Lessons from the World’s Greatest Salesperson
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Jan 13, 2009
I’ve recently been newly inspired by a man by the name of Joe Girard. You’ve probably heard of him. He’s called the World’s Greatest Sales Person - and for good reason.
For more than a decade Joe sold cars. A lot of cars. In fact, in 1973 he was given the title of World’s Greatest Sales Person in the Guinness Book of World Records. Here’s a blurb from that entry: ” The all-time record for automobile salesmanship in individual units sold is 1,425 in 1973, by Joe Girard of Detroit, author of “How to Sell Anything to Anybody” and winner of the Number One Car Salesman title every year from 1966 to 1977.”
1,425 cars sold in ONE YEAR! In fact, during his fifteen year selling career, he sold 13,001 new cars and trucks, all at retail - no fleet, wholesale or used vehicles. After selling cars for just 3 years, Joe had so much business it was by appointment only. This is an amazing individual.
Read Joe’s bio when you have a chance. His entire life story is remarkable and inspiring and there is much to be learned from his story. However, I want to focus on just one of the things Joe did to build the amount of relationships necessary to sell thousands upon thousands of cars.
Joe truly understood the importance of relationship marketing if you want to consistently sell anything. (Or, in Joe’s case, completely dominate your market.) He did a couple of key things to build those relationships that all could revolutionize every business.
First of all, he hired people to deal with administrative work so that he could have more time to interact with his customers. Second, he kept in touch with people via mail month after month. At one point, Joe was sending 16,000 cards each month to customers and prospective customers. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to get a card in the mail each and every month from a car salesman. When you needed to purchase a car, wouldn’t it seem unthinkable to go to anyone else?
Dan Kennedy is quoted as saying that 68% of customers leave because they don’t feel loved or valued. You don’t really even know you’ve lost them. They just go away. Think about what would happen in your business if this wasn’t true. If, instead of loosing 68% of your business each year, you kept it. And imagine what would happen if that 68% felt so valued by you that they told their friends, family and coworkers. What would that do to the growth of your business? For Joe, it meant selling 13,000 cars.
This kind of customer retention and referral generation isn’t that hard to do, it just has to end up at the top of your priority list. You could send a hand written “Thank you for your time” every time you meet with a prospect. Send a hand written thank you card for each order. Send gifts of appreciation. Go beyond the flat customer retention programs that many companies mindlessly employ and do something for your customers to show your appreciation that is completely unexpected.
Here’s a great example: I heard about a handyman who built his business on the promise that his company would leave each client’s house cleaner than when they arrived. He trained his employees to not only clean up their own mess, but to noticeably leave the home cleaner in some way. What an amazingly simple way to not only create a wildly successful business, but to completely dominate a market.
What customer retention systems can you add to your marketing strategy this year to not only keep the customers you have, but to ensure that you are their only source for what you offer? How can you apply what Joe did to increase sales? What can you do that provokes those same loyal customers to tell everyone they know about you? Please share your ideas!
Your Mission for 2009 (should you choose to accept it…)
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Jan 5, 2009
Years ago my husband worked for a company that proudly hung a gigantic banner in the main office area with their Mission Statement printed boldly on it. The “higher-up’s” suspected low morale (quite accurately) and the CEO thought an inspiring reminder of “their” mission would fix that problem right up. The banner read, “TO BE ALL THAT WE CAN BE.” (Lest you think they were the Army, you should know that they were a software company.) They’re out of business now. From that clear and uniquely compelling Mission Statement I’m sure you can’t imagine why.
There are 2 useful points that we can take from this sorry tale.
#1: Marketing isn’t just about delivering a message to those outside the company. Internal marketing is also very, very important. Everyone that works for you or with you should be continually reminded of your company’s most important messages: the company’s story, values, purpose, mission, etc. Everything you market to the outside world should be marketed internally. This will ensure that your employees and partners are clear about what your business is about and turn your company into a marketing company that produces XYZ - Which is how every company must come to think of themselves if they are to survive.
#2. There seems to be some confusion about the purpose of the Mission Statement. Most companies seem to think that their mission statement is a short, pithy way of describing the overall purpose of the business. I beg to differ. For Mission Statements to be valuable they should form the basis of a short-term marketing strategy and they should change often – either when the mission has been accomplished, or when the mission needs to change. From this perspective, a more useful way to define a mission statement might be:
A clear end point to work towards.
This description from Growth Connection does an excellent job of conveying this concept:
A true mission is a clear and compelling goal that focuses people’s efforts. It is tangible, specific, crisp, clear and engaging. It reaches out and grabs people in the gut. Like the moon flight, a good mission has a clear finish line — you should be able to tell when you’ve done it — at which point, you need to create a new mission. “We’re going to climb Mount Everest” is a mission; the more general, “We’re going to climb the Himalayas” is not.
And, like the moon flight, a good mission is risky, falling in a gray zone where reason says, “This is unreasonable”; and your intuition and drive say, “But we believe we can do it anyway.”
In summary, a mission is
* “What we are here to do”
* A clear and compelling goal that serves to unify an organization’s efforts
* Crisp, clear, engaging, verging on unreasonable.
Think of the Mission Statements of your business as New Year’s resolutions for your business. What exactly are you going to accomplish this year? What changes are you going to make? What are you going to do better? The answers to these questions encompass your mission for the coming months. How you go about accomplishing the mission is the basis for your marketing strategy.
Just as many of us draft up resolutions every January, your mission statement(s) should change every time you draft up a short-term (6 months to 1 year) marketing strategy. Your mission statement is the definition of your marketing strategy’s achievable goal – a clear “finish line”. This statement should inspire and focus you. You should be able to read it and be able to imagine what it will feel like to reach that goal. Just like good resolutions, they should both stretch and empower you.
Creating Effective Email: A 10 Point Checklist
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Dec 10, 2008
This is an article by Corrinda Campbell of Business Connection Network. I thought it was excellent, and worth sharing. Enjoy!
If email marketing is on your list of marketing strategies now or anytime during the year, follow this 10 Point Checklist to increase the number of opened email and convert your prospects into customers.
1) Subject Line – This is often the most overlooked part of the email, yet it is the most important. The Subject Line is the primary factor that determines whether an email is opened or deleted. There’s a lot of discussion about the “art” of writing the Subject Line. Overall, keep it to about 50 characters or so as many email providers only display a limited amount of characters. Shorter tends to be better, but it really depends. Ask yourself, does the reader know who it’s from, what’s in it for them and why they should open this email.
2) From Line – This is also overlooked when creating email campaigns. The From and Subject Lines are mini-billboards. Are you going to open an email from “info” or from a person or company you know. The From and Subject lines work together. By including your name and/or the company name in the From Line you don’t need to repeat it in the Subject Line and have more characters devoted to the Subject Line message. Usually 15 characters or less is best. Use the word count function found in the tools section in MS Word to quickly count characters.
3) Get Permission – Spam laws are getting tighter and tighter with increasingly severe penalties. Including ending up on the black list of ISPs and email providers. Be sure you have permission to send email to the people on your list.
4) Clear Call To Action - So you’ve got permission from the people on your list and you’ve written effective From and Subject lines and your email has been opened. Be sure your readers know what you want them to do when they open the email and the benefits of clicking through the email links to your service, product, or content.
5) Links: Bigger Buttons & Underline in Blue – Many studies of have shown that bigger buttons work better; and specific copy works better than general copy. (e.g.: “Click Here for the Free Report” v. “Click Here”) If you use a text link, blue underlined links tend to perform the best.
6) Landing Page – Your email has been opened and the reader follows your Call To Action. When they arrive at your website, be sure to send them to a specific page relating to the contents of the email instead of the home page. If you’re a running a specific or limited time promotion it may be a good idea to create a special landing page just for that email. This will also make tracking the promotion easier. If you’re selling something make sure your shopping cart is no more than 3-clicks away from the email. After 3 clicks the level of abandoned carts increases.
7) Promotion Layout – Direct mail tests have shown that dollars off coupons versus percent off promotions get a better response. Framing your promotion with a dashed boarder also tends to increase conversion.
8) Text v. HTML – There is a lot of discussion around text versus HTML presentations. Text only email do well, but depending on the content of the email HTML can also be very effective & creative. The downside of HTML an layout is that many email accounts block the graphics. If you use HTML offer a text or web-based version. Also, very important, label your graphics with alt tags. They will appear even if the graphic is blocked. In addition to the alt tags be sure to support the graphics with straight text, don’t limit the whole contents to one large graphic.
9) Relevancy & Frequency – The number one reason email is deleted or unsubscribed is lack of relevancy. Be sure your messages are on point. If you are cross-promoting another product or service, make sure it’s related to the topic. If you broaden the scope of the original content just ask for permission. Segmenting your list can also increase your level of relevancy. The answer to, “How often should I send email messages?” is “It depends.” Ask yourself if this message relevant or if the email includes new information. Relevancy and fresh content also tend to answer the question of the best time and day of the week to send email. If the email campaign is well crafted readers will open it.
10) Proof Read & Test Your Email – Whenever possible it’s best to have someone else proofread your email and provide feedback. This is when a mastermind or peer review group comes in handy to catch mistakes and fine tune your message. Testing your email’s appearance is also important because different email clients and web-based email accounts render HTML and even text differently. Even if your email service provider has a test function built-in I think it’s a good idea to use a dedicated test list. Create a specific list that includes the addresses of the accounts you have created with the top email providers. Send your email to that list first.
Top email readers: Outlook, Thunderbird, and Eudora
Top web-based email providers: Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, and Gmail
This is a fun link to see mistakes some of the top retailers have made. It’s entertaining but it’s also a good check list of things to watch out for.
http://www.retailemailblog.com/2008/01/oopsy-hall-of-fame-2007-inductees.html
About the author of this post: Corrinda Campbell, M.B.A. is a business and online marketing consultant in Denver, CO and host of the Women In Business Network Luncheon. She is devoted to helping entrepreneurs and small business owners succeed by providing affordable, high impact tools and resources. For more information visit www.BusinessConnectionNetwork.com
Positioning Strategy: Do you choose your customer, or do they choose you?
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Nov 21, 2008
(This post began as a response to Jeff P.’s comment on an earlier post. He asked, “do you choose your customer…or do they choose you?)
“Selling benefits, not features” is a mantra that is repeated often by sales and marketing experts alike in response to those seeking marketing help. At YML, we write about it a lot. One of the YML Partners, Sonia Simone even teaches a very good course on how to sell benefits rather than features.
This concept is taught often by many for good reason. It’s good positioning strategy. None of us purchase anything because of the features of that product or service. We purchase because of what the features of that product or service does for us. More importantly - we purchase because of what we perceive the features of that product or service will do for us.
Perception, as always, is king.
To go one step further: How we think about a product or service not only drives our purchasing decisions, it also shapes our expectations about that product or service and influences how committed we are to enjoying the product or service and getting value from it.
I happen to have the perfect example of the power of desire and perception. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I decided to go to the movies. We had just finished up a tough week and were in the mood to relax and laugh. We were in the market for fun!
So, we chose a comedy that we expected to be lighthearted and funny. We’d seen funny previews for this movie and read rave reviews and fully expected to laugh and have a great time watching it. Well.. the movie was terrible. Absolutely terrible. And we knew right away that it was terrible, and we really knew halfway through that it was terrible, and we still stayed for the whole movie, which ended…. terribly.
As we were walking out of the theater, we had to ask ourselves why we stayed for the entire movie. The answer is simple. We really, really wanted it to get better. We wanted it to get better so badly that we held out hope that it might get better way past the point that rational people should.
Have you ever done the same thing? Have you ever been so determined to enjoy something or achieve something that you held on to it for way too long?
A couple important points to make about this example:
1. If you can craft a message that taps into something a group of people really, really want, they will work hard to really, really like it. If our perception is that a product or service is going to give us what we really want, we will try very hard to get what we really want out of it.
2. We weren’t really buying a movie that night. We were buying comedic relief. We were buying an escape. We were buying laughter and fun. The movie itself (the medium to deliver what we wanted) was incidental.
So - the original question was, “Do you choose your customers or do they choose you?” I have two answers.
Answer #1: They choose you - IF you have managed to be where they are, offering what they want, and can deliver.
Answer #2: You choose them - IF you first decide that you want to be the option they choose to get what they already want and shape your message accordingly.
Even better: Remember earlier when I said that “perception is king?” If the message you are communicating to your target market is in alignment with what people are already looking for, you can shape their perceptions of expecting an exceptional product or service even before they purchase from you.
BUT - your message must hit home with what they actually want (benefits) and your product or service MUST deliver what you promise.
With a well developed, relevant message you don’t have to do any of the icky parts of selling. Rather, your job is to connect and communicate and then deliver. Going back to our movie example, my husband and I were already looking for a comedy. No one had to “sell” us on wanting to watch a comedy. They just had to put something in front of us that had the potential of meeting our desire. We were sold before we bought the ticket. It took a poorly done movie to “unsell” us. And even that wasn’t easy. You have a better product. You can deliver.
So, what are your ideal customers really looking for? What do they really want? What do they really need? What are they already looking for? What do your products or services do that can deliver on those desires? Those are the benefits. Those are the hot buttons of your core message and they will have little to do with the actual features of your product or service. As long as your product or service delivers on what they really want, the actual product or service is incidental.
So here’s the big take-away: To be a successful business, don’t craft your marketing message around what’s incidental. Craft it around what is badly desired.
6 Secrets to Capturing More Business
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Nov 17, 2008
I attended a lunch last week where Tony Rubleski, author of Mind Capture: How you can stand out in the age of Advertising Deficit Disorder, spoke. I took a couple pages of notes that I thought I would share with you here.
A lot of what he talked about is not ground breaking information, but he positioned it in such a way that it had a real impact on me.
It’s interesting how we need to hear the same messages over an over in order for them to really sink in. As business owners and marketers, we know that it’s important to provide a consistent message across multiple media in order for our prospects to really hear it. This is also true for us. I might read 10 books this year and countless blog posts that essentially say the same things. However, I will likely pull different insights from each simply because of the positioning strategy of the message, or because of my frame of mind when reading it, or because of what someone else said about it.
The point is this: Keep reading. Keep listening. Keep learning.
With that said, here’s what Tony had to say about standing out in the “age of Advertising Deficit Disorder.” I’ve added some of my thoughts as well. Enjoy! (Then buy the book.)
The 3 Greatest Challenges We Face As Marketers in pursuit of a truly successful business:
1. Attention. We’ve all heard the claim that you only have 2 seconds to grab someone’s attention before you’ve lost your opportunity. I don’t know if that’s exactly true, but Tony points out that the principle is absolutely true. You have a very short period of time to capture someone’s attention with your marketing.
2. Time: 99.9% of people today are busy and easily distracted. When was the last time you talked to someone who wasn’t “really busy”? Yeah… I can’t remember either. All marketing campaigns are just one more thing competing for our prospect’s time.
3. Credibility: We are a highly skeptical society these days. In order for anyone to listen to you for more than 2 seconds and not immediately dismiss what you are claiming, you must prove your case. And, of course, you must do it quickly.
Here are 6 ways you can capture your audience’s attention, time and trust:
1. Referral Capture. Referrals are extremely powerful. We are much more likely to be open to hearing what someone has to say if they were first recommended to us by someone we know and trust. So… how can you get more referrals? Ask for them. You simply never know what will happen until you ask.
There’s an effective and not-so-effective way of doing this. The not-so-effective way is to just hand someone a few of your business cards and say, “When you come across someone who might be interested in what I have to offer, would you point them in my direction?”
The effective way is to be a bit more proactive and ask for introductions. If you are doing a good job taking care of your customers, they want you to be successful. Who do they know that you need to know? Ask them to introduce you.
A really great idea that Tony called “website magic” is to visit your top customer’s web sites and take a look at what they’re doing. Have they won any awards? Did they just launch a new product or service? Take note of something you would like to congratulate them on. Then, look for the space on their site where they list their clients. Find the one or two that you most want to be introduced to. Send your client an email that says, “I was on your web site today and noticed that ________. Congratulations! By the way, I also noticed that _____ is one of your clients. Would you mind introducing me to them?” You can also use this technique on Facebook, Linked in and My Space, etc.
Keep track of who is referring other people to you and reward them! If someone refers you once, it is highly likely they will refer you again and again - IF, you encourage that behavior by rewarding them. Every document you have should ask, “How did you hear about us?” Give your referrers gift certificates, gas cards, movie tickets, etc. Make the gift a real gift (not just a promotion) by giving them something you think they would enjoy that is not something you make or do.
2. Evidence Capture. Use testimonials, videos and blogs to support your claims. Give away content rich white papers, free reports and eBooks. Generate positive PR. Have an outrageous guarantee that shows just how much you believe in your product or service. Update testimonials frequently and consider the use of video testimonials.
3. Story Capture. Stories engage the mind. They are great attention grabbers. Once pulled into a great story, it is hard to pull away. Using stories in your marketing is a great way to capture someone’s attention and hold it for a decent length of time.
4. Content Capture. Give people really, really good content. Stop worrying about giving too much away for free. Do you really think that you have information that is not available for free somewhere right now? You can’t control information. You can’t capture it, hold it or corner the market on it. Don’t even try. Instead, set yourself up to be the main authority in your particular niche. Use the fact that people are short on time and don’t want to spend a lot of it searching for what they want or need to set yourself up as the one source they trust in a particular area.
Just because so much information is available for free doesn’t mean we aren’t willing to pay for it. Once we get serious about wanting to know something or do something, we will gladly pay for “how to” information. Your customers and clients are going to buy from someone when they get to that point. If you’ve given them plenty of great content over time, you will be the first one they go to when they are ready to purchase.
5. Grabber Capture. When using direct mail you must be creative in how you send it. Hand address the envelope and put a real stamp on it. Send it in a red greeting card envelope. Put something in the envelope (the lumpy mail technique). Mail the marketing piece in something other than an envelope. Be creative and bold about this. You could even send your letters via UPS or Fedex. The point is, put at least as much thought into how you are going to get your prospect to read a promotion as you do into producing the promotion. (This applies to email marketing as well. Be creative!)
6. Innovation Capture. Gather good ideas from everywhere. This includes outside your industry. A good idea is a good idea and can be applied to any industry. Make it a habit to look at everything with a child-like curiosity. Some of the best ideas have come from those who questioned everything. Keep track of all your ideas and the ideas of others’ by create and use a swipe or idea file.
Finally, Tony shared these quotes that I thought was worth passing on:
“Sometimes you have to be willing to be misunderstood.” Jeff Bezos (SP?) founder of Amazon.
“How many industry norms can you violate or turn upside down?” Dan Kennedy
Choosing your clients
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 30, 2008
Last week I wrote a post that asked the quesiton, “Why Should Customers do Business With You?”
In that post, I dared to ask: “If you don’t know exactly why, in the eyes of your market, your business should continue to exist (and thrive), why should your prospects and customers?”
This is a vital question to answer, and answer clearly. But first - it is very important that you have a clear picture of who you are communicating to. Namely, who your ideal client is.
Understanding the difference between a client (or customer) and YOUR ideal client.
Your ideal client is made up of much, much more than some demographic information. Your ideal client has a face and a name. They have hopes, dreams, wants, needs, desires and attitudes that distinguish them from the “everyone else” that makeup your not-so-ideal clients. They also have a distinct lifestyle, distinct pain, and a distinct amount of money they are willing to spend to deal with that pain (level of motivation).
Until you know who you are communicating to, it is very difficult (if not impossible - as you may have already discovered) to discover the message that will resonate with “them”.
Until your ideal customer is much, much more to you than a general, faceless spreadsheet of demographic information, your message will not be targeted enough to even reach them.
Let alone get their attention.
So… Can you describe exactly who your ideal customer is?
There are many ways to do this. Scroll through your list of current and past customers. Ask yourself who resonated with you. Who has seemed to get the most out of your product or service? If you had to hold up one person and say, “Here! This is the kind of customer that makes me want to jump out of bed in the morning just so I can work harder at solving their issues.”
That is your ideal customer.
Good. Now, you need to know what they want?
You might have to do a little research here to find out what you need to know. Give them a call and ask if you can conduct a 10 minute “interview”. (They’ll be flattered.)
Send out a survey. Ask them questions about what they are worried about, what their hobbies are, what they fear, what they read, what they wish they could do or have, what they are looking for but having trouble finding, etc.
While you’re at it, ask them this: “At this time in your life, what is the one thing you need most from me/ my company?”
And, “In the sea of options out there, why did you choose (and continue to choose) us?” You might be surprised at the answer.
Other ways to find out more and further define your ideal customer: Read their web sites, read what they are interested in, subscribe to their newsletters, and join the associations they belong to.
This is an important task - don’t overlook it. It’s not only important in the process of developing a core marketing message, it’s important for your own happiness, well-being and effectiveness.
If you don’t define the kind of person you want to work with, you might end up with a group of customers that drain you and that you aren’t well suited to help. You could end up burned out and with the damaged reputation of being mediocre. Nobody wants that.
This post is part of a free email course that shows you how to uncover the motivating factors that drive your ideal customers to buy, and then breaks down the process for creating a core message that will drive them to buy from you. Subscribe to this free course now.
Customer Service is Marketing
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 27, 2008
John Jantsch of Duct Tape marketing wrote on his blog the today, “Happy, educated, results oriented customers are the greatest sales force you can employ.”
I agree. In fact, I bookmarked and saved the article. For contrast, let me share an experience today that illustrates what not to do when it comes to customer service.
I signed up for an eFax account back in July. They offer 30 days to try out their service before they begin charging you a monthly fee. I didn’t use the service, so I emailed a request to have the service cancelled before the 30 days was up, and promptly forgot about it.
In looking over the last few month’s bank statements this weekend, I realized that they had been charging me for this monthly fax service for the last 3 months. I called customer service to resolve the matter, and was played a recording that instructed me to deal with this matter via live chat. I hung up the phone, logged into the eFax web site and began chatting with a customer service representative. I explained that I had sent in a request to cancel my service back in August, but was still being charged. Would he please be so kind as to cancel my account and refund the money taken from my account over the last 3 months. He replied that “refunds were not allowed.”
He then asked if I would like to keep my service for the next 2 months free of charge in order to recoup my losses.
What the @%#*????
I kindly explain that I haven’t used the service, didn’t use it during the free trial, didn’t want to keep it and don’t want it now, so why would I want to keep it another 2 months so that I could, uh, continue to not use it. Further, how would that make me feel like I had recouped my losses?
He suggested I call a customer service representative. I agreed. Before closing the chat, he asks me to clarify for him one more time that I would in fact like to cancel my service. Um, yes. Perhaps I am not being clear.
I call the number he gives me. After waiting on hold for 15 minutes, I spoke with a woman who repeats the “refunds are not allowed” mantra. I am insistent, so she places me on hold to speak with ???. She comes back and says that she can offer me a one time courtesy (refunding money for a service I didn’t want is a courtesy?) of refunding the charge in September, but I would have to call back tomorrow and talk to someone about refunding the charge in October. As for refunding August - that was out of the question. Couldn’t be done. I was still insistent. So, she said when I called back tomorrow I could ask to speak to the “higher ups.” Indeed.
Now… eFax is owned and operated by jConnect. jConnect has a lot of other useful services besides e-faxing. They offer conference calling services (we do TONS of conference calling at YML) and services that will deliver voicemail to your email and email to you phone. Any of those might have been great services to tell me about. I, in fact, didn’t even know they offered these services until I had to go searching for a customer service number this morning so that I could call and ask for October’s money back.
Unfortunately, in discovering these other services, I am not in the mood to buy.
I find the number and explain the whole incident to a new customer service rep. He again tells me that he is very sorry for the inconvenience but “refunds are not allowed”. Again, I am insistant. So, he places me on hold to talk to ??? and returns to tell me that as a one time courtesy they will refund October. As a favor.
I take a deep breath and the most polite voice I can muster, say, “I want you to refund August as well.” He says that is not allowed. I ask to speak to his manager. He says that his manager will tell me the same thing. He says he has talked with his manager and his manager cannot do a thing and so there is no point in talking with him. I say, “That’s alright. I want to talk with your manager.” He refuses to let me. This goes on a while. He never lets me talk to his manager.
Now, this is a very long story that illustrates a very simple point: Customer service is marketing.
EVERYTHING IN YOUR BUSINESS IS MARKETING.
Marketing is every bit of contact your company has with the outside world. EVERY BIT.
And back to John’s point about how happy customers are the best sales force you can employ. This also works in the reverse. If you want more customers, (hell, forget about new ones - if you simply want to keep the customers you have) train your customer service reps - train everyone who works for you or speaks for you - to be good marketers.
Why Should Customers Do Business With You?
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 16, 2008
A while back I read the interesting assertion that our lives succeed or fail one conversation at a time. What a simple statement. Perhaps dangerously simple, because the tendency (as is the case with most profound truths) is to briefly consider and then move on without the full impact of the statement really penetrating.
But, consider for a moment, really consider, the idea that your life’s successes or failures are the direct result of your conversations. We tend to think that we are having conversations in our relationships or about our relationships, but really - our conversations are our relationships.
This is true for all of life -including the part of life that has to do with our businesses. Our businesses are currently trotting along (or speeding along) towards success or failure on a path that is made up of the conversations that surround it. Stated more pointedly (and accurately), our conversations are not about our business. Our conversations are our business.
To clarify - by conversation, I speak very, very broadly to mean every point of contact your business has with the outside world. Further… at the center of every meaningful conversation, there is a core message that resonates somehow with those engaged in the conversation. From the standpoint of your business, that core message should communicate exactly why your business deserves to exist.
Um, not to offend, but do you know why your business deserves to exist? Not why you want it to exist, or why you think you deserve to have it exist, or why it’s important in any way to you that it continue to exist, but why the market should allow you to continue to take up space in the marketplace. This is harsh, I know, but…
if you don’t know exactly why, in the eyes of your market, your business should continue to exist (and thrive), why should your prospects and customers?
At YML we are business owners too, and currently (always) wrestling out the answer to that pestering, yet all important question, “Precisely WHY should anyone do business with us?” I mean, aren’t you clutching your wallet a bit tighter these days? Aren’t you more selective about laying down your money and thereby placing your vote for which businesses deserve to continue to exist and which one’s don’t?
At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, as a business owner or entrepreneur, going into business automatically places you in a harsh, non-forgiving, all-out competition, in which many, many businesses fall by the wayside and are forever left behind. It’s a fact that you are competing with a sea of businesses in a world that needs little else that it doesn’t already have. I mean, really, did you go into business because there was literally no one else out there offering your product or service? We are surrounded by an overabundance of choices for an overabundance of products and services.
Ah, but this doesn’t at all mean that anyone is free of problems, does it? In fact, ironically, while we are surrounded by excess (I mean, who really needs a Big Foot Garden Sculpture anyway?), we seem to have more discontent, unhappiness, stress and anxiety than ever before. We also seem to have more needs, wants and desires than ever before.
Within the motivating forces that push all of us to search for that which holds the promise of alleviating our unhappiness and fear, or filling our deepest needs, wants and desires, is your opportunity.
The market will not allow you to exist out of sympathy. The market will allow you to exist because many, many people lay down their money, thereby placing their vote for you to continue to exist. They do this because you provide something for them that they are deeply motivated to have. They don’t even need to be conscious of that motivating force. But you do. Because, your job, no matter what business you are in, is to market to them. And you do that by clearly communicating a core message that hits at the heart of whatever they are motivated to put down money to solve or have.
This is (or should be) the core message of your business. This is the meaningful part of the conversations that make up your business. This is the heart of marketing. This message should be at the heart of your marketing.
Want to know exactly how to create this all-important core message? Sign up for our FREE email course about how to answer this question better than your competition: “Why should customers do business with you?”
In this course, we will show you how to uncover the motivating factors that drive your ideal customers to buy, and then break down the process for creating a core message that will drive them to buy from you. Subscribe to this free course now.
Sales in Business: Qualifying skills
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 10, 2008
I know this is a blog about marketing, but the point of marketing is to generate more sales, and it’s difficult to have enough sales without good marketing. Further, marketing all about communicating a message, which happens throughout the sales cycle (or should). So, when you are marketing, you are selling and when you are selling you are marketing.
That said, I want to share Q and A with you. The question is from a Your Marketing Lab member, and the answer is from Joyce Lillis, a Your Marketing Lab ProStaffer. Good stuff.
Question: “From the time a lead appears on the ‘radar’ screen, how many times should I contact them, and how long should I pursue the lead before letting them go? For example, sometimes leads appear to be interested even though they’re not always timely with their responses. Other times they really aren’t interested, but it’s hard to tell the difference. How do you know when you are doing a great job following up and when you are wasting your time?”
Joyce’s Response: First, when a lead appears it is important to qualify the prospective client by asking specific questions to determine if they are interested in your product/service. If you can provide one of the six “Reasons to Buy” below you will have an understanding of how you can provide a solution (VALUE) to their problem.
1. Reduce costs
2. Increase revenues
3. Leverage cost of capital
4. Increase productivity
5. Provide quality and customer satisfaction
6. Augment a new strategy or initiative
If you do not meet any of the above criteria then I would not put this prospective client on the pipeline. If you do meet one or more of the criteria above and you continue to make contact with this potential client it is important to trial close at the end of every conversation. A trial close means that there is a reason for you to follow up on a specific issue that has been determined during the conversation and allows you to move the opportunity to a closed deal.
Secondly, it is important to determine the following three reasons the potential client will buy from you.
1. A compelling reason to buy your product/service
2. Developing a business relationship with the decision maker
3. Determined there is a budget to support making a purchase
If any of the three are not determined in the beginning of the relationship, then I don’t believe there is a reason to continue to waste time with this potential client because there is a 90% chance that this is not going to become a closed deal.
Remember, to ask the hard questions. Sometimes sales people are not comfortable asking the question that allows them to make a decision to drop the lead because as sales people we are optimistic and we want to believe we can turn a lead into a closed deal. (For more about asking questions, take a look at this article: Yellow Lights)
It is important to recognize that there is always another lead that will turn into a closed deal so if any of the above cannot be determined move on to your next lead. Time is Money when you are selling.
Read more about Joyce’s upcoming course:
Qualifying and Closing Skills: Red Light/ Green Light
10 Ways to Conduct Continuous Market Research by Connecting with Your Market.
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 8, 2008
10 ways to conduct continuous market research by better connecting with your market and improving your relationship marketing:
1. Start by building a relationship with a group of people you are interested in. If they are going to become your loyal fans, your audience needs to love you. However, you need to also love them. If you don’t they will know it.
2. Don’t just talk. Listen. Find out what they want. (Products are easier to find than audiences.)
3. Find out what they truly want – even compulsively need - to spend money on. There are many things they want. The real question is, what are they willing to spend money on? Further, they should have the ability (or at the very least, the strong inclination and potential near-future ability) to buy what you are selling.
4. Try to understand what is motivating their actions. What do they really want? (Sorry to complicate things, but this might not be what they say they want. I might say I want to lose 10 pounds and then order dessert. Pay attention to their behavior.) What’s their agenda? What are their goals? What are they afraid of? What problems are they dealing with? What are they running towards/ away from?
5. Be authentic. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Speak to them about them and about what they want, just be you while doing it. Capitalize on your own strengths. (For fun, read this great post by Sonia Simone at Coppyblogger, where she asks the question, “If your blog could be personified as a shapely star of a really cheesy 1960s sitcom, which would it be? Ginger, or Mary Ann?“
6. Do some research, find out what your market is interested in and study that. Subscribe to their publications, join their associations, do some keyword research, etc.
7. Recognize that your target market has no innate understanding the value of your service(s) and/or product(s). They didn’t wake up this morning with the vision that lives in your head about how your product or service can improve their lives and solve their problems. Teaching them in a way that is relevant to them is your job as a marketer. Important: “teach” rather than “preach”. You will further your connection with them while increasing the knowledge of the value you provide. Most importantly, they will not run away from you if you are really giving them good information.
8. Establish credibility. Do and say stuff that demonstrates your credibility. Associate with credible people. Do what you say and say what you mean. Then repeat. Over and over again.
9. Understand that if you try to sell before you have connected, your efforts will be largely wasted. If you do sell before you have connected, and don’t make every effort to connect after the sale, you will likely not be rewarded with a 2nd sale. And, “You don’t really have a customer until you’ve sold them twice.” - Joyce Lillis
10. Really contribute. Contribute to the conversation, contribute to their lives, contribute to their efforts. Give, not for the opportunity to get, but because you recognize that ultimately it will result in more opportunities to give.
