Simplenomics » Simply Human Nature

12 Ways To Use Sales Imagination: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Mike Sigers — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:42:44 +0000

To be or not to be … completely satisfied, that is.

If you completely satisfy a customer, you get to keep the money from the sale. If you want more of his money, you have to satisfy him again … and again and again.

You don’t get to take his satisfaction for granted or he’ll take his money and run to the next person that will cater to his every whim.

Having to bow down or beg every time you want to sell something to him will get old … very quickly.

You, as a salesperson, have to also get some satisfaction from the sale. My apologies to the Rolling Stones.

The real trick of sales is to find the mythical “zone” that exists to bridge the gap between his satisfaction and your own. Then the two of you can form a bond of sorts and can co-satisfy each other by selling and buying, buying and selling, selling and buying, etc.

The satisfaction has to run both directions or it won’t last. More apologies to the Stones.

This is what keeps me in the field selling face to face each and every day. The satisfaction I get from satisfying a customer who thought the process was going to be painful. Or expensive. Or elusive.

I love to see the relief on their face when they get what they want and it’s even better when it’s also what I know they really need.

If your customers leave you feeling drained, beaten, cheap and tainted, you’re in the wrong place selling the wrong thing to the wrong people.

If this feels like it fits you and your situation, take Mike’s Career Tip #14 – Get another job as soon as you can. Life’s short, sell hard !

Joe Walsh’s Hidden Marketing Lesson

Mike Sigers — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:44:18 +0000

Life’s Been Good

Great song. Fits my story too, but mine ain’t finished yet. Or wasn’t as of the time of this post.

Picture this: It’s August of 1977. A 14 year-old boy who’d been listening to Wolfman Jack on an AM radio gets bussed to another town to finish his high school education.

The boy gets thrown out of a class for fighting on the first day of school and the only class for that period, that has an opening, is Mass Communications.

The school is starting a radio station that has enough power to reach all the way to Highway 41, about 1/8 mile away. The radio station is run by the teacher of this Mass Communications class.

The teacher recruits the boy to his radio team because A) he likes fighters, B) the boy reads Rolling Stone, C) the boy’s dumb enough to say yes.

Simple.

The boy finds The Eagles and yes, I capitalized that on purpose.

They rule. Period.

The boy finds Hotel California. It still rules, too.

The boy hears Joe Walsh play guitar for the first time. He still rules and rocks, as well.

Fast forward to 2008: The boy, now a man, who sells for a living and coaches sales people for fun … and a small profit … gets a message from the Universe that Joe Walsh, Master Guitarist of the First Order, had hidden a sales and marketing lesson in one of his songs.

The man searches for days and days before he comes across it. He then has to decide whether or not to share it with the world. And whether or not to charge for it.

Well, the man figures, life’s been good to me so far, so I’ll just set it free and hope for reciprocity.

So here’s what Joe said that only a select few marketers have ever known:

“I’m just looking for clues at the scene of the crime …”

Now I guess you want me to decipher that for you, don’t you ?

Well, here’s what corporate marketers messed up a few decades ago. You have to design, test, tweak and deploy a marketing campaign from ground zero, not from the 30,000 feet view.

Before the days when corporate wonks started sitting in high rises, the sales and marketing types were out in the field, they were there talking to the customers and they got immediate feedback that hadn’t been watered down by salespeople fearful of losing their job or hurting the feelings of some marketing manager that knows nothing … but is married to the bosses niece.

Now days, everybody wants to view a situation from the 30,000 feet view and that’s not where the usable intel is. It’s down on the ground. Before it gets passed up thru several levels, before it gets watered down, before it gets altered, before it gets made politically correct and before it becomes almost worthless.

I’m a ex-military guy and we were taught to assess a situation from where the action is. After intel moves thru several hands, it’s not as good as it was when it was fresh.

If you want to stop making mistakes in your marketing, get down in the trenches and get usable info, instead of worthless words.

Ask people for their opinion, without telling them why you are asking them.

Talk to people and bring up your product or service casually.

I give my coaching clients places to go, people to see and things to do that make good intel available to them.

Here’s a hint: It ain’t a google group, it ain’t a forum and it ain’t always online.

The view from 30,000 feet is distorted, out of focus and not the best one, so don’t keep using it now that I’ve let the Genie of Truth out of the the bottle.

Columbo didn’t get his info from 30,000 feet, he went to the scene of the crime.

Rockford didn’t fill his files from 30,000 feet, he went to the scene of the crime.

Mike’s Big Message: Quit looking for ways to think outside of the box. Go to where the box gets used and look for clues there.

12 Ways To Use Sales Imagination: Pride of Possession

Mike Sigers — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:20:53 +0000

Remember, we’re talking about using imagination to fuel your selling story.

Everybody loves to say, “Look what I got !“, just like the child in the photo.

Even though your selling story needs to help your prospect reach the clouds, it must also stay grounded in reality or the prospect won’t be able to follow it thru to the completion of the sale.

I’ll go thru these one at a time, in no particular order, so make sure to bookmark this blog or subscribe to the RSS feed.

The Pride of Possession

Today we’ll use the pride of possession, which happens to be one of the strongest motives I’ve found when selling a premium product.

It works very well in products that aren’t premuim, yet few salespeople use it and none use it as often as they should.

The customer rarely admits it, but the pride of buying and “possessing” what they consider to be “the best” is frequently all that’s needed to complete a sale.

A friend of mine sells a building product that can be had for $4-8 a square foot, most of the time, yet he gets $17-20 a square foot almost daily by using the phrase, ” … you probably can’t afford this, but …“.

Remember this: Buying motives are real. Humans never change, so you can use basic emotions like this, converted into selling points, to make your job as a salesman or marketer a lot easier.

Nest time we’ll talk about prestige and the pleasure it brings when it comes to live at your house, so stay tuned.

Controlling The Sales Call

Mike Sigers — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:20:11 +0000

For at least the last 14 years I’ve been studying sales reps who’ve called on me. I like to see if they can get control of the sales call or if I can run over them like a runaway locomotive.

I’ve never told anybody about my little study, so let’s keep it between just you and I. Okay ?

Sometimes, I’m sure, the sales rep must have thought I was a bit odd or just plain nuts, because I’d make offhand comments that had nothing to do with anything we’d ever spoken about.

Some were completely put off their track and lost their focus. Roasted and toasted. Others just uttered one of those maniacal giggles and kept reciting their script. Yet others never noticed because all they cared about was themselves and their product. It didn’t really matter to them if I was paying attention or really needed their service or product, just that I said yes.

I’ve come to the conclusion that approximately 9 out of 10, maybe even more, sales rep can’t or don’t control the sales call and don’t have any idea as to how to keep from being at my mercy. Lucky for them I’m such a kind and sensitive guy. NOT !

You may be thinking that I’ve made a rather general, blanket indictment of sales reps. If so, feel free to conduct your own study over the next few weeks or months and report back. I’d love to interview some of you on this subject, so feel free to use the Contact Form to let me know what you think about this post.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least try to help you, as a sales rep, find a way to fight thru and win control of the sales call, so I’ve got three tips for you:

1) Go Silent

Not saying anything can be more powerful than actually talking. If your customers mind wanders, give him/her a few seconds. Then try to get control by asking a questions, such as, ” Were you thinking of a circumstance where this solution would really work well for you ? “, or something along that line.

2) Quote ‘em

Nothing’s as sweet as our own name and our own words, so use ‘em to gain control. For instance, saying, ” Hey Larry, a minute ago you said blah, blah, blah and that hit my That Sounds Good button. “ Then let them expand on that while you get ready to use what they say as ammo. When they hear their name and hear that what they said sounded good, their mind won’t wander very far.

3) Take Action

Something as simple as handing your client a sample of the product, a brochure or a CD can put you back in control and bring back a wandering mind. You can also use other physical actions, such as staring at an object, gesture with your hands or moving your head or feet around.

If your interviewee has a wandering mind and you’ve waited 2 months for the chance to talk, you can’t risk not knowing how to get their attention back and stay in control of the process, so remember these tips and you’ll have a better chance of completing your mission.

Study Proves People Love Them Some Them

Mike Sigers — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:47:00 +0000

I just read several things that all salesmen and copywriters should already know:

People love them some “them”. A lot.

We knew that already, but I didn’t know just how much.

A study of college-aged women included this test: The women were given a pen and paper and asked to write anything they wanted.

460 out of 500 wrote their own name.

Shown a map, 447 out of 500 pointed to their hometown.

I’ve personally seen people look at a group picture and immediately ask, ” Where am I ? “

Self-interest sells.

Feel free to use it.

I do.