photo credit: Limbo Poet

Many times I’ve suggested that you read Cialdini’s Influence.

Today’s guest post is a follow on to Cialdini – an audio documentary about what makes people buy: “Desire by Design” from American Radioworks.

Enter the conversation in their minds…

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photo credit: myuibe

Here’s a little quiz about influencing decision makers: http://www.influenceatwork.com/CialdiniQuiz.html

Tell me how you did – and what you think about your answers (a key/explanation is provided after the quiz).

I got a 90%. The one I “missed” I disagree with because I think the right answer requires a mix of two possible answers ( the only two that make sense on the Microsoft question).

One important thing to take from this: Your ability or desire to influence stems from knowing that your solution will truly HELP someone and/or their business. The way I look at it, if you have THE solution for a particular problem/situation, you have an *obligation* to become an expert at showing why people need it.

This isn’t about some infomercial that sells someone crap they don’t need. It’s not about how many “closes” you have memorized (what a pile of crap).

It’s about your ability to understand your customer, analyze their wants and needs and then – if your solution fits – explain the solution in a way that makes it drop-dead-simple to make a purchasing decision.

More reading on this topic: Cialdini’s book “Influence”.

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photo credit: Todd Huffman

Earlier this week, one of my younger Scouts did a presentation on beekeeping to the troop.

His family keeps bees and sells some of the honey as a hobby, so he had some knowledge of the topic and how the bees are handled – but if you are going to talk about a topic like that in front of a group of 11-17 year olds, you gotta come loaded for bear, right Winnie?

Lame puns aside, he did a nice job of talking about how beekeeping is done.

We talked about how they start a hive, where the bees come from, what jobs each type of bee does (sidebar: all teenage boys find the job of the drones a bit fascinating), how the honey (and wax) is made, how many times you get stung, how the honey is harvested and all the cool equipment – including the smoke puffer gun thing, the honey extractor, hot knife and of course, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man beekeepers suit.

40 gallons of sticky-sweet fun

And then it got interesting. Someone asked him what they do with the honey, and how much they have.

His answer was “About 40 gallons stored around the house”, and he wasn’t sure how much they made each year. Someone asked again, “So what do you do with all that?”

“Eat it”, he says. Oh, and we sell some too, adding that he brought a few bottles if anyone wants some.

At this point, I’m thinking “We’re gonna have tasting and its going to be all over fingers, faces, hands and of course – the floor”.

But I was wrong.

That young man was wiser than his years.

He brought freshly-made biscuits, which he laid on the counter and sliced in half. Everyone who wanted some got to slather honey on em before they gobbled them down. These are teenaged boys we’re talking about. Any sort of food is an endangered species around these guys.

Once the honey-fest was over, lots of moms and dads got asked to take some home as a result (not something we do normally, but this was a special occasion – we had BISCUITS!).

What do they sop up your product/service with?

Your turn: What would be the biscuit that transforms the sale of your honey? (whatever your product or service might be)

In particular, think about stuff like this before a presentation, trade show or similar group event. Create the feeding frenzy, even if you sell something like fuel filters. Think about what would make your demonstration make people think “I GOTTA HAVE THAT!”

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photo credit: Derek Purdy

So I’m on Amazon to pick up a copy of “Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives“.

Like any good salesperson would, the Amazon cart reminds me…

“Wait! You need to add $5.23 to your order to qualify for FREE Super Saver Shipping”.

Fair enough. But what would fit that bill?

Amazon shows me a few things in my “Saved items — to buy later” list and it also shows me some things that other people bought when they bought this book.

But it doesn’t show my Amazon Wishlist.

And it doesn’t show me the most recent items on my Wishlist (or Saved Items) that cost $5.23 or more.

You know the thought process: If I need to spend $5.23 to get free shipping (worth about $5), I’m going to be more willing to spend $5.23 than I am $15.23.

So why don’t they show me those items that are most likely to get me over the edge?

Now, put on that Amazon hat and look around your store or your online shop.

What can you do to push them over the edge and make it easier to buy?

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photo credit: lynn dombrowski

Not long ago, we were talking about being “… only as good as your last transaction.”

I was chatting with someone on Twitter yesterday and mentioned that “every job is a sales job”, which provoked a response from someone in Missoula who asked: “Even the garbage man?”

Abso-flippin’-lutely.

Tomorrow morning, my trash gets picked up. Watch carefully for a sales guy.

Garbage man “A” accidentally knocks over your trash cans with the fender on his truck.  He jumps out of the cab, tosses out a few pieces of creative language about knocking the cans over, empties them into the truck, leaves the trash that fell out right there on the ground where it fell, tosses the cans back into the driveway with a rattle that would wake the dead.

Because it’s 6am, it seems as if he’s trying to make as much noise as possible. On that theme, he revs up his truck as he pulls away, riling up our annoying little white fluffy dog who barks at everyone as if they are Satan incarnate, meanwhile waking up the granddaughter.

Garbage man “B” also knocks over the cans, but unlike his competitor, he stops and picks up the spill, empties the cans, sets them quietly at the edge of the driveway and pulls away at a normal pace without making a fuss.

Obviously, the sales guy is garbage dude “B”.

Leaking more than antifreeze

You might be leaking sales.

This morning, I’m off to the radiator shop. You know, cuz I feel like it’s my duty to put the children of the automotive industry through graduate school. Arrgh.

Think about the public-facing staff at a radiator shop when I visit for the first time.

If I walk in and they are professionally-dressed, what’s my thought? I don’t expect the guys to be in $1000 suits, but I also don’t expect them to look like they haven’t showered in days and smell like a bottle of rum, much less yesterday’s hay hauling sweat.

In particular, since I’m the first appointment of the day, I expect a little more. Still, if the guy takes care of me and my rig and doesn’t force me to refinance the Stimulus bill, I’ll probably cut the guy some slack.

Even so, everything impacts the sale. The appearance of your staff, your place of business, parking lot, even the smell.

The smell?

Oo-ooo-that-smell (apologies to the boys from Alabama)

Sure. Imagine you’re walking into an extended care center. Maybe umpteen years from now, a relative simply can’t be cared for at home for some technical reason that is beyond your abilities.

When you walk into the first center, the halls are crowded with unattended residents in wheelchairs. There’s nothing going on anywhere.

As you turn down the hall where the bedrooms are, the smell of urine hits you like a Nolan Ryan bean ball. Blammo, right up side your head.

Smelling salts, anyone?

Meanwhile, the family member who raised you, nursed your wounds, listened to you whine as they dabbed that evil Mercurochrome on those wimpy little cuts on your knees is going to be sentenced to a place that smells like the floor of an airport restroom?

Nope.

Your next visit is totally different. While there isn’t a Nerf football game going on in the lobby, the place smells and looks pristine and the folks are active. Even the ones who aren’t so mobile are being read to or listening to music, etc.

The people who make all these things happen have sales jobs, whether they are changing Depends and cleaning up your grandmother, answering the phone with a snarl or counting back change at Pamida.

Active vs. Passive

Beyond the passive salespeople that we’ve just talked about, there are others. Some of them are almost invisible sometimes – until they interact with your clientele:

• The shy, slightly geeky slide rule totin’ field engineer with the pocket protector with his name on it.
• The mechanic who comes out of the bay to tell me the horrible, expensive news.
• The bug killer guy who slides out from under your muddy crawl space to tell you about the yellow jacket infestation.
• The young kid who takes you out to see the boat you just rented and teaches them how not to sink it or blow yourself up.

None of them are who you think of when you do sales training, but they should be.

They’re like the recon Marine patrol. Front and center, making a first impression.

Train em. Don’t expect to create a platoon of Zig Ziglar and Tom Hopkins clones.

Instead, expect results after arming your folks with the tools to produce them.

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Since January 2005, I’ve been spent a lot of time explaining how Business is Personal.

When I started this journey way back then, I named the blog “Pancake Bunny“.

I called it that as a result of a customer service interaction where a company’s CEO told a customer that their message made no sense and then included the pancake bunny in their reply (click here to see the original pancake bunny).

It struck me that I had work to do.

Not solely because of the bunny remark, but because of a pervasive antagonistic attitude toward customers – especially by many in tech-related industries (remember, Ive been in the software biz since 1982).

Nine Hundred Eighty Five

Nine hundred and eighty four times I have posted here in order to teach this one important lesson. This one is number 985.

I’ve shared little anecdotes here and there, stories, admonitions, an occasional rant or two – whatever it takes to make you and your staff attract, sell, talk to, think about and work with your customers as if they are real people.

Like your grandma. Imagine that.

That lady you were snarky with on the phone this morning is probably someone’s grandma, or mom or something. Would you talk that way if she were in front of you? Hopefully you aren’t the snarky one in the first place and that was intended for someone else cuz you’d never do that.

Progress

I know that in many cases I am preaching to the choir, but I also know that many people have related personally to a story here and it has changed their business. They have finally seen how treating their clientele like a friend, a partner, a family member – changes their business.

Others have finally figured out that hiding from their customers, treating them poorly (if they treat them at all) and thinking “Damn, if those customers didn’t keep interrupting me I’d get some REAL work done” is not how business is done.

Instead, it’s how your “Dear Valued Customer” becomes someone else’s.

If you haven’t gotten that yet, today might be your lucky day.

Enter Mister Butts

Earlier today I got an email from a Twitter acquaintance named Rick Butts. He’s one of those internet marketer types (and he just winced when he read that – sorry Rick).

EXCEPT, he isn’t like many of them. He’s a regular guy who gets the Business is Personal thing.

If after reading Rick’s email, you don’t understand why you simply have to treat someone who is viewing your blog, your newsletter, walking into your store, calling you on the phone, or tweeting you *like your grandmother*, then I suggest going back to post #1 and read a few posts a day.

I can’t help but think it’ll help.

Here’s Rick’s email. Enjoy.

I Am Joe’s Email List – An Open Letter To Internet Marketers

Hi,

I am Joe’s email list.

Joe calls me his list, his peeps, and sometimes just “the list.”

But, I am not a list, really, I am not a crowd, or an audience. I am not “everyone out there” as they teach new broadcasters to say.

I am me.

One single person with hopes, dreams, stresses and fears.

In many ways I am just like you – the way you describe yourself in your hungry years before you went to that life changing event, read the book, and started making money online.

I get email from you Joe.

I can’t remember for sure, but I think I “joined” one day when you offered a free report or video and I had to put my email address in – and confirm – in order to see it.

In my inbox, Joe, your email looks just like the personal emails I get from my daughter or son, and sometimes, sadly, from my ex.

Now that you’ve been sending me email – as well as some of your “good friends” – I have begun to be able to see in a glance that they are just offers, sometimes disguised as important messages, sometimes blatantly, not.

Whenever I see the word “this” in your subject lines, like – “this won’t last long” – or “have you seen this?” I know it’s an offer.

Since the Product Launch Formula I and especially II – I’m amazed at how many times per month I am literally inundated with emails from so many people all about the same exciting product.

They arrive over multiple days, culminating in a bonus orgy that is just overwhelming.

I read a clever post in a forum once, that “the bonuses are so comprehensive, it makes me wonder what is covered in the course, that is not already covered in the bonuses!”

That made me laugh.

I’m writing you today, to share something important about myself – and I hope you’ll take the time to consider my feelings, ok?

I have to get off of some of these lists.

The volume of email and the distraction of chasing the offers is just crippling my time, my focus, and my ability to get things done.

When Rick Butts asked his readers to consider unsubscribing from the people who sent you Stompernet Launch offers IF they had not provided any useful content in the last month – he really got me thinking.

Then Ed Dale made a video saying, basically, that no one is holding a gun to your head and that if you wanted to stop getting offers – stop bitching – and just unsubscribe.

But here’s the deal. I’d LIKE to learn from you Joe – and to be able to know that being on “your list” is valuable to me, my business, and my future.

So, please don’t think me a big whiner, I’m a customer, and here’s what I respectfully request:

1. Slow down the frequency of mailing to me, Joe.

Do not email me every day – that’s just way too much now.

2. Don’t mail me offers all the time.

I’m reading a lot more RSS feeds from bloggers who are putting out great content. If you are using Feedburner or Feedblitz or Aweber’s blog notification service that mails me when you update your blog – then, cool. I’m good with that.

3. If you do mail me an offer PLEASE don’t cut and paste the pre-written one from the creator of the product.

Do you know how stupid that makes you look to me? And, how insulting it is to get them from multiple people?

4. Try giving me some TRUTHINESS in your communiques to me.

If you are really making money in the non-marketing-to-Internet-marketers, then tell me some useful tips that are working for you. No, you don’t need to tell me your market niche but hey, every once in a while how about your show me how valuable I am to you buy sharing one of those SECRETS?

5. Show me some stuff that made less than $1,000,000.00.

I’d be immensely interested in real world examples of success I can get my head around. I’m never going to build a big list of “biz-op” peeps and hammer them with a big JV launch. Show me how I can make $500 a week – then be able to replace my income and quit my skank job.

6. Stop bragging about your zero-gravity dives and how you are spending my money in outrageous ways.

Trust me, this is a lot more fun for you, then it is for me to read about it. You may excuse it as “inspirational” but I dont’ even think that works in MLM anymore. It just annoys me. A little “high life” goes a long way and I’m more impressed by how Internet marketing lets you enjoy your family.

7. Please, please, please, for the love of God, stop participating in these dreadful launches!

Let me believe you are successful enough without having to bend over and schlup me and the rest of my list mates through your embarrassing attempt to get me to “buy from you” and help you win a contest.

The reason Rick Butts wrote about the 12 Biggest Whores, without naming anyone, is that we have all watched the emergence of about that many well known marketers who cross-promote each others stuff so regularly it is hard to imagine that they do anything else.

I think that gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of things that would make getting email from you valuable again – and persuade me not to unsubscribe from you forever.

Final thought…

The blowback from the “unsubscribe” and “launch fatigue” has been to accuse me and my list mates, the little people, of being whiners.

And while there is no shortage of whiners in the world, I want you to know that from the bottom of my heart – I am pleading with you to not dismiss me so easily.

What most of us really want is for you to provide us with value, treat us like a long term relationship, and we will, certainly reward you for helping us get to the next level.

Now back to check my email, I think there’s a Traffic Secrets 2.0 launch today?

Sincerely,

Joe’s List

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photo credit: kevindooley

I have this vendor who makes me a little bit nuts.

When communicating with them, I feel like I’m trying to get my golf clubs from an ex-wife who hates me.

You know how it goes… If I ask her the wrong way, she’ll wrap them around a tree in the front yard and say “Here ya go, honey!”

Result: I ask very delicately.

I can’t imagine why anyone would purposely position their clients like that, so I have little choice but to believe they are unaware of this situation. I have no idea how that could be, but you knew that already.

Trouble is, when you’re in that sort of position, you really can’t even suggest to them that they might address the issue. Back to the golf clubs.

So what do I do? Mostly, I’m forced to ignore it because I can’t do anything about it.

What about you?

Do you have a critical path vendor that makes you feel that way?

If so, did you find a new critical path (not just a vendor, a whole path) or do you just put up with it because you can’t get that one thing anywhere else?

In my digging around, I hear the latter most of the time and I just don’t get it.

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photo credit: eye of einstein

Today’s guest post comes from John-Paul Micek over in Hawaii (for the moment).

He and his wife Deb (@CoachDeb) run TribalSeduction.com, where they teach business owners about using social media to build trust (and a tribe, among other things).

JP talks about Paul Harvey, how he established trust with his listeners and why that was so valuable to him and his advertisers. There’s a gem of a quote there as well.

What are you waiting for? Go read it now:)

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photo credit: Phil Romans

If you’ve ever coached a kid’s little league baseball team, you know that you might spend a lot of time at first reminding players to take the bat off of their shoulder.

When you stand up to bat, you just won’t be ready unless you’ve got the bat back and ready to take your cut.

Leaving it on your shoulder simply requires too much adjustment too fast if you are to hit a ball coming toward you.

Most young, inexperienced players can’t make it happen.

Not asking the right questions when in a sales situation is the same sort of thing.

Can you really afford to leave money on the table today?

I don’t mean be a hard sell pain in the butt.

Instead, be helpful. Inquisitive. Thorough.

If you really want to stretch… Pretend to be the least bit interested how the client is using your product / service, ask what they need, talk about what they really get out of your product / service, how they use it and so on.

Part of selling is helping the client figure out exactly what they want (and need).

I leave a hole and it goes unfilled.

Speaking of, I received a sales call last week.

The salesperson almost seemed embarrassed to call and sell their product. Maybe it was a rough day, I dunno.

The thing is, I’m already a customer and the next big thing is now available so I’m clearly vested in what they sell.

It’s not like I’m a cold prospect with no idea what they do/sell. They just need to figure out what my objections might be – if any – and close the sale of the big new thing.

Instead, they just ask for the sale as if they really don’t care one way or the other.

In response, I say something along the lines of “I’m not quite ready” (which is the truth). I pause and leave the opening, hoping they’ll step in.

The opportunity sits there and languishes on the bone. End of discussion, call over.

What should have happened?

• “I’m sorry to hear that, but if you don’t mind, could I ask a few questions?”

Me: Yeah, sure.

• “How are you using the products / services?”
• “How can we help you get more out of our products / services?”
• “Is there a problem with our products or services?”
• “Is cash flow tight? A lot of folks are stretched a little thin right now, so we’re doing what we can to get our product / service into their hands so they can use it to make more. Perhaps our payment plan would help. Would you like to hear about it?”
• “Is there some other reason why you prefer to wait? It’s OK if there is, I’d just like to know if we aren’t where you need us to be.”

Me: Yeah, blah, blah, blah.

• “So if I fixed that situation, would you be ready to buy?”

Me: “Forced” to either say yes, giving them the opportunity to fix whatever that is, or reveal the real objection (or state another one, which starts the cycle over again).

All the while, the vendor is learning what drives my purchases with them and how they can help me get to where I want to be as it relates to their product. But it never happens.

I’m almost left wondering if my business matters to the vendor.

Put yourself in this vendor’s place.

Can you really afford to leave money on the table right now? I’m guessing most can’t.

Are you training your staff to ask the right questions? Are they being inquisitive? Caring? Curious?

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photo credit: freeparking

Last week I was talking with some friends about shooting weddings. Everyone in the conversation has a strong interest in photography, often concentrating on different subjects and all are at different stages in their photography life.

One of the guys mentioned that there was a nationwide event called “A Million Little Pictures” where small one-use cameras will be used all over the U.S. to document the summer of 2009. In September, the photos will be brought together to form a single exhibit in Atlanta and one other city.

During this conversation, I mentioned to the guy whose wedding photography business is taking off that he shouldn’t be surprised to find these on every table at a wedding. It’s been done for a good while, at least a decade, even now that digital has take over.

Someone else said a future wedding they will be attending is going to have digital point and shoot cameras on the tables with a central docking station to print small prints on photo paper embossed with the bride and groom’s name.

And then it came: Someone mentioned that another wedding photographer they know feels that is a direct attack on the professional photographer’s profits.

He doesn’t get it.

That was my comment about the other wedding photographer thinking point and shoots were cutting into their profits.

After some brief discussion, someone asked why I said that.

First, a couple of obvious reasons.

The wedding is about the bride and groom and their families, not the photographer.

The photography that comes from tabletop amateur one-use digital or film cameras is going to be at least a level of magnitude weaker than the quality of the shots the professional will produce. Different enough in quality that even an amateur will be able to see the difference.

This amateur photography will cover plenty of things that the photographer could miss. Not important stuff to the wedding party and the families, but fun for the guests.

At a wedding attended by 100 (much less 500) people, the photographer or photographers can only be so many places and most of that will be focused on their primary duty: making sure they get “those shots”.

You know, the shots that you have to have if you expect the mother of the bride to speak to you after the wedding day, much less place a big print order.

The mother and the families aren’t going to order 20″ x 30″ wall sized prints of their casual point and shoot shots. They might order an album of 4″ x 6″ copies of them, but so what? You’ve got formal portrait and album orders.

Focus on the high margin stuff.

Smarter than the average bear

Arguing with the bride’s family about these fun amateur photos is a great way to lose a client. Instead, be the only one who doesn’t make a fuss about these cameras, get the job and do it right. If you do, these casual, shot from the hip images can be the icing on the cake.

The thinking photographer can use these one-time cameras as another source of print and product sales by offering to simplify the post-wedding task of dealing with hundreds of photos – and print them using your print/order systems.

The primary photographer doesn’t need to spend hours editing these shots. Worst case if you feel the need to do that, it can be outsourced to an intern. Print orders of this nature can be offered via your online portrait store, automating the print process and making it easy for out of town guests to get the prints they want.

Photographers can take advantage of these amateur shots by offering to include them in unique products to purchase as part of their print order. Most of these print orders will be for small prints, so the quality from one shot cameras will be sufficient.

Photographers looking for an edge can provide the digital one-shot cameras to the wedding guests as part of a higher end wedding coverage package. Little things like a one-shot digital camera on every table can get you that coverage upsell. It doesn’t have to be logical to upgrade, it just has to be a big enough carrot.

A unique edge that a confident photographer will use with their branding on the cameras while their competitors complain about those same cameras “taking their profit”.

One last benefit…

Offer a DVD of the images to every guest. Make the price whatever makes sense to you (or include it in your coverage package), but low enough that 100% of them take it. They just paid you to put them on your newsletter mailing list.

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photo credit: sburke2478

You’ve all been there.

The 7th grade dance. Girls on one side, boys on the other.

And if nothing happens, it isn’t long before the girls are dancing with each other.

Meanwhile the boys lean against the wall, looking down at their feet, glancing up at their favorite girl and then kicking themselves for not asking her to dance – all while continuing to stand there and not ask.

Sometimes, one brave boy steps out there and asks the prettiest girl in school to dance. Sometimes she does simply because someone finally asked her.

Wallflowers don’t get to dance

You say your name and your business name. And then, you look down almost as if you’re ashamed.

I guess I should paint a more complete picture before I get to the meat of the subject.

Sidebar: What do vegetarians say instead of “Get to the meat of the subject”?

The other day I was speaking on a panel about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

The 4 of us had a nice big crowd of small business owners to interact with. Each of us are involved fully or partly in providing our clients with websites, technology or some such, so as a group we had the various bases covered pretty well and things were flowing nicely.

Late in the discussion, someone in the crowd asked a question or two and after a while, asked one last question after introducing themselves as a web designer.

Maybe it was the panel structure itself, but I really don’t think so. We’re all pretty regular, approachable folks. No suits or anything like that.

Something made this person seem a bit embarrassed to bring up the fact that they did web design and that they were looking for customers. Maybe they felt the context was wrong.

Thing is, solo entrepreneurs can’t afford to be embarrassed or shy.

Worst case, a “Hey, is it ok if I introduce myself?” would have worked.

Belt it out

Maybe it was because they felt like we owned the room, but that really isn’t the case. If half of the people in the room had walked up to the panel with a check in hand and a pile of work to do in short order, we’d all be scrambling:)

It really isn’t about us.

None of the folks on the panel cared about the introduction. In fact, I’ll bet every one of the panelists would be happy to see another good web designer in town that we can refer work to when the fit, budget or timeframe isn’t right for us.

Ideally, we would have heard their name clearly, with a phone number, web site address or a “Please see me afterwards”. But that didn’t happen.

I feel a little bad about it now, because I didn’t stop what we were doing and ask them to stand up, reintroduce themselves and give some solid contact info. I mean, the room was full of small business owners. It was the perfect opportunity (yeah, I’ll see if I can get them to introduce themselves next month).

But this is about you, not that person (I can fix that next month). It’s just a story to illustrate how easy it is to overlook something and cost yourself some business.

If you’ve got a shot, take it.

It’s no time to be a wallflower.

Get out on the floor and dance like no one’s watching – cuz unless you do, they won’t be watching and they wont have any idea that you can dance.

What a shame it would be if the best dancer on the floor never left the wall.

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Download audio file (StaffTurnover.mp3)

photo credit: llamnudds

And would they care?

If a long time customer (2 years, 5 years, 25 years, whatever) walked into your business today and all your staff was different from their last visit, would they notice the change?

Why do I ask?

Engagement. Relationship. Stickiness.

IE: Buzzwords that answer the question: “Why the heck should I come back?”

Think about it.

• Have your employees engaged your customers in conversation, or just sold ‘em something?
• Have they worked to create a relationship that causes their customers to gravitate to them or ask for them by name when they call?
• Do your customers go to their assigned sales rep because that’s who they’re assigned to, or because they know they’ll get the help they need from someone who knows their situation better than anyone?
• Have they established a substantial level of trust with that customer to encourage repeat visits?
• Have they exerted the effort necessary to learn as much as they can about the customer in order to serve them better?
• Does your staff take ownership of their clients and their situation?
• Do your clients ask for a particular waiter when they come to your restaurant?

Is 2% the only difference between you and them?

If your staff hasn’t taken the steps I described above, wouldn’t it be a lot easier to go elsewhere to save 2%?

How are you insulating yourself from that?

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Download audio file (TrainingYourSalesStaff.mp3)

photo credit: DeclanTM

Yesterday, I was in a box store (cuz no one here in Columbia Falls carries the items I needed) and sauntered by an iPod Touch on a whim.

We’ve talked a few times about the productivity that some custom iPhone applications would have for your business. You might not know that there are no Montana cell carriers that can offer the iPhone (yet), so the iPod Touch is a reasonable alternative if cell-driven applications aren’t important to you. 

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t entirely a whim:)

As you might expect, a salesperson walked up to me and asked if I had any questions. Trouble was, I actually did:)

I suspect that I’m not your typical user of tools like this and I don’t think he was prepared for my not-too-mainstream questions. 

I asked about syncing the iPod Touch’s contacts and calendars list with my Outlook. He wasn’t sure if that worked or not, but he thought it might. 

As you might imagine, I don’t spend $300 on “I think it might”. 

Next, I asked if it does do syncing with Outlook, does it require iTunes to make that sync happen.  He wasn’t sure. 

Note: I’ve since found out that both of those questions are true. It does sync to Outlook and it does use iTunes to make that happen.

Are you ready to service the early adopters?

The problem: If you’ve read Freakonomics or Crossing the Chasm (written for software companies, but applicable to all businesses IMO), you know that the early adopter types are instrumental in exposing new products like iPhones and iPods (and new services) to a much larger group of potential customers. 

If your staff isn’t prepared to deal with the not-always-mainstream questions that these early adopters have, it’s likely that they will lose the sale. 

These days, many people walk into the store with model numbers, prices and specs in their phone or on a note. They know what their choices are. Reviews and every other possible piece of info is available to them BEFORE they arrive at the store. 

What this means is that when the prospective buyer enters the store, it’s less about selling them the item and far more about helping them choose *which* item fits them best. 

You don’t know what you’re missing

The scary thing is that you’ll never know about the customers you lost because a question like this didn’t get answered.

All it takes to make this a really expensive problem for you is something like this:

One owner of a business (or the owner’s tech guru) walks into your store and asks the same type of questions (and perhaps more). You have no idea that their business has 100 salespeople and technicians in the field. You have no idea that they want to find out if the iPod Touch would work for their remote staff as a custom business application they’ve discussed for deployment on the iPod Touch or iPhone.

Depending on which model they were going to buy, that’s a $30,000 or $40,000 sale. 

This sort of thing happens far more often than you’d expect. 

Training your sales staff is expensive, but not training them is even more costly. Even if two or three of your staff are “ultra-trained” and can be the resource for the remaining staff, that would be an improvement.

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photo credit: dickuhne

Yeah, I know. It’s been a quiet week so far.

On and off for the last 9 months, and intensely over the last 2, I’ve been quietly working on the marketing and other aspects of a new community event and related program here in Columbia Falls.

The event is called Brunch with Santa, which is a new annual event held by my Rotary Club.

Yes, you’re right. It’s hardly an original name or event. Google around, there’s 319,000 or so entries for Brunch with Santa and over a million for Breakfast with Santa.  So what.

A blatant rip off

Yep, it’s something I (ahem) borrowed from the Opelousas Cerebral Palsy Clinic’s Breakfast with Santa event (yes, there IS an address behind that link that will let you send them money, don’t be shy as every little bit helps).

Back to our regularly scheduled program…

Last Saturday, our Brunch went into the first stages of liftoff. As of this afternoon, I just about have a little time to exhale for a few. So let’s talk about it.

First, I suppose it might help to explain what this has to do with Business is Personal and making your small business better, stronger and more robust?

Everything, my friends. Every little thing.

That’s why we’re going to talk about it here.

Selling Santa is much easier than selling a SUV

But…he still has to be sold.

Fact is, the process required to promote a community event is no different than the process required to encourage people to buy those 10mpg SUVs sitting on your lot, the snow machines in your showroom, or the bags of kazoos hanging from the slatwall in your party store.

The process required – in this economy, scratch that, in ANY economy – to get people to give cash, food or goods and services for an event is no different than the process that is required to sell them a steak, an oil change or a $2500 mountain bike.

• You have to get their attention so that you get a chance to get them interested.
• You have to get them interested in order to get a chance to build a desire within them.
• You have to build a desire within them in order to get a chance to get them to take action.
• And you have to make it drop dead easy to take action.

Whether it’s making a cash donation, buying a ticket, donating 150 servings of Mexican food or offering a piece of framed fine art as a donation, if you don’t follow those 4 steps – not much is happening unless you’re incredibly lucky.

Sales don’t happen because of luck.

Sure, luck works sometimes. That “sometimes” thing is the problem. When exactly is “sometimes”? Can you schedule it? Can you afford to wait on luck to work? No, I didn’t think so. Me either.

Execution of the logical, tested process is what gets the job done the rest of the time.

Some might say it becomes even more important that you treat promotion of an event as a regular marketing task when that event is a fundraiser in a community being hammered with layoffs. Those layoffs directly impact not only those families, but every restaurant, service business and retail store in town.

Maybe it matters, maybe it doesn’t. Are you willing to risk it on a guess?

So what did I have to sell?

I have to sell a bunch of stuff. Santa kinda comes along for the ride, but he’s part of the sales team.

First I have to sell the donors on the idea. Giving cash. Giving food. Giving time. Giving merchandise and services. None of these things happen without transferring enthusiasm about the cause to them.

Second, I have to sell the event to those who might want to attend it. Got all this food and all this stuff, uh oh, I’d better get someone there to consume and buy it.

Third, I have to sell the media on the fact that this event is worth promoting.

Finally, I have to sell the event again in the last 48 hours before it occurs. Advance tickets are great, but not everyone lives under in that kind of schedule. Those living in the now or in “tomorrow morning is long term” mode need reminders, and they need them everywhere.

Again, the mechanics of the process are just like selling a truck, an oil change or an exotic potted plant. The primary difference is that you can stir some emotion a bit more easily with a cause.

That’s where the trap snaps shut. People get lazy and think the cause will magically make everything else happen.

50% of success is just showing up

Someone once said 50% of success is just showing up. Could be, but the other 50% is pretty tightly linked with actually doing something.

Details matter.

Next time, we’ll talk about those details, and more importantly, the reasons that drive them.

Download audio file (SellingSanta.mp3)

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photo credit: strochka

Anyone who has listed items on eBay on a regular basis won’t find today’s guest post from Henry Blodget the least bit surprising. 

For years, eBay Power Sellers have been complaining about the company’s sales-unfriendly tactics and persistence in ignoring their feedback. 

The stories in the comments section of today’s guest post are not unusual.

This is what happens when you forget who the customer is, why they matter, ignore their feedback and treat them like an easily replaceable commodity.

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My regular email from the Wharton School of Business just arrived. Seems the folks at their recent Marketing Conference agree with what I’ve been suggesting here for some time. Maybe it’s worth trying…

Here’s a summary:

Chasing aspirational 16-year-olds and new money in emerging markets is “out,” while pampering the wealthiest and most loyal customers is “in,” according to luxury retailers at the recent Wharton Marketing Conference. Said one panelist: “The core for a luxury brand is a customer with very considerable wealth.”

Read the rest of the Wharton Marketing Conference story here.

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Got a pre-election call from the National Rifle Association (NRA) the other day. It’s that time of year – my phone has been ringing off the hook with election-related calls. Yep, it came on the famous 13 call day (15 as it turned out).

The call is made under the guise of checking how you’re going to vote, but the real reason for the call is to find new members.

Anyhow, I had some ulterior motives for letting him talk, so I gave the NRA guy a minute or so just to see what he had to say (usually the call center delay is all it takes to get me to hang up). After a bit of small talk to find out where I was on gun-related issues, he said something about joining and that “your benefits include a membership card…”

That’s what he STARTED with.

Now, if you’re trying to sell someone a membership to the NRA on a cold call, is that really how you want to start a call with me? Is that the best benefit they could come up with? I know better.

• He didn’t ask if I hunt (I haven’t in probably 30 years – Ouch, that makes me OLD!). If the answer is yes, the natural follow would be to find out more about what I hunt for.
• He didn’t ask if I target shoot (I do, occasionally).
• He didn’t ask if I own any guns (I don’t, got rid of a .410 shotgun a few years ago cuz I wasn’t using it) and if so, what I own and what I use them for. This would easily allow the caller to extend the conversation with questions about the history of them, where I got them, how I like them etc. Why? To develop some rapport and common ground.
• He didn’t ask what I knew about the NRA and proceed to figure out which benefits of being a member would be important and beneficial to me – and focus on them.

If you’re cold calling (and I hope you have other, far better ways to generate leads), you have to quickly develop some rapport. Of course, the first part of that cold call is no different than your situation in an elevator, a trade show booth or when someone asks “So, what do you do?” and you *know* they could benefit from what you do or sell.

Had he asked the right questions, he would have found that I was interested in blackpowder instructor courses – because the boys in my Scout troop want to start a blackpowder shooting program. That requires professionally trained leaders. He might also have found out that I might be interested in the other training and gun safety programs they have – and perhaps that I could use a few of their experts at Scouting events now and then.

But he was too interested in selling me that shiny new membership card.  On a day with 13+ electioneering calls, that isn’t going to get me excited about staying on the phone and whipping out my credit card.

No matter what started the conversation, develop rapport. Sell benefits that make sense based on what your rapport has taught you about your prospect.

Download audio file (DevelopRapportMembershipCard.mp3)

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One of the ways I find new clients in my local area is by picking up brochures I see when I’m in a place of business, or a grocery store, etc.

The other day I found one for a health-related business. The entire brochure seemed to be focused on discounts, discounts, discounts.

On the inside, a list of products and photos containing a bunch of medical lingo that most people aren’t going to bother reading. All the product info was clearly straight out of the catalog.

Yet this brochure was sitting at the “Place an order” window at a pharmacy inside a grocery store. Clearly, it was pointed at the consumer, not the trained health care professional.

So why did they include all that medical lingo? Zzzzzzzzz.

The one thing that was of use in the brochure was a section where they answered the obvious question: Why should someone buy this stuff from them?

Here’s a summary of the list:

• We want to sell you the stuff you need at the best price.
• We want you to have a choice of brands/products.
• We carry all kinds of stuff at lower prices.
• We are owned by someone who has been working in this field for 8 years. That one, with some work, was actually useful.
• We deliver (again, useful and important).
• We offer internet pricing but we’re a local business (good point, needs some work).
• We can deal with your insurance company.

What in that list would make you change where you buy prescriptions, health care, equipment, insurance, or anything health related?

Their experience, which they didn’t elaborate on nearly enough, the delivery and the insurance.

Think about what your clients WANT, not just what they need.

What’s the biggest problem they are dealing with that you can solve? Is it front and center on your sales materials?

In the medical field, they want someone who knows their stuff. They want someone who will hand it to them on a silver platter. They’d be happy to never again have to deal with insurance forms. They want to deal with someone who treats them like a family member would. They want to be able to depend on you, even if they are cynical enough to expect that you won’t.

Even if you aren’t in medicine, most of these things apply (insurance being the one that probably doesn’t).

Are your sales materials leaving people with the right impression?

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One of the comments I’m hearing from business owners these days is that payments are slow in coming. 

While the last thing you might want to do is add more to your receivables, it might just be the thing that gets you an edge over your competition and gets more new customers in your door. 

One option: Offer financing. 

Obviously, you have to make sure the economics are right, particularly if you have cost of goods sold. If the economics work for you, offering a 3 payment, 90 days same as cash is a very effective way of making it easier to buy, no matter what business you’re in.

You might need to change the terms to fit your delivery schedule, the cost, and so on, but it’s worth examining. I’ve seen businesses mushroom in size simply by offering a small down and a monthly payment plan for services and non-tangible goods (software is a good example). 

This probably doesn’t help you if you sell coffee by the cup.

On the other hand, if you do catering jobs and you take reservations for events that are weeks away, take a credit card number and offer to divide the cost by the number of weeks between now and the event. Ring the card up weekly. 

Got an existing accounts receivable with a good client that’s due in one big piece? If it’s late, offer to let them split it into 2 or 3 payments, with payments coming every 2 weeks, 4 weeks or whatever makes sense.

Remember, you don’t have to offer this option to everyone. Perhaps only your best clients receive this benefit. As famous retailer Murray Raphael said, “Treat everyone the same (ie: really well), but reward them differently.”

Doing what makes sense to help your customers pay you (and they really do want to) beats not getting the business, not getting paid and perhaps most importantly, discounting your work and getting into a price battle. 

Be creative. Make it easy to buy, now more than ever.

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When marketing a product to women, there’s one thing you simply have to try to do if you want to hit a grand slam home run: Get yourself or your product on Oprah.

The reason is simple and I hope, obvious: Oprah’s viewers trust her.

They gain weight with her, they lose weight with her. They struggle with her as she tries to get that darned man of hers to commit. They cry when she tells a sad story about an audience member or a guest on the show. If they see her on the street, they act like they know her personally.

Why? That too is simple. She’s real.

She has built her show and many of the things she does in a way that makes you feel like she’s talking just to you. Everything about the show is carefully orchestrated to make sure you feel that way.

It isn’t “cheating”, it’s simply a choice in deciding how to communicate with your viewers. The same choice that Leno or Letterman make, but they make it differently. In her case, the conversation is personal. It’s as if she is sharing her story with each individual viewer. rather than standing on a podium speaking to a crowd.

That’s the kind of relationship you should have with your clients. It’s the kind of conversation you should be having with your clients and prospects.

Oprah would likely never send USPS Bulk Mail with an indicia. An envelope from her would be pretty, and have a flower stamp on it (or at least feminine) and would be hand addressed, even if it meant that grandmothers all over Chicago had been hired to hand address them (and yes, there are services that do that very thing).

Why? Because a friend would never send you a bulk mail piece with an indicia.

Likewise, Oprah would likely never send bulk email with “Dear special friend” in it. An email from her would probably be HTML (kinda hard to make text emails ladylike, don’t you think?) and would certainly be addressed directly to you by name. Without your first name, she might not send one at all.

Same reason: A friend would never send you bulk email addressed to “Dear Special Friend”.

That’s the same kind of consideration you should have for your prospects and clients. If you have to address a piece of mail – email or otherwise – as “Dear Special Friend”, should you even be sending it?

When Oprah recommends a sponsor’s product, they assume that she is using it at home (and she may tell them so). They trust her not to sell them an empty promise. When she points at a product on the shelf, it disappears from shelves all over the country. Do you generate that same level of trust with your clients?

Even if you sell custom truck bumpers or .50 caliber elephant rifles, you can learn from the way Oprah grooms her relationship with viewers.

How can you use the Oprah Factor to improve your relationship with your clients?

If a lifelong friend was your customer, how would you treat them when they came to your business? I don’t mean reminiscing about the college or high school years, I mean how would you speak to them? How would you care for them? How would you position your advice to them?

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