know how to sell to others.
5) It’s all about the benefits. Salespeople focus on explaining the bells and whistles of their offering. (Features) In fact, the customer is only interested in what your product or service does for them. (Benefits) While you need to discuss the features of what you’re selling the main focus has to be on the benefits to the buyer. Go out of your way to make sure the customer understands what’s in it for them when they do business with you.
6) Stay in touch. Keep in regular contact with your clients and prospects. People like to believe they aren’t just a paycheck to you. Show them they’re important with calls, e-mails, newsletters, cards, etc. Be highly responsive to all of their communications, even regarding problems.
7) Handle customer service issues quickly and with a smile. Little annoys a customer more than being ignored when they have a problem. Return all calls and e-mails promptly. (I return all calls and e-mails within 24 hours no matter where I am in the world) Be happy to take care of challenges. Quickly, and happily, fixing a problem not only leaves the customer feeling good about you, it often provides you with an opportunity to sell more.
Keep your attitude up. While it’s easy to buy into the gloom and doom in the news, it does you no good. People prefer to deal with someone with a strong, positive, upbeat attitude. It feels better to you and makes you more attractive to others. Find things to feel grateful for and positive about every day. Stay far away from negative influences.
9) Sharpen your skills. Now is absolutely the time to invest in yourself and your skills. Like many others, the training market has taken a hit as companies slash their budgets in an effort to survive. Little, however, is more important right now than investing in your personal development so that you are able to take advantage of every possible opportunity. Read, attend seminars, listen to CDs and watch DVDs.
10) Realize that this too shall pass. I recently attended a seminar by world thought-leader James Arthur Ray, where he shared the following thought – Year after year, one season follows another. It’s always been that way and it will continue to do so. Right now we’re in an extremely cold, winter economy but after winter there’s always spring. Do the things you need to do to make the most of this current situation using the steps above and you’ll not only make it through the winter, you’ll be among the forerunners of the turnaround (spring) when it comes.
The Dangers of Business Networking
THE DANGERS OF BUSINESS NETWORKING by Tim Seitz
I think it is incredibly irresponsible for people to teach Business Networking without warning people about the dangers. The Dangers of Business Networking need to be well understood before you start actively building your business network.
I call my brand of Business Networking “Inspirational Marketing”, inspiring others to network with you and refer business to you. I teach a tele-class on using BNI, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Myspace, Plaxo, Merchant Circle, Salesconx, Meetups and other networking tools and groups. I always let my clients know the dangers of business networking before we get started. The
Dangers of Inspirational Marketing (AKA Business Networking)
1. People will envy how happy you are – Don’t be surprised when people think you’re full of poop! They don’t believe you’re telling the truth because you’re happier then “you should be” in their eyes.
2. People will ask you how you do it, then they won’t believe you when you tell them! Maybe this is like the first point, but this isn’t them not believing in your success, but not believing how you achieved it.
3. Every time you talk to people you realize you’re networking – Wow, you’re getting really good at this and you’re not even trying, that’s almost the most fun thing about it, there is no “trying” there is only doing!
4. Spare Time? What’s That? You used to have spare time, now everyone wants to talk to you, introduce you to someone, learn from you, take you out to eat, go to a convention or seminar with you, hey, am I supposed to be having this much fun when I’m working?
5. Your competition may become your clients or your vendors* – Once people see how well you are doing, they may want a piece of the action. If you have more orders than you can fill, your competition may actually end up being your supplier, and if you provide a service your competition does not, they may become your clients, and charge their clients a fee on top of yours to get your products or services.
6. You are Invited to Speak in Public – No one lets you be a wallflower, everyone wants you to speak to their sales team, their board of directors, their networking, civic and social groups. Now you know what celebrities complain about!
7. You Keep Getting Job Offers – Headhunters just will not leave you alone. Not only are you an expert in your field, but your also an expert in networking, and with the down economy, businesses want to hire you to increase their sales
