Helpful Resources

Why They Must Buy Now

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There’s a psychological reason the words “I’ll be back” from customers are the kiss of death for salespeople.

It’s the reason that you have to sell prospects when they’re “hot,” and any delay between receiving your marketing material is costly.

Watch this video:

This is the trailer for the newly-released book You’re Not So Smart (which, for the record, I haven’t read yet).

I don’t think this book is aiming at business education or sales training, but I’ve gotta ask: What are the implications of procrastination/present bias for your marketing and sales?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, but first, I’ll share some of my own observations.

Continue reading on Diamond Website Conversion’s blog.

Strategic Selling for Startups

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Among the most important books I can recommend to entrepreneurs, executives or anyone in a leadership role at a startup company is Chet Holmes’ best-selling book, The Ultimate Sales Machine.

If you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing out big time.

One of the biggest concepts all businesses have to get a good grasp on is strategic thinking. The problem is, most businesses, marketers and sales people are tactical thinkers; they can only see what’s right in front of them. They rarely move toward any long-term strategic goals, if they’ve even established any.

Without belaboring the point, I’m going to share a short excerpt from The UItimate Sales Machine that highlights the inability of the tactical thinker to see the “big picture.”

When your salespeople get in front of a client or customer, what would you like them to accomplish? What are your strategic objectives?

“When I ask executives that question, most of them reply tactically: “I want to make a sale.” Then I ask them to think strategically: “What else do you want to achieve?” And they say, “What else is there?” The conversation goes like this:

ME: Would you like to be respected?

THEM: Well, of course, I’d like to be respected.

ME: Would you like to be trusted?

THEM: Well, of course, I’d like to be trusted.

ME: Would you like referrals?

THEM: Well, of course, I’d like referrals.

ME: Would you like a preemptive strategy for when your competitors try to undercut your pricing?

THEM: Well, yeah, that’s a great objective.

ME: Would you like to be perceived as an expert?

THEM: That could be valuable, yes.

ME: How about influence? Would you like to have influence in that meeting?

THEM (the tacticians): What does that mean?

ME: Hang with me here a second. How about brand loyalty? Is that important?

THEM: Heck, yes.

ME: What about some urgency to buy now? Would that be a good thing?

THEM: Yes. That would be good.

If you even think about these objectives, doesn’t it automatically change how that meeting might go?”

Think about those objectives, and come up with real answers to them. Get past the short-sighted “get this sale today” mentality and think strategically.

It may take more time, more thought, and more effort, but believe me, it will pay off. And if you don’t want to trust me, check Chet’s record. The results he’s produced speak for themselves.

By the way, you can download chapter 4 of The Ulltimate Sales Machine for free at http://www.chetholmes.com/media/documents/Chapter4_MYS_NEW.pdf

People Versus Spiders

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Denny Hatch wrote another brilliant article this week.

“Search Engine Optimization is the current rage—grabbing the attention of spiders and crawlers in the hopes that the message will surface all over the Internet.

Yet it’s flesh-and-blood people that want information, spend money on goodies and give to charity—not emotionless, pre-programmed electronic robots.

Go ahead, fascinate robots. But if your message is a bore, you are a mouse click away from oblivion.

Call me Luddite or troglodyte, but I will continue to write headlines and copy for people, not robots.

And I’ll study the work of the great copywriters, such as Mel Martin.”

Hatch then goes on to talk about the “greatest copywriter you’ve never heard of.” He describes Martin’s career, successes and genius, along with a few evidences that he was a mere mortal just like the rest of us.

Go read “Are You Writing for Spiders? Meet Mel Martin, Master of Fascinations.” This is the kind of stuff copywriters like me just can’t get enough of.

The Oldest Webinar Promotion Advice Yet

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Webinars are becoming increasingly important as communication and marketing tools. How many webinar invitations or notifications are sitting in your inbox right now? I bet there’s more than one…

One of the big challenges webinar promoters have is getting people to register for their webinars.

In my first post on Roger Courville’s blogsite, The Virtual Presenter, I reach back a few centuries to unearth principles of persuasion from a seemingly unlikely source.

If you’re struggling to get your audience to sign up for your webinars, read “Aristotle’s Advice.”

Actually, the concepts apply across all manners of influence. You might want to read the article even if you never intend to host a presentation online.

Self-Identity Is the Key

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“You cannot perform in a manner inconsistent with the way you see yourself.” – Zig Ziglar

This quote by the master salesman and motivator also applies to how your potential customers make purchasing decisions.

They cannot buy brands, products or services that are inconsistent with their self-perception. This lesson will benefit anyone involved with selling or promoting their businesses or ideas, and everyone interested in communicating effectively and persuasively.

I discussed this concept in the Ophiuchus Effect and 5 Judo Moves Every Copywriter Should Know. Here’s an excerpt from the latter:

“…how many millions of dollars does Nike make selling equipment to people who are athletes? How many more millions do they earn from those who dream of being athletes?

“Find out how your customers identify themselves. Use the insights you gain from that research to make your business and your offers more relevant to customers.”

My Talk with Mark Fox

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Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Mark Fox, CEO of Sly as a Fox, LLC and author of Da Vinci and the 40 Answers. He’s one of the world’s leading experts on the subject of purposeful creativity. Oh, and he is former Chief Engineer on the Space Shuttle.

He enlightened me for 35 minutes and let me record the conversation.

Here’s why it matters to you.

We’ve talked about how improving your offer will improve the response you get from your marketing and sales propositions. Mark gives two of the best examples I’ve ever heard of “better than money back” guarantees. One involves a million dollar payout.

You can definitely learn something from these ideas.

The broader context of our discussion was how to become creative on purpose instead of having to wait for your muse to show up. We’re all well-accustomed to accidental creativity. But what if you could reproduce those times of inspiration predictably, on demand?

You’d start to see problems and obstacles dissolve right before your eyes.

On top of all that, I make a total anus out of myself in the first 5 minutes of the recording. I was so embarrassed I almost canceled the rest of the talk. I’m getting over my pride, because there is some really great content that I think you’ll benefit greatly from hearing. It’s worth the shame.

Check out the audio here.

You don’t want to miss this.

P.S. While you’re at it, you should go to Mark’s site. His is one of the only newsletters I haven’t unsubscribed from. He’s also offering the full text of Da Vinci and the 40 Answers in PDF form for free. No opt-in required.

Why You’re Not Making Any Money Online

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Ryan Healy listed 12 reasons why most people don’t make any money in their internet “businesses.”

If you’re experiencing difficulty getting money flowing online, this will help. You might see yourself here.

Check out 12 Reasons You Can’t Make Your First $50 Online.

2011: The Coolest Number I’ve Seen in Years

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From Lawrence Bernstein’s InfomarketingBlog:

“The definition of a prime number (in case you were out smoking during math class) is a number that can be divided evenly only by 1 or itself.

“The number 2011, it turns out, is the sum of 11 consecutive prime numbers: 2011=157+163+167+173+179+181+191+193+197+199+211.”

Is that cool or what?

(Even though it has nothing to do with business, marketing or copywriting.)

Fair Warning

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I’m working on the December edition of my newsletter.

I feel the need to warn you. If you aren’t subscribed to the newsletter, you’re really going to miss out on a powerful lesson this month.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but let me say this: the information I’ll be expounding on would not usually be free. In fact, I’ve never shared these insights before at all. Nor have I heard them expressed anywhere else.

Frankly, I’m glad that my subscriber list is fairly small. Can’t have too many people walking around with this kind of info.

Nevertheless (always-the-more), if you really want to cram some dynamite into your salesmanship skills, you won’t want to miss this.

This will impact your ability to persuade, influence and sell

  • face-to-face
  • online
  • in print
  • over the airwaves
  • even from the stage.

See the subscription box on the right side of this page. Scroll down just a little bit. There you go. Just be aware that if you enter your email address, I fully intend to rock your world.

Money-Getting Is An Art

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I just added another of my favorite classic works to the website, The Art of Money Getting (alternately known as Golden Rules for Making Money) by the one and only P.T. Barnum.

I won’t babble for too long about how much I love this little booklet. I’d prefer if you read it for yourself. But let me make a few comments.

1) It contains very good, practical advice on being “economical.” You hear complaints about the bad economy. Well, the national and global economy is made up of billions of micro (personal) economies. Do you part!

2) Barnum presents a driving emphasis on focus, perseverance and hard work. “Hard work” is a dirty phrase these days. We’ve evolved, apparently. Work smarter, not harder. Even Scrooge McDuck taught us that lesson.

Tell that to Usain Bolt. If you think hard work and determination are not key elements in his success, you’re lying to yourself.

3) He keeps earning money in its proper perspective.

I’ll be the first person to tell you that money isn’t everything. Barnum puts it more eloquently than I could.

Getting rich is not always equivalent to being successful. “There are many rich poor men, while there are many others, honest and devout men and women, who have never possessed so much money as some rich persons squander in a week, but who are nevertheless really richer and happier than any man can ever be while he is a transgressor of the higher laws of his being.”

4) This stuff is just plain old good fashioned advice from a master businessman. Simple and straightforward, but rarely implemented tactics and strategies to success in life and in money-getting endeavors.

Check it out here. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed, and I guarantee you’ll benefit from reading it. It’s a 25-page PDF. You can read it in one sitting, if you like.