The Power of Too’s
” He was too New York, too Italian and had too many wives.” ~ Dorothy Kaliades
Ms. Kaliades was speaking about former presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani, but she could have been talking about you as a salesperson, your company or your marketing campaign.
I’ll guarantee that you’re too something. Your company is too something. Your website is too something and your marketing is too something.
Guaranteed.
But what are you too much of ?
Well obviously you don’t know and can’t see it or you’d fix it. Or would you ?
If your clients or customers think you’re too something, do you care enough to change ? Or do you think you’re smarter than they are, so you won’t worry about it ?
Most people, most companies think exactly that way. They don’t care what their customer thinks. They don’t care what their clients think.
They mistakenly think there’s plenty more clients and customers where that one came from, so we’ll stay the way we are and wait for our ideal customer.
Good luck to you, my friend, because it’s 2008 and the belts are getting tightened up a notch or two all over.
Advertisers are going to waste fewer dollars on silly ads and ask for ads that actually try to sell their product and not win an award for the ad company.
Sales managers are going to keep the cream of their crop and cut the waste. They’ll spread their prize winners a bit thinner and ask ‘em to cover more ground.
Customers are going to avoid the companies that are too something and wait for their porridge to be just right, instead of accepting porridge that’s too hot or too cold.
So what can you do find out if you’re too something for your customers, your readers or clients ?
Not only will they appreciate it, they’ll show their love by giving you what you want…their money.
If you need help asking your customer base or prospects what they want, simply ask me using the Contact form and I’ll try to help you.
Teaching Sells Telewebcast Tonite !
There’s a telewebcast tonite at 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST for those of you who haven’t signed up yet for Teaching Sells. There’s a banner in the right hand sidebar if you need to access the free report.
According to Brian Clark, there’s only 34 spots left before they reach their limit and raise the price, so you need to go now and sign up before the increase.
If you wait for tonite’s telewebcast, you may be too late.
Click thru and Discover Why Teaching Sells !
The New Rules of Viral Marketing is on the loose !
EDIT 1/22/08 - There’s a hidden gem that a couple of people have missed, so I’m gonna make it simpler - Click thru to The New Rules of Marketing Book Tour after reading this post.
Okay, so last time David Meerman Scott wrote one of these free, downloadable without an opt-in ebooks it scored well over 250,000 on the download scale.
Did you catch that number ? That was 250,000. Um, that’s 1/4 million times. At least.
I’m betting this one beats that number…maybe by far !
Why does this phenomenon happen ?
Because.
Because he makes them free. I’d never do it, because I’m a greedy slob. Greedy to the point that I’d want the first name and email address so I could send them to an ASK campaign page and ask them what questions they have now, so I could answer those questions and further help them and further ingrain my name in their marketing brains.
We’d call it a virtual book tour, as we’d not have to leave home to do it and our readers could stay home too, safe, warm and ready to listen to us, not just read words on the page. We’d be able to portray emotion and feeling and create some evangelists !
That’s probably why I just went and bought a domain and set up an ASK campaign and a virtual book tour. I’ll try to persuade David to allow us to read his ebook ( again for some of us ), then go to that page and ask David any questions we thought of while we were reading his ebook.
Wanna see it ? Click thru to The New Rules of Viral Marketing Book Tour and see what I mean.
His ebook will go from monologue to dialogue, as we get him on a webcast and hear him answer our questions live … if he agrees. And why wouldn’t he, since he’s incredibly smart, extremely savvy and see’s that I’ll do all the work and all he has to do is call in, answer the questions from wherever he’s happens to be and I’ll send him an mp3 of the call within minutes and he can add that audio to his marketing arsenal.
What’s are some more reasons his ebooks spread so far and wide ?
Because he makes them so visually appealing. He gives credit to Doug Eymer in his opening credits. Doug, you did another helluva job. I’ll be needing your services soon, on a project I’m working ( slowly ) on.
The colors, the font, the layout. They’re all phenomenal. Really.
Because he uses social proof. Great use of relevant quotes. Great use of images that tell the story. I’m betting, in person, David puts on a helluva presentation. I know somebody out there has seen him in action, in person and can tell us just how good he is. Please do so in the comments below.
Because he writes in a conversational tone. It reads like it sounds and sounds like it reads. ” It’s ” is so-oooo much more readable than ” it is “. Really.
Because the tips he gives you are actually actionable and he’s actually done them. No stuffy theory or hypothetical gobbledygook here.
So now you know why his ebooks go viral and now you can go download his ebook and make your own message go viral.
I’d prefer you click thru to his post to do so, so visit webinknow.com and get started.
Oh, don’t forget to visit the virtual book tour page and ask David your question after you’ve read his new ebook.
Sam’s Club Survey - What’s In It For Me ?
I just got an email from Sam’s Club that’s linked to a survey.
It will not get as many responses as it could have gotten, due to “several” flaws.
Click on the image to enlarge it and see if you can add any more tips that Andy Plaukovich and Joe Pilatta could use to increase response next time they attempt to get customers to do their work for them.
First off, how in the heck do you get to be Senior Strategy Manager for Sam’s Club or V.P. of Research for a company contracted by Sam’s Club and make mistakes that even entry level internet marketers should know better than to make ?
Tip #1 - Make me want to respond by giving me a “reason why”. What’s in it for me. Way back in 1904 John E. Kennedy knew you had to give a reason why, when using printed copy. That’s 104 years ago and neither one of these fine young men has bothered to read their marketing history lessons…as of yet.
If they had simple given me a 10% to 20% off coupon, even on one little item, for successfully responding, I’d have taken the survey and so would thousands of others.
How much more effective would the findings be based on a little ol’ increase in response of, say, 350% ? All it would have taken was a simple “reason why“.
Tip #2 - Tell me how many questions or how long it’ll take. If they had simply written ” This short survey is only 10 questions long and takes less than 2 minutes on average…”, I’d have been more likely to take the survey and so would thousands of others.
Another possibly large increase in response that would not have taken much more effort.
I’d be a lot more likely to take this survey if it had been written out in a conversational tone, rather than as a directive, especially since all it’s going to do for me is ” …make your shopping experience and membership benefits even better ! ”
Tip #3 - How about a case study of what was accomplished after the last survey ? Maybe a short, conversational paragraph like this would help boost response:
” After last year’s survey we increased the number of bacon wrapped sausages we give out in Aisle 13 by 42%.
Because you told us you wanted them, we started offering tube socks in bulk and our customers have taken home 3,000,000 gross in the last 9 months alone !
We also listened to you and removed the silly drink cups from the checkout line, because nobody had bought one in 2 years. ”
Think about it. How much more likely would you have been to respond and respond thoughtfully, had the message been written in a short, conversational tone ?
I’m guessing they could increase response an easy 150%. Easy. Would that type of response be worth the 10-15 extra minutes effort ?
Maybe, just maybe, the marketing minds at Sam’s Club will drop by and let us know.
Maybe they’ll even ask me to write their next survey.
I’ll guarantee a bigger, better response or I’ll take no fee. The three tips in this post are free. The others I know are fee. Not much, just enough to make you want to pay attention to the lessons.
I doubt BIGresearch offers that guarantee.
What about it Sam’s Club ? Want me to run an ASK campaign for you ?
Marketing Lesson From Loretta Lynn
My better half posted this quote, but since I don’t think she reads my blog, I’m gonna steal the quote, the lesson, the photo, the whole shebang !
Loretta was sounding like Seth Godin before Seth was, er…. or somethin’ like that.
” You have to be first, different or great. If you’re one of them, you may make it. “ ~ Loretta Lynn
Now, if you know of a foundational statement for your marketing, I’d like to hear it.
If you’d like to read a gaggle of other quotes, click thru to the #1 ranked blog for the term self help blog.
Just the picture of and quotes by Dolly Parton was enough to make me click thru !
Two Selling Secrets Revealed
I get a lot, no…really, A LOT of emails asking me the secrets to sales success.
I’m going to reveal two of them today, wrapped into one neat, no…simple, little package.
You ready ?
It’s about asking, not telling and listening , not talking.
Simple, but true.
I like simple.
EDIT 1-17-08 7:30 PM - I added a little gem that you can sample by clicking on the word listen.
Where’s Your Marketing Red Zone
My friend Debbi Bressler wrote a post about Prudential’s new Red Zone campaign aimed at Boomers nearing or in retirement.
The “Red Zone” they chose is a niche and they now own it, with their ingenious campaign.
Like Debbi said - ” One of the easiest ways to own a niche is to be the first one to label it as your own. “ They did just that.
Jump over to Debbi’s post and read her take on their campaign, then click thru to Prudential’s site and analyze their approach. Once you have it broken down, use it to model a campaign for a niche in your industry.
Top 10 Secrets To Success In 2008
New Year’s is a time for resolutions, and according to SUCCESS, there is no better time design the person you want to become and the life you want to live in 2008.
Publisher and Editorial Director of SUCCESS magazine, Darren Hardy, offers the following advice on how to make 2008 your best year ever !
1. Decide to be Successful - Success is not a dream, hope or fantasy. It’s a
decision. Make the decision to change, improve and act on your ambitions.
2. Design your Best Year Yet - As an architect would design a skyscraper, write out the goals, plans and actions it will take to achieve the life you want to live.
3. Identify Your Passion - What are your unique interests, talents and gifts ? Passion attracts success. Find what you love to do - you will never “work” again.
4. Program Yourself for Success - You will see, perceive, expect and create what you think about. To program your mind for success, read, watch and listen to materials that will support your success.
5. Surround Yourself with Success - You are the combined average of the five people you hang around the most. Surround yourself with healthy, success-minded achievers.
6. Model Success - The best way to learn to be successful at anything is to find someone who is where you want to be and model their success habits.
7. Master the Fundamentals - Don’t complicate it. About a half a dozen things make up 90%+ of what it takes to be successful at anything. Keep it simple. You know I like simple.
8. Get Fit - The mind cannot achieve what the body cannot perform. Your family, friends and career and future depend on your good health. Make it priority No. 1.
9. Remember What’s Important - At the end of the journey what will have mattered most will be your relationships with the people you love and those that love you. Make sure they are on your goal list for 2008.
10. Make a Difference - What do you want your life’s legacy to be ? You have the power to make a positive difference to a single person, a neighborhood, a community, a nation, the world. Realize that power in 2008.
If Tony Soprano Was Your Sales Manager
This Guest Post was provided by Joe Crisara, CEO of ContractorSelling.com.
On Sunday evenings I used to watch one of my favorite shows that many of you may know called the Sopranos, which is on HBO.
I know it seems like this is a product of the twisted mind of a sales consultant who has been on the road for a few weeks too long but I began to think while I watched the plot unfold.
What if Tony Soprano was your sales manager ?
Let’s think about what would happen if “T” was guiding you on your path to sales success.
Let’s see how he would address these interesting challenges…
1. Sales Person tells Tony that he lost a sale and that he is depressed. - ” Business is business. ” He would say, ” Feh-get about it ! ” I think he would also add, ” What’s wit you ? Work is no place to get your needs met, so stop your whining and get back to being the earner ( Person who brings the boss the money each week ) you’ve always been for me capisce ? ” ( Do you understand ? )
2. Sales Person Wants Tony To Lower The Price To Get The Job - I think “T” wouldn’t put up with that one for sure. He would probably say something like, ” Whoa, ( The reaction that any guy from New Jersey has when he is surprised by what he hears ) what do you think I am Fort Knox ? Grow some stugots (testicles) and learn how to handle objections before I have some friends of ours ( Other people in the mob ) visit you (Harm you in some way) and take you for a swim. ” ( Throw you in the ocean off the back of my boat “Stugots” with cinder blocks chained around your ankles. )
3. Sales Person Asks For Loan To get Them By Until Next Paycheck - Ouch, I can barely stand to watch this one. ” Hey what are you oobatz ? ( Are you crazy ? ) What am I a shylock ? (Loan shark) Maybe if you wasn’t such a mortadella, (derived from an Italian sausage, meaning a loser. As in ” Guy’s a mortadella. ” ) you could provide for your family by getting some referrals from your customers and stop acting like such a cafone. ” (a peasant or lower-class person)
4. Sales Person Blames Lack of Sales On the Weather - ” This thing of ours ( The business of the mob ) only works if you work it. I don’t care if it’s caldo (cold) or boliente (hot) outside. Stop acting like your mezzo morta (Half dead) and just bring your tribute (The money) in like we agreed or I’m gonna have to lower your points (change your commission percentage) and do some spring cleaning (Get rid of evidence that you ever existed) around here.
Actually, I think Tony would have some good attributes along with his obvious dysfunctions as a manager. His organization values revolve around ” taking care of our own ” which indicates his loyalty to giving people a chance as long as they are loyal and give their best effort.
I think that he understand that even though you may be a ” made man ” that your crew can still make or break you.
I think Tony also would do a great job of delegating responsibility, distancing himself from the action and not meddle in how the sausage gets made just so long as it gets made.
Even though this article was written tongue in cheek, you as an underboss (Sales Manager) can still learn a few lessons.
Remember, col tempo la foglia di gelso diventa seta. ( An old Italian saying meaning, ” Time and patience will change the mulberry leaf into satin. “)
Ciao, ciao for now !
Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals present their solutions to create high value that result in more income, better service and higher closing rates.
You can go to the site and receive Joe’s sales tip of the week. Of you can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com
101 Reasons To Never Become A Guru
I could have had several different headlines for this first post of the year. I chose this one so as to be a reminder to me for another year.
I could have used:
Still Don’t Believe You Have To Sell To A 5th Grade Level ?
Money For Nothing
I Sell What You Pay For
Find ‘em, Fool ‘em, Fleece ‘em and Forget ‘em
You see, every year I have to fight off the urge to become a money sponge and suck dollars out of the newbie, internet marketing, hope buying crowd.
A crowd, I might mention, that’s larger than ever before and growing all the time, as more and more countries come online with more uneducated people looking to get rich quick.
For all of you who choose to write about ‘the death of’ articles and posts, the world’s only about 15-20% penetrated with internet service, so there’s massive numbers of people yet to come to this dance.
For 2008, I’ve chosen to, once again, to resist the urge to give in and become a ‘guru‘.
Could I do it ? Easily. Very easily.
Ask anyone who pays for my time to help them refine their online marketing. I could do it, but I won’t, because I like that peaceful, easy feeling ( Eagles reference thrown in for emphasis ) of sleep.
If I gave in to the dark side, I’d never sleep. I like sleep too much to sell it … or my soul.
I took a few minutes to visit a couple of sites/blogs of some ‘gurus’. All I had to do was read some of the comments to turn my stomach and make me swear not to ever regularly market to that crowd.
Wanna see some of them ? Well, rather than link to ‘em, I thought I’d just copy-n-paste a few excerpts to show you what kind of comments/questions the ‘gurus’ have to deal with.
The best part may be the sites they use to link to themselves, such as MoneyBlueprintMaster.com, InternetKingofKnowledge.com, SuccessMastersofAllTime.com and the like. ( Warning: Fictional names made up to show emphasis. Any similarity to your actual domain name is a sad commentary on your domain name selection skills ).
And then ask questions or make comments like the one’s below:
” …you’re either a night owl or a very early riser. I watched this email come in a 2:25 am PT; 5:25 am New York time. You had to have time to make it first ! “
I’m guessing that this poor guy has never heard of an autoresponder and actually believes that the ‘guru’ posted this at 2:25 AM. I don’t know which is sadder, the fact that he was watching email at 2:25 or the lack of knowledge of how an autoresponder works.
” There was a lot of very useful information, and as soon as I get paid on Monday, I’m going to start. I’ve got my own website, and am a member of several affiliate programs (not to mention a hard drive full of e-books!!), but no traffic yet. This may be just what I need to get traffic AND earn some money, too. “
This one really makes me sad. I don’t know if I’m sadder that the poor soul said what she said or that I’m too soft to go and suck all the money out of that market.
” What’s the difference between living your dream and just day dreaming ? “
Okay, this one’s simple. If you have to ask this question, I, nor any other human, could ever help you find the answer. Really.
” I think alot of the “tried and true” methods are no longer effective…especially ….exceedingly long sales copy.
I think people’s lives are much too busy and i believe that they not only resent long sales copy; i believe it gets the exact opposite result of making sales…death valley.
Time is just as valuable to your customer as it is to you. People are tired of being hyped, jerked around, and in general manipulated into purchasing products that they dont need or use.
I believe that people want to be respected with the amount of time that they give you and want to know in a precise way..what you are selling, how it will benefit them to purchase and the purchase price. Stop trying to “out manipulate” them into buying. They either are or they aren’t.
Give them the info..if it is honestly a product that they need, want, will prosper from…they will buy it. “
Five instances of ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’. Not one instance of ‘my testing has shown’ or ‘my research has proven’.
Here’s a really simple key for you - Unless you can prove I’m wrong, don’t bother giving me your opinion of what I said. I don’t have to fight this nearly as much as some bloggers do, but I see way too many comments just like the one above, where the commenter is giving their opinion and thinks that it’s gospel. Test it, prove it, try it. Don’t just say it.
And for, I hope, the last time - It doesn’t matter what you think about long-copy sales letters, it only matters what the market thinks about them. End of discussion.
” This kind of sounds like you are pulling information from the Bible and pushing a religious sect called Jehovah Witnesses. The number 1440 is enough to completely turn me off to your site. That is only 2 zeros away from their mystical number. I am a religious person, but when it comes to anything close to the numbers that sect uses I want nothing to do with it. Too many bad experiences with the group. You should have used a slightly different number. “
Really. This dude was serious. The blogger used 1440, because that’s how many minutes are in our days and this commenter extrapolated it all the way out to la-la land.
Can you imagine having that as part of the readership of your blog ? Well, if you want to deal with that, just market to the newbie-I-wanna-make-money-on-the-internet crowd. They’ll find you, you won’t have to look for them.
” … the last 3 to 4 years i have been testing the market now i am intering the market, your blog fits right in thanks. “
Buddy, if you’ve been studying for 3 to 4 years, I hope it was at a College or University. And the time to ‘inter’ was 3 to 4 years ago.
” I have been working with your material in 2 courses ( names removed to protect the innocent ) - and you continually amaze me with the way your mind works.
The subtle differences (sometimes not so subtle) and altered nuances you place on phrases and words…………
All I can say is, your synaptic connections are even “more numerous than all the grains of sand on earth”.
If this quote is new to anyone - it’s often quoted when referring to the limitless potetiality of the human brain. “
Wow. Synaptic connections more numerous than the grains of sand on the earth ? Lady, if you try to ‘talk’ to your own customers like tha, you haven’t got a chance of selling ‘em anything more than pills to remove the headache you’re gonna give ‘em. Maybe she had drunk in too many of her own words or had never heard herself speak.
” I totally resent the notion of marketers aiming to monopolise as many minutes of my day as they are able to. I already have enough clutter in my email pages from these type of people who have a snowball’s chance in hell of selling me anything. “
Your first problem, my dear, is letting your email inbox be violated by this type of crap. Fix that one first or it won’t matter what other resolutions you make for 2008.
” Between us, the Chinese wise men (and not only them but also today’s physicists) would say that in reality the Earth is not round and the stars are not big because they don’t even exist in their full size due to the fact that our minds can materialize only what we can see, and nobody can see the whole Earth or a whole Star. What we see (like the round earth from space) is an optical illusion. Whatever each one of us sees constitutes one’s own universe and we’re alone in it. Others are just a reflection of us. “
Again, can you imagine having to deal with this in your comments ? Sell to the ‘make-money-on-the-internet- crowd and they’ll flock to you like poor lost sheep.
” I am sorry that I have not replied before as I have been so busy optimizing my site (for google) in order to drive targeted traffic to my site thinking that with an easier way to shop and offering more choice, this would not give anyone, any real reason not to leave without making a purchase. “
Can you feel the sincerity here ? Bless his poor heart. I’ll bet the ‘guru’ lay wake all night wondering why the guy who links to himself as InternetMarketingMasterMoneyMaker.com, or something of that ilk, hadn’t taken time to comment on any of his posts. I know I’d have been Sleepless in Seattle over him.
And then, there’s my personal favorite, The Engineer who wants a complete marketing education/makeover for free, in a comment, regardless of all the one’s for sale and thanks for your time:
” I am impressed by your method of delivering marketing lessons. I am an engineer since 25 years but not a marketing guy and am very much interested to study about Marketing & Sales and your blog has given me this fantastic opportunity. I hope that I have the sequence below right.
1. Fitting in.
2. “Start a Dialog” with our customers.
3. Be part of Customers daily life “Build Relationship”.
4. Find out How the Customer lives their lives?
5. Find out How we can fit-into the Customer’s 1440 minutes of daily life.
6. “Find out what or need the customer Want and we can offer.”
7. Using appropriate “Communications skills” we should “Find a Position in their Clutter”
8. Avoid being seen as clutter, but something that is “Relevant Value to Our Customer”, something they want or need.
9. Clearly define the CVP (Conversation Value Proposition)
10. Communicate your USP (Unique Selling Proposition),
11. That our customers will find “Relevant and Attractive”.
12. “Effectively Communicate our Product or Service benefit” to them.
13. Sales Transaction.For every point given above, my ignorance in Marketing compels me to ask “How to…”
Are there tools to monitor and measure the performance of each step process like it is required with all engineering systems. “
OMG ! He’s not kidding either. I can’t really do that one justice, but it did cure my desire to fleece the flock.
I hereby vow, for at least another year, to not market to these poor souls. ~ Mike
I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it.
My lesson is learned … for at least 12 months anyway !
