We don’t buy
from salespeople we don’t trust.
Establishing trust
is key.
How do you accomplish this?
“There are myriad ways
to establish trust,
including being punctual,
being prepared and
showing a genuine interest
in the other person.
Most important,
know your product and service,
and listen well to understand
the other person’s needs.”
Establish trust first
THEN pitch your product.
If I hand a prospective reader
a copy of my book,
there is a high likelihood
that she’ll buy it.
This is the puppy-dog close.
As Sydney Barrows
explains
“A customer is in the pet store
with a child who is begging for a puppy.
Not at all sure this is such a great idea,
or perhaps not sure if
this particular puppy is the right fit,
the customer will not commit
to the purchase.
The savvy salesperson offers to let them
take the puppy home for a few days,
assuring the parent
that the puppy can be returned,
no questions asked,
and a refund cheerfully given
if they decide they don’t wish to keep it.
How could you say no
to such a reasonable offer,
especially with your child right there
with those expectant eyes?
Of course,
the child falls in love with the new pet,
and there’s no way
the parent can return the dog
to the store.
Sold: one puppy.
It’s that simple.”
Once a prospect holds the product,
she is likely to claim ownership.
To avoid loss,
she has to buy the product.
Ask your prospect to hold the product
while you’re explaining its features.
A writing buddy asked me
for a virtual introduction
to my agent.
I contacted my agent,
talked up my buddy,
and then I talked to my buddy.
“Oops,” she said.
“I signed with an agent.
I don’t need the introduction any more.”
Since all of this took
less than a day,
I KNOW she was in serious talks
with the other agent
when she contacted me.
I didn’t know this at the time,
I looked like a dumb a$$
and I won’t ever put myself out
for her again.
When you’re asking someone
to virtually introduce you to someone else,
you’re asking them to risk that relationship.
Share ALL of the relevant information,
even if this risks a ‘no’.
New writers ask me
how I convinced reluctant publishers
to take a chance on my stories.
I didn’t.
When I got a rejection,
I moved on,
contacting the next publisher.
When I ran out of publishers,
I wrote another story
and tried to sell that one,
revisiting all of the publishers
who said no to me
with the previous story.
Andrew Vest,
Founder of
Preferling,
shares
“People ask me
how I won over investors
that were initially reluctant.
Here’s my secret:
I didn’t.
I began by
making a list of all the investors
I wanted to approach
about helping to fund Preferling,
then I started going down the list,
calling them one by one.
Some just flat-out said no.
Some were kind enough
to share their reservations
with me.
That allowed me
to adjust my pitch
for the next time.
And the next time.
Understand that
the ideal angel investor
wants to help,
sees the vision,
believes in the idea
and, most important,
believes in you and
your ability to execute the plan.”
You will hear no.
A LOT.
Accept it
and contact the next person
on your list.
Romance authors
often talk about hockey stick sales.
Sales are fairly flat and low
for many releases
and, then with a single release
(and no one knows
when this magical release will happen),
sales shoot to the million dollar range
and beyond.
The writer is suddenly a success
but this suddenly wouldn’t have happened
without all of the years of work and promo before it.
Readers, the media,
even other writers
don’t want to hear about the flat sales years
so writers usually don’t talk about them.
They allow their success to be seen as sudden.
Seth Godin shares
Trust is earned, value is delivered,
concepts are learned.
Day by day we improve and build an asset,
but none of it seems to be paying off.
Until one day,
quite suddenly,
we become the ten-year overnight success.
This is the way it works,
but we too often make the mistake
of focusing on the ‘suddenly’ part.
The media writes about suddenly,
we notice suddenly,
we talk about suddenly.
That doesn’t mean that
gradually isn’t important.
In fact, it’s the only part
you can actually do something about.”
If you don’t have
sudden and immediate success,
don’t give up hope.
Your ‘sudden’ success might happen
ten years from now.
The latest trend in romance writing
is serials,
a long story
split into multiple installments.
Some writers and publishers
are seeing this as a cash grab.
They’ll split a long novel
into 10 installments,
charging $3 for each shorter story.
Instead of selling the novel for $10,
they sell the novel for $30.
Readers aren’t dumb.
They know they’re being charged more.
Splitting the story often also
diminishes the reading experience.
Installments stop at random scenes.
Readers are complaining so loudly
that some writers refuse to ‘write’ serials.
I had a serial published last year.
I didn’t receive a single complaint
about the story being a serial.
Why?
Because splitting the story into parts
ADDED to the reader experience.
The story could only be written
as a serial.
Yes, it took a bit more planning
but the results were worth it.
Any change in your product
should benefit you AND your customer.
I write selling book blurbs.
I didn’t start my career
with this skill.
I obtained it
because I’ve written
over 70 blurbs.
I practiced and practiced,
becoming better with each blurb.
Carmine Gallo,
in a recent newsletter,
shares this story about
Warren Buffett
“Enrolling in a public-speaking course
was a good first step
to helping Buffett
build his confidence
as a public speaker.
The key, he said,
was signing up
to teach a night course
at the University of Nebraska—Omaha.
Buffett taught investment principles
to students twice his age.
He did it to force himself
to stand up and talk to people.
He improved his speaking skills over time
because he did it over and over again.”
Repetition is often key
to mastering a necessary skill.
One of my publisher’s employees
f*cked up.
She f*cked up big time.
I sympathize with this
as I f*ck quite often
so I emailed her quietly,
pointed out the error,
and waited for her to fix it.
She didn’t fix it.
She didn’t even respond to my email.
So I sent another email,
copying her boss.
The employee replied to me right away.
The next time,
she f*cks up
(and she WILL f*ck up
– we all do),
I won’t send the private email.
I’ll copy her boss immediately
and make a big freakin’ stink.
If you have hostile encounters
with your customers,
it is because you’ve trained them
to deal with you with hostility.
I’m often asked
what is the right way
to pitch a story to an editor.
It depends upon the editor.
My editor at the big New York publisher
is happy with a twitter-length pitch.
Give her one great line and she’ll buy.
One of my other editors
wants to see a 2 page synopsis (summary)
of the story
and a couple of sample pages.
Another editor
won’t contract without reading
the first three chapters
and an 8 page synopsis.
Pitching an 8 page synopsis
to the twitter length pitch editor
greatly reduces a writer’s odds of success.
When you’re pitching to
venture capitalists, resellers,
distributors, and others,
you’re facing the same situation.
Do your research
and find out HOW they want
to be pitched.
All products/businesses have weaknesses.
Coca-Cola has the obesity issue.
Walmart has the wages
and sourcing issues.
Romance novels have plot holes
(or WTF moments).
When I started writing romances,
I tried to ignore my plot holes,
hoping that readers or editors wouldn’t notice.
Someone always did.
Not addressing (or closing) these plot holes
made me look incompetent
and shook their trust in me
to tell a story.
Today, I deliberately search
my stories for plot holes.
I’ll ask beta readers to look
for any WTF moments,
moments that didn’t make sense.
“Anticipate questions
that address any weaknesses
in your argument
or controversial aspects
about what you’re presenting.
We often don’t spend the time
to prepare for these type of questions;
instead, we avoid them in hopes
the audience won’t detect the weak spots.
However, you can be sure
that if there’s a weakness,
someone will perceive it
and question you about it.”
Know your weaknesses.
Either eliminate them
or have an answer
when prospects ask you about them.
And they WILL ask.