Best Sales Tip : Stop Selling! [ #LinkedIn Inspired]

Sales Tips - How Do You Sell Your "Pen"? 

Effective sales is filling the needs of people. This post was inspired by Victoria P. Negotiation Consultant, She Negotiates Consulting and Training.
Victoria wrote an insightful post about the difficulties of "selling"  a judge on an argument.  You may not realize it, but every day most people are  involved in sales.
In Victoria's article, she cites the example of from "The Wolf of Wall Street" where the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio challenges would be sales students to "Sell Me This Pen" at 2:38.

The Wolf of Wall Street - Sell Me This PEn

Whether selling a pen, or a history lesson, people need to realize approach the question from the right end.  If you focus on "selling" you're dead in the water from the get go. When presented with a product or service that you need to market there are several questions that can help you get past that "slick sales" attitude that may be defeating you. Just like these "salesmen".

Sales Tips - Stop "Selling" Your Pen

These questions may help you become more of a authentic customer service representative and move from the "Slick sales" model.

1. What is the unique selling position of this product or service? 
2. What are the consequences of not having this product or service? 
3. What are the rewards of having this product or service? 
4. Who needs this?
5. Why do they need it? 
6. How are they part of a similar group in needing this? 

For Victoria, perhaps selling a judge on her argument, may include a cost-benefit analysis.

• Why is it important this person remains in the community or off the streets? 
• How does your argument meet the needs of the judge, and society? 
• What is unique about this case? 

Selling Your "Pen" - Awakening The Need: 3 Steps 

After discovering how truly awesome your solution is for others, you may need to help others see how truly awesome your solution is too. Do you have the world's best pen? Well so what? Awakening the realization of need is an important marketing skill.
An effective 3 part marketing technique includes:

1. Utilizing 3 questions to raise dissatisfaction with the status quo. 
2. A reassuring statement assuring the person they are not alone in their dissatisfaction. 
3. Presenting your unique solution. 

The pen?
One suggested opener : Do you have a pen on you?

Want to chat more about sales, marketing, or my passion for helping small businesses get found locally online?
  LinkUp with me on LinkedIn - Suzanne Sholer.
Wishing you success,
+Suzanne

---

About Suzanne Sholer

Suzanne Sholer BA B.Ed
Social Media Geek

As a daughter of serial entrepreneurs, I gained an appreciation for small business marketing. Add to that ;a passion for empowering others, a B.A. B.Ed with undergrad courses in psychology of marketing gained through media studies, a fascination with Marketing Stats and you get Minute to Market - My online file of Marketing notes.
Need help implementing this tip or have another marketing conundrum? Drop a confidential comment with your email address on any post.

Study Reveals 3 Searcher Mindsets! Help Your Clients Find You!

Using Searcher Mindset Gives Greater Ad ROI!

Effective Advertising:Meets Searchers Needs

Study Review - Chart :Key Points from Mindsets of Search Study
Advertising online, or offline is a waste of money, unless it creates results. Searchers - whether they are searching through yellow pages, or using a search engine, are looking for an authoritative answer to their question. About.com suggests: 'The right kind of advertising could be the expertise people are looking for.'
Is your advertising effectively showcasing your expertise? This review looks at the Mindsets of Search Study, and includes a handy reference chart with key points, plus examples that can help your business have a greater ROI from your advertising dollar using the About.com/ Latitude study findings released September 29, 2011.
What are the key takeaways from the About.com advertising study?

Offline advertising? Use Your URL Wisely!

Enquiro Study Shows URL Advertising Importance!

Why you need a URL in your offline advertising.
Enquiro found, like it or not, potential customers seeing your ad will go looking for you online. Are you making it easy for new clients to find you online? Check the tips from Enquiero below to help you get the biggest return on your investment.
How Enquiro Conducted its Study
Enquiro showed participants a TV commercial. In an overlay at the bottom of the frame, each participant saw one of te following::

• The company name (no call to action)
• A phone number
• A vanity URL

Vanity URLs Not Recommended for Promos!

After watching the commercial, each participant was asked what they’d do to follow up - more than one choice was allowed.
Visiting the website, and searching for the company online, were the top two activities, regardless of the call to action.
Surprisingly, participants were even more likely to visit the website when there was no call to action. However,  they told Enquiero the wrong website! The client was using a vanity URL the participants couldn't remember or guess – instead, the URL they guessed at would take them to the site’s homepage, where there was no information relevant to the commercial. If customers are looking for you online, you'll want them to find the information they’re seeking.

Url Usage Tips from Enquiero

Enquiero advised their client:

• Use URLs and a phone number in their commercials
• Use folders in their URLs such as www.company.com/promo rather than vanity URLs www.buyfromcompany.com
• Reinforce the call to action by including 'call 1-800-555-1234 or visit company.com/promo' in the commercial voice over

Since potential customers are going to try and find you online, how many businesses are actually making it easy for potential customers to accomplish that goal?

UK Businesses Missing Potential Opportunities. Are You?

A recent study from Nominet looked at how URLs were used in £40 million worth of print and TV advertising in the UK. Although the UK is pretty sophisticated in online marketing, only two thirds of print and TV advertising had a URL. When you break that apart, 83% of newspaper advertising had a URL, while only 61% of TV advertising did. Tens of millions of British pounds of advertising could be more effective.

Are you throwing money away by not including a URL in your advertising?
Do you use URLs in your offline advertising? Why or why not?
Let us know what you think by commenting below.

About Enquiro:

Enquiro now part of Mediative, a Yellow Pages Group company is based in Kelowna, BC. Enquiro, a global leader in  research, does fascinating studies about consumer behaviour. Enquiro first launched as Searchengineposition.com in 1999. Gord Hotchkiss, now Mediative’s SVP has led the company since its founding Enquiro has a significant profile in the search marketing industry, publishing white papers, blogs, webinars, and case studies. Company founders Gord Hotchkiss and Bill Barnes are regular speakers at leading industry events worldwide, and Gord’s book The BuyerSphere Project, has generated considerable discussion on the topic of how B2B purchasing works in a digital marketplace.

This article is based on:

Words Hold Power: Which Words Will you Choose Today?

Language structures thought.

If you appreciate the message in this video, please share this post.

About This Video:
Purple Feather Content Marketing video, poignantly depicts a scene from David Ogilvy's book : 'Olgilvy on Marketing'. The Power of Words is not a new concept, but the manner in which Purple Feather Content Marketing conveyed the message,by altering a couple of words,the lighting, music and use of a woman wearing dark glasses all add up to an amazing message which brought them millions of views. Purple Feather Content Marketing just posted a new video last week showing how you can use the power of words to make a difference in even your own life.

Small Biz? Good News! You Benefit from Data Boom! IBM Study Synopsis!

IBM Study Results Show Only 26% Tracking Blogs

While an IBM study shows most top marketing execs recognize the of Social Media marsketing, they are unprepared for the number crunching needed to effectively analyze and use the immense amount of data they receive from customer input. Big business is bogged down in their customer input. Small businesses can excell in social media marketing with shorter customer response time,and more individualized solutions. Four main challenges face Chief Marketing Officers:

1. Data explosion
2. Channel and device choices
3. Lack of Influence
4. Shifting demographics

Read on to learn more about this study, and how small business may have an advantage over big businesss as large corporations become mired in immense amounts of data.

Christmas Marketing? Apple Products Top Youth Tech Picks!

Apple Brands, Oreo, Hersheys, - Top Youth Choices!

Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend® study showed Apple products as the clear youth favourites in computers tablets,and mobile phones.While this is an American study, results for Apple Canada would probably be closely aligned, especially since com score study earlier this year showed the iPhone4 having the biggest portion of the Canadian cell phone market. Want to cash in on holiday marketing? This newest Harris Poll shows not only what to market, but where,and how. How can you utilize this info?
Aligning  marketing with top youth brands, is a choice wise marketers make/ Whether selling soap, soup, or software, aligning your product with the top picks, may push you ahead on Black Friday. What other brands will youth be yeaning for? Read this latest Harris Interactive press release to help you plan your holiday marketing strategy.

QR Code Study Reveals Important Marketing Tips!

Where Do You Display Your QR Code?

QR codes are appearing on everything from scarves to wedding cakes, but who scans them? August 12th, comScore, released mobile QR and bar code scanning study results from its comScore MobiLens service.
Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile points out the importance of this study for business:'QR codes demonstrate just one of the ways in which mobile marketing can effectively be integrated into existing media and marketing campaigns to help reach desired consumer segments,' Donovan added: 'For marketers, understanding which consumer segments scan QR codes, the source and location of these scans, and the resulting information delivered, is crucial in developing and deploying campaigns that successfully utilize QR codes to further brand engagement.' The comScore study yields surprising results,about who scans 2D codes,where they scan the codes,and where most scanned codes are posted, How can your business profit from the comScore study?

How Do You Use QR Codes?

Marketing Your Highest Payoff Action

Get Results! Consistently Market Your HPA

How well are you presenting your call to action? What is your Highest Payoff action? How can you market it effectively?
Need help? Get a free Quick Blink assessment of how well you are marketing your HPA , email Suzanne Sholer Use “Free Quick Blink HPA” in the subject line.
Applying the following business building tips, can help you get better results from your advertising materials, and day to day interactions.

Create and Implement an effective Marketing Message Using your HPA

Sexy How-to video : 7 link sharing tips for Facebook

Getting Your Links Facebooked

Creating content that will be shared in social media is a challenge.I used the following tips to draft my odd title. If you are reading this, please let me know where you found it.
Post adapted from Dan Zarella of DanZarella.com.
7 Ways to Get Your Blog Posts Shared On Facebook
Writing a blog is a lot like sending a note out in a bottle, and hoping someone, somewhere will read what you wrote. The following stats can help increase your reach.
Want to maximize sharing of your content on Facebook? Here are seven tips that are sure to help.

SEO Tips– Increasing Page Load Speed

Attract More Readers- Speed Up Your Blog

Internet users are not patient. They will not wait around while your blog or site loads. In 2006, Akamai and Jupiter Research identified '4 Seconds' as the maximum length of  time web shoppers would wait for a page to load. The following tips can help you have more readers stay on your blog or website and reduce the number of page “bounces” showing in your statistics. Reducing page bounces can go a long way to increasing you search engine ranking.
Blog load speed is critical to attracting more readers to your blog. If your blog takes a long time to load, many readers may leave your blog before they have the chance to read it. Here are a few tips and tricks that will help your blog or site load faster and attract more users:

10 Tips for Social Media Marketing

Business Stepping into Social Media Marketing?

10 Tips to Boost bottom line, and Build Brand Buzz

A quick guide for business based on “10 Rules for Social Media Marketing” by Susan Gunelius

Social media marketing can help build your audience and customer base in a dramatically.  However,  starting without a roadmap can make it a daunting task.
Using these 10 tips will help you better serve your clients,brand and more importantly your bottom line.  These 10 tips can help you make the best use of your social media time, rather than flailing around in the dark.

Blogger:Free Website Builder,Hosting Tool> Easy Customizing Tips!

Blogger:easy economical web solutions for Small businesses. Get online and running in record time using Blogger.

The free website building and hosting functionality of  Blogger are a boon to small businesses for creating a website presence with customizable features.
Blogger, a tool by Google, is becoming increasingly popular for small business websites. With Blogger, businesses can create a professional blog, niche product website or even a full website presence. I highly recommend the free website building and hosting tools, available through Blogger as an option businesses should consider.

Blogger as a Website Tool: Advantages

FREE Online Business Tools

Online Business Planning Tools from Ireland

I just discovered this list of Free online Business Planning tools on PlanWare.org. Plan Ware is based in Dublin, Ireland. I haven’t checked any of these tools yet, these are hot from my browser. Check them out and let me know what you think.

• Online Strategic Planner: Strategic planning tool for generating a 2-3 page strategic plan.

Link up on LinkedIn

LinkedIn Pulls Top Search Listings

Why Minute to Market Recommends LinkedIn

LinkedIn profiles rank in the top five search results for names. Whether you have a business, or are job seeking, LinkedIn is the place to establish professional connections, and make it easy for prospective clients or employers to find you.  LinkedIn connects over 70 million people in 200 countries and territories. While LinkedIn is not a top hot spot, according to alexa ratings, LinkedIn is climbing in popularity as a social networking site. Once, a basic job-seeker billboard, LinkedIn is now a connection-based referral source where careers are jump started, and businesses built through connections. LinkedIn is a veritable electronic version of an “old boys network”.

LinkedIn offers an opportunity to showcase your knowledge and experience while connecting with other professionals to further your career. LinkedIn profiles build authority, through not only being shared on their site, but as a high ranking personal brand throughout the web.  

Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile : Minute to Market Tips 

Essential Twitter Marketing Rules

Establish Your Twitter Presence Now, Then Follow Aaron’s Rules.

Article Synopsis, Review and Recommendations: 7 Essential Marketing Rules for Twitter by Aaron Zitzer
Aaron Zitzer points out on “Twitter you can engage with almost anyone” and cites Twitter as a compelling tool for business. I agree. However, the painstaking, overly cautious set of rules Aaron gives, might cause some business owners to dismiss Twitter as something they neither have the time, nor resources to utilize. I highly recommend each of Aaron’s rules. However, time is of the essence in establishing a Twitter presence, especially for branding. There may be another business using your name, and there is also the common practice of hijacking brand names.(Some enterprising individuals take great pleasure in sending false tweets from business brand names, or will simply set up a brand name on Twitter, then demand payment to hand over the reins.) While Aaron correctly points out the wrong approach can a create a PR nightmare for a business, being overly cautious can also back fire, or be a waste of time and resources, 
 I recommend the following three rules in order of importance.

Collections: eTool Organization

What do you collect? I collect eTools. eTools? I have found a great collection of FREE eTools that make doing business online easier, and  help me accomplish more in less time.
Things that make life run smoother always fascinated me. Eons ago, I twigged a program to write and print reports on my C64 computer instead of getting mired in the cycle of handwriting, secretary typing, proofing, then re-typing and re-proofing. Later, taught  teachers and beginning readers to utilize online voice recognition software. I then started blogging as a way to organize discovered information without it taking up a lot of time, ink, space or paper. As time progressed, my fascination with code, widgets, and social media marketing grew as did my collection of eTools.

Selling Online Content: What sells ?

Selling online content? These stats will be of interest to you. Before deciding to develop and offer online content businesses may wish to use some of the following statistics.
A recent study of 755 internet users in the US revealed  65% of the respondents purchased online content (just one percent less than those who report purchasing tangibles and reservations online)
Top ten online content sales were:

Fonts: Website Enhancement through Font Choice

Improve your website by choosing a psychologically appropriate font. Audience perception is affected by psychological impact of fonts in websites and documents. Would you deliver a doctoral dissertation in baby talk? A sports play-by-play in legalese? With so many fonts available, how can you decide which font will most effective suit your purpose? A Wichita University study recently examined the “personality traits” of several different fonts through an electronic survey. The charts below from the University of Wichita site show how different fonts were perceived and how they would be used by respondents. To illustrate the psychological impact of fonts take a look at these two passages, both with an identical message, but the blink is quite different.
Improve your website by choosing a psychologically appropriate font. Audience perception is affected by psychological impact of fonts in websites and documents. Would you deliver a doctoral dissertation in baby talk? A sports play-by-play in legalese?  (Appropriate for formal invitations)
Improve your website by choosing a psychologically appropriate font. Audience perception is affected by psychological impact of fonts in websites and documents. Would you deliver a doctoral dissertation in baby talk? A sports play-by-play in legalese? (An appropriate choice for a friendly scrapbooking project.)

Websites Search Engines Find: Make Marketable Sites

Market your website with effective search engine optimization and create user friendly sites. These ten tips will help your site get found.  The most beautiful site isn’t worth a hill of beans if it can’t be found. Need help implementing these steps? Get free email updates by subscribing to this site.

1. Your website address needs to be memorable and easy to type. Make it clear what your site is about. Search engines don’t give points for having your product in your URL, but it can help get it can make it easier for folks to recall the name of your site.
2. Use product names and keywords when building the files for your web site. Use hyphens instead of underscores in naming the files. (ie.www.widgetworld.org/green-widgets.html.) Why? Search engine robots sometimes read hyphens and under-scores differently plus you get keyword credit when using hyphens.
3. Content COUNTS! Make sure every web site and every page you build has  compelling text on each page. How much content? Opinions vary on the amount for the best site optimization,  but most agree it should never be less than 200 words of text and 10% of those should be important keywords.
4. See your site through the eyes of a search engine. Follow these rules in layout and design of a web site if you want the site to market well in the search engines:
   • Use more text content than html on the home page.
   • Avoid frames.
   • Minimize javascript. (No matter how cute that little applet might be, resist it!)
   • If posting ads make sure you attach no follow tags.
   • Make it clear what the site is about the minute it comes up on the visitor's screen.
   • Keep all files close to the root directory (search engines don’t like to crawl deep for info).
   • Do not use all caps for text.
5. Make sure each page title is seven words or less. Avoid stopper words (of, the, this, and, etc.) in titles. Give every page a unique title on the page matched to the meta tag title.
6. Use meta tags. Are meta tags dead?  Some search engines may ignore them this week, but next week that could change so put meta tags on each web site page.  It certainly won’t hurt a web page to have meta tags. Use meta tags correctly: keep the title tags less than 60 characters (punctuation and spaces count as characters); keep the description tags to 150 characters; and use no more than ten keyword phrases for keyword tags.
7. Make sure each page has at least one internal link to another page on your site and add external links that help the viewer understand the site better.
8. Use alt tags for each graphic so people surfing the net with graphics turned off or the handicapped can still understand your site because of well formulated alt tags containing key words.
9. Select a topic and stay with it. One topic is best, so if your site is about widgets use that as the theme and have pages about green, blue and titanium widgets. Do not try to sell widgets and coconuts on the same site — have two sites with single themes.
10. Include a link page on your web site. Try to have 20 links to your web site from other web sites before you go live on the internet. Make sure those other sites linking to you that have web site themes that are complementary to yours. A site about baby clothes with links to a night club, just doesn’t flow.

If you use these ten tips, your site will be much easier to find and have a greater potential for success.  The internet is constantly changing, so it’s important to stay on top of the latest research, and implement this knowledge. Subscribe to this site to stay informed.

What’s Your HPA? Are You Marketing It?

After reading “Always have a Call to Action” in Entrepreneurial Woman, I started questioning: How well am I presenting my call to action?  What is my Highest Paying action? & How can I market it effectively? Read on for business building tips using your HPA.

What Consumers Want

According to Karen Dodd. of Entrepreneurial Woman,people want  easy-to-understand, bite-sized marketing messages and most of all, be told what to do next.

3 Parts of a Compelling Marketing Message

The author advises-truly compelling marketing messages :

• Ask critical attention grabbing questions.
• Reassure readers there is a solution for their situation.
• Tell them exactly what they need to do next.

How it Works

Targeted questioning resonates with your ideal client,  forcing them to confront what is not working in their life. Questions like: “are you: frustrated by, struggling with, embarrassed about…?” remind them of their “pain.”

Reassuring engages them further. We all want to think we are experiencing the same thing as others, but want to discover a better way. In effect, you're saying to prospective clients, “you're normal, there is a way out of your situation and it's not your fault that you haven't been shown the solution yet.”

Presenting the Call to Action Tell them what you want them to do next. Direct them to take your “highest payoff action” (HPA). Your HPA is the action that gives the highest likelihood of prospects becoming paying clients. What is your HPA? Call for a complimentary consultation?  Fill in info and email it to you, Register for a free teleclass you're offering?

Using Your HPA Ms. Dodd emphasizes-Put a  clear, compelling “call to action” on all your prospecting material: your website, ezine, brochures, business card, special offers and mailings. If your call to action is missing from any of your marketing messages, you're wasting time, energy and money. 

People often think of a website as only a means to establish an online presence, not realizing it can get them new business, It shouldn't be that way. Karen says, “All too often, (I see) entrepreneurs sacrificing utility for beauty. …beautiful marketing doesn't get you new clients.”

---

Take Action! Karen Dodd’s 3 Steps for Maximizing HPA

1. Take a really critical look at your website: (yes, now!)

Does the very first page remind visitors of their discomfort through compelling questions and tell them exactly what to do next?  People visit your website for a reason. Get their attention and  help them solve their problems. You're not being negative or hitting them over the head, you’re saving them time!

2. Look at your business card:

Is it simply a calling card with contact information, or does it actively brings you business?  Two must haves on  your business card:

• Free Special Offer in exchange for their name and email,
• Minimum 3 "pull marketing questions," and what they should do next, to see if you can be of help

3. Review your marketing materials:

Is the HPA you want people to take clearly indicated every time you send out a mailing,  newsletter, or special announcement,? This is especially critical with mailed marketing pieces, (conversion rates, even with expert marketing, are typically very low). Anything (even a warm friendly update letter) without a clear call to action, is a waste of your time, energy and money. – (Tip: Save time by putting it in your email signature.)

Ms Dodd Summarizes If you made an in-person sales call, then didn't ask for their business or tell them the next step in the process, wouldn't you be disrespecting them and their time? When someone is interested enough to stop by our website or look at our marketing materials, they're looking for help and it’s our duty to share how we can help them. It's their responsibility to make their own decision, you're simply making it clear to them how to take the next step, to get the help they came looking for. 

Related Articles:

The original article: Always have a Call to Action.accessed16/08/2010