Schizophasia Blog

I talk to business owners every day. A common question I am
asked is how to get clients.

The number one mistake that I see these professionals making
constantly is that they do passive marketing instead of
action-oriented marketing, with no clear developed plan for
securing clients.

Passive marketing is really expecting business to come to you.
We do it all the time. We expect our friends, family and
colleagues to refer people to us. We put our business cards or
flyers everywhere we can think of. And we sit back and expect
tons of business to come in and scratch our heads when it
doesn’t.

Action-oriented marketing is goal-based. I believe that one
should have clear, measurable and attainable goals in order to
consistently grow their company. It’s like chipping away a
foundation. Taking a lesson from network marketing, this method
is called “repetition.” You do this by performing similar tasks
daily, weekly and monthly. In the long run, this will bring you
clients. Some of these actions can be calling, emailing, writing
articles, public speaking, talking to someone that is within
three feet of you, and asking for referrals, to name a few.

The next step is to clearly define your goal. Establish a number
of contacts that you believe that you can realistically attain,
and then go out and make contact. An example is I plan to talk
to 20 people this week. I will get five warm leads and of those
five I will get one new client this week.

Or, this month, I will contact 10 groups with a goal in mind to
be able to speak in front of them. Of the 10 groups I contact, I
will get five warm leads and one group will invite me to speak
in front of them.

Additionally, I may introduce myself to a new person each day
face-to-face, explaining to them who my ideal client is and if
they aren’t, I will ask them if they know anyone who fits that
description. So as each week progresses, keep track of how many
people you talk to and put that person into your pipeline.
Finally, you need to follow up with your pipeline contacts.

Another example is forming strategic partnerships. I will
contact 10 perspective partners per month, getting 5 warm leads
and closing 2. The partnerships could be in the form of
endorsement letters, articles in a newsletter, linking websites,
etc. All of these goals should be put on a spreadsheet and
charted day-by-day.

The reason that you need to repeat things over and over and over
again is that because it takes a number of contacts to get a
client interested in you. You have to work your pipeline by
never giving up on a prospect until they tell you to buzz off.
Take a look at these stats:

According to the National Sales Executive Association, the
average sale is closed according to the following number of
contacts:

2% on 1st contact 3% on 2nd contact 5% on 3rd contact
10% on 4th contact 80% on 5th-12th contact

This means that people have to see, hear or read about you
numerous times before they decide to use your services. The
contacts can be via phone, email, in person, articles, public
speaking, a referral from somebody, and/or an endorsement. The
number one thing to remember is… DON’T STOP!

So keep up the sales and marketing!

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Are you invisible?
We can be invisible to anyone and everyone at times. You know the feeling; it would be like trying out for an acting role with 10,000 other people dressed in the same black and white clothing. What we actually want is to stand out as if we were the only ones dressed in black and white while everyone else is dressed in a light peach clown outfit. It is a tough challenge when everyone is just like us. However, we often force ourselves into this wallpaper strategy when we conform to a prospect’s or customer’s initial request.

Perhaps you remember what it was like in high school when you wanted to get noticed by the guy or girl you were interested in. It was the little things that you tried anything and just about everything. I remember a girl named Pat that I wanted to meet more than anything and she finally noticed me in the home economics class when we worked on a project together. The only reason I took the class was to get close to her. We ended up dating and having our high school romance.

There isn’t much difference in outside sales. We try to get noticed by our clients and prospects in ways that will attract them to us more than others. We might even take a course in something new so we are closer to our client’s goals. When we are interested in someone, we want to know everything about them and will ask our friends, their friends and learn as much as we can.

Getting good information and profiling
Today we can learn a lot about a business when we use the internet and network with associates who are in the business. We are in the information age and there isn’t an excuse for not knowing something about a business, if we are really interested.

We stand a better chance of getting noticed when we know the interests and challenges of the business contact we want to do business with. Anytime we have good information and intelligence on an industry we will stand out and the client will reward us for our perspective and interest in them. We know that the best resource for learning what a client wants is to ask good questions.

Good questions come from knowing what to ask because we suspect what the client is interested in. In high school I learned that my future girl friend, Pat, was going to take the home economics course. I took the class and learned how to cook and also met Pat. What a coincidence. In business knowing about a specific service we offer which our prospect shares an interest in is ideal. If they are interested in mailing services, we must learn how to talk to our prospect about mailing services too.

Breaking the ice
Getting noticed and becoming visible to our prospects is a matter of learning what they want and filling a need. It is sometimes being in the right place at the right time and knowing we are in the right place at the right time. In sales we often make our own luck and we can accomplish this with solid research on our prospects. Asking good questions is often a key to this success. Good questions serve as great ice breakers when we have done our research.

Submitted by Steve Martinez, Founder of Selling Magic, a company focused on improving sales using technology and Automated Sales Process Management (ASPM). Steve Martinez is a sales coach, e-marketer and sales process pioneer in automation. Get more sales tips at our website http://www.sellingmagic.com.

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For the most part, we are all conformists. We will do what the crowd does. We might not like to admit that, but it is true. Only 5 to 10 percent of the population engages in behavior contrary to the social norm.
We see this law operating in groups, in organizations, in meetings, and in day-to-day public life. In all of these circumstances, there is a certain standard or norm. In churches, the moral code determines the standard behavior acceptable for the group. In organizations, the bylaws and years of tradition establish a standard operating procedure. Because we want to fit into these groups and maintain our membership with them, we conform our actions to the norm.

We seek to find out what others are doing as a way of validating our own actions. This method is how we decide what constitutes “correct” behavior. We see the behavior as more correct when we see others doing it. The more people do it, the more correct it becomes. Professor Kirk Hansen of the Stanford Business School demonstrated this when he boosted downloads for best-selling files on the Web by downloading those files over and over himself so the counter was artificially high. He and his team then observed that these boosted downloaded files were downloaded even more frequently. The high number on the counter indicated popularity, and people were most interested in downloading the files that were already ranked the highest. Whether the question is what to do with an empty can of soda at the park, how fast to drive in the city, or how to eat the soup at a restaurant, the validation of others give us our answers and therefore guides our actions.

We feel validation when we see others do what we want to do. We learned early in life that we make fewer mistakes when we follow the social norm. There are two types of norms: explicit and implicit. Explicit norms are openly spoken or written. For example, road signs, employee manuals, or game rules are all examples of explicit norms. Implicit norms are not usually stated openly. For example, you usually don’t have to be directed to say hello or to smile when you see someone, but you do it anyway. Or, somehow you know better than to put your feet up on the dinner table when you’re a guest in someone’s home, even though your host most likely will not request that you refrain from doing so.

If we don’t know the norm, we look around and find it. The Law of Social Validation becomes a way to save time and energy in figuring out what is correct. We use others’ behavior to guide our own actions, to validate what we should or should not do. We don’t always have to look at the positive and the negative in every situation. This automatic trigger saves us from thinking. We compare what we do against the standard of what everyone else is doing. If we find a discrepancy between what we observe and what we do, we tend to make changes in the direction of the social norm.

Social validation compels us to change our behaviors, our attitudes, and our actions, even when what we observe doesn’t really match our true feelings, style, and thoughts. We go against our better judgment because we want to be liked, accepted, and found in agreement with everyone else. When we are part of a crowd, we “no longer feel individually responsible for our emotions or actions. We can allow ourselves to shout, sing, cry, or strike without temperament imposed by personal accountability.”

We seek out social norms to help us know what we should be feeling or doing. For the most part, this is not a conscious process. We subconsciously accept many ways of behaving that are determined by our surroundings and the actions of others, such as raising our hands to speak in class, tipping in a restaurant, or how we behave at a concert. When we become part of a group, our once divergent emotions and feelings tend to converge.

When we find ourselves in a foreign situation where we feel awkward or unsure of how to act, we look for those social cues that will dictate our behavior. This could be at a party, during freshman orientation, or even while attending a family gathering. When the social information we are seeking is at all ambiguous, we don’t know how to respond and thus continue seeking out social clues. Imagine if you were sitting in the movie theater enjoying your show when somebody shouted, “FIRE!” Do you think you would jump up and run for it? Well, if everyone else did, you would, too. If everyone remained seated, you would remain seated also.

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Beware of the common mistakes presenters and persuaders commit that cause them to lose the deal. Get your free report 10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands and explode your income today.

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report “10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands.” After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

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That nasty, predictable objection doesn’t have the same old sting it used to have.

You know the objection most of us think is a not-so-subtle-brush-off. The one stated by the gatekeepers who cut us off mid-sentence saying, “Could you send him something in writing?”

It’s strange how one day a phrase can sound so negative. Then, with one teeny, tiny change in thinking the very same words bring hope.

All of a sudden instead of rejection and a tightly closed door, these words bring to mind the picture of a wide open door and a fountain spilling over with opportunity.

At least that’s what’s happening in the minds of your colleagues who have enough profitable experience now to wholeheartedly embrace this change in thinking. Those who no longer interpret “Could you send him something in writing” as a semi-polite “thanks, but no thanks!”

Many successful sales professionals now welcome those words as they filter them through a new lens of understanding. These sales pros know that the request for something in writing is “executive assistant shorthand” for …

“I’ve heard enough. You’ve made it past me. Give me something good to give him”

Her thought process goes along these lines, ” I think he very well may be interested in what you have to offer. Having said that, my executive has so much going on in his brain that he needs help getting his brain out of the stratosphere to settle down on one topic, in particular a new topic such as yours! Please, help me, help him by sending something in writing that will give him a good idea of how your products/services will help him resolve his most pressing business issues.”

This interpretation of gatekeeper lingo makes you pause and rethink, doesn’t it?

As you ponder this angle, your next question becomes, “OK, now that I have an open door to send them something … what can I send that will compel the decision maker to invite me in for a meeting. What exactly should I send to this particular prospect?”

Let’s start with what you don’t send.

Do not send the 4-color glossy brochure packet that talks all about your company, how long it has been in business, and the oh-so-flattering picture of your company president.
Your prospect doesn’t care. Nothing in that brochure helps him figure out how to solve his business problems.

Now, here’s what you do send.

Fax a one page, black and white executive summary of results. Preferably in the form of testimonials from other executive clients of yours who articulate what your products and services have contributed to their businesses.

At the top of the sheet, in bold and centered be sure to put your carefully crafted benefit statement. You know, the statement that answers your prospect’s unspoken question … “What will I get out of the deal if I do business with this caller?”

The more specific you can get the more compelling the benefit statement. Here’s an example to which most of us can relate. The phrase “Domino’s Delivers” doesn’t pack nearly the same punch as the phrase “Domino’s Delivers in 30 minutes or Less Guaranteed!”

On the balance of the faxable one-sheet you’ll want to pack in testimonials. Comments from your happy clients that reveal the results they have reaped from doing business with you.

Note: When you say how great you are, the words sound distastefully prideful. But when your clients singing your praises (or the praises of your company) in their own words, The song is sweet to the ears of your prospects who are looking for solutions.

Make sure your testimonials are specific and include numbers.

The secret to powerful testimonials is in the bottom line results described by your happy clients. Such as, “These guys increased my revenues by more than 20%.”

Let’s face it. Those 4-color glossy brochures, that go on and on and on about your company have an unintended impact. They leave your prospects under whelmed, with thoughts of “who cares”, and the sense that you expect them to break into a chorus of “How Great Thou Art!”

If you listen to your prospects and really hear what they need from you in order to invite you in … your approach will be considerably different. Better yet the impact will be different as they receive one-sheet from you that presents solutions to their problems.

Stop sending the stuff that makes you look like a feathered peacock. Start sending the stuff that assures your prospects that the solution to his or her most pressing business problem is your products and services.

Focus on you and you’ll be spending more time with you. Focus on serving the needs of your prospects and marvel as they roll out the red carpet with welcoming trumpets et al!

Forward this article to friendsthey’ll thank you for it!

For your FREE mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit http://www.ColdCallingExecutives.com! Or call Your Sales Coach for Extreme Profitability, author/speaker Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time).

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You arrived on time and completed your calculations. You worked up a presentation of all the things you’re going to do and items included, going over each item carefully. You’ve just given the customer the price. They look at each other. He says, “Okay. Thanks for the quote. Well get back to you. Of course, we need time to think about it. It looks good. I’ve heard good things about you. So there’s no need to worry.
We never make a decision without thinking it over first.”

You probably just lost the sale. Unless, of course, you se-verely underbid the job. Which all of your competitors will try to do, especially if your clients reveal your bid to them? Where did you go wrong? What could you have done to have a better shot at getting the ink on the contract?

Let’s go back to Marketing 101: What makes you better than others in your business? If we made a survey of your past customers, what would they say about you? Your knowledge/skill level? Your Professionalism? Your quality of work? Your creativeness? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you’re losing business and money (by not generating more profit per sale). By taking the time to answer these and other similar questions, you can start improving your presentations, more sales and a better bottom line.

Put it another way: People have no way of knowing how good you are without your telling them. They’re afraid to make a wrong decision. They have made bad decisions. Their friends and relatives and coworkers have made bad decisions and, miracu-lously, they become “experts”. They’ll tell your clients why doing business with you (or any tradesman they select) are just no good because they know better. The world is full of nay-sayers. Your presentation will over-come those objectionsif it is well thought out.

So what can you do? As we mentioned above, you need to answer certain questions. Having answered them, you can put that knowledge to work right from the get go. Your are now ready to create your own personal ‘VALUE STORY”. The more valuable you seem, the more people will trust you to do work for them and the more they will pay. It’s just that simple.

In the beginning of your first contact you should be mentioning something about your professionalism. When you first arrive, dressed appropriately and with a cordial greeting, you outline what it is that you are going to do on this visit. (A one-call visit is the same as a 2 or3 call process, just abbreviated.) You begin with asking questions. These questions help you demonstrate mastery as well as qualify and determine client needs and desires, which you will use later in the presentation stage. After completion of your quoting process, you arrive at the presentation stage. You start by demonstrating your recommendations, showing how your product or service is different or superior and, most importantly, how that benefits your client. It might go something like this:

“You asked for my quote for a good quality (whatever). In my experience, there are good and poor choices. While this is cheaper, this one will last twice as long but at only a little higher price.” Or “Let me ask you Mrs. Client, which is more important: A job well done at a slightly higher cost or a cheaper job that you’ll regret later? Let me show you why the product /service I’m recommending will be worth the extra cost.”
Stay Tuned: more next month.

John Stahl

If you want more info, just call me at 610-775-1500. I’ll gladly help you develop your best presentation.

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