I sell B2B.

When you do that for a living, you have to establish, build upon and maintain a relationship with your customers.

If you’d like to do that faster, easier and more often, you need F.I.L.T.E.R. information for your customers and make their lives easier.

Find Out What They Want To Know

Take notice of what I said - what they want to know, not what you think they need to know.

Passing along verbal communication that’s unwanted is the same as email SPAM.

How do you find out what they want to keep abreast of ? Simply ask and ye shall be told.

Inform Them About The Issues In Your Industry

The three I’s, as I call them, when I tell my suppliers what I want to know about - The issues in my industry.

Merger’s, supply issues, personnel, etc. Gimme all you got and don’t wait 2 or 3 days to tell me. It’ll take you 30 seconds on the phone, so do not hesitate and call me before you call anybody else.

Does it always happen that way ? Of course not, but it doesn’t hurt to ask

Learn How They Want To Consume The Info

Do they want a phone call, a voicemail or email ?

Do they listen to podcasts, read blogs, watch video’s ?

Ask, then deliver. This is selling, not rocket science.

Turn Around Their Thinking

Believe it or not, there are some rather large organizations out there that are on the wrong track.

Some are being run by idiots, some by family members that shouldn’t be there, some by ass kissers that shouldn’t be in charge.

Deal with it, drop them as a customer or change jobs.

If you choose to deal with them, you’ll have to find a way to turn their thinking around, so your sales can grow along with them.

Establish A Step-By-Step Methodology

Some of my best customers were so disorganized when I found them that I had to help them create a process internally that would allow them to take advantage of what I could do to help them lower costs, make bigger profits and more sales for me.

The upside is most of them will be my customers for life.

The downside is a few thought they were now a lot smarter than they really are and are trying out my competitors.

Always try to make the process as proprietary as it can be. Those that got too big for their britches will be back, but I’ll never recoup those lost sales.

Remove Obstacles They Keep Them From Buying More From You

In a former sales life, the company I worked for had a receptionist that made it difficult for my customers to get to my customer service personnel.

It took a few months, but after I finally proved it to my CEO, he removed her and sales went up 30% the next month.

There are circumstances in every company’s existence that do this.

It’s your job to find ‘em, fix ‘em or remove ‘em.

If you can’t or the company won’t, don’t waste time, trust me here, move on with your sales life as quick as you can.

There you have it - F.I.L.T.E.R. = more sales.

Last year I had so much responding to the, um …., “well intentioned yet misled” souls who didn’t appreciate pirates as role models, that I wanted to do it up even bigger this year.

To do so, I had to bring in a Top Gun, so to speak. So today’s guest blogger will be Kirsty Dunphey.

Her article is just what we all need to get us ready to “piratize” our markets.

10 Reasons A Pirate Should Be Your Entrepreneurial Role Model

Did you know that each year September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day ! In honour of Johnny Depp, ITLAP Day, and the frivolities that go along with it, let’s talk about why you should forgo traditional entrepreneurial role models for the mighty pirate !

The English word pirate is derived ultimately from the Greek word peira meaning “attempt, experience”, or more implicitly “to find luck on the sea“. Let’s see how much we can improve your entrepreneurial experience and find you some luck in the sea of business opportunities !

1- Get a parrot on your shoulder

The parrot on your shoulder can represent two things: 1) Your conscience. Every entrepreneur has moments in time where the easier option does not always represent the right option. Remember the parrot on your shoulder is there to guide you. 2) Your mentor. The voice of guidance from someone who’s been there and done it. Get the right parrot (or mentor) and you’ll skyrocket to greater heights.

2- The eye patch

An entrepreneur needs to have selective vision. They need to be able to block out distractions and zone in on opportunities. Develop your own figurative eye patch by honing in on what you want to focus on – and making the rest walk the plank.

3- The funky pirate wear and the eye liner

An entrepreneur stands out from the crowd. Whether it’s John McGrath, Sydney real estate agent extraordinaire pioneering the no tie business look or Sergey Brin, google co-founder, wearing jeans and a t-shirt while giving a keynote to 10,000 people, entrepreneurs don’t feel the need to conform to outdated business standards. Most wildly successful entrepreneurs are there because they don’t conform in their businesses. They’re edgy and they try new things in their businesses, which quite often spills over into their outerwear and can make them easy to identify.

4- Any weather – Any time

A pirate’s ship and crew carry them through the roughest storms making them mobile, flexible and able to deal with a multitude of circumstances – just like the ultimate entrepreneur.

5- Live and die by the team

No pirate ever managed to crew an entire ship on their own and no successful entrepreneur ever got there without their own crew of motivated, engaged, talented individuals. In the boardroom as on the ocean – the undeserving leader will face a mutiny.

6- The bicorne hat

The entrepreneur needs to be a master of wearing many hats – even if they look as ridiculous as the Napoleon-esque bicorne hat ! As an entrepreneur you’ll need to be motivator, innovator, initial implementer and so much more.

7- The peg leg

The pirate manages to swashbuckle all over the world on slippery decks, in rising oceans and with a peg leg no less ! As entrepreneurs we all have our own disabilities. Perhaps you don’t have a formal education, perhaps you were poor growing up, perhaps your technology skills aren’t up to scratch. Be like a pirate and get over it ! Whatever your peg leg is, compensate for it and move on !

8- The hook

If there’s one thing we all associate with pirates it’s a hook. As an entrepreneur you’ll need to be able to develop an amazing hook. You’ll need a hook to get people on board with your idea, you’ll need a hook to get investors or the bank interested, you’ll need a hook to get your customers frothing at the mouth for your product or service. If Johnny Depp was the hook for Pirates of the Caribbean – do you have a hook of that calibre for your entrepreneurial passion?

9- The treasure chest

Pirates are single minded in their search for treasure. They know what their treasure is and they have a map on how to get there. What is treasure for you? Is it the chest of gold, is it seeing your product in the market, is it having a crew who love coming to work each day? Know your treasure chest – your goal, and then set about developing a map for how to get there.

10- They just arrrrr

Pirates don’t need to define themselves as pirates. You look at them, you know it. Their crew knows it. They know it. Same thing goes for an entrepreneur. Like the passion for the sea – the passion for entrepreneurialism is in your blood. Your heart rate rises at the thought of a new business idea, your brain races and you can’t wait to hoist your colours up the flag pole and set sail on a new adventure.

And for some fun – try out this online English to Pirate translator:

www.talklikeapirateday.com/translate/index

Kirsty Dunphey is an author, speaker and entrepreneur who started her first business at 15, opened her own real estate agency at 21 and retired a self made multi-millionaire at 27. To sign up to Kirsty Dunphey’s weekly email, go to www.kirstydunphey.com

Dairy Queen is my hero.

Dairy Queen sucks.

Within 45 seconds tonite, that was the opinion of two customers.

I was the one who thought they were heroes.

I was on the road selling for 13 3/4 hours today.

I stopped about 2 hours short of getting home to grab a tremendously fantastic BBQ sandwich and some pretty dang good onion rings and a big ol’ drink.

I wolfed it down rather quickly, because I’d eaten lunch about 7 hours earlier and my stomach thought I’d forgotten about it.

30 minutes later, I pulled of the “big road”, as we country people refer to interstate highways, to rid myself of the previously mentioned big ‘ol drink and to delight in a small vanilla cone at a Dairy Queen that I tend to stop at once a week as I travel that same highway.

As I passed the counter I asked the young lady behind it to have my cone waiting when I came back by, so I could get back into my car and finish my ride home.

She must have thought I was kidding, because I came out of the Men’s Room to discover no cone was waiting with my name on it. She was now very happily engaged in a conversation with a young man who also was an employee.

His big head, bad hair and droopy eyes obviously outweighed my $1.67, so she dropped my like a hot rock.

Another young lady asked, so I tried again to order my small vanilla cone.

Moments later, she handed me a very large cone, with a small amount of ice cream, with the explanation that, ” We’re out of small cones, so I gave you a large one. “

At the exact same time, another young lady was servicing the drive-thru and told a potential customer, ” We’re out of small cones, would you like large one’s instead ? “

The lady on the other end of the speaker wasn’t amused that they were out of small cones, as it sounded like she’d ordered several for the loud kids in her car.

At that very second, the young lady waiting on me was handing me my change and yelled, ” Just give ‘em large ones ! “

I’m sure if Seth Godin was telling this same story, he’d have said, in fewer words and to more readers, that the best thing to have done was explain the situation to the customer sorta like this:

” I’m sorry, we’re out of small cones. Would it be okay if I gave you a large cone for the same price to say we’re sorry and that we appreciate your business ? “

They had an opportunity to create a momentary purple cow and they let it slip away like water off a duck’s back.

I’m sure the corporate suits at Dairy Queen didn’t think to explain such simple things to their franchisee’s, but all those ad dollars seem like a waste when all it takes is one little issue of non-communication from a poorly trained employee … or two, to disappoint a few customers.

Oh, and one more thing … how in the heck can a Dairy Queen ever run out of cones ?

Simple, they sold more than they ordered

Okay, okay. You knew I wouldn’t believe it, so I had to find out for myself whether or not the rumors were actually true.

They are.

Damn. Another myth busted … again.

I thought Perry Marshall was like a platypus, you know, unique, original, rare.

Nope. There’s another engineer who can sell.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You don’t believe it either.

Well, if you want proof that engineers can sell, just follow that link and you’ll find my new friend Eric Bono.

I’ve read a ton of his posts and he can sell.

Really.

For my next myth bustin’ trick I may see if I can find a salesman who can work all day and not play golf

I just thought about this after I wrote my previous post about stories and their power to sell.

Back in early 2004, as we got ready to leave Pensacola Beach and head back to the hills and hollers of Kentucky, I was contacted by a company in my industry that had heard from their #1 supplier that I was one of the absolute best sales people on the planet.

I assured them of the absolute fact of that rumor.

I’m also sure it’s an absolute fact that I was the one who started that rumor in the first place

They called and offered to try and talk me into working with them. I offered to talk with them, if they paid my expenses for that 745 mile trip, paid me for my time and agreed that all I was promising was to talk.

They took the chance.

Upon arrival at their office, I asked for my check.

They handed it over.

Once it was in my pocket, I sat down and the Sales Manager and I made small talk for a few minutes.

He asked questions and I answered.

Then, out of his mouth, came one of the stupidest statements ever uttered by a person who was supposed to be in charge of a sales team.

” The first thing we’ll have to teach you is how to answer a questions quickly, with fewer words and without telling a story. “

After the astonishment wore off, I asked him if I could have 15-20 minutes before we went any further.

He agreed and didn’t push me as to why.

As I headed outside, I stopped and looked at the name of the bank on the check they’d written to me for my time and expenses.

I asked the receptionist where the nearest branch of that bank was.

Luckily it was 5 minutes away. I cashed the check and headed back to their office.

As I sat down again with the Sales Manager, he asked me what I’d done, so I told him I’d went to cash the check.

He asked why, so I told him, ” Because you’re the stupidest person in the world of sales and there’s absolutely no way I’d ever work for you and I didn’t want you to call the bank and stop payment on the check after I’d told you that. “

He was quite visibly shaken, so I offered to go up and talk to the two brother-in-laws who married their positions and were running the company into the ground.

One was President and the other was Vice-President. Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.

I told both of them the exact same thing, that their guy was an absolute fool and would cost them way more than he could ever make for them.

I offered to take his place and make them more money than they could hope to spend.

They declined.

I took a similar position, back in Kentucky.

Within 2 years, I was at an industry function and picked up an award for selling more product for a particular supplier than the people I work for had ever sold before.

The best part was that I had to walk up to receive the award and walked right past one of the brother-in-laws who didn’t listen to me.

He didn’t get up to pick up any awards.

Oh, and his Sales Manager was gone. Seems he’d hung them with the losing end of a $6 million dollar lawsuit, ran off their best sales people and had left them with very few customers and very few suppliers that wanted them to rep them anymore.

And me, well I’ve sold over $7.5 million dollars worth of product in that short 4 years and will be back at the awards ceremony again in February picking up another award.

Stories sell … period.

Want proof ? Ask him.

Or these guys.

” Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes, when he told his sailor stories. She could feel the ocean foam rise, she saw it’s ragin’ glory. “

Those lines are from a 1972 #1 hit by the group Looking Glass. It sold over a million copies. More importantly, to me anyway, it came out right after my brother came home from his 2 years of service in the Army during the Viet Nam War. He named the first of his three daughters Brandy. The words not only sold him, they named her.

Pretty damn powerful, if you ask me … or her.

In the song, Brandy didn’t just hear the stories and she didn’t just see the ocean’s ragin’ glory, she could actually “feel” the ocean foam rise.

Pretty damn powerful, if you ask me.

Stories sell. Plain and simple. But you already knew that.

What you didn’t know was just how powerful stories are going in thru the ears versus thru the eyes.

Want proof ?

Go to Amazon or some other fine seller of books and get two copies of a book. One physical copy that you have to read and one copy of the same book as an audiobook on CD.

I’ve tried it both ways and it doesn’t matter if you read first and listen second or listen first and read second.

Either way, the audio is more powerful in that you get more vivid pictures in your mind.

Want more proof ?

Rent a DVD with subtitles. Some French indie flick or something.

Watch the first 30 minutes normally, with sound.

Then turn off the sound and don’t turn the subtitles on … yet.

Within seconds, maybe a couple of minutes at most, you’ll lose interest.

Now turn on the subtitles.

You can at least follow along, even if it’s not as enjoyable as it normally would be.

That would make sound the most important, most powerful part of the equation and text a distant second.

Stories sell … ideas, possibilities, products, people, whatever.

Use ‘em in person whenever you can and watch your sales soar.

I’ve always wanted to say ” … watch your sales soar “ on this blog

Now that I’ve done it, I’ve gotta get a new dream !

Any suggestions ?

My friend Bill Caskey just wrote a post titled What Are You Motivated By?

At the end of that post, he asks a couple of questions:

1) What have you seen work in the world of personal motivation for a team of performers ?

2) What motivates you to be the best you can be ?

Obvously, I’m writing a post to send my answers to Bill, but I want you to use the Comment function on this blog to let me know your answers or click thru and send Bill an email.

“ Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them. They make the impossible happen. “ ~ Dr. Robert Jarvik

The Real World of Sales - August 2008: In uneducated attempts to help, sales managers unknowingly demoralize and destroy sales teams every, single day.

There are at least 2 misconceptions floating around amongst sales leaders. Where they got these is a mystery to me.

1) Somebody erroneously told them that they can motivate their team.

2) Somebody erroneously told them employee morale can be managed.

The truth is, you cannot motivate another human. You can inspire, but motivation comes from within, so you as a sales leader have no control over that.

Morale is about as easy to control, or manage, as herding cats across the Kansas flatlands.

Ain’t happening.

A couple of decades of being a salesman have taught me that every now and again a sales manager gets lucky and implements a program that I take advantage of to increase my sales.

He then thinks he’s discovered a truth or at least a principle and writes it down as gospel.

The fact is he caught me on a good day, a good week or a good month.

Everything in my personal life was going well, the economy was great and my accounts were doing well.

I’m not a file cabinet. I’m not an agenda for a meeting. I’m not inventory.

Those are “things” you can manage.

I’m a human and we can’t be managed as easily as inanimate objects.

Books have been written that say otherwise. Vast sums of money have been spent on studies that say otherwise.

Here’s a fact for you: Books and studies basically say what the writer thought you wanted to hear or say what the writer thought those that commissioned him wanted him to write.

Numbers and stats can be made to say almost anything, but as a real, live human who happens to make his living by selling, I’m telling you that you cannot manage or motivate me.

How many hundreds, maybe thousands, of techniques have been written about motivating and managing sales personnel ?

Enough to fill a presidential library, I’m sure, with more every day.

If those were really effective, why would we need more and why did the previous one’s fail to stick ?

The reason is actually pretty simple.

They didn’t work for the same reason they did work for a short time. Because the sales personnel chose to allow them to work until they tired of them.

Although I believe and suggest you cannot motivate another person, I do believe and suggest you can lessen the motivation of another person by your actions, words or attitude.

I believe human nature is fairly steady in it’s resolve. It varies very little from the time man was created until the present day, so you can find ways to use it to your advantage as a sales manager.

Every day and every person is different, so it matters much, much more who you are than what you do.

How can that be so, you ask ? I simply say that there are scores of organizations who do absolutely nothing to incentivize their employees, have no special programs and yet they have happy, efficient, effective employees.

How can that be so, you ask ? It works because the leaders do nothing to demoralize and destroy their sales team.

Simply by being considerate, committed, dedicated and by behaving and acting properly, the leaders allow their team members to do the same.

So we can safely say that who you are is more important than what you do, as it applies to employee morale, efficiency and effectiveness.

I’m not dumb and neither are other sales people. When you design and implement a sales contest or incentive program, I know it’s because you want more profits and more sales.

Duh?! It’s not because you want to help pay for my daughters education, her braces or her first car.

What’s that make me feel like ? It makes me feel like a pawn on a chess board, not a valued part of the team.

The bad part of this equation for you, as a sales manager is that there’s no secret formula or magic pill that will tell you what to do and what not to do.

My feelings change from day to day, week to week and month to month. So your best course of action is to make sure you do as few of the things that destroy morale as possible and we’ll be able to work together for as long as my motivation level is high enough to allow me to do what I need to do to keep doing what you pay me to do.

Each person starts with a different number of “motivation credits” in his or her account.

When you subtract more than I can stand, I’ll lose interest in working for you and we’ll eventually have to part ways.

The bad part is neither of us really knows how many credits are in our account, so I won’t know I’m done until you overdraw my account with a bad action, reaction or behavior.

I’m going to list 5 of the most common ways that sales managers destroy morale, withdraw motivation credits and defeat sales personnel.

One caveat is that each employee is different, each one of us have a different list and our lists change as circumstances change our perspective.

Life, death, marriage, divorce, money found, money lost, housing, etc. I could list over 100 factors that change those circumstances, but the list would change almost before I could write it.

That said, here’s my 5 Simple Ways To Destroy A Sales Team:

Be A Faker. Sales people hate fakers that somehow manage to get promoted to or hired as a sales manager.

If you aren’t better than I am, I won’t be able to work for you. Not for very long anyway.

It’s as simple as that.

You either have it together or you don’t and I don’t have time or inclination to wait for you to get to where you should have been before you took the position.

If you want to destroy a sales team, put someone in charge who has to grow into the job.

Be A Nitpicker. You used to be where I’m at now. You think you were put in charge just because you can spot every, single thing that I do wrong.

You can’t and I won’t be around long enough, at least mentally, for you to fix every flaw you think I have.

You’ll do both of us a favor if you’ll find my strengths, instead of what you think are flaws, and help me make those strengths even stronger.

We’re different, so what works for you won’t work for me. You can’t fix my golf swing and you can’t make me a better salesman.

You can, however, encourage me to be a better person, to be more well-rounded and balanced and those traits will make me a better salesman.

We know now that the Salem witch hunts were misguided. So are your attempts to fix me and orchestrate my methodologies.

Be Ignorant and Selfish. Did you hear some news that might improve my chances at winning a large piece of business, but you withheld it because you wanted to “see if I’d find it on my own” ?

That’s ignorant, stupid and selfish. The team’s success is far more important than your agenda.

It’s my 5th anniversary with the company. Acknowledge it. Don’t think I don’t care, because I do.

Withholding praise and communication is an easy way to deplete my motivation credits quickly.

Tell me to do something, but refuse to tell me why. That’ll make me really want to do a good job for you. I can’t be sure of just how to handle a circumstance without fully being informed as to why we’re doing what we’re doing.

I love finding out about price increases from my customers. Not communicating is worse than miscommunication because it makes me feel worthless and unnecessary.

Thanks for that.

Be an Assumer. We all know the old saying about assuming, but the truth is it’s the same thing as taking me for granted. That doesn’t work in a marriage, it doesn’t work for me with my customers and it won’t work for you as a sales manager.

Assumptions turn into disappointments, whereas expectations come with a set of possibilities. There’s the possibility that I’ll produce the outcome we want if I know what you expect.

If I have to guess, because you didn’t communicate properly, don’t expect me to take it well when you whine about not getting what you wanted.

Actions can be managed and because of that I can be given instruction if I fail to produce. You can instruct me before or you can instruct me later.

Your choice. Guess which works better and is the easiest ?

Be Inconsistent. I love it when you tell me you’re going to do something and then don’t do it … or do it about half way. Either way, my attitude is toast and motivation credits are deducted from my account.

Oh, by the way, your apologies for consistently coming up short are hollow and worthless to me after the second or third instance.

You work nights and weekends, or maybe you don’t but should, to meet the demands of your direct supervisor, but as my direct supervisor you seem to think it’s okay to go home at 4 o’clock and ignore the 3 or 4 voicemails I left for you at 11, 12, 1 and 2 o’clock.

Thanks for ignoring my pleas for help, info or a shoulder to vent on.

You rock.

There are really no solutions for the 5 problems I listed, outside of not committing them in the first place.

There are only so many motivation credits in the accounts of your sale people and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

They only get replenished if you or the employee leaves their position. Sometimes even that doesn’t completely replenish the balance.

Remember, who you are is more important than what you do, as it applies to employee morale, efficiency and effectiveness.

I’m watching my beloved St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN.

Hall of Famer Joe Morgan is one of the announcers and he just showed a graphic of the Cubs pitcher getting his eight warm-up pitches before the inning began.

He made all eight pitches work toward or hit the outside corner of the plate.

When the Cardinals first batter came up, all he saw were pitches on the outside corner.

You play like you practice.

Even in sales.

I remember when I actually had to fill out Call Reports early in my sales career.

I also remember an easy-going sales manager blowing his lid one day after he read the Call Report’s another salesman had submitted.

Basically all it said was that he’d been making “routine sales calls”.

THAT, was a mistake.

I won’t go in to all the adjectives, adverbs, nouns and other forms of communication that ensued.

I will go in to what would have been a better use of that salesman’s time.

Always Have A Plan Before Making A Sales Call

Even if you’re in the type of industry where this type of sales call is tolerated, don’t fall into the trap of dropping by to talk baseball, golf and stupid jokes.

Find something in your industry to talk about. If it’s “future related”, that’s even better. A scheduled bid, an announcement about an event, etc.

Let them “feel” your concern for the(ir) future.

Always Ask About Their Pains

You don’t have to always ask for an order, but you do need to find out if they’ve found any pains since you last talked to them.

Why ? Because their pains are your profits.

They won’t buy features or benefits, per se, but they will pay to rid themselves of pain. Especially if your solution costs less than letting the pain continue.

Always, always, always establish your value and compare it to the cost of the pain.

Always Get Out Before You Start Talking Gibberish

Lots of salespeople don’t know when to say when.

They think being “conversational” will build rapport, when in actuality the prospect may be praying to high heavens that you’d shut up and leave.

When you become a student of human nature, you’ll e able to see the exact moment when they’re done with you.

Make an excuse to get up and get out quickly and let them say a quiet thanks that you never over-stay your welcome.

Just that little tactic will put you ahead of some less-than-savvy salespeople and may be the difference in winning a tight battle for a purchase decision.

You practice like you play, so don’t fall into routine sales call and always, always, always: Plan, Ask and Git

So far it’s been a cruel summer, just like the one Bananarama sang about back in ‘83 or ‘84, depending on where you reside.

It’s been so cruel, with WAY too much work and WAY too little golf and downtime, that I’m searching the ‘net for travel and vacation ideas.

The bad part of this is my marketing brain takes over and I see that most resort, travel and vacation websites are, shall we say … not very good for the reader and WAY too profitable for the designer who put those dang pictures everywhere.

Since I always try to find a lesson or two from my daily grind, I’ve got a few things for us to think about the next time we have the good fortune to work our marketing magic for a client in this industry.

Where’s The Social Proof ?

You want me to believe you guys are having all the fun ?

Prove it.

I’d like to see and hear from some of your happy, satisfied customers.

Sound not optionable, but absolutely necessary.

Testimonials would be nice.

The sound of your water splashing and the waves breaking on the sand would be nice.

How about some audio from some of your recent events ?

Got An Event ? Get Me An Interview.

Do you have special guests coming to an event next month ?

That’s great to hear. And hear is exactly what I’d like to do, so how about an interview posted as an mp3 or a podcast for me to listen to ?

Same goes if your having a musical event. Surely they have a sample of their work we can listen to before we decide to spend almost $4 per gallon of gas to travel to your money pit.

Make it easy for me to decide. Do all the deciding for me and make it a no brainer … which is exactly my style.

Sell Me On What I’ll Be Missing

I don’t really care about all your features, I care about what I can do with them, so sell me on the fun, not the feature.

Show and tell me about what everybody else has found to be fun.

The pictures your designer put all over the place are really cute, but they don’t “say” anything to me.

You need to use tried true and tested direct marketing tactics on me, not beat my eyeballs out with images.

Words, verbs, adjectives, audio, video, articles, content.

You’ve heard it before, sell the sizzle, not the steak.

I have a great analogy to prove to you that audio is more powerful than images or even text, but I’m saving it.

The only way to get it is to email me or use the Contact form and tell me you already were or are now a subscriber to my RSS feed.

I guarantee it will convince you … or I’ll refund the full amount you paid … which was exactly nothing but an email.

Back on June 1st, I wrote about the marketing genius of Meat Loaf.

Today while listening to my Sirius satellite radio I heard another song from Meat Loaf and it made me think of something I’d heard on a teleseminar replay that was in my iPod.

On the 1977 album, Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf recorded a Jim Steinman ( I think ) song, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad.

I remember it well ( I think ), because I was a 14 year-old disc jockey for a fledgling high school radio station.

Bat Out of Hell was one of the greatest ( I think ) rock albums of all-time and Meat Loaf surely didn’t know at the time that he was giving us some marketing advice, albeit “badvice”, which is how I refer to marketing advice that’s less than ideal.

If your prospective customer or client feels that he/she:

” …wants you and needs you, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you… “

You don’t have much chance at long-term sales success, because unless you find a way to get the real truth in your communications with your client or customer, you’ll spend way too much time looking for ( sales ) love in all the wrong places and spend way too much time looking at too many faces ( my apologies to Johnny Lee ).

Back to the teleseminar replay that started all of this … before I start singing and ruin this post.

A caller said his prospect loved him ( and his product ) and needed him ( and his product ), but the prospect said “ … there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna buy it. ”

Do you ever get this from a prospective client or customer ?

THEM: We love it ! We need it !

YOU: Great ! When would you like me to deliver and how many ?

THEM: Oh. We can’t buy it right now. Maybe in 6 months. Thanks. See you soon. Stop by anytime.

What just happened there ? You got hosed … by yourself.

You didn’t ask the right questions, you didn’t hold out for the truth and the “key words” you thought you heard didn’t imply the right intent.

Keywords for people who try to use them for Pay Per Click ads can be very misleading, unless you understand the intent of the person who types it into a search engine. But that’s another post for another time.

So unless you want to be served up a big ol’ helping of two out of three ain’t bad loaf, make sure you get the real truth out of your communication with your client or customer.

Wanna know how to do that ?

Well I guess I’d better get some help with that one and interview an expert.

Stay tuned, subscribe to the RSS Feed or Bookmark this bad boy of a blog and I’ll get you a big ol’ dose of expert pie as soon as I can.