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Are You Trying to Increase Sales Riding an Old Nag?

April 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

increase sales with an old nag
Creative Commons License photo credit: Svadilfari
Many entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals invest a lot of time, energy, and dollars developing a brand.

The idea is your brand is supposed to attract the right buyers to you. However, if the brand you’re working under lacks one thing it’s worthless perhaps even worse than worthless.

A brand is supposed to create a mental image and communicate meaning to a specific audience. It’s intended to communicate something important to the right potential buyers about your business and what you offer. Ideally you want your best potential buyers to only think of you when it comes to your brand.

So you want to be the Kleenex of facial tissue or the Hertz of rental cars. Great. The top brands own a market for a specific thing.

To get to that level of market dominance requires the ability to saturate your market and that only happens through the frequency of your message and the prominence of your message. Of course, if you aren’t already a top contender that also means investing enormous sums of money. And that’s just not realistic for most entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals.

To dominate your corner of the market you must carve that market down into smaller more specific slices. Then you must focus on making sure your brand message contains the one thing so many brands lack that make them nothing more than expensive failures.

That one thing is relevance.

Now the thing is relevance changes. Relevance changes because of changes in the external environment and brand saturation. So if you’re just formulating and developing a brand you absolutely must focus your brand on the number one most important thing to your best future buyers right now.

If your brand fails the relevance test it’s like you’re riding around on an old nag trying to sell what you have to offer. You and what you have to offer look old, tired, uninteresting, and unimportant. No one voluntarily responds to you or your message.

When you get the relevance test right you and what you offer look interesting and people do respond to your message. Here are some things to check your brand against to ensure relevance:

  • It reflects my best potential buyer’s current environment
  • It communicates answers to my best potential buyer’s most pressing questions
  • It communicates expertise producing my best potential buyer’s most desired results

Is your brand relevant?

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Where is Your Revenue Growth to Come From?

In these challenging times, sales executives and managers tend to spend more time with strategic questions. They often try to find answers to these questions by using models designed to define growth strategies on a company level. These models have proven to be ill-suited for the purpose of defining sales growth strategies. A customer centric sales growth strategy model is therefore proposed as a framework on how to define sales growth strategies and identify the challenges linked to those strategies. The findings of this model can then be reconciled with the corporate growth strategies. The model also defines the type of resources (people) needed to execute those growth strategies.  Webinar April 30 1:00 EDT  Sign-up here to register at a discount

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Could You Use this Simple Concept to Increase Sales?

April 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Savvy entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals understand selling is all about the relationships you develop. The catch is most people are very bad at developing them. The harder they try to form a relationship the more the other person backs away.

unwanted pest that doesn't increase sales
Creative Commons License photo credit: cliff1066

First, understand why someone you’re trying to be nice to treats you like a pest. Most people view sales people as pests rather than potentially valuable connections. Even when you’re just trying to start a conversation or do something nice with no strings attached, as soon as they hear you have anything to do with sales their guard goes up.

They get defensive. They suspect everything you do or say has an ulterior motive. They think you lie and can’t be trusted.

Now isn’t that nice when all you’re doing is trying to open a door and get to know someone?

You are part of the problem because you label yourself as a sales person when you could just as easily announce the results you help others get rather than a job title. So instead of saying I sell insurance or investments for ABC Agency you might say I’m the Director of the Worry-free Retirement Lifestyle. At least say something interesting related to the benefits and outcomes what you sell creates. Let yourself be fun while you communicate your message.

Another thing that gets you in trouble is you forget common sense. Before you say or do anything ask yourself, “How would I react if someone said or did this to me?”

Have you noticed how you see opportunities to vote, complete a poll, or in some other way voice your opinion everywhere?

Blogger Darren Rowse provides a nice example asking his readers a simple question with two choices.

There’s a simple reason for that. People love to voice their opinion they want to be heard. They want their vote to count for something and get treated as important.

There are two huge benefits of using a poll or allowing people to vote on something for you. First, it engages the other person in a non-threatening way. Second, you discover valuable insights into what’s important to them, what they’re most concerned about, what they care about, etc.

Once you know this information you know how to speak to the people you want to buy from you in their terms. If you talk about what you have to offer in terms of what they want, guess what? They listen.

All of a sudden they are very interested in finding out more. All of a sudden those barriers that went up come down. Now you actually have an opportunity to open a relationship and, if it makes sense for the other person, actually sell something.

I’d like to hear from you.  Make your voice heard.

Tell me what’s happening with you in 2009? Click Here to take survey

Check back to find out what others have to say and see how it compares to your situation.

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One Little Thing You can do to Surpass 97.5% of the Competition and Increase Sales

April 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

When my friend Jonathan Farrington wrote this I was absolutely and utterly shocked. I just couldn’t believe my eyes yet I’ve no doubt about the validity of what he said. If you don’t have this taken care of you need to make sure you fix it before the end of business today.

According to Jonathan, “only 2.5% of people have a card that is up to date, accurate, and gives a reasonably full picture of who they are and what they do.”

How many times have you either been asked for or asked for a business card only to discover there wasn’t one available? How many times have you given or received a business card that lacked up to date information? How many times did the business card you received provide zero valuable information?

Good grief you either ask for or give a business card because you want to know more about another person and perhaps you’d like to contact them. Don’t you want people contacting you? What entrepreneur, business owner, or sales professional doesn’t want people contacting them? Doesn’t it make sense to give them every possible mode to contact you as well as a darned good reason to do so?

business card increase sales

Creative Commons License photo credit: me and the sysop

Open your wallet or purse right now, or where ever you keep them, and let’s do a little business card inspection to see if your card is up to muster:

  • Your card is clean smudge-free and unbent
  • The lettering on your card can be read without getting out a pair of readers
  • The font chosen doesn’t confuse the reader because they aren’t sure if it’s a “t” or an “f”
  • Your name, phone number, cell phone number, email address, website, and any other modes of contact are printed on the front of your business card
  • Distracting logos, images that don’t communicate the message, or any other things intended to enhance the appearance of the card yet detract from the information is absent
  • The most prominent information on the front of your card communicates the results you produce not some meaningless job title. For example, window cleaner is easy to understand yet Master of Streak-free Sparkling Glass communicates a much more powerful story
  • The back of your business card IS NOT blank. On the back of your business card you have an offer along with a call to action to get something the recipient would actually want. For example, the back of our Master of Streak-free Sparkling Glass might have an offer on the back of his card such as this. Get the free report “The No Sweat Secret to Streak-free Glass” at GlassMaster.com. Download your free report along with a valuable coupon in the next 24 hours.

Okay, so how did your card fair?

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Could You be Working Hard on the Wrong Things to Increase Sales?

April 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

frustrated increase sales
Creative Commons License photo credit: albbyy Recently blogger Jeremy Shoemaker expressed his frustration with people asking him how to make a large sum of money almost immediately with almost nothing to invest to do it.

You know “tell me how to get rich quick”.

A lot of entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals don’t even realize they might own a small share of this mentality because of what they’re told. Here’s what I mean…

I get contacted by people all the time who want to know how to start a business from scratch with virtually no resources. Then when I tell them how to get the information they need the smart ones go get it, the majority do absolutely nothing, and a few get upset because what they really want is someone to do it for them for free. Good luck with that.

It’s no big secret if you lack resources the only way to succeed in sales is to trade sweat equity for the dollars you lack. And that’s exactly where the frustrating challenge lives. You see most of you are working hard.

You have no problem exchanging sweat equity for dollars it’s just that you’re investing your sweat equity in the wrong way on the wrong things. So no matter how hard you work you never achieve the sales success your hard work merits. After while this gets really old. Downright maddening in fact…

And when you discover why your hard work isn’t paying off like it should you’re going to get even madder. As long as you work based on the “sales is a numbers game” philosophy you are the one who’s going to break your back and get little from your efforts. Now I know you’ve had this concept shoved down your throat by sales managers and sales trainers for years.

Here’s a secret. Just because enough people say something is so doesn’t make it so. People loudly professed the world was flat too and that didn’t make the world flat either. In reality your sales aren’t lower than desired because of the way you are selling. Your sales are low because of the way you talk about what you’re selling.

No matter how hard you work. No matter how hard you try to work the numbers your sales will never be what they could be until you understand how to talk about what you’re selling. That means talking about what you offer in terms of what your best potential buyers are already looking for and already want to know more about. Once you cross through this barrier you could immediately increase your sales not by just a little but a lot.

Could you be working on the wrong things?

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Why Should I Buy from YOU?

April 6, 2009 By 1 Comment

Not just another sheep increase sales
Creative Commons License photo credit: tiny_packages

Rarely are you the only entrepreneur, business owner, or sales professional offering whatever you offer for sale.

Because there are others selling the same thing you are – your buyers have choices, lots of choices in fact. If you don’t stand out you become just another sheep in the flock.

In most cases it’s just as easy to buy from your competitor as it is to buy from you.

That is unless or until you give them a reason why they should buy from you. Unfortunately, most people never identify this reason. Consequently, they continue fighting for the table scraps from those who dominate their market.

Sometimes people try to copy their most successful competitor. The problem with copying is it makes you an also ran. Why would someone want an also ran version of the real deal?

They don’t.

So if you want to increase your sales you have to make it perfectly clear to your prospective buyers why they should choose you over all their other options. Don’t forget you aren’t just competing with the people who sell what you sell you’re also competing with the most enticing option of all. The most enticing option is the option of doing nothing.

For years marketers have referred to the reason someone should buy from you as your unique selling proposition (USP) or value proposition. No matter what you call it the reason you should develop one is so buyers understand their reason why for buying from you. However, if you’ve ever tried to come up with a value proposition you probably found it so hard to do you gave up in frustration.

Sonia Simone came up with three categories of unique selling propositions that she refers to as: the Cross-roads USP, the Metaphor USP, or the Persona-driven USP. By her definition a Cross-roads USP is putting two seemingly unrelated ideas together. In case you don’t have a dictionary handy, a metaphor represents a symbol used to represent something. And Persona-driven is based on the idea that your personality or fame is enough to drive your uniqueness.

Hmmm, great ideas for big business but what are you supposed to do… how does that work for you? The challenge is to succinctly and clearly communicate to your buyers why you are the best choice for them.

In order to do that though you must first know and understand what they’re looking for.

  • If you don’t know what they’re already looking for first you run the risk of coming up with a fantastic USP based on speed when your best buyers are looking for reliability.
  • To get it right interact with your current buyers and potential buyers to discover what their looking to buy right now.
  • Then find out what’s most important to them about what it is they’re buying.
  • Next see if this translates to what you’re selling.
  • If not, find out what is important to them when it comes to buying what you’re selling.

Now you’re ready to work on sharpening your USP so in just a few words your buyers “get” why you are exactly what they’re looking for.

So tell us, “Why should people buy from you?”

Let’s get some reader feedback going.  There are over 2.500 regular blog readers here don’t just lurk use this post to help each other.  The only rule for comment is keep it constructive and polite.

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How to Increase Sales by Building Relationships

May 22, 2008 By 1 Comment


Creative Commons License photo credit: C.Alary – expose à La Taverne de Cluny-Paris 5è

Go on over to Michel Fortin’s blog and watch the copywriting giant rock out.   Don’t worry it doesn’t take long to watch and it’s fun.  Then when you come back you’ll better understand what I’m going to talk to you about.  Relationships.

Welcome back :-)  

You conceptually understand that if you want to increase sales and sell more you have to establish relationships with people who are potential new clients, and deepen your relationship with existing clients.  There are a number of ways to approach building relationships.  As you build relationships the benefits to you include:

  • more sales
  • higher value sales
  • trust leading to repeat sales
  • trust leading to referrals
  • open communications between you and your potential new clients and existing clients.

Good stuff, right?  You certainly know how to establish relationships when meeting people one-on-one in a face-to-face setting, but what about people you haven’t met yet who are great potential clients for you.  Can you start a relationship with a complete stranger?

Yes, you can.  Now I’m not suggesting you make a video like Michel did and email it to future prospects.  However, I am suggesting that you do things that make initial relationships build faster.  Your sales outcomes are directly impacted by that first connection and the follow-up connections you make with potential clients and existing clients.

Relationships demand you be the real you.  You can spot a phony instantly and you resent anyone trying to be someone or something they aren’t.  So think of how you can allow the people you connect with to get a feel for, or sense of who you are.  Your values and beliefs…what’s important to you.  You don’t want to ram it down their throats just allow the real you to come through whether your sending a sales letter, making a phone call, writing your newsletter, however you’re making that first connection.

Sometimes fun can be viral.  I shared Michel’s video with you because it’s fun and it provides a good example of allowing potential client an inside glimpse of who he is.  I’m sure other blog viewers shared his video too so who knows how many people have seen his video by now.

If you’re going to hold a barbecue for a few friends anyway why not include a few clients and share photos of the event in your newsletter.  They’ll show their photo to their friends thus spreading the word about you.

Why not allow them to bring a friend and invite all your clients so they can mingle with each other.  After all the more people who know you the better.

What if they each shared a story about you?  And you included those stories in some of your marketing materials.   What if you had a contest for the best story?

When you allow them to share and contribute you exponentially increase your relationship.  You make them feel important and you validate why they like and trust you.

The ideas are endless…

Your clients don’t want to work with a stiff shirt big company.  They want you to be a real person who cares a whole lot about them and their outcomes.  Allowing yourself to be a little vulnerable, and giving them a closer look at who you are makes you more trustworthy and trust-able.  They just want you to be human because they want to connect with you if you’ll just help them…

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What Marketing Is & What Marketing Isn’t

May 14, 2008 By 1 Comment

marketing and selling require a conversation
Creative Commons License photo credit: Logan Antill

Marketing is the initial connection starting a conversation.  As a business owner you’ve probably felt exactly the way John Jantsch states, “I sure love to work with spreadsheets and do people’s taxes, holy crap, I’ve got to learn how to market.”  Yep, that’s the stark realization.

No matter how much you love doing what you do you don’t get to do it until you attract clients.  Now many of you are repulsed by the idea of marketing your services.  You think as a professional it’s beneath you, or you shouldn’t have to because people should just come to you because of your expertise.

As the bank account dwindles you face the fact that you have to market yourself, or you’ll have to go work for someone else.  Someone who’ll do the marketing for you.  The reason you’re marketing averse is because you’re focusing on what marketing isn’t.  Marketing isn’t:

  • hypey communications that mislead people
  • shouting louder than the competition about how great you are
  • tricking people

Now there are definitely examples of people who market themselves exactly as I’ve described what marketing isn’t.  They do it because they don’t understand marketing.  They buy into a marketing scheme sold by some huskster.  And they’re desperate.

True marketing is:

  • talking to potential prospects about their problem(s)
  • quietly entering the conversation already in their heads
  • genuinely giving and caring first

Does that change your perception?  I hope so.  You see everyone markets it’s how they do it that makes the difference.  Even when you do it well you can’t expect your marketing to do all the work for you and sell your services.  At some point you have to hold a one-on-one human to human genuine conversation with the other person.

I know that’s probably your next fear.  But that’s because you don’t understand that selling is really nothing more than a genuine conversation between you and the other person where you’re seeking to understand if you can help them and how.

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