Oxymorons

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Yeah, these words don’t go together anymore.

 

 

Big Network:  Nope, you have no network if it’s too big.    Smaller is better.  Smaller is more influential.  Smaller is more trustworthy.  Too many connections or too many followers and too many fans and trust dissipates and doubt rises.   Micro Networks are growing and will grow and grow and then will split off and get smaller and smaller.  And then rinse and repeat.

 

Sales Expert:   They call me one but I know that phrase is dead.  Sales is marketing is sales is teaching is sales is training.  It’s all blending together now.  Marketing people sell and sales people market (and are marketed themselves).  Trainers sell (because knowledge is the new hot product) and trainers market and customers sell and customers market for themselves or you.   I see it every day.  It’s not always comfortable but that linear business model is no more- the prospects dear friends, have said they want it this way.

 

Closed Sale:  It’s a new game out there.  Nothing is closed when the sale is done.   Nobody need be loyal anymore.  Nobody need be local anymore.  It’s all about wanting to want to be.   So when a sales is closed, that is when selling really begins now.  When a sale is closed that is when investment and calories and phone calls and unbelievable customer experience has to begin.  It’s too easy to walk away now.  ClosedSale?  Hardly – it’s only just begun.

 

 

 

Till next time,

 

Grow The Business.

 

Mark

Sharpen Your Sales Message

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Stop yourself just for a moment.  Breathe.   And Think.   

Listen to yourself or look at what you are writing.  Is it really what it should be?

Sharpen your Sales Messaging.   

It’s odd sometimes how much energy we spend pulling all the levers that we do to improve sales but often don’t take enough time to look hard or re-look at the very first lever – the most critical lever: Sales Messaging.

If your sales messaging is poo then it doesn’t matter how often or in how many ways you say it or distribute that sales message – it’s still poo.

  • It’s not “We have a special right now..”,  it’s “This special we have right now is flying out the door..”
  • It’s not “We can help you get Online..”, it’s “We can help you get more good leads …”
  • It’s not “There’s a price break at 2,000….”, it’s  “Hold on, let me save you some money here…”
  • It’s not “I’m calling to see what your supply of..”,  it’s  “I’m calling to take something off your to do list..”
  • It’s not “We’ve updated the product to include…”, it’s “Most people are flocking to the updated product because….”
  • It’s not “We have a some brand new Holiday cards and gifts this year…”, it’s “ Let’s help you stand out from your competitors this year..”
  • It’s not “We can customize this for you and add those things you want..”,  it’s “Let’s make your life easier for you…”

You get it.

But be honest with yourself.  Are you doing it?

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Fool With a Tool is Still a Fool

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A fool with a tool is still a fool.

 

Me using a Weed Whacker?  Nah, I can handle that.   Me after logging into my website control panel or trying to build a half decent Facebook Business page?   Yep, that’s me as a fool.

 

Last week one of our customers said, “I so cherished the time with my marketing advisor because heck, a fool with a tool is still a fool”.   Everyone in the room nodded a collective head in agreement. 

 

It was beautiful.  

 

And timely.  Because right now is when to amp things up in small business that people cherish given the sketchy economy the confusingmarketing world we live in. 

 

Small Business success is a lot of things and successful Marketing is a big piece of it.   But successfulmarketing, (no matter how much we want it to be), is not a commodity, or a widget or something that spits out of an assembly line.  

 

Successful Small Businessmarketing is not just about using 3 random “tools” like Groupon, Emailmarketing and Pay Per Click plus 4 platforms, 5 posts, a bucket of content and a prayer.  Those are, without superb advice and counsel, just shiny and trendymarketing tools fluttering about meaninglessly unconnected and ineffective.

 

Here is the truth; successfulmarketing is a science.   It has a formula, a cadence, a structure and a path. 

 

And it needs to be learned.   And it needs to be taught.  And it needs to be studied.  And in this ever changingmarketing space, it needs to be continuously learned, taught and studied. 

 

And it’s not just onlinemarketing that needs the learnin’.   How to use demographic data to determine mailing lists, how to network in local business groups or how to use QR codes on your business cards or better,  how to connect online and offlinemarketing really well is not all that crystal clear for many small businesses either.

 

So if you are a small business owner or someone who helps them, quit obsessing with the marketing “tools” and realize that the lead story is the insight you need to use them. 

 

We fall into this trap in many parts of our working lives.  It’s easy but foolhardy to just see the “Whats” and grab on to those tools be they online or offlinemarketing wizardry or even sales tools like CRMs and online Demos.   It’s harder yet smarter to see, get or teach to the “How” of using these tools well. 

 

Insight, in the eyes of those who need it most it seems, is the most cherished tool of all.

 

 

 

Till next time,

 

Grow The Business.

 

Mark

The Most Powerful Phrase in Sales

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It’s the most powerful phrase in Marketing too.

It’s shocking how many of us in Sales forget to use it. Marketing folks forget it it too but not as often as they tend to proof stuff before prospects or customers see or hear anything.

Why we sales people forget it all the time is another blog for another day but what you must do now with this most powerful of phrases is jump on it and start using it today, this hour and in as many ways and places as you can.

The world is eating this phrase up right now. It’s never been hotter. Ever.

Interestingly the key to this is not rooted in what everyone thinks are the pillars of sales success like “Solving a problem” or ” Filling a need” or “Asking great questions” or even “Focusing on your customer”

This phrase is not about your customer. It’s not about you, your company or your product either.

And what’s really really cool about this powerful phrase is that it is easier than ever for you to use it. There’s more evidence to cite it, examples to help frame it, places and spaces to preach it, teach it and shout it out from the top of your cubicle, desk or chair.

It’s simple too. Here it is.

“What most people….”

What most people…What most people…. Say it with me, “What most people..!!”

Ahhhh.

Powerful.  Add  “do” or your favorite  action word or words – it doesn’t matter-and it all becomes gold! . What most people “say”, “ask”, “wonder”, “start with”, “buy”, “think about”, “try”.

The phrase is not about you. It’s not about the customer or the prospect either- it’s about people like them.

That is powerful. That gets attention. That starts and moves sales. That works.

We are sheep.  I’ve written and shared studies with all of you on how powerful what most people do is. We want to see the most fans on Facebook, the most likes, the ratings, what others bought, the plus 1’s, the followers on Twitter.  It’s all the same thing.  What most people do is what I the consumer or the business owner wants to know.

I’m no fool. Not every customer will follow mindlessly like sheep do. But I guarantee the phrase gets the head and heart to at least listen to what you have to say – and that is half the battle.

Work it in to your phone calls and presentations and not just around “What most people buy is“. It’s smart, effective and the most powerful phrase in sales.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Consistency

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Seems like not everyone “gets it” these days.

 

Open your shop 15 minutes late or have your product fail, or disconnect a caller even once and those prospects that were waiting in your parking lot, or considering the upgrade or just looking for pricing won’t come back like they used to.   

 

It’s too easy to go somewhere else.

 

And it’s easier now to tattle on your inconsistencies, making even infrequent inconsistency seem like an epidemic.

 

Consistency isn’t sexy like your Groupon Sales plan or your YouTube buzz, yet its absence more than ever, can kill your wildest of business dreams. 

 

 

Till next time,

 

Grow The Business.

 

Mark

 

 

Mondays are busy.  All Monday posts are 100 words or less. 

Lois’ Lessons

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I think of how good it is to create opportunities for others, for that is really the best you can do.  What we do with those opportunities of course, is up to us.

I think of how good it is to heed the advice of “offer it up and move on!”   That counsel is authored by many, yet so few of us act accordingly with any consistency.  We should pledge to do better.

I think of how good it is to unexpectedly just send a note or a check or even yourself to someone in need.  And to do it unannounced and tell it to no one.  There is something so pure about that.

I think of how good it is not to waste time.   It’s never coming back.  Spend those “down” times learning or helping or creating something if not for yourself, then at least for someone else.

I think of how good it is to make those individuals close to you feel like it is just you and them; and that “No, there is no one else but you”  that I focus on or care about.  If you can pull that off, you are wondrous.        

I think of how good it is to spend a life in the care or protection of others as a career and as a parent.  Blessed are those that don’t leave work at work, but rather without missing a beat, bring the best of that work home every single night.

**

I think of these things because later today my family and I will more formally remember someone who taught me so much about what you read here.   I was not my Mother’s greatest student in these lessons but am smart enough to know they do live tattered and duct taped somewhere within me.   

She centered her life on caring; on making you feel like you “were the only one” she was thinking about and always surprised or helped when you never expected it.   Above all, she made, prayed and worked very hard to make opportunities for us.

Her passing this week is difficult but an opportunity at home or at work for all of us, especially me.    Be more purposeful about embracing the lessons of my mother, Lois.   

Go ahead and steal shamelessly from her (but don’t tell anyone); she’d like that.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Inside Thoughts

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I suspect some things are better left unsaid.   

I know this when my 14 year old son, mortified about something I’ve just uttered, hangs his head and tells me,  “Dad, I think that….. was an inside thought.”

Here are 6 random thoughts that probably should have stayed inside but if they did, there would be no blog today. 

  • I saw those “End of the World 5.21.11” Billboards over the last few months while traveling but no lie, I did not make the connection to the Rapture thing until this last Sunday – I thought they were just an ad for new movie coming out.

 

  • I think Old School Prospecting is dead.  Really dead; not even a fundamental anymore.  New School Prospecting today is about giving something of value freely first – be it product, information, kindness, advice or a stick of gum.  But it won’t be just “give free” for long – soon enough we’ll all have to Future School it and “buy” the right to be heard all the time.   I’m OK with that.

 

  • I worry that someday I’m going to watch TV and see my headless body walking down the street (“Hey, that’s my shirt!  Hey, I have those same pants!  Hey that’s (gulp) me!”) as Eyewitness News does yet another story on obesity zeroing in on those fat belly close ups.

 

  • Consensus decision making is overrated.  It has its place but an important decision or action that takes 5 times longer when 8 to 80 people get involved is a problem.  Add to that, that the quality of that decision often degrades with everyone “giving in” along the way, ending in a watered down decision or plan.  Some decisions are better made by just you with whatever degree of input you want or need.  That goes for buyers, sellers and everyone in between.

 

  • Who decided so many years ago that people who answer a phone should enter orders or update screens?  Isn’t the skill of verbal communication something to rethink as far as value goes?  Answer the phones hands free! – The art of the language and the phrase.  What could we do with an obsession and admiration of that?

 

  • Phone selling is going away.  It’s coming full circle.  Years ago it was always face to face and before you know it, it will be again.   Smile at your Tablet folks,  your non verbal expressions are going to matter again!

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Lyrical

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I remember fighting off my brothers and diving for that sports section each morning.  I loved to read his columns.

What a thrill to meet him last week.

“I try to be lyrical” he told me about his sports writing.  “But today nobody really cares about that – just bang it out.”

Sad.  Great communication is lyrical.  It has a cadence; it captures hearts, minds and dollars.   

And it will come back. 

Great communication skill of all types will matter again as soon as we get past this giddy era of dumping content anywhere and in anyway we can.

Be ready.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Mondays are busy. All Monday posts are 100 words or less. 

Have A Voice Dawg

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You have a great voice. 

I’m not talking about your American Idol Steven Tyler “Demon of Screamin” voice here that makes Randy Jackson grin.  Rather it’s the voice that is your perspective, your message, your way.    

That voice matters, maybe now more than ever.   That voice needs to be heard. 

You can be “voiceless” by being a fantastic collector and sprayer of facts, figures, options, processes, policies, product specs, special offers, FAQ’s or even of opinions. 

But having a voice means you chose something.  It means you chose some way. 

And nothing influences people more – especially today.

You see, it’s an odd thing this abundance of information we live in.  There is so much of it everywhere and in every way that it is often paralyzing.   There’s a longing that is growing now in consumers and small businesses that when they finally get to talk to a real live human being like you – especially one that has built a semblance of trust, to grab hold of you, shake you at your shoulders, drop to a knee and plead:

“What do you think?” 

Not all business owners and decision makers ( by a long shot) want to do all the research, the analysis, the comparisons or read all  the posts, Tweets and articles before making a decision.

Especially when they can’t discern credible content from just plain ol’ content.   And that, in the plugged in world we live in, is where we are today.

So choose that voice, human!   Have a suggestion.  Have a recommendation.  Have advice.  Have an opinion.  Have a strong opinion.    Heckl, have a soapbox, a vision and a darn dream for your customers.

You can choose to have your voice be based on your own beliefs or of those people or companies or content that you trust, love or study.  It doesn’t matter; if you believe it and you share it; it’s your voice.  

And that, as Steven Tyler would say is.”Yeow-Yak-Yak-Yak-Ooww!”

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

98 Words on That Ringing In Your Ear

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Someday not far off, that phone will ring in your office or in your ear but it won’t ring because someone wants to place an order or because someone wants more information about your product or service.  Those days are fading away.

Someday that phone will ring because someone has an important business problem;  a marketing, sales, service, security or even reputation problem and doesn’t know what to do, where to start or how to fix it.  And that someone will need a talented, brilliant person to help them.

When that phone rings then, will you answer it?  

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Mondays are busy. All Monday posts are 100 words or less.