Category: Sales

If a reader hates my writing,
they are unlikely to read
my work.

Their mind is decided.
It would take
a lot of time and marketing money
and other resources
to try to shift
that position
…if that is even possible.
Often it ISN’T possible.

If the decided-against-my-writing
were
the only source
of new-to-me readers,
I might expend that energy.

But they aren’t
the only source.
There’s a HUGE pool
of readers
with no set opinions
about my books
– the undecided.

It still requires
time and money
and other resources
to influence the undecided
but it takes less of that
and there’s a higher
probability of success.

Don’t waste resources
on the decided-against-you.
Invest that time and money
and energy
into wooing the undecided.

In the Romance Novel industry,
Amazon is the dominant player.
The number of books
Amazon sells
far exceeds
the sales of
all the other booksellers
combined.

Many writers,
knowing this,
have signed exclusive deals
(i.e. Kindle Unlimited deals)
with Amazon.

They have completely
withdrawn
from the other markets.

Which means
very few writers
are courting them.

There is much less
competition,
giving the few writers left
in these markets
more of an opportunity
to be seen,
to be promoted,
to sell books there.

My sales in these niche markets
now EQUAL
my sales at Amazon.

Those niche market sales
are enough
to live on
and
to make me very happy
sales-wise.

A larger slice
of a small market
can be better
than a small slice
of a large market.

Think before abandoning
smaller markets.

When I choose
an excerpt
to ‘sell’ a book,
I look at the emotion
that scene
will pull from readers
on its own.

I’m not selling
the plot or the characters
or the setting.
I’m selling how the book
will make them feel.

I sell the escape of it.
I sell the happy
at the end,
the happy ever after.
I sell the sexy

And the excerpt
should give readers
a taste of that.

Carmine Gallo
shares

“When Steve Jobs
launched the first
Apple retail store
he said,
“People don’t just want
to buy personal computers;
they want to know
what they can do with them.”

Great communicators
don’t sell products.
They sell benefits.”

Sell the benefit
of your product/service.

When you select
a ‘sample,’
that sample
should supply a taste
of that benefit.

A salesperson loved one
is currently looking for
a new company
to sell product/services
for.

His current employer
took advantage of him
during the pandemic.
Knowing it was challenging
for people to switch jobs then,
they used every excuse
they could find
to not pay him commissions
on his sales.

He hasn’t forgotten that.
He plans to jump companies
and take his
almost a billion dollars
worth of sales
clients with him.

This is happening
with talent
across the fields.

Great accountants
had their pay cut
and are jumping companies.
Great creatives
had their projects cancelled
and are moving.

Talent are discarding employers
and partners
who took advantage of them
and are looking for entities
that will treat them
fairly.

If you are looking for talent
to partner with or hire,
now is a great time
to do this.

Black Friday
is a huge sales week/weekend in the US
(and yes, it now lasts longer than a day)
for some things
but not ALL things.

It isn’t a huge sales day
for eBooks,
the product I specialize in,
for example.

It makes no sense
for me
to have a special sale
this weekend.
I would be competing
with other products
to promote it
and
lowering prices
DOES take time
and other resources.

I do, however,
promote my permanently free
or on sale
products
on social media.
That takes little effort,
costs nothing
and
it DOES encourage sampling.

Why?

Because Black Friday shoppers
are often
different types of shoppers.
They’re looking for deals
and they are often looking
to share information about deals.

Mention your
permanently-on-sale items
on social media
this weekend.

Those sales might not be
Black Friday exclusive
but they are likely to interest
Black Friday shoppers.

A middle class loved one
offered to rent an empty apartment
to a loved one
living at poverty levels.

I asked the middle class loved one
what happens
when the poverty level loved one
loses his job.

The middle class loved one
said,
“He’ll move out, of course.”

There is no ‘of course’
about that.
The average person
living at poverty levels
wouldn’t move out
unless they were forced
to move out.

Why?

Because they have
no where else to go.

Because they intend
to ‘catch up’
once they find another job
(which won’t happen
because they will merely be
breaking even
with this new job also.)

Because they will
rationalize
that having someone
living in the apartment
is better than having
no one live there.
H*ll, they are doing
the middle class loved one
a favor by living there!

When pitching a deal
and especially
when drawing up a contract,
think like the person
you’re proposing the deal to.

If the deal is important
emotionally, financially
or in other ways,
ask someone neutral
or on your side
with a similar perspective
as your prospect
to run through
the scenarios with you.

Think like your prospect.
Don’t assume he thinks
the same way you do.

The first page
of a book
is the most important.

Why?

Because it sets
expectations.

It tells readers
this is a Mystery
or a Romance
or a Science Fiction story.

It also tells readers
this is a serious book
or a comedy
or a scary story
or an emotional one.

And that page
influences
how the reader
perceives
every other page.

If the first page
communicates
the story is a Romance,
the reader will look
for the romance
on every other page.

If the first page
frightens the sh*t
out of the reader,
the reader will look
for scary stuff
during the rest
of the story.

This happens with books
AND
with person-to-person encounters.

If you tell a joke
as an ice breaker,
people will perceive you
as being funny,
will look for the humor
in other statements from you.

If you frown
while you shake their hands,
they’ll see you
as a serious person
and are unlikely
to talk about silliness
with you.

Seth Godin
shares

“Do you lead with,
“I broke my ankle
that summer
and rarely got out”
or is it,
“I stuck with
my reading regimen
and read all of Shakespeare.”

Because both are true.

The top story
is the one
that informs our narrative,
and our narrative
changes our future.”

Your first interaction
impacts the rest
of your interactions.

Put some thought
into it.

One of the (many) things
Amazon does right
is give customers
an expected delivery date.

The product often doesn’t
arrive on that first stated
delivery date.
The delivery date
is adjusted as time passes.

But we know roughly
when to expect it
and that is vastly reassuring.

I give my readers (customers)
an estimated date
for when my next book
will release.
It usually doesn’t release
exactly on that date
but it is a rough estimate.

That reassures readers.
They don’t spend energy
worrying
about whether or not
the book will release.
They know it is on my to-write list.

Seth Godin
shares

“Tell us
when you’re going to finish.

Tell us
if you fall behind.

Don’t make us ask.”

Having a date,
even if it is the wrong date,
reassures customers.

Give them
your best guess.

A salesperson buddy,
a sales star
before the Great Pause,
sold
the highest dollar amount
he has ever sold
during the Great Pause.

How did he do this?

He believes it was
because
he wasn’t bracketing
each meeting
with a half hour commute
to and from
the meeting site.

He attended meetings
virtually
and, as a result,
he was able to meet
with more prospects.
That resulted in more sales.

Seth Godin
shares

“Don’t confuse
a long or risky commute
and co-work
with showing up
with your full self.

If they don’t need you
in person,
perhaps it’s better
to show up
with a great attitude
instead of paying
the high price it takes
to be there on time,
in real time.”

There is a cost
to face-to-face
meetings.

Is being there
in person
necessary
to do business?