A Presumption of Guilt

While British and American Jurisprudence is based on a presumption of innocence there are a number of systems which are not.

If you have an internet presence in which you market your services or products, you should consider your website to be presumed to be difficult to use until proven otherwise.

Stoney deGeyter wrote an article entitled "Are You Guilty of Crimes Against Usability? Let the Jury Decide"

Once Upon A Time, Not Very Long Ago

Once upon a time, there lived a sales representative that closed a lot of sales.

Many other sales reps wanted to learn the secret of his success.

The story that he told led down twenty paths.

Jeff Paro wrote: "Facts tell, but Stories Sell."

Could We Maybe Discuss This?

A milestone in the history of Philosophy resulted from the lives of Socrates and Plato. These two introduced a method of teaching known as elenkus. In this method the teacher instead of lecturing composes questions which lead the student through a logic funnel.

Today, conversation in place of lecture is making a major comeback. For example, in the world of blogging - except for those who have been influential for decades in the non-blogging society - most successful bloggers are those who respond to the comments which there readers make. The bloggers who do not participate in two way discussion tend to have a higher rate of reader abandonment.

In sales and marketing, it was typical in the early twentieth century to have salespeople and advertisers try to overwhelm the objections of their prospects. The prevalent attitude of sales trainers in the early part of the twentieth century was that the sales representative should treat the objections posed by the prospect as merely excuses. This resulted in high levels of prospect frustration.

These days the approach is to respond to objections by asking more questions. Unfortunately there are two approaches to asking sales questions.

One approach is to ask purely rhetorical questions. However, this approach tends to foster prospect frustration and hostility.

A more successful method of sales questions is to focus on learning as much as one can about the prospect and about the needs of the prospect. To involve the prospect in a discussion and to try to discover alternative solutions. This method emphasizes relationship building and problem solving over sales agenda.

Jonathan Farrington wrote "Customers are persuaded when they are part of the process."

Fundamentalism, Sales that is.

In the Beverly Hillbillies theme song, the lyrics say

... and moved to Beverly; Hills, that is ...

I thought I would borrow that for today's title.

There is a "branch" of American Protestantism based on a series of essays which were known as the fundamentals. The protestant theology which is based on those essays is called "Fundamentalism."

But this article is not about Hillbillies or Tv Show Theme Songs or Protestant Theology.

This article is on www.thejfblogit.co.uk/2008/12/22/the-twelve-golden-principles-of-selling-20-version/ as expounded by Jonathan Farrington.

Sales Roadblocks

In traditional sales, the seller attempts to discover the mental reservations in the buyers mind and answer those objections.

But in the audience driven Internet marketplace, quite frequently the seller never even meets the buyer. If you don't meet the buyer you can not ask probing questions to determine if there are any objections.

Does that mean that the seller is off the hook? Not if the seller has any competitors!

In the Internet world, the seller who outperforms his competition is the one who figures out what makes it difficult for the buyer to buy and removes the obstacles and smooths out the process.

For example, if a website is difficult to use, that is a roadblock to sales.

Karon Thackston wrote "Combat Resistance Factors and Increase Conversions."

Genuine or Just Technique

(There will be an article on Tuesday and another article on Friday.)

One of the reasons that Sales has a poor reputation is that salespeople tend to focus on technique.

Now there is a place for Sales Technique and I am NOT denying its legitimacy. The problem is that too often it is a fake. When it is polishing that which is real, technique can make it happen and it can build relationships.

But beneath the surface, it needs to be real.

Mark Tewart teaches the technique of being "giving" if this springs forth from being a genuine caring person it is a great technique. However, notice that when Mr. Tewart gives an anecdote regarding a store where he did a book signing that he indicates that what impressed him was the AUTHENTICITY of those who were involved.

The article is entitled "You Have To Give To Get."

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ...

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that Ring

of the cash register recording sales.

You have great content. The words of your copy are well written. But the Cash Register isn't ringing.

Sonia Simone wrote "Do These 3 Common Copywriting Mistakes Keep Your Readers from Buying?"

Presidential Powerpoint? (or Boardrooms For Bonzo?)

In my lifetime, only one president has truly been good at Salesmanship and Presentation. Although Clinton was good at schmoozing and building a powerbase, he never succeeded in convincing independents in America that he had a vision.

The one president that really convinced many Americans that he had a vision for the future was Ronald Reagan. He was so successful at Salesmanship that the term "Reagan Democrats" was coined to describe those voters who were persuaded by his presentation.

Whether you agree or disagree with Reagan's politics - his example of presentation and salesmanship should be studied as an example for improving your own presentations.

Steve W. Martin wrote "How Ronald Reagan Would Change Your Corporate Presentation."

P.S. If you do admire Reagan's politics, check out Abe and Ron.

Tell Me Where It Hurts

In selling to business owners, it is important to identify what is motivating their interest. Frequently, there is a problem which they are trying to solve. However some problems are only minor nuisances while others are major pains.

Seeking to identify the reason for the prospects interest not only helps you to close the deal but also helps the prospect to develop a clear picture of why this change is needed.

Jonathan Farrington wrote an article entitled "Do You Probe For Pain?"

Can you speak "Buyer?"

When a company writes me a letter that is all about them, it really irritates me. Also when a company sends me email that is completely irrelevant to who I am, it irritates me.

You probably have experienced the same reaction to a promotional mailing.

So what makes you think that your audience is different from you and I?

You think that you already know all this? Then why did that last mailer you sent out irritate more than half of the people who received it.

Maybe you don't know your audience's language after all.

Oh, you think that you do? Did you ask them?

How do you feel when someone ASSUMES something about you?

What is the best way to avoid making a wrong assumption? That's right! ASK, already.

Karon Thackston writes "Understanding & Communicating with Your Customers."

Now That Was A Mistake!

The company was run great, the product or service was great, the past customers had always been pleased and then the company's reputation was ruined because the event which they held went sour.

But you can avoid that and you can also harvest leads and conversions, if you follow some simple steps for holding a business event.

Shannon Cherry wrote "Effective Publicity, Anyone?"

Didn't even have to ask

Have you ever watched a medical show in which the surgeon holds out his hand and the assistant places the correct instrument in the surgeon's hand without the surgeon specifying which instrument was needed?

Have you ever been a regular patron of a restaurant, where the wait staff knew exactly what your order would be even before you placed it?

If you really want to be successful in client relationships, you should work on providing your clients what they want - when they want it.

Ivana Taylor explains how to achieve this level of service in an article entitled Use Better Delivery To Enhance Your Image Problem

Your 30 seconds with Warren Buffet

Your prospect is late for an appointment.

His attention is focused on where he is going.

Its a 30 second walk to his car.

You have exactly half a minute to convince him to talk with you again

What Do You Say?

Jonathan Farrington wrote "How’s Your Elevator Pitch? Mine’s Pretty Good."

Are you speaking to Smithers?

If only Charles Montgomery Burns can decide to buy your widgets then talking to Waylon Smithers is a waste of time.

But how can you tell whether you are talking to the decision maker or not, without blowing the sale?

Wendy Weiss wrote: "Identifying the Decision-maker."

Stay in Touch, No Really - STAY in touch

There are no short cuts to doing things right!

The internet has made so many things possible and less expensive, but many of the things that can be done less expensively should have been done even when it cost postage!

But I don't have the time, you say? You can't afford not to!!!!!

One of the things that every successful business needs is the attitude that every customer is our only client - and that means keeping the relationship alive.

Don't be like the boyfriend who never calls or sends a gift but only shows up when he wants a date!

Be like the Romeo who sweeps the girl off her feet because he never lets her forget that he cares.

Bernadette Doyle wrote "Are You Making This Marketing Mistake?"

No Testimonials? No problem.

Almost every business owner knows how important testimonials are to the success of a business, but there are times when you may not have any testimonials to offer. What do you do then?

Dean Rieck wrote a very good article on how to promote your company even when you do not have testimonials. Tou should read this article, even if you have plenty of testimonials. It will help you, also.

The Motivated Prospect

Every human being is motivated.

If your prospect is human, they are motivated.

The difficulty many salespeople have is identifying what motivates their current prospect.

Actually, many salespeople never even attempt to identify what motivates their prospect. They have a canned presentation and they deliver the same presentation, time after time.

However, if you really want to make sales, you need to identify what motivates your prospect. Your prospect is motivated by wants, needs, dreams and a desire to alleviate pains.

Jonathan Farrington wrote "Find the Buyer's Motivators."

Analyzing why the prospect says No

Just as their are motivating factors which can close a sale. There are also factors which can demotivate the prospect and hinder the sale.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith wrote "Seven Ways To Get Rejected."

Lower Your Google Bounce Rate

One of the smart technologies which Google now incorporates into its search engines measures how dissatisfied your website visitor is when he or she first lands on your web page. (If you are unfamiliar with this topic, see Google's Bounce Rate explanation.)

Michael Fleischner wrote an article detailing Seven Tactics for improving the amount of time that visitors spend on your web site.

Don't Reason With Your Visitor

It is rare to find a "Did It In House" website that does not attempt to present logical evidence for using the company's product or service.

The right approach is to focus on the Wants, Dreams and Pains of your prospect.

If a guy wants to buy a diamond for a gal - Which do you think is foremost in his mind: Logic or Emotion?

Well, believe it or not, many purchases of services and products are based on Alleviating Pains, Fulfilling Dreams and Acquiring Wants.

Jennifer Horowitz wrote "Add Emotional Impact To Your Content."

Have You Tied Your Hands Behind Your Back?

Getting into Internet Marketing involves choices some of which are more expensive than others, but even among the expensive choices there are often low cost alternatives.

Some of the questions to ask about websites are these:
Is it scalable?
Can I edit or add pages?
Can I easily change hosting companies?
Does the website help to build a brand identity?
Am I using content disseminating technology to build traffic?
Does my content create conversions?

Dawud Miracle discussed one of the problems inherent in some low cost choices in his article, "Do You Own Your Website?"

How is a Stopwatch like crude SEO

I love this quote from today's article.

What gets measured, gets done.

And guess what, when the thing that you measure does not improve your ROI, wonders of wonders those things which get done are also not the things that improve your ROI.

Listen Up - If you measure conversions, your profits go up. If you measure only site arrivals, your profits go down.

Bill Hogg wrote "Avis And Their Three Minute Promise."

If you don't understand why Avis is making a mistake, please read the article. And if you do understand why Avis is making a mistake, then why are you just measuring SE clicks?

Avis And Their Three Minute Promise.

Sometimes, its all in how you package it

Sometimes, even the best content in the world will only be considered by your audience if the packaging is right.

Let me illustrate:

Would you believe that some of the top read writers on the internet compete to have their content "re-packaged?"

Every month, writers send proposals to ChangeThis.com. These proposals are then posted for public voting on the Change This proposal page. This link goes to that page.

Whichever five proposals gets the most votes that month, then gets the chance to be featured as a Change This eBook.

End of Illustration.

The point is that the Media in which information is presented affects the optimal format of the information.

Have you ever been to a Power Point presentation where the speaker attempted to put the entire text of his speech on the screen. Bad Decision.

The substance of the speech might be GREAT and yet placing it on the screen ruins the speech.

In the early days of the web, there was no professional looking page layout. When websites started being designed to resemble printed documents, many websites were mis-designed to scroll downwards through more than a dozen screens or more. This was a mistake for the same reason that putting all the content of a speech on a projection screen is a mistake.

Content needs to be formatted for the medium in which it is being presented and the limitations, as well as the advantages, of the medium used need to be understood and respected.

The amount of content which you need to present, should have an affect on your media choice. If you are presenting a lot of content, it is frequently a good idea to present this content as an eBook. A professionally designed eBook can be used as a Premium in lead harvesting, as a community development giveaway or as a product for marketing.

(Disclosure: My consultancy provides typography and page layout services for eBooks and other electronic publications including eNewsletters and Presentations.)

Vera Raposo wrote an article on how to market eBooks. (The Ebay suggestion is obsolete. see the comments below the article.)

How To Transform Case Studies into Sales Tools

While case studies focus on convincing prospects that your company has experience and expertise. However, prospects identify with your company's past clientele.

When a past client tells their own story from their own point of view - it is much more compelling to your prospect than any story which is told from your point of view.

Ardath Albee wrote an article which explains the process for converting your case studies into stories which sell your services.

The moment that changed the world forever

I suppose it depends upon what world we are talking about.

Actually, what I have in mind in this posting is your prospect's world. Have you had a prospect who seemed to like your service or product but never seemed ready to buy?

And then one day, seemingly out of the blue, the prospect who would never budge, decides to buy?

Has that ever happened to you?

Maybe something happened that changed your prospect's world.

Craig Elias wrote "Shorten Sales Cycles - By Capitalizing On Trigger Events."

And You're Telling Me this because ... ?

About four weeks ago, I wrote about the need for a business to have a purpose for existing.

In this posting, I would like to focus on content's need to have a mission.

Your website's visitor is not Sergeant Friday and presumably you have something which you hope to accomplish by having a web site.

So the textual content (the copy) of your website needs to further the mission which you are hoping to accomplish.

But some website copy seems to be self-destructive when it comes to accomplishing the apparent purpose of the website.

Ardath Albee wrote "Content Without A Goal Is Unemployed."

Improving The Effectiveness of your Homepage

What happens when someone sees your website address on your business card?

Well, let's hope for the sake of discussion that they visit your website's home page.

Now what happens?

Well that depends on how effective your website's home page is.

Edward Chan shows five ways to improve the effectiveness of your website's homepage in "Does Your Homepage Engage Visitors?"

Web Copy That Sells

What is the difference between an effective marketing website and an ineffective one?

Content.

Content that Persuades versus content that just sits there and Bores the visitor to Sleep.

Clayton Makepeace tells us the "Seven Characteristics of Great Sales Copy."

Make It Easy on Your Visitor

If your website could benefit your business in one way and one way only, what would you want it to be?

To create frustration in your Visitors.

No?

Then why is your website so fancy and so cool but absolutely a labyrinth for the visitor to use?

Angie McKaig wrote: "Why Your Website needs to be Simplified."

Getting your Prospect To Agree

I hate traditional objection handling. You tell a salesperson "no," only to have them start rattling off an obviously memorized response to your negative.

Rather than trying to "close" a sale, what if you could get the prospect to agree to buy?

It is much easier to get sales, if you are giving the prospect what the prospect already wants.

Jonathan Farrington wrote, "Getting to 'Yes, I'll Buy' More Easily."

Successful Lead Conversion

What is the most effective way to get your traffic to give you their contact information and their permission to allow you to send them marketing materials?

Giving them something for Nothing!

But not just anything. It has to be Desirable, Valuable and Irresistable.

But first you have to figure out what they want. They don't care about what you want to say. They care about their own desires.

Ivana Taylor sets down a Four Step Process for learning what premium gifts will be successful in inducing your audience to co-operate with your marketing program.

You're Website is Up To Bat. Did it Get A Hit?

SEO thinks that the goal of SEM is getting a click.

It isn't. The Goal of SEM is satisfying the Visitor when he first arrives.

When a Search Engine user clicks a link on the Search Engine page for your webpage, its time for your website to step up to the plate. Will the batter, your website get a hit? Will it be a base hit or a triple or a home run? Or will your website STRIKE OUT?

If the visitor from the search engine looks at the link's landing page on your site and decides that this is NOT what he was looking for, then your website, STRUCK OUT! If the visitor decides to click on a link, that is a base hit.

What makes the difference between a STRIKE OUT and a Base Hit?

Content!!!!!!!

Copy which is Keyword loaded is probably going to STRIKE OUT! Copy which is focused on persuading the user may get a hit.

Maki wrote an article on how to reduce the number of visitors who leave your landing page without looking at any other content.

Feelings - Emotional Perceptions

Reality and Facts - Bah! Humbug!

Your website visitors are not from the planet Vulcan, so why does your content read like a dictionary or a thesis paper?

Content is more important to marketing than SEO or Ranking. Content makes the difference between a 10 second visit and a 10 minute conversion.

So how do you get the visitor to stick around?

Feelings, nothing more than Feelings.

If your content appeals to the emotions of the visitor and creates the illusion that you are the answer to their hopes and dreams, they will stick around. (I am not suggesting that you be dishonest, because credibility is a major factor in marketing longevity.)

Sonia Simone wrote an article (on June 13th) about thirteen emotional marketing ploys.

That Don't Impress Me Much

Some advisors are always stressing the need to be unique. While I am certainly a proponent of Niche marketing, there is one thing much more powerful than an USP and that is telling the prospect what results he/she can expect from your product or service. Drew Stevens wrote an article on Value Propositions.

Site Design is more important than ranking

Have you ever clicked on a link and been disappointed when the target site loaded?

If your website's design is unprofessional or obstructive, all the SEO and PPC in the world will not raise your ROI.

Jackie Baker wrote a very important article on why Site Design Drives Conversions.