Cutting Edge Marketing Tips

Each time a salesperson makes prospect calls, the prospects are either consciously or subconsciously asking themselves four questions. If you can answer each of these four questions to the prospects’ satisfaction, odds are that you will earn a share of the prospects’ business at an acceptable gross margin. Fail, and price will usually become the dominate factor.

Understand, however, that you’re unlikely to ever hear prospects actually verbalize these questions. Why?

Because most prospects respond poorly to change, so until they become extremely unhappy with their current source of supply, they will usually put up with a lot before they’re willing to actually make a change. So to speed up the conversion process, you must over the course of the selling process, answer these questions whether the prospect asks them or not.

Question #1: What can you do to improve my bottom line?

Helping a prospect become more successful, solve a pressing business problem or make more money is the single most effective way to earn a share of the prospect’s business. If you can do this well, you’ll earn the lion’s share.

To accomplish this, salespeople must develop their business acumen to the point that they know more about their prospects’ business than the prospect knows. Each month, read each of the trade magazines your prospects read, remove key articles and file by category. Used correctly, these articles can become an incredible marketing resource.

Interview super successful customers and find out what their keys to success are. Before you know it, you’ll become thought of as an expert. This is what consultative selling is all about.

Don’t be too timid to ask probing interview questions. Remember: Timid Salespeople Have Skinny Kids.

Question #2: How do your company’s services exceed those of my current supplier? Please be specific.

To answer this question, you must research your competitors so thoroughly that you can prove to your prospects that your company’s services can help them improve sales, raise gross margin, lower costs of doing business, save time, etc.?

And NEVER use the word service in the course of the selling process unless you mention a specific service.

Since 100% of all salespeople have told your prospect that their company provides excellent “service,” you must be specific to successfully differentiate your advantage.

Question #3: What can you personally do for me that the salesperson who is currently servicing my account either cannot do or does not do?

If your individual skills, personal services and/or business acumen are superior to what your prospects are receiving from their existing salesperson, you have a distinct advantage. Research the salesperson you’re up against thoroughly enough to discover your personal advantages.

Question #4: What’s in it for me?

This is the ultimate question all customers and prospects ask themselves before they switch sources of supply. Just about everyone operates in a highly competitive marketplace. Few customers and prospects are as astute at business as they are at performing their craft, so they are all looking for a competitive edge. So what’s in it for your prospects when they do business with you?

Again, be as specific as you possibly can. Think this question through. If you can’t articulate specifically why your prospects will be in some way better off doing business with you and your company than doing business with your competitor, odds are that they won’t change.

Answer these four questions effectively and the competitiveness of your prices will become far less important than it is currently.

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I spent one whole day in the vacuum cleaner business.

And it was long enoughto learn one of the best lessons.

The fellow I was attached to for my training day was a rumpled dumpling. He was the exact opposite of what you’d expect the company’s top salesperson to look like. He wasn’t cleanly shaven, didn’t speak well, and appeared in every single way to be pathetic.

He drove an ancient Chevy sedan with torn seats. If this guy was a moneymaker, a top earner, number one in commissions, then I was Superman, or so went my teenage thinking.

We knocked on doors, until someone answered.

Soon enough, a housewife straight out of Stepford, greeted us. He asked if he could have the privilege of vacuuming her living roomfree of chargesimply to dramatize the amazing Power Nozzle attachment that was exclusive to his machine.

She nodded, looking at me as if to ask, “Where did you get this partner, you poor boy?”

He revved up the one and a half horsepower motor and glided from one corner of the living room to the next, making small talk that no one could hear.

Then, he shut it off and said, “You keep a very tidy house, don’t you?

“I try!” she beamed.

Unlocking the back door of the hot dog shaped appliance, he deftly retrieved a full bag of soot and swiftly plopped it in a pile in the center of her rug.

This demo knocked the wind out of her, she became woozy, overcome by the revelation and humiliation that there was a ton of hidden dirt that her old standby vacuum was leaving behind.

“Oh, my gosh, look at that!” she gasped, reciting her role perfectly in this domestic drama.

Suffice it to say, he sold her this Cadillac of cleaners, and I walked with him to the curb, in a daze of my own.

We drove back to headquarters, and he and the big boss debriefed me. What did I think? Could I do this?

I said I’d think it over, and as we all parted company, I noticed that the frumpy salesman had changed his worn jacket for a snazzy cashmere sweater, and he suddenly looked two feet taller as he put the key into his off-hours car, his real driver: A brand new Cadillac.

His entire sales persona was a masterpiece, carefully calculated to make buyers feel sorry for him.

And it worked beautifully.

Although I didn’t feel I could do his act, I did walk away knowing one thing about selling: it is an art, a performance art, and some of the savviest practitioners don’t let their offstage identities interfere in the least with their onstage personalities.

That’s one powerful lesson.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman © 2006

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

First - being before all others. Fast - moving or able to move quickly. Foremost - first in rank, order, or place. Wouldn’t you like to be first, fast, and considered foremost in your business. Obviously, the correct answer is yes. Here are nine tips, hints, and practical ideas to get you on your way. These sales tips work.

1. First - All potential customers have needs. All potential customers have problems. All potential customers are never 100% completely satisfied with their current supplier. A professional salesperson recognizes these simple facts and uses prepared questions to uncover the hidden needs, problems, and dissatisfactions that every potential customer has. Once these have been uncovered, always try to have your potential customer quantify them for you in dollars. Every quantifiable problem is begging for a solution. That’s where your products and services come in.

2. First - The way to achieve number one is based on your ability to ask rock-solid and open-ended questions. Develop and use a minimum of ten questions. Your questions should get your potential customers to talk about their business, responsibilities, challenges, priorities, current supplier, current product, criteria for making a decision, the decision making process, expectations, and how they measure success. Note, that the person asking the questions is usually in control of the sales call.

3. First - Make every customer presentation a personalized one. If you ask enough questions, you’ll learn about your potential customer. The more you learn, the better your opportunity will be to tailor your presentation. The goal is to get the customer thinking your presentation is awesome. Run-of-the-mill presentations are neverawesome. When your product fits the customer’s specific needs it then becomes awesome.

4. Fast - Today more than ever, our biggest challenge is too much to do and not enough time to do it. Moaning and groaning aren’t solutions. Learn to prioritize everything. Start each selling day with a six-pack. No, not that kind. Have a written list of all the things you want to do each day. Prioritize your list by writing the numbers 1-6 next to the six most important things. If this is so easy why do so few people do it?

5. Fast - In sales we tend to over promise. We’re so anxious to get the business we make commitments based on perfect alignment and unreasonable assumptions. Every broken commitment, regardless how small, is a credibility deduction. Be slow to commit and quick to deliver and you’ll have a significant reputation.

6. Fast - Someone once said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” Pledge from this day forward you will never utter these words again, “I’ve always done it this way.” They are limiting words during these rapidly changing times. Ask these two questions often: How can I do it better? How can I do it faster? You headed in the right direction if you’re always attempting to do things better and faster.

7. Foremost - There are V.I.P.’s and F.I.P.’s. You don’t want to be the latter. A F.I.P. is a formerly important person. To remain a V.I.P. in your customers mind, mix high touch with your high tech. Buy and use an old fashioned fountain pen. Send two handwritten notes everyday. (10 per week, 500 per year, 5,000 per decade, and 10,000 over twenty years). It’s a real touch of class during these busy times. Also, go to egreetings.com if you want to send (free) greeting cards suitable for any occasion.

8. Foremost - You don’t have to be a lot better than your competition to win more sales. You need only be a little better. Having an edge doesn’t give you a lot, it gives you a slight advantage. Join the 1% club. Seek to do everything that affects your business 1% better. Imagine the consequences if you were 1% better in these areas; your questions, your prospecting, your networking, your telephone, your time management, your communication skills, your negotiation skills, your closing skills etc. Big things happen when you focus on being a little better.

9. Foremost - The principle tool for salespeople is words. You use words to make appointments, to build rapport, to ask questions, to make presentations, to handle objections, and to ask for the order. Words are the real key to success. To avoid getting mugged by your own mouth, choose your words carefully. You will take your skills to the
next level if you prepare and practice your words.

First - being before all others. Fast - moving or able to move quickly. Foremost - first in rank, order, or place. If this isn’t your style, you could always be last, slow, and lagging.

Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

Three year old Kara was throwing a tantrum. She didn’t want to go to bed, of that she was certain.

“Do you want to brush with the red or blue toothpaste?” her dad asked gently.

“Blue,” she says, glad to be given the opportunity to make a decision.

Ten minutes later, Kara was well tucked up, wondering when she’d agreed to go to bed in the first place.

You laugh at the story, don’t you?

The method used to get Kara into bed seems a bit like trickery. And who am I to say that it’s not? Yet I want you to pay
attention to one thing. Kara was glad to be given a choice between yes and yes.

Your clients are not much different

Clients come to you every single day asking you to give them a choice. A choice between yes and yes. Instead all you’re giving them is a choice between yes and no.

Mah friend, your bank account will see far better days if only you’d step back, and use the immense power of the choice between yes and yes.

Of course, you don’t have to believe that this choice factor works. You don’t have to believe your sales will go up. All you have to see is proof. So in the article below I’ll demonstrate the psychological factor of choice.How it can work for you and how it can turn against you and bite you in the you-know-where.

It all started on one stupid loss-making November’s day…

We were doing fine with the sales on our website when we made one change. I’m going to demonstrate the change in the article below so it would help for you to have the page opena
so you can see what I’m talking about.

If you look at this page at
http://www.psychotactics.com/hiddenlink.php
you’ll find that you get the choice to buy two packages. One is the copy of the Brain Audit and the other choice is a copy of the
Brain Audit + the Brain Audit Rip.

Till the middle of November, we had both the offers up. Then one ego-driven morning we decided to pull the plug on one choice.

We gave customers the choice between a yes and um..NO!

Almost within 24 hours, our sales started going south for no reason at all. We ignored this sickening slack for about a week. Then we looked back at what was working. And we put back the choice between yes and yes.

The customer was back in choice-ville and the sales soared.

But here’s the curious part

Among the two packages, one has a much higher price. Yet over 97.5% of customers, when given the choice between the two packages, chose the higher priced package.

The customer is no dumbo

No siree. The customer knows exactly what she wants. And when given the choice between yes and yes, she takes a decision to buy that which creates most value for her. Of course, if there’s an enticement to buy, as was in this case, then
there’s a far greater likelihood of her buying the more expensive product.

The customer is no dumbo…but I sure am

Think about it. If your revenue shot up. If customers were buying higher-priced products what would you logically do? Wouldn’t you take the same concept and use it everywhere you could?

You’d think a smart person would do that, wouldn’t you? (Which is why I qualified myself at the start of this paragraph). But no! As we speak, the only product that has a choice of YES and YES is the page I’ve already mentioned above.

Don’t stop at one point. Take the concept through it’s paces

If you’re in consulting, look at the choice between yes and yes. Are you giving the customer a choice between package A and package B. Or do you offer just one package? If you’re selling products, the concept of yes and yes choice stays put.

And once you’ve found that the concept works, puh-lease don’t
do the dumbo bit. Audit every possible thing you sell. And put in a yes and yes factor. Not only will this bring you higher quantity of sales, but also an a much better price on every product/consulting assignment you do.

I said yes and yes…NOT yes and yes and yes and yes

You, me, we all crave for choice. But give us too much and we go a little waka-waka in our brains. Because choice is based on rejection. To choose the strawberry flavour ice-cream, you must mentally refuse all the other flavours.

(Read article on: The Curse of Choice)
http://www.psychotactics.com/artchoice.htm

If you give a client too much to choose from, they will end up rolling their eyes, doing a RAM check and shut down their brains before you have time to do anything at all.

Keep your options simple. Keep the choice between yes and yes.

So that even a three-year old has no trouble choosing!

©2001-2005 Psychotactics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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