You Know You Suck As A Salesman When You …
I made it thru the holiday season and past the big sales of the new year without having to strangle any salespeople.
You know … the Herb Tarlek types.
What I’d like to know today is, did any of you have any wonderful experiences with some sleazy, cheesy, greasy salespeople ?
Help a blogger with too much to do and not enough time to do it, keep his blog crisp and clean, with loads of caffeine !
I’ll resume regularly scheduled programming in a day or so.
For now, tell me about any bad salespeople in your past, present or office.
The Birth Of A Better Salesletter
It’s time to try and simplify a very complicated subject. Just today, I read a 50+ page PDF ( manifesto ?) from copywriter Michel Fortin.
In it, Michel goes on at length about why long-copy salesletters are less efffective than they used to be. The funny thing here is that he took 50+ pages to say it.
If people aren’t going to read long-copy, why would he take 50+ pages to tell us ?
Because he knows the truth is that people will read 10,000 pages of content that interests them. Salesletter, novel, magazine article … whatever.
Are online salesletters changing ? Yes.
Is long-copy dead ? No.
Direct-mail copywriters will be using long-copy for a long, long time.
Online, the salesletter format is changing, but the length is not. The amount of copy needed to convey a point, to change a mind or to sell a product is as long as it has to be. No less will do. No more is necessary.
The real point here, and Michel makes it around page 25 of his manifesto, is this : Long-copy salesletters are here to stay, long-scrolling salesletters aren’t as effective online as they were 5 years ago.
Why ? Because of stupid people who used them poorly. They knew nothing about sales, persuasion or marketing, but they thought they could get wealthy by using screamin’ headlines, lots of bullet points and 10 colors per page.
Why ? Because of technology. The advent of AJAX, Flash and other means of making the content more interactive.
Why ? Because of evolution. Simple.
Long-copy is still going to be used, it’s just going to be in the form of audio and video. In fact, because it’s audio with or without video, there may be even more copy (text) used.
The amount of text will be the same - as much as is needed to make it work. It’ll just be in the delivered in a form that won’t require you to do all the work yourself. Reading is hard work for humans. That’s why a majority of them don’t do any of it after they leave high school.
Educating and entertaining your prospect, making him/her aware of their problem and presenting a solution will always work, because human nature will never change. It hasn’t since the dawn of time and won’t between now and the end of time.
If that sounds like what a salesman does face-to-face, you’re right. Want to have a more effective website, learn to sell.
If that sounds like what a white paper does, you’re right. If you think that they’ll be growing in popularity in 2007, you’re right.
The online salesletter writer, in the future, will need to simply know more about the sales process, be more credible and experienced in the field he’s writing about, will need to be a more effective speaker ( or user of audio ) and will need to be a better story teller.
Quite frankly, I’m glad.
And I prefer to think of it as the birth of a better sales letter.
Want to learn more about human nature ? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Want to learn how to sell ? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Want to learn to be a better story teller ? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Want to …. whatever, just subscribe to my RSS feed. Simple.
S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Brings More Sales
Much like a previous post, I’d like to take each individual letter from the word success and see if we can find a way to bring more of it to us, as salespeople, in 2007.
S is for simple. You know I like simple, but I want you to embrace it, too.
Simple will make your sales life easier and will make you more successful in the sales arena.
Simple presentations can be much more effective than l-o-n-g d-r-a-w-n o-u-t affairs. Especially when it comes to PowerPoint presentations or slide shows of any type.
In 2007, limit your PowerPoint’s to the 10-20-30 Rule. No more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes and use no font smaller than 30 points.
I’m pretty sure the best, and maybe first, person to remind me of this rule for PowerPoint’s was Guy Kawasaki.
U is for unexpected. When was the last time a customer said “Wow ! That was unexpected” to anyone in your organization ?
If you can’t remember the last time, and I’d bet you can’t, that’s all the more reason to set a goal to cause that to happen … every, single day.
How hard can it be to give one customer a day WAY more than they asked for ?
Do you clean carpets for a living ? Give the customer a free sofa cleaning.
Do you sell cars for a living ? Include a free detailing (interior & exterior) after 3 months.
Set the goal and don’t lock the doors til you achieve it … every day.
C is for concrete. Speaking of goals, do not make them easy to break, set them in concrete, make everybody aware of them and make falling short painful.
Pain is a great teacher. If you have employees who don’t learn from pain, you need new ones, because they’ll treat customers with the same disdain that they treat pain.
Believe me, I know. If they don’t learn from pain, if all they do is get mad at you for their mistakes and having to be accountable, they need to go. Now. Fast. No questions asked.
C is for credibility. Do you have any ? If not, you can get some really quick by producing info-products to educate your potential customers and to teach your current customers how to consume your product or service.
Articles in your local newspaper, articles written for your trade organizations, tutorials, how to’s, etc.
None of these is all that hard to do and they create instant expert status for you and your company.
E is for education. What did you do in 2006 to further your knowledge of your industry or trade ?
Did you attend any seminars, any conferences ? Did you read any books ? Did you measure any of the actions you performed for your customers to see which ones made you more sales ?
For a lot of niches, it takes about 1000 hours to achieve expert status. That doesn’t comes from work hours alone. It comes from research, reading and ‘rithmatic.
Set a goal to read 6 books this year, all within your industry. That’s one every 2 months and that’s not asking much. Get out from in front of the TV and devote yourself to your vocation and not to thinking about your next vacation.
S is for stories. Learn to use them. Period.
When you tell them, the message has a better chance of being remembered.
When you listen to them, you learn exactly what your customer needs, and more importantly, what they want.
Relationships that last, customer wise, are built on the foundation of stories.
S is for sense, common sense. Use it to make decisions.
Will your customer remember it if you quote the company policy to them ? Yes.
Will they remember to shop somewhere else next time ? Yes.
Use a little common sense and learn that sometimes you have to give to get.
Remember that The Law of Reciprocity will repay you about 3 to 1 for everything you give that you didn’t have to give. Sometimes more.
There’s some keys for success in 2007. Write some more in the comments here. Write some on your own blog. Call a friend with some. Send these by email to someone. Whatever.
Just do it.
PS - The photo above is of Joseph Hachem, the Aussie chiropractor who won the World Series of Poker in 2005. I sometimes wish all I had to do was use my people reading skills to go on tour and make easy money playing poker.
But that wouldn’t be fair to all of you who need me to teach you the in’s and out’s of human nature, selling and being successful.
Uh,… kiddin’ there.
Going The Extra Step Earns Customer Loyalty
Via Amazon’s Editorial Review: In October 1985, at age 27, Danny Meyer, with a good idea and scant experience, opened what would become one of New York City’s most revered restaurants-Union Square Cafe. Little more than twenty years later, Danny is the CEO of one of the world’s most dynamic restaurant organizations, which includes 11 unique dining establishments, each at the top of its game. How has he done it?
How has he consistently beaten the odds and set the competitive bar in one of the toughest trades around?
Back in October, I remember reading an article in USA Today written by Jerry Shriver. In it, he did a Q & A with Danny Meyer, which I’m sure you can find in the USA Today archives, if you’re interested.
The part of that article that I want to focus on today is the excerpts from Meyer’s book, Setting The Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business.
Meyer say’s, in the interview, that his 9 restaurant empire is beset daily by problems, as are all of us, The difference is in the culture that he’s instilled in his emoployees for solving those problems.
In one instance from the book, a diner had arrived and discovered that she had left her wallet and cellphone in her cab.
The woman was seated and was assured she could pay later. While she dined, the receptionist repeatedly called her cellphone, until the cab driver answered it.
The cab driver was far away from the restaurant, so unbeknownst to the woman, they sent a staffer to meet the cab and retrieve her wallet and cellphone.
As she finished her meal, the staffer handed over her wallet and cellphone, much to her astonishment.
The cost to the restaurant: $31.
The value to the restaurant: Priceless word of mouth advertising and eternal gratitude from a more than satisfied customer.
In another instance, as a couple sat down to dine, the man remembered he’d left the champagne for their celebration in the freezer. After asking the maitre d’ about the harm to the bottle of champagne, the maitre d’ asked if he could go to their apartment to move the bottle from freezer to refrigerator.
They agreed and gave him their keys. The maitre d’ drove to their apartment, moved the bottle AND left them some dessert chocolates, a tin of caviar and a congratulatory anniversary note.
Again, the time it took was minimal, but the return was uncalculable.
Tags: customer service, sales, selling, usa today, restaurants
What has your company done for your customers that nobody else would ever do ?
