Category: Sales

Long time readers
of client k
know I’m not a fan
of April Fool’s Day.

Trust is a precious commodity
in today’s world
and fooling people
erodes trust.
Fool someone once
and they will never
fully trust you again.

This year
is especially a bad time
to participate
in April Fool’s Day.

The average person
is super stressed out.
She feels like
her world is spinning
out of control.

She is hanging onto
civil behavior
by a slender thread.
Anything could snap it.

Don’t supply that anything.
Don’t add more stress
to her already stressful day.

Unless your customers
expect this from you,
unless you can be certain
your customers
will feel better
because you’ve done this,
this is NOT the year
to play
an April Fool’s Prank.

I’ve been writing my entire life.
I’ve dedicated the past two decades
to aggressively learning
about writing.

I know sh*t all about
plotting a book
before writing it.

I’m a panster
(a writer who writes
by the seat of her pants,
who doesn’t have a plot
when she sits down
at the computer).

I know about plotting
because pantsers
have to ensure their plots
are solid.

But I can’t tell someone else
how to plot a story
before writing it.

And I admit it.
I tell people
“That’s not my area
of expertise.”

Newer writers are shocked
when I do that.
I’m a bestselling writer.
I should know everything about writing.

But they shouldn’t be shocked
because
NO ONE knows everything about something.
NO ONE.

And if you act like you do,
you’ll eventually look like
a jacka$$.

Ta-Nehisi Coates,
National Book Award Winner,
shares

“…one of the things
that annoys me is,
people act like they know everything….
Come on,
be clear about what you know
and what you don’t know.”

“I’m gonna talk about
what I don’t know.
And listen,
here’s the thing that happens.
You are well-researched
and knowledgeable
about one thing
that you’ve been thinking about
a long time
and you’ve been reading about
a long time.
That does not make you
well-researched and knowledgeable
about all things…
I get this title,
‘public intellectual,’
and I don’t like it,
because what it sounds to me is,
like,
people who B.S.
They’re smart about one thing,
and so they play into this notion
that they’re smart about everything else.…
If you want to ask me about writing,
I can [talk about it] up one side,
down the other. I got you.
I’m with you,
because I’ve struggled with that.”

You don’t know everything.
If you are asked for your opinion
on something you don’t know
anything about,
admit that you’re not the expert
in that field.

Then be quiet
and learn from the people
who ARE experts.

A buddy and I were discussing
how to determine
the origins of people
we meet.

I never ever ask people,
“Where are you from?”

This question assumes the person
is an outsider.
It points out,
‘Hey, you look/sound/act
different
from everyone else.
You clearly don’t belong
to this group.’

That’s rude and hurtful
and completely unnecessary.

I tend to ask,
“Have you always
lived in this city?”

This question conveys
they belong.
They’re part of the group.
They fit in.

This approach can be modified
to suit a wide range
of situations.

“Have you always
been in this industry?”
“Have you always
worked for this company?”
“Have you always
held this role?”

Ask questions
assuming the person belongs.

Reviews help sell books.

This work is done by the reader
(the customer),
benefits the writer
(the business owner)
and isn’t compensated.

Many writers
do things
to encourage their readers
to leave reviews.

Some writers
inadvertently do things
that DISCOURAGE readers.

Like criticizing the typos
in a review
or ranting about
a spoiler
in a review.

All this does
is discourage their readers
from leaving reviews.

Seth Godin
shares

“The people
who are paying attention
are the ones
who are trying.

And shaming people
who are trying
because they’re not perfect
is a terrific way
to discourage them
from trying.”

Coaching people
who are taking baby steps
is great.

Criticizing them
is not.

If you want the person
to continue along a path,
don’t shame them
for meandering.

A writing buddy of mine
is always asking her readers
for ‘favors.’

She needs cash for an emergency.
Could readers buy more of her books?
She is trying to make
a bestselling list.
Could readers buy a specific book?
She is feeling down.
Could readers leave a great review
to make her feel better?

The first time she asked,
she got a huge response.
Everyone,
including myself,
did what she requested.

She made her goal.

Did she thank us
by doing a favor in return?
No.

She asked another favor.

Now, I ignore ALL of her posts.
They aren’t favors.
They won’t be reciprocated.
And they aren’t rare.
They’re asks
and they happen regularly.

Seth Godin
shares

“Smashing the piggybank

You can only break it open once.

Organizations (and political candidates)
that forget this and
treat their biggest supporters
like bottomless ATMs
learn the piggybank rule
at great cost.”

You can only ask
for special treatment once.
Think before
you use that gift.

I was thrown in
Facebook Jail.
(That’s the term used
when we are barred from
posting or commenting.)

What was my crime?

I posted and commented
in too many groups.
There was an issue in
the Romance Novel Industry.
I provided my opinion
in a number of groups
I regularly post in.

The Facebook robots
thought I was a spammer,
and I could see why
they would think that.

The notification gave
a route to fight the charge.
I did that.

Facebook,
instead of shortening my sentence,
LENGTHENED it.
Why?
I suspect it was because
I had the audacity to claim
their system wasn’t working.

I will NEVER provide feedback
to Facebook again.

I have also lowered
my ad spend there.
It was decreasing in effectiveness
and I had already been considering that action.
This response merely pushed me
to do that faster.

Years ago,
my telephone company wanted me
to complete a survey
(over the phone).
I did that (providing no personal details).

The next day,
I didn’t have phone service.
My account had been suspended.

They fixed it
but the first opportunity I could,
I left that phone company.

If you punish negative feedback,
you won’t receive feedback
and, eventually,
you won’t have customers.

That seems like an obvious point
but clearly
it isn’t obvious to some companies.

A writer was complaining about
how she has 40 books (products) released
and her readership (customer base)
wasn’t growing
with each new release.

I asked her
“What are you doing
to link the number of releases
to the growth in readership?”

Are the releases related in some way?
Would the same readership
be interested in all of the releases?
Did she have a way to contact
the readers of each release?
Did she have a link to her newsletter?
Were these readers signing up
for her newsletter?
Was she reaching out
to new sources of readers?
Was she promoting
in a variety of places?

Sales only build
with each product release
IF our systems are designed
to do this.

If they aren’t designed
to build,
we unfortunately start
from zero with each new release.

If you want build,
design for build.
Capture customer information
and offer new products
to appeal to these customers.