Sales – Page 6 – client k

Friends And Buying Our Products

I was chatting to a buddy
yesterday
about the no promoting
on certain social media platforms
issue.

And she said,
“But if you chat with them,
you’ll become friends
and
then they will buy your books.”

My reply was,
“You’re my friend.
How many of my books
have YOU bought?”

There was a stretch of awkward silence
followed by a bunch of excuses.

That is my point
EXACTLY.

Friends often don’t buy
our products
or pay to use our services.
Don’t expect that
to happen.
Don’t build a business
around it happening.

And don’t assume
being best friends
with prospects
will lead to sales.

Often, the opposite
will happen.

Friends are the worst prospects.
Look elsewhere
for customers.

This might sound
like a great idea.
Outlaw promotion
and writers (business builders) will be forced
to talk about other things.

Except we’re f*ckin’ busy, Dave.
We don’t have time
to talk about random things
without, at least,
having the possibility
of selling our books
(selling our products).

If you want to attract
writers and other business builders,
you need to offer
something that will help us
sell our products or services.

We’re MUCH too busy
to socialize with complete strangers
for sh*ts and giggles.

Let us promote our products.

Why You Need Online Sales

Having a bricks and mortar
retail store
is super sexy.

We can point to it
and tell loved ones,
“I own that.”
We can wander the aisles
and talk face-to-face
with customers.

I get it.
It is a dream
of many business builders.

But, if you sell products,
I strongly suggest
you have a venue
to sell them online
also.

Why?

Because online venues
are a hedge
against pandemics,
natural disasters,
construction,
and anything else
that stops customers
from visiting our physical stores.

Right now,
my corner of the world
is being severely hit
by RSV, the flu,
AND COVID
all at the same time.

Sick people
(and people trying to avoid
illness)
tend to switch
from shopping
at their favorite physical stores
to shopping online.

It would be great
for them
AND for you,
if they could continue
buying from you.

Offer an online shopping experience
and
keep those customers.

Creating Holiday Spirit

We’re deep into
the holiday buying season
here in North America.

When we sell customers
gifts,
we’re selling them
the possibility
of happiness.

That is MUCH easier
to do
if our salespeople
are happy.

How do we accomplish
this
while they are working long hours
and dealing with
quite a few customers?

Some retailers host contests.
Some bring in treats
for their salespeople.
Some post a joke every day.

They create a festive environment
for their salespeople,
knowing that mood
will be relayed
to customers.

Ensure your salespeople
are happy
this holiday season.

Happy salespeople
sell more products.

We Have Choices

Yesterday,
I talked about
how I block people
who are possible threats,
even if they are experts
in a field.

I can do that.
Because I have choices.

There are many experts
in every field.
There are many prospective
business partners.
There are many possible
customers
or vendors
or influentials
or…
well… any type of person.

Listen to your instincts,
to the warning signs.

Don’t spend time
with people who give you
reasons to be afraid
or share the same space
with people
you don’t feel comfortable
being around.

There are over 8 billion people
on this planet.

Choose someone else.

A Useless Response Is A No Response

A couple weeks ago,
a politician
‘strongly recommended’
everyone wear masks indoors.

Medical experts
said that step was useless.
The average person
wouldn’t wear a mask
unless it was mandated.

The politician
isn’t a dumb a$$.
He KNEW recommending
that people wear masks
wouldn’t change anything.

He didn’t WANT to change anything.

But if he shared THAT truth,
the media and his opponents
would jump all over it.
He’d receive
re-election-crippling bad press.

So he took an action
that would have no impact
on anything
yet made it look like
he WAS taking action.

I’ve seen this happen
in business all the time.

Employees are leaving, for example,
due to their wages being sh*t.
Management, instead of increasing wages,
installs a suggestion box
in the break room.
It does nothing
but it looks like action
is being taken.

When the ‘solution’ to a problem
is clearly useless,
that leader doesn’t want
the problem to be solved.
The answer is ‘no.’

Small Deals Matter

A salesperson loved one
works for a HUGE tech company.
He regularly works on
million dollar deals.

He hustled to close
a two thousand dollar deal
last week.

Why did he care
about that tiny deal?

It might lead
to a larger deal
in the future.

But most importantly,
it puts him ‘on the board.’

When staff-reduction-focused
management asks for a list
of all the salespeople
who didn’t close a deal
this month,
his name won’t appear
on that list.

Of course, he is continuing
to work on the big deals.
But he has closed A deal
and that might save his job.

Chase the big deals
but close A deal
this month.

Discrimination Can Happen At Any Level

One of my buddies
is a skilled salesperson.
She is also very detailed-oriented,
which is why
she found it surprising
that legal
would block or significantly delay
every one of her deals.

Seeking to fix this issue,
she asked a trusted coworker
to look at her contracts
before she submitted them.

He found no issues with them.
This white male salesperson
said he had submitted similar deals
in the past
and received no pushback
from legal.

She submitted the contracts.
Legal blocked them.

She brought this issue up
at a department meeting.
Every woman in that department
had the same issue.

The Legal department of one
was an older white guy.

Recognize that the ‘isms
– racism, sexism, etc
– could happen at any level
in an organization.

Legal could block
the sales of female salespeople
in an organization.
The mail person
could ‘lose’ the deliveries
of people of color.
Reception could ‘fail to connect’
the calls for trans employees.

Monitor complaints
and
take them seriously.
Look for patterns.

Our organizations
aren’t truly exclusive
if someone within it
is discriminating against others.

Artists Need to Eat Also

A writing buddy
posted on social media
that she needed more sales
per book release
to continue self-publishing
her stories.

Many of the replies
from semi-strangers
implied she should be writing
for the love of it,
for the art,
not for the money.

That is complete bullsh*t.

Writers and other artists
are business people.
We are also humans
living on today’s Earth.
We need money
to pay for things
like housing, heat,
FOOD.

We wouldn’t pay
a doctor or lawyer
or the store clerk at the grocery store
in smiles or appreciation.

Our work is as valuable.
We SHOULD expect
to be paid
for our creations.

Ignore or, better yet, block
people
who make you feel bad
about expecting to be paid
for your writing or other art.

They aren’t your customers
and they certainly
don’t care about your well-being.

If You Won’t Change Their Minds, Stop Talking

I chatted with a reader
who hated romance novels.
She didn’t believe
happy was possible
for most people
and that included
imaginary people.

I presented points
but eventually
I realized…
I would never change her mind.
She would never believe
happiness is possible.

So I stopped talking.
I was wasting her time
and I was wasting my time
by talking about it.

We chatted about other things.
I realized I could never be friends
with someone
who didn’t believe I could be happy.
And we went our separate ways.

We don’t have to convince
everyone.
We don’t have to sell
our products/services/ideas/stances
to everyone.

Some people will never buy
and that’s okay
because there are
over 7 billion people
in the world.

We don’t need that sale.
We can stop talking.