| |
| |
|
Sales Information |
|
|
|
Marketing Conversations, And Conversation Stoppers
Where many marketing conversations get off-track are the ones you have with yourself, before you even pick up the phone or initiate the handshake. As independent professionals, usually at the helm of solo businesses, we sometimes find ourselves facing daunting internal obstacles as we try to begin our day's marketing activity. With no one in our office-of-one to help with a confidence booster, an important resource to have in our self-management toolbox is a means of submitting the negative self-talk for an internal Second Opinion. Let's imagine you're about to pick up the phone to follow up on a promising contact you met a few days ago. You recognize that the clammy hands gripping the phone are a sure sign that Fear of Rejection is in charge. You've convinced yourself that the voice about to answer your call is just waiting for an excuse, any excuse, to hang up. What to do? Time for a Second Opinion! The Department of Second Opinions draws on that part of yourself that knows enough to question the self-defeating voices by asking, "How real is this?" Buttressing its wisdom is the recognition that a conversation underlies every marketing activity as sub-text, a conversation that's usually unspoken. While we may tend to think of marketing as telling people what we do, in fact all our marketing activities implicitly ask a question: "Do my services have potential value to you?" When Fear of Rejection is in charge, the door slams shut on any potential conversation. "Do my services have value?" "No!" End of conversation. But what if you stay in the (unspoken) conversation and wonder, "What are they actually saying no to, and why?" They could be saying no to having the conversation now, or to a perceived misfit between their needs and your services, or even to the person they couldn't say no to 10 minutes earlier! Viewed in this light, the imagined door slamming shut in your face shifts to a swinging door. Even if it shuts, you're likely to come away with useful information about the needs of this prospect, or about how to better position your services for your target client. Even if it shuts on him or her as a prospect, you've gotten the word out to one more person about your services. Another conversation stopper, particularly seductive for service professionals: "I Can't Sell Myself". This one actually negates any conversation from the outset, presuming instead that rather than talking, you have to convince or even manipulate the prospect. A Second Opinion might point to a more promising line of inquiry such as: How do I quickly and accurately inform myself about my prospect's needs and present my services as an effective solution? Shifting the internal voices - abandoning the conversation-stoppers or door-slammers and instead framing a question - gives you a good chance of getting off on positive footing for the actual conversation. It's very helpful to remember that even if the prospect says no, this doesn't have to be your last opportunity. When you relax into the conversation, into listening and asking as well as telling, you may hear an interest or need that has no direct connection to your services but provides a basis for staying in touch. This will indeed have been a successful marketing conversation! Good luck. About The Author Nina Ham, certified coach and licensed psychotherapist, is principal of Success from the Inside Out, providing individual coaching and teleseminars to build the skills, attitudes and habits for sustainable success in your career or business. Mail to: Nina@womenssuccesscoach.com, subscribe in subject line, for free monthly e-zine, or visit http://www.SuccessfromtheInsideOut.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Sales - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Four Easy Steps To Building A Powerful Employee Incentive Program Want to build a successful incentive program for your company? Have you dreamt about finding ways to have more fun at work and still see BIG results? At the heart of every employee incentive program is the ability to motivate and reward your team for excellent performance. In this article, I will show you four easy steps to build an incentive program that allows everyone to win!Setting objectives: For any type of employee incentive program, your team must feel the goals are attainable and realistic. Overcoming the Fear of Selling For many of you the Fear of Selling is a huge challenge and obstacle for you from day to day. The first thing you need to do is find out exactly what it is you're afraid of. Gatekeepers When I ask salespeople to define what a gatekeeper is, I generally hear: "Someone who keeps out people who will waste the boss's time."But gates are two-sided - they open as well as close: a gatekeeper's job is actually to make sure the boss gets to spend his/her time efficiently. A Stupid Question, but it has to be asked This is a stupid question but it has to be asked.Does your sales letter create as many sales as you would like?What proportion of them respond to your advert?What is just as important, how many of those that responded actually purchased your product?How can you improve the response rate?How many new email addresses did you capture?Do you have an 'opt in' strategy so that you can mail them later with more offers without being accused of spamming?Let us look at the sales letter first. Five Keys to Make Your Cold Calls Sizzle Do you clam up on the telephone? An advertising rep called the other day to sell some ad space in a local news magazine. After I said, "Hello," there was nothing but monotone dialog until I interrupted him a minute later. Lessons Learned At Gunpoint "If you do anything foolish or try to get out of the car we will shoot you" were the terse words which hung in the air like a bad smell.The small car was being driven at over 120 KPH down the dark roads and highways. What Should I Charge? People ask me, "What should I charge?"I say, "Ask your clients."If they are respectable professionals you want as clients, they will be honest with you and give you a fair price based on their experience, their need, and their ability to pay. Dont Let Rattlesnakes Scare You Recently I was out trail running along the South Fork of the Yuba River. The Yuba River is in a beautiful canyon running east-west through the middle of Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Why There Will Always Be High Paying Sales Jobs With the dot.com revolution crushing once solid business models on an almost daily basis, the question surely crosses one's mind "am I next?". I Am A Habit JOHN DI LEMME on "I Am A Habit"H-A-B-I-T.. How To Write A Riveting Sales Letter That Closes Sales How do you get people's attention and build their interest to take the time to read your sales letter? Let's face it. If you can't get the attention of prospects and keep their interest your sales letter will just fall flat on it's face and thus not make you much money. How to Write Effective Selling Proposals Depending upon how much you enjoy writing, writing sales proposals can be a joy, purgatory, or something in between. However, if you sell a complex product or one that involves the delivery of professional services, learning how to write effective selling proposals can be critical to your success. 8 Part Strategy For Constructing Your Advertising Message Strategies to help produce your brochure, advertisment or direct mail. And make it achieve more sales. How To Dramatically Improve Sales Closing Ratios A closing question asks for a final decision. A trial-closing question is one that asks prospects for an opinion. The Allure of Antique Store Fixtures They say if you wait long enough, a style you liked in almost any genre will come back. This is as true for retail store fixtures as it is for clothing or styles of music. What is a Pitch? I've been training in countries outside the U.S. Cold Calling Pressure Reduction Who likes cold calling? Most salespeople don't like cold calling, and do as little of it as possible. There are a number of reasons why most of us don't like it. Future Business Key Element In Sales A challenge facing many businesses is how to maintain a constant stream of customers in order to provide a regular cash flow.One method is to choose a location that ensures a steady flow of traffic past the door, creating a constant awareness of the business. Selling - Trade Shows Vs. Regular Sales Calls Remember those school exercises that started "Compare and contrast.. Your Clients Buying What Youre Selling Linda felt like she had reached a plateau in her cleaning business. For the past 3 years, she'd run the same ads in the same publications with the same results.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
