Great Book On Writing White Papers
If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a great book to buy to help you become the White Paper Czar.
Michael Stelzner, who also writes a blog called Writing White Papers, has created THE resource for anyone who wants to learn about these 9 key topics :
1) The marketing power of white papers: How can a white paper generate sustaining, long-term sales for a business ?
2) Selling via education: Are the days of selling features and functions forever gone ?
3) A 10-step process to creating a white paper: Is there a process to creating white papers that works ?
4) Proven white paper outlines: Do outlines really help with writing a white paper ?
5) Writing compelling titles: Do titles really matter and how should they be written ?
6) The core components of compelling papers: What are the critical ingredients of any white paper ?
7) Extracting information via interviews: Why is interviewing experts so important for white papers ?
Where to find research: Where can anyone go to find information that can strengthen a white paper ?
9) Generating leads with white papers: How can white papers be used to generate leads ?
If you’d like to check out a sample chapter before you buy, click HERE.
Personally, I’m going to teach a couple of my young staff members how to write white papers and see if they can freelance their way to a new car or a lake house with the proceeds.
Thanks for a great business plan and model Michael !
I’ve enjoyed Michael’s blog so much that I’ve added him to my blog roll.
Oh yeah, I gotta give credit where it’s due. I was made aware of this resource by none other than Bob Bly, who told me that it was a tremendous resource and he’s right.
Does P.M.S. Lead To More Sales ?
We’ve all heard it before, but I’m going to make it an official part of this blogs archives.
The sure way to more sales is to simply :
P - Identify your prospects problem. You need to know exactly why they need your product… exactly. Find out what their wants are before you go on that sales call. Before. Then find out what their needs are. Yes, they are sometimes two different things.
M - Make them aware of their problem. You might, or might not, be breaking the news to them, but unless you both acknowledge it aloud, you can’t refer back to it later, when you need it. You must get them to admit a need, which creates room for your next move, which is …
S- Sell them a solution. You know what their problems are. You know what they need. Tell them how your service/product solves this problem. End of story. Take order. Fill order. Get paid for order. Retire a hero. Do not, repeat, do not show up on a sales call without knowing their problems or without a solution. Sales calls are for selling. Do your research on your time, not theirs. That’s what the ‘net is for.
After this has worked for one client - Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Marketing Lesson From Ryder Cup Matches
Once again, the America’s dirty dozen is behind the 12 golfers from Europe heading into the final singles matches on Sunday.
Once again, the Americans will probably lose and the Euros will keep posession of the Ryder Cup.
Why ? Simple. 2 reasons.
1) Their captain put all his eggs into one basket. He had 4 really good players and he put them on two teams.
2) The captain didn’t give enough rope to the new guys, just because they were new guys.
Don’t make these mistakes in your marketing strategy.
Our captain, Tom Lehman, could have split those four guys up, put them with four guys who aren’t as highly regarded and had 4 good teams. Maybe they win four points.
Why should he do this ? Think of it like this - If you take your four best players and make them into two teams, they might, I repeat might, get two points. Two.
If you take the four best players and seperate them and put them with four players that they can guide, you might get four points. Four.
In this case, four beats two … every time.
He also sat the rookies too long and didn’t give them the chance they deserve, the respect they deserve. Consequently, the whole team was conscious of that and played tenatively, thinking they had to cover for them.
In reality, those guys earned their spot and should have been given the chance to suceed or fail.
In sales, if you hire a man to do a job, let him do the job and see if he fails or suceeds. Then and only then, can you determine if he’s gonna be on the team or not.
If you try to cover for a weak team member, sooner or later, they’ll be put in the spotlight and you, as the captain, and that team member will have to sink or swin, on his actions.
Everything rises and falls on leadership. If you have a team member who can’t hold their own, get rid of them now, BEFORE they cost you the match.
Don’t think that your job as leader is to just let your guys do their jobs. You have to be the guide, the leader, and make the tough decisions.
If you make as many poor ones as our guy did, you have a new title - Loser.
He made one other mistake I just thought of - he stuck with losing teams too long.
In a previous sales position I held, years ago, I was the King Daddy of the 7 salesmen we had.
There were several salesmen who had accounts that had not and would not buy from them, but the Sales Manager would not give those accounts to me or any other salesman.
If you have accounts that aren’t buying from you, won’t buy from you, demand that somebody else call on them for the good of the company.
Check you ego at the door and be a team player.
And if you’re a Sales Manager and notice some accounts that will not buy from one of your salesmen, give the account to somebody else and see if they can get the job done.
Don’t do like our Ryder Cup captains do and keep sending the same tired, old guys out to get their asses kicked by one guy who seems to have everybody’s number. Somebody on that team has got to be able to beat him (your competition).
If I was our Ryder Cup captain and I saw that one guy on the other side had kicked our butts 3 straight sessions, I have a huddle with my guys and ask for a volunteer to go kick his ass.
Sometimes in sales, there’s somebody in your organization that’s waiting for you to give ‘em a chance to prove themselves. Don’t be afraid to ask for somebody to stand up and be counted.
I, for one, have never been one to not accept a challenge like that and will jump in there against the reigning champ in a heartbeat.
He’s the champ, so what do I have to lose ? Nothing but a little hide off my backside, so let me at ‘em.
Take that approach the next time you have a sales meeting and see if it doesn’t get you a better chance at winning the battles that are out there, in the sales arena.
Counterpunching As A Sales Technique
Eons ago, on a planet far away, there was a salesman who said he’d learned a sales technique from an old time boxer. I wish I could remember which one it was, but that doesn’t matter as much as the technique he learned.
Some boxers are counterpunchers. They wait for you to throw a punch and then try to counter it.
This old sales-dog said he’d been trying it with a new product that his company was introducing and it was working for him.
How’d he do it ?
He’d show the product to the prospect and say virtually nothing, except, what do you think ?
Why’d he do it that way ?
Because the only way to find out what objections a prospect has is to ask him to tell you.
You find out what’s important to him that way.
And this way, you don’t waste time fighting objections that he doesn’t have and rattle on incessantly about benefits and features that mean squat to him.
Simple, huh ?
Marketing Lessons From Jet Li
Tomorrow is the day my vote-getter for Movie of the Year comes out. The last martial arts movie by one of the Top 2 martial arts movie stars of all-time, right up next to Bruce Lee.
Jet Li is fearless and that’s what you should be as a sales and marketing player.
Anybody can be a chicken*snap*, as the wife would say, marketer or salesperson, but if you’re gonna go, be a player and GO BIG !
There’s one, single, solitary marketing lesson that we can all learn from Jet Li -
Simple.
The ABC’s of Blogging Redeux
My lovely wife has up and posted a great alphabetical ( Part 1, anyway ) ‘Guide to Blogging’ type of post over at Self Help Daily.
Do me a big favor and click thru and read it and if it’s not too far out of your realm of nicety, link to her post, leave a comment, do a Trackback or something nice.
She blogs her butt off on about 14 blogs, every day, for our network and doesn’t get a lot of publicity or acknowledgment from the blogosphere.
It’s a helluva post and when the two of them are done, they’ll be a tremendous help to some blogger somewhere.
Thanks in advance for making her day and mine.
How To Handle Difficult People
As a long time salesman, I’ve come across my fair share, and then some of difficult people. I know I’m not alone, as I once overheard a fairly new salesman tell a coworker that, ” Selling is a geat way to make a living … except for the people you sell to. “
I know how he feels, as I’ve ran into every available type of individual there is. From those that just plain enjoy making salesmen miserable, to intolerant, unreasonable, cranky, mean, overbearing and the worst of all - fools. I suffer them poorly.
Since we can’t pick and choose, we have to deal with whoever calls, we might as well get used to it and find a way, or two, to deal with those that are so self-important that they think of no feelings other than their own.
One technique that works on a majority of those that fit this description is to play to their self-inflated ego.
Pretty simple and simply effective.
What they want, even need, is for you to bow down to their mightyness.
For a good commission, I can do it all day long. Deep down inside, I know that I’m the winner in the long run.
You may think you won the battle, but I’ll win the war. You spent your money, I collected it.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner ! Or at least that’s what they say at Fuzzy’s Place.
The techniques I try to use when playing to their ego are :
1) Ask for their advice, not help, advice - This one never fails, even when you’re selling them something.
2) Make a favorable comment on some of the things they say - Don’t suck up, don’t flatter, compliment. There is a difference.
3) Repeat and remember what they say - I’ve already blogged about this.
There are several other ways to accomplish this and I’m hoping somebody will add to the list, expand on this post or help us all out by giving us their advice.
Don’t make me do all the work, join in and keep this thought train on track.
As for the image I used, I found Jeff Mowatt’s site and liked the look of things over there. I’ve not read any of his work, as of yet, but I thought I’d use this and see if any of you could give us some advice about his products.
Sales Objections Are Good For You
Back when I was juststarting my sales career, I’d come home at night, a little dejected, and tell my wife that I could sell a lot more if the prospects didn’t have so many objections that I wasn’t prepared to overcome.
It would have been a heckuva lot easier if, just once, a prospect would say, ” I thought it would cost more. Would you mind if I paid double that price ? “
That never happened and probably never will.
But it did teach me that my job as a saleman was not to sell, but to overcome objections. And the best way I know how to do that is to learn everything I can about my product and everything I can about the possible objections that a prospect might have to my selling him that product.
A little knowledge of human nature and some neurolinguistic programming are good to throw in there, too.
Stephen Pierce said it best - ” Knowing what people are buying will make you a living. Knowing why they’re buying will make you rich. “
Think about objections like this - If nobody had objections, anybody could sell. Then there’d be no sales force, just order takers.
Taking orders will make you a living. Being a sought after salesman will make you a lot more than a living, because the laws of supply and demand apply to salemaen just like products.
Even more important that that, for me at least, is the sheer joy of selling. I absolutely love selling someone something they need or want.
If that process was difficult, the victory is even sweeter.
Fighting against and winning the battle over the objections is what makes selling so much fun.
Fighting with customers is a losers game. Fighting against objections and winning keeps you alive.
It’s addictive. When I’ve gone a while without a good sales battle, I find myself looking for one. Fotunately, I never have to go for a long time or look far for a good fight in my industry.
Some salesmen never get to the point of being able to overcome objections and feel that sweet victory. That’s too bad, ’cause there’s not much, in the business world, that’s as sweet as a sales victory snatched away from your competition.
Over the next few posts, I’ll try to think of some ways that I’ve seen objections overcome.
How Would You Promote This New Product ?
My friend Adam McWethy is one of the creators of Card Golf. It’s a new playing card game that lets you play a round of golf with a deck (or two) of specialized playing cards.
I recently interviewed Adam on my Travelling Golfer golf blog.
Now we’re to the point that Adam and his team need all the advice we can give him about marketing his new product.
I’ve given him several ideas, he and his team have come up with several and now we want you marketers out there to give us your best advice.
You’ve all talked the talk, now it’s time to stand up and be counted.
Right here, right now, it’s time for the power of blogs, bloggers and marketing and sales blogs to be seen.
Adam’s watching the comments and will be monitoring them thru me.
Gimme your best ideas, contacts and tips for how he and his team can get this product into every golf shop, game store, coffee house and retail store before the Christmas shopping season.
8 Reasons To Use Perfect Disk
A few weekends ago, I was having an enormous amount of trouble with two of our computers.
They are used heavily for photo editing by the four yound ladies who use them about 16-20 hours a day. Yes, that means 16-20 hours a day each one is in use. They work in shifts. Some are day-people, some are morning-people, some are night-people.
I had been using software that I purchased to help keep the hard-disks defragmented. When you use Photoshop that many hours a day, you’re gonna have problems with fragmentation.
I work a lot on weekends making sure our computers will stand up to another weeks work. Extra virus scans, defrags, cleanups, etc.
This particular weekend, 15-16 July, I had a terrible time with one unit that gets the brunt of the Photoshop duty.
Diskeeper, which is what i used before now, would not finish it’s defragmentation.
I turned it off and tried the built-in utility that comes with XP Pro.
No deal. Would not finish.
It’s now about 2 am and I’m pissed and sleepy, but I will not quit.
I went on scavenger hunt for a new defragger.
I found info about some that I’d tried in the past and I found info on the two that would not work for me.
Then I found Perfect Disk 7 and it had a free trial. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I downloaded and put it into action.
Wow ! Is all I can say. It not only worked, it worked wonders !
I had fewer fragments after one pass then I’d ever had after several scans with my old utilities.
And it had left me with a larger, more usable partition than I’d ever had available. That, in and of itself, is a Photoshopper’s dream !
I’ve now been using it, I bought two copies, for 2 months and all I can still say is Wow !
I’ve had less trouble, our units run faster and they need fewer defrags than ever before.
The reasons for all this is spelled out on their website, so I’ll link you there at the end of this post, because they can tell you their story better than I can.
As for me, here’s my 8 Reasons To Use Perfect Disk :
1) I have Version 7 - it’s the best by far and it’s only going to get better with Version 8.
2) Auto-Pilot Scheduling and a Screensaver mode for when you didn’t think to make good use of this downtime.
3) Resource Saver technology. They’ve got it and you need it.
4) Space Restoration Technology - that’s what creates that very larger, very usable partition.
5) It’s Microsoft Certified and works on really big drives, unlike other utilities.
6) Single File Defrag - some of you have really big files that you work with and this will quickly defrag that and let you get back to work.
7) Their new I/O and CPU throttling features that won’t bog down your system.
One and done. Perfect disk gets it done with one pass.
Go by and give it a try. They offer a free trial, which gives you more than enough time to evaluate it.
Perfect Disk 8 has the Simplenomics Seal of Approval !
PS - This is a totally independent review. I received no compensation, nor do I have any ties to the product, the manufacturers nor am I affiliated in any way.
