From Have to Believe

It’s best to move on now from what you have, to what you believe.

If you are transforming from a commodity-like company to a knowledge and service based company, its best to move on from what you have, to what you believe.

So many of us are doing just that. Whether we are a company or a sales rep or a marketer or a trainer; more and more of us are adding (or must add) insight/ intelligence to our stable of widgets or even in some cases, instead of our widgets.

The market is starving for direction.

Don’t get me wrong, what you have is fine for they are the products and services. Thankfully, they pay the bills and feed the kids.

But too often we eagerly share, shout and talk about those products and services. Too often we earnestly show what we have for products and services on our websites, in our phone calls and during our webinars. Too often we study too hard about what we have for products and services. Too often we train too much about what we have for products and services.

And we spend so little time talking about what we believe.

That’s right, what we believe. What your company believes. What you believe.

You thought I was going to tell you to focus not on what we have but on what your products and services do for the customer; how they solve a problem, how they fit a need.

Good lord, that is so 80’s. And that’s table stakes now.

Belief sharing is better. Belief sharing is needed now more than ever. Belief sharing is the new black.

We spend so little relative time in sharing our credible prescriptive path to success for our customers. We spend so little relative time espousing our beliefs about the direction our clients must go to achieve what they want to achieve.

Products and Services are critical yes, but amazingly, they are too often fun, too easy to count, too easy to have sales on and in fact can crowd out the very essence that they should be an extension of a very passionate and clear belief– not just about what our products and services do but what we believe the path is to get there.

An obsession about what we have may work well for widgets, gum and shoelaces, but what we believe matters more if we profess to be in the Advice and Counsel game; the Insight game or the Knowledge and Service game as so many of us do ( and need to do).

Customers are drawn to those who have passionate beliefs. Small businesses for example, line up to get counsel from SCORE, to join Mastermind groups, to access advice and counsel from Hubspot, DuctTape Marketing and Amex’s Open Network. .

The difference between saying “We have this and this and this……” and “We believe the best route to success is …” is awesome. And powerful.

What you believe in the knowledge and service game sells the products and services that you have. It’s not the other way around.

We must also be consistent about those beliefs from the company home page to the person in the field or on the phone. And we must be different from the competition. And we must be religiously true to those beliefs as if they were inscribed on tablets made of stone; not just in what the results will be but in the prescriptive method of how those beliefs are executed upon.

It’s OK to teach and lead customers to your beliefs. It’s more than OK. In a shaky economy and a world that gets more confusing everyday, it’s got to be your lead story now.

For without that rock solid, credible path about what you believe, nobody will come to you, or listen to you or give a darn about what products or services you have no matter what they do.

Take a stand. Have a belief. Preach it, teach it, brand it, package and sell it. Leave the obsession with products and services behind.

If your customer is so inspired, have no fear, they’ll ask you what you have.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

When Just Do It is Just Worse

Tried to fix a vacuum yesterday. Almost did too.

Nearly finished, I dropped the vacuum putting the last screw in. Exploded all over kitchen floor. Now it won’t even turn on.

I do this a lot. I get all jacked up on a whim to tackle these little projects usually on a weekend. Move a couch and instead rip the fabric. Fold down the lawn mower to make room in the shed and instead snap off the starting rope. Change the shower head cuz’ gosh darn it, the other one is so old and now I’ve got a leak I didn’t have before.

When I do these little projects things often get worse. I realize I don’t prepare or think too much in advance of these things. I just do it.

And if I’m honest with myself sometimes this happens at work too (though with my boss subscribing to this blog too, I’d rather not share exactly what I’ve made worse thank you very much :))

But the hindsight view is usually the same – it’s a result of not a whole lot of preparation or thought before tackling an issue or an opportunity; I get all jacked up and um… just do it.

When just do it makes it just worse, then it’s time to ditch that catchy marketing phrase at home and at work and just leave it on the ball field.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

5 Tips for Better Summer Selling

It is engrained in all of us whether we are buyers or sellers; this summer season.

We all went to school at one point in our lives and most had “summers off”. More of us had summer vacations than winter vacations. There are more 3 day weekends, barbecues and down time no matter where you live during the summer season. It’s just the way it is.

And if you own a business or sell to a business that physiological indoctrination doesn’t just go away. It’s there.

So that old belief about selling and buying being a bit tougher in the summer has some truth to it.

It can be tougher. But rather than fight it; Embrace it.

Intensify Activity Mon – Wed: The summer weeks get compressed. Bring your A game to Work Habits and Sales Skills in a big way Monday through Wednesday. Start early and stay late. These three days in the summer week are the times when attention, interest and consideration of what you have to offer is best consumed. By the end of the week on a Thursday or Friday, the decision maker wants not to discuss much more (or can even find all the right players to gather and discuss) your proposal – but they do want to be able to make that decision, call you, get it done and move on.

Free Up Client’s Time; It’s about sharpening your sales messaging during the summer. There isn’t necessarily more time for business owners or executives to take off, but there is a strong desire to do so. Make your visits or calls to “take something off the plate”, or “to wrap things up before August”. The summer is when it is especially important to remind clients how brief and easy it will be to get things done. Talk in “minutes” not “appointments”, talk in “3 simple steps” not in “Let’s get this process started”. Time pressure in the summer is often higher than the rest of the year.

Focus on Low Stress Contacts: You don’t want to disappear from your customers mind for 3 months, so summer is the perfect time to arrange face time or phone time but in low stress (ah…summer…) ways. Arrange for the customer satisfaction survey, the yearly review, the product review session or the just plain ol’ “thank you for your business” call or meeting. Ask about ways you can make working with you easier or better. Ask about what’s happening with their social media efforts and how that’s going. These moments can often lead to a summer sale but if not, they at least keep you in mind.

Summer Clearance; You don’t hear about winter clearances much. And every savvymarketer knows if you have a reason for a sale like “We are changing over our inventory!”, or “Clearing out overstock!” people will buy. Summer clearance makes sense; create the need. You can create your own summer clearance message as a salesperson or within a sales team and frankly, the smaller the time window “July Fire Sale before they are all gone!” the better.

Focus on Strategy: Business owners or C-Suite types aren’t shutting down their brains in the summer. In fact, though vacation time is up and speed to decision time often slows, this is the time that these folks are thinking strategically. They are planning next year’s budget, ormarketing objectives, or sales strategies during the summer. Now is the time to plant those strategic seeds with your client that can help them. Share industry best practices, white papers or send links to informational pieces and talk strategy be it during a planned meeting or when they call you.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Oxymorons

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

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

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

Silence is Not Golden (And 2 Ways to Avoid It)

Silence is not golden.

It might be in the movie theater or as your buddy starts his back swing, but not in Sales.

I get the whole “Don’t be the first to speak ” thing in Sales when trying to close a deal- it’s pretty 80’s but that kind of silence has it’s place I guess.

But more often than not, silence from a customer in Sales means either they don’t care or they are confused.

I’ve written plenty about the don’t care silence problem but confusion makes people quiet too you know.

I heard silence from a customer named Kelly last week. I was listening in as she called about a service offering. Dead silence……………….. as the sales rep shared the values of the service………. till she finally said, “I have no idea what “_______” means”. It was a critical piece. She breathed a sigh and chuckled. She was embarrassed.

Have you ever been in a meeting and no one says a word? It’s not always because people don’t care. Silence happens when smart people get lost in a sea of unfamiliar acronyms or in stories of experiences that just aren’t making sense for the discussion.

Did you ever clam up in an electronics department not because you didn’t want the product but because the sales rep wasn’t making sense to you and so you just stopped talking and muttered “all set” and walked away?

You must know your audience. You must know the relative complexity of your products. Kelly was a small business owner; a prideful person with a fairly large ego. Confusion can make people feel dumb. Confusion can make people tense, even angry. And most critically, Confusion can stop the talking and the sales process cold.

2 ways to avoid the Confusion Silence.

1.) When it is 1 to 1: When it is just you and he/ she over the phone or face to face; (i.e. nobody else around) – you can ask a simple question before you begin to converse, sell or service. “To make this most helpful for you, could I ask if you would consider yourself very knowledgeable with _______ , somewhat knowledge, or not that familiar with ___________?” This gets that answer without embarrassment. This respects that just because you live and breathe your job’s products and processes everyday- most of your clients and prospects don’t – and are starting from a different place than you.

2.) In a meeting with more than 1 person: When the room goes quiet and you start to think nobody cares, stop and wonder “are people just confused?” You could ask that question out loud (like everyone else ridiculously does) and get of course, no response (not many folks want to shout out “I don’t get it!” in front of others) or you can inject this phrase “At this point, some folks often ask about _________ “ or “Sometimes people ask me ________________about this” and then look around the room. If you get sudden eye contact from some or head nods, you know you’ve got confusion silence happening and you need to delve differently.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Training Veteran

I flew on Monday.

He was a talker. We discovered we were both in Training.

I’m not often speechless. But with Dennis I was all ears.

He’d been in training for 40 years and was heading home. It was his last trip he said. He was retiring from the game.

His big thing about training was the customers. Not the learners so much – but the customers of those learners. That’s what drove him. All his years of training was for them. It made sense.

Don’t get me wrong, he loved the learners too. He spent his life figuring out the best way to teach and shared that in the end, it was the work ethic of the students themselves and their willingness to practice that made all the difference in the world. That made sense too.

Testing was an obsession with him. In his training experience, knowing and certifying for absolutely sure that his charges understood the content and could prove it not just in class but in the field months later, was critical. Made perfect sense.

You see, we are both in training. So I get at the most basic level what that means, how important it can be and how hard it is to do.

But I train stuff that just helps people. Dennis trains stuff that saves lives.

Dennis was on his way back from another year in Afghanistan. He was a former military man now working for the Department of Defense and the Training leader of a bomb finding dog training school saving the lives of American soldiers with his Belgian and German Shepherds clearing roads by sniffing out IED’s.

While the odd commonalities of our training worlds struck me, it was of course the differences that made me speechless.

“It’s tough, one of my crew lost both of his legs three weeks ago in a remote detonation and his dog took a lot of shrapnel. They’ll both be OK…. ” He stopped, leaned forward and looked beyond me out the window.

“Oh my, look at the grass, look at the trees…” he said with a voice trailing a bit as we neared landing. His eyes were misting perhaps an understandable mixture of sadness and joy.

“Vietnam, Panama, Desert Storm, Desert Shield…and all that sand and all that nothingness….It is so good to be getting home.”

When we landed and I thanked him for all those years of service he just shook my hand, winked and smiled. It occurred to me that perhaps Dennis was not really that much of a talker after all and given the troops he trained – didn’t need to be. That today on this flight, maybe he just needed to talk.

Maybe I was just lucky enough to have the honor and the privilege of sitting next to an incredible trainer on a very special day of his invaluable life.

Thank you Dennis. Thank you.

Love

I’ve gotten a lot of good natured ribbing lately about the word “Love”.

Yeah, I helped the talented staff here and designed a short training a couple of weeks back around a particular sales effort. I recommended that salespeople use the word “love” in voicemails and conversations they have with folks.

Darn proud of it I am. It’s good thinking. Heard we got some sales rollin’ in too.

You don’t like the idea? Feels uncomfortable for you? Too bad. You are missing the point.

It’s not the word “love” that matters as much as what that type of word does.

You have a choice. Do you want to sound like every other Sales or Account Rep calling or leaving voicemails for clients and prospects or do you want to be different?

Do you want to be the 11^th voicemail the small business owner picks up that is not a needed customer, or their accountant, or a family member but instead is a sales rep (you) and pray that your brochure-like language gets an inkling of attention? Or do you want to be memorable?

In Voicemail your biggest obstacle isn’t how you deliver your value, or how you position your offer or if you can sound credible – it’s the dang Delete button.

You bore and you are no more.

A word like “Love” in a voice mail or in the first minute of a conversation as in “We sent you a coupon for this because we love you” makes wonderful sense when you are calling on customers with any tenure to your organization. A word like “Love” as in “I love what you are doing, opening a new business- that is exciting” when working with prospects will surely get attention.

Still feels awkward? It just doesn’t feel right still?

Find a way. You are still missing the point.

“Love” and words very much like it, engage something wonderful in a customer or prospect. They don’t expect to hear that and in one word, it signals uniquely what you think of them – which is impossible to go unnoticed. No other vendor, sales rep or partner leaves words like “love” on a voicemail today let alone in a conversation. And maybe, just maybe if you do this – that customer or prospect will perk their ears up, listen to the rest of the message and who knows, write your number down and call you back.

So whether the word is “love” or “adore” or “cherish”, each will get attention. And it sets you apart in a memorable, wonderful way that will get you far more business than if you sound like everyone else.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Friday Reprise

Dear Reader,

This blog is a youngin’ (a mere 10 months old) with about 100 posts. Thank you for visiting today and whenever you do. I write not for me you know. (Well writing really helps me think so that is a bit of a lie)

What strikes folks about posts on sales,marketing, training or just life? I took a look at the stats last night.

Here are the 5 most popular blogs in order based on page views so far. You might know them.

5 Oddly Wonderful Things to Say to Customers

6 Questions Never to Ask a Customer

Still The Luckiest Man in the World

Treat Your Boss Well

You Had Me at Hello (and then you just let me go)

What does it say that these are the most popular posts so far? To me is says that obviously a post has to catch the eye of (and this is the essence of social media) someone who is both influential (lots of followers, subscribers etc) and cares to recommend and share – but that in general; people like short, valuable and interesting content written in a way that is perhaps a little different or unexpected and that on occasion, moves you a little bit or makes you think.

Shocker eh?

That’s a darn good recipe for a bunch of stuff like selling andmarketing and training too.

Only wish I could do that every time I post. Enjoy!

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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