Posted by admin on April 16th, 2008 — Posted in Universe Of Sales
We would all like to think that our product or service is flawless. More importantly, we would like for others to believe that as well. But no matter what you sell, a drawback (sometimes several) will always exist, even if only in the mind of your reader-prospects. Either way, you MUST address the issue up front. In fact, if written properly, “the damaging admission” can actually be used to your advantage.
Too many times, sales letters attempt to convince reader-prospects that there’s nothing wrong with the product or service…that it is absolutely perfect. This kind of hyperbole will actually persuade some people, but your credibility will suffer with more others. There’s nothing wrong with positioning your product or service to sound better than the competition, but to position it as perfect is a huge mistake. Admit your fault(s). Just be sure to show their real significance (or lack of) in proportion to the overall purchase.
A damaging admission must be 1) credible and 2) useful.
A damaging admission is only credible if it’s real– no product is perfect, so you shouldn’t have to make up a damaging admission. Work-at-home opportunities are notorious for poor persuasive techniques, many to this effect: “Hey, we understand that some people don’t want to make more money. That’s okay–this new program isn’t for everyone. It’s only for those who want a steady stream of residual income.” That’s a ridiculous statement and it isn’t even a real argument. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t like to make more money. Making up a false negative only hurts your image.
A damaging admission is often used to exclude (or appear to exclude) potential customers who might be turned off by the facts related to the admission. This can be useful for eliminating time-wasting “tire kickers.”
For example, if your product is expensive (but not prohibitively so for your target audience) then say so up front. Explain that the price is high, but that quality, customer service, etc., makes up for the price and even saves money over the life of the product. This will exclude many people who have no real intention of buying but still want more information. Plus, a higher price often creates the perception of increased value.
(If you decide to use price as a damaging admission, make sure your product will stand up to the test after the purchase, or be prepared to see sales drop off quickly.)
A damaging admission can be used to demonstrate a reason for a discount. Consider a recent example in the Dallas/Fort Worth area: a few days after a hailstorm, a local car dealership advertised lowered prices as part of a “hail sale.” Their “damaging admission” was that many of the cars had been marked by the hail, so the dealership was forced to offer the cars at discount prices.
Were these cars really damaged? Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, the dealership seized the opportunity to use a “damaging admission” to their advantage and have a special sale. The success of the campaign would depend on whether the damaging admission was credible. Were the discounts proportional to the supposed hail damage? If not, customers might think they’d been fooled. Because there was an actual hailstorm, however, the admission was probably accepted as credible.
When you write a sales letter, you’re engaging in a one-sided conversation. You can’t be present to answer any objections the reader might have and you can’t be there to respond to concerns about your credibility. Make sure your sales letter does this for you.
About The Author
Matthew Cobb is an independent copywriter/consultant. He can be reached at contact@cobbwriting.com or by visiting www.cobbwriting.com, where you can sign up for his monthly e-pub, The Copy and Content Clinic.
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Posted by admin on April 11th, 2008 — Posted in Universe Of Sales
It is a fact of life for most new sales people; they get the dream sales job with unlimited earning potential and expect to earn so much money that they can now enjoy the fruits of their coming wealth. Everything seems perfect until they realize that before closing a sale and earning the big commission, they must first prospect for new customers (read, cold calls). Cold calling is hard to do. People hate to make cold calls and people hate being on the receiving end of them as well.
Prospecting is the most difficult part of the sales job. There are many ways to go about it but, for some reason, sales managers preach cold calling as the only way for young sales people to generate leads. As someone who has been through it, I wish that these attitudes would change.
I recently read one of the best selling books on cold calling. In this book, the author stresses persistence. He uses the 15-3-1 rule. That is, you need to make fifteen cold calls to make three appointments with prospects. Out of these 3 appointments you will close one sale. By being persistent and making fifteen cold calls a day, this will translate to, on average, one sale a day, five sales a week, twenty sales a month, etc. Further, the author explains that he doesn’t mind the rejection that he gets when he cold calls. The reason is that since it takes fifteen calls to get an appointment, that means that he will hear the word “no” (rejection) fourteen times before he hears the word “yes.”
This is simplistic and anybody reading this book may get overexcited and think that this is easy. It’s not easy and the author’s arguments don’t hold up in real life selling.
Take the fifteen cold calls a day rule. Anybody reading this book will think that fifteen cold calls a day is nothing. If it takes 2-3 minutes to make a phone call, it shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes to make your mandatory 15 calls. Then the rest of the day is spent selling in front of prospects.
But it doesn’t work this way. If you’ve ever cold called, you will know that it usually takes at least 10 phone calls to reach a decision maker. Think about it, executives aren’t sitting in their offices waiting for your call. They’re either on the phone, in meetings, on vacation, or they just don’t want to talk to you. So now, to talk to fifteen people, you need to make 150 cold calls. This is not 45 minutes of work; this can take days.
Further, for someone to say that he enjoys hearing the word “no” because it means he is getting closer to a “yes” is just misleading. Although a select few people can take this kind of rejection day in and day out, most cannot. It is only human nature to be discouraged by so much rejection.
There are better ways to get sales leads and increase your sales. People buy from people that they trust. Your time should be spent networking with your friends, colleagues, and business contacts. Get referrals, get introductions, get testimonials and the sales will come. Not only that, your job will be better; nobody likes the rejection and time consuming nature of cold calling.
Tino Buntic is a former insurance broker and ex-cold-caller. He is currently an entrepreneur and has created a system to get sales leads without cold calling with his website www.trade-pals.com
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Posted by admin on April 3rd, 2008 — Posted in Universe Of Sales
Most consultants are like cab drivers. Cab drivers run the meter. They throw the luggage in the trunk (that’s a $1.00 bag charge). They may or may not be personable. If you have extra passengers, that’s $1.50 each on top of the mileage. No smoking. And the radio is tuned to their favorite station - not yours.
Most consultants charge by the hour or the day. The meter is running. When you need a special report or their attendance at an onsite meeting, there’s your bag charge. They may or may not be personable to anyone other than the executive who hired them. If you need additional work or facilitation or expertise, there’s a fee “on top of the mileage.” And most times, you’re locked into their “radio station” - tuned to their methodologies, their licensed tools, their processes - not yours.
What if you came across a dramatically different kind of cab driver? Let’s call him Ike.
1. Ike has his own business card with his personal cell phone number, a rocket logo and a humorous tagline, such as “Strap in. Hang on. Here we go!” One of his cab’s notable features is the Hot Wheels steering wheel cover. Your initial impression might be that he is direct and, most importantly, fast.
2. In addition, Ike is a great listener. This would be in contrast to some “real character” cab drivers, who are great talkers.
3. Ike takes credit cards and proudly displays the Visa and American Express decals inside his cab. A credit card transaction costs him between 2 and 4% of every sale. (The cab company does NOT subsidize this fee - it’s up to each individual driver to decide whether to accept credit cards or not.) But it also makes him easy to do business with - and, coincidentally, increases the likelihood of getting a nice tip.
4. Ike is proactive and offers suggestions. For example, when a passenger asks Ike for a good restaurant recommendation, he has a few of his favorite places in mind and a restaurant guide available right in the front seat of the cab. Ike will offer to take his passenger to the restaurant, and also to come back at an appointed time to save the hassle of tracking down another cab. He is never late. Does Ike profit from this? Sure. Does Ike’s passenger? Sure. Will some cab drivers refuse to come back at a set time for fear of losing a juicier fare or a longer ride that may or may not come along? You bet.
5. When picking up or dropping off from the airport, Ike always finds out a little bit about his passenger. Is this his first time in town? How long is his visit? If Ike discovers that his passenger has come for business and hasn’t any time to see the sights or experience the city, he offers to take the passenger on a 10-minute sightseeing tour of downtown. Pointing out the highlights, sharing a little history, and telling a few stories, Ike has his passenger back on his way with a real flavor of the city that he loves. Is this a gimmick to add 10 minutes to the meter? With some cabbies, it might be. But Ike’s passion and knowledge and eagerness to share it with his passengers cannot be faked. Would a friend do the same for you on your way out of town? Absolutely.
Let’s turn our focus to the lessons for consulting. Feel free to compare these consulting tips with the corresponding lessons from the taxi business above.
1. Successful consultants stand apart - both in form and in substance. Sales trainer, consultant, and author Jeffrey Gitomer uses a half-dollar sized coin with his image and contact information (and some clever slogans like “In Sales We Trust”) engraved on it as his business card. People not only remember it, they keep it and they show it to their friends. Your initial impression might be that he is successful, funny, creative, and different than every other “me-too” sales trainer wearing a nice suit and carrying sharp white business cards (yawn).
2. Successful consultants are not good listeners. They’re DEEP listeners. “Good” listeners use surface tricks and techniques like “active listening” and “matching and mirroring.” Deep listeners listen with no agenda. Your listening focus should be on empathy - literally “feeling WITH” the client - and understanding the issues behind the issues. This isn’t a trick you learn in “consulting school.” This comes from your heart and your genuine interest in helping the client improve their situation. Deep listening will help you understand the real value that the client seeks from you.
3. Successful consultants are easy to do business with. One of the world’s finest consultants, Alan Weiss, says in his book Million Dollar Consulting, “you have to spend money to make money.” Part of that money should be spent on things that will make you easy to do business with. Some of these things are almost trivial - being able to accept credit cards, having an 800 number, etc. And some of these things will be a major investment of time, effort, thought, and energy. Like designing a resource-rich web presence or moving to value-based fee-setting so people get you and your expertise without concern over when you punch in and out on the time clock.
4. Successful consultants are proactive and offer suggestions. Flexibility is a great source of strength. So is forward movement. When consulting with large organizations, it is easy to fall into their trap of “analysis paralysis.” Especially with all the hype around “getting close to the customer.” The danger for consultants in getting too close to the customer is that you’ll get mired in the same quicksand you’ve been brought in to rescue them from! Keep moving, and always offer options. It could be as simple as “Plan A or B or C,” but giving choices always enhances collaboration and provides a sense of shared responsibility for outcomes. And it’s harder to say “No” when asked “Chocolate or Vanilla or Strawberry?” Ideally, your clients will say “Wow, they ALL sound delicious.” Then you are in a position to make a recommendation based on your deep listening (See #2!)
5. Successful consultants work from passion, knowledge, and eagerness to help. The irony of this is that the more easy and effortless the work for the consultant, the greater the value it has for the client. For the consultant, the intersection of joy and business is called profit. Marketer, speaker, and author Seth Godin believes that in any business relationship, the sooner you ask for money, the less you will get. This has interesting implications for the consulting business, where knowledge and expertise (and to a certain extent, even conversation) has monetary value.
I happen to believe in the concept of value-first selling. In other words, you should give clients valuable information and point them to resources they need, even before you’re hired. You should work to make prospects think, “Wow, this guy is a goldmine. Imagine what we’d get if we actually HIRED him.”
Now a lot of sales and consulting experts call this “spilling the candy in the lobby” and they advise strongly against it. And I would advise against it too - if you’re only carrying one bowl of candy. But without bragging, I can safely say that among great consultants (people who work at the intersection of passion and knowledge and eagerness to help), we’re a veritable candy store and are not likely to run out anytime soon by sharing our gifts with clients that are hungry for what we have to offer.
Would you help a friend with your knowledge and expertise? Sure you would. Perhaps clients are simply friends that pay you money? Think about it.
Beep, beep. “Hop in!”
Marketing and innovation expert David Newman has written 8 books and has been quoted in dozens of national media outlets. David is also a sought-after speaker and seminar leader. Visit http://www.unconsulting.com for more free articles and resources.
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