Business, economic development - the unofficial Chamber of Commerce

I was speaking with a potential client the other day and asked THAT question…”Who is your target market?” As a provider of telecommunications equipment, his response was, “Anyone who has a phone!” While that may seem like a good answer, the reality is that it is completely unfocused and undoubtedly wastes thousands of dollars in marketing costs and tens of thousands of dollars in opportunity costs. After all, would you rather spend your valuable time with a prospect who buys 70% of the time, or one who buys 15% of the time?

The reality is that no matter what business you are in, no matter what product you sell, you can take a look back at your customers and very quickly determine the characteristics of those most likely to purchase your product or service. Why is this important? Let’s say you do sell telecommunications equipment like my prospect. When you examine your sales history, you find out that 80% of your customers have between 10 and 20 million dollars in sales, have more than 15 employees and are sole proprietorships. So you now know with indisputable proof that for whatever reason, a sole proprietor with $12 million dollars in sales and 20 employees is much more likely to buy from you than a partnership with $5 million in sales and 10 employees. How important can that be when planning your lead generation and conversion tactics?

Let’s briefly discuss defining some prime market segments, specific geographic markets, sizes and trends, characteristics of people and 12 very important reasons to profile your target customers.

1 - You will know how to communicate your message with a minimum of confusion when you know who your customers really are and deliberately set out to attract them.

2 - You will be better able to decide how to market your product or services to best reach prospects most likely to buy.

3 - You will know what additional services that your prospective customers or clients will want and expect from you.

4 - You will know what your target customers are willing to pay.

5 - You will know what your target customers will expect in terms of quality.

6 - You will know where large groups of target customers are located so you can market to them directly and cost effectively.

7 - You will know who else is after your target customers.

8 - Your customer will help you define your true market.

9 - You will be able to identify where it’s not only possible to possible to survive, but to prosper.

10 - When human needs aren’t being met, you’ll find a widening gap in the market and the key to opportunity.

11 - You will learn simple techniques that will help you gain insight into consumer behavior.

12 - It will be very important because you’ll be able to conceptualize your overall market.

Does this mean that we sell ONLY to our target market? Of course not! And does it mean that you give up on those outside your market? Again, a resounding NO! What it does give you is a place to start. When you aren’t sure WHY people outside your customer base aren’t buying, the first thing to do is to target prospects that have the same characteristics of your current customers.

The second, later thing to do is to find out WHY those outside your base are not buying and see if you can change that. It may be as obvious as no one under 30 buying your wrinkle reducing cream, but most likely it will be much more complicated. Once you are able to determine the reason for a particular group ignoring your sales message, you can address that issue.

Greg Beverly is a sales coach dedicated to helping create abundance for all who seek it. Find out how YOU can become a sales champion and live the life of your dreams by visiting http://www.salessuccess.yougethelp.com today.

Unbelievable! Turns out the very person sales professionals dread talking to on the phone is not to be dreaded at all.

That’s right, the affectionately referred to gatekeeper, bull dog, mean-spirited witch on the other end of the phone … in polite terms referred to as The Executive Assistant … is without question your most powerful ally who wants to help you get face time with the executive.

Yep. She is the keeper of the keys to the executive suites. Treat her wrong and she’ll keep the door securely closed. Treat her right and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll get the coveted sales meeting with THE decision maker.

As a whole, sales professionals mistreat executive assistants.

How do I know that? Executive assistants told me so! I asked them pointed questions, and they answered.

I went on the road, visited four cities and interviewed executive assistants. During the interviews, these women candidly revealed the many things sales professionals do wrong during cold calls to executives. Additionally, these powerful women generously gave several important tips as to how to win them over during a cold call.

Warning: The truth hurts, but it will also set you free. You’ll want to take a deep breath as you read and process what Assistants say:

“Sales professionals call and are rude, pushy, and treat me as though I don’t matter. It’s clear that the only person they believe has value is the executive. Fact is, the executive thinks I’m important enough to trust me with his calendar and to run the business in his absence. Do they think I deserve disrespect?”

“I’d never let sales persons know I was laughing, that would be rude. I represent the office of the executive and do my levelheaded best to be respectful at all times. But seriously, you have to laugh. These people call, ask for an appointment, I say ‘no’ and they call again … with a disguised voice. Do they think I don’t recognize that fact? Please!”

“My first day on the job I told my executive how I handle the daily onslaught of inbound telephone calls from people asking for him. With his approval of my methods I went to the receptionist and told her specifically, how to determine which calls should be sent through, and which calls should be screened out.”

These phone behaviors tell executive assistants a caller does not belong:

1. “A caller who talks too fast, making me feel pushed against the wall rather than conversed with.”

2. “A sales person who does not announce the bottom line reason for the call and goes to rambling, asking lots of questions to which they should already have answers.”

3. “A man or woman who talks as though he or she is a friend of the executive, but I have never heard mention of them.”

4. “A pleasant enough person who asks totally, inappropriate questions, such as, ‘what’s your president’s name?’ ‘which of our competitors do you use now?’ ‘are you satisfied with their service?’. I feel embarrassed for a lot of these callers. They don’t seem to know how inappropriate they are.”

Sure, there are lots more mistakes sales professionals make when they cold call executives, but these are a few to which most can relate!

Tips for Building an Alliance

Executive assistants want to know how to best serve the executive. One way they do this is by identifying callers who potentially have effective solutions for the executive’s most pressing business issues.

Although these executive assistants do screen out people who don’t belong, the shocking truth is that they are actively searching for people who do belong.

When you call the executive office, be sure to:

1. Converse with the executive assistant rather than talk at her.

2. Speak at a pace that can be easily understood. Avoid the temptation to spew out words at a rapid fire pace, in favor of engaging in conversation with the assistant.

3. Develop a statement that in ten bottom line words or less, conveys the business solution your products/services have to offer the executive.

4. For goodness sake, don’t ask lots of questions to which you should already have answers.

Then, before your very eyes, watch as the person heretofore thought of as “public enemy number one” makes a magnificent transformation from “obstinate gatekeeper” and turns into your strong ally!

Forward this article to friendsthey’ll thank you for it!

For your FREE mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit http://www.ColdCallingExecutives.com! Or call Your Sales Coach for Extreme Profitability, author/speaker Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time).

If you want to maximize your sales performance, take a strategic approach to selling. After all, wouldn’t you agree that “the 80/20 rule” applies to customers, where approximately 20 percent of customers produce approximately 80 percent of sales?

The starting point for strategic selling is figuring out a) which customers produce the bulk of your sales, and b) what they are buying. Armed with this information, you can strategically plan how to increase sales.

Critical Data Elements

If you want to sell strategically, you need to have access to specific data elements. Plus, you need to be willing to perform data analysis.

Which data elements do you need? This list provides a reasonable starting point:

• Customer Name
• Revenue by Month by Customer
• Gross Margin or Gross Profit by Month by Customer (this is only necessary if it impacts your performance measurements)
• Product or Service Name (for each product or service purchased by each customer)
• Product or Service Quantity (for each product or service purchased by each customer)
• Product or Service Unit Price (for each product or service purchased by each customer)
• Product or Service Extended Price (quantity x unit price)

This data can be used to analyze the buying habits of your customers. Sort it in various ways to answer the following questions:

• Which customers buy the most from you?
• What is the trend for each customer’s purchases? Are they buying more or less when you compare the current month to preceding months? How about when you compare the current month to the same month in the previous year?
• Which products or services are they buying?
• Are the amounts purchased in line with your expectations and the commitments that have been made by your customers?
• Which products or services are they not buying?
• Why aren’t they buying these other products or services?

Once you have completed the first stage of analysis, consider this next set of questions:

• How much time should you allocate to each customer in your territory? (Tip: You should spend 80 percent of your time with the customers that buy the most and/or offer the greatest potential for sales growth.)
• What is your plan for increasing sales to each of your customers? (This includes selling more of what they have already been buying, and selling other products or services that they haven’t purchased from you previously.)
• Which new prospects should you pursue? (Tip: Which prospects can your existing customers refer you to? Which prospects have the greatest potential to produce significant sales?)

It may not be easy for companies to extract the data that is required to support strategic selling. However, arming salespeople with this data is the best investment a company can possibly make. Strategic selling enables salespeople to maximize their sales, which in turn maximizes the company’s overall sales and profitability.

How frequently should the data be made available to salespeople? If sales cycles are relatively short, it would be ideal for the data to be available on demand, with the minimum frequency being weekly. For longer sales cycles, providing the data on a monthly basis may be adequate.

Strategic selling begins with data availability. If you are going to maximize sales, you need to be able to analyze your customers’ buying patterns to determine how to prioritize your efforts. Which customers should you spend the bulk of your time with? How much time should you allocate to each customer? How will you increase sales to specific customers? Which new prospects should you pursue?

Plan your work, work your plan, and compare your results frequently against your quota and personal goals. Sell strategically to maximize your sales, minimize unpleasant surprises, and maximize your earnings!

Copyright 2005 — Alan Rigg

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don’t Perform and What to Do About It. His company, 80/20 Sales Performance, helps business owners, executives, and managers DOUBLE sales by implementing The Right Formula for building top-performing sales teams. For more information and more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com.

Good sales people can close, but few “step up” for even more sales from that close. Yet stepping up should be one of the easiest accomplishments in sales — that is if you know how to build the staircase.

Do it by applying a leadership tool I have taught thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years. The tool is simply to foster a particular viewpoint, which is this: Challenge people not simply to do a task but to take leadership of that task.

The difference in results-producing effectiveness between doing a task and taking leadership of a task is the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.

This change in viewpoint may seem simple even simplistic; but when put into action many times daily, it can work wonders.

For instance, I worked with a manufacturing leader whose workers were constantly falling short of productivity goals. I told him he was leading the workers in the wrong way; he was ordering them to get productivity advancements. I told him that he should have the workers sign on as leaders of productivity advancements. When the workers began seeing themselves as such leaders, they started hitting the goals consistently.

Now, let’s apply this leadership tool to the sales process. I’ll show you how to get step-ups in results that go far beyond the results achieved from closes. Here are three ways to do it.

(1) Don’t Just Sell Products, Get Cause Leaders: Salespeople often fail to get step-ups because they have a short-sighted view of the customer. They view the customer as only a customer! Whereas, if we want to get step-ups, we must see the customer not just as a customer but as a “cause leader,” one who can lead our cause both inside and outside their company. Instead of aiming just to sell a product, to get a close, aim to turn your customer into your cause leader.

For instance, I consulted with a materials supplier that wanted to acquire new customers in the computer industry. The salespeople of the materials company not only worked diligently on closing with the engineer-customers but also on creating step-ups by persuading those engineers to be the cause leaders for their materials within the company.

Here is the way that they enlisted that leadership. They discovered that the engineers needed increased productivity and faster cycle-times — and to do it with fewer resources.

In response, the sales people developed a materials performance package for the engineers that increased their productivity and cycle-times. In addition, they brought in productivity experts from their own company to help the engineers streamline their design processes. They’re not only selling their materials. They’re selling productivity as well. Seeing that the sales people were helping them meet their vital needs, the engineers became the sales people’s cause leaders within their company — unleashing a torrent of step-ups.

(2) Start Early: George Burns said, “I had to work hard for 20 years in vaudeville before I became an overnight success in radio.” That’s a lesson in stepping up. Stepping up sales results with my leadership tool doesn’t just happen overnight. You must prepare to get those step-ups starting in the early stages of the sales process: when prospecting for new clients, identifying decision makers, and making initial calls.

In this early stage, ask yourself: “What is the close in this sale? And how can that close lead to the customer not simply buying my product but also becoming the product’s cause leader, both inside and outside his/her organization?”

For instance, the sales people of the materials company I mentioned aimed to replace their competitors’ materials with their materials in computer housing applications. With that focus, they would have gotten closes — but not step-ups. The differences between their competitors materials and their materials were negligible in cost and performance.

The sales people continued to develop the traditional channels to their customers’ purchasing departments. But they also began building step-ups early by including design engineers in their first-stage sales activities. They focused on being their customers’ “design partners” — not simply showing them where they could save costs and achieve performance advantages but also showing them how they could get market share through the innovative uses of those materials.

Getting in early as their customers’ design partners, they not only got closes but step-ups from those closes by integrating their materials into new generations of housings.

(3) Link to “Must-Have” Results: Step-ups happen only when you answer the vital needs of your customers — not the nice-to-have needs. Discover those needs by asking and answering: “What are your customers absolute must-have results?”

Those “must-haves” are your great step-up opportunities, because when you are delivering on the must-haves, your customers are more likely to become your cause leaders.

In the above example, the sales people were able to get step-ups because they focused on their customer’s “must-haves”, productivity and cycle-time.

Here’s another example dealing with another busines sector: I consulted with an insurance company whose growth had flattened out. We found out a key reason why. Their products were not meeting the must-have results of their customers. The must-have results of their customers were that they absolutely had to grow their businesses. Yet the company’s products did not materially address the growth needs of their customers.

Only when the sales people convinced their own company to develop and sell products that met the growth needs of their customers were they able to turn those customers into cause leaders. Once those new products were offered to the customers, they far outsold the old products.

Don’t sell yourself short by focusing exclusively on the close. Liberate the step-up opportunities that are embedded in most closes by using this powerful leadership tool of challenging people to lead not simply do. By getting customer cause leaders, starting early, and linking to must-have results, you can multiply sales far beyond what closes achieve.

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2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and has worked with thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years helping them achieve sizable increases in hard, measured results. Sign up for his free leadership ezine and get a free guide, “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

Is cold calling dead? And if laws are being passed to put it to
rest once and for all, how do we generate business from now on?

Opinions on the subject vary greatly depending on the background
of the individual. For example, most of the old-timers are
vigilant in preaching their belief that the only possible way to
succeed in the world of selling is to make no less than fifty
calls each and every day. On the other hand, younger salespeople
tend to become frustrated with this rather quickly and begin
looking for more innovative ways to generate business.

I was just reminded of how ingrained this cold calling belief
is. I spoke with a friend who left a sales position with a major
merchant processing bank only a few weeks after starting. The
reason? He was required to make a minimum of 400 cold calls each
and every week and to document his activity with business cards.
He is highly experienced and knows how to generate business
without knocking on 400 doors per week and decided to discuss
the strategies that have worked for him in the past with his
managers. Their response? This is how we’ve done it for forty
years and we’re not about to change.

That response, in my opinion, is the reason we’re seeing record
business bankruptcies today. The world and our economy have
changed and are breaking into bold, unchartered territory. But
the management of most business organizations insists on doing
things the old way, even though the old way produces less and
less results as time goes on.

The concept of “Permission Marketing” is slowly but surely
gaining popularity as the old idea of “Interruption Marketing”
becomes less efficient and more wasteful. There are several
reasons why cold calling in particular has become less effective
as we move further into the Information Age. It destroys your
status as a business equal. It forces you to spend time with
unqualified prospects while the qualified ones are buying from
your competition. It annoys people and is increasingly
considered to be rude and disrespectful. Moreover, it may now be
illegal (and in several states it’s been illegal for quite some
time). But, most importantly, it destroys sales peoples
attitudes.

Where is the good news in all of this? Well, the great news is
that if you begin using new, innovative, “Information Age”
methods for prospecting, you’ll be miles ahead of your
competitors who are wasting their time annoying people with cold
calls. In this age of the Internet and vast communication
networks, why on earth would anyone knock on doors or make cold
phone calls to look for business?

Think of the power at your fingertips: there are literally
dozens of ways to use the Web and e-mail to let the idea of
Permission Marketing do its magic. Allow customers to raise
their hands and let you know they’re interested. Begin finding,
implementing and reaping the benefits of this bold, new
Information Age we are in. Your competitors will be the ones
standing in bankruptcy court and explaining their “do-not-call”
violations to the government while you are happily taking
orders.

Is your 30-second commercial or elevator speech powerful? Does it invite others to want to know more? Do you even have a 30-second commercial? How do you know if someone’s really interested and wants to get more information? And what do you say next?

A 30-second commercial or elevator speech is a brief introduction of what you do. This is the start of a conversation to find out if someone wants to know more about what you do.

Whether you sell products in your home business, or whether you are looking for other distributors, it’s important to take the time to create an interesting, but brief intro to your business.

So how do you create an effective 30-second commercial? First, realize that most people are dissatisfied with one or more of these areas:

1. Their finances
2. Amount of free time they have
3. Their job or current business
4. Their health

Taylor your 30-second commercial to hit one of those areas. Start with a question that addresses one of those key areas. “Do you know how concerned people are about making ends meet?” “Do you know how disappointed people are with never having enough time with their family?” “Do you know how people just don’t have enough energy?”

Find a hot button that you know people struggle with. Then show them how you solve that problem. “Well, what I do is to help/show/work with people to….”

Let’s say you meet Jane at a business mixer. The first thing to remember is to forget about YOU and learn about Jane. Ask her questions about her family, her job or business, how long she’s been in that job, etc. Be sincerely interested in Jane, who she is and what she does. If you are, then in almost every situation, Jane will ask you what you do.

Instead of answering Jane in just one or two words, start by asking a question. “Do you know how frustrated people are with their jobs?…Well, what I do is to show people how to get out of the rat race and start their own fun, simple and profitable home business with a product people already love.”

You can design your 30-second commercial around your product or service, or around your business opportunity. Either way, you are stating a common problem and then offering a solution through what you do.

Now, if Jane has no interest in what you do, she might say. “Oh.” If she doesn’t ask any questions, then either she has no interest in what you do, or your 30-second commercial wasn’t powerful enough. If someone doesn’t ask any other questions, that’s your clue to move on to another topic of conversation.

However, if Jane can relate to what you’ve said, she’ll probably say something like, “Really? What’s your product?” or “Hmmm, how do you do that?” What you do next is critically important.

Do NOT start rattling off all the facts about how great your product, service or business is. Avoid getting so excited about your product and business that you start talking non-stop. At this stage, if you start giving detailed facts about every aspect of your product or business, you will turn people off very quickly.

Answer the questions directly but also ask Jane another question to learn more of her situation. By asking Jane questions you’ll learn more about how you could really help her. If Jane asks you more questions, then the door is open to have a true conversation with her about your business.

Make sure that you keep the focus on HER and if your product or business could help her. Do not focus on “selling” her on your product or business. Just relax and listen for a way you can sincerely help. After talking for a few minutes, if there appears to be a genuine interest, ask if you can get together for about 30 minutes (by phone or in person) to give her all the details. That’s the time for a complete presentation.

This all starts with an interesting 30-second commercial. Perfect yours and be able to say this in your sleep. Ask questions, listen more than you talk and keep the focus on how your product or business can solve an area of dissatisfaction for the other person.

Donna Davis has successfully built several businesses from a local accounting service to a large online network marketing team. To learn more about Donna, her family, her current business and how she helps others achieve their dreams visit http://www.myfuncandlebiz.com

In a comprehensive article on hiring myths, Ira S. Wolfe, the President of Poised For The Future Company, quotes The U.S. Department of Labor, which recommends a “whole person approach” to screening employment candidates. In his article, Wolfe asks the question, “Can a good test compensate for a lack of good interviewing skills?” His response was an emphatic, “No. No. No”.

Having conducted hundreds of employment interviews over the last 39 years as a business owner, department head, and sales management consultant and coach, I must agree with Wolfe’s assessment of the value of testing. In my view, employment tests should be valued no more than 20 percent in the overall assessment of a sales or service industry professional. The whole person approach, as Wolfe suggests, “…encourages managers to factor in the results of a variety of accepted tests along with prior actual performance and interview results.”

A combination of telephone screening, resume review, personal interviews, employment tests and reference checks are all needed to effectively identify just the right candidate for your sales or sales support positions. To learn more about the do’s and the don’ts of hiring sales professionals, check out my new manual 101 Sales Management Myths at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/myths4.htm

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the “best selling” Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden’s latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/

There are many tactics and techniques that go into converting visitors into buyers. However, this article will prove to you why creating an “interactive” sales letter will be the most critical weapon in your modern marketing arsenal to accomplish this.

Most Internet Marketers rely on their savvy copywriting techniques and persuasive skills learned over the years from the offline print world. These concepts go back to the 1920’s, where person-to-person dialog took a backseat due to the new mass media platform to push the sales message in various advertising forms. Today, Internet Marketers assume this is still the only option when it comes to “online” sales letters, since the reader is not physically present and cannot give immediate corrective-feedback.

In a minute, I’ll tell you why this will be their downfall…

Your sales letter is your voice to convey your benefits and offerings to the masses. The only reason a visitor is even at your site is to see if you have a solution to their problem. Effectively convince them that you have the solution for a reasonable price, overcome any objections and you get the sale! Simple. Right?

“Wait a minute! How do I know what’s most important to each different visitor. How do I convince an unknown reader that I have their solution?”

Good questions. You may have one product with various benefits, or many different affiliate products which you promote. Which benefit or product should you focus on so that each specific visitor has no choice but to rip out their wallet and start spewing out credit card numbers?

Read this part carefully –

All persuasive sales letters (no matter how hypnotic and enticing) must anticipate the mindset and views of the visitor. As a copywriter, you’ve been given the task of being a mind reader. You are forced to write your sales letter in such a way that it answers every possible question and objection. And when possible, trigger the emotional desire that was brought with each visitor. This can be quite daunting, considering that each visitor has their own specific desires and questions relevant to their unique situation. But the bottom line is — you must satisfy the visitor’s quest for meaningful, relevant information before they will say “yes!”

Now I am going to unveil a powerful and exclusive formula to do just that. Discover the hidden desires deep inside the minds of each and every one of your visitors. You will have the all-knowing power of what each wants from you.

All that you have to do is master the “super-amazing-advanced-top-secret proven technique” real live salespeople all over the world have used for years to dig out that elusive customer desire. They ask!

That’s right. The “corrective feedback” to strategic questions allows any sales person to drill-down to identify and focus on exactly what the customer is looking for and not waste each other’s time in the process. The main goal in any corrective feedback dialog is to narrow down the customer’s problem — and to provide a solution.

“STOP! Hold on…. I thought we were talking about sales letters here. Sales letters can’t ask the visitor what’s most important to them and just morph itself to focus on that!”

Well, if that’s what you’re thinking, I have no choice but to believe that you are not keeping up with new technology. Remember I said I would tell you what will be the Internet Marketers’ downfall? Here it is — They forget that they are on the Internet. Plain and simple.

By posting a web page and some great copy, Internet Marketers feel that’s the best they can hope for. They forget about the underlying technology running the show. They are riding a vehicle of interactive communication that is still evolving. However, the horse-blinders are only showing them a new place to display a once-printed direct mail sales letter, without exploring the possibilities.

Don’t fall into this trap!

An ecommerce website should be an interactive conversation to communicate relevant information for each visitor’s questions and eventually persuade a sale. It is not just a digital billboard.

FACT: Yes, with today’s advancements in technology, YOU CAN convert your static online sales page to a fully interactive sales letter that asks the reader questions, and in turn, dynamically generate specific, relevant offers dependant upon the reader’s answers. This is all done instantly, without linked pages, without page flashes, and most importantly — without the reader ever knowing.

Are the bells going off yet?

Can you see the potential of being able to ask each of your readers a question and have a special suitable benefit or offer waiting for them to read – before they even get to it — automatically? What do you think will happen to your conversion rate if your interactive sales letter actually spoke differently to each reader — knowing what each wanted, and offered it?

In fact, you’ll be able to deal a knockout blow to your competition by having the only access to your reader’s mind. While your competition is analyzing their data and graphs from another “day-late-and-a-dollar-short” survey, you’re reaching into the minds of your readers, and pulling out sales on the spot!

The purpose of this article is to open your mind. Be proactive in creating different techniques of online promotion. There is something new that can be developed every day. Just use your imagination. Be creative and remember that you can make money by solving a customer’s problem. The goal is to find out what each potential customer is looking for and offer a solution to satisfy that. Period!

Copyright 2004 Scott Stevenson

About The Author

Scott Stevenson is the creator of the Interactive Sales Letter. Dedicated to bringing your business to the next level of online interactive marketing, he provides a more detailed in-depth eCourse on his exclusive “Interactive” technique, at no cost, just by visiting http://www.InteractiveSalesLetter.com/course right now!

You can find more
resources on sales coaching, executive coaching, sales training,
time management, cold calling, prospecting and career coaching
from New York Sales and Leadership Coach Keith Rosen MCC at
http://www.profitbulders.com.

On a very basic level, there are five ingredients needed to
create a sale:

1. The salesperson. 2. The qualified prospect. 3. A need or
want that the prospect has. 4. The product or service. 5. The
selling strategy or procedure you follow that guides a prospect
to the natural conclusion of the selling process; the sale.

While many salespeople would say the selling process is about
the customer, they wind up making it about themselves.

How do I know this? Look at some of the limiting beliefs that
contribute to cold calling reluctance that we mentioned earlier.
Think about all the fears or reluctance you may experience when
it comes to cold calling or selling.

· I don’t want to say the wrong thing. · I don’t want to look
bad. · I don’t want to be a nuisance. · I don’t want to impose.
· I don’t want to be rejected or hear no. · I don’t want to blow
it!

I, I, I, I, I!

Look at the first word that begins each statement above. Making
the selling and cold calling process about you is the number one
roadblock to successful prospecting and the number one cause of
cold calling reluctance.

Instead of making the selling process about you and how much you
can gain if you sell, make it about the prospect and how much
value you can deliver to them.

If you are experiencing any fear or resistance to prospecting,
look at who you’re making the selling process about. Chances
are, you’re making it about you!

Once you shift your focus and energy towards making it about the
prospect, it will immediately relieve you of the unnecessary
pressure to look good and perform.

You are either making the selling process about you and how much
you can gain (money, sales, status, and so on), your fear of
rejection, looking bad, or hearing “No,” or you’re making it
about the prospect and how much value you can deliver to them.
Now, the cold calling process is no longer focused on the
salesperson’s negative assumptions or fears but on the prospect
and the advantages that your product can provide them.

After all, if you are making the sale about you and are
concerned about your performance, then how are you ever going to
capture their interest when all of your energy, concentration
and attention is being directed on to you rather than focused on
the prospect?

Make the selling process about the prospect and the value you
can deliver rather than what you can gain if you sell. Once you
do so, the sale then becomes the natural byproduct of your
selfless efforts and good intentions.

Last issue we talked about what motivates people to buy something. A person or a business is motivated to buy when they perceive that a change needs to occur to fix or avoid a problem, or to enable a greater vision for their future. They buy when they believe that a product or service will bridge this gap for them.

In other words, people are most likely to buy when they are in a state of trouble, or a state of tremendous opportunity. Some people will seek you out as a seller, and tell you this. These are the easy sales. Most people do not do this however. Most people stay in their comfort zones, desiring not to get too worked up over what’s not happening in their lives.

Selling then, becomes a game of stirring up people’s emotions. When you become aware that you have a problem that you must solve, your emotions change. You get concerned, frustrated, upset, worried, scared, or even angry. Just how intensely you react depends upon your perception of the magnitude and the imminence of the consequences.

Consequences.

In one word, you have the key to all selling and motivation. Consequences give rise to the experiencing of emotions such as fear, despair and anger, or hope, want and excitement. And it is the mere thought of experiencing these emotions that motivates you or anyone else.

My dictionary defines a consequence as follows: -”something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition.”

Once you think of taking an action, or not taking an action, and you consider the consequences of that decision, the opportunity for a strong emotion to be triggered has been setup. Whether the emotional response is a strong one or not, depends on you, and your own associations concerning a particular action.

The thought falling from the top of a 500 foot cliff, smashing onto the jagged, craggy rocks at the bottom, and becoming a bloody, gelatinous skin sack of red, pink, and purple would cause the emotion of fear in many people.

That is if you really think about it, and picture it in your mind.

What about sitting down and watching TV on a Saturday afternoon? That might trigger the emotion of boredom for some people. It might trigger relaxation, or escapism for another. To my wife it represents “being a loser”. For me, it represents an opportunity to escape, and not to think about reality for just awhile.

Consequences trigger unique emotional motivations for every person. Not all are intense, and not all are enough to move someone to act, to make a decision, to buy something. The ones that do are the ones that we care about.

Asking questions that stir up consequences and uncover motivations is not a natural course of action for most people. I’m not sure exactly why this is, but I believe that it has something to do with politeness, and a cultural value that you shouldn’t get too personal with people you don’t know well.

Yet asking such questions is one of the most powerful things you can do as a persuader. “Isn’t this manipulation?”, some are of you are probably thinking. Well, yes. But is this a bad thing? You are helping people to access the emotions that will motivate them to solve their own problems. If they are to solve their problem (and solving that problem involves making a purchase), then they will do this sooner or later. By helping them with the process, you are helping them to get what they want.

How does one question then in such a persuasive manner? To effectively teach you this here would require about ten times as much space as I have already written. I can tell you a couple of things though. You probably question this way on only a rare occasion right now. Also, most of your questioning probably centers around getting factual information, that is what someone wants or doesn’t want, what they have now, what they need, etc.

While useful to you, this information does not motivate your buyers. It helps you. But it does not really help your buyer. People bond with you, and want to buy from you when they believe you can help them get what they want. For this reason, too many sales calls end on a rather flat note.

Many people don’t take their questioning to a deep enough level. This is why I created the Persuasive Questioning Techniques Sales Teleclass. I have been sharing these techniques with my personal one-on-one clients for the last couple of years, and I wanted to share these with more people.

In a live teleclass setting, I demonstrate precisely how this technique works. I role-play with you, and show you how to acquire this skill. You need to know what to do, and you need to practice it. It’s not that difficult, but it does go against your nature a bit. I’ve seen great results in my clients success and my own business using these techniques.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown’s sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/