We’ve all heard the expression: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Let’s take a look at what your prospects experience when they first make contact with your business.
When marketing, there are 3 ways a prospect can contact you: call you on the phone, travel to your location, or visit your website.
Have you ever called someone to inquire about a product or service and received a “less than enthusiastic” greeting? How did that make you feel? Worse yet, were you abandoned on hold? The most out-going, personable Team member in your organization should be answering the telephone. He/she should use the same initial greeting (scripted) and ask permission to place the caller on hold.
If you have a retail location or office, how does the facility look from the street? Is the building bright and clean? The parking lot—is it free of debris, the parking lines clearly striped and potholes patched? What about lighting, signage, and landscaping? Regular maintenance assures a consistent image. Once your guests are inside, pay particular attention to layout and appearance. In the food industry, 85% of the customer’s perception of cleanliness is the condition of the floor. What message is yours sending? Another area which leaves quite an impression is the restroom. Many of us have been “turned off” by filthy restrooms. Make sure yours are clean and properly stocked with soap, towels, etc. One more thing: How does the Team present itself? Are they similarly dressed (with logo apparel if appropriate)? What about name tags?
Here’s a tip—if you were suddenly informed that a TV film crew was on its way to interview you and feature your business, what would you change before they arrived?
When a prospect visits your website, how quickly does the page load? If it takes more than 10-15 seconds, many will not stick around to wait. Is the landing page easy to navigate and are the tabs clearly marked? Can a prospect find what he/she needs quickly without having to scroll down? When they fill out the “contact us” form, where does that inquiry go and who is responsible to respond? Make sure you have a process for timely response and appropriate responsibility assigned.
One last thing—if you have company vehicles, remember that they, too, convey an impression. Make sure they are clean, well-maintained, and most importantly, that the driver is well-mannered! Bad driving habits, cutting other drivers off, etc, will sabotage your good faith efforts.
All things being equal, people do business with those they know, like, and trust. Make sure your prospects like the first impression you make!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Why Problem-Based Positioning is a Psychological Magnet
Are you struggling to create a memorable positioning statement for your marketing? Do you want to stand out from your competition, but the uniqueness of your business seems to elude you?
Here’s a sneaky, vital secret that turns conventional marketing psychology on its head. By changing your positioning statement, find out how to transform your weakest link into your strongest marketing tool ever.
Avis is Only Number 2…So, Why Go With Them…
Years ago, in the rental car market, Hertz was chugging along merrily, with Avis a distant second. With one Problem-Based USP, Avis closed the gap. Its catch phrase, "We’re No.2, We Try Harder," ignited the minds of the target audience like a rampaging bush fire. They turned a liability into an asset.
Southwest Airlines took to the skies with a similar message. We’re Smaller Than Everyone Else, it told us, while gently explaining why its service was dramatically better, as a direct consequence of their size. They also turned a liability into an asset.
In 2001, Harley Davidson proudly boasted how their CEO was 38th on the waiting list for the company's then, new V-Rod motorcycle. And they took pains to describe how each Harley was lovingly rolled off the plant. The waiting period, which normally would be perceived to be a negative, was turned into a publicity coup that burned a stamp of quality and uniqueness into the brains of every prospective Harley owner.
All of these companies took a cold, hard-nosed look at reality. The superlatives in their business had been taken. Instead they unearthed their USP, in what most people would consider a disadvantage of sorts.
Are You Doing What Sally Did…
Sally is one heck of a real estate agent. Barely six months into real estate, and she’s already forging a red-hot path into the top ten salespeople in the country. While her talents and persuasive powers are formidable, there’s a little something that puts her head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.
That Little Something is a USP on Steroids…
If she chose to be unimaginative, Sally’s USP or tagline could have ended up as pretty run-of-the-mill. It could have ranged from a tacky, "Residential Properties for Every Budget," to utterly boring, "Getting Top Prices for Your Home." All of which would see her struggling to stand out, in a dog-eat-dog me-too marketplace. A goody-gum-drop USP would get her nowhere in a hurry. She needed a USP with rocket fuel in its tanks. Something that would reach out and demand your attention without hesitation.
“If You Sold Your Home in a Week or Less, You Probably Got Too Little…”
That’s the USP that Sally created. Can you see what I mean? Doesn’t that USP go for your jugular? Sally’s target audience is sellers, not buyers. If you just sold a house, wouldn’t you feel a twinge of regret? What if you were about to sell a house? Wouldn’t you be curious to find out just a little bit about what Sally does to lasso in a higher return? And wouldn’t you be just a little bit wary if the next real estate agent you met told you that she could sell your house in next to no time?
You’ve just witnessed the psychological power of the Problem-Based USP.
How to Create a Knockout USP for Your Business…
Let’s assume you’re in the wine selling business. To own real estate in a customer’s brain, you’d have to do battle with about a zillion other wines. Yet decades ago, Paul Masson cut through the clutter with a simple statement. We sell no wines before their time. With charming simplicity, they turned a negative waiting period into an exploitable advantage.
You too can turn your liabilities into assets. Stop screaming about how magnificent you are, and look for the apparent glitches in your business. Let’s just consider a few scenarios. Are you perceived to be too expensive, extremely slow, or maybe just too busy?
Consider when PsychoTactics.com launched their website and were faced with a similar dilemma. As human beings, we often disdain simplicity and common sense. The distillation process needed to simplify a concept into easy-to-munch bites is often just seen as common sense, and of no huge intrinsic value. Taking that liability into consideration, PsychoTactics.com created a USP concept that stressed the fact that everything was not just old, but at least 5000 years old. In fact, everything has already been tried and tested. That put them into a mould that was totally different from all the new-fangled marketing angles we hear about every day. The liability of common sense was turned into the asset of experience.
Best of all, it turned a problem into a winning USP concept.
The Primary Reason You Should Search for the Hiccups in Your Business…
Finding what makes you beneficially different is a notoriously difficult task. However, just about any client or potential buyer will very quickly identify your weaknesses and liabilities. If it’s a technical problem, you can fix it. If it’s a conceptual problem such as speed or price, it’s much harder to fix.
This, however, is the key to your success. The more you try to keep your weaknesses and liabilities under wraps, the more customers will uncover them. On the other hand, take a liability and turn it into an asset. Expose a problem to the harsh glare of the spotlight and transform your frog into a prince. This brave act will gain the instant admiration and support of your clients, while giving you a USP that others simply won’t have the guts to match.
Can You Make the Leap?
Creating a negative USP is a tricky, dangerous tactic, and one not to be taken lightly. "We're slow and proud of it!" is hardly a selling point, yet fulfills the requirements laid out in this article. However, if you’ve been struggling with your USP, as many companies do, this is a tactic that may work well for you—as it has with some of the companies above.
It’s time you tickled your customer’s brain with some sharply focused psychological marketing jujitsu. Find the weaknesses and liabilities in your business, carve them into a dynamic USP, and the attention your business has been craving for, will be yours forever more.
And that’s worth thinking about…
By P. Barton
Here’s a sneaky, vital secret that turns conventional marketing psychology on its head. By changing your positioning statement, find out how to transform your weakest link into your strongest marketing tool ever.
Avis is Only Number 2…So, Why Go With Them…
Years ago, in the rental car market, Hertz was chugging along merrily, with Avis a distant second. With one Problem-Based USP, Avis closed the gap. Its catch phrase, "We’re No.2, We Try Harder," ignited the minds of the target audience like a rampaging bush fire. They turned a liability into an asset.
Southwest Airlines took to the skies with a similar message. We’re Smaller Than Everyone Else, it told us, while gently explaining why its service was dramatically better, as a direct consequence of their size. They also turned a liability into an asset.
In 2001, Harley Davidson proudly boasted how their CEO was 38th on the waiting list for the company's then, new V-Rod motorcycle. And they took pains to describe how each Harley was lovingly rolled off the plant. The waiting period, which normally would be perceived to be a negative, was turned into a publicity coup that burned a stamp of quality and uniqueness into the brains of every prospective Harley owner.
All of these companies took a cold, hard-nosed look at reality. The superlatives in their business had been taken. Instead they unearthed their USP, in what most people would consider a disadvantage of sorts.
Are You Doing What Sally Did…
Sally is one heck of a real estate agent. Barely six months into real estate, and she’s already forging a red-hot path into the top ten salespeople in the country. While her talents and persuasive powers are formidable, there’s a little something that puts her head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.
That Little Something is a USP on Steroids…
If she chose to be unimaginative, Sally’s USP or tagline could have ended up as pretty run-of-the-mill. It could have ranged from a tacky, "Residential Properties for Every Budget," to utterly boring, "Getting Top Prices for Your Home." All of which would see her struggling to stand out, in a dog-eat-dog me-too marketplace. A goody-gum-drop USP would get her nowhere in a hurry. She needed a USP with rocket fuel in its tanks. Something that would reach out and demand your attention without hesitation.
“If You Sold Your Home in a Week or Less, You Probably Got Too Little…”
That’s the USP that Sally created. Can you see what I mean? Doesn’t that USP go for your jugular? Sally’s target audience is sellers, not buyers. If you just sold a house, wouldn’t you feel a twinge of regret? What if you were about to sell a house? Wouldn’t you be curious to find out just a little bit about what Sally does to lasso in a higher return? And wouldn’t you be just a little bit wary if the next real estate agent you met told you that she could sell your house in next to no time?
You’ve just witnessed the psychological power of the Problem-Based USP.
How to Create a Knockout USP for Your Business…
Let’s assume you’re in the wine selling business. To own real estate in a customer’s brain, you’d have to do battle with about a zillion other wines. Yet decades ago, Paul Masson cut through the clutter with a simple statement. We sell no wines before their time. With charming simplicity, they turned a negative waiting period into an exploitable advantage.
You too can turn your liabilities into assets. Stop screaming about how magnificent you are, and look for the apparent glitches in your business. Let’s just consider a few scenarios. Are you perceived to be too expensive, extremely slow, or maybe just too busy?
Consider when PsychoTactics.com launched their website and were faced with a similar dilemma. As human beings, we often disdain simplicity and common sense. The distillation process needed to simplify a concept into easy-to-munch bites is often just seen as common sense, and of no huge intrinsic value. Taking that liability into consideration, PsychoTactics.com created a USP concept that stressed the fact that everything was not just old, but at least 5000 years old. In fact, everything has already been tried and tested. That put them into a mould that was totally different from all the new-fangled marketing angles we hear about every day. The liability of common sense was turned into the asset of experience.
Best of all, it turned a problem into a winning USP concept.
The Primary Reason You Should Search for the Hiccups in Your Business…
Finding what makes you beneficially different is a notoriously difficult task. However, just about any client or potential buyer will very quickly identify your weaknesses and liabilities. If it’s a technical problem, you can fix it. If it’s a conceptual problem such as speed or price, it’s much harder to fix.
This, however, is the key to your success. The more you try to keep your weaknesses and liabilities under wraps, the more customers will uncover them. On the other hand, take a liability and turn it into an asset. Expose a problem to the harsh glare of the spotlight and transform your frog into a prince. This brave act will gain the instant admiration and support of your clients, while giving you a USP that others simply won’t have the guts to match.
Can You Make the Leap?
Creating a negative USP is a tricky, dangerous tactic, and one not to be taken lightly. "We're slow and proud of it!" is hardly a selling point, yet fulfills the requirements laid out in this article. However, if you’ve been struggling with your USP, as many companies do, this is a tactic that may work well for you—as it has with some of the companies above.
It’s time you tickled your customer’s brain with some sharply focused psychological marketing jujitsu. Find the weaknesses and liabilities in your business, carve them into a dynamic USP, and the attention your business has been craving for, will be yours forever more.
And that’s worth thinking about…
By P. Barton
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Formula for Failure and Success
by Jim Rohn
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day.
Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every day? The answer is because he or she does not think that it matters.
On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor oversight, a poor decision, or a wasted hour generally doesn't result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, we escape any immediate consequences of our deeds.
If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes. Why? Because it doesn't seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not reading the books is not even realizing that it matters!
Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor choices year after year after year... because it doesn't seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been delayed for a future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices—choices that didn't seem to matter.
Failure's most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term those little errors don't seem to make any difference. We do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in judgment occur throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Since nothing terrible happens to us, since there are no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from one day to the next, repeating the errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices and making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us yesterday; therefore the act was probably harmless. Since it seemed to have no measurable consequence, it is probably safe to repeat.
But we must become better educated than that!
If at the end of the day when we made our first error in judgment the sky had fallen in on us, we undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to ensure that the act would never be repeated. Like the child who places his hand on a hot burner despite his parents' warnings, we would have had an instantaneous experience accompanying our error in judgment.
Unfortunately, failure does not shout out its warnings as our parents once did. This is why it is imperative to refine our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices. With a powerful, personal philosophy guiding our every step, we become more aware of our errors in judgment and more aware that each error really does matter.
Now here is the great news. Just like the formula for failure, the formula for success is easy to follow: It's a few simple disciplines practiced every day.
Now here is an interesting question worth pondering: How can we change the errors in the formula for failure into the disciplines required in the formula for success? The answer is by making the future an important part of our current philosophy.
Both success and failure involve future consequences, namely the inevitable rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting from past activities. If this is true, why don't more people take time to ponder the future? The answer is simple: They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn't seem to matter. The problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some human beings that they never pause long enough to think about tomorrow.
But what if we did develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes every day to look a little further down the road? We would then be able to foresee the impending consequences of our current conduct. Armed with that valuable information, we would be able to take the necessary action to change our errors into new success-oriented disciplines. In other words, by disciplining ourselves to see the future in advance, we would be able to change our thinking, amend our errors and develop new habits to replace the old.
One of the exciting things about the formula for success—a few simple disciplines practiced every day—is that the results are almost immediate. As we voluntarily change daily errors into daily disciplines, we experience positive results in a very short period of time. When we change our diet, our health improves noticeably in just a few weeks. When we start exercising, we feel a new vitality almost immediately. When we begin reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level of self-confidence. Whatever new discipline we begin to practice daily will produce exciting results that will drive us to become even better at developing new disciplines.
The real magic of new disciplines is that they will cause us to amend our thinking. If we were to start today to read the books, keep a journal, attend the classes, listen more and observe more, then today would be the first day of a new life leading to a better future. If we were to start today to try harder, and in every way make a conscious and consistent effort to change subtle and deadly errors into constructive and rewarding disciplines, we would never again settle for a life of existence—not once we have tasted the fruits of a life of substance!
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day.
Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every day? The answer is because he or she does not think that it matters.
On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor oversight, a poor decision, or a wasted hour generally doesn't result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, we escape any immediate consequences of our deeds.
If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes. Why? Because it doesn't seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not reading the books is not even realizing that it matters!
Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor choices year after year after year... because it doesn't seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been delayed for a future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices—choices that didn't seem to matter.
Failure's most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term those little errors don't seem to make any difference. We do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in judgment occur throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Since nothing terrible happens to us, since there are no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from one day to the next, repeating the errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices and making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us yesterday; therefore the act was probably harmless. Since it seemed to have no measurable consequence, it is probably safe to repeat.
But we must become better educated than that!
If at the end of the day when we made our first error in judgment the sky had fallen in on us, we undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to ensure that the act would never be repeated. Like the child who places his hand on a hot burner despite his parents' warnings, we would have had an instantaneous experience accompanying our error in judgment.
Unfortunately, failure does not shout out its warnings as our parents once did. This is why it is imperative to refine our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices. With a powerful, personal philosophy guiding our every step, we become more aware of our errors in judgment and more aware that each error really does matter.
Now here is the great news. Just like the formula for failure, the formula for success is easy to follow: It's a few simple disciplines practiced every day.
Now here is an interesting question worth pondering: How can we change the errors in the formula for failure into the disciplines required in the formula for success? The answer is by making the future an important part of our current philosophy.
Both success and failure involve future consequences, namely the inevitable rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting from past activities. If this is true, why don't more people take time to ponder the future? The answer is simple: They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn't seem to matter. The problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some human beings that they never pause long enough to think about tomorrow.
But what if we did develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes every day to look a little further down the road? We would then be able to foresee the impending consequences of our current conduct. Armed with that valuable information, we would be able to take the necessary action to change our errors into new success-oriented disciplines. In other words, by disciplining ourselves to see the future in advance, we would be able to change our thinking, amend our errors and develop new habits to replace the old.
One of the exciting things about the formula for success—a few simple disciplines practiced every day—is that the results are almost immediate. As we voluntarily change daily errors into daily disciplines, we experience positive results in a very short period of time. When we change our diet, our health improves noticeably in just a few weeks. When we start exercising, we feel a new vitality almost immediately. When we begin reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level of self-confidence. Whatever new discipline we begin to practice daily will produce exciting results that will drive us to become even better at developing new disciplines.
The real magic of new disciplines is that they will cause us to amend our thinking. If we were to start today to read the books, keep a journal, attend the classes, listen more and observe more, then today would be the first day of a new life leading to a better future. If we were to start today to try harder, and in every way make a conscious and consistent effort to change subtle and deadly errors into constructive and rewarding disciplines, we would never again settle for a life of existence—not once we have tasted the fruits of a life of substance!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Images of Achievement
By D. Waitley
Are you aware of how the FBI trains its agents to spot counterfeit bills? The FBI schools agents by training them to see all of the characteristics of bills printed by the U.S. Treasury—they deal only with genuine money. An FBI agent learns to recognize authentic ones, fives, tens, twenties, fifties and hundred dollar notes until his or her appraisal of them becomes second nature. An agent studies a bill, both sides of it, until he or she learns every feature that makes it genuine legal tender.
That way, when FBI agents see counterfeit bills, they immediately recognize them as such. Their minds aren’t cluttered with what “might be wrong” or “what usually is left off” or “mistakes that are commonly made.” They know what they’re looking for. They are specialists in the real thing. False bills seem glaringly obvious to them.
If you allow yourself to think about the penalties of failure or all the things that could go wrong, you’re far more likely to infuse your performance with those penalties and mistakes. Continually tell yourself what to do. Don’t concentrate on what not to do.
The mind has a fascinating capability. What you think about most is generally what you do most readily. A mistake most people make is to set goals in negative terms. A tennis player may set a goal of not double-faulting a certain number of times during a match. An employee may set a goal of not being late so often. Goals to lose weight, not talk so loud and fast, and not get upset so often are goals framed in negative terms. We need to stay away from negative goal setting.
Understand this about the mind: A fear is a goal in reverse. The mind can’t focus on the reverse of an idea. The term double fault reminds the tennis player of the condition he or she wants to avoid. Being late reminds the employee of the problem, not the solution. When we think we need to lose weight, our minds store the self-image of being overweight. We need the image of the desired weight we want to attain, not the pounds of fat we want to discard. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to concentrate on not being upset.
It’s the same thing as saying, “Don’t make mistakes.” Or worse yet, to a tight rope walker, with no net, “Windy day, don’t fall!” The mind always moves you toward your current dominant thought.
We should say, “First serve in,” for the tennis player. “I’m a punctual, on-time person.” …. “I’m reaching my desired weight.” …. “I speak slowly, clearly and confidently.” …. “I remain calm and relaxed under pressure.” These are all positive goal statements, images of achievement, that pull us in the direction of the desired behavior rather than away from the undesired habit.
This week, stop looking at your life through the rearview mirror; instead, focus on where you want to go!
Are you aware of how the FBI trains its agents to spot counterfeit bills? The FBI schools agents by training them to see all of the characteristics of bills printed by the U.S. Treasury—they deal only with genuine money. An FBI agent learns to recognize authentic ones, fives, tens, twenties, fifties and hundred dollar notes until his or her appraisal of them becomes second nature. An agent studies a bill, both sides of it, until he or she learns every feature that makes it genuine legal tender.
That way, when FBI agents see counterfeit bills, they immediately recognize them as such. Their minds aren’t cluttered with what “might be wrong” or “what usually is left off” or “mistakes that are commonly made.” They know what they’re looking for. They are specialists in the real thing. False bills seem glaringly obvious to them.
If you allow yourself to think about the penalties of failure or all the things that could go wrong, you’re far more likely to infuse your performance with those penalties and mistakes. Continually tell yourself what to do. Don’t concentrate on what not to do.
The mind has a fascinating capability. What you think about most is generally what you do most readily. A mistake most people make is to set goals in negative terms. A tennis player may set a goal of not double-faulting a certain number of times during a match. An employee may set a goal of not being late so often. Goals to lose weight, not talk so loud and fast, and not get upset so often are goals framed in negative terms. We need to stay away from negative goal setting.
Understand this about the mind: A fear is a goal in reverse. The mind can’t focus on the reverse of an idea. The term double fault reminds the tennis player of the condition he or she wants to avoid. Being late reminds the employee of the problem, not the solution. When we think we need to lose weight, our minds store the self-image of being overweight. We need the image of the desired weight we want to attain, not the pounds of fat we want to discard. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to concentrate on not being upset.
It’s the same thing as saying, “Don’t make mistakes.” Or worse yet, to a tight rope walker, with no net, “Windy day, don’t fall!” The mind always moves you toward your current dominant thought.
We should say, “First serve in,” for the tennis player. “I’m a punctual, on-time person.” …. “I’m reaching my desired weight.” …. “I speak slowly, clearly and confidently.” …. “I remain calm and relaxed under pressure.” These are all positive goal statements, images of achievement, that pull us in the direction of the desired behavior rather than away from the undesired habit.
This week, stop looking at your life through the rearview mirror; instead, focus on where you want to go!
Wanna raise your percentage of sales success? Change your prospect.
By J. Gitomer
Where are you on the percentage scale of sales?
How many out of ten can you close?
Well, Mr. or Mrs. Sales-Big-Shot, forget your percentage. It ain’t all that good anyway. If you want to raise it by 50% - you heard me, FIFTY percent - just change the TYPE of sale you’re making.
Huh?
The type of sale you make has more to do with why you’re making it, and who you’re making it with, than your fancy, manipulative, pushy closing techniques.
The old sales adage goes, all things being equal, people want to do business with their friends. And to that I respond: All things being not quite so equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.
Well, let’s look behind that adage.
What are the “types” of sales call you can make? Last week I listed them and gave some insight as to why. This week I’m giving you the insight and the reality.
THE Lowest percentage: Cold call. Face it, the cold call is diminishing. Voicemail and security have taken away all the fun. Successful penetration is sporadic and there are MUCH better avenues of approach. PLUS, cold calling pisses people off.
Low percentage: Appointed sales call from a cold call. If you are lucky (or good) enough to have made an appointment someplace, this is okay, but still a low percentage based on the lack of qualification as to need. Hard work needed: There’s no real formula for cold call success, but you can be smart about it - calling at the right times, a bit of pre-call research, and a ton of personal preparation in both sales training and category selection.
Fair percentage: A response from an ad, or direct mail, or an unsolicited email campaign. Better than a cold call, but not by much. Most of these inquiries are about “how much?”
Semi-good percentage: Appointed sales call from a networking event or trade show. At least there has been some contact. You have a name, a card, and a person somewhat willing to take your call and make an appointment. Hard work needed: A networking plan and a 30-second personal commercial to qualify the prospect faster. Then there is the networking itself. Invest the time and work the plan. It will pay HUGE financial and personal dividends.
Pretty good percentage: A social media inquiry. A report card on your presence, or lack there of. These people are saying, “I follow you, and like what you have to say, and want to know more. This is the new cold call, you just haven’t figured it out yet.
Pretty good percentage: A web inquiry. Someone asking for more info from your website either on a web-call or a direct call is also a report card. It says your site is both interesting and navigable.
Pretty good percentage: An email blast to your existing customers. These are people who have already purchased. You have already established value and built confidence – maybe even some trust.
Good percentage: Proactive call from a prospect. Knows of you, interested, and wants more help. Can you convert?
Real good percentage: A referral from another customer. Should be a sale every time.
Real good percentage: An unsolicited referral. Hard work needed to get them: easy to convert once they call.
Highest percentage: Sale or reorder from a present customer they know you, like you, trust you believe in you and have confidence you’ll deliver. Hard work needed: Service between the sale. Stay in front of with value. Develop a relationship. Build trust through performance. Help them build their business. REALITY: None of this occurs making a cold call and running to the next.
Where are you on the percentage scale of sales?
How many out of ten can you close?
Well, Mr. or Mrs. Sales-Big-Shot, forget your percentage. It ain’t all that good anyway. If you want to raise it by 50% - you heard me, FIFTY percent - just change the TYPE of sale you’re making.
Huh?
The type of sale you make has more to do with why you’re making it, and who you’re making it with, than your fancy, manipulative, pushy closing techniques.
The old sales adage goes, all things being equal, people want to do business with their friends. And to that I respond: All things being not quite so equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.
Well, let’s look behind that adage.
What are the “types” of sales call you can make? Last week I listed them and gave some insight as to why. This week I’m giving you the insight and the reality.
THE Lowest percentage: Cold call. Face it, the cold call is diminishing. Voicemail and security have taken away all the fun. Successful penetration is sporadic and there are MUCH better avenues of approach. PLUS, cold calling pisses people off.
Low percentage: Appointed sales call from a cold call. If you are lucky (or good) enough to have made an appointment someplace, this is okay, but still a low percentage based on the lack of qualification as to need. Hard work needed: There’s no real formula for cold call success, but you can be smart about it - calling at the right times, a bit of pre-call research, and a ton of personal preparation in both sales training and category selection.
Fair percentage: A response from an ad, or direct mail, or an unsolicited email campaign. Better than a cold call, but not by much. Most of these inquiries are about “how much?”
Semi-good percentage: Appointed sales call from a networking event or trade show. At least there has been some contact. You have a name, a card, and a person somewhat willing to take your call and make an appointment. Hard work needed: A networking plan and a 30-second personal commercial to qualify the prospect faster. Then there is the networking itself. Invest the time and work the plan. It will pay HUGE financial and personal dividends.
Pretty good percentage: A social media inquiry. A report card on your presence, or lack there of. These people are saying, “I follow you, and like what you have to say, and want to know more. This is the new cold call, you just haven’t figured it out yet.
Pretty good percentage: A web inquiry. Someone asking for more info from your website either on a web-call or a direct call is also a report card. It says your site is both interesting and navigable.
Pretty good percentage: An email blast to your existing customers. These are people who have already purchased. You have already established value and built confidence – maybe even some trust.
Good percentage: Proactive call from a prospect. Knows of you, interested, and wants more help. Can you convert?
Real good percentage: A referral from another customer. Should be a sale every time.
Real good percentage: An unsolicited referral. Hard work needed to get them: easy to convert once they call.
Highest percentage: Sale or reorder from a present customer they know you, like you, trust you believe in you and have confidence you’ll deliver. Hard work needed: Service between the sale. Stay in front of with value. Develop a relationship. Build trust through performance. Help them build their business. REALITY: None of this occurs making a cold call and running to the next.
Monday, August 23, 2010
How to self Motivate!
How to Self-Motivate
Here are seven Self-Motivator reminders for you to review on a regular basis. by Brian Tracy
Get Serious. Make a decision to go all the way to the top. Up to now, you've thought about it. Up to now, it's passed your mind. Many of you made the decision, and you've made up your mind to go all the way to the top, and your lives have taken off. It's the most extraordinary thing. Like in the shadow going up the dark side of the hill until the moment you decide that "By gum, I'm going to be the best at what I do. I'm going to be in the top 10 percent." And suddenly you rose into the sunshine, and your life is forever after different—wonderful. Get serious. Don't fool around anymore.
Identify Your Limiting Step to Sales Success. What's your limiting step? What's the one skill area that's holding you back? What's the skill? What's the quality? What's the action? Ask other people. Find out what you need to become good at. Sometimes it may be only one skill. If you became really, really good on the telephone, you could maybe double your prospecting effectiveness and double your sales. If you became very, very good at getting the order at the end from qualified prospects, you could double your sales. If you became very, very good at managing your time really, really well, you may be able to double your face time and double your income. Find out what's holding you back. What is the critical limiting step that's determining your success today?
Get Around the Right People. Who are the right people? The right people are the people in this room. Get around winners. Get around positive people. Get around people with goals and plans, people who are going somewhere with their lives and have high aspirations. Get around eagles. As Zig Ziglar says, "You can't scratch with the turkeys if you want to fly with the eagles." And get away from negative people. Get away from toxic people that complain and whine and moan all the time. Who needs them? Life is too short.
Take Excellent Care of Your Health. Take excellent care of your physical health. That means good diet, good exercise. Everybody knows they should eat better foods, get regular exercise and especially lots of rest. That's very important. If you're going to work hard five days a week, go to bed early five days a week. Get a good night's sleep. Be fully rested, and tonight get really rested.
Positive Visualization. See yourself as the very best in your field. Remember, all improvement in your life begins with an improvement in your mental pictures. Visualize yourself, see yourself as the best continually. You are the best. Isn't that right? So therefore, see yourself as the best.
Positive Self-Talk. Talk to yourself positively all the time. Control your inner dialogue. And what do you say to yourself? Say, "I'm the best." Say it. Say I'm the best. I like myself. I can do it. I love my work. Yes, that's how you talk to yourself. And the more you say it to yourself, someone may say, "Well, what if you say those things to yourself and you don't believe them. Isn't that lying to yourself?" No, that's not lying to yourself. It's telling the truth in advance. Because it doesn't matter where you're coming from; all that matters is where you're going. Talk to yourself the way you want to be, not the way you just happen to be at this moment. Remember, you may have gotten where you are today largely by accident. But where you're going in the future is purely by design.
Positive Action. Get going. Move fast. Develop a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency is the one thing that you can develop that will separate you from everyone else in your field. Develop a bias for action. When you get a good idea, do it now. Only 2 percent of people in our society have a bias for action. And if you're already in the top 10 percent, you can move yourself in the top 2 percent by resolving that whenever you have an idea or something, do it now. And the faster you move, the better you get. And the better you get, the more you like yourself. And the more you like yourself, the higher your self-esteem. And the higher your self-esteem, the greater your self-discipline. And the more you persist, you ultimately become unstoppable!
Write these down and think about them EVERY day. This will nudge you to stay on course.
Here are seven Self-Motivator reminders for you to review on a regular basis. by Brian Tracy
Get Serious. Make a decision to go all the way to the top. Up to now, you've thought about it. Up to now, it's passed your mind. Many of you made the decision, and you've made up your mind to go all the way to the top, and your lives have taken off. It's the most extraordinary thing. Like in the shadow going up the dark side of the hill until the moment you decide that "By gum, I'm going to be the best at what I do. I'm going to be in the top 10 percent." And suddenly you rose into the sunshine, and your life is forever after different—wonderful. Get serious. Don't fool around anymore.
Identify Your Limiting Step to Sales Success. What's your limiting step? What's the one skill area that's holding you back? What's the skill? What's the quality? What's the action? Ask other people. Find out what you need to become good at. Sometimes it may be only one skill. If you became really, really good on the telephone, you could maybe double your prospecting effectiveness and double your sales. If you became very, very good at getting the order at the end from qualified prospects, you could double your sales. If you became very, very good at managing your time really, really well, you may be able to double your face time and double your income. Find out what's holding you back. What is the critical limiting step that's determining your success today?
Get Around the Right People. Who are the right people? The right people are the people in this room. Get around winners. Get around positive people. Get around people with goals and plans, people who are going somewhere with their lives and have high aspirations. Get around eagles. As Zig Ziglar says, "You can't scratch with the turkeys if you want to fly with the eagles." And get away from negative people. Get away from toxic people that complain and whine and moan all the time. Who needs them? Life is too short.
Take Excellent Care of Your Health. Take excellent care of your physical health. That means good diet, good exercise. Everybody knows they should eat better foods, get regular exercise and especially lots of rest. That's very important. If you're going to work hard five days a week, go to bed early five days a week. Get a good night's sleep. Be fully rested, and tonight get really rested.
Positive Visualization. See yourself as the very best in your field. Remember, all improvement in your life begins with an improvement in your mental pictures. Visualize yourself, see yourself as the best continually. You are the best. Isn't that right? So therefore, see yourself as the best.
Positive Self-Talk. Talk to yourself positively all the time. Control your inner dialogue. And what do you say to yourself? Say, "I'm the best." Say it. Say I'm the best. I like myself. I can do it. I love my work. Yes, that's how you talk to yourself. And the more you say it to yourself, someone may say, "Well, what if you say those things to yourself and you don't believe them. Isn't that lying to yourself?" No, that's not lying to yourself. It's telling the truth in advance. Because it doesn't matter where you're coming from; all that matters is where you're going. Talk to yourself the way you want to be, not the way you just happen to be at this moment. Remember, you may have gotten where you are today largely by accident. But where you're going in the future is purely by design.
Positive Action. Get going. Move fast. Develop a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency is the one thing that you can develop that will separate you from everyone else in your field. Develop a bias for action. When you get a good idea, do it now. Only 2 percent of people in our society have a bias for action. And if you're already in the top 10 percent, you can move yourself in the top 2 percent by resolving that whenever you have an idea or something, do it now. And the faster you move, the better you get. And the better you get, the more you like yourself. And the more you like yourself, the higher your self-esteem. And the higher your self-esteem, the greater your self-discipline. And the more you persist, you ultimately become unstoppable!
Write these down and think about them EVERY day. This will nudge you to stay on course.
Reaping a Multiple Reward by Jim Rohn
For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards. That's one of life's great arrangements. In fact, it's an extension of the biblical law that says that if you sow well, you will reap well.
Here's a unique part of the Law of Sowing and Reaping. Not only does it suggest that we'll all reap what we've sown, it also suggests that we'll reap much more. Life is full of laws that both govern and explain behaviors, but this may well be the major law we need to understand: For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.
What a concept! If you render unique service, your reward will be multiplied. If you're fair and honest and patient with others, your reward will be multiplied. If you give more than you expect to receive, your reward is more than you expect. But remember: the key word here, as you might well imagine, is discipline.
Everything of value requires care, attention, and discipline. Our thoughts require discipline. We must consistently determine our inner boundaries and our codes of conduct, or our thoughts will be confused. And if our thoughts are confused, we will become hopelessly lost in the maze of life. Confused thoughts produce confused results.
Remember the law: "For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards." Learn the discipline of writing a card or a letter to a friend. Learn the discipline of paying your bills on time, arriving to appointments on time, or using your time more effectively. Learn the discipline of paying attention, or paying your taxes or paying yourself. Learn the discipline of having regular meetings with your associates, or your spouse, or your child, or your parent. Learn the discipline of learning all you can learn, of teaching all you can teach, of reading all you can read.
For each discipline, multiple rewards. For each book, new knowledge. For each success, new ambition. For each challenge, new understanding. For each failure, new determination. Life is like that. Even the bad experiences of life provide their own special contribution. But a word of caution here for those who neglect the need for care and attention to life's disciplines: Everything has its price. Everything affects everything else. Neglect discipline, and there will be a price to pay. All things of value can be taken for granted with the passing of time.
That's what we call the Law of Familiarity. Without the discipline of paying constant, daily attention, we take things for granted. Be serious. Life's not a practice session.
If you're often inclined to toss your clothes onto the chair rather than hanging them in the closet, be careful. It could suggest a lack of discipline. And remember, a lack of discipline in the small areas of life can cost you heavily in the more important areas of life. You cannot clean up your company until you learn the discipline of cleaning your own garage. You cannot be impatient with your children and be patient with your distributors or your employees. You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct. You cannot admonish others to read good books when you don't have a library card.
Think about your life at this moment. What areas need attention right now? Perhaps you've had a disagreement with someone you love or someone who loves you, and your anger won't allow you to speak to that person. Wouldn't this be an ideal time to examine your need for a new discipline? Perhaps you're on the brink of giving up, or starting over, or starting out. And the only missing ingredient to your incredible success story in the future is a new and self-imposed discipline that will make you try harder and work more intensely than you ever thought you could.
The most valuable form of discipline is the one that you impose upon yourself. Don't wait for things to deteriorate so drastically that someone else must impose discipline in your life. Wouldn't that be tragic? How could you possibly explain the fact that someone else thought more of you than you thought of yourself? That they forced you to get up early and get out into the marketplace when you would have been content to let success go to someone else who cared more about themselves.
Your life, my life, the life of each one of us is going to serve as either a warning or an example. A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction and ambition... or an example of talent put to use, of discipline self-imposed, and of objectives clearly perceived and intensely pursued
Here's a unique part of the Law of Sowing and Reaping. Not only does it suggest that we'll all reap what we've sown, it also suggests that we'll reap much more. Life is full of laws that both govern and explain behaviors, but this may well be the major law we need to understand: For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.
What a concept! If you render unique service, your reward will be multiplied. If you're fair and honest and patient with others, your reward will be multiplied. If you give more than you expect to receive, your reward is more than you expect. But remember: the key word here, as you might well imagine, is discipline.
Everything of value requires care, attention, and discipline. Our thoughts require discipline. We must consistently determine our inner boundaries and our codes of conduct, or our thoughts will be confused. And if our thoughts are confused, we will become hopelessly lost in the maze of life. Confused thoughts produce confused results.
Remember the law: "For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards." Learn the discipline of writing a card or a letter to a friend. Learn the discipline of paying your bills on time, arriving to appointments on time, or using your time more effectively. Learn the discipline of paying attention, or paying your taxes or paying yourself. Learn the discipline of having regular meetings with your associates, or your spouse, or your child, or your parent. Learn the discipline of learning all you can learn, of teaching all you can teach, of reading all you can read.
For each discipline, multiple rewards. For each book, new knowledge. For each success, new ambition. For each challenge, new understanding. For each failure, new determination. Life is like that. Even the bad experiences of life provide their own special contribution. But a word of caution here for those who neglect the need for care and attention to life's disciplines: Everything has its price. Everything affects everything else. Neglect discipline, and there will be a price to pay. All things of value can be taken for granted with the passing of time.
That's what we call the Law of Familiarity. Without the discipline of paying constant, daily attention, we take things for granted. Be serious. Life's not a practice session.
If you're often inclined to toss your clothes onto the chair rather than hanging them in the closet, be careful. It could suggest a lack of discipline. And remember, a lack of discipline in the small areas of life can cost you heavily in the more important areas of life. You cannot clean up your company until you learn the discipline of cleaning your own garage. You cannot be impatient with your children and be patient with your distributors or your employees. You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct. You cannot admonish others to read good books when you don't have a library card.
Think about your life at this moment. What areas need attention right now? Perhaps you've had a disagreement with someone you love or someone who loves you, and your anger won't allow you to speak to that person. Wouldn't this be an ideal time to examine your need for a new discipline? Perhaps you're on the brink of giving up, or starting over, or starting out. And the only missing ingredient to your incredible success story in the future is a new and self-imposed discipline that will make you try harder and work more intensely than you ever thought you could.
The most valuable form of discipline is the one that you impose upon yourself. Don't wait for things to deteriorate so drastically that someone else must impose discipline in your life. Wouldn't that be tragic? How could you possibly explain the fact that someone else thought more of you than you thought of yourself? That they forced you to get up early and get out into the marketplace when you would have been content to let success go to someone else who cared more about themselves.
Your life, my life, the life of each one of us is going to serve as either a warning or an example. A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction and ambition... or an example of talent put to use, of discipline self-imposed, and of objectives clearly perceived and intensely pursued
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