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."

Four Sales Tips from Jeffrey Gitomer

Would you like some advice from Jeffrey Gitomer as to how to quickly ramp up your sales.

Mr. Gitomer wrote an article for Jonathan Farrington's Business Blog entitled "Jeffrey, Where Should I Take My Next Week of Training?"

Do You Know How Your Client Thinks?

Pathways and Connections
Feelings and Desires
Frustrations and Choices

Who can know the way of the mind of a prospect, Grasshopper?

Dean Rieck wrote an article about understanding the way a buyer thinks entitled "12 Tips for Psychological Selling"

Clientele Leveraging

There is passive Word of Mouth referrals and there is leveraged Word of Mouth referrals.

How can you effectively turn your current clients into promoters of your business?

John Jantsch describes four areas in which to focus your efforts in the article: "Customers Are Your Most Effective Sales Force."

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?"

Phrasing the Point

Prose or Poetry.

Austin or Bronte.

Tactful or Suave.

Sometimes it's all in the WAY that you say it.

This is also true in writing copy that succeeds in marketing your message.

James Chartrand wrote "Seven Tricks for Magical Copy."

Expanding Your Territory

"Can I see what work you have done in my industry?"

"Well, we have been in business for X number of years and we annually service Y number of customers!"

Have you ever had to deal with the obstacle of expanding into a new market?

There are a lot of business people who feel that there industry is unique and who have a Lemming attitude when it comes to following the crowd.

Nevertheless, the need to build a reputation hinders some businesses from expanding their marketing horizons.

Jill Konrath wrote: "How to Develop Credibility - When You're Not Credible."

P.S. Jill's headlines are frequently featured in the right sidebar of rainmakerwebsites.com.

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."

After the QB says "Hike"

If you are not a fan of American football, you may not be familiar with the metaphor that I am using - but football fans should have no problem following this discussion.

Our team's General Manager sends scouts to watch the opposition. They may even watch videos of the opposition's Offensive team in action.

Our team's defensive Coach has created a bunch of killer plays. For a week or two, the defensive team practices play after play geared to take advantage of all the information which has been gathered about the opposition's QB and his style.

Then comes game day and our Defense is ready for the opposition's first play.

The opposition's QB says "Hike."

But the play that the opposition runs is one that has never been seen before - and our team's defense is completely unprepared.

Many companies are caught completely off guard when the market does something unexpected. Can you dance with the market?

Jeff Cornwall wrote "The Risk of Assuming the Market wants 'A', when it Really wants 'B'."

Significance, Provision and Digging

These three words are the key to marketing success when the supply of customers begins to dwindle.

Significance - Time is more valuable than money in a down-economy. Reduce the amount of time you spend on the insignificant.

Provision - Whichever competitor in your market is most useful to the market will be top dog, if all else is equal.

Digging - The purpose of questions is to learn, not to sell. You don't know nearly enough about your prospects and clients.

Tim Wackel wrote "Stop Blaming the Economy."

No Presumption of Innocence, Defendant!

You are accused of being a con-artist and a cheat.

The prosecution does not have to establish its case because in this court - there is no presumption of innocence.

This is the Buyer's court and you are the seller. In this court, the seller is presumed guilty.

There are some articles that I almost always skip over and don't recommend. One of thes is the Book Review. But every rule has its exception. If an article could stand on its own even without the Book which is being reviewed then it might just make it to this venue.

Ardath Albee wrote about a book that describes the last century of salesmanship. This book traces many of the traditional methods of salesmanship back to the deceptive practices of a company which was convicted of anti-trust practices before World War I.

Yet their methods of selling became part of the foundation of the culture of American salesmanship. The result is that most Americans find it very difficult to trust any salesperson who they meet for the very first time.

Ardath Albee lists eight of the reasons that twentieth century sales tactics don't work and gives a preview of the tactics which are suggested by the book which she reviews.

Ardath's article is entitled "Salespeople guilty until proven innocent." If you are a business owner or a salesperson, you really should read this article.

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

Speaking Ancient Greek to the construction worker

Monday Morning and Tuesday Afternoon, I wrote about business stupidity and delusions. In this article I would like to talk about communicating with the prospect.

Can you describe the prospect to me? How old is he or she? Is he married, single or divorced? Does he/she have children? Are they young or old? What is distracting him or her from listening to you?

Does your prospect know how to speak technobabble? If you are in the financial industry, can the prospect speak like Barrons, WSJ and an HBS faculty PHD?

There are two major problems that occur when many entrepreneurs attempt to speak to their prospects. First they don't know who their prospect is and Second, they try to speak as if their prospect is an industry insider.

Oh and just to make it more complicated, their target market is not homogenous. (That's technobabble for say that there is a lot of diversity among their prospects.)

To successfully market to your prospects, you need to identify (and I don't mean Guess) the different categories of prospects you have, you need to identify (and I don't mean guess) what their lifestyles (or if you are B2B, what their company is like on the inside) and then you have to learn their language.

Mike Moran wrote a nice article entitled "Do We Really Understand Personas?"

To receive Trust, you must first be worthy

Recently, I talked about the need to be genuine.

Today, let's talk about being "real." Real people have convictions and opinions. Real people are not always trying to hide. Real people have the courage to be real. Real people are loyal to their relationships.

In other words, to be real is to be engaged in the humanity of others.

Sonia Simone wrote "Are you trustworthy?"

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."

Trying to wholesale beef to Baskin-Robbins

The title of this post is intended as a "tip of the hat" to Seth Godin. But this post is not really about the book Meatball Sundae, as much as it is about identifying the right market for your service or product.

A retail unit that sells ice cream products, but does not sell any bread and meat sandwiches is not the right market for a salesperson who is selling wholesale beef.

So, how do you determine where to focus your marketing attention?

Ardath Albee wrote: "Who's Your Target Market?"

Why does Trust based selling work?

Many people who have not mastered trust based selling do not believe that it works. Sometimes someone who "tries" it without truly being trustworthy becomes convinced that the fault does not lie with himself but rather with the method.

One of the biggest hurdles of trust based selling is that it can only be mastered by someone who is truly genuine. The truth is that many entrepreneur's have an "It's only business" attitude. If that is your attitude then you can never master Trust based selling because when you try it you are a phony.

The reason that trust based salespeople are masters of their craft is because they truly do care about their clients and when their client suffers, they bleed.

Charles Green wrote an article explaining why the idea that trust based selling doesn't work is based on a misconception.

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."

How DO I Know I Can Trust You?

Just because you say to a prospect that your company is trustworthy does not mean that you build their confidence. In fact making that statement may have the opposite effect to what you intended.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. - William Shakespeare - Hamlet

However, there are things which your company can do to build trust and to help build a referral network because of trust.

Ardath Albee wrote "Marketing Behaviors that Build Trust"

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."

A guide to creating and publishing Press Releases

Today's recommendation is a real winner.

Vera Raposo wrote: "Publicity & Media For Your Small Business."

That depends upon what your definition of the word "We" is

If a book of quotations written a century from now contains any William Jefferson Clinton quotations it will probably quote his "depends upon your definition" quote.

But this posting has nothing to do with politics or presidential trials.

This summer an author sent out a newsletter in which he suggested banishing the word "We" from sales communication.

Another author has a sales communication book entitled "We."

But the thing is, you see, that the two authors were using the word "We" with two completely different meanings.

Thus I find myself agreeing with the points which both authors made.

Confused? Good.

If you would like to know why you should use the word "We" and why you should also banish the word "We" then visit Steve Yastrow's article which explains.

Boost Effectiveness of Communication through Structure

Sometimes its not what you say, its HOW you say it that makes the difference.

As someone who is interested in Marketing, you will occasionally need to write an effective sales letter. (That may, in your case, be an understatement.)

Understanding how to structure a sales letter may make the difference between a successful letter and an ineffective one.

Mark Ferguson wrote "The Anatomy of a Single Page Sales Letter."

BTW, at the time of this writing, this web page contains a sales offer. You may want to know that I tried to contact Tina about three weeks ago by email and did not get a response back.

I'll Give You A Daisy A Day, Dear.

Apparently, one of the hardest tasks for most small business in house marketing is, looking at your content from the perspective of the outside world.

In order for your internet marketing efforts to be successful, you have to avoid the head on approach to promoting yourself.

Winning a prospect has some similarities to courting a sweetheart.

If you are going to win someone's heart, then you have to convince that person that he or she will benefit from dealing with you. But you also have to convince the person that you hope to win, that he or she is special. If you come off sounding to your prospects as if anyone will do, they may seek someone who will make them feel as if they are the most important people in the whole wide world.

But you also can not come across as if you will wait for your prospect forever, or your prospect may take you for granted.

Ardath Albee wrote an article about "Back Story."

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."

Without Numbers, its not a Value Proposition

Every so often, I run across an article that contains some great ideas, but it does not adequately address the announced topic.

If the author of today's article had stated that the topic of the article was "How To Differentiate Yourself Effectively From Your Competition." This would be a fantastic article.

But instead he announced that the article is about writing Value Propositions. There's only one small problem. Nowhere in the article does he address tangible, measurable outcome.

Without he NUMBERS, its just differentiation and positioning. What is sometimes called a USP. But a USP and a VP are not the same thing. You have to be able to give verifiable statistics of the value of your service or product in order for it to be a value proposition.

Nevertheless, the article is still very good in covering the ground which it does cover.

Corte Swearingen wrote "Creating A Value Proposition."

What's in your Ears?

About 15 years ago, I heard a silly children's song called "Beans in My Ears."

The last verse of the song said "I think that all grownups have beans in their ears."

Sometimes in selling, entrepreneurs have beans in their ears. The beans are things like biases and perspectives. Frequently there is a focus on "telling" and not on "answering."

In order to be come good at Answering, an entrepreneur has to first be good at listening.

Jonathan Farrington wrote an article entitled "Secrets of Effective Communication."

Economic Slowdowns favor certain Businesses

During a booming economy people are more likely to take risks than they are during a slow economy. Those companies which are perceived as being less risky and more trustworthy have a better chance of prospering during a slow economy than do edgy and avant garde companies.

The Brooks Group wrote an article containing three sets of three items each that focus on how to improve sales during an economic slowdown

How big is your Booster Club?

Do your Fans brag about you?

Do you even have any Fans?

Would you like for your business to have a lot of people who champion your Brand?

Ed Roach wrote "How To Make Brand Champions."

Quit Marketing Your Product (or Your Service)

One of the biggest mental roadblocks in dealing with small business owners is that they try to cut corners when it comes to textual content. Instead of paying a professional writer of business copy to write their marketing text, they attempt to do it in house.

Now this would not be so bad, if it were not for the fact that many of them proceed to write copy which focuses on telling how good their product is, how great their services are and what a great company they run.

This is the wrong approach to marketing.

Your task as a marketer is to provide a solution to a problem. You need to focus on identifying the client's biggest headache and then show them how you can remove that headache.

Ben Jones wrote: "Small Business Marketing: The Secret Revealed!"

P.S. Ben also recommends another article on this topic as well.

Word! What He Said!

Quotations are like money in the Bank, when they are testimonials concerning your company.

One of the most powerful resources that your company has are the testimonials which your customers have given you.

But did you know that HOW you present those testimonials to the public affects how effective the testimonial is?

Dean Rieck wrote: "10 Quick and Simple Ways to Power Up Your Customer Testimonials."

Creating category tags for your Clients

In the internet world, keywords and tagging is used as ways of searching by categorization.

When it comes to your clients, not all of them have the same relationship with your business. At least that is the point that Corte Swearingen expounds upon in "Marketing To Your Customer Types."

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."

Transparency can destroy Mental Commodification

Have you ever found yourself faced with a long term client who is beginning to waver about whether or not to switch to your competition?

The reason this happens is because of mental commodification.

Although you are always trying to differentiate your company from your competition, on some level this client has decided that the difference is relatively insignificant.

But what would happen, if instead of your TELLING the client that you are different, the client was able to SEE the difference?

Sean Hazell wrote an article entitled, "Take Your Customer to Work Day."

Why you need to understand heterogeneity

Your average client is
A certain age
A certain education level
A certain income level
A certain marital status

So is that sufficient information to really know your optimal audience?

No, it is not.

There is still the matter of heterogeneity.

Wendy MacQueen wrote "Know Your Customer - It’s Not Just About Demographics Anymore"

By The Way - she does not use the word "heterogeneity" but she does discuss it.

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."

Earning the Right To Ask

Two of the best resources for making more sales are "Warm Referrals" and "Prospect References."

A "Warm referral" is a referral in which the person who is giving you the referral has already informed the prospect that you will be contacting them or better yet personally introduces you as a recommended provider to the prospect.

"Prospect References" are highly credible contacts who have agreed to let you use their name and contact information for referring a prospect to them as a recommender of your services.

Lee Salz wrote: "Your Sales Need A Little R & R."

Relationships or Cold Selling

If you don't already know it, I hate selling that focuses on overwhelming or manipulating propects.

My clients know that if they ask me a question, the answer will be in their best interests not in mine. I am not the kind of business owner that thinks that everything he sees is a nail, because all that he has is a hammer.

If you are looking for making your website into a web application or if you want to create a point of sale website with ever changing inventory, I don't try to convince you to hire me, I refer you to someone else. Why? Because building business relationships is the route I have resolved to tak in building my business. If I can't be your friend, then I don't want to "sell" you.

Bruce Fryer wrote "Push Sales: Does It Work For You?"

E-Mail that Successfully Sells

Because of Can-Spam laws, e-mail is a difficult medium to use for marketing. Sometimes if you are not careful, your e-mail can actually cause you to lose clients

Ritu of Marketing Hackz wrote: "6 Steps to Effective e-Mail Marketing."

Client Driven Sales

In the 1970s, I learned Sales, the wrong way. Oddly enough, I had been doing Sales the right way for years. But I had not been doing it effectively the right way.

The right way to sell, is to place the client in the driver's seat. The salesperson asks questions, offers suggestions, provides advice, does research, but does not attempt to manipulate or overcome the client. The right way to sell, makes the salesperson a resource for the client.

I no longer do Sales, the way that I was taught. I have no desire to persuade someone against their will. But if I can help my clients, I go out of my way to find solutions which make their business more effective. If I can not help, I refer them to someone else - I don't try to get them to buy something which is not in their best interest.

Karen Swim wrote "Five Things Freelancers Should Know About Sales."

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 Appointment Scheduling

There you are, sitting at a restaurant, five minutes after the scheduled time, wondering if your prospect is going to show or not.

Sound Familiar?

Would you like to radically reduce the number of times that this occurs?

Jared Reitzin wrote Setting Appointments With Clients.