Posts Tagged ‘training in sales’

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How stories get you on the first page of google

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012


I was talking with my friend Jeff Hopeck of Killer Shark Marketing about Google and it’s ever changing algorithm that determines which websites get on the first page.

The two main variables have historically been links and content. They’re both still important, but the emphasis is now heavily tilting towards content.

And not just any content.

Nope, unfortunately taking one article, blog post or twitter feed and just reposting it over and over again won’t get you high in the rankings. In fact it may hurt you.

If you want to get highly ranked, the focus today is on Original Content. That’s great news for those of you who are creating sales stories about the success of your clients, stories that address concerns and objections, and stories that communicate the values of your brand.

However, simply creating original content is only half the battle. I’d estimate that most everyone can write words that communicate a message. That’s not difficult. But, the reality is that it’s also not enough.

If you’re in this game to win, you need stories that persuade and engage. That’s the key to not only getting your site on the first page of Google, but also how to motivate people to take action. When you accomplish that, then you’ve got a stealth marketing system that gets you both visibility and high conversion percentages.

Content is King.

Speaking of which, I’m opening the doors for an intimate seminar I’ll be conducting here in Atlanta in May. The goal of it is to work with a small number of you on crafting your “Million Dollar Stories”. If that sounds like something that might be of interest there’s some information HERE.

Maybe I’ll see you in Atlanta next month. That would be fun.

Talk soon
Mark

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Focusing on what’s important

Thursday, March 8th, 2012


It’s easy to get seduced with technology, especially with the increased focus on social media.

But here’s something to keep in mind.

It’s not that you Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

It’s what you say.

The key is to be interesting or at perhaps a bit controversial. Which means you shouldn’t be afraid to share information about who you are, how you came to do what you do. I’ve found that people are genuinely interested in the backstories of others.

Of the 8-12 stories I think we all need to develop, the one that tells the backstory of who you are is the first one I’d develop. Once you have it, you’ll be amazed at how it accelerates the relationship building process.

Food for thought.

More Here

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The Power of a Great Story

Monday, January 16th, 2012


For those of you who aren’t quite convinced that a great story can overcome the most difficult objections, this video may change your mind.

Never underestimate the power of a great story.

(Many thanks to John Frisbie for passing this along-I’d love to hear about other great examples of powerful stories, so please send them over to mark@gentlerainmarketing.com.)

This may take up to 30 seconds to load, so please be patient. (Trust me, it’s worth it.)

Give me 3 hours and I’ll teach your sales team how to tell great stories that get more referrals, differentiate you from the competition and help you close more sales. Information is HERE

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Unique Sales Stories Training Overview

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012


I’ll admit it, this video is pretty much an unabashed presentation for why you should consider hiring me to teach your sales team how to develop and deliver great sales stories.

Not surprisingly, I firmly believe that the skill of creating and telling sales stories is not something that’s “nice” to have, but rather a critical skill everyone who sells or needs to persuade others, needs to master.

This 18 minute video will help you determine whether this program is right for your organization. Since it is a large video it may take up to 30 seconds for it to fully load.

Naturally, once you’ve finished watching this I would welcome an opportunity to speak with you in more detail about the program and how I might customize it to meet the specific needs of your organization.

Thanks for watching this and I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Mark
mark@GentleRainMarketing.com
770-643-8566

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Quit Selling

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012


Imagine for a moment that there was no pressure on you to sell anything…that you were free from the constraints of producing revenues.

In this mythological scenario, your focus is now 100% on building relationships.

No pressure to get them to actually buy anything. All you’re charged with is getting their attention and building a relationship.

How would you communicate differently?

The answers probably vary, but I’d imagine that there would be a lot less focus on you. Your solution. Your features. Why you are better/different/cooler than the competition.

My guess would be that you’d focus more on the person with whom you were speaking. What their challenges are. What they’re worried about. What they desire.

Now pause for a moment and put yourself in the shoes of that person. Who are you more interested in? The person who’s pushing their solution on you, or someone who is genuinely interested in you? (I realize the answer is kind of obvious.)

But here’s the point. In our desire to get people to buy, we tend to revert to a default mode that says the quickest way to do so is to evangelically preach at them about what we have to offer.

Once we’re out of the actually selling situation, we know that we should invest the time to find out needs and desires. But, once we’re actually in the white-hot fire of the sales conversation, WHAM-out come the big guns of WHY YOU SHOULD DO BUSINESS WITH ME. Let me preach at you until you see the light!

Curious, isn’t it, how we know we should do one thing, yet under pressure do something different?

I believe the reason why we don’t actually do, what we intellectually know we should, is because we feel under pressure to close the sale…make the money…meet the quota. And here’s where irony comes into play.

Which is…you’ll sell better if you just don’t care whether the person says, “Yes” or “No”. (Or at least not care too much.)

Of course, having that distance, that ability not to care, means that you have to have lots of people to present your case to. Lots of times at bat. And that’s what a great marketing system should get you-lots of “at bats”.

So you don’t have to care about making the sale (or at least not care too much.)

Food for thought
Mark
Here’s how to implement a marketing system in less than 45 days for under $300.

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A Very Common Trap We All Fall Into

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011


Although I started Gentle Rain back in 1992, I still find myself falling into this trap.

Perhaps you do too.

Introducing my “solution” far too early in the sales & marketing sequence.

It’s a trap all of us who are experts in our field tend to fall victim to. And it’s easy to see why.

After all, we know how great our services are. We know the benefits that others will receive.

So at the very first sign that the prospect has a problem that we can solve, what do we do?

Unfortunately, we bring out our great big “solution-bat” and starting whacking the poop out of the poor person.

And then we’re amazed when the prospect doesn’t immediately grasp the benefits, and sign up as a client.

But, if we analyze the conversation (and this same issue holds true with lead generation marketing as well) we realize that we really didn’t invest the time necessary to truly understand their problems…their needs…their desires.

Nope, we burn right through that stage since we’re pretty sure we “know” what those problems, needs and desires are. (And to make it even more challenging, we’re usually right in our understanding-at least in a general sense.)

However, what we keep forgetting (and I’m as guilty of this as anyone) is that allowing our prospect to articulate their own problems, needs and desires has two critical benefits.

First, we’re demonstrating that we are truly interested in their situation. Blow past that, and we send precisely the wrong message.

But the second reason is even more important.

Investing time in learning about these issues enables us to “link” our solution with their problems, needs and desires.

Here’s something I’ve learned over the years…

If we can’t link our solution to what they just told us (using the same phrasing that they used) the true benefit of what we offer won’t be readily apparent to them.

But this takes time, and if you’re anything like me, you tend to get impatient.

Which means that you crash through the discover part of the discussion at warp speed.

But, every time I do that, I can pretty much guarantee that what I’ll hear is “Let me think it over.”

So what’s the solution?

Part of the answer is attitude and awareness.

But for me that only went so far. It wasn’t until I started to develop what I call “outline scripts” that I got better at this. Outline scripts are most helpful for slowing me down and making sure I don’t introduce my solution too early in the process. They make sure I’m asking the questions that need to be asked, before I start talking about my solution.

Blatant Pitch: Working with clients to develop outline scripts and practice their one-on-one consultative selling skills, is just one of the benefits of my Gentle Rain coaching program. You can learn more HERE:

If you’re hearing a lot of “let me think about it” from prospective clients, the issue may be that you’re introducing your solution too early in the process.

Certainly something to think about.

Talk with you soon-and please feel free to pass this article along to others who you think might find it helpful. Thanks,
Mark
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This is one of the BIG keys for getting more new clients

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010


The longer I work with people like yourself-those who fundamentally market their services-the more I’m convinced that it’s the stories you tell that separate those who thrive from those who…well, don’t.

And I’m sure, at least on some level, you believe that to be true.

Which makes me wonder, why doesn’t everyone have great stories developed?

Because the reality is that most don’t.

So let me help.

As you probably know, I’ve written a book about creating and communicating great sales and marketing stories.

Because you’re a subscriber to my newsletter, I’d like to offer you a copy for free. (You can get the electronic version 100% free and if you’d like the paperback edition, all I ask is that you help me out with the S&H.)

You can get it HERE

Naturally, if you’re planning a company retreat or meeting, I’d love to chat with you about presenting to your team, but my goal today is simply to share some information around a topic that I think is real important for business success.

Talk soon-Mark

PS: There is a favor you can do for me. I’d really appreciate it if you would forward the link to this page to 3 people you know who you think might also enjoy a free copy of my book. Much appreciated!

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The Most Watched Business Speech Of All Time

Monday, August 9th, 2010


Last night I re-watched what I (and many others) consider to be one of the best speeches given by a business executive in the past 10 years.

Can you guess whom I’m referring to?

Ironically, it was a commencement speech given by one of the world’s foremost business visionaries-who never actually graduated from college.

It started this way.

“Thank you. I’m honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation.

Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots…”

It’s been viewed over 2.4 million times and is the only commencement speech to actually go viral. But most importantly it’s a model that all of us can learn from who aspire to gain greater attention for our marketing messages, motivate others or simply differentiate ourselves from the over-increasing hordes of competition.

You may have guessed that the speech I’m referring to is one given by Steve Jobs at Stanford University’s commencement exercises.

What made this speech so powerful? A large part of it is what Job’s said in the very beginning, “Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.”

A friend of mine who was there later told me that you could visibly see the audience’s level of attention increase as Jobs spoke those words.

Intellectually most of us know that if we want to get attention or persuade and motivate others, using stories is by far the most effective tool we have.

But do we really do it?

Unfortunately the answer is usually, “No”

A quick case in point.

I was in a meeting last week with a top senior sales executive for one of the largest financial services companies in the world. I was there to talk about my sales training program Unique Sales Stories: How To Get More Referrals, Differentiate Yourself From the Competition & Close More Sales Through Storytelling.

I could tell that Mr. Williams (he asked that I not use his real name although he did hire me to conduct the program for reasons that will be apparent in a moment), agreed wholeheartedly about the “concept” of using stories to more effectively develop relationships and close sales.

I could also tell that he thought his sales team:
1) Already knew how to tell stories, and…
2) Were doing a good job of it.

I could tell this because…well, he told me so.

Anyway, playing a hunch, I asked Mr. Williams if he would spare 2 more minutes and walk with me out on the sales floor. Humoring me, he agreed.

We walked past the desks of over 2 dozen financial advisors, all on the phone, all pitching their services. We’d stop periodically and eavesdrop.

Guess what we heard-or more specifically what we didn’t hear?

Not a single story.

Lots of facts. Lots of features. Lots of…noise. But not a single story that would enable prospects and clients to visualize the benefits these advisors were offering.

I’m sure you get my point.

There’s a world of difference between intellectually knowing something and actually doing it. Even more importantly…as I suggested to Mr. Williams, there is a huge difference between knowing what you should be doing and actually how to do it.

Which is why Mr. Williams is now a client.

But let me go back to Steve Jobs’ speech for a moment. After I watched the speech again I got curious. I’m a big fan (in fact I’m likely to be the only person you’ll ever meet who actually has never used a PC), but I was curious about something.

Does Steve Jobs wing it when he gives a speech? I mean the guy is one gifted speech giver. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he did.

But apparently he doesn’t. Not by a long shot.

I had the opportunity to do some work with Apple about 15 years ago and have stayed in contact with the person who hired me. (Not a big surprise-I am the Gentle Rain guy after all.) Anyway, he had a lot of interaction with the CEO so I posed the question of whether Mr. Jobs did much preparation prior to giving a speech. He replied:

“You wouldn’t believe how much preparation goes into making these speeches look completely unrehearsed and natural. The content is excruciatingly and painstakingly reviewed to make sure the ‘points’ come across. Absolutely nothing is left to chance. The preparation and the practice is the stuff behind the scenes, that very few are aware of, that makes the end result so powerful.”

So here’s something to think about…

Stories are powerful.

Stories get you remembered.

They help you develop more brand new relationships and convert prospects into paying clients.

But knowing and agreeing with those statements is worlds apart from actually developing those unique sales stories that only you can tell.

Perhaps that is something I can help you with. Whether it is training your sales team on how to develop and deliver sales stories…to coaching you one on one…to writing a great sales story for your website…please let me know how I can assist you.

Thanks and I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Mark
mark@gentlerainmarketing.com
770-643-8566

Relevant links:
Learn more about my sales training
Let me coach you one-on-one
Need a great sales story written for you?
Steve Jobs YouTube video:
Transcript of the speech:

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A Quick Tip For Creating Great Sales Stories

Thursday, August 5th, 2010


What makes a sales or marketing story interesting and motivates a prospective client to pay attention? How do we develop and communicate a message so that gets attention? The most effective sales stories are the ones that enable the listener or reader to picture a desired outcome. In other words, you need to paint a picture with your words.

Far too often sales stories are little more than a restating of the obvious. While this may be the safe path to travel, it’s not a particularly interesting one, which is why it is so important to have an opinion about your particular area of expertise.

Although that sounds perfectly fine in theory, what exactly does developing a different opinion mean? How do we do that? One of the easiest methods is to develop a system or process for implementing your particular type of solution. Thus, the opinion becomes that your process is what works. When people mess up the implementation phase, it’s usually because they fail to follow the process, or do things out of order.

Another alternative is to develop a contrarian point of view. What is the prevailing belief among people in your field? Why might that opinion be incorrect? It’s true that people are attracted to those who have a strong opinion and will tend to give them a greater look. It’s the people who get stuck in the middle of the bell-shaped curve who are ignored..

Unfortunately far too many fledgling storytellers think that they can just get away with making it up as they go along. After all, we’ve told stories to each other since we were children. Are we not taking something that is pretty simple and trying to make it complicated?

The reality is that there is a huge difference between communicating a story to your friends and telling a sales story that is designed to get you more referrals, differentiate you from the competition or help you close more sales.

To develop that type of sales story you need to start at the end. First you must determine what the point is that you want to make? What do you want your listener or reader to do once they have heard the story? That is the only way that you’ll construct a story that truly advances the sales process.

The true purpose of a great sales story is not to just entertain. It’s to accelerate the selling cycle or create an initial level of curiosity about who you are and what you do. While simply speaking off the cuff may work in social situations, a more calculated approach is what is needed in the highly competitive sales arena.

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Your Assistance Would Be Appreciated

Monday, August 2nd, 2010


I wanted to let you know that my newest book, “Unique Sales Stories: How To Get More Referrals, Differentiate Yourself From The Competition & Close More Sales” comes out today.

As a subscriber to my newsletter I’d like to offer you a free copy of my book (for a nominal mailing and shipping charge). You can get HERE

Now…if you take me up on this offer, there is a favor I’d like for you to do me.

Once you’ve read the book (It’s not very long-but it’s packed with useful information) I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d go to Amazon.com and write a short review. The page is RIGHT HERE:

As you may be aware, Amazon tracks books by not only sales but by reviews. There’s an outside chance I could get some great publicity for my book if the number of positive reviews reaches a certain threshold. Your help would be much appreciated so let me thank you in advance.

Secondly…the book is a part of my launch for the Unique Sales Story sales training program.

Not surprisingly, I’m using a Gentle Rain style marketing campaign to launch this:
1. Create a free offer. In this case a book.
2. Motivate interested parties to raise their hand and express interest in this topic by opting-in to get a copy.
3. Follow up appropriately.
4. Drive targeted traffic to the page offering the book through a combination of direct mail, online & offline advertising and media/pr.

If you are a marketing or sales consultant, this program could potentially be a great addition to your portfolio of services. If you have clients or contacts that you think might be interested, please let me know and I’ll fill you in on how our partnership arrangement works. (Suffice it to say there is a large initial and ongoing commission along with great support.)

For my international subscribers, I am particularly interested in developing alliances in the U.K., Western Europe and South Asia. My last training program did very well in these markets, and I would like to have similar success with this one.

Again, your support for this latest project is greatly appreciated and I look forward to hearing back from those of you who would like to get involved.

Thanks,
Mark

To talk with me about becoming involved with the launch of the Unique Sales Stories training program, send an email to me at
mark@gentlerainmarketing.com

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