Category: Sales

In Breakthrough Business Development,
Duncan MacPherson and David Miller
reco building profiles on all your top clients.

These profiles should include information about;
F(amily)
O(ccupation)
R(ecreation)
M(essage)

Message or the product you deliver
comes last
because without the trust and relationship built up
with the first three,
your message becomes a commodity
competitors can copy and lower price on.

Does this work?
Yes

When my novel released,
a headhunter buddy was
one of the first to mention it.
My novel had nothing to do directly
with our professional relationship
yet him remembering it
secured my loyalty.

I’m doing it with my romance blog.
Consulting companies do it with support agreements.
Stores do it with extended warranties.

Convert a one time buy
into a regular stream of income.

One perk of this strategy
is in justifying
the always questioned marketing spend.

An author buddy promoted his static website.
He got some great one time traffic.
There was no reason for readers to come back
so they didn’t.

I’m getting great traffic also
but because of the blog format,
the promise of a new story every week,
my readers are coming back.
I’m seeing readership build.

The result?
The two of us might have the same
number of our first titles sold
for this specific marketing push
but I have the potential
of selling my next title to the returning readers.
More value for the same
semi-pricey marketing spend.

John Jantsch has a great post
on the benefits of having prospects come to you,
rather than reaching out to each prospect.

Yes, I agree that having a prospect come to you is best
but that is a long term tactic.
Blog posts, workshops, ezine articles
all take time and repetition to work.

Entrepreneurs like you and I often need cash NOW.
That is why we reach out to prospects.
We cold call,
we send direct mail,
we go door to door if we have to.

This short term fix isn’t pretty,
it isn’t efficient
but it is often necessary
until the long term tactics give us a return.

Roots and the U.S. Olympic Committee have parted ways.

Was that a bad thing?

Roots co-founder Michael Budman didn’t think so.
He called the split “one of the best deals that
I’ve ever orchestrated for Roots.”

Would it have helped the bottom line?
No.
“We didn’t have anybody who wanted to buy the product,”
he pointed out.
None of the big U.S. retailers would sell it.

Would it have helped branding?
No.
The Olympic Committee wanted a more formal look
than the Roots brand is known for.

And then there are the protests.
“The Olympics represent something different to me now,”
Budman said in the same interview.
“It’s people being put in jail because they are protesting.”
No one wants their brand associated with that.

Just because a deal is high profile,
doesn’t mean it is the right deal for your company.

Apple has surpassed Wal-Mart
to become the top music seller in the world.
How did this tech company do that?
Especially with so much competition
in the digital music space?

Michael Greene with Jupiter Research credits
the 99 Cent Download as the big win.
Apple gave customers the ability
to pick only the songs they wanted
and offered them at an affordable price.

Can you break your product offerings
into bite-sized purchases?

I was approached to train some volunteers.
The interaction with the co-ordinator
went something like this.

“Could you do the training,
that is, unless you’re too busy.”
“Sure, I’m not too busy.” (A lie)

“If you don’t want to, I’d understand.”
“I want to.”

“Don’t feel like you have to say yes.”
“I’m not that nice of a person.”

“If the weather is bad and you have to cancel,
I won’t get upset.”
“If the weather is bad, I’ll leave earlier to get there on time.”

The conversation went on and on
until I wanted to cancel
so it would stop.

So many salespeople do this with their prospects.
They try to talk them out of the sale.
This isn’t being “nice”,
this is being irritating.

Once the customer says ‘yes’,
stop talking.

A loved one is at a conference right now.
This conference is held by his company
with the attendees major clients.

Of course,
his company is holding this conference
to build relationships and increase sales.
That is understood by everyone.

But why are the clients attending?
Hint: It is not to be sold to.

No, the clients are attending to meet with other clients.

Job 1 for the host company is
to faciliate this.
That means organizing meet and greets,
and not isolating attendees.

Why are clients attending your events?

Salesmen know stories sell.
Even on number driven Wall Street.

The New York Stock Exchange,
during its 144 years plus of history,
has only been open 3 Good Friday’s.
1898, 1906 and 1907.

Why?
Legend has it that,
despite protest by Irish-Catholic traders,
the markets opened on Good Friday, 1907
and that this “caused” the Panic of 1907.

Logic, facts, prove otherwise
but the legend persists.

A good story lives forever.

Sampling is not just for new customers. 
Companies use it effectively
to upsell current customers. 

For example: 
Schick included two “free” Xtreme3 razors
in a 10 pack of their value priced SlimTwin.
  The Xtreme3 is one price point up
but it is enough of a difference in quality
that users will feel the difference.  

Schick also packaged the two “free” razors
in the bottom of the bag. 
That way, that quality will be the last experience
the purchaser will have before buying a new set. 

How can you upsell your current customers? 

Seasonality is a factor in many industries. 
That is why we see ice cream advertising during the summer
and coffee advertising during the winter. 

But is seasonality alone enough to boost sales?
Do new product launches
and increased advertising
during this “hot” time
amplify sales even more?

Usually.
By how much depends on the industry.
A recent study shows that
two-thirds of movie ticket seasonal sale increases
are caused by underlying demand. 
The other third is caused
by blockbuster releases and increased advertising.